49 



ill France, or Germany, or any other country ; let the 

 men who know the history of the United States ; let 

 them who know as well as his Excellency the Governor 

 the capacity and power vvithin the Commonwealth of 

 Massachusetts, point me to an exhibition of such success 

 and such genius, such power and such far-reaching in- 

 fluence as can be seen in the manufactories of Essex and 

 Middlesex counties. We have every reason to rejoice 

 at the success which attends us in this contest of the 

 nations of the world. We have every reason to be proud 

 of that success which has been achieved by our fathers, 

 and to rejoice in the prosperity which their genius has 

 given to us ; but it belongs to us to remember that our 

 duty is of the future, and not of the present or of the 

 past ; that our pride must be, not in what our fathers 

 have done, but in that which we shall do. Let us re- 

 member the field in w^hich we are called to labor, as yet 

 far wider, far more expansi^'e ; that we are placed, as it 

 were, on the threshold of seven hundred millions of the 

 people of Asia ; that we contend foot to foot with the 

 hundreds of millions of Europe, and that wherever we 

 are, we are put upon an equality, and that the great 

 contest is for the superiority. Many years ago I spoke in 

 this room. I am naturally affected by the associations 

 of the time and place; and. although this is no occasion 

 for political suggestions, yet I trespass upon your good 

 nature to sa}^ that I trust the day is not far distant when 

 all the disturbing elements of our social and political or- 

 ganization will be removed, and that, with the power to 

 be a free government, the American people, with a 

 geniu;? like that of Essex and Middlesex, will hew its 

 way through the thick ruins of the despotic traditions 

 of the old world, and by their genius and success impart 



