A-DDRESS, 



I have, to-day, a double satisfaction. While I will not 

 weakly dissemble the honest pleasure that one may feel at 

 being selected for this service, I make that small beside the 

 honor of addressing an association like this. And as the first 

 thought of the first man has been supposed to have been, and 

 as the first thought of any one awaking to consciousness nat- 

 urally must be, embodied in the question "Where am I?" so 

 this same inquiry rises now in my mind, to admonish me who 

 are those in whose presence I am speaking. 



You know, gentlemen, that this reflection has no reference 

 to blood, birth, or fortune. There is a vision of greater 

 things before me. I see in those who hear me, the best ac- 

 credited representatives of the American civilization of to- 

 day. I speak carefully. I might be told that an assembly 

 of learned men, a body of scientists, a gathering of mercan- 

 tile boards, or some religious council or congress of legisla- 

 tion, could better answer my terms ; but I think otherwise. 

 And if I proceed to develop, somewhat, the character I have 

 ascribed to you, I hope it may be apparent that I rather point 

 you to your duties and privileges, than indulge in any word 

 of adulation. 



You represent a territory of some four hundred and seventy 

 square miles, supporting a population of two hundred thou- 

 sand ; a territory most remarkable every way, whether in the 

 present or past. It is busy with almost every modern Indus- 



