48 



of the railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the tunnelling of the Rocky 

 Mountains, or the laying of wire's through old Ocean's bed, and winding 

 them around the world. Let us, then, keep pace with these great improve- 

 ments ; let us speed on the car of ])rogress, — 



" Onward bid it roll," 



until all the arts of rural life and cultivated taste shall reach tlieir final 



accomplishment ; until the blessing of free labor and perfected husbandry 



throughout our country — our whole country — from the South to the North, 



from the East to the West, and luiiversal peace and prosperity shall 



prevail, — 



" Till plenty rising from the encouraged plow, 

 Shall fill, enrich, adorn, our happy land." 



(Applause.) 



The speaker then proposed, as the first sentiment of the occa- 

 sion, " The Ship of State." 



" Foremost, and fearless, and safe, 



She rode the dreadful gale. 

 Yet still she rides on heaving waves, 



With steady helm and sail." 



This sentiment called up His Excellency, Governor Bullock, 

 who was sitting at the right of the President. 



He rose in response to the call, and was received with applause 

 and three cheers, after which he spoke as follows : — 



ADDEESS OF GOVERNOR BULLOCK. 



Mr. President and Citizens of Norfolk : — 



I cannot doubt that after we have listened to the learned and excellent 

 address of your orator for the day, the part that remains for me might be 

 best and briefly performed by acknowledging your j^ei'sonal and official 

 courtesy, and by expressing the deep satisfaction which we have all felt in 

 the present exhibition. It ought, indeed, to excite our admiration, if not 

 our surprise, that alinost within the sound of the steam whistles of our me- 

 tropolis, we find ourselves suddenly surrounded, I might say, embowered, 

 by the richest proofs of the beauty, the skill, and the abundance of the agri- 

 culture of a Avhole rural County. It is like coming from a vast babel of 

 workshops, warehouses, and money-changers, to the gardens of the Hes- 

 perides ; whose work of guardianship over the wedding-apples of Juno was 

 not more classic, and was certainly less beneficent, than yours, — of distrib- 

 uting annually thene golden fruits of the soil, alike the emblem and the 

 reward of the marriage of the city and the country. Ler us rejoice, that if 

 our State is, in some sense, a continuity of wharves, and counting-rooms, 



