276 i [Assembly 



agement to rising talent, and in allowing no future effort of Ameri- 

 can skill to remain unnoticed or unwelcomed. In this peculiar Ameri- 

 can spirit there has been an admirable progress in later years. Great 

 encouragement has been given to ingenious and useful inventions. 

 A system of protection and fostering, peculiarly American, and pe- 

 culiarly honorable to America, and indispensably necessary to her 

 greatness and prosperity, has called forth the energies of our coun- 

 trymen, and watched over and guarded their property in the issues of 

 their skill. 



In agriculture, every year is advancing the application of the sci- 

 ences to the cultivation of the soil; so that in some of our leading 

 colleges, agricultural chemistry has been constituted a separate branch 

 of instruction, to employ the labors of a distinct professor. Me- 

 chanical skill has been devoted to simplify and perfect the operations 

 of the farmer, to a degree which the most instructed of European 

 husbandmen would hardly credit. The application of science to the 

 arts is increasingly a leading feature in its study. With what admi- 

 rable effect it has been already adapted, the vastly improved colors 

 and fabrics of our various cloths every where declare. The beauty 

 and variety of the machinery which has been created, the cleanliness 

 with which manufacturing establishments are maintained, the moral 

 purity and elevation which has thus far reigned unbroken around the 

 very largest of American manufactories, but above all the universal 

 education and mental advantages which are freely provided for every 

 class of operatives, so that the girl from the factory may become, 

 without dificulty or remark, the teacher in the seminary, and lady of 

 the parlor, are all facts of American peculiarity and great Ameri- 

 can honor. 



Let a man make a tour of the single state of Connecticut, with 

 no other knowledge or observation upon this subject than that which 

 belongs to every intelligent American, he will never forget the im- 

 pression of dignity, beauty and power which will be made upon his 

 mind. From the heading of a pin to the hammering of granite; 

 from the polishing of the brass button to the beating of the brazen 

 kettle; from the India-rubber suspender to the variegated and beau- 

 tiful Brussels carpet; in every possible variety and shape and beau- 

 ty of machinery; upon every flowing river, and upon every little 

 rocky rivulet; from the immense brick or stone edifice of many sto- 

 ries, to the rude shed of pine boards in the woods, upon the margin 

 of the hidden stream; he will seethe effects of the American system, 

 honoring, dignifying, prospering and protecting American labor and 



