No. 244. j 279 



of their success sufRciently great still to encourage them to undertake 

 the hazard of the traffic. I speak of this but as an illustration of 

 the manifest inconsistencies to which false principles will necessari- 

 ly bring. I rejoice that amidst all the claims to merit and notice, 

 in your exhibition, there is no improvement proposed, for more 

 effectually distilling the fruits of the earth for poison; or consuming 

 the products of labor for the demoralising and degrading of man- 

 kind. I am ready to believe that no medal from your Institute will 

 ever be proposed to encourage the greater power of the still-house 

 or the brewery, to accomplish the poverty and wretchedness of our 

 nation. 



The poverty of Europe will never be alleviated but by the exalta- 

 tion of the standard and estimation of labor, the legitimate consump- 

 tion of the gathered harvest for the bread of man, and the establish- 

 ing of the people in their due position as citizens, who are to be re- 

 spected according to their own acquired rights, and not as subjects 

 who are to be starved or shot at the will of another. Vain is the 

 attempt to feed and satisfy the suffering millions of the poor, while 

 oppressive governments still grind them down, and their doomed des- 

 tiny and lot is ignorance, degradation and neglect. This great les- 

 son we are now teaching to a waiting world. It is a noble dispen- 

 sation for our country. They see us, with none of the vines or olives 

 of Italy or France; or the oranges and grapes of Spain or Portugal; 

 or even the rich and glowing verdure, and the teeming harvests of 

 England and lowland Scotland. The magnificence of their time hon- 

 ored architecture we have not attained. Their palaces and equipa- 

 ges cannot be imitated here. And yet there is an intelligence, pros- 

 perity, dignity, independence, and self-respect, marking the laboring 

 classes of our population, which lift us far above all envy of the 

 grandeur and glory of European display. They see that we have a 

 people, flourishing and prosperous beyond comparison ; but we have 

 no rabble but that which their own degradation has thrown upon our 

 shores. It is the province of America to build, not palaces but men; 

 to exalt, not titled stations, but general humanity; to dignify, not 

 idle repose, but assiduous industry ; to elevate, not the few, but the 

 many; and to make herself known, not so much in individuals, as in 

 herself; spreading to the highest possible level, but striving to keep 

 it level still, universal education, prosperity and honor. 



The great element of this whole plan of effort and instruction, is 

 the moral, relative dignity of labor; an element which we are to ex- 

 alt in public estimation in the highest possible degree, and to trans- 



