OPENING ADDRESS, 



Delivered at the 19tli Annual Fair of the American In- 

 stitute, Castle Garden, October 5thj 1846. 



By the Hon. Mahlon Dickerson, of New-Jersey, President of the Institute. 



Gentlemen of the American Institute, and Fellow Citizens : 



The Nineteenth Anniversary of this Institute presents new ancf 

 most gratifying evidence of its influence upon the business and pros- 

 perity of the country, and of the unwearied diligence and perseve- 

 ranee of those who have devoted their time to the promotion of its: 

 great objects. 



It would be a pleasing task to recount the services of many of its 

 most zealous members, but this is not the proper time nor proper oc- 

 casion. I must, however, be indulged in a brief notice of one, whose 

 services have been pre-eminent. I allude to* General James Tall- 

 madge, late President of this Institute, whose resignation, since our 

 last Fair, has been with great reluctance accepted. He presided for 

 more than fifteen years over the affairs of the Institute, with distin- 

 guished ability, diligence and zeal, most liberally devoting his time 

 and his purse to the promotion and encouragement of American in- 

 dustry. To his energy may be attributed, in no small degree, the 

 present magnificent display of the products of agriculture, manufac- 

 tures and the arts, alike gratifying to the feelings of the patriot ami 

 honorable to the country. Gen. Tallmadge must experience the 

 most pleasing of all rewards — the approbation of his own con- 

 science — w^hen he sees the beneficial effects produced by his means^ 

 and I trust he may long have the evidence that his merits are duly 

 estimated by his associates and fellow members, as well as by all 

 American citizens, who have taken an interest in the principles he 

 has so long and so ably advocated. 



This Institute was incorporated by the Legislature of New-York, 

 for the purpose of " promoting and encouraging domestic industry^ 



