306 [Assembly 



Where all are entitled to so much credit for the part respectively 

 borne in this good work, it may be deemed invidious to discriminate^ 

 but I cannot forbear to allude to the distinguished services of the 

 late Col. Few, who was tor several years the presiding officer of 

 the old American Society, and afterwards of the Institute, under its 

 new name and charter; and also, of the late John Mason, Esq., a 

 most active and efficient presiding officer, and patron of this Insti- 

 tution. To the recent president, General James Tallmadge, who for 

 more than fifteen years devoted his personal energies and influence, 

 his great talents, and an unwearied zeal to the promotion and encou- 

 ragement of American industry, a warm tribute has been already 

 paid by his worthy successor, who now presides over the destinies of 

 this Institution. To the services of such men — the real benefactors 

 of our country — the public seem to lay claim as a matter of right, 

 after so long possession; and were it not so, the disinterested zeal of 

 that gentleman, in a cause of such universal interest, will scarcely 

 suffer his energies to be diverted from their usual channel, although no 

 longer exercised in an official capacity. 



It has ever been the policy of enlightened governments to cherish the 

 cultivation of the useful arts. Even despotic rulers have sometimes 

 resorted to this means for the purpose of augmenting the resources 

 of their dominions. It is well known that a former Emperor of 

 Russia went so far as to enter a workshop in Holland, and labored 

 with his own hand^, in order to acquire a knowledge of the art of 

 ship-carpentry, that he might the more effectually introduce it among 

 his subjects. In other countries, liberal bounties on articles of do- 

 mestic production, and an almost entire exclusion of foreign wares, 

 have been among the means used to promote the growth of the useful 

 arts at home. In this way, they have not only supplied the wants of 

 their own people from their own workshops, but opened new avenues 

 of trade with foreign and less enlightened countries. 



In this country, we boast of a model government, in which the 

 people are their own rulers, and the incumbents of office nothing more 

 than agents appointed by the mass of the community to frame and 

 administer the laws, and shape the intercourse with foreign nations. 

 Such being the case, these agents should be held to a rigid accoun- 

 tability, and when unmindful of the true interests of the people, or 

 disposed to favor one interest at the expense of all the rest, should 

 be required to give place to others who will more truly represent the 

 views of their constituents. But excellent as is the Iheory of our 

 government, its practical operation is sometimes defective. The pub- 



