284 [Assembly 



ormiDg so large a part in moulding the spirit of the age. I 

 would rather direct your attention to the important results which 

 k has achieved beyond the sphere of its immediate operations. 

 But the better to accomplish this design it may be well to refer 

 in brief to a few of those more startling discoveries and inven- 

 tions, of American origin, which have been chieily instrumental 

 In enlarging our national influence, either by developing our in- 

 ternal resources, or by spreading over the world a knowledge of 

 our power. There are certaili names, which, on occasions like 

 this, should always be repeated, for they are connected with 

 themes wliich can never become trite, till the pride of our na- 

 tionality shall be crushed. 



Look where on every stream and lake throughout our land, 

 the freighted vessel speeds its way regardless of wind or tide — or 

 venture on the broad Atlantic, and see its storm-tossed waves, 

 vexed with tlie rival claims of Collins and Cunard — go where 

 " the astonished tribes of Ishmael witness the majestic steamer 

 riding on those waters which cover the wreck of the chivalry of 

 Pharaoh" — or stand on the banks of the Seine, where his mighty 

 genius was repulsed, but not depressed, by the cynic doubt of 

 Europe's conqueror — and everywhere, be it reverently spoken, 

 it is the spirit of Robert Fulton which moves upon the face of the 

 waters. 



Wherever the steam-mill resounds with the hum of industry, 

 whether grinding flour on his native Schuylkill or cutting logs 

 in Oregon, there do you find a monument to the memory of Oli- 

 ver Evans. 



And he, " the lightning- tamer," whose pointed iron guards the 

 safety of every housetop, who taught that even the " artillery ot 

 God" was not without its purpose in the scheme of divine bene- 

 ficence, has leit the name of Franklin to shed immortal lustre 

 pu his native land. 



Go to the " sunny south," survey her rich fields, now white 

 with the bursting ball. Why is that harvest prized? Why 

 sought by ships from distant shores? You can scarcely work it, 

 for though soit and silky, it is full of seeds. What is the secret 



