No. 199. 1 307 



and put up an iron rod to conduct it to the earth in safety, as a spout 

 leads off water from the roof. Champion of true rational liberty, be 

 distinguished himself in her cause. No man but him ever lived to 

 deserve the latin lines awarded to Franklin — -" Eripuit Coelo fulmen 

 Sceptruraque Tyrannis." He tore the thunder from the heavens and 

 the sceptre from the tyrant. 



Cotton had been picked by weary hands, little by little from its 

 seed, for nearly six thousand years; so great was the labor, that 

 cotton cloth was almost as dear as silk. An American, Whitney, 

 invented a machine which picked more cotton off the seeds in one 

 day than a human being could do in many weeks. See the wonder- 

 ful result. You have already made here in America cotton cloth 

 enough in one year to give a garment to nearly all the human race, 

 and at a price so low that no beggar need be without clothing. The 

 world for the same six thousand years had seen steam hissing from 

 every kettle, but to apply it to great practical uses. An American 

 following other Americans, Fitch, &c., Fulton first took the wind out 

 of the sails of the ships of mankind^ and made them go against wind 

 and tide, leaving the sail vessels as if they were at anchor, or beating 

 their toilsome way up the long rivers, or against the headwinds of the 

 oceans. Next, an American, Morse, following in the wake of Ben 

 Franklin with kite string to lead lightning from cloud to earth, invents 

 a plan to lead intelligence, literally from post to post over the world, 

 and tell you what the weather is a thousand miles off in less time than 

 you could walk from my ninth ward to this castle! Your ship waits 

 to hear how the southern gale is moving, and sails when the whbling 

 storm has gone by. For six thousand years before this time, the 

 unconscious seaman in a lovely afternoon left his harbor and next 

 morning found himself in the furious tornado which has foundered 

 hundreds of ships. I claim here for another American, Junius §mith, 

 that when the project of Ocean Steamers was first broached, when 

 almost all, perhaps every seaman^ declared the utter impossibility of 

 driving a ship against ocean's stormy waves — (when distinguished 

 men of learning doubted) — asserted publicly and boldly the certainty 

 of success. That same Junius is now actually employed, without any 

 government patronage in making the teas of China grow in this 



