666 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



In laying pavements, the first and most important object should 

 be to form a foundation that will not yield. Without that, all 

 pavements will subside when heavy loads pass over them, even if 

 they are one foot thick, and have the iron or stone surface dove- 

 tailed together. In Paris they adopt the plan of laying new 

 pavement on the tops of the old, which they cover with gravel, 

 and bed the new stones in it. This plan answers admirably. 



The beginning of roads commenced when God made the first 

 animal, and he began treading with his feet, and thus made a 

 road spontaneously. Men first made foot paths, then widened, 

 hardened and smoothed them, until they became thoroughfares 

 for villages, towns, and finally cities. The Indian paths of 

 America, at first, only trod enough to permit one savage to follow 

 another, have ended in streets like Broadway. This art, and its 

 achievements, will advance and keep pace with civilization. All 

 former people have had roads adapted to their ingenuity and 

 industry. 



History notices the roads of ancient Greece, which were pro- 

 portional to their enlightenment. In ancient Egypt, horses and 

 chariots were common, and they must have possessed good roads. 

 Phoenicia, Syria, Assyria and Babylon, have left antique proof of 

 w^ell frequented roads. 



The Romans v/ere celebrated for their military roads, remains 

 of which may be seen throughout what once constituted her 

 immense empire. I have traversed portions of the Via Appia, 

 which, departing from Rome, extends to the distance of three 

 hundred and fitty miles, and terminated at Naples. It was com- 

 posed of square blocks of freestone, each eighteen inches square, 

 and laid on a causeway twelve feet wide. This road, now eigh- 

 teen hundred and twenty years old, is still, for miles together, as 

 sound as the day it was completed. 



And so, gentlemen, will be the splendid pavement in Broadway 

 three thousand years from tliis day if the ruthless hand of the 

 destroyer is kept from it. There is no pavement on the face of 

 this earth superior to it, and future generations of men will bless, 

 with the same ardour that you curse its founder, who, although 



