86 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



secret, but now tliey seek publicity both in tlieir i)rocesses and 

 products. While in some parts of the continent of Europe, things 

 have been, in a great degree, stationary, within the last twenty 

 years; in others, railroads and telegraphs have worked wonders. 

 The establishment of the German .Customs League (the Zoll 

 Verein) has led to virtual free trade over a large portion of the 

 Continent. The postcoach and diligence are now institutions of 

 by-roads, or are decaying under stable sheds or antiquated car- 

 riage houses, and the spirit which has animated America and 

 England, has spread to parts of the Continent. In the capital of 

 France, wonders have been achieved. The Faubourg St. Antoine, 

 that hot-bed of crime, misery and insurrection, and the terror of 

 the peaceful quarters of Paris, has been rooted out. Houses 

 lining a splendid street, brilliant with lights and beautiful with 

 shops, take the place of those squalid dwellings of wretchedness 

 and crime; the street stretching from the fountains and obelisk of 

 the Place de la Concorde to the spot where the column of July 

 marks the site of the old Bastile. Beautiful bridges of stone and 

 iron span the Seine; huge airy markets of iron and glass take the 

 place of the dingy structures of old times; factories spread every- 

 where in constantly increasing numbers, and everything betokens 

 wealth and prosperity. True, the flowers grow on the crust of a 

 volcano, but still they blossom, bloom and shed their seed, replant 

 themselves and multiply, not heeding the coming eruption. 

 Babhuge's Light-house system. 

 One of the most brilliant results of that World's Fair at Lon- 

 don, was a book upon it by Charles Babbage, well known to Ame- 

 ricans who have traveled, from his steady kindness, cordial hospi- 

 tality, and hearty attention — well known to all, traveled or not, 

 for his calculating engines and the wondrous resources of mecha- 

 nical and mathematical genius which brought them forth. The 

 finest principles of administration are there laid down which I 

 have seen embodied in language. Such principles as the admin- 

 istrative labors of Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin (and 

 I might add names of men yet living) would have served to illus- 

 trate, or as might have been obtained by induction from them. 

 The principles which should regulate such exhibitions as that of 

 the World's Fair are elaborated in the most forcible manner. 



