ADDRESS 



BY GENERAL WM. H. ANTIION, AT THE OPENING OF THE 

 THIRTY-FIFTH ANNUAL FAIR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUIE, 

 SEPTEMBER 3, 1863. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: — This occasion is a joyful one; the 

 people of New York have always hailed with pleasure the annual 

 occurrence of this grand festival of American industry, pleasure 

 which is increased on the present occasion by the reflection that 

 the perils surrounding our beloved country, which for two years 

 have caused the postponement of this beautiful exhibition are now 

 fast passing away. May they continue to pass away! May they 

 vanish like the clouds of the night before the rising sun ! and may 

 power, tempered by magnanimity and forbearance, speedily restore 

 to us a stronger LTnion, based not upon constitutional lav/s alone, 

 but upon mutual confidence, good will and respect. We miss 

 familiar faces in these halls, we miss the varied productions of the 

 industry of a large portion of our country, and we look with hope- 

 ful anticipations to the time when those who under the counsels of 

 wicked and designing men have been led to the stern rivalry of 

 arms shall, at the invitation of a mild and paternal government, 

 cast those arms away and be content henceforth to vie with us only 

 in the arts of peace. So short a time has elapsed since the Board 

 of Managers have completed their arrangements, and so many new 

 and beautiful articles are even now being added to this exhibition, 

 that I can do but little more than ask this refined and intelligent 

 audience to examine for themselves, and note the rapid progress 

 which the useful and ornamental arts have been making among us, 

 even in the midst of this gigantic war. It would be impossible for 

 me to direct your attention among so many things which are 

 "worthy of praise, to those which are particularl}" admiralle, but 

 you will soon perceive that vast improvements have been made in 

 the manufacture of many articles of utility, and that a new impetus 

 seems to have been given to the development of American Indus- 

 try. This fact must, at the present time, be most gratifying to 

 every reflecting mind, for not a few of the enemies of Republican 

 Institutions have prophesied that the effect of the great political 

 convulsion through which Ave are passing would be, to paralyze the 

 arm of industry and cause a retrograde movement, from which wo 

 would not for many years recover. Thank God I such prophecies 



