Eepoet of Board of General Managbes. 53 



Iroquois confederacy dictated to subject tribes from the lakes to the 

 gulf; it will be so when the net- work of the roads of commerce by land 

 and water are to those of our time as ours are to those of the stage coach 

 and the pack mule. 



As Henry Hudson sailed up the noble stream that the aborigines called 

 " the river of the mountains," he thought that here, indeed, must be the strait 

 between two oceans, the long sought for northwest passage to India. But 

 though ho found " as beautiful a land as the foot of man can tread on," 

 he little dreamed that this was the passage to an empire which had in store 

 for coming generations riches beyond the treasure of far Cathay. It took 

 more than a century for men to grasp the significance of the discovery of 

 Columbus, and it was another two centuries before it was fairly dedicated 

 to its destined use. For this virgin continent, that the navigators of 

 Europe had stumbled on in their search for a short cut to Asia, had a 

 larger part to play in the drama of human history than to be merely a 

 new battle ground for old world quarrels, and a new sphere of ambition 

 for old world dynasties. It had been reserved through all the ages to give 

 man a new opportunity to show that he is worthy to be free, and to enable 

 him to work out on the grandest scale in history a scheme of liberty, com- 

 bined with order, which should stand as an example and an encourage- 

 ment to all the world beside. Time has verified with marvelous accuracy 

 the prediction of the Irish poet, recorded about 150 years ago, and familiar 

 now to every school boy : 



" Westward the course of empire takes its way ; 

 The four first acts already past, 

 A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; 

 Time's noblest offspring is the last." 



In this great enterprise New York has nobly borne her share. The pro- 

 test of her provincial Legislature against the stamp act is recorded to have 

 breathed a spirit more bold and decided than that from any other colony. 

 It was within her borders that the first scheme of colonial union was for- 

 mulated, and there also assembled the first provincial Congress to prepare 

 the ground for the fair edifice of American liberty. The first State Con- 

 stitution of New York has been universally accorded the very highest rank 

 among the written instruments of human freedom. Her share in the mak- 

 ing of the Federal Constitution was no less important than honorable, and 

 the stand which she took to defend the sovereign rights of the smaller 

 States against influences that would have given the States of her own 

 rank an overmastering influence over the general government, has been, 

 with justice, called the noblest passage in her history. 



