INTRODUCTION. 
I pevizve in God and my country. And if, after an 
implicit faith in an All-wise Providence, there is any one 
thing more than another on which I rely, it is the wis- 
dom and prudence of the American people. The seed 
from the rude sowing of the colonies which hewed out 
the magnificent states of the East, and established a free 
and independent government, will never be found want- 
ing in anything which goes to make up a truly great na- 
tion. Frem my earliest youth my voice has ever been 
raised against the destruction of the forests of America ; 
but, lost amid the whir of saws and the resounding stroke 
of axes, it was too weak to be heard, until now, the day 
of reckoning having come, we must dispassionately con- 
sider the evil done, and take measures to remedy it in 
the future. It is the disposition of our people not to 
take heed of the future, but only to enjoy the present. 
While the forests of America lasted they could not and 
would not believe the day would ever come when they 
would have need of them. But now they see more clear- 
ly, and look with dismay on the ruin which their own 
hands have wrought. To all I would say, be not dis- 
couraged, for it is still possible to undo in a great meas- 
ure the evils of the past, but it will require all of our pa- 
tience and wisdom, and much more than was ever ex- 
hibited by our fathers. 
