Our Retrospect. 



121 



and, through the parting of the smoke, the monster Merrimac was seen 

 seeking with all haste the protection of the port from which she had 

 so lately sallied forth. And when within the hour the wires flashed 

 the tidings north and south, and the late dismay throughout the 

 Union States was drowned with shouts of glorious cheer, and the short- 

 lived exultation of the Confederacy gave way to despair; and, better 

 than all else, St. James and the Tuilleries were made to listen to a dif- 

 ferent story than that which, a while ago, had been begun for them to 

 hear. 



Should it not be a little to our pride and satisfaction, gentlemen, 

 as we look back upon this picture, to think that in the advancement 

 and preservation of ideas which here and there have done service in 

 carrying forward our civilization, the Albany Institute has borne its 

 honorable share? 



