250 
STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
We behold a people, too, that is the “ child of its own 
achievements”—colossal, glorious, sublime—a halo around its 
brow ! 
“ America ! lialf'-brotlier of the world! 
Time hath no other child like thee! ” 
While the nations of the earth are in uproar and confusion; 
while sceptre clashes with sceptre, and “desolation, snatching 
feom the hand of Time the scythe of ruin, sits aloft or stalks 
in dreadful majesty abroad," see how this young Titan sits 
upon his throne between the seas, nor fears the howling tem¬ 
pest! 
Viewing the general condition of our country more closely, 
in order to discover its special educational needs, three great 
classes of conditions or characteristics appear, to wit: the 
Physical Character of the Country, the Characteristics of the 
People, and the Form of the Government. 
1. Of the physical character and condition of the country: 
I am aware that it is popular now-a-days to ascribe all that 
we have, as a people of wealth and power and glory, to the 
transcendant genius and irresistible energy of the Anglo 
Saxon race. But, while I do not question the superiority of 
this race; while I believe, indeed, that it was a part of God’s 
providence, this blending or fusing of the elements of which it 
is composed—made up, as you know it is, of the Angle, the 
Norman, the Saxon and the Dane—so that a race might be 
produced whose mighty arm and working brain should subdue 
the forces of nature, and people the earth with its nobler mil¬ 
lions, I do not believe that this is the only element of Ameri¬ 
can success: there is a geographical as well as ethnological 
cause. 
The United States comprise a portion of the earth abound¬ 
ing more than any other in all the natural sources of wealth 
and power. Occupying the best portion of the North-Tem¬ 
perate Zone, it is at once the most congenial to human life, 
and the most productive of human happiness. With its 
coast of 12,000 miles; its lofty but not impassible mountains ; 
its broad valleys and boundless prairies; with its vast interior 
