Part 34 (2/2)
Within the walls of that little chamber was heard the wondrous debate between Hayne and Webster There began the fierce conflict of antagonistic ideas touching the respective powers of the State and of the Nation--a conflict which, transferred to a different theatre, found final solution only in the bloody arbitrament of arms
”For more than a third of a century the sessions of the Senate have been held in theof the Capitol Of the procession of sixty-two Senators that, preceded by the Vice-President, Mr Breckenridge, entered the Chamber for the first time, on the fourth day of January, 1859, but four survive; not one remains in public life It is, indeed, now a procession of shadows
”When the foundation-stone of this Capitol was laid, our Republic was in its infancy, and self-government yet an untried experiment It is a proud reflection to-day that time has proved the true arbiter, and that the capacity of a free and intelligent people to govern themselves by written constitution and laws, of their own er an experiment The crucial test of a century of unparalleled material prosperity has been safely endured
”In 1793 there was no city west of the Alleghanies To-day a single city on Lake Michigan contains a population of a little less than one-half of the Republic at the titon States have been carved out of the wilderness, and our great rivers, whose silence met no break on their pathway to the sea, are now the arteries of our interior trade, and bear upon their bosoms a commerce which surpasses a hundred-fold that of the entire country a century ago
”Frorown to fifty States and Territories, and sixty-seven ht hundred and five thousand, to an area of three million, six hundred thousand squarethe Atlantic seaboard, to an unbroken possession from ocean to ocean How marvellous the increase in our national wealth! In 1793, our imports amounted to thirty-one million, and our exports to twenty-six ht hundred and forty-seven million, and our exports one billion and thirty ht are carried on our Great Lakes, whose only burden then was the Indian's canoe
Then our national wealth was inconsiderable; now our assessed valuation amounts to the enormous sum of twenty-four billion, six hundred and fifty million dollars Then trade and travel were dependent upon beasts of burden and on sailing vessels; now stea, railroads cover the land, boats burden the waters, the telegraph reaches every city and hamlet; distance is annihilated, and
”'Civilization, on her lus, Soars, Phoenix-like, to Jove'
”In the presence of this wondrous fulfillreatness, prophecy looks out upon the future and stands dumb
”When this corner-stone was laid, France, then in the throes of a revolution, had just declared war against Great Britain--a war in which all Europe eventually became involved Within a century of that hour, in the capital of France, there convened an international court, its presiding officer an eminent citizen of the French Republic, its n European States, its object the peaceable adjustment of controversies between Great Britain and the United States
”Was it Richelieu who said, 'Take away the sword; States can be saved without it'?
”In no part of our overnly displayed than in the division of power into the three great departree was that wisdoress into a Senate and a House of Representatives
Upon the Senate the Constitution has devolved iislative character Coequal with the House in islation, it is, in addition, the advisory body of the President in appointn nations Theterm of service, unquestionably fosters a spirit of conservatis body of our national legislature Its e, but the Senate continues --the same now as at the first hour of the Republic Before no huhtier moment
It were idle to doubt that problems yet lie in our pathway as a nation, as difficult of solution as any that in tie or tested the wisdom of our fathers Yet,of those who succeed the illustrious sages I have named, the dearest interest of our country will be faithfully conserved, and in the words of an eh these e, orous and inviolate, and that the last generation of posterity shall witness the deliberations of the representatives of American States, still united, prosperous, and free'?
”And may our fathers' God, 'frorains of sand,' continue to the Aes, the prosperity and blessings which He has given to us in the past”
xxxV COLUMBUS MONUMENT IN CENTRAL PARK
FITNESS OF NEW YORK AS THE SITE FOR THE STATUE--VAST IMPORTANCE OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA--COLUMBUS'S HUMILITY AND HIS TRUST IN God --THE STATUE UNVEILED--CONCLUDING WORDS OF MR DEPEW'S ORATION
Facing the statue of Shakespeare in Central Park, New York, is that of Christopher Columbus It was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies
General James Grant Wilson presided; Mrs Julia Ward Howe read her beautiful poem, ”The Mariner's Dream,” and the oration was delivered by the Hon Chauncey Depew Upon this occasion I spoke as follows:
”This hour will live in history Central Park, beautiful andplace for the statue of Columbus
It is well that to the City of New York, the rateful task of portraying to the es the features of the ers, marked out the pathway to the New World
”The nae or country They are the enduring heritage of all people Your President has truly said: 'In all the transactions of history, there is no act which, for vastness and performance, can be compared to the discovery of the continent of Aator, he 'only opened the gates'; and lo! there cahty nation
”It is said that in Venice there is sacredly preserved a letter written by Columbus a few hours before he sailed from Palos With reverent expression of trust in God, hu faith, he spoke of his proposed voyage to that famous land He builded better than he knew His dreas, and while keeping lonely vigil on the deep, was the discovery of a new pathway to the Indies Yet who can doubt that to his prophetic soul was then foreshadowed so of that famous land with the warp and woof of whose history, tradition, and song, his name and fame are linked for all time? Was it Mr
Winthrop who said of Columbus and his compeers: 'They were the pioneers in the ress of freedom which was to have no backward steps'
”Is it too reater than he hath not appeared? What page in our history tells of deeds so fraught with blessings to the generations of men as the discovery of America? Columbus added a continent to the er Your eyes will now behold this splendid work of art It is well that its approaches are fir centuries, will corims to a shrine, the myriads of all lands to behold this statue of Colureat city, of a great nation”