The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-09-26
COnclualon OF tho noston JublIss.

friends from abroad and after the eloouent sneech
Of the gentleman who has Just addressed YOU il
would crafty US all TO hear from descendant of
the old Pilgrims, and TO gather an idea of what
they themselves might think of the events which
We this day celebrate, if they could be present on
this occasion, and witness what we to- day with
our eyes and hear with our ears. Ii is not possible
TO produce any one OF the old Pilgrim Fathers bod
lily before you, but offer you the lineal do
scendant of the great leader-the Moses, if may
so call him-of the Pilgrims who led them to Bos-
ton. Introduce to you, gentlemen, their repre-
sentative in the Hon. Robert G. Winthrop, late
member of Congress, and who lately also occupied
the distinguished station of Speaker of the House
OF Representatives of the United States.
SPEECH OF MR.. WINTHROP.
After the Mayor had concluded, the Hon.
Mr.. WINTHROP spoke as follows:
am deeply sensible, Mr.. Mayor, that the hon
ors and compliments of this occasion belong to
others They belong, in the first place. as my
iriend Mr. Everett, has just suggested, to the dis
tlnguished and illustrious strangers of our own
country and OF other countries who have adorned
our festival with their presence. WARM ap-
plause.l And they belong, in the next place, TO
those OF our own fellow citizens, of whom see not
lew around me, to whose far seeing sagacity and
persevering efforts and personal labor sse owe the
great works whose completion celebrate.
lCheers.l have no pretension of either sort, but
am all the moro grateful for the opportunity you
have afforded me of saying few words, and for
INC hlHu ana cordial manner In winch you have
presented me TO this assembly. Most heartily do
wish that could say any thing worthy of such a
scene. Most heartily do | wish that could find
expressions and illustrations in any degree COM
mensurate to the vast and varied theme which
such an occasion suggests And still more do /
wish that could find avoice capable of conveying,
even to one half OF this countless and crowded au-
dience, such poor phrases as may be able to com
mand Bot voice, language, and imagination,
seem to falter and fail alike in any attempt to do
justice to circumstances like the present. loud
cheers.l
Mr. Mayor, the very dates which you have Sc
lected for your three days jubilee would furnish
material for discourse which would occupy far
more than all the daylight which is left us-the
18th, 18th, and 10Th days of September! Are you
aware, sir, how many Of the most memorable
events in our local. colonial, and national history
are included in this brief period?
1t was one of these days. in the year 500, that
the Pilgrim Fathers of New England took their
final departure from the mother country, their last
and fearful leave of Old England, and entered on
that perilous ocean voyage, of more than three
months duration, which terminated at Plymouth
Rock!
1t was on of these days, ten years later, in
1880, that the Puritan Fathers of Massachusetts,
with one of whom you have done me the honor to
associate me, first gave the name Of Boston to the
few tents and log cabins which then made up our
embryo city.
II was upon one of these same days. too, in 1857,
that the patriot fathers of America set their hands
strument-the Constitution of the United States
which has bound ths nation together for better or
worse-let me not say for better or worse, but for
the best and highest interests Of our country and
mankind cheers lin one inseparable and ever
blessed Union forever. [Renewed cheersl
Nor, Mr.. Mayor, is this eventfu period in the
calendar without associations and "reminiscences of
pride and glory for our brethren whom have
welcomed from over the borders. Ii was, if mis-
take not, of these same three September
days. in the year 1853, that the proud fortress of
Quebec was finally surrendered to the British
iorce-surrendered the result of that memora-
BILE conflict on the heights Of Abraham, five or six
days before, in which the gallant Wolfe had ex-
pred in the blaze of his fame, happy (as he said)
to have seen his country's arms victorious and in
which the not less gallant Montcalm had laid
down in the dust beside him; happy, too, (as he
also said not to have the downfall of this last
stronghold of the French power on the North Anne
rican continent.
Nor is this "reminiscences, sir, in which we of
New England, and of Massachusetts particularly,
have part heritage for let it not be forgotten
that Massachusetts, during that year, besides fur
nishing to the British army her prescribed quota
OF SIX seven thousand men to fight the battles of
a common crown, at Louisburg, in Nova Scotia,
and elsewhere, actually raised three hundred add
tional men, at the request of General Wolfe him.
SELF who served the very pioneers of that seem
ingly desperate assault upon Quebec. TCheers.
Let 1t not be forgotten neither that the Colonial
Assembly of Massachusetts testified their admira-
ton of Wolfe and their sorrow for his loss by voting
a marble monument to his memory.
But all these, am aware, are but the accidental
condolences OF this occasion. We have assembled
not to recall the past but to rejoice in the present;
not to commemorate the early trials and exploits
of our fathers, but the mature achievements and
proud successes OF their We not to celc-
brate the trumphs of the forum or the battle field,
but the peaceful victories of science of invention
and of those mechanic arts, SO many of whose noble
products, and nobler producers, we have seen
in the splendid pageant of the day. Loud ap-
plause.l
And in whatever aspect we contemplate these
great highways of intercommuncation, in whose
construction and completion this day exult, we
lind it difficult to express, and impossible to exag
gerate, our sense of their magnitude and import
ance. Ii Is for others, and upon other occasions,
to speak OF their influence our material interests,
our commercial prosperity, and our local advan-
tages.
Your own intelligent committee ofarrangements,
indeed, have anticipated all that could be said by
any one, on any occasion, this part of the sub
ject. They have prepared tabular representa-
ton (Which glad to see has been laid upon
every plate) which tells in figures less deceptive or
equvoca than those of rhetoric, how much has been
done in this way for Boston, for Massachusetts, for
New England, for the country, for the whole I'M
bounded continent, by the enterprise, industry,
capital, and skill of our citizens. Here, too, is
miniature map Iholding it up] which they have
furnished US, exhibiting our little Commonwealth,
as it really lie, covered all over with railroad lines,
as with the countless hbres Of SPIDERS web. They
tell us here of hundred and twenty passenger
trains, containing no less than twelve thousand
persons, shooting into our city, on single, ordi-
nary, average summers day, with regularity,
and precision which make it almost as
safe to set our watches by railroad whistle by
the old South clock! [Laughter.l
But, sir, not by figures of rhetoric, arithmetic
either, shall the influence of those great
improvements on our political condition. our
social relations, domestic or foreign.
Consider them for an instant in connexion with
the extent of our own widespread Republic. BY
what other agency than that of railroads could
representative government like ours be rendered
practicable over SO vast a territory? The neces-
sary limits of such government were justly de-
fined by of our earliest and wises statesmen to
be those within which the representatives of the
people could be brought together with regularity
and certainty, often as needful TO transact the
public business
And by which do you think, sir of the old modes
of transportation travel-the stage coach, the
pack saddle, or by which ever Of those queer con-
veyances which his excellency the governor ge-
neral tells US he once shared with my friend Co
vernon Paine-could delegates from California, or
Utah, from some of our less recent and less
remote acquisitions, be brought TO sessions of
Congress at Washington and carried back at
stated intervals to consult the wishes of their
situents, within any reasonable time?
MIR. Mayor, in view of this and many other con-
sderations, to which | may not take up further
time by abiding, and which, indeed ARE too fami-