The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853, 1853-07-19
speech q sir Charles Lyell.

Ivy '''0 Oiy's"' siaco AZ new IOrk ON the 10Th
instant, in reply to toast Of the foreign commits
soners- A A N N4
Sir CHARLES LYELL aaid:
cit is my duty on this occasion, in INV own
name and that Of my colleagues to return Won IN,
thanks for the honor you hays done us ii drinE-
ing our healths After the manner ia which fke
President of the Exhibition and the President Of
the United States have 80 kindly expressed their
regret for the absence Of the Earl Of Ellesmere,
it is almost unnecessary that should, though he
commissioned me to do so, apologize to you for his
unavoidable absence. Not only did he in spite of
indspOsition press his journey from Canada, in
the hope OF being present at the Inauguration
ceremony yesterday, but he requested me to say
that he would have been here to-day had he not
been confined from illness to his bed. Hear. /
He also commissioned me to say how gratiied he
had been during his late tour through some parts
of this country, with the kind reception he had
met with, and, to use his own words, the cordial
but unobtrusive hospitality that at every quarter
attended him. Cheers. The President has al
luded to the observation which one of my col
leagues, Mr.. Wentworth, made after his return
from seeing the factories Of Lowell; also bear
testimony, from what have seen in my travels in
every part, of the wonderful inventions and ma
chlnery OF this country, that to it, far more than
its soil or any other cause is to be dated the origin
of the great wealth which it has already accumu-
lated [Hear.] And hope this Exhibition will
be the means Of making our countrymen initiate
their inventions, and that machinery which it is
SO desirable they should emulate. Cheers. This,
gentlemen, is the fourth visit which have paid
to this country; and it is only by repeating such
visits, after short Intervals that it is possible to
appreciate the wonderful progress which this peo-
pie are making in civilization, and in know
LEDGE and in general prosperity CHEERS 1t is in
deed most cheering sight for any foreigner to
witness at the present moment never before
tad cd
of the country, and sometimes the Congress, en-
gagged in discussions respecting questions that
seemed likely to endanger the amicable relations
Of it and Great Britain. In l841 there was the
Mcleod case, in which violently irritating feel
ing was excited, connected with the New York
borders That storm blew over: but when, in
1876, returned, found a discussion upon the
Oregon boundary, and saw the walls of the cities
in the West placarded everywhere with "54o 40
or fight" Hear, hear That cooled itself
away; but when came again last year, found
what they would call on the African coast war
"palaver" about the fisheries going ON. Hear,
and Taught When started from Liverpool, |
was warned by some of my timid friends not to
run the risk Of geologizing near the Bay of Fundy,
lest some cannon shot from the hostile fleets might
put an end to my researches. A Taught But at
this time began to have some faith in the ami
cable termination Of the negotiations between
America and Great Britain. And now, when
i
ing alta great peace assembly. [Cheers. Whe-
ther we do or do not entertain any sanguine IDEAS
any UtOpian notions about the future cessation of
war, we are met here to celebrate festival which
is calculated to insure the continuance of that
peace which has been so often in danger of being
broken. And speaking of the possibility of war
interrupting such gathering as this, maybe al
lowed to remind you that it the custom of the
greatest nation of antiquity to give passes, not
only to the commissioners who represented the
different independent States, but also to all the
people that attended their games, such as the
Olympic, SO that for the space of month every
person that went there remained in safety at the
festivities. Surprise has sometimes been expressed
in reading the history of Greece at the impor-
lance that attached at the time to those games
but the historian Grotius has solved the problem,
explaining that it was great political principle
OF one of the greatest nations of antiquity, who
were anxious, by. awarding distinctions to every
citizen that gained prizes at the Olympic games,
to perpetuate those institutions, which lasted for
more than eleven centuries. They were not more
ly for amusement-not merely for athletic ex-
crcises and chariot races, &c., but there were
prizes for new musical inventions, and the scenes
of the games were likewise places where money
transactions were managed, even as in Wall street
in this city, and in the Change of London; they
We're made the medium, too, of commercial adj
vertisements at time when the civilized world
had no newspapers whereby to make such com
munications known. They were. found, too, to
be necessary, IN country which consisted of sew
eral separate States and cities united together,
each jealous of the other, as means for the in
terchange of mutual kindness and hospitality, and,
to use the words of Grote the formation of q Pam
hellenic unity. An example imitatory of this has
been set in modern times, by the illustrous Prince
whose health you have just drank with so much
enthusiasm circumstance which is grateful to
every Englishman-for the purpose of extending
international kindness, This experiment, of which
the first example was set in 1851, and which was
devised, not for the base purposes of the ancient
festivals, and not intended merely for consolidat-
ing those who speak the same language, or belong
to the great branches of the Ango-Sa race, but
for the benefit Of all the nations of the world how
ever different their language their clmes or their
forms of governments, and holding them together in
friendly relation, on such principles as were yes
terday engrafted in the proceedings in this CITY,
Cheers. Let us hope, therefore, that our objects
now in this enterprise being so much greater and
more extended than those Of the ancient festivals
they may endure, not merely eleven centuries
but many times eleven" [Cheers.
OBSTRUCTION OF CARs-ARREsT OF THE VII
LAIN.-For several evenings past the downward
Albany express train on the Harlem railroad has
encountered distractions laid across the track at
or near Searsdale station, twenty-nne miles from
this city. The. distractions consisted of planks,
evidently laid for the devilsh purpose of throw
ing the train off the track when going at light
ming speed. Fortunately, nothing Of the Kind
has thus tar taken place, the cow-catcher of the
passing locomotive having pushed off the obstruc-
tons without accident. On Wednesday evening
last the company placed watchmen in The bushes
along the road near the scene of the previous
outrages, for the purpose of detecting the author
In this they were entirely successful Sometime
before the downward express train was duc--9a D.
ma ficnd in human form emerged from tho
woods, and having rolled down a large sleeper
upon the track, commenced to stcn 1t firmly il. its
place.. by means of stakes, evidently determined
that this time there should be no escape But the
watchman sprung upon him and caught him in
the act. He was Immediately conducted Ia The