Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-06-13

Of this then important bond and liga,
mcnt Of Union between the Atlantic States and
the interior. The monument will crumble-the
road itself may be deserted and forgotten-butthc
name Of Henry Clay will live while patriotism is
honored and genius finds q shrine in the hearts OF
men.
Turnpikos and Macademiscd roads, rivers and
canals still supply indispensable facilities OF inter
course. But a third period has began, The Rail
road and the Telegraph now assert their claims to
pre-eminence as the most important means oil rap
id communication, and the most beneficial agencies
of progress.
With this new era the great work Of which we
now celebrate the accomplishment, STANDS closely
and prominently connected. While yet q youth,
pursuing my professional studies in the City OF
Washington, | remember to have witnessed the eel
ebratiOn of the opening of the Baltimore and ONO
Railroad-porhaps to Endicotts Mills-nerhaps on
ly to what is now the Washington Junction. III
was a great event, and deserved to be appropriate
ly celebrated. 1t announced tho earnest begin
ning of n work thon without q rival in boldness Of
design and grandeur Of conception. Through
what difficulties it has been prosecuted-what
marvels Of engineering skill it has evoked-how
successfully obstacles seemigly insurmountnble
have been overcome, others may tell better than J.
| rejoice to see among you to-day q friend OF my
young years, to whose faithful and intelligent Ia
bors as President of the Company, something at
least, of it's success is due. / have no heartier
welcome to give to-day than that which my heart
offers before my tongue con utter it to THOMAS
SWAMI.
All those who faithfully labor in tho commence
ment of great undertakings, seeking to realize in
material forms great ideas, build far more wisely
than they know. The projectors of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad little imagined how much more
vast than even their great conception, werc to be
the results of tho work they undertook. They
coutem plated a connection with the Ohio, and
through the Ohio and its affiliated rivers, with the
immense territories watored by them. But they
md not dream that these rivers, themselves, were
to be half superseded by other railroads, %continu-
ing their own iron track further and further to-
wards the setting sun.
Thoy did not even contemplate, | believe, the
construction of that Northwestern Virginia Rail.
road, over which you have just come hlther. Still
less did they anticipate that, when that branch OF
of their own road should be completed to the Ohio,
this Cincinnati & Marietta Road would be here to
receive its passengers and freight and convey them
Westward. lie would have been counted insane
who should have predicted il. The only hospitalities
thought to be due to him who might then have
hoped to participate in such a celebration as this,
would have been the Inequalities Of the Lunatc
Asylum.
To-day, gentlemen, you will have an opportuni-
ty of seeing how sober such an antici pation would
have been. Tonight you will be welcomed at the
ancient metropolis of Ohio. Tomorrow you will
be received by the Queen City of the great Cen
trail Valley--still justly entitled to that proud dis
though many ambitious aspirants are eager
to pluck the crown from her brows. There a great.
err wonder awaits you. The Ohio & Mississippi
Railroad, forming still another link of the Central
American Railway, stretches away still Westward,
and the iron horse impatient of delay, Is eager to
bear you on, beyond the ancient limits of the Re
public, where the memories of the Crusades, and
of French Empire, and of French Civilization are
perpetuated by the name of ST. Louis.
There you may pause but the Railroad, the
Locomotive, and the Telegraph-Iron, Steam and
Lightning-the three mighty Genii of modern
civilization, still press onward, and venture
here to predict twill know no lasting pause I'M
til the whole vast line Of railway shall be com
plete from the Atlantic to the Pacifc-from Balti
more to San Francisco.
Gentlemen, l must not detain you by reflections
1t were idle, indeed, to attempt 10 express tn
feelings which these themes excite. God gran
! that we may have the wisdom to understand tina
this our wonderful heritage of liberty, prosperit
and extended empire came from Him and can onl
be preserved by obedience to His laws. Coz
grant that the Union of the States, which thi
great railroad brings into such intimate relations
and that larger Union which embraces all tn
States of the Confederacy and which forms tn
best guaranty of the permanance and enlargemer
of our precious heritage of Free institutions, ma
r endure in all it's glorious strength and beaut
, while the mountains and the rivers, traversed b
: the road, shall stand or flow.