The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1857-06-11
Governor Chase's Speech.

Governor Chase's Speech.
The following is The speech of Welcome to the
guests of the great Rail Roal Celebration, deliv-
cred at Marietta, Ohio, May 2, 1857:
Conference.-The Committee of Arrangements
for this auspicious occasion, has assigned 10 me
the very agreeable duty of welcoming you to
Ohio.
Itis, indeed an auspicious occasion that unites
the citizens of so many States in celebrating the
happy consummation Of great woIi;, so long ago
commenced, as steadily urged, and at length not
wihstandng manifold discouragements and diff
cultcs almost iunummerable, 50 riumphantly ac-
complishel
1t is will especial ratification that welcome
to our soil and our hospitaliies the Representa-
| lives Of that ancient ami honored Commonwealth
whose infancy was guided by the wisdom Of re
| ligiOus federation, and whose maturer" age was
lu3ratea by the conception and Inauguration Of TIE
first railroad attempted from the seaboard across
the mountains in the vast INFERIOR and the repre-
sentatiyas Of that ancient Dominion, honored
mother of Washington and Jefferson, under whose
auspices the settlement Of the North West was in.
uglrayed.
1t gives me great pleasure TO include in this cor.
| dial welcome those members of the Federal Al
ministration and th,s s. Senators and apresenta-
| tivcs of our sister States in the Federal Congre
whose presence here attesS the natioHul value ol
the occasion, and the diplomatic Representative OF
that French Government, whose dominion once
| cx ended over all this beautiful land.
greet with no less satisfaction and with saluta-
tons no less hearty, the Directors and officers OF
= the Baltimore & OHIO R lilroad, the members OF
| the City Government oil Baltimore, the ntlemen
| of the Press-membcrs Of that other Government
which governs us ail--and those other distinguish
| ed citizens, whose concurrence to this celebration
makes this one Of those bright days, which we
anticipate with pleasure and remember with de-
light.
| Welcome, gentlemen welcome one and all
| May you derive from your brief soioum within tic
limits of Ohio, pleasure as real and as great as
that which your coming affords US. To you, sir
| (turnng 10 Gen. Cass,) may say something more
| than welcome to Ohio | may almost say, Wei
come home Welcome may certainly say, to
the theatre Of your earliest manhood Welcome
to the community from which you received youl
irst political trust Welcome to the spot which
witnessed, near half a century ago, the commence
ment of that long career of distinguished public
service and high public trust through which you
have moved-a career long yet We trust to be
protracted through vigorous and honored age, il
The midst of heartfelt regards aud affections whicl
may be augmented, perhaps, by political sympn
, ties but cannot be eXtingushed by political diff
erences. Here, sir, now as then, rolls the SAINT
swift Mnskngum yonder are the same verdan
slopes above our head is the same bengnant sky
, Would that | could add that low, as then, herr
and around you, stands the friends of your you'll
to welcome you back to the spot consccrated b,
youthful friendship. A few, indeed, yet remain tC
greet you. The rs.-butl let mo not awaken vail
regrets. Even the departed survive in their spiri
and greet you through their works.
My qualification in welcoming you to Ohio, gen
tlemen is doubled by the circumstances that at tn
same moment, may welcome you TO the spo
: where the foundation fthe State was laid--wherl
indeed the Anglo Saxon settlement Of the illim
. table Northwest was begur,
Hither, on the 7th day of April 1893, not We
quite seventy years ago, after winters iourne
across the Alleghanies, through deep SHOWS all
over almost impossible ways after voyage i
boa.s constructed by themselves down the YOhc
gany, down the Monogahela, down the Ohio :
under the lead of Rufus Putnam, Bfigaler Gen
eral Of the Revolutionary army who possessed an
fully deserved the eltire confidence of Washingto
came the first settlers Of Ohio--nobe souls
devoted patrots-braye soders-who, hayin
gallantIy aided in achieving the independence c
their country, now cousecrated their energies to tn
establishment of new homes for freemen, and
e new Empire Of Freedom in the Western wilder
Is ness
Here they found IN sing liar preservation, thos
remarkable and extensive earthworkS, existin,
though in somewhat impaired condition, to til
Ir day, the purpose OF WMCn WnetlCr civil or Mlllt.
l. ry secular ecclesiastical battles antiquarian r,
!. search, though all agree that they must have bee
!. constructed in remote antiquity and by race
" men which has long since Disappeared
Here, too they found the successors Of that rae
the red men Of the forest still resrntlll OF the
wrongs IN Pcntia5S war, and jealous Of the e!
croachments Of the white men.
,e With characteristic energy and prOmp'i,ule q
the very next day after their arrival, they con
ii menced the work of dividing the landand prepar,
at oIce for cultivation and defence Hope picture
" tor them bright though distant future but III
even the magic pencil Of hope could have pictuT~
be the magnificent realty. From this germ in Il
wilderness has already sprung a State as rich in +
l' sources and as powerful in arms as were the who
United Colonies at the era Of the Revolution.
Other States have risen in rapid succession. We
ward and still westward, the Star OF Empire h
z, taken its way, carrying by its mighty utlrachc
Anglo-SaXon dominion and Angl-SaXon cyiz
- ton, in the form of Republican institutions al
y Republican States, across the Mississippi aero
the mountains till it pauses last at the very gat
=, Of evening 10 look down over the Pacific, nc
vexed by the keels Of an unwonted commerce, up
the latest accession to the Republic, young br
- liant golden-robed California To what spot, the
'~ in Ohio, gentlemen, could welcome yOu--to wa
I sDot in the creak cautral valley In the Ohio {,