Daily national Democrat., 1859-08-31
OPENING ADDRESS OF
PRESIDENT G. N. SWEXY,
BEFORE TIRE
NORTHERN DISTRICT SOCIETY
Tuesday Evening, Aug. 3lst, 1859.


Tuesday Evening, Aug. 3Ist, 1859.
The Hall of the Pavilion was crowded wifi
brilliant assemblage of ladies and gentle
men. The exercises having been opened by
prayer, the President, G. n Swezy, ESD, pro.
ceeded to deliver the suljoined address:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN 1t is meet that
the husbandman, the mechanic and those OF
every trade, profession and calling in life
the rich the poor, the high and the low,
should come together upon an occasion like
TINS and exhibit to one another the products
OF the carth the increase and impr, vement
OF their iocks, the productions of their hands,
and the achievements Of the mind and with
commingled feelings of gratitude return
thanks to an All. Wise Providence for the
many and varied blessings he has bestowed
upon them during the year. Now that our
granaries are overtlowing with winter stores,
our tlocks have yielded their annual increase,
our orchards are bending beneath the ripen
ing fruits und the crimson wine is flowing
from the hew-made press and every hcaft is
made glad at the plentiful harvest and the
rich hounties of Summer and the bright pro-
misses of approaching Autumn, it is indeed
{ our
herds. our merchandise, our work .shops. our
studies and our tolls, to behold the wonders
of Nature-and admire works of Art-to
renew our acquaintances and bind more
strongly the social ties-to return thanks for
the blessings of the past and gather courage,
zeal and knowledge for the duties of the
coming year
/ The Society whose first Annual Fair we
have congregated to witness is but of recent
origin, not having been in existence over
three months, and yet we have an exhibition
that would do credit to an older society, and
to county more numerously populated and
improved But few years ago our broad
and fertile valleys, hemmed in by mountains
on either SIDE, We're unexplored wastes, where
the wild flowers bloohied in all their native
loveliness and beauty uutamed by the hand
OF man, and through whose alluvial soil our
mountain streams, sparkling in the sunlight,
meandered along their golden beds undis-
turbed tll lost in the great Pucitic Our
mountains clad IL eternal snow, with their
wooded peaks, deep canyons, and dark wales.
were an unknown wilderness of mystery.
traversed only hy the rude, untut0red Indian.
l3rt how, MS il changed 10y u sweep of the
magic wand. we behold noble farms, cultiva
ted fields, growing orchards, and plentiful
gardens spread out along the whole land
scape of the great Valley of the Sacramento.
as if to adorn and magnify its natural beau
ty and loveliness. And he.c and there the
farm house peers out from beneath the shade
of the ancient oak to tell us of the homes of
the first farmers of the soil Cities and towns
dot the landscape over, adding variety to its
beauty, and evidencng the taste, the wealth
and prosperity of our people; while in our
mountains we behold in each dark canyon.
in each deep vale on every movntain peak,
in every gulch and ravine and along every
mountain stream, an honest bnsy, thriving
multitude who delve the earth turn drv the
rivers bed, wash down the mountain sides.
and undermine the foundations of the noun.
taius themselves. in pursuit of golden trea-
sures hidden there. There too, we see cities
and towns, and orchards, and fields and CUR
dens; and there the huzzing MILL with its
hum aud clatter, transforms night and day
the noble forest pines the tall cedars and the
beautiful madrooha tree, ready for the va
rious uses to which the hand of man apply
them.
1t IS bot as yesterday when the eu,grdnts,
wearied from their journey across the desert
wastes aud over the lone mountain tra:f or
10y the tedious. passage around the Southern
Cape, almost destitute and pennlless, looked
out upon forbidding and dreary prospect
| They leheld no cities or towns, no farms, no
fields, no orchards, no vineyards, no gardens
and no work shops. But undaunted and full
of energy they commenced LAYING the founda.
ton OF Il noble Empire the farmer turned to
the cultivation of the earth, the mechanic to
the work shop the miner in pursuit of the
golden treasure the artist to his study. and
! al,,l1 e. IL Ii
They have given to us government for The
protection of orr persons and property !;
schools and seminarics of learning for the
education of ogr childreni they have estab.
lished wholesome Commerce and now SIP
ply us with nearly all the necessaries of life
and many of its luxuriCs.
| There Is nc country Npon earth where the
Importance of Agriculture, Horticulture and
the Mechanic Arts have been more fally de-
vcl6ped than cur own. The immense treas
urcs of our mountains haye, with that speed
that characerizes every miniNr country. call
cd into action nearly all the resources capt.
ble Of applying the wants of our citizens -
| Without our grains, our fruits, our wines,
our tiocks and our cattle; without our mnnu-
factories and our work shops without the
needle and the printing press, the painters
brush and the sculptcr's chise we, with all
our gold, should be the poorest people upon
earth. 1t is TO th Sc We must look for our
riches, Advancement and prosperity They
give us commerce, and yet shut up the Gold
en- Gate against The expectation of our gold
No country can long prosper or endure where
the culture Of the soil and the labor of the
mechanics not respected The moral, social
and religious sentiment of such people are
corrupt, and they possess not the elements of
virtue. union or strength
In tie ihid-t of our thankfulness and con-
/ temptation upon the past we must now turn
to the future and in that future what do we
behold From so bright past, how gori,
GUS must Be that future As the present ex-
ceeds our past artic, patiohs, the future will
excel our fullest hopes On whatever side
we turn. we behold the materials of our fu-
/ ture greatness, and the basis of our future
advancement In our mountains are en-
bosomed treasures richer than those of the
/ Ural, the Andes, or the mines of ancient
| Opher Our valleys are rs fertile as those of
b9tia and the Nile, and we are blessed with
a climate as congenial as that of Italy. The
pines on our mountains in beauty, dimension
and usefulness, equal those of the forests Of
Maine aud Norway while the cedus surpass
those Of Lebanon. Our soil, in the produc-
tiou ofthc cereals, excels that Of Sicily, the
garaer of the Old World; whilst @e possess
lands as well adapted to the growth OF rice
and the sugar cane as the rich bottoms of the
great Mississippi and the savannas of the
south. Here the olive will grow and pro.
duce as prolific MS in the orchards that once
beautified the wales of ancient Attica. and
the wine press yield its crimson juice to vie
with that OF Judea and the Rhine. Here the
| Il. a, II.