Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1860-03-09
a N N NJ 4. q

I
Society" 1t is an auspicious indication
that among you, who have chosen this
beautiful city for your home, enough OF
rood feeling il found-enough OF rever-
| encc for the institutions under which
YOU we're reared-to induce you to or
ranize a society, having for it's name
| that noble motto our native State has
borne so long aud well and for It's OBJ
jects, the preservation of early assocla-
tons, aud the revival in our hears of
the love Of home and the spirit OF pat
| rotism.
1t is not my purpose to detan yon
here tonight with any elaborate dis
course. On this festive occasion such
discourse would not be desired, and III
the brief period which has been allotted
me for preparation, could not be ef-
pected. We have come together
rather to exchange words OF re-
membrance and congratnlation, and
| IN the little ! shall have to say,
shall not seek to indulge in any pomP Q!
rhetoric, nor to detan you with any dis
play OF profound research.
Born and educated in New York, you
are all familiar with her history, proud
Of her Institutions and her glory, and
cmulous-I would fain belicvc-in all
Your wandcrings to cherish and preserve
her fame. ! shall therefore, at this
time, simply gather up in general out
line, some few thoughts and remembran-
ccs, in the hope that thus we may be in
duced to cherish more reverently that
love for our native State which she SO
richly deserves, and which cannot fail to
make us better citizens in the new home
we have chosen.
If in my remarks sometimes seem
to speak in terms Of exaggerated culogy
Of our native State, it 10 not that | wish
to disparage any of her sister States
for all have their peculiar excellencies-
but to New York has been awarded the
position of the empire State" and in
that motto she has chosen
| "Tkat.banrsr with strange Device
there is a strange significance, for in the
noble race for precedence, she has ever
occupied foremost place.
Turn for moment and contemplate
the resources Of our native State. She
seems to have been fashioned by Provi-
dcncc to be the theatre Of great events.
Within her borders arc found every
variety of soil. The rich valleys of the
Genessee and Mohawk are as renowned
tor their marvellous fertility as they are
for their picturesque and mat:hless beau
ty; and up among her mountain ranges
arc found those vast forests, and those
rich and inexhaustable mines, which
more certain than mines of gold-yield
annually their bountiful returns.
Contemplate, too, the grand outlines
Of our native State On the Southern
border,-in the Northern ranges Of the
Allcghanies, the Susquchanna and Del
aware rivers take their rise, while
through the Allegheny and Ohio rivers
on the ono side, and the magnificent St.
Lawrence on the other, her waters flow
to the remote extremes of our country.
On her North Western border are those
| great inland scas-Erie and Ontario
and between them that wonder of the
world-Niagara-of which the poet
sings SO truthfully,-
"Here speaks the voice of God 1! let man be dumb,
Nor with his vain aspirinss hithsr come;
| That voice impels tho hollow sounding floods,
And with Its presence shakes the distance woods
| These glorious rocks the Almi ghty's finger piled ;
For ages here his painted bow has smiled
hooking the changes and the chance of time,
Eternal tiful-serene-sublime"
On the East is the stored Champlain,
and by her side, in lucid and placid
beauty, slumbers Lake George, the
Geneva Of America, with her coronet of
hills; and in the very heart of the State,
surrounded on every side by high civil
zation, is that vast wilderness untrodden
save by the hunter and the miner, and
wild as when first fashioned by the hand
Of God. In the midst of this solitude
are hundreds of Lakes, revealing to the
curious adventurer scenes Of surprising
beauty; and over all, is Mount Marcy,
towering up almost to the height of per-
petual snow. At its base our noble
Hudson takes its rise, and, never forget
ting its parentage, flows nobly onward,
and finds the ocean itself OH our South
ern boundary. The Hudson is all our
own, and for the beauty and snblimity
Of the scenery which marks it's pathway,
is justly renowned.
1t is from such scenes as these we
are assembled here tonight, and is it not
we'll for US to recall and remember them
1t may be poetical exaggcration but it
sometimes seems az if the outlines of
character were fashioned after the seen.
cry amid which it was formed,-as if
grand and bold scenery gave to ctarac.
ter grand and bold outlines, and it is at
least pleasant fancy and should be
true if it is not, that no one reared in the
tho shadow of great mountains, which
become craven on memory and soul can
ever after do little or mean thing -
True it is, however, that frequent CON-
munion with nature, in her sublimer
forms, clcvatcs and ennobles character.
But this is not all. Sec what the gen.
ius and enterprise of her sons has done
for New York. The first and greatest
system Of internal improvements in the
country was inaugurated and carried out
within her borders she constructed the
first Railroads of the country and the
State is now covered with a perfect net
work OF them; her canals are the won.
der and the admiration of the country
and the world. 1t was a noble concen.
ton Of a great thinker and statesman
that linking together the clear waters of