o 5/*^ S : ^-^^o^ %<^^ o 'bv- ^^ c ^^^^. {>* \<^^ « • V-^>o'*'' = *p-^j.. eii^>^$^>':^!%^^i^5^.>' >*"% °^ .5°^ c/ re ^i. t^^ / 1^ AN ADDEESS IN COMMEMORATION OF THE COMPLETION OF THE FIRST FREE BRIDGE ! ACROSS CONNECTICUT EI YEP., BY Pi^of. E. D. SANBORN. TOGETHER "VS'ITH A KEPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS AND REMARKS OF "Or. 130XJR:NrES, Dr. CROSBY, Froi. r^TXERSON-, and "Win. K. DXJ^^'C^^LlSr, Esq. JULY 1st, 1859. HANOVER, N. H.: PUBLISHED BY B. D. HOWE; BOOKSELLER AND STATIONER. P, B. COGSWELL, PRINTER, CONCORD, N. H. f,W^f?^1 ADDRESS, ETC. On the first day of July, 1859, a large and highly respectable audience, composed of citizens of Norwich and Hanover, "with the Students of Dartmouth College and Norwich University, gathered in the College Church at 3, P. M., to celebrate the completion of the first Free Bridge over the Connecticut River. The exercises were opened by a voluntary from the choir, and an appropriate prayer by the Rev. Dr. Bournes. After which, Prof. Dixi Crosby, President of the meeting, arose and ad- dressed the assembly as follows : Fellow Citizens : — I prefer this form of salutation from its associations — for with it is connected the idea of every place and every occasion, "where freemen meet for an open expression of opinion — for a mutual interchange of thought and for counsel, how the greatest strength may result from the most perfect union. The School District — the Town — the County — the State — and the Federal Whole are all indicated and with it the idea of that perfect union we are to-day met to consecrate and in honor of which our nation's flag is so proudly waving from yonder staff. There occur in the history of every town, every State, and every nat:on — certain epochs pregnant with good or fraught with danger — which demand public recognition from the people 5 and it is one of the former wc are to-day met to celebrate. I hold it to be improper upon this occasion to enter upon any comparison of the relative merit due to those individuals who have labored to accomplish so desirable a result. To say whose services miL^ht have been dispensed with, or without whose aid the project might have failed, would, upon this occasion and in this presence, be out of place. It is sufficient that a public work has been accomplished, which is of vital importance to us all. And if during the long, weary years of our probation, the magnitude of the undertaking has at any time created a corres- ponding warmth of feeling and opinion, and if any have felt aggrieved or have " set down aught in malice," let this day's proceedings be regarded as the funeral service of all such senti- ments, and the resurrection day of that neighborly kindness and town friendship, which was not dead, but only slept. But I will no longer detain you, but beg the privilege of in- troducing the historian and orator of the occasion. Prof. E. D. Sanborn. Prof. Sanborn rose amid the enthusiastic applause of the audience, and delivered the following admirable address, which was listened to with profound attention, and only interrupted by the frequent cheering with which his pertinent hits and eloquent periods were received : — Fellow Citizens : — A work has been completed. A duty has been performed. A conflict has been waged. A victory has been won. The work whose completion we celebrate, to- day, cannot be compared with the pyramids or the ponderous architecture of the valley of the Nile ; but it is infinitely more useful than the temples of Karnac, Edfou and Dendera or those towering monuments that keep perpetual watch and ward on the borders of the great desert, on whose rock-hewn sides- time has traced, in mystic lines, the history of forty centuries. The Egyptians were famed for their wisdom. They led the civiliza- tion of the world for fifteen centuries. They were thcteachers of the Greeks. Their science and their philosophy constituted the foundation on which subsequent nations built; yet they had not knowledge enough to construct a bridge. The far-famed Thebes, styled by Homer " the hundred gated Thebes," stood on both banks of the Nile ; and its different divisons were never united by a bridge. Our new-made structure over the Con- necticut would have spanned the Nile, where that mighty citj stood ; but the old Egyptian never conceived of a "v\'ork of art so useful and requiring so much skill and science in union, to hang it above a running stream. The Nile was literally alive ■with boatmen driving all sorts of water craft with oars and sails from the trough hollowed from a single trunk, the papyrus shal- lop smeared with bitumen, the fragile boat of light earthcrn ware and the raft of reeds, to the stately barge for commerce and the royal yacht for pleasure. The grain and fruits of the Delta passed up the Nile to the markets of Diospolis ; and the downward current bore on its tide, the quarried stones of the Thebaid to Sais and Canopus. No bridge spanned the sacred stream throughout the fifteen hundred miles of its known course. Herodotus says that there were twenty thousand towns upon its banks.. The average ■width of the valley of the river never exceeded seven miles. If ■within these narrow limits, one half the number of towns mentioned by the Greek traveller, ever existed, the constant ferrying of people from bank to bank must have afforded cause for incessant motion upon the -water. Fishers and fowlers, too, diversified the scene. No nation of antiquity had so much oc- casion for bridges as the Egyptians. For a considerable portion of the year their -whole arable land was flooded by the Nile so as to resemble an archipelago with scattered islands rising here and there above its surface. Their occupations forced them to live upon the water much of the time, yet they never found means to unite, by a permanent structure, the ojiposite banks of the divine river. They were acquainted with the arch but sel- dom employed it in building. They built their temples and palaces of stone. Their walls were massive, thick, and sloping from the base to the battlements. This feature of their archi- tecture is supposed to have been derived from the mud walls and mounds of their ancestors. The roofs and covered ways were flat, composed of enormous blocks of stone extending from one wall to another or from one column to another. Even their gates and doors were not arched. Existing ruins reveal these facts. It was probably due therefore, to their ignorance and ■^yant of skill that they never bridged the Nile. The arch docs not appear in Egypt, according to Mr. Wilkinson, till the ISth dynasty of kings, when there existed a close connection with the Assyrians, who understood the principle of the arch. A small vaidted chamber of baked bricks has been fovmd at Nimroud ; but there are no traces of an arch or vault used on a large scale. The roofs of Assyrian palaces and temples were flat. The use of columns seems not to have been known till after the occupation of Assyria by the Greeks. The Baby- lonians had sufficient science to bridge over the Euphrates. Their city stood on both banks of this river and the bridge, which united the two divisions, is stated by some authors to have been five furlongs in length. It consisted of piers with beams laid horizontally from pier to pier. The river is said to have been turned from its channel, while the piers were built. This is the oldest bridge of which we have any record. There is no mention of such a structure in the Old Testament. The Chinese are probably the pioneers of the world in this kind of mechanism. " The bridge of Tsuen-tcheou-fou, the capital of Fo-kien, has more than 100 arches. At Tsuen-tcheou, there is a bridge with 300 stone piers with angles toward the river." Some of their bridges are very long, very strong, and very old. They use pointed, semi-circular, polygonal and semi-eliptical arches in their various stone bridges. Their construction is curious, ingenious and wonderfully permanent. When South America was conquered by the Spaniards, light, elastic suspension bridges had been constructed by the Incas across mountain torrents and yawning chasms. The same kind of bridges still exists in that country. They are very narrow, not exceeding four and a half feet in width, and being built of light and flexible materials, oscillate, like a pendulum, in a terrific manner, when they are crossed. Sometimes a single rush rope sustains a swinging chair or carriage, which is drawn across by another rope. This is almost equivalent to travelling in a bal- loon. The danger is probably quite as great. The Persians, in their invasion of European countries, made use of bridges of ships. Darius in passing into Scythia is said to have bridged the Thracian Bosporus with boats, superintend- ed by a Greek en^neer named Mandrocles. The saroe king made a bridge of ships across the Danube over which report says he led 700,000 men, a number greatly exaggerated. The most famous bridge of ships ever built, was that constructed by Phoenician and Egyptian seamen, for Xerxes over the Holies pont, seven eighths of a mile in length. The first bridge was broken up by a storm and the enraged despot lashed and fettered the sea in his ire. The second was built of 360 triremes on the side next to the Propontis, ranged lengthwise across the stream, and 314, on the other side facing down the current, all secured by anchors, and cables united them. The whole wa? made fast to the shore by enormous cables twisted from ropes of flax and papyrus bar!: and stretched tight by means of a windlass on each side. This bridge partook of the nature of suspension bridges, as the chief power that kept it at its moorings was on the land. The decks of the vessels were covered with planks which were strown with boughs of trees with a stratum of earth above them. On either side were bulwarks to prevent the horses from being alarmed in crossing. The transit of the in- vading army occupied seven days and nights, as the story runs. The Greeks were a maiitime people. The Athenians, like the modern English, gloried in their supremacy upon the seas. They almo t lived upon the water. Ships, boats and rafts were far more familiar to their thoughts than bridges. In the days of their highest renown, when their architecture had reached a degree of perfection which has never been surpassed, when their porticoes were lined with paintings and their very streets adorned with statues, the people waded over the Cephisus for the want of a bridge. Their streams were small and limited in extent. This fact, perhaps, made them more indifferent about facilities of transit. The Greeks do not seem to have valued the arch sufficiently to excel in the building of bridges or sewers. The Romans delighted in stupendous arches and capacious domes. Tlic cloaca maxima is among the oldest stone structures in existence. It is said to have been built by Tarquinius Pris- ons to drain Rome of its surplus waters. It is formed of three concentric arches of -wliicli the innermost is a semicircular vault of fourteen feet in diameter, composed of hewn stoue without cement. It is to day as perfect as it was 2500 years ago and is a very remarkable monument of the skill of that early day. The Romans excelled in works of practical utility. They built magnificent aqueducts, roads and bridges. Stone arches they carried to a high pitch of perfection. The oldest stone bridges known to history, (several of which still exist,) were built by the Romans. Their solidity, proportions and durability show that they were constructed on scientific princi- ples. The oldest structures of this kind were not distinguished for the breadth of their arches or the lightness of their piers. Strength, and majesty marked Roman works as they did the Roman mind. The chord of their arches, in early times, seldom exceeded 80 feet. They were mostly semicircular. Pliny mentions two large bridges in Greece, which are supposed to have been built after the conquest of that country by the Ro- mans. One of them spanned the Acheron and was 1000 feet in leno-th. The other united the island of Euboca to Boeotia, across the straits of Euripus, which in the narrowest part, is about forty yards in width. There were at difi'erent times eight bridnres across the Tiber, in Rome. The oldest was called Pons Sublicius, or the wooden bridge. It was built by Ancus Marti- us, the fourth king of Rome, provided such a man ever lived. The bridge was a reality whatever may have been the fate of the reputed builder. The old story says it was cut down during the war of Porsenna, the Etrurian, while Iloratius Codes, single- handed, prevented the enemy from entering upon its Northern end. It was rebuilt without nails so that it could be removed if necessary with greater facility. The reconstruction was super- intended by the high priests ; hence they are called " pontifi- ces," pontitfs or bridge-builders. It is a pity that all pontiffs could not be as well employed. A wooden bridge was standing in the place where the last was built, in the age of Augustus, 700 years later. Ovid alludes to it in the following distich : " Turn (juoque priscorum virgo simulacra virorura Mittere roboreo scirpea ponte solet." 9 This first Italian bridge and those of Lodi and Magenta will be forever memorable in history as the theatres of great battles. The Roman bridge was a favorite resort for beggars ; hence a man without visible means of support was called " aliqnis de ponte," a man from the bridge. There was a small island iu the Tiber, between the citj and mount Janiculum on the North. A bridge connecting the city with the island on which some temples stood, was built about the time of the conspiracy of Catiline by Lucius Fabricius. The other portion which joins the island to Janiculum was built by Cestius Gallus, in the reign of Tiberius. Both these structures still stand, the one a monument of republican enterprise ; the other of imperial exaction. Roman bridges iu the provinces were numerous and often imposing in appearance. They were the chief embellishments of their military roads which intersected every part of the empire. Their magnificent ruins exist in Italy, Portugal and Spain to attest the scale of grandeur with which works of national utility were constructed by this practical people. One of the finest of these structures still exists entire at Ariminum, now Rimini in Italy. It was commenced by Augustus and completed by Tiberius. Trajan reared a magnificent bridge over the Danube. It was 3010 feet in length and 48 high. Twenty-two arches were supported by twenty-three piers, with a platform of wood above. There exists a representation of it on the column of Trajan at Rome. It was destroyed by Hadrian under pretence that it would let in the barbarians upon Roman territory ; or as others assert, from envy because his reign would be signalized by no such work of art. Other authorities describe the bridge diiFer- ently. It has with them, greater length and height. It was built in the narrowest, and of course, the deepest and most rapid portion of the river. For that day, it was a work of astonish- ing magnificence. During the dark ages, the Moors were cele- brated for their bridge-building. The bridge of Cordova over the Guadalquiver remains to bear witness to their success. In the eighteenth century, bridges were built in France by religious societies as a work of benevolence. Travellers were often robbed by banditti in crossing rivers. The " Brethren of the ]0 Bridge," as they were styled, built bridges, established ferries and erected caravansaries on the banks of rivers to prevent such outrages and facilitate travel. Queen Matilda, in the IJth century, came near drowning in crossing the river Lea at Strat- ford, England. She, thereupon, built a stone bridge over the stream called " Le Bow," from the Latin " De Arcubus " The bridge that spans the Rhone, at Avignon, was built by a religious Society. It was composed of eighteen arches, the largest of which was measured by a chord of 110 feet. The oldest bridge in England is the Gothic triangular bridge at Croyland, in Linconshire, the county from which many of our Puritan ancestors emigrated. It is said to have been built A, D. 8G0. It is so steep that only foot passengers can cross it. The longest bridge in England belonging to the dark ages is that over the Trent at Burton, in Straffordshire. It was built in the 12th century, of scjuared freestone. It has 34 arches and is 1545 feet in length. The London bridge was commenced in 1170, and for many years sustained dwelling houses upon it, like the solid earth. They were not removed till the 18th cen- tury. Till 1750, there was only one bridge across the Thames. Two carts could not cross it abreast. For nearly a century prior to that date, strenuous efforts had been made to bridge the Thames higher up. The Londoners were exclusive in their claims. It would ruin tlie city they said, to have another place for carts to cross the river. They succeeded in defeating the charters of other bridges till 1750. No less than nine bridges now span the Thames within a few miles from its mouth. The new London bridge allows four vehicles abreast, besides side walks for persons on foot. No less than 12,000 carriages and 60,00(' pedestrians cross it daily. The first attempt to use cast iron in bridge building, was at Lvons, in France, in 1755. It did not succeed. An English architect by the name of Pritchard, not long afterwards built a cast-iron bridge over the Severn, of 100 feet span. The next attempt was made by the famous Thomas Paine, " stay maker, privateersman, exciseman, school-master, poet, politician, legis- lator and arch' infidel." He undertook to build an iron bridge 11 over tlie Schuylkill of 400 feet span. He had the castings made in England, and the bridge was set up near London, on Paddington Green. Paine was unable to meet his debts, and it was sold and set up over the river "Wear at Sunderland, in 1796. It is even now regarded as one of the boldest experi- ments in engineering ever executed. About the close of the last century, an English stone mason by the name of Telford became quite famous by the construction of cast iron arched bridges over small streams in England. He proposed to re- build the London Bridge with a single arch, of 600 feet chord, but at that time the project was regarded as visionary, and rejected. Now there are five bridges crossing the Thames within the precincts of London. The longest cast iron arch in England is in the Southwark bridge, being measured by a chord of 2^0 feet. The most extensive stone arch known is over the Dee at Chester, 200 feet across. Li the early part of tliis cen- tury, suspension bridges supported by wrought iron chains came into use. The most remarkable of these structures is hung over an arm of the sea called the Menai Straits, between Wales and the island of Anglesea. It was superintended by Mr. Brown Telford, who had built so many roads and bridges that his coteraporaries styled him " Pontifex maximus" and the " Colossus of Roads." The piers are nearly 200 feet high, and the bridge swings 100 feet above the water. The weight thus hung in the air is 489 tons, a work infinitely more difiicult of execution than the rearing of Egyptian obelisks, or rolling up mighty blocks to lift the pyramids so high as " to meet the sun in his coming." Pendent bridges are often injured by oscillation. An inconsid- erable weight sometimes snaps the chains by the vibration which is communicated to them from the regular movement of the progressing burden. A suspension bridge near Manchester was broken down by the regular tread of 60 soldiers marching over it. The longest bridge of this kind spans a valley in Switzer- land. The space between the towers is 870 feet. The cables are composed of fine wires, like the Atlantic cable, each con- taining 1056 threads bound by ligatures of the same material 12 everytwo feet. The suspension bridge over the Niagara river, two miles below the falls, is perhaps as remarkable a structure of the kind as this country affords. It cost about $400,000. The English would have made the expense double that sum. The span is 820 feet, and the bridge swings 250 feet above the stream. The cables are ten inches in diameter, composed of 3640 wires. Hitherto, it has answered the end for which it was built, and promises to be durable. The construction of railroads has multiplied bridges indefinitely. Since 1825, more than 25,000 have been built in England alone. Iron is the principal mate- rial now used for such structures. " In England, the pig iron produced in one year (1857) amounted to 3,686,377 tons, which at an average of $20 per ton, would yield an income of, at least, $72,500,000. In the first cast iron bridges the arch was used. Mr. George Stephenson first employed for small bridges cast iron beams, then cast-iron arch girders with the lower web larger than the upper, then tubular bridges made of boiler plates riveted together. One of the most remarkable products of human ingenuity is the bridge which crosses the valley be- tween Newcastle and Gateshead. Newcastle occupies the sides and summits of three acclivities which rise steeply from the river Tyne. It is the great coal mart of England ; hence it is very important to enter it without climbing a hill. The problem of Mr. Stephenson Avas to throw a bridge across the deep ravine in the bottom of which runs the river, a navigable river crowded with vessels. The gorge is very deep, so that to one descend- ing into it in the night it seems to be the very mouth of Tar- tarus. For centuries, the travel and traffic from the North and South plunged down into this abyss, crossed this modern Styx on a bridge, and then climbed the other side into the upper air. The sides of these hills are covered with antique dwellings and shops. The river at this point is 515 feet wide ; the width of the valley to be bridged above it 4000 feet. The bridge passes far above the tops of the houses on the sides of the gorge and of the ships in the river. The construction of the bridge re- quired great skill and invention. A pier must be set up in the 13 middle of the river. Piles were driven to the depth of 32 feet in the sand. Titanic steam hammers weii^hing thirty hundred each, dealing sixty or seventy strokes in a minute, sent one of these denuded trees to bed in about four minutes. The extri- cated heat was sometimes so great as to set the head of the pile on fire. After the piles were all driven, it was very difficult to build a coffer dam that would shut out the w"ater. The sur- rounding pressure forced in the water through the quick sands from the bottom, and no success Avas had till they rubbled and cemented the coffer dam. It re([uired no little labor and skill to make a concrete water-proof foundation on the bottom of a deep river flowing over (juick sand. More than 400,000 cubic feet of material was used in constructing the piers alone, and a much larger amount in the abutments on the land. The double bridge above for the railroad and for passengers on foot and in carriages, is made entirely of wrought and cast iron. It was completed in 1849. Such a work strikes the spectator with awe and astonishment. It seems to surpass the finite powers of man. It is certainly very far in advance of any thing aiiticui: artists ever conceived of or executed. Still greater skill and ingenuity have been exhibited in othei^ places in securing the foundation for bridges, where sands, mud or bogs were to be crossed. Iron has been used for this purpose, also. Dr. Pott invented cast iron cylindrical piles open at the bottom and closed at the top, except where a suction tube is inserted by which the air or water forcing its Avay through the mud into the cylinder is exhausted and the atmospheric pressure from above forces it down. These tubular piles, like those in Artesian wells, may be united and sunk to any depth which the situation requires. Mr. ^litchell also invented screw pipes which are turned like an auger, and thus forced home till they meet some solid mate- rial to rest upon. But where stones obstruct this boring pro- cess, the huge tubes have been used as diving bells, containing workmen within them who sometimes work their way like worms to the depth of 90 feet below the surface. These tubes are at least seven feet in diameter, and fresh air is supplied from above by a steam forcing pump. The mud, sand and stones dug up 14 from the bottom are passed up in buckets to a chamber above, and then the orifice is closed bj a •wrought iron cover, -which can be securely bolted. From the chamber above the workmen at the surface have tlie means of drawing up or letting down whatever they please. So a solid foundation is constructed upon shifting sands, yielding mud or porous rag stone. Those theorists, who hold to the necessary decline of all na- tions, sometimes prophecy that ages hence, some philosopher from New Zealand perhaps, may sit upon one of the mouldering arches of London Bridge and muse, like Marius amid the ruins of Carthage, upon the instabiliry of national greatness. Sup- pose, then, that 3000 years hence, when a long night of bar- barism has settled upon Albion's sea-girt isle, " That precious stone set in the silver sea," some artificer in the progress of a new civilization, should find a nest of these cast-iron piles, 50 feet below the surface of the ground, which, perhaps, by geological changes, may then be the body of a mountain instead of the bed of a river ! How many ingenious theories would be broached to account for the strange discovery. Some opponents of science would doubtless pronounce them mere lusus nature, products of the divine hand, placed there to try the faith of an unbelieving generation ! Others would boldly assert that they were wrought by human skill ; and thus, an interminable war of words would be waged over these dumb witnesses of a better age. The English author, Speed, speaking of the fossil Ammonites of St. Hilda, in York- shire, calls them " certain stones fashioned like unto serpents, folded and wrapped round like a wreath ; even the very pas- times of nature, who, when she is wearied with serious workes, sometimes forgem and shapeth things by way of sport and rec- reation." Had the pyramids been swallowed up by an earth- quake 2500 years ago, and disinterred by modern geologists, we should doubtless find some antiquated thinkers who would class tliem among Nature's sports. I have previously described the suspension bridge which spans the Menai Straits. This was built for ordinary travel. More recently a tubular bridge of iron has been hung over this same 15 arm of the sea for the running of cars. It is called the Britan- nia bridge. It is 1518 feet in length. It Avas raised in four divisions by the hydrostatic press, -without human power except to regulate the machinery ; each section weighing with the ap- pliances necessary to raise it 1800 tons. When the successive sections were all united in one continuous tube, at an elevation of 100 feet above the water, a train of cars drawn by three en- gines, laden with 300 tons of coal, attended by about 40 car- riages containing six or seven hundred passengers, on the 5th of March, 1850, passed through it in safety, having settled the iron structure in the centre only four-tenths of an inch. Some scientific engineei'S maintain that the roof of this bridge being double, and the intervening space being divided into septs like a honey-comb, is as strong as though it were made of solid iron. Certainly no ordinary weight carried in the usual routine of railroad business, has ever displaced or shattered a single plate or bolt in the cellular tissue of this iron frame. How far supe- rior is this as a work of art to any thing the ancients ever dreamed or thought of. The " Victoria Bridge," across the St. Lawrence, which is now building, is constructed after the same model. It will be two miles in length. Its estimated cost is $0,250,000. The iron tubes are to be supported by 24 piers. The centre span is 330 feet ; the others 242. The piers are fifteen feet wide, except the two centre ones, which are eighteen. These narrow structures of masonry are built to resist the flow and crushing weight of all the ice of this mighty river, with all the avalanches of ice that come rushing and tumbling from 2000 miles of the river and lakes above, at a speed often of ten miles to the hour. When completed it will surpass in length, mas- sive solidity, strength and durability, any other similar work in the world. Though Americans boast their superiority in yachts and reapers, horse-taraevs and chess-players, yet as bridge- builders, the English have no peers. In the use of iron for rails, bridges and steamers, they can safely challenge the com- petition of the world. If the Great Eastern is ever floated out of the Thames, it will be the largest vessel that ever walked the water of any ocean. It is larger than Noah's ark. It is 16 ncarl}^ an eighth of a mile in length. It is made of 30,000 plates of iron, united by 3,000,000 rivets, and -weighs 12,000 tons. "We expect a visit from it. Money alone is needed to put the monster in motion, and drive it to our shores. The English Engineers are peculiarly bold and persevering. The tunnel under the Thames, the first railroad from Manchester to Liverpool, the bridge over the Menai Straits, and the iron steamer, the Great Eastern, -were all carried for^\-ard against the most powerful opposition and obstacles, both material and moral, apparently insurmountable. The inspiration of genius makes men bold, decided and enthusiastic. Men who conceive great ideas are usually very persevering. Their plans master them. A great invention absorbs the -whole attention, and the man talks of nothing else. There is a letter in existence written by Ma- rion de Lorme, in 1G41. It describes her visit to the Bicetre, the celebrated mad house of I'aris. She says : — " "We were crossing the court, and I, more dead than alive with fright, kept close to my companion's side, when a frightful face appeared behind some immense bars, and a hoarse voice exclaimed, 'I am not mad, I am not mad ! L have made a discovery that Tvovild enrich tbie co'.uitr}' that adopted it.' What has he dis- Cj^'cred ? asked our guide. Oh, answered the keeper, shrug- ging his shoulders, something trifling enough ; you would never guess it. It is the use of the steam of boiling water. His name is Solomon de Cans ; he came from Kormandy four years ago, to present to the king a statement of the -\\-onderful efli'cts that might be produced from his invention. To listen to him, vju woidd imagine that with steam you could navigate ships, move carriages ; in fact, there is no end to the miracles which he insists upon it could be performed." This man was so persist- ent in his appeals, that the king's minister to be rid of him put him in a mad house. Here he moaned out his weary plaint, "I am not mad, I am nut mad ! I have made a discovery !" And so he had ; but tlie ignorant court could not appreciate it. He puMi.'^hed a bouk on the power of steam and its uses, Avhich was afterwards embodied, to a considerable extent, in a work pub- lished by the Mav(piis of "Worcester, entitled " The Century of 17 Inventions." But poor Je Cans, who was more than a century in advance of his age, lost his Hberty in consequence of his noble discoveries. So an ignorant world often treats its scien- tific benefactors. The first surveyors of the railroad from Liverpool to ]\Ian- chester were mobbed by the owners of the soil ; their instru- ments were broken and they were driven off by violence. The men who proposed the road were hated by the land owners as much as if they had designed to convert their fields into camps for a standing army. Some years later, when a bill to incorpo- rate that road was before parliament, the engineer, Mr. George Stephenson, was examined by acute lawyers before the commit- tee of Parliament, as if he had been a spy of France plotting an invasion of the country. In the lower house, Sir Isaac Coffin denounced the project as a most flagrant imposiiion. He would not consent to see the widow's premises invaded. He asked in the most dignified, senatorial manner: " how would any person like to have a railroad under his parlor window ? What, I should like to knoAV," said he, "is to be done with all those who have advanced money in making and repairing turnpikes ? What with those who may still wish to travel in their own or hired carriages, after the fashion of their forefathers ? What is to become of coach-makers, harness-makers, and coachmen, inn- keepers, horse breeders and horse dealers ? Is the House aware of the smoke and noise, the hiss and the whirl, which locomotive engines, passing at a rate of eight or ten milf s an hour occasion ? Neither the cattle plowing in the fields n(»r grazing in the mead- ows could behold them witliout dismay ! Iron would rise in price 100 per cent., or more probably, be exhausted altogether! It would be the greatest nuisance, the most complete disturbance of ([uiet and comfort, in all parts of the kingdom, that the inge- nuity of man could invent !" Such were the groans of conser- vatism. But the bill was obtained at an expense of $135,000, and within one year after the road was built, land all along the line was selling at almost fabulous prices ; and the cattle plowed and fed in quiet ! The road was opened in 1830. The transit which used to be made in coaches, in four hours, was made by 2 18 rail in half an hour, and the travel Avas tripled the first year. The animal saving to the public in money, to say nothing of time, was ^1,250,000 a year. Lords Derby and Seflon, who succeeded in forcing the road from their lands, afterwards pat- ronised a rival road on condition it should pass through their estates. Interest enlightens the blind. When the bill for the erection of a suspension bridge over the Danube at Buda-Pesth, was before the Diet of Hungary, in 1829, the nobles were shocked by the proposition that they should be taxed for such a purpose. The Judex Curiae shed tears on the occasion and declared solemnly, that he would never jniss that ill-fated bridge, from the erectiun of which he should date the downfall of the Hungarian nobility. The bridge was only partially finished in 1841.), when the Hungarian rebel- lion broke out. Still it was so covered that advancing and retreating armies crossed it. The Au.strians endeavored to blow it up. A tun and a half of })Owder was fired at once, but the iron fabric stood firm. It was completed after the war and is now pronounced by the Hungarians " the eighth wonder of the world." When the bridge, which I have already described, was built over the valley of the Tyne, the people of Gateshead sorrowed over the innovation. One prominent citizen used to exclaim as he heard the steam hammer driving down the piles ; " There goes another nail in the coffin of Gateshead." Some people's religion is only a reverence for what is old and a hostil ity to everything new. Mere change even for the better is dis- agreeable to most men. Opinions soon harden into prejudices ; and modes of action at first adopted by imitation or caprice soon become fixed habits. Prejudices and habits form an invincible coat of mail to the conservative. When Fulton was experiment- injr with steam on the water, he made trial of a new boat on the Seine. It was not successful. Capitalists and officials turned upon him a cold shoulder at once ; but he, like all men who originate great plans, was importunate. He gained the ear of Napoleon. He advocated with enthusiasm his project of navi- gating the ocean by steam. The emperor was wear}' of him and said to the American ambassador, Mr. Livingstone : 19 " Debarrassez-moi de ce fou d' Americain ;" rid me of this fool of an American. It was easy to close the palace door against the stranger, but it was impossible to stifle, by an imperial edict, the stirrings of genius. The autocrat went down, but steam went up and Fulton's fame rose with it. Appended to Goldsmith's beautiful poem, " the Traveller," are a few pithy lines penned by Dr. Johnson. Among them are the following : " In every government thouirh terror reign, Though tyrant kings or tymnt laws restrain, How small of all that human hearts endure That part which laws or kings can cause or cure." This is sheer stoicism. To hearts panting for great deeds ; to brains teeming with new discoveries ; to hands full of latent enterprise, it is unspeakably fallacious. Tyrants and laws have often arrested the march of improvement, stifled the voice of freedom, crushed the defenders of liberty and extinguished hope in brave hearts. Ignorant tyrants and unequal laws have often stamped their age with immobiUty and moral death. IMonopo- lies, privileges, titles and corporate trusts in perpetuity, have been the agencies by which the hand of industry has been crippled. Until the close of the last session of the British Par- liament, the largest portion of her immense colonial possessions were governed by commercial corporations. The East India Company was an imperium in imperio, wielding a power supe- rior to that of any European monarchy. The larger part of British North America, a country exceeding in size the territory of the thirty-three United States, was governed by a corpora- tion. Indeed this entire continent, so far as English influence extends has been settled by chartered companies and by pro- prietors receiving their authority from the crown. That whole system of carrying on commerce and colonization by corporations and monopolies has been forever abolished. In past ages, the most important business of all nations has been transacted through the agency of corporations. Companies and guilds, special privileges secured by charters and grants, and exclusive monopolies have proved to be the greatest obstacles, next to royal prerogatives, to the progress of civil liberty. The institu- 20 tions which were once useful and necessary, l3j corrupt admin- istration of their power and funds, have hecome oppressive and injurious. The rotten boroughs of England which, till the par- tial reform of 1832,* hung like a millstone upon the neck of freedom, and tlie rights of franchise, are still agitating the Brit- ish empire from the Shetland Isles to Lizard Point, like the throes of a political earthquake. Their days are numbered. They will soon pass away and coming generations will wonder that the}' ever existed. The chief office of the European legis- lator now is to undo the work of his predecessors and remove old abuses sustained by law and use. This has been the office of philanthropists and reformers since the days of Luther ; and the wars which have deluged that continent in blood for three centuries, have arisen from the hostility of corporations, privi- le'^ed orders and titled imbeciles to the people's rights. There are some enterprises which cannot be conveniently carried on by individuals. In such cases a union of capital and influence is necessary ; but even then, it is fast becoming the general con- viction, that ordinary partnerships are preferable to chartered corporations. The numerous frauds that have grown out of our railroad and factory companies have made them objects of sus- picion and aversion to a majority of the honest yeomanry of the country. " Corporations," said Lord Coke, " cannot commit trespass, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicated, for they have no souls." The public are beginning to think that they who manage them either have no souls or inevitably lose them, when they take office. IIow far are Corporations responsible ? This is a grave moral question. The highest pecuniary interests of the public are entrusted to them. A large portion of the wealth of the whole communitv is invested in them. Our temporal prosperity, in a * " There are," said Mr. Brijrht, in his speech at Birmingham, — " in the House of Commons, at present, .^SO members, (more than half,) whose whole number of constituents do not amount to more than 180,000; and there are, at the same time, in Parliament, 24 mcmbors whose constituents are upwaids of 200,000 in number; and while the constituents of the 330 members are assessed to tiie property tax at £13,000,000, the constituents of the a4 members are assessed to the same tax at more than £24,000,000. 21 high degree, depends on the fidelity of our public agents. Re- cently, the confidence reposed in corporation ofBcials, has Leen grossly betrayed. It is fast becoming the general opinion that funds can not be safely invested in any institution managed by irresponsible directors. Millions of money have already been lost by the management of railroads. It seems probable, now, that most of the capital stock of the roads, already constructed, will be a dead loss to the owners. Many of the roads have been badly located to ac- commodate some ambitious president or favor some local interest. Rival roads have been built by disaffected parties, and both the old and the new investments have been rendered worthless. INIen have been induced to subscribe to the ca[.ital stock of new I'oads by exaggerated accounts of the freight and travel to be accommodated, and by the delusive hope of a sudden rise of land, in every village through which a road passes. These promises have been disappointed. Then, the intriguing direc- tors have advocated branch roads, to secure railroad faciUties for themselves or their friends, and these have proved a failure. Companies have incurred large debts, and at the same time large dividends have been declared and paid by borrowed mon- ey. This has been the pohc}^ of directors, till the roads they managed lost credit and became bankrupt ; then, the ingenious device of " fref erred stock " was invented, and capitalists were induced to risk large sums from the hope of increased interest with the best security. This plan preferred the new subscri- bers and deferred and robbed the ohl. It was wrojig in its in- ception and oppressive in its operation. This project soon failed? and bonds were issued pledging the capital stock of the holders for the payment of them. Each annual report announces to the stockholders an increase of income, but no dividends. The floating debts, too, increase with an overflowing treasury. The bond-holders find that they have been duped ; they get no inter- est. The increased expenses of running the roads absorb all of the income. They begin to inquire for a legal remedy. Tliey are gravely told that the law can not aid them. Railroads are new institutions. The common law has no decision by which 22 their riglits can be protected. They may seize the road, but they can not run it ; for they arc not the corporation. So the mortgagees begin to doubt whether tlieir lien upon the road is of any vaUie. Soon, they learn that great frauds have been committed by confidential agents of their favorite roads. Fic- titious stock has been issued. The law is again appealed to, but the oracles of Themis " palter in a double sense." There are no precedents. The villain must go " unwhipt of justice," because of the deficiencies of the law. If a poor, starving laborer steals a loaf of bread to satisfy his hunger, the law has a fearful penalty for the oftence. If a (jentlenian defrauds a company of thousands, or even millions of dollars, and retires to a private palace to enjoy the fruits of his robbery, the law has no nunishment for him. How strange that the hi^ihest crimes can not be punished. What a farce is our common law, if the greatest villains can not be reached by it. The statute law is our only remedy and that is only prospective. Bank officials are beginning to copy the frauds of those of railroads. Almost every week makes startling disclosures of robberies committed on a large scale ; and, what is very remarkable, few of the offen- ders are punished. The same state of things prevails in England. A recent number of the Edinburgh Review reveals the monstrous abuses which have been practiced upon the public by railroad agents, contractors, lawyers, engineers, directors and menhcrs of par- liment. These worthies seem to have been leagued together to cheat the stockholders of their honest dues. More than 150 members of parliament are directly interested in railroad specu- lations, in sums varying from X291,000 downwards to a single share. The parliamentary expenses for securing charters have varied from .£G50 to £3000 per mile! In one contest, £57, 000 were spent among six counsellors and twenty solicitors. The sums expended in legal and parliamentary intrigues, for nine years past, have reached £480,000, an average of £53,- 000 per annum ! Enormous prices have been paid for land damages. In one case £120,000 were paid for land said to be worth only £5000. . 23 The frauds perpetrated by agents, lawyers, politicians and officials are truly astounding. The light is just beginning to shine upon the secret operations of men whom the public have trusted and honored in this country. It is now a common say- ing among railroad stockholders, " I have no confidence in the managers of these roads. Property is not safe in their hands, I mean to sell every share I own and leave these rotten institu- tions to their fate." But is there no remedy for these abuses ? Must the business of the whole community be arrested because honest men can not be found to manage public trusts ? The stockholders are generally so numerous that they can not meet in person to investigate the proceedings of their agents. They must trust somebody. If faithful servants can not be found, society must be dissolved into its original elements, and no im- provement can be made except by individuals. But wo are not yet reduced to this dilemma. Reform will do the work for us. The men who have proved recreant to their trust must be remov- ed, and honest men installed in their places. The laws must be altered to meet the present wants of the public, and corporate pjroperty may yet be safe. In our country, stocks in turnpikes and bridges have been the favorites of capitalists. They have been ready to invest their funds in them, because they have generally yielded liberal divi- dends. Tlie public good is seldom considered by the proprie- tors. Their object is gain ; and they care not at what expense of money or inconvenience to others it is acquired. In the early history of the country, our legislatures gave unlimited powers to such corporations under the impression that they were public benefactors, as, in many instances, they doubtless were. In recent times, charters are rarely granted, in our State, with- out a reserved right to amend them if the public good requires it. This is a democratic doctrine which has received much abuse from conservatives, but time and experience have demon- strated its utility beyond a doubt. The public good should in all cases, oven-ide all privileges and all merely legal claims of individ- uals. If the government can take my person and compel me to fight for my country, a fortiori, it may take my property 24 for tlie common defence. The right of "eminent domain" is essential to the existence of anj government. It cannot de- fend itself without it. If the life and estate of an individual may be rightfully taken for public uses, is the property of a soulless corporation more sacred ? Can the creature of law insult its creator and refuse submission to his reasonal)le requisi- tions ? It is an axiom of our governments, both of the United States and of each of the separate states, that " all power is derived from the people." The legal voters are the sovereigns. They can create and they destroy, when the greatest good of the whole rc([uires it. The highest Courts in the country are guided by these principles. When the public call im})eratively for improvements, chartered rights must yield. So the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly decided ; and we have reason to believe that they will be guided by a regard for the public welfare in all similar decisions for the future. The constitution of the United States was established expressly " to promote the general welfare ;" and all its departments, legisla- tive, executive and judicial, ought to be .administered with a strict regard to this fundamental principle of the organic law of the land. When the country was sparsely settled and the tillers of the soil were poor, it was considered sound policy by our leg- islatures to invite capitalists to build roads and bridges and take toll of travellers for their remuneration. The exigencies of the times called for such enactments. That day has now gone by. The people have become wealthy ; and, wherever the public wish to travel, the property of the community ought to build and support convenient bridges and highways. Toll-gates are contrary to the genius of our free institutions and are only tol- erated from necessity. Where men travel on foot or in their own carriages, in a country as populous and wealthy as New England, they should no more be taxed for the privilege than they should be taxed for the sun and air. It is for the interest of every man, whether he remains at home or scours the coun- try, to aid in the construction of free roads and free bridges. If he be a farmer or a mechanic, his produce or his manufac- tures must be carried over those roads, though he may never 25 pass out of the shadow of his own house or shop. Every com- munity is a joint-stock company. That which benefits one ultimately benefits all. The market man who brinies his prod- uce over a free bridi^e can sell it cheaper than he who pays toll. The drover who drives his beeves and sheep over a free road can afford to give a higher price for them than he who pays a fee every twelve miles at a turnpike gate. Corporations having no souls seldom " feel for others' wo." Shylock, in their view, was a model financier. They exact all that " was nominated in the bond." " I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak : I'll have my bond ; and therefore speak no more. I'll not be made a ioi't and dull-eyed fool, To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield To christian intercessors. Follow not ; I'll have no speaking; I'll have my bond." History records only one instance in which a toll gate was open- ed without the proffered fee. That occurred in the biography of the celebrated Captain Gilpin. The poetic record stands thus : " And still as fast as he drew near 'Twas wonderful to view. How in a trice the turnpike men Their gates wide open threw." But this generous act was done by mistake as appears by the veracious record which recites his unfortunate return on the same track : " And now the turnpike gates again Flew open in short space ; The toll-men thinking as before That Gilpin rode a race." Like most officials, they expected a doceur In private. Disap- pointment even to such men, maybe '' blessings in disguise." Corporations are usually fond of litigation. They are very sen- sitive to the least encroachment upon their lejal rights. They have a high respect for the law when it promotes their interest ; but when the lavryer's bull gores the former's ox, " that alters the case.'' Insurance companies are very rigid in exacting as- sessments, but very reluctant to pay losses. The general rule has been to contest a claim where there is the slightest legal 26 ground to evade its pa3'mei)t ; to enforce a claim where the de- fendant can be badgered into submission. The law seems more t rrible when it is backed by a wealthy corporation. The agents of such august bodies seem to regard themselves as exempt from the claims of the "higher law," so long as they can plead in excuse for their ojiprcssive acts, " the vote of the company.'''' Toll bridges and tunijiikcs like the guilds and corporate soci- eties of mechanics, in the dark ages, have been useful in their day, but like those fraternities, the}'- are the offspring of igno- rance, and poverty, anti social in their tendency and hostile to the best interests of the masses. Their moral influence, in a wealthy and intelligent community, is evil only and that con- tinuall3\ Thej' lead to contention, promote quarrels and excite litigation. They prevent trade and interrupt social intercourse. Even the natural barriers of mountains and rivers, provoke hos- tilities between the dwellers upon opposite sides of them. '■ Lands iutcrsectcd bv a nnrrow fritli Abhor each otlier. Jlountnins intcrjios'd Make enemies of nations, who had else Like kindred drops been mingled into one " " Rivals," says Dr. Trench, " in the primary sense of the word are those who dwell on the [opposite] banks of the same stream.'' A toll-bridge brink's them no nearer tofrether. A free bi-idge would make their interests one, and prevent rivalship. The villages of Xorwich and Hanover would have been more wealthy, populous and prosperous than they now arc, if they had taxed themselves, twenty-five years ago, to build and support a free bridge across the Connecticut. In our own little community, most articles of food command city prices. Local causes have operated to enhance the market value of every kind of table provisions. Emigration has taken the young and enterjtrising farmers and mechanics from our own town, to our cities, manu- facturing towns and to the "West, hence the amount of ])roduce raised for consumption and sale, is much less than it formerly was. (hir sup])lics are now to a great extent, furnished from Vermont. V\\ c^m not procure them at home, if we would. The railroad, on the oj.p.isite b.nk, like a net, takes most of the surj>lus jiroduce of the surrounding c ii.ti-y to the cities below 27 us. Besides a convenient depot to arrest the market man, at some seasons of the year, .speculators, scour the adjacent coun- try and buy at the doors of the farmers every animal, vegetable and edible root which tliey can possibly spare. If wc would have our tables supplied, wo must pay tlio Vermont farmer an extra price for his time and his toll in bringing across the river that which he could as well sell at his own door. A toll ^ate or ferry, operates like an embargo on all inland trade. It repels travel and traffic. It harms our friends and aids our rivals. It lessens our patronage, cripples our prosperity and diminishes our population. It is estimated that our village consumes 3000 cords of wood every year. About one half of this fuel is drawn across the river. When the old bridge was in existence, it was the doctrine of the corporation that it was an infringement of their legal rights to cross the river on the ice. Of course, not only the wood brought from Vermont, but the ice taken from the river for summer use, was required to pay toll. Thus the price of the commonest necessaries of life was greatly enhanc- ed. The property of the college and of the community around it will be essentially promoted by a free bridge. There is an eloquence in its strong timbers and unobstructed pathway, that invites patronage and wins the market man and the traveller to our village. The student whose limited purse yields not the re- quired fee for extending his daily walk to the green hills of Vermont, no longer wanders like a disconsolate ghost, without his obolus on this side the river. Visitors who honor with their presence, our anniversaries, will no longer pay a tax for setting foot upon our soil ; and those periodical contests waged for more than half a century, by inconsiderate youths with the Cerberus that kept the gate, have received their final quietus. If any event of our brief existence here should call forth our gratitude to divine Providence, it is the abolition of old abuses and the enlargement of our freedom. Liberty to go where we please, is as dear as the right to think what we please. Freedom of motion is as desirable as freedom of conscience ; indeed it is often more productive of peace and contentment. We are t9ld. in oriental story, of an industrious citizen who lived seventy 28 years Avithiu tlic walls of his native city -without ever passing through its gates into the adjacent country. The monarch of that cit\' heard of his domestic hahits and wishing to try the effect of a compulsory residence upon the aged man, forbade hy a decree, liis leaving the city upon any occasion during the rest of his life. This prohibition broke his spirit and he pined away and died of grief at the loss of his freedom. It is true the exaction of money, at a gate, docs not operate like an armed police to prevent our passage, still it exercises a moral restraint almost as coercive. When we walk or drive, we choose the road that is unobstructed and shun that which is legally or illegally barred. The state of Vermont, has not a single toll bridge within its limits. The words Avhich Cowper applied to fugitives from oppression, in England, apply to us: " And they themselves once ferried o'er the wave Tliat parts us, arc emancipate and loos'd." Massachusetts, too, has made those expensive bridges Avhich lead into Boston free to all who come and go. The tendency of public opinion is toward the abolition of tolls every where on bridges and turnpikes. There is now one point on the Connecti- cut where travellers may cross the river without paying for the privilege. A work of emancipation for tliis noble stream has been commenced, succcssfull_v prosecuted and triumphantly com- pleted through six n)iles of its length. The present generation v.ill see the entire four hundred miles of its channel liberated from the odious incumbrance of corporate privileges which ob- struct social progress and claim exemption from those laws which govern individuals. It has been demonstrated, too, that a land- ing place can be found in Vermont for a bridge that is owned iu Kew Hampshire : that our neighb-rs not only do not oppose the construction of a pier upon their soil, but their benevolence is greater than our faith. They furnish the land and build the Mbntment of their own choice. They take the lead in the enter- l . They begin the work and the bridge advances from their side to ours, in fact, had it not been for the ingenious objec- tion* of counsel, learned iu the law, posterity would never have known the legal difficukies the petitioners li:i 1 to encounter. It 29 cost the parties in liti^Mtion, at least, §1000 to demonstrate by the successive decisions of three N. H. Courts, the le^al possibility of a free bridge across the Connecticut ; and had it not been for the prompt and beneficent action of the trustees of Dart- mouth College in aid of the enterprise, another siege as long as that of Troy might have been sustained by the Supreme Court of the United States. But no ■wily Calchas, " scelerumque inventor Ulysses" «ould have forced their wooden horse within that sacred citadel. His entrance was effectually barred by im- memorial usage, by previous decisions and by constitutional provisions. The bridge with all its interests is safe. It is open and free. Let no Vandal hand be raised to deface this noble structure or injure one fibre of its timl)ers. Palsied be the arm that shall aid in its demolition and speechless be the tongue that would plead for its disfranchisement. Long may it stand as a monument of patriotic effort, of generous contributions, of lib- eral concession and successful compromises. All parties ought to rejoice that controversy is ended, legal rights protected, the public welfare promoted and ihe seal of universal approbatioQ set upon the finished labors of the town. At the close of the address. Prof. Crosby said, that " Having heard from the Historian, we would now like a Theological view of the subject," and called upon Rev. Dr. Bournes, of Norwich University, who spoke as follows : — Ladies and Gentlemen : — If I had any notion that a se t speech were expected from me this day, I certainly should not now present myself before you. I am not at all prepared to make a formal address to you, but have been asked by a Com- mittee to come here from Norwich to express the joy of our villa- gers, at the completion of the Bridge, and to assure the people of Hanover that we most cordially sympathize with them in their satisfaction at this happy event. We know that Roads — the means of communication between nations, and villages, and men — are highly valuable. They are the very bonds of affection between neighbors. They bind them together by cords of love and mutual regard — and bridges are emphatically the knots that tie them together. We feel deeply thankful for the pros- pect that this may be so in the case of our two villages. 30 V>'^e will send you our goutl rock-ma|ile, our beech and our lurch wood to warm you in winter. Wc will send sugar too, and eggs and butter, and many other good things to the ladies of Hanover, to help them to sustain creditably the load and agony of their hosiiitalities at Connnencement, and we feel sure we shall be abundantly paid for these things. But we hope for more than thesf merely material advantages from this Free Bridge. We hope the two peiiple will Ijc better acquainted with one another. AVe feel sure, too, that if we see each other oftcner we shall like one another better. The sep- aration between two villages is oftentimes the greater as the dis- tance between them is less. Hanover people and Norwich peo- ple know more of. and see more of the people of Boston than the}' do of each other. We hope this ma}^ not be so in future. Ko peojile, no man can live long alone, cut off from neighbors without being the worse for it. Little villages that are shut out from the rest of the world become selfish and inordinately conceited. They cannot com- pare themselves with other people, and so it happens that they learn to think far too much of themselves, and too meanly of other people. They resemble in this respect a boy of whom I once heard. I do not pretend to know his name very accurate- ly, but I believe he was a near relative of the celebrated Mrs. Partini:jton. This boy thought his father's farm was the very finest piece of land in all the world — he knew it was better than any other place — any bod}' could see it had the best location in all the world, for just you stand in front of father's door and look up and you would see it is rigid under the centre of Heav- en. People of small villages have too much of this same tem- per in them. But roads and bridges dispel these delusions. Tliev may diminish somewJiat individual satisfaction but they f^rea'tly improve a society — make them more kind, liberal, and social.' We rejoice then most sincerely in the completion of this Free Bridge. I must say a few words in reference to one part of the ad- mirable address we have jtist heard from the learned and elo- quent gentleman who has preceded me. I should not wish to stand forward as the advocate of old fogyisra. AYe are by no means the enemies of progress. But I think we shouM not for- get that the old bridge in its da}' did good service. We cannot icin in any general condemnation of corporations, nor in any "•eneral <:r -- • ;' execration against them as being always corrujjt, and in thei. ' nature injurious to a country. We cannot de- ny that corpuriu. - and companies have oftentimes been selfish on ol and exacting. We cannot deny that they have too often held back a conimuiiit}^ in their advancement to prosperitv. But ■ffithal this they have done good service. The country at large is greatly indebted to companies and corporations. There is a time — there is a certain stage of society in which corporations are the very best things for them ; >ve cannot get along without them . "When a country is young and poor, and finds employment for all its means and money in private works, it needs corporations to execute public work^. If, at this stage the rich men do not combine themselves into corporations, and execute public works, these works will not be done at all. The general interest suffers, and the permanent improvement of the country is neglected. The part of wisdom is to accept the services of these corpora- tions wlien we want them ; to give them thanks for the good they do us, but to retain them no longer than is absolutely nec- essary ; to use corporate bridges rather than have none, but to build free ones as soon as possible. And if corporations cling rather too tenaciously to their prop- erty, if they ?re disposed to sacrifice the public welfare in some degree to their private profit, we must resist them and shake them off. But when we have done this good work, when we are clearly out of their hands, let us not cherish ill will against those corporators, but offer them the right hand of fellowship, and invite them to share with us in the common benefit we have achieved for all. They may have been too keen for gain, but in these days who can condemn his brother on a charge like this ? who is fit to throw tha first stone at them ? Let this bridge cover any little chasm or rent that may have been made in our society by a perhaps too eager assertion of personal rights, too prolonged a defence of personal property ; let it. unite all in love. We are so accustomed when we hear or speak of a new country to think of Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, or some of those places in the far West, that we forget the age of these towns we live in ; we forget that they are still really very young — very new places. Neither of these villages or towns is yet one hundred years old. I find it stated in Thompson's History of Vermont, that in 17G1, THREE men came into the town of Norwich and went and pitch- ed their tent on the margin of the Connecticut, and at that time there were two men living in Hanover. Surely when we take facts like these into account we should not complain that corporations still exists amongst us, we should rather rejoice that we have so soon began to free ourselves from them. OZ "\Vo '>f Vermont do not yield to tlie men of Hanover in our sen=;o of t\\o benefit to bo derived from a Free Bridge — nay, more, we claim that wc have from the very first been a^Yare of the value of it — from the first, too, we have looked forward confidently to the time when a Free bridge would span cliis beautiful River, and one, at least, of our citizens gave clear proof of his admirable foresight in this particular, and also of his determination to assist, at least to throw no impediment in the way of accomplishing this good work. Doctor Lewis always said there ouglit to be a Free JJridge between these towns — he ought to have the credit of his wisdom and his desire to promote the public welfare. When the corporation were about to raise tlieir first bridge, they applied to Dr. Lewis to buy the land on the Vermont side for a landing, but he would not sell it. He leased it for twenty years to them, on condition that he and his family should always cross toll free. He never did sell the landing place. He never would sell it. This is now, I believe, tho fourth bridge that has been erected at this point. I trust it may long remain to join these Towns ia friendship and kindly neigliborhood. We invite all Hanove- rians to cross over and see us. We think we have greener hills than you have. We think we have plcasanter roads and drives than you have. We invite you to come and see them and enjoy the benefits of them. We invite all ladies and gentlemen. We are selfish in giving this invitation. We expect much pleasure from the increased intercourse between these villages. We have often derived great benefit already from your visits. The last person who crossed the first bridge before its fall was a messen- o-er for the Doctor — we hope we shall not often need the Doc- tor amongst us, but when we do, we shall hope to see him speedily and shall make him welcome. And those Wandering Ghosts of whom the learned gentlemen has spoken, as Hitting along these New Hampshire shores. If there be any of them, of wasted forms, emaciated with absti- nence, exhausted with application and study — tottering along for relaxation and a little wholesome exercise, we invite them to cross this Free Bridge, to come to our side, to refresh them- selves, to renew their strength, to gain new vigor that they may return and resume their labors, and be able to go forth healthy, resolute, thoroiighly furnished, complete in body and mind, to do service for their country as scholars, men and citizens. Ladies and Gentlemen, I must conclude as I began, by say- in'' that Norwich deeply sympathizes with you on this happy event. We most heartily join with you in thanking God that we 33 have been able v.'ithout serious loss or accMent to com;il'jte tbii Bridge. At the coiiclusiou 'if Dr. Ilournes' snjocli, Av'iich wa; rocoived with much a])plausc, tho chairman remarked that die services of the day would be deficient with:m Hartford to the Fifteen Mile Falls. But this project was tlirown into the shade hy the contemplated canal. Fortunately- for the country, neither of these projects succeeded. It would have been time, labor, and money thrown away. Of the present railroad system I need not speak. Some of you have pleasant, verj^ pleasant associations connected with it, and some of you have associations connected with it that are neither pleasant nor profitalle. But what a contrast between to-day and sixty or seventy years since. We are rushed along from Boston to this place by rail in as many houra as it took good Madam Snaith days to make her bridal tour betv\een the two places. It is net xai three-fourths of a century since Col. Enoch Hale built the first Bridge across Connecticut River. This was at Bellows Falls. Dr. Dwight, in his " Travels through New England," says that " when Col. Hale first formed the design of building this Bridge, its practicability Avas generally denied, and the undertaker was laughed at for seriously pi'oposing so romantic a project." He built the bridge at an expense of twenty-seven hundred dollars, and it ruined him. Belknap, speaking of this bridge in 1792, says " it is the only bridge across Connecticut River, but it is in contemplation to erect one thirty-six miles above, at the jNIiddle Bar of Wliite River Falls." If the great and good Dr. Dwight, who was truly, wdiile he lived, the Jupiter Tonans of the New England Church, and in Connecticut one of the Dii Majores in the State — a man of wdiom 3^ou might, almost without exaggeration, sa^^ that when he " Shook liis amlirosial locks, and gave the nod," it was truly to the lay gentry, and the inferior clergv, I use the term not invidiously, " Tlie stamp of Fate, the sanction of a God," if he thought it worth while to speak of building the Bridge at Bellows Falls — if the learned Belknap thought it not unworthy of the historic pen to record the intoition of Imilding the White 39 River Falls Bridge — surely it will not be said of us that we arc here to-day cxcliangin;^ congratulations upon the accomplish- ment of a trivial, or an unimportant event. It is an old adage, that " we should speak well of a bridge that has carried us well over" — of the Old Bridge let us all say, " Peace to its ashes," and may all the ill-^\ill, hard feel- ing and bad blood that may have been engendered by the late contest be from this time, henceforth, and forever, with its ashes in the deep Avaters of the river buried. So much for the material aspect of this subject. I had intended to say something of the historical associations connect- ed with the places around the Bridge — something of Ledyard, that world-renowned traveller. Near the place where the Bridge now stands, he felled, or stole the lofty pine which he made into a " dug out," launched it upon the stream, and clothed in a bear skin, his only companions an Ovid and a New Testament, made that wundruas voyage down the river in this primitive bark. But I fear that voice, time, and the patience of my hearers would all fail mc, and I forbear. It only remains for me to perform a duty, which has been im- posed u}ion me by the citizens of the place, a duty, at once, pleasing and sad. We have been informed, (addressing himself to the speaker of the occasion) that it is your intention, to use a technical phrase, " to take up your connections with the College," and take to yourself a new home upon the distant and opposite bank of the " Great Father of Waters." Allow me to assure you that we have all heard of this with feeUngs of regret, of gi'i^at, and deep regret. For a quarter of a century we have known aiid highly appreciated your many excellent social and civil virtues. As a man, as a citizen, as a magistrate, we have ever found you " ready for every good word and work." We can offer you no higher or better wishes— and this w^e do from the depth of o\u' hearts — than that in your new and distant home your health, your prosijcrity, your happiness, may be equal to your unbounded energy, your unlimited versatility. At the close of Mr. Duncan's speech. Dr. Crosby remarked that the audience had now listened to History, Theology, Philos- ophy, and Law, and asked if a medical opinion was desired, to which interrogatory a decided affirmative was given. " I have then," said he, " but a single remark to make of the old Bridge: from the violence of its convulsions and the len;rth of time it 40 was iVlii:^, it mast have liaJ a strong coustltution." Tln^ cIkiIi- man rurLhcr said : — " It is important that our Bridge bliuuld iiave a name. Many years since, as Mr. Duncan Las told us, Julai Ledyard launehed his self-wrought " dug-out," and took the first step in that long series of journeys which ended in making his nime a household word wherever courage and ju'rseveranec are vMucd as they should be. The tree tliat was sh..ped into the canoe was cut a few rods nunh of the iircsenfc Bridge. I therefore move th:»t our new strueture be christened the '• Led- yard Free Bridge." The resolution was put, and resulced in an unaniuiOus afnrm- ative, " And as it is the custom when a prince is born, to announce the fact by a salvo of artillery, I have the pleasure of luforming vou that tlic christening will be ratified by a national salute, hiod by the young gentlemeu connected with the Norwich Uni versity, imn^icdiatoly after the close of those services." — - The au, ''*^<^'' o z