SPEECH AT THE YELLOW SPRINGS, IN OHIO.* MR CHAIRMAN: PERMIT me to thank you and this respectable company for the sentiment just announced, although I find it difficult to do so in any suitable terms. It is known to most of the company that I arrived here two or three hours since, with my worthy friend, your fellow-citizen, (Mr Fales, of Dayton,) with no other anticipation than that of enjoying the natural beauties of this lovely spot, where every thing seems combined that can delight the eye, afford recreation, and promote health. To meet, in addition to the gratification of a visit to so agreeable a retreat, the kind and unexpected welcome of such a company, inspires me, I need not say, with emotions which I had better leave to your indulgence to imagine, than attempt to express. Allow me, therefore, to pass from a topic so unimportant as my private feelings, and dwell a few moments on those views which present themselves to the mind of the stranger in visiting your prosperous state. My first distinct impressions relative to this state were formed some thirteen years ago, in the interior of the continent of Europe, from a work which had then just been published by your distinguished fellow-citizen, Dr Drake "The Picture of Cincinnati." Having at that time an opportunity, through the pages of one of the literary journals of Germany, † to call the attention of the reading public in that quarter to the wonderful progress you had made and were Delivered at a public dinner, at the Yellow Springs, in Ohio, June 29, 1829. The Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen, for 1st September, 1817. making, as set forth in the work alluded to, I found the account to be received almost with incredulity. Nor was this wonderful. I remember to have passed eighteen months in that country, traversing it, to a considerable extent, in several directions, before I had seen one new house in progress of erection. With such a state of things about them, (the consequence of the disastrous political condition of Europe,) you can easily conceive that they found it difficult to credit the statement, when they were told that Ohio contained in 1787 not a single white settlement, in 1790 three thousand inhabitants, in 1800 forty-two thousand, in 1810 two hundred and thirty thousand, and in 1815 at least four hundred thousand; * and that this was not the overpouring of the whole redundant population of the old states into one favorite resort of emigration, but that half a dozen other new states had been growing up with nearly equal rapidity at the same time, while the old states also had been steadily on the increase. It is not surprising that such facts, told to a community whose population is nearly stationary, should scarcely gain credence. Such was the impression produced by the condition of your state in 1815. The next time my attention was more particularly called to the subject was about two years since, by another interesting work, the well-known pamphlet, entitled "Cincinnati in 1826," in which some general views are given of the progress of Ohio. From this it appeared, that in the interval between the two publications, new wonders of advancement had been made; and further strides had been taken, astonishing even to the eye familiarized to the improvements by which you are surrounded. In this short period, regular communications by stage-coaches had been established; the National Road had entered your limits; your rivers had become thronged with steamboats; and your population had doubled. But your progress did not stop at this period. On the contrary, it now received perhaps its most powerful stimulus. Your canal policy—the glory and pros * In 1840, the population of Ohio was 1,519,467. perity of the state—had been determined upon, and a commencement made in its vigorous execution. In the latest publications relative to your state, particularly in "The Geography and the History of the Valley of the Mississippi," the still more rapid progress produced by this new stimulus is indicated. But even this does not bring it down to the present hour. On the points where the system of communication is complete, the effect has been magical. The population of Cincinnati, by accurate estimate, has risen since 1825 from sixteen to twenty-five thousand; and, as I have been informed, on the best authority, an increase in the value of its real property has taken place equal to the whole expense of the Miami Canal. But no book can describe your state farther down than to the moment when it is written. Its condition changes, while the geographer is casting up the figures that represent it. As well might you, by the theoretical rules of navigation, attempt to designate the position of a steamboat on the Ohio, when it is swollen by the floods of spring. While you are fixing your quadrant, the boat is swept downwards for miles on the bosom of the rushing stream. These and similar facts, sir, would the less merit frequent repetition, were the rapid progress of the country occasioned merely by the abundance of fertile land, operating as a temptation to the adventurer in search of fortune. But when we contrast the progress of the Western States of our Union with that of the British possessions in their immediate neighborhood, we see that other causes have been at work to produce this unparalleled state of things. It is well known that the British government has held out very strong temptations to persons disposed to emigrate to its North American possessions. The expense of crossing the ocean has been defrayed, grants of land have been made, freedom from taxes guarantied, and implements of husbandry furnished, (if we are not misinformed,) at the public expense. Some portion of the land itself, in those possessions, for natural fertility, climate, and geographical position, is equal to any part of the Western States. But while some of those states have been adding to their numbers from thirty to one hundred thousand inhabitants yearly, it has been publicly stated, of late, by an inhabitant of Upper Canada, that the increase of that province, emigration included, has not for ten years exceeded four thousand five hundred per annum. We learn, from this contrast, that the growth of your western country is not merely the progress of its citizens in numerical multiplication. It is civilization personified and embodied, going forth to take possession of the land. It is the principle of our institutions, advancing not so much with the toilsome movement of human agency, but rather like the grand operations of sovereign Providence. It seems urged along its stupendous course, as the earth itself is propelled in its orbit, silent and calm, like the moving planet, with a speed we cannot measure; yet not, like that, without a monument to mark its way through the vacant regions of space, but scattering hamlets, and villages, and cities on its path, the abodes of civilized and prosperous millions. The ties of interest which connect all the states of this Union are innumerable; and those of mutual good will are destined, I trust, to add all their strength to the compact. It ought to be the desire and the effort of every true patriot to merge in one comprehensive feeling all discordant sectional preferences. But the circumstances of first settlement and geographical proximity will produce associations not inconsistent with the one great principle of union, and resting on a basis too natural to be discredited. It cannot be expected that New England and the Middle States should not feel complacency in reflecting that the foundations of Ohio were laid by some of their citizens-that the germs of your growth were derived from our soil. Acknowledging the high traits of character to be found in the various strongly-marked sections of the country, we cannot be insensible to the prevailing affinity between your population and ours. In the leading characteristics of society here we recognize the qualities to which we have been familiarized at home. While we 1 witness your auspicious progress, we take pride in reflecting that it is the extension of our own immediate kindred - the ripening of a fruit which our fathers planted. Nor is this similarity confined to things of a superficial nature, belonging rather to the province of manners than institutions. In many concerns of highest moment, and particularly in the system of public schools commenced in Ohio, we behold an assurance that your vast community is destined to grow up into a still nearer resemblance of what we deem the best feature of ours. Regarding the mind of the citizens as the most precious part of the public capital, we have felt that an efficient plan of general education is one of the first elements of public wealth. The diffusion of intelligence has furnished us our best compensation for our narrow limits and moderately fertile soil; and the tax which has effected it has returned with the richest interest to the citizens. We rejoice to see you adopting the same policy, and providing for a posterity instructed in the necessary branches of useful knowledge. Such a policy, besides all its other benefits, binds the different members of the body politic by the strongest ties. It lays the rich under contribution for the education of the poor; and it places the strong watchman of public intelligence and order at the door of the rich. In the first adoption of such a system, difficulties are to be expected; it cannot go equally well into operation in every quarter; perhaps not perfectly in any quarter. But the man, or the body of men, that shall effectually introduce it, will perform a work of public utility, of which the blessing and the praise will never die. It has been frequently remarked that our beloved country is set up, by Providence, as a great exemplar to the world, from which the most enlightened and best governed of the ancient nations have much to learn. When we think how recently our continent itself was discovered, that almost ever since it has been subjected to foreign rule, and left unshielded, to receive every impression that could be stamped on it by foreign ascendency, we must feel that it is extraordinary that we have been able to constitute ourselves an acknowledged |