Washington Township (part 9 of 12)

The city of St. Louis, Mr. Mayor, and the whole State of Missouri, was, at the time to which you have referred as being an era in the history of the city of Baltimore, subject to a foreign potentate, was the possession of a foreign power, and no part or parcel of this confederacy. In 1803, as you all well know, it was acquired by purchase, under the administration of Thomas JefiFerson. Since then its history is known to you, and to every man within the sound of my voice. But there is one thing which, perhaps, is not known to you, and permit me to say, as the representative of the city of St. Louis, that there is a more practical and direct similarity between the people of Baltimore and the people of St. Louis, than between the people of any other two of the principal cities of this great confederacy. 1 am still young, yet I am old enough to know and understand the difficulties that beset the undertaking of the enterprise of which the gentleman ou ray right here is the president. The commencement of this great work dates back almost as many years as I have numbered. And if you, gentlemen, who have accomplished some of the greatest feats in railroad engineering known to the world, could then have looked forward and perceived the difBculties wliich you have since encountered and surmounted, I am very apprehensive that even you would have shrunk from the responsible and arduous task. From six to eight millions of dollars were subscribed and guaranteed by the city of Baltimore to this work. Without any foreign aid, either Southern or Northern, with no vast area of land donated by the General Gcvernmeut, with no sectionalism to assist you in building up this great artery, you put your ovm shoulders to the wheel, and have acconiphshed, in the period of twenty-five j'ears, what would never have been accomplished by any but a st If- relying and energetic people.

The citizens of St. I.ouis partake of the same character. We have no Northern friends to build great iron roads leading to our city. We have no public lands donated to us by Congress. We have but a mere moiety of lands, and those are not now available. We have no friends from abroad to assist us in making connections with the Atlantic seaboard, with the Gulf of Mexico, or the Northern Lakes. We have been necessitated, as you have, to rely upon our own unaided efforts. Yet the city of St Louis, in her corporate capacity, has already subscribed three milhons of dollars to building the iron roads of commerce that stretch from her to the East. And when the great iron artery that stretches from this beautiful and tranquil bay to the banks of the Father of Waters, a thousand miles distant from here, when that, or any other road, shall be continued to the shores of the far-off Pacific, and when his Excellency, the Governor of Ohio, and you, Mr. Mayor, shall be invited to San Francisco to celebrate its opening, I trust you will stop in St. Louis to meet the welcome which will be cordially tendered you. [Cheers and applause.]

It is due to the people that I represent ; it is due to the travel-stained and weary individuals who have come on here at your invitation, to say that under their dusty ganments beat as warm, as generous, and as loving hearts as ever beat under broadcloth and satin. [Cheers.] We have come on here at your bidding ; not in files, but in squadrons, bringing with us our wives, our sons, and our daughters. And, Mr. Mayor, who can tell what is in the future ? How know you, but what the ties of friendship, and affection, and love, that may be the consequence of this visit, may give us of St. Louis a Mayor who, years hence, will welcome your children with as warm and hearty greeting as we have met here to-day ? [Renewed applause. ]

We are told, upon excellent authority, that the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, and when the\- came Ln sight of the promised land they turned back again. The people whom I have the honor to represent here, have had their trials and tribulations. But when they came within sight of the promised land, they did not, lilce the children of Israel, turn back again, but are here. [Applause.] And we are unhke the ancient Israelites in another respect. They wandered in the wilderness for forty years. But those wann-heiirted sons and daughters of Missouri have travelled over more territory in two days and three nights than did the children of Israel in all those forty years. [^Continued applause.J

And I beg here to assure you, on the part of those I represent here, that we believe that the welcome you have given us to-day is but a representation of the motto inscribed upon the flags I see suspended over us : " Friendship, Love and Truth ;" and we receive it in the same spirit of love and appreciation with which it has been so eloquently and earnestly extended to us.

Gentlemen, the last city, whose representative I have the honor to present to you, is so near our Western borders, that I had almost considered her representatives as members of our own family, and was going to let her go up here, and, through her representation, speak for herself without any introduction. [Applause and cheers. ] I, however, take pleasure in introducing to you, Mr. Adams, the Mayor of Chillicothe.

I thank you, Mr. Mayor, and citizens of Baltimore, for the kind and cordial welcome you have extended to us of Chillicothe to-day, and assure you that we reciprocate it from our inmost hearts. Until recently we were separated from you by high mountains, deep valleys, and wide rivers. But your skill and energy have levelled the mountains, filled the valleys, and crossed the rivers, until now we are near neighbors. I again thank you for your welcome ; I trust this may be auspicious of our future intercourse and kindly relations to each other. [Earnest applause.]

There is a gentleman present, distinguished in the Councils of Cincinnati, whom we are exceedingly anxious to hear upon this occasion. I therefore take pleasure in introducing to you - and trust the guest will respond to the call made upon him - Mr. Benj. Eggieston, of Cincinnati.

Mr. Mayor: At the request of the City Council of Cincinnati, of wbich body I am a member, I now appear before you to return you my warmest thanks for your kind invitation to visit this city. When we received your invitation we immediately responded to it by accepting it through the unanimous vote of the body of which I am a member, and I regret very much that our worthy executive is not here to-day, to respond in my place.

We are indebted not only for your kind invitation, but for the kindness of the President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, who sent the iron horse and the commodious rail carriage to meet us at the borders of our State and which brought us so safely and pleasantly to this great city of Baltimore. All along the route we have been most kindly received and hospitably entertained. We have been carried down the valleys and up the hills - aye, and through the mountains ; and when we arrived here you have met us, and without allowing us time to remove the dirt from om* clothes, have carried us in triumph through the streets of your beautiful city.

And allow me to say that you have the heartfelt wishes of Cincinnati for tho success of the enterprise, in the promotion of which yon have so earnestly and faithfully labored ; and I must express the wish and the belief that the trade of Southern Ohio must come to your city. I hope your fondest anticipations may be fully realized.

At this stage of the proceedings. Mayor Swann announced that the ceremonies of the reception at the Maryland Institute were concluded, and that a grand display of fireworks, in honor of the city's guests, would be given at Battle Monument Square at night. The guests were then reconducted to the carriages in waiting, and conveyed to Barnum's Hotel, the Eutaw House, Gilmor House, and other hotels, where superior accommodations had been provided for them by the city authorities.

During the afternoon of Saturday many of the visitors availed themselves of the carriages which were placed at their disposal, and paid a rapid successive visit to many of the objects of interest in and around Baltimore, wliilst others, accompanied by Baltimore friends, made calls upon acquaintances. Late in the afternoon a mammoth balloon was sent up from the square opposite the HoUiday Street Theatre, by Mr. Basil Moxley, connected with that establishment, which was witnessed with infinite pleasure by many of the visitors.

"J"he various Committees to whom the arrangements were intrusted acted energetically and with unanimity in discharging their duties, and deserve especial credit fur much of the success that the demonstration attained. We again record here a full list of these Committees :

City Council Committees

Committee on Halls. - Messrs. Forest, Wilson and Tidy. Committee to assign Ciiests posts in Line. - Messrs. Crowley, Nails, Carroll, JNIuller, Gordon and Sullivan.

The announcement that the corporate authorities designed presenting a grand exhibition of fireworks at the Battle Monument Square, in honor of the visitors, attracted there one of the most immense outpourings of the people ever witnessed in Baltimore, a very large proportion of whom were ladies. It had been previously arranged that signal rockets would be thrown up from Patterson's Park, Federal Hill, and Lafayette, Franklin and Madison Squares. At eight o'clock, a number of these were let off in the Square from Court House yard, and although it was scarcely dark, they were seen from all parts of the cit}', and soon tliereafter the avenues of approach to the square were filled with continuous crowds of persons, eagerlj'^ wending their way along, and helping to swell the great assemblage. So multitudinous was the crowd that it was impossible for one to thread his way through. It extended from Baltimore Street to Saratoga - three blocks - whilst Lexington and Fayette Streets were also densely

The Grand Fireworks At Baltimore

I^acked - all the buildings fronting upon the square were also crowded, whilst the balconies of Barnum's Hotel and the Gilmor House gave fine accommodations for the guests, if not to see all the display, at least to view the crowd and listen to the music. In the balconies of the latter establishment were placed Captain Mentor's cornet band, of Cincinnati, and the Independent Blues' band, of Baltimore, which alternately performed a large number of selections, comprising the nati(mal airs, and other appropriate music. In the course of half an hour, after the first rocket was fired, it was estimated that from fifteen to twenty thousand persons were gathered mthin the square, whilst the windows, doors and house-tops of the surrounding residences were occupied by the inmates and others. Eligible positions were at a premium, and apartments presenting a good view were sought after and struggled for like the highest seats at a sensation concert.

Meanwhile the rockets continued to ascend in rapid succession, and to a great altitude, bowing the heavens with a brilliancy which put the stars to a temporary dimness, each eliciting from the crowd of upturned faces a buzz of admiration as it shot upwaids through a column of sparks, and disappeared with a faint report in the upper air. A'olleys of Roman candles continued to discharge their pulps of flame, whilst now and then a volcano would fling into the air its fountain of fire-balls, and explode with a deep report, throwing a spray of fire and distributing its balls of flame among the swa^-ing throngs, whose faces suddenly lit up by the white light, exhibited the adniiration and delight which pervaded them.

At a quarter past eight o'clock, all things being in readiness and the crowd anxious, the first piece, a magic wheel, was set otf, under the direction of John and Joseph Bond. The wheel (about three feet in diameter) burst out in blue flame, and revolving in opposite directions, ended in a variety of strange and unexpected transformations. This was exceedingly beautiful, and evidently prepared the crowd for something better, as they cheered vociferously.

After music, and the discharge of a number of rockets and Roman candles, the second piece, a Chinese sun, was ignited. This commenced in a number of spangled points, and spinning with great rapidity, in a moment revolved itself into a circle of stars in green and l)lue llame. The spectators were left to contemplate for the space of a minute nearly, when it dropped away, and the third representation, an Egyptian Pyramid, followed. This began in a revolving wheel, and ended in a conical flaming outUne of the pj'ramid, the summit of which wast- ed itself away in explosions, accompanied with loud reports. The fourth display was a magic scroll, with circle revolving within circle, exhibiting a complicity of invention which fully sustained the idea conveyed by its appellation. The fifth representation was Saturn and Satelhtes. The planet Saturn was represented in a ring of flame encircled by starry rosettes of fire.

The sixth representation was the grand feature of the evening - - complimentary to the Western guests, - and concluded the exhibition. All at once, amid the ascension of rockets, the music of the bands, and the cheering of thousands, the fuses were touched and the words, 'Welcome St. Louis, Cincinnati, Chillicothe," sprung out of darkness in sentences of fire, with a star at each extremity, whilst above glowed a facsimile in fire of the honored battle-monument of Baltimore, with the flaming words, "September 12, 1814." For a moment the thousands stood silent, contemplating the sentiments of friendship and patriotism before them ; but as the scene began to fade the cheering became tremendous, as though to prolong the sight. But gradually the words of welcome to the cities died out with the letters, and the monument of flame crumbled from its height, but only to engrave the sentiment of welcome on the thousands of hearts who witnessed it, and to reveal the real monument in marble close upon the scene of its representation in fire.

The immense throng then dispersed. No casualty of any description occurred. But one rocket discharged took a wrong direction, and that struck harmlessly upon the roof of a dwelling in Lexingtop Street. A ball of fire from a bomb entered the doorway of a dwelling on the Square, and a child's clothing was set on fire in consequence.

After the dispersion of the main throng, an assembly numbering nearly a thousand persons, stationed themselves in front of Barnum's Hotel, and wanted some one to make a speech to them. Loud calls were made for Governor Chase, of Ohio, who not responding, one or two gentlemen present spoke briefly, when the audience retired. During the remainder of the evening the Independent Blues' band occupied one of the apartments at Barnum's Hotel, and j^erformed a selection of pieces.

After the conclusion of the fireworks, a considerable number of the guests, headed b)f several oflBcers of the Corporation of Baltimore proceeded to the residences of Dr. Woodside and W. P. Smith, (officers of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.) and of lion. Thomas Swann and S. Owings Iloirman, as well as to other residences of prominent citi- zens, and with the visiting bands, gave them handsome serenades. At several places handsome collations were provided, and the visitors doubtless soon felt them-elves as welcome and as agreeable as if they had been in their own homes. This was a very happy feature of the visit. On Sunday, nearly all the ladies, and a number of the gentlemen composing the excursion party, attended Divine worship at the various churches. At the special invitation of Captain Joseph P. Warner, of the Baltimore City Guards, and Major Johannes, a number of the guests visited the Brooklyn House, at Spring Gardens, when a most agreeable day was spent - they partaking of a dinner of soft crabs and tish prepared expressly for the occasion. Another party, principally Chillicotheans, made a visit to the City Jail, accompanied by several members of the City Council, and were hospitably received by Captain Thomas C. James, the gentlemanly warden, who kindly escorted them through the old prison, and allowed them to inspect the work as far as done on the splendid new building. After viewing all in this locality, the company' returned to tlie residence of the Warden, where a substantial dinner awaited them.

Shortly after nine o'clock on Monday morning, the delegation from St. Louis marched from their quarters at Barnum's Hotel, headed by their fine band, and being joined by the Cincinnatians, from the Eutaw, the Chillicotheans, and the City Council of Baltimore, proceeded to the steamer Lancaster, at Light Street Wharf. As soon as the party were all on board, the boat cast loose and rapidly steamed off, showing our W^estern visitors a harbor most excellently located, and sufBciently commodious to float the half of the ships that bear our country's Hag. A few minutes after ten o'clock, the Lancaster reached the wharf at Fort ^IcHenrj-, and the five hundred passengers on board of her disembarked as rapidly as possible. On landing, the party found a large number of ladies and gentlemen, who had gone down in carriages. Among them were Governor Chase, Colonels M'Millan and Carrington, Mayor Swann, and others. The eminent American tragedian, Edwin Forrest, who happened to be in the city on his way to the Virginia Springs, was also present, having been driven down by his friend, William E. Bartlett, of Baltimore, in his private carriage. The visitors, many of whom were ladies, accompanying the excursionists, were soon dispersed throughout the fortification, all seeking the most eligible situations from which they could view the expected drill of the United States Flying Artillery. The ramparts presented quite a diflerent aspect from that prevailing at the time the Baltimore poet composed " The Star-Spangled Banner." Then they bristled with the " dogs of war," but on this happy occasion they also sparkled with the bright eyes of hundreds of the fair ladies of the West, with a quota of Baltimore beauty. Company K, of the First Regiment Light Artillery, Lieutenants Gillan and Cooper, and Company A, of the Second Eegiment Light Artillery, Lieutenants Lamed and Mullin, never appeared to better advantage, and the able manner in which they performed the many diflBcult evolutions was the theme of praise on each of the thousand lips present. At one moment in one quarter of the field, and at the next in another and distant one, all in regular order, was a movement which must be seen to be appreciated. The firing was also most capital, and the rapidity with which the pieces were unlimbered, loaded and discharged, again limbered, the men mounted, and galloped off at full speed to a distant quarter, was sufficient to convince all present of the efficiency of this important branch of our Army.

The parade lasted at least one hour and a half, and at its conclusion, after the horses had been housed, the companies were escorted from the parade-ground to the inner Fort by Mentor's celebrated brass band. The sabre drill was then gone through with in the same perfect manner that the other drill had been executed.

The visitors were highly delighted with the entire proceedings, and left the Fort wharf with three cheers for the United States Light Artillery. The drill of the troops was witnessed by nearly a thousand spectators, and it would be a fair estimate to say that at least ninetenths of them had never seen any thing of the kind before. A large number of those present were ladies, who appeared to enjoy the scene amazingly.

At a quarter to twelve o'clock, tho Lancaster started from the wharf at Fort McHenry for the new Fort Carroll, some five miles lower down the Patapsco River towards the bay ; and after a fine run down, and giving ample time for all on board to view the works there, her head was turned towards the city, where all were safely landed before two o'clock. As the boat rounded Fort Carroll, one of the bands played " Hail, Columbia," and when she touched at Fort ]\IcHenry, on her return, the band performed -' The Star Spangled Banner." On leaving the Fort, cheer after cheer went up for the United States Army, and its accomphshed officers, who, being on the wharf, received the honors with heads uncovered. On the trip, both up and down, the true Baltimore song of '- The Star-Spangled Banner,"

The City Council Committee of Washington, accompanied by the Committee of its citizens appointed in town meeting, reached Baltimore on Monday morning to unite in the celebration, and to invite the guests and Baltimore authorities to visit their city on Tuesday. The programme for this was an unusually inviting one. The party was expected to leave Baltimore by a special train about seven o'clock, and arriving at Washington by half-past eight or nine, would be met and welcomed, and then conveyed to the President's House, where they would be received in the great east room by the President of the United States and his entire cabinet. After leaving the Presidential mansion, the company were to be taken to the Patent Office, Smithsonian Institute, and the Capitol, to view those structures. Thence, by one or two o'clock, they would be put on board the steamer George Washington for a visit to Mount Vernon, sixteen miles distant, to view the tomb of the Father of his Country. On returning from Mount Vernon, the guests would be further entertained by the people of Washington in a giand banquet at Carusi's Saloon, Avhich, with the other features of the day, promised to reflect great credit upon the national metropolis.

The Committee on the part of the citizens of AVashington was as follows: Walter Lennox, J. C. McGuire, C. F. Stansbury, S. P. Franklin, Joseph Bryan, Peter Hooe. Nicholas Callan, and Colonel Irwin. The Committee of the Board of Aldermen were Messrs. Smith, Riggs and Miller ; and of the Common Council, Messrs. Brown, Edmondson, French and Hutchinson.

Among the courtesies so generously tendered the Western guests during their stay in Baltimore, we ought not to omit the invitation of the Northern Central Railroad Company, of which at the time the Hon. John P. Kennedy was President, but who has since been succeeded by Zenus Barnum, one of the proprietors of the well-known hotel at Baltimore. This invitation was tendered at the instance of Robert M. Magraw, one of its oldest directors, and C. C. Adreon, its intelligent superintendent, was active in putting it into effect.

The several delegations from the West also received invitations from the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad to use their road on their return, and a large number of them availed themselves of the invitation to view that new and important line.

Railway Celebrations Of 1857 Chapter 711

The grand banquet given by the citizens of Baltimore to their Western friends, was the cuhninating feature of the hospitable and friendly welcomings which their presence evoked. There was combined to do honor to the occasion -

" The music, the banquet, and the wine. The garlands, the rose odors, and the flowers, The sparkling eyes, and flashing ornaments ; All the delusions of such dizzy scenes - Their false and true enchantment,"

- and back of the animating accessories thus brought together to enliven, with their magnificent array, this social re-union of the East and West, there was the strong feeling of fratei-nization, the prevailing sentiment that the assembly was not simply one of those occasions of edacious and bibacious enjoyment which pass away, leaving no deeper impress than their mere conviviality is capable of inspiring. The " true enchantment " pervadingly felt was drawn from the hearts of the participants, and found its most generous impulses in the genial effervescence of a national and patriotic feeling.

The commodious saloon of the Maryland Institute is peculiarly suited for the appropriate arrangement of a festal occasion, so huge in proportions and imposing in display as this, and all its facilities had been seized upon by the Connnittee-of Arrangements to make the tout ensemble as perfect as possible. They had a right to congratulate themselves in succeeding in this endeavor to a gratifying extent. The decorations of the hall were profuse, appropriate, and in good taste.

Tuk Appearance Of The Great Banquet Hall

Above the rostrum, at the head of the hall, placed so as to attract the eye immediately upon entering, was extended a decorated canvas, bearing the insci-iption :

Immediately beneath, on a gorgeous banner of green silk, were emblazoned in gold two hands, clasped in the fervent grasp of friendship, surrounded by evergreens and flowers. The balustrade of the galleries was richly festooned with evergreens, interspersed with brilliant flowers, edged with a drapery of red, white and blue, with miniature American flags at appropriate intervals. In the centre of the Hall a draped canop}^ of American flags was surmounted by the American eagle, whilst throughout the saloon the general effect was sustained by the disposition of brilliant and varied decorations.

These accessories served to bring into strong relief the arrangement of the tables upon which the banquet was spread. At the head of the Hall a cross-table, slightly raised, was placed, for the accommodation of the presiding officers, and some of the more eminent guests. From this, three long tables were placed, extending the entire length of the Hall, and affording seats altogether for very nearly one thousand guests. These tables, under the care of the experienced caterer for the occasion, Mr. Wm. Guy, were abundantly laden with the ciioicest provision, and most sumptuously furnished and decorated. Rich china and glassware, magnificent bouquets of flowers, and splendid ornaments of confectionery, flashed and glittered in the brilliant gaslight, and completed the enchantment of the scene, whilst giving the abundant promise of gratifying the moi-e material tastes of the participants.

The galleries were exclusively reserved - first, for the accommodation of the families of the excursionists, and then for the friends of the Baltimore participators in the banquet. These were filled at an early hour, and the presence of the fair occupants was one of the pleasing incidents of the scene, provoking many a gallant reference from the orators of the night, and also eliciting an interest that had a practical exposition in the sight of bouquets, thrown with rapid dexterity into the midst of a group of smiling faces.

Hall. Soon after seven o'clock the main doors of the saloon were thrown open, and the procession, headed by Mayor Swann, marched in and took seats at the long extended tables, which, in the briefest time, were completely occupied. Whilst these preliminary arrangements were in progress, the Independent Blues' Band, of Baltimore, advantageously posted, filled the Hall with delicious music.

Hon. Thomas Swann, Mayor of the city, presided, and was seated at the elevated table at the southern end of the hall. He was assisted by C. C. Jamieson, J. Hanson Thomas, John W. Garrett, Adam Denmead, B. A. Vickers, A. Schumacher, Hugh A. Cooper, and Robert Clinton Wright, as Vice Presidents. His Excellency Gov. Chase, of Ohio, was on the right of the Mayor, and Hon. Judge Pruden, of Cincinnati, on his left. Occupying adjoining seats were Chauncy Brooks, Gen. Columbus O'Donnell, with G. R. Taylor, representing the Mayor of St. Louis ; Mr. Adams, jMayor of Chillicothe ; J. L. Smith, representing the Mayor of Washington ; Wm. Pinckney Whyte, Wm. J. Albert and Hon. C. M. Keyser, of the Citizens' General Committee of Arrangements. On the inside of this table were Col. Wm. McMillan and Col. H. B. Carrington, aids to Gov. Chase ; Lieut. Mullen, U. S. A., from Fort McHenry ; Hon. D. M. Barringer, late U. S. Minister to Spain, John F. McJilton, President of the First Branch of the City Council, J. B. Seidenstricker, President of the Second Branch, and others.

At each of the tables extended down the hall, one of the Vice Presidents named above, presided. The guests being seated, and welcomed to the entertainment before them, the clatter of dishes, the ringing of glasses, the busy motions and frequent calls upon the waiters, gave audible token of the activity and zest with which it was enjoyed. The '' proof of the pudding is in the eating," but as all our readers could not have this pleasant demonstrative test of the sumptuous variety of the feast with which Baltimore entertained her guests, we annex the bill of fare for the occasion. It has a presumptive suggestiveness about it of good things, edible and bibible, sufficient to appease even that class of grumblers who

Bill Of Fare Bill Of Fare At The Baltimore Banquet

The activity of the onset had somewhat subsided, the clatter and crash of crockery became intermittent, the popping of champagne-bottles was reaching to a rapid fusilade, and the social feeling of the guests was accumulating in a chorus of intermingling voices, when the presiding oflBcer, Hon. Thomas Swann, called upon the large company to receive and do honor to the first of the

Regular Toasts

1. Our Country, our whole Country, and nothing hut our Country - What the political wisdom of our forefathers created by constitutional compact, their sons have consolidated by the practical application of scientific discovery and commercial enterprise.

Wm. Pinckney Whyte, of Baltimore, was called upon to respond to this toast, and, rising amidst the cheering of the assembly, spoke as follows :

I should have preferred, Mr. President, that the pleasing task of responding to this toast should have been confided to abler hands ; but as you have called upon me, I will not resist the impulse to reply to that sentiment, which has already found an echo in every heart.

" God and my right" is inscribed on the banner of kings, but " God and my whole coimtry " is the motto engraved on every true republican heart. [Applause.] It is this love of country, which nerves men to great and heroic deeds of self-denial ; which makes them leave home, friends, family ties, and go forth, baring their breasts to the bayonets of invading armies. It is this love of country, that stands like a shield of steel to protect our constitution from the assaults of internal foes. [Cheers.]

Nothing so much encourages this feeling as the happy union of the people of different communities and commonwealths in festive gatherings like these.

Social intercourse is the corner-stone of good government. It kindles o-enerous sentiments and strengthens mutual regard. The oftener citizens of the several States and sections are brought together, the sooner will all asperities be softened and all unkindness done away. This interchange of hospitality makes us tnily feel we are members of one family, born to the same inheritance of liberty, and protected in our rights by the same constitution. It teaches us that the various States are but " many mansions " in one house - the home of our fathers. It engenders a common love for each, and implants in our hearts the resolution to maintain the welfare and the rights of every portion of our Coufederacy.

It assures us that the " border ruffians " of the far West have but little more reality in their existence than the phantom ship or the Flying Dutchman, and the shriekers for freedom who are always bleeding (but never die !) for Kansas, are as small in quantity as the prize-money to a seaman of an English man-of-war after the officers have taken their share. You remember Jack's reply, when asked how the prize-money was distributed. Oh ! said he, they strain it through a ladder ; what falls to the ground belongs to the officers, and what sticks to the rounds goes to the men.

To many of you are our names and lineage unknown, but to you all there is a guarantee of friendship, in that our fathers shed their common blood to earn for us the blessings we now share. [Applause.]

Some of you are returning to the place of your nativity and to the happy memories which cluster round your " childhood's home." " Fidelity to the home of your adoption finds no guarantee in a renegade desertion of that of your birth," and there is no want of manliness in the tear which gathers in your eye as you view your native hills, " the valley's changeful green," and tread with filial reverence the sod upon your fathers' graves.

Under whatever circumstances you come, we give you a warm and heartfelt welcome to our homes and our firesides. As we know each other better, so will our bond of friendship be more enduring.

I know the value of such friendly visits. It was my privilege to enjoy a similar opportunity on the recent railroad celebration, so pleasantly denominated the " Wedding of the waters of the Chesapeake with those of the great West." Although present at the marriage ceremony, I cannot tell who was the happy bride. I cannot say whether it was the blooming maiden, who came leaping, like a thing of joy and beauty, from the mountain, and was called Miss Souri, or whether it was the stately widow, who came majestically and royally from the cold North, under the name of Mrs. Sippi. [Laughter.] But this I do know, it was a brilliant wedding, and the sun shone brightly on the bride ; and on the way to and from the wedding, we had a gloiiously

"good time." [Renewed merriment.] The "Catawba" and "Missouri'* flowed in torrents, like Niagara. It was served to us in bottles, it was given to us in demijohns ; indeed, Mr. President, it was everywhere " lying about loose." It was a great trial to resist that Catawba or that insinuating Missouri. I saw a leader of a Total Abstinence Society, who declared he found no more harm in it than in the " hard cider" of 1840. [Cheers and laughter.] « ******

That great railroad, too, extending its iron grasp from our own Patapsco to the shore of the " Father of Waters," what a lesson did it teach us. I learned from it what a powerful agent it is to republicanize a people. It teaches man how, in his own individuality, in this country, he is lost sight of in the mass. There the senator and humblest citizen sit together, and the rich man enjoys no greater privileges than the poor emigrant by his side. They travel alike, with no courier but the telegraph, and with no coat of arms but a good character. It brings citizens of far distant sections close together, and keeps alive those friendly feelings which absence too often wipes away. We are under obligations to it for placing you among us this day, and in behalf of Baltimore and its citizens, I desire to offer you a cordial welcome.

Men of the West, welcome ! Do you hail from Cincinnati, famed throughout our land as the Queen City of the West ? Welcome ! Do you come from Chillicothe, which, for a quarter of a century, has stood with its portals wide open to receive the weary pilgrim on his jom'ney West ? Welcome ! Or do you come from the city which La Clede founded on the shores of the Mississippi ? We greet you !

2. The Young West. - The finger of destiny points to it as the future Empire of surpassing agricultural wealth, manufacturing production, commercial energy, and poHtical power. May its wisdom and its patriotism, transcending even these, continue to enrich our country's history, with imperishable examples of national grandeur, civil justice, and social happiness !

Mr. Prksident : - I am called upon to respond to a sentiment in comniendalion of the young West. For what portion of our broad land am I ex- pected to speak ? A hundred years ago there was no West at all. There was a vast, unexplored, unknown tract, whicli extemled westward from the summit of the Alleghanies, no man could tell whither. But there were no settlers. Beyond the mountain crest, in 1703, settlement was forbidden by the British King. But the authority of royal edicts went down before the storm of the Revolution, and it was then that the Genesis of the new-born institutions of freedom called into being a West. It was a fair and lovely land, over which the Alleghanies kept watch from the East, while the Mississippi, rushing down from the region of Northern snows, guarded its western borders.

[At this point the Mayor desired the speaker to pause for a moment, on account of some confusion - arising out of the growing animation in that quarter - in the lower end of the immense hall, where it was impossible to hear. After a brief delay he resumed.]

It is not very easy, Mr. Mayor, to speak to an assemblage of many hundred gentlemen, gathered in one hall, upon an occasion like this. It is impossible for anybody to make himself heard throughout the vast extent of this room, and it would be unreasonable to expect of men, whose hearts are set all a-glow by Baltimore hospitality, and who cannot possibly hear what is said at this end of the hall, that they should keej) very silent at the other end. I am not at all surprised that they should prefer a little talking among themselves, to trying to listen to what they cannot hear. And, surrounded as they are on every side by so much grace and loveliness, who can wonder that they are even a little more than joyful to night. [Applause.]

And indeed, Mr. Mayor, it hardly seems necessary that I should make any elaborate speech for the Young West, when you have all around you so many of her sons, drawn, by your invitation, from their homes to your hospitable board. From the shores of the Father of Waters, from the borders of the beautiful Ohio, from the valley of the gentle Scioto, they have come at your summons, and they find that the warmth of Baltimore hearts is only surjjassed by the warmth of a Baltimore sun. [Applause.] They greet you, JMr. Mayor, with glad and grateful hearts, filled with sincere and earnest aspirations that the City of Baltimore, which has already achieved for herself such splendid distinctions, may go on from strength to strength, and from conquest to conquest, until she shall have fully realized the most glowing anticipations which even your zeal for her interests has ever indulged. More than that, what lover of Baltimore can wish ?

The men of the West, Mr. Mayor, come to you, we trust, with hearts as warm and as loyal as your own. We love, indeed, with special devotion, the great States whose children, by birth or adoption, we are ; but we should bo ashamed of ourselves if ignobly conscious that the circle of our affections embraced any thing less than our country and our whole country. We shovdd be ashamed to accept your hospitalities if we cotdd not pledge ourselves to uphold and defend, with you and with equal zeal, now and evermore, Right, Justice, and Union. [Cheers and applause.] Sir, in that great central valley from which we come, there are no disloyal hearts. From the mountains which, from its eastern horder, look down upon the Atlantic, to that far off rano-e whose snowy summits are reflected from the tranquil waters of the Pacific, there beats, I trust, no heart - and I trust there never will heat a heart - disloyal to this glorious Union. [Renewed applause.] In devotion to the Union we do not mean to let anybody go beyond us. Our Kentucky neighbors are in the habit of boasting that they have the fastest horses, the fleetest dogs, and the fairest women in the world. We in Ohio are not quite so apt to vannt, but you will forgive me, Mr. Mayor, if, catching something of that spirit, I aflinn that love of the Union is nowhere more earnest or more ardent than in the hearts of our people. [Cheers and hearty applause.]

And now, sir, permit me, in behalf of these young men of the ^Yest, and ih behalf of the men of the West not quite so young, whom your invitation has drawn hither, to return to you, and to the city of Baltimore, our heartfelt acknowledgments for your kind and cordial welcome. We shall take the vivid sense of it home with us, and rejoice in the remembrance of it for years to come. And, though we cannot hope to match your matchless hospitality, we shall not be satisfied until, with hearts warm as your own, and \vith as cordial grasps of friendly hands, we can reciprocate your welcome in our western homes. [Applause and cheers.]

I will detain you no longer, Mr. Mayor. I have heard of a good old Connecticut minister who said that sometimes, he was ashamed to say, he had done some very wrong things, and at other times, he was sorry to say, he had done some very foolish things ; " but," said he, " I am very grateful, brethren, that I was never left to do a long thing." Permit me, therefore, that I may not be " left to do a long thing," to close here by expressing the feelings of my own heart, and of all the western hearts around me, in this sentiment :

The City of Baltimore. - Generous in ho.spitality, energetic in enterprises, great in achievement ; the young West welcomes the embrace of her iron arms. [Prolonged cheers and applause ]

3. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. - The last survivor of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, and who, on the 4th of July, 1828, laid the foundation stone of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

I regret, Mr. President, tliat the privilege of casting anew laurels upon the grave of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, has not been confided to abler hands ; but, sir, if perfect veneration for his patriotism and high appreciation of his services, in the last great act of his life, in inaugurating the magnificent enterprise which has assured the destiny of our city, afford any title, I may not refuse my humble tribute to his memory.

On the 4th of July, 1828, amid the imposing ceremonies and demonstrations of interest manifested by every class of the citizens of Baltimore, of Maryland, and the surrounding States, after ninety-one winters had silvered his head, and he alone remained, the solitary survivor of the 56 immortal signers of the Declaration of Independence, that illustrious man then declared, through the orator of that day, whilst "in the full possession of his powers, with his feelings and affections still buoyant and warm," " that the proudest act of his life, and the most important one in its consequences to his country, was the signature of Independence - the next the laying of the first stone of the work, which was to perpetuate the Union of the American States, to make the East and West as one household in the facilities of intercourse and the feelings of mutual afifectiou."

At that period, sir, the great idea of the railroad was in its infancy. But one charter then existed in Europe, granted in 1826, for the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The charter of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was obtained in 1827.

All honor, then, to the comprehensive minds, to the sagacious and distinguished men, who originated and commenced the magnificent enterprise of connecting the waters of the Chesapeake and the Ohio, and who pressed forward the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the splendid pioneer in the great system of American Railways.

The prophetic inspiration of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, has been realized. During the past year more than 600,000 passengers and nearly one million tons of freight, have been transported on this great highway, and we find its revenue for that period $830,000 in excess of the entire original capital of the company, which was but four millions dollars.

Foresight, enterprise and energy have distinguished the leading administrations of this company. F"or twenty nine years, without a single exception, its affairs have been administered with singular and uniform integrity and honor ; and now, with 230 locomotives and 4,000 cars, it presents a greater equipment than any other road of the Union - a large portion of second track, a double line of magnetic telegraph, a most substantial and superior road, and a capacity for a large increase of its already immense business.

Mr. President, the natural position of Baltimore is a most favorable one. Situated on the western borders of the noble Chesapeake, where the salt waves of the Atlantic almost lave the feet of the Alleghanies, it is thus nearer the great centres of western commerce, and the mighty valleys of the Ohio and the Mississippi, than our rival sister cities of the North. We required but the foresight and indomitable perseverance of those who have so wisely planned and executed our iron routes to command success. [Applause.]

We have stretched our arm in the South to Parkersburg, thus oflPering facilities and economy of river transportation, so desirable as undoubtedly to attract an important portion of traffic, that has heretofore sought the seaboard markets by way of New Orleans. And through this branch also the union has been accomplished with the Marietta and Cincinnati Road, thus perfecting the American Central Line. By the northern arm we have still another and most desirable route, which may be properly styled the Line of the Capitals. Grasping at our side the brilliant and progressive National Metropolis and our own revered Annapolis - the seat of classic and eloquent memoiues, and still, as of yore, of cordial and elegant hospitalities - thence Westward by our welcome tributary and connection, the Central Ohio Road, to Columbus, whose magnificent government buildings indicate the wealth and greatness of the mighty State of Ohio. While it has important brandies here, north to the Lakes and south to Cincinnati, it progresses still directly onward to the seat of government of Indiana. And this, sir, is not only the line of the capitals, but, as I feel assured our guests who have passed over it will endorse, a most capital line. [Applause.]

We have here, sir, noble contestants for the palm of enterprise, energy, and public spirit. Distinguished representatives from the communities of Cliillicothe, of Zanesville, of Columbus, of Cincinnati, and last but not least, of St. Louis. Each, in its degree, has accomplished miracles, aud our highest claim is only fraternity and equality. [Applause.]

By the great achievements of these communities we are linked in iron bands from the Chesapeake to the Mississippi. By their aid the great Southern path is open between these distant points, directly and reliably, and comparatively free from the fierce rigors of northern winters.

Sir, I have detained you too long - but I must be pardoned to add that if there be degrees of beatitude in Heaven, and soids there are sensible of progress and happiness here, - this festive scene, embalmed by the cordial brotherhood and friendly greetings of citizens from many States, and from a territory of more than 1,000 miles in extent, graced by this galaxy of the lovely and amiable from the West, intermingling with the sweet sisterhood of our hearts and homes, - if there be such sensations there - at this delightful fruition of his words of Faith and Hope, in friendship, patriotism, harmony and the promotion of mutual interests, surely we may imagine an additional i. The City of Chillicothe. - May the facilities of present intercourse strengthen the bonds that joined us in ancient amity, ere " Young America," irreverently faster than his father, began to " ride us on a rail."

Wm. E. Gilmore, of Chillicothe. responded as follows: Gentlemen of the city of Baltimore : In behalf of our ISIayor, who feels that his lungs are not sufficient to make himself heard in this vast hall, I am unexpectedly called upon to respond to the toast which has just been read, in regard to my native city. It is with fear that I trust myself to speak here, and give utterance to the thoughts which arise in my mind, in view of the beatiful excursion and magnificent entertainment with which you of Baltimore have treated us of the West. [Applause.]

I have fears that the expressions of my mind might savor of childish enthusiam if I permitted myself to respond as my thoughts present themselves. And yet, why should I not be enthusiastic upon an occasion like this? We of Chillicothe have come 500 miles by rail to the city of Baltimore. We have come over a road more wonderful in its accomplishment than the road built by Napoleon across the Alps. The mighty Alleghanies with their peaks have passed in review before us, as it were by magic, or as the army of an emperor might pass in view before him. We thought as we came along of the mighty intellect that first conceived the road, of the wondrous energy that executed it, and why should wc not be enthusiastic? And above all, in this fair city of Baltimore, with these warm and hearty greetings with which we have beea met, not as strangers from distant lands - but as brothers - why should we not be enthusiastic ? Under circumatances such as surround me here, it would be folly indeed for me to attempt to speak at any length, and it would be equally in bad taste. I will only add to what I have said, that we of Chillicothe will remember this kind greeting - will remember all these things attending this excursion, and record them in our hearts upon leaves to which we will turn every day and read with affectionate regard. [Applause and cheers.]

5. The City of Cincinnati. Her lap teeming with varied manufactures, and the rich productions of mechanical skill, art and commerce ; she well becomes the coronet that graces her queenly brow.

Mr. Presidext: - There is confined in one of the Western Lunatic Asyhims a man who is laboring under the dehisiou that the original seat of Paradise was not in Asia, hut upon the farm he was raised, through which flows a stream called Goose Creek. [Laughter.] Now it is charged against the people of Cincinnati that we labor under a delusion not unlike that of our Goose Creek friend. It is said that we believe that the sun, the bright old sun, does not rise in the east, but in Cincinnati, and there he retires to his rest. And to judge of our State pride by our city pride, we plead guilty of it, but claim that our fancy in this respect was confined within the limits that are reasonable and pardonable.

An occasional display of tliis fancy we know that the people of Baltimore can forget and forgive, for it has been my pleasure to know many men in the West, born and reared in Baltimore, and I never yet have known one of them whose face did not flush deeper, and whose heart did not beat quicker, when an allusion was made to the city of his birth. [Applause and cheers ] In the proudest days of the Roman republic, the exclamation, " I am a Roman citizen," was never uttered with that proud emphasis that I have heard from the lips of a child of Baltimore, as he said, " I am a Baltitnorean." [Applause.]

Baltimoreans, you have many and various causes for self-congratulation. Your prosperity has kept pace with the pliysieal developments of this favored land, and that prosperity rests upon a sure and solid foimdation. But there clusters around the name of Baltimore a prouder glory derived from the pages of history, which gives you a just riglit to exult, and which ought properly- to inspire you with the noblest sentiments of pride. The names of your ancestors are linked with events in our history to which we all ascribe the greatness and glory of our common country. The shackles of religious intolerance were shaken off upon the soil of Maryland, and the doctrine of religious liberty was here maintained and upheld, and that e\ery man had an indisputable right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of his own conscience, was first proclaimed in Maryland. [Cheers and applause.] Your antecedents are linked indissolubly and gloriously with the events of the American Revolution, and in those other brilliant achievements of the second war of independence, which you have commemorated in monumental stone. [Renewed applause.]

But, Baltimoreans, I want you to remember that Cincinnati, too, has a history to which we proudly point, and which we say ought to challenge the wonder and the admiration of the world. You know, Mr. President, that within the memory of men and women still living, the place now occupied by the city of Cincinnati was thp abode of the Indian and the wild bea.sts of the forest. It is not long since that but a few cottages were the only signs of civilization in that vast and extended wilderness that stretched from the Alleghany to the

Rocky Mountains. And yet, within a single lifetime, from a few log-cabins you have seen grow up a city containing over 200,000 souls. Is not that, in itself, a ^^yJnderful creation .' And what manner of men and women were they who have built up a city like that from such a small beginning ? They were brave and nolile-hearted, and we of Cincinnati are as proud of their achievements and their memories as you of Baltimore are of the bright galaxy of names which are inscribed upon your many noble monuments. [Applause ]

But I do not desire to speak of Cincinnati altogether as she was fifty years ago. I desire to speak of Cincinnati as she is now. She is not now a mere cluster of log-cabins, whose smoke only indicates to the emigrant that there was a clearing or a settlement in the far wilderness. She is now the centre of civilization and the gate of commerce and trade of a vast region of country. Her present commercial and manufacturing facilities are daily creating new elements of power and wealth ; and let me say to you, Baltimoreans - let me whisper it privately in your ears - that we of Cincinnati are your natural allies in trade and commerce. [Applause and cheers.]

And aside from our commercial and manufacturing wealth, there is another thing I would speak of for a moment. We have a system of common schools which is the pride of the West. [Renewed and prolonged applause.] It has attained that degree of merit, that even men of wealth turn aside from the private schools, and commit to their public institutions the education of their sons and daughters. We have, too, a fire department, which, in its appointment and in its execution, exceeds any thing in the known world. [Applause and cheers.] I ought not omit a reference to the progress which we have made in the fine arts.

But I will not detain you with any more remarks upon this .subject. Nor will I detain you with a reference to the parks and puljlic buildings of Cincinnati. But I cannot close without presenting to you, and through you to the people of Baltimore, in behalf of the Cinciunatians who are assembled around me here, our sincere thanks for the kind hospitalities which you have tendered to us, and to express the hope that we shall have the opportunity at no distant day to reciprocate them, [Applause and repeated cheers.]

Mr. Swann asked the company to fill up for another bumper : 6. The City of St. Louis. Fair daughter of the Father of Waters. Joyously do we celebrate the nuptials of the beauteous bride, whom our twentynine years of wooing have won. AiK - Marseillaise Hymn.

Mr. Charles A. Drake, of St. Louis, responded as follows : !Me. Presidext, ani> Friends of the Montoientai^ City : - The honorable duty of responding, on behalf of your guests from the far distant city of St. Louis, to the sentiment just given, has been devolved by them on mo.

Well were it for their representative, if, with hand on heart, and with head lowly bowed, he could be permitted silently to offer you the grateful homage which swells all our hearts, and impedes that utterance which, however and by whomsoever given, could not rise to the height of what we have felt since v.e became your honored guests, and what we feel most deeply now, in this hour of your munificent and triumphant hospitahty. Well would it be for him, if, in the midst of those who have been famiUar with the oratory of a Pinckney, a Wirt, a McMahon, and others whose names and eloquence illustrate your city, he could be spared a contrast which nothing less than a call of imperious duty could impel him to brave. But this is not the hour for silence. We are here to open the floodgates of thought and feeling, and to speak with tongne, and eye, and hand - each heart bearing to every other its grateful offering of fraternal courtesy and regard, and taking from every other a sure return from its exliaustless treasury. To you, our hosts, however, is due the first expression of our feelings ; and to you, on behalf of St. Louis and her citizens here assembled, I offer thanks, warm thanks - thanks with our hearts all in them : take them, I pray you - they are all we have to give. [Great applause.]

The events of the past few days, reaching their most befitting consummation in this scene of unsurpassed elegance, may seem to the superficial observer to be merely the overflowing of a generous hospitality ; but to the calm and philosophical inquirer they are full of a higher and more enduring meaning. They impress upon the face of history the character of the age and country in which we live. The Old World will read of them as something new and strange, and will wake up to the consciousness that Time, which, with them, is old and decrepit, and in his slumberous senility evolves little which is allowed to reach and move the popular heart, is liere young and powerful and cheerful, and ever and anon, in his rapid flight, throws off from his resplendent wings events which startle and delight for the moment, only to prepare the way for others still more animating, remarkable, and impressive. The simple fact that we have, upon an invitation only a few days old, traversed a thousand miles of distance to take you by the hand and to accept your hospitality ; that we have come from the farther shore of our great river to meet you here by the waters of the beautiful Chesapeake ; that in doing so wc have traversed the entire width of three great States, which were not States when the Nineteenth Century was ushered into existence, but whose inhabitants are now numbered by millions ; that all that distance has, as it were, vanished from under our feet, as the iron-clad and steam-breathing coursers swept with unflagging power over the trembling earth ; that from the moment of farewell to the queenly home we left, till that of our welcome to the almost regal hospitality of our scarcely less than home in your midst, we neither saw nor heard of custom-house, or troops, or officials jealous of our passage, nor required passport other than tliat which lieart gives to heart ; that each particular foot and inch of the way hiy through a land where freedom and republican institutions slied their united effulgence down upon a happy people, all speaking one tongue, all glorying in one national name, all instinct with one patriotism, all emulous to excel in devotion to one and the same country ; that these things can now be seen, and written, and spoken of - what is it but opening a new pao^e in history? Where, when, by whom was its like ever before written, except concerning your recent excursion to our own St. Louis ? Where else than in this land can its like ever be written? And for what pi'ice that earth could offer would we this daj^ barter away that page and its new and resplendent glory? [Loud and long continued applause.]

We come to celebrate a nuptial feast ! The lord of the Chesapeake weds the fair daughter of the Father of Waters ! Long has he wooed - at last he has won her. Started on his journey toward her by a hand trembling with age, but which, in its youth, was immortalized by another and a nobler work,* the lord went forth to seek beneath the setting sun the daughter of Missouri. Slowly, with discouragement, difficulty, doubt, and fatigue, but ever with hopeful heart, and patient endurance, and iron will, he wends his way over hill and mountain and valley; now ascending peak after peak; now descending slopes of rugged grandeur ; now rushing on the verge of precipices overlooking an Alpine world ; now leaping yawning chasms at a bound ; now cutting through embattled rocks, where nature had enthroned herself from creation's natal hour ; ever battling, but never baffled ; delayed, but not dismayed ; shouting forth his cheerful song to echoes whose long slumbers had been waked only by the rolling voice of the clouds ; onward, and ever onward he moved, till a generation had passed away, and then, with a new generation to witness the august nuptials, he clasps his willing bride in his embrace, and binds the union with an iron knot, which the Ahnighty may cut asunder, but man can never. Joyfully this day do we join hand and heart in celebrating with you these glorious espousals. Henceforth you and we are no longer only friends - we are brothers. May confusion seize the ruthless hand that would ever put aught but brotherly love between you and us. [Applause.]

But, my friends, leaving the figurative, and descending to the substantial realities which belong to the present circumstances, what shall we, your guests, say - nay, what can we say tliat would not be trite and tame - concerning the great road which has, after so long a time, and through so many delays, and apparently almost insurmountable trials, and at such a vast expense, been built ? Should we say that you have, in it, constructed your own noblest and most enduring monument - that has been often said before. Should we say that it is a great bond of union among the States of this confederacy - however

* The foundation stone of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was laid on the 4th of July, 1S2S, by Charles Cakeoll, of CijrrolUon, the last survivor of the Signers of the DecIaraT tion of Independence.

glorious may be the trath, and however it may deserve to be repeated and cherished, it has yet been said a thousand times. Should we say that along this vast iron artery which you have laid, commerce is to pursue her beneficent way for untold years to come, dispensing countless blessings to future generations, and glorifying, while it exists, the names of its founders, and of the noble city whose name it bears, and of your dearly beloved State, we should but weary you with the repetition of a truth which has been spoken and written unnumbered times. But when we say that you have done a work which gave a new impulse to ci%alization, which belongs in its results to the world, and wliose benefits are not to be confined to this or that people, but are to be felt directly or remotely by all nations with whom we as a people have intercourse - we but express the conviction thrvt forced itself upon us as we looked for the first time upon your gigantic and now completed enterprise.

Wc confess that the interest with which we started on our route from the Ohio River to your city, soon deepened into admiration, and that, in its turn, became awe, as the reality forced itself upon us, that you had, for all practical purposes of transit, obliterated the Alleghanies from the map of our country. They are there as ever, but they are no longer there as an obstacle, a hindrance, a barrier. Their Altamont, 2,700 feet above the sea, is practically now no higher than a prairie village on the banks of the Wabash or the Illinois.* You have, as it were, with a huge claymore, riven the back-bone of the eastern portion of our continent asunder, that your iron steeds may rush and snort throngh the open, but not bleeding, gash. It is a mighty achievement, before which all others of a similar kind must be regarded as comparatively insignificant. History will ask - we would ask now - from whose brain leaped forth the thought of this mighty work ? Upon whose name is destined to rest the fadeless glory of its origin ? We know not ; but whoever he is or was, what patriot would exchange the honor this work does him for a conqueror's laurels or a kingly diadem ? If he be not known, seek him out, and record his name now, while his contemporaries live, and leave it not to be buried beneatli the falling leaves of an age that soon must pass away. Be grateful to at least one benefactor of the human race !f [Long-continued applause.]

We should lose the great lesson which this, your work, should teach us, if we failed to inquire and note the characteristics of your people which led to its construction. As there never was before such an achievement ; as it stands, and must stand out forever, not only the pioneer in this land, but without peer in a.nj land; as its creation required an exhibition of man's power, such as he had not put forth in all previous time ; it concerns us to inquire how, t Itofer to page - of the History of the Baltimore and Ohio Road, in this volume, which Mr. Drake had not read, or he would have acknowledged Philip E. Thomas as the " benefactor."

and through what channels, this power was exerted. It was by concentration, action, and transformation. Concentration of thought, purpose, will, means, and men - not futile and impotent, but quick with life, and taking shape in action, and that action tending, not to rebuild and perpetuate the old and decayed, nor to hem in what is, so that it should never be aught else, but to transform it into something better, and in the transformation to make it give forth new qualities, and put forth new and more exquisite beauties. It is only as a people thus develop their powers, that they march in the way of improvement to the goal of a substantial glory. All honor to Maryland and her citizens, for this illustrious example of what concentrated, transforming action can accomplish! [Great applause.]

Time's contrasts are powerful but humbling teachers. We build at vast expense, in one generation, what comes in the next to degradation, if not contempt. We suppose the achievement of to-day wiU be regarded with wonder in years to come, and lo, to-morrow almost, it is withered, beneath the blaze of some more brilliant exploit. A mighty government performs a work too great for individual power, and soon individual power surpasses all that government wrought out. These thoughts intruded upon the mind as I read in an advertisement, that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad " is located nearly upon the line of the old National Road." The old National Road ! What a place in our history does that old road occupy ! What an interest would its legislative history not have to political antiquarians ! How many politicians has it not, in years gone by, made and unmade ! Who can estimate the good it did in the day of its usefulness ? .And who shall say that that monument which was erected by its margin to the then living and glorious but now departed - but in our hearts not the less living and glorious - statesman of Ashland, was not worthily erected, because already that great structure is sinking from view beneath the green carpet which time spreads over the graves of all men and things ? Great as it was in its conception and execution for the period in which it was called into existence, it lies before us now, presenting one of time's most striking contrasts, rebuking man's self-sufficiency and pride, and pointing ever to that mightier work which you of Maryland have accomplished, and over which, with you, we this day rejoice. Was it not this old National Road which was in the poetic fancy of our American artist-poet, when he sang in tuneful numbers the i-eqiiiem of the Deserted Road?

But where would the mind repose, if we followed the streams of thought which spring forth, as we yield ourselves up to the contemplation of your great work, and the fame with which it has crowned your city and your State ? Were these festivities prolonged beyond the hours of the passing day, and every moment devoted to the rapid enunciation of those thoughts, time would yet be wanting to utter the half that might be told. We would speak, too, of the consecrated dust which sleeps beneath the storied marble that daily meets your eyes ; we would refer more fully to your illustrious dead and your scarcely less illustrious living ; we would rejoice to dwell on much of all that makes Maryland the beloved and cherished Mary of our national family ; but the voice of the bride must not now be heard too long in the halls of the bridegroom. [Hearty applause.]

Here, however, in sight of the noble structure erected by your State to the Father of his Country ; in the region of his exploits ; with the city near by which bears his august name ; with soil all around you consecrated by the blood of our common ancestors ; here, this day, before the world - ay, and before angels and Heaven itself - we adjure you to bind yourselves to us and to all who share our lineage, our country, and our hopes, to preserve, protect, and defend, with lives, with fortunes, and with sacred honor, the Union of these States, now, hereafter, and forever. This there is time to say - this there were time to say though death were at the door - this we of St. Louis will say, till the last drop of our mighty river is lost in its green ocean grave.

I regret that the absence of another has devolved upon me the task of replying to this toast. But the sentiment it announces is the sentiment of Baltimore, and as such should not fail of public endorsement by one of her sons. True, there are circumstances which should absolve me, personally, from this duty; but the obligation of hospitality, at all times, and in all places, one of religion, requires that this sentiment, especially, should not pass as if indifferently entertained. As a member of the committee who presented it, and one often and most flatteringly distinguished by western kindness, I will say, that sincerely do our fellow-citizens rejoice in the prosperity of the Great West. Nor does that joy flow merely from selfish into ests promoted thereby, through the great central channel, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroud, justly considered the direct and main arterial trunk, arising from the agricultural heart of the North American Continent, the geographical centre of the Mississippi Valley. It is so natural in contemplating good fortune, to indulge in selfgratulation, that we would not seem to imply, much less profess indifference to ours, by failing to recognize and acknowledge the great advantages which must come directly, and in a commercial alike with social sense, from the command of the shortest and most expeditious avenue to that immense source of production and supply ; an avenue which follows most nearly the national highway indicated by AVashington ; which was mapped and chartered by Nature herself, and adopted by the wisdom of our forefathers - an Appian Way of the States, East and West. '\\'hilst recognizing this truth, we would, however, on this national occasion, proclaim what we feel - a philanthropy above profit ; a patriotism not restrained by merely selfish and mercenary calculation. And looking beyond local interests to the broader field of human good, we rejoice at that western prosperity, which, however palpably recognized, yet can retain no mere sectional centralization, but must radiate its beneficent influences over the broad expanse of our own and other lauds. At that prosperity which comes of inexhaustible soil and genial climate ; of industry, fragality, enterprise, morality, sources of knowledge, and of the mingling of civilized nationalities and races, through immigration - that problem of moral grandeur, which seems to have been reserved for a sublime demonstration on this greatest and appropriate theatre of physical nature, and finding a fit type of its power and effects in that mighty river, which, having its source in the frozen regions of the North, receives the tribute of every clime to swell the stream that bathes the limits of Empire States, as it flows onward to the sunny seas of the tropics, dispensing the blessings of civilization and commerce to all. [Applause.]

In this career of prosperity, not merely ours, but the sympathies and the hopes of nations are with the great West, for the people of these nations are of the West, and for it ; not merely with idle commendation, but in the power of industrial effort, mechanical and manufacturing skill, and progressive science. The oppressors of the old world may frown, their sycophants may sneer, but ' they are alike powerless, however they may combine and plan, to retard the progress of the sublime experiment of popular sovereignty and happiness, which is now in process of fulfilment ; and which the West, if it remain true to its immense resources, its privileges of position, its balance-power, and its fealty to a greater than England's great charter, the Constitution of this Union - for it guarantees the rights of States as well as of individuals - if true to these, the Great West will continue to present its sublime career to the nations of the earth as a covenant of political promise, a " rainbow " which all wiU rejoice to behold ; for, in the language of the toast,

8. Washington. - Let his memory at each recurring dawn receive the homage of his countrymen, as yonder monnment the sun at its coming ; whilst patriotism, glowing with warmer effulgence, as the vesper hymn salutes the evening air, shall liken the parting beam that pencils his marble brow with

We bail, Mr. President and gentlemen, with a sincere welcome, our friends and brethren from the West. That welcome has greeted them everywhere : around the gorges of the mountains and througli the green valleys they have passed ; music, banners, and woman's smiles have heralded them to our city, and here we indeed hail them as our guests. It is not, however, as citizens of Missouri, Ohio, and the West, that we honor them, but because they are our fellow-citizens of the United States, and to-day, at this festive board, we meet with them to rekindle on our coimtry's altar the fires of patriotism and the love of union, which, more than eighty years ago, our fathers lighted up, and to pledge to each other the determination to guard, with vestal vigilance and more than Roman constancy, the sacred flame which burns on that altar of the Union. Extinguish this (for through bloodshed and civil war it can alone be done), put out the glorious light, and what power on earth can restore it ? [Applause.]

Our Republic (as has been well said) now extends across the whole continent. The two great oceans of the globe wash its Atlantic and Pacific shores, and we realize the poetical description of the ornamental edging of the shield of Achilles :

" Now the broad shield complete the artist crowned With his last band and poured the ocean round, In living silver seemed the waves to roll, And beat the buckler's verge and bound the whole."

It was my good fortune to visit lately, as one of their guests, the great cities whose representatives are now here. On the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi, I beheld with astonishment and admiration the evidences of their progress, wealth, and power - palaces of merchant princes, public institutions of arts and charity met the eye on every hand. Not a wave that broke on their shores but bore the emblems of their commerce and trade - not a sound that wukc with the morning's sun but brought to the ear the hum of busy industry from their worksjiops and manufiictories. And, standing on the banks of the great Father of Waters, 1 asked myself the question - Is there a faction or a pai-tr in tliis broad land which can ever dare to contemplate, or imagine, a disunion of these States ? - whose cities stand here like bright sentinels with fla.ming swords to guard from treason and violence this Paradise our heroic fathers established with their blood - whose noble rivers, commingling in harmony, together flow on - becoming wider, deeper, and purer as they appi-oach the ocean - fit emblems of our country's power and destiny. The Potomac, the Patapsco, the Ohie, the Missom-i, and the Mississippi, can never bear up;jn their bosoms any banner but that of the Union; nor can the day ever come, as we fondly hope, when their waters shall be crimsoned with fraternal blood. The bad man is not yet bom who can successfully rally to his standard traitors ejiongh to foiin a corporal's guard ; so long as we, the people of the United States, have the spirit to be free and the virtue to be just. [Applause.]

Two revolutions have occurred within the memory of some who yet survive. The American and the French - the former vindicated the rights of man without crime and outrage ; the latter asserted human freedom, but delnged the world in blood, and buried liberty and religion beneath the ruins of the very despotism which had oppressed them.

From the one rose the majestic form and glorious character of Washino-ton as the brightest living model of a citizen and a patriot ; from the other the warlike and imperial figure of Napoleon Bonaparte, an example of human elevation without patriotism and virtue. The conqueror of Europe and the captive of St. Helena survived the Father of his Country ; chained to his island rock he expired crownless and abandoned. Washington breathed his last upon the bosom of that beloved country he had redeemed, and closing his own eyes in peace, died as he had lived, without fear and without reproach. And although his bones repose not beneath the gorgeous temple of the Invalids, and borne with no imperial ceremonies to the tomb, yet they are canonized by a nation's gratitude, and have a monument more enduring, we may trust, than yonder column ; that monument is the Constitution and Union of these States. Maryland will preserve it until its last armed foe expires. What say you, men of the great West? [Enthusiastic Applause.]

But in our efforts to maiutaiti the happj' Union under which we live, let us invoke the aid of religion and education - tlie school-house and the church can do much to retard the feajfiil stream of vice and insubordination which is sweeping through o<ir land. A spirit of order and obedience to law should be inculcated and enforced - social and political virtue revived and rewarded - men of uitegrity and truth placed by popular suffrage in places of power and trust, and thus shall we realize, sir, the fond and anxious wishes of the immortal Washington, who, in his farewell address, implores his countrymen to cultivate sentiments of affection and good will between the different parts of the Union, and impress upon our children the importance and value of civil liberty, which can alone flourish where that liberty is regulated by law.

But it is not my purpose to dwell on this interesting theme - this is not the occasion ; and I have only to add, that these meetings of citizens from distant sections of our country should he recognized as happy auguries of our future undivided brothei-hood and our national spirit. [Applause.]

In 1775, Mr. President, there was a tea party in Boston, where were assembled the patriots of Massachusetts. No feast like this was spread before them - aromid and over their banquet no banners waved and bright eyes flashed, as here to-day, to greet them. At that revolutionary banquet, which they opened, their music was the cannon's roar ; the wine they tasted was not this, nor the sparkling champagne, but wine from that grape whose juice was the red blood, for the battle-field and the conflict then commenced was terminated only on the plains of Yorktown. I, therefore, in remembrance of that banquet of valor and patriotism, give you, for their descendants here to-day, to drink with flowing bowls, this sentiment, with the hope that the spirit of our fathers may be cherished by us all, be we citizens of the North, the South, the East, or the West :

The Spirit of 1776 - Which animated our fathers at their tea party in Boston, where they preferred the Gunpowder to the Imperial. [Applause.]

9. TTie Army and Navy of the United States - With them the honor of that flag which genius, alike with liberty, has consecrated, will ever remain untarnished. Air - Yankee Doodle.

Mr. 'President : In responding to this toast, it may not be inappropriate for me to remark that this is an occasion in which the citizens of Baltimore, and the gentlemen of the great West, may not only congratulate themselves, but which we, of the Army and Navy, also have a right to feel proud in being permitted to commemorate. And I have no doubt but that the toast which you have just read meets a hearty response in everj- heart here this evening. We have assembled to commemorate an occasion which has been characterized by a degree of no ordinary importance ; and it is one in which, as citizens of Baltimore, and as representatives of the West, you all, and I may say, myself, feel doubly proud ; for, gentlemen of the West, I welcome you here to Baltimore to-day, in the double capacity of a soldier and a Mai-ylander. You are welcome ; and when I say that, I but repeat the sentiment of the profession which I, myself, humbly represent here this evening.

You have been cordially welcomed to the city of monuments, in behalf of the Marylanders here this evening, by the Demosthenes of Baltimore, W.

Pinkney Whyte, but I must again welcome you, cominj; as you do, from a section of country in which the profession I represent has heretofore played so conspicuous a part. You, gentlemen, are not strangers to the times that are past - the stirring times of peril, and those days " that tried men's souls ; " hut in the halcyon days of the future, this will be an occasion to be looked back upon with pride and pleasure, after you return to your hospitable homes It is to the citizens of St. Louis, particularly, that I address the present remarks. I can never cease to remember with the warmest emotions of gratitude, the kind and hospitable reception which I met with when sent out as one of the emissaries of the Department, that represents the country at large, to survey the route for a railroad to the Pacific. We were not looking to advance the interests of any one section of the country in preference to another, but to gather the facts upon which a great national work might be built. We were not hostile to a Northern route, although by nativity and education, I should have preferred a central route, but we determined not to represent a northern nor a central, but a national railroad route to the Pacific. [Applause.]

And you, gentlemen, are this evening called upon to commemorate an occasion of no ordinary importance. The rocky hills through which you passed but a few days ago, echo and re-echo from day to day in praise of the enterprise, and skill, and success of a few Baltimoreans who undertook a project that was then regarded as a mere chimera and utterly impossible, but which has been brought to a successful termination, as has been proved by your own visit to Baltimore this evening. You are here to commemorate an occasion in which science has battled with the difficulties of nature and has overcome them ; she has made a gap through the AUeghanies, and connected the fertile valleys of the West with the great cities of the seaboard. We have reason to be proud of such an achievement, and I must again express the pleasure it gives me to find that the profession which I represent is held in high and honorable esteem among you, and is not regarded as a mere excrescence upon the body politic ; but we are afforded an opportunity to say to you that we are ready, and willing, and anxious to prove that the flag wliich you have alluded to shall ever be untarnished while in our keeping. [Hearty applause.]

10. The Baltimore and Mississippi Railroad - The iron key which has unlocked our front door. In future, friends of the West, as now, you will find " on our table a plate, knife and fork, and the string of the latch not pulled iu."

Gentlemen of the Great West : I regret to say that the gentleman was expected to reply to the toast which has just been read (Wm. Dennison, Jr., of Columbus, Ohio), is unavoidably absent. I did not expect to make a speech in his place, and I could have wished that my friends had not been so urgent in their calls upon me, for I have been assigned a far more agreeable duty.

An old friend of mine in Virginia - a barrister of some note - was once loudly called for on an occasion similar to the present. " Gentlemen," said he, "you have placed yourselves at my mercy - ^you have invited me to make a speech, and courtesy requires that you should hear me through. Now, I know of no better mode in which I can make you a substantial return for your kindness, than to take my seat and say nothing " (cries of no, no ; go on; go on!) This was a better speech, in my judgment, than Logan ever made, Mr. Jefferson to the contrary notwithstanding. It was a sensible speech ; it was a practical speech. My first impulse would have been to have followed the example of my friend the barrister, and after thanking you, quietly taking my seat (cries of no ! no !) ; but how can I remain silent in the midst of a scene like this ? There are gentlemen present who have come a thousand miles to do us honor. The great West is presented here to-night. No Baltiniorean can look upon such a scene without emotion, much less one who has been deputed to stand in the first rank to dispense the offices of hospitality for this goodly city. This is my excuse for intruding upon your time in responding to the call which has been made upon me. Besides, I have to answer to my constituency of the city of Baltimore, for the manner in which you are entertained here, and received here, upon the soil of the old State of Maryland ; and you will permit me to say, that when you touched the soil of that State, you came to the embrace of warm hearts - of men who felt a real pleasure in receiving you - of men who understood and appreciated your position in the Great West, and the relation in which you stood towards the social and commercial interests of the city of Baltimore. [Applause.]

They recognized in you participants in that common trade, and in that grand combination of commercial interchange, into which they had entered for the purpose of carrying forward and illustrating the views upon which they had been acting for the lust quarter of a century. The distinguished gentleman on my right (Gov. Chase), in his remarks when our guests from the West were received on Saturday last, took occasion to say, that the triumph of the State of Maryland - in the maintenance of her credit in the midst of such stupendous undertakings - in the accomplishment of her great financial plans - had established for her a monument more durable than the gig;intic line of railway over which you have passed, from the confines of his own State, and to which we are indebted for your presence here to-ni^ht. That remark was as beautiful as it was just. The first effort of the city of Balti- more, as of the State of Maryland, has been to guard, at all sacrifices, that credit, upon which we have been enabled to accomplish, without aid from any quarter, those works of interaal improvement, which have not only attracted the interest of our own State, but have awakened the attention of all the States of this Union. [Applause.] The history of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, depending, as she did, upon the limited power and resources of her own little State, furnishes an example to the States whose public works are still undeveloped. That example, gentlemen of St. Louis, you have nobly imitated in the completion of the Ohio and Mississippi Road. You have indeed " unlocked our front door," and the scene before you to-night is evidence that you have not miscalculated the kind sympathies of our people, or the advantages to which you have been looking in your well-directed efforts.

The maintenance of our State credit - the credit of our pubUc works upon which so much depends - has enabled us to pass, with unfaltering step, through the trying scenes of the last ten years. It has truly built up a name for the State of Marj'land of which she has just reason to be proud - a name which will enable her in time to come, not only to complete what is yet unfinished, but to enter upon enterprises yet to be conceived ; and to cheer on, by her example, our brethren of the Great West, in extending that stupendous line of communication, which is to terminate only upon the distant shores of the Pacific. [Great applause.]

Gentlemen, we have already gone beyond the limits of the State of Maryland in the distribution of our capital, and in furtherance of the system upon which we have been acting. We have not only accomplished - successfully accomplished - the works of internal impi-ovemeut which have devolved upon us within our own limits, but we have aided our friends in Ohio, and we have lent a helping-hand to improvements which have crossed the contiguous States of Virginia and Pennsylvania. We have been jealous of the Western trade. We did not choose that any power should wrest it from us. We have been exerting all our efforts, for years past, for the purpose of opening a direct communication with the great cities of the West, which we are here to-night to welcome ; and to invite to that cordial union which has been inaugurated by the opening of the American central line. [Applause.] These objects, so necessary to our successful development, have been kept steadily in view - and the State of Maryland has not been wanting in what may have been expected of her in carrying out plans, which have redounded so largely not only to her own credit, but of the whole Union, from east to west, and I may add, from north to south. It is known that we occupy a middle ground ; that we are the connecting link between these remote sections. It is known that, when there has been talk of disunion in some quarters, the State of Maryland has stood up, as she will ever do, the fast friend of the Constitution. [Applause.] She has stood up under the folds of that star-spangled banner, which

Gentlemen, I am glad to meet you here to-night. You come at an opportune moment, to afford us the gratification of reciprocating a courtesy which was extended to us on a recent occasion. 'ITie visit of our people to their Western brethren cannot soon be forgotten. I have heard something, from yourselves, of the inadequacy of your preparations ; but I tell you that I was there in your midst ; and a more generous - a more whole-souled - a more hospitable reception could not be extended to any people, than that which was extended to the people of Baltimore during that great celebratioa Gentlemen, we feel grateful for your kindness, and I am most happy here to-night as the representative of the city of Baltimore, responsible to the people of Baltimore, and knowing full well what I have to encounter if I omit any thing in that programme which has been prepared for your comfort and your pleasure - I am most happy to greet you, and to receive you as brothers ; and in the absence of the Governor of the State, to tender to you the hospitalities of the State of Marj'land ; and to say to you, that, whenever you may come among us, in the language of the sentiment which has just been announced, you will find our hearts open, " on our table a plate, knife and fork, and the latch not puUed in." [Great applause.]

That the Committee were pleased to have among them, on the present occasion, a large delegation from the Federal city, and he hoped that they would be heard. These gentlemen had visited the city of Baltimore for the purpose of extending a hearty invitation to the friends from the far West to go over and see the National Metropolis, and one of their representatives on his left would be called upon to addi'ess them. He begged to introduce Mr. John T. Smith, of Washington City.