to extinguish the sources of their proudest and most absolute prerogative. 'No kingly conqueror, since time began The long career of ages, had to man A scope so ample given for trade's bold range, Or caused of earth's wide stage such rapid, mighty change.' "From the discovery of the New World, the mercantile spirit has been rapidly gaining upon its old antagonist; and the establishment upon these shores of our republic, whose union was the immediate result of commercial necessities, whose independence found its original impulse in commercial oppression, and of whose Constitution the regulation of commerce was the first leading idea, may be regarded as the epoch at which the martial spirit finally lost its supremacy, which, it is believed and trusted, it can never again acquire." In an address before the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' Association, November 29, 1853, upon Archimedes and Franklin, occurs this passage, which is associated with others in this context with the author's approval: "Necessity is the mother of invention, and there was little or no necessity of that sort at Syracuse. But everything for which a demand existed Archimedes was able to supply, and actually did supply it. It was not reserved for him to find a place for doing more. It was not his destiny to discover the fulcrum, by poising his mighty lever upon which the world, as he knew it, could be moved. But sixteen hundred years afterwards, at the head of the very gulf on which Sicily stands, the man was born to whom that lofty destiny was vouchsafed. Columbus, a native of Genoa, discovered the New World, and the Old World has been moving ever since." In an address before the Lowell Institute, January 5, 1869, referring to meeting Admiral Farragut abroad, and a ride along the Cornice Road, on the very brink of the Mediterranean, Mr. Winthrop said, "I drove along this incomparable road during three days of delicious weather, and on the fourth day entered that superb city, which a grander admiral than Farragut might well have been proud to claim as his birthplace, Christopher Columbus, a native of Genoa. "A noble monument to Columbus, recently finished, surmounted by a striking likeness of him, and adorned by a series of bas-reliefs illustrating the strange, eventful history of his life, from which I need hardly say the discovery of America was not wholly omitted, greeted us at the gates with the simple inscription, in Italian, 'To Christopher Columbus, from his Country.' And as I gazed upon it with admiration, I could not help feeling that it was not there alone that a monument and a statue were due to his memory; but that upon the shores of our own hemisphere, too, there ought to be some worthy memorial of the discoverer of the New World, an exact reproduction of this admirable monument at Genoa, so that hemisphere should seem to respond to hemisphere in a common tribute to the heroic and matchless old navigator. It would be some sort of atonement, I thought, on the part of America,—tardy and inadequate, indeed, but better than nothing,—for having allowed another, however meritorious, to usurp the place to which his name was so pre-eminently entitled in the geographical nomenclature of the globe." In the Centennial oration at Boston, July 4, 1876, and in a paper read before the Massachusetts Historical Society, January 8, 1885, Mr. Winthrop again called attention to the fact that 66 no adequate memorial of the discoverer of the New World is to be found on this continent," and adds: "From the hour when Columbus and his compeers discovered our continent, its ultimate political destiny was fixed. At the very gateway of the Pantheon of American liberty and American independence might well be seen a triple monument, like that to the old inventors of the art of printing at Frankfort, including Columbus, Americus Vespucius, and Cabot. "They were the pioneers in the march to independence. They were the precursors in the only progress of freedom which was to have no backward steps. Liberty had struggled long and bravely in other ages and in other lands. It had made glorious manifestations of its power in Athens and in Rome; in the medieval republics of Italy; on the plains of Germany; along the dikes of Holland; among the icy fastnesses of Switzerland, and, more securely and hopefully still, in the sea-girt isle of Old England. But it was the glory of these old navigators to reveal a standing-place for it, at last, where its lever could find a secure fulcrum and rest safely until it had moved the world." ROBERT C. WINTHROP. AMERICA. THE MORNING OF THE DISCOVERY, OCTOBER 21, 1492. IMMORTAL morn, all hail, That saw Columbus sail The skies before him bowed, Fair Science then was born Faith dared the sea; And Earth to free. Strong Freedom then came forth, To liberate the earth And crown the right: So walked the pilot bold Upon the sea of gold, And darkness backward rolled, And there was light. Sweep, sweep across the seas, Ye rolling jubilees, Grand chorals raise; The world adoring stands, Ye hosts of Faith, sing on; Of Love and Peace. HEZEKIAH BUTTERWORTH. A HOLIDAY PROCLAIMED. 1492-1892. By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation. WHEREAS, By joint resolution, approved June 29, 1892, it was resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, "That the President of the United States be authorized and directed to issue a proclamation recommending to the people the observance in all their localities of the four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America, on the twenty-first day of October, 1892, by public demonstrations and by suitable exercises in their schools and other places of assembly." Now, therefore, I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, in pursuance of the aforesaid joint resolution, do hereby appoint Friday, October 21, 1892, the fourhundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus, as a general holiday for the people of the United States. On that day let the people, so far as possible, cease from toil and devote themselves to such exercises as may best express honor to the discoverer and their appreciation of the great achievements of the four completed centuries of American life. Columbus stood in his age as the pioneer of progress and achievement. The system of universal education is in our age the most prominent and salutary feature of the spirit of enlightenment, and it is peculiarly appropriate that the schools be made by the people the centre of the day's demonstration. Let the national flag float over every school-house in the country, and the exercises be such as shall impress upon our youth the patriotic duties of American citizenship. In the churches and in other places of assembly of the people let there be expressions of gratitude to Divine Providence for the devout faith of the discoverer, and for the Divine care and guidance which has directed our history and so abundantly blessed our people. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington this twenty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and seventeenth. By the President. JOHN W. FOSTER, Secretary of State. BENJAMIN HARRISON. FOUR CENTURIES COMPLETED. (Address prepared under the auspices of the "Youth's Companion" for the National School Exercises, October 21, 1892.) THE spectacle America presents this day is unique, without precedent in history. From ocean to ocean, in city, village, and country-side, children of the States are marshalled and marching under the banner of the nation; citizens are gathering around the school-house. The attention of the world is focused on the American school-master and his pupils. Men are recognizing to-day the most impressive anniversary since Rome celebrated her thousandth year, the four |