SPEECH AT THE UNVEILING OF THE STATUE TO S. F. B. MORSE, IN CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK CITY, JUNE 10, 1871. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : We are met to witness the completion of a statue erected in honor of an American citizen, who is still living. In the most conspicuous and the most beautiful of the public grounds of the chief city of this Western hemisphere, this statue of Samuel F. B. Morse shall stand for ages. The enduring material of which it is made may, in the long lapse of time, crumble; yet his name will not be lost to the memory of man. By his own works he has secured for it immortality. So long as language lasts, his name will be spoken and honored. The faculty of speaking is the gift whereby God has favored man above his other creatures. By it we are enabled to utter to our neighbor our wants, our sufferings, our sympathies, every idea and feeling which arises within us. Anxious to pay to his memory its highest honors, the world has sought, during all history, to discover the name of the inventor of the alphabet. By means of the alphabet we were empowered to speak to the eye as well as to the ear, and to transport to the most remote parts of the earth the utterances of mind and heart, in visible and lasting form. Hours, days, weeks, months may elapse before that which we would have spoken to our absent friends, if at our side, can reach its destination; but, thanks to the alphabet, it reaches them, at last, fresh and in perfect keeping. The Creator blessed man by giving him the power of language; and through the alphabet how greatly has the blessing been expanded! By it the dead of ages past speak to us to-day, in their written utterances; and by it we speak to generations yet unborn. Centuries and centuries passed away, and this great expansion of the means of intelligent communication was all the improvement to which human invention was equal. In our day a new era has dawned. Again, for the second time in the history of the world, the power of language is increased by human agency. Thanks to Samuel F. B. Morse, men speak to one another now, though separated by the width of the earth, with the lightning's speed and as if standing face to face. If the inventor of the alphabet be deserving of the highest honors, so is he whose great achievement marks this present epoch in the history of languagethe inventor of the electric telegraph. We intend that, so far as in us lies, the men who come after us shall be at no loss to discover his name, for want of the recorded testimony of his contemporaries. In doing him, during his life, the extraordinary honor which we are met this day to make complete, we contribute little to his well earned glory. Nevertheless, the people of this great city, represented by their Mayor, and the people of two States- the State of his birth and the State of his adoption - uniting in this ceremonial in the persons of their chosen chief magistrates, find great gratification for themselves in this opportunity to testify their appreciation of the honor and the benefits which he has conferred on them and on the country. The Governor of Massachusetts, the native State of Morse, will now unveil the statue, and then William Cullen Bryant will speak to you as he only can speak. How fitting that he who having before him the letters of the ancient alphabet which Cadmus brought into Greece, has, by his great translation, enabled all English speaking men to realize to-day, in their own tongue, the power and genius of Homer - should be our leader on this occasion in paying a just tribute to one who is his friend, and who, like himself, has, from the pursuits of private life, cast real and enduring lustre upon the American name! ERRATA. The following bills, disapproved after adjournment of the Legislature in 1871, are omitted in their proper place : An Act in relation to removing wall benches and constructing vertical and slope walls between Butternut Creek Feeder and Lock Forty-Seven of the Erie Canal. NOT APPROVED Same reasons as against bill in relation to the doubling of the locks on the Western Division. (See page 265). An Act to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for the improvement of the navigation of the Racket river, and of the hydraulic power thereon, and to check freshets therein, passed April 2d, 1869. NOT APPROVED Amended on last day of session unexpectedly to parties whose private interests were affected and without a chance of their being heard. An Act to amend an act entitled "An act to authorize the town of Wilna, in the county of Jefferson; the town of Diana, in the county of Lewis; and the town of Edwards, in the county of St. Lawrence, to issue bonds and subscribe and take, for said towns, capital stock in the Black river and St. Lawrence Railway Company," passed April 2d, 1868. NOT APPROVED - Repeals a condition under which subscriptions were originally made, and is unjust to tax payers. An Act to provide for a special election to fill the vacancy in the Sixteenth Assembly District of the county of New York, caused by the resignation of James Irving. NOT APPROVED-No necessity for bill; resignation being made about close of session, and no extra session to be called. Page 254: Veto of act to incorporate the Lake George Baptist Association erroneously inserted, the Bill having been signed. Page 139: For Storen read Storer. Page 377: For Section, fourth line from bottom of page, read See. Page 389 Line 12, 118,000 should be 188,000. INDEX. ACADEMIES AND COLLEGES, Cortland Academy, veto of act in aid of, 72. Hungerford Collegiate Institute, veto of act in aid of, 59. Jordan Academy and Free School District No. 4, veto of act relative St. John's College, veto of charter of, 259. Williamsville Academy, veto of act for sale of real estate, 257. ADDRESSES, Morse, S. F. B., unveiling of statue, 519. New Capitol, address at laying of corner stone, 267. Saratoga, veto of act to provide for paying debts of, 146. ALBANY, Excelsior Temple of Honor, No. 23, veto of charter, 43. Loan & Trust Co., veto of charter of, 262. New Capitol, address at laying corner stone, 267. Police Department, veto of act relating to, 347. Sixpenny Savings Bank, veto of charter, 262. United States building in, veto of act providing for, 350. ANNUAL MESSAGES, To Legislature of 1869, 1. To Legislature of 1870, 76. To Legislature of 1871, 172. To Legislature of 1872, 274. ASSEMBLY, MEMBER OF, Veto of act to fill vacancy of James Irving, 521. ASSESSMENT AND TAXATION, Brooklyn, appointment of assessors in, 406. Chautauqua County, collection of taxes in, veto of act for, 253. Columbia County, veto of act for correction of assessments in, 72. |