ty. Among the prospects of futurity which we may indulge the
rational hope of seeing realized by this junction of distant waters, that
of the auspicious influence which it will exercise over the fortunes of
every portion of this District is one upon which my mind dwells with
unqualified pleasure. It is my earnest prayer that they may not be
disappointed.

"It was observed that the first step towards the accomplishment of the
glorious destinies of our country was the Declaration of Independence.
That the second was the union of these States under our federative
Government. The third is irrevocably fixed by the act upon the
commencement of which we are now engaged. What time more suitable for this
operation could have been selected than the anniversary of our great
national festival? What place more appropriate from whence to proceed,
than that which bears the name of the citizen warrior who led our armies
in that eventful contest to the field, and who first presided as the Chief
Magistrate of our Union? You know that of this very undertaking he was one
of the first projectors; and if in the world of spirits the affections of
our mortal existence still retain their sway, may we not, without
presumption, imagine that he looks down with complacency and delight upon
the scene before and around us?

"But while indulging in a sentiment of joyous exultation at the benefits
to be derived from this labor of our friends and neighbors, let us not
forget that the spirit of internal improvement is catholic and liberal. We
hope and believe that its practical advantages will be extended to every
individual in our Union. In praying for the blessing of heaven upon our
task, we ask it with equal zeal and sincerity upon every other similar
work in this confederacy; and particularly upon that which, on this same
day, and perhaps at this very hour, is commencing from a neighboring city.
It is one of the happiest characteristics in the principle of internal
improvement, that the success of one great enterprise, instead of
counteracting, gives assistance to the execution of another. May they
increase and multiply, till, in the sublime language of inspiration, every
valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low; the
crooked straight, the rough places plain. Thus shall the prediction of the
bishop of Cloyne be converted from prophecy into history; and, in the
virtues and fortunes of our posterity, the last shall prove the