have met you here on the shore of the Connecticut, the battleground of King Philip's cruel wars; and before that sun shall set, we might ascend the heights of Charlestown, or rest upon the rock that was wet with the blood that flowed from the weary feet of the pilgrim fathers.

Sir, you have well set forth the benefits which will result to you, to us, to our country, and to mankind, from the triumph of modern science over the physical obstructions to intercourse between the American communities. I can advert to but one of these results-the increasing strength of the states, and the perpetuity of their union. New York, Massachusetts, and her sisterstates of New England, will no longer be merely confederated states. Their interests, their affections, and their sympathies, will now be intermingled-and a common and indivisible destiny, whether of good or evil, awaits them all. Had such connections existed when the British throne attempted to abridge the rights of the colonies, what power could have wounded Massachusetts when New York could have rushed to her defence? Could Great Britain and her savage allies have scourged so severely our infant settlements upon the Mohawk and the Susquehannah, if New England could have gone to their relief? How vain will be any attempt hereafter to array us against each other! Since Providence has been pleased to permit these states to be thus joined together, who shall put them asunder?

You have rightly assumed that on this occasion we indulge no jealousies of your prosperity, and no apprehensions of losing our power or influence. The Hudson is beautiful in our eyes, for it flows through the land of our birth, and our institutions and marts overhang its waters. But if its shores be not the true and proper seat of commerce and of empire, or if we have not the virtues. and the energies necessary to retain our vantage-ground, we shall not try to check the prosperity or the political ascendency of our sister-states. Far from indulging such unworthy thoughts, we regard this and every other improvement as calculated to promote our own prosperity, and, what is far more important than the advancement of our state or of yours, the union and harmony of the whole American family. The bond that brings us into so close connection is capable of being extended from your coast to the Mississippi, and of being fastened around not only New York and the first thirteen, but all the twenty-six states. This is the

policy of New York, and her ambition. We rejoice in your cooperation, and invite its continuance, until alarms of disunion shall be among the obsolete dangers of the republic.

New York has been addressed here in language of magnanimity. It would not become me to speak of her position, her resources, or her influence. And yet I may, without offending the delicacy of her representatives here, and of her people at home, claim that she is not altogether unworthy of admiration. Our mountains, cataracts, and lakes, can not be surveyed without lifting the soul on high. Our metropolis and our inland cities, our canals and railroads, our colleges and schools, and our twelve thousand libraries, evince emulation and a desire to promote the welfare of our country, the progress of civilization, and the happiness of mankind. While we acknowledge that it was your WARREN that offered up his life at Charlestown, your ADAMS and your HANCOCK Who were the proscribed leaders in the Revolution, and your FRANKLIN whose wisdom swayed its councils, we can not forget that Ticonderoga and Saratoga are within our borders, that it was a son of New York that fell in scaling the heights of Abraham, that another shaped every pillar of the constitution and twined the evergreen around its capital, that our FULTON sent forth the mighty mechanical agent that is revolutionizing the world, and that but for our CLINTON, his lofty genius and undaunted perseverance, the events of this day and all its joyous anticipations had slept together in the womb of futurity.

The grandeur of this occasion oppresses me. It is not, as some have supposed, the first time that states have met. On many occasions, in all ages, states, nations, and empires, have come together. But the trumpet heralded their approach; they met in the shock of war: one or the other sunk to rise no more, and desolation marked, for the warning of mankind, the scene of the fearful encounter. And if sometimes Chivalry asked an armistice, it was but to light up with evanescent smiles the stern visage of War. How different is this scene! Here are no contending hosts, no destructive engines, nor the terrors nor even the pomp of war. Not a helmet, sword, or plume, is seen in all this vast assemblage. Nor is this a hollow truce between contending states. We are not met upon a cloth of gold, and under a silken canopy, to practise deceitful courtesies; nor in an amphitheatre, with jousts and tournaments, to make trial of our skill in arms

preparatory to a fatal conflict. We have come here enlightened and fraternal states, without pageantry, or even insignia of power, to renew pledges of fidelity, and to cultivate affection and all the arts of peace. Well may our sister-states look upon the scene with favor, and the nations of the earth draw from it good auguries of universal and perpetual peace.

Representatives of the states of Massachusetts and New York! I may have said, in the fervor of the moment, something which may seem here or elsewhere unbecoming so solemn and interesting an occasion. If I have so offended, I ask that the error may be forgiven and forgotten-that this day may remain in your memories as in mine-a day whose passing hours witnessed no discord, and left no painful recollections.

POLITICAL WRITINGS.

ADDRESS OF A REPUBLICAN CONVENTION.

AUBURN, OCTOBER 5, 1824.

HONEST and honorable men are convinced that a combination exists in this state, enjoys its honors, and wields its power, whose principles and practices are at war with its best interest, its prosperity, and its fame.

The history of this combination begins when, taking advantage of the strong current of popular opinion in favor of a correction of the errors of the old constitution of this state, a few men who were clamorous for reform, but whose lives had exhibited not one sacrifice for the public good, united with a few others until then unknown among us, because they had done nothing worthy of notice, and all becoming loud in their protestations of devotion to republicanism, they succceded in obtaining seats in the late constitutional convention.

Defeated then in their efforts to retain the old council of appointment which they had hoped to wield at their pleasure, they succeeded in incorporating into the new constitutional system an institution, the evils of which are more severe than those which were produced by the justly-obnoxious features of the system. which was abolished-an institution which combines in one strong phalanx the officeholders, from the governor and the senators down to the justices of the peace in the most remote parts

NOTE. This address is among Mr. Seward's earliest political efforts. At the time it was written he was but twenty three years. A more faithful portrait of the "Albany Regency" could scarcely have been drawn by a practised hand.-Ed.

of the state-which makes the governor a subservient tool of the faction which designates him; converts the otherwise respectable judiciaries of the counties into shambles for the bargain and sale of offices; and selects justices of the peace (in whose courts are decided questions involving a greater amount of property than in all the other tribunals of the state), not from among those whom an intelligent people would choose, but from the supple and needy parasites of power, who may, and it is to be feared do, bring not only the influence but the very authority of their offices to the support of the party whose creatures they are. Thus it has come to pass that each of the several counties contains a little aristocracy of officeholders, existing independently of popular control, while they are banded together by ties of common political brotherhood.

Another part of their organization which presents serious ground of apprehension, is the caucus system. It was in vain that the framers of the constitution placed a barrier between those who should make the laws and those who should execute them. The doctrine of construction has been extended so far by ingenuity and subtlety, that their union is no longer an anomaly. Men chosen to make laws, have constituted themselves a power to appoint those by whom they shall be executed. The effect is, that these men have themselves become the subjects of barter and sale. Public and beneficent laws are seldom seen in their journals, while their pages are swollen with laws to accommodate politicians and speculators. Republican dignity and simplicity are banished from the public councils, and faction has obtruded its unblushing front into the halls of legislation. The caucus system, originally adopted from necessity, and never considered obligatory further than its nominations concurred with popular opinion, has been converted into a political inquisition. Patriotism is made to consist in a servile submission to its decrees. Of fices and honors are offered to those only who will renounce their independence, and give their support to the "old and established usages of the party," while denunciations without measure are poured forth upon the heads of those who dare to question the infallibility of the decrees thus obtained. These denunciations have had their effect upon weak and timid minds, while the inducements offered on the other hand have not failed to enlist profligate politicians. These systems constitute the machinery