Here it was that in the wigwams, and partaking of the hospitality of King Shingiss and Queen Allaquippa, his heart imbibed that warm and active benevolence for the sons of the forest, that was so conspicuous in his subsequent administration of the government.
Here it was that the influence of his great name suppressed an insurrection that threatened to sap the foundation of our beautiful political edifice. And here, Sir, he has a monument in the affection of his countrymen more durable than brass or marble, and which will remain steadfast, as long as the rippling current of the Ohio flows on to the bosom of the Father of waters.
In 1798, the first armed vessel that ever floated on the western waters was constructed here under the direction of a Revolutionary officer. She was a row-galley, mounting a solitary gun, and was intended to protect our infant trade with that splendid domain afterwards acquired to the Union by the wisdom and foresight of your illustrious friend and cotemporary, Mr. Jefferson.
The name of that vessel was the John Adams, And, if tradition is to be credited, after performing duty here, she hoisted sails, entered the peaceful pursuits of commerce, crossed the Atlantic, passed the straits of Gibraltar, wended her way up the Mediterranean, threaded the Archipelago, and penetrated to the Dardanelles on the borders of Asia Minor; thus carrying on her prow into the very bosom of a despotic country, the name of one of the honored actors in the great struggle for Republican liberty.
Look at the contrast now! Instead of the barge, and the row-galley, our skilful mechanics in 1843 completed, on the very bastions of old Fort Duquesne, an iron ship of war that is to carry on the Northern Lakes the stars and stripes of our beloved country – and a frigate is now in progress of construction, which with her "iron sides," is destined to defend the honor of the American name "in every sea under the whole heavens."
When your venerated Sire, with burning zeal, proclaimed independence now, independence forever; when, with heroic and inflexible resolution, he signed his name to the great charter of our liberty, the place on which you now stand was a barren and unproductive forest. Now,
"As the swollen column of ascending smoke,"
so swells her grandeur. From a thousand chimneys are emitted the living evidences of her prosperity. The flaming fire, the busy hammer, the revolving roller, all give daily, hourly proof of her rapid advancement. Here the rough misshapen elements of nature are formed and moulded to suit the purposes of man. Here machines to mitigate the toil of the laborer, and to facilitate intercourse between the States, are made with a skill unsurpassed even by the old world. Here the anchor is forged to give security and protection to the weather-beaten mariner. Here the shovel and the mattock, the plough and the harrow, go forth to ease the labors of the husbandman. And here the naked are clothed and the hungry fed, by the evolution of machinery "and the potent agency of steam."