constitution, it becomes a noble, visible
symbol of that benign Peace amid which its towers and roadway have
risen, and which, we trust, it may long continue to signalize and to
share.

We may look at this moment on the site of the ship-yard from which, in
March, 1862, twenty-one years ago, went forth the unmasted and
raft-like "Monitor," with its flat decks, its low bulwarks, its
guarded mechanism, its heavy armament, and its impenetrable revolving
turret, to that near battle with the "Merrimac," on which, as it
seemed to us at the time, the destiny of the nation was perilously
poised. The material of which the ship was wrought was largely that
which is built in beauty into this luxurious lofty fabric. But no
contrast could be greater among the works of human genius than between
the compact and rigid solidity into which the iron had there been
forged and wedged and rammed, and these waving and graceful curves,
swinging downward and up, almost like blossoming festooned vines along
the perfumed Italian lanes; this alluring roadway, resting on towers
which rise like those of ancient cathedrals; this lace-work of
threads, interweaving their separate delicate strengths into the
complex solidity of the whole.

The ship was for war, and the Bridge is for peace:--the product of it;
almost, one might say, its express palpable emblem, in its harmony of
proportions, its dainty elegance, its advantages for all, and its
ample convenience. The deadly raft, floating level with waves, was
related to this ethereal structure, whose finest curves are wrought in
the strength of toughest steel. We could not have had this except for
that unsightly craft, which at first refused to be steered, which
bumped headlong against our piers, which almost sank while being towed
to the field of its fame, and which, at last, when its mission was
fulfilled, found its grave in the deep over whose waters, and near
their line, its shattering lightnings had been shot. This structure
will stand, we fondly trust, for generations to come, even for
centuries, while metal and granite retain their coherence; not only
emitting, when the wind surges or plays through its network, that
aerial music of which it is the mighty harp, but representing to every
eye the manifold bonds of interest and affection, of sympathy and
purpose, of common political faith and hope, over and from whose
mightier chords shall rise the living and unmatched harmonies of
continental gladn