of these combining wires only presents the
physical image,--on the lift of their wills, stronger than of these
consenting cables,--the immense structure has risen to its place. No
grander work has it been given to men to do for the city, which will
feel the unfailing impulse of their foresight and courage, their
wisdom in counsel, and their resolute service, to the end of its
history!

Mr. William Marshall, Gen. Henry W. Slocum, were also connected with
the work at the outset, and, with intervals in the period of their
service, have given it important assistance to the end; while others
are with us who have joined with intelligence, enthusiasm, and
helpfulness in the councils of the Board at different times. We
rejoice in the presence of all those who, earlier or later, have taken
part in the plans, at once vast and minute, which now are realized. We
offer them the tribute of our admiring and grateful esteem. We trust
that their remembrance of the work they have accomplished, and their
personal experience of its manifold benefits, may continue through
many happy years. And we congratulate ourselves, as well as them, that
the city will keep the memorial of them, not in yonder tablets alone,
but in the great fabric above which those stand, while stone and steel
retain their strength.

But, after all, the real builder of this surpassing and significant
structure has been the people: whose watchfulness of its progress has
been constant, whose desire for its benefits has been the incentive
behind its plans, by whom its treasury has been supplied, whose
exultant gladness now welcomes its success. The people of New York
have illustrated anew their magnanimous spirit in cheerfully supplying
their share of the cost, though not anticipating from such large
outlay direct reliefs and signal advantages. The people of Brooklyn
have shown at least an intelligent, intrepid, and far-sighted
sagacity, in readily accepting the immediate burdens in expectation of
future returns.

Such a popular achievement is one to be proud of. St. Petersburg could
be commenced 180 years ago--almost to a day, on May 27th, 1703--and
could afterward be built, by the will of an autocrat, to give him a
new centre of empire, with a nearer outlook over Europe; its palaces
rising on artificial foundations, which it cost, it is said, 100,000
lives in the first year to lay. Paris could be reconstructed,
twenty-five years ago, by the mandate of an emperor, det