brethren of the bar would prefer his remaining here but if he will
return to the competitions and collisions of the courts, he will be
welcomed as a brother, however unwelcome he may be as an adversary.
Meantime, that he may tell us of the outlook of the Republic, let us
listen to the Secretary of State, the Honorable William M. Evarts."]

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY OF
BROOKLYN:--I have been accustomed to the City of New York, and have
been accustomed to the estimate which the people of New York make of the
people of Brooklyn. [Laughter.] I now come to make some trial of the
estimate which the people of Brooklyn put upon the people of New York.
[Applause.] In one distinct feature of the City of New York--I mean in
its population--and in one distinct feature of the City of Brooklyn--in
its population--you will see the secret of your vast superiority to us.
[Laughter.] In the City of New York there are more Irishmen than there
are in Dublin. [Applause.] In the City of Brooklyn there are more
Bostonians than there are in Boston. [Laughter.] We have always felt it
as a reproach, however little we relish the satire, that our New England
festivals--mean in New York--were little in keeping with the poverty and
frugality, and perhaps with the virtues, of our ancestors. But here I
see exactly such a company, and exactly such a feast, as in the first
years of the emigration, our ancestors would have sat down to.
[Laughter.] We honor our fathers with loud praises, you, by noble and
self-denying example. [Laughter.]

The Republic, which is the theme I am to speak to, is the Republic which
has grown from the seed that was planted in New England. It has gained
as the oak has gained in its growth, from the soil, and from the air; so
in the body and the strength, and the numbers and the wealth of the
Republic, it has gained by the accretions of other races, and the
incoming population from many shores. But the oak, nevertheless, is an
oak, because the seed which was planted was the seed of an oak. [Loud
applause.] Now, our Pilgrim Fathers seem to have been frustrated by
Providence a good deal, in many of their plans. They came with the
purpose, it is said, of occupying the pleasant seat of all this wealth
and prosperity which these great cities enjoy. But the point was to
plant them in New England, where they might grow, but would never stay.
One of the first letters which I received after taking