wrought, not like his, for Popes and Emperors, but for Smith and Jones, and all the branches, collateral and direct, of the immense families of Smith and Jones. Our roads are not built at a vast expense, for some royal progress, or the passage of a conquering army, but are built to roll from house to house the precious treasures of industry, or a happy freight of excursionists, giving their hearts a holiday of merriment and innocent delight. “Our progress in these modern times, then, consists in this, that we have democratized the means and appliances of a higher life; that we have spread, far and wide, the civilizing influences of art; that we have brought, and are bringing more and more the masses of the people up to the aristocratic standard of taste and enjoyment, and so diffuse the influence of splendor and grace over all minds. Grander powers have been infused into society. A larger variety and a richer flavor have been given to all our individual experiences; and, what is more, the barriers that once separated our race, the intervals of time and space that made almost every tribe and every family the enemy of every other tribe and family have been annihilated to enable the common interests and common enjoyments to renovate and warm us into amity of feeling and the friendly rivalry of fellow-workmen pursuing, under different circumstances, the same great ends. “Legislation, rightly directed, might have done and might yet do much for the civilization and advancement of society; but, unfortunately, in most nations of the earth, the legislation, having been under the exclusive control of a self-styled higher class, has impeded rather than hastened the movement. Yet, in the face of this terrible obstacle, under all the evils of the insular monopoly of Great Britain, seeking to aggrandize her own manufacturing industry at the expense of the industry of the rest of mankind, the genius of practical art has triumphed, and will triumph still more over every difficulty. It is raising the laborer to his true position; it is facilitating the association of men; it is harmonizing their interests; and, whether legislation helps it or not, it will ultimately redeem our race from dependence and slavery. And herein is the chief reason why we to-day salute with satisfaction the opening of the Crystal Palace.”