While these inspiriting scenes were being enacted, the greatest procession, it was said, that ever had been formed in America to date, was preparing in the city under the direction of Major-general Fleming; all classes were represented, the military and civil societies, educational institutions, the city departments, state artillery and benevolent and mechanical organizations, the whole enlivened by the playing of many bands. At 10:30 o'clock the line, one mile and a half in length, began its march. From Greenwich Street, the route was through Canal to Broadway, up Broadway to Broome, up Broome to the Bowery, down the Bowery to Pearl, down Pearl to the Battery, and thence to Broadway and the City Hall. At night the illuminations were beautiful, the commonest being the letter "C" and "Grand Canal;" the New York Coffee House, the City Hotel, Peale's Museum, Scudder's Museum, Chatham and Park theaters had elaborate displays. The illuminations of the City Hall were "surpassingly beautiful." The exhibition of fireworks in New York was said to be the greatest in its history. On Monday evening, November 7, the celebration was concluded by a grand ball at the Lafayette Amphitheatre in Laurens Street; in order to secure the necessary space required, the floor of the amphitheater was connected with the floors of an adjacent circus building on one side and the floor of a riding school on the other; as a result the largest ball room in America was temporarily formed, measuring two hundred feet in length and from sixty to one hundred feet in width. Above the proscenium were emblazoned the names of the engineers of the "Grand Canal"--Briggs, White, Geddes, Wright, and Thomas; also the names of the past and present canal commissioners--Hart, Bouck, Holly, De Witt, Livingston, Fulton, Clinton, Van Rensselaer, Morris, Eddy, Young, Seymour, Porter, and Ellicott. In the ladies' banquet room a boat made of maple sugar--the gift of Colonel Hinman of Utica to Governor Clinton--floated proudly on Lake Erie water. At the conclusion of the great celebration the committee from the West departed for Lake Erie, carrying with them a keg of Atlantic water, ornamented with the arms of the city of New York and the following words in letters of gold: "Neptune's return to Pan. New York, 4th Nov. 1825. Water of the Atlantic."