Jamestown took on for me that night a new significance.
It became the emblem of that earnest, devoted and patriotic
zeal which inspires the heart of every true Freeman. In that
mysterious haze all parochial lines and insular confines dis-
appeared, and it became the real Cradle of the American
People wherever they may be, and of that for which they stand
fundamentally, however they may express it. By her shores
glided the James bearing its flood of tempered waters to the
great ocean whose currents help to crcate or temper the climates
of the World.
           The Avon to the severn runs,
           And tie Severa t) tnie Sea,
           And Wyckliffe 's du3 is spread abroad
           Wide as the wa-es be.

    Thus, the James cutting away through the long generations
the edge of this Island in which lay interred the mortal remains
of most of those who first came to seize this land for England
and her civilization has borne that dust to all shores, and thus
the work they performed has been borne on the tide of time
to leaven and advance all the institutions of mankind.
    This is no occasion for sectional or personal-selfgratulation.
On this spot, at this time, such congratulation as we may
venture to feel, if properly informed, must be National and
Racial. The work, the deeds, the acts performed here belong
not to us alone; but to every part of this country, and, in a
larger sense, to every part of the world w-here men strive
and aspire. From  this spot wvent forth the streams which
have made the great main of American life, and in a way, of
all life which has been af'ected by the Ameriean life. Had
this Colony not had being. it is possible that no other English
Colony might have taken root on these shores. Had this
Colony not had being it is almost certain that the life planted
here would not have taken the form which it did take. Had
this Colony not had being, it is possible that this republic
might never have been, and that all the blessings that have
flowed therefrom, including the blessing of human liberty,
might never have been.
                             27