dollar of the people's money has been lost or dishonestly applied, and he hoped that while the Corporation would adopt measures in reference to the water to meet the interest on the debt, they would be just to the rich, and liberal to the poor. In conclusion, Mr. Stevens said, it was a source of great pride and satisfaction to him, as a native of this great city, to say, that he had watched with care and some anxi- ety, every person who had formed a part of this great and noble celebration, and that he could not discover neither a drunkard nor a fool from the first to the last. As soon as the cheer had subsided, the following reply was made by J. L. Lawrence, Esq., President of the Croton Aqueduct Board : Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Board of Water Commissioners : — In receiving, with my associates of the Croton Aqueduct Board, the custody of the work committed to us, I take the occasion to convey to you, the thanks of your fellow- citizens, for the zeal, perseverance and fidelity with which your duty has been performed, and to congratulate you on the virtual completion of the work entrusted to you, and your predecessors in office. Of the manner in which both have discharged their respective tasks, the results we this day celebrate, speak in most emphatic praise. The science and skill of your able engineers, have excluded all errors of combination and construction, CROTON AaUEDUCT. 297 and met the highest expectations of the public. In mechanical execution, the work ap- pears to defy the test of scrutiny, as completely as we trust it is destined to resist the as- saults of time. Contrary to predictions, ventured on the subject, its efficiency in deliver- ing the water, not only equals but largely exceeds the mathematical estimate. The island on which New York is built, is peculiarly fitted for the site of a great city. Blessed with a salubrious climate — surrounded by waters forming a noble harbor, and constituting links of natural or practicable inland communication with adjacent sis- ter States, with the rich territory of our own State, and with the boundless and fertile regions of the West — connected by a short and uninterrupted passage with the ocean, the pathway from foreign climes, and from the extensive sea-board of our confederate States, and possessing, within easy reach, almost every necessary for construction and supply, our position combines natural advantages for a large community, devoted to the prosecu- tion of commerce and the arts, unsurpassed by those of any other spot on the globe. In the list of these endowments, one essential, only, appeared to be absent. Pure and whole- some water, an element indispensable to the wants, comforts, and business of a crowded population, was found within our limits in inadequate quantity ; and at each onward stride of our city, even this stinted allowance decreased in purity, as well as in measure, until it had become our reproach. A sufficient and permanent supply was to be found only at a great distance, as if to test whether the gifts so bountifully bestowed on us, could incite us to repair the single deficiency. To accomplish the object, it was neces- sary that formidable physical obstacles should be overcome ; that capacious and enduring channels of covered masonry should be constructed, rivaling in extent and magnitude, the boasted aqueducts of antiquity, and casting into shade any kindred works of modern times ; and that, for these purposes, an expenditure should be incurred, exceeding that which was encountered by our State, when she united the Hudson with the Lakes. And such momentous results were to be obtained, not from the resources and co-operation of an entire people, but through the credit and enterprise of a single city, which, though destined, as we cannot doubt, eventually to equal in population and wealth the proudest capitals of the civilized world, was to be impelled to the vast effort while yet in the in- fancy only of her growth and strength ! It is with feelings of pride and joy, we this day realize that the work is achieved. The obstacles have disappeared. The hill has been levelled or pierced, the stream and the valley have been overleaped, the rock has been smitten ! Nature, yielding to human industry, perseverance and skill, no longer withholds the boon she had before denied us. A river, whose pure waters are gathered from the lakes of the mountain-range, arrested and diverted in its course, after pouring its tribute through a permanent and spacious archway, for more than forty miles, at length reaches our magnificent reservoirs, from 75 298 CELEBRAION OF THE whence it is conducted by subterranean conduits, extending one hundred