GENERAL REPORT OF THE JUDGES OF jGROUP XXVI. 37 than before,—all these tell of the increase of wealth, and speak still more strongly of the public and patriotic spirit of the people. To me, who visited the United States on a former occasion, but so long ago that Chicago was then but a village, and Philadelphia had not more than one-half its present population, when its railways were only beginning to be made with wooden bridges and almost temporary works, when its vast mineral wealth was nearly untouched, and wood was burned where coal is now consumed, the astonishing changes, and the vast progress since made, appear greater than perhaps they will do to others whose visits have been more frequent. However this may be, what I witnessed at the Exhibition at Philadelphia and in the districts I visited impressed me very strongly with the energy of the people and the vast resources of this great country.
