“Happy nation! in thy calendars are found no victories but those which established thy independence. Nor dost thou desire others, unless a noble sentiment should dictate to thee to be interested in the cause of men oppressed by one of the hemispheres; for thou hast been oppressed, and has received succour.
“Permit no one of thy citizens to become great with a greatness which would be too personal to him, or which would disparage his compeers: for a nation should not become a pedestal.
“Grant no distinctions to the living which they have not merited by their achievements; nor to the dead, such as would retard the excellence about to arise in competition with the past; for the transmission of hereditary glory is the act of an unwise people, who alienate their posterity to the advantage of strangers.
“Simple citizens of another state! I feel encouraged to send you this address across the sea, whose waves separate us; but my spirit has wished to commune with yours, and I have believed that the counsel of a native son of France who rejoices in your fortunes, would not find a haughty and disdainful reception, even at the moment when one of his own countrymen is receiving the honours of your gratitude. That man to whom is accorded the privilege of beholding himself honoured as posterity will honour similarly great men, is preparing for a return to his native shore: you know his heart went in search of the great and the happy of the age, but that to him the cause of the just will ever be the good cause, whether in triumph or defeat. Blow auspicious, then, ye winds. Laden with gifts as in ancient days, crowned with flowers gathered by the hands of your beauteous virgins and of their virtuous mothers, may he speedily regain his fire-side! Soon may he be restored to expectant, welcome embrace! Detain no longer the noble visitant on your shores! You are rich enough in citizens. I shall not assent that they yet enrol themselves amongst us, for it is permitted to no one to speak evil of his country; but when the weak feel their own weaknesses and fears, the presence of the strong is the more important.”
Governed by the feeling of his duties as a citizen, and by his affections as the head of a numerous family, General Lafayette required not the expression of these emanations of friendship to insure his speedy return to France: nevertheless it was not without the kindest emotions that they penetrated his bosom. This demonstration of his countrymen’s continued affection contributed to mitigate the sacrifice he felt himself bound in duty to make, in rejecting the entreaties of the citizens of the United States, who universally and simultaneously begged he would fix his residence amongst them.
The intention of the general was, to re-embark previous to the return of the inclement season, but before quitting the American soil, he wished to fulfil some engagements which he had made in different places; to pass some time at the seat of the general government of the Union, and to make a final visit to the ex-presidents, in their retirement in Virginia. We were now in the middle of July, and there remained less than two months for the execution of these designs, and he hastened immediately to reach Pennsylvania. He passed rapidly through New Jersey, surrounded by the customary demonstrations of the veneration of the people. I shall not speak of the entertainments offered him by the inhabitants of the towns he passed through, nor of his second visit to Joseph Bonaparte, on his journey to Bordentown, where we had the pleasure of meeting again, Colonel Achille Murat, who had just returned from an interview with his brother, recently arrived from Spain. But we shall pause an instant longer in Philadelphia, to visit the Water Works, and attend the celebration festival with which the citizens particularly engaged in these works desired to honour the nation’s guest.
We had visited, during our first stay in Philadelphia, the fine machinery established on the Schuylkill, for the supplying of water to a population of one hundred and twenty thousand persons, and we had been struck with the simplicity of its mechanism, its admirable force, the elegance and good taste of the building prepared for its protection; however, being then pressed with other engagements, we but slightly glanced at its general aspect, without entering into the examination of details, and it was to supply this defect of our information that we returned hither a second time with the committee entrusted with the superintendence of the expenses of the establishment.
The tide in the Delaware extending far above Philadelphia, it followed that its inhabitants could not employ the water of that stream for culinary purposes, and heretofore they had no supply of potable water but that which was furnished by some cisterns, which became exhausted during the great dryness of the summer, or furnishing but an unwholesome beverage, a great number of diseases ensued. The rapid growth of the population soon rendered indispensable the supply of water of a better quality, and in larger quantity. One pump wrought by steam power was established on the border of the Schuylkill. The expense of maintaining this pump in operation was very great, and its power insufficient, being the only resource for the supply of a population of more than eighty thousand souls at the end of the year 1818, at which time the watering committee, composed of citizens distinguished for their skill and their zeal in the public service, began to devise means for substituting, in place of the old machinery, other works at once more suited to the increasing demands of the city, more economical in their structure and in the cost of continuing them in operation. Fair Mount, on the left bank of the Schuylkill, seemed the point most favourable for the execution of the views of the committee. The Schuylkill Navigation Company having permitted the damming of the river to obtain a fall of water, on condition that a canal with locks should be constructed at the expense of the city, on the right bank of the river, in order that the navigation should not be interrupted; and Messrs. White and Gillingham having consented to yield, for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, their rights in the water courses, the committee, freed from every obstacle, submitted their plans to the city councils, who approved them, and voted the sum of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the commencement of their execution.
The labour was commenced the 19th of April, 1819, under the direction of Ariel Cooley, engineer, and was completed in four years. At the sight of the canals it was found necessary to open, the immense piers and embankments that had to be raised, the reservoirs which must be excavated to a great depth in the solid rocks, it is almost inconceivable that so many things could be achieved in so short a time. Money, it is true, was not withheld, but money is not always sufficient, we well know amongst us, for the accomplishment of great affairs; to act well and promptly, we must have agents of promptness and ability, and at the same time animated with honest zeal for the public welfare: such was Cooley, who unfortunately forfeited his life in consequence of his activity in the accomplishment of his duties. Incessantly exposed either to the heat of the sun or to the freshness of the nights, he contracted a fatal disease, which did not permit him to enjoy the fruits of his labour. Philadelphia, to this day, regrets in him a good citizen, an accomplished and disinterested artist.
As we have now seen them, the Water works at Fairmount can abundantly supply the demands of the city, and afford to the friends of the useful arts a monument worthy of their attention. The building that encloses the machinery, is constructed of stone of a brilliant whiteness. It is two hundred feet in length and fifty in breadth, and built in the Doric order of architecture. The interior section is divided into twelve solid vaulted apartments, designed for the reception of eight forcing pumps, to be put in operation by wheels of fourteen feet in diameter, and fourteen feet in length. Each extremity of the building is terminated by a pavilion of the same order of architecture, the one serving for the meetings of the watering committee, the other appropriated to the superintendent of the establishment. Of the eight pumps there are yet but three in operation, and by these alone there are carried into the reservoir of distribution, which is more than a hundred feet above the level of the river, nearly five millions of gallons of water in twenty-four hours. Each wheel performs thirteen revolutions per minute; they are formed with buckets perpendicular to the circumference, and revolve with surprising regularity. Their construction is due to the talents of Mr. Drury Bromley, who in this circumstance has forfeited no part of his reputation as an able mechanician.