Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-06-14
From the New.York American.

The NEW MIRROR FOR TRAVELLERS, AND
GUIDE TO THE SpRlNes.-Under this title %e
have lust risen from the perusal Of a right merN
nv be, k that we can commend to all travellers
upou the North River, who desire to acquire
agreeably, accurate Typographical information,
nterspersed with pleasant satire asains, the
vices, fo!blss and - Gsl;iss t IF hi Ihnd inns; of ! Is 1sG s%a
of "modern improvements"-'the spiri, Of the
age"-"the march Of mind"-which by the bye
he thinks at The present rate Of steamboat tra>
yelling, the march Of body will soon o%u,slrip
and Of banks, brokers, canals, rail roads, and
fashion. He describes with The delighted spi>
rt Of one recalling the charms Of EARLY reCoI-
lection, the beautiful banks Of the Hudson, and
the various settlements and remarkable posi-.
tons on its borders; minglins up with THESE
scenes and their decription, touches Of fine
irony upon The changes which modern improve
men,s have produced, as well in the appearance
and manners, as upon The morals and happiness
OF the dweilers upon these shores. The whole
bouk, indeed, is written in q tome Of persi6aage,
which we cannot perhaps better illustrate, than
by giving the authors own account Of his La
bours IN the preface. So here is an extract:
Ever since the invention OF steam engines,
steam boats, steam carriages, Liverpool pack
ttS, TAI TpduS, dUu OtuC uChSulluI IdClllliCo
for travelling, the march Of the hu body
has kept pace with the march Of the human
mind, SO thar it is now a moot point which gets
on the faster. Ifthe body moves at the rate Of
fifteen miles an hour, the mind advances in all
equal pace, and children of sixteen are in a fair
way To become wiser than their erandfs,hers.
While the grown up gentleman goes to Alba
ny in Twelve hours, and comes back in forty
eight with a charter in his pocket, the aspiring
school5oy smalters a language, or conquers a
science, by the aid Of those vast improvements
and the ''mach,nery" of,he mind, which have
immor,alized the age. In fact there seems TO
be a race between matter and mind, and there
is no telling which will come Out first in the
end.
Legislators and philosophers may fatter
themselves as they will, but they have little in
huence in shaping this world. The inventors
If paper money, cotton machinery, steam en-
gines and steam boats, have caused q greater
revolution in the habits, opinions and morals
Of mankind, than all the systems Of philoso-
phy, aided by all the efforts OF legislation. Ma
chinrry and steam engines have had mora in.
huence on the Christian world, than Locke's
metaphysics, Napoleon's code, or Jeremy Ben,
tbsm's codiication; and we have heard a great
advocate for domestic manufactures predict,
the time was not far distant, when men and
women and children would be of no use bu,
to construct and attend upon machinery-when
spinning jrnnies would become members Of
Congress, and the United States be governed
by a steam engine Of a hundred and twenty
horse power. We confess ourselves not quite
so sanguine, but will 60 so far as TO say, we
believe the time may come when a long speech
will be spun out Of bale Of cotton by a spin
ming jenny; a President Of the United States be
made by a combination Of machinery; and Myn-
heer Markell be beaten at chess by his own
Without diving deeper into such specula-
lions, or tracing the effects Of these vast i'm.
in the condition Of mankind, who
will soon have nothing 10 do but tend UPON ma