Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1835-03-12
WHOLE NO. 25S.


their high character and holy love Of
liberty, land how, by neat and elegant
churches, that adorn every village;--by
comfortable school houses, that appear
every two miles, or oiiener, upon almost
every road, free Tor every body,--high
born, and low born,--by academies and
colleges, that tbickcn even to an incon-
venience; by asylums and institutions
muni6cently endowed, for the benefit Of
the poor;--and see, too, with what gem
erous pIide their bosoms swell when
they go within the consecra.ed walls Of
Faneuil Hall, or point cut the heights Of
Bunker Hill, or speak Of Concord, or
Lexington. Give any young man such
tour as this--the best he can make
and am sure his heart will beat quick,
when he sees the proud spectacle Of the
assembling OF the representatives Of all
these people, and all these interests with
in a single hall. He will more and
more revere the residue of those revolu~
tionary patriots, who not only left us
such heritage, won by their sufierings
and their blood, but such constitutions
such government here in Washington,
regulating all our national CONCERNS
but who have also in effect, left for US
tweHty-four other governments, with ter.
ritory enough to double them by and by;
that regulate all the minor concerns Of
the people acting within their own
sphere-now, in The winter assembling
within the various captols, from Jeffer-
son city, OH the Missouri, to Augusta, ,on
the kennebec-irom the capitol on the
Hudson, to the government house on the
Mississippi. Show me IA spectacle more
glorious, more encouraging than this,
even in the pages OF all history; such a
constellation of Free States, with no pub
lie force, but public opinion. moving by
well regulated law, each in its own pro-
per orbit, around the brighter star in
Washington: thus realizing, as it were,
Oh earth, almost practically, the beauti-
ful display Of Infinite Wisdom, that fixed
the Sun in the centre, and sent the re-
volving planets on their errands. God
grant it may end as with them!
cannot, Of course, in such sketch
as this, group together the statistics Of
our public works, the wonderful advance
Of our population, Of our commerce, Of
our manufactures, or enter into the par
tculars Of all we have done within half
a century. An excellent article, in sta
tistica prose, free from the running sem
tences have given, in which have at
tempted 10 be graphic and racy, SO
as 10 make young Americans think home
is worth seeing--might be written. But
after all, it is difficult to be very prosaic
in describing such country as ours
Think, if a prophet, but thirty years ago,
had predicted only the half that has hap
pened, lucky would he have been to es-
cape the asylum for lunatcs. Jefferson
mourned over a journey from Monticel-
10 to Philadelphia as fearful undertake
ing. Mount Vernon and Bunker Hill
were as far apart, in the days Of Wash
ington, as the jumping off rock in East
port, Me. and Augusta, Geo. now are.
The Mississippi boatman who was thir-
'ty or forty days in going over distance
he now goes in six, can now hardly be-
lieve that he is the man he WAS. The
steamboat and the steam horse, are the
miracle works cfour day. But then, en-
terprise and labor have done their won
ders, too. The Erie Canal What an
achievement for young people. The
Chesapeake and Ohio canal, too Go
over it, and see how labor has wrought
with mountain rocks, and torn them from
their beds, and dashed them asde,-as
if with the power Of Milton's demons
See the fire horse, with long trains Of
cars, careeriDg through the air, over RI
veis and painless swamps, from Charles
ton, S. G. to Hamburg, on the Savan-
nah. Take but the unfinished rail road
from Boston to Providence, and see the
rocks that have been cleft asunder, the
mountains Of dirt thrown up--lhe track
now through caverns and anon over
massive bridge Of mason work, that al
most staggers human faith to believe I
has been done. And then mark what en-
terprise is planning, and will execute too.
Why, Rail-Road Tracks are projecting
in all directions, from New Orleans to
Nashville, in the South, and from Que
bee to Portland, in the North. No en-
terprizc staggers US. Nothing appals US.
No hazard too great to be run. In
genuity is racked to the utmost. Every
body is awake and wide awake. So
ciety seems to be in wbirl. There is,
as il were, an atmospheric maelstronn all
about us. We talk in a hurry. We
walk in hurry. We make love in
hurry, and arc married in a hurry. We
eat, drink, sleep, and die in hurry and
alas! are buried in a hurry. Every
thing is on the high pressure principle ;"