Litchfield enquirer., 1835-08-13
poAD CELEBRATlON.

A. ss"a .ssisbratiOn Of tine OpsniOg Of the rall -.sS "s v6orcaster. Mr. A. H. Everett br'ng csII,.d mon by the President made the follow lng remarks - :.:.
 Tho spirit Oft the present age is spirit ot improvement. The spirit exhibits llsr'I' "Ot merely, as has sometimes been sa'd !" ,ne- chanical operations, but to an equal extent @ least, in an the departments Ot moral anu '"' telleetual effort. In the midst Ot the immense 0xertiOus that are making for the improve ment of the mechanical arts. and the modes of applying them, there never has been . t'"Ae 0vhen so much was doing far the diffusion ot Enowledre. and moral, intellectual and reli- rious culture at home and abroad.
 These different deyelopements of the spirit of improvement mutually aid and promote each Other.. The diffusion of knowledge en- cOGrages the progress of the mechanic arts the progress of the mechanic arts encourages and hastens the diffusion of useful knowledge.
 This very enterprise, of which we are now assembled to celebrate the fortunate compIe- ton, by facilitating communication and an- etsasing the rapidity with which intelllgence is transmlkted from one place to another, has direct tendency to elevate the moral and ln- tsllectual character of the country, as well IS to bring into action with greater vigor lts ma tcrial powers. ;, ..,
 The spirit ofimprovement. whether exhib. lied in she mechanical, or in the moral and intellectual departments of social hte, advan- ces with much more rapidity and facility when ii operates upon an open field, than when it is irammelled by existing institutions and ancient usages. This is the great dls- tinction between the progress of civilization m this country and in Europe. In the old coun- tries, and especially in all matters reiatlng 10 morals and politics. before pew ed'iee can be erected, an old one must be remeved.- Honorable associations--tim honored recO!- leCti0ns--vested interests must be disturbed. To protect these interests-nnder the indu- ence of these associations, large masses ot men league together and form Conservative party. In their eyes improvement IS destruct- i've. Hence has arisen the clash of opinion: of feeling and of interest. which. has agifated Europe for two or three centuries, and has not reached its termination.
 In this country, on the other hand, we OP- crate in general upon an open field. There is nothing to oppose the progress of improve ment, whether in the developement of our physical resources. or the f0unding of our political system--n0 chartered rights to be maintained-nO prescriptive wrongs to be res- pected. Hence improvements proceed, at once, with unexampled rapidity. and with an almost magical harmony among tho people In EnrOpe the ship of State pufs,aes its course in the midst of a perpetua! hurricane: now ascending to the skies on mountain pillows of exulting hope, now plungiDg in almost fathom- less gulphs of danger and dsspasr. '.Theage." as one of the leading statesmen Of the Goa serva,ive party, poetically called by his op- pooents Prince Midnight, reuarks infOne of his published documents. the age struggles forward under a constant tornado" With us in this country, on the contrary,
 Far laughs ahs morn, and soft the zephyr blows,
 While proudly riding Der the a1ure reaims
 In gallant tsim the gilded vessel goess