The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-10-20


necessary TO maintain your true Spartan discipline
But am excessively diSnclined TO NY any such ex-
pertinent upon my constituents; al leasi without res
ceivng an express instruction, TO that effect from
them | am afraid they have no TASTE for black broh
| that Spartan discipline will be rksome, and even
| revolving 10 them In short sir, ! have reason 10
believe, thai without being as deeply imbued perhaps
other people are, with the spirit 0; lhe age hey
do still partake too much OF H. 10 be willing 10 lore
go the many agreeable objects that principally en-
| gage and excite il.
| Sir | am far from denying that in the eyes OF
stern reiormer, with opinions OF cerlaih complex
ion this generation Is perverse and crooked one
We love money, admit, as much as men ever did
certainly as much as they did in the Auguslan age,
nearly two thousand years ago. The Committee
will excuse my quoting very common piece OF
Latin prove it, after the example OF DINER genie
men in this debate
Qurrenda rccunia primum est;
| VIRUS post hummelshine, Janus summus ab lmo
| Prodoce!. .....
| Make money by all means, and before all things
Washington street certiiies IL 10 wall street. ana
Wall street declares il 10 Broadway, and Broadway
procams il to Chestnut street, and Chesnul street
| publishes il TO the whole country. We have the
| same strong thirst for gold which has unhapPily
afflicted mankind in other times, and especially III
very civilized ages; and the only difference
| is that we have learned how To acquire by ho-
nest means, a thousand times more OF II. l VIII
add however, in justice 10 the age that II mas
made great discovery in social philosophy we
have found out that what would call physical civl-
| liZaion-a demand for the conveniences and ac-
commodations of life, and an abundant supply OF
them-is and must be the basis Of all other ciyiliza-
ton thai is intended to be high, solid and lasting
Every real improvement in the conduon OF man
kind springs out of leads TO, the eevang OF me
Standard NJ comfort among people Sir, this IS Inc
grand work-he miSsion--of modern commerce,
which, in my opinion, is just beginning to deveioPe
It's mighty resources-to pour out The lnexhausllpie
fulnesS of its treasures and its blessings great
revolution is taking place--hHS place in human
| affairs-War is every day becoming more and
more remote coningency.-l do not say an imPossi,
! bility. know human nature too well lor lhal'
! am fully aware too, how many disturbing causes
growing out of the history of the past still exist TO
prevent the realizing all al once, OF the great end OF
| Christian civilization the dream OF Henry ~, and
of Suy-he union OF all nations IN state OF peace
under the protection of law know, especially
what is TO be dreaded in this respect from that dark
| power that hoyers over the confines OF Europe ana
| Asia, and throws its vast shadow over Doth But
during my last residence OF four years abroad saw
sufficient grounds Of quarrel to have led, under the
old order of things, to twenty wars as spreading ana
bloody as the Thirty Years War, or the Seven Years
| War-and yet these threatening differences passed
harmlessly away, cloud after cloud dissolved as they
rose above the horizon leaving the sky more serene
than before Sir, it is a tavorite phrase OF those
who boast of what is called the march OF intellect
that things are thus changed because the school
master is abroad" But, tell you that something
far more effective than the schoomaster,
mightier than Solomon, is abroad. II is the steam
engine-n its twofold capacity of means oil pro-
duction and means of ransport-the most power
| full instrument by Tar of pacihcaion and commerce,
and therefore of improvement and happiness that
the world has ever seen which, while it increases
capital and multipes beyond all imagination
the products of industry brings the most distant peo
| pies into contact with one anoher-breaks down the
barriers which exclusive Legislation would oppose
to the freedom of mercantile exchanges-efaces all
pecuarities of national character, and promises, at
no distant period, 10 make the whole Christian world
,t1xy fhn al n
this great instrument of modern Improvement, have
| been sngulary promoted by branch OF industry IN
which the part of the country have the honor to
represent is most deeply interested, and / will avail
myself of this occasion to call the attention OF the
Committee to view of our Southern institutions,
that may not have occurred to it before or made the
| impression is ought TO make upon them. | beg you,
sir to believe that do not speak in what is called
sectional" spirit for protest before God that no
! thing can be further from my heart But, lei not
those whose minds have been recently SO much in
famed against what they consider as the abomina-
ton of domestic servitude, shut their eyes to the
truth Sir | aude to the cultivation of cotton and
its effects through the increase OF commerce it tos-
tiers, upon the condition of society. Whoever shall
write the political history of that invaluable plant,
| will have more important work to perform than
has ever allen the lot of biographer of states
men philosophers. will venture to say, without
going more into Details that the single circumstance
of bringing the wonderfully cheap fabrics produced
by modern machinery within the reach OF even the
humbeS of the laboring classes, OF substituting de-
cent and comfortable raiment for the few scany and
filthy rags--the sgualid, exterior, which makes po-
very not only more painful, but at once more hu-
initiating and degrading to its victim, and more dis
gus,tul 10 others than il ought to be, will sgnally
conribue elevate the condition of the poor in the
social Scaleto raise their seli-eSteem, and TO IN
crease the sympathy of others for them-in word,
make them feel themselves men, entitled to place
among men, not pariahs and outcasts whose con-
| tact is contamination A people well clad and well
housed will be sure to provide themselves with all
the other comforts of life and il is the diffusion Of
these comforts and the growing taste for them among
all classes of society in Europe-t is the desire OF
riches as it is commonly called that is gradually
putting an end to the destructive and bloody game
of war, and reservng all the resources hitherto
wasted by it, for enterprises of industry and COM
merce prosecuted with the fiery spirit which once
vented itself in scenes Of peril and carnage.
But sir the result of all this is that very inc
quality of wealth. that accumulation of vast masses
of it in few hands, against which we have heard so
much said lately, as if ii something inconsistent
with the Liberties, the happiness, and the moral and
intellectual improvement OF mankind. Gigantic
fortunes are acquired by few years of prosperous
CONFERENCE.-The and manufacturers rival, and
surpass the princess of the earth in opulence and
splendor The face of Europe is changed by this
active industry, working with such mighty instru-
mentS, on great scale. have travelled in parts
of the continent which the spirit of gain with its
usual concomitants, industry and improvement, has
invaded since the peace, at an interval of fifteen
years. and been struck with the revolution that is
going on. There Is singuarly beautiful though
rather barren tract of country, between Liege and
Spa where in 1919, my attention had been princ-
pay attracted by the striking features of a mountain
Gus region with here and there ruin of the feuda
past and here and there hovel of some poor hind
the very haunt of the Wild Boar of the Ardennes'+
in the good old times of the House of Burgundy
returned to it in 1885, and saw it covered with mills
and factories begrimed with the smoke and SCOT
of steam-engnes; its romantic beauty detormed, its
sylvan solitudes disturbed and desecrated by the
sounds of active industry, and the busy hum of men,
| asked what had brought about SO great a change,
and found the author of it-a man having more
numerous band of retainers and dependents than
any baron bold of the Nth century, and in every
nnct taar inn MAJ NIL i'm