The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-08-21

! accomplishment of a grand design toF the bene-
fit of his fcllow-beings, and who drew upon the
| resources of his other-self, only whsn,it became
necessary to do so, that the labourseEthe philan-
thropist might be sustained and promoted BY that
means. To use his own words, Mt Chairman,
Mr. Eattemare is laboring to fulfil his destiny,
which hc believes to be best ACCOMPLISHED in the
success Of the design that he has in view. No
pecuniary emolument is sought by -him in the
! prosecution of his scheme.-He asks for no
agency in the expenditure of such appropria-
tions as may be mace towards it. All he wish
es is to be a witness of its success. All he claims
is the suggestions of it where it may be useful,
and use his words, when l urge his own sue
cess, as single individual, in the accumulation
of his rare and splendid collection, las
why the people of Baltimore should not be dis
couraged in the undertaking of similar de-
sign.
Among the many projects of the present age,
surely this is one of the most promising of good,
mot to- our country's reputation, abroad only,
for Ia this point of view it has less interest for
me chan many others,-but to our own domestic
welfare and happiness at home. We have seen
that it cannot be effectually promoted unless it
is made an object of public coNcern, and based
upon the free of it, under proper regulations,
by the people,-and that the public attention may
be drawn to it, that it may receive the aid of
the State, is the object of the memorial of Mr..
Vat'emare to the Legislature of,Maryland, and
of tho proceedings of this meeting.
| E'rhs question being here taken on the resolu- -
tions, they were unanimously adoptedl
DAVID HOFFMAN, ESQ. rose and said
! L am fully aware, my friends, that the hour is
ROW late, and that much ha3been said, and all
eloquently and beautifully said, upon the SUBJ.
iect that convened us here. | SHALL therefore,
be very brief, and detain you only few min
utes, in adverting to two Or three matters not
touched on
| The eminent stranger, Mr., yattcmare, who so =,
'3ealously pursues the great scheme of Interna-
tional Exchanges, after visiting New Y orl5, and /
subsequently the Island of Cuba, found himself I
IN New Orleans-wherc, in the course of his in .
vestigations, he came across an old and defaced
parchment, which probably had met the eye Of
ten thousand before him-bl6 not the scrutinizing
and philosophical eye of enc so keen he, in
ascertaining the exact contents of long neglected.
ldOcuments-and 10! this parchment proved to be-;
nothing less than the Original Charter of the
/ State of Pennsylvania, granted by the Second
Charles, in 1851, to William Penn, and in whicha
was likewise found Contract of Sale, by the
Proprietor, of large tract in the vicinity of
the now great MetropoliS+of that State l hasti-
ly allude to this, merely; as illustrative of the
thousand utilities sprnying from this systemy,
which cannot fail to generate scrutiny into
dark and long forgotten recesses, and into long,.
forgotten, and supposed worthless, but really
urious and valuable documents, which, must
rove highly bene fetal to the cause of science,
and the arts, in all. their branches. need
scarce say, that arrangements were promptly
made by Mr.. Vattemare to secure this missing
parchment to the State, From which it has SO long,
and strangely wandered.
Again. Mons. Vattemare comes here, and is,
Immediately struck with the prods aad over
whelmng influence of press. He at once,
eonceves the philosophical thought of collecting
from every part Of cur vast country, specimen
of every newspaper rat this time published in the:
limited States. ia and he finds hiu--
self possessed of the astonishing number of'ttso,
thousand fire hundred samples!-presenting to,
the European world visible, tangibles and au-.
gust monument of the permeating and irreslsti~
BILE power of che, press in Americas powe
with which that of the old world sinks into int-
significance!
I do not knQw, nay friends, whether thera; be
or not, some little lurking vein of superstition,
that attaches >itself to my character, cannot
say,-I trusSpot,-but see, or fancy that Lsee,
the agency of Almighty eied, not in tins scheme
only, but in the very character and impress of
our times He is no philosopher, who, does not
mark, read, and learn the signs of the times;
and he truly is, no philosopher, who, regarding
them, would run away with these signs, and
lose himself in the idle fancies~of, the anagina-
ton: the nedinm course is the one of safety
for it is the province of wisdam, nay, it is our
duty, to, read these signs unlerstaDCangly and
carefully. L then repeat that cannst but be-
heve, that L see and read in them all, the dawn
of great change that is 60. ceme-and that
Almighty God does design, ID no distant period
of time. that this world shall be brought into
condition of moral, intellectual, and physical re-
fnement, beyond our utmost present. conceptions,
and infinitely transcendirg any thing the world
heretofore has known!-and this, my fellow
countrymen, only be done by melting down.
ipto,one continent mass, all natiohal prejudices>.
all intellectual, religious, political, and Literally
preudices. In fine, all those repulsive causes,
chat have so long separated nation from nation
city from city-man from man!
Look, for a msmeat, at our age and timesi-.
Look at the Bible SOcieties-the Temperance
Societies-the Sunday Scholastic Missiona-
ries; and, above ALL, look at the means for all,
these, in the transcendant power of steam, under
all Of its modes of application, and of its nara.
culous action absolutely, and not figurativelyA
dissolving time and space, and intermixing nar~
tons, people, tribes, hneages, and individuals,
into one great whole> so as to produce, ultimate
ly, unity of action--of governments, of laws,
of institutions, and of religion.
Contemplate, sar a moment, the philosophy of
modern travel See how the researches of
Belzoni, Rosellini, Champollion, WisemeD,
Prudhoe, and others of the old world-of Ste
phens, Paxten, Robinson, Haighto and others, Of
this our new world, have illustrated the sculp-
lures, and gradually frittered away the objecN
tons of infdelity, and undermined the strongest
foundations of its champions! Even Heroditus,
so famed tor his cuInbillty-and deemed by these
superficial DIRECTORS against holy religion,
as fabulous narrator of Egyptian wonders,
has been proved veraciously accurate by our mo-
dern travellers and his fame justly and fully
vindicatea By the light of these orthodox in
vestigators into the hidden and long forgotten
things of Egypt, of Palestine, and Of the other
oriental nations, our glorious religion, the only
basis of true happiness, and of national glory,
has been Mo2E than indicated, and the doubts
of the Infdels entirely explained
In locking through that long vista of time,
from the days of the prophet Amos, full eight
hundred years before the Christian era, and from
those of Elias the Tishbite, full two hundred
years before the Saviour, we find floating down
the stream of time, somewhat mysterious ira