The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-04-22
THE DAILY UNION

have this country, than my thousand dinsieI
a,hors and all scholars IL has been osn sara
that Gibbons History could not have bten written here 10,
wan OF books suppose that Hallams Middle Ages and
bis INTRODUCTION to the Literature OF Europe could not n
wings Columbus written ~ SPAN Wheatqni norm
men prepared TO be written IN CoPenhasen see nov ana
with subject Il enters investigation with spirit
ability worthy Of the most splendid schieyenent goes
Little way finds dozen books-one book perhaps
which cannot be found this side Of Coffin
gen oxford tires Of the pursuit or absndons alto
gethsI,n nc.
And the senator branches of, in his own brilliant
style into dissertation on the value and importance
Of such library "a vast sore-house," says he; "a
treasury Of all the facts which make up the his
tory Of man and Of nature" ga silent, yet
wise and eloquent teacher dead yet speaking not
dead for Milton has told US a good book is not
absolutely dead thing-the precious life-blood,
rather, Of master spirit seasoned life of man en-
bamed and treasured up on purpose to life beyond
life.f"
II the question were between library and no
library between books and no books; the language
thus employed, fervid as il is would be all insult
cient TO shadow forth the towering magnitude Of
the subject. John Faust--if indeed, TO the gold
smith Of Mentz the world owe the art Of type
setting --conferred on his greater boon than
ever before did living man. There is no com
parison TO be made between the effects of the art
forth by human wit There is nothing TO which TO
lken il. Il was a general gaol-delivery Of the
thoughts Of the world. IL a sending forth
Of these winged messengers, hitherto bound down
each in his narrow sphere, emaDcipated, over the
earth. And that was the great day, not Of Intel
lect only, but Of Freedom also. Then was struck
the heaviest blow against aw-giying for the mind.
The SirombollAn Cave was opened; the long-pent
winds Of opinion set free; and no ediet-framing
Eolus could crib and eonfne them 20 their prison.
house again. ~
Yes well might Faust incur the charge of ne
mocracy for almost to the letter, has his wondrous
craft realized, in our day, the fables Of eastern
romance. Draw a chair before your library,
and you have obtained the magical carpet of the
Arabian tale; you are transported, at wish, far
Their than TO Afncas deserts or midas groves; not
to other climes only, but 10 other times also. The
speaking page introduces you, not 10 your cotem-
porsres alone, but to your ancestors, through CEN
turies past The best and the wisest Of former
generations are summoned to your presence. In
books exists the by-gone world. BY books we
come into contact with the mankind Of former
ages. By books we travel among ancient nations,
visit tribes long since extinct, and made familiar
with manners, that have yielded centuries ago, to
the innoyatng influence Of time. Contracted, in
deed, is his mental horizon, LIMITED his sphere Of
comparison, whose fancy has never lived among the
sages add the heroes Of the oden time TO listen TO
ments
As far as the farhest then, will go, in his esti-
Of the blessings which the art of printing has
conferred upon man. But such reasoning, bears
not on the proposal embraced ia the Senate bill 1t
substantiates not at all the propriety Of spending
half million, or two, or three half millions OF dol
lars, to rival the bibio-maniacs Of Paris and Of
Munich.
A library Of Congress we already have; library
Of forty or fifty thousand volumes; library ncreas-
ing at the rate Of one or two thousand volumes a
year. The Smithsonian bill before you permits, in
addition, an expenditure not exceeding ten thou
sand year for this object. Say that but half that
sum is annually expended by the managers; and
still, in twelve fifteen years, the two libra
ries will probably number from eighty to a hundred
thousand volumes. Are there hundred thousand
volumes in the world worth reading' | doubt il
much. Are there four thousand volumes published
yearly worth buying ! do not believe there are
small garner suffces store the wheat; il is the
chaf that is bulky and fills up the store-house
Books are like wealth. An income we mus!
have to live certain amount Of income to live
in comfort. Beyond certain income the
power Of wealth to purchase comfort or ever
wholesome luxury, ceases altogether. How much
more Of true comfort is there in a fortune
Of million Of dosrs that in one Of fifty, or say
hundred thousandl II more there be, the excess j,
hardly apprecable the burden and the of the
millionaire outweigh it ten.fold. And also Of
these and bloaed ookgatherings that sleep in
dust and cobwebs, on the librory-sheves of Euro
pean monarches Up to a judicious selection o.
thirty, fifty, a hundred thousand volumes if yor
| will, how vast-yea, priceless-is the intellectual
| wealth! From one to FIVE hundred thousand, wha
do we GAIN Nothing That would not be true;
goblet empted into the Pacific adds to the mass o
its waters. But if, within these limits, we set dowr
| one book out Of hundred as worth the money
costs, we are assuredly making too liberal an est
| mate
pray you, sir, not to stretch these structures be
yond their precise application. | am not one o
those who Judge slighngly the learning Of the past
We find, shining forth from the dark mass of an
cient literature, gems Of rare beauty and values une
qualed, even day. in purity and truth. But then
also, what clouds Of idle verbiase What loads o
ostentatious technicatiesl II is but Of late year.
| that even the disciple of science has degned to sim
pfy and translate; formerly his great object seem
To have been to obscure and mystfy. The satirst
in skeching an ndi sidua variety, has aptly desert
bed the species, when he says:
THE wise OF Egypt secret as dummies
| And even when they most conaesccnded to teach.
They packed up their incoming, as they did their nun
| In SO many wrappers, twas out of ones reach"
| But there are such noble enterprises as those o
Gibbon and Hallam; valuable to all; doubly valus
BILE to the moralist and the statesman. And IN re
gard to such it is argued that if one Of our owl
scholars, fired with generous ambition to rival tn
historians ef the Old w orld, enters on such task
he may find that dozen, or perhaps single book
necessary for reference ''canno be found this sid
of Gottingen or Oxford" Suppose he does, wha
is the remedy very simple one suggests itse
that he should order through importer of foreig
books, the particular work which he lacks. T.,
save him the trouble and expense Of so doing, tn
friends of the mammoth library scheme propose
WHAT That we should begin by expanding half
million of dollars, which would ego far towards tn
purchase of as good library as Europe can boast;
that, "such a step taken, we should never leave tn
work unfnisbed;" and that, when finished, it woul
"rival anything civilization has ever had to show.
1t is prudent, before enter this rivaship, t
count its cost, Without seeking to reach the sevc
hundred thousand volumes of the Partisan library
let us suppose that we try for the half million G
volumes that form the boast Of Munich, or fill u
the shelves Of the Bodlean. Our Librarian inform
, me that the present congressional library (certanl,
not one Of the most expensve) has cost upwards q
three dollars a volume; its binding alone has ave.
| aged over a dollar volume. The same work
could be purchased now, it is true, much NOR
cheaply; but, the other hand, the rare old book
and curious manuscripts necessary to complete
library of the largest class would raise the averag,
Assuming, then, the above rate, rival Of the MI