Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1846-06-27
(IT1 Here is food for ref elton in
the following article. - Ed. HER.
The Progress.

Ithe following artleIe.- I'D. HER.
The Progress.
Little did the London Quarterly
r view think. las was lately so well
remarked by S nator Dsyton,) when
it asked Who reads an American
book?" that day was at hand when
our Treasury authorship Secretary
Walkers Report against the prot c,ion
lof Am rican M ,nuf ,ciur s) would b.
adopted and printed in the British
Parliament. And little, again, when
lth same Journal carped at our ausc Of
the word 10 progress as not English.
Jas an Americanism, did il imagine
what mighty influence over us and
our affair." that very Americanism was
ID destined to have. However nnauthor-
Iized OF uncooth the sound; there seems
some virtue in it, some charm, some
spell, that takes men by the ears, and
leads them whittier it will. Clifford
and his reviewers might see in that
mighty word nothing but vocable, a
verb, or noun not of very good ex-
ample: but Of its political significancy,
its power over the thought of whole
nations and times, the revolutions
which that little word "to progress"
was fatcd to effect, they had no con-
lception; for that chief instinct of ours
had then but little developed itself.
either TO the apprehension Of others or
to our own. y
/" To progress" il simply to 90 for
ward. to move IN the direction OF ones
head. to proceed the way ones face is
turned. Yet progress may be forwards,
back wa,ds. upwards. downwards, for,
after all, to say that a thing progress
es is only to say that it does not stand
still. Thus Pope, one of the correct
est Of modern writer's, describing the
main court editor of his day and his
style, says:-
mo, so bold ANAL: with weight of skull,
Furious he drives, preeipi,aiely dull:
| Whirlpoo,s and storms his eircliog arm inves,
With all the nigh, of gravitalion bles,;
| No crab more active in the dirty dance,
| Do,on,card TO climb and blackboard 10 aduance.
All mortal diseases arc prog essive,
until death ends them: so are old age
and natural decay. A martyr pro-
crosses while they convey him to the
stake; murderer, as he is dragged on
hurdle to the gibbet.
The coming OF darkness is progress
sive. like the dawn. The fall Of an
a, alanche, the catching of swift and
terrible conf alton, the rolling Of an
eartl quake, the havoc of a tornado. the
flow Of a river Of lava. dcsoating
every thing before it for ages, are all
progress. II every dixie that fences
Holland from the sea were torn down
at once. there would be a mighty pro-
gress which that dull land has never
seen since il was first won slowly
from the waves. Toss any thing into
the suck of the Maestrom and il pro-
crosses in lessening circle until & is
to TO the vortex. a. is wheImcJ forev-
er. This government has certainly,
since the pure days Of President Wash
ington, made great progress--the ra-
pdty Of which has been much assist
ell by its tightening itself, IN order to
go the faster, Of a great part of the oil
membranes Of stern integrity, wis
dom. and prudence. They have been
flung away, much rs Alexander, when
he set off to conqnor india. made
his soldi rs burn their baggage aud
throw away their gold When Horace
saws the bad age of our ancestors
produced us worse, presently to engen-
der posierity still more prohig te."
he precisely described Roman pro-
gress. To speak by facts. our pro-
gress has been. on the one side, TO
steam boats, railroads, machinery Of all
sorts. enlarged territory, and multiple
ed population and commerce. This is
the physical. the material side. But
what is it on the other? Public cor
ruptions, factions aud distractions Of
every kind; the laws too often disre-
gardrd or made for party; every thing
set at hazard for purposes Of party or
personal success; prescription, persecu-
ton by Government for opinions
sake: Presidential wars upon the SEN
ate. the CURRENCY, credit, and many
other thing; chart r-breaking. agra
rianism. repudi ition. u-uipo'ion by the
Executive of almost all legislative au-
ihnrity. aud other unmisiskable signs
of tendency Of the Government to
anarchy or despotism.
The progress" then, in whatever
l:.-,;o, % % .,.b.sayar ,asult "a al