The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1848-07-01


No former age Or p',oplc IS to be comPar-
ed with any since the invention OF printing
for since that time there have been no inso-
lated states, and consequently no insulated
influences Of the state on its component
parts. Strangers and returned travellers,
whom Bycurgus excluded from his republic,
like episodes and the Intervention Of gods
from the dramatic unitiss, now traverse every
country under the name Of missals and waste
paper No one is any longer alone, not
even an island in the most distant sea;
thence comes it that the political balance
OF DO yer of many states, collected under one
arm Of the balance, is now first mooted.
Europe is an interlaced, misgrown, banyan
forest, round which the other quarters OF the
world creep, like parasite plants, and nour-
ish themselves on its decayed parts. Books
form universal republic. a union Of nations,
or a society Of Jesus, in a nobler sense, or
a humane society, whereby second or du-
plicate Europe arises; which, like London,
lies in several counties and districts. As
now, on the one side, the boOk-pollen ny
ing everywhere, brings the disadvantage
that no people can any longer produce a
bed Of flowers true and unsPotted with for
eign colors-as now no state can be any
longer formed purely, slowly, and by de-
grees from itself, but, like an Indian idol,
composed Of different animals, must see the
various members Of the neighboring states
mingled with its growth-so, on the other
side, through the ecumenic council Of the
book world, the spirit Of provincial assem-
bly, can no longer slavishly enchain their
people, and an invisible church frees il from
the visible one. And therefore we educate
now with some hope for the age, because We
know that the spoken word Of the German
teacher is re-echoed by the printed page
and that the citizen Of the world, under tn,
supervision of the universal republic, will
not sink into the citizen Of an injurious state
all the more because, though books may b
dead, yet glori6ed men, their pupils viii
ever hold themselves as their living rela
tves. That the age writes 50 much on ed
ucation, shows at once its absence and III
feeling of its importance. Only lost thing
are cried about the streets. The German
} State itself no longer educates sufficiently
consequently the teacher should do it in tn
nursery, from the pulpit, and from the desk
The forcing-houses in Rome and Spart
are destroyed--in Sinai in the Arabian des
ert some few yet stand--the old circle tina
the State should plan and direct the educs
ton, and this again act on that, has beel
very much rectihed, or indeed squared, b
the art Of printing; for now men, elevate
above all states, educate states; dead mer
for instance, like Plato; Just as in the dee
al morning world, according to the saga
, angels with glories wandered about, guideC
like children, the new men who mad sprun
out OF the ruins, and, having ended their in
struction, vanished into heaven. The cart
according to Zsch's ingenious idea, has bee
formed from congregated moons, one moo
striking on the American side, drove III
. deluge over the old world; the sharp-poin
, ed, wildly-up-piled Switzerland, is nothin
more than a visible moon. that once tun
bled from its pure ether down to the eartt
: and so there is in intellectual Europe, Il
more than in any age or quarter Of the woIl
not addicted to printing, congregation {
soul-worlds, or Of worid-souls, sent or falle
s from heaven. The great man has now
higher throne, and his crown shines over
wider plain; for he works, not only by a
ton. but also by writng--not only by b
, word, but also, like thunder. by an echo.-
So one mind influences its neighbour
minds, and through that the masses q mar
little ships draw large one into harbo
so inferior minds bring the great one
shore that it may be unladen.
lRichter's Lepdna.