Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1848-12-01
VOLUME I5--YUMBER s.

general principle.
Having been desired to prepare and preach a
Sermon tor promoting Collegiate Education in
the West, thought il peculiar and providen-
tia opportunity to do il in the midst oi a gener.
Gus aud successful effort, noH 10 lull aud hope
lul progress in this Congregation, TO endow a
prolessership in Wabash College, Indiana. The
topics which ! desire to bring to your attention
are:
!. ThephiIosophic aspect orlhe human mind
in our new settlements.
IL. The wants plainly indicated by such as
pect
Ill. The relation Of older Eastern communl-
lies to those wants.
/. To say that ten million people were sud-
denly cast into a capacious valley; TO say that
never before was there so vast population sud
denly rooted on a soil on which they were not
born TO say that the West is a vast repository
"a museum Of men-R world in epilomo,
would give you no idea Of what is actually true.
To say that this milon-multiIude, urging their
I impetuous course to the Westward from revolu-
tonary Europe, Fastening from the uprising de-
luge, have come with ideas as diverse as fea-
lures; with customs not less foreign than their
costumes; the canny Scotch-the msrcural l.
rish-lhe ploddng Engsh-lhe phleGmatc
German--the effcrvescenl FrenCh-lhe invetcr.
ate and Interchangeable, oyer-wandering Jew
the New Highlander and the Soulhemer-ai
this is only 10 give an outside picture TO the i'm
agination. We glance lightly across the motley
multilude-their rude abundance, their hard hos
pitaity, their trafiicking, their husbandry, their
shades of agreement, or their strange and con-
rrasting dssimilarities; aud, although the mind
finds perpetual amusement in such view, we
ponder deeper questions, we ruminae upon dee
per interests,
Those foreigners are not now foreign, they
are denzens. Those odd and outandlsh ways
are causes, nevertheless. This vast and various
population is carrying vast and various mind;
they think, and make thoughts they feel, and
produce feeling; they will, and execute lheirvo-
iuions. They do not stand each in its place,
like the trees of girded forest; like long, bare,
gray trunks in clearing, neither ntertwined
by root nor locked by branch; but they are liv.
ing powers, reused by great causes to intense
activity; they are molding each other, and there
is TO be & result
The Statesman, forecasng, asks what shall
be this result, and all its economic bearings; the
Iphilanthropic citizen earnestly wishes TO know
whether so mighty movement as this is 10 en-
rich or destroy us; chiefly the Christian, long
praying, "Thy kingdom come," and proudly re-
ioicng 10 believe our land destined 10 be the A..
postate of Nations, turns hlher his anxious
heart TO know what the end Of all these things
shall be. 1t is impossible 10 tell ,VhGt. We
may nearly discriminate whether it shall be glo-
rious or wretchod; but the degrees and charac-
terstic pecullariles Of either, none can tell.
We know that O fusion Of races has always
been for the advantage of the product, and we
can hopefully anticipate, upon physiological
grounds, nobler race of men in bodily equip
! ment from this vast comminglng of bloods than
ever before walked and developed the earth. Ii
is not the sluggish concourse Of lazy streams,
leaving the waters on the top to stagnate, while,
by precipitation, it deposits mud below. 1t is
the coming together of vigorous men, youthful
developed, energetic, and bearing their national
traits susceptible of transmission.
, In this generation, the Irish and German shall
yield race of children TO be commingIed in
I the next with the Souhernsr and the New. En-.
gander. In third generation these again will
e mix with the hardy constitution of the Scotch
or the cheer or hilarious patience of the French.
1t is well known that certain laws guide the
!. result, and that both The pcculiarites Of body
= aud disposition are transmissibe. Yet these
! laws will not be known or needed in the sctua
process of commingling. Every man doetf
: what is good in his own eyes, and families will
be founded in obedience to unthinking parliali
ties and not by physiological considerations
= Men will love and marry from impulse, not sci
ence. We can say thai result of vital impor.
: tance will ensue; but who can tell in this chance
mingIing what that result shall bel The mos
. that we can do is 10 increase the auspcious ele
i ments and as rapidly and as far as possible bring
, J the vast and accumulating brood under til,
! wings of God.
;. Let us, then, proceed to inquire into the actu
o al condition of their mind.
l. While for the most part all the original ele
y ments retain their idiosyncracies, yet they be
j. come subject to certain general laws, which ar
l. vitality important TO those who propose to exer
n aconservative or forming influence. The South
d erner will retain his propensites, the Scotch will
!. die with his strongly marked peculiarilies. Th
h Irish and German will be as broadly Distinguish
= ed after living lorescore years upon our soil a
j. on the day they landed. Yet there may be tn
= same landscape, but in very different conditions
IS for purposes of thrift The mountains may b.
y as high, the wales deep, the forests as populou
Il in Spring and Summer, as in Winter, and ye
Is the husbandman knows. that, the features re
IF naming the same, the difference of the seasol
Ut which hangs over them amouts 10 great deal
at Thus in the West, the great headIands, the ran
n, ges and plains Of the human mind, will not il
e, this generation be much changed, but the at
10 mosphere in which they exist may be.
s. Ii is not TO the physiological question then
Ks What changes will result from this vast group Q
10 multrorm alliances that we shall speak; but Il
:, this, What state of society will grow out of tn
{. "a mingIing of such masses of men in their pres
u ent condition?
50 We must go back 10 a consideration Of III
lie state of individuals in elaboratsIy organize
or communities.
Is ILL., G.s, 1anLann,, Of Snc;nt,r NJ nf indiuidr