Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1849-02-14
From The Columbia Telegraph.
MIR. LEGARE'S VIEWS ON PRO
GPESS

Stale. ne UNSUCCESSFUL |''''''''N' wa
"Sum Pro" practice in ChaFIcs'nn. I'm
the commencement Of his carecr.) lived
long enough at least TO shame his fellow
citizens into The tardv recognition OF his
great laleu,s and Requirements.
BRussELs, Dec. 6, 1918.
After expressing his qualification at
hearing of tie favorable prospects of The
South Carolina College. and how deplo.
rabe an event would have been its ruin,
Mr.. Leeare says:
..These are ITO lines for any people, or
any part of people. with marked social
interests and institutions. TO neg lect with
impuuity irs own Intellectual develope-
ment, or 10 give up any Of The organs
which NAV euablc it TO act, either directly
or indirectly. on The opinions of mankind.
The age is impatient, Of all that is-every
Thing is attacked. and every thing that is
MOI vigorously defended seems likely 10 be
swept away with the rubbish of The past.
The least peculiaritv in the Constitution of
any people the very thing. it may be, 10
S which it owes all that has made it remar-
kable, are regarded by the bold speculative
philosophy now in vogue as so many bad
ges Of prejudice, and slavish and bisoled
attachment TO what is obsolete. In short
one hears of nothing put progrcSs, (as all
change is complacenlly assumed to he) in
the midst, il must be owned Of some rather
melancholy specimens of ii; and whatever
.poslerlty. after the experience of a century
NAV have to pronounce upon the sounducss
of such nolions, il will most certainly ad-
nire the unhinchiug confidence and the
prodigiuus activity with which they are
propagated.
"Bul if this is tue of all The institutions,
(pood and bad of society " hich fall within
The range of this spirit, need not rcmDd
you how peculiarly exposed to lis attacks
is the whole OF that vast tract OF country
stretching from the Susquehannah and Ihe
Chesapeake to he Ohio, and Far beyond the
Mississippi. People who risk nothing ny
the changes they recommend, ami care
NOT rush about the fate of the immense
region that would he Ihe theatre ol Them,
arone as if nothing either in the history
i&ofrhe past or the chances of the future.
were entitled to the least considerations;
aud as if to ask them even TO temper their
:zeallo do what they thing good, by fear
of doug what they cannut deny To be i'm.
measurable aud almost inevitable evil,
and what is certainly not their business.
were glarins violation of their unduubted
rights! All Europe, will not stop here)
was for TWO centuries. from the Time the
wars of religion ceased with the treaty Of
: -;Wes,phuia in I64S, until The beginning ol
!. this century-wilness Utrecht aud the As
siehlo-all Europe was busy, during this
;, long period in covering our continent, With
~ uutslhe leastregard 10 The inierest0r opin,
q, ions Of its inhaIi,nGls, wilhs.a.populaton,
5l: or orwhichahc fufuas 2deslnies considered4a 4as
& "a mere matter of theory. present as. per.
picking problem as was ever proposed To
philosophical mind; and in regard 10
WHICH, only one thin. seems at all cer'ain.
& aud that is. thai there is no possibility OF
: their inhabiIirg, in great numbers, the
same region with the. Anglo Saxon race,
iu any other relation than one of complete
{; snbjecinn (call il what you please) wi'h-
out supposing that race 10 abandoi entire.
lv its present mode cf existence, and all
characteristics of its peculiar civilization.
say The question forced upon US by the
present opinion o! Europe, is consequence
of the population fuiced upon US by its
past opinions and matter at issue, and
which we mus, at our peri! be prepared To
debate; when i, shall please aud how il
shall please eihcrS, and not ourselves, is
not hiug less important than the destiny OF
civilized life. as j, has always existed in
our very advanced form Ul society. the
English form, over an immense tract Of
the Earths surtGcc.
II, of course, have no idea OF troubling
). Won in this letter with any remarks on a
subject of such magnitude, bur ! cannot
refrain from hazarding single one that
happens tn have "a bearing tp"n the topics
,ouched on in the papers YOU sent me.
Whatever NAV he the evil effects Of do
meslc serviude upon society, they are
NOT without their compensation, which ii
would be suicidal folly in the Southern
people to ueeIec, 10 profit bv. Ii secures
TO larger portion of The community than
elsewhere leisure and ought. one should
think. TO inspire the feelings and tastes for
those pursuits described, in reference To
precisely such a state of things as liberal
The very highest developcmenl. on The
whole, of merely intellectual civilization
in all its branches which The world has yet
seen Or seems likely 10 ever sec-'lal Of
Republican Greece-was 50 far owing 10
this institution. thai it unquestinnahIy
could not have existed without il. This is
no assertion lightly hazarGed for The pur'
pose Of maintaining a side in c"nIrovcT-
sy. 1t is not only my deliberate opinion,
founded on whatever knowledge have
oflhe remains uf that unrivallcd literature,
but that of men infinitely more competent
in such matters than a mere amateur like
myself can pretend to be. Heereu, for
instance, afer advancing the same propo
sition as one that admits of no doub, at all,
proceeds 10 infer that, therefore, the exists
tence Of slavery in Greece--the necessary
price Of her most refined cullivaliou-was
for the benefit Of the whole human species.
TIE opinion of the justly celebrated Ger.
man is entirely disinteresled, or at least as
much so, as that Of scholar can be on
such subject. But to US the matter is
:. one of the deepest practical concernmenl.
i. III little cn,,, nnii, of ,,.. (, r,,