The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1850-08-26
ADDRESS
ALEXANDER DffsrITRY A. ,


ALEXANDER DIMITRY, A. NJ.
STATE sHpertneadeat af Public Edacation de,rersd be-
J9re Ms Ltterarg Societies of CeHteRaTD Colkeee,
laehseg. La, at the .fnnmai C0mmeneemeRt IN IN.
LADIES AND GESTLEMEx: The present Is an anniversary
of character deeply cherished by all. who hold it to be no
ordinary privilege to have received the limitations Of learning
within consecTated walls And in appearing before you on
this oecaon to discharge the duty which your kindness has
assigned to me, in preference many Others whose names
are ornaments TO your rolls am not at liberty withhold
my acknoHedgmens for this token of friendly confidence
Yet in the attempt howe imperfect to Justify that ca
denee cannot but confess that in the choice OF topic for
your attention. difficulty has been experienced Should
have treated be ore you subject of partial eraturebefore
You whose bps have been hourly refreshed the guhings
its fountain heads? Should have brought to yonr vie, u
question of special science-you whose daily efforts trust
have been daily trinmDhs eds Or more -anly STILL
have engaged Vour attention doct,ines of moTals-you
whose high privilege to have the guiding precept
and the safe example in Faculty Dscardng then
any such and looking the broader pursuits of
your Societies. previous entering the subject this ad
d;e beg your indulgence for general considerations
on the nature and principles of history.
No intellectual pursuit. five except the examination of the
laws of reason and Of nature, commands eper interest
than the contemplation of the varied march of mankind over
the globe lphiosophy exhibit man. according 10 the scope
and the perfeebiy of his individual faculties, and in the
enjoyment OF the almost ideal happiness which he destined
to attain history reveals him. according to his
manifestations in the light of reality, in the embodiment of
actions bent on the prosecution of that high attainment If
ienu TO tile sublime
ceaOn-f to the ineiable melody Of mysterious voices
meandering twixt heaven and EARTH now wan in gentle
doan murmurs, and, again. breaking in full chorus
wiz accordances-how much more deeply should dwell
the secular voices OF humanity sending abroad its Of civil
zaon across the chasm OF and the of revolutions
how much intensely should we nger round the so.
emn drama Of heedom evolving varied scenes under the
providental action of God From the East 10 The West
om the Persian Conqueror to the Cocan Adventurer we
see crowns that oppc and scepres that break form after
form OF civilization rolling into the abysms of time nations
moaning in despair hundeing their majesty ground
down by the of despotsm hrongng round the ban
ques of freedom Yet look well the structure of every
society-the real still intelligent, of Babel where all
the nations hat had have existence eartn come for
their lost centuries and hasty and
glance at hsoryat chartuary of the human race
in which recorded their morals and their customs their
and their iumphsand how it reveals the great
and living work Of the Deity, made manifest through the
works oi ms creatures the work Of civilization slowly but
excessively spreading us Imoads over Tie world!
Thus considered gentlemen, history ceases to be pase
for the leisure hours of the coea bare diversion for fancy
and ioF 1t becomes high criterion the only te
indeed of phosopy, legislation and politics. 1t The
true and substantial code of humanityan immense epic in
which each nation enacs its urn the part to which il has
by its nature, been assigned. And in truth what care
for the noisy discussions of the Agonwhat for the eoauent
denuneiaon of The Pnyxwha for the stately debates of
the Senatewhat for the baeeds of Atca and of Latum
Ill We have no opportunity. dsparage the privilege of
analysing the ideas which nations represent in the economy
of universal life If be deprived of the means of asce
tanning whether humanity has or wOnwhether receded
advancednits journey of untod centues But it has
Teceded-a least has advanced exeaims the careless
observer interested opponent of the doctrines which we
uphold; and, in support of this assertion invariably in
vOked thedOwnfa Of civilization, with the ruin Of the Gre
cian states and OF the Roman Empire settling in intellectual
darkness through the period of the middle ages at which
propose euory glance the course of these rem arks
No two periods OF history, gentlemen have opened wider
scope for strange msconcepon and stranger euogy than
those TO which have inst referred. At the mention of
NaraoNa NNthnN ataia-
turns TO that splendid and holy page in the history of the
world, which records the epiphany of political freedom upon
earth? 1t points TO her philosophers and sages visiting the
shrnes OF Egypt on pilgrimage of wisdom and, with her
essonings, the sceptre of civilization unskuly welded by
the successors of Moses passing into the hands of the great
mistress Of intellect Whilst moral and social darkness like
overhanging DOME settled upon the estne Of other rac
points to the mu-d ghsomehing OF the mens dvinior
which, snatched from the mysteries of the temples of the
seraps and the gloom of the cities of the dead gradually
spreads forth in pendOr and cheer It points to man. re-
claiming bis physical dignity from the strong hand of e.po
tism. and qualifying himself for better condition under the
earliest dawnngs of truth while, the time bears
stmouy to the first manifestations of progress and the ug
mel revealing of glorious task, allotted to the human race
in the continuous improvement of their condition upon earth
And yet Greece the proudest architect of this goody work.
fel-om the eminence which her civiisa.
ton had reached And why gentlemen this irving asunder
of the mostsplendd fabric of antiquity? Why this amenta
BILE close to Of glory destined in the eyes of socrate
to be perpetual in its round? Why, but that Greece like
the moral feeling, which greatness of mere intellect may
supply, and without which neither the individual pros
per society endure Her civilization her arts and her
policy, closely nttrwoven with system of sensuasm how
ever gorgeous and refined, bound nvinciby bound to
share in the pesableness of their maerinl elements Other
wise Greece might with her nobe instincts have adjourned
the execution of the decree of Providence or reshadowed
percnnce the vital element of ocey, which the spirit of
the divinity committed 10 the keeping of other hands Val
that had been the steahy nroads of tho Macedonian
phalanx; vain the iron stock of the Roman egonares The
awful gores of Marathon had paed before the das
tes OF the twice fatal plains of Cheronea nor woud the
doom OF ALL that fair and splendid in heahenis pointed
the mournu lines of the poet Of still degraded days.
"Prodta non tantas vidisset Gracia cladss:
StaTent Arcadia, stdrenl lIacedemons arces,
Nee fera Cecropiss Iaxissent vincula matres
Yet though betrayed into degradation and woe-hough
the proud Acropos hal raed its honos in the dus-though
the twofod flung back the balsul glare of blazing
Cornthcgh the Grecan matrnn dragged the ignominous
chain of bodage-hough falen herself on the issracef
field of Orchomenus, Greece still exercised her influence on
the world of mind through her conGutror to whom she
bequeahed the wealth of her intellectual achievements
Rome. therefore, the last expression of pagan civza
o-a connecting link between ancient and modern society;
period of tranOn through which series of ideas
We're destined to And yet she derived but few if any,
benefits from this glorious beque She added nothing to
the legacy OF Greece did she asuage aught of the erOc
ties Of her character Her claim to homage mainly
centres in her love of country and in her family virtues The
vndicaon of the honor OF mairon, and the erection Of
temple al piey, established her popular power and
stute the of her moral deserts Beyond few such
examples civic merits in the hardier days OF the Republic,
she prefers but questionable claim the friendly awards of
posterity. Holding the world in chains she supplied the
most lusous examples of warke spendog and heroic de-
voedne but in the hour of her dissolution, left of
those great truths and moral ideas, which in all ages have
been the pairmony the human True the instincts
of the vutures which Omened her BIRTH she swept from her
impe a heights the confines Of the known world and
with blood reekng hand laid the fair places and
descraed the samctuaries of earth As general principle
she eonecrated of the gosses kind The right of war
and of violence she erected into law Of nations and under
her version of this strange awthe turegero iRper0 popu
ios Romano memento 'she adadged whole nations and
tribes the prey Of her insaate eagles Is this
rash accusstion which to history would contra
det2 Open the pages OF your Lyy, your Suetonus and
your Tactus and read the story of universal wrong The
character Of The best and west of her grea, men will
scarcely stand the test of close scrutiny In the feTocous
games, in which The eye of the Roman citizen and Roman
feasted the of men, coneRding with wild
beass Pompey introduces six hundred lions and an Au
gustus, thousand panthe, aayed against feeling, think
ing. human beings The dagger Of Cassus smes Cesar at
the foot of Pompeys statute, and kindheaed people,
lovn aEistocracy shout: And 10 the lgrats PROSTATE,
in the dust whilst history aud truth shredy guess that
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