Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1850-02-22
The N,netcenth Cetittrys


repeated assertion of the great superiority of the
nineteenth century, over all the centuries which
have preceded it, We hear of the advance of man
in all the arts ofife-of the improvements in machi-
nery-of steam the magnetic telegraph---the prin-
ting press and so FORTH and never stop to consider
whether, after all, man himself thinking and
feeling being has progressed one ota, whether peo
pie arc happier or better whether the great precepts
of christianity which teach us to love neghbors
as ourselves and to do as we would be done by are
more strietlv adhered to- We fear that an examin
alton into these matters would not be quite fiat
terng to the vanity of the people of these days
retrospective glance of only few months, would be
sufficient to show us that mechanical develope-
ment is neither freedom, virtue, nor happiness
That man, in his individual capacity, is no nearer
the great ends of his being capable of effect
ing them than he thousand years ago. That
throughout all Europe Democracy means little else
then socialism and irreligion, while on the other
hand law and order synonymous with tyranny and
oppression About this time of the year 1913, bare
ly two years ago, the standard of revolution was
raised in France, and Louis Philippe was driven
forth What has happened since then The whole
European world has been conyulsed, thrones have
totered or have fallen, only to be again reestabiish
Il
Even in France, where the of republic has
been kept up the press less free and the nation
more enslaved than under Louis Philippe. Look at
the European world from end to the other,-see
Ireland starving every eighth in England pau
per--Hungary crushed, decimated, butchered-Aus-
| tria bankrupt-Prussia camp, and Naples vast
prison. while even the head of the Catholic Church
dares not return to the scat of his temporal author
L r GIN
peans to the nineteenth century.
But let us look nearer home Let go, in thought,
at least to the seat of Government of the happiest
and most prosperous confederacy on earth. Let us
stand one moment on the deck of the steamer she
glides up the Potomac, and hear the bell toll as she
floats past the shades of Mount Vernon the halowed
resting place of w AsHINGToN. Let then enter the
city which bears his name, and ascending the
rivalled steps that lead up to the capitol listen to
the debates in either House, and what do we find
Men grateful for the thousand blessings they enjoy
No, but men madly bent on dissolving Union under
whose Egis all have fourished. Fanaticism under
the of Freedom lifting its hand to strike down
4 freedoms nobest monument. Politicians under the
garb of patriotism, aiming only at their own petty
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. Is this not so True, there
noble men-true Notwithstanding men, and
enough of them, we fondly hope to the country
from the untold horrors of disunion but the fact that
there should be any utterly foolish, reckless
and criminal to be willing to push aggression to
the point of dsunon, is humiliating in the extreme
Man has learned to control the elements, but not
himself The lightning is the vehicle ofhis thoughts
but those thoughts themselves but the offspring
of his passions and his prejudices.
We have been so used to hear the nineteenth cen
fury glorifed and bepraised by writer's and takers
who adopt the current cant of the day without
Election or examination that have ventured to
present the few preceding remarks sort of coun
terpart to the glowing pictures commonly drawn.
Perhaps neither view of the is precisely
rate,--truth might lie between,-but while people
ready to take for granted everything in praise Of
the days in which they live, the truth will never be
arrived at, nor will the errors and defects under
which the world 1abors be remedied removed.
i GEoRG1A.-It is now certain that JACKSON Dem
has been reelected from T. B. KINGS late district.
KINGS ajority had been 700 votes. That Cali
fornia mission does not seem to have benefited the
Wing cause in Georgia.
D9~We notice among our visiters this week, Cap
tain MCDONALD, late of the Sd Artillery U. S. A.
and formerly Asst. Quarter Master of Gen. LANES
Division, and mentioned by that officer for his gal
lantry at Huamantla, and other places.
Capt. MCDONALD has recently resigned his COM
L mission in the Army, and is engaged now in pur-
S chasing lumber for the California market.
n Mr.. Hannegon.
We have been panied to notice lately going the
rounds of the Federal press a report originating