The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-10
For the Southern Press.
Relics of Scraps and Musings-No. IA.
STEAM NAVIGATION.


The English are not remarkable for taking the
lead in great discoveries and Inventions, but al
most always improve on those of others, and not
unfrequently claim them as their own. The first
steamer from England arrived at New York, in
August, 1898, and this was hailed by our stupid
newspapers, either from ignorance or confirmed
habit Of bowling to British superiority in every
thing, as the first successful experiment. The
American steamer Savannah had crossed the At
antic, and returned eighteen years previous to this
triumph Of British skill and enterprise. She
sailed from New York in March 1875 visited
England, Russia, Sweden, Norway, and Con-
stantinople, and returned to Savannah in Novem-
Der Of the same year. sCaptain Rogers, her COM
mander, received presents from the Grand Sig
Nor, the King of Sweden, and the Emperor e
Russia, which last presented him with a silver
tea kettle as emblematical of the first generation of
steam. Yet the English claim the credit of the
first successful experiment of this kind, and even
the Americans concede'It to them.
PARTY DISCIPLINE.
An old Quaker coming to-the poles in Phila:
delphia, held up his ballot on which was the name
of worthless candidate he had been induced
by party rlgor to support, said very gravely.
"Friends, thee seest vote for John S., and
God forgive me-"
PROGRESS"
The world is always living in fools paradise,
and fancying one age wiser than its predecessor.
The secrets brought to light from the ruins Of
Pompeii, Hercuaneum, and Nineveh, sufficiently
establish the fact that the ancients of
many arts which have been ascribed to modern
invention and it cannot be doubted that il 30 great
portion Of their literature had not persisted in
the lapse of ages, it would be found that would
excel them little in science, in poetry and the
fine arts. The honest truth is, that nearly all the
Improvements of this age, may be traced to the
application Of science to mechanical purposes. 1t
is this which has produced steam engines and
then legitimate progeny, railroads, sea steamers,
and all the expedients for travelling which GER
tainly do faster than our ancestors. with the ex-
ception Of the witches on their broomstcks. So
with the improvements In other steps Of ''pro-
gress." They may be nearly all traced to the in
creased perfection Of mere mechanical skill, most
especially those new discoveries in astronomy,
which owing simply to the perfection of tee-
scopes, Every age has its hobby, and that ofthe
present is mechanics II Homer and Virgil were
living, we should probably find them exercising
their inventive powers in the improvement Of
spinning jennies and steam engines, instead Of
the construction of epics. Phdas would be work
ing at stone bridges; Aristotle laying out rail-
road, or boring tunnel through the Alleghanies;
Cicero delivering lectures at the capital on the
feasibility OF the great national railroad to the Pa
cifc; and the Argonauts seeking the golden fleece,
not among the Angora sheep on the Black Sea,
but by making short passages across the Atlantic
The same tide of intellect is always Sowing, but
every age gives tia direction. My granfaih-
err was a wiser man than | shall ever be, ana If
don't mistake, a vast many OF my contemporaries
may say the same thing. The only question
worth asking in an inquiry like this, is, are we
happier and better than those who have gone be-
fore us' If we are not, we cannot claim to be
wiser, for all true wisdom is conferred on the ut
tainment Of happiness The more we know Of
the ancients, the more we learn of their great pro-
gress in science, literature, philosophy and the
arts.