The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1851-10-03

L fram "A
we're BIZ Incidence and ignorance, The impress OF our
race is now marked in ineiaceable characters upon
vast outline and The intermediate space will be filled up
with an energy which foreshadows what shall do by
what we have done The mountain, the forest the des
eIt, present themselves to the lndomabe engant, not
as barriers which say to him, Thus far shah thou CO.
and further" but obstacles 10 be by ef
FORTS more vigorously renewed the difficulties aug
mented, And along the line OF nations march, amid
hece and hostile savages over arid and naked herbess
and treeess plains, and rugged mountainous cliffs and de-
hles goes not alonebui woman with her power TO
endure and her will TO exert it, where her affections are
engaged, accompanies him in his tolsome journey, 10
augment his Joys and by taking part in his to
tighten them Broad-bounbless, almos--s the theatre
offered to exertionsggantlc IN It's features, ike the
continent we inhabfar different from those regions OF
the Old World, familiar to us from our infancy, and Tor
ever memorable as the scenes OF mighty
nected with the origin and early progress OF the human
race In those countries OF the Eas-ormery the CRADLE
and now the tomb, OF civizaionevents were compress
ed within compass and the limited space within
which they passed seems utterly dspopoIo to the
they occupy in the history of the world and TO the
influence they have exered upon It's destiny The breadth
of our peninsula greater than the direct distance
from the land of Goshen the residence OF the children OF
Israel upon the Nile, TO Palestine, The land oil PROMISE
and the object of their mgraons and though their jour
ney by Divine command, crcuitous, still the desert
where they wandered less in extent than several OF the
States OF our Union, and ours among the number.
the little bands OF selfdevoed exes have become
great people, not less wonderful has been the increase OF
the means Of human subsistence, by which our own
augmen,ing numbers have been supplied, and which is
pouring its contributions into other and less favored
gions of the globe History tells that during the
starving timea period of famine marked by that terri
with food from the bodies OF their friends who had sunk
under the caamtes TO which they were exposed; and
assured by tradition that the ganay OF the Pur
fathers had al time but five kernels OF corn for
each individual composing the expatriated colony now
become the millions Of New England But, like the
widows meal the scanty store, by the blessing OF God,
failed not have said upon another occason-bnt the
circumstance is so striking and CHARACTERISTIC that must
repeat herehat have often conyersed with avenera
BILE relative. who was contemporary OF Peegr'ne WhIle
the first child born TO the pilgrims alter Their arrival on
this continent What almost appalling idea does this
simple fact present OF the progress and prospects OF this
vast republican empire But onesliie passed away be-
the first and latest born OF one of its greatest
munes-belween its infancy and its maturty-between
its weakness, almost without hope and It's power, al
most without Limits between its granary, holding few
kernels of corn and all its vast stoe houses" whose
contents like those OF Pharaohs we may leave number
ing for they uilhou number but which supply king
ions with abundance and send plenty where the har-
vest follows not the seed me and where famine seeks
to establish empire, displaying its power by It's vic
TINS and not by its snbecsDy the deai and not by the
living
The frs, want OF is food, and his first is
suppyit Tie rude modes OF agriculture originally pre-
vailing have gradually given way TO improved systems,
combining sound theoretical principles with enlarged
per ence and observation. In the dsensaon oil Nature,
increasing population always presses upon the means
Of subsistence and if the supply does not Augment sh
the demand famine, and the terrible evil, il brings lis
train, will soon 10 teach ignorant, opp essed,
mprovideni community that IS the province OF Ma
tue TO minister 10 the wants oil man BY aiding his exer
ons, and not 10 minister TO his incidence By rendering
them unnecessary For wise purposes, doubt, there
regions of exuberant fertility, where articles of food
may be obtained without culture as there are others OF
irecaimabe sieriy, where industry conquer the
obstacles OF soil and climate, and render these stricken
portions OF the earth desirable residences for the human
family. But in the natural IN the moral world The
system OF creation is one OF compensailonsyo and EVIL
go hand-ID hand together Where lives without
exerlion industry he lives without virtue intel-
gence and dies Indifferent, the future he has been
In RuI her npcpa
sometimes apparently stern one-reqaiies him to abor
he altans his true position and uhs his true destiny by
the proper employment of his faculties, physical and
moral and by their nobler development. which
follow. Experience has shown that in the temperate
zones OF the earth, where industry is essential to sub
ssence and where its rewards ample there only the
human race have attained their true POSITION and have
advanced in that OF intelligence and Improvement
marked out BY the Creator, and the limits OF which are
known TO Him alone The great deeds, the great
the great discoveries Of the world there. telling. in
language not TO be misunderstood, that there is n
mate between the progress OF the human facu
ties and the motives for their exerton.
To Increase the quantity and improve the quality OF
agricultural products snted to the subsistence OF man.
and with as little labor is compatible with the OBJ
lec,, should be the great effort OF intelligent agcuu
rsts. The progress of lage is oil the most interest
ing chap'ersin the whole record oil human society Its
origin is lost in the obscury OF time. and fable has
usorped the place Of authentic history That the food Of
man in his primitive state was the spontaneous products
OF the earth we are equally assured BY Scripture and by
reason II would be curious subject of inquiry to
certain. If the means in power, the various
steps by which the yielded place to more paa.
table and succuen food ard finally 10 the cereal grains
and bread their best form, the great staple OF human
support. But the arts OF destruction have always exerted
so much more power the imagination than those of
preservation that while battles and battle fields and
querors crowd every page al history, till they have be-
almost undsing nished their victims,
are compelled to grope our way amid the mist oil
fable and tradition search after the progress
OF the human intellect in these discoveries and i'm
provemenis which make essential part OF civil
izalion ITSELF and many OF which must have been as
early their introduction they have proved general IN
their use The moraist and the philosopher have equal
y exposed the tendency and the folly OF this love OF mil
itary glory; but il is deeply nrooied in human nature,
and operates as powerfully at this day in the earliest
tunes, when plastic mythology gave TO the victorious
destroyer niche, statue, and altar in the Pantheon
OF the gods
1t were rash attempt 10 undertake to set limits the
productive power OF the earth. 1t has been greatly in.
creased by human knowledge and labor; and The dis
coveres of modern science and especially of chemistry
have still further enlarged its sphere, and promise ye,
beneficial resus Tor the future We know but little
OF the agriculture OF the ancens The scattered notices
Of 1t which have survived the lapse Of time meagre
and unsatisfactory. and certainly inspire but little respect
Tor the practice practical philosophy OF the cntvaloTs
of the soil The twelve yoke OF that Elisha left
in he fuuow when called TO higher duty furnish
very unavorable commentary mon the quality OF the
Jewish stock well as upon the instruments OF tlage,
which required such prodgious waste OF animal labor
tor ages agriculture was stationary, and probably adj
vanced but little from the time VTg wrote his Georgcs
till be last century, We told by the best authority
thal IN Scotland within hundred years. Z" there
no rotation Of crops iaows were unknown, except in
two counties the processes and implements OF
extreme poverty and families every now and then
hat laid