The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1851-04-03

ause he knew of no more powerful a.
,enl than the winds. But the human (,
mind has received a new impulse--it is !
illed with tho great idea of progress, and
has contributed more to wake up
he mind than the invention of the steam
This event occurred so years
ago, aud the name OF the inventor is i'm
mortal. 1t was no freak of chance, no
random thought unaideG by Infinite Intel
Bezaleel was raised up and
flied with wisdom ITO devise cunning
work--to work in gold and silver aud
brass"--to aid Moses in building the tab
ernacle. Aud Hiram was endowed with
great skill To erect Sol0mon's Temple.
So was WATT raised up, to invent the
steam engine. to toll for man in a thou
sand forms Of drudgery-the earth. with
the steam engine in it, aiding the indus
try and multiplying the comforts, of man
kind is a new earlh-far better for the
universal prevalence of knowledge, liber
ty, righteousness. and salvation.
Twenty yeas ago, the first successful
Va CA Wuo lHuhO WI lHO iOCblilb
tive. Now we can hardly compute the
number of railways. Forty three years
ago the Hudson River was first success.
fully navigated by steam. In 1888 the At
lantic ocean was irst crossed by "a steam
err look at the progress. The team
err pluughs our rivers, our lakes, our
coasts, and asserts its supremacy from the
Pacific to the Atlantic, and from the At
lantic to the Indian ocean. The hand Of
the Almighty is in ali this. Were a new
planet to start into existence, it might as
well be attributed to a fortuitous con.
Enumeration of atoms, as to disconnect the
present revolution, by steam, from tine
wisdom and power of God.
To look upon the railroad as simply
the auxiliary to commercials a great
mint for coming money-is totake a con
tracted view of it; for it is in truth, a new
aud vast power, intended by Providence
to act upon religion aud e~ducation-up-
on the civilization aud character of ma
tons in all the complicated interests OF
their social organization.
The invention and use of steam. power,
aside from lis bearing on wealth, has two
aspects worthy Of contemplation. One is
as a preventive of war. 1t is bringing
the nations together, and making them
feel the sympathetic throbbings of one
family heart-of one great brotherhood
Would the idea of Worlds Fair have
been conceived, had it not been for steam
navigation2 1t was a noble thought! Lee
the people OF every tongue. and kindred
and nation from under Heaven assemble
Let them gather under the magnificent
Crystal Palace" and through its trans
parent dome raise their eyes to the same
God, and feel that He has made them al
o. Que blood, and united them by one
common tie ofinlerest aud affection, to the
same father and to Que another; aud we
may expect to hear that u motion has beer
made and carried by acclamation, Il
"beat their swords Into plough shaI es ant
their spears into pruning hooks.
Another view of ste am commerce is
its tendency to unite more CLOSELY The
Subscribing them into more intimate
relations, and subjecIiug them to the ipflu
ence Of mutual intel course.
Emigration is making us a heterogen
eous people-unlike in habits, language
and religion, and scattered over a vas
territory, from the Atlantic to the Pacific
States formed out of such a population
thus widely dispersed. cannot be held to
gether aud consolidated by military pow
er alone - sectional interests and jealous
les will spring up against which the Con
stitution and brute force will form no bar
rier, Our only hope is, in the genera
diffusion Of religion aud education, an'
in the kind aud frequent intercours'
which the railway is calculated TO pro
) mole-bring distant PORTIONS of the coun
try into the relation of neighbolhood.
by means Of recent intercourse wit
foreigners, the Chinese begin To think i
doubtful whether the earth is a plane. an,
they la the centre of it, aud all upon tn,
outside. barbarians; aud the most peace
Iul and happy results will follow tho in
termingling of the Moth with the South
: Could u RAILROAD be extended to the Pa
ciic, it would do more to promote unio
. in the Slates-tO circulate kindly fee
2 ings--to establish our institutions in Ca
{ ifurEia, Oregon, Utah aud New MeXic,
, and To consolidate our glorious cOnledaI
cy. than all the legislation Of Congress
from now until dooms day. new an
vast trade will slring up between tn
Atlantic and the Pacifc-the islands ,
: the Pacific, and the ~populous regions ,
= eastern Asia. Every new Railroad, there
:. fore, constructed in our country, is anOil
y or link in the chain of iron binding tn
=, States together.
v The railroad is also a leveler-but
+, levels up, not down, Its tendency is
= place the poor on a level with the ricl
: not 10y abolishing the distinctions of prop
If erty-it is no socia list not by depres'
d ing Tho rich. but by elevating all to III
g enjoyment of equal advantages. 1t
n like the Press. Before the art OF prin
O ing, the poor had no books; now the po
q session Of books is no very distinctly
mark of wealth. Manufactures are le'
~elers. in the same way, by bringing to ii
i fresides and wardrobes of the poor, All
Giles of comfort and luxury which one
q were atta,nable only by the rich. s
!. with railways. The poor can travel wi.
is as much ease. rapidily and cheapness
the rich. They are not doomed, as FL