Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1853-12-23

We hope, therefore, that the Union has faced
the music, and that there is no truth in the
rumors which are abroad to the contrary.
! --------~>Sss ~ aON
IMPROVEMENT - OLD AND NEW
4 IDEAS. tss!
| A struggle has for some few years been
going on in the world between new and old ideas
between things established and things pro.
posed to be established Indeed such a strug.
gle has always, at every period Of history, taken
place between the passing and the incoming
age. When men get old, they look back,
rather than forward. What though the past is
the sepulchre Of hopes once INDUCED, Of affec.
tons once cherished, it is alike the store,house
of the trophies of war, ambition, and love.
The past has been SO full of disappointments,
too, that they grow distrustfal of the future. II
ceases to have the power to charm. 1t is diff
ferent with the young, the lively, the sanguine.
! Their past has been brief; its disappointments,
and the impressions made by them, transient.
TO the future they look. Year by year they
grow----their forms expand, their height in
creases, and they catch new views and new OBJ
jects. Then, again, old people have formed
habits-habits Of thought of feeling and ac-
ton. They take them up in the morning, as
they take up their garments. They love them
as they love old fashions. The older they
grow, the fonder they become Of old IDEAS and
old habits for their minds and their affections
revert to childhood, endeared to them as
it is by its innocent pastimes, its young recol-
lections, and its rising aspirations. They be-
gin at length to think with the wine-bibber,
that nothing is good that is not old-that cob
webs are far more sacred than the broom that
sweeps them away.
Far be it from us to disturb the pastimes of
childhood or the innocent illusions of age. We
would dvor, ~ erilugiUus, wanJonIy anu pro-
fanely to embitter the sources Of human hap
piness.
1t is with nations as it is with individuals.
What has been done they would not undo.
Whatever is, is right" But sometimes truths
SO potential and SO palpable, that they defy re.
sistance, strike alike the old man and the old
nation, and they sacrifice the hoary errors and
prejudices of the past, to the new and imposing
truths that burst upon them.
We have seen this illustrated in science, in
art in every department of human knowledge
and human industry. We have also seen
marked illustrations Of tin government What
were despotisms once, have become constitu-
tional monarchies what were constitutional
monarchies, have becomerepublic The infusion
into the mind Of new IDEAS new thoughts, new
facts, will bring about change change for the
better. The mind of man is expansive and
progressive, and all its developments lead to
improvement - individual, social, political.
Then let us not hug too fondly to our hearts
our own happiness and the happiness of man
kind. At the same time, however, let us re-
member that there is law of limit, and that no
principle, however correct or proper, can be
pushed to extremes with impunity. The bow
may be bent, but bent too much, it breaks.
Whatever is useful, whatever conduces to the
greatest good of the greatest number, should
be respected, whether it comes up to us from
the remote past, or is the young suggestion Of
the present moment.
We are happy to perceive that our country
men generally, and that our rulers are properly
impressed with the necessity Of improvement.
Not insane, run-mad progress---but right and
reasonable improvement. In the reports of
most Of the heads of departments, we are
happy to recognise the evidences of proper
sympathy with, and appreciation Of, the ideas
Of the age. For instance, the reports Of the
heads Of the Navy and War Departments. AS
practical men, as active men, as el,judging
men, they have examined into the interests
of the departments to which they have been
called, and they recommend improvements that
there can be no dispute about. Every improve
ment involves change, and they have had the
good sense to repudiate old stereotyped fogyish
errors, prejudices, and abuses. Every improve
ment involves expense, although it carries
along with it real economy, and they have had
the good sense and the manliness to recon-
mend such appropriations for the public service
as they deemed necessary and proper. Timid
men would have dreaded the clamors that un-
scrupulous politicians and base demagogues
raise whenever any proposition is made to draw
on the public treasury. They however, acted
only from sense Of duty, and, we doubt not,
would despise any clamors that such men
might get up against them. We think that
the improvements recommended by the Secre-
tary Of War are full of promises of usefulness
and benefit to the country. We think that the
appropriations for which he asks are necessary
and proper.
We are glad to see, from the action already
taken IN the committees Of both Houses Of Con-