The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1853-05-05
From the N. Y. National Democrat.
Its and 1853.

EttO dHU kOOOs
This is fast age. We live at locomo-
tive speed a century of life is crowded
into year. The last seventy years al
most equal in rapid development of the
race, any previous thousand years of the
worlds history. A distinguished writer
in the cause of Liberty, in the Revolu-
ton, in surveying our country's future,
then attempted to be choked to death, by
the red hand of British monarchy, said
in effect, "Neyer since the time of Noah,
hath people been placed in our position.
The future is in our hands, and we have
to begin the business oftbe acOrlU aneao." p
Nobly has our country fulfilled this say
ing of the prophetic writer of the Revolu-
ton. Let '76 and '53 stand face to face
for moment, and the world will be
struck dumb by the miracle of contrast
which they present, Or, so bring the
matter home more palpably, suppose
Washington risen from his grave, for a
little while, and enthroned on the highest
peak of the Alleghanies, surveying as
with supernatural scope of vision, THE
LAND, from ocean to ocean, from moth
ern SHOWS to the Gem of the Antilles
What contrast to the days of '76 would
meet the gaze of the great man! In '76
the United States consisted of 13 colonies,
pent up between the Alleghanies and the
Atlantic, with population of barely
three millions, struggling for life itself a
gainst the most powerful-the most brutal
monarchy of the age.
In 1858, the United States consists of
thirty-one great Republics, cemented in
indissoluble union, with population of
twenty-five million; her vast territory
fronts alike towards the rising and the
setting sun, the Atlantic and the Pacific
are her eastern and western boundaries,
they are not settled yet; by no means
finished; Destiny will take care of them.
Washington, risen from his tomb and sur
veying the land from the topmost height,
need not let his vision be checked by eth
er Niagara Falls or the Gulf of Mexico;
there is great deal of United States get
to come, beyond gulf and cataract. Nj
agara will yet sing the hymn of Repub
lican continent. Call up Franklin, and
let him contrast the industrial resources
of '76 with '53. We can imagine the
state of wonder which would light up his
hearty, goodhumored face.
In his day, one John Fitch, and the
unextinguishable laughter Of crowd Of
merchants and other respectable people
assembled on Philadelphia wharf, tried
the experiment of propelling boat by the
force of steam. In his day, also, Oliver
Evans, another madman of the Fitch
stamp, amid the pity or contempt of all
men of common sense, tried to propel a
wagon on the Lancaster pike, (near Phil
adelphia,) by the force of team,-suc
ceeded, too,-but was set down as mere
theorist and dreamer by all practical men.
Well; Doctor, look over the land, now
The Continent is net-worked with iron
ways. The Locomtive is heard every
where,-it is never silent, from the cata-
ract to the Gulf And the Hudson, the
Ohio, the Mississippi, the ocean in the
east, and the ocean in the west, send up
night and day, the smoke of the steam
boat to Heaven; the very steamboat, Doc
tor, which John Pitch, in imperfect form,
tried one day on the Delaware river, and
in miniature, upon the New York kolch.
From the Aroostook to the Bay Of
San Francisco, Doctor, the Steam-engine
dumb matter fired into strong, terrible
life, at the command of science-never
rests, not for an hour, nay, not for mo-
ment, out of the twenty-four. Through
the still night you hear its mighty breath
ings; its fires rise through the darkness
from ocean to ocean; its iron tramp is
never still upon iron ways; and upon riv-
er and sea, its hoarSe anthem never dies.
But, as if this was not enough, Doctor
as if steam was not fast enough for this
hurrying age-here comes the Ericsson,
gliding up New York Bay, with its new
motor, destined to dethrone steam, even
as steam annihilated the stage coaches,
numbering wagons and snail-ike moving
hand labor of '76,
Suppose that Franklin has learned
nothing since his transit to another sphere,
(and if the rapping utterances which the
mentebank supernaturalists put in Frank
Inns mouth, be true, he has sadly gone
back in every respect,) let us imagine
him, risen from his grave, and confronted
with Nineteenth Century Ericsson. How
the great Doctor would open his eyes, as
he found himself on board the Ericsson,
gliding down the Bay of New York, and
with the inventor of the new motor by
his side, explaining in plain terms the
features of his invention! Put Franklin
and Ericsson side by side and two centu
ries look wonder struck on each others
face. Not the expansion of territory, a
lone, nor the increase of population, nor
yet the miraculous advance of all indus
trial interests, nor even yet, the wondrous
life, given by science to dumb machinery,
would excite the surprise of Washington
and Franklin, could they come back into
our world.
The greatest wonder of all, would be
the great progress which the People,