Washington telegraph., 1853-03-30

What the Census Teaches.


Men talk of Intervention and propagand-
ism, of Material aid in behalf of liberty and
political justice; and flaming cannon and
glittering bayonets rise to the minds eye.'
A little roll Of manuscript has just issued
from one of our State bureaus, that carries
within itself more elements of destruction
to tyranny in every form, than all the hos
tile fleets and armies our utmost power could
put in motion. 1t comes unheralded; it
makes no stir; the falling of the snowflake is
not more silent Nay, it is as silent as the
light, for light itself it is. 1t is a simple re-
vealing to the world what this Republic ac-
tually is. Rhetoric has done nothing to
adorn it; logic has spent upon it none Of
her skill no art or device of man has been
employed to give it effect 1t is made up
of a single aggreg cation Of naked facts and
ficures-just such homely statements as find
their place in the farmers memorandum
book and the merchants ledger. And yet
in the cause of human freedom every col
umn Of these figures has the force of thou
sand columns of infantry and every line of
these statements is worthy line-of-battle
They are overwhelming they are utterly
irresistible They drive all men whether
willing or rot, into an Acknowledgement of
our supremacy, and into the recognition that
national freedom is the greatest of national
blessings. 1t is an array before which every
weapon is powerless. Mendacity dare not
assail it, and sophistry cannot turn it to the
right or the left
Moral causes are as much stronger than
physical, as truth is more potent than brute
force. Our Census report, though ostensibly
but mere business document, is an agency
of this character. It is new vindication
and enforcement Of the principle of our po-
litical institutiOns-a practical summing up
Of the advantages of popular freedom in a
way that may be known and real by all men,
Our system of government can no longer be
treated as an experiment The day for do
ing this has passed. The trial is over, and
the result is recorded The record amazes
the world.
The great fact that stands out in bold re-
lief from this document is that of intense
energy-energy in every department of hu-
man action, physical moral and intellectual
Even the most careless observer must OBJ
serve it, and the most prejudiced must admit
it. The stranger no sooner is landed up
on our shores than he is struck with wonder,
at the mighty stir; he feels himself to be in
a new element, and among different kind
of men and as he watches the will and the
nerve displayed everywhere around him, he
feels at once that we are what we are, be-
cause we are freemen. Just such a precep-
ton and just such an impression is the
Census report calculated to give to the whole
civilized world. Men cannot even glance
at this register Of American achievement
without discovering the stimulous of true
republican institutions They cannot look
upon our national growth without taking
account of causes which have produced
it, and without becoming aware that under
their operation humanity itself is assuming
higher form of development. Americans
are giving life itself larger meaning
Three score years and ten are heightened
"by reason Of their strength" )" not to four
score, but times four score Life is no lon
ger to be calculated by the sun-dial. Mere
lapse of time neither makes it nor measures
it.
We live in deeds, not years in thoughts, not
breaths
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart throbs He most
lives
Who thinks most; feels the noblest: acts the best
And he whose heart beats quickest lives the
longest;
Lives in one hour more than in years do some.
Whose fat blood sleeps it slips along their veins.
Netr York Courier.