The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-12-06
THE DAILY DISPATCH.
TUESDAY MORNING. On cEMBER q ieas
THE Age oF pRoGREss.

InSr0 are bu0Se VINO uesiAi
rs the age of Gold others, the age u Ao"'
and others the age OF Brass AL 'hese ''s'o
rails NAV he blended in its oompos'tion' nu'
the most accurate and comprehensive oo
.cr;n,;on ~ Il l. given when we pronounce IL
.he Are Of Progress It is an age OF inseiiec
,ual. moral. social and political progress
.,orla opr great grandsires rise from tneir
,rav,s and. parting their gray hair from
,he;r clammy brows, peep out with iara, ius-
ire ewes upon this whirlwind generation now
,.e,nine and intense would be their astoaish'
mont VIVA. Old Fogies they would seem TO
themselves, Governments revoiuslonzco'
laws and institutions changed, huge towns
sprung up in the wilderness, travellers flying
in self.propclled carriages with lightning
speet, over roads Of iron, or rushing through
pa;hless seas against wind and tide! a fast
xce indeed and fast people, living IS hours
for every 81 Of their ancestors So rapid has
been our development of all the clements OF
greatness SO innumersble and astounding the
discoveries and inventions of the day that
the faculty OF wonder is almos, exhausted,
and i; will be next 10 impossible to surprise
mankind by any future achievement of the
human intellect Were we, on awaking to-
morrow, to see 3 feet of balloons, laden with
Passengers, leisurely sailing through the
.o,aen flood OF the early dawn. thousand
people would exclaim-"Just as expected
and every eye would look up in ful! assurance
of seeing the flag of some Yankee adventa-
rer floating in triumph from the aerial
ship.
Blu. there are some serious drawbacks
upon the pride and selt'complacency
which the progress Of the age is caicu-
lated to engender. If that progress had
been confined to the useful arts. TO the
development of political truth, to the exsen
SION of civil and religious liberty, there
would be reason for unmingled exultstion.-
The universal mobility Of our people, and
the noise and tumult OF our industrial hosts,
going forth to conquer the rugged domains
of nature would inspire Us with unalloyed
satisfaction. But the innovating spirit OF
Progress has not confined itself to its legiti-
mate channels If the triumph of inventive
genius has demonstrated, in this age, the
great capacity of the human mind, the success
of gross imposture has equally demonstrated
its pitiable weakness. 1t seems a very mil
lenium of deception and impiricism The
most sacred principles and institutions OF re-
Hgion and of morals, are not safe from the
ireverent hand of modern innovation. The
spirit of the age has no faith to receive the
well attested and rational verities of Chris
tianty, but it has a credulity that can swal-
low, without wry face the rankeSt fabrica-
tons of fanaticism and superstition. Reason
IS at the same moment insulted by its gull
bility, and faith by its unbelef 1t refers the
most perfect system of morality which the
world ever saw to human invention, and III
the same breath asks us to believe in rapping
spirits, who for dollar q head, reveal the
awful mysteries of eternity. Our household
gods are as rudely handled as the sacred
mysteries Of Religion. The domestic rela-
tons are threatened with the protaning hand,
not only of Reform but Revolution. The pa
triot cannot look, without apprehension upon
the development of such spirit, in comb
nation with rapid physical progress, or en-
tirely dismiss the fear that it may require
lesson as bloody and terrible as that of tbs
French Revolution, to teach the inhabitant
of some sections OF our country the differ
ence between Liberty and Licentiousness.
When the South is reproached by the fas
people of the North for being a century be
hind the age, it is some consolation to reAec
that they are at least as far behind the ex
cesses and follies as the real Improvement @
the times; and that the advance which they
are steadily making in material wealth, the
structure of their society will enable them to
preserve from such drawbacks asthose viii Il,
Inar and imperi Northern progress.