New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-07-28
NETWORK DAILY TRIBUNE, FRIDAY, JULY %, 1854.

Frr'CI b o .-LC
Only wihor, interruption --ecr.a'iy - % ''-
cut Jar. Cons,deT the ssgsriiy ci ih. feo; -'',
cicgds Of jcs-orsy and Tho srrs = pa. 4Ast'
isa'sd rattl deliberately - ''ei A. fesoiV, 'f
.dor-sd that wonderful vet ur;rs rT h-I IN 80 ''-
;sy.G for ib.r- and decided at = sho-i4 90; fn'1c,
Lave ;rai. tG; should stand ofe'ef, in ON! uysrn-
rn.nt Of thems-ve. ard OF their poserl,y toIs'GSr
thai not only va ths vast engine - ~ n'oH =!
vol nsrv act II the people br: Il has also been kep h
roion ty her o~n TfrI~'naiiy rene"eu cl.se. ~
direct Lci,y; an thai; a'hc-gh Ike ever! o'i"r ''
tn6iou i0i,e- a. hs- - dead pouts. yef J. plss-
through them viii yericc; G!aEty, aGd without even
snv ssDsii. Girnnuiion OF motion wing tho W ''l.
performance By tho people at critical moments %. the
fuI obr ~ yol' ed upon them Consider how Haiy do
vsr.cls ;he hzan liz whoh meet and c'rgr very
tine iTe>h impulse e given 10 the great nechaHsn
maon'y cf The stats neg.ec'ng refr-n- % &C; on
snv uch occasion could bring the Gover 10 10 dead
stand Consider that Ire people MOI only interfere IN such
critical occasions bat also thu they continually sup
rl,ing The nscessry force sustain the movements OF
The subordir e'e pIEs OF tho mnchise
There ere aHd half millions Of electors AMI every
# these charged IN the performance for the mos
Part Annually I'll four several classes Of functions IN o.
mary distinct spheres. Once generally in each year
tie electors choose mayor supery isor aldermen
trustees scecnen justices of the peace poee Officers
clerks Of tayes commissioners Of public chart
tics commissioners o: streets roads and brdges ami sub
alrrn other officers OF the militia, IN theIr respective
cities towns. or other forms OF inequalities. Again
the electors generally in each year choose officers
nearly numerous, and OF higher grade 10 execute ja
dical. minis,eria and fca powers Of similar nature
within the counties which embrace several cities towns
and municiy aIties. Again, they elect governor suen
6ngv.rnors senators end representatives judges ,ieas
urels ministers Of finance of education of public works
end If charities in the constituted by such couR
of-Saies sovereign Al all things except the lew de
rerucns they Rave vounariiy assigned 20 the Federal
Union Once more-the citizens choose, once in two
years RepTes natives. and once IN three year, senator's
WHO eA.rc- lie legislative powers OF me Republic add
cree n four reas, the NiCePresdent and President Of
The United States, - Chief Executive Magistrate The
peace order prosperity and happiness and the safe
Is ~ .cciety fc' mani siy the soundness of 5ment
With which these many and various electoral trusts are
discharged Reject, now, for moment on the perurbi
ons -ocey, the devices and combinations OF parties
ard the appliances OF corruption 10 which the electoral
body il at ell times exposed. Coud these functions
be performed with esulis so generally aupcous the
rs"Ile If the United States did not, "a a mass,
ce other nations in intelligence much az in the good
fortune OF inherurg such extraordinary institutions
Lock at the operation of this system in yet another
s.pc Not only the institutions OF the several States,
but even the Constitution Of the Union, stands only by
the voluntary consent Of the People. BY physical force,
which the Government could NOT suppress, they could
subver; any oil Of these Constitutions. Even without
force and acting only by agreement but in conformity to
certain established conditions they change snbyer.
all these Constitutions. There is indeed restraining
rOwer acting upon them, from within frS without.
Practically, they do change the Constitutions OF the
several in twenty years Yet they work such
change generally without c0mmotion, and they nave
never made without replacing the Constitution
moved by better one few OF the States inherited the
Jurisprudence Of the civil law and all the others the
mon and statute laws Of England. Docs any deny
that they have sagHcouy retained all the parts OF those
excellent coces which were essential order and civil
liberty ard have modified others only far ~ wa
GuIed by the changing circumstances OF society ana the
tver-in proving sentiments OF justice and humanity Let
our amendments Of the rules of evidence and
simple process Of pleading and practice in courts of u-
tees and meoraons OF imprisonment for debt aud oi
esmosna laws and Of ponltentlay systems, yndlcato
The intellectual vigor and wisdom of the American people
Modern invention until the close OF the last c.ntury,
was chiefly employed in discovering new laws of nature,
md in shaping those discoveries into the forms of theories
and msIms Thus far N the present century Invention
has employed Itself IN applying those theories and max
ms by various devices OF mechanism, or Otherwise To
prscii Ia Europe, those devices chiefly such
as regard eshec elect In America, on the other hand
those such have for their object the Increase
of power. Required TO subdue nature through broad
range quickly, and 10 bring forth her various resources
with haste and having numbers inadequate and capt
tai quite unequal such labors, the American studies
chiefly economy and efficiency. He has examined every
instrument ard engine and combination, and compost
tor received from his elder transatlantic brother in the
light Of those Objects and has either improved IT, or de
yised new and better one. He aims at doing the most
Tat possible IA quickly ~ possible and THIS character
sc is manifested equally in his weapons of war aud in
hs instrument of peace whether they are 10 be used IA
the field in the Workshop or on the seattle hre-arm
hesy the plo, the Railroad the clppershp, the steam
engine the printing His railroads cost less and
are perfect than those il other countries but he builds
ten miles where they have only three He passen
gers ard freghs such roads and in his ships with less
safety but with greater eheapness aud velocity tie pre-
pare his newspapers, his magazines, and his treases,
with less care but he prints hundred for II the
European has failed TO give him necessary principle or
embody il in practical machine he finds out the one,
constructs the other promptly for himself H. wanted
machines working mp his forests and he invented the
saw-gaDg, and the growing and planning machines; for
cleaning his cotton and invented the GIN for harvesting
his wheat, and he invented the reaper. He needed me-
chanica navigate his long and broad lakes
and be converted the steam engine into marine power.
He needed dispatch in communicating intelligence and
he placed hs lightning.rod horizontally, and beating
into a ire, converted It into writing telegraph.
Fifty years ago there no American Science and no
American Literature. Now there Is an American ten
ency IN every intellectual department, and none aeknowl
edge lis presence and usefulness freely than those
whose fame has least to fear from competition.
I, seems TO me that this intellectual development OF the
United States is due chiefly the adoption the great
idea If universal emulation, Our constitutions and laws
open every department OF human enterprise ana amoi-
lion io all citizens without reepect 10 birth, class,
condition, ard steadily though cautiously exert power
cutie effective in preventing any accidental social ine
Guslity from becoming fixed aud permanent.
There still remains the question whether the moral de-
vrm.nt +, coordinate " h those of hyscal power and
mind in The United States. republic may be safe even
though it be weak and though it be in considerable de-
gree intellectually Inactive as IS seen IN Switzerland but
a republic cannot exist without virtue.
II will not suffice To examine the question through the
lens OF traditional prejudice kind Of reverence paid
by all nations antiquity There is that does not
trace IFS lineage from the gods from those who
especially favored by gods Every people has had its age
Of gold. Augusan age, or heroic sge-an age alas
forever passed. These preudce are not altogether I'M
wholesome Although they produce conviction OF de-
Ching virtue which is unavorabe 10 generous emaaon
vet People at ignorant and irreverenal would
necessarily become lcentou Nevertheless, such preju
dices ought be modified IL is untrue that in the
period Of a nation rise from disorder 10 refinement II ~
no, able 10 continually .upass itself We the present
plainly distinctly, with all its outlines, its rough
irequalts is dark bois and its glazing deformltles
We hear al tie umultuous sounds and jarrlng dsconi'
We sec and hear the past, through distance which re-
duces all is inequalities To plane meOws all Its shades
into II, ssiIg hue and suiues it, holsest voices
into hsinony In case the prejudice is les. er
roreou- than in other. The Revolutionary age
truly heroic one. Its exigencie called forth the genius
ed the talents and the virtues Of society AMI they pened