The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1854-08-18
The prosre,, Of our coun,ry-Dr. Mott.


The venerable Dr.. Mott, President OF un-
on College, Schenectady, N. Y, ,made very
thrilling address on the fltieth anniversary oi
his Presidency, July the 25ih, ult,
DR.. Mott is one Of our Oldest and most sue
cessful American inventors. The following
extracts from his speech will repay perusai:
"Fiit, years ago, having been invested with |
the supervision of Union College, stood fNr
the first time on yonder rising ground wher'
the College edlices are now seen. these
grounds, now 50 symmetrical and ornate, were /
,hen mere pasture ground, Scared with deep |
ravines difficult of access, by swamp and sand
hill, and divided into different compartments
indicative of different ownerships. There was
no tree, shrub, nor garden, nor building
Some thirty students, scattered over the then
village of Schenectady, met at cabinet-ma-
ker's, on the corner oi Union and Ferry sts.-
and these then constituted the whole Of Union |
College. A s;inted provision had previously |
been made for academic instruction-for the |
masses here. Now, fifty years ago, was the
provision for trade and travel more abundant
Chemistry was then little known; the motive
power Of steam less. The application ofelec-
trcty and the sunbeam to any practical pur
pose were entirely unknown. BY the power of
muscle aud ofwind the internal commerce of
the country was conducted. visit to Alba
ny, fifteen miles, and the return through the
intervening desert, over the winding pathway,
required the time OF three days, to New York
vlten three weeks, to Buffalo six; voyage to
Whitesboro' was executed by the oar or the
setting pole, aud took more time and involved
greater dangers than voyage across the At
| lantic does ut this day. Rome was then the
great commercial capital of the West. Be-
yond it commerce, except with savages, was
unknown. The lowshare ot the husbandman
had scarcely disturbed the soil, or tie axe of
the wuodmdn assalled the forest; the wild
West was d desert for wild men. Even in
the older States the wild beast and savage
lingered; in all OF them the husbandman by
the use OF the plow, the scythe, and the sickle,
worked ~ repenish his garner, and the spin
ning. wheel converted fax into raiment. Now,
Z how changed, The he nd-wheel and the hand
loom have been exchanged for the power
| loom and The spinning jenny. The setting
pole and the oar are laid aside, and the steam
engine has been substituted. Nor this alone;
human labor Is constantly disappearing, al d,
i1 a thousand ways, processes are now carried
on by steam, which, fifty years ago, were per.
I formed by the human hand, and this only.
Meantime, artificial channel. had been excs-
waited round the Falls of the Mohawk, the
Hudson, the Niagara, and the st. Mary, con-
Meeting the waters uf the lakes with the
ocean. Villages have sprung up, a numerous
population has appeared, and from them the
hum OF busy industry is heard. Nor does the
speed OF steam satisfy the d,manas of an ca
ger populations; the lightning has been train
ed to convey tdings from friend to friend at
any intervening distance. Light, too, has
been put in harness, aud has learned to 90 the
bidding of man; the artist, indeed, still! bends
which complete his work, but art has DESERT
ed his studio, and now, in an stant, by the
impress ol the sun beam, her end is attained!
TINS substitution is more than substitution
OF elemental Tor muscular power it is az in
crease OF power itself; and a perfection and
rapidity have been attained which never could
have been reached by the power of man or
brute, however applied 0, extended. Hence
the great increase If comforts and capital
which we witness. The mere dsy-laborer il
better clad and lodged than were the aristoca
racy OF England three hundred years ago
Meantime, emigration in its western flow has
, been carrying with it arts and sciences, Eng
, lish cumm,n-law and the Christian religion
from the Atlantic to the shores of the Pacific
Ocean. What has, in SO short time, produ-
ced such WonGrouS results! Mind: educated,
: religious, Christian mind. This is the land
:, ol Bibles and OF liberty, and the land of Iiber
ly because it is the land Of Bibles. The
:, world over, where the Bible is read, man .s
. free, and where it is row, oppression reignS
!" Time was when freedom OF opinion was the
d prert gatVe oi governments, when the masses
e were required 10 believe aud think as the rul
ing power taught, and to believe in its each
ing; and to compel this obedience the rack
the gbbet, aud the torture we're applied. T,
J. escape this tyranny our pilgrim fathers fled t
l. savage shores and forest wiIds, and their sue
h cesslul resistance formed new erl. Indyid
II ual opinions became everywhere appareat
these congregated, aud formed public opinion
' and this, brought into action, became an ele
i ment oi nations, and grew into Il governing
r principle vt the world. At present it is bu
8 in ills intalcy; but when it ID enlightened by
science, sunctiied by grace, the voice fpow
er shall NO longer come down from usurpet
8 palaces o. the people, but go up from the peo
pie 10 the seat ui Goyernment.-Within lhi,
halt century, public schools have gone forth
to elevate these masses; Church and State
have been separated in all the States, and
9 now the books of nature and grace lie open
h without note or comment, free to all to read
=, Durn. the same halt century, the education
a al system has been revised aud libetalzed, as
t well as extended. We have escaped many
y of the vices which arbitrary power induces
t Our energies and enterprise have been Sc
D well called into action as to enable US to
begin the reform necessary to the new world,
I aud also to cooperate in the renovation OF
the old. Our discoveries on the shores OF the
Pacific will soon place in our hands the capi-
tai sufficient for the u eat work that is to be
d.. ne; the leisure, the result of our mechanical
, skill will aid, and thus we will soon have the