Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1854-07-12

@L sE 1 MlE
The following 10 the conclusion Of Dir.
MiieheiSs Address al the University Ct Viz
ginia-
Americans young Americans; il i Your
Day now, your turn has come For you the
SIM shines. for you the fruit ripens and red
deus Win You deem il presumption in me,
q foreigner, who has rome to shelter myself
10 your green shades, III say to you, that on
you the ongs also lies. To you. much has
been given; Of you. also. much viii be re-
quircd. Of all the people, and tribes, and
tongues, and nations now extant, there are
two--one ia the East, Russia one in the
West. Anerica-on whom has deyolyed, as /
believe, the task Of Carrying on The main con
Germs o THE world. il ecse our days--the
task Of taking order. efor the regeneration.
but for the conversation Of the human race.
PLACED, physically, 10 two hemispberes-
placeR morally at two opposite poles of
thought, in two separate centres Of action.
those two. nations appeal to me, CHOW that
Asiasis dead, and Africa unborn, and West
ern Europe in the agonies. almost with the
death. fattle in her throat)- those two young
natiops seem to be set each in its place, with
its own work to do, each its own problem to
solve at its own proper peril. The main
difference il, that Americans will themselves
work out their experiment; the Russians will
have theirs worked out upon them, and for
them. These two nations are now, in the
only proper sense osthat term, the cir Iiized
aud ciyilizhg natioHsef The globe. Each win,
probably, in its own direction, 20 far. and la
Dor much !; and III The sweat Of their brows,
and IN heavy toll Of Land aud of brsin, they
will labor to fulfl their task; yet. when all is
doue, they may corsiasr it successi it they leave
mankind where they found it, no hetter and
20 worse. Their charge is like the mission
of the Roman Dictator, so far as the human
race is concerned, to provide. ne quid detri-
menti capiat. it vii need all the conserva-
tive energies and autiseptic virtue of all their
great men, TO stay modification and to give
a new lease Of life to the old earth.
On America especially, and. in a more sig
nal manner, as | fondlv believe, devolvcs this
glorious business. Yoa cannot, young Amer
leans I! you cannot regenerate your kind but
yon can make yoar own lives sublime you
can make the history of your own land a
panorama Of great ends, a Pantheon Of demi
gods. And is this nothing? Do you bot
find this an aim high enough, good and great
enough. to nerve your souls to all manly ac-
tons? That block of cold. grey granite
which presses The dust Of Jefferson on Mon
.%ieello. speaks to you here and now He that
hath cars to bear, let him hear! The genius
of your country beckons to you from the sum
nit Of the Cordillcras- woos you in the balmy
airs of the Pacidc-sighs to you out Of the
palm groves Of the Antilles, as chained An
dromeda sighed for her deliyerer. Aye, ard
Opportunity. toe, q winged horse of Perseus
saddled and bi,ted. comes bounding by -
miss it. and you may sit long helpless by the
wayside but seize the steed, mount, and ride
VIGOROUSLY. and the sounding corridors Of
Time shall long echo the clang of your tramp
ling hoofs, and the pages of history shall
CLEAN and glow as~er with the pomp Of your
pre- destined march.