Loudon free press. (Loudon, Tenn.) 1852-1855, 1854-03-14
Written for the Charleston Courier.

Written for the Charleston Courier
GENUS No. 2-HER CHILDREY-In our
first number we treated of the Character of
Genius. In our present one, we shall endeavor
to notice some of the traits and blessings that
have been bestowed on her children-that have
cast a sunlight on our wlderness--the evils
that flow from their mis- apprehension.
The expansion and enlargement of the mind,
SO far as we can see, has been dependent on,
and the reward of, some striking virtue, or yir-
tues. In the darker ages of the world, Genius
| has been long, for the greater part in arriving
at its full measure of utility. 1t is plant that,
like virtue and confidence, is Of slow growth
The sun-dial, the earliest indication Of the pro-
gresS of passing time, and the magnetic nee
die, that trembles to the Polar Star in the
Mariners Compass, stand so far back in the
dimness of ages that we have no date Of their
respective discoveries, or by whom they were
brought to light. The latter of the two has
been spoken of as first seen in China.
The invention of the Lever by ARCHTyEDEs,
the first one we remember to have emanated
from the brow of genius on record, and risen
to usefulness under its hands, has required up
wards of eighteen centuries to bring out its
powers, as exhibited in the combined action of
the Steam Engine and the Printing Press, that
I
regulator of time in the watch and the chro-
nometer that brings their action nigh to per-
fection. COLUMBUs, with prescience that put
the age in which he lived, and all those which
had passed before. in the shade, saw in the
Nap of the World a sphere that necessarily
indicated land not yet marked on its surface,
and with boldnesS pressed on to the dIscOv-
cry of a new Continent that mastered its acQui-
sition; and this too with powerful opposition
and under discouraging circumstances. Co
PERNICUs arrived at a knowledge of some of
the powers of the Sun over the planets, &C..
of our system, though long engaged In the in
vesti CATION, -4nder powerful opposition, gs.G out
a short time before his death GALLILEO was
lifetime, also, in bringing his Telescope to
the degree Of perfection, that made clear those
discoveries Of COPEYICUs ard confirmed them,
placing them in the hands of Astronomers un-
der the most discouraging circumstances,
through the power of the Printing Press, when
opposed by Scholarship and the Church. NEW
TON did not at first see all the results arising
from his great discovery of GravitatiOn, which
had been handed to him through the fall Of an
Apple from its parent tree by the hand OF Prov
iaence.
FRANKLIN, by virtue and patient industry,
prepared himself for the reception, to confer on
the lightnin rods power over electricity. WATT,
after years of patient industry and application,
brought his wonderful and intricate power in
his engine over steam. derived from the simple
nose of a tea kettle; which the head and hand
of Genius, of kindred power in FCLTON, has
applied TO navigation; and others to many other
useful purposes. While ARKwRIGHT has in
his power loom, established manufactures on
a basis, that through Cotton, clothes half the
world. MORSE has laid his hand on the elec-
trio power, and given it an action that annihi-
lates Time and Space, and brings the ends OF
the earth into close communion with each 9TH
er and though so near to perfection III Its In
ceptive capacity, has, we understand, recently
received some touches which have rendered 1t
more perfect in its operations. WASHINGTON,
with a genius to command and govern, yet with
a love of peace, that qualified him, IN an emil
nent degree, to take part of civil government,
as we'll as a defensive war, was seven long
years ofanxiety and suffering in bringing that
war TO a successful issue, which secured the
independence of our common country; and
eighteen more of close investigation and thought
ful reflection, aided by the wise counselS of
FRANKLIY, a JEFFERSON, q MADISON, an AD-
ANS, Hamilton, a King, Rutledge, Marsh
all, and host of other worthless, rich in intel
lect. and of generous and ennobled hearts, in
planting the seed and nourshing into life the
plants of our noble Union, giving vitality TO its
growth and frmness, stability and cohesion to
its governmental action. His name and char
acter, for consistency frmness and far-seeing
wisdom, during all that long anxious period,
was the power. through teachings from above,
that saved the country from anarchy and revo-
luton, and established its government in It's
haalthful and e-giving action. How sweet
and blessed must be the rest of thy noble spirit.
our common political Father, in the land of
peace and love.
Such have been the men of genius, that hold
the most conspicuous position in Its ranks,
which rise up to us in reviewing the history OF
the past. But when we endeavor to catch
glance at the future, and see rising up before
our vission the bright picture, which Provi-
dence seems to have prepared for US, if true to
ourselves, but which dscord may mar, and
sectional interests, and individual ambition,
and false philanthrophy, may trample down, we
tremble for the result Our Congress has been
already shaken by some Of those unhallowed
movements Of the deep seated fires that have
swelled and ragged within its walls, and poured
out their fearful lava of beth real and affected
sympathy with a race, that is more happy and !
more fortunately situated than the European
and their own poor laboring, and their eman-
cipated classes, because they are better fed, !
more comfortably clothed and protected from /
dissipation, and more steadily and us9fuIly en-
ployed, in cultivating food and clothing the |
world. Show me the class in Charleston, Sa- |
vannah, Augusta, and Columbia, that not un-
make the European and Northern
cities tremble in difficult times? 1t is not to
be found 1t is the ignorant, the idle, the vi
cious, the dissipated, that fill their streets lat
such times) with mobs, their iails and State
prisons with crimes, which we know compara-
lively little of here; and when our common