Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1854-07-07

ali fire rules 90 HuifnA iHbAfIH efaHtlHtf'''7i4'f
one Is bound, of these two madens. greatly 10
commend and prefer the kind semptress of tuck
ors. praise her too; but give me the Cartba-
eenian war goddess Peace, indeed, is some
timez beautiful. bat Is often ignnble, corrupt. g-
/ nonifl4us Not peace, but war, has called forth
| the erande-t, finest, tendcrest, most generous
| qualities Of manhood and of womanhood. Nhnt
! made America, and brcathed uto her nostrls
! fiery life War. And oh Heavens what un.
nude Ireland, and brought her into the pit Of -
! basement where she lies now Peace, patience
! and perseverance, under insoleut oppression, aud
! in the very jaws Of national death. Yet one al
the warmcst aspirations of our benevolent per-
! fectibility hunters Is the cessation of war
Luckily It's impossible; but, if possible, IT would
! be ,erY undesirable: because war Is as ncrdiul
! to agi ate aud purify the moral atmosphere n
thund,i storms Ia STR and cleanse the material
! air we breathe. Let the thunders and the light
! ungs he reformed away, and soon neither man
! nor beast could liye-saye aligators or some IN
| clean monsters. Let wars be mracuously aboi-
| -hed and 1.-THE eanker of long peace" will Nil
the soul of nations and Of men; in the foul air Of
that corruption will grow monsters enough aud
the progress of the species wll be backward IN
! deed
For II long while past until within the last
| few months, the ear of mankind was compelled
to listen To much about the vast strides towards
universal peace and brotherhood that were 10
have been made by means of what we may call
Cry stall Prlaccdom; by means of grand and mn
jcstic temples, wherein, with solemn iastl and
festivals, and With a gorgeous ritual was to he
wnrshipped tn fiend Mammon or Mercury, or
Commerce, (which you plcase) for the deeper
significance of that great original Crystal Paia=
ce in London, was believed to lie in this-that
it was essentially peace movement" Men
sad-Go to, let us build "A temple for all nations;
where all can flock 10 worship gold, the only
| Il.
touch of Commerce, said they makes the whole
world kin. Over the counters Of this world shop
all will shake hands and be friends forever; and
then who sha stay our progress! by omnpo-
{ mt capital aud co operation, shall we not then
move mountains, and march upward and onward
till we scale the very heavens and become rs
! gods! Alas! these combinations of men 10 vail
! qush nature and resist their inc xorabe destiny,
| have not sped well hitherto. Anachhrsis Clootz
orator of the human race, had his grand palayer
! OF all nations, (Oratory not Commerce being then
! and there accounted the omnpotent) all man
! mankind swore everlasting brotherhood on the
| altar of Liberty, and almost Immediately after
! began the most extensive mutual cutting of man
! kinds Threats that had ever yet been seen on
earth. Nay, the very first Crystal Palace, was
! the Tower of Babel. The Tower Shnar, was
essentially "Peace movement an attempt to
establish centre Of unity amongst the tribes of
| earth-A Tower of all Natons-"that they might
! be one and their name one; lest they should be
scattered abroad upon the face of the whole
EARTH 1t did not answer; il turned out other
wise than had been expected from that same
tower, u, from centre of repusion radia-
ted over ne world, mere foes, and the last of that
, business was worse than the first.
So it has Jared with the great modern glass
tower of Sbuor too. Hardly had it been duly
consecrated, and the brotherhood of nations fair
~ nauguratcd- England, with her offering Of
cotton, finging herself into the arms of Russia
with her votve Malachite-France, forgetting
the Rhine frontiers, and coming with ettuson IL
offer her iewelry and ribbons on the same altar
with the draperies of Prussia and the furnitures
of Austria-when, behold! the sworn brethren,
almost from the very temple of their fratcrnn
! rite, rush asunder, turn on one another with
seowhng eyes, and eagerly prepare to hurl al
Europe into such bloody chaos as Europe OF
the earth never witnessed yet
So are men taught, that they must be content
to move in a cir lie and that the centrifugal force
must never, never conquer the eentripetal. lest
we start off in right line and astonish infinite
space Our own ure, own passions, botl
good and evil are the crystalline sphere that
prisons us in ring of adamant and keeps Us
wheeling in our inevitable orbit. 1t is natural
nay forever necessary, that we aim at somewhat
higher, and reach out our hands to grasp grandeI
possibilities. Yet the fate of the earth born
heaven scaling Titans will still be ours: the god
LyHus will still fight against us, and will send the
bodest of us reeng from the threshold of the
sky: the aughter-loying Aphrodite will laugh
forever, she draws downward, downward
by an irresistible chain of roses.
Are we going back then! Going down! Grows
the world worse instead of better! More wretch
ed instead of more happy! God forbid Some
nations indeed have gone back and gone down
and human nature and life have therein fallen in
to blank etiolation, darkness and decay but just
in that exact proportion, other parts of the world
have been emerging into the sunlight; and the
life of man has quiekened into intense vitality,
and sprung into glory and power. As twilight
shadows have been creeping over Western Eu-
rope, the rosy fingers of Morning have been open
ing the gates of dawn upon America. Perhaps
the truth is that while know Man. the ndi-
vidua may and can advance, by high culture,
by self denial and heroic energy, and faith, to the
loftiest heights of human intellect and virtue
that while nations grow great, free and hap
Ply, each in its day, Man the family or genus,
never strs step, either backward forward.
Quite us mistaken seems to me the self aba Sc
ment of our fathers in the presence of their an
cestors' shades, as glorihcation of ourselves
above Them and the insults we polr ON their
ashes. Quite mistaken, but perhaps a more
natural and less miscellaneous mistake, inasmuch
MS humanity is more compatible with any real
improvement, either of individuals or nations,
than presumption. | shake the head as much at
the dismal philosophy of the elder Pliny. and
Montagne at Horace with his
Gtas parentum, peior avis tulit
Nos nequiores mox daturos
Drogeniem vitiosorcm,
as at the Aattcring pictures elaborated by Ma
caulay. or the glowing autcipations of the Edit
ors Of all the Penny Magazines.