The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-01-27
Public Leetnfe.
Gen. 8. c. Pomeroy's s Lecture before the
Kansas AthRneum.

the Athaneum At any early hour the
hall was filled and at a quarter past
seven o'clock Gen. P. was introduced by
the Vice President, Mr.. c. S. PRATT-
We noticed a goodly number of ladies
present-the finest looking ladies We have
met for long while; indeed, so rare an
article as lady in this prairie country
could not fail to look well from the very
novelty of the sight. The General com
menced by saying that he hated apollo
giss, and SO disliked to hear them that he
rarely ever made them. But for the last
few days his mind had been so completely
occupied with dollars and dimes, that he
felt poorly qualified for lecture of the
character suitable for literary society
and that he should depart from his usua
course, and read a lecture. He ther
proceeded, in an easy and earnest man.
ner. to develop the subject, which seemed
to be that Nan ,Cas made for action ana
effort: that there was no rest, but thai
progress and development were inevita.
BILE laws-ahke inevitable in the material
and immaterial world and that the man
who was seeking his ease and pleasure
was alike at war with his highest inter.
est, as well as his being and destiny.
He first proceeded to speak of the ma.
terial development; showed that every
change in the material world was in ODE.
dience to its own laws, with design to
develop its destiny. He spoke of the
progress of development in organized and
unorganized matter, saying that the more
perfect the organization, the greater the
development, which led him to speak o.
human progress and development. He
then opened the page of scientific discov'
cry and invention, (which was perfectly
illimitable /; spoke of the slow progress
which was formerly made in the arts and
sciences said he supposed the earth had
been peopled and depopulated once, be-
fore man could read or write and that
if the antediluvians had written history
it was yet to be opened and read: said
that writings began to multiply from
Moses down; and there was a gradua
walking out of dark Tess into light down
to 1444, when the invention of printing
gave new impetus to science. Books
began to multiply like the leaves of au-
tumn, which not only produced general
diffusion acknowledge, butgreat progress
was made in a knowledge to diffuse. YET
scientific discovery and invention was
slow at first; and so slow, that the sys-
tenn of astronomy by Ptolemy, that the
earth was an extended plain, and the
heavens reyolred about it, was taught in
the schools for more than thousand
years. AT last the telescope was invent
ed, so that man could march up into the
heavens, and lay hold of those orbs OF
light, whose eyelids had seemed to twinkle
with little light only from creation
morning. They were now found to be
full of light, life, and motion.
Then Copernicus appeared-who was
contemporary with Columbus-and was
the Columbus of the heavens. He put
his theory upon paper; but it had firm
er basis-its foundations were laid in
truth immutable and eternal! But Co
pernicus was timid man, and kept his
writings from the public gaze for thirty
FIVE years. At last, when he was 73
years old, and death came creeping over
him, he dared to publish his writings to
the world. The first printed copy of his
immortal treatise is said to have been laid
upon his table in the afternoon of his death
What strong emotions filled his mind, as
his dim eye gazed for the first and last
time upon his life-devoted work! We
may suppose that he fingered in thai
death gaze until evening shadows fel
thick about him, and the stars had lit W
the heavens with brilliant beauty, and
then he passed away from earth! Blu
he is not wholly dead; for no man who
has been fit to live can ever fully die
He can but impress his image upon those
around him, who will transmit the wave IL
endless circles till the race is extinct,
He spoke of the discovery of Americs
| by Columbus as a grand development 0
human progress. While Copernicus dis
covered the true idea of the solar system
it required some bold navigator, like Co
lumbus, to grasp the idea that the eartl
was round, and make practical demon
stration. He was a noble man |! not ter
rifed BY public sentiment, though taugh
in the highest places oflearning, and bab
tised by the church! With the weigh
of more than fifty years upon him, h
pursued his way on foot to the sovereign
of Portugal and Spain. What strang
errand is upon his lips! He tells then
that the fiat earth we stand upon is round
and proposes. with their patronage, t.
lift the impenetrable veil which had huns
over the waves of the ocean from eter
nifty! The learned men of the Court ex
amined his theory, and pronounced hin
a visionary enthusiast; the priesthoot
opened the fires of the Inquisition upol
his heresy. But he sunk not, nor ever
grew faint. After years of earnest per
severance, he launches forth upon track
less ocean! Public sentiment derideC
him when he left, but took off the ha
and made obeisance when he returned
This was the man to discover America
The colonies, too, were peopled by noble
true, and earnest men, who were willing t
sacrifice ease to duty and the dictates 0
conscience.
Iwish fhe said that those weak-heart
ed men, who could not stand it TO winte
upon the banks of the Kansas under thi
genial sun, but returned home before they
had slept night upon the ground, coult
stand upon some eminenee and view tha
noble band of men and women who frs
stepped foot on Plymouth Rock. 1t va
the month of December. They wer'
withoutimplementsof husbandry or BEAST
of burden. Before them stood an inter
minable, unbroken forest, which had de
fed a thousand winters; behind then
was the rear OF. the ocean. with its ice
clad and rock-bound shore; above then
was only the open heavens, with sun
moon, and stars moving onward with ma
jestic stiffness. Things around them look
ed forbiddingi A handful of men anc
women had gathered together in cabin
There was no odespondency. Theirheart'
were full of faith and uneenquerable
4