Washington sentinel., 1855-02-16
By Hon. X. M. T. Hunter.

V me Virginia HlSfortoal Soeiefy:
When | received the invitation TO deliver your
annual discourse, / was so well aware that I
could not bring 10 the task that fulness OF know.
edge which IS essential 10 do Justice 10 the sub
lect, that my first impulse was 10 decline the
honor, highly as ! esteemed il. But, upon sub.
sequent reflection, il struck me that might per.
maps render useful aid 10 your society, by calling
pubic attention, in some degree, 10 the great i'm.
portance OF the objects Of your pursuit. and the
high value OF such labors not only TO ourselves
but 10 others. ! cannot be accused OF error In
oearins such testimony to the great objects OF
your pursuit, by those who reflect upon their ma.
ture and tendencies. For surely one OF IN.
highest Offices that man can render 10 his race il
10 Store up The experience and the ideas of the
present generation for the uses OF those which
are TO succeed it, and 10 render such treasures OF
the past accessible 10 his cotemporaries Next
IN Importance TO him who first conceives the great
thought, or originates the high example. stands
the man who preserves the example and pernctu
ates the thought Tor the everlasting use and nos
session OF the generations which are 10 succeed
hlli' y = through mans capacity TO use the ex.
perence and the thoughts of his fellows. ana IA
store up ana accumulate such treasures by add.
ing the present stock 10 that of the past thar he
manly secures the means of the progress and
growth which so distinguish him from all other
animals 10 ascertain the extent of the develop
nten. wnich lne human race may attain by the use
OF such means, we have only 10 COMPARE th,.
Anglo-Saxon, the Cet or the Teu,on Of TODAY
win MS rude ancestors who roamed through the
forests Of Gaul or of Germany, as described 10
us by Caesar and Tacitus. Il will not take the
Inore s,rihinS comparison between the Bushman
or Fetish worshper Of Africa with his civilized
cotemporary, because that might be ascribed
more 10 difference of race than of cultivation.
10 which alone refer at present. The first pre.
senis case quite strong erough for the purpose
VI iilustralion' as there is most much differ
ence between the former and present condition
OF The races as between the first and ast state Of
lle statue man, imagined by the French philoso-
pher 10 awaken, sense by sense into existence
until he stood completely clothed in all the altri-
outes oi humanity Take, then, the savage an
ces'or and The civilized defendant and compare
them, sense with sense, and faculty with faculty.
and how vast IS the dherence The vision OF The
hrst was bound bythe limits ofthe sensible horizon
lew miles uron earth, and some OF the larger OBJ
JoS.s III 'he heavens alone were visible TO him.
whist he was entirely unconscious of the mvrjods
OF beings, living and moving within and around
hiin. lhe vision OF the last penetrates into tbe
very depths OF space and discovers words and
systems OF worlds, all unknown TO his rude pro-
senhoI ne weighs their substance, measures
their dimensions, and calculates their motions
with an accuracy which the other hardly nj
tanned win regard 10 the objects of his imme-
alale contact; or, turning his magic glass
nc explores microcosm in The almost nfn
,teshai ATOM, and becomes sensible of myriads of
beings, who people il and give il life How MANY
more times, then, is the last a man as comn,r.d
WIN me hrst, tested by The ser Sc of sight alone
iHed ny the faculties OF physical strength and
motion, the difference is still as great in his favor
ne directs ana controls the most subtle and pow.
eriui physcal agencies and imprisons captiyes far
mlghtler than Samson, who grind blindlv n, lis
niiii. ouii more wonderful is his superority in
lhe means OF communicating with his fellow His
thoughts are exchanged in seconds over distances
,hrough winch formerly tasy could not have
been communicated in months and be him
sell iles along the earth with speed Greater than
the horse, and perhaps equalling thai of the bird
In inns vast increase of the means for accumula
ing strength and for association amongst men
now now hueh greater IS the amount of power which
ials 10 Inc share of the civilized individual than
that 10 which the savage ancestor could Inv nossi
bIllty have aspiredi
Doubtless the wild man OF the woods could dis
ungulsh between sounds, as pleasant or pnnl.ns.
am, as grave or gay, but what sense had he of the
hidden harLiones which floaled in the air around
| him Did he dream thai the very n;r which he
brcathed could be modulaied into sounds which
suDauc inc senses by their tones and stir the soul
TO IT'S Inmos depths, speaking in the only universal
language known 10 man, with an unerripg concord
ana ceI,a,nty OF expression which the original
curse OF babel has never reached 10 confuse or
destroy! So, too he must have had some idea of
Tue beautiful, IN the forms ofthings but il was as
transItory as the lights and shadows which aItted
by him. 10 hx the idea il fled, and reproduce
IN forms more eloquent than words 10 make
1
emotions and sentiments in lights borrowed from
heaven, would have been indeed to him an u ort
and faculty diUiRe" so far did il transcend bis
power OF execution. Nor is the superiority OF the
iasl over The former generation of the men Of
whom have been speaking less strikin,, I, .
moral, than in physical point of view. Concep
tons over which a Newton, or a Leibnitz or
Bernouiili, or Euler, toed in his studv are now
| the daily exercises of boys at college; and The
higher and subtler analysis of La Grange, or La
ia I,aIl
equal facility hereafter. Ideas whose or,gina,ion
| cost so much 10 Plato, or an Aristotle Racon
a Des Carries, or n Kant, are now The common
| property oil the world and thousands undersionJ
thoughts which probably not one Of them could
have discovered.
printing, II may almost be said that each genera
lion Starts from the point that the last had ALARMED
and " IN comparing the present with The mas, w.
hho SO vast dHnerencc IN favor Of the existing
generation OF men, with what proud hopes may
we not be Justly inspired for the future nroor.ss
oil our race II the difference between ths ,,,o
generations whom | have COMPARED he sncb ~
would seem 10 superficial observer 10 Indicate
superior nature IN the last what may we moi rpbt
Iuly expect OF future improvement when we
lhhk greater opportunities for progress winch
each succeeding generation will cnioy3 a n,ond
thought this, but not too proud, if we remennhor
win becoming gratitude and humility 10 whose
power u Is that we owe these faculties and oppor
tuDIueh, ana cnueaVor 10 fulfill the conditions
upon which alone such promise could have been
gwen One OF these conditions undoubtedly i,
that we should preserve the experience and ,be
IDEAS oil The past and The present for The use ~
the future. Without this faculty of one man -
use and possess himself OF the example and IDEAS
OF another, our race could never have reached ,Le
point 70 which II has already attained and win.
out the means Of preserving these examples and
these ideas, That faculty conId not be exercised
10 preserve these ~ the historians function
yours, sIr, and that Of the society over which YOU
preside.
have already said that | rate the historian next
only ~ point OF importance 10 him from whom 6rst
emanates the great example, or high conception.
ana who' by original discovery, extends the bound.
aries Of human thought; and 10 this extent lhink
experience VIII fully bear me out. The historian
: the TREASURER who stores away and preserves
the moral wealth Of the human race. and boards
up the ideas and conceptions which are as essen
tial TO its spiritual growth and elevation. ns
material means are 10 its physical existence But
there IS one great and meyer TO be forgotten differ.
ence between the two species Of wealth. moral
and material, which leaves no doubt as 10 the
superior value OF the former In fbo g.. naaL