Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-07-24
Influence of ala Independent Press.

in Alabama very large addition will be made
TO the above list of 'hard cases"
influence of an Independent Press.
Mr.. Everett, in his Grafton at Dorchester on
the 4th Of July, pays the following tribute to the
great importance, power, and influence of an in
dependent press:
1t is impossible fully 10 comprehend the i'm
portance of the work which was accomplished in
the colonization Of America, without regarding
il part of the great plan of Providence, in
disposing the time and circumstances of the dis
covery of our continent; hidden as it was till the
end of the fifteenth century from the rest of the
world This thought was brought so forcibly to
my mind a few years since by circumstance
personal to myself, that think you will pardon
me for aludng TO it, though in itself of trifiing
domestic character. In the year l84l, occupied
with my family the Villa Careggi, near Florence,
a mansion once, as its name imports, Casa regia)
a princely residence, belonging to the Grand
Duke of Tuscany, but of late years private
property, and occasionally leased to travellers.
Half fortress, half palace, il was built by Cosmo
de Medici in l444, nine years before the capture
Of Constantinople by the Ottomans in l453. BY
that appalling event, barbarous race (Which
had issued from the depths Of Asia some centuries
before, and had engrafted the Mahometan mpos-
ture on the primitive stock of Tartarian pagan
ism, had stormed the last stronghold of the an
cient civilization, the metropolis of the Greek
Empire, and established the religion Of the Koran
at the heart of the old world. Had no great event
occurred to renovate the civilization of the West,
il is not easy TO imagine what might have been at
this day the condition of Christendom. Even
il was, the Sultan was for two centuries forward
the strongest military power in the world-the
scourge and the terror Of the Mediterranean, and
the master Of some of the finest provinces of
Eastern Europe.
But the first germ of revival sprung from the
ruins of the old civilization. host of learned
aud ingenious men, Christian scholars-hed from
the edge of the Turkish scimeter and took refuge
in Italy. They received with hospitality
there and especially by the merchant princes of
Florence. The Platonc Academy was establish
ed in the arcades Of the villa Careggi-a great
intellectual restoration took place in Italy and
spread rapidly to the West of Europe-where
precisely at the same time the art Of printing
(after slowly struggling through successive stages
of improvement in the cities of the Netherlands
and the Rhine) burst upon the world in state
of perfection not surpassed at the present day.
The stores of learning and thought accumulated
by the mind Of antiquity were thrown open to
the world. The modern Bar and Senate were
not yet created, philosophy stammered in the jar
gon of the schools; but Cicero, and Demosthenes,
and Plato slept forth from the dusty alcoves Of
monkish libraries. The pulpit Of st. Chrysoston
was hushed, but Moses and the prophets, the
Evangelists and the Apostles rose, if may VEN
ture TO say SO, as from the dead.
The first book ever printed with date, appear
cd in l455, just four centuries ago this year, and
in 1462, nine years only after the Koran began to
he read at ConstaRtnople, the Bible went forth
the wings Of the press to the four quarters of
the world. Mahomet the second had struck down
the last Christian emperor but Faust, and Schgf-
fer, and Gutenberg, the Strasburg printers,
aimed deadher blow at Mahomet the first, his
code Of barbarism, and all the hosts of political
and spiritual darkness throughout the world.
The walls Of Byzantum spouting torrents of un-
quenchable flame had crumbled; but the mind
Of the world rallied to the new combat under the
living artillery of the press, and came off vcto-
rious. conflict more important to humanity
never waged on earth. And from that day
to this the civilized world of Europe and America
is indebted for that superiority which no second
night of ignorance can darken, no new ncursion
of vandalism overthrow, TO an enlightened,
conscientious, Independent press.
rs We understand that the Secretary Of
State and the Hon. William l.. Lee, his Ha-
waiian Majcsty's minister to this government,
yesterday signed treaty Of commercial recpro-
city between the United States and the Sand
wich Islands. An instrument of this character
has long been desirable, and especially since Cali
forna and Oregon have become such extensive
consumers of the tropical productions which
grow so luxuriantly in those islands. We do not
pretend TO be particularly informed az to the pro-
visions of the treaty. but if its stipulations in
conformity to what is understood to be its title,
we have no doubt that il will be mutually and
greatly advantageous-Wash Union, Saturday.
RENTS IN ChLFoRNIA--A letter writer from
San Francisco thus speaks of the fall in the rices
Of real estate in that city, and the consequent
reduction in the.incomes ofits owners:
The enormous incomes of some real estate hold
ers have dwindled down a most rapid and fearful
rate, and, though already small ,continuet TO "become
beautifully less" am now moving into house
at $40 per month, which four months since readily
brought sll5 per month, and ''fancy rents" have
declined al even a greater ratio. The United
States bonded warehouse for which $4,000 per
month was originally paid, would not at this
moment command one fourth Of that rate and
under clause in the lease, which provides for a
revaluauon Of the rent every two years by disin-
terested persons, will no doubt al the next bien-
aial valuation, IL proper attention is paid TO the
matter by the Government officials, be reduced