Houma Ceres. [volume] (Houma, Parish of Terrebonne, La.) 1855-18??, 1856-03-27
Oar Country.

is in its dotage," no more are we to ina
CINE that it was lately in its infantile STATE
of ignorance and weakness, and now, Will
intellect just opening and powers that be
gin to feel their strength, is coming the frs
elements Of moral, political, and socia
wisdom. No,-the world has always hat
the knowledge, but not the love of its du
ty, and possessed from its very birth the
wisdom, without the wish to be happy
Almost every truth essential to the we'll
being Of our race was promulgated cen
turtles ago. But they have been too weak
and changeful to live according to thei'
light. Men have always been too much
blinded by their eagerness for present
pleasure and immediate profit, to consider
the scope Of their whole existence, and at
tend to the general and permanent result
Of their actions. From immemorial time
they have known their debt to Heaven,
their obligations to their fellows and their
duties to themselves; and had they carried
out their knowledge in correspondent &C.
ton their advancement would now be i'm.
measurably greater in every department 81
moral as well as physical life, and the light
which in its effects is still but a glimmer-
ing dawn, would long since have bright
ened into the fullness Of day. In the char
acter Of our government, and in the osten.
sible spirit Of our laws, we are, indeed, a
nation 'tnostri gcneris"- own creator
"a rule and model for ourselves. But
viewed as the subjects of divine and hui.
name law, We Individually and collectively
possess the same passions, weaknesses,
and vices, rs have the men of all ages and
nations; and with US as with them, the
demon Of popular frenzy crouches even in
Tho dark cavern Of the future, one day,
i may be, to spring forth upon US, like a
tropical tornado, go. s
(which hu,hed in grim rspese. awais his evening prey"
The standard. by which to Judge of ma.
ions greatness is the standard Of the mind
Ind heart /; standard which the material.
st cannot apply; whose uses the demago.
que cannot understand. Her power and
her grandeur dwell not in the numbers Of
her people, or the barriers Of Nature-in
her vegetable riches, or her mineral
the strength Of her navy or the
discipline Of her army-in the gold Of her
rea.ury, or her muniments of war. Her
'pulencs and her strength lie in properties
leeper than these, aud more inscrutable to
he sensual eye. They are to be appreci-
tied only BY the moral, the pure, the
the intelligent. They rest in
'er moral attribates-the patient industry,
he reflective wisdom, the inflexible viz.
ae, the unfettered spirit, the proud sell:
the rational, but resolute cour.
'ge. Well and wisely spoke the phiIo.
'ophic poet Of England, though with not an
lltogether appropriate application
fhe powsr Of armies 4 = visible thing,
a Seasasd In ttne, aad eifcams1ibed in space. Ri
If there BE- any who think their country
ntrinsically and permanently more power.
III, prosperous and happy from her rail.
Dads and canals, and all her cross.woven
'ystem Of internal improvements, apart
rom the strength she shall gain or lose in
'er spiritual Progress-surely they are do.
;eived. These men forget In internal i'm
movement ola different and far nobler or. |
improvement and oxidation Of
be inner being, without which these ma.
erial Improvements are but the vanity oil
perishable dust, Is are, or |
WI be, oil the heads that planned and the |
lands that made them. So far as they
i've scope. operation, and outlet Cor the
nterprizing spirit Of our citizens, they arc
igns and means Of good. But in and for
themselves, they are absolutely nothing.
The main spring Of Ill is mental intelli.
'ence and moral worth. Some Of our wri.
ers are disposed to exult ia these mere
'hysical achievement, a. If thew ware mt