The morning comet. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1856-1856, 1856-07-03
Number 45.
Cbc yflmlirlg Comet.


The death Of Rogers, the poet, at
tho age Of ninety-one. suggests what
vast changes have occurred within his
| lifetime. He has left on record, in
his ''fab1e Temple Bar that he saw
several girls, who were mere children,
going to execution for having partici.
pated in the Lord George Gordon
riots and that he had talked with
General Oglethorpc, who had talked
with men who remembered the Great
Rebelilon, and were contemporary
with the death Of Charles the First
What mighty changes rise before the
memory in thinking of such life -
The progress made in manners, in
laws, in material progress, among all
civilized nations, since Rogers was a
child, is almost incredible. Bull-bait.
ing and cock-fghting, for example,
were the amusements of the highest
class there +; while now such exhibi-
tons have ceased to be attended, even
by the lowest and most vulgar. Men
were quarterod for great crimes, and
their quarters left to rot in sun and
wind, in the presence Of q whole city,
then while now for the same. crime,
transportation is the scverest punish
ment and it is generally followed by
speedy pardon. Finally, tho differ
ence between "Tom Jones" and THE
Newcomes' in decency illustrates the
difference in manners of that age and
this. 6a5#9
The laws have changed not less, and
invariably for the better. In this coun-
try primogeniture has been abolished,
and republicanism substituted for Co
lonial slavery, In England penal
code, almost as bloody as Draco's has
been replaced by one comparatively
mild taxation has been more equita-
bly, adjusted; the law courts have
been reformed, and legislation gener-
ally imbued with a more popular
character The world before the del
uge, and the world after it, were
scarcely more different, in these res
poets than England when Rogers was
born, and England when he died.
The advances made in material pro
gress are even greater. Rogers found
turn-piles just coming in; be left rail
roads every where threading the land.
lie found q tardy post for the trans
mission Of news and letters he found
London streets almost unlghted, he
left them blaze with gas. He found
the suburbs swarming with highway
men: he left,a police that kept guard
over the whole kingdom. Perhaps
never, since the world began, has there
been SO much progress, in every de-
partment Of civilized life, as during the
ninety years Of Rogers.
.-~--s--s-e Z-l--
SPONTANEOUS CHARITY We have
often thought that the spontaneous
charity which starts from thousand
sources, and runs into as many streams
toward every great calamity, as fire Or
famine or pestience in any part of the
country, and often in distant countries.
was one of tho strongest, as it is Ger
tainly one of the most beautiful evi-
dences of the civilization Of the West
ern World. We do not think that
there is anything like it in the Old
World. The charity there, although
often liberal, partakes more Of an IN
dividual character, and does not gath
er its resources from so wide a field.
This is owing, in great degree to the
unequal distribution Of wealth in En-
rope, but also, in no small part, to the
wider sympathies which common
rights and common interests, and tho
great diffusion Of intelligence give it
to our people.