The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1857-07-15
ADDRESS on hon n MT HUNTER,


Senator Hunter having accepted the invitation 10 adj
dress the cadets Of the Virginia Military Institute, reach
cd Lexington the "a Of July and delivered his address
on the morning Of the Sd 10 enable the immense crowd
which had collected 10 hear hs address ro~rum was
erected in the court yard Of the barracks while the gal
leries of the barracks furnished facilities Coz comfortable
seats brilliant panoramic that presented BY
the beauty and Ioyeeess 81 the ladies' who honore the
occasion with their presence The exercises Of the day
were opened with prayer by the Rev Mr. Brown, Of An
eusa The superintendent OF the Institute Col 2. H.
smith then introduced Senator Hunter. Of Virginia who
spoke MS follows:
When received your Invitation 70 deliver the address
which is usual at the close OF your Collegiate for
the year felt that ought not 10 lose the opportunity
of communing with large portion OF the youth OF my
Sate--vouBg men who were probably to take leading
part in generation TO whose hands must soon be com
nnttel tina desnies and the interests Of that liberal old
Commonwealth to which we are all bound by so many
ties Of duty and affection Fit words kindly spoken at
such this would probably secure more atten-
tive hearing, and produce useful effect than at
any other period Of your lives For, surely IL must be
time for meditation and reflection when one is about 10
step forth from the microcosm of college life TO enter upon
that great world of which he has hitherto had but dis
tant prospect from his retired nook, and TO take upon
himself the responsibilities of manhood with Its attend
ant trials and difficulties ts cares and hopes
The time, too, upon which meet Is suggestive OF
solemn thought for tomorrow is the anniversary OF the
great occasion when threw of the condition of colo
NAL pupage and subsection, to assume an independent
with becoming trust in themselves and deeper faith
in Providence determined to stake their fortunes and
hopes upon the event of long and difficult This
day then, il TO you breathing spell in your passage
from boyhood to man estate and to the American peo
pie who about to pause in the active business OF le
that they may take time for the celebration of this proud
in their history, and for grateful meditation upon all
its consequences What subject of thought then Is so
appropriate the occasion that OF the past progress OF
the human race the laws and means by which 1T was ac-
compshed and its hopes and destines for the future
Il.
nected with his history OF interest than the laws
which have heretofore regulated and are hereafter to d
rect his progress
When we compare the present state of the highest
specimens Of civilized Chrisanzcd man with what he
was in the earlier stages of his history with what i
now known of the lowest condition of humanity in New
Holland Africa, who fail to be struck with the I'm
mense disparity Of the two, refrain from inquirng into
the causes which have produced great difference
The most advantageous point Of comparison for the lower
conditions Of humanity is in regard to physical power
and vet even here how UNNECESSARILY superior is the civ
zed man to the savage in his mastery over matter
The frame of the savage may be armed with more phys
cal strength and his natural senses may be more acute
but the civilized man commands agencies which place
him. in the scale of this comparison as giant to a.
pymy III physical strength be the test the civilized
man yields stronger than Milos and more numer
Gus than those Of Briarus; the individual capacity
of the human frame has ceased TO constitute even
the unit of measure for his strength, but it is
timated rather in multples of the power Of the
horse He tunnels mountains, excavates hills for NV
unaded forms of savage men, would be as fixed
and mmovablc the everlasting hills. The power OF
naided vision is probably greater in the savage than in
the civilized man. and yet how much greater is its actual
range with the latter than the former The latter
peneates with his vision into the depths of space de-
tects worlds in luminous pecks, and maps the very cor
rugations in the face of the with another face
Of his wondrous glass he reveals to microscopic view the
animated points and the forms Of minute nfusoal cells
Of which the other is all unconscious although he
rounded by them 10 the daily walks of life. In the natu
raj sense of touch the savage the equal of the civilized
man. but in his actual capacity to ascertain the forms and
qualities of things through that and other senses the
pcrioy of the last conspicuous as in the other in
stances to which have referred for he traces out the
most minute secrets of animal and material organization
detects the combinations of the various elements which
enter into the structure of bodies counts the faces and
measures the form of the crystals which compose the
solid and numbers the very pores which constitute the
almost ininitesimal through which organized
bodies maintain their connexion with tho outer air.
Of these great secrets of the Book of Nature the
age have conception because his unaided
incapable Of detecting them But the superiority Of
the civilized IN regard to this does not end
here 1t he whose sensitive and delicate touch casts
the lights and shadows and handles the forms and
coors OF objects to give truthful and beautiful
precision to thoughts, feelings, and emotions of which
every human soul conscious but human tongue
utter Tins ne opens up new avenues OF communion
amongst men, and translates in all their beauty whole
chapters from the Book of Nature to the human under
standing. With the attentive habits of hearing
to which he Is trained in his hunter state tho savage
may perceive sounds which could not be detected by
his cultivated neighbor, but how much larger is the
Of hearing in its real capacity in the latter than
in the former 1t is the civilized man who through
this sense learns to resolve sound into its original
elements and compare and combine them into new
and beautiful forms of music and of speech. 1t is he
who Tins learns TO trace the relationships Of his
through their languages and to improve their Of
communicating with each other. 1t is he, too who
ders:ands how TO molulate the by which sound
breaks upon the ear, to make it sensible of the
hidden harmonies which nature beathes in secret around
US and which stir the human soul to its inmost depths
arousng composing its passions with the fascination
of some mysterious spell In, powers of locomotion
there he comparison between the two the cripple
OF civilized society may POSSESS himself Of which
would enable him to outstrp the swifooted Achilles
not merely for minutes hours but for DAYS and weeks
together The imprisoned power of seam like true &c
MUS sealed up by the wise Of the eastern fable may
be turned loose by child, and give that child Of
motion and action, by which he may leave the bird be-
hind him ia bis fight, and bear away the burden under
which the elephant himself would stagger
We have seen what are the differences between the
two states OF regards his power over matter
when come to compare them intellectually in wis
dom and knowledge, in comprehension Of himself and
the great scheme Of nature the comparison is still more
favorable for the cultivated being Compare the
with his rude prototype he known in the earlier
periods Of authentic history place him alongside the
Bushmen of New Holland the Hotentot of South Africa
or even the root-diggeg of continent and in
what words shall attempt to the difference
The without settled habatiop or home; the other
building palaces to be of skill and ingenuity
contriyed to minister to the pleasures Of all the
senses and formed to crafty the love OF the beauti
full The with OF providence than the