The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1857-07-15

standing the difference and ignorant of the history of
could be called upon to decide between the two, he
would probably pronounce them To be creatures of diff
feent order, else suppose that the difference made
by the direct action Of the creative agency for in all that
constitutes human power physically, intellectually, NOR
ally, socially, how much is the civilized Christian man
Of to-day superior TO the savage he IL now known
somewhere upon the earth, lac is painted TO MS in
the earlier periods Of authentic history
Why Is IL that of all organized beings man alone ex
hibts the instance Of this mighty development Not
from the gift reason nlysnd indeed all might not
allow that he alone Is thus cndowcdbut il is TO be
traced mainly 10 the fact that his alone OF all such
beings possesses the capacity OF accommodating stores OF wis
dom and treasures OF experience and of transmitting them
from individual 10 another, from generation to
its successors In other you may improve the In
stncs Of individual but he is incapable of cornnun
eating this acquired intelligence to another of trans
hitting it to his posterity But with the is diff
erent he communicates to another the thought which
he the first 20 conceive and gathers stores Of wisdom
from experience 10 transmit to his posterty, so that you
increase his rate of progress you improve his means of
corresponding with his fellows The idea which he first
discovered is more his than another's when once
il has been communicated. II then becomes the prop
crty OF his does the discoverer enjoy II the
ess that account In material things the individ
ua share is diminished by social possession in the inn
material subjects of thought and idca property is
mon TO ALL and not the less valuable to each, from
that In the one, there is constant struggle to
appropriate much possible TO individual uses in
the other the enjoyment OF this property increased by
sharing it with all The difference is between the finite
capacity OF increase and extension In material things
the desire of the human heart is for individual property
but in the world of ideas its wish is for social possession
Homer sung that the people might hear, and Milton
wrote that his thought might be communicated from
10 man. perpetual inheritance to his race, that
many possible might enjoy it, and render honor and
thanks to him who gave it.
With, then the power TO acquire knowledge through
reason, and the capacity transmit it to Others who
undertake to ax the boundaries to human progress
so long the means OF communication between the diff
erent members and generations OF the human are
keuNppen and frees Look around u.s. and how much
richer all in the knowledge acquired from others
than in that which have ourselves discovered There
of in point of original capacity TO be compared
with the mighty authors, the poets, philosophers and
orators OF the past, and yet are, may be- in the
daily enjoyment not only of all the thoughts and concep
tons which they deemed worthy of furnishing to the
world, but of all that has been added since their time
The humbest amongst u.s. if his tastes have been formed
that way, has the Of enjoying store Of poetica
conceptions and imagery excclling in value and variety
all that Homer or Shakespeare conceived or knew.
Amid the treasures Of the past, have opened to
far richer store OF philosophy that Plato Aristotle
gathered from the mines which they worked. You
yourselves young gentlemen of you have doubt
less solved problems in the higher mathematics the
knowledge which would have been worth centuries of
renown to Archimedes or Hpparchus. Nay, the most
common observers amongst know, and are daily ac
quirng knowledge OF secrets Of nature at whose discoy
cry the hcrophants of antiquity would have grown pale
with wonder But to use this capacity by which one man
avas himself of the knowledge of another the gift OF
speech the art of communicating thought by writing
signs and the OF Intercourse with each other
essential to the members Of the human race and in pro-
portion to the increase of these facilities has been the
progress of In its early beginnings, far we,
can trace them in the dim morning light Of history,
Providence have looked to this necessity in the
position of man, and the circumstances which surround
ed him AT time it feature in the physical
geography of the country through which they roamed
that brought the disrnembered tribes of the human
into communication with each other; at another
it the strong of conquest which forced upon
them habits of mutual intercourse. If the beautiful
plains of Mesopotarna invited the shepherd tribes Of
the Chaldc race to pastoral life, the wonderful Nile
pointed Enthusiastically to agriculture the natural
pursuit OF the Egyptian people, and the mutual ne
ccsstes of those different people inevitably led to
commerce and intercourse between them. In another
way too the strong hand of conquest may be said TO
have contributed to the result and the four great
monarcies of the world, they have been called,
doubleday mnistered to man progress by bringing
people under the protecting shadow of government
and by increasing the OF peaceful intercourse be-
them III the AssyTian descended from his native
mountains hunter and robber he in time acquired the
arts OF those whom he snbdued and built cities anlct
monuments OF his skill upon the plains whose remains
even at'ths day are the wonders of the world The
Persian brought nations from the extreme East into peace
full association with portion of the western world and
planted the seed Of the old civilization to be hybridzcd
by the stronger and wilder germ of the new The Mace
DOMAIN in his turn restored the Persian his gift with in
terest and carried with his Grecan arts and letters
almost to the confines OF India itself Alexandria, in
Africa, and Antioch, in Syria which, according to jose
plus were of all the cities known to him. second in
grandeur and Importance only to Rome ITSELF Greek
in their modes of thought and culture and became
centres from which the light Of Grecian arts and letters
riaed until they penetrated the whole of the Roman
world.
1t is perhaps from the date of this conquest that the
republic of letters first acquired its cosmopoe character
and established the foundation of universal empire
States dynasties and human governments have fallen
fast and thick to decay, and persisted beneath the foot
steps Of the human in its exodus from the past to
tha Init thp hng nnI
indivsble since its foundations first laid by Gre
clan genius upon its imperishabe ideals Of truth and
beauty There have been times it true when its for
cloudcd and its star seemed to be dim, but
thoy periods of obscuration not Of Decline for
when the cloud passed from its face it shone with
dying lights as of old.
III the Macedonian of Grecian conquest first estab
scd firmly the foundations of the great corporation OF
letters, the Roman be said to have performed the
same office for that of State, rather for the institution
Of municipal government The Roman Is the great
ganizng genius of human history, He made the early
conmencements of public law in his fcriai rites and e
built up municipal governments aud States wherever he
went To him the State everything, the individual
nothing; he cleared the way with fire and sword
that he might lay the foundations Of his social fabric deep
and secure and he cndeavored to submit everything to
the nexorable power of his human law. The learned
historian Of the Decline and Fall pauses in his history to
show how alpervadng and searching in its scrutiny
the power of the Roman government and how impossible
was criminal to evade its pursuit He sowed the
seeds Of municipal government of that form in which
the people society, have something to say in the
government wide and deep that the institution could
no more be eradcated destroyed To the progress of
hs race he contributed not only the increased opportun