New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-03-31

word are always er0 OF greAS speculative
activity. The human mind, stirred from il
ordinary ruts by the spectacle Of unwonted
events, manifests its disturbance BY an access
Of nervous susceptibility. The shock Of an
earthquake, the eruption of q volcano, q tornado,
destructive thunder storm, are events in the ma
terial order of things which produce such state OF
mind. political CONFUSION, famine, the unseen
vsitations of pestlence an explosion Of crime, are
occurrences which affect the soul of man in very
sensible manner. Some such moral crisis seems to
have brocded this city during the past Winter
but The speculation aroused thereby il ever OF
two.fold and antagonistic character. The
philosopher is stimulated to the keen, calm
Investigations of science the popular mind gives
itself up to the dominion Of chiueras, fanati-
ci,m,, and pitable superstiions. When the
Great Plague was ravaging Athens, Thucy.
dides was calmly looking on, unbeclouded BY
panic terrors; was tracing up the sources of tho
pest to Egypt and the far East, and noting its dis
solving sgep cy upon all the relations of social life.
In immortal pages, which even at this distance Of
time sppall the reader by their awful vividnesh
be descr .bes how mul!itudes Of his felowc citizens
lost their mental balance, and abandoned them
selves to the vain consultations Of sorcey and witch.
craft; how the howl and impression Of tho
pagan priest waxed louder than it had done for
century and how the spiritual guides who had
reiened supreme over the intellects of the grand
fathers Of the existing generation regained the
hold over their hocks which had been loosened BY
the spread of enlightenment and the cultivation Of
letters and philosophy.
There are not wanting those who have sought t,
take like advantage Of the general terror and dis
coursgement which have latterly prevailed around
W. clique of gentlemen, clerical and lay,
whose sincere desire for moral improve
pent of Christendom we are glad to acknowi.
edge, have felt it Their duty to preach before the
Young mems Catholic Library Association cru
.sde against the Nineteenth Century in behalf, a2-
parenty, of the Twelfth. Historical contrasts"
have been drawn in which the present generation
Of men are painted - an sccursed iron race, de-
serving almost second deluge, while our remote
medieval ancestors are said to have been humane,
liberal, chaste, learned, innocent in short just
ouch population a. one would expect to find pick
ing up acorns beneath shady oaks, gathering wild
strawberries on breezy mountains, slipping milk and
horey in well-watered glades and sleeping out Of
doors on moont banks, In the departed Golden Age
Of the world.
Ever .ince those blissful old times according to
these estimabe gentlemen, the world has been get
ting worse and worse, though by good luck
the harm has come upon us gradually. The
Silver Age was q great descent from the Gold
en-, but still respectable age Mankind beca no de-
generate enough to cease living out in the open air.
however, the men Of Argent only degenersted so far
as to take to caves and wigwams. A sh,nty was
the hest architectural achievement of the Silver
Age. The ninth century was less degenerate than
the nineteenth in this matter of dwellings. Justice
was administered on the tops of hills by chiefs
sitting on unbewn stones, where now they use
sitting, breathy cour!.houses. Msnx Tnwald and
Icelabdic Thngwalla were heroic when compared
with the Dublin -Four Courts and Westminster
Hall. TIE representatives Of the nation met and
delibersted also in the open air. The Capitol and
the Houses Of Parliament are surely contemplate
substitutes for the Champ de Mars, Prsga Plain
and the Hill of Tara, A writer whose sentiments,
whatever might be raid of his appearance, would
have been perfectly at home among these. Library
lecturers I'VE refer to an old chap named Naso),
thus expresses it:
"When we come down through the mean, brszen, to
the thoroughly abandoned Iron Age we zee this set
down as the climax of its wickedness. The sailor
spread bis sails to the winds, and keelsops which hsd
th,ven for long the tops of mountains eaped over
unl nown waves
at was rot sufficient to ask the earth for grain, but
they dug down into the bowels of the earth and fetched
AtoIs- fhn nf viz hInh ind
had hid and slowed away in Internal darkness"
Then the owners Of mines and their workmen are
90 many devils and chiefs Of DEVILS who are en-
gssed in digging down to Their proper dwelling
place. They are classed with the mariners, the
farmers and gardeners, and the cooks. the ques-
tion arises whether those who burn coal and use
metallic money are not also participatOrs in the
crime. The Friendly Islander, who knew of no
iron axes or spades, for whose simple arts sharp
ened shell or human bone suficed, presents .
pleasing relief to the superstitious mind shocked at
the spectacle Of q nineteenth. century carpenter
and his chest of tools.
Inventions which have contributed 10 the phys.
cal well being of mankind, have always, from
Ovid's time until now, met with the scowl of such
persons. The FIRST man who put up lightning
cor ductor in France was prosecuted before the Ec-
clesiastical Court of Artois for impiety; General
jackson discountenanced the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad because it was fst blasphemy
to conquer the Aneshanies, particularly as the
rivers of the Western country, flowing from north
to south, had been set to be the natural chan
mel. Of Western produce and Western travel But
these doctrines suitable enough to the intellectual
condition of Naples, Limerick and Mexico, can