True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1857-07-29
2. RAGAN, Editor and Proprietor.

forged by an invisible hand, and binding
indssolubly together the consecutive pat
of The worlds history. For the existence
Of this nation there were preparations in
the past, too distant in the view to be seen
clear y and in their whole extent by the
wisest men Of The eighteenth century
and there were reserved for the future
developments, affecting It's destiny, ex.
ceeding all the hopes and bright VISIONS
of the most sanguine men of the Revolu-
tion. What unbuunded natural resources
have been revealed since the foundation
Of our government was laid! What dis
cOveries in science, radically changing all
the modes Of business and the lines Of
commerce |! What an unparalled peace
ful emigration not hordes of warlke bar,
barlaas, but whole communities of civil
lized and Industrious men, into our vast
territory 10 cultivate in praries, TO build
great cities on the borders OF its lakes and
rivers. and to plant thriving Villages all
over the land as lhickly and almost as
suddenly as if they had been showered
from heaven! 10 our present prosper
GUS condition, more is owing to the great
law of historical developement than to
the plans and designs of the government,
or to any human agency. The force that
moves the great mass Of humanity in Its
progress, is also that which advances in,
dividual nations in their career of splen.
dor and prosperity. If near the mouth
of great river, new channel is cut by
wafer through its bank, the cause is to be
sought in The force and volume Of the
main stream. Not only is the present
age in general. but the social and moral
position of America in particular, re-
suit which it required all the past 10 pro,
duce. Our government which may be
regarded as The puresl and ruest exponent
of what is pecu lar to modern civilization,
could ever have come into existence but
for the elaboration, by all the historic ma,
lions that have preceded US, of those
processes for advancing The race, which
it was their province severally to work
Out. As the present is the product of The
past, all previous history was necessary
to our exislance. We could not have at.
tained to what we now are, without the
preliminary work of the primevaI ages,
and the industrial Improvement naugura.
ted by the great empires Of the East ;
without the treasures Of literature and arl
bequeathed to us by Athens and Rome
without the tumul and strife aud intelIec-
lual fermentation of the middle ages :
without The reformation and maintenance
Of the Protestant faith in England; and
without those various influences which
enabled The mother country IN send to the
new world coIJnsts so superior to those
sent out by Span. 1t is not difficult to
race the main channel through which the
Improvements Of former times have come
down to US. 1t was Egypt and the west
of Asia that gave their arts to Greece,
and thereby aroused il to an extraordinary
intellectual activity. II was refined and
polished Athens that became the mistress
Of Rome in learning and art Ii was
Christianity thai supplied the moral basis
which upholds modern society, and rem.
ders il possible to perpelrate those re.
GnemenIs. which Greece and Rome pro
ducsd only for their own destruction. -
The revival Of learning and the Refor.
nation combined those two elements o
our modern civilization, The classical dis
clpline and the Christian spirit, from
whose union have sprung our science
philosophy and government. The Pro.
testant faith and The Saxon blood, are the
internal causes of Englands greatness
Of which the external causes are many.
Those traits of national character, and
those political institutions, which have
contributed mos. TO advance England to
the first place among the nations of Eu
rope, were brought to this country by ouI
forefathers while those which were
most faulty, the arestocratical, were left
behind; and this constitutes the main diff
ference between The English and Amer.
ican nationallties and governments of the
present day.
-
No nation Of modern times. in It's pub
lie life and civil institution, so resembles
the Greeks as does the American. In
all the scenes of modoln public life, moth
ing is to be found so perfectly Athenian
as that of the celebration of Bunker Hill
on the completion Of the monument. To
render this apparent. we have only tc
think Of Pericles or Demosthenese taking
his stand on the bema, with an audianct
such as Athens alone could give, assem-
bled beneath the blue vault Of heaven
speaking upon the great theme Of hi,
country's welfare, reminding them O
what they had 10 defend, their polllica
pre- .eminence and renown, their soil con
secreted to freedom and rendered doubly
sacred by the memory of the heroes slain
in its defence pointing to their loved
homes and to their beautiful city, endear-
ed to them by the re6nements of life, and
all decorations Of art, 10 the navy riding
at anchor in the Pir@us, and 10 the Aero
polls crowned with the temples Of their
divinities, How eloquent then we're the
Aiiic skies, and how moveing to the Alhe'
nian heart the whole scene on which tic