The hydraulic press. (North San Juan, Nev. Co., Cal.) 1858-18??, 1858-10-09
q ! { p re s s .
Col. Bakers Grafton.

Col. Bakers Grafton.
Than this effort, there has been
nothing said, east.or west, concerning
tho Atlantic Cable, of more eloquence
and poetical beauty. What a noble
apostrophe is this to Science
80 Science Thou thought-clad leader of the
company of pure and great souls that toiled for
their race, leaving their account! Measurer of
the deeps of earth and the recesses of Heaven -
apostle of civilization! Handmade of religion |!
Teacher of human equality and human right
Perpetual Witness for the Divine Wisdom Be
ever, as now, the great Minister of Peace Let
thy starry brow, and benign front, still CLEAN in
the van of Progress, brighter than the sword of
the conqueror, and welcome as the light of Hea-
venp'
The speaker thus alluded to the
comet:
"We have accomplished great work; we
have diminished space to a point; we have ira
versed one-twelfth of the circumference of our
globe with chain of thought, pulsating with in
telligence and almost spirituazing matter. But
even while we assemble to mark the deed, and
rejoice at its completion, the Almighty, as if to
impress us with becoming sense of our weak
set q new signal of his reign in heaven. If you
will tonight, fellow-citzens, look cut from the
glare of your Illuminated city into the north
western heavens, you will perceive, low down on
the edge of the horizon, bright stranger pursu-
ing its path across the sky. Amid the starry
hosts that keep their watch. it shines attended
by brighter pomp and followed by brighter
train. No living man has gazsd upon its splen-
doris before; no watchful votary of science has
traced its course for nearly ten generations. 1t
is more than three hundred years since its ap-
proach was visible from our planet When last
it came, it startled an Emperor upon his throne,
and while the superstition of his age taught him
to perceive in its presence herald and doom,
his pride saw in its flaming course and fiery
threatening an announcement that his own light
was about to be extinguished. In common with
the lowest of his subjects, he read omens of his
destruction in the baleful heavens, and prepared
himself for the fate which awaits alike the mi Oh
tiest and the meanest. Thanks to the present
condition of scientific knowledge, we read the
heavens with far clearer perception. We see
in the predicted return Of the rushing, blazing
comet through the sky. the march of heavenly
messenger along his appointed way, and around
his predestined orbit. For three hundred years
ne has Travelled amoug regions of infinite space:
''Lone, wandering, but not lost" He has left
behind him shining suns, blazing stars. and glea-
ming consultations Now nearer to the eternal
throne, and again wandering on the confines of
the universe. He returns with visage radiant
and benign; he returns with unimpeded march
and unobstructed way; be returns the majestic,
swift. electric telegraph of the Almighty-bear-
ing upon his flaming front the tidings that thro'
out the universe there is still peace and order;-
that amid the Unreasonable dominions of the
great King, His rule is still perfect; that suns,
and stars, and systems tread their endless circle
and obey the eternal Law A
The orator concluded with this
faultless peroration, which must have
left the auditors "gazing into the
boundless future with swelling hearts"
81 have spoken of three hundred years in the
past; dare /, as l close, imagine what will be
three hundred years to come! 1t is period We
~ far beyond the life of the individual man it
is bat span in the story of nation. Through
out the chan cling generations of mortal life, tho
men grow old and die, the community remains,
the nation survives. AS we transmit our institu-
tions, so we shall transmit our blood, and our
manners, to future ages and future populations
What multitudes shall throng these shores =
What cities shall gem the borders of the sea =
Here, all people and all tongues shall meet
Then there shall be more perfect civilization
3 more thorough Intellectual Developments
frmer faith-a more reverent worship. Perhaps,
rs we look eacn to the struggles of an earlier
age, and mark the steps of our ancestors in the
career we have traced, so some thoughtful man
of letters, in ages yet to come, may bring to
light the history of this shore and of this day
am sure, fellow citizens that whoever shall af-
forwards read the story will perceive that here,
to-day, our pride and joy is dimmed by no stain
OF selfshness. Our pride is for humanity our
Joy is for the world; and amid all the wonders of
past achievement, and all the splendors of pres
emit success, we turn with swelling hearts to gaze
into the boundless future, with the earnest con-
yiction that it will yet develop the universal
brotherhood of man"