Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1858-10-29
ADVANCEMENT IN THE NINE
TENTH CENTURY.
BY D. C. FRENCH.

Go back little more than half a cen
tury in the history of the world and COM
pare the earth as il then was with what
it is, and behold the rapid advancement
of the nineteenth century. Turn back
in the annals of history wherever you
viii, and in no period Tor eighteen hun
dred years win you find the mind of man
so tar advanced toward the goal Of its
earthly perfection, as at the present time.
When the last century had closed its Ca
reer; when eighteen hundred years had
passed away since born Savior
had proclaimed "glad tidings of joy in
Bethlehem, and kindled the flame OF
christianity throughout Palestine, which
was destined to shine over all the earth.
what then was the condition Of the Old
World compared with that of the present?
Old England was but just aroused from
her lethargic stupor, to find that her off
! spring across the ocean, inspired by the
love OF liberty, was more powerful than
the mother country, and had burst the
chains of tyranny and oppression which
bound her with an iron grasp to the Brit
ish crown, and stood forth as one of the
nations of the earth, a free and enlight-
ened people.
Look, too, at France; the land of sci
ence and OF art, the land which revolu-
tionised Europe and caused the throne OF
England to tremble on its rotten tounda-
tion at the approach of liberty in the Old
! NNDrII Wbu,.n = Il, -
but the prey Of opposing factions, OF
petty tyrants who ruled her with an iron
sway, and whose hearts were as rotten to
the very core, as was the tottering foun-
dation Of the Bourbon throne. But al
this has passed away. Advancement has
been the watchword of the nineteenth
century, and faithfully has the old world
kept time IN its onward march. The
golden sun Of civilization in its onward
movement has already tinged the fartbes
confines Of Europe, and It's genial ray
have penetrated the very heart Of Asia
and sent their radiance far into the Pa
cifc, to those fair isles of the ocean which
for eighteen hundred years were sunk il
I ignorance and barbarism, and which er,
the nineteenth century shall have passed
away, will come forth from the arena 0
darkness and superstition, and be classet
f among the nations of the earth.
s Let us again recross the expanse of oil
, ocean, to the western world, and behol
her condition now compared with that G
the year eighteen hundred. Our glorl
5 GUS republic was then, as it were, but i
e its infancy, and the world was anxiousl
q gazing upon her to see her fall as di
Greece and Rome Of ancient time; bu
gloriously has she disappointed them all
: and surely and steadily has she move
! forward in the path of progression, unit
+ she now outshines them all, and stand
forth one of the most enlightened an
powerful nations on earth. In what er
Is of the world can you find generation :
far advanced as the American people {
= the nineteenth century? What inver
= ton is greater than that of Morse, WI
made the vivid Ightnings of heaven I
. o'erleap, as it were, the barriers of spaC
4, and time, and become the means by whic
il man can converse with his brother ma
: though thousands of miles from him, wit
the ease of thought? Observe too, ii
" glorious invention of the immortal Flu
le ton, the application of the magic powt
ST of steam, which in the nineteenth centur
b. has been carried to its present perfectio
-. and overcome the obstacles Of wind AT
wave. The ship now buffets the ma
u waters of old ocean ike a thing of lif
n and moves across the eXpanse almost vii
I'd the fleetness Of the wind. Behold to
10 the iron horse, as it boldly careens o
:. ward in its maddening course, throus
almost every vale from Maine TO Ca
st fornia, carrying its busy thousands TO al
on fro in this the mighty age OF improv
ce ment. And even the briny deep pr
bo sents no obstacle to the intellect of Il
present age, but through its unseen ca
III erns passes an electric band which co
he veys intelligence from one continent
a the other with lightning speed. All the
.r- are but examples of the great advanC
49,. ments that have been made. 1t wou
be useless to trace out the instances o
l9' by one, by which the people of the nin
'ill teenth century have advanced stead
he and surely toward the goal of their cart
ast ly perfection. But thus has it been, a
- thus may they progress onward and L
ward, until the nineteenth century sh
mi be renowned above all preceding il as t
IN, age of moral advancement and INTEL,
I'd tual improvement.
re-