Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1858-12-24
The Foes of Progress.

proersss. 0ne 10 the class who wisely and pro-
foundly doaht tAs practicability Of any suppos'-
tion, that proposes any Improvement on the ancient
regime. They are generally persons who deem 1t
the part Il pradsecs 70 doub. every thing that has
not beeo hmili.r 70 them during their natural
lives, and ars ready 70 trammel every new propo'
sisioA with ~ dsad weight Of their uabel'ef' IL
10 slmost in vain TO exhibit the myriad proofs oi
the unwisdom Of their doubling progenitors-the
thousand and one enterprises that have been
crowned with supreme success, which the doubt
less Of the past ages have condemned as oootiess
innovations. II il almost equally vain to pile
demonstration upon demonstration in favor OF the
practicability Of the measure advanced. They
were born to unbelief, and In unbelief they must
continue. With them want Of faith in const'tu-
tional want, that no lapse Of time or abundance
of experience can supply--an in6rmity that moth
ing can cure. They are the same class OF whom
the Savior said, .'They have Moses and the proph-
cts, and if they believe not these. neither would
they believe though one rose from the dead"
Another class 10 one for which we have less
charity or patience This is that numerous class
who make II . point TO sneer at everything they
are too lazy to investigate or too stupid to under
stand; which, by the way, imposes upon them the
necessity of snsering at everything that has not
been beaten in upon their comprehension Mt every
step of their existence. II is safe to say that no
advance position was ever taken in moral, physi-
cal or political progress, which the Sneerers have
no. denounced rs impracticabie and absurd, and
their progenitors rs % many fools, malmen. or
knayes. Il is bad enough 10 encounter the slug
gish obstnacy of those who fail to see what should
be apparent to the commonest observation but it
is annoying beyond expression to encounter the
brilliant stupidity ignorance, OF those who lack
ability or knowledge to comprehend the measure
advanced, and much less to offer a valid objection
to it; shoulder the entire difficulty by shrewdly /,
putting their faces the top of their heads, their
upturned noses meanwhile snuthng the air in
scorn and derision at the "palpable nhsurdity'
These men have been called natural philosophers.
men who were born into the world with such nm
immensely Of wisdom that they have never found
room Va their craniums FOR new idea alter birth.
and ndeed--it has boon suspec,cd-with skulls
so thick that it would be impossible to get one IN
to them except by an active resort to pick or ham
mer. There are not only plenty of such mon,
but plenty who have acquired reputation with
count Of the very knowing way they have of ta-
king maybe Peep into this ~ that little marrow
BONE and for the extraordinary facility with which
they can throw their noses into close proximity
with their top knots, at the absurdity Of schemes
against which they have neither the brain nor the
nerve to attempt any thing like argument. tbs
an exceedingly cheap and easy style of reasoning.
and has been % successful. withai, that We have
no hope that the class will ever become absoete,
or the practice discontinued. With oil their igno-
rance or incapacity they seem endowed with an
instructive knowledge Of the omnpotonce Of the
sneer and use it the polecat does his stencil or
the moccasin his venom--a protection to their
weakness. Like the elephant, their upturned pro-
bosces are their strongest weapons, and we per.
haps ought not to chide their use, even though in
the very extremity of affected scorn, they should
sometimes flop them over the back of their heads
There 10 . third class for whom we have still
less charity. They might, perhaps with moro
propriety be considered branch Of the class that
we have just dluded to. than a separate species,
as they use common weapon. These are
who are endowed with sufficient intelligence to
form proper conclusions, and who do from proper
conclusions, but who are restrained from advoca-
ting or acknowledging them from selfish and sim
lister purposes. These persons do not sneer with
the same conceited complacency the lovely AMI.
mails we have just had in hand, but they do so
more bitterly and sometimes efficiently.
They will continue to do this, from motives of
Jealousy or se6shness, and will use the from
knowledge Of its power. So long as the opera.
tions Of life and even all questions relating TO
public interest, are mixed up in the dirty scran.
bic of individual or partizan gain We must expect
this class to array themselves against many ques.
tons which their reason and judgment approve.
Their impelling motives are those of great power.
But there is still another branch of the family
of Sneerers, for whom we have neither the charity
We feel for stupid sneercrs, nor the consideration
we allow for the dishonest ones. These are men
who have all the intelligence Of the last. without
their motives or purpose They are men who
know the right but are restrained from following,
avowing, or even confessing it, from coward fear
Of popular opinion! To them the scorn of either
the interested the conceited Snseers, has sting
TO DO dreaded A. they would dread the venom of
oe serpent and they quail before the up-turned
proooscas, - II it we're the wand Of all.powcrful
"noom' They watch the drift Of public opinion
ana trim their own course to follow its current
They are astonished at the temerity Of any one
who has the boldness to oppose even popular deu.
mon. They sacrehgously bow down to the voice
OF the mass as the voice of God-thourh the,
know 1t was the voice of the mass that cruci6et
that God in the person of the Saviour. In doin,
this they have not the excuse of stupid conceit
that We allow the frst-nor even the sinister pur
poses, which show reason if not an excuse 70