Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1858-09-04

y
1878 needed some great event should
transpire, both in the Old and New World,
to rebuke our avarice and bring relief even to
| our mercenary ambition
The electric commur, lions with England
will dc much to mutipl he uses of money,
and give new impetus % trade. The sur
plus capital OF Eur C " 4 now be ore read
| lily and promptly mp led in this coun-
try, and conidei.+e Kept up The fur
| ther from our own m, late control our can
ital is employee tl.o more timid are our fears
and hopes. But our Bank account of
to-day can be regi-tered in London to-mor-
| row the casualties of fire or food that in
crease or impair our resources this morning.
| may be known in Liverpool or Paris this ey
ening. Thus we shall feel its salutary effects
upon the West as that which gives conf
dence, facilitates credit.
: But why turn aside to calculate the adyan-
tages to our pecuniary wants ? We answer,
| for the plain and manifest reason that our
utilitarianism and cupidty as a nation, both
Individually and collectively prompt us to
rejoice most at that achievement in the Arts
or Sciences which promises the largest divi
dend in the shortest time.
| England and America rejoice this day
together over this event, because it dspels
the fears of hasty disagreements leading to
National hostilities. laundering diplomacy
| might heretofore have led to war between
those great powers, while now an error can
be corrected before it is received at court.
The frequent revolutions in the European
States for the enlargement Of human freedom
will probably be effected, or else there will
be to an entire change to a more liberal pol
| icy in their rulers.
| The Markets of the world must be favora-
bly, influenced, in giving hourly information to
all, that could have been known heretofore to
but few; and especially in giving frmness,
stability and confidence in commerce | trade.
| The sudden changes IN the value of stocks in
London or Paris, can be known the same day
in New York and in all our principal cities.
No sooner have we witnessed this success
than another is projected of like magnitude;
and thus we may soon expect to see a half
dozen cables stretched across the Atlantic at
different points.
Soon we shall see submarine line from
Key West, Florida, to Havana which is only
| a distance of about 100 miles,
Then it is already proposed to run an over
land line from Havana to Cape Antonio, the
most westernly point in Cuba and from that
by another Sbmarine Gable cross that arm
of the Gulf to Yucatan, distance of about
40 miles; thence by an overland route to
Tehuantepec on the Pacific to Panama, pass
ing through Nicaragua; thence tn Santiago
from which there is now line to San Fran
cisco thus connecting in almost instantane-
Gus con munication the Atlantic with the
Pacific, London with San Francisco.
What wonderful event for the 10Th Gen.
fury ! "Imagine the words of man, his ideas
"and thoughts, clothed with elemental sparks
"traveling with fiery speed, down in the
"almost fathOm!ess ocean, sOver the wreck
"paved foor,' never before penetrated by
caught pertaining to humanity, save when
81 some laundering vessel was plunged with
cher hapless company to the eternal silence
"and darkness of the abyss %
When in 1439 and 1442, Lawrence Roster
and John Faust performed imperfect speci-
mems of printing; and in 1444 when John
Guttenburg invented cut metal types, and
Peter Scheaffer cast the first metal types in
matrices and thus became the inventor of com
plete printing; we of the 10Th century can see
its effects and influence upon the worlds civil
zation, and are almost ready to cast it aside as
belonging to the past age of ordinary events
When Columbus discovered America in
1892, it was a success that brought TO light
an unheard-of Continent, that has turned out
to be the land of hope and promise and the
home of near 80 millions of the freest and
happiest people now in the known world.
A short period before the birth of the Sa-
viOur, Great Britain was unknown and 2OOC
years before the Christian era, the earth was
not known to be inhabited except by few
small nations in the Eastern extremity of the
Mediterranean.
At this early period we see the most crude
and preposterous ideas of events proclaimed
by men calling themselves Philosophers; but
the capacity of the human mind seems grad
ually to have expended as mans existence
continued to demand new sources of employ
ment. But new impetus was given to the
human intellect after the dawn of the Chris
} tan era, until, what would have then been 9
miracle to human comprehension, is now in
the 10Th century so common, that it is nc
longer even the subject of thought or remark
That rude craft called an ark, in which Noah
navigated the mighty deep, when compared
with this advanced age Of Nautical Science
and Art, brings up before our minds to-day
a figurative comparison, not inaptly ilustrat
ing the discovery of the art Of Printing in
the 18th century with the discovery of the
electric printing in tue 10Th century. Or the
Indian canoe on this king of rivers, in the
18th, and the palace like steamer Grey Eagle
in the 10Th century.
By this electric communication we are
brought within SO hours of Alexandra in
Egypt, thus leaping over six months voy age
Of ocean navigation so rapidly as almost to
outstrip thought ITSELF Thus to bring up
before our mind the idea that an address made
between eleven and twelve o'clock, meridian
in the Park in the city of New York, NAV be
read by the electrician in st. Louis and trans.
mitted back to the speaker before he leaves
the stand from which it is delivered. These
things almost tempt us to complain that the
longevity of human life in this age could not
be equal to the ages of the ancients that we
might have the experience Of the past is il
illuminate the future-that we might see the
air navigated safely at the rate of 100 miles
per hour-that we might see the common
overland highways travelled by steam-that
we might see our fields plowed, planted and
harvested by a new propeIing or motive pow
err but it is ordered otherwise. And vet, to
suggest that such results are at hand, would
at present be presumption not to be tolera.
ted by the existing development of the human
mind. Our posterity may perhaps read Of
this celebration in ST. Paul at the expiration
of the next half century, and wonder that we
had advanced no farther in mental and physi
cal science.
These things mark the achievements Of
mind, in so wonderful degree, that we arc
almost ready instnctively to excaim:
"The mind of man is the worlds true dimension;
And knowledge is the measure of The mind;
And as the mind in her vast comprehension
Contains more worlds than all the world find. >
We of this country are astounded at the
discoveries in Astronomical science we are
amazed at the inventions of art we look
with wonder at the improvements in nautica-
science; and finally the human mind has grasp
ed the electric fluid, through which Gods aw-
full majesty is impressed on man. and com
PEELED it to obey our will. Where are we to