The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-03-31

stroke.
Yet not fruitless were their sufferings;
for the survivors introduced into Europe
the learning and inventions of the East;
and thus came our knowledge of the math-
ematics, Of the compass, of alchemy, re-
sulting in the discoveries ofmodern chem
istry. Of gunpowder, of astronomy in
part, and many other arts and inven-
tons.
All these were soon assimilated to the
state of civilization then existing, and
from the common property thus aggre-
gated among the nations of Europe, moul-
ded by the genius and circumstances of
each race and country, arose those distinct
and marked nationalities that now diver
sify the old world.
Our present purpose, however, is only
with the people who inhabit the British
Isles, and with only that portion among
them which landed on the shores of the.
new world, and particularly Of New Eng
land. %
Early New England character has been
the theme of SO many and SO able wri-
ters, that we need now only glance at its
leading features. We conceive them to
be first, an almost unbounded reverence
and awe for the Supreme Ruler of the
Universe; and second, an implicit ODE
dience to the voice of conscience. They
were the key-notes of their being-the
two central ideas of their life. Every
thing was made to bow before these
They reflected peculiar light upon all
they shone upon, and modified all their
actions, and all their ways of life. They
ass:milated to themselves even their form
of government. The same principles that
actuated them in the conventicle and in
private, were their governing motives
when they came to shape the political
institutions Of the young republics.
Resulting from their adherence to these
two ideas, they were men possessed Of
stern integrity, independence, modera-
ton, decision, boldness, and every quail
ty that makes strong and well-endowed
men, "
Other qualities they had in common
with other Englishnen of that period,
such as the habit of obedience to law and
Difference to those in power, not as great
er or better men, but as vicegerents OF
God, and entitled while such, to respect
and obedience. They had great yenera-
ton for learning, and held in high honor
all who possessed acquaintance with phi
losophy, or had a reputation as scholars
poets, or orators. They were sturdy, stout
hearted, self-reliant men, who shrank,
when duty urged, from no encounter, ei-
ther with the red men or the arch iiend;
and who hoped in due time to make even
the sterile, "rock-bound coast Of the Old
Bay State, fertile from vale to brow with
fruitful culture, and resonant with the
hum of industry and commerce. They
were men equal to any emergency, ana
dared to climb the Alpine peaks Of thought
and breathe the air of liberty, without q
guidebook or valet. They possessed
moreover genuine Anglo-Saxon love
for home, and relish for the enjoyments
of country life; and in the quiet life they
passed, rearing and adjoining homestead,
were sown deep the sentiments that grew
into patriotism and broadened into PHI
lanthropy. Back beside those old Pilgrim
hearth stones, nesting in valleys, or on
browning hill-sides, that had first to be
fouobt for.-soil moistened with the blood
of heroes, reared the enduring mon
ument of New England character "a
granite pedestal ofprinciple; solid shaft
of upright living; and a genuine love OF
Nature for an entablature, faultless in its
symmetry, looking skyward, and flooded
all over with Heavens own light.
Leaving, now, the fathers of New Eng
land to expand and develop under the
several influences of the scenery, climate
and soil of the land of their adoption, let
us pass over to the beginning OF the E'gn-
teenth Century, and bring two distinguish
ed men before us, both sons OF New Eng
land and inheritors of her genius, and at
ter dwelling somewhat upon the charac-
ter Of each. endeavor to show what IN
fluence they have exerted upon American
mind and institutions.
have chosen Benjamin Franklin, the
mechanic, philosopher, and statesman ana
Jonathan Edwards, the metaphysiclan
and theologian, as representatives of two
widely different phases of New England
thought. Themselves the offspring OF
IDEAS even then common in the land Of