Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-08-18
Mr.. Thayer,. Meeting in Fltchburr.

|
ment that Mr.. Eli Thayer would address the
citizens of Fitchburg, last evening, Il large
audience assembled at the town hail, composed
chiefly of residents of Fitchburg, and partly
| OF visitors from Worcester and from towns on
the line of the railroad. The meeting was
called to order soon after o'clock, by Judson
S. Brown, Esq, who stated that he had been
asked to preside at a late hour in the
afternoon, as the officers of the republican
club were not willing to be compromised by
| giving officer TO a meeting called for
the purpose of disseminating Mr.. Thayer's Pc
cuiar views of popular sovereignty. He
closed by introducing Mr.. Thayer, who was
favorably received. He said he spoke with
great embarrassment in a town where the o.
ficerS of the republican organization were un-
willing to appear at his meeting He wished
it to be understood that he had no organ that
there was no republican paper in his district to
do him justice, and he believed none which in
tended to do him justice. He had no means
of contradiction when he was misrepresented
and stated that his last speech had been refus-
ed admission to the columns of the Worcester
Spy. He thought he spoke the sentiments of
his hearers in saying that such press could
not be long maintained, and that a press
should be established which would allow fair
expression of the views of the republicans of
this district Mr.. Thayer discaimed any
purpose to revive personal animosities, eulo
gized the early settlers Of Kansas at length,
read extracts from letters of Montgomery
Blair and others, which he claimed as
an endorsement OF his theory of popular SOW
ereignty, and then proceeded to general ex-
position of the views of which he is the cham
MON, and which have been already published
He spoke to friendly audience, and the Kisses
which occasionally interrupted him were over
come with applause.
The NATURE FOUNDATION, AND EXTENT OF
MORAL OBLIGAT1oN.--The above is the title
of volume, by the Rev. David Metcalf of
this city, from the press of Allen G. Farnham,
Cambridge, and the publishing house of Cros-
by Nichols, Lee, & Co, Boston. The typog-
raphy will at once speak well for itself. In
this respect it is exemplary, 1t is free from
that thin and pale expression which disgraces
so many books, and spoils so many eyes. 1t
well becomes the subject of the work, and the
treatment of it by its author
Science never stands still. If it Tags for a
while, it is only to recruit. and then push for
ward with the more vigor. Progress seems to
be its law, the stability of which, time only
gives assurance Of From remotest ages, dim
in the twilight of history, down to the present
hour, physical, mental and moral science have
shared common fate. We pity the hard lot
of age, should such one ever be, which only
receives from the past, with nothing of its own
to bestow on the future. Mr.. Metcalfs work
is valuable contribution to his own time-a
work which they will not appreciate, who
shall best understand it. He has brought
to it the patient and persevering labor
of many years. 1t is the result of extensive
reasoning and profound thinking, as well as of
great care, both in faithfully stating the sen
timents and reasoning of others, and in ex-
pressing with clearness and simplicity his
own. The subject, as a science, will never
be so popular as it deserves to be- for the plain
reason that most men hate thinking The
man, however, who considers it understand
ingly will be the wiser, and should be the
better. The very name of metaphysics, though
the science of man, his duty, and his interest,
is often repulsve, not merely from its inherent
abstruseness, but much more so in many cases,
from the scholastic or the cloudy manner in
which it has been presented. Mr.. Metcalf has
wisely adapted his work to a larger class of
minds, by the method of question and answer
he has adopted, as well as by the general
clearness of the arrangement and language
We hope that both himself and many others
will profit by it-he as he deserves, and they
as they need.