Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1861-02-23

Pr y th@lsealsDps - = eesssy ~
ss ha 81 pse ist - nl4 py la1
D cslnaej Nb~E1 ksssd New Yea,
Virgins, Kentucky, and he ret Of this
ooatissst vss literally watered with ths
blood Of tho ipionsers. The primeval
fofsnt hod 70 bssAIled and burned ND
before The land 80 1ttsd for cultivation,
and the pioneer net only made : fortress
Of his cabin, bat when he went to the
field TO labor. his rife and katie were -
essential to bis safety = the axe and the
rude pIow were 70 hs labor.
We came % ; country, where the
land already fttsd b. the hand Of God
for the crop required only 70 be fenced
and broken, 70 yield - beautifully -
tho most famed regione lof the world;
and even now, : farmer can buy in lows,
. farm, already prepared with every
thing convenient or advantageous to
agriculture, for the cost, in other parts
Of the Union, Of removing the forrest
trees from the soil.
The greatest Of Ill triah which it was
our lot to encounter was disease pesti-
Ience and desth. The fatness Of the
land, which was the great tempter, win
ming Us from the homes Of our fathers,
exhaled the residential vapors which
decimated the cabin and tenants, left
many . settler friendless and . stranger
10 strange land. THIS affection above
al others, rendered our early settlement
one Of privation, sorrow aud suffering,
which stuck the iron far deeper into our
soula, than physical want or exposure.
This is the dark spot III the retrospect
Of the past, which covers the whole pio-
ture with cloud and tinges every heart
with sadness.
That cloud has now foated away.
The miasmatic exhalations Of the virgin
soil have passed of with it, cultivation,
and the county in which we reside, has
none healthier in the State, but few
healthier in the world.
We have lived in An ago Of great
events.
Our own nation has been compare
lively free from war and bloodshed, and
her triumphs have been chiefly those Of
peace; but unr day has witnessed the IN
discriminate slaughter Of the red man,
by our troops, and the degenerate Mex
lean hes been conquered by our Scott
and Taylor, leading to battle and victory,
the descendants Of the Saxon and tue
Celt. II is much to be feared that our
easy victories over vast bodies Of men,
claiming to be civilized, has exalted our
military pride, and whstted our appetite
for blood. and that We long for the pride,
pomp and circumstance Of glorious war.
But the victories Of peace in our age
have multiplied beyond comparison with
aLy other since the world began. In q
score of years = man Of our time sees
more, feels more, knows more, and en-
Joys more, than Methusula in nine hun
bred and sixty.
1t has been reserved for the age in
which We have lived to see and know
the greatest achievements Of man, since
the first dawn began.
The steam engine, the steamboat, the
iron horse, the railway, the telegraph,
the photograph, have achieved their
highest excellence in our day.
We cross the ocean 10 the third Of .
month, in 4 palace, fit residence for the
monarch Of a world.
We scale the mountains on railway,
in carriages, with the comforts OF dwell
ing., drawn BY : horse, that defies the
SHOWS, the heat, or TIE tempest.
We talk to foreign nations across the
!: ocean in an instant, and We converse
with our friends in different parts Of the
continent IS If they we're sitting By our
| fircside.
Not content with making the light
ming our servant, Prometheus like, we
catch the fire Of heaven, descending
from the sun, and make it copy for our
necessities or luxury all that i beautiful
in nature or useful in art.
Our day has witnessed the invasion Of
the most exclusive nation 10 the world,
with our ships on errands Of mercy,
united with an eye to trade and COM
merce, and 90 successful has been our
diplomacy, that we have broken down
the barriers Of centuries, and exchanged
embassies with nation great in arts
before the discovery Of Europe, and
which macadamised it's highways six
hundred and fifty years before the ad-
vent Of the Savior.
In our day, the nations Of Europe,
after long interval Of peace, in which
progress marked every day Of the years,
have again embarked in war.
The glcries of Napoleon the First are
equaIled BY those Of bic nephew.
Before Sebastopol, Pellissier has RI
vallejo the tame of Massens, and upon
| the plains of Piedmont McMahon and
Mel have fought against the battles and
eclipsed the fame Of Dsssaix and Kelle
man.
England has not been behind her impe-
rial ueiehbor in her harvest of blood,
and the fame Of the charge OF six hun
dred on Iokermao plain, will 60 down to
49, AH~~> ~r>sru~afsOu sn~are.nd ~ rh>