Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-19
After the Rebellion.


The history Of mankind shows that great
political and social commissions are followed
bv periods of extraordinary intellectual de-
velopment. The mental activity stimulated
at such times produces sooner or later great
writers, poets, statesmen, philosophers, and
men distinguished for remarkable qualities
in other respects. The effect may not appear
Immediately, and sometimes many years or
generation may pass away before 1t Is APP
parent, but it is seen in the end. National
character, the spirit of the age, and many
circumstances operate in quickenlng or re-
tarding the intellectual movement thus set
in motion, Just as seed sOwn in rich soil,
and under hot sun, will spring up and pro
duce fruit much sooner than in poorer soil
and colder climate. Still, by fixed law of
nature, the fruit comes at last In one case as
well as in the other. So we may confidently
expect that after our rebellion there will be
an intellectual awakening and development
corresponding to the magnitude Of the events
and revolution we have passed and are pass
ing through.
The internal commissions of Rome in the
time of Julius Caesar and Immediately after
his death, were succeeded by that brilliant
period known as the Augustan age. The
wars and heroes of Rome might be forgot
ten, but the intellectual achievements in lit
erature and art which followed, and were
the consequences of that revolutionary pc
Rod will live forever. 1t has been truly
said that the poetic and dramatic wealth
and magnifcence of the era of Elizabeth and
James," in England, known as the Eliza
bethan age, "came, for the most part, out of
the passions that had been stirred and the
strength that had been acquired in the
mighty contests and commissions which filled,
in England and throughout Europe, the
middle of the sixteenth century" From
this mighty awakening period arose, in I'M
surpassed splendor, such minds as those of
Shakespeare, Ben johnson, Bacon, Raleigh,
Burton, and others. Another breaking up
of old institutions and re-edifcation of the
State upon new foundation and a new
principle in the last 60 years of the seven
teenth century was followed by that galaxy
of wits and fine writers of the age of Queen
Anne. Milton, Dryden, Hobbies, Newton,
and a host of other great minds rose out of
this revolutionary period. 1t is worthy of
remark that this mental renaissance COM
menced about the same time that the first
newspapers were published. 1t was the era,
too. when medical science natural philoso-
v,
employed and shed light upon the world.
"The poetical dayspring that came with our
own century" and the extraordinary intel
lectual developments in so many other re-
spects, arose with and came out of, to some
extent, another revolution. The Ameri-
can Revolution, of 1776, and the French /
Revolution, fourteen years afterward,
upset the political ideas of the world.
had
been silently preparing the public mind
for these changes, and when the sturdy
colonists of America, from a pure love of
liberty, established a republican form of
government, the speculative ideas of Euro
pean writers of the eighteenth century
spread with great rapidity. The whole
framework of society was upheaved by the
earthquake that followed. Paris became
the great central volcano. Wars and revo-
buttons agitated the whole civilized world
1t was the greatest revolution in the history
of mankind, and it is not yet ended. We
see what effect it has produced upon the age
in literature, and particularly in the won
derful progress that has been made in sci
ence and the mechanical arts. We have
not felt it so much directly as the people of
Europe, though it has exercised an inhu-
ence over us in some degree. The mental
excitement caused by the astonishing events
that closed up the eighteenth century and
at the commencement Of the nineteenth had
a powerful effect upon English literature
A distinguished author calls this the last of
three great sunbursts" of English litera-
AZURE Then appeared Wordsworth, Cole
ridge, Scott Moore, Byron, Shelley, Hunt,
Wilson, Charles Lamb, Sidney Smith, and
host of other brilliant men. We refer to
English history chiefly to illustrate our
views; but the history of France or any
other great civilized nation might be taken |
for the same purpose.
Reasoning from what has happened TO |
other natinos, we may expect great revival |
of mental activity in this country, as the |
natural consequence of our unprecedented |
war and the extraordinary revolution we are |
passing through. During what We NAV |
term the youthful period of our existence,
the American mind has been occupied chief |
ly with material matters, in developing the |
resources of a virgin continent, in commerce. |
in manufactures and in the mechanical |
arts. In these we have made wonderful pro- |
gress. In inventions, and the application of |
them to the necessities of life and the wants |
Of the age, we are not behind the foremost |
nations of the world, and perhaps we stand |
first The same faculties and characteristic |
mental energy, when applied to literature
and the fine arts, will give us a pre-emi-
nence in these also. The public mind of
America is now passing through that fer
mentation which precedes great achieve
ments