Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-04-23
FA1TH 1N HumAN PRoeREss.

FAITH IN HUMAN PROGRESS.
Alison, in his History of Europe, when
at last he comes to devote o chapter to
America, remarks, as the distinctive peou-
liarity Of Americans, that they have 50
strong and universal a faith in human pro-
gress, whilst he seems to believe mat
I" that which hath been shall be-" nothing
being new under the sun; the history OF
each nation being in point OF TACT Out
revolution in a circle each nation start
ing off with young hopes and ambitions
and boundless dreams, to settle down.
like Young men, after a while, into q con-
sentative period and fnal decay. whether
there is or is not q natural and necessary
decay Of all human institutions and ma
tional histories, need not here be discussed
or whether there are circles Of national as
| of individual life, because the reality OF
human progress does not depend upon
that, and is, so to speak, spiral, rather
than direct, obvious and straightforward.
1t is not that the progress Of mankind can
be measured by the whole length OF IAN
cied improvement made by each nation
but rather that from the result OF the hie
and experiences of each civilized nation
there is a residuum of general truth and
knowledge that makes future nations
begin, as it were, where the previous ones
left off.
Amid all this ebbing and flowing Of
progress in the history Of national life, the
substantial progress Of humanity, as q
whole, is not only easily proved, but per-
haps, most readily illustrated by geology
itself, where, amid the risings and the de-
pressions of continents, now above and
now below the surface of the ocean,
through vast ages, we see the steady i'm
provement and superiority of all the forms
of life, and the richer qualities Of the soil
itself. And even now we are beginning
most clearly to trace, through the pre-
historic races, the slow but steady pro-
gress of humanity itself, through ages, first
Of stone, and then Of brass, and then Of
iron, traceable in these geological remains.
But what we here desire to call attention
to is not the truth Of this view, but the
effects of faith in that truth in producing
progress; the importance, in other words,
Of this faith as q means of accomplishing
the proper share of each individual and
nation in the life-work appointed him and
it. No doubt that too strong and easy a
faith in progress makes men take a shall
low and boastful view Of their own sue
cess and attainments, and even stop short
Of the persevering attainments, by which
alone true greatness and improvement are
to be attained, from the shallow conceit
of every man, when he gets to a point be-
yond his ot0n previous experience, that he
has got beyond that of all other men.
Yet, even this is not so pernicious as the
opposite mistake Of Europe, where, in the
dread Of novelty and change, all progress
is secuted, and conservatism is ever aim.
ing to keep everything just as it was, in
defiance Of Gods great law Of progress.
In having faith in this improving ten
dency in all things we are at least looking
in a right direction; we are walking in
accordance with a great truth, which i,
progressively operating with greater and
greater rapidity in each age-every step
making another and another more swift,
and rapid. More valuable mechanical
improvements have been brought into op-
Grafton within the last sixty-6ve years
than in the previous eighteen hundred.
More scientific knowledge has been at
tanned in the period, and the prospects for
future and rapid improvement are twenty
times more favorable. An American is
always anticipating the effect Of this law
upon everything he touches. He labors
for it, and at.ains-seldom oil his hopes
and anticipations, but-at least a much
fuller proportion than he who has not
labored on in this hope and in this direc-
ton. Often, indeed, his highest calcula-
tons have been exceeded, because he was
prepared for all that came. There are
now, it is supposed, fully as many persons
Of Irish descent in this country as in Ire
land itself, and the different condition Of
the two classes is the best illustration Of
the results Of this inspiration and hope
that we know of. In spite Of the diff
Guilty Of adapting themselves to a new
climate and new circumstances, in spite Of
the dangers and poverty to be surmounted
in first coming and settling here, compare
the vsaah, the intelligence, the rapid in
crease Of population, and the growing in
auence and power Of the American-1rish
on the one side, and those in Ireland on
the other. The advantages arise from
faith in the law Of progress animating all
American institutions.