The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-12-17
new YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

ucaA Progress Of Europe and America.
Inc Academy OF Music was last evening crowded
almost to overlooking on the occasion OF the INTRO
duction OF Mr.. J. Lothrop Motley, ex-Minister to
Austria, as q lecturer before New York audience,
under the auspices Of the New YORK Historical
society. Last night was the sixty-fourth anniyer-
sary OF the society and they could not perhaps have
commemorated the occasion better than by the
selection the society made in the person OF Mr. Mot
ley 10 deliver discourse on the occasion.
An excellent band discoursed eloquent music from
the platform from the opening OF the doors to the
opening Of the proceedings.
A very few minutes after eight O'Clock the men,
bers OF the society marched down the centre
aisle Of the Academy two and two, the president,
Ex-Governor Hamilton Fish, and Mr.. Motley
In the advance, arm in arm. As the procession
moved down the aisle 1t was hailed with the warm
greetings Of the audience. When Admiral Farragut,
who was about one OF the last took his seat on the
platform, the audience broke out into burst OF ap
plause and the gallant Admiral responded with his
usual genial bow and smile.
Among the audience were Mr.. Hamilton Fish,
chairman; Admiral Fsrragut Cuban G. verplanck,
w. G. Bryant Augustus Schell, J. I. Beekman Peter
Cooper, Charles p. Kirkland, w. f. Blodgett, Rev.
Mr.. De WITT Andrew Warner, william Chauncey
George H. Moore and many other members of the
society.
THE OPENING PROCEEDINGS.
Mr.. Hamilton Fish took the chair and in few
remarks stated that the proceedings would be
opened with prayer.
Rev. Mr.. De Witt, the irst vice president OF the
Historical Society then delivered short and appro
pirate prayer.
THE ADDRESS BEFORE THE SOCIETY,"
The Chairman then introduced the orator Of the
evening.
Mr. MOTLEY on coming forward was again greeted
with the applause Of the audience. He said
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN-I have the honor of adj
dressing the Historical Society OF the great merop
oils OF the great republic These simple words sug-
gest to me so wide range OF thought that you will
pardon me II do not dwell upon local details Of our
history or any history see before me an immense
Result, and l would fain grope my way with
| such lantern as | can provide myself for the
causes, whether far or near AS have walked at
long avenues OF stone and marble houses that seemed
to multiply as looked upon them, as In tropical
gions inc vines ana overshadowing foliage seem to
expand Ia growth before the gazer's eye: as / saw
the innumerabe steamers and ships which crowd
your wharves like moving woods; your mart, whose
| slightest throb sends a pulsation throughout the
world; population assimilating vast and dlscor-
| dant material into its own flesh and blood with
such swifness sometimes suggest an occasional
doubt to whether such violent digestive functions
/ are quite natural and wholesome: as 40 to your
park--than which nothing more beautiful ex-
lists In ancient and imperial cities-and the ire
quent and splendid churches Of every denomination,
the libraries the colleges the halls for the admins
| TINS vast, vehement youth | was oppressed by
| single thought. that this is all OF to-day.
There is something marvellous, there IS something
starting, depressing IN the rapdity with which
| this has been reached. We talk OF history No
can more thoroughly appreciate the labors OF this
honorable society and OF others in this country for
the preservation OF the memorials belonging to our
great and most interesting and important past We
can never collect too many OF them nor ponder them
too deeply, for they mark the era OF the new civl
| Zation. But that most intimate past presses so
closely upon our vision that 1t seems portion OF
te a. tue mnt he
II say that there is such thing as human history
The annals OF our race never have never can be
written. We have, as it were, a leaf or two torn
from the great volume OF human fate which we at
tempt to declpher with purbnd eyes, but 1t Is all
confusion The island upon which this city stands
IL perhaps as perfect site for great commercial
and imperial city as the heart OF man could DESIRE
1t was built up Tor the capital OF che worlds empire
and not any Of the worlds capitals that hitherto
have been surpass the inevitable future certain
ties Of this thirteen miles long Manhattan.
(Applause.) And yet IL was but yesterday-f0r what
are two centuries and half In the past when the
whole surface OF this island, now groaning under
that which 1t Expresses the imagination to attempt
to conceive OF, scarcely furnished respec able hunt
ing ground for the indian IN his hunting moccasonS.
who called himself the proprietor But yesterday
wealth. luxury appear. The worlds great hope Is
I'm this republic. The future OF humanity,
at least during The Cycle In ~, which we
which we Americans execute our great trust zap
plause.) The good old times When and where we're
these good Old timesg s'All times, when old,
goodr says Byron, and GAN our yesterdays have
lighted fools the way 70 dusty DEATH says the great
master OF morals and humanity But neither FOOLS
nor sages, neither individuals nor nations. have any
other light to guide them along the path which al
must tread, save that long gmmerlng vista Of yes
the present fades Off INTO the past. And believe II
possible TO discover law out Of all this apparently
chaotic world. this confused and tangled skein or
human events as 1t spins itself through the centu
ries. That law Is progleSs-sow confused, contra
dictory but priceless development, intellectual and
NJ 40 I'M ma /, -
progress have 10 speak to- night. This progress
has given the startling result. must say this when
| survey the spectacle which the American present
reveals. This nation stands on POINT towards
which this nation and people are struggling. They
are a. e sa dsIy has paceS it.
dately subordinate TO that great Law which governs
all bodies polite, as indispensable as the great laws
which govern the planets. The clear philosophy OF
De Tocqueyle was so impressed with the spectacle
OF this then almost infant republic the phenomenon
which he had studied with microscopic minuteness
as well as with stat esmanlike breadth OF vision, that
he exhorted his countrymen and Europeans gene
rally to accept the fact that democracy was the pre-
ordained condition Of the human race-the condition
to which the world was tending TO seek happiness In
conforming to that divine law rather than weary
themselves out In struggles that were inevitable.
circumstances In the obvious phenomena Of the poll
tics OF the country to which the philosopher DID not
pay sufficient heed, have retarded the result Wnich Is
now showing sgnaliy It's approach with rapid and
accommodating speed. Whether IL be a bane or q
blessing It is almost time should accept this great
thoroughly rejoice In and believe IN this great truth
on which all our institutions are founded
than do. But it is not to fatter or exalt that
aude to this favorable condition and TO this fore
most position which we occupy among the nations
OF the earth-not entirely. not chiefly through our
MERIT bat mainly through the bounty OF heaven. IL
was sydney smith who once alluded 10 an individual
who had permitted himself to speak d0ubtfully OF
the equator I should be sorry TO be supposed
capable Of nattering the equator, but were II
not for this little angle OF 70 deg. 20 min.
and q sec, which 1t Is good enough TO make
with the plane OF the ecptic the history OF the earth
and all which II inherit would have been essentially
modified IL not altogether a blank. out OF that Oh
liuue OF the elliptic have come forth progress and
civilization. IL long ago observed BY one oil the
most profouno and thoughtful writers that ever
dealt with human history that IL was to TINS grada
ton OF the zone and the alienation OF the seasons
that the vigor and variety Of the human race were
attributable. Nothing good or great had ever
come or could come out OF perpetual spring
or the midsummer OF the tropics. or out
of the thick ribbed winter OF the poles ~ y 10 the
temperate zone with its vigorous healthful atefna
ton OF the seasons That progress anu cNliza,loh
due II is no merit OF ours That the eartn uocs
make this blessed angle and "a earth, the men, IN
habitants OF hs earth, have the right 70 recognize
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