The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1869-09-23
Hum oldt, Els Associations
and Achievements.

The Peoria Transcript publishes, in full
the Grafton delivered by Colonel R. G.
Ingersoll, at the unyeling of statue of
Humboldt, at Rouse's Hall, Peoria, on the
evening of September A. The address
glitters with genius. We can only give a
few brief extracts 9
Great men seem to be part of the inf
mite, brothers of the mountain and of the
seas. Humboldt was one Of thcsr. He
was one of those serene men, Ill some. res
poets like our own Franklin, whose names
have all the lustre OF a star. He was one
of those few great enough to rise above
the superstition and prejudice of his time,
and to know that experience, observation
reason are the only basis of knowledge.
He became one of the greatest of men, in
spite of having been born rich and noble,
in spite of position. Isay in spite of
these things, because wealth and position
are generally the enemies of genius and
the destroyers of talent. e1
1t is often said of this or that man, that
he is a selfmade man, that he was born
of the poorest and humblest parents, and
that with every obstacle to overcome he
became great. This is mistake. Pow
erty is generally an advantage and most
of the intellectual giauts Of the world
have been nursed at the sad and loving
breast of poverty Most of those who
have climbed highest on the shining lad
der of fame, commenced at the lowest
round They were reared in the straw
thatched cottages of Europe; in the log
houses Of America ; in the factories OF the
great cities; in the midst of toll in the
smoke and din of labor, and on the verge
of want. They were rocked by the feet
of mothers whose hands, at the same time,
were busy with the needle or the wheel.
IT is hard for the rich to resist the
thousand allurenents of pleasure, and so
say, that Humboldt, in spite of having
been born to wealth and high social posi-
ton, became truly and grandly great
~ Great men do not live alone; they are
surrounded by the great they are the in
strlments used to accomplish the tenden-
cics Of their generation; they fulfill the
prophecies of their age. H
Nearly all of the scientific men OF the
eighteenth century had the same idea en-
teTtained by Hulnboldt, but most ofthem
in dim and confused way There was,
however, general belief among the in
tellipent that the world is governed by
law, and that there really exists. a connec
ton between all facts, or that all facts are
simply the different aspects of a general
fact. and that the task of science was to
discover this connection !; to comprehend
the general fact, or to announce the law
of things. ~ 80 ~
g Germany was fali az iAuasht, and her
universities swarrhed with philosophers
and grand thinkcrslin every department
of knowledge. S44a ~ -
Humboldt was the friend and compan-
ion Of the greatest poets, historians, phi
lologists, artists, statesmen, critics and
logicians Of his time fae h9a Il
He was the companion Of Schiller, who
be lieved that man would be regenerated
the influence of the beautiful OF
Goethe, the grand patriarch OF German
literature of3CWieland, who has. been
called, the Noitairc Of Germany CT Her
der, who wrote. the outlines OF a. 9phlIo-
snphIcal history OF man; o. kotzcbue, VINO
lived in the world Of romance OF schie-
iernlacher,l the pantheists OF Schiegei'i
who gave to his countrymen the enchant-
ed realm Of Shakspeare;lo OF the sublime
Kant. author of the first work published
in Germany ontP Pure Reason; OF Fichte,
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