Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1869-10-01
MISSION CE TREE PRESS.

ADDRESS DELIVERED BY Hoy. T. ". PAL
MgR, BEFORE THE Iowa EDITORIAL Cox
yESTIoN AT kEoKuK, SEPTEMBER 10, 60.
Brethren Of the lo.eu Press:
AT festival once gwen in Washing
ton in commemoration of the birthday OF
Frarklin, .lon. Thomas II. Benton, Of Mis-
souri, dee Jared that be would rather have
the criticism upon any speech Of his ot the
jourueymep printers OF his time than that OF
any other class OF public or private censofs.
Knowing that this audience is largely con
s,ltued OF The class of critics disguised AS
Publishers and editors, TO whom the veteran
Missouri Senator paid homage, l might he
expected to have "a feeling OF IT ptdation III
his attempted address. Yet DO not. For
more than quarter of a century / have
been an iuhabltant OF a prl"hng utIIce, ahaF-
ing the comp panlonship As well rs the lGbors
OF the craft, and this association las Taught
Ine that whaleyer rigOr It's members may
practice in their Judgments upon the out
sl}e world, they are universally generous III
her ;oleraiion towards themselves.
The invitation extended 10 me By your
es,imable President, Coy. Cue, expressed :.
wish that the topic for this address should
be "The Missiun 81 the Press" The sub
ject i, a vast one, and Tie time given for It's
consideration was short.
Daue Webster in writing famiiiar'y up
Oh :, certain occasion To one ol his friends,
apnlosiz fo- tee extreme length Of his let
,er, by snving that he had not time 70 make
It shorter" Paraduxic4l as tbs may ap-
AT, II vii he my Justification tlr any lack
nI brerity Of which YOU might Otherwise have
tar righ, TO com pain.
To jnkge OF the Mission o. the Press, ii
is necessary TO study the progress o! civiIi-
zatlon before and after lis advent. OF the
age OF the physical woy no man can tel'.
Il it took thirty thousand years for the Falls
OF Niagara 10 creep from Queenstown 10
Nh ir present site, "a distance Of six miles
If forest can produce only two or three
I, ct OF vegetable mould il thousand years;
if it took ten mtl!iona of years for the depos-
il Of the carbonlftrous strata Of Nova SEQ
tin--and the revelations OF the rocks and
the soil tell these stogies--tba years OF the
earth S tllc are beyond enumeration. The
ge eral theory is that the generations Of
men baye come and gone tor about SIX thou
sand years. For more than toar thousand
and five hundred years OF this time there
were no printed books, nor periodicals, nor
newspapers, aud the history of the race, ex'
cept for the last five centuries, has come
down to US in q hodge-podge OF mysaiica-
tons ana exaggeratIans. II had TO be gath
cred from mythology, poetry, leg ndary
philosophy. religions bigolry, and the pari-
zanship of military glory. In Ih" valley OF
t Nile were found the Oldest attempts nt
his orical records. 1t consisted of lists ol
with name, date, apd eXplai atory insclip-
lions. The Egyptian priests professed 10
write the annals OF the State, but they wrote
mythology instead OF history, Poets cele-
brated the exploits of some kingly patron,
bul AS the pay came from their hero, tEey
cared more to please bun than 10 instruct
pos,eri'y. Nethlng approaching the decrn-
ey Or The dignity OF wtlttcn history was at
tempted uHtll twenty-five hundred years ago,
ami even for much OF the period since, the
records OF the race have been filtered thro'
the strata Of kngly, o0ultIy, aud pries,ly
selllshness, corruption and intolerance, un-
I'll their identity might well become a mat
ter OF doubt. The chet ends of historical
performances we're supposed to Lave been
reached when the geneaiogy, relgn death.
and burial Of klugs and conquerors had been
mnulely portrayed !; when the personal
charms OF females OF the royal blood had
been petritied into poetry or pro e, to mock
the baser clay OF which ordinary mortals
are made; when the ongm, essence, and
government OF snakes, lizards, crocodiles,
and other terrestrial diviniles AID tho innu-
merahle imaginary monsters OF the upper
air had been emhalmed ior the alteration of
the ayes. or man, i'll his ndlyi uai and
social relations, and in the posseSson of all
tie prerogatives conferred upon him by his
Creator, during the first four Thousand years
o the history OF the roce, very htlle Is told.
II during the fourteen hundred years of the
Christian Eta, r, ligious tachers and tenn
poral rulers were ignorant and brutal-and
they were-what muSl have been the state
OF the masses of the people? Charlemagne,
the great King OF the anks, in the ninth
century, was unable to write bis own name.
Very lew Of the clersy Of his mo arehy knew
how to read, scarcely any 70 wri'e Iney
had been accustomed to The use Of the sword
| rather than the pen. So late as the seven.
teenih century, 1t was the Office ct tie ri h
! mans cLapa'n, not merely 10 say grace, but
to nc, as butt for the ninth OF the compa-
ny. "The young Levite." according to the
! chronicle, might i'll himself with the corn
ed beef aud the carrots, but us soon as the
! tarls and the cheese cakes made their np-
pea, ance, he Quilted his seat and stood aloot
| I'LL he was summoned to return thanks for
the repast, the daintiest Of which he had NOT
| tnsted" HIS social status can be inferred
| from an order Of Queen Elizabeth, that ''no
clergyman should presume to marry ser
want girl wi hout the consent Of her master
or misslress."
When such a ridiculous distinction could
| have growth, it wus no. strange tina; Machi-
avell should be led to proclaim the doc
irine that there were in every great society
| three orders of men, viz: a superior order,
who understand things through their own
unassisted mental powers; an intermediate
| order, who understand things when they
were explained TO them aud a lower der
who do not understand things at al, and
that between these three oyders there is an
impossible gulf. This doctrine has never
been, is not now, nor will it ever be true
At the organization of the For,y.First Con
gress in March last, ona Of the newly elect
ed Senators who took the oath Of oitice anc
his seat attracted, by his gen,lemanly bear
ing, the attention of the newspaper CORES
II