Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-07-05

I0tfesViIic, Vn., wednesday, June
20, 1870.
From this very able address we make
the following extract, regretting that We
have not space for the entire speech: Fl
+
Sensual as our civilization may be, how
infinitely superior IS 1t to that of Egypt
or China, whose remains, legible not in
looks, but in monuments, show that hui
man life was so little thought of that
nyriads of men and ages of time were
sacrificed in building the mausoleum of
their kings, or the magnificent cities of
their plains. Rome conquered the world
by the energy of its policy, and accumu-
lated within imperial walls the processes
and the results of all the civilization of
the then habitable globe. Yet time dis
tributed its power between the banks
of the Seine and the banks of
the Bosphorus; and Italy lost is
grandeur, its power and its population,
because of the scarcity of food for the
support of man. If its civilization was
as brilliant as the MONDAY sun, so also
was it as blighting as the scorching fervor
of the MONDAY heat.
The middle ages closed their era in I'M
exempted splendor. Worldly power and
renown seemed to have attained their ut
most limits. Charles was the majestic
and naughty Emperor of Germany. Henry
was the imperious and self-willed King OF
England. The accomplished and luxuri-
Gus Francis sat on the throne of Charlie
magne. The learned and polite Leo was
the Sovereign Pontiff. Solimanthe Magni-
;icent led the forces of the Crescent. They
convulsed Europe for thirty years with
their ambitious schemes md the suffering
of their people. The use OF the lnquisi-
ton, the revolt of the Netherlands, the
necessity for Luther, attest the poverty
Of their civilization.
Nearer our own day-au age brilliant
without a parallel, illustrated by the gen
Jus of Wellington and Napoleon, and
Burke, and Fox and Pitt, and Scott and
Byron, produced the grotesque horrors of
the French Revolution, and for twenty
years maintained the supremacy and sat
urnSlia of force.
And yet the careful observer closely
examining these various eras in the history
of the world, will be able to find in them
all food for consolation, and even for
pride.
Facts are but the milestoncs which
mark the progress of ideas. Thought
governs. Forces yield and obey.
The grandeur of the hope of universal
dominion inspired the energy and the eff
fort of conquering Rome.
The immortality of the soul breaking
upon the minds of Maynard and wonder
ing and expectant Israel fired the zeal of
the apostles, and stimulated them to obey
the command, go, preach the Gospel to
every creature"
4 ferVor of reverential awe, famed to |
q blazing fame of fanaticism, impelled |
the Crusaders TO the walls Of Acre and l
Jerusalem.
l. longing for freedom in matters of |
religion enabled Henry VIII to rebel sue /
against the Pope, and the Ne
therlandS to maintain their cause against |
all the powers of Charles and Philip.
A longing for freedom in matters of
civil government inspired the War of In
dependence in our own country; the great |
revolution in France; the upheaving of |
all the elements of social disturbance in /
Europe in 1S4S.
Behind these brilliant sovereigns of
the sixteenth century, little earlier, but /
born out of the commissions which they |
developed unobserved by the world, in
the seclusion of the closet-three men
were at work upon intellectual problems, 1
disconnected apparently with wealth or
power, which changed the destiny of hu- l
Inanity, and laid the foundations OF q new /
civilization. The one revolyed in his /
mind how thought could be conveyed to |
the multitude on the printed page. The |
other studied out the means whereby the l
mariner could navigate with safety the /
trackless seas. The third combined the 1
simple clements of gunpowder, and /
changed the face of battles, and wonder /
fully in the end committed to skill what Il
had hitherto been determined by brute Il
force. And through whatever disasters
or struggles or su1ferings, these aspira-
ficns these thoughts, have worked out
ti.Sii acnefcent results.
Rome oYerran and upliftcd barbarious
Germany, and infused life and vigor into
the veins of languishing and luxurious
Asia Christianity grated upon the men
tai cultivation of the Augustan age the
sublime morality of the Gospel. The
CruEades broke down the Feudal system.
They carried off ''the flower of chivalry,n
and made PLACE faZ new men. They
created the necessity for wealth, and gave |
these new men new occupations and new
e. if111lorfg for action AvNl Ff,,-- 4
supplanted the iron age of the sword with |
the age of industrial activity, commercial
intercourse and national prosperity.
The Holy Alliance was the incarnation
of reaction. 1t suhdued the last efforts |
of the revolutionary fervor in Europe, |
but by recalling the Bourbons to the
throne Of France it made possible the
.estogsthp of the Empire. Half q century
ago that Alliance welded irresistible
power on the battle field. The liberal |
sentiment of Europe was in chains at its
feet. Freedom, either of nations or of
men, seemed crushed out under the tramp |
of its million of soldiers. The treaties of
Vienna were the constitution of Europe
10 Bonaparte should sit On the throne of
France Time rolled On-EurOpe has
been reconstructed. The present King of
Prussia first saw Paris under the protec-
ton of the Allied army. The next time !
he visited it, crowned BOnaparte re-
ccived him in his imperial capital.
The love of liberty, civil and religious,
has, after many trials and many failures,
aud by ways almost past finding out,
substituted for the tyrannics of France
under louis XIV, and Austria under
Maria Theresa, and Prussia under Fred
crick, and Russia under Catharine, and
Germany under Dukedoms and Princi-
palities, the milder Governments which
we now see. Its last achievements are
the establishment of the English
Church and ministerial government in
France. Il has worked out for man 1
more freedom of action. freedom of
faith, freedom OF investigation and men
tai activity than ever he enjoyed before.
In estimating the true measure and
value Of the progress Of man, and of his
We must not overlook the
Just influence of forms of government
upon national character and development.
Republics are, in some respects. like
revolutions. Commissions excite the i'm