Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-11-03
Y PROF. c. e. STOWE


necessary sequence. as an unavoi dable in
ci9ent. The first Napoleon had given 4
terrible lesson which It was Impossible for
them to forget in the reorgsnizing of the
nation; and the situation of Prussia,
country meds up of fragments. and
living without natural bound..r es in the
midst Of Jealous rivals. made good mill
tary system an essential of the national ex-
istence But any one who he's been in
the farms, IN the workshops, in Z 8 mines
At the merchants desks. in the courts. IN
the pulpits, in the studies of the literati, in
every branch of human effort
The system has had from the first wide
and solid moral basis; the Bible has been
faithfully and thoroughly taught n all the
schools; and whatever men may think Of
the Divine origin and plenary inspiration
of the Bible. they caunot fail TO see that 1t
is most wonderful educator of the COM
mon mind. Our Abolitionists. in the late
anti-slavery struggle. were not ell of them
very scrupulous believers OF tho infalli-
bility of the Scriptures; yet not even the
Cromwellians themselves relished the sub
lime denunciations of the grand old He
brew prophets more keenly than they did,
or used them more effectually. II there
are in Prussia many unbelievers, in all the
walks Of life, they have none OF them es-
capped the influence of the Bible; the educa
tion was universal and compulsory
But the Prussians are not perfect, thst
is true; and the system is not perfect, al
human things are imperfect; but now. AID
in consequence of this half century Of
trimming, Prussia is the frs. among ma
tions In self defense other nations will
be obliged to adopt n system of trimming.
and have an educated common people.
This is one of the chief glories of the who e
movement
But the Prussisrs drink beer and smoke
tobacco. Unhappily they do: but this is no
1ew thing among them; il WAS net intro
duced by the school system. nor is il
maintained by It.; nor do they drink or
smoke more than their neighbors more
than the Americans even. II is not one
Of their virtues nor X an element of
strength amnro them Trther Arark beer;
tea and coffee were in his time unknown;
beer has been the national drink from ali
Time. Tacitus calls il wine made of bar.
ley, in bis ..Germania;" it was something
astonishing to him. but the Germans
even then liked 1t. I have seen it
stated by some very respectable writer,
that Luther loved good tobacco; but if so
it must have been 10y prophetic anticipa-
ton, "a the weed was never known in En-
rope till some years after his death. But
this is the loose vsy many great men have
of talking sometimes; as Thackery and
some others speak of women having been
burned fer lwitchcrsft in New ENGLAND.
when no such incident ever occurred. al
least have never seen any proof of il, and
shall not believe II til have. / presume
the ridiculous stuff quoted as o stapza from
D school hymn now in use inPrussia.
about being dog, etc, owes its origin TO
a similar source. LIT ia see the original
Of that stanzs. and let ms know the school
book in which it is found, and then We
shall class it i'm the same category with
Luther's tobacco, rnd the burning OF
witches in New England.
II is said that tho Prussian school svs-
tenn has been detesioratipg of late years.
cannot tell about tnat as it is more than
thirty years since 1 visited TIE schools;
but at any rate ihe nation does not seem to
have degenerstel much, aud the men at
The head Of affairs there have too much
sagaci.y to see so good thing rs that
school system fall to ruin. l suppose We
must take such representations in rather
non-natural sefise; as. we must take the
representations of the World newspaper.
in New York. respecting the sayings aud
doiDgs of Gen. Grant. II the old King Of
Prussia is reactionary. his son, who must
soon occuny the throne. Is not: and
Bismarck has 700 much of good,
hard common sense TO expect to play
the medieval despot over an educated peo-
pie. Give Germany unity and she will
have liberty and the unity. of Germa y-,is
one Of the chief of Bismarck q aims. lam
sorry that there is so much of unbelief and
irrelgion in Germany, as there is - fevery
other nation; bat there il also much of
faith and of real. beautiful, unaffected
Christian piety. The time has now come
when Kings must work themselves clear
by natural development; unrestricted free
dom OF thought has got to be tried through
out Christianiom; and /. for one, have NO
fear in regard tQihe final result "
As to France, She has always had an ig-
norant people. She crushed out the
.Huguenots, and the common people had
no educators. The rural population es-
pecially are entirely destitute of literary
culture; the policy OF th6 Papal Church has
always kept them go. While the nations
around her were as ignorant herself,
she was not comparatively At y dissdvan-
tsca on this account She he's played a
conspicuous part in the tLeater of the
world, and he's been one of the foremost of
nations. But now, that the nations around
her are educating ther common people,
she must do SO too or fall irretrevably be-
hind. Her old civilization can 10 more
stand in the face of tie new,
than bows and arrows conld main
tain the conflict against firearms A large
portion of even the officers who surrender
ed to the Prussians could not write their
names; while scarcely Prussian private
could be found so ignorant. The French
in oil this war have gasconadad, the Prus-
slams have worked: the French have talked
of doing great things. the Prussians have
done them. With the French nothing las
ever been ready at the time it was needed; !;
with the Prussians everything has been
wanted. Contrast the miserable brags Of
Napoleon and the silent efficiency Of
Won Moltke. Poor ''Louis and l." they
were like a rat and mouse in the clutch
of a terrier. There was everywhere
among the French faithlessness and moral
defect as well as intellectual weakness.
How different among the Prussians. With
them everything was faithfully done. And
the grandiloquent nonsense of Victor HUI
go's address to the Prussiansi Nothing
mas been seer like il since the Chinese sta
toned great fellows on the banks of the
river to frigEien away the British feet by
means of monstrous masks and horrid
grimaces That isit-rnasks and grimaces
against powder and shot. Surely the French
have degenerated; they must have degener.
ated when Eugene Sue and Victor Hugo are
Treckoned among their great writers;
and really, how much better is Alexandra
Dumas? Yet the French are fine people,
and there are noble minds there. They
needed just such hard lesson as this to
show them where they are, and lead them