The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-09-22
HOYT & CO., Proprietors.

In i y " wa -
Sound and Sensible Advice to the Young Mel
Of the South.
: The Atlanta InteAigencer publishes the an
nexed extract from an address delivered by
Gen. A. c. Darlington before the Literary So
cieties of the University of Georgia, at the
Commencement in August last. The practica
ideas embodied in this extract induce us to
place it before our readers, and we would ear
aestly impress the advice of Gen. Darlington
upon the young men within the range OF oul
influence. Although addressed to a Georgia
audience, and mainly intended for that glorl'
rious old State, we know that Gen. Darlington
would desire to have his words of truth and
soberness reach every young man, especially
within the borders of his native State;
,7 EXTRACT.
"It is not my purpose on this occasion to dis
cnss party politics, or to say anything as to the
merits of the political parties which now divide
the people. The present condition of the coun-
try and especially our part of it, is such, how
ever as to press upon cur young men with Pc
culiar force the necessity of preparing them
selves to act their part in the arena OF polltl-
cal affairs There is reaspn to fear that, since the
fall lloftheSouthern Confederacy there IS too great
u tendency in our people to lapse lnto state
uf supineness and Indifference in regard to the
present condition of things, and the future des-
tiny of our country thatwith great many, tnis
feeling amounts even to irresolution and de-
spair. Young men, beseech you, not to en-
courage such feelings for a moment. 1t is OF
their nature to paralyae all effort, to extngulsh
the fires of ambition, to destroy all motive Tor
action. Cherish rather the maxim of the old
Roman, "neyer despair of the Republic" He
who feels that his fate is fixed to be slave,
and that his children after him are to inherit
his condition, has no incentive to use his facul-
ties except to provide merely for the wants OF
his lower nature. Aaway then, with such feel
fngs, or you and your country are both undone
'Tis true, We have alt felt most severely the re-
Verses that have befallen US, the havoc which
cruel war has wrought in our once falr land
the tears and blood that it cost u.s. When the
scene closed at Appomattox, what night OF
darkness overspread our political sky darkness
equal to that which Byron has so wildly de-
picted as coming upon the material world:
'whcn the bright sun extinguished, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space
lavless and pathlesS and the icy earth
Swung blind and blaekning in the m91nless St air ,r
Morn and wcnt-and came, anu Drought ho ots
And men forgot their passions in the dread
OF this their dcsOlation and all hearts
Were chilled into the selfish prayer for light"
stYcars have since rolled away, and our
hearts have not vet been checrcd with the light
of other days. But let us not despair; rather
should we be animated with the hope that
new morn will ere long unbar her gates and
dispel the clouds that overhang our political
sky The history have endcavored to COM
mend TO your attention and study, teaches
lis that our ancestors, from whom we derived
the great principles of liberty, struggled for
ages to establish them; that tribulations and
trials. sufferings and sorrow, was the price they
paid for these blessings and the dungeon and
scaffold, the fires of persecution and the req
field of battle, were the ordeals through which
they had pass 1t is weakness OF our ma
tnre to be too impatient of the results that fol-
low the revolutions that are constantly taking
place in the moral aud political world. Man
kind are not content to await the full develop
ment of events, results remote us we'll as I'M
mediate. They seem to forget that there IS a
power beyond the reach of the human intel
lect, which moves in ways mysterious, TO ac-
complish its ends This power oftentimcs
hianifests itself in storms and tempest which
shake the Garth and startle the nations, and
rae to their foundations the boasted works of
man. But these conyulsions are the develop
ment only of causes that have been doing their
work silently for long years-hidden causes
which are difficult to detect, and which may
have escaped observation and the events they
have brought forth will, in their turn, become
of human vision. Finite man cannot keep
pace with Providence in the great march OF
events To use the language of distinguished
French writer-"Providence moves. through
time like the gods of Homer through space-it
makes step and ages have rolled away" In
accommodating ourselves to these changes, and
turning them to the best account, the great
difficulty is, to disengage ourselves from the
past, especially the recent past, and lay hold OF
the present, to grapple with its issues; to march
zip to their line, and in the contest of ideas to
extract the truth and put it to use-practical
use: This is especially true of those who have
been prominent actors in the past, who have
Borne 'tthe heat and burden of the day" in
their country's service. The old live in the
past-the young in the future. Youth paints
the future in the rosy tints of promise and hope
age, by contrast with the past views the future
through the medium of gloom and apprehen-
sion; Hence it is, that the country must look
chiefly to the rising gcneration-its educated
youth, to redeem its fallen fortunes, to restore
Its prosperity anu happiness. lou WHO are
about to step across the threshold of life, nerve
your hearts for the great work before you. You
will begin life at d most important period of
your country's history. The events of recent
occurrence by which the wisest have been
startled, have not only worked great changes
in the very framework of our political system,
but they constitute new epoch in the history
of the world: Novel ideas and principles are
to be tcsted-strange and startling problems in
politics are to be solved. The enfranchise-
inent of race who lately sustained the rela-
ton of slave to those Who founded our govern
ment, and who have heretofore controlled Its
affairs, and their admission to equal participation
in its future administration are untried expert
ments-such as are unknown to the history OF
tho Doet They will hrino IN tho fullest test