Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-06-28
RTOWN, WIS, WEDNESDAY,, JUNE 2s, 1871.

5 pushthem from their stools; but no
company OF sappers and miners ever
mads better progress than the press in
undgmln1ng the ramparts of regal as
, sumltions.
Clarlemagne, Alexander. Caesar, and
othes overran the world by mere brute
r force but their successes. like fires in
dryforest: or confagrations in COM
bustble cities, left desert wastes.
Their achievements were mere changes
, of physical force, and can hardly be
, considered III the light of human i'm
provenents. The result was the flow
of human blood, and devastation-the
mere abrasion of physical forces-the
weaker yielding to the more powerful.
Bui how unlike, and how much more
gtorisas and utilitarian, the victories
won oy the press; where by the still,
quiet yet powerful magnetic force of
It's campaigns, it attacks the fortress of
despotlsm, batters the walls of super
stltlon, shells the camps of ignorance,
" charges the lines of usurpation,
leads irresistible assaults against the
! dens of crime and the cinques of dissi-
patton, and wins its victories, not by
bloodshed and wars crimson carnage,
| but by the peaceful and effective wea-
pnns ef trttth and qeoooaa
Napoleon conquered armies and sub
dued States, and compelled all Europe
to kneel at his feet; but his victories,
though brilliant as August meteors,
were ephemeral and transitory., The
ground he won has been more than lost
! by his degenerate successor. Thus it
Is with all purely physical force, uusus-
tanned by common intelligence and not
! based on the granite walls of Justice
These we're only victories while the
/ force was applied Withdraw the
strain, and victories, like appartiions.
disappear, and in turn become defeats.
often terribly cruel and relentless, as
France and Spain now SO bitterly ex-
perience Not SO with the intellectual
victories of the press. A victory once
gained by it, though for time fortuit-
ously obscured is and will be victory
to the end of time, for the reason that
intellectual achievements are sustained
by the onward progress Of mind over
matter
Science and art are indebted to the
press for the wonderful progress they
have made in dispelling the clouds of
superstition, which were wont to OBJ
scure the dawn of almost every import
ant discovery. Galileo, in the secret
chambers of his lax oratory, discovered
the elliptical and rotary motions of the
earth, and was penetrating the occult
mysteries of the whole solar system,
| but as he had no press to stand as a
| bulwark between his genius and the
worse than midnight gloom of super
stltion, and to spread the light of his
newly discovered science amid the
chilling fOgs of superstitious Europe,
he was compelled to yield to the sum-
mons of the inauisition, and to save
his head by forswearing great astro-
nomical truth-now in the first rank
OF the sciences-as a heresy, not to be
repeated at the peril of life. From the
same cause, geology was taught in Sc
cret for two centuries, and was not per-
mitted to occupy niche in the galaxy
of sciences, until the press paid its
ransom by instalments of just indigna-
ton.
In 1923 the celebrated VIM. Harvey
discovered the circulation of the blood.
but Ignorance and religious fanaticism
lose up like monsters from the ocean s
e. 1omy depths, and forbade the pro-
navigation of the great philosophical
| truth nos was it enthroned among the
sciences until reinforced by the intel
lectual artillery of the Press.
In like manner, at the dawn of the
18th century, when DIR. Jenner discov-
cred vaccination as preventive of a
loathsome disease, superstiti, n as
serted itself prerogatlve to strangle
the newborn truth but the press,
coming to its rescue, it survives as
a fixed fact in physiological science
I do not assert that it would not have
survived had the press not existed,
but it is clear the struggle would have
been greatly prolonged. Some idea
may be had of the virulent char
acter of that struggle by extracts
from the early copies of Ben. Franklin's
Boston papers. Phrenology, also, and
| that within our own memory, was vio-
lently assailed, but the power of the
press being so well established, that
the struggle was as short as it was de-
cisive. Columbus, aided by ambition
and a genius of no ordinary type, dis
covered the new world, but had not the
press subsequently advertised the
geographical, Typographical, mineral
ogical and other great and tempting
! truths pertaining to the discovery, it is
safe to say it would have taken many
centuries more to have brought this
3" great land" to it's present status.
The press, like everything material,
has it's period of growth From small
beginnings it has made prodigious
strides toward the goal of it's g manifest
destiny The telegraph is the conduit
through which the record of great
events are transmitted at a single pull
sation, and localized instantaneously
from the four quarters of the civilized
world. The press is the mouth-piece
of, and gives tongue to the otherwise
mute wires.
The neaUs feature of the press is a
prodigy of this age of prodigies The
importer and iobber rise early, and
find flesh sheet from the press de-
livered punctually at their DOORS
They sit down to determine the chances
| of fortune, and e'er breakfast is called,
! they have learned the fluctuations or
steadiness of the principal European
marts Of the previous day. The bank
er and stock broker have posted them
selves on the rise or fall of +" consols, y
g Bourse," and the condition of the
entire European " change" market,
down to few hours before,
and can govern their morning
operations con change" accordingly.
The statesman has the epitome of the
acts and opinions of all the European
cabinets and councils, as we'll as par
liamentary debates, to say nothing of
like passing events in his own land,
down to the close of the previous day.
The calendar of crime, and the opera
tions OF the detective aud punltory de-
partments of all realms, are mapped out,
/ SO that the general reader may see at a
glance the passing events of nearly all
the world, scarcely twenty four hours
! old. The progress of invention, the
i arts and sciences, and the triumphs OF
literature and humanitarian efforts, are
/ oil fpoch 4bo