Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-06-10
THE PAST AND THE FUTURE.


Sir Francis Walsingham, the accom-
plished Secretary of Queen Elizabeth,
was day surprised by the courtiers
in what seemed to them a melancholy
mood. He replied to their railery that
he was MOI melancholy, but serious, as
it became an rational beings sometimes
to be. We suspect many, probably most
men have serious moods much Oftener /
q they acknowledge to their friends.
Men Of the world are reckoned for the
most part, thOughtless and frivolous.
Yet it is doubtful if the great problems
Of our existence, q whence and our
whittier, do not receive from them as
profound questioning and meditation as
from many who provide themselves with
ready-made creeds, and who are apt TO
stigmatize honest and earnest inquiry
as merely skepticism. Life is a serious
business. Yet it is made so smooth to
US that each days existence and each
days wants seem to US IS natural and
as Unnoticeable as the daily sunrises and
sunsets. So we pass through great con
WILSON'S with little consciousness Of
their magnitude until we look around
Us and see what changes are wrought
Great events stand 50 near Us that we
lose their perspective until they recede
and distance reveals il. The marvellous
a~daptability Of u nature protects Us so
against external impressions that storm
becomes not much different from sun
shine. Twelve years ago, if We could
have looked forward and clearly fOreseen
what terrific scenes awaited Us, how
many would have braved the agony and
not prayed to be delivered from il? Yet I
the horrors came; we lived in the midst I
Of them and even wondered how we [
had endured an existence so tame as ours {
had previously been. Did we see and q
comprehend the magnitude and signif- '
canoe Of those events until we had L
emerged from them? Nay, do we yet
see them elearly in all their proportions?
There are vet clouds and smoke which
obscure, and only a misty consciousness b
comes 10 US that we have passed through O
n Of the greatest commissions and is
revolutions that history viii have re- \
corded. Did we forsee it? Did we re- n
cOgnize it while we were in its midst? r
Was its denoument such as any mortal "
man had contemplated What are we p
to conclude, then? Clearly that there F
were forces at work beyond and above fl
all human ken; and human wisdom b,
was plainly hidden TO stand still in awe e.
and admiration. Man sees the storm d,
and the whirlwind, but he cann neither st
guide nor control them. The great ci
forces Of nature repeat and continue sc
their terrific contests, and man can only dI
sometimes place himself in public rela- th
ton with them 50 as to secure his safety, II
and perhaps borrow their assistance. W
Yet he Acknowledges the power that by
controls these forcesin their widest con- hi
and he repOses with confidence ha
IN the intelligence and ~benefcence of to
that power. Is it any less certain that ily
the same intelligence and benefcence II
control the forces Of the moral universe? br
are apt to forget this. We easily go
-et6L-1@ ~ AAAENEA E0gA4ElS LA4A -
'glows in the stars and blossoms in the pc
rees"-"spreads undivided, operates p0
InspeRti through all the natural world. fru
But we seem to be unconscious that this SAL
anne power must De immaneRt and &C Fe
i've in the growth, and changes and biz
Of nations, ultimately po
order out Of chaos, SCI
nd sure to lead human progress pa
inward and upward toward perfection on
5 il credulity, if we pause low and ask on
ourselves whether we are o in the pr
Of great ~Providential events? tiff
We had almost begun to despair tn
f the republic. We saw pri- be-
and public conscience so de ia
sauched; we saw corruption so wide
pread and 50 strongly intrenched; We
virtue 50 feeble and vice so aggres-
i've that our hearts had sunk within US, u
nd we began to fear that u country VI
.ad been saved from Acknowledgement 10
My to be destroyed by its rottenness. to
But a spirit seemed suddenly tomoveon ma
hese dark waters. A whisper, then a Vh'
dice, a cry, and now a battle-shOut has Nv
one up for reform. And there is won ha'
authority and power in this peo- mol
Tammany strong and OF
Kicked as Babylen-has fallen, and al Nc
aady there are only ruins where lust the
there were gorgeous temples Of the sig
loney-ehangers. Corporations and mu- III
icipalities are attacked with a power the
is Irresistible. Whence comes this ma
D~ontaneity Of movement? Can any ecu
or any party claim it? Can any po'
or clique control it? Cincinnati cor
this. The only man who did ITS
OF expect to be nominated, whose tas
lends showed no urgency, in whose be fat
ali scarcely any effort was made, sud we
emily seized the convention by an i'm cor
Use and an enthusiasm that were as I
resistible as a cyclone. The country hps
with a clearer and a louder cor
tout. What scarcely any one dared to Sou
Jpe to whisper Is now recognized as ina
50 certain that be is reckoned q plul
Of who doubts it. Fed
- hav
CONSISTENCY. sPol
There are Democrats who refuse to
~ ETunorfinu EraaFou ,rI 4l.~.h- "