The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-07-04
THE GLORY OF THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY.

C"AA0n ~0u0o1IcS SHOULD present itself be-
lore the human conscience, to hear final
judgment like that announced by relip-
ions to men. the century which inscribed
upon two continents the idea of fupda-
mental human rights-the century which
founded the Republic in America and
spread revolution over Europe-the cen.
tury which eXtinguished the fsoot and
destroyed the rack-the century which
brought with the arrival Of franklin tho
democratic spirit of the New World TO
our older society, and carried back orr
chlvalrous sentiment in the crusade of
Lafayette-this great century, the author
OF so many wonders, might exclaiGi before
the tribunal of history, IF did not in
vent modern art, like the fifteenth century,
Win the Renaissance if I did not form
Tue modern conscience, like the sixteenth
century, with the Reformation if did
NOT train reason, like the seventeenth cen.
fury with philosophy, did more than
al these-l used IN tine cause of Justice
the progress Of three centuries T am.
therefore, the century which created mod.
ern society, the century which has estab-
lished in institutions the sum total of
ideas, and has given to man in a series of
reforms, either realized or promised the
full enjoyments of his being"
1t would be impossible to understand
the republican movement of Europe with
out understanding this century which
produced It's generating idea AS the at
mosphere enYelops and WHITES our organ.
ism, an idea envelOps and WHITES our
spirit; and the grandeur of the EIGHT
eenEh century is not so much in the ideas
which it originally produced as in the
tOrce with which it diffused these ideas
In the general conscience. There is some
analogy in the religious movement which
initiated our civilization. in the Christian
movement in its first century. and the
philosophical movement which shaned
and perfected it IN the eighteenth centu-
ry: The primitive theology contains few
original ideas. Three greal rivers of lu-
mln0us thought disemOogue in its bosom
one flowing from Athens, one from Je
rusalem, one from Alexandria. Christi
anlty Will always claim for itself the hon
or of having morally redeemed the hui
man race, because it has rescued ideas
from the schools and exposes them in the
street; because it condenses them in apo.
logues, and gives them in its holy com
munlon TO the poor and the humble be-
cause it revealed the humanitarian and
social meaning Of abstract systems, which
then were CONVEX ted into the leayen of q
new social life, from which sprang the
redeemers, the apostles, the martyrs, who
were destined to transform the world.
The history OF facts is an echo of the
history OF Ideas, The eighteenth century
raised the conscience above ali the preiu-
dlces OF interests and of sect After hav-
ing raised the human conscience TO these
heights it educated the common in.elli-
gence, taking from it that idea of Che mi.
raculOus which represented nature and
history as governed by within, and not by
law. 1t next gave an idea OF the human
unity superior to the Christian unitv, rec
ognlzlng 10 all men, whatever their relic.
IONS, their docLrlDes, their race, their ma
tlonalCy, tue fundamental human charac-
ter. Justice became substituted in law
aud IN morals tor arbitrary grace Polit-
zeal economy, uniting the two ideas of
utility and justice, announced that war
would be replaced, through time and gen.
eral culture, by commerce. the complex
source OF reciprocal enlightenment and
general gain. The idea of the irremedi-
able degeneracy of the hCman race gave
way to that Of progress. Men no longer
painted lost paradise, but imagined o
paradise hid in the future, full of vast
efforts Of thought and labor Man recoe.
nized that as all the universe was necessa.
ry for his life, 50 all history was necessary
tor his education and progress. Each in
dlVidual who rose TO the contemplation
OF science felt crowding in his heart and
mind the ideas Of all humanity. His idols
fell without effort, not with that sadness
with which the ancient world took leave
or The dying paganism, but among the
eplgrams OF a satirical intelligence which
did not fear that it would perish beneath
the ruins OF dead beliefs, but wa sure Of
revival In fresh ana progressive ideas.
Mothers were called upon i'll eloquent
words not to deny or forget nature, but to
give to their children the nourishment
fitted for Hercules whose duty was to
free society Of monsters Poetry raised
nature, hitherto despised, 20 equal dignity
with the spirit heaven with its stars, the
sea with its infinite life, the earth with
its varieties Of existence, formed, as it
were, grand symphony Or living epic.
Man was not rec0nciled solely with man,
but with nature as well Voltaire and
Swift brought to this humanitarian work
the immortal irony which destroyed so
many idols; Rousseau the ancient repub
lican and CalviniStic ideal of Geneva, en-
riched by rare eloquence Montesquieu
the historic and judicial spirit of English
liberty Franklin the revolutionary cleo.
tricity, the democratic agitation, felt by
young America in the moment Of the
birth of it's new social organization K ant,
Leasing, Herder, the German conscience
and reason Pombal, Campomancs, Aran-
da, the practical sense of the restless Ibe-
rian race: Alfieri the severe form. the