The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-03-08
lie K6lISh Cabitol.

The Capitoline Hill at Rome Is one
of those intellectual shrines to which
the world must ever turn with in
terest. Gray and wasted by time. it
still Ovsrlo0ks the desolate Forum.
The magnificent temple that once
crowned its southern peak, where
Cato worshiped or Scipio dreamed,
whose majestic cOlOnnade Outlived
the republic and persisted with the
empire, has passed away so perfectly
that even the memory of its site is
lost; and of the splendid throng of
public buildings that covered its de-
clivities only few modern imita-
tiOns preserve the names. The Tar
peian Rock can be but family traced.
A noisome cavern represents the
prisons Of ANGUS. But the shOrn and
diminished hill is crowned with a
ceaseless splendor of historical recOl-
lectiOns. 1t was the central source
of that imperfect but valuable con-
ception of freedom in which Rome
has instructed mankind. The elO-
quence of the Forum or the Campus
Martius resounded along its rocky
cliffs. Beneath its hoary brow the
questions Of popular equality, univer-
sal suffrage, and the rights of citizens
were discussed from the days of Bru-
tus to the philippics of Cicero. Its
lessons of liberty have been preserved
by a throng Of poets, historians,
philosophers; and republicans, in all
later ages, as they struggled against
| the vices of feudalism and barbarism,
| have ever turned for example and in
struction to the Sacred Hill.
Many q triumphal procession, led
by its conqueror, and crowned by the
| spOils and captives of the enemies OF
| freedom, has climbed, amidst the
shouts and fond congratulations OF
| the Romans, the steep ascent OF the
| Capitol; yet the most recent Is still
| the most remarkable. A few months
ago the Roman scholars of the free
schools, led by their teachers, climbed
the famous hill to celebrate the first
anniversary of their establishment.
It was a triumph, above those OF
Camillus or Of Caesar, of Roman pro-
gress over papal intolerance, OF ad-
vancing knowledge over pagan super
stition, of the teaching of Paul over
the fables of Rome.
How strange and almost incredible
was the spectacle will readily appear
to every one who considers that but
little over u year ago the papal tyran-
nv ruled in extraordinary severity,
that armies of monks or Jesuits alone
presided over the Capitol, that a
garrison of foreigners and brigands
hushed the murmurs of the outraged
people, or that from the Council Of
the Vatican, in the last assembly Of
the usurping Church, its fiercest
anathemas were hurletagainst mod.
ern education. To destroy the free
school has been the aim of the popes
and the Jesuits from Paul Nv. II
Plus TX. To check the growth Of Sc.
cular knowledge the InquisitiOn had
labOred, the casuist argued, the popisf
kings waged deadly wars, the papa
missionaries in New York or Cincin'
natl demanded the overthrow of the
chief bulwark of freedom; and now
by a remarkable revulsiOn, on the
hill of Romulus, and looking down
upon the faded streets where Virgins
passed on her way to school, or Cor
nelia trained her children, the patrOit.
of Rome celebrated the anniversary
of new era, when the Eternal City
was at least free to teach itself. Seat:
were arranged before the modern
| Senate-house q great throng of Ro
mans gathered; the children chantet
songs Of freedom; OratiOns were de
livered; banners waved; patriotic
shouts arose; and the triumph of the
} common. school system was celebrated
with a general rejoicing that will b
re-echoed in every schOOl-house from
the Rhine to the Pacific.-EUGENI
LAWRENCE, in Aarper's Magazine
, far March,