Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1872-03-25
PROGRESS.
DIR. mARsHALL,s LBCTURE
TIE Pas, and Present Compared - TIE
rinstceuth Cesiury FIoIn Caihelio
standpoint.

There was large and Intelligent audience at
Odd Fellows hall last night 70 listen 70 the lee
ture BY Row. Dr. Marshall, Of England, on the
progress Of the nineteenth century.
The gentleman is woll known 10 the Catholic
and literary world a. one Of tho foremost think.
crs in his Church, aud ono Of the n ost brilliant
satlrsts Of the age, and his effort last night was
well worthy Of his lame.
The pla'i was occupied bL hsy. fsthers
White, Boyle and Walter, aud during the en-
tire evening the strIctost attention was paid BY
the sddrs., opened with The query, .whst
/ centuries say Of this cenluryf VIII their deel'
sion coincide with usf Will they ~ dogmatL
oally declare that this y really and ssseoually
| Of progress OF an age OF boastfulnossI Z" what
| Ia pruHresaf" asked the lecturer, IL has been
defined BY witty Frenehman 70 be mIiupll
| cation Of wants. True progress should be an
advancement in the follouinE spheres Material,
| moral, political and intellectual progress AZ
far As material deyolopmsnS taken ss iSr As
denying that this Is an age Of progress. Great
mechanical Inventions have been made In our
tm whn, q That Two OF three men ssTs
among US cannot even explain tho engines
| which work out their brilliant conceptions.
II is fashionable 70 call the middle ages dark
/ but II would be we'll 10 remember that all the
great men that have lei q name on hlstory's
/ page were not born 10 the nineteenth century.
Our artists conhno their studies 10 the fragments
waited down TO them BY the tide Of time Our
greatest orators might not feel offended II cum
pared with Cicero and Demosthenes, and our
great political economists could also hnd their
equals In those times. In the middle ages thore
was at least hundred charitable Institutions
TO the one that adorns our times. And they
were not the gloomy prisons In which our poor
He then gave a witty and forcIslo description
Of the mAteriallsn TO which the great progress
lonlsts of England have drilled. The English
I aaarN ha all M an m mai
tuition Of practical convenience, but was shock.
ing TO the moral sense Of every true man. The
morality ofthe present age IL described BY a..
vision OF tho human race Into two classes, lately
made by 4 celebrated writer; Those who are
hung and those who ought TO be- II may be
consollng to progres.onists 20 rememoer what
| Mr.. Addison has paid, via; "ThAt the most TO
nned ages are essentially the most moral"
Within the bosom Of the Catholic Church true
progress Is ever going on, and what e wanting
In modern civilization Is to DO found there.
The speaker then proceeded TO treat Of tho
boasted political progress Of the century, show
Ing that no progress had really been made, eI
Catholic Church. The rock Of Peter was, In The
middle ages, the buttress Of temporal thrones
the fulcrum Of human society, and II has never
Gus authorities, mostly Protestant, were cited
to prove the speakers position,
OF political progress he said that u modsrr
lights were told that the middle ages knew any
! thing Of political science, aud Of tho duties o
the rulers and Of the ruled, they would receive
the announcement with cheerful deriaon. Thu
present state OF Europe, he said, Is such as !,
Invite the bold and ambitious to plot for power
and TO abet the accomplishment Of their dc
signs This state Of nations Is called polltlca
progress.
! In regard TO the Intellectual progress OF tn,
past few centuries, advanced thinkers" claimed
that Intellectual progress began with the refor
nation, and has continued until Il has reached
Its present splendor. That this Is only preten
tlous nonsense Is shown by the testimony o
Goethe, Rankin, Humboldt, Froude, and othe
eminent writer's, who arc exceedingly explicit
upon this point
The speaker closed his eloquent address al
} follows "whatever.our advanced thinkers hayt
I gained, they have lost faith, hope and charity
! the promise Of future life. What We want i
not progress, but stability. Truth knows NJ
! progress II Is not made stronger by the laps
Of time, nor brighter by the discovery o.
science, 1t Ia hard TO say II nationalist
2 aspire 10 heaven. II they do, probably
. they expect that their occupation Their
will be TO make new discoveries in science an,
. to lecture TO the angels on the subject. tn
pleasure derived from their prospective resdenc
> In that locality would no doubt be VERY muc
; diminished II they could realize the fact tina
2 tho humblest peasant In Spain, Italy or Ireland
! amer one half hours residence In the kinRdor
Of Gods glory, would know more OF the secret
! OF nature and Of science, not TO speak Of NOR
august mysteries, than all that the LsokyI
: Tyndalls and HuKleys Of tho ninetoenth con
, tury, In their boastod wisdom and false pro
! gress, have ever dreamed Of"