The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1876-06-14
4 HARBINGER OF PEACE.

l. HARBINGER OF PEACE.
Editorial Thoughts Suggested by the Gen.
tenninI Exhtbition..WiIl the Lesson be
Losts
Amid the ringing of bells, the thun-
der of cannon, the blare of trumpets,
the military display of regiments of SOL
diery and the enthusiasm of great city,
the Centennial Exhibition was formally
opened by the President of the United
States. All the high officers of the gov
ernment, the President and his cabinet,
the Senate, House and supreme court,
the foreign minister's, the governors OF
various States, took part in the cere-
monies. And, as if to add to the his
torical significance of the day, the en-
peror of Brazil showed by his presence
his friendship for our people and his in
terest in this international fair.
If the Centennial Exhibition were
simply show of wares and fabrics it
would be useful. Civilization becomes
more and more a question of peace, and
peace is confirmed by nothing so much
as these comparisons OF national indus
try and skill. In the olden times the
comfy of nations was shown in the in
terchange of princely visits, the retinue
of one sovereign displaying its splendors
at the court of another, All that the
people saw of their neighbors was all
occasional pageant. But In our days
the people, who are sovereigns. exchange
these visits. Instead of royal meet
ing on the Field of the Cloth of Gold,
where rival princes wed with each other
in the brilliancy of their trappings, in
stead of sumptuous carousal at Famp-
ton Court, or a tournament at White
hall, we have the artifcers of England
and France, of Russia and Spain, nay,
even of far China and Japan, coming to
the graceful palace on the woody
Schuylkin banks to exchange rivalries,
to show mankind how far they have fail.
ed or succeeded in the developement of
civilization; for those men whose works
are now spread before us in the Centen-
NAL Exhibition are the true kings. To
them we owe the comfort and repose OF
our daily existence. They have torn out
the depths of. the earth,. they have
pierced the subtle mysteries of the skies,
they have traced paths in the midst OF
the sea and over. the mountain SUBMITS;
they have put the universe under dis
cipline, that we may live a wiser and
gentler life.
When we compare their achievements,
which find expression in hundred
forms in the life Of the humblest, with
the glowing deeds which historians
record and which some foolish painter
emblazons on canvas, how much higher
they are! We are not indulging illusions
as to this Exhibition being"a harbinger
of universal peace" We wish it could
be. Tue skill which built it, and which
fashioned it's millions OF objects, may
go out to battle again, for there are
many questions, unhappily, awaiting
battle. But every such display is an
other step to peace. These friendly con-
tests will determine new friendships and
strengthen old ones, and bind the
nations closer and closer together. Take,
for instance, countries like Japan and
China, who are here in feryent competi-
ton with our own laborers, and the fact
is full of emphasis. Japan, which
twenty years ago was only geographi-
cal name about which lowered dark
memories of cruelty and superstition
Japan, for instance, which at the time
of the English fair was only q pale,
sinister star in the galaxy of nationali-
ties, is seen to be refulgent, glorious
planet, worthy to rank with the bright.
est of them all.
Andso we might continue this thought,
deducipg the lessons that Intelligent
minds will see in the presence OF nations
like Brazil and. Peru, of colonies like
those of England and the Netherlands,
of civilizations as venerable as those OF
India and Egypt. If the imagination is
strongly moved by trophies which tell
of the glory of Sesostris and Alexander,
by remnants of ages and races which
have faded from the memory of man, it
is no less impressed by the fresh glory
of countries like Australia and Canada
and California, only yesterday the home
of the savage and to-day standing breast
to breast with us in all the essentials of
refined civilization. Which lesson
will be the most instructive to the phil
osopher2 That which he learns within
the gloomy portals of the khedive's
palace, over which the brooding Sphinx
sits in sad, questioning silence, or that
which young Australia obtrudes upon
him in the mountain of gold which tells
of her wealth, or the Photographic pano-
rama which tells of the wonders of her
new world For the Centennial Exhibi-
ton has high use in this, that within
the four walls of its main palace we have
every phase of civilization. It is the
nineteenth century, with it's past and
the promises of its future.
AS the mind follows the flags of the
great nations Of Europe it recalls the
hundred battles in which, even during
our centenary, they have waved in VIC
tory and defeat-the hundred battles
from Jemmapes to Sedan. But in spite
of these dark memories here, under the
central towers of the main palace, they
unite in friendship and peace. It was q
happy thought to bring together, in the
very heart of the Exhibition, England
and France, Germany and the United
States. 1t seems only yesterday when
two of these nations were at swords
points, and here, under the flag of
America, they meet in peace. If we
dared to indulge a romantic and un-
availing hope, which at all events is in
keeping with the day, it is that the ties
which bind the genius of these mighty
nations tooether to-day-which brings
England and America, Germany and
France into the friendly strife Of indus
try against industry-may never be
broken, and that the prayer for peace
which the reverend prelate offered ut the
opening may be blessed to ono and to
al.-NeaU York Herald.
The Government Clerks.
It is remarked of the female clerks in
the Washington departments that they
might set up an aristocracy of their own