New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-07-05
XIV.
HELPS TO TIE PROGRESS OF MANKIND.


II only remains taen ask the question now far II mas
contributed 10 the peace the advancement and the per
manent welfare of the people by which was SET ior'
Of othcr nations which it has affected and to ask ths
question is almost to 1t. The answer il aS ev
dent as the sun in the heavens
II cannot certainly be affirmed that we in America any
more than persons or peoples elsewhere have reached as
vet the ideal state OF private liberty combined with per
feet public order, Of culture complete ana asupomc
character The political world, well a. the religious
since Christ was earth, looks forward, not Daca"ad
for il, millennium. That golden age IS SIN TO come
which TO shine in tue perfect spendOr rejected from
Him who Is assembled and prophecy tells us how long
before the advancing shall reach and cross It's glow
Ing margc what long effort, or what umut' OF oa'''
are stil to precedc.
In this country too there have been immense special
ipc iments 10 hinder wide popular progress IN Things
which aro highest Our people have had continent TO
sebire They have been from the start in constant mi
grafton Westward. from the counties oil the htd'oh
and the Mohawk, around the lakes over the Pfalfes'
across the great river; westward STILL over alka plains
,cfos. terrible caOns up gOrgcs OF the mountains Whee
hardly the wild goat could find footlng westward al
WAYS till the Golden Cato opened out on tho sea "lc
h, been mldo 10000 miles wide. as nothing less couu
stop the marcl-this has been the popular movement
from almost the day OF the great Declaration lOiOr
rows tents have been pitched IN new fields, ana last
years houses await new possessors.
With such constant change, such vide dlslOcatOn OF
tDe mass OF the people from early and settled home as
soriaiuns and with the inccssant occupation OF the
thoughts by the great physical problems pfesehted-no
40 much b. any struggle Tor existence as by hafVests 1917
which The prarics waited, by mills for which The rivers
clamoicd by tie coal and the gold which offered hein
seye, 10 the grasp OF the mncrit would not have been
strange grcHt and dangerous dccadence had occurred
in that domestic ana private virtue of wich nome Is tue
nursery that generous and reycrcnt public spiilt
which il but the clucnce Of its combined rays III would
have been wholly too muCh to expect that under such
influences the highest progress should have been re-
allied m speculative thought Ia artistic cuI'dFe' OF Ia 'ue
researches OF pulo science.
Accordingly. we find that IN these departments not
euol-h has Dccn accomplished to make our progress
snal in tacm though here and there the eminent souls
that are like and dwell apart" have tlunl'ned
themes hglest with their high interpretations But
history has been cultivated am0ngus with an enthusiasm
TO an extent hardly think to have been anticipated
among people so recent AMI eXpectant and Prescott,
Motley Irving. IicknOr with him upon whose splendid
page all American history has been amply Illustrated are
known rs Familiarity and nOnored rs highly IN Eu-
rope ~ here. We have had, As well, distinguished
poets, and have them now, TO whom the nation has
been responsive; through whom the nobcst poems of
the Old World have INTO the English tongue eii-
dercd III ut anI perfect music aud some OF whose minds,
JlossOmng long IN the solemn ANA Dc&utlIu 'hcie'
OF youth, with perennial energy sin rpcn To new rmi
40 they near or cross their four years In medicine
and law ~ well as in theology III fiction biography.
and tho vivid narrative OF NOration and discovery, the
people whose birthday commemorate has added
sonclhug the possession of men. Its eeulpors ana
painters aye high places in the brilliant realm oil
modern art PuDicsts like Wheaton, juriSts Ike Kent,
have gained a celebrity rejecting honor on the land;
and II 10 orator vast in knowledge, 80 profound ana
dscurslve in philosophical thought, so aiuent in nl-
aetry and so glorious in dctiOn Edmund Burke has
yet appeared, we must remember that centuries were
needed to produce him elsewhere, and that any OF the
great Parliamentary dcbdtcrs aside from him. have becn
matched surpassed in the hearing Of those WHO have
hung with rapt sympathetic attention ON the ilpS o.
Clay or of Rufus Choate have felt themselves listen
Ing to the Inghtiest mind which ever touched theirs
when they stood beneath the imperial voice IN which
Webster spoke
In applied science there has been much done in the
country for which the world admits itself grateful
debtor Ineed not multiply illustrations OF this from
locomotives, printing presses sewlng-Inachiles reVOi-
yers steam reapcrs bank locks one instance suiceS,
most signal of all When Morse, from Washington,
81 years ago. the wires his word TO Baltimore,
"What hath God wrought" he had given TO all the
tons OF mankind instrument the most sensitive ex
pansiye quickennS which the world yet possesses He
had bound the earth in electric network.
England touches India to-day, and France Algeria,
while we contact with all the continents upon these
scarcely pcrcSpibc Tho great strategst like
Won Moltkc with these in his hands from the silence OF
hs Office directs campaigns dictates marches, wins we
tores the statesman in the Cabinet inspires ana reSu-
ates the distant dipomaces while the traveller in any
polt or mart by the same marvel Of mechanism IN III
slant communication with all centers OF commerce. IL
is certainly not much TO that no other invention
OF the world in this century has richly deserved the
medals crosses and diamond decorations. the applausc
of senatcs the gifts OF kings which have been showered
upon its author, ~ did this invention which finally
taught and utilized the ishtnings whose nature sgner
OF the great Declaration had made apparent.
XIV.
INDIVIDUAL ADVANCEMENT.
But after all II Is much in special Inventions or
in eminent atanments made by individuals, that