Morning journal and courier., 1880-02-18

American independence the struggles be-
 tween the lion of England and the eagles of
 France for ascendency on this continent, all
 furnished bright chapters to history and the
 lesson was given that not numbers, not
 strength, but the fighting for some motive
 which appealed to the highest and best feel
 ings gave the bright undying lustre to a
 cause.
 What was true of political communities
 was true also of that great religious communi-
 ty, the Christian Church. The heroic element
 in missionary effort,- alone in the Protes-
 tant church, as witness the Jesuits with the
 North American Indians, and that shown all
 along in the annals of the Church from John
 the Baptist and Paul to the present time, was faithful subject for admiration and inspirR-
 tion.
 Proceeding, Prof. Fisher concluded as fol- lows: There is equal scope for the exercise of heroism in civil as in military pursuits. There have been statesmen in times not remote who
 have braved unpopu1arity for a righteous cause. Twice in his life Sir Robert Peel set at defiance the outcries of disappointed and exasperated party, and deliberately incurred a storm of obloquy in behalf of cause which he felt to be righteous. When he brought the Catholic Disabilities bill into Parliament, ad- mitting Roman Catholics to that body and to other civil offices, he said of the conclusion to which he had been forced to come: "I will adhere to it. ay and will act on it, unchang- ed by the scurrility of abuse, by the expres- sion of opposite opinions, however vehement or, general unchanged by the deprivation of political confidence, or by the heavier sacri
 flee of private affections and friendships, :" Once more after the repeal of the Corn laws, having been mark for the stinging arrows of such men as the present Premier of England, Peel said, on the eve of retiring from office; Tn reIinquishing power, I shall leave name severely censured, I fear, by me yUh m m OU1lio crO11rdc daan1V that severance, not from interested or person al motives, but from the firm conviction that fidelity to party engagements-the existence and maintenance of great party constitutes a powerful instrument of government" Then after doing justice to the conscientious mo- tives Of many of his opponents among the ad- vocates of Protection, he adds 'Ishall leave a name execrated by every monopolist, who, from less honorable motives, clamors for pro- lection because it conduces to his own indi- vidual benefit; but it may be that I shall leave name sometimes remembered with expressions of good wiIl in the abodes of those whose lot it is to labor and to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow, whom they shall recruit their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food, the sweeter because it is no longer leavsned with sense of injustice" No soldier on battlefield can manifest higher courage than is mani fested by such civilian as Peel.
 '. Leaders in political and social reform ordi narily have to wage contest with traditional beliefs and prsjudices, with inveterate habits, or with powerful opposition based on selfish interest. Such encounters are not the less formidable for being bloodless. It Is great thing to put in peril reputation, social stand ing, the prospect of personal advancement. Contempt, ridicule, the roar of an angry pop ulace, the pressure of hostile public opin- ion, these are foes which 1t is no child's play to withstand. There is heroism in great enterprises of philanthrophy, when success comes only as reward of strenuous exertions in the face of obstacles difficult to surmount. As for heroism in the domestic circle, and in the more secluded walks of life,-it does not fall under our present subject. But all have met with shining examples of this character of which the world knows nothing,-men and women of whom the world is not worthy.
 Let me add that the supernal quality which we connect with heroism is most apparent when women undertake deeds involving triumph over the natural timidity and physi- cal weakness of their sex. Think of Grace Darling, persuading her father to aid her in boat, and to go forth with her upon the stormy waves of the Northumber land shore, for the rescue of the wrecked passengers of the Forfarshire steamer whom she saw clinging to the rocks and the tide rising to enguf them; what goddess in heathen fable ever rose upon the waves, more beautiful and bright, than maiden like this
 Is there danger that sympathy with the he roic spirit will decline, and that the energy of men will become absorbed in the pursuit of material objects2 Burke long ago complained that the age of chivalry was gone, and that the age of sophisters, economists and calcu- lators had come in it's place, and that the glory of Europe had departed. It is true that charm belongs to the ages of chivalry, superstition and barbarian pertain ed to them, and however extravagant and fer tile in abuses were the sentiments character istic of this transitional period of European history. Is it true that, with the disuse of war, the manly spirit that found a vent in martial deeds, dies out? h tho reign of peace due to sordid influences Is it true that
 Ihe inging of the guinea helps the hurt that honor And the nations do but murnur, snarling at each
 others heels"
 Shall we assent to the line of Goldsmith, and say that
 "Honor sinks where commerce long prevails"
 The increased importance of the middle classes, the immense impulse given to man. industry, the vast extension of trade and commerce, are marked features Of socie- ty on both sides of the Atlantic. Expeditions of the products and implements of art, like those held of late in Philadelphia and Paris, indicate the drift of the age, in one principal aspect of it. That this great social change does not involve of necessity any reduction of manly arnestness was evinced in our late civil war. That war, from the defense of Fort Sumter to the martyrdom of Lincoln, proved that latent in the popular heart are nobler passions than the greed of gain. At bhe same time, the national effect of devo- lion to material objects, especially when that tendency is seconded by materialistic phil osophy which relegates the higher aspirations of human nature to the sphere of morbid ex- periences, the realm of sickly fancy and de-
 usion, needs a counteraction. That9shouId be furnished in the education of youth. The effort should be made to instill into the minds of the young an enthusiastic appreciation of he heroic element in character. Education s for higher end than solely to impart in- formation. Beyond this end, and beyond the discipline of the intellect, the building up of according to just ideal, should 1e aimed at in the training of the young. It g a lamentable defect in character when the generous ardor that ought to be excited by heroic achievements is not found. There are influences that tend to discourage the devel- ,pment of these higher sentiments in our in titutions of learning. Humor is one of our national traits; and valuable trait it is. Apart from the direct pleasure afforded by it, t serves as an antidote to self conceit Men n whoH the sense of humor is wanting fail o discern the Imaginable side of their own bibles, obvious though it may be to others WHO HE6 lc6S ODIuS0. huuOr OII6n saves men rom falling into the temper of plodders. Better still, it keeps them from the extrava- yances of fanaticism. Sir Thomas Moore sstsd on the scaffoId, and the keen percep- ion connected with his wit made him more iberal- minded than most of his contempora- ies Yet the love of the ludcrous, an all pervad- ng American trait, springing out of the buoy Int, not to sayEboyish, temperament of our peo ole, naturally runs into excess in assemblies ,f youth and then it operates to chill earn 'stness of feeling. It engenders 8 certain hyness of all sentiment that rises above the evel of commonplace. To give way to ad- niration might tempt the unsympathetic to neer. The idea comes to prevail that there s something unmanly in emotion, ,-at least in he expression of it. The stoic is taken for he model and the stoic is next of kin to the ,ynic. Our earlier writers, in the period af- CT the revolution, were elated, Lot to say in- lated, by the remembrance of the immediate ,ast, and by the prospects of the country hat opened in boundless vision before hem. But there was at least cordial en- husiasm among the students in our colleges, md the expressions of it, turgid though they night be, are quite as deserving of respect as coldly correct and critically dull, which spring out of a more frigid mood. It g easier to prune the luxuriant than to raise he dead to life. The critical habit easily de- generates into the cynical. An atm mosphere nay be generated where the glowing ideals out