Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1880-07-22
The Past and Present. Moral
Forces.


The decentralization of socioty and tho cor
ruptions Of the people aro subjects of such
general comment that ono might conclude the
present generation was tho originator Of wars
and strifcs, murders, rapes, arsons and all
kinds of crimo and sin. While there is
great room for improvement, rejecting
mind must admit the present ago would lose
nothing by comparison in morality with
other ages and nations. Before the Christian
era wara were of every day occurrence and
the most heinous crimes wcro perpctratcd in
the namo patriotism. At Rome tho TEN :
plc Of Janus was closed but once in period
of sovcn or eight hundred years, showing
there was for that period only short cessa-
tion Of wars At variJn3 periods in her
history leaders would riso up and getting
control of the army would deuge hor streets
with the blood of her hest citizens. The
Independent States of Grccco were constantly
at war with each other or with foreign
powers, and they generally rewarded the
just, the upright, who by their counsels or
their leadership, saved their country, with
death or ostracism. 1t was said Of Aristidcs
that citizen of Athens, not knowing him,
asked him to write ballot for his banish-
mcnt. When asked what harm Arstdes
had done him, ho replied none; he did not
know him; but he was tired Of hearing him
called the just. In other less enlightened
countries human life was not valued and
wars and strfes wcro constant.
For three hundred years after the Chris
tian era paganism invented and perpetratcd
the most refined cruclties on the Christians.
1t was often lawful to kill them wherever
found, ard they wcro subjected to tho tor
lures Of tho rack, burned alive, or thrown
into the amphitheatre to be torn to pieces by
wild beasts to crafty the vitiatcd taste Of
corrupt and degenerate people. Then fol-
lowed for centuries what is known rs the
Dark Ages, when MI light and knowledge
wero cut OF from the people and wars, strifes
and barbaritics OF all kinds prevailed. The
Crusades engaged the whole Christian world
in fruitless strife with tho Saracons for the
Holy City and led to the sacrifice Of hundreds
Of thousands of lives, but even out Of this
evil Providence worked good, for tho Cru.
sadcs doubtless led to tho reformation and
the opening out Of The fountains of knowledge
by tho mixture and interchange of ideas
between nations and people who had never
scen nor heard Of each other. The massacre
Of St. Bartholomew and the modern Inquis,
ton, established by Ferdinand and Isabella,
md which continued in Spain until 1920, n
period of nearly threo hundred years, arc not
evidences of moral progress, but rather of
ignorance and misguided zeal. If we look
to the carly settlement Of this country SIC
will SEQ it written in blood, and even since
OR independence statesman and patriots,
like Hamilton, jackson, Clay, Randolph and
othera, not only approved Of the code, but
fought ducls, and from tho days of Knight
errantry to within few years public opinion
and tho Press, if they havo not favored, have
not denounced tho practice.
This generation is not so wicked and sinful
as somo would have us believe Hhen COM
parcd with previous generations. 1t is true
elm and crimc abound in tho land and there
is great room for improvement; but they
appear greater comparatively for several
reasons. Tho Press, the great disseminator
of tho nows, is now fixture in nearly every
county Of tho United States, " lilo fifty years
ago it was limited to largo areas, and there
is now moro activity in getting up ncws than
formerly. Formerly, before tho invention Of
tolegraphy and tho building Of railroads
md steamships, news was local, while now
New York daily and oven q country weekly
.conlains. .neYs fro9, oyery part Of the civilized