St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-10-07
THE N1NErEENTH CENTURY.


Garibaldi, the great Italian patriot
and soldier, is the subject of one of Will
liam Roscoe Thayer's chapters in his
.'Throne-Makers." In opening the dis
cussion of this romantic figure, the
author says:
~When men look back, two or three
hundred years hence, upon the nine
teenth century, it may well be that
they will discern its salient character
istics to have been, rot scientific, not
inventive, as we popularity suppose, but
romantic. Science will soon bury our
present heaps of facts under larger ac-
cumulations, from the summit Of which
broader theories may be scanned; to-
morrow will make to-day's wonderful
invention old-fashioned and INSULT
cient; but the romance with which this
later time has been charged will exer-
else an increasing fascination over po-
cts and novelists and historians as
years roll on Oblivion swallows up
material achievements but great deeds
never grow old. That many of our
writer's should,not have heard this note
of the age argues that they, rather than
the age, are prosaic and commonplace.
For to what other period shall we turn
for q richer store of these vicissitudes
and contrasts in fortune which make
up the real romance, the profound
tragedy of life? Everywhere the dis
solution of society rooted in medieval
traditions is accompanied by confusion
Of struggle-the birth-Pangs of new
order. Classes whose separation
seemed permanent are thrown togeth-
er, and antagonistic elements are
strangely mixed; there is strife and
doubt and excess; sudden combinations
are suddenly rent by discoris; ana
chronisms flourish side by side with i'm
novations: new institutions wear old
names, and old abuses mask in new dis
guises. t@ &# #k
"In such a crisis two facts are prom
inent; the unusual range Of activity to
the individual-may he not traverse the
whole scale of experience ?-and the de-
pendence of the individual upon him
self. He rises or he falls, by his own
motion. The privileges of caste avail
noting; for the very confusion pro-
duces a certain wild equality whereby
all start at the line, and the swiftest
wins. Napoleon's maxim: La carriere
ouverte aux talents is the motto of the
century. Napoleon himself is an epoch
al illustration of the power of the in
dividual to make the momentum of cir
cumstances work for him. The revolu-
ton, it is true, had harnessed the
steeds; but Napoleon dared to mount
the chariot, grasped the reins, and
drove over Europe, upsetting thrones
and princedoms and hierarchies. The
naughty descendants of immemorial
lineage gave place to the brothers and
comrades of the 'Corsican upstart.
Murat, the SON of tavernkeeper; Ney,
! briefless law student; Lannos, dyer;
Soult, Masena, Berthier. Junot. soldiers
of fortune; and how many other chill
dren of the third estate laughed at the
pretensions of humbled Bourbons,
Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns! FIRE.
auent reactions between revolution and
restoration serve to emphasize the
stress of this crisis; and these con-
trasts in the conditions of men, reveal
ing human character under the most
diverse phases, show how inextricably
the romantic and the tragic are inter
woven in the average lot.
"Nor in Europe only has this spec
tacle been going forward. The United
States also has witnessed similarly
rapid transmutations, partly due to
other causes. Within generation we
have seen gigantic national upheaval:
three millions of artisans, clerks. mer-
chants and lawyers were transferred
by the magic of a drum beat into sol
diers; and then, the conflict over. sol
diers and uniforms vanished, and the
labors of peace were resumed.
Follow Abraham Lincoln from his
Illinois log cabin to the white house;
follow Grant from his lanyard to Apo
mattox, and you can compute the
sweep of fortunes wheel. These ca
reers were lived 80 near us that they
hardly astonish US; they. seem as nat
ural as daylight; and in truth they Az
sass $3.50 .s&sssks*