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Show "IN THE OLD CENTURY." Under the above heading we find in a Dublin paper the following: (From "Garrick's Morning Post," October 2nd, 1814). "WASHINGTON TAKEN AND DESTROYED "AMERICAN ARMY DEFEATED "AMERICAN FLOTILLA BLOWN UP." "We occupy this day's paper almost exclusively exclu-sively with intelligence of very great importance from America. THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, THE CAPITAL OF AMERICA, HAS BEEN TAKEN AND DESTROYED, after an ineffectual attempt made by the Americans to stop the advance ad-vance of our Armies. No opposition was made by the inhabitants to the entry of our troops. The city was destroyed, nevertheless says the "Courier" "Cour-ier" as it ought to be. War America would have and war she has got. We have struck a blow at her very vitals; she has felt the mightiness of the British arm in the very seat of her government. govern-ment. The Congress which was to meet in Washington Wash-ington on the 19th of September must now be a vagrant one, for Washington is no more. "After effecting their object, which appeared to be confined solely to the destruction of the city and some gunboats our Army re-embarked without with-out opposition." There have been soine changes since that was flrst published. A fairer capltol has risen from the ashes of the former city; beyond the Capitol the people have expanded from five millions to ninety millions, and the news that required forty days in transmission to England could be easily sent now In forty minutes. The Capitol went down, but when the smoke rohed away "the flag was still there." It is there still and that was the secret of the whole business. Men might perish; cities might be ' fire-swept; but the flag and the hopes behind it remained. The world has changed a little during the eighty-nine years since the above was written, but in no region so much as in our own country. In our country has been a transformation. Then it was little more than a fringe of settlements along the Atlantic. Our place and our opinions were of little concernment to the world then; now the continent has been subdued, thirty new states have rounded into form, nearly every nation of the Old World depends de-pends upon our country for a part of its food, for textiles for its mills; and every morning the oppressed op-pressed of the earth turns to us as the Chaldean Chal-dean turned to the rising sun for help and for inspiration. in-spiration. It is all because on our soil men have been free to think as they please, to do as they please, so their acts are no taint upon the flag, no wrong to their fellow men, and, because of these, men have accomplished anything they had the courage cour-age to try to accomplish, and the aggregate of the work of the steadily swelling millions stands out today an astonishment to mankind. As yet the opportunities have not been prescribed- The tyranny of wealth is felt in places; the vices engendered and fed by wealth are hav- I ing their influences in places; some of the meth- I ods which of old were signals of natiorial decay I are being practiced; but still the hearts of the I people are sound, the patriotism of the people is as all-embracing as ever, and while there are some clouds in the sky, the general progress of the Republic is upward and onward and its ma-I ma-I jcsty and power are increasing every day until K even now the foremost of all nations of the past I seems almost little by comparison. It will con- tinue to expand if our people will but b6 true to K their inheritance! if they will but keep in mind It that this progress of a century past has been be-I be-I cause the people were unhampered by unjust laws, I because all had a part In dictating what should be; that it was not statesmen who made the I land great, but the people, and that it will con-R con-R tinue to grow greater and greater so long as the M people are trusted and have their full voice in giving direction to the country. B Americans who know nothing except by hear- B say of foreign lands do not appreciate what our B country is, what it means to the world. When It flj took its station among the nations, there was not fl much of hope to mankind. The intelligence of fl the world was confined to a little space; the rule B of the world, save in England alone, was con- fl fined to priests and kings. Ignorance was the fl rule and at Its side as chief executive officer was H Cruelty. H The wounded among the defeated in battle H were slain, prisoners were slain or sold into slav- B ery; the masses of mankind were densely ignor- H ant; woman's virtue, generally, throughout the H world was a jest; save in a few places woman H was either a plaything or a beast of burden; a B clamp was on the brains of men and there was Bj not much hope in their hearts. B At such a time the light of our Republic shone fl out In the West. The theory was that free men H would be given the wisdom and patriotism to goj; H ern themselves. Wise men looked on scornfully. fl "It is but another experiment," they said. "It will B quickly pass away." But it did not. Rather It fl grew and grew a new light to the world's poor, a B new inspiration to liberty-loving men the world fl around. B A mighty progress succeeded. The forests B melted away; the wilderness vanished; new songs B were heard; the world's distressed came and fl joined the ever louder-sounding paens; new merit mer-it cies began to be accepted for the world. When B the chains of our slaves were broken and the B light shone out brighter; the fetters also fell H from the wrists of slaves in Brazil, from the necks H of serfs In Russia and when it was decreed that H the tyranny and cruelty of old Spain should be H overthrown, the way the work was accomplished H first revealed the world that a free nation could H be stronger than any that grows up under the H shadow of a throne. As yet, too, our nation is fl but four generations old; it has but just begun its B career If our people are great enough to carry Bj on wisely the work appointed for it to do. The K light is Increasing; under it the rents in the foun-Bj foun-Bj dations of thrones are seen through the mildew H and the rot; all Americans should seek to com- prehend their country's place in the world and B to bend their every effort to be worthy of native fl land. |
