VOL. 41. flic Huntingdon Journal (1//ce in new JOtittNAL Fifth Street. TILE 111"NTINODONTJULTRNAL is published every Friday by .1. A. Nal:III, at $2,00 per annum iN ADVANCE, or :'*2.SJ It DOI paid for in Ki si months from date of sub eeripCou , and 43 it not paid within the year. N.. paper discontinued, unless at the option of the pub lisher, until all arrearages are paid. No paper, however, will lie sent out of the State unless al' rin.ely paid for in advance. Transient advertisements will be inserted at virid.vit AND A-HALF CF.NTS per line for the first insertion, szysx AND 1-II .1 LP CENTS for the second and FIVE EENTEI per line f,., - ill Ili ,i11,,i - hearty will t,i• t0...E1e•1 at the folliia ran,: 9w Iyr )0 4 50 5 50: 800 9 bOjlB 00 $27 i 0 1 1 0 00 12 00! , 4col!18 00 36 00 .5 ,, • 7 ,100014 00 IS 00' V 0134 50.0 , cr , ^ 4 ! 4 su, 14 00 . 18 0(120 00k c01i36 00160 00! So, IUO of All Resolutions of Associations, Commonications limited or individual interest, all party announcements, and notices of Marriages and Deaths, exceeding live lines, will be charged TEN CENTS per line. • Legal and other notices will be charged to the party having them inserted. Advertising Agents must find their commission outside of these tizu res. .411 advertising accounts are due and collectable when the odvertisement is once inserted. .1011 PRINTING of every kind, Plain and Palley eolcrP, done with neatness and dispatch. Iland-bills, Dian , s, Cards. Pamphlets. S:c., of every variety :1,1,1 style. printed at the ,hortest notice, and everything in the Printing line will be exeruted in the most artistic manner and at the '.sweet rates. Professional Cards 1v 11.1 A ;U \‘.ltVlAttorni.3--tt-L:kN:;:40? Pen n 6tr iiitii iri.. [itr.l4 .77 11 CALDWELL, Attorney-at-I.IIW, No. 111, 3rd street f . Office formerly occupied by Memrs. Woods & Vii Munson. (ap12,'71 pIL A. L'. latiffMBAUG If, offeng hie prof..ssional services to the cocain unity. Office, N 0.523 Washington street, one door east of the Catholic Parsonage. Lian4,";l. TAIL. IIYSKILL has permanently located in Alexandria to practice ids 'profession. DanA '7S-Iy. EC C. STOC K TON, Surgeon Disntie. Office in Leister's . building, in the room formorly occupied by Dr. E. J Greene, Huntingdon, Pa. (iipUS, '76. GU). B. ORLADY, Attorney-at-Law, 405 Penn Street, Huntingdon, Pa. [novl7,-75 GL. 11.011111. IN•utist. office in S. T. Brown'q new building, .No. 520, Penn Street, llnatingdun, Pa. [ap12271 I C. M iDPEN, Attorncy-at-Law. Office, No.—, Pono I • titroet, Iluntiugdon, I'a. [apl9,ll. T sYINANCTS BLAIR, Attnruey-Ht-Law, Huntingdon, J Pa. ()thee, Peuu Street, three &era west of 3rd Street. Usu4,7l - - W. 31A1TERN, Attorney-at-Law and General Claim Agent. II untingdou, Pa. Soldiers' claims against the GOVertallellt for Lack-pay, bounty, willows' and invalid pension.' attended to with great earn and promptne°s. Of- See on Penn Street. ijanc7l TOrtAINE AN, Attorney-at Law. • Ot N. 4(15 Penn S!reet, Ifunting.lon. Pt. July IS. 1579. E. I LEVIVt7. Att.orney-at-Law, Iltintingdun, hi., A 7• otli, in ihatitf.r building'. Penn Street. Pnmpt and enrefill att..ntiuu given to all legal latsine.o. 1an25,74-rmos IPM. P. A: R. A. ORRIS/\, Att , ,rneyi , at-Law, No. 821 V Penn Str-et, Huntingdon, Pa. All kind; 01 legal promptly attended to. Sert.ll:,'; S. New Advertisement U. B. Mutual Aid Society -0I Pennsylvctnia. PRINCIPAL OFFICE. Chartered by the Legislature, Al arett I I, 166.. i, lOII\ 13. STE H MAN, Presideut. GEORGE A. MARK, Secretary. Cash Assets Assets subject to assessment. $20,000,000 Death claims paid to Jan. ISBO.. .$1,651,:,99 2,029 certificates issued in 1579, aggregating $l,- 093,000 insurance. _ . The class. assessment, and class renewing Eye tem originated and successfully pursued for over a drea,ie of yean3 by the U B. Society, baseaustd a radical retorm in life insurance, reducing its cost to the minimum, and thereby placing its benefits within the reach of all. The payment of $S on application, $5 annually for four years, ano thereafter .$2 annually during life, with pro rata mortality assessment, graded according to age, secures to wife, children or assigns the tuna of one thousand dollars. Healthy persons of both sexes may become members. Certificates issued in stuns ranging from $509 to $lO,OOO. Agents wanted. Send or apply for cirenlars giving full informa tion to W. W. WITIIINOTON, Agent, Or to D. S. EARLY, Gen'l. A gt Cur. tHh street & Railroad, Lebanon, Pa. BEAUTIFY YOUR I-10-ALFIAS! The undersigned is prepared to du ail kinds of HUSE VW SIGN PAINTING, Calcimining, Glazing, Paper Hanging, and any and all work belonging to the business. Having had several years' experien , ,e, he guaran tees satisfaction to those who may employ him. PRICES MODERATE. Orders may be left at the .lounsat, Book Store. JOHN L. ROHLAND. March 14th, ISI9-tf. CHEAP! CHEAP !! C HEAP!! PAPERS. %-/ FLUIDS. ALBUMS. Buy your Paper, Buy your Stationery Buy your Blank Books, A T TLIEJOURNALI3OOK d STATIONERY STORE. Fine Stationery, School Stationery, Books for Children, Gaines for Children, Elegant Fluids, Pocket Book, Pass Books, Awl an Endless Vceritfil of Nice Th;nys, AT THEJOVENAL BOOK & STATIONERY STORE GENTLEMEN, Avail yourselves of the opportunity. FOR A PERFECT FIT, GOOD MATERIAL, BEST WORKMANSHIP, COMBINED WITH MODERATE PRICES, CA LL ON J I-IN GILL, 315 WASHINGTON, ST., HUNTINGDON, PA, .-BEST Flock of CLOTHS, CASSIMERES, VEST INGS, Sc., in the county always on hand. apr33Jur STAMPING ! STAMPING Having just received a fine assortment of Stamps from the east, I am now prepared to do Stamping for BRAIDING AND EMBROIDERING. I also do Pinking at the shortest notice. MRS. MATTIE G. GRAY, No. 415 Mifflin Street.. May 3,1875. DR. J. J . , DAHLEN, GERMAN PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON °Gee at the Waallincton ITottge. eorner of Seventh and i'cnn street HUNTINGDON, PA April 1, 1:37:1, DR. C. H. BOYER. SUROEON DENTIST, Office in the Fr inklin House, A pr. 4 -y. HUNTINGDON, PA K. M'DIVITT. suRVE l'oß AND coNVEYA ArCER, CHURCH ST., bet. Third and Fourth, 0ct.17,'79. HUNTINGDON, PA. if - PT L I i l l All wiEE v ADMISS N 3ni cm gin Iyr 7. _Pc:, LAWNS at ti cc►►t.-, ithual juice 10 cents. 50 Pcs. LAWNS, Robe Borders, at 12 cents price 15 cents. 50 Pcs. LAWNS, Robe Borders, in all the delicate and most desirable shades. 15 Pes. LACE BUNTINGS, in all shades, newe-i thing out. 400 Pes. PRINTS, best makes, at 7 cents. DRESS GINGHAMS, LINEN ULSTERS and SUITS 3E ll .ll.weciTi2" (G-001.30 The LarEost Stock of Hosiery ill Ton 40 Styles Ladies' Hose reduced from 15c. to 10c. a pair. 7 5 Styles LADIES' GLOVES From 10c. a pair for a Berlin Lisle, to $l.OO for a pair of Seven Elastic Lace Top. Ladies' Neckties and Pichus in Grand Profusion. 11 liaildierchiefs, Parasols, Umbrellas, ad Falls. EVERYTHING COMPLETE IN THIS DEPARTMENT. ~IOE~, ~HOFS 27 Different Styles of Ladies' Walking Shoes, From 90c. to $2.00 per Pair. MISSES' CHILDREN'S AND INFANTS' WALKING SHOES. LEBANON, PFNNA LOS', GENTS!, MISSES" CHURN'S &INFANTS' SITOES. ..c195,676 Gents' Furnishing Goods Neckwear, Linen Dusters, Shirts, Petersburg, Pa. rmay 21,50-1 And things too numerous to mention. Come and find out the advan tages of buying from a firm that bought their stock after goods had fallen 40 per cent. WM. MARCH BLACK'S JEWELRY STORE, The Largest At.,t)rtnicsit •►f Watches, Clocks, Jewelry. SILVERWARE AND SPECIALTIES BEAUTIFUL GLASSWARE By the piece or in setts, of the newest styles, in great variety, has been addel to tho elegant stock F. H. LANE'S CASH & EXCHANGE STORE. Handsome .etts of GL ASS as low as 33 rts. The place to buy QUEENSWARE by the piece or in setts, is at F. ii. LANE'S STORE. Handsome TEA SETTS consisting of 46 pieces of White Stone China, can be bought for $l, at F. 11. LANE'S low price store. A large stock of choice Mackerel, consisting of Deep Sea, Extra Shore, New Fat, and all the best va rieties and numbers known in the market. Also Large Roe and Lake Herring, Cod Fish and Shad in season. F. 11. Lane does not buy or sell short weight packages of Fish. You do not want to buy salt. at Fish prices. CANNED GOODS, including California Choice Fruits, Evaporated and other Dried Fruits. Green Fruits, Foreign and Domestic. All kinds of choice TEAS, from 15 to 20 cents per quarter, Good sugar from S cents per pound to the best Maple Sugar in bricks or granulated at 13 cents per pound. SALT MEAT, FLOUR, NOTIONS, CONFECTIONS, WOOD and WILLOW-W ARE, and in short, about everything to be found in a first-class Grocery and Provision Store, can 'oe bought at F. H. LANE'S Cash and Exchange Store, near the Catholic church, on Washington strciet, Hunting don, Pa. MOTTO :—GOOD QUALITY—FULL QUANTITY—SMALL PROFITS. • • .; -- WA: 1 11 . 2 111' T na j o 0 4' I . t " ; ' - C) New Advertisements rirri JJAB X33lElp'S?" THIS IS OUT.' SPECIALTE We have more money invested in Shoes than any other two stores in town. COME AND LOOK AT OUR IMMENSE STOCK OF This Department is complete in all that enters into the out fit of a young Adonis. It embraces a Handsome Assortment of Felt and Straw Hats, IN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA Aniericait Trratches, Ifolcard Watches, Eight Watches. Springfield Watches, Ha»tpdeit IValche Fine Swiss Watc lA' GOLD AND SILVER, KEY AND STEM-VAIN DING of Staple and i'aucy Groceries at MACKEREL_ SPECIAL NOTICE. allb , ek . - u CASES. Very Large and Varied Assortment of Ladies' and Gents.' Gold & Plated Chains, RIDES, &C. AGENT FOR THE JUSTLY CELEBRATED 11.C0C1:EK.M.11C)13..31D QUICK-TIME WATCH. HUNTINGDON, PA,, FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1880. ORATION IT,TON A T 11 E Reitfi,"Nit ate 11'g:shiny hdrritrll riely, pitting COninieneenil'lll fit all' Ivonsylo mia State L'illeje, ;?9, 1880. Mr. President, Ladies and (lent!omen and Fellow-nicuitats ef the Washington Society:—lt was with great pkasure that I received the invitation t) addruis you here to-day, at the reunion of the Wash ington society, and with an inclination to accept that I made no cifort to resist, and cannot therefore say hew nearly irresistible it may have been. My desire to come here again, after an absence of more than eighteen years, was infinitely increased by the anticipation of meeting again my old society, of which I have tone but the hap. piest recollections, and with which many of the most pleasant and profitable hours of my student life were spent. Washingtonians, I understand this day to be ours to be set arart from the other commencement exercises as ours for the re newal of old, and the making of new ac• 41tiaintanees, f:r mutual congratulations over the continued prosperity of our so ciety, which, as I well remember, was highly prosperous more than a sore of years ago; for the revival of the old Wash ingtonian spirit, if it has ever ceased to exist, which permitted no successful rivalry, and for the indulgence of whatever other fraternal feelings it may be proper to in dulge in. The chairman of your committee in his letter to me said it was desired that one of the old members should be your orator on this occasion. One of the old members ! That was an appropriate appeal to make to me; not that time has bestowed upon me the wisdom of age, although When I reflect that in a few years more it will be a quarter of a century since I became connected with this society, I may feel that age is ap proaching, if wisdom is not ; but he re ferred no doubyto the fact that I was one of its earliest members, having attached myself to it at., or shortly after, its organi zation ; so that to be called one of the old members carried me back to the beginning. of the society, and recalled many reminis cences of the three years during which I was a student here and an active partici pant in all its affairs. I do not purpose to make this address historical, however great may be the temptation to dwell upon that portion of the existence of our snciety that comes within my own knowledge, because I can not pursue its history after I left this in stitution, sufficient time not having been given me for preparation for that purpose, 2nd besides I am informed that a sketch of its history is beinn• ' prepared for publication : and I do not wish to anticipate it. • But I may properly make some allusion, to the membership of the society du.! ring its early years, end it may be ex-' veered that I will do Fo, however briefly I will not attempt to enter into personal detail. The society attracted to it a very large proportion of the budding talent of this institution at that time. I Fay this without any intention of disparaging our neighbors of the Cresson, for whom I bad an affection second only to that for my own society. I had reason to entertain the highest rosi-...ct for their merits, and to re gard them as worthy of our steel when we met in intellectual contest. The Wash ington had among its members many of the older students, older in years, I mean, for there was no seniority of any other kind here than. It had some who were verging upon manhood, if they had not at tained it, and in comparison with whom I was but a boy. It had strong minds, well advanced in education, and experienced in the pursuits incident to a literary society. The exercises were therefore usually of a high order, and interest in them increased with each successive meeting. There have perbars been few bodies of young men of equal numbers among whom there were so many who gave fair promise of brilliancy in callings where literary culture is an element of success, and into whatever walks of life any of them may have gone they will find incalculable benefits from the training and experience here received. Some of us here to day, who can recall the names and faces of those who on this altar then laid their youthful mental offer ings, will ask, where are they now ? It is a question to which there is none ready with an answer. They went from here in many different directions, to many widely separated fields of labor and duty. The country was then calling upon her sons, the young, the strong and the brave, to come to her defense, to the protection of her who had protected us, a call that was generously responded to by this society. I have met in the ranks of the Union army those whom I first met within those walls and in our society hall. I know that some shed then blood and gave the lives they had here been preparing to live. Others, after serving their terms of enlistment, or during the war, returned to enjoy the greater freedom given the nation as the result of the conflict. Those old members of the Washington society are scattered far and wide. Other States, as well as Pennsylvania, are reap ing the benefits of their energy, their learn ing and their skill. They are engaged in in many avocations, professional and in dustrial. In the train of reflections caused by this occasion, there c_ntes to any mind one event that was of sonic importance to this society and myself. 1 mention it for the purpose of introducing a subject with which I desire to occupy your attention for a short time. During the second year after the organization of the Washington and Cresson societies, there was some con troversy between them, as there may have been since, as to which was the more for midable in debate, and, to settle the point in dispute, the Cresson challenged us to a contest discussion. By arrangement, the selection of the question was left to our opponents, and the choice of sides to us. The question related to the inequalities of rank and condition in society, whether or not they are favorable to the advancement of learning. We took the affirmative, upon which side I made the opening argument. As the result proved, we were not mista ken in our choice so far as obtaining a de cision in our favor was concerned, but I have since become convinced that as a matter of truth, we were upon the wrong side. I wish, therefore, to take a slight glance at it again, but from the opposite standpoint, not in an argumentative way, but with reference to some of the lead ing questions of the day, and so far as what I have to say can be included under one head, may state my subject to be, Some Social Obstacles to the Advancement of Learning. I use the word "social" in its most com prehensive sense, as pertaining to society in all its relations and embracing all or• ganizations of men, for whatever purpose, especially for purposes of government. By obstacles we do not mean those things only that prevent the growth of literature and the arts and sciences, nor those mere ly that hinder and retard it, but everything t hat• does not actually encourage it. So ciety should be so constituted as to directly aid in their development and if it does not do so it may be in itself an obstacle. The advancement or learning signifies wore than the were diffusion of it. Ad vancement is progress, the disclosure of new things, the evolving of truth, the ma ' king of original investi g ation and discov ery. the exploring and fathoming of the unknown, the revealing of the hidden, the addition of something to the sum of hu man knowledge. It is creative intellec tual activity. Diffusion is the spreading of that which is already known. Highly important and indispensible as it may be, lit is less elevated than advancement. It fis scholastic rather than creative, the work -principally of the teacher and the schools. lat it bean the closest relations to ad a.ncement, the latter being much depen eat upon it. Investigators and discov rers cannot be numerous when knowledge s limited to but a small portion of the cople, but when it becomes more general y disseminated the number who can en. age in enlarging the sphere of human aiming is increased and the greater are he results achieved. Whatever aids in ;be diffusion of knowledge has a direct ten leucy towards its advancement and the two ►re thereibre inseparably connected. It is no doubt true that the idea of per 'eat equality in society is chimerical. There ire differences among men thit are cre ited by natural causes and others that re mit from individual conduct. But these ire not social inequalities and society can of undertake to correct them. It cannot vercome natural laws or control all the ctions of its members. In so far as these enterfcrej with intellectual progress we ihave nothing to do with them. It, is with iolitical distinctions, or those which society self creates, that we have more particu [ arly to deal. To say that there never has been any mut of civilized society under which in- qualities and differences orcondition have not existed, that learning has flourished to some extent under all forms of government, and that therefore they have been favor able to its advancement, is very fallacious 'reasoning. The progress that learning has made in most ages of the world has been in spite of obstacles thrown in its way by social conditions, by governments and by governing classes. Society lees its origin and foundation in the natural wants and 'fears of individuals, yet it is essentially artificial. Its formation is a human work, and its perfection, or want of perfection, depends upon human knowledge and human skill, often, perhaps, upon human passions and human selfishness. It is a work with which man has been grappling, eince the da3s or Adam, at seine periods with indifferAt success, in others with nt• ter failure, and even at the present time he -way look upon it as far from perfect and needing very great improvement. He has not yet been able to obtain for himself that happiness he ought to enjoy and that gov ernment should secure to him. Even the first end that society has in view, the sat isfying of his necessities, is .not attained without a very great stru,gele, and for his mental culture he has provided less than for his physical wants. Ile has at times attempted to appropriate to himself the labor of his fellow-men and thus to evade the decree that he should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. There have been Pharoahs and childeen of Israel, patricians and plebians, lords and vassals, masters and slaves. And how inimical to the diffusion and advancement of learning all these have been may be seen'in that peculiar institu tion, so recently fostered in free America as to be within the recollection of very young men, which made it a crime to teach , the alphabet, and as a consequence of which there are to day in the late slave States three and a half millions of people over ten years of age who cannot read, while in all the other States and territories, with a population twice as great, there are less than one million who cannot read. Nor does it seem to be true, in the light of modern progress, that social equality can exist only among the untutored and uncivilized, among men in a state of nature. There is a condition of society, and that farthest removed from the savage state, in which man rejects those artificial distinctions of rank and power which at other times he created and esteemed so highly, and as he approaches perfection in intellectual enlightenment they entirely disappear. The savage has not these dis tinctions, because he has scarcely any or ganized society, and such as he has is of the rudest and simplest form. He is as free as all things else he sees around him in nature. He has no desires above the satisfy ing of his limited wants and none for any other knowledge than that which enters his senses unbidden. All his needs are sup plied by the earth, the air, the forest and the stream, with scarcely any exertion from himself. He has no aspirations for authority and power. It is only when he emerges from this condition that his social inertness can be disturbed and that in equalities originate, and these are not the cause, nor are they the necessary conse quence. Of the dawning light he begins to experience. They are the usual accom paniments of the ',ufluences by which the darkness is driven from his understanding. Civilization does not spring up sponta neously in the savage mind or among savage races. Its beginnings are always foreign and extraneous It must be in troduced by those who are already in the enjoyment of it, and it is but natural that they who impart and establish it should make themselves rulers and masters. Sav age nations have usually been conquered before becoming civilized. In my discus. sion of this subject twenty years ago, for the purpose of drawing a very different conclusion from the present one, I referred to the ancient Greeks, who were tamed by the Pelasgi, and to the Romans, a ferocious and motley crew, who received the bless ings of law and religion from a succession of &reign kings, and whose conquests at a later day contributed to civilize the rest of Europe. The Norman conquerors of Britain took with them the principles of the feudal system, upon which they founded society and government, or ma terially modified and altered those they found to exist. The king became lord paramount and parceled out lands, and dignities, and rank, and titles, and power, as he pleased. So other invaders had be fore taken to that island the meagre in telligence that preceded the Norman occu pation. But when these social and po litical inequalities were created by the con queror it was at a time when great dark ness rested upon the minds of the peo ple. England yet retains many of the fea tures of the Norman system, but how dif ferent she is from the England of eight centuries ago, and how complete has been her transformation from the condition ofthe still earlier times. Are there not evidences enough that social distinctions, strong as they may yet be, are passing away even in England, that her aristocratic institutions are approaching an end, although the struggle for their preservation may con tinue them beyond our day? Culture and civiliz ition are equalizing the English people, restoring to them the power that has long been in the hands of monarchs, and with its restoration must pass away every vestige of king. Created nobility and caste. At the recent election, which overthrew the Disraeli government, a Northumbrian miner was chosen to the House of Commons, the first real repre sentative of the working classes, it is said, who has ever entered Parliament. He was chosen on account of his intelligence, which surpasses that of the average English law maker. Thus it must go on until from among the people of England will come the men to fill the places once known only to a class that looked upin the functions of government as belonging peculiarly to itself. On this side of the Atlantic a branch of the English family has proved, as En gland will yet do, that there is a form of society, a civilization far raised above the rude and narrow life of the barbarian, in which social and political equality is pos sible. We have here a government that affords a fair distribution of so cial advantages, and of opportunities for the development of the capacities of man, and under which the right to rule, the conveniences and luxuries of wealth, and the benefits of scholarship, are not confined to a class, but aro attainable by all, and in which no portion of the popu lation is hopelessly sunken in ignorance, poverty or bondage. Now let me ask whether such civiliza tion and such a government as we possess are not the most highly favorable to the advancement of learning. Nations in which the greatest inequalities exist are not the ones in which the greatest intellectual progress is made. They do not permit freedom, especially the kind of freedom that the growth of learning requires—free dom of thought, freedom o speech and dis cussion and freedom of publication. They do not make the discoveries and inventions or write the books of the world. On the contrary, they distroy the productions of the intellect. Turkey prohibits the trans lation of the Bible and punishes the act as a crime. Within the present year a Mus selman mollah, one of the higher order of judges in that country, has been condemned to death for this violation of Turkish law. While tyranny has been doing these things America, by her declaration of indepen dence, has put into practical shape and operation new ideas of the rights of man ; established upon those ideas a new and popalar form of government, improved and strengthened by a written constitution ; made many practical applications of the scientific knowledge she has given to the world; nourished a literature of extraor dinary proportion, a literature that may be said to be omnipresents that surrounds us like an atmosphere, that keeps in constant operation thousands of printing presses, producing books without number, at nom inal prices and upon all conceivable sub jects; myriods of periodical publications, quarterly, monthly and weakly, and daily newspapers, finding their way into house holds, workshops, counting-houses, rail road trains and everywhere. These are alike the causes and the results of intel lectual progress. They are encouraged by freedom, and in their turn make anything else than freedom impossible. Liberty and the printing press are natural allies and the enemies of monarcqical institu tions. Popular intelligence is incompati ble with tyranny and the enlightenment of the people leads to its inevitable over throw. Bat these propositions are too well reoognized to be dwelt upon. I might cite from history unlimited evidence of their truth, but the slight historical refer ences I have made are sufficient for my purpose. Notwithstanding the advanced position of our country as compared with those of the old continent, let it not be imagined that there is no further progress for her to make. A few years ago I could not have said of her what I have to day., It seems like an exceedingly short spaca of time since these words became part of her fun damental law : "Neither slavery nor in voluntary servitude, except as a punish ment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist with in the limits of the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Until that provision became a part of the Con stitution, so-called free America was not free from inequalities and differences of condition created by law. It is true that President Lincoln hac previously abolish ed slavery by proclamation, but there was no legal barrier to its existence before the adoption of the thirteenth amendment. In what I have to say of the state of society in fifteen states, embracing one third of the territory organized into States, I am controlled by uo party consid erations, fbr I hold that no political party of the day has altogether done its share for the amelioration of the condition of the people of those Staten. No party is yet ready to accent the doctrines I advocate, and I fear it will be too long before meas ures necessary for their relief from igno rance will be adopted into any party creed. Let us not underrate the importance of this subject. Let us not fail to realize it because we are distant from and do net come into personal contact with this mental blight. Let us remember that millions of our fellow citizens, having a vast influence on the present and future welfare of this nation, arc affected by it, that their num ber is greater than was the number of inhabitants in all the colonies at the time of the Revolutionary war, greater than is the population of Pennsylvania to-day. We have but to imagine all the people of our great Commol.wealth to be subjected to the degradation they are in to obtain a f'aint idea of the truth. Philanthropy and statesmanship must meet this question face to face and deal with it fairly and equarely. _ _ Slavery was an obstacle to the ad vancement of learning. It was indispen sable under the slave system, as it is under every system of tyranny, that the oppress. ed subject should have no knowledge of his rights and no capacity to assert and maintain them. Although intelligent labor would have been more profitable to the slaveholder, he could not run the risk of giving it intelligence. lle would have been in danger of losing it entirely. The imparting of even the rudiments of knowl edge to the slave was therefore prohibited by law. What was the effect upon the dominant race? The white working man was no more highly esteemed than the black and his education was almost as im pos.4ible. Is it strange that learning was not in as great repute as it should have been in that section ? Could it be expec ted that educational institutions would flouri , h where such ideas prevailed ? Would we look there for seminaries and colleges to which the youth of the land would flock for higher mental training ? We would look iu vain. The legally inipo!.ed ignorance of the slaves had its intended effect. There was no rising among them to assert their freedom. Even after the war had been in progress several years, and after they had learned that their own fate depended some way upon the result, they took no steps towards hastening the end. They could not. They were thoroughly bound in intellectual as well as in physical servi tude. I have not drawn this picture fI. the purpose of casting odium upon any por tion of the country, but merely to show the condition of the colored people when they became freemen and citizens, sover eigns like ourselves. What shall we do with these people, now that they have such an important in fluence upon our national destinies? There is but one answer to the question. We must educate them. In no other way can the obstacle they present, not only to the intellectual progress of the country, but to our prosperity aci a nation, be removed. The necessity for their education is more apparent than are the means by which it is to be most speedily accomplished. The duty of providing for their instruction, under our frame of government, devolves upon the several States, and it is a duty which to them must be burdensome, if not greater than they can well bear. But so long as they persist in bearing it, they should be held to a strict accountability for its faithful performance, and every neglect should be closely watched and pressed home upon their attention. They should be willing to transfer this burden to others, to whom it would be a pleasure to assume it, who are able to carry it, and to whom it would scarcely be a burden at all. They have not hesitated to appeal for help if it can be obtained in their own way and without interfering with their old time prejudices as to State rights. In educa tional conventions held in different parts of the country representative men from the South have asked that the proceeds from the sale of the public lands be set apart for educational purposes and that they be distributed among the States upon the basis of illiteracy, and bills have been introduced into Congress annually for some years past to the same effect. As the South contains eighty per centum of the illiteracy of . the country, a distribu• tion of the fund upon the basis proposed would give her that proportion of it. She points to the desolation wrought by the war, the large number of persons thrown upon her resources, without property end without the means of paying any portion of the expenses of maintain , ' b schools. She asks for aid from the general government, at the same time jealously declaring that it should not claim to control or interfere with the systems of education established by the States. She evidently perceives that in soliciting national aid she is also inviting a national interest in her educa tional affairs, but is careful not to be mis understood as intending that that interest shall be manifested in any other way than by furnishing the money. It is to the general government that this subject is of the greatest importance, as is confessed when this appeal for pecuniary help is made, and for the - South to permit the question of State rights to prevent her from obtaining what she asks would be worse than madness. If the States can provide schools aild instruct ion by all means let them do so. If they cannot, and are obliged to call for help, they should be willing that the hand that extends it shall prescribe the methods and purposes of its application. To this extent, at least, there ought to be no conflict of opinion. But I cannot follow this subject to its legitimate conclusion. There is not time to do so, and I wish to avoid any political phase of it. It is incidental, rather, to the main topic and need not be pursued further than to present as clearly as pos sible the great obstacle of the past and present condition of the negro race in this country to the advancement of learning. It is involved, however, in several other questions which receive from it their great est importance : first, whether all educa tion should not be national, instead of State and local, and, second, whether com pulsory education, or, as I would term it, compulsory attendance at places of instruc tion, should not prevail. If I were to discuss these suLjects it would be in advocacy of both of them as measures of public policy, but I cannot now undertake anything more than to point to some of their probable results. Would it not be a happy contemplation to know that all the children of this great nation, of suitable age, except those prevented by unavoidable causes, were at school, that none of sound mind and body were habit ually absent, that rich and poor, the dwellers upon the confines of civilization in the west, the heretofore neglected of both races in the south, as well asthe more fortunately situated in the north and east, were drinking from the fountains of knowl edge as from a perennial spring? It has been said that "if we wait until the human race is prepsred to form a solid column in the march of progress, it is not probable that our expectations will be realized." It may be long until the world will present such a spectacle, but if the duty of attend ing public instruction were here enforced by legal requirements that none could evade, our country would present one al most as grand, the spectacle of fifty niil lions of people marching abreast, shoulder to shoulder, against superstition and igno rance, and to universal intelli g ence and true national glory. We would then have a government not only "the best that the world has ever seen," but the best of which the mind of man can conceive. It would be "a government of the people," because they would be competent to comprehend its workings and to participate in its ad ministration ; "for the people," because it would elevate them in the scale of earthly existence, and —by the people," because none less than themselves would dare to usurp it. The great differences between men, which are fir the most part differ ences of education, and attributable, to a great extent, to social causes, would pass away, not by reducing and degradino . ' any from his position, but by raising all to a common level higher and nobler than any has yet attained. Wha tmight we not predict would be the result in the way of opening up the yet unsolved secrets of nature, for all invention and discovery but consist in this ! how immeasurably it would hasten the time when all that is now mysterious and beyond our understanding in the works of the Creator will be laid bare to us, as I firmly believe is the ultimate design ! Let us have compulsory education, ifyou choose to call it so, a system under which every child shall be taught, under which every one shall read, and learn, and know, not iu Pennsylvania alone, not in the east or the north, but wherever the broad limits of our land extend. This will be the re muval of obstacles ; it will he progress ; it will be advancement. There are other matters that might oc cupy our attention—the unequal distribu tion of wealth, and the coedition of women, which, socially and pontically, ought not to be inferior to that of men. Wealth, it is true, may be made very instrumental for the benefit of learning. We are usu ally told that, it gives leisure. This is not what it should give, unless mental labor may be called leisure. It should give work, constant, earnest work. It affords all the means of culture, time, books and apparatus, but it is not so usefal after all if it affords these to only a few. The ac cumulation of great wealth in the bands of individuals, while in some respects ad vantageous to the poor, increases the number of the latter and makes it more difficult for them to rise from their condi tion. And what an obstacle to intellectual progress poverty is! I know that many. illustrious names can be mentioned that seem to disprove this, but they are only conspicuous exceptions to the truth. Some have attained the heights of literature, and art, and science, whose elevation seems the greater on account of the depths from whence they came. Their number is a few score, or perhaps a hundred or two, and while they have extricated themselves from the burden, and ascended on lightened wings, how many countless millions of their poor fellow creatures have fallen beneath it who rcight otherwise have risen to .the highest summits Poverty has kept the world in chains, although here and there, as they encircle it, there is a gold6n link. How each of us is to be made to share in and to deserve a share of the wealth which now finds its way into the hands of a few, is a problem not easily solved. Its solution may be less difficult as we advance to greater social perfection. It may be found perhaps in the better cultivation of of the masses which a system of compulso ry education would bring about. It will cone when all men recognize that the only life worth living is the intellectual life, and that money, time and opportunity should be made subservient to it. As to the woman question, I believe that the time will come when our mothers, and wives, and sisters and sweethearts will all vote, and I therefore leave it, as I leave them, to the kind and loving care of the sterner sex, satisfied that the latter is be coming more liberal in this, as in every thing else, as i t becomes more enlightened. And now I have followed a train of thought that may not be such as might have been expected at the re union of a literary society. If there is any conven tional plan upon which an address for such an occasion ought to be framed, I have perhaps missed it. But I have said about what I felt impelled to say from the time when I first knew I was to say anything here. It could not be inappropriate, I thought, to express in any place and under any circumstances, a sincere desire for the elevation of man, for the bettering of the condition of this human family of ours. It is a desire, a sentiment, that should be made part of our education. One great fault I have to find with nearly all the in struction given in the schools and else where is that it is too selfish. It is not always given for the value it has in itself and the good it may be made to do in the world, but for the advantage its possessor is supposed to have over those upon whom it has not been conferred, the advantage:in money making, a merely mercenary con sideration, or the advantage in other res pects of being superior in intellectual abil ity to those v. ho surround us. This is a spirit that must always be gratified at the expense of others. It is a spirit akin to that of slavery and tyranny, the spirit that would put others back for the same pur pose that it would put ourselves forward. Men usually love distinctions and differen ces that are favorable to themselves and often have the creation of these in view in their own education. How much nobler is the spirit that, while stri ving for personal advancement, would lead the whole race along with it, that reaches after real excellence, rather than after what would seem to be excellent merely by com parison with the less favored. We may reflect that all that any of us can know is but a small part of what is to be known, but a little of what the revelations of nature arc to be, that knowledge is the prop erty of all men and that it ought to be given freely and fully to those to whom it belongs. Let us cultivate no selfish pride in the little learning we possess. Let us attempt no monopoly of it. Other generations are to know more than we, and the time will come when the least informed of God's creatures will be wiser than any of us. We may say, with Oliver Wendell Holmes at the centenary of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, last month : Child of our children's children yet unborn, When on this yellow page you turn your •yea, Where the brief record of this May-day morn In phrase antique and faded letter Row vague, how pale our flitting glicsts will rise! Yet in our veins the blood ran warm and red, Fur us the fields were green, the skies were blue, Though from our dust the spirit long has fled, We lived, we loved, we toiled, we dreamed like yon, Smiled at our Wes and thought how much we knew, Oh, might our spirits for one hour return, When the next century rounds its hundreth ring, All the strange secrets it shall teach to learn, To hear thy larger truths its years shall bring, Its wiser sages talk, its sweeter minstrels sing! But the fact that there is advancement to be made, that there is yet ranch to be learned, that science and art and literature are young, and that we are but entering upon the threshold of discovery and in vention, should be the greatest incentive and encouragement to intaeetual industry. We might well regret it if past generations had done so much that there was nothing left for us to do, if there were to be no Newton, or Herschel, or Laplace, or Hum boldt, or Franklin, no Raphael, or Angelo, or Titian, no Homer, or Dante, or Shake speare. or Milton, or Goethe, of the future. Yes, there is unlimited work for the human mind, as unlimited as are the powers of the mind itself, and man will be but fulfilling his destiny in doing that work and devel oping those powers, though to complete the task may take till the end of time. AN enterprising drump2er in Alabama presented an editor with two plugs of tobacco, and elicited a half column puff in ;restful return. THE man who wrote: "I am sadchst when I sing," was foolish if he sang much SUBSCRIBE for tho JOURNAL, NO. 29.
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