,-. ; ~ ,'.,, , ,, , ,,1 , ;,:,.,_., , _, ; , , ,, . ,
~ ' • . ..-, ''?'-.•
.
. IP
. II
*far
... .
B 7 ROSZP,,r2 WHITE MIDIDLETOII.]
Office of the Star .54 Danner:
ehatnbersburg Sired, a few doors West of
the Court•lfouse.
CONDITIONS :
1. The STAB & REPUBLICA?! BANN ET! is pub
lished at TWO DOLLARS per annum (or Vol
ume of 52 numl?ers,) payable half-yearly in ad
vance: or TWO'UOLLAItS & FIFTY CENTS
if not paid until after the expiration of the year.
11. No subscription will be received fur a shorter
period than eix months; nor will the paper be dis
continued until all arrenrages are paid, unless at
the option of the Editor. A failure to notify a dis
continuance will be considered n new engagement,
and the paper forwarded accordingly.
111. AnvanTtssmENTS not exceeding a square,
will be inserted Tuner times for $l, and 25 cents
for each subsequent insertion—the number of in
sertions to be marked, or they will be published till
forbid and charged accordingly ; longer ones in
the same proportion. A reasonable deduction will
be made to those who advertise by the year.
IV. All Letters and Communications addressed
tothe_Etlitor by mail must he post-paid, or they
willnot be attended to.
ADVERTISEMENTS
BRANDRETWS PILLS.
FR ESII supply of the above Pine has jus
OA been received by
Dr. J. GILBERT, Agent.
March 27, IS3. if-52
VALUABLE
TAN-YARD PROPERTY
FOR SALE.
THE Subscribers offer for sale that valu•
able TAN:YARD PROPERTY, sit•
tinted in Gettysburg, fronting along the Bal
timore turnpike,and recently owned by SAM
UEL S. FORNEY. This property consists of
a good two Story Brick
DWELLING
•U. 0 I
• •k•.-
with a never, failing pump of:good water at
the door, complete milk bonito and other ne
cessary buildings.
WIVE T AOl-YARD
conlists of brick shedding. with a complete
. .Wrying. shop, fronting the •main sfreet, a
two story Brick Beam-house, sixty-seven
Vats of all descriptions, (eight of which are
in the Beam house,) with a never-failing
stream of water. There is also a good Barn
with a threshing floor 16 by 26 feet, a wag,
on shed and corn crib attached, and in ever)
way calculated for an extensive business.
They would also observe that a considera
hie part of the purchase money triight remain
in the hands of the purchaser. For further
particulars, enquire of DAVID S. FORNEY,
of Carlisle, Pa., JACOB FonNstr,of Hanover,
York Co. Pa., or SAMUEL S. FORNEY, now
residing on the property. Possession ca
be given immediately if desired.
DAVID S. FORNEY,
JACOB FORNEY.
February 20,1839.
HERNIA, OR RUPTURE,
'Cured Permanently!
fI Y A TRUSS invented by H. CHASE
M. D., consisting not only of very
great improvements in the Truss of Mr.
STAGNER and Dr. Hoop, hut of a series of
Instruments adopted to all the varieties of
the disease. It has been examined and ap•
proved by the gentlemen composing the commit.
tee of the Philadelphia Medical Society,eppointed
to investigate the merits of the varmus instru.
merits now before the public for tbielcetitment of
Hernia and those designed to effeqt radical cures
in this Disease. ,
REFERENCES-ITEBER CITASE,M. D., having
applied to the undersigned for the privilege of ma.
king reference to them in testimony of his im.
provoment in the form of Trusses and the con•
struction of instruments designed to produce the
greatest possible security In the detention of Her.
nia in its several forme; and the most promising
chance of radical cure in this disease. We have
no hesitation in permitting the required reforon.
ces. Tho subject has engaged the attention of the
Philadelphia Medical Society, and the report of
the Special Committee of that body appotnted-on
the occasion la alike favorable to the claims of the,
Instrumont,and the honorable and silkily profits.
island course of ilio inventor.
Roynall Coates, M. D. Chairman of the Committee
411 LifLirestigation.
.tnuel Jackson, M. D. Professor of the Institute
of Medicine, in the University of Pentssylvania and
Clinical Lectures to the Philadelphia linspital,Block.
ley
Wm. Gibson, M. D. Professor of Surgery in the
University of Pennsylvania arid Clinical Surgery in
the Philadelphia Hospital, Hinckley.
Thomas Harris, M. D. Surgeon U. S. Navy, and
one of the Surgeons to the Pennsylvania Hospital.
Henry Bond, M. D. Secretary to the Philadelphia
College of Physicians.
T. S. Bryant, M. D. Surgeon of the U. S. Army.
S. G. Morton,
M. D. Corresponding Secretary to
the Academy of Natural Sciences.
'George M'Clellan, M. D. Professor of Surgery in
the Jefferson Medical College. Phil'a.
,William Rush, M. D. Physician to the Penney!.
Taoist Hospital.
G. W. Pennock, M. D:Physician to the Pennsyl
vania Hospital.
Joseph Hartshorne, M. D. Philadelphia.
John Eberle, M. 1). Professor, Theory and Practice
of Physic, Medical College, Ohio.
A. G. Smith, M. D. Professor of Surgery in the
Illrrdieril College, Ohio.
IV. Porker, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and Sur
-gery, Berkshire Medical College, Mass.
It H. Childs, M. 1). Professor Practice of Medi
cines, Berkshire Aledieni College, Mass.
Thomas Johnston, M. D. Professor of Anatomy and
Surgery, Richmond, Medical College, Va . .
W m Ashmead, M. D. one of the Committee ofln
vestigatiou.
ileac Parish, M. D. one of the Committee of In
vestigation.
10 - These instruments must bo used by a Sur.
goon versed in the Amitu.ny of Hernia, the prin
ciples of Surgory,end the manner of treating the
different varieties adds disease. They are adap
ted to all ages, to both sexes, and are worn with.
out interruption to the ordinary avocations of the
patient.
0:7 - DR. DAVID GILBERT having
been appointed Agent for Adams Comity,is
prepared to apply the above instruments.—
He may-bafound at his Office, in Baltimore
Strect, a few doors above the Post Office.
Gettysburg, Jan. 23 1 1838. 3m-43
TUE GARLAND.
sweetest flower' cnrich'd,
From various gardens cull'il with care.'
A GEM OF OLD ENGLISH POETRY
Shall I, wasting in despair,
Die because another's fair?
Or make pale my cheeks with care,
'Cause another's rosy are ?
Be she fairer than the day,
Or the flowery meads in May,
If she be not so to me,
What care I how fair she be ?
Should my heart be griev'd or pin'd
'Cause I see a woman kind,
Or a well-disposed nature,
Joined with a lovely feature?
He ►be meeker, kinder than
Turtle dove or pelican,
If she be not so to me,
What care I how kind she be ?
Shall a woman's rirlue move
Me to perish for her love ;
Or her well-deservings known,
Make me quite forget my own?
He she with that goodness blest,
W 'itch may gain her name of best,
If she be nct so to me,
What care I how good she be?
'Cause her fortune seems 100 high,
Shall I play the fool and die ?
Those that bear a noble mind,
IVliere they want of riches find,
Think what with them they would do,
That without them dare to woo;
And, unless that mind I see,
What care I though great she be?
Great or good, or kind or fair,
I will ne'er the more despair;
If she love me, this believe,
I will die ere she shall grieve ;
If she slight mo when I woo,
I can scorn and let her go ;
For if she be not for me,
What care I for whom she be?
vales Mat2WKIW-M?fo
FOR THE GETTYRDDRGH STAR AND BANNER
Mn. MIDIILETON:—It is but seldom that I ven
ture to thrust my opinions on our citizens through
the public prints, and I am only tempted to indite
this communication through the peculiar filizfcr
of the times for the reception of,as I conceive,the in
disputable truths which it contains. For ample
testimony in its behalf lot the community speak.
To assert that this community deserves the title of
immoral, would, from its established character far
anal Vaed.r. AO,
was unfounded. And to assert that it was com
posed of citizens addicted to all the vim? which
"flesh is heir to," and a compound of all that is
wicked and profane as is exhibited by the state of
feeling existing in neighboring regions, would, if
the (ormer assertion be slanderous, be villainous in
the extreme. And to assert that we are intempe
rate sots, and winebibbers, would cause the heavi
est vengeance of our civil authorities to be visited
on the heads of those who would thus boldly at
tempt to defame the good name of our worthy citi
zens.
To the reputation of each of these we can bear
our most hearty testimony—but to the latter, it is
the object of this communication to direct the at
tention of your readers.
That the citizens of Adams County have the
character of "temperance people" in all the neigh
boring counties, hos been repeatedly proven, and
not only so, but it is termed a "temperance coun
ty." Our Borough consequently, takes part of
this good character to herself, and is honored not
a little in comparison with York, Harrisburg and
Lancaster by the position she has thus attained in
the temperance reformation. This character has
doubtless been obtained, and the conclusions dedu
cible therefrom founded on newspaper statements.
Thus, we annually hold a county convention, by
which a certain number of societies are reported
as existing in the county—to these a certain num
ber of members is attached—making an aggregate
of more than one thousand members, and out of
this statement we ascertain that three of these so
cieties exist in our Borough, and that about five
hundred members are attached to them. Who
would not be constrained to believe that we are
occupying a most enviable post and sustaining a
More enviable character in this works But what
are the facts. A scenery in real life will aptly
serve for illustration. One of these societies is
working its way slowly, but steadily through our
numerous winebibbers, taking up one and another,
as they become the more convinced that it is the
only ono that is calculated, by the strictness of its
requisitions, to produce the desired effect. A se-
cond has long lived amongst us; and stands now
as an old and venerated oak, which once, by its
towering height, and wide spreading branches,
invited the weary. worn out traveller to a scat be
neath its shade, there to enjoy the cooling breeze,
and be lulled into slumbers by the rustling of its
leaves, and the zephyrs sweeping thro' its boughs.
But now, it stands shattered by the lightnings of
heaven, deserted and decayed, no longer to he ad
mired nor to invite beneath its protection, from a
scorching heat or the driving storm. The twig
which but lately sprung from its root has grown
up to the lofty tree, under whose shelter,they who
fly from t!to storm have but to turn the eye and
witness the wreck of all that was once inviting and
protecting, but stands the tottering monument of
its former greatness—an obstacle in the way
of tho more perfect growth of its superior offhpring.
May its former greatness he gratefully remembered,
mt. mny it soon crumble into its kindred dust, no
longer to cumber the ground on which it stands.—
A third, and by no means the least important, is
the Young Men's Society. It too was a twig rear
ed from the ancient oak, more noble than its . sire.
But alas! the electric fire which caused the des
truction of its illustrious progenitor passed to its
veins and disturbed the flowing' of its vital fluids!
It had sprung . up too near the old trunk, and the'
roared by careful, and experienced hands, must in
evitably suffer from its more comely rival sprout
ing from the end, even the extremity of the ancient
"I WISH NO OTHER HERALD, NO OTHER SPEAKER OF MY LIVING ACTIONS, TO KEEP MINE HONOR PROM CORRUPTION. --SITARS
emtwwzaziwbrattat s zpa. trwaaabutiw E , auazaam s/0 aoamcb
OF
THADDEUS STEVENS, ESQ.
In favor of the Bill to establish a School of Arts
in the City of Philadelphia, and to endow the
Colleges and Academics of Pcnnsylmzia.—
Dehrered in the House of Representatives, at
Harrisburg, March 10, 1838.
Mn. SPEAKER, It requires a good deal
of courage, or rather insensibility,to address
the House in an afternoon session of a sunny
day. Yet, although the reasons in Favor of
this bill have been well and ably urged, and
although the objections have been rather
insinuated and hinted at, than urged, vet I
cannot help fearing that there is more hos
tility to the bill than it merits. I consider
most worthy the serious and candid consid
eration of this House, of any which has yet
been brought before it. One which, in my
udgment, more nearly concerns our honor,
and the interest of t h is great Commonwealth,
than any that can be brought before it.
I think it is generally admitted that with.
in the last few years, Pennsylvania has ac.
quired more honor by her legislation upon
the subject of Education, than she had ever
done before; and I cannot help believing,
that under whose auspices that legisla.
tion took place, will be gratefully remem
bered in after times; and that the name of
the Governor, who, fortunately, I admit, for
the honor and interests of Pennsylvania,gave
place to the present firm, intelligent,and in.
dependent Executive,;. when the faults and
follies of his party politics shall have been
forgotten, will stand out prominently and
honorably upon the records of Tiine, as a
root. It stands now almost paralized--still retain
ing that beauty of foliage which it assumed on its
first putting forth. Hero and there you observe
the autumnal hues—some of its leaves are droop
ing and colourless; others yellowed by storms;
others have fallen to moulder and decay, while
some appropriating all the remaining nourishment
aro apparently healthful. All it needs is to be
•'digged about the roots" to be put into thy hands
of those interested in its welfare, in order that it
may ho pruned and saved from the axe of the
woodsman. Why not save it, that it may ho more
useful than over! 'Why not protect it from the
hands of its destroyers?
•To the rescue, then, Young Men I Do your
duty; and show to those who wish anxiously for
its speedy dissolution, that they may he freed from
those obligations from which they would fain per
suade themselves they are released; that the pledge
of your Society is still in all its primitive force
and vigor; and that you are eager and prepared to
stand by and enforce it, either to honor or disgrace.
March 8, 1838. REFORM.
VOLT•IRE AND LA MOTTE.-0110 day Voltaire
when a young man of about twenty four read to
La Motte, who had a prodigious memory,a tragedy
which he had written. La Motto listened with
the greatest possible attention to the end. ,1 - . Your
tragedy is excellent," said he, "and I dare answer
beforehand for its success. Only one thing vexes
me; you have allowed yourself to borrow, as I can
prove to you, from the second scene of the fourth
act." Voltaire defended himself as well as lie
could against the charge. "I say nothing," an
swered La Motte, "which I cannot support,and to
prove it I shall recite this same scene,which pleased
me so much when I first read it that I got it by
.heart, and not a word of it has escaped me." Ac
cordingly he repeated the whole without hesitation
and with as much animation as if he had compos
ed it himself. All present at the reading of the
piece looked at euch other and did not know wha
to think. The author was utterly confounded.
After enjoying his embarrassment for a short time
—"Make yourself easy,eir, said I.a Mottc the scene
is entirely your own, as much your own as all the
rest, but it struck me as so beautiful and touching,
that could not resist the pleasure of committing
it to memory."
Forgive a man, even as often as he sins against
you, who is of so nervous a temperament as to 11C
thrown off his guard at every untoward incident;
but hold no terms of friendship with him who will
deliberately do a dishonorable action.
BEAUTIFCL COMPA lIIHON.—TIic Boston Pearl
says:—Until the hoart of woman is capable of
settling firmly and exclusively on one object, her
love is like a May shower, which makes rainbows,
but fills no cisterns!
THE HORSE'S Morro.—The following is
a pretty good translation of the old German
inottoTor
"Up bill indulge me—down the steep descent
Spare,and don't urge me when my strength is spen
Impel me briskly over the level earth,
But in the stable don't forget my worth!
The original German reads thus:—
Berg hiunuf, übertreib' mien nicht,
Berg hinab, übereil' mich nicht,
A of dem Ebencn, schen' mich nicht,
In dem Stall, vergise mich
Agroivisuirm ABSENCE OF M I ND.—A
remarkable dog, belonging to a young gen.
tletnan on Chartres street, called upon his
master's Dulctnea last Sunday morning,gal
!anted her to church, carried her psalm book
for her, and deported himself in so gentle.
manly a manlier, that neither lady nor dog
knew the ditFerence till the sexton stopped
him on the threshold of the sanctuary.
HARD Hrrivras.—“lf I were so unluc
ky," said an officer, "as to have a stupid son,
I would certainly, by all means, make him
a parson." A clergyman who. was in the
company, calmly replied, "you think differ
ently, sir, from your father."
EDUCATION
SPEECH
as the most important proposition,and one
great benefactor of the human race, for his
hold, manly, and persevering efforts in favor
of Education. I trust I may say thus much
in justice, without the imputation of flattery.
That gentleman's political sun has set for
ever. Power, patronage, and official favor.
will never again, to any great extent,be dis
pensed by him. Now flatterers and syco
phants,would rather shun and reproach,than
approach and applaud him.
But I trust that political prejudice and
party rancor will never be permitted to do
permanent injustice to meritorious actions.
For it should he remembered that the life
of public men is a life ofcalurnny and misery.
When, therefore, they have retired, let their
good deeds bo inscribed on tables of brass,
and over their errors be thrown the mantle' s
of oblivion. But great end creditable as
have hitherto 'teen the efforts of Pennsyl.
verde in the cause of Education, I trust she
is riot yet exhausted, but while she is only
in the vigor of youth in her physical strength
she has net yet attained the maturity of man
hood, much less the decrepitude of old age,
in her mental energies. But that this legis.
!attire, and many future deliberative bodies
here. will go on acquiring increasing lustre,
by their efferts in favor of useful knowledge.
The degree of civilization and intellectual
cuhvation of every nation on earth,inny be
ascertained, and accurately estimated, by
the amount of encouragenutut which they
give,not by individual contributions,for these
only show private liberality, hot by perms.
neat laws to common schools and common
education, and to the higher branches of
knowledge. Nor does it seem possible to
separate the higher from the lower brunches
efeducation, without injuring, if not pareliz
ing the prosperity of both. They are as
mutually dependant and necessary to each
other's existence and prosperity, as are the
ocean and the streams by which it is suppli•
ed. For while the ocean supplies the quick
ening principle of the springs, they in turn
pour their united tribute to the common re
servoir—thus mutually replenishing each
other. So colleges, and academies, furnish
and propogate the seeds of knowledge for
common schools; and they transfer their
most thrifty plants to these more carefully
and more highly cultivated gardens of know
ledge. I am aware that there are many
honest, highly respectable, and somewhat
intelligent gentlemen here, and elsewhere,
who, while they fully appreciate, and frank
ly acknowledge the advantages of common
schools,doubt or deny the utility of the higher
branches of learning.
Mr. Speaker, this subject demands care
ful examination, and candid argument, and
in that spirit I trust we shall inset it. And
I believe_ that e_ littl e careful and candid re
!flee i inn. ats, gantliainnn.thra In all
theirobjections,t bey err. They object that
colleges are schools for the rich, and not for
the poor—that classical learning is useless
in the common walks oflife—that it is soon
forgotten—that it tends to produce idleness
by promoting pride and vanity; this is the
argument of one gentleman here,and of many
elsewhere.
It may be true, that unendowed Colleges
are accessible only to the rich; but that
shows the necessity of endowing them, and
thus opening their doors to the meritorious
poor. Extend public aid to these institutions,
and thus reduce the rate of tuition: in short,
render learning cheap and honourable, and
lie who has genius, no matter how poor he
may be, will find the means of improving it.
It can hardly be seriously contended, that
liberal education is useless to man in any con;
dition of life. So long as the only object of
our earthly existence is happiness, enlarged
knowledge must be useful to every intellec
tual being, high or low, rich or poor—un
less you consider happiness as consisting in
the mere vulgar gratification of the animal
appetites and passions; Then indeed that
man, like the brute, is happiest who has the
most flesh and blood, the strongest sinews,
and the stoutest stomach. It may be true,
and probably is, that the mere literal and
verbal part of classic education is soon for.
gotten, especially in this country, where so
few inherit sufficient wealth to raise them
above the necessity of constantly following
some business to provide for themselves and
dependent families: but the impressions
which it makes—the noble principles which
it inspires, can never bo erased from the
mind. Besides, it tends to develope the
mental faculties and give them u strength,
solidity and energy, which they could never
otherwise acquire. Just as you see work
men build a massive and high arch over a
wooden frame, without which they never
could have reared and united it —yet when
it is united and becomes dry, it not only re
turns its shape, but is capable of sustaining
almost any amount of superadded useful
weight, although the wooden frame work is
rotted away or removed.
Never was there a grosser or more injuri
ous error than to suppose that (earning be
gets pride.. Ignorance is the parent of pride
and disgusting vanity; he only has censur-
able pride, who has ton little knowledge to
know that he is himselfa fool. But he who
has long and arduously labored up the hill of
science, and then found himself but standing
upon the threshhold of her temple—who, af-
ter a toilsome, and perhaps successful ex
amination of the worksof nature and of art,
discovers that lie has scarcely yet entered
upon the confines of the inimitable works of
an omnicient artist, will surely find nothing
in his own weak, blind insignificance, to
flatter pride - or foster vanity. ft is tile Mit.
erate, ignorant, senseless, witless, coxcomb
that struts and fumes, proud perhaps of his
ignoranee,himself, his baubles, and his folly.
Sir, I trust I need add nothing more to
show the advantages of a liberal education.
I believe that the proposed permanent mode
of providing for the higher institutions of
learning,is more useful to Hui cause ofscience.
and more economical to the State, than the
present uncertain mode or appropriations by
the legislature. In times of high prosperity
these institutions can maintain themselves;
but when the country is overtaken by seasons
ofadversity, which are inseparable from all
communities, and more frequently befall Re.
publics than any other Nations,because their
freedom of thought, action,and speculations,
renders their course of policy and laws less
stable and certain than in more despotic gov
ernments—these institutions are obliged to
impose increased burthens upon their dimin
ished number of students, or suspend opera.
tions. Men of good talents an .I high acquire
ments can with difficulty he found to embark
their fortunes upon such uncertain founda
tions; those, especially, whose daily bread
depends upon their daily labour, are entirely
excluded; and thus these institutions lose the
cervices of the most learned and industrious
teachers. For it will be admittedahat those
who have obtained their diplomas in defiance
of poverty are more likely to be industrious
and learned than their wealthy class-mates.
It seems to me that true economy would
be consulted by making appropriat ions small,
but permanent. The present sum proposed
is so sinall.as almost to make a Pennsylva
nian blush to find it opposed. The thirty or
forty thousand dollars, which is asked for
all these institutions is a ldss sum than you
appropriate annually to keep in repair a sin
gle section of your canals, to be disbursed
and expended by a single agent. Though
we have appropriated less in all, to Colleges
and Academies, than single institutions of
other States are worth, yet some of our in
stitutions have received in money and lands,
I believe 50, or 8100,000; and being thus
full of funds for a while, they flourished in
luxury, if not in idleness,and neglected what
was necessary for their future prosperity
and preservation. But if the same amount
had been sparingly, but permanently appro.
printed—combining the aid of Government
with their own industry and economy, these
institutions would have been perfectly pre
pared to meet the adversity of the times.—
They could have given a certain living to
their Professors, and they could have been
assured that their situations were perma
nent. This would add much to the cause of
science, and equally, I trust every gentle.
man here will think,to the glory of the State.
These institutions being permanent and pros
perous would reduce the price of education,
and thus enable the aspiring sons of the poor
man to become equally learned with the rich.
Then should we no longer see the strug
gling genius, of the humble, obstructed, and
as now, stopped midway in the paths of
science; but we should see them reaching
the farthest goal of their noblest ambition.
Then, the Laurel wreath would no longer
be the purchase or gold, but the toward of ,
honest merit! Then the yeomanry of our
country would shine forthon their grandeur,
the proudest ornament of the nation! In
these national workshops of science.t he gem
of the peasant would be polished, till it out
shone the jewel of the Prince!
I am aware that the too great increase of
the number of Colleges is feared by some.
I have no such apprehension. With a pop.
elation increasing as fast as ours is—with a
soil and a territory capable of supporting ten
millions of inhabitants; with free schools to
plant the seeds and the desire of knowledge
in every mind; with discriminating parents
to encourage and select those anxious and
best fitted for scientific acquirements, there
is little danger that we shall have too many
institutions for the education of our youth.
Why, sir, I trust and believe that the time
is but just ahead, when our most barren
mountains, now without inhabitants, shall
swarm with a useful and industrious popula
tion, digging and converting into individual
and national wealth, the vast treasures now
hurried beneath their surface. Then, the
farmers of the valleys—those who are now
called upon to aid in the cause of science
and of arts, will be no longer dependant on
a foreign market for the disposal of their
produce; it will all b' wanted to feed those
inhabitants of the mountains, who are, and
must be, employed in disemboweling the
earth of its treasures. With such a teem
ing population and such riches,t here is little
danger that we shall have too many schools,
but rather, that we shall scarcely findinsti.
tutions enough to cultivate the youthful
mind. But if there were danger, I think
this is well calculated to cure the evil. That
spirit of economy, 1 will not say parsimony,
which usually governs legislatures, would
tend to restrain their multiplication. Every
institution that is hereafter chartered,would
be entitled to receive the annuity fixed by
this law. That would prevent the incorpo
ration of any unnecessary ones. Now any
charter can be procured at first without any
appropriation; but this may be continued till
they are sufficiently multiplied to control the
Legislature and procure lavish appropria
tions to the danger of exhausting the treasu
ry, if not of breaking in upon the common
school fund itself. I hope this House will
see that a 'permanent method of making ap
propriations, is more useful to science, and •
more economical than the present mode—
surely it would be, more .honourable to our
law givers, to deem such a subject as this
worthy ofa permanent place upon our statute
books, than leave it as it now is, with a cold
constitutional recommendation to the way
ward care Of fugitive legislation.
I cannot help fearing from what we have
heard from the gentleman from Venango,
as to the inutility of learning, that there is
in this community too great and growing an
inclination, to undervalue classical know.
ledge. If we foster this disposition,is there
not danger that in some future revolution of
the condition oldie world,the light ofscience
will be entirely extinguished? When the
Barbarians made war, not only upon Rome
but upon all learning, wbat, and who re.
[VOL. 8
SerVeAliiiiiartir, and sciences,and knowlettg
of antiquity from utter oblivion? Not contcoi
mon Ethools, and gentlemen of common ed.::,l
ucatici, useful as they are. During. tlitt
long and gloomy period of the dark agent,
they were preserved and fostered,and finally
restoredbY liberally educated priests, ante'
learned monks; and if they did no other goiitt;; ! ii,
we owe the existence of science, as it now...
is, to them. This light of knowledge.
easily extinguished, and so hard and tediciarr4
to be rekindled, that it ought to be es care: :`:
fully guardedinight and day,as was ever the .•
sacred fire by,the vestal virgins.
But ought we not to look beyond the pre
sent moment,.and inquire into the effect ,'
which the arts and sciences are to have up.
~
on the posthumous glory of our coantry?7—
Nations, like individuals, sport but a brief
scene upon this stage of action, and then; `
pass away into the oblivion of their own
norance,or into that immortality which their
civilization and intellectual cultivation have
provided for them. Little as we think of ik
cow, such will, perhaps, at no distant day,
be the fate of this nation. And who does
not desire his country to live in the memory
of posterity ? Does any gentleman think
that we shall not, like all other nations, feel
the frost of time, and crumble to decay?
As surely as we can judge of the future
from the past, the day will come when even
civilization will leave us, and travel onward
perhaps to some yet undiscovered country,- .
or, having made the circle of the habitable
globe, return, reoccupy, and refurbish he
ancient but now deserted habitations; when
perhaps, as an act of retributive justice, thi
fair soil shall be retrod by the foot of thn
barbarian, from which he has been, is being,
and I fear will continue to be expelled by
Christain treachery, and robbery, and mur.
der. When your richest and proudest cities,
though now gladdened and enlivened with'
the commerce of every clime, shall be like ,
ancient Tyre,or modern Venice; when your /
vast system of Improvements, which is now
annually covered with the richest produc
tions of the fairest land and happiest people
on earth, shall be forgotten; when your
Canals shall be obliterated ditches, and your
Iron Railroads, which, for utility, put to
blush the proudest inventions of antiquity,
shall be less known and less used than are
now the Flaminian or Appian ways of Rome;
when these rich, fertile, lovely vallies, now
literally flowing with milk and honey f shall
be like the deserted plains of Palestine!
Is there any gentleman who thinks this an
idle vision of fancy? Need I remind you o
the trite, but eloquent example of Troy
whose very name, and the names of th
mighty men who did such deeds of valor
round and within her beleagured walk,
would now be unknown if they had not been
given to fame by the learning of tho Grecian
Bard. Her very site was a frequent and - a
fit theme of antiquarian argument.
If this allusion should be unintelligible
the opponents of this bill—if the writings
Homer should chance to be Greek to the
—I pray them to consult their Biblical in
formation, of which, I suppose, they would
all be ashamed to be ignorant, and ask,what
is now the condition of the once proud, pop
ulous, and powerful capitol of Edom, whose
armed warriors were the terror of surround
ing nations? Till within a few years, for
ten centuriv,its very location was unknown
to the civilized world, notwithstanding its
former grandeur. It is true that discoveries
have been lately made,
that show us perma
nent evidences of her fo rmer greatness, that
I fear we shall not leave behind us. You
may now behold her houses, and palaces,
and temples, and theatres, and tombs, more
magnificent than the dwellings of many na
tions, cut with immense labor and ingenious
art from the solid rock; there, to be sure,
they may ever be seen, until, perhaps, the
solid granite shall become fluid in the boil
ing crucible of the Almighty! It is true she
is still surrounded by her rock-built ram
parts; but they have not passed away with
her population, only because they are the
work of the Eternal Architect. But where
are the descendants of those who once ren
dered vocal those halls, and palaces, and
temples, and theatres? Nought remains of '
them, but their empty tombs—no human
voice now breaks the silence of that desola.
tion! The owl literally dwells In the house
of the rich man, and the dragon'reigns in
the palace of princes! Viewing such
as the doomed fate of Nations, whedeesnot - X:
desire to be able to look down thirklimgr4o4!,
desolating gulph of time, and amidstdee
truction, behold his own country forev r';a.,..
flourishing like the green and flowery mite
in the midst of a barren desert? Can any
''
one be insensible to these motives? Is there 4
a gentleman within these walls?—ls thert4,P::
a human being any where,whose tabernacle
of clay islohabited by a living soul,that does
not anxiously desire to see the fair fame and
noble deeds of his native land, instead ofbe-
ing blotted and blurred by Bcetian ignorance,
recorded in letters of living light, by the
bright pen of the historic muse? •
I am comparatively a stranger among you ,
—horn in another, in a distant state—no •
parent or kindred of mine did, does, or pro.
bably ever will dwell within your borders. 7
I have none of those strong cords to bind me
to your honor and your interest—yet, if
there is any one thing on earth which f ar. /
dently desire above all others, it is to see j .
Pennsylvania standing up in her intellectual,
as she confessedly does in her physical re. • •
sources—high above all. her confederated'
rivals! How shameful, then, would it be,'
for these her native sons to feel lease, when
the dust of their ancestors is mingled with
her soil—their friends and relatives enjoy
her present prosPerity—and their deecoM.
ants, for long ages to corns, will partake or
her happiness or misery, her glory, or bear
infamy! • • " , e,
How are we to secure for our country t
„
VPI