xt7fbg2h7f86 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7fbg2h7f86/data/mets.xml Caldwell, Charles, 1772-1853. 1832  books b92-217-30936060 English Printed by N.L. Finnell & J.F. Herndon, : Lexington, Ky. : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Washington, George, 1732-1799 Sermons. Discourse on the first centennial celebration of the birth-day of Washington  : delivered by request, to the citizens of Lexington on the 22d of February, 1832 / by Charles Caldwell. M.D. text Discourse on the first centennial celebration of the birth-day of Washington  : delivered by request, to the citizens of Lexington on the 22d of February, 1832 / by Charles Caldwell. M.D. 1832 2002 true xt7fbg2h7f86 section xt7fbg2h7f86 

                A


        DISCOURSE


               ON THE


  FIRST CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

               OP TES


BIRTH-DAY OF WASHINGTON,


         DELIVERED BY REQUEST,


  eI D lam  (393UMBS70 (Dal


        On the 22gd of February, 1832.






    BY CHARLES CALDWELL, x D.






        LEXTNCYTON, KENTUTCKY:
     PRINTED aY N. L. FINNELL & J. F. HERNDoN.
               18=3

 


                                     FEBRUARY 25th, 1832.
DEAR SIR,
    It is with the most sincere gratification that we discharge the duty
imposed upon us, as a Coomrtnittee, of communicating to you the fol-
lowing resolution of the Lyceum.
  " RESOLVED, That the thanks of this Lyceum be tendered to Pro-
fessor CALDWELL, for the able and eloquent address, delivered by him
on the 22nd inst. in compliance with an invitation, first given by the
Lyceum; and that a committee be appointed to request a copy of the
same for publication in pamphlet form."
  Adding our personal solicitation, to that of the Lyceum, on this
subject, we remain
                         Your friends,
                                         B. 0. PEERS,
                                         L. P. YANDELL,
                                         EDWIN BRYANT.
  To Professor CALDWVELJ



To Messrs. PEERS, YAN-DELL, and BRYANT:
       GE.NTLEXEN--In reply to your polite note, of the 25th, en
closing a Resolution of the Lexington Branch of the National Lyceum,
permit me to say, that I take great pleasure in placing at the disposal
of that Institution, the Address I had the honour to deliver, on the
22nd instant.
  For yourselves, accept my cordial thanks, for the friendliness and
courtesy of your manner, in discharging your duty as a Committee.
  I shall only further express my desire, that the members of the
Lyceum will consider the Address of the 22nd as inscribed to them.
as a mark of respect, by their and your
                  Friend and Fellow Member,
                                          CHI. CALDWELL
  February 27th, 1832

 



                                   LEXINGTON, March 9, 1832.
UR. CH. CALDWELL,
   Dear Sir-At a meeting of the Board of Councilmen for the City
of Lexington, the enclosed Resolutions were unanimously adopted.
  It affords me pleasure to be the organ of communicating to you the
wishes of the Board, that your Oration should be presented to the pub-
lic in pamphlet form.
  Allow me to say, that it occasioned me infinite pride and satisfaction
to listen to your Address, which was enriched with profound learning.
and the brilliancy of eloquence.
                Very respectfully,
                    Your most obedient servant,
                                       CHARLTON HIJNT.

  At a meeting of the Mayor and Board of Councilmen of the City
of Lexington, March 1st, 1832,
  Resolved, That the Mayor be authorised to make application to
Charles Caldwell, M. D. for his eloquent Oration, delivered at the re-
quest of the City Council, on the Centennial Anniversary of the birth
of GEORGE WASHINGTON, for publication.
  Resolved, That the Mayor cause 250 copies of the said Oration to
be printed in pamphlet form.
           A Copy-Att.      H. I. BODLEY, Clerk of the City.


To CHARLTON HUNT, Esq. Mayor of the City of Lexington:
    Dear Sir-It is gratifying to me to comply with the wishes of the
Board of Councilmen of the City of Lexington, as expressed in their
Resolutions, communicated to me this morning, respecting the Dis-
course I had the honour to deliver, at their request, conjointly with
that of the Lyceum, on the 22d instant.
  For the courteous and flattering terms, in which you were pleased
to make the communication, I ask your acceptance of my acknowl-
edgements, accompanied by an assurance of the high respect,
           With which I have the honour to be,
                    Dear sir, your obedient servant,
                                          CH. CALD WELI
   4farch Otih, 1832.

 



                         AN ODE
Coinposed for the first Centennial Celebration of the BirdWay of
                      WASHINGTON.
                  BY JOSIAH DNiHAM, ESQ.
          HAIL, the bright, the radiant morning;
             'Tis our Hero's natal day!
          Join each heart, and voice, and viol,
             Loudlv chant the solemn lay!
               WASHINGTON! thou sainted Hero!
               'Tis thy glorious natal day.

          Go,-,aid Heaven; let man no longer
             Fear the lash, nor kiss the rod;
           Seek a clime beyond the ocean,
             Where no tyrant's foot has trod.
               There, thou Pilgrim, Freedom waits thee;
               Go! and fear no tyrant's nod.

          Storms nor tempests fright the Pilgrim;-
             See him dare the mountain wave!
          Lo! he gains the destined haven-
             Freedom's home, or Freedom's grave.
               See him plant the holy standard,-
               Freedom's standard;-let it wave!

          Freemen! Tyrants still pursue you!
             Foes are thundering on your strand!
          Ikise-and meet the storm of battle;
             Rouse, ye daring, patriot band!-
               Heaven has deigned a chosen leader-
               flail the leader of your band!

          Loudly roars the furious onset;
             Soon the vanquished foeman flies;-
           See the Victor calmly smiling,
             Like von rainbow in the skies;
               Peaceful smiling, like the rainbow
               Beaming mercy from the skies.

           Sainted spirit! drop thy mantle,-
             'Tis an empire's jubilee;
           While the ocean wave is rolling,
             Let us raise the song for thee.
               Annual raise the grateful paan,
               Sainted WASHINGTON, for thee!

 

CENTENNIAL DISCOURSE.



FELLOW-CITIZENS,
       IT is recorded of an orator of antiquity, that,
being chosen to address the people, on a subject too
weighty to be handled by him, he appeared on the
rostrum, at the appointed hour, but maintained a fixed
and dejected silence. When asked, by one in authority,
why he did not commence his discourse he falteringly
replied, that the splendour of his theme had dazzled
him into blindness, and its unutterable magnitude strick-
en him dumb.
  I do not say that such is, at present, the case with
myself.  The assertion would not be literally true.
And, under the heavy responsibility devolved on me,
I am too much in earnest, and too solicitous of accu-
racy, to deal in hyperbole. Nor is this all. There
are before me so many great and shining realities, pre-
senting each a claim to my attention, that nothing could
justify me, in resorting to fiction. A statement of sim-
ple facts is all that becomes me, and all that is necessary
to my immediate purpose.
  I do say, then, not in the guise of affected modesty,
to propitiate favour, nor as a device in rhetoric, to elicit
applause by magnifying my labours; but, in the spirit
of truth, and with the approbation of my conscience-
under these sanctions, I declare, that the duty assigned
me, in the exercises of this day, is far beyond the reach
of my ability. To climb its height, compass its magni-
tudle, and adapt my performance of it to its boundless
variety, I find to be impossible. Nor do I deem myself
solitary in this incapacity. Far from it. The task is
beyond the ability of any man. The individual who
could dalty accomplish it, under the regulations, to which
I must conform. has not yet beheld the light. Nor is

 
6



there ground to hope that he ever will. Limited in
time and space, as I am; called on to embody and ex-
hibit, in a discourse of an hour, or even of manv hours,
matter sufficient to fill decades of volumes of history,
philosophy, and poetry, much of it rising to epic gran-
deur; and which would occupy years of labour and
research, in collecting and preparing it-thus restricted
in scope, and trammelled in action, awed by the vastness
of his subject, and oppressed by its weight, the master
genius of the age, if any such there be, would be want-
ing in the effort, as certainly as I shall. Worse still;
he could scarcely fail to sink, in his performance, far
below his usual level. The swan is lofty in its flight,
and melodious in its notes, only when it is joyous and
free; and, if his spirit be broken, or his wings ham-
pered, the bird of Jove is unfitted to soar. But I must
have done with introductory matter, and proceed to the
immediate object of the occasion.
  We are assembled to unite, in sentiment, with mil-
lions of our fellow-citizens, in a festive act, which the
nation honors, and all enlightened freemen will learn to
revere. We are pledged to perform our part, however
humble, with suitable feelings, and in such fitness of
style and manner as we can attain, in the great Jubilee
of the first Centennial Anniversary of the Birth-day of
Washington. In its own nature, as well as from the
object of it, the festival is peculiarly interesting, and
calculated to recommend itself to our choicest affec-
tions. But there is a consideration connected with it,
which should doubly endear it to us, and enhance, in an
equal degree, our devotedness in observing it. None
of us can hope to join in it again. Long before our
country shall be summoned to another observance of it,
  Exception is taken by Solve (I think hypercritically) to the phrase
"Centennial A-nniversary." It is to be recollected that, by the usage
of standard writers, the term "anniversary" is made to signify the
act of celebrating an annual festival, as well as the festival itself.
On this ground, therefore, the expression is correct.

 


we shall be insensible to the spirit-stirring scene. The
mandate of "Dust to dust" shall have been executed on
us; and, of all our own doings, which so anxiously oc-
cupy us, or of all that the partial hand of friendship, or
the fond one of love shall have done for us, not a rem-
nant may survive to tell that we have existed. Even
the record of the part we are acting in the rites of this
day, memorable as it is, may be erased and forgotten.
Time may have effaced it, neglect may have suffered it
to fall to decay, or accident or violence may have com-
mitted it to the flames, or scattered it to the wind. But
the assurance to this effect, I say, instead of dishearten-
ing, should cheer and animate us, in the present cele-
bration. As we shall partake of the festival but once,
let us do it in a spirit of gladness and gratulation, worthy
of the boon, for which it is instituted. While we do
homage to the occasion, with sentiments of gratitude
and veneration, it is our duty to enliven it with libations
of joy. Nor is there wanting another reason, why we,
as inhabitants of Lexington, should peculiarly rejoice
in it. Our city was named, by its intrepid founders, in
honour of the place stained and consecrated by the. first
blood of our revolutionary struggle, which Washington
conducted to its triumphant issue.
  On contemplating the subject, it will immediately
appear to you, that, in the service of this day, we are
called on, not merely to commemorate the life and ac-
tions of one of the best and most illustrious of men-of
HIM, who was pronounced, and justly so, by a compat-
riot and fellow-soldier, who knew him well, to be "First
in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow
citizens." A task like that, though confessedly arduous,
might be performed, in a manner to meet expectation,
and escape censure. But, a much higher and weightier
one devolves on us, as participants in this great festival
of the nation. We are to celebrate an epoch of sur-
passing moment-an aggregate, into which most that
enters belongs to the sublime-a portion of time. great

 
S



in the events, rich ill the improvements, and radiant in
the glory of an entire century! And of such a century,
as is not to be judged of by any other delineated in his-
tory. In splendour and magnificence, all that belongs
to substantial usefulness, and all that contributes to the
elevation and happiness of man, it is INSULATED A
ALONE. No single one of the preceding centuries, nor
any five of them united, can compare with it in the
grandeur of its march, or the importance of its results.
Each and all of them, when contrasted with it, sink and
grow dim, in a degree I am unwilling to attempt to
express, lest I subject myself to the charge of extrava-
gance. Feeling myself however supported, in the fol-
lowing statement, by all the authentic records that bear
on it, I offer it entire, although it is, in part, a repetition
of what has been already alledged.
  In all that pertains to the developement of mind, the
diffusion of knowledge, the display of public spirit, and
the cultivation and exercise of practical virtue; in
whatever relates to wisdom of design, benevolence,
magnanimity, and rectitude of intention, grandeur of
achievement, and felicity of result; in every thing that
ministers to human refinement in manners and taste,
to individual and domestic comfort and elegance, to the
elevation of man in the scale of existence, and the gen-
eral amelioration of his condition, as a moral, intellec-
tual, and social being; as relates to these points, and all
else subservient to the improvement and happiness of
our race, the term of years, beginning on the 22nd of
February, 1732I, and ending on the present day, has no
parallel in the annals of the world. When compared
with it, all preceding periods, of equal duration, serve
but as diminutives to swell its dimensions, or as shades in
the picture to heighten its lustre.
  Such, in the aggregate, is what I shall call, by way of
distinction, TIlE CENTURY OF WASHINGTON; and the
supremacy, as a member of the human family, of HIrI,
whose name it bears. is fairly deducible from it. He

 
9



was indisputably the MAN OF THE ERA; the individual,
who, taken in all his attributes, was the greatest, the
most efficient, and the best; who had fewer faults, and
higher virtues; and who, by his opinions, deeds, and
example, did more to amend the condition of his race,
than any of his contemporaries. However extravagant
this representation maybe deemed by some, or unfounded
perhaps by others, it is notwithstanding true, as might
be clearly made appear, were there time to dwell on it.
The facts which might be adduced to substantiate it,
are sufficient praise of HIN, who is the subject of it.
Besides having identified him, in the minds of the
American people, with all that is estimable and great in
human nature, they have embalmed him in his own
virtues, and enshrined him in his glory. To perpetuate
his fame, and prevent the breath of detraction from sul-
lying it, the facts themselves, as a body of testimony to
future ages, are placed alike beyond the influence of
dispute and forgetfulness. Faithful history has already
recorded them; the sentiments of liberated nations have
endorsed the record; Freedom has attested it; and
Time will put his seal to it, and render it imperishable.
  In this tribute to the Father of his country, it is my
wish to be liberal and discriminating, as well as correct.
Applause is substantial and lasting, only when tempered
with justice and truth. It is therefore that I make the
following admissions.
   Many individuals may have surpassed Washington
in extent of knowledge, depth of wisdom, and brilliancy
of genius. Chieftains superior to him in war may have
led armies to victory. Statesmen of greater attainment
and sagacity, and of more vigorous intellects and a wvi-
der reach of mind, may have figured in the councils and
cabinets of nations. Patriots of equal purity may have
devoted their lives to the service of their country; and
some men may have exhibited a moral and social ex-
ample as free from blemish. But, in no one known to
fame have all these elements been at once so abfindantlv

 

I0



and happily blended. In no one has the aggregate been
so great, and the balance so complete. And the per-
sonal form and majesty of their possessor were fit con-
comitants of such a rare combination of mental attributes.
Hence, if it is not now, it will be received hereafter, as
a conceded truth, that, as a monument of moral sub-
limity, individual grandeur, and unsullied worth, the
Leader of our revolution, and the Chief Founder of our
present government, is without a rival. The catalogue
of human greatness, extending through modern and an-
cient times, contains no other name so elevated and
spotless. The history of his life and actions, connected
with their consequences, abounds in matter confirmatory
of this.
  But I have dealt sufficiently in abstract views, and
general assertions. My duty requires that I should now
sustain them, by a reference to facts. That I shall en-
deavour to do, by a brief analysis of my subject. I mean,
by a hasty sketch of some of the leading events and
productions of the Century of Washington, which give
it the pre-eminence I have alledged it possesses. Those
events consist in the discoveries, inventions, and im-
provements, in the sciences and arts, as well as in the
mode of regulating the concerns of social and political
life, made within the period, to which I refer. They
all contribute, although unequally, and more or less di-
rectly, to human happiness; the only consideration
which renders them valuable. It may be added, that
they have given to the age, to which they belong, a
   The wife of a foreign Minister, a woman of a masculine and cul-
tivated mind, who, from having accompanied her husband, in the char-
acter of embassador, to some of the most distinguished Courts of
Europe, was no stranger to royalty, and other forms of elevated rank,
and factitious greatness, stated to the writer of this note, that Wash-
ington was the only personage she had ever seen, in whose presence
she could not feel at ease. She added, that, notwithstanding his
courtesy and affability, there was an augustness and personal majesty
about. him,.wlhich overawed her, and disqualified her for conversation.
Vet her collonmial powers were fine.

 

11



character of practical usefulness, far surpassing that of
any preceding one.
  In proof of the superior greatness and lustre of the
Century of Washington, I am justified in stating, that
it includes within its limits, the actual commencement
of almost all the sciences. In this assertion, which, at
the first view of it, may perhaps be questioned, it is my
desire to be correctly understood. My meaning is, that
most branches of human knowledge, whose facts are so
classed, and their principles so developed, that they now
fall strictly under the denomination of sciences, have
undergone the changes necessary to mould them into
that shape, since the 22nd of February, 1732. Previ-
ously to that period, if they existed at all, it was as a chaos
of individualities, along whose dark and troubled surface
no spirit of light and order had moved. Of all we now
denominate Natural sciences, this is true. Not one of
them had a formal existence a century ago. If we ex-
cept Mecharnical Philosophy, and Mathematics in its
various branches of astronomy, navigation, geometry,
and the rest, the world was then without a science.
Should that term be claimed for what was known of
philology, logic, and rhetoric, I shall not pause to con-
test the question, but shall dismiss it with a single
remark. Whether those branches were sciences or not,
the manner in which they were treated and taught,
contributed but little to enlighten the human mind, or
improve the condition of civil society.
  Much indeed had been written, and many impas-
sioned controversies held, about morals and metaphysics.
But, those branches were not erected into sciences. No
sound and stable principles in them had yet been de-
veloped. The productions of moralists and metaphysi-
cians, more especially the latter, were but little else than
the dreams of the closet or the cloister, and the dogmas
of the schools. They were not the offspring of obser-
vation and induction, the parents of all legitimate science.
Nature had never been fairly consulted respecting mat-

 
12



ters of mind. The subject indeed was considered
beyond the limits of nature; and hence called meta-
physics. Clouds and mysticism therefore enveloped
it. This, I venture to say, is true, although Aristotle,
Seneca, Leibnitz, Malebranche, Condillac, Des Cartes,
and others had lived and laboured. Even the metaphy-
sical writings of Locke, sagacious and profound as he
was, are marked with vision, and replete with error.
Their foundation is defective; and hence their super-
structure is necessarily perishable.
  I have admitted that certain branches of mathematics
existed as sciences, when Washington was born. But
most of them were comparatively inceptive and crude.
Their condition then, contrasted with their present con-
dition, was scarcely more than as infancy to manhood.
or the dawn of morning to noon-day splendour.
  True; Newton had lived, and astonished the world.
by his labours in astronomy. But, could that great man
return to earth, possessed of the knowledge lie carried
with him to the grave, lie would be himself no less as-
tonished, at the discoveries and improvements, in his
favourite science, which have been made, since his
death, by the labours of his successors.
  Let us fancy him reanimated, and seated in the ob-
servatory of Herschel, poring through the grand tele-
scope of that sagacious explorer of the heavens, and
mark the issue. But I must pause, until Newton him-
self shall have been taught, by its constructor, how to
use that wonderful instrument.  That being accom-
plished, what does the pupil first discover  Four
plan ts, which had escaped his notice, during his life-
time, sweeping along their orbits, between Mars and
Jupiter. Having contemplated these, he next observes
two satellites, equally new to him, moving in the distant
train of Saturn. He is then directed, by his instructor,
to throw his eve far beyond the belted planet, and it
falls on Georgiutm Sidus, and its suit of moons. Nor
is the lesson vet terminated. Instructed to launch, in

 

13



vision, into the shoreless ocean of the Milky Way, and
other portions of siderial space, he is lost in amazement
at the celestial glories, that beam on his eye from every
quarter. Suns and their systems, in countless myriads,
for the first time emerge to his view, from the abyss of
infinity, presenting him with an actual pageant in the
heavens, far surpassing, in splendour and magnificence,
all his fancy had previously conceived. Mighty as had
been his imaginings of creation, he finds they were
dwarfish, compared to the reality. To consummate
the whole; he learns, at length, that this array of beam-
ing worlds is nothing but a retinue of inferior orbs, mo-
ving obediently around one primary central sun, which
claims their homage, and gives them their laws. And
that sun he fancies to be fitted up, in suitable grandeur
and glory, for the immediate dwelling of the God of the
universe.
  But Newton has not yet finished his pupilage. Let
us contemplate him again in the retirement of his study,
where a widely different scene presents itself The
writings of La Grande, La Lande, D' Alembert, and
La Place are before him. In them he finds works of
human genius, at whose brilliancy and compass he is
scarcely less astonished than he was at his recent sur-
vey of the heavens. To fathom the depth, and follow
out the details of some of the calculations of those great
astronomers, proves a labour of such difficulty to him,
as he had never before encountered. Nor is it until af-
ter many trials, that he accomplishes his task. But suc-
cess at length crowns his effort, and brings along with
it an ample reward. Ile is enraptured vith the novelty
and delightfulness of the result. Where he had once
thought that irregularity and some confusion prevailed,
in the movemnents of the celestial bodies, he now finds
nothing but order and harmony. He, for the first time,
clearly perceives, what he had previously only imagined
or hoped, that the organization of the heavens is per-
fiect; that if one influence produces disturbance in it.
                          C

 

14



another rectifies it; that nothing is permitted to deviate
from its track, except in obedience to settled laws; that
every where antagonizing powers support and regulate
each other, and co-operate to the same end; that com-
ets themselves are as subject to control, as the planets
and suns among which they stray; and that therefore,
in the disposition and arrangement of the innumerable
orbs, which occupy immensity, and the complication of
whose movements would seem to be infinite, such a
scheme of checks and balances prevails, as to erect the
whole into a mighty system, self-regulated, self-sustain-
ed, subject to neither derangement nor decay, so com-
plete in all its parts, and so sublime and glorious in all
its attributes, as to be worthy of HIM who called it into
being. Such, I say, are some of the lessons, which even
Newton would have to learn, in his own science, were
he now to return to earth, before he would be up to the
present period, in the march of knowledge. It would
be easy to show, did circumstances permit me, that, on
many other points, connected with his favourite Stu-
dies, he would be found in an equal degree, wanting.
His acquaintance with the solar spectrum was very de-
fective. Of the rays of the sun, the colorific alone
were known to him. Of the very existence of the ca-
lorific and deoxidizing, much less of their properties,
he had no suspicion. Nor, while he would acknow-
ledge the valuable contributions to the science, by Hers-
chel, Piazzi, Olbers, and Harding, in their discoveries
of additional suns and planets, would he fail to adjudge
the palm to La Place, for his unprecedented calculations
of the movements and laws of the material universe.
The "Traite de Mecanique Celeste," of the latter as-
tronomer, he would lay by the side of his own " Princi-
pia," and pronounce it one of the most gigantic produc-
tions of the human mind. So great have been the dis-
coveries and improvements in astronomy, and its collat-
eral branches, within the period I am reviewing.
  Nor has scientific and practical navigation been less

 

15



strikingly advanced, within the same term of years.
This truth is so palpable, that to dwell on it would be
superfluous. The simple statement of it is sufficient,
for all who are observers of current events. The arri-
val of every ship in our seaports is proof of it. Long
since the middle of the eighteenth century, a voyage
across the Atlantic was deemed a serious and perilous
undertaking. And to pass Cape Horne, or the Cape of
Good Hope, was considered almost tantamount to a pas-
sage to the grave. The length of time moreover con-
sumed, in the accomplishment of those enterprises, was
comparatively great. But that condition of things ex-
ists no longer. Improved navigation has entirely dis-
pelled it, and introduced a new and much more desira-
ble one. The voyages referred to are now performed
with such ease and safety, and in periods so reduced,
that none of them are dreaded; and some of them are
resorted to, as excursions of pleasure. This change is
attributable to various causes. The chief of them are,
improvements in naval architecture and practical sea-
manship, the invention of chronometers, multiplied and
improved modes of taking celestial observations subser-
vient to navigation, and a more accurate knowledge of
winds and currents.
  Much was known, a hundred years ago, of the land
and water of the globe we inhabit. But Geography, as
a science, had no existence. Physical Geography had
not even received a name. It can scarcely be said that
the earth was definitively proved to be a sphere. Cer-
tainly no voyager had yet passed around it; the enter-
prise which settled the question of its figure. Other
facts had rendered its sphericity a matter of belief, with
all enlightened men; that proved it. Circumnavigation,
the most gigantic, and one of the most important ge-
ographical achievements, belongs then to the Century of
Washington. So do the discovery and exploration of
the greatest part of the continent of Oceanica, which is
now, to the student of Nature, one of the most interest-

 

                         16

itg portions of' the world. Nor is it unimportant to
him, whose business is commerce, and his object gain.
Even governments have found it worthy of their atten-
tion, on various grounds of national policy.
  Although the continent of America had been long
discovered, yet little was known of it, in 1732, except
along its maritime borders, and in the vicinity of its
principal rivers. Its great interior was wholly unex-
plored, save by the roving sons of the forest. And they
passed through it, not to study its character, as philoso-
phers, develope its resources, cover it with the product
of skilful cultivation, and connect it. by industry and
enlightened enterprise, with other lands. Their am-
bition was, to preserve it as hunting-ground, make its
waters tributary to their pastime and sustenance, and
stain its soil with the blood of their foes. But, within
the period already specified, the entire continent, in all
its divisions, from the extreme north to the heights of
Cape Horne, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean,
has been trodden by the foot of civilized man; its native
wealth, with its susceptibilities of cultivation and popu-
lation has been examined; it has been formally added to
the community of nations, and the knowledge of it
makes a part of scientific Geography.
  To the continent of Africa similar remarks may be
partially applied. That extensive and interesting quar-
ter of the globe has not been neglectedi. Though still
too deeply hidden from cultivated travellers, it is much
better known, than it was at the commencement of the
era I am considering. Within the same term of years,
several voyages of discovery, directed to the seas and
lands of the north, have added not a little to the stores
of geography.
  Nor must I omit what has been done in the continent
of Asia, the first inhabited portion of the earth. Even
there, the spirit of discovery has been active and effi-
cient, within the century, whose events I am reciting.
Many of its great rivers and plains, previously unknown,

 

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have been successfully examined, and the Himmalayan
mountains, not more extraordinary from their height,
than singular on account of other qualities, have been
measured and explored.
  As sciences, or branches of the same science, Miner-
alogy and Geology are of recent origin. Even fifty
years ago, they were so incipient, as to be scarcely spo-
ken of. Yet now, they constitute the delight of many
of the most cultivated votaries of nature, and minister
abundantly to the resources of nations. The mineral
wealth of the world is much developed and augmented by
the improvements they have introduced in mining; and
they have greatly extended the boundaries of know-
ledge. They have already thrown no little light on the
philosophy of earthquakes and volcanoes, more espe-
cially the latter, and are doubtless destined to throw
yet much more. They have also facilitated and impro-
ved, in a high degree, the operations of cutting canals
and constructing roads, and other works of convenience
and usefulness. Nor is this all. To them alone are
we indebted for all that is rational in our present theory
of the earth, including its structure, primitive condition,
former productiveness, the changes it has undergone,
the corresponding succession of its inhabitants both
vegetable and animal, and its probable term of past du-
ration. As relates to several of these points, more infor-
mation has been communicated, and more prejudices
removed, by that division of the science; which treats of
Fossil Remains, than by all other sources of knowledge.
It has done much therefore to disenthral the