Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
A SPEECH
ON THE
Impending Revolution,
DELIVERED IN
Music Hall, Boston, Thursday, Feb, 1, 1872,
AND THE
Academy of Music, New York, Feb. 20, 1872,
THE
IMPENDING REVOLUTION.
Standing upon the apex of the nineteenth century, we look backwardthrough the historic era, and in the distant, dim past catch sightof the feeble outreachings of the roots of humanity, which duringthousands of years have evolved into the magnificent civilization bywhich we are surrounded. Mighty nations have risen and fallen; empireshave gathered and wasted; races and peoples have evolved anddecayed; but the mystic ebb and flow of the Gigantic Spirit concealedwithin the universe has continued upon its course, ever increasing instrength and in variety of sequence.
It is true that the results which have flown from this progressivecourse have very materially changed. Early in its history everyachievement was considered great or small, as its conquests by militaryprowess were great or small. But who in this era would think of placinga Sesostris, or a Semiramis, or even an Alexander, or Cæsar, incomparison as conquerors, with the steamship, the locomotive engine,the electric telegraph, and last and greatest, collecting the efforts of allmen, and spreading them world-wide—the printing-press. Wherekings and emperors once used the sword to hew their way into thecenters of barbarism, the people now make use of their subtle powersof intellect to pierce the heart of ignorance. The conquerors of thepresent, armed with these keen weapons, are so intertwining the materialinterests of humanity that, where exclusion was once the rule amongnations, intercommunication has made it the exception. Every yearsome new tie has been added to those which already bound the nationstogether, until even the continents clasp hands across the oceans, and4salute each other in fraternal unity, and the islands stand anxiouslywaiting for their deliverance.
The grand results of all these magnificent changes have accrued tothe benefit of nations as such. All the revolutions of the past haveresulted in the building of empires and the dethroning of kings. Thegrandeur of the Roman Empire consisted in its power, centered in andexpressed by its rulers. The glory of France under the great Napoleonwas the result of his capacity to use the people. We have no historiesmaking nations famous by the greatness of their peoples. Centralization