Behind us lies a night of fearful gloom, unillumined by the light of written records, of picture memorials, of aught which can give a certain idea of the past. A few stray streaks of light, in the form of tradition, of oral poetry, of carved records, are the only guides we have. And, in the gloom of that night, are fast fading out of view, although dim outlines of them are still visible, some of the most fearful spectres which have ever stalked amongst mankind in the hideous shapes of idolatry, human sacrifice, and cannibalism, mixed up with which, in uncouth unison, is much of real poetry and of actual grace of fancy. Future generations will almost doubt that such gloomy forms of thought have haunted their highly cultivated and civilized homes, or that a people debased by such barbarities could yet have felt and cherished so much of the poetic and good; and if they could then question us who have seen these now fading superstitions ere they wholly vanished, what eager questions they would propose to us regarding their monstrous shapes, their horrid aspect, the rude and inharmonious voices with which, with horrid shouts and yells, their orgies were fulfilled! How eagerly the poet, the painter, the sculptor, would seek to recover some traits of their terrible lineaments, or of their softer outlines when they related to scenes of the gentler passions or of domestic life!—that either a stern grandeur or the romantic glow of a primitive state of existence might be imparted to some work of art."
To these graphic and striking words I will only add that no problem of ethnology, no question of political economy (in its best and most practical sense), can be regarded as alien to us Britons, who, throughout our vast Empire, are brought into contact with so many and such diverse nations. The noble exhortation addressed to the Romans of old by their greatest poet is, in its spirit, equally applicable to our own Imperial race, which now rules those Indian realms that baffled the arms of Alexander, and is fast peopling and replenishing that Australasia, or "Great Southern Land," which lay beyond the charts of Nearchus and Strabo, of Marco Polo and Columbus:—
Excudent alii spirantia mollius æra,
Credo equidem, vivos ducent de marmore vultus;
Orabunt causas melius, coelique meatus
Describent radio, et surgentia sidera dicent;
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento;
Hæ tibi erunt artes.[1]
If I did not feel that I had already trespassed too long on your attention, I would, in conclusion, urge the expediency of the encouragement, in some departments of the colleges and schools in this new land, of that technical and scientific education which is now year by year asserting a higher place
- ↑ Virgil, Æn. VI., 848–853.
