The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1847-12-11

this, cannot and raust not be submitted to-tax
your monisd Shylocks tin they shall be driven,
iA very shame, from their heartless bust
ness, aud by law forbid forever, ali mOnOp-
Olies"
Is the Democracy in earnesti Does il mean
what il says Let il turn its eye upon Mexico.
What is the lust Of conquest there exhibited
Only this hard grasping spirit acted out on
national scale. What the thirst for plumber
there indulged1 sweepingly selfish avarice
which grasps all il can ge1-nOthing more nor
less. And what the unbridled lawlessness which
makes might-the power to dO-the limit Of its
actionl The very essence Of every polluted
feeling which In the individual would strip
naked the poor man, and leave him to starve
while tables, around him, grOaned with plenty!
Aye, this national robbery, this bold and profit
gate national plumber, this daring display of
tional lawlessness, on the Mexican soil, is but a
concentration, abroad, Of every evil which the
Democracy ever conjured up, and a surer quick
ener, Of direr dangers, at home, than il has
ever yet had to meet Can national avarice exist,
and individual avarice be checked Gun ma
tiOnsl oppression be tolerated, and individual
oppression be prevented Can national heart
lessness be exhibited, and individual heartless-
ness be successfully cOmbattedl Why, the acts
of the Government are but the expressed will of
the nation, and, if lis acts be bad, the spirit
and conduct of the people will be bad, also. II
is vain to look, hope for, or dream of any other
result.
There is dangsr-great danger-in our cOun-
try, of our forgetting from these causes, the ex-
ample Of our fathers and CELEBRATING their spir-
il; we may say, indeed, that this will be so, il
We are to ride on storm Of military conquest.
Our peril is more imminent than that Ct any
European people.
Europe groans under her war-debt. 1t weighs
down Prince ana People, and arrests struggles
for freedom, and efforts for progress, in all the
more civilized nations. Experience has taught
Europe the folly and wickedness of war. The
causes which produce 1.-THE ends and aims Of
warts results-are knOwn-tth every day
and every hour--and every day, and every hour,
consequently, the voice of the many grows
louder and stronger as it Proclaims the christian
freenan's creed-PeGee on Earth, Good Wal
TO No traPpings Of rank bewildsr them
longer. No mail-clad warriors mislesd them
into camoring for blood, when, if the foe fall,
the masses know their heel shall tread down the
The true liberals Of Europe, thsrsfors--Shese
who yearn for revolution-and are eager TO bat
tie for it-use only moral action; they eschew
all violence; they ask for no armor-suits aud on
their flags, and over their banquet rooms, and
upon the banners that float from their halls
is inscribed, as their motto, Peace, and Progress.
But here-in this new Republican land-vhile
We have no such war experience, no such wal
debts, We are, individually, fired by 6ercer
social ambition, and love of distinction, than
any nation, ancient or modern, ever exhibitedi
and if the policy and spirit Of our Government
shall foster these ruling passions, by wars Of
conquest, we shall end, as sure as we exist, in
having military despotism, privileged Oroers
and class interests.
What is to prevent Not the temper of our
leaders, political, monie6, or military. Some Of
them-many, at first-wOuld. peril life in a mo-
ment to prevent this change; but the habifual
assertion of authority, without reference to
others claims or any standard Of justice, the
open robbery carried on under pretence of law,
/ yet in violation of all right, the mental use Of
freemen as soldiers, breeding contempt for them,
and contempt for the masses, on the part Of
those who rule or direct, must wrap the Republic
in one black pail of moral ruin. OF all disasters,
Of any spirit created by whatever is evil, in
deed, We regard wars of conquest as the worst.
FRANKLIN, in pithy style, and with graphic pow
er, sketches the terrOrs Of the battle-scene with
startling strength
"ln what light we are viewed by superior be-
ings may be gathered from piece Of late West
India news, which possibly has not vet reached
you. A young angel Of distinction being sent
down to this world on some business for the first
time, had an old courier-spirit assigned him as a
guide. They arrived over the seas Of Martinico
in the middle Of the long day Of obstinate fight
between the fleets of Rodney and De Grasse.-
When through the clouds of smoke he saw the
fire of the guns, the decks covered with mangled
limbs, and bodies dead or dying the ships sink
ing, burning, or blown into the air; and the
quantity Of pain, misery, and destruction, the
crews yet alive were thus with so much eager
ness dealing round TO one another he turned
angrily to his guide, and said, you blunder-
ing blOckhead, you are ignorant Of your bust
ness; you undertook TO conduct rne to the earth,
and you have brought me into hell" no, sir, >
says the guide, q have made no mistake this is
really the earth, and these are men. Devils new
er treat one another In this cruel manner; they
have more sense, and more Of what men (vainly)
call humanity"
But no man that we know of has been able,
with pen or pencil, to group, and, in one pic
ture, paint the misery corruption, injustice, in
humanity, righteousness, of wars Of conquest
They are the very blackness Of human iniquity.
They reach, invariably, to the utmost depth Of
human misery, and gusge the farthest bounds of
human guilt Never have they been begun,
and abandoned! Never yet did they fail to over
throw the government that systematically carri-
ed them on. Never now, or hereafter will they
produce any other consequences but decay, and
degradation, and a biting and universal misery,
TO the people who habitually sustain them.
W