The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1848-02-12
THE WESTERN STATES.

We seldom see any thing in the NORTH
AMERICAN REVIEW more lively in description
or more truthful aud encouraging ip sent-
mant, than the following from review of
Bgrnet's Notes on the Northwest -
Upon the surface of the earth there is 10
land which ought TO be more interesting to
us than the vast aud wealthy real IN which
lies upon the mississippi and its tributaries.
The dead or dying hero is no more worthy
of our regard than The new born infant
Beyond the Alleghnnes is 10 be tried the
great question Of our age and race-that Of
self government as we call it, or, more prop
ery, the question whether we can and will
submit ourselves 10 the Government of God.
There is Pagan Democracy, which looks
to real self control, or, in other words, no
control at all, which demands its own rights,
and aims at nothing higher than happiness ;
but there is also Christian Democracy which
bows to the Controller Of all. looks to the
rights of others and its own duties, and aims
al justice, truth and Gods kingdom among
men. Upon those Western "knobs," along
those winding rivers, and 10y The side of the
countless little water courses and "dry runs"
of that vast valley are the rival spirits of
Heather and Christian Democracy 10 con-
tend for supremacy already the battle is be-
gun.
And what a field! From the AllegiOnies
to the Rocky mountains, from the frozen
lakes of the North 70 the tcpid waters of the
Gulf of Mexico Every soil, every climate,
every variety Of surface. OF all the great
products of the world, coffee is tho only one
which does not, or may not, grow there
Take the people of Britain, Ireland, France,
Holland, Germany, Italy and Spain, and place
the whole in the valley beyond the AppaIa-
chiuns, and it would continue to ask for
"more." Ohio alone, without sinking pit
below the level Of her valleys, could supply
coal equal TO tie amount dug from the mines
of England and Wales for twenty-five hun
dred years and Ohio is but pigmy, in the
way of bitumcn, compared with Western
Pennsylvania and Virginia. Iron ahounds
from Tennessee TO Lake Erie, and forms the
very mountains of Missouri and Arkansas
Salt wells up from secret siorehouses in eve
ny Northwestern State. Lead enough to
shoot the human race extinct which is raised
from the great metallic dikes Of Illinois and
Wisconsin. Copper and silver beacon all
trusting capitalists to the shore of Lake STU
perior. I'D mark The water-courses, the
chain of lakes, the immense plains graded for
railroads by Nat,re's own hand, the reser-
voirs Of wafer Whiting for canals TO use
them. Already the farmer far IN the interior
woods Of Ohio or Indiana may ship his pro
duce at his own door 10 reach Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, or New Or
leans, and every mile OF its transit shall be
by canal, steamboat, or ra-car.
What Il land is this for Democracy TO try
her hand I'M How different from tue hard,
rough Atiica, where the olive tree, the peas
ants COW and pig combined in one, clung 10
the assured rock century after century, yield
ing its butter aud lard where the cumming
swarms of iiymettns were instead OF the SUI
garcane, and pastures and fields, and eas e
and plenty were not tempting men TO sloIh
and neglect. Is not the very wealth of the
West TO be its ruin? Can virtue and self
control exist without hard labor and strug-
giles? And can labor he the characteristic
OF land so reeking with abundance?
Let us enter that land, aud choose its most
typical State, Kentucky let us look at its
towns, It's people, its inner history aud see
what light we can gather TO aid us IN Yam
kee guess ut The time 10 come. We leave
the Ohio valley we ascend the hills, ifthose
deserve the name which ure only elevations |
of depression," the ridges left where
the water has quilted the plain; how
rounded how feminine the landscape! Over
the gentle undula,ons, symmetrical as the
bust of Venus, the ripening wheat, the rising
corn-feds, spread to the shudow of the en-
erald maple-boughs, or the feathery beeches.
The blue sky softens in the distance into
dazy, sleepy white the tulip-tree, left alone
in the pasture, lifts its branchless trunk sew
enty or eighty feet heavenward, and the broad
glossy leaves twinkle and wink in the sun
beams the cattle lie doing, only their molar
teeth wakeiul /; the pigs are deep in the nllre
by the brook side gaunt horse, dragging
after him at the plough-tail all unwilling ne
gro walks between the corn-rows, trampling,
not Graduating, the weeds; through the open
door of the farmhouse, as you pass, you may
see the mistress id=iRg in her easy chair; when
you reach the town before us, you may find
her helpmate talking politics at the tavern
door.
And now we come upon the town. the
county seat How old it looks! Nature so
Young and vigorous, and this poor place so
decrcpit and halt! The stone house at the
corner has not whole window in it, and the
chimneys look more ancient than Pyramids;
the hewn-log dwelling to the left iotters and
reels as if the steaming bar-room next door
kept it perpetually halfdrunk, the hotel it.
SELF red, and brick, and brazen, is the symbol
of inpudence and brutality,--ofth that Heather
Democracy whose lile-blood is whiskey, and
whose breath is oaths.
Let us Join the group round the OLD gen
teman who with his chair in the street. his
feet on the window-sill, and his left hand in
his ruf1led shirt bosom, and his cud in his
cheek, is laying down the law, pointed off
with spurls of TOBACCO juice. These men,
common as they look, are not common men;
lazy as they appear, leaning the shoulder a,
gainst the polished door posts, they are iull
of energy and ability. Such men as these
won the battle ofBuena Vista, and will rule
the world if they choose to. Here is one,
hard featured aud stern, with full veiEs and
a complexion like half tanned OK hide, who
would. like Harry Daniel of Mount Sterling
,i,c hor Of hic wife and see her.