Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1848-04-19

10, WEDNESDA 81 D I s "a PR l[''R
! seems to be approaching us Crisis; forth
year, in time Of profound Peaee, the res
enues are insufficient 10 nneet the expendi
J lures. Where is the tfue-hearfsd Anaeri
can who does not long for the tefn1inaiio
of such q state Of thingsa
!, One Of the strangest events ii this zda,
Of great events, is the origin of thase noye
! ments in favor efaliberty upon lie cont
; nent Of Europe. Whence came they!
From the Eternal City--ffpma The head d
the Catholic religion-the successor of ST
Peter. immediately on caasion t.
the Pontificate, the Pope axowed Us attach
ment to free principles, and from the v ali
8 can went out the decree which is, now
spreading through the earth. The Pontiff
who holds the keys of St. Peter, has @foune
4 a key to unlock the recesses of the human
] heart. His moral courage was but the
more tried by the difficulties of his position
4 The abuses Of the government were the
work Of ages, and had entered into all the
habits Of life and the ramiications Of socie
4 ty: andshe was surrounded by despotic gov.
! ernments, jealous of the first aspirations ol
| liberty and maintaining their sway by
powerful armies. = The Austrians, too, with
his Fandours and his Croats from the banks
of the Danube, had descended the ridges
of the Alps, and had spread himself over
the sunny plains of Italy. Almost in sight
Of the dome of St. Peters, he watched, with
interest and with many threatening word,
the progress of the Pope. But the work
went on. Naples is in state of revolution;
Tuscany and Sardinia i'm state of reform;
and France ofapparently peaceful progress
in the new career opened to her. - ~
will not detain you by any recapitula.
ton, however BRIEF of the abuses and op-
pressions which have engrafted themselves
into those old governments. An Ameri-
can ear might hear them, but an American
heart could not comprehend them. The
sovereign was the sole Legislator, with pow
er to make and unmake laws at his pleas
ure, and to levy all the taxes he desired.
He could imprison any one Of his subjects,
when and where and as long as he pleas
ed; and this horrible power was often ex-
ercised on the request Of an abandoned mis-
tress or worthless courtier. The nobility
were enyironed with great privileges; and
among these were exemption from taxa
ton, an exclusive right to serve the State,
and an unlimited power, even Of life and
death, over their vassals, as the people are
called. In France, the great revolution of
1883 had swept away many of these rel.
les Of barbarism. That great event did
more for hsman liberty, for freedom of
thought and action, than every. thing which
had occurred in the world during the ten
preceding centuries. i--....t-. g
What | thought oft, will appear from
the following extract of the remarks, to
which l shall more particularly refer by.
and-by: -. ..--,ss -
"lt has accomplished a vast benefit for
France and for the world; though, in look.
ing back upon its different phases, it is evil
dent that, with less exaltatiop of mind, the
same results might have been obtain
ed, and years of trial and suffering spared
to the country. Almost all the existing in
slltutlonsof France owe their origin to the
half century which has just passed away
the annihilation of feudality and aristocra-
cy-equalty the most perfect before the
law; the abolition Of primogeniture, in the
descent Of property; national representa-
tlon, and its natural consequence, the rem
oering the representative chamber q CEN
tral point OF influence and authority-the
iall ct the ecclesiastical regime, with its
secular riches and temporal power; the
freedom OF fthe press; tthis was before the
laws OF repression as they now exist)-and
more than alb and above all, public o..
pinion ever yigilent to detect any abuse of
authority, and ever ready to demand melio-
ratlons In the institutions Of the country"
The downfall of Napoleon, the res,ora.
tion and expulsion of the Bourbons, and the
revolution of 1880, still left much Of pub.
iic freedom to acquire, and much for a ra-
t'onai government to do. And, unfortunf
ately, the government of July began, after
a few years, to forget its promises, and
Particularly with the advent Of M. Guizot
to power, marked its progress by public
disafection, and terminated in the most
calamitous results for its authors. One of
the most crying evils of France was the in
equality OF her representation 600
voters out of 36, ,o00,O 900 of people having
alone the privilege of election. Laws Of
repression, too, were passed controlling the
press; and some time since, an obsolete
law of l79l was revived, prohibiting pub
lie banquets, and political assemblages. A.
gainst this state of things, the French peo-
pie have risen in their might, and it has
disappeared before them almost without
bloodshed. The King and his family, and
the members of his government have fled.
A provisional administration has been or.
ganized; the army and the navy have oui-
city submitted; the people have given their
to the new order of things, and the I
powers of Europe are Fastening to ac.
knowledge it. Every American will rejoice
hat the mighty change has been effected
with SO little expenditure Of human life. 1t
> bloodless not bloody revolutions that we
Iesire. Unfortunately, our country is the
only one under the face of Heaven where
he right to change the government is a
fundamental principle Of the political in
And it is therefore, in fact, the
nly government beyond the reach of
evolution. All the change we desire is
made by the ballot, and force is thus exclu. ,
ed from arly agency in our public aff,;rc