The Port Gibson herald, and correspondent. (Port Gibson, Claiborne Co., Miss.) 1848-18??, 1850-07-26


tant event, perhaps" says Lord Brnugham. sin
The his ory Of our species;" mighty drama in
human affairs.
y That the group Of colonies,
planted side by side. on the shores of the Amer
lcan continent, speaking the same language, sub.
Jrct to The same government, belonging to the
same national stock, and reared in the same cir
cumsiances of national fortune, should. in assert.
ing BY joint act their independence Of The mother
country. enter Tito constitutional union with
each other, was at the least as certain, as that
they were destined TO career Of prosperity.
such union was the obvious condition Of mufu.
ally beneficial intercourse. of domestic harmony
and respectable posit1n before the world. Or
OF anarchy. civil war, and the ultimate extinction
OF Tree government was to be their doom, The
want OF union was as obviously the first step TO-
wards IFS accomplishing 1t. Union was the first
condition of success in the revolutionary srrug
gle: it was the United States that de.ared their
Independence; the United States whose indeppn.
dence was acknowledged by the treaty OF 1888
Atteran unsatisfactory experiment of the old con-
federation, it was the people oe the United States
by whom. for the purpose If forming "a more per.
iect union" the present constitution was adop.
ted.
1t would be an unavoidable consumption al
time To attempt TO point out the innnmerahe
ways, in which the union has auspiciously inf1u-
enced the dPstinies of the country. There is.
however, one view of this subject of so much
Importance, that cannot fnrbear to present il
more particularly toyour consideration Among
the great ideas Of the age, we are authorised in
reckoning growing sentiment in favor OF peace.
Animpressinnis is unqnestionably gaining strength
in the world. that public war is no less reprnach.
fu to our Christian civilization, than the private
wars Of the feuda chiefs in the middle ages.
The hope Of adjusting national controversies BY
some system Of friendly arbitration, a hope which
philanthropic minds have distrusiIulIy cherished
in other periods, has of late, been openly avow-
ed by men o. more practical class: by men
cnnversant with the policy Of the world, and
fresh from its struggles. The last year witness
sed the assembling ofa peace convention of a
very imposing character at Paris; similar one
is about TO be held at Frankfort OIL the Main.
A Congress of nations begins to be regarded as
a practical measure. Statesmen and orators,
and philanthropiSts are flatterng themselves that
the countries of Europe, which have existed as,
independent soyeregnties for a thousand wears,
and have never united in one movement since
the crusades, may be brought into some commu-
nifty Of actinn for this end. They are called
conventions and digesting projects by which en-
pires Kingdoms and republics-nhabed BY diff.
fprent races of men-iribes Of Scavnnian.
Tenfonic, Latin and mixed notwithstanding
different languages, believing different creeds-
Greeks, Catholics, ard protesiants, men who
are scarcely willing to live ON the same earth
with each other, or go to the same heaven. can
be made to agree to some great plan Of common
umplrage. II, while these sanguine projects are
pursued-wiie we are thinking il worth while
to compass sea and land in the expectation of
bringing these jarring natohalties into some
kind Of union. in order to pnt stop to war; il,
say, at this inncture, the people Of these thirty
United States, most of which are q! the aver,
age size Of European kngdom-desiined, if
they remain a century longer at peace with
each other, TO equal in numbers the entire
population Of Enrope-States which, drawn to-
gethrr by general identity of descent, language,
and faith, have not so much formed as grown ND
into national confederation; possessing in its
central legislature, executive and judiciary. an
efficient tribunal for the arbitration and decision
Ofcontropprsies, an actual peace Congress, cloth
ed with all the powers of a common constilu.
ton and law. and with Jurisdiction extending
to the individual citizen, (Which this projected
Congress of Nations does not even hope 10 ex.
ercise,) if, while we graspat this shadaw of
Congress of Nations-we let go 0f-nay, break
mp and scatter to the winds-this substantial
Uninn, this real peace Congress which for six.
ty years, has kept the country with all its con-
fiicting elements, IN state of prosperity never
before equalled in the world, we shall commit a
folly for which the language we speak has no
NAME and against which, il we, rational beings,
should ai to protest, the dumb stones of wonder
monument would Immediately cry ont in con.
damnatOn.
Friends and fellow citizens, we live at an event
fuI period. Mighty changes in human affairs are
of daily occurrence at home and abroad. In En.
rope the strongest governments are shaken; the
pillars oftraditon, rooted in the depths of antiquity
are heaved from their basis; and that fearful war
of opinion, so long f,retold, is raging with vari-
Gus fortune, from Lisbon TO Archsngel. Have
Won not noticed that in the midst Of the perplex-
ty and dismay Of the visions and the hopes OF
the crisis, the thoughts Of men have been turned
more and more to what rs passed and what is
passing in America? r4ey are looking anx-
iousIy to us for lessons Of practical freedom,
for the solution of the great mystery Of state,
that the strongest government is that which,
with the least array of !nrce, is deepest seated
in the welfare and affections OK the people
The friends of republican government in France,
taunted with the impossibility of making such a
government efficient and respectable, point to
our example as the sufficient answer.-Ansiria,
breaking down beneath the burden uf her war.
ring races, offers them too late federal coHsti.u
ton modelled on our own, and even in Fnr,and
from which the original elements of our free
institutions were derived, scarce debate arises
in parliament on an imports Mt question without
reference to the experlen ce Of the United States.
The constitutional worship of mankind is re.
versed; they turn tneir faces To the West. Hap
py for them, happy for us, should they behold
nought ~ this country to dsuppont the hopes
ot progress, 10 discourage the friends of freedom
10 strengthen the arm OF the oppressor; and may
Gud grant that these, who look to US for gui-
dance and encouragement, may be able to trans
plant the germs of constitutional liberty to the
ancient gardens of the earth; that the clouds
which now darken the horizon oi Europe may
clear away; and the lnng deferred hopes OF tile
friends of freedom be fulfilled.
But chiefly let us trust that the principles Of
our fathers may more and more prevail through
ont our beloved country. We have erected
monument to their memory; bns we shall not
have performed orr duty, nnless we catch, our.
selves, some portion OF their spirit Oh, that
the contemplation of their bright example and
,,,ro foroa miUit oIpv.tn our minis hhnra tbo