Hannibal journal and western union. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1851-1852, 1851-12-11
TH1n az &c ! &c EXcDUs,

his is the new title giveain England 10 tho
: ysh rush to America. The London Record
= nus discoursos.
The height Of national greatness has been
often joined with secret causes, or open warn
ings OF danger and decline. When H ,athen
Rome, under AuRELIus, exulted in her unri-
vailed prosperity, the cry of the martyrs of
GauI was rising TO heaven, forebod;ng its ruin,
and the young savages were nursing in the wilds
of Sarmatia and the forests of Germany, VIII ose
fierce inroads swept, soon after, over the pro-
vinces of the east and the west. Papal Ronne,
under LEO X. sat as a queen, with the arts of
the Medici and the exiled learning Of Greece
for her landmarks and the dome of ST. Peter
was beginning TO rise as her proudest triumph,
when solitary monk, in the cloisters of Whit
tenburg, was learning those truths which were
10 shake the pillars Of her empire, and wrest
one-half of Europe from her dominion. To
descend still lower, the power of NAPOLEON
never seemed so irresistible as on the eve Of the
Russian campaign. 4 mightier host had never
seemed to promise its leader universal empire,
than that which lay bleaching and upburied
when a few months were past, amidst the north
ern snow.
Such reflections may well temper the natural
exultation Of our countrymen at the prosperous
course and issue Of the Industrial Exhibition
Al the very moment of its close another great
tect stands out before us which is equally at
tracing public notice in the daily press and bids
us learn humility, as nation, in the midst of
our real or fancied triumphs. Side by side with
the parting sounds from the Crystal Palace, we
read accounts of emigration from Ireland on SO
large scale, as to suggest a new phrase for its
descriptions CELTIC ExoDUs. Thoughtful
( ~ lcep To h. L.. 4 IL.
movement, which threatens, if it continue, TO de-
populate the sister island. The fear which once
haunted our economists of redundant number and
geometrical rates of increase exceeding the pow
ers of production, is exchanged for lamentations
over deserted fields, and fertile plains returning
to primitive desolatol through the want of an
industrious peasantry. 1t isseven surmsed, that
the infection may extend to our own island, and
that the stream of emigration having once began
to flow so rapidly, may not be checked till
America had robbed us of the sinews of our
strength, and reduced us from the height of
greatness to the level of crippled and scond-
rate power.
These fears, with regard to the further pro-
gress of this Irish emigration, are probably
groundless, and causes are already at work
which may limit its extent and perhaps secure
to that unhappy country healthier state of So
cial activity. But the fact is not the less humbl-
ing and instructive. Ii the multitude Of the peo-
pie be the kings honor, and the want of people
the destruction of the Prince, we ought 10 feel
it as no light stigma on our national character, a
sign Of great public guilt, and an omen Of seri-
Gus dangers, that the love of country has been
So completely destroyed in one main part of our
empire, and replaced by strong desire TO fee
from4ts shores, as if it were land Of darkness
andof the shadows Of death