Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-02-12

The whole world appears at the present mo
ment to be looking toward this nation as tn
theatre of fearful invasion France, il is fan
cied, is to be the colleague and instrument o
Russia, Prussia and Austria, to crush the limite,
and constitutional governments of the continent
the first of which is that of England. Imperia
power, it is thought, may triumph over and sub
due all other forms Of government, and merg,
the smaller nations into the great ruling empires
Whether France is TO preserve her integrity, and
Napoleon is to be the first Of an enduring line o.
emperors, or both are to be eventually sacrificed
to the grasping powers that are now using tho
French imperial ape merely as an instrument foi
the accomplishment of their tyrannical purposes
appears not to be fully resolved in the minds Of
the most sagacious political prognosticators o.
the times
that ''the middle of every century had always
been marked by some great conyulsion or calam-
ty in the British islands y and this fact has been
called to mind by the "North American'' as ,
coincidence worthy of note
While the British government is known to be
aroused to conviction Of at least possibility Of
danger, and is believed to be directing its atten-
ton with earnestness to the subject the British
people are giving many indications of concern
and alarm; and at least one newspaper has ex-
pressed q hope that the whole British navy would
be summoned home for the protection of the
coasts of England!
This is a strange and wonderful phase in the
- e WboG. n
have thought, few years since, of the possi-
bility of such change? The progress of Chris
tianty, of liberty, of intelligence has been bril-
liant and glorious; but the progress of darkness
and oppression has not been stayed. True con-
ceptions of the rights of man have been realized
wide the mantle Of darkness, and making gigan-
tic PAGES under the protection Of its shadow
''Power is always stealing from the many to- the
few; !" and the many basely cover beneath its
frown.
Such is the ever-certain tendencies of the ca
reer of man, save when guided by the light of
true republicanism and true republicanism is
nosohere inculcated save in the volume of the
New Testament. We speak as republicans not
as religionists. That book alone can implant
deeply in the hearts of men a right appreciation
of the true doctrines of human government and
an undying love of liberty-not of our own lib
erty only, but of the liberty of our fellow-men!
In our country this love is inextinguishabe; and
even in England there can be no backward steps
in the career of freedom. Whether with the
people possessing this true spirit there now ex-
lists the physical energy and power to defend
their cause from the incursons of the ministers
of despotism, remains to be seen. The French
have fallen ingloriously and basey beneath the
feet of perjured usurper; and yet, perhaps
not all of them. A fierce and bloody contest
may still be waged upon the soil Of France ere
the minions of despotism shall traverse its soil to
the dawning light in Britain's isle.
And yet may not glorious results proceed from
the CONSERVATION of the present hour? May not
England realize the conviction that she. is a
usurper and an oppressor? May she not be in
duced to hearken to the voice of her truest sons,
and strike from Ireland her letters and remove
from corrupt hierarchy its privileges and immu-
mites, and grant religious liberation to every
shipper of the living God, irrespective of the form
of his worship, or the articles of his faith Ii
so, the broad Atlantic will bear the exultant cry
of freemen to our shores, and then will England
and America clasp hands in the common cause Of
FREEDOM TO THE WORLD!