New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-03-29
Manliness of Public opinion.


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Manliness of Public Opinion.
Public opinion is strange, vague thing. Its
vagaries appear to order nothing 1t rolls
against this or that conviction, as the case may
be, or it urges forward some theory to an unex-
pected triumph, most grateful to its special ad.
vocates It cries to-day long live the King; to.
morrow, let the Republic endure for ever. There
are point, felicity, and exquisite satire in the
1aconism of the French-LR oi est mort
piue le Roi The satire is this. The bubble o.
to-day is chased by the child Of to-day in O
brief lapse Of time this child--man brings his
thoughts together, natures them into unity Of
idea, and proceeds to form conclusions, which,
ripening in the process of reflection, become the
more thoroughly assimilated to his own know.
ledge of every day facts and necessities.
Be it man or child who may stand upon the
shore of sea unbounded to human vision,
every wave which rolls up to his feet is mys
terry, q terror and an awe-inspiring influence,
Be he either, he promptly recoils before the in
coming of the tide, or the huge mountainous roll
VI tut WAVE ~ IL mas SfSI DeGI IOuuu Will
that popular sentiment which is so singularly
made up of individual terror, apprehension,
timidity, selfish interest, narrow vanity and
gross ambition.
1t requires man of nerye-a man who
may be ikened to the solid rock in the midst
Of many and angry waters-a man all faith
man all hope-a man all energy-a man
who would have walked with the hosts Of
Moses, untroubled in the loftiness of Divine con-
fidence, who would have walked with the earlier
Apostles into the gloomy uncertainties Of warn
ing watchmen at the midnight hour, who would
have burnt with the earlier martyrs at the
stake, who would have spoken with historic
patriots, at the risk Of life, fortune and honor
to stand up and brave what he might conceive
the many voices Of the multitude. In our own
land and in our day, we lack no illustrations.
A hurrah Of the mob has only to rise, at the
call Of some demagogue, in the air, and some
(and among them not the least braye) cover like
cattle before a tempest, We have seen such
changes, political and social, and we know full
well the force Of the convictions we express,
But, thank God, though the people, like the
waves Of the great deep, may have their multi
tudinous forms and changes, their mere surface
things, and the great tides of solemn, strong
and religious conviction roll steadily on under
the government of unalterable laws. People
Gan no more do without solid and enduring prin-
ciples, than without the houses in which they
dwell, the halls in which they meet, or the tenn
pies in which they worship. A man may lie sick,
distempered or feverish, and he may swallow
nauseous potions, lie in closed and darkened
rooms, but when strength comes back to him,
he enjoy Gods sun light, the fresh and healthful
air of nature, and the strong and solid nutri-
ment Of the working man.
Have we not seen these things in the recent
history Of our own country have we not rea-
son to be proud to know that so brief is the Pc
ROD of our insanity that Divine Providence is
not yet willing to ordain that we should be one
Of the melancholy group of ruins which are so
thickly strewn in the historic past-not vet
willing to roll over as Dead Sea of historic OBJ
1ivion!
We are not writing these reflections idly. We
confess we have in view two things Of vast i'm
portance to our national progress. One-we
refer to our recent sectional disturbances
threatened to explode the Union and shatter all
its power and glory into uniformed and indistin-
guishable atoms. The manliness of public
opinion rose solidly and with measurably
increasing strength above the wild surges of
Congressional political defamation, even as
islands rise in the centre of the storm vexed
deep. The common sense of the American peo-
pie gave tone and shape to the manliness of
public opinion, and the farce of dissolution was
driven from the stage of American politics,
amid storm of Kisses from millions of Ameri-
can freemen.
In another matter, the manliness of public
opinion amongst American freemen has pre-
eminently shown itself to be true, solid, of the
dearest common sense, and perfectly reliable
Invited in terms of the rarest eloquence and
most brilliant persuasion, to become the Don
Quixote Of nations, the manliness of American
public opinion, bewildered for q time in the
blaze Of the loftiest and most poetic declama-
ton, has not failed to give itself the most hon
orable and perfect vindication. 1t has fully
realized the impracticability of the task dicta-
ted to it. 1t has emphatically declared that its
first duties, its first efforts, if necessary to be
made at all, were to be made for its oldest, its
best and its truest friends.
That if intervention were to be made, i.
should be made for Ireland There is manli-
ness in this, eminently honorable to the public
opinion of Americans. If they strike at all,
they will strike at foe whom they can prompt
ly reach and for friend to whom they owe
much.
NJ. KossuTH. We learn that NJ Kossuth will |
receive the members of the press this morning
at half-past ten, and from eleven to one the
public will be admitted to his apartment.
the inconsistency consisted not as the Republican en-
foneousy IN our having advocated party divisions
IN inc CITY elections but in paragraph in which refer
ring to e saarisd executive officers stated that
of party into the contest these offices That we
approved Of such course however utterly unfounded
delta. -
Our neighbor must think we have an extraor-
dinarily short memory. We distinctly recollect
that the Evening Delta endorsed some remorts