Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1855-10-25
is THE UNION IN DANGER.
The following from the New York
Herald contains matter for the serious
consideration Of the people:


consideration Of the people:
To blind ourselves to the breakers to
wards which the ship of State Is drif
| ting, would be sheer madness. It i
not to be.disguised that the abolitionist
have advanced with gigantic strides du
ring the last FIVE years. Principle
have not altered. What was true il
1849 is true to-day. Nor is there any
reason to believe that mems wits ar,
any sharper than they used to be, OF
that the human intellect has received
such a development in the past five
years as to enable it to detect wrong in.
stitutions which seemed blameless in
the last decade. But, in nature the
constant action of the most insignif.
cant causes is capable of producing the
most astounding results, so the perse.
vering agitation of anti-slavery has
worn a passage to the minds Of the
thoughtless. Appeals have been sue
cessfully made to the pride Of the North.
The South has been painted as a'ruth-
less tyrant; usurping powers which
rightfully belong to the North. and sub
ordinating the general government to
the interests of one domestic Institution.
Of course this is mere rant and decla-
nation. If It were true. the blame
should fall, not upon the South. which
in the case supposed would only have
obeyed the law of self-preservation, but
upon the North, which having the pow
er, would have used it to self-destruc-
ton or establishment. But those who
think and those whoread, are fraction
al portion of every community. Shout
what you will in the ears of the masses,
they will believe it in the end so you
shout long enough and loud enough.
So it comes about that the abolitionists
now muster an army strong enough to
threaten the citadel of the Union, and
after career briefer than the allotted
span of mans life, the United States
Constitution is now about to be brought
to the bar, mayhap to be condemned.
Great crisis have not been unknown
in American history. The election of
Jefferson was crisis of vital consequence
not only to the institutions of this coun
try-then wavering between monarch
ism and democracy-but to the cause of
human equality and popular sovereign
ty throughout the world. On that oc-
casion the right prevailed by an over
whelming majority, and in three months
the waters were calm. The election Of
Jackson was likewise a crisis--though
of less sign;fcance-as being the second
triumph Of pure popular sovereignty
over the nascent bureaucracy of the
United States. But into what insignifi-
canoe do these crisis sink, when COM
pared with that which 1856 portends--
with struggle in which not only the
future of this or that institution is in is
sue, but the whole fabric reared by
Washington, and strengthened and
backed by the strenuous efforts of the
best men in the country for nearly sew
enty years, is staked on the result
with contest the effect of which may
be to dissolve the Union, whose forma-
ton has been the wonder of statesmen for
more than half century, but which,
like those wondrous works of antiquary
at which the gods assisted, once sub
verted, can never, never be rebuilt!
This is no mere American question.
1t concerns Americans, of course, but
not them alone. IT'S problem of uni
versal application and importance. Eu-
ropeans are directly interested in its So
luton. Principles are involved in it,
in whose fate every human being has a
personal concern. On the surface it
may seem to be mere quarrel about
this or that system of labor; in substance
tits the cause of human rights and lib
erty which is at stake. Agitate, agi-
tate, says the British oligarchy and the
European monarchs to the American
Books teeming with abo-
litionists' theories, money freely voted
for the aid of the abolitionist cause, they
send across the Atlantic; more than
once, when the mania has almost died
out here, their encouragement and their
subsidies have revived it. There was a
time when simple minded persons could
believe that they acted thus from pure
and high impulses. Long ago this de-
lusion was dispelled by inquiring into
the British system of labor; and it was
made apparent to the most incredulous
that, though individual Englishmen may
have been misled in the crusade by pre-
ponderance of heart over head, the
movement at large originated with the
aristocratic dread of American democ-
racy, and tended, not to the liberation
of the negro, but to the humiliation Of
this republic.
To the contest of next year the Brit
ish oligarchy Look with an anxiety which
cannot be pictured. Hanging them
selves in the balance, warned by daily
perils that American example is overri-
ding British precedent usage, and rou-
tine throughout the United Kingdom, |
they hope but in the abolitionists. If,
next year, the opponents of slavery win
the day, and the Union is broken up as
it would be, Democracy in England and
in Europe will receive their death-blow.
No man of substance would adhere to a
creed, which under such peculiarly ia
vorable circumstances as ours, would
appear to lead to nothing but confusion,