Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1855-03-03
THE DANGERS OF THE DAY-A
WARNING.

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THE DANGERS OF THE DAY-A
WARNING.
Recent elections in Northern States that have
placed in power men dangerous to the peace
and liberties of the country, and dangerous to
the permanency Of our institutions; coupled
with the movements recently indicated in Con-
gress, have impressed us with sense OF the
peris that surround us. We feel that a crisis
is at hand. The elements that seemed to slum-
Der for a season, have broken out afresh at
the North. They seem to be recruited by rest
and stimulated by the approach of the Presi-
dental contest
This Congress, in few short hours will be
at an end. The next Congress will contain
more ,aboliiionsts, more lepers, more isms,
more unsound and pestilent men than ever
stood before under the dome of the Capital
They will be the elected, the authorized, the en-
powered legislators Of the nation. They will
bring with them all those sentiments, all those
prejudices that prevail in the infected States
of the North. Abolitionism will hold carni
val in the Capitol, und Know-nothingism will
be jubilant within its sacred walls.
With this prospect before US, it is meet
when Congress adjourns and the members Of
the two Houses return to their homes and to
their constituents, that they shall mingle with
them and freely tell them of the crisis which is
at hand. We are happy to say that some-a
goodly number-of the sound members Of the
present Congress have been reelected and will
take their seats in the next Congress. We
hope and believe that many others will be re-
turned. But there are some-more than we
would like to number-who were swept from
their seats by that pitiless and calamitous Abo-
lition storm that recently swept over the coun-
try, the elements of which, when their fury was
exhausted, sank in quiet and secret repose in
the secret caves of clandestine Knownothing-
ism. But whether beaten or reelected, it is,
in our humble judgment, the bounden, the i'm.
perative duty of every constitutional member
of the Senate and House of Representatives,
however high or however humble, when he re-
turns to the people who bestowed their conf
dence and their honors upon him, to reward
their kindness by sounding the alarm of danger.
They ought to mingle freely with the people.
They ought to attend their courts, their gather
ings, their musters. They ought to seek them
out and speak to them as long as they will
listen. This is no time for public men to
wrap themselves in the folds Of dignity, to hide
themselves in seclusion and reserve, and ex.
hibit before those who have made them what
they are, an imperial and a repelling gran
deur.
We are no panic makers. We do not usually
believe in panics in crises, in exigencies. But
we do believe that a crisis is now at hand, and
we further believe that it is the duty of every
conservative public man when he returns to
the bosom Of his people to warn them of the
danger and to prepare them to meet it. Not
only ought they to converse with their consti-
tuents, and to address them, but they ought to
disseminate speeches, documents, and news
papers among them.
II has not escaped the attention of observers
of the course Of public affairs that Abolitionists
throughout the country, and especially Adolf.
tonists in Congress, have, with the prospect Of
the next Congress before them, assumed a
hibted before. That they will attempt to
carry out all the enormities that belong to
their creed, we cannot for moment doubt.
They will come here at the next Congress and
endeavor TO abolish slavery in this district, to
exclude slavery from Kansas and Nebraska;
TO repeal the Fugitive slave law and probably TO
abolish the interstate slave trade. That they
will be powerless in the Senate, we know.
That they will be powerless with the Execu.
tive, we also know. But in the House Of Re
representatives., leagued as they will be with the
Northern Know-nothings and with all the isms,
we think it not unlikely that they will succeed.
SUCCEED We mean that they will in all
likelihood have majority. Should such vile
and infamous propositions be made; should the
vote be taken; should that vote show ma
iority for the incendiaries Of whom we have
spoken--then, and we say it solemnly, we
would not answer for the consequences. They
would deserve, majority though they be, to be
driven from the Hall Of Legislation, as Crom-
we'll drove the corrupt men of his day from
their seats in the Halls of the English Legis-
lature.
That southern men, that sound, national,
constitutional men from any section, would
tamely submit, we cannot believe. That they
would quit the Capitol and surrender it to the
Cloths and vandals, we will not believe. That
they would, with the spirit Of freemen, and in
respect to the founders Of the Constitution for.
chilly drive them out and hold and keep the
Capitol, We think far more likely.
Such is one Of the evils that may occur.
Then lei no man say crisis is not at hand.
We, however, have faith in the conservatism
Of the American people. We have nine months
for sober reflection. Nor can we resist the
tbot III mill