The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1856-06-20
THE PROSPECT.

the political caudron boil more furiously,
and never did II contain more potent ingre.
dents than at the present juncture of our
affairs, foreign and domestic. The Kansas
question and its attendant, civil war-the
Champion enlistment imbroglio, involving
the dismissal of the British Minister and sev.
eral British Consuls-the Clayton. .Bulwer
question, and Nicaragua question, upon
which hang the Monroe doctrine and the
commercial destiny of this country-all
these come up at once to vcx and perplex
statesmen and agitate and arouse the people.
| But the sectionalism and fanaticism enter.
ing into the Kansas troubles and controver.
sizes is not the only element that really casts a
cloud over the scene, and looks ominous for
the future. In addition to the bloody dra.
ma enacted in Kansas, the most unseemly
strifes of words and blows result in Congress,
from sectional rabids on one side and ire.
pressble Indignation on the other. Where
willit endi For the end is not yet, but we
have only the begning-the dark foreshnd.
owing and under.hum of a storm which has
not yet let loose its fury. In contemplating
the possibilities of this strife, the black line
grows blacker and deeper, and wdens into
an immense fissure such as an earthquake
might make which rends continent and
"mumbles its huge lips over snnken cities"
On either margin stand those who were
once politically united, but who arc now
separated by hatred rs deep and dark as
the chasri which yawns between them; and
neither heat, nor frost, nor thunder can con.
quer the fate that sewers them. How can
this picture be prevented from becoming n
visible reality! How can the swift execution
ofits Sibyllne prophecy be stayed for time
or forever?
Six months have elapsed since the first
meeting of Congress. What it has done for
the welfare of the county, what useful net
il has passed, what salutary principle estab-
lished, what evil averted, what measure of
pacfication devised, it would puzzle the
most determined optimist TO point to. New.
er has the country stood more in need of
wise legislation and practical craftsmanship
never has it been less likely to enjoy them.
Congress is rapidly tending to, if it has not
already reached the point of positive injury
to the political well being of our people,
1t is an evil augury for the country, and de.
notes an alarming public decentralization, that
individuals are sent TO occupy seats in that
body, ana manage to acquire prominence and
influence there, with whom, as Senator Ma.
son declared the other day, gentlmen would
not associate elsewhere. Demagogues nnd
catiffs and knavcs cut the most conspicuous
figures there, while men of solid worth, of
dignity and modesty, are thrown into the
background. Capacity, integrity and high
bearing arc at discount-and venality, i'm
pudence and scur-iity rule the hour. The
national Legislature is nuisance and the
national administration but little better
There are sound sense and dsinterested pa.
trlotism enough among the people to apply
the hand of reform and save the country,
if they could be aroused and concentrated,
but we are by no means confident that this
can be done. We shudder to think of the
rnpidity with which, in tho last three wears.
we have drfted towards that whirlpool of
corruption, prohigacy and recklessness, in
which oil republics that have gone before us
have been engulphed. A strong arm and an
unquailing eye at the helm might yet steer
the ship away from the widecircling macl.
strom, but we must change all the officers
and crew and trim anew her rigging. 1t is no
time for landsmen or fair-weather sailors
We must have men who have weathered
storms before, who know where the reefs
and breakers are, who have watched the fix
ed star Of the constitution through many
night, and who sail by the compass and chart
the great first captains of the ship were
used to.