Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-07-03

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subject of finance or trade, Of war or dis
union. AS the inhabitant of the Dismal
Swamp says, 'he is raised on fever and
a rue'--an intermi.tent seems to be the nor
NAL safe f our constitution; we are al
WAYS in he cold Gt or the hot fit; but to
the fundamental principles Of Liberty and
Equality, to the great idea of Union, and
to the Cons tuition which secures that I'm
ion, the American mind is constant as the
needle to the pole.
The European world; crammed full of
conservatives and conservatism, with ar
mics for policemen, every other town a cit
adel, and bristling all over, like the freiful
porcupine, with Internal implements of at
tack and defense; the European world sways
like a reed before the revolutionary blast.
1t is hardly eight years since all the old
monarchies and empires threatened, like
dissolving views, % melt away before our
eyes. France, the harlequin of nations
exhibits herself, every generation, in half
a dozen new liveries; and even England,
The 'oid fogy' Of the world, looks out with
alarm from her ancient fcudal bulwarks on
the waves that are beating agains her ven
cradle system.
All those countries have within them the
elements of self destruction--deadly hos
tilities to their form of government, bloody
political hatreds, deep hereditary feuds,
furious reli igious enmiiics. But amidst the
bowling of this distant storm the American
world rides at single anchor, like ship in
theIsurface, our diseases all cuaneous erup-
tions; our loud talking and fierce wiring is
and literary excitement than any real pas
sion and this is the only couLtry of which,
Perhaps, il can with truth be said that the
crime of treason is practically unknown.
Let us, then, contemplate the coming
elections in the light of.this American spir-
it, and observe the securities We have tha.
we shall ride out this gale, like all its pred
ecessors, in safety and honor. Let us put
party out of sight; let us cease to care a
pinch Of snuff for the election If Filmor.:
let us be philosophically Indifferent wheth
er the Republicans put forward Fremont,
Seward, or McLane; whether the Demo
crals bring out Pierce, Buchanan, or Doug
las. Lei Us look beyond and above the
smoke OF his petty conflict to the grea
fl ure ha. spreads itself before us; look
upward 20 the S,ars and Stripes, which,
like he ancient god Terminus, ,he balmy
days oi Rrme, have ncvef yc, receded in
he march f empire; thinh only Of The be-
acieeat government rner Which we live;
# ha nor;ei iaD - ai,ca lan ID j birth;
f lie tisn hopes of n. sol men, ,hai.
lihe f',ofin. gales, have nus IA borne us
along on a smiling sea. Let lis look at The
approaching elections not as adhcrents OF
any party, but as Americans in the true
sense Of the word
What, then, are the great conservative,
presercGtice princi pies of the American
mind on which, wholly Independent of par
ly ties and party allegiance, reliance can be
placed? What are the sheet anchors of
the Republic?
-1hochment 10 tie Union. There is moth
more striking in our annals the uniform
and steady growth of the feeling of the
Union. We of this age are apt to imag-
inc that in this, as in other things, as it
now is SO it always was, but very little
study of our history serves to dispel this
error. The first conviction of the great
men of the Revolution, of the men before
the Revolution, OF the members of the
Stamp Act Congress Of 1865, of the Con
gress of IVA, was the vital necessity Of
the formation Of strict and intimate un-
ion of the Colonies, but how slow and
painful a task was i, to impress this truth
upon the minds Of the people Of the differ
ent sovereigntes? how many local jealous
les, how many petty ambitions was it nee
essary to exiinguish to crush before the
creation of the statesmen Of the heroic age
Of the Republic could be brought into ex
istence? Slow and niggardly were the
first grants of power to the government Of
the Union. The old confederation and So
defective, that it is only amazing that it
was able successfully to prosecute the war
with England. 1t was months after defn-
tive treaty of peace of 1888 arrived be-
fore a quorum of Congress could be got to
gether to ratify it; and three years later the
Government had fairly perished of afro
ply.
The Constitution of 1857 was framed.
but how fierce was the opposition Of the
Anti Federalis S in the great States? Not
even the memory of the dangers Of the