The Evansville daily journal., 1856-09-22
Our Political Conflicts.

by the partizan passion and strife that every
recurrent Presidential canvass arouses in the
country. Many patriotic minds are now op-
pressed by fear and anxious torebodings that
the present wild agitation upon the most excl
ting topic that can be brought into National
canvass. will end in rupture Of the Union.
But furious as the contest may wax, in the
heat of this discussion, there is no danger from
it, nor would there be- if the storm of windy
words were ten times more boisterous. Our
people, notwithstanding their excitable TEN
peraments, CARRY large ballast Of prudence
in reserve for the hurricanes of popular pas
sion, with which to keep the ship of State
upon her keel. Real danger always brings
them to calmness and reason, and sober sense
is then put at the helm. Every one who
knows the people of this whole country thor
oughly, knows they are alike in all the sub
stantial elements ofcharacter-they are kin
dred in mind and feelings. There is among
us stronger national sentment-our patriot
ism is of a more living, ardent nature, than
in any other nation on earth. We are sympa-
thetic, and great idea thrills the whole body
polite from Maine to Texas as the electric
spark shoots through the human frame. No
people have ever moved so unanimously, har-
moniously and spontaneously, in all the
achievements of their brilliant history, as the
people of the United States All the vast
enterprises that are now carrying the country
forward to the summit Of greatness, strength
and fame, are executed by the free spontaneous
union of the people in their unincorporate po-
litical associations. Remove the whole power
of the general government, and at the same
time relieve the country of the politicians, and
the affairs Of the country would be carried on
by the people themselves, in some of the de-
partments, better than they are now. The
power of the federal government has no
strength to preserve the Union. The bonds
of the Union are the bonds of mutual interest,
the afinities of the people, its geographical con-
nexions, which political suicide could not
sunder nor destroy. If broken to-day they
would re-unite by necessity tomorrow.
But out of these alarming political tornadoes
great good comes The public mind is aroused
and quickened into action, and among thou
sands that have no other stimulus to thought
The great blessing of Republic is its effects
upon the mental activity Of people. Mind
set in motion on one topic will not become
stagnant over others; and some degree of pas
sion is necessary to give it energy and quick
ness; where feelings are not enlisted the mind
of the unschooled will not be reused from its
lethargy. Our political canvasses furnish the
topics of discussion, and our party zeal is the
stimulus that rouses the minds of the millions,
large portions Of whom have no other theme
to awaken their intellects. Without claiming
that any great amount of valuable information
is impaired in these contests-for as much or
more, error is disseminated than truth-yet
the public mind is vastly invigorated by them,
A man may reason on false statements and
come to erroneous conclusions and yet be
greatly benefited by the process of reasoning.
He acquires the habit of using his own mind
as a man by exercise gains the command of his
limbs and muscles-and can afterwards handle
fact or truth when it is presented. The
great purpose of all schooling is to give men
the power and habit of using their thinking
powers. The discussions which our political
contests carry into the remotest corner of
every district, with all the falsehoods and
errors that go with them, do great good in
educating the people universally; and the vio
L. oh fbor flor
crease their power of beneftng the Masses
The higher the political thermometer rises, the
more certain it is that the lowest stratum of
minds, which need the strongest stimulus, will
calm returns, we can note the brighter aspect
of intelligence, especially in our remote rural
districts, which every face wears, than it did
before the campaign begun. Thought and
feeling have been stirred and the dormant
mental powers awakened into life-the people
improved, and the country is more than COM
pensated for all the apparent evils that flow
from popular elections. We are under the
guidance of Providence and seeming evils, as
well as apparent blessings, are bearing our
country on to the fulGment of its glorious des-
tiny. "Let us never despair Of the Republic"
GA farmer in Virginia whose mellon
patch had been nightly invaded, last week set
beaver trap among the MELONS, and in the
morning found very respectable neighbor
securely held BY it.