The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-11-20
TRUE AS PREACHING.


prom the C1sf&svuis chronicisJ
The Spirit Of the Times. aIIadng to the
Frequency Of crime, says this country will
soon surpss the nations Of the Old World,
In the number Of sssssrins and desperadoes.
This IL true, and there IL an obvious rsnson
why Il should be so. The United States,
like all other countries, numbers amongst its
native citlzena, considerable proportion Of
men whose education, associations, neccssi-
ties, and natural proclivities IL them for the
psfpetration Of all manner Of crime. But,
unlike all other countries, we freely receive
and foolishly invest with the rights Of ciii-
zenshlp, and uuwisely pet and pampsr all the
desperadoes Of Europe, whose crimes have
driven them from their nntive lands, or whose
inclinstions lead them to our shores. Thus,
In addition to the number of native crimi-
malls, and those who ere fitted 10 become
such, We ARE cursed with the thousands dis
gorged upon Us from the prisons and poor
houses Of Europe and Asia. And this evil
h increasing with fearful rapidity. Vice
spreads, like smallpox, by contagion. and
every drapersdo from Europe, BY association,
educntes some native for his own caree: Of
crime; and BY constant Importation and con.
sequent accelerated native increase, our coun-
try has become Botany Bay, without its
sanitary regulations, and political disfrau-
chisemcnts.
Every other Government, save our own,
confines the sacred rights Of ctizenship to
ito native-born; and whilst II may tolerate
the alien and bring him under the shelter Of
its penal code, he is not permitted tn exer-
else those high privileges which pertain to
the government Of his adopted county,
The right TO govern, il inherent in the ma.
t'ves OF the country, and should be held as
sacred as the right Of the child to inherit the
estate Of the father. But here II has ever
been, judicinlly, declared that the foreigner
has better title to the rights Of citizenship
than the native, md the Congress Of the ma.
ton has decided that the nIien, in the terri.
tories, is equal to the native citizen in all that
pertains to the administration Of the govern
mrnt. These nets are 50 many invitnt;nns 10
the adventures of Europe to crowd to our
shores-so many incentives to corrupt Ju.
dietary to violate the naturalization law.-so
many inducements to the vile demapogue to
court the foreign herd-so many examples of
corruption to weaken the impulses of virtue,
embolden the viciously inclined, and harden
the criminal. q
in n government, like this, where The peo.
pie nre the source Of power, you can not cor.
rupt that source without infusing the poison
throughout the body polite. Corrupt elect.
ors make corrupt officials, and the two act
and react upon each other with constantly
increasing capacity for evil until the govern.
ment must die Of moral gangrene, or owe its
renewed vitality to the stringent power Of
revolution. Our government is, at this mo-
rnent, In state Of rapid decay. The Prrsi.
dent and his stipendiaries administer il. not
for its honor and prosperity, but to secure its
succession to another swarm from the same
party hive. A pnrizan Judiciary is made
qunte to the stern duty of furnishing the
guilty; ignorant and venal jur,es step be-.
tween the law and the criminal, and rotten
public sentiment, by conniving at every mor-
al enormity, fosters all that is evil, and crush
es mo-t that is good in mans nature. Is it
any wonder, then, that every species Of vice
and crime is on the increase? Who rebukes
their growth! Not the politician, because
he is one Of the guilty, and fatiens ms they
grow. Not the judge, because he is n parti.
Fan and dare not offend the mennest voter.
lest he lose his office, or il he make an occa.
sional display OF indignant virtue, II is at the
expense Of some friendless poor devil who
has no influence tn dread-no friends to of.
fend. These, and other causes, suffice to de-
grnde any people on earth, and ii in a striking
proof OF the purity Of our original stock that
crime is not far more abundant. All the
criminals the country has produced, md all
II has imported, have not yet sunk us lower
in the scale than some o: the European ma
t'Onr; but even this consolation will mol
long be ours; the causes are in active opera.
tion--roniinually gathering force, whilst the
powers OF resistance are continually dimin.
ishing.
lsa al.