Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-10-17
Misccllontous
REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER ON THE
,i COMMERCIAL PRESSURE.

On Sunday evening 9th ult., Rev. Henry Ward
Bcevber preached u sermon to an immense audi
ence in tho Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, on the
lessons of the Times" suggested by the present
commercial pressure. The discourse, tue New
York Post says, was one Of great power, and pro-
ducod u profound impression. Mr.. Beechers
text was from Matthew. xvi, 9, 3:
"When it is evening. yo say, 1t will be fair
weather; for the sky is red. And in the morning,
1t will be foul weather to-day for the sky is red
and lowering. o, ye hypocrites ! ye can discern
tie face of the sky but ye can not discern the
signs of the timesP"
We make room for an extract and this we take
From the middle Of the discourse, emitting the in
PRODUCTION and conclusion:
| have already, this morning, taken occasion of
the serioss alarm and trouble which exist in the
commercial affairs Of our country. to address some
remarks to Christians for their encouragement,
comfort and guidance. | propose this evening to
look at the subject in its relations to good morals
and to the welfare of the community.
4. 1t is remarkable to see how much suffering
comes u pom men, not by any disease, but simply
by difficulty Of commercial breathing.
If the human body be stricken with fever or
palsy if cholera or plague attack it; or if the
sword or bullet smi,c it or if some weight fall
suddenly and crush it or some secret wound draw
out drop by drop the blood, we do not marvel
There is a cause adequate to the effect. But If
you put a man into an exhausted receiver, under
u b~oll.glass, without a particle of air, the mischief
is just the same. No organ suffers, no tissue is
laceratcd, no muscle crushed, no part is poisoned,
none wasted or drained of vital fluids, and vet
the man efectually dies.
The course of affairs among us has not been
disturbed by the natural invasions of war. The
harvests have not failed, and famine has not
reached out its gaunt hands among us. Disease
has not striven in our midst, nor has industry
ceased for lack either of legitimate enterprise or
proper matter for enterprise.
And yet this great nation in full health, with
uncounted abundance Of harvests in its young
manhood, stalwart, ca yer, hopeful, is suddenly
btought up, and trembles and staggers, as if it
would lie down in laintness. What is the mat
ter?
1t is the want of air. The city cannot breathe.
What then is this commercial air which is SO
needful to life and activity ? 1t is the faith of man
in man. 1t is mutual trust. 1t is contdence.-I
This is the air which commerce breathes. And
now. in our midst, although there have been in
discretions, there hare been none which the
country could not bear almost without a check.
Men speak of over-stocklng the market, of over
manufacturing, Of over.importations, and OF ex-
travagance of various kinds. | do no not say that
there have not been mistakes in these respects,
and great mistakes. But | do say that we are too
strong u people to be brought into such confus-
ion by mere mistakes of this kind, This coun-
try has such vigor and such elements Of power,
that surface mistakes will never damage it seri-
ously. There is money enough, property enough,
the need for goods and manufacturing, but men
are all paralyEed to-day chiefly by fear of each
other. Men look at the best concerns, as in times
of seige they look at bombshells, expecting that
every one will burst, and that the only difference
between one and another is in the length of the
fuse, and the time it will take to burn out.
But why should there be this sudden cessa-
ton of confidence? You trusted those men yes
terday to go around the globe with your money.
whom nov will you trust to carry it from the
bank to the store! No change has come over
these men. They are just as honest now as then
Their morals are as good. Their business is as
safe. On whatever foundation you stood five
months ago, the materials of that foundation re
main untouched to-day. Your ships are there
Your goods are there Your shops are there
Your ~neighbors are not ~niggards nor Stimulating
friends. They are the same men that you Away
knew, just as good, just as bad, unchanged either
for better or for worse. But the city is under
spasm. No one will take things to be as they
seem. No one trusts. Every one doubts anc
fears.
Now, it is to the last degree important to in
quire, Why has confidence gone and gone SO sud
denly and SO completely ? Yesterday it blossomec
like flowers over the field to-day frost has ial
len, and all are black and dropping! What wine
has sent that whitening frost?
In reply to this inquiry, | would say that in part
this panic OF fears Is not without proper ground
1t is the over action Of causes, of which | shall
speak which are real. But we have not stopped
at the legitimate potency Of those causes, but al
lowed our Imagination to carry our fear head
long, and with it our confidence in each other
Merchants are now like men awakened in the
night by the attack of an enemy. All scream
and run, one crying out one thing, another an
other. all stumbling over each other with insane
fear. Now there may be II cause for some feal
for some precautions, for some earnest defense
But there is and there has been no cause fo
the excessive reaction from hope which has ia
ken place. The roots Of business are sound
There never was upon the whole, more healtl
with so much life. Aud hundreds Of men will
be upset by nothing, but because they are rui
against by afrighted men. Hundreds OF me
will 60 down, and lose years of toll, and the fruit
of honorable industry, for 40 adequate reason eS
ccpt that men are scared, and in their unreasor
able alright, like persons in a crowd, they trea
each other down. 1t is q shame
am not in business. have not one penn
invested in stocks or goods. and never had. ]
the market touches the sun, or goes to the bottom
of the Slough of Despond, it carries nothing @
mine with it either way, and | am, therefore, no
biased by my interests. And | look upon thi
cor vulsion and trouble with unfeigned amaze
ment, as reckless, needless, wanton cowardieey-
The business men Of this country are suffering a
this hour from a contagious cOwardice Tn
whole continent is unstrung by nothing but fear
Nothing, | say for that of which speak by-an
by. and which is the Ultimate cause of this iniqut
tous evil, was not of any such proportions of pow
err as to justify any such breadth Of effect an
fear has been added to real trouble in such III
warrantable proportions that it is scarcely in
moderate to say that we are all lightning struc
with fear.
And the cure, If il could but be taken, might b
efectual in one day. as much as in a month or
year. Hope aAd trust o-morrow would set tn
blood going again, and bring color to white face,
For the mischief is not in the business, but j
the business men-it is not in your affairs, but i
you.
The country is like a ship under a stiff gale i
n rolling sea; in the ~watchsof night, the man at tn
Swheel and the watch think they see a ghost an
abandoning their post, they run gibbering an
%tumb.ing headlong down the hatchway. The shi
falls of and rolls in the trough of the sea, until
some one does not help her she will roll her mast