Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1857-08-22
LITERARY.

IL LITERARY. --t 3
z,,rnet, from the address delioered before tie PHI
nnl1roDfc and Dialeetic Societies at Chapel Aath
June s, 1867, by HENRY w. MILLER, ESQ.,
But let US recur again to the dangers which
threaten u.s. 1t cannot be successfully conrovert'
ed in the face of the proofs which are constantly
arising that some sections of our country sPean
not in unkindness-are becoming the nurseries Vi
many of the most dangerous and disorganizng doc
trines moral social and POLITICAL with which virtue
and truth have ever yet been challenged to contend
And who has not been struck with the power of re-
production-the inexhaustble fruitfuness, which IN
MANY instances. marks the progress of these doc
tr;nes-the readiness and facility with which they
assume position in the social and political organ-
za.on, and the irresistible sway which they speedily
acquire no. only over the ignorant but over many
of the best cultivated minds Fourierisn, with its
train of dwelling prccepts and degrading purposes;
Freeloreis that moral leper, striking with tiendsh
delight, at the very foundations of domestic virtue,
and aiming its deadly blows at the delicate yet sa-
cred pulsations of the social heart Mormons, that
hyena of modern debasement the consequences OF
whose ravages no man can contemplate without
horror, who values those most inestimable of all
Jewels, domestic peace and social happiness and
who that great law that sacred command
of nature and natures God, upon which all good
government is based and without which society 1t.
self would be a curse; Spiritualism, that newly
discovered link, that electric wire between the Tell
spirits of darkness in the esrsr world, and their
most apt pupils and faithful agents and representa-
tives in tbs -ihciitieaisa, that modern Mosoch OF
political and religious fanatcism, whose Unsuitable
wrath is sought to be appeascd by the sacrifice OF
err rights cur happiness, and our honor, and the
destruction of the national peace; these are but
samples of that brood of harpies which are preying
on the very vitals of the social and political organi
cation of some sections of our country and which,
unless promptly checked in their career Of mischief
must hasten that desoaton, moral social and polit-
zeal, which they seeking with much persever-
ing eagerness and such envenomed rapacity!
Nor is the downward tendency of social and civil
organization in some sections of our country less
strikingy illustrated in the decay of public virtue.
When before did your national legislature, to which,
in times past, every American citizen turned with
pride and confidence, present such Illuminating
spectacle as it did but few months sincep The
house. of representatives, besieged for years by
swarm of spectators, stockholders and intriguers
with their debased and cunning agents, eager for
public plunder-the scene closed with the VIRTUAL
conviction of three of its members of corruption
and bribery! The national Senate too-,hat citadel
of the rights of the States and the freedom of the
people-that body once honored by the genius and
patriotism of Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Wright and
other noble spirits, now alas gathered forever to
their fathers-that body, subjected TO the mortify-
ing alternative of considering a memorial from up
wards of forty members Of State legislature charg
ing of its own members with having attained his
high position by bribery!
Every man has his price," exclaimed Wapole !;
and where sink their country's good in the sue
cess of party-where the emoluments of Office be-
come the rewards of partiZan services alone, and
every higher aspiration and nobler emotion is swal-
lowed up in the struggle for riches where the auri
sacra flames directs every impulse and controls every
action, that maxim of the shrewd English statesman
will hO1d md nil in
ethics, and the corruption fund of politicians will
seldom remain idle for the want Of men-men =
creatures rather bearing the forms of men, on whose
brows is stamped the selfdebasing, self damning ad
vertisement of their cwn political venality!
What fatal degeneracy from that stern and in
flexible virtue-that lofty independence and noble
patriotism which illustrated the principles and con-
duct of legislators, during the carly days of the re-
public!
Bolingbroke, living in age when political cor.
ruption rife, remarked " He who undertakes to
govern free people by corruption, cannot boast the
honor of the invention. The experiment is old
as the world and he can pretend to no other honor
than that of being humble mitator of the Devil'
Whatever may be properly dcducible from the
condition Of things in the age of Boiling broke it is not
unreasonable to suppose that even the Prince OF
Darkness himself would hardly regard it compli.
ment to be held responsible for the innumerabe low
cunning, debasing schemes Of corruption which are
of prosress-an age we'll schooled in crooked poll
cy and quirks of State!"
But gentlemen, if there is any one cause, which
more than others is calculated to arouse the appre
tensions of every patriot it is that sectional anfmos
ity-that bitter fraternal strife, which has prevailed
for years past increasing to degree of intensity
which threatens to make impacable enemies o.
those, who, looking to the government for pro
lection, should regard the prosperity and honor o.
that government. their noblest PRIDE it assuredy
is their highest interest 1t is foly-it is madness
to suppose that our present system of government
can be preserved and perpetuated on the principle
that this Union is to be kept together 6y force
Those who framed it foresaw, most clearly, that 8
resort to force betoeen the States the application
of force on the part of the federal government agans
the States, would produce revolution which mus
sweep away the system itself. 1t was not the pur
pose of our fathers to establish government hcf
was to be dependent on the strong arm of militar,
power to sustain itself in the varied conflicts be
tween the different States and sections. Seeking t.
establish it on we'll defined principles of civil policy
on Constitutions and laws-the will of majority
clearly and fairly expressed-they relied on the vir
tue the patriotism the affection of the people to pre-
serve that system, by faithful adherence to thost
Constitutions and strict observance of those law.
in their true spirit They intended that reason anG
affection should be the cornerstone of the edifce
They looked to the mild and peaceful operations o
the principles of Christianity, and not the wild ant
spasmodic action of heather infidel precepts-t,
the law of LOVE and not the law of shield
it from the evils and protect it from the ruin which
has bcfalen every other system of government from
the factlous democracies Of Greece to the fiery DIES
potlsm OF Napoleon When that great principle
lying at the very foundation of our Union is los
sight ofdscarded- repudiated-and the lust of sec
tional domination the law of force, is substituted il
its stead, and made the handspring the motive pow
er Of social and political action, the fate of our ma
tional constitution sealed and the downfall of ~
republic is inevitable! 1t may maintain the form
of what our forefathers intended it to be- but it vii
have lost the reality. The shadow of federal rep
resentative republic NAV still linger hnt II will 500