Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-10-06

dueuces of our literature and religion were more
dsorganizing than conservative The result Of our
systems of education the most intense and I'M
oridled individualism. 1t was deemed virtue for
the individual to benefit himself at the expense of
society. The idea of doing emitting to do any
thing out of regard to the interests of
or society had become supremacy ridiculous
thought to be Knocked at. Our people were wofully
deficient in public spirit, and WOfuly rich in private
spirit. Rome under Scylls, and Athens under the
Thirty Tyrants we're not more so.
Then, secondly: Our people had no feeling of
allegiance. Their tendencies were all anarchicsl,
hating their rulers, &C., and MOntesquieu says,
people inimical to their governors become enc
mics of the constitution. One entire State of the
Confedrscy now stood in open hostility to he Union,
sustained and stimulated by decided majorities in
three other States, and numerous minOrties in the
rest Our devotion to the Union was assaled on all
sides. We were breathing reasonable atmosphere
The souls of our people we're poisoned by it. Sc
dtion outdid itself in the fierce and frey struggle of
the last Presidential campaign. The air was made
fairly black and sckening by the curses hurled
against the Union. 1t required as much nerve to
speak for the Union, in other days it required to
fight for it to speak against it. TSomewhere in
this eloquent passage, Mr.. P. was obliged to refer
to the MS. in his pocket for opposite words of
Thucidides, which his memory failed to call up in
time Thus prompted and treasured, he proceeded
in the same vein. The cry is still for war They
say, truce has been granted, but peace is not and
not like TO be till negotiated between the divided
fragments of this Union, &c. Here the lecturer sup
liadb ir,sa1f With O
ceeded to show, that our people might be able to
pass through these troublous times if the contest did
not effect the fundamental principles on which they
had built, and with which their hopes and aims have
become identified; but, it being the habitual pOliti
cal condition of the country to question fundamental
principles, it the same as a condition of civil
war, and we could not long remain free from it in
act and fact Here he piled up the terrible agony
to the condition of attraction vanishing from
the material world. and love for the moral
world-up to the very click of doom; and then
airoitly declared his solemn warning be heighen-
ed by the third aspect which he had called atten-
tion viz: the absence of that other condition of a
healthy commonwealth, strong active principle of
nationality.
He treated this aspect as closely connected with
the former referring wildly to the feeling of section
Il autipathy in the northern and southern States
leaders pitted against leaders, and underlings max
ing their quarrels their The nation was brist-
ling all over with sectional repugnsnces, like the
quilts of the fretful porch inc. We had no school of
national character and but few scattered influences
that could tend to preserve such character. The
bonds of the Union were severed by faction. and
W. had nothing in their place. The Temple of Apol-
l, exerted stronger national influence than all the
christian pupits Of our land. The consequence
was, that nationality was as frail as our loyalty
to the Union our fealty to the laws. Such we're
he aspects of American politics, as they appeared
to aim in the midst of the strife.
But whose should be the head of reform? and
how should the task be achieved? As to the first
the people, governing themselves, of course must
reform themselves But the second involved a
knowledge of the causes of the trouble and the
means of correcting them. After a contribution
here from the rich Irish brogue of Burke, the lee
alleged the extreme selshness and corruption
Of our public men the cause of our national ex-
tremity. 1t was the tendency of prosperity to be-
get pride vanity and rashness, resulting in contempt
IF law truth, decency and justice. The nation had
come to this and no man with eyes could gainsay
it. The language of events had confirmed the Ian
guage of ideas These tendencies were in full play
in our country. We were falling apart from the
mere weight of our magnificent thrift. All con
seriousness of peril had been swept away on the
spring tide of success, and we had hope but in
our own virtue.
The grand resource of safety against the cOrrup-
lions of national success, in statesmanship-
enlarged craftsmanship. Unfortunately, we had
but little craftsmanship. With Us, the of emf
nent statesmen almost as extinct as the of
giants. We had nothing to hold us together but the
love of our institutions. The great pillars of the
nation had fallen and there was not one to fill the
void. Atlas had gone to Hesperides and there was
nothing to support the skies. Ulyssis had gone on
his travels and there was no man left in Ithaca
strong enough to bend his bow. Clay and Webster
had been folded in their mantles and there was none
to fill their Paces-nO arrows in the national CULVER
wherewith to meet the enemy at the gate.
The case was aggravated by the positive evil of
the presence at the helm of government Of a set of
men devoting themselves to the purposes of their
own selfshness, against whom it were criminal to
oppose feeble resistance. 1t was not enough that
genius should be opposed to genius, but spirit should
be matched with spirit. They must be opposed by
those able cope with their strongest in dispair
feeble opposition was worse than none at all
Three fourths of politicians reckless, and
the rest were mere inefficient political amateurs
He alluded to the leading vices of both classes. 1t
was said Of Pericles that he regarded, first, the
State and then himself, and of Alcibiades that he
regarded, first, himself, and then the State Our
politicians were like neither of these. They regard
ed first, themselves, and then-nothing Laugh |
ter. They were the most unmitigated and grovel- |
ling self-seekers living or dead. Applause. The |
shadow Of a thought of their country never fitted
across the polished brass of their souls TAp-
plause
Here the lecture enriched by Priestlys def
milton Of political liberty, applicable to poll
cians, who are willing to sacrifice all things for
personal success and do not scruple to resort to
foreign wars to lying, bribing and swindling for all
their purposes Of self-aggraDdizement
Besides this he alledged that there was not
enough Of moral courage in all our politicians nut
together, to stifen one ordinary under lip This
also, combined with selfshness, was most danca-
rous element. All our politicians were the merest
ghosts Of men. They trembled at their own sbad-
ows If ghosts could be said to have shadows They
could not say their souls were their own without adj
ding subject to the constitution and the will of the
majority daughter They had lost their back
bones, and were as incapable of an upright position
as empty bags. Continued laughter They had
clear convictions Of right, but could not adhere to
them. They were sycOphants, because they had
not moral courage enough to be patriots; and the
length TO which these absurdities were carried were
all but incredible. There could be no freak how
ever mischievous absurd, to which these time ,
servers would not resort to gain the popular SMILE
Or avert the popular froWR. As saith Burke, they