The emigrant aid journal of Minnesota. [volume] (Nininger City, Minn. Terr. [i.e. Minn.]) 1856-1858, 1857-09-26
The Mess In their own Pot.

We recollect hearing an anecdote Of a prophet, who,
in those days when prophets were more respectable than
they are now, was foretslling the fate Of his acausiut.
snces in the presence Of one of those rough semi-civil,
led kings so common in Europe in the middle ages.
After he had gone through his oracular category Of evils
he was asked BY the king if he who was so liberal in
foretelling the destiny Of others could reveal his own.
He said he could not, that it was beyond his power.
Then said the king, Il will tell it for you you will be
heheaded in half an hour and proceeded to carry his
prophecy into execution.
Thus has it been with the Eastern par: Of our Union.
From an early day in the present year a systematic effort
has been made by every engine that money could com,
mand to awake prejudice and distrUst against the great
West. Loud, numerous and repeated have been the
prophecies Of ruin and woe against our beautiful lands.
"A crash "a crash = "a crash !! has been rung in
the ears of the whole country until the very clamor be-
came convincing.
What has been the result The West broke not.
Not n splinter was detached. The earthquakes have not
swallowed our fertile fields: the Indians have fed into
the farther wilderness; even the grasshoppers have taken
wing and left US. A few paper and ~rasteboard real
estate millionaires have been reduced to their proper
proportions, and some inflated speculations have collapsed
ANY 0nSt0 aiAOVI " hGb NiSN . NitibA
Yes, even more, for while We were expecting the crash
and the comet together, and wondering what shape
both would assume, 10, the storm burst with fury in til;
serene and pure atmosphere from which all these
prophecies emana,ed. Yes, even so, the safe East, the
conservative East, the East lying back it ease and digni-
ty, and foretelling r~egretfully yet impartially, the terri
bic results that were about to ensue from the reckless
speculations Of the West, the East with one great howl
gave up its pretensions aud its pride, and now lies fat
in the mos. abject prostration that ever visited any part
Of this great country. Verify,
The poisoned chalice hath returned
To their own lips
They set about to ruin US, they would have enjoyed
our ruin, they would have rejoiced over it as the as
tronomer rejeiees over the advent Of some Grant body
whose return be had foretold Now they feel the agony
meant for Us. It is not chris ian like, and yet it is mos
natural that We should not regret TO see such condigr
punishment visited on their heads who would have
brought woe 10 our hearth stones. They deserve no pity
1t is also d subject of satisfaction to notice that Will
the rotten East, rotten to the core, is staggering along
under the weight Of its affections, il is deriving all tt
little strength it possesses from the abused and i!t-tlcat
ID West. We notice by the New York Herald that on
house in New York received in one week Western r,
mittanees to the amount Of four hundred thousand dol
lars. They are looking to the West, and to the West
alone for succor and relief.
How vain, how idle, for any set Of newspaper editors
TO imagine they could turn back the course Of God
great gifts. The Western harvest, teeming and groap
ing from Minnesota to Ohio has more Of argument in il
than all the collected logic Of all the oracles Of the con
gregated press. Can they oblitsrate orr wheat fields :
Can they by their worls and their type cover up our
graaaries? Can they deny vitality to the very susie,
snance that feds them? For if we are all q myth and
a deception, q mockery and q snare, what is 10 DC though
Of those who possess their whole Importance in being
our outlets, the channel through which our productions
seek the sea, and through which we receive our foreign
supplies. Cut off the great West from the city Of New
York, and the destruction Of Sodom and Gomorrah was
not more sudden or complete than the desolatiou which
would fall upon it.
Is our country to be not only halved but quartcred
If the slavery agitation separates US North and South, is
the bad and bigoted conduct Of the Eastern press to draw
\ line of ostracism between US East and West. Are we
10 feel that we are hated and contelnned, and that our
fellow citizens Of a part Of the confederacy not only de.
sire but seek TO bring about our destruction If 80, we
Say beware. Our dish Of soup of your connecting has
already nauseated your own stomach, beware Of a per-
s;stent course Of such prescri p'ons.