The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1858-01-15
THE PROspECT BEFORE us.

THE PROSPECT BEFORE US.
No important revolution ever broke upon
the world without being heralded by some
previous signs of public agitation, and rarely
have the surges of popular discomfort when
Iashed like the ocean into storm and tempest,
been alayed without leaving broadcast upon
its bosom some sad memorials OF Its pro-
gress.
Il has been well said that revolutions sell
dom go backward, but far more frequently it
happens that ancient dynasties are snbVerted,
and ill-starred rulers are swept away by the
force Of the blast which they could neither
suppress, nor control, when it came upon
them D its might. History, teaching BY ex-
ample, is full of interest and not without due
warning in this regard. Had the rulers OF
this world always been animated by senti-
ments of lofty patriotism, and due regard
to the rights and interests of the people COM
mitted to their care; or had they refrained
from indulgence in that unbridled and .licen-
tious lust of power which has been the curse
of every age, there had been fewer instances
of outraged masses rising in terrible fury to
avenge the long catalogue of dolusions and
impositions practised upon them by unpriDci.
Piled governors. "Cesar had his Brutus, and
Charles the First his Cromwell" but George
the Third failed to profit by their example,
and even the reign of his amiable but unfor-
tunate contemporary Louis the Sixteenth, was
Quenched in the dark night and amidst the
fearful orgies of the French revolution.
1t is not little remarkable that the popu.
lar connections which precipitated the three
last revolutions were in some sort connected
with the financial embarrassments of the
country; nor can there be more potent en-
CINE of public agitation. Coming down to
our own age and times, we remember how
the financial disasters of 1878 convused
the whole European world, and produced the
revolutions of 1880; and likewise, the panic
of lS47, when that colossal establishment,
the Bank of England, resored to the same
measure for relief which she has adopted
lateIy--preceded the French, German, Span
ish, and Italian outbreaks of l848. But our
readers are still more familiar with the finan-
cial troubles which Immediately preceded the
revolution of ls4O and swept the Van Buren,
dynasty from power. Great as those troubles
unquestionably were, they did not--regarded
in all their surroundings, and compared with
the now altered and greatly improved condi-
ton of the country-equal in magnitude the
evils that are at present upon us, and from
which we may not soon be delivered The
public will know why it is that in the midst
of profound peace and plenty, when the earth
has yielded an exuberant crop for man and
beast, and the rich mines of California nre
pouring their exhaustless treasures into our
lap, we should yet be grooming under the
unexampIed pressure of financial embarrass.
ment. They will yet comprehend this mat
ter and determine that something is radically
defective about the currency Of the country,
and that the subtreasury scheme and the
hard money falucy constitute the quintes-
senee of absurdities. They will guage this
question and freely sift it in all its length
and breadth. We cannot doubt that we are
upon the eve of an important political revolu-
ton, when new issues NAV be enyolved and
other party organizations succeed The present.
Already, the old Democratic hunkers give
signs OF fearful trepidation, and are constant.
ly dragging after them the dead Hector which
their mighty Achilles long since slew. They
are intent upon galvanizing into new life
the deiunct bank, that they may deal it more
sturdy blows and crush out the last indca-
tons of life which they had boosted and
hoped was long since extinct They may find
at last, that the ghost which they have evok-
ed will not down at their bidding.