Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1859-11-25
THE WILMINGTON JOURNAL.
WILMINGTON, N. G., MONDAY. NOV. 81, 1859.
Arc we a Thankful People or Not !.


Thursday the oath instant has been set apart by some
twenty-five or twenty-sx States, our own among the
number, as day of thanksgiving and prayer.
There is abundant for thankfuness to the AG
thor of All Good in the physical prosperity and the gen
eral beathfuness of our country. No epdemics have
visited our towns or cities few storms foods have
devastated our coasts or ruined crops. Trade has
BEEN at least renunerative and industry has not gone
without its accustomed reward We have been at peace
with foreign nations and our ships have pursued their
course unmOlested.
But there has also been ground for humiliation and
for apprehension If the physical clements have been
at peace-if physical health has prevailed the moral
world has not been without its storms the pohtlca
world has not been without its feverish apprehenslons
And unfortunately the clouds that darken our national
skies have not yet passed away. Their shadows stl
hang over u.s. From their dark bosoms still come forth
the angry muterings of that thunder which appalS the
timd and causes even the frmest to pause and take
heed
With everything for which nation ought to be thank
u-bessed with health wealth and prosperity, can we
truly say that on Thursday next the twentysx millions
inhabtng the twentysix States that will keep that day
as one of thanksgiving and prayer will do so in truly
thankful and prayerful spirit Will they evnce thell
love and gratitude their Maker by chershng kind
loving feelings towards their eowmen! Can we hope
for such a consummation when we see day by day The
growing evidences of alienation between the different
sections of the country-between the different States
the Union Can true and acceptable gratitude to Goo
animate the breasts of Northern congregation who
meet together give thanks that they not as othe
men, nor even as these save-holders-can these people
feel true brohery love towards those whom they daily
denounce and against whom they hourly conspire? Or
the other hand can the Southern christian feel he
ought to feel when he thinks these things-when he
sees all the and appliances opeace and prosperity
married by political meddling or sectional anatcism
Can he then make the charitable allowances that he
might otherwise do for the influence of early teachings
uncorrected by actual knowledge
AS people, we of all the peoples earth stand most
in need of true spirit of thankulness-a true know
ledge of the blessings we enjoy. Although the Fourth
of July orator celebrates the praises the glorious Unor
in glowing periods, it must be apparent to all that ou
people have no realizing sense of the blessings ad
vantages that Union is supposed to confer and certainly
might confer if only left to itself The people of tht
United States FESTIVE in the harness by which they
have voluntarily yoked themselves to the of state
and the common bonds that unite them are by Thu
restiveness become fast chafed and weakened.
Say now on Thursday next people 60 to Church il
Virginia and in Massachusetts, how many in Virgin
will thank the Lord for uniting them in one Fedora
bond with people who denounce them and war agains
their institutions and their domestic tranquility VIII
in Massachusetts will truly thank God for his politica
Union with the people of the Southern States who main
tain and perpetuate what he has been taught to beev
and what he teaches others to believe is the crying s
and peculiar iniquity of the age