The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1860-02-15
GRAFTON. DELIVERED AT A LIrERsRY
CONTEST, BETWEEN THE EXCELSIOR
AND PHI DELTA SOCIETIES, IN THE
TOWN HALL. FRIDAY EVE, JAN,
2OTH, 1850. =. - - .
By n. NJ, CAMPBELL, Elk.


climes, weeks, and months may pass away, and
deep. The crew, having become accustomed
to fair winds and brightly beaming skies, is oft
lulled to reposes by the seeming tranquility
which pervadcs the clements Of nature, and
relapses into state of profound indifference.
On speeds the gallant ship, freighted with its
estinable treasure of valuable lives, while the
sailors, sleeping as it were on the watch tower
heed not the approaching tempest; clouds,
dark and portentous, are slowly m crying into
view in the distance; the waves are beginning
to roll, hurrying the vessel on the breakers of
destruction; when the lightning's flash arouses
the captain from his lethargy, and once more
sensible of this situation he exclaims, where
are we drifting? And the silvery notes of the
speaking trumpet instantly summon every man
to his post In these tumultuous times, when
the political horizon seems darkened with
fearful forebodings, when the thunders of an
arch:y roll through the land their direful
sounds, and the lightnings fash around the
ship of state, it is peculiarly appropriate, we
inquire, where are We drifting2 Nations in
all times have had their rise, decline and fall
The pages of history are filed with the causes
which hurled them to dust, and now in our
own fair land the true PATRIOTS filed with doubt
and apprehension for the safety of these fair
ly proportioned institutions, which have so
long withstood the envy of inveterate foes.
He reads in the signs of the times harbingers
of evil. This is no delusive idea !; many view
all suspicious of the permanency of the Re-
public as the idle fancy of an excited imag ina
ton, unworthy the notice of comprehensive
minds. Many close their eyes in quiet safety,
when they sing in sweet and harmonious notes,
Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof"
This siren song has been sung before in other
days. It was chanted in oriental climes wheI
nations were convulsed, and gasping in the
last agonies of their existence. This pealing
anthem was heard in Belshazzars feasting
halls, when the prophetic hand appeared upon
the wall, revealing to him, that he chad been
weighed in balance and found wanting" and
when even at the gates of the city thousands
CT soldiers were arrayed, soon to lay in ruins
her magnificent palaces, and level her strong
bulwarks with the ground. vast number
heed not the jarring clements and refuse to
measure the extent of the threatening omens
But the thoughtful mind, acquainted with
past history, observes our sky darkened with
storms, and the eloquence of retired
statesmen sounds the tocsin OF alarm, that we
are on the very verge of a convulsion that
will shake the Union to its foundation, and that
we are FAST striding towards that dark gulf of
perdition, where are buried the specters of
demolished governments. Other nations have
been tumbled into that abyss, whose prospects
we're as fair as ours. We are to judge the
future by the past. And it shall be our object,
lst. To notice the causes of ruined governments.
End To sketch partially the state Of our affairs,
hoping thus to obtain an idea, where we are
irifting. The record of all time proves that
hing which can threaten nation. 1t strikes
It the very root of all stability, and overturns
where external powers would fail to make an
Whether we look at the stern
lespotisms of ancient Asia, or the more pleas
ng picture of Grecian and Roman grandeur,
t the feulal regulations of the Middle Ages,
# the monarchical powers of more modern
Europe, which have either tottered or fallen,
iyil strife more than any thing else has been
in the work of ruin and devasta- |
ion.
Where now is Persian greatness and splen-
or? Where that mighty influence Macedon
-ielded, when Alexander stood on the banks of
he Indus. and wept for more worlds t. con-
uer? All, all have been buried amid disgrace |
ii ruins. United, she contended successfully |
gainst the combined powers of Earth. When |
armony ceased to prevail in her midst, when
ivil strife universally ragged, that despotic
nip of state, which had braved the tide with
1ch gallantry, began to drift on the dark
urrent and was precipitated into the yawning
ulf On the pinions of conjecture, we may
ander among. the ruins of Grecian magnii-
snce, and behold how lamen table her decay!
icy marched against Troy, to avenge the in
lred Helen, and level Prian's palaces in the
ust, has entirely departed. Then the immor-
il Homer could justly extol her virtue. The
i'm eyed band could sweep the Tyre in her
raise and hold future generations in rapture
her glorious deeds. But alas! the glowing
leme C. Md now be sung no more. Weep ye
vers of right ns you behold the ship of state
.ifting to destruction. Emnity, with her faith
i attendant, discord, springs up, and sewers
e ties which should link together nations
thens and Sparta, alienated from each other
7 intestine broils, are shook to their founda-
ons, and eventually become an oasy prey tol
e green eyed jealousy of other nations their
,piring shrieks are throttled by the slime of
cir sycophants and traitors, and they fall VIC
ms Of their own misguided sons When
untrymen are armed to fight against country
en-, that nation mist fall. 1t was the proud /.
,as. Of Imperial Rome, thas while the Colli-
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