The Placer herald., 1861-03-09
A Country Of Common Interests.

The wisdom OF man never devised a
more perfect form Of government than that
under which the American people have lived
for more than seventy years.
No country that the sun shines upon is 80
fitted by nature to continue great, prosper
Gus, and happy as the United States. The
unexampled progress we have made has not
been the result of mere accident but under
Providence, the legitimate effects Of geo
graphical and natural divisions, in soil eli
mate, pro iuction and occupation.
Had New England remained wholly ag-
ricultural, her prosperity would have cul
minated long ago. Her commerce first,
and then her manufactures opened her way
to wealth and greatness. 1t has been said
England is the workshop of the world"
The remark is less true now then when it
was made; but if England is the workshop
Of the world, New England is the workshop
of the Western Continent.
The Southern States have paid little at
tention to manufacturing. The rich soil and
ready markets have left her no temptation
to become otherwise than strictly agricul
tural. She sells the products of her soil to
foreign countries, and with the money be-
comes the customer of the Northern Man
ufacturer, Merchant Mechanic-of Northern
Colleges and Se'nnaries.
The great West is agricultural, as well
but raises different productions, and these
are for the Home Market-for New England
and the Middle States, and the South.
The middle States are partly agricultural,
partly commercial and manufacturing. The
iron and coal of Pennsy lvania, the iron of
New York and New Jersey, are great ele
ments of wealth. and are destined in tim
to give employment to a thousand fold
more capital and labor than they do now.
New York city is the great Commercial En-
porium of the nation; the distributing cen
tre-the heart, so to speak, that sends vital
currents to the centres and extremes, and
keeps the whole nation in healthy and har-
monious action.
Here are four sections of the country,
distinct in their product, varying in climate,
and all unlike in many Of their social insti
tutions, habits, local interests, and political
opinions. They were thus distinct and un-
like when the Government was formed and
have so remained. But for more than life
time they have lived under common Con-
stitution, in one Union aud under the same
genera. laws. When interests have cashed
as they Lave, and the war of opinions has
waxed hot, there has been wisdom and pa
triotisn sufficient to invoke the spirit of
cancellation and compromise, in which this
Government was formed, and threatening
clouds of danger have been found to wear
the silver lining of peace.
The engineer knows the complex machi
merry he manages, in all its parts and all its
nicetes. He has studied and comprehended
it all. He knows what it will and what it
will not bear. A single jar may fill his
mind with alarm, while ten hundred pas
sehgers may feel the same jar and think no
more Of it than they would the dashing Of
wave. Washington understood the ma
chinery of this Government. He had a
hand in putting its parts together. Jetfer-
son, and Madison, and Monroe understood
it. The men of later day-Clay, Web
ster, and Benton had studied it deeply.
All of these men were men of conpro-
misses. They never suggested the thought
that this government could not endure as
our fathers made it, part free and part slave.
They never limited the thought that between
the North and the South there was an lire
pressble Conflict" These men, alas! for
the.country! are no more. A race Of states
men have succeeded them who come before
the people of the North, asking them to
abandon all their old notions about Union
and Peace, taught them by Clay and Web
ster. They ask them to join in a crusade
against the Southern people. They invite
them to seize the Government of the whole
country, and initiate Revolution. With
everything to make us contented, happy
and prosperous people, we are asked to take
step in the dark and that step on the brink
of destruction. Troy Wing.