Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1861-11-16
~sAs staeas.ss,
I fFfsn the L0bdus SATURDAY Resiev1 =
AN OLD CHAPTER RE.WRIfTfN

4 Il ~ ttrow the Hondnu Saturday HeSiew1 wa
!. AN OLD CHAPTER REWRITTEN,
e the Gods sometimes destroy men by granting
ioolHhp they also sometimes save fhen h,s,
.rejectngat For several years the King and people
OF England struggled, with all the power If r.
Empire. to snbdue the revolted American colonies
They went on dil1hey bad accumulated an i,nmense
debt till thev had lost their best troops till H.
had given dangerous shock 70 their own politic.I
system, and brought themselves so low that thew
were Obliged to cencede legislative independence 10
Ireland from fear of mob Of hastily raised VoI,n
teers. In vain did thew and most iustrions,
statesmen protest against such madness. In vain
did they ask what was TO be done with the colonies
IN case they were subdued and whether it was in.
tended TO maintain an immense standing ar,nv on
the other side Of the Atlantic for the purpose Of
holding in sphjection unwilling population of The
same Tree blood as ourselvesp If the remonstrants
were not tarred and feathered or made to ride mon
rails it was only because the full measure of bsr.
ty which enables unpopular sentiments to be 50
promptly dealt with had not then been obtained bv
an old and somewhat retrograde community.
Their TemoBstTances were given to the winds and
the remonstrants were overwhelmed with ignominv
aud abuse. hat should be done with the rebels
when they had been subdoed? was question that
1night be solved when it arose One thing wac
clear-rebeon must be put down. The honor of
the Crown must be indicated The unity of the
Empire must be restored. Till that was done there
could be no thought Of peace and those who desired
IL were themselves little better than rebels in their
hearts, And yet all this time the separation of the
colonies, against which we were struggling. was the
greatest boon that Providence could bestow. Re.
garded in commercial point of view alone it was
worth more to as than all our conquests puttogether
The gain of India has often been rhetorically con-
trasted with the loss of America: but the trutb is
that the incapacity of Lord North and the bunplnU
) Of his wooden commanders did more for us than
the genius of Warren Hastings The golden cur.
rent of trade which began to flow between the two
countries when the commercial energies of America
were set free. very soon rapid even the immense
sums which had been squandered in enGeavoriny to
keep ourselves out of that rich heritage Yet in
the wise enGeavor to avert from ourselves this good
fortune we had brought ourselves to the brink of
destruction. We and mankind in general" saws
cynical historian, writing of a similar case Of
blindness, ARE set of extremely wise creatures"
The refusal of the American colonies to submit to
Imperial taxation was signal given by nature,
though not understood by man, that the time had
arrived when it was good for both parties that the
colonies should become nation The present Sc
cession of the South from the North is a similar
signal given by nature and equally misunderstood
by man, that the time has arrived when there ought
to be more than one nation on the Continent of
North America. The Unionists imagine that the
greatness of their country depends upon the reten
ton under one Government, and under one set of
institutions, of the whole Of territory equal to
that of all the great nations of Europe put together
Greatness is not independent in the case of nations
of material size and power; but it is essentially
moral not material quality. And in order that
she may be morally great nation must have other
nations at her side to give her the holesome lessons
which, in the case of individuals, man gives to man.
America has been like great clustering boy brought
up at home, instead Of learning common sense,
manness, and nIodesty among his equals in pub
lie school She has had nobody to control her tyran.
nica arrogance to make her feel her faults to cure
her of that intense self concet which is the root of
all littehess and of all failure. She has ancied her
power unbounded because she has had nobody to
measure it against except the decrepit States of
South America British colonies still in their lead
ing strings; and she has naturally contracted those
wretched habits of Dragging and clustering which
attend the fancied possession of unbounded power.
She has had before her but one set of political inSt
tutiohs which she has naturally supposed to be the
best imaginable; and she has consequently been led,
instead Of correcting to glory in and aggravate all
their defects She has co,nplacently carried demo-
crazy to the height of an absolute mob rule in
which responsibility is disqualification for political
power and She has seemed to herself all the time to
be advancing towards political perfection hitherto
unattained. Hafa-dozen independent nations, with
different institutions at her side would have taught
her better than this, besides obging her to have
other men than spouting grocers for the officers of
her regiments. and to fill her dockyards with some
thing better than rotten wood. The hour Of trial
has shown her what sort of education it is to be
lord of all you survey. Her big, burly, hectoring
frame turns out not to be tenanted by big soul
natural grandeur is astounding. Other peoples
rivers are her brooks other peoples hotels her
beershops, what other people do by inches she does
by acres; but her troops march home when the
cannon aresoundng, eroficers boast to their men
that they are "licked into cooked hat" and her
Nature is going to all this by introducing into
the New World, as we'll as the Old the salutary
division of Independent nations And to thwart this
beneticent object of nature is the anthe hopeless
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