The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1861-07-26

VI upIiuS icauoio, "hu WIN u iCcAiooo ""u
mean ambition, inflated with self.importancc
, and conccit, and destitute Of patriotism OF
: craftsmanship. Bat as clown witha pick
: axe can demolish the choicest productions OF
, art, 50 can the demagogue overthrow the
loitiest institutions of wisdom.
Thus has poor, dcspised, dwarfed, and
down-trodden Mcxi,o been crushed forever,
. under the iron heel of her own insane des-
poilers memorable but melancholy illus.
} tration of people without fixed and stable
government; the sport Of the proagate and
designing, the victims Of fraud and violence.
Southern States, along the free border had
felt most seriously all the injury produced
by inharnonious and conflicting relations
between them and their brethren Of the
North. and yet the people of these States
shrunk from the remedy of secession rs from
the bottomless pit. They saw in it nothing
but swift and hopeless destruction, and be-
lieyed that the desire for disunion had origi-
mated more in ultra ambitious schemes than
in determination to protect their peculiar
system OF domestic seryitude from encroach-
ment. But States with which the heresy
originated and had been cherished, had long
reveled in dreamy theories and vague notions
Of benefits which would flow to them from q
discovered union, and madly hastened to de-
stroy the fabric Of their fathers before it
could be rescued. The most sordid passions
OF men, seeking indulgence Of their appc-
tites in the promised land Of secession, lent
their absorbing stimulants to urge forward
the catastrophe. Avarice clanked her chains
for the nccessitous and mercenary, and for.
tunes sprung up unbdden, on either hand.
to greet them, seeking masters and service.
Ports and harbors and marts and entrc- pots
rushed upon heated Imagination, as they
heard in the distance the kpell of the Union
tolling; they bcckoued, and the contribu.
tions Of a worlds commerce was poured into
their lap by direct trade, and universal ex-
pansion came over all the votaries Of disun.
ion, as if by magic. "The three-hooped
pot had ten hoops" and what was "Grcek
creek once was Tiber now." Mammon erect
ed his court, and they heard the clinking Of
gold in tho worlds excheqncr. rs 1t accumu.
lated ut the counters of their exchange
Ambition kindled her torch, which, like the
bush Of horeb, burned and was not consum-
ed, and rank, and place. and station, and
stars and garters, and the gew-gaw trappings
of nobility were showcrcd in prolniscuous
proiusion; wreaths Of laurel adorned the
brows of the brave, and the devotees Of pleas
urc danced ut the music of secession sackbut
and psaltry and harp, "and all went merry
rs a marriage bcll." Though sectional feel
ing had, after many years OF proftless con-
dict, eliminated, and the wise and Union
loving were engaged in restoring friendly
relations, under circumstances moro iavora-
bio to success than thirty years Of struggles
had furnished, and though Congress was or
ganizing the territories without restriction
upon domestic institutions, yet the time for
dsunon, so long invoked, had come. and one
State, so far rs in her power, sundercd the
bonds that made her member of tho Union
before the result Of the Presidential election
had been declared by Congress. They turn
ed their backs upon friends and sympathi.
zcrs, denounced laggards in the cause, de-
clared their repudiation Of the Constitution,
and applied the torch to the temple of Free
Government and the Union, with as little
solemnity as they would have repealed an
act Of legislation. The property Of the
United States, by sea and by land, was seized
and the Government was dcfcd and menaccd
by armed forces and avowed preparation for
war other States followed, in form, if not
in substance, by the action Of politicians II
not people-some half willing, Others more
than half iorccd-thosc who should have
stood with sleeplcss zeal upon tho ramparts
of the Constitution, ingloriously surrendered
their posts, and the reign Of anarchy was
thus inauguratcd in our own happy land.
All this increased, and seriously too, the
embarrassment which surrounded the qucs-
ton. But still the spirit Of tho times, the
voice Of the people in every section, South
as well as North, demanded pcace-that ah-
stractions should be laid aside, that every
substantial cause Of grievance should bc re-
dressed, and that the interests Of great
and prosperous nation should not be disturb
ed, nor the moral sense Of the world shocked
by conflict Of arms among brethren. There
was yet hope that the cup Of intestine war
might, in mercy. be permitted to pass. The
report of the first hostile gun which was
discharged, however, proclaimed to the world
that all chances Of peaceful adjustment were
over; that "Heavcn in anger for dreadful
moment, had suffered He'll to take the rcins"
that Pandora's box was opened again, and
tho deadliest plaques known to earth let
loose to curse it but like that repository Of
evils. hope yet smiled at the bottom. Argu-
ment and opinion were thrust aside for vio-
lence and blood with deliberate preparation.
Is it strange that the natural elements SYM
pathired with the occasion, as the intelli.
gence was flashed through the land? A
sheet of cimmerian darkness, near midnight.
hung like dcath.pall over the earth-the
winds mOaned heavily, like the vail CT sPir-
its lost-doOrs crcaked and windows clattcr-
cd, driving currents and counter-currents
Of sleet and rain descended like roaring cat
/ aracts: but the boar.e and startling ahriek