Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-06-07


AGsrman Josrnai on the Irssrieau Crlsls.
The Wessr-z eituHg, one Of the hblest jour
nails In Germany, and the most widely read
In the northern parts dlseoursss thua, half
d~espondently and half e~ncohraeinEIy about
Che present trials Of ouf Republic;
The United States Of North America have
now reached q turning point from which
good or to evil. The crisis may perhaps
sefve 10 remove from the body the oan-
kering and fomenting elements accumulated
within the last decennflpL and 10 restore
the impaired moral ~soundness Of the great
Confederation Il may possibly hasten the
decay and dissolution, the symptoms Of
which . already begun 70 occupy the at;
the Southern States was thought of.
Eyer since ocqueville published hisclassie
work on the Amerieda Democracy, that de-
mocracy has exhibited the spectacle OF A
progressive degeneration. Itaeemed as I'll
made it an express pointto give thelie to is
celebrated p~apegyrisL while In the very act
Of parading its virtues IS a model 70 Euro
pean democracy. The world was highly
prepossessed in favor of the American Union
Of States; in 1t iDnumerable men ibeheld the
embodiment of their political ideas IN it
they found the fullest measure ofciVil liberty,
combined with order and the Observance Of
the laws, moral rectitude, and the dignity Of
man, religious exactness and tolerant for
side. F-9FU
Scarcely a generation has passed and this
Judgment Is changed into the very reverse.
The public opinion Of Europe Is almost
unanimous in the sentence Of condemnation
which II now ~propounces on the transatlantic
Republic. And It can scarcely be censured.
The most recent history Of the Union has
made it impossible for its warmest friends TO
defend its institutions and morals. We are
to know the tree by its fruits, and there are
few political vices that have not thriven to q
most luxuriant maturity and plenty upon
the tree of the Union.
Every thing that the old despotisms could
be represented with, has-in fact TO a colossal
degree-been revived in an incredibly short
period under the nominal sovereignty of the
people. Dishonesty toward public creditors,
haughtiness toward weaker ~neighbors, un-
Just wars and ~conquests, prostitution ofiust-
ice, yenality and fraud in all the administra-
tive branches, terrorism in matters Of opin-
ion, organization of the rabble for the de-
struction Of the elective franchise-such and
similar would be the indictments which even
the fairest historian would have to set down
against Governments and peoples of the
Union, if he undertook to sketch the last
~ JChAo vi tnSiA AAlCs
The events Of the past and the current
year were not calculated to redeem for the
United States the sympathy and respect of
the world. t
The treacheries in the Administration Of
Buchanan, the gigantic swindles and de-
foundations, that could pass, in the land of
publicity and q free press, at first unobserved,
and after their discovery almost unpublished;
the violation of the military oath 30 COM
mon among the troops; the weakness and
inactivity OF q great nation in face of the
open rebellion of unprincipled fanatics-alI
this astonished and terrified even those fully
prepared for bad news. We looked into an
abyss Of corruption and decentralization, the
possibility Of whose depth we had hardly
imagined. M
Yet with all these strong corroborations il
is possible that public opinion has wronped
the people of the United States. Whether
we are justified in Venturing this opinion the
crisis that has now com must decide. It is
very difficult to obtain a Just standard BY
which to judge the moral health Of a nation,
1t is especially difficult to calculate to what
extent the real mass Of the population may
be infected with the corruption of the ruling
minority. We know best from our own his
tory, that the pith of the people may remain
sound and untainted despite the greatest
hopelessness Of the public affairs; despite the
deepest %depravity Of the tone giving classes.
The like we may hope for in America.
The American people are the inheritors Of
eminent virtues, and We have no proof that
they have altogether s~quandered their in
heritance. What is chiefly to be laid to
their charge is the sin of omission. They
have for years looked on, silent and uncon
cerned, while an rmy Of selfish politicians
lorded it at will over their public institutions,
their international relations, and particularly
their public moneys. In order not to be dis
turbed in their industrial pursuits, or from a
repugnance TO unpleasant conflicts, they be-
held with Indifference their State and
Federal Offices degraded into sources of gain,
and their election-polls controlled by a
violent minority. They nave permitted the
Press of the country to become the tool of
base passions, and the Jury to grow into an
instrument of injustice. These sins of
omission weigh heavy enough in a country
whose organization makes the participation
in public life, however ~uncongenial, q duty
for every citizen; but a part of the RESPONSE
bility lies more with that organization, than
with the men to whom the founders ascribed
too high a degree Of civil sacrifices not only
in extraordinary but even in everyday
emergencies. 1t is very possible, that,
fenced of from the muddy fields Of political
party contests, a rich, fertile soil is still left,
upon which, in better season, and under q
more favorable temperature q harvest OF
i puDuC MclIHTo may DE reADe0. .f. " -
The news which the last mail brings us OF
the universal rousiDg Of patriotic enthusiasm
in the Northern States, confirms us in the
hope that this possibility may prove a fact.
/ The booming of the cannons from Fort
Sumter has awakened from their lathargy
the classes-the merchants, the mechanics
and the agriculturists-who had hitherto
patiently submitted to the tyranny of the
~demagogues, and, for the first time since q
long period, we see all the better elements of
the population, rally around the common
banner of the fstherland. Even the dullest
can now see to what precipice they must
inevitably come, when justice, honor and
morality are reserved for private life, while
in public life every avenue is left open for
every passion. ~.
The leaders of the slave States are, indeed,
the authors of the, confisgration, whose
flames rise up irresistibly to Heaven; but the
confagration could not hare arisen, if the
North and the South had not, in their abom-
Unable party agitations, lost sight of the
highest interest of the country.
And now Nemesis Justly strikes the North
as well as the South, and the dreadful scourRO
of civil war fails with equal weight upon
both divisions of the severed people. Il new
remains to be seen, whether the States will
accept this infection, merely ss a punish
ment or also as q benefit. The moment Is
great and decisive. The question is, whether
the Union viii return through this bloody
trial, to the spirit of Washington, or
whether it is to be changed, like the South
American republics, into a scene Of endless
commotion, in which the standard of liberty
is only q plaything passing from hand-tO-
hand through a succession Of adventurous