Litchfield enquirer., 1862-02-13
FoR THE ENQUIRER.

two has thrown open her portals and all have crossed her threshold. The old year has joined the shadowy throng of ages fled, and has left its burden of mighty events ct the Historians door.
 We glance backwards, but half comprehending the record which the finger of time has already so strangely traced and we look down the dim future with ave- while new actors wild scenes, and grim uncertainties, mingle in confusion up- on our imperfect sight. We look wonderingly, sometimes with fear, again with courage and hope
 As nation We are strangely situated! Rock ed within. as by volcano in our own bosom, and threatened without as by storms and thun- dcrbolts, we are passing through one of those terrible trials which tests our strength, proves our patriotism, and our moral power. Worse enemies than Scylla and Charybdisa are ours Trea- son and the crimes of hell have drawn the dag ger within while envy, ignorance, and the cor. l ruption of all monarchies, mutter vague, discor dant threats around us. A year ago we stood on the threshold of new decade, with the shad- ows of trouble and danger lying long and dark across our pathway. The shadows have fled, and the reality, like the storms of Ocean, are upon us. Again we enter new year, and low nur | murings of wrath are heard, while wild | storm-couds peer darkly above our horizon upon distracted land. Is the substance of these shadows also to come upon us?
 It is useless to disguise cur situation. We have mighty rebellion on our hands which l must be put tlonn, and we have tho hidden, now partly expressed, ill-wll of the monarches of the old world. If this ilI-will assume the offensive and darkens the new year with its crime and shama, We must fight for national life and na- tional honor, and for the very soul of Liberty !- England's pretended neutrality is a farce her sympathies are not directly with the South and Slavery, nor are they with the North, rich in commerce and manufactures. Her desire is to see us as nation dipiisa, again and again, till all fear Of our future influence and power is blot ted out. The cloud which appeared in the west ern sky no bigger than a mans hand, has in creased till monarchy fears 1t, and calls that it be dispelled. The Republics of the world are running the gauntlet for life. The western world is receiving the thrusts of malice and envy. Republics now find little sympathy except among themselves. Italy, that youthful PhGnx, rising | from the ashes of noble Rome, cheers us with an encouraging smile Russia, casing aside the shackles and the lethargy of years, stands in ca lossal magnitude and power. ready to hur the 1 sword into the balance which tavors human liber ty. But where else are we to look for real sym pathy? Our reliance for the future must be in the Almighty and in ourselves Nations, like individuals, acquire strength of character and moral power, by passing through suffering and trial These develop at once selfreance and trust in God they do away with braggart van ity and develop true national greatness. Thls refining process is being wrought upon us, and the record of 1862, will show whether we are like gold worthy of the flames, and can issue from the fire, more brilliant and more worthy.
 It cannot be that our race is run, ond that our Star of empire is to fade from the constellation of nations, like the lost Plead from the arch of Heaven. It cannot be that man is incapable of self-government, and that Monai chy and Despo- tism are to rise upon the ruins of a cnce united and noble Republic. The thought is opposed to the progress of man to Christianity; to all which the silent Past has taught us to the progress of more than four score years, and to the hopes which extend far down into time.
 No; we shall que this Rebellion, and if Eng land in her weak, contemptible envy again invade our shores, we shall fight again for Life and Li- berty and again shall ,rin! The struggle may be long and dark, but it will be final, the result, everlasting.
 This struggle and these threats reveal our strength and our nobility The Rebellion, which ill its ten months of existence would have de- stroyed half the nations of Europe, have com pletely revolutiouzed France, and in England have created and demolished half dozen minis ters and made wreck of her manufactures has here reached it's climax long ago has produced HO CildIlpe III INOFGn tudG pressure has not before accomplished, save the mastering of troops and their white encampments where we never saw them before. The nation goes on slowly gathering her mighty forces and concen- trating those engines which will soon accomplish the Traitors doom. In ten months we have made 20,000,000 of men capable of carrying on a gigantic war by land and on the sea, and we commenced with nothing The course of the Government towards England has been noble, and adds lustre to our name. Our magnanimity may provoke her beastly wrath. The future is full of interest and brings with it the fate of na- tions, but for our motto, {" mems sibi conscia recti*," and for our trust, the God of Heaven. we can defy the attempts of Rebellion to disrupt us, of Monarchy to destroy US, and as nation, endure to the end of time. Eighteen hundred and sixty-two. we greet thee with hope and con- fdence and welcome thee as a happy year to us and to the world. DR. lcKzAcK. "A mind conscious of it's own rectitude Windsor Locks G., Jan. Sd, 1862.