Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-07-26
Bradfura gepurter,
THE EUROPEAN CONFLICT.

ryer since the Reformation commenced
4 Europe, there has been a conviction
.l:y growing in the minds of the
4 rnnon people, and that is that the
A -,s ard privileges with which nature
A ~ endowed them as men, were usurped
A another class whose only claim to
4 .ca was the accident of birth and posi-
A I'm. To this fact we may ascribe the eff
4 .ds Of Algermon Sydney and his COM
4 aqrs in the times preceding the revolution
Al 1888, and also the spirit of the Puritans
N rio sought retreat in the wilds of the
A yew World, where they might worship
4 asir common Father in peace. Every one
A aows the result of their labors and sacri-
4 ces-that a spirit of Liberty grew up di-
4 ~,tIy antagonistic to oppressive exactions
n the ruling class, and that this spirit cul
minated in the Declaration Of American In
H dependence of 1776.
That declaration was manifesto to all
4 tie world that all men were equal in nat
-ral right-that God had not endowed one
lass of men with privileges he had with
aeld from another,-that free government,
representative government, self govern
lment was a natural right which man pos
sessed, or was entitled to, by virtue of his
4anhood and power to preserve it and
nat kings had no divine right to exact the
submission Of their subjects TO their rule
Republics had had prior existence, but
.4re was one established upon the express
lea that men were rational beings, and
-4i sufficient intelligence to choose the
glt, rather than the wrong and not up
4 that Of expediency, which had been the
A Ing principle in the foundations of those,
.-.ch il earlier ages, had preceded it.
"A The world beheld with astonishment the
GRAFTON of free government, and felt the
king Of the leaven. A new element
as infused into the efete nationalities of
Il Old World They began to think, to
A uire, TO compare, to reason, to know
N story informed them, duty to the present
I'D the coming age, urged them, and that
Aneless aspiration for a free life, which
4 ardent soul ever cherishes as the true
1 2iltion Of its being, impelled them
rance was rocked by the tempest from its
a1,re 10 its furthest circumference and
A e responded to the call by shedding the
4 Cd Of her tyrants, and often of her
"ends The conservative spirit of Eu-
t;ope was aroused, and then followed the
wars Of the First Napoleon, the dynasties,
airy with age and reeking with the blood
tile true and the brave, until the last
Ia. carnage Of Waterloo, where conser-
A.sm won its last victory, and the treaty
1 " Vienna secured its last diplomatic tri-
/ 1rL
There is nothing more true than that
freedoms battle once begun will in the
4 -l be won The host enlisted under
+: tanner, represents principle of uni
'si'aI interest, one springing from the
&-;a constitution Of every son of Adam,
-'eTtwlned with all his interests and af-
lions, and duties and responsibilities.
-s. battlefield is the wide earth, her SOL
-r'' the entire family of men who love
and Ler warfare will endure through
-e .ong ages Of the lifetime of the world.
very life lost, every drop of blood spilled,
sacrifice upon her altar calling for
-l5eance, vengeance as sure to be rem
Fed as that just God rules in the affairs
men.
I4ere is every indication that we are
aat to witness a great European war.
PIE at this distance are inquiring what
respective combatants are expecting to
,-- Are the little Duchies of Schleswig
~ Holstein of sufficient Importance to
Her belligerent to warrant the loss of so
any lives and the expenditure of so much
..a@ure? In one little battle, or march.
LIE treasure would be sunk than both are
'.'ih. 80, is VeLetia so necessary to Italy
10 Austria, that these great states should
.soutely peril their future prosperity for
~-r possession? ?
But IN this reasoning we overlook the
'-''o philosophy of the matter: 1t may
True that the belligerents themselves do
~' exactly understand their position The
'-, is, each state is impelled by motives
~e grasp and significance of which is
A-'Wn only to Providence, who permits
Ills struggle. They are in the hands of a
'.'aHy which brings them into a warlike
.~'act for the sake, and in the interests O
.--lallty-into a struggle for life, in which
~s power they have so long welded for
sF'eSsive ends is in jeopardy, and may es
'F from their grasp. Nearly all the
s''l' wars Of the last three hundred years
ave ended in the establishment of some
'-dlton which has elevated that of the