The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-05-23
AN OLD STORY ABOUT POLL
TICS AND POLITICAL PILGRIMS,
WITH A MODERN APPLICATION

WITH A MODERN APPLICATION
All human advancement is yeduccable to the
combined action of thoughts and feelings
opinions and sentiments, in moulding public
affairs No generalization, however subtle
can go beyond this. These are the two
controlling forces-the two simple ele-
ments of social progress, to which, in any in
vestigation of social phenomena, we must
come at last. Accepting this proposition as
true-as it undoubtedly is--the investigation
Of any given problem in sociology, becomes
comparatively easy. And in no great ques-
ton Of historic interest, can better illustra-
ton Of this truth be found than in that
which was recently submitted to the final
arbitration Of the sword, on the theatre Of
American affairs. The essential difference
between the sentiments and opinions of the
two sections of the country can be traced
with accuracy, and the progress of the strug-
gle can be marked, at every step of its melan-
Choly and disastrous progress, with chronology
ical accuracy Its rise, growth, and culmina-
ton, are revealed to us with the sharp, sculp-
turesque lines of piece of colossal statuary.
The idea of centralized power, which has
made Paris France, and the idea of local lber-
ty, which has kept England free, have been
in antagonism since the foundation of this
government
At an early day, some of the great publicists
and jurists of the North, proclaimed the po-
litical unity of the American people, among
them, HAMILTON, JAY and STORY. The dis
cussions which followed, were not unfrequent-
~ marked by acrimony and bitterness In
the party divisions, which grew out of these
different constructions of the effect of the
organic law, on the status of the people, we
nnd the collision of thought-the opposition of
opinion-between the sections, in short, the
repetition of an old story, which can claim for
itself, remote and venerable antiquity. 1t
was simply the idea of central power, opposed
to that Of local liberty, an idea which Mr..
johnson is now combating, in a just apprecia-
ton Of the necessities CT Republican liberty.
10 tii'D' '-,aA added the additional element of
diseased sentimentaHty, OF. st.a- subject of
slavery. The "down-trodden African" was a
theme for pulpit orators, who lacked the the
ology, or piety to preach the word of God; and
the result was--revolution H
So far it is plain. What of the future?
The record of the famous Committee of State
Slayefs must answer. The idea of imperial
domination is still full of vigorous life. The
wild insanity of the anti-slavery society is not,
dead. The thought and sentiment-the opin-,
ion and feeling-the two great controlling
forces are not subdued. M
The Radicals are like GARaANFUA, who,
after dressing the lettuce with oil, vinegar, and
salt, which hid the six pilgrimss"who came
from Sebastian to Nantes" crammed salad
and pilgrims into his gigantic mouth, and
would have swallowed them outright, had it
not been that one of them thrust his staff into
"the cleft Of hollow tooth 49, Pa as! ri q
This "hollow tooth" was the salvation of
the six pilgrims. And the Southern States
viii find, before long, that the country has
carious financial grinder, which can only be
plugged by gold, and that gold, despite Cali
fornia, and Nevada, and Montana, and Horace
Greeley, must come, sooner or later, out of
the great staples of the South. Nearly nine
million dollars in gold have just been sent
abroad. Cotton, rice, and tobacco, could have
settled this indebtedness under better ad-
justment Of our domestic affairs. But that
happy settlement not having been attained
the Radical GAReANTUA still having the poll
cal pilgrims in his jaws, why, a staff, has been
thrust into the "cleft of Lis hollow tooth. !"
How many of these thrusts can the giant
stand ? For our own part, we think the
sooner GARaANTUA gets rid Of the pilgrims
the better for him. But if not, the question
recurs, what of the future? The answer is
easy on this hypothesis. GARaANTUA in try
ing to swallow the pilgrims will choke him
self to death, and rupture a financial blood
vessel That's ALL 7aih .dAafE 4ha