The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-05-08

1, i,.o.a ,rs,aris,n of modern times Ous
g IL nav not understand as readily as Ameri-
cans the complex workings of their poitlcAi
system. he is apt to see more clearly imam
Americans thu actual drift of their polucS'
In literature this aptitude has had us mus
;ll,,st,;o,,s e,empli6cation in the writings OF
NJ. de Tocqueville. Though at iaul. IN many
particulars, he gave Us profound glinPSes u
american society which we shou'u A1.o
so,,obt vainlv in all that ever fell from the mp
Or non of Jefferson OF Madison, oil Ciay VI
uabstsr Indeed. no American statesman
unless II was John c. Calhoun, has seen as
deeply as he saw into the seethlng currents
and eddies of blind impulses and appe'l.e'
underlying the surface of American oo-
mocracy.
These remarks are sufficient 10 lnuica''
the folly of treating as absurd the comnen-
taries of the English or the French press on
nolitioal affairs in the United States, simply
because they may display Ignorance Oh cer-
tain particulars regarding men, measures OF
incidents. It's rather because OF this special
| defect that the general conclusions OF such
commentaries, if intelligent and candid, are
bkelv to be both comprehensive and correct
Nevertheless a large section of the American
! press sees nothing buta crude and shalo"
| conjecture in the latter clause of the follow
ing observation by La France, one of the lead
| inc journals of Paris Imperial institutions
| are the form of government to which all
nations are now advancing; the conflict which
has arisen between President Johnson and
Congress seems a symptom of the disposition
Of the United States to adopt an imperial
regime"
The American people having drifted away
from their old constitutional moorings, who
NAV saw to what destination they are drifting?
Here is one foreign writer, of presumed intel
Ioence and candor-and he is by no means
solitary example-who looks forward to some
sort of imperial despotism as the probable
ortlet from the present Volta
1 Vs~---t s.o.svsu Jroueleess in
the United States Few rejecting persons in
this country have not had forebjdings, if not
convictions, pointing to the Some issue. But
we on the hither side of tie Atlantic, find it
difficult to put Ourselves at the proper stand
point for calculating ether the force or the
| ulreCIOu VI ltfo ONeulCub MnASA bOoAo NN
, onward. We cannot, in fact, without an in
. | tellectuSl effort, realize that we are carried
: swiftly on TIE current of change, and that We
d are already so far from our starting place tina
= we Cannot even compute the distance
Y Some forms of constitutional government
J, floating around us after its substance Is com
N pletely wrecked, assist to keep us in delusion
oarafr, 1Ix and thOuOht
fslly, wemust perceive, if not the destina
Al tion to which we are drifting, at least tn
a certainty that we have passed, irreyocably
: bevond the familiar horizon of the old orde
~ of things, and penetrated the dim circle {
ba another containing we know not what
ba peril or safety, of felicity or misery II
- stream on which we are hurried Is until
81 those great rivers of the globe whose sourc
- are mysterious. We know where it took
he rise, but only Omniscience may tell into VIII
,lv sea it will at length deliver us and our &c
cal tunes And yet its uncertain debouchme
ant does not leave US wholly at loss as to {
0r nolitical future. Since the stream is o
tho which cannot be reascended, we are permit
osa 10 have the knowledge, at least, that this
va ture is to be extremely different from t
Of mast. and. if wise, we will seasonably a
ION strenuously make the most of the prest
nm in adjusting our plans and our labors
ous the inevitable difference.
All That this country is drifting to an impel
Che r6oine. comfortable to the European idea
hes such rule, is a conjecture which ia
doubtless. short of the mark. The Uni
,ros States possesses as yet almost none OF
- elements of q dynastic establishment of &
: &c kind. But when people have failed to III
80 peacefully upon common principles of 6
-. eminent, when they plunge deeper q
a. deeper in discussion, agitation and cont
ton about fundamental theories of polit
81 liberties and obligations, there is but one '
-. in which they can be saved from anarchy
"a. is the old, old story-and sadder and sad
a. as it grows older. In the last analysis
- alternative comes up of no government
80 despotic government; and order and secu
a. are TO be sought under the command of 81
-, one at once ambitious to rule and str
49,, enough to enforce obedience, and in SUBJ
- sion 10 whom men of all parties and ella
- &c believe that they have more to gain thai
Iii lose. Men who are incapable of agreein
NJ 70 their views of right may yet concur in re
can nizing the need of authority; and Il
- 90 whom revolutionary license has set above
9 a. may still have q master. Meanwhile, wit
and lingering Id spe0ui"'ioI % ~ '-0 A-i,'''
and IL Is peIlec'ly a'io " La '-0 -
lot of PeasaOle spl" Vi I'oioSiiS"' 0ii0e AZ
tba career in country, will tear to pieces
Tvhat government which cannot, or dares
\ .ba throttle il with an iron hand
90 the ,-a a.. u.,.,,o,. =.
they sIa!e-A Hswisged and Berobed cO'le'
NIFTY -