The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1872-09-04
THE PRESENT CRISIS AND ITS ISSUE:
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY REV. B. NJ. PAL
MER, D. D., AT WASHINGTON AND LEE
UNIVERSITY, JUNE 27, 1872.

UNIVERSITY, JUNE Il, 10 Z.
The second canon is not less important, tc
wit: that sa passing successfully through anS
crisis, a people must possess elasticity enough
to adapt themselves to nesO conditions, ana
thus to meet the issueo Of another Cycle
This is but the vigor of the national life
seeking new channel when the old has fal.
len through, just as a healthy plant throws
off a new shoot and marks by new joint
where interference has given another direc-
ton to its growth. Nothing seals the fate
of nation sooner than the stubborn adhe.
renee to obsolete usages and forms which
the progress of society is determinately
throwing off These are either simply out
grown, as country passes through the diff
ferent stages of its own development, or they
are displaced by the new combinations which
policy or force may compel from without.
History is always crystallizing anew
Fresh agents are perpetually introduced, old
relations are dissolved, and new afinities are
established. Every nation must, therefore,
recognize the changes taking place in what
is variable and contingent in itself; whilst it
preserves, with distinct consciousness, its
own identity throughout. Unquestionably,
clear judgment is required to distinguish
between what is essential to nations being,
and what is merely accessory and accidental.
And it is wonderful how Providence raises up
in great conjunctures the men who are equal
to this task; men of wise forethought and
heroic courage, gifted almost with a preset
enoe of the future, and with the sublime
faith which draws that future up until it be-
comes their immediate present-men i'm
measurably in advance of their own genera
tion as to the power of comprehending new
and opening issues, and who are marked for
leadership by that mesmeric influence which
tones and subdues all with whom they are
brought into contact. Thus it has come to
be accepted as sign that nation has
future before it, when great men arise in
these opportunities of history, giving form to
its developments. 1t is the climax of states
to strike the golden mean between
the Radicalism which overturns only for the
sake of change, and the fatal Conservatism
which, In its blind attachment to inheritance
and prescription, resists the progress it should
aim to guide.
A clear example of this political sagacity
may be found in the trainers of the Ameri-
can Constitution. Born under monarchy,
and trained through its usages, they were
yet wise enough to perceive that all its con-
ditiOns were lacking upon this continent.-i-
There was no titled class with the prestige
of nobility and rank from which monarch
could be chosen; and the teachings of His
tory too plainly established the impossibility
Of lifting a single family from the general
level to permanent presidency over the rest
They were too skilled in political science not
not to know that the wide interval between
the commonalty and the throne must be filled
with an intermediate class, rendering the
ascent less abrupt and preciptous. Accept
ing the plain facts of their position, a repub-
llcan form of government was with them as
much necessity as choice. The tie of
allegiance being severed to the British
throne, the sovereignty, of course, vested in
the colonies, standing forth in their organ
lied form as free and independent States. 1t
only remained to bind these together in
confederated Republic, with its written Con-
stitution, and with those checks and balances
furnished by two deliberative chambers, the
Presidential veto, and State sovereignty
The whole political fabric was not changed
from "turret to foundation stone;" but only
so far as the pressure of events imperiously
demanded. The existing organized govern
ments were simply combined in new rela-
tions. The whole internal machinery of
State rule by domestic legislatures was pre-,
served intact, and the entire body of the
English law was carried over for the protec-
ton of personal and civil rights. The coun-
try was safely navigated through the
perils of an immense revolution by the con-
which retained all that was essen
tial to order and liberty, and by the judici-
Gus boldness which Topped off the external
forms in which these had been enshrined,
when their continuance would have impeded
the fresh development which the occasion
and the age demanded.
The particular application of these canons
has no doubt been partially anticipated by
the intelligent and critical audience before
me. Three fourths only of century had
elapsed since the adoption of the American
Constitution, when the country was precipi-
tated into one of those stupendous revolu-
tions by which it is ever the fate of nations
to be shaken. A period of unparalleled ex-
pansion and material prosperity was followed
by an explosion of pent-up forces which
threatened universal wreck. And though
the ravages of actual war have ceased, the
State still rocks beneath the ground swell of
that fearful agitation, and every beam and
timber groans under the pressure of the sub
siding storm. Itis undeniable that we are
still within the jaws of an amazing crisis;
nor can the wisest predict whether we shall
survive its perils. The danger of silent
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