Northern Times. — 1860-02-06 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

ELET-MN AMERICAN "INSTITUTIONS. •  The:following sketch of the state* of soeietria the United*taies, from the pea of one who is by no means .dispesed.to take an ill-flayed view of the future of Amerieti; is )well worth attention at the present -moment -:  , afli.7l`43'and'orie not-far-off day .will terribly 13e,. the curse If that. splendid New World, that its own native liandS4feleo democratically set up or foolishly and proudly insane to -earn' their: honest livelihood by the fait :and highly!. remitneratiVo'.eniployment offered by their own country. What a lesson that ought to 'be..to those English dernocrate and selflshly-pro7 minent demagegues as to the.boasteeL' blessings of .universal•saffrage,' and what they call the popular rights' of mankind. The old adage of the.-' beggar on horseback' is not inappliCableto-thelgtate of things a view of what °tight to have beenthe labotiring classes in Amirica afforded me, and in my opinion the true interests of a country eannot be long maintained, when all are masters and none are men ; and a majerityyeturnedio Congress not by the wealth and intelligence of . the ritition,b by the houseless and despntic, -desperate, and wandering class,-a,eoercion.exereised_over..the free. use of .the conscience by numbers( artned ivitli the revOlVer and rifle. To talk of the undue influence bylandlords in England over their tenants, their tenants having, many an interest in common with their landlords,, is as a: mere drop of water in the sea, compared to , the tyranny-exercised by the '1;04-goys,' ,and Rowdies' over the freedom: of uniprlal suffrage; and when I read the lueubrations of Mese& Bright -and- Cobden at the reform meetings as they are called, when they hold up, I fear, the disunited States of America as a pattern to this country, I an: at a less what to do—to marvel at the mistake of these orators, or to laugh at the inipuclence .of the attempt -to lean a weight 'on the most fragile lath that ever was put forth as a walking-stick for John Bull.. A man has but to 'travel in America and to mix with all classes, to see the errors -in—the-System of what may be called the univeiial stiffrage:of:W iiresponsible people. A king. can ,clo .no wrong:,;!,that is a curious adage,- and inay.bea legal truth,; though it cannot he a religions one.;-and: on, closely regarding the law and its general enforeement.,in the .United .States, the same may be illegallY. said of ,the A.merican people, The people can do no wrong ;' .and that fact eventually, I _fear; be the knife ' that. will 'sever the bundle of. sticks,' though accursed .ought for ever to be. the hand that severs the unity of a splendid citizenship that can only fall to , pieces by suicide, or ,by an insane intoxication produced, by too much liberty. ,I,iberty is a ,beautiful thing, ,in the social.. as well as; the political,,or public system throughout the world ; -but if a man takes too great liberties in private .society, liberty destroys the delicacy of life,.and leads, if unchecked, to demoralisa-: tion.. The. same resat is, at this moment, hanging by a thread, over the, prosperity of America.; the people-are drUnk with. liberty, already, to the destruction of the. beSti' Of all blessings--the ample and.remunerative ployment of the industrial _poor. In the States two interests have clashed, and are clashing, fomented,. I dee rr tply'reret to say; by clever and popular writers from England, one of whom was made to believe, during his visit to America, that slave-ownersmarked their slaves_ irithe Uniteili-States by 'knocking out a front tooth ;'and in the other an authoress assured us that, slaveowners,inight always be recognised' bythe size. oftheir right, hand; the .nuisctilar -,proficrtions. and 'weight of which were increased from their .constant habit "of knocking_down theirnegroes.' The slave quiestion, whinla.has already. led to so much'bloadshed, as well 'as to the pilot balloon-sent forth'to test how the wind blew, in the shape of ,'Old Brown,' is the bjte:noir on, the 4orizonThof the- United States; With that looming on them at. this very moment; and the intoxicated state, in .regard to liberty,'-of the masses, the numerical insufficiency of the standing army, thOligh. splendidly officered,by-soldiers,andTentlemen, sons of America.. The fact that that:army is a strange or forieigv fotee, 6impri,ied'of-foreigners,'and not ofi-Arriericair citi. zens, and the contempt .in-which many of the laws of Congress from eonvicted murder purchasable by money, any man with a head Oil" his shoulders, who has travelled ,in America, cai;not--; hilt, fear that ..tile mere Weight' 'of a- feather thrown:iiitO the-Seale May bring about a collision that 'Will'lend to:. the 'mat terrible results. Many friends of mine in America—among them-.a widely-exPerienced: and most 'gallant and 'able soldier—assure me that they do not dread diSdnion for all, the eopfusionathustings, Murder, and even petty civil wars 'that.. have . been, ,and are .still ..notormus: According to , their opinion, the men of, the slave. and anti-slavery states, when,tfie ,hour of disunion arrives, know Well that in disimion lies an individual ruin, and they -Will ',1,; Anything rather than eut the Withe that binds them unitedly together. In this opinion. MaY Heaven grant that. my frielids in America may be correct-; but; ..as my sporting narrative proceeds, I shalt have it in 'my 'power to show many a little eircumStMice,' slight, perhaps, in itself, that tends, when considered in the aggregate, to show ..grounds for apprehension that things-:within..Arderica are far from peaceful-in their. attitude, and • that there is• nothing: so' dangerous as liberty insufficiently, restrained, :or a suffrage so uni-' versal that property and life lie at the mercy- of an irresponsible multitude. " .