Year: 1867




and impatient in view of the general stag
nation On the principle that misery loves
company" it may be some consolation to
know that we are not the only sufferers, and
that the same universal complaint of dull
times is heard all over the A tlantc States.
Discussing this question Of stagnation in
business, the St. Louis Dispatch says: That
the Spring season which brings with it
re-awakeniDg in all departments of industry
and trade, wakes no sign of life now. The
stagnation continues as stubborn and still
as the frozen current of a northern stream,
on which the genial rays of the sun do not
descend The sluggishness is not confined
to one section or to one interest. Il is uni
versa The harbors of the northern cities
are -flled with idle ships. Northern and
Eastern dock.yards have ceased to echo
with the sound of American hammers, build
ing American ships. The shoe factories of
Lynn have turned off half their hands aud
scarcely find employment for the other half
The mills of New England are becoming
idle, while the stocks of unsold and un-
Saleable goods indicate the lifelessness of
the manufacturing interests. Wages of
workingmen are being reduced and thouN
sands of workingmen at the east are being
turned out of employment. This general
depression extends to our own Stater and
rests like weighty oppression upon our
merchants, our manufacturers, and Our
mechanics, and is fact palpable as that
of night and day. What is the cause of
oil this? The North is blessed with album
dant food, while the Southern States are
sore in need Of food and clothing. Such be
ing the fact, there ought to be large ship
ments of goods and provisions continually
going on from North 10 South. But there
is no such movement. And why? There
may be several causes for this oppressive in
ertia; but we take it that the chief cause
lies in the policy of disorder aud disaster
that reigns in Congress Nothing is popu-
lar there xcept some remorseless scheme Of
vengeance and prescription against people
who are absolutely suffering for want of the
necessaries of life. Measure after measure
of persecution, each one exceeding the last
in cruelty, are devised for their punishment
and as i f their condition were not already
sufficiently abject and cherries, it is pro-
posed to deprive them of all civil privileges
and subject them to the harrassment of a
system Of military satraps, thus to extin.
guish the last spark of American spirit in
their bosom. Woe to the conquered, is the
sole motto Of Congress, notwithstanding the
victims Of this unremitting and unrelenting
persecution are the countrymen and kins-
men of their prosecutors. Desolation and
decay brood over one third of the national
territory-a desolation and decay which
Congress labors to make moro dismal by a
harsh legislation. The people of the South
are crowding into Texas, or fleeing to Mex
leo, Brazil and Venezuela, to escape the
blight and the prescription of their vndic,
tive masters. 1t is a reproduction of the
weavers and lace makers OF the Netherlands
fleeing from Alva and Philip II of the Hu,
genots fleeing from the French Kings OF
the Irish fleeing in despair from English
persecution. All these expressions in other
lands have resulted in disaster and loss to
the prosecuting power. Is it aay wonder
that the same cruelties are yielding the same
harvest of crippled trade, depressed industry
and calamity with US