Constant recurrence of Agitation.
Upon whatever other points the
American people may differ, there must be by this time a perfect unanimity of disgust at the frequent recurrence of political excitements, causing financial convulsions and distress, to which this country seems to be subject.--Every few years we have a crisis, national and commercial, which threatens all the interests of property, labor, constitutional liberty, and even life itself.
The present is apparently the culmination of a series of storms, which began as long ago as the admission of
Missouri, and which, recurring at irregular intervals, but with constantly increasing violence, have reached the frightful and destructive energy which is now howling above our heads and shaking our houses about our ears.
Ten years ago, when the
South, having contributed the far larger number of the men by whom the
Mexican war was fought, and sustained the chief cost of the contest, was deliberately deprived of all share of the spoils of victory, the whole country was thrown into a state of perturbation and apprehension, exceeded, however, by that which just one year ago fell like a thunderbolt from the clear Southern horizon, and far surpassed by the present, which every man feels in all his business relations and the insecurity of all that makes life worth having.
If there is one common ground upon which all classes of men who have any stake in society can meet and join hands, it is the deep and burning desire for stability and order; it is, that the vital interests of the people of this country, the great objects of all government, may be put out of the reach of political passions and influences, and beyond the power for mischief of politicians and demagogues.
There will be no peace for the country till the slavery question is put where it cannot be touched by any class of the demagogues in either section who seek to obtain Federal offices by riding, in one way or another, that universal hobby.
Demagogues have been the curse and ruin of all former Republics, and they bid fair to add the present to the number, before the close of another year.
We do not believe the people at large have the faintest idea of the amazing selfishness, corruption and wickedness of most of the aspirants for Federal power in this country.
A common murderer is hung without scruple, but there are demagogues in this country who, to accomplish their party and personal purposes, have at this moment, on their depraved souls, the guilt of all the innocent blood that has been already spilled in our civil convulsions, and of that red ocean, which any moment may precipitate over the whole length and breadth of the land.
These men would bring on a foreign or a civil war, if it were necessary to pave their way to the Presidency of the
United States, without the slightest compunction. --They may be found in all parties, in all sections, having all conceivable shades of opinion on the slavery question, sometimes extreme and violent, sometimes bland and conciliatory, sometimes bluff and blustering, sometimes affecting great independence and conscientiousness, but never keeping their eye for one moment from their own personal elevation.--Polities is their trade, a thing unknown in the purer days of the
Republic, and their sole object to make that trade as profitable as possible to themselves, without the slightest reference to any other interests, public or private, Until the slavery question is placed beyond the reach of these enemies of mankind, the
South may expect every few years excitements like the present; business deranged, labor tempered with, and taxes increased, not for the creation of productive public works, but for arms and equipments of war, which will become necessary to the security of life and property.
If the present difficulties are patched up by any superficial compromise, the frail expedient will give way, as all the others have done before it, before the increment gnawing of the hungry vermin who live upon popular prejudices and thrive upon the of public virtue.
