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560 The Leader and Saturday Analyst. [Ju...
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AMEHICAN POLITICS. npHE Republicans have...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Till': Pot.Kntat.15s At Badkx. T1ik Hold...
will lead to , is hard enough to guess ; but it is the German potentates who are the real arbiters of the occasion , and their conduct will decide whether the Rhjne is to be imperilled by an assault of arms . The Italian question is once more fairl y afloat , and the German princes must make up their minds , that if they support Austria on the-absurd pretence that the "Rhine must be defended on the Mincio , they will incur the . foolish , responsibility of defending the Mincio on the Rhine . .
Looking to the state of Germany , it is probable that the visit of the French Emperor will aggravate the jealousies and augment the difficulties of the various petty princes . If he convinces Prussia , Bavaria will go the other way ; while if Prussia hesitates , Hanover will offer to move . In appearance , everything will be made as smooth as possible ; as spring , not summer , is the diplomatic season for war ' s alarms ,- and Garibaldi will afford enough occupation for the autumn and winter months . The obvious interest of the German people is , that their rulers should frankly accept the new conditions of Italy , and wait for no leading before * they recognise the right of the Sicilians or Neapolitans to throw off the yoke of the Bourbons , and annex their country to the Sardinian Crown . Such a course would break them from
Austria , who now looks on without meddling , not from improved morals , but from remembrance of defeat ; and it would place them right with Europe , and with that liberal party in France which , for his own safety , Louis Napoleon must consult . The danger to Germany and to Europe arises from permitting the Emperor of the French to be the only potentate who exhibits an active sympathy for oppressed nationalities . Whatever kings and cabinets may think , every nation would have been proud of victories like Magenta and Solferirio , which called a long-suffering people into the full vigour of national life ; and while Austria holds the Quadrangle , tortures Venetia , and reigns by usurpation in Hungary , tlie French Empire can have another batch of- victories That the world will . applaud ^ whenever it becomes convenient to "fight for an idea , " and secure fresh territory under so convenient a pretence . _
The opinion of political circles in Turin is that the French Government will not meddle unfairly with Garibaldi ' s , plans ; but leave the patriot soldier and _ his partisans to work their will if they can , in Sicily , and on the mainland . ' Lord Palmekston stated on Tuesday that there was good reason for believing that the French Government had flatly refused "to guarantee the integrity of the Two Sicilies ; " and with reference to the special mission which King Bomb a II . has sent to London and Paris , his lordship made some very plain and strong remarks , ' which ought to be followed by equally bold and decisive action . The words were , " It is a . misfortune of
GovernnTeTffis ~ ltbrrtlrre ^^ ties and atrocities committed under their authority , their subjects hare been driven to desperation , and have revolted , that they appeal to old and friendly Powers for assistance to remove the authors of those revolutions . These Governments forget , that they themselves arc the real and original authors of the revolt , and that if their prayer was , granted the first and necessary step would have been their own removal . " In this sense Garibaldi will , we have no doubt , " grant their prayer " if his operations meet with no impediment at the hands of England or France , and nothing could aid him more effectually than an early and positive promise to recognise the decision to
which the people of the Two Sicilies may come , and to repudiate all attempts at setting up a dynasty for them , as was most mischievously done in the case of Greece . We may inuigine the Prince of Piutssia will discuss all these questions with his Imperial visitor , and his decision will go far to determine whether his Government is to lead the opinion of Germany , and be a rallying point for liberal ideas , or whether it will continue to halt painfully between old things and new , until war and revolution force ' it into a popular groove . The first German power that has the courage to repudiate the absurd fallacy that Austria benefits German interests by holding a hostile possession of Italian soil , will render an incalculable benefit to the " Fatherlaud . " The balance of territories is nothing when compared
with the balance of ideas , and Prussia would rise at once to a commanding , position . if , sic > voiil ( l jpnv Kilglnnd . in . . spying that every question of war or peace and change , of dynasties should be decided by considering its tendency to advance political liberty , and rescue Immunity from the curse of priestcraft . Freedom and Protestantism , Constitutional Government and the absolute right of private judgment in religious affairs , these ought to be tho rallying cry of nil honest liberal Governments ; and it should ' not bo possible fdr a Protestant Government , for any pretext or for any cause , to be the support of n papal tyranny , nor for n constitutional Government'to wage , any war or exert any influence on behalf of a despotic power . There
may be reasons why one despotism should be prevented from swallowing up another despotism , but no alliance should be tolerated , which , for the sake of maintaining a balance of power , condemns any portion of Europe to suffer under a combination of absolutist and priestly misrule . Let Prussia fortify the Rhine with free principles , . and no hostile bayonets will prevail . Protestantism and Constitutionalism do not advance in Europe in proportion to population , because Protestant and Constitutional
States have preferred balancing wrongs to maintaining rights . The great mind of Elizabeth saw the folly of this course ; but it has prevailed down to the last despatch , in which the English Government urged the King of Sardinia not to encourage Garibaldi ' s expedition . When Statesmen grow wiser , they will see that the right and the expedient are not so wide apart , and that the cheapest as well as the most honest conduct is to avow sympathy with every just cause .
560 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. [Ju...
560 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ June 16 , 1860
Amehican Politics. Nphe Republicans Have...
AMEHICAN POLITICS . npHE Republicans have , as we anticipated in our last reference to _ L American politics , rejected the claims of Mr . Seward , the great leader and founder of their party , to the Presidency , and nominated at the Chicago Convention a gentleman who , if not exactly an obscurity , was but little knowrito the Union , and quite unknown in Europe . The promptitude and unanimity with which this selection of Mr . Lincoln was effected , contrasts strikingly with the discord which prevailed amongst the Democrats at Charleston , and augurs well for the success of the party in the contest now fairly begun . Their chances of success are also greatly improved
by the choice itself . Mr . Seward has played too prominent a part hi American politics to have escaped making many foes amongst the members of a party which , like the Republican , is made up of the fragments of parties now exploded . He labour , s , therefore , under . a greater disadvantage than that which ordinarily attaches to A mericaii statesmen of position- ; but the special obstacle in his ~ way was the fact that the party itself has been compelled to modify its views , arid adopt a more temperate and practical programme . ~ Its managers have discovered that the violent " abolitionism " wliich excites the J-apturous applause of Maine or Massachusetts , disgusts the mass of Voters in the Central . . States ,
whose suffrages they , must obtain to carry the election . ^ Mr . Seward has not himself any objection to this qualification-of the party . programme ; and , indeed , the great speech he -made some three months ago in the Senate was the first 'intimation of it ; but , unfortunately , he has , at dates not very distant , spoken in very extreme terms , and some two or three of his expressions have become current phrases . He is therefore associated in the public mind with violent views , and his candidature would have repell € d-tl > e ~ doubti 4 il ,-A-oteiaat-is-ess (^ ntial , , to . s « CLU ^^ Iimj ^ bj ^ t of a party is , of course , power ; and American parties never suffer any sentimentalism to stand in the way of getting it . Mr . Seward was therefore sacrificed without scruple , and his only
consolation will be , that the nominee for whom , he has been put aside is not one of the rivals who have been intriguing against him .. , But if the rejection of Mr . Seward was a . negative advantage to the Republicans , saving them from pretty certain defeat , the nomination of Mr . Lincoln is a positive one , ensuring-at : least , one doubtful state , and strengthening the cause generally with the mass of the people . The new candidate is a self-made man , always a great recommendation to a people of self-made men . Every American will feel a sympathy with Lincoln , lie will himself have experienced the same trials , and to a certain extent
have gained the same victory over them . Mr . 'Lincoln s career is not an extraordinary one for an American statesman . He was a poor lad , who worked hard at several of the trades to which an American readily turns his hand ; kept a grocery store , as sonic people say ; worked at a whisky still , as lie tells us himself— his probable opponent in , the Presidential contest , Mr . Douolas , being at the same time a school teacher in the same locality—worked his way on until he became a member , of the State legislature , stayed there a few years , when he met his old
acquaintance Douglas , and then , in some party revolution , was lost sight of as a politician for some ten years , lie then served in Congress nbout two years—his onl y experience as a Federal 'Statesman—subsided again " into private ^ inb , ¥ iidciimo out again in 1858 , when he contested the senatorehip of Illinois with Mr . Douolas , and first let the Union know tho metal of which he was made . He is a capital stump speaker ami a good stprytcllor , no poor qualifications in the United States . ' tfut n goorl deal of his popularity is likely to rest upon a portrait Mr . Douolas drew of him in their ' Illinois contest . According to
this description , Mr . Lincoln in his early days could beat any of the boys at wrestling or running , pitching or tossing , could " nun " liiorc liquor than all the ho \ s of the town tcgUher , and
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1860, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16061860/page/4/
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