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AMERICAN POLITICS.
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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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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 Rhine is to be imperilled by , an assault of arms . The Italian question is once more fairly afloat , and the German princes must make up their minds , that if they support Austria on the absurd pretence that the Bhine must be defended on the Mincio , they will incur the foolish responsibility of defending the Mincio on the Bhine .
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 ' Grown . 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 td Europe . arises from permitting the Emperor
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 Eiiro . pe . to suffer . under a combination of absolutist and priestly misrule . Let Prussia fortify the Bhine 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 .
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 Solferiiio , which called a long-suffering people into the full vigour of national life ; aiid while Austria holds the Quadrangle , tortures Yenetia , and reigns by usurpation in Hungary , the French Empire can have another batch of victories tharthe world will applaud , whenever it becomes convenient to "fi " ht for an idea , " and secure fresh territory under so
convenienfra pretence .-The opinion . of political circles in Turin is -that the French Government will not meddle unfairly witlv 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 Palmerston " 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 Bojti ? 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
Governments like those oHttOTrc-mnhSFn ^ tics and atrocities committed under their authority , their subjects have 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 are 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 GAitiBALDi will , we have no doubt , " grant their prayer " if his operations incet 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 sotting up a dynasty for them , as was most mischievously done in the case of Greece . We may
imagine the Prince of Prussia will discuss all these questions witlf 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 intciests by holding a hostile possession of Italian soil , will render an incalculable benefit to the " Fatherland . " The balance of territories is nothing when compared
with the balance of ideas , and Prussia would rise at onco to a commanding position . if she . would j ' oiu England in .. saving that everv question of war or peace and change of dynasties should be decided by considering its tendency to advance political liberty , and rescue humanity from the curse of priestcraft . JVcedom and' Protestantism / Constitutional Government mid the absolute right of private judgment in religious affairs , these ought to be the rallying cry of all honest liberal Governments ; and it should not ' bo possible for n Protestant Government , for any pretext or for any cause , to bo the support of a papal tyranny , nor for a constitutional Government to wage any war or exert any influence . -on behalf of a despotic newer . There
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rpHE Republicans have , as we anticipated in our last reference to JL 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 known to the Union , and quite unknown in Europe . The promptitude and unanimity with which this selection of Mr . Lixcolk was effected , contrasts strikingly Avith 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 in 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 labours , therefore , under a greater disadvantage than that which ordinarily attaches to American statesmen of position ; but the special obstacle in his vvay \ vas ~ the fact that the party itself has been compelled to modify its views , and adopt . a more temperate and practical pro :-gramme ; . Its managers liave discovered that Jthe violent " abolitionism" which excites the rapturous applause of Maine or Massachusetts , disgusts the mass of voters in theC'entral States , whose suffrages they must obtain to carry the election , Mr . Sewaud 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 Jthe 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 , lie is therefore associated in the public mind with violent views , and his candidature would have Tjipr \] cjY . the doubtful voters it is essential to secure . The object Of a party is , of course , power ; and American parties , never suffer any seiitiinentalism to stand in the way of getting it . Mr . S 12 WAR . D 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 . 1
But if the rejection of Mr . Seward was anegative advantage to the Republicans , saving them from pretty certnin 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 inen . Every American will feel a sympathy with Lincoln . He 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 some people say ; worked at a whisky still , as he tells us himself— his probable opponent in the Presidential contest , -Mr . Douoias , 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 yenrs . lie then served in Congress about two years—his only experience as n Federal Statesniah' - ^ subsided ragnin into private life , nnd cmne out again
in 28 i ) S , when lie contested the seiintorship of Illinois with Mr . Douglas , and first let the Union know the metal of which he was made . He is a capital stump speaker and a good storyteller , no poor qualifications in the United States . But a good deal of his popularity is likely to rest upon a portrait Mr . Douoj ,. \ s drew of him in their ' Illinois contest . According to this description , Mr . Lincoln in his early days could beat any of ihc boys at wrestling or running , pitching or tossing , could " ruin " in ore liquor than all the boys of the , town together , tmd
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560 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . ' | Jin * E 16 , 1 S 60
American Politics.
AMERICAN POLITICS .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1860, page 560, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2352/page/4/
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