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Show 32 DESPOTISl\t How this solemn objurO'ation is to be reconciled w_ith the loud threat of sevcri~cr the Union, and enforcmg silence and submission al the point of the .b~yonct, those can best tell who are accustomed to J~Hn that threat and this objurgation. In the mean ttme, we may remark a curious analogy. When the Jeffersonian aristocrats of the so.uth first began to preac;h the doctrines of democracy, It wa~ m terms like these that they were greeted by the northern oligarchs. "Bad men, wi_cke~, turbulent, seditious, fanatical, contrivers of mJschtcf, what.mean ye, what do ye desire 1 Would you uproot soc1,:'ty from its foundations 1 Would you abohsh rehgwn . Would you overturn morality 1 Would you do away w1th government 1 Would you dissolve all tiCS 1 Would you put an end to the established order and nghtful propriety of things 1 . "What 1-Do yoti seck to elevate the most 1gnorant and abandoned of society to a level with us, their betters and natural superiors 1 ,.,-ould you depnvc us of that power and authority which God has seen fit to entrust to us, which is our natural right, and whJCh we exercise so much to our own honor, and the bene· fit of those we rule 1 "Yes :-and you talk of guillotines too; . yon dare to denounce us as tyrants; yon are orgamzmg a conspiracy for a general insurrection, and. for the slaughter and destruction of all goo<l men. Ont upon ye, Y~ Robespierres, ye Dan tons, ye bloou-thlfsty knaves· Democrats forsooth !- Jacobins, atheists, murder01~s villains! Why scatter seed that will presently genmnate, and sooner or later, will ripen into a harvest of desolation and blood 1" So they preached, and so they prate.d, . from pulpits and the press. Yes, and they passed laws too. There was the Alien Law, whef"eby all dangerous foreigners were t~ ?e cxclud~d from the country i and there was the Sedtt10n Law, mtended to ga~ the press, and to snhjcct those who spoke di.; respectlnlly of the powers that were: to thr pr1w \ty of fine ~wd Jmpnsonment. IN AMERICA. 33 When the southern aristocrats offered to our fathers the precious boon of democracy such was the loathing, sncl~ th.e stn~gglin~ relnctan~e, and such the passwnate md1gnayon '"':'tth which they received, and would have reJected 1t. And now that we in our turn, recollecting with gratitude, the good o'ffices of the South, seek to repay the favor, ant! commend to the~r lips that san:e draught, of their own concocting, wh1ch however b1ttcr to the taste has health and v i ~or in it, life. and stret~gth; they in their turn, with the r::~ge and mahce of spoiled at)d wayward children, reject the medtcme, snap at the nnrse, and load their best friends with frantic maledictions. Let us be patient with them ;-they are sick. Yes very stele; and when the fit is on, light-headed. Compared with their disorder, all the fierce fevers that infest their clime are mild and trivial. ·what angry passwns, what torm~nti ng fury, what anxious fears, what cares, forcbodmgs, terrors, tremors, seize upon the despot, when he feels the sceptre slipping from his grasp, and sees Ius subJects ready to claim their freedom? Ho1v he has governed ; how he has trodden under foot men good as he; what wrongs he has inflict-epd i what cruel, blo?dy, barbarous, bitter wrongs, he • knows full wei I. He dreads a retribution ; he sh~kes an~ changes color when he thinl{s how just that rctributwn, and if complete, how ample! '!'hough he be brave, a coward consctence chases away his eouraoe · a cold sweat stands upon his brow· and he bceo~e~ as fearful . as a child, while phantodt imancs of guilty actiOns fht round his pillow,- 0 By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, Than could the sttbstancc of ten thousnncl sohlicrs Armed in proof. th Those frightful visions which affiict the south· ey are but shadows. One act of generous justice |