THE STATE OF THE WORLD by Editor

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 5, 1861

THE STATE OF THE WORLD.

By Editor

The following articles will be interesting to all the readers of the REVIEW, as showing the present state of this country and the world. The first is from the Northwestern Christian Advocate, and is headed,

"THE YEAR OF DISORGANIZATION.

"I beheld until the thrones were cast down and the Ancient of Days did sit,' said the venerable prophet of Babylon, the devoted Daniel. Is not such a 'casting down' as the prophet saw, about to be inaugurated in the year 1861? Look at home and abroad—how many governments can be pronounced secure?

"Of our own we need not speak. The bands which we thought strong, consume and melt away as flax in the fire. State after State dissolves its connection with the general government, and already we hear it coolly assumed that there is no longer a United States. We hear rumors of two or three separate confederacies! Time will show.

"In the Old World there is feverish impatience and restlessness. How many governments are firm? Italy will be filled with troops with the opening of spring, and there must be dissolution and re-construction.

"Austria and Prussia are in commotion, and dread the coming of the spring months. Turkey is disintegrating, and shows that the time is near when the empire of the Ottoman must be disorganized and re-constructed.

"Russia, England, and France are, apparently, the most quiet of the great governments of modern Europe. But England is already disturbed by panic-cries, and abroad her policy is undergoing change. India shows ominous signs of dissatisfaction. Her present policy can never give quiet. There are indications which at once call up the events preceding the last fearful war, and added to these the certainty that Nena Sahib, the bloody butcher and crafty leader still lives among the mountains of Thibet with several thousand troops to head an outbreak, shows that there are prophecies of change.

"France, with its seeming quiet, is full of active preparation for contests upon a gigantic scale. The emperor has, perhaps, put into order for service the most effective war navy on the earth. The active combination with England terminated with the Chinese war, and the two powers regard each other with friendly, yet half-suspicious eyes. But the third Napoleon bids fair to be as disastrous to Austria as the first, while Prussia finds him a rival to be dreaded and not a friend to be caressed. The sound of the bugle in Italy, and sound it inevitably will, may be the signal for another general war, with its succeeding disorganization.

"The French emperor seems to be strong, but in France quiet is often the precursor and surest indication of revolution!

"China, that old empire, strong in its isolation, is shattered hopelessly. Schismatic wars are wasting its resources and impairing its vital energy. Exacting treaties show its powerlessness for self-protection. It is an empire in decay. The revenue has shrunk fully nine-tenths; Nankin, the Southern Court, is a city in ruins, and Pekin, the Northern Court, is one whose splendor has faded, and whose superb palaces are dilapidated. That fearful rebellion which has thinned the dense population of the valley of the Yang-tse, is only the greatest of several discordant but formidable rebellions. Indeed, among the national traditions is one which designates 1863 as the year destined to close their national history!

"In short, the old world rocks with commotion, and God only knows what changes are to come, what scenes to be enacted. The great conflict, when 'blood shall be even unto the horses' bridles,' may be nearing us. It may be that only peaceful revolutions shall be enacted. We confess we have little hope of it, but we have hope of the grand outcome. Above the din of battle, above the shouts of revolution, we hear the song of deliverance and see the hosts of our Helper!"

George B. Cheever, D. D., writing from Scotland to the N. Y. Independent, describes as follows the opinions which the enlightened people of Europe take of American affairs. The closing sentence of the extract, we italicise as its importance demands. Let the churches of America ponder it well.

"SECESSION AS VIEWED IN SCOTLAND.

"You can have but little idea of the astonishment and awe with which men in this part of the world are gazing at the scenes now transacting in America. It seems like a dream produced by epilepsy or indigestion; men endeavor to shake it off and rouse themselves as if it could not be a reality. That the madness of one State, a State whose conduct in regard to the attempted assassination of Sumner, and ever since has proved that its passions were set on fire of hell, should be permitted to drag the whole Confederacy to ruin—that is, to break up and disorganize the Union, and that there should be found no power in the Federal Government, nor in the people, to prevent or even to keep back this ruin, but apparently a preparation for it in the condition of the whole country, notwithstanding its unparalleled prosperity and rapid progress; that this vast and powerful republic should, at the bidding of one State, dissolve, and be no more, demonstrating scarcely a firmer consistency than that of the night's frost-work on our windows; that this disruption and disorganization should be effected at the command and in the interest of slavery; that the head of the united Government should be apparently a party in the work, doing nothing to prevent it, giving up the forts and property of the Government into the hands of its enemies, as if on a plan arranged beforehand; and that there should be no power in the Government or the people to control such treachery, but a sudden seeming palsy to have fallen upon all, or a stupor like that of chloroform administered by a thief while he ransacks the rooms and treasures of his victim; these are enigmas, monstrosities, appalling scenes that none can account for, and that by no means tend to recommend republican freedom, or a republican constitution of the civil state.

"That all this could have taken place for no other reason or event than the legitimate and peaceful election of a Republican President not of the pro-slavery party, from no injury, or provocation, or oppression, or violation of law, freedom, or justice, no denial of any man's or State's rights, no intrusion on any State government, but on the contrary, under pledges of non-interference even with the 'vested rights' of slaveholding, and promises of greater security than ever for 'property in man,' where the claim and the iniquity already existed! It is utterly inexplicable, and men hold their breath in wonder at what will come next. Meantime, the impious doctrines in defense of slavery avowed and preached, North as well as South, and the proposition to amend(!) the Constitution by inserting into it, or adding a definite affirmation and guarantee of the right of property in man and the perpetuity of slavery, along with a condition that this article shall never more be susceptible of change, but shall be an element perfect and immutable of United States law and morality, thus putting an end to all agitation of the subject forever; this proposition and these doctrines not met with scorn and abhorrence, but treated as suggestions of a righteous expediency, and to all appearance very likely to be adopted; it is impossible to tell with what mortification, anguish, and shame the friends of freedom and religion witness these transactions; and behold in them a proof of the depth to which the gangrene of slavery has gone into the heart of the American church as well as nation. That the great revival of religion in America should be followed by such a deluge of practical impiety is what men cannot understand."