Gloomy times

"It’s a gloomy moment in history. Not for many years — not in the life of most men who read this — has there been so much grave and deep apprehension, never has the future seemed as incalculable as at this time. In France the political caldron seethes and bubbles with uncertainty. Russia hangs as usual like a cloud, dark and silent upon the horizon of Europe; while all the energies, resources and influences of the British Empire are sorely tried. It is a solemn moment, and no man can feel indifferent — which happily no man pretends to feel— in the issue of events. Of our own troubles in America, no man can see the end."

Editorial from Harper’s Weekly
Oct. 10, 1857