Litchfield enquirer., 1837-07-27
POLITICAL TRUTH.
pEmOcRAcY AND ARIsTOCRAcY.

ouently put forth by politicians to wnat .ney sIIppose to be the democratic feelings ot the People. Such men display their gross igno- rance of real democracy, or wicked desire to misIead it, and invariably excite the scorn, instead of the respect, of the intelligent and refecting portion of those whom they ''u- dress. We sometimes hear demagogue appealing to what he calls the democratic feel- ings of an assembly, by saying that no man can be a real democrat who IS born wltn n; silver spoon in his mouth ;" that "your SIX stocking gentry are always aristocrats; ;" and that no man can be friend of the people, unless his early career were obstructed Dy difficulties, and deprived of all advantages. They will say that man born m alnuence, and with the means of early improvement oI early education, must necessarily be an aus. tere. bigoted aristocrat, and contemner ana oppressor of the People.
 We would ask such demagogues what they mean bv democracy. We have never yet seen one of them who could give philoso- nhical definition, or any definition which in- dicated that he had any enlarged or liberal views of politics, or any scientific ideas ot civ il government. We regard democracy as set of principles, intended for the basis of civil government, with view to promote the hap piness of mankind. We will endeavor to enumerate some of them: l. All mankind are born free, and with an equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Z: Civil government is an agency estaDllsned by the whole People, for the purpose ot trans acting that business which they cannot con- veniently transact collectively. S. All rulers are seyvants, and not masters of the People, and should be elected by the People, or their agents; because the People, having an in terest in being ably and faithfully served, should not leave the appointment of such servants to the accident of birth, or any oth- CT contingency beyond their control. 4. Laws should make no distinctions ofpersons, but should efectually guard equality of rights, and promote, as much as possible, equality or condition. 5. Taxation should be for the maintainance of civil government only and should, therefore, never exceed the require ments of governmental business, or be used for governmental trappings. 6. Talent, in1- proved by knowledge, and guided by integ- ritv, is the best qualification for public ser vice; and therefore public servants should never be selected with view to the benefit ofparticular interests, sections, combinations, or associations. '. All exclusive privileges, all devices by which few may render ma- ny subservient to their advancement, or which promote inequality of condition, are violations of natural right, and deviations from the just ends of civil government. 6. All individual violence, whether of few or many. under pretence ofpunishing crimes or correcting abuses, are a war upon civil gov- ernment, and treason against the social com pact, as much as those disturbances of social order of which crime is the secret or avowed object.
 Such are few of the fundamental princi- ples of democracy. They are easily learn ed, and knowledge of them is not the ex- elusive property of any sect, order. class, or social condition. But, while easily compre- hensible, they are not to be learned without study, for knowledge of them is not intui- tive. They may be learned from books, which record their application and action in times past, or from observation, which sees this application and action in times present; but he will understand them best who drinks at both of these fountains of knowledge, for the records furnished by the first are erperi- ence, to corroborate the deductions from the last. Such being the principles of democra- cy, how should the knowledge and practice of them depend upon the contingencies of birth or early condition? Cannot the indi- vidual born in affluence, and surrounded by every means of mental and moral cultiva- ton, learn and apply them, as we'll as one whose early life was spent amid difficulties, or who, when young orphan, was bound the intellect, the understanding, is the in. strument upon which these principles must make their impression, and through which they must be exhibited and this may be as acute in the child of wealth as the child of poverty, and in the last as the first. One of the most thorough, most consistent, most in- flexible, most disinterested democrats, which Europe produced in the last generation, was Lafayette. In the low, false-hearted, decep- tive, fraudulent phrase of spurious democra- cy, Lafayette was born tin a pair of silk stockings, and with silver spoon in his mouth ;" and could, therefore, have no sym- pathies with the People, no charity for hard hands, or soiled garments, and would be nothing but an austere, hard-hearted aristo- crat, keeping his fellow-beings at an awful distance, or courting them with contemptu- ous blandishments for his own advancement! Yet no heart ever poured fourth warmer or more plenteous current of love for all man. kind than that of Lafayette. He regarded the human race as one family of equals, and looked forward to the establishment of dem- ocratic institutions throughout the world as the consummation ofits happiness, the end of it's misery. His love for his species was pure, exalted, devoted. Throughout his long, laborious. and eventfll life, he thought only Ofdoing good to the human family. Henev- CT violated the rights or the feelings of single human being. but invariably treated all with respect and kindness proportionate to their intellectual and moral merits, and without the least regard to artificial distinc- tions. And who was this consistent and in- flexible democrat? He was born prince, amid aristocratic institutions; he was fla vored member of an order whose privileges were founded upon a disturbance of mans natural equality and all those selfish con-