The pilot. [volume] (Baltimore [Md.]) 1840-1840, 1840-05-02

men, which these diSorGanZeTS are constantly
making the people believe are favored by the
Wings; and accusation So grossly false, that
the people are now beginning to perceive that
the accuSers, as is sometimes the case, are far
more guilty than the accused
But this much abused word Democracy must
have had definite meaning: and that mean
ing can import nothing more than that the peo-
pie are all equally ent tied, according 10 their
respective abilities and virtues, to rise in life to
any Of those stations Of honor, trust, profit,
and influence, for which they respectively fit
themselves; name which means that we have
no arbitrary aud artificial impediments, no sta
tions, classes, and degrees of mans making;
but that all and every one may, by the bles-
sing Of God and his own good eXertiOns, attain
to every office of trust, Of honor, or OF profit;
success in its pursuit being dependent upon no
privileged or aTistocratc contrivance, but solely
upon the skill and virtue of the aspirant, and
this is the genuine democracy Of our torJath-
erS, not that spurious, mongrel, and nrtSt0crdt-
&c democracy of the par y which now rules
the desinies Of this once truly great, but now
almost withered country. | truly believe, and
most conscientiously assert that belief, that the
dominant party have most artiuIly retained the
name of democracy, without even the shadow
of its genuine substance; and that the Wing
party have much more Gifts vitality, though so
| ingeniously deprived Of lis taIismanic name and
influence. II is, them for the people to say
which of the two they prefer, the SAadotcy
name Of democracy, retained by the tories, or
the veritable substance of democracy, jealous
y enforced by the Wings.
That the people NAV be theoretically SOW
ereign, and yet practically slaves, is "a truth
that would not have been easily believed, had
not the two last administrations established ii
beyond doubt! A government, despotic in
theory, but paternal in practice, is not greater
anomaly; both, indeed, are very rare; but the
former battles all comprehension, since nothing
can be more wonderful than to see a people,
endowed with all the means of self-preServa-
ton, confidently entrusting to few the most
| gigantic powers, and then calmly submitting to
privatlonS and 10 ruin, which, II perpetrated by
an avowed tyranny, could not fail TO end IN
total b0uteUersenent, and even the condign
punishment of their oppressors! How wonder
lu, then, is the influence of mere name; how
much maya nation be made to suffer by the
arl(ul expedients of comparative few, whose
unhoy vocation is to deceive the people, with
! hold the truth, pervert the clearest things, deal
largely in faithess promises, corrupt by the
most potent bribery, Willy by systematic
/
the most wicked misrepresentation, and WELD
the complicated machinery Of government
with as much recklesSness as if all the losses
were their individual gains, and all out oftheir
party, and all poSterity, too, were mere nonen-
| titles in no wise to be consulted!
! We are said to be the lreest people on earth!
and yet our government cannot be sued, las
most foreign governments may,) but we must
petition, cap in hand, for possibly series OF
years. till hope becomes lost in delay, and in
vexatious expense, and until the sod ofthe val
ley reposes upon our bosom. leaving TO our
heirs the onerous duty Of possessing what our
fathers have failed to attain, but the Justice OF
which is evidenced by thousand proofs, which
heartless legislators have but little valued.
We are said TO be the freest people on EARTH
| and vet honest and unmiXed truth is scarce any
where to be found; and among The locofncos es-
pecially, most sedulously, artIuIly, and method
icay rejected; and system is raised in its
stead, Of prodigious, pervading, and minute
mendacty!
What has produced these sad results Not
repubca nsm--not genuine democracy; but
that hybridous monster which oflate has been
generated--a monster that retains the name Of
democracy, hut which is no more like its pa
rent than is Hyperion to Satyr!'
| The evils oil which we have loudly TO COM
plain, and which threaten all our institutions,
nay, even our very existence as a free people,
flow from this false democracy, this ultraism,
| by which demagogues deceive and inflame the
minds of generous, enlightened, and confd
ing people, These evils often extend beyond
public and strictly political limits. We find
them clearly visible in the more retired scenes OF
individual life; Day,even ofdomestic life! There
the blighting influence of this ultrasm spoil the
organization of the social ties, andby reflection,
again pervert the very genius of our govern
men We find these evils exemplifed in the d.
minshed respect of youth towards age; in the
lessened control of parents over children; in the
relaxed discipline of schools ofevery kind; in the
declining estimation for wealth, talents, learning,
industry, sobrety, in the preponderence OF
| ill-gotten wealth over that intellectual tone
which exerted so salutaryan influence in the
outset of our government; in the extreme SUI
perfcialness (though universalty) of knowl
edge; in the morbid excitements Of the poor
against the rich, so mercilessy ana wickedly
| infamed even by the organs of our govern
ment; in the painful and disgusting adulation
| of political 1avorites; in the unmeasured and
unprincipled abuse of all the great men in the
nation, when in opposition; in the contempt
shown towards our highest judicial tribunals;
!. e al.