The Arkansas banner., 1843-10-28
P OLlTIC A L.
From He Democratic Reeieac.
 nEMACR ACV

OpcfduOH must pc QlrGCttd to tllc 2Cou oi dli it's members. In this we include more than is commonly meant by that very indefinite phrase, < the general good "a phrase to which the lives and fortunes of millions have been wantonly sacrificed. The great object of government is to secure every man in the enjoyment of his rights. Beyond this, 1t should not meddle with the affairs of men. There IS provision for the existence and growth of society in our very constitution. It seems to be imagined by many that human nature must be fostered, fondled, or stimulated to exertion by legislative interposition. They forget those principles at the bottom of that nature which compel the use of every facul- ty. The injunction to labor there written, IS far more imperative than human law could make it; for its motives are ever vigilant and active While thousand clamorous desires reign in the human breast; while man shall seek his highest happiness; while he shall delight in advancement and conquest; while industry will add to his comfort, and indo- lence prove the inevitable source of misery and death no mode of exertion, no means be left untried. The movements of human thought are not more tireless than the springs of human action 4 curiosity which is never satisfied, an instinct ever effective, appetites more importunate than death, impulses like steeds restlessly panting and champing for the race, are ever urging the human being to additional, accumulated effort. Under this
 influence, no benefit will be allowed to elude his grasp; every prospect of personal ad- vantage will be readily embraced; every hope of gam viii De reallzed; ne Will traverse distant seas, explore the widest woods, face every difficulty, and only cease to act when he has ceased to live. We may rest assured that labor will be put forth whenever it will
 meet with success, and capital will be applied
 where it shall command the best return The agency of government is obviously not re- quired here. The movings of selE-interest are too powerful to need extraneous aid. The
 interference of legislation will only blind its eyes, and diminish its strength. It will in- fallibly prove a burden and curse From the necessity of the case, 1t must ever be par
 tial; and if so, 1t is an infringement of hatu- ral right, an abandonment of the first princi- pies of social union, a perversion of the elearest doctrines of science, usurpation of power, and an infiction of the grossest wrong
 The form in which 1t is manifested cannot alter the fact. Whether 1t be done by grant ing monopolies of any branch of trade, by conferrng reward and distinction on chosen few, by deputing privileges of an honorable or commercial sort, by yielding facilities to any department of business, by forcing in- dustry into unusual channels, by imposing restraints on particular interests, by subject ing certain men to liabilities from which other men are exempt, or by fostering the wealth of some classes at the expense of the rest, 1t is equally odious and unjust. In every shape, these restrictions are hostile to tlre plainest rights of person and property, pre- judicial to the growth and destructive of the peace of society. We conceive that every man has right to employ his productive means, in whatever they consist, in a mode to insure the largest returns, or most con- sistent with his notions of propriety. His only limit Is the regard which is due to the rights of his fellow men. The faculties of both body and mind were given for this pur- pose. The strongest laws of his nature, and every condition of his being, have reference 10 this result. To labor in the vocation in which he is most apt, to apply his agency where 1t may purchase the best recompence, or to choose that form of exertion most con- sistent with his highest good-the enjoyment of physical comfort and the eradication of mental and moral wants-it is evident to the commonest sense, is the chief design of the economy in which he is placed. The inter- position of authority may be called govern ment, but is in fact robbery and fraud. It despoils him of property to which he has the frmest clam which reason or justice can give In form of law, 1t abrogates the highest law; and makes the grossest tyranny the daily duty of the State. It strips industry of it's motive, by disturbing the amount and cer- tainty of its reward It takes from enterprise half it's energy, by forcing it into those un- natural channels where its efforts are fruit less, or, if successful, invariably spasmodic and short-lived The spirit of commerce is crushed by the mountains of weight which are laid upon it; all its departments lumber | sluggishly along, or waste their strength in intellectual struggles for relief; or, excited by
 unhealthy stimulus, the body polite staggers
 under lntoxication, to fall the weak, misera- | ble victim of debauchery and excess. One portion of the community is bled to the last stages of depletion-another Is pampered to
 the point of plethora and apoplexy; or both
 shaking under the inconstant attacks of health
 and disease, are soon exhausted of strength
 and die. Thus it creates unnecessary dis
 tinctons. In the one case, it raises a class
 to an unnatural elevation; in the other, de-
 presses it far below the position it was des- 9tinedsto7attain. It fixes one portion of society
 in forced dependence upon another-makes
 over the prosperity of the many to the arbi-
 trary disposal of the few, and frequently
 hangs the necessaries of life on the wings ol
 speculation and chance. Overgrown wealth
 with its ever attendant miseries of luxury
 oppression, and vice, shoots up in rank lux
 urlance, amidst the barrenest poverty and
 distress The splendid palace, glittering in
 gold, vocal with the shouts of merriment.
 looks proudly down OF kevels where sit
 cheerless haggard hunger and heart-witherine
 care. An aristoeracy of wealth, most odious
 of all--proud, overbearing, insolent, and ig- | ! NY.na, cf,.lro .1-