Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1843-09-23

{ economy. Finally it is the main sup
port Of simple reputation. -SHELsToEE
\ TRUTH MANrULLY Spoken. %. A. Brown
son, has in the last Democratic Review
Ia paper on "Ghe origin and Ground oil
Government" which embodies much
truth essential to the public welfare, which
has not hitherto been duly set before
their readers in the publication claiming
TO be especially democratic. We take
from it the following extract, which EN-
bodies scathng rebuke to the demo
gogulsm of the day, which passes with
too many for democracy Louisiana
| Chronicle.
There Is strong tendency--and
hold dangerous tendency among us tc
underrate the importance Of liberal stud
les, philosophical Investigations, profound
scholarship, and scientific attainments,
and 10 extol and defer to the aledged
wisdom and good sense of the mlss,
which practically means the wisdom and
good sense OF the small minority at the
head of one or the other of the two great
political parties into which the country
is divided. Mere scholarship for the
sake of scholarship, is no doubt con-
temptibe; we want no pedantry, no
diletIansm. That sort Of scholarship
which, in its spirit and effects, looks new
er beyond the cultivation, the interest or
the pleasure Of the scholar himself,
deserves no patronage from Christian
people. All scholarship, or scholastic or
scientific, or even artistic attainments,
like the possession Of property, place or
power, Should be regarded as a sacred
trust to be used not for the personal good
of the possessor, but for the moral, in
lellectual, and sacred elevation of the
mass. The literature we want in this
country is not the literature which re-
suits from delerring to popular passions
and instincts, or indeed the literature
that rises not above the simple apprehen-
sions OF the majority; but literature
that breathes free, noble, and generous
spirit, that is full of the love of man as
man, and that kindles up holy ardor in
| all who come under its influence, ant
imParts to them The needed wisdom of la.
Dor for the moral, the religious, the in
teIIectuaI and the physical we'll being Of
all men, especially the poorer and more
numerous classes. The tendency Of
which we speak is 10 The creation of lit
eralure the reverse of this. 1t is level,
ling tcndency--but it levels downwards,
and not upwards. Instead Of feeling it an
imperious duty to instruct and elevate
The mass, the tendency amongst US is to
lake our laws from the mass, and bring
thought down to level with the narrow
views, crude notions, and blind instincts
of the multitude. If this tendency is con-
tinued and encouraged, our whole intel
lectual world will become superficial and
void, and American life too feeble thing
TO be worth possessing.
What is most dangerous in this ten
dency is the fact that it is thought TO be
democratic and is encouraged by some
who have the ears and the heart of the
democracy. To set our faces against it is
10 expose ourselves to the vague charge
Of being aristocra!s, and to be denounced
as the enemies Of the people; as men who
have no confidence in the people, no love
for popular government-but who would
introduce monarchy or build up an ar
stocracy or something else quite as bad,
f mol worse. But |, for one, meet the
charge here on the threshold, deny that
his tendency is democratic, or that il re-
suits from democracy; it is decidedly an
i-democratic, and originates in the abuse,
in the perversion of democracy. There
s democracy, in any worthy sense of
he term, only where each man has mind
,fhis own and utlers that mind clearly,
distinctly, without suffering it TO be lost
n the voice OF any other man. Moreo-
yer, democracy, regarded as a principle,
S not necessary deferring to the mass,
,ut is the wise and just institution and
Of Government for the
highest and best good Of the whole PEG
lie. am thought to want confidence in
he people, but have really more con-
idence in themIthan he who said the 9TH
II day: "since | nave been in Office
ave made it my duty to ascertain and
onlorm TO the will of my constituents"
or | dare tell the people what | believe (
o be The truth, essential to their well be-
lg, and to contradict them to their very t
aces when ! believe them to be in the t
'rong. But my confidence in the peo- |
lie is in their capabilities, and not in the il
ctual attaInments, or in the practical r
'isdom Of their actual judgments. The b
eople in whom | want Confidence, are d
ne political people, the people whose a
dice we collect at the baIlot;bax, who in "
Ict are and always must needs DO only "
nall minority Of the whole population 81
he genuine people, if their voice coaId ~ y
,ally be heard, would be loud and earn Oh