Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1845-05-29
FANaTlClSM.

THE ULrRAIsMs OF THE DAy.---Thcre eau
| be hut lit,lc doubt that the ultrasms of the
preient day are fraught with evils dangerous
in heir tendency to the general security, the
peafe, harmony, and welfare of society,"
Willie we rejoice i'll every advance step OF
mankind, and willingly unite with any ''party
of progress" tina, can in any degree effect es-
serEisl reforms in society--reforms that shall
make i. better and man happier---wc at the
same time look with dislrust and regret upon
the course pursued by many Of the ultrais,s
in relation to some of the reforms which they
endeavor to press forward Concord Courier.
There is fanaticism in politics as i'm reli-
Igion, and no country i'll the world furnishes
so many Illustrations Of it as our own. The
lisorganizing doctrines aud measures of which
our contemporary complains naturally spring
! oat of the prevailing freedom which we en-
tons. "License, we mean, when we cry Lii
berry," Hence Dorrism; hence that inces-
! ssnl war upon all wholesome restraints hence
tie spirit of Agrarianism, which would give
! 10 ideness the hard earnings of industry :;
all things 10 the dead-evel of ignorance and
folly; the 'snutural rights" doctrine, that o.
verIooks all obligations, denies the inheritable
quality of property, unlrocks the priest, and
laughs al the marriage lie. All forms are thus
In;urn denounced, and people naturally e.
nongh run into the concei that, as all power
is with them. they have a right 10 Go what
ever they please, and that what they please is
necessarily right.
A certain class of political regcnerators are
Iperpetualy feeding the popular mind with a.
greeable prophecies OF the progress Of free
principles. while there is an utter scorn of in
quiry into the degree of liberty we already
possess, or which we want We are called on
10 follow phantom, without the sligh,es. re-
gard to the subs antial form of freedom which
we leave for the pursuit. And, while words
thus usurp the place of things, we set out on
4 chase of charger liberty" as the Indian sets
out in pursuit of new settlement: his first
step abandons all that he possessed before,
and his next sees him bivouacking under the
naked heaven.
The hardest lesson 10 be learned under a
Government like ours is, that the human con-
diiion can no more be equalized than the ia
cultes or forces of individuals That ever
I idSllnB Iuic vi SoSlcly Always lrlumpNS over
artificial restrictions, as the ceaseless tides o
the ocean will at last assert their SWAY. AL
men feel this well enough in practice, but are
not willing 10 admit its consequences. They
attribute it to every cause but The true one
/ They leglsate upon it, theorize about it, lose
themselves in the mazes Of the original com.
pact, and seldom end without some exper
ment for altering the economy of Providence
They might just as well regulate the statur.
OF men on the Procruslean model, and cure
inequalities by cutting off heads.
A history OF public questions might be
work worthy Of some great benelaclor to hi.
country. il would show the perpetual facili
ty with which the public mind may be fruit
lessly disturbed; the guilty dexierity will
which popular mposture may infame popu
lar passion; and the utter absurditv will
which nations may be impregnated, at the mo
ment when they are giving themselves cred
for supreme wisdom the whole forming
great legacy of political common sense 70
the benefit of the future--an extract from til,
foIles Of the fathers for an antldote TO III,
crimes of posterty.-.Newark Daily .4aver
| tiser.