The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1845-04-04
From the Philadelphia Ledger.
Exploded Theories.

Exploded Theories.
The ancient Greek republics fell by dis
union, say the Bourbons of our country, and
our republic will fall by the same spirit. Of
course these Bourbons suppose that the
American republic has all the elements of
disunion which characterized the Greek, and
of course they are blind to the fundamental
differences between the two. We have al
ready alluded to the difference of origin be-
tween the two confederacies, and will now
mention other differences. The Greek re-
publics were separate, independent nations,
united, when so at all, by league or ALI
ance, and not constitution. Their Con
gress, when they had any, was meeting of
ambassadors 10 make treaties, and not of le-
gislators TO make laws. Each State had its
distinct, Independent, sovereign State 60
vernment, and The laws made by the Con-
gress for the whole were not binding OH
each without IFS assent; such laws, if laws
they could be called, being merely agree
ments or treaties, like those made in modern
times among the independent nations of
Europe, by the Congress of Vienna. Even
their league against the Persians, under Xer-
xcs, celebrated by the battles of Thermop-
yl@, Marathon, salams and MySple, by the
death of Leonidas, and the prowess of Mil
tiades, Themstocles and Aristdes, was
nothing more than treaty Of alliance, like
that between us and the French in our revo-
luton. And these leagues were liable to be
broken by any one of the parties, and were
frequently so broken; and when they were
not thus united by treaties, they were con-
tinually at war with each other Nothing
but n sense of common danger from com
mon enemy could unite them; and when
this external pressure was removed, they
we're in continual conflict with each other.
And what produced these frequent and
violent conflicts between Sparta and Athens,
Sparta and Thebes, Athe MS and Corinth, and
other members of this Union? Difference
of character and interest, flowing from diffe-
renee of origin, and acting upon contig uiiy
on the same continent. Ancient Greece
was, on a small scale, precisely what modern
Europe is on a large scale, an assemblage
on the same continent, of different nations,
flowing from different sources governed by
different laws, characterized by different
manners, impolled by different interests, and
independent of each other.
They exhibited what all independent ma
tons upon the same continent have ever ex-
hibited, mutual iealousies, mutual aggression,
and mutual conflict And while at peace,
they drove each other, through continual
fear of war, into military despotisms.
But the Grocian republics had another ele-
ment of discord, we'll known in modern
Europe, but utterly unknown in the United
States. They were infested with privileged
orders. Their very foundations were mill
tary aristocracics; for the scandinavian races,
who subdued the original Phpnician colonies
of Greece, have been celebrated throughout
their history for establishing such institu
tions. The feudal system has invariably
marked their footsteps. These military aris-
tocracies, when not united by common dan
ger without, like the Persian invasion, were
continually quarrelling for supremacy at
home; and hence sprung the political vicis-
STUDIES of Aristides, Themistocles, Alcbia-
des, Pisistratus; the innumerable civil wars
were contests of the nobility for power, in
which tho people had no concern but suffe-
ring They were precisely like the civil
wars of Italy in the middle ages, and precise
ly because the Italian States were military
aristocracies, founded by The same Northern
barbarians who founded the Greek republics.
This cause of disunion never can exist in
the United States, and preventive is found,
not only in their political and social constitu-
ton, but in the very extent of their territory
The more extensive be nation, the fewer
chances exist for the establishment of family
aristocracies, and the less influence they can
acquire when established.