The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1850-03-27
The Progress OF Democracy.


for the benefit of mankind, and not for the ex-
elusive protection of favored few, is fast gain
ing ground at the eastern side of the Atlantic,
especially in England. For long series of
years, the people of that country have groaned
under the enormous burthen of taxation and tyr
amy in all their odious forms, and the vices and
degradation which are the necessary concomit-
ants of despotism and servility were fastened to
the body polite, and accompanied the individu-
al in every stage of his existence, from the era
die to the grave. But there came famine in
the land and the people cried for bread; they
were hungry in the midst of plenty. At one
side they beheld the lingering life of starvation,
and beyond 1t was a cofhnless grave on the
other hand were granaries filled with grain and
palaces tceming with luxury, but between their
hungry appetites and these bounties of Provi-
dence, there stood LAW, which said thou shalt
not buy but at certain price, and thou shalt
not eat without buying. And the people groan-
ed with the oppression; their agony waxed
spair, they thought of God and of this law
Was He not the supreme ruler of the people, and
did He will that his people should starve in the
midst of plenty? They could not believe him to
be so unjust, and they demanded from their OPP
pressors BREAD, at the price which it was worth.
And the tyrants dreaded the multitude and un-
locked their store houses and sold the grain and
the people of England bought at a cheap price,
and they were fed But the days OF famine pas
sed by and plenty covered the land once more,
and the rulers who were the oppressors of the
people, bethought themselves of their privileges
and monopolies and expressions Of the people at
whose expense they had formerly revelled in lux
ury and splendor, and they said let us make a
upon the peoples bea d.
But the people had been fed, and they had
waxed strong; they had learned too, that man
inherited from his heavenly Father the right to
eat and drink of the fruits of his industry, and
that earthly power could take from them
these rights without their own consent, and this
consent they had never given and would never
give. And the oppressors of the people being
rich and powerful, are now combining in Eng
land and America, to compel the people to yield
their rights, by withholding employment from
the mechanic and laborer and then cry "distress
is upon us! ruin surrounds we must have pro.
tection!" s.
1nEngland the cry for protection is against the
American Agriculturist; in America, against the
English manufacturer. In the former country
the monopolists and land-holders cry out we are
ruined by cheap bread; in America the manufac
turers cry out, we are ruined by cheap cloth
cheap hardware, cheap everything. But do the
millions who eat bread in England, complain Of
it's being too cheap and do the American mil.
lions canplain of the cheapness of their clothing
the cheapness of their plows, and other nipple.
ments of husbandry, the cheapness of their fur,
niture? &c. No, verify. They would like to
ing millions to let trade be FREE. fit is 9TH
wise, the people are they who suffer for the spe.
cial benefit of the few monopolists, bankers, spe-
culators, custom-house officers, navy officers
&c. Every dollar paid to these men is dollar
taken from the poor mans purse, and every for.
tune accumulated by them is accumulated from
the ruin and at the expense of countless men
and women, and children, reduced to beggary
But let us return to England, where the masses
are moving on in their progress to Democracy
They have begun to feel that Aristocracy and
its privileges is but an artificial construction;
that they have been ruled and oppressed; that
they have labored and toiled at the command Of
demon, embodied in the hearts, and connect.
ing the interests of class, whose prosperity is
founded upon the adversely of the people, They
have cast their eyes across the broad Atlantic,
and haye behold with admiration a government
emanating from, and acting at the will of, the
governed. They have seen its complex mach.
merry moved skilfully by crownless head and
an unsceptered hand; and they have begun to in.
quire, how is this? In our country, a man must
be nobly born, and nobly bred, and must possess
vast estates, and equpages and money, before
he can administer the affairs Of government; with
these, witheat periss without skill, without even