Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1851-02-27
THE TIMES
For the Times.
GOVERNMENT:

VARIOUS MEANS TO THE MORAL AND
INTELLECTUAL ELEVATION OF A PEo.
PIE.
Mr.. EDIToR Government should
be one of the great means of promoting
liberty, that moral strength and eleva'
tion, which we all acknowledge to be
our supreme good.
l thus speak of Government, not be,
cause it always promotes this end, but
because it may and should thus ope-
rate. Civil institutions should be di.
reeted chiefly 10 a moral or spiritual
good, and, until this truth is fell, they
will continue, | fear, TO be perverted
into instruments of misery. Other
views of their design, | EN- aware, pre-.
vail We are sometimes told, that
Government has no purpose but an
earthly one; that, whilst religion takes
care of the soul, government is TO watch
over outward and bodily interests
This separation of our interests into
earthly and spiritual, seems TO me un-
founded. There is unity in our whole
being.
THERE'S one great end for which
body and mind were created, all the
relations Of life were ordained; one
central aim, 10 which our whole being
should tend; and this is the unfolding
of our intellectual and moral nature,
and no man thoroughly understands
government, but he who revcrences it
as a part Of Gods stupendous machine.
ry for this sublime design. ] do not
deny that government is instituted 10
watch over our present interests
But still it has moral purpose, be.
cause present interests are, in an i'm
portanl sense, moral; that is, they are
instruments and occasions of virtue,
calls TO duty, sources of obligation, and
are only blessings when they contribute
TO the health of the soul. The chief ties
lha, hold men together in communities,
are not self interests, or compacts. or
positive institutions, or force. They
are invisible, refined, spiritual ties,
bonds Of the mind and heart. Our best
powers end affections crave instinct.
lively for society as the sphere in which
they are TO find their life and happi.
ness. OF all the doctrines by which
vice has propaga,ed itself. know none
more pernicious than the maxim, that
statesmen are exempted from the com.
mon restraints Of morality, that ma
tions are not equally bound with indi-
viduals by the eternal laws Of justice
and philanthropy. Through this doc,
,rine, vice has lifted its head unblush
ingly in the most exalted stations. In
the very heart Of nations, in the cabi'
ne, of rulers, has been bred a mora
pestilence, hich has infected and con
tominated all orders of the Stale
There is no foundation for the vulgar
doctrine, that State may flourish by
arts and crimes. The moral principle
is the life of communities. Self'seek.
ers, unprincipled men, by hattoTing bae
passions, and by darkening the public
mind, usurp the seat of judgment and
plans of power and trust, and turn free
institutions into lifeess forms or instru
ments of oppression.
Vice never yields the fruits ofvirtue
Injustice to strangers does no, breeC
Justice to our friends. Malignity, il
every form, is FIRE ofhell. and the poll
cy which feeds it is Internal. The frs
duty of a ruler is to build Up the mora
energy Of a people. This is their frs
interest; and he who weakens it, in
fc,5 an injury which no talent ca
repair; nor should any splendor of ser
vices, or any momentary success, aver
from him the infamy which he hu
earned. Let public men learn TO Thin
more reverenlly Of their function. 1t
, them feel ,ba, they are touching MOI
n vital interests than property. lie
= them fear nothing so much as 10 SO
) ! the moral convictions of people, b
unrighteous legislation, or selfish pol
cy. Let them remember, that viii
- they and their contemporaries live b'
for day, the State is to live for age
> and that time, the unerring arGitcr, W
l. vindica,e the wisdom os well as q
n \, mognanimity of the public man, wi