The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-09-16
Public MoraIs-The Results OF the "Highel
Law Doctrines.

As man is taught to avoid that which is evil
and practice that which is good, or, in other
words, to conform to the immutable laws Of
rectitude, by the consequences resulting to
himself from the observance or disregard of the
rules of morality, so it is with nations, which
are but a congregation of men. Nor can the
latter any more set at naught with IMMUNITY
those laws which constitute national morality
than an individual can set at defiance and out
rage all those restraints which are necessary to
The preservation of purity, integrity, and virtue
an society; and that nation which persists IN
disregarding the rights of other nations, in
meddling with their affairs, seizing every &C
casion and using every pretext to rob or deprive
them of that which righHully belongs to them,
will soon become as odous in the eyes Of other
nations, and as prohgate and dishonest, as the
individual man who pursues the same reckless
careersin society. That such course will
bring disgrace and odum upon nation is as
certain as that strict justice and honorable deal
ing with all other nations highmindedness
which scorns to do any thing mean, cowardly,
or mptible-demanding nothing but what
is strictly right, and submitting TO nothing
wrong-will elevate it in the eyes of the whole
civilized world as we'll as in its own.
Until within a few years, a very few years
past, it has been the just pride and boast of the
American people that they stood before the
world as a nation unimpeached and unim-
peachable. No dark, dishonest acts, no mean
subterfuges, attempts to deceive and de-
fraud, no diplomatic chicanery, no breach OF
national faith dimmed the brightness of our ma
tional escutcheon; no rapine or piracy, no at
tempts TO rob other nations of their righful pro-
perty, could be laid TO our charge. We stood
before the world proudly conscious of our unfair
nished character, fearless of the closest scru-
tiny, and DESTROYS TO be looked upon as an
e1emplar 10 all other nations. We felt as
nation, that we had duty to perform,
a mission 10 execute, lesson to teach
to the other nations of the earth. That
duty, that mission, that lesson, were 10 show
mankind that monarchs and orders of nobility
were unnecessary; that intelligent, upright,
moral men were capable of selfgovernment,
and needed not the presence of armed cohorts
to compel them TO respect and obey the laws.
TO observe with strict fidelity and hold in sacred
regard the faith of the nation as pledged in trea-
ties and national compacts, and to refrain from
committing depredations upon the rights and
property Of others. Our national honor and
honesty were then unimpeached and unim-
peachable, and the friends Of civil liberty and
republican government everywhere could point
TO us with pride in justification of their princi-
pies.
What the tone of public sentiment then was
ia evinced by the universal odium which was
cast upon AARON BURR on account of the eXpe
dition which he attempted to organize in the
United States against the adjoining provinces
Of Spain, and the ineffaceable adhesion Of tina
odium to him to the day of his death, aud L
his memory up to the present time. 1t is als'
evinced by the language held in the House o
Representatives by some Of our most respected
and venerated public men, who gave characte
u the Republic in its better days-we allud
10 the debate in the House Of Representatives
forty-two years ago, an abstract Of which
the editors of the National hteligencer oppor
timely published few days ago. in that debate
which was upon an application for relief b,
those who had embarked in the celebrated ex
petition of MIRANDA against some OF the Span
ish possessions in South America, and who ha
been captured and imprisoned or sentenced
slavery Mt Carthagena, Mr.. RArDoLFH sale
"He wanted all American citizens to kno'
that if they engaged in any nefarious trans
actions by which tbeir fellow-cit ma
be involved in war. the nation will not exten
its hand TO relieve them from any difficult
they may get into. Let them follow BuR'
MIRANDA, OF any one else, and share the
ate. am unwilling to give one cent