The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-10-13

! tween classes ually cOminluSleu, 40 III INC ah-
Gent Democracies. In other words, it may be
j between sections or classes.
! Now it would be easy to show, that, while, in
the former, social union and individual liberty
may permanently exist together, in the latter,
they never have, and unless there be change in
human nature, they never can. But one substi-
tute for federation in such cases has ever proved
avang; and it is that opprobnum OF false
sensibility in our times, the institution OF
slavery an institution in which the absolute
power of capital over labor is disarmed of the
temptation TO tyranny by the promptings of
seliiuterest, the refined feelings OF modern
civilization and the soitening influences OF
| holy religion. | forbear however, TO attempt
farther to illustrate this important principle.
The causes which create a necessity, real or
plausible for centraism in any one society, and
induce its progressive development, are external
or internal.
The external may exist, where there is in s
relative position to other societies. an offensive
or defensive predisposing impulse. A nation
so situated as to make conquest easy and advan-
tageOus, nationally demands the consolidation
of its social power to accomplish such result
by offensive means while one so placed as to
fall an easy prey to the rapacty OF its nelghbors
seeks, by like consolidation, its defence and its
security
The internal cause may exist, when the social
elements are so related as to threaten disorganl-
cation or conflict, and absolute power becomes
essential to the safety of society; or when re-
sources, capable of development, or achieve
ments splendid in their attainment, tempt and
allure to glory upon the fatal pathway OF cen
tralism
History, with its sober teachings, exhibits
these pri cpes in operation, and as the result
| of he nt hnro f
most strangely the truth asserted by me, of the
connection between despotic and centralized
power, between indivdualsm and liberty. II
| time permitted it would be most instructive to
trace the development of these principles, the
history of their antagonlsm, and the result to
human happiness flowing from the exclusive
| triumph of one or the other. A brief notice,
| for the sake Of illustration, is all that shall
attempt
Among the most striking facts in the forma-
ton of ancient commonwealth, may be men
toned the tendency of a portion of an older and
more powerful race or people to break off from
the parent State, and seek new homes by colo
nization to subject or drive out weaker
ton; to preserve its unity, and maintain its Sc
curity by crowding into city, the nucleus Of the
future State; and to associate within themselves
in distinct tribes, which thus constituted, sep
arate centres of political action.
Thus you will find the little coutry Of
Greece, broken into numerous petty States, each
concentrated about its town which gave to the
State its name, and presenting so many units of
separate and distinct power. The same was the
original condition of the States of Italy. Each,
whatever its internal organism, whether consoli-
date or federal in its character, was free as to
ternal influences. But their proximity to each
other; the feebleness of each; the ease with
which they would fall preys to the rapacity of
some external power, constituted circumstances
extremely favorable to close and intimate union
| Such, indeed, you will find to have been the
result, and with the result cane that consequence
of which | have spoken. Foreign invasion
united the Grecian States against a common foe ;
intrigue, corruption, and a spirit of enterprise,
raised Athens to the supremacy of the Ionic !;
while valor, inherent strength and her institu-
tons placed Sparta at the head of the Doric
league; the weakness of exhausted ombatants
gave Thebes a temporary elevation and the art,
power and genius of Philip, placed the throne
| of Macedon upon the crushed liberties of the
separate States of Greece.
The same, in brief, is the history of Roman
power For centuries, the free States of Italy
resisted her centraizng influences. One by one
they fell the rest of Europe followed Asia
sank beneath the crushing weight of her le
gions; and amidst the ruins of free and indie
pendent States centralism safe supremacy serene
upon the imperial throne of the Caesars.
Now of each of these histories, so externally
regarded, there is an internal view, equally inter
estng and instructive. In every one of these
ancient States separately considered, you will
find the gradual absorption of the more excu-
sive forms of monarchy and aristocracy by the
democratic In each of these forms, AS success.
sively manifested, you will find liberty, real and
conservative, extinct and only developed where
in the transition from the one to the other, nei.
ther for time had the absolute ascendency and
struggle between them ensued. Ole of the
most instructive lessons taught in these histories
is the essential connection between all the kinds
of centralism and thus, the three absolute
forms exhitit themselves SUCCESSFULLY in n cycle
continuous and unvarying.
Thus, royalty Frustrated, precedes aristocracy
triumphant; democracy brings down the naughty
looks of the nobility, only to throw itself into
the arms of the one man. In Athens, democra
cy centralized, made Pericles its idol In Rome
it fell at the feet of the hero of Pharsaia. The
period preceding the middle ages, and succeed
ing the downfall of the Roman empire, is one in
which centralism brooded sullenly over the sur
face of human society. But how changed the
| scene in more modern times
Northern barbarians have been much abused
and their part in the history of free institutions
has rarely been sufficiently acknowledged. They
| broke into fragments the stern centrasm of an
cient civilization H-nceforth the distinction,
of nationality revived and became common
States arose, where provinces had stood, the
humble appendages of imperial Rome.
Modern civilization is the history of the an.
tagonism of which have spoken. You will find
individual States resisting the consolidation
which the more powerful sought to enforce
upon them; the civil power engaged in fierce
internal contest and struggling with the eccesi.
astic authority Papaey subjugating the consci
ence of kings, priesthood and people, to its own
centralized WILL and marching on to universal
dominion, until arrested and overthrown by the
triumph of iudivduaism in the great reformation
of the 10th century.
You will find in the history Of the separate
States, the strife between the three exclusive
forms of government, ending in the absolute
ascendency Of some one upon the ruins of the
others; or in the manifestations of each, and
combination Of all of them in their several con-
stltutiona organisms. You will find the truth,