The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1852-08-21
LAW AND ORDER.

of the majority. 1t is not the ukase OF
an Autocrat. the edict of an Emperor,
The procls mation of a King, or the enact
ment OF a Parliament of Lords tempo
raj and spiritual" ruling by "dlvlne
right" 1t is the peoples matured opinion
so long as it stands upon the statute book.
When it ceases to be such, they erase it,
and substitute The result of their further
experience. This principle is the print
tive rock of republicanism. 1t is our
chief corner stone, which the builders of
monarchies and anointed legitimacies have
rejected. Our laws are not framed to
favor the views of an exclusive nobility,
in order that the /" high born'' may gov
ern the people with rod of iron, bit
that the people may govern themselves.
We do not submit 10 them because we
fear the bayonets of hireling and brutal
soldiery, but for The reason that they are
our own concentrated views Of the prin-
ciple of government-the legitimate off
spring of our own minds and understand
ings.
Shall these laws be sustained? Shall
our deliberate acts of government be
owned or disowncd? Shall we support
and cherish our own offspring, or, Saturn
like, turn and devour it? Shall we car
ry the mark of murderers Of our own be-
gotten upon our foreheads, or shall we
exhibit them 10 the world as the Roman
matron exhibited her jewels? These
are questions that all law-abiding people
of Minnesota should at this moment ask
themselves. The law must be sustained.
1t makes no difference what that law is,
SO long as it is a law, legally enacted, and
bearing upon its face the impress of the
constituted au' horiiy. If it be bad
law, the people will find it out and repeal
1t; If it be an unconstitutional law, the
courts will SO pronounce it. But until it
be repealed or annulled, it is The law-
binding and holding TO IFS provisions every
man, woman and child Of the common
we,lh. This is rrincipie-an eternal,
undying principle, which had its exist
ence when the world was not, and will
continue 10 live when the world is not
1t was alive when God said let there
be light end there was light" and will
not die even aflc' earth has passed away
for law rules, and will rule, in the realms
eternal as well as in the realms temporal
1t is not the law to regulate the sale Of
ardent spirits; or the law to protect The
Southern master in his rights; or the
law 10 secure the citizen in his undisturb-
ed enjoyment and use OF the lands which
his title deed covers, that we h ere espe-
cially refer to. 1t is all and evera
law, no matter how rigorous or oppres-
sive it may seem to some. 1t is the
statute book, from title-page to index, that
must be upheld as whole, with nc
chapter or single section cast aside O,
neglected.
We believe that law vW be sustained
by the people of Minnesota. The partia1
failure TO execute one isolated enact.
ment on Monday last, is no test. The
very act Of resistance itself will nerve
the arm Of every good citizen. Dema.
gogues may influence by their appeals
the excited prejudices of the ignorant and
lnebriated, but the great heart of the peo-
pie is sound and patriotic. Wrong-doers,
even with an influential newspaper press
IN Their hands, may denounce the execu.
TORS oil the law as "bad citizens - and
while they proclaim with holy horro,
against the rule of a mob, may-as was
done on Monday-tell the members Of
that mob how much they love them, and
could embrace them, for holding those sim
gular ideas of " liberty" (which impel them
10 illegal resistance; but right-doers-the
great host of citizens in whose hands
rests the maintenance of the sacred her.
,tase entrusted through their progenitors tc
them at the very hour of mans creation
will be true to their God, their country
themselves and their family affairs. LIE,
the evil or misguided man beware how he
sows the wind. The harvest of the wb;r,.
wind will soon ripen, and sweep him away
as the unresisting gossamer that floats
above our heads. All good citizens-al
lovers Of claw and order all whose
Prejudlces or ignorance will allow them
10 Judge between right and wrong-all,
every one of such, of whatever nation
party sect or creed, will abandon him 70
his fate, and leave him to die and rot -
fho SfvuIan mol oe