The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-06-02
THE LASH AND THE KNOUT.

W nat part hath ne that beloVeth win an lnndel
St. Paul may have thought that he had
dead-locked the compromsers of his day, who
proposed to yoke diametrical opposites in the
bonds of matrimony but the editor of the
Daily Union finds no difficulty at all in the
way of such nuptials. In his leader of the
10th of May, which we copied in last weeks
Era, he says, The Governments of Russia
and the United States are based upon antagO-
mist principles but their relations have ever
been of the most amicable kind.
And we have every reason to believe that the
United States and Russia will consolidate and
perpetuate their friendly relations by the same
just and pacific policy which has regulated
their intercourse in times past. ." 1t was the
Dream says our editorial mediator between
light and darkness, "of the Persian mythology,
that the spirits of good and evil waged a per-
petual struggle for the ascendency over man; )"
and he might have added, that it was the vision
Of St. John the Revelator, that Michael and
his angels fought with the Dragon and his an
gels, and of the inspired authors of the Chris
tan system generally, that the devil is an
active and uncompromising enemy of God and
man. but, continues the Union, demonstrating
the historical and practical harmony of Despot-
ism and Democracy, president Jackson in
an official message, spoke of Russia as our
ancient and steadfast friend. Mr.. Jefferson,
radical Democrat as he was, enjoyed and re-
ciprocated tho ardent esteem of the Emperor
Alexander; and, strange as it may seem to
theorists of the 'Ormuzd and Ahriman'
school, this chivalrous Emperor entertained an
admiration for American institutions" The
chivalric institutions, doubtless; for the in
stance given in proof is that ait was by his
arbitration that the citizens of the South got
indemnity for the slaves which were kidnapped
by the British in the last war"
The article il written to cOntrovcrt the doc
trine of book entitled the "War Of Ormuzd
and Ahriman," in which the author affects
to regard Che United States and Russia as the
respective champions of the principle of Lib
erty and the principle of DespOtsm, and to
foresee in the distant future a mighty and de-
cisve conflict between these puissant combat
ants in the great drama Of human history"
Rounced an absurd fiction.
| Another idea, not confined to the author I'M
der review, but quite common among the en-
thusiasts of freedom and democratic theorists,
such as the author of the Declaration Of hide
pendence and its disciples all over the world,
is treated as an equal absurdity to wit, that
b" the theoretical perfection of governmental
principles implies their practical fitness for
man in every condition" The notion that
all men are created free and equal is only
an empty rhetorical flourish for, "persons
who reason in this way may regard the Gov
eminent of Russia as an unmxed evil, but
when we consider the peculiar condition, THAT
is, their actual enslavement) and wants Of the
Russian people, their need of masters and
their aggregate of individual and national
happiness, being, like other peculiar people,
better off than if they were free,) we well con-
clude that they are not so much the victims of
oppression as such writer's as the author Of
Ormuzd and Ahriman' would represent"
Again, in so many words, direct and I'M
qualified, we have it laid down, for every need
cd application of the principle, that "the
Government Of Russia may be despotism,
the may be is always used, either to soften the
severity of the epithet or to express the editors
indifference about the fact in any such casc,)
and for that reason abhorrent to the notions
(another bitter.swect expression,) Of republi-
cans; but its effect upon the subject people
establishes its fitness for them" Take that,
Messrs. Kossuth, Mazzini Blum Mcagher, and
Uncle Tom; and recollect that it is legal and
logical presumption of the Democratic code,
that every man born in bondage is rightfully
a slave and that the Declaration Of Independ-
ence is not a general freedom paper for
every man whe chooses to claim the inalicna-
bic rights which il avouches 1t is not the
mission of republican America to countenance
and encourage tho struggling nations Of the
earth in their rebellions against despotism,
either by opinion or Intervention, but to fra
tcrnize with "chivalric Emperors" and econ
solidate and perpetuate our friendly relations
with them at least, until they are ovcrturn-
ed, and then, to claim the glory of spreading
the blessings of civil and religious liberty by
the light of our example
The Russian Government is gorifed by our
oracle of Democracy for the colossal growth
of its territory within the last century; for the
stability and efficiency Of its rule over its own
| oub;acfa. Co. <,a;~ t,nant
solutism; for its preponderance among the
Powers of the Old World for the energy of
will, honesty of purpose, and force of genius"
of its Autocrats; and, generally, for all its sue
ccsses in the history Of the last century more
over, it is to its quality of absolute monarchy
that the credit is given for bringing up the
nation from the depths of barbarsm into the
" front rank of civilization !"
Nothing but admiration is excited in the
breast of the editor by review of the Russian
successes in arms and diplomacy, while it has
been striding over the continent from one ac-
QUESTION of foreign dominion to another
This history comprises certain incidents
which, We think, have given the Cossack
character pretty we'll settled as well as fame
for military success and territorial extension.
In 1894 for instance, he robbed Poland Of
J Lithuania, and gave the remainder of that gal