Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-12-24

THE EFFEoTs OF THE RESTRICTIVE
POLICY UPON THE ROMANS. THE
POLES, AND THE FRENcH.-NATIv-
ISM AND DEMAGOGUEISM ARE THE
VICES OF VIRTUE.
The old adage, Nothing perfect under the
sun" is susceptible Of larger extension than
people commonly think. In this world, the
greatest as well as the smallest things have
their share Of deformity; and virtue itself, like
all that is human, is not exempt from alloy
We cannot desire to see higher order of
virtue than patriotism nor is it possible to
point out a record of brighter deeds than those
performed by it. II is nevertheless true that
the exaggeration, or rather the vice of that
virtue, for all exaggeration is vice, has pro-
duced the greatest political evils the world ever
contemplated.
What, for instance, FASTENED and determined
the fall of the Roman empire? Exaggerated
patriotism. Rome, which at first had been very
liberal in her policy towards foreigners, soon
changed that policy; and time came when
no citizens were acknowledged as such but the
citizens of Rome. From that moment she
commenced declining, till the Christian church
came, and by her doctrine Of brotherhood and
of political and social equality, wrested the
power from her, and, supported by the broad
scope of Christian democracy which she advo-
Gated and defended, she soon saw the world at
her feet.
In modern history we see an example, no
less striking, Of the evils produced by narrow
restrictive policy. That example is furnished
to us by glorious but unhappy Poland, the
civism and patriotism of which nobody can
deny. Poland has been Republic, and the
Poles are democrats. Why is it. then, that
knowing by experience, as we do, the marvel
Gus results produced by that form of govern
ment and the wealth and prosperity resulting
from democratic institutions, Poland could not
thrive, having the same elements within her?
Because she exaggerated the virtues of both
republicanism and democracy. Once having
done SO, she persisted.
The purest and highest form of democracy
was practiced by the Polanders. The legisla
tive power was composed of two distinct
branches. The Senate, whose members were
appointed for life, and the Nuncios, or House,
formed by members elected by districts and
communes. The king himself was elective.
But two radical vices were found at the bot
tom of her institutions. The first, restrictive
in its nature, conferred the right of voting on
noblemen alone; the second, too expansive in
its application, took its origin in an exagge-
rated love Of equality. According to the Polish
notions on that subject any one member of the
legislative body could by his vote stop any
measure essential to the public welfare. Hence
the impossibiity of her arriving at any vote at
all. Every freeman Of the country constituted
the real government. The diet, composed Of
both houses, reached some times the extraordi-
nary amount Of 100000 men on horseback, at
tended by as mauy servants. 1t was sufficient
that single one of these men dissented from
the others, to prevent any law being passed.
AS it may be seen, this was done through the
compulsion of virtue, and love of equality, car.
ried to excess. The horrors committed by the
club of the Jacobins, can be attributed to the
same origin. It is asserted to-day, that most
of the men who ordered the crimes of the
French revolution, were, in private, men of
integrity and unspotted lives. They were car
ried away by the spirit of political fanaticism,
as their predecessors, the Catholics and Puri
tans, had been carried away by irrational en-
thusiasm. They we're, personally, actuated by
a sense of duty, and were, no doubt, under the
impression that they were performing, amidst
the most revolving cruelties, acts of religious
and political virtue. Now that time has sub
dued the religious and political passions Of
that period, and reason has shed its light upon
those deplorable errors, but one feeling is in
spired by the contemplation of their fanatical
deeds, and that is, an instructive feeling of
horror, and "a pity for the bloody blindness
that prevailed
Religion, like political fanaticiSm, is, as we
said in the beginning of this article, the result
of exaggeration-the vices of virtue. Let us,
then--pro6ting by these sad examples Of his
tory--keep watch on ourselves less we, too,
be carried away, unawares, into the same
errors, and be punished by similar consequences
Let us remember that we are not so much
threatened by foreign despotism as by the des
potism of error. In the United States we do
not acknowledge any ruler, in political and
religious matters, but public opinion. Let us be-
ware, lest that opinion become tyrant and,
like the Roman idea of citizenship, or The Pol
ish or French idea of Democracy, lead us
through an excess Of virtue into the abyss Of
fanaticism- form Of despotism which
has checked, as everybody knows, the triumph
of civil and religious liberty all over the world.
ANOTHER GREAT PEOPLE In THE
FIELD.