The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1855-03-24

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due influence of certain men in the administra-
ton of the Government, Far more irrational
is it to deny that the influence Of foreign ideas
and foreign interests, contradstinguished from
American ideas and American interests, are to
be computed as being among the original
causes. We have seen how vain and Elusive
was the supposition that men could abandon
all allegiance to their mother country, todeyote
themselves supremely to another Government
especially when the cause Of that Government
initiates against the interest of their native
land The laws Of all nations Of Europe have
provided accordingly. In France, naturaliza-
ton is scarcely ever thought of the rights it
confers are hardly worth the trouble Of an ap-
plication. In Great Britain. Americans far
from enjoying the rights Of suffrage can hold
real estate only when so authorized by special
act of Parliament. And the law--that by
which we must all abide--what shall become
of it in our days? How can it be adapted to
the habits Of the people, when we can scarcely
tell who the people IS How can the legisla-
tor study and appreciate the wants. the habits
and the customs Of the masses that came YES
terday, and of those that are to come to-mor-
row : And yet, all experience hath shown
that the attention Of the legislator could not be
directed too closely to the tendencies of the
times, the spirit and force Of the habits and Gus
with the law, and the law with them, secure to
legislative enactments firm foundation, and
render their application easy and sure for
what renders the institutions Of land truly
firm and lasting is not so much their entire
bor
as their normal accord with the active spirit Of
civilization; which fact enables them always
to concord on the same points, so that one but
sanctions and sustains the other ; and from that
perfect and healthful harmony of the moral
with the physical influences there results to the
benefit of society the potent union of the col
cctive strength of the State with that major
power springing from the heartsro men, and
which is called public opinion" Where the
state Of civilization is healthy, the main end Of
legislation should be to strengthen habit, so
that obedience t., the law might become a nat
urai and habitual inclination. Those habits
and customs Of the people, says Rousseau,
+" form the key of the social edifce." ~ 2si
And yet how can this harmony be secured 2
Hundreds of thousands of strangers are pouring
in yearly upon us yet some men think of in
viting further foreign immigration, to settle up
our vacant lands! Besatisfied with the normal
and natural development Of the country, and
seek not to have your nationality swallowed
up by this onward sweeping wave a 9A8s'
The evil is there broad, glaring, manifest!
Destroy the means, lot the cause he what IL
may. You are afraid to violate acquired and
vested constitutional rights. BE il. SO but
prevent the augmentation Of the means where
with so much injury has been worked to you,
prosperity, your happiness, and the very lib
erty in which you 50 justly pride!
II.
And you, whohr-L have always learned to
look upon SIS brothers sons of d State whose
nobility is stamped upon the sods still wet with
the blood Of our fathers you who, like me,
have been brought up to believe that there is
something worth cherishing in the institutions
under which we have grown up, and whose
proud and gorgeous emblem we still hope to
hail with our last expiring gaze--in view OF
this terrible and monstrous state of things, it
| is meet we should turn back to the past, that
our hearts be purified and strengthened by its
| hallowed and sacred teachings Il is .1eell thai
we should remember the struggles, the tears
and the glories Of the Revolution, to be sus-
tanned and cheered ut this hour Ii is well to
pause before this sublime transformation of the
past into the young and radiant form of the
future. For him who thinks, who weighs
calmly in his mind the nature Of things, that
spectacle has something touching in its nature
at the same time that it is grand and imposing
1t is touching, because new and purer law is
seen emerging from the miseries and atrocities
of the past, like the gentle beam of seraph's
wing from the mantle of night. 1t is grand
because it is the majesty Of RIGHT triumphing
over injustice and oppression. 1t is awful and
imposing, because it is also the spectacle o.
contending hosts, the clash of arms, the neigh
ing Of steeds, the wall of widows calling alouo
upon God from ruined homes and deserted
hearths-because the midnight wings of wa,
covered the radiapt form of the Republic ere
it emerged from the impending gloom.
To regenerate the MORAL WORLD, the Son o
4 God expired on the black Golgotha. He tri
umphed over death and iniquity, rising upliftet
and supported on the wings Of eternal truth
II 10 regenerate the social and political world
the American Republic bled under the poniard
of ministerial minions, as the Saviour's sid,
under the lance%troke Of the Roman soldier
Crime and superstition crucified the one---.th,
past tormented the other. These two suffer
ngs redeemed the moral and social man
Christ is the redemption of the moral man
, the Republic is the redemption Of the nations
preparing their radiant and rapturous ascen
sion to the elevated and stable heights Of hap
piness
The Republic is the government of reason
because il equalizes all positions it solicit
vocations; il invites progress it safeguard
all susceptibiities it springs from the peopl
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