Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-05-07
Principles and Policy Of the American Par.
-l - 80 fv..No.i q. -.asltf ira r.

1 Principles and Policy Of the American Pal
i ty..N0s 8. 8si 0s
To qualify o people for q Republican govern
ment, they must not only have intelligence an
! virtue, but they must undergo system of train
ing and instruction III the principles Of liberty
and in the practical workings of free institution,
! They must learn to reverence the law and t8s6
bey it. They must acquire self-respect, and sell
confidence, and understand that their sYell-bein
I is inseparably interviewer with the peace an
good order Of society. They must comprehen
that the restraints of social organization, are no
the arbitrary impositions Of tyrannical power
T but the voluntary surrender Of portion Of thei
natural liberty, for the more secure enjoyment Q
the residue ai1ss isih ~ ~. q lN'e '' - -'
Without such training the efforts Of our an
cestors to establish our present form of govern
ment would have proved an abortion. For NOR
than one hundred years, they were educated il
the principles Of free government, under the fos
tering care of the mother country. Widely sep
arated from England, the colonies were necessa
rily entrusted with the powers of legislation
subject, of course, to the supervision of the su
preme government of Great Britain. This LEI
the colonies to study the principles of freedom
engrafted during q long succession OF ages, OF
the British constitution, and to practice them IL
the regulation of their own affairs. When the
crisis therefore, arrived in their affairs, caused
by the attempt of the mother country to violate
the rights of the colonies, they were prepared t.
understand the wrong that was about to be done
them, and to assert the true doctrines Of liberty
in their own behalf. ar,..f.,,f -.
The protracted struggle Of the Revolution, and
the dangers and sufferings incident to it, also
tended to enlighten the minds of the people, and
to fit them for the high responsibilities of their
position. Discussion was the order Of the day
throughout the colonies The ablest men of the
country were busily engaged in explaining to the
people, in oral harangues, and published address
es, the nature of the evils with which they were
threatened. The whole country was aroused to
the highest pitch of excitement. Information
was greedily sought for by all classes The
works of Milton, Locke, and Hampden were in
every hand; and there never has been day,
when the mind of nation was SO thoroughly
aroused, and SO well instructed, not only in re-
gard to the particular questions involved, but
also in regard to the abstract nature of the rights
and duties of the government and the people, as
were the coloniss at the close of the revolution
ary war. -t .,,.-5 -.-5 la.
| Thus taught in a seven years school of trial
and adversely, when they came to form gov
ernment, they brought to the council chamber
an amount of knowledge of the principles Of free
dom, which, / venture to say, no nation OF the
present day could equal. But with all these ad-
yantages, it was after long trial and tribulation,
that they were enabled to consolidate their lib
critics, by the adoption of the admirable system
of government under which We live. ,ftr;
| - -, %l,nv, hat Asno
the descendants of those who accomplished
| this great work, and who have learned, not only
from history, but from the lips of their fathers
the dangers and troubles by which the country
was surrounded; should look with jealousy on
everything which tends to put their priceless
heritage in peril2 Is it to be wondered at, that
knowing the complexity and delicacy of the great
machine entrusted to their charge, they should
be unwilling to see it surrendered to ignorant,
incompetent or unfa;thful hands Il, !.
How is it possible that foreigners can have the
same interest in, and attachment to- our country
and its institutions as Americans1 All their
early recolections are associated with far dis
tant land Their traditions, sympathies, and at.
fections Of, they be good men) are all with the
homes Of their childhood. AS Archbishop
Hughes remarked, with equal truth and beauty
II would not exchange the bright memories o.
my early, boyhood, in another land and another
sky, for those of any other man living, no matter
where he was born"
Who does not concur in the noble sentiments
expressed by Henry Clay, in the Senate, on the
| 7th of Feb, 1889. sThe searcher of all hearts,
said he, ''knows that every pulsation of my mind
beats high and strong in the cause OF civil liber
ty; wherever it is safe and practicable, desire
to see every portion of the human family in the
1 enjoyment of it. But IprstSr the liberty Of ms
| omn country to that Of any other people, and tn
liberty Of my oscn race to that Of any other"
Shall we then leopard the liberty of sour owT
country and sour own race" by entrusting it te
the custody of people of foreign countries, and o.
a race alien to our owni ci eadi.a 20 c-s
But let US now turn to the statistics of pauper
j ism, crime intemperance and vagrancy, and SEE
what revelations they will make in regard to the
virtue and intelligence and capacity for self-gov
ernment of our foreign population. q @F
The report of the superintendent of the census
shows that, in 1850, there was expended in thu
/ United States, of public money, for the suppor
of paupers, $2,954, ,so6. This was, Of course, in
dependent of all private charities. "
i The number of paupers supported was l34,972
and of those, 6s, ,53s, or more than one-haLf wer,
foreigners ..., .;flf
New York had, in that year, 4O,5SO foreigl
paupers, and only 9,275 natives In that State
4 ONE IN EVERY sIxTERN of her foreign population
was pauper, whilst of the native population
hut ONE OF EVERY ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY
SEVEN was of that class.
i In Pennsylvania, ONE IN FIFTY-FoUR of the for
eign population was pauper, and ONE IN THREE
HUNDRED AND FIFTY-Two of the native population
From other sources, such as the Prison Disci