True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1857-09-02
For the True.Americm.
Domestic Institutions.
BY W. A. URoUHART.

| tCotdUlN NDJSS' s,..S"' SoiA w OhN'SN w '0N
human imagination it is not only per-
niclous to those who are subject to it,
but tends TO its own destruction"
The above important truth was utter
ed by no less parsonage than Lord
Chath ham,. Well did he understand the
principle on which all tyrany is bqsed'-
"Power without right" is unques'iona-
bly, the most dangerous prerogatlye that
men can assume, and the Identical foun-
dation on which tyrants and despots have
built from time immemorial the super
structure Of their governments.
That it is odiops to the Imagination,
no one that contradicts the "diyine right
of kings" can possibly deny for man.
kind have inalienable rights of liberty
and conscience, that despotic governments
forbid as incompatible with the genius of
power and authority, and subversve of
the dearest ties that connect the Grown
with the people, and voice that will ul'
timately be heard in thInder:tones, ON.
nipotept with justice, that will shake
down these rotten ciladels Of oppression,
and er ect upon their crumbling bases. the
temples of freedom, Of justice, Of humani-
ty and right.
at tends to its own destruction" as
the sun declines toward the West-the
flowers to fade-the past to OBLIVION -
The startling events and revolutions Of
the last century, have all, directly or in
directly, been urged to mitigate the usur'
pations of power, the tyrany OF laws and
the final aboishment of debased mon
arches, corrupted rulers, enslaved Sen
ates, and also late parliaments. It's Ger.
tain accomplishment, the grand finale, is
loreshadowed in the great moral and
physical revolutions that now agitate the
world.
Indeed, we may take retrospective
glance at all the civilized nations on the
globe, and will find as necessary result
Of such retrospeclion, that majority OF
the conyulsiops and contests that disturb
the e9uanimity of nations, are Precipitat'
ed by oppressive laws, unjust exactions'
and an entire disregard Of the natural
rights, the lorbearance and welfare OF
their subjects. Hence, these moral revo-
lutions, progressing slowly but truly,
have, by the insulting obstacles thrown
before them, and free and inconsideEate
use Of the iron rod of despQtism, been
merged into physical ones, and the peo-
pie, per consequence, established prin-
ciple, secured a righ. that was withheld
from them before.
The right of the people to govern
themselves has been objected to on the
ground that when by any fOrtultous cir
cumstances they have enjoyed momen.
tary triumph over the government, they
have in the enthusiasm of success passed
at once into anarchy, and entirely disre'
garding the ties of nature and humanity
indiscriminately slaughtered the offending
party-revelled in the viest sensualities--
and yoluntaEially returned back 10 the
monarchical system as the only one CAL
culated to govern them. Too much haste
and impetuosity will not gain as many
substantial triumphs as moderation, ,unani'
nifty and deliberate action, Where laws
have been the most absolute, the peoples
rights the least respected, the popular
, mind in exact proportion nourishes hatred
5 and revenge, and when a fitting oppor
tuni.y occurs, takes seeming redress BY
committing unwarranted excessses,
g .:For sorrow long INDUCED and slow,
e Is to humanity foe +;
: And grief that makes the heart its prey
4 Wears sensibility away"
: Intimately connected with such despot
= ic authority, such absolute and unwalrant
). ed tyranny, is the institution of SLAYER.
: as it exists in this country. Worse eve
l. in its cruelties, its barbarities, its servil
abectness, than that endured by the vic
'. tins of Russian barbarism IN the drear
e mines of Siberia ; for they are subjec'e
It to a life of ceaseless torture, an exlstenc
!. of unrewarded servitude, the defenceles
= victims of the lash, the branding iron, III
a shackles, the bowie knife, the bullet an
.e the halter. The master is their sovereign
rs their arbi,er. their judge. their exec'
IS toner. At their birth, yes, even al the
# # conception, he claims them as his prope
\. " BY the same law that he claims the Of
Of spring of his herds. He evidently CO.
le siders, and actually ranks them in h
- - catalogue as beasts, as the especial or
~ ations for the exercise Of his talents as
ne whipper, brander and tyran. in gel
ef eral.
rs w 18th the savage ferceness, The lasci'
~ ~ Gus propensities Of q Calignla, he tor'ur
9. a. one moment and caresses the next, wi
We one breath spurs on his bloodhounds