Weekly Clarksville chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 185?-1857, 1857-09-04

aee~ Communications must be handed IN by
noon on Thursday, or they tcill be lett orer.
S1y~ The loecfocos point with an air of
exceeding complaccncy, to their majority,
as evidence that theirs are the true doc
trines. The argument is worthy Of the
party, and of itself, betrays their incapaci-
ty for self-government. 1t is true, that,
under our political system, the majority
must rule, so long as that rule is not sub
yersiye of the rights of the minority; but
to argue the corr ,ctness Of principle
from the number who advocate it, is an
indirect admission that virtue and intelli-
gcnce are characteristic of the majority
n supposition repudiated by all history,
and unsustained BY the experience of every
age Were it true, the christian religion
would have been buried in the sepulchre
Of its crucifed founder, or at this moment
be branded as fallacy by the concurrent
opinion of pagan majority. The forced
recantation of Calico was the work of a
majority, and the well established truth of
his system owes its almost universal ac-
ceptanco to its intrinsic truth as upheld
and elucidated by an enlightened few
The power of steam and its adaptation to
the wants of commerce would, at this
moment, have been viewed as an exploded
fallacy, could an ignorant majority have
stihed the genius that discovered and de-
yeloped its powers. Every great truth,
whether in physics, or in political economy,
has ever found a stubborn foe in an ignorant
multitude, and owes its ultimate recogRi,
ton to the fearless advocacy Of the few
enlightened minds that dared to stand ur
in its defence in the face Of bigotry
ignorance and corruption. Even our OWE
republican system of government stand!
condemned, as fallacy, by tie practice o.
the world, and is being rapidly overthrow
by the ignorant and corrupt majority WHIT
now control its destiny.
The experience of every age and coun
try demonstrates that majorities are never
right until the intelligence Of the few ha
literally forced the truth upon them; ant
it is even then received and acquisced il
as tradition, rather than from any intelli
gent perception. No man who occupies
an intellectual eminence from which h,
can overlook the population of these States
will, if he be honest, deny the truth o
this position, and every shrewd demagogu
feels that his success depends upon tn
vast preponderance of corrupt, or stole
ignorance over enlightened virtue S.
far, then, from feeling any humiliation a
defeat, every true-hearted American ha
cause to be proud Of his principles, and o
his position, outside of that Heterogeneous
majority made up of knavish leaders an
blind, unthinking, slavish followers
Every man of heightened patriotism an
self-respect is proud of his minority posi-
tion-knowing that truth and public virtu
are repudiated by the majority; yet hi
conscious rectitude of position and pur
pose justifes no diminished activity. Hi
country, truth and the great cause of hu
man liberty call for the full exercise of hi
moral and intellectual faculties that error
may be corrected, and evils removed
Every such man stands, in relation
those around him, as a teacher to hi
school, whose duty it is to impart usefr
knowledge, and to instil into uneducatc
hearts the soundcst principles of moralit.
The masses are but neglected, or ill-taugi
children - their minds, a vacuum, G
filled with error; and it is not for such q
those to fix the tone Of American sent
mcnt, or to pass upon the merits of que'
tons for the correct decision of whic
they are incapacitatcd, both in head an
heart
na~ A man, by the nams of Rum
~ \