The independent. (Harrisonburg, La.) 1853-18??, 1858-05-19
Public Morals KndisPensiblet to
Public Liberty.

All times and all nations generate nu
lnerous class of discontented people, som
with, and many more without reason. Pal
tiallty to our own faults prompts us to as
crlbe the evils We suffer, real or imaginar,
to any cause rather than ur own vices an,
lmpelfections. But can any vice reign long
or Is its reign only for a season! The Su
preme Governor of the world will vindicat
his authority, and though this does not al
ways happen within the short compass @
human life, Yet national vices have beel
everywhere corrected by national caami,ie
and there is not in the whole compass O
history slugle example of an empire or
republic being utterly ruined until the ma
ton had become incurably corrupt and de
PRAYED. 10 this cause we may trace tn
downfall Of the Assyrian. Persian and Ro
man empires, East and West, and from tn,
same source sprang the ruin Of the Greciar
republics, from whose fate has been drawn
arguments to prove the total incapccitv o
man for self government, and the absolute
necessity OF force to restrain him from VIC
lating those very laws he has voluntarily i'm
posed on himself.
The absence of morals has been at all
times fatal to liberty, for true liberty is moth
ING more than voluntary submission tc
the dictates of reason and justice. Wha,
are laws without morals! OF what use are
the wisest and best laws if the people will
not submit voluntarily to them, and theil
obedience cannot be enforced, or theif exc
a n foil III L. Z Il
officers even more corrupt than the people
themselves! What then will avail the su
perorlty OF our constitution, if the virtues on
which it was founded do not continue to
support its influence and maintain its author
ity! The idea Of liberty would only serve
to delude US with an imaginary phantom,
because It's real excellence must ever be de-
pendent on the hearts and minds of the pco-
pie corresponding with the laws. Were the
people of the United to lose their virtue,
they would lose their liberty also, however
intelligent they might be, for it is not mere
knowledge that renders men either capable
or worthy Of It's enjoyment.
In proportion as disobedience to those
laws, divine or human, by the due observance
of which the constitution has hitherto been
maintained without any material violation,
becomes an ordinary characteristic of our
citizens, must be It's tendency towards disso-
luton, since the absence of what was neces-
sary to its formation, will inevitably produce
its overthrow. A nation which has not vir-
tue enough to be governed by the dictates
Of reason and justice, ought never to aspire
to self government, since those who cannot
govern themselves sufficiently to restrain
their own vices must be totally untitled for
restraining those of others. When such is
the case, when reason and justice are INSULT
cent to protect the rights of person and
society must be dissolved or force
must be employed to keep it together. Thus
liberty is lost, and when that is the case, it
is no exaggeration to say the nation is un-
done.
No State so formidable as this of ours. has
ever fallen, except under the we; ght of its
own vices. Great empires have been dis
and great nations absolutely an
not so much by the pressure of
outward force as by. inward corruption and
lecay. Civil discord, the legitimate offspring
If impety and immortality, necessarily calls
or some coercive measures, and the mainte-
lance Of order becomes Incompatible with
he enjoyment Of freedom. Thus it seems
,vident that the Almighty has decreed that
emporal felicity to nations, as we'll as eter-
,al rewards to men, is the need of virtue
llone.
When unaninity in patriotic feelings
leases to prevail in the hearts Of the people,
low can they long subsist without the ce-
nent of arbitrary power? Public spirit is
lot confined to the present moment. Its
phere is ages past, and its antic;pations
the immeasurable future We |
ave, it is true, no certainty AS to the devi- |
tion Of the world, and as little can we too
resume on the continued existence of a
ar,icular nation, however wise its govern
ncnt, prosperous its present condition, or
its future destiny. Still less can
re speculate with any'degree of certainty or
ven probability on the duration of the life
{ a single man; considered as seperate from
community, he is nothing, thing of no
ccount, and he passes away as a shadow,
ut when viewed as member of society,
nough only an atom, he is an indispensable
onstituent of the universe; he exists as long
$ time, and partakes Of a glorious immor-
tlitv.
We think the people of the United States
ave been rather too much in the habit of
onsidering the acquisition of learning and
le pursuit of knowledge, as all that is neces-
sry to the preservation of liberty. But
.arning and knowledge are not virtue, nor
an they by themselves sustain the great
'bric of freedom. No one, for example, We
elieve doubts that the people of the United
tates are, as body, better educated aud
'ore intelligent than any nation that ever
visited. But are they more moral in their
rinciples, or more virtuous in their actions!
las! we fear not When we look around :
nd see such widespread disregard to the
ne ,f fha lapJ opJ tha sanctitv of tho .cn