The Nevada journal., 1858-03-12
II E R NJ S:
AMERICAS MANIFEST DEsTINy."-


A few years ago it was the cant of a
certain political school to talk about
manifest destiny" The institutions of
America, said the partisans of this sect,
are the best in the world-erg0, we
ought to extend them over the globe,
even if we do it at the point of the sword
The absorption of Mexico, the annexa-
ton of Cuba, and the conquest of the
West India islands were the rallying
cry of these propagandist filibusters,
these nineteenth century buccaneers.
Fortunately y for onr country, the mass
of the people had too mnch common
sense to become the dupes Of this folly.
A half civilized republic might have
been tempted by the high-sonndiug
phrase of manifest destinv." A des-
potism would have engaged its subjects
in a career of conquest withogt stopping
to consult their wishes Ancient Rome
or modern France might have fallen
victims to the delusion. But the intel
ligent, rejecting and conscientious Fl ee-
men, who constitute the bulk of Ameri-
can citizens, set the seal of their disap-
probation Immediately OH this flibus-
tering policy, pronouncing it little bet
ter than highway robbery And they
were right. 1t has taken mankind a
long while to learn what real liberty is :;
but the mass of the American people
have learned it at last, as this decision
proves. The ancient world had no CON
ception of liberty except as the power
to domineer over others. The Hebrew,
when bound under the Roman yoke,
longed for liberty, not merely to free his
country from paying tribute, but to ex-
alt it to supremacy among the nations
The Greek, wheh SUNK to a subject of
the Caesars, was unable to form any idea
of a restoration of liberty that did not
involve a return to his old armed as
cendancy over the rest of the civilized
world. Athens, in her pa1my days,
made slaves of the weaker Greek re
publics about her, for even her brightest
intellects could conceive of no liberty
except the liberty Of rulers. Rome her
self regarded liberty and dominion as
convertible terms She aspired after
what she called liberty in her earliest
career, and lamented the loss of liberty
In her declining age, but it was, first and
last, the liberty of doing as she pleased
and denying to others a similar privilege.
Her only idea of liberty was that of
being mistress. Her sole conception of
civilization was the compelling others
to live as she liked to live.
Yet this is the very opposite of liber-
ty. No two men are precisely alike in
everything. Even brothers, brought up
in the same family, differ more or less
in tastes, opinions and habits What is
true of the individual Is not less true of
communities. Constitutions and laws, if
they are to make a kingdom prosper
otis, must be the out-growth, so to speak,
of the character of the people. Before
nation can develope successfully, un-
der republican form of government,
intelligence and self-discipline must be
prominent features of its citizens. To
impose free constitution on a people
deficient in these qualities, in the vain
expectation of benefIting them, is to
injure, not to aid them. 1t is to attempt
forcing them to live up to IL standard for
which they are not competent--an at
tempt which no subtlcty is required to
prove tyrannical i'll theory and abortive
in fact. 1t is not extending liberty to
extend free institutions in this way. Il
is only imposing IN new form the Old
shibboleth If despntisln on the weaker
party. The ma ifcs destiny" school
of the nineteenth century has got nt
further in lis uolious Of liberty than the
Romars of old.
The true mission # this republic is to
influence the world by It's example. not
TO conquer it by fees or armies OF buc-
aniering colonies. The mightiest mora
and social revolution this earth has eve,
witnessed was worked without the and
of a soldier or the stroke of single
sword, The splendid paganism Of anti.
guilty, though made sacred by the tradi-
tions of centuries, though entrenched
behind the material interests of Il vast
and wealthy priesthood, who were again
cntrenched behind the state itself, fell
before twelve men of despised vocations
the citizens of a despised race, speaking
in a foreign and despised tongue, pro
Tossing despised religion. Aud why
did this old paganism fall ! Why did ii
in its fall drag down the Roman empire!
1t was because opinion, in the long run
is mightier than the sword becau>e
truth lives down a lie at last; because
the precepts of the Gospel had only tc
be heard to convince men of their supe-
riority to the foul tenets of paganism.
America stands forth-we speak il
without irreverence-the messiah of a
new political dispensation. She needs
no armies to convince the world Hel
prosperity speaks for her. The increas
ing intelligence OF her citizens is stand
ing reproof to despotisln. Her ''manifes
destiny" is not to conquer by force, bu
to influence by example, to subdue by
opinion.
SWEET PoTAToEs.-The seport o