The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1859-04-14
Republican Government.


society, is necessary to repress the discor.
dant passions of its various members
The people, for their own interest, are
obliged to submit themselves to powe,
and to laws which protect them from the
continual dangers to which license anG
anarchy would otherwise necessarily ex.
pose them. But the former has almos
always been usurped by force, conques,
or tyranny, or has been confided without
reserve to men who abused it, and thus
has too frequently proved scourge moi
less cruel than anarchy itself, and be-
came an inexhaustible source of corrup-
ton. The chiefs of nations, far from
nniting their citizens, Ear from endeayor-
ing to make them reasonable and intelli.
gent beings, divided them into stormy,
contending cliques, infected them with
vices and prejudices, and moulded them
INTO slaves devoted to their own caprices
and ignorant of the true duties they owed
10 themselves and to their country
Laws, instead of being made the oracles
OF equal justice and correct equality,
were only the expression of the injustice,
the fantasies, and the delirium of legisla
tors to which the unhappy people were
constrained to conform. Thus, except
where Republicanism bears sway, the
barriers designed to give a right direct
lon to the passions aid conduct of men,
are made as dangerous as those passions
themselves. Monarchies and aristocra-
cies, and such government as is admin
lstered in our Southern States, neglect
to excite the people to humanity, liberty
and virtue, and only endeavor to make
them slavish instruments of the ambition
and extravaganza of an oligarchy entire
" opposed to the happiness of society.
True Republicanism is the refuge from
these evils, and it should be the aim of
all 10 further and difuse pricnciples of
liberty and anli-slavery.
The triumph of truth and freedom
must ultimately take place. and this
thought should encourage every heart
that desires such c1n4ummation. Do
We complain of the blindness which him
ders the masses, in too many places, from
attaining so desirable an end Do We
groan for the multitude of inveterate err
rors which perpetuate the woes of the
human race? We may be certain that
the light of reason, more extended and
more powerful than il now is, will one
day dispel all political darkness, and ex-
tinguish the wrongs and cruelties of tyr
amy and slavery.
Government, to be blessing. must be
republican and moral. Morality and
politics should be inseparably united
They cannot be discovered without great
injury to society, and ought always to
walk hand in hand. Political principles
become changing, scheming, and cor
rupt, unless they are founded on recti-
tude, and aided and sustained by truth.
The object Of morality is to convince
men that their interests and happiness
exact the practice of virtue; the end O.!
politics or government should be to in
lice them to practice it. The lessons Of
morality must always remain in a great
degree unfulflled till the people are edu-
Gated and self ruled, and the laws con
suit the interests of all equally and i'm
partially. In this state of things the
government would necessarily be repuZ-
hcan. In this case, too, there would be
no Infamous fugitive slave laws, no out
rageous dsfranchisement of colored cit
izens by bred Scott decisions, no bar
barous holding Of human beings in Sla
very, no violation of the ties Of humani-
", no border ruffanism. no murders
because of a love of freedom, no corrup-
ion and profilgacy at Washington, no
pro slavery demagogues in the cabinet,
no JAMES BUcHANAs at the head Of the
government g From all these evils,
Good Lord, deliver u.s. Let such be
the peoples political litany, and let every
lover of freedom labor to Gust from pow
er an administration, which, in corrup-
ton, extravaganza, prohigacy. meanness
tyranny, treachery to liberty. and deyo-
ton to the iniquities Of the slave power,
has surpassed all that has preceded i
since the organization Of our govern
ment We rejoice to know that the true
men Of tie country have been, and are
now, working steadily, bravely and faith
fully for such a consumma.ion, and that !
with unrelated efforts, nothing can pre-
vent the utter rout and discontinue, and |
ina! overthrow, Of Che .cermorants arc |
despots who now plumber the national
treasary and abuse the national power
Re mote il be.