Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1860-12-21
CT A r. X s WILLIE.
Friday, December 81, 1850.


DSy~ The countless propositions made in Congress,
aud through the press, as bases for the adjusmcn.
of sectional difficulties betray great wantof me
proper conception of the causes of those difficulties,
and, consequently, Of the true remedies to be en-
ployed Three statesmen of known ability, tried
patriotism and unfIinchng 6rmness, could, in three
dyas point out the remedy, provided their prescrip
lion would he followed but here lies the difficulty.
our Government, through the agency of uncurbed
Democracy. has become one, not of law and order,
but Of public opinion and when it is remembered
that this public opinion has been manufactured by
demagogues out Of the raw acknowledgements
vice, and preudice-it will at once, be conceded by
intelligent men, that the difficulty lies not in de-
vising mode of final adjustment but in making
1t effective through the action OF public opinion,
now paramount to the laws and TO the authority of
the Constitution ITSELF In seeking to expand pop
ular rights TO the full measure of the largest ber
ty the true limits have been overlenped, and we
Aow find ourselves rioting in the Righteousness
which precedcs anarchy and ruin. An irresponsi-
BILE majority, made up of the worst elements and
headed by demagogucs who merit the execration of
every enlightened patriot, controls the destnes of
the government and almost forbids the hope that
peace may be restored and the laws once more en-
forced by eyen-handcd justice.
For existing troubles, neither the Constitution
nor the laws can be held responsible The South
complains that the fugitive slave law is not enforc-
ed but it seems to have forgotten that the Exeeu-
tive Chair is encumhcred-not filled-by the sup
pie tool of a corrupt party whose highest duty is
IL guard party interests and give offence to no local
ity by the enforcement of law repugnant to the
morbid prcjulices of that particular people This
subserviency of Democracy TO rotten public opin-
ion has continually fOstered the growth of 'licen-
ciousness and disregard of law until the Executive
has become nothing more than divider of spoils-
head scullion of kitchen Cabinet, and authorized
panderer to every ism that can be bribed into the
service of the Democratic party. With such state
Of things to contend against the true statesman, in
casting about for measures of redress will not
look the more important inquiry of correction of n
vicious public opinion, despotc in its rule, and de-
structive of every safeguard of rational liberty
Without this corrective there is no cure for existing
ills.
Why has not the fugitive slave law been rigidly
enforced Because public opinion, at the North,
is more powerful than the law and because parti-
San President dared not offend the voters to whom
Democracy looked for its continued supremacy
For the same reasons, the African slave trade has
been tolerated at tie South and yet the very lead
er who have done most TO build up this public
timent, and TO convert the Executive into mere
burlcsque upon official dignity and power are the
first to cry out that the Government is failure and
to seek redress for the they themselves have
perpetrated by pulling down the temple desecrated
by their unhallowed offerings upon its altar The
causes of existing evils lie beyond the reach of the
Federal arm. They originated in the policy o
the States which, in seeking to enlarge the circle o
popular liberty, converted the balot-box into po
litical Pandora's box whence has emanated tina
public opinion which overrdes the Constitution anC
the laws. Liberty, to flourish and endure, mus
be restricted unrestricted, II becomes licencious
ness, because the distinction between them is gno
red by the vicious, and cannot be appreciated by tn
ignorant-which two classes will ever give tn
preponderance to any party that is headed by base
but shrewd politicians This is the root of the evi
will il ever I've eradicated ? We fear not bu
until its is, all efforts at n redress of wrongs mus
prove mere temporary expcdients.