Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1860-06-04

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! Is THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT REPUBLICAN q?
That erratc statesman but deep thinker John Ran.
doph, OF Roanoke, declared that the time would
come when the Constitution OF the United States would
be regarded as a nuisance and the parsonage on
various occasions gave it his settled opinion that
America would finally be ruined by the "evelliDg doc
rnes' of the ultra advocates OF democracy. IL is no
table fact that many very intelligent thinkers be
slowly coming TO similar convictions. Within the last
few years we have frequently heard gentlemen of sound
intellect and liberal opinions declare that from repub-
lie the United States had passed to mobocracy and
that the direct tendency of this state of things was to
destroy the plunge the land into anarchy
The gentlemen in question not croakers "aisto-
Gratis but good patriots and men OF arreaching views
yet they have TO conclusions scarcely differing from
those recently expressed by Lo,d haclulay the effect
/ that the American system is "a failure"
Is this truey The question i3 q serious one and we
very much fear that there good grounds TO doubt
whether our system is great glorious aud splendid as
Fourth of july orators declare to be- Unquesonably
the whole spirif not the iram--wOrk-of the govern
men: has changed since the days of the Revolution aud
even since the commencement OF the century.
The America OF President Buchanans time is quite
different from the America Of General Washngtou's
epoch. Then il a republic; it seems TO have
become " Young Americl' which " being interpreted"
amounts very nearly what friends above alluded
TO- call moJ0crdcl. We trust that one will misun.
dertud these views, suppose that they point mon
achy ari5tocracy or auy other dreadful gorgon or CHI
have been taught hate with righteous hatred and 10
regard as the sum Of all evil We state fact which is
patent TO all and will be recognized by every man Of
Intelligence and liberal thought The country is leve
ing DOM not UD and the Consequence of this state of
thags NAV be seen ia every department of the govern
meni in every branch Of the public service Are the
best me placed in Offices of responsibility and power
or the worst men Let the reader seriously ask himself
the question whether the Congress of the United States
the State Legislatures-tbe official posts both Federal
and Smte-and the Municipal oihccs Of the towns aud
cieYare filed by the really deserving men or by time
servers intriguanis, and tricky politicians The very
judicial elections BEGINNING 10 corruDt-and the
Judge who will be TO do equal Justice toa is ex-
pecicd TO drag the eImne in the gutierrez faction in or
der 10 procure his election. The Demos Of the Athe-
mans seems TO have reyiyedn America with fuller pow
than before, and the result threatens to be
than Of old.
In Republican form Of government there is but one
safeguard Of the public peace--an enlightened public
opinion, prompting the the choice OF proper
men 10 make the laws aud subsequently, to obedience 10
those laws. Force will not DO in the United States-and
the jealousy Of the Federal Government is so great that
the employment OF the to operate against the neo-
pie OF State opposing it-ef in its State capacity 10
the President would probably produce disruption Of
the Union followed bg all the horrors Of a civil war
Force therefore il rot adviable-and vet what re-
mains but force if one portion Of the country msed and
iramed by low demigogues, iuyades the rights Of the
citizens OF another? The abolition masses in the North
s. Ignorant they hnatical and usurpipg the au-
thOr;y which should rest in the hands of the thoughtful
Hculgrcd and patriotic citizens seize on the property OF
the Southern gentleman who goes visit TO Boston
what theuy The LAYS must be enforced and the bitter
blood becomes more uflmed than before the bonds of
Union less and less binding. We have little doubt that
the aua;icism OF the North is the direct result OF the
mObocraCy prevailing in the cities and towns of the "
En- gland states. There good patrOts--men Of high
views aud lofty diameter there but they are parayzed
by the rabbe who skilfuly played on by Seward
Phillips Hale, and thsir associates The mob are taught
TO regard the SOuthTner mOnstrOus tyrant who il
holding IN cruel bondage bis fellow creature having
equal rights with hiusand the result of this teaching
is that the Constitutional rights Of the South are persist
emily assliled, and the country drifting, write to-
wards dsuniOu and var
There but one cure for the evil TO place the best men
in office TO give the control OF public affairs municipal
State aud Federal to those Who by education training
virtue and capacity are competent to discharge the duties
OF office. We SEX OF seeing low demagogues, po.
tca hacks, crossrmd bulies and Five Points shoulder
htters placed in authority over the respectable citizens
OF the and. As long as these men permitted to
thrust aside the better class Of American citizens and
reach offices Of dignity, emOumcnt and authority by
means Of their very vugary and vices the body polite
will remain diseased OF the core and rremedcabe. The
remedy for the disease is to send the whole adt
and to take no more such into the ship of State Let
the people be made comprehend clearly that the spirit
of American society not to lower the respectable c
zen 10 the degraded level oil the Oaer and the rowdy
and so make 'a equa'-bu. to elevate if possible
the ignorant to the place Of the better class and in that
way produce equality We shall then have good gov
eminent, aud sound and healthful social condition.
At present. We have neither We have what Washington
would have hrunk from, as he shrunk from that other
despotsm OF Engand-a despotism of the mob. The
fathers Of the Revolution bequeatheds'us Republic.
That republic is dead though it had existed
But if we do not reorganize upon the only basis
then the American system will be "a failure" indeed
and the "mode republic" will exist it now
does in appearance