North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1863-08-12

mitted to share IN this administration, have
no political equality with those who can
We do, indeed, say that the people are sou-
ereign. But every one knows, full well, that
the comparative few who are qualified to take
the lead, by talent, by education, by natural
tact, and by conjunction of favo;ing circum-
stances. are practically 1soUeroign over the peo
ple The man who carries hod gives his
vote for candidate. The candidate himself
can do no more so far as it concerns the
mere form of the election.
Are they therefore politically equal ?
Who formed the party to which tho candi-
date belongs 2 Who ruled the convention
by which his name was put upon the list p
Who arranged the orators for the occasion ?
Who subsidized the Press Had the poor
holman any share in the operation, any in.
fuance, any voice whatever ? No more than
the hod which he carries. Can any human
power ever manufacture a candidate out of
him ? The notion would be preposterous.-
Where then is his political equality 2 Even
here, in our happy land of universal suffi age,
how does it appear that all men are bJrn
equal 2" The proposition is sheer absurdr-
ty. All men are bora unequal, in body, in
| mind, and social privileges. Their intelec
tual faculties are unequal. Their education
is unequal. Their associations are unequal.
Their opportunities are uneq ual. And their
freedom is as unreal as their equality. The
poor are compelled to serve the rich, and
the rich are compelled to serve the poor by
paying for their services. The political party
| is compelled to serve the leaders, and the
leaders are compelled to scheme and toll in
order to serve the party. The multitude are
dependent on the few who are endowed with
talents to govern. And the few are depen-
dent on the multitude for the power, with
out which all government is impossible
From the top to the bottom Of the social fab,
ric, the whole is thus seen to be inequality
aud mutual dependence. And hence, al
though they are free from that special kind
Of slavery which the Southern States main
tain ouer the posterity of Ham, yet they are
all, from the highest to the lowest, in bond
age quite as real from which they can not
escape-the slaUery Of circumstances, called
in the ordinary language of the world NEcrs-
sITY.
have been, fear, unreasonably tedious
in thus endeavcrng to show why | utterly
discard these famous propositions of the
Declaration of Independence. 1t is because
am aware Of the strong bold which they
have gained over the ordinary mind of the
nation. They are assumed by thousands
upon thousands, as if they were the very doc.
trines of divine truth. And they are made
slavery Of the South, notwiths tanding their
total want of nationality. Yet do not won
der that such maxims should be popular
They are admirably calculated to crafty the
pride and ambition so natural to the human
heart, and are therefore powerful incentives
in the work of political revolution. It was
for this purpose, presume, that they were
introduced in that famous document, which
publicly cast off the allegiance of the colonies
to the British crown. And the same doc
trlnes were proclaimed few years later, in a
similar service, by the French Directory, in
the midst of far more terrible revolution.-
Liberty, equality, and fraternity-the rights
of man, were then the watchwords of the
excited populace, while their insane leaders
published the decree of Atheism, and noto-
rious courtesan was enthroned as the goddess
of reason, and the guillotine daily massacred
the victims of democratic fury, till the streets
of Paris ran with blood.
do not state this fact because desire to
place the revolutions in the Colonies and in
France on the same foundation, with respect
to the spirit or the mode in which they were
conducted. God forbid that should forget
the marked features of contrast between
them! On the one side, there was religious
reverence, strong piety, and pure disinterest
ed patriotism. On the other, there was the
madness of atheism, the brutality of rufian
ism, and the "reign Of terror" to all that was
good and true In no one mark or character,
indeed, could / deem that there was any
comparison between them, save in this: that
the same false assumption OF human equality
and human rights was adopted in both. Yet
how widely different was their result on the
question of negro slavery The American
revolution produced no .effect whatever on
that institution while the French revolution
reused the slaves of their colony in st. Do
mingo to general insurrectiop, and scene
! of ha rharons and cruel hutchery succeeded
to which the history of the world contains no
parallel.
| This brings me to the last remarks which
haee to present on this famous Declaration.
And I respectfully ask my readers to consid-
er them maturely.
First, then, it seems manifest, that when
the signers of this document assumed that
sail men were born equal" they did not
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