Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (Charles City, Iowa) 1861-1864, 1863-03-19
Charles City, Iowa, March 10, 1863


| Political Expediency.
Popular politics--to use a conven.
lent term-began with our Revolu.
ton. To control the popular sen,i.
ment is, therefore, the aim of political
leaders. How to control it is their
problem. The question has been his
torically answered in three ways.
First our fathers answered it by
saying that the general well-being
was founded in the perception Of
natural equal rights, and was to be
maintained by constant popular en-.
lightenment,as to the close relation be-
tween the protection of rights, or .jns-
tice, and public prosperity. Second,
the French Revolutionists of '93 an
swered i; by the simple word " terror"
"a policy which ended in anarchy and
military despotism. Third, the French
Revolution Of 1880 answered it by
saying that the control Of public opin-
ion was to be secured by fear of tu-
mults, and Ivy universal aud skillful
corruption.
Louis Philippe was the Magnus
Apollo of this policy. He is the grca I
progenitor and model of what Mr..
Beecher calls the Pennsylvania and
New York school. Louis Philippe
depended on the timidity of trade, and
upon his ability to bride men by their
ambition. IF they wished money, he
gave gold. If they wished reputa-
ton with action, he gave office at
home and abroad. If they wished
passive distinction, he covered them
with honorary decorations. His reign
was the policy Of governing 10y self
ish interest. tried by the most skillful
hand under the most favorable condi.
tons. What was the result I? Simply
that, after q care Of eighteen years
his government suddenly ended, no,
by an overthrow, but by collapse
tnmbling down. In all France nc
voice spoke for it--no finger was rails.
ed for il. The old Bourbon branch
the cffcte branch as we call it, at Ieas,
struggled. convulsed Europe and the
world, and finally, by it's foreign al
liances, conquered the revolution, seat
ed Louis XVIII. in the Tuileries, ant
sent Napoleon to ST. Helena. But the
younger France simply rotted in its
place, and, like tree, sank suddenly
and wholly. not in q gale, butbecause
Of its utter decay.
The doctrine of Louis Philippe is
that of school of politicians among
ourselves. II is what is called the
doctrine Of expedicncy. 1t claims
the possession of common sense. l,
sneers at dreamers. and impracticable
theorists, and visionary philosophers
1t assumes TO be practical, to take
men AZ they are. It's boast is that il
deals with facts. 1t informs us thai
civilization and progress are slow pro
cesses; that we can't hurry God
and that Jefferson tells us to do wha,
we can, and not to spoil every thing
by trying to do all we would. In one
word, it declares that politics have
nothing to do with morals. because
politics, as system, is the science oil
expediency.
Granted. But now please to explain
your explanation. Ii there were ev.
err politician unvexed by any moral
qnalms, Louis Philippe was he. II
there were ever q man of expedients
Louis Philippe was the man. If evcl
the doctrine that government is an at
fair Of shifts, and arrangements, ant
concessions, and compromises, ant
yielding to prejudices, and making al
things smooth aud profitable in til,
pocket, for everybody had fail
chance, it was during the eighteen
years, from 1880 to i848, in France
By their fruits We shall judge them
If the success of prosperity. honor
and peace with dignity, be the test o
good government, who achieved it
Louis Philippe, the practical man o
expedients. or Oliver Cromwell, tn.
enthusiast and religious fanatic?
Ia it not clear that when you excuse
the appeal to the lowest selfshness
upon the plea that politics is a science
OF expediency you beg the whole
question ? For what is the question
Given human nature and man in soci.
ety. what is expediency? That only
which is based upon the broadcast view
OF human nature, upon its strongest
instincts. upon it's most profound emo
tons. And what are they? What are
the tendencies and feelings in human
nature that have produced the great
epochs in history, the controlling
changes in civilization? Did they
spring from the pocket or the con.
science Unqnestionably the RICH,
path is also at last the profitable, bu,
not at first. and it is the first step thai
costs. Nothing which outrages the
common conscience can he expedient
II, for instance, it be law, it is ex
pedient, because it will either remair
a dead letter and bring all laws anc
just authority into contempt. or else
it will be executed amidst tumults
and protests which will end in reyolu.
tion. Thus the moral nature Of meu
A