The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-12-17
BURLINGTON, SATURDAY. DECE55... ;. asER II 1864.

BURLINGTON. SATUlR.
! This democratic principle OF tho natural
rights Of man must destroy ultimately all
absolute governments, or be deatr6yed by
thenl--fo things SO opposite In tA4if ma
ture cannot live in conuguity; and il must
reduce all GrraA of monarchy to c4nstitu-
tional monsrchies, at least. II is not nee
cessary THAI q man should be king though
he i called = King. 4 man be = PRESIDENT,
But y here this true ChFistisn democracy
incivn matters prevaila namely. that the
people. and al the people, are, fkA source
OF p0wer-their mOnarchies, II they exist
must be limited by constitutions; BY the
will Of the people, written and prescribed.
II is, therefore, q natural antagonisnl which
sets against democracy az in every land,
leges, or who aspire to profit from those
that have such privileges and it y fast
that. to-day, the power-lovers Of the globe
stand against the North III sympathy, and
In favor of the South.
This is the reason why America finds or
ganized Europe arrayed in sentiment, and
policy, and sympathy against her. Let us
look at some points. assr. ss4s,
uEurope proceeds upon u thorough dis
trust Of the common people. II Ia boldly
avowed that the common people are tyGsA.
One OF the most eminent statesmen Of En-
rope, speaking OF the lower classeA called
them ''tha: beast, tie common people - 1t
is thought that they are weak that they
are ignorant; that they are -yacinating /:
that they are not to be. trusted; that they
are not honest. No man can 70 from this
country, and travel in Europe, without feel.
ing that, he is in . different atmosphere
from that to which he has been accus-
toned. There a constant sslrveiisasssc is
kept over you, whether you are in the
street, on the car. on the steamboat, or
wherever you are. The moment that iyOn
land. your name is demanded, it In regis.
tered, you are reported to the police. your
affairs are inquired into, and i is known
who YOU are, where you came from, where
II you do not like Harve, and you choose
10 take the cars for PARIS, you are not left
to exercise your own Judgment. You must
20 in at u particular door, you must 90 Out
at a particular door, and you must enter q
given car; and once in, it is not Yuppose0
that You have any power TO take care OF
yourself You may bs gray7haired. but
you are little child in the eye OF the con.
ductor, and he assumes the responsibility
Of taking care Of you. And whec !DU ar
rive in Paris, officers are ready 10 take
care or you, and tell you what yen .tnnss
do, and what ypu must not do. In Europe
every body makes 1t his business to take
care of every body. on the superstition that
nobody knows how to take care df him.
self There the policy is to distrpst the
common people In all things. a a. 81
the common people. we begin upon the
supposition that there ID in every 1udivid-
ual man that which, ii it were educated
and trained, would give cou1ter-pois and
balance to his character, and thai every
man is in himself = miniature connmorl-
wealth, built on purpose for selfgovefn-
ment, and competent thereto. Az much ~
George Steers ever built ship abl4 to snp-
port itself on water, so much did G6d build
man competent to take care of himself
+ All that men need ID 70 bAoduoated. Ev.
cry man. thoroughly educated and discip-
lined, becomes . sSlf-goveRning common
wealth in his own individual seH 70
And that which is true Of the individual
is true Of all individuals comprehekfsively.
We hold that the masses of men need only
70 be opened up, to be made stronger, In
Europe says, "Men are dangerous, and
you must tie them up.'' America says,
"Men tied up are dangerous, but men SEA
free are safe" Europe says, Education
IL bad for the c0mmon people. Ignorance
IL guarantee Of obedience 10 just gov
ernment.' America says, s'Ignorance IL q
jheresy. and knowledge is duty. And nc
govern themselves, and do net need to be
governed by any ono else.o y 80
And 60 America and Europe stand on an
tag0nistic fundamental notions about the
oJmmon people. sS
When our fathers separated from Eng.
land there were some that trusted the com.
mon people, but nobody knew how safe Il
was, nor could they have known. do moi
bg1me Alexander Hamilton becauso be
thought that therO must needs be nearly q
-kingIy government, and that it was moi
safe 70 trust the people. Look at tho ma.
chinery by which Presidents were 70 b
elected. It was considered unsafe to allow
the people 20 vote directly for President,
and what was the resultf 1t was curious
and cunning trick that was put into the
Consultation, BY which the people we're al-
according to the original intent Of the Con-
stitutiOn, was to elect 2whomsuever they
thought It hest to elect, no matter whether
the people wanted him or not. Well. the
people did not like 1t. And how did they
set around itf Why they made every man
they elected TO this College agree that he
would vote for the mantk they wanted.
So the people vote, and then, when the
College comes. together, they vote again.
This body Of Electors il like the fifth wheel
Of - wagon And it IL amusing to think
that, when the people have declared tha.
Abraham Lincoln shall be President for
asur years more, y certain number of men
called an Electoral College. will come to-
gether and vote that he shall be President
for four more yearsl The thing is done on
the 9Th Of November, and not when the
College meets. but this College was a
break water. 1t was thought that the pe<,-
pie might elect their Chief ud9es, and
their Representatives and their Senstorpi
and their Governors, but when III came "a
safe for them Ia. elect him, aud 50 there wis
hat provision made. And this is only One
!. OF y great many evidences Of want Of con.
| fidence which were manifest when the con.
stituti0n was first adopted; but the experi.
mept Of free governments once on foot hat
wrought, not only general blessing, buta
faith In the wisdom Of the common people
| vhiOh In 1r0Win0 with 0ur ckeoywfh- esaS