The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-12-17

Cs
know moro than he does, and am better
lhsn heis. I do well for the state, for my
|Amily, for humanity; and will not be
eqtally yoked with those who do the oppo.
siie.' Stop; we are speaking 0f civil equal
ity. OF social equality there Is no etnnci-
ntiOn; and there is no such thing. For it
Ia in civil government and before civil gov
that men are equal In rights and
privileges. In that society which grows
up under civil government men are not
equal. Some are tall aud some are short;
some are ignorant and some are intelligent;
some are strong and some are weak, some
are skillful and some are rude and blum
dering, some are yirtuous and some arel
vicious, some have the power Of creating
and some have tho power OF distributing
what others create, some have one power
and some have another, in social relations;
50 that the bad may be bad, and consort
with each other, and the good may be good
and cDnsOrt with each other. In society
fnen are left to rank themselves in the gra-
datiCns to which their natural endowinents
md their virtues and vices attach them.
But In civil governmentno such thing can
be known. Government, at best, il q rude
1t Is rude machine, adapt
ing itself to the Inequalities Of human ac-
tuAlity, and it must Stand on the broad
ground that all citizens, ~ citizens, before
law and government, are one and the same.
And there Is no distinction to be made be-
tween them. That man who helped make
the constitution of New York, and that
man who landed but two years ago from
must cast the same ballot, though they
may not have the same wisdom and intel
ligence. Political equality makes citizens
mot mobiles NOR plebe1anS. Before the law
there IL no such thing - age, or condition,
or color. In civil government = man Isl
man for all wealth, 4 man is man for all
poverty, man Is man for all knowledge,
q nlati for all that" the world over. ~ ~
We have, then doctrine Of civil govern.
ment which II harmonious With the ine-
qualities of men In aociety--t those Unequal
tiles which arise from difference Of endow-'
ment, Of StatiOp. etc, .ss +
In America .hrst - perhaps excepting
6witxerland-has = true democratic gov
ernment prevailed; that is, government
with the right ideas and principles, and
with the right instruments by which to
apply them to the mssses of men id COM
muniiss. The ideas Of liberty have exist
ed ever since men existed; but men have
not always known how to apply them. It
took four thousand years for men 10 learn
the lesson Of being free. In old times men
were free as lions are, the strongest lording
II over the weakest; there was the liberty
strong, the liberty Of kings, and emperors,
and generals; but the masses Of men did
not have liberty then. Universal liberty
is Q modern growth. II is long g-delayed
fruit, ripening only through season of
four thousand, six thousand years dura-
ton.
Nowhere else, hitherto. have the body of
have all parts Of the government and the
laws been under their control, except in
America. There have been democratic
states In antiquity; but what kind Of de-
mocracy was 1t which they enjoyedf At
the very top of the prosperitHof Greece,
Athens, the most democratic section Of that
whole country, had only about twenty.one
sand inhabitants. What kind Of liberty
could have prevailed there, when the right
Of suffrage was confined to so email . pro-
portion of the pepplef There were, OF me-
CoooitY, clAAseo. There was nobility. For
the man that holds The vote when the rest
Of the citizens do NOT stands above them
BY all the power which he has by reason OF
that vote. In = state, to divide the citizens
into the voting and the non voting, is TO
o0fatic principle is that, as soon as meg
have attained to thot age at which they are
supposed to have discretion and know
ledge Of right and wrong, they shall, every
h0u hA v,Pi ieYi nsNdo fn "a
r"a, ,aant n: "f votinop aiD p'As"ss "10s- 80 so
Il know there are many WHO are opposed
- fHrsi~rsrs - voi;nr rover az" -, pi1s hr-
s;a,o ~ X gnrid "a hs.tar e 9 So-s,rre.. rere
made i voters the e moment % thew Stepped on
o,,r 'si.oras Tha,s wcnld ~ urnat mis-;
cSiat MT ti,.ra e $500 -; sc,,saS mo-
!rhera wnnId IAN Ia msch , trnniIe. , Int there IL
more NOR tronhle now r There wonid he no lit.
tls advantsre gained to The interests of the
nation If foreieners were. At their Arst en-
trance upon liberty here. made to take re-
! snons;h{fifv and we're eincated in & even
hr the hlnnderinr exsrcise Of the inesti-
Gahia nrivilees of voiinr.
Cmiv 4 ho,,t one in fortv voted in the time
~ pa.;cics- IA Rome nniv shout one 10
an. ~ tina inha hitants Of Italv were ri.
'inwyad IL vote. Ana vet 4 was oalled, =
co,, mon ~ MnvesitI.. and was said to be free.
- .IS,,,i.rd o,,{v ahnr,t one IN twenty now
hss 1he riaht al votine: and or the men OF
- siiaed ere. onlv, ahouf one In eix votes.
w nvar~ IL mess4 Won meet IA Eneland.
onlr one @ can vote. We do not know any
vhen x asv that In America FOR the frat