Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1865-03-03
Preserving the Life OF the Ma
ttOn.

ut Is very curious that, with all their uno.
qualled capacity Tor the inv ntion Of facts,
the engineers Of our present troubles and inn
pending rain have not had originality enough
to devise single new pretext for their usurp.
Atons There il not a scheme Of their con-
trivauce which is not "a old as despotism-
nay there ia scarcely phrase with which
they have debaucbed the language Of repuh-
/ licansm, which is not hackneyed in the lexi-
con Of tyranny Oyeriurning the laws aud
! Constitution. in order to rave the life Of the
nnton--is one Of the most familiar OF these
fncient processes and excuses Sir lleneago
Finch, Attorney General, and aiterward
! Lord Nottingham, developed il in the Eng
lish House Of Commons, in 1872, in words
which might be MIR Stewards were they less
vernacuar.
"He was speaking of tho famous Dee lara
ton Of Indulgence, promulgated by Charles
the Second, in which his Majesty asserted his
absolute aud universal sovereign power Of dis
pensing with the laws The question, said
the Attorney General, 'at his momeHtous
crisis is, tchether the King cannot dispense
icih fhe ldtrs in order 10 The presorUafioH of
the kingdom and zee are all miserable If he
cannot Lord Campbell sums up the as-
sumption of this part of the speech in the fol-
loving pithy and decided language He in.
vests the King with the prerogative OF dis
pensing with all laws which he or his minis
iers may think inconsistent with the public
safety, or, in other words disagreeable to
themselves
We copy the above from an exchange,
to affirm its truth, as well as TO add some
observations of our own. This is simply
the adaptation of fallacy, long ago ex-
plode in British politics, to the necessi-
ties of party in this country, which oh
tanned its hold upon the public confidence,
and retains political power by the skillful
use of specious but false augmentation,
purposely employed to deceive, mislead,
and betray the people. The coincidence
which the writer points out is not acci-
dental or fortutous, The men who so
artfully and resistcssly deceive the multi
tudo with the appeal to "save the life Of
the nation" while they are making vital
thrusts at its existence, learned the trick of
words from Sir Heneage Finch. Know
ing how FALSE yet conscious how powerful
it is as an instrumentality, they employ it
to mislead the people, and betray them
into the crime Of national suicido. 1t is
not in this instance alone that they have
adopted the stale and worn-out impostures
Of European politics. They have made
careful and systematic study of political
legerdemain and deception, and have used
the means acquired with deliberate and
premeditated turpitude. This we propose
to prove.
Jeremy Bentham-a man ofgreat learn
ing, and of extraordinary grasp of intel
lect-made the study of the British Con-
stitution the occupation of many years of
his life. Viewing its practical operation,
he was a diligent observer of Parliament
ary Legislation. He was a man whom no
ingenuity Of augmentation could lead to
a false conclusion for he detected at once
the error and its source. AS was remarked
of Daniel Webster, by writer in the
Westminster Review, Bentham looked
upon q lallacy as a crime. The quantity
of pernicious error, assuming the preten-
sion of argument, engaged his attention.
1t occurred to him, after a time, that the
vicious reasoning, which was so common
among politicians, and so injurious to the
public, might be collected in mass, separ-
ated and classified, and by exposure in a
published volume, lead to benefcent re-
suits. This he did.
But the consequence has been that the
people never read his book, or do not pro-
fit by its lessons; while dishonest politi-
clans, who are as INSCRIPTIONS and as de
void of moral principle as men can be,
study his "fallacies," not to shun, but to
make avail and practical use of them.
In that little book, which is entitled
"a Treatise on Fallacious Argumenta-
tion," we can find duly arranged under
its appropriate heading, and with merciless
logic, exploded and dissipated, every one
of the whole series of delusions which the
Republican leaders have made avail of
since the beginning of the war. That they
have sought and found them in this book,
is not to be doubted; and that, knowing
thoir utter falsity. they have, notwith-
ing, employed them to effect their bad pur-
noses. is auite as undeniahle