Holmes County farmer. [volume] (Millersburg, Ohio) 1857-1926, 1865-04-27
The Essentials Of SeIf-GOyern.
mept.

Speaking Of the character Of the Roman
people in the time of Domitan--who con
tends with Nero for the palm Of being the
worst Of Rome's imperial monsters-after
giving some circumstances to show how en-
tirely they had lost that love Of civil liberty
which they were once 20 conspicuous, Mr..
Merrivale, their historian remarks
From this conspicuous example, we may
learn how unfit were the people whom he
Domitian-represente for the forms of
self-government how impossible self. gov
ernment must always be to a nation which
has corrupted itself by excessive violence,
by liccntious dissipation, and by tame re-
nunciation Of the rights and duties Of politi-
cal life"
In the opinion Of this writer--a thought
ful and enlightened nglishman-sef-go gov
eminent is always impossible to a people
corrupt through excessive violence, icen-
tious dissipation and tame renuncation
Of the rights and duties of citizenship The
original inhabitants Of Rome were pecu-
liarly honest and simple minded, though an
ambitious and war-lke people, and possessed
decided genius for civil Government The
Republic which they instituted on the ex-
/ pulsiOn Of the Tarquins was, to all appear
ance, true reflection Of their political inter
ests and character. Through their love Of
conquest and, more than this, through their
covetousness Of the spoils Of conquest, and
their misapplication of them, their civil
character underwent rapid changes. Their
republic grew into an oligarchy, and their
oligarchy became corrupt and inefficient,
through the luxury Of the mobiles and the
turbulence Of the people, until the change
of the Government to one imperial in form,
inaugurated by Julius Cesar and perfected
under his successors, vindicated itself as
thing at once natural and necessary. The
Roman people needed, long before they re-
allied, the strong hand Of an imperial master;
and the terrible civil convulsions which pre-
ceded the change, and the sudden letting
90, on the part Of the people, of their anci-
ent political franchises, which followed it,
proved but too plainly that the revolution
did not come too soon for the preservation
Of their national integrity.
The thinkers of the present day are read
ing history from stand point different from
| that which was adopted by their predeces
sors offormer times. The fact is beginning
to be recognized in something like its true
! significance, that the character of the Gov
eminent is determined BY that Of the people.
There are no theories Of ofgOvernment of uni
versal application no forms 50 perfect in
dDolldNl lbdL llASS ali llll lDslC IlS
to exist; no Institutions so accurately bal
anced that they possess title to stop the
popular march, or command the civil body
to stand irresponsive toits own instincts and
proclivities. Institutions will undergo i'm
perceptible notifications; precedents will
be reinterpreted; the written rule will be
done out Of its spirit by the new gloss; or if
J this be impracticable, the floods will accum.
ulate against the inhexible barrier, and, il
an unexpected moment, sweep away thai
which ill-advised wisdom set up for eternity
!, and we'll wishing but short-seeing conserv
5 atism hoped would endure forever.
We, in the United States, have been won
2 to assume that, in our case, aprogressin tn
wrong direction is impossible. So did tn
: people of the Roman Republic. There is al
ways ,self-lovee enough in any race of men Il
! lead them to believe that they are growing
: better-improving their civilization, and fit
ting themselves for purer and higher col
; lective development. If they see and ad
NIT the vices which are sapping the popular
, character and bringing premature decay to
:, its manhood, they find something which
stands to them for compensation. Moral
decay in the community, like physical decay
in the individual, has its accompanying re-
lease from the acute pains which intest the
robust, and the retreat of the energies which
precedes dissolutionhas often been taken a
the harbinger of returning vitality. Let Us
not overvalue ourselves. Licentious dissi-
patton, excessive violence, and a tame re-
nuncation of the rights and duties Of political
life, bad as they may be, as facts, are worse
as proofs of the qualities of mind and heart
to which they owe their origin.
The people of the United States have,
within the last four years, permitted things
to be done which no people, claiming Alright
in their government ever before permitted
In many instances, they have tamely re-
nounced the rights and duties of political
life. They have manifested no uneasiness
when violent usurpation of power has grown
into precedent, and risen to the dignity of
a judicial recognition. 1t matters little
what has been the pretended inducement; !;
for there was never an act Of political wrong
!, committeAhat sat not up some noisy claim
,, of overpowering necessity. We-Our an
cestors-sat out with a polity which dis
pensed with prerogative, and denied to all
men alike place above the laws. Now, the
irresponsible power of one man is the dis
tinctive feature ofour National Administra-
ton. Admitting that there is nothing ex-
tremely dangerous in his acts, is there not
something ominous in the supineness with
which We witness them ?-Cm. Enquirer.