Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-01-12

ward the DEVELOPMENT of popular liberty
has IN republics too often led to a despOt
ism of classes or of factions, and thence
by easy stages to anarchy and utter dis-
ruptlon. A-victorlous majority, flushed
with Its triumph, finds it easy to forget
the rights of minorities and it remains
for US to prove whether, in our day, the
| old cry Of Woe to the conquered may be
| sllenced by truly republican determine
ton to administer the government for the
, real advantage of all-Of the defeated
: rebels as well as of the loyal victOrs
The war was not waged by US, who re-
, manned faithful to the Government, to
5 subvert any of the principles of human
liberty upon which that government was
based, but to confirm and establish them
, The one great doctrine which has been
| settled by the war Is that the National
, Union cannot and shall not be destroyed
by the action of any of the States cOmpo-
sing It; but its continuance, its modiica-
ton, or its dissolution shall be determin-
ed by the whole people acting as one nA-
tIon under the forms of the federal con-
stitution. The one great social change
which has been determined by the same
event, Is the abolition of slavery, the ex-
istence of which was staked upon the sue
cess OF the rebellion, of which it was the
cause.
These things have been decided in the
nations. By as much as the shock Of
| armed hosts Is more grand than the intel
! lectual tilt of lawyers as the God of bat
| ties is a more awful judge than any earth
/ ly court; by so much does the dignity of
this contest and the finality Of this decis-
| ion exceed that of any human tribunal.
| If we have not been right in pledping our
| fortunes to save our country, then the
blood Of the myriads of heroes who have
! fallen rests with murderous guilt upon our
souls, and we should never consent that
] the justification or condemnation sof this
great people should rest, now or here
after, with any bench of judges however
learned, especially when each judge must
determine his own cause, since he must
| have been for or against the country in
her struggle. There are some things to
which courts of law can add no sanction,
and a nation appeal to God when it seizn,
the sword is one of them. We may. Wheu
necessary, try individual traitors, and the
people of the United States will appear
as prosecutor, but not as defendant at the
bar,
Being oonqueror, the Government has
the undoubted right to impose terms up
on the conquered, but In the statement Of
what should limit and define those terms,
difficulties arise. We are apt, indeed, to
listen with Impatlence to any limitation of
our control over those who are subject to
US. The pleasures of rulership and the
JOY which IS felt in the exercise of power
have always appealed with peculiar force
to the fraIltles OF human nature, and pro-
fessed Republicans have been as subject
to their temptation as other men. In a
time like this most of us feel the neces-
sity of checking our impulses and passions,
challenging the motives and the cOnsisten-
cy OF our actions, and of fastening our
attention, by effort of will, upon prinei-
pies of government and of human rights
which have been axIoms to US during the
period of the growth of our institutions
and Of conflicts between us and powerful
foreign governments. However unWel-
come the task of fself-examination, we owe
1t to ourselves to make it thorough and
searching. The ancient cOnqueror was
accompanied by a slave in his triumphal
car, who reminded him of his humanity
and his weakness; we must act as our
own prompters to moderation and Justice,
and remind ourselves of the rules which
should control our action, and of the
dangerous tendencies of our own nature
We need no stimulus to anything which
runs with the whole current of popular
impulse and feeling; such things will
axe care of themselves, but no duty can
be more important than that of stopping
occasionally to weigh well what seems to
cross our desires or to question the di-
rectiOn of our progress.
We have the right and are in duty
bound to insist upon sufficient guarantees
for the future safety of the Union: but
those guarantees must be such as shall
not be inconsistent with a republican gov
ernment for those who give as well as
those who receive such security.
Conquest does not rightfully give IN
limited sway over the persons and PROD
erty Of the conquered, and their rights
may be diminished no farther than is
necessary for the public safety.
If it were proven that it would be i'm
possible for us to live safely, as sharers
of a common government, with the peo-
pie of any State or community, our repub-
licanism might force us to consent to sep
aratiOn, but could not justify us in hold
ing them as subjects: and this proposition
is true without reference to race or color.
Representation IS not a privilege con
ferred upon majoTities, but it is most ef-
icient for good when it approaches most
nearly to giving voice in the Legislature
to all minorities in proportion to their
number
1t is better and safer that minority
however hostile to US in principle. should
be sorepresented astO be openly heard and
answered, than that it should have the
advantage of winning sympathy and gain
ing partisans by making issue upon the
question of the right of representation
instead of upon the falsity of its obnox-
ious principles.
Military government is in its very es-
sence "A despOtism, and any long contin-
uance of it after the cessation Of armed
resistance is contrary to and a confession
ofthe failure of republicanism.
These and many similar general max
inns of government are the intellectual
diet upon which every living American
has been bred, and of which we have been
such earnest propagandists that no one
of US can deny them without incurrinR
the contempt of the civilized world
They are mere abstractisns, it is true but
we need to bear them in mind none the
less carefully for that. All rules are
distractions, whether they be the form
ul@ for solving the problems of govern
ment or of other sciences. We recall
them to our test Werk, and we reckon our
selves to have made good progress in
proportion to the faithfulness with
which we have adhered to them
La the heat of our just wrath against
those who would have swept republican
ism from the continent had they been
successful, we are in danger of forgetting
principles to which we owe allegiance,
and therefore we should not excuse our
selves from the thankless task of remind