Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1867-05-18

lthen corrupt, and sank. hurying the hope
| millions in their ruins.
The reason of this is no mystery, thoug
lit has been strangely lost sight of. His
| tories generally are unlaithful to their trus
| they should relate causes as exactly a
they doetfects. They shoul ! be like faitl
tul mirrors. presenting everything in il
true shape and position for our contempla
/ tion, but they are like kaleidescopes
! which every turn shows some new an
brilliant, but unnatural and distorted con
bination of forms. They parade on th
stage, kings and queens, courtiers an
j IconnselIors, in their gaudy robes, bri
| liant battles and tr:anp pi&l marches. The
enact many a tragedy 6ssfforss s.: but We sc
dom or never hear of the people --I.ies peo-
| pie to whom God gave knowledge and do
minion over the earth who bear up and
toss about these great folks as the ocean
does the foam upon its surface.
Kings, courtiers and courtesans, fops
and fashionables, have for ages constitu-
ted what is technically called society-a
sort OF lucus non lacendo affair, for
among them one is said to be in society
when he associates with none of his fellows
but chosen few. For ages courts and
their imitators have been igaus f;atui,
showing pre-eminently that there are in
the world moral malaries which combine
IN them to make burning and shining lights
to dazzle and lead astray the simple.
But they were not, aud are not the peo-
pie, nor has wisdom and power died with
them as they have been oyerthrown.-
Their power was held by the sufferance of
the humble1illers Of the soil, the indus
trious artisans, ths poor, the destitute, and
the Ignorant, who compose the mass of
the human race for whose benefit, and not
for the aggrandizement. of those who oc-
cupied them, thrones and councils were
set up.
1t was the race, and not few indivIdu-
ais only of the race, who were made in the
image of God; and to the whole race, and
not exclusively to a few individuals of the
racs, did God give dominion over the
earth, and command that they should
subdue it and discover its material and
moral laws for their benefit; and in the
whole race was implanted by the fall, that
principle of intense selfishness which. as
we shall see hereafter, is the grand mov-
ing power both OF tyranny and revolu-
ton.
grant that the people have seemed
stupid and british that they have borne
the heaviest burdens, aud have suffered
and groaned. and suffered still that they
have been and are imposed upon by as
sumptions of superiority; that they have
been diverted from just revolution and
ssIrfe5s soiffe yr<7ss L ..
war. by the allurements of money y-maKing
and the fear of financial crashes that they
have suffered themselves to be the nstru-
ments of cruel ambition in princes and
demagosues but there is spirit in
man-the inspiration of the Almighty
! giveth him understanding.
Look back on the past and see if the
people from whom we have sprung have
| not been steadily advancing their condi-
| ton. They have slumbered on the way
they have been cajoled into by-paths
they have often mistaken the way and
wandered back and around but their
aim has been progress. 1t cannot be said
| that they understood the dignity of hu-
maa nature and the true objects of life
and liberty, as we do; but their human
nature, their pride, Sense of Justice and
seldshness revoted at their physical and
moral condition. and they had. too faint
conception, an instinct of better things
Onward has been the prompting of the
divinity within them and in their solemn
ana irresistible march they have taken
the faithless powers that were put into
their giant grasp. and shaken them in
pieces, and have trampled over them, and
have set up others to prove faithless and
be destroyed in turn. And as they have
done in the past, so they will do in the
future
1t has been the civil dissensions of the
peopis> or their disaffection to vicious gov.
ernmeEt, which has torn governments in
pieces, or suffered them to be oyerthrown
1t was the callous disaffection of the peo-
pie which caused the Roman Empire to
crumble in pieces before the barbarians.-
| 1t was the carelessness of the Grccian;
and not merely the power of Romans
which subjugateJ Greece. A government
firmly fixed in the hearts of people car
be permanently overthrown only by theil
determination as q people. But "tht
house divided against itself shall surely
fall"
1t makes little difference to the mass o
mankind to what noble heights the hu
man mind can soarin poesy, or with wha
subtlety it can investigate abstract truth
or how near art can initiate nature-al
this matters little to them when they hav,
to groan and swelter under the suffocatine
burdens of tyranny. 1t matters little t.
them how far science may discover ant
apply to useful purposes the objects anc
laws of nature, how fertile and heautifu
may be their land, or how valuable ant
easily acquired may be its products, i
they are so governed as not to enjoy th,
| full benefits of these discoveries and IN
ventions, of this paradise and its treas
ures.
There has been great deal of tall
about :. manifest destiny and liberty
"old-fogyism,' (" Young America" !" pro
gress," and such can't terms, all of whicl
contain an idea of going ahead" but ar,
without more definite Specification
Truly, we are going ahead but where ar
We coming from ? and where are We goin.
to?
/ Youth looks eagerly into the future 70
! greatness and may chance to deluGe it
self. But, we say, this young and stirrin;
age has done SO much already, and witt
its labors is growing SO powerful that j
may well hope and look for gloriou
things.
! But what glorious things? Certaipl
we cannot boast of d glorious progress il
government, for, eighteen hundred year
'ago Tacitns wrote many Of the particular