The Portland daily press., 1867-10-30

PORTLAND.
Wednesday Morning, October 80, 1867.
A "Philo.ophics, Historian. >.


In the whole history of politics it is doubt
iltl II public man ever committed mote st.-
ieidal act than that Of a late writer on finance
who quoted the following Machiavelian SEN
tence from "the most philosophical of modem
historians at the close OF a newspaper letter:
"What is called the public conscience is not,
like the conscience of an Individual, an intro
spective faculty, the source of self approval or
self condemnation, and is therefore never
awakened by crimes from which the public
expects to reap some advantage"
This was quoted in support ofa financial
policy that amounts virtually to population
Alas Tor our civilization that prominent
man, hOnored and trusted by his fellow citi-
zens, should entertain approvinsly senti-
ments so utterly subversive of all theories of
morals, 50 radically wicked, and practically so
ruinous to any commonwealth that should be
led to adopt them. His motto had its, origin
in the mind OF historian who lived and
thought in another land than this, where, as
nation, we have done and suffered SO many
things tor consciencc's sake There are more
things in the aims oil a Republic and the
methods of their attainment than are dream
ed of in this jesuitical philosophy. Hear
what the "Nation," answers to the historian
and his commentator: "Tbe greater rascality
of men in masses than of men rs individuals
is one of the best known and saddest facts of
history. The @ork Of reform in modern
times is, hoaceeer, mainly on dttempttO 10 bring
Al Z. i
of The same moral sense aohich directs the
conduct of iRdiridudis. The great misiof-
tune of our politics is that SO many politicians
calculate on popular baseness But we trust
the American people will show this time that
they have made advances in other things than
machinery and hog-raising, and that the code
of morality which was good enough for Eng
land at the close of her Continental war is
not good enough for the United States at the
close OF its great war. Why should the world
not get honester as it gets older and rcher?''
Such is the most noble reply of America to
the false teachers who would persuade her
people that thousand men may prop rly
commit an act which would be criminal i'm a
single Individual, because with the former
conscience is not 'an interpretive faculty."
A very small number of persons may form
state: there is one in Germany so diminutve
that it has standing army of oply filty-one
men. In fact it is difficult TO perceive that
any particular number OF citizens are neces-
sary to constitute one. There need be no more
than two or three men in am isolated posi-
ton to give rise TO that community OF inter-
est and admit of that partial delegation of in
dvduai rights for the common good, which
are the distingu' 'shing characteristics of a
state. May three persons, then, commit crimes
in their corporate capacity with impunity?
May four ?-or fiye?-or is it when they are so
numerous as to be able to defy justice that
Individual vice becomes national virtue? The
last hypothesis is the key TO the position be-
yond doubt. Instead of being the discovery
of "a modern historian" it is heresy that
dates beyOnd the flood--one that the human
race has been gradually recovering from for
centuries. The comparatively feeble vitality
which it still possesses is sufficient to account
for Europe's standing armies Of 3,O00,0 000men,
supported at an annual cost Of half a billion
dollars. 1t gives rise to all the clashing of
nation with nation which adds so immensely
to the aggregate of human misery. II is not
offfs- -sA'aAas<.Asss,sr, 81, - - .,
ers which works the most calamttous results.
Its reputation is the thing of all Others which
is best calculated to relieve the world from the
evils which atilict it. The national conscience
may be, and should be, more sensitive than
that of an individual. Its perceptions are not
blunted so directly by the influence of the
passions Whatever Of seeming sacrifice is
occasoned by keeping national faith or work
ing national justice is shared by millions and
falls not upon one alone. And if the world
has learned one truth from its apprenticeship
Of centuries, ii is that national crime has its
sure retribution. MaIedictions on the man
who would instruct people who are yet in
the agonies of the expiation ofone crime that
the true path to safety and happiness is the
commission of another. II is no doubt lortll-
nate that the idea ofrepudiation has had the
principles OF satanic ethics adduced in its sup
port at the very outset. The Devil may make
favorable impression on many people il he
is skillfaly "sugared over," but when lie
comes undisguised, with horns and tail and
cloven hooi, he will generally be received as
st. Anthony received him, with red hot PIN
GERS ON his nose. ~" oH