The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-09-10

lolio~s inst All governments should be tr!e,S by
this tost, aud they are good or bid, ns they ri-
fill or fail 10 fulfill this requirement.
In all governments there i:.,,st necessarily b.
par';SS differing widely in their Siems OF tho
policy which shonld bc pursued. Clash Of
opinions ~ the only means Of producing truth.
Movement is necessary. Rest is rust. en-
fortnnnto would bc that people among whnm
could he found no difference oil opinion on pu-
liticnl subjects Without party difference there
would hc political death. No new thought
could be developed. No OLD thought would he |
successfully elaborated.
Fnr'ies being necessary in u State, they
should be tried by the same tests which is
applied to the government ITSELF They arc
good or bad as they aru ublc or unable - effect
the objects Of good government Can any rad
ical party bc goud? Can any radical pnrly
accomplish The objects OF guoh government, ?
Gam nny radical party govern country sue
cessf"''y? These questions, grave nnd impor-
'""t to us all. should be carefully considered.
They should be approached, not in n spirit cx
cited by party zeal, controlled by party hate, or
blinded by party prejudice. Calmly. cooily,
deliberately they should be weighed for on tho
answer depends the happiness or misery Of the
people of this broad continent. On their s'lu-
tion depends the question Of liberty or drs-
potism.
The thinking man who looks beyond the sur
face of things knows that slnvcry was moi the
real cause of tile wnr rhnt question, il is
true, was the provoking cause, hut the real
| cause certainly lay deeper. Il can he found in
.1.nI r..
| Tho United States. il cnn be seen in the debates
on thnt Constitution. II cnn be traced 10 the first
party differences TINT agitned this country.
| The war WIS purely md simply contest be-
| tween the two extremes of the then two parties;
n contest between federation and central
| lied government; n contest between the Grcek
| and Roman IDEAS Of government. In that con-
test rarlicalism on the one side clasllcd with
radicalism OIL the other. Collision took place,
and with the clash Of idens came tho clash Of
arms, and with ihe clash Of arms came the
overthrow Of the Greek idea. Whatever
questions may hereafter arise, that qucs-
tion is now dead. II lies buried in the same
grave that contains our sons, brothers.
friends. On this continent it is thing of the
post, left only i'll our memories; no longer even
a subject for discussion.
| Our fathers were loo wise to clash. They
had rcad history with profit. They knew That
man is not infallblo, and they recognized thnt
a middle ground might be, and probably was
the proper point at which their object could he
attnined. Thoy compromised where they diff
fercd, and under their compromises, in peace
and in war, The country which they had wrcst-
ed from the hands Of GEORGE III. grew and
prospered, until the beginning Of the late war.
a disregard for their teachings, unwillingncss
to compromise, brought on that war, the result
of which has been the crushing of one radical
ism and the marked development of another.
That radicalism, flushed with victory, is deter
mined to perpetuate its power and deceive its
| followers with the name of progress.
Many willing to accept name
for q thing, shndow for substance, hut he
who thinks is obliged to ask hims elf if any rad
icsl idea can be progress: If any extreme
opinion can be truth Tho history of radical
| ism has been uniform from the earliest dnys of
history. Powerful it is to destroy, but totally
incapable Of building up, and for an obvious
reason. From The very nature Of man, he
must be imperfect. Perfection belongs nlonc
to God, and humanity must have human weak
ness, human frailty and human passion. The
same feeling which induces the party in poVer
| 10 keep len States under the iron heel of mill
| tary authority for years after arms have set
| tied the questions in dispute, has from the
beginning Of recorded time induced all radical
parties to persecute those 10 whom they hnre
| hoap fbooo u.;f ,cbo bn,,
This has always been, this must always be
the case. II is impossible that it should be
otherwise. No one man, sci Of men can
have the entire truth, and he who arrogates to
himself its possession-and every radical does
that-is necessarily vain md dogmntic. and if
occasion offers will surely be tyrant.
| There is another why radicalism must
fhil. No revolution hns ever bcen wholly un-
successful, because no thought hns ever been
utterly destroyed. It's impress has been left
upon ths world, and truth ia invariably
found at somo middle point between The
two extremes which produced the collis-
ion. Wise men and useful thinkers, those
who seek to promote and who do promote the
| welfare OF their fellow men, nrc apt to place
themselves on q middle ground between two eI-
tremes Of opinion. In 1912, tho doctrine of
the divine rights of Kings clashed against The
doctrine Of popular rights. The King was be-
headed and q more powerful ruler under the
name of protector seized the reins of govern
ment. lie died, and the STUART assembled the
throne, having forgotten none Of his follies and
having learned no new lessons Of wisdom.
Here each idea in turn appeared to have gained
tho victory, and yet both thoughts had lived,
each in turn apparently 10 be crushed out of
existence Tho impress Of each, however, had
been left, and in 1858 the compromise between
the two was effected. WILLIAM and Mary as-
cended the throne, and undor government COM
bining all that WAS good in the two theories,
England hns prospcred and grown every year
greater and moro powerful. In France we
see the same result produced from the same
causes. The Kingly assertion Pefaf c'en moi,
81 am tho State" clsshsd with the popular CRY;
the people ore all powerful down with aristo-
crats. LOUIS XVI, good man, but too much
Bourbon to know how, OF when to compromise,
was guillotined. Rndicalism produced MARAT,
DARTos, RoBEsP1HRRE. They in turn gave
wayto NAPOLEON. He WAS forced to yield to the
Bourbon, and the Bourbon 10 LOUIS PHILIPPE,
\ and today can be- seen In France the moot