Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-03-19
7. Republican Government a rail-

meut OF republican kof'f""e"r ""'~'
has never succeeded hitherto, will soe
coed In this country, Is one which shoul'
have no little interest 70 us at this time
! We confess We never did have faith in il
permanence, only because we supposed
that after all our people we're very mucl
like other people in the world, and q
likely to 20 into anarchy or despo'isn
by the gradual aud regular process, an'
with our eyes open, as they. II has beer
our weakness TO think ourselves the su
periors Of other peoples, aud to looi
down with such contempt on oil Others
| that we have barely escaped viewing The
most enlightened nations, Is, 10 the com
! parison with onr great selves, little better
than outside barbariaus. 'Butit'doesnO'
follow, because everything looks so ex'
ceedipg grand and clear around us to the
scope of our limited vision, that We are
not somewhat like Locke's man in the
fog, who thought himself rather more
clear sighted than the rest Of the world
We rushed into war, every thousand Of
MS, feeling that we were as'able 10 whip
all the world as the Texans did to resist
Mexico, and that has learnt us one les
son, which Fifty years Of peace had not
brought to this generation. The masses
of our most educated and intelligent, as
we'll as of our less well informed people,
lack in very great measure, that sagacity
and wisdom which travel. observation
and experience contribute to give, and
which the hard and stern lessons
of centuries have given to the nations
of Europe. Books and instructors may
aid Us in arriving at great and material
" important truths. But practically
we learn very little, except from run
ming against the rough edges Of things,
and from misfortunes and calamities.
We may even be able to tell others in
words the true lessons Of history. But,
alas without sad experience Of crush
ing evils, We are more parrots in doing
so, than men conscious in full appreci-
alton of the great realities, which,
untaught by experience, we may essay to
communicate to our fellows. Short of
the results of actual experiment, we are
all alike children, taught without realiz
ing and knowing the stern realities of
peoples actual and almost necessary life.
Like children we must handle fire and
be burned often, pay dearly for our
whistles, and always encounter adversi'
ties before we can appreciate or learn to
avoid them. t&t
Now that we have seen the evils of
war, we understand that matter thor
oughly, and Yet no better than we
thought we knew so plain thing before,
when really with all our instruction, the
people of this generation know nothing.
And now, as to the process by which q
free people run Into the terrible results
of anarchy, on the road to the calm of
despotisn, which history has SO emphati-
cally proclaimed must supervene upon 1t
as an inevitable necessity, have we not
reason to ask whether we are not, as to
this, in a similar condition, and as unin-
formed, in reality, and with as little
power over our coming future as one of
the great peoples of the earth, as we
were before our war, as have been other
peoples, who, because uniformed by
experience, have run into caiamities
similar to those now threatening our
selves Such seems to be the fact, and
may furnish the chief reason why, as has
been the case with others, republican
may fail in our hands, as it
has in the hands of those who have pre-
coded us. To think lightly of such q
conjecture, when it is impossible to
deny at this day that we are on the high
way to similar ruin, strikes Us as very
weakness and madness. That which is
transporting before our eyes as the result
of passion, vindictiveness, venality, de-
and the disposition to dominate,
instinctively characteristic of most sec
TONS and races of men, is precisely what
has transpired before with the same fatal
result now staring in the face the people
of these States. And may we not there
fore say with justice and propriety, that
escape is doubtful, as well as grand
and glorious achievement, which, if sue
cessful, will give immortal luster to the
American name 4?
Accomplishing so much, shall we not
stand as paragons in glory, as q great
people whose like has never been seen
before2 We shall have done what hu-
man genius of the preceding ages has
been unable to compass, if we give sta
bility and permanence to free republican
institutions. Not that there have been
no examples Of Republican governments
before our time. They have risen and
fallen through all the past ages, some
what as ours has risen and seems now on
the way to fall. But we counsel caution,
not despair. Is it not the lesson Of wis
dom that we should take warning, and,
if it be possible, that being warned we
should be also forearmed2 As this sub
ject is important enough to warrant de
liberate consideration, and as completing
the view we would present, even at the