Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1868-10-02
From the Banner of the south.l i-l
THE DECLINE OF PRINCIPLE.

FROM the manner Ot Inc SOuth.1 . .HI
THE DECLINE OF PRINCIPLE.
In the wild whirl of politics, Prin.
clpIo Is going down, and with Princi.
/ pie, law; with law, order; with order
4 Governmental Principle, law, or.
der, government, stand or fall togeth.
er. Strike down any Principle, and
you have taken rock from the foun.
dation of Government. Men and the
times are shifting the foundation oI
this Government from the rock OF
Principle to the sands of policy; and
as surely as they do it, reason tells
them, and history thunders the sam,
in their ears, this Government shall
fall. Devise and attempt to carry on,
the widest schemes of policy, but sc
long as you touch not Principle, 81
long as you respect their inviolability
there may be danger, but there still Is
hope. Violate, ptlrposely and DELHI
erately, Principle, and there Is NOR,
than danger, without any hope
there Is destruction.
The war waged against the Soutl,
dealt terrible blows against the Prin-
ciples upon which the Union of these
sovereign States was built; and the
force Of each blow has justly recoilcd
upon the very ones who struck them
and the whole fabric of Government
still reels with the shock. Northern
cannons We're planted, and sent theil
murderous balls, not only against
forts, but against Principles; North.
ern soldiers lifted and lcveled theil
muskets, and fired, not only against
freemep, but against rights. The
forts fell, and the brave men died;
but no cannon yet hase yer taken the
range of Principle; and never n grave
was yet dug deep enough for right
We gave up our forts, and we wep,
for our dead; but deathless Principl {
and right, we still proudly, though
powerlessly, represent. There is a
certain terrible logic I'm events. The
battle against Principle did not close
when the greatest General of the age
delivered the purcst sword ever WELD
ed, to the man, least heroic, from
whose brow the future will tcer the
ephemeral and ndunmeritcfcrown with
which the generation of to-day has
decked it.
That battle is still raging. When
the soldiers had done their work, the
law-givers of the North began. With
pen, and speech, and phamphlet +;
with fraud, and bribery, and false
haod; with threat and trcachcry, and
every vile appliance they have been
warning, bl0odlessly, yet not the less
violently against Constitutional Prin-
ciplcs. They connot go back; they
will not yield. Their war of leglsla-
tion Is rs bitter against us, and rs un-
relenting, as the war of their sword.
Their acts of Congress are as destruc-
tive to US as the bullets of Grants
soldiers. They have planned our
ruin, and they are resolved tocompass
1t. Their leader i'm the battlefield Is
the leader i'm the field of politics. 1t
Is appropriate-eminently so; for he
and they represent, in politics, what
they presented in war; and, fifty
enough, they wish to complete, by
the ballot, the work of destruction
left undone by their bullets.
That battle against Principle, we
repeat, Is still raging; tits growing
fiercer; the ranks of the combatants
are closing. One day or the other,
We'S2a t6y' fp8t6st,w. yin h" decided
But who looks into that future
without misgiving? No one. Who
feels secure? No one. Who now
has the good old faith i'm the stability
of our institutions Very fsw. And
why? Because Passion rules the
hour. But why does Passion rule it :?
Because Principle has left the Gov
ernment? Because it first left the
hearts of the people. All! there 1t
is-the source of our cvils-want of
Principle I'm the hearts of the people.
Politics and politicians may reach
and remedy some of the evils that OPP
press us, and darkcn the future; but
no politics nor politicians can reach
the hearts of the people. And they
must be reached and puified. If
they are corrupt, how secure a pure
Government? If tho Government
be not pure how can it last =?
RejoicCd aawe would he to see the
success of the Democratic party IN
the approaching election, we by no
means, consider that success COM
pletc cure for the evils which weigh
on the land, and which are daily on
the increase. The country needs Il
complete political regeneration. The
people have fallen far away from po-
litical truth, and Justice and integri-
ty. They must be reformed; but how
shall it be done? ...... .r