, 1869-04-02
ne Present. DemoraIIzatIon.

says an exchange, has there been such gen.
eral aud utter deprivation of public morals
as now exists. The rights Of property and
of person, the obligations of truth and the
eacredness of social virtue, appear to be los
ing their wonted hold upon the public mind !;
and as people we are rushing into condi>
tion of social anarchy and casting away all
the bonds that hold society in healthy cOhe-
sion. The evidences ofthis deplorable tend>
ency are apparent on every hand. Crime
abounds everywhere. Shooting has become
a common method of avenginy the most triv-
ial wrongs and every day brings its list of
brutal murders, committed for the sordid OBJ
ject of acquiring paltry amount of pef or
to satisfy an unbridled passion for revenge.
In the South, crime is prevalent owing to
the disorders of the war and subsequent miss
government of those States. In the North
we have voters corrupted by the tens of
thousands to carry the elections BY fraud.
The young men of the country are corrupted
by the inordinate thirst of wealth and the
extravagsnee of private expenditure, and as
the consequence, are resortiug to forgery aud
defrauding their employers to an alarming
extent. The revenue officers of the Govern
ment are shown, by constantly occurring re-
velations, to be little better than an army of
plunderers, enriching themselves by collu-
sious with fraud, and robbing the tax payers
to the extent of untold millions every year.
Even our large capitalists, who from their
great wealth might be assumed to be above
any dishonorable expeditions, are found u.s.
ing their positions in the management of
large corporations for the purpose of aug
mentiug their private fortunes, at the'ex pense
of the stockholders aud of the interests they
hold in trust. Wrongs of this character
have now become so common, that transact
tions which ten years ago would have con.
signed their authors to iufamy, are regarded
as shrewd 6nanciering, and excite but
passing remark a fact which strkingIy
shows how the general moral sentiment of
the public has deteriorated. Worse than all
this, the law has come to be but a nominal
protection agginst wrongs The common
corruption has vitiated the administration of
justice as much as any other department of
social life SO that the general opinion is
that we have scarcely judge who, in cases
involving pecuniary interest, cannot be
bought, and who, 10 the hearing of ordinary
criminal cases, cannot be swayed by political
influence,
This deplorable condition Of things is 10
be regarded as one of the natural coDse-
quenees of tie late civil war. War, aud
especially civil war, is essential barbarism
1t is barbaric method of settling the ques>
tions of civilization. The same passions are
called into operation and the same ascendan
cy of brute force over truth and right obtain
as in the case of wars between barbaric races
and when hostiities cease, The lawless and
violent habits of the public mind uncon-
sciously run on in the same direction, pro-
ducing just the state we are at present pass
ing through. These barbaric tendencies are
now running through every ramifcation Of
our social life, and are retarding much more
than we are aware, the progress Of civilization.