Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-06-18


The gloomy forebodings ofthe sway Of i'm
perialism IN our beloved country, in which
Alexander H. Stevens INDUCES, as well as
many other political theorists and spouters
Of these days, We regard as Ireposterous in
every rational point Of view. We doubt
whether any very definite meaning Is attached
to the word imperialism by the most Of those
who use it 10 stir the fears of those whom
they address. They only hope to frighten
the more thoughtles- Of the people with it,
just az formerly the chief leaders Of the demo
cratic party were wont to frighten their more
ignorant followers by the words aristocracy
and abolitionism.i into the support ofmeasure
which were steadily sapping the foundations
Of free iustisutions all over the land, and of
men who were plotting to establish on the
ruins Of the Government, an empire whose
corner stone was to be slavery of the many
and absolute supremacy Of the few forever
II ever anything in tie history of our
country looked toward the establishment of
Imperialism, it was the planning. the out
break and the actual conduct of the late re
bclhon In recent friendly conversation
with a gentleman at the South-oue who
had been in the rebellion and lost his slaves
in tie progress Of events, and now reioiced
in the result, and believed in better time- to
come all around, the s5utherner remarked,
"had the secession succeeded, we should very
soon have been under one of the most dcs-
Totic and oppressive governments on the
earth. And he told the simple and obvious
truth.
But perhaps the croaker about the danger
Of imperialism, may say Why, only see
whata tremendous power was oxcrred by the
general Government during the war-what
an enormous expenditure was made by it. |
and how rau1rselc-sly IL taxes the people t. /
pay for It Does not that look ike imre- /
raiism 90 Not a bit of it. The tremendous /
power of the Government arose from the /
fact ;hat ir was not government of one [
man, and for the perpetuaton of power in
class. it was the people's own government, /
government for themselves and their child /
ren aft r. them. and therefore they sacrificed /
blood and expended their treasure to protect
and Terpetuate it.
Where are the signs of the approach of
this dreaded imperialism? Are they seen in
the extension of liberty and suffrage to mil
lions who once possessed no such right? DO
We see it in the wider and better establish
ment Of schools in vast regions where gross
ignorance was the rule, and even scanty
learning was the rare exception? Do not
the people in all the States where the people
remained loyal, and even now in a large por-
ton Of those States which went into the IT,
bellion, elect their own municipal and State
officers as regularly as they ever did; and
even where order and constitutional govern
meut are not yet fully restored. is it not evil
dent that the tendency is for the better in
stead Of the worse In short, are not benef
eial institutions making their way through
out the entire region Of the late rebellion
not AZ fast, perhaps, as many would wish
for, yet quite as rapidly as the most sanguine
would have dared to hope for ten years ago,
# they could have foreseen the terrible strug-
,le the nation was to 90 through with?
Do the governments Of Europe talk and +
act as if they believed us to be tending rap
dly to imperialism? Not they. They would i
be glad to believe that of US They had
hopes of it when the rebellion broke out.
blotted out those hopes
md they now fear lest Imperialism -
world shall find weakness cree ''''
in consequence f-Ie 'I' -,
m tbis country