Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1869-04-22
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himself once called t.hI=t0Tic asses ~ t't1-
renowned Abbev." hoa-v win tha rl'ne
If ages. Wl.eI. his s'aere.l = i 7aiL re
7arts . zu.h Of Englend'S noble dust
said, in syesk 'rg o. stocEioablng AMI q
The orly.a g. Great Rrifa;u's plo'le d91t,
T"rhat the truth : tha. society IA ID, Ia the
natural course o: It's growth. reached
point at which i was inevitable that there
should Be stockjobbing whether there we're
a national debt or not. and inevitable also
that If there we're long and costly war,
there should be national debt. -
Such cancellations, apparent IS they
s,em when once We apPrehend them are
not vet so very simple in Their nature
they are, in fact. among the far Undue
tons which the able scarcher intohlstory
nhilosoDhy sometimes aiduces for our guI-
dance aDi instruction. My We not sp-
plv the principle in the remark above. for
we think it true as applied to the society
Of which the writer speaks, in order to try
to elucidate some of the causes which d.
rect our poitr So nation snd when
seem 10 be hurrying Us towards the abyss
in the onward march OF time We shall
sttemD, but word or two, believing the
subject worth the attention Of On and
thoughtful men.
Society. under s7me form. every one
believes is essential to the advancement
and well being of man in the condition
we popularity term civilization, although
every one may not be SO ready to grant
that he Is created essentially social 10 his
very nature. We who are only deslrous
to draw attention to cur own situation as
government AMI as nation, wish TO
speak Of man, Of society, Of nations, as
we find them now. t. Do 50 understand
inely, permit Us to recall to memory the
position of our fathers, few centuries
back when slowly settling into form, ana
the principles which were moulding then
ana which in our day are yet potent IN
their influence.
After the Norman conquest the mag
mates of the land. they who, in guerdon
of their services, had been vested by their
leader with princely estates and exercised
almost regal powers on the lands wrested
from their English foes, were but little
disposed to recognize more than supre
macy of dignity and place in their tituar
monarch. When he Was weak, they de-
fed him ; when strong, his strength came
but Of their support. lie was the chief
of a party, not the head Of a State.
With no army but a feudal militia,
with no people as yet to uphold him, his
personal character. the moral influence Of
the chur, h. the division of the mobiles,
could alone sustain him. Tie sovereign,
the mobiles and the church were in truth
the first elements Of English. political life
Suffice it to say that under the able kings
/ Of the house of Plantagenet, more especi-
alIv perhaps, the third Edward, the voice
Of the commons became potential. Thence
has English polity becn developed on
PRINCIPLES Of great institutions, king
lords. commons We may add the church
rcrlans the landed gentry who 1t one
time formcd the more powerful mclcty OF
the commons and in later times, by the
working Of the law Of primo geniture. has
more than once in English history caused
II, force as an institution TO be felt.
As an English c.lony we Inherited the
conditions of society. the laws, the nrinci-
pies aud habits Of one portion Of English
iifc bu. W brought with US th< germs
# no great social and political institutions
Commons we were in England, of neceS-
sitv We nave become the people. Having
among Us no rreat and exclusive interests,
no powerful bodies supporting their claim
to special rights by1a long and undisputed
chain Of reeedtnts.y hallowed in the ey $
of all by the reflected light fpast servi-
ces and glory and appealing to patriotic
pride in the memory OF revered and noble
names. having in word no Influential
classes to challenge privileges of rank, We.
may we not again say of necessity, be-
came republicans The great statesmen
who modelled the constitution were obliged
to make use Of such elements as they found
in reinstating, in some measure, the CEN
trail authority overthrown by our revolu-
ton In their wisdom they built indeed
wondrous structure So ar as human
foresight might reach they have apparent
" done all that man may do with the ma
t rial at their Command
They formed the constitution on the
basis Of States United, of prescribed and
granted if unlimited and sovereign pow
ers to the central government, and of I'M
fetterod authorlty to the States in powers
not alisnatcd But 3 parchment cannot
fix the nature of man or say the march
O; mind, the trainers of this great instru-
ment whose object and duty it was to use
the conditions which they found among
+ their people to erect government. could
not prevent the natural development OF
the germs Of national life. They sought
10 provide by carefully balanced forces in
4 the constitution itself, for its own har-
monious working; they attempted to Sc
cure tie rights OF authority and the rights
Of the people and Of the States by wise
c.podicnts embodied in that instrument :;
that it might not Sc too infexible they
thouchtfully provided for its amendment
without its abrogation, in order to adapt it
10 the growing igencies oftime and TO en-
able it to be moulded to fl the nations
changing form But they necessarily based
their labor upon the honesty, the sinceri-
tv. the public virtue in a word, Of the So
eiiety for whose advantage they were work
inc. And that being given scarcely any
form of government viii be Of vital con-
sequence. From those times down to
1850 was the letter at least, if not whole
spirit OF the constitution preserved.
Under il cur country has expanded and
furnished. But il was the she'll under
which the germs inheren, in the nature
Of all societies were developing into life.
By It Congress was made republican !;
the people have made it democratIo.-
Through the people, whose calm reason
and deliberate will it was intended that