Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-11-18
National Decadence.


| THAT very able Democratic journal, the
! Missouri ReDu bEscdn, has deliberately come
4 to the conclusion that this Republic is 60
ing to the dogs after all. 1t admits that
! The census of the present year shows great
prosperity in the immediate past anu
| proud position, as respects mere nlateIlal
4 Interests in the present, Nevertheless, we
4 are going to the dogs And we are told'
| in illustration of the certainty OF our deca-
derce that it is but the vigor OF youth I'M
| der which are the seeds ofdisease ana death.
[ We are, in short, in the situation OF ailast
| Young man, who follows vicious courses
with seeming impunity but for whom Is
| laid up inevitable stores OF govt. rheuma-
| tism and misery. .a.. 81. .a q,.a o.
The RepubyScan earnestly inquiries sis
| the Constitution. as faithfully preserved in
its integrity, as fairly and impartially in
J terpreted, and as strictly obeyed as itonce
was Are the rights of the people as scru-
pulorlsly guarded, the authority of the law
as much respected and the principles of
liberty as dearly loved and zealously adj
hered to as in by-gone days? In short, are
we as a nation any better than we We're at
the beginning of the present century?s Are
we not rather greatly inferior i'll everything
| Which constitutes national virtue and goes
to make up true national prosperity and
happiness? 1t is impossible to deny our
own decadenee." r. 49, rs-,.. 8. ~ e~.ot
The nationlis herein reality COMPOUNDED
| with its eminent men. ot-only so, but
| its eminentme are those only who are en-
| gagged in politics, or in the conduct of pub
lie affairs. The general body polite is
| left out of the calculation, and you might
as reasonably undertake to do sum in
arithmetic without figures. But even tax,
ing the number of eminent men as a critic
rion of national greatness and we have not
an inch to stand upon in an argument for
American decadence. We have many
better financiers than Alexander Hamilton.
The late war of the Union developed as
great military men in our country as there
| are in the world The establishment OF
Justice shows that, in practical statesman
Ship, we are not inferior to our predeces-
sors. But, if we pass out of politics, we
/ find that in literature, IN science, in edl-
cation, in the learned professions, in bust
4 ness, we have many more eminent men
now than ever before. Ii we have no one
who could write the Declaration
of Independence, we have men who can
) build railways to the Pacific, and empty
the commerce of Asia into our lap. Ii we
have no man who can in words defend the
Constitution as Webster defended it, we
have plenty who have the wisdom and the
courage to amend and improve it. '3J<ssaa3
AS for the principles of liberty" they
never were established in this country until
within a few years. Pretending to be a
free nation, we excused and upheld the
most atrocious system of slavery that ever
imbruted man and insulted heaven. 1t is
because we have done away with this sys-
tenn, that so many think we are going to
destruction. With them, liberty consists
of the right to make others do their Will
| With them there must be a race of
gentlemen" so-called, and race of
slaves. Otherwise there can be no leisure
and no greatness. 1t is not SO. Courtesy,
| Carlyle tells us, is the due of man.to man,
not of suit of clothes to suit of Clothes
| A gentleman may work at the forge, or in
the factory, or at any hard labor, as well as
| he who fares sumptuously every day. And
he may be as wise and as well informed
| too. AS a matter of fact, we have hun
dreds of thousands Of hard working
men in this country who are worth in
calculably more to it, and are better
1 gentlemen besides, than thousands
who have been lucky and whose notion of
government and of national greatness are
based upon ideas which never can prevail
here except upon the ruin of our institu-
tons, and the establishment of those
which have evermore benefited the few at
| the expense of the many in other lands.
We have some laws that ought to be
repealed, some that ought to be improved,
but, upon the whole, the body Of our laws
is better now than ever before Liberty is
guaranteed to every citizen. Literature
and the arts are fourishing. The mass of
the people are intelligent, ard becoming
more so. Our progress in material in
terests is as rapid as ever. Those only as
sert our national decadence who pine for
the old regime, wheninjustice ruled, and
crowd of " chivalric" robbers monopolized
the government and disgraced the nation.
| -G 61cnno Post ...t