Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1870-03-31
[From the New York Observer
WHAT rs NATIONAL PROS
PERITYP

BY REV. r. II. GILLETT, D D., PROF. OF
POLITICAL ECONOMY IN N, Y UNIVERSITY
How best to dispose of the bur
den of our national debts, has now
for years been one of the standing
problems of American statesman
ship. Every form of industry feels
its depressing influence. Enter
prise, whether by land or sea, is
confronted by it, and the humblest
citizen, from his scanty means,
must surrender what he can i'll af-
ford to s7-.,a- -4a-aq+ +izfsr-tea demands
which the debt imposes even upon
him.
tits not strange that some should
imagine that the debt is the grand
obstacle to national prosperity and
individual enterprise. Those will
deserve well of their country who
can devise and apply the means to
tighten its pressure. But there are
evils which a nation has to fear
mere than a heavy debt. There is
an ideal toward which it may as-
pire far superior to that of abund-
ant resources and light taxation.-
States and nations are organized
not to facilitate the acquisition OF
colossal fortunes, but to promote
mutual justice, and to secure per-
sonal and social rights. Political
science is self degraded from its
proper sphere when it consents to
limit its survey to the sources and
methods Of material aggrandize-
ment. There is something more
precious than the cargoes Of COM
merce. There are interests to be
promoted, &! essential sPJ lis b,,n to national
way y..-4I -,,ssso"-.--Ie infinitely
above question of revenue and ex-
penditure.
In many respects there is strilz-
ing analogy between nations and
individual men. There are MIN
rods and Catalincs, there are Neros
and Galbas among both. BY either,
power and wealth may be abused.
By either, they may be perverted
to curse themselves and others
Sodom,with her "tullness of Bread"
is neither to be initiated nor en-
We'd. Spain, in the Sixteenth cen,
tury, WAS enriched by the treasures
of her American mines, but she on
ly became more contemplate as
the golden tide came pouring in
upon her, The palaces of Genoa,
Of Venice, and other Italian cities,
still attest the splendor and luxury
they once enjoyed, but history tes-
titles only too sadly Of the turbu-
lence, insecurity and violence,
which constituted the quicksandS
on which the State temporarily re-
posed.
The past is full of warnings, ad-
monishing us Of the fatal mistakes
made by great statesmen and saga
cious politicians. Grasping ambi-
ton has attempted unjustly to ex-
tend the bounds of empire. But
its task has been as fruitless and
ignoble as that of the tabled giants
that piled Pelion on Ossa. Rome
and Carthage were commercial as
well as political rivals, but the calm
judgment Of history condemns the
restless aspirations Of both, and
finds no satisfaction in contem-
plating a greatness built up on
schemes of gigantic robbery and
invasion.
The time has come to sift the er-
rors of the past. A broad and ex-
tended domain may minister to ma
tional pride. Abundant resources,
commercial and industrial, may be-
come matter Of shallow boa5ting;
but back of all these there are
graver questions that demand at
tention. What is the true ideal OF
a State, or how can it justify its
claims to existence and support 7
Does its merit consist in superior
strength or unparalleled resour-
ces ? Is a voracious selfshness,
absorbing and assimilating all it
can grasp. a commendable policy ?
What though its sails whiten every
sea, if the commerce they patron
ize is such as morality and sobriety
condemn What though its terri
tory be magniicently expanded, if
vice and violence march on in the
rear sheltered by its flag? In such
a case its greatness is its guilt, and
its success is infamy.
It's a remark Of Madison in the
Federalist, and Jay and Hamilton
would both have emphatically en-
dorsed it, that "the end of govern
ment is justice" There is some
thing morally sublime in the con
ception of an organization expand
ed over a country or a continent
and designed, through all its mani
fold mechanism and varied func.
tions, to vindicate that primeval
law of mutual obligation which finds
its expression In the word justice
1t recognizes, that simple, but eft
truth, that man is more
than gold, and that fleets and ar,
mics, and national prowess, are all
subordinate to human we'll being.
Never is the authority Of govern.
L 1 49, Il