Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1871-09-23

xEFvEksOx AND EQUALITY.
Jefferson once said, with an eye,
perhaps, to the sound more than the
sense, that all men are created equal,
and the indefinite expression has
passed into political axiom, and be-
come the motto Of a party TINT en-
ploys 1t 10 hoodwink the mental eye
yofsthe public whilst It works out Its
nefarious designs against any other
equality than that Of a common en-
siavement OF the masses, and q COM
mon wealth and power for those who
run the government. That all men
are not created equal, is proven by
their diversified forms and features |;
by the countless degrees Of mental
and physical power and the endless
shades Of moral bias, passions and
tastes. Equality is not condition
imposed by nature, upon any form
Of matter, whether animate or mani
mate--the varied forms Of which, In
dictate inequality, rather than cquali-
ty, as the fixed law Of nature.
!. We shall be told, perhaps, that JEFF
ferson intended to apply the remark
solely to mars social and political
condition.. But this application re-
Raoves 1t, as far as tile other, from
acceptance as truism. Man Is born
to no clearly defined rights, social or
political--such rights beng the acci-
dent, rather than the law Of his birth
or creation. Social and political
equality-so far from being birth
right, is not attainable by any form
Of government, or system OF educa-
tion yet known to the world, and
every effort to enforce it, must be at
the cost Of justice. truth and public
virtue. This would be strictly true
Of single, distinct race Of mankind,
but is strikingly SO, Of any attempt
to mingle two or more races together
and to elevate all to q common level,
by education, or compress all, into a
mass Of social equality by the by
draulic power Of despotic rule.
A law to enforce social equality be-
tween the refined and intellectual,
and the ignorant and debased, must
I've resisted, or Its enforcement will
result In the destruction of public and
individual virtue, without which gov
eminent can have no stability, and
society no power, conservative Of the
higher and nobler attributes of our
moral nature. Virtue and vice will
no more commingle than oil and
water, and the tyranny that would
enforce the mixture, will end in the
expulsion of virtue, leaving vice the
sole ingredient In the social cup.
AS with social, so will 1t be with
the political system. Political rights
or rather privileges-may be de-
clared equal all over the country, and
theoretically, they may be so; but,
practically, they, are not, and the
most palpable injustice follows the
mad experiment. To illustrate: A
and b are, politically, equal but A,
rs man Of integrity, intelligence
and energy, has amassed fortune,
whilst p, ignorant, dissolute and idle
remains poor, and Is envious Of his
neighbours prosperity. They both be-
come candidates for oflice-A, with a
desire to protect his own Interests and
to promote the general welfare; b,
with the hope of dragging A and his
minority of intelligence and integ-
rity, down to his own degraded level,
as well as to obtain position from
which he can reach the public treas
ury and fill his pockets. A large ma
jority Of the alphabet, through a kin
dred sympathy of poverty and vice,
unite upon, and elect b. Is 1t just
that the highest interests of that To-
cality shall be subjected to the will of
the vicious and incompetent? Is that
political equality which makes the
crosses. ignorance equal to the high
est intelligence, and the most de-
PRAYED equal to the most virtuous
Yet such is the practice of this gov
eminent, based as 1t pretends, upon
the theory derived from a glittering
platitude, evidently uttered to tickle
the ear rather than TO impress the
mind with the slightest suspicion
Of its truth.
or the Same import, IL that other
assumption Of the same great man,
that "lifr, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness" are inalieneble rie hts,
with which mankind are endowed by
by nature. That which Is inaliena-
bile, can neither be thrown away nor
taken from us; yet our liberties are
curtailed Ivy oppressive laws; our
pursuit Of happiness impeded under
the pressure of usurped power, and
our lives placed at the mercy Of ruff
aus and assassins, educated to do
their work by the demoralizing ex
amples Of corrupt rulers.
1t is to be regretted, we think, that
Jefferson ever lent the weight of his
great intellect, In so grave n man