The Orangeburg news. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1867-1875, 1872-04-27
TIE standard Of Government.

undue eompiacency in regard to their
oNn system of government. Ole of tho
hsorise subjects Of English curicature i,
Ethe Yankee whit,lipg hisshingls and
guessing that he has about Bit the cor.
rect thing in political institutions. The
force OF she caricature lies in the pre-.
judice or the artist, for the lining N. ne
draws 10 absolutely srue. Every Amri,
can worthy Of the name, regards The
system of government under Hhish,we
live as the best at present possible.
There are a lew ignobleispinitaI upon
whom tho curse of !Csuaanl has fallen
with especial foroe,b making tl,em ser,
wants Of servants forever, who sigh for
the aesh7Pots of the, Tuiieries, ,apd, deny
their country in the atmosphere Of
/ Hyde Park. They are not, unknown
even in this grea.,eity ofours.i They
jthink y politics. "a low bbusinsss.. and SO
leave them to- Tweed and his kind.
They ihsssagsi!5 believe, in money,
which they may get, and,ip. blood, which
they know nothing Of, and in titles,
which are worth very. little to their
wearers. ,Of the worth and dignity. of
genuine, Republicanismr they have no
dream. They look with wonder and
contempt upon ti,e, efortsrof intelligent
men in Europe to gain the advantages
LOT democratic government, aud with a
calm unconsciousness oftheip own ignor.
anee Rssure them that there is nothing
IN Democracy worth working for. This
class OF nuisances is of conrsc very small
l'ut unfortunately a large proportion of
them 60 to Europe, and exercise an in.
fuence utterly disproportioned to their
real inslgnificancc4a a is.ds >fi si
On the other hand, the Leading liberal
minds OF the Old World clearly recop..
nizei the fact that the American system.
OF government is the nearest to perfec.
tion of allithst havo ever beeu evolved
from the Intelligence Of man aud the
force OF circumstances. We. do no,
mean that they think Of adopting our
Constitution aud our organization in a.
lump, norn VIC have the presumption
to say that such action is desirable. But
the universal opinion of intelligent an d
liberal men in Europe is that we have
found the form of governiuent which
suits US best; that our govern men. is
hnai aud permanent; that We are, rs far
as human sagacity can determine, outside
OF the possibility of violent revolution.
They also recognize the fact that no
monarchy of Europe has any thing
rese embling that immunity from change
Consequently the, study of,the Amcri,
can system engages the attention OF all
who are interested in the problems of
government. By observing the nature,
the method, and tho result of our Demo.
cratic system, it may be possible TO settle
upon some analogous form which may
meet requirements Of those peoples
OF Europe who desire 8 to kbe;tcr their
condition There is to-day not coun.
try in Europe in which the fundamc n,al
principles of government are not sub
ject Of daily discussion. Eorin,orc than
half n century we have ceased to think
OF these things. We discuss measures.
but not the form of government. There
is natural desire in Europe to under
stand by what means people arrives at
the POINT of not discussing the form of
government. ~ r
This interest, and We may say this
tacit acceptance Of the American stand
ard, is not confined to liberal or pro.
gressive politicians. The Conservatives
never deny the excellences of democra-
tic government when these are brought
forward by their opponents in debate.
They merely reply that these principles
are not practically applicable to the con :
dition Of the country. Prim never said
word against the Republic in all his
debates in the Cortes. He merely said i,
You can not have Republic without
Repubilcans, and there are none in
Spain A French Orleapist will tell
you "the Republic ia beautiful dream
we arc not worthy Of it," All Con.
ze= s==3 =s===s' e, Il; ..;s=.,==a-a e=m
The Republic u Utopia, something too
bright and good for human naturo's
daily food. 1t is not astonishing that
this style Of remark has had the effect
of leading most thinking men to ex-
arnine,our system, to determine for Il, sln.
selves whether it IS too good for thsul.
The principles Of our Constitution are