The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1873-07-18
A Sidewind at Civilization.

said 10 the representative men OF Louisi-
ana during his late visit TO New Orleans !;
"and you have got to stand the inconven-
fences which civilized society has. If
man takes your horse, you cannot toma-
hawk him for il; you will have TO resort
TO the courts TO get back your horse.
Your adversary may get continuance Of
the case, and may keep you out of IL
year, and then, when it comes TO trial, he
may bride the jury and beat you, and you
will have to submit TO it, unless you get "A
new trial on appeal TO an appellate court"
This may be all very well in one sense,
but it should be remembered that there is
such a thing as paying too dear for the
whistle, and that disposition to calculate
the cost Of the little musical instrument
is usually In direct proportion TO the dear
ness and the discord. Considering the
high price of the Louisiana whistle, and
the horrid cacophony it discourses, this
disposition must be at present very strong
in the Louisianians, who, one would think,
can scarcely help asking, when thus
bearded on the point, whether the 81 Ia
conveniences' Of civilized society, under
the existing circumstances, do not out
weigh the conveniences. There have been
those indeed who have affirmed as much
of civilized society under all circum-
stances; and 1t cannot be denied that the
reasoning in support of this affirmation is
full of a hazardous plausibility. Burke,
in his ironical "Vindication Of Natural
Society,"" sets forth the Inconvenience"
Of civilized society with such force and
vividness that his irony not only was
taken for earnest by most Of his con-
temporaries, but by many of them
was accepted as actually convincing.
If the case against civilized society
In general is so plausible as this, what
must it be against the wretched caricature
that now holds its demoniacal revels i'm
Louisiana? And how little prepared must
be the people of that demonocracy to sac
rifice their rights to such an idol Much
better are they prepared to sacrifice the
idol of their rights, If the two may not
co-exist Assuredly they are no demono-
laters. Imagine the effect with which
words like the following, for example,
might fall on the ears Of the oppressed
and plundered Louisianians: ASK Of
politicians the end for which laws were
originally designed, and they will answer
that the laws we're designed as protec-
ton for the poor and weak against the
oppression of the rich and powerful. But
surely no pretense can be so ridiculous a
man might as we'll tell me he has taken
off my load, because he has changed my
burden. II the poor man Is not able to
support his suit according to the vexa-
tious and expensive manner established in
civilized countries, has not the rich as
great an advantage over him as the strong
has over the weak In state of nature?
But we will not place the state of nature,
which Is the reign of God. in competition
with political society, which is the absurd
usurpati0n of man. In state of nature
il is true that a man of superior force may
beat or rob me; but then ii is true that |
am at full liberty to defend myself, or
make reprisal by surprise, or by cunning,
or by any other way in which | may be
superior to him. But in political society
rich man may rob me in another way.
cannot defend myself, for money is the
only weapon with which we are allowed
TO fight. And If | attempt to avenge my
self the whole force Of that society is
ready to complete my ruin" Burke flor
Ii is from him we quote) meant this for
irony, but to the Louisianians, and posi-
bly, to many others in our highly civilized
society, as formerly in that mother socie
ty of which Burke himself was
at once pillar and an ornament, 1t
may seem very much like sober
sense. or might If they were shallow
enough to believe what Senator Carpen-
ter says. That apologist for Republican
misrule should consider that at least in
the estimation of those Immediately con-
cerned his somewhat flippant expostula-
ton, If accepted at all, would be accepted
not so much as a vindlcation of his party
as an Impeachment of civilization, which
is not now, any more than IL was in the
time of Burke. so uprooted In the respect
of universal mankind as to stamp with
al Oh In
against it, much less to justify every out
rage committed on its behalf or pleaded
in its name. The Senator's argument Is
overcharged, and If 1t should go off IL
would do quite as much execution at the
brecch as at the muzzle. But 1t will not
90 off; Il will flash In the pan. Those
Immediately concerned, If as enlightened
as we conceive them TO be, will reject his
expostulation altogether, laughing to
scorn the impudent suggestion that the
evils they suffer are the necessary Incl
dents of civilized society, which they must
patiently bear in return for the capital
good that is. impracticable without them.
The suggestion is in fact akin to that
piece of crafty impiety or impious craft
which prompts men sometimes TO shift
upon their Maker the responsibility for
their own misdeeds. The plain truth is
that these insufierable evils, so far from
being natural concomitants of civilized
society, are unnatural, foul and deadly
excrescences, as to which heplain duty Of
those having authority in the premises Is
not patiently TO bear them but promptly
to lop them of. This duty Senator Car
penter and his political friends may not
recognize, as they certainly do not per-
form 1t in seeking rather TO hide IL under
cloud Of chicanery; but the men OF Louis
lana, backed by the true men Of the ceun-
try at large, do recognize it, and In good
time will perform It. And in that day
woe to the public recreants Of whom Sem
ator Carpenter made himself spokesman.
IL shall be more tolerable for Dawes and
ColfaY than for them N Y Pnnrr