Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-12-16
imperial oSvernmant;


happiness, but to further the interests Of this !
and that class. Our whole shipping service |
has been sacrificed to that dreadful mistake |
our agriculture Is suffering from 1t our man |
ufacturers, which thought to benefit them |
selves especially by 1t, lie paralized and our |
commercial credit Is tossed by 1t hither aud |
thither, like wisps in the wind. In the hr- |
ger cities the Workingmen, who ought to see |
In this theory OF the objects of governments
their most fatal enemy, are disposed to apply |
II In their own behalf, and begin TO deh1andOf
the Government work. Why not IL the
Government may be required to 60 to the aid
of mining enterprise, or wool spinning. or
banking, why not go to the aid Of that
broader enterprise OF every day labor? The
Workingmen are logical, grant them the pre-.
misses.
ltis out of this same fundamental perver-
sion OF the notion OF Government that has
come the thousand and one projects with
which the air of Washington is Just now la
den. 1t Is heavy with miasna, which has pen
etrated the PresidentIaI manson (neYer very
salubriOus) which almost suffOCateS the de-
partments which STILES committee rooms,
and causes Congress to draw its breath long
and with difficulty. Pacific EailrOad subsi-
dies plans for canals by which, II carried out,
our country would be iTritated like Holland
or the city Of Venice great iron highways
reaching east and west and north and south
the telegraph business land even the savings
ed upon the General Government, as il that
Government were ike the Imperial Govern
ment of China, or the Imperial Government
of Russia, or the Imperial Government of
France, under Louis Napoleon, the very ecu
tre of life to the whole business OF society, the
one wheel Of the system, the heartOf the vast
machine to which alone it owes its every pull
SatiOn. .|e r.4.I -.
No more effective step towards this conges
tiOn Of power has been made in our history,
than was made by the organization Of the
National banking system suggested originally
as a war measure, and now considered as one
of the establishments Of peasc. 1t combines
nearly two thousands OF banks, representing
nearly five millions of capital, in o solid pha-
lanX Of interest, in which the Government Is
a partner. Having borrowed the capital OF
these banks, it grants them the privilege OF
cent. interest, with further guaranty of ul-
innate redemption, while it allows the banks
to exchange them for private debts at an ad-
ditOnal interest of seven or eight per cent
1t limits the amount Of the issue that the mo-
nOpOly may be protected, and it appoints an
officer called the Comptroller of Currency,
nOminally to enforce the laws, but in reality To
plead the cause of the banks in an annual re-
| port, which laudS this system and denOun-
ce5 all others. AH interest 50 vast
50 privileged, so powerful, and In int-
mate alliance with the Government Is, in the
one whose operations the people, jealous of
their rights and liberties, cannOt 100 Tigidly
scrutnize.
This, however, is but the Swelling prologue
to the imperial theme ;; for it Ia proposed
that the partnership and supervision of the
government should beextendod to the savings
banks as well as the discount banks. Notune-
tiOn Of the social economy is more .psefHl, or
has been, on the whole, more safely exercised /,
than that which gathers the small earnings OF
the poorer classes into heap, where they may
be rendered, by lending, ,dOubly etfeehVe-hrst,
to the owners of them, and secondly, to those
to whom they are lent. Its moral effect is even
quite as worthy Of note as its economical effect.
| IG has extended also with the growth OF socie-
ty in diligence, thrift and prObity and it Will
continue to extend with the advance OF pOpu
lar habits OF prudence and economy. But Is
business which individuals are abundant
ly able to manage for themselves, and which,
taken out Of their hands, can have no other
result that to increase the patronage OF the
Government by multiplying its agents and de-
pendents, and cOmpllcatiDg the lnesheS which
hold society in the control OF ITS rulers, not It's
people.
Nor does the ambition of power stop here
Even education, in its higher branches, IS TO
become a work of the State. A scheme Is broa
ched aud commended by distinguished men
for the foundation of q National University ,tC
be seated at Washington, and to include in ad
and the Smithsonian Institute, all departments
Of knOwlt dge, scientific aud classical. The U
| s. is to become a second China In respect 70 1t!
mandaTins, and the intelligent, learned ant
profound officers, whom our political caucuSes
are i'm the habit OfchOosine will be the patron:
and directors OF the arts. How these will fare
in their hands We need not inquire; but grant
ing that they will n Ot suffer deterioration ant
damage, 1t would bs none the less questionable
to swell the agencies OF Government which
is already so clOgged with business that 1t car
hardly act, and the contest for the manage
ment Of which becomes every four years
an Intensity and magnitude OF interest ina
converts politics into almost civil war, ana
war not of principles, but for patronage an'
plunder.
President Elliott, of Harvard, atthe Ednca
tiOnal Convention ct Utica, last summer, CAV
this grand scheme for National Unlverslt!
such demOlahlng blow that We hoped It wa
killed /; his arguments were so pertinent anS
effective that to all reasonable minds they
were final. But what care the projectors Of spcl
plAns, any more than the projectors OF the ht
aGrana IndustriAl Exhibition sNindles ferar
gum0nt? They are not originated IN behalf
any principle, or to further the real advance
OF society in culture with but ether motive
and for rOtheFinterests; and while these motive
and interests last, arguments addressed IN
different direction simply miscaFTy. But SuHel'
. it Is time for honest men Of all parties whl
|, care for the future Of the nation, toopen thel
eyes 20 the enOrmitY Of these csntrallzing niea
. sures, and to arouse the community t0a sens
OF its danger. lUl
III ~ ----- -+r--e-~
The President yesterday nominated John L
Pennington, Of Alabama. TO be Governor
d.. a hrAfs