The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-10-01
The Philosophy of the Louisiana
Outbreak

The Philosophy of the Louisiana
Outbreak.
The st, Louis Republican has an exceed
ingly we'll written and torclble article up
recent events i'll New Orleans. which
| discusses in a way that expresses tn
views OF the most intelligent and thought
ml among the people. 1t presents tn
| theory that we have drilted away from tn
people are one, and that an antagonist
between them has sprang up. 1t says tina
the underlying fiction OF our experiment
Of seli-goyernment, after all the talk abou
| popular sovereignty and the will Of thu
| people. is the supremacy of the law Iha
is to say, the binding force of enactments
upon those who enact them as well as up
on those for whom they are enacted. Thi
theory is the bond by which our tort,
| millions OF people agree to live togethe
rs one nation, and the security of tn.
| bond depends entirely upon the measure
OF good faith which the members of the
| body polite keep with one another in the
observance of it, But law is not of itsel
a positive force. 1t is simply a means
whereby or through which force NAV be
applied. The mere presence of law upon
the statute books OF in the constitution is
OF itself impotent. 1t can acquire positive
force only through the active agency OF
mems brains to expound and mems hands
to carry into effect its provisions.
All laws, however salutary in them
selves, are susceptible of being perverted
by bad administration into appliances OF
oppression No laws, however salutary
III themselves, can be of any value to "A
people who have not the will, the courage,
OF the strength to defend by positive force
if necessary, those rights which the laws
simply indicate and define The best and
most liberal guarantees OF liberty are of
no avail to a people who permit them 10
be ignored by the governing powers. and
prerogative are no hindrance to the des-
potlc tendencies of a government system
which stands in no fear Of the resentment
OF the governed The relative attitude
here indicated has been sustained between
the people and the government of the
United States for the last ten years.
Every year has seen this relative attitude
more clearly and sharply defined. The
lines of demarcatiOn between the govern
ment and the governed have every day
been drawn tighter and more impossible
Finally the people have ceased to under
stand that the government is a part of
themselves. the product of their will and
have come to regard it vaguely as sepa-
rate existence, privileged to conceal from
them its processes, capable of granting
grace and awarding favor OF of visiting
vengeance and withholding mercy; in
short as a personal entity entirely distinct
from the populace. We have neither the
space nor inclination to discuss here the
causes that have brought about this re-
suit. We desire merely to enforce the
conclusion by pointing to recent events,
and at the same time to set people to
thinking and to asking themselves. Where
is all this going to end9
Here we have government composed
of certain number of individuals, filling
executive, Legislative and judicial posi-
tons, the whole system perfect in its Sc
quence Of powers, and all eliminating in
one grand head, the presidency. A care
fully inculcated theory of non-rotation in
office and an arttully contrived plan for Sc
curing perennial re- elections have invested
the individuals who compose our govern
ment with tenure of power from which
there is but one step to the hereditary
Wenow find many men vehemently adj
vocating a consummation which is at wal
with all our precedents, and which would
accomplished, open the way for new per
petuites of power as are little dreamed 0
now as third term was twenty years ago
The elective Venetian senate passed a law
making itself perpetual by creating al
hereditary right for its members To-da,
a majority Of the American senate woule
do the same if it dared. How much NOR,
indulgence at the hands of the goyerne,
would suffice to Undue it with a temerit,
equal to its viii, events must determine
Our government has grown strong by Ions
continuance of its individuals in power
as it grew strong it has seized upon oppor
tunities to test its strength and success il
each test has given it new strength; wha
was usurpation yesterday becomes prece
dent to-day, because it was successful
gradually it has thrown off the restraint
of that law which once bound it in com
mon with the governed, and SO gradual,
it is becoming law unto itself, while tn
people, by coordinate process, are be
ing gradually transformed from sovereign
into subjects.
| Finally, in the order of these tendencie
we have reached stage when the sub
jects begin to feel that they have lost thei
sovereignty and instnctively make
quick, desperate effort to regain it. Re
preston has reached degree at which
becomes painful, and those who feel tn
pain resort to that ready remedy whicl
every man is doctor enough to prescrib
violence. Hence the Barbados in tn
streets of an American city Barricade
are not the means by which sovereign
express their will. They are the tradi
tional resorts of subjects who rise to ex
press theirs. Let no one imagine that tn
last Barricade has been seen in the street