Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1875-05-26

any other people. Nor are we behind
in the other and higher forms of civil
ixation. We have great and flourish
ing cities; railroads penetrating the
country in oil directions, accompanied
by the inevitable telegraph lines canals
utilizing our streams, and steamboats,
without number on our great rivers
books on every table, and newspapers
thick as "autumn leaves in Vallam.
brosa"--enough to cover all the walls
Of our houses annually with printed
matter Contrast all this with the con
dition Of things in the United States
one hundred years ago, and we feel like
living in new world and certainly,
II we have not improved in our morals,
material comforts have increased q
thousand fold.
Attracted by the spectacle of our
wonderful career, cmigrants from
Europe have come TO us In enormous
numhars and. though not Mt all train
ed to the employment Of such liberty
as ours, nor doctrinated for ages in the
principles Of Magma Charta, they soon
catch the prevailing spirit Of our in
stitutions and laws, and, from the best
evidence we can get, any differences
between them and the children of rev.
olutionary ancestry are obliberated in
a generation. This fact, perhaps, is
not the least singular one in our his
tory-how the foreign emigration to
the United States caused 80 little dis
turbance, and how rapidly il accom-
plishcd itself to the language, laws and
habits of thought and action. But
there is a ready explanation. The
great mass of European people, after
all, are close of kin. Teutons, Celts
and Sclaves were all rocked in the same
Arvan cradle, and though apart for
thousands of years, when they come
together again their tribal instincts in
a short time make them one--Nay,
having succeeded in making good dem
ocrats of the Jews, il is more than
probable we might succeed with the
Aarbs and the rest Of the Shemitic
nations. Such is the influence of free
institutions, and leaving men to pur-
sue their own happiness in their own
way, without interference or restraint
on the part of government, except to
punish them for crime. This, IL | may
be allowed to say it, is the secret Of
the wonderful progress and prosperity
of the United States men being left to
themselves as far as was possible, con
sistent with peace and order in society.
There was no power or society under
our constitutions by which the religion
of the citizen could be interfered with,
and the result has been to relieve So
sciety from curse that has deluged
christendom with blood for thousand
years. We have established the fact
that all the various religious sccts can
exist among us in peace and harmony
and never once think of roasting or
massacring one another Besides, too,
the remarkable truth is now generally
received among us that the very worst
way to get people to heaven is to drive
thom there by road they don't like.
Our system of politics has, too, an ad-
vantage now quite noticeable over
most countries In this that Il attracts
TO the bosoms Of the churches great
numbers of politicians and statesmen
who 60 for the sake of popularity, but
who remain to pray. This exercises
an influence upon them which cannot
help but be beneficial, as IL is impossi-
bic to say how much more the national
reputation would have suffered from
the prevalent corruption of the times
had II not been Tor this salutuary re-
straint.
Although no one, or very few,
amongst us think of invoking the
agency of government in matters of
religion, we have nevertheless large
numbers of good people who have
great faith in the virtue of legal en-
actments to suppress vices--the same
as though they were crimcs--and the
body polite is frequently experimental
on by jealous rciormers, who hope TO
purge society by acts of assembly and
thcimposition ofpcnalties. Experience,
however, soon convinces the sovereign
majority that these panaccas, il applied,
only irritate the sores they intended to
heal-the laws are repealed and the
patients remitted TO the laws of nature.
If they remain asleep on the statute
book, they are only invoked on rare
occasions when n malicious prosecutor
under cover of moral intent, seeks to
avengc himself upon an enemy, in
which hc finds but little favor The
subject Of the proper domain of law is
now being examined and discussed,
and the great journals and periodicals
Of the country being generally sound,
it is confidently anticipated that before
long, all will see that morality and
purity can no more be secured through
the Intervention of the civil magistrates
than when they roasted Jews as herct-
les and old women as witches. Social
science is even going further to throw
down these idols Of the forum, and il is
beginning to obtain that the world can
do with much less governing than it
has been usual to apply to II. That
the more freedom the people enjoy in
all their pursuits, and the less they are
trammeled by artificial regulations, the
better. All they want is protection
against fraud and violence in cases
whore they cannot protect themselves
--cAccpt IN the ease OF cities whore
sanitary and police regulations may be
necessary TO compel such close neigh
bors to observe measure Of duty to-
ward one another as would be absurd
In rural districts. By thus narrowing
the sphere Of government to the limit
Of necessity many advantages derived
from virtuous parental rule would of
course be lost, but on the other hand
we would avoid the thousand mischiefs
and dangers which would beset us in
the hands Of knaves and tyrants. If
you could have such an emperor as
tho Antonines, a despotism were bet
ter than the best republic but the
earth produces hundred heroes and
Caligulas for one Washington, and we
had better forego the advantages to
avoid the risks.
There are evils incident to all gov
ernments-evils we cannot avoid-but
il will be found that they are all RENE
dial by the people If they stand upon
Magma Charts and the principles in
and added to il by the English speak
ing people. Our rulers may be corrupt,
but we can dismiss and punish them
when we find 1t out. The English did
this, and now such thing as specula-
tion and bribery with them is Of the
rarest occurrence. SO IL will be with
us, for no people when they once know
xv;ll oilnuv fhc,v excheoucr On ha rnbhed