The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-02-07
The Common Cause.

an extract, to be found in another column
taken from Stephens Constitutional His
tory of the War. 1t alludes most eloquent
iy to the unity of political interests which
binds together all the States of the Union il
a common cause of independence and Stat
Sovereignty. He says in one place:
But II such reaction should not take place ii
the public sentiment of the Northern people
OUR PRESENT CONDITION WILL SOON BE THEIRS
No fact in tn future may be relied upon witt
| moro certainty, than that their liberties can
not long survive the loss of ours.
The original idea of this Republican
Federation entirely rejected the contin
gency of it's owning foreign provinces
Its central principle was that of self-gov-
eminent throughout, and it was not con
tempiated that any territory should belong
to the nation, except as an integral and
constituent part of it. Possessions were
considered source of weakness, while the
assimilation of new populations would be
an augmentation Of strength.
Our So,ons Of the present day seem to
forget this. They begin to fancy the idea of
Imperial sway over contiguous territories,
and to calculate on the plumber of tribu
tary provinces. They either care nothing
for the future OF the country, even their
own section of it, or they are wofully igaor-
ant of the relations of cause and effect as
! exemplified in the history of nations.
Justice is the foundation of self govern
ment. The man who is not willing to do
right, must be controlled by others who will
make him do right. If necessary, his per-
sonal liberty must be restrained and a
prison interposed between his iawlessness
and its opportunity. In a word, if he can
not govern himself, he must be governed.
And as it is with the individual, so is it
with the community. A people among
whom public opinion does not enforce the
law and the right, cannot govern them,
selves; they mnst have master. OF
course, they feel the necessity themselves,
and, therefore, submit tho mo,e willingly.
without healthy pxbiic sentiment, a real
Republic cannot exist. Laws grow obso
lete when they no longer represent the
in Republic is the people. Even a Con-
stitution is mere form, q skeleton,
dead letter, without the animatng popu
lar impulse that originally gave it life. A
Lincoln can always emancipate his mil
lions of slaves in thu very face of Con-
stitution, without waiting for the formal
ty of an amendment, and without a MUIR
muir of dissatisfaction from the people, if
they, at heart, approve his proceeding.
SO, in Republic, the Constitution and |
the laws all depend for their vitality and |
force upon the popular sentiment, or, as it
IS called, "public opinion" Therefore,
when that public sentiment or opinion has
become corrupted, when it inclines to
Evil and sides with Injustice, right can no
onger be maintained by the law, nor even
y the Constitution. Injustice becomes
he rule, because it is a reflex of the pab-
&c Will, which is the only real law in a Re.
public; wickedness multiplies, rights
'anlsh, security disappears, anarchy com
nences to show itself on the scene until, at
ength, Napoleon or Caesar, grasps the
elm and the whllom Republicans hail him {
8 delIverer. They had gone crazy with
cense, and they are glad to be put in a t
traight jacket. G
now what we are coming at is this: If |
ublic sentiment in the Northern States I
an tolerate that glarng and continuous /
Justice shall control and ruin all the v
onthern States, it shows that passion and v
Justice, not wisdom and right, are at the t
aim. The South may be their first vic
m, but their appetite will grow with the q
eding. The public conscience being per "
'rted, iniquity will be tolerated nearer D
me. He who is not shocked at IL
ickedness in his neighbours house will s,
It be 30 very sensitive about it in his m
IN, and the perversion of all political Sc
yhts at the South in the face of an attep- &C
70 Northern public, without arousing the a. a.
nsuming FIRE of their wrath and indieua-
m would indicate very torpid sensi- -
ity among them on that subject. -,
lie who cares but little for his liberties
II soon lose them; and he who cares St
thing for his neighbours rights has no M
Vt conception of his own. is
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