Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-02-19

power OF the bonapaftes and the revival OF the
monarchy has been an ark of refuge to the French
people in at least three instances, from the inse'
curity and terrors OF iawless liberty. The one
master of a free people is the law. There is nc
capacity in human nature for any other freedom
and any experiment which may be tried is not
| doubtful. ga government of laws and not Of
| men )" such is the name by which our own gov
eminent is styled, and such is the character by
which we have won our success as free people.
The definition given of free government by the
most eminent Of political writers is "a government
of laws" The fundamental law or constitution,
limits the power Of rulers and the municipal law,
the action of tie people Between these two bar
rlers runs the path of full. and tranquil en-
ioyment of the rights and blessings Of republican
liberty The integrity Of those barriers is its only
security. The principle Of support, is respect for
law Where either side this is wanting, it will
not long be wanting en- the other. When a peo-
| pie are lackingsin it, the rulers emanatng from
them will share their spirit and will treat the con-
sitution when occasion arises, as the former treat
| the laws.
| With this view ofthesc things ii is evident, that
it is possible for people to be in polite, what the
Jews were in religion; obseryant of forms while
parting with the substance those forms were in
tended to preserve. stcklers for mint, anise and
cummin, Int neglec.ing the weighter matters of
the law. In other words, people may carefully
maintain good model of constitution and laws.
while yet not cLerishing regard for their SUI
preme and constraining authority. They may
provide amply for the requirements of business
and for all those secondary interests which pre-
suppose the safety of those more important, while
those primary rights which it is the first object Of
government to protect are held at the will of a
spirit of lawessness which dominates both law and
constitution. This is as If. while we arc building
up our cask higher to make it hold more, some sly
| enemy should knock out the bottom. When we
obey the constitution and laws only when we do
not wish TO violate them, there is neither authori-
ty nor obedience in the case. 1t is the subject who
is supreme, not the law "A contradiction in terms
We may please ourselves with the idea that we
are under constitution and laws, but it is play
| upon the word, if the constitution and laws are
carried just above the point where the pressure of
their obligations is felt. Their operative bearing
| in such case is the same with that Of the famous
peck of oats which the horse carries inch below
| his lips.
Although there be no special propnety in these
remarks, in reference to our own State, yet as q
part of the great body, DO We not see that IN the
times to which they have just application Oar
government, State and national, has gone on to
within about decade Of century. During the
greater part of that time we have enjoyed, es-
pecially in the North Eastern States the full ben
efts and blessings of true civil liberty as they
have never been known before. But during all
that period We have been known and described as
law-abiding people. Our enjoyment Of freedom
and our respect for law were parallel. 1t would
be impossible to notice the one and overlook the
other. They were iusepaIable. Respect for law
was the very means through, which that enjoyment
Of individual rights which constitutes freedom,
was secured That daring usurpation which sat
iricaly styles itself taking the claw" into its
hands was unknown. Such was the character Of
our people up to recent period. The period pre-
ceding had been the trial period of our history.
What in the beginning was the great ques' on of
the practcablity Of republican liberty was then
determined. The great experiment was triumph"
the result what is it but that great pcrvading
and striking characteristic, the thoroughly law
abiding character OF an intelligent people. The
law was lbery's minister, its expression, its cita
del. 1t was diligently guarded as the palladium
| Of the rights of all. To crush it to redress
wrong, was to crush it protector of the right.
To bear its imperfections, Content with its self
correcting power) was the way TO make it per-
| feet, for authority was its life. One stah,-and
the law remans,-but dead.
| With these sentiments and with this character,
our people were fifty chosen by the God of civil
liberty to demonstrate its practicability to the
hopes and aspirations of suffering world. The
demonstration has been wrought out, and its en-
during monument is in history. But having thus
fulfilled this mission, shall now continue to en-
joy the benefits Of the great truth, or shall We add
the converse to the demonstration by exhibiting
the fact that while civil liberty may be maintained
upon certain conditions, without those conditions
it will fail Certain it is, we have entered upon a
new phase of character as people, and the law
abiding spirit having vacated certain sections of
and is fast weakening its hold upon our own.
The spirit which supplants it, advances under
the pleasing illusion of larger liberty and of ends
of right but it will generate the worst of tyran-
MES and perversions of justice now unthought Of
THAT worst Of tyrants. an usurping crowd" is
testimony as old as Homer. The evil is not that
| of impulsive exetements alone. Those excite
ments may be the tools of passion and malignity,
| the elimination of intrigue and artifce. They
may serve political or personal ends. They are
| an engine of unlimited power, which may be
worked for indefinite purposes, and by hidden
means. The most wisely framed institutions in
the world have been our boast. But wherein does
their vital excellence consist In the largest lib
erty consistent with the public order as defined in
political platform of the last car"ass,) and in the
securing of that liberty by laws which define Of
fences and which establish just forms by which
those offences shall be ascertained, ever guarding
the right of the accursed to fair ami impartial
trial. The most advanced political wisdom, the
growth of ages, has elaborated those rights and
forms-the spirit Of lawlessness shattered them at
| a blow, and RENTS us to state of nature. The
| danger Of this country is not from the power Of
one or the power of the few. 1t is from the power
| of the many to Cypress the few. 1t is the danger
| of pnpnlar freedou er,mnninU IN bcensa and