Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-08-02

w IL - A<<AAs-Nf 1
ISAAC HOLLOWAY,
c. III. ARICK, Belmont 20.
w. A. HUNT, Com.
CIVILIZED OR BARBAROUs ?
The term civilization is used in two
senses; first, to express reclamation
from a savage state secondly, train
ing 10 arts and learning.
We class as barbarous those peoples
who, far-removed from the culture
and refinement of civilized life, mani
fest love for the rude conditions OF
Nature, are unrestrained by the law,
do not live in aggresations called So
ciety, are amenable to no power, and
controlled by no impulse save that OF
passion.
Moreover, we have been accustomed
to think that such as these are inhab-
;tauts of another continent or the wilds
of the unexplored West. We assign
them to the plains of Siberia, the
deserts of Sahara, the hesd-waters OF
the Nile, the FIJI Islands or the noun
tain Businesses of Patagonia. Indeed,
heretofore, it would seem an insult to
Intimate that any one covered by the
jurisdiction of the federal power could
be classed in the category with the
savaees. But a cloud has been lifted,
and now the light falls upon nation
covered with disgrace, and reveals to
her law-abiding and labor-loving citi-
zens mass Of lawless viciousness
which finds ne parallel in the putrid
rottenness of the shambles of the Old
World.
We are mortified to know that while
we have been instructiDg Europe to
educate her laboring classes and raise
the standard Of virtue ant intelligence,
we ourselves have allowed to live in
our midst an element of disintegration
which has well nigh Iut to naught the
combined forces of morality and law.
We have called upon our sister nations
to take away the notes from their own
ewes and behold beam OF vast dimen-
sions was in our own eye.
II violence is an element of barbar-
ism. we are not yet civilized. If dis
regard for life is an element of baibar-
ism, we are yet in the eclipse OF the
dark ages. Ifan exhibition of human
passions, the bloodiest in the records
of peace, furnishes an example of our
civilization, we must confess ourselves
ms weighed ia the balance and found
wanting.
Did the citizens of this republic for
a moment suppose that in the midst of
every city reposed volcanic force,
ready at the slightest provocation to
yomit forth destruction and death?
We speak of the versatile genius Of
France in being ever-ready for de-
molition of the forces which bind the
social compact. Let Us nov turn our
attention to the pent up possibilities Of
a mob, to the barbarous, savage and
pagan constituents of our own society
which the precepts of our religion and
the edicts of our lawmakers have
equally failed to reach. We call upon
every lover of his country and its in
stitutions to cease transferring mora
obligations. We call upon him to CEASE
upbraiding nations who after centuries
of growth have developed some fun
gous life. We call upon him to illustrate
the maxim, that charity begins a
home. -a 50.
Now, for the first time in a hundred
years, we must open our eyes totheaP
Mailing truth that tens of thousands IL
our midst have not yet learned the A
B,Cof American principles; nor tn
distinction between liberty and license
nor where the one ends and the othe
begins; nor that the one is guaranteed
to all and brings happiness to all; tina
the other is denied to all, and if taken
1t is done by violence, and remand
him who uses it to the category OF tn
savage and to be treated as such.
No nation, living as do we, in tn
form of government not segregated
into island dependencies, but one, an
indivisible, with easy communication
to every port, can afford to be partl.
civilized ard partly barbarous. l
must be all of one or of the other. l
ia not so in the United States. We ar
mixed people, sadly mixed, semi
civilized. The lessons of hundre'
wears have fallen upon listless ears an
callous hearts. The blood of our heros
on land and sea has been in measur
smiled in vain. The treasure so freel
expended has purchased for US the frul
of mob violence.
We have opened our cities reposin
Mt the gates of the sea and let in foo
tide of immigration which, in its infiu
ence, has yell nigh swept away tn
results of our labor for a century. W
are obedient to the dictates OF barbal
ism. We live for the present in tn
reiuvenated Middle Ages. We find ou
large cities, the centres of our CON
merce and manufactures, under tn
complete control of the enemies of civ
ilized government. The rights OF pei
sons with us il now myth, and
nroperty existing only in name. Eu
rope has emptied her Augtan staDie
upon the pure SOL Of the New world
pittsburgh. Baltimore, Harrisburg
Chicago, Columbus, St. Louis0m shoi
every city of iinportanre In the Etsl
North and West have been the scene
of murder, desolatiou and anarchy
The law for time has been poweiless
THE military, that force without whicl
I'LL c,overnmeut can exist, has beel