The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-07-25
Wednesday. July IS. 1877.



Nero fddled while Rome was burning.
1t was the act Of heartless and brutal
Tyrant he was the ruler not only of the
burning city, but Of the vast empire of
which Rome was the capitol. Posterity
has justly heaped upon his memory the
excavations of outraged and indignant
humanity.
The person so utterly lost to shame and
decency rs to play the demagogue in times
of peril and threatened public calamity is
no less to be execrated and despised, no
less to be Stunned and spit upon, than the
wicked and heartless. Tyrant who Knocked
and derided the misery and misfortunes of
his suffering countrymeD.
There are times when public interests
aud national safety demand Of all right
minded thinking men that they should
speak the words of truth and soberness,
honestly and frankly. There are occasions
when il is wicked and criminal to counte-
nance or approve the acts of an ignorant
aud misguided multitude, or pander to
passion and folly for the sake of counting
favor. At such timss, the supreme and
all pervading necessity Of maintaining law
and order makes the articles of the dema-
gogue, the lickspittle, and the toady, APP
pear in their truly despisable character,
their damnable nakedness.
There is no sorrier product Of human
conceit aud ignorance than the everlasting
hypocrisy and cant Of men whose sole
efforts are to minister to unhallowed pas
sion and unreasoning prejudice. Every
intelligent person is sensible in moment OF
the change in. the whole climate of thought
and feeling when he:crosses the boundary
line which the common judgment of wise
and good men in all ages has established
between constituted authority and chaotic
anarchy. Suppose all men are en-
dowed with radically the same facul-
ties and with certain inalienable rights,
the horizon of human relations aud of ex
pressible conditions in relation to their
lives and conduct is necessarily limited to
the good of the whole, and not to the
special good Of particular persons. There
is no safety for individuals, and no regard
for persons or their rights, unless through
the agency and power of constituted au
thority order can be secured aud law
duly respected and obeyeG. The securit.
aud prosperity Of all human occupation
rest upon the assumption Of established
and permanent order, Of obedience to law
and the redress Of grievances through
peaceful and legitimate agencies.
The subversion of government and thu
substitution of anarchy are close at ham
when individual action may be allowed
ursurp the functions'which belong only
the aggregated whole, or its Representa-
tives, and when turbulent and unprinciplet
men may grasp at power with blood
hands, and Sampson like, overthrow tn
pillars Of administrative justice and il
volge all in common ruin.
All law, all governments, all restrain
upon individual freedom of action, are bu
the general expression Of the hums
mind that justice is better than life, ar
the welfare of the whole superior to pc
soma! and individual interests.
There is nothing more pernicious mo
suicidal to the well being Of the poop
at large, to law, order, justice, and the pu
suits Of life liberty and happiness than f
men, or a class of men, to announce the
disregard Of law and the rights and j
terests it protects; and there is nothi
more detestable, more shameful, or mo
to be Indignantly frowned upon than the {
ton Of unprincipled men who seek votes
pecuniary rewards by encouraging and I
holding others in acts of violence, disord,
and contempt for delegated and constit
tional authority.