The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-07-21

| Undermined by dlShOnesty ana ialBenOOuj or
may crumble in the dry rot of corruption and
Generalization.
If the limits so carefully assigned by the
Constitution to the Government of the Union
are to be dsregarded in favor of the theory
of a paternal government, and constant sys-
TEN OF interpeddling with the local and do.
nestle affairs Of the States is to be sanctioned,
soon will follow a system Of national aid to
local improvements, and all the numberless
enterprises which should be left TO individual
and local energy and resources will be prose-
cuted under the patronage Of the Federal
| Treasury, until every canal, railroad and
other improvement will be expected to be
built under the fostering care OF the General
! Government. Political organizations will then
be arrayed like storming parties for assault
on the public treasury, and national bank.
ruptcy cannot long be averted. Politics will
become little more than systems of skilfully
organized plunder. and the abuses will grow
with what they feed upon.
| From such theory nothing but vicious ad.
ministration can result. 1t will create taxa
ton and expenditure, and attract to its sup.
| port the venal 1t will foster violence and
disorder, and the tmid will seek it for pro.
lection. 1t will create immortality, and the
plous will seek its power to counteract the very
wrongs it has generated There has been
enough, and more than enough, in the actual
history of our own times to prove that what
| have suggested has had practical illustration,
and the distress we witness to-day throughout
the country is largely attributed to such causes.
| There are economic problems that now con
| front us which Coll for all the craftsmanship,
| good sense and good feeling We can muster
for their solution. In the legal profession is
to be found class of laborious and painstak.
\ .Ls1afa
acute but narrow minds seem never able to
perceive the principle which runs through
cases, and which once apprehended serves to
reduce them to orderly classification.
In medicine there is n class of practitioners
who give little heed to anything but an accu.
mutation of remedies which constitute their
only reliance, and which they collect with
great assiduity and apply with equal alacrity
"a pet drug or potion for the symptoms they
are called TO relieve, but who are never occu.
pied in reverently considering the great laws
ofhealth--a limited perception Of which would
be so much more useful in preventing the
seeds of disease from being planted and bear.
ing their fatal harvest.
| In matters political we have kindred class
Of huckstering statesmen who, for every dis.
order Of the body polite, have ready at hand
disabling statute, a penalty of test.oath
ready for administration to the disobcdent or
dsatfected; whose idea Of government is "a
combat by DEGREES, an invasion by constables
and spoliation by judges small. minded
men whose little souls cannot comprehend
the calmer wisdom that, perceiving the great
laws Of human sympathy, render discomfort
and disorder, short lived or impossible by re-
moving or avoiding the causes for their exis.
tence. 1t is to the hearts Of the American
people that turn with most confidence, and
in the force of the unwritten laws my chief
hopes are reposed. | wish | could bring to
the minds Of those who hear ne now the spirit
and meaning Of scene which took place two
or three years ago in one of the Southern
States, whittier had gone to urge in friendly
counsel the rejection Of some false and dan.
gerous suggestions in relation to our national
| finance which were being introduced and re-
commended disingenously and mischievously
by political agents from other parts Of the
| country. In the utter impoverishment of an
| agricultural people, suffering from disor-
ganized system of labor, prostration of indus.
tries and au abolition Of the only banking
facilities upon which they had been accustom.
ed to rely, it is scarcely to be wondered that
any promise of immediate relief, even the
shallow aud mocking cry Of "more money"
should have been hailed with delight 1t
seemed to me then to be my duty to warn
those fellow .countrymen of ours against not
only the false economies of such doctrines,
but to develop the danger to our national
credit and the assault upon the Government
itself that lay concealed within the PROPOSE.
ton OF renewed "inAation'i and convertible
bonds"
One evening after pleasant dinner, and
in all the freedom of social assembly, these
topics were debated in a room filed with men
of whom l was almost the only one who had
not worn the gray from 1861 to 1865. The
discussion was ygorous-hrst the economy
and finally the patriotic side of the question
and to my appeals on this point there was but
! a chilly response, for it was in the days when
military menance unhappily still survived as
a political force of administration in the af.
fairs of some of the States.
Finally | said, "Gentlemen, you are all
very positive and unwilling to accent NV
views, but think know how to control you,
and despite your strong language | can find
means to obtain your submission
There was no response for moment an
atmosphere of resistance seemed to fill the
room, aud in the eyes around me shone a
| light of defiance. Then one of the party
asked, with some severity Of manner, "Pray,
| sir, how do you propose to manage us so
easily and compel our submission ?'
said, 81 would give you power to do right
and then would defy you to betray the trust.
You yourselves should be your conquerors.
| There were few men in that room who had
not faced death in battle, and many bore the
scars of conflict on their persons, but as
looked around the angry light of resentment
had passed from their eyes, which were not
unmoistened by generous emotion, and
was left the victor on that field. Who that
/ has fpgta1 nnnia "a, l,.t 4
init that the spark Of our higher origin fingers
in the human breast, and that an echo TO the
call OF our better nature will almost always
respond TO the appealing voice of higher
motive aud more generous emotion
! DO you remember how Dickens, with his
wonderful eye for human nature and his ex.
traordinary power of painting its likeness in
carieature, tells us, in the history of "Nicho.
las Nickleby," of the necessity of allowing
the weaker side to prevail in order to satisfy
public demand in matters theatrical? Mich.
olasis introduced to Mr.. Vincent Crummles,
who Is superintending the rehearsal of a com
bat with broadswords, between his two sons,
the Masters Crummles, in the character of a
tall sailor and a short sailor respectively.
There's a picture" said Mr.. Crummles,
motionlng Nicholas not to advance and spoil
it. The little one has him; if the big one
doesn't knock under in three seconds be is a
dead man. Do it again, boys.n
The two combatants went to work afresh
and chopped away until the swords emitted a
shower of sparks, and the exciting struggle
finally ended when the short sailor (who was
the moral character evidently, for he always
had the best of it) made o violent demonstra
ton and closed with the tall sailor, who, after
atew nnayailing struggles, went down and ex.
pred IN great torture as the short sailor put
his loot upon his breast and bored hole in
HIM through and through.
What do you think Of that, sir ~ inquired
Mr.. Crummles.
-. VERY good, indeed; capital" answered
Nicholas.
You won't see such boys us those very
often, think Mr.. Crummles.
Nicholas assented, observing that If they
were little better match
Match ~ cried Mr.. Crummles.
~ mean il they were little more of a size. ~
said Nicholas, explaining himself
Size ~ repeated Mr.. Crummles; 'swhy
it's the essence Of the combat that there
should be foot or two between them. How
are you to get up the sympathies Of the au.
dienee in legitimate manner if there isn't a
l.