The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-02-21
DEsTRUCTION OF LIBERTY AND
CIVILIZATION.

to HENRY g. RANDALL in q correspond
enoe growing ou. OF the latter's "Life oi
jefferson" made some predictions as to
the instability OF our government, which
under the light OF present events have
fearful meaning He says:
81 have long been convinced that in
stitutions purely democratic must, sooner
or later, destroy liberty or civilization,
| or both. In Europe, where the popula.
ton is dense, the offect of such in.
stitutions would be almost instantane-
GUS"
He then proceeds to draw picture of
the time when business will be para
|, ,lyzed, followed by general distress
among the lsborlng classes, and adds:
"Then your institutions will be .sirly
brought to the test. Distress every
where makes the lsborer mutinous and
discontented, and inclines him to listen
with eagerness TO agitators who tell him
that it is q monstrous iniquity that one
man should have million, while an.
other cannot get full meal"
After stating that he has seen Eng
land pass through such critical season
he says:
Through such seasons the United
States will have to pass in the course OF
the next century, if not Of this. How
will you pass through them? l heartily
wish you good deliverance. But my
reason and my wishes are At war, and L
can not help foreboding the worst. 1t is
quite plain that your Government will
never be able TO restrain distressed and
discontented majority.
He concludes with this prophecy:
Your Constitution is all sail and no
anchor. AS said before, when society
has entered on this DOWN. ward progress,
either civilization or liberty must perish.
Either some Cesar or Napoleon will
seize the reins of government with q
strong hand, or your Republic will be as
feariully plundered and laid waste BY
barbsrians in the twentieth century a.
the Roman Empire was in the fifth, with
this differ ence, that the Huns and Nandals
VINO ravaged the Roman Empire came
from without, and that your Huns and
Nsndals will have been engendered with
In your own country, by your own insti-
tutions. Thinking thus, OF course l caI-
not reckon Jefferson among the beneiac-
tors Of mankind"
The London Standard in commenting
upon this letter Of Mscauly's and its ap-
plicstion to that country, says:
The traditions OF English society,
handed down without break from the
days of the Plsntagenets, constitute u
social force against which, if rightly dl-
rected, Democracy will beat itself il
vain. Long habits of command, sup
ported by eminent qualities on the one
side and long habits of obedience on the
other, sweetened and softened by the in
fluence of hereditary connections, as dear
to the peasant as the peer, make the
Democratic element in English insttu-
tious practically innocuoss. Now, in
America all this is wanting. The peo-
pie there are not only nominslly. but
prdcLlcdIlN tne Ihnsscrs'
The American people will treat these
prophecies of woe with less contemptth than
they did sixteen years ago. Our expert
ence within that time has taught us that
we are not exempt from the dangers ttst
harass the balance of mankind, and We
have good ground for apprehension that
there are causes at work here which will
hurry us on the downward road. In
Great Britain a wealthy aristOcrscy is
the ruling class, and consequently in
condition to resist and avert such dangers.
The reverse is the case In our
country, and when monied arIstocracy
attempt to rule the majority with IN
iron hand, the reaction will set in, and
that sgitators can be found to start the
revolution is amply illustrated in the
scare which Don Pistts little newspaper
article gave the bloated administration
y, Washington lew days ago. II those
now in power woulc study the history
of past republics and make liberal
use of common sense as well as show
of regard for honesty and decency, the
dangers which now threaten US may be
sverted, and our Liberty and Civilization
be preserved.