The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-06-13
An Irrepressible Conflict.


period in the future from the time he wrote,
be only two representative governments in
the world-the one Monarchial or Despotic,
represented by Russia, and the other Dem
ocratic Or Republican, represented by Amer
lea. IL was not the lesson of experience or
history that taught this. 1t was close analy-
sis of the springs of human action, and the
influences which direct the conclusions of
political bodies or States. He saw here a
people educated in the idea and trained. in
the experience OF democratic institutions,
exercising the widest liberty in the express
sion OF their opinions and criticism of the
measures of government and the highest
officials in the land, unrestricted, in
spring devotion to the fundamental prin.
ciples which tolerated this liberty, and
strengthening the fabric of govern ment by
reason of the balance of parties growing out
Of this freedom Of discussion. Repression or
restriction in the exercise of free thought
and criticism in regard to matters of govern
ment and the acts and conduct OF public
servants would invoke universal malediction,
and give occasion for the ASSERT on of the
sovereign right Of the people to determine,
not only the true nature of our government
tai system, but the obedience of the delegated
agents to popular command The very elias
ITCHY of our institutions, with people edu-
Gated under their influence, is their crown
ing virtue and safeguard, - demonstrat-
ing that a government of the people,
for the people and by the people, is
the perfection of state-craft. The strain
upon its vitality which has been ex-
perienced, and the vigor and robust energy
which it has developed by reason Of this Sc
we're trial, have only the more deeply en-
grated it upon the popular consciousness and
| intensified the devotion Of the constituent
body toits fundamental organism and frame
work. Republican institutions, as devel-
oped in America, resting upon the moral
forces and guided by the trained intellec-
tons Of the People, stand out in the great
catalogue of nations as the masterpiece of
human wisdom, and tribute to human ca
pacities, without parallel in the govern
ments of the world. Political and religious lib
critics constitute their chief cornerstone, and
distinct as they are in their spheres of influ-
ence, yet they blend in their virtues and
strength to give symmetry and power to the
fabric. Empires and skeptics have pointed
to the Republics Of Greece and Rome, and fol-
lowed them as .hey rose in their splendor
and beauty, and then rolled down their bril-
| liant pathways to the tomb of nations, to
illustrate the destiny Of this great Republic.
The parallel, however, oniy exists in nominal
ism. The underlying cause which is now
startling and convulsing the dynasties OF
the old world, finds 10 Audience here.
Castles and privileged classes have in them
selves the seeds Of conflict, and sooner or
later, as reason develops and light breaks in
upon the mind, the collision must eliminate.
The great truth, that all men are by nature
created equal, and the rights Inherent in one
are inherent in others, was never before
recognized as the basis of government, and
in this consists the bulwark of our Republic.
1t is destined to grow and strengthen as in
telligence and virtue spread among the peo-
pie, and sink deeper and deeper its supports
as Political and Religious truths are un-
folded. Amid convulsion and revolution,
as if to test the vitality OF the principle pro-
claimed in our Declaration of Independence,
its application was widened, gathering in
new elements to be educated up to its priv
i!eges and demonstrate Its stalwa1t virtue
ard enduring vitality.
The moral ard intellectual forces which
are nnrtured and invigorated under our form
Of government, and hare achieved a robust
ness never dreamed of in the philosophy of
ancient Republics, are now silently at work
in the more liberal and enlightened of the
despotic governments OF Europe. The tri-
umphs of the people Of France over the
monarchial sympathies of their President,
are but a recent attestation of the spread of
our institutions, and the socialistc agitations
of Germany are but the struggling of the
crude thoughts of freedom which are perme-
ating the masses. In the irrepressible con-
|
lightened and civilized nations of the East,
between the inherent rights Of man and the
restrictions Of castles, violence may be ex-
pected, as no great reform was ever con-
summated without sanguinary and bloody
collision. These are but the incipient symp-
toms-.he premonitions of the great up
heavals which are destined to shatter mon
arches and castles, and proclaim the heaven
| inspired truth that all men are created equal,
and have the inherent right to the enjoy
ment Of life, liberty and the pursuit of hap
plness. England, upon whose domain the
circlng sun never sets, and whose aristoc-
racy and privileged few roll in luxury as the
tribute Of the sweat and toll of the millions
of India, and also Of Ireland, may boast her.
self of her power and her dominion. but she
too is sleeping upon volcano, whose forces
will sooner or later leap into activity and
send their consuming fires through the rot
ten fabric OF her social organism. The des-
potism of caste is libel upon free lnstitu-
tions. Where The political econ omy is so ad-
justed as to make the few the masters over
the N anywhere the distinction of classes
is a lib ell upon the justice Of the Creator,
and the accident OF birth the insignia of
auti- orty and superiority, there must neces-
sarily exist discordant elements which,
in time, will evolve commotion and the dis
turbance, if not the destruction of the arbi-
trary and despotic supremacy OF class over
class. All through continental Europe the
workings of Republican ideas are being man.
lfested, and while they may be called social
ism in ore locality and communism in an
other, they are but the undeveloped germs of
Republican freedom, which have to be wa
tered with blood to have impaired to them
vitality and vigorous growth. The day will
come, when Germany, France and England
will have governments of the people, for the
people and by the people, and the dream of
Delocqueville be realized in the formula