Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-05-24
.settied Quessions."

It deprecates discussion and Is filled
with horror at the idea of agitation.
One would suppose, from the trem-
ulous utterances of those who con-
troll these organs Of emasculated
opinion. that something inexpres-
sib:y terrible attaches to mental
and moral energy, and that moth
ing Is so much to be deprecated as
a free discussion of the issues ofthe
day.
We take great pleasure in assur-
ing timid people that violent de-
bate has always been a character
istlc of the people of the United
States, both before and after the
Declaration of Independence. The
American people remarkably re-
semble the ancient people of
Athens as described by st. Paul.
They are continually going around
seeking something new. In the in
tellectual, as in the physical world,
there is nothing SO discouraging as
mere torpidity.
Before our revolution we had the
little tea episode in Boston harbor,
with the interminable logomachies
which introduced that fateful war.
We made articles Of Confederation
in which we declared, in express
terms, that the document was to
be bond of perpetual union" In
l7s7-hardly five years after the
recognition of Am erican Independ-
ence-the people OF the United
States assembled to form "more
perfect union" this time wisely
leaving the word "perpetuap
ea... The most violent controversies;
in which the whole fabric of society
seemed to be tested to its uttermost,
preceded the assembling Of the Con-
stitutional Convention, attended the
adoption and followed the formu-
lating of the document known as
the Constitution of the United
States. Mr.. Jefferson, for one set
OF reasons, was in most lugubri-
Gus state of mind as to our future.
Mr.. Hamilton, from precisely OPP
poslte reasons, was also respondent
as to the durability of the Repub-
lie. The air was darkened by the
fast flying missives of differing
tenor which assumed, on grounds
as antagonlstic as the antipodes,
that the country was going to the
devil.
Finally the Constitution of the
United States got itself adopted,
and politicians of the optimist
school were justified in assuming
that something was settled. "On
the contrary, quite the reverse"
Probably no man who ever lived
was more calculated to disarm sus-
picions Of danger to the Republic
than Washington. Aud yet we
find the friends Of Mr.. Jefferson
the Monticello statesman himself
never shared this error even dis
trusted the Father of the Country
himself. The men who ruled
America for sixty years, and whose
influence was so strong that the
present Republican organization
borrowed one of their party
names, were never tired Of in
dulging in the most gloomy Jere-
maids as to the future.
Probably the next distinctive de-
parture in our politics dates from
the drawing up, by the hand of
Thomas Jefferson himself, of the
bill for the government of the
Northwestern territories. which
forever excluded that slavery,
which New England fought for in
the Constitutional Convention, from
the virgin soil Of that part
of the Republic. Slavery was
then supposed to be II settled
question:" The tremendous agita-
ton which ushered in the Missouri
Compromise showed how little de-
pendance was to be placed in "sst.
tied questions III the United
States. But, such as 1t was, tue
Missouri: Compromise served as the
text for the most interminable and
unintermittent agitation ever wit
messed in this country of agitation.
The repeal Of the Compromise, at
the instance of Stephen A. Doug
las, and the evolvemeut OF the Re-
publican party as Il consequence,
followed by the war, showed how
little Of stability attached to any
phase of our politics.
AS a result of this salient review
We draw what to US is an obvious
conclusion. Agitation, inquiry,
novelty, with the American peo-
pie, as with the old Athenians, is
the very breath Of our National
life. There are no settled questions
here. Everything is in chameleon
condition, and the passing popular
breath determines its color. The
spirit of agitation never, ia all our
history, had a more interesting de.
velopment than that which at
taches to the un-Republican frauds
by which Hayes was declared
President. We only obey logical
and Irresistible impulse in return
ing, again and again, TO this NOR.