Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1880-11-12

laws, COuiu no longer llllu place OF refuge,
where, no guarantee existing for the citizens,
and they having none for themselves, men in
power made a sport of the people, and princes
worn out the clemency of the heavens rather
than the patience of their subjects They
are blind indeed who look after Democratic
equality in the monarchy of Henry " or
Louis XIV" -
The careful observer closely examining
the eras in the history of the world in
which centralization has riveted its CALLING
chains, finds food for consolation, and even
for pride. The love Of liberty, civil and re-
ligious, has after repeated trials and many
failures, and by ways past finding out, sub
stituted for the tyrannies of France under
Louis XIV to which the learned author has
referred, a milder form of government as
in Austria under Maria Theresa, in Prussia
under Frederick in Russia under Catherine,
andi in Germany under Dukedoms and Prin-
cipalities. These changes have demonstrated
the interesting truth, that mind and force
may for time coalesce, genius and liberty
may for while become allies of disorder
and CONFUSION, but all history tells us, to
use the language of another, "that there is an
eternal reaction Of independence against
oppression, of the power Of mind against
the tyranny Of strength, of the force of in
tellect against the domination of members,
and this action and reaction steades the
march of human events, and renders the
misfortune at once the means of instructing
the wisdom, correcting the errors, and miti-
eating the sufferings of those which succeed
it,"
Whoever has closely observed the despot-
ism Of large bodies of men, whether in So
cial or political life, must have become SEN
sible, that the most uniform and lasting
feature by which they are distinguished, is
our danger and in these days of political in
trigue and malfeasance in official position it
is by no means small. The moment that
this Indifference becomes apparent, a total
revolution takes place, not merely in the
conduct of government, but in the vigilance
with which it is guarded by the great
body of the people. Bold and desperate
men suddenly become clothed with power,
and being the dispensers of influence and
patronage, find themselves surrounded by a
host of hungry dependents, to whom neces-
sity is law. The consequence is that the
great body of the people formerly so loud
in their clamors against corruption, and their
demand for virtuous and patriotic admin
istration of public affairs, now quietly pass
by on the one side, and either openly and with
shameless effrontery defend every species of
abuse, because they profit by it, or maintain
a studied silence, and thereby give wider
extension of power to the leaders which
law, and any and every disregard of con-
sttutional limitation, becomes legitimized
In this condition of things every one seems
on the lookout for himself, no other object is
attended to but the promotion Of separate
interests or class elevation, the public press
seldom denounces, because their leaders and
the writers in their columns are benefited by
them, and what is worse public feeling be-
comes corrupted because the great body of the
people profit, or hope to profit by the abuses
in which their leaders indulge Then it is,
that thoSo leaders become drunk with sue
cess, abuse of power becomes violent and
open, Capitalization, the bitter enemy of
freedom, starts upon its mission of wrong
and oppression, eliminating in the absolute
obliteration Of those great principles which
have as their avowed object the amelora
ton OF mankind
1t cannot be questioned, but that the Re-
publican party, which has had control of
the government for twenty years, through
its deputies, leaders and agents, has and
still is pursuing that line of policy which
gives startling evidence of the fact, that we
are slowly but surely drifting into that con-
solidation of power which is utterly repug-
nant to the spirit of our institutions and
which if pursued must finally eventuate in
a form of tyranny more terrible and degrad-
ing than in those cases to which we have re-
ferred.
We have an abiding faith in the virtue, in
telligence and patriotism of the greater por-
ton of the people who have given their ad-
herence TO the party now in control of the
government They recognize and appre-
cate the fact that they are sovereigns of the
land as well as the rightful custodians of
that great chart, the constitution, which was
intended by the trainers should be trans
mitted to succeeding generations in all of its
original purity, strength and beauty. Here
and there, in time and space, there may be
and there doubtless is a retrograde move
ment, and night of darkness seems to set
tie upon those regions where the sun has
shone. More now than ever thought gov
erns, forces yield and obey Prejudice, GUS
tom and error yield at last to the march of
intellect, and this very element, which has
become convulsed and led astray in the
moment of popular phrensy will in their
calmer moments return to the affairs at which
they formerly worshiped and in the support
of those principles which sustain the right
OF seli-government as laid down over hun
dred years ago. They will rise again to rec
ognize the fact that upon this continent, the
great principle of human rights was to ma
ture. That it was intended that we should
ever be free from civil wrong and religious
fanaticism; that here no royal retinue mani
Tested the physical power to sustain the
presence of an empire, but all that met the
eye or sounded upon the ear, was to par
take of the majesty of freedom, and the
human mind expanding beneath its mellow
light, was TO give birth to eternal principles;
that "the enormous faith of many made for
one" was to be arraigned by philosophy,
defed by arms, and driven before that iuster
creed, which rests upon individual equality
and holds "lile, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness inalienable rights" and thought
speaking aloud and without fear was to Gle.
vate the social organization of the world
1t was to be a government springing from