Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-07-26
Some Duties Of Citizenship.


A SERMON PREACHED At WESTMINSTER, VERMONT, July
g 1882, BY REV. j. l.. sEwALL.
Render unto Caesar the things that are Casar's And
unto God the things that are Gods."-MarI rfi Il.
No man can be good Christian and
poor citizen. / seek to apply this truth to
the immediate duties Of American citizen
ship. What rightful claims does our country
make to-day upon us 7 How are we to "ren-
der unto Cesar the things that are Caesars ?"
First-Our country asks every man to
give her the offering of intelligence in all
political affairs. Every citizen ought to un-
derstand the workings of the government
under which he lives. This is specially
true in our land, where the governing power
is SO widely and equally distributed. Where
and what is this thing we call "the govern
ment 2" Is it in the White House or the
Capitol at Washington Is it in the State
House at Montpelier No; the govern
ment is here; you are the government
| am speaking to a certain number of legal
voters of this State and Nation; and there
is just as much of the governing power in
you as in the same number of voters wher-
ever you may find them. And because you
share the responsibility of government it is
sacred debt to your country to under
stand thoroughly all its political affairs.
Do you ask an illustration of the need of
this acquaintance of citizen with statecraft ?
Look across the water to Ireland. Among the
causes of her suffering you will find this
people ignorant of the principles and
practice of government. You say, )" Eng
land does not understand Ireland" True
in measure but it is also sadly true that
Ireland does not understand England. The
Irish peasant does not comprehend the plans
and purposes which the kindest and wisest
hearts in England are trying to carry out.
He does not understand the science of gov
ernment, and therefore he has no power OF
foresight, no gift of patience, and clamors
for remedies which would only aggravate
the diseases of the body polite. Look nearer
home; recall what you saw as the clouds of
war-smoke rose and rifted; think of the
governments that sprang up in the South as
the ignorant freedmen put the power of their
UNI cad ballots into the hands of northern
carpet baggers and think you must ad-
NIT that many of the evils which all de-
plored were due largely to the fact that the
voters were ignorant of the affairs of gov
ernment. In this connection your thoughts
will turn almost unbidden to the masses of
foreign population thronging to our shores
who understand only enough of the spirit
and genius of our politics to seize and cast
the first ballot that is offered them. These,
you say, are extreme illustrations of the lack
Of intelligence, and do not touch the voters
in these quiet, staid country towns in Yer
mont But ignorance is ignorance, wher
ever and in whatever degree it may exist
and | believe our text demands from us
here to-day deeper and broader under
standing Of the fundamental principles of
our government. 1t is not enough to know
the current news in the arena of law-mak-
;,,cx nd ala 10
understand ,ohy certain measures will be
helpful, ichy certain others will be hurtful.
Take almost at random, single illustra-
tion,-the condition of our currency. You
and | as voters are to say what sort of
money we shall have and how much of it
we are to determine whether national banks
shall live or die; we are TO decide when and
how, if at all, our national debt shall be
paid. All these matters are determined di-
rectly by Congress, indirectly yet surely by
the individual voters of township and plant |
alton. Thus the question comes home to
every voter who now listens, "What finan-
cial measures do wish to be put upon our
statute books 2" How can we answer this
question wisely and safely if we understand
nothing about the great principles which de-
termine the use and power of different kinds
OF money! So long as there are voters in our
land who think that piece of paper has any
more value than the precious metal which
may be received in exchange for it; so
long as we try to persuade ourselves that a
silver dollar is as good as a gold dollar, when
the silver dollar is really worth in the
worlds market only seven-eighths of the
gold dollar so long as such delusions
taint our national legislation, Just so long
does the good of our country call for more
intelligence in these things on the part of
every voter. This is only one of the deep,
wide-reaching, vital questions which our
national life is trying to answer. DO we, as
responsible voters understand what we are
doing2 Are we satisfied with the inteili-
gence of our political acting Says Carl
Schurz in his recent Grafton at Cambridge,
"Ignorance has impulses it requires knowl-
edge TO have convictions. The impulses OF
ignorance are sometimes motive power for
good, sometimes merely destructive force.
knowledge is the force that moderates,
guides, preserves, remodels, creates, de
velops What is the force that guides our
thinking, speaking, votingp We can know
more than we do about these things if we
are willing to take the trouble to learn and
we can do 1t more easily than we think.
There was never time when the press dis
cussed more intelligently these fundamental
III lOisiSo' ihoio tAioeo bo-ua1
society for spreading abroad political in
formation among all who will buy and read
three or four volumes year. These books
treat of the great questions of the day they
are written by able men without any parti-
san bias, and are furnished at the mere cost
of production. One thing certainly can be
done. The citizens of tomorrow, those who
are now in our common schools, can be
taught as their fathers were not, the great
principles and facts relating to our constitu-
tion and government. No town is doing its
full duty to the young men and women grow
ing up in its schools until it provides at
least elementary instruction in these mat
| ters.
Second.-I pass to a second thing which
our country to-day asks of each citizen
activity in political AFFAIRS The line of ar
gument and illustration just pursued bears
even more strongly here. Ignorance may
have at times sufficient and good excuse
Incidence, never. The intelligence for which
our country calls is not the abstract re.
search of the student in study and library
it is the practical working knowledge Of the
man who believes that citizenship means
not only clear thinking but strong acting.
To have convictions is not enough they
! must be expressed and impressed at all right