Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1884-02-08
Popular Government Defects and
Remedies.

ism rasping their very bones; when their
slightest actions are spied out and their most
sacred rights invaded, a free governmental
pears by contrast to be perfect in theory and
pure in practice. But after the priceless
gem has bsen won, and the first exultant
bursts of 10y have passed away, evils as
frightful as they are unexpected loom into
view. Questions of policy, problems, social
and economic, arise TO demand solution.-
And, alas too often discord and envy ruin
people, whom no tyrant's sword could sub
due. History furnishes many sad exam
pie. The "city of the violet crown" was
democratic in her institutions, but the sun
looks down on the crumbled fragments of
the Rarthenon now, and the blue waves Of
the Aegean chant the requiem of a country
whose glory is gone forever. The eternal
( tame so long and faithfully tended by the
Roman vestals has expired. The silvery
tones Of the orator no longer echo through
the stately Senate chamber on the tawny
Theirs bank.
Our own beloved country has not escaped
the shocks and strains, the fierce warfare of
parties, and the disastrous commissions of
society. Does this bitter wall, coming, we
may say, from the tombs of fallen nations,
teach us that our hopes of long national
life are vain Does 1t warn us that, though
now beneath the smiling skies and among
the budding flowers of Spring, we soon
must sink under the Winters snow and ice
Or does it rather exhort us to ponder the
lessons Of the past, TO strive TO eliminate the
fatal defects of the empires that have waned,
and to consecrate our country to higher
| and nobler life? Certain it is that experiS
ence, the sad and blighting expe1fefce Of
mankind, has shown that democracy alone
is not the balm for every social woe. There
are evils, arising from the present status of
the human race, and from the very moral
nature of man, which must be either exter
minated or counteracted before perfection in
government can be reached
Among the great dangers that threaten
republics are ignorance, which blinds; sell
fishness, which slabs, and immortality, which
cankers the state. The character of free
government is of course determined, to q
very great extent, by the character of the
people who call it into being If they be
ignorant, greedy and depraved, the govern
ment car hardly be enlightened, generous
and righteous. The tendency of civiliza-
ton has been to diminish the difference be-
tween the lofty and the lowly. AT the dawn
of day only the mountain peaks are gilded
by the sunlight, but before the noon-tide
every vale basks in the glowing beams. So
in the early ages of the world, while the
wings Of an intellectual night were spread
over the great mass Of humanity, the east
was kndling and the first rays were falling
on the exalted few And as the splendid
orb of civilization, with majestic step, moves
toward the zenith shadows fly, men become
brothers, and it is day. Yet, with all the
improvements, all the dazzling discoveries,
all the proud victories of mind over matter
all the means for the diffusion of knowledge,
ignorance still exists. 1t makes honest men
unable to grapple with questions of vital inn
portance which come before them rs citizens
for decision, and to choose men who shall
best administer the government. 1t fosters
crime, produces intellectual and moral
| dwarfs, saps the foundations of pure religion.
Through it men become the prey of design
ing demagogues, whose glib tongues, shall
low sophistries and base appeals to unreason-
ing passions and prejudices, would other
wise be void of effect. The remedy for this
great evil is universal education; not a sup
CRITICAL smattering of many things, nor the
narrow, exclusive study of few, butt broad
and thorough course of instruction in sub
jects selected because of their power Of dis
cipling the mind, enlightening the under
standing, training the judgment for action
/ III tuC CiiCi BOhOiOo vi liC, anu lOuuuiub bhO
character.
More ominous than ignorance is that bane
of society, whether under despotic OF free
governments, selfishness. That self-love is
the golden chain which binds men together
in a commonwealth will be questioned by
none. But il it be true that man loves soci-
ETY. hucH MS equdfly beJsand dis9qfs that
he )loves himself more. This is tue cruel
/ roof unnn which MT a faxu rpnoftfttiOnc
fraught with precious cargo Of human
hopes, have been wrecked. Thus is pre-
sented the strange spectacle of a factor at
once the veal and woo, the life and death
the support and destruction of government.
| King-craft is loathed because it puts the
people under the selfish will of one man
but Is not that government defective in
which the majority, composed OF men as
selfish, perhaps, rs kings, have unbridled
sway? The danger is diminished, not ban.
ished. Political corruption, the attempt tc
clutch power through the subversion Oh
evasion of law, and a reckless struggle fol-
the spoils of government are the wretched
offspring of this passion when it revolts
from The control of conscience. A partial an
tidotd for this defect is found in the system
of governmental checks. Majorties, though
they Ought to, and must possess the greater
Authority, since large number of men are
more likely, all things being equal, to be
right than small number, are still liable
to err and to usurp power. IT. by a com
pick organism, the rule of the majority is
kept 3ithin certain well-defined limits,
most vlluable result has been secured. Ii
the usebf this system, our country has beer
pre.emhently happy. Every department o
the government is made to restrain the am
dbl oh If
other dlhrtment. The States have yielded
r certainbf their original powers to the gen
eral gotanment, but that general govern
ment MUS yet respect and maintain invio
: late the Hserved rights of the States; til,
b House q Representatives which stands fo
: the pedpf curbs the Senate; the Senate
acting frl the States, watches the House
= Congress Ichecks the President, and tn,
Presidert checks Congress; while, allow
$ all, in rdts unstained with political miro
# and wild hands untouched by bribery's
gold, sit lthe Supreme Tribunal which
guards qelrights of the nation.
= Popuhr Education, also, is not without il
d beneficial dfects here Beside exerting o
is necessittinso some degree an ennobling infiu
ence upSi men, it shows them that ever
rationale 'ell-love chooses, as did Her
!. cules, vfue and not vice to be its maidei
10 guide. y enlightened men have sometime
l. discover that, on principles of expidiencN
l. alone, bls az that standard is, honesty is th,
M best pole, and obedience TO moral Law
: better Thu rebellion.
n Anothb ard a most potent remedy 20