The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1885-02-19
A Question OF Life and Death.

poleon, land you will find a Tartar
under his skin" The saying Is
susceptible of a wider duplication
In every organized community there
is an essentially barbarous element
at war with its peace and progreso.
1t is sort OF crude material which
must oe worked into the warp and
woof of civilization, else it will ruin
the whole fabric.
This element is, OF course, most
dangerous in democratic countries
II has n genius for the lower forms
of politics, and esteems the ballot
precisely as the iooipad does his
bludgeon OF his sandbag. In des
potic nations it is repressed by force
of arms until some day its hu3geI
and its rage assume a maniacal
strength, and then it uphea,es the
crust of civil society with The earth
quake throes OF revolution. But
where suffrage is universal it often
works its way to the top and to the
front under the forms of law. AT
heart it is alwayslawless' but it pre-
fers cunning to violence until long
settled supremacy has quieted its
furtive dread of the constable.
Then it unmasks itself, and stalks
through the streets of great cities al
home in savagery, uncoutb, nncul-
tured, rude and ruthless as the
painted warriors Of the plains.
A community under a domi-
nation OF that sort is a caricature OF
civilization. 1t has its churches
and its schools, its libraries and its
art galleries, its city halls and its
court houses, all the superficial indi
cations of enlightenment; but in
reality it is barbarous community,
with no practically acknowledged
standard of right and wrong ia its
government. It's vilest members
make their way into its highest offii-
ces and assume its most sacred
trusts. The bell rings on Sunday
morning and tue doctrines OF Christ
ianity are taught to respectable
few. The Judge opens his court on
the following day, and the lawyers
split hairs or puzzle witnesses and
| confuse evidence before ignorant
and venal juries. Living faith is
dead in the hearts of the multi ude,
the spirit of the law has departed,
the fibre of tile oak has lost its
strength and the tree is rotten to the
coIe.
There is no hope at all but in the
government OF the best. Ii demo-
cracy does not achieve that, it is a
failure; but il is not possible with
out sLrenuous effort. The penal
statutes in our law books, the jails
10 our towns, the very locks upon
our doors, are constant reminders of
the fact that civilization has not yet
attained a status of peace and safety.
No; it is like ship at sea with a
,mutinous crew shut down under the
hatches- crew ready at the first
opportunity TO hoist the black nag
and stain The deck with blood. II
is time hat We had GOT over our sur
prise at the wickedness and brutali-
ty of men, it is time we had discov-
ed that universal suffrage is not OF
itself a panacea for all the ills that
the body polite is heir to, and it is
time, if it is not too late, to recog-
nize the fact that the problem of
government is not mere question
of official patronage, but question
of life and death to the people
We are not in the least exaggerat-
ing the Importance of the struggle
in which we would have our friends
engage. The corrupting influence
OF the Ring rule has demoralized
every department of our Govern
ment. The name of politician has
become by-word of reproach. The
Legislature OF the State has become
a market. Here in this city jurors
and witnesses are bought and sold
like sheep, and men are slaughtered
upon the streets by the very SER
wants Of the law.
Is the law necessary ? Is it alb
| solutely indispensable ? Well, then
consider the gravity OF the situation
where the law has become inopera-
tive. Certainly now and then a
very poor and friendless man is
hung or sent to the penitentiary.
But what warning is that to men
who are not very poor and friendless,
to men who have political influence,
to men who stand within the cir
cumference OF the Ring, to men who
have an army of hoodlums at their
backs ? We have gone on from
year to year opposing this and that
unworthy aspirant for Office, attack
ing various nefarious schemes OF
Legislation. preaching reform in and
ont OF season; and the people have
regarded it all as mere matter Of
politics. We repeat that it Is for
our community literally a question
of life and death, of prosperity or de-
cay. We have had more than one
| illustration of the fact, land we have
had one so notable and so recent
that we need not refer to it more
particularly. Society cannot afford