Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-07-06

| truition. would, with us, have ended con
stitutional government This want of rev
erence 10 the law, this spirit of disobe
dlence. this uneasineS5 under restraint
seems to be growing among the young, anC
II unchecked, promises to become danger
Gus to the public safety.
Great wealth is fast becoming dangerous
not only TO the public. but to those whI
| possess it. AS wealth makes life compare
| lively easy, gives leisure for cultivation, anC
as the source of power is an element o
public safety, we are apt to conclude tina
1t IS an unmiXed good. All experience
declares that the rule of compensation ap,
plies here
Wealth is apt 10 arrogate to itself priv
leeges beyond its right; by so doing it in
yiteS criticism and assault Ii finds it nee
essary 10 bolster up its advantages by new
claims less excusable than its first aggres-
sion. Feeling itself more powerful than
the poverty which surrounds it, it makes
its contempt felt by all those it regards as
beneath ii. Widening its design, it begins
the attempt to sap the foundation of the
law by every indirection. Great aggrega-
tons OF wealth are often adverse. one to
the other, and each in turn corrupts the
Legislature, the magistrate and the people.
When that phase arrives, if there are left
j.
popular corruption, they accept o stronger
mOnarchial rule. Such are the
DANGERS OF Too GREyr PROSPERITY,
Which produces a decadence of public viz
tue, in view OF which Washington warned
the American people in his farewell adj
dress. 1t was said of the Roman republic
and nation "She that tanned the whole
world tanned herself at last; and, falling
by her own weight, became prey to time :"
Her immense treasures, used as 3 means to
bride and corrupt the mass Of barbarian
which she had absorbed from without, and
her freed slaves within, were q source of
evil and not of good. There followed such
Gecadence of public and private virtue,
and love Of liberty under the law, as rem
dered her an easy prey to the first barba-
rian attack.
Wealth is not always by any means a
public menace. 1t requires but child 5
memory to have seen that which our de-
scendantS, thousand years hence, may
regard as more wonderful than the parting
of the Red Sea before Moses, and one, not
to speak of too lightly, fully as benefcent
IN It's consequences, The solid bones Of
earth have crunlbled the desert and o vii
derness, wider and as dreary as that about
Sinai and Hor, have been passed, by the
aid OF the republican wealth, which has
made strong the bands which bind us to
our country, its faith. its hope and its IN
stitutions.
THE BLESSINGS FROM WEALTH
Wealth thus used and thus bestowed
blesses mankind and tends to awaken that
Intellectual activity so necessary to sound
government. It often follows that wealth
expended in other and more private ways
tends largely to remove that feeling of I'M
rest and dissatisfaction which the unequal
distribution of the goods of this world is
so well calculated to excite. The legal dis
tribution of wealth when its possessor dies
and the general further distribution which
ordinarily follows, may well relieve us of
all fear TO government from great aggrega-
ton. at least in private hands.
The vast applications of wealth to chart
table purposes, is not to be lost sight Of
some OF them make Us all of kin. The in
junction 10 remember the poor is not al
ways forgotten There Is occasionally one
who gives evidence that the brotherhood Of
man is not a lost idea. Wealth without
stint is poured forth for purposes of hui
mainly.
The children, the old and the needy. ar.
gathered from the abodes Of want, and are
placed in safety and plenty; and to all is
furnished a resting place, with whom life's
titfIl fever is over. Things OF beauty and
grace are offered as an oblation to the souls
Of all. A few years ago one died with you.
man OF highest character, faithful 20 his
human brotherhood. His virtues have
survived him. You do well to honor such
humanity; utter your words of love and
praises in speech and song. Let the young
and the beautiful present their homage and
streW flowers in the pathway of that higher
attribute OF goodness while they NAV: soon
purer justice, and nightier hand than
ours, will lead her over flowers Of lasting
perfume. into the garden of the heavenly
Eden.
Wealth with us will produce no danger
Its entertainments are TO be anticipated, hut
are not to be feared.
Uses AND ABUSES OF PARTY.
In the same address, the Father of his
country warns us of the evil effects of the
spirit of party. After asserting its existence
generally, he declares tina; in governments
of popular form it is seen in its greatest
rankness, and is truly their worst enemy"
That in governments purely elective it is a
spirit not to be encouraged. All the evil
consequence of an indulgence of party spirit
stated by him have been more or less APP
parent with us, and mutual acrimony,
hatred and party zeal have on more than
one occasion, procured interference from
our foreign ill-wishers.
In all our political life, there is hardly
an instinct or act more destructive 10 rep
resentative Governments than adherence to
any political organization, after having
abandoned, or progressed beyond its tenets
No man should be forgetful for a moment
that republican or representative govern
ment demands of him to express, by his
vote, his own personal opinion upon all
questions submitted to him, and that any
thing short of this is failure to discharge
his most sacred political obligation
Organizations with no opinions common
to its members touching the principles of
government, cease TO be parties, and are
entitled only 10 the appellation of faction.
Such factions are held together b. the
cohesive power Of public plumber, and
when the temptation of adequate amount
is offered, il is ready to sacrifice at once
honor and country.
These unprecedented dangers are By no
means imaginary. Five years ago there
was an attempt made to establish third
Presidential term, and q great and success
full party were urged to accomplish this
result, but it refused. That one election
would haze peen safe, but what would
have been the effect of such precedent g?
What dangers would have been incurred
and what disorders would have crept into
the State?
OUR C0UNTRY's INFLUENCE.
have thought it fit to call your atten-
ton to remote rs well as proximate causes
of our revolt, portions of its history. and a
little of that touching our present state.
The state of the world, as influenced by us,
is likewise worth a passing remark. The
right of all men to participate under
proper Limitations, in the government that
controls them, is now more largely adj
mitted than ever before. Taught in our
school, Great Britain ao,c allows her colonies
the privilege of representative bodies OF
legislation. There is not a citizen in the
Canadian Dominion of British Columbia
| or in British Australasia but should un-
cover his head whenever he sees the stars
and stripes, in acknowledgment of his OBJ
| legation.
All the Central and South American re-
! publics became such melted by the example
| of the treat RppOhlif> nf rho porfl, May-