The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-04

things are made better, and many things are
| made worse. Old errors are discarded and new
errors are embraced Governments feel the same
| effects from this spirit as everything else
| Some, like our OWE, grow into beauty and excel
lence, while others sink still deeper into deform-
lty and Indebtedness. The experience of all ages
| Will bear us out in saying that alterations
of political systems are always attended with a
greater or less degree of danger. They ought,
| therefore, never to De undertaken, unless the
evil complained of be really felt and the pros
| pect of remedy clearly seen. The politician
| that undertakes to improve Constitution with
| as little thought as farmer sets about mending
| his p!ow is master of his trade. If that Con
shtutlon be systematic one, if it be free one,
! us parts are so necessarily connected that an
| alteration In one will work an alteration in all;
| and this cobbler, however pure and honest his
intentions, will, in the end, find that what came
| to his hands fair and lovely fabric goes from
them miserable piece of patch work
Nor are great and striking alterations alone to
DE summed. A succession of small changes, q
| perpetual tampering with minute parts, steal
away the breath though they leave the body; for
1t is true that government may lose all its real
character, its genius, and its temper, without
| losing its appearance. You may have despot-
! ism under the name of a republic. You may
| look on government and see it possess all the
| external essential modes of freedom, and yet
see nothing of the essence, the vitality of free
| dom in it: just as you may behold Washington
| or Franklin In wax woIkS-the form is perfect
but the spirit, the lfe is not there.
| The first thing to be said in favor of our sys-
| tenn of government is that it is truly and genu-
inely free. and the man'has base and slavish
| heart that will call any government good that is
! not free. If there be, al this day, any advocate
| Tor arbitrary power, we wish him the happiness
| of living under government of his choice If
| he is in love with chains, we would not deny him
| the qualification of his passion. Despotism is
| the point where everything bad centers, ana
from which everything good departs. AS far as
| government is distant from this point, SO far 1T
| is good In proportion as it approaches toward
] tbs In the same proportion 1T IS detestable. In
| all other forms there is something tolerable to
| be found; in despotism there is nothing. Other
! systems have some amiabe features, some right
| principles, mingled with their errors; despotism
is all error. 1t is dark and cherries void over
| which the eye wanders in vain in search of any
tnlng lovely or attractive.
The true definition of despotism is government
without law 1t may exist, therefore, in the
| hands of many as well as one. Rebellions are
| despotisms; factions are despOtisms; loose dem
| ocracies are despotisms. These are thousand
times more dreadful than the concentration of
| all power in the hands of single tyrant. The
| despotism Of one man is like the thunderbolt
| which falls here and there. scorching and con-
| Stunning the individual on whom it lights; but
| popular commotion, the despotism Of mob, is
| an earthquake which in moment swallows
| up everything. 1t is the excellence of our gov
| eminent that it is placed in proper medium
| between these two extremes, that it is equally
| In the next place, our government is good be.
cause 1t is practical 1t is not the sick offspring
of closet philosophy 1t did not rise, vaporous
and evanescent, from the brains Of Rousseau
and Goodwin like mist from the ocean 1t is
| the production of men of business, of expert
| ence and Of wisdom 1t is suited to what man
| is, and what it is in the power Of good laws to
make him. Its object--the just object Of all
| governments-is to secure and protect the weak
| against the strong, to unite the force of the
! whole community against the violence Of OPP
| preston. It's power is the power of the nation
its will Is the will of the people. 1t is not an
| awkward, unshapely machine which the people
| cannot use when they have made it, nor is it so
dark and complicated that it is the labor of ones
| life to investigate and understand it. All are
| capable of cOmprehending its principles and its
| operations. 1t admits, too, of change of men
and Of measures. At the will of a majority we
have seen the government of the nation pass
from the hands of one description of men into
those of another. OF the comparative merits of
those different men, OF their honesty, their tai
ents, their patriotism, we have nothing to say.
That subject we leave to be decided before tho
impartial tribunal of posterity. The fact of a
| change of rulers however, proves that the gov
eminent is manageable; that it can
! In all cases be made to com
ply with the public will. 1t is, too, an equal
government. 1t rejects principaities and powers.
1t demoEshes all the artificial distinctions
which pride and ambition create It is en-
numbered with lazy load of hereditary
aristocracy 1t clothes no with the attributes
OF God; it sinks no one to a level with brutes
yet it admits these distinctions in society which
are natural and necessary. The correct express
sion Of our Bill of Rights is that men are born
equal 1t then rests with themselves to main
tain their equality by their worth. The illus
| trious trainers of our system, in all the stern
ness of republicanism rejected all nobility but
the nobility of talents, ali the majority but
the majority of virtue.
Lastly, the government is one of our choice;
,cf C%o1{
like the government of Holland and Switzerland
not taught US by philosophers, nor graciousy
brought to us on the bayOnetS of our maguan-
nous sister republic on the other side the ocean
1t was framed by our fathers, for themselves and
for their children. Far the greater portion Of
mankind submit to usurped authority. and pay
humble obedience to self created law givers; not
that obedience of the heart which a good
! citizen will yield to good laws but the obedience
which a harneSsed horse pays his driver an
obedience begotten by correction and stripes.
The American Constitution is the purchase Of
American valor. 1t is the rich prize that re-
wards the toll Of eight years of and of
blood; and what is all the pomp of military
glory, what victories, what are armies sub
dued, fleets captured, cOlors taken, unless they
end in the establishment of wise laws and
national happiness! Our revolution is not more
renowned for the brilliancy Of its scenes than for
the benefit of its consequences. The Constitu
ton is the great memorial of the deeds of our
| ancestors, On the pillars and on the arches of
that dome their names are written and their
achievements recorded While that lasts, while
single page or single article can be found it
will carry down the record to future ages. 1t
will teach mankind that glory-empty, linking
glory-was not the object for which Americans
fought Great Britain had carried the fame of
her arms far and wide. She had humbled
France and Spain; she had reached her arm
across the Eastern continent and given laws on
the banks Of the Ganges. A few scattered col
onists did not rise up to contend with such a
nation for mere renown. They had nobler OBJ
ject, and in pursuit of that object they mani
tested a courage, constancy, and union that de-
serve to be celebrated by poets and historians
while language lasts
The vaor of America was not transient,
glimmering ray. shot forth from the impulse of
momentary resentment. Against unjust and
arbitrary laws she rose with determined, unal
terable spirit. Like the rising sun, clouds ana
mists hung around her. but her course like his