The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1888-12-14

time, and would thus render the ballot
really secret. II. II. DABNEY,
Indiana University, Bloomington, lad.
Nov. IL.
OUR DANGER.
1lacauley's Opinion or JeRerson's
Theory Of Government.
Aletter written BY Lord Macaulay
contains the most powerful indictment
ever penned against the democratic prin.
ciple Of universal suffrage. When the
life Of Thomas Jefferson was written BY
s. s. Randall, . distinguished citizen ol
New York, copy was sent 10 the great
British historian. Macaulay answered,
thanking the author for the volume, bul
remarked that he had no admiration for
Jefferson. The American expressed hi
surprise and desired 10 know the his.
torian's reasons. Thcreupon Mscauley
on the 23d day o. May, 1887. wrote thil
letter, in which he gave his reasons foI
not believing that Thomas Jefferson wal
. benefactor OF his country or Of man
kind. His reasons were these:
Il do not believe that ii is possible t(
establish institutions that will be perma
nently based upon the votes OF people
counted BY the head. That proceeds
upon the supposition that the rich and
the poor, the wise and the ignorant, tht
virtnous and the vicious, are al counted
as equal and endowed with equal politi
cal power. That is the fatal vice Of thl
institutions that Jefferson founded
Now your country can prosper 90 long
\ % you have great spaces Of unoccupiet
land. . great west, for your surplu'
population; but the time will come IL
your history when New England will b
% thickly populated . Old England
I when there will be no moro fertile, un
occupied lands for your expanding popu
latiou.
\ ~Theu will come the real strain an'
test Of your insiitufions. There will b
periods Of scarcity and distress. Thous
snds OF lab0rers will be out Of work. ant
mon will begin 20 say there is no justicI
In allowing one man 10 have . milIioi
while another has not meal; no justic'
IN letting one man ride IN his cArrisg
and dine sumptuously while another
hears his children cry for bread. Ant
When that hour comes your g0vcrnmen
will be brought to its final aud fatal test
Then . discontinued, hopeless. starving
majority will elect the governors Of you
states, tho members 0i your legislatures
and your president and then l lear.
moi Ia this century, certainly In the nexl
your rouutry will be as fearfully ravag
ed 40 was the Roman empire by th
- AGk
tury only with this difference, you
Huns aud vandals will have been eu
gemdered by your own institutions
\ Your constitution is al eail and no On
chor. There IL nothing TO stay you.
wish you might have better fate, bu
my wishes and my reason are ct wal
Ard therefore, believing your fate
certain, l cannot congratulate you upo'
Thomas jefferson and the doctrines b
taught"
1 The best answer for this was made b,
Gen. Garfield, afterward President Q
the United States. who said Tin epeec
which he delivered in the House Of Rep
Iresentatives in May. 1871 that Macau
lays judgment erred in two particulars
First. that Mscsulay took no accoun
lof the tremendous power Of orr educa
tional forces the power Of universal ed
ucssi0n to enlighieu and ennoble on
people aud III them for the liberties an'
duties Of American citizenship.
Second, that Macaulsy did not under
stand that here, IN America, there are n'
fixed and permanent clssses. Gen
| Garfield said:
ar 81 eriefocracies socsetv n orUanis
ed on the principle OF permanent clsssel
fiaed and rigid . the layers Of rock tha
form the earth's crust. At the bottom
under the superincumbcnt weight Of d
their institutions and population. ar
1.-The lab0ring poor. The editor OF q
| English periodical uttered : sentence.
few years ago, which makes the bloo'
run cold. Il vas this. Said be-:
Il have studied the agricultural labor
ere Of my country carefully Tor twenty
flve years, and have never known on
who was born and reared Ia the ranks Q
mere farm Isborers that ever rose abov
bis class and became : well-t0-do citizen.
Remember that nearly half the pOpu
'lstion OF England ere agriculturists, 90
the Iaborers 10 that class amount % %
less than three or four miIlione; the
|have shove them the landlords, o.
above them the several ranks Of nobility
and above them the royal Glsmily. IN
barriors are we'll nigh impaesable. Bu
thank God, and thank the founders q
our republic and the later patriotic, wb
have made the truth 0e the declaration
OF independence . reality, here 10 Amer
ica. there ere no classes.
Our Society does not resemble lh
crust or the earth With Its impassabl
barriers ofrock but resembles rather a
waters Of the mighty see |; deep, broo(
bourd's''' but ~ - M y ~ - paF'