Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-01-23

shire has served no other end it has
illustrated the impossibility of doing
anything by physical force or indl'
vidual push in this age. Sometimes
we are tempted to think that man
kind are as ungovernable as ever II
they have the opportunity; and yet
we must admit on reflection that
they have more stable views than
formerly, and that they are not as
much inclined to brute force as
formerly. Bat when party gets so
blinded that they can see no rights,
no country beyond the party's lines,
md mistake their zeal rights for
their right to rule the country &C.
cordng to their own partisan ideas,
and then LecauSe the government Is
not handed over to them to talk
about force before anything is done
IL weaker than rebellion itself, be-
cause the latter did have pretenceS,
and if they were false they were
something. But these petty State
sauabblcs have no foundation except !
in party feeling excitement, famed
by few who, like the boy who
wanted to be Capt. Kidd, would
like in a childish way to initiate some
Danton, Murat, or some other wild
rcvolutionist.
This talking about Selling the
government" taking possession Of
the State House." that we have
heard so much about in several
States turns out to be made by little
men who swell up like The frog but
explode before they reach the pro
portions of the OK. But all this weak
gasoonadc like everything else serves
its purpose. 1t puts men to thinking
and they reflect with great satlsfac-
ton on the condition Of things in
case any real outbreak should occur.
Take New Hampshire for an Illus,
tration, and f she stood alone heaven
only knows what would have hap.
pened. They might have thrown
the individual clerk out Of The State
House but it would be more of a
task TO throw the L. S. army out.
When we reflect on the magnlf-
cent machinery of our government
and its adaptation to the wants and
safety of the citizens of the States
and the citizens of the whole country
we are lost in admiration for it.
The very idea Of the twofold allegi
apce that every citizen owes is an
element of wonderful strength
Every citizen owes an allegiance tt
his State, aad nothing in the State
is superior or equal to the supreme
power of the State. Wherever tho
State goes the citizen must follow
The State is supreme within its Owl
prescribed limits and defined or re
served powers, and has no more t.
do with the general government il
respect to them than the diurna
motion Of this earth has to do witt
the central sun. But each citizel
owes also an allegiance directly t.
the general government, which ca
go straight down to him, not as
citizen of State simply, but as
citizen of tho United States. 1t ca
take him and put him into the arm.
and control him generally. 1t ca
hold more than a half hundred mi
lions of people together by havin
cords which run directly from eac
individual in the whole countr
to the central point of the govern
ment, so that if the machinery of
State government should suddenl
drop out of existence it would nc
disturb the general government i
the least. So that it any petit
political quarrel occurs in a State
has no alliance with anything bcyon
the State, and bias no sympathy ou
side the State lines except tina
sympathy which rsrtisans have wit
one side or the other, which in tn
event of open violence would swe
into a patriotic unity of all classt
as it did in the rebellion and owe
whelm any State in the Union. W
do not mean State in the sense of il
political organization as a State, br
any lawless violence done in a Stat
in the name Of the State. So tn;
men who talk about violence do NJ
look beyond the horizon of the
own passions. They do not thin
of that slumbering power in IL
country, greater because it is
silent, and absolutely irresistible b