Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-02-13
- ----~-------'----- 49, $500
Equulffy and Freedom.

> | n.y. an the CATALOGUE We 10 IOf men
AZ hounds and greyhounds, monsrels
spaniels, ours
sloughs. Waterways. and demiwoIves
are ciept
All by the nap,e OF dogs; tho valued III,
Distinguishes the swift, the slow, the
subtle.
The housekeeper. the hunter. every one
According TO the gift which bounteous
Hath in him closed; whereby he does
receive
Particular addition, from the bill
That writes them all alike: and SO Of
men,"
Macbeth.
II wouldn't be a bad idea to have Mac
| beth's notions printed as a sort OF foot
note to the Declaration OF Independence,
| that writes them all alike" In our
opinion. the great apostle Of Democracy
would have found a little difficulty in
explaining what he meant by saying that
all men were "by nature free and
equal" II is an easy business to say
fine thing: not so easy to explain II.
Some question whether the great Vir-
ginia orator would deliberately have pre-
ferred death to liberty. Aesop tells OF
case of that sort that didn't work And
Shakespeare says, "the weariest and
most loathed earthly life that age. ache,
penury. and imprisonment can lay on
nature is a paradise to what we fear Of
DEATH" II that is so. 1t is hard to I'M
derstand how any man wouldn't count
death as a little the worst; no matter
what political condition was to be com
pared with 1t. Would the old gentleman
referred to. deliberately have preferred
to be shot or hung rather than live under
the English Government with any sort
Of taxation? We find representation an
Indifferent comfort while offensive and
damaging laws are passing Congress
But this grand proposition Of the free
dom and equality of all men was only
fine abstraction. From his splendid
home on Monticello the apostle OF De-
mocracy graciously dispensed his bril- |
liant philosophy to the great and small |
that did him homage, with Kindness and |
hospitality. but with very wise discrmi- |
nation: And now, sculptured in marble |
in the rotunda OF The jefferson, he looks |
down on his divers admirers-all free and |
equal, as far as he is concerned. Where
he now is, the small and the great are
equal II not freel Advanced Democracy
is getting ready to amend the charter OF
our liberties by inserting the word "wo-
men" in the Declaration. Mr.. Jeffer-
son might almost as well have pro-
pounded that all metals have the same
specific gravity, and the same utility.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness are common and general privileges:
And Eternal Justice will adjust rights
TO the individual according to the gift
which bounteous Nature hath in him
'losed." And the individual will enjoy
life, liberty, and happiness in the highest
degree he is capable of, by ordering him
self lowly and reverently TO all his
etters and doing his duty in that state
If life in which God has placed him.
Nature does not make men all free and
,qual. She makes them With hearts and
minds and bodies greatly differing And
he gives them, by virtue OF their birth
md parentage, certain rights and privi-
eyes of which no human law or power
an deprive them Restraint and in
quality are the ways of Nature. One
tar differs from another star in glory:
md all are under law. And man is only
rec in keeping himself within his rights
nd in obeying the laws that govern him
nd are meant TO control him. To know
ourselves is justly to estimate ourselves
y divine standards and TO know the
lights and duties that attach 10 US as we
re. Justice is what we owe TO ourselves
nd one another. But II can have no
lace In human affairs on the false state !
lent that we are free and equal. That
makes the seat OF justice the bed of Pro-
rustes.
Nowhere in this democratic country | f
re all men treated as free and | Il
quail. except when our politicians
re soliciting votes and playing the
ypocrite. Every vote counts one. Mr.. '
efferson meant to PROFOUND and mag b
fy universal justice: and he put in d
lace OF it a French Communistic fallacy. 4.
The confusion that has come of free .
nd equal folly cannot be estimated: | =
nd what is to be the result remains 70 =,
e seen.
Mems rights and privileges are largely | =
spendent on their birth, their essential | y
itures, their characters their cultiva- :
on and sense, their energy. and their =
cial advantages. And nowhere does q
le lowest of his kind enjoy equal rights -
nd privileges with the highest And the | ~
fort TO force equality and equal privi- !,
yes makes only disorder and unhappi u
sss A man off his proper level is I'M ID
lppy He is miserable in the midst of
'ivileges to which he is not entitled: H.
ease. -
Fallacies never go alone. And this one
freedom and equality has a bowling IN
ultiplying train. All established stand IN
DIS Of merit and excellence must be 90
lde to conform. Ignorance is made 81
ual to intelligence: vulgarity is equal ii
refinement: i'll manners are equal to 90
cd manners: and profanity is equal &c
piety. Everything however low and NJ
hi 1,nu |
gh and pure. The word gentleman Is IN
mmon property. 1t is I'm the power of ao
e government to establish what shall ri
current with the people. socially, as V;
II as commercially: TO enforce its 70
ues as legal tenders. What everlast- re
2 wisdom and law will have TO say to Of
is-nons verrons. mi