Year: 1863

1 OuIoClfCS III th lew 1CdIO VIII II


their terrible prominence the instructive


events of the present Let it be our frs


duty, then, in the infancy of our Repub
lie, while it is yet capable of receiving


benehcent impressions, to impress upon
it those features which will protect it;
durability from those perils which, al


history teaches us, will constitute the
/ greatest obstacle to success. No enlight
ened man will deny that those dangers
proceed from extreme democratic and
popular characteristics, which are now
stamped upon every feature of our ma.
tional and social organization. The
spirit of lereliag agrarianism, which sue
ceeded in degrading everything beneath
the heel of an ignorant and vicious de-
mocracy, which sought to remove every
barrier of distinction between virtue and
, vice, between enlightenment and igno-
rauces wfrch.soughtSt equatfse all BY
emitting all alike to the fullest enjoy
ment of citizenship; which not only in
vited to our shores, here to re-enact the
crimes which had condemned them to
punishment at home, the refugees from
the jails and penitentiaries of Europe,
bat declared them entitled to a voice in
all the councils of the nation as mighty
as that of the purest and most enHght-
ened native of the soil-which not only
placed the high Offices of the land in the
hands of the vicious demagogues who
would pander to the folly and corruption
of the populace, and preclude the Just
and enlightened from seeking political
Co., IL
cess could only be attained by surren-
der of selfrespect and their best convic-
tions of right, but was guilty of the
proclamation Of bedraggling the hitherto
unsullied emblem of justice and reason,
the judicial ermine, into the cesspool of
party politics; this was the genius of
evil, which, perpetually lowering about
the destinies of the late Union, events
ally triumphed in its downfall.


The writer does not believe success
full Republic impossible, but affirms that
none has yet been presented; he has no
Especial objection to royalty" and cites
the GLORIOUS career of freedom in Eng
land'' as proof that loyalty and liberty
are not incompatible; he prefers to be a
subject of the Car of Russia to citizen
of Democratic Government-shough it
be in name "The finest and best Govern
ment the world has ever seen" He
continues


Republican liberty contemplates nei-
ther the establishment of absolute power
nor absolute freedom from restraint, nor
absolute social equality with no prefer
ence for virtue, merit, and the graces
which adorn the mind and character,
over ignorance, crime and vulgarity 1t
does not seek to riot in the corruption of
an unrestricted license, but acknowl-
edges obligation to authority as neces-
sary TO restrain the evII passions OF hu-
man nature. 1t yields obedience to law
as the conservator of liberty.


Such is the form in which Republic
presents itself to our mind. Toward it,
as an ark of safety, we would fain hope
to see the tendency in our young Con-
federacy Confederate in form, may
our Government be Confederate in fact
Republican in name, let it not be demo
cratic in reality. First Of all we should
ever keep before US, as the essential fea-
ture in the image of perfect government,
the States Right theory That, rigidly
adhered to, will avert the danger Of cen.
tralization of power Secondly, let us
seek at once to eradicate every vestige
of radical democracy, every feature
tending to make ours popular Govern
ment, making it subject only to the in
telligent and virtuous, and those who are
interested in its successful adminstra-
ton.


One among the most important sub
iects claiming our attention will be the
standard of citizenship. When the strug-
gle for independence is finished, the door
of our Janus closed in token of the ter
mination of the bloody strife, and the
laurels of victory entwine the brow of the
youthful Confederacy, we cannot forget
the duty of gratitude, and deny the full
lest privilege of citizenship to any of the
noble heroes who have rescued US from
the chains of servitude. The gallant
foreigners who have sustained us in this
pious struggle are all entitled to the COM
mon boon of liberty But no foreigner
who comes among us after the struggle
is over should ever enjoy the elective
franchise five cannot check the spread
over our territory of that spawn of ignor-
ance and crime which flows in endless
issues from the prisons and dens of cor
ruption in the marts of Europe, we can
at least shut out its cankering effects
from the vitals of our body polite We
sadly need, too, a property qualification
for natiue as aoeU as Jtreigaers. 1t is
hardly necessary to repeat the trite az
gunaent of the greater interestedness Of
| the property holders IN the successful ad-
ministration ofthe Government, than Of
him ,cho has nothing at stake


We should have, too, additional quail
fication of character for office. Offices
are too easily obtained. There is too
much room for demagoguism, fraud and
corruption. Extremists IN politics
should be stunned as the originators of
partisan rancor and sectional strife.


Finally, ,ce should curtau the number Of
officers electire by the people. These,
and we might suggest others, are some
| of the features in our social organism


which have occurred to US as sadly need