Political equilibrium

Front matter

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Glass.

POLBTDCAL gpiUMH,

Preface

Considering the number of books and periodicals extant, treating upon all the various subjects which have presented themselves to the onward march of minds — many of them the productions of authors of the highest order of talents, genius, and the greatest weight of moral character and philanthropy, aided by classical education, and historical research — it may well be questioned whether this addition to the countless number, is not uncalled for, and superfluous. The writer is aware that his meptal faculties are ordinary, and that he is deficient in education and acquirements. Deeply impressed with the force of the foregoing considerations, he abandoned his intentions of writing a book, after he had nearly completed the first chapter. But it subsequently occurred to him that whilst many persons require meat, others can only subsist upon milk— that majestiG rivers are formed by the contributions of small tributaries — that the sea is composed of drops, and that the earth is composed of particles, many so small that they can only be seen* by the aid of a microscope, whilst others more minute, can alone be viewed by the eye of reason — . that matter and motion are inseparably connected, are composing and de-composing, producing, and by mutation, reproducing. Whilst we can have no conception of the existence of mind without a body, every sober-minded man must be sensible that mind and matter were united for useful purposes, which cannot be carried out without an effort. The industrious husbandman who prepares and seeds his ground in due season, is not certain that he will reap • but he knows that if he does not sow, he cannot reap. It is

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then the duty of every rational man to make an effort, in proportion to the means within his reach, to add something to moral or physical production. Cannot the effort be made without vanity, unworthy motives, or arrogant ambition, and without questioning the motives of those who differ in opinion with the writer? He answers in the affirmative.

Aware of human imperfection, from which he is not exempt — knowing that the Christian and the Mussulman are alike sincere in their religious sentiments, each believing that he is strictly right, and the other wholly wrong — it isi not wonderful that, in the United States, where the mind is left free to think and to act, an honest . difference of opinion should exist in reference to National and State policy. He is aware that it is difficult to convince an intelligent man that he is in error in reference to long cherished principles— that every rational man, without a single exception, is governed in all his actions, moral and physical, by motives, without which he would be passive and useless to himself and to society — that man is not sufficiently perfect to limit his motives of interest or opinion, in all cases, to that principle which has an equal tendency to promote his own happiness, and the good of those with whom he is associated ; he is nevertheless persuaded that neither the Christian nor the Mussulman wishes to be misled or de< ceived upon any subject whatever. As it is impossible thai any well meaning man would intentionally mislead or deceive others, it would be unreasonable to suppose that alt men are governed by unworthy motives; he therefore! hopes, that what he has composed and copied, will be read without prejudice.

The writer commenced with a determination to avoid any expression calculated to give offence to the reader, to which he adhered throughout. But he was deeply impressed with the fact, that it was as impossible to write as to speak without using words, and that the use of unmeaning words, would be a fraud upon his patrons. If the reader consider any expression offensive or uncalled for, he is authorized to withdraw it, with an assurance that it was unintentional. If the writer cannot please, he has no de-

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sire to offend. He is sensible of the obligations he is under to the highly respectable and intelligent community in which he resides — that many, perhaps all, with whom he is acquainted, subscribed for the work, more from motives of kindness to the writer, than with the expectation of being benefited by perusing it.

In refering to the measures of political parties, he has not impeached the motives of any. In reference to matters of fact, he has labored to be strictly correct — to present truth as fairly and fully, as the documents and other means within his reach would enable him. If the arguments advanced, and conclusions drawn are heterodox, their refutation is easy, and is invited.

He is not aware, nor does he believe, that he has advanced sentiments or arguments which never suggested themselves to any other person; but he does say that 'the sentiments and arguments, not marked as quotations, are with him original, although some of them, in substance, previously appeared in print — this explanation is deemed necessary to protect him from the charge of plagiarism. He has given to the political parties the distinctive names they claim, for the same reasons that he addresses individuals by their proper names and titles. If there are any errors in relation to matters of fact, they are unintentional, and attributable to the limited means within his reach, to refer to documents, and to the fact that he had no aid in writing or compiling. With these introductory remarks he introduces the reader to the "Political Equilibrium."

POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM.

CHAPTER I On different forms of government, with miscellaneous observations

Party names are not only convenient, but indispensable. We might as well undertake to dispense with the names of individuals, as with the names of political parties. "Stick to your party," is a term frequently used by politicians without any qualification whatever; and sometimes with powerful effect. It is not the writer's intention to impeach the motives of all who avail themselves of the force of a party name to elect their ticket, or to use language calculated to give offence to the most sensitive mind. It matters not whether the name of one's neighbor is Cain or Abel. If mother Eve had named her first born Abel and her second son Cain, it is certain wicked Abel would have murdered righteous Cain. There was nothing murderous in the name of either brother; the sanguinary disposition was in the man y not in the name. Individuals are to be judged by their words and acts, not by their names ; and invariably ought the same rule to be applied to political parties. The oath which a representative takes, to support the constitution, is, or ought to be, equally as binding upon him to support the general good and public welfare without regard to party names. The writer has long entertained and frequently expressed the opinion, that a politician who is not governed by the dictates of reason and the teachings of experience, with the single object to the general welfare and the attainment of the greatest earthly blessings and benefits, acts ungratefully towards the Creator, who bestowed upon him the principle of reason, and a bodily form suited to intelligence, and both intended to enable him to protect and enjoy his natural and acquired rights, and secure to those with whom he is associated the same blessings. — That form of government which produces the greatest amount of human happiness and independence, with the lightest burthen and pressure, is preferable to any other; but no form of government can secure to us our natural and acquired rights and render us prosperous and happy, unless honestly administered. No government can be faithfully administered unless it originates in, and is carried out by, the dictates of reason, jnstice and the teachings of experience. If these guides fail, in vain may we look to party for relief. Man is more or less governed in his transactions, political and civil, by his Will or his Judgment. If these two principles come in opposition to each other, he can never act morally wrong by being governed bv his judgment, and never in such a contest can he act right if governed by his Will.

"The political writers of antiquity, 55 says Blackstone, "will not allow more than three regular forms of government ; the first, when the sovereign power is lodged in an aggregate assembly, consisting of all free members of a community, which is called a democracy ; the second, when it is lodged in a council, composed of select members, and then it is styled an arristocracy •, the last, when it is entrusted in the hands of a single person, and then it takes the name of a monarchy. All other species of government, they say, are either corruptions of, or reducible to, these three."

When we take into consideration that most of the regular governments upon earth, and all of ancient standing and magnitude,* are monarchical or aristocratic, the irresistible conclusion is, that all governments naturally incline to aristocracy, or monarchy. Ambitious man is more generally influenced by his will, than by his judgment ; in pro-, portion as he gains power 3 he loses sight of right. His

*Thc French Revolution only broke the chain in an ancient hereditary form of government. The short duration of the French Republic, commenced with the termination of the reign of one king — was followed by an emperor, anu terminated in restoring the government to its former line.

ambitious will connected with a political party, becomes daily more active and determined, until his judgments are overwhelmed, and he sinks or swims with his party ; and will only yield to the superior numbers of an opposing one which may be influenced by no better principles than his own.

From the formation of our Republic to the present day, the people have been, (with the exception of a short period, commencing towards the close of Mr. Monroe's first presidential term,) divided into two great political parties; in both of which there are, and always have been, subdivisions, so nearly equal in numbers, as to leave the two chief parties to attack and repel each other with a violence not perceivably broken by the subdivisions in the arms of either of the political beligerants. During the violent and bitter struggles between the two great contending parties, it is reasonable to suppose that each occasionally did the other injustice; and that by the triumph of one of them, sound and wholesome principles were occasionally sacrificed. The spread of intelligence, and the onward inarch of mind, may, and it is hoped will, define the leading principles upon which parties will split. They are inseparably connected with a Republican form of government : it is as impossible that one can exist without the other, in a wide extended country, as it is impossible that mind can exist without a body.

In the political parties which have heretofore existed, there always were in each, and it is to be believed there ever will be found, men of the highest order of intellectual faculties, patriotic principles, and able statesmen possessing the proper qualifications to discharge the duties of the various and necessary stations connected with our representative democratic form of government. That there have been prominent party demagogues, will not be denied by any candid man, who is intelligent upon the subject. Under a government like ours, which leaves the human mind free to think and to act, with no legal restraints, except such as come under the general heads of felony, breach of the peace, misdemeanor and trespass, the demagogue and the statesman will occasionally come into collision, and the former may triumph. The greatest, perhaps the only security we have for the continuance and purity of our democratic form of government, rests with the body of the people, or with that portion who neither seek nor desire office. They constitute a large majority in this and in every other country, and are the working and producing classes; and if they should ever become corrupt, or should be misled and deceived by demagogues, our Republican form of government would be in danger, and could only be preserved, by a return to sound principles and correct views on the part of the people.

There is an unlimited confidence, in the integrity and purity of intention of the body of the people of the United States, and especially in that large and useful portion, that desire the welfare of their country rather than the spoils of a victorious partyism* In a political point of view, they are honest ; but purity of intention does not always afford absolute security against the designs of demagogues and tyrants. It is adverse to the interest of the working class to be politically dishonest, and consequently that class will never knowingly be politically wrong or act from improper motives. Industry is as certainly the parent of moral and political honesty as is idleness the parent of vicious habits and crime. It may here be remarked, that such are the industrious habits of a large majority of the working class — particularly in the non-slaveholding states — that they seldom rest from their labor, except on the Sabbath, or when from necessity they repose in sleep. Consequently this class must possess less political and useful information than that who devote most of their time to reading, travelling and io conversational intercourse. It follows, then, that the latter class must necessarily posess an advantage over the former in point of intelligence ; and which enables ihem to act with a power so great, as frequently to mislead pnd fleece the majority. To the unholy use of this advantage, more than to any other cause, may be traced the origin of all aristocratic and monaichial form.s of government; and the special attention of the reader is asked to the consideration of the question : How is this to be remedied ? Are the human family to withdraw from the cultivation of the earth to acquire knowledge by reading and discussion ? Certainly not. But as government is indispensible to support our natural and acquired rights, and as government cannot be supported without revenue, every man, in paying a tax, surrenders a portion of his property for the protection of the remainder, and for the security of his rights ; and ought he not to devote a reasonable portion of his time for the purpose of acquiring knowledge, St acquainting himself with the measures of those who are entrusted with the reins of government ? In all forms of government, power is vested in the hands of the jew, whose ambition to continue in office and rule over the many, has a tendency to intrigue and corruption. Tt therefore requires vigilance and intelligence on the part of the constituency, to watch their public servants, examine their measures, with a view to prevent them from changing their relative position from that of public servants to that of political masters. The following extract from the first annual address of the Father of his country, will commend itself; first, from the source from which It is derived, and secondly, from the sentiments expressed.

"Nor am I less persuaded that you will agree with me in opinion, that there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of government receive their impressions so immediately from the sense of the community as in ours, it is proportionably essential. To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways : by convincing those who are entrusted with the public administration, that every valuable end of government, is best answered by the enlightened confidence of the people*, and by teaching the people themselves to know and value their own rights ; to discern and provide against invasions of them ; to distinguish between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority; between burdens proceeding from a disregard to their convenience, and those resulting from the inevitable exigencies of society; to discriminate the spirit of liberty, from that of licentiousness, cherishjjqg the first ; avoiding the last, and uniting a speed) 7 but temperate vigilence against encroachments, with an inviolable respect to the laws."

If the means recommended by the father of his country were necessary to preserve the integ ity and purity of the government at the period of its organization, by a union of wisdom arfd valor, unsurpassed in awy age or nation, is not an adherence to the sentiments advanced, necessary at this and ail future periods. For more than forty years, every Presidential contest, with one exception, has been decided by drawing the party line; and measures have frequently been lost sight of, or misrepresented in the bitterness in which the parties have assailed and repelled each other. — The extract contains more good sense than could be found in a volume of party and inflammatory speeches, which have been delivered in Congress in support of party, without even a reference to the public good. Every unpredjudiced and attentive reader of the debates in Congress, for a number of years past, must have observed, that the speeches have generally been in support of one party and in derogation of another. Instead of attempting to gain the confidence of the people by wise and wholesome measures, the object was to rally them in party strife. Jf the people objected to a measure and assigned reasons for their opposition to it, they were told that it was a leading and high party measure and they were called upon to support it upon that principle. How different in character and spirit were the debates in Congress during the Revolution and in the Convention which formed the Constitution. Different opinions among the members of those bodies, created an honest enquiry and led to an impartial examination of the different sentiments expressed ; and with the single purpose of promoting the general good. Mr. Jefferson in his Notes on Virginia, written towards the close of the Revolution, uses this language.

"From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights.

Tho shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long— will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights r shall revive or expire in a convulsion."

The predictions of Mr. Jefferson have been fulfilled to an alarming extent. We have several times been on the verge of dissolution. .

The writer's political principles were formed at an early period of life and he is not aware that they have undergone a shadow of change. They are democratic so far as democratic principles are practicable in all the branches of the government, except only the Judiciary. He not only prefers a democratic form of government to any other, but considers it the only rational form of government upon earth. A government strictly democratic, would not be convenient and scarcely practicable in a territory as large and populous as Washington county; and wholly impracticable for the state of Maryland, or the Union. Because, it would do away the representative feature, and require all the voters to assemble in council and pass all laws by a majority of the whole body of voters; and the same is related to repealing or amending previous laws. — They would be impracticable except in a very small community-, and, if attempted to be carried out in a large one, would produce confusion and anarchy, and reduce the whole to a state of chaos. Some men, no doubt well disposed, seem to think that democracy has a direct reference to mild, just and equitable laws, — that democracy and equity are synonymous terms, and travel side by side, like those united by the ties of mutual affection and the laws of matrimony. But there would be as much sense in saying that because marriage is a divine, holy and honorable institution, — sanctioned and recommended by all civilized nations, that all who are married must live in unalloyed happiness, striving for the equal benefit and comfort of each other, — as to say that all laws enacted and carried out by a democratic form of government, with or without the representative feature, would secure equal benefits and blessings to all, and place the minority on an equality with the majority. A democratic form of government, can only be carried out practi-

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cally by the majority ruling ; and all laws enacted by the majority must be laws of the derrfocracy — the democracy is the majoiity and the majority is the democracy. A democracy may proscribe and oppress the minority as much as any other form of government whatever. Under a democratic form and administration of government, laws might be en* acted providing that every deformed infant and every male who on arriving at lawful age did not measure a specified height should be put to death. If such laws were passed and carried into effect in their fullest extent by the majority, they would be the laws of the democracy. If it be asked if such laws would be consistent with the spirit of democracy, the answer is that the true meaning and spirit of democracy is that the will of the majority, (not the minority) shall rule whether it be in blood or in mercy. Democracy doos not even provide for uniformity of laws. Every State in the Union is under a democratic form of goverment retaining the representative feature; and yet in no two states are the laws alike, and in some, (perhaps in most of them) they are not uniform throughout the State. In Washington and some other couuties in Maryland, the cutting and carrying away of hoop-poles, by any person not the o«vner of the land is a penitentiary offence ; and there has been in the neighboring county of Frederick, at least one conviction under this law; — in other counties in this State it is a mere trespass, for which the owner can only recover on a civil suit for damages. In no two counties in Maryland, it is believed, are the laws uniform throughout.

Mr. Jefferson uses the following language in his first Inaugural address: —

"I know indeed that some honest men fear that a republican government cannot be strong — that this government is not strong enough. But would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear, that this government, the world's best hope, may, by posibility, want energy to preserve itself; — I trust not — I believe this, on the contrary to be the strongest government on earth — I believe it the only one, where every man, at the call of the law, would fry to the standard of the

POLITICAL EQUILIBRIUM. i?

law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern."

With deference to the opinions of Mr. Jefferson, my own observation, for more than thirty years, has impressed upon my mind that a republican form of government is either the weaker or is less energetic in the use of its means to preserve its laws, and quell insurrections and internal commotions, than any other form of government — that its materials for self preservation and self destruction are nearly balanced, and to speak figuratively it is more likely to expire by suicide than in any other way. The legally constituted laws have been forcibly resisted ; groups of one or two thousand men have been seen in the day time deliberately pulling down houses and destroying the furniture', we have had insurrections', and how have they been met and subdued? Proclamations accompanied by pardons to ail those who would desist and respect the constituted laws — the military have been called out and marched into the territories in which the insurgents had successfully resisted the laws — the sword presented in one hand and a pardon in the other. A few persons have been arrested and imprisoned as the ring leaders of mobs and rebellions, yet we have never had a conviction for treason and few have been in any way punished for forcibly resisting the laws. While some have termed those violent measures and prostration of law and order, mobocracy and rebellion, others have termed them democratic associations, patriotically taking the law into their own hands with a view of redressing a real or supposed injury or repealing an obnoxious law without the aid of the Legislature. Under some forms of government such democratic movements would be subdued by shooting or hanging. If an individual is convicted of rubbing a hen-roost or pig-sty he is sent to the Penitentiary; but if a mob pulls down a house and destroys the furniture, the leaders are generally pardoned and the rest considered misguided citizens, by some, and by others, ihe democracy acting independent of law.

In the foregoing it is utterly and truly disclaimed by the writer that there is any allusion or application to either of the great political parties into which the people are divided, B

Likewise is it truly denied that the foregoing remarks apply to any political party which ever existed in the U. States* The body of the people are, and ever were, democratic in their principles, The powerful party who once called themselves Jacksonians, and claimed no other name, were as democratic at that time as they now are under their new title. That there always were in every political party which has existed since the formation of government, demagogues and agitators, no doubt can be entertained. Such characters can act with more effect under a republican form of government than under any other.

Our republican form of government would be as strong, if not stronger, in a war with a foreign nation than any other form. Because, in addition to national patriotism, every man would be desirous to preserve our political institutions, and in the language of Mr. Jefferson — u every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own concern." In a war between two nations, one under a republican and the other under an aristocratic or monarchial form of government, victory on the part of the latter, would be to continue the monarchial yoke and rivet it more firmly on the necks of the mass of the people : whereas, defeat might deliver them from bondage and bestow upon them the blessing of a free government and its attendant benefits. Under a democratic form of government the human mind is left free to think and act, and in proportion as the mental faculties are developed, the people become more divided in matters of opinion, and in their ambition and energy to support their opinions, they become excitable. And there ever will be demagogues and Jacobins who will act upon the excitable matter, and labour to fan it into a flame, regardless of consequences or desirous to obtain office.

If ever our republican form of government be dissolved, (which heaven forbid,) it will proceed from internal commotion, produced by agitators who will labour to inflame the public mind, prevent dispassionate reason and argument to act; produce passion and prejudice; array one portion of the country against another and produce a dissolution of the Union. As to the United States ever being conquered

Iby any foreign nation or combination of foreign power?, if not wholly impossible, is so improbable as to leave nothing to fear from foreign nations; but if the confederacy should ever be divided, and separate and distinct governments created, one at a time might be engaged in war with one or more European nations; or the separate nations formed out of our Union might be at war with each other. Let us suppose that our federal head should, by the mutual consent of all the states, be decapitated, and the public property owned by the confederacy equally divided among the several states in proportion to population. Each State would then be a separate and sovereign nation; but would not the sovereignty and independence of all be in danger? One of the most powerful of the European nations might conquer and colonize one ot the largest American nations, or from internal commotion it might be drenched in blood; and the fate of one State would be a presage to the fate of all. In the foregoing he has supposed that each State, on becoming a sovereign and independent nation, retained its democratic form of government. Its excitable matter and its demagogues would therefore be in proportion to its population, and its organs of self destruction would be operated upon by political Phrenologists, who would labour to prove the truih of the science of phrenology.

But whilst we are united by the Constitution to our federal head, we will at all times unite as do the feet and hands in locomotion and labour, and at the call of the general government march, fight and expel from our shores foreign invaders. Although war is to be deprecated, and although it would be a blessing if the principles of Quakerism were immovably planted in the breast of every human being, and pass to posterity; nations and individuals must be viewed as they really are, and not as they ought to be. The internal commotions, and increased violent resistance to the regularly constituted laws, must be considered with awful forebodings by every intelligent and unprejudiced man who has seriously weighed the subject in his mind. What would be the consequence if all laws throughout a State were suspended for twenty-four hours, and no one ever afterwards to be responsible for his transactions during that B2 period? Can any sober-minded man doubt lhat that day would be characterized by rapine, murder, carnage and brutal violence, at the contemplation of which every well regulated mind would sicken. Although laws enacted by the impartial wisdom of a state or nation, and with the single object of promoting the gensral good and public welfare, may? in some respects, have an unequal bearing; yet, in the language of president Jackson, in his second annual message: "It is beyond the power of man to make a system of government like ours, or any other, operate with precise equality upon states situated like those which compose this confederacy; nor is inequality always injustice. — Every state cannot expect to shape the measures of the general government to suit its own particular interest. The causes svhich prevent it are seated in the nature of things, and cannot be entirely counteracted by human means. — Mutual forbearance becomes, therefore, a duty obligatory upon all; and we may, I am confident, count upon a cheerful compliance with this high injunction on the part of our constituents. It is not to be supposed that they will object to make such comparatively inconsiderable sacrifices for the preservation of rights and privileges, which other less favored portions of the world have in vain waded through seas of blood to acquire."