WJA.i.mL
RSESESi
158
Likhku's Civii, Liueuty and Skif-Goykhkmkxt.
i!
H
inorganic power of the multitude is not
liberty out despotism, with the populace
acting as n fickle monarch. Speaking of
elections, he says: "It ple.ises the igno
rant to he called upon to vote yes or no-
Huzzahiug crowds are never sub
stantial indications of any opinion."
Nearly the opposite was lately expressed
by Senator Morton in the 2Torth American
licviow. Mr. Morton says: "The experi
ence of a hundred years with the Ameri
can people has demonstrated the fact that
the great mass are opposed to change
arc steady, conservative and consistent in
their views " This is true, relatively, but
not abstractly. It is true the Americaus
arc conservative, but their institutions
make and keep them so. Take away our
Anglican and American institutions, and
there is no reason that we should not
become unstable like uninstitutioual
Frnnce.
Liberty is power; but power unchecked
is absolutism, and absolutism is despot
ism. Liberty, therefore, is power resting
with checks and guarantees cr.lled institu
tions. To perpetuate liberty we must
cleave tenaciously to institutions. The
author is not so biased as to say that our
institutions are all American; but he
shows that most of our institutions arc of
Anglican origin. By thus tracing our
checks and guarantees beyond our own
brief history, they become more deeply
looted. Institutions that are manufac
tured instead of being evolved are life,
less. This is clearly shown through the
appalling history of France. As u corol
lary it is plain that liberty can not sud
denly spring into existence. In the an
thor's language, " Liberty is a thing that
prows, and institutions are its very gar-
( en beds."
The great value of this work consists in
warning the rising generation to guard
i ur country from becoming too consoli
('ated and concentrated. Previous to the
ivil war we would often hear public men
in the North speak of our country as the
;:i cat confederation of states. President
Buchannan, in his inaugural address, used
the following language: "This trade is
carried on railroads and canals, on noble
rivers and arms of the sea, which bind to
gcther the north and south, the cast and
west of our confederacy." But this term
is no longer heard.
Indeed, it is seldom we hear the
name, union. It is now spoken of as
our country or nation, which is proper;
but why should we evade more di'tlnite
terms? By degrees we aie enlarging the
powers of Congress, and restricting those
of the state legislatures. We are, imper.
ceptibly passing from the extreme of state
rights to the extreme of national rights.
All this plainly indicates a tendency to
wards consolidation and concentration,
which Dr. Lieber shows to be destructive
to civil liberty and self-government.
This is a result of our swaying from
our Anglican and American institutions.
Had we closely adhered to our institutions,
we would not hear the present relations of
our government with the unsettled South
spoken of as an experiment. It is cer
tainly not an experiment when local self
government has ever been the very foun
dation ot the bulwark of our civil liberty.
Interfering with her local self-govern-incut,
will not prepare the State for self,
reliance. And unless she is prepared for
this she will ever be a dangerous element
to our nation. States, like individuals,
can govern themselves only by learning to
rely upon themselves; for the aggrcgato
partakes of the natUiu of its units. If to
command and obey arc the great essen.
tials between the government and the
state, then military despotism is superior
to institutional self-government, and we
had better exchange our institutions for
the more stringent and vindictive govern
ments of the orient. England has rarely
inteifered with local self-government, and
when she has there has been open rebel
lion. Her unjust treatment of the Amer
ican colonics previous to the revolution, is
an illustration.
Had the South known that the institution