Something about Government.
Inthe earlier numbers of our Museum, we have told the story of Philip Brusque, the main purpose of which was to show the necessity of some government in society, to ensure peace, order and justice. Mr. Robinson, of New York, has just published a book for schools and families, entitled “The Young American; or Book of Government and Law; showing their history, origin, nature and necessity.” I here insert two chapters of the work, to show that all persons are interested in government, and that all young persons ought to be instructed on this subject, as one of the greatest importance.
The thiefThe thief.
The thief.
When children are sufficiently advanced, they go forth from the parental roof, and whether in the field, the forest, or the street, they find that everywhere there is government and law.
If a child sees ripe fruit in a neighbor’s garden, he sets out to get it, but is immediately told that he must not. He asks why he must not get it, and is answered that it is against the law. A boy is about to throw down a stone wall around a field, and is told he must not, because it is against the law. A young fellow wishes to ride into a neighbor’s field of grain, but he must not, for it is against the law.
A young person, in reading a newspaper, sees an account of a man who is seized and hurried away to prison for theft, and learns that thieving is forbidden by the law. In another paper the reader finds an account of some pirates being hung, because they robbed a vessel upon the high seas, and this, too, because such robbery is against the law.
Thus the law is seen to be everywhere, upon the land and the sea, in town and country; and the question soon arises,who makes the law? The answer to this is readily given; it is the government? But what is the government? Who is it, what is it, that has spread this net-work of prohibition and requisition over the land, involving every member of society in its meshes? Who administers the government? Who makes the government? By what means or instruments does the government operate? Why do people obey the government? How does it acquire such universal and decisive power?
To some or perhaps all of these questions, which, one after another, arise in the mind, young persons gradually obtain answers; but these are usually imperfect and confused. I propose, therefore, to proceed to describe government, its origin, nature, and necessity; its various forms in different parts of the world, and especially that form adopted in our own country.
In the course of this delineation of government, I shall have occasion to exhibit the origin and sources of laws; the manner of their enactment; and the means by which they are made to regulate the conduct of mankind.
Boy and man
As some persons have fancied that society could realize a state of absolute liberty, so some have fancied that a state ofabsolute equalitycould be attained. It is said in our Declaration of Independence, that “all mankind are created equal;” and this has often been taken as literally true.
But absolute equality is as impossible as absolute liberty. In the first place, mankind are not born equal in respect to civil condition. Some, as the serfs of Russia, are born slaves; in this country too, in some of the states, certain individuals are born to servitude, while others are born to enjoy freedom.
There are other grounds of inherent and necessary inequality. One person is born with a good constitution; another is sickly from the cradle. One person is endowed with a strong mind, another with a weak one. One person is gifted with beauty, another with deformity. One has natural grace, another awkwardness.
The surface of the earth, thrown into hills and valleys, with mountains whose tops mingle with the clouds, and ravines that never see the sunlight—meadows that bloom with flowers, and deserts that know no living thing—plains and sloping hills, covered with forests—and rocky regions where no tree can root itself—all this diversity of nature presents not moreinequality than the conditions in which mankind are born. The whole system of nature and providence, shows it to be the design of the Creator and moral governor, that there shall be diversity in human society, as well as in nature.
Beside, even in those countries where there is the greatest freedom, and the nearest approach to equality in society, even there, mankind are neither born free nor equal, in the view of the law. If we take no account of slaves, still the children of white persons are not born free; they are under the control of their parents till they are twenty-one years old.
Females, who constitute a part of mankind, and whose natural rights are the same as those of men, are never placed on an equality with men before the law. They are never permitted, even in forming the constitution of a country, nor in enacting the laws, nor in choosing rulers, to use the right of voting. They are excluded from all share in the government, by the stronger sex, who proceed to make such laws as they please; and in all countries these laws exclude woman from political power.
It appears, therefore, that mankind are not born free and equal, in a literal sense. In what sense, then, can it be truly said that men are created equal? Only as meaning that all the members of society are born with a just claim to civil liberty—to that freedom which is compatible with the general good, and to an equality of rights. It means to say that those laws which make one man a lord and another a serf—which make one a citizen and debar another, in the same condition, from the right of voting—are violations of the principles of justice and the rights of man.
While, therefore, equality of condition is out of the question, one thing is plain,—that equal rights, equal laws, and an equal administration of these laws—so that the rich and the poor, the high and the lowly, the citizen and the officeholder, shall all stand on the same footing—are the ends and designs of a good government; and every person should so use his power as to establish such ends and designs. Equality does not mean that a woman shall be equal to a man, or a child the same as a man; but that all women, all children, all citizens, shall enjoy the same relative rights, privileges, and immunities.
A Boy lost.A few years ago, a boy, who was sent upon some errand on a cold winter’s night, was overtaken by a dreadful storm, when the snow fell so thick, and drifted in such a manner, that he missed his way, and continued to wander up and down for several hours, nearly perished with cold. At midnight, a gentleman in the neighborhood thought he heard a sound, but could not imagine what it was, until, opening his window, he distinguished a human voice at a great distance, pronouncing, in a piteous tone, “Lost! lost! lost!” Humanity induced the gentleman to send out in search of the person from whom the voice proceeded, when, after a long search, the poor boy was found nearly benumbed with cold. Happy was it for him that he knew his danger, that he cried for help, and that his cry was heard!
Arithmetic.A woman, upon being asked how old her husband was when he died, gave the following arithmetical answer: “I was nineteen years old when my poor mother died; my mother has been dead just twenty-four years last Bradford fair, and my husband was thirteen years older than I am.” Can my young friends tell me how old he was?