Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2007 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.archive.org/details/considerationsonOOIienrricli CONSIDERATIONS " OK SOME OF THE ELEMENTS AND CONDITIONS ov SOCIAL WELFARE HUMAlSr PEOGEESS A.CADEMIC AND OCCASIONAL DI8COUE8ES AND OTHEE PIECES a S. HKNRY, P, I>. NEW YORK: D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 443 BKOADWAY. LONDON: 16 LITTLE BRITAIN. 1861. Us Entebed, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by D. APPLETON & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. Q£\ cP f./^i. rju^x^ *..... TO MY FRIEND EDWARD BBCH S87340 PREFACE The pieces contained in this volume are now collected and published at the request of many of my friends, particularly among my former pupils, at- tendants on my lectures in the New York Univer- sity. The title under which they appear, has been given them as being a sufficiently appropriate in- dication of their general scope and purport. The reader will find some repetitions — naturally enough occurring in pieces written at intervals during so long a period on topics so nearly related. I have not thought it worth while to attempt retrenching them, because in most cases it could scarcely be done without detriment to the context where they VI PREFACE. occur. I have therefore let them stand as they were. This volume contains some things not quite in unison with the tone of popular opinion — par- ticularly in relation to the working of our political institutions and to our future fortunes as a nation. On these topics the utterance of honest censure and prophetic warning is not only unacceptable, but quite likely to subject one to odium, as want- ing in patriotism. But who is the better lover of his country, he who lulls the people with soft strains of pleasing adulation, and kindles their fancy with bright pictures of future greatness and glory ; or he who tells them of the rocks and dangers that are around them, and of the conditions on which their safety depends ? I profess to love my coun- try as much as any man that breathes ; but I do not think the best way to show it is by perpetual eulogies on our superiority as a nation. I desire for my country a glorious future ; no man can more fervently pray for it ; but I do not think the best way to make it sure is to be forever casting brilliant horoscopes, without a single suggestion of the pos- sibilities of disaster and defeat. At all events PREFACE. VU there are enough to flatter our self-love ; let one faithful friend be permitted to point out our faults. There are enough to cry peace and safety ; let one voice of warning be tolerated. If there is any thing unsound in the principles and doctrines I have propounded ; any thing erroneous in the con- ditions of social and political salvation I have laid down as indispensable ; any thing false or over- drawn in the evils I have sketched ; any thing un- real in the dangers I have pointed out, let it be shown and no man can be more ready to acknowl- edge it than I shall be. As to the rest, these discussions touch upon the greatest problems of human thought, and embrace questions of the highest scientific and practical in- terest ; and I cannot but hope they will be re- garded as worthy of the candid consideration of cultivated and thoughtful persons, whether or not they may agree with every opinion advanced. Nbwburgh, on the Hudson, ) August, 1860. S CONTENTS. I. The Importance op Elevating the Intellectual Spirit op the Nation, 1 A Discourse delivered before the Phi Sigma Nu Society of the University of Vermont, Aug. 3, 1837. II. The Position and Duties op the Educated Men op the Country, 63 A Discourse delivered before the Literary Societies of Geneva College, Aug. 5, 1840. III. The True Idea op the University, and its Relation to a complete SYSTEM OP Public Instruction, 109 An Address to the Alumni Association of New York Univer- sity, June 28, 1852. IV. California : the Historical Significance of its Acquisition, . 153 From the American Review, April, 1849. V. The Providence op God the Genius op Human History, . . 183 The Churchman, May 20, 1864. CONTENTS. VI. Young America. — The True Idea of Progress, . . . .199 New York Daily Times, May 2, 1854. VII. The Destination of the Human Race, . . . . . . 209 A Discourse before New Jersey Historical Society, January, 1855. VIII. Remarks on Mr. Bancroft's Oration on Human Progress, . . 268 American Quarterly Church Review, July, 1855. IX. President Making : Three Letters to the Hon. Josiah Quinct, . 295 The Century, April, 1859. Letter I. Departure from the Constitution. Letter II. Evil Consequences. Letter III. Are there any Remedies ? X. jp «4*"'* Politics and the Pulpit, ^^. 816 XI. APPENDIX. Corruption, Violence, and Abuse of Suffrage, . . . .401 THE IMPOETAIS^CE OF ELEYAimG THE OTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATIOl^. " ^While the employment of the mind upon things purely intellectual is to most men irksome, whereas the sensitive powera by our constant use of them acquire strength — the objects of sense are too often counted the chief good. For these things men fight, and cheat, and scramble. " Therefore in order to tame mankind and introduce a sense of virtue, the best human means is to exercise their reason, to give them a glimpse of a world superior to the sensible ; and while they take pains to cherish and maintain the animal life, to teach them not to neglect the intellectual." THE BIPORTANCE OF ELEVATDTG THE LNT- TELLECTUAL SPmiT OF THE NATION. I FEEL myself honored by the invitation that has drawn me here to-day. It is the first time in my life that I visit these seats of learning ; but I am glad there are other associations than those of sight, which banish the sense of strangeness and pleasantly awaken the feeling of home. The So- ciety at whose request I come is itself a portion of a much larger community — the great Brotherhood of Scholars — composed of all those who are animated by a common love of good letters ; and these Aca- demic seats are, if I may be allowed the expression, one of the fair Chapters of our Order, where the humblest of its members may be sure of a Brother's welcome. Festivals like this we hold to-day have a natural influence to quicken the scholarly spirit, and to brighten the golden chain that unites the dis- 4 IMPOKTANCE OF ELEVATING ciples of Letters. Laying aside the cares of ordinary life, we meet together as scholars, to indulge in the free communication, of tfeose tsyqapnthies that are common to the lovers of good learning.. The occa- sion has naturally suggested to me as. a subject of remark — the importance of drawing closer together the bonds of brotherhood among the lovers of let- ters, and of more earnest exertions to exalt the in- tellectual spirit of the nation. It seems to me there are some peculiar consid- erations, connected with the condition of our coun- try, that render it exceedingly desirable and im- portant, no less for the welfare of the country gen- erally, than for the more immediate interests of truth and learning, that a loftier tone, and a live- lier sympathy, should pervade and connect the whole body of those who either are themselves en- gaged in the higher pursuits of science and letters, or appreciate the worth and value of such pursuits. In this country, while intellectual activity, in its higher departments, is, on the one hand, not fa- vored by some causes that exist elsewhere, it is, on the other hand, positively repressed by many un- friendly influences, that are either peculiar to our country, or work in a peculiar degree. It seems needful, then, to cast about for something to sup- THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 5 ply what is wanting, and to counteract what is in- jurious ; — to give a quickened impulse, a higher flight, and a wider reach to intellectual exertion ; — and to work such a change in the state of opin- ion and direction of the public resources, as shall secure to the loftier pursuits of truth, beauty, and letters, those fostering influences of which they are now so sadly destitute. Whether or not these results, in any sufficient degree, can be fairly hoped for, they are still ob- jects attractive to the imagination and to the wish- es ; and at all events we shall find it interesting to survey the present state of cultivation in our coun- try, and the influences that affect it. We have among us no learned order of men. I use the expression for its convenient brevity, not meaning by it merely those who are devoted to the pursuits of learning in the strict sense of the word, but also all those who give their lives to intellec- tual inquiry and production in any of the higher departments of science and letters. We have a most respectable body of educated men, some of them engaged in the applications of science to the arts of life, but most of them exercising the difier- ent public professions. Whether or not they are b IMPOETANCE OF ELEVATING all adequately appreciated and rewarded, still we have such a class, employed in working with, com- bining and applying — ^in explaining, communica- ting, and diffusing, the knowledge already possessed. But in addition to these we want an order of men devoted to original inquiry and production, who without reference to the more palpable uses of knowledge shall pursue truth for its own sake. We need a class of men whose lives and powers shall be exclusively given to exploring the higher spheres of knowledge, opening new sources of truth and beauty, increasing the amount and extending the domain of science. We need an order of men who may be free to leave the mists and the vapors that settle upon the low grounds of the earth, and getting themselves up into the mounjain-tops, may dwell there in a serene and lofty seclusion alike from the goading of life's cares and from the fe- verish stir and strife of its coarse and beggarly ele- ments, and in the clear air beholding with pure and tranquil heart "the bright countenance of Truth," may catch and reflect its divine spirit to all times. In short, we want an order of men, sur- rounded with all needful appliances, and left with a free mind to follow the impulses of their nature in the highest spheres of science and letters. 'i'HJfi INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 7 Such an order of men is a component part of every sound and perfect body politic. It is indis- pensable to its highest welfare. " Man liveth not by bread alone," any more as a nation than as an individual. We live by Admiration, Hope, and Love, And even as these are well and wisely fixed, In dignity of being we ascend. Wordsworth. National well-being consists in the development of the proper humanity of a nation — in the culti- vation and exercise of the reason and moral nature, and in the subordination to these of all the lower principles. It is found in the wisdom, the intel- lectual elevation, and the virtuous energy of a peo- ple ; and of these, the light of pure and lofty sci- ence is the quickening impulse and the genial nu- triment. AU pure and elevated truth is in itself good, and it does good. It is of God, and it leads to God again. Without its noble inspiration we may indeed serve the turn of this world's lowest uses ; — we can gain money, grow fat and die ; — but we are not fit for the better ends even of this world. " He," says Bishop Berkeley, " who hath not meditated much upon God, the human soul, and its chief good, may possibly make a shrewd 8 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING and thriving earth-worm, but he will indubitably make a blundering patriot and a sorry statesman." As the well-being of individuals is in proportion to the culture and right exertion of those rational and moral faculties which mark and distinguish our hu- manity, so the welfare of a nation requires that the select number of those who are endowed with pre- eminent gifts of intellectual power, should be left free, with all observance and respect attending them, to follow those inward promptings of their nature which mark their true vocation — their mis- sion on the earth — the promotion of God's glory by seeking and expMing the highest sources of truth and beauty, for the honor and instruction of their country. Such minds should, in the noble language of Milton, " have liberty in the spacious circuits of their musing, to propose to themselves whatever is of highest hope and hardest attempt- ing" — whether in "beholding the bright counte- nance of Truth, in the quiet and stUl air of de- lightful studies,'' or as "poets soaring high in the region of their fancies, with their garlands and singing robes about them." " These abilities," he goes on, " wheresoever they be found, are the in- spired gifts of God, rarely bestowed, but yet "to some in every nation, and are of power, beside the THE INTELLECTUAL SPIKIT OF THE NATION. 9 office of a pulpit, to imbreed and cherish in a great people the seeds of virtue and public civility, to allay the perturbations of the mind, and set the affections in a right tune." , A learned order is, moreover, one of the conser- vative powers of a nation, necessary in order to check the undue predominance of the more gross and ma- terial elements. In this country it is peculiarly ne- cessary to counteract the overgrowth and dangerous tendencies of the commercial and political spirit. The overgrowth of these influences in other coun- tries is checked not only by venerable institutions both of religion and of learning, but also by ancient dignities, more imposing forms of government, and various other causes which have no place in this country. The only counteracting influences that can be brought to bear in this country against the undue love of wealth and politics, are Keligion and Letters ; and religion, left as it is to take care of itself, will be entirely inadequate, unless the intel- lectual spirit of the nation be elevated by high and pure letters. There is no theme so much a favorite amongst us as the glorious career and magnificent destiny of our country. Our presses teem with gorgeous vis- ions of the future. It is the subject of popular dec- 1* 10 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING lamation througli tlie length and breadth of the land. The public mind has been too much dazzled by these brilliant pictures. It is comparatively a small thing that we have drawn upon ourselves the sneers of other nations, who from a distance are more camly watching the progress of our history. Nor is it the chief evil that comes of indulging these self-pleasing fancies, that they foster an overween- ing national pride. The greatest danger is, that we shall fall into the habit of looking upon it as a set- tled and inevitable thing that we are to become not only the largest and richest, but the freest, wisest, and happiest nation on the globe, while we entirely - forget the conditions on which, after all, our national prosperity is suspended. In the confident tone of these predictions, it seems to be forgotten that the true interests and permanent welfare of our nation can be secured only by maintaining ourselves in harmony with the universal and invariable laws of the moral world. It seems to be forgotten that there are causes, in active operation at this moment, quite as powerful to work our downfall as to secure oiir greatness. I have alluded to the dangerous predominance of two elements in our country. *-^" The one is the love of money. Our national THE INTELLECTUAL SPIKIT OF THE NATION. 11 character is eminently distinguislied, and in tlie view of other nations disgraced, hy this trait. The whole mass of society, from the top to the bottom, is heaving with the restless struggle for gain. It takes, indeed, in many of its manifestations, a cast of grandeur, from the energy it calls forth, and the vastness of the schemes it employs itself upon. The boundless physical resources of the country are unfolding with unparalleled rapidity. The din and bustle of internal improvement is ringing from one end of the land to the other. The country is grow- ing rich beyond all computation ; and almost every man in the country is hastening to be rich. Now it is not necessary to quarrel with this development of the physical resources of our land. But it is ne- cessary to be aware of the corresponding dangers it brings, and to guard against them. It is needful to feel that national wealth is by no means necessarily national well-being ; that merely to be rich no more makes the proper well-being of a nation, than of an individual. On the contrary, the natural tendency of excessive wealth is to luxury, and private and public corruption. It contains the germ of every evil, and, unless checked and sanctified by higher and happier influences, is sure to degrade a nation — to blast its prosperity, and work its ruin. This 12 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING is a truth, of which all history is an impressive de- monstration. It is not necessary to quarrel with the natural desire of acquisition ; but it is necessary to guard against its excess, and to keep it subordinate to its proper ends. In this country it is excessive. It is restless, insatiable, boundless — unhallowed and unredeemed by better influences, by a superior and pervading respect and love for higher and nobler ob- jects. For along with this increase of wealth has come a prodigious growth of luxury — an infinite multiplication of the means and refinements of phys- ical enjoyment ; and we are hurrying on with pro- digious strides to a state of excessive civilization without due cultivation — of luxurious indulgence and the refinements of pleasure, without a propor- tionate growth of intellectual and moral culture, without a lively and respectful regard for the less material and less vulgar interests of life. In such a state of things, the morals of a nation, and the tone of society, cannot but be injuriously affected. Unhappily these evils are but too visible. The use of a single word sometimes tells much in regard to the moral tone of a nation. Is not a sad state of moral feeling betrayed in a country where wealth — that good old-English word, designed to express the total sum of the elements of well-being. THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 13 including all that relates to man's higher nature and wants — ^has come to mean nothing but money ; and where worth is used to tell how much a man has ? Yet so it is. Mr. Wilkins hath a hundred thousand dollars, and he is worth five times as much as Mr. Johnson, who hath but twenty thousand, while Mr. Thompson hath none, and is loorth noth- ing. Throughout the country the great majority of the mass of the people have a profound reverence for nothing but money. Public office is a partial exception. And why should it be otherwise ? They see nothing else so powerful. Eiches not only se- cure the material ends of life — its pleasures and luxu- ries ; but they open the way to all the less material objects of man's desire — respect and observance, authority and influence. In the mean time the tone of society is de- based. The luxury of mere riches is always a vulgar luxury. It is external, and devoid of good taste. It always goeth about feeling its purse. It counteth the fitness and propriety of its appointments by the sum they cost. It calleth your attention to its glit- tering equipage, and saith it ought to be of the first style, for it cost the highest price. It receiveth you to its grand saloons, and wisheth you to mark its 14 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING furniture. It inviteth you to its table, and biddeth you note the richness of its plate, and telleth you the price of its wines. Th.Q fasliion of mere riches is also a vulgar fash- ion. The butterfly insignificance of its life is not even adorned by the graceful fluttering of its golden wings. It is quite possible to have the extrava- gance and frivolity of fashionable life, without the ease and grace, the charms of wit and spirit, and the elegance of mind and manners, that in other countries often adorn its real nothingness, or cover up the coarse workings of jealousy and pretension. Such must always be the tendency of things where the commercial spirit acquires an undue pre- dominance — where the excessive and exclusive re- spect for money is not repressed by appropriate counter-checks. In some countries these checks to the overgrowth of the commercial spirit are sought for in venerable institutions of religion and letters, in habits of respect for established rank, and above all by throwing a considerable portion of the proper- ty into such a train of transmission, ias that it be- comes the appendage and ornament of something that appeals to the higher sentiments, something that is held in greater respect than mere riches, and with the possession of which is connected high and THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OP THE NATION. 15 dignified trusts — a high education, and the culture and habit of all lofty and generous sentiments. This is unquestionably the idea lying at the ground of the English aristocracy, in the theory of the Eng- lish constitution. Hence inalienable estates, belong- ing not to the man, but to the dignity ; where the wealth is designed to be only the means of sustain- ing and adorning the dignity — of fulfilling its proper trusts — and of upholding those high interests of the country, of which the possessor of the dignity is but the representative ; and where habits of education from generation to generation are designed to teach and impress the value of many other things above mere wealth, and to connect with the possession and use of riches, honorable sentiments, liberal cul- ture, and the disposition to respect and promote the cultivation of high science and letters, and all the more spiritual elements of social well-being. And strong as are our prejudices in this country, it may at least be questioned, whether a fair estimate of the evils on both sides would not show that such an aristocracy is in many respects preferable to that which otherwise will and must predominate — the aristocracy of new riches, where the elements of so- ciety are in perpetual fluctuation, where the coarse pretensions of lucky speculators, and the vulgar 16 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING struggles of all to get up, leave little room for the feeling of repose and respect.* The other principal element of danger to our country is the strife of party politics. The struc- ture of our government, with all its advantages, is attended with some peculiar perils. We are apt, however, to be deluded by an extravagant opinion of the efficacy of our form of government in se- curing the welfare of the nation. But there is no charm ' in a form of government. Government is but the condition under which the destiny of a peo- ple is wrought out for good or for evil by the peo- * I was struck with the following passage in a recent well-writ- ten and agreeable book entitled '■'- Sketches of Switzerland.^'' Speak- ing of the society at Paris, the writer had introduced an anecdote illustrating the simplicity of manners that characterized the cele- brated Duke de Valmy ; he then adds, " But I could fill volumes with anecdotes of a similar nature; for in these countries, in which men of illustrious deeds abound, one is never disturbed in society by the fussy pretension and swagger that is apt to mark the pres- ence of a lucky speculator in the stocks. " I have already told you how little sensation is produced in Paris by the presence of a celebrity, though in no part of the world is more delicate respect paid to those who have earned re- nown, whether in letters, arts, or arms. Like causes, however, no- toriously produce like effects; and I think, under the new regime, which is purely a money-power system, directed by a mind whose ambition is wealth, that one really meets here more of that swag- ger of stocks and lucky speculations in the world, than was for- merly the case. Society is decidedly less graceful, more care-worn, and of a worse tone to-day, than it was previously to the revolution of 1830." THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 17 pie themselves. The freest government is the one that is exposed to the greatest perils ; if it does not work well, it must work worse than others. Our form of government presupposes that the ca- pacity of self-government is commensurate with the right ; consequently it is fit for us no longer than we are fit for it. Universal sufi'rage in the hands of an unenliglTfcened and corrupt people is like deadly weapons in the hands of a madman. You can give the people the right of ruling only on supposition that they will rule well. But it is not a thing to be taken for granted that a majority can do no wrong or foolish things. The doings of a majority will never be a whit wiser or better than the wisdom and virtue of the individuals that com- pose it. The great question then obviously is : W.liether the people at large are so enlightened and virtuous, that the present will of a majority, will, In the long run, always be an expression of what is wisest and best for the nation, — or at least, a truer expression of it than can be had in any other way ? It is no acceptable doctrine now-a-days to deny this. But taking human nature as it is given in history and experience, I must be permitted to doubt whether it is safe to assume it. Speaking abstractly, and without reference to any party^ I 18 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING must be permitted to avow the conviction that the majority of the wisdom and virtue of any country, which, for the good of the country, ought to rule, will always be most likely to have its proper influ- ence, where the present will of a mere numerical majority is restrained and limited. Such is the theory of our constitution, and such the design of many of its provisions. Bu^ the democratic ele- ment of our government has acquired a predomi- nating force never dreamed of by its framers. The constitutional checks upon the popular will have proved inadequate to preserve the intended balance, at least they have lost their hold upon the acqui- escence* of the people. It is an odious thing at the present day for any one to speak of the right or the necessity of checking the popular will. The Pres- ident's constitutional right of veto — the independ- ence of the Senate — and the inviolability of the Supreme Court, have all by turns been the objects of popular hatred and popular threats. Add to this the shape which the doctrine of the " right of instruction " is coming daily more and more to as- sume in the popular feeling — a feeling that goes nigh to strip the members of the national legisla- ture of the character of trusted legislators for the people, whose duty it is to act according to their THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 1.9 best judgment and discretion, for the good of the nation, and to make them a mere formal board to register the determinations that come up from the primary assemblies of a thousand local districts. It is not necessary here to draw the line exactly between what is right and what is wrong in this feeling ; it is adverted to only to show the increas- ing tendency of the people to hold exaggerated and exclusive views on every subject involving the ques- tion of popular power. '^ * It is impossible to lay down any proposition in absolute terms on this point. It is certainly the theory of our constitution that the people are wise enough to choose men to be their legislators and statesmen ; but it does not follow that they are wise enough to be legislators and statesmen themselves. Nobody is born a legisla- tor or statesman, and it is equally absurd to suppose the mass of the people can ever become such. Besides, the absolute and un- qualified assertion of the right of instruction would involve the greatest inconveniences and absurdities. For the right which is exerted in one case, may be exerted in every other case ; and the consequences would be such as were certainly never contemplated by the constitution. On the other hand, it seems implied in the spirit of our government, that the deliberate sense of the commu- nity on great and general questions should be regarded by their representatives ; and there seems no particular objection to its be- ing expressed in the shape of instructions. This is probably all that moderate and enlightened holders of the right of instruction care to maintain. But it is none the less true that the tendency of popular feeling goes far beyond this, exaggerating it to an absolute and unqualified right. The root of this and every other instance of the" undue predominance of the democratic spirit, is in radically false and absurd notions of the grounding principles of govern- ment, and particularly in the prevalent confusion of civil with not- 20 IMPOKTANCE OF ELEVATING Whatever dangers grow out of this, are a thou- sand-fold increased by the unlimited extension of suffrage. Not contented with giving the right to all the native born of our own land, without any provision to exclude those whose ignorance unfits them, or whose necessities expose them to corrup- tion, — ^we extend it to all the vagabonds that come to us from other lands. The oppressed and de- graded, the idle and ignorant, the broken in fortune and fame, the outcasts of Europe, throng to our shores by hundreds of thousands yearly — to find here not merely asylum and protection, but to find themselves enrolled side by side with the sons of the land, and possessed of equal right to control the destinies of the nation. Without property or other stake in the welfare of the country ; without wisdom to exercise their new rights ; without suffi- cient time and opportunity given to acquire the knowledge and instruction that would fit them for the wise exercise of such rights, and without a se- rious conviction of the duties those rights impose — they become fit dupes for the party demagogue, bartering often their venal vote for the means of an hour's intoxication ! ural rights. In fact, the people of this country are politically edu- cated in nothing but a false and overweening sense of rights. THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 21 With the progress of all these changes the spirit of party has progressively increased. Our country in some respects offers the finest arena in the world for the political demagogue. It was long ago apprehended by wise men as a possible thing, that a knot of party demagogues, under the name of " friends of the people/' might have it all their own way, and rule and ruin the people with the people's own consent. It remains to be seen. Be the event what it may, certainly the licentiousness of the party press has risen to a tremendous height. Nothing is sacred or secure. The strongest stimu- lants are constantly administered to the worst pas- sions of the people, and particularly to the preju- dices and passions of that portion of the people who rarely read but one side, who commonly be- lieve all that is told them by the accredited organs of their respective parties, and always believe what flatters their self-love. " It is the iniquity of men," says Jeremy Taylor, " that they suck in opinion as the wild asses do the wind, .without distinguishing the wholesome from the corrupted air, and then live upon it at a venture.'' These dangers are a hundred-fold increased from the mode and the fre- quency of filling the highest office in the nation The country has no rest from one four years' end to 22 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING another, in preparing for these so frequently recur- ring struggles. Its remotest corners are agitated ; its quietest nooks are disturbed with the harsh con- flict of opinions ; — ^while all over the land, pesti- lent hordes of hungry office-seekers are stirring up the strife, ringing changes upon popular watch- words, and exciting the passions of the people. Why is all this ? Because the patronage and power of the President of the United States is far greater than that of most kings. I do not advert to this, in order to quarrel with the fact : my only object here is to ask if it would not be far better if some mode of filling the office were fallen upon, that should leave it more to the action of Providen- tial agency ; render the man who fills it less de- pendent upon a party ; surround him in a greater degree with less material, and more moral responsi- bilities ; and thus leave him more free to be the head of the nation, and not of a party.* * Hereditary succession is not here intended ; but some mode of filling the executive office that may avoid the evils of frequent popular elections. In this country an astonishing prejudice prevails among the mass of the people on the whole subject of government — as if freedom of government were essentially and exclusively connected with certain names and forms. It needs, however, but little knowledge of history to show that freedom may exist under the names and forms of monarchy : while with all the names and forms of a republic, a nation may be enslaved. In regard to filling THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 23 Not only is there an undue predominance of the democratic element, subject to all the -corrupting influences of a virulent party press ; but can any sober mind fail to see many proofs and indications that the popular spirit is tending towards the li- centious anarchy of mob domination ? of Liberty without Law and Public Order ? Whenever, in any country, it fully comes to this, it is no matter the executive, the problem — ^like every other problem in the gen eral theory of government — is to fix upon the best mode where no mode is perfectly unexceptionable, that is, to fix upon the mode which is attended with the fewest evils. Where the executive is elective for life — as was the case in Poland — the evils of frequent elections — continual struggle and agitation — are avoided ; but the conflict is fiercer and more dangerous when it does occur. To avoid altogether the evils of elections, the executive ofiice in some constitutional governments — as in England — is made hereditary. In this case reliance is placed upon education and various other in- fluences, to secure the requisite fitness for office ; yet this mode, though in the opinion of the writer less exceptionable than fre- quent popular elections, is attended with obvious liabilities to evil. Is it allowable to suggest a mode that might perhaps be found to combine more advantages and fewer evils for our country than any other? Suppose there were a given term of Senatorial office longer, say, than the present ; upon the expiration of which, those who had served through it, should fall into a grade of Senatores Emeriti — out of whom, one should be taken every four or six years, by lot or by rotation, or by some similar mode of designa- tion, to be the President of the United States. In this way, the evils of popular election would be avoided ; private ambition, and rival competition in a great degree excluded ; while, on the other hand, the individual upon whom the office might fall, would be likely to be every way as suitable a persen as can be secured by the present mode. 24 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING of mere speculation that a people can inflict upon themselves a thousand-fold more curses than the most iron despotism. History has set its seal to this truth forever. That such will never be our fate is devoutly to be hoped ; and there are some grounds of good hope. They are found in the de- gree in which knowledge and virtue do actually prevail in the nation ; in the wide extent of the country ; the want of a great controlling metropo- lis, and in the distinction of State governments and State rights. Moreover, there is reason to hope that the influence of an ever-watchful minor- ity in opposition, may be sufficient to counteract the destructive tendencies of unrestrained democ- racy. Giving all weight, however, to these consid- erations, it still remains beyond a doubt that the increasing love of office, the spirit of party, and the profligacy of the party press, furnish ground of reasonable alarm ; and every good man and lover of his country must desire to see these evils dimin- ished. I have spoken with freedom upon this great subject. The intention of this discourse might perhaps have been sufficiently attained, by simply adverting to the overgrowth of certain mercantile and political elements, as affecting the cause of THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 25 letters and the welfare of the country. But in following the train of my own thoughts I have been led to speak also incidentally — though I con- fess more at large than I intended — ^upon some points in the theory and working of our government, and to intimate opinions from which I am aware that many enlightened men dissent. As to this, I can only say, that without reference to any par- ticular party, and without any disrespect for the opinions of others, I have frankly expressed my own honest convictions. Whether the particular views that have been intimated concerning the theory and working of our government are right or wrong ; and whether the tendencies to evil are, or are not, as great as have been supposed ; still every enlightened man must admit, that there is no form of human govern- ment but is incident to some peculiar class of evils ; that the dangerous tendencies of every democratic government are such as have been spoken of ; and that where the love of wealth and of party politics is advancing, as with us, to such a prodigious over- growth — there, to secure the conservation of the State — the higher and more spiritual elements of national well-being ought to be proportionably pow- erful and active. It is not, then, in the idle and arrogant spirit of mere fault-finding, that I have 26 IMPORTAKCE OF ELEVATING spoken things so little likely to be gratifying to our self-love. The evils to which we are exposed have been pointed out, in order that we may more earn- estly look for the means of conservation. What then are the means of conservation ? What are the counter-checks that will secure the safety of an intensely comipercial and democratic State ? They are religion and letters. It is not my intention here to speak particularly of what religion can do a« a conservative power in a nation. It may be observed however, in passing, that while religion influences the character of a people, it is itself likewise always modified by the people — by the institutions and spirit of the country. In a country intensely democratic, where religion has no fixed and settled institutions, but is left, like every thing else, to the determination of the popular will, may we not suppose it will receive a peculiar cast and direction ? Where the intellectual energies of the people are not at all meditative — turned within, but all projected outward, concentrated upon the palpable objects of material utility ; where all is excitement and conflict, agitation and inten- sity ; will not religion be likewise subject to a cor- responding form of development and action ? Will i THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 27 not its tone and the direction of its influence be in continual fluctuation ? Will there not be a restless craving for religious novelty and excitement ? Will not its teachers find it hard to preserve the inijepend- ence of their sacred functions ? Will they not be-^ exposed to the alternative of losing their influence, or of becoming passive weathercocks to obey and indicate the ever-shifting direction of the popular gale ? Will not the people everywhere call out for preaching " suited to the spirit of the age " ? — not meaning by it preachiag suited to correct and amend the spirit of the age, but agreeable to the taste of the age ; for this mighty " spirit of the age/' like every thing else belonging to the supreme peo- ple, never thinks itself capable of being in the wrong, or needing correction. It demands an applauding echo, not a rebuke. Is there no danger that this '^ spirit of the times," so enlightened in its own esteem, and so wanting in reverence for every thing but itself, instead of submitting to be met, checked, and corrected, by the whole, undivided, old-fashioned gospel, will lay sacrilegious hands upon it, and — tearing a portion of its more external truths and applications live asunder from the living whole and from their inward and spiritual grounds — will mould and narrow and concentrate the whole of religion 28 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING upon an everchanging succession of objects of exter- nal and material reform — hurrying forever onward in a restless career of fierce fanaticism ? Before you answer these questions, look to that part of the country from whence have sprung and spread some of the most remarkable religious devel- opments of the age ; and where too, it is to be noted, have been shown the most remarkable spectacles the world has ever seen of intense activity on the grand- est scale^ exerted for the physical ends of life — root- ing out forests, building up city after city, carrying forth roads and canals, and growing rich, as by the magic ministry of Aladdin's lamp. In a country like ours then, where the demo- cratic and commercial elements are so intense, it cannot be expected that religion will exert an ade- quate conservative influence ; unless the intellectual tone of the people can he exalted. It is the office of Keligion to diminish, by her views of eternal things, a too intense and absorbing devotion to the gross and material objects of life ; but she wiU battle it unequally, unless she is aided by causes that shall excite and cherish a taste and respect for the higher and more intellectual objects and enjoy- ments of the present life. Let us then turn to letters, as the other conser- THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 29 vative element of the state — and the necessary com- plement of the former. In this aspect of our coun- try, we find; in some parts, public schools, a press teeming with popular works, and a body of teachers and writers actively engaged in communicating and diffusing existing knowledge. I will not stop to dwell at length upon defects in all this. It might be shown how the system of education, established among us, tends, in some important respects, not so much to quicken intellectual power and to form decided intellectual tastes, as to furnish the modi- cum of knowledge necessary to enable our youth to rush upon the arena of life and play their part in the great struggle for wealth or office. It might be shown how the continual multiplication of works like most of our popular productions tends to create a vague and superficial knowledge, which serves rather as a substitute for thinking than to invigorate the powers of thought ; and how the mind even of the commonest reader gets more good from grap- pling with one master-mind, and by patient, strenuous self-exertion, fathoming the depth of one master-work, than by skimming forty volumes of " Familiar Elements,'" and similar fourth-rate pro- ductions that are continually coming forth.* I * " What the youth of a nation needs," says Cousin, " are 30 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING miglit point out some indications of a morbid taste in tlie present reading public, which require a higher tone of literature to correct. But let whatever there is of letters among us be accepted as good ; and surely it is very good in comparison with hav- ing nothing of the kind, or even — some exceptions being made — ^with having less of it; for it tends to the diffusion of knowledge — a thing essential to the welfare of the country, so it be sound and wholesome knowledge ; still it is obvious to remark that the diffusion of knowledge is not its advancement. Carrying the streams all over the land is not keep- ing the fountains fresh and full. The teachers — those engaged in simplifying and communicating existing knowledge — can have but little time for increasing its amount. They can have but little time, even if they have the intellectual power, to explore the fountain heads, to enlarge them, to open new and fresh springs. Yet this is needed ; other- wise the streams are likely to get dry and stale. thorough and profound works, such even as are something abstruse and difficult ; in order that they may get the habit of encountering and overcoming difficulties, and serve as it were an apprenticeship to fit them for life and its labor. It is a sad thing to deal out to them only slight general notions in such a form that a child of five years old may learn to recite the whole book in a day from beginning to end, and imagine it knows something of human na- ture and the world. Not so should it be. Strong minds arc made by strong studies," etc. Cours de la Phil. Y. I. Lee. 11. THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 31 We need then an order of men — of lofty intellec- tual endowment, of original creative power, exclu- sively devoted to the highest departments of truth, beauty, and letters; an intellectual High Priesthood, standing within the inner veil of the Temple of Truth, reverently watching before the Holy of Holies for its divine revelations, and giving them out to the lower ministers at the altar ; — thus teaching the teachers, enlarging their intellectual treasures, exalting their intellectual spirit, and through them instructing and elevating the whole body of the people. This lofty style of letters, as we have said, is good in itself. It is good as a component part of the common weal. It is good too — it is indispensably necessary — as a counter- acting power to the predominant evils that have been displayed. But how shall a learned order be created ? The very state of things that renders it most needful, not only fails to create it, but is adverse to it. Politics and business, public life and commercial enterprise, absorb the greatest portion of the best energies of the nation. The public will never create it. The public will pay for a cheap and inferior style of letters. The public will pay only for what 32 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING it compreliends the value of ; it cannot comprehend the value of a Plato, a Bacon, a Michael Angelo, a Newton, a La Place ; it will not support them. It will not even respect and honor them while alive, unless it sees them surrounded with other titles to their reverence than those which come from the na- ture and value of their labors — unless it sees them honored by the State. Centuries after they are dead, from the tardy prevalence of right opinion in the higher quarters, the multitude may come to have a vague impression that they are great names, not to be mentioned without respect. It is a sad reflection, how comparatively solitary and uncheered by sympathy and respect, even in the best condition of society, is the path of a truly great and original mind — especially when devoted to the more profound and spiritual investigations of truth. As Coleridge says of some such one, they stride so far ahead of their age that they are dwarfed by the distance. It is perhaps one of the penalties of greatness — one of the abatements, in the equal orderings of Providence, from the enviableness of such high gifts. The fate of Bacon is an impressive case in point. The name of Bacon is now a word of reverence in the mouths of tens of thousands of the multitude, who have never indeed read a line of THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 33 Hs philosopMcal works, and know nothing of their contents, unless perhaps they have skimmed the outlines of his great work in the " Library of Use- ful Knowledge," or gleaned some crude notions from more casual sources. Few are aware, however, that in his own days, and among his own countrymen, his philosophical labors were not only not under- stood and esteemed, but depreciated and ridiculed — and that not merely by the courtiers and men of the world, but by the men of genius who ought to have comprehended the new sources opened to them. The shallow witticism of the " pedant king " on his great work — '' that like the peace of God it passed all understanding " — was but the key-note of the whole symphony of the times. Well was it for Bacon that he could sustain his mighty spirit by keeping the " times succeeding " ever before his mind ; and in his last legacy " leave his name and his memory to foreign nations and to his own coun- trymen after some time he passed over."''' This is not a solitary instance. The history of literature is full of similar cases ; but we cannot stop to sig- nalize them. A most eminent instance, in our own age, might be pointed out, in the " myriad-minded " * See D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, 2d Series., 2* 34 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING Coleridge — a man of most surpassing intellectual greatness, wonderful alike for every kind of learn- ing and for every Idnd of creative power. He was indeed valued and revered by a few — ^the elect spirits of the age — and among tliem some of the highest and brightest names of our times, whose verdict is prophecy, whose apjplause is fame ; but by the great body of his cotemporaries he lived neg- lected and depreciated. But neither have I time, nor dare I attempt, to make his fitting eulogy. Suc- ceeding TIMES will do him justice, and vindicate his titles to the reverential homage of his country and mankind. In a country where commercial enterprise and public life absorbs such a disproportionate share of the strongest energies of mind, it is rare to find the men of the world, even the best of them, adequate- ly appreciating the value, and respecting the labors of men of genius. ' ' These men of strong minds, but limited capacities,'' as D'Israeli says, are rather inclined " to hold in contempt all studies alien to their own habits."' This, which has ever been to a great extent the tendency, even in the most favor- able condition of things, is, from the peculiar state of our country, eminently the tendency with us. Where shall we look in our political and commercial THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OP THE NATION. 35 world at the present day, for such men as Cicero, uniting literary and philosophical tastes and labors with public affairs ; or the magnificent Lorenzo de Medici, distinguished at once as poet, and lover and cultivator of philosophy and art, as well as the great merchant and head of the State — gathering around him the choicest literary spirits of the age ; loving them ; cheering and quickening their zeal by public honors and rewards ; and in his intervals of leisure from affairs, living with them in genial communication on the highest themes of truth and beauty : ^Non de villis, domibusve alienis, Nee, male, nee ne, lepus saltet. Sed quod magis ad nos Pertinet, et neseire malum est : -Utrumne Divitiis homines, an sint virtute beati ? Et quo sit natura boni ; summum que ejus. Horace Sat. L. II. 6, 11. Neither by the pubhc then, nor by individuals, in the present state of things, can we expect that a body of high and original cultivators of truth and letters, will be adequately sustained or respected. But it may be thought that men of genius should be sustained by the sentiment of duty, and 36 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING the • consciousness of their high vocation ; — ^by a calm and lofty confidence in the verdict of " succeed- ing times ; " and, above all, by the ever fresh im- pulse of that love of truth and letters /or their own sake, without which no external motives will avail to call forth great and noble works. It is indeed true that no one is worthy the name of philosopher, poet, or artist, who regards the pursuit of truth and beauty, as mere means to earthly and private ends. Such a feeling would of itself sufficiently betray that the genial power of high production — the true mens divinior — had never stirred within them. It is the remark of Fuseli, that no great and genuine work of art was ever produced where the artist did not love his art for its own sake ; and the remark applies to every branch of science and letters.* All the master-works of the mind must be the genial * I cannot resist the inclination to mention the circumstances in which I first saw this remark of Fuseli. It was in the studio of my friend Allston, to which I had been invited — a privilege rarely extended to any one — to see a picture he had just finished. The sentence from Fuseli was written in pencil on the door of a cabinet, and beneath it was another exquisite thought by Allston himself: "He who loves his art for its own sake, will be delighted with excel- lence wherever he sees it, as well in the work of another as in his own. This is the test of true love." This is beautiful, and beautifully expressed, — and what is pleasanter still, it is just an ex- pression of the true disposition of that most amiable man and orna- ment of our country's art. THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 37 production of those who find their labors their own " exceeding great reward." External moti^^es can never bestow inward power. True love alone quick- ens creative energy. He who can be drawn to la- bor in the cause of truth and letters only by the earthly rewards of money and honor, will never do any thing worthy of reward. All this, however, by no means proves that such rewards are not needed, in order to give free and unrestrained scope to the action of more genial im- pulses. The man of genius must have a livelihood. However sincere his love of the true and beautifol and good in science, art and letters, for their own sake ; however glorious his energies ; however strong the inward impulse to high and noble production ; he may be pressed down by the force of external circumstances. The necessity of providing for the wants of to-morrow by the cares of to-day, may for- bid his giving himself up to the objects of his love. The votary of high truth and letters should be so provided for, that that he may abide in the " quiet and still air of his delightful studies," and not be dragged forth to struggle in the work-house of the world for his daily bread. Then as to the respect- ful appreciation of his labors by his fellow-men. The man of genius is a man ; and therefore feels 38 IMPOETANCE OF ELEVATING the want of liuman sympatliy. He may glow with a pure and fervent love of truth and beauty ; he may have a calm and self-sustained conviction that he is not living in vain, nor for himself alone, but is working in a high vocation to which he is called of Grod ; he may have a serene and lofty confidence in the sentence of succeeding times ; — yet he will often feel a discouraging sense of loneliness, if he sees himself the object of disregard or depreciation among his fellow-men ; and on the other hand, he will be cheered and quickened by knowing that the respectful thoughts and kind feelings of his contem- poraries are with him in his labors. Thus we see that genius may be repressed, and rendered fruit- less to the world, if it is left a prey to the cares of life, or the sense of disregard. Here then lies the value of State endowments — places of dignified labor and ample provision for a body of men de- voted to the highest interests of science and letters. The State is the proper power to form and sus- tain such an order of men. The State is the power that can most adequately cherish the cause of lofty science and learning. It does this, not by cre- ating genius, not by communicating a love of truth and letters for their own sake ; but by mak- ing such provision that these impulses may have THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE. NATION. 39 free scope. Government can supply a place for a learned order to work in ; and can put honor on their work in the eyes of the multitude. The mul- titude honors what it sees honored by the State. In this country, above all others on the globe, men of science and letters have no place, no position, in the social system. The respect paid to wealth and public office engrosses all the respect that in other countries is awarded to high letters. The multitude in this country, so far from favoring and honoring high learning and science, is rather prone to suspect and dislike it. It feareth that genius savoreth of aristocracy ! Besides, the multitude calleth itself a practical man. It asketh : what is the use ? It seeth no use but in that which leads to money, or to the material ends of life. It hath no opinion of having dreamers and drones in society. It believeth indeed in rail-roads ; it thinketh well of steam ; and owneth that the new art of bleach- ing by chlorine is a prodigious improvement ; — but it laughs at the profound researches into the laws of nature, out of which those very inventions grew ; and with still greater scorn it laughs at the votaries of the more spiritual forms of truth and beauty, which have no application to the palpable uses of life. Then, again, the influence of our reading pub- 40 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING lie is not favorable to liigli letters. It demands, it pays for, and respects, almost exclusively, a lower style of production ; and hence a natural influence to discourage higher labors. As old Spenser sang, two hundred years ago : If that any buds of poesy Yet of the old stock, 'gin shoot again, 'Tis or self-lost the worlding's meed to gain, And with the rest to breathe its ribauldry, — Or, as it sprung, it wither must again ; Tom Piper makes them better melody ! The State then ought to cherish high science and letters by endowments, for two reasons : first, in order to supply to a superior order of men such a competent provision as wiU leave them free to de- vote their powers exclusively to lofty study and production ; secondly, in order to develop in the people a proper feeling of respect for the importance of such labors, by the honor it puts upon them.* Something of this is done in other countries. A learned order is, to some extent, recognized and sustained as one of the integral elements of the com- monwealth. In the theory, at least, of the British constitution — which, taken all in all, is wonderfully * This is illustrated at considerable length, and set in various lights, in Bulwer's " England and the English." THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 41 adapted to human nature as it is, and to the wants of the social condition ; the working of whose ma- chinery may, in the progress of time and change, have become disordered, and need rectifying, but whose dissolution or organic change should be dreaded — in the theory of this constitution, the State charges itself with the duty of providing for the good of the people what the people will never pro- vide for themselves. Hence the Cathedral, Univer- sity, and other Endowments for learning, science and art — places of high honor and trust — designed, in the ideal of them, to be filled by the best minds of the land ; where, with a modest but dignified provision for life and its wants, surrounded with rich and ample libraries, it becomes their duty to devote themselves to the highest departments of truth and letters ; working not with immediate reference to the bulk of the people, but for the teachers of the people — guarding the fountain heads of learning, and opening new springs ; promoting thus the good of all — honored and respected by all, not because all can fally comprehend the meaning and value of their pursuits, but because all see them honored by the State. Would that we could hope for some support of a like kind for the intellectual interests of our coun- 42 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING try. But what has government ever done to cherish these interests ? Next to nothing in comparison with their importance and its own means. It has occasionally ordered a picture or a statue ; it has subscribed for a few books. Oh, if a portion of those superfluous millions, whose distribution has created so keen an excitement, could have been de- voted to founding and cherishing a great and noble institution for the cultivation of lofty science and letters, what occasion of joy to every lover of the cause, and to every enlightened lover of our coun- try ! Little, however, can at present be expected from government. The action of our government is but the reflection of the popular will ; it has but little power to form and direct the public mind. It will be yet a long time before the country at large is adequately awake to the importance even of primary education. It is pleasant to perceive a growing sense of this ; but the importance of a gen- erous provision for the cultivation of the higher de- partments of science and letters is scarcely at all felt. So far, indeed, is the mutual connection and harmony of the two from being discerned, that there is a disposition on the part of the friends of popular education — even among those who ought to know better — to dislike and oppose the claims of high THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 43 science and letters. A great change must be wrought in public feeling, before the ample re- sources of the country will be applied to this great object. What then remains ? Shall the lovers of good letters despair of the cause ? Oh no ! Let them stir themselves up to a loftier zeal in proportion to the adverse influences that press upon them. Let them mutually quicken in each other those genial impulses which the chill cold atmosphere of the country so tends to repress. Let them brighten the golden chain that unites them. Let a livelier sympathy pervade and animate the whole brother- hood of those who love and honor the cause of truth, of beautiful art, and of good letters. Let them com- bine their exertions, and direct them to supplying those fostering influences which the Public and the State withhold. It is greatly to be regretted that there is not a more intimate connection among our men of letters ; that they meet no more frequently as a class — have no more free communication — and make themselves no more felt as a distinct body and a positive ele- ment in the social system. Perhaps in part it is owing to the want of some such point of common attraction as the capitals of Europe supply ; but 44 IMPOKTANCE OF ELEVATING more to the fact that those among us who are in any degree devoted to the cultivation of letters, give to its pursuits only the intervals of leisure snatched from the duties and cares of other professions, upon which they are dependent not only for subsistence, but for their social position and conseq[uence. They are thus scattered abroad over the land — isolated, amidst the ungenial influences that surround them, with but little leisure or opportunity to indulge in the sympathies of brotherly communion, and to com- bine and strengthen their influence for the promotion of high letters. Would, however, that the love of these great interests, and a sense of their value to the country, might lead to more vigorous and combined exertions to promote them. If I might suggest, in broken hints, the outline of a scheme that I should desire to see embodied — I would say : Let a great associa- tion be formed, embracing all who cultivate, and all who appreciate the value of good learning, high science, and noble art. The objects of such a union should be by mutual sympathy, to quicken in each otherthe love of these things and to excite to genial production ; to supply, as far as possible, the requi- site material conditions — the means and appliances — ^that may give free scope to the impulses of genius; THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 45 and to act upon the intellectual spirit of the nation ' — exalting its tone, developing the power and excit- ing the disposition to appreciate and cherish the productions of genius. In imitation of the German Society of Naturalists, let there be an annual Con- gress of the disciples of good letters, held in different places on successive years ; and let not the influence of these meetings die away with the speeches that are made. Let suggestions concerning all the most important desiderata in the highest departments of Philosophy, Art, and Literature, be received, carefully weighed by appropriate committees, and discussed in the most catholic spirit. Let prizes be proposed, and works of pre-eminent merit be crowned. But above all, let the most strenuous and unwearied exertions be directed to securing those material provisions which are requisite to call a portion of the highest talent and genius of the country into the field of science and literature. Here would be included the foundation of libraries, containing the most perfect apparatus for the thorough cultivation of every department of letters, and complete collections in nature and art ; — and last, but most essential, endownments for the dig- nified and honorable support of genius — where, free from life's cares, it may follow the impulses of its 46 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING nature. Here let all those whom God hath formed for great poets, great artists, and great philosophers, find every condition and every influence to quicken, unfold, and perfect in themselves the rare and excellent gifts of God. Here " in the quiet and still air of delightful studies,'' let the tenure and obligations of their position and the sense of duty unite with the inward promptings of their nature, leading them to work, each in his high vocation, for the glory of God and the honor and instruction of their country and mankind. If this be but an Idea that can never be realized, surely it is an idea beautiful to the imag- ination, and attractive to the wishes of every lover of truth and letters. Even if it cannot be fully realized, something may be done. A beginning may be made by the union and combined influence of those who have these interests at heart, and they may at length so act upon the intellectual spirit of the country as to secure the fostering influence of the State. At all events, the duty of uniting in the promotion of this great end, rests upon all who love the cause of truth and human progress. It rests upon all whom history and reflection have taught to dread for our country the debasing and deadly tendencies of a too intense and absorbing THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 47 devotion to the mere physical interests of life. It rests upon all who would elevate the intellectual tone of the nation — develop its true humanity — and raise it to the true freedom of virtuous energy. It rests upon all who would secure to our heloved country the permanent possession of its true dignity and proper well-being. There is no alternative. We must be rich and great. We cannot — like the mountain dwellers of Switzerland and the Alps, or the poor inhabitants of Iceland — find in our pov- erty, and in the influences of rehgion, those safe- guards of our virtue and our welfare, which render the conservative influence of high intellectual cul- ture comparatively unimportant. We must be rich and great ; and our riches and greatness wiU inevi- tably prove our ruin — spite of all that religion will effect — unless the intellectual spirit of the nation be elevated by the pervading influence of a spiritual Philosophy, a pure Literature and a noble Art. 48 IMPOKTANCE OF ELEVATING KEMARKS ON SOME OBJECTIONS TO THE FOREGOING VIEWS. [Neakly a quarter of a century has passed away since tlie foregoing address was delivered. In reading it over now, in 1860, I think it right to say that while I still regard the general principles and leading views of the discourse as just and im- portant, I find some things expressed in somewhat stronger and less qualified terms than I should now use. But, particularly, I hold it due to truth and to my own convictions to say — and I am glad to have the opportunity to say — that there has been, I think, during the last twenty-five years, a very considerable improvement in the intellectual tone of the nation ; that if wealth and public of- fice are still inordinately worshipped and pursued, THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 49 yet not only the number of those who hold higher objects in higher esteem is greatly increasedj but among the people at large there is much more a disposition to honor and respect high science and letters. In 1836 New York had an Astor House ; in 1860 it has, and for a number of years has had, an Irving House, a Prescott House, an Ever- ett House, a Bancroft House, and, for aught I know, a Bryant House, too ; and the like thing is true in our other great towns. The views advanced in my discourse met with some objections at the time. In particular they were strongly assailed — ^not directly in form, but with unmistakable directness in purport and inten- tion, and not over respectfully in terms — by the gentleman who followed me the next year, in ad- dressing the same literary societies.* I subjoin ex- tracts from some remarks made in reply in the New York Keview for April, 1838, a journal I had established, and which was at that time under my editorial charge. I do it not out of any per- sonal feeling — if I had any at that time (and I * An address delivered before the Literary Societies of the Uni- versity of Vermont, August 2, 1837. By George G. Ingersoll. Burlington. 3 50 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING do not know that I had) it is long ago gone — ^but because they contain what seems to me a substan- tial answer to the objections most likely to be made against the leading views of my discourse, and par- ticularly against endowments for the promotion of science and learning, letters and art, and may serve to fortify some of the positions there taken, which I hold to be sound and good.] Instead of telling his audience wholesome truths, and inciting them to higher exertions in the cause of good letters than those which we have, in this country, been too contented with — the author of this address has chosen the easier task of adminis- tering to a self-satisfied vanity already inflated to an unhealthy degree. Nay, more ; he seems to have had in his eye, some brother-orator who preceded him on a like occasion ; and who, instead of laying on the altar the usual offering of fulsome eulogy, was wicked enough to intimate that some things might be better in this country than they are. He therefore comes forward to pour the precious balm of unction into the rankling wounds, to smooth down the ruflled plumage of self-love. It seems to have been an opinion expressed by somebody, that there is in this country an excessive THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 51 love of gain. The author of this address thinks this is not the fact ; for the same thing, he says, is true of England, of Europe, of the world ! Indeed, he rather inclines to the opinion that it is a tendency of human nature ! at least he quotes classical authority for the opinion : Hominum sunt ista, non temporum; nulla cetas vacavit a culpa ! On the whole, however, after some dubitation on the matter, he thinks it is but fair to admit that the spirit of money-getting is very strong — too strong, indeed ; yet it would be a pity if it were less so. This part of his subject, in truth, seems to have slightly perplexed the orator ; though the dexterity with which he has contrived to make one sentence neutralize the other, is only equalled by that of the renowned editor of the Little Pedlington Observer. Of one thing, nevertheless, the orator is positive, and that is, that the love of money — which is not excessive, and is yet lamentably too strong, though it would be a pity if there were less of it — is by no means the exclusive passion of the people of this country. In proof of this, he triumphantly appeals to the fact, that on the " annual return " of the commencement of the University of Vermont, " the office, the counting-room, the shop, the farm, the 52 IMPOETANCE OF ELEVATING home, are all forsaken ; and all ages, sexes, and conditions, throng to its observance ! " He inti- mates, also, that the like is true at other colleges. This conclusively shows not only that the people have a respect and love for learning, and a literary taste, but that nothing more need be wished for on this score ; and not only so, but that there is in this country abundant provision and encouragement of every sort and kind for the cultivation of all the highest and abstrusest departments of science and learning ; and therefore, to point out any defects or to suggest any improvements, evinces an equally unpatriotic and ridiculous spirit of fault-finding ! For ourselves, our simple creed on this subject is, that the love of gain is a very strong passion, and the pursuit of it a very engrossing pursuit, among the people of this nation. With the unfold- ing of the physical resources of the country, and the prodigious increase of commerce and manufactures, the tide of wealth has rolled over the land ; and the passion for getting greatly and rapidly rich has nat- urally kept pace with the facility of getting rich. Now, connected with all this there is but one single thing to be feared — ^namely, lest the love of gain become exclusive. There is but one thing to be de- sired — ^not that there should be less wealth, but— THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 53 that along with it there should be more of that high intellectual cultivation which is at least an equally indispensable element of national well-being. Ac- cording to our mode of thinking, we have already- arrived at that point in our history, when we have so far fulfilled the first and more material part of the mission of a young nation^ that it has become all-important to turn our attention to the higher and more intellectual part. For as it would cer- tainly be dangerous if the subordinate and material conditions of national well-being should acquire an undue predominance, so there is ground to fear it. It is no matter how rich a people may be, pro- vided there be at the same time a due proportion of love for intellectual and spiritual interests. Otherwise the love of riches will be excessive, de- basing, dangerous. " It is said, however," (observes the author,) " that the great evil is, we have no checks to this spirit — such, for instance, as do exist in the Old World. These checks, I take it, are established rank, primogeniture, form of gov- ernment, and so on, matters all very good for those who choose them. But, without stopping to give any reasons^ I shall merely say that, for one, I am very glad there are no such checks among us. I should like, indeed, to stop to ask a definition of this same word check, thus used ; for when I turn to the mother country where such matters 54 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING are found, I conclude check does not mean to suppress, hardly to control ; if it does, why do we hear, in the very midst of such checks, lamentations over what is called ' an almost religious veneration for riches ? ' I cannot but stop, however, to admire the consistency of rejoicing in a state of high refinement and elegant leisure which wealth has brought about, and to sustain which wealth is abso- lutely indispensable, and at the same time condemning the .pursuit of that which must be attained in order to the same state elsewhere. It seems like the individual who has retired from a business long and actively engaged in, with his fortune and in his splendid mansion — with libra- ry, pictures, statues, garden — gravely chiding some young man who has just started into life, and comparing his own learned, dignified repose with the vulgar hurry and sordid views of this same money-getting youth." — Pp. 17, 18. This is exceedingly ad captandum; we will not call it flippant and foolish, but it is destitute of any valid bearing whatever upon the point in question. It is a simple question of fact, whether, compared with the degree of wealth and physical refinement we have already attained, the higher departments of intellectual production are held in due respect, duly provided for, and rewarded. It is a simple question of fact, whether the pursuit of wealth does not absorb an undue proportion of the national en- ergies to the neglect of higher pursuits. If so, it would seem quite easy to understand the desirable- 3* THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 55 ness of some influences that might operate — not " to suppress " the pursuit of wealth but — really to " check " the tendency to a too excessive and exclusive pursuit of it. " Established rank, primo- geniture, and so on/' might not work very well in this country. We, too, may be " very glad " we have no such things : they might work more evils here in other respects than they would prevent in the particular respect in question. They may, also, as the author intimates, be quite insufficient checks in England ; but that does not prove they are des- titute of all salutary effect even there ; least of all does it prove that it is not desirable there should be some influences, of some kind, in this country, to diminish a too exclusive devotion to wealth, by presenting at least other, if not higher, objects of respect and pursuit. Then, as to the " inconsisten- cy " which our critic " stops to admire," and the smart simile by which it is illustrated — all this is easily put in a just light by the simple inquiry, whether we have not already wealth enough in this country to justify and require a much higher style of cultivation than obtains, and a much better pro- vision for the encouragement and reward of high intellectual exertion. There is a great deal of fallacy in the common-place talk about our youthfulness 56 IMPOKTANCE OF ELEVATING as a nation. The truth is that the comparatively short period of our national existence is no measure of our advancement in civilization. We are civil- ized enough and rich enough, not only to have, but for our permanent and continued well-being to stand in need of, some better provision for the cultivation of the higher departments of learning and science. Not only is there no such necessity, as the orator in- timates, for the chief energies of the country being devoted to money-getting, but, unless a much larger proportion than the spirit of the nation now calls for, be turned to higher objects, we shall become a degenerate people. It has been suggested by some, as highly desir- able, that there should be created in this country special endowments, either by legislative or private munificence, for the support of a body of men devot- ed to the cultivation of those higher departments of science and learning, which — although of great intrinsic worth, and_, rightly considered, of indispen- sable importance among the elements of national well-being — are not likely to be adequately cher- ished by the people at large. The author of this address, however, is opposed to such a system. It does not work as well in Europe as could be desired ; therefore it is not best to try it at all ! He quotes THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 57 largely, from English and continental authorities ; and seems to think the question is perfectly put at rest hy them. Apart from the folly of totally con- demning a system which, because insufficiently established, and fettered in its working by causes not necessary and inherent, does not produce all the results that might be produced by an adequate and unfettered system, the orator ought to have recollected that on a question where " doctors disa- gree,'" the disagreement really proves very little, except the disagreement ; certainly the opinions of the doctors on one side do not prove the opinions of doctors on the other side to be wrong. Speaking of the English Cathedral and University endow- ^ ments, Dr. Chalmers recently said : " it is the ' churches and colleges of England in which is fos- tered into maturity and strength almost all the massive learning of our nation" Now, we take leave to say, that in our apprehension Dr. Chalmers is right. What does it avail to say, with the Eclec- tic Keview, as quoted by this orator, ^' that many of the most valuable and elaborate productions of the present day, as well as of former times, have been given to the public, not by men of leisure who had uninterrupted command of weeks, and months, and years ; but by men whose professional avoca- 58 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING tions seemed scarcely compatible with authorship ? " This may be very true, particularly in the depart- ments of History, Mathematics, and Physics — ^not to mention those departments of literary production which have no relation whatever to the question. Yet it is still true, that even in the departments mentioned, " many of the most valuable and elabo- rate productions " have been due to the fostering influence of endowments, and would in all likelihood never otherwise have been given to the world. But the value of endowments, and the truth of Dr. Chalmers' assertion, is seen in relation to other de- partments of production. In the Theological, Clas- sical, Ecclesiastical, Biblical, and Oriental learning of England, almost all the great works, the most valuable contributions have come from the learned endowments of the Church and Universities. Now, this is a province of intellectual inquiry in which profound and massive learning is requisite ; and we say the popular patronage will never demand and adequately encourage the highest style of produc- tion. It is in vain also to expect that there will be enough of love and leisure for these pursuits to se- cure an adequate supply of profound works, from men absorbed in the cares of professional or public life. THE INTELLECTUAL SPIRIT OF THE NATION. 59 Brilliant exceptions there may occasionally be, no doubt ; still the general truth is as we have stated it. The fact is, and there is no controverting it, that there are many departments of production in which a profound and thorough learning is requi- site ; such as can be acquired only by a life-long de- votion ; which the popular patronage has never any- where rewarded and never wiU reward ; which has been secured by the endowments of England. Pop- ular favor will reward the exertions of a Scott, an Irving, a Dickens, whom we mention with all honor and respect — as well of some others, for whom we profess no respect ; but that popular patronage will ever give, not fortunes, but even a decent subsist- ence, in reward for the exertions of such men as More, and Cudworth, and Potter, and Lowth, and Lee, and hundreds of others, who, under the genial fostering of England's endowments, have spent their lives in learned labors for the " honor of their coun- try and the glory of God " — any man must be very weak to expect. Now, we happen to be of opinion that the labors of such men are as valuable and necessary a part of a nation's best wealth, as those of a Scott or an Irving (and we value as much as anybody the labors of such as these) ; and be- lieving, as we do, that in this country we are la- 60 IMPORTANCE OF ELEVATING mentably deficient, and that popular patronage will never secure us sucli labors, we should be ex- ceedingly glad to see a wise and well-regulated system of endowments to encourage and reward them. THE POSITIOiN A^^D DUTIES OF THE EDUCATED MExN OF THE COUNTEY. THE POSITION AND DUTIES OF THE EDU- CATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. We meet, on this your anniversary, as a Broth- erhood of Scholars ; and perhaps I should best have consulted the spirit of the occasion, if I had selected some subject of purely literary interest, or endeav- ored merely to promote the elegant enjoyment of the hour. But I have taken the liberty to give our thoughts a more practical direction. I remem- ber that but few, if any of us, are mere scholars. Those who have come here to-day from different places, have come up from strenuous engagement with the intense life that is heaving and struggling all around us ; and when we go from here, it is to return into the crowd and pressure of that life again. And those who are about to be sent out at this 64 POSITION AND DUTIES time from this seat of learning, must leave "the still air of delightful studies/' in this quiet and beautiful retreat, and go forth to do honor to their Benignant Mother in the active service of their country and their God. On this account I have thought it might be appropriate and profitable for us, as from this land- ing-place, to look out over the scene in which it is our destiny to live and work ; and to notice what it presents for warning and for guidance : — not forgetting indeed that we are scholars, but on the contrary, bearing in mind that our obligations are specially determined by the fact of our belong- ing to the educated class in the nation. — It is therefore of the Position and Duties of the Edu- cated men of the country, that I wish at this time to speak. It will not be questioned that the scholars of our country have a special vocation, which is deter- mined by all that constitutes the peculiar charac- teristics of our country and of our age. It is in- cumbent on us, therefore, to comprehend the spirit of our country and of our age. We are to remem- ber that we have fallen on the nineteenth century and not on the twelfth — that we live in America, OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 65 and not in Austria. I do not mean that we should not understand the Past. Unless we understand the Past, we cannot understand the Present; for the Present is born of the Past. Nor do I mean that we should not seek to understand the most general spirit of the world, as well as of the coun- try in which we live ; for our country stands in man- ifold relations with other countries, and, rightly considered, moreover, there are, in every age, pul- sations which throb throughout the heart of uni- versal Humanity. Still, it is to the actual mind and heart of our own country we must speak, if we mean to live and speak to any purpose in our own times, or even for the times that shaU come after us. Karely in the history of mankind is there to be found any great work of genius, of permanent and enduring influence, which has not borne the form and pressure of its age. Not always in sympathy, often indeed in resistance to the spirit of their times, yet ever, with few exceptions, as those who knew and felt what was the spirit of their times, have the great thinkers and teachers of the world uttered themselves. And above all things is it requisite that the educated men of this country should under- stand the spirit of the country in which they are to live and work. 66 POSITION AND DUTIES The educated class represcDt the liberal cultiva- tion of the nation ; and to them chiefly belongs the duty of sustaining and cherishing the higher and more spiritual elements of social well-being. The manifold elements which compose the well- being of a nation may be comprehended under the twofold division of material or physical, and moral or spiritual. — In the material are included the means of physical support and comfort — food, cloth- ing, and shelter ; the security of person and prop- erty ; the arts of life which serve to multiply and refine the sources of material enjoyment ; in short, every thing that relates to the useful or to the agree- able — every thing that is implied in the proper meaning of the word civilization. On the other hand, the spiritual elements of national well-being result from the unfolding and activity of the principles of man's higher life, as a being capable of the Idea and Love of the True, the Beautiful, and the Good, — capable of discerning that these words relate to objects which have a reality and a worth beyond aU material objects, a value independent of all consequences of private advantage. Hence, among the spiritual elements of social welfare are to be reckoned the pursuits of pure science ; the productions of creative Art ; the OP THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 67 sense also of justice, honor, patriotism, loyalty, and reverence ; and the heroic spirit that can dare and endure for unselfish ends ; in short eveiy thing that is implied in the culture of a nation as distin- guished from its mere civilization. To the proper well-being of a nation it is essen- tial that these elements should exist in a due and proportionable blending. It is indispensable that the material should be subordinated to the moral interests. Wherever and in whatever degree the reason becomes enslaved to the senses, there and in that degree do the people sink below their proper life, and fail to realize the true idea of a common- wealth. — Yet it is of the infirmity of our corrupted nature that the sensual life, as in individuals so in nations, is ever tending to predominate over the spiritual. In our country this tendency is prodigiously increased by causes connected with the physical growth of the country, and with the working of our political institutions. Our country offers the most remarkable spec- tacle ever presented in the history of humanity. From three millions, in little more than half a cen- tury, we have grown to seventeen millions of peo- ple. Inheriting an immense territory, teeming with 68 POSITION AND DUTIES boundless resources, we entered upon the first mis- sion of every infant nation — that of subduing the rude yet rich nature that spread out everywhere around us. In this task we have not been compelled to proceed with the slow steps that have marked the progress of other nations. To the work of unfolding the wealth of the new world, we have brought all the facilities afforded by the mature civilization of the old world. The science, the skill, and the cap- ital of Europe, which centuries have been slowly accumulating there, have been grasped and applied here with a boldness and energy that have wrought in a day the labors of an age. It is but a few years since we entered upon the conquest of a country wilder than Grermany in the days of C83sar, and ten times more extensive ; and yet in that short space we have reached a point of physical development which twenty centuries have not accomplished there. The forests have fallen down — the earth has been quarried — cities and towns have sprung up all over the immense extent of our land, thronged with life, and resounding with the multitudinous hum of traf- fic ; and from hundreds of ports the canvas of ten thousand sails whitens all the ocean and every sea, bearing the products of our soil and manufactures, and bringing back the wealth and luxuries of every OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 69 quarter of the globe. — Then, too, the tremendous agencies of Nature — the awful forces evolved by chemical and dynamic science — have been subdued to man's dominion, and have become submissive ministers to his will, more prompt and more pow- erful than the old fabled genii of the Arabian Tales. Little did our fathers, little did we ourselves, even the youngest of us, dream — in the days of out childhood, when we fed our wondering imaginations with the prodigies wrought by those Elemental Spirits evoked by the talismanic seal of Solomon — that these were but faint foreshado wings of what our eyes should see in the familiar goings on of the everyday hfe around us. Yet so it truly is. Ha ! gentlemen, the Steam engine is your true Elemen- tal Spirit ; it more than realizes the gorgeous ideas of the old Oriental imagination ; tJiat had its dif- ferent orders of elemental spirits — genii of fire, of water, of earth, and of air, whose everlasting hostil- ity could never be subdued to unity of purpose ; this combines the powers of all in one, and a child may control them ! — Across the ocean, along our coast, through the length of a hundred rivers, with the speed of wind, we plough our way against currents, wind, and tide ; while, on iron roads, through the length and breadth of the land, innumerable trains, 3* 70 POSITION AND DUTIES thronged with human life and freighted with the wealth of the nation, are urging their way in every direction — flying through the valleys ; thundering across the rivers ; panting up the sides, or piercing throuo-h the hearts of the mountains, with the resist- less force of Kghtning and scarcely less swift ! All this is wonderful ! I look upon it with ad- miration, not unmixed with awe. The old limita- tions to human endeavor seem to be broken through — the everlasting conditions of time and space seem to be annulled ! Meanwhile the magnificent achievements of to-day lead but to grander projects for to-morrow. Success in the past serves but to enlarge the purposes of the future ; and the peo- ple are rushing onward in a career of physical de- velopment, to which no bounds can be assigned. Yet we must remember that all this is only the spectacle of the energies of a great people intensely directed to material ends. It is the unfolding of the conditions of physical enjoyment. And however great and important these are, they constitute but a part, and that a subordinate part, of the elements of social welfare and the true greatness of a nation. Unless interpenetrated and sanctified by the per- vading presence of the higher elements of spiritual OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 71 culture, their tendency is to corrupt and degrade us. They can make us rich and highly civilized, though they can never give to civilization its highest charm of graceful refinement ; -for that is a spiritual quality, and can only come of moral culture. They may make us rich ; but may leave us vulgar, purse- proud, ostentatious, and sensual; and never, in them- selves and of their own tendency, can they make us a wise, a good, and truly happy people. Besides, it cannot be denied, in a profounder view, that the physical science of the ninteenth century ; the mysterious forces of Nature which it has evolved ; the tremendous powers which it has subjected to the will of man ; and the immeasurably greater scope which he thereby gains, for rendering his out- ward life intense and diversified, have a tendency, not only to foster the spirit of absorbing worldli- ness, but also to engender a proud, irreverent, and godless spirit. I know that this is not its ne- cessary result ; God be thanked that it is not. To the right-hearted inquirer, every new disclo- sure of science may only serve to cherish a low- lier sense of the littleness of man's knowledge, and a profounder reverence for the Great Being, who, though pervading and upholding all Nature, yet, in his absolute glory and personal attributes, dwell- 72 POSITION AND DUTIES ing above all Nature, can, by our mortal vision, be only dimly seen in the glimpses of himself which shine through the enveloping folds of the material universe. Still, wherever, among the mass of a people, physical science is wholly or chiefly prized as it ministers to wealth and enjoyment, the spirit which it tends to engender is any thing but rever- ent. Imagine a people destitute of spiritual cul- ture ; where science is pursued merely for the sake of compelling the powers of Nature to minister to man's physical convenience ; where there are no arts but arts of pleasure ; where the forms of hon- esty and justice are only outward forms, enacted and observed as politic contrivances for individual and general comfort ; — imagine such a people, and you have before your minds a people without honor, or magnanimity, without public spirit, loyalty, or heroism, without reverence, morality, or religion. They might be civilized in the highest degree ; they might overflow with wealth ; the earth, the ocean, and the air, might pour forth all their treasures ; they might be surrounded with all the means and refinements of material enjoyment, with not a crum- pled rose leaf to disquiet the couch of luxurious ease ; and yet they would be only a nation of re- fined animals, of civilized brutes. We should belie OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 73 the instincts of our reason and conscience, if we should think otherwise of them. Happily, such a picture is only imaginary. — Thanks to the benignant influences of Divine" Grace diffused throughout the world, the reason and con- science, the spiritual life of man, though overmas- tered, can never be wholly crushed out ; and the social and domestic instincts are ever evolving moral affections — love, self-denial, sacrifice, hero- ism — which serve to exalt and purify the earthly life of man. None the less, however, is it true, that whenever the material greatly predominate over the moral elements in the life of any people, then the spirit of the nation begins to approximate to the corrupt, unhallowed, godless state we have imagined. Now looking at the condition of our country at this moment, have we nothing to fear ? I do not quarrel with the prodigious growth of the elements of physical prosperity. I only ask, whether we have not reason to dread an overgrowth ? Is not our danger on this side ? I know there are many who have no other idea of national well-being than riches and greatness. So that a people can subdue the earth to serve the turn of their worldly uses ; so 74 POSITION AND DUTIES that they can accumulate wealth and the means of enjoyment — that is the extent of their solicitude. They laugh at all this talk ahout the higher and more spiritual elements of social welfare. I thank God I am not of the number of such persons. " Con- tempt is ever the growth of a thin soil ; '' ** and contempt of high moral and religious considerations is eminently the mark of a poor and shallow intel- lect. For myself, I must profess my conviction that we are very far from growing wise and good' and truly happy as a nation, in 'the proportion that we are growing rich and great. I believe there is a prodigious and increasing overgrowth of the cor- rupting spirit of worldliness. I had rather we should be poor as Iceland, yet with its pure faith and morals and its love of letters, than we should go on increasing in wealth and greatness without a cor- responding increase in spiritual culture and moral worth. I had rather — if this must be the alterna- tive. But it need not be. If God has planted us in a richer land, I do not see but we may unfold and appropriate its manifold resources, without neg- lecting the culture of our higher life. We may dwell on the earth, and thrive ; yet we need not be * Richard H. Dana ; unpublished Lectures. OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 75 mere thriving earth-worms. We may follow worldly callings, and yet not be worldly-minded. We may possess and enjoy wealth, without sinking into the life of mere material enjoyment. The danger is great, it is true ; but corruption is not the necessary result of physical prosperity. — I cannot doubt that it is in the intentions of God, in the progress of our race, that the material world shall be still more per- fectly subjugated, and its resources of material en- joymeni; be still more fully unfolded ; and yet the whole physical life of humanity be subordinated to its moral life — pervaded by it — yea, made to sub- serve its growth and perfection. If this be so, the problem is not to arrest the physical growth of the country, but to make it the means of more perfectly unfolding our proper humanity, by the culture of the elements of spiritual life. To contribute to the solution of this problem is eminently the vocation of the scholars of our country — of all who have been trained in liberal studies — of all who work in the liberal professions. Let us now for a moment advert to the working of our political institutions ; for in this aspect our country presents a spectacle no less remarkable than in its physical growth. I beg however a candid 76 POSITION AND DUTIES construction of wliat I am about to say. I am of no political party ; and I shall not speak of party questions ; but of principles and of the tendencies of principles, common to all parties ; and perhaps I may say some things which to neither party will be entirely acceptable. Yet I cannot think that in a survey of the moral condition of our country, we should be justified in leaving out of view the most pervading and the most powerful of all the influences that affect the character of a nation — its political institutions. Nor can I think that courtesy, or the proprieties gf an occasion like the present, should exclude all political views, except such as are known to be held in common by all. It seems to me that we should rather suffer every man freely to utter the thought that is in him — whether it be an echo of our own or not — ^if so it be uttered with deep conviction, with an earnest spirit, and with an hon- est purpose. Without any party bias, then, and with the highest respect for all those whose opinions may not coincide with my own, I shall proceed to express myself in my own fashion of thinking and speaking, relying on a kind and candid con- struction. Theoretically perfect as is the frame of our government, it implies conditions of virtue and OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 77 wisdom on the part of the people, which if they do not adequately exist, renders ours the most danger- ous of all forms of government ; and I must avow my conviction that in its practical working, or rather in its ahuses, our system is tending with pro- digious power to corrupt and demoralize the nation. It is the fundamental maxim of all political ethics, that political Eights imply political Obliga- tions : so much the more Liberty a people enjoys, and so many the more Rights thoy possess, so many the more are their Duties. — Yet at the present mo- ment, notions of popular rights appear to me to have sprung up and spread over the country, which are false, absurd, and dangerous. We have got the habit of taking for granted that the people have a right to do, whatever they please to do ; and that whatever they please to do is therefore right. Po- litical Right has thus become separated from Duty ; and has practically come to mean nothing but mere PopuL'AR Will. We are continually told that the sovereign pow- er resides in the people. This is in its naked form but a half-truth : and, as has been well said, a half- truth is often the greatest of lies. It is unques- tionably true that the sovereign power, in a certain sense, resides in the people ; but in the sense in 78 POSITION AND DUTIES wLicli it is commonly understood, it is a great and pernicious error. — It is God's ordinance, and the necessity of man's nature, that man should exist in ; Society. To do this he must exist as a State — • that is, a community in which justice and social 'order are maintained. Goveknment is the powers of the State organized, embodied, and put in action ; and the form of Government, is the particular mode in which the powers of the State are embodied and put in action. Now undoubtedly the sovereign power resides in the People, in the sense that the People have the right of determining the form of their Goyerament. This is indeed a natural right, but it is so no fur- ther than as men have a natural right to choose in which way among several possible ways, they will fulfil a duty ; and it is absurd to lay undue stress upon the term. It is not, however, an absolute right ; but a right growing out of a duty, and limited by duty. Society has the right of choosing the form of its Government, because it is the duty of Society to exist as a State for the maintenance of social justice, and must have some form of govern- ment ; and it may choose any particular form it prefers, provided it fulfils the duty of the State — maintains the relations of j.ustice — without which ■ OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 79 Society cannot" exist. In this sense, unquestionably, and in so far as relates to the form of government, the sovereign power resides in the People ; still it is not precisely an accurate statement of this truth to say, that the people have the right to choose whatever form of government they please, without regard to anything but their own mere will ; for, unless the various forms of government are assumed to be equally adapted to the great ends of society, it is more true to say that the people ought to choose — not that form of government whigh they may simply prefer, Jb-ut— that form which they con- scientiously believe to l)e the best adapted ufider all the circumstaruces to. secure the true ends of all government. Hence it is clear, that the foundation of govern- ment is not iii the mere unlimited will of the peo- ple ; and that the sovereignty of the people is not in mere natural right, but in duty. We are too prone in general to forget the great comprehensive truth, that rights and obligations ever go together. There is scarcely such a thing in all the empire of God^ as the absolute right of doing what one merely WILLS to do. The only absolute right fn the uni- verse, is the right of not being loronged. And in political affairs, neither the mere will of a majority, 80 POSITION AND DUTIES nor even of the whole people^ can itself make a thing right^ or justify their action. Nothing can be made right by mere willing to do it. — Still, as a right which is to be dutifully exercised, I maintain the doctrine that the sovereignty is vested in the people. And in the exercise of the sovereign pow- er residing in them, the people of this country have organized our form of government — and have defined and distributed the powers of the State. They have done this in our Constitution. Practically therefore to all intents and purposes, the sovereignty, at this moment, and so long as the Constitution stands unrepealed, is lodged in the Constitution. That is the supreme law of the land ; there resides the sovereign power of the nation ; and it resides there out of the reach of the present will of a mere numerical majority. The Constitution can be changed only under particular circumstances, and by three fourths of the states. To this Constitution the people of the United States at this moment owe an allegiance as loyal and profound, as was ever claimed for the divine right of kings, and much more sacred and enno- bling. To all practical purposes the political rights and duties of the people are just what they are de- fined and prescribed to be by the Constitution. OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 81 They have no other political rights than are therein allowed ; and are bound to all the duties therein enjoined. — The Idea of the State in our country- is : all the people acting under and according to the Constitution. This is what we mean by a free, Constitutional government, in distinction from a pure Democracy, like that of Athens, where all the people act without a Constitution. Such is the State in theory. — In regard to the practical exercise of Sovereign powers, it takes three fourths of the people to constitute the State. A mere majority is therefore no more the State, than Louis XIY. was the State ; and it is sheer absolutism, in our country, for the majority to set itself up as the State, just as much as it was in France for Louis XIY. to set himself up as the State. The Supreme Power of the nation no more resides in a mere numerical majority than in the minority. The majority pos- sess just those rights and powers which are given by the Constitution, and no others. What are they ? As to their personal rights — though these are not strictly in the question, yet they may here be stated — in common with all the inhabitants of the land, strangers or citizens, voters or not voters, the ma- jority have the right of being protected as individ- uals in their persons and property, provided they 82 POSITION AND DUTIES do DO wrong ; and if they do wrong, of being fairly tried according to law by the judgment of their peers. — As to their political rights ; in common with all voters, they have in certain cases, in reference to the appointment of certain public agents, the right of suffrage ; and in regard to the questions thus submitted to the whole body of voters, the ma- jority have the right of deciding. The amount of the political rights of the majority, then is this : that their will, when legally expressed, is decisive in regard to a certain number of questions submitted by the Constitution to a popular vote. — So far there- fore from constituting the State, a numerical ma- jority of the people, in their political action, is sim- ply an organic part of the State, just as the Legis- lative, Judiciary, and Executive, are organic parts of the Government ; and its rights and powers, like theirs, are conferred, defined, and limited by the Constitution ; and finally these rights and powers are inseparably linked with duties — the majority are bound to act within their limits, and to act con- scientiously there. These are the simplest elements of our j)olitical ethics. They belong to the very primer of our po- litical science. — Yet how well are they understood ; how much are they felt ; how much are they practi- OF THE EDUCATED MEN OP THE COUNTRY. 83 cally regarded ? — ^Alas, gentlemen, I know not how it may appear to you ; but to me it seems that in comparison with their indispensable necessity to our political salvation, these truths are scarcely at all felt. Unless I greatly mistake the spirit of the country, there is a blind feeling, widely prevalent and rapidly increasing, as if the mere present will of a majority, however expressed, and on all subjects, as well without as within its legal limits, is, and of right ought to be, the supreme power of the nation. Whenever the people are told that there is any thing which they cannot rightfully do, their impulse is to feel indignant, as if some monstrous outrage were perpetrated against the sacred principles of eternal justice, which they were called upon to avenge. To differ from the popular opinion seems to them a crime — a thing to be punished. They cannot un- derstand that you have as good a right to your opinion, as they to theirs — that they differ from you, as much as you do from them. — In proof that this is so, go and address the popular political assem- blages of our country. Tell them that you honestly believe it to be a possible thing that tTiere shall not be wisdom and virtue enough in the nation to make the experiment of self-government successful ; and in nine cases out of ten you provoke their displeas- 84 POSITION AND DUTIES nre, not merely for being bold enough to utter an unpopular doctrine, but as being guilty of treason against the sacred principles of freedom. Tell them that you think it best for the popular good, and therefore right, that the popular will should be checked by constitutional restraints ; and ten to one you will be hustled from the stand as an aristocrat, a monarchist, an enemy to the people. Or, if they allow you to remain there long enough, tell them that the original framers of our Constitution were true and genuine lovers of rational freedom, and yet that they have framed the Constitution so as to be a check upon a present numerical majority ; that our frame of government in various respects is full of restraints upon the popular will ; — and there are thousands and tens of thousands to whom such doc- trine would be entirely strange and revolting. They would not even believe you. Yet you would tell them nothing but the truth — nothing which our public men do not know to be true. Why is it, then, that our public men rarely or never tell the people these truths, comment, explain, and urge them ? It is because these truths, however important and vital, are odious to the people ; and they will not bear them. OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 85 From ^his erroneous and exaggerated notion of 'Eights, ^nd this feeble sense of Duties, it is easy to see to what dangers we are exposed. When the people feel as if the cause of popular rights, as they understand them — that is, the right of the majority to do just what it pleases — is not only their own cause, but the cause of every thing most sacred, of Truth, of Freedom, and of God ; what protection has society against licentious abuses of power ? In private life the man who does every thing he has a right to do, in the sense of the word now in ques- tion — that is, every thing which the Law will not punish him for doing — is a villain. That we are not cursed with such villains at every turn in life, we owe to the influence of conscience and the pow- er of public opinion. But what protection is there in conscience, or in public opinion, against the un- just acting of a people firmly believing in the Di- vine Eight of a majority to have its own way at all events ? How much is the responsibility of a mul- titude felt by the individuals that compose it .^ Is it not practically as if it were a question concerning the seventeen millionth part of the national con- science ? — In the name of Liberty the Jacobins of France cut off the heads of poor decrepit old women for complaining of the national bread ; for not crying 86 POSITION AND DUTIES out lustily enough the watchwords of revolutionary frenzy ; and even for the singular crime of being " suspected of incivism." Hundreds of similar atrocities you may find in the records of their Kevolutionary Tribunals. I do not say that we shall ever witness anv such abominable excesses amonsr us. I do not believe we shall. None the less how- ever are we bound to be aware of the dangers to which we are exposed from exaggerated notions of the rights of majorities. The tendency is to make the popular will overbear all moral considerations, and all constitutional limitations. Popular majorities may come to feel themselves justified in reaching their ends by almost any and every means. In the strife of party politics the people may come to feel as if it were allowable to secure a victory in any way, right or wrong ; and political corruption, if not openly justified, will be condemned only in the op- posite party, while in reality its heinousness will be lightly thought of, if only it be coupled with the Spartan virtues of dexterity and success. In such a state of things all honorable and up- right freedom of political opinion and action in pub^ lie men is in danger of becoming next to impossible ; and the truly enlightened patriot, the true friend of the people — who, because he is their true friend, OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 87 will not flatter their passions and eclio all their no- tions, be they right or wrong — is likely to be de- prived of all scope for public action. The demagogue will carry it over him by a thousand to one. There never was a country in the world, from the days of Pericles to the present time, which furnished such unbounded scope for the demagogue as ours ; and never was a country so cursed with demagogues. The demagogue and the courtier are but opposite poles of the same character. The demagogue per- petually tells the people that they are sovereign — that there is no higher law than their will. Like the courtier he flatters and cajoles the sovereign, in order to mislead and rule him. What chance for a fair hearing has the honest friend of the people ? It certainly cannot be said to be unnatural for men to confide in and yield themselves to the guidance of those who bow to their will, flatter their vanity, or • minister to their passions. In point of fact what public man dares resist the current of party opin- ion, and the demands of party discipline ? What truths unpalatable to the popular taste, however vi- tally important to the public welfare, do the politi- cians of either party dare to tell the people ? What popular errors, however dangerous, do they dare expose and denounce ? From the political and 88 POSITION AND DUTIES party presses, controlled by demagogues, the people almost never hear the truth. Morning, noon and night, they are fed on falsehoods ; and nursed in prejudices, hatreds and animosities. All consid- erations of truth, decency and reverence, give way before the violence of party spirit ; and the blind and bitter spirit of party is continually stimulated by provocatives addressed to the ignorance, the prej- udices and violent passions of the people ; and in the midst of all their professed homage, love and respect for the people, the demagogues show clearly enough to the discerning eye in what real contempt they hold the knowledge, the wisdom and the virtue of the people, by the boundless impudence of the lies, flatteries and quackeries with which they seek to cajole and lead them. And which way tends' the political destiny of the nation under these influences of the party presses and of political demagogues ? It tends to throw the absolute power of the nation into whatever party of demagogues, calling themselves friends of the people, can most successfully cajole and corrupt the people. It tends, in short, to a democratic absolutism — the worst of all forms of ab- solutism, the most pervading and the least conscien- tious. Any party supported by a popular majority, OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 89 can at any time overbear the Constitution, and ab- sorb into itself all the powers of the State. — Thus with all the forms of the Constitution remaining, the Constitution itself may be effectually subverted. And which way tends this state of things ? Is not nearly every thing in the country now decided by party majorities, procured fairly and legally, if pos- sible, but procured at all events .^ And what is the great absorbing party question ? Every one knows. Not a petty municipal officer in the ob- scurest village in the country, whose election does not turn on the Presidential question. To what does this tend but to an absorption of all the pow- ers of the State into the Executive ? I do not say this as belonging to either party. I go with neither ; and all that I have said is freely applicable by all parties. I speak only of the direction in which, unless we shut our eyes to all the lights of past history and to all the facts of present observation, we must believe we are at this moment tending. Significant tokens have already displayed themselves, which he who has eyes to read them, cannot fail to interpret. Is not the legislation of the country, at present and to a prodigious extent, originated and controlled by Executive influence 7 Has not the existence of the Senate, one of the august and in- 90 POSITION AND DUTIES violable branches of our constitutional government, been openly threatened ? Has not the independ- ence, and therefore the constitutional existence, of the Judiciary been invaded by the proposals to render its judges removable at executive pleasure ? Have we not come within a few years past to hear the Executive spoken of as the Government ; to hear of the obligations of office-holders to regard themselves as servants of the Executive, instead of being holders of public trusts for the Nation ; with various other expressions of the like kind — expres- sions never dreamed of in the days of Washington — expressions which would have been heard with hor- ror in those days, but which are now such familiar terms in our political vocabulary that we use them without thinking the changes they imply ? Now can any one fail to see that these influences of party demagogism, supported upon the false and exaggerated notion of the rightful supremacy of a popular majority, tend to the virtual overthrow of the Constitution ? The forms of the Koman Ee- public — ^its senate, its tribunes, and its consuls — re- mained for ages after all the powers of the state had passed into the hands of an absolute executive supported by praetorian guards. This may never be our destiny. But how much better off are we likely OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 91 to be with an absolute executive supported by tbe unconstitutional powers of a popular majority ? Many look for salvation in a change of men — in the party tables being turned. I look for no such thing. The danger lies not in any particular party, but in principles held by all parties, or at least in the necessity which all parties will, I fear, ever be under of echoing, and supporting themselves upon, the erroneous popular doctrine which now lies practically at the ground of our system. I look for no permanent political salvation in a mere . change of parties and men. 1 look for political salvation only in a return of the people to true no- tions of liberty — to sound constitutional political opinions, to the spirit of loyalty, of reverence for law and order, and to public virtue. It is not, however, gentlemen, chiefly with ref- erence to its bearing upon the integrity of our Con- stitution, nor with reference to any changes which may hereafter be wrought in our mere political ex- istence, that I have dwelt upon the popular notion respecting the rights of majorities, and upon the spirit and tendencies which have their root in this prevalent notion. For after all, in an abstract view, it matters comparatively little what form of gov- ya POSITION AND DUTIES eminent we have, provided it be well administered^ and provided the people be truly cultivated, wise and good. It is in the virtue, the moral worth, of the people, that the well-being of a nation essen- tially consists. But I have dwelt upon it, because political institutions, government and laws, are everywhere the most powerful of the causes that form the moral character of a people ; because every free government can do more to exalt or cor- rupt the morals of a nation than all other causes ; and because I cannot resist the conviction that the actual political influences which are at work in our country, are tending to corrupt the moral spirit of the nation. Look at the working of parties among us. Is it not a grand political game — the possession of the powers and patronage of the government being the stake ; demagogues the players ; and the people the pawns ? Is not every thing decided by a hot conflict of party tactics ? Is it not considered and called a battle, a war ; and by an easy association has not the old corrupt adage, " all is fair in war,'' come to be a practical maxim ? Hence in our elections what scenes of violence ; what licentiousness of the party press ; what misrepresentation of facts for political effect ; what slander, calumny and abuse OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 93 heaped in turn upon every eminent person in the nation ! Latterly the temper of people, in these respects, has passed into their great legislative body ; and the scenes of vulgar and indecent vio- lence which have been recently enacted in Congress, are fitter for a bear garden than for the dignified assemblage of the representatives of a great people. What must be the effect of this, reacting again upon the spirit of the nation ? Does it not tend to eat out of the heart of the people all loyalty — all reverence for justice, law and pubhc order ? Per- sons may think lightly of this ; but I ask them to tell us how there can be a great heroic people with- out REVERENCE. It is impossible. And in order to maintain in the heart of a people reverence for Jus- tice, Law and Public Order, the people must rever- ence also the Forms, the Institutions, in which those great Ideas are embodied and represented. Form is throughout the Universe the necessary condition of every spiritual manifestation. The moral life of a nation is displayed and seen and felt only in its forms, just as the life of the vegetable and animal world is seen and felt only in its appropriate forms. When the people cease to reverence the institutions and persons which embody and represent the ideas of Justice, Law and Public Order, it is but a short 94 POSITION AND DUTIES step to cease to reverence the ideas themselves. With the decay of reverence for the forms, dies out also the reverence for the substance. Like the be- sotted Africans they may indeed tjontinue to set up the Fetisch gods of their self-will, and to dash them down at every caprice of passion ; but all sense of loyalty, all profound feeling of the allegiance which they owe to the sacred majesty of justice, law and order, will be merged in a wilful determination to have their own way at all events. Then, again, consider more directly the influence which the popular feeling that politics is a war, and that all is fair in war, must have upon the private morals of a nation. How long will it be before that people who stick at nothing in politics will come to stick at nothing in morals ? It is impossible that political profligacy should not in the long run lead to corruption in private morals. All history proves this truth ; and, gentlemen, our own obser- vation may suffice to give us more than one token of the direction in which we are moving. Within the last five or six years, there have been more gov- ernment defaulters, and more breaches of other high pecuniaiy pubhc trusts — ten times more in number and amount, than in the whole former period of our national existence. Will any one say that these OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 95 and many otlier instances of moral dereliction ; as well as the ^cenes of lawless violence that so fre- quently occur, and the comparative apathy with which they are looked upon and forgotten ; cannot be traced to the working of political influences ? To me it seems there is no cause so obvious ; i)0 so- lution so adequate. Let political cotruption once become an organized element in the political action of a nation, and it cannot fail to corrupt the private morals of the people. I do not say that corruption has become an organized element in the political action of this nation ; but I do say that within the last few years there have been developments enough in this direction, to overwhelm us with shame, and to become the ground of serious apprehension for the future. Thus, gentlemen, I have rapidly glanced at some aspects of our country, connected with its physical growth, and with the working of its political institu- tions. It may perhaps be thought that the repre- sentation is overdrawn and falsely colored. I do not admit that it is so. It will not be denied that sources of danger and tendencies to evil exist in aU nations. Those which exist in our case are cer- tainly not those which result from poverty — desti- 96 POSITION AND DUTIES tution of physical resources, skill, enterprise and energy ; nor from political restraint or oppression. They are precisely those to which a rich and free people — an intensely enterprising and intensely democratic people — are exposed. Besides, it is chiefly of principles and tendencies I have spoken ; and as to what I have said respecting the evils actually existing among us — the party press, dema- gogues, unconstitutional notions of popular rights, political corruption — I maintain that it falls below the truth of facts. I do not say that these evil influences will soon or ever work the actual downfall of the nation ; but I do say that such is the inevita- ble result of their unchecked working. I do not say that there exist no checks. I freely and gladly admit that there are manifold conservative powers in action amongst us. But notwithstanding these better influences, the dangers to which we are peculiarly exposed are of such sort and so great as to beget reasonable apprehension ; at all events they show the immense importance of specially cultivating the higher moral elements of national welfare, by which alone the dangerous tendencies to undue worldliness and to political and social corrup- tion can be efi'ectually counteracted. It is in this connection that I urge the duty OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 97 wMch rests upon the educated men of the country of striving to exalt and purify the intellectual and moral spirit of the nation. Not that I would make an invidious distinction ; not that the duty does not rest upon all classes, upon every true patriot and good man. But it is a body of young scholars whom I address : it is upon the bodjr of the educated men of the country that the duty in question eminently rests. Of the culture of the nation they are the proper representatives, and the special guardians. If they are indifferent and negligent, what other class will be earnest and faithful ? What other class could discharge their special obligations ? Eminently then upon the educated class rests the obligation of cherishing the higher intellectual and moral interests of the commonwealth. It is a duty which in this country is not only immensely important, but surrounded with peculiar difficulties. Amidst special tendencies in the spirit of the na- tion to a predominating worldliness, it is the voca- tion of our scholars to cherish in themselves and diffuse around them a love of science, of letters, of art — of aU that is liberal. Unaided, and even counteracted, by the working of our political insti- tutions, they are to strive to extend the spirit of political virtue — ^public spirit, heroism, reverence 9S POSITION AND DUTIES for law and order. In their endeavors to exalt and fortify the private morals of the nation, they find their exertions counteracted not only by the ordinary temptations which surround mankind, but also by the strongly demoralizing tendency of our party politics. Thrown so early, too, as our young scholars are into the struggles of professional exer- tion ; isolated from each other in the midst of the intense practical and material life that is around them, they are greatly exposed to the danger of losing the love of good letters, the liberal and cultivated tastes, which they may have gained ; and of surren- dering themselves to the very influences which they should strive to counteract. But if we cannot expect that the body of our educated men will go forward and perfect themselves in a high and refined cultivation, there is yet one part of their vocation to which it is right to expect them to be faithful. This is to preserve the spirit of the LIBERAL callings. The liberal Professions have indeed utility, and not beauty, for their end ; and in this respect they difier from the liberal Arts. But still they are liberal professions ; because they are, according to the idea of them, free from the necessity of seeting private gain or advantage as their end. They have utility for their end ; but it OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 99 is the public utility, and not the private advantage of those who pursue them. In other callings, impor- tant as they are in their results to society, and respectable as they are in themselves, the end for which they are pursued is wealth or a livelihood. This is in general the idea of them, and the reason why they are followed. On this ground rests the expectation that the callings of the merchant, the banker, the farmer, the artisan, will be followed to any extent required by the public interests. But, in the idea, at least, of the liberal professions, although their members must have a livelihood in order to practise them, yet they are not to practise them merely for the sake of the livelihood. Herein lies the ground of the more dignified position and more respectful estimation which society has accord- ed to the liberal professions. The clergyman, the physician, the teacher, the lawyer, are supposed to engage in their several callings for the sake of the public welfare ; and in proportion as they make their professions mere means to private ends — even their own livelihood, they degrade their callings, and forfeit their title to public respect. In the olden times, this idea of the liberal pro- fessions was more distinctly recognized than at present : on the one hand, the members of the 100 POSITION AND DUTIES liberal prgfessions were expected to perform the duties of their callings without pecuniary charge ; and on the other hand, the people were supposed to he under obligation to provide freely for their modest yet dignified support ; and to hold them in honorable estimation, all the higher for the worldly advantages or chances of advantage they surren- dered. At the present day also we see the recogni- •fion of this idea in the sentiment of the incongruity of. a clergyman being devoted to mere worldly pur- suits ; in the indignation which would be felt against the physician who should refuse the gratuitous suc- Ci>rs of his art to the sick and dying poor ; in the disgrace, and probable expulsion from the society of his brethren, with which a lawyer would be visited who for the guerdon of pecuniary reward should lend himself to pervert the course of justice and become a villain's tool. Yet it is to be deeply lamented that there is too little of the true spirit of the liberal callings, both among those who follow them and in the community at -large. Let it be cherished, and kept alive and quick in the minds of our educated men, and incredibly great and salutary will be its influence in exalting and refining the spirit of the whole nation. OF THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE COUNTRY. 101 Again : let our educate^X^ ^^^'^ ^>A rv^JJS HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE. 177 ^^"^"^ French Revolution and tlie first one. And it is a J ^^ a lesson which the present age has learned from ther i -y^ past. But it is not enough for the coming age that this lesson be learned only in its negative side. No enough that atheistic and immoral negations be no longer a fashionable creed. Not enough that Chris- tianity be acknowledged as a formula, and exist as a visible institute, deferentially recognized while practically disregarded or resisted. Yet here pre- cisely lies the danger to be apprehended. The spirit of the age is a spirit of hard worldliness and self- willed pride — not announcing itself in any theoretic rejection of the ideas of God and the divine consti- tution of religion, but in a disposition to resist and overbear the practical force of those ideas. The natural tendency of the prodigious multiplication of the material interests, of the prodigious extension of man's sphere of activity, and of the prodigious intensity of the outward life that is everywhere go- ing on, is to increase this spirit more and more. It may be quite willing to allow the ideas of God and his Church, provided it may shape and bend them after its own way. It may be quite willing even to let them stand as they announce themselves in Christianity, provided a respectful acknowledgment 8* 178 THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA I Vof them will answer in place of practical submission to them. But if they become troublesome — they must stand aside. Now, to this spirit Christianity must, of necessity, oppose itself ; and in the collision it must conquer — if it is to save itself and to save the world. It must pervade and sanctify, master and control, the spirit of our nation, and of the nations drawn into its course in the career of boundless wealth and power, on which we have entered ; or it cannot in any adequate way act as a countervailing, conserva- tive power against the destructive tendencies of such a prodigious development of the mere material ele- ments of civilization. It must gain the mastery, or be itself thrown off and crushed beneath the wheels of the mighty movement by which the world rushes on to destruction. For, let merely worldly-wise statesmen and pseudo-philosophers dream as they may, no paper constitutions, no bills of rights, no universal suffrage ballot-boxes, no progress of science, no diffusion of useful knowledge, no schemes of social organization substituting checks and counter-checks of selfishness for the law of love, can work the regeneration of the social state, and make individual men live together \ as brethren ; and no political contrivances, no bal- ITS HISTOKICAL SIGNIFICANCE. 179 ance-of-power systems, no commercial relations, can effect the fraternization of the nations of the earth, and bring humanity up to a state of true social perfectionment, independently of those more purely moral influences which, if they come not from Christianity, cannot be looked for from any other source. We may get on after a sort ; we may get on for a long time to come ; but we cannot get well on in the best sense, and in the long run, unless Christianity becomes a true, living power, incorpo- rated into the social organization, and permeating the historical life of the world. Unless this, not only shall we never reach the true perfection of the social state, but we shall not continue to get on in the future as well as we are getting on now. We shall fall, shattered, from the heights up which we are urging our tremendous way. Our thoughts have carried us on to far conclu- sions ; but they are such as spring naturally from a consideration of the true historical significance of our new acquisitions on the Pacific' — the immense consequences for our country and the world those acquisitions involve. And if our thoughts are at all just, the circumstances under which those terri- tories are destined to be filled rapidly up, makes IM 180 THE ACQUISITION OF CALIFORNIA. the problem of our future fortunes as a nation in- finitely momentous. The foundations of new states, of a new social order, are being laid there What a hell upon earth, if the boundless lust of gold be unrestrained, unsanctified by better influences ! Pandemonium was built of molten gold. By the immense significance, the world-embracing issues that depend on the settlement of that land ; by every pulse that beats for our country's true glory and the world's true welfare, should we endeavor to pour the highest and purest moral influences into the new-forming life that is to spring up on those shores. / '-X- i <-* lO THE PROYEDEICE OF GOD THE GEIflUS OF HUMAU HISTORY. THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD THE GENIUS OF HUMAN HISTORY. Europe is again the theatre of war* — a war of which no one can foresee the end or the consequences. It may be a brief struggle, involving only the pow- ers now standing in actual belligerent position, and ending in a substantial return to the previous state of things. It may be a prolonged contest, drawing into it all the powers of Europe, arousing a series of revolutionary struggles in Poland, Hungary, Italy, and Grermany, and terminating in a vast reconstruc- tion of the political map. It may lead to the over- throw of the Turkish Empire, to its absorption into the overgrown power of Russia, or to its partition among several powers. It may lead to the restora- * Written during the Crimean campaign. 184 THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD tion of the old Greek Empire, with consequences of momentous import to the Eastern Church and to the re-establishment of the old Unity of the Church Universal. The Almighty alone can see the end from the beginning. We shall not busy ourselves with political speculations and prophecies which time may make foolish. Our purpose is to improve this fitting occasion of recalling men's minds to the consideration of certain great principles much left out of view, but which, if the Bible be true, lie at the foundation of the philosophy of history, and which every genuine historical philosopher must recognize, ]iot merely as a believer in the Bible, but because they are principles of historical philosophy. A very considerable portion of the Old Sacred Books is taken up with records of civil and political events pertaining to the Jewish nation, and to other nations standing in historical relations with the Jews. But these sacred records are distinguished from all other historical documents in two respects : first, they were written under the divine direction and guidance — were traced as it were by the finger of the Most High ; and so we have a guaranty for the truth and accuracy of all the matters of fact re- corded in them, such as we have not in any othei histories ; and secondly, they contain Divine Com- THE GENIUS OF HUMAN HISTORY. 185 mentaries on those matters of historical fact, such as no other histories contain. On the first of these points, it is not our design to dwell. For the pur- pose we have now in view, it may be conceded that the records of profane history are sufficiently accu- rate in all the leading facts they relate. But the second point, namely — that the sacred books give us Divine Commentaries on the events they record — this is the grand and most important peculiarity by which the Holy Scriptures are distinguished from all other historical documents. Uninspired histories do not indeed limit them- selves to a bare recital of those external events which mark the rise and progress, the decline and fall of nations. On the contrary, historical philosophy (as it is called) attempts to give us commentaries — to explain the interior causes and consequences by which events are linked together in their outward and visible procession — to give us, in short, the inner spirit and life of history, that from which external events derive their whole significance and worth. But this historical philosophy is merely human, not divine. And it is entirely incompetent to a complete solution of the problem it attempts to solve. The history of the world is the joint product of two agencies : the one human, the other divine — the one the will of man, the other the Providence of Grod. 186 THE PKOVIDENCE OP GOD Now when philosopliical historians undertake to explain the course of national events by referring them merely to human agencies, their explanations must be not only defective but erroneous — defective, because they leave altogether out of view one great side of their subject, the Providence of Grod, namely, and its influence and purport ; erroneous, because they cannot rightly explain the one without the other ; they cannot interpret the human element in history without a recognition of the element that is divine. In point of truth, the idea of Divine Providence is the primal idea, the dominant or mas- ter idea, and contains in itself the key to the inter- pretation of the world's history, both in respect of its human element as weU as of the element that is divine. And even when historical philosophers recognize both elements ; when they attempt to explain both the agency of man and the Providence of God in the course of events, we can never be sure their in- terpretation is correct. Human insight is limited and fallible. They may be mistaken in their ap- preciation of the human agencies by which the events of history are to be explained ; and they are still more liable to be mistaken in their apprecia- tion of the divine element, the Providence of God. THE GENIUS OF HUMAN HISTORY. 187 They may recognize the idea of Divine Providence as being even the primal idea for the solution of the world's history, and yet they may fail in the actual application of the idea. Attempts at a true expla- nation of events — reasonable conjectures — probable interpretations, — this seems to be nearly all that historical philosophy, mere human insight, unaided by divine instruction, can achieve. This, then, is the pre-eminent distinction of the sacred historical records. They not only show us the visible procession of outward events, but they give us divinely inspired commentaries which cor- rectly interpret to us the whole interior connection, the moral causes and consequences, the true char- acter and purport of the events they record. Look at the civil and political events recorded in the Holy Scriptures, and see what a different as- pect they wear in the light of these divine commen- taries, from what they would have to the view of mere human historical philosophy. What is it that stands out most clearly and impressively in these sacred disclosures ? It is, in the first place, the perpetual intervention of God in the course of events, and in the second place, a constant apportionment of national destiny according to national character and conduct. Of these two points the sacred books 188 THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD are full of illustrations ; and the time would fail for the barest reference to the tenth part of them. Sometimes the intervention of Grod was immediate and visible, miraculous and supernatural — as in the multitude of signs and wonders that marked the de- liverance of the Israelites from Egypt, their guid- ance through the desert, and their establishment in Palestine. Sometimes it was in the control of the secondary agencies of nature, working, to all out- ward appearance, according to their ordinary and familiar laws, and in overruling the consequences and results of the free actions of men. And this is the kind of divine intervention which it is most to our purpose to observe. For here the inspired com- mentaries enable us to see what otherwise we could not see. Behind the series of external events, which in their mere outward and visible procession appear to be simply the result of ordinary historical causes, we see the hand of the Almighty Sovereign of the universe, now touching the springs of human action, now permitting or now thwarting the out- ward results of the free will of his creatures, and as to the mere physical agencies of nature swaying them with irresistible grasp. To take an instance or two out of a multitude that go to illustrate what we mean. In the latter THE GENIUS OF HUMAN HISTORY. 189 part of the reign of David, a pestilence broke out among the people, and in three days' time carried off seventy thousand men ; when it suddenly and entirely ceased. Now what could mere ordinary history-writers make out of this, except to record it as a very remarkable event ; or, at the utmost, try to make themselves wise by queries and specu- lations about the physical causes of such a fatal disease so suddenly springing up, and so suddenly dying out ? Yet in the light of the Divine Com- mentary contained in the inspired record, we have the explanation of it as an intervention of God, for the discipline of the nation. Again : In the book of Daniel we have an ac- count of Nebuchadnezzar's seven years' insanity — during which he was driven from his throne, " and from men," (either as it was in reality or as appeared to him,) ^' and did eat grass as the oxen ; and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." What would ordinary his- tory do with this case, but merely put it down as a remarkable case of insanity, or talk learnedly about the predisposing and exciting causes of this great monarch's mental alienation ? Yet the inspired commentary teaches us it was a special interven- 190 THE PKOVIDENCE OF GOD tion of the Most Higli--a judgment upon the king for the greatness of his pride — a moral discipline to teach him "that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will." And we are told that it had this effect, — that it humbled him, and led him to recognize, " to praise and honor Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and whose kingdom is from generation to generation — before Whom all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing — Whose works are truth, and Whose ways are judgment ; and Who is able to abase those that walk in pride/' A.nd so once more : take the case of Herod, recorded in the Acts of the Apos- tles. This haughty king was smitten with a loath- some disease, and died miserably from being filled and eaten up with worms. The shocking fact is all that mere human history could record, and some medical theory, some nosological disquisition concerning the nature and cause of the disease, are all that merely human philosophy could contribute in explanation of the fact. But the divine com- mentary teaches us that it was because of the pride with which he received godlike honors from men, and " gave not the glory to God,'' to whom alone it is due. THE GENIUS OF HUMAN HISTORY. 191 These are cases in which the inspired word dis- closes to us the Providence of God, interposing, with a special moral purpose, in events which to all outward appearance are the mere results of the or- dinary laws of nature. We have taken them not because they are the most striking, but simply be- cause they are cases that stand singly, and could be briefly stated. But to see this truth — the providential inter- vention of God in the affairs of men, and the moral principle of it in all its fulness and impressiveness, we must not take such merely isolated cases, we must go attentively through the whole divine rec- ord of the history of the Jewish nation. There we see the Most High disclosed — constantly interven- ing — constantly working in and behind the visible procession of outward events — through all the al- ternations of their disasters and successes — their two captivities and restorations down to their final subjugation and extinction as a nation. There we have the history of a nation's rise and progress, de- cline and fall, such as no other document records. We have not only events — but their true explana- tion. We see that the Providence of God is the key to the story of their fates and fortunes as a na- tion ; and we see the application of that key to the 192 THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD explanation of all tlie significant events in the se- ries. We see, too, that their national destiny is made dependent, under Providence, upon their na- tional conduct. And it is to be observed, too, that this people not only brought their various national calamities upon themselves, but all in the most ordinary and natural way. There was nothing miraculous, noth- ing even strange or out of the ordinary course of human causes and effects, in the way in which they were subjugated by their enemies, oppressed, car- ried captive, and finally extinguished as a nation. And if we had not these divine commentaries, we should not find, in the mere outward historical events of Jewish history, any more reason for re- ferring the rise and progress, the decline and fall of this nation to the continual intervention and over- ruling Providence of God, than in the history of the Macedonian or the Koman empires. It is pre- cisely and solely because we have the special light of divine revelation, that we see the Hand of the Most High in the historical records of the sacred books in a way in which we do not see it in the records of the history of the world at large. And now the question that comes up is this : For what purpose is it that we have these divine THE GENIUS OF HUMAN HISTORY. 193 commentaries ? Is it merely to gratify our cu- riosity ? Or, is it to teach us a great practical lesson ? Is the truth which these divine commen- taries disclose, a truth only with relation to the Jewish and other nations whose records we find in the sacred books ? Or, is it a truth, which is true for all nations and all times ? That is the ques- tion : and we say that the very purpose for which these historical details and these divine commenta- ries are handed down to us, is to teach impressively for all nations and for aU times, this great truth : — that tlie Providence of God is the Genius of hu^ I \ man history — that the hand of the Almighty Ruler of the universe is upon all the nations of the earth, and that He everywhere apportions national destiny according to national character. If we had divine commentaries on the world's whole history, such as we have on that portion of it contained in the sa- cred records, then the same truth, which is so im- pressively taught in those records, would appear with equal clearness on the face of all the history of the world. We should see the right hand of the Almighty in all the fates and fortunes of all the nations of the earth — in the revolutions of dynas- ties, the rise and fall of empires, the wars and con- quests, battles and sieges, famines and pestilences, 194 THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD negotiations and treaties, with which the pages of history are filled. We should see it in the reports that come to us weekly across the ocean, and fill the newspapers of our eventful day. We should see the Hand of the Almighty and the purpose of the Almighty throughout the momentous struggle that has begun in Europe. We should have not only the events, but their true historical character, their moral significance, their causes and conse- quences set before us in a way that would put to shame the wisdom of diplomatists and statesmen, and turn into empty and foolish pratings the com- mentaries of the public press. But because we have not these divine commen- taries on the whole of the world's history, shall we any the less believe the great truth which the sa- cred records teach .? Because the light of special inspiration does not make visible the hand of the Almighty moving in and behind the visible pro- cession of events, shall we any the less believe His hand is there at work ? No : we are as much bound to believe this great truth is true for every nation on the earth as for the ancient nations, of whom it is expressly declared in the sacred books. We are as much bound in reason to believe it true in reference to the great drama of political history, THE GENIUS OF HUMAN HISTORY. 195 that now seems opening on tlie earth, as though we saw it supernaturally written by the finger of the Almighty, in characters of fire, on the earth and on the sky, on the hills and on the clouds. And finally, we are not to believe that this di- vine interposition is merely for the sake of inter- position, nor merely in the way of retributive judg- ment on the nations. The Almighty presides over the fates and fortunes of the nations, each in their successive epochs, with a great purpose which con- nects each with each in the flow of the great ages ; with a comprehensive idea to be realized in the whole Historical Life of Humanity, and in the whole History of the Universe. YOUI(G AMERICA-THE TRUE IDEA OF PROGRESS. YOUNG AMERICA— THE TRUE IDEA OF PROGRESS. The phrase " Young America/' has become one of frequent utterance among us. The wise will not regard it merely as a phrase, — merely as desig- nating a certain number of ardent young men, or a certain number of persons, either old or young. It is a great deal more. It involves ideas, thoughts, sentiments, instincts, and practical tendencies of the gravest significance in the political and social sphere. It wiU not do either to ignore it or to scout it. It suggests something to be well consid- ered by calm and thinking men. It imposes on them a duty which must not be neglected until too late. What is working obscurely, unreflectingly, in the mind and heart of the age, should be ana- lyzed and made clear. What is right, noble, and salutary in it, should be accepted, greeted, entered 200 YOUNG AMERICA : into with hearty sympathy. What is superficial, mistaken, dangerous, should be signalized, rectified, guarded against. All honor to noble impulses, while we watch against every thing that may de- feat or mar the great objects to which they prompt. The Idea of a Perfect Social State is a neces- sity for the human reason. It is one that more or less obscurely possesses all minds ; but over all the nobler, more earnest and generous minds it exerts a powerful domination. Whether or not it is in the purposes of that Divine Providence, which is the Genius of Human History, that this idea shall ever be realized in the actual condition of the hu- man race, we shall not undertake to determine. On the one hand, it is not absolutely necessary ; men may successfully solve the problem of their own individual destination in a very imperfect state of society. But, on the other hand, to believe in it, to desire it, to hope for it, is the impulse and necessity of all the better and loftier spirits among men. To work towards its accomplishment is the duty of every man. So far as Young America means the feeling of this idea, the stirring of this impulse, it is a noble and sacred thing. Herein lies the only ground for any thing respectable in another word much heard among us — the word THE TRUE IDEA OF PROGRESS. 201 Progress. Mere progress in itself, mere going for- ward, without regard to the end to be reached, is not any thing admirable. It may be something very terrible. Make any word a watchword, stirring with electric thrill the hearts of unreflecting masses, and rousing them to action, and you do a thing which in its nature and results should be well con- sidered beforehand. Young America is antagonistic. It opposes it- self to what it calls " Old Fogyism/' What is that ? Is it a dogged adherence to old abuses ? A dread and dislike of all changes ? An inability to see any remedy for present evils but in a return to the past ? Doubtless, as against such a spirit, Young America is in the right. It is the natural reaction against it. Old Fogyism forgets that the past can never be reproduced on the scene of the present. If it could be, its resurrection would be any thing but desirable. It would be out of place, out of keeping — not benignant. But Young America needs guard itself, lest it go (as every reaction tends to go) too far. It must not be ignorant of the past, nor despise it, much less hate it. The spirit of true progress is an or- ganizing, not a destroying spirit. It is a spirit of love, not of hatred. It is wise and reverent, not 9* 202 YOUNG AMERICA : ignorant and arrogant. Only out of a profound knowledge of tlie past, and a deep sense of the wisdom of its lessons, can come the right guidance that shall safely conduct society onwards to a bet- ter future. Human history proceeds according to living, not mechanical laws. Political and social ameliorations can never be accomplished by destroy- ing, by pulling down the old, even in order to the reconstruction of something new and better. It is not an affair of destruction and reconstruction. It is a growth. It is mainly an affair of unfolding — the result of the mutual counterworking of forces which are vital, not dead. The old historical life of humanity must not be regarded as standing in no relations, much less in relations purely hostile, to the life of the present. The life of the future must be the continuation of the life of the past — invig- orated, purified, it is to be hoped, and unfolding it- self in new and fresh forms. Young America, therefore, in a wise and right-hearted fealty to its mission, will not fall into the error of setting itself in hostility to the past, as if it were something to be hated, crushed, extinguished. It will not arro- gantly claim, as its own exclusive creation, all the germs of true progress it discerns. It wiU remem- ber that the great heart of humanity has beaten THE TRUE IDEA OF PROGRESS. 203 the same in every age. Every age lias had its side of true and right, as well as its side of error and wrong. No age has been all right, or all wrong. Young America must not presume itself an excep- tion to the universal law. It must not take for granted that it is all right, and every thing else all wrong. It must not imagine there is no truth any- * where in the universe but . in its own possession ; that there is no possibility of its falling into one- sidedness, exaggeration, error — and that through the very intensity with which it finds itself pos- sessed by the great idea of the age, and the very strength of the impulse which leads it to protest against all that seems to stand in opposition to it. It must learn to recognize the element of truth, and the element of error, which, in their blending, and in their mutual counteraction, go to constitute the actual life — the inner spirit of every historical epoch, no less of the present than of the past ; for herein precisely lie the conditions of the true pro- gress of humanity. Young America must therefore beware of the dangers incident to every noble attempt to give reality to great political and social ideas. Ques- tions of political and social amelioration are emi- nently practical ; and there is not one lesson which 204 YOUNG AMERICA : history enforces with such tremendous emphasis as the peril of proceeding in ignorance or in disregard of this truth. Push an abstract idea out with reckless absoluteness into practical application ; ally it (as in such a case it will most surely come to be allied) with the frantic fanaticism of human passions — and you may produce a Keign of Terror, but you will inaugurate no Age of Eeason. " The eternal principle of Liberty made man, seeking to incarnate itself in the world by the Kepublic ! " — this is what Young America proclaims itself to be. How much that is glorious in idea ; how much that is also terrible in possibilities of evil, these words contain ! Let Young America guard against the perversion of the idea of Liberty. Let it beware of Political Absolutism. Let it remember that no Absolutism, democratic any more than monarchic, is safe — that pohtical liberty is not the absolute supremacy of mere will. The Almighty claims no such supremacy. Let it be remembered that politics — the science of organizing and directing the powers of society foF the greatest good of all, is eminently a practical science. It is a science of expediency. All its de- terminations rest on the practical consideration of consequences— provided always, of course, that THE TRUE IDEA OP PROGRESS. 205 they do not contradict the eternal principles of jus- tice. That is best in politics (however it may look in the abstract) which actually works best ; which best secures the true freedom, the just rights and the real well-being of a nation. To uproot what works well, merely to replace it with something more theoretically perfect, is far from being always wise. There is another thing to be avoided. Ques- tions of economical policy are not questions of po- litical principle, and should never be confounded with them, still less should the passions and preju- dices of the people be enlisted for or against them by any such misuse of words as puts them in the same category with the great and sacred principles of right and justice. For instance : the question of Free Trade is purely economical. It has no more to do with the question of political freedom, than the question of gas or oil in street-lighting ; and to argue it (because of the word " free ") as if it had, is absurd and mischievous. Free Trade may be a democratic policy in the sense of happen- ing to be adopted by a political party styling itself the Democratic party. But that there is any thing which makes it either necessarily or exclusively democratic in principle is thoroughly absurd. The 206 YOUNG AMEKICA : Englisli would laugh the pretension to scorn. Yet Young America has talked in this foolish way. We signalize it, not because of the question itself of Free Trade, but as an instance illustrating the wrong of confounding questions of economical pol- icy with questions of political principle. What our views are on the subject of Free Trade it is of no consequence for our readers to know. Finally, let Young America beware of becoming the mere tool of profligate political managers, scram- bling for the spoils of office, misusing and abusing all the great ideas and sentiments, instincts and impulses which are stirring in the great heart of the people, into a miserable machinery for selfish ends. If it sinks to this, our interest in it is gone. Its respectabihty, its title to the sympathy of the wise and good is lost. It will never guide the com- ing age in the path of true Progress. It will never help inaugurate the era of Social Perfectionment. THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION OF THE HUMAN RACE. THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION OF THE HUMAN RACE. Gentlemen of the New Jersey Historical Society : — It would perhaps be most appropriate to this occasion and to the special objects of this Society, if I could contribute something to the illustration of the history of New Jersey. But this is a task I shall not presume to undertake. New Jersey has indeed a history of which her sons may well be proud — particularly of that portion of it embraced by the revolutionary struggle which ac- complished the independence of the United States. She was the first to resolve on independence. She was the second to comply with the recommendation of the Continental Congress, and to establish for herself a government on the basis of a constitution of her own formation. She was one of the first to enter into the old confederation of the States, un- 210 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION der whicli the war of Independence was conducted to a successful issue. She adopted promptly, and with remarkable unanimity, the present Constitu- tion of the United States. During the war of the Kevolution her patriotism was pre-eminent, and her contributions to the pecuniary expenditures of the contest greatly exceeded her own proportionable share. Her soil was long the theatre of contending armies, and her sufferings from this cause were very great. Within her bounds some of the most in- teresting operations of the war took place. At Monmouth and at Princeton the enemy were worsted ; and here at Trenton, where we are now assembled, the tide of the war was undoubtedly turned. But I will not impertinently take up your time with a rehearsal of what is probably more familiar to you than to myself Nor will I attempt to cast any new light upon the history, or upon any partic- ular portion of the history, of the State. The original sources of this history, as they exist either in public archives or in private collections, have not been within my reach ; and if they had been, the pressure of many engagements since I had the honor of the invitation to appear before you, would have left me no time to go into such an investiga- OF THE HUMAN RACE. 211 tion of them as alone could yield any results en- titled to be presented here. In the inability therefore to make any contribu- tion of original value to the history, or materials for the history of New Jersey, I propose to occupy the hour with some considerations of a more gen- eral natiire, bearing upon the great problem of the History of Humanity at large, and the ultimate Destination of the Human Kace. I am the more led to this because the idea of the historical Progress of the Human Kace, which in itself, and at all times, presents a theme of the deepest interest, has of late taken a strong hold of many thoughtful minds, and been the subject of much discussion, more or less profound ; and it is a subject which, to be rightly treated, should be considered not merely in its external aspects, whether material or political, but from a higher, more com- prehensive and rational point of view. The con- sideration of it may be said to belong to the Phi- losophy of Humanity, rather than to the History of it. If we accept the distinction thus intended to be made, then doubtless we must affirm that as there is a History of Humanity — of the Human Kace as a whole during all time — so there must be a Philosophy of it. But both are necessary, each 212 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION to the other ; and only in the union of both can our knowledge become true science. In fact there can be no true History of Humanity which is not philosophical ; and no true Philosophy of Human- ity which is not historical. The true History of Humanity is something more than annals of out- ward events ; the true Philosophy of it is some- thing more than abstract speculations. The problem of the Historical Life of the Hu- man Kace upon the earth is undoubtedly one of the greatest problems with which human thought can grapple. But there is this peculiar difficulty attending the attempt to solve it : that which we would explain is yet incomplete, is but partially before us. The biography of the plant, of the ani- mal, or of an individual man, may lie before our eyes, written out in actual completeness from the first germinal unfolding to the close of life. Now History in its large sense is to the Human Race as a whole, what Biography is to individual man. " Humanity is the Man of History." But this is a biography which cannot be written — neither now, nor at any future period — until the world's histori- cal life has reached its term. That life is yet in its flow ; and we, who would calculate its course and its end, pronounce upon its significance, and OF THE HUMAN RACE. 213 sum up its character as one great whole, are in the midst of it ourselves, flowing onward in the stream of the ages. The Past is behind us ; the Present is around us ; the Future lies undeveloped before us. Standing thus in the midst of the ages, how can we explain the Past, comprehend the Present, and forecast the Future ? Are we not like com- mon soldiers on the battle-field, ignorant of the commander's plan of action, and if we were not, yet incapable from our position to get such a view as would enable us to understand what has taken place, what is going on, and what is likely to be the issue of the fight ? This no doubt is partly true. Yet we are not altogether like common sol- diers on the battle-field. We are also spectators of the course of events ; and in the necessary con- victions of reason, in the light of some communi- cations from the Highest source, and in the signifi- cance which the progress of events — both of itself and through the light that is cast upon it from above — has already begun to assume, we have some grounds for a philosophical criticism of the History of Humanity, of the Human Race as a whole, not collectively at any one period, but in the successive flow of generations and ages, throughout the whole 214 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION duration of the world's historical life. We must not indeed take our limited faculties as the organ of perfect insight. We must not erect our finite judgment into an absolute standard. But we may- know enough to make us understand how that which seems confused and aimless may, in a higher and wider view, have clearness and purpose, that which seems stationary or retrograde may yet he in progress to its destined end. In short, we may reverently attempt to form a judgment that shall embrace the past, the present, and the future--- that shall explain the historical destination of the human race. The solution of the problem which would nat- urally suggest itself to our minds — if we consider the nature and capacities of man — is the Develop- ment of Humanity to its Ideal Perfection — which again can be rightly and worthily conceived only as the perfection of a true Rational Life — a life of Moral Freedom, of self-subjection to the law of duty — a life of goodness, of justice and love. In this, and in nothing else, according to the absolute determinations of reason, does the true perfection of nations as well as of individuals consist, and in the Advancement of Humanity towards this ideal OF THE HUMAN RACE. 215 is the only just and worthy conception of Human Progress. This idea of a perfect social state is indeed only one form of that idea of perfection which gives the law to all human thinking and striving. Ever stirring in the soul of man, more or less consciously and clearly in proportion to the development of reason, is the conception of something more perfect than any thing we see or know — an ideal of which all that the world calls true, and beautiful, and good, are but inadequate expressions — an ideal which yet, by the necessity of his reason, man is incessantly prompted and impelled to express, to make real, both in the sphere of nature and of ra- tional life. The philosopher, seeking to make knowledge science, by penetrating beneath the ever- fleeting phenomena to the substantial ground of ab- solute truth ; the artist, working, by forms, or col- ors, or tones, or winged words, to express the beau- tiful ; the saint, striving to realize in the moral sphere, in his own personal life, the ideal of good- ness ; all evince the domination of this idea and this impulse. Hence it is not strange that the idea of a better, more perfect social state should an- nounce itself in every age of the world — in the 216 THE HISTOKICAL DESTINATION traditions of the past, of a primeval age of inno- cence and bliss, and in the visions of a future reign of righteousness and peace, to which the mind and heart of humanity, dissatisfied with the imperfec- tion of the actual state of things, has ever turned for solace and for hope. How profoundly this idea of a perfect common- wealth has stirred the best and noblest minds in every age, from Plato to Milton and Harrington, to Fenelon and St. Simon. It has inspired the song of the poet, the thought of the sage, the prayer of the devout, the hope of the believer, and the labors of the philanthropist, of statesmen and legislators, planters of colonies and founders of states. In short, all human history reveals the power of this idea and this impulse — and that in spite of the follies and crimes with which the an- nals of the world are filled, often indeed precisely in and through those follies and crimes, as mistakes and perversions of the true idea, as blind workings of the impulse. All history is the history of hu- man strivings after a better, higher, more perfect social state. Its actual realization in the world, in individuals and in society, in nations and states, and in their relations to each other, would be the regeneration of human society, the fraternization OF THE HUMAN RACE. 217 of the nations,, and the pacification of the world. Wars and crimes would cease, and with the moral nearly all the physical evils of human life would disappear. It would be the inauguration of the Age of Keason, in the true and noble sense of those much abused words. But is humanity destined ever to reach this perfection of the social state during the world's historical lifetime ? The Age of Eeason — will it ever actually arrive ? The millennial reign of uni- versal justice and love, brotherhood and peace, which every good heart that believes in a good God is so fain to cling to — will it ever be established on the earth ? This is a great question. Let us venture to look it in the face. Let us see what and how much there is to justify the absolute unqualified affirma- tion it so often receives. In the first place, the theoretical possibility of the development of humanity to a state of social perfection cannot be denied. It lies in the rational constitution of man. Keason in man is the germ of a rational human life, as in individuals, so in nations and in the community of nations. What- ever is possible may become actual. Whatever 10 218 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION lies in germ may, under its proper conditions, be unfolded. It is a perfection which may not indeed be actually attainable to the full extent of the ab- solute ideal ; for the most perfect individual must still in this life at least be an imperfect creature, and the highest perfection of the social state can never rise higher than the highest perfection of the individuals that at any time compose the collective whole of the human race upon the earth. But as there are degrees of saintly excellence which may be realized by every individual within his sphere, and which are measurably realized by some in ac- tual attainment, so there is a degree of social per- fection which may properly be considered as a sat- isfactory proximate realization of the absolute ideal, and which must be admitted to be theoretically possible for humanity as a whole. But what positive guaranty for its actual reali- zation does this afford ? In the life of Nature not every thing possible becomes for that reason actual — not every germ unfolds itself to the perfection of its normal life. On the contrary, observation shows us numberless cases of abortive attempt and failure. To this it is obvious to reply : that though multitudes of living germs in nature perish — in germ, and in every stage of development, yet these OF THE HUMAN RACE. 219 are individual cases, exceptions to the general rule ; that on the whole — in the large view of its orders, species, races — ^the life of Nature is not an abortion and a failure of its proper end. Can we then sup- pose that the higher Kfe of Humanity is not des- tined to attain its normal development ? Must we not regard the capacity of man for social perfec- tionment as a guaranty for its actual attainment ? This might be held conclusive, if the rational perfectionment of human society depended upon no conditions different in kind from those of the life of Nature ; and even notwithstanding the essential difference between nature zxA free-will^ if human- ity had no destination beyond this world, the anal- ogy of the universe might lead us to expect that human society would in some way and some time here in this world reach its normal perfection ; al- though the problem of human existence would then in other and higher aspects become a dark insolva- ble enigma — of which I will hereafter more partic- ularly speak. But admit the idea of another world, and all sense of moral contradiction is removed, even though humanity never attain to a perfect social state on the earth. Eeason may then be regarded as the germ of a truly rational social state, which 220 THE HISTOKICAL DESTINATION is destined to have its ultimate realization ; but that realization, as for individuals, so for humanity as a whole, may be accomplished in a supermun- dane eternal sphere ; and so from the capacity and theoretical possibility it is not necessary to infer its actual realization in this world. In like manner, again, with respect to the uni- versal prevalence of the idea of a perfect social state and of the impulse to realize it. It indicates undoubtedly the goal, it propounds the law of hu- man endeavor, the end towards which humanity may and should indefinitely advance. But does this in itself prove that it will ever be actually reached in this world ? If both for individuals and for humanity as a whole, there be a destination to a life beyond the world — and this can never be dis- proved — then the earthly history of humanity en- ters into the history of humanity in another sphere ; and the highest destination of the human race may be realized there, and that end may be subserved by the very fact that the earthly history of human society is a history of perpetual unsatisfied striv- ings after a more perfect state ; and so it is not necessary, in order to a rational explanation of man's earthly destination, to suppose that the so- OF THE HUMAN RACE. 221 cial perfection, for whicli he is by the law of his nature perpetually to strive, must be actually re- alized during the lifetime of humanity on the globe — however much, as to the rest, we may be naturally and reasonably led to hope or to expect that the history of the world will in a large and complete view disclose itself as an actual progress towards it. Again : does the actual history of mankind thus far warrant any confident prediction that human society will ever reach its normal possible perfec- tion during the lifetime of the world ? I exclude now all reference to whatever Divine ideas and in- terventions human history does or may hereafter disclose, or to any Divine purpose which may thereby be ultimately accomplished. I speak now only of the actual progress which the history of human efforts to perfect itself in society discloses. And I say that after four thousand years of human strivings, humanity, neither as a whole, nor in any single state or nation, presents the spectacle of so- ciety advanced to a true rational state, nor to any such degrees of it as measurably to satisfy the de- mands of reason or the wishes of the heart, or to contain the certain promise of a better future. 222 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION I will not go over the old story of four thousand years — the rise, the culmination, the decline, decay and dissolution of states and empires. I take my stand in the present time. I admit every thing that any one chooses to allege respecting the mighty dif- ference between the present and the past — the changes, the progress, the improvement — and then I ask : what is the present state of the world ? Human society is seen in its brightest aspects in Europe and in America. A high degree of what we call civilization prevails in most of the states and nations of these continents — and also in some of the colonies established by them in other parts of the world, chiefly by the English people. The rest of mankind is but partially civilized ; some tribes and peoples are yet in the barbarous or in the savage state. Barbarism and savageism have, how- ever, nearly disappeared ; and at no very remote period will, in all probability, entirely disappear, through historical causes now at work, and whose force, direction and results we can pretty well esti- mate ; so that in a century or two, (provided mean- while no old civilization falls to pieces,) the whole world may be civilized. But what then ? The highest civilization, in the proper ordinary mean- ing of the term — the highest civilization, so far from OF THE HUMAN RACE. 223 being a guaranty for continual progress, does not contain in itself the securities for its own conserva- tion and continuance, but on the contrary carries in its own bosom tbe seeds of dissolution and de- cay. The practical demonstration of this truth lies in the history of the past. And apart from this, it is obvious in itself that the highest state of mere civilization neither constitutes nor implies that true rational state of society, in which alone the perfection of the social state consists. A true rational society — a society in which the spirit of rational freedom or self-subjection to the law of duty, the spirit of justice and love, prevails — may be and will be a highly and truly civilized society ; but a highly civilized society, in the ordinary sense of the word, is not necessarily a rational society. Consider this point. There is, I humbly think, a great liability to delusion, in much that is said nowadays about the marvellous progress of the age, and the glories of its civilization. Look at it, then, in its highest forms. Take London. Take Paris. Take our own New York. It is precisely to such places, and nowhere else, that you are to look, if you would see what the highest actual civ- ilization is, and how much it has accomplished towards perfecting the social state. Look sharply, 224 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION then, at the spectacle which this civilization pre- sents. What do you there see ? You see there the greatest concentration and the freest, most diversified play of human energies and activities of every kind. There the greatest wealth — the greatest abundance of the means of physical ease and comfort. There, too, the greatest social pol- ish and the highest culture. There flourish phi- losophy, science, art, letters, industries. There no- ble virtues and much of the beautiful happiness of a pure and right life. Undoubtedly. But there, also, the greatest proportionable prevalence of vice and crime, and the misery of an evil life. There the greatest refinement of luxurious enjoyment, side by side with the greatest proportionable amount of want and destitution. There gorgeous equipages, with glittering appointments, soft rolling side by side with shivering, ill-clad beggars, whom civilized language, noticeably enough, terms mendicants. There gilded palaces, purple and fine linen and sumptuous fare, soft music, mirth and elegant rev- elry — and, not far off, starvation in rags, sunk and crowded down into damp cellars, or stowed and packed up under sharp-roofed garrets. Here is civilization in its highest actual state. Here you see all and the utmost that the civiliza- OF THE HUMAN RACE. 225 tion of the age has done to perfect the social state. Look at the picture then. Does it present the type of humanity advanced to the perfection of the social state ? Does it satisfy the demands of rea- son, or the wishes of the good heart ? Is it a ra- tional state of society ? No, I answer. No. It is a thousand million miles away from it. And if such a civilization were spread all over the globe, the spectacle would be very far from satisfying the wise and good man, either in the contemplation of the present or in the prospect of the future. On the contrary, the progressive development of such a civilization in the same line, would he the intensi- fication of all the irrational aspects it now presents — wealth more and more regarded as the great good and the limits to its desire and pursuit more and more extended, with a corresponding increase in the strength of the temptations to frauds, dishonesties and other wrongs and crimes peculiarly incident to such a state of society — and, with the increase of wealth, a greater and greater increase in the num- ber, variety and ingenious refinements of luxurious enjoyment and gratifications of vanity and worldly pride — and, by the inevitable laws of such a civili- zation, all this tending, not to equalize among the laboring masses the conditions of comfort and wel- 10* 226 THE HISTOEICAL DESTINATION fare^ but to make the poor poorer, and more poorly off in physical comforts, in the leisure and means for rational development and true domestic life, and so to increase the causes of degradation and the temptations to vice and crime. Besides : the perfection of human society on the earth implies not only the advancement of individ- uals and communities, but also of nations and the community of nations, to a true rational life. It implies the pacification of the world, the union of the nations in a true brotherhood of justice, love and peace. But if mere civilization does not and cannot make individual men in society live together as brethren, how is it to effect the pacification of the world .? The widest extension of commercial relations is no certain guaranty for the universal reign of peace, though it tends that way. But as in the past, so in the future, there is no security against collisions of interest ; and ambition, pride and passion may still be stronger than the dictates of prudence and enlightened self-love. With all its progress, all its superiority, the civilization of our century — which flatters itself, as Carlyle says, that it is the nineteenth — has not protected the fairest, the most civilized portions of the world from the scourge of bloody and desolating wars spring- OF THE HUMAN RACE. 227 ing from oppositions of material interests or the mad ambition of sovereigns. During the early years of this period what scenes of carnage and de- vastation, what millions of human lives sacrificed on the battle field, what orphanage and heart- breaking sorrow in millions of homes — all to grat- ify the boundless selfishness of the most heartless egotist the world ever saw !* Nor did the downfall of that great disturber of the world bring permanent peace. Europe has since then been repeatedly the theatre of bloody battles ; while the late Mexican war has proved that the civilization of the nineteenth century has been no more a security fpr peace on this than on the other side of the Ocean. And we have no reason to suppose it will be on either side a security in the future more than in the past.f I am not saying whether or not these recent wars are just and ne- cessary according to the common way of judging. * In the preface to Abbott's Life of Napoleon, we are told " the writer admires Napoleon because he abhorred war!" What to think of the man, pretending to be an historian, who could say that ? What to think of him — an American, too — who could call Napoleon " the Washington of France ? " At any rate it is blas- phemy of the " Father of his country." f With the recollection of Magenta and Solferino still fresh in mind, it is unnecessary now, in 1860, to remind the reader how soon what was written in 1855 found its justification. 228 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION I am only urging the undeniable fact that civiliza- tion in itself is no guaranty for the abolition of the custom of war, no security against the perpetual recurrence of the spectacle of human beings coming together by thousands, and hundreds of thousands, to butcher each other — a spectacle which I say is a million miles away from being a rational specta- cle, or a spectacle compatible with the idea of hu- man society even measurably advanced to a truly rational state. Not until wars cease will human- ity have advanced to the perfection of its social life. Not until then the Age of Keason. Not until then the Millennium. This no world-wide spread of our present nineteenth century European and American civilization, and no intensification of its present elements and powers in the future, can ever accomplish. But the progress of Civil Liberty and the es- tablishment of Free Institutions, is much relied on as a ground of hope for the regeneration of society. It must be admitted that ideas of popular rights, and the disposition to demand free institutions, are gaining prevalence in many parts of the old world. It may be that the despotic governments of Europe are destined, at no distant day, to fall shattered to OF THE HUMAN RACE. 229 pieces, in the shock of ideas coming face to face, or to be gradually replaced by freer forms, through the transforming force of prevailing opinion. One thing, however, is certain : free governments can never get themselves permanently established by being put upon the people even by the people them- selves, but only by springing up from within, from the inner life of the people. Europe is not pre- pared for self-government. Italy not yet fully. Nor France. Other countries still less. But it may be that democratic ideas will spread and take root more and more in the heart of the coming age, and it may be they are destined to realize themselves in the governments of Europe, and ultimately of the rest of the world, through the immense and every day increasing influence of Europe and -of the United States. But what then ? Suppose this accomplished — the preliminary conditions fulfilled, the requisite training gone through with, and the same degrees also of civilization attained as we have reached — and all the nations of the earth to be in the enjoy- ment of free governments, civil and political insti- tutions modelled after the pattern of our own. What then ? Would the moral evils peculiarly incident to a high artificial civilization, would the 230 THE HISTOKICAL DESTINATION physical evils resulting from the inevitable working of its economical laws, be done away ? No : no more then, than in our own country now. Would the world present the spectacle of humanity ad- vanced to a true rational life ? Would it contain the guaranties for the continual progress of human- ity in the line of rational development ? Would it even contain the securities for its own conserva- tion ? No : no more in the world at large, than in our own country now. Besides : the tendency of democratic, as of all other power, is to absolutism. We see it in our land. But democratic absolutism is not necessarily any more rational or beneficent in its workings than monarchic or oligarchic absolutism. If not in- formed and actuated by wisdom and virtue, it is more dangerous and disastrous — of which truth history gives us more than one impressive demon- stration. Let the spirit of a people become an ex- aggerated sense of rights without a corresponding sense of duties ; let it challenge for mere will — the present will of self-willed majorities that legitimate supremacy which belongs to absolute right alone — and what are constitutions and compacts if they stand in the way ? Paper and words to men who will neither read nor hear — especially in any con- OF THE HUMAN RACE. 231 flict of ideas or interests, any struggle of parties or passions. That such is the tendency of demo- cratic absolutism, of the supremacy of self-willed majorities, to override the checks of constitutions and compacts, of reason and moral right — it is im- possible to deny. It may take long years before it becomes developed in any destructive way ; but that in its unchecked working it leads on to anar- chic convulsion, the subversion of rational freedom and the dissolution of the social bonds — it is equally impossible to deny. And what are the checks that are to restrain the dangerous tendencies of democratic absolutism ? Without enumerating those which may be con- ceived to lie in the modes in which, from the ne- cessity of circumstances, the public will may be obliged to express and realize itself, I will say that there is one without which all other checks are in- adequate, and that is the prevalence among the people of the spirit of unselfish patriotism, of jus- tice and of love. This affords the only adequate conservative principle, the only certain guaranty for the beneficent working and permanent continuance of democratic institutions. But does it lie in democratic institutions to create this spirit ? Or to unfold it ? Or to foster 232 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION it ? Or even to give it fair play in public life ? No. History answers, no. How is it with us ? Politics a war ; " wo to the vanquished," the war cry. Politics a grand game, played by political demagogues — the people the pawns — office and the emoluments of office the stakes to be won. Swarms of greedy office-seekers eager to get into office, and rival swarms of greedy office-holders eager to keep in ; and so President-making nearly the supreme political business of the nation — the question being not about the best man, but the most available man for party ends ; and the people kept in the turmoil of this selfish struggle from four years' end to four years' end. Is this an edifying spectacle .? Are these in- fluences wholesome in their working, either for the private or the public morals of the nation ? Is it to be wondered at tbat all the worst elements of society come up into disgusting prominence in the primary assemblies of the people during the heat of elections ? Can we wonder at the brutal scenes, the ruffianly assaults, the trickeries and frauds, false swearing and illegal voting enacted at the polls ? And — ^like people like rulers — can we won- der that the halls of the supreme legislative body of the nation are disgraced by scenes of vulgar vio- OF THE HUMAN RACE. 233 lence, personal encounters, and deadly weapons raised — to say nothing of minor violations of pro- priety and decorum unbecoming such a place ? If it be permitted to the spirits of the departed patriots who sat in Congress in the days of the Kevolution and of Washington's administration, to witness the conduct of their successors, what must they think of the men that now fill the places they once filled, and of the people that send them and sustain them there ? Let me read you a pas- sage from a letter I received in 1837, from a true gentleman of the olden time, an eminent man now gone, who, in his youth, lived in intimate relations with Washington and the public men of Washing- ton's day : " In the years 1794, '95, '96, I often saw the House and Senate of that day. In the month of May last I went to Washington solely to see a House and Senate of forty years later. What a contrast ! If the majority of our nation be now fairly represented, we are the lowest and most vul- gar of all the Caucasian race." This was twenty years ago. The House of Kepresentatives had but just begun to be the bear garden it has since become, and the Senate was still a comparatively dignified and decorous body — 234 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION no scenes of personal encounter and brutal outrage (I believe) had then been enacted within the walls of its chamber. What would the writer of this letter have said if he had beheld what has since been seen there ? Now if the picture of political corruption and violence — which I have rather referred to than sketched — ^be to any extent a true picture — and you know it is — I ask again : does it lie in the mere working of democratic institutions to create, or to cherish, or even to give fair play to the spirit of unselfish patriotism, justice, and love ? And again I answer no. And if the evils we deplore have been greatly increasing for the last twenty-five years — and that they have cannot be denied — what guaranty for the future progress of our nation in public and private virtue can democratic institu- tions give ? What guaranty can they give even for their own conservation and continuance ? And therefore, in fine, what guaranty could they give, if spread all over the earth, for the social perfec- tion of the human race, for the advancement oi humanity to a true rational life, for the cure of the moral and physical evils of society, for the frater- nization of men and nations, the universal reign of justice and of peace ?* * Since the above was written we have had, among the startling OF THE HUMAN RACE. 235 But again : the advancement of Science and the diffusion of Knowledge, are much looked to as the promise of a better future. No one can think more highly of these than I do as conditions and elements of the highest social state ; but as they do not in themselves alone constitute it, so neither in their own efficacy nor in any efficacies which they necessarily imply, do they make it sure. Much stress is laid upon the marvels of scien- tific discovery and their application to human uses, to which the last fifty years has given birth. The secrets of the Life of Nature are disclosed ; the wonderful processes, conditions and laws of the growth and nutrition of vegetable life are so ascer- tained, that agriculture — ^the great art on which the physical life of humanity mainly rests — is com- ing to be the most scientific of all arts, supplying proofs of our progress on the road downwards, the established fact of the whole Legislative body of a Western State bought up in the interest of a profligate corporation. And the New York Daily Times of to-day (April 18, 1860), speaking of the passage of certain bills, sacrificing the public good to great moneyed monopolies, carried in the Legislature of New York against the Governor's veto, says : " It will not be possible to convince any considerable portion of the community that these votes were not bought and paid for / " I do not suppose there can be found a single person of any intelligence in the State, who does not believe that those votes were "bought" and sold, and probably not without security at least that they should be " paid for." 236 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION with the greatest certainty, exactitude, and economy, the conditions for the restoration of worn-out fer- tility, and the appropriate food and tillage for each several product, and thus multiplying a hundred- fold the capabilities of human subsistence on the face of the earth, to which the earthly life of man is tied ; the sun is made to copy as no artistic hu- man eye and hand can portray ; steam and light- ning have annihilated space and time, and brought the ends of the world into contact — the world both of matter and of mind. These are indeed the mar- vels of the age. I stand in admiration, wonder, and awe, before them. And greater marvels still will doubtless be disclosed in the coming age. But it should be remembered that all the do- minion over nature which the human understand- ing gains should be subordinated to the control of reason, should be used for rational ends. Scientific discovery, and the subjugation of the tremendous forces of nature to man's uses, if it minister only to man's self-willed pride, destroying the filial rev- erence with which he should stand in the midst of Nature, as in the great temple built by the Al- mighty Father's hand ; if it be valued and em- ployed only as a means of increasing and diversify- ing the sphere of physical enjoyment or selfish OF THE HUMAN RACE. 237 gratification, will neither make men wiser, better, or happier, nor society more rational, or better off in any element in which the true well-being of so- ciety consists. The tendency on the contrary — a tendency augmenting with every fresh conquest over the powers of nature — would be to such heights of selfish and ungodly civilization as, like the gi- gantic science and gigantic wickedness of the world before the Flood, must needs be swept from the earth, and humanity be made to begin again anew. And as to the general diffusion of knowledge — it must be remembered that knowledge is a power for evil as well as for good. Light in the head is not necessarily goodness in the heart. Men in- structed with knowledge may be the wiser and the better for it, or they may be merely more sharp and knowing in evil. Scientific discoveries, the most useful and beneficent in their proper application, can be turned to account as instruments of crime. Knaves and rogues have seized on photography and made counterfeit bank notes, which the bank offi- cers, whose names they bore, could not distinguish from those they signed. Anaesthetic agents, de- signed to relieve human pain, are employed by thieves and burglars, to put to sleep, or to deepen the slumbers of those they would plunder. It may 238 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION indeed be said that science will ever find out, and general instruction diffuse the knowledge of new methods for protecting society against such evil uses of scientific discoveries. What sort of a race is this ? Quite a forlorn hope for human progress — it seems to me. It does not follow from this that ignorance is the parent of devotion — as the old saying goes — or of any thing else that is good. But we must beware of expecting from the mere diffusion of knowledge that regeneration of human society which can never come fi-om that cause alone. Unless permeated and actuated by higher influences, the widest diffusion of knowledge will only make so- ciety less wise and less happily off in all that con- stitutes its rational perfection and true welfare. We have now seen, I humbly presume to think, that neither the theoretical possibility of the social perfectionment of the human race ; nor the neces- sity and universality of the idea and of the impulse to realize it ; nor the actual progress of civiliza- tion ; nor the universal spread of civil liberty and free institutions ; nor any advancement of science. OF THE HUMAN RACE. 23^ or widest diffusion of knowledge, contain in them- selves — either separately or combined — any abso- lutely certain warrant that this ideal perfection of human society will ever be actually realized, or perpetually approached, in the lifetime of human- ity on the globe. So far from it, in looking around upon the actual spectacle which the highest civili- zation of the world presents, and forward to its fu- ture progress in the same line of development, we are compelled to recognize elements of evil lying in the very bosom of that civilization — causes of disaster, perilous possibilities of defeat and over- throw to the dearest hopes of humanity. The fall of the unsupported tower is not more certain by the law of material gravitation, than in the moral sphere is the certainty that the historical causes which have wrought in the past, are causes which now and in the future will ever work the same re- sults. Wealth, luxury, and corruption, as in the past they have been, so in the future they will ever be, the precursors of the decay, dissolution, and downfall of states and nations. This is inevitable unless prevented by adequate corrective and con- servative powers — ^powers which the mere preva- lence of democratic or of any other political insti- tutions, the progress of science and the spread of 240 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION knowledge^ are not in themselves sufficient to call forth and put into action. Unless, then, we give over in despair of a brighter future, where shall we turn to look for those cor- rective and saving powers ? I know but one di- rection in which it remains to look. We have al- ready looked everywhere else. Shall we then turn to Christianity as the last hope for the social perfectionment of the human race ? Shall we consider what and how much Christianity can ef- fect — how and under what conditions — and what promise for the future is herein contained .? Here I see at once — as all must see — that the universal prevalence of Christianity as an actuating principle in the life of the world would be the ad- vancement of the human race to the rational per- fection of the social state. Let the life of human- ity — of men and of nations, in their individual, so- cial, and political relations, in their civilization, cul- ture, science, and art — ^become permeated and ac- tuated by the moral spirit of Christianity, and there would be nothing more for reason to demand or the heart to desire. I see, too, that Christianity purports to embody the conditions and means of making its moral spirit OF THE HUMAN RACE. 241 a living principle in the life of humanity. In Christianity — not, indeed, considered merely as a body of doctrines and ethical precepts, and a visi- ble institute of worship and moral discipline, but in Christianity considered as an historical organiza- tion of supernatural Divine powers — I see pro- pounded the only adequate cure for the corruption of the human race. I speak not now as a theologian, but as a phi- losopher, when I say, the corruption of the human race. For this corruption is simply a matter of fact, of which all history is the undeniable demon- stration ; a fact of universal observation ; a fact testified in the inmost consciousness of every one of us — who know and feel that we are not, and of our own unaided power shall never become, what we know and feel we ought to be. It is this fact which contains the reason why the history of humanity has been ever a history of abortive strivings after a perfection never reached — the reason why the pro- gress of civilization, why education, science, know- ledge, and civil liberty afford in themselves no guar- anty that this perfection ever will be reached. As a philosopher I see — what every genuine philoso- pher must see — that no creed, however sublime, no ethical teachings, however divine, no institutes of 11 242 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION worship and discipline, however pure and ennobling, can work the regeneration of the human race ; be- cause that is something which no merely moral influ- ences can accomplish. As a philosopher, too, I am bound to look at Christianity in the character in which it undeniably propounds itself to the world — and that is not merely as a creed, a code, and a worship, but also as the incorporation into the life of humanity of Divine restoring powers, without which all its moral teachings and influences would be as ineffectual to cure the corruption of the hu- man race. as the Vedas and Shastras, the laws of Lycurgus, or the institutes of Menu. The peculiar pretension of Christianity is to cure the corruption of the human race by super- natural powers, derived to humanity from the union of the Divine and human nature, historically ac- complished in the person of Christ, and through the perpetual indwelling in man of the Eternal Spirit of Divine Life. As a philosopher I am un- able to explain either the ground and reason of this peculiar constitution of Divine powers — why it is or needs must be so, or the mode and working of these powers ; but I can quite clearly understand that Christianity purports to be such a constitu- tion ; and I recognize its immeasurable superiority OF THE HUMAN RACE. 243 over any mere creed, or code, or institute, or any- conceivable system of merely moral influences. Its eminent and peculiar pretension is to accomplish by Divine powers, in a supernatural way, what I know, as a philosopher, no merely moral influences can accomplish — the cure of the spiritual corrup- tion and weakness of human nature, its restoration to spiritual freedom and the power of ^effectual goodness. If it fulfil this pretension, I see, as a philosopher, that it supplies also the requisite con- ditions for securing to the moral influences of Chris- tianity their proper power, and for making the moral spirit of Christianity a living, actuating principle in the universal heart of humanity, and thereby, in the only possible way, making the uni- versal spread of civilization, intelligence, and civil liberty, safe, salutary, and beneficent in the future progress of the human race. That Christianity is destined to become the re- ligion of the world, in the sense, for instance, that it is of our own country now, seems nearly certain, merely from the continued working of commercial, political, and other historical causes, which have already borne Christianity along with them, or opened the door for its entrance — as in China and Japan. But this does not of itself determine the 244 THE HISTOKICAL DESTINATION question whether, through the universal spread of Christianity, the perfectionment of human society on the earth is destined to be ultimately accom- plished. That depends upon the question whether, through man's concurrence with the working of the supernatural powers embodied in the constitution of Christianity, the moral spirit of Christianity is to become the actuating principle of the life of the world. And how can we, on historical grounds, de- cide that this will ever be the case ? Christianity has been for eighteen hundred years incorporated into the historical life of the world. For five centuries it wrought in the bosom of the old corrupt Koman civilization, but could not save it. The Koman Empire crumbled to pieces at the touch of barbarian hands — less through the force of the shock than through its own rotten- ness and decay. Entering, along with the inherit- ance of Koman law, into the new fresh life from the North, Christianity, with its immense ideas, its en- nobling influences, and its supernatural powers, has been working in the heart of modern civilization for fourteen hundred years. And what has it ac- complished .? Much, doubtless, for numberless indi- viduals ; much also for society, for nations, for the Btate — yet but little compared with what it must OF THE HUMAN RACE. 245 accomplish before it can effect the regeneration of society, the pacification of the world. Breathing peace and good-will, and proclaiming its mission to be the uniting of men and nations in a brotherhood of love, by the pervading bond of one and the same divine indwelling Spirit, Christianity, through man's corruption, has been itself the very occasion of some of the bloodiest wars, the blackest crimes, and the most heart-rending cruelties that the pages of human history record. That it has not yet taught states and nations to live in peace, or to settle questions of conflicting interest on principles of mutual justice, the late Mexican war, and the present state of Europe, are enough to prove. The moral spirit of Christianity is not in any tolerable degree the actuating principle of the life of any state or nation in Christendom. No Christian peo- ple presents the spectacle of human society ad- vanced in any measurably satisfactory way to a true rational state. But must we not believe that it lies within the resources of the wisdom and power of the Infinite Father of humanity to secure for Christianity its legitimate effect — to make its moral spirit a freely actuating principle in the life of men and nations 246 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION throughout the world ; and if so^ is it consistent with our necessary convictions of His infinite good- ness to doubt that the resources of infinite wisdom and power will be applied, through the providen- tial government of the world, to the accomplish- ment of this end? Have we not herein, then, the sure guaranty for the final advancement of human- ity to a true rational life on the earth ? Must we not conceive this to be precisely the Divine plan and purpose in human history ? A stupendous question this ! I freely admit the great ideas upon which it goes. The history of the world can no more be rationally conceived with- out the idea of the providence of God, than the existence of the world can be rationally conceived without the idea of the creative power of Grod. Doubtless there is a Divine plan and purpose, ac- cording to which the Most High conducts the his- tory of the world. Human history is not, indeed, like the world of space, the mere product of the Almighty will ; neither is it the product of human activity alone, whether of self-willed caprice, or of rational endeavor. There is a human element in it, and there is an element that is divine. An Infi- nite Mind presides over the busy activities of hu- man freedom, through generations and ages — pre- OF THE HUMAN RACE. 247 pares the scene — calls the actors forth in their time and turn — and through their action carries forward, from age to age, the unfolding of His divine idea. But I do not see that we are led, by any neces- sity of our conceptions of the infinite goodness of God, to believe that the conducting of humanity to the actual attainment of the highest possible perfection of the social state on earth is the spe- cial plan and purpose of His providential govern- ment of the world. For even if it be not, all ob- jections on this score vanish by the supposition of a destination of the human race to a higher eternal sphere, and by the fact that meanwhile human beings, as individuals, may successfully solve the problem of their existence in a very imperfect state of society, and indeed precisely through the disci- pline which such a state imphes — to doubt which would be to suppose the existence of every human being for six thousand years to be an utter failure of its proper end. In venturing to pronounce concerning the Di- vine plan in the history of the world, we must re- member that the earthly history of humanity en- ters into its history in a sphere beyond the world. The earthly history of the human race is not a complete drama in itself. It is but an act in the 248 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION drama of the history of humanity. When the curtain drops at the end of the world, it drops but to rise again for another act on another and a vaster scene. The history of humanity, moreover, in its largest view, both in this world and in the world beyond, enters into yet another and a more comprehensive history still — the history of the universe. It is a part of that great history ; not only not a complete drama, but only an act — it may be not a whole act even, but a few scenes, or a single scene — in the grand Universe drama, that is to go on unfolding forever in the circling round of eternal ages. Over this unfolding the Infinite Mind presides. Doubt not the grand drama has its plan. It does not roll at random through the ages, with a blind irrational flow. There is a Divine Idea underlying all — ever realizing itself — every scene, every act preparing for the next, and all carrying the great action onward to its grand development. But how dare we, unless instructed by the Most High, pronounce what this all-comprehending, all- explaining Divine Idea is? How dare we pro- nounce what is the subordinate relation in which the earthly history of the human race stands to the history of the universe, and what is the special plan of Grod's providential government in the history of OF THE HUMAN RACE. 249 this world, through the accomplishment of which the grand plan of the universe is to be accom- plished ? There is, indeed, one comprehensive idea, which both reason and Divine instruction seem to warrant us to assume. Evil exists in the universe — Moral Evil, not the product of God, but of finite self-will, through the abuse of that freedom, without which there could be no such beings as moral creatures. But Good and Evil, like light and darkness, stand in eternal opposition, mutually destructive of each other. They must ever be in conflict. It does not comport with the nature of the Infinite Father of the Universe, the absolute personal substance of Goodness, of Sanctity and Love, that he should, so to say, stand idly by, an indifferent spectator, or even as a watchful observer of the conflict between the finite powers of Good and Evil. He can take no neutral part, but must range Himself on the side of Good. A grand and solemn struggle , therefore, between the powers of Good and of Evil, conducted by the Most High Himself — this we may believe to be the inmost sense of the history of the universe. This is the comprehensive idea, which explains the plan of God's providential government over the 11* 250 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION universe. As to the final issue, doubt not what it will be. It is here that the history of humanity enters into the history of the universe. Our world's his- tory is also a struggle between the powers of good and of evil. This idea explains the purport of God's intervention in the world. Christianity is precisely the intervention of the Infinite Father of humanity, for the subjugation of the evil that is in the human race. It is the incorporation of a di- vine principle into the corrupted life of the race, through the Incarnation of the Eternal Word, and the Indwelling of Grod in Man by the Eternal Spirit of Life. The union of God and Man in the person of Christ, is the central fact in the history of the world, and of the universe, too. It is the central principle of the unity of the human race, and of all rational creatures. This truth the Infinite Father announces in these stupendous words : " that in the dispensation of the fulness of time, He might gather together IN ONE all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him." What words can be more express and clear ? You see that the ever-living Divine- human Person of Christ, is the centre of the unity OF THE HUMAN RACE. 251 of the human race, of its union with God, with it- self, and with the rational universe. Herein lies the divine principle for the pacification and perfec- tion of the world and of the universe, according to the wonderful words of the Son of Grod, the Divine Mediator between the Infinite Father and His finite creatures : '^ that they all may he ONE ; as Thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they also may he one inus , . . . I in them and Thou in me, that they may he made perfect in ONE ! " If this be so, how absurd to attempt a philosophy of human history upon any other basis. A philosophy of his- tory, ignoring its greatest fact, its central idea ! The height of absurd pretension can go no higher. That this great all-comprehending idea of God's providence in human history will be ultimately re- alized — that humanity, united in Christ to itself, to the Infinite Father, and to the rational universe, will accomplish a glorious destination in an eternal sphere — of this let us never doubt. Let us never doubt the final triumph of good over evil in the empire of the Infinite Good God. Subordinate this great end, the disciplinary education of the human race may safely be assumed 252 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION as the special idea of God's providential government of this world. For since God does and needs must deal with His rational creatures as moral beings, free to improve or to abuse His gracious gifts, to con- cur with or to resist the Divine powers which Chris- tianity imparts to the human race, it is evident that the disciplinary influences of His providential government are the great means He must needs employ in order to secure the concurrence of men with the supernatural efficacies of Christianity, and so to make its moral spirit a freely actuating prin- ciple in the life of humanity. But this does not imply the rational perfection- ment of human society upon the earth, unless it be necessary in order to the accomplishment of the all- comprehending eternal end of God, in regard to humanity and to the universe. Whether it is ne- cessary or not, is something our thoughts cannot pretend to determine. If it be, then doubtless it will in some way be brought about, before the earthly history of the human race is closed — if ever it come to a close, and that it will is certainly the idea that Christianity goes upon. But human society, states and nations exist. OF THE HUMAN RACE. 253 not for their own sake, but for the sake of individ- uals, and individuals exist here in this world solely in order to a higher existence in another world, and it may be that God can conduct humanity to its great eternal destination in a higher sphere, though the pathway of the generations should, in the fu- ture, as in the past, lie through an imperfect and disordered world. This much is certain : the idea of a merely temporary destiny for rational creatures — no matter how prosperous and prolonged — is one in which our minds can never rest. Men, indeed, suffer and die for their country — for the merely earthly welfare of those that are to come after them — and are hon- ored and revered by those for whom they suffered and died ; but both the heroism and the rever- ence have their root in rational instincts and senti- ments, that announce in man a higher than an earthly destination, and are inexplicable on any other ground. We are compelled, in fact, in every point of view, to hold this higher destination to be the great end of man's earthly existence. What is any merely temporal end worth in any right ra- tional view ? Of how much importance is the certainty of a million millenniums of earthly com- fort and enjoyment, or even of the highest degrees 254 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION of rational welfare in store for future generations, if there be nothing beyond ? It would neither satisfy the reason, nor console the heart. It is only in the full faith of a higher eternal destination, that the problem of man's earthly existence be- comes clear ; only in such a faith we find heart greatly to rejoice in the ever so sure prospect of an earthly millennium of righteousness and peace. Lighted by the radiance that streams down from the eternal sphere, the vision of an earthly millennium becomes indeed something beautiful and delight- ful, something to pray for and to work for ; but apart from that there is nothing in it that gives us great heart to pray or to work. On the contra- ry, the problem of humanity becomes utterly dark and full of trouble to our thoughts ; the long, long ages of delayed accomplishment — the slow progress, the little gain ; and the long, long ages (it may be) yet to intervene before the consummate day — each previous generation existing only for the sake of the next, and all for the sake of those at the end of the series — and those favored generations reaching their goal only through the struggles and sufferings, the sweat, the tears, the blood of all that went before them ! Of such a history of the world, rounded out and written up, how does the contemplation OF THE HUMAN RACE. 255 strike you ? Does the good luck of the favored generations console you for the hundred and sixty thousand millions (as I roughly compute it) of hu- man beings that have already toiled and wept, and become extinct, and the million millions that may yet arise to toil and weep, and become extinct, foi the advantage of the favored ones ? And what sort of advantage ? An earthly millennium — a temporary welfare, and nothing beyond ! How are you going to absolve God for such a history of hu- manity ? If He could do no better, better have done nothing ; so at least our reason and our hearts prompt us to feel. If He could do better, why has He not ? Either way darkness and trouble to our thoughts. But granted a career of endless spirit- ual development, and Doubt is dispelled and trouble chased away. Whether the vision of an earthly millennium is to be realized or not, we no longer see thousands of generations existing for the sole advantage of oth- ers — and that a mere temporary advantage : on the contrary, we recognize each existing for all, and all for each — the last in the series as much for the first as the first for the last, and thereby the same great 256 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION end for each and all. God's purpose in the earthly discipline of the race may in either case get accom- plished. That purpose I regard as having a three- fold object : the earthly profit of humanity in its successive generations, the profit of humanity (in individuals and as a whole) in a future world, and the profit of the rational universe. If there is to come an earthly millennium for the human race, the education that conducts man- kind to it will also be for the profit of each suc- cessive generation on its way to a higher sphere, as well as for the advantage of all in that sphere. If an earthly millennium is not to come, the disci- pline of Grod's providence here is not made in vain. Mankind may learn something, if not all it might learn. The world may become a better and a bet- ter world, even though it never become a perfect world. And the lessons learned too late for this world, may not be too late for man's profit in another world. And in either case, the great les- sons which the history of the world may be intended to teach when that history is rounded and complete — and which cannot be learned till then — wiU be for the profit both of humanity and of the whole rational universe in another sphere. OF THE HUMAN RACE. 257 In the full faith, therefore, of a high eternal destination for the human race, we can look back upon the past without perplexity, and forward to the future with tranquil hope. We see, without dismay, that ifc took four thousand years to prepare for the historical incorporation of Christianity into the life of the world — four thousand years of disci- plinary education of the human race, under the providence of Grod, in order to put into the world a grand historical demonstration of the radical cor- ruption of the race, and its utter inability to raise, restore, and perfect itself; and so to prepare the way for the coming of the Grreat Kestorer. We see, without dismay, the slow progress of Chris- tianity, for the eighteen hundred years it has been in the world. We see that it has been ever strug- gling with the powers of darkness and evil. We see that wherever and in whatever degree it has failed to regenerate the social state, the failure is due to man's resistance of its proper power. We note, too, the victories it has gained — the lessons God has made humanity to learn, by sharp expe- rience, of the consequences of its own self-willed pride and wickedness. And we may look with solemn awe for more such victories ; for I see not how, but by bitter experience of the legitimate 258 THE HISTORICAL DESTINATION fruits of overbearing and nullifying God's teach- ings and God's ordinances, the Gospel of Christ is, in the coming age, to subvert the Gospel of Mam- mon, or the constitution of the State to maintain itself against the spirit of self-willed democracy setting up the exclusive, and therefore necessa- rily licentious and anarchical notion of mere Eights as the standard of true Freedom, against the di- vine rational ideas of Duty and of Law. But in some way, through God's providence, I look forward to future triumphs of Christianity over the evil yet in the world — to future lessons learned, for the in- struction of humanity, and for rational creatures in other worlds. And if I cannot give utterance here to the ordinary strains of gratulation ; if I decline to ring the customary changes in laudation of the "spirit of the age" — ^which seems to me (much and for many years deeply pondering the history of the world) to be more a spirit of hard worldliness and intense worldly pride, less heroic, less reverent, less influenced by the enthusiasm of high spiritual ideas and unselfish interests, than in any former period of human history ; if I cannot draw bright auguries for the future, from the mere progress of material civilization, of knowledge and political liberty — I can point you to better grounds for re- OF THE HUMAN RACE. 259 pose and hope. The destinies of humanity are safe in the hands of God. It may be that Divine pre- dictions justify not only the belief in the universal spread of Christianity, (which we have seen his- torical causes make nearly sure,) but also those visions of a millennial perfection of society, with which the heart of humanity solaces itself — when darkness and evil shall be dispelled from the world, when violence and wrong, and want and wo shall be banished from the earth, and men and nations shall dwell together in brotherhood and peace. Let no man forbid the religious hope they inspire. Chris- tianity can effect this. Nothing else can. It may be God designs it shall. Let the heart of universal humanity lift up the prayer the world's Kestorer taught the human heart to pour forth to the Infi- nite Father of Love : Thy Icingdom come — thy will he done on earth as in heaven. And in the spirit of this prayer let e^ch one work through Ms work- day on the earth. As to the rest, let us ever con- sole ourselves with the fact that the destinies of humanity are safe in the hands of God. What- ever be the future fortunes of our country, or of the nations on the earth, the Infinite Father will gather all things together in one in Christ — both which are in heaven, and which are on earth. The final 260 DESTINATION OF THE HUMAN RACE. subjugation of Evil in the empire of God is sure. Evil will be destroyed by the all-converting, all-ab- sorbing power of Eternal Love. The destination of humanity shall be gloriously accomplished in a high eternal sphere. REMARKS 0^ MR. BANCROFT'S ORATIOI OlS HUMAN PROGRESS. REMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION ON HUMAN PROGRESS.* Mr. Bancroft's discourse is, in many respects, a beautiftil oratorical performance ; constructed with great artistic skill ; polished in style ; evinc- ing a fine scholarlike culture of fancy and of taste ; embodying many just, many striking, many beau- tiful thoughts in the choicest forms of expression. But considered as a philosophical treatment of the great subject it propounds, it seems to us inade- quate and insufficient. It does not strike one as the production of a great, clear, strong thinker, dealing in the might of his own original power with a problem which he thoroughly apprehends, know- ing exactly what he ought to mean and say, and * The Necessity, the Reality, and the Promise of the Progress of the Human Race. Oration before the New York Historical So- ciety, Nov. 20, 1854. 264 REMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION marching with a firm tread on solid ground from a well-defined starting point to a clear determinate conclusion. There is a want of grasp and precis- ion in the handling. There is a sort of vague hov- ering around an object dimly perceived. It seems like the work of a dealer in centos of striking thought diligently collected, of a weaver of beau- tiful sentences, a culler of dainty phrases, one who dallies fondly with words as if they were something fine in themselves. The theme is proposed ; the great divisions are marked off; the interspaces are filled with choice utterances, many of them true, but many of them, especially in the first di- vision of the discourse, not very clearly to the pur- pose, either as argument to prove, or as considera- tions to elucidate or confirm, the point on which they ought to bear ; exciting often your delight and admiration, but leaving at last no clear per- ception of any thing you have reached except the termination — a vague, fine, oratorical peroration. You feel as if you had been floating in a cloudland of shifting shapes and gorgeous hues, but where all is unsubstantial ; or looking through a kaleidoscope as from time to time it was turned round, disclos- ing infinitely diversified combinations of form and color, but without organic connection and signifi- ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 265 cance ; or contemplating an exquisite piece of Mo- saic work wherein are wrought a multitude of sep- arate figures, many of them individually beautiful, but having no unity, no expression as a whole. This, we confess, is rather an exaggerated way of expressing our feeling, but it does express the nature of our feeling of disappointment and dissat- isfaction. This elaborate performance is not such a contribution to historical philosophy as we had hoped to find it. Many profound truths are indeed enunciated or suggested, but the great problem it undertakes does not seem to us either adequately solved or even worthily conceived. We have read it again and again, and for the third and fourth time ; and each time the question has pressed on us — What does it all amount to .? What is its pith and substance ? How much and what is its clear significance and accomplishment ? And the answer we have been able to give comes to about this : Mr. Bancroft proposes to discuss three topics — the Necessity, the Eeality, and the Promise of the Progress of the Human Race. The nature of this progress is thus determined: — "The progress of man consists in this, that he himself arrives at the perception of truth/' 12 266 KEMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION The necessity of this progress is the first point. And out of all that is said under this head — in- cluding many striking and beautiful utterances, some of them true, some of them which we think not true — the following is the substance of every thing that has any bearing on the point, either in the way of argument or of elucidation and confir- mation : ' ' The necessity of the progress of the race follows from the fact, that the great Author of all life has left truth in its immutability to be observed, and has endowed man with the power of observation and generalization." It follows also from "contemplating society from the point of view of the unity of the universe " — which, so far as we can see his meaning and the nature of his argument in what is added, amounts to this : that the universe is God's creation, the reflection of His perfections, subject to perpetual change, because finite, and in its changes is governed by His provi- dence according to universal and absolute laws — the human race marching in accordance with the Divine will, and therefore there must be a progress of the race ; which progress, agreeably to what had before been laid down as to its nature, should con- sist in arri^ang at the perception of truth ; though, from what is said in this connection, that idea of ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 267 progress seems to be merged into a larger and more general notion not very precisely indicated. Then, under the second great division, the re- ality of human progress is shown ; in the first place by referring to the immense advances in sci- ence which have been made, especially within the last fifty years — in mineralogy, physiology, astron- omy, geology, chemistry ; in the next place, by re- citing a number of the wonderful applications of the agencies of nature, steam, electricity, light ; the extension of commercial relations and means of intercourse ; social ameliorations in regard par- ticularly to the position of woman, the dignity of labor and the abolition of servitude ; and lastly, by referring to the recognition among men of the Triune God, the Incarnation and Indwelling of Grod in humanity, and the benign and ennobling efi'ects that have flowed from the recognition of these great truths. Under the last division of the discourse — the promise of the future — the truth *^ that God has dwelt and dwells with humanity," is made " the perfect guarantee for its progress." And here the notion of progress is made to include not only the arriving at the perception of truth, but also all sorts of ameliorations, social and political, and the universal diffusion of them, especially the 268 REMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION blessings of personal liberty and republican govern- ment — all which effects are to come from " the more complete recognition of the reciprocal rela- tions of God and humanity," as constituting " the unity of the human race/' — although geographical science exploring the whole habitable globe, and col- onization and commerce filling it with civilized men ; and the press ; and free schools ; are to have also a powerful influence — whether indirectly, in promoting the recognition of this principle of the unity and what he calls the universality of the hu- man race, or directly, in promoting those ameliora- tions on distinct and independent grounds, or in both ways, does not clearly appear. This is the substance of the discourse, as nearly and as fairly as we can make it out. This is its whole jointing and articulation. As to the filling up, we will not say that it is altogether destitute of organic relation to the framework ; but it does seem to us that there are many draperies of fine thought and beautiful expression thrown over it, which have little living connection with it. But our chief dissatisfaction with this discourse is in regard to its most general spirit and purport. We give all honor to Mr. Bancroft, for his enuncia- tion of the great truth that the Providence of God ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 269 is the presiding genius of human history, and of the Incarnation of the Eternal Son of God, as the great central fact in the history of the world and of the universe ; and for the many profoundly true and beautiful things he has said in this relation. But notwithstanding its unspeakable superiority, as in many other respects, so especially in this, to most other performances of the class to which it belongs, yet it does belong essentially to a class of which we have more than enough : whose chief ef- fect is to minister to the pride and vanity of the present age, inflating men with a self-complacent sense of the wonders they have achieved, and mak- ing them feel that there can be no more glorious future for the world than in its being just what the world now is — only increasingly a great deal more so, by the intensification of the spirit of the pres- ent age, and by the enlargement of the sphere of its activities, discoveries, conquests, in the same direction in which it has been going on so magnifi- cently for the last fifty years. Seeing thus, in the future, nothing but the colossal reflection of its own image, the present age finds the contemplation as gratifying to its vainglorious conceit as the con- trast between the present and the past. The question concerning Human Progress, as it 270 REMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION seems to us, can have no value or importance in a philosophical view, and there can be no sound and salutary thinking in regard to it, unless the nature of that progress, in any desirable view of it, be rightly and worthily conceived ; unless man be re- garded in the highest attributes of his spiritual na- ture, and his development to the normal perfection of that nature be assumed as the great end for which he exists. Regarded in this point of view, the question concerning the progress of the human race, is the question whether, and how far it has advanced and will advance to a truly rational life, in individuals, in society, in states and nations, and in the community of nations. All other develop- ments of his faculties ; all other advancements, whether in civilization, wealth, science, knowledge ; all improvements in polity and social institutions, are subordinate to this end, and are of worth and importance as they conspire to this end. In this point of view, it must become apparent that the great aspects of human society — in com- munities, in states and nations, and in the brother- hood of nations — presents a picture in the highest degree irrational. Progress in civilization, in sci- ence and knowledge, in the subjugation of the tre- mendous forces of nature to man's earthly uses, has ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 27 1 not been a proportionable progress of humanity in true rational, moral and spiritual development. On the contrary, it has intensified some of the worst physical, social and moral evils which the aspect of society presents. The greater the development of civilization, the worse the moral aspects at the ex- tremities of the social scale ; the greater luxury and corruption at one end, and the greater misery and degradation at the other end : and throughout the whole scale the tendency to hard worldliness in place of true spiritual development. And by con- sequence, no highest intensification and world-wide spread of such a civilization in the future will carry humanity onward to a better state, to a nearer ap- proach to its true spiritual perfection. Equally evident is it, from the aspects of the present, that a more hopeful promise for the future is not to be found in the mere spread of intelligence ; nor in improved civil and political institutions ; nor even in Christianity itself considered as a creed, a code, and a worship. It is only in proportion as the moral spirit of Christianity becomes the actuating principle in the heart of humanity — in the histori- cal life of the world, in men and nations, in the state, and in the relations of states — that there can be any true progress of the human race in the 272 KEMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION Jine of its proper development. And this is what no mere moral influences can accomplish — not the moral influences of Christianity itself, however powerful and ennobling they are. Because moral influences are not an adequate cure for the corrup- tion of the human race. Only in Christianity, as a historical constitution embodying supernatural, divine efficacies, is this cure to be found, and a basis thus created for making its moral spirit a living principle in the heart of humanity. And here we touch upon a defect in Mr. Ban- croft's discourse which we greatly regret. He has left it too much to be inferred that the guaranty for the true progress of the human race is to be found in the mere moral effect of the recognition of the Incarnation as the mediation between God and mati, and as the centre of the unity of the race. We are sure he ought not to mean this, from the way in which he speaks of the ^' indwelling of God in man." He speaks of it not merely as a super- natural fact accomplished in the historical person of Christ, but as a perpetual fact in the human race, through the abiding of the paraclete and COMFORTER. Still he has not made clear the im- mense distinction between the moral influence of the doctrine of which he speaks, on the one hand, ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 273 and the supernatural, regenerating powers which that doctrine discloses, on the other. Whether or not, under the Providence and dis- ciplinary government of God, through the working of its supernatural efficacies and man^s concurrence therewith, the moral spirit of Christianity is ever to become the paramount actuating principle in the life of the world ; and thus humanity to attain here in this world its proper development in so- ciety, is a point which we have not room now to consider at that length without which we should not wish to speak at all. We cannot conclude without quoting one or two passages which we feel bound to subject to spe- cial criticism. The first is as follows : " The life of an individual is but a breath ; it comes forth like a flower, and fleeth like a shadow. Were no other progress, therefore, possible than that of the indi- vidual, one age would have little advantage over another. But as every man partakes of the same faculties, and is consubstantial with all, it follows that the race also has an existence of its own ; and this existence becomes richer, more varied, free and complete, as time advances. Com- mon Sense implies by its very name, that each individ- ual is to contribute some share towards the general intel- ligence. The many are wiser than the few ; the multi- tude than the philosopher ; the race than the individual ; and each siuxessive age than its predecessor.''^ (P. 10.) 1*2* 274 REMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION It is to tlie last two sentences, which we have distinguished by printing them in italics, that we wish to call attention. We have, in the first, a most UD common use of the term common sense. Common sense is commonly understood to refer to truths needing no proof or analysis, but immediately evident to all men, because all men's minds are so constituted as, under certain conditions, to be af- fected in the same way. But who ever heard be- fore of common sense as implying a mass of cogni- tions or convictions, brought together by an intel- lectual pic-nic process — one individual contributing one thing, and another another, each according to his several capacity and power, some discerning and contributing truths not discerned by the others ! This is a violation of the usage of language, both popular and philosophical, and a perversion of psy- chological fact. No individual can contribute any thing to the common sense of mankind ; and so far as there are truths, facts, doctrines, now generally accepted among men, which are not in themselves immediately evident to all alike, but which have been discovered and contributed by individuals, and received into the general belief, on grounds of evi- dence proper to each, they can in no just usage of language be spoken of as the common sense, or as ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 275 objects of the common sense of mankind. This is indeed merely a verbal matter, but still we think it best that the term in question should be used in the meaning it has always borne in general usage. But our special concern is with the next sen- tence : *^ The many are wiser than the few ; the multitude than the philosopher." This, we take leave to say, is, in any pertinent and reasonable view of the import of the language, sheer absurdity and untruth. It is one of that sort of utterances that always move our spleen — smart sayings, with a certain ringing tone in them, but as empty of truth as " the sounding brass and tinkling cymbal," are of " charity " — fine sentences, which when grasped and subjected to a searching inquest are obliged to collapse into drivelling platitudes, in or- der to save even the smallest fraction and semblance of meaning and truth. " The many wiser than the few ! " What does he mean 7 Wisdom is a rela- tive attribute when predicated of men. Some may have more of it, some less ; some a great deal, some very little, some possibly none at all, or so lit- tle as to be ranked as unwise or foolish men. Does Mr. Bancroft mean that the number of wise men is greater than the number of foolish men ? Perhaps it is. It is to be hoped it is. But that is not his 276 REMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION meaning ; it would reduce his sharp saying to a pointless platitude. What does he mean then ? Who are " the few " that he has in his mind ? Are they the comparatively ignorant and unculti- vated ? No. Are they the comparatively in- structed and cultivated ? Yes. And who are " the many " ? Are they the more instructed ? No. Are they the less instructed ? Yes. His utterance then resolves itself into the as- sertion that the ignorant many are wiser than the instructed few — which is either a flat contradiction or else a paradox. If taken as a contradiction, we need pursue the matter no further ; if taken as a paradoxical utterance of a truth, we deny that there is any truth in it. On what ground can the ignorance or unwisdom of the many be pronounced wiser than the wisdom of the few ? Is it that the less cultivated many are individually each wiser than any of the cultivated few ? No. Is it that the collective wisdom of the many is greater than the collective wisdom of the few ? That might be the case — provided, in the first place, that the de- cisions or conduct of a collective body could be wiser than the wisdom of the individuals composing it— a thing likely to be when the water of a stream can contrive to raise itself higher than its foun- ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 277 tain ; and provided, in the second place, that wis- dom were any thing to be measured by bulk or weight. Under these two conditions, but not oth erwise, this and the other utterances of this sen- tence — " the multitude wiser than the philosopher ; the race than the individual " — may come to have some meaning and truth, instead of being, what they now are, absurdly untrue. It may be thought, perhaps, that we are spend- ing too much time in harrying and worrying this poor sentence. We do not think so. It is a pointed utterance intended to pass for a striking truth. In our view it is not only untrue, but mis- chievous ; and we feel bound to expose its untruth and to counteract its pernicious practical tendency and effect. It belongs to a class of utterances, very frequent nowadays, which have no other effect than to minister to men's vanity and self-love, pride and lawless self-will. Coleridge has somewhere said something like this — that a half-truth is often- times the greatest of lies. We would say that lies which either contain a portion of truth, or the per- version of a truth, or which are practically made to pass for some great truth standing in their neigh- borhood, are the most pernicious of lies. Of this sort is the celebrated saying : ''The voice of the 278 REMARKS ON. MR. people is the voice of God/' True, it is so — when- ever the voice of the people is the echo of Grod's voice in man. And only then. In other words, it is not a universal truth. But proclaim it as such, and you proclaim a falsehood ; a most mischievous falsehood. Proclaim it without any qualification, on platforms, to excited crowds, and a thousand to one, it will be taken as an absolute truth, and as a perfect vindication for all that their excited pas- sions may prompt them to do. And thus taken, it may be rightfully pleaded as a divine sanction for all the crimes that have ever been committed under the impulse of popular frenzy, from the be- ginning of the world to the Crucifixion of the Son of God, and from that day to this. But Mr. Bancroft's assertion — that " the many are wiser than the few ; the multitude than the philosopher" — contains no truth, either absolute or contingent ; either universal or general ; either in principle or in fact. Undoubtedly there is a truth standing over against it — but not to be con- founded with it, nor made to sanction it — in the light of which indeed the untruth of his assertion may be more thoroughly discerned. Doubtless there is in the public mind an unreflected sense of w^ant and an instinctive impulse towards what is ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 279 expedient and wise in the social and political sphere. Doubtless, too, in the higher moral sphere, there are instinctive convictions and impulses in che heart and conscience of humanity, which — pre- judice and passion apart — prompt a consentaneous cry of the human race in behalf of justice and of right, whenever the chords to which they vibrate are rightly struck. And in either case, so far as the great multitudinous cry utters itself wisely and rightly, it is because it is in accordance with neces- sary principles divinely implanted in the universal human mind and heart — in " the few " as well as in " the many ; " in " the philosopher " as well as in " the multitude ; '* the only difference being that the former can interpret the principles which the latter only feel, and give clearer articulation to the cry which the latter less distinctly raise. It is an absurd and wicked thing to set the many and the few over against each other as naturally and always opposed. They may be opposed. And in any act- ual case of opposition, it is not to be absolutely assumed that the multitude are in the right and the few in the wrong, that the voice of the multi- tude is the utterance of the divinely implanted in- stincts of the race, the voice of the few a denial of them. It may be so ; but the odds are in favor of 280 REMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION the contrary presumption. The philosopher is sub- ject to the same instinctive impulses towards what is right and good as the multitude ; with better cultivated faculties of observation and reflection ; knows all they know, and more too ; and is no more subject to passion and prejudice than they. It is not absolutely certain he is in the right ; but there is a fair presumption of it. And this brings us out to the general conclusion we have to propound in regard to Mr. Bancroft's assertion. If made as an absolute assertion, we contradict it as false ; we say, the many are not wiser than the few ; the multitude than the philoso- pher. If made as one holding generally true, we not only contradict it, but we assert the contrary ; the few are wiser than the many ; the philosopher than the multitude. This is what should, in aU good reason, be the case. It is the case. And it furnishes the needful condition for the progress of the general mind, so far as progress in truth and wisdom are the result of the working of the reflec- tive faculties of man. The researches of the disci- plined and cultivated few become difiused as the intelligence of the many ; the discoveries of the philosopher as the enlightenment of the multitude. Such is the ordination of Providence. God has ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 281 appointed the few to be the guides of the many ; the philosopher to be the teacher of the multitude. Guides and teachers men must have and will fol- low ; and if they choose not to follow those of God's appointment, they will follow those of the Devil's ordaining. We give another passage immediately following the one upon which we have so long dwelt : " The social condition of a century, its faith, its insti- tutions, are analogous to its acquisitions. Neithej philos- ophy, nor government, nor political institutions, nor relig- ious knowledge, can remain much behind, or go much in advance, of the totality of contemporary intelligence. The age furnishes to the master-builder the materials with which he builds. The outbreak of a revolution is the pulsation of the time, healthy or spasmodic according to its harmony with the civilization from which it springs. Each new philosophical system is the heliograph of an evanescent condition of public thought. The state in which we are, is man's natural state at this moment ; but it neither should be nor can be his permanent state, for his existence is flowing on in eternal change, with nothing fixed but the certainty of change. Now, hy the necessity of the case, the movement of the human mind, taken collectively, is always towards something better.^'' Now this passage is an instance, among others we might cite, of what strikes us as a want of clear, 282 REMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION just, logically coherent thought. Amidst utter- ances plain and plainly true, are some we are com- pelled to pronounce untrue, or ohscure and doubt- ful. We have signalized, by our mode of printing, those which dissatisfy us. " The state i7i tvMch we are, is man's natural state at this moment.'' Assuming that something more is here intended than the identical proposi- tion that the state in which we now are, is the state in which we now are, what is intended to be understood ? What is meant by man's '^ natural " state in this connection ? Is it his normal state, his proper state, the state in which he should be, according to the idea of what is necessary or most fit and suitable to his nature ? Then we deny the assertion, whether as a principle applicable to every historical period, or as a fact alleged of the present. Or, by " natural state,'' is it intended to mean the state which is the natural result of foregoing causes ? If so, why not say so in unambiguous phrase ? We suppose this is probably what is meant, from something elsewhere subsequently said, namely, that ^ ^ the present state of the world is accepted by the wise and benevolent as the necessary and natural result of all its antecedents." This is a different proposition from the one in question. It ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 283 is clear enough in its meaning, and in a certain sense true enough. But to say that man's present state is his '^natural state/' is, in the first and most obvious meaning of the words, to say that it is the state necessary or most suitable to his nature — a proposition which, as we have before said, we deny. Again : we are told that " hy the necessity of the case, the movement of the human mind, taken collectively, is always towards something better" We suppose that by " movement " is here intended, not any instinctive impulse acting upon the human mind, and which must therefore be perpetually one and the same in its nature and direction, but an actual progress of the mind. We suppose so from what immediately precedes, and because it is the obvious proper meaning of the words. Now we do not see the necessity here alleged. It is undoubt- edly a necessity for every individual, and so for the human race taken collectively, that reason should conceive and conscience command them to become something better than they are in the moral and spiritual sphere. The desire for well-being in every sphere is also undoubtedly a necessary desire in human nature. But we do not see that this en- genders any necessity that the actual movement of 284 REMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION the human mind should be always toward some- thing better. And we deny that such is always the actual direction of human movement. Individuals, nations, the race, can go the road downward, as well as the road upward ; and at various periods have done so from age to age. Histoiy demon- strates this. For near two thousand years the movement of the collective human mind was ever towards something worse — such a progressive and accelerating degeneracy that at last the great bulk of the race — all but one family — had to be swept from the earth, and humanity made to begin again anew. Then followed another long period of more than two thousand years, during which humanity, starting from its new cradle in the East, unfolded itself again in manifold developments from its rude patriarchal condition. Families became tribes ; tribes nations ; states got organized ; industries became more diversified and improved by division of labor, thus ' producing interchange, commerce. Then came culture — science, art — first displaying itself in the infinite striving of the Oriental mind, embodying itself in vast transcendental myths, in huge, gigantic symbols ; then among the Greeks, as the sense of unity, proportion and the purely beautiful ; and lastly among the Komans, as the ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 285 most perfect organization of the ideas of right and law. All these developments, manifold and great. But what, after all — applying the highest rational standard, the only true criterion by which to esti- mate the progress of man — what was the progress of humanity during that long period .? It was a progress downward. It was a continual degener- acy. In the first place, in the spiritual sphere, it was the loss — the obscuration, corruption, and well- nigh total extinction, of the traditional light of the primitive revelation, the true knowledge of Grod. The struggle between pure monotheism and the idolatrous polytheistic corruption of it began almost immediately in the new cradle of the human race — resulting after eight hundred years in the com- plete victorious establishment of polytheism. The existence of monotheism may indeed be discerned for six hundred years more ; but from that time it was utterly driven out from the faith of all the great historical peoples of the earth, and survived nowhere except in some remote wilds and moun- tains of Asia and Europe. — In the second place, in the political and social sphere, it was the destruc- tion of the primitive patriarchal state, and the es- tablishment, in Asia, of the pure despotism that has existed there ever since, and in Europe, of a 286 REMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION pure democracy, giving way in turn to oligarchy and then to military despotism. — And finally, in the moral sphere, in practical life, it was a dete- rioration greater than which cannot well be con- ceived. No public and little private virtue. At the close of this period, the very culminating point of the ancient civilization, when the central- ization of the world under the imperial dominion of Eome was perfected, the human race had become more thoroughly corrupt than ever before — every- where unprincipled profligacy, beastly sensuality, filthy vices, unutterable abominations of every kind ; whereof St. PauFs description, at the opening of his Epistle to the Romans, is but a faint adumbra- tion compared with what may be gathered from the literature of that refined and polished age. Here was the progress of the human race, its spiritual, social, moral progress, for more than two thousand years ! Starting from the pure knowledge of the true Grod, from the simple government, the rude morals but comparative innocence, of the patriarchal state ; and ending in universal polytheistic idolatry, absolute despotism, and unparalleled social and moral degradation and vice. Yet we are told that " the movement of the human mind taken collect- ively, is always towards something better " ! ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 287 It may indeed be said that during this period humanity was being prepared, under the providence of God, for that grand intervention for its restora- tion which at the end of it was historically accom- plished in the Incarnation of the Son of God. No doubt it was so. Humanity had completely un- folded itself in all its natural faculties and powers, in every sphere — in science, art, laws, life. It had showed itself in its highest and brightest, as well as in its lowest and darkest aspects. And it had demonstrated its insufficiency for itself. It had given a full historical demonstration, on a world- wide stage, of its radical corruption, of its entire inability to raise, restore, and perfect itself Phi- losophers and lawgivers, sages and prophets, had risen, century after century, and labored in every way at the problem of elevating and perfecting the human race — and all in turn had failed. Then undoubtedly was " the fulness of time," the fitting occasion for the Divine intervention. But it can- not be said on this account, that "ihe movement of the human mind " during this period was " al- ways towards something better." It would be an abuse of language to use it in this way. You might as well say a long career of crime, termi- nating at length in the State Prison, was always a 288 KEMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION movement of a bad individual towards something better, because the discipline of punishment turned out to his eventual reformation ; or that a course of profligate intemperance, inducing at length frightful disease, was a constant progress of the profligate towards something better, because the wholesome dread of death led to a return to tem- perate and healthful habits. We have dwelt thus long and spoken thus strongly on this point, because we think the doc- trine untrue and practically mischievous. For the same reason we would signalize the following pas- sage, putting in italics the sentences we particu- larly question the truth of : " The course of civilization flows on like a mighty river through a boundless valley, calUng to the streams from every side to swell its current, which is always growing wider and deeper^ and clearer as it rolls along. Let us trust ourselves upon its bosom without fear, nay, rather with confidence and joy. Since the progress of the race appears to be the great purpose of Providence, it be- comes us all to venerate the future. We must be ready to sacrifice ourselves for the coming generation, as they in turn must live for their posterity. We are not to be disheart- ened that the intimate connection of humanity renders it impossible for any one portion of the civilized world to be much in advance of all the rest, nor to grieve because an unalterable condition of perfection can never be at- ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 289 tained. Every thing is in movement, and for the better j except only the fixed eternal law by which the necessity of change is established ; or rather except only God, who includes in himself all being, all truth, and all law. The subject of man's thoughts remains the same, but the sum of his acquisitions ever grows with time, so that his last system of philosophy is always the best, for it includes every one that went before. The last political state of the world likewise is ever more excellent than the old, for it presents in activity the entire inheritance of truth, fructified by the living and moving mind of a more enlightened generation,'''^ (P. 36.) Now here, as before, are some things true, some things which we cannot admit as true ; and the general drift any thing but sound and salutary. We are almost tempted to call it pernicious rigma- role. It is calculated to make men " accept the present state of the world " in a way that we re- gard as very detrimental to true progress. True progress begins in a sense of the need of reforma- tion. It begins in mankind, as in individuals, with repentance, and that begins in the sense of sinful- ness and evil. And the promise of it is hopeful in proportion as the sense of sin is pervading and deep. It is a poor thing, in our judgment, to tell mankind at this age, that they are going gloriously onward in a perpetual movement towards some- 13 290 KEMARKS ON MR. BANCROFT'S ORATION thing better ; which something, after all, as it is sure to be generally understood, is only the increase and expansion of what they now are. It just makes men satisfied with some of the worst characteris- tics of the age. We are probably in no danger of a return to the Atheistic materialism of the last century, still less to the Polytheistic idolatry of the Eoman world. Christianity is likely to be the prevailing, the popular, the fashionable religion, so far as a theoretic adoption of its formulas and a deferential recognition of its practical claims goes — provided they do not become too troublesome. The present age, above all others that have ever preceded it, is the AGE OF THE UNDERSTANDING — the faculty of adapting means to ends in the sphere of time and sense. Never, in all former ages together, has the understanding achieved such stupendous triumphs as in the last fifty years. And the end which all these achievements — discoveries, inventions, con- quests over nature — are made to serve : what are they ? Mainly, wealth and the multi23lication of the means and refinements of enjoyment or other material or worldly ends. The spirit of the pres- ent age is the spirit of the intensest worldliness and self-willed pride. It is not Atheistic like the ON HUMAN PROGRESS. 291 spirit of the last age. It is not Polytheistic. It believes in two Deities : God and Mammon. And never was the imperial government of Rome more obstinately determined on making the thousand gods of its conquered provinces dwell peaceably to- gether in the Pantheon, than the spirit of the present age is on reconciliDg the worship of God and Mammon. Mammon has the heart of the age ; and if God would be content with a temple (a fine one sometimes, when it gratifies the vanity of the builders,) with the bended knee, and with the ser- vice of the lip — on Sundays, — that would be an arrangement profoundly acceptable to the taste of the age ; provided also that God's temples may be torn down and the consecrated earth carted off to fill up lots with, whenever the age wishes to dig the deep foundations of some Mammon's temple on the sacred ground. PRESIDENT mmm and national comuption. THREE letters TO THE HON. JOSIAH QUINCY. PRESIDENT MAKINa AND NATIONAL COR- RUPTION. THREE LETTERS TO THE HON. JOSIAH QUINCY. LETTEE L—DEPAETUEE FEOM THE CONSTITUTION. My Dear Sir : In concluding to print some re- flections I had set down on the practical working of our political system in the matter of filling the office of President of the United States, it was natural for me to cast about for some one through whom I might address the public with better hope of gaining attention to my thoughts than my own humble and unknown name could warrant. Among all those whose names hold (and justly) an honored place in the regards of intelligent and good men, there is none stands higher than yours for pure patriotism and unsullied integrity, for every public 296 PKESIDENT MAKINa. and every private virtue, tlirougli a long life devoted in no inconsiderable degree to the public service. In availing myself of your frank and cordial permission to address these letters to you, I not only gratify long-cberisLed sentiments of respect and admiration, inspired by the principles and course of your public life, and of personal regard linked with the recollections of my youthful days, when I enjoyed the pleasure of your society and the benefits of your wisdom ; but I please myself with thinking there is a special fitness in placing myself under the patronage of your venerable name in putting forth the considerations I am about to present. I propose to point out evils and dangers which are in a great measure the result of departing from the provisions of the Constitution, and to consider whether any thing can be devised to remedy or to lessen them. You are one of the very few survivors, if not the last, among those statesmen whose youth was cradled and nurtured amid the men and princi- ples and sentiments that presided at the foundation of our government. You teU me, indeed, that " our country is ap- parently running a career in which Constitutional DEPARTURE FROM THE CONSTITUTION. 297 amendments, however wise, cannot be effected, and if effected would be of little avail." I agree with you in thinking there is little reason to expect de- sirable Constitutional amendments. I am quite clear the one I shall suggest runs very little chance of getting practically accomplished. That may be a sufficient reason for a wise statesman not under- taking to accomplish it, but no reason whatever for not entertaining the question, whether it would not be weU to adopt it. As to the other part of your remark, I hope to satisfy you, when you come to look at it, that if the change I venture to suggest were adopted, it would be of very considerable avail. Meantime, I am sure the discussion will have interest enough to secure your attention, and I hope that of other candid and thoughtful persons, even if it be regarded merely in the light of a politi- cal speculation, a disquisition on the science of Constitutional government. Truth is truth, in the political as in every other sphere, and ought to command, at least, the homage of respectful acknowledgment. Let it get that, and it may possibly, in time, win more. Any honest attempt to set it forth is entitled at least to kindly indul- gence. But the great purport and main substance of 13* 298 PRESIDENT MAKING. my labor is to call attention to undeniable facts which it is infinitely important for the welfare of the nation should be brought homo to the minds and hearts of the great mass of the people. The first condition of salvation is to understand and feel the evils and dangers that environ us. " To enlighten and difi'use sound principles among the multitude/' you tell me is, in your judgment, " the highest and most hopeful of benefit, of all the labors of patriotism." If " the few are lost to every thing but their own ambition, or their own interests, the many may be influenced." I thanlr you for think- ing I may in this way do some good. I shall therefore proceed first to show how the intention of the Constitution, so far as relates to the mode of choosing the President of the United States, is not only frustrated, but completely re- versed — what its provisions were intended to secure being done, is not done, and what they intended to prevent being done, is constantly done. It would be sufficient merely to advert to this if I were writ- ing only for you, and those who, like you, are familiar with the Constitution and its working. But there are great numbers who have never given particular attention to the matter. DEPARTURE FROM THE CONSTITUTION. 299 The Constitution commits the choice of Presi- dent neither to a popular vote, nor to the State Legislatures, nor to the Federal Legislature (except partially in a certain exigency), nor to any perma- nently existing body of functionaries ; but to a cer- tain number of electors temporarily appointed for this sole purpose. These electors emerging on a given day from the mass of the people, meeting, not in one grand Electoral College, but, in separate Colleges in their respective States, on the same day throughout the Union, cast their votes by ballot. This done, and the record dispatched to the seat of Government, their function is ended, and they are left to return again into the mass of the people as suddenly as they emerged. What is the object of these provisions ? Plainly this : on the one hand to avoid the evils and dan- gers of a popular election — the demoralizing influ- ences, the excitement and tumult, corruption, and violence to be apprehended from the struggles of rival candidates, rival combinations of partisan lead- ers, and conflicting parties and factions among the masses of the people ; and on the other hand, to guard, as far as possible, against the liabilities to intrigue, bargain, and corruption, incident to com- mitting the choice to a smaller body — and to do 300 PKESIDENT MAKING. this by securing the appointment of a considerable number of independent electors intellectually and morally competent to the high trust, and removed by the circumstances under which they act from the reach of temptations to abuse their trust. The provision under which the electors are to cast their votes not in one College, but in separate Colleges in each of the States, and on the same day through- out the Union, is specially intended to prevent intrigues and corrupt coalitions among the electors themselves, and to render it difficult, if not impos- sible, for ambitious candidates to exercise an im- proper influence over them. And if we consider the state of communication then existing, and, for aught that was then known, likely to continue — when steamers, railways, and electric telegraphs were things undreamed of by the wildest dreamers — ^it is not too much to say that the framers of our Constitution looked upon it as a thing next to impossible for ambitious aspirants to bring any or- ganized and effective scheme of corrupt influence, or influence of any kind, to bear upon the electors, dispersed as they were throughout the country. It is not too much to say that the purpose of these provisions went even to the extent of preventing the office of President from being a possible object DEPARTURE FROM THE CONSTITUTION. 301 of ambition, in the old original sense of the word, by putting it out of the power of candidates to get at and so to get around (ambire) the persons upon whom the choice devolved. It is undeniably the theory of our government that the people of the United States, in their sove- reign capacity, delegate the choice of President to the discretion of the electors — that the electors are to be held as fit persons to be intrusted with this discretion ; and that in their several Colleges they are to exercise the function of a free and independ- ent choice, subject only to the high moral responsi- bility of choosing the man they find best fitted for the office. This is the theory of the Constitution, lying on the very face of its provisions. That such was the intention of its framers, may be seen in the Feder- alist at large. And such has been the interpretation of its provisions by all the commentators since its adoption. " The theory of this mode of election," says Mr. Bayard, * ' evidently is that the people should dele- gate their right of choice to a select body of men in whose Judgment they could confide, and with whom it would rest to elect the persons in their opinion best qualified for the stations." * * Bayard on the Constitution, p. 102. 302 PRESIDENT MAKING. "It was found expedient/' says Mr. Kawle, " that the President should owe his election neither directly to the people, nor to the Legislatures of the States, yet that these Legislatures should create a select body, to be drawn from the people, who, in the most independent and unbiassed manner should elect the President It was supposed that the election would be committed to men not likely to be swayed by party or personal bias, who would act under no combination with others, and be subject neither to intimidation nor corruption." * To the same effect, Mr. Justice Story, who sums up the intentions of the framers of the Consti- tution and their arguments in favor of this mode of election, as drawn from the writings of Madison, Hamilton and Jay, in the Federalist. " It was thought," he says , " that the immediate election should be made by men the most capable of analyz- ing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation and a judicious combination of all the inducements which ought to govern their choice. A small number of persons, selected by their fellow-citizens from the general mass for this special object, would be most likely to possess the information and discernment, * Rawle, 52, 67. DEPARTURE FROM THE CONSTITUTION. 303 and independence essential to the proper discliarge of the duty." » It was thus intended that the President of the United States should owe his election to the free^ unbiassed suffrages of the electors, acting as the trusted representatives of the people ; that, in the circumstances under which they vote, as well as in the characters of the men, the people of the United States should have the strongest possible guaranties that the electors would cast their ballots under a full sense of their high moral responsibility to choose the best man they could elect, but subject to no other responsibility, and governed by no other influ- ence ; and also that in the person elected by the concurrent votes of such men, under such circum- stances, the people would have the strongest possi- ble guaranties for obtaining a President eminently qualified for the high office ; and finally, that by such a mode of election, the President, not owing his elevation to power to corrupt arts, would enter upon his duties, on the one hand, free from all temptations to a corrupt use of the patronage of his office — seeing he would have nobody to reward or punish for exertions for or against his election, and nobody to buy in order to secure his re-election ; * Story, Comment. III. 315. Federalist, No. 68. 304 PRESIDENT MAKING. and, on the other hand, equally unbound by po- litical pledges, and so left free to administer the- government, not in the interests or passions of a party or a section, but as President of the whole nation. Now, to those who are familiar with the actual working of our system, nothing more than this bare recital is necessary to show how entirely the inten- tion of the Constitution in this matter is overborne and nullified. Its provisions are in efiect complete- ly reversed in every particular. In point of fact, no discretion is allowed to the electors. " In no respect," says Mr. Kawle, " have the enlarged and profound views of those who framed the Constitution, or the expectations of the people when they adopted it, been so completely frustrated as in the practical operation of the system so far as relates to the independence of the electors They do not assemble in their respective States for a free exercise of their own judgments, but for the purpose of electing the particular candidate who happens to be preferred by the predominant politi- cal party which has chosen the electors. In some instances, the principles on which they are chosen are so far forgotten that the electors publicly pledge themselves to vote for a particular individual, and DEPARTUKE FROM THE CONSTITUTION. 305 thus the whole foundation of this elaborate system is destroyed." So wrote Mr. Kawle more than thirty years ago. What was the case then is more comj)letely and universally the case now ; if there were any in- stances in which electors exercised an independent discretion then, there are none now ; and whether they give public pledges or not, it is understood on all hands, both by themselves and those who vote for them, that they are all pledged to vote for a particular candidate — otherwise they would never be chosen ; and so completely is the intention of the Constitution subverted that an independent ex- ercise of discretion would be considered a dishon- orable breach of trust ; and thus (to speak in Hi- bernian fashion) the only alternative the electors have is not to be elected, unless they are willing to be parties and agents in doing what the Constitu- tion not only does not intend should be done, but what it positively intended should not be done. If they shrink from this, they cannot honorably permit themselves to be chosen electors. They must choose between a breach of trust to the Con- stitution and a breach of trust to their party ; and this is all the discretion left. The electors are thus wholly divested of their 306 PRESIDENT MAKING. constitutional character and functions. They are no longer a body of independent electors, but a mere board of registry, giving formal authentication to a popular vote. For the people, in point of fact, choose the President while nominally voting only for electors ; and in this view of the case the inten- tion of the Constitution is also completely frus- trated. It was no more intended that there should be a popular vote designating to the electors an individual to be chosen by them, than that the President should be directly chosen by a popular vote. Such a designation is not, indeed, expressly forbidden in the Constitution, but it is palpably contrary to the whole spirit and most positive inten- tion of its actual provisions ; and to suppose that any such designation, if made, would or should be of any binding force upon the electors, is to render the whole system of Electoral Colleges a needless device, a clumsy farce — making pretence of doing what was already in point of fact effectually done before, a farce which the sooner it were put an end to the better. We thus see that what the Constitution intend- ed should be done, is not done ; and what it in- tended should not be done, is constantly done. It intended the electors should choose the President, DEPARTURE FROM THE CONSTITUTION. 307 and they do not : it intended that the people should not choose him, and they do. This is notorious and undeniable. Nobody thinks of denying it, and hardly anybody thinks it any thing to be troubled about. Nay, there are those who justify it, on the ground that such is the WiU of the People, and that the people have a sovereign right to have their own will any way. Some say this because they do not know any bet- ter, and some in spite of knowing better. The for- mer are weak dupes of w^ords, whom the latter (sharp demagogues) make dupes of by the abuse of words. The former say it because they do not see — the latter in spite of seeing its futility and fallacy. For it is too clear to need be argued — it belongs to the very rudiments of the science of government — that the people may, if they choose, embody their sovereign will in a Constitution, and may delegate their sovereign right of choosing their Chief Magistrate to a body of independent electors if they see fit. The people of the United States have done so ; and so long as the Constitution stands, the sovereign will of the people is embodied there, out of the reach of the numerical majority of the peox)le. The present will of a numerical majority is not the sovereign will of the people. Bo long as the Constitution stands, it is the sov- 308 PEESIDENT MAKING. ereign will of the people that the people shall not choose their President by a popular vote. If the people do not like this, if they wish to choose their President by a popular vote, then in the exercise of their sovereign power they should alter the Con- stitution. They can then have what they want in a regular way, and far more perfectly than by the present system of perverting the Constitution, un- der which it may happen, and has happened, that the President is chosen neither by the suffrages of independent electors, as the Constitution intended, nor by the majority of the people, as these persons claim should be the case, but by a minority of them. But so long as the Constitution stands, its inten- tions should be carried out, not frustrated. There is no end of fervors of devotion to the Constitution, no end of loving jealousy for the preservation of its integrity, when sectional or party interests are to be secured by scrupulous adherence to it : it is then something altogether sacred and inviolable. But when the violation of it serves those interests, its plainest intentious may be violated, and the viola- tion justified by fallacious phrases which delude no- body but the unreflecting masses whom demagogues hold are made to be their dupes. I shall next consider the evils and dangers re- sulting from this departure from the Constitution. PRESIDENT MAKING. LETTER II.— EVIL CONSEQUENCES. My Deak Sir : The perversion of tlie intention of the Constitution wMcli we have considered might be thought not to matter much in a practical view, if only it worked well. But it does not work well. It works badly every way. It has made President making the chief politi- cal business of the nation. It has carried this bu- siness into Congress, into the State Legislatures, into aU State elections and all municipal elections, converting aU public offices and employments of nearly every sort and kind into means and instru- ments for carrying this business on ; in short, it has carried this business everywhere and into every thing ; and with pernicious influence everywhere and upon every thing — upon the legislative bodies — ^National and State ; upon all public functiona- 310 PRESIDENT MAKING. ries ; upon political parties ; upon the press ; upon the great mass of the people throughout the coun- try ; upon the candidates they vote for ; upon the man they choose, and upon the administration of the Government he takes in hand. An exact and complete analysis of the actual working of our system in all these particulars would put the truth of these assertions into clear and bold relief. But it would take volumes. I must con- tent myself with briefer indications. Our system has called into existence a race of men, the like of whom, on an equal scale, exists nowhere on the face of the earth — the race of poli- ticians, not in the old, better sense, the word by its origin was meant to bear — men versed in the prin- ciples which constitute the polity of nations and the science of right government ; nor men ambi- tious of the highest public trusts, because they are conscious of abilities to serve their country and of the impulse to do so, and whose motives, if not ab- solutely unselfish, have in them nothing sordid, nothing lower than the natural and respectable de- sire for honorable distinction in a high public ca- reer ; but, politicians in the low sense they have degraded the word to bear — ^political intriguers, sa- gacious demagogues, clever in electioneering arts, EVIL CONSEQUENCES. 311 cunning in contriving and skillful in managing the complicated macHnery by which the ballot-box may be made to serve their purposes. A most perni- cious race. The great curse of the nation. These men, acting on the well established un- derstanding that they who help make the President shall share in the patronage of his office, have taken possession of the country for carrying on the busi- ness of President making in the interests of the great parties to which they attach themselves for the furtherance of their own ends. Each of the great conflicting parties — always two, and sometimes more — ^puts forward its candi- date for the Presidency, nominated by a general convention of the party composed of delegates from every State, chosen for the purpose under the guid- ance of these poHtical managers, and in the choice of which, (as well as in the nomination of electors,) especially in the primary assemblies, the most re- spectable portion of the people have but little share and less influence. The nominations made, then begins the cam- paign, as it is significantly termed. The whole country is converted into a battle-field for the con- flict of rival parties contending in dual or in trian- gular warfare. The whole nation is involved in the 312 PRESIDENT MAKING. din and smoke of the hot contest. Nearly every thing is drawn into it and made to turn upon it — even to the filling of the pettiest municipal office in the smallest hamlet in the land. If any man in the United States wants a public office or employ- ment of any sort, under the Federal, or any State, or Municipal Government, he must enroll himself in the ranks of one or the other of these great parties, and make himself serviceable in proportion to the prize he seeks. He must work hard, and not be over scrupulous in his work. There is dirty work to be done ; but since there are tens of thousands whose ardent longings are fixed on offices or jobs, and among them thousands of men who are by no means of the most respectable sort, (or to say it clearly out, a multitude of needy, gree4y, unprin- cipled men,) so there is no lack of willing hands to do the work which the upper leaders see needful to be done but may not quite like to do themselves. So the contest goes on — with most admirable perfection of organization of every sort of influence — managing committees everywhere, general, state, county and town ; newspapers established, bought, subsidized ; pamphlets, speeches, and documents dispersed everywhere, printed paper enough to cover three or four-fold thick every square foot of land EVIL CONSEQUENCES. 313 throughout the country — in short, the whole mighty enginery of the press organized and set in motion, teeming with appeals to the ignorance, and prejudices, and passions of the people, stirring them up to the height of partisan excitement ; while, to intensify the excitement in the breasts of the masses, more apt to be stirred by the living voice than by the printed word, rival hosts of demagogue orators and smart stipendiary lecturers spread themselves over the length and breadth of the country, haranguing the people in aU sorts of assemblies, ward meetings, town meetings, county meetings and monster mass meetings where men are counted by acres and not by numbers. And probably there are more calcu- lated lies (to say nothing of a considerable amount of perjury and false swearing) perpetrated in the United States to serve the ends of parties during a " Presidential Campaign," than in all the rest of the world for any political purpose in a dozen years. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are moreover staked in bets upon the issue, putting into ener- getic activity thousands of unscrupulous agents moved by cupidity, or by the mere gambling spirit that seeks to win for the winning's sake. Then, to get at the baser sorts, whom the in- flammatory influence of the press or partisan speech- 14 • 314 PKESIDENT MAKING. making cannot make serviceable^ a host of stipen- diary tools, bought with money or with promises of offices or jobs, are everywhere zealously at work in all grog-shops and hells before the day, and at the polls on the great day of choosing the Presi- dential electors — venal buyers of venal votes at a dollar a head or more, as the case may be. Every- body knows, or has moral certainty of conviction, that immense sums are thus spent in buying votes, especially the votes of that admirable class of free voters, our adopted and recently imported citizens. An edifying spectacle of the working of democratic institutions, and of the sacred right of universal suffrage ! In the hot ferments of our Presidential elections all the social froth and scum of the nation are brought to the top of the seething cauldron. All the worst elements, the most disreputable members of society, the bankrupt in character and good name, blacklegs and blackguards, loom up into loathsome prominence and activity. Bullies and rowdies throng the voting places, making them scenes of drunken violence and vulgar brutalities, destroying the propriety and obstructing the business of the polls, disgusting the decent, and frightening the EVIL CONSEQUENCES, 315 feeble, the aged, and the timid, from the exercise of their rights and duties.^-' In short, looking at this whole party-managing, people-managing, press-using, vote-buying system, it is scarcely possible to imagine any thing more powerful to corrupt the public and private morals of a nation, to eat out of the heart of a people all reverence for law and justice, truth and righteous- ness — all sense of the sacredness of any thing in heaven or on earth. Meanwhile, as part and parcel, cause and effect of these processes of popular demoralization, the halls of Congress and of the State Legislatures are filled, not with the best, but with the most availa- ble men for party ends ; and we have caucus rec- ommendations, resolutions offered and speeches made, with a view to affect the issue of the Presi- dential contest — all this tending to lower the tone, impair the dignity and corrupt the integrity of our legislators, and to interfere with the proper legisla- tive business of the States and of the nation. If it were not for this business of President making, all the proper legislative business of the nation in Congress might be better done in half the time. * See at the end of this volume the development of an organ- ized system of violence and brutal outrage far surpassing any thing suggested above, brought to light since the above was written. 316 PRESIDENT MAKING. Then, too, the weight of Executive influence is generally thrown into the scale of one or the other of the great contending parties ; the whole vast army of official functionaries is put under the ne- cessity, willingly or unwillingly, of giving their votes, their influence, and a tax on their salaries to secure the victory of the favored party ; and ordi- narily the chances are ten to one in favor of the success of the party that can command the influ- ence of the Executive, with the Treasury at his back. We say ordinarily, for it is only in great exigencies which reach the universal pocket of the nation, or in the rarer cases when the sense of pub- lic interest and the sense of public right conspire to arouse the great heart and conscience of the na- tion, and to break down all old party lines and party disciplines — it is only in such great emergen- cies that the odds are not almost sure to the party in power. Meantime, what the influence of all this is upon the candidates for the Presidency it is easy to see. When the nominations for President were made in the great party conventions, the question was not about the best man for the office, but about the best man for party success. The candidate selected was obliged to stretch himself, or to contract him- EVIL CONSEQUENCES. 317 self upon the platform framed for him, and stands — lies we should say — before the country the candi- date of a party. The successful candidate in entering upon office has until lately found it proper to repudiate in de- cent formulas of phrase the notion of administer- ing the government merely as the chief of a party. It is not thought needful to make any such dis- claimer now. But whether he does or not, he en- ters upon office bound to administer the govern- ment in the interests of his party — pledged to re- ward the party leaders who placed hirn in power, and on whom he must depend for support, and so with every temptation to a corrupt use of the pow- er and patronage of his office. Claimants come clamoring thick around him. The eagles, and all obscene birds of prey — ^kites, hawks, and carrion crows — gather to the sharing of the spoils. Per- sons whom no honest man would like to shake hands with, or introduce to his wife and daughters, are received at the White House, and go out re- warded with public places. Men, whom in the neighborhood of their own homes nobody would trust, are put in offices of public trust. The de- mands of political parties allow but little scope for delicacies of private taste or scrupulous regards of any sort. 318 PRESIDEKT MAKING. But the worst effect of our system upon the re- lations of political parties to the administration of the Government remains to be noticed. In the theory of the working of constitutional governments, political parties have an important place. They may and should have a wholesome influence, as a means of maintaining the intergrity of the Constitution, the independence of its coor- dinate powers, and in protecting the country against abuses of Executive power. But under our actual system, these legitimate, conservative influences are nearly lost, and almost nothing is left but the evils necessarily incident to the existence of parties ; indeed, political parties have become a source of the greatest possible danger, through the natural disposition of the great mass of the members of the dominant party throughout the country to ac- quiesce in, to approve and sustain whatever is done by the man whom they have placed at the head of the nation. In their eyes he stands there the chief of their party ; that party is the majority of the people ; it is all right, in their notion, that their will should prevail. The President is the reflection of their will. They have triumphed in his election ; he is the eminent proclamation and embodied rep- resentation of their triumph ; and so what he wills EVIL CONSEQUENCES. 319 they are naturally predisposed to uphold— at all events, through the strictness of party discipline that has come to prevail and the interests of party managers and Government officials who share in the spoils of victory, the great hody of the rank and file of the triumphant party may he generally led to approve and sustain the course of Executive wiU. Thus supported by party majorities, with tre- mendous powers of corruption through the offices and jobs at his disposal, and thereby able to wield an immense influence in retaining and acquiring the support he may in any emergency need, what is to prevent his initiating and controlling the leg- islative business of the country, and so subverting the constitutional balance of power ? Is there no room to fear even for the integrity of the judicial ■ functions ? And what have we then — ^with all the forms of the Republic — what have we in effect but an Executive despotism ? It matters not in what way, however indirect, the legislation of a country comes to be controlled by the Executive power. It matters not in what way the Judiciary is made subservient. After the Book of Judges comes the Book of Kings, said that eccentric man, but sharp-sighted political seer, John Randolph of Roanoke. 320 PKESIDENT MAKING. We have already seen significant tokens of the tendency in this direction. " I am the State," said Louis XIV. " I am the People," said in efiect an iron-willed President in the name of the Democracy of whose will he proclaimed himself the represent- ative and embodied reflection. He shrank not from threatening the existence of the Senate as " a concession to the aristocratic principle/' and an ob- stacle to the free course of the popular will ; and at that day the suggestion was even made to sub- vert the independence, and thereby the constitu- tional existence, of the Federal Judiciary, by ren- dering the Judges removable at Executive pleas- ure. No attempt was made, that I am aware of, to carry these suggestions out. Perhaps they were only the passionate utterance of thwarted self-will. Perhaps it was concluded that the means already existing might be made sufficient for securing the objects of predominant parties. I mention them only as significant of the impulse lying in the na- ture of victorious party spirit, and of the tendency to the absorption of the powers of the State into the Supreme Executive. Since that time twenty years have passed away, and the tendency to the centralization of power has not diminished. It has gone on increasing. EVIL CONSEQUENCES. 321 The convenient words and phrases which mark the progress of things in this direction are familiar to all. There are some persons who profess a great contempt for words : they go for things. Eight, undouhtedly, if only they do not fall into the mis- take of converting a partial and conditional truth into a universal and absolute one. For words are also things — and sometimes tremendous things. And political words and phrases are a surer index to the direction in which a nation's destiny is moving than unthinking persons dream. When the celebrated phrase, " to the victors belong the spoils," was first announced in application to our politics, it was thought the inauguration of a mon- strous doctrine, at variance with all constitutional principles of righteous administration. It has be- come now the settled doctrine and practice of all parties ; and thousands who shrank from defending it then, do not think it needs defending now. We have all become familiar with a mode of speaking which has of late come more and more to prevail — by which the Executive, under the terms, the Government, the Administration, is put into prominence and distinction above the co-ordinate powers of the State. The policy, the plans, and even the personal wishes of the President in regard 14* 322 PRESIDENT MAKING. to legislative measures^ are spoken of as something that ought to have a prevailing influence upon the legislation of the country. And we have at length come to see the Executive, not merely submitting to Congress such recommendations as the Consti- tution makes it his right and duty to offer, not merely asking for such legislation as the discharge of his proper Executive functions may, in any case, make specially needful, but virtually initiating and pressing great legislative measures which are prop- erl)^ and exclusively within the sphere of the inde- pendent action of Congress, and with which he has rightfully nothing to do except in the sequel of their action. And we hear of the obligation to sustain the President in such cases as the para- mount obligation of the party in power. It is made the test of fealty to the party ; and fealty to the party is made the sole obligation of legislators — not fealty to the great political principles or measures that may be adopted by a party, and to which a candidate for a seat in Congress may be honorably called on to avow his fealty beforehand, and to make good his profession afterward ; but implicit, unqualified obedience to the behests of party discipline and .to the mere will of party lead- ers and their chief on all questions and under all circumstances. EVIL CONSEQUENCES. 323 " It will not do/' says one of the organs of the present Administration (I do not say an authorized exponent of the mind of the Executive), " it will not do for a man to say, ^ I differ from the Presi- dent on this single point/ It will not do to differ on that single point/' A hundred similar utter- ances of the press — pending the so-called Lecomp- ton struggle — might be adduced. The official or- gan itself (as it is termed) was not less strong to the same effect. It poured out reprobation and threats upon all recusants. And what is worst of all, on the floor of Congress, from the representa- tives of the people, speaking in their places, we have heard the same obligation of implicit sub- mission to the President's will openly proclaimed, and the presumption of legislators in claiming the right to distinguish between the President's right to recommend and his right to command, boldly de- nounced as " the language of rebellion ! "* Is not this atrocious .? Is it easy to imagine a greater outrage on the independence and dignity of the Na- tional Legislature, or a more destructive blow at the integrity of the Constitution and the balance of its great co-ordinate powers, than is contained * See report of debates in the House of Representatives, Fri- day, March 25, 1858. 324 PRESIDENT MAKING. in sucli an utterance ? It matters not to say it may have been a thoughtless exaggeration of phrase, not to be strictly construed as a deliberate assertion of the doctrine and duty of implicit sub- serviency to Executive dictation. It is any way an unqualified assertion of the doctrine. And when such a doctrine can be proclaimed in such a place, and the man that proclaims it, no matter how thoughtlessly, is not put down, or put out, by one immediate, spontaneous, simultaneous uprising of righteous displeasure — I have only to say it is to me a significant token of the centralized absolutism toward which we are tending. It marks off the measure of many a mile of national descent on the road downward since the days of Washington. It is meantime matter of universal belief that some of the most important legislative acts that have been passed within the last few years, have been passed under the pressure of Executive influ- ence. They have been urged as Administration measures, and it is a matter of common assertion, and of universal conviction, that the whole im- mense force of the Executive has been brought to bear upon their passage. Whether the charge of using the Executive patronage to corrupt the legis- lation of Congress be true or not ; whether it can EVIL CONSEQUENCES. 325 be established by legal and technical proof or not, I do not undertake to say. It is asserted on all hands. It is universally believed to be true. I do not suppose there is a man of any intelligence throughout the country that entertains the slight- est moral doubt on the matter. Pending the pas- sage of the bill for the admission of Kansas into the Union under the Lecompton Constitution, the corrupt influence of the Executive was everywhere talked of — not only by the opponents of the meas- ure, as a thing to be feared, but by those who fa- vored it as the ground of their hopes ; and the fact of its exertion was admitted on all hands. And worst of all is the fact that so many seem to think this all a matter of course — that things, which in the days of Washington would have been looked upon with horror, are now regarded with comparative unconcern, not merely by the great host of unprincipled politicians, for they do not care at all, but by the great mass of the people throughout the country. This is the worst feature of the case. Nothing so decisively and shockingly marks our national degeneracy, and the depths to which we have sunk, as the almost universal apa- thy with which things that nobody seriously de- fends, which everybody admits to be corrupt, fla- 326 PRESIDENT MAKING. gitious, and dangerous to the liberties of the coun- try, are acquiesced in as things of course-— things which may be lamented but cannot be prevented — things that must be let go on, each party making the most it can for itself in the corrupt scramble ; and, as for the country, why the country must not trouble itself too much about what cannot be helped. It is a great country. It will take a great deal of bad government to ruin it It will last some time yet. Its pockets are not much meddled with — certainly not in a direct way — it does not feel the draft made upon them. And meantime it has a great " manifest destiny " to fulfil. It will not do to be too scrupulous and squeamish. All governments are corrupt, especially all free govern- ments. Human nature is no better than it should be. What is the use of being always on the alarm ? Laissez aller : let things go, and keep out of the way. Well, if nine-tenths of the politicians, and of the people too, talk in this way, I do not know that there is much use in saying any thing ; only he who blows the warning blast has case of conscience, whatever betides. I have thus sketched what seem to me the per- EVIL CONSEQUENCES. 327 nicious influences of our system of President making upon the people, and upon all public func- tionaries, and its tendency to overthrow the Consti- tutional balance of power, and to consolidate a central absolutism supported by party majorities resting on a demoralized people — with all the forms of the republic serving only to hold the nation more inextricably entangled in the vast net-work of corrupt olBficials and political managers, spread- ing its infinite inevitable meshes outward from the centre all over the land. That such is the actual influence of our system, such the direction in which we are moving, and such the inevitable result of unchecked progress in this direction, is a truth to which, in my opinion, no wise statesman, no pro- found student of human nature and human history, can shut his eyes. And judging of the future by the past (which, though not an absolute canon of political prophecy, is yet, to- a certain extent, a sound one), and looking to the growth of the coun- try, and the constantly augmenting patronage of the Executive, what else can be expected but a constant and rapid increase of these evils and dan- gers ? A certain stage of degeneracy reached, the road downward is trodden with accelerated speed. I do not mean to maintain that our system of 328 PRESIDENT MAKING. President makiiig has been the sole and only cause of the corruption and degeneracy I have sketched. It is doubtless effect as well as cause. In all gov- ernments — and in free governments most of all — the tendency to corruption is such that no mode of constituting the Federal Executive could give us absolute exemption from such or similar evils and dangers. But our actual mode of doing it has furnished a special basis, supplied peculiar condi- tions, temptations, means and facilities for the growth and action of corruption, such as would not have existed if the intention of the Constitution in this matter had been strictly adhered to. Special causes may also have concurred to in- crease the corrupt working of our actual system. Chief among these is the institution of slavery, and the invincible determination of the slavehold- ing States to possess and control the Federal Gov- ernment for the defence and aggrandizement of that institution. Subordinating every thing else to this, and holding the balance between the great Northern parties, the policy of the Southern States has always been to make entire subserviency to the interests of slavery the price of that alliance, with- out which no party could come into power, to secure a President bound to do their wiU in the exercise EVIL CONSEQUENCES. 329 of his Executive functions, and through him to control also the action of Congress, always at least negatively through the veto power, by preventing any unsatisfactory legislation, and positively, also, so far as Executive influence can go to secure posi- tive legislation in the interests of slavery. With such a policy, it is not wonderful the Southern States have had the sagacity to see and the skill to avail themselves of the peculiar advantages our ac- tual system of President making affords for the fur- therance of their paramount object. PRESIDENT MAKING. LETTER III.— ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? My dear Sir : We have looked at the evils and dangers that environ us — ^where shall we look for remedies ? Upon what can we rely to check the progress of corruption and the downward course of national degeneracy ? Is it the intelligence and virtue of the great honest masses which make up the heart and con- science of the country? There is enough of it, no doubt — particularly *^ off the pavements," as an eminent statesman is wont to say — there is enough of it, if only it could have scope and sway. But how to get it to have scope and sway ? It is unable now to withstand the bad working of our political system. It is not ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 331 strong enough now to stem the tide of political .corruption. This we see. And how to make it stronger ? It is now the dupe of party managers — all the more serviceable because it serves their ends with a good conscience. This is a point greatly to be observed. The intelligence and virtue of the country — whatever it be — serves the ends of party managers all the more serviceably in propor- tion as it is duped into thinking them all right. Its very heart and conscience thus become an ele- ment of strength in the hands of party leaders ; and so the intelligence and virtue of the great hon- est masses — which certainly is their own individual salvation — does not become the source of a con- trolling public virtue for the political salvation of the country. Besides, nothing in the world tends so powerfully to a constant deterioration of the public morals of a nation as the corrupt working of political institutions. How to turn the tide ? The Press, is it said — the Free Press — the great palladium of a nation's liberties ? That is a fine formula. It has a grand sound. But I do not look for political regeneration from that quarter. The Press ! Why, how much of wholesome truth and sound doctrine do the people get from the party press — which is pretty nearly all the press there is, 332 PRESIDENT MAKING. SO far as the political education of the people is due to the press ? It feeds them on falsehoods and fallacies, morning, noon, and night. The only con- solation is that the more intelligent of the people have come to understand this, and to believe little or nothing merely because it is said by the party press. But these persons are an ineffectual minor- ity. As to the great masses, how is it ? One half of the press is the tool of one party ; the other half, of the other party. The great mass of one party scarcely read any thing said by the press of the other party, and believe nothing it says. They read their own party half of the press, and believe all it says. I look upon the political party press as it works with us, in spite of certain good uses it serves, as on the whole very injurious to the moral spirit of the nation. On neither hand does it, as a general thing, state facts truly, or favor or oppos^^ public men and measures fairly. But what is luorse still, on neither hand does it preach those great les- sons of political truth and political duty which ought to he preached to a free people, and which must in some ivay he effectually learned in order to prevent such a government as ours from hecoming the worst and most dangerous of all forms of gov- ernment. On the contrary, both sides of the party ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 333 press vie with each other in flattering and cajoling the people with watchwords and phrases addressed to their passions and prejudices, tending to beget in them an exaggerated sense of rights and a feeble sense of duties — to make them feel that the sover- eignty of the people is rightfully a sovereignty of mere will, that the right of the majority to have its own will and way at all events and in any way, is a sacred inviolable right which only aristocrats and tyrants can call in question, and to question which is a monstrous outrage on the principles of eternal justice. But an independent Press — it may be said — not in the interest of parties, a press that shall boldly and ably preach the principles of political truth and righteousness, state facts truly, canvass public men and measures fairly, and warn the peo- ple of the evils and dangers that surround us, and of the direction in which the nation is drifting on- ward ? Well, how is such a press to be had ? Who is to establish it ? Who to sustain it ? And what is to be its influence ? How is it to reach and dis- abuse the great masses of the people whose minds are abused by the party press ? It would have so many things to say unpalatable to the popular 334 PRESIDENT MAKING. taste. It would go hard for it to get the popular ear. It would have both sides of the party press against it. And as to the party in power, what would they care ? They would laugh at its preach- ings and denunciations of political corruption ; they would even hke them. It is a safety-valve in the State machinery under their control. Edmund Burke tells us that when Rome was in its most servile state, the destruction of tyrants was the common theme of boys in the schools. The ty- rants felt strong enough to let it go so. But Christianity — the influence of its spirit and principles ? Undoubtedly, if only they could permeate and actuate the political life of the country. But the Christianity of our country — that body of convic- tions and sentiments, observances and practices, which passes for Christianity among us — is for the most part made to run on at a safe distance from the political course of things, rarely coming into contact with it. It is graciously permitted, indeed, to subserve the ends of politicians by proclaiming the great doctrine and duty of " rendering to Caesar the things that are Caesar's." But if in any unlucky moment it is moved to condemn and denounce the conduct of parties and the action of Government, ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 335 it gets well snubbed for its pains, and is bidden to mind its own business and not to " meddle with politics " — above all, not to preach " sedition and rebellion ; " for law is law, and a very sacred thing it is ; and " the powers that be are ordained of God," and Christianity must be careful not to talk about any Higher Law than human law, and not to tell the people that there can be such a thing as an unjust law, or a corrupt judge, or an atrocious act of Government — at all events, it must be careful to say nothing of this sort in any case where the interests of slaveholding are in any way concerned. I for one do not expect political salvation from any such Christianity as we have now, or, for aught I see, are likely to have for some time to come. Indeed, were it ten times more disposed than it is to grapple with the political corruption of the na- tion, I should have little hope of its effecting much. He who runs a race with the Evil One, we are told, must needs have long legs. We have no reason to expect any miraculous lengthening of our Chris- tianity for such a race ; and its ordinary powers — what guaranty for their effectual competition in the future do we find in the past ? Besides, the Christianity of every country is practically what it is taken to be ; and the Chris- 336 PRESIDENT MAKING. tianity of our country is singularly unfitted for tlie race in question, from the fact that in its relations to public evils it has two faces, two voices, looks two ways, has two sets of legs, which run, or strive to run, in contrary directions, producing a dead lock, which gives the Evil One a clear field and an Basy triumph. A great " Revival of Religion,'' is said to have spread throughout the land. But, without intending any disrespect to it, I must say that I do not much expect it will make the religion of the country any more a Christianity with one face, and one voice, looking and running in one direction, or with any more powerful influence in arresting the progress of political corruption than heretofore. To what, then, are we to look ? If anywhere, we must, it seems to me, look mainly to political influences, to changes in the working of our politi- cal system — partly as they may be forced upon us by future exigencies in public affairs, and partly as they may result from social changes under the gradual operation of economical and other histori- cal causes. I say political influences, political changes — for no causes act more powerfully upon the political character of a nation than the working of its polit- ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 337 ical institutions. A practical departure from the intention of the Constitution, in the way we have seen, has been the great cause of the evils and dangers I have sketched ; and these evils and dan- gers, in their most peculiar and worst aspects, would in a great measure disappear, could the pro- visions of the Constitution be truly and thor- oughly established in practical operation through- out the country. But it is idle to expect the choice of President will now ever come to be made in strict conformity with the original intention of the Constitution. It may be thought equally idle to expect any determinate and very beneficial altera- tions in our system. Still, it is possible to suggest changes which it would be wise and salutary to adopt. Various suggestions have been made with a view to reduce the patronage of the President, and so, on the one hand, to diminish the means and temp- tations to a corrupt and dangerous use of official power, yet without taking from him those powers which must on all sound principles be vested in the Executive ; and, on the other hand, proportionably to diminish the demoralizing infl.uences of the Pres- idential elections. Of this sort is the election of Postmasters by 15 338 PRESIDENT MAKING. the people of the towns and districts where post- offices are established — the persons thus elected giving proper securities to the General Government, and held to proper responsibilities to it. Even the abolition of the Post Office system, as a department of the General Government, has been proposed — thus leaving the transmission of letters and other mail matter to the general laws of business. Either of these schemes is practicable ; the lat- ter is the preferable one. There is little room to doubt that private enterprise could accomplish as well and more cheaply what the General Govern- ment accomplishes through the Post Office Depart- ment. This Department is not now a necessity either for the Government or for the country, as it was once. The electric telegraph has already su- perseded its functions to an immense extent. A vast proportion of the commercial and other inter- course of the country is carried on by this means. This will be more and more the case. And what the telegraph cannot convey, the express companies can carry as well and as cheaply as the General Government — more so, in the opinion of the best judges. I have the authority of a late high public functionary (one of the best authorities in the coun- ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 339 try on such matters) for saying that the material interests of the country would not suffer but he benefited by the abolition of the Post Office De- partment. Soj too, the suggestion has been made to do away with our whole revenue system — leaving for- eign commerce free from all customs duties and imposts, and providing for the expenses of the Gov- ernment by direct taxation. This also is a practi- cable scheme. The collection of the taxes might be committed to the United States Marshals, who might employ the agency of the collectors of State taxes in their several districts, both taxes being collected at the same time. In this way, the ex- pense of collecting the revenue of the United States, which now amounts to seven per cent., would, in the opinion of the same eminent authori- ty before referred to, be reduced to one per cent. ; this, whether so or not, is, however, a point of com- paratively trifling importance. Whether these changes are likely to be adopted is not the question now. One thing is certain, that if adopted they would greatly diminish the means of corruption in the hands of the Executive. It ought to be expected, too, that the people would look more closely after the expenditure of the pub- 340 PRESIDENT MAKING. lie money — ^feeling it drawn directly from their pockets ; and that the appropriation of immense sums to be profligately wasted in extravagant pay- ment for jobs and contracts given in reward of the services of political managers, would not be tole- rated. This ought to be expected ; and would to a certain extent be the case, although the working of imiversal suffrage among the great masses who pay no taxes, suggests a doubt whether it would be so to the extent it ought to be. But at all events, a very large number of offices now in the President's gift — objects of greedy desire and strenuous scram- ble among the hordes of office-seekers — would cease to exist ; and the corrupting excitements of the Presidential elections would be correspondingly les- sened. Modifications of our political system, such as I have mentioned, may possibly be accomplished in the course of time, through the pressure of public exigencies in peculiar (perhaps disastrous) emer- gencies, or through the influence of economical and social changes, wrought out by the progress of sci- ence and the arts of life, and in their turn acting necessarily upon the administration of political af- fairs. ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 341 But there is one other suggestion still. Since it is precisely the popular election of the President which the Constitution was framed to prevent ; since the subversion of this intention is precisely the great and special source of national demorali- zation and danger — would it not be wise to adopt some method of filling the Executive office by which the intention of the Constitution in this respect shall be effectually accomplished ? I think so. I think a method may be devised perfectly practica- ble in itself, and wanting nothing but the will of the people to effect its accomplishment. This method may seem to run very little chance of ever getting practically accomplished through the will of the people : that may be a sufficient reason, as I have said, for a politic statesman not undertaking to accomplish it, but it is no reason whatever for sensible persons not entertaining the question whether it ought not to be accomplished, whether the people of the United States would not do well and wisely to adopt it. In case of vacancy in the Executive, suppose, then, that from the list of Senators of the United States, who have served one or two terms of office, one be taken by lot, under the direction of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and his Asso- 342 PRESIDENT MAKING. ciates, in such public manner and with such forms and modes of proceeding as may he fitly prescribed to give proper guaranty and authentication to the procedure. Let the person thus designated become President for four or for six years, upon taking the prescribed oath in the usual way. This mode of filling the office is simple, practi- cable and safe, and would, I am sure, work far bet- ter than our present mode. Objections to it may possibly be conceived : no human contrivance in the matter of government but is liable to them ; al- though for myself I am free to avow my inabihty to see any valid and sufficient objection, or indeed any objection at all, except the single suggestion that the person thus designated may possibly not be the best man on the list for President. But this is an objection which, in substance, holds against any possible or conceivable mode of filling the of- fice ; while, on the other hand, the mode I have suggested has many obvious and undeniable advan- tages above any other scheme. In the fiirst place, it would effectually accom- plish the intention of the Constitution in the par- ticular its framers had most at heart. It would prevent altogether what they especially designed to prevent — the evils and dangers, the turmoil and ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 343 demoralizing influences of a popular election, the corrupt intrigues of ambitious aspirants and party managers. Whatever of excitement would remain possible would be divided and locaKzed in the sev- eral States in the choice of Senators. The possi- bility that a man elected to the Senate might be- come President of the United States should, and doubtless would, be a reason, additional to those now operating, for choosing for Senators men of high character and eminent abilities for the public service ; while the chances of a Senator actually coming into the office of President — less than one in a hundred now, and diminished by every new admission of a State into the Union — would not be great enough, nor near enough, to supply much mo- tive for corrupt practices and a dangerous excite- ment. The mischievous business of President-mak- ing, as it is now carried on, would be destroyed. The occupation of the President -making politicians would be gone. The whole pernicious race would become extinct — to the great comfort of honest men, and the great welfare of the country. Then again : who can doubt we should be full as likely to get in general as good a man for Presi- dent as we get now. I am quite clear the odds are in favor of getting a better man. The time for 344 PRESIDENT MAKING. making our great men Presidents, under our pres- ent system/ is gone by. No truly great and emi- nent public man, as things now are, runs much chance. There is almost always something in their position and past career to make them " unavaila- ble " — that is the word — ^in the judgment of party managers. An available candidate is the one thing needful. And so it is found a necessary policy to nominate military heroes, successful generals, or even persons of small public mark and without positive quaUties, rather than great statesmen. A more biting piece of ironical sarcasm on the actual working of our system can scarcely be conceived than is contained in the language in which the framers of the Constitution gave expression to their elevated hopes on this point. "This process of election," says the Federalist, " affords a moral certainty that the ofiice of President will seldom fall to the lot of a man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of pop- ularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors of a single State. But it will require other talents and a different kind of merit to estab- lish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as will ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 345 be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States."* Shades of departed heroes, pa- triots and statesmen ! What a prophecy is this ! But then it is to be considered that Madison, and Hamilton, and Jay, when they indulged in this prophetic satisfaction, wrote under the delusive belief that the intention of the Constitution would be carried out, not frustrated ; that the President would be chosen by the concurrent votes of inde- pendent electors, casting their ballots under the sole responsibility of voting for the man they should find best fitted for the office, and that he would be a man commended to their choice by the sole fact of standing before the nation by general consent in the position of '^ pre-eminent ability and virtue/' I do not hesitate then to say that by the mode I have suggested, we should be likely to get at least as fit a man for President as we get now. He would be a man who had had experience of public affairs, had enjoyed the confidence of a sovereign State, and filled a position of the highest pubhc dignity and trust ; and he would be quite as likely to be a man of " pre-eminent abiUty and virtue," as * Federalist, No. 68. 346 PRESIDENT MAKING. any one we can ordinarily expect to have under our present system. Then^ too, he would have the advantage of com- ing into office unsullied by any complication with the corrupting processes of a popular election, ex- empt from all pledges or obligations to parties or persons, and from all such temptations to abuse his patronage, and free to administer the Government as President of the nation and not of a party. Abuse of power is still possible — power is never without temptations, and no man can be found not liable to falL But it is certain he would be com- pletely exempted from an immense amount of temp- tations to which the Executive is now subjected. And as to the still remaining possibilities of a cor- rupt use of his official powers during the term of his office for ends of personal ambition — if the sug- gestions already made in regard to diminishing the patronage of the office should be carried into effect, the means of corruption and the dangers of Execu- tive interference with the constitutional balance of the powers of the State, would be still further re- duced. But whether those suggestions, or either of them, were adopted, it would still be true to say — and a great thing to be able to say with truth — that he would be comparatively shielded from the ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 347 baser sort of motives, and environed by all the bet- ter and nobler motives of his position — the high be- hests of public duty, and the honorable ambition to deserve the approbation of his country and the ap- plauding verdict of impartial history. Then, again, it is not a small advantage that the legislative bodies of the nation would be pro- tected from many of the evil influences of our pres- ent system. They would have nothing to do with the business of President making. Its intense and corrupting excitements could find no entrance to warp the integrity, impair the dignity, and inter- fere with the proper functions of legislative assem- blies. And, finally, it seems to me an improvement would be wrought in the character and working of the great political parties. Their differences and conflicts would not be about President making — they would be less about persons and more about great public principles and measures. Party spirit, we might reasonably hope, would become less bit- ter, passionate and unscrupulous ; and the party press would reflect this improved tone — ^would be- come less pernicious and more salutary in its influ- ence on the public and private morals of the nation. The action of parties, in their relations to the Gen- 348 PKESIDENT MAKING. eral Grovernment and its administration, would be brought within its legitimate sphere, and would be more rational, conservative and beneficent upon the legislation of the country and upon the whole con- duct of public affairs. Such, it seems to me, would be the working of the plan suggested. It would be likely to give us a better government, a better administration of public affairs ; it would certainly prevent many of the worst evils and greatest dangers of our present system. " The mode of appointing the President," says Chancellor Kent, " presented one of the most difficult and momentous questions that could have occupied the deliberations of the assembly that framed the Constitution ; and if ever the tranquil- lity of this nation is to be disturbed, and its peace jeoparded by a struggle for power, it will be upon this very subject of the choice of President. This is the question that is to test the goodness and try the strength of the Constitution.'^* So said this wise man many years ago. It is a warning of prophetic apprehension which every year's experience of the effects of subverting the Constitution in this matter, and of inaugurating, in * Kent Comment. III., 263. ARE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 349 the worst form, tlie very system it was designed to prevent, serves only to enforce. And nothing ap- pears so necessary as the adoption of some mode of effectually accomplishing the intention of the Con- stitution by putting an end to the constantly recur- ring party struggles for the election of the Presi- dent of the United States. If this could be done, what limits can be as- signed to the safe and beneficent extension of the Union ? With a General Government truly Fed- eral, and not consolidated — leaving to the States all State sovereignties and State rights, and the control of all State interests, and acting only as the agent of each and all in all matters of common con- cern ; thus giving to each member of the Union the strength of the whole at home, and the power, dignity and importance of the whole, as toward all the rest of the world — ^what is there to render un- safe the widest possible expansion of the Union ? With such means of intercommunication and liv- ing connection as steam and electricity now supply, what is there to prevent a Federal Union of sover- eign States throughout this whole Western hemi- sphere ? If ever, indeed, the vision of a politi- cal millennium shall be realized, it seems to me the problem will be solved by three words : Free 350 PRESIDENT MAKING. Trade, State Eights, and a Federal Union of the World ! I conclude by again desiring it to be considered that the question is not whether the scheme sug- gested has any chance of getting practically real- ized, but whether it is not one that ought to be adopted ; one which the people of the United States would do well and wisely to adopt. Under the operation of the causes that are now at work, we cannot stand where we are. The act- ual working of our political system is more demor- alizing than that of any other government upon the face of the earth. I believe so, and therefore I say so. I think we have seen that it is so ; and there is reason why it should be so. It acts directly upon the great masses more than that of any other government. The imperial despotism of France, or of Russia, for instance, does not tend to corrupt the people like our system — for the reason that there are properly no politics there as with us ; the great officers of state may be corrupt and practice stupendous corruptions, but the great masses of the people have very little to do with the government, except to be governed by it. They are deprived of political rights ; they pay taxes which they have no AKE THERE ANY REMEDIES ? 351 voice in imposing. This is bad, no doubt. I do not advocate such a system ; but then it is unde- niably clear that they are not exposed to the temp- tations to political corruption, not subjected to the demoralizing influences which the possession of such rights would subject them to. But our Govern- ment comes into perpetual contact with the masses, touches them at all points, and reaches every indi- vidual. The people act upon the Government and are acted upon by it ; and the mutual action, we have seen, is corrupting — precisely through the immense scope and the immense temptations to corruption inevitably connected with the actual working of our political system. And things are going on from bad to worse ; and so I say we can- not stand where we are. Historical causes work slowly, but they work inevitably. If we do not get on better, we shall get on worse. Under the influ- ences that are now shaping our destiny, we may get on after a tolerable fashion for some time to come, but we shall not get on well. We are drifting toward the inevitable day of disaster upon the rocks of a lee shore. What will then be our fate ? Shall we then be able to wear off upon a safer tack, or shall the fragments of a shattered Union strew the shores of two oceans, a warning to the world 352 PRESIDENT MAKING. never again to dream the fond dream of a great and permanent Eepnblic, based upon democratic institutions and universal suffrage ? Who can un- roll the Book of Destiny, and tell us what is writ- ten there ? POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. An immense outcry has of late been raised against what is called " clerical meddling with pol- itics ; " and no end of exhortations addressed to the clergy about the duty of confining themselves to their proper work of " preaching Christ Crucified," " saving souls," and the like. Much that is said on this matter is in itself un- worthy of serious notice, and might be safely enough left to find its sufficient refutation in the good sense of the intelligent portion of the public. But experience proves what a power of pernicious influ- ence lies in pious phrases constantly addressed to the religious feelings and prejudices of the less cul- tivated classes — especially when these phrases are adroitly framed to combine the twofold fallacy of ,356 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. begging the very question in issue, and of throwing odium upon all who do not immediately succumb to their fallacious application. Besides, in these much-abused commonplaces, there is always a part of truth, to which the fallacy owes its delusive force, and which needs to be dis- tinguished and accepted, in order to destroy the mischievous effect of their fallacious application. There is a right, and there is a wrong, in the mat- ter, which are commonly confounded. Let us try to make the proper distinctions, and to get at the truth on this subject. It will probably be conceded that clergymen, being men and citizens, as well as clergymen, have a right to feel an interest in all measures involving the welfare and right government of their country, and to give private expression to their views on all proper occasions and in all proper ways. The only question is as to their public conduct, whether per- sonal or official. On the one hand, it must be admitted, that by becoming a clergyman, a person is not divested of his rights, nor absolved from his duties as a citizen, any more than from those of his social and domes- tic relations. — On the other hand, it is equally clear, that the special obligations of his profession POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 357 — the proprieties of his calling, and the preserva- tion of the peculiar influence of his office — impose limitations upon his public activity in political matters. Whatever personal part he may take in such matters, he must not forget his official charac- ter, and the duties it imposes. There are a great many things not improper in a layman which would be unbecoming in a clergyman. So every one feels. And it is for every clergyman a question of charity — and so of duty — as well as of prudence, in what way and to what extent he may allow himself to take part in political affairs, without violating the obligations or impairing the just influence of his office. To hold political office, or to put himself forward as a candidate for it, to take an active share in the business of organizing and managing parties, in the tactics by which the objects of indi- vidual ambition or the triumph of a party may be secured — in short, to " turn politician," in the just and ordinary meaning of the phrase, is as much at variance with the proper functions of the clerical office, as to turn stockjobber or innkeeper. If a clergyman's taste inclines this way, he must re- nounce his sacred calling, before engaging in these purely secular activities. But the important question is not so much 358 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. about the personal as about the official conduct of the clergy in regard to public affairs. It is on the relation of Politics and the Pulpit. It is what is called " Political Preaching," that is most com- monly and vehemently denounced as an unseemly " clerical meddling with politics." On this matter there is likewise a very preva- lent confusion of right and wrong. No universal proposition on the subject holds good. Not every thing which may be denounced as political preach- ing is to be justified, and not every thing so de- nounced is to be surrendered to condemnation. There may, undoubtedly, be a wrong sort of po- litical preaching, at variance with the proper func- tions of the pulpit. Matters simply and purely political or economical — questions on the organiza- tion of the public powers ; on points of constitu- tional law ; on trade, finance and revenue ; on the policy of protective duties or internal improve- ments, and the parties and party conflicts that may grow out of them — these, and such like matters, lying wholly within the domain of political expe- diency, have no proper place in the sacred desk. Preaching about such matters is political preach- ing in a justly reprehensible sense. We feel no call to defend it, or to apologize for it. We sur- POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 359 render it to all the odium any one may choose to heap upon it. But on the other hand, there is such a thing as political preaching — what is often so called — that ought not to be abandoned to the invidious appli- cation of the phrase. It is not political preaching in any justly odious sense. It is preaching Chris- tianity in its relations to the political life of the nation. It is enforcing the spirit and principles of the Christian religion in their necessary application to the duties of citizens and the conduct of public affairs. It does not meddle with political ques- tions which are purely and wholly such, and to which the principles and precepts of Christianity stand in no relation and have no application. It deals only with political questions which are at the same time religious and moral in themselves, or in their consequences, or to which, in themselves, or in the manner of their practical determination, the principles of religion and morals have a neces- sary application, and it treats all such questions only from the point of view of the Christian re- ligion. This sort of " political preaching" — ^if men will so call it — is not to be surrendered to condemna- tion. It is not at variance with the proper func- 360 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. tions of the pulpit. It belongs to them. We justify it. We vindicate its legitimate rights. Yet this is precisely the sort of preaching poli- ticians have raised the outcry against. The other and really indefensible sort — the discussion of purely secular topics in a purely secular spirit — is, in point of fact, a merely imaginary thing ; at least, we never heard of it as actually preached in any pul- pit. Be this as it may, it is not this that corrupt politicians stigmatize. It is the application of the principles of Christianity to the criticism of public affairs, it is the enforcement of men's Christian du- ties as citizens, that they wish to repress. They have spared no pains therefore to render it odious — by raising a hue and cry against it — a clamor of watchwords, some addressed to the pious sentiments of the religious, and some to the prejudices and passions of the profane. In this way a false and pernicious opinion has come quite widely to prevail, which the clergy themselves too generally give in to — some, because they are imposed upon by the fallacies it rests on ; some, from scruples about impairing their power to do good, by going counter to the current of opinion, even when they know it to be false ; some, from fear of incurring odium, or displeasing the laity in POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 361 whose pockets their livelihood lies ; and some, sim- ply because it is their nature to imbibe, without reflection, the opinions that pass current around them, according to what old Jeremy Taylor says : " It is the iniquity of men that they suck in opin- ion as the wild asses do the wind, without distin- guishing the wholesome from the corrupted air, and then live upon it at a venture/' We say false and pernicious opinion ; for noth- ing in the world can be less grounded in reason, or more mischievous in its influence, than the opinion which makes it odious for the Christian minister to preach the sort of political preaching we have sig- nalized as belonging to the functions of the pulpit, and which alone we are concerned to justify. What principle does this opinion go upon ? At bottom it can have no conceivable ground in reason, except this : that Christianity has absolutely noth- ing whatever in any way to do with politics — that the two things stand in no relations to each other. But is this doctrine true ? It is — provided there is nothing in the poHtical action of men and gov- ernments which falls within the sphere of morals : otherwise, not. To hear some men talk, one would imagine they believed politics and morals to be en- tirely out of each other's sphere, heterogenous even, 16 362 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. and falling within no common sphere ; and conse- quently that it is as absurd to apply the moral judgments of Christianity to the maxims and prac- tices of politicians and parties, and to the conduct of governments, as it would be to apply them to the quarrels of cats and dogs, the turnings and doublings of the fox, or the predatory forays of a commonwealth of ants into the enclosures of aphides belonging to a neighboring commonwealth. But talk as men may, they cannot look such a doctrine in the face, and stand up to the affirma- tion of it. Politics do fall within the sphere of morals, not wholly, indeed — for there are matters in politics which are morally indifferent — ^but to a great extent and in a multitude of particulars : and morality is ever the same in essence, its principles are identical in every variety of application. You cannot have two standards of morahty — one for public and political, and another for private and social life. Now we take for granted not only that the prin- ciples and precepts of Christianity embody an eth- ical code of the purest rational order, but that for the people of this country they are the supreme law of moral conduct, the paramount standard of moral judgment ; and therefore they have a legiti- POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 363 mate application to every particular of political ac- tion of which the ideas of right and wrong are pred- icable. This application it is the business and duty of the Christian clergy to make. It belongs to the very idea of their calling, that they should preach Christianity in its integrity and completeness. What else is their function ? For what else do they exist as a body of official persons ? They are bound to preach, in due proportion, all the princi- ples and precepts of Christianity in all their appli- cations — to the public no less than to the private conduct of the people, to the action of government no less than to that of individuals. Besides, in every free government, and in pro- portion as it is free, the welfare of the nation de- mands this enforcement of Christianity upon the people at large. In other governments it may be enough for the rulers to understand and feel the obligations Christianity imposes upon them as rulers ; the popular teachings of the pulpit may be safely enough limited to instructions in piety and private morals. But where democratic institutions and universal suffrage prevail, the people are the rulers. They have political rights ; and it is all- important they should understand and feel that 364 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. these rights are at the same time sacred duties, for the virtuous and faithful discharge of which they are responsible to their country and their Grod. The supreme power is in their hands, and it is infi- nitely important they should have a profound prac- tical conviction that the destiny of the nation de- pends on the way they exercise that power. A sovereign people may be the worst of all sovereigns. History has put on record at least one demonstra- tion of this truth, never through all time to be ef- faced. It is so trite a saying, that one is almost ashamed to repeat it — but it is so trite because it is so true — that the success of a popular govern- ment depends on the intelligence and virtue of the people. Coleridge would perhaps have tried to give emphatic point to it, by adding that it must be a virtuous intelligence and an intelligent virtue. But a mere unreflecting admission of this truth, in a bare theoretical way, is of no use. There are great moral lessons of political right and righteous- ness, which must be practically learned by the peo- ple, to be any effectual guaranty for the happiness of society, the success, safety, or permanent con- tinuance of a free government. It is infinitely important, therefore, in our coun- try, that the whole people should be instructed POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 365 and enlightened in all that regards the just exercise of their political rights. It is infinitely important that the sacred duties, and the immense responsi- bilities, inseparable from the possession of those rights, should be taught and practically enforced, from the highest moral and Christian point of view. Now how are the people to get this instruction ? It will not do to leave them to political dema- gogues. Where the people are the sovereign, dem- agogues wiU be the courtiers, and like all courtiers, will flatter and cajole, in order to lead and control. They will never preach to the people the limita- tions which moral duty imposes upon their sov- ereignty. Like Richelieu they will make the sov- ereign absolute — and with the same end in view. Nor will it do to leave the people to the influ- ence of the popular press. The Press — that which especially so calls itself — is mostly a party press ; but whether so or not, it never has so pressed, and never will so press upon the people, the high mo- tives of Christian obligation which ought to govern them in the exercise of their political rights and duties, as to leave nothing needful and important for the pulpit to do in this respect. We do not mean in any sweeping way to dis- parage or undervalue the press. It may always be 366 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. relied upon to expose and denounce political fraud and' corruption in the conduct of tlie party it op- poses. It has also, irrespective of party relations, often lifted up its voice against public injustice, wrong and crime, in such a right honest, earnest, true moral and Christian way, as to shame the si- lence or feeble voice of the pulpit. But it too often happens that the press is not on the side of moral right. It too often goes for the wrong, excusing or defending it, concealing or denying the truth and facts of the case, or pervert- ing and distorting them — covering up the real is- sues and making false ones — corrupting or perplex- ing the moral sense by special pleadings, and so deluding and misleading the people. But apart from any such direct and positive corrupting influ- ence, the press is too apt to preach to the people of their rights, without a corresponding eiifi^rce- ment of the duties that go ever inseparably with them, and thus to nurse the people in an exagger- ated sense of rights and a feeble sense of duties — than which nothing can in the long run be more pernicious and dangerous. But it is needless to urge this point further. It is enough to say that if the press contributed a great deal more than it does to the right moral POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 367 guidance of the people, the duty of the Christian clergy in the matter would not on that account be diminished ; whjle on the other hand, the undenia- bly defective and often pernicious influence of the press, renders the faithful discharge of their duty all the more important. And so there can be but one answer to the question, where should we look first and mainly for the people to get that instruction and admonition in political righteousness, which it is indispensably necessary they should have, in order to the safe working of democratic institutions. It is to the pulpit, whose very function it is to enforce moral- ity, the morality of the Christian religion — the highest and purest morality — in all its length and breadth and strictness. Besides, the opinion which would prohibit the pulpit from applying the principles and precepts of Christianity to politics, goes to the entire separa- tion of the political life of a nation from its moral and religious life — in any nation, that is, where the supreme power is in the body of the people — and the unity of a nation's life cannot, any more than that of an individual person, be thus divided with- out harm. This is not saying that civil govern- ments have their foundation, or their origin, in the 368 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. principles of religion or morals. We liold no suck doctrine. We might admit even what Macaulay says, that " there is no sense in which religion can » be said to be the basis of government, in which it ' is not also the basis of the practices of eating, drinking, and lighting fires in cold weather." This may be quite true. The inconveniences of anarchy, and the necessity of social order, may be a suffi- cient basis for government and for the maintenance of jural relations, quite distinct from the principles of religion, or even of morals. But what then ? Would it follow that the action of government — and in a democratic government, the political con- duct of the people — should not be regulated and controlled by religious or moral principles, in order to secure the very ends of expediency and advant- age for which governments exist ? Not at all. ^ The practices of eating, drinking, and lighting fires in cold weather — and a thousand other practices, \ alike morally indifferent in themselves — ^must be thus regulated and controlled, or the gravest mis- chiefs will ensue. Divide the unity of our na- tional life ; cut ofi" its politics from the permeating and actuating power of a pure moral and religious spirit ; and what is the consequence ? It is just a surrendering of the political life of the nation to POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 369 the Evil One ; and everybody knows what we mean, whether they believe in the existence of that per- sonage or not. Besides, in such a case, there cannot be, or will not long be, any true religious and moral life in the nation. To give up one-half of a nation's practi- cal life to the Devil, and yet save the other half to God, is a problem of impossible accomplishment. The upshot of the attempt to serve God and Mam- mon is that Mammon becomes the only God that is served : the service of the True God becomes inevitably an hypocrisy and a sham. And as to morals — there is nothing history more undeniably demonstrates, than that public corrup- tion, in a country like ours, sooner or later, eats out the very heart of the private morals of a na- tion. How long will truth and honor, virtue and justice, prevail in the private relations of a people politically unprincipled, corrupt and vicious ? There may always be righteous men — more or fewer -^ven in Sodom ; but no pure moral law can long be the actuating principle of the private life of the great masses, who profligately disregard the princi- ples of morality in their political conduct. A certain amount of thieves' law there may be — and must be, in order to hold society together — but no pure 16* 370 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. mojal law in the heart of the nation. And a fine spectacle of a people is that whose highest moral spirit finds its expression in policemen and other machineries for keeping rogues from damaging each other in a certain number of too severely inconven- ient ways ! So much in a general way. Let us now con- sider certain special objections. And first, it is asked : what is this mingling of religion and politics in the pulpit — this concession to the clergy of the politico-ethical instruction of the people — what is it but the union of Church and State, which all history proves to be so perni- cious 5ind dangerous ? Great is cant ! Wonderful is cant ! whether infidel or pious 1 There is, doubtless, such a thing as the union of Church and State. And it is, or may be, a very bad thing. In a monarchic, or oligarchic absolut- ism, where the State takes the Church into pay, gives it powers and controls the exercise of them, there Christianity may be corrupted into a tool of despotism for the enslaving of the people. So, too, in a government where the political power is vested in the Church, or controlled by the Church, there POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 371 will be a theocratic or sacerdotal absolutism — as dangerous as any, and possibly more pernicious than any other sort of absolutism. In either of these cases there is room for talking of the union of Church and State. But in the name of all that is sensible and to the purpose, what room is there for talking about Church and State, in a country where the Church is neither controlled by the State, nor possesses any of the powers of the State, nor any other power, except that of preaching — which it enjoys in com- mon with the press, with political orators, with stump-speakers, lecturers, and all other public talk- ers ? Would you take from the clergy the right of free speech, and leave it to all other pubhc talkers ? Why ? May they not be as safely trusted as the other talkers ? What power have they but to talk to such as choose to listen ? They can compel no- body to listen. They can compel nobody to believe what they say, or to act as they say. They may convince and persuade such as choose to be con- vinced and persuaded. What then ? "Why, priestcraft." Cant again — and with- out a grain of truth besides. It is not priestcraft ; it is nothing but influence — the legitimate influ- ence of free public talk. It is speechcraft, if you 372 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. please ; and by what right would you repress the speechcraft of the pulpit any more than that of the press, the rostrum, the stump, or any other form of free public speech ? Is it an influence to be dreaded any more than that of the other forms of free speech ? The clergy have no political offices, honors or emoluments to gain, as most other pubHc talkers have. It is utterly absurd, in a country like this, to imagine any combination among them, as a caste or order, to gain political power, or to wield a corrupt influence, dangerous to the liberties and welfare of the people. It is possible error may, in some individual instances, be preached — honestly or corruptly ; but that is no reason for repressing the free speech of the pulpit, any more than that of the press, the rostrum, or the stump. But on the whole, if there is any class of men in the country, likely to be disinterested preachers of salutary po- htical truth and righteousness, it is the Christian clergy. The fair presumption is that standing in the pulpit, with the responsibility of God's minis- ters upon them, they wILl honestly and rightly ap- ply and enforce the obligations of patriotism, jus- tice and love which Christianity imposes upon men's conduct as citizens ; and there is not a decently intelligent, honest and honorable infidel on the POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 373 globe, but will admit that so far as a people can be influenced to exercise their rights as citizens, under a true religious and Christian sense of those obli- gations, it is the best security in the world for the safe and happy working of democratic institutions. Away then with this cant and nonsense about sacerdotal power in a country like this ! It is time, indeed, that the mass of ignorant prejudices on the whole subject, in relation to the past, as well as to the present, should be exploded — that the whole people should learn what the learned already know well enough : that after all that is said and all that is true about priestly pan- dering to tyrannical power, there is another side of the story, and it still remains true, that the cause of freedom, human rights and true progress, owes more to the Christian clergy, all through the ages, than to any other single class. In the first ages they alone proclaimed the equal rights of all — denounced the sin of holding the members of Christ's Body in bondage— preached manumission as the most sacred duty of charity — sold the holy vessels of the churches to redeem the bondman from his chains, and incited the rich to a like sacrifice of wealth. During the stormy pe- riod of the Barbarian invasions, they were the pow- 37S^ POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. erful and only protectors of the poor against the rude conquerors, who came seizing both the soil and its tillers as their property. — In the Feudal ages, they alone proclaimed the equality and equal rights of men, and opened, in the bosom of the Church, a career for the talents and abilities of the lowliest born. The monasteries were Christian democracies, and though subsequently corrupted, yet for several centuries, in spite of the faults ne- cessarily incident to such institutions, they con- ferred immense benefits upon civilization — ras places of hospitality to the poor, of refuge for the weak against the strong, around which flourished a rich agriculture, and within which were preserved all the light and knowledge that were preserved amidst the darkness of those rude and violent times. — At a later day the clergy began and carried forward the Eeformation — translated the Bible for the people — combated the Papal power — and died at the stake for the cause of spiritual freedom. And from that day to this, throughout all Protestant Christendom, the cause of good learning and popular education lias owed to them — we will not say more than to all other classes together, but undeniably more to them than to any other single class. — And in all time to come, we may be sure of this : that no de- POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 375 mocracy will be reasonable, safe or endurable, ex- cept a Christian democracy ; and for that there must be a free Christian ministry. " Without the priesthood," says one of the most sharp thinking and strong speaking writers of the day, " there can be no freedom for the people. . . . Statesmen, who would keep the people fettered, find it necessary to keep the priesthood fettered also."* In democratic governments profligate politicians (and none but such) have an interest to fetter the freedom of the pulpit ; and as they cannot do it by political or legal power (like the statesmen in despotic govern- ments) they seek to do it by appealing to vulgar passion and prejudice, and stirring up popular odium ; and if the tyranny of false opinion is not enough, mobs and tar and feathers, or other less mild persuasives, are the not unfrequent resort. But to turn to objections which take more the form of pious concern for religion, and the just in- fluence of its ministers. There is one we notice first, because it purports to go against the principle on which we rest the justification of " political preaching," so far as we have undertaken to justify it. The objection is * Alton Locke, p. 362. 376 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. that the principle goes too far, includes too much ; since, on the ground of it, " ministers must concern themselves, as ministers, in all the arts and em- ployments of life, for there is nothing pertaining to humanity that has not more or less of a religious bearing."'^' These terms are not an exact expression of the principle in question. It is not merely as having " more or less of a religious bearing/' that we go for the right and duty of the preacher to preach about certain political matters. Our principle is a practical one, and one of degree, relating to ques- tions of right and wrong, affecting the character and destiny of the nation ; and it is not true that "all the arts and employments of life" come equally or fairly within its application. But no matter. Suppose they do : what then ? No mat- ter how far the principle goes — that is no valid objection to it, unless it goes to include the allow- ance of something confessedly objectionable. If a minister cannot rightly instruct his flock in their duties without " concerning himself, as a minister, in all the arts and employments of life" — why, then, in heaven's name, let him " concern himself" with them. That is what he is for. If he has a * Church Review, Oct., 1856. POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 377 congregation of swill-milk vendors, or cat-meat sausage makers, and cannot make them compre- hend the enormity of their traffic without going into a pulpit discussion of the whole science of milk, or meat, let him go into it. So with stock gam- bling, and the " tricks of trade," its immoral max- ims and sharp practices — why should the preacher hesitate to go into a special exposition of those " arts and employments of life," if it be necessary in order to awaken the consciences of thriving and " respectable " Christians addicted to them, or to warn and caution others ? And in fine, as to all the " arts and employments of life," however honest and honorable, what possible good reason can there be why the Christian preacher should not, in due proportion, specially " concern himself" with them, if thereby he can best strengthen his flock to resist the temptations, or to discharge the duties specially pertaining to them ? The principle we go upon is not then unsound. It does not go to justify any thing wrong or unfit. Ifc does not, therefore, go too far. But, they tell us, the Founder of Christianity has clearly marked the separation between the spir- itual and the temporal order, and the peculiar 378 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. province of His ministers, hy His saying : " My kingdom is not of this world.'' Eightly understood it is a weighty truth this saying declares. But what has it to do with the question in hand ? Though not of the world^ Christ's kingdom is in the world, is set up precisely to overthrow the kingdom of Evil in the world, to make all the kingdoms of the earth the kingdoms of God ; and a grand and solemn struggle between the kingdom of Grod and the kingdom of Evil, is the inmost sense of the world's whole history. The Founder Himself of this kingdom has bid us pray for its coming on the earth. To promote its tri- umph here is eminently the function of His minis- ters. A nice way of making it come, to surrender one-half the world's life to the dominion of politi- cians and the devil ! Political sins, wrongs, crimes — ^that is, sins perpetrated in the political sphere — are as much spiritual evils, and therefore fall as much within the province of the pulpit, as any other sins, wrongs and crimes. They belong to the kingdom of Evil, which the Christian preacher is to combat and subdue. "^A, hut the weapons of his warfare are not carnal hut spiritual ! " POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 379 The soft ineptitude and irrelevancy of this pious platitude would be simply amusing, if it were not vexatious to think there are human beings, with brains in their heads, so foolish as to utter it, and other human beings so foolish as to logk upon it as a respectable utterance, and so to make an answer needful. — Let us try then to answer them, " not according to their folly,'' though it may be logic thrown away. Is it, then, inept and irrelevant friends, a question about the sort of weapons, or about the use of them ? Granted that the Christian preach- er's weapons are not the bowie-knife, revolver. Sharpens rifle, howitzer, or any other form of " car- nal weapons,'' but only " the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God," — ^yet is not the ques- tion between us precisely this : what is he to strike at with that sword ? Is he to strike only at pri- vate and not at public sins ? Is he to hit away sharply at dancing, card playing, theatre and opera going, the Sunday fresh air recreations of poor ar- tisans and their children, pent up all the week in unwholesome places — and never to aim a single stroke at political corruption, fraud, crime, oppres- sion, cruelty ? To our poor notion, the preacher who, in a crisis of great national wickedness, when 380 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. judgment and mercy are crushed beneath the iron foot of power, does not rush to the rescue with strong arm and clear ringing shout for " God and the Eight/' must be either too foolish a person to be trusted with the sword of the Spirit, or else a recreant coward or traitor to his Lord. . Or do you (perhaps) mean by " spiritual weap- ons/' preaching against such sins as Sabbath-break- ing and the like, and by " carnal weapons," preach- ing against political sins — that the same sword of the Spirit, the same word of God, when directed against " worldly amusements,'' for instance, is a " spiritual weapon,'' but when directed against po- litical rascalities, national crimes, and the wicked- ness of the people who choose or sustain the public men that perpetrate such things, is a "carnal weapon ? " If this be your idea, then, sharp and clear-seeing friends, the distinction is too fine for us to see it. We can talk no further with you. . But Christ lias hid us " render unto Goesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Yes, and godly bishops of Christ's Church, when warning their clergy against " preaching pol- itics," quote this text. There is not, perhaps, in POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 381 the whole Bible, a text that has been so excessively ill-used. Our Lord evaded a direct answer to a malicious ensnaring question ; and because the question happened to have a political bearing, therefore his ministers are never to open their mouths to preach on any political subject — -exhort, rebuke, plead, warn, though humanity lies bleed- ing, and justice and mercy are perishing in the streets, and every impulse of love to God and love to man prompts them to lift up their voice ! A precious and noble specimen of logic and of feeling, of head and of heart ! Nor less remarkable is the perversion of our Lord's language. The meaning lying on the face of it is as clear as the sun. It embodies the sim- plest axiom of universal morals, old as the ages : suum cuique ; yet it has been a thousand times quoted to prove what it does not come within a thousand miles of touching. Because our Lord said Caesar is to have his own things and God His own things, does that prove that politics and relig- ion are to be kept entirely separate — that politics belong exclusively to Caesar, and neither God nor His ministers have a right to say a word about them ? That is a long logical leap ! We need not wonder that those who take it can jump fur- 382 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. ther still, and make the saying mean that Caasar's things are Caesar's, and God's things are Csesar's too, if Csesar choose to put his stamp upon them — at least, that God's ministers, in such a casCj must not say they are not. But to us it seems that there is a great deal in politics which belongs to God, and if not rendered to Him will be rendered to something worse than Caesar. Political righteousness — justice, mercy and truth in the administration of public affairs, are God's things. In a country like this, it is one of the things above all others to be rendered to God, that the people (who have the power) should put into and sustain in office only such men as will rule righteously. And it is the sacred duty of the Christian preacher to warn the people perpetually that if they do otherwise, disaster and evil will come upon them sooner or later — through the inev- itable operation of the laws that govern human history, and under which historical causes work out the destiny of nations. But St. Paul said lie " determined to know nothing hut Jesus Christ and Him crucified" and he is the model for the Christian minister. To be sure St. Paul did say so : look at the POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 383 place, and you will see he was set against recog- nizing any of those sectarian divisions that had sprung up among the Christians to whom he was writing. This is what he meant. If he had in- tended to say, in literal strictness, that he preached about nothing but the crucifixion of Christ, even in the largest view of that subject taken by the objectors, he would have told an untruth. For he did preach about a hundred other things — special points of morals, order and decorum, the dress and behavior of men and women, financial and econom- ical regulations, not forgetting also points of civil and political obligation. And in fine, if he had conducted according to the notion of those who •quote him, he would have preached Christ without a Christianity. So much for St. Paul's testimony against political preaching. But it is urged that the doctrine we lay down, by giving allowance to preaching on questions that may be in issue between political parties, goes to convert the pulpit into apolitical arena, and the clergy into political partisans. We deny this. Our doctrine forbids the minis- ter of religion to bring into the pulpit any political questions, except such as involve the sacred obliga- 384 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. tions of Christian duty ; and it requires him to treat all such questions not as a politician, but as God's minister — setting forth God's undeniable truth on the matter, regardless whether it teU for or against this party or that party. If he does any thing else than this, he does something out of our rubric ; we are not responsible for him. If he does only what our doctrine allows and enjoins, and does it in a right honest, earnest, religious, and true Christian way — as he may do and should do — he just does what is right, fitting, and his duty to do ; and it is a falsehood and an abuse of language to call him a political partisan, merely because the matter he speaks of may be in issue between conflicting par- ties. He may be called so, by those who know bet- ter, because the truth is distasteful or inconvenient. That is no reason for not doing his duty. He may perhaps be honestly mistaken for one, because he may, in the discharge of his duty, be obliged to take sides, or to seem to take sides, between the conflicting parties. That is something that cannot be helped. Time may correct the misconception ; most likely it will, in the long run, give him a chance to prove his impartial fidelity to God's truth, as against all parties. But if otherwise, it is not his fault, but the fault of the facts of the case. POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 385 All lie has to see to is to take the right side, to go for what is right and against what is wrong in the sight of the Most High. But it may be said, the preacher is liable to mistake the right side — blessing what God hath not blessed, and cursing tvhat God hath not cursed. This is possible. But there is an end of all preaching of every sort, if you insist on having none but infallible preachers. But the question of moral right and duty, it is suggested, may be far from clear : honest men may differ in opinion about it. That is possible too. But would you have no preaching on any subject until all doubt is removed, and all honest men see alike ? Kather, on the contrary, the more reason for discussing any great question of right and wrong, if it be one about which honest men really differ. In all other matters this is held to be the best way to clear up doubt, and bring honest men to be of one mind. But we are bid consider what a conflict of ora- cles toe inaugurate— pulpit against pulpit — preacher against 'preacher, one banning, another blessing, and both in the name of the Lord. 17 386 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. Well, that is possible ; but it is a liability that must be accepted as incident to all progress of truth. The minister of religion has nothing for it but to stand up for the cause of righteousness, as he in his best conscience understands it. Better earnest controversy out of love for the right cause, than dead silence when the interests of eternal jus- tice are at stake. But we are told the clergy themselves loill he in constant danger of falling under the influence of party spirit and preaching as mere political parti- sans. Granted the possibility again : but they are not to turn aside from the path of duty because of temptations in it. They must resist the tempta- tion. That is all. There is grace enough for every body to overcome temptation in the path of duty. But this sort of preaching, it is rejoined, tends to foment party animosity and strife among the people, to excite ilUwill to the minister j to impair his influence, and imperil his position. To this we have only to reply, that if the min- ister of religion preaches only God's truth and in the right way (and if he does not, he is not the POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 387 man we are defend^ing), such results, if they occur, are not any legitimate tendency of his preaching ; and he is not responsible for any tendency in men — whether bad men or good men — to pervert what is good. The worst evils come from abuse of the best things. Christ himself said the Grospel of Peace would be a sword and a strife. At the same time, it is true to say that the legitimate tendency of the preaching we uphold is to allay party spirit, to lead men to act in politics, as in other things, from a conscientious regard to duty and right ; and it is no more than a proper homage to truth and to God's ordination of things, to hope and to believe that it will, in the long run and in the large view, have its proper influence, rather than become the occasion of evil through perversion. But whether so or not, we are quite sure it makes no difference as to the Christian preacher's duty. He is God's minister, the prophet of God's truth ; and not the mere stipendiary agent of the people, employed to conduct the ceremonial of pubHc worship, with al- lowance to say in the pulpit only such things as suit the public taste. Those good people who are so bitter against what they call " preaching poli- tics," may well be reminded of a text some of them are very fond of quoting in reference to the faithful 388 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. preacliing of doctrines, not agreeable to " the car- nal heart," (as they phrase it,) namely, that the minister must " not shun to declare the whole counsel of God, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear." Whether this text applies to the great quinquaticular " doctrines of grace " or not, we are very clear it rightfully applies to the duty of enforcing the principles of Christian morals, and testifying against public wickedness and crime ; and if the Gospel preacher does this in a right earnest, loving, true Christian way, he need not disturb himself about the consequences, least of all, consequences personal to himself — ill-will, loss of place, or whatever else. It is God's affair to take order about those things. But lohy not let the minister limit himself to in- culcating the principles and precepts of Christianity in a general way, loithout going into particular ap- plications of them to the public questions of the day, about which men and parties are divided ? To which question we reply by another : why should he do this ? It is a crisis, we will say — a question of the tri- umph of right or wrong, of public righteousness, or public crime, of individual virtue or guilt, and of POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 389 national glory and welfare or disgrace and retribu- tion. That is the hypothesis. We have a right to make it. Let this be noted. It is the ground we take stand upon. Now in such a crisis, why should the Christian preacher limit himself to such generalities of Chris- tian inculcation ? Is there any good reason for it ? For, otherwise, one would say every thing right- headed and right-hearted in him, every respectable impulse of human nature, would bid him lift up his voice with most unmistakable specialty of ap- plication, and pour the red-hot Grod's word point- blank at the thing he meant to hit. Why, then, should he content himself with firing off great vollies of soft generalities, aimed nowhere in particular ? Is it to avoid the risk of occasioning increased dissension, or of incurring odium and loss of influ- ence, and the like ? This is mostly what is urged. We have already disposed of this. But we have now further to say that such a proceeding is as foolish as it is unworthy of God's prophet. The people will either see and feel the special applica- tion and force of the general inculcation, or they will not. If they do, nothing or next to nothing of the advantage looked for will be gained ; the ex- 390 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. citement and offence is likely to be quite as great. If they do not, the preaching does no good, cer- tainly not the intended good ; and can a more mean and contemptible spectacle be presented to the im- agination than God's prophet, in such a crisis, preaching generalities so general that the people cannot see and feel their point and force — cannot see what he is driving at. But whatever may be thought of him, his trumpet must either blow a blast of generalities too soft to arouse the slumber- ers to any definite comprehension of his purpose, and so be without effect, or else will be quite as likely to cause angry disturbance in the camp, as the most clear and piercing notes of alarm. But why then meddle at all with such subjects ? Why not let them altogether alone ? He loill thus avoid odium, preserve his official influence with men of all parties, and thus he better able to save their soids — which is his great business and proper work. This is very specious. It has a soft unction of piety about it. But soft-hearted friends, who talk thus, let us understand one another about this " saving of souls." For we, for our part, think there is scarcely any thing about which so much, and such pernicious cant and falsehood has been POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 391 said and sung, as about this same matter of saving the soul. Whatj then, do you mean by saving the soul ? Is it merely to escape a certain hot intolerable place when one dies, and to get into comfortable quarters in the other world ? This, we fear, is pretty nearly all that a great many understand by saving the soul. We will not stop now to suggest what a mean conception of the chief end of a rational creature this is ; nor further, that he who makes the saving of his soul his supreme end, will be sure to lose it ; nor, in fine, that, in a right just view, the soul is well saved only so far as it thinks more of doing its duty than of any thing it is to get in the way of payment, either in this world or in the world to come — all which things are perhaps dark to you, friends, who would have the minister let political topics alone, and stick to preaching the Gospel and saving souls. But this much we must insist upon : that the soul needs saving in this world, in order to get well- saved in the world to come, and that this needful salvation consists in something more than orthodox notions or devotional fervors — ^in truth, honesty and fair dealing, for instance. " Clear views of the 392 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. vital truths of the Gospel/' and *^ sweet commun- ion with God " — as some phrase it — are not all that is needful. Think of it : what sort of a saved soul is he who has " clear views of vital truth," and believes that "all is fair in horse trade" — ^holds " sweet communion with his Maker," and delights to come over a " knowing one," or to take a "green- horn'' in ; — ^is regular at family prayers, and cheats in weights and measures in his trade ; — carries round the plate at church, and swears falsely at the Custom House ? But consider,. friends, is he a better saved soul, however orthodox in the faith and devout in prayers, who beHeves that *' all is fair in politics " — cheats at elections, stuffs ballot-boxes, and swears to false returns, or connives at such things, hy sup- ■ porting the men that do them ? Such a soul, it seems to our poor judgment, cannot in any way be well-saved, either for this world or the next, until it leaves off such practices. Will subscribing to the Tract Society atone for subscribing to a corrup- tion fund ? Will sending the Gospel to the heathen be taken as an offset to sending armed ruffians to take possession of the polls, and keep honest voters from their right ? It seems to us the Gospel preacher should speak POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 393 plainly to his people about such things. They may be angry with him. So a congregation of swill- milk dealers^ or cat-meat sausage makers^ would most likely be angry at hearing their traffic de- nounced ; but should the Christian preacher on that account keep a hushed silence about their callings, and work away at saving their souls ? Why, he knows that God Himself cannot possibly save them unless they quit the swill-milk traffic or the cat-meat sausage line. Is it not altogether best for him plainly to tell them so ? In like sort it seems to us utterly absurd for the Christian preacher to keep silence about political sins, in order the better to save the souls of politi- cal sinners. And wrong, too : it ministers to a terrible delusion. He is bound to warn them that unless they leave off practising, or supporting the practice of political wickedness, neither God, nor any thing else in the universe, can possibly save their souls. Besides, saved souls are needed in this world — rightly saved souls, who make the precepts of the Gospel the rule of their conduct in all the relations of life — political as weU as social — who love their duty so well that they do not stop to think of pay- ment in another world, in order to find a motive for 17* 394 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. doing it in this. God has many present uses for such souls besides going to church and sacrament, praying in their families and in their closets, sub- scribing to the Tract Society, and the like ; among which uses we reckon eminently the standing up for truth and righteousness against fraud and cor- ruption, for justice and mercy against oppression and wrong in public conduct. And so, even sup- posing'a man, who is recreant to Christian princi- ples, may be a good enough Christian to escape un- comfortable quarters in another world, he will still be a very poor sort of Christian for some of the most important uses God has for Christians in this world. In fine, therefore, we do not see but the Chris- tian preacher, in order to " save souls " to any good purpose, either for this world or for the next must in due season and proportion, concern himself more or less directly with political matters, cannot let them altogether alone. But, it is still insisted, that if the minister preaches the Gospel, wins souls to Christ, makes men good Christians, there is no need of political preaching ; get the heart right and you have the sure aire for all political and social evils. POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 395 These are very respectable platitudes of phrase ; there would not be a word to say against them, if they were not used to beg the question. They im- ply the assumption that in a free country, where the people have political powers, rights, duties — where there are poHtical temptations, sins, evils — you can preach the Gospel, can win souls to Christ, can make men good Christians, without meddling in any special way with political subjects. Which is precisely what we deny. Besides, where does the principle go ? It precludes all other special preaching — makes it needless, if not improper, to preach particularly about any of the special temp- tations, sins, wrong practices, and evil customs of society ; and would make great placards of Chris- tian generalities pasted on the walls of churches, or in other public places, answer all the ends of the Christian pulpit— at a great saving of expense ! But not to urge this — remember that to get the heart right, you must get at it. How are you going to get at it, if it is environed and entrenched in habits and customs, maxims and practices which it does not see or feel to be wrong ? Even to reach the citadel, there are sometimes outworks which must first be carried. But whether so or not, there is a great deal of 396 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. political preaching, or of the proper substance of it, that must in some way be got into men's hearts in this country, before their hearts can be got en- tirely right, before you can make thoroughly good Christians of them. " Converting the heart," in the sense our obscurantist friends use the phrase, is not always of itself enough to make men good cit- izens. Our " converted " brethren are not, in point of fact, remarkably better models of political holi- ness, than other men. Our churches are full of "converted" men, who seem utterly unconscious of the wickedness of political fraud and corruption, unconscious of the sin of upholding it, and of the enormities of public crime, of which they are the actual upholders. Such men need a great deal more conversion before they can become really good citizens, or thoroughly good Christians. Men may be very good Christians in the main, and yet "^ery bad Christians in particular points. Good old John Newton, at one time of his life, on the coast of Africa, used to devote eight hours a day to sleep and meals, eight to reading the Bible and praying, and eight to fettering and stowing away poor negroes, captured in bloody wars excited by barrels of rum, paid by him to barbarous chiefs, — and never then, nor for some time after, felt any POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 397 contradiction between his prayers and his trade ! To some men Christianity is like a dark lantern ; it does not illuminate at once the whole sphere of their conscience : you must sometimes turn its •flashing light right upon the object you would make them see. Besides : if ever so much " won to Christ," ever so well '* converted/' men need to be kept from falling away — to be watched and strengthened by perpetual reiteration of instruction and warn- ing, as special as the ever-recurring temptations to which they are exposed ; wherein lies one great function of the Christian preacher. And so we conclude the Grospel cannot, in this country at least, be rightly preached, souls truly won to Christ, and men made really good Chris- tians, so as to accomplish the objects proposed by our objectors, namely, to make men good citizens, and so to put an end to political sins and evils — without a certain amount of duly- timed and judi- cious, in one word, good " political preaching." We beg it may be sharply noted that we go only for that which is good ; for however earnestly we defend the principle of political preaching, as a matter of right and of duty, yet we are as little in favor of foolish political as of any other foolish preaching. 398 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. But enough for objections. There is not one but is worthless or insufficient. We conclude by directing again a single mo- ment's more particular attention to the doctrine that would exclude from the pulpit all questions that may be in issue between conflicting parties ; for it is with reference to this point that the objec- tions to poHtical preaching have the greatest show of reason and force. Consider then the consequences of the doctrine. Where does it go ? It goes in principle to shut the mouths of the clergy on any, and so by conse- quence on every question of Christian morals, no matter how great or sacred. No matter what wicked ends are sought, nor by what wicked means, God's ministers must not say a word, if profligate politicians have made party questions of them. The African Slave Trade and Polygamy are as yet crimes in law as well as in morals, and no po- litical party has taken them under patronage ; it is admitted that they may therefore be now denounced in the pulpit. But let the legalization of these practices be attempted by any party, (and it would not be strange if the former measure should at no distant day be forced into issue,) and the voice of the pulpit must be hushed. We should then have POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. 399 Bishops charging their clergy to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to let political subjects alone ! But the mere theoretical reach of the principle apart, what is the necessary influence, on the popu- lar mind, of putting into vogue this notion that nothing must be said in the pulpit that touches on the conduct of political parties ? It goes to im- bue the great mass of the people with a feeling that politics is entitled to a certain immunity and exemption from moral criticism and moral respon- sibility — that crime ceases to be criminal, atrocities are no longer atrocious, if perpetrated in the inter- est of political parties. In short, the putting this notion into vogue is just one of the cunningest of all possible contrivances, to sell out and surrender the conscience of the nation to politicians and to the Devil. It has done more than almost any thing else to weaken and pervert the moral sense of the nation. The deteriorating process has been going on with prodigious rapidity within the last few years. One is astonished to look back over re- cent political conflicts, and observe the callous in- sensibility to moral considerations, the utter indif- ference to corruption, fraud, wrong, cruelty, and crime displayed by milKons of the people — mil- 400 POLITICS AND THE PULPIT. lions who think themselves, and are looked upon by others, as highly respectable, moral, and religious. This demoralization is likely to go on with increas- ing rapidity, unless some stronger influences can be brought to check its progress. This is the reason we have taken the subject up. It is infinitely important to the salvation of the nation that the pulpit should be free, that its voice should be heard — one great strong voice — against all public wickedness. If the clergy would unitedly speak out, continually enforcing upon the great mass of the people the tremendous responsi- bility that rests upon them, more than upon any other people on the globe, for the character of the government and the destiny of the nation, they might have an immense influence for good. If they do not thus speak out, we are not sure but they will have to give way to something better, or to something worse. APPENDIX. APPENDIX VIOLENCE AND ABUSE OF SUFFRAGE. Lest the statements made in several places in the fore- going volume — and particularly on pages 225 — 229 — ^re- specting the corrupt working and demoralizing influence of our political system, should be thought overcharged, and my expressions too unmeasured, I subjoin some ex- tracts from the New York Times. They are merely spe- cimens. I could fill a volume with undeniable facts of a similar kind, occurring in other parts of the country, es- pecially in New York and other great cities. As the information may be needful for readers in other countries, I may mention that the distinctive object of the so-called " American " party, is the exclusion of all except native-born Americans from the exercise of sufi'rage, and from the holding of public office. Also : that none but " naturalized " foreigners have the legal right of voting. 404 APPENDIX. This is the party in whose interest foreigners — and some of them unnaturalized — were captured, and caged, and beaten, and drugged, and driven to the polls by armed brutes and rufl&ans, as may be seen below ! A spectacle not only of unblushing disregard of all moral principles, but also of their own fundamental and proclaimed politi- cal principles ! A Baltimore correspondent of the New York Times, Jan. 18, 1860, says : A book, embracing nearly four hundred pages, in the form of testimony legally rendered and elicited, narrating incidents of fraud, violence, etc., at our recent State election in Baltimore, has just been published. It is designed to be offered to the State General Assembly as evidence, by Re- formers contesting their seats in that body, and will tell strongly against Hon. Henry Winter Davis and Hon. J. Morrison Harris, when called upon to defend the right to their seats in Congress. This is, perhaps, one of the rich- est productions of the present century. Never was more rascality and political knavery compressed within the same number of pages. It shows the election to hj^e been a monstrous fraud, effected through instrumentalities which should cast a blush upon the cheek of Satan himself I have never read its like before, and never expect to again. A full insight is given into the mystery of " cooping." Tbese details are in minuticB, and though blistering with shame, are so novel, so foul, so ridiculous withal, so funny, so graphic, that they would make a saint, however digni- fied and solemnized, burst into irresistible laughter. Mun- APPENDIX. 405 chausen sinks into insignificance compared with it. Cir- cumstances are told and sworn to which would make the quills start from the fretful porcupine. After perusing this document, it is easy to account for the sway rowdy- ism has had in our metropolis. From the volume above referred to, I give an extract or two, as taken from the Times : ELECTION FRAUDS REDUCED TO A SYSTEM VOTERS IN DURESS. The testimony taken in the investigation of the recent election frauds in Baltimore was laid before the Legisla- ture a few days since. It bears directly upon the case of the contested seats of members of the Legislature from Baltimore City, and develops a systematic plan of rascal- ity. "We copy from the Baltimore American : TESTIMONY OF PETER FITZPATKICK. This witness is an unnaturalized Irishman, who had lived 18 months in the city. Question. — Did you vote at the election on November 2, 1859, and if so, in what ward? Answer. — I was compelled to vote the American ticket in the Tenth ward. Question. — How many nights previous to the election did you spend in the Tenth ward ? Answer. — I was cooped there four nights and three days. Question. — ^Where and by whom were you cooped ? Answer. — It was between Baltimore and Fayette streets, on Holiday street, to the best of my knowledge, by this here party of " Ras Levy's " and " John English's " 406 APPENDIX. crowd ; I don't know many of them, but I know a few of them. Question. — State the circumstances of your being cooped and having voted ? Answer. — They took mc on Saturday night before the election, dealt me two blows with a billy on the head and two on the knees, to make me drink liquor; and after they compelled me to drink, they made me take oath on the Holy Evangelists I wouldn't tell any thing I saw down there after they let me out ; then they put me down in a big cellar, and put me through a hole in the wall into the next dwelling, which was unoccupied on the second story ; when I got in there, there were about fif- teen in there before me, and from fifteen, up to Wednes- day, the number increased, until, to the best of my knowl- edge, they had about eighty or ninety : and, on Wednes- day morning, they took us out six at a time, to vote the American ticket ; I told them I wasn't entitled to a vote, and they said if I wouldn't vote I should die ; there was a good many others that they served in the same way ; knocked them down with billies and slung shots, and took their money and their watches ; I am a good Reformer, and if I had not had a wife and two children, / would rather have died than have voted their American ticket / as soon as the polls were opened, they were looking out of the windows, and they fired on the Reformers, and af- ter the firing was over, they came up and took us out six at a time to vote ; after I had voted, and I was one of the first six that came out, one of them told me to go home — which I did ; in the afternoon I was taken sick and had to go to bed, and stayed there until next day ; I was wea- ried, and the kind of stuff they gave \is to eat and drink APPENDIX. 407 would have sickened a horse ; they brought up liquor hy the bucket fully and only gave us half enough to eat. A VICTIM OF THE " ROUGHSKINS." The evidence of J. Justus Ritzmin shows that this witness was also " cooped " and compelled to vote. He testifies : On Monday morning, about eight or nine o'clock, I was near the sugar-house, where I was at work, and had no work there to do ; I therefore went to the State to- bacco warehouse, and inquired of a German at work there whether I could get any work ; he pointed to a young man in the warehouse, and told me to apply to him ; con- sequently I went to him, and he engaged me to work there at $6 a week for the whole year ; I went to tvork, and at about eleven o'clock he told me that work would be stopped at four o'clock, and that we would go to another warehouse on the Point ; after a while he told me to come along with him, and that I might either put on my coat or leave it in the office ; three others and myself got into a boat, went over the dock, and then crossed over Union dock, and so went to the comer of Wilk and Caroline streets ; he stood there with us awhile, took me by the arm, and then led me and the two others into a house there to a bar, where we were treated ; while I was drinking, another man present in the house said to me, " As soon as the work here is done you can go back to the other warehouse ; " after a while our conductor came and led us through the back of the house into a court-yard, and then, apparently through one or two yards, until we came in front of a crowd of men, about five or six, armed with clubs, and guns, and other weapons, standing at a sort of 408 APPENDIX. entrance through the fence or partition between two houses ; immediately I was pushed from behind, and caught by the arm by one of the crowd, and dragged through the opening ; at the same time another German, not one who had accompanied us, was pushed through im- mediately behind me ; the conductor and the two others I saw no more ; after we had been got through the open- ing into the next house, as I have stated, another man came and led us into a little darh room^ where we were Jcept a few minutes ; while we were there, the man with me began to make a noise, trying to break the planks out, etc. ; immediately thereupon the door opened, and three or four men appeared, one of whom struck the poor fel- low on the head with a club, which felled him to the ground ; a second one raised an axe and struck at him through the doorway ; seeing the intention of the man, I pushed the door to, so as to intercept the blow, which fell upon the door, beat it back against my mouth, and hurt my lips severely ; the party then came in and searched us thoroughly, taking every thing of any value from us ; I had only a small pocket-knife, which they took ; my companion they made strip, and as he drew off his shoe his money fell out, a few quarters and some small money ; we were left locked in for a while ; then the captain of the coop came, opened the door, and led us down stairs to a small trap-door, which led to the cellar ; we were put down there, and as we were going down, I in front, my companion was pushed down violently, and falling against me, we both tumbled down into the cellar ; here we found ourselves in a dark hole, full of all sorts of men, with one solitary candle to give us light ; there I was kept until Tuesday afternoon, when the captain came down and selected the oldest of us ; I was called by APPENDIX. 409 name, and led up stairs to the second story, and put into a large room, which was also full of persons who were similarly cooped ; there I was kept until "Wednesday morn- ing, the day of the last election ; on Wednesday morning, after nine o'clock, we were brought out by threes and fours, and had tickets put into our hands ; I examined the tickets which were given me, and know they were " Amer- ican " tickets ; I recognized them by the names of the candidates, the black stripe down their length, the head of Washington at the top, and the extreme narrowness of the ticket ; three others and myself were brought out, and led by the rowdies holding us by the arm, up to the win- dow of the Second Ward polls, and voted ; we four then were put into a carriage, and driven around through the town, through streets which I did not know, to various polls, and we were voted five or six times ; we were then driven to the Holiday street polls, voted again, and then shut up in the coop there next to the polls, in the cellar ; we were then brought up into a room, and ordered by the captain of the coop to change clothes with some seven or eight other cooped individuals, which most of us did, but I retained my own clothes ; the captain changed clothes with a G-erman, taking a nice hat and black overcoat, in exchange for his cap and coat, which were of little value ; we were then voted again at these polls, and then we were led on foot to Baltimore street, where an omnibus awaited us, and we were packed in till it was full, and driven down to the coop-house at the Second ward again ; arrived there we voted again at the Second ward, and then we were driven around in the omnibus to various polls and voted some six times, until we came to a poll the other side of Ensor street, where there was a great crowd, hustling and pushing, screaming, etc., in spite of 18 410 APPENDIX. which we were led up by the arm, by the rowdies, through the crowd and compelled to vote ; I was let go for a mo- ment, while the rowdies who had held me joined in the hustling and pushing, and seeing the chance I dodged into the crowd and escaped to my home; I voted at least, in the various wards, sixteen times, compelled each time to give a different name ; none of the judges said any thing to me, or any of us, that I heard, except one judge at the polls near Ensor street, who asked me how long I had lived in the city ; I told him two years ; the rowdies behind me said to him, " All right ! all right ! " and the judge took the ticket without further question ; the treat- ment of some of those in the coop was disgusting and hor- rible in the extreme; 7nen were beaten, kicked and stamped in the face with heavy boots ; in the cellar of the Second ward there were about seventy or eighty persons locked up, not allowed to be absent for a moment to sat- isfy the wants of nature, and in the upper room of which I have spoken, as many more ; the three men who were with me voted, each of them, as often as I did. Question. — Give the names of any of the parties on the tickets which you voted ? Answer. — I read Harris on some of them, and Davis on some of them, and the name of Colson ; I do not re- member precisely ; and Whitney's name was also on them. Patrick Finnigan testified as follows : Question. — Where were you taken by the parties who cooped you ? Answer. — I could not say exactly, but it was in the neighborhood of Gay street. Question. — What did they then do with you ? Answer. — They took me down along Gay street to APPENDIX. 411 the double pump near Odd Fellows' Hall, and there I called out '* Watch; " a policeman came, and then they let me go ; I went round to the watch-house and told Captain Brashears all about it, and that the parties had pretended to arrest me for a murderer ; he told me to come down the next morning and see if I could recognize them and make a charge against them ; I then left the watch-house ; when I got outside I met two men, one of whom I knew, and they insisted on my going along with them, and took me down to Holliday street, between Fay- ette and Baltimore streets, put me in a room in " Has Levy's " house, and kept me there until the morning of election ; in two rooms there were about sixty or seventy other persons cooped; they heat me severely loith billies and espantoons, and I had the marks on my body for some two weeks ; on the morning of election, they took me out, right after the firing, and made me vote ; the man who held me did not want to let me go, but a gentleman came over, and insisted on my being let go, and so I was Question. — ^While you were in the coop, did you see John Hinesly there ? Answer. — I did; I saw him there on Saturday night, when I was taken in ; I then called to him by name, but he wouldn't say any thing to me, and then they beat me ; he went out for a little while, and came back afterwards ; I saw him in the coop afterwards ; I think it was Tues- day, or it may have been on Monday ; there were others cooped besides myself in the room when Hinesly was in there. The New York Times of Jan. 19, 1860, has the fol- lowing remarks upon the facts of which the foregoing are a sample : 412 APPENDIX. THE BEAUTIES OP BALTIMOEE VOTING. The authorities of Baltimore are now edifying their fellow-citizens and the world with an inquiry into the cir- cumstances which attended the late election in that city. The results already attained afford a curious commentary upon the indignation to which certain of the Baltimore partisan journals gave way on finding that the independ- ent Press of the country had ventured to question the propriety, decorum, and civilization, displayed by the Plug- Uglies, Awl Clubs and other agreeable associations of Baltimorean sovereigns, upon that occasion. The editor of the Baltimore Exchange^ as our readers will remember, was forced to defend himself from the assaults of some of these offended depositaries of political power, by a recourse to the " last argument of Kings," simply and solely because he had shown manliness in admitting, and good citizen- ship in denouncing, the outrages perpetrated at the polls upon unarmed voters. • The New York Times was in a like spirit set upon by some of its contemporaries for calling attention to the shame and peril of such occur- rences in a great American city. It now appears that the system of intimidation by personal violence has be- come thoroughly organized in the Monumental City; and that the excesses of Baltimore elections are not to be treated as mere sporadic cases of popular ebullition. The Jacobin Clubs of France were not more * thoroughly drilled in the art and mystery of harmonizing public opin- ion than are the so-called " Americans," of Baltimore. Several days before the late election, these indefatigable men were in the field. They scoured the city, as eagerly bent upon finding " foreigners," as any Dublin oysterman upon dredging for " natives." Irishmen, Germans, all APPENDIX. ' 413 who fell in their way, were harpooned, carried off to sub- terranean cells, locked up, compelled from time to time to drink great quantities of whiskey — reduced, in short, to a state of complete submission. When the day of election came, these captives were paraded openly in the streets, in custody of a guards with cocked revolvers, marched from poll to poll, forced to vote five or six times over, re- turned to their dungeons, beaten again, and finally released when the great issue had been decided, and the " unbought voice of freemen " had selected the officers by whom the laws of an American community were to be administered and its rights defended. All this took place in a wealthy city, in open day, under the eyes of an organized City Grovernment, and in defiance of every functionary known to the law. Is it not time for thinking men to ask themselves whether such things as these are the legitimate results of popular institutions? We talk about the subjects of Austrian despotism' with a large commiseration; but the peasant of the Tyrol or Steyermark is at least spared the degradation of being whipped into outraging the institu- tions under which he lives. If an irresponsible empire of sheer physical force is to be established in an Ameri- can city, it is, at least, worth thinking of whether it would not be better for all parties concerned that such an empire should be confided to the most enlightened, instead of the most brutal classes of the population. A man who is driven through the streets by an arbitrary master, is plainly a slave ; but a slave who moves at the point of le- gitimate bayonets is surely more respectable, in his own eyes, than a slave who is goaded onward bjRhe sharpened awls of a knot of vulgar desperadoes. The only parallels which can be found in recent times 414 APPENDIX. for such proceedings as these in Baltimore, must be looked for in some of the recent Parliamentary elections of Eng- land and Ireland. There, too, voters were seized in squads, drugged with beer, and driven in carriages, dumb and unresisting, to vote for whomsoever it pleased their captors to nominate. There, too, as in the case of Admi- ral Walters, at Cheltenham, voters suspected of inde- pendence were mobbed away from the polls, and the suf- frages of freemen secured with the club and the horse- whip. But there is this special feature in the Baltimorean outrages, that they were committed on a great scale, openly, avowedly, with the air of a chronic institution. Nor is this all. The inquiry which has brought these facts to light is, we believe, an inquiry simply into the legality of the elec- tion. It is not, so far as we know, proposed to base upon it any measures for the punishment or repression of these horrible disorders, unless a Metropolitan Police bill, in imitation of our own, may be so considered. But we think there can be no question in the mind of any man as to the necessity for some such action on the part of the Legislature as shall either deprive voting in Baltimore of its present sanguinary incidents — make it, in short, less terrible than actual service in the field against an invading army, or else relieve the poor, helpless, unoffending inhabitants from the duty of voting at all. It appears from the evi- dence before us, that a waiver of one's constitutional rights last fall did not furnish a peaceable Baltimorean with the least immunity from the horrors and dangers of election day. In vain he stayed at home and left politics to the rowdieHlnd blackguards. The rowdies and black- guards would not permit him to abdicate, and knocked and cuffed, and stabbed and shot him into the repeated ex- APPENDIX. 415 ercise of his privileges as a citizen. To those who went through this ordeal, the condition of a free negro, upon one day in the year at least, must seem positively envia- ble. "What a caricature upon " the nature and tendency " of free institutions, might be composed in a sketch of dis- franchised, despised Sambo, grinning in his morning lounge, at the spectacle of Anglo-Saxon sovereigns, dragged, bat- tered, bruised, bleeding, in the custody of a gang of armed criminals to deposit their votes — "Like snow-flakes on the silent sod," and thus' perform one of those functions which Sambo is taught that nobody but a white man can fulfil with credit ! Baltimore furnishes the world with one more splendid example of the beauties of the " Municipal system." She is overrun by organized bands of ruffians and convicts of the worst kind ; her elections are conducted under their auspices ; her citizens hold their lives and property at their mercy ; her streets are rendered dangerous night and day by their brawls ; but to compensate her for these evils, for the conversion of society itself into a curse and a peril, she has her Municipal system intact, and her Mayor and Common Council appoint the police force. THE END. ^6. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. RENEWALS ONLY— TEL. NO. 642^405 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. \nf ML ^fe 1 SEP 18 1969^ ^ J 1^ ^ ,1l o •■ /? ^ ,ai!«."™ir„ o-fj^^gK.,.