LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. & Received , 190 Accession No. 83458. Class No. ;T: ffl HE SCIENCE 3 3f. & OF SOCIOLOGY tp . er . NEVILL The Science of Sociology BY WALLACE B. NEVILL Published by the Author SAN FRANCISCO : WALTER N. BRUNT, PRINTER, 535-537 Clay Street. 1901. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1901, by Wallace E. Nevill, in the office of the librarian of Congress at Washington. All rights reserved. SYNOPSIS. PART I. CHAPTER I. Evolution Ancient Civilization Pagan Philoso- phers not Ignorant of Mechanical Arts Printing Pyramids Chinese Wall Locks Malleable Glass Wrought Iron Dentistry Astronomy, etc. CHAPTER II. Action and Re-action Philosophical and Scientific Classification and Analysis of Governments The Grand Point of Political Science The Ship of State The Body Politic All Governments Nec- essarily of "Mixed'* Character Aristocracy an Essential Principle, etc. CHAPTER III. Harmony A Political Concert American "Kings" and "Lords" Activities of an Exceptionally Gifted Minority Congenital and Social Inequal- ities Ambition-^Equali'ty Plausible but Unjust Abnormal Development of Aristocratic Prin- ciple, How Caused Etc. CHAPTER IV. Shall We Have Titles ? Character the Ground of Distinction The Power of Example, Both for Good and 111 Each man should Secure an Intro- duction to Himself "Self" Government, etc. 83458 PART II. CHAPTER V. "Chess Nuts," or the Science of Society Emblems Parables Chess a Model of Society Not Ideal but Actual Exhibits Human Nature as It Is Gentlemanly Instincts, Chivalry Slaves Make Tyrants Rather Than Tyrants Slaves "Pawns" are Rewarded King's Power Limited The Queen, Her Gracious Majesty The "Better Half" Heredity Education Chess and theKin- dergarten System Cramming Professor Experi- ence "White", "Black", "Red" Men Chinese Great Players and Don't You Forget It Insanity and Genius The Author Is Very Proud of His "Uncle Sam," etc. CHAPTER VI. The Material the "Men" are Made of ;< Wood", "Gold", "Brass", "Iron" Do They Move Voluntarily or are They Moved? Various Opinions Presented Socrates and Cicero The Vanity of Dogmatism An Eternal Imperishable Principle Governs the Entire Universe Nature Shall a Man Fight Against Himself? To Thine Own Self Be True And Is This America the Land of the "Free" etc. The Science of Sociology. PART I. CHAPTER I. Students of the evolution through which our system of gov- ernment is going have been giving much attention of late to the increasing power of the Senate The laws of evolu- tion apply to governments as to individuals, and when once a certain tendency of growth has been firmly set, the progress in that direction is apt to be rapid. The Call editorial, San Francisco, Feb. 21, 1901. Herbert Spencer says "EVOLUTION" is the universal law displayed alike in the devel- opment of a planet and of every seed which germinates upon its surface. Undoubtedly, every organism in all Nature, tree, plant, animal grows from its seed after its kind, through progressive stages, to< maturity and consequent perfection, unless there happens some unnatural or arbitrary interference with its unfoldment. Illustrations of this universal law this "metamorphosis" are Herbert Spencer. Shakespeare. Le Conte. Hume. found in every barn yard and in every gar- den, "EGG, LARVA, PUPA, IMAGO, FOR EXAMPLE/' In a plant we see the blade, the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear. In the "genus homo," we have first the infant "MULING AND PUKING IN THE NURSE'S ARMS," and then the "WHINING SCHOOLBOY/' etc., etc., and on up to manhood "HIS ACTS BEING SEVEN AGES." We must reflect, how- ever, that man individually, apparently, loses all he has gained, and lands at last "SANS EVERYTHING." Moreover, at times, "THE PROGRESS IN THAT DIREC- TION IS APT TO BE RAPID." Now "Evolution" is continuous progres- sive change from resident forces. IS SOCIETY AN ORGANISM? If the laws of evolution apply to govern- ments why have we not a perfect social state by this time? Why did Mr. Hume find it nec- essary to write an essay "THAT POLITICS MIGHT BE REDUCED TO A SCIENCE?'' Why does Mr. Mallock, in our own time, confess "WE HAVE NOT Mallock. ANY SCIENCE OF SOCIETY 7 '? What has "Evolution" been doing for the past two thousand years? Does it work for a little time and then go to sleep for a peri- od? If not, how does "YE EDITOR," who knows what "STUDENTS" have been doing of late, account for the "DARK AGES" following so closely upon the splen- did civilizations of Greece and Rome? If Society be an organism, and evolution the law, wherein can we trace continuous "PRO- GRESSIVE" CHANGE? Here are we, confronted with problems which have been discussed from every conceivable standpoint, by all the master minds back through the ages into the remotest antiquity, and now things are so fixed that "EVOLUTION" is going to do what they failed to accomplish!! ALFRED RUSSELL WALLACE actu- Wallace. ally gives us a list of the great inventions 8 and discoveries of the I9th Century, and claims that we have thereby,and therein,made more progress than in all the centuries pre- ceding put together. Whilst I confess a great admiration for Mr. Wallace, on account of his scientific researches and attainments, yet I fail to understand why his illuminated mind should be yet darkened with the vanity and conceit of twentieth century egotism. All scholars delight to drink at the fountains of learning and genius of men who lived thousands of years ago; and, if they are uni- versally admitted and admired as our precep- tors in philosophy, can we consistently think of them as having been ignorant of mechan- ical arts? I understand very well, it is not good to be like a man with his head fastened on his body the wrong way, so that, whilst he claims to be moving forward he is yet looking back- ward. Nevertheless, it is good at times, by retrospective glances, to stir up our pure minds by way of remembrance. In our zeal to let the dead past bury its dead, and in our altruism and sanguine hopefulness as to the future, it is well, also, to bear in mind the lessons of the past and the facts of the pres- ent. More especially helpful seems a little of this MENTAL PABULUM just now when all the world is bowing down to worship the NEW "GOD" OP "EVOLUTION." We have certain account of a library founded at Athens 500 years before the Christian era. In the burning of the Alex- andrian Library, 400,000 valuable books are said to have been lost. A second library hav- ing been formed from the remains of the first, at Alexandria, and reputed to have con- sisted of 700,000 volumes, was totally de- stroyed by the Saracens, who heated the water for their baths for six months, by burn- ing books instead of wood. "But" (says someone) "THESE WERE ONLY MANUSCRIPTS." If such were indeed the case, yet no one can read the 10 splendid fragments preserved to us from the majestic minds of antiquity, and fail to ap- Ciccro. preciate "THE GLORY AND THE GRAV- ITY OF THEIR GENIUS." The essential factor in the dissemination of knowledge in what we are pleased to call our progressive civilization, is the ART OF PRINTING. A moment's reflection will suffice to show the impossibility of believing that knowledge could ever have spread over the earth, or indeed any considerable portion of it, without the use of this art. It is true we have always been taught to think of the ancients as ignorant of it. On the one hand their writings are assiduously read and studied by those who realize their need of preceptors in universal philosophy; and on the other hand these same men are called "PAGANS" as though we sneered at their barbarism and ignorance. Yet no one is con- sidered a scholar, or learned, unless he has assimilated their w r isdom, with ability to make application of it to modern needs. II That the Ancients understood how to print symbolical figures and hieroglyphic charac- ters on bricks it is sense to admit, because evidences and demonstrations of such work are on exhibition in every museum in the world; but, in my opinion, it is NONSENSE to credit them with only that extent of know- ledge as to the art. Think, fo.r a moment, of the old Latin word "IMPREMERE," from which we have derived our word printing. Unless, forsooth, the meaning of the word has changed, the word impremere, descrip- tive of the art, act, or practice, of impressing characters or letters upon paper, cloth, or other material the word indicative of the process, is as old as the Latin language. Take our word "Phonograph," The inven- tion, and the word to describe it, are CO- TEMPORANEOUS. The word is the symbol of the idea of the thing, and as such word does not exist till the thing is made. Just how those old Latin people could use a word descriptive of a mechanical process if 12 that process were to them unknown, I am at a loss to understand. Moreover, it seems an impossibility to imagine how they ever could have attained the magnificence of their phil- osophy and their civilization without it. This reasoning does not detract one iota from the credit due to the modern discoverers, Pi Shing, Guthenberg, or Loorens Jansoon Coster. But it is well for us to bear in mind that a controversy has raged for four hun- dred years as to where, when, and by whom the art of printing was invented. Some "AUTHORITIES" have decided that Haar- lem was the cradle of printing; but this will not at all suit the compilers of the American Dictionary of printing, for they say "IF ofTinting'. HAARLEM WAS THE CRADLE OF PRINTING IT WAS A CRADLE FROM WHICH THE CHILD DISAPPEARED VERY EARLY." Moreover, the same au- thority proclaims that it is well known that printing existed in China for a number of centuries prior to the discovery of the art in 13 Plolland or Germany. Can one believe that the master minds of Greece and Rome were ignorant of an art which had been brought to perfection in China? Yet even if the Greeks and Romans knew not of it, the Chinese did, and hence this point having been scored for antiquity is a strong one against "evolution." Unless forsooth, "evo- lution" is made to include all of decay, cor- ruption, and death and loss as a part of its "PROGRESSIVE CHANGE." Besides, there is so much internal evidence scattered throughout the pages of the works of the Philosophers of Greece and Rome, that abundant material can readily be col- lected to establish the art of printing as cer- tainly known to them, because no explana- tion suggests itself more readily, nor does any other appear even as a reasonable hy- pothesis. For instance, in Plato-Parmenides we read "A LOVE OF CONTROVERSY Plato. LED ME TO WRITE THE BOOK IN THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH, AND 14 SOME ONE STOLE THE COPY, THEREFORE, I HAD NO CHOICE OF WHETHER IT SHOULD BE PUB- LISHED OR NOT." In a word, an enterprising printer pur- loined the manuscript and "published" it in book form, regardless of copyright. Plutarch. Plutarch tells of Alexander that he was naturally a great lover of all kinds of learning and reading. He constantly laid Homer's Iliad, according to the copy corrected by Ar- istotle called the "casket copy," with his dag- ger under his pillow, declaring that he es- teemed it a perfect portable treasure of all military virtue and knowledge. If the "stu- dent of evolution" will picture to himself the size of the Iliad in "MANUSCRIPT," he will naturally conclude such a large and bulky composition would not make a very comfortable foundation FOR A PILLOW. It is also stated in another place of this same Alexander, that he reproached Aris- totle for publishing his philosophy to the 15 world. He surely did not find fault with his great teacher for committing his sublime philosophy to "MANUSCRIPT"; but he did find fault with him for "PUBLISHING" it. It was this aspect. of the manei which raised objections in the mind of Alexander, who did not like the thought of the "DEMOCRACY" having opportunity to acquire that which he claimed as an aristocratic prerogative, for, says he "I WOULD RATHER SURPASS MANKIND IN KNOWLEDGE THAN IN POWER." Again, in Plutarch's Life of Caesar, men- tion is made of the fact that Cicero had writ- ten an econium upon Cato. Plutarch does not say that quite a number of persons read the original manuscript, or that they labor- iously made copies for a few friends; but he uses language which admits of no interpreta- tion more readily than that a book had been printed and published, and that it had a large circulation, for he says: "A composition by so great a master upon so excellent a sub- i6 ject WAS SURE TO BE IN EVERY ONE'S HANDS." Some years ago, I read, in Vol. Ill, page Gibbon. 81, of Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Ro- man Empire, a statement, in a footnote over the signature of J. B. Bury, M. A., to the effect that BOOKS PRESERVED BY THE ART OF PRINTING ARE STILL "IN THE KING OF FRANCE'S LIBRARY." I wrote to the Bibliotheque in Paris, but, after three months my letter came back from the "dead" marked "insuffi- ciently addressed." Not at all discouraged in my search for some concrete example, I ad- dressed a personal letter to the Hon. John J. K. Gowdy. K Gowdy> United States Consul to France. He very courteously replied as follows: "In reply to your favor regarding the works of Sematsien (or Ise-mat-sieu) which you say were published 97 years before the Christian era and are still in the King of France's Li- brary, I beg to inform you that I have made searches regarding this matter, as you desire, 17 and I find there is in the Bibliotheque Nation- ale at Paris many works by this famous Chinese Historian. They are entitled "His- torical Memories of Ise-mat-sieu," but the librarian is unable to give the date they were PUBLISHED AND PRINTED; but it is very possible it was before the Christian era * * * jf y OU come to Paris you will be able to see the books in the library * * * THEY WERE PRODUCED BY PRINTING (or impression) by the Chinese, evidently by the means of engraved blocks." If any "STUDENT OF EVOLUTION" desires further "CONCRETE EXAM- PLES" I refer him to the Sphinx in Egypt, which covers 14 acres at the base, and has in it material enough to build a city as large as Washington, D. C. If he thinks nothing can be learned from such a huge pile, but as it seems to him to illustrate the folly of so much wasted human energy, let him read the works of Professor Piazza Smith, Astronomer Piazza Smith. Royal for Scotland. If he still seeks for i8 "concrete examples" let him contemplate the great wall of China. This wall extends for 1,500 miles across the tops of high mountains. In some places it is 25 feet high and 15 feet thick, with every hundred yards or so a tower or massive bastion. The stone in the foundations, angles, etc., is a strong grey granite; but the materials for the greater part consist of bluish bricks, and the mortar is remarkably pure and white. This wall is known to have been in existence for 2,000 years. It is supposed to have been erected to protect three Chinese provinces from ir- ruptions of the Tartars. But if the Tartars are thought of as barbarians, and the Chinese admittedly a highly civilized people at that time, such a theory is seen to be utterly un- founded; for surely a civilized' people does not need thus to protect itself against barbar- ians. It is the weaker nation which builds its wall to protect itself against the strong. Bishop "WESTWARD THE COURSE OF EM- PIRE TAKES ITS WAY." 19 China is the "EAST." " Its people have been for ages a peace-loving people. Neces- sity, being the mother of invention, com- pelled them, in desiring to keep quietly to themselves, to construct barriers, securing them against the predatory ravages of the "MILITARISM" of the "WESTERN WORLD"; hence this monument of great- ness, this imperishable wall. All the cities of China are surrounded by high, strong walls, whose massive proportions it is difficult to comprehend, unless they are seen. The wall of Pekin is, on the average, fifty feet high. This wall is sixty six feet thick at the bottom, and fifty-four at the top, and every hundred yards there are immense buttresses. There are probably A THOUSAND WALLED CITIES IN CHINA whose walls will aver- age twenty-five feet high and twenty feet thick. A distinguished writer says that the whole amount of wall in China, if put together, would build a wall twenty feet high and ten feet thick around the 20 globe, and would require FIVE THOU- SAND MEN WORKING TWO THOU- SAND YEARS TO BUILD. In a book Buried Cities called "BURIED CITIES RECOVERED/ 1 Recovered. . . . , , . . - is a description of a doorway in a temple of Jupiter forty-two feet high in the clear. The keystone to the arch of this doorway weighs De Haas. sixty tons. De Haas speaks of granite quar- ries in Egypt, and tells of one huge block ninety-five feet long by eleven feet square, partly dressed, from some cause left ly- ing in the quarry, never having been re- moved; moreover, there is an unfinished tem- ple, also, the very place for which this stone Wendell was designed. WENDELL PHILIPPS, in his lectures on the lost arts, makes the follow- ing reference to the moving of immense masses of stone by the ancients: "Taking their employment of the mechanical forces, and their movement of large masses from the earth, we know that they had the five, seven, cr three mechanical powers; but we cannot account ("WE CANNOT ACCOUNT") for as the multiplication and increase necessary to perform the wonders they accomplished. In Boston lately, we have moved the Pelham Hotel, weighing fifty thousand tons, fourteen feet, and are very proud of it, and since then we moved a whole block of houses twenty- two feet, and I have no doubt we will write a book about it; but there is a book telling how Dominico Fontana, of the sixteenth century, set up the Egyptian obelisk at Rome on end, in the papacy of Sixtus V. Wonderful! yet the Egyptians quarried that stone and car- ried it one hundred and fifty miles, and the Romans brought it seven hundred and fifty miles, and never said a word about it. He also tells of the ventilation of the Pyramids "IN THE MOST PERFECT AND SCI- ENTIFIC MANNER." Again, cement is modern, for the ancients dressed and jointed their stones so closely that in buildings thou- sands of years old the thin blade of a pen- knife cannot be forced between them. The railroad dates back to Egypt. Arago has 22 claimed that they had a knowledge of steam. A painting has been discovered of a ship full of machinery, and a French engineer said that the arrangement of this machinery could ONLY BE ACCOUNTED FOR BY SUPPOSING THE MOTIVE POWER TO HAVE BEEN STEAM. Brahama ac- knowledges that he took the idea of his cele- brated lock from an ancient Egyptian pattern. The fact has lately been disclosed that locks having slides and tumblers have for centuries been made in China, on the identical princi- ples of action which have been "RE-IN- VENTED" by English patentees at various periods during the last hun- dred years. SOME DENTISTS' TOOLS discovered at Pompeii have recently been patented in England as new inven- tions. In the ecclesiastical law as attribu- Cicero. ted to Cicero, it is promulgated as illegal to bury gold; but if a man dies whose teeth have been filled with gold, it will not be nec- essary to extract them. Harvey is supposed 23 to have first discovered the circulation of the blood, but it can be easily shown that the an- cients understood it, both from the writings of Plato and Cicero. Xenophon makes Eu- thydemus speak of ships "VOYAGING Xenophon HITHER AND THITHER IN DIFFER- ENT QUARTERS OF THE GLOBE." Did they know it to be a globe? Cicero speaks of "the antipodes," and calls "this round world our town." Away back nearly six hundred years before the Christian era, old Thales predicted and observed an eclipse of the sun. THE SMITHSONIAN INSTI- TUTION has received a gift from the Chi- nese Minister of a ring three thousand five hundred years old. In the BRITISH MU- SEUM is a sickle-blade, found by Belzoni under the base of a sphinx in Karnac near Thebes; also a blade found by Colonel Vyse embedded in the masonry of the great pyra- mids. A portion of a CROSSCUT SAW was exhumed at Nimrod by Mr. Layard. But little is known with certainty with re- 24 gafd to the invention of glass. Yet speci- mens of Egyptian manufacture are traced back to FIFTEEN HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE CHRIST. Transparent glass is believed to have been first used about seven hundred and fifty years before the Christian era. In the year 1612 of our era, a book was published at Florence in which Nori, the author, says a way of making malleable glass was invented in the time of Tiberius, a thing afterward lost, and to this day wholly un- known. But though unknown to the old Italian, the art was practiced in Persia, if we Bailey. may believe Bailey, who says that in 1610, Sophi, Emperor of Persia, sent to King Philipp III of Spain,six glasses that were mal- leable and WOULD NOT BREAK BY BE- ING HAMMERED, and Blacourt tells of an inventor having presented a bust of malleable glass to Richelieu in 1620, but who was re- warded by perpetual imprisonment, lest the vested interests of the French glass workers should be injured by the new invention. 25 We have history for the story of King Porus presenting Alexander the Great with a wrought bar of Damascus steel. The razor steel of China has for many centuries sur- See passed all European steel in temper and du- Encyclopaedia rability of edge. The Hindoos appear to have made wrought iron directly from the ore, without passing it through the furnace, from time immemorial, and ELABORATE- LY WROUGHT MASSES OF IRON ARE STILL FOUND IN INDIA, which date from the early centuries of the Christian era. And so we might continue until a vol- ume had been written, for the "HALF HATH NOT BEEN TOLD." Yet lack of time and space crowd us out from this pro- foundly interesting study. Enough, how- ever, has doubtless been said to establish the thought that WE ARE ONLY JUST EMERGING FROM THE DARK NIGHT of the middle ages into a light and glory of civilization which, with all its magnificence, has been equalled, if not surpassed, by that 26 which has a few times, and probably many times, preceded it in the history of mankind, CIVILIZATIONS COME AND GO. They flourish for a little age, then pass away. Babylon Egypt Greece Rome where are they? The new becomes the old and the old becomes the new, and there is nothing new under the sun. The thing that hath been it is that which shall be, and that which is done is that which shall be done. Is there any- Solomon. thingwhereof it may be said"SEE,THIS IS NEW"? IT HATH ALREADY BEEN OF OLD TIME WHICH WAS BEFORE US. I deprecate the lamentable looseness which characterizes the application which many writers make of this term "EVOLU- TION." For example, one reads of the evo- lution of the bicycle, as though it had "RES- IDENT FORCES," accounting for its "CONTINUOUS PROGRESSIVE CHANGE." The truth is, all human 'men- tions everything necessarily the work of hu- man hands and brains, such as the bicycle, 27 or writing, or the different forms of govern- ment, have their "PROGRESSIVE CHANGES" wrought in each respectively, as a result of human effort, and not from or through inherent qualities. In truth, they do not, in and of themselves, exist. Therefore, it should always be remembered AND NEVER FORGOTTEN, that, correctly speaking, they cannot be said to "EVOLVE." CHAPTER II. ACTION AND REACTION. What, then, is the law? There is nothing permanent but change. The tide ebbs and flows. Up and down, up and down; never still, the unceasing movement of this natural phenomenon is not to be arbitrarily set aside by the decree of King Canute or the broom of Mrs. Partington. This law, philosophy inculcates as the law of action and reaction, which are equal and contrary. And so is it with human society. As applied to governments, the changes wrought may, broadly speaking, be defined Xenophon as follows: The government of men against their will and over states not in obedience 29 to law, but according to the dictates of a ruler is a "TYRANNY." When the government is over men with their own consent, and over states in compliance with laws, with one man as the head or central authority, it may be defined as a "MONARCHY." Gathered around him are many who for various causes are considered noble men, or men worthy of especial dignity and honor, and they are called the "ARISTOCRACY/' The gov- ernment of the aristocracy is the government of the best, and nothing can be better than the best. But when, from various causes, corruption is engendered and men obtain power through their wealth and not their worth, the government may be called a "PLUTOCRACY." "Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey, Goldsmith. Where wealth accumulates and men decay." Where it consists of the whole body of the people, a government of the people, by the Lincoln" 1 people, for the people, there it may be called 30 a REPUBLIC or a DEMOCRACY. Of course, there are many corruptions such as "Timocracy" or "OLIGARCHY"; but for general purposes these definitions will suffice, for government is, in popular belief, either a MONARCHY, a REPUBLIC or a DEM- OCRACY. Cicero. A king is he who, like a father, consults the interests of his people, and preserves those whom he is set over in the very best condi- tion of life. This is indeed an excellent form of government, yet still liable, and as it were inclined, to a pernicious abuse. "The best of men are men at the best." So that kingly Aristotle. power is said to require greater virtue than is to be found in human nature. The k'.ng, Shakespeare. ("BREST IN A LITTLE BRIEF AU- THORITY,") assumes an unjust and de- spotic power, he instantly becomes a tyrant than which nothing can be baser and fouler Cicero. than which no imaginable animal can be more detestable to gods and men for though in form a man he surpasses the most savage monster in ferocious cruelty. He who en- trusts man with supreme power gives it unto a wild beast, for such his appetites sometimes Aristotle. make him. For who can justly call him a human being who admits not between him- cicero - self and his fellow-countrymen, between him- self and the whole human race, any communi- cation of justice, any association of kindness? Alas! there are here in our own country, which is supposed to have been liberated, many who affect these despotic insolencies; for it must be remembered that the essential fact of "MONARCHY" IS NOT THE David Starr PRESENCE OF THE KING, BUT THE Jordan ' ABSENCE OF THE PEOPLE IN LARGE TRANSACTIONS. In itself, however, Monarchy is not only not a reprehensible form of government, but I do not know whether it is not far preferable Cicero. to all other simple constitutions, if I approved of any simple constitution whatever. But this preference applies so long only as it maintains its appropriate character; and this 32 character provides that one individual's per- petual power, and justice, and universal wis- dom, should regulate the safety, equality and tranquility of the whole people. BUT MANY PRIVILEGES MUST BE WANTING TO COMMUNITIES THAT LIVE UNDER A KING; FOR LIBERTY DOES NOT CONSIST IN SLAVERY TO A JUST MASTER, BUT TO NO MASTER AT ALL. Moreover, as I say, this kind of govern- ment is especially subject to frequent revolu- tions, because the fault of a single individual is sufficient to precipitate it into the most per- nicious disasters. Thus from a monarchy is tyranny developed. By this perpetual law of change, this law of action and reaction, a vio- lent overthrow results from the abuse of power; and the excessive power of the king occasions his own destruction. Then under the same law, operating now in another direc- tion and causing extremes to beget extremes, the people scream for "LIBERTY." Then 33 comes "LICENSE," which is excess of liberty, and this is the only "LIBERTY/' in the eyes of the vulgar. Thus the excessive liberalism of Democracy occasions the slavery of the people, for affairs no sooner reach the point wherein liberty exceeds itself and becomes license than out of it, by a sort of root, ty- Aristotle. rants naturally arise and spring. Illustration of this law in nature is given when the very finest day suddenly develops a storm. The wind begins to blow, the heavens grow dark, the thunder rolls, the foundations of the earth are shaken, everything portends judgment doom, with the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds. But it passes away. The sun again shines. Nature clothes herself in living green. Spring Summer Autumn Winter. "ROUND AND ROUND WE RUN." Moreover, as we see in Nature, the most favorable conditions are sometimes suddenly converted by their excess into the contrary, so with the institutions of society. Man is 34 Andrew the MICROCOSM OF THE MACRO- JacksonDavis. How especially observable is this fact with regard to political governments. The exces- sive liberalism of democracies soon brings the people individually and collectively into an excessive servitude. The extreme of tyranny begets the extreme of liberty, and Cicero. the extreme of liberty begets the extreme of tyranny again; for from the midst of the un- bridled and capricious populace THEY ELECT SOME ONE AS A LEADER; some new chief forsooth, audacious and impure, often insolently persecuting those who have deserved well of the state, and ready to gratify the populace at his neighbors' expense, as well as his own. Then, since the private condition is naturally exposed to fears and alarms, the people invest him with many powers, or lie inevitably assumes them, and these are con- tinued in his hands. It is not long before an excuse is found for surrounding himself with 35 body-guards, and an increase is made in the standing army. Appropriations, also, are made for more ships of war, and a mighty navy is built. "The liberties of the people must be preserved." Long editorials are written. Eloquent sermons preached dis- claiming against "BRUTE FORCE/ 7 as though the bayonet and the battleship were only to be used like a plaything of a fencing foil or a v pop-gun. So those elected by the WILL OF THE MAJORITY conclude by becoming tyrants over the very people who raised them to dignity. Then the very best citizens begin to advocate a return to the good old times; and many would urge us forward in experiments along the lines of their most sanguine idealism. But soon some bold in- surgent faction thrusts itself into power, which, like a ball flung from hand to hand, passes from kings to tyrants, from tyrants to the aristocracy, from them to democracy, and from these back again to tyrants and to "ic- tions, and thus the same form of government 36 is seldom long maintained. And wonderful indeed are the revolutions and periodical re- turns in natural constitutions of such altera- tions and vicissitudes, which it is the part of the wise politician to investigate with closest Cicero. attention. THE GRAND POINT OF PO- LITICAL SCIENCE is to know the march and deviations of governments, that when we are acquainted with the particular courses and inclinations of constitutions we may be able to restrain them from their fatal tenden- cies, or to oppose adequate obstacles to their decline and fall. But to calculate their ap- proach and to join to this foresight the skill which moderates the course of events, and re- tains in a steady hand the reins of that author- ity which safely conducts the people through all the dangers to which they expose them- selves is the work of a most illustrious citi- zen and of ALMOST DIVINE GENIUS. Since these are the facts of experience, and "HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF/' and since mankind will not be content to live in 37 SOCIETY WHICH IS BORN OP OUR NEED, but will have GOVERNMENT Paine. WHICH IS BORN OF OUR WICKED- NESS, royalty is, in my opinion, very far preferable to any other kind of political con- stitution; but it is itself INFERIOR to that Cicero. which is composed of an equal mixture of the three best forms of government, united and modified by one another. I wish to establish in a commonwealth a royal and pre-eminent chief. Another portion of power should be deposited in the hands of the aristocracy, and certain things should be reserved to the judg- ment and wish of the multitude. As respects the state, the government of single individuals, provided they are just, is superior to any other. One pilot is better fitted to steer a ship than a multitude of sail- ors. One physician is better fitted to handle the critical case than ten thousand inex- perienced persons. So of "THE SHIP OF STATE." So of "THE BODY POLITIC." We are all wonderful sailors and think we 33 know it all when the weather is fine. When we are feeling very good, we all have reme- dies, not only for toothache and headache, but for every ill that flesh is heir to. But let the storm arise!! "Let the fever rage!!" Ig- norance exhibits at the critical moment the egotism of its empty opinion. Look where you will in human relations, you will see the prevalence of this natural and necessary prin- ciple, which means the control of the many by the few; nor is it possible to avoid it in the affairs of government, Democratic theories to the contrary notwithstanding. Theory and practice vary. The theories of men as to social order result in the production of governments of various forms; but the prac- tice of men presents to us the natural phenom- enon of the identity of the working of gov- ernments in all its forms. Wherever a king or oligarchy refrains from the last extremity of rapacity and tyranny through fear of the lesistance of the people, there the constitu- tion, or whatever it may be called,is, in some 39 measure, "DEMOCRATIC." The admix- ture of democratic power may be slight; but some admixture there is. Wherever a numer- ical minority, by superior wealth, of intelli- gence of political concert, or of military disci- pline, exercises a greater influence on society than any other equal number of persons, there, whatever the form of government may be called, a mixture of "ARISTOCRACY" does in fact exist. And wherever a single in- dividual, from whatever cause, is so neces- sary to the community, or to any part of it, that he possesses more power than any otfier man, there is a mixture of "MONARCHY." This is the philosophical classification of governments, and, if we use this classification we shall find, not only that there are mixed governments, but that all governments are, and must necessarily be, "MIXED." It is true, therefore, if we can bear the thought, that every form of government is based on a right -principle. But where other and equally right principles have been neglected or over- 40 looked, misery ensues. In America, the prin- ciple of Monarchy 'and Aristocracy has been repudiated; but the practice remains, yea, verily, it is intensified in the trusts and in- dustrial monopolies by which the many are completely governed by the few. This effect must have been produced by an efficient cause. It has been produced by ignoring the essential principle of aristocracy, in favor of an impossible theory of democracy. Political life in America is like a troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. The Constitu- tion is away ahead of anything which the few have been willing, or the many able, to prac- tice. Otherwise, I know not how to account for "THE INCREASING POWER OF THE SENATE." That the few rule is the evil; but the abnormal development of that evil is the necessary consequence and result of the reaction caused by the exaggeration of one truth at the expense of another. It has been said "THE CURE FOR THE EVILS OF DEMOCRACY IS MORE DEMOCRACY." It might with equal truth be said, "THE CURE FOR THE EVILS of ARISTOCRACY IS MORE ARISTOC- RACY." If we are plunging into "mili- tarism" and "imperialism," it must be due to the operation of that natural law of action and re-action which are equal and contrary. This is not a popular thought, and will appear very shocking and "UN-AMERICAN" to some. But "things are not what they seem." "Errors like straws upon the surface flow; He who would look for pearls must dive below." It must be understood that the few neces- sarily exercise greater executive functions in the administration of affairs in any organ- ization of any kind than the many. This pre- cludes the possibility of the practical working of any democratic theory. Moreover, it in- cludes the certain and ultimate triumph of the essential aristocratic principle. What is needed is the wisdom to discover the proper blending of influences. It is in this way bal- ance is best maintained ; for the evils we suf- fer most are extremes of good. Balance is equilibrium equity JUSTICE. CHAPTER III. Now to produce harmony one must have some understanding of the laws of harmony. Without wishing to appear facetious, I might say a natural "POLITICAL CON- CERT" would produce "HARMONY" in society. But "harmony" is the result of a proper blending of influences. It is not even absolutely correct to speak of everything as "natural" because harmony necessitates, fre- quently, the use of the "FLAT" and the "SHARP," and without the flat or the sharp as the case may require, nothing would be NATURAL. The notes high and low, long and short, flat, sharp and natural, must all be sounded in their proper place, respectively, and for their consistent duration, otherwise discord is produced and not harmony. How is it to be otherwise in a harmonious condi- Shakespeare. tion of society? "HOW SOUR SWEET MUSIC IS WHEN TIME IS BROKE 43 AND NO PROPORTION KEPT! SO IS IT IN THE MUSIC OF MEN'S LIVES." But not to make the analogy too fanciful, and not to lose sight of the one central idea which it is intended to illustrate, let us reflect how that a whole band of players become effective in the production of harmony only as they cooperate under the imperial rule of an effi- cient leader. It does not at all destroy the force of the argument to say that as individ- uals their surrender to such government is voluntary. We mistake in dealing with in- dividuals and not with principles. The prin- ciple is that the many cooperate harmonious- ly only as they surrender themselves to lead- ership. To attempt to define a method of producing harmony in society without due recognition of this essential principle is to depart from natural science and make one's self ridiculous. Moreover, do players on musical instru- Cicero. ments moderate their notes, or otherwise, by the "WILL OF THE PEOPLE," or their own? And shall the wise man, skilled in an 44 art of much higher order, seek, not what is most nearly conformed to the truth and not what the people crave? Is anything more foolish than to take great account in the mass of those whom individually you despise as Bierce. persons of no culture? CAN WISDOM BE GOT BY A COMBINATION OF MANY IGNORANCES? There must be the Dem- ocracy; but for harmonious cooperation they are effective only when under the kingly rule of the presiding genius. I am not saying that in the affairs of government we should go back to Monarchy; but I do insist upon it that where the actions of many men are consid- ered we have never yet found a way to make them effective apart from this principle. What folly of superstition makes us cling tenacious- ly to an impracticable theory of "democracy" in the administrative affairs of government! Can we not see that extremes beget ex- tremes? Theoretically we have no king and no aristocracy; practically we have more kings and aristocrats than all the European mon- 45 archies put together. COAL KINGS OIL KINGS RAILROAD KINGS KINGS OF FINANCE AND THE REST. It only evokes a smile when we speak of "voting kings," for the industrial development of our time has not been at all upon the lines of "DEMOCRACY"; but upon the PRINCI- PLE OF ARISTOCRACY. Hence these great leaders are rightly called "KINGS" in their various enterprises. In common and Mallock. simple and average things, the common and simple and average man is competent; but the moment any matter becomes complex, that moment is it removed from the grasp of the brain of the average man. Then the cul- tivated and specific faculties of the excep- tional man are required. The masses of man- kind, which are simply the ordinary man mul- tiplied, cannot provide themselves with the conditions of their own progressive develop- ment. Then comes the utility and necessity of greatness, which is simply the possession and exercise of some faculty, or assortment of faculties, the rudiments of which are pos- 4 6 sessed by all. Everything which character- izes our progressive civilization originated with, and is maintained by, men who were and are superior to the majority. All inven- tions come from the talents and activities of an exceptionally gifted minority. Byron. "'TIS THUS THE SPIRIT OF A SIN- GLE MIND MAKES THAT OF MUL- TITUDES TAKE ONE DIRECTION." Aristotle How can any one fail to see that the masses of mankind are incessantly in all the domestic relations essentially under the government of a king? It is advantageous for those who are insignificant in capacity to be nourished by the care of excellent and eminent men. That they are not so "NOURISHED" in our present society is due very largely to this pernicious theory of 'Democracy, which ig- nores the worth of superior ones and exag- gerates the CONCEIT OF'THE VULGAR. Mallock. There can be no surer way of creating and perpetuatinginequalities than the advocacy of pestilent ideas which encourage equality of 47 expectations amongst those whose natural capacity has all shades of variety and dissimi- larity. Are the CONGENITAL, INE- QUALITIES of men a factor in the pro- duction of social inequalities or are they not? To ask such a question is to answer it. That there are other factors producing social in- equalities is not the point. I am insisting Macaulay's that for society to have its great men and its little men is as natural as it is for the earth to have its mountains and its valleys. Some Shakespeare. are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. "THERE ARE HARES AS WELL AS LIONS/' "Shall we cut off the highest ears of corn and so reduce the whole crop to an equality?" The Procrustaen tyrant cut off the heads of those who were too long and stretched those who were too short, till he made all to fit his FAMOUS IRON BED!!! But they tell us that it is merely an "equal- ity of right s" an "equality of opportunity." Alas! As to that equality of rights which De- Ciccro ' 4 8 mocracies boast of so loudly, it can never be maintained, for the people themselves, many of them, so dissolute and so unbridled are al- ways inclined to flatter a number of dema- gogues, and there is in them a very great partiality for certain men and dignities, so that their equality so called becomes most unfair and iniquitous. For as EQUAL HONOR IS GIVEN TO THE MOST NO- BLE AND THE MOST INFAMOUS, some of whom must exist in every State, then the equity which they eulogize becomes most inequitable an evil which can never happen to those States governed by Aristocracies. Mallock. Now, the INCENTIVE TO EXERTION which is widest, most constant and power- ful in its operation in all civilized countries IS THE DESIRE FOR DISTINCTION, and this may be composed of love of fame, or love of wealth, or both. But when the natural principle of Aristocracy is repudiated as in a Democracy,the energy of superior ones is di- rected almost exclusively to the accumulation of wealth. An understanding of the working 49 of this law will help largely to explain the ac- cumulation of wealth in the hands of the few. They that run in a race run all; but one re- ceiveth the prize. All are running in this race for riches, but only the few succeed. To get money or "pull" with those who have it, be- comes the consuming thought with ambitious minds. More crime is committed from AM- Aristotle. MITION than from necessity. Thus De- mocracy forces an ambitious man to consider exclusively not what is right, honorable, or just; but what will the quickest make him rich. The more a man refers all his actions Cicero. to his own advantage the further he recedes from probity; consequently no man can pos- sibly achieve anything of good, for himself or for anybody, everlastingly consumed with motives so essentially sordid. Yet it is not money in and of itself which is the end sought; but rather the satisfaction of ambi- tion. And money is the means to the end, and thus not money; but the LOVE OF Bible - MONEY becomes a root of all kinds of evil which, while some have coveted after they Cicero. Aristotle. have erred as to the meaning of honor, patriot- ism, citizenship, and even riches, and have pierced themselves through with many sor- rows. Remove the cause and the effect will disappear. Let Society find other and more natural avenues for the expression of ambi- tion. A harmonious Society must be one giv- ing the readiest expression to the natural su- periority of the possessors of genius. I ad- mit there is some PLAUSABILITY ASSO- CIATED WITH THE ARGUMENT FOR AN EQUALITY OF GOODS, and yet, to speak truth it is no very great one; for men of great abilities will be likely to feel hurt at not being reckoned at their proper worth, and hence they will often appear ready for commotion and sedition. Men "WANT" other things besides food. The hunger of ambition is inordinate. The wickedness of mankind is insatiable. In Democracy a vul- gar man becomes seditious when there is an equality of goods, and one of more elevated sentiments if there is an equality of honors. Those who argue most for man as a product of "ENVIRONMENT," and from that to the necessity of changing the system of things, will do well thoroughly to analyze this thought, and the results of a neglect, in De- mocracies, of this principle in human nature. No poetical soul filled with the most sanguine expectations of idealism and altruism has ever been able completely to picture to my imagination the splendid possibilities of a perfected social regime; but when I consider the fact that the masses of mankind are ef- fective to-day in doing the work of the wo fid only as they are governed by an efficient minority, I see therein the trimuph of the principle of Aristocracy and the UTTER IM- PRACTICABILITY of all theories of in- dustrial and economic equality and SOCIAL DEMOCRACY. It does not help at all to say the few could do nothing without the many. The fact is the many are controlled by the few, and are likely so to be controlled for a very long time to come. What I wish to do is to establish a real Co-operative Common- wealth. Now a "COMMONWEALTH" IS r Cicero. A COMMUNITY AND ASSOCIATION 52 OF RIGHTS. It comprehends all shades of variety and dissimilarity. Not that variety and dissimilarity so conspicuous in the theo- Humboldt. retic equality of Democracy; but it compre- hends the absolute and essential importance of human development in its richest diversity. Attempts to organize Society upon a basis of equality and democracy have not been want- ing in the history of the past. If it had been within the bounds of a reasonable possibility for the democratic idea to preserve the peo- ple in such a way, why are all things to-day so completely in the hands of the few? The theory of Democracy has been utterly at variance with the fact. The fact is there is not now, there never has been, nor can there ever be such a thing as a "Democratic" gov- ernment, because the few through adminis- trative affairs and executive functions neces- sarily exercise greater power than the many. Cicero. IF THE PEOPLE KNEW HOW TO MAINTAIN ITS RIGHTS NOTHING COULD BE MORE GLORIOUS THAN DEMOCRACY. CHAPTER IV. Must we then have titles? Titles, what are Paine. they? What is their worth? Through all the vocabulary of Adam there is not such an animal as a "DUKE" or a "COUNT," neith- er can we connect any certain idea to the words. Whether they mean strength or weak- ness, wisdom or folly, a child or a man, or a rider, or a horse is all equivocal. What re- spect then can be paid to that which describes nothing? Imagination has given figure and character to Centaurs, Satyrs, and down to all the fairy tribe; but titles baffle even the powers of fancy and are a chimerical nonde- script. There was a time when the lowest class of what are called "NOBILITY" was more thought of than the highest is now, and when a man in armour riding through Christ- endom in search of adventures was more stared at than a modern "DUKE." The world has seen this folly fall, and it has fallen 54 by being laughed at, and the farce of titles will follow its fate. NOT FOR THIS KIND OF AN "ARISTOCRACY" DO I PLEAD. But just as those who contrive the plan which others follow are more particularly said to act, and are superior to the workmen who execute their designs, so there must, there- fore, necessarily be as many different forms of government as there are different Mallock. "RANKS'' in the Society arising from the superiority of some over others, and their dif- ferent situations. Moreover, the maintain- ence and progress of civilization depend on the actions of average men being subjected to the control of exceptional men. Take men on the average and tell me whether the will of the many, however effectively it may be ex- ercised, is really a power that makes for progress, and whether it is not more likely to bring harm than benefit to those very col- lections of ordinary men who exercise it? The great mass of human beings are helpless without the assistance of a minority more ef- ficient than themselves. We must recognize 55 this essential principle of leadership, not by establishing an hereditary aristocracy which sooner or later becomes a nobility of "NO-ABILITY." The more such a so-call- ed aristocracy is seen the more it is despised. It loses ground more from contempt than from hatred, and is jeered at as an ass rather than dreaded as a lion. Rank and dignity in Society must take a new ground. The old one has fallen through. It must now take the Paine. substantial ground of CHARACTER, in- stead of the chimerical ground of titles and wealth. But it cannot be said that we have banished titles so long as the "LAND- LORD" remains. Twenty-two millions of acres of land in America are owned by men - who owe allegience to other governments. There are about three millions of acres of land in Massachusetts, so that the men living in other countries, and owing allegiance to other powers, own land enough to make SEVEN OR EIGHT STATES as large as Massachusetts. This is very much more than some governments own to support a 56 King. There is TWICE AS MUCH land owned by aliens in the United States as there is owned by Englishmen in Ireland. Yet we boast that we have no noblemen in our Democracy. What!! NO NOBLEMEN in our Democracy!!! It was said of old Rome "THE WEALTH OF ROME IN MEN AND MANNERS LIES/ 1 Alas! there is a dearth of men. If not, why is the order of a decent human Society so ut- terly subverted by the corruption of our po- litical mechanism ? fc " * * * A time like this demands Great hearts, strong minds, true faith, and willing hands; Men whom the lust of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor; men who will not lie." G*bb' nal ^ e nee( ^ men wno are guided by con- science rather than expediency ; men who are controlled by principle more than by popularity; men who walk in the path of duty and not self-interest. Would you but look into the history of former ages, you Cicero. might plainly see that such as the CHIEF MEN of a country have been, such has been 57 also the state in general, and that whatever change of manners took place in the former the same always followed in the latter. On this account great men of a vicious life are doubly pernicious, as being not only guilty of immoral practices themselves, but likewise of spreading them far and wide among their fel- low men. Not only are they mischievous be- cause they cherish vices themselves, but also because they corrupt others, and they do MORE HARM BY THEIR EXAMPLE than by the crimes which they commit. The excessive weight of Napoleon ("THE Victor Hugo. MAN OF DESTINY") disturbed the equi- librium. Some of the greatest calamities that have ever befallen nations have been caused by men of great minds; but vicious characters. CHARACTER is power in a much higher Allison's sense than that "KNOWLEDGE IS POW- Histor y- ER/'but the power of a man of vicious charac- ter is altogether mischievous, like the dex- terity of a pickpocket, or the horsemanship of a highwayman. On the other hand the ex- Shakespeare. Benjamin Franklin. Longfellow. ample of a good man is better even than his precepts; for action is eloquence and the eyes of the ignorant are more learned than their ears. The success of Benjamin Franklin as a public man cannot be attributed to his tal- ents or his powers of speaking for these were moderate but to his known integrity of CHARACTER which created confidence in high stations as well as in humbler life. His was "THAT INBRED LOYALTY UNTO VIRTUE WHICH CAN SERVE HER WITHOUT A LIVERY." Astronomers tell us that there are stars so far removed from our earth away out in the boundless depths of the illimitable uni- verse, that light, traveling with almost incon- ceivable velocity, would be millions of years reaching us from them. Were a star quenched on high, For ages would its light Still traveling downward from the sky Shine on our mortal sight. So when a great man dies, For years beyond our ken The light he leaves behind him lies Upon the paths of men. 59 And thus a few. AYE EVEN A VERY Cicero. FEW MEN, MAY CORRUPT OR COR- RECT the manners of the masses of mankind. With us, however, the principal qualification ior politics (than which there is no more pro- found science) is not very often a good character, but more often it is made to con- sist of wealth or notoriety. Behold the average political candidate in- Beaconsfield toxicated with the exuberance of his own ver- Gladstone. bosity, hypnotizing the unsophisticated vot- ers, as he PROMISES WHEN ELECTED to office all kinds of impossible things which never did nor never can amount to any more than the most veritable swelling words of vanity!! People ought to endeavor to follow Aristotle. what is right and not what is established. The best arrangement must be that of which the materials to be arranged are the best fitted to receive and to preserve. A TRUE POLI- TICIAN IS ACQUAINTED NOT ONLY WITH THAT WHICH IS MOST PER- FECT IN THE ABSTRACT but also that 6o which is the best suited under any given cir- cumstances. Now, common sense would have every man in the place for which he is best qualified by natural capacity. If this be true in the humbler affairs of life, why should it not also be true in the more weighty af- fairs of civil society? Shall a man be this year a carpenter, and the next elected by the "VOTE OF THE PEOPLE" to fill the of- fice of blacksmith? How could a man thus elected have it in his power to act virtuously and live happily? We desire not merely to live, but to live well, "and seeing that we have failed to do it hitherto, how absurd to con- tinue in the practice of present rules. Be- hold a YOUNG AMBITIOUS MAN PRE- SENTS HIMSELF before the voters, seek- ing to obtain, say a government medical ap- pointment. He commences his harangue by confessing that he has never learned the medical art from any one. He has never had anything to do with medical men, nor has he ever studied the science of medicine; never- 6i theless (says he) "confer upon me this ap- pointment. I will educate myself by EX- PERIMENTALIZING upon you. Elect me to office by the will of the majority, for the people so to govern themselves must be cer- tainly right, and if anyone of you is taken with a fever, although I do not know how to cure a fever, yet I do know how to cure fits, so I would immediately proceed to throw the sick man into a fit and cure that/' What a laugh is raised at this specimen of an exor- dium ? Can the matter be one whit less con- temptible when every political office is filled at election time by this periodical process of insanity? IT IS THE BUSINESS OF x enophon. EACH MAN TO BECOME ACQUAINT- ED WITH HIMSELF. By knowing them- selves men secure a vast number of blessings, whereas by self-deception they incur an enormous amount of misery. Those who know themselves know what is adapted to them, and distinguish between what they can do and what they cannot effect, and by act- ing in accordance with their powers they 62 both provide such things as are needful for them and fare prosperously; and, abstaining from undertakings that they do not under- stand, they live unblamed and escape adver- sity. Hence, also, they are enabled to form an ESTIMATE OF OTHERS, and from their intercourse with their fellow men they both provide for themselves what is beneficial and secure themselves against misfortunes. Whereas those who do not know themselves, but are deceived as to their own capabilities, are in the same condition both with regard to other men and other human affairs, for they neither comprehend what they want nor what they do, nor the characters of those with whom they mix; but running into error upon all these particulars, they both fail in obtain- ing what is good and fall into calamities. But they on the other hand, who comprehend what they are doing, succeed in their under- takings and become ESTEEMED AND HONORED. Those who resemble them as- sociate gladly with them, and those who go wrong in their affairs seek their advice, re- 63 specting them and covet their protection and place their hopes of good in them. Those on the other hand who have not a clear con- ception of what they are doing, but who make an unhappy choice and miscarry in their vari- ous enterprises, not only suffer pains and penalties personally, but become, on this very account, objects of contempt and ridicule and lead despised and dishonored lives. MANY INDEED ARE VERY DEFICENT IN THIS SELF-KNOWLEDGE, although they think they have attained to the very highest pitch of instruction and pride them- selves upon their acquirements. My thought is more particularly applicable to the PO- LITICAL MISFIT because the evil is, if possible, more magnified in that direction than in any other. Let us seek that RIGHT REASON which Nature inculcates and which the experience of the best and wisest philosophers has found to be truly right. "MAN KNOW THYSELF." If I have not governed myself how can I know anything of "GOVERNMENT" at all? PART II. CHAPTER V. " CHESS NUTS." The thoughts offered herewith are intend- ed as suggestive and never authoritative. There are many eyes which cannot bear the light of truth, so parables have been invented. When we use analogies, however, we find Carlyle. sometimes "THE LEGS OF THE LAME ARE NOT EQUAL." Carlyle says "ALL VISIBLE THINGS ARE EMBLEMS." The world needs some concrete example. I claim the game of chess as an exact model of Society. Herein do we find many things upon which to instruct ouselves. First we observe, that profoundly interest- ing fact, that public interest in chess keeps pace with the progress of intellectual develop- ment. Reasoning from this one would 65 naturally conclude that THE WHOLE WORLD WILL BE CIVILIZED when all men have learned to appreciate its science and its philosophy. Realizing the salutary influence of chess, the FRENCH GOVERN- MENT has, on more than one occasion, pro- vided prizes for National tournaments. Canada comes next in the path of progess. In that country the game has gained entrance into the public schools. Chess is in no sense a game of CHANCE, but a SCIENCE. Philosophers like Leibnitz, Voltaire, Rous- seau, Frederick the Great, Buckle and Frank- lin were chess players. Alone among games the use of chess has been sanctioned by the teachers of all beliefs Moslem, Buddhist and Christian, both Catholic and Protestant. Erudite writers have illustrated its history. Acute intellects have elaborated its theory. Here we have the "King, " the "Queen," the "Bishops," the "Knights," the "Castles," the "Pawns." The King, of all the men, is the most useless, yet the most important. He has 66 plenty of power, nominally, which pleases him and does'nt hurt me; but he can move only one square at a time, except when he "castles," and then it is supposed danger is impending and by that "DIVINITY THAT DOTH HEDGE A KING" he is hurried off by his loyal subjects to a place of safety. Originally the King could move two' squares, or even three ; but now in the intellectual de- velopment of man and the progress of the science of society, such an irregular action is considered VERY BAD TASTE IN A GENTLEMAN of his quality. Indeed, since the American Revolution the world has not heard much about the "DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS." The King who once had un- ' bounded power now has his power limited. The "Queen" used to move but one square at a time, and diagonally, and was in conse- quence the very weakest piece upon the board; but life is a game upon a stage in which all men and women are the players, and now WOMAN has come forward to play 6 7 her part. The Queen has more power than the King, more power than the Bishop and Knight, but the power of each is "RELA- TIVE" and not "ABSOLUTE." Every- thing depends upon position and circum- stance. The Bishop stands next to the throne, always loyal in his support of con- servatism and authority. There is m> more thorough support of the State than the "Hier- archy." Our Bishop, when he moves, always moves along the diagonal, to the right or to the left, as though in a quandary between the natural and the "SUPER NATURAL" as liable to turn back as to press forward. There are those who have asserted that the whole machinery of his ecclesiastical functions was the invention of politicians, who thought by this means and through superstition, the more easily to govern those whom reason could not influence. Be it so, or otherwise, the principle he represents in society, namely, re- ligion, even if you do think of it as supersti- tion, is still a potent factor. Look beneath 68 the mitre and the sacerdotal robe and you will discover a man of great importance ES- PECIALLY TO THE KING!! See him lift up holy hands of horror at war as he poses as an Ambassador of the "Prince of Peace." Hear him in the next breath praying for the success of "OUR ARMY/' or, it may be, as Chaplain exhorting the soldiers to "TRUST IN GOD AND KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY." What can we say to those who pose as Philosophers to construct for us a new and better order of Society, and yet forsooth shut down upon all discussion of religious ques- tions? Yet they denounce army appropriations or the conduct of the war, wherever it happens to be. If they knew the science of chess, which is the science of Society, they would know that there is theoretically the difference of a "pawn" between the power of the Bishop and the power of the Knight. What a thought is this for those who would reform Society. If the Knight be taken as the repre- 6 9 sentative of physical force for his is the business of war. And if the Bishop be taken as the representative of moral power for his is the gospel of peace and goodwill then, seeing that these forces are so nearly balanced, and the slight difference is in favor of the Bishop the moral force surely this Society exhibits a WORTHY MODEL INDEED. It would be well for those who have repudi- ated the idea of aristocracy to show wherein "DEMOCRACY" has ever exhibited such equity which is justice and a balance of things. The Knight is the solider. If any- one objects to him, so do I. But he is here. WE DEAL NOT WITH THE IDEAL STATE when they shall beat their swords Bible - into plough shares and their spears into prun- ing hooks; when Nation shall not lift up sword against Nation, neither shall they learn war any more. We have had but one "UNI- VERSAL PEACE CONFERENCE" and immediately all Nations in the world sent representatives of their armies to China!!! 70 The Knight is with us still. The Knight is on horseback and rides over everybody and everything. He moves in a manner different from that of any other man on the board. How can you require such an one to act from any moral considerations? His is the busi- ness of war of brute force. No question is Ella Wheeler ever se ttled until it is settled right; but the Wilcox. knight says not so. To him "MIGHT MAKES RIGHT." The gilded glory of a sunlit sky to him is human gore. He is con- temptible, except in self-defense or in cases of extreme emergency. Such exigencies of circumstance do arise. An illustration of this in chess is given in the "Philidor mate," wherein the Queen is killed, nobly sacrificing herself, but the battle is yet won by the sol- dier springing in with an attack upon the enemy, helpless, "CHECKMATE" in the corner. The Chinese call chess "choke-choo- kong-ki," which means, literally, the play of the science of war. War, as we know it to- day, will be a horrid nightmare of the past when the Nations of the world have learned how to minister to the combative propensities of human nature by substituting the harmless imitation of it in chess, instead of the car- nage of the battle field. HEREIN LIES THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY. Would we exert our greatest and best in- fluence in Society we must play chess; we must cause people to love chess. This mes- sage is for you "MASTERS, LORDS AND Markham. RULERS OF ALL LANDS/' And for you "ALL PEOPLE THAT ON EARTH p *alms. DO DWELL." Of the "Castles" we need not speak par- ticularly, suffice it to say that for Kings they are very necessary. Let us look at the "Pawns." There are eight of them on either side of the game. Not even "MEN" MERELY "PAWNS," ranged in line in front of the King, Queen, Bishops, Knights and Castles they stand ready for the fray. With what alacity they spring, "FORWARD MARCH/' two squares on the first move. 72 Thrown at the enemy and sacrificed almost indiscriminately they like it. They are the world's volunteers for destruction. But after the first gush of intoxication evaporates, and the sad realities are experienced, the "pawn," as the "VOLUNTEER" advances but one slow step at a time. If an "enemy" is captur- ed it is by a move either to the right or to the left, a very diagonal zig-zag process scarcely worthy of being dignified with the name of "SUCCESS." Yet, alas! if all the pawns are captured and killed, the next game finds another crop of "suckers" ready to take their place. But notice!! A PAWN CAN CHECK A KING. What a subtle egotism is this power of Democracy"!! Yet here again, do we see the science and philoso- phy of the game, for, whereas a King must ever fear and avoid the vulgar attack of the enemy's pawns, he must preserve and nurture his own. For Lo! when the Queen is dead and the Bishops have gone to the reward of their citizenship in heaven, and the Knights 73 have fallen in a sea of gore, and the Castles are in ruins and the King alone in solitary state sighs "ALAS FOR ALL MY GREAT- NESS" an insignificant pawn reaching the eighth square is crowned with laurels and im- mortality and becomes a "QUEEN." Let us not say the "King" has "Hobson's choice," he will marry her. But let us consider how quickly the opponent is vanquished and VANQUISHED BY A "WOMAN." Apart from the illustration of Justice re- warding merit for patient continuance in well- doing, we can see another lesson, if possible, of greater importance. We see how weak things are chosen sometimes to confound things that are mighty. Even the King can- not say unto the "pawn" I have no need of you. Nay, rather those things which at first appear insignificant at times prove all im- portant. Of all that is above and all that is beneath there is an essential solidarity. The members should have the same care one for another. Despise not one of these little ones, 74 for they without us and we without them can- not be made perfect. Would we EDIFY OR BUILD UP So- ciety we will not effect anything by cutting off the heads of Kings. He who would lift exclusively at the top of the edifice might lift off the roof; but he who lifts at the bottom if he moves anything at all must lift the whole Archimedes, superstructure. I have a "LEVER" give me a "FULCRUM" and I will lift the world. And when human Society shows how the humblest pawn may pass from the bottom to the very top to become a "QUEEN," the world will be the better for it. Where is now the King, the Bishop, the Knight! The pawn becomes a Queen!! "The women are the best men." Numerically they are half the population, always "THE BETTER HALF." Woman must be accorded her proper glory of recognition. When you find women completely ignored in the gov- ernment can you wonder that the corruption is too abominable to contemplate ? I do not 75 mean that women shall vote; but I do mean that they shall "FIGHT" fight; not with the weapons of a carnal warfare; but with love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance fight for the dignity and rights of WOMAN- HOOD AND MOTHERHOOD. If not paramount, the influence of the finer qualities of womanhood should at least balance the baser and more sordid passion of man. No war will ever be fought when the women are a unit against it. No good man ever had a bad mother. "THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE RULES THE WORLD." We must learn, then, to fight not the Kings, but the slaves who make the King. Our labor must be not from the top down, but from the bottom up. We cannot abolish the King and the aristocracy. Neither can we elevate a pawn to the peerage. No emancipation proclamation ever freed a slave. THEORETICALLY THESE THINGS ARE DONE; ACTUALLY NEVER. If we 7 6 fail to understand the NAURE of each in- dividual existence we will be deceived our- selves, and also lead others into error. Kings, Commanders and Presidents are not those merely who wield sceptres, or are elected by some haphazard, having been chosen by lot, Xenophon. or by will of the people, or who have ob- tained their position by violence or fraud; but they are those who understand the art of government. In everything requiring care and superintendence the few men are the aristocracy THE man in THE place is THE KING. This universal essential principle of leadership of the many by the few does not make the leader a "SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE/' And just so long as society has so many of its members individually incap- able of doing anything only by acting under directions, so long will the difference between slavery and service be but a fanciful distinc- tion. For the governor or king is the one who issues orders and the servant or slave is the one to whom they are given to obey. More- 77 over, whilst so many men are under the rule of passion to such a degree that they are un- able to act according to the higher instincts, shall we consider them "FREE." .Who can doubt, that as men exhibit different qualities of body, and some grow to be strong and well formed, and some are weak and malformed, that there are also differences and dissimi- larities in the mind? Not the body but the til I* mind is the standard of the man. What is there in the man ? As the essential means of bringing about the new evolution of Society the universal diffusion of knowledge is insisted upon; but it must also be insisted upon that true edu- cation is the leading out of natural or in- herent power. YOU CANNOT MAKE A Chinese SILK PURSE OUT OF A SOW'S EAR. Proverb ' We are apt to congratulate ourselves upon our system of "compulsory" education; but have our educators ever really considered that force musit ever be brutal and brutaliz- ing. It is no wonder, if, after a process by which the tender brain is CRAMMED with matter extraneous and foreign to its instincts, many from our public schools grow up to avenge themselves by crime against society. Cicero. TRUE EDUCATION IS THAT WHICH TEACHES MEN TO DO THAT OP THEMSELVES WHICH THEY MIGHT BE COMPELLED TO DO BY LAW. It can never be "COMPULSORY." It is simply an extension of the natural faculty of Morris pl ay s ' that life becomes a blessed art which is joy in creative work. That sort of train- ing which teaches how to get on in life by the mere acquisition of wealth through a fit- ness for some good position with easy work and hard pay, or inflates with notions of im- portance concerning bodily strength in ex- hibitions of it in the brutal game of football, or even high percentages in graduations which often evidence mere cleverness apart Aristotle. from intelligence is mean and illiberal, and is not worthy of being called "EDUCATION" 79 at all. We need, not one whit less of know- ledge ; but more of wisdom. " Knowledge and wisdom far from being one Have oft times no connection. Knowledge dwells In heads replete with thoughts of other men, Wisdom in minds attentive to their own, Knowledge a rude unprofitable mass, Cowper. The mere materials with which wisdom builds, Till smoothed and squared and fitted to its place, Does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that (he) has learned so much; Wisdom is humble that (he) knows no more." An Arabian proverb has it, "The Light of Allah's Truth will often penetrate an empty head more easily than one too CRAMMED WITH LEARNING." Education will never be a science 'till it has been brought to rest upon the principles of science. THE KINDERGARTEN SYSTEM, by giving encouragement to the natural faculty of play, is at least founded upon correct principles, and is in harmony with human nature. Now "Chess" is the per- fected Kindergarten Society NOT IDEAL BUT ACTUAL. Men and women are but children of a larger growth. The school of 8o life has a professor named "Experience/' who sometimes charges high fees. There are very many grades and classes for the different members who attend as pupils in this school. No injustice must be done, and FOR THIS REASON there is no attempt to abolish class distinction. How unsophisticated are those whose dream of "EQUALITY" makes them blind to the necessity for "CLASSES" so essential and so natural!! Pope. " Order is heaven's first law, and this confessed Some are and must be greater than the rest." It might be remarked that chess is played with "WHITE MEN" AGAINST "BLACK MEN." Occasionally a game is played with a set of white men against "red" men; but "RED" MEN ARE BECOMING VERY SCARCE. White always moves first; is con- sequently the aggressor and begins the at- tack. The black men in China shut them- selves up inside their big wall and their for- tifications and tried to avoid playing any games with the white men for over a thou- 8i sand years ; but latterly they have been forced to play. Already "WHITE HAS LOST HIS BISHOPS." I tell you the position is interesting. I am not an expert but I do know that white has made several hasty moves. No moves are given back. I notice also that his pieces are not properly adjust- ed upon the "square." The "key" to the sit- uation is not very evident. The "problem" has yet to be solved. On one side I recog- nize lots of skill ; but on the other almost in- domitable perseverance. Of course I think white will win in the end; but the end is not yet. The possibilities are for to "win," "lose," "stalemate" or "draw." Several pen- alties have to be paid for false moves. It is not the first time John Chinaman, Esq., has figured on a game of chess. And even if John does fail this time there are FOUR HUNDRED MILLION GOOD PLAY- ERS ready to take his place. The most rabid "Democrat" is far from willing to vote and abide the decision of such a majority. 82 Though chess has been called "the art of human reason," its devotees have been, in- variably, considered "cranks." Plato was perhaps the first to notice the intimate association between madness and genius. Cicero makes a joke about it when he says: "I could have wished that I had been myself a little more melancholy." 1 ' Great wit and madness closely are allied And thin partitions oft their boundaries divide." This is not the dullness of the ignorant and incapable, whose minds are a blank because they have no ideas, whose hands are listless for want of occupation; it is the sadness of the most learned, the most intelligent, the most Boston industrious; the weary misery of those who Investigator, are rich in the attainments of culture, who have the keys to the chambers of knowledge, and wings to bear them to the heaven of the ideal. All things are full of labor, and in much wisdom is much grief, and he that in- creaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Can we escape this brooding melancholy? Of 83 great workers has any truly intellectual per- son escaped it ever? I have, myself (as an illustration of the curious combination of insanity and genius which evidently runs in families) a relative, familiarly known as "Uncle Sam," who be- came so infatuated and captivated with the absorbing and abstracting properties of chess that he COMPLETELY FORGOT HIM- SELF and went all the way to the Philippine Islands to play a game. But having no wish to appear egotistical I will not touch further upon personal and family matters. CHAPTER VI. But some one will say "DO YOU REALLY TAKE CHESS AS A MODEL OF SOCIETY"? Yes, my friend, I do. Look at the "men." They are not made out of nothing, and hence they were not "cre- ated/' They are made out of wood, or clay, or gold, or brass, or iron. There are no "SELF-MADE MEN" not chess men, and not men in Society. A man is made I say of "WOOD," or common "CLAY," or "GOLD," or it may be he is all "BRASS," Bible. or forsooth, "A MAN OF IRON." If he has been made out of clay, shall the thing formed say of him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one into a vessel of honor and another into a vessel of dishonor. What if the clay doth unto dust return!! If the grave shall 85 cover both the gold and the clay NOT EVEN THERE ARE THEY "EQUAL/' Surely if we take chess as our model we must see that the moves are not made by any will of the men themselves; but by a POW- ER AND INTELLIGENCE SUPREME!! Wherein then does man differ from the most veritable automaton? I protest that if some Huxley. great Power would agree to make me always think what is true, and do< what is right, on condition of being turned into a sort of clock, and wound up every morning, I should in- stantly close with the offer. The poet says: " We are no other than a moving row Of magic shadow shapes that come and go Round with the sun-ill utuined lantern held In midnight by the Master of the show; 11 But helpless pieces of the game he plays Upon the chequer-board of nights and days; Hither and thither moves and checks and slays, And one by one back in the closet lays." DOES THIS, THEREFORE, TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AWAY FROM MAN? Are we then moved like "HELP- LESS PIECES"? Some people say they 86 Shakespeare, believe there is "DIVINITY THAT SHAPES OUR ENDS ROUGH HEW THEM AS WE WILL." This belief does not seem to have been founded upon any reasoned theory of the functions of human government at all; but simply consists of an opinion which may, or may not, be true that there is a Divinely appointed order and a spiritual domain. No discussion can well be entered upon with a disputant who requires a series of Theological propositions to be taken for granted; for there is no end to rea- soning which proceeds upon a false founda- tion. There may be acts of some men so ex- traordinary, and seeming in a manner to de- mand some IMPULSE OF DIVINE POS- SESSION, and inspiration, to account for them; and there perhaps we may introduce spiritual agency, not to destroy but to prompt the human will; not to create in us another agency, but offering images to stimulate our own; images that in no sort or kind make our* action involuntary, but give occasion rather CfC9fO. Plutarch. 8 7 to spontaneous action, aided and sustained by feelings of confidence and hope. For either we must totally dismiss and exclude spiritual influences from every kind of causality and origination in what we do, or else what other way can we conceive in which spiritual aid and co-operation can act? CERTAINLY WE CANNOT SUPPOSE that spiritual beings, if they exist, actually and literally turn our bodies and direct our hands and our feet this way or that, to do what is right; but that by certain motives and ideas which they sug- gest, they either excite the active powers of the will, or else restrain them. About this there are AS MANY OPIN- IONS AS THERE ARE MEN. These opinions are so various and so repugnant to one another, it is possible that none of them Cicero. may be, and absolutely impossible that more than one should be right. This makes it very much easier to discover what is not true than what is. How feeble is the mind of man! siq jo asanoo ip si ^aoijs MOJJ 88 Coleridge. Cicero. can explain as to whence he came, whither he is going, or why he is here. Truth, if it ex- ists, is sunk in the deep, hid in secret, en- veloped in darkness ! ! Socrates claimed to have been under the constant guidance of a "DEMON/' He is said to have been the wisest man that ever lived, and yet, indeed he thought that noth- ing could be known. He excepted only one thing asserting that "HE DID NOT KNOW THAT HE DID NOT KNOW." But if this be the case there is absolutely nothing which can be known, not even that very piece of knowledge which Socrates had left for himself, for it cannot be said with any con- sistency that nothing can be comprehended if it is asserted at the same time that the fact of the impossibility can be comprehended. These reflections seem to have been neces- sary to restrain men from rashness. What folly is this dogmatic egotism which would map out exact lines for Society!! We should consider that the problems of life have 8 9 puzzled the brains of the greatest Philoso- phers in all ages. A truly great man exclaims with becoming humility: "I AM BUT AS A Sir Isaac Newton. LITTLE CHILD PLAYING WITH THE PEBBLES UPON THE SEA SHORE, WHILST THE GREAT OCEAN OF TRUTH LIES UNEXPLORED BE- FORE ME." We have not yet determined how much of human action is due to SPIRIT- UAL AGENCY. How much to "FATE," or "NECESSITY." How much to HUMAN VOLITION. How much to ''economic de- terminism." How much to "EVOLU- TION." Nothing can be more discreditable than for Cicero, a man's assent and approbation to precede his knowledge and perception of a fact. The beginning of all wisdom is absolute, Descartes. universal scepticism all the impressions of childhood, all the conclusions of the senses, all of what are deemed the axioms of life, must be discarded, and from the simple fact of consciousness the entire scheme of know- 90 Milton. ledge must be evolved. If a man believes things only because his pastor says so, or the assembly so determines, without knowing other reason, though the belief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his heresy. Cicero. Nature doubtless has given us facilities for viewing and discerning herself, and could we go through life keeping our eye upon her, our best guide, there would be n'o reason certainly why we should be in want of phil- osophy or learning; but, as it is, we are fur- nished only with some feeble rays of light which we immediately extinguish so com- pletely by evil habits and erroneous opinions that the LIGHT OF NATURE IS NO- WHERE VISIBLE. The seeds of virtues are natural to our constitutions, and, were they suffered to come to maturity would doubtless conduct us to a happy life; but now, as soon as we are born and received into the world we are instantly familiarized with all kinds of depravity and perversity of opinions ; so that we may be said to suck in error with our nurse's milk. How frequently are we disturbed by some subtle conclusion, so that we give way and change our opinions even in things seemingly at first most evident ? How then can we presume to speak with "AU- THORITY" upon matters about which there is certainly some obscurity? Reason cannot Sir Philipp show herself to be more reasonable than l>y ceasing to reason about things above reason. There is no need for us to mark out any exact lines for Society, even if we should suc- ceed in our attempt to do so. The law to Froude's govern the case has been ENACTED FROM ETERNITY. It has its existence independent of us, and will enforce itself either to reward or punish, as the attitude we assume toward it is wise or otherwise. Our human laws are but copies more or less im- perfect of the eternal laws, so far as we can read them, and either succeed and promote our welfare, or fail and bring confusion and disaster, according as the legislators insight has detected the true principle, or has been Young's Principles of Government. Gibbon. distorted by ignorance and selfishness. We may think of "LAW" as a RULE OF AC- TION commanding what the citizens are to do, prohibiting what they are not to do; but the operation of the wisest laws is imperfect and precarious. They seldom inspire virtue. They cannot always restrain vice. Their power is insufficient to PROHIBIT all that they condemn; nor can they always PUNISH the actions which they prohibit. Law, rightly understood, has reference not at all to that which is a mere matter of opinion, so that one judge interprets it in one way and another in another. We dare not look for "LAW" in the accretions of adventitious lumber .piled upon us through the process of ages by the cunning and perverse ingenuity of class con- scious lawyers and self seeking politicians; for it would take the wealth of a modern trust to buy the books, the wisdom of Sol- omon to interpret them, the patience of Job, and the life of Methuselah to read them. If, as is indeed the case, many pernicious enact- 93 merits are made, which have no more right to the name of law than the mutual engage- ments of robbers, ARE WE BOUND TO C!cero - CALL THEM LAWS? For as we cannot call the recipes of ignorant and unskilful empirics, who give poisons instead of med- icines, the prescriptions of a physician, so likewise, we cannot call that the true law of a people of whatever kind it may be, if it enjoins, what is injurious, let the people re- ceive it as they will. TRUE LAW IS RIGHT REASON CONFORMABLE TO NATURE, UNIVERSAL, UNCHANGE- ABLE, ETERNAL; whose commands urge us to duty, and whose prohibitions restrain us from evil. Whether it enjoins or forbids the GOOD RESPECT ITS INJUNC- TIONS, AND THE WICKED TREAT THEM WITH INDIFFERENCE. This law cannot be contradicted by any other law, and is not liable either to derogation or ab- rogation. Neither Congress, nor the will of the people, can give us any license or dis- 94 pensation for not obeying it. It needs no other expositor and interpreter than our own conscience. IT IS NOT ONE THING IN SAN FRANCISCO AND ANOTHER IN LONDON; one thing one day and another tomorrow; but in all times and nations it must for ever reign eternal and imperishable. How. can we judge of it as good or evil ex- cept by Nature? And since good and evil are the first principles of Nature, certainly we should judge in the same manner of all honorable and all shameful things, referring them all to the LAW OF NATURE. For virtue is the consistent and perpetual course of life, and to LIFE we have an INALIEN- ABLE RIGHT, with LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, and these blessings can only be ours to enjoy as the natural result of the right use of the proper means in Nature. If it were other- wise, OPINION alone might constitute vir- tue and happiness, which is the most absurd of suppositions. For even the virtue of a 95 tree, or of a horse (in which expression there is an abuse of terms), does not exist in our opinions only, but in Nature, and if this is the case what is honorable and disgraceful must also be discriminated by Nature. Law, therefore, is THE JUST DISTINC- TION BETWEEN RIGHT AND WRONG. It is neither a thing contrived by the genius of man, nor established by any decree of the people; but a certain eternal principle which governs the entire universe. When natural laws shall have been under- stood and the knowledge of them universally diffused among men, every man for himself recognizing those laws, he cannot but obey them, for they are the laws also of his own existence. He who does not respect "THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW" fights against himself and does violence to the very Nature and Constitution of Man. WOULD WE ESTABLISH JUSTICE IN OUR SOCIAL FABRIC WE MUST SEEK AND FIND BOTH BEGINNING 9 6 AND END OF LAW IN THAT WHICH HAS EXISTED IN NATURE FROM ALL AGES, before any legislative enact- ments were drawn up in writing, or any po- litical governments constituted. And is this America? "THE LAND OF THE FREE, AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE"? ..... the seat of innocence Where Nature guides and virtue rules Where men shall not impose for truth and sense The pedantry of courts and schools? WALLACE E. NEVILL. 2929 Sacramento St., San Francisco. March, 1901.