The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1847-02-21

prtgT6ss that makes
progress by means of institutions for these his only
support, and he cannot operate without them man
luires religious and social nsiutions-he requires
them that they may give him power to act, by which
he may be carried forward
But you 60 further, and say that these institutions
must be progressive then you deny this principle and
assume that you may have motion without res-hat in
situations always changed sford support If could
resh1s the dream OF semoris, that every institution
snorid follow the public will the result would be that
institutions would only embody for the time being. what
the people were-they would be any aids the peo
pie, OF De capable OF enlarging their powers. Institutions
then II they are to accomplish any good purpose must
be in themselves fxed-on which man can rest
WIN the church How is it that it has carried
our race forward How has effected 20 many changes
Tor our benshtf Because il was itself Interchangeable
always ready TO supply the same amount of power and
that 10 all who applied fer 1t Bat it had gone with
the generations instead Of having aided the progress of
our race would have progressed itself Il would have
looked to tho human race for support instead of their
looking to II for their support And this much misun
derstood We want civil institutions adaped TO our ne.
cuar wants, so that they will feel every movement of
pebiic opinion. You see at once the you H.
sumo this that you are not assuming institutions for
slaing the progress of individuals but you as
Stunning the public for aiding tho insu lions Now
institutions never exist for their own sake. and
,nsr progress even suPposrg their progress is the end
to be used is always and is the progress Of ind
viduals that we SEEK and by them do we attain them
We can understand this by rejecting for q moment
Now there are men who tell that man began his
career imperfect and that he will realize perfection and
higher sphere. They deprecate mans inhumanity to
man. They tell us that man. vuui e-like feeds on the
heart of that there no feeling in common-tha
he does not feel for his fellow They will point you
to the servity OF the poor and the pride and haught
ness OF the rch and these things ought not to be-
That they could be cured, and ought to be cured and
then they propose means to effect These schemes
are derived from and therefore flexible and not
suitable to accomplish the change From man you can
get nothing but man. If he is enlightened and wise, you
might get all those thingsbut if you cannot get from
him what he has not, you can't reform the evils they
complain Of To use plain, hom.spun figure, which of
ten USE "a man can't raise himself by his Wristbands"
Laughter Just it is when a man attempts to raise
himself lie falls because he has nothing himself
raise with You seek the notion without the principle
IRON which the motion is to be obtained am prepared
70 60 still further, and say that there has been
this progress in our race which those modern phi
iosophers contend for. There has been progress
the history Of all institutions all except the
church OF God, which has supernatural support-you
e herT Of M il o
cline and corruption What short sighted philosophy
Of the day calls progress nothing more than the ge
nerous effort Of day to stay the progress Of corrup
ton. Take the history of England for instance. What
Is the ehord, which is the honest boast of
ngshman In that you see not any great acquisition
Of Liberty but merely guaranty of less than what had
been the rights Of the Anglo axons In the bloody and
noble efforts of the Barons aided by the church and SO
more than effort to from tho general
wreck some vestiges of their former liberty Whenever
you see people resort to written contracts you will find
there is gaining Of liberty but gaining Of guaran
ty of rights that falling away Thus il we go
back and examine tho charter Of the commons given
liberties previously enjoyed but which in danger
Of being taken away. They mark time when tyranny
receives a check. SO if you look at the institutions Of
this country taking them at the present epoch of time
and comparing them they existed at first it will be
seen that the early administrations were wiser and more
virtuous, and the spirit of our institutions
strictly adhered to first than at later period And
argues nothing for the safety Of our institutions to say
that every year there is departure from the
principles. and from the form of government which
our fathers intended should be the government Of
their children And | might 60 on and show that the
the institutions of every country, when they not
protected by region-their history Of decline
and of corruption but the fact obvious that need
no. dwell longer on it, If you examine closely
the history OF modern countries you will fnd not the
progress OF Institutions but the progress Of society itself
We boast that we live in enlightened age but il
do boast it is because vision narrowed down to
small circle, and not because really free
enlightened than fathers in the dark ages
do appear the advocate OF the oes Of history but
though am man omy own age. do not feel that his
age can boast oil any progress over the ages
perhaps time when there less OF than at present
We must not include our own country In the compare
son ] wish 10 make, because when comparing the
of liberty existing in the present day and that
existing centuries back il will not bear the comparison
is Of modern times But take England for instance
and must have read the history of that country TO little
advantage il the House Of Commons has much power
IT had IN the twelfth thirteenth century. II
you to the subject Of education you will find that
the comparison will be UGH az anst u.s. unless deny
matters oil history The proportion OF learned In the
middle ages hundred to one TO what they
now. At Oxford, in the year 1900, there 81 600
students, end the same number in 1870 There
the place between 900 and 000 and while the
population has doubled, the number of universities re-
main the same. 1t was the same at Cambridge the
comparison IL the same. Besides these there were
throughout England monasteria schools in each diocese
"a cathedral school and a parochial school in each
parish IL was the same in France and other parts
OF Europe-and where are they nowi Within the
last three hundred years they have declined, and
If we believe the reports Of Parliament. within
lew years there is ignorance in that free and enlightened
kingdom which has realized the better principles oil
the reformaton-there is in that nation ignorance
the grossest ignorance ignorance which you would
look in vain for in the South Sea islanders Ii you pass
from education to the social condition OF the people,
told hat considered good authority that the
period of the Reformation laboriDE man would receive
four times the amount of the pecessaries Of life that he
can obtain now, There were then no standing armies
no national debt-no paupers The last accounts from
there show that one of every six is a paupor And this
the progress which you have made Under any other
point OF view II IN the same-witness the accumulation
Of wealth in the hands of the few, placing not only the
land of the country in the hands of few but placing
tho whole industrial capital in the hands of few
leaving the great mass of the people dependent
on the landhoders and fundholders. Then, if you go
into ths arts you do any evidence of that pro
gress you speak Of The latest built OF the pyramids is
the perfect work of art and in architecture this
millennium of which you speak may be miracle OF mo
architecture but not of the middle ages
This much say OF your neral doctrine of
I proceed to the next pont-cf revolution by vi
olence-a violent subverting of existing order for the
purpose Of introducing one which is supposed to
be- better | have said that the doctrine has come
to be entertained among us that there is in
volution-that they have the right Of revolution
Yet If we would pause moment, would say that the
proposition itself is self contradictory. Right always
pre- supposes law and authority which supposes the
aw-the same duty OF whchjit is relative. But
evolution Is the subverson OF law from its very nature
and if you suppose the right Of revolution you suppose
there may be a legal subversion Of law itself But
there IS a pre- udice American audiences in this
ter, that must be disposed Of We had a revolution
and we believe that our fathers justified in that
movement, and we believe that that movement at
tended with good efects-and from the fact that
Justify our fathers, we say that must approve the
principle of revolution. But there peculiar ne
cesty involved in revolution. will not say but that
there were this country who believed in the right
of revolution but who did not put indie endence on
that ground in their argument with the government OF
Great Britain We conended that tho crown of Great
Britain bound to govern us on the principles oil the
British laws end the British constitution, and our COM
plant wa that the Of Great Britain did not do
ths-that the violated the principles OF British
Ia which hoy boosted protected British subjects where
ever they were-that they were introducing prin-
cpls that unknown to the British laws, TO the
British consttu.ion-that they sent troops here en-.
force this new principle, in other words that the
government of Great Britain subvorted the constitution
and sent their troops here TO enforce the subver.
IA Ia VI