Demoine courier., 1854-07-06
From the Burlington Telegraph.
Think and Act for Yourself.


Prejudices are hard to overcome-and
men frequently hold on TO error long af.
ter conviction of truth, merely TO be es-
,eemet consistent" 'Twere better to
be honest, and straight out, even at the
risk of an occasional snee. from an IN
thinking neiehbor, rather than TO keep
up appearances" which are a, wal with
every sentiment ofdu,y. Pride of name
is also often more poten. than the sug
ges,ions Of principle-and some men
make a merit Of sticking to a mistake
simply because they happened, once
upon a time, to pu, their foo, down gust
there" This is a wrakness--and upon
This weakness do many politicians build
their fortunes! In fact. the politician
busies himself more to find out "ihe sof,
places among the masses, than he does
to subserve their in'eresis after imposing
himself upon their confidence. A"knowl
edpe of The way" is all he asks-to
reach The goal of his ambition is a thing
10 be taken care OF by himself. A Gun.
ming and en,erprising man, who IS pos.
ted in all the f%rail,ics, soft places. and
weaknesses Of our nature, and who is
: unscrupulous enough TO play upon the
public credulity, may work wonders for
a while and if he meet with no back,set.
may ultimately make a figure in the
, world. and possibly PASS curren! for a
long time as the personifration Of all
that is disinterested, magnanimous, in
flexible, and wha. not, in the political
areEa.
The past is full Of illustrations in
point, go that special examples are not
necessary to prove the truth of our posi-.
tons.
In a country like ours. where civil
and religious liberty are secured 10 all
where leedom OF thought is the privilege,
as i, ought to be the pride. Of every citi
zen, he he ever so kumble-and where
progress is stamped upon every thing
around us, and intelligence radiating as
freely and as universally as The ligh. Of
heaven, there ought to be no such dead
weight as prejudice upon the mind OF
any one, and men should realise not on
~ that they are free, but that il is their
duty to be free. Neither ought there 10
be. in republican government. any ex
cuse for vassalage Of any description.
bu, more especially the vassalage of one
mind to another. In other words, a tree
and in,eIligen, people DO not require. or
~, leas, ought no. 10 require, a small
body OF "thinkers' TO do up tina. branch
Of business for them, thus sGrrendering
10 others the keeping Of their consciea
rces. Every man-especially every Tree,
man-should be A MAN on his own hook
making use oil his own faculties, guarding
his own conscience, doing his own think
ing. and acting so as to please himself.
10 ,he generous miEd there is nothing
mure humilialing than 10 witness the
subserviency with which confding and
well meaning. but weak minded persons,
will sometimes adop, the interested sug
gestion of a small beer leader in public
atTairs,-whils,, TO the generous mind.
there is nothing more revolving than the
impudence with which half wi,ted and
unprincipled charlatans will arroga,e to
themselves the exclusive control the
ansgemen Of THE PEOPLES
ID DIN lux HiSOi1 VI "c pas.
as well as of the present. is full OF in
stances such as we have feehly Swallowed
~for,h,-and it is for the future to say
whether its history shall be similarly
bloited over with evidences of the same
!, weaknesses aud Of the same unhallowed
, practices.
II .'eternal vigilance is The price Of
liberty" uniform independence of thought
and pf action is the price Of all manly
character which i. worth possessing
No man will reach this nigh destiny
who consents to give up his individual
i,y, and to pin his faith TO the eve: vary
ing necessities Of any one man, or of any
clique Of self instituted .'managers and
directors"
"a day an hour of ~virtuous liberty,
Isworth a whole eternity of bondage!'