The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1860-12-19
es-their history is our experience.

anu VIC Slanu to-uay upon Tue Inquest
point vet reached, like soldiers who have
stormt i fortress over moatS filled with
dead companions. 1t corld hardly be
expected that modern society looking
back from this eminenco should be want
ing in admiration of itself. Pointing to
the freedom and intelligence of the mas
ses, to just and liberal laws and improv-
ed forms of government, it triumphantly
asks, are We not better than our ances-
tors!
Without taking dismal views Of human
progress, or undertaking tho worth of
existing institutions, it must still be adj
mittcd that our present position has been
attained at fearful cost. History testi-
fies that the march of improvement has
ever been slow and painful. Its pages
from beginning to end, are one dark rec
ord Of crime and oppression on the one
hand, and Submission and slavery on the
other. Tyranny and intolerance on the
part of the rulers, ignorance and super.
stition on the part of the masses, and the
consequent corruption and stagnation of
society are the prevailing conditions of
mankind in all ages. Occasionally,
some bold original thinker dares to pro-
claim new idea, and it is instantly
branded rs heresv. Immediately all is
confusion and sproar. Agitation COM
mences, End persecution for opinions
sake follows. The soc al fabric is shaken
to its centre. Parties arc formed; sides
are taken; swords are drawn; rivers Of
blood are split; millions OF treasure are
wasted, until one party exterminates the
other, or both, exhausted by the cor flict,
are willing to make peace on liberal
terms. BY such terrible struggles has
society slowly emerged from barbarism to
its present civilization. And so long as
the constitution or the world remains as
at present, so long as the same elements
which now rule have power, the contest
will continue, modified and ameI!orated,
II is true. in proportion rs the three-iod
nature of the race shall become harno.
niously developed. While we cannot
question the wisdom of Him who orda;ns
these things, it is none the less our duty
to learn the lesson which they teach us.
and strive to make ourselves wise and in
teligent actors in the contests Of Tour own
day and generation.
Let us then inquire briefly, what are
the causes that tend to rctall the prog
ress of human Development! The ha-
man intellect cannot have required sixty
centuries to eliminate the simple truths Of
justice, government and religion that we
possess. Principles are few and mostly
Obvious; they were chiefly found out in
the early ages Of the world, aud it is
rather in their deductions, their modfi-
cations and their combinations in matter
ard mind in all the VI led relations Of
life, that we differ from those who pre-
ceded us.
Among the forces which operate to
suppress truth and perpetnate error, and
thus lock the wheels of progress per-
baps thore is none more potent than
an undue reverence for established Gus
toms and institutions. This it is, that
more than any thing else las retarded
Herein we may find the germ of all sla-
very, civil. political, and religious. The
monstrous maxim that Kew ideas must
be suppressed to secure the stability Of
established institutions, has ever been
the motto of errors champions. 1t is
this spirit Of intolerance that founded the
lnquistion, burned men at tho stake for
daring to cherish opinions of their own,
opposed with fierce malignity the transIa-
ton of the Bible, and in later times ban
desoate shores of New England. Untir-
ing in its efforts to crush out the first
germs of thought in the individual, ever
denying to men their natural and God
given rights, it has com, down to our
day, and though shorn of some of its
prestige, it is still potent, under the gu;sc
of public opinion, to influence our mental
and moral life. Seeing then the evil
effects everywhere wrought by the inordi-
nate subsection ofthoughtto external in
huences, let us consider in what manner
the highest development of the individual
can best be obtained, and to what extent
we shall rely upon others, and how far
upon ourselves.
To every being created in Gods image
there is given living soul. 1t matters
little by what name we conceal our ig-
norance Of its nat1re. We may cal.
it reason, intellect, or mental power
Name it MS VIC will, it is that which
brcathes, lives and thinks-it is that
which constitutes the personality of eve
ry man and makes him to be himself
and not another. 1t comes from its Max
ers hand fresh and pure and plastic, full
of hope, iov and innocence. Powerless
ofitselfthis germ of thought and charact-
or is subjected to the rough action of ex-
perience and developed by contact with
external things. The sources of its
growth are inaxhaustible. History, the
lives and Il oughts of other men, and
above all the great universe of nature
are open to its inspection and use. 1t
grows by assimilation Of objects external
to itself, and its character must depend
on the nature ofthese objects and the man.
ner in which it assimilates them. 1t may
become passive, yielding itself to be
moulded by every new impression, thus
sacrificing its own integrity to every
transient infuence,or al active self direct
;n, nouay :. p,.x dariye shtuap>