The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1867-07-12
For the Plot.
Consistency.


from the files of old musty newspapers,
that an opponent once expressed views the
opposite of which he now entertains, holds
a four ace and bowie knife" argument,
incapable of lrefutation Such a course is
| accepted as conclusive evidence Of dis
honesty. .------.-------.--
And all this in face of the replcteness of
history with inconsistencies.
Inconsistency is Misunderstanding is,
generally, stolidity. r.
Jesus Christ was an inconsistent jew;
Luther an inconsistent Catholic; Aristotle,
Gallo and Newton were inconsistent phil
! osophers Mahommed was an inconsistent
religionist. There has never been reform
without its foundations were laid in this
inodorous crime. Progress and inconsist
ency have ever gone hand in hand. s
The difficulty is to define the precise time
of life in which man can stop his mental
growth and settle into immobility. We
recall our childish ideas With wondering
contempt. 1t is more vigorous when we
review those Of the budding period of our
lives, that time in boyhood, SO offensive to
sedste maturity when opinions are positive
and born of impulse. We are seldom able
to reflect upon our deeds of but few days
agone with unqualified complacency. The
ghost of regret that this might have been
better done, this better said, haunts u.s.
Tba MIL = ar1 10
creature. Better by far that it should be
strewn with regrets than that none should
be thus. Progress is indicated only by such
notifications. Complacency is immobility.
When to-day ceases to shrug its shoulders
at yesterday, to-day is no better than its
predecessor.
Mirabeau, I believe, says that when at
last our lives lay behind US and Death
stands to open the door, we can only say of
all that we have done, What fools we
have BEEN" ... -
1t appears, then, that boyhood is incon
sistent with childhood, manhood with
youth and old age with all. The point Of
demarcation is nowhere visible.
1t is then, every mans privilege, more,
every mans necessity, to make his life a
bundle Of inconsistencies @
The error, perhaps, is in the application
of the word to conceal dishonest motives.
If man is dishonest there is no incon-
sistency between any two averse statements
he may make; there is, on the contrary,
a perfect consistency. He is consistently
dishonest. To lay man open to condemna-
ton if he change his mind is to deny the
Office of that faculty which alone ennobles
man, Reason, and stops all further progress.
An intelligent man forms his opinions
after Reason has passed upon the evidence
presented. If only the ordinary evidence is
given, the common opinion will be his.
But suppose new facts, new truths, appear
to him, he discovers, or thinks he does, (and
as to him it is all the same), errors in old
opinions-then when from these new facts
he shall have dcduced new conclusions, he
will have gone one step ahead, and will Of
course be inconsistent as regards any pre-
vious opinions he may have held: and who
can deny him this right, or doubt his hon
esty, or make the change an ohense?
Two prominent cases have occurred illus
trating this, liz the West--the change in
Senator DooLITTLE, of our State, and
Senator Morton, of Illinois During a
residence in Illinois some years ago the
writer had the pleasure of knowing Mr..
MORTON, who was then lawyer. He had
the enviable reputation, with the bench,
bar and community, of being strictly hon
est upright man.
Both these gentlemen represented the
Republican party of their respective States
during the war, and there is no blemish
upon the zeal and fidelity with which they
performed their duties under the war issues.
But it occurred to them when the war
ceased that war policy, with all its ferocity
and selfishness, was not the proper one f, I
peace footing. They recognized that tie
issues On which they were elected were
, dead-no longer practicable because their
foundation was gone; that the work was to
restore the government and that the Union
was safe, and honestly believing that such
restoration could better be effected under
mild than stern measures-even inconsistent
enough to act upon their honest belief.
There can surely be no dishonesty attrib-
uted to them-a dishonest politician seldom
joins the weaker side; they naturally pre-
fer the largest crowd. They have simply
gone ahead of their party.
There is, however, another view of this
doctrine which illustrates the folly of throw
ing stones at our acighbors' glass houses,
when our own tenement is of the same frail
material Out of over four and a half mil
lion votes cast in 1860 the Republicans re-
ceived 500, ASP. In the election Of 1856,
Fremont received much less number
have not the exact figures; any way, the par
ty was in considerable minority. Where in
four years did this great increase come