The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-05-18

matte. five cannot always cheat the
Jealous skeptics who surround US, We
can at least cheat ourselves into a
confirmed belief that in all doubtful |
circumstances we have hit the right |
nail on the head; and if our incom
plete information might have betrayed |
US into some doubtful statements, we
have at least formed satisfactory
judgment upon everything that came
before US.
Everybody may of course pronounce
himself to be infallible, and may de-
rive considerable pleasure from the
process. 1t must be, admitted, how
ever, that tits necessary to q mans
full comfort that he should have
certain body, however small, of true
believers. Even Davie Deans, with
all his sublime confidence in himself,
rejoiced in the fidelity not only of his
daughters, but of certain ohnny
Dodds of Farthing's Acre" Ii is OF
great importane to secure satlstacto-
~ Johnny Dodds, and it must be ad-
mitted that this cannot always be
done. The Pope, as we know, has
considerable trouble with his Council,
and the rough approximation to a
council which can be summoned by
the little popes of private life are apt
to show themselves rather unbeara-
Bile.
Something may be done by the help
of a Mutual Admiration Society; and
occasionally a man of great energy,
such as DIR. johnson, may succeed In
securing his appointment as perma-
nent dictator of his own clique. As
a rule, however, it is necessary to
= make q compromise. An oligarchy is
| always jealous of single head, and
3 prefers portioning out the various
/ powers of the State among its mem
: bers. If man is not very unreason-
9 able, he may succeed In gaining reeog-
! | milton as an infallible authority in
D one special department. He may set
g up as unanswerable IN political econ
j omy. or in historical or antiquarian
Y matters, but it is on terms OF grant
{ ing equal privileges in another de-
D partment to his neighbors. 1T he IS
u willing to submit to divided rule,
= and If he is judicious enough to be
}, content for the most part with a
: female audience, he may be enabled
e to pass through life with few shocks
q to his self esteem, except those
o which, as coming from the outside
y world, may be set down as mere pro.
{ ducts of heretical envy and malice.
5 To such q Papacy as this every man
y may elect himself By little patience
and perseverance,. We have admitted
5 that the position has many charms
: but we confess that, on the whole,
r the self-constituted Pope is apt to be
J. a rather disagreeable member of So
o ciety. He is very common among all
y sects of reformers, and gives to them
g that diaagreeable tendency to tread
d upon other peoples toes which is apt
i to be one of their most marked char.
+ acteristics. That sublime conscious.
I. ness that all the world has hitherto
: been grossly in the wrong. and has
= wandered In the mazes of darkness
s and error till the great Smith and the
: equally great Jones daWned upon an
d astonished world, is occasionally Of
q fensive. It's proof of the readi-
: ness with which people assume thai
g their own idiosyncracies of mind
and disposition are the natural state
n of things, and that every deviation
= from them is strange phenomena
r which may be capable of explanation
. but which, to say the least, is lament
) able, and. moreover. is palpably
4 wrong. But whether we are to take
: some simple A, or B. or more i'm.
r posing parsonage as the standard By
o which the world is TO be judged, We
+ always meet with the same difficulty
f in greater or less degree, of placing
. ourselves at some special point Of
q view, and regarding the whole uni.
: verse which cannot be easily brought
Y under contemplation from it as a dis.
: agreeable and unaccountable phenom
. enon. IF we could only look dowr
h upon the world from q sufficient dis
4 tance, say from Jupiter or from 81
v RUS, we should. perhaps. fancy that
the infallible Smith was not so much
i. more absurd than the infalIihle Pope