The weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1869-18??, 1870-03-30
The Personality of Men.

Inc physical powers Of some men have
MADE them great and renowned in history.
vi tnese Hercules and Goliath remain to us
I = oeamples The mental powers of others
nave transmitted their names to posterity.
crowned with brighter halo of elorv A
Just combination of these two a..
individual and the government g;v.. Tho.
equilibrium which is the pcac. Of min, .nd
the peace OF society. 1t closes in tbs b.,
man heart the doors Of the temple Of jam.
We know that Saul was chosen eh;sa,
because of bis personality. He WINS man
Of lofty statue, but the end of the days of
Saul was miserable. OF David We are
taught that he was mighty in war, but the
hand of God upheld him. The wiscst of
all men was Solomon, hut his wisdom was
the immediate gift of the Creator. Through
all history, profane as well as sacred. the
story of each mans personality comes down
to us, either as strong in body and weak in
mind, or as weak in body and strong in
mind, and seldom as being of that compile
ton by nature, whence all his attributes
proclaim him to be model Of human per
fiction.
Cesar was the Roman type of manhood
Washington is the American. Wellington
is the English. Napoleon the French
While Christ is the true and the only cx-
ample to oil men.
- Personal prowess aforctimes ruled the
barbarian tribes of the earth. They judged
man by his inches, as man now judges
the beast of burden, But still amid this
era of main force, we learn, that mind pre-
dominated from time to time, until with
powder and ball it demolished the structures
reared, by physical force and physical slavery,
for the protection of the mere physical in
'stitutions of government.
1t was naturally to be expected that this
triumph should not be complete in century.
Hoary ages had passed ere the supremacy of
the mailed warrior over the peasant was full.
~ consummated, and ages may pass away
before the sword sleeps forever in its scab.
bard, unused and unnoticed.
1t may be, therefore, that when we behold
the exhibitions of personal revenge daily e1.
hibited, in the South, against the weak and
powerless, that we are wrong in degree
when we credit them solely to an animosity
still existing against the general government.
This may be the present cause. But we
trace the feeling further back into the re-
cords of the past. 1t belongs to the dicta.
torial and dominering spirit engendered by
physical supremacy, long exercised; and it
is the same esprit du corps which fred the lc
gions of Cesar, the armies of Hannibal, and
the battalions of Napoleon. 1t belongs to
another age-to the heroes of Carlyle, who
purge nation with fire and sword, and
not to the heroes of Christ, whose most
brilliant and piercing weapon is the golden
rule, 'to do unto others as you would that
they should do untoyou."
The wisest men of modern times have
recognized the varying combinations of this
era Of change. The wild spirit of the French
revolution, where physical power overaung
physical power, and gave to France an hour
for the liberality of idea as dangerous and
more bloody for space than even the cruel
exercise of force by noblemen and Kings,
was born of mind and not of physical force
But mind appeals to force. And force ap-
peals to mind. 1t is the just combination
of these two powers, which makes govern
ments stable, and statesmen wise and good.
Human slavery above all thinge inculca.
ted the feeling of physical personality. TIE
master might have been ,lolt, and the
slave a genius, but the master was master
with whip and shackle and the slave was Il
slave with only his mind and his colorcd
skin. Its hard to root out of human ma
ture principle Implanted there by the au-
thor Of sll evil himself The mild sway of
4 ii do much to perfect thi,
"a alasxtoo true. thatnS
vi u Ak men, who consti.
tuss7 sOcldty AMI &ms we deplore this
fact, we are obliged to appeal to the sword
against the sword, to punishment agains,
crime, and to the maintenance of orde,
against outrage.
Far be it from US to apologize for tn,
many misdemeanors committed in the mids
of society, by INDUCING in remarks il
regard to the personal proves OF an,
men on the fields of the late rebellion, or o
their recent exploits in the capacity of Ceur
de Lion, or that of the classical robbie
who upbraided the mighty Alexander. Thu
welfare OF all men of mind, of each child o
reason, of the humble followers of the goot
Teacher of modern philosophy, command
us to condemn the exercise of personal fore
in the redress of private wrongs. And thit
too, may be said with equal truth of an ap
peal to the sword against many publi
wrongs, which have hitherto been consider
ed sufficient cause for war.
The physical personality of Soul hern me-
has been taught by long years of expert
ence under peculiar institutions. 1t has tn
fascination Of the glories of Greco
and of modern empires;-b it ha.
amid all its shining light, the stin
of crime and the poison of wrong. W
appeal to the christianized intellect q
this State. Shall we indulge the passions O
our nature against the dictates Of humanity
Have we the right any longer in the fac
OF the lessons of the past, to applaud th
deeds which the fellow-citizens of Goliat
and Hercules, of Arthur and his Knights, {
Richard Occur de Lion or Saladin. Nigh
have honored and respected, when we kno,
that the day for such exhibitions {
physical power and cunning have passe
away forever? The good of society, an
the welfare of the REPUBLIC, commands tbs
all men shall obey the laws-that no on
shall be permitted to avenge his ow
wrongs, that no set of men shall be Above
the right to Cypress another set of men i
violation of the written words of fund,
mental contract; and that 'the per,onalit
of mem shall be buried In the grand an
glorious personality of free, generou
and chrislianized government Of the pct
pie, 6y the people and for the people.
| The people of Granville, Person and Ca
welfcounties will regret to hear the defe,
OF the passage of the bill in the Legislator
authorizing the Commissioners of tho.