Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1871-12-21

law Of superscnsnal things. There
can be 10 order whore there is nc
permanency; therefore tie laws ot
mind arc fixed and eternal. Contin
gcncios have no more place IN our
mental than in our organic constitu-
ton. We think aud feel according
to Interchangeable laws just as much as
we walk and see.
Many think that there is no def
mite fact where there are conflicting
opinions. The enlightened radical
cares nothing for this. He sets out
with the principle that the eternal
l1ws, the facts, OF the universe arc
not all changed by the opinions Of
men concerning the same. Opinion,
in his way Of thinking, is quite a diff.
ferent thing from knowledge. The
earth was revolving on it's axis just as
fast. and no faster, before Calico as
afterward. The Western continent
was in existence when none believed
| it but Columbus. Blood flowed
through the arteries and veins OF the
body before as well as after the dis :.
covery Of Harvey. The properties
of steam were the same before as at
ter the invention OF Fulton. There
is conflict Of opinion among men, says
the ,a1ical, because there is want Of
knowledge. He is unwilling to sep
arate the boundaries OF knowledge
and ignorance by shadowland of
mere conjecture. He is s,ubbornly
either 7ositivist or know-nothing.
Light, then, is the great want OF
the world. Light, more light, still !"
was the dying exclamation OF Ger
many's greatest poet. "This cry OF
expiring genius says the greatest OF
English critics, lis the general cry Of
nature, and echoes from pole to pole.
What this mighty man, one OF Gods
eldest sons, exclaimed, his humblest
children, the lowest creations OF an
imal lite, the very molusca, exclaim
from the depths ocean. They will
not live wholly where light cannot
reach them. The flower asks for
light, turns to meet it; without,
droops." AS long as darkness con-
tinues in the world, argues the radi-
cal (of which Wendell Philips is q
good type), we shall hear OF the op-
pressors wrong, and the proud mans
coniumely; we shall listen to the tu-
mutt OF gathering armies, and feel
the earth trembling beneath US with
the heavy tread OF revolutions. In
accordance with "eternal tact," ma
tions, as well as individuals, must
live, or, in violation OF that, must
die.
Every independent thinker is con-
stitu,ionally radical. He cares
nothing tor the opinions aud preju-
dices OF mankind. Give him -ea-
son, and ne will listen to you. Give
him a tradition, and he will laugh
you to scorn. Earth, with its vav-
ing Larvests, its green meadows, its
waving forests, its majestic rivers, its
cloud capt mountains, its outstre.ch-
ed continents, its oceans cold and
gray embraced in sympathy hy the
bending heavens, and watched over
by the silent stars; the sun, rising
and settrg in gold and crimson
splendor; all the types aronnd US of
shifting phenomena and unchanging
law; the wisdom OF God displayed.
in blooming flowers, sweeping winds
and rolling spheres; the laws that
govern the development OF humanity
in time aud space; all these things, to-
gether with the invisible but not IN
real realm OF thought, are the OBJ
jects OF his study, while he treats the
fathers of every science with con
tempt.
The radical is both right and
wrong. He makes no allowance for
the variations OF his own intellectual
compass. His brain is no better
than Aristotles Or Bacon's-perhaps
not half so good. The conservative
hates him.. and is hated in return.
They supplement each other. The
world is the better for both. With
out the radical, mankind would make
no progress. Without the conser
vative, mankind would lose the price
less acquisitions already made. One
represents pure reason; the other
the much more common faculty OF
the understanding. The conserva
tive works on lower level. but is re
warded with popular favor. The
radical, the thinker, reaches greater
eminence, but must wait for coming
generations to appreciate his work.
1GI,routes Nenfi,rI