Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1872-05-30
The Republican Tendencies of
the Age. Aae" --

the Age. laaH --
The ideas spread abroad by the eigh-
teenth century were sure to result, SOON
er or later, in. republican organisms.
The forms of government ihcarnate the
spirit OF people, as spices incarnate
the life OF Il planet. Each new species
| in nature forms and maintains itself by
reason of some advantage which it pos
sesses over the species with which it
contends, until the result is the eXtinc-
ton Of the inferior organism. The same
takes place in society, as that social
form, that institution which predOmi-
mates in the great struggles for exists
ence, will predominated definitely in vir-
tue of real advantages, and will ami
hilate all the forms opposed to Its exist
ence and development. In the tenth
chapter of his admirable book on the
.sOrigin OF Species" Darwin says:
extinct species do not re-appear, and
the forms Of life change almost stimuli
taneously throughout the world" And
this law of the universe, add, is law
of history. Where has caste, destroyed,
re-appeared? What restoration has
been identical with the social form
which it intended to renew? And
what reactionary restoration has not
precipitated the triumphs of the new
ideas which it proposed to extinguish ?
And what we say Of the extinction OF
ancient social forms We repeat OF the
simultaneous appearance of new social
forms in every latitude subject to the
same culture. Populations in the Mid
ttlle Ages did not hold the same relations
as now. Many of them knew nothing
of each other, or their knowledge was
confined to war and the hates resulting
from them. Thinkers lived and died in
the shadow OF the cloister. The absence
of the press prevented the eomnmniea-
ton of minds. Ict,in spite of all these
disadvantages the appearance OF the
great social phenomena was almost sim
iultaneous. During the tenth century a
theocratic terror seized and paralyzed
all European peoples. During the elev-
enth century, over soil which was
drenched with blood, and under the
wing of the church, the pioneers of ftl-
/ ture nationalities planned their work.
In the twelfth century, all at once burst
forth that restless spirit which carried
the nations to the Crrlsades, and from
the Crusades sprang civil communities
and the foundations of democracy. In
!, the thirteenth century began the de-
structiou of feudalism and of theocracy
at once; and in the fourteenth century
began at the same time the assault upon
feudalism by the kings, and upon the
[ ocracy by schisms and councils. But
| if all these happened in those unenlight-
} ened ages, will it not happen in our age
| that republican ideas, adopted by all
| superior intelligences, will take from
, and organization, and will be diffused
in all ATTITUDES where the spirit of our
: essentially democratic civilization
5 reaches? 800 l#' "
Great historical events determine the
life of an epoch, and are like the germ
of wide series of social evolutions
At the fall of Troy the Greek worlt
, was formed. At the fall of Tyre, ,undel
: Alexander, the Greek spirit penetrated
/, the East. At the founding of Alexan
|. dria the three currents of the ancient
A spirit came together as to common
} tcentre. At the fall OF Jerusalem, un'
t der Titus, Christianity spread over thu
4 world. At the fall of Rome, undel
r Alaric, the German. individualism wa
developed. At the fall of Constantine
t pie, under the Turks, the Renaissance
: began. Gutenberg invented the new
organ of ideas, Raphael and Vinci th'
f new art, Luther the new conscience
Copernicus the new heaven, Columbu
). the new world. So when the sanctua
: ry OF the ancient monarchy, Versatile
o falls under the assault of the people
agitated by invisible ideas to the poin
of denying the royal authority ant
II dragging it from the throne to the scat
|. fold, the republican movement o
Y Europe-a movement with various ant
:, contradictory tendencies, points Of de
d lay and even reaction-proceeds steadi
ily, now in secret, and now openly, a
e one time in theory, and ut another il
practice, now tumultuous, now orderly
II beginning by converting absolute mon
arches into constitutional monarchie;
d until it is ready to convert constitution
n al monarchies into democratic repub