The New York herald., 1879-03-02
Shattered Ideals.


idea or cause, the maintenance of which
is at once its occupation, its justification
and its glory. Loyalty to the distinctive
ideal becomes among the members of such
associations a real article of faith, condl-
tomas the theologans say, stdntis rel ca
dentis ecciesioe-by which its success or fall
ure must be judged. There is in human
nature. whatever dogmatists may say, an
immense fund of altruism and willingness
to sacrifice personal happiness to the gen.
eral veal. Man cannot live by bread alone,
and there are millions OF our race who are
vaguely cropping for some ideal high enough
and grand enough to warrant them in con-
secrating to it their best energies and, II
need be, their life blood TO each of them.
as to the hero of Tennyson's great poem, it
would be true happiness
In some good cause, not in his own,
To perish honored. wept for. known,
And Ike warrior overthrpwn
Our young Republic has had such an
ideal during the century Of its existence,
and by it's cultivation has managed to get
the present time. 1t was expressed in the
Declaration Of Independence and all the
other public documents of the Revolution
ary epoch. 1t was re-echoed fifteen years
later by the leaders of the French Revolu-
tion was engrafted upon the 'constitu-
tions" of score of Hispano-American re-
publics, and has taken deep root in modern
Europe That ''grand idea" was the doc
trine that average humanity is competent.
without any special enlightenment to pro-
vide for all its own needs and require
ments by the magic contrivance known as
the ballot box. In order that government
of the people, for the people, by the peo-
pe should not perish from the earth two
millions of American citizens ranged them
selves in opposing camps a few years ago.
This theory, SO complimentary to our frail
human nature, has had among us hun
dred years probation. What are its present
results?
There was never time in the history OF
the world when the very foundations Of all
human institutions were regarded with such
thorough sceptiesm as now. Not our polit-
ical system alone, but the whole range of
distinctively American ideals totters to its
fall. The title Of politician" which once
carried the brevet rank Of nobility, has be-
come term of reproach. Patriotism, long
esteemed the crowning glory offs citizen. has
become Synonymous with greed ior Office.
Trial by jury, once the palladium of our
liberties" has become SO prostituted that
the verdict Of ''twelve good men and true"
constitutes but slight presumption as to
the facts at issue. The ballot box has fallen
into equal dsrepute. A majority vote is no
longer regarded as binding upon the whole
people, but is intrigued against as a
matter of course by the defeated party and
annulled without scruple. Our colleges
are compiacently dealing out homeopathic
doses Of fact combined with allopathic
doses of senile speculation. The triumphs
Of American industry and invention, which
justified the cOmplacency Of two genera
tions, have lost much Of the glamour they
once cast over the average imagination.
We no longer "point with pride" to the
Cumberland National road, the Erie Canal,
or even the Pacific railroads. new gen.
Grafton has grown up which knows little Of
the tastes of its elders in literature, art
or science. The Complete Writings" OF
Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson,
Hamilton, Calhoun, Webster and Everett
rest unopened upon the upper shelves Of
the libraries. The Federdlist exists in vain
for nine-tenths of our lawyers and legis-
lators. The works of Irving. Cooper and
Prescott, once regarded as national glories,
are little read by men and women who have
reached maturity since the war. As for
the lesser lights Percival, Mrs.
Sigourney-there are none so poor as to do
them reverence. Even the venerable mai
esty of .Webster's Unabridged Dictionary"
has been profaned by ruthless iconoclasts.
1t is coming to be admitted as an axiom that
there is no American science, literature or
art worth mentioning in comparison with
that OF Europe.
In religious opinions the change is even
more marked. The distinctive doctri nes of
the creeds are no longer preached-the
creeds themselves are unknown to their
professed believers Modern Methodists
know little of the writings of Wesley,
Watson and Fletcher, which are, neverthe-
less, held to be their standards of doctrine
Few Congregationalists outside Of New Eng
land can give an Ineligible account of the
''Saybrook Platform" and few Presbyteri-
ans would venture to undergo examination
upon even the bare outlines of the West
minister Catechism. The Unitarians arc
suffering from lack of unity and the Uni =
vcrsalists find that they have built upon
too narrow creed. The ''New Church"
has become an old story tho
various reformed" bodies admit their
need OF reformation. Lutherans, CAL
vinists and Arminians are alike ig-
the men whose names they bear. The Pos
itivists hannah fhair lack of corfifuIo tIo