Wichita eagle., 1888-03-13
BORROWED THUNDER AND EvOLU
TON.

| To the Editor of the Daily Eagle.
'Kansan,' in trying to refute what 1
said about Garfeld's expression in New
York upon the death of Lincoln, only
enlightens me and proves the truth of an
undeniable proposition in all nature, i. g. g,
evolution. A man of enlightenment
only denies it through the force of false
teaching and special prejudice; and even
in doing this he proves the fact. Nature
has provided that the man of unbiased
views intellectually shall evolve gradu-
ally, and often retrograde, and then in a
future generation regain additional
scope. He does this by the force of his
Environments. If Frederick said. "My
son is my slave, but Christ lives" as l
doubt not he did, Garfield very likely
read it and became struck with its force,
In this way he would repeat the idea
on occasions without being con-
scious of his authority, particularly.
Any one must admit that a religiously
inclined man like Garfield. reared when
he was and where he was, when the
great mass of the provincial Americans
were intensely religious, would more
aptly use a religious phrase than an ire
ligious one. Had the climax appeared
to Ingersoll in speech, no one believes
that he would have said "God reigns
and the government still lives" He
would, no doubt, have said, Death is
the position of all men, and great as Mr..
Lincoln was. and as much as we loved
him, this great government lives not
alone through the power of one man:
and this great people who have done
prodigies of valor and self-sacrifce to
save this great government in the field
will cotinue to defend and assure its
safety"
stick to the proposition and elaborate,
that from Garfield through anyone
to Frederick, and on as far back as
human research can it, 90 will be
found that the circumstance Of death,
Immortality, the presence and power of
God with a religiously inclined or trained
speaker dealing with an impending and
doubtful crisis are always the conditions
governing that and antecedent kindred
phrases. Ii / am not mistaken the
writer caused the phrase as used by Gar
field to be adopted by the university of
that name as its real motto. If it has
been, the seminary will re-evolve, re-
apply and scatter it through the world
on future occasions. But it will never
lose its origin away beyond Garfield.
The biased ana weak point in Kan
san reasoning is clearly shown when he
refers to Napoleon as great scoundrel.
If kansan had been in the direct line of
evolutionary succession as Napoleon
was he would have done as Napoleon
did. Napoleon was by necessity good.
bad and Indifferent according to the cir
cumstances controlling him at the time.
kansan has a rarity of Christian char
ity for Napolean. He remembers his
bad deeds but not his good ones. when
Napolean spoke of his empire founded
upon force in comparison with that of
Christ founded upon love, he only re-
turned the converse compliment OF
Christ himself when he said: Render /
unto Cesar the the things which are |
Caesars, and My kingdom is not Of this |
earth. Napoleans kingdom was legiti- !
mate and Of this earth and he is entitled /
TO its credits. The idea that Napolean, 1
the greatest genius who ever lived on 1
this earth: the man who humbled kings 4
and rewarded lowly merit, and paved /
the way for greater progress. envying I
Christ because he had more soldiers. An /
infant, girl an old, grey and decrepid
man or woman is fit for a legionary in the
army of Christ But Napolean needed
the bone and: Drawn of strong men to
90 the work of his destiny on this earth.
Napoleon led the material for
iorn hope and bloody conquests
that the spiritual hosts Of Christ might
follow. Napoleon was the friend OF true :
religion. When he found il upon the
legitimate GRAND of mercy and charity
he facilitated it. When he found it only
a cloak To cover political intrigue he
used IT or crushed il TO suit his purposes.
He always acknowledged his awful des-
tiny and recognized the authority and
power of God But Napoleon could
never acknowledge the existence of
and power In any human agent