The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-06-14

tlngulshed senator on death as follows,
both quotations being fros- The Congress
sional Record:
INGALLS, THE AGNOsrIC-S ., 1888.
Ben Hill has gone to the undiscovered country.
Whether his journey thither was but one step
across an imperceptible frontier, or whether an
interminable ocean black, unfuctuating and
voiceless, stretches between these earthly coasts
and those invisible shores, we do not know.
Whether on that August morning after death
be saw more glorious sun rise with unimagin-
able splendor above a celestial horizon, or
whether his apathetic and unconscious ashes
still sleep in cold obstruction and inSensble OBJ
Gvion, we do not know.
Whether his strong and subtle energies found
instant exercise in another forum, whether his
dexterous and disciplined faculties are now con-
tending in a higher senate than ours for SIl-
prenlacy, or whether his powers were dissipated
and dispersed with his parting breath, we do not
know. Whether his passions. ambitions and Of
fections still sway, attract and impeI, whether he
yet remembers us as remember him, do
not know.
These are the unsolved, the insoluble problems
OF mortal life and human destiny which prompted
the troubled patriarch ask that momentouS
question for which the centuries have given no
answer: III man die, shall ne live AGAIN.
Every man is the center Of circle whose fatal
circumference he cannot pass
Within its narrow confines he is potential, be-
yond it he perSheS; aud If Immortality is a splen-
did but delusive dream, if the incompleteness of
every career, even the longest and most fortu-
nate be not supplemented and perfected after its
termination here, then he who breads to die
should fear to live for life is tragedy more desc
late and inexpiicable than death.
INGALLS, THE BELIEvER-FEB. %, 1889
Unless We survive the structure Of laws and
customs upon which society is based are de-
tected imposture; the codes Of morality and jus
uce, the sentiments Of gratitude and faith, are
empty formulas, without force or conservation.
Why should their inculcations be needed, If in
this life only we have hope (and consciouSness)!
Our passions and our pleasures should be the
guides Of conduct, and virtue is indeed a super
stition and duty must be chinlera if life ends at
the grave.
Unless we survive, the ties of birth, affection
and friendship are deusive mockery. Neither
vener&tion nor reverence is due TO the dead if
they are but DUST il the life of Burnes terni-
mated upon this banb and shoal Of time, if no
morning is to dawn upon the night in which he
Sleeps then sorrow has no consolation and the
Impressive and solemn ceremony which we ob-
serve today has no more significance than the
tainted pageant of the stage.
If the existence of Burnes was but troubled
Dream why should we pause TO recount his vir-
6les, and that his associates should assemble in
solemn sorrow around this voiceleSS sepulcher.
No cenotaph should be reared for posteriCy, the
memory of their achievements, if those who come
after them are TO be their only Successors in
nihlation and extinction. Why should their in
quotations be beeded? Perjury IS a (derisve) Jest
The latest prayer of Burnes' departing spirit has
no more sanctity to Us, who soon or late must fol-
low him, than arrow that is spent, or a tape-
that is burned out. This is the conclusion which
the philosophy OF negattOn must accept at last.
If these teachings are right then obedience TO law
is an indefensible servitude; rulers and mRgiS
trstes are deSpotS. tolerated only by popular inn
becility. Justice is denial Of liberty. Honor
and truth trivial rhapsooies; murder and per
jury are derisivo jests and taeir harsh definitions
frivolous phrases invented by tyrants to i'm
pose upon the tiInidity OF towards and the credu-
lity OF slaves.
This is the conclusion which the philosophy Of
negation must accept at last. Such is the felicity
of those degrading preceptS which make the cpl
taph the end. II these teachers are night then va
are atoms in a moral chaos