The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-05-30
INDIYIDUALISM AND THE STATE.

V
records the downfall of indiVidualism.
Systems of oppression, whether founded
upon principles of indIvidualism or
upon principles of state, evolve the
agents of their W destruction.
The battle to establish the reign OF
reason has waged fast and furious
through all the ages. The march OF
mind is so far progressed that imperial
government is impossible. The record
of all time is but data from which this
conclusion is drawn.
The reign of Caesar could but have
its natural course. The imperial
regime cast a dismal shadow over all
, the efforts of independent genius, on
|, all lofty ASPIRATIONS, on all individual
, freedom. Absolutism in a system OF
individualism is tyrrany and tyrrany
demoralized state of society. 1t is
, %consonant with mans %fallibility to
presume that such a government could
not live in these progressive and
enlightened times. The reign of
Napoleon could not go on unbroken
with this principle of right at work
against it. He was n child of genius ;
his soul was splendid with its vivid
fire. He was clothed in the beauty
and power of immortal glory.
Yet this favored child has soiled his
robes divine; he has cast his crown
into the mire; and, like a beggard
prince and a throneless king, has
bartered his soul wealth to crafty that
unsuitable thirst-ambition. See that
ambitious and degraded genius march
ing DER dead men, widowed wives and
orphan children! See him sacrificing
for himself all honor, his country and
his Cod Seek We the cause of empireP
Ye have 1t there,
Ii ambition prompts a man to destroy
his rivals and hli the world with
miseries in order to climb the supreme
power, then it is an insult to The
human understanding to make this
ambition synonymous with patriotism.
1t was fraud, vice and d~ebauchery,
brought on by an ambitious clique,
that flung ancient Rome from her
throne of supreme power and authority
into the dust; a heap of magnificent
ruins.
1t was a lack OF unison and patriot
ism on the part of her citizens that
crumbled the walls of proud old
Athens, and obliterated her forever as
a worldly power. Law and order, the
first conditions of society, had been
overthrown.
But it is inconsistent with human
nature to conceive of man void of
ambition. The world owes its position
today to this irresistible tendency OF
oil Intaltnnnf mind Dnf hoe H.
spirit of an advancing civilization
cleansed The body polite OF this dread
full disease which stagnates the arteries
of governmental bodies? The record
of the past decade in our own country
is positive evidence that The spirit has
not yet accomplished its desired end.
Can we hope for clean, honest admin
istration of government when the
democracy of the republic holds I'M
disputed swayP
Order is natures smile; disorder is
her frown. There can be no smiles |
of nature While the ambitious principle
of individualism is at work. We are
even now in the midst of a great muir
murIng sea of discomfort. Is there no
remedy for this stigmatic condition of
affairsP There Is only N system of
government under which nations can
live and become immortal; that is the
true government of the slate.
The world has seen the time when
an oligarchy was the only practicable
form of government but the front of
the world has entirely changed; the
wheel of ages has completely turned;
the minds of men are clearer and more
patriotIcaily inclined towards true
ambition and love of country.
Peace or earth, good Will to men,
with equity and equality stamped upon
its face-has gone forth as the fiat of a
new age. The world has furnished
ambitious men, who have wreathed
their hrows in chaplets, and who have
carved a way TO glory through the
fiery track of opposition, to their
homes among the stars.
Ambition in a right cause has some
times met Its death. Poland was wiped
from the roll of nations by the iron
hand of despotism; but freedom did
not die with KoskiuscO. Emmett died
upon the scaffold, but his name is
enshrined in the hearts and woven in
the songs of all true Irishmen.
The restless tides of humanity will
rush hither and thither over the land
of battles. The ages will sweep on,
and
"Rift the hills, roll the waters, fash the
lightnings, weigh the sun"
ment will be waited on every breeze
that signs through our native trees,
and be heard in every slumberlng echo
that awakes to the call of freedom.
"But for a that, and a. that, tits coming
yet for a that;
When man to man the world DER, shall
brithers be for a that"
The twentieth century is the buoy
around which the ship of state will
turn. The reign of blind force shall
slowly pass from earth; the diabolical
perfection of political Vaccinations
will meet its check in an enlightened
patriotism. The ''arbitrament of war;
will not be seen.
The law of love and love as law will
all the coming ages. The social
plan will be elevated.
This age is a time when selfish indi-
and the greed for mammon
almost eclipse the sacred zeal for
without which no nation
can maintain its liberty and prosperity.
But peace shall be the honor word of
nations; the universal equality of men
will be established.
In the eyes of Him to whom a thou
sand years are but as a watch in the
the strIfes of men and the cen
turies in which they come are but as a
heart throb in the breast of
Time; and when the myriads of this old
shall look back through I'M
skies to the backgrounds of {
ages, the smoke and stain of contempt
have vanished from its heroes
Their strifes will be ended,
heir difficulties settled. They will be
-ocked in the cradle of eternity, rest in
peace, and wear their fadeless crowns c