New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-07-26
THE ONAKER As A RULER.

When II was seen that the disintegration ar
,,c.ea everv nrospect Of llfe-art learning society
theories Of property. morals and government
and that on every side the populacc was rising
10 share the world with the orders which had so
ling nosscseed H. there was that kind Of reaction
which left groups Of people stationary al every
step along the line Of progress. a sect that
separated from the medieval Church in the ff-
teenth century organized upon body of beliefs
much more elaborate and complicated than a
new scot in the sixteenth century deemed neces-
sarv The Oualers almost the last Of the really
influential separatists, carried away almost
nothing from expiring medaevallsm-less even
than the Baptists In their revulson against
system they went so far that they had to give
way TO some reaction among themselves. III
We should read Of Quaker doctrine. says Mr..
Fisher. 1--WE might expect to find the people AN
abstract essence Of spirituality without enough
Of human nature left to stir the dust Fortunate
" for the world. men do not always live up close
to their creeds" Then he goes on to say that in
many very excellent books that have been writ
ten about the Quakers it was only the theoreti-
cal Ouakers that were described without the
softening Of human passions. In Pennsylvania
the human side OF the Quaker asserted itself
early against pure theory. This was due to an
In other parts Of the world the Quakers were
under the domination Of others: in Pennsylvania
they were the holders 81 political power. In
England they could pei sistently oppose war, off,
cial oa;hs and politics. But In Pennsylvania
their quiet religious contemplation was inter-
rupted by responsibilities OF state. They found
that they had 10 bind other people by oaths.
though they took none themselves and they
failed In developing a state without force. Mr..
Fisher does not aude to the complaints Of other
colonies that Pennsylvania left them sometimes
20 fight her battles The fact was that when
the lively Scotch Irish began 10 fill up the noun
tain region, the Quakers and peaceful Germans
Of the East could not have kept the colony out
Of the lighting. If they had tried to do so. Mean
while the Quakers not only grew rich themselves,
but they created and administered prosperous
commonwealth They were men OF the world In
spite Of themselves. Their quetism was broken
In upon from every side Above all, the Pennsyl-
vania Quaker soon ceased 10 oppose learning. 1t
was James Logan Quaker, and at the same time
lover OF books who first made In Philadelphia
the beginning Of public library.
1t was perhaps. a good thing that common
wealth managed as nearly might be on strict
principles OF Quakerism should have had in its
population so strong conservative element as
the Pennsylvania Dutch. II Is said Of these peo-
pie that they have preserved more Of the pcculi-
aritios OF the Fatherland OF the seventeenth con-
fury than are to be found in the Germany OF to-
day. The only point on which they asserted
absolute freedom from inherited tradition was In
the matter Of forming religious sects Aside from
the two great churches. the Reformed and the
Lutheran. the list Of variations IL bewilderrg.
There were Mennopitcs Thinkers and Sch senk-
ha rio OF inn, ute huft hon
came by new accession by subdivision the
Separatists the AmIsh, the United Brethren, the
Labadists Newborn, New Mooners. lions
Bruder. Ronsdorfer. Inspired Quietists, Gichtel
ians. Oepellians Mountain Men, River Brethren,
Brinser Brethren. all full of some particular kind
OF German mysticism. These people did not all
despise learning. They revered 1t. But 1t
the rather useless learning OF an old time, from
which the outer world had already escaped. In
all matters but religion the people wished to do
solely their fathers had done. Their pros
perity as farmers gave them reason for their
conservatism. But after all they no longer cul
tivate their farms as their ancestors did. they no
longer talk their ancestral language, and they
would seem provincial In Germany as in the
United States Mr.. Fisher seems to hint that
they have hindered the development Of the State
that with more active population the State
might have been the first instead Of the second
in the Union. But one who looks to the Union
as a whole and to the future may we'll wonder II
Americans not reducing themselves to one
pattern fast enough without calling on the Penn
sylyania Dutch TO change their old ways. In a
world of so much hurry and hustle and change
II Is pleasant 10 read Of race that sticks TO the
soil that hands farms from generation to
generation, untouched by that hidcous modern
novelty, a mortgage. On the other hand. II Is
noteworthy that In the case Of Bayard Taylor
and jeremiah s. Black genius seemed to come
from a minsling OF German blood with that OF
another race
III.
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