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Title: The Origin, Tendencies and Principles of Government

Author: Victoria C. Woodhull

Release date: January 8, 2022 [eBook #67127]

Most recently updated: October 18, 2024

Language: English

Original publication: United States: Woodhull, Claflin & Co, 1871

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ORIGIN, TENDENCIES AND PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT ***

Transcriber’s Note:

The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

THE

ORIGIN, TENDENCIES AND PRINCIPLES

OF

GOVERNMENT:

OR,

A REVIEW OF THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS

FROM EARLY HISTORIC TIME TO THE PRESENT;

WITH

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE FUTURE OF

THE UNITED STATES

AS THE

REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD

AND THE

FORM OF ADMINISTRATION WHICH WILL SECURE THIS CONSUMMATION. ALSO, PAPERS ON HUMAN EQUALITY, AS REPRESENTED BY LABOR AND ITS REPRESENTATIVE, MONEY; AND THE MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE FROM A SCIENTIFIC STANDPOINT, WITH ITS PROPHECIES FOR THE GREAT FUTURE.

BY VICTORIA C. WOODHULL.

NEW YORK:

WOODHULL, CLAFLIN & CO., 44 BROAD STREET.

1871.

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1871, by VICTORIA C. WOODHULL, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

FROM THE

CO-OPERATIVE PRESS,

30 BEEKMAN STREET,

NEW YORK.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

God in Creation, History and Government,

1

Constitution of the United States,

3

First Pronunciamento,

19

A Review of the General Situation,

23

Second Pronunciamento,

36

The Tendencies of Government,

41

Woman’s Idea of Government,

86

The Limits and Sphere of Government,

88

The Principles of Government,

109

Papers on Labor and Capital,

128

Paper on Finance and Commerce,

174

The Basis of Physical Life,

205

The Tendencies and Prophecies of the Present Age,

223

INTRODUCTORY.

Specializations have been characteristic of the present generation. Branches of science, philosophy or art have been selected and treated as though possessed of great and independent importance. The process of individuality has been the cause; but true evolution, whether in man or matter, consists in viewing whatever is presented for consideration as being related to all the rest, and as a part of the whole.

It will be evident to the careful reader that the various subjects contained in this volume were not originally prepared for this purpose. In several instances the same points receive consideration, which, while they perhaps interfere with the general consecutiveness of the entire work, would interfere still more with the construction of its parts, were they omitted. For this we have no other apology to offer.

Perhaps, however, an explanation is due for errors which have undoubtedly been passed unnoticed. During the publication we have been variously engaged and not able to devote the time actually requisite to reviewing a work of this character. Very much of the proof-reading has necessarily been intrusted to others, and we regret that some typographical errors have crept in. Those we have noticed are so evident they scarcely need be mentioned. In one case evolution has been rendered revolution; in another, evolve, revolve; in another, farce, force, etc. All who might desire to read part of this book may not care for other parts. Those who would find food for thought in “The Basis of Physical Life” might not care to inquire whether the governmental evolution of the world has been consistent and persistent; but we trust that everybody who takes up this book will carefully read “The Limits and Sphere and the Principles of Government,” and “Papers on Labor and Capital and Commerce,” for these immediately concern us all.

In introducing the Constitution of the United States and the late action in reference to human rights, it is hoped to meet in a manner the rapidly-growing demand for information upon the Woman Question, and in giving it the prominence of introducing the book to our readers, we trust to cause further inquiry into the subject of the equality of human rights. Asking the indulgence of an ever generous public we commit our effort to its care, with the hope that the Providence of God may approve it, and that it may benefit that humanity in whose cause I profess to labor.

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL

NEW YORK, February 1, 1871.

GOD IN CREATION, IN HISTORY AND IN GOVERNMENT.

Almighty God! Who art alone first cause,

Of all that Nature works through changeless laws,

Maker and author of whate’er we see

That lives Thy life amid eternity.

Look back ere time was, and the face of earth,

Lifeless and still, was solitude and dearth;

No lovely valleys and no hills sublime;

No rocks or waters marked the hours of time.

Yet look again; behold the grass-clad hills,

Dew-spangled, multitudinous with rills,

Yet lifeless still: no reason and no sight,

That in these many glories know delight.

Yet look again; field-beasts and birds of sky

Range woods and glades mere hunger to supply;

And time rolls onward, rocks grow old and gray,

And Nature’s face is wrinkled with decay.

Yet look again; Creation’s fullness past,

And one supreme is born. Man comes at last;

Man, who to man is what God is to earth;

God’s image in the soul; in form her birth.

Yet look again; Man reaches to his prime,

Like God, creating through fixed laws and time,

Must he not, too, through each gradation go,

Reaching to higher passes from the low?

Is not our life breathed forth from God’s own breath?

Once having lived, can we in truth know death?

Each soul from birth until the final sleep,

Must on God’s own fixed lines its travel keep.

Then, wherefore, with loud prayer and unctuous face,

To brother say: “Ye run a foolish race

To the abyss.” For how shall any know

Whither God’s ministry shall make us go?

Doubt ye the power that governs everything

That lovely earth from chaos forth did bring?

Canst mark the line where ceases God’s command

From work that’s done by man’s own shaping hand?

Forever, no! For man is but effect

Of causes which the Father doth direct;

Each act and thought and movement of his soul

Hath source in God, the Infinite and Whole.

From earthly things man must his body feed;

But doth not soul from Heaven its nurture need?

His earthly frame bound earthward by fixed laws,

Doth not the soul yearn for a heavenly cause?

Brothers to brothers linked, and each to all,

Live we one life on this terrestrial ball;

One life of those who live and those who die,

Of those whom sight knows and whom memory.

Those elder brothers on that farther shore,

Risen higher than we in wisdom and in lore,

Send messages of knowledge and of love;

But know we well that these come from above!

For angels’ wisdom to the earth descends,

And each fresh hour some bright, fresh wisdom sends;

Each day some wonder of new lore displayed,

Each year man’s mind with triumph new arrayed.

Can mouldering relics, or can fossiled creeds,

Provide the quickening age her mighty needs?

Can codes, half dead, framed in days long gone by,

The soul’s new wants, so manifold, supply?

New palaces of Science, Faith and Truth,

Tower o’er the humble dwellings of our youth.

Shall rule and State, then, in their old ways stand,

Denying Progress her supreme demand?

Yet stand they do, and with contemptuous pride,

Fling Reason, Progress, Hope and Faith aside.

Shall the soul’s mighty yearnings thus have end?

As well with words think God’s own plans to bend.

Decrees are sealed in Heaven’s own chancery,

Proclaiming universal liberty.

Rulers and Kings who will not hear the call,

In one dread hour shall thunder-stricken fall.

So moves the growing world with march sublime,

Setting new music to the beats of Time;

Old things decay, and new things ceaseless spring,

And God’s own face is seen in everything.

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

ARTICLE I.

SEC. I.—All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

SEC. II.—1. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year, by the people of the several States; and the electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State Legislature.

2. No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the State in which he shall be chosen.

3. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians, not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each State shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three; Massachusetts, eight; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, one; Connecticut, five; New York, six; New Jersey, four; Pennsylvania, eight; Delaware, one; Maryland, six; Virginia, ten; North Carolina, five; South Carolina five, and Georgia, three.

4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.

5. The House of Representatives shall choose their Speaker and other officers, and shall have the sole power of impeachment.

SEC. III.—1. The Senate of the United States shall be composed two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.

2. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided, as equally as may be, into three classes. The seats of the Senators of the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the sixth year, that one-third maybe chosen every second year; and, if vacancies occur by resignation or otherwise, during the recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.

3. No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he is chosen.

4. The Vice-President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided.

5. The Senate shall choose their other officers and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice-President or when he shall exercise the office of the President of the United States.

6. The Senate shall have the sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose they shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside; and no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the members present.

7. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend farther than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States; but the party convicted shall, nevertheless, be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment according to law.

SEC. IV.—1. The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State, by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regulation, except as to the places of choosing Senators.

2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year; and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

SEC. V.—1. Each House shall be judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own members; and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner and under such penalties as each House may provide.

2. Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member.

3. Each House shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts as may, in their judgment, require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question, shall, at the desire of one-fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.

4. Neither House, during the session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

SEC. VI.—1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall, in all cases, except for treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to or returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House they shall not be questioned in any other place.

2. No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no person holding any office under the United States, shall be a member of either House, during his continuance in office.

SEC. VII.—1. All bills for raising revenues shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments, as on other bills.

2. Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approves, he shall sign it; but if not, he shall return it, with his objections, to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of that House shall agree to pass the bill, it must be sent, together with the objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two-thirds of that House, it shall become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays; and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill, shall be entered on the journal of each House respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress, by their adjournment, prevent its return; in which case it shall not be a law.

3. Every order, resolution, or vote, to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the same shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two-thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in the face of a bill.

SEC. VIII.—The Congress shall have power—

1. To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises; to pay the debts, and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States:

2. To borrow money on the credit of the United States:

3. To regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes:

4. To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States:

5. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures:

6. To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States:

7. To establish post-offices and post-roads:

8. To promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing, for limited times, to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries:

9. To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court; to define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations:

10. To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning capture on land and water:

11. To raise and support armies; but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years:

12. To provide and maintain a navy:

13. To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces:

14. To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrection and repel invasions:

15. To provide for organizing, arming and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia, according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.

16. To exercise exclusive legislation, in all cases whatsoever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of Government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings:—And

17. To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.

SEC. IX.—1. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight; but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation not exceeding ten dollars for each person.

2. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.

3. No bill of attainder, or ex-post facto law, shall be passed.

4. No capitation, or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

5. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any State. No preference shall be given, by any regulation of commerce or revenue, to the ports of one State over those of another; nor shall vessels bound to or from one State, be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another.

6. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a regular statement or account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money, shall be published from time to time.

7. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no persons holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

SEC. X.—1. No State shall enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex-post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility.

2. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net produce of all duties and imposts laid by any State on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops or ships of war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another State, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.

ARTICLE II.

SEC. I.—1. The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and together with the Vice-President, chosen for the same term, be elected as follows:

2. Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector.

3. [Annulled. See Amendments, Art. XII.]

4. The Congress may determine the time of choosing the elector, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States.

5. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office, who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

6. In case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President; and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability, both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected.

7. The President shall at stated times receive, for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected; and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States or any of them.

8. Before he enter on the execution of his office he shall take the following oath or affirmation:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

SEC. II.—1. The President shall be Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia of the several States when called into actual service of the United States; he may require the opinion in writing of the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and he shall have power to grant reprieves and pardon for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

2. He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the consent and advice of the Senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law. But the Congress may, by law, vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

3. The President shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session.

SEC. III.—He shall, from time to time, give to the Congress information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.

SEC. IV.—1. The President, Vice-President and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

ARTICLE III.

SEC. I.—1. The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may, from time to time, ordain and establish. The judges, both of the Supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behavior, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

SEC. II.—1. The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority; to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; to controversies to which the United States shall be a party; to controversies between two or more States, between a State and citizens of another State, between citizens of different States, between citizens of the same State claiming lands under grants of different States, and between a State or the citizens thereof, and foreign States, citizens or subjects.

2. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress may make.

3. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the State where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.

SEC. II.—1. Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

2. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason; but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture, except during the life of the person attainted.

ARTICLE IV.

SEC. I.—1. Full faith and credit shall be given, in each State, to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may, by general laws, prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceeding, shall be proved, and the effect thereof.

SEC. II.—1. THE CITIZENS OF EACH STATE SHALL BE ENTITLED TO ALL PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES OF CITIZENS IN THE SEVERAL STATES.

2. A person charged in any State with treason, felony or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime.

3. No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.

SEC. III.—1. New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislature of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress.

2. The Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of the United States or of any particular State.

SEC. IV.—THE UNITED STATES SHALL GUARANTEE TO EVERY STATE IN THIS UNION A REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT, AND SHALL PROTECT EACH OF THEM AGAINST INVASION; AND, ON APPLICATION OF THE LEGISLATURE, OR OF THE EXECUTIVE (WHEN THE LEGISLATURE CANNOT BE CONVENED), AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

ARTICLE V.

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution; or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall, in any manner, affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; AND THAT NO STATE, WITHOUT ITS CONSENT, SHALL BE DEPRIVED OF ITS EQUAL SUFFRAGE IN THE SENATE.

ARTICLE VI.

1. All debts contracted, and engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

2. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby; anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

3. The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State Legislatures, and executive and judicial officers both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, under the United States.

ARTICLE VII.

The ratification of the convention of nine States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the same.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, President.

WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

ARTICLE II.

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

ARTICLE III.

No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner; nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

ARTICLE IV.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

ARTICLE V.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject, for the same offence, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall he be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

ARTICLE VI.

In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for the defence.

ARTICLE VII.

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved; and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States than according to the rules of the common law.

ARTICLE VIII.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

ARTICLE IX.

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

ARTICLE X.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

ARTICLE XI.

The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign State.

ARTICLE XII.

1. The electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same State with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President; and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which list they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of Government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate; the President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted; the person having the greatest number of votes for President shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no one has such majority, then, from the persons having the highest numbers, not exceeding three, on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President, whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.

2. The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if no person have a majority, then, from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice.

3. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

ARTICLE XIII.

If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain any title of nobility or honor, or shall, without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office or emolument, of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them or either of them.

ARTICLE XIV.

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

2. Representatives shall be appointed among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed; but whenever the right to vote at any election for electors of President and Vice-President, or for United States Representatives in Congress, executive and judicial officers, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in that State.

3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, elector of President or Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath as member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State Legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; but Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for the payment of pensions and bounties for service in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned, but neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave, but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

ARTICLE XV.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color or previous conditions of servitude.

[Revised from the New York Herald of April 2, 1870.]

FIRST PRONUNCIAMENTO.

The disorganized condition of parties in the United States at the present time affords a favorable opportunity for a review of the political situation and for comment on the issues which are likely to come up for settlement in the Presidential election in 1872. As I happen to be the most prominent representative of the only unrepresented class in the republic, and perhaps the most practical exponent of the principles of equality, I request the favor of being permitted to address the public through the medium of the Herald. While others of my sex devoted themselves to a crusade against the laws that shackle the women of the country, I asserted my individual independence; while others prayed for the good time coming, I worked for it; while others argued the equality of woman with man, I proved it by successfully engaging in business; while others sought to show that there was no valid reason why women should be treated, socially and politically, as being inferior to man, I boldly entered the arena of politics and business and exercised the rights I already possessed. I therefore claim the right to speak for the unenfranchised women of the country, and believing as I do that the prejudices which still exist in the popular mind against women in public life will soon disappear, I now announce myself as candidate for the Presidency.

I am quite well aware that in assuming this position I shall evoke more ridicule than enthusiasm at the outset But this is an epoch of sudden changes and startling surprises. What may appear absurd to-day will assume a serious aspect to-morrow. I am content to wait until my claim for recognition as a candidate shall receive the calm consideration of the press and the public. The blacks were cattle in 1860; a negro now sits in Jeff Davis’ seat in the United States Senate. The sentiment of the country was, even in 1863, against negro suffrage; now the negro’s right to vote is acknowledged by the constitution of the United States. Let those, therefore, who ridiculed the negro’s claim to exercise the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and who lived to see him vote and hold high public office, ridicule the aspirations of the women of the country for complete political equality as much as they please. They cannot roll back the rising tide of reform. The world moves.

That great Governmental changes were to follow the enfranchisement of the negro I have long foreseen. While the curse of slavery covered the land progress was enchained, but when it was swept away in the torrent of war, the voice of justice was heard, and it became evident that the last weak barrier against complete political and social equality must soon give way. All that has been said and written hitherto, in support of equality for women has had its proper effect on the public mind, just as the anti-slavery speeches before secession were effective; but a candidate and a policy are required to prove it. Lincoln’s election showed the strength of the feeling against the peculiar institution; my candidacy for the Presidency will, I confidently expect, develop the fact that the principles of equal rights for all have taken deep root. The advocates of political equality for women have, besides a respectable known strength, a great undercurrent of unexpressed power, which is only awaiting a fit opportunity to show itself. By the general and decided test I propose, we shall be able to understand the woman question aright, or at least have done much toward presenting the issue involved in proper shape. I claim to possess the strength and courage to be the subject of that test, and look forward confidently, to a triumphant issue of the canvass.

The present position of political parties is anomalous. They are not inspired by any great principles of policy or economy. Political preachers paw the air; there is no live issue up for discussion. The only seemingly distinctive feature upon which a complete and well-defined diversion exists, is on the dead issue of negro equality, and this is to the political leaders a harp of a thousand strings.

The minor questions of the hour do not affect parties as such, and no well-defined division of sentiment exists. A great national question is wanted, to prevent a descent into pure sectionalism. That question exists in the issue, whether woman shall remain sunk below the right granted to the negro, or be elevated to all the political rights enjoyed by man. The simple issue whether woman should not have this complete political equality with the negro is the only one to be tried, and none more important is likely to arise before the Presidential election. But besides the question of equality others of great magnitude are necessarily included. The platform that is to succeed in the coming election must enunciate the general principles of enlightened justice and economy.

A complete reform in our system of prison discipline, having specially in view the welfare of the families of criminals, whose labor should not be lost to them; the rearrangement of the system and control of internal improvements; the adoption of some better means for caring for the helpless and indigent; the establishment of strictly mutual and reciprocal relations with all foreign Powers who will unite to better the condition of the productive class, and the adoption of such principles as shall recognize this class as the true wealth of the country, and give it a just position beside capital, thus introducing a practical plan for universal government upon the most enlightened basis, for the actual, not the imaginary benefit of mankind.

These important changes can only be expected to follow a complete departure from the beaten tracks of political parties and their machinery; and this, I believe my canvass of 1872 will effect.

That the people are sick of the present administration and the principles it professes to sustain, is a proposition, I think, that does not require to be argued; but as I have now taken a decided stand against its continuance for another term of four years, and offered myself as a candidate for the Presidential succession, a few preliminary observations on the general management of our home and foreign policy will not be out of place. The present administration has been a failure from the beginning; weak, vacillating and deficient in moral courage, it commands neither the respect nor admiration of foreign Powers nor receives the active support of its party. The general management of our foreign and domestic affairs does not seem to have risen to the dignity of a policy; though it be allowed to have been consistent in its various parts, it has been destitute of that decision and firmness which characterized the victorious soldier who is now President.

A decided Cuban policy would not only have settled at once the inevitable destiny of that island, but would also have given republican sentiment in Spain an impetus, strengthened the South American republics and exercised a healthy influence in Mexico and Canada. But instead of this we have to submit to the consequences of a policy of cowardice. American citizens abroad are murdered by Spanish cut-throats, our consuls are insulted, and our flag is disgraced. This is unworthy of the American nation, and the people will hold Grant accountable. A giant who never shows his strength is neither feared nor respected. On the important questions of taxation, the tariff and the public debt, the administration seems to have no settled policy. Taxation, whether for the support of the Government or the payment of the debt, should in all cases be general and never special. No special interest, nor several special interests, should be singled out to sustain an extra proportion of taxation. And in regard to the tariff the same principle should be enforced. Whether the public debt be a blessing or a curse, it exists. Created to save the republic, it must be paid strictly according to both the spirit and the letter of the law. But there is no immediate necessity for paying it off. By a proper policy its payment might be made to extend through a hundred years, for even beyond that time will the benefits its creation produced be felt and appreciated. In older countries the pressure of national debt becomes a heavier charge and a mightier burden every succeeding year, but with us this is reversed. The development of our magnificent resources will render the gradual payment of our indebtedness easier of accomplishment with each decade of time.

All other questions, whether of a foreign or domestic nature, stand illustrated by the Cuban policy of the administration. A bold, firm and, withal, consistent national policy, if not at all times strictly within the conservative limits of international law, will always command the respect and support of the people.

With the view of spreading to the people ideas which hitherto have not been placed before them, and which they may, by reflection, carefully amplify for their own benefit, I have written several papers on Governmental questions of importance and will submit them in due order. For the present the foregoing must suffice. I anticipate criticism; but however unfavorable the comment this letter may evoke I trust that my sincerity will not be called in question. I have deliberately and of my own accord placed myself before the people as a candidate for the Presidency of the United States, and having the means, courage, energy and strength necessary for the race, intend to contest it to the close.

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL.

A VIEW OF THE GENERAL SITUATION.

NEW YORK, November 10, 1870.

In national as well as in individual affairs, it is well to occasionally take an exact account of the situation in which we are; to balance “our general books,” to see whether the balance is to the “debit or credit” or “profit and loss,” and to decide from the results obtained whether satisfactory progress has been made. As nothing more than “a journal” of such affairs as we shall take into the account has been kept, it will be our duty to “post” these affairs into a new “ledger” from existing “journals,” and also to enter up the new balances which we may find standing to the several accounts.

At no time since the close of the Revolutionary War has there been a time more fitting and inviting for such a work. The whole world is in a ferment, which was begun by the terrific strife into which the course of events forced us, and from which we have just emerged through the reconstruction of an almost demolished Governmental structure. Not all of the legitimate results of that strife are even yet externally apparent, either in our own country or in the world at large. There are various undercurrents, eddies and outcroppings which have never been taken into any consideration; but when considered, the destiny of this country, so long foreshadowed, but which was pretty nearly eclipsed, shines forth more clearly brilliant than ever before.

Whatever may have been the arguments favorable for the continuance of the institution of slavery, the destruction of it has rendered them nugatory, and but few of those who once used them could now be found to favor its resurrection. The atmosphere is cleared of the cloud it was draped with, under its influence, and the radiant sun of freedom now shines for all, and the star of hope our night was illumined by shall now no more be dimmed by the dense fogs that were wont to arise from its then already decaying carcass. With its destruction the lives of two great political parties passed away, and left the people with no distinct lines of demarkation. It is true that there bodies still exist, but the process of disintegration is rapidly going on, and the stench of their decay fills the nostrils of all whose senses are rendered acute by the intensifying power of intuitive perception.

Creation is from one point toward one purpose, the extremes of which course, are beyond the comprehension of human ken. Any fact in the line of its progress may be considered, and the relations it bears to contemporaneous facts determined. A fact isolated from all connections loses its significance. The comparison of a fact with other facts forms the basis of all relative knowledge, and the further this comparison is extended, the wider the range of this knowledge becomes: while an infinite series of facts constitutes the sum total of creation.

Hence, to obtain a substantially correct knowledge of the present, the facts of it must not only be considered as facts of the present, but their relations to, and dependencies upon prior facts, out of which they arose, must be traced, so that it may be determined why they exist. It is not sufficient to simply assert that this or that is thus or so. To do so carries no conviction nor prophetic knowledge of what must be next, as a necessary sequence. But if a retrospective glance be taken of the causes that produced it, it is thus demonstrated why it is thus. If the demonstration is placed with the fact, and their tendencies are examined, it may be fair to conclude that what they may next lead to, may be in a measure predicated. The chief value, then, of an intimate knowledge of the past is, that from it the future may be foreseen, and that the lesson it teaches may assist in the formation of aids to the natural order of things.

If a tree or plant is desired in a certain place, for a certain purpose, its growth is promoted by all the means which experience has demonstrated will assist. All other growths that draw from the same source for supplies, and thereby diminish its fountain of supplies, are destroyed; the weeds are uprooted, and if the natural supplies which the earth and air furnish are not sufficient for its demands, that which is lacking is supplied. The same line of action should govern in the various departments of nature, and especially in the higher departments of mind.

There is another consideration that should never be lost sight of when a survey of the situation is to be attempted; and this is, that while the facts which are to be passed upon bear special relations to their immediate predecessors and surroundings, that these with them bear certain definite, general relations to the facts of all past time, and to those that will be in all future time. The present is a part of the common order of the universe, extending infinitely backward and forward—a part of the line of evolvement, neither end of which can be compassed by human mind; and if we would learn well, we must learn all there is to learn regarding what we learn.

It is a definite and unanswerable proposition, then, that every nation of which we have historic record, was a result of pre-existing causes, and led to further effects, and that each filled and performed a part, especially its own, which was a natural and necessary result of the time and place it existed in. By a careful study of the rise and fall of each of the great nations that have existed and an analytic comparison of the elements of strength and decay that were prominent therein, and of their relations to each other, just deductions as to what the present will lead to, may be arrived at. If the present is the result of the past, the future must be the result of the present, and like it be the experiences of creation in the process of evolution from the infinite to the infinite.

Government, standing forth prominently as the grandest of all human conceptions and realizations, has in all times been the representative of civilization, and the principal means of its diffusion. Bearing this impress of importance, it may be well to examine the real significance of the term, or to find the relations it sustains to society. One fact meets us wherever we may search in the past—the fact of government Though it is one of the universal necessities and accompaniments of existence, it is extremely doubtful if its composition is realized to any considerable extent. Government means control—implies power. No people can create government because they cannot create power. An existing power may be organized into form by a people, and this becomes their government. This power is not in the individuals who exercise it, they are simply its servants. It is not the people who organize or consent to it; they are simply represented by it. It is above individuals, and is independent of peoples, though its channels of operation may be modified by individuals and peoples. Thus come all governments, while revolutions are the results of the outworking of principles, through peoples, who are their representatives. When analyzed, it thus appears that governments are independent of peoples, and always exist in some form while peoples come and pass away.

It is problematically true, that China was the first nation that arrived at a system of government at all removed from brute, individual force, and historically so, that there always was a westward tendency to empire. After China, India; then Assyria, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, general Europe and America. Each one of these nations, to Rome, was the result of the course of events, begun in China, to the course of which each succeeding one added its experiences. The progress of this course of events has encircled the world. It can go no further westward without crossing the Pacific and beginning again in China. What is the significance of this fact, or has it no special indications? It is evident that the old order of nature has completed a cycle, and that a new order will be commenced, and that, the new order is to spring from this country, and consequently, that we are its representatives. This is made doubly plain, when we refer to the fact that Asiatic tendencies are now eastward, and that John Chinaman is the new competition our laboring classes have to encounter.

It cannot be expected that the new order of events, we, as a country are inaugurating, will be characterized by the element of the old, just completed. It had its mission to perform. It accomplished it, and has passed away. Its fruit is our Government and the civilization of the present. A new mission begins. Are there any sources from which its character may be predicated? Though the creation has completed another cycle of progressive development, the common course of nature never stops. Therefore the same common order prevails now, that did when the planes of Iran poured forth its people westward.

One of the principal features of natural events has been a tendency on the part of all great nations to acquire universal dominion. Each in turn attempted it and failed, because of the imperfectly developed form of the government they sought to control by. What are the evidences that all future forms may not fail from similar causes, or specially, that the form we represent will not fail?

The first and most important evidence is, that in its organic principles the Brotherhood of the Human Race is recognized. All men are born free and equal, does not mean that all men born in the United States are free and equal, but that all men everywhere are. This, then, is the basis idea upon which our Government is built; whether the structure is yet perfect or not the foundation is, and can never be overturned. There can be no higher proposition upon which to build; therefore additions, tending to perfectability, must be made upon this foundation.

Another evidence is, that the world is becoming Americanized: that is, the world is assimilating to the American idea of freedom and equality. How and why? The vast populations other countries have transplanted to our soil are in constant communication with friends they left behind, who thus catch the spirit of equality and freedom, and become imbued with the spirit of our institutions, and thus involuntarily become like us, while still subjects of other powers.

All nations contribute to our strength, and by so doing render us not only peculiarly American in character, but cosmopolitan to the world. We are not only American, but European, Asiatic and African; while each of these are becoming American. We are, therefore, the centre of attraction for the world, and the world involuntarily recognizes our superior strength by giving up its population to increase it; while we repay it, not in physical strength, but with progressive and comprehensive ideas. In accordance with these facts, patent to every one, it is asserted, that The World is becoming Americanized, and that this is an evidence that the form of government by which we tend to universal control is founded on those general principles which give it that permanency, which insures its continuance until it shall become universal.

If the order of civilization is observed the same deduction will be arrived at The material universe has had its geologic periods The social has had and will have its periods to correspond. Nature maintains a regular and consistent order everywhere. It is the degree that this order is understood, by the general mind, that constitutes the sociologic periods of the world. The first era of civilization was inaugurated by the Assyrian and Egyptian empires, more especially the latter, more than 2000 years B. C.

This civilization began to spread in the barbaric world immediately after the famous conquests of Sesostris, and continued during the time of the Persian, Grecian and Roman empires, culminating with the downfall of the latter, and thus completing the order of civilization made possible by Egypt. Egypt conquered and levied tribute upon the barbarian. Rome conquered, and the barbarian became the Roman citizen. The present configuration of Europe rose from the ruins of Rome, and assumed the form through which a greater variety of power could operate than in the previous era.

No part of the world but has felt the mighty modifying influence of the civilizing power of modern Europe. It has permeated the entire temperate zone, penetrated the frozen latitudes north and south, and attacked the Hottentot of Central Africa and the Bushman of Australia. It organized legislation, perfected and maintained administration and made it possible for all minds to attain individuality, and for individuals, as such, to rise by personal merit, even from the lowest strata of society. By its procreative power a new continent, full of native purity and vitality, conceived, and a higher degree of life than it represented burst upon the startled world.

In the first era, it was one controlling mind operating for personal ends and aggrandizement; in the second, it was several, operating for the same end; in the third, it will be all minds merged in one channel, to operate for the good of the whole. The first was personal civilization thrust upon the barbarism of the world compelling it into servility; the second was sectional civilization exerting its influence, first upon its immediate subjects, and through them upon others less advanced; the third shall be general civilization, in which the utmost parts of the earth can join in one grand and common effort for mutual advancement, its peoples having risen to the recognition of the greatest of all human facts—the common brotherhood of mankind.

From these general observations the tendencies in the order of the universe must be inferred, and if there is any inference possible to be drawn, which will coincide with the present aspect of affairs, it is, that upon this country devolves the duty, no less than the privilege, of presenting the world with a form of administrative government that shall be possessed of the elements of perfection and duration; and this brings us down to the consideration, whether this general indication of the centuries does coincide with the condition in which the world is to-day.

Europe contains but four positive determining powers: Russia, Prussia, France and England, while the remainder of the Eastern Continent is unrepresented. The Western Continent contains the United States. France and Prussia have been the contending parties for simple European supremacy: the former probably also entertaining an ulterior design upon Africa. The policy of England and Russia is more comprehensive, and undoubtedly includes the possibility of a consolidated Continent. Consistent with this view, England is performing in India what Cæsar did in Gaul; and Russia, in Western Asia, what Rome did in “The East.” They comprehend that every nation is an object upon which change is indelibly stamped, and that it will remain so until some one of them shall arrive at a perfect system of government, which shall be the pattern for all government, or which shall absorb all government. These countries labor under one insurmountable difficulty. All the effort they expend to carry their policies abroad detracts just so much from their actual home strength, and they have no fountain, furnishing supplies to make good their expenditure, and they thus expand at the expense of vitality.

Notwithstanding this great difficulty, Russian supremacy might be a consistent conclusion, could the fact of the rapid diffusion of principles antagonistic to monarchy be left out of the consideration; but considered, as it necessarily must be, the legitimate conclusion is entirely different. It is too well known what sentiments lie suppressed in various parts of continental Europe—in Poland, Hungary, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and England—to ever make it possible that the common order of advancement should so change as to compel the general mind from general freedom toward absolute monarchy, as represented by Russia, or to any monarchy represented by any of the nations of Europe. The common course of events will not so change, but it will continue in the direction of general freedom, not only in Europe but over the entire continent. Considering the progress this sentiment has already made in connection with events which are transpiring in Europe, it is not presuming very much to say that it will ultimately convert Western and Central Europe into great republics, represented by the Latin and the Teuton.

So much for the special situation of Europe proper, as connected with its local policies. England and Russia have further reaching pretensions, and, by so having, their policies become intermingled with American policies.

The processes of civilization are soon to receive accelerating powers in Asia. England, by virtue of her great commercial influence, has already exerted very considerable modifying effect upon the vast population of India. China, by its fickle action regarding foreigners resident there, is claiming the attention of all interested countries, in such manner as will undoubtedly force these countries to use some other than moral suasion to compel its people to the common usages of the civilized world. Thus barbarism invites the elements which ultimately transform it into general worldly utility.

With China, the United States has more intimate connection, by reason of recent scientific progress, and, with England, will divide the honor of civilizing Eastern Asia. American influence, however, will be the preponderant influence, for the Chinese are attracted to this country, and the genius of our institutions cannot fail to react through such as come here upon China itself. While this process of evolution is going on in Eastern Asia, Russia will be effecting the same purposes in Western Asia, and thus these three nations will in due course of time reclaim the most densely populated part of the world and add it to the sum total of civilization.

There is a very important and highly suggestive inference to be drawn from the tendency the peoples of Europe have been exhibiting during the past few years. Italian unity has been accomplished, and German unity is about to be accomplished. It is not to be supposed that this process will stop short of further consolidations. Continental Europe is Latin and Teuton, and Slav, and this process cannot well cease until these are united under their respective governments. When this shall have been accomplished, thrones and crowns will have done their work, and the peoples will be ready to erect the Latinic, the Teutonic, and the Slavonic Republics, three mighty nations which could in peace and quiet pursue their respective appointments in the path of progress, until a necessity should arise for a still wider and more comprehensive unity, in which, under one head, the three should be united. They who have studied the general tendencies of governmental evolution cannot doubt but such a consummation awaits Continental Europe, nor that Asia is destined to be regenerated as above shadowed forth.

If such be the course events must take, what is the lesson to be gathered by that part of the world’s people who speak the English language? The location of the countries they inhabit does not so readily point to unity, but all their interests will compel it. The nations of the world instinctively seek equality of power, or rather, they seek to keep pace with each other in acquiring power. In view of the prospective union of the three dominant races in Continental Europe, where shall England look for her compensating power, except it be in a unity of all peoples speaking the English Language?

It is true that in this Western Continent there is a new race being built up, in whose composition all other races are destined to become blended, and which will inevitably be the dominant and the absorbing future race of the world. However, in the mean time, England’s only hope for the retention of an existence, or at least of any general power, will be to unite its peculiar national characteristics to the younger and more rapidly changing peoples of America. There might be reasons without number adduced in support of the suggested course, while valid ones against it cannot be found. The power such a nation would represent would be one that neither nor all of the prospective Continental European countries could hinder from pursuing its predestined work in Asia and Africa, to which latter division enterprise is just being attracted by the discovery of immense diamond countries, which are first offered as the necessary temptation to draw people to it, who shall afterward find other riches than precious stones within its virgin soil, as other than golden wealth has been found in California.

Thus, in as comprehensive a manner as possible, is presented the present general situation and its evident tendencies, which bring us to the special consideration of the present condition of the country, which, of all countries, is destined to play the most prominent part in the third order of civilization—the United States of America.

We have just arisen mightier than ever from a civil war which was intended by the world’s conservatism to destroy us, and with a population of forty millions we step at once into the front ranks of, and into the lead in, the grand march of progress. Our Government is a nearer approach to a popular form, and more nearly allied to true freedom and justice than any other in existence. We have, however, only to review the causes which led to the civil war to see how far we still are from a perfect form.

This war was either a necessary result of existing causes or else it was a great national blunder. Many who recognize no order or law in the progress of civilization, deny both these propositions, and affirm that the war was produced solely by the personal ambition of party leaders, representing the pro and con. of the institution of slavery. If the matter is viewed from the standpoint of the science of society, each one of these propositions is relatively true, but neither is absolutely so. The war was the necessary result of the growth of the principles of freedom within the general mind, in antagonism to special, local interests, which evidences that it did arise naturally, out of the existing conditions, while the individuals who were prominent upon either side may be considered as responsible for precipitating it. Those who stood by, constituting much the larger proportion of the representative men of the nation, and observed the growth of the conflict between the two extremes, without stepping in to control the situation, place it altogether in the light of a great national blunder or crime. Had the circumstances been controlled by this large third party, the first proposition would have been true, and yet the war have been prevented.

We are obliged to speak relatively of relative things, and to consider facts, isolated from the general sum of all facts, and in a special sense, and in this sense the war was an enormous national blunder, and should have been averted by a bold grasping and control of the circumstances on the part of the Government and those whose duty it was to have known what the result would be. These servants of the people, to whom was intrusted the welfare of the country, were utterly false and faithless, and allowed us to be precipitated, entirely unprepared, into a fratricidal war which cost the common country millions of lives and billions of treasure.

How much better would it have been had the situation been understood and controlled; had the Government shown itself competent to meet it; had it raised armies and occupied the disaffected country and then abolished slavery, which it was finally obliged to do, but which could have been done previously without the sacrifice of life and wealth. Such action would have exhibited the highest order of statesmanship and would have been the admiration of ages.

This examination of the causes which led to the war is made to show, that in our system of government as now administered, there is no responsibility anywhere, and if we drift into danger and destruction no one is accountable; and also, that it is the habitual practice, to evade issues which press for solution, by dodging along with small expedients, hoping the issues themselves will die out or pass away. This has been true of us as a government since corruption first began to find its emissaries among our legislators, and since, it has continually grown more and more decidedly a feature of its administration, until to-day we stand a gigantic nation without giving any indication that we realize our power or that we have any national policy other than to be quite certain that we do not interfere with any of the nice arrangements of other nations, or that we do not lend struggling freedom a sympathetic helping hand, such as we first acquired life by.

By whom are our legislative halls filled? Do we find any Jeffersons, Jacksons, Hamiltons, Bentons, Websters or Clays among them? No! As a rule, to which, however, there a few most honorable exceptions, there are all small men with ideas no more comprehensive than the districts or States they represent, and who make the purposes of personal gain the mainspring of all their actions. What can such men thus employed, know of a great nation’s power; or what her policy should be?

There have been two great political divisions of the people called Republican and Democratic, the issue between which, grew entirely out of the slavery question and its sequel, War and Reconstruction. These issues are all settled. Slavery can never more be made a party issue. All efforts that have been made to galvanize it into life have proved futile. The Democratic party leaders have pretty nearly given up the issue as utterly dead, though many of the rank and file still mouth “the nigger.” The Republican party has absolutely nothing to make it hold together except possession of place and power, which in these times of levying official taxation is no inconsiderable advantage. As for issues and policies, both parties absolutely lack them. The Democratic and Republican parties exist to-day in opposition to each other, simply and solely because they were opposed to each other upon the issues now dead. No live issues divide them. All of these which are before the people find advocates and opposers in both ranks, so that in reality there are no political parties in existence which represent any question to be solved or settled. Nothing could be more appropriate in the political musterings and parades of either party than that upon their banners should be inscribed—

WANTED, A POLICY.

It is evident, if another Presidential canvass passes over, that some grand issue must come up to give the people inspiration, and which will be of such character as to divide them, not such as would unite them unanimously; for to this last condition, it is to be feared, we have not yet arrived though there may be such things arise as will command as much unanimity as Washington commanded; but this could not be, except revolution occurs and it becomes the result of it.

With a young intelligence such as we represent, no old issues can be made to divide parties. Upon such questions as have heretofore been made the distinguishing features of political parties, there should be no misunderstanding. That there is, demonstrates that the principles of government have not been taught to the people. It teaches that party leaders have built up theories which lack the support of science and principle; and in this way all those issues upon which the permanent vitality of the country depends have been put before the people, colored and trimmed to suit their prejudices and to shape parties into opposition. Were all of these issues taught to the people as the legitimate deduction of the science of government, and entirely bereft of partisanship, they would all work together for the obtaining of more, greater and better conditions and privileges. To bring about this course for the people is the object of the science of society which is just beginning to be recognized.

There are but three principles by which all questions should be tested: Freedom, Equality and Justice; and when legislation shall be brought to the test of these, and entirely abstracted from partisanship, there will not be very much further legislation to be performed. All questions now undecided, which still remain before the people, such as those of finance, commerce, revenue, internal improvements, and international policy, should have the touchstone of these principles applied, and they should be decided thereby. It should be asked of them, What course do you point out which will be consistent with freedom, which shall not interfere with equality, and which shall be just to everybody? We venture to assert that, tried by these tests, not a single line of policy which is now being pursued by the Government will stand. Surely its financial policy cannot; for what is there in it which is consistent with the constitutional question of freedom? Surely its revenue, its tariff system, cannot, for what is there in either which is not in direct antagonism with equality?—while we may look in vain for even the skeleton of justice wherever money can find its way.

All this is true, and very much more, and it comes of the departure of legislation and administration from the fundamental propositions of the Constitution. It is also true that such conditions cannot last. The people, as a whole, are not entirely unregenerate, though so many of their self-appointed leaders are. It only remains for the people to become fully aroused to the depths of corruption to which legislation and administration have been carried to demand and obtain the needed redress. This corruption is not confined to Government, but it has permeated nearly all corporate organizations, many of which are organized specially to defraud the productive classes of their hard-earned wealth. The possibility of this being done is because our system of finance is entirely wrong, and nothing will save the country from general financial and commercial ruin except complete revolution in this system. If the ruin comes it will ultimately fall upon the producing classes. In other words, the producing interests of the country cannot sustain the inflation of prices which has been brought about by speculation, in alliance with fraud, which are the ruling spirits of the day.

It may be said that such radical changes as will depose the powers which rule us, and inaugurate the reign of principles, which will secure freedom, equality and justice to every power, cannot yet be introduced. We aver that they can; and further, we aver that unless it is done, revolution such as has never yet been known will inaugurate them for us. The whole substrata of society is seething and foaming with pent-up endurance of injustice and wrong, and unless those abuses which have produced this condition are remedied at once, the existence of the Government cannot be counted upon. And it is criminal to seek to ignore this fact. We must not “lie supinely upon our backs while the enemy binds us hand and foot,” and delivers us to destruction.

In view, then, of our destiny as a nation, and in view of the position which the order of events seems to have assigned us, we are called upon to put our Government in perfect order before the constructive part of the work of the third part of the order of civilization is to be begun. We must be perfect within ourselves before we can expect to become the pattern for others, or expect that others will gravitate to us. THE REVIEW OF THE GENERAL SITUATION, then, results in the finding that the process of diffusive government has culminated, and that the process of a continuously constructive and concentrating government has already been begun, in which our Government, as the most progressive representative of the principles upon which a perfect government can alone exist, is assigned the leading position, and that we, recognizing this assignment, should proceed to assume the responsibilities and the duties which legitimately flow from it; and they are great in the same degree that our destiny is great.

It was under the realization of what our destiny should be that the Pronunciamento of April 2, 1870, in the New York Herald, was made; and now, having offered this general review, my Second Pronunciamento, which is supplementary to and the completing of the first, is laid before the people. It is believed that the policy and principles underlying it, proclaimed therein, will be the final departure necessary to be made, as the point from which progress will be continued, until the grand realization of the prophecies of all ages is fulfilled, when all nations, kindred and tongues shall be united in one harmonious family, they having risen into the full knowledge of the truth, that whether we be Christian or Pagan, Greek or Roman, Atheist or Spiritualist, we are all the children of one common Father, God, whom we shall ever worship as the Creator, Ruler and Final Destiny of the Universe.

SECOND PRONUNCIAMENTO.

CONSTITUTIONAL EQUALITY THE LOGICAL RESULT OF THE XIV. AND XV. AMENDMENTS, WHICH NOT ONLY DECLARE WHO ARE CITIZENS, BUT ALSO DEFINE THEIR RIGHTS, ONE OF WHICH IS THE RIGHT TO VOTE, WITHOUT REGARD TO SEX, BOTH SEXES BEING INCLUDED IN THE MORE COMPREHENSIVE PROHIBITORY TERMS OF RACE AND COLOR.

THE STATE LAWS WHICH PROSCRIBED WOMEN AS VOTERS WERE REPEALED BY THE STATES WHEN THEY RATIFIED SAID AMENDMENTS—THERE ARE NO EXISTING OPERATIVE LAWS WHICH PROSCRIBE THE RIGHT OF ANY CITIZEN TO VOTE—THE PERFECTED FRUITS OF THE LATE WAR—THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS BOUND TO PROTECT ITS CITIZENS, MALE AND FEMALE, IN THE EXERCISE OF THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE—THE DUTY OF CONGRESS IN THE PREMISES.

The time has now arrived when it becomes proper to present the final and unanswerable proposition, which cannot by any possibility be controverted, that the several States which, until recently, assumed and exercised the right of defining which of its citizens should exercise the right to vote, have by their own voluntary act not only forever repealed all such prohibitory laws, but also have forever barred their re-enactment.

Of this I have been fully aware since the proclamation by the President that the XV. Amendment had become a part of the Organic Law of the country.

To bring the whole matter properly before the public I published an address on the 2d of April last, in which I announced myself a candidate for the Presidency in 1872, and thus asserted the right of woman to occupy the highest office in the gift of the people.

After that address had had its legitimate effect in arousing the press of the country to the realization that women are a constituent part of the body politic, and to a discussion in a much more general way than had ever been before, I published my second address to the people, announcing that the XVI. Amendment was a dead letter, and that the Constitution fully recognized the equality of all citizens.

In this address the general bearings of the Constitution were examined, and from the blending of its various parts the conclusion was arrived at that no State should deny the right to vote to any citizen.

I now take the final step, and show that the States themselves, by their legislative enactments, have removed the only obstacle which until then had prevented women from voting, and have forever debarred themselves from receding to their former position. It is as follows:

SUFFRAGE, or the right to vote, is declared by the XV. Article of Amendments to the Constitution to be a RIGHT, not a privilege, of citizens of the United States.

A right of a citizen is inherent in the individual, of which he cannot be deprived by any law of any State.

A privilege may be conferred upon the citizen of the State, and by it may be taken away. This distinction is made to show that to vote is not a privilege conferred by a State upon its citizens, but a CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT of every citizen of the United States, of which they cannot be deprived. The language of the Constitution is most singularly emphatic upon this point. It is as follows:

ARTICLE XV.

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

It is thus forever proclaimed, in unmistakable terms, that to vote is a right of citizens of the United States.

Were it an immunity, or even were it a privilege, to vote, those who possess it could not be deprived of it by any State, for the State is bound to protect every citizen within its jurisdiction in the exercise thereof. It being declared by the XV. Amendment that citizens of the United States have the right to vote, the next step to determine is, Who are citizens? This is also definitely, though for the first time, determined by Article XIV. of Amendments to the Constitution as follows:

ARTICLE XIV.

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The next point of inquiry is, How is it that the State laws which formerly did proscribe women and exclude them from the exercise of suffrage, no longer do so? Simply and effectively by this fact, that, by the adoption of the XV. Article of Amendments to the Constitution, the States established, as the “SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND,” the fact that no person born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof shall be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, of the RIGHT TO VOTE.

Women are citizens of the United States; and the States themselves, by their own voluntary act, have established the fact of their citizenship, and confirmed their right to vote, which, by such action, has become the supreme law of the land, which supersedes, annuls and abrogates all previous State laws inconsistent therewith or contravening the same. The XV. Article of Amendments to the Constitution is as much a part of it as any originally adopted; for Art VI., ¶ 2, says:

This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made under the authority of the United States, shall be THE SUPREME law of THE LAND; and the judges in EVERY State shall BE BOUND THEREBY; anything in the Constitution or laws OF ANY State TO THE CONTRARY NOTWITHSTANDING.

The XV. Amendment was adopted by the several States as a legislative enactment by their Legislatures, under Art V., which provides:

The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution; or, on the application of the Legislatures of two-thirds of the several States, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths thereof as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by Congress, provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, shall, in any manner, affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; AND THAT NO STATE, WITHOUT ITS CONSENT, SHALL BE DEPRIVED OF ITS EQUAL SUFFRAGE IN THE SENATE.

Since, therefore, all citizens have the RIGHT TO VOTE under this act or participation by the Legislatures of the several States, all State Laws which abridge the right are inoperative, null and void, and the exclusion of women who are citizens from the right to vote, was repealed and must stand repealed until the Legislatures of the several States shall again pass an act positively excluding her. If we again examine Art XV. we shall see that this right shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of RACE, COLOR, or PREVIOUS CONDITION OF SERVITUDE; it is left to be inferred that it might be on account of SEX, but this denial has not yet been attempted, nor could it be accomplished if it were, for here the XIV. Amendment again comes to our relief saying, “That no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.”

Again, the Constitution is assuredly a contract between States and citizens, and Sec. 10, Art I., provides that no State shall pass any law impairing contracts.

Art I., Sec. 4,¶ I, provides that:

“The times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each State, by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may, at any time, by law, make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing senators,” while the judiciary of the United States has acquired complete jurisdiction over this matter by the authority of Art III., Sec. 2,¶ 1, which provides that: “The judicial power shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority.”

And for all these reasons, the State Legislatures having, by the adoption of the Fifteenth Amendment, abrogated all previously existing, conflicting laws on the subject of suffrage, are now forever precluded by the Fourteenth Amendment from re-establishing any restriction to apply to women, whom the authorities of the United States, in their support of the Constitution, are in duty bound to protect in their right to vote.

Now what was the fruit of the late war, which threw the entire nation into such convulsive throes, unless it is found in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, namely: that grand change in the fundamental laws which declares who are citizens and what are their rights, privileges and immunities, which cannot be abridged? Will any one pretend that these great enactments can be understood to mean less than the language thereof plainly conveys? Or will any one claim that the old, absurd State laws, which were sunk in oblivion by the adoption of these amendments to the Constitution, are still in force? Who will dare to say, in the face of these plainly worded amendments, which have such an unmistakable meaning, that the women of America shall not enjoy their emancipation as well as the black slave?

WOMEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE! It is the duty of the Government to see that they are not denied the right to exercise it, and, to secure the necessary action of Congress in the premises, I did, on the 21st day of December, 1870, memorialize Congress as recorded in the Congressional Globe, December 22, 1870.

In the Senate:

Mr. Harris presented the memorial of Victoria C. Woodhull, praying for the passage of such laws as may be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the right vested by the Constitution in the citizens of the United States to vote without regard to sex; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary and ordered to be printed.

In the House:

Mr. Julian—I ask unanimous consent to present at this time and have printed in the Globe the memorial of Victoria C. Woodhull, claiming the right of suffrage under the XIV. and XV. Articles of Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, and asking for the enactment of the necessary and appropriate legislation to guarantee the exercise of that right to the women of the United States. I also ask that the petition be referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

No objection was made, and it was ordered accordingly.

The petition is as follows:

THE MEMORIAL OF VICTORIA C. WOODHULL,

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled, respectfully showeth:

That she was born in the State of Ohio, and is above the age of twenty-one years; that she has resided in the State of New York during the past three years; that she is still a resident thereof, and that she is a citizen of the United States, as declared by the XIV. Article of Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

That since the adoption of the XV. Article of Amendments to the Constitution, neither the State of New York nor any other State, nor any Territory, has passed any law to abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote, as established by said article, neither on account of sex or otherwise:

That, nevertheless, the right to vote is denied to women citizens of the United States by the operation of Election Laws in the several States and Territories, which laws were enacted prior to the adoption of the said XV. Article, and which are inconsistent with the Constitution as amended, and, therefore, are void and of no effect; but which, being still enforced by the said States and Territories, render the Constitution inoperative as regards the right of women citizens to vote:

And whereas, Article VI., Section 2, declares “That this Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and all judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution and laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding:” And whereas, no distinction between citizens is made in the Constitution of the United States on account of sex; but the XV. Article of Amendments to it provides that “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws:”

And whereas, Congress has power to make laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution all powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States; and to make or alter all regulations in relation to holding elections for senators or representatives, and especially to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of the said XIV. Article:

And whereas, the continuance of the enforcement of said local election laws, denying and abridging the Right of Citizens to Vote on account of sex, is a grievance to your memorialist and to various other persons, citizens of the United States, being women,—

Therefore, your memorialist would most respectfully petition your Honorable Bodies to make such laws as in the wisdom of Congress shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the right vested by the Constitution in the citizens of the United States to vote, without regard to sex.

And your memorialist will ever pray.

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL.

Dated NEW YORK CITY, December 19, 1870.

This memorial having been referred to the Judiciary Committee, I then prepared and submitted the following legal deductions in support thereof:

CONSTITUTIONAL EQUALITY.

TO THE HON. THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEES OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

The undersigned, VICTORIA C. WOODHULL, having most respectfully memorialized Congress for the passage of such laws as in its wisdom shall seem necessary and proper to carry into effect the rights vested by the Constitution of the United States in the citizens to vote, without regard to sex, begs leave to submit to your honorable body the following in favor of her prayer in said Memorial which has been referred to your Committee:

The public law of the world is founded upon the conceded fact that sovereignty cannot be forfeited or renounced. The sovereign power of this country is perpetual in the politically-organized people of the United States, and can neither be relinquished nor abandoned by any portion of them. The people in this Republic who confer sovereignty are its citizens: in a monarchy the people are the subjects of sovereignty. All citizens of a republic by rightful act or implication confer sovereign power. All people of a monarchy are subjects who exist under its supreme shield and enjoy its immunities.

The subject of a monarch takes municipal immunities from the sovereign as a gracious favor; but the woman citizen of this country has the inalienable “sovereign” right of self-government in her own proper person. Those who look upon woman’s status by the dim light of the common law, which unfolded itself under the feudal and military institutions that establish right upon physical power, cannot find any analogy in the status of the woman citizen of this country, where the broad sunshine of our Constitution has enfranchised all.

As sovereignty cannot be forfeited, relinquished or abandoned, those from whom it flows—the citizens—are equal in conferring the power, and should be equal in the enjoyment of its benefits and in the exercise of its rights and privileges.

One portion of citizens have no power to deprive another portion of rights and privileges such as are possessed and exercised by themselves. The male citizen has no more right to deprive the female citizen of the free, public, political expression of opinion than the female citizen has to deprive the male citizen thereof.

The sovereign will of the people is expressed in our written Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land. The Constitution makes no distinction of sex. The Constitution defines a woman born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, to be a citizen. It recognizes the right of citizens to vote. It declares that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of “race, color or previous condition of servitude.”

Women, white and black, belong to races; although to different races. A race of people comprises all the people, male and female. The right to vote cannot be denied on account of race. All people included in the term race have the right to vote, unless otherwise prohibited.

Women of all races are white, black or some intermediate color. Color comprises all people, of all races and both sexes. The right to vote cannot be denied on account of color. All people included in the term color have the right to vote unless otherwise prohibited.

With the right to vote sex has nothing to do. Race and color include all people of both sexes. All people of both sexes have the right to vote, unless prohibited by special limiting terms less comprehensive than race or color. No such limiting terms exist in the Constitution.

Women, white and black, have from time immemorial groaned under what is properly termed in the Constitution “previous condition of servitude.”

Women are the equals of men before the law, and are equal in all their rights as citizens.

Women are debarred from voting in some parts of the United States, although they are allowed to exercise that right elsewhere.

Women were formerly permitted to vote in places where they are now debarred therefrom.

The Naturalization Laws of the United States expressly provide for the naturalization of women.

But the right to vote has only lately been distinctly declared by the Constitution to be inalienable, under three distinct conditions—in all of which woman is distinctly embraced.

The citizen who is taxed should also have a voice in the subject matter of taxation. “No taxation without representation” is a right which was fundamentally established at the very birth of our country’s independence; and by what ethics does any free government impose taxes on women without giving them a voice upon the subject or a participation in the public declaration as to how and by whom these taxes shall be applied for common public use?

Women are free to own and to control property, separate and apart from males, and they are held responsible in their own proper persons, in every particular, as well as men, in and out of court.

Women have the same inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that men have. Why have they not this right politically, as well as men?

Women constitute a majority of the people of this country—they hold vast portions of the nation’s wealth and pay a proportionate share of the taxes. They are intrusted with the most holy duties and the most vital responsibilities of society; they bear, rear and educate men; they train and mould their characters; they inspire the noblest impulses in men; they often hold the accumulated fortunes of a man’s life for the safety of the family and as guardians of the infants, and yet they are debarred from uttering any opinion, by public vote, as to the management by public servants of these interests; they are the secret counsellors, the best advisers, the most devoted aids in the most trying periods of men’s lives, and yet men shrink from trusting them in the common questions of ordinary politics. Men trust women in the market, in the shop, on the highway and the railroad, and in all other public places and assemblies, but when they propose to carry a slip of paper with a name upon it to the polls, they fear them. Nevertheless, as citizens women have the right to vote; they are part and parcel of that great element in which the sovereign power of the land had birth: and it is by usurpation only that men debar them from their right to vote. The American nation, in its march onward and upward, cannot publicly choke the intellectual and political activity of half its citizens by narrow statutes. The will of the entire people is the true basis of republican government, and a free expression of that will by the public vote of all citizens, without distinctions of race, color, occupation or sex, is the only means by which that will can be ascertained. As the world has advanced in civilization and culture; as mind has risen in its dominion over matter; as the principle of justice and moral right has gained sway, and merely physically organized power has yielded thereto; as the might of right has supplanted the right of might, so have the rights of women become more fully recognized, and that recognition is the result of the development of the minds of men, which through the ages she has polished, and thereby heightened the lustre of civilization.

It was reserved for our great country to recognize by constitutional enactment that political equality of all citizens which religion, affection, and common sense should have long since accorded; it was reserved for America to sweep away the mist of prejudice and ignorance, and that chivalric condescension of a darker age, for in the language of Holy Writ, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand, let us therefore cast off the work of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day.”

It may be argued against the proposition that there still remains upon the statute books of some States the word “male” to an exclusion, but as the Constitution in its paramount character can only be read by the light of the established principle, ita lex Scripta est; and as the subject of sex is not mentioned and the Constitution is not limited either in terms or by necessary implication in the general rights of citizens to vote, this right cannot be limited on account of anything in the spirit of inferior or previous enactments upon a subject which is not mentioned in the supreme law. A different construction would destroy a vested right in a portion of the citizens, and this no legislature has a right to do without compensation, and nothing can compensate a citizen for the loss of his or her suffrage—its value is equal to the value of life. Neither can it be presumed that women are to be kept from the polls as a mere police regulation: it is to be hoped, at least, that police regulations in their case need not be very active. The effect of the amendments to the Constitution must be to annul the power over this subject in the States whether past, present or future, which is contrary to the amendments. The amendments would even arrest the action of the Supreme Court in cases pending before it prior to their adoption, and operate as an absolute prohibition to the exercise of any other jurisdiction than merely to dismiss the suit.

3 Dall., 382; 6 Wheaton, 405; 9 Id., 868; 3d Circ., Pa., 1832.

And if the restrictions contained in the Constitution as to color, race or servitude, were designed to limit the State governments in reference to their own citizens, and were intended to operate also as restrictions on the Federal power, and to prevent interference with the rights of the State and its citizens, how then can the State restrict citizens of the United States in the exercise of rights not mentioned in any restrictive clause in reference to actions on the part of those citizens having reference solely to the necessary functions of the General Government, such as the election of representatives and senators to Congress, whose election the Constitution expressly gives Congress the power to regulate?

S. C., 1847: Fox vs. Ohio, 5 Howard, 410.

Your memorialist complains of the existence of State Laws, and prays Congress, by appropriate legislation, to declare them, as they are, annulled, and to give vitality to the Constitution under its power to make and alter the regulations of the States contravening the same.

It may be urged in opposition that the Courts have power, and should declare upon this subject.

The Supreme Court has the power, and it would be its duty so to declare the law; but the Court will not do so unless a determination of such point as shall arise make it necessary to the determination of a controversy, and hence a case must be presented in which there can be no rational doubt. All this would subject the aggrieved parties to much dilatory, expensive and needless litigation, which your memorialist prays your Honorable Body to dispense with by appropriate legislation, as there can be no purpose in special arguments “ad inconvenienti,” enlarging or contracting the import of the language of the Constitution.

Therefore, Believing firmly in the right of citizens to freely approach those in whose hands their destiny is placed, under the Providence of God, your memorialist has frankly, but humbly, appealed to you, and prays that the wisdom of Congress may be moved to action in this matter for the benefit and the increased happiness of our beloved country.

Most respectfully submitted,

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL.

Dated NEW YORK, January 2, 1871.

The issue upon the question of female suffrage being thus definitely and clearly set forth, and its rights inalienably vested in woman, a brighter future dawns upon the country. When Congress shall have moved in the matter, and thus secured to woman the free exercise of these newly-defined rights, she can unite in purifying the elements of political strife—in restoring the Government to pristine integrity, strength and vigor. To do this, many reforms become of absolute necessity. Prominent among these are—

A reform in representation by which all Legislative Bodies and the Presidential Electoral College shall be so elected that minorities as well as majorities shall have direct representation.

A complete reform in Executive and Departmental conduct, by which the President and the Secretaries of the United States, and the Governors and State Officers shall be forced to recognize that they are the servants of the people, appointed to attend to the business of the people, and not for the purpose of perpetuating their official positions, or of securing the plunder of public trusts for the enrichment of their political adherents and supporters.

A reform in the tenure of office, by which the Presidency shall be limited to one term, with a retiring life pension, and a permanent seat in the Federal Senate, where his Presidential experience may become serviceable to the nation, and on the dignity and life emolument of Presidential Senator he shall be placed above all other political position, and be excluded from all professional pursuits.

A radical reform in our Civil Service, by which the Government, in its executive capacity, shall at all times secure faithful and efficient officers, and the people trustworthy servants, whose appointment shall be entirely removed from, and be made independent of, the influence and control of the legislative branch of the Government, and who shall be removed for “cause” only, and who shall be held strictly to frequent public accounting to superiors for all their official transactions, which shall forever dispose of the corrupt practices induced by the allurements of the motto of present political parties, that “to the victor belong the spoils,” which is a remnant of arbitrarily assumed authority, unworthy of a government emanating from the whole people.

A reform in our systems of finance, by which the arbitrary standard of ancient and feudal despotisms shall be removed; by which the true source of wealth shall become the basis and the security of a national currency, which shall be made convertible into a National Bond bearing such an interest, while in the hands of the people, as shall secure an equilibrium between the demands of all the varieties of exchanges and the supply of money to effect them with, the Bond being also convertible at pleasure into money again, by which system of adjustment, “plethora” equally with “tightness” shall be banished from the financial centres of our country; and which, in its practical workings, shall secure such pecuniary equality between the employing and the laboring classes as will forever make poverty and its long list of consequent ills impossible in our country; and which shall suggest the solution of those schemes which are being discussed for “funding the public debt” at a lower rate of interest.

A complete reform in our system of Internal improvements, which connect and bind together the several States in commercial unity, to the end that they shall be conducted so as to administer to the best interests of the whole people, for whose benefit they were first permitted, and are now protected; by which the General Government, in the use of its postal powers, and in the exercise of its duties in regulating commerce between the States, shall secure the transportation of passengers, merchandise and the mails, from one extremity of the country to the opposite, and throughout its whole area, at the actual cost of maintaining such improvements, plus legitimate interest upon their original cost of construction, thus converting them into public benefits, instead of their remaining, as now, hereditary taxes upon the industries of the country, by which, if continued, a few favored individuals are likely to become the actual rulers of the country.

A complete reform in commercial and navigation laws, by which American built or purchased ships and American seamen shall be practically protected by the admission of all that is required for construction of the first, or the use and maintenance of either, free in bond or on board.

A reform in the relations of the employer and employed, by which shall be secured the practice of the great natural law, of one-third of time to labor, one-third to recreation and one-third to rest, that by this, intellectual improvement and physical development may go on to that perfection which the Almighty Creator designed.

A reform in the principles of protection and revenue, by which the largest home and foreign demand shall be created and sustained for products of American industry of every kind; by which this industry shall be freed from the ruinous effects consequent upon frequent changes in these systems; by which shall be secured that constant employment to workingmen and workingwomen throughout the country which will maintain them upon an equality in all kinds and classes of industry; by which a continuous prosperity—which, if not so marked by rapid accumulation, shall possess the merit of permanency—will be secured to all, which in due time will reduce the cost of all products to a minimum value; by which the laboring poor shall be relieved of the onerous tax, now indirectly imposed upon them by government; by which the burden of governmental support shall be placed where it properly belongs, and by which an unlimited national wealth will gradually accumulate, the ratio of taxation upon which will become so insignificant in amount as to be no burden to the people.

A reform by which the power of legislative bodies to levy taxes shall be limited to the actual necessities of the legitimate functions of government in its protection of the rights of persons, property and nationality; and by which they shall be deprived of the power to exempt any property from taxation; or to make any distinctions directly or indirectly among citizens in taxation for the support of government; or to give or loan the public property or credit to individuals or corporations to promote any enterprise whatever.

A reform in the system of criminal jurisprudence, by which the death penalty shall no longer be inflicted—by which the hardened criminal shall have no human chance of being let loose to harass society until the term of the sentence, whatever that may be, shall have expired, and by which, during that term, the entire prison employment shall be for—and the product thereof be faithfully paid over to—the support of the criminal’s family; and by which our so-called prisons shall be virtually transformed into vast reformatory workshops, from which the unfortunate may emerge to be useful members of society, instead of the alienated citizens they now are.

The institution of such supervisory control and surveillance over the now low orders of society as shall compel them to industry, and provide for the helpless, and thus banish those institutions of pauperism and beggary which are fastening upon the vitals of society, and are so prolific of crime and suffering in certain communities.

The organization of a general system of national education, which shall positively secure to every child of the country such an education in the arts, sciences and general knowledge as will render them profitable and useful members of society, and the entire proceeds of the public domain should be religiously devoted to this end.

Such change in our general foreign policy as shall plainly indicate that we realize and appreciate the important position which has been assigned us as a nation by the common order of civilization; which shall indicate our supreme faith in that form of government which emanates from, and is supported by, the whole people, and that such government must eventually be uniform throughout the world; which shall also have in view the establishment of a Grand International Tribunal, to which all disputes of peoples and nations shall be referred for final arbitration and settlement, without appeal to arms; said Tribunal maintaining only such an International army and navy as would be necessary to enforce its decrees, and thus secure the return of the 15,000,000 of men who now compose the standing armies of the world, to industrial and productive pursuits.

Thus in the best sense do I claim to be the friend and exponent of the most complete equality to which humanity can attain; of the broadest individual freedom compatible with the public good, and that supreme justice which shall know no distinction among citizens upon any ground whatever, in the administration and the execution of the laws; and also, to be a faithful worker in the cause of human advancement; and especially to be the co-laborer with those who strive to better the condition of the poor and friendless; to secure to the great mass of working people the just reward of their toil,—I claim from these, and from all others in the social scale, that support in the bold political course I have taken, which shall give me the strength and the position to carry out these needed reforms, which shall secure to them, in return, the blessings which the Creator designed the human race should enjoy.

If I obtain this support, woman’s strength and woman’s will, with God’s support, if He vouchsafe it, shall open to them, and to this country, a new career of greatness in the race of nations, which can only be secured by that fearless course of truth from which the nations of the earth, under despotic male governments, have so far departed.

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL.

NEW YORK, JANUARY 10, 1871.

TENDENCIES OF GOVERNMENT.

[Revised from the New York Herald of April 16, 1870.]

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL ON THE “TENDENCIES OF GOVERNMENT.”

GOD IN CREATION, IN HISTORY, AND IN GOVERNMENT—A PHILOSOPHICAL PREFACE TO A PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSE.

[The head of the firm of Woodhull, Claflin & Co., Commodore Vanderbilt’s financial proteges—the famous brokers of Broad street—has undertaken the difficult task of correcting popular errors in the science of government, and has prepared a paper on the subject, which, as the lady expects to be too busy to deliver for some time to come, we publish it in extenso. Whether her conclusions will agree with her premises or not, the document will be found exceedingly interesting, as showing the quality of the female mind against which the money changers of Wall street will have to contend in business:]

As far back into the past as dim historic lights enable us to see, and still much farther, even behind the appearance of man upon the face of this planet, the existence of government can be plainly traced. Wherever two or more of any species of animals—not to descend lower and including man—are or have been, something simulating to what is in our day denominated government exists or existed; and, whether it is or was over a greater or less community, it is or was possessed of certain characterizing elements, from and by which a clear insight into the composition of the community can be obtained by those who will analyze the elements somewhat philosophically; that is to say governments are truthful reflections of the governed when considered as a whole, and all changes or modifications that occur therein, result from growth of the governed.

No just nor advantageous deductions from any subject or fact which is worthy of a position in the world’s history, and which is capable of permanently maintaining such a position, can be arrived at, except through a complete philosophical analysis of all the elements entering into its composition. All facts as well as all chemical compounds are made up of elementary principles brought into intimate productive relations by some general power, operating by some general law of combination. By such an analysis the composition of such subjects and facts as are analyzed are not only determined, but the relations which they sustain to all other subjects and facts are also demonstrated, and thus a general law of relativity is found which makes the whole round of creation one in purpose and effect.

It is not proposed in the present article to prosecute an exhaustive analysis of government as it is or as it has been, but rather to observe the chain of progression which has been evolved, and to endeavor to determine whether, link by link, it does not form one harmonious whole, from the present aspect of which its culmination may be caught sight of; and whether that culmination will not be found a complete circle, containing within its immense area all that has conspired and assisted in its completion, and which will be entitled to positions in such a community of interests by virtue of having thus conspired and assisted in its formation.

Neither is it proposed to extend the limits of this inquiry beyond the consideration of human government, except in so far as analogies may be sought to enforce the application of general laws and to assist by such application in the solution of such questions as may not be entirely apparent from the evidences contained specifically within the said limits. Philosophically considered, however, the objects sought could as well be obtained from any other department of government; for, while a general law underlies all forms and systems of human government and controls all its modifications, the self-same law underlies and controls all other forms and systems of government, from which human government sprung and upon which it rests as a primary basis.

It is believed that there is sufficient mental development and comprehension contained in the philosophic minds of this latter part of the nineteenth century to gather into form the evidence that has been and is being presented, in the evolution and dissolution of government, and grasp its signification, so that in its application to existing things, permanent instead of politic modifications in governmental affairs may be inaugurated. Governed by any other than such a broad standard, changes and modifications in present systems and forms are made simply to meet the exigencies of the times, and with no view to place government upon a basis which should never need modification, and which should meet all exigencies of all times. The reasons why such government has not hitherto been inaugurated or attempted, are, because in no country has the general mind as yet become sufficiently broad and comprehensive to discover that great general laws underlie the universe and govern all its manifestations, applying to each and every department thereof with perfect uniformity. It is not my province to discuss what these great general laws and principles are. I assume that they do exist, and it is my office to predicate what the future of government must be when it shall have its basis in such laws and principles, and to judge whether what has been, and what is, may be considered as gradual approaches from the most simple and homogeneous forms in which the interest of all were very indefinite, either individually or collectively, toward that wherein the interests of all, while becoming more distinct individually, shall be merged in the general interests of the whole and become identical therewith.

Mr. Maine says, in his “Ancient Law,” that “society in ancient times was not what it is assumed to be at present—a collection of individuals. In fact, and in view of the men that composed it, it was an aggregation of families. The contrast may be best and most forcibly expressed by saying that the unit of an ancient society was the family; of a modern society, the individual.”

In speaking of ancient society, Mr. Fiske says: “Family government excluded not only individual independence but also State supremacy; and that vestiges of a time when there were no aggregates of men more extensive than the family may be found in every part of the world, when social organization was but one step removed from absolute and ferocious anarchy;” and this he defines as a social aggregate of the first order; the coalescence of families into civic communities an aggregate of the second order; the coalescence of civic and tribual communities into the nation an aggregate of the third order. The coalescence of nations would then describe an aggregate of the fourth order. Under these four orders all the forms of government which can ever exist in the world must be classified.

As low a form of government as can be conceived as existing next above that of the family, worthy to be called human government, still exists among the barbarians inhabiting some portions of Central Africa, some of the East India Islands, and perhaps some of the South Sea Islands. These people unite in bands or tribes, and rove about seeking the means of subsistence and endeavoring to conquer other tribes. Some have central points of rendezvous, where the rudest habitations are constructed, in which the women and children remain during the absence of the men. The women almost universally are considered very much in the light of slaves by all these nomadic tribes, and as only fit to minister to their passions and to perform their drudgery. Their language is as rude as their habits, consisting of little more than a comparatively few spasmodically uttered harsh sounds. Written language they have none, excepting perhaps some images or rude figures symbolizing some special event they in this way attempt to commemorate, and which may be considered as the foundation of it for the tribes using them as they were the primary foundation of all written language.

One notable feature is universally observable among all these representatives of primitive government—they all recognize the necessity of a leader under some of the many forms of control exercised by the one over the many, and he is generally one who has exhibited some particular prowess in battle, the capacity to perform which he is supposed to be endowed with by some unknown power, and which renders him superior to all others, and best capable of ruling and protecting those who thus recognize him, and who obey him in every particular, even to sacrificing their lives. Such may be considered an outline of our conceptions of the most primitive form of government of the present day; and the fact that such still exists has a marked bearing upon the subject of general government, when it is remembered that the time was when no higher form existed on the face of the earth.

The law of evolution and that of dissolution being a universal deduction from the philosophic ultimatum that force persists, they apply to all things wherein force is exhibited; consequently human government must be the objective result of the persistence of force exhibited among the people of the earth, and at the same time the subject of all modifications that grow out of its transformations and equivalent relations. In whatever light, then, human government is viewed, these philosophic laws should never be lost sight of nor disregarded; but the causes of all the rises and falls, transformations, modifications and amalgamations, should be sought by the application of those laws to the objective points under consideration.

The question now naturally arises, Can human government, then be analyzed, and the facts it presents be found to correspond to the deductions of philosophic law?

It has been remarked that the simplest combinations of force among human beings, representing government which existed when none higher had been attained, was still represented on the earth by certain of its inhabitants. Beginning with this as the basis of the superstructure of human government, can there be traced a gradual scale of progress from it to the government of this country, in which scale each nation, tribe and tongue will find its appropriate place, which, unoccupied, would render the scale imperfect, as a chain would be imperfect were one of its central links missing? and would an analysis of each of these governments develop the fact that each successive one in the progressive scale would represent some new application of the principle of liberty, some more extended idea of equality, or some better formula of justice than the preceding had, which application, idea or formula entitles it to rank superior thereto, and also determines its position in the scale?

Of all systems and forms of government that came and passed away during the long lapse of ages, from the time the most primitive alone existed on the earth to the time wherein those flourished that have left records of their existence, we can know nothing except what may be gathered from philosophic deduction unsupported by any actual record of facts concerning them. It is, however, philosophically certain that very many such intermediate governments did exist, variously modified and advancing from the primitive forms. Possessing, as we may justly infer, but little capability for duration, their integration was rapidly succeeded by disintegration; being exposed to numerous and different external influences, rapid and successive changes were inevitable, because they were possessed of but little individuality and consequently but little capacity for resisting external influences. They were bound together by none of the higher laws of association, but were led by transient ephemeral contingencies, combining at times together, to soon divide and subdivide only to again form new and equally temporary amalgamations. Thus constantly organizing and dissolving, the long interval alluded to was occupied by primitive inhabitants in their march from the purely homogeneous toward the individualized times wherein civilization left records of itself.

While no special inquiries into the correctness of the formulas laid down at various times by various philosophers, which seek to include and cover all the phenomena of the universe, will be made, those of the most eminent may with propriety be stated; indeed, if it be attempted to show that history obeys a fixed law of evolution, the law that it is presumed to obey must be given, that it may be seen whether the deductions arrived at are included within the limits of the formula. If it should not so turn out, then either the deduction must be illegitimate, the formula imperfect or impossible, or the fact made apparent, that, while all the other sciences, as biology, psychology and their various divisions, are known to conform to certain well determined laws of causation, sociology, in which all history and government find their basis, conforms to no law, but is the product of the merest chance.

Until within the present century it was not claimed by any of the various philosophers who had flourished that there was such a science as sociology; or, if so claimed by any far-seeing mind, the attempt to demonstrate or formulate it was not made until the time of Comte, who, about the year 1830, did attempt it, and he may be justly styled the father of the present system of formulated science. Though his system is now shown to contain many imperfections and omissions, it is nevertheless certain, that but for it, the improvements since made would not have been possible to the present degree attained, though those who have made them may repudiate the idea, and scorn to acknowledge that they have built upon Comte.

Gathering from his profuse writings upon this point his earlier and most continuous opinions, the following are the terms in which they can be the most simply expressed: Social progression is a gradual change from rudimentary, homogeneous and anthropomorphic conditions to civilization, heterogeneity and to definite conceptions of the external world; and at the same time from nomadic characteristics, with aggressive purposes, to inhabitative propensities and individual industrial pursuits.

A number of philosophers, who have written since the days of Comte, have from time to time presented formulas which at best can only be considered as modifications of his, and it may confidently be asserted that no real addition was acquired until the Spencerian was made, which, while it included Comte’s, was more general and comprehensive, and at the same time more definite and special. This seeming anomaly was made possible by his having discovered the law of evolution, and by having exhaustively demonstrated that all mental action—emotional as well as intellectual—was included in it. It is as follows: Evolution is an integration of matter and a concomitant dissipation of motion, during which the matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, and during which the retained motion undergoes a partial transformation. This general formula includes all evolution, organic and inorganic, and interprets not only the genesis of the sidereal and solar systems and of the earth, but also of life upon the earth, and has become the law of all social, moral and intellectual change. He afterward found it necessary to make a supplement especially applicable to organic life, in such terms as should not include the inorganic. It was as follows: “Life—and intelligence being the highest manifestations of life—consists in the continuous establishment of relations within the organism, in correspondence with relations existing within the environment or the surroundings.”

To this exhaustive statement a late generalization and specialization has been made by Mr. Fiske, especially applicable to social evolution, as follows: The progress of society is a continuous establishment of psychical relations within the community, in conformity to physical and psychical relations arising within the environment, during which, both the community and the environment pass from a state of incoherent homogeneity to a state of coherent heterogeneity, and during which the constitutional units of the community become ever more distinctly individuated.

Having now arrived at that point where history must furnish the facts upon which the subject rests, it may be well to comprehensively recapitulate a perhaps somewhat too long introduction. It was seen that all over the face of the earth where human life was represented, government exists, and that this government was representative of one or another of the three orders of aggregates of individuals—the family, the tribal, or the nations, and that an aggregate of nations would add the fourth order. It was also seen that the evolution of government was the objective result of the persistence of force among its component parts. Fixing the basis of government in this philosophic fact, it was necessary to examine the history of government to see if in its evolution it had conformed to this law, according to present accepted formulas; and if so found to have done, to extend the same into the future, to ascertain if possible what the future would be. Thus by a present understanding of the law and its tendencies, all modifications and changes made in present systems and forms might be so made in harmony therewith, and not with a simple view to meet the present exigencies, but with an understanding that would meet all exigencies of all time, which alone is perfect legislation.

THE TENDENCIES OF GOVERNMENT.

[Revised from the New York Herald of April 25, 1870.]

SECOND PART OF MRS. VICTORIA C. WOODHULL’S PHILIPPIC—LAWS, PEOPLES AND COMMUNITIES FROM A FEMALE POINT OF VIEW—LESSONS IN HISTORY, POLITICS AND WAR.

[Mrs. Victoria C. Woodhull, head of the firm of female brokers in Broad street, presents to the readers of the Herald the following communication, the second part of her paper on “The Tendencies of Government,” the preface to which has already appeared. Mrs. Woodhull has undertaken the difficult task of enlightening the public mind on the best means of running the Government machine of America. Though her views, expressed in this paper, have a wide range, it must be said that she is but putting herself in wind for a tremendous attack on “the best Government the world ever saw.” Being already in the race for the Presidency (not of the Sorosis, but of the United States), her pronunciamentos are of course very important:]

It must begin to be apparent that the proposition is, that the evolution of government does not differ from that of simplest organic forms either in principle or in mode of operation. The same laws that govern the growth and multiply the plant also govern society and multiply it. The same laws that bring fruit to perfection and dissolution perfect and dissolve societies. The same laws that produce and control the units of the animal kingdom produce and control the units of society. The same law that governs the ebbing and flowing of the tides, that determines whether the component parts of water shall exist as water or vapor, determines the movements of society and the conditions of its existence; and the same law that produces an earthquake here, a volcanic eruption there or a terrific hurricane elsewhere, produces the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and the hurricanes that are ever modifying and changing society. Symbols of all the various processes society passes through in its growth and extension can be found in every other department of the universe; or, to assert the same fact differently, everywhere in the universe there is a constant effort to attain an equilibrium—a continuous working to supply wants, an unceasing process of demand and supply, which are universal exemplifications of the law that motion is always in the direction of the least resistance or the greatest traction, or the resultant of the two operating conjointly.

But what does history tell of the foundation and dissolution of governments, and what illustrations of the law of progress does it afford? As before stated, those who have most earnestly studied pre-historic time have found ample evidence that the time was when the head of the family was the highest sovereign power, and so absolute in its character that the individual was entirely submerged in it, and State supremacy was an impossibility. Nothing but anarchy and confusion could have attended such rule; constant rivalry, jealousy and contention must have kept up a continual strife between adjacent families, which could know no settlement except through the subjugation or destruction of the weaker of the contending parties. Of this order of governmental aggregations, it is questionable if the earth at present furnishes any illustrations, unless it be in some part thereof to which the discoverer has not yet penetrated. Of the next, or tribal, order of aggregates, it does, however; and with this second order the real analysis and comparison must begin, though we have no objective means of demonstrating the conditions stated as existing. When family sovereignty was universal it can readily be seen that the continued existence of such conditions would be impossible, for the continuous subjugations and amalgamations of families would lead directly to tribal communities, at first in absolute subjection to one tribe, which would grow into some power, distributed among the several tribes. So also would the joining together of several weak families to resist a more powerful neighbor lead directly to confederation.

The subjugation and reduction of families to bondage and slavery was the beginning of that system of interdependence now so broadly extended into commerce, exchange and mutual dependence for almost the necessities of life. In the times referred to every man was his own farmer, tailor, carpenter and cook, and this condition was only modified when the individuals of conquering families began to rely upon the conquered for certain services they otherwise would have been obliged to render themselves. All of these facts exemplify another philosophic proposition—that for anything in the universe to remain in its homogeneous condition is impossible, which impossibility is the result of the fact that motion must produce change, while constant motion is inevitable so long as force persists and matter resists.

That eminent historian of the third decade of the eighteenth century, Rollin, thus remarks of the earliest monuments which are preserved, treating of the progress from simple to complex forms of government:—“To know in what manner the states and kingdoms were founded that have divided the universe, the steps whereby they rose to that pitch of grandeur related in history, by what ties families and cities united in order to constitute one body of society, and to live together under the same laws and common authority, it will be necessary to trace things back in a manner to the infancy of the world and to those ages in which mankind, being dispersed into different regions, began to people the earth.” In these early ages every father was the supreme head of his family; the arbiter and judge of whatever contests and divisions might arise within it; the natural legislator over his little society, the defender and protector of those who, by their birth, education and weakness, were under his protection and safeguard. The laws which the paternal vigilance established in this domestic senate being dictated with no other view than to promote the general welfare, were concerted with such children as were come to years of maturity and accepted by the inferiors with a full and free consent, were religiously kept and preserved in families as an hereditary polity, to which they owed their peace and security.

But different motives gave rise to different laws. One man, overjoyed at the birth of a first born son, resolved to distinguish him from future children by bestowing on him a more considerable share of his possessions, and giving him greater authority in his family. Another, more attentive to the interests of a beloved wife or darling daughter, whom he wanted to settle in the world, thought it incumbent on him to secure her rights and increase her advantages. The solitary and cheerless state a wife might be reduced to in case she should become a widow affected more intimately another man, and made him provide beforehand for the subsistence and comfort of a woman who formed his felicity. In proportion as every family increased by the birth of children and their marrying into other families, they extended their domain, and by insensible degrees formed towns and cities. From these different views and others of a like nature arose the different customs and rights of nations.

These societies growing in time very numerous, and the families, dividing into different branches, each having its head, it was necessary to intrust one person with the whole in order to unite all these heads under one authority and to maintain the public good by a uniform administration. To heighten the lustre of this newly acquired dignity and to cause them to devote themselves entirely to the public good, the title of king was bestowed upon them and they were invested with full power to administer justice and to punish crime.

At first every city had its particular king, who, being more solicitous of preserving his dominion than of enlarging it, confined his ambition within its limits But the unavoidable feuds that break out between neighbors, the jealousy against a more powerful rival, the turbulent spirit of a prince, his martial disposition or thirst for aggrandizing himself and displaying his ability, gave rise to wars which frequently ended in the entire subjugation of the vanquished and the addition of their cities to the victors. Thus a first victory led the way to a second, which, making a prince more powerful and enterprising, several cities and provinces became united under one monarch, forming kingdoms of greater or less extent, according to the degree the victor pushed his conquests. Such was the origin of the famous empires that at times included the greater part of the known world.

From various historical authorities the following summaries of history are obtained, and are presented as containing some of the principal points by which the general progress of the world should be judged. The principal empires of ancient time will be observed separately; those of modern time under one head, because of the more connected character of their histories, and because of the more general knowledge that is possessed of them. Then the general course events took will be noticed, the deductions that legitimately flow from them introduced, and the bearing they have upon present affairs of the world in reference to its future condition of government considered.

There are several nations that have, at various times, and that still do claim, the greatest antiquity. The Chinese, the Indians, the Syrians and Egyptians appear to have the most evidence to support their claim. The Egyptians once accorded it to the Phrygians, through the result of the somewhat singular experiment of confining two children away from all intercourse with the world until they began to cry, “Beecos,” which was found to be the Phrygian word for bread. This word, Psammetichus, the King decided must be of the original language, and consequently that the Phrygians were the original people.

Manetho, a high priest in Egypt, who had charge of the sacred archives, pretends to have extracted from the writings of Mercurius and to have proved thereby that up to the time of Alexander the Great, whose reign began 356 years B. C., there had been thirty dynasties in Egypt, which together covered a space of more than 5,300 years. If this claim be allowed, Egypt has existed 7,500 years. Herodotus says “that the Egyptian priests computed 341 generations until the reign of Sethon,” which began 719 years B. C. “These generations,” he adds, “make 11,341 years.” They also counted a like number of priests and kings, who had succeeded one another without interruption, under the name of “Pyromas,” signifying good and virtuous. These priests hewed 341 colossal statues in wood of these Pyromas, all arranged in a large hall in the order of their succession.

Let these claims be false or true, historians unanimously agree that Menes was the first King of Egypt, and that his reign began 2,188 years B. C., which would make its historic age about 5,000 years; undoubtedly its fabulous age would cover a sufficient period to make what is claimed, at least by Menetho, if not by the priests Herodotus mentions. These claims will seem the more probable when we are informed that a few ages only after Menes, the first King, one Busiris, built the famous city of Thebes, and made it the seat of his empire, which would seem to indicate that the arts and sciences had at that time been carried to a considerable degree of perfection, not only in the building of cities, but also in their adornment; for we are told that the public buildings were decorated with sculptures and paintings of the most exquisite beauty.

Additional force is also given these claims by the fact that Osymandyas, the successor of this Busiris, collected a magnificent library at Thebes, called “The Treasury of Remedies for Diseases of the Soul,” which would indicate that polite learning had made considerable advancement as well in philosophy as in religion. Historians also inform us that Cham, the father of Misriam—the same with Menes—was the second son of Noah, and it is supposed that he retired into Africa after the “confusion of tongues.” He was doubtless the Jupiter Ammont so long worshiped as a god by the Egyptians. We are also informed that this Cham, or Ham, had three other sons—Chus, who settled Ethiopia; Phut, who settled Africa westward from Egypt, and Canaan in the country that afterward was called after him, and whose descendants were called Phœnicians.

When we remember the so-called flood; that Cham was the second son of Noah and the father of Menes, the first king, 2,189 years B. C., and that 200 years later Osymandyas, one of his successors, was able to fit out an expedition against the Bactrians of Asia, consisting of 400,000 foot and 20,000 horse, it must be conceded that if the “flood” destroyed all the people existing on the face of the earth, except those saved in the ark, the descendants of Cham must have multiplied with inconceivable rapidity to have made the collecting of such an army possible. But this is not more astonishing than the supposition would be that there could be contained in the atmosphere surrounding the earth sufficient moisture to form the amount of water, which, falling through a space of forty days and nights, should cover the whole earth to the depth narrated of Noah’s flood; nor more so than that the temperature of the whole earth at that time should have been so uniform as to have permitted rain throughout, instead of hail or snow, in frigid portions thereof. And if we were to inquire where such a quantity of water was borrowed from and returned, a consistent reply would be equally surprising; for it is now known that there is just as large a quantity of the elements that compose water at present as there was then.

Considerable latitude can be allowed the statements regarding the flood, when it is remembered that the knowledge of geography, astronomy and meteorology must have been exceedingly limited at that time. But if credence is given to it as having occurred—and it is conceded that all the people Noah knew were destroyed by it—and a solution is sought, it can be imagined that a tremendous upheaval of mountains in Northern Asia might have thrown the waters of the Arctic Ocean southward over the country Noah dwelt in; but this could not have been the result of forty days and forty nights rain, though it may have rained continuously during that period, and may have been considered such by Noah.

This digression was not made so much to consider the probabilities of a flood having occurred as to give additional force to the historic fact that but a few generations after it is said to have occurred, immense tribes of people did exist in that portion of the world bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea, who were possessed of considerable general knowledge, immense wealth, and, for that age, good ideas of governmental justice; besides these people, it must also be remembered vast hosts of barbarians existed in the more remote parts of Europe, Asia and Africa, of whose origin and condition nothing can be positively known, either of which bodies of people could not have descended from Noah’s family through the common course of reproduction.

What concerns this inquiry most, is not whether all or any of the narratives of ancient writers are entitled to credence, but how and in what directions the ancient tribal nations extended themselves and became merged one with another. Following the history of Egypt from the time of Menes through the reigns of his successors—Busiris, Osymandyas (whose mausoleum displayed such extravagant magnificence), and Euchoreus, who built the famous Memphis and made it the key to the Nile—on through the space of two hundred and sixty years of the Shepherd Kings, from Phœnicia to Amosis, who expelled them, and reunited the country, and to Sesostris, the most powerful king and the greatest conqueror the world had then known, but little evidence of increasing proficiency in science and art is found, but much that the acquired standard was continually being extended among the people and among surrounding nations.

With the reign of Sesostris a new era was inaugurated, and a mighty impetus to general civilization, as well as to special advancement, was given by his wisdom and foresight. Amenophis, the father of Sesostris, no doubt feeling the weight of impending events, foresaw the necessity of preparing him to meet them. He not only took great care that his education in the arts and sciences, the principles of government, philosophy and the art of war, should be complete, but also caused all male children of Egypt born the same day he was, to be educated with him, with the distinct understanding that they were to be his future comrades, his officers, ministers and friends in the aggressive wars he intended he should engage in when he should ascend the throne. It is said that the celebrated Mercurius had charge over them all, especially in politics, war and government.

The first war Sesostris engaged in was against the Arabs, which his father sent him upon while yet quite young, that he might acquire practical knowledge in conducting military campaigns. This people, who had never before been subdued, he conquered, and added their country to Egypt The next year he invaded Lybia, a country to the southwest of Egypt. During this expedition his father died, leaving the throne to him. He immediately formed a no less design than of conquering the whole world. This was in 1491 B. C., and he was probably the first of the great conquerors of ancient times who conceived the idea of reducing the world to a single form of government, and most assuredly the first possessed of sufficient wisdom to carry out so gigantic an undertaking. The manner he set about to do this, and the capacity he evinced in all the preparations, we shall have occasion to compare hereafter with that pursued and shown by others in after time, simply remarking here that it is safe to conclude that Sesostris was great among the greatest; for, to boundless ambition—possessed by many—he united the capacity to sustain it, which few can boast. While making the most extensive preparations for raising and disciplining armies for foreign operations, he was not less active in providing for sustaining the dignity and power of his Government during his absence, which he foresaw would give opportunity for rivals to attempt to overthrow for their own benefit. His first army consisted of 600,000 foot, 24,000 horse, and 27,000 armed chariots, and its principal officers were the 1,700 youths who had been educated with him, and who now made it possible for him to secure perfect discipline and the greatest efficiency.

With this army he first invaded and conquered Ethiopia, and made it tributary to Egypt. He next fitted out an expedition of 400 sail, and made himself master of all the islands and coasts of the Red Sea, as a preparatory step to the conquest of Asia, then advanced into Asia, subduing all the countries, even “beyond the Ganges.” Returning westward, he conquered Scythia, Armenia, Cappadocia, Colchis, and all Asia Minor: then crossed into Europe, and would probably have subdued all its nations had he not encountered a great scarcity of provisions in Thrace, which caused him to return. Herodotus says that the Egyptian Empire extended from the Danube even beyond the Ganges, and included all of Africa, and that all over this vast territory there were erected pillars, on which was inscribed “Sesostris, king of kings and lord of lords, subdued this country by the power of his arms;” which, while it displayed a commendable spirit in marking the limits of his conquest, it at the same time evinces a growing personal vanity that afterward seriously tarnished his early fame.

After having thus conquered the then entire known world, Sesostris returned to Egypt with innumerable captives and laden with spoils, and, by devoting himself to enriching and benefiting Egypt, rather than to extending his dominions, fame and grandeur, showed that his ambition had expended itself in his first great campaign. From all that can be gathered of his reign over Egypt, it must be inferred that no country before, if since, was ever more happily disposed toward its sovereign. The many monuments of his greatness, throughout his dominions, were covered with inscriptions, asserting that all Sesostris’ mighty deeds were accomplished without burdening his subjects; but, on the contrary, they all had become able, through them, to pass the remainder of their days in “calm and repose.”

Having subdued so much of the world, had he been equally ambitious to extend over it the same beneficent Government that he held over Egypt—which he could easily have done through the numerous competent persons the foresight of Amenophis had provided him with, who were well versed in his policy and administration of affairs—Sesostris would undoubtedly have earned and been entitled to the appellation of the world’s benefactor. It appears, however, that he did not exert himself at all in this direction, but was content to receive the annual tributes he levied to enrich Egypt proper. His reasons for pursuing this course, rather than of endeavoring to reward his most worthy adherents by making them rulers of the countries they had assisted him to conquer, are incomprehensible, and that they should not have urged him to it equally so. When it is considered how wisely and happily he governed Egypt, it can be imagined how vastly he might have benefited the conquered people by diffusing correct knowledge of the art of government among them through extending his rule over them.

As it was, it came about, that various Egyptian colonies scattered here and there over the conquered country, and in this way were instrumental in spreading the wisdom of their nation. It was one of these colonies that afterward became the famous Athens—the seat of learning, literature and philosophy. It was about this time also that the use of letters was introduced by one Cadmus, whom the Egyptians claimed to be of their country; but the majority of writers agree that they originated in Syria, and that they were identical with the Hebraic. Of these, however, there were but sixteen, four others being added some two hundred and fifty years later, and the remaining four a long time afterward.

The reign of Sesostris may justly be considered as having produced more general and extended influence upon the world than that of any of his ancestors of any country, and that nothing occurred that can hold any degree of comparison to it until the time of Alexander, more than a thousand years afterward. Sesostris was succeeded by Pheron, and he by Proteus, who dedicated the beautiful temple to “Venus the Stranger,” supposed to be “Helen of Troy,” famous for her beauty, and who was stolen by Paris, from whom she was taken by Proteus and returned to the Greeks.

Under succeeding reigns, the glory of Egypt began to decline, violence and cruelty to usurp the places where justice and moderation had so long prevailed, and jealousies, petty malice and personal aggrandizement to take the place of that love of country which is superior to self; nor could aught else have been expected from the ill-advised luxury and ease the country obtained under Sesostris, which should have been converted into action and expended upon tributary nations. The downward tendency, or the disintegrating process, having begun, demonstrated that the principle upon which Egypt rose and flourished had culminated, and was now to be disseminated among other nations and tribes. Nor could any effort of succeeding rulers, who saw the process at work and understood the causes thereof, stop the downward tendency, which continued with but temporary interruptions until the death of Tharaca, 687 years B. C., when the kingdom remained in a state of anarchy, until twelve noblemen conspired to divide it among themselves. For some superstitious reasons Psammetichus, one of the twelve, was banished; but he, entering into a league with some Greeks, made war upon the eleven, defeated them, and again united the kingdom under one rule, and remained sole possessor of it until his death.

Six hundred and sixteen years B. C. one Nechos arose, who attempted the cutting of a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, but was unsuccessful. This, however, was partly atoned for by the accomplishment of a voyage entirely around the coast of Africa by some skilful Phœnician sailors he employed, they leaving Egypt by the Red Sea and returning by the way of the Mediterranean after an absence of three years. This passage was made some 2,000 years before the Portuguese discovered this way to the Indies, by which these Phœnicians were able to enter the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar.

Trouble after trouble now distracted the kingdom, and its power and influence declined with every reign, until the Persians, under Cambyses, 525 years B. C., subdued it. Since the downfall of the Persian Empire, Egypt has successively been subject to the Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and lastly the Turks, by whom it is now nominally possessed. The late accomplishment of the project Nechos failed in may be prophetic of radical changes in the condition Egypt has so long been submerged in—the indications being favorable for a return to considerable importance among the nations of the earth.

THE TENDENCIES OF GOVERNMENT.

[Revised from the New York Herald of May 2d, 1870.]

MRS. WOODHULL’S THIRD LETTER.

Nearly all historians who have written since Josephus have endeavored to reconcile sacred and profane history. This task Rollin attempts regarding the origin of the Assyrian empire. Diodorus says that “Ninus, the most ancient Assyrian king, performed great actions. Being naturally of a warlike disposition, and ambitious of glory which results from valor, he armed a considerable number of young men that were brave and vigorous, like himself, and trained them to all manner of hardships.” This Ninus, Rollin endeavors to make it appear, was the Nimrod of the Scriptures, and the Belus who was afterward worshiped as a god. Calisthenes, a philosopher, who was one of the retinue of Alexander the Great, says the Babylonians reckoned their origin back some 115 years after the Deluge, which would be about 2,250 years B. C. The conflict of authority upon the origin of this empire, renders it competent for our purpose to assume this date, and that Nimrod was the first historic king of Assyria.

Assyria is supposed to have derived its name from Asshur, the son of Shem, who, the Scripture says, settled this country. Nimrod possessed himself of the province, introduced his own subjects into it, built cities and made himself generally beloved. It is said he built Nineveh, more grand and magnificent than all the rest, and named it after his son Ninus, who, on his accession to the throne, conceived the design of extending his conquests, and began to prepare troops and officers capable of carrying it out. In seventeen years he conquered all the country between Egypt, India and Bactriana, which last country he did not think himself strong enough to attack with success.

While preparing for further and greater conquests he also determined to immortalize his name by making of Nineveh a city at once commensurate with his power and wealth. His design, says Diodorus, was “to make it the largest and noblest city in the world, and to put it beyond the power of others who might come after him to ever build another such. Nor,” as Rollin adds, “was he deceived in this; for never did any city come up to the greatness and magnificence of this.” It was eighteen miles and three-quarters long and eleven miles and one-quarter broad, and was surrounded by a wall one hundred feet high.

Having completed Nineveh he pursued his intended campaign against the Bactrians, into whose country he marched an army of 1,700,000 foot, 200,000 horse and 20,000 chariots, armed with scythes. With this vast array he quickly overran the whole country and finally laid siege to its capital. This city was strongly fortified and stoutly defended, so much so that Ninus began to despair of reducing it, when the wife of one of his officers advised him how to attack its citadels so as to capture them, and by them the city. This woman was the afterward celebrated Semiramis. Ninus made use of her advice, and the city fell into his hands with but little loss to him.

Ninus, finding a woman possessed of such remarkable capacity to aid him in his ambitious designs, at once conceived for Semiramis the most violent passion. Her husband, upon hearing this, killed himself to escape the fury of Ninus. Having married her, he not long after died—some assert by her connivance—and left the kingdom to her.

It was Semiramis who undertook the building of the mighty Babylon, in which work she employed two million men. Dr. Prideaux tells us the walls around Babylon were three hundred and fifty feet high and eighty feet thick, and that it contained six hundred and seventy-six squares two miles and a quarter in circumference. His description of the walls, the quays and bridges, lakes, ditches, canals, palaces, hanging-gardens and temple of Belus presents a picture of grandeur and magnificence unknown in this age. Diodorus also says even in his time there were many monuments of grandeur still standing bearing the name of Semiramis.

This beautiful and extraordinary woman possessed the most marvelous control over all she came in contact with. Her simple presence was sufficient to quell any tumult or mutinous proceeding. Not satisfied with the immense possessions left her by Ninus, she conquered Ethiopia and the larger part of Africa. Not yet content, she determined upon the subjugation of India, against which she set out with 3,000,000 foot, 500,000 horse and a multitude of camels, with which she thought to make head against the Indian elephants. After she had successfully crossed the river Indus the Indian King fell upon her army, with his elephants, with such fury that it was utterly routed. Semiramis was by this defeat compelled to give over the conquest of India. Having reigned forty-two years she resigned the throne to Ninyas, her son, whom she discovered was plotting against her life, as the Jupiter Ammon of Egypt had told her years before he would. She retired from the sight of men, hoping speedily to have divine honors granted her name, which was also prophesied for her by the Egyptian god.

Of these vast armies, which predicate still more vast population, Rollin remarks: “I must own I am somewhat puzzled with a difficulty which may be raised against the extraordinary things related of Ninus and Semiramis, as they do not seem to agree with the times so near the deluge; I mean such vast armies; such a numerous cavalry; so many chariots armed with scythes; such immense treasures of silver and gold, and the magnificence of the buildings. The temple of Belus alone contained more than twenty millions pounds sterling hoarded treasure.” Rollin argues that the Greek historians, from whom he compiled, must have fallen into some grave errors, since, that such things should have occurred so soon after the deluge, presupposes what must have been beyond the range of possibility.

The Assyrian empire, having attained the zenith of power and magnificence under Semiramis, began to sink into a gradual decay, the kings themselves setting the example of indolence and dissipation. This process of decay continued until the time of Sardanapalus, about 700 years B. C. He surpassed all his predecessors in effeminacy, cowardice and licentious luxury, and abandoned himself completely to pleasure, wine and women; even dressing and painting his cheeks as the women did. It seems strange that a people so used to glory and conquest should not have sooner revolted against such debauchery and dissoluteness. This was left for one Arbaces to do; he obtained entrance to the King’s palace, and with his own eyes witnessed the truth of the reports about the King. Arbaces at once began to incite rebellion; by his reports he gained over the governors of several provinces, who raised an army and marched against the King, whom they succeeded in shutting up in the city of Nineveh. The King considered Nineveh impregnable, but the river Tigris suddenly rose to a great height and broke down some portions of the walls of the city, which admitted the troops of the rebellious governors. Sardanapalus then proceeded to burn himself, his women and treasure, which latter, according to Atheneus, amounted to “a thousand myriads of talents of gold and ten times as much silver, each myriad of which was of the value of $7,000,000.” Such treasure we in this age know nothing of. After the death of Sardanapalus the empire was dismembered, and the kingdoms of Babylon, Nineveh and Medea formed from its ruins. Between these there was constant warfare waged. During the time of Cyazares a horde of Scythian barbarians devastated the three kingdoms, remaining their masters until the people disposed of them by a general stratagem—slaughtering them while drunk with wine, at feasts to which, by concert, each family of Assyrians had invited them upon an agreed day. Such as escaped this, fled the country. Cyazares, after repeated efforts, succeeded in utterly destroying Nineveh, the last city that held out against him, and with the aid of his nephew, Cyrus, united the three kingdoms again under one government, which was the beginning of the famous empire of the Medes and Persians.

Crœsus, King of Lydia, is here entitled to a slight digressive reference on account of the influence he at this time exercised. Vast riches in most kingdoms had led to indolence, effeminacy and licentiousness; but Crœsus thought it unworthy for any person, much less a king, to surrender himself to these. Not only was he vastly rich, and an extraordinary conqueror, but his chief delight consisted in literature and science; he patronized the learned and wise of all nations; so much so that they all made particular effort to visit his dominions to receive his assistance. His court was the ordinary residence of the seven wise men of Greece. It was with him that Æsop, the author of the Fables, flourished. The possession of these characteristics entitle Crœsus to most honorable mention and memory, and he should be regarded as a representative king.

It will be remembered that Cyrus was the first king of Persia, which by conquest he enlarged until it comprised all the territory between the Tigris and Indus, the Caspian Sea and Indian Ocean. His uncle, Cyazares, retained Medea. He, finding himself involved in a terrible war with the kings of several provinces—among whom was Crœsus of Lidya—sent to Cyrus for aid, who set out at once with an army. The vast preparations made on both sides culminated in the battle of Thimbra—one of the most remarkable events of ancient times—which decided the empire of Asia against the Assyrians and in favor of the Persians. This battle has always been the study of great commanders, because the military genius there displayed by Cyrus makes him rank as one of the greatest of generals. After reducing all the smaller nations of Asia Minor, Cyrus turned his whole power against Babylon, which he determined upon destroying. He accomplished its capture by emptying the river Euphrates into the vast ditches prepared by Semiramis, and marching his army over its dry bed into the city at night, while its inhabitants were engaged in some general entertainment. Thus the mighty city built by Semiramis fell, and the destruction ceased not, until not even its walls remained to tell the story of its grandeur.

With the reunion of what constituted the first Assyrian empire, the conquests of Cyrus seem to have ceased. He turned his whole attention to perfecting a system of government for the vast country he had acquired. This he accomplished most wisely. All historians agree that in this task he was greatly aided by the wisdom and counsel of Daniel the Prophet, who obtained a position of great power and influence. It was no doubt he who obtained from Cyrus the famous decree regarding the Babylonish captivity of the Jews. So prosperous and happy did the empire become under the reign of Cyrus, that historians affirm “that after his death he was universally regarded as the common father of the people.” Having reigned seventy years he died 529 years B. C., leaving the empire to Cambyses, his son, who was as great in crime as his father had been in virtue. He caused the death of his only brother, Smerdis, married his youngest sister (who was very beautiful), and afterward killed her because she lamented the death of Smerdis. Happily his reign was cut short by death, having lasted less than eight years.

It was not generally known that Cambyses had caused the death of his brother Smerdis, which made it possible for Smerdis the magician to usurp the throne, giving out that he was the true Smerdis. He was exposed by one of his wives, at the instance of a nobleman named Darius, who managed to slay him, and was then unanimously named king, by his brother noblemen, for having done so. Soon after becoming king, Darius, with an army of 1,000,000 men, marched into Europe to chastise the Scythians for having overrun Assyria in the time of Cyazares. The expedition resulted disastrously to Darius, who could not even bring the Scythians to battle. They continually retired before him, and left him to be defeated by the scarcity of provisions, from which cause Darius came near losing his whole army, and was obliged to beat a hasty retreat to his own country. Darius then determined upon the conquest of India, which he accomplished. Of the particulars of this campaign no records are left, though it is known that India remained a Persian province many years, and paid annual tributes of £50,0000 sterling. Darius was the only conqueror who ever subjugated India sufficiently to reduce it to a tributary province; it made the twentieth that had been added to Persia.

During the reign of Darius, the Ionians revolted against Persian control, and succeeded in involving the Athenians with them; they furnished the Ionians twenty ships, by the aid of which Sardis was captured and burned. This so enraged Darius that he formed a solemn resolve to destroy Greece. Thus began that implacable strife of the Persians against the Grecians, by which Persian power was almost destroyed, and in which the Greeks performed the most remarkable exploits known in military history. These, coming more properly under Grecian summary, it will only be remarked here that Miltiades on the plains of Marathon, Leonidas at Thermopylæ, Themistocles at Salamis, Aristides at Plateæ, Leotychides at Mycale, and Simon at Eurymedon, taught the Persian monarchs that they were not to be subdued by them, though they should expend their mightiest power in their attempts.

So exhausted was the empire from the Grecian wars, that when the Egyptians revolted during the reign of Darius II. he found himself unable to subdue them. The superb empire made and left by Cyrus the Great under such admirable government was now becoming thoroughly corrupted and debauched, and was given to all species of licentiousness. Its former glory rapidly departed, and the elements of destruction were actively at work preparing it for the blow Alexander of Macedon was soon to deal it, from which it was destined never to recover.

After the dismemberment of the Macedonian Empire, Persia in part recovered, but became the field for constant barbarian inroads, which kept the kingdom in poverty and misery. Under Chosron, about the year 600, the empire again extended from the Indus to the Mediterranean. Justinian I. waged a successful war against Chosron, and compelled a disadvantageous peace. This was annulled by Chosron II., who again raised Persia to her former greatness by conquering Egypt, Ethiopia, Lydia and Yemen. These sudden conquests were soon lost, and the partially resuscitated empire passed into a rapid decline. At no time since has Persia exerted any considerable influence upon surrounding nations. Under Timour, in the fourteenth century, and the Turks in the fifteenth, it decayed rapidly; in the sixteenth century it became nearly extinct, and, as a nation, it remains virtually so to this day.

THE TENDENCIES OF GOVERNMENT.

[Revised from the New York Herald of May 9, 1870.]

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL’S FOURTH PAPER—A RETROSPECT OF ANCIENT GRECIAN AND ROMAN HISTORY.

[Below we present the fourth subdivision of Mrs. Woodhull’s treatise on “The Tendencies of Government,” from which it will be perceived that the lady has delved deep into the mines of governmental lore, and is vigorously training for the Presidential sweepstakes of 1872:]

Regarding the earliest traditions of Greece, it can be said they are less indefinite than those of Egypt or Assyria. No country of antiquity can be reverted to with more admiration and respect than this. In whatever light her history is considered, illustrious examples of true greatness abound. If her military career be reviewed, where can more glory be found to have been achieved? If her government be examined, where has greater wisdom and moderation ever been exercised? If the comparative advancement of science, literature, art and philosophy made within her domain be appealed to, where has greater proficiency ever been attained? If the personal characteristics of her great men be analyzed, where has patriotism ever risen to so sublime a degree? In many respects Greece may be considered the school-house of the world, wherein it has been taught the rudimentary principles of knowledge, especially that species of knowledge that conduces to the development of wisdom.

The territory of ancient Greece was by no means the Greece of to-day, but embraced all that country lying southward from Illyria and Thrace, now forming a part of Turkey in Europe. It then consisted of the provinces of Epirus, Peloponnesus, Greece proper, Thessaly and Macedonia, besides many islands in the Ægean Sea. The earliest inhabitants of Greece of whom anything is known were the Pelasgi, who “knew no other law than force, were ignorant even of agriculture, and fed on roots and herbs.” A people called the Hellenes, from Asia, mingled with them, and their common name became Greeks, from Græcus, the son of Pelasgus. Although Greece was afterward the seat of so much knowledge and wisdom, it does not appear that these originated among the descendants of its original inhabitants, but that they sprung from the Phœnecian and Egyptian colonies that from various causes found their way into Greece.

Of the constant internal strife carried on between the several Grecian provinces no mention will be made. The first of these to arise was Sicyon, followed by Argos, Mycenæ, Athens, Sparta, Corinth and Macedon. When the population of any of these became large, it was the custom to send out colonies, thus distributing Grecian influence, instead of by war. The powerful cities of Rhegium, Syracuse, Sybaris, Crotona, Tarentum, Gela, Locris, Messina, Marseilles and Agrigentum, were formed from such colonies. For the space of a thousand years, or until 520 years B. C., the Grecians appear to have confined their operations within their own dominions. Being continually engaged in war with each other, they had no opportunity of carrying on aggressive warfare—this was never a Grecian characteristic, though so forcibly illustrated by Alexander of Macedon, and by Cimon and Agesilaus, for retaliation rather than aggression.

It is to be specially observed as illustrating the part Greece performed in the general advancement and diffusion of civilization that while all other great nations were made so by aggressive conquests, Greece rarely ever made war except in self-defence. The influence other nations had upon the world was gained by conquering contiguous countries. The influence Greece exercised was by diffusing among other nations the principles of science, philosophy and government and by commercial intercourse. Thus it is found that up to the time of the first Persian invasion there had been no concentration of the military forces of the several provinces, except as they had taken sides against each other in their feudal wars.

The Persian attempt to subjugate Greece was most unpropitious from the very onset. Mardonius marched a large army into the very heart of Greece, with scarcely any opposition; but his fleet, in approaching the coast of Macedon, encountered a storm, and was destroyed. Meanwhile, Mardonius took no pains to encamp his vast army in a place or form of security. A mere band of Thracians, taking advantage of this, fell upon the Persians in the night, and completely routed the whole army. This double defeat, by such unexpected means, caused Mardonius to return quickly into Asia.

Nothing daunted by this defeat, which he attributed to the inexperience of Mardonius, Darius dispatched another army, consisting of 500,000 men and 600 ships. The fleet first captured Eretrea, while the army caused such consternation in Greece that only Sparta, of all the provinces, responded to the Athenian call for succor. The Spartan troops, even, did not arrive in time to participate in the battle of Marathon, where Miltiades, with 10,000 Athenians, completely routed the whole Persian army. This victory gained by the Greeks over an army outnumbering theirs nearly twenty times, was, no doubt, the inspiring cause by which all succeeding victories over the Persians were gained. It taught the Greeks that a few determined men, fighting in defence of their country, were mightier than a multitude with no such incentive. Through the course of succeeding ages the Grecians exhibited a noble emulation of, and desire to imitate, if not excel, their ancestors, who fought and conquered at Marathon.

Xerxes, the successor of Darius, persisting in his determination to destroy Greece, crossed the Hellespont on a “bridge of boats,” with an army of 1,700,000 and 80,000 horse, to which submitting countries added 300,000, so that he appeared before the pass of Thermopylæ with 2,000,000 men. Against this force Leonidas opposed 12,000 Spartans and allies. The whole power of the Athenians had been turned into preparations for naval warfare, which, as the sequel showed, was the salvation of Greece. The manner in which Leonidas and his 300 Spartans defended Thermopylæ, still further raised the determination of the Greeks to resist after the same fashion all movements of the invaders. On the same day as the battle of Thermopylæ a great, though indecisive, naval battle was fought at Artemesium. Xerxes advanced upon, captured and burned Athens. The fate of Greece seemed decided; but the great naval battle of Salamis entirely changed the face of affairs. Xerxes being secretly informed that it was the intention of Themistocles to proceed with the Athenian fleet and destroy his “bridge” across the Hellespont, precipitately abandoned Greece, leaving Mardonius with 300,000 men and instructions to subdue Greece “if he was able.” At the battle of Platæa, which soon followed, Mardonius was completely defeated, and the same day the remainder of the Persian fleet was destroyed at Mycale.

Having thus rid themselves of the Persians the Athenians set about to rebuild their city. The Spartans, fearing Athens would gain great naval superiority over them, opposed it; thus the Grecians were no sooner rid of a common foe than strife broke out among themselves. This tendency arose from the process of individualization and is specially illustrative of the progress of evolution. Athens was rebuilt, and, as the Spartans feared, soon exceeded all other States in power and splendor. Athens also became the centre of the arts and sciences, knowledge of which was at this time rapidly developed. Sparta, no longer able to endure the overbearing pride of Athens, brought on the Peloponnesian war. This war devastated Greece and enslaved Athens. Sparta in turn was compelled to yield to Epaminondas, the Theban. In spite of this terrible war, poets, philosophers, artists and statesmen continued to arise, commerce flourished and the customs of the people were raised to the highest degree of perfection.

But a time of unhappiness soon came upon this too prosperous condition. Philip of Macedon, bold and cunning, took advantage of the dissensions that at all times prevailed, and by a sudden coup de main thought to make himself master of all Greece. It can be asserted that not Greece, but one man, for forty-eight years continually frustrated the designs of Philip, who himself said, “The eloquence of Demosthenes did me more harm than all the armies and fleets of the Athenians. His harangues are like machines of war and batteries raised at a distance, by which all my projects and enterprises are ruined. Had I been present and heard that vehement orator declaim I should have been the first to conclude that it was necessary to declare war against me. Nor can I reach him with gold, for in this respect, by which I have gained so many cities, I find him invincible.” Antipater also says of him, “I value not the galleys nor armies of the Athenians. Demosthenes alone I fear. Without him the Athenians are no better than the meanest Greeks. It is he that arouses them from their lethargy and puts arms into their hands almost against their will. Incessantly representing the battle of Marathon and Salamis, he transforms them into new men. Nothing escapes his penetrating eye, nor his consummate prudence. He foresees all our designs; he countermines all our projects and disconcerts us in everything. Did the Athenians confide in him and follow his advice we should be irremediably undone.”

From all that can be gathered about this remarkable man it may seriously be considered whether, had he had the power of a Sesostris, a Cyrus or an Alexander, he would not have conquered and ruled the world. But the Athenians failed to follow his advice, and were reduced to submission to Macedon by the youthful Alexander, who said of him, when he passed Thermopylæ, “Demosthenes called me a child when I was in Illyria; he called me a young man when I was in Thessaly: I must now show him before Athens that I am a man grown.”

After the conquest was complete Alexander summoned at Corinth representatives from the several Grecian States, and requested from them the supreme command of all their armies against the Persians. No assembly ever held was embryotic of more momentous events. It was the Western World taking counsel and resolving upon the destruction of the Eastern, and was the initiatory step to almost incredible events, and to the revolutions that were to change the condition of the whole world, through the unexampled career of him who caused its assembling.

After the death of Alexander, the several Grecian States renewed the struggle for freedom. The Romans, who had risen in the West, becoming involved in the strife, proved fatal to Greece; for in the year 146 B. C. the capture of Corinth reduced Greece to a Roman province.

During the whole period of strife from the battle of Platæa, the arts and sciences flourished in a most extraordinary manner. Indeed, it was the golden age of art. The Grecian colonies were still more prosperous than their mother country. Alexandria, in Egypt, especially, became famous as the seat of learning. In the time of Augustus, the Greeks lost even the shadow of their former freedom and ceased to be an independent people; but they became the instructors of their conquerors; for their language, manners, customs, learning, arts and tastes spread over the whole Roman empire. After a time the Romans came to esteem the Greeks as the most worthless of creatures.

Asiatic luxury, acquired from the Persians, had wholly corrupted the Greek’s ancient love of freedom, and a mean servility became substituted therefor. At the beginning of the fourth century the people scarcely showed a single trace of their former noble characteristics of simplicity and grandeur; and thus Greece passed into her condition of unimportance.

ROME.

Rome originally was but an insignificant city, founded on the banks of the Tiber by some herdsmen, whose small numbers were swelled somewhat “by strangers and outcasts from all the country about.” The herdsmen were without doubt Pelesgians, who had previously occupied the more easterly portions of Europe. The language they introduced bears unmistakable evidence of similarity to the Greek. That a people so humble as the original Romans were, who labored principally upon an unproductive soil for sustenance, should have increased in numbers, power and influence, so as to rule the world, seems almost incredible; but so it was.

A three-fold division of the people was early spoken of, probably representing as many different tribes. Each of these tribes was divided into ten smaller bodies called “Curial;” in war these divisions were represented by thirty centuries that made up the “legion.”

There were very few women among the early Romans. They seized on some Sabine women who came among them to witness their games, which seizure caused a war with the Sabines; the result of the war was the union of the Sabines with the Romans, and the extension among them of the same rules and divisions that existed among the Romans. This first conquest was prophetic of all future conquests, terminating as it did by the conquered country being added to Rome to increase its territory and power. The system of conquest thus begun continued with more or less activity during four centuries, when Rome had acquired nearly all the country as far east as the Euphrates. 500 years B. C. Tarquin, the last king, was expelled by the Senate, and the Roman republic began. During its first century, contentions among themselves prevented the Romans from materially extending their conquests. About the eightieth year of the republic the Gauls first attacked, captured and plundered Rome; nor could the Romans expel them until the banished Consul Camillus was recalled to command the armies. Soon after this, rapid strides to greatness were made, and Rome became the centre of attraction for the world. All countries, not already Roman, sought alliance, thereby hoping to escape conquest.

It was during this time of glory that luxury was first admitted and practised by Romans; and, as in all other countries, it laid the foundation for future ruin, by introducing into use licentious, vicious, and effeminate practices, where simplicity, purity and honor had previously held full sway.

Two hundred and eighty years B. C. the Carthagenians forming an alliance with the King of Syracuse brought on the first Punic war. The Syracusans soon deserted to the Romans and ever remained constant to them. The Romans had now acquired such love of, and thirst for, glory that they were considered unconquerable. In Sicily they gained great naval victories, and Africa trembled when her fleets neared its shores. The Carthagenians, through the advice of the Lacedemonian, Xantippus, defeated the army commanded by Regulus and captured him; he subsequently lost his life at the hands of the Carthagenians for opposing at Rome the conclusion of peace. The war continued by the advice of Regulus, turned in favor of the Romans, and the Carthagenians were compelled to accept the terms of peace offered by the Romans, thus ending the first Punic war.

The conquest of Seguntum by the Carthagenians, contrary to the terms of peace, led to the second Punic war, in which the celebrated Hannibal figured so conspicuously, and for a time made Rome tremble. From this temporary fear the Romans emerged more terrible than ever. They not only put a stop to the victorious career of Hannibal, but conquered Spain, and, crossing into Africa, compelled the recalling of Hannibal to defend Carthage. The famous battle of Zama ensued, in which both Hannibal and Scipio displayed the greatest military talent. The study of this battle has since been the admiration of all great military captains. The victorious Romans dictated again the terms of peace, which Carthage was obliged to accept. Thus ended the second Punic war.

The ambition of Rome now increased to such an immoderate extent as to threaten the reduction of the whole world to submission. Macedon and Syria endeavored to make head against them, but nothing could withstand the irresistible power of the perfectly disciplined Roman legions. Macedon was glad to end the war by becoming a Roman province, and Syria, to escape total destruction, by ceding to Rome the larger portion of her territory.

Carthage, the former powerful rival of Rome, still existed, which so annoyed the Romans that its destruction was determined upon and accomplished by the third Punic war, which ended 145 years B. C. The complete subjugation of all the Greek and Spanish provinces immediately followed, and Roman power was unparalleled. This begat a spirit of intolerance which goaded many of her conquered provinces into revolt. Combining their armies, they for a time successfully resisted the Romans. Pompey, coming into command, rapidly crushed out all resistance. Internal contentions between the several factions at Rome quickly followed the reduction of the formidable revolt. Cæsar, Pompey and Crassus, more active than the rest, divided the government between themselves. This was the first triumvirate. Cæsar would have no equal, and Pompey could endure no superior. The rivalry between these two powerful men was the initiatory step to the conditions that ruined the republic. Cæsar obtained the consulate and government of Gaul, and began to lay the foundation for his future greatness by extending his military enterprises in all directions. He defeated the Swiss, conquered the Germans, subdued the Belgians, reduced the whole of Gaul, invaded Britain, imposed tributes upon the people everywhere, and became the master spirit of the time.

When Cæsar returned to Rome Pompey fled. Cæsar then became perpetual dictator. This was about 50 years B. C. Pursuing Pompey into Greece, Cæsar defeated him at the great battle of Pharsalia, and thus overcame all opposition to unlimited power. In this possession Cæsar became so intolerably overbearing that a conspiracy was formed against him, which resulted in his death at the hands of Brutus. The love of the people, especially the women, remained Cæsar’s, so the new ruler found no peace. The strife between Brutus, Antony, and Octavius waxed warm, and Rome, as in the days of Marius and Scylla, became the scene of infamy and horror. Octavius and Antony, overcoming all opposition, divided the empire between them. Octavius remained in the west, Antony went to the east, and there became enamored of Cleopatra, the Egyptian Queen, for whom he abandoned Octavio, the sister of Octavius. This brought about a conflict, and Octavius proceeded to the east with a great army to chastise Antony. By the treachery of Cleopatra, whose army and navy deserted to Octavius, Antony was totally defeated. The treachery of Cleopatra determined him to take his life, which in turn caused her such grief that she sought and found relief through the aspen’s bite.

Octavius thus became sole master of the mightiest empire the world had ever beheld. It comprised nearly every country then known under a universal monarchy. Octavius assumed the title of Augustus Cæsar, and reigned over this mighty empire forty-five years with the most consummate skill and prudence, and with a profound appreciation of the position he occupied. It was during his reign that literature flourished so extensively. The best literary age of all countries has since been called its Augustan age, as likened to that of Rome under him. In the thirtieth year of his reign Jesus Christ was born. The Roman Empire at this time assumed its proudest and grandest pitch of power and glory, which will ever be the wonder and admiration of coming ages, until another nation shall arise to a greater and still more glorious condition, of which Rome will forever remain prophetic until fulfilled.

From the reign of Augustus to Constantine the Great, who transferred the capital to Byzantium, the empire sustained a series of good and bad rule, and declined somewhat from its previous proud position. On the death of Constantine the Great, Constantine II., Constantius and Constance divided the empire. Constantine II. had all Europe west of the Alps; Constantius Italy, Sicily and Africa; and Constance Asia, Egypt and the whole East. This division was the beginning of the great disasters that came fast upon Rome. Constantine and Constantius being disposed of by treason, Constance usurped the whole power; being destitute not only of all capacity for so extended rule, but also of all honor, the empire began to disorganize. During his reign and that of his successor, until Theodosius, about the year 400, country after country successfully revolted against the power of Rome. Everything in which her former renown and glory consisted degenerated, until Rome was precipitated into that condition which ultimated in her entire destruction, so that she who so lately was the proud mistress of the world, was unable to resist the barbarians of Northern Europe, who extinguished her light, thereby leaving the world in the midnight and anarchy of the “Dark Ages.”

MODERN EUROPE.

With the downfall of Rome that portion of history called ancient ceases. The numerous provinces of Europe that had been under the Roman power were completely under the control of the various barbarians who had destroyed that power. Out of this condition of anarchy modern Europe rose. As it consists of a number of countries their separate histories will not be considered; only such prominent facts regarding the whole will be observed as seem to indicate and mark its general progressive steps.

From the fall of Rome in 476 to the time of Charlemagne in 800, Western Europe was the scene of those operations that determined its present divisions. The barbaric tribes that occupied it were the Vandals, Suevi, Alans, Visigoths, Burgundians, Germans, Franks, Lombards, Angles, Saxons and Huns. The Visigoths founded Spain; the Angles and Saxons formed the seven kingdoms of Britain; the Germans fixed themselves on the Danube, and from these grew all the German States; the Lombards had Italy, and the Franks France. During this period Mohammed founded an empire in Asia, out of the ruins of which most of the monarchies of Western Asia arose.

Charlemagne was the ruling spirit of what may be termed the second period of modern European history, from 800 to 1074. Under him France took form and rank as one of the first powers of the world, and has never since been entirely divested of it. He temporarily re-established the Western Empire, but with his death it went to pieces. Spain was the theatre of the terrible wars between the Moors and Christians. The seven Saxon kingdoms were united by Egbert, who became the first King of England. The whole north of Europe was still barbarous, and frequently poured its hordes over the civilization in the south that was struggling for existence. The Danes ravaged England, and became masters of it; while Germany, under Otho the Great, rose to great power. The other present European States were still in obscurity.

The third period of modern European history extended from 1074 to 1453. During this period the German Empire was the scene of constant quarrels between the Emperors and the Popes, under the factions called Guelphs and Ghibelines, which dimmed the lustre Otho had conferred on it; Naples and Sicily were erected into kingdoms by the Normans; Denmark arose to some importance under Wildemar II.; in France, legislation and police restraints were introduced, but her power was nearly crushed by Edward III. of England, which country was in turn deluged in blood by the “Wars of the Roses;” Genoa and Venice increased in rank and importance; Spain still suffered from the Moors; Portugal became a distinct kingdom; Sweden and Norway came into existence; Russia emerged from the barbaric rule of the Tartars; Poland put on the royal dignity; Hungary and Bohemia were added to Austria, and the Turkish Empire rose to great power, putting an end to the Eastern Empire. The arts and sciences began to be cultivated again in the West, and literature and learning to flourish. Many inventions were produced, such as paper making, printing, engraving, painting in oil, gunpowder, and the mariner’s compass, and this brings us to the fourth period of history, which was pregnant with events that were to modify and change the general conditions of the world.

The fourth period extended two hundred years to 1650. In it America and the West Indies were discovered. The Reformation brought about great changes in very many respects in nearly every European country, many of which underwent important revolutions. Germany made important legislative improvements; feudal government was destroyed in France; Spain became a Christian kingdom; England rose to great power, especially under Elizabeth; Italy divided herself into numerous small States; Switzerland became a republic; the provinces of Holland declared their independence of Spain; Poland flourished; Denmark became of importance; affairs in Russia assumed a new appearance, the power of the Tartars being destroyed, and the Ottoman Empire became grand under Solyman II.

About 1650, the beginning of the fifth historic period, the political systems of Europe began to undergo considerable change, which, from various causes, continued until the time of Bonaparte. Revolutions in England, France, Germany and Russia caused various modifications, not only in the limits of the various countries, but also in their governments. England and France seemed to divide the other Powers about equally in the support and continuance of their wars; the general configuration of Europe, however, did not sustain any radical changes. This period is important in another and new aspect. Colonies from all the western kingdoms were continually going to the new America—that country which should in future exercise such control over the destinies of the world.

From time to time in the history of the world there have arisen single great men who by the grandeur of their enterprises and the power of their intellect and ambition, have left indelible impressions of themselves upon its history and condition. Such were Sesostris, Cyrus, Alexander, Cæsar and Charlemagne. Though they all possessed many traits of character which the present age cannot admire, they must ever be regarded as having given general civilization those great impulses that have so rapidly evolved the world from barbarism.

At the beginning of the next period another great man appeared, the waves of whose power were felt over the whole world, and who, by the grandeur of his conceptions, power and executive will, rose from obscurity to dictate to Europe, which was at that time the world. From 1789 to 1815 may justly be styled the Bonapartean period. It would be superfluous to recapitulate his career; nor would it be less so to trace the rescuing of America from the savages by the resistless advance of civilization, which, since the settlement of Jamestown, in 1607, has made such unexampled progress in all things that pertain to greatness, grandeur and glory—in literature, science, art and government.

Before closing the resume of general history it should be observed that many great events have been passed unnoticed, the principal aim having been to follow the western tendency of empire, and to present only such facts as were prominent in forming standards of progress, perpetual landmarks and historic eras. In Asia particularly, great events occurred, such as the career of Ghengis Khan and Tamerlane. The former, it is computed, slaughtered fifteen millions of human beings during his reign. The efforts of such as he were the last struggles of barbarians to arrest the onward course of general progress. Though for a time triumphant in their course the genius of progress could never be entirely eradicated where once it had found root and growth. China and India have been passed because, for the most part, they have been confined within themselves; the reason whereof will be discussed hereafter.

THE TENDENCIES OF GOVERNMENT.

[Revised from the New York Herald of May 16, 1870.]

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL’S LAST LESSON IN POLITICAL HISTORY.

[The following communication from Mrs. Woodhull, who, as the public is already informed, has devoted herself to enlightenment on the question of government, will be found as interesting as any of her previous letters on the same subject This is Mrs. Woodhull’s concluding letter on the Tendencies of Government:]

In entering upon the next and third part of the subject, we are conscious of the imperfect construction of the second. It must be remembered that the purpose of the resume was not to give consecutive historic detail, but to mark such special facts as evidently show there was a progressive and consecutive rise and fall of nations. Without apology for omissions and minor errors, we proceed to the consideration whether the facts elicited from history form a consecutive chain of progress, by which the world has been evolved from barbarism, and whether this evolution has been according to present philosophic formulas. The first and most prominent fact that becomes obvious to the observer of general history is that the progress of empire has always been from the east, westward. The progress of the earth in its daily rotation upon its own axis and also in its orbital movement around the sun is toward the east. This is believed to explain the order maintained by the course of empire. Motion being in the direction of the least resistance, the general tendency of the surface influence of the earth must be west. Counter side influences have at times caused deviations from straight lines, but this only makes the general proposition still more forcible. Therefore, as a general proposition, the course of empire and of civilization and population has always been westward.

If this proposition is applied to pre-historic times, to govern deductions regarding it, neither Assyria nor Egypt can be considered as having been the first powerful empire of the world. It is known that in them there existed a numerous and powerful people of whom history fails to give the exact or even supposed origin; the same is true of all the surrounding countries, in Europe, Asia and Africa. If it is allowed that population has resulted from the same general law that civilization has, it must be admitted that China and India were the predecessors of Assyria and Egypt.

Allowing that China and India existed as vast tribal communities previous to the historic age of Assyria and Egypt, it will be seen that population, general civilization and improving government crossed Asia westward and developed the Assyrian Empire, which, for the same general reasons must be held the predecessor of Egypt.

The Assyrian Empire attained its greatest power under Semiramis, 2,150 years B. C., which was about the beginning of the historic age of Egypt, and 700 years before Sesostris conquered the greater part of the known world. In whatever comparative light the histories of these two countries are viewed, Assyria must be deemed the more ancient empire. It may be further observed, if Nimrod was the first King of Assyria, and the father of Ninus, who was the husband of Semiramis, the empire came to its greatest glory in an exceedingly short time. Very many reasons can be assigned why Assyria must have been an empire of centuries when Semiramis reigned.

The Assyrian Empire, in the year 2,150 B. C., was the great power of the world, having sway over the greater part of Asia and Africa. Seven hundred years afterward, or 1,499 years B. C., Egypt had risen to its greatest glory, and under Sesostris acquired the Assyrian Empire, besides a vast country in Europe and Africa which Semiramis had never subdued.

Out of the ruins of Assyria, Babylon, Nineveh and Medea were formed, and, after being consolidated, were merged into the famous Persian Empire by Cyrus, 536 years B. C., or 950 years after the proudest Egyptian period. The Persian Empire absorbed the Indian and Egyptian, and became the most splendid power that had existed, and with rising Greece divided the world.

Grecian power being concentrated by Alexander of Macedon, he acquired the ascendancy over the Persians, and became the world’s conqueror. Numerous Grecian colonies, following the general tide of influence westward, formed powerful kingdoms in various parts of the Mediterranean coasts and islands.

Rome, rising to power, contended with Carthage for supremacy in the west. Carthage being destroyed by the three Punic wars, the attention of Roman armies was turned eastward, to gather in the elder empires that were verging on decay. Greece, 146 years B. C., became the Roman province of Achaia. Continuing its conquests further, fifty years B. C., Rome became ruler of a greater part of the inhabited world than any of the previous empires, and existed in the utmost pomp and glory several centuries, until the northern barbarians swept over and extinguished it.

No considerable Power existed after 476, until Charlemagne’s, though some influence attached to several Asiatic countries. Civilized nations were extinct in Europe. From Charlemagne, in 800, to 1500, civilization continued to rear its blighted head in various parts of Europe, and to mark the countries that should play the next last act in the drama of unceasing general progress.

The historic age of the world, then, has been occupied thus: The Assyrian Empire existed and was subdued by the Egyptian, which was conquered by the Persian, which was destroyed by the Grecian, which was compelled to yield to the Roman, which was destroyed by the barbarians, that from its ashes numerous kingdoms and empires should arise, to exist together, and to spread over and occupy the outside world Rome had never known.

From this succession of empire many deductions might be drawn which would assist in forming a well-defined line of progress. Many are so obvious that it would be superfluous to name them; therefore we leave them, with the general observation, that in each succeeding empire the condition of the people was more directly and distinctly recognized, while each, in grasping for universal sway, and not possessing the principles upon which universal government was possible, exceeded the limits of its central strength, and thereby fell. India and China alone, of all ancient nations, survive, because they have never sought to extend their limits, but have expended their strength within their own, though it often was in war.

The commercial greatness of England, more than any other present externally apparent power, is promoting the general assimilation of the world. This influence is producing very great and diffusive results in Asia, Africa and South America, and the way is being opened and cleared for more radical and general control. It is impossible that the increasing power of civilized and enlightened ideas and customs in India, China and Asia generally, should not revolutionize those countries. Many Chinese will return from this country, carrying with them the solvent power of the genius of our institutions, which, combining with all similar powers, will ere long kindle the flame of popular individual freedom. This flame will cause republics to spring into existence where one form of government has existed through historic time over the same defined limits of kingdom. Another great and powerful influence is being evolved that cannot fail to exercise a tremendous modifying power over Asia. Russia, the European giant, is slowly but surely pushing into Asia from the west. If it continue its present well-consolidated home strength, it will absorb Asia until it meet the same absorbing process proceeding westward, when Asia will be prepared for a still grander consummation.

In Europe, Russian influence is also gaining the ascendancy. Though one of the youngest of European kingdoms, it seems possessed of an inherent strength superior to them all, which Bonaparte, with all his terrible power and ambition, could not scatter nor weaken, and which stands ever ready to gather under its protecting wings the sickening adjacent kingdoms. At present Russia is biding her time and strengthening her arms, which she is conscious shall soon reach out and grasp all they can compass.

Prussia, meantime, is spending its strength in the vain, though apparently successful, endeavor to consolidate a country under absolute control, that is impossible of a people so numerously and diffusively represented, in a country where freedom is the rule. Throughout Southern, Central and Southwestern Europe, republicanism impatiently awaits the time to burst forth, and sweep among the debris of the past all traces of monarchy. The country over which the Roman eagles triumphed will again be under a republican form of government, improved upon that of Rome by 2,000 years of successful experiment. Russia will then occupy a central position between the republics of Europe and Asia, and its emperors be the last to yield their crowns. Like no other country, Russia has vast possessions in the unyielding frigid zone, which gives way but slowly before the gradually equalizing temperature of the globe, and of the character of which Russian Government naturally partakes.

Though revolutionized, Southeastern Asia will remain China and India, the ancient Assyrian, Persian and Grecian Empires will be resurrected under the consolidated Russian, while Africa will be left for Egyptian control, the promise of which begins to be visible in the direction given to civilization and commerce by the successful accomplishment of Nechos’ defeated project, and, Egypt returned to be a nation of importance. Africa will naturally gravitate to Egypt, as it is possessed of no other salient point from which dominion and power can spring. In this regard Africa differs from all the other grand divisions of the globe. The character of its inherent wealth is also different. Other countries have their frozen regions, inland seas and marshes, stupendous mountains and deep jungles, but Africa alone has its Sahara. Commerce has scattered the germs of civilization here and there upon the coasts of Africa, but its central portions are to all intents as undeveloped as when Semiramis went into Ethiopia, and Sesostris levied his tributes of gold, silver, precious stones and woods. What Africa is held in reserve for by the general economy of the universe it is impossible to determine; but that a time will come when her resources will be required and obtained, is philosophically certain.

In Europe, where the more prominent scenes of modern history have been enacted, a modified method of conquest was begun by its countries, resembling that which was pursued by ancient Greece. This was not so much a subdual of foreign countries to actual control as it was the general diffusion among them of civilization upon a more extended scale, made possible by improvements in the art of navigation. The assimilation of the world was thus begun upon a more perfect basis than by force of arms, and which differed widely from it in this fact: that while arbitrary control was at all times open to overthrow, the process of becoming alike, could never be interrupted except by the suspension of intercourse. Under the former, no two empires could exist side by side for any length of time without one being subjugated by the other; under the latter a number of kingdoms have existed for centuries, and though frequently engaged in conflict to settle some dispute of boundary or policy, it has seldom been pursued to utter destruction. The same end grasped for by Semiramis first and by Bonaparte last is being reached by the much more certain though gradual process of assimilation.

Thus far America has been untouched, but its consideration now becomes necessary. The Old World, as has been found, must continue its evolution, until like conditions shall exist everywhere. Similar interests beget union. When the general people shall begin to realize that their common interests depend upon the interests of each individual, one system of government must follow, whether it proceed from one common centre or from several centres.

What is America? Americus Vespucius and Christopher Columbus, acting upon sound scientific principles, discovered to the inhabitants of the Old World a new country, that was to be a haven of retreat for such of them as sought greater freedom and better equality, in which individuality could expand without coming in contact and being dwarfed by personal government. In continuing to be this haven of retreat it has become the representative country of the world. To its hospitable and ever-inviting shores people of all nations and climes have come, so that in two centuries the principal country of it has grown to be a Nation of more inherent strength than any country of the Old World, and to rank among its nations as a first class Power, both feared and respected.

The United States of America, all genuine Americans believe, will become the United American States. The very name is prophetic of what shall be, while the progress made in that direction begins to give well-defined outlines of it. Beginning on the Atlantic coast an infant republic, the United States has stretched its arms westward across the Continent. The same oceans that bound the east and west of the Old World wash its eastern and western shores. Having gained ocean-bound limits latitudinally, which form a central basis of strength, it will expand longitudinally until it shall become an ocean-bound republic—a grand confederation of States and interests, which, while being peculiarly American, will be so far cosmopolitan as to represent the descendants of every nation of the world—we no longer say of the known world. Europe has its well-defined limits of kingdoms and states, the people of which seldom pass from one to the other to become citizens; so also has Asia, while Africa is more nearly homogeneous; but they all give up their people to America. America, besides being American, is European, Asiatic and African, while each of these is becoming American. No well-informed person doubts that the progressive greatness, of republican forms of government, is rapidly dissolving the strength and solidity of all the monarchies of the Old World; though they may affect to despise republics, and to call ours a failure, their subjects are anxiously asking, When can we successfully revolutionize? Though such a step may not be openly advocated by any, it is, nevertheless, secretly discussed, and preparatory means are being devised, in every country.

And for these reasons the United American States will be the representative country of the world. Some may argue, because the commercial power of England is so superior; because she has such numerous general possessions, the English language being the one that must become universally used, that, by virtue of these, that dignity belongs to England. The fact cited above, showing that the general disintegrating influence of the world centres and is integrated in the United States, is a sufficient answer to such an illegitimate argument—illegitimate, because it is evident to all, that the process of the diffusion of English influence throughout the world is, so far as England is concerned, one of disintegration; while that going on upon American soil is diametrically opposite, being most decidedly one of integration. If the process of integration is pursued until it culminates, and the argument is educed that disintegration must follow in America as it has in England, it may be answered that the English influence that is being diffused world-wide is peculiarly English; while, when that process shall have commenced in America, it will proceed from a centre formed by previous influx from all countries in the world, and in this sense is not a process of disintegration, but simply of reaction.

The general law of direction for population and civilization was westward until it had encircled the globe, and in their last conquest found a country of sufficient inherent vitality to attract all other countries toward it. Not only does the tide of influence continue to flow to America from the east, but since her power has made itself felt upon the Pacific coast, the same tide has set in from the west, and Asia pours her surplus population upon our western coast, which exemplifies one of the modifying portions of the rule of motion. For the time, therefore, though preponderant commercial importance must be accorded England, the United States thereby loses none of its general prestige as the representative country of the world.

From whatever point consideration begins, the conclusion that is inevitably reached is, that the world must, in due time, become subject to one system of government. Whether that system shall at first proceed from one common centre or from several centres, is not so presently apparent, though that such a consolidation will be ultimately reached no one can doubt, who gives proper weight to the established fact that all perfect things become universal. So it is with everything of vital interest to the general people; rapid and sufficient communication is the only limiting power that controls their diffusion. In proportion as the diffusive means increase, in number and extent, so do the interests of the people become proportionately assimilated and best systems prevail.

A striking exemplification of the benefit that would flow from the adoption of general systems in all things may be drawn from the system of international telegraphing. A universal language in this becomes of the first importance. How much more important when the general uses and benefits are considered. The adoption of a universal language would remove the greatest obstacle from the path of the general diffusion of knowledge and innumerable difficulties from methods of communication.

It should be further observed, that the same law governs in all communications between the different countries. This is a necessity, in order that the intercourse may be preserved and be at all times safe. Should it be inquired, how much of the common law of the world is similar, the answer returned would astonish all who had not given it consideration, by being so considerable a portion of the whole. Were the inquiry pressed further, to find how great modifications of common law would be required in the various nations to make a common administration possible to all, a still greater astonishment would be developed by the slight disparities that would be shown to exist.

It has been remarked that England has possessions in very many latitudes and longitudes of the world. Over these possessions a governing control is exercised, which control foreshadows the possibility of a government that shall control every country in all latitudes and longitudes. When it is remembered that the countries of Asia are practically as near Washington as California, there can be no argument deduced from distance against a common and world-wide administration of government. The broad assertion is made, that there is no argument against universal governmental administration, but that every possible argument urges all people to prepare for it as the thing of all things to be desired by them.

It only remains for some one of the great countries of the world to arrive at, or to approximate to, a perfect system of government that shall contain the elements and principles of sufficient inherent strength, to insure to that country the power which shall control the destinies of the world. From what has been said regarding the position of the United States, it must be admitted, that nearly all the natural advantages, as well as the general order of things, are on this side of the globe. If any conclusions naturally flow from the observation of the past tendencies in the order of nature, they are that the United States is destined to be the centre of a universal government.

The tendencies of government from earliest historic time have persistently been to universal sway. The systems and forms through which this tendency has been manifested have changed from time to time, as the circumstances that created them—the environment—the sum total of the governed—have changed. These systems will continue to be modified, until this tendency shall have opened such channels for itself, as will permit free and untrammeled action; until these channels shall have encircled the world, and its utmost limits shall have been attracted within the realm of its positive flow and negative reaction, and until the commanding magnetic influence that shall proceed from its central seat of power shall reach all subjects and find in their general heart an answering response of fidelity and confidence.

In such fidelity and confidence each and all can safely and earnestly devote themselves to the best aims and wisest purposes of life—to intellectual, moral and spiritual growth. In this general and universal pursuit the millennium, so long prophesied and prayed for, can alone be gained, through which reaching, the government of heaven can alone be administered on earth.

Government, then, will be no longer one of physical force, but of the more powerful control of wisdom, including, perhaps, modified forms of force. Caste will no longer be distinction regarding material position or possession, but in moral and spiritual position and intellectual possession. In such government and caste a true aristocracy can exist in the midst of a true democracy. All will be born free and entitled to the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in self-chosen paths, which alone is perfect equality. Perfect equality in the order of nature does not presuppose that all shall be alike, but it does presuppose that all shall be equal in the right to apply their natural or acquired talent according to the dictates of the power that governs them—the same as the flower and the tree follow their natural courses, and are equal, but not alike. As the lightning and the sunshine, the mountain and the river, the bird and the bee, the earthquake and the storm, follow their natural courses and tendencies under the government of the universal God, so shall the people follow theirs under a universal social government, when fashioned after the same general principles that obtain in the domain of nature. For

Honest nature’s voice shall give

The laws to man by which he’ll live.

It will be seen, then, that the philosophic formulæ that it has been demonstrated the evolution of matter conforms to, apply with equal force, effect and directness to the evolution of society, which is the fruit, so to speak, of the evolution of matter. The evolution of society, then, is “a continuous establishment of psychical relations within the community, in conformity to physical and psychical relations arising within the environment, during which both the community and the environment pass from a state of incoherent homogeneity to a state of coherent heterogeneity, and during which the constitutional units of the community become ever more distinctly individualized.” Thus it has been from the earliest existence of communities, and this formulæ applies to all communities, whether Assyrian or American.

The process of revolution in its ultimate effects brings about a perfect state of action and reaction in all the various productions of nature, by which they are first perfected and then destroyed. The process in society must also continue until an equilibrium shall have been attained between the governing power and the power governed. When this is reached its perpetual continuance will depend solely upon the perpetuity of that over which it acts, or upon continuous individual existence. Continuous existence does not belong to the kingdoms below man, but does to man, from the fact that inherent within his consciousness there is a persistent though utterly unexplainable and undefinable knowledge of continuous existence, which is forever independent of all the changeable circumstances of the purely material, and which represents in him that characteristic of Divine power exhibited everywhere in the universe which is forever beyond scrutiny and limitation.

This evidence of Divine power within the individual, then, is the distinction between man as the product of nature and all other products of nature; while the consciousness of its existence is the direct evidence to the understanding that as the Divine power is eternal, so must that within be, which partakes of it, or is made up of its essential attributes.

It becomes the duty, then, of each individual who can catch but faint glimpses of such a consummation as universal government, to point it out and to assist by all legitimate means in the dissemination of light upon it and all relevant subjects. It becomes the duty of each nation to see that its people are educated to the same ultimate perception; and specially does it become the duty of that nation which seems appointed by the Divine order of things to become the central power of all the rest to push its influence and the genius of its institutions abroad and into every nation. A mere passive acquiescence in this Divine appointment will not suffice; an active and positive acceptance of the mission, and the faithful and persistent performance of the great trust, is required.

When the people of this country shall rise to a true and competent conception of the responsibilities of the position assigned it in the order of the universe, the present system of things will undergo such rapid transformations as no revolution ever yet accomplished, and to which the destruction of the Roman empire by the barbarians can alone compare in magnitude. By that the dominion of the world was wrested from Rome; by this that shall come, it shall be restored to that country of which Rome was the Divine prophecy. Personal, sectional and national motives will be sunk in oblivion, and such governing rules of action will obtain as shall bring the world into intimate, harmonious and Divine relations, such as will know no Jew nor Christian, Mohammedan nor Pagan, but one general and acknowledged brotherhood of man, flowing from the common fatherhood of God.

[Editorial from the New York Herald of May 27, 1870.]

WOMAN’S IDEA OF GOVERNMENT.

The public have, during the past few months, been interested and perhaps edified by the ideas and impressions put forth by Mrs. Victoria C. Woodhull upon the broad, general subject of human government, as well as by her subsequent nomination of herself as a candidate for the Presidency in the election of 1872. The articles in which she has announced these views and purposes have from time to time appeared in the Herald, and to-day we present a further communication on the question of the “Limits and Sphere of Government.” It is evident Mrs. Woodhull is imbued with at least one very sensible idea, and that idea is one which it would be well for large numbers of aspirants for public positions to emulate—viz., that fitness is the first prerequisite of qualifications entitling the seeker to enjoy the position sought for. This it is, doubtless, which has led her not only to study and perfect herself in the nature of the functions she seeks to exercise, and their effect, but, in the honest belief that she does understand the question, to give her opinions to the people, that they may judge of her ability and the correctness of her views.

At the same time it is somewhat difficult to see what good will come out of this particular Nazareth. Mrs. Woodhull offers herself in apparent good faith as a candidate, and perhaps has a remote impression, or rather hope, that she may be elected, but it seems that she is rather in advance of her time. The public mind is not yet educated to the pitch of universal woman’s rights. At present man, in his affection for and kindness toward the weaker sex, is disposed to accord her any reasonable number of privileges. Beyond that stage he pauses, because there seems to him to be a something which is unnatural in permitting her to share the turmoil, the excitement, the risks of competition for the glory of governing. There is therefore but one position that may be taken in considering the aim of this ambitious lady, and that is that, perceiving and fully appreciating the natural obtuseness of man, she has boldly put herself forward with a view to wearing down these scrupulous angles in his sympathetic character and nature, and that she will, after all, be content with the knowledge that she has done her full share in educating him for the new order of things which shall supervene when woman, in all matters, has equal rights and duties with him.

LIMITS AND SPHERE OF GOVERNMENT.

[Revised from the New York Herald of May 27, 1870.]

MRS. WOODHULL’S LATEST EPISTLE TO THE AMERICANS—“THE LIMITS AND SPHERE OF GOVERNMENT” CONSIDERED FROM A FEMALE POINT OF VIEW.

[In the following communication Mrs. Woodhull, whose former essays on political matters have been published in the HERALD, considers the question of government with special reference to the system under which we live in the United States:]

Having in “The Tendencies of Government” traced the rise and fall of nations, and found that from earliest historic time to the present, there has been a continual grasping for universal power, and a constant failure to maintain the extent of control actually reached; that the systems through which universal control was sought were too imperfect to admit of support for any great length of time over an extended area of country; that the general order of the world seems to indicate that universal government will become a fact, and that the United States shall be the seat of such governmental power, we may now come to consider what control a government must be invested with in order that it shall at all times meet the demands of the people and the times, and therefore be continuous while becoming universal.

It is predicated that government exists by the consent of the governed. While this is nominally true, it virtually contains but an undeveloped germ of truth. In no country as yet does the government exist by the consent of the governed. In this country least of all does it apply, though superficially it may not so appear.

Government is universal. All things in all the various kingdoms of nature are the objects of governing laws which form the subjective order of the universe. In all natural government the relations between the governing power and the powers governed are always well defined, while the requirements of the governed are always met by requisite modes of administration. Each coming demand falls into some common method of being answered. Thus, in the greatest conceivable diversity of conditions, are found the fewest and simplest laws of control. Rising from purely material to the more refined powers of mind, represented only in the human, a new phase of development springs up. Being an individualized power within itself, the human family represents the divine power that controls the whole, and in this relation fashions its governments according to the limitations of its acquired standard of wisdom, which must always necessarily be imperfect in comparison with the common laws of the universe, in the same proportion as human wisdom is imperfect when compared with divine wisdom.

The world of mind has now arrived at an age and corresponding development, which begins to comprehend the general laws of the universe, and to understand their great simplicity and perfect adaptation to all things under them. Seeing that such a perfect system of government exists throughout the universe of matter, the inquiry is beginning to be earnestly made, why the universe of mind cannot be controlled by equally simple and general laws and systems of administration. Seeing that changes are never necessary in the common universal laws, the inquiry is also beginning to be made, why the laws that govern society cannot be so fashioned after the laws of nature as not to require the constant remodelling now necessary when changes come, in the circumstances required to be met.

The solution of the difficulty in which the mind becomes involved when considering these most serious questions, seems reduced to a single proposition—that all strifes, difficulties and controversies regarding government and its administration, arise from the fact, that the governing power is not general but specific in its operations, or that the powers governed are not subservient to a common law of control. This is still more clearly perceptible if the question of “reserved rights” on the part of any of the governed is considered. No individual can have a reservation that militates against the general welfare of others, or the whole, without specific laws to sustain him in it. If no individual can have such special reservation, no number of individuals less than than the whole, can have reservations without specific protection. Therefore no city, county, State, or number of them, less than all cities, counties and States forming a consolidated union, can hold in reserve any rights or privileges that do not contribute to the general welfare of the whole, without sooner or later coming into conflict regarding them. This theory of reserved rights was pretty forcibly, logically and effectually refuted by the late war; so must all such reservations be equally well refuted before permanent peace, harmony and prosperity can be expected to flow from government and it remain permanent.

Analytically and philosophically considered, government exists for the general good of all the governed, in which individual rights and privileges can find freedom and justice without conflict. All systems that exist upon a less comprehensive basis than this must eventually be swept away. All parts of systems that conflict with the general fundamental propositions in which they were based and reared must be expunged, so that administration can be in perfect harmony with profession, before it will be possible for general good to flow from administration. The fundamental propositions upon which this government professes to rest—that all men and women are born free and equal and entitled to the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—are in accordance with the general order of the universe below man, and are therefore of the highest possible authority.

That all are born free is a proposition that no one can question; but this freedom is general to all, and does not refer to the individual, nor entitle him or her to push his freedom so as to encroach upon the same freedom guaranteed to every other individual. Therefore, individual freedom is merged in, and is a part of, general freedom.

That all men and women are born equal is another strictly philosophic proposition that can never be refuted by the concurrent scientific truth that no two of the whole are born alike in every particular. Equality, in a philosophic sense, does not imply similarity or even likeness; one thing may be equal to another, or a number of others, and still be unlike them all. A pound of feathers is equal to a pound of lead in gravitating power, but the lead does not resemble the feathers in any respect; hence, equality does not presuppose likeness.

The pursuit of happiness is an additional common right, naturally resulting from freedom and equality, and which can be prosecuted in any direction that does not interfere with the general pursuit of it on the part of the whole. From this analysis of inherent rights it would seem that it should be the sphere of government to maintain such freedom and equality, and thus guarantee to all and every the pursuit of happiness, and to protect them therein; and, co-relatively, that the limits of government should be nothing less than the circle that will permit such fatherly—such motherly—control.

It will scarcely be questioned by those who accept the evolution of government as a common law, that the government of this country, as a system, comes nearer being an exponent of the philosophic limit and sphere than that of any other country, though it must be confessed that the practices under it belie its fundamental principles. So much is this true, that, while it is safe to assert of the system that it is the best of all, scarcely one can be named wherein so great distinctions obtain between the intentions of the system and the effects obtained by its administration. This follows because, having asserted fundamental principles of freedom and justice, the lines of policy pursued have not been shaped by them. The principles have been lost sight of in the pursuit of party and personal or sectional policies, so that the government is no longer an exponent of principles, but rather of the persons, parties or sections which have raised themselves above principles as authorities: hence the government has limitations put upon the operations of its principles, and becomes thereby inconsistent within itself.

All the corrupt practices that are prevalent in the various parts of the governing process are possible only because the professions and practices of government are not in harmony. The professions of government relate to principles; the practices to its limits and sphere. Therefore, in the present article, the practices will be dealt with. In dealing with them it will come within the intended limits to examine the machinery by which government is administered, and to determine what movements within the body of society should be under its general control, so that all its movements may be made in harmony. Were any other branch of government than that relating to society being examined, its limits and sphere would be found so plainly determined there would be no possibility of even apparent departure by the governing control from them; for in all these the divine power is that control, and consequently is perfect. In society, the divine power, though the controlling element, is maintained over human minds, which are finite and imperfect representatives of the divine power, and are thereby incompetent to so arrange and order subservient circumstances, that harmony shall be the only result of the combinations formed to secure consecutive order.

The government of this country is selected for analysis because, as a system, it is the latest production of the social order of things, and, consequently, the highest in the scale of evolution. It represents a greater “coherent heterogeneity” in its construction than any other, and its “constituent units” are more “distinctly individuated,” which demonstrates that it is the highest order of government yet attained on the globe. The fault in its construction is, that the powers of the constituent units are not harmoniously related to the central power, nor to each other, discord being the natural consequence of such inequality. Though the constituent parts of society are in themselves imperfect, their relations to each other and to the governing power may be so well defined and regulated that their imperfections shall not have power to mar the harmony of action proceeding from the central power. And this is the point which is sought.

LIMITS AND SPHERE OF GOVERNMENT.

[Revised from the New York Herald of June 4, 1870.]

GRAVELY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION AND ITS ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT, AS VIEWED AND REVIEWED BY ONE OF THE FIRM OF FEMALE BROKERS OF WALL STREET.

There are a variety of operations, natural and artificial, by which the proper limits and sphere of government may be illustrated. It is desirable that some of them be presented, so as to convey a correct idea of a perfect controlling power, which bears the same relations to the parts controlled as government should to the people under it.

The cotton mills of New England are good artificial representatives of government. In them all the various parts are compelled into unity of action by the controlling power evolved from coal or transformed from water. The crude cotton is first taken and freed from all foreign substances by “the picker;” the pure remainder is then formed into a homogeneous mass by “the cards;” this mass is then divided and subdivided into the different degrees of heterogeneity required, and these are more distinctly individuated into “the webbing and filling” by “the jacks and mules,” and are then reunited by “the webber and loom” into cotton cloth, the ultimate result. Every part of this process forms points of resistance more or less easily compelled into unity of purpose. Every bobbin, spindle, shuttle and card are so many different experiences which are required to be gone through with before the result can be reached, while all parts of the process are going on at the same time. The power is the government; the operatives its administrators; the various pieces and parts of the machinery are the people working in the several parts of the process; the cloth is the attained civilization, while the different degrees of fineness are its progressive steps.

Thus it should be with human government. It is the power resident in the central part which should control all the processes by which the people are guided to produce the ultimate result. It should be of such character as to take the people in the homogeneous mass, and, by picking, carding, spinning and weaving, compel them into a unit of action for divine use. Every operation in nature, if analyzed, presents the same process and similar results. A central power competent for its purposes, through various means and avenues, controls the materials into perfected productions, each one of which is perfect of its kind. The sphere of this government is to produce the legitimate result; and its limits are only bounded by the necessities of the power that the result shall flow; but flow it must and does always.

It is then predicated, that a power, competent to produce harmony in that over which it reigns, must be sufficient to control all the different parts to one end; whatever individual or combined points of resistance may be raised to its edicts must yield to the general purpose, even to the extinction of their resistance. It is necessary, therefore, that the governing power must be invested by the governed with the necessary control, to compel them into harmonious action, so that no antagonism may arise, to divert the tendency to unity of purpose. It must not be supposed that a self-constituted, absolute power is argued for; but this power should be one fashioned and organized by and with the consent of the people, who, knowing their weakness and acknowledging it in their sober and wiser moments, shall recognize the necessity of it, to compel them, if need be, to act with the general whole for the general good, even if it seemingly militate against their individual good, and which shall be of sufficient strength and diffusiveness to regulate all the movements within the body of society.

We will now proceed to the analysis of the various operations of government, to find to what the inharmonious relations between the governing power and the resistance are attributable, and thereby be able to determine the required remedy. Wherever this may lead, whatever “infallible” political dogmas it may destroy, or cherished forms and privileges disprove, it will be pursued as relentlessly—unmercifully if you will—as the crucible and the flame proceed to disorganize material compounds and separate their constituent elements into the poisonous, the nutritious and the useful, that the former may be put away and the remainder appropriated to promote the general good.

Government has its centre and its circumference. From its centre its power is distributed to its entire circumference, measuring and shaping the various channels through which it flows, into such form as permits harmony in all its parts, and, having spent its positive force, is then returned to its centre. This centre and circumference must be the perfect body, every member of which must not only bear its proper relations to all the other members, but must be in such accord with them, as to permit the uninterrupted flow and action of the power by which the whole is bound together. No individual member of it can say to the body itself, “I have functions and rights peculiarly my own, which, if they are not such as your general power can recognize as contributing to the general good, you cannot interfere with.” The member, in becoming such, merges its function and power with the general functions and powers of the body. By consenting to become a part of the body it gives up special sovereignty over itself and becomes a part of the general sovereignty. By adding its life and power to the body, it increases the sum total of its life and power and receives its portion of the aggregated and assimilated mass. Its parts and functions must change—if change is required—so that the power distributed to it by the general power can perform its mission in harmony with all its other parts. Like the body human, the body corporate must be under one governing power, while each part is different in form from all other parts, and performs separate—perhaps distinct—functions. The eye may not say to the ear, nor the hand to the foot, “I have no need of you,” for each and all, are alike dependent upon a central part for existence, while the central part could not itself exist without the surrounding and distant parts. The very nature of the compact is, that each and every part is joined in a system of mutual and reciprocal interdependence, to which general system no member can set up for itself any system peculiarly its own, in contradistinction or opposition to, or to interfere with, the general system.

The government of any country, originally, is a compact among a certain number of previously separate or unorganized powers, by which they merge and consolidate into one power, or are compelled so to do. This power, so formed, is the governing power, which, while all parts have contributed to its formation, is in itself superior to any power that can be organized within its limits by any part of the originally consolidating powers. If at any time an opposition is organized to it, the result must either be, the reduction of the opposition or the destruction of the confederation. For a natural illustration the human body is again referred to.

If from any cause an opposition to the harmonious action of the general powers of the body be raised, a contest for supremacy is inevitable. If the bowels refuse to perform their allotted part in the general economy of the whole, a conflict ensues, and never ends until they are returned to duty or until they demonstrate that their opposition to the general administration is more powerful than its general power, and that the organization must be dissolved in conformity to this power. On the other hand, the general power cannot compel any of the constituent parts to conform to rules and forms not operative in the whole, nor to bear any inequality of any kind, nor to perform duty outside its special sphere. The governing power, though superior to all, must itself be subject to the common law of justice. Specialties of conferment or requirement are utterly inconsistent with a perfect form of government. The same rule of contributing to the general support, and in turn receiving appropriate sustaining power, must be uniform throughout the whole. Such a body, thus acting, be it human or corporate, is alone a healthy and harmoniously constituted power. All governments, to be able to contribute to the public welfare, must exist upon general similar principles and act by similar means.

It must again be observed that when several parts or powers are organized into one, no power less than the whole has authority therein; for, in consenting to the union at first, all absolute individuality is forever waived; the individual is no longer simply an individual power, but forms a part of the common power. Nor can absolute individuality ever again be maintained, except a superior antagonistic strength is developed, which demonstrates that the powers originally attempted to be consolidated were impossible of harmonious action—a natural and sufficient reason for dissolution. Tested by these propositions, what conditions and relations does the government of the United States, as a whole composed of parts, present? Does it form one homogeneous whole, the paramount interests of the parts of which is the best welfare of the whole? Does each and every part act in unity and harmony with every other part, and in turn yield to the preponderant authority of the whole, with that grace and dignity which bespeak unison of purpose and interest? If not, where does the difficulty find its starting point? Is it in the system by which the power was organized—in the interpretation of it, or in its administration? For this the Constitution must be referred to to find wherein, if at all, its organization is defective. If the conferment of power by the organization is complete, then it must be concluded that those who administer its organic force either fail to comprehend the extent of its application or to perform their duty in applying it.

LIMITS AND SPHERE OF GOVERNMENT.

[Revised from the New York Herald of June 19, 1870.]

ANOTHER LETTER FROM VICTORIA C. WOODHULL ON POLITICAL HISTORY.

ARTICLE IX. of Amendments to the Constitution declares that “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”

ART. X.—“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it, to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

SECTION 1 of Article IV. of the Constitution says, “Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, &c., shall be proved, and the effect thereof.”

SEC. 2.—“The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens of the several States.”

SEC. 8.—“That Congress shall have power to provide for the general welfare of the United States,” which last is tantamount to saying, the general welfare of the people as a whole.

It seems from these quotations, made in inverse order, that it was the intention of the framers of the Constitution, to make such provisions as would permit and compel harmonious action throughout the States, but that subsequently it became a part of party policy to maintain that the States had rights reserved, and while not defining what these rights were, to declare that such as were not distinctly and positively delegated constituted this reservation.

Under this interpretation it is possible for serious difficulties to arise between the general government and the States, as they have. It seems from the general tenor of the original Constitution that these amendments are nugatory, because the inference to be drawn from them is inconsistent therewith. One of the most prominent, as well as the first declaration, is to the effect that nothing shall exist in any State injurious to the general welfare of the whole. While it is within the scope of Congress to determine what is for or against the general welfare of the whole, no State can set up its rights against such judgment. When it is further made the duty of the United States to guarantee a republican form of government to every State, and to protect each State in such against all others, there can be no limit set upon the general powers of Congress.

The only fault, if fault it may be called, in the original Constitution, lies in this—that while the power to do is vested in the United States, it is not made an imperative duty to perform, though the duty is to be inferred by the vesture of the power. In failing to exercise this power in its fullest sense and to perform this inferred duty, lies the cause of all the disturbances within the limits of the country.

We can now proceed to the consideration of what duties Congress is invested with the power to perform, which have not been exercised, and which, being exercised, would contribute to the general welfare of the people, and thereby promote the public good. It will also be considered whether there are any additional powers Congress should possess which can be conferred, and which the Constitution neither directly nor inferentially vests. This consideration will proceed without regard being given to separating what comes within the limits already possessed from that which should be conferred.

First in importance, because of general application, stand the common laws of the country. Of these it is asserted, with the utmost directness and force, that when a general condition is to be provided for in the country, it should be the sphere of the government to make the same law applicable everywhere, so that the citizens of the United States shall, at all times and places within its limits, be subject to the same controlling and guiding rule. There should be no such possibility as an Indiana divorce under Indiana law, differing so much from those of other States as not to be recognizable by them. There should be only United States divorces, under a general law that could not be questioned anywhere, and by which the parties to it, should stand in the same relations to each other, in whatever part of it they might chance to be, also in such relations to every one, that they may remarry without becoming liable to the charge of bigamy.

Within the last few years, many States have found it necessary to so reconstruct their general systems of law as to cut off all special legislation. This course is eminently judicious in every respect it can be viewed, and has proved excellent in practice, by relieving legislation and procuring uniformity. If this is a desirable result, so far as a State is concerned, why should not the application be made general for the United States, with prospect of proportional benefit? All people would then be subject to the same rule of action and responsibility. To illustrate: A State has a general law under which joint stock and other companies can become incorporate. Before this, each proposed company was obliged to make direct application to the State government for an act of incorporation. After it, any proposed organization could become incorporated by conforming to the regulations prescribed, and thereby obtain all the power that could be conferred by the Legislature direct.

No one having knowledge of the tedious processes of legislation will question the advantage of this general law, both as regards legislation and the people. This admitted, it must be further admitted, that the advantage would be still greater, were this a general law of the United States, applying in every State, instead of a mere State law, with the probabilities that each State having it would provide different steps and regulations, so that a person familiar with that of one State, finds he knows nothing of it in the State he removes to.

The same line of reasoning applies with more or less force to every branch of legislation. Especially is it pointed regarding the Criminal Code, for here very great distinction exists in the several States. The penalty for a specified crime is scarcely the same in any two States; while some have abolished the taking of life for life, others still imprison for debt, which shows a degree of divergence entirely incompatible in a country that professes unity of purpose and practice. In civil practice it is utterly impossible for the most studious and profound jurist to acquire and retain accurate knowledge of it, in even a small proportion of the States. Every lawyer can testify to the difficulties he encounters at every turn when the laws of another State have any bearing in the case he is engaged upon.

Some States require that deeds executed in another State for property within itself, shall be acknowledged before a notary, while another requires a commissioner of deeds; and still another the certificate of some Court of Record that the notary is duly appointed, &c. The difficulties that arise from this condition of things are of such magnitude as scarcely to be conceived of by those who have never experienced them; nor can they be adequately presented in the limited space of this article. It is, however, held to be apparent, that if a general bankrupt and election law is to be preferred to thirty-seven different ones, general laws upon all other subjects are also preferable. It is a logical conclusion that the “public welfare” would be promoted if Congress should pass general laws for the whole country, to cover all cases and causes that are general to the whole country, leaving for the States such legislation only as can have no application outside of their individual limits.

It is not surprising that well instructed jurists of foreign countries have no faith in our existence as a consolidated nation. They argue, that it is impossible of a country containing so many internal sources of discord and differences. “A house divided against itself cannot stand” they hold to equally apply to nations. If this has stood thus long and prospered, it by no means follows that it will always stand and prosper; but the inference is, that sectional interests will be the source of continual disturbances and revolutions, until some great sectional interest shall become powerful enough to separate itself from the rest of the country and to defy its power successfully. In view of that consideration, should not the attention of Congress be called to the fact that it is its inferred duty, at least, to enact all laws that will promote the public welfare? And to this end it should inquire how the public welfare is suffering from the neglect thus far practised, that the remedy may be applied.

If it is found that its power under the Constitution to remedy such evils is doubtful, amendments granting it should be at once proposed and submitted. Whatever opposition there might be on the part of present State Legislatures and officials the people will welcome any measure looking to the eradication of the cause of internal agitation. It cannot be that patriotism is to pass away entirely, though it appears to be nearly submerged by the rising tide of individual selfishness. Let it arouse itself and consider whether there be not room for exercise in the direction indicated, and whether it is not better to prevent disaster than to repair damages. The example of Louis Napoleon is an excellent one to follow. Nor should patriotism be blinded by the mere name of freedom and justice, sounded so loudly to cover the deformities practised under their shelter.

In many directions, this is eminently an analytic age. Let the fruits of government be submitted to the crucible. Many of them would be found not only hollow, but basely deceptive. It is well enough to cry peace when war rages, but the crying will not bring it. It is well enough to laud the freedom of the land, but why not make the direct inquiry to find how much of it is real, and how much is fancied freedom, not to say genuine slavery? It is well to assert that justice holds sway everywhere, but those who have had most occasion to find it, must hold their peace lest the fair delusion be dispelled. Let the peace that is cried, the freedom that is lauded and the justice that is asserted, be subjected to the test of analysis, that it may be really known what principles enter into their composition. It is much to be feared that when all the dross and foreign substances are separated, and the pure residuum only left, its proportion to the mass submitted would be lamentably small. Still let us have the analysis.

LIMITS AND SPHERE OF GOVERNMENT.

[Revised from the New York Herald of July 4, 1870.]

THE FIFTH PART OF MRS. WOODHULL’S DISQUISITION ON GOVERNMENT—INDIVIDUAL ENTERPRISE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT AS AFFECTED BY GOVERNMENT.

Individual enterprise, especially among Americans, has produced the most wonderful results. Very much of the advancement of the country is directly attributable to it. Great minds have been obliged to operate singly and alone to develop their inspirations, ideas and conclusions. Thousands possessed of comprehensive principles in a semi state of application have sunk with them into obscurity for lack of appreciation and support. In the infancy of the republic, before it was possible for any to catch the idea of its grand destiny, it was not to be expected that any great or general system of interdependence between the government and the people should be adopted. There was a general fear of everything that did not seem to promote that individual freedom which seeks no harmony with the greatest freedom of the whole, while no regard was paid to any philosophic relations of the individual to the whole number of individuals represented by the government. This was intellectual individuality, lacking the harmony of wisdom.

It came after a while that the great enterprises demanded by the rapidly increasing growth of the country could not be conducted by single individuals, and numbers of them combined to carry them out. Rapid means of transit began to be developed, which in many instances redounded to the pecuniary benefit of the company prosecuting them, but always to the general interest of the whole, both as a people and as a government. On the contrary, many enterprises which have proved equally beneficial to the country have ruined those who projected them. Thus the general welfare has been promoted by the sacrifice of individual interests. Especially has this been true of the great system of railroads that binds the nation together with bonds of iron, too powerful, it seems, for any sectional interest ever to sever.

Internal improvements are eminently a legitimate branch of the general government. They are not for the benefit of individuals or sections, but for the benefit of the whole. So true is this that a seemingly purely local government cannot confine its benefits and uses to the section it is located in. Its influence permeates the very extremes of the country. A railroad connecting two cities in the same State may be built. At first glance this would be declared simply and only of benefit to the localities it passes through. But upon close scrutiny a variety of ways develop themselves that must be advantageous to thousands, residing in all parts of the country, and to the government itself. It therefore conduces to the public welfare and convenience in a much more general sense than to sectional or local good. It is therefore entitled to the protection of the government, whose duty it is to look after and promote the interests of the public. Is it entitled to anything more, or does the full duty of the government begin and cease with simple protection?

Continuous railroad connections exist between Maine and California, between Minnesota and Louisiana, which have been built by private enterprise, and are still maintained and conducted by combinations of private enterprise. These, with their connections, form a net work that penetrates every section of the whole country, all parts of which system are conducted as nearly as possible, considering the variety of management, with regard to the harmonious working of the whole as a general railroad system of the country. The representatives of the several roads meet and arrange terms of transfer and connection, first, to accommodate themselves; second, the public which patronizes them (be it especially remembered that the public welfare is always secondary); and thus it comes that that which is made the duty of the government to guard with jealous care is subserved to the interests of a company of incorporated individuals, whose profits, drained from the productive interests of the country, amount in many instances to an enormous per cent per annum upon the original costs of the enterprises This is not the greatest good to the greatest number. It is the greatest good to the smallest number at the expense of the greater number. The public is hoodwinked into the toleration of their extortions by fictitious arrays of figures, and by the increase of the “watering” of their capital stock whenever an eight per cent. dividend will not consume their unexpended balances.

Again, there are railroads of great importance to the general public whose earnings are not sufficient to make any returns to stockholders, scarcely sufficient to meet current expenses, and yet the public welfare would not permit of their discontinuance.

The same line of policy that controls the postal service should be pursued by government in regard to railroads. None now think of intrusting that very important department of the government to private enterprise. Is the transportation of the public itself of less vital and general importance than its thoughts and wishes are, that it should be obliged to rely upon private enterprise to accomplish its welfare, and to obtain it be subject to its extortions? The custody of transportation of all kinds by government would insure regularity, harmonious operation, safety and dispatch, at minimum cost, to all whose pursuits, interests or comfort, incline or compel them to its use. If the sphere of government is to be determined upon principle, and it is the true principle for the government to conduct the postal service, to the end that the public welfare be subserved, then the same principle determines that railroads and telegraphs should also be conducted by government to the same end.

The time was, when it was necessary to the general good for the government to guarantee protection and even assistance to enterprises that should introduce these improvements into the country. The country needed them. Government, not understanding its true relations to the people, failed to provide them. Private enterprise, more sagacious and more perceptive of the actual demands of the age, stepped forward, and, taking advantage of governmental supineness, developed the true greatness of the country. The time has now come, and the government is in position and understanding, to not only guarantee all needed internal improvements to the public, but also to take charge of those already existing, and to conduct them in the interests of the people.

These improvements are not patents that should forever remain hereditary charges upon the industry of the country. They are granted privileges, made by the government to promote the public welfare, and not for the continuous private gain of wealth and power. Let a limitation be put upon these patented privileges, so that the public good may be still further promoted. Let government purchase what are already in operation and construct others, as demanded, and conduct them all under one grand system, to subserve the interests, necessities and comforts of the people, which it is its duty to provide for, even if in exceptional instances it be at the expense of the public, as in some instances it is in sparsely populated districts regarding the postal service. Let the same rule of action that governs this service be applied to telegraphs, railroads and all improvements that are public in their character. Let the present owners and conductors of them become the servants of the government and the people, instead of remaining, as now, their masters, thus forcing them, by the only possible way, to comply with the interests and demands of the general welfare.

Besides, these gradually consolidating interests are becoming too powerful and selfish to longer allow of the government or the people regarding them with indifference. Even now they control a deal of legislation by the power they possess. Unless soon dispossessed of the means of increasing their power and influence, they will become greater than the government, and even dangerous to liberty. The national banks are powerful enough to feel they can dictate to Congress. What might not a grand consolidation of railroads, representing thousands of millions of dollars, be able to do, if left to present tendencies? This is a matter of most serious import, which is tending to a despotism more intolerable than that exercised by any of the monarchies of the Old World—the despotism of capital over labor.

This despotism is making the productive interests of the country utterly subservient to the power they have created, fostered and protected, which should forever remain their servant instead. These improvements are demanded by all the growing interests of the country that express themselves through commerce between the several States, and it is the duty of Congress to “regulate” them. It has the power. The remedy is required. Let it be applied, and at once, so that the greatest and most beneficial of all the many systems of internal improvements any country possesses, both for the country as a whole, and to the comforts of the people as individuals, may be conducted and extended in accordance with the interests and demands of the public welfare. Nor should there be any outcry raised against the purchase and control of railroads by government, as an unwarrantable interference with private rights. There are no such things as private rights when the public good stands in question. If the public good demands a new street through the most densely populated part of the city, the property of private citizens is condemned to its use, and damages assessed, from which the individual has no appeal. The same rule must apply to all property that the public demands for the promotion of its interests, telegraphs and railroads not excepted.

LIMITS AND SPHERE OF GOVERNMENT.

[Revised from the New York Herald of July 11, 1870.]

MRS. VICTORIA C. WOODHULL’S CONCLUDING CHAPTER ON THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT

[The following is the concluding chapter of the essay on government, its aims, sphere and tendencies, by Mrs. Woodhull, the female candidate for the Presidency:]

There are no circumstances existing within the range of government which are deleterious to the conditions among which they are found that do not come within the sphere of its control. If it were attempted to enumerate all such conditions, a very large proportion existing would come in for mention. Special reference will be made to such only as are represented by crime, indigence, helplessness and perverseness. While government has its duty to perform regarding all these, in their relations to society in general and the public welfare, it must not be lost sight of that they form a part of the general public, and, as such part, it has a duty to render even to them and to the relations they sustain as individuals to other individuals.

The criminal is not only the son and brother, but often the husband and father. Though he may have, by some act, forfeited the guarantee of liberty government extends to the people, he has not thereby sundered family relations, responsibilities and duties. It is the duty of government to foster these, while protecting public welfare by preventing the criminal from pursuing his course of individual freedom at the expense of the freedom or happiness of other individuals or the public. In this view penitentiaries should not be what they are, but should be changed into vast workshops, where the convicted may labor at some not altogether distasteful employment, to the same end that he should labor when free. The theory of punishing crime is not all that should be taken into consideration regarding the criminal. As now practiced it is exceedingly doubtful whether the State does not do the individual greater injustice than he has done the public. The State should pursue such a course as is perfectly clear from injustice, such as can conscientiously be held as committing no crime against the criminal. To render to him what and only what he has rendered another is maintaining the old Mosaic rule of “an eye for an eye,” which in these latter times should be obsolete. The world has risen from the condition of Mosaic times by the experience of thousands of years. Fear was the only controlling power then. Should it be so now? Prevention is better than remedy; besides, there is no such thing as remedy for crime already committed. The criminal can by no possible means—nor can the State—undo the wrong. Reparation in most cases is impossible, but should be rendered, wherever possible. It becomes, then, the chief duty of the State to prevent the recurrence of wrong by putting such restraint upon those who are inclined to it as will effectually prevent their inclinations finding expression.

Supposing that all living persons who have ever committed any infringement upon the rights, liberties or privileges of others of sufficient moment to warrant preventative means being applied were restrained from mingling with the public, what would be the ratio of decrease in crime? These persons have trespassed upon the public welfare and it must be protected from further trespass. It is the duty of the State to see this done. At the same time the means of prevention must be such as shall not encroach upon the culpable one’s rights further than such prevention actually requires. As a member of society he has forfeited to society, to a certain extent, the freedom of expressing his privileges and rights as an individual, by the infringement upon the privileges and rights of another individual, also a member of the same society; and for this, society is in duty bound to restrain him. It only requires that the present universally adopted theory, that crime is against the people and not the individual suffering, be carried to its legitimate sequences to teach the proper limitation to this restraint. Having arrived at that, it remains for the State to concede every other individual privilege to him.

It should be his right and privilege to labor and receive its full recompense, to which the State should have no right, further than the cost of his maintenance. The profits should be given those dependent upon him, or should go toward reparation for the damages done by him. He should have the privilege of amusement, should have access to a public library and the daily news. His whole restraint should be made as nearly as possible analagous to the every-day life of a useful citizen. He should no longer be the condemned criminal, but the member of society whom the public welfare requires shall be restrained from following the freedom his proclivities indicate.

There is another class of individuals who, either from circumstances beyond their control, from indolence, from incapacity, from settled habits or from perverseness, do not perform sufficient labor to maintain themselves and families in a condition that renders them useful members of society. Society suffers more or less from all the different representatives of this class. They must live, and society must, in some manner, furnish the means to them of living. If it is not earned, it is begged or stolen. There are those also who, being too honest to steal and too proud to beg, suffer untold privations. All who would cannot obtain remunerative occupation, or that which they are suited to perform. To all of these as members of society, as a part of the people, government owes a duty. Society, of which they are a part, owes them the necessities of life, even if it be compelled to force them to earn them. It cannot be made the duty of individual members of society to look after the amelioration of these conditions. It is a general condition growing out of the relations of all its members, and hence becomes a governmental function, not only so far as they, as a class, are concerned, but also to protect individuals of other classes from being made to bear the burdens of them, either by voluntary contributions or from the impositions of beggary and theft. Every one who has attained proper age, and is possessed of moderate health, is capable of performing sufficient service to support him or herself, and by so doing is a useful member of society, because contributing to the sum total of its productions. If he cannot obtain employment, society should supply it to him. If he will not labor, society should compel him. If he cannot labor, society should maintain him. Were this practice once instituted, the dens of infamy and vice, the sink-holes of crime and disgrace, the pest-houses of disease, and the crammed-to-suffocation attics and cellars of our large cities, would be emptied of their occupants, and they be made useful, instead of, as now, iniquitous members of society. They are a dead weight society has to carry. It is a duty society owes them and itself to compel them to assist in maintaining its general progress. The same principle that applies to the criminal should also include them. The general influence they exert upon society is even worse than that of the downright criminal—for where the criminal is one they number thousands. If it is necessary for the interests of the people that he who steals a hundred dollars should be restrained of his liberty—and it is the sphere of government to do it—how much more would it be for its interests to transpose these leeches upon the vitality of society into producing members of it? As a subject wherein the public welfare suffers, it is strictly within the sphere of government. Other citations of unprofitable members of society could be made, but sufficient has been alluded to to indicate the general limits and sphere of government when considered philosophically. The evidences of a perfect government must not be sought among the most powerful and useful members of society, but among the very lowest classes. A good government can have no classes so low in the scale of development or use as to be detrimental to its interests. And here is the test of governmental perfectability. If the United States, as a nation, occupies any superior or conspicuous position in prophecy which is to make it representative—if it is the point around which consolidation into universal government is to begin, and from which control shall revolve until the world is its object—it becomes the imperative duty of our statesmen and legislators to extend the sphere of government until its limits are bounded by nothing that is detrimental to the general welfare of the people. Such government, and such only, can be enduring while becoming universal.

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL, 44 Broad Street.

THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.

NO. I.

Government being an organization of power, and power always presupposing action, motion, it becomes a matter of the gravest importance to a people who are formulating a government that they should lay hold of the highest sources from which action can spring—that is to say, as all action is the result of some prime motor power, to have action which will proceed in perfect channels, producing harmonious motion, it is primarily essential that the motor, or moving or controlling force, shall be of that character which in expression will move majestically yet sympathetically against all opposition, always having in view the fact that the presence of low forms of any development is detrimental to all higher forms with which they come in contact, either directly or through exerted influence.

It has previously been found that the deductions which are to be drawn from a complete analysis of all the tendencies which governments have exhibited during the historic age of the world, conform to the propositions of the highest form of religious conviction, which is, that God being the common Father of humanity, that humanity must be a common brotherhood. Consistent with this the tendencies of government are found to have ever been to one common form. If these propositions grow out of the fact that the principle of unity is at all times operating to bring about a perfect expression of itself, through humanity, the legitimate deduction is, that the time will come when its ends will be accomplished, and that that time will be when humanity has risen into a complete recognition and acceptance of the fact that they are all children of one common parent.

Principles never change. They constitute the basis of creation, the forms of which are constantly changing under the influence of the application of the same power. The same force which caused the matter of which this planet is composed to first assume its orbital position and motion, now causes the various parts of it to exhibit the almost infinite variety of manifestation which is now presented. The same power that was exhibited in the construction of the original rocks, is also exhibited in the construction of the sweetest, most fragile flower. The evidence of evolution—progress—being, that from the rocks the flower has been produced. Ascending to the animal kingdom, motion, the result of power applied to matter, was found manifesting itself in the simplest of organic forms. There, as in the previous periods, it continued its constructive workings, until the perfect animal form, man, was evolved.

In the strictest examination which can be made into the power which controls, there can be nothing detected which would seem to, even indicate that there is anything outside of, and superior to the contained life, to which to attribute the direction the form takes through which life is manifested. If this be so, the principles which underlie the physical universe are but names for this inherent power, which cannot be attributed to any power less than the Source of all power. Manifested principles of action, then, which relate to matter, may justly be considered as the perfect operation of divine law through the physical universe.

It becomes resolved to this: that the power which is the compelling principle of all action is at all times the same, but that it manifests different results, as the channels through which it operates are different Thus, the motion of the atmosphere over the surface of the ocean exhibits power by the waves it produces; while the same power proceeding to land bends the forests and the fields, verdure before it. The tiller of the soil involuntarily recognizes this fact, when he destroys all growths which exhaust the constructive power of the air and soil except the particular one he desires to further or perfect. He knows that to concentrate all the power upon this one, he must concentrate its expression in the form he wishes developed. If this process could be understood, it should be the ordinary rule in every department of the universe. All the power there is, should be concentrated into action through the most advanced, and consequently the most perfect forms—perfect forms always being those which are adapted to the highest uses.

Wherever this rule is generally applied by nature or man, the lower existing forms disappear, and in due time the higher fill the places they occupied. Thus, species of plants and animals are constantly disappearing from the economy of the universe, while new and higher are as constantly appearing. And it is to be specially observed, that where the new exists the old dies out. This law is also distinctly visible in the development of the different races and types of the human, all of which a universal tendency prophesies will ultimately be merged into one grand, all-comprehending race. The tendency to this condition was distinctly traced in the Tendencies of Government, and was held to be the basis for the conclusion, that, in its continuance, the condition named would be naturally and inevitably reached. It may be stated then, as a general rule, that the most certain method there can be to destroy the bad—the old—and to inaugurate the reign of the good—the new—is to attend to introducing the good in the most rapid and best manner, which will naturally live upon and sap the life from the old, which must necessarily pass away.

If a new race of humans is introduced among a race which is not possessed of that capacity which makes it possible for it to develop or assimilate to the new, it will most certainly die out. Such races are fixed types of the human, and their characteristics can never be merged among the general characteristics of the future common race of humanity. The North American Indians are good examples of this fixedness, and they will soon cease to exist upon the face of the earth; while the Negro is an excellent representative of the capacity of evolution and also of amalgamation. It is not to be lost sight of, that when the Anglo-Saxon and the Negro amalgamate, the direction the amalgamation takes is always from the black to the white, and never from the white to the black, which is positive evidence that the Negro will ultimately be entirely lost in the white races.

A mighty lesson is also to be gathered from observing the constructive process of the several kingdoms of the earth, each one of which is built upon the preceding and leads to the succeeding. The vegetable kingdom could not exist until the elements comprising the mineral had gone through their various processes of integration and destruction, by which vegetable life was made possible. The vegetable, taking up the process inherited from the mineral, began moving through the same cycle of advancement by which the mineral had made it possible, and it gradually merged into the animal; and so gradually that it can scarcely be decided whether some forms of life belong to the latter or to the former. The evolution of the animal, having ultimated in the production of the human, it is not to be inferred that there is nothing beyond the animal kingdom which is the fruit thereof, as the vegetable was of the mineral and the animal was of the vegetable.

Again, the vegetable world feeds from the animal—the animal feeds from the vegetable, which is the only source which furnishes living protoplasmic food, upon which the animal can alone exist. Humanity takes this protoplasmic dish either fresh from the vegetable or second-hand from the animal. It will thus be seen that everything which nature accomplishes serves specific purposes, and that when the supply is exhausted the demand ceases. If this principle is followed to its legitimate end, it will close in the life of the whole animal kingdom being merged into humanity, which will then feed entirely from the fresh protoplasmic dishes of the highly developed fruit of the vegetable kingdom.

These arguments are not pursued as a necessary part of the Principles of Government, but that the working of universal principles may be caught sight of and made use of in the endeavor which will be made to decide how humanity can best assist the operations of these principles as applied in its own government. Nature being ever consistent in all her movements in the several kingdoms, how shall “Mind” assist her in accordance with her own principles of operation, in establishing perfect channels for her powers to produce the perfect fruit of the animal kingdom?

In the Tendencies of Government it was found that all movements in government which have been made during the historic age of the world have been in the direction of universal control, the persistence of which course leads to the conclusion that it will be attained when government shall be based in those principles which, proceeding from a common centre, shall be sufficiently potent to control the entire circumference of humanity. The limits and sphere for such a government to exercise its power in, was found to properly extend to all matters in which the common interests of the public are concerned as against assumed individual interests, which would in reality be to the “greatest good of the greatest number.”

An exemplification of the natural working of a government founded and administered according to strictest governmental justice may be seen in the growth and in the maintenance of the life of the tree, which may be made to represent the tree of humanity. The tree is a complete community within itself; all its branches and twigs, even to the extremest distance, are dependent upon the same fountain for its controlling life currents that the parts nearer the base are. No single branch can maintain its life independent of the rest. Each separate one must draw its proportion of supplies from the same source and return the stream to its fountain when its demands upon it are completed. This power, starting from a common fountain, is delegated to the various branches for still further and more general distribution; but no branch can set up a distributing process for itself in opposition to the general process. If the branches had the power to set up processes of their own, the inevitable result would be inharmonies in the common order, which would work ultimate injury to all parts connected with the main body. Thus it is with a country. It must possess a common governmental fountain, and all divisions of it must be directly dependent upon the common fountain. No division can be permitted to set up special channels of administration for itself. Each must work in harmony with all others, and all be equally dependent and dutiful to the common head. In such and in only such can harmony prevail and life be continuous.

Having found, then, what the destiny of government must be, and having determined its proper limits and sphere for operation, it becomes still more essential and necessary that the true mainsprings of governmental power shall be recognized, for without this, government would still linger in its age of temporary resorts to get over the constantly arising contingencies of the times. When this recognition takes place, legislation will have accomplished its work, and the vast talent therein expended can be turned into the channels of governmental art. It is to attract the mind to the operation of general principles in nature that we have thus far dealt with the material universe. In advancing into the subtler department of mind, it cannot be for a moment supposed that an entirely new arrangement of principles lies at its base, any more so than that there should have been new rules of nature to introduce the animal or the vegetable. Instead of this having been, it is perfectly demonstrated that the same laws govern in each and all; that is to say, that the same principles of government control them all. Bearing this in mind, we now proceed to the consideration of the operation of principles wherein the human mind comes to assist nature in its strife for perfection, itself joining in the race.

THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.

NO. II.

It was remarked previously that Nature is consistent in all her operations throughout her entire domain; to which may now be added that the nearer the human approximates his rules and methods to those exhibited in the departments of Nature below him, the nearer will he approach to true rules and methods. Arbitrary and dogmatic formulas do not belong to Nature in her free manifestations, nor can they be administered in any of her combinations. In all the uses men may make of the elements of matter, he must comply with the laws of their existence: he cannot frame a law, and then command that Nature shall obey it.

Certain quantities of certain elements will combine and form a compound; but no other proportions of the same elements will combine to form the same compound, and in many cases they will not combine at all, unless certain fixed quantities are adhered to. Again, an effort may be made to unite two or more bodies, and they will be found to be incompatibles; that is, incapable of being united, because each has a stronger self-affinity than for any property existing in either of the other bodies with which they are brought in contact; but to these two or more bodies another principle may be added, which will produce the effect of uniting the whole. It is this principle in nature by which its elements combine and form all the various and diversified manifestations that are visible everywhere. These forms are none of them absolutely independent: they may, by their inherent power, attract other forms to themselves, or be by others attracted; the more complex and distinctly individuated ones being dependent upon those from which they spring for their existence; thus, as was before stated, the animal world is absolutely dependent upon the vegetable world for the protoplasm it must make use of to replace that expended by the animal economy. No animal can take the elements protoplasm is composed of and manufacture it; that process is alone the office of the vegetable world. And thus it is that a complete and infinite system of dependence exists from the lowest form of organic life to the highest; each is necessary to every other, while every one fills a special individual position of its own, and this is because they are all bound together by the same controlling powers or principles of action.

It is readily seen that the principles referred to are the same that are expressed by a common humanity, a universal brotherhood: one is a brotherhood of the elements; the other is a brotherhood of the ultimates of elements, of which mind is a product. Each kingdom has its beginning and culmination, and by the observation of their evolution we must draw the deductions as to what really governs that age of the world, and the special kingdom we find ourselves living in. The beginning of the mineral kingdom was when simple elements began to unite to form compounds; which was when the cooling process had so far progressed as to allow of combination; this process of the uniting and dispersing of elements culminated in the production of the simplest vegetable life, and thus ushered in the vegetable kingdom. In this, again the same process of uniting and dispersing was gone through with that had characterized the mineral. It began as it did, and culminated as it did by producing the next higher, or the animal kingdom, the simplest form of which is a single unit of nucleated protoplasm. Upon this single unit the animal kingdom began to be built. The same process of integration and disintegration continued through countless ages and until a form was produced, which is the ultimate of form in the animal kingdom. This ultimate, man, is the perfection of form that protoplasm can produce, and hence is the grand ultimate of the process of elemental combination first referred to. No other or higher form is possible to be arranged from the elements that the earth is composed of. Therefore, all future advancement to perfection must be in the perfecting process in man, and therefore it is logical to conclude that the same law that governed the beginning, the evolution and the ultimation of each of the kingdoms that produced man, will also govern the beginning, the evolution and the ultimation of the different stages in the perfecting process in him; and not only in the perfecting process as a whole, but in each division of the perfecting process; and this brings us to that part of the process illustrated by government, and to the principles of government which are under consideration.

It will be observed that there is a perfect analogy in the process of evolution that is observed below man, and in that which comes of man. First, there was the elementary unit, which corresponds to what was the governmental unit—the family government. Next, and second, there was the vegetable division, which corresponds to the second order of government—the consolidation of families into tribes. Third, there was the animal division of the process, which corresponds to the amalgamation of tribes into nations. Fourth, there was man, the ultimate of the whole process, containing in him the elementary principles represented by all the preceding forms—in none of which were they all represented as they are represented in him—and he corresponds to the ultimate of the process of governmental evolution, the complete consolidation of nations into one grand nation, as man is the complete consolidation of all animal forms in one grand animal form. His form is the animal form, containing all animal forms. A universal government would be a national form, containing the form of all nations gathered into one grand form. Here it is that the analogy is complete, and Nature is consistent in all her parts and processes, at all times and in all forms observing the simple general principles which so unerringly lead her.

There is, however, one important addition to the processes in which man takes part, over those where principles apply only in the so-called material control. Below man there is nature only. After man there is art added to nature; and it is this power to administer to Nature’s processes, to assist in them, and to remove and replace obstacles to activity in higher channels, that distinguishes man from all previous formations, and which virtually makes him an assistant in the after and higher evolutions of mind, which have, until very recently, been generally considered not of material origin, but which science now demonstrates are purely physical results—are combinations in consciousness of consecutive manifestations of matter. Here we have the ultimate production of the ultimate of the animal kingdom, the mental kingdom, or the kingdom of ideas.

Science also demonstrates that ideas evolve after the same formula which all preceding processes observed, and that all new discoveries of ideas are not discoveries of existing facts, but that they are new truths evolved from preceding forms of truth; or, in other words, that they are higher forms of truth.

These relations are thus specifically stated, because in them is found the authority for man to make use of all things which exist, that by such use, higher purposes may be subserved and better general conditions obtained. As the gardener destroys all weeds and foreign growths about the vegetables he would produce, so must the gardener in ideas pull up, eradicate or destroy, all false or decaying ideas which sap the vitality from those he would have flourish; and this authority is the same—the authority of the higher over the lower, to the extent of individual freedom and within the limits of the general good.

Such is the province of art, and man, in whatever department of nature he operates, is the artist, adding to her beauties, which she can produce by her laws, those which the evolution of higher ideas proposes. Thus art utilizes and beautifies all that nature produces. Nature alone could never produce a Central Park, nor the perfection in fruits and flowers that is now presented to please the taste and gladden the eye. No one will question the right of man to make from nature the most of beauty it is capable of, nor to make it most conducive to all his natural desires. And here is found the basis for the authority from which it is analogically argued, that man has the right to practice as an artist in ideas. The position this artist in ideas should be assigned should be as much higher in the scale of importance as ideas are higher than crude matter.

Government being the most formidable director of ideas and the most powerful opponent of their diffusion, if they are not in channels it can operate through, its perfectability according to the highest existing ideas is a matter of the most fearful importance. It is for this reason that so great importance attaches to the diffusion among the people of knowledge of the principles government should be constructed upon that its administration may be productive of the greatest individual, and the greatest public good, which it is possible to obtain from the application of the highest evolved ideas.

THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.

NO. III

It has been the intention to show the importance of unity of purpose in government, and that such unity of purpose can only be obtained by the application to administration of those principles which in operation produce unity in the kingdoms below the kingdom of ideas. Human government differs from all other kinds of government in this, that it is for the control of Mind instead of Matter. The natural direction the individual would pursue results not only from causes which arise in his material nature, but to these are superadded those which pertain to the Mental in contradistinction to Matter. Each individual is not only an epitome of all previous material forms which have been evolved, but he is also the finite representative of the Infinite Power which caused all those evolutions, and therefore has an individualized, determining power of his own to the extent that he represents the Infinite; and as this extent differs in degree so extensively among the total of individuals over whom government presides, it is the most difficult of all tasks to prescribe forms for it to operate through, by which it can reach and control this diversity.

This most serious difficulty which arises at every step in the search for the true source of government, comes from the innate sentiment of freedom in man, which is the truthful expression of the characteristics of the Infinite, which are indigenous, so to speak, to his nature. He involuntarily resists all attempts to exercise authority over him because of these sentiments. He feels, he realizes, that no individual, nor any number of individuals, has any authority from any competent authority to exercise supreme control over him; and thus it is that all individuals resist control.

Just at the point arrived at comes in the other part of the fact, which being considered, modifies the absoluteness of individuality. Every individual must either ever remember, or be compelled to remember, that he is but one of millions of individuals who live upon the face of the earth, each one of whom feels the same innate sentiment of self-right; and thus it comes that there should be no restraint at all over each individual exercising all his selfish ideas of rights strictly within his individual sphere; and that all these should be compelled to harmonize so that none may interfere with others. Even to this last proposition there are natural modifications to be inferred from everything below man. The higher order has the authority of its position in the natural scale of evolution, over all that precedes it; and this authority is of that absolute character which receives the sanction of nature in all the kingdoms which man can view.

The higher orders of ideas and thoughts should thus be the controlling power among men. They should assume the business of the artist in ideas, and prune, dig and destroy, if possible, all lower ideas which, live but to sap the vitality from the more advanced. The best expression, then, which it is possible for principles to find in the individualized productions of the highest animal form, must be sought in the most highly developed mentality; or in that mentality which expresses the most of the Infinite, and which is consequently the highest authority represented through humanity.

Mentality represents the most important department of the duality which constitutes the source of governmental power; but this, acting alone, would not prove the perfect principle. It would pursue its aims with no regard to sentiment or feeling. It would ruthlessly destroy all imperfections which debarred it from having absolute control, instead of endeavoring to consolidate their life with the higher and the better because it is the higher. To this active, sternly analytic principle, must be added the principle of unity or the affectional, which seeks to combine all mentality in one harmony. The head and the heart should act in concert; the head perceiving that the same general principles should be used to direct the forms of every department of life, and endeavoring to apply them to control humanity, should head the appeals of the heart, which, from its mainsprings of love and tenderness, feels, that the whole universe is bound together by the indissoluble ties of fraternity, and, therefore, should realize that as a father and mother, they should govern their children. Of these principles, government should be the true exponent, representative and administrator.

But here the question arises: How shall such government be inaugurated? How shall those who are the best representatives of advanced ideas and the broadest fraternal feeling become installed as the administrators of government? Every thinking person knows that no such persons or principles are in authority now, and that they have not been these many years. In the early days of the republic, which was constructed by men whose souls were imbued with these principles—or at least the fraternal principle—it may be fair to admit that something nearly assimilating to the true kind of government did exist. A government founded in the principles ours was could not have been organized except by men of the very highest order of development in the true principles of government. They were hundreds of years in advance of the general people, for whom they wrought, and it may be seriously questioned whether they have had any representatives since, and whether they have any at present, who are actuated by any such lofty patriotism as they were. So long as they lived it was but natural that the people should have continued them at the head of what they had constructed, by the means they prepared for the expression of their right of self-government. It is well demonstrated that these men fully realized the principles of freedom, equality and justice, which realization comes from the conspicuous development of the paternal and affectional elements. Mentality, it is plain, was not so conspicuously developed, for they did not comprehend that the time would come in which those who should fill their places should be almost infinitely lower in the scale of true governmental principles than they were, or that the controlling motives of such could ever descend from their lofty stand to grovel in the purely selfish. But the time has come and now is, in the which the present places the fathers of the republic occupied are filled by those who are not in any sense the representatives of the true principles of government. It is quite true that the people are responsible for the men they select to represent them, but that does not better the very bad fact that the people are not represented, any more than that the true principles of government are. When this fact is seriously considered, it becomes apparent that there is a difficulty somewhere in the processes of government which has such imperfections that the ends of government as understood by its founders are utterly defeated. The result of this imperfection is, that instead of the true and best representative men of the country—those whom the previous analysis points out as possessed of the qualities demanded in government—being chosen to perform the function for which they are adapted, they are left one side, while others without ideas are sent where they should go. In short, the whole governmental operations have been and are being prostituted to the selfish ambitions of party leaders, who do not care a whit what means are used so that they win thereby. This shows not only that there are imperfections in the organization, but that there is much which is radically wrong. It is even now being more than whispered around that there is a plot being matured by which some of those who are now in power intend to continue themselves in power, even if they are obliged to seize upon the government in spite of the people. Such a plot could only bring destruction upon the actors; but that such a disgraceful thing could occur, or even be conceived, proves that a remedy is needed somewhere, which shall prevent such persons acquiring the power they would thus prostitute to their own purposes, at the expense of the sacrifice of the rights of the people.

This government is either a government for the people or for the office holders; latter practices incline outside observers to the opinion that it is the people’s only in theory. If we examine the theory, it looks finely enough; but when the manner it is outwrought comes under observance, nothing can be found which entitles it to the name of the people’s government. It is not the people’s government by a very great deal; nor is it a government for one-half the people even; neither is it a government which guarantees equality to its citizens; every count which can be made is against it, as the exponent of principles upon which it professes to stand.

In the first instance, one-half of the people are debarred from all political rights whatever, and they are those who form the producing part of humanity, and whose interests in government are in every way equal to that of those who exercise all the political power. Thus at the very outset we find a professed equal government proscribing one-half the people over whom its authority is exercised; and, be it ever remembered, is fully maintained. While they are made responsible for all infringement of law, they have no voice in determining what that law shall be. While they are compelled to assist equally with the preferred class to maintain and support government by the payment of taxes, revenues, &c., they have no power to control the use that shall be made of them. This proscribed class, though living in the United States of America, a so-called Republic, are in no better condition and stand in no superior relation to the government they are compelled to give adhesion, respect and support to, than are those of the most absolute monarchy upon the face of the earth. What think you, enslaved people, of the great, the free, the exalted government of a country which professes so much and grants you nothing?

In the next instance, it is not the government of the one-half of the people it has really the semblance of being, and which many think it is. To completely establish this significant fact, the attention of the people is called to the immense minorities in the several States, and the relations which they sustain to a Presidential election, wherein the sum total of all the citizens of all the States who are permitted to cast their ballots, and who do so cast their ballots, for the electors who vote for the defeated candidate, exceed the sum total of all the citizens of all the States who are permitted to cast their ballots and who do so cast their ballots for the electors who vote for and elect their candidate. Such results have obtained; but a President thus elected is elected by the votes of the minority of the citizens of the United States who are permitted to vote, and consequently, within the Union as a whole, a person may occupy the Presidential chair against the will of the majority of the voting citizens of all the States. Such is the perfection of the forms which have been framed and used through which to obtain popular self-government; and such the results obtained.

The same line of argument applies with equal directness and force to the citizens of each State in relation to their entire State government, with the exception of such officers as are elected upon the ticket with the Governor; their representation in the lower House of Congress, and in their Legislatures and through their Legislators and their representation in the Senate of the United States may be, and often is, that of the minority of the voting citizens of the State. The same is also true of all incorporated cities outside of their general officers.

This condition of affairs shows that there are two conflicting principles ever operating against each other, and that their very worst features appear when their object is the “first office in the gift of the people,” which, above all others, should be filled by the choice of the majority of all the citizens of all the States.

Scarcely less in importance, as compared with the Chief Magistracy of the Union, is the importance of Congressional legislation, which should be determined by Representatives and Senators who should represent the majority of all the voting citizens of all the States. This government will always stand in danger of being overthrown by the unrepresented majority, so long as such forms of arriving at representation are allowed to determine these questions, which lie at the very basis of a republican form of government.

The whole difficulty which this question presents arises from the seeming stubbornness with which the people refuse to understand that the interests of the people as a whole can only be promoted by promoting the interests of each individual composing the whole. In this consideration the Democratic doctrine of States rights, to which the Democrats adhere even yet with so much apparent stubbornness, is utterly subversive of the first principles of unity and it may be emphatically stated that until enlightenment is obtained upon this point by the common ignorance of the country, there is no security from wars such as that from the effects of which we have not yet fully recovered. The same principle of States rights, as compared with those of all the States, if a correct principle of self-government, should also be recognized as the proper one to be acted upon in counties as against the State, and in cities as against counties and States, and in wards as against cities, and by citizens as against the wards in which they reside, and by the several partners of firms as against the authority of the firm as a whole. It is the only mischievous principle which is operating to destroy the Republic which is prophetic of so much civilization and advancement to the whole world.

Under the application of such principle a single government for all the “nations, kindred and tongues” of the earth would be utterly impossible and impracticable. Nothing but strife, contention and wars would follow a government founded on such principles of individuality as do not and will not recognize the superiority of the community as compared to the individual members of it. Upon this principle brought down to individuals, every individual would have the absolute right to act upon his own self-interests, no matter how seriously such action might interfere with others possessing the same right. The community would have no right to compel any restraints upon the individual under this principle of rule. This principle applied everywhere would carry us back to pre-historic times, when every individual was his own supreme authority, and maintained it at the risk of his life. This is the purest form of anarchy, and as such is laid down by all writers upon pre-historic times.

Why do not the advocates of States rights contend for the application of the same principle to its fullest extent, and thereby become consistent? Why do they advocate any general government at all? The truth and the facts of the case are, that such doctrines as recognize the rights of the individual as superior to the rights of the community in which he resides, are subversive of the first principles of order. Suppose such principles governed the entire sidereal and solar systems, what chance among so many vast planets would our little earth have? It is saved from destruction because there is a Prime Power which compels them all into harmony of action and movement, whatever courses their individual proclivities would lead them to. The application of this general superior controlling power in governmental affairs is the only method which can secure—because it will compel—harmony.

THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.

NO. IV.

Notwithstanding all this, which has been said in opposition to the doctrine of individual sovereignty as the true principle of government, it contains the germ of an ultimate truth, which will be realized when the total of individuals forming the world’s community shall have become so advanced from the present low conditions to those of wisdom and love, as to make every individual involuntarily recognize the rights of every other individual. In other words, individual sovereignty will be the principle of government when that time shall come wherein there will be no necessity for government, because the people shall have grown into the condition of a universal brotherhood. It is this innate sense of individual right which is present in the consciousness of every individual who has grown to know he is an individual, which makes this constant conflict between ultimation and approximation. It is the expression, politically, of the same principle which, religiously expressed, makes it possible for the consciousness of the individual to contain an undefinable knowledge of a Great First Cause, and at the same time to feel that he is an individual agent. In other words, it is the old doctrine of free agency reproduced in the political world, which, if it is but considered a single moment with an unprejudiced mind, it must be seen that there is no such thing as free agency; for every individual is dependent upon something, over which he has no control, every instant of his whole life, which something even produces the capacity which gives him the power to think he is free.

It will be seen, then, that the great general principles which govern the entire universe, are recognized in the proposition that all people are born free and equal, and entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which are inalienable rights; but it fails to be comprehended that the inalienable rights of freedom are limited by the other condition of equality, which makes every individual free within the distinct sphere of his individuality, but not free within the sphere of other individuals. He has the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, when it is not exercised at the expense of the inalienable rights of others in the same direction. These are the governing laws which the worlds obey, and which control the minutest particles of matter. And these are the true “Principles of Government.”

It will be also seen that the forms by which the principles of our government are administered are imperfect, and consequently that, however much we may reverence the Constitution of the United States, it requires remodeling to enable the true principles of government to find expression through it. The inconsistencies, also, of the rights of States, as represented by the common government, must also be removed. The State is either the source of governmental power or it must proceed from all the States, as combined in government. If the former, we are no more to be respected as a Union than the numerous Italian and German States were before the consolidation. The republic, under such construction, amounts to nothing more or less than a union for offensive and defensive purposes, at the option of the several States, which is as purely a governmental force as could well be imagined. The inconsistency of this construction of the Constitution was fully shown in No. III. of the “Limits and Sphere of Government,” and need not be repeated here; the subject has been pursued here, that the utter folly, inconsistency and impossibility of the recognition of individual rights, where such rights conflict with the community as a whole, might be the more palpably apparent. Having considered the source of the imperfections which exist in the form of our government, what should legitimately follow for consideration is, the remedy. In the first place, the theory of States rights must be abandoned, and each State must become a member of the Union by organizing under a common form, to be prescribed by them all, or by the present required constitutional majority of them all, to make an amendment to the Constitution valid. The same rule should be applied as that which has come to be a recognized necessity in States regarding incorporating companies. All the States should be required to organize under a general State law, which should be clearly and concisely set forth in the Constitution, which should recognize the general government as the determining power, and not that it exists by the sufferance of the States, but that the States exist as organic bodies, because they have complied with the requirements of the Constitution, which was necessary to constitute them States. In conformity with such acquired power, States should prescribe the means by which cities can become incorporated. In this way, unity of purpose and harmony of interest can be secured from the individual up to the total of individuals forming the nation.

Such a government would be a strong government indeed, but one in which its composing members of States and the composing members of individuals would have the utmost extent of freedom that the interests of the whole would admit. If this is not the end to be gained by government, then government is a simple farce, and unworthy of being allowed to exist anywhere. From the earliest historic ages the world has constantly been extending to individuals through its forms of government, more and wider freedom and greater privileges and immunities. This process will continue to spread, as the general people become more and better fitted to be the recipients and the appreciators of such extensions to them.

The individual has more rights and privileges to-day in the world than at any other previous time, but all individuals have not yet become such perfect laws to themselves that no formulated law is required to restrain them from the infraction of others’ present rights, privileges and immunities. Until such time come, a strong central government is required.

A strong central government does not necessarily mean anything approaching a monarchy. But it does mean a republic which will have the support of all its citizens as a central support, instead of each State comprising the Union reserving to itself the right to differ from the central power. In such a government, the majority of the people would, at any time, have the right to elect new officers, as provided for, so that the strong central power would not be in the individuals administering the government, but in the organic law which constitutes the several parts of the country a common government, which, while being the strongest possible governmental form, it would, at the same time guarantee the greatest possible freedom, equality and justice to its people which would be compatible with the common interests and the common good.

Lastly, such a central power of government is the only one to which peoples not already within the government could be admitted without endangering its existence. A new State desires to become associated with the several States forming the present Union. Immediately she is admitted, she has, under the present doctrine and practice, the right to withdraw. She has been admitted by and with the consent of the required majority of the States previously constituting the Union; therefore, logically, she has not the right to withdraw without the same consent It required this consent added to her free and self-expressed desire to become a State; it should also require the same consent before she should be allowed to withdraw from the Union.

Under a general rule for the admission of new States, and of allowing addition to the present limits of the Union, all that would be required would be for the people of a certain limit to adopt the requirements of the Constitution, and present themselves to Congress for admission. Aggregation, according to this rule, could always proceed without ever endangering the safety of the general government, because a country once having become a part of the Union would be under the mighty constraint of the whole Union to properly and peacefully perform the functions of a State in the Union. This condition can be well illustrated, by supposing that there was a confederation of all the European powers to preserve peace among themselves under certain defined agreements. If a single power violated any of those agreements, or attempted to make war upon its own account against another nation, a party to the agreement, all the other contracting powers would be in honor bound to make the interest of the nation against which proceedings were being had contrary to the common agreement their own. War, under such conditions, would be practically impossible. So would disunion, under the proposed system of confederation.

The country which shall first adopt such a system will be the centre of the future Universal Government of the world; and it is with this view in mind that these suggestions are offered to the people of the United States of America, which country is, by the common order of the universe, appointed to be that centre, to the end that they shall see the necessity of immediate action to perfect the organic laws of the country.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL

NO. I.

It is a mistaken notion that the interests of labor and capital are in any way antagonistic to each other. This fallacy has, however, taken such hold of the minds of the representatives of both these interests, that it is engendering a spirit of bitterness which, it is to be feared, will grow into as fierce a character as that against slavery did. It is always hard to produce any argument that will convince this spirit If convinced, the spirit of opposition will not be calmed, and obstinacy, assuming the place of all sentiment, compels the individual to remain rebellious.

It is most true that there could be no capital unless labor first existed. This stamps labor as of the greater importance. Let a person be cast upon a fertile island, without pecuniary means, and he will live by labor from its fertility; but let him fall upon an utterly barren and sterile land, and all the millions of a Rothschild would not insure his existence. So it is everywhere, and under all circumstances, to a greater or less extent. Labor can exist—though not flourish—without capital; but capital cannot exist entirely divorced from labor. Being dependent upon it for primary existence, it must ever remain under a direct analysis in the state of semi-importance.

The capitalist is the more unreasonable of the two in the position he assumes. He continues to apply all his energies to the acquisition of wealth, utterly regardless, in most cases, of any idea of justice to what has given it to him. The general practice is—and this is the true test, for whatever is of general application must be governed by some underlying principle of right—when capital requires any given thing done which it is obliged to apply to labor to accomplish, it must give one-half interest in the venture to enlist its co-operation. This is true regarding nearly all speculative pursuits, and when there is an actual necessity for either to apply to the other for aid to carry out its desires, this rule of agreement always obtains. This forms one of the most conclusive arguments by which to demonstrate the true relations of labor and capital, and should be made the basis of all co-operation.

It is not for the best interests of the wealthy to become still more so at the expense of poverty to those under them. On the contrary, it is their true interest to render fullest justice and strictest equality to the demands of labor, to be determined by the principles that shall promote the most general good. It is the greatest mistake of the age—it has been the greatest mistake of all ages—to suppose that individual benefit must accrue from the acquisition of wealth at the expense or sacrifice of any general principle of justice. It is also a great mistake for labor to array itself in opposition to wealth, and to form combinations to control it. It is too late in the ages for these kinds of arguments to convince. They can only end in producing still more injustice and distance between the two interests, which distance will be filled by rankling bitterness and contemptuous insinuation. An approach of the two interests is what is desired—an assimilation of them, so that the same end shall be best for each.

It may be laid down as an unanswerable proposition that there can be no general happiness, peace or comfort among a people so long as the principles society is built upon tend to promote unequal distributions of the products of labor; and this brings us to the consideration of the remedy. It is to reconstruct society upon such principles as shall tend to promote complete unity, harmony and equality among its various classes. To accomplish this it should be the special aim of every one possessed of wisdom enough to comprehend a common logical proposition to endeavor to bring about this equality by diffusing the deductions of it, in all possible ways, among both classes. Let the various producing and exchanging classes exist as they do, but let their relations be governed by such rule of law as shall render them equal, both as to caste and to the benefits to be derived from an equal interest in the common cause of the brotherhood of mankind.

NEW YORK. July 10, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. II.

The strife that is being urged to create divergence between the interests of these bases of society is purely the result of ignorance of the first principles of constructive use on the part of their representatives. Instead of an endeavor to demonstrate to the understanding of all, the true principles which underlie these interests, which would effectually unite them, those who have selfish personal ends in view seek to further them, by engendering a spirit of bitterness and a desire for strife. There are those who cherish the ideas of aristocracy who have no wealth, on the one hand, and are too indolent to endeavor to attain their desires by active labor, on the other, who think to create some serious diversion, and upon it to ride into place and power. This class of individuals are ever busy stirring the coals of dissatisfaction into flames of rebellion, thinking thereby to become the acknowledged representatives of the labor interest. It is generally true that a cause supported by such means has no principles upon which to base its claims; but in this instance the most absolute and just principles are ignored, while cant and bombast usurp their proper sphere.

It is quite true that there is a growing tendency to centralize capital, and that consolidation of monetary interests is the rule; but the fault of this does not lie in capital or capitalists—it is farther back than it or they. It is in the people themselves, and in the fundamental principles upon which society is built, and those which the people allow government to be administered upon. If the laws of a country permit the doing of a certain thing, which it is for the interests of a certain few to do, and they chose to avail themselves of it, there are many to be found in these times so much governed by the desire for the public welfare as to take the advantage offered them by the people, for it comes down to that at last. The labor class have it in their power to send to Congress just those who shall fully represent their interests; but they do not do this; most of them are found actively supporting those whom Capital selects and holds up for their suffrages. The remedy lies with the people, and they must make use of it before they can ever expect to see their rights adjusted.

There is, as was said above, no conflict between Capital and Labor. The conflict is among their representatives. On the contrary, there is an entire harmony of interests between them. The true interests of each are best promoted by rendering justice, full and complete, to the other, and in the understanding of this lies the only solution of the Labor Question. Strife may continue, war, even, may come of the strife, but finally the settlement must be made upon the principles of justice, which underlie their relations. One comes from the existence of the other; this, when created, should ever acknowledge its paternity, and never assert supremacy, nor be allowed to do so; to be so allowed shows that defects exist in the fundamental principles of government, or in its application to existing things. These defects it should be the duty of those who prate with so much volubility to discover and proclaim, to the end that they may be understood by the people. The people in turn should send as their representatives to frame laws, such persons as shall make it their business to attend to their duties rather than those who allow themselves to become immersed in the schemes of plotting politicians who seek eternally to continue themselves in place and power, and who lose all sight of, or care for, their constituency, in their necessarily continuous efforts to secure that end. Such representatives should be religiously ostracized by the common people, and none tolerated but such as understand the relations which the interests they wish fostered bear to those they feel they are becoming subjected to, and who will unflinchingly advocate them at all proper times and in all proper places. The durability of government rests upon the entire harmony of all the interests it is framed to protect, and no country can ever become continuously prosperous that has within it the elements of discord; no country can endure for any length of time that does not seek to eradicate all causes of dissatisfaction, and to so adjust its interdependencies that they shall be mutual and just to each as individuals, and to all as the public.

NEW YORK, July 20, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. III.

The duty of the philanthropist is to point out the harmony of interests that exists between the extremes of the different grades that society consists of. There are a certain class of would-be reformers, who make it their business to stir up strife and contention between these grades, and thus to separate their interests, and to make it appear that they are antagonistic. The number of the latter class as compared with the former, gives them a preponderant influence, which, added to the real grievances existing, enables them to create considerable excitement and much imagined wrong, which has no foundation in fact.

The laboring classes, being occupied by their labor, do not devote much time to the study of the circumstances that control their condition. They see that other classes fatten from their productions, and without stopping to inquire why it is so, straightway conclude that they are the subjects of an oppressive power which desires to completely wrest the results of their labor from them, and to always keep them in the condition of virtual vassalage. This conclusion rouses the spirit of independence in the laborer, and he determines to redress his wrongs. He sets about forming combinations, having in view the control of wages and hours, not comprehending that the remedy lies deeper than these, or that these would regulate themselves, could the true cause of the condition they rebel against be reached and generally understood. While it is true that capital can never enslave labor to a degree that can be considered compulsory on the part of capital, and unnecessary on the part of labor, it is equally true that labor cannot compel capital to its commands. Therefore both these methods of cure should be abandoned, and preventive means be resorted to instead. And these it is our duty to point out.

The judicious architect, before pulling down the old structure, provides the material to replace it; in other words, he substitutes the new for the old, and in the process leaves no unnecessary interval in which the fostered interests shall be left to the vicissitudes of anarchy. It is evident from the rapidly spreading knowledge among the laboring classes, that they will soon demand some modifications in the forms, and in the relations they sustain through them to society. Before breaking down the present organizations society exists in, by revolution, which would end in a period of anarchy, out of which better conditions might grow, the better conditions should be first considered, prepared and determined upon, and, by being thoroughly understood, should be substituted for the present by general consent, without society being compelled to pass through the anarchical period that succeeds all violent disruptions of present forms, whether in government, religion or society.

As society is constructed at present, it must look to legislation to produce forms and to enforce order through them, that society may observe in their operations the better results to them. Society expresses itself most powerfully through legislation. Public opinion is a force capable of many things, but is powerless to redress grievances or to institute the new and better for the old and decayed, unless it is directed by the formula of law. All the energies of labor reform, then, should be directed to the main point, from which benefit to itself must spring. It should waste no time nor strength upon the minor issues, but concentrate all upon the one strategic point. And when this concentration is effected, it should not fritter away its strength by dealing with the contingencies of the present, or in small expedients, to enable us to dodge along, simply escaping shipwreck, to be again forced the next day, week or year, to the same expedients to escape similar shoals. Instead, it should direct all its capacities to substitute a new and better foundation, upon which a new and better superstructure of society can be reared. How shall such a work be begun?

Legislation is the primary constructive point from which better conditions must emanate. The laboring classes, then, must see to it that they are properly represented in legislation. Nor should they be deceived into the support of any who, by bluster and tongue, loudly proclaim themselves the champions of labor, without the understanding of the first principles that control the relations of labor to capital. Let it be set down, once for all time, that he who denounces capital as the oppressor is not the representative labor should choose to right its wrongs. In every community there are some who think a great deal and say little; these, as a general thing, are the antipodes of those who say a great deal and think little. Though the last are usually found floating about the surface of society, it is to the first, society must look for that wisdom, judgment and executive ability that shall guide it to the desired harbor.

It should be the first duty of the labor interest, in each State or national district, to select and elect one from that class that has calmly observed the workings of present systems, and who can show where the cause of existing ills lies. It is to the philosopher, and not to the politician, that the labor interest must turn its eyes, and though he be not smooth of tongue and glib of speech, he will lay such a foundation in law as will produce the conditions desired. Your present representatives, State and national, have shown themselves incompetent to the task you demand of them. Leave them to seek their level, and turn you to others, who will not lose sight of your interests in the allurements which place and power present. You cannot expect that those who are not of you can appreciate your wants or understand your conditions. Choose from among yourselves and you will not go far astray. There are, however, noble exceptions to this rule of decision. There are those who were reared in wealth whose hearts sympathize with you, and who feel quite as keenly as you do the injustice you suffer. In these you will find your best advocates, but see to it that your suffrages are never, once again, worse than withheld.

You are in the majority, and the fault is your own if you do not make use of the power you possess. Nominate and elect your own men; if your first choice fails you, try again, and continue trying, until the right man for the position is found; and when found, while holding him strictly accountable, give him your cordial support while he is true to your interests. Most persons who occupy position now, feel compelled to yield principle to the demands of policy, in order to retain it. This must be remedied. None are fit to hold position who will sacrifice one iota of their conviction in order to retain it. Self-interest must be surrendered to those whose power fills the place, and for the time being it must act as the representative of them and not as its own. It cannot be too strongly insisted upon, nor too often repeated, that it is the first duty of the labor interest to look to it that our halls of legislation are filled by those who understand the true and the harmonious relations of labor and capital.

NEW YORK, July 27, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. IV.

In our last the attempt was made to show how important the laborer should consider the choice of representatives to be, and also what class of persons should be chosen. The task of making these selections cannot be begun too soon. In every district in the Union the laborers should be made alive to this question. Some who fully appreciate its importance should take it upon themselves to begin the work; they should converse with the few they come in contact with, and these, becoming interested, should be induced to extend the agitation; and finally, all over the country, primary labor meetings would come to be held for the full and complete discussion of the whole subject.

It is the most complete evidence of supineness on the part of the laboring classes that they are not now represented as they should be. Being so vastly in the majority, every office should be filled by them. The difficulty has been—and we fear will be—that while the laborer has been busy at his regular task, others have managed the incipient stages that produce the candidates, in such a manner that the interests of the majority have been entirely ignored. Finally, when the regular party ticket is presented, the least objectionable one receives the support; and thus it comes that the real interests and wishes of the people are seldom represented, and as seldom is the elected candidate the real choice of the people.

Unless our laboring classes arouse themselves to the real importance of this matter, and become willing to devote sufficient time to preparing their candidates, they should cease blaming others for results; for they now complain of things they have it in their power to remedy, but which they cannot expect others, whose interests seem to be at variance with theirs, to correct for them. Those who declaim so loudly and profusely about the wrongs labor suffers at the instance of capital, should be strictly guarded against, lest they, unwittingly, become your leaders and advisers.

There are at all times numbers of persons standing waiting and ready to step forward to take advantage of any favorable movement among the people which seems to offer inducements. It matters not to them in what, or where the movement may originate; they have no principles to crush out or control in order that they may fall into the current. It is almost impossible to escape the curse of these ever-ready tools. The safest and surest remedy against them is to select those who have never mingled in politics, and who will come direct from the shop or the field. It does not matter so much if they are not able advocates, if they only understand the work to be done and are devoted and true. Let this course be pursued a few years, and the enormous proportion of lawyer-legislators would be diminished by one-half. Many of these have no sympathies in common with you, most of them are, by all their controlling influences, drawn from the consideration even of your condition. What does it matter to them if the few articles you must purchase to render yourselves and families comfortable, cost you ten, twenty or fifty per cent. more than the actual cost of their production, if corporations for which they are attorneys become still more corpulent upon this that is indirectly filched from you! For, do you not know that capital under such rule does not pay the taxes of the country, but that your labor does? In this way, the common laborer, who should not be compelled to pay any levy at all, is taxed on almost everything he eats, drinks and wears, and thus labor is compelled not only to produce what makes wealth possible, but also to sustain it after having produced it. This is a vast inequality in favor of capital and against labor, and still it is the laborer’s fault; and it lies just where we pointed, in the selection of proper candidates as representatives, State and national.

There are but a very few newspapers that do not profess to be the advocates of the rights of labor. Let them be called upon to take hold of this matter, and take hold of it at just that point where the remedy must be applied. Let them lay before the people a plain exposition of the matter, and certainly aim to make the people understand it. Let them urge the people to assemble and concert plans and devise means to carry them out, and to warn them to no longer intrust the most vital parts of the “necessary course” to the care of hereditary members of the caucus, whom money buys or whisky controls. It has become proverbial that he who would be elected to any important position must dispense both these “powers” with a lavish hand; and he who can do this the most profusely is pretty sure to “be elected.” You may rest perfectly assured that if he spend ten thousand dollars to secure his election by your votes, he intends at least to double his venture during his official term. You should know by this time that “the purity of the ballot box” is simply a “play upon words,” and that elections are but farces to approve what is previously determined.

The people, then, must look on every side for treachery to their interests and dishonesty of purpose, not forgetting that a large portion of the press that profess your interests so warmly, that you almost know their truth, are open to the influence of at least one of the abovementioned powers, and that to go counter to the commands of those who “back them” is to go to certain destruction. Nevertheless, demand of the press a course that cannot be denominated hypocritical, and if it does not respond, withdraw your patronage, and give it where it will contribute to your interests.

These introductory details cannot be dwelt upon too long nor insisted upon too earnestly. To begin a work right, is to have it half accomplished; and most powerfully does this apply in the matter of determining who shall be your representatives.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. V.

One of the great questions of the day, if not the greatest, is the true relations that should exist between labor and capital. It is one fraught with more direct benefit to a greater number of people than any other question has even the external appearance of being. The real merits of the question are of much greater significance than is generally supposed, even by those who raise it. The welfare and the individual rights of three-fourths of the people are at stake. The question assumes this shape: Labor has, by its continuous efforts, produced a certain amount of wealth, from the use of the materials nature presents, that has not been required to support and sustain the general life of man. By certain advantages, either of general policy or of individual acuteness, certain individuals have accumulated more than their necessities demanded they should expend, and this accumulation has become an added power to that possessed by the individual previously, which power endeavors to maintain itself partly at the expense of that which first produced it, and to transfer just so much of the cost of its production from itself.

That such conditions can exist and really increase in power and importance, so that they can virtually control legislation, gives evidence that principles are operative that do not promote the interests of the entire people. There must be a fault somewhere, which fault it is necessary to discover and expose, and then remedy. Now, where does this fault really have beginning? It is in certain protections and guarantees that law extends to individuals, which permit them to have an advantage over those with whom they sustain the relations of society. These laws arise out of false conceptions of the principles of common equality and economy, which pertain to man as a common fraternity. In legislation, which first allows and then fosters such departures, then, must the point at which reform should begin be sought. Any attempt to teach the general mind can have no practical effect, unless, finally, the result of the teachings express themselves through legislation. Legislation presupposes legislators, and to have the right kind of legislators involves the necessity of the laboring classes giving sufficient time and attention to the matter of nominations and elections to insure that those who will represent their true interests shall be returned.

Although the remedy for all the laborer’s ills must be sought through legislation, there are, nevertheless, many fallacies still received, even by the laborer, that have the direct tendency to degrade labor and to elevate the position of capital. One of the principal of these is a false monetary basis, a false representative standard of values, which is arbitrarily imposed upon the people, with no positive and absolute value within itself, except that which such arbitrary law gives it. Gold, as a standard of values, has been set up and worshiped so long, that people submit to its decrees with about the same appreciation of its real merits that they have of the mysteries of religion, as expounded by their paid oracles, who have constituted themselves into authorities to declare, “Thus saith the Lord.” The people have surrendered their reason in these matters to these self-constituted authorities, and so have they surrendered common sense to the god of value.

Another, and almost as important fallacy, is that of interfering with the natural ebb and flow of the products of the world by imposing upon certain of them such tribute as makes it pretty nearly impracticable for them to find their way to the locality of natural demand, in order that a special few who inhabit that locality may produce the same at a greatly increased cost, which the consumer must pay in order to obtain. It does not matter how this plain statement may be twisted and bent by the alluring sophistries and glittering generalities of the protectionist; a plain statement, viewed with clear light, needs no authoritative sanction to determine its truth. If it be any benefit for a thousand men to pay one man ten per cent more for a desired article, because it is of home production, than it could be purchased for from a foreign producer, we should be most happy to have it demonstrated. The argument used is, that by that one man being protected in its production he is thereby enabled to give employment to a certain number of laborers. But to make even this tenable upon their own statement, they must at the same time prove that those laborers would not have been able to apply themselves to any other labor during the time required to produce the article in question. This at once leads to such an intricacy of cause and effect that those who attempt to solve the mysticism prefer to accept the declaration that protection is a good thing rather than acknowledge that they are lost in the fog and obscurity they have been sent to explore to find the required evidence.

Another extensive popular fallacy is that of the continuation of special protection to monopolies after their existence as monopolies is assured, which renders them perpetual taxes upon the labor that must make use of them, and perpetual patents upon the industry of the country, by which a few already plethoric capitalists become still more obese. The great systems of internal improvements of the country belong to the country, and the country should so arrange their conduct that the people could make use of them at the least possible expense of support.

It is these and sundry like matters that the laborers of the country should require their representatives to understand and act upon, and they should cast their vote for no one that will not, at all times and under all circumstances, advocate and vote for the greatest good of the greatest number. In this way, labor may hope to arise from its present position of degradation to sit side by side with capital in all public and profitable positions and those of honor and trust.

NEW YORK, August 10, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. VI.

From various sources we learn that there is beginning to be a manifest interest in all the different States and Congressional districts regarding the next elections. The representatives of labor seem to begin to realize the great importance of special attention to all that belongs to primary organization, and to perceive that heretofore they have been obliged to throw their strength away or waste it in unprofitable directions, from the very fact that they did not give the necessary attention to the first steps in the process of determining who should be set up for them to choose between. It does not seem possible that any should be returned to office who entertain opinions antagonistic to the general interests of labor. Three-fourths of the entire population of the country are in this interest, and whether they be artisans in mechanics or nature—whether they be by the anvil or the plow—whether they be printers or writers—their interests are all the same; it only requires that they should all understand this to consolidate them into a power that would control every movement of government. Should this unity once be found practical, and should it be recognized by capital as consummated, its representatives would be compelled to come to those, who now look to them, for the granting of ameliorating conditions. It is most probable that when such a unity shall be attained both the capitalist and the laborer will, for the first time, discover that whatever really militates against the true interests of one, is equally antagonistic to the best interests of the other.

Some who have thought this might be so, have endeavored to devise methods by which harmonious action could be secured. Various schemes of co-operation have been suggested, many of them tried and found faulty and then discarded, until it has come to be pretty thoroughly understood that there is no level upon which they can meet and part in mutuality of interest. It is true that no perfect method can be suggested or instituted that will from the first give complete results; but the principle must be sought that governs the relations between the separate interests and applied, at first, with imperfect results, which must afterward be improved as the interests grow into a true comprehension of each other’s character.

The principle is this, that labor and capital are equally interested in the productions that flow from their joint operations; that is, the capital that gives employment to one hundred laborers is entitled to an equal interest with the laborers in what is produced. But here is an inequality to begin with. The capital may only represent one individual, while the laborers are one hundred; still, this is the relation, and the final result of its operation will be a complete equality in this wise: The one hundred laborers perform their regular duties, receiving therefor such regular wages as are proper; and also their respective proportions of the profits of their productions. In, say, five years, these one hundred laborers will have accumulated a sufficient capital with which to transact the business on their own account; and here is where a system of equality is reached, which again would be followed by another degree of progress for the laborer. The capitalist, finding himself left out of the count by the operation of this method, would come forward and offer his capital to labor organizations at a reasonable rate of interest, and in this way a common interest would be the only possible result. The entire profits of the labor would then be divided among the producers, while the capitalist would have to be satisfied with the moderate interest he would realize, in place of the extraordinary sums now sometimes acquired from the sweat and muscle of the laborer. There is one point, however, in the first instance, that modifies the inequality mentioned in a very material degree. The capitalist, while enjoying as much profit as all the laborers, is also liable for all losses, in which the laborer has no interest.

Following the results of the co-operation above mentioned would be various modifications in society and in the locality of populations. People engaged in the same pursuits would naturally gravitate to each other and into distinct localities, while the various interests they represented would gravitate to those localities that should offer the most inducement to their respective trades. One of the results of this would be that all raw material would, in all cases—where all the requirements were present—be manufactured in the locality of its production, thereby saving vast amounts of transportation; and this again would be illustrative of another department of general economy, in the light of which protection to special manufacturing interests would be seen in its true colors.

We have thus briefly endeavored to point out the practical results that would flow from the adoption, generally, of the true principle of co-operation for the specific purpose of assisting the labor interest in selecting candidates for their representatives, both State and national. They should be those who understand these relations, and what would naturally follow them, and who would at all times, and under all circumstances, advocate their adoption, and, in the first instance, such policies as would most materially assist in their development, and lead to their introduction and practice on the part of all who compose both interests. Labor is the basis upon which all society rests, and nothing is entitled to so much consideration at the hands of legislation. Nothing heretofore has been so grossly neglected, insulted and imposed upon.

NEW YORK, August 20, 1870

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. VII.

PRIORITY OF RIGHT—THEIR POSITION IN THE PROCESSES OF SOCIETY—THE EARTH BELONGS TO MAN AT LARGE—INDIVIDUAL CLAIMS, PURE ASSUMPTION—PRINCIPLES, PRACTICE, REMEDIES AND CURE.

Capital, primarily, is the product of labor, but labor, in the abstract, could produce nothing of itself. It must have something upon which to apply itself. It cannot create anything; it can only alter, readjust or rearrange the materials which nature offers, and by bringing them into new relations with each other make it possible for them to subserve other and better purposes than when, in the constitution assigned them by the operation of natural laws, they are unmodified by the touch of mind. Therefore, while capital is the direct result of labor, labor would not be possible without the free gifts of nature. Absolute originality, then, or absolute priority of right, as between labor and capital, cannot be claimed by or for either.

The formula of the operation, beginning with nature and ending in the ultimate use of its productions, in contributing to the happiness of the race, is this: Nature is made up of the elements of the universe, which, compounded into forms, are offered to man to be modified into other forms and to combine in new relations which may best contribute to the needs of the human family. In this view, and in view of the inharmonious relations that exist between capital and its co-equal labor, it becomes necessary to give the whole matter a complete analysis, in order to discover, if possible, where the primary fault lies, and to find the proper solution of all differences.

The human race exists upon the earth. At a past period no human being existed upon it. At a later day the human race arose. Before man, nothing claimed the ownership of any part of the earth’s surface. When man presented himself he began to make use of various parts of it for his own ends, but to the land thus appropriated he acquired no permanent title or right of ownership. It was his to obtain from it all that his genius and strength made possible. So much as he could thus extract he could possess, but further than this his title was valueless.

The races of men that now inhabit the earth are scattered over the greater part of its surface, drawing what it spontaneously yields and what they can force it to yield. From these premises it would seem unquestionable that each individual of the human family had an equal right to its benefits. The only difference that ought to exist should be that limited and bounded by the capacity of each to produce. No person could therefore ever acquire, under the rule of universal justice, an absolute ownership to any part or portion of the earth’s surface. If the chain of title to any claimed ownership is followed backward sufficiently, it will be found to have originated in an assumption in the first instance of ownership to something that belonged to men in common.

We can now acquire landed property from the government, and this creates the most absolute ownership that can exist; but here again comes the question whether governments can do what is impossible to individuals? Can a system organized by a people perform acts not in the power of the people themselves to perform? Can a government by the mere fact of having been organized to preserve harmony among a people acquire an absolute title to the earth that is contained within its jurisdiction? If an individual cannot go into an unclaimed territory and take absolute possession of a certain portion of it, then no number of persons, nor can any government they may establish, do so. And here exists one cause of discord between labor which produces and capital which monopolizes.

All monopolies arise from landed monopolies. Were there no inequalities between men in claims to certain areas of the earth’s surface, no other monopolies would find a basis for existence. Every individual should have a right to the use of a certain quantity of the real estate of the country, and the right to all improvements he might make upon it. Here would be a basis of equity which would forever prevent the accumulation in the hands of any few persons, of vast quantities of real estate, which is the real basis of all securities. It is such a basis because everything is produced from it. All manufacturers must rely upon it for their raw material, and, therefore, a practical equality in the occupation and use of the public domain would insure a certain degree of equality in all things that might spring from it. It was the perception of this principle that caused Lycurgus to divide the lands of Lacedemon equally among all the people; and a general recognition of it should now take place.

While these are the principles that underlie the workings of society, and which must be practiced before a general equality can exist, it is not to be expected that they can be immediately introduced. There are too few who understand the real rights of man, and too many who do not wish to understand them. While this condition of ignorance and perverseness keeps the world inharmonious and subjected to suffering, we should avail ourselves of all the alleviatory methods that can be suggested in our present system. Between two evils choose the least; but in the pursuit of remedies, the root of the disease should never be lost sight of. Nor should the spirit that is exhibited in many so-called Labor and Workingmen’s Journals be encouraged. Strife and animosity will never accomplish half so much as calmness, reason and persuasion. “Come, let us reason together,” was never more judiciously proposed than it could now be by capitalists and workingmen. The latter must remember that they cannot compel capitalists to their terms, and capitalists must not forget that if there are real causes of dissatisfaction growing out of injustice, the sooner justice is done the less serious will be the reckoning with the laborer. Instead of strife let us have co-operation; instead of war let us have peace; instead of the process of fermentation let us have that of mutual understanding.

NEW YORK, August 27, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. VIII.

THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION—NEW PARTIES AND NEW ISSUES—PEOPLE’S EYES OPEN—DETERMINATION TO TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS—WILL THEY MAKE JUDICIOUS MOVEMENTS?—THE RIGHTS OF LABOR—SHALL THEY BE IGNORED?—OUR POSITION REGARDING THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

The National Labor Convention lately held in Cincinnati was called for the special purpose of beginning an organization having in view the next Presidential canvass. It had taken the means of obtaining the views of a number of the most prominent public men, letters enunciating which views were duly presented before the convention. That of Governor Geary, of Pennsylvania, appears to have occupied the position of most prominency, and to have been regarded with peculiar and unanimous favor. The views presented by him are such as were sure to find favor with the representatives of labor, and so far he stands A No. 1 as the prospective candidate for the Presidency of the National Labor party.

It has been very evident for the last year that the old parties had lost their power of inspiration over the people. The Democratic party sold itself out to slavery and virtually died when slavery died. A party may exist called Democratic, but it will be upon new issues and must take new departures. The hard conservatism that attaches to it from its former practices does not suit the spirit of the eighth decade of the nineteenth century. The rank and file that have so long blindly followed wherever their leaders commanded are becoming imbued with this spirit, and they begin to realize that they have been mere automatons that have been moved with no acquiescent will of their own. Newspapers have become too commonly read. That the blind should be led necessitates the continuous condition of blindness. So, too, with, the understanding. What have the masses known of the essence of the issues that have formed the platform of the political parties for the last fifty years? When war came, as the result of a blind course on the part of politicians, the masses began to open their eyes to the fact that they had been unwittingly betrayed into a most dangerous and fearful condition, wherein it became necessary to cut each other’s throats. Since the close of the war they have not only kept their eyes open to the full extent the war opened them, but they have also opened their understanding and for the first time fully realize that they are indeed freemen; and to become conscious that heretofore they have been so only in name. Awaking as they have from the delusion so long hugged to their hearts, it will not be strange if they do some inconsiderate and short-sighted things.

It is the duty of all who have the true interest of the whole people at heart to warn them of all the extremes they are likely to contend for, and to suggest permanent practical methods, which shall spring from principles that will apply at all times to all men—and women. The Republican party being composed of somewhat different elements is disintegrated from different action of the same causes; with the destruction of slavery and the reconstruction of the country its strength was expended. All people who were opposed to slavery had concentrated in the Republican party, because of the similarity of sentiment upon this single question; this settled, they find themselves without a common rallying idea; they differ as widely upon the old and common topics among themselves as they differ from those who do not belong to the party and never did. Place and power are the sole things that hold the Republican party together at all; these gone it will be gone.

It is just at this time that new parties are demanded, and they are sure to arise. The conditions are all favorable. It remains for wise counsels to prevail in the formation and departure of these, to insure them something more than death with the accomplishment of one of their central ideas, which destiny fell to the lot of the Republican party. Unquestionably there will be a Labor party in the next canvass. We are sorry it is denominated the Labor party, because it should be something more than a Labor party, and because this is a direct challenge to capital, and it will very probably result in arraying these two interests in an antagonism which will be but a repetition of the slavery antagonism. No party built upon a specific idea, looking in a single direction, can ever attain to even the promise of permanency; and it is for this reason we say we are sorry to see a party sectionalizing itself at the very outset of its attempting a general movement toward organization.

It seems, also, a little premature that an organization calling itself a Labor organization, should at the outset put itself upon the record against the freedom of labor, let it come from whence it may, and be of whatever nature it may. This policy is short-sighted, and will prove a stumbling-block to the party, though for the time Chinese emigration may serve for a rallying-cry. All assertions that the Chinese emigrants can be reduced to a system of slavery among us are humbuggery of the first water. There is no law to prevent a person contracting with a hundred American workmen at the best terms he can. It is quite certain there is no law to prevent him from employing Irishmen, Germans or even Chinese upon the same terms. And if it is done, and labor is thereby obtained cheaper than the citizens of this country desire to furnish it, the laboring class must not lay the charge to the capitalist who accomplishes it, but to the imperfections of our social and financial systems which make such resorts possible. Then, instead of committing this new national organization against any form of legal labor, its managers should have proposed remedies for the existing imperfections in our systems.

We are no special advocate of the introduction of Chinese or any other labor into this country; neither are we desirous of advocating any policy that will conflict with the interests of any laborer, but we are advocates, and always expect to be, of justice and equity to all people everywhere, because the time has come in the ages when we must begin to remember that we are all brothers under the sun, and that he or she who does not recognize and act upon this universal truth will, sooner or later, be obliged to learn it at the cost of dear experience. We expect to be found advocating very many of the principles laid down in the platform of the Labor party, and could wish that we may find nothing there adverse to the principles which are of general application. We desire to see the Labor interest advanced to the right and position of equality with capital, and we shall put forth our best endeavors to assist in this most just movement. At the same time we shall not commit ourselves to sustain or advocate anything that we conceive will be ultimately injurious to the true interests of humanity, or any part of it, therefore we shall at all times point out what we regard as errors in whatsoever this new party may endeavor to carry out. At the same time we shall, perhaps, be among its firmest and truest advocates. The best friends are those who show us our faults and sustain us in the right.

NEW YORK, September 3, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. IX.

This question forms one of the corner-stones of future society, but of all the questions in which society seems interested it is the worst understood. Four-fifths of the people of the world toil on, year after year, and all the time see the other fifth revelling in the luxuries the sweat of their brows has produced. While the one-fifth enjoy the luxuries thus produced, as though they had acquired them by divine right, which none may call in question nor dispute, the great power of the laboring many has never been felt. It has never been concentrated or organized into concert of action. Even now this immense force is still dispersed. It seems to have no centre around which it can gather. It has no organization, and herein lies its weakness.

Organization should be effected for two principal ends: First, for construction; second, for destruction. The old systems cumber the ground whereon the new must be reared, and they must be pulled down to give it room; nevertheless, the constructive part of the operation must first begin; before the old will yield, the new must at least be formulated. This is not impossible in the department of principles. This new rests upon foundations deeper down than existing things, and these can, therefore, be used previously to the destruction of the foundations of the old. The new also reaches higher than the old; hence its frame-work may be reared, while yet the old stand comparatively intact. The work of construction once begun, that of destruction must necessarily immediately follow, and when the former shall have been completed the latter will have been but finished. This is the philosophy of Integration and of Disintegration in all departments of the universe.

Labor and Capital is a question relating in the first instance to the material prosperity of a people; but secondarily it reacts upon all other interests—intellectual, moral, physical and religious. None of these interests can flourish among a people who are burdened by material wants; neither are they usually unitedly prosperous among that part of a people who are greatly advanced in material possessions. Either extreme in material interests appears to be deleterious to the best and most harmonious general advancement of all the other interests. It is the mean between the extremes—the calling up from those below, and the leveling down of those above the mean—in which the harmony of all is found.

Harmony of all the interests of humanity can alone be attained through organization. A permanent basis of organization can only be discovered by scientific investigation. The organization of society must be realized through the science of sociology, which, of all sciences is the least understood by the general mind. Yet there are among the great minds of the planet a large number of those who thoroughly comprehend this science, and it is to these that the world must look for a reconstruction of its society upon such principles as shall render it permanent; upon such, as it can constantly be improved upon, without changing its methods of operation.

Into such a reconstruction the branch of sociology that relates to production and use, or labor and capital, will enter largely, and must be the portion of it to be first entered upon, because all things which are built upon earth must have a material foundation until there shall be such a harmony and unity of interests, and such co-operation among mankind as would proceed from a universal brotherhood, in which each would have his special part to perform to contribute to the common result.

The agitation that is beginning to be felt all over the world where intelligent labor exists, indicates that the time is at hand wherein the first steps toward a constructive organization of society, upon scientific principles, is to be begun. Not only is this agitation shown to exist in this country, but it has lately been developed that labor societies exist throughout Europe, having a common head and centre, and that they deem themselves strong enough to express wishes entirely antagonistic to the ruling powers.

Now what these organizations require to become—something more than mere instruments for agitation, mere means by which the injustice between labor and capital is exposed—is to become constructive in their action; instead of expending all their means and strength in the work of pulling down the old systems of things, they should begin the actual construction of a new system. For this end they must bring science—the science of sociology—to their aid, and make its professors active leaders and trusted assistants in the grand work. Capital is putting forth some strong efforts to confine science in its interests, but the teachings of science are of too general and cosmopolitan a character to permit its professors to ally themselves with a pseudo aristocracy—the aristocracy of wealth.

Well may the political parties view with alarm the beginning of organization among the classes they have until now relied upon to carry themselves into power. If bereft of the capacity to influence the masses who heretofore have not thought for themselves, they know their power will depart. How has it been possible thus long for leaders to control the masses, except that the masses have permitted others to act for them, and that without rendering any account for such action? The time for such representation has passed. The people have arrived at that degree of understanding of their actual interests, that will not admit of a blind acquiescence in all that even a “People’s Congress” may do. They will begin to instruct their representatives instead of being led by them.

’Tis true that by capital coming to the rescue of the country it is intact to-day; but it asked its price and has been paid. So far the obligation is removed, and justice to all is demanded. Legislation entirely in the interests of capital will not be any longer tacitly acknowledged as binding those whose interests are sacrificed. Whatever obligations the country may be under to those who hold its securities, it is under still greater to the producing interest, to which it must look for the ability to retire them when called upon so to do by the tenor of the contract they contain. It thus appears that all the interests and all the prosperity of the country are dependent upon the producing classes, and therefore to them government must listen, for they will not be ignored much longer.

NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. X.

Production lies at the basis of all progress. Material production precedes all other kinds of acquirement. In the first degrees of social evolution, labor was merely to obtain the means of bodily sustenance and comfort; from this the present has widely departed; while the future must still further widen the distance between production as an end and production as the means to some end beyond. Production in early times meant simple muscular toil; it still means this, but also a great deal more; the proper direction of power makes it possible for a given amount of force to accomplish a greatly increased result. In the next century make proportionate rapid advancement in the better adaptation of means to ends than last made over the preceding, the direct application of muscular exertion to accomplish a material purpose will be almost unknown. Steam and water have relieved muscle of nearly all its most laborious occupations and increased the capacity of production a thousand fold.

The reduction of these powers to the uses of man will be supplemented by that of still more subtle and powerful agents to the same end, and this reduction will be followed by a proportionate relief to manual labor. The results of this advancement in the discovery of the means of reducing the elements of nature to the service of man, is to be revolutionary to the present grades and distinctions between the laborer and the capitalist—unless a proper understanding and application of the science of society first perform that inevitable result—which will guarantee to all individuals the possibility of like attainment in all things.

Science equalizes everything that comes within its sphere. Let the great scientist be never so destitute of material wealth, he is still the great man sought for and honored by those who have nothing but material wealth to recommend them. Any person may incidentally become wealthy in material possessions, but none but the devoted student of nature can become rich in mind; and, none but the devoted philanthropist can become rich in heart and soul. Even those who have immense earthly possessions, show their consciousness of inferiority by courting the great in other fields of acquirement. This alone should teach all people that true greatness is not to be gained through riches, and that these should only be considered advantageous as the means by which to acquire other greater riches and blessings.

The true uses of wealth are to advance the peoples of earth from the conditions in which they are to higher and better conditions, to those where caste and distinctions shall not be measured by it, but by the good that is accomplished by its use, in which he will be considered the greatest man and the most honored, who shall make the best uses of material wealth in benefiting humanity as a common brotherhood.

It has become too late in the ages for individuals to think of living for themselves, or even for those immediately connected with them. Mutuality of interest is spreading from family interests to world-wide interests, and the greatest minds of the present are those which perceive and act upon this fact. The leavening power of assimilation is rapidly at work among the nations, races and peoples of the earth. The electric telegraph makes it possible for all the different nations of the earth to be possessed of the same thought at the same time. For the last two months the minds of the whole world have been turned toward France, where the real contest of the future has but just begun. It is impossible for this concentration of mind upon one centre to be productive of anything but a growing likeness among those who are the subjects of it. All the discoveries in all departments of life tend to the same unification of thought and interest. In this unification is contained the prophecy of what the future shall be when no individual, family, nation or race, shall feel that they can live entirely for themselves.

The lesson the present movers in labor reforms have to learn is that of harmonizing the interests of labor and capital by the demonstrations of science. Springing from a common source and tending toward a common end, humanity must learn to progress on its course according to rule, to law and the requirements of order. These sustain the harmonies of the universe, and should be never-failing authorities for humanity to pattern after. Those who achieve the greatest conquests are they who can bring themselves into harmony with the principles that govern the movements of the innumerable worlds, no two of which are ever known to disastrously cross each other’s path.

The world is capable of producing luxuriousness for all its children. It is their fault that all do not have it. A very large proportion of the capacity of humanity for production is diverted from natural occupations by the illegitimate relations existing in society. A part live off of the vitality of the rest; the principal object of the part being to see how much of the fruits of the rest they can aggregate, either by personal capacity, trickery or cunning, or by ingenious devices of law formed and administered in their interests. A perfect equality and an equal justice condemns all such distributions of the fruits of the earth. If capacity for acquisition exist among a part of the people, government should interfere to stop its being practiced at the expense of others.

We are aware that this kind of social rule will be repudiated as an infringement upon individual freedom of action. In this connection, however, it must ever be remembered that the individual can never be greater than the community of which he forms a part; in other words, the interests of the community must always be superior to those of the individual, and when individual interests conflict with the interest of the community they must yield to the community. This principle is recognized in very many things in government; for instance, the public demands a common highway which must interfere with the rights and interests of individuals; the individuals are compelled to give way for the public, from whose adjudgment there is no appeal. To this rule of action all the relations of society must sooner or later become subject, and the sooner it is reduced to this scientific determining power, the quicker society will have begun a progress whose course need never be deviated from.

NEW YORK, October 17, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. XI.

One of “our Fundamental Propositions” is the ultimate analysis of the perfected results of harmonious relations between labor and its reward. It is not laid down in any spirit of mere speculation, but as a mark which the human family is capable of attaining, and one to which it should aspire. Neither is it at all impossible with some of the present representatives of the race; but it is a natural and legitimate condition for society when it shall have become sufficiently “grown” to be possible of organization.

Organization is the first step to be made toward reaching such conditions as the proposition indicate. Simple individual exertion can never be constructive of society. Neither can the exertions of a great number of individuals become constructive unless their action is combined or organized in one direction and for the same purpose. Agitation must always precede organization, and hence it is that nearly all primary movements are simply destructive or disintegrating to existing conditions. A perfect system of society cannot be organized to conta in those who are under any condition of servitude other than is rendered by the collective number to the law or rule they shall formulate, to control these relations. A perfect system of freedom is one of the first essentials, and this must be regulated by an exact justice, as between a community of brothers and sisters. No ignoring of any part of the community, whether male or female, can exist The organization must recognize each and every member of the community, and they in turn must also recognize the organization which becomes the rule of government.

No one will attempt to deny but that there is sufficient capital or wealth in the world to enable every one to live in a palace; neither would any deny that the conditions of humanity would be very much improved could such a leveling down and such a leveling up, as this equalization would require, be attained. This cannot result from any arbitrary rule of force, but must be the result of the operation of the proper principles of law in the relations of society. It must emanate from a consciousness within society itself of the justice of such principles therefore the mind of society must be imbued with these principles; and to do this is the business of those who understand the science of society. It has been denied that there is a science of society. The recognition now that there is such a science, and the fact that the evolution of society thus far has been formulated under it, is a vast step toward a general recognition of it. When once it is generally received as one of the demonstrated sciences, there will be various attempts in all directions to organize upon its not yet demonstrated principles.

Those who have followed these articles will begin to see that the attainment of great wealth will not constitute one of the principal aims of the society of the future. It will only be considered as a means to other and higher ends. It has not been until quite recently that the fact of continuous life has been any more than theoretically received. The practices of mankind have been just such, and only such, as would obtain, were there no life after physical death, and they have lived as though the whole of this life should be devoted to purely material ends, to the gratification of physical desires, and to comforts and pleasures arising from material possessions. Since the conviction has been stealing into the minds of humanity that life is continuous, that death is simply a change of the conditions of life, and that the best wealth that can be accumulated in the material life is that kind that will make the best capital to begin the next with, there is a marked change in the community at large.

It is beginning to be realized that there is a great deal more to live for in this life than mere bodily satisfaction and accumulation of wealth—of money. Nor is complete luxury one of the most preferable of circumstances. It is not conducive, under present conditions, to the best and most rapid development of the true wealth of the soul, nor can it ever be until correct views of the uses of wealth more generally obtain than they do at present.

In a true condition of society there would be no such thing as wealth, in its present signification. It would be reduced to the requirements of men in obtaining better wealth for themselves, and for the diffusion of it among their kind. In this consideration of the uses of life, there is no more important feature of it than that of organization in all departments. Such organization as will dispose of misery, poverty, ignorance and crime. All these can be cast out of society; and it is to be sincerely hoped for, that there will be formed a political party having its basis in the necessity and the possibility of such a disposal. Such conditions cannot exist in the midst of a community without exerting their deleterious influences over the higher and better conditions. People lose sight of this fact, and in all legislation it is ignored. Government now has the power to take these conditions in hand, and none are more interested in having it do so than the so-called labor party. Why should not this party organize upon some such radical principles of reform that will reach the roots of the ills they feel society labors under?

The policy of a party that would be permanently successful must be one that will include all of the great principles of reform. If such a party is not shortly organized, there will be conditions developed which will make such a party a necessity, even without organization. It would arise as if by magic out of the conditions of the times, and leaders will rise and come to the front as though Heaven-directed, and they will be received by the people by acclamation. The force of elections will be dispensed with, and party trickery forever killed.

The whole substrata of society is in foment. The terrific strifes that have been waged, and are being waged, lift the weight from the strata, and it begins to rise into demanding such recognition as has not been accorded it. The “Moses” who shall divide the “waters of the Red Sea,” that separates them from their “Canaan,” will be their God-appointed leader, whom to oppose would be futile. Political parties have been in the hands of such leaders, and have been used for such corrupt purposes, that the people have lost all confidence in them, and they demand A NEW ORDER OF THINGS, in which common honesty may properly find a place.

Labor and capital, lying, as they do, at the foundation of present society, and as they will enter largely into all societies of the future, so long as material wants are conducive to the true interests of humanity, should receive such consideration at the hands of the present as will so arrange their interests that there may be no violent disruption between them, when present governmental forms shall change. The sphere of government must be enlarged and made to include very many questions which are now utterly ignored, before society can ever be considered as resting upon a surely permanent foundation. To arrive at this foundation is the first and most important step for humanity to take. All minor ones are insignificant beside it, because the corner stones of this foundation must consist of a perfect individual justice, which will not be inconsistent nor at war with perfect collective justice. This condition the present inequalities between labor and capital forbid, and hence the importance of their harmonization.

NEW YORK, October 25, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. XII.

Perhaps there is a no more suggestive or instructive fact in all the realm of society than that the laboring classes are the liberal classes. It is among them that nearly all social reforms begin, and among them that all governmental reforms first find moving power. The wealthy classes are systematically conservative; and by instinct they are opposed to all movements which tend to equalization. They are to social reform just what bigots are to religious liberalization. They adopt a creed which their practice is never to depart from, and it is only by the force of the large majority of the people combined against them that they ever do depart from them. The time was when it was the grossest infidelity to question any of the extravagant assertions contained in the Bible; but nearly all Christian sects now assume the right to place their own construction upon what is found therein. This construction is found to grow more human and liberal every year. Twenty years ago, the more “hell-fire and brimstone” a minister gave forth, the more Gospel it was considered that he taught. The same rule obtains in regard to all social questions, and the same rule of extending liberalization will continue, until the balancing point of equalization is reached, in which there shall be no power to determine for the individual, except himself or herself, what is for his or her individual good, or what to him or her is right.

Wealth, in its present position, is aristocratic; and Labor, in its present position, is democratic. Aristocracy always assumes to control that which is under it, in a material sense. It has always assumed this control, and whenever possible has exercised it. This assumption has been exercised so long that those over whom it has been swayed have come to regard it as something approaching a “divine right.” This condition of servitude was possible so long as ignorance possessed the masses over whom it sought control. When education began its silent yet potent work, the power of assumed “divine right” began to weaken. General education is all that the world requires to emancipate it from the rule of all kinds of aristocracy. Common schools for children, and the public press for adults, have done and are doing the work of emancipation.

It was not until quite recently that the representatives of labor began to know the benefits to be derived from organization. They do not yet know the full benefits which it is possible for them to obtain from it; much that they do obtain from it is, on the whole, deleterious rather than beneficial. They require more general knowledge. They need the aid of science to point out the paths in which they should seek to walk. Science, to the organizations of labor, is what discipline is to the army. Without it, the first is powerless, and the last dangerous to those who command and support it.

It is very much to be regretted that so much of bitter denunciation of the wealthy is heard among laborers. It shows that they, if possessed of the power, would wield it more despotically than it is now wielded by those possessing it. Force, as a regulator, can at best be but a mere temporary makeshift, which, unless quickly followed by justice in organization, degenerates into absolutism. This is the danger which it is to be feared would follow the elevation of labor into the position now occupied by wealth. Hence it is that it takes long years of disappointment to chasten the hearts of those who seek change, before the order of civilization will allow it to come in its fullest extent.

Could changes in society be arranged and managed as changes in other departments are, no danger would ever supervene. New railroad bridges are constructed before the old ones are removed, and throughout the process of change the trains continue their regular movements. So it will be with society, when science shall have so enlightened the people that they shall know just what they are preparing to pass to.

The Labor Party now desires to be elevated into political place and power; but have its advocates any well-defined ideas regarding the results which are to follow such a change in the administration of government? It is much to be feared that the same old story of “Make hay while the sun shines,” would be the ruling element. We would not have it understood from these suggestions that we are opposed to such a change as the success of the Labor Party would imply. Any change cannot be for the worse. Principle could not, in any event, be less the ruling power than now; nor could money buy more politicians than it does now. One has to spend but a “season” in Washington to convince himself that there is a deal more truth than there is vulgarity in the saying, that “money makes the mare go.” Representatives and Senators who prate with loudest mouths of patriotism and devotion, spend all their own money and all they can borrow to get to Congress, and retire to private life, having made a fortune upon “five thousand a year.” The inference is too palpably plain. It is not necessary for us to say that all such fortunes are the results of bribery and corruption, and their possessors public thieves, and utterly unworthy of the confidence of honest devotees to a popular form of government.

It is this species of corruption that is becoming a stench in the nostrils of all those whose patriotism is more than pocket deep. In its growth they see the process of national disintegration begun, which they well know cannot continue indefinitely without bringing destruction to our country. The almost criminal indifference with which the masses of the people regard these examples of the power of money over the consciences of those to whom they have intrusted their most sacred political rights, speaks badly for the safety of republican institutions, as now operated. A saving power is needed. Where shall it be sought? All true reformers are looking to the Labor party for it. Let it unite to itself the principle of equal rights, regardless of sex, and it will succeed. Then, if it fill its mission well, it will prove itself to be what the present demands, to crush corruption which is so rapidly permeating our whole body politic.

NEW YORK, November 1, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. XIII.

The principles which should regulate these two great interests are, even in this age of scientific attainment and philosophic speculation, very imperfectly considered and still more imperfectly understood. There can be no perfect practice of the true principles which should govern their relations until the practices of the peoples are based on the recognition of the fact of the common brotherhood of humanity. There are a few people now living who fully appreciate the relationship which exists between the peoples of the world, and who would regulate their conduct toward their brothers by the “Golden Rule.” All the governments of the world are in direct opposition to this rule; hence it becomes an utter impossibility for isolated individuals to practice upon it to any great extent.

It is an acknowledged fact that the world is gradually being evolved by the means of government; and that government was at first organized to control individuals who would otherwise have operated from their own standpoint for selfish purposes. This kind of control will continue to be exercised until government will be able to control all individuals to act for the general public good, and this again will eventuate in all people acting for the public good of their own accord, when government in its present sense and for its present purposes will be done away with.

The relations of labor and capital are most intimately connected with the frame-work of all governments, because they could not exist without their active support. The difficulty with all present systems of government is that they are built upon the supposition that capital is the primarily controlling power; while the fact is that behind capital labor stands first and strongest. As intelligence becomes more and more generally diffused the domination of capital over labor becomes weaker and weaker, and the dignity of labor more and more apparent, and, as a necessary result of the growth of this sentiment, labor is accorded more and wider privileges.

It is a singular fact, and one to be regarded with a feeling bordering on astonishment, that it is possible for all legislation to be either conducted in the interests of capital or controlled by it, when the capitalists of the country are to the laborers as one is to ten. The same principle makes it possible for one man to control a dozen horses possessed of a hundred times his own strength. It is the power of knowledge over ignorance. The horses on the one hand are ignorant of their real power and yield it obediently to the command of assumed authority. So, too, is it with the mass of laborers; they do not know their real power and they yield obedience to the power of assumption aided by a superior intellect.

It is for this reason that the general diffusion of knowledge among the common people should receive so much more attention than it has or does. Every child, whether born of wealth or poverty, should inherit the right from government of a complete education in all the important branches of education. Not only should they inherit this right but the government should see to it that the right is obtained, compulsorily if need be. The acquisition of knowledge has ever tended to the liberalization of existing orders of things, and it was not until something akin to its general diffusion was obtained that any adequate ideas of the advantages of freedom became fixed in the minds of the people. It was a grand—almost a fatally grand—mistake which the people made when they considered that they had obtained complete freedom when they emancipated themselves from the so-called “tyranny” of England.

First, then, and that which is the basis of all other tyranny, is the fact that man, individually considered, is, in the strictest sense of the term, a slave to the conditions of his existence. Whatever else he may be free to perform he can never be emancipated from the necessity of yielding obedience to the demands of this existence. In his ignorant, undeveloped condition, intellectually, he has been led to yield himself in obedience to others whom it seemed to him were able by their superiority, mentally, to better administer to these prime necessities than he could do it for himself. This was the argument for the continuation of slavery in the South. They said the negroes were better off than they would be if cast upon their own resources for the supply of the necessities of life. Many persons felt the strength of this argument and yielded to its pleading. It is the same principle—that of inferior intelligence yielding to superior intelligence—which makes the possibility of all forms of slavery. It is this principle which has made it thus long possible for government to be conducted entirely in the interests of capital.

But it is just at this point, where the beginning of comprehension on the part of the representatives of labor is, that the fallaciousness of this arbitrary form of control begins to be felt by the masses who have hitherto yielded to it. They begin to see that they obtained freedom from one “tyranny” only to yield themselves to another, less odious than it was from the fact that one was represented by one person, while the other is represented by numerous persons. In some regards the last condition is worse than the first; for in it there is nothing to guard the constant encroachments of the tyrant upon their “reserved” rights. They are constantly subjected to legislation which filches from them the last possible farthing, that it may go to swell the coffers of some wealthy individual or some obese corporation.

At present the indications are anything but favorable for the interests of the producing classes. It seems as though the representatives of corporate interests, in which large amounts of money are invested, are organizing to make a crusade against the present possessed rights of the producing classes, to the end that, by all corporate organizations combining and making their interests mutual, they may come into the position that shall give them supreme and lasting control over the destinies of the country. They behold with jealousy the attempts at organization among laborers, knowing that, if it is carried to its full results, it will compel equality of interest and obtain the means necessary to enforce it.

It is the age of rapid change. What it would once have required an age to accomplish, is now performed in a single night. It would not be very strange should the interests of labor control the next Presidential election. One thing is patent to all, some great issue must come up which will be of sufficient magnitude and general importance to arouse the people from the slough of indifference into which they have fallen since the settlement of the slavery issue. It is also equally patent that this issue must be some new combat between some form of slavery and a growing freedom; perhaps a consolidation of the several questions of progress into one interest to crush out, at once and forever, the reign of conservatism of all kinds, and the substitution therefor of an enlightened freedom, to be governed, guided and supported by the lights of science which shall point the way to all things which ought to be obtained.

What the world needs to-day is, that science, supported by wealth, shall come into power. Could this be arrived at, the dangers and difficulties now hovering around the issues between the still captive and the interests of enslaved labor, would be dispelled, and society, without further convulsive efforts, could assume its uninterrupted march toward perfect conditions of existence. It is to be feared that wealth will not yield to science, and that it will endeavor to bring it under its sway to further enslave the “toiling millions” and make them minister longer to its despotism. Let this be as it may, the existence of government upon its present basis of liberty and equality depends upon its checking a power that is being organized to control it. The New York Herald, not many days ago, pointed out this danger, but did not warn the people that it was a danger, leaving each to gather his or her own deduction from the mere presentation of the facts. Subsequently, however, it said, editorially, as follows:

“Now it is possible the American people may not be alarmed at the probable effects a combination of the capital and influence of these vast railroad corporations may have upon the future of the country—upon the permanency of its institutions and the perpetuity of its political liberties; but, in view of possible contingencies, we think we are justified in cautioning the people against the possible creation of a railroad oligarchy here that may prove as dangerous to the nation in times to come as was the Southern cotton oligarchy in times past.

“This subject is one of considerable interest to the American people, and the elections of members to the next Congress should be graduated accordingly.”

It is the duty, then, of the New Labor Party to become the best representative of general reform and a wider freedom for all individuals, male and female, which freedom should have no limit except that which borders upon interference with the freedom and rights of others, or that would be detrimental to the common interests of the public if practiced. In the widest freedom there is the most virtue, because, under restraint, compulsion often passes for virtue, while its semblance only is there. Freedom stamps all that is genuine, and exposes and denounces all that is counterfeit and affected. Enforced virtue in any direction, except for the protection of the community, is not one of the principles of a free government; but everything that the government can do that will further the interests of the community, come legitimately within its sphere. And it is to this end and purpose that the Labor party should press its claims to recognition upon the representatives of labor.

The workingman makes the government, and therefore has it in his hands to unmake it. If the government is not what it should be, it is because the workingmen have permitted it to exist and not perform its duty. It seems, then, that the main point at issue is, to acquaint the representatives of labor everywhere with their power; to make them recognize the fact that they, being the majority, have it in their power to elect the men who will legislate in their interests, and, by so doing, do away with this insane denunciation of wealth by the mouths of those would-be leaders, who, to become leaders, would stir up any kind of strife, required to gain their wishes. Of all such, the Labor Party should beware.

NEW YORK, Nov. 10, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. XIV

We have repeatedly appealed to the productive classes to arouse from the slough of trustfulness and indifference in which they have remained so long, and to bestir themselves about their business of governing themselves. Thus far they have utterly failed in all duties of self-government. They have nominally lived in a country which proffers equality to all, but under which proffering they have virtually surrendered themselves to be governed by the considered mighty few, who, for their own purposes, exalt themselves into the position of The People’s candidates until office is obtained, when they begin at once to invent schemes for continuing themselves in power; or, if they know it is impossible to be again returned, they devote themselves to making the most of what time they have.

The present doings of the people’s representatives, both State and national, are practically limited to getting the most they can for themselves and their friends, while the study of the interests of their constituents and the country is either entirely ignored or shirked to the greatest possible extent. Each year this condition becomes more and more the controlling element of Congress and Legislature, and unless soon remedied, it will lead the country on blindly to its destruction. This course being directly in the interest of special and favored interests, has the favor and support of capital, while labor looks on with the utmost indifference, and sees its productions filched year after year.

Capital, of the two, is the more foolishly blind to its future; for it does not seem to comprehend that with the continuation of this course must come the day of reckoning, in which the debit side of all accounts will be heavily against it—so heavily that it will never be able to satisfy the demand which humanity will have for it to settle.

This consummation may be averted, but only in one way. The laboring classes must exercise their right of self-government themselves, after the dictates of reason and common sense, and no longer blindly intrust their interests and the common interests of the country to the self-selected few who prate with so much volubility, and who mouth the “King’s English” so furiously about their undying patriotism and self-denying devotion. It may be set down at once and for all time that the patriotism and devotion professed by this class of orators and statesmen will be certain to continue until after their election is sure, after which it will do to watch them carefully lest they may have entirely expended it in their efforts for election.

While we have urged the laboring classes to arouse, we have at the same time shown the necessity of complete and thorough organization, and we now further urge the absolute withdrawal of affiliation with any party, and the devotion of their entire strength to the construction of their own party, upon the principles of freedom, equality and justice for all, let them lead where they may. All that is required by them is granted in the present Constitution, though, perhaps, in some points, were so, blindly, for the time, but which are now made plain and clear by late events in some of our States.

It is time that active movements should begin to be made toward organization for the next Presidential election. Both political parties are manœuvring in every possible direction to gain advantages. If the Labor Party will act wisely it can take up one of these parties and incorporate its remnants before the election comes off. But if the class who should form this party will remain stupidly blind, and continue to maintain these virtually defunct parties by their strength, instead of constructing a new party of their own, nothing which will positively shape the future course of events can be accomplished. The old will simply be bolstered up for another term, and four years more of submission to the behests and dictates of capital must be endured.

There will be a desperate attempt made during the coming session of Congress by capital to obtain further, and greater and stronger hold upon the vitals of the country. Efforts to effect the perpetuation of the franchises it already has, it counts upon making, with certainty of success; but the very extent of its efforts which it will make under the knowledge that what is to be obtained must be so at once, will press it to such extremes that it will most probably defeat its own purpose. This event will be rendered certain if the Labor Party will take a positive stand upon its own ground, which will make effective the springing of some “mines” that are prepared, which will put their representatives in such a light before the country as will most effectually dispose of all selfish schemes which are now afloat. Let it be seen that no shirking of duty is permitted on the part of pretended labor representatives, and also let it be seen that all who lend themselves to the schemes of capital are properly shown up to the country.

Our interests are great and our country is dear to us, for it has cost us immense treasure and blood. Is it not worthy of being defended from all schemes, when so much has been required to construct and preserve it? To the care of laboring classes its preservation is now committed. Will they prove themselves worthy of the high trust? Or will they sell their birthright for less than a “mess of pottage?” Is it necessary that some great calamity come before an awakening to the reality of the condition will occur? Let it rather be, that wisdom be gleaned from the sore trials and the desperate situation of our brethren in France, which shall teach the use to be made of possessed rights and privileges.

NEW YORK, November 18, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. XV.

The New York Sunday Despatch, of the 20th inst., contains a lengthy, interesting and highly instructive article, based upon recent interviews with Thomas Hughes and J. P. Mundella, members of the British House of Commons, who are also workingmen and employers. They are strongly of the opinion that “strikes” were never productive of anything but damage to both parties, and that arbitration is the only reasonable resort for the settlement of all mooted questions between laborers and their employers.

As examples of the misery engendered by “strikes,” several instances are quoted, among which is found that of the potters and moulders in the vicinity of London, which proceeded to the very last extremity on the part of the strikers. Arbitration at last was resorted to, and resulted in no gain of conditions to the strikers.

These facts go to show that the immediate purposes of labor organizations are detrimental to their true interests. They must acknowledge that they cannot compel capital to their terms, and that in moderate counsels and wise action they will be much more likely to find their interests advancing.

The ultimate purposes of the Labor party which are to obtain control of legislation, may be productive of much good, or may be made the most fruitful cause of national disaster. We have all the time endeavored to show that the real interests of both capital and labor lie in the direction of complete unity; and that although labor is now suffering at the instance of capital, that it should not be laid to the charge of capital that it is in position to thus infringe upon the rights of labor, but to the charge, secondarily, of legislation, which is performed by the very men whom the laboring classes do their utmost to elect to office: and, primarily, to the imperfections in our present financial and social systems, which must be remedied before any very great benefit can accrue to the oppressed conditions of society.

To accomplish what is required in order that labor may rise to an equality with capital, the laboring classes must become enlightened upon the principles of political and social economy. Revolution, which is threatened from some quarters, would only lead away from justice and in the direction of anarchy. We are sorry to be obliged to say that we can find but little in the present propositions of the Labor Party which promises very much of good. For the most part, its leaders are bigoted and cliquish to the extreme, possessing but little of the philosophic comprehension of the conditions through which labor must be elevated. Declaration of principles in series of resolutions which form a necessary part of all political gatherings amounts to nothing unless the party presenting them “squares” itself by them. This is the fatal error of all parties and all governments. They set out by making certain fundamental declarations, which they afterward endeavor to compel into meeting the exigencies of the times.

There is a great work the Labor Party can do. There are imperfections in our government, and these it should take up and remedy. It is a well-established fact, as every one knows, that a government that is not a representative of the minorities as well as of the majorities is not a government of freedom, equality and justice. If imperfections exist even in the much revered Constitution, it should not be held so sacred that none of its faults can be remedied. If there are inconsistencies in it, or if it contain provisions which the present has outgrown, let it be thoroughly amended, and as often as it can be, and made better. We do not believe in anything being held so sacred as not to be submitted to a complete analysis, so that it may be determined just what there is good, and what there is which can be bettered. We are inclined to the opinion that the whole Constitution should be revised, clarified and simplified, and made so plain that there would be no possibility of different constructions being put upon any part of it.

Our government should soon be so formulated, and the people so well informed upon the true principles of government, that all existing administrations should exist by the unanimous consent of all the people. The strife should not be for party, representing different principles, but for the best representative men to administer the Constitutional principles which all would be agreed upon.

There will a party arise having these objects in view, and it need not be predicted that such a party, once organized, will begin a new era in the history of governments, for sufficient comprehension of what the future will be exists to make this a foregone conclusion. The Labor Party should make itself that party. Has it the requisites?

NEW YORK, November 25, 1870.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. XVI.

In the full and legitimate consideration of this subject the range should extend beyond the things immediately attaching to the capitalist and the laborer as persons, and merge into the question of Philosophic Equality, out of which consideration arises the true relations of the extremes of it represented by these two classes. Under a true republican form of government the inherent right to equality on the part of all its citizens should not only be recognized but guaranteed. Equality, except as a mythical name, does not exist in practice in this country; nor for that matter in any country, except where each individual is his own governor, to the extent of his power to maintain such authority; and each individual being possessed of this right to maintain it, comprises that equality. Philosophic Equality presupposes the right of each individual to exercise all the powers possessed by him, in which exercise the rights of no other individual would be interfered with, but which exercise should not be aided or protected by any device of law. The moment a law is made to assist an individual, or any number of individuals, in the performance of his or their undertaking, that moment equality on the part of all other citizens ceases. Not only is this true specifically, but it is a great deal more; it is true generally that if an individual or a class of individuals receive aid, comfort and protection from the law, in their pursuits, all other individuals of all pursuits are rendered unequal in their competition with them in all of their respective pursuits.

That is to say, if a person is protected in the manufacture of salt by the law, which imposes a heavy tax on all foreign salt imported into the country, the manufacturer or producer of grain is at once placed by the law in a condition of inequality with him, and in a double sense if he be a consumer of salt; for not only is the price of the home manufactured salt increased by the imposition of the tax, while the price of the home grown grain is not proportionately increased, but the producer of the grain is obliged to pay the increased price for the salt which he consumes. The same rule is applicable to all things wherein individuals are obliged to seek protection from foreign importations, to be able to produce the same at home.

The argument in favor of this course is, that while protection, extended to certain interests, increases the prices of their productions to the consumers of them, the consumers by it are also enabled to obtain higher prices for what they have to place upon the market. This is all very well so far as it has any application, but what is the effect upon the very large proportion of the working people of the country who are not producers of anything in their own right, but are simply laborers for such producers? If there is only an equality maintained to the employers of such labor, how can the benefit extend to the employed?

In making this complex argument, it is forgotten that real wealth and real prosperity do not consist in high prices for everything, but in the quantity which is actually possessed. Prices under protection must ever fluctuate, and a person rich this year may be rendered poor next year, by the depreciation of his property. Witness the fall of real estate in this city for an exemplification of what we mean. High prices are not the ultimatum to be gained by any people of any country; but, on the contrary, the true point to attain is the employment of the industry of a country in those directions, wherein the most can be produced at the least cost, in the accumulation of the proceeds of which the country, as a whole, must become wealthy more rapidly than in the pursuit of the other extreme, which is the production of the least at the greatest cost; or in any modification of this proposition.

The result of continuous protection to any interest of the country may be exemplified by the application of it to something which comes directly home to us. Suppose that there are some gardeners on the upper part of Manhattan Island who appeal to the city authorities for protection against the gardeners of Long Island, New Jersey, &c., because their soil being not so fruitful as that of Long Island and New Jersey, they cannot afford to sell their vegetables as low as those can be sold which are produced outside. Thereupon a tax of twenty-five per cent. is levied by the city upon all foreign vegetables sold in the market. The result is, that all purchasers of vegetables in the city are forced to pay the additional cost merely to enable a few insignificant persons to pursue a calling which they would otherwise abandon for some other which they could pursue without protection. This, though a common illustration, exemplifies the operation of special protection in all its phases. It enables the few to pursue callings at the expense of the many without returning to that many any adequate benefit.

The trouble with our manufacturers is, that they want to get rich too fast. They are not willing to begin a new business in a way proportionate to their small means, and from this grow gradually into large producers as the manufacturers of other countries have done. They want to be able to employ labor and pay much larger prices than are paid to those laborers who toil in unprotected industries. Nor is the laborer any better off in the general result. The laboring classes of the country are not so well off under the present system of high prices as they were before the war, which indicates that the advance in wages has been more than counterbalanced by the increase in the prices of the laborers’ necessities. As a general proposition, it is true that low prices are more favorable to the laborer than high prices; and that, under a system of protection to special favored interests, those interests become rich at the expense of the laborer; or, in more general terms, the rich become richer and the poor poorer with each succeeding year.

Such is the general argument against protective duties; but it does not by any means follow that all protection should be immediately abandoned and Free Trade become at once and fully inaugurated. This would be as grossly unjust to all these interests which have been encouraged into existence by the present system, as that of protection was to the common industries. What should be done is this: Unrestricted commerce, which would allow of the natural demands of a country being supplied, without restrictions of any kind, should be laid down as the true principle, and a gradual approach from present protective measures to freedom be inaugurated. No immediate jump—nor even rapid advance that would produce misfortune to any branch of industry, should it be attempted—but an approach, running through a sufficient number of years to allow of the adjustment of industries, should be the course. Under such a system all the various industries of the country would gradually equalize, and the laborers and employers in each would approach an equal footing. The farmers of the rich Western prairies would no longer be able to complain of the discrimination of government in favor of the cotton, woolen and iron manufacturers of the sterile East. Whether this policy is immediately adopted by government or not, it certainly will be, when the rapidly increasing West shall become the dominant power in it. Better that steps looking to it should be at once adopted than that it come after awhile upon an unprepared country, which course has been so often erroneously pursued to the destruction, demoralization and discouragement of those classes of industries which require consideration in their youth from the strong arm of the government; to accord which is not only for the interests of the country, but which is also its duty to its acknowledged citizens; the error heretofore having been that the consideration thus extended has been at the expense of a part of the citizens of the country and not at the expense of the country as a whole.

Equality to all the citizens of the country can only be possible where there is no special discrimination on the part of government toward any, whether that discrimination is in the form of specific protective duties, unequal levies of taxes, or through devices of law; or, in other words, equality is an impossibility so long as special legislation is allowed either in our State or National councils.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL.

NO. XVII.

The great object of a republican form of government is to arrive at that condition wherein all the people constituting its citizens will stand upon a perfect equality in all things, which can be effected by government. A government cannot determine that each citizen shall have equal capacity to apply and make use of the rights, privileges and immunities which it guarantees to its people, but it can determine that each citizen shall have an equality of right to these benefits, the perfect attainment of which must rest with the citizen.

The question of Labor and Capital, as was said before, is included in the greater and more important question of a Common Equality, or an equality which is predicated upon the fact that all mankind are brethren. A republican form of government should find its fountain in this fact, and all its causes should be governed by its deductions. All the means of providing for the administration of the government, for its maintenance and for the correction of any existing abuses, should be formulated with this one greatest of all human possibilities ever in view. Thus formulated, its practices would ever tend to bring all the people into a comprehension of it, which comprehension is now scarcely existent except in meaningless words, which are dealt from pharisaical pulpits. In our last number the practice of protection to favored interests was considered, with reference to its general effect upon other unfavored industries; the unequal working of the system of levying duties does not stop with generalities; it extends and touches a still more vital point, and one which the people are more sensitive upon than almost any other. The laying of specific duties upon imported goods and wares is an indirect way of taxing that portion of the people who consume such imported goods and wares. It not only makes it possible for the protected interest to exist at the expense of other interests which consume, but by this operation the government obtains revenue which is an indirect tax gathered from those who are compelled to pay the advanced prices which the levying of duties implies. The amount obtained by such unequal and indirect methods of revenue for the last fiscal year was the enormous sum of $194,448,427, every dollar of which was in reality but an additional tax drawn from the individuals who purchased such imported merchandise. This manner of levying taxes would not matter so much as a system of taxation did it fall equally upon the taxable property of the country, upon which general taxes are levied, but nearly $100,000,000 of the above sum was collected upon woolens, cottons, sugar, molasses, coffee and tea, of all of which the poorest in common with the richest are almost equal consumers.

Laborers of the United States! How like you this manner of filching your hard-earned dollars, under the specious, fraudulent name of “protection to home industries.” It is no wonder that your hard-earned wages will scarcely supply your families’ necessities, when you are compelled to pay such a sum upon the most common staple articles of general consumption. It is no wonder you are continuously laborers, never being able to become producers upon your own account, when you, who should not, and, under general principles of taxation would not be called upon to pay a single dollar as a direct tax, are thus burdened.

Thus it will be seen that the levying of specific duties on imported goods is a most unequal and iniquitous manner of taxing the poor laboring classes of the country to support the government, which is administered to all intents and purposes in the interests of the rich, and under which the really poor become poorer every year.

Nor are the other means to which the government resorts to support itself entitled to very much more consideration than that of the indirect one just mentioned. There is no equality to the general people in any of them; and it is quite evident that the whole system of revenue for the support of the government should be remodeled, so as to fall where it should, in justice, upon the taxable property of the whole Union. This done, and a sound financial system also inaugurated, the lower classes of society would begin to be leveled up to the medium, and the upper classes to be leveled down to the same basis of material prosperity.

A system of taxation for the support of all government—town, city, county, state and national—should be formulated and inaugurated, based upon the proposition that all taxes should be general and none special. All of these taxes, for the several purposes, should be assessed, levied and collected by one set of revenue officers, and thereby an immense system of economy introduced, whereby the collection of the revenues of the country should not consume, by one-twentieth part, what is now consumed in the almost innumerable methods which are adopted to obtain the people’s money by indirect means. All of these subjects are for the laboring classes to take up, examine, decide upon and rectify, and never will they obtain the possibility of an equality until this is done. Never can equality be possible under the forms through which government is now administered and supported, and never will the laboring classes become independent of the wealthy classes until the freedom, equality and justice, which are the birthright of every citizen of the United States, become possible of attainment under its government.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. I.

In the following papers it will be our design to treat the questions of Finance and Commerce in a somewhat different manner from the ordinary and current way. The mere records of the transactions had in the world of money and of merchandise belong to the ordinary method of dealing with all matters that interest the people. The facts—the results—only enter into the consideration, and if serious conflict or serious faults are recorded, no attention is paid to the sources from which they spring, and from which they will continue to spring so long as the sources furnish the causes. All subjects, and all parts of the common interests of humanity, will receive from us not only the attention which the present demands, but if the present brings unhappiness to humanity, or does not bring happiness, the fountains will be examined to discover where the stream takes on its bitterness and its sediment—and, for instance, produces financial disease—with the view of exposing to the people what causes their unhappiness or lack of happiness.

As society is constituted at present, nothing within its interests has so much power for good or ill as money. He that has it is independent—is a free man; while he that has it not is dependent—a slave in some one or other of the forms of slavery. Men recognize that this is an imperfect condition of society, made up, as it is of people born free and equal in the eyes of the law, and by it entitled to their chosen path of happiness. These being the birthright of every one, the construction of society should be such as to guarantee it to every one. As society improves its condition, the advance made will be ever toward practical equality in all temporal things. It is the duty of those who labor in the interests of society to lay hold of the future, and bring its conditions into the broadest present application.

Money being the corner-stone upon which society is now built, is thereby that stone of all others which should be perfect, not only in form, but perfect in duration: that is, it should be of such composite elements that time nor change should be able to produce any effect, either upon its external appearance or upon the arrangement of its parts. It becomes apparent, then, at first observation from this standpoint, that our present corner-stone is not one that can endure; it becomes plain that it not only will change, but that it should change, because of its capability to meet the requirement of a perfect corner-stone, upon which society can rest with perfect and continuous security.

Gold has long been the accepted money standard of value. Intrinsically, it has no value other than for the other uses to which it is adapted, but custom and long usage have raised it into the position of a god, before whom the world falls down and worships with as much devotion as Pagans do before their various gods. And, considered as a god, none other has in this day and age one-half the power, nor is any other worshiped with one-half the devotion it is. This may be considered an unjust reflection upon the so-called Christians; but let them, as a class, examine themselves individually, and if the analysis does not sustain the proposition, we shall be very willing to confess our error, and appeal for forgiveness. Gold has been the accepted money standard, but the practice, since the depreciation of our country’s credit, has, to all intents and purposes, reduced it to a mere commodity. Our money is not measured by Gold—Gold is measured by it. It may be said that this is merely for temporary convenience, but nevertheless it is so measured, and the practice has demonstrated that so far as facilitating exchange of products in our own country is concerned, its use might be dispensed with. If it can be dispensed with and trade continue, its importance as money entirely disappears. Would dispensing with its use offer any impediments to commerce with other countries? But this article is simply introductory, intended rather to indicate what our treatment of finance will be, than for the discussion of any of the questions that arise under it. These will remain for future consideration; here we will simply state that we do not believe gold to be a true standard of value; that we do not believe its use as money is at all necessary; that we do not believe that its use as money contributes to general prosperity; and that we do believe that its use will be supplanted by a new medium—the true representative of that portion of the real wealth of the country which is at the given time in the process of exchange.

NEW YORK, August 25, 1870.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. II.

Finance and commerce are so intimately connected that one cannot be treated without the other being, at least, indirectly alluded to. If these terms are analyzed, their relations will be perfectly understood. Commerce is the simple exchange of something one individual possesses for something another individual is possessed of. This exchange may be between neighbors, or between nations; it is all commerce. In ancient times, articles of merchandise were exchanged for articles of merchandise, but as commerce increased in amount, and its limits became extended, it became necessary to make use of something that should represent value, so that there need not, in all cases, be an actual transfer of property for property. The medium used to facilitate these exchanges was money in its first phases, and out of this necessity have grown all the different monetary devices made use of, at various times, in the history of civilization.

To demonstrate that money is only a convenience and not an absolute necessity, any one has only to observe that frequent purchases, sales and payments are made without the use of money or any other representative of value, but by the direct transfer of value for value. It is plain, then, that money, be it gold, silver or what else it may, if not intrinsically of the value set upon it, but that it represents something that has intrinsic value. If this is questioned, let any one who doubts it procure some gold in its original state and endeavor to make exchanges with it. He will find that no one will receive it, even at its value by weight. Were he to apply to a dozen places where gold, in mass, is dealt in, he would be offered a dozen different prices for his article. It is only after gold has passed through the hands of the government, and has received its impress as an indorsement, that it becomes current as money.

It is further to be observed that the time came when even coin became too burdensome to be directly transferred in making exchanges, and something representing it was brought into use. This consisted of bits of paper, containing upon them promises to pay so much in coin, &c., &c.; and under this practice banks of issue sprung into existence, their issues being supposed to represent a gold or coin basis of value. But a full representation alone of coin deposited was found not to supply a sufficient circulating medium to accommodate the movement of produce, and for other uses, and it became customary for the banks to expand their issues beyond the amount of coin on hand, upon the supposition that these promises to pay would never be presented in sufficient quantities to consume their actual specie. But suppositions are only true generally, and hence it came that promises to pay often exhausted the ability to pay, and here began the ills that must necessarily attend a false standard of values.

In all seasons of financial distress, gold, as a standard, has failed. The necessities of our late war demonstrated and represented the fallacy of an absolute standard in gold, and happily suggested a better standard. No sooner did the supply of gold at the command of the government fail, than the latter was compelled to resort to its credit, or to a direct representation of the true value and wealth of the country. The credit of the government was the ability and intention of the country to meet the promises of its government, and this ability determined its currency. It was not the amount of gold, absolutely, that the country was supposed capable of acquiring that thus entered into consideration, but the ability of the country to produce certain quantities of merchandise, which should, in time, be sufficient, above consumption, to balance these promises to pay. It was the productive capacity of this country that gave value to its currency and bonds irrespective of gold. The productive capacity of a country is then the virtual standard of the value of its currency, and as gold can only be obtained by the products of the country, its necessity as a medium may be dispensed with. It is now predicted that the sooner gold, as the money god, is dethroned in the hearts and customs of the people, the sooner a sound and perfect system of finance will be inaugurated.

That there is a true standard of value, and one that can never fail in time of need, nor be made use of for speculative purposes as gold is, must be apparent to every thinking mind. How many of the people of this country, during the last eight years, have received gold or silver for what they have disposed of, or have used it to purchase their necessities? And yet the talk of a return to specie payment is everywhere heard. When will the idol worship of the god of gold be completely abolished?

NEW YORK, August 31, 1870.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. III.

We have said that there is a true standard of value, and that this is based in the capacity of a country to pay without infringing upon the country itself; that is, without resorting to an actual transfer of supposed title to any part of its domain for something the domain itself produced. Actual ownership in the soil of a country is an assumption, as has been stated in the “Papers on Labor and Capital.” If the title to any real estate is traced back far enough, it would be found to have originated in the practice of “Squatter Sovereignty.” The inhabitants of a country having the right to make use of the land they occupy, render it more or less valuable, according to the amount they can make it produce, whether it be in the shape of its natural products or those of artificial assistance, or whether it is simply occupied for purposes other than production.

The basis, however, of the value is in the productions of the soil of a country; it matters not how much value may be added by the art of man to what nature furnishes. This would find no scope for action did the earth not first yield the fruits of her bosom to the hand of the artist. The finest cloth, the most delicate silks and laces, the most costly jewels, even the light that robs night of its darkness, are all primarily the products of the earth. Without this yielding of the earth there would be nothing. This giving up of the earth to the demands, efforts and desires of man, is the process by which he acquires all his wealth. Even the gold that has so long been called money the earth has yielded, and still yields. When this is considered in its true light, we come to a realization that gold is no more money, absolutely, than any other of the different products of the earth, but with them all it forms the real value standard. Gold is relatively valuable for the general uses it can be made to subserve; so, too, and only so, are all other products. Any other metal might just as well have been selected out of which to coin money as gold. It no longer answers the purpose it has been used for so long. It is not “radical” enough to suit “the times.” It is one of the landmarks of conservatism, reminding us that once it required at least six months to communicate with, and receive an answer from, London, whereas we now know the 5 o’clock P. M. closing prices of stocks in London at 1 o’clock of the same day.

Such annihilation of time and space is entirely ahead of, and above, the era of gold, which must yield its sway to something more elastic, and consequently possible of better adaptation to the constantly varying requirements of the peoples. The world having been so long held in financial bondage to gold, is now approaching a period wherein it will rid itself of the yoke. A very few people in the world rule it. What of the thrones of Europe without the Rothschilds? and what of them if not for gold? The vast debts of those countries alone render crowns longer endurable. Just a little more intelligence among the common people—just a few more newspapers and readers, and the work is done; those who play king, and they who are the real kings, will fall together. Kings rule the people, but money rules kings. This is beginning to be realized, and the realization is not satisfactory to those who produce wealth; they do not care to live under the tyranny of a god they themselves have fashioned. But after gold, what?

NEW YORK, Sept 7, 1870.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. IV.

If gold, as a medium of exchange, is behind the requirements of the times—and that it is has been pretty fully demonstrated—some reform should be instituted to supply the failure; some reform—not merely to meet the exigencies of present time and circumstances—which should be inaugurated as a permanent change.

Our government, during the last war, was obliged to resort to what was considered then by nearly all people, and is still considered by many people, as very extreme measures, in order to furnish the material by which the war might be carried on. Without the greenbacks we never could have succeeded as we did. To the person who conceived this project we are as greatly indebted as to our generals, who successfully prosecuted the war upon the means furnished through his financial foresight. This was one means of resorting to the credit of the country. If the credit of the country was sufficiently good to furnish it with the means to carry on such an exhaustive war as ours was, it surely should be good for any peaceful time.

For our part, we cannot see the propriety of returning to specie payment; and there is one insuperable objection to it. Gold cannot furnish the circulating medium for the world, and credit must be resorted to; and the necessity of having two kinds of circulation involves difficulties which the mercantile world would be glad to have forever done with.

Why should people be obliged to use one kind of circulating medium to purchase another kind with, and then use this second kind to pay his debts to another party, who will sell it again to obtain what the first person used to purchase it? This is the logic of specie payments. If it is argued that the actual transfer of the gold is not necessary, we would then ask why is specie payment desirable at all? The facts regarding this question are that people have become wedded to the idea that gold is the only possible thing that can be made money, while all their practice has been that it is the least entitled to the name of money of anything they have ever used as such.

As has been said, the real standard value of a country is its capacity to produce, and it is this production that requires to be moved, exchanged, bartered or sold. The use of something to represent this, for which it can stand responsible in general terms, is what is required of money. That kind of money which will best meet all these requirements is the best money. That kind of money which has elasticity, that will be plenty when business is active, and that can be readily put to other use for profit when business is less demanding, is the kind the prosperity of a country demands. With a money of this kind, all financial crises would be impossible. It is the possibility of making a stringent market that unsettles financial matters and causes financial destruction. And it is because we have not a financial system of our own that it is possible for exigencies in other countries to unsettle values here. To-day, the price of our securities in London determines the price of gold here. In view of the possible complications in which Europe is liable to be involved any time, and which she must within a very few years be involved in, it becomes a matter of considerable moment, whether our finances are to be governed and guided by the condition of things there, when these things shall come.

As a nation we are or can be, were it necessary, independent of the world, and are the first and best representative of a republican form of government. Why should we not be the nation to give to the world a reformed currency? The world—or that part of it which has grown to appreciate our kind of freedom—involuntarily turns its eyes to us for patterns of all things that a people during a change of government require. One of the first things a government requires is money. Why shall we not show the nations how to make the best use of their means, and give them a system that will do more for them than any system that has yet been tried, and by so doing also meet our own needs?

The capability to do this would instantly place us at the head of nations, and financially to stand thus, is to complete the measure of our greatness. Politically, we can never be subdued. During our late war there were two millions of men under arms. Just in this proportion, also, should we be powerful financially, and to become so would be to be allotted by the world the lead of it and all its nations.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. V.

The gravest of all questions of political economy is that of a country’s money. A very great deal more of the people’s common happiness depends upon money than even political economists generally suppose. Happiness is very closely allied to prosperity, and general prosperity in a country can never obtain unless it is under a sound financial system. Very few people understand what general prosperity means. It does not mean vast sums of gold in the hands of a few of the inhabitants of the country, while the great majority struggle month after month for the absolute necessities of life. There may be a great deal of money in a country and still be very little general prosperity with the common people. The question of money has never been considered philosophically, nor with due regard to the common interests of humanity. It is always viewed from the standpoint of the wealthy, and usually by the wealthy or by those in their direct interests.

The producing classes, however, are beginning to awake to the fact that they have never been represented in any of the legislation that has been had regarding finance and the currency they have been forced to use. On the contrary, they perceive that all legislation has been in the interests of capital, and this perception is what is arraying these supposed two interests against each other. The facts existing have only to be considered to prove that our financial system is unsound, and this should be sufficient to force our legislation to take up the question, and to handle it in the light of the demands of the present, utterly regardless of the superstition that has so long existed about the gold idol.

The objectors to any thing as money but gold, make much of the need of it to make good the balances of trade between different countries. But these forget that gold is nothing but merchandise until the country has placed its indorsement upon it, and that it is this which gives it the character of money, and that it does not derive this character from the fact that it is gold. The indorsement of a country upon gold coin is a simple guarantee that it is of a specific purity, after this, its value is determined by its weight. Thus gold sent to other countries to pay balances against us, is sent and received, as so much by weight of a specific quality of gold, and not as so much of our national money. The force of this objection, then, is utterly destroyed by these considerations; and especially so, when this same gold, coined by our government, is recoined by the country we send it to. Here it is distinctly proved that gold is not money, and that it is only a commodity which we produce and part with in exchange for other commodities, and that it is just as valuable for this purpose if it goes direct from the mines where we produce it, to other countries, as it is if it goes by the way of a United States Mint, where it receives the indorsement of the government.

To go still deeper, there is a no more mischievous idea than that all paper money should be redeemable in gold which should alone be legal-tender, because everybody knows that the amount of currency this country demands cannot by any possibility ever be redeemed by gold. It may be redeemed by using the same gold coin over and over again, as it is again and again received and paid; but just here is the difficulty; for ten dollars of currency in reality have to be redeemed by the one gold dollar. This is the practice of specie payments, and a most mischievous one it is, too; it is the sole idea that leads to great inflations, and consequently to great collapses in finances and values. Under this system there never was nor never can be a reliable mercantile value to anything. Fluctuation is its direct result, while speculation, without this, would cease, and the vast horde of mere speculators who spend their whole time in it, would of necessity be compelled to become producers of some kind. It will thus be seen that the first principles of economy are in direct opposition to the results coming from the use of gold as money; and that these declare that something should supersede its use as such that it would be impossible to speculate upon; something that would have such absolute and never varying value as could be positively counted upon to endure a month, a year, a century or a thousand years, as the cases in question should respectively involve. Such a substantial thing might with propriety be called money, and in comparison to it gold would sink into utter insignificance and be forgotten.

NEW YORK, September 14, 1870.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. VI.

A very fallacious argument has been the rule, because gold has been considered “money,” that all currency is “credit;” this at first blush would seem to be still further strengthened by the proposition that gold is only merchandise. By no means, however, is all currency credit. All bank currency is credit. All currency that is not legal-tender for contracts and debts is credit; but a currency which is of itself legal-tender is money, because it is itself intrinsically valuable. All the uses one has for money it fills; it not only meets all demands that “credit currency” can meet, but it fills other and specific demands that bank currency cannot. It is receivable for nearly all governmental demands upon the people; it pays taxes, and cannot be refused by any one in payment of contracts and obligations. Such a currency has all the features and characteristics of money, except that in our practice it has not been receivable for duties upon imports. Had greenbacks been made legal-tender for all governmental purposes, they would have been “real money,” having intrinsic value, of which nothing short of the absolute destruction of the country and death of its inhabitants could have robbed them. The gold fallacy, however, prevented Congress from seeing the real drift of what they did, and the country, therefore, must yet a little longer be blinded by the thought that gold is the only money.

The only argument which is at all tenable, that converts anything that has all the qualities of merchandise into a measure of value is, that the article thus rendered costs at all times, and in all countries, the same labor to produce it. This test, every one knows, is not applicable to any single thing the earth yields; and as little as to any other does it attach to gold, and, therefore, gold in itself is subject to fluctuation, and can in no sense be considered an absolute measure of anything. This country, since California began to yield her gold, has been a great producer of the precious metal; that is, a certain amount of labor has produced a larger proportionate quantity of it than has generally been produced in this or in other countries; consequently we have been large exporters, not of money, but of gold, in its character as merchandise: very much of this has been exported in mass, uncoined, in which condition not even the most rigid gold stickler will pretend it is money.

Hence it follows that we do not need “money” to balance our accounts with other countries; we need particular kinds of merchandise which we have in larger quantities than we have use for, or which other countries need more than they do some merchandise they have which we require more than they do; which system brings about exchange, the sum total of which is commerce. If commerce were left to regulate itself without any interference to prevent the natural flow and reflux of the products of the earth, as stated above, there would soon become established permanent courses for certain products, to take which would still further localize all kinds of labor, and render each of nearly unvarying profit. It is this interference with the natural demand and supply of the various parts and peoples of the earth that breaks down the equilibrium of labor, and makes possible the extreme unequal distribution of wealth.

It will be seen that all questions of finance and commerce are intimately connected, while those of labor and capital grow out of the conditions they make possible and inevitable. To properly understand the relations of capital and labor, and to harmonize them, demands a correct comprehension of the basic principles of economy which relate to finance and commerce. If these were based in correct universal principles, there could be no questions to settle between labor and capital. Hence it is that it becomes specially requisite at this time, when labor is rising to a sense of the unjust position it is confined to, that these questions of finance should be agitated as the most important ones for adjustment. To begin at the root of the evil is the philosophic way to deal with all the ills of society as it is with all ills which result in the gradual evolution of all departments of the universe.

For a measure of value and to aid exchanges, then, there is required a currency, or medium, that does not possess any of the characteristics of merchandise, that is not a commodity nor a product in any sense of those terms, but something that has intrinsic value of itself, being a true representative of value, and of equal and absolute value at all times and under all circumstances and changes. Such a thing would be money, and anything not possessing these requirements is not worthy the name of money.

The question arises, then, Can there be anything formulated or brought into use that would possess all these requirements under all circumstances? It is quite certain that there never has been, as yet, anything used as money that was as absolute as a dollar, as a pound is as a pound, or as a foot is as a foot. A pound is just a pound under any and all circumstances; so, too, is a foot under the same; and so is a gallon, and so is a cord of wood; whether a greater or less number of any of them are required at one time or another for use, they are always a pound, a foot, a gallon, or a cord, and no more nor no less. Now, what we require is a measure of values of just as fixed and absolute a character as any of these. When this is acquired, then just as unvarying value will attach to the measure of values as there does to those measures. Money is but another name for values, and the dollar is one of the divisions of its measures. There is no more reason why money should fluctuate in its capacity of measuring or of being measured than there is that the foot should grow longer or shorter, or the pound greater or less, and there is just the same reason why it should not.

Then, the products of the earth once placed upon this unvarying standard, the cost of producing each different product would determine its exact value, and in time the producers of each kind would be upon an exact equality in regard to the value of their products. It is the attaching, in practice, of absolute value to something that can have no absolute value which makes possible all the various degrees of poverty that belong to the laboring or producing classes. If these inequalities are to be remedied, there is but one method by which it can be done—that is, to reduce our money systems to the same fixedness that we have reduced all our other systems to. This once done, all labor will gravitate to an equality, and capital will become its best ally instead of, as now, its apparent enemy, while each of these interests, and all divisions of each of them, everywhere in the world, would become mutual, and by so being would prepare the way and lay the foundation for that grand harmonization of society which must precede the practical co-operation of mankind, as brethren, under a universal unitary government of the United States of the World.

NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 1870.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. VII.

The point has now been arrived at where it is to be considered as decided that gold is not, cannot, be money; that it is a valuable article of merchandise. Its utility beyond this character has not only departed as a principle, but in practice a very considerable portion of the most enlightened people in the world consider it the source of great mischief, and the more the causes of the financial ills we are subjected to are analyzed, the more they will be found to be dependent upon the attaching of a specific value to something that is as changeable in cost of production as it is possible for anything to be.

The philosopher and the best reformer would here step in and say that it is their province not so much to tear down the old as it is to prepare the new that shall take the place of the old. This is the science of all reform. However, before there can be a field prepared in which the new can be used, the defunct condition of the old must be pointed out, and its debris cleared away, so that the new may find space for operation.

This preparation has in reality been already made. The necessities of the Government in the late war broke the first ground for the consideration of this very important question, and prepared the minds of the mass of the people, though, perhaps, unconsciously, for the reception of the idea that it is possible to do without gold; that specie payment is by no means a necessary accompaniment of a sound financial condition, and that a money system which is made dependent upon a redemption by something else, is not only not to be desired, but that it is the real foundation for all financial disasters, because it makes an undue expansion possible. The people who would once have considered a proposition for an irredeemable currency with the utmost alarm now discuss it as one of the things that is sure to be. It is believed by those who have studied this subject deepest that the time has arrived when this government must enter upon the consideration of a permanent change in our financial system, and that a return to the gold standard would be a disaster.

But, says the objector, how can an irredeemable currency ever be made to adapt itself to the varied demands of the country? How can anything so unsubstantial as a paper currency, without gold support, be made as absolute a measure of values as the yard-stick is of distance? and, if this can be accomplished, where will the elasticity of the currency be found? In general terms it is assumed that, unless the proposed financial system will answer all these conditions—that unless it will be elastic, adapting itself to all the demands that can be made, be they great or small, and at the same time remain absolute in its value, it is not even fit to be thought of, much less to be seriously considered as a substitute for what has been.

And this brings us back to the beginning of the argument—to the point from which the first departure was made. The course that will be pursued, however, after leaving this point this time will not be that of reconnoitring—looking over—the ground to be covered, but a steady, firm and final advance directly toward the objective result desired, which, if a failure is made in reaching, the campaign against gold may be considered a failure. Under the system of currency being good only when it can be redeemed by gold, there is required, to make the currency actually in circulation good, just as many gold dollars as there are currency dollars—that is, if there is at any time in circulation any more currency than there is gold to redeem it, then there is an expansion, which any sudden change in any of the circumstances by which nations are surrounded is liable to convert into a collapse. So long as everything is prosperous, so long as nothing arises to shake the confidence of the people, or to call the attention of any considerable number to the possibility that there is not gold enough to redeem all the currency that is in circulation, so long everything goes well; but so soon as any one of said conditions occur or change, then there is a rush to see who shall get what gold there is; the supply exhausted, the unredeemed currency is valueless. This is the practice and the result of a redeemable currency; the same results will also follow so long as such a system is tolerated.

Everybody knows that there never has been a currency in circulation sufficient in quantity to meet all the requirements of commerce that had a complete basis in gold, and everybody also knows that there is not gold enough in the world to meet this specific requirement. Hence it is that institutions possessing, say $100,000 in gold, put forth and obtain interest upon $500,000 in currency—that is to say, with a real capital of $100,000, which is worth six per cent. interest, they really obtain thirty per cent. interest, thus making it possible for them to double their original capital every three or four years. Did those who now so loudly complain of the National Banks receiving interest from the government upon their bonds deposited, and from the people upon their circulation, ever object to the greater enormities of the specie-paying banks?

The only use of money is to facilitate exchanges of what the earth produces, voluntarily or under compulsion. Money, then, has its direct relation to these products as a whole, and can have no special relation to any part of them; if made to enter upon and sustain any such special relation, it is a purely arbitrary law, without foundation in principle, that compels it, and all arbitrary laws belong to the ages past, when brute force was required to guide ignorance; they cannot be long in this age without generating irritation, and such irritation is now being rapidly developed all over the world, wherever the laboring classes have become at all advanced in knowledge. The few can no longer control the many; the many are to control the few. Capital, through false systems of values, has been able to control labor; but the time has nearly come when the producing many will control the accumulated wealth of the world for the benefit of the whole world—not simply and only because they are the many, but because they are to be reinforced by the invincible powers of demonstrated science, which are always to be found operating for the “greatest good for the greatest number.”

NEW YORK, Sept. 27, 1870.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. VIII.

Money was invented as a method to facilitate the exchanges of the products of the industry of the world. If this is a true definition of money, the only legitimate money it is possible to have is something that naturally grows out of the uses it is required for. A national currency, then, should be a representative of that which it is its sphere to exchange; that is to say: a currency dollar should stand for a certain amount of the different products, which have been produced at the expense of a certain amount of labor. It will be perceived that this representation is upon an entirely different hypothesis from that of a currency which is supposed to represent gold.

To begin with something which everybody can understand: It may be supposed that a farmer, occupying a given quantity of land, can, in a series of ten years, produce an average amount of ten thousand dollars per year to dispose of commercially. During the process of production he is obliged to have, say, eight thousand dollars’ worth of means to enable him to continue the process. Now, instead of his being obliged to obtain credit based upon his prospective crop, he is supplied with a representative currency based upon it; this enables him to purchase from time to time that which he requires. When his crop is harvested, it is disposed of, and his currency is redeemed by it.

Now, make this application general to all kinds of production in the country—which is the only basis of value a country can have—and make the government the appraiser of the value thereof, and the maker and utterer of its representative, and a currency will be obtained that will possess all the requirements and characteristics of money; because it will be used to exchange that upon which it is based and of which it is representative, and which is substantially redeemed every time it exchanges any products of the country.

Now, how shall this system be instituted? In the census now being taken, the value of the total products of the country can be arrived at, which sum total should be used as the basis of issue, and continue as such during the next ten years, at the end of which time the increased products would require another valuation to amend the bases for an increased issue for the next ten years.

A currency thus obtained would possess all the substantial value that could be required of money. It is really the basis of value when gold is used; for how are a people to obtain gold unless they have produce to exchange for it?—which operation is, in reality, nothing more than the exchange of one commodity for another, of which it is not and cannot be representative, while in the case of the proposed currency an exchange is effected for that of which it is representative.

In this view of currency for a country, our system of greenbacks come nearer being money than anything that has ever been in use in this or in any other country. They were based upon the capacity of the country to produce, and had the government confined itself to their use, and had not been obliged to invent some further means to predicate securities, we should now have had a real money currency. Who is there to find fault with “greenbacks” as a national currency, provided there are enough of them to transact the business of the country with, and no more than just enough? But they lack one essential quality of real money—they are not receivable for all things that people need money for, and which the government demands of the people. They should have been made receivable for all government demands, even for duties on imports. But the necessities of the government, which was then struggling with all its might for existence, made it a “military necessity” to exact gold for duties on imports, as an indirect way of taxing the people who could afford to indulge in the luxuries of foreign products.

Though not available for duties there never has been in the history of the world so stable and invariable a measure of value as the greenbacks, since government ceased issuing any more than the amount already out. There has been no great financial panic and no considerable unsettling of commercial values. They require that one thing more should be done—they should be given a fixed measure of value. Then nothing more could be required of a currency than would be found in the greenbacks.

The reason, and the only reason, why the people can feel that such a currency may be unstable is the fear that the government may be induced to issue it in greater amount than primarily authorized, and consequently that it would depreciate; but this could not be until the nation should issue more than the value of its property. But for this deficiency there is a good and sufficient remedy, which can be provided and used in connection with the proposed new currency, which is to be based upon the capacity of the country for production, and which will also provide for different seasons or parts of seasons when more or less circulating medium is demanded to fulfill the business indications of the country; and with this it is believed all the objections are covered that can possibly be raised by the most strenuous stickler for a currency with a gold basis, though the government may issue never so great a volume of the currency proposed.

NEW YORK, Oct. 3, 1870.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. IX.

There are several propositions which should always remain in all considerations about money, so that the mind may not be led from its true sphere, and so that it may not be invested with peculiarities and characteristics that never did nor never can belong to money:

First and most important—most important because it is the determining point which gives all that follows tangibility—is, that money, in its primary uses, is a means and not an end. It is a means, because it was invented to assist the people in performing something that could be performed without, but not so well without it. And this is the sole use of money. Because this has been lost sight of and it has been invested with other functions, it has been possible for it to be converted to uses which at times, in culminating, have almost turned the world topsy-turvy.

Second. Money is the medium of exchanging commodities, and when diverted from its legitimate use and is made an end, results will ever follow which must be detrimental to the general interests involved.

Third. All the material value money possesses is so possessed because of the relation it bears to commodities, that relation being representative of or standing for.

Fourth. While money is the medium of exchanges, and while it is in use representative of valuable materials, it is in its last analysis the objective of that department of life of which labor is the subjective, and, therefore, when scientifically viewed, it resolves itself into a principal which is one of those upon which society must be built when a perfect foundation is formulated.

In providing a currency, therefore, to meet the uses which are demanded of it, its scientific feature, as a principle, should be the point of departure, and should be the only guide until it is attained. Labor being the basis of production, is the positive power which reaches forth and expends itself, where money, the other pole of the social battery, is reached; this reaction upon labor completes the circuit, and here is the process which is continually going on: A certain amount of labor—a positive power—produces a certain amount of money or negative result The interference with this natural process by extraneous means, through which undue quantities of negative forces are accumulated, is that process which robs labor of its natural and, therefore, just results.

The labor which the people of this country are capable of performing, then, is the real basis upon which money should be formulated, and, as in practice, the results generally are annual in their return, this basis should be measured by all they can produce annually. It follows that the basis upon which money should be uttered is this annual capacity of labor, and there should be sufficient uttered to completely measure this capacity, between which two, when once established, there would be an equilibrium produced, which would only require to be permanently regulated and maintained to insure a perfect harmony in the material interests of society.

For example, let it be supposed that the extremest legitimate amount of currency that would be warranted under the previous rule is one billion of dollars; and that this amount is all that the uses of money require when there is the largest amount of business being transacted. It must be remembered that this is not a redeemable currency, but that it is money; that it is the representative of the wealth of the nation, and that the government, as the head of the nation, has uttered it, upon the soundest and best basis of value any money could possibly have—the productive capacity of the country. In this money system there could be no such thing as the failure of banks to redeem their issues; nor of any loss to be sustained by the individual because of the mismanagement of any board of directors; and what is more than all the rest, in the present systems of society, its value would be sustained by the collective accumulated wealth of the whole country, and it could by no possibility depreciate in value so long as the value of the country was not exceeded by the amount of the issue.

To guard the people against all apprehension of such a result ever being possible, there should be a measure placed upon this currency that will at all times make it just as absolute in its measure of value as the pound is in its measure of weight, or as inches are in their measure of distances. Though this is comparatively a new proposition, and one that but very few minds think a possibility, it nevertheless is just as possible and just as essential—and more so—as all other absolute and arbitrary standards are, that have been invented to give regularity and stability in their respective spheres of use.

This currency—this money—should be made convertible into a United States Bond, which should bear such a rate of interest—say four per cent.—as experience has or should demonstrate to be the true point of balance; and the bond should also be convertible into the currency at the option of the holder. The rate of interest should be open to readjustment every ten years, when the estimates for the currency are made. Thus it would come that whenever there should be so much currency in circulation that it would be worth less than four per cent. for business uses, the surplus would immediately be converted into four per cent. bonds; and whenever money for business should be worth more than four per cent., the bonds would be converted into the currency in just sufficient quantities to meet the demand and to restore the equilibrium.

It will be readily seen how perfectly this meets all the requirements of money, and how perfectly all the irregularities of demand and supply are met by it. Thus, when business is dull, and but little money is required, it (the surplus) will be in bonds drawing four per cent. interest; the moment business revives, the bonds will be at once converted, and the currency will meet the demand, and thus the constant conversion of the one into the other will regulate and maintain the equilibrium that all previous systems of money have so signally failed to do.

In our next the advantages of such a system will be still further considered and expounded, so that every one may be able to comprehend that a money system is possible of invention, upon which foreign bankers can not play their long-practiced games to any further one-sided advantage.

NEW YORK, Oct. 11, 1870.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. X.

The advantages of a currency which, instead of possessing the capacity of redeemability, is at all times convertible into something that is itself productive, cannot fail to be appreciated by all who have given any attention to the science of money. Theories regarding this branch of social science have been about as destructive to the proper development and understanding of the science as religious theories have been to that of a proper appreciation of the functions and the benefits of religion. The last have at all times stood in the path of progress. So, too, have the first. And for this reason are we to-day almost at the mercy of those who are possessed of the accumulated wealth of the world, which in combination would be a power sufficient to control all government in its interests, and thus it would be enabled to bring the world again under a despotism to which that of past despotism would hold no comparison.

In such a money system too much circulating medium could never be uttered, for the moment a surplus quantity over the demands of legitimate business was in circulation, that moment it would begin to be converted into the four per cent. bonds; so that if there were two thousand millions uttered, it would always be worth just four per cent.; and if there were but five hundred millions uttered, it would never be worth any more than four per cent. Thus it is plainly to be seen that the government would always be necessitated to provide just as near the amount of circulating medium demanded as it would be possible to arrive at, and no more; for on any such surplus it would, as a matter of course, be obliged to pay the interest provided, which thus becomes the absolute measure of value that money requires to make it substantial, and which is required to deprive it of that capacity for producing great commercial inflations, which, in the financial history of this country, develop and burst about every second decade, and which produce not only the complete destruction of all purely speculative enterprises, but also the most wide-spread and fearful demoralization in all legitimate business.

Under such a money system, speculation, with all its accompanying demoralization, would rapidly depart from all classes of society. It is a notorious, yet unappreciated fact, that speculative enterprises lie at the foundation of all financial disorder, for which, if a remedy can be provided, the very considerable talent and time which is now devoted to it would be turned into channels of general usefulness and productiveness. Production is the foundation of all wealth, and, consequently, to increase wealth, production must be increased. Speculation is that spirit which constantly saps the vitality of wealth, and, therefore, society has no greater nor more debasing enemy than speculation.

It may be objected to by some that speculation leads to national development; that in many of the wild railroad, emigration, city and other schemes, that have been projected and carried through under its stimulus, the welfare of the country has been subserved. To this ingenious objection it may be answered that, under a sound financial system, these enterprises would have been undertaken everywhere when the demands of the country warranted them, and because there was a demand for them, instead of for the pure purposes of individual or corporate speculation. One of the best results that would flow from this change of incentive would be, that no “Bubbles” could be palmed off on the unwary by “flash” advertising, which would burst at some future time, to the destruction of some deluded victims of unscrupulous financiers.

It is one of the most fatal of commercial errors to suppose that large general prices are an evidence of prosperity. On the contrary, it is true that when the prices affixed to any kind of property are larger than its real capacity for production, it is an expansion which must at some time collapse, to the detriment of the holder. Thus, whenever property is valued at such a price that it cannot be used to pay a certain per cent. income, its value is expanded, and though this expansion may continue under the pressure of a so-called prosperity, and become general, even country-wide, if the general productive capacity of the country cannot sustain this increased value, collapse must as surely come as results follow causes. Even in this demonstration it is conclusively shown that the productive capacity of the country is the real measure of value, and that, finally, no matter how irrelevant the process of wealth and prices may have been to it, it is the power which ultimately measures all values.

This appears to us such a plain proposition that it seems almost superfluous to present further arguments to prove the desirability of at once proceeding to make the productive capacity of the country the basis of value upon which to issue a currency to meet the legitimate demands of the people for the purposes of exchange. The attention of all who realize the unstableness of our present system, and the desirableness of providing against the tremendous fluctuations it is capable of, is called to the necessity of uniting to bring this matter prominently before the NEXT CONGRESS, with the view of having it thus brought prominently before the country, and of having it thoroughly analyzed and understood. When analyzed and comprehended, the idea of a gold basis will forever depart from all progressive minds, and the impetus the new money system will thereby receive will never be checked until its science is developed into general national practice.

NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 1870.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. XI.

In our last, the necessity of urging the consideration of the finance question upon Congress, with the view of having the whole range of the matter brought prominently before the country, was proposed. Of all practical questions that require immediate solution, none is of so much importance to man as this; and none more so to woman unless that of equality for herself is. No country can enjoy a series of years of uninterrupted commercial prosperity when that country has a circulating medium which can be affected by the manipulations of shrewd financiers for their own ends. And no financial policy is more ruinous to the true interests of a whole country than that of a constantly changing commercial valuation upon either personal or real estate, excepting alone in the latter, when it becomes the location of more capacity for actual production.

Real estate, abstractly considered, has no appreciable value. It only becomes relatively valuable when labor can make use of it to produce something valuable from it or by it. Absolutely there can be no individual title to any part of the soil of any country. Taken as a whole, the land comprised within the limits of the authority of any government can be made such use of as such government may determine, but as to actual conveyance of absolute individual ownership, that is impossible, because none of the powers involved in the attempt at conveyance could have had any part in the production of said land, and, therefore, could have no right or authority to transfer it, from the fact of an entire lack of title to transfer.

It may be objected that these are merely technical assumptions which the customs of society have never admitted. So, too, may it be objected to all encroachments of scientific principles upon old forms and customs. Nevertheless, science continues to analyze and demonstrate, and the world continues to come more and more under its guidance every year. In the principles of government science has not, until very recently, found grounds of attack. Since it has come to be recognized that there really is a science of society, and consequently that all its structure can be analyzed, understood and guided by its deductions many of the customs and practices that have so long controlled the people are found to be entirely without the support of principles fundamentally necessary to assure a permanently constructive form of society.

Wherever maxims of temporary policy are the guiding rules, there will ever be alternate construction and destruction; but wherever scientific, demonstrable principles are the governing power, there will be found permanency. That “money” is susceptible of analysis, and of being predicated upon a scientific basis is no longer to be questioned. It is a branch of the science of society, and as such must receive consideration as the science itself becomes disseminated among the peoples. It was not many years ago that “the sciences” were unknown in our common schools. It will not be many years hence until the science of society will be a recognized branch of every child’s education in the most enlightened portions of the world. Political economy, which is a branch of social science, is regarded with favor by many now, and, comprehensively speaking, all these questions which have been looked upon as “too abstract” for common comprehension, are found to be the real principles which underlie all social strictures.

First in importance, because it leads to the recognition of the “ultimate condition,” is the question of intercourse between the peoples of the earth. Money, as the means of bringing about this intercourse, should receive primary consideration. Let the fact once be generally recognized that the world is at last tending to “a unity of the peoples,” and financial and commercial unity are the introductory unities upon which to hasten governmental unity. Were these fully established upon a basis of mutual interest instead of upon the policy of each obtaining all the personal and selfish advantages possible, there could no such strifes as the one convulsing Europe to-day ever occur. Thus it appears that the assimilation of the world under one common interest is in the first instance a question of a unity of material interests which must serve as the foundation for all others to build upon.

Finance and commerce, then, lie at the very threshold of all the progress that is to be made in the direction of governmental consolidation, and when so recognized they will be rescued from the position that they now occupy as the means only of pursuing selfish interests, and be raised into that of principles and rules of action by which all intercourse must be regulated. Commerce, in its most comprehensive sense, does not apply merely to the exchange of the material products of the world, but to the exchange of intellectual, moral, social and religious products also, and its application thereby becomes common to all the interests of humanity. And as finance grows out of the necessities of commerce, it also becomes equally with commerce a humanitarian question. It is in this broad and general sense that all questions regarding it should hereafter be considered and not upon the basis of how much advantage such a measure will give an individual or a nation over another individual or nation.

Like all other questions that are now coming prominently before the world for solution, this one of finance and commerce rises to the dignity of a question of humanity. They are all to be considered in regard to their application, not merely to nations, but to all nations—all peoples—as forming the basis of the future confederation of the world under one government to be known as the United States of the World, when all the people will be inspired with a common Religious sentiment in regard to their primary origin and their ultimate destiny; when all the peoples will be governed in their relation to each other by the common social sentiment arising from the recognition of the fact that they are necessarily a community of brothers from having a common origin and destiny; when all the peoples will give a common adhesion to and support the deductions of a Universal Science, let those deductions militate as they will and must against whatever of speculation and theory there may still hang like a pall of night over the intellect of man. To all of these ultimate conditions of mankind, finance and commerce must furnish the means of attainment; and being thus the first essentials to the beginning of the actual constructive process which, when completed, will be this grand consummation, they should be treated with that gravity and consideration which is due to so grand a position as they are assigned in the third order of general civilization. Policy should be entirely discarded from all place in the argument, and principles should alone be discussed. When the consideration is fairly begun upon this basis, scientific ideas regarding money will be rapidly diffused among the people, who now do not even dream that money can be reduced to the rules of scientific demonstration.

We urge again that this question should receive its proper share of attention at the hands of our next Congress as being the questions upon which the future good of mankind depends more immediately than any other that will be likely to command the undivided attention of it. This once settled upon the true principles, all other questions which all future Congresses will have to consider will be virtually determined by it.

NEW YORK, Nov. 4, 1870.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. XII.

In the treatment of these subjects in the general sense in which they become important to all the people the range is very much extended beyond that commonly compassed by those whose interest compels them to temporary considerations for the promoting of immediate interests under the systems in vogue. All such kind of treatment deals with effects, and would never remedy an existing want, nor correct illegitimate practices. If there are wants in existing systems, and if there are illegitimate practices which are possible under them, there is but one way to supply the one or to correct the other, and that is to go to the root of the matter where the causes exist which make these possible.

In this series of articles it has been the endeavor to point out some of the most prominent evidences that our financial system was unsound, and also to show, by as strict an analysis as was possible in the space allotted, what the true basis for a sound financial system was, and where it was to be found, and, having done this, such methods of administration were hinted at as would reduce the system, when put into operation, to a permanent and fixed measure of all values, which it was argued was equally as necessary when value is to be measured as the same fixedness is when any other quantity is to be measured.

It has been suggested by some that, in presenting our statements in the terse, undiluted manner we have, that those who have not been habitual thinkers upon this subject might fail to catch the full application of the propositions, and by so failing consider the system impracticable. To obviate such objections we shall, by further treatment of obscure points, attempt to make them plain to all who can understand the English language.

First, a brief re-statement and condensation of the entire outline: Money, being an invention to facilitate the exchanges of the products of labor, it should be formulated with direct reference to the conditions which made the invention necessary, out of which it should naturally grow; and also with direct regard as to how the invention should best meet the required case—that is, the invention should be adapted to the conditions, instead of making an invention without regard to the conditions, and then attempting to force the conditions to comply with the capacity of the invention.

This is a point which should be thoroughly comprehended, for in it lies the whole fault of making gold a measure of value, and we therefore shall attempt to offer a common illustration directly in point.

Let it be supposed that there is a stream which, to accommodate travel, requires to be bridged, and that the bridge has to be constructed and moved to the stream. The first procedure would be to determine just how long the bridge must be to span the stream. It would then be constructed and moved to the stream, which it of course would span. But suppose persons knowing there was a stream to be crossed, but not knowing its breadth, had gone to work and constructed the bridge and then had attempted to compel it, when too short, to extend across the stream. This would have been a case of attempting to compel the conditions for which the invention was made to accommodate themselves to the invention. And this has been just what the world has been all this time doing in attempting to compel the conditions for which money was invented to accommodate themselves to the possibilities of gold, which was invented as money without any reference being had to the functions it was to perform, or to the conditions it was required to meet.

It would be just as reasonable and just as sensible to attempt to compel a house to perform the functions of a bridge as it is to attempt to compel gold to perform the functions of money, for gold is not nor cannot ever be made to meet the requirements for which money is demanded; whereas, money should be of such character as to fully meet the requirements for which it is used, but should not be possessed of any qualities that would render it useful for any other purpose whatever, so that there could be no possibility of its ever being used for any other purposes, which impossibility would forever make speculation impossible.

It is believed that we have made clear the purposes for which money is required and also clear that it is utterly futile to attempt to compel any invention to meet those requirements where it is not formulated for the express purpose. We have heretofore shown that gold is a purely arbitrary standard which has no scientific relations whatever to the product of labor which it is required to measure, but that it is itself a product, and as such requires to be measured. A gallon of molasses would never be thought of as a measure of distance, but it would be just as reasonable to expect it to measure it as it is to expect a certain quantity of gold to measure the value of a horse. A horse may be exchanged for a certain amount of gold. So, too, may a horse be exchanged for a certain amount of wheat, but that process does not make either the horse or the wheat money. Money is that which can equally represent the wheat, the horse and the gold; and anything that cannot do this is not money.

Hence it is seen that every step we take in examining the true bearings of the money question brings us nearer and clearer to the proposition already made—that the capacity for production is the true basis of value.

NEW YORK, Nov. 11, 1870

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. XIII.

We are perfectly aware of the very many objections which arise in the minds of the people to such a currency as has been proposed, but the thoughtless one of “What! an irredeemable paper money! Oh, no! that will never do; that means utter repudiation,” which is the most commonly made, scarcely merits attention. Will those, who so earnestly place themselves in opposition to a convertible currency, stop and consider for just one moment. What is the ten-dollar gold piece you have just received for a ten-dollar note good for? Will it feed or clothe you? or will it directly minister to any of your needs or to those of any of your family? Directly, it will do none of these things for you; but you can have it really redeemed by something that will feed, clothe and minister to all your requirements. You will thus perceive that you have been and still are laboring under a foolish delusion regarding this precious metal, for you have all the time been getting your paper money redeemed by your gold money, which you finally are obliged to redeem by that which is really valuable—that which it takes to maintain life and make it desirable.

Now, you know very well that the gold there is in the world cannot redeem or represent the values of the world. Were it a thousand times as valuable as it really is—that is to say, could the consent of the world be obtained to making the amount of gold which now represents one dollar to represent a thousand dollars—there would be a possibility of the gold in existence representing the value of the world; but as no such result as this is anticipated, it is in vain for you to cling to any such mythological and speculative theory.

Again: What terrible outrage would your conscience sustain if you would give a little calmer consideration to a proposition which you have always heretofore rejected without thought. With your gold you have been able to obtain that which you required to sustain and make life agreeable. These necessities, then, are the really valuable things of the world. What objection, then, can you make that can have the sanction, even of your own reason, to at once admitting that these are the only real values the world contains, and consequently—because legitimately—that whatever is money must be a representative of these valuables: and also and further, that anything bearing the name of money, which does not justly and fully represent the sum total of these, is not money in the true sense of that term.

Again: Money may be considered the negative pole of the battery of value. To all things there are two extremes and a mean, the evidence of perfection being that there is always an equilibrium sustained between the extremes through the medium of the mean. Products are positive existences which go forth to administer to the demands of human nature, and expend themselves in the negative returning force, money; which, in being brought back to the point which it represents, becomes a positive power itself, having the capacity to obtain labor which restores what has been expended, and thus the circuit is complete and nothing is lost; the same products exist and the same representation of them also exists. If, perchance the return of the products is not always immediately made, the power to return them is never lost, though that may be in a thousand years.

Thus it will be seen by all, if they will but give the necessary attention, that the proposed currency which shall be representative of the products of labor is not only the only natural money there can be, but that it can never appreciate nor depreciate, because every twelve months it is worth just one twenty-fifth part of itself—for it is believed that this per cent. of increase is the true balance between accumulation and production; if, on trial, this balance should be found too small, or too much in favor of production, it would be increased; and if found too large, or too much in favor of accumulation it could be reduced. This must be a subject of test, and when tested, legislation can increase or decrease the standard of value by making the “measure” larger or smaller, just the same as it does other “measures.”

We believe that the inauguration of such a money system would be the beginning of the “leveling down and the leveling up” of the capitalist and the laborer, and that such a thing as practical equality will be impossible under any less radical and comprehensive change from present systems. It is to be hoped that that large proportion of the whole people which is represented by the classes that desire to be “levelled up,” will give this most serious matter their most serious attention. We are aware that it is a subject but little understood, and that the prejudice of the people is in favor of the money god, gold. But, as in religion, so will it be in money; when reason and common sense are admitted to the debate, mythologic spectres and theoretic fancies will begin to assume their true shapes, and the realities to arise from the depths in which they have been confined.

NEW YORK, Nov. 25, 1870.

BASIS OF PHYSICAL LIFE.

THE UNITY OF LIFE, POWER AND MOTION.

I beg to present the following as the foundation for a series of articles which it is proposed to present in due time. At first glance it may be deemed too abstract for the purpose in view, but it must be remembered that all action is primarily derived from a common basis of life, and that it is from this basis all action must spring, because general principles only are deducible from it:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Although human conception cannot trace existence back to the time when “the Word was God,” the proposition is one which consciousness can accept without analysis, and define and understand as the Absolute in its broadest sense; but, when invested with the infinitude of phenomena and facts, the mind loses itself and gives way beneath the universal evidence that life, power and motion form a unit. Accepting, then, this proposition, without attempting to solve it, a basis is found from which to reason, and which we could not have discovered by reasoning backward from effects. God was in the beginning: the beginning was God. Acknowledging this, the mind cannot conceive of aught else existing in the beginning. He was the Supreme Whole, the great Central Heart, from and by which all things were to come. This truth should be fully accepted, for from it can be shown that the facts of the present are the legitimate outgrowth of this complete Oneness.

All nations have had a god or gods, though no two of them have been identical. Nor has the conception of a god remained unchanged with any people for any great length of time. Were each person to define his idea of a god, there would be nearly as many different ideals as there are individuals in the nation, thus showing that all knowledge is relative or symbolic. As there can be but one god conceived of under our proposition, the question arises how so many can be held up before the Christian world, and each claimed to be “the only true god.” In the solution of this will be found the chief burden which ignorance and superstition use to load the mind with their absurdities. Freed from this burden, the mind would form a true conception of the unity in diversity of nature, and recognize God as infinite and eternal. It will be readily admitted that God is indestructible. So, too, is matter. Then we have from the beginning two indestructibles—or, at least, for the present, it must be assumed they are two—God and Nature, Spirit and Matter, or Power and Resistance. These embrace “the Whole,” from which nothing could have been taken away or added thereto. As God, therefore, was All in All at the beginning, so he must ever remain the same; and this is true also of Nature.

Reasoning thus from this basis it must be found that every power has its origin in the first power—God, the mainspring of all action. Life, then, may be said to be motion making itself manifest under the influence of power—to what? It may be difficult for the mind to accept so broad an application of this all-pervading power, but it confesses it without comprehending it whenever it declares that God is omnipotent and omnipresent. The world little thinks of the extent of such an assertion, for it breaks down all the Christian ideas of that antagonism known as the Powers of the Devil; it banishes the possibility of creation proving a partial failure and enables the soul to recognize an ever-present, all-pervading, though inscrutable God.

It may then be asked, Is God omnipotent? If believers in an incarnation of Evil answer yes, what becomes of the foundation for such a belief? If no, what becomes of their God? If He be omnipotent, He must be not only the source of all power, but All Power. To assert otherwise is to declare that there are two infinites—an assertion which contains its own refutation. While the mind can conceive that God is All in All, it cannot at the same time conceive that He is not All in All, or that the Devil is a part of the All in All, in opposition and contradistinction to God. Those, therefore, who believe that God is All in All, and also believe in a Devil, believe an impossibility, for two persons or things cannot be the same, or occupy the same place at the same time. The absurdity, then, of the divisibility of the Supreme Power becomes at once apparent. The argument is of importance as it furnishes a well-defined basis, which meets every difficulty and arrays it in support of the unity of all things and the supremacy of God.

The question, what and where is God? has been often asked; but the various attempts to answer the unanswerable, have only given the unreflecting mind another’s idea instead of a just and comprehensive conception of God’s complete existence. In reasoning on so important an inquiry, the mind should soar above principles and ideas, and in one vast grasp say that God is the whole. Where is God? He is everywhere. In this answer we have no clearer solution of the query than we have when we say God is incomprehensible to the human mind; still the form is such as the mind can use in measuring its relative parts.

From the Great First Cause, and from it alone, has come the present in all its beauty and variety, material and spiritual. Though the effects may continue to increase in number throughout an infinite future, the sum of them can never amount to the First Cause. God must and will forever remain superior to all the effects of the workings of this power.

The material universe, science tells us, is composed of some sixty-four or more elementary parts. An element cannot be resolved into two or more different substances. These elements combine under certain conditions and in certain proportions with each other to form compounds differing materially from their component parts. Everything we see in nature is formed of these elementary materials; yet, extensive as these compounds are, they are fashioned according to universal and unchangeable laws. While the existence of any of the elements uncombined is rare, their combinations fill all space, and are co-extensive with the Divine Spirit. Spirit and Matter—God and Nature, seem, therefore, to be forever united.

But how have all these things come? What is this inexhaustible power everywhere manifested, and what the laws governing its application? Go back to the time when no compound bodies existed on this planet, and what was there? God was there in all his absoluteness, all his infinity. All the elements of matter were there in the same proportions and quantities as now exist, but uncombined. In an abstract sense, an element is a unit mass, without life, power or motion. What constitutes it an existence, gives it life, power and motion, and the capacity of combining with other diverse existences? We cannot conceive of matter, even in its simplest form, as devoid of all active life principles, for that would be to conceive a place, occupied by matter, where God is not. Each element, therefore, contains its portion of the Eternal Spirit, without which it would not even be a substance, but with which it can unite with other similarly endowed simples. It seems impossible not to conclude, then, that the life, power and motion found in all material substances, is that life and power we call Infinite.

To further illustrate this indwelling life principle, we quote from a celebrated author, who, speaking of the “winds and currents of the sea,” says: “Men try to explain everything by the wind and the current. Now there is in the air a force which is not wind, and in the water a force that is not current. This force, the same in the air as in the water, is effluvium. The air and the water are two masses of liquid nearly identical and changing mutually into each other. * * * The effluvium is alone fluid; the wind and the current are only impulses. The effluvium is a steady stream * * * and is invisible. Yet from time to time it says, ‘There I am;’ and its way of saying so is a thunder clap. The sea is as much magnetic as watery. An ocean of forces floats unknown in the ocean of currents. To see in the ocean only a mass of water is not to see it at all.” To which we would add, that to see in the manifestations of nature, nature only, is not to see it at all, for the power producing it is not recognized. What is seen is not the reality, but that through which the reality makes itself known.

What has thus far been considered may be consolidated into this comprehensive proposition: That there is a power existing everywhere, of which we can know nothing absolutely except that consciousness tells us it is. At the same time we are conscious of our incapability to define or comprehend it, and that all we can ever know of this power is its physical manifestations. Hence the knowledge of what we see, hear, feel, taste and smell is abstractly symbolic and relative, the only absolute knowledge we can possibly have—if knowledge it be—is a consciousness of our infinite existence. In this view of the existence of God, which is the basis of all religious ideas, religion may be said to be superior to science, because it remains immovable in consciousness. Religion belongs to the unknowable; science deals with the knowable, which is the manifestation of the unknowable. Therefore, viewed philosophically, religion and science stand for the subjective and objective whose relations comprise the whole. The presence, then, in consciousness, of what we can by no means account for, must be the actual presence of that of which consciousness is made up—the elementary spiritual principles representative in us as individual existences of the great Infinite existence.

Ambiguity in the use of terms leads to confusion of ideas and thought, and is one great general cause of the ignorance and superstition still existing among apparently enlightened nations. Many terms, supposed to convey certain well-defined ideas, are found to be deficient when analyzed, and others stand for nothing in substance. Many are in common use whose meaning the man of religion, science or philosophy would be embarrassed to explain. Chief among these are: The Infinite, The Absolute, Causation and Effect, Power, Motion, Matter, Space, Time, Resistance, Eternity, Immortality, Good, Evil, Heat, Light, Rewards, Punishment, Justice, Law, Order. As the argument proceeds it will be seen how nearly the whole of these and many similar terms are resolvable into the few which convey realities.

All things that can be resolved into parts cannot be said to be existences. Existence carries with it the idea of permanent continuity, something self-dependent, superior to everything else as an entity. What one term will express absolute superiority? The universe of space is occupied by matter which, acted upon by an incomprehensible Power, produces manifestations or motions. These being successive, time becomes a necessary constituent. Do we need any other term to cover all the manifestations? Is there any part of the universe left untouched by the few terms? But allowing that they include the Whole, some one must be of primary consequence, while the others are auxiliary thereto.

The term Motion will be found, on analysis, to be the result of Power acting upon Matter, and the proposition is comprehensive enough to include every known movement. Hence every manifestation in the material world can readily be accounted for by the combination of these two terms. Though not so immediately apparent, it will be shown that mental manifestations are also included in this. If all manifestations are then explainable by these two terms, all minor terms must be but names for the different forms under which these two manifest themselves, and into which they must ultimately be resolved. Motion, it was found, was resolvable into Power and Matter. Can these be resolved into anything more general than themselves?

The universe is composed objectively of matter. Is it made up of anything else? An absolute vacuum is an impossibility in thought. Then what we term space is filled with something, and only matter is comprehensive enough to include all. But matter alone would convey the idea of space filled with something at perfect rest. The term motion then becomes necessary. This involves a subject, the cause of the motion; and an object, the thing moved—power the cause, motion the object. Can these be resolved into anything more general? As stated, the universe is composed of matter, manifesting itself by and through motion; and motion, as was seen, can be caused only by the application of power to matter, and no other term is sufficiently general to comprehend the causes of motion. By the union or duality of power and matter everything is brought within the sphere of consciousness, if not of comprehension. But which of all the manifestations of power acting upon matter is of primary importance? Of which does consciousness earliest take cognizance?

The universe of matter is boundless. Space conveys the idea of something beyond which there is nothing. Else it would be limited by that which is beyond, and we can conceive of nothing as existing without extension, and extension implies the occupancy of a certain defined limit, which limit must be within space. Space being undefinable, that which occupies it must partake of the same characteristic when considered as a whole. The same line of reasoning applies to power and time. Succession of events compels an occupation of a part of infinite duration as matter, relatively considered, occupies space; that is, between two or more separate facts there must be a lapse of time before consciousness can arrange them so as as to take cognizance thereof. Whether this is of itself an actual existence, or some method of an actual existence, it is a necessity to consciousness. Hence, time is related to power as space is to matter. Power and matter being the subjective realities, while space and time are their objective results, or the necessary effects of the experience in consciousness of their united result, which is motion. Our ideas of space and time are derived from experiences of power acting upon matter, while motion, the effect thereof, unites the two in consciousness as relative realities which must be a part of absolute realities.

It is clear, then, that all we can know of the unknowable arises from our experience of power and matter, and that within the sphere of their manifestations all effects are included. But while each is necessary to produce effect, we must not forget that we would have no consciousness of the existence of matter were it not the object of the application of power; hence we must conclude that power is of primordial importance, and, as such, the most general and comprehensive of scientific terms. All knowledge and consciousness grow out of experiences of power, which must be considered the general ultimate. All theories regarding it are but theories. Power is untouched by them, while matter, space, time and motion may be considered either as its constituents or as modes of its manifestations.

To make the argument more complete to those unaccustomed to resolve phenomenon into its ultimate cause, some illustrations of such resolutions will prepare the mind to accept the conclusions arrived at: Let it be supposed that some circumstance calls for the manufacture of cotton cloth unlike, in some respect, any ever manufactured—say in width—how must it be produced? Reasoning inductively and given the raw material, the last necessity apparently is a loom that will admit of the width required and the prepared webbing and filling. Still, the cloth cannot be produced without the further aid of motion in the loom, which motion must be generated by power through certain machinery, obtained from setting free such portion of power as had been concentrated in coal. This expands water into steam; steam in escaping compels the piston of the engine to move, and this motion is communicated to the loom, the required cloth being the effect. It will be seen that whatever intermediate processes were necessary they were all resolvable into the power concentrated in the coal. What was then of first importance in the production of cloth? It was neither the loom nor the cotton nor the machinery, but the power giving motion to all. This illustration may be used symbolically to explain everything incomprehensible in the universe, that is, all manifestations of power working in and through matter, producing motion and its effects.

All material effects being explained by power acting on matter, may not this simple formula equally symbolize all mental operations the product of which is thought? The question primarily arising would be, what is thought and how is it produced? Let us analyze it. Something cannot be produced from nothing. Thought is something. Thought is then the product of something previously existing. Immateriality cannot be conceived of. Therefore thought is not only material in itself, but the product of matter in motion; and as motion is only possible through power applied to matter, thought must be a result of such an operation. Can it be explained and comprehended upon this theory? Let it be supposed that some great noise should suddenly occur just outside a house in which were 5,000 people. Each one would ask the mental question, or “think,” What was that caused by? Now, that thought would be the product of the sound heard. But how heard? Simply thus: Rapid vibrations of the air, caused by some unknown matter in motion, came in contact with the organs of hearing, were transmitted to the nerves, and finally taken up into consciousness. The whole operation is a purely physical one, and there is a perfect equivalent between the amount of vibration and the resulting sensation; in other words, the effect corresponds to the cause. It may also be remarked that a hundred physical bodies of different weights produce as many different sensations; the difference being always in exact proportion to the difference in their respective weights. Similar differences follow when matter at various degrees of temperature comes in contact with the body. The same is true regarding light upon the optic nerve.

Let us next see if that variety of thought or sensation which arises spontaneously within the individual is due to any different agency. Perhaps the most comprehensive and conclusive evidence of the material origin of thought is, that a child born under even favorable circumstances, but kept from all external, material and mental manifestations, grows up a simple idiot. Without, then, the manifestation of power acting upon matter, no original individual thought or conception is possible with the supposed exception of spontaneous thought hereafter to be treated. Further evidence of this is seen when an adult is kept in solitary confinement, or cast away upon an uninhabited island; memory fails, language is lost, and the person becomes a semi-idiot. The following extract, from an address by Dr. J. W. Draper, is made to show that scientific men are admitting the fact that the mind is the result of the processes here indicated—a collection of facts gained by impressions constantly repeated. He says: “There are successive phases * * * in the early action of the mind. As soon as the senses are in working order * * * a process of collecting facts is commenced. These are at first of the most homely kind, but the sphere from which they are gathered is extended by degrees. We may, therefore, consider that this collecting of facts is the earliest indication of the action of the brain, and it is an operation which, with more or less activity, continues through life. * * * Soon a second characteristic appears. The learning of the relationship of the facts thus acquired to one another. * * * This stage has been sometimes spoken of as the dawn of the reasoning faculty. A third characteristic of almost contemporaneous appearance may be remarked—it is the putting to use facts that have been acquired and the relationships that have been determined. * * * Now this triple natural process * * * must be the basis of any right system of instruction. It appears, then, that contact and constant intercourse with external manifestations is not only necessary for the production of thought and its collaterals, but that to retain the consciousness which makes thought possible such manifestations must be continuously impressed upon the individual. This seems to be conclusive that mind is the result of the experiences of the manifestations of power.”

There is still more subtle evidence that thought, which is only the memory of past manifestations of power, or deduction of reason upon them, is the product of material action. All mental action depends upon the nervous apparatus, and is limited by its capacity. The activity and power of this apparatus is in a great measure dependent upon the quantity of phosphorus supplied to it, and this varies at different periods of life.

The point in question is further sustained by the fact that the rapidity of thought varies with the supply of blood to the brain. Reduce the action of the heart to forty beats per minute, and a feeling of languor permeates the whole system. On the other hand, excess of cerebral circulation results in excitement amounting sometimes to actual delirium. We must, then, either admit that mental action is a product of material power, and consequently itself material, or else conclude that, while it is the result of the expenditure of power, it is in its character immaterial, which would be absurd, because it is impossible to represent immateriality in thought, as consciousness requires a subjective action and objective reception of it to complete a thought, while immateriality is neither.

Not only is mental action affected by the quantity of blood supplied to the brain, but also by its quality. This is fully shown in the progress of certain diseases that prevent its being properly oxygenized, and even more conspicuously in the administration of anæsthetics. A similar effect can be produced upon the brain by deep, full and continuously rapid breathing, by which an undue amount of oxygen is introduced into the circulation.

It appears, then, that having a perfect nervous apparatus, certain special materials must be supplied to it from or by which to manufacture mental and nervous action. Excessive mental action and powerful and continuous emotions produce, as everybody knows, physical prostration. From whatever position, then, we may view any action the physical, mental or nervous system is capable of producing, we come finally to the conclusion that they are possible only as the result of the expenditure of some physical power, and every mind that will justly consider the evidence must give its adhesion to what science is rapidly making plain.

Before closing the consideration of thought another phase of its manifestations demands attention. Who has not observed the effect of one or two minds concentrated upon another person unconscious of the intention? The object of such concentration becomes conscious of the fact, and invariably, though involuntarily, looks in the direction whence the influence proceeds. Before following this to its legitimate deductions it must be taken for granted that there is an individual existence after the dissolution of the physical body. Nearly all people accept this as a part of consciousness. From two propositions already received and well understood, a third may be deduced, and along with it will follow such legitimate additional thoughts, ideas, impressions, and modifications of former ones, as such deductions necessarily imply. But how shall those thoughts not derived from anything already in consciousness, be accounted for? And are not all conscious of receiving many such thoughts in passive conditions and during sleep? Following up the truth that something cannot be produced from nothing, the source of these must be found, else our premises are false or incomplete.

Every variety of mental action can be communicated. Given a mind possessed of a new truth and one that has not yet perceived it, the former can communicate it to the latter. This communication and reception have been effected through the medium of speech. Another method is through written or printed language. All this is simply symbolic. Sounds and written or printed forms are in themselves nothing but motion in the atmosphere and material formations by common consent accepted to represent other and previous material formations. The one thing of primary importance is, that the symbols used must be previously understood by both parties to represent identical things at all times. Thought, expressed in an unknown language, is not comprehended; this indicates that thought abstracted from form is never communicated. It cannot rise into consciousness even, except through an established form. Capability of thought is only possible as the result of constant contact with external manifestations, systematized under certain regular and received forms which always remain purely symbolic.

It remains to be considered how mind affects mind, through the concentration of the will, without the apparent use of the above methods of communication. We have seen that sounds produce an effect upon the object through the sense of hearing. But can you analyze hearing, and show how the sounds rise into consciousness? When forms are used an effect is produced through vision. But how does vision rise into consciousness? We have seen that an effect is produced by a concentration of the mind upon an object, but how this effect rises into consciousness is beyond our comprehension.

We can now proceed to the application of what has been offered, to the communication between minds by other methods than sound and form. Whence all these thoughts and impressions that steal into consciousness through no apparent form? The conclusion seems inevitable that mind can influence mind, whether it be within a physical organization or out of it. We predicate, therefore, that all thoughts, ideas, impressions, and sensations not coming from present external manifestations nor from previously acquired facts, nor yet from direct communications through recognized symbols, are emanations received from some unknown mind either in or out of the physical form. Nor can we escape from this conclusion, unless we concede that this case forms an exception to the general law. All forms, then, of thought, emotion and sensation are the legitimate result of the expenditure of power, and may be arrayed in support of the premises that Life, Power, and Motion, wherever found, are Unitary.

Let us consider in continuation, what application this unity has as the basis of physical life. What constitutes this basis? Is physical life the direct effect of the edict of a God reigning over the whole universe from some unknown point within it? No, the theory of a special Providence is fast giving place to new and better things—to law and order. It is beginning to dawn upon mankind that “the only true God” must be beyond our comprehension as the universe is, and that it is folly or presumptive egotism to assert that God is this or that. A God possessing such inconsistent infinite powers as are usually ascribed to him, is fast being discarded by all thinkers. Therefore the basis must be sought elsewhere.

The universe is ruled in uniform ways. Special enactments for special contingencies are inconsistent with our conception of the nature of that general law by which all is governed. This alone is inferable, when viewed with the conclusions previously arrived at, that things of which we can be conscious are unitary in origin and in ultimate effect. Supreme rule is removed beyond the pale of vicissitudes of time and circumstance. The deduction, then, is that the cause of physical life is universally the same, the manifestations being varied according to the properties involved in them. Does life then consist of anything more than this uniform Basis Power?

The world of mind demands facts, not theories. Truth is no longer feared, no matter how terribly it may shock the sensibilities of the religiously-educated and philosophically-dwarfed intellect. Let us have truth, then, even if it strips away the last of our preconceived opinions. The cry for more light continues to extend. You who cannot yet endure its brightness hide yourselves behind clouded dogmas, creeds and theories. We know no creed but that which declares that an infinite, inscrutable Power is the life of all things, material and spiritual; we know no dogma save that life is the operation of this Power; we know no theory but that which makes clear the laws and modes by which these operations are governed.

Discarding, then, all dogmas, the growing minds strikes boldly out for truth, and he who catches but faint glimpses of it badly performs his duty if he attempts to hide it from his brothers. If in its attainment the Church crumbles, why falter? If governments totter, why falter? Whatever will be crushed out by new discoveries and publication of truth has already performed its mission. Suppose, for example, that the grossest materialism ever conceived of was absolutely true, would it not be best that the world should be convinced of its truth? It speaks little for any system of religion or philosophy that it cannot bear the light of facts, but evades, shuts out, or hurls anathemas at that which it cannot refute. Such a course stands condemned before the tribunal of a progressive philosophy. The very effort of a late institution in opposition to physical freedom precipitated upon it its own destruction; such will doubtless be the result of an attempt now being made by a powerful institution to rivet religious bondage upon its subjects.

In continuing this subject, extracts will be made from Prof. Huxley’s lecture, “The New Theory of Life, or Matter the Basis of Vitality,” to show that science has demonstrated that “life” is the same everywhere; and though he disclaims materialistic philosophy, the tendency of these extracts is in that direction. While matter must be looked to for all expression of facts, it must not be overlooked that the realm of power or spirituality is the producing cause; consequently, while allowing science full scope in analyzing, demonstrating and systematizing facts, religion must not be despoiled of its basis idea which remains immovably fixed in consciousness. The Professor says: “I have translated the term Protoplasm, which is the scientific name of the substance I am about to speak of by the words ‘The Physical Basis of Life.’ * * * * To many, the idea that there is such a thing as a physical basis or matter of life may be novel. * * * Even those who are aware that matter and life are inseparably connected may not be prepared for the conclusion plainly suggested by the phrase ‘The Physical Basis of Life.’” After giving various illustrations, drawn from nearly every department of nature, grasping contrasts and dissimilarities, he adds: “I propose to demonstrate that, notwithstanding these apparent difficulties, a three-fold unity—a unity of power or faculty, a unity of form and a unity of substantial composition, does pervade the whole living world; * * that the complicated and multifarious activities of man are comprehensible under three categories—either they are immediately directed toward the maintenance and development of the body, or they are to effect transitory changes in the relative positions of parts of the body; or they tend toward the continuance of the species. Even the manifestation of intellect, of feeling and of will, are not excluded from the classification.”

Prof. Huxley then illustrates the action of the protoplasm in the common nettle and in the drop of blood, showing that both plants and animals have their origin in a particle of nucleated protoplasm, and that this protoplasm “not only dies and is resolved into its mineral and lifeless constituents, but is always dying, and strange as the paradox may seem, could not live unless it died.” Thus we are led to the conclusion that all matter has a common basic principle by which we obtain our evidences of it. It is equally clear that analysis fails to grapple this principle, for the process dissipates the power that compelled the combination. Dead protoplasm differs from living in that something has departed from it, and though we cannot catch this to decide upon its nature, can we with consistency say it is a property of matter? If it is, what has become of it that it does not manifest itself again upon the recombination of the matter it once made use of? One fact is evident, and seems to be conclusive. This life principle never manifests itself through artificial combinations of matter. Again, is there no difference between ordinary matter and “matter of life?” What changes the former into the latter, and vice versa? If chemical analysis can tell us nothing about the composition of living matter, what can it tell us of life itself? If nucleated protoplasm is the basis of all life, and yet nothing but matter, why does one “structural unit” of it produce a plant, another an animal? While it is evident that the material composition of these units is uniform, it seems to be quite absurd to say that chemical analysis teaches everything that they comprehend.

If the manifestations of matter are the result of its properties, the law must be of general application. Water always seeks its level: is that a property of water or the result of gravitation? Water can be expanded into vapor: is this a property of water or the result of the introduction of heat? Is it a property of matter that transfers the digestible and animal food we eat into man? Does man exhibit nothing but the properties of matter? It is evident that after the strictest chemical analysis the vital life principle common to all matter remains unreached—thus indicating its great ultimate character, which is beyond the reach of both chemical and mental analysis.

What is this power by which the nucleated protoplasm of the various species always produces representatives of the one which furnished the germ? If it were simply a property of nucleated protoplasm, considered as matter, why should not a germ from the lion just as readily produce a lamb? In the various crosses between animals, the aggregated masses of protoplasm partaking of both, the inference plainly is that in each of the particles of protoplasm was contained a power which controlled their successive aggregations and modifications. Other evidence that the determining power is something more than a mere property of matter is found in the fact that if the young of several different species of animals be reared in company and fed with the same material, they will each retain the peculiarities of the species they represent, modified somewhat by the community of influence exerted on them. The same is true of the offspring of different races and nations.

The law indicated is still more generally applicable, descending as it does from the wide range of species and nations to each individual member thereof. Upon different individuals the same cause, acting under like circumstances, produces different effects, and this difference is dependent upon something more persistent than matter which is constantly changing. Is this persistent individuality a property of the matter we possess now, or of that which we shall be made up of some years hence? The consciousness of each one answers that this individuality is superior to the vicissitudes of matter—this consciousness having this peculiarity over its consciousness of the manifestations of matter, that while it constantly acquires new experiences it loses none of those previously acquired.

We know nothing of this power, except that it is a name for an unknown cause: and so far as practical utility is concerned, the distinction between power and matter might be discarded, the danger of falling thereby into the slough of materialistic philosophy being avoided, if we remember that all the knowledge we can acquire is simply relative and symbolic.

Returning for a moment to the fact of reproduction, to ascertain if possible the determining power by which one “structural unit” of nucleated protoplasm develops into a beast, and another chemically identical into a man, and realizing fully that this power is beyond common modes of proof we infer that a reasonable conclusion can only be deduced from observing the general unchanging law of the constant recurrence of similar results under similar circumstances. The first step in the inquiry is to ask what “protoplasm” is, and how and where it is obtained.

Prof. Huxley informs us that its chemical constituents are carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, which form carbonic acid, water and ammonia; and that these are compounded by plants into the “matter of life” or protoplasm, which is the first compound of elements possessing inherent organic motion. This being the only way protoplasm can be produced, we must always look to the vegetable world for continuous supplies of it; and though we obtain it in large quantities from the animal world, it is only at second-hand. In the vegetable world, then, must we find the first traces of organic life. But though plants thus manufacture protoplasm, they are not wholly protoplasm, but consist of various other elements necessary in an organized form. The manufacture of protoplasm may be considered the end of the vegetable world. This substance builds up the animal world, and forms a connecting link between the kingdoms.

How long it took protoplasm to produce its ultimate animal man we cannot ascertain, but the numerous species and varieties thereof between the simplest and most complete compounds signify a labor of which we can scarcely conceive, and yet science has traced and classified it all, each succeeding link in the chain being a little more complex, until man appears. As no higher types have been produced it is fair to presume that none can be. The formula, then, that will present man will include everything below him in the order of creation, not only in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, but in the inorganic world upon which the vegetable is founded.

It remains to be observed that in the order of nature each of the various species of animals reproduces its kind, and gradually merges into the next higher, but never recedes. Each species represents in different proportions and numbers the “structural units,” from which, reproduction follows, each unit containing the life principle representative of the general life principle of the animal from which it comes. Now, it is predicated as a result of the study of nature that this life principle is the determining power that controls the process whereby protoplasm builds up such various and dissimilar material reforms. Dead protoplasm consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen; living protoplasm, of these permeated and held together by this life principle, and this differs in its controlling power according to the formations it has gone through. Thus the “structural unit” of the lion or of the horse, containing the life principle peculiar to each, develops into a lion or a horse, as the case may be, unless in this process it is furnished with living protoplasm containing a life principle of different determining powers, when the aggregate result is a modification of the two powers.

Again, if the phenomena presented by matter are its absolute properties, the same elements and combinations should always produce identical results when taken into the human system. Do facts coincide with this? This “matter of life” should, if it is simply matter, always produce similar effects from whatever source it is derived. It is a physiological fact, however, that habitual living upon certain kinds of food—all containing this identical “matter of life”—does produce heterogeneous effects, mental and physical, upon the system. Thus, if a person who has constantly lived upon animal food changes his diet entirely to fruit and vegetables, a corresponding change will take place in his individual capacities.

The same point is well illustrated by a case which occurred in England, where saltpetre, obtained direct from the soil, was quite inert compared with that obtained from animal substances, the cause of the difference being due to the tact that the latter, in passing through the animal kingdom, had acquired a power which it did not previously possess. This illustration is of general application. It is evident that matter, in passing through each successive and higher organic form, becomes impregnated with the life principle which determines such form, and which manifests itself in all future combinations into which such matter enters.

The question now naturally arises, Is there a life principle common to all matter, which has become variously modified as the elements of matter have become modified by having given rise to or passed through the different changes and steps between its original homogeneous state and its present heterogeneous condition? Or are we to conclude that all matter is dead, except that termed “matter of life?” That there is, consequently, no life except organic life, and that this organic life is a special creation entering into a single compound, which thereby raised to the dignity of “matter of life,” makes use of other elements as auxiliaries to its supreme rule? With all proper deference to “matter of life,” we would ask, what do we know of life except as a result of motion? and where can matter be found that does not manifest motion? and how could the compound in which the “matter of life” is first found, have been compounded without motion? If the life principle, manifested by protoplasm, is simply a property of matter, I see no logical reason why the motion existing in matter should not with equal propriety be called its property. This brings us to first principles, to the threshold of elemental combination, for if this power determines the forms compounds shall assume, why should it not determine simple elemental form also?

Protoplasm is the foundation of all organic life; and if we add to this that this substance is itself the ultimate of a previous system of formation, the formula will express the whole. Yet it must not be forgotten that the building up of organic life is the result of a constructive power common to the universe, and not indigenous to protoplasm alone. It must then be apparent that there is a power common to all matter, of which the motion or life inherent in living protoplasm is but a modification; also, that the capacity of this common power for modification is only limited by the necessary forms to represent it, and the time required to develop them.

If this view of the power that pervades the universe is correct, the real basis of life lies retrospectively far behind the motion contained in or manifested by the matter of life, and this motion, instead of being life of matter in its absolute sense, is but one of its modes of expression. This homogeneous power common to matter still exists, undisturbed in extent, though most heterogeneously distributed in the formations which make up the present external universe.

The basis of physical life, then, is this power, and this power is the same that was found to be unitary, though incomprehensible in its extent, while its manifestations are simply symbolic of that unlimited power which is alone attributable to the Unknowable, commonly designated God. If this conclusion is not in accordance with the modes of manifestation, there is no halting-place between it and the opposite extreme of the materialist that “there is no God”—that matter is all there is in the universe. If materialistic philosophy involve “grave error,” it becomes the duty of all who detect this tendency to preserve and point out the distinctions between the “matter of life” and the life of matter.

If the true province of philosophy is to discern the “soul of truth,” said to exist “in all erroneous things,” it ill becomes the ultra Spiritualist with a “soul of truth,” contained within his vast body of errors, to denounce the ultra Materialist, who, if he has not the “soul of truth,” has a vast body of it. To the superficial thinker, the Materialist may seem to be the more consistent of the two, as he can in part comprehend his truth, while the Spiritualist cannot. Whether one is more or less consistent than the other matters not, so far as their predications are concerned.

But the ultra Spiritualist would show his consistency by descending to the plane of the Materialist to find in his “body of truths” evidences of the handiwork of his God, which his ultra religious ideas fail to furnish; and the ultra Materialist would show his by ascending to the plane of the Spiritualist to find in his “soul of truth” the key that shall transform his “body of truth” into living evidence of an unlimited Power entirely beyond the pale of matter or the keenest scientific analysis.

TENDENCIES AND PROPHECIES OF THE PRESENT AGE.

[Revised from the American Workman of October 9, 1869.]

NO. I.

It is eminently proper, before approaching the future of any subject, to make strictest inquiry and most diligent search in and around its present—to look with retrospective glance upon the convergent paths of the past that have led to its present, and to catch the indices pointing onward; and, having found them, to judge whether such as Time’s unfolding calendar has left here and there along the pathway of passing events were reliable prophecies of what was to come—were truthful indications of what was to follow. In the judgment determined and warranted by the evidences obtained, a certain basis may be found upon which to predicate the prophecies of the living present.

The existing present is the absolute result of the eternal past; the sum total of all that has gone before; the product of God’s everlasting workings, by and through unchangeable law upon the elemental material universe; nor can there be extracted from this result, this sum total, this product, one simple separate effect which is not the legitimate offspring of the operation of immutable law, co-extensive with the universe, and co-existent with God.

A proposition that there are powers within God’s realm which did not spring from Him, or that the Original Cause has, in the economy of Nature, found it necessary to amend and change the original law, in order to accomplish His original purpose, or that contingencies have arisen which have demanded special enactments on the part of the Divine Ruler, presupposes that God did not know the end from the beginning, or, knowing it, was incompetent to provide therefor. Such a proposition, entertained by the human mind, destroys within it the God of the universe, and leaves the world, to it, a mere toy in the hands of its master, subject, at all times, to the caprices of his infinite rule, to be led here and there by circumstances he knew not of previous to their external development.

It may be said, that reasoning upon the character of God’s government, or the mode through which he manifests himself to the world, is not pertinent to the subject in view; to those who think thus the query should be propounded—What of the future without a reliable present? and what of the effects that must follow, if the operating, existing general laws of the universe be not the same in a thousand years as now? It becomes, then, extremely important that some permanent, unchangeable basis be found before proceeding to predicate the future; and unless God is the same yesterday, to-day and forever, we can find no certain basis upon which to stand and from which we can start.

We have but to question the earth whether or not, from its incipiency onward through countless ages, it has obeyed the one great command, Progress? and in answer received, determine if, in the past, God has found it necessary to change the great fundamental laws of the universe. Geology tells in unmistakable writings what the earth was; we have but to look about us to see what it is. At no time since it was can we learn that the law of progressive unfoldment has been inverted, and the world turned backward toward its commencing point. Since this has not occurred in the past, we may safely assume that it will not occur in the future; the law of progress may be accepted as one of God’s immutable decrees. The universe to-day, in all its variety and beauty, is no more in essence than it was millions of years ago, when it first assumed its orbital movements; the same elements exist in the exact quantity—nothing added—nothing taken away. Progress is simply a new arrangement of elementary principles.

Simple elements are indestructible; when two or more are combined, and produce an effect, the combination may be destroyed, and the elements separated and returned to their natural condition. This process is not one of destruction, but simply of change of the relations of the elements that formed the combination. An acorn deposited in the earth attracts to itself such elements as produce growth; after years of labor, the mighty oak is the result. Although in its formation it has taken from the earth and air certain properties, the same quantity of such proportions still exists—nothing new has been created, a new form only has been produced by Nature, testifying that she never rests. Now, suppose a power were applied to the oak to dissolve it, the oak only would be destroyed, not the properties that entered into its composition.

It is supposed there are a certain number of elementary principles contained in and that make up the material universe; were these principles simple units, incapable of divisibility, we could, by applying the rule of geometrical progression, soon arrive at the exact number of different combinations, and consequently the exact number of different forms they are capable of producing; but, being infinite in quantity and divisibility, infinitude of form and effect is possible. The power of arrangement being infinite, infinitude of association and combination is the legitimate result.

Combination and association began in the simplest forms! When God, by his omnipotent voice, spoke the earth into existence, as an individual planet, it contained exactly the same elements of which it is now composed; but they were simply in elemental form, without organization, and, consequently, without variety of manifestation in form; motion being an inherent quality, constant agitation brought the elements into relations and combinations, simple at first; but by constant change they arose from the simple to the complex, and from the complex toward the infinite, and in the sum total of them we have the living present.

The argument does not require that minute examination of geological science be made, following, one by one, the rise and fall, the organization and destruction of each of its classified periods, nor of the specific results by and through each; but only to recognize the law by which these results are arrived at. It is possible to so trace and classify these results as to show a continuous chain of progression, link by link, from the simplest form of combination, to the most complex and perfect, wherein all the original elements were first represented—man! Having arrived at perfection of form, wherein all the properties of the material world find themselves forming a part, it might reasonably be accepted that progression in formation would cease; while it has ceased so far as producing higher types is concerned, it has not in the quality of the types already produced; and in this proposition lies the greatest problem of life; the one most difficult for the human mind to grasp. Man, representing in form all that has gone before, is the result of the grand chain of progressive material formations; and, having combined within his physical form a portion of every element contained in the world, he may be likened in his infancy to the infancy of the earth. God, in spirit, pervades all material nature, and the union—if union it may be called—forms a perfect whole, and man being an epitome of all things contained in the material world, receives into his organization the spirit of each of its representative constituent parts, and consequently is endowed with all the spiritual attributes of the universe, the attributes of God! and, as God is eternal, man, created in His image, must likewise be eternal.

As the earth, in its first efforts at organization, combined but few of its principles, and presented the crudest form, and as time rolled on and its combinations continued to include more and more of the several principles, so with man; in his infancy his spiritual manifestations were crude in the extreme, but there has constantly been brought into co-operative combination, more and more of the spiritual principles, and higher and higher types of spiritual manifestations have been the result.

If man, as a unit, were analyzed to-day, he would be found to be made up spiritually of the elements corresponding to that age of the development of the physical world of which he is now the representative; that is to say, in his manifestations spiritually, he exhibits the same ratio of spiritual elements that the earth did in her manifestations in material elements at the time in her growth corresponding with the present condition and growth of man.

If cool and deliberate reason, unbiased by mythological and theoretical dogmas, be applied to the correspondence between the material and spiritual elements, the conclusion can scarcely fail to be arrived at, that each primary element of the material universe is the external expression and representative of a spiritual attribute of God; and as there are a definite number of elements in nature, forming the perfect material whole, so there are an equal number of analagous spiritual elements that constitute the spiritual whole.

As the elements and their corresponding interior principles are susceptible of infinite combinations and associations, the varied manifestations of nature and man are readily accounted for. Nor should it be forgotten that each of the manifestations is the legitimate and inevitable result of the combination out of which it springs; and, as the combination is not self-creative, but the result of the action of progressive law, so the effect of the combination is but the outward expression of the purposes contained within the law, behind the formation of the combination, and is thus the result of God’s operative law of progress.

Having argued thus far to show that the present age, material, mental and spiritual, is the legitimate result of the law of progressive development, the following propositions are deduced therefrom, forming a basis or platform from which to ask of the present—What of the future? Whither doth it lead?

First—All power, wherever manifested, is a unit.

Second—God is the source of all power, and the elements the subject of its application.

Third—Each attribute of God has its corresponding material element.

Fourth—All the material elements constitute the material world; all the spiritual elements, God.

Fifth—There is nothing contained in creation outside of the power of God, on the one hand, and the elementary principles on the other—the first positive, the last negative.

Sixth—Nothing can be added to what was; nothing taken away from what is.

Seventh—All the diversities in nature are the legitimate effect of the power of God, operating through and upon different elements, and different proportions of different elements, contained in nature, the diversity being infinite, because the material and producing power are infinite.

Eighth—Man, collectively, being the representative of all the material and spiritual elements, the individual diversities observed in him are the legitimate result of the different relative proportions of these elements contained in his organization.

Ninth—The present is the result of spiritual principles acting upon and through the material elements during the eternal past.

Giving a comprehensive glance at the world it will be seen that government of some kind is everywhere established, which purports to rule the people embraced within certain geographical boundaries. An analysis of each form, from the crudest and most barbarous up through all the modifications of civilized government, will discover that each government was a true exponent of the character of the people by or over whom it was established. Every country, as it advances in intellectual and moral development, demands modifications in its government adapted to the improved capacity of the people. Hence, as the character of the governed progresses, so must that of the government keep pace with that of the governed, else the power behind it will rise to its might, and sweep it away.

There is but little doubt that the government of this country is the highest form now in existence on the earth; but to show how crude and even barbarous it is, reference only has to be made to the terrible conflict it has just survived, which became inevitable and necessary as the only practical demonstration of the power of the principles upon which it purports to have been founded—that all men are born free and equal, and entitled to certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This proposition was made fundamental by great and good men, the representative lights of the country at that time, standing far in advance of the general mind. Liberty and equity had burst upon their souls under the sway of tyranny and oppression, which became so odious that anything was preferable to them, to longer enduring its injustice. In this land, far removed from that where freedom could not lift its head—with a mighty ocean rolling between, they felt they had found a secure asylum from further oppression, and a land where their new-born hopes could be realized. But, unfortunately, all who came to the New World had not these hopes and anticipations; some there were who still desired the strong hand of the tyrant to sway; and, thus invoked, it reached even across the mighty deep, and sought anew to enslave these new-born sons of freedom. Submission they never thought of—resistance was their only theme; and most thoroughly did they resist; through the long conflict that ensued, carried on by them under every conceivable disadvantage, their hopes never completely died out; and at last—triumphant over the crown—freedom reigned!

It cannot be wondered at that souls rising from such a conflict as the Revolution, triumphant, should assert so broad a proposition in behalf of equality as they did at the commencement of the struggle; nor is it wonderful that the great majority of the people did not understand, or did not have a full perception of the principle for which their representatives periled their lives and fortunes and pledged their sacred honor; but principles which were but partially discerned by the Fathers of the Republic have now grown into rules of action enforced by the sanctions of fundamental law; slavery of the body is no longer possible; the verdict of the majority of the people proclaimed it “behind the age.”

The South, recognizing this fact, knew that separation from the progressive mind of the North was the only chance for the continuance of a system which furnished so many excuses for physical, mental and moral lethargy; and in their attempt to separate, they precipitated a conflict in which history repeated itself, and freedom came out triumphant; thus what sprung from the seeds of tyranny and oppression, left scattered here and there by those who made that broad declaration, have been finally uprooted, and never more can take root and flourish under the scorching blaze of freedom’s noontide sun.

That physical, mental and spiritual lethargy was the condition of the South under the system of slavery all statistics touching this point indisputably attest; and the verdict of fifty years will pronounce the abolition of their system the greatest blessing God has yet vouchsafed them; it has opened the door of progress for all things, material and spiritual, and has rescued from the barbaric chains of the past a country more favored by God, in the bestowal of natural advantages, than any other on the face of the globe.

The general love of freedom, because it is an inherent right, is one of the first evidences the soul presents that it is growing from the boundaries and control of the material, from which it sprang, into those of the spiritual toward which it tends. When this love first takes root the soul has attained that degree of development wherein the spiritual has the superior control of the individual, resulting from the predominance of the spiritual over the material.

The fact that the general sentiment of the country demanded that slavery should no longer exist within its boundaries, is a very significant one, when considered in connection with the tendencies and prophecies of the present; it shows that the capacity and desire for freedom is being rapidly developed in the human soul; it indicates that the mind begins to appreciate what freedom really guarantees to its votaries in its broadest signification; it begins to recognize the glorious truth that every soul will, sooner or later, demand and receive all its rights.

The demands of public sentiment, which have already resulted in modifications of the constitution of the country, will not stop at the door of African slavery, which it has thrown wide open; there are many other systems of slavery still left to be abolished; while they do not all enslave the body, they so fetter the soul and the mind, that their influence is even more pernicious and galling than the enslavement of the body.

The African slave, toiling under the burning sun in the cotton, rice and sugar plantations of the South, was virtually in possession of more freedom of soul than are many of the white race, even in our own midst. Look into these things, and see if, while you have “cast the mote out of your brother’s eye,” you have not a “beam” in your own; these, however numerous, will in turn and time demand of the people and of the government, when in its province, such attention as may be required to extend freedom in all directions where “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” legitimately lead.

The history of the past as well as the tendencies of the present prophecy with distinctness and positiveness that the demand will soon go out, not only for a government founded on equal rights to all, but whose laws shall be administered with justice and equity, guaranteeing freedom of body, mind and soul to every living intelligence.

From evidences rapidly accumulating, it is believed that this country is ripening for such a form and administration of government; but in the present condition of society and of servitude to its customs, the imperfect and partial manner of arriving at representation, and of making and administering law, such a reform cannot be inaugurated; that is to say, although such a reform would be acceptable to and welcomed by the country, and will soon be demanded by it, as yet it is impossible to organize an effort, strictly within itself, that could effect it, because there is not a sufficient concentration of understanding upon the requirements to be met, nor of wisdom enough to draft for these requirements adequate laws and forms of administration. Were such a code prepared and submitted to the people, do you think it would be rejected?

In the earlier days of the republic legislation seems to have been conducted upon constitutional principles; but in these latter days it has so far departed from its seeming mainsprings of action that it is safe to assert that legislation, founded strictly upon considerations of principles of justice and right, is unknown in the land. If sometimes a great principle is demonstrated through legislation, it will invariably be found upon strict investigation, that the legislation was not predicated upon the principle, but upon some personal or party benefit expected to flow therefrom; the principle, therefore, stands under obligation to the expected benefit, and to the party needing it, and will doubtless, in its impartial operations, remember them. While this condition is a perfectly legitimate one, flowing from adequate producing causes, there are individual minds and souls, by thousands, who rise in their capacities for government out of it, and demand reform and the essential truth of Principle.

Government may be compared to an individual who, having committed some infringement upon the law of justice, is impelled, by the position it forces him into, to continue the practice to sustain himself from falling; but as a system of injustice cannot be perpetual, fail he must, sooner or later; and the longer it is delayed, the more complete will be the wreck and ruin when it comes;—as with the individual, so it must be with the State. Once started upon a system of law-making and executing not founded upon principles of justice and right, the course must be pursued and sustained by further enactments, either to cover the deformities of the previous proceeding or hide its purposes, and unless righteous judgment come to the rescue before the course has led to wide-spread and apparent corruption throughout all its channels of administration, it must eventually culminate in the downfall of the government, if not in the destruction of the nation.

Policy, not principle, is the ruling power behind all present legislation. Policy, inevitably and indiscriminately, leads to corruption. Corruption, obeying the inherent laws of its own nature, untouched by and beyond the control of the enactments that first gave it life and afterward fostered its growth, must culminate in certain destruction to all parts involved, whether it be within the body human, the body corporate or the body politic.

Did the Republican party, as a party, desire the freedom of the negro simply and solely because it was one of his natural rights? Would freedom have been extended to him by that party had it been positively known that all his influence would be used against it? Or would the Democratic party, as a party, have opposed the enfranchisement of the negro had it been known that he would become its political ally?

Judging from the indices of the past, it is fair to suspect, at least, if not to conclude, that the Republican party is expecting another such exigency as existed when it was found politic to extend freedom and suffrage to the negro; and in the question of female suffrage, for which the demand is now being earnestly made, there is but little doubt that it sees another means of salvation in the future, and seeks to postpone the question until the exigency shall become more imminent and dangerous. It may be argued that the Republican party was organized upon the principles of freedom. If this were wholly true, it would be also true that it had no sooner become a party in power than it resolved itself into a tribunal to define the limits for the application of the very principles that had placed it in power; thereby endeavoring to prostitute the principle to subserviency to the policy of its leaders, instead of calmly and firmly following where it would legitimately lead; like all parties and sects, of previous origin, it built upon a principle, and then, instead of wisely following, recklessly attempted to guide it.

With all the prestige of possession, and of being the acknowledged representative of the principle which had carried it into power, the result of the late elections began to be feared by the party, because its leaders knew they had driven it from its birthright, and led it after strange gods; and, had the opposing party been actuated by true progressive principles of justice, no man, however popular in himself, could have saved it from destruction.

Conscious of having departed from the principles that gave it power, the Republican party is even now seeking every means within its grasp to fortify itself behind measures looking solely to success in ’72; but it is prophesied that ere that time there will have sprung into existence another party that will not be the mere professed representative of freedom and equal rights to all, but the actual, living, moving, irresistible incarnation of those principles.

The lines of policy pursued by party leaders, and the channels of corruption opened by the executive officers of the government, have produced a result so wide-spread in its influence and ramifications that, instead of their being under the control of the government, they exert a vast if not controlling power over all its actions; it is not necessary to go beyond its own records to establish this fact; every newspaper in the country teems with evidence in point; the clergy have deemed the situation dangerous enough to hurl the anathemas of the Church against it; the dramatist and the artist, the poet and the philosopher, have each dealt his blow, while the “toiling millions” everywhere cry for reform.

So general and earnest has the demand for reform become that something must be done; the gathering masses of corruption all over the body will soon have ripened to bursting; and who can tell how much the body itself has become involved. May it not be feared that it does not possess sufficient recuperative purity and strength to stand the shock? Could the enlightened mental, moral and spiritual elements of the country which are possessed by those who stand in the front ranks of the advancing column of progress be combined into organized action, they might be able to arrest the abnormal growth of corruption, and, by strengthening and stimulating the sound members of the body to co-operative action, restore the whole system to its normal condition.

The machinery of the government has become so complex and unwieldy—so full of departmental and petty offices—that it is utterly beyond the power of one man, though he be “a great and mighty President,” to understand and control it.

The tendencies of the government being dangerous to the liberties of the people, their demand for reform is earnest, and must be heeded. But where will reformation begin? To whom must we look for relief? If we go to Congress with the Constitution in our hands, and demand such legislation as would give practical efficiency to the preamble and charter of freedom, they may possibly pay sufficient attention to the subject to pass a joint resolution setting forth that, while certain inalienable rights seem to be guaranteed to all, still Congress must be the dispensing power and judge of its application; and that it has decided that the negro shall be the first on the list—next, perhaps, the Indian may come in—next the Chinaman, and all the ends of the earth—except woman. Yes, go to Congress for relief from onerous taxes, wrung from the blood and bones of the laboring poor to fill the coffers of government vampires, and they will answer you by passing some new Revenue Act, in whose cunningly prepared articles will be found traps set for the people’s money, which the trained bands of political party secretly manage on joint account for themselves and their party leaders; it will answer you by granting new subsidies to corporations already grown rich from the fruits of the labor of the people; by granting to powerful monopolies still further privileges increasing their power through bribery and corruption to make subordinate the welfare of the country to their own selfish purposes, and by favoring all schemes for the centralization of power. Such being the answers to your demands, there is still a tribunal to which you can appeal, which in all time past has heard and answered the demands of the age.

In the system of special and class legislation causes of corruption and the downfall of governments may always be found; it is the bane of the nations, whence flows that subtle, entrancing poison that permeates all the arteries and veins of a country—so quietly and alluringly to the people, that, before its effects are suspected, the vital principle of the government is destroyed, and the lifeless form finally falls to rise no more forever; or, if the spiritless form be still upheld by the usurper, it is only retained as “a cheat and a delusion” to shield the person of the tyrant who has enslaved his victims in the name and under the guise of liberty.

TENDENCIES AND PROPHECIES OF THE PRESENT AGE.

[Revised from the American Workman of Oct. 16, 1870.]

NO. II.

The subject of government and the solution of all its difficulties seem to hinge upon the question, Where does God’s government drop its sway (if it does so at all), and where does man take it up, on his own account, by inherent natural right, guaranteed to him by the law that gave him being? The only modification of this question required to be considered is, How far man is or can be the authorized, competent agent of the Almighty in working out His purposes? To solve all these questions it becomes necessary to determine what the fundamental principles of government must be, to be in harmony with the laws of God, and to adopt them and to follow them out to all their legitimate conclusions and results, discarding everything else. In such government and legislation the eternal principles of right, which are God’s laws, are in full force and effect, and man, thus far, an authorized competent agent in the administration of His decrees in the material world.

Whether a government founded or administered upon any other basis than the eternal principles of right and justice can or cannot be enduring, is a proposition the simplest mind may solve. Progress is from the lower to the higher; in its certain and irresistible march all systems and things that have risen out of the circumstances of the times to which they belong will be swept away to make room for the new and the better; but principles and self-evident truths that were contained in such systems will endure to be incorporated into all future systems.

There can be no higher form of expression than that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are “inalienable” rights to all; and, being such, it is safe to assume that it will always remain as a fundamental proposition in the organic law of this country; and legislation will be required to guide itself by it, instead of being its exponent.

Change upon change will come in the future, as it has in the past, until government will become so simplified as to have for its foundation nothing but an annunciation of general principles of justice and equity, as self-evident truths upon which all legislation must be based.

Passing, for a time, the consideration of the principles of government, it may be well to inquire into the injustice of some of its present details. All men, and women, too, are born free and equal, entitled to certain natural rights, which no government has the right to take from them. While every man and woman is a result of the general law of procreation, there are distinguishing points peculiar to each, which renders every one different from every other; thus no two persons can be so precisely alike as to make their individuality the same; consequently no two persons are governed by the same internal and external mainsprings of action and influence. Let the same power and influence be exerted upon different individuals, no matter how nearly they may resemble each other, different results will flow from each, the character of which will be absolutely determined by the status of the development of, and the relations between the material, and spiritual elements represented in the individuals acted upon. No argument is needed to prove this proposition; and the legitimate deduction to be drawn from it is, that no judgment of the action of the individual, by others, is just that does not take into consideration all the various points in character and influence under which action is produced.

It must not be forgotten that all thought and action on the part of an individual is the legitimate result of some competent producing cause, operating by natural law. The cause being competent, the law of operation natural, and the result consequently legitimate, can another’s idea of right step in to sit in judgment over the action, and render a verdict of justice to the actor? Or, can any number of individuals determine what the demands of justice are which God himself has declared by the mouth of all His holy prophets, material and spiritual. “Judgment is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

No one can hope to escape the judgments of the eternal law, or to hide himself from God’s officers of justice; but must by them be brought before its stern, undeviating bar, to receive its unpardonable sentence. But, says the objector, this does not satisfy me, who have suffered from the offence. What if it does not satisfy you? God is satisfied; and are you greater than He, that you may question His justice? If you are not yet satisfied, God will most surely satisfy you in His own good time.

Look into your statutes, and within them, find their own stultification. They assert that no criminal shall be subjected to two trials and penalties for the same offence; but, in the face of this righteous rule, and with the positive knowledge that God has already tried, convicted and sentenced the murderer, the courts of the country take possession and control of the criminal, proceed to try, convict, condemn and hang him by the neck until he is dead. Rest assured God will not overlook this attempt of yours to forestall his judgments.

We stop here to make a broad assertion: For man to affix certain definite penalties as punishment for so-called crime is to arrogate to himself what alone belongs to God!

Stumbling-blocks are constantly found in the path of progress, against which the earnest traveler finds himself precipitated; these consist of the ideas of the past, clothed with form and expression, and which were set up by their conceivers as “guides and lights” of their times, for those who groped their way by such assistance. The earnest seeker after light finds these set up all along his path, declaring “thus far shalt thou go, and no farther;” but he, catching a glimpse of the light so bright beyond, clears the obstruction by a single bound, and goes on his way rejoicing, seldom deeming it his duty to turn upon and cast what to him was but a hindrance from the path of progress, so that others coming that way should not encounter it, who perhaps might lack the power to surmount it. “Let your light shine” so that those who come after you may be aided thereby.

A single argument upon the question of the relations between debtor and creditor, which is maintained by the present laws, will be sufficient to illustrate the whole subject of customs, authorities and laws, which are obstructions in the path of progress. The time was when imprisonment for debt was authorized by law in all the States of this land of freedom (?); but the spirit of progressive justice has been at work until but few of the States now retain this libel upon Christian civilization to disgrace their statutes. Imprisonment for debt! What good ever resulted from it? The malignity of the creditor may have satisfied itself by still further humiliating the broken spirits of the debtor; but the creditor, by such action, places it still further beyond the power of the unfortunate debtor to satisfy the demand. It is asserted, without fear of successful contradiction, that the same deleterious effects generally flow from all similar laws. All kinds of crime are but species of debt, and the same rule applies with about the same force to its laws and penalties. Imprisonment for debt has been pretty generally abolished, but still our statute books are laden with laws to enforce collection.

A philosopher and economist, not long ago, fully investigated the relations between debtor and creditor, and the practical results of the laws now in force, and arrived at the “deliberate conclusion” that the costs attending the attempts to collect debts by legal process were three times the amount collected; not a very flattering commentary upon the policy of the law, and certainly not a paying investment to the crediting part of our community. This conclusion may at first thought appear fallacious; but when the expensiveness of courts, and the immense incomes of lawyers who practice at their bars, are considered, the afterthought will fully sustain the conclusion. It is believed by many that if there were no laws at all to enforce collection, there would be many less bad debts; even now a debt of honor is held by public opinion to have precedence of those which the law claims the right to enforce.

The thinker of ordinary capacity will see at a glance that an immense amount of labor would be withdrawn from the courts, which now bears heavily upon the people, not only in the form of taxes to pay for court-houses, jury-rooms and judges’ salaries, but in the waste of time employed in jury-boxes by men dragged from their inevitable toil, and held as prisoners, while their wives and children are often suffering, and even dying, from the want of their care and attention at home. Contracts should be so well defined as to admit of no misunderstanding; and if there was no method of collection and enforcement, there would be very many less disagreements; hence, in no light in which it can be viewed, does our present system commend itself to the wisdom and justice of the reflecting; on the contrary, it throws open the door for cunning and knavery to enter to test their strength through technical evasions and blind inferences, practiced, on the unwary and ignorant by the “Quirks, the Gammons and the Snaps,” who, as vampires of the time-honored profession they disgrace, feed and fatten upon the misfortunes of the deluded, long-forbearing, long-suffering children of toil.

It may be safely asserted that a very large part of all law contained within the statutes of the world, when analyzed, will present about the same deleterious results in practice and in the opportunities presented for infringement and subsequent evasion of their penalties that inevitably flow from all laws for the collection of debts.

The time has probably not yet come for the abolishment of all such laws, but the time has come when the relations of individual debtors and creditors should be left to the control of general principles of justice, which declare that a contract once fairly made, an obligation once fairly incurred, can never be discharged until satisfaction shall have been entered upon the record by divine justice.

TENDENCIES AND PROPHECIES OF THE PRESENT AGE.

[Revised from the American Workman of Oct. 30, 1870.]

NO. III.

When it is considered, how much the useful portion of life is dependent upon the preparatory part, the character of the influences brought to bear during that part, and the manner of their application, become a subject of deep importance. Education has received the most special attention from scholars, savants and professors; but they seem to have forgotten or to have ignored the fact that within the mind is contained the germ of all acquirements, and that teaching by rule merely what others have said or written, cramps and dwarfs the mind which, under a more natural system, would more rapidly and more healthfully develop its latent powers, through its stimulated efforts to evolve ideas connected with such facts and phenomena as may be exhibited to it, and thus become a part of the mind itself.

Instead of training the mind to rely upon method, books and authorities as rules, it should be encouraged to form methods of its own. The mind should be questioned, and its answers listened to, instead of being furnished by the teacher.

The mode proposed has many decided advantages. It inspires self-reliance, disciplines the mind to think for itself, accustoms it to express its own conclusions in its own chosen language, leads to clear and comprehensive forms of expression, gives decision and confidence, and tends to produce individuality of thought and character.

The Children’s Progressive Lyceum, instituted upon this idea, has already been inaugurated, and should receive the careful and unprejudiced attention of all interested in educational reform. Children who have been under this system but a few months are able to stand before an audience, and, in a clear and comprehensive manner, speak without embarrassment upon any subject comprehended by their minds. The coming generations will acknowledge a debt of gratitude to the founder of this system which no depth of respect or reverence could fully express.

No proposition can be made which will be more readily accepted by the general progressive mind than that, as the world advances in knowledge and wisdom, its general welfare becomes more and more dependent upon reciprocal interests; that is to say, as persons and nations become more and better individualized, their reliance upon interests outside of themselves becomes more positively and distinctly defined; thus a system of mutual dependence and reciprocal interests is every day being more widely inaugurated, which will continue to spread until the whole world will be brought into harmonious co-operation. This is commerce! Commerce, to the material world, is what thought is to the spiritual—interchange and exchange of material product in the one and of spiritual in the other—hence no restrictions or embargoes should be placed on the one which would not be legitimate if placed upon the other. The dependence and independence of each is mutual and general.

Restrictions upon commerce is a system of commercial slavery, flowing from politic and special legislation, and is in violation of the eternal principles of right, because it renders equality in interchange impossible. If it is the right principle to restrict commerce between nations, it extends to States, to cities and to individuals as well.

Under the rule of an unrestricted commercial intercourse throughout the world, the principle of supply and demand would control the movements of commerce without the aid of legislation; and, when once fully established, it would give stability and security to production everywhere. The products of the world entering into commerce would localize themselves where they naturally belong—where most could be produced with the least labor; and, population obeying the laws of equalization, would adjust itself to the demands of the respective interests of productive labor. This is a vast problem, in the solution of which the whole world is vitally interested, and one which, sooner or later, must be solved. If its solution were possible now, coming generations would look back and bless us for the solving. An international congress should be called to consider the subject, and to take proper measures for the inauguration of a system of general economy in production and consumption. The prophecies of the age point to this as a reform of sufficient magnitude to demand the immediate attention of the nations, and to call for a Christ to rise up for their salvation more powerful than the Democratic Party.

The political, national or personal advantages which are supposed to flow from restraints upon commerce, have nothing to do with the question of general reform. While it is the duty of every nation and every individual person to press forward the work of reform upon general principles, each nation and person must always keep in view the law of self-preservation, otherwise individuality will be lost in the struggle for supremacy, which has hitherto characterized the legislation of nations and the conduct of individual persons. The great principle of unrestricted universal commerce can only be practically established by universal acquiescence in its wisdom and justice. When legislation shall conform itself to general principles, instead of sectional, local or personal policy, and when its course shall be shaped by such broad action, it may be safely prophesied that the government it represents will be perfect and perpetual. Commerce will then obey the law of progress, and rise from the petty policies of nations, which strangle its development and limit its benefits: it will rise to be conducted upon the dignity of principle, untrammeled by policy; and on this platform the world will unite in harmonious prosperity under a universal government, not limited even by the boundaries between the material and the spiritual world.

Underlying all advancement and prosperity, material and spiritual, is action—motion—which, guided by intellect, results in labor, without which the world would be as though man had never been; for no form of creature below him has ever left permanent artificial beauty, systems of economy or usefulness as the result of its workings, except in so far as the form itself may be accounted such.

What, in two hundred years, has so changed the face of this country from the wilderness it was to the teeming garden it is, dotted all over with the habitations of men? What has produced the floating palaces that everywhere walk its deep waters “like a thing of life?” What has united all its distant parts by iron bands, along whose guiding lines those other representatives of art and motion speed, almost outstripping the wind? What has overcome time and space, and is now extending its arms to embrace the globe, that we may speak, and that the ends of the earth answer our call? Marvelous demonstration of the rapidly growing mutual and reciprocal dependence of the children of men! What has made the wilderness to blossom as the rose? What has achieved all these glorious, god-like results? Labor! labor! labor! physical, mental and spiritual labor!

Labor, therefore, is the fulcrum of the great lever of progress, lifting humanity from the material up to the spiritual realm. One short century ago nearly all physical labor was performed by the hands of man. Since then the mind has come up to the work, and rescued the body from the laborious servitude of former times; and now a single mind, directing a single machine, produces an hundred-fold more than it could when acting through its own personal machine. The inventive powers of the mind will continue to produce more labor-saving machines until labor directly with the hand will be almost, perhaps entirely, superseded.

The products of the mind, when compared with purely physical labor, are of inestimable value, and the great distinction everywhere recognized in their relative compensations is still too limited. No argument is needed to establish the dignity of labor; it has established itself in becoming the architect of the great future, by building the past and the present.

Out of the multiform phases of labor, questions will arise which will require for their adjustment equitable rules of compensation; the best talent in the world can find ample scope for useful employment in the solution of the numerous problems growing out of this vast subject. Labor—physical, mental and spiritual—finding itself in a position of injustice, is in a state of constant irritation and discontent, and legitimately seeks redress through the organization of associations to control its price; but it is at least questionable whether such combinations have been productive of any permanently beneficial results. If it could be perceived and comprehended, there must be, in the nature of things, perfect and complete harmony in the practical operation of all the working elements or agencies, not only in this world, but in the boundless universe.

This problem may find a practical solution in co-operative labor associations, in which the members share equally the profits upon what they produce.

Suppose the entire labor of the country were conducted upon this just principle, what would be the result? The rapidly accumulating wealth of the country is the result of labor; if the united labor of the country, producing this increase, should henceforward share it equally, the result, in time, would be the equalization of the wealth of the country, which is now rapidly growing into a necessity, to modify the luxurious habits of the rich on the one hand, and the crying evils of poverty on the other, which are rapidly engendering an antagonism, which will continue to increase in volume and intensity until it will culminate in a storm that will consume the elements of discord in the same manner (and upon the same immutable principles) by which African slavery was abolished in the Southern States of this Union.

A careful investigation of the co-operative principle will show that it is not only possible, but perfectly simple and practicable, and that it is full of glorious prophecy to the vast numbers who are now “ground to the earth” by the condition of actual slavery to the ordinary demands of nature which is entailed upon them from generation to generation, through the operations of false systems, which were founded upon and which are sustained by injustice and usurpation.

While viewing this subject in its practical aspects, it must not be forgotten that it, too, is intimately connected with progress, and subject to its decrees.

It is a well-established fact that the powers of endurance of the physical system are growing less, generation after generation, while the mental power is increasing in about the same ratio; the legitimate deduction from this fact is in perfect harmony with the general progressive tendency of all things leading from the purely physical to the spiritual, from which we may safely prophecy that the time will come when all labor will be performed by the mind, and when it shall have acquired perfect dominion over the material. The necessity for physical endurance will then have ended. The tendency to such a condition, though it has been, is, and may continue to be gradual, is nevertheless positive and well-defined.

Intimately connected with the subject of labor, and the tendency to perform by the agency of inventions what still devolves upon the direct application of physical strength, is that of supplying the demands of the body. The food used now is very different from that of a hundred years ago. Some who recognize this fact argue that the change of diet has produced the change in the physical condition; but reasoning from analogy, and applying the general rules of progress, leads to the conclusion that the changes in the relative conditions of the physical and mental, by which the latter asserts superior control, have rendered a corresponding change of diet necessary; hence it is fair to conclude that the change grows out of the necessities of the consumer, and is not the producing cause in the premises; in other and general terms, the physical system demands and should receive appropriate supplies.

Hundreds of people who once made use of the flesh of swine have entirely discarded it from their boards, instinctively feeling that it does not meet their present demands, and there is a growing distaste for it. Common observation shows that all kinds of flesh are gradually falling into disfavor, especially among those who labor mentally or are devoted to spiritual things.

As the physical system is gradually being relieved of labor and the consequent waste of its energies, the character of food it requires necessarily changes, and in the place of physical strength to be supplied is that upon which the brain can draw to replenish its wasting stock; the failure to recognize these demands causes very much of the dyspepsia from which those who lead sedentary lives suffer so generally; these should discard those articles of diet that principally contribute to build up the material, and use such as will impart strength to the mind.

There are quite a number of well-authenticated cases of the actual subsistence of the body upon the elements contained in the atmosphere a sufficient length of time to show that it could be continued indefinitely if the proper conditions were preserved. One of these cases in the State of Kentucky has remained seventeen years in this condition; one in Chicago nearly four years; there is one in Brooklyn of three years’ duration; and a number of others from ten to sixty days. In this condition the physical system becomes entirely renovated, purified, and almost transparent, and the spiritual faculties intensified many fold.

TENDENCIES AND PROPHECIES OF THE PRESENT AGE.

[Revised from the American Workman of Nov. 20, 1870.]

NO. IV.

Arguing from the fact that the character of food subsisted upon is gradually changed from the purely physical to the more refined and rare, in connection with that of exceptional cases having existed, in which supplies were drawn from entirely different sources than digested food, leads toward the conclusion, at least, that the time will come when men will have grown out of the necessity of supplying the wasting energies of the body and mind by the use of food, and into that refined spiritual condition in which he can draw directly upon the elements which the atmosphere does or will furnish to supply all his demands. All the arguments nature furnishes point to this condition. All know how very important it is to have a plentiful supply of pure air; but how far this goes toward furnishing the elements of supply demanded by the body, the deepest inquiries have not decided.

In a given case, the actual amount in weight that is furnished the body can be determined; deducting the weight of the excretions and palpable secretions, it is supposed the difference is consumed by some undefined process within the body; but who can tell how much and what the system takes directly from the atmosphere, or how much it gives up to it, that we have no means of defining by weight or otherwise? We also know that the atmosphere maintains an immense pressure upon the body, and that it involuntarily resists this pressure; this could not happen were there not some well defined and intimate relations between the two upon which man, as the object, must be greatly dependent.

Another strong and pointed argument is to be found in the process sometimes resorted to to sustain life: in cases of great prostration of the physical system, under exhaustive disease, when the means cannot be supplied through the medium of the stomach and digestion, they are furnished by being absorbed into the system through the pores of the skin.

The constant death and decay of all the materials upon which we feed, besides all that vast amount not drawn upon directly, is continually giving off to the atmosphere the same kind of elements which the body retains and uses from supplies of food; as they exist in the atmosphere in the form of elements, and there is a demand within the body for them, it is only necessary to create and maintain the means of supply to solve the problem. A glorious prophecy comes forth from the tendencies of labor toward the mental, and the accompanying necessity for modifications of diet, adapted to the many gradations man must pass through to reach a purely spiritual condition.

The physical system has been the accredited medium through which the spirit within it—the real man—has wrought, and still is, in all individuals who are not beyond the point where spirit becomes the predominant and governing characteristic. In the present, however, there are scattered here and there among the masses individuals who have passed—are passing—or are approaching that point in which the spirit, at times, acts independently of its material machine in which it has been fostered and cultured, and gives positive proofs of an existence within the body of an individualized life, which can and does act without the agency of the body, and performs functions before impossible. There are a thousand persons, at least, in this country who have a sight entirely independent of the physical eye, which overleaps the boundaries of physical vision; penetrates the barriers of external sense, tears off the mask of hypocrisy and deceit, detects the motives and mainsprings of action, and lays bare the heart of man. While comparatively but few have attained this, all are approaching it. What does Paul mean but this when he says, “Now we see, as through a glass, darkly; but then face to face”? When the spirit-eye shall have fully pierced its barriers of flesh, when the body shall have become subservient to the spirit, instead of the spirit being dependent upon the body, when we “shall see as we are seen, and know as we are known,” how radical the changes, and how rapid the strides of advancement will then be!

Reason for a moment upon the effect that would be produced were every tenth person suddenly endowed with spirit-sight, and compelled to demonstrate it by exposing the hearts and the lives of all the rest. Where could oppression hide itself? Where could the lusts of the flesh plot their treason against the sovereignty of the spirit, beyond the range of spirit vigilance—this new safeguard of human society, the eternal law of progress, which is now unfolding? In such a condition of things, courts of justice, with all their attendant judges, bailiffs and attorneys-at-law, would find their occupation gone. Prisons would be converted into asylums and workshops for the weak and unfortunate, and their keepers into superintendents and teachers. Churches would be converted into lecture-rooms; and preachers, now hurling their anathemas against unrepentant sinners, would become professors of the great principles through and by which the world, and all things, have been brought from the primary condition thus far on their march toward the perfect.

Many individuals know that they are under the surveillance of this spirit-sight, and demonstrate in conduct its beneficent influence; but the capacity has not yet become sufficiently general to compel the recognition of its efficacy by the public mind. As the rising sun first gilds the mountain’s loftiest peak, next the hill-top, then glides along the inviting slope to the universal plain, where all creation rejoices under the refulgence of its noonday glories—so comes this rising light, to illumine the hearts and souls of all when it shall have reached the zenith of its mid-day glory. As the beams reflected from the mountain top are of the sun, and not the mountains, so are these spiritual rays of the spiritual sun, and not of the individual reflecting them, or through whom they may chance to shine. Verily, verily, I say unto you, this people vaunteth and puffeth itself with knowledge, but wisdom hath surely departed to the lowly ones of earth! Religion, clad in its robes “of purple and fine linen,” faring “sumptuously every day,” forgetting that Christ was cradled in a manger, and that His disciples were fishermen, continually cries, as did the “Pharisees and hypocrites” of old: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

The time is not far distant when the possession of spirit-sight will be accounted of the first importance, not to those only who possess it, but to the public generally, and will be sought for and made practical to the honor of its possessors and to the inestimable benefit of all. The time will come in the not far distant future when those who now cry out, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” will bow, with becoming humility, before the later-day fishermen; for these will then occupy the places of public trust, and spirit-telegraphy, having superseded material wires, will convey the commands of God’s accredited ministers from the central seat of Power throughout the world.

Where are all the great of the past; its orators, philosophers and statesmen; Confucius, Zoroaster, Moses, David, Solomon, Lycurgus, Demosthenes, Cicero, Bonaparte, Washington, and many others, of all nations and climes, to whom history points as having stood hundreds of years in advance of their times? Do they still live? and, living, are they idle? Are their minds withdrawn from subjects to which they were devoted in this primary school-house of the children of God? Are not their minds expanded to the comprehension of the great principles of governmental justice? Are they not better qualified to direct legislation now than the wisest among us? If they still live as spirits, if they have had better opportunities of obtaining wisdom and knowledge pertaining to earth-life than we—can this world avail itself of their assistance to establish on earth the government of heaven? If the angel in the bush were possible, why may not angels manifest the wisdom, power, and justice of God in our legislative halls? Who will dare to assert that they are not even now seeking another Moses to lead “His people” up out of Egypt? Then will the prophecies of the present have reached consummation; then will commence the earthly reign of the King of kings and Lord of lords, as prophesied by all the holy prophets of the world; then old things shall pass away and all things become new; then the Christ shall sit upon the throne, and from his inexhausted fountain of love, justice shall continually flow over all the earth, “as the waters cover the sea.”

As vanish the heavy mists of the morning before the radiance of the rising sun, so will vanish the clouds that hang around the minds of man, and shut out the rising spiritual sun, for whose “star in the East” wise men are continually watching; the sun that will rise higher and higher, and extend its rays wider and wider, until it shall enlighten the minds of all mankind, until the icebergs of ignorance, tradition and superstition are dissolved which now float in the ocean of progress—society, with its cankered, festering heart; commerce robbed of its legitimate function; labor of its recompense, and religion of its spirituality; education lacking wisdom, marriages forming “disunions,” and women without rights.

All the false forms of the present must yield their sway to God’s command—“Let there be light.” The laws of God are never changed—though old as creation—they are ever new, ever sufficient for all the vicissitudes of life; they are ever full of wisdom, justice and love; they are written all over the face of creation, in the bosom of the earth and in the heart of man; they are uttered by the raging tempest that rocks the mighty ocean; in the terrible mutterings of the earthquake; in the fury of destructive battle, when hosts are hurled on hosts in fraternal strife; through all these the voice of God proclaims—“Let there be light,” and there is light.

We also hear its whispers in the gentle zephyrs that stir the bursting buds and in the blooming flowers that lift their heads to drink the falling dew; in the hum of busy nature; in the gushing fountain; we see it in the gambols of the bubbling brook; in the mother’s love for the new-born life; in the father’s pride; in the unspoken joy of the maiden’s soul, listening to the first sweet tones of love; in the magnetic ties of human sympathy which bind all mankind in a common brotherhood, and in the dawning light of heaven brought to earth by the angelic hosts to usher in the reign of universal justice, peace and love.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES

1. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling.

2. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.

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Table of Contents

THE ORIGIN, TENDENCIES AND PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT: OR, A REVIEW OF THE RISE AND FALL OF NATIONS FROM EARLY HISTORIC TIME TO THE PRESENT; WITH SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING THE FUTURE OF THE UNITED STATES AS THE REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD AND THE FORM OF ADMINISTRATION WHICH WILL SECURE THIS CONSUMMATION. ALSO, PAPERS ON HUMAN EQUALITY, AS REPRESENTED BY LABOR AND ITS REPRESENTATIVE, MONEY; AND THE MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE FROM A SCIENTIFIC STANDPOINT, WITH ITS PROPHECIES FOR THE GREAT FUTURE.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTORY.

GOD IN CREATION, IN HISTORY AND IN GOVERNMENT.

CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

ARTICLE I.

ARTICLE II.

ARTICLE III.

ARTICLE IV.

ARTICLE V.

ARTICLE VI.

ARTICLE VII.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE I.

ARTICLE II.

ARTICLE III.

ARTICLE IV.

ARTICLE V.

ARTICLE VI.

ARTICLE VII.

ARTICLE VIII.

ARTICLE IX.

ARTICLE X.

ARTICLE XI.

ARTICLE XII.

ARTICLE XIII.

ARTICLE XIV.

ARTICLE XV.

FIRST PRONUNCIAMENTO.

A VIEW OF THE GENERAL SITUATION.

SECOND PRONUNCIAMENTO.

CONSTITUTIONAL EQUALITY THE LOGICAL RESULT OF THE XIV. AND XV. AMENDMENTS, WHICH NOT ONLY DECLARE WHO ARE CITIZENS, BUT ALSO DEFINE THEIR RIGHTS, ONE OF WHICH IS THE RIGHT TO VOTE, WITHOUT REGARD TO SEX, BOTH SEXES BEING INCLUDED IN THE MORE COMPREHENSIVE PROHIBITORY TERMS OF RACE AND COLOR. THE STATE LAWS WHICH PROSCRIBED WOMEN AS VOTERS WERE REPEALED BY THE STATES WHEN THEY RATIFIED SAID AMENDMENTS—THERE ARE NO EXISTING OPERATIVE LAWS WHICH PROSCRIBE THE RIGHT OF ANY CITIZEN TO VOTE—THE PERFECTED FRUITS OF THE LATE WAR—THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS BOUND TO PROTECT ITS CITIZENS, MALE AND FEMALE, IN THE EXERCISE OF THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE—THE DUTY OF CONGRESS IN THE PREMISES.

ARTICLE XV.

ARTICLE XIV.

THE MEMORIAL OF VICTORIA C. WOODHULL,

CONSTITUTIONAL EQUALITY.

TENDENCIES OF GOVERNMENT.

GOD IN CREATION, IN HISTORY, AND IN GOVERNMENT—A PHILOSOPHICAL PREFACE TO A PHILOSOPHICAL DISCOURSE.

SECOND PART OF MRS. VICTORIA C. WOODHULL’S PHILIPPIC—LAWS, PEOPLES AND COMMUNITIES FROM A FEMALE POINT OF VIEW—LESSONS IN HISTORY, POLITICS AND WAR.

MRS. WOODHULL’S THIRD LETTER.

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL’S FOURTH PAPER—A RETROSPECT OF ANCIENT GRECIAN AND ROMAN HISTORY.

ROME.

MODERN EUROPE.

VICTORIA C. WOODHULL’S LAST LESSON IN POLITICAL HISTORY.

WOMAN’S IDEA OF GOVERNMENT.

LIMITS AND SPHERE OF GOVERNMENT.

MRS. WOODHULL’S LATEST EPISTLE TO THE AMERICANS—“THE LIMITS AND SPHERE OF GOVERNMENT” CONSIDERED FROM A FEMALE POINT OF VIEW.

GRAVELY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION AND ITS ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT, AS VIEWED AND REVIEWED BY ONE OF THE FIRM OF FEMALE BROKERS OF WALL STREET.

ANOTHER LETTER FROM VICTORIA C. WOODHULL ON POLITICAL HISTORY.

THE FIFTH PART OF MRS. WOODHULL’S DISQUISITION ON GOVERNMENT—INDIVIDUAL ENTERPRISE AND ITS DEVELOPMENT AS AFFECTED BY GOVERNMENT.

MRS. VICTORIA C. WOODHULL’S CONCLUDING CHAPTER ON THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT

THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.

NO. I.

NO. II.

NO. III

NO. IV.

PAPERS ON LABOR AND CAPITAL

NO. I.

NO. II.

NO. III.

NO. IV.

NO. V.

NO. VI.

NO. VII. PRIORITY OF RIGHT—THEIR POSITION IN THE PROCESSES OF SOCIETY—THE EARTH BELONGS TO MAN AT LARGE—INDIVIDUAL CLAIMS, PURE ASSUMPTION—PRINCIPLES, PRACTICE, REMEDIES AND CURE.

NO. VIII. THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION—NEW PARTIES AND NEW ISSUES—PEOPLE’S EYES OPEN—DETERMINATION TO TAKE MATTERS INTO THEIR OWN HANDS—WILL THEY MAKE JUDICIOUS MOVEMENTS?—THE RIGHTS OF LABOR—SHALL THEY BE IGNORED?—OUR POSITION REGARDING THE LABOR MOVEMENT.

NO. IX.

NO. X.

NO. XI.

NO. XII.

NO. XIII.

NO. XIV

NO. XV.

NO. XVI.

NO. XVII.

PAPERS ON FINANCE AND COMMERCE.

NO. I.

NO. II.

NO. III.

NO. IV.

NO. V.

NO. VI.

NO. VII.

NO. VIII.

NO. IX.

NO. X.

NO. XI.

NO. XII.

NO. XIII.

BASIS OF PHYSICAL LIFE.

THE UNITY OF LIFE, POWER AND MOTION.

TENDENCIES AND PROPHECIES OF THE PRESENT AGE.

NO. I.

NO. II.

NO. III.

NO. IV.

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE