THE PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT.
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 theapplication 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 placesthey 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 isnothing 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 singlebranch 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.