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I may be thought severe. But I mean not to be more so than the cause of truth, virtue, and religion demands. A man may tell me an ordinary falsehood, and I can pass it over. But when a man will be false to principle, when he will give his influence to what he does not believe, and withhold it from what he does believe, I know no excuse for him. He is a traitor to himself, a traitor to God, a traitor to man, and he ought to loathe himself; and, in his moments. of sober reflection, no doubt does loathe himself, and feel that he is a miserable wretch, unfit to live.

There are many things which befall us in this life, that it is painful to bear; but there is nothing more intolerable, nothing which more completely unmans us, than to hear a voice ever and anon rising from the depths of conscience asking, "What right hast thou to hold up thy head among men, to talk of religion, of virtue, of principle? Thou art a liar, a base, cowardly hypocrite!" The greatest insult, one man is capable of offering another, is to call him a liar, to charge him with uttering a falsehood; and what is it then, when we must call ourselves liars, fasten the charge of falsehood upon ourselves; when we cannot think of truth without having the damning conclusion forced upon us, that we have outraged it? Think of a Judas betraying his Master. Well may he who has betrayed the truth go out and hang himself, or fall asunder and have his bowels gush out.

Falsehood always proceeds from cowardice. Every liar is a coward, possesses a craven spirit, -according to the old notions, a "white liver." The man of true courage, will no more swerve from the truth, than he will flee from the enemy in the day of battle. He will die a thousand deaths, sooner than he will utter a falsehood. He would sooner take fire and brimstone than a lie on his tongue. He feels that if he should lie, his honor, in his own estimation, would be forfeited forever, and that ever after, there would ring in his ears, "Thou art a liar." It is the base, sordid, vulgar spirit, the coward soul, that utters falsehood, to whom

all just self-respect, and all noble qualities are wanting.

The true man is always a hero. In the hour of trial, in the hour of danger, you know where to find him. Where the fire is hottest, and blows fall thickest and heaviest, there you find him, and always will find him. He deserts his standard never, and holds it with a firm grasp in death. If we would be men, be what our forms and lineaments promise, we must be heroes. We must dare always to utter the truth, whether its utterance be in words or in deeds. We must be always true to our inward convictions, and if the world. be opposed to them, no matter; we must take our stand on them, and trust that in due time the world will come round to us. We must shun falsehood as the most deadly poison, and be true to the God within us, let it cost us what it may.

If there be anything wanting in this age, it is men, -men of chaste minds, intrepid spirits, heroic souls, that dare stand up and speak from the fulness of their own hearts, and go forth and act in obedience to their own convictions. Let us be men; let us be true; be faithful to God, to man; be what we seem; and then, though the world around us may crumble, we shall find ourselves safe on the Rock of Ages.

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ART. III. The Laboring Classes. Responsibility to Party. Opposition to Christianity. Opposition to the Priesthood. Proletaries.- Descent of Property. Conclusion.

As a general rule we never reply to what is written or said against ourselves personally, or the views we from time to time put forth. We adopt this rule, because we never have, in what we write, any regard to our own personal reputation. We write not for fame;

and we cannot believe it a matter of any moment to the world, what estimation we may be held in by the public generally. We manage our own conduct according to our judgment or inclination, without disquieting ourselves in the least with the opinions which others may entertain of it. If it suits them, it is well; if it does not suit them, it is perhaps just as well.

We also adopt this rule, because we are never so desirous of establishing any set of opinions, as we are of stimulating to free and fearless inquiry into all great and interesting subjects. We believe that we love truth better than we do our own opinions; and if truth be elicited, we care little what becomes of the opinions we may have set forth. We therefore throw out our opinions freely, perhaps rashly, and leave them to be canvassed by the public mind, confident that in the long run they will receive all the merit they deserve.

But as we wish to give with fuller details our views on several important matters, we shall in this instance depart from our general rule, and reply at some length to the principal objections we have heard urged against the article on the Laboring Classes, published in this Journal for July last. These objections we shall generalize, and discuss without any reference to the individuals or publications that have urged them.

I. One objection urged against us is, not that the doctrines of our article are unsound, but that now is not the time for putting them forth. The public mind, it is said, is not prepared for them, and therefore will not give them a favorable reception. They will bring much reproach upon him who puts them forth, and that reproach will necessarily fall, to a greater or less. extent, upon his friends, and the political party with. which he may be associated.

This objection resolves itself into two; one relating to the proper time for bringing out one's ideas; and the other to the obligation of a man to withhold what he believes to be great truths, for fear of compromit

VOL. III. NO. IV.

54

ting a party with which he may sometimes act. We shall consider the last first.

1. For ourselves, we acknowledge no party organization as obligatory, no party usages that we are. bound to support. Party with us is never supported for its own sake, and claims our attention never as an end, but simply as a means to an end.

Where there are differences of opinions, there will be different parties. A certain portion of our citizens believe the public good requires one set of political measures to be adopted; another portion decide in favor of another set of measures. Those who favor the one set constitute by that fact a party; those who favor another set constitute another party. This is all the partyism we recognise as legitimate. We approve no measure because it is the measure of this or that party. It is not the party that recommends the measure, but the measure that recommends the party. Those who approve the measure unite to carry it, and act as a party; but they are bound together as a party only by the fact, that they have a common end in view. We have supported the democratic party, on some occasions, because we have approved its measures; but in so doing we have never given it any pledge of indiscriminate support, no assurance that we would support it, let it put forth what measures it might, or that we would refrain from suggesting any measures, which it might not be prepared to approve. We come to it as freemen, and give it a free voluntary support where we believe it right; but we reserve to ourselves the same freedom of thought and action we should have, had we nothing to do with it. We have surrendered nothing to it; given it no right over us; and therefore no claim, as a party, to chastise us when we offend it. These remarks will disclose our general views in regard to responsibility to party.

Now, we apprehend that a doctrine, opposite to this, prevails to a considerable extent. We think that many among us would organize a party, and make its members believe and feel that their chief merit, in a

political sense, consists in fidelity to it. Their maxim is, "Go with your party. Everything in a free country must be managed by party. Be therefore true to your party. Adhere to its usages, and support its measures and its nominations." The men who wish to stand high with their party, therefore, consult not what is truth, but what is the creed of the party; not what is true policy, but what policy the party will sustain; not who are the best and fittest men to be voted for, but who will best secure the suffrages of the party. This is the popular doctrine of party, and a doctrine, which, we need not say, we utterly detest, let it be sustained by whom or by what party it may.

This doctrine makes the support of party the end and not the means; reverses the natural order of things, and leads to the most mischievous results. It strikes at the very foundation of freedom, by rendering every individual a slave to his party. No matter what our convictions are, no matter what our wishes are for our country or our race, we must lock them up in our own bosoms, till our party in its wisdom is prepared to receive them, and to act on them. Nor is this all. Let it once be understood that the members of a party are to support it, whatever the measures it puts forth, and that the great mass of the individuals composing it are never to venture any suggestions on their individual responsibility, and you leave the whole party to be wielded according to the caprice or the interest of the some half a dozen individuals, who can adroitly place themselves at its head. A party in this case is merely an army under the control and ready to follow the beck of a few, perhaps designing, unprincipled chiefs. The way is thus paved for introducing and screening the grossest corruption, corruption which shall prey upon the vitals of the body politic, and threaten its very existence.

But if we are to support measures because they are the measures of our party, and not the party because it supports our measures, who, we would ask, is to determine what shall be the measures of our party?

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