he loss of this side of truth, this want of recognition of the
inherent inequality in men, that one of the greatest elements of
national power has disappeared. That individuals differ in their
organization and capacities one from another, and are hence, in this
respect, unequal, is a generally accepted truism. From this inequality
it results that every man has some sphere in which he is superior to all
others, and in regard to the concerns of which he should be the
voluntarily recognized authority. But, except in the departments where
men are entirely ignorant, and hence are forced to acknowledge the
supremacy of others, there is, among the most advanced peoples, scarcely
any recognition, of this great truth of voluntary deference to those who
are entitled to superiority. Persons of only ordinary capacities, who
read the newspaper, but who elsewise have had little time or inclination
for study, boldly argue abstrusest questions concerning military
methods, political economy, theology, or ethics, with students and
thinkers, without the slightest suspicion that they have no _moral_
right to enter into such a dispute, under such circumstances; their
true position being that of learners. It is not wholly from a want of
knowledge that such errors are committed. Men are mainly aware that
_political_ equality does not mean equality of faculties and of
functions. This assumption of a parity which has no existence, arises in
a large measure from a want of moral power; from a lack of that
religious development, so prevalent in the first state of progress,
which made it possible to conquer pride, subdue egotism, cultivate
humility, defer to superiority, and enabled the individual in all ways
to accept cheerfully his proper position in society, and cordially to
recognize that of every other, so far as he understood them. Political
and social equality emancipate mankind from civil slavery, from social
oppression, from the forced domination of assumptive aristocracies, from
the pride of rank; they prohibit any imposition of authority which the
individual does not willingly accept; but they do not lift one iota of
that responsibility which rests upon every human being to honor the
truth wherever or whatever it may be. Truth demands that we recognize
our superiors, in whatever sphere we may find them, and eagerly avail
ourselves of their advantages; that we recognize our inferiors, and give
them, if they will accept, of our store. That w