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shifting condition of men and things. And this not by forcing or leading
public sentiment, but by yielding to it. Thus while it is founded upon,
and in its workings evolves, so many lofty and ennobling truths, keeping
constantly before the eyes of the people lessons of purity and moral
dignity, acting as a check upon the visionary and a safeguard to our
liberties, it nevertheless yields quietly to the requirements of the
times, and changes according to the necessities of the governed, thus
being far from proving a hamper upon our intellectual advancement, but,
on the contrary, leaving free and unimpeded the paths of national
progress. And it is one of the most distinctive features of our
institutions that, while few foreign Governments admit of much change
without danger of revolution, with us the most thorough reforms may be
consummated and the greatest changes effected without danger of ruffling
the waves of our society. For with us change is effected so gradually
and in such exact consonance with the necessities of the people as to be
almost imperceptible, and to afford no handle to the turbulent and
designing revolutionist. The gratification of legitimate ambition is
guaranteed, but our system utterly revolts against the sacrifice of the
public good to the inordinate cravings of personal ambition or
aggrandizement. It is in recognition of this principle of gradual change
that the politician of to-day hesitates not to avow and to advocate
principles which twenty years ago he deemed the height of political
absurdity. It is not abstract truth that has altered, but the necessary
modification of theories resulting from the altered condition and
exigencies of society. Were this truth not recognized, no statesman
could for many years retain his hold upon the popular appreciation, for
he would at once be branded with inconsistency and incontinently thrown
aside as an unsafe counsellor. Hence the hackneyed phrase, 'ahead of the
times,' contains within itself a deep and important meaning, since it is
but a recognition of the fact that relative right and wrong may change
with the condition of society, and that theories may be beneficial in a
more advanced stage, which at present would be noxious in the extreme,
and that, in consequence, he is an unsafe leader who grasps at some
exalted good without making sure of the preliminary steps which alone
can make such blessings durable--who would, at a single leap, place the
nation f