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:]