THE PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 173 



fact that relentless tyrannies have been employed solely for the pur- 

 pose of supporting particular opinions. These opinions took the 

 form of dogmas which at the present day comparatively few intelli- 

 gent persons would for a moment entertain. They were the result 

 of that most dangerous of all forms of ignorance, namely, an 

 educated ignorance. I hope my meaning is fully understood. 

 Ignorance which is the result of mere neglect of education, seldom 

 injures anyone but its possessor ; but ignorance which is the result 

 of erroneous teaching, spreads its fatal poison far and wide, cramp- 

 ing the intelligence of entire generations. 



The love of power — political, social, and religious — is very fascinat- 

 ing ; and it is particularly worthy of remark that the gross persecu- 

 tions of former times were perpetrated by men who in private life 

 were rightly considered amial)le, pious, and even learned. The 

 evidence on this score is thoroughly trustworthy. It is certainly 

 also most instruct iA^e. Some think this phase of human conduct 

 peculiar to the past — a mere development of the so-called dark 

 ages. Than this view, nothing could be more unphilosophical. The 

 same phenomena show themselves at the present day, only their 

 manner of display is somewhat altered by modern environments. 



The evil results of misdirected power are, of course, best realised 

 when exhibited as the deeds of strong organisations. A perfect 

 parallelism subsists between the persecutions exercised by educated 

 authorities of early times and the petty tyrannies exercised by 

 bullying boys at public schools. Not only so, uneducated working 

 men, when misguided by self-seeking trades-union leaders, lend 

 themselves to unjust deeds of a precisely similar order. Rightly 

 guided by men of high mental and moral culture, societies of the 

 kind referred to might become, and, indeed, in some places, have 

 already become centres of incalculable good. At present, however, 

 it may be that our improvement is more imaginary than real. 

 Power is the same dangerous weapon now that it ever was in olden 

 time. It holds the same sway over the individual that it does over 

 the organised community. It is an instrument for good or evil 

 according as you wield it. Probably, if a fair estimate could be 

 formed, relatively, of the motives which have led men to persecute 

 their fellows in earlier and later times, we should have to own that, 

 of the two, the baser sort characterise the present age. Intolerant 

 and ignorant bigotry induced the former — " educated ignorance^'' 

 and yindictive selfishness the latter. 



As already hinted, the weapon may be employed individually as 



