6 THE SUN. 



Lord,' &c, are its political fetiches. When the people are un- 

 able to detect the direct and immediate cause of any display 

 of power, they attribute it to a third person, outside of them- 

 selves and nature, which does not exist. "A gross delusion," 

 says Guizot, "is the belief in the sovereign power of political 

 machinery." 



Theoretically, it exists to protect its subjects, but, actually, it 

 preys upon them. Holding up its law and order, its misplaced 

 authority produces rebellion, for, as Emerson says, "the highest 

 virtue is always against the law." The greatest re_specters of 

 authority are the most depraved. Just as those recently slaves 

 make the. most unmerciful masters, so the most ignorant are the 

 most submissive. Rebels, in all ages, have been patriots in 

 disguise, and the paraphernalia of 'patriot «6V?i' has ever been 

 the delusion of fools. ' 



Now, between a superstition and the government of nature, 

 can there be any doubt as to their Jurisdiction? If it is in the 

 constitution of things, what matters it if it is 'unconstitutional?' 

 Is not what is the previous question and the one of last resort? 

 Certainly our Anti-slavery struggle should have taught us this 

 lesson, that what is legal must not stand in the way of what is 

 lawful, nor ric/ht succumb to anybody's mere opinion about it. 



CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION. 



Co-operative association, then, is free, spontaneous, voluntary, 

 for no organization can rise higher than its source, the indi- 

 viduals who compose it. If these are free, there will be a nat- 

 ural expression of, not only the average intelligence, as under 

 majority rule, but all of it. Of course the product will not be 

 infallible, as under a theocracy, nevertheless, it will be perfect, 

 for it will be the highest and best of which the members are 

 capable. All trusts are delegated to responsible individuals, 

 not to a committee. Its jjropositions, to gain the broadest 

 assent, are reduced to their simplest terras. Each step is sure, 

 because experimental. The constitution is liberty. It cannot 

 be In'oken, lor it is not nuide. None can bolt, for nobody is 

 arbitrarily i)ouii(l. It is a creature of growth, and in the line 

 of evolution. I^diication, under liljcrty, does not need the 

 distortion of being made 'compulsory.' 



