State con vention—Republican-democrac y. 165 
the long run and over the whole country, we will get the most 
honest, straight forward, and, for that state, the wisest expression 
of opinion upon the direction of its affairs. The prejudices, pas¬ 
sions and selfish interests of individuals are, to a great extent, 
neutralized, and the result will, as a rule, be a public policy that 
will reflect the character of the people as a whole. The saying, 
vox joopuli , vox dei ) very common in the mouths of demagogues, 
thus comes to have a real significance when the persons compris¬ 
ing a democracy are intelligent and virtuous. 
I would not claim that we, or any other nation, have more than 
begun to approximate the ideal thus suggested. But we have 
the peculiar advantage that our theory of government gives us 
all the advantages resulting from the advancement of society in 
intelligence and morality. As the popular intelligence increases, 
the tone of government is elevated. Every child that is taught 
in our free schools, o-r conscientiously reared in our homes, is so 
much added to the wisdom and virtue of our government. And 
herein lies the vital importance of an intelligent and prosperous 
agricultural class. The farmers of the land must furnish not only 
food, but they must supply the vigor, the'intellect and the virtue 
that cities cannot reproduce. And while the rural homes of 
America remain the conservators of private, and, so far as may 
be, of public virtue, and the pioneers in pushing on the columns 
of social and political progress and reform, I have hope and con¬ 
fidence in the perpetuity of the republic. 
It is in accordance with this idea, that there is something more 
than self-interest in the organization and carrying on of govern¬ 
ments that we speak of the moral character of the state and that 
Whewell appropriately concludes his Elements of Morality with 
a treatise upon polity. 
DEMOCRACY AN HISTORICAL RESULT. 
Not only do we find that a democracy furnishes the best 
means of expressing the moral sentiments of the people, but as a mat¬ 
ter of fact sufficiently necessary, but not generally recognized, his¬ 
tory shows it to be the natural growth, the normal condition of 
jural society. Searching the records of every nation that has 
made important advances in civilization, we find democracy in 
