From little to large events, we experience
or behold this every day. It is a history and all read it. It belongs to
human nature and to society: and until some process shall be discovered
by which men shall be compelled to think by rule and under regulation,
as in a penitentiary their bodies are required to work, we despair of
having much improvement in the general condition of human affairs. The
ignorant and uneducated man is quite too willing to depute to others
the task of thinking for him and furnishing his opinions. The great
mass are gregarious, and whether a lion or a log is chosen for their
guidance, it is still the same--they will follow the leader, if
regularly recognised as such, even though he be an ass. As if conscious
of their own incapacities, whether these arise from deficiencies of
education or denials of birth, they forego the only habit--that of
self-examination--which alone can supply the deficiency; and with a
blind determination, are willing, on any terms, to divest themselves of
the difficulties and responsibilities of their own government.
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