It is no otherwise with the men of
office. Statesmen are solitary. At no time do they form a class.
Governments, for the most part, are carried on by political merchants
quite without principle, and according to the maxims of trade and
huckster; so that what is true of merchants is true of public
officers. Why should we suffer ourselves to be cheated by sounding
names and fair shows? The titles, the property, the notoriety, the
brief consequence of our fellows are only the decoration of the
sacrifice, and add to the melancholy of the observer.
"The earth goes on the earth glittering with gold,
The earth goes to the earth sooner than it should,
The earth builds on the earth castles and towers,
The earth says to the earth, all this is ours."
All this is covered up by the speedy succession of the
particulars, which tread so close on each other's heel, as to allow
no space for the man to question the whole thing. There is somewhat
terrific in this mask of routine. Captain Franklin, after six weeks
travelling on the ice to the North Pole, found himself two hundred
miles south of the spot he had set out from.
Pages:
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130