of justice not for _itself_, but for _others_; it is the
_servant_, and not the _master_. The people were not made for the State,
or given to the State, but the State is posterior to the people; it was,
as I said before, established by the people and for the people. In
them, under God, resides the sovereignty and ultimate permanent
authority. The right of the State is to discharge the duties assigned it
within the sphere of its delegated authority--that is all.

That sphere of action of the State in this country is clearly defined in
the written Constitution. The State, then, must scrupulously abstain
from violating any of the rights it was organized to protect.

There never has been, and never will be, but two forms of
government--one seeking to restrain, the other to enlarge, the liberties
of the people. To the former belong the centralized and despotic
governments of the past and present; to the latter, the limited and
representative ones.

Russia, without doubt, is the highest type of that despotism so common
among Pagan nations. The Czar is the successor of the Gentile Caesar; he
unites in himself the civil and spiritual power; the inevitable result
is social oppression, denial of the rights of conscience, of the family,
and of the political society. Our government has already made gigantic
steps in the same direction. Many of the political minds of this country
have been drawn within the circle of _monarchial_ ideas. They are
unconsciously, as it were, adopting their forms of thought, and applying
their forms of expression to our government, and claiming for it the
prerogatives and supremacy appertaining to the feudal institutions of
Asia and Europe. Our simple democratic form of government seems to be
getting ashamed of its plebeian origin, and ambitious to ape the
language and pretensions of its former masters. This decadence was made
apparent not long ago, in the discussions "for the removal of the United
States Capitol." In a two-hours' discussion, the word "Republic," or
"Federal Government," or "United States," was not once mentioned!! It
was "_Nation_," "Empire," etc., etc., _usque ad nauseam_, from beginning
to end. To a reflecting mind, this language has an ominous significance.
It smacks strongly of monarchy.

But some one will perhaps say, "Sir, what has all this dissertation to
do with your subject? You commence by disclaiming against the _Public
School System_, and here you are giving a grave lect