in any large degree of high
moral purpose, and constantly prone to the development of the vicious
and depraved passions incident to this lower stratum of life.

It is evident that to meet the needs of these widely different grades of
individuals, widely different manners, customs, and institutions are
indispensable. Culture, delicacy, and intelligence have their own
attractions, which are wholly diverse from those of crudeness,
coarseness, and simplicity. The surroundings which would bring happiness
to the lover of art or the man of large mental endowment, would render
miserable the peasant who still lacked the development to appreciate the
elegancies of refinement; while the tidy cottage and plain comforts
which might constitute the paradise of the humble and illiterate rustic,
would be utterly inadequate to the requirements of larger and more
highly organized natures.

The Constitution and Structure of Society should be of such a nature,
therefore, for the purposes of human growth and happiness, as to allow
the needs and wants of every one of its members to be adequately
supplied. As yet there has been no such arrangement of our social
organization. In nations governed by Monarchical or Aristocratic rule,
the institutions of the country are made to satisfy the demands of the
privileged classes; with scarcely any reference to the wants of the
masses. In Democratic communities, the opposite method is adopted; and
the character of their public organizations and of their public
opinion--the latter always the most despotic of institutions--is
determined by the average notions of the middle class, which ordinarily
furnishes the bulk of the voters; with little consideration to the
desires of the higher or the necessities of the lower orders.

The institutions of any people, civil or religious, are, therefore,
representative, in the main, of the state of development of the dominant
and controlling class in the community. In a Monarchical or Aristocratic
nation it is the upper portion of the body politic whose condition is
chiefly indicated. In this case, the manners, customs, laws, etc., of
the country are _in advance_ of the great body of the people, who have
yet to grow up to them. In Democratic states, the manners, customs,
laws, etc., conform to the stage of advancement which the majority of
the people have reached. They are thus _above_ the level of the lower
classes, who are not sufficiently developed to participate