This gives, however, only the common
courage of the crowd, and can only be trusted on an even field where the
chances of war are equal. But when there is a struggle to restore
freedom, where from the nature of the case the chances are uneven and
the soldiers of liberty are at every disadvantage, then must we seek to
adjust the balance by a finer courage and a more enduring strength. The
mustering of legions will not suffice. The general reviewing this fine
array who would rightly estimate the power he may command, must silently
examine the units, to judge of this brave host how large a company can
be formed to fight a forlorn hope. If this spirit is in reserve, he is
armed against every emergency. If the chances are equal, he will have a
splendid victory; if by any of the turns of war his legions are shaken
and disaster threatened, there is always a certain rallying-ground where
the host can re-form and the field be re-won, and the flag that has seen
so many vicissitudes be set at last high and proudly in the light of
Freedom.
CHAPTER VI
PRINCIPLE IN ACTION
I
Our philosophy is valueless unless we bring it into life. With
sufficient ingenuity we might frame theory after theory, and if they
could not be put to the test of a work-a-day existence we but add
another to the many dead theories that litter the History of Philosophy.
Our principles are not to argue about, or write about, or hold meetings
about, but primarily to give us a rule of life.
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