Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/101

101

THE POLICY OF NATIONS.

to the same principles ; and I think it will never come
to that."
  "And why may it not come to that ?" asked Hold.
"Whatever is true and right has its root in Heaven,
and its blooming boughs reach down to earth, there to
scatter their good seed. If then the good seed finds
on this stony ground no depth of earth on which to
spring up, or lies drying in the sand of the desert, the
same Heaven has dew and sunshine wherewith to pre-
pare the soil by degrees, and make it capable of receiv-
ing the good seed. Out of all this wrong and confusion
may a kingdom of righteousness, joy, and peace, arise,
whose happy citizen shall never suspect with what
blood the soil on which he treads is enriched; with
what disappointment those resting in the grave strove
for a peace which was before them, but which they
could not see ; with what madness they had laid down
two sets of principles ; one for the individual man,
'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and thy neighbor as thyself,' and the other for a body
composed of the same individuals, and called a State,
'Thou shalt love or hate according to every shifting
wind, and overreach thy neighbor wherever thou
canst.'"
  "Such a kingdom of peace upon earth must ever re-
main," said Mander, smiling, "only the beautiful dream
of a gentle heart ; and even if it were possible, it would
not further the development of mankind, in whom con-
flict must excite to activity and exertion, must steel the
nerves and sharpen the intellect. History must be an
epic ; it can never become an idyl. Everywhere in
creation we find the same struggle. What changing