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THE
HESPERIAN STUDENT
-vr.Ov?;-
VOI,. VI.
VJu! non Proflcit, Dcllflt.
vr. O v:
MARCH,' 1877.
no. a.
RIGHT IS M TOUT.
Right is might, but might is not right.
No assumption of power by a ruler, no
haughty control of the ailairs of church
or stale, however much power tiicic may
hi- to enforce papal bulls or imperial
mandates, can make the wrong right, or
the right wrong. Bight, truth ami justice
must triumph over evi'ry obstacle set in
the way. The Divine Creator in making
the creatures of His hands, did not intend
that high-handed oppression should over
rule the first law of his divine nature.
In looking over the history of the past,
we sec the mighty voice of the people
demanding thai which the verdict of the
litres following has said was right and
just. But with how great a struggle, and
how tenacious a grip, do the strong parly
hold their power. How reluctant to lose
one inch of the contested ground. Take,
for example, the plebians at Home, or the
common people at Athens, being held in
subjection and oppression by the ruling
power. What an object of admiration is
the steady progress which the people made
when in pursuit of the rights and priv.
ileges to which they were entitled. No
amount of coercion, no cunning legisla
tion could withstand the stead' march of
truth and right.
England furnishes us with another ex
ample of the steady progress of the pco.
pie to the full enjoyment of the privileges
to which they were entitled. But better
understood, perhaps, are the trials and
vicissitudes which our forefathers had to
endure, when in search of a land where
they might enjoy full liberty to worship
God according to the dictates of their
own consciences. Embarking on the
stormy sea, bound for that stem land,
which then scarcely knew its name, out
riding the Here's and tempestuous storm,
defying the hardships of the wilderness,
braving the dangers of the forests, and,
still worse, of the Satan.endowed savage;
thus striving for life and the principles
for which they had left their homes, at
last we sec them firmly planted upon the
American shores.
In the study of the steady process of
events, from the first landing of the Pil
grim Fathers upon Plymouth Bock, on
down to the oppressive acts of the British
during the colonial government, terminat
ing in the Revolutionary "War, none can
doubt that Providence was on the side ot
the weak, but the right.
On the one hand, we see the rights
of the few, on the other the array of the
proud and haughty oppressor. On one
side, n mere handful of "undisciplined
yeomen," having no organized forces, no
money, no credit in fact, nothing but