24 Agents Of The Law

At critical times certain men arise and accomplish unusual results.

Such men are generally unconscious agents of the law. The group destiny of their people calls for an instrument by which the people's thoughts can be exteriorized. A man appears when the thoughts of his people demand him. To no one man of this kind should be attributed all of what he does. He acts because he is impelled to act and because he is allowed to see the way to accomplish his purpose.

Some such men in the last century were Palmerston, Bismarck, Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi. The English spirit of the past made Lord Palmerston, kept him in office and produced during his long rule the results obtained for Britain through him. Bismarck was a Prussian; he was in himself an able and powerful man; but what made him successful was the time, the place, and the conditions, which allowed the thought of Prussian schooling, administration, militarism and power, to be exteriorized as the thought of the whole of Germany. In the same way the Italian thoughts of nationalism and of freedom from Austrian tyranny and Papal misrule, were expressed in the success of Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi.

Sometimes the agents of the law are conscious agents. Washington, Hamilton, Lincoln and Napoleon were of this kind.

Washington knew that he was to be the true leader of men and the founder of a new nation. Hamilton actually knew that he had to lay truly the foundations of American finance in government. Lincoln knew that he had to preserve the Union, and he acted as best he could with the selfish and fanatical forces surrounding him. He accomplished the purpose with which he was charged by the Intelligence he spoke of as God.

Napoleon's mission to Europe was to remove the old ghosts of dynasties which had kept Europe in turmoil, bloodshed and servitude for centuries. He was to give these countries an opportunity for a government by the people as a whole. He failed because the French people, though they said they wanted liberty, equality and fraternity, were quite willing to let Napoleon create a new dynasty and conquer the
world for them. He received instruction from some of the agents of complete Triune Selves; he was to give France a model government; and Europe was to pattern after it, if the people would. He was to leave no royal issue, so that he could found no dynasty. His ambition overcame him; he divorced his barren wife and married again, so as to have issue. After he had determined on this course, his power began to diminish and he could no longer discern opportunities or provide against dangers. The destiny of the people of Europe exteriorized for him his own weakness and ambition, to bring on the reactionary period which lasted there for nearly a hundred years.

Group destiny is particularly manifest at times when there are sudden changes in methods of government, as when there is a rising of slaves or a revolution, and mob rule in the wake of such convulsions.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License