In connection with every phase of thought and activity among men there have appeared two distinct classes of minds, the optimists and the pessimists. The former are naturally Conservatives as the latter are Radicals. These minds are always considered as extremes in their day and generation and we find these opposite poles of thought protruding in either direction beyond the settled convictions of the masses.

First, let me point out a distinction between Radicalism and Conservatism in ihe most general idea of them. There is a sort of Conservatism which stands only upon advantages held in possession. It says: “I have wealth, I have respectability, I am well off here and well guaranteed for the hereafter. Any change, good or bad in itself, will be bad for me. Change is my enemy: I bolt and bar my doors and, so far as I can, the doors of the world against it.” There is, on the other hand, a sort of Radicalism which, though often a fair thing in the mouth, means in the heart of it; “You are in place and I am: out. You have and I want. Any change gives me a chance, and the more change, the better are my chances.”