The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-11-28
THE PROSPECTS OF DEMOCRACY IN
EUROPE.

THE PROSPECTS OF DEMOCRACY IN
EUROPE.
From the London Saturday Reuieo.
There are two, and only two, radically
different views as to the nature and functions
of government. According to the one, it is
an art which has to be learned by those who
exercise it, just as the arts of shoemaking or
of teaching or of painting have to be learned
"a portion of labor divided off and assigned
TO certain members of the community, just as
other portions of labor are divided off and
assigned to other members of the community
According to the other view, it is a mere
machinery of ntercommunication between the
different branches of society; machinery
by which these different branches may learn
each others wishes, may forward those
wishes if it be agreeable to them to do So or,
if it be not agreeable, may be saved the ne
cessity of an actual struggle by recognition
of the amount of force that can be arrayed
against them. Now it is clear that a we'll
ordered State must in part be animated by
both these views. Those governments which
are organized wholly on the former or aristo-
cratic principle (and in aristocracy is in
cluded monarchy, governments in which the
spontaneous political action of the people is
unknown, can hardly be we'll aware of the
wishes of the people; and though the wishes
of the people are not absolutely coincident
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important connexions Herewith. On the
other hand, in those governments which
act merely as machinery for preserving the
equilibrium of the differents parts of
society (the Democratic ideal), there can be
no broad political foresight; for if ever a
quarrel or dispute arises, the party must
prevail, since there is no authority above all
parties with time and means to form an i'm .
partial judgment, to which therefore all
in nearly all cases be certain amalgama-
tion of these two views-an amalgamation in
which one or the other view will predomi
nate according to the felt superiority of the
Government, according to it's positive ex
cellence, and according to the truthfulncss
and patience of the masses of the people,
No one, perhaps has better expressed the
union of the two views than Coleridge (who
on the whole was against the democrats) in
his IdbtetdIb:-'It has never been clearly
enough seen," he said, 'that democracy, as
such, is no proper element in the constitution
of State. The idea of State is undoubt-
edly government ek ton G95St0R. Democracy
is the healthful life blood that flows through
the veins, which supports the system, but
which should never appear externally"
Now it is assumed by many that the tend
ency of time is to bring about more and more
the democratic ideal. 1t undoubtedly is true,
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will get more power as time goes on-unless
of course any destructive catastrophe inter-
feres. Every new faculty, every new art, that is
gained by the intellect of the few, must
gradually filter down to the many, and in
crease their capacity for action. But it is
pure assumption to suppose that in every
nation the masses will use this increased
capacity against the Government by which
their greatest interests are regulated. On
har,n
of the necessity of central power, of the
inexpediency of deciding all disputes by mere
weight of numbers (Which must happen in
pure democracy, that they will support the
action of government even when it is to their
own disadvantage, and against their own
opinion. Nor can it be said that such be-
havior is sign of an ill-educated or poor
spirited people. For if such q theory needed
to be disproved by any argument, it would be
disproved by the fact that the best-educated
people in Europe, and that which is now VIC
torious in one of the greatest wars ever
known, has for ages modelled itself mainly
on the aristocratic principle.
1t was indeed we'll nigh the greatest of all
Germans Goethe, who expressed this prin-
ciple almost in the terms that we have used
to describe it. 'Let every man" he said
(we quote only the substance of hiswords),
''stick to his own business. Let artists stick
to art, manufacturers to manufacturing, gov
ernors to governing; for this too is an art,
and must be practised only by those who
have learnt to exercise it," And it has ever
been great and no dishonorable, charac-
teristic of the Germans, that they have
minded each one that which he knew best,
and have not meddled with things beyond
their province. There is no greater vice,
and at the same time no more fascinating
temptation, for a people, than they should
think it possible to cure all the
sufferings to which they are exposed by a
change in their government. Such an idea
diverts mems minds from the true sources of
national prosperity-namely, the industry,
intelligence, and morality of individual mem
bers OF the community. 1t is quite true that
government may pass beyond the limits of
sufferance, and constitute itself a plague in
stead Of protection to society; as did the
Government of Louis XIV in France,
and that of Ferdinand at Naples. Or
again, nominal government may per-
form so few of the functions of gov
ernment that to shake it will cause
no great shock to society; and in this case
comparatively small misconduct on its part
may justify its overthrow, as was the case in
| the revolt of the American colonies But
| such cases are exceptional. Nations which,
like Spain, are perpetuslly agitating for a
| change of government without any amend
ment of their state, ought to recognize that
their evils spring from causes independent
of their government, and they may proftably
| acquiesce for a time even in vicious and
harmful rulers and turn their attention
wholly away in another direction.
But to return to the Germans. What a
heavy blow and great diseouragement their