The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-04-24

system
this country, and no mind is equal to grasping
the results of disturbing its very basis Ia
there any community which is absolutely pro-
tected against the oontagion? English "pro-
letaries" who are eager to give votes to women
are far enough, apparently, from a regimen
of brnte force; yet crowds who break down
park palings are not absolutely without the
sense of power, and we are at least taking the
first step towards the creation of profess
sional army. These, however, are but small
beginnings, and if it we're not for that special
weakness of the English social system which
arises from our neglect to spread over a sufi-
ciently large space the intense conservatism
produced by the possession of land, it might
be pronounced exceptionally secure. The So
lidity of the German social fabric, firmly as il
appears to be at present welded together,
may be much more seriously doubted. In
Germany the populace and the army consist
now of the same persons. The most elabo-
rate contrivances are employed to diffuse the
spirit of obedience and order through the
body which has this double aspect, and the
excitement of success places disloyalty for
the present in the remote distance. Yet it is
the universal experience of Americans that
no class is SO naturally impatient of authority
as men of German birth. All that can be
said is that if the force which supports the
social edifce in Germany comes at any time
to be dissatisfied with that ediice, great will
be the fall of it.
The essential weakness of the foundations
of modern society has long since attracted
the attention of thoughtful men, and the
remedies which have been proposed for it
may be distributed into two classes. 1t
would not be very unjust to associate one
class with the name of Mr.. Carlyle, and the
other with the name of Mr.. Golden; not
because these eminent men were the exclu-
sive inventors or advocates of the remedies
to which we refer, but because each name is
the symbol of school of thought to which
particular set of precautions against snarchy
is congenial. The expedient in favor with
the first school is to chain up all this
''doggery." The world is governed by force,
they say; place therefore your force at the
disposal of intelligence, and let it be orga-
nized into a system more or less beneficial
but at all events effective Independently of
all other objections, it seems to us conclu-
sive answer to this theory that it is extremely
doubtful whether, supposing intelligence to
exist, there is force enough to place at its
disposal, or force at all events on which it
may rely. What was once practicable,
when a small feudal aristocracy in exclusive
possession of effective weapons for defense
and offence had to put down Jacquerie has
ceased to be practicable with modern armies
These armies are so large that they must in
clude all or great part of the populace; the
canaille which is by the assumption to be put
down fills the ranks, and is carefully in
structed in the art of war. Nor is it practi-
cslly possible to keep the professionally
armed cenaille from taking certain interest
in the mendacities and the shams. The other
theory is the exact reverse of the theory of
the organization of force. Employ no force
at all, say its preachers, or reduce it to a
minimum. Trust to education and progress.
| Do your utmost to diffuse material comforts
and intellectual pleasures, and the masses
will need no coercion, because in the long
run they will have all they can reas onably
desire. The inirmity of such views appears
to consist in attributing to the masses set
| of aims which are not theirs aud standard
of comfort which is not before their eyes.
The theory assumes the permanence of GER
| tain Institutions above all of the institution
of private pI operty-and expects the toiling
multitude to be content with somewhat
larger share of it than it at present enjoys.
Now it seems to us that moderate comfort is
not the object desired by these classes, and
that what they do desire they seek to obtain
by means which are inconsistent with
the maintenance of property as now
understood. There could be no more
improving exercise for believer in peaceful
progress as an exclusive substitute for orga-
nized force than attendance at the entertain
ment called "penny gaff" or the perusal of
a series of the Family Herald. The standard
really before the eyes of the masses is one of
extreme luxury, of that luxury which by the
nature of the case can only be enjoyed by q
small minority. No education, as it seems to
us, short of the education furnished by bitter
experience, can be expected to convince the
majority in any length of time worth calcu-
lating that these views are unattainable and,
indeed, one of the first results of education
would be to introduce them to theories,
doubtless unsound, which pretend to show
that there are contrivances by which the
laboripg man can be enabled to share at once
the luxury and the idleness of the class from
which he is fsrthsst removed 1t may conf
IDENTIFY be asserted that the problem of giving
greater stability to society than it now pos
sesses is much more difficult and complex than
either of these schools of thought supposes
or appears to suppose.