Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-10-01
@isesllamy.
The Gentleman in Politics.

the pleasure OF reading Mr.. Whiteaw
Reds Dartmouth address, on /" The Schol
ar in Politics." published complete in our
September number. The programme OF
active influence which he spreads beforr
the American scholar is sufficiently exten-
slye, and the arguments by which he com
mends it for adoption sufficiently strong
and sound. Yet the question has occurred
TO US whether, after all, MIR Carlyle's
able Man." and Mr.. Hurbert Spencer's
" ~Thlnker,' and Mr.. Reid's " Scholar"
who are one and the same person, are
ouiie sufficient for the just and satisfac-
tery handling of the matters which this ad-
dress spreads before US in detail. /" How
are YOU going to punish crime 2" We do
not quite see what scholarship has to do
with the settlement of that question, or
what the scholar has to do with it, special
". beyond other men. "How are you
cops to stop official stealingf" The
6ue,tlon may interest the scholar, and he
ouaht, indeed, to assist in settling it
aright, but as a scholar, specially, We do
not see what he can do, or may be expect
ed to do, beyond other men. "How are
YOU going to control your corporations ?"
Here cultivated brains may help us to do
somethlng-to contrive something yet,
after all, what we want is not the way to
control corporations, but corporations
that do not need to be controlled. What
shall be the relations between capital and
Iabor?" The scholar ought to be able to
Oh. do rr,,th
our Indians ?" How may we best ap
point our civil officers ?" These ques-
tions, with others relating to universal
suffrage and the unlimited annexation OF
inferior races, make up Mr.. Reds very
solid and serious catalogue.
There is work enough, legitimate work,
for the American scholar, IN the study
and intelligent handling of these questions ;
but the fact that there is considerable
number of American scholars mixed up
with every scheme of inlquity in the coun-
try leads US to suspect that the country is
not to be saved by scholarship alone.
There are TWO sides to the matter, as
there is to most matters. In our late civil
war, it was West Point pitted against
West Point, each side being actuated by
its own independent ideas Of duty and
patriotism. Military scholarship had
very important Office to perform in settling
the question between the two sections oil
the country, but it had to struggle with
military scholarship in order to do it.
We do not know why we are not quite
as likely to find the scholar on the wrong
side as on the right side of politics. Mr..
Bancroft and Mr.. Everett were neighbors
once. They represented the height of
scholarly culture, and the two extremes OF
political opinion. They certainly assisted
IN making respectable whatever was bad
in the party to which they respectively
belonged, whatever else they did or failed
to do. All that we wish to say, in dissent
from Mr. Reid, or rather, in addition to
him, is that scholarship does not neces-
sarlIy lead to any common good conclu-
sion In politics, and that 1t may be, or may
become, as base as any other element.
What we really want is gentlemen IN
politics. If our political men were only
gentlemen, even if they were no more than
ordinarily intelligent, we should find our
political affairs in good condition, and
the great questions that stand before US IN
fair way of being properly adjusted. A
gentleman IS person WAC knows someth NJ
of the world, who possesses dignity and
seli-respect, who recognizes the rights OF
others and the duties he owes to society IL
all his relations, who would as soon com
NIT suicide as stain his palm with bribe
who would not degrade hImsef by intrlgues
There are various types of gentlemen, too
and the hig her the type the better the poll
tician. 1t his character and conduct are
based on sound moral principle-lf he is
governed by the rule Of rlght-that is bet
ter than mere pride OF character or gen
tlemanly instinct. If, beyond all, he Is .
man of faith and relg,on--a Christian
gentleman-he is the highest type OF I
gentleman; and in his hands the questions
which Mr. Reid has proposed to the schol
ar would have the falrest handling tha
men are capable of giving them. Th
more the CHRISTIAN gentleman knows, tn
better politician he will make, and in him
and in him only, will scholarship come tt
its finest issues in politics. We do no
think that the worst feature of our politics
is lack of intelligence in our politicians
There is great deal of cultivated brair
in Congress. Public questions are under
stood and inteiligenty discussed there
Even there, it is not always that scholar
ship shows superior ability. Men VIII
show their capacity to manage affairs ar
quite as apt to come from the plainly edu
Gated as from the ranks of scholarship
Congress does not suffer from lack o
knowledge and culture half as much as
does from lack of principle. 1t is the mel
who push personal and party purposes tina
poison legislation. If Congress were com
posed of gentlemen, we could even dis
pense with what scholars We have, and b
better off than we are to day.
In the government of our cities, "
could very we'll afford to get along wlthou
scholars, if we could have oaly modestl
educated gentlemen. If the heavy-jawed
forid-faced, fuJl-bellied, dismond-brooche
bully who now typl6es the city polticla
were put to his appropriate work of ran
road building, or experimenting gangs G
ignorant workmen, and there could be pu
in his place good, quiet business men, o
gentlemanly instincts and Of sound mora
principle, ,we.c could get along very comfort
ably without the scholar, though ther
would not be the slightest objection to hin
In brief, we want better men than we have
great deal more than We want brighte
or better educated men. Scholarship is
secondary, rather than primary consie
Grafton: the gentleman first, the schola
if he is a gentleman, and not otherwis
1t Christian gentlemen we're IN powe
many of the questions that appeal to !
for settlement would settle themselve
We should not like to be called upon. IL
Instance, to stop official stealing. Instea