Litchfield enquirer., 1878-08-08
UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE.
ITS TEMPORARY DIsADvANTAeRs.

pie carried their distrust of politicians to the extent of losing faith in popular government
 and that this scepticisrn is all the more dan gerUus because it finds little or no public ex. ess;on. We are glad to see that the feel ing has at last found an able champion in Mr. Francis Parlxman who in the last number oi the North American Review, strenuously maintains the necessity of limiting the suffrage even here in the United States where it has been supposed that it's workings were to be seen under their most favorable conditions.
 In the first place Mir. Parkman maintains, very correctly, that the suffrage is no natural right of every citizen of every community, no matter how ignorant and unfit the individual or the community may be:
 Universal suffrage is applicable only tothose people, if such there are, who by character and training are prepared for it, and the only ra- tiOnal question is as to the degree of prepara- tion that will serve the purpose In any case preparation must be work of time.
 We take it that government, like other methods of human advancement, is a matter of evolution. The despotlc form is perhaps D~cS C1ASOA ~ thtC AO"Ot Etd0CO OA NANAtHotiOh. Then follows some form of government of the mass by the wealthy and intelligent few. Rep resentative government usually has it's begin nings in a rule of class over class; the prefer red class almost invariably monopOlizing not only the power but the property and the pros perity of the State AS regards the welfare of the people at large this plutocratic rule is of- ten extremely noxious. The later history of Great Britian is an excellent instance in point : For over two centuries she has never suffered from foreign invasion or from serious civilwar Her commerce and her colonies have been wonderfully developed by her naval superiori- ty over any and all adversaries; and her manufactures wonderfully increased by discov- in machinery. During the same period France has been repeatedly defeated, invaded and temporarily conquered her property destroyA ed, and her population decimated by unsuc- cessful war Her colonies have been taken from her her commerce all but ruined and her people subjected to long continued tyran- ny and misgovernment. Nevertheless it seems pretty certain that the mass of Englishmen are worse of to-day than the mass of Frenchmen, in most moral and material respects. The root of this difference lies in the fact that the old democratic revolution of France took away from her aristocracy and clergy much of that power and property which they had been mOnOpOlizing for centuries, and divided them ka~ fnn n to;, fal extent, France has been governed in the inter- est of her people, while England has been gov erned in the interest of property only. It is her millions of peasant proprietors who give stability to the French republic and whose in- dustry and frugality have enabled that country to recover from the terrible defeat which so fitly closed the era of French Imperialism.
 In two important respects Mir. Parkmans treatment of the suffrage question strikes us as very faulty. He is so dissatisfied with the evils of an unlimited suffrage that he takes no account of the evils of limited uffrage. He proposes, in effect, to fall back upon proper ty qualification to rid our cities of the evils of Irish misgovernment, forgetting that the Irish man 10 JAos "hnS tAAO OA @ SOfSih- ment by property has made him. He never recognizes the difficulty, even with the broad est suffrage, of saving the weak and improvi- dent many from the encroaching selfishness of the able and acquisitive few. He fails to see that the ''plutOcrat" grows stronger and strong CT among us, while the ignorance and inept- tude that has been thrown upon our shores by the tyranny of the plutocrat abroad must ne- cessarily decrease as the immigrant population gradually assimilates with the native.
 Neither does Mir. Parkman recognize the important fact that there is progress of rights which should keep pace-not too far in ad- vance nor too far behind-with the progress of civilization. The Ashanteean could not profit by the habeas corpus, trial by jury, or the ballot, because his barbarism totally units him for the use of any such complex judicial or political machinery. On the other hand the native American has as good a right to his bal lot as to his habeas corpus, or his trial by jury. They are all rights which properly appertain to his degree of civilization. Intelligence is the one obvious condition precedent to this right. In a country where education is free, the State has right to demand a reasonable educational qualification. Crime, pauperism, or vagrancy, might not improperly fSrfeit the right. though even such disqualifications might sometimes be tyrannously used. A property qualification is reaction to the methods of a half-enlightened society, which, if effected, would simply re-establish the old supremacy of property in the state. AS matters now stand, it is our young citizens own fault if he arrives at the age of twenty one so ignorant as not to be able to meet reasonable education who arrive at that age have accumulated no property. A large proportion of our citizens fail to do so even through life. The notion that men of property have any monopoly of patriotism, of intelligence or of moral worth, will not even for moment stand the test of an application to society as we find it develop ed here in America. How much more must that be the case when dense population, and the occupation of all the valuable government lands, make it more and more difficult even for industry, intelligence and thrift to accumu- late property?
 The most ardent believer in the ballot as tie right and not the mere privilege of an intelli- gent people must indeed admit that at present the American suffrage is suffering grievously from disturbing elements, Our rapid mate- rial development not only attracts crowds of ignorant foreigners but it stimulates arank and RAf.- IL
 Mir. Parkman:
 The lower forms of ambition among us are stimulated to the utmost The prizes held be- fore them are enormous. The faculties that lead to money making. and those that lead to political notoriety as distinguished from polti- cal emlnence, have every opportunity and eve " incentive Ability, poor and obscure. may hope to win untold wealth, rule over mines. railroads, and cities, and mount to all the glo- ries of official station. As consequence we have an abundance of rich men and an abund. 0nce of clever pOliticians