The daily gazette., 1878-07-18
SECOND EDITION
Some English Views of Universal
Suffrage,


Suffrage.
1t is the fashion among certain sort of
wealthy and pretentious Americans to de-
cry universal suffrage, and to ascribe to it
all the political evils of the country. Mr..
Francis Parkman, for example, publishes
ia the July number of the North Aneri-
can Reuie,y an article in which he declares
that our political system tends to exclude
from the government the best class of
citizens; accordingly he advocates re-
form by which only men possessed of a
certain amount of property shall be al
lowed to vote. In this respect he follows
in the footsteps of Mr.. Evarts and his
associates, who lately endeavored to hand
over the government of cities in this
State to the control of the payers of
certain amount of rent or taxes. And it
is quite common to hear it said that the
most competent men among us take no
part in active politics because of the dis
couragement they met with from our un-
limited suffrage laws.
That such sentiments spring from ig-
norance of the facts of the case, or from
sickly refinement which cannot success
fully grapple with practical questions, no
uCdlilly QOuDlS. L lldL lslI. L dIh
man, Ms. Evarts, and others of their kind
fail of winnings the confidence and the
esteem of their fellow citizens who pos
sess less wealth and book learning than
they do, is not because of their superior
attainments, or of their greater capacity
to serve the public. 1t is because the un-
corrupted instincts of the voters whom
they profess to despise detect their want
of knowledge of the broad interests of the
country, and will not accept their finical
theories as political wisdom. Rough
common sense in this, as in many other
cases, arrives at a sound conclusion
though it may not give its reasons in ele-
giant language,
An interesting discussion of the capacity
of masses Of men to judge correctly on
political subjects has lately been going on
in the pages of an English review, The
Nineteenth Century, between Mr.. Glad
stone, Lord Arthur Russell, Mr.. Greg,
Mr.. Hutton and other eminent English
men. The summing up of their several
views appears, opportunely enough,
simultaneously with the publication of
Mr.. Parkman's article in this country,
and is most satisfactory answer to it,
N1is oidhoiOiiO1 pdi tiNtldi tJ1 10 OutopOhCll
in his opinion, that $50 far as we know
the facts, and with possible exception OF
two, the popular judgment on the great
achievements of the last half century,
which have made our age ESQ far) praise
among the ages, has been more just and
true than that of the majority of the
| higher orders"
He mentions a number of measures
such as the repeal of the corn laws, the
| cheap postage bill and Irish disestablish
ment, in continuation of this proposition
and concludes thus: "Now, when we
have enfranchised one full half of this
classs, which felt and judged so much
more soundly than we did, and that half
the more questionable of the two, it will
not be well to Withhold the corresponding
boon, demanded by equality, by growing
intelligence, and by unquestioned docili-
ty, from the other moiety." Mr.. Glad
stone did not, as he might have done, add
to his illustrations the popular support
which the United States received in Eng
land against the efforts of the aristocracv
during the war for the Union, and his
own recent failure to commit England to
the side of Russia against Turkey; but he
must have remembered them, and his
Judgment is therefore the more disinteres-
ted. Mr.. Hutton and Mr.. Grant Duff
| dRlOC VIII hlui, anu ouppclO uin Will
all array of facts altogether overwhehn-
| ing.
The truth is, that, as Mr.. Gladstone
points out, something more than mere
intellectual cultivation is necessary in
forming correct conclusion on political
questions. This something Is moral
soundness, whichis too often impaired by
the very circumstances of luxury and So
pretence which accompany superior ed
ucation. Wealth and ease bring with
them, he SAYS, in majority of cases, an
increased growth in the hardening crust
of egotism and selfshness, and diminish
the capacity of right judgment more than
leisure, money, and opportunity increase
it. And he concludes by appealing to ex'
perience of the early Christians, who
found favor with the poor and iguorant,
when they were despised and prosecuted
v the aristocracy of the Roman Empire.
| On our side of the water we have only tC
point to the apathy, not to say complacen-
cy, with which our educated citizens have
regarded the great Presidential fraud, and
| the alacrity which some OF the most con-
spicuous among them have displayed in
seeking office from the hands of a man
who derives his ability to gi We it from bri-
berry and perjury, to be convinced that,
not among this set, at least, are the savior.
] of the country TO be looked for. Our or
dlnary American citizens may not be full
of classics and mathematics, but they
know right from wrong. and can be de
penended on to approve the one and con
denim the other.-N. Y. Sun.
Ran,.husonvr VUontIv.~