Litchfield enquirer., 1878-08-22

views with approval, comments also certain recent British acts of incorporation which al- low each stockholder but single vote, nc matter how many shares of stock he may own. Here is the fundamental idea of universal suf- frage carried by conservative England to its logical conclusion. with boldness that startles even radical America! Yet who that has seen the reckless squandering of millions of Ameri- can money upon the remotest chances of profit able return the grasping and destructive tyr amy of the great over the small stockholder i; still worse, the misappropriation of corporate funds and downright stealing that have marked corporate management have much faith in any government by mere prop erty as a substitute for government by the peo- pie?
 II. Intelligent SufrGge.-1. A clas- sificatien which rates the demagogue above the plutocrat; the political methods of Senators Cameron and Barnum below those of Messrs. Kearney and Butler; and the politics of the Fourth Congressional, and especially of the Seventeenth Senatorial District of Connecticut, below the rampant Nationalism of the West, and the insane Communism of the East, in the scale of political developement,- seem at first sight unjust even to absurdity. Never theless, it's justification is not difficult. The rule of the plutocrat is based en corrupt suf- frage, debased to the point where morality has lost all control of politics, and money is the only recognized political power The rule of the demagogue is based on an awakened suf- frage-narrow, selfish, mistaken though it may be. He may be worse man than the plutocrat, but he recognizes his merely repre- sentative capacity, and the fact that he must make his acts acceptable to the half-intelli- gence of his constituency. The plutocrat rep resents nobody. He has no genuine constitu- ency. A Senatorship was for sale and he bought it. Hence we look upon mistaken popular movements, like Socialism, Commun- ism, and Nationalism, as indications of pro- gressive suffrage. Men who but lately sold their votes for rum or for money are now using them-mistakenly indeed-but yet for what they imagiue to be the good of the state. It is very young sovereign that can mistake Butler and Kearny for statesmen and reliable leaders of men; but raw constituencies must live and learn like other raw sovereigns, in the dear school of experience.
 The phenomena of semi mi-intelligent suffrage under radical direction are conspicuous, just now bothin France and in Germany. The growth of the Socialist partyin the new empire and the admirable pertinacity of the French Re publicans show that the voting population of both those nations have passed the point where they can be controlled by governmental, or ar- istocratic influences and, the longer the pee pie are kept out of the power that of right be- longs to them, the more radical will they be- come. A party in power is naturally conserv- ative party in opposition, radical. The ex- sting order of things is satisfactory to the for mer, and they regard chiefly those facts and arguments which justify it's continuance. The latter live in chronic state of dissatisfaction, and consider only such facts and arguments as show the necessity of change, reform and the restoration of their party to power In France, and more particularly in Germany, there are aristocratic castes in power. These persecute the people, who are in Opposition Hence the talk of the people, and of their leaders who are demagogues, is radical. Once in power, the people will be surprised to see how little power can do for them; they will gradually forget their enthusiasms, correct their blunders and misapprehensions, and a tendency will set intowards the conservative stageof government by parties and bypoliticians. Ifthereis revolu- tion, bloodshed, and anarchy in France orin Ger many, it will be the fault of a cruel and bigot- ted aristocracy, not of the people, who have already shown pluck, steadfastness and d forbearance that go strongly to prove their fitness for self-government.
 2. For at least half century the United States has been governed for the most part by poli- ticans. The politician and the demagogue are both courtiers of the sovereign people. Both are intense partisans, the chief difference between them being that the demagogue is oftener a radical, fighting noisilY for new idea, while the politician is a conservative and the bigot- ted adherent of some old party.
 But the American politician is of peculiar breed. He is. an attorney. Shrewd NJ. De Tooqueville years ago noticed that the govern ment of the United States was government lucky lawyers. From two thirds to three quarters of every Congress are members of that profession. The leading committee in our legislature is composed entirely of law years, and it's House chairman is regarded as co etici0 leader of the House. The lawyers who go to Congress are not often the great city leaders of the bar. They are making so much money that they cannot ''afford" to accept either legislative or judicial honors. It is the average lawyer, of fair reputation and consid- erable success, and with a natural tact in the management of men, who usually takes to pol itics. The best of these is the elderly counse- Tor worthily ambitious of rounding off a re- spectacle career with term or two in the House, and with the prefix of the title ''Hon- orable" to his name.
 It must be admitted that there is no other class of American citizens so we'll fitted for the business of legislation as her lawyers Conservative by training, they not only appre- ciate the evils of existing law but they appre- ciate those other evils of uncertainty and in- congruity which are the usual consequence of attempts at reform. They are ready of speech and quick to detect errors of detail; they have already learned the rules of fair play in con- troversy, and how to yield gracefully to de- feat.
 With all these advantages come very serious disadvantages. Scanning sharply the faults | of the politician we find that most of them are the characteristic faults of the attorney. The distinction between attorneys and barristers which prevails in England is unknown to the American bar. Messrs Dodson and Fogg are equally eligible with Sergeant Buzfuz to seats in Congress and to the control of State legisla. tures The tricky practices of the clever at II