The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-10-03

RAAOAy D0b AAAcEANAASo NloAe AACNltoOAys
A quel bon! One cannot help thinking
that now and then. dare say man OF
absolute genius does not have that doubt,
but when one is very ordinary person
age one must feel now and then that one
might as well have enjoyed oneself and
let the nation alone"
"Yo1 are too modest; your example
alone is of the most infinite benefit There
is something so noble in a man who has
nothing to gain and everything to lose de-
voting himself to political life. 1t is those
sacrifices which have made the strength
of England and of the aristocracy OF En-
gland"
Aubrey smiled a little sadly: ave
shall not last very long, do whatever we
will"
81 do not believe the principle of aris-
tocracy will ever die out" said Lady Sun
bury, resolutely. at is rooted in human
nature and in nature itself. All govern
ments drift toward it whatever they call
themselves. Even savage tribes have
chief. Where our party has been so cul-
pable has been in pretending to agree
with those who deny this. Toryism should
have the courage OF its opinions"
Certainly the first virtue OF an aristoc-
racy should be courage" said her cousin.
"An aristocracy is nothing without 1t. A
democracy in England would have sent
humble deputation and the KEYS OF the
Cinque Ports to Napoleon after Austerlitz.
What stood against him and prevailed
against him were the valor and the stub
born patriotism of the English nobility
Aristocratic governments are often faulty;
they may be arrogant, illiberal, prejudice;
they may be SO, though they are not do
necessarily: but there is one fine quality
in them which no democracy ever
possesses; they have honor. A democracy
cannot understand honor; how should 1t?
The caucus is chiefly made up of men who
sand their sugar, put alum In their bread,
forge bayonets and girders which bend
liko willow wands, send bad calico to
India, pay their operatives by the tally
shop, and insure vessels at Lloyd's which
they know will go to the bottom before
they have been ten days at sea. Honor is
an idealic and impersonal thing; 1t can
only exist in men who have inherited its
traditions and have learned TO rate 1t
higher than all material success"
81 quite agree with you, said Guilderoy.
"Unless we honestly believe that we are
the natural leaders of the nation by virtue
OF the honor which we uphold and repre-
sent, we have no business to attempt TO
lead it, and we ought not TO conceal or TO
disavow that we have that belief in our
selves. Lord Salisbury has been often
accused of arrogance; people have never
seen that what they mistook for arrogance
was the natural. candid consciousness Of
great noble that he is more capable of
leading the country than most of the men
composing it would be. Ii man have
not that belief in himself he has no busi-
ness TO assume command anywhere,
whethere in q cabinet or in camp or in
cricket field. have no sort OF belief In
myself, and therefore have always let the
state roll on without help or hindrance
from me in any way"
"You may be a hindrance without
knowing il, murmursd Aubrey; "a
bOwlder in a highroad dos not move, but
sometimes it overturns the carriage as
eheetually as if it did.
'By which you mean
"That when the radicals of your county
are disposed to point to great landowners
who lead their lives to very little purpose
except that of their own enjoyment, you,
my dear Guilderov, are conveniently at
hand to be pointed at, and to sharpen the
moral OF their tale.
at is wholly impossible for them to
know what / do with my lie, said Gull
deroy with some anger.
Clearly; but they judge from what
they see; and you may be sure that they
lose no time in making your countryside
see with their eyes. For aught they can
tell, no doubt, you may be visiting prls-
ons like Howard, or capturing slave
dhows like Gordon, all the time you are
away from England, but they do not
think so, and all they tell the county is
that you have an immense income, which
you don't earn, and that you spend it
anywhere sooner than in England. | am
not saying that they have any business
to make such remarks; l only say that
they do make them"
'Let them make them and be damned? ?"
said Guilderoy.
''With all my heart" said his cousin.
"Only it is not they who ever are damned;
it is always the poor, stupid, hungry,
gullible crowd, which is led astray by
them, and is made to believe that it
would mend matters to burn down great
houses and cut down old woods.
You are always saying" continued
Lord Aubrey, that you wonder why l
bore myself with public life. 1t does bore
me endlessly immeasurably-tha grant;
but apart from all other reasonsyou know,
Evelyn, | must confess that men in our
position owe it to the country not TO leave
politics wholly in the hands OF professional
politicians The professional politician
may be honest, but his honesty is at best
a questionable quality. The moment that
a thing is meter it is wholly absurd to
talk about any disinterestedness in
the pursuit of it. To the pro-
fessional politician national affairs
are a manufacture into which he
puts his audacity and his time, and out OF
which he expects TO make so much per-
centage for his lifetime. l say that we
have no business, because we are lazy and
fastidious, to let the vast mass of the un-
educated and credulous who make up the
mass of our nation be led by false guides,
who only use them to climb up on their
shoulders to power. If we found man
persuading a child to eat poison by telling
him that il was honey, we should be as
guilty as the intending murderer if we did
not strike the cup down and tell the child
of the danger it ran. That poor, over
grown, ill-educated child, the people-the
People with big Pts always having
poison thrust on it under the guise of
honey. III we do not try TO show it what
the cup really holds, / think we are to
blame. That is the feeling which has
moved me to endeavor to do what i can.
/ should be uneasy if did not do it.
After all one can only act according TO
ones light"
"You are very conscientious man, my
dear Aubrey" said Guilderoy, "and / adj
mire If do not initiate you. The over
grown child will, however, always prefer
the deceiver, who tenders it the poison, to
you who are so careful over its health"
''Ihat must be as il NAV" said Aubrey