New-York tribune., 1899-12-03

licanism. Yet In too many cHsee 'ho'o iNP
lies. so called, are nothing but military despo'-
isms, tempered by assassinations ana reVoiu-
tons Our next neighbor, Mexico Is NOT IT,
public in our own sense or the TERM her so'
ernment is really dictatorship. but shc mas
the advantage Of having for dictator sihgu-
,ar,v progressive. benevolent and enlightened
statesman. The present french repuoiic -
widely different from our own ideal, and 1t has
ever since its foundation suffered from serious
evils which seem to arise from faults inherent IN
fits constitutions The Transvaal, though III maine
n republic has had scarcely a single point OF
constitutional contact with the United states
but has been almost purely an ecclesiastical oil
garchy AS for Switzerland, which Mr. Seward
brackets with the United States, she really
goes beyond us in carrying democracy toward
socialism.
The ren son Of IL all is obvious, or should De'
The genius of government Is thing Of gradual
growth and of slow changes. A despotism may
be forcibly created or supinely permitted in
day All that Is needed is n despot shrewd
enough and strong enough to assert himself, and
a people too foolish or too weak 10 resist him.
But a republic IS born, not made, and grows
slowly into sef-maintaining stature. a natloh
may yield to the sway of a tyrant in day, but
-
government France tried that in 1871 we
are 10 give her leaders OF that date credit for
sincerely trying it, as some of them, though not
the foremost, did. But the results were disas-
trous The people had never learned the art OF
self-government. and when they were suddenly
hidden to practise It they blundered as wildly
and as fatally as a man would who should try
to practise the art of medicine without ever
SDoiD foi ilpd for the same reason.
So did the Spanish colonies Of South America
They had no antecedents of sef-government,
and no amount Of zeal could compensate them
for the absence thereof and for the absence or
actual knowledge The Transvaal burghers had
the traditions Of Dutch repubcanism behind
them but they had also traditions Of eccesiasti-
cal discrimination and of sturdy II narrow re-
sistance to allen influences in either Church or
State Just as some Of our own New-England
colonists had who came hither to enjoy their
own freedom OF worship. but refused such free
dom TO others because they-and not unjustly-
reckoned that the granting of 1t to others might
imperil their own
The success Of republican institutions In Swift
erland and the United States Mr.. Seward we'll
attributes largely to the habit of orderly self
government, which had been developed through
govern themselves while they were struggling TO
save themselves from alien oppression Our
own traditions of repubcanlsm came chiefly
from England, where under monarchical rule,
popular rights and popular participation in gov
ernment had been steadily growing for many
centuries. Transplanted hither, the colonists
were still "under the King" But they increased
their participation in governmental affairs. and
in their town meetings" established schools of
practical repubcanlsm. The same tendencies
have prevailed In Canada and Australia and
Cape Colony. which countries are now almost
pure republics. Indeed. they have not been
checked in Great Britain herself, where republ
canism-if by that we mean popular selfgovern
ment-is almost as far advanced as In any land
on earth. Is 1t conceivable that any one In his
senses, however ardent might be his republican
ism, could prefer the despotsm Of Hayti simply
because 1t Is called a republic TO the freedom Of
Australia, just because the latter is part of Il
monarchical empire? or truth as Mr.. Seward
says, 1--WE need to be more chary Of our sympa-
thies and more discriminating in our Judgment"
And we shall not err in that the throat cutting
despotism Of Agulnaldo would have been no
credtabe addition to the worlds family of re-
publican States.