Washington sentinel., 1899-04-01
THE LACK OF GREAT MEN,
SPECTATOR

dying out. That is perhaps too brusque
asentencerequiring some qualifications.
but it conveys what is substantially the
truth. There is nothing more marked
as one looks round Europe than the
absence OF dominant personalities in
any department OF life. There is scarcely
a man in politics in any country whose
departure would be missed for six
months. Lord Salisbury and the German
Emperor are the most notable excep.
tlons, and neither Of them completely
| invalidates ths rule. Lord SALISBURY
would be really great man If he wished
things little more strongly, and the
German Emperor Ifhe did not dissipate
his force in the vain pursuit Of emiuence
in all things but being what thev are.
the historian Of the future will hardly
| class them in the front rank Of mankind
He may, for their histories are not over.
but we can judge only by what has been
finished, and it leaves Lord Salisbury a
most considerable, rather than strictly
''great," statesman, and William II a
striking but doubtful figure, made
abnormally visible by his seat upon a
lofty throne. With chose tw o possible
exceptions, the political leaders of the
world belong at best to th e second rank.
In this country the highest figures after
Lord Salisbury are Mr. Palfour and Mr..
Chamberlain; and while Mr.. Baliour,
with all bis powers, has as yet initiated
nothing, Mr.. Chamberlain, with all his
force, has still to secure a great success,
In the Liberal party there IS not even a
chief, man who is indispensable.
Their Is in the country no first class
orator, there is no administrator so great
as TO be universally recognized, no
soldier who has won a pitched battle
against a white foe-Lord Kitchener
may be great in the historians sense.
but he has yet to be fully proved-no
man in any profession as to whose
Drimacy IN that profession there is no
dispute. There are able men. trust
worthy men. successful men, by the
score, but the last OF the men who are
recognized by foes as head and shoulders
above the crowd died with Mr.. Glad.
stone.
In France there is a dead level and
the level IS not high. The Republic has
opened a careers to the competent, but
the competent do not advance to fill
them. The parties. the army, the
factions, the whole people, long for a
great leader; but if such man exists
he is still in the background and might
as well not be. The regime OF the
''plain men, has been inaugurated, no
one is eXcluded-the President was a
tanner, and the Premier an usher in
sChool-but the guide whom an eniran.
chised people SHOULD have thrown up
has not been found. There has not
been man in French politics since
Gambetta died whom his countrymen
recognized as a genius-that is, as
man possessed Of the gift to which
experience is needless il IS the same
in literature, in the arts, even in oratory,
for though there are men in the Cham
bers with marvellous powers of express
sion, there is no one who Can make Of
persuasion an executive force. In the
other two Latin countries men in poll.
tics are scarcely even eminent, those
who oppose being as third rate as those
who rule. Spain is being ruined by
sheer want ol brain power, and though
there is plenty OF ability among promi-
nent men IN Italy, to none have been
given the abilities which cummaud the
adhesion OF people. In Italy we hear
nothing of a great htsraksHy, of a
supreme artist, OF Of what has appeared
there so oiteE,t the man OF science whose
very name marks an epoch in discovery.
In Germany the Emperor seems, with
his endless strain after greatness, to
absorb all the vitality OF the nation.
Great men do not grow, or, at least, do
not become visible under his shadow.
There is no minister who cannot be
parted with, no leader Of opposition who
IS formidable, no soldier who is essential
to the army, no citizen who towers in
sight Of all men above the crowd. There
is only the Emperor, with his aboundine
energy, made half useless because
applied to TOO many things. We ought
not, perhaps. 10 quote Austria, for il
has been the singular tate OF Austria to
flourish without men at once great and
successful but though she has an able
sovereign, he IS not exactly a great man.
while she has no Mstternich to represent
her, no ArchduEe Charles to fight for
her, and no Deak TO reconcile the jarring
races. She drifts along under second
rate men, 1t may be toward a haven of
rest, 1t may be towards the abyss; but
there is no one, be tim tile Government
or in the opposition, or outside both, to
whom her many nations look as a pilot
who can show them the way.
In Russia, the sovereign, who IS all IN
all, is most assiduous IN business, is
thoroughly well meaning, and is proba
bly, one Of those men before whose
minds great It shadOwy, ideas occca.
siOually float but no one not his subject
would reckon him a amopg the great He
has in Muravied an accomplished diplo.
maust, in DeWitte a successful fnancIer.
in the Grand Duke Vladimir a strong,
| and, IL IS said, sagacious general coun-
| Cillor; but there is no one whom he
| would select as Chancel or, no one whom
| Europe esteems great, no one whom the
| group around the throne would name
! as reserve force Tor Russia.