CHAP. VII.

THE TYRANNY OF NUMBERS.

127

16

The very principles of the government are repudiated or vindicated according to the caprice of the moment. Freedom of opinion is punished by public odium and the sacrifice of name and reputation." The man who ventures to stand in the path of the majority is swept away and disappears probably for ever-for in these contests the victors imitate the tactics of their Indian foes on the frontier, who either slaughter their enemies outright, or leave them incapable of doing further harm. They are poisoned with bitter slanders and revilings. The identical ills which Montesquieu saw were incidental to a democracy, seem to be inseparable from political life in America. Every citizen thinks he is wiser than the ruler, and would fain rule him. "Then the people, incapable of bearing the very power they have delegated, want to manage everything themselves— to debate for the Senate, to execute for the magistrate, and to decide for the judges. The people are desirous of exercising the functions of the magistrates, who cease to be revered." 17 These are the stains upon a system sometimes alleged to be purity itself, and Americans of the better class are anxious rather to remove them than to deny their existence.

The perception of the disadvantages which so ex

16 Daniel Webster, because he saw reason to modify his opinions on the slavery question before his death, is constantly vilified, and every feature of his private character assailed. See, for an example, 'North American Review' for January, 1867.

17 Esprit des Lois,' liv. viii. chap. ii.

tended a suffrage entail upon the people is not confined to foreign observers. In America also they are understood and regretted. That the Federal Legisla ture was a body characterized by greater dignity and ability thirty years ago than it is now is generally admitted. The standard of public life has fallen. Chancellor Kent saw the change that was going on in his day with evident misgiving and alarm. It could not then be traced to the effect of a great revolution, as some might be disposed to trace it now. "Such a rapid course of destruction of the former constitutional checks," he writes, "is matter for grave reflection; and to counteract the dangerous tendency of such combined forces as universal suffrage, frequent elections, all offices for short periods, all officers elective, and an unchecked press, and to prevent them from racking and destroying our political machines, the people must have a larger share than usual of that wisdom which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated." 18 But without this wisdom, and there is nothing to prove that it has been rained down, like manna to the Israelites, upon any chosen people, a licensed rule of numbers is one under which great and peculiar wrongs are wrought. The wellinstructed, the conscientious, the men of sterling character and means and leisure, are without influence in the State. There is a despotism of the poor over the rich. No party would think of going to the

18 Kent's Commentaries,' vol. i. p. 234, note.

CHAP. VII. AMERICANS NO LOVERS OF DEMOCRACY.

129

better class to choose a candidate for the Presidency. The lower classes are not satisfied with being acknowledged the equals of the upper; they take every opportunity of making them feel that as they are numerically superior, they can and will keep fast hold of the ascendency in the State. It is the fashion to assert that the tendency of the age is towards Democracy, and that it would be well for the world that it should everywhere triumph. Such is not the language heard in America from men competent to form an impartial judgment. There we find them asking, "Is America as peaceable, as orderly, as happy in its internal affairs, as a perfect form of government, aided by unlimited resources, ought to make it? Does it knit all classes together, as European reformers, who desire to see all nations model their governments after our pattern, appear to suppose? Are we quite free from class prejudices, from sectional differences, from jealousies of party and faction? Do we actually place all men on a political equality, or have we only reversed the ancient injustices of class ?" And there it is also said, by men of long experience, "The English government is the only one in the world likely to last, and the only one which is just and equal in its treatment of all classes of the people." Nothing is more common than to hear men in positions of the highest authority deplore the fact that there seems no possibility of placing any limits upon the suffrage in America.

An equal representation of the people is not at

K

tained under the American system. All the power is lodged in the hands of one class, and that class the one least fit to govern.19 The House of Commons since the year 1832 has been said to be an epitome of the English nation; the House of Representatives is nothing but a deputation from the least cultivated classes of America. There is no great interest, whether of labour or capital, in the world of commerce or the world of thought, which has not hitherto been faithfully reflected and honestly guarded, without detriment to other interests, in the House of Commons. Property does not obtain all the representation, and even the men who are supposed to represent property are not as a rule unwilling to do justice to labour. Learning is not without the influence which justly belongs to it, and although it may have been that there were classes in the nation which were not represented in proportion to their numbers, yet it would be untrue to assert that any class was left totally unrepresented. No one who has seen the American Congress in working, or who is properly aware of the constituents of which it must necessarily be formed, will ever be able to look but with profound anxiety and apprehension upon an attempt to

19 «Those who attempt to level never equalise. In all societies, consisting of various descriptions of citizens, some description must be uppermost. The levellers, therefore, only change and pervert the natural order of things; they load the edifice of society by setting up in the air what the solidity of the structure requires to be on the ground."-Burke's 'Reflections on the Revolution in France,'

CHAP. VII. EQUAL SUFFRAGE NOT EQUAL REPRESENTATION. 131

make the House of Commons exactly like it. The ignorant choose the ignorant to represent them. Equal suffrage can never lead to equal representation. The class which is no less the honour and mainstay of a nation than the labouring class, are disfranchised, and are rendered utterly powerless to save their country from any dangers which they may see before it. There are able and honest men in Congress, but, like the honest and intelligent electors in a constituency, they have little or no influence, for they are overmatched by numbers. The majority know that to keep their seats it is only necessary to flatter the poorer classes, and pander to their worst prejudices. It is a general and unscrupulous sycophancy of the lowest orders of the community. No other class is worth soliciting, for there is no other which possesses political power. Integrity is regarded as a weakness. Official station is only valued because "it confers the opportunity to make money, and to enrich relatives and friends. The consequence has been a degree of corruption disgraceful to the country and the age. Bribery is almost acknowledged as a part of legislation, whilst dishonest jobs and contracts so abound that they are regarded as things of course." These are not the words of a hater of democracy or of America. It is a description by an American writer of good repute of his own country.20 And the same writer has the courage

20 See Fisher's Trial of the Constitution' (Philadelphia, 1862) p. 346.