laws of progress and the march of thought.

II.

I have attempted to point out roughly

the elements or characteristics of society essential to the successful operation of popular government. Whether the principle of democracy has not in many cases been pushed too far; whether in other cases the character of the electorate has not deterioratedrelapsed into a former ignorance—are the questions to which attention is invited.

Since the people are to be sovereign, democracy requires of them the possession and exercise of sovereignly qualities and a sense of public order. Democracy, "far from being a crude form of government, therefore . . . is possible only in the peoples of the highest and steadiest political habit." ()

the character of the society limits the possibilities of successful popular government. This is especially so as regards the characteristic of steadiness; a flighty and unstable people may as safely tamper with popular government as a child may play with fire.

Before returning to the recent campaign let us examine two former instances which have materially to do with the character of the electorate as we find it at the commencement of that contest. They throw much light on the forces at work on both sides, and the character of the various issues, and the canvasses of the contending parties.

The first is the influx of ignorant immigrants who early began to pour into the country from all the capitals of Europe-people of varying traditions, custom, temperament, moral and political habit; a motley throng of humanity; for the most part promising subjects for strict and regenerative discipline, but entirely unfit to be entrusted with the wielding of political power. naturalization laws which stood as a wholesome barrier against this evil were, in many cases through the connivance of an elective judiciary, itself

The

(1) Woodrow Wilson, An Old Master, and other Essays.

the creature of the popular vote, set at nought; and these poor people, fresh from scenes of European ignorance and squalor, and for the most part ignorant of popular government, were made the recipients of the powers and privileges of American citizens. The majority of these immigrants were doubtless capable of becoming in time excellent citizens, but they required to be thoroughly schooled in the habits of political thought and the spirit and workings of popular government in the country of their adoption before being given a voice in its affairs. They have in more than one instance constituted a menace to the liberty they came to enjoy, while their enfranchisement materially lowered the character of the electorate.

The second instance is afforded by the outcome of the civil conflict between the North and South—the eman

cipation of the negro. Though the

chains of slavery håd been broken in British dominions many years before, and men had come to recognize the rights of man irrespective of colour or creed, in America they were still unbroken, and it was not until after the preacher, the statesman and the soldier had thrown their combined forces against it, and until after the violence of civil war had spent its fury, that they were rent asunder. Then, as is usual when excessive enthusiasm smothers judgment, victory was carried to its extreme; the negroes were enfranchised. A people "utterly and childishly incompetent," unfitted by their traditions, their ignorance and their habitual surveillance, were immediately invested with the privileges, powers and responsibilities of American citizenship and expected to perform the duties of popular sovereignty. A people who had groped for years in the thick darkness of slavery, fettered, driven, hunted with bloodhounds, were brought at one stroke into the blinding light of the highest freedom-the freedom of democracywere thrust upon the throne of popular sovereignty, and there, bewildered and dazed, were expected to lay aside the bended attitude of the slave and with head erect to assume that of the sove

reign people. It was a forlorn hope, as we shall presently see.

If

What were the immediate results flowing from these two errors? bodies of ignorant and incompetent men are given powers which they do not know how to use, it is perfectly right and logical to take them in charge

-so reasoned the political parties; and since one vote is as potent as another, the greater number of such votes I can control the greater my political power— so reasoned the political adventurer. The doctrine that "when the hour calls, the hero appears" has an unpleasant corollary in that "when opportunity invites, the Devil appears." So it was. In the city of New York exists an organization whose history is co-extensive with that of the Republic, and which has come down to our day as one of the most stupendous and unique organizations devised by the wit of man. This body takes its name, 'tis said, from an Indian Chief named Tammanend, or Tammany, and appears to have been organized after the tribal ideal of its Indian prototype. It possessed its "Sachems" or 66 Sagamores" and its "Braves"; and although its early character was social, it soon became political. Perceiving a fruitful field of operations among certain of the immigrant classes, it perfected and extended its organization, "stretching forth its tentacles on every hand" among these poor and ignorant people; and by various means it brought them under its influence and control.

This was the unclean beast that laid hold of the newly-arrived immigrants, helped to procure their enfranchisement by adroit evasions of the naturalization laws, schooled them in the lore of its "Sachems," drilled them in the noble arts of political chicanery, marshalled them, and marched them to the polls where, at the word of command, they voted en masse.

Next we have the negro. The South was at this time beyond the sway of Tammany, but the circumstances were too inviting to enjoy immunity from the presence of some evil genius. Almost immediately upon their enfran

chisement the negroes became the prey of unscrupulous adventurers from the North known as "Carpet-baggers," and the subsequent history reveals "a grotesque parody of government, hideous orgie of anarchy, violence, unrestrained corruption, undisguised, ostentatious, insulting robbery such as the world had scarcely ever seen."1

a

In addition to all this, there early set in the policy of extending the franchise in various other directions, and this policy, as de Tocqueville pointed out, when once entered upon, leads directly to universal suffrage. These various extensions and gifts of the franchise have undoubtedly weakened the character of the electorate on the one hand, and strengthened the influence and power of the political boss and party machine on the other.

Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the better class of men have been driven out of politics; that the boss has become in effect "the people," that "the machine has become the great dictatorial power.

Let

These things, rightly regarded, are but an unwholesome excrescence upon democracy; they are no part of the principle itself; nor are they inevitably connected with it by the inexorable necessities of party government. the issue be serious enough and the sleeping conscience becomes aroused. A great crisis like the Civil War is capable of evoking an exalted patriotic action, worthy the highest admiration.

III.

Let us now turn our attention to some features of the recent campaign. When it became known that the Democratic party assembled in convention at Chicago had adopted a platform containing as its main plank the foolish scheme of the "free coinage of silver," other planks of a constitutiontampering nature, such as the reconstruction of the Supreme Court Bench of the United States and expressions of hostility to "government by injunc

(1) Leckey, Democracy and Liberty. (2) De Tocque ville, Democracy in America.

tion," as the decision of the Supreme Court growing out of the Chicago strikes was termed, and still others betokening unwarranted antagonism against capitalists, bankers, employers and manufacturers generally—a mild consternation seized the financial world; and when it appeared probable that Mr. Bryan-the Presidential Candidate of the party and a young and inexperienced man who professed to stand upon every plank in the platform-might succeed at the polls, Lombard Street vied with Wall Street in the interest excited by the situation. The result of that convention is well known. A portion of the old Democratic party, finding themselves outnumbered at Chicago, withdrew, held a convention of their own, put up candidates, and entered the fight as "Sound Money Democrats," while the Chicago party for obvious reasons became known as the "Popocrats." From thenceforth waged a contest between the " Goldbugs and the "Silverbugs"-a contest in many ways the most remarkable in American history.

As the contest took more definite shape and the smoke of the first charges cleared away, this remarkable fact became more apparent: on the one side appeared to be grouped a majority of the manufacturers, capitalists, bankers, millionaires, railway kings and merchant princes, the clergy, the learned professions, the political economists, the faculties and students of colleges and universities generally, the leading journals and newspapers, constituting a formidable array of the intelligence, culture, thrift and wealth of the country; while on the other side appeared to be grouped a majority of those whom we may be pardoned for classifying as socialists, demagogues, schemers, faddists, theorists, revolutionists, malcontents and grumblers, a motley throng of ignorants and incompetents clamouring for political power and the overthrow of everything that did not agree with the tenets of their interesting propaganda. All this portended danger, and that danger increased when it was found that a great many of the ordin

ary, quiet-going, industrious folk of limited vision and experience-honest and sincere labourers and plodding farmers were, by reason of party ties or through want of enlightenment, supporting the "free silver" party.

But this was not all; a considerable number of men of more than average intelligence and influence were found to be supporting the party and giving vigourous and effective assistance to it in its canvass.

66

What was to be done? A campaign of education" was commenced. The great centres of intellectual thought and action, the pulpit and platform, the magazine and daily journal, and business men generally, contributed their quota of enlightenment to the popular mind, while with prophetic instinct many of the great colleges and universities held elections of their own toward the close of the campaign and inflicted on Mr. Bryan and his party an overwhelming defeat.

The speeches delivered by Mr. Bryan in his vigourously-conducted campaign, those of his lieutenants, and the campaign literature, bear abundant evidence of the dangerous character of the doctrines, political fetichisms, financial day-dreams, and economic fallacies. which characterized their policy, and of their tendency to stir up and inflame class hatred. The magnetic influence which Mr. Bryan exerted over large numbers of the electorate was a factor of no small importance and, when coupled with the highly rhetorical character of his platform addresses, a ready eloquence and a hearty Hibernian wit, a facility in the coining of suggestive campaign cries of the "cross of gold and crown of thorns" type, and withal a real generosity of heart well calculated to inspire the admiration and following of the work-a-day classes, did much to set fanaticism in operation, to create hostility between labour and capital, to fire the ambitions of the socialist, and generally to create glowing and exorbitant hopes in the breasts, not only of those of populistic and socialistic tendencies, but also of a

great number of otherwise peaceable and contented citizens.

But let us not be too severe on the Silver Democratic party and its leader. They are the natural fruit of the tree which bore them. There is much justice in the outcry against rich men, against corporations, against combines and monopolies. The history of tariff legislation has confirmed with wonderful exactness the prophetic vision of its future which McDuffie of South Carolina painted years ago (See Goldwin Smith's Polit. Hist. U. S., p. 189). If the high protection party by the granting of special favours, by undue protection to individuals and corporations, and by the shutting out of foreign competition and the crushing of healthful commerce, has encouraged and made possible the formation of these combines and monopolies, which must always and ever be at the expense of the body of the people and the sacrifice of their interests and just rights, some thanks is due to that party for helping to bring about the state of discontent apparent at the time of the recent contest. Measures which give undue facilities to some for accumulating wealth, while denying it to others, breed a sense of injustice. Men resent injustice, and if they cannot get justice through the law-givers, they will take the law into their own hands. The same causes which impel them to lynch the individual will impel them to lynch (politically) the classes by whom they deem themselves to have been oppressed.

IV.

The election, however, is over, and the smallness of the majority shows how narrowly a great danger has been escaped. The character of that danger is, as we have already seen, that of political predominance of the lower classes, which is "Mobocracy."

There is always a possibility of democracy degenerating into this, and what may be said under this head will apply with equal force to the democracy of England and the Colonies.

Let it not be thought that no evils ac

crue until the lower classes are actually in the ascendant. Long before they reach this point they constitute a balance of power which, as we have seen, may be thrown toward the one side or the other to carry an election for that party which as a matter of bargain will reward them for their support by the biggest bribe. Under the system of party government, candidates bid for support. One candidate says to his constituents, 66 Support me and I will give you this." The opposing candidate says Nay, but support me and I will give you this and that." Thus the bidding continues, the zest of conflict and the hope of victory and power ever supplying an incentive to unscrupulousness and exciting the faculties of invention in finding and devising "political commodities" in the shape of offices, bonuses, subsidies, public works, special grants, favours, and other little matters of a similar kind, not hesitating to purchase support at the rate of $5, or even $1 per head, even dispensing rum in those communities where its effectiveness in "enlightening the electorate on the issues" is known.

But this is not all. The "Land of Promise" is pictured to the wondering and greedy eyes of a dishonest constituency. There is scarcely a promise which the ordinary politician will not make under the pressure of local demand if thereby he may gain the coveted support.

The lower the character of the electorate the lower the character of the

party appeals to it. The larger the number of that shiftless body of ignorant and unscrupulous voters who form the balance of power, the greater the scope for the exercise of those influen

divisions of politics in our day is coming to be whether at the last resort the world should be governed by its ignorance or its intelligence." (1). He combats vigourously what he regards as a mistaken tendency of the times, as did Sir James Fitzjames Stephen more than two centuries ago, (2) and designates the theory that "the ultimate source of power, the supreme right of appeal and control, belongs legitimately to the majority of the nation told by the head-or, in other words, to the poorest, the most ignorant, the most incapable, who are necessarily the are necessarily the most numerous," as a theory which "assuredly reverses all the past experiences of mankind.”

This is not reassuring. But it must be admitted that there is very much in existing conditions to call forth such statements. Times have changed. To get the best example of blind, unquestioning faith in democracy it is necessary to look back to Jefferson, who, with implicit confidence in the people, "intently listened for the popular will, and surely caught its every whisper." (3). But in strange contrast to his bright, optimistic faith are the sombre forebodings of a number of recent thinkers and writers on the subject"(*).

While, however, the tide of people worship is far less strong than in older days, there is, perhaps, an equally unhealthy tendency to despair of the future. All agree that democracy is here, and here to stay-from it there is no turning back. The attitude of a people, as of confidence in or distrust of their institutions, is of great importance as regards their successful working; and the tendency to bewail the future outlook is due rather to a morbid fancy than a clear and just perception of existing conditions.

How to grapple with those recognized dangers which really menace democracy is the question. It is easier to extend the suffrage than to restrict it; and though something can be done (1) W. E. H. Leckey, in a recent work, " Democracy and Liberty," Vol. I.. p. 25.

(2) "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity."

(3) Goldwin Smith, "Unit d States Political History." (4) See especially Brooks Adams, "The Law of Civilization and Decay.'

in this latter respect, especially in refusing to extend it further, much more can be done by well-directed endeavour to enlighten and educate the electorate-not neglecting in the meantime to instruct some public men in the first principles and duties of statesmanship. Both require to be placed on a higher and sturdier moral plane.

This process must commence in the "little red schoolhouse"; it must continue through the college and the university, especially in extended and better instruction in history, political economy, and social science.

Especially is there need of a regeneration of the press. Let journalists cease to be the hirelings of this or that faction in the interests of those lying doctrines they spend their energies in proselytising their readers. Let the newspapers cease their existence as mere garbage-pots of public gossipthe purveyors of distorted, sensational and scandalizing rumour. Let them reflect truthfully and faithfully that which is worthy the name of "public opinion," and in turn react upon that public with something of truth and knowledge for its enlightenment and guidance.

The extent to which the views of a great number of the plain, every-day people, especially in the rural districts, are formed and controlled by the

party paper," is perhaps greatly underestimated; for in many cases, perhaps the majority, it is their chief literature. When such a paper is nothing but "the servile mouth-piece of a party" whose columns are continually filled with mean party bickerings, misrepresentations, falsehoods and unbecoming recriminations, which take root in the minds of the readers, blossom in the squabbles of the corner grocery, and come to their fruitage in an ignorant party vote on election day, it is easy to see whence comes so much of that political "wrong-headedness" which intelligent, thinking men are wont to deplore. The press is a powerful agency; but, alas! this is as true of a corrupt press as of a pure one— in many cases more so.