The Green Bag
34
1a: judicat orbis terrarum were the words which rang in the ears of Newman and pro duced such marvelous effects on him. But did any one in his senses ever suppose that these were maxims of progress?" The motto in no way signifies secums judicat vulgus. Otherwise what would become of the sanctions of social opinion which give effect, not only to the authority of governments, but to pri vate law and to international law as well? That the confusion entailed by the use of a vague term leads to some fallacious assump tions may be readily surmised. One of these is the fallacy of the Wire-puller. In a wide democracy, argues the author in the first essay, political power is subdivided into such small morsels that men are not content and desire more than their share. Thus arises the Wire-puller. His function is to collect and utilize the rejected fragments. He would be powerless to achieve anything were it not for party feeling, which does not rest upon intellectual conviction but is a matter of primitive
instinct.
Intellectual,
moral
or
historical difi'erences go such a little way down into the population that the Wire-puller seeks only to appeal to the electors with ideas likely to win favor with the greatest number. Thus extensions of the suffrage are a favorite weapon of the Wire-puller. Such observations may be applicable to an imaginary society illustrative of Hobbes‘ dictum, which Sir Henry Maine adopts, that liberty is power cut into fragments, and to some real societies which by the employment of violent and suicidal measures try to realize the Utopia of an absolute equality founded on liberty. But they are only partly applicable to a. sound republicanism. Society perceives the futility of attempting to divest individuals of every vestige of power conferred upon them by their natural capacity for leadership or by their economic or intellectual supremacy.
ates a certain amount of privilege, if it may be so called, but positively demands it in order to protect itself from decay. There fore the Wire-puller has little room for his operations. His place has been largely pre empted by others whose power is exercised not solely for selfish purposes. Another misconception is shown in the author's argument in the third essay, that be cause the greater portion of the human race has shown an extreme tenacity of its social and political institutions, popular govern ment, with its restless craving for endless change, is abnormal, and is proved by human
experience to be doomed to a brief existence. He falls into this error through his failure to distinguish between the stable and the un stable varieties of popular government. The volume contains an account of the government of the United States, full of preg nant and by no means unfavorable comment and worthy of the study of those who would understand the American Constitution. Sir Henry Maine considers, evidently, that our government is not a popular government in his own sense of the term, owing to the fixity of our Constitution and to the functions of the Supreme Court and national Senate. His conclusion, however, that the President of the
United States is likely usually to be a medi ocrity (p. 248), is as unsound in theory as in fact. The book, however, is itself a solemn warn
opinions, between the moral virtues which
ing against the dangers of a too wide democ racy, which may block the wheels of progress and create greater social injustices than it can possibly remove. These essays have a good lesson for Americans, and should cause us to be on our guard against injurious in fluences of speculation or passion that may. tempt the country to remove those checks on the supremacy of the proletariat which were wisely provided in our federal Constitu tion. They should always lead us to give pause and consider carefully all reforms which are put forward in the name of Democracy, to make sure that they truly answer to the requirements of a sound and progressive Pop ular Government. They should also stim ulate us to seek an ideal Popular Government in a higher sense of the term than that used
often underlie natural leadership and political influence, and between powers of intellectual and oral persuasion. The consequence is that in a naturally constituted democracy political power is not subdivided into infini tesimal fragments. Liberty not only toler
interests are subordinated to those of the entire community, and the discipline of the state is exercised over the great and the humble, the rich and the poor, the capitalist and laborer, in like degree for the good of all.
Society loves, in fact, a certain amount of in
equality. Equalization, howsoever it may progress under a regime of free institutions, cannot advance beyond the barriers of human nature itself. Absolute political equality is a chimera because it would necessitate the abo lition of all disparity between habits, between
by Sir Henry Maine,—-one in which all class
