CHAPTER X. THE MASSES SHOULD BE INSTRUCTED REGARDING THE BEST CONDITIONS OF SOCIAL WELL-BEING. In all the complex relations of human existence there can be nothing more valuable than that order which is the basis of freedom, for freedom affords the opportunity for unlimited development. We have endeavoured in the foregoing chapters of this work to describe historically the cause of the origin of such order. We have referred it to the development of individual self-interest, and we have stated it to be established through the co-operation of many individuals in the pursuit of their respective material advantages. Without a measure of order commerce could not exist, but commerce produces at every step a fuller measure of order; it creates its own condition as it proceeds, and with its fullest extension there must be the securest and the most permanent order, and there must be the utmost development of freedom. In the Old World the masses of the people were generally slaves, and the order established was in a measure maintained by force and repression; in the Modern World, while individual freedom is recognised as a necessity, the freedom of the efforts of individuals generally is not yet fully established. The reason of this lies in the fact that not a few individuals, who may be regarded in classes, possess and desire to maintain some special privileges, and so far freedom is cur tailed, and the well-being of the community is disregarded. The people generally are often indifferent to these evils, not because they do not suffer from them, but because they have become accustomed to their effects, and they are ignorant of their causes. Such an amount of freedom has now been attained for the most part by the people of Europe and America, that it but requires a greater knowledge to establish it more securely. The steps hitherto have been fitful and laborious, because unintelligent; they may be in the future easy and systematic, if they become guided by knowledge. Nothing, then, appears to be at the present time more necessary than that the people shall be taught in what direction their interests lie, and what are those actions which attack them. The development of an enlightened self-interest at every point must ultimately eradicate the selfishness of individuals who desire to have or maintain for themselves special privileges, for then these will be regarded in their true light as abuses which can in the face of an enlightened public opinion continue to exist no longer. The instincts of humanity in a condition of freedom and progress are good and honest, but should oppression exhibit itself, the resentment that arises against it is the fiercer in proportion to the general existing freedom. Uniform progress can, indeed, only be attained by the action of intelligence; and, where the masses are sufficiently intelligent, the vanity and selfishness of a few, however powerful, may well be regarded with unconcern. But all knowledge must be attained by exertion, and that exertion will not be expended unless there is some palpable object to be gained thereby. He who believes he can benefit himself and others by the attainment of knowledge will attain it, but multitudes have not the CH. X. INSTRUCTION OF THE MASSES. 351 opportunity. He who is weary with perpetual bodily labour will not attain it. He who thinks how he may benefit himself and his fellows by a change in the conditions of his labour will more or less, as opportunity offers, attain knowledge on the subject. But men in general, and labourers in particular, often know not where to seek the knowledge they desire. They are therefore easily led by those who put themselves forward as leaders, if those leaders be but bold enough. There is a field vacant which is easily filled up, but as yet there has been little systematic attempt by the intelligent to fill it up. The masses do not know because they are not taught, they are suspicious because they are ignorant, and they are sometimes dangerous because they are frequently misled. Without an intelligent view of the position which is occupied there can be no discernment of how to improve or even maintain it. If we suppose that the great majority of the political electors within a State are entirely ignorant of the principles which govern human society, we can only expect that there will be sent to the councils of the State representatives who are not distinguished for intellect or culture, but rather whose ideas and sympathies are characterised by mediocrity. Such electors will reject those who are most qualified, because they are not themselves sufficiently educated to be able to appreciate their qualifications, in favour of those whose character and position, being little elevated above those of the average voter, are more readily understood. The result of such preference must more or less tend toward the decision of questions according to the wishes of the ignorant majority of voters, who are guided by prejudice rather than reason. And when large numbers of men are swayed by prejudice they are swayed impulsively in masses, so that whatever plausible cry may be got up they are liable, without much consideration of any kind, to be at once carried away by it. It therefore appears that should the educated few possess politically only the same weight as individual electors as is possessed by the ignorant many, the direct influence of their intelligence will inevitably be lost to the community. We may well question, therefore, whether the interests of the lower classes themselves can be benefited by an extension of the franchise to such as are not even able to judge of those who are best qualified to instruct them. In such a case, he who prophesies fair things will undoubtedly possess the greatest influence, and crude social remedies that appear to promise much will be more readily accepted than more candid and less partial appeals. None are so illiberal, none so bigoted in their hostility to improvement, none so superstitiously attached to the stupidest and worst of old forms and usages, as the uneducated. None are so unscrupulous, none so eager to clutch at whatever they have not and others have, as the uneducated in possession of power.' 1 No ignorant man can have any natural right to assist in the government of his country, even indirectly, for this position would enable him to influence legislation that affects not only himself but others; he would then be placed in a situation where he is invited to employ his vacant mind on questions of which he knows nothing, deciding thereon in the interests of the whole country, not in his own interests merely. The power which the suffrage gives is not over himself alone, it is power over others also; whatever control the voter is enabled to exercise over his own concerns, he exercises the same degree of it over those of everyone else.' 2 1 Dissertations and Discussions, by John Stuart Mill, vol. iii. p. 26. CH. X. THE SOCIAL BALANCE. 353 However much we may compassionate the condition. of those who are materially and morally miserable, there can surely be no advantage to anyone in conferring upon them a political and social power which does not naturally belong to them. The adoption of such a system would undoubtedly, as we find it has done in America, bestow a preponderance of power where it cannot be wisely exercised, with the result that those who are most able to judge of the best political and social measures have in reality no weight or influence, and, feeling their powerlessness, withdraw altogether from what they find to be a vain and fruitless contest. ture. The spirit of enlightenment and of free and intelligent action must permeate slowly downwards to the lowest strata of human society, as it will do where the conditions of social well-being are healthy, and admit of a progressive improvement throughout all parts of the social strucTo endeavour to anticipate the action that proceeds naturally by the artificial elevation of ignorant men to positions of influence, even though the individual weight of each of them should be small, is surely an action that cannot be justified upon any rational principle. At the present day, false theories of liberalism are too apt to carry away even men of intellect and distinction; but it is of the utmost importance to guard against such dangerous tendencies, which are all the more insidious, that they bear an aspect of generosity. The structure of society is of such a kind that no injury can occur to one part of it without the other parts being in some degree affected. If the lower orders be poor, miserable, and ignorant, then that portion of society next above them must, though comparatively well-doing and intelligent, be most seriously affected by the evils that afflict their poorer neighbours. It must, then, be the interest of this section in particular, and of all the other A A |