728 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gible and not too far removed in their conception from the average 

 ken of mankind as represented then and there. The ulterior objects 

 proposed must not belong to a too distant future : the pursuit of them 

 must not involve what seem to most people excessive or disproportion- 

 ate sacrifices : they must easily and obviously connect themselves with 

 the common wants and feelings of the many at the moment, rather 

 than with the (seemingly) problematical aspirations of a few in the 

 indefinite future. 



The case is different where popular government has not yet estab- 

 lished itself, and where, in consequence, none of the above obstacles, 

 even at a critical juncture calling for the immediate intervention of 

 the legislator or administrator, are presented. But the exemption of 

 the statesman or ruler from the checks of popular control of a consti- 

 tutional kind by no means insures a deference to purely scientific 

 demands. Timidity, rashness, prejudice, personal rivalries, and the 

 still less worthy influences of calculating self-interest or of a narrow 

 ambition, dwarf and vitiate a policy not less surely than do the im- 

 pediments due to popular ignorance and incompetence. The states- 

 man, in the one case as in the other, is bound to act and this too 

 without delay ; and, though a scientific resolution can not be ex- 

 cluded, yet, from one cause or another, the temptations to deviate 

 to this or that side are numerous and urgent. There have indeed 

 been statesmen who have so far impressed their own personality on 

 their policy, and communicated their views and aspirations to the 

 bulk of the governing population that, at special exigencies, the 

 public confidence previously won has enabled them to dictate a course 

 scarcely comprehended by the people at large. Such a position was 

 occupied on certain occasions by Count Cavour in Italy, Presidents 

 Lincoln and Grant in the United States, even to some extent by 

 Prince Bismarck in Germany, to a still greater extent by M. Thiers in 

 France, conspicuously by the Duke of Marlborough for a time in Eng- 

 land, and in modern times by Sir R. Peel, Lord Palmerston, and Mr. 

 Gladstone. 



So also in Governments not controlled by representative institu- 

 tions such as those of almost all the States of Europe except England, 

 up to very recent days there have always been found exceptional 

 rulers who, in spite of all temptations to indulge selfish prepossessions 

 in favor of ease or aggrandizement, have availed themselves of the 

 peculiar felicity of their situation to pursue a consistent and far- 

 sighted policy, undisturbed by all casual occurrences or misadvent- 

 ures. To this class have belonged many well-known administrators 

 of British India and of the Crown Colonies of Gi'eat Britain, as well 

 as certain absolute sovereigns in ancient and modern times. 



It appears, then, that not only does the imminent necessity for 

 immediate action present serious obstacles to the pursuit of a policy 

 founded on the teachings of critical observation and a wide-reaching 



