CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



so extensive or so varied an experience, the only 

 fact which can be said to have been ascertained 

 is the impossibility of devising any one form of 

 government which shall be of universal applica- 

 tion. Much has been written on the subject of 

 what is called a 'perfect government;' but the 

 result of all inquiry seems to be, that nothing is 

 permanent except general principles or natural 

 laws. Those, therefore, who contend for any par- 

 ticular model of government, without a due regard 

 to circumstances, only pursue a delusive fancy. 

 No species of government that could be devised 

 will apply universally. The only practical rule 

 of any value is, that every nation should possess 

 a government in harmony with its state of civilis- 

 ation, and the tastes and habits of the more en- 

 lightened portions of the community, to which the 

 tastes and habits of the less enlightened may be 

 expected gradually to conform. 



As there is no such thing as a universally suitable 

 form of government, so the form of government of 

 any particular country requires to vary, and alter 

 its character in adaptation to the advance or retro- 

 gression of society. In proportion as the people 

 are ignorant and turbulently disposed, the govern- 

 ment requires to be strong and arbitrary ; and 

 according as the .people are enlightened, and 

 disposed to live peacefully, the government may 

 be mild and liberal. The ambition of kings 

 and emperors, no doubt, is observed to sustain 

 an arbitrary rule in circumstances where greater 

 freedom should be accorded ; but, as a general 

 principle, it is evident that arbitrary military 

 governments can only exist where the people at 

 large are incapable of guiding and enjoying free 

 institutions ; or, in other words, where they are 

 required. Sooner or later, the government of 

 every country must bring itself into harmony with 

 the society it rules, otherwise it will be overthrown. 

 The cause for this is evident Every government 

 acts upon its subjects by means of themselves ; it 

 employs its subjects to keep its subjects in obedi- 

 ence. The consequence of this is, that in every 

 country, and in all ages, the most seemingly 

 despotic government is kept in check by the 

 opinions of its subjects. No doubt, means, in some 

 cases, are adopted to restrain the operation of pub- 

 lic opinion ; but, on the whole, the feelings and 

 prejudices of the parties governed must ultimately 

 be consulted. 



Government being thus compelled to a certain 

 degree to make justice and the good of the com- 

 munity its aim, it is important that the community 

 be so enlightened and organised in opinions and 

 wishes that it will easily and unobtrusively act on 

 the controlling authority. There is another object 

 to be gained by thus enlightening and organising 

 the people, besides that of making them an 

 efficient check upon government when it goes 

 wrong ; it is only by enlightening and organising 

 the people that they can be rendered capable of 

 lending due force to the operations of government, 

 when these are what they ought to be. An unen- 

 lightened people is quite as likely to entertain 

 mistaken notions of what is for its good as correct 

 ones ; it is quite as likely to oppose government 

 when it tries to do what is right, and to support it 

 when it tries to do what is wrong, as the reverse. 

 The British government was in the right when, 

 about the year "1780, it repealed some of the worst 

 enactments against the Catholics ; but the people 



40 



were so far from heartily approving of this act of 

 justice, that Lord George Gordon's riots in Lon- 

 don, and the burning of Catholic chapels in Edin- 

 burgh, had nearly frightened government out of 

 its good intentions. 



The first step, then, in making such arrange- 

 ments as are necessary for keeping government in 

 its just and useful line of action, is to enlighten 

 the people. There goes more towards enlighten- 

 ing the people than merely giving them school 

 instruction, however thorough and extensive that 

 may be. The people require to take every oppor- 

 tunity of acquiring knowledge, of extending their 

 stock of ideas, of elevating their tastes, and of 

 cultivating a brotherly benevolence. The great 

 retarding influence in every nation has been less 

 the arbitrary will of government, than the mass of 

 voluntary ignorance which has nestled in the bosom 

 of society. Nor is ignorance the only retarding 

 influence. Mutual jealousy between the various 

 classes into which society, by the action of natural 

 laws, inevitably divides itself, may render even a 

 comparatively well-instructed people totally incap- 

 able of self-government In point of intelligence, 

 the French have certainly always held a good 

 place amongst the nations of Europe. But the 

 selfishness, vanity, and exclusiveness of the higher 

 classes in France had this effect up to the period 

 of the Revolution, and vices of a character closely 

 analogous on the part of the lower orders, have had 

 the same effect ever since. The whole nation 

 seems now to have become incapable either of 

 governing or obeying ; and, as has been wittily 

 said, ' everything is impossible in France.' A con- 

 sideration of this circumstance ought to temper 

 observations on the strictly monarchical and aris- 

 tocratic forms of government, and on the characters 

 of those by whom they are attempted to be 

 administered. 



Aristocracies. 



An aristocracy, a class of privileged persons, has 

 its origin in the circumstance that greater skill, 

 enterprise, intelligence, and perseverance, at first 

 threw a comparatively great amount of wealth and 

 power into the hands of a few families. That the 

 management of that wealth, and the exercise of 

 the power and influence which it conferred, were 

 occupations calculated to give a greater practical 

 development to the faculties of their descendants, 

 than the routine drudgery of those who earned 

 their daily food by their daily labour, is obvious, 

 and these inherited qualities, or qualities at any- 

 rate which were strengthened by the advantages 

 of inherited position, were further strengthened by 

 direct education. We have no desire to palliate 

 the evils of aristocratic government, which more, 

 perhaps, than even democratic government, tends 

 to degenerate into government for the benefit of a 

 class. But we must not, therefore, be blind to the 

 fact, that aristocratic government is one of the 

 stages through which all societies must pass on 

 their way to something better ; or that it has roots 

 in nature, and consequent uses, which will always 

 preserve it as an element, even in the highest 

 forms of government to which mankind can attain. 

 Inequality of civilisation, which gave rise to aristo- 

 cratic power and influence, exists in many differ- 

 ent forms and modifications. Even in our own 

 country, an uncivilised class is found that unfor- 

 tunate class which supplies the precarious demand 



