The Ancien Regime | Page 4

in, often too selfish to apply it to any interest save his
own. But now and then, when the sense of actual injury forces upon
him a great idea, like that of Free-trade or of Parliamentary Reform, he
is indomitable, however slow and patient, in translating his thought into
fact: and they will not be wise statesmen who resist his dogged
determination. If at this moment he demands an extension of the
suffrage eagerly and even violently, the wise statesman will give at
once, gracefully and generously, what the Englishman will certainly
obtain one day, if he has set his mind upon it. If, on the other hand, he
asks for it calmly, then the wise statesman (instead of mistaking
English reticence for apathy) will listen to his wishes all the more
readily; seeing in the moderation of the demand, the best possible
guarantee for moderation in the use of the thing demanded.
And, be it always remembered, that in introducing these men into the
"balance of the Constitution," we introduce no unknown quantity.
Statesmen ought to know them, if they know themselves; to judge what
the working man would do by what they do themselves. He who
imputes virtues to his own class imputes them also to the labouring
class. He who imputes vices to the labouring class, imputes them to his
own class. For both are not only of the same flesh and blood, but, what
is infinitely more important, of the same spirit; of the same race; in
innumerable cases, of the same ancestors. For centuries past the most

able of these men have been working upwards into the middle class,
and through it, often, to the highest dignities, and the highest family
connections; and the whole nation knows how they have comported
themselves therein. And, by a reverse process (of which the
physiognomist and genealogist can give abundant proof), the weaker
members of that class which was dominant during the Middle Age have
been sinking downward, often to the rank of mere day- labourers, and
carrying downward with them--sometimes in a very tragical and
pathetic fashion--somewhat of the dignity and the refinement which
they had learnt from their ancestors.
Thus has the English nation (and as far as I can see, the Scotch likewise)
become more homogeneous than any nation of the Continent, if we
except France since the extermination of the Frankish nobility. And for
that very reason, as it seems to me, it is more fitted than any other
European nation for the exercise of equal political rights; and not to be
debarred of them by arguments drawn from countries which have been
governed--as England has not been--by a caste.
The civilisation, not of mere book-learning, but of the heart; all that
was once meant by "manners"--good breeding, high feeling, respect for
self and respect for others--are just as common (as far as I have seen)
among the hand-workers of England and Scotland, as among any other
class; the only difference is, that these qualities develop more early in
the richer classes, owing to that severe discipline of our public schools,
which makes mere lads often fit to govern, because they have learnt to
obey: while they develop later- -generally not till middle age--in the
classes who have not gone through in their youth that Spartan training,
and who indeed (from a mistaken conception of liberty) would not
endure it for a day. This and other social drawbacks which are but too
patent, retard the manhood of the working classes. That it should be so,
is a wrong. For if a citizen have one right above all others to demand
anything of his country, it is that he should be educated; that whatever
capabilities he may have in him, however small, should have their fair
and full chance of development. But the cause of the wrong is not the
existence of a caste, or a privileged class, or of anything save the plain
fact, that some men will be always able to pay more for their children's

education than others; and that those children will, inevitably, win in
the struggle of life.
Meanwhile, in this fact is to be found the most weighty, if not the only
argument against manhood suffrage, which would admit many--but too
many, alas!--who are still mere boys in mind. To a reasonable
household suffrage it cannot apply. The man who (being almost
certainly married, and having children) can afford to rent a 5 pound
tenement in a town, or in the country either, has seen quite enough of
life, and learnt quite enough of it, to form a very fair judgment of the
man who offers to represent him in Parliament; because he has learnt,
not merely something of his own interest, or that of his class, but--what
is infinitely more