Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/209

Rh point where divergences arise, and conflicts of opinions, interests, and rights. What are the means, when we come to divide at this point, of still securing the greatest agreement of liberties, and, in consequence, the highest degree of justice?

The points on which opinions are divided may be not incompatible with each one following his own choice, or they may be irreconcilable. In the former case there need be no difficulty in arriving at practical solutions, the scope of which should be extended as much as possible. By an intelligent decentralization, society may be broken up into groups, smaller and smaller, one after the other, without ceasing to be united at the common points. But who is to control in these circumstances, when the different wills are absolutely incompatible? Partisans of aristocracy say, those who have reason and right on their side. But how are we to ascertain who they are? We have no criterion for recognizing the bad and incapable as we have for distinguishing the infirm, the lame, and the diseased. Education is not a sufficient criterion of political capacity, for it does not do away with prejudices or with selfishness. Restricted suffrage, according to the lessons of experience, has exhibited the same vices as the suffrages of the greater number—corruptibility, prejudice, vanity, ignorance, distrust of liberty, and dependence. The middle and upper classes have no right to consider themselves better than the populace. Like the populace, they have their egotistical—or, as Bentham styles them, their "sinister"—interests, in opposition to the general interest. Wicked and incapable persons are as often met with in oligarchies as in the mass of the nation. History shows that all aristocracies have perished by their vices and incapacities, and that those who are assumed to be the best are frequently the worst. In calling all the citizens to power, under suitable conditions of capacity, we are doubtless exposed to the danger of calling in some worthless men, but we are still more exposed to it if we confer a privilege upon particular classes. The only difference is that, if the evil element exists in a close aristocracy, it soon corrupts the whole body; while, if it is scattered in a mass always open and mobile, it suffers dilution, and finally elimination. We are obliged, therefore, in the question of suffrage, to consider solely the quality of man and citizen aside from mental and moral qualities. As we can not weigh heads, we must count them. It is logical, when there is conflict, for numbers to decide, not because they are numbers, but because they represent the preponderance of rights and wills: "We unanimously agree to be governed by the majority." Those who do not approve this decision must submit, or step down and out. That is the principle on which the recognized right of majorities rests. But, although a necessary convention rules here, there is nothing in it to justify the pride of triumphant majorities, and the pretense that they represent, by the mere fact of their numbers, the national sovereignty. Majorities should be taught to comprehend that they are only