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698 THE LEADED, JVubuv
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FERDINAND, KING OF NAPLES
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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"Why Is Democratic Government A Failure?...
in their hands , and they so used it as to disgust and terrify the whole world , even themselves .. In the end they were glad to denude themselves of power , and place themselves , for protection against themselves , under a despot warrior . For two-thirds of a century , conscious of their strength , they buffeted , with themselves and the world , and they have settled down under the very worst government of Europe . In despotism , operating by a minute bureaucracy , they have as complete a system as human ingenuity has yet devised for making the knowledge and will of one ignorant , corrupt self-seeker the only guide for the actions of the whole people . In France the democracy has obtained the very climax of bad
wants by-doing something for them . Why should he also desire to attain the same ends by enforced regulations ? lie makes laws to restrain his own freedom . This is irrational . At-the ' same time he does not really give up his freedom . _ He retains it to his own enactments , and so far is a ' free man . lie suffers the spirit of his old masters , however , still to dominate over him ,, and his mind remains in servitude . The reason , then , why democratic government is a failure , is that the der mocrats imitate the governments established by despotisms , aristocracies , and bureaucracies .
The Act passed by Sir Benjamin HalL is an illustration , on a small scale , under our own eyes , of what we have stated For a long period the several parishes of the metropolis had -various different municipal regulations , and some of them had no regulations at all . Sensible of many inconveniences , the people demanded municipal reform as a remedy , and the compliance with their demand was the proof that they had the power to enforce it . In fact , it was known they ' had the power , though they were ignorant of the best method of using it ; and Sir Benjamin Hall acted in obedience to their ignorant wishes in introducing
and passing . the Metropolitan Management Act . It was a law made for the people by tlieir agents ; at the same time , it was made according .-to the forms and on the principles of legislation established by the aristocracy for continuing ^ the servitude of the people . Accordingly , instead of leaving the parishioners at liberty , as jwas pretended , to manage their own affairs ,-it prescribed very minutely how they should be managed , and imposed on the people the duty of carrying out ¦ their , old masters ' , directions . It fluttered them , indeed * by returning ' to them the semblance of the power it took from them . It made every vestry *
man a legislator and an administrator , to carry out the directions of the Act ; and as these were no better than slaves ' according to law , they all became willing and self-made slaves . They were delighted with the nominal power of freely acting under the directions of the old' aristocracy , and readily made themselves the instruments for annoying , and even . torturing , - their fellow parishioners and themselves . They gave up the real power which they possessed individually and collectively , of regulating their own affairs—which belongs to democracy—and accepted instead the will of Sir Benjamin Hall . His Act is the annihilation of
their freedom . By making every vestryman a party to carry it out , the corrective of an opposition , which renders onr mixed government a possibility , disappears . All the vestrymen are executive ministers ; but as they are engaged in other business , and can only now and then attend to the affairs of the parish , really leaving the execution of all orders to their officials , it comes to pass that these , with the vestry-clerk at their head , are the real rulers of the pai-ish . They are ministers , with the vestry for a council , which they guide , uncontrolled by an opposition of would-be ministers , which , in the House of Commons , helps the democracy to obtain or secure their rights .
Pretending to give the people self-government , the Act really imposes on them a' very arbitrary rule , and confirms the slavery and disorder it was nominally meant to cure . Finally , the result is , thnt , with a vast waste of time and money , nothing useful is done ; and circumlocution , going out from Westminster , embraces the Metropolitan Board of Works and all the vestries of the metropolis . For free , resolute , prompt , active , discreet democracy . — alive only to facts , justice , and truth , acting according to circumstances—there is substituted a body of regulations , framed in the spirit , of an aristocracy , and actively carried out by a beguiled democracy .
government . In the United States , since the establishment of their independence , the people have generally been prosperous and generally at peace ; but their success is not due to either the Federal Government or the separate Governments of the States . Without any exception , these are all corrupt and profligate . The public money is wasted on jobs and on scoundrels . The Legislation of the States
and of the general Congress is below contempt Every writer on their Government , and every European traveller in that country , every newspaper editor within it must be either a rogue or a fool , or the Government of the United States , notwithstanding the prosperity of the people , is a failure . It is the climax of corruption , and . is continually expected to break asunder . People look-even to despotism as a relief from its expected anarchy . " ' . ''' .
These examples establish the general fact that democratic Government is a failure ; and as we are all now , more or less , striving after--democracy , as the course of events , interpreted by the most acute observers , assures us that democracy is to get and retain , the upper hand , the -inquiry why democracy has failed—why the multitude , have been unable to govern themselves , is of universal interest . A just answer to the question may ' influence , modify , and guide the thoughts and actions of mankind immediately , and for ages to come . It is now necessary , therefore , to take . this subject into serious consideration .
The answer seems obvious . Modern government had its origin in conquest , and its present character is derived directl y from its origin . It is a means of keeping slaves , servants , and subjects in obedience . It begins by wrongfully and forcibly appropriating ! men and property , and is continued to maintain such an appropriation . For democracy to adopt the principles of the old governments pf the world is to continue the wrong it feels and denounces . In every State in question , where democracy has failed , there have existed vast bodies of men in a condition of servitude or slavery ' who were still to be kept in order . This is the source of the anarchy . The people want to be at once slaves and freemen . They strangle
the liberty they desire should live . They are suicides . Democracy is perfect freedom j under it every man is equal and desires to remain equal . To secure equality , the democrats set about chaining one another , and have no higher ambition than to imitate the masters , whose rule they nominally reject . They continue slavery under another name or form . Each man aspires to be a law maker , and , like an aristocrat and a despot j to prescribe the conduct of others . Real toleration is ^ accordingly unknowxi in democracies . Democracy is naturall y opposed to aristocracy and despotism , and is a failure because it tries to frame ana conduct governments on their principles and after their fashion . To unite fire and water
• would be less absurd than to form a democratic fove rnment—the union of freedom and slavery . t . is synonymous to a round square , or any other irreconcilable contradiction . Why conquerors and the nppropriators of other men's property should desire to enfwee obedience on _ their slaves , so that they may enjoy their acquisitions in peace , needs no explanation . It is the logical consequence of the great plunder . But ¦ what interest has a doinoox'acy in forging similar ohwne , or in maintaining them after they are forged P Wh y should demoornts want to make Qtliers obey them P Why fetter their own frqo action by arbitrary rules P Why , in ignorance , lay down laws , which inorhasing knowledge will contmuftWy compel them to break P The domoorafc ttOPQB at every momont of his life to influence otaore by speaking to thorn , or obtaining what ho
698 The Leaded, Jvubuv
698 THE LEADED , JVubuv
Ferdinand, King Of Naples
tunes , he promised to satisfy their desires . But he broke his promise , and so grossly a »^ ravated the" evils already existing in his states , that-not a year passed without the discovery of plots and the pi-actice of the most horrible persecution . Durin « - this period the most inveterate warfare was kept up against all innovation and progress ; against the establishment of railways- ; the-proposal ' of-a scientific congress , and the introduction of foreign ' books and journals , as well as against the press ° the kingdom .
Modcna was groaning beneath the yoke of Franceso IV ., whose efforts against the liberal party from 1814 to the end of hfe reign are known to all—a modern Ezzellinus , lainus the courage , he for a long time represented in the centre of Europe , the political doctrines and dark crimes of the middle ages . The shameless widow of ISTajjpleon in Parma , thought more of her affairs of gallantry than of the fate of the people . Louis Bourbon , expecting to succeed her by the treaties of Vienna ' spent in the Austrian capital the gold forced from the unhappy subjects of the Duchess .
The Grand Duke of Tuscany was the only prince against whom no reproach could be uttered . But he possessed only limited powers of mind ; and , as an Austrian Arch-duke , could he satisfy the political wants of the times , and assume a hostile attitude towards the Court of Vienna—effect , in fact , the ruin of his house ? Such was the state of affairs in Europe on 4 he 14 th of July , 1847 , when the writer of thejjresent sketch presented himself to Ferdinand in the Palazzo Reale , at Palermo , with a manuscript in his hand , which he begged the King- to read for himself , and act upon , without consulting any one . This
manuscript , which was in circulation on the 16 th , having been clandestinely printed , bore the title of" Protest of the People of the two Sicilies . " We subjoin a few passages from memory . " Foreigner ? who visit our country admire the serenity pf our sky and the fertility of our fieldsT On glancing at oiir code of laws , and licaring ¦ your Majesty ' s Government speak of progress , religion , and civilisation , they might well believe that the Italians of the Two Sicilies enjoy a felicity to be envied by the other peoples . But , in truth , there is not a country in Europe Avhose state is Avorse than our ? , not even excepting Turkey . The Turks are , at least , ranked among the barbarous peoples ; they knoAV that there is no otlier will for them than that of their master . Their religion teaches them
to yield to a blind fatality , anil , notwithstanding all , their condition is improving from day to day . But in the kingdom of the Tavo Sicilies , m the country which the Avorld calls the garden of Europe , three out of four men die of hunger , and the survivors are in a Avorse state than the unites Caprice alone makes the laws ; the vaunted progress consists in retrogression , and a Chrwtmn people is oppressed in the holy name of Christ . Oh , if each city , tOAvn , and village , whether oi the Abruzzi , ofPuglia , of Calabi-in , or of the beautiful and unfortunate Sicily , which gave both yoursell and me birth , could but recount the insults , the cruelty , and tyranny ¦ suffered in person ami in property ! But that which I am about to tell you is sufficient to excite tears and trembling , and to nrove that tho » re tended a meliorations ! of your to
Government arc barefaced falsehoods employed cover frqsh and ingenious modes of oppression . The Government of the Two Sicilies—your -Majesty ' s Government—is an immense pyramid whoso base , is formed of lirri and priosts , whose nunimit is your Majesty . Each official , from the usher to tho minister , from the soldier to the { 50110 ml , irom the gendarme to tho commissary of police , tvwi tho simple priest to tho bishop , your Majesty r . confessor , is a despot ; and whilo tmch tyrannise * over his subordinates , ho stoopa and fawns to ms superiors . The consoquonco in that , those who tin ; not among tho oppressors are hunted down on every side " by tho tyranny of a crowd of miscreants ; and the liberty , property , peace , and life itsc'li , " honest depend upon tho caprice , not 01 u
FERDINAND , KING OF NAPLES . NO . II . At tho period to which avo are referring , the chair of St . Peter Avas occupied by Gregory DC VI . whoiso reign must bo numbered among tho worst in the annals of Italy and of'the Papacy . Raised to tho pontifical throne during tho insurrectionnl movement of 1831 , ho interfered in the Civil War and employed emissaries to excite the masses ngainst tho popular government of Bologna . Ho thou excommunicated the patriots and violated tlio capitulation signed in his name , at Ancona , by his plenipotentiary , Cardinal Benvonuti . Sxibseciuently , being pressed by tho five great Powers of Em-ope to grant the reforms imperiously demanded by the
persons prince or minister alone , ' but of the lowest emilof / c —a courtier , a » py , a birro , a . priest , or a Josun-The Two Sicilies have , for tho pn » t twonty-sovei years , boon crushed by 11 government wliicii < - ' «» only bo characterised as horribly stupid unit cruel ; by a government which linn » 10 < luo V us to brutes s by a government Avhioh is «' endured , perhaps , booause God wills that wo s mil descend to tho lowest degree of miser)—the . " most abasement—in order that , when lit tho me *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 4, 1859, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04061859/page/14/
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