THE SHADY SIDE OF POLITICS.*
WE infer from certain passages in this work that M. Louis Proal is a French Judge of that upright type which, in spite of many bad features in France at the present time, is still, as it has always been, characteristic of the land of D'Agues- seau and L'HOpital. He has, therefore, had many oppor- tunities of seeing the bad sides of human nature, and though he disclaims that current pessimism which is so cheap and superficial, he is, perhaps, inclined to look too exclusively on the darker side of things in public life. To some extent the book is self-contradictory, for at times the author uses politics in the sense in which it is so constantly used in America, as something wholly bad, while at other times he seems to think that it is largely the fault of the excellent but timid people who will not brave the dangers of public life that the world of politics is so full of disorder, violence, hypocrisy, and fraud. At times the author would seem to be of the opinion that whosoever meddles with political matters will be defiled, and his illustrations, taken from various countries and ages, show that the difficulty of maintaining absolute rectitude in public affairs equals that of the rich man in his effort to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But, on the other hand, his ultimate conclusion is that, as the art of governing is one of the most noble, so the actual exercise of the art is compatible with the loftiest standard of integrity.
• Political Crime. By Louis Prost]. London : T. Flatter Unwin.
"It was not a shifty and violent policy that was pursued by Saint Louis, L'HOpital, Henry IV., Sully, Turgot, Franklin, or Washington. Their example shows that it is possible to be a great King, a great Minister, a great citizen, and at the same time an honest man." But, as Wordsworth said in his sonnet to Haydon, "great is the glory, for the strife is hard."
The long record of public crime, as partly unrolled in these sombre pages, shows unquestionably that the political field from the earliest time has too often given nourishment to the most noxious weeds. M. Proal seems to find the germ of political crime in the love of power which is one of the elements of human nature as we know it. From that fatal passion nearly all other vices, as displayed by the politician, may be traced.
First in order comes Machiavellism, with its double morality, its base maxims, its deceit, its "reasons of State."
It existed, as M. Proal says, long before the time of the great Florentine who dowered it with his name. Sparta, Athens, Rome, were all given up largely to the worship of this base deity, as were Spain, England, Germany, and France in the sixteenth century when the doctrine ran riot over Europe. M. Proal'a illustrations are naturally taken mostly from French history, and he here shows how, on the one hand, the Kings and statesmen of France, Louis XIV., Richelieu, Mazarin, and De Retz, were all pupils of the Florentine sophist, while the really good and great men of France, F4nelon, Bossuet, Massillon, Mably, all tried to combat this fatal doctrine. From the same love of power have proceeded political assassination and tyrannicide, which M. Proal, not quite properly, brackets together. The question of tyrannicide is a peculiar one, and the greatest ethical thinkers have taken different views of it. Most tyrannicides have, as a matter of fact, been stupendous blunders ; but, unless we are to assent to the doctrine that it is never lawful to take away life, we must reserve the right to say that there are conceivable occasions when a monster, steeped in blood and crime, and who cannot be brought before any tribunal and legally condemned, whose career of guilt cannot be stopped save by death, may be put out of existence. The thing stands on quite a different basis, we think, from the political assassinations referred to by M.
Proal,—the murder of Clitus by Alexander, of Coligny by order of Charles IX., or of the Prince of Orange by order of Philip of Spain. From this branch of his subject the author turns to modern Anarchism, which again sets aside morality for some presumed good general end. There is, perhaps, a little too much space taken up with the ravings of some of the scoundrels who cloak their crimes under the philo- sophic garb of Anarchism ; but the danger is a real one in France, and M. Proal seems to have had more than one of these gentry before him in a Court of justice. An excellent reflection closes this chapter :—
"The parliamentary scandals which have cropped up in France and Italy have done more for the progress of revolutionary Socialism and Anarchism than twenty years of propaganda. Fortunes ill acquired and ill employed scandalise and irritate the poor. The politicians who are guilty of venality and the rich who do not deserve respect are largely responsible for the pro- gress of Anarchism."
The next evils bred by politics are political hatreds. War seems to have been the normal condition of the human race, man hating whatever is different from himself, and these natural hatreds, as they may be called, are inflamed by states-
men for their own purposes. We have numerous and awful instances given us from ancient and modern history, showing how moderation and generosity have been trampled under foot, how ferocity and vengeance have been inextricably mixed up in political contests, how hideous have been the excesses of the excited mob, and how these have led to reaction and to the development of ferocity, "white terror" following "red terror," all culminating in a chaos of ruin. It is certainly bard reading for those who take an optimistic view of human nature, and believe, with Palmerston, that every one is born good. Political hypocrisy is next considered. "Ambitious politicians always invoke the public good and the interest of the State. They are incessantly talking of their devotion to the Commonwealth, while in reality their object is power." They for the most part really believe in the maxim of Louis XI.,—" He who does not know how to dissimulate does not know how to reign." The celebrated rulers of the world are taken as illustrations of this,—Augustus, whose whole
career was of necessity made up of make-believe, Tiberius, Napoleon ; and M. Proal adds, though we dissent most strongly, Cromwell, on whom he is very sevele. Spolia- tion is also taken as a result of political intrigue,— not only that spoliation which is produced by war, but also that which comes by proscription, by revolution, by the waves of public disorder which bring the scum of society to the surface. This part of the subject naturally leads on to the next, Corruption and Bribery. Here the experience of ancient Greece and Rome, of the extortions of Verres and the bribery of Alcibiades, and that of France and England, are drawn on, though it is curious that there is no reference to the United States. M. Proal has no belief in democracy as any cure for corruption. 'The people have a liking," be says, "for charlatans and scapegraces." Econo- mical and virtuous Kings, he contends, have not been popular. "On the contrary, opinion is in general indulgent towards the prodigal, the warlike, and the dissolute." Law has been cor- rupted by politics, and so has been made an instrument of injustice, lawyers finding plausible reasons for laws they know to be bad, and which favour the party in power. The servility of Judges to the Government, the Irish Penal laws, and the French Revolutionary Tribunal are cited as uphold- ing the thesis laid down. Finally, it is alleged that public morals are debauched by politics, and everything seems unclean that has been touched by the politician.
This is a severe indictment, though, as we have said, M. Proal is not, properly speaking, a pessimist, his general con- clusion being that in politics it is alone safe and wise to follow the moral law. He is of opinion that no mere mechanical changes can cure society of the evils inflicted by corrupt politics, but that, as the disease is moral, so the remedy must be moral. Machiavellism is, he truly contends, not only a wicked policy, but a stupid one, "fatal to the true interests of nations," and "a great policy cannot be immoral." The assertion is profoundly true, and is even more true of great modern States than of the smaller City States to which it was applied in ancient and medimval times. To come to some of the specific applications of a new moral feeling. In the first place, M. Proal thinks that we must set limits to the action of the State, so as to prevent it from becoming the all- devouring Leviathan of Hobbes and the other sophists of the Machiavelli school. "The rights of the human being and the rights of the conscience" must be upheld against a devastating materialism. In the second place, mere intellect must not determine action and policy; it must be supplemented by character and emotion. On this point we feel that M. Proal is profoundly true. The contemporary careers of Napoleon and Washington afford ample comment on this principle. On the one hand, we see a man of gigantic intellect, who permitted his policy to be determined by intellect and by "reasons of State" solely. He was a scourge to France and mankind, and his Machiavel- lism filled Europe with misery and ruin. Washington had no great intellect, he was fundamentally a great-hearted English gentleman living in Virginia, but his life was rooted in moral purpose, and his noble common-sense determined his policy. How will the wonderful Corsican stand in history as com- pared with the upright Virginia planter ? How will man- kind, as long as the world lasts, compare the respective results of their policies ? It appears certain that the really great statesman is not usually a man of lofty genius, but of firm character and sound common-sense judgment, and we may safely predict that the success in the working of demo- cratic institutions will largely depend on the ability of the people to see this and to prefer character to brilliancy. M. Proal thinks the people tend to a choice of mere voluble talkers ; but in this respect we think we see a great advantage on the side of the English-speaking nations, which is one cause of their relative success in the world. They have not given over their destinies into the hands of clever adventurers. English- men prefer a safe, and even a dull, man ; and in America it is rarely the brilliant man, bat the man of sobriety and character, who is elected to the Presidency. In the Latin countries it has not usually been so. In the next place, M. Proal holds that "a policy that aims at international equilibrium is better than a policy of conquest." Empires that are too vast, he thinks, cannot last ; they will succumb sooner or later to a coalition. Policy founded on morality will always be moderate, both as regards the external world and as concerns different classes of citizens and diverse internal interests. National interests should never be allowed to over- ride the interests of mankind. In a word, morality must rule all through, it being as expedient as it is right. "Science without conscience, Rabelais has said, is the ruin of the soul. Politics without morality are the ruin of society." The axiom is true, though we should have liked some guidance as to where individual and national morality are distinct, for distinct they are. The State, e.g., may take away life, the individual may not. The State may confiscate, the individual may not. In the event of a second edition, there are some errors which should be expunged. Nor do we like the singular and plural form of the verb, "is" and "are," applied to the same noun " politics " on one and the same page.
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