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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Promoting good citizenship - -Author: James Bryce - -Release Date: July 10, 2022 [eBook #68493] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Charlie Howard and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PROMOTING GOOD -CITIZENSHIP *** - - - - - -Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_; -boldface text is enclosed in =equals signs=. - - - - - RIVERSIDE ESSAYS - - EDITED BY - ADA L. F. SNELL - - ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH - MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE - - - - -Riverside Essays - -Edited by Ada L. F. Snell - - - =THE AMERICAN MIND AND AMERICAN IDEALISM.= By Bliss Perry. 35 - cents. - - =UNIVERSITY SUBJECTS.= By John Henry Newman. 35 cents. - - =STUDIES IN NATURE AND LITERATURE.= By John Burroughs. 35 cents. - - =PROMOTING GOOD CITIZENSHIP.= By James Bryce. 35 cents. - - _Prices are net, postpaid_ - _Other titles in preparation_ - - HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO - - - - - The Riverside Literature Series - - PROMOTING - GOOD CITIZENSHIP - - BY - JAMES BRYCE - - [Illustration] - - - BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO - HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY - The Riverside Press Cambridge - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS - COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY ADA L. F. SNELL - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - - R. L. S. 227 - - - The Riverside Press - CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS - U . S . A - - - - -CONTENTS - - - INTRODUCTION vii - - INDOLENCE 1 - - HOW TO OVERCOME THE OBSTACLES TO GOOD - CITIZENSHIP 26 - - The two essays by Mr. James Bryce included in this volume are - reprinted by permission of Yale University from Mr. Bryce’s - lectures on the Dodge Foundation, published in book form by the - Yale University Press under the title of _The Hindrances to Good - Citizenship_. - - - - -INTRODUCTION - - -Mr. Bryce has for a long time been a man of international prominence. -His wide influence is undoubtedly due to many causes, but it may, in -general, be traced to two characteristics: Mr. Bryce is a humanist -who sympathetically watches the progress of nations and the guiding -of governments; he is also a historian. In his biographical study of -John Richard Green he has skillfully analyzed the aptitudes of the -historian, and in so doing has pointedly, if unwittingly, described -himself. Accuracy, he says,--a desire for the exact truth,--keen -observation, sound judgment, imagination, and, following inevitably -from these, command of literary exposition, are the powers which a -historian needs. Each of these qualities Mr. Bryce himself possesses -in large measure. It is his historical power, enabling him to observe -and record the significant phases and events of human life, plus his -sympathetic interest in its present-day manifestations which explain, -in some degree, his singularly eminent position as an authority on -matters pertaining to human institutions in various countries. - -Mr. Bryce was born in northern Ireland in 1838, of Scotch-Irish -parents; and he combines in his nature the stalwart intellectual -propensities of the Scot and the artistic attributes of the Celt. He -was educated at the University of Glasgow, and later went to Oxford -where he won many honors. After finishing his collegiate work he was -admitted to the bar and practiced law in London until 1882. At the -age of thirty-two he was appointed Regius Professor of Civil Law at -Oxford. Up to this point his life had been almost exclusively that of -a student and a scholar; and already at this time he was recognized as -a man of remarkable historical ability. The year 1880 marked a change -in his life. He presented himself to the workingmen of Tower Hamlets, -London, as a candidate for a seat in the House of Commons. Mr. Stead -tells us that Mr. Bryce, in this first campaign, addressed his open-air -audiences somewhat after the manner of a professor lecturing in a -classroom; he succeeded, nevertheless, in getting himself elected, -and for over twenty-five years thereafter was a member of Parliament. -During these years he held various responsible offices having to do -with home and foreign administrative work. The practical results of his -political influence were advancement in public education, the securing -of more extensive parks and open country spaces for the pleasure of the -poorer classes, and the furtherance of international peace. In 1907, -Mr. Bryce was appointed ambassador to the United States, which office -he resigned in 1913 to carry on literary work. - -Mr. Bryce’s knowledge is the result not only of university training and -experience in public life, but also of varied reading. He has read art, -science, history, and has always been an interested student of poetry. -In speaking once to Americans of Swinburne, he suddenly paused and -asked, “Who are writing your songs and stirring your heart,--or isn’t -your heart being stirred? Nothing is more important than that each -generation and each land should have its poets. Each oncoming tide of -life, each age, requires and needs men of lofty thought who shall dream -and sing for it, who shall gather up its tendencies and formulate its -ideals and voice its spirit, proclaiming its duties and awakening its -enthusiasm, through the high authority of the poet and the art of his -verse.” How extensively Mr. Bryce has read the poets, both ancient and -modern, one perceives from the references and allusions in his _Studies -in Contemporary Biography_. - -The most important source of Mr. Bryce’s knowledge, the one which -has furnished the material for nearly all his books, has been his -first-hand observation and study of many countries. When still a -young man he wandered alone over Mount Ararat, since the native -guides refused to follow him to the unknown wilds of that lonely -peak. He visited the Ottoman Empire in 1876, and, as a result of his -investigations there, became an advocate of the Bulgarian cause; in -fact it was his speeches on the Eastern Question which first made him -prominent politically. Mr. Bryce has traveled also in Iceland; he was -in Africa just previous to the Boer War; he has been all over South -America; and he knows the United States as few Americans know it. He -has studied these countries with great faithfulness, observing keenly -every phase of the political and social life. An interesting sample of -his method of gathering information is found in the chapter on “The -Position of Women” in _The American Commonwealth_. When traveling in -the West he noticed that all of the women seemed so very well dressed -that apparently none could be the wife or daughter of a workingman; -but close observation dispelled this illusion. Idling in a bookstore -one day in Oregon, he noticed a woman who was asking for a certain -magazine. After her departure he asked the salesman who she was, and -found that she was the wife of a workman, and the magazine a Paris -fashion journal. “This,” says Mr. Bryce, “set me to observing female -dress more closely, and it turned out to be perfectly true that the -women in these little towns were following the Parisian fashions very -closely, and were, in fact, ahead of the majority of English ladies -belonging to the professional and mercantile classes.” Thus no detail, -however trivial, escapes him; the pleasant and unpleasant phases of -our American life, our manners, clothes, scenery have all been noted -and reckoned with in the statement of tendencies and conclusions. - -As a parliamentarian Mr. Bryce is said to have been direct, honest, -and always illuminating. His ability to command attention was due not -to any great oratorical gift, but rather to his scholarly view of any -matter under debate. Mr. Justin McCarthy reports that the members -of the House who might be dining, smoking, or reading in the rooms -assigned for these purposes, would, when the news was passed around -that Mr. Bryce was speaking, leave these pleasant diversions, and -betake themselves with great speed to the debating chamber. “I have -many a time,” he says, “heard Conservative members murmur, in tones -not altogether expressing absolute satisfaction at the disturbing -information, ‘Bryce is up--I must go in and hear what he has to say.’ -... Everybody knows that when he speaks it is because he has something -to say which ought to be spoken and therefore ought to be heard.” Mr. -Bryce was able to command attention also because of his reputation as -a courageous nonpartisan. He never advocated a measure or policy for -mere party reasons or for personal aggrandizement. Not infrequently -he has fought bravely with the minority of his own party, and has at -times suffered bitter attacks, as when he remained resolutely pro-Boer -during the rampant jingoism of the South African War. But however -widely political enemies might differ from him, they respected his -sincerity and his luminous view of governmental problems. It is further -characteristic of Mr. Bryce’s public life that he never, in his desire -for the welfare of his own country, lost sight of what is due other -nations. In practice as well as in precept he upheld the doctrine that -“patriotism consists not in waving a flag, but in striving that our -country shall be righteous as well as strong.” - -Mr. Bryce’s books deal, for the most part, with historical subjects and -present-day governments. _The Holy Roman Empire_, written when he was -only twenty-four years old, is still regarded by able historians as -an accurate and authoritative work; and, in the judgment of literary -critics, it is written with so much charm of style that it is destined -to become an English classic. All of the books which have to do with -foreign nations are characterized by a tactful, faithful, and above all -a truthful, handling. It was _The American Commonwealth_ which made -the citizens of the United States regard Mr. Bryce as a friend of the -Republic; but he is not so regarded because he has always stroked the -gleaming pinions of the American eagle. Although he does seem to share -the hope universally cherished by Americans that we shall, in spite -of grave national defects, “win out” in the end, he has nevertheless, -in direct and unadorned statements, pointed out our faults. As an -example of his characteristic straightforwardness of speech, take the -following sentence: “America has little occasion to think of foreign -affairs, but some of her domestic difficulties are such as to demand -that careful observation and unbroken reflection which neither her -executive magistrates, nor her legislatures, nor any leading class -among her people now give.” Mr. Bryce has never ceased to insist that -America suffers from lack of honest, courageous leadership in dealing -with such problems as municipal evils and the insidious influence of -“vested interests.” Our heedlessness and indifference to public matters -is our national sin, but Mr. Bryce foresees a cure for our defects -in the increasing zeal with which the younger generation is assuming -the public burden; but how great must be its zeal and how steady its -purpose if anything is to be accomplished, one is made poignantly -aware by reading the account of the Tammany Ring in _The American -Commonwealth_. - -When a man of Mr. Bryce’s ability and experience points out definitely -the chief obstacles to good citizenship and furthermore indicates -the means by which these may be overcome, one may be as sure that he -will say something which should be heeded as were the members of the -House when he was a parliamentarian. In 1909, Mr. Bryce gave at Yale -University a series of lectures which were later published by the Yale -University Press under the title _Hindrances to Good Citizenship_. The -main obstacles to good citizenship are defined as indolence, private -self-interest, and party spirit. - -The first lecture, “Indolence,” brings to mind the chapter in _The -American Commonwealth_ on “The War Against Bossdom,” with its vigorous -concluding words, “In America, as everywhere else in the world, the -commonwealth suffers more often from apathy or shortsightedness in the -upper classes, who ought to lead, than from ignorance or recklessness -in the humbler classes, who generally are ready to follow when wisely -led.” - -In the second lecture, “Private Self-Interest,” Mr. Bryce states the -causes which produce a body of citizens who care more about their own -advancement than about the welfare of the country. The most important -of these causes are tariff issues, appropriations of public money for -local interests, governmental contracts, public officeholding,--all -representing “the insidious power of money which knows how to play upon -the self-interest of voters and legislators, polluting at its source -the spring of Civic Duty.” - -The third lecture considers party spirit as a hindrance to -citizenship. Mr. Bryce acknowledges the practical necessity for parties -in the management of popular governments, and also the perplexing -difficulties of a party leader who must decide between conscience and -party. There is nevertheless but one course open to him: he must follow -his conscience; only he must carefully distinguish between conscience -and angular independence which is lacking in common sense and in -willingness to defer to others in unimportant matters. For the average -man the question is a simple one; relieved of the burdens of party -leadership, he should follow his intelligence rather than his party. A -large number of independent voters secures most effectively the right -administration of public business. - -The last lecture in the series, “How to Overcome the Obstacles to Good -Citizenship,” suggests various means by which a more satisfactory -body of citizens may be secured. In method and style this lecture is -illustrative of the author’s peculiar strength in exposition. - -Mr. Bryce’s writings are remarkable for the lucid organization of a -wealth of detail into significant principles and sound conclusions; for -vividness in the presentation of whatever pertains to humanity, and -for gracious, winning English. One finds always in his work simplicity -in the unfolding of material which has been carefully gathered and -calmly judged. There is perfect clarity in the handling of a mass of -detail, and such skillful subordination of it and masterly emphasis of -important principles that the reader easily catches the bearing on the -central thought of every illustration or description. There is also in -the writing a solidity and firmness, a bracing stalwartness--qualities -which are the result of the writer’s own sturdy nature. But this is -not all. The author’s almost novelistic power of seeing persons and -things makes his writing as vivid as a story; even his most abstract -propositions are tangible and real. And the material is, moreover, so -sympathetically and earnestly treated that it is at times lifted above -mere pedestrian exposition and becomes warm with the feeling of the -writer. The everyday words and unadorned sentences, infused with the -spirit of the one who writes, become potent to stir slumbering ideals. -Suddenly over the level way of mere intellectual matters falls a dreamy -light, a Celtic graciousness of manner; and the reader no longer -journeys along a mere brown path, but sees the familiar scenes of the -way idealized by the touch of poetry. The value of skillful exposition -as an asset for leadership, or for the accomplishment of any other -purpose, Mr. Bryce fully appreciates. A command of language is a power -possessed by nearly every one of the men, eminent in the nineteenth -century, whom Mr. Bryce describes in his _Studies in Contemporary -Biography_. By means of it Mr. John Richard Green wrote the most -brilliant history of modern times; through the stirring editorials of -the _Nation_, Mr. Godkin was able to arouse an indifferent American -public to a more earnest consideration of the national welfare; and -it was Mr. Gladstone’s gift of “noble utterance” which more than any -other talent enabled him for many years to hold an authoritative -political position. Mr. Bryce’s own rare power as a writer of vigorous, -persuasive English is one of the qualities which has made him in -a certain sense a citizen of the world with an almost world-wide -influence. - -However helpful Mr. Bryce’s method may be for the student who is -attempting to understand and master the technique of successful -English, it is the subject-matter which is primarily of importance. -It is valuable for the student since it may serve to stimulate the -investigation and expression of certain questions connected with the -administration of public matters in his own town or city; and it may -also suggest the explanation and judgment of measures proposed to -secure better government, such as the Referendum. But the essential -worth of the material lies in the fact that it is a tonic for relaxed -vigilance in public affairs. It would be well to require every -citizen of the United States to read in school days _The American -Commonwealth_; one ventures to say that there would be, as a result, -a steady advancement in the right understanding and fulfillment of -civic duties; but even a limited acquaintance with Mr. Bryce should -serve to define in clearer terms the elements of a sane and effective -patriotism. And Mr. Bryce’s own life, unfalteringly and resolutely -devoted to a just administration of governments, together with its -unfailing graciousness in the most trying situations, furnishes an -invigorating example of the truly successful statesman. - - ADA L. F. SNELL. - - - - -Promoting Good Citizenship - - - - -INDOLENCE - - -Dr. Samuel Johnson, being once asked how he came to have made a blunder -in his famous English Dictionary, is reported to have answered, -“Ignorance, Sir, sheer ignorance.” Whoever has grown old enough to look -back over the wasted opportunities of life--and we all of us waste -more opportunities than we use--will be apt to ascribe most of his -blunders to sheer indolence. Sometimes one has omitted to learn what -it was needful to learn in order to proceed to action; sometimes one -has shrunk from the painful effort required to reflect and decide on -one’s course, leaving it to Fortune to settle what Will ought to have -settled; sometimes one has, from mere self-indulgent sluggishness, let -the happy moment slip. - -The difference between men who succeed and men who fail is not so much -as we commonly suppose due to differences in intellectual capacity. -The difference which counts for most is that between activity and -slackness; between the man who, observing alertly and reflecting -incessantly, anticipates contingencies before they occur, and the -lazy, easy-going, slowly-moving man who is roused with difficulty, -will not trouble himself to look ahead, and so being taken unprepared -loses or misuses the opportunities that lead to fortune. If it be true -that everywhere, though perhaps less here than in European countries, -energy is the exception rather than the rule, we need not wonder that -men show in the discharge of civic duty the defects which they show in -their own affairs. No doubt public affairs demand only a small part -of their time. But the spring of self-interest is not strong where -public affairs are concerned. The need for activity is not continuously -present. A duty shared with many others seems less of a personal duty. -If a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand other citizens are as much bound -to speak, vote, or act as each one of us is, the sense of obligation -becomes to each of us weak. Still weaker does it become when one -perceives the neglect of others to do their duty. The need for the -good citizen’s action, no doubt, becomes then all the greater. But -it is only the best sort of citizen that feels it to be greater. The -Average Man judges himself by the average standard and does not see why -he should take more trouble than his neighbours. Thus we arrive at a -result summed up in the terrible dictum, which reveals the basic fault -of democracy, “What is Everybody’s business is Nobody’s business.” - -Of indolence, indifference, apathy, in general, no more need be said. -It is a sin that easily besets us all. We might suppose that where -public affairs are concerned it would decrease under the influence of -education and the press. But several general causes have tended to -increase it in our own generation, despite the increasing strength of -the appeal which civic duty makes to men who are, or if they cared -might be, better informed about public affairs than were their fathers. - -The first of these causes is that manners have grown gentler and -passions less angry. A chief duty of the good citizen is to be angry -when anger is called for, and to express his anger by deeds, to -attack the bad citizen in office, or otherwise in power, to expose his -dishonesty, to eject him from office, to brand him with an ignominy -which will prevent his returning to any post of trust. In former -days indignation flamed higher, and there was little tenderness for -offenders. Jehu smote the prophets of Baal. Bad ministers--and no -doubt sometimes good ministers also--were in England beheaded on Tower -Hill. Everywhere punishment came quicker and was more severe, though -to be sure it was often too harsh. Nowadays the arm of justice is -often arrested by an indulgence which forgets that the true aim of -punishment is the protection of the community. The very safeguards -with which our slower and more careful procedure has surrounded trials -and investigations, proper as such safeguards are for the security of -the innocent, have often so delayed the march of justice that when -a conviction has at last been obtained, the offence has begun to be -forgotten and the offender escapes with a trifling penalty, or with -none. This is an illustration of the principle that as righteous -indignation is a valuable motive power in politics, the decline in it -means a decline either in the standard of virtue or in the standard of -zeal, possibly in both. - -Another cause may be found in the fact that the enormous growth of -modern states has made the share in government of the individual -citizen seem infinitesimally small. In an average Greek republic, -he was one of from two to ten thousand voters. In England or France -to-day he is one of many millions. The chance that his vote will make -any difference to the result is so slender that it appears to him -negligible. We are proud, and justly proud, of having adapted free -government to areas far vaster than were formerly thought capable of -receiving free institutions. It was hoped that the patriotism of the -citizen would expand with the magnitude of the State. But this did not -happen in Rome, the greatest of ancient republics. Can we say that it -has happened in the modern world? Few of us realize that though our own -share may be smaller our responsibility increases with the power our -State exerts. The late Professor Henry Sidgwick once travelled from -Davos in the easternmost corner of Switzerland to the town of Cambridge -in England and back again to deliver his vote against Home Rule at the -general election of 1886, though he knew that his own side would have a -majority in the constituency. Those who knew applauded, his opponents -included, but I fear that few of us followed this shining example of -civic virtue. - -Thirdly, the highest, because the most difficult, duty of a citizen -is to fight valiantly for his convictions when he is in a minority. -The smaller the minority, and the more unpopular it is, and the more -violent are the attacks upon it, so much the louder is the call of -duty to defend one’s opinions. To withstand the “ardor civium prava -iubentium”--to face “the multitude hasting to do evil”--this is the -note and the test of genuine virtue and courage. Now this is, or seems -to be, a more formidable task the vaster the community becomes. It is -harder to make your voice heard against the roar of ocean than against -the whistling squall that sweeps down over a mountain lake. - -Lastly, there has been within the last century a great accession to our -knowledge of nature, a more widely diffused and developed interest in -literature and art as well as in science. This development, in itself -fraught with laudable means of enjoyment, has had the unforeseen yet -natural result of reducing the interest in public affairs among the -educated classes, while the ardour with which competitions in physical -strength and skill are followed has in like manner diverted the -thoughts and attention of the less educated--and indeed, not of them -alone but of many also in a class from whom better things might have -been expected. Politics, in fact, have nowadays to strive against more -rival subjects attracting men’s eyes and minds than they had before -scientific discovery and art, and above all, athletic sports, came to -fill newspapers and magazines. - -But so far from being less important than they were, politics are -growing in every country more important the wider the sphere of -governmental action becomes. Nevertheless, even in England, which is -perhaps slightly less addicted to this new passion for looking on at -and reading about athletic competitions than are North America and -Australia, a cricket or football match or a horse-race seems, if one -may judge by the eager throngs that snatch the evening newspapers, to -excite more interest in the middle as well as in the richer and in the -upper section of the poorer classes than does any political event. - -How to overcome these adverse tendencies is a question which I reserve -till the last of these lectures. Meantime, let us look at some of the -forms in which indifference to the obligations of citizenship reveals -itself. - -The first duty of the citizen used to be to fight, and to fight -not merely against foes from another State, but against those also -who, within his own State, were trying to overturn the Constitution -or resist the laws. It is a duty still incumbent on us all, though -the existence of soldiers and a police force calls us to it less -frequently. The omission to take up arms in a civil strife was a grave -offence in the republics of antiquity, where revolutions were frequent, -as they are to-day in some of the states of Latin America. When -respectable people stayed at home instead of taking sword and spear to -drive out the adherents of an adventurer trying to make himself Tyrant, -they gave the adventurer his chance: and in any case their abstention -tended to prolong a civil war which would end sooner when it was seen -which way the bulk of the people inclined. There was accordingly a -law in some of the Greek republics that every citizen must take one -side or the other in an insurrection. If he did not, he was liable -to punishment. I have not heard of any one being indicted in England -or the United States for failing to discharge his legal duty to join -in the hue and cry after a thief, or to rally to the sheriff when he -calls upon the _posse comitatus_ to support him in maintaining law and -order. But possibly an indictment would still lie; and in England we -have within recent times enrolled bodies of special constables from the -civil population to aid in maintaining public tranquillity. - -More peaceful times have substituted for the duty of fighting the -duty of voting. But even in small communities the latter duty has -been often neglected. In Athens the magistrates used to send round -the Scythian bowmen, who acted as their police, to scour the streets -with a rope coloured with vermilion, and drag towards the Pnyx (the -place of assembly), citizens who preferred to lounge or to mind what -they called their own business, as if ruling the State was not their -business. So in modern Switzerland some cantons have enacted laws -fining those who, without reasonable excuse, neglect to vote.[1] This -is the more remarkable because the Swiss have a good record in the -matter of voting, better, I think, than any other European people. Such -a law witnesses not to exceptional negligence but to an exceptionally -high standard of duty. In Britain we sometimes bring to the polls at a -parliamentary election eighty, or even more than eighty, per cent of -our registered electors, which is pretty good when it is remembered -that the register may have been made up eleven months earlier, so -that many electors are sure to have moved elsewhere. At elections for -local authorities a much smaller proportion vote; and I fancy, though -I have no figures at hand, that in France, Belgium, and still more -in Italy the percentage voting at all sorts of elections is less than -in Switzerland or in Britain. The number who vote does not perfectly -measure the personal sense of duty among electors, because an efficient -party organization may, like the Scythian bowmen, sweep voters who -do not care but who can be either driven to the polls or paid to go. -Unless it is money that takes the voters there, it is well that they -should go; for it helps to form the habit. - - [1] This example has, I believe, been followed in Belgium. - -Another form of civic apathy is the reluctance to undertake civic -functions. In England this is not discoverable in any want of -candidates for Parliament. They abound, though sometimes the fittest -men prefer ease or business success to public life. But seats upon -local authorities and especially upon municipal councils and district -councils, seldom attract the best ability of the local community. In -English and Scottish cities the leading commercial, financial, and -professional men do not often appear as candidates, leaving the work -to persons who are not indeed incompetent, being usually intelligent -business men, but whose education and talents are sometimes below the -level of the functions which these bodies discharge. No great harm -has followed, because our city councillors are almost always honest. -Local public opinion is vigilant and exacting, so a high standard of -probity is maintained. But municipalities have latterly embarked on so -many kinds of new work, and the revenues of the greater cities have so -grown, that not merely business capacity and experience, but a large -grasp of economic principles is required. This is no less true here in -America, yet I gather that here it is found even more difficult than in -Europe to secure the presence of able administrators in city councils. - -A man engaged in a large business who takes up municipal work may -doubtless find that he is making a pecuniary sacrifice. But if he has -already an income sufficient for his comfort, may it not be his best -way of serving his fellow-men? - -Many such men do serve as governors or trustees of educational or other -public institutions which make nearly as great a demand on their time -as the membership of a public body would. Others, in Europe, if less -frequently here, give to amusement much more of their leisure than the -needs of recreation and health require. This is often due rather to -thoughtlessness than to a conscious indifference to the call of duty. - -Some of your political reformers have dwelt on the difficulties which -party organizations, specially powerful in the United States, place in -the way of educated and public-spirited men seeking to enter politics. -There may be truth in this as regards the lower districts of the larger -cities, but one can scarcely think it generally true even of the -cities. More frequently it is alleged that the work of local politics -is disagreeable, bringing a man into contact with vulgar people and -exposing him to misrepresentation and abuse. - -This is an excuse for abstention which ought never to be heard in a -democratic country. If politics are anywhere vulgar, they ought not -to be suffered to remain vulgar, as they will remain if the better -educated citizens keep aloof. They involve the highest interests -of the nation or the city. The way in which they are handled is a -lesson to the people either in honesty or in knavery. The best element -in a community cannot afford to let its interests be the sport of -self-seekers or rogues. Moreover, the loss by maladministration or -robbery, large as it may sometimes be, is a less serious evil than is -the damage to public morals. If those who have the manners and speak -the language of educated men refuse to enter practical politics, they -must cease to complain of a want of refinement in politics. In reality, -good manners are the best way in which to meet rudeness; and he who -is too thin-skinned to disregard abuse confesses his own want of -manliness. The mass of the people, even those who are neither educated -nor fastidious, know honesty when they see it, and discount such abuse. -When a man is firm and upright, nothing better braces him up and fits -him to serve his country than to be attacked on the platform or in the -press for faults he has not committed. It puts him on his mettle. It -toughens his fibre. It gives him self-control and teaches him how to -do right in the way which is least exposed to misrepresentation. It -nerves his courage for the far more difficult trials which come when -friends as well as opponents censure him because honour and obedience -to his conscience have required him to take an unpopular line and speak -unwelcome truths. A little persecution for righteousness’ sake is a -wholesome thing. - -The deficient sense of civic duty, though most frequently noted in the -form of a neglect to vote, is really more general and serious in the -neglect to think. Were it possible to have statistics to show what -percentage of those who vote reflect upon the vote they have to give, -there would in no country be found a large percentage. Yet what is the -worth of a vote except as the expression of a considered opinion? The -act of marking a ballot is nothing unless the mark carries with it a -judgment, the preference of a good candidate to a bad one, the approval -of one policy offered the people, the rejection of another. The -citizen owes it to the community to inform himself about the questions -submitted for his decision, and weigh the arguments on each side; or if -the issue be one rather of persons than of policies, to learn all he -can regarding the merits of the candidates offered to his choice. - -How many voters really trouble themselves to do this? One in five? One -in ten? One in twenty? - -It may be asked, How can they do it? What means have they of studying -public questions and reaching just conclusions? If the means are -wanting, can we blame them if they do not think? If they feel they -do not understand, can we blame them if they do not vote? In every -free country the suffrage is now so wide that the great majority of -the voters have to labour for their daily bread. In most European -countries many are imperfectly educated. In the rural districts they -read with difficulty, see either no newspaper or one which helps them -but little, lead isolated lives in which there are scanty opportunities -for learning what passes, so that the best they can do seems to be to -ask advice from the priest, or the village schoolmaster, or take advice -from their landlord or their employer. In the northern parts of the -United States and also in Canada, the native population has indeed -received a fair instruction, and reads newspapers; but the mass of -voters is swelled by a crowd of recent immigrants, most of whom cannot -read English and know nothing of your institutions. - -Broadly speaking, in modern countries ruled by universal suffrage -the Average Citizen has not the means of adequately discharging -the function which the constitution throws upon him of following, -examining, and judging those problems of statesmanship which the -ever-growing range of government administration and the ever-increasing -complexity of our civilization set before him as a voter to whom issues -of policy are submitted. - -As things stand, he votes, when he votes, not from knowledge, but as -his party or his favourite newspaper bids him, or according to his -predilection for some particular leader. Unless it be held that every -man has a natural and indefeasible right to a share in the government -of the country in which he resides, the ground for giving that share -would seem to be the competence of the recipient and the belief that -his sharing will promote the general welfare. So one may almost say -that the theory of universal suffrage assumes that the Average Citizen -is an active, instructed, intelligent ruler of his country.[2] The -facts contradict this assumption. - - [2] It may no doubt be argued that even if he is not competent, - it is better he should be within than without the voting - class. But this was not the ground generally taken by those - who brought in universal suffrage. - -Does this mean that widely extended suffrage is a failure, and that the -Average Man is not a competent citizen in a democracy? - -This question brings us to reflect on another branch of civic duty not -yet mentioned. Besides the civic duties already described of Fighting, -Voting, and Thinking, there is another duty. It is the duty of Mutual -Help, the duty incumbent on those who possess, through their knowledge -and intelligence, the capacity of Instruction and Persuasion to advise -and to guide their less competent fellow-citizens. No sensible man -ought ever to have supposed that under such conditions as large modern -communities present, the bulk of the citizens could vote wisely from -their own private knowledge and intelligence. Even in small cities, -such as was Sicyon in the days of Aratus, or Boston in the days of -James Otis, the Average Man needed the help of his more educated and -wiser neighbours. While communities remained small, it was easy to -get this help. But now the swift and vast growth of states and cities -has changed everything. Private talk counts for less when the richer -citizens dwell apart from the poorer; their opportunities of meeting -are fewer, and there is less friendliness, if also less dependence, in -the relation of the employed to the employer. Public meetings do not -give nearly all that the Average Man needs, not to add that being got -together to present one set of facts and arguments and deliberately -to ignore the other, they do not put him in a fair position to judge. -Besides, the men who most need instruction are usually those who least -come to meetings to receive it. - -To fill this void the newspapers have arisen,--organs purporting to -supply the materials required for the formation of political opinion. -Whatever the services of the newspaper in other respects, it has the -inevitable defect of superseding, with most of those who read it, the -exercise of independent thought. The newspaper--I speak generally, for -there are some brilliant exceptions--is, in Europe even more than here, -almost always partisan in its views, often partisan in its selection -of facts or at least in its way of stating them. Presenting one side -of a case, addressing chiefly those who are already adherents of that -side, putting a colour on the events it reports,--it serves up to the -reader ideas, perhaps only mere phrases or catchwords, which confirm -him in his prepossessions, and by its daily iteration makes him take -them for truths. Seldom has he the leisure, still more seldom the -impulse or the patience, to scrutinize these ideas for himself and -form his own judgment. He is glad to be relieved of the necessity for -thinking, because thinking is hard work. Indolence again! The habit of -mind that is formed by hasty reading, and especially by the reading of -newspapers and magazines in which the matter, excellent as parts of it -often are, is so multifarious that one topic diverts attention from the -others, tends to a general dissipation and distraction of thought. It -is a habit which tells upon us all and makes continuous reflection and -a critical or logical treatment of the subjects deserving reflection -more irksome to us in the full sunlight of to-day than it was to those -whom we call our benighted ancestors. - -This is only one form of that supersession of the practice of thinking -by the vice commonly called “the reading habit” which is profoundly -affecting the intellectual life of our time. Yet as steady thinking -was never really common even among the educated, the difference from -earlier days is not so correctly described by saying that people think -less than formerly, as by noting that while people read more, and -while far more people read, the ratio of thinking to reading does not -increase either in the individual or in the mass, and may possibly be -decreasing. Intelligence and independence of thought have not grown in -proportion to the diffusion of knowledge. The number of persons who -both read and vote is in England and France more than twenty times as -great as it was seventy years ago. The percentage of those who reflect -before they vote has not kept pace either with popular education or -with the extension of the suffrage. - -The persons who constitute that percentage are, and must for the -reasons already given continue for some time to be, only a fraction, -in some countries a small fraction, of the voting population. But the -fraction might be made much larger than it is. The citizens who stand -above their fellows in knowledge and mental power ought to set an -example, not only by themselves thinking more and thinking harder about -public affairs than most of them do, but also by exerting themselves to -stimulate and aid their less instructed or more listless neighbours. -The voter, it is said, should be independent. Yes. But independence -does not mean isolation. He must not commit his personal responsibility -to the keeping of another. Yes. But personal responsibility does not -mean the vain conceit of knowledge and judgment where knowledge is -wanting and judgment is untrained. - -Just as his religion throws upon every Christian the duty of loving -his neighbour and giving practical expression to his love by helping -his neighbour, succouring him in the hour of need, trying to rescue -him from sin, seeking to guide his steps into the way of peace, so -civic duty requires each of us to raise the level of citizenship not -merely by ourselves voting and bearing a share in political agitation, -but by trying to diffuse among our fellow-citizens whose opportunities -have been less favourable, the knowledge and the fairness of mind and -the habit of grappling with political questions which a democratic -government must demand even from the Average Man. Democracy, they say, -is based on Equality. But in no form of government is leadership so -essential. A multitude without intelligent, responsible leaders whom -it respects and follows is a crowd ready to become the prey of any -self-seeking knave. Nor is it true that because men value equality they -reject eminence. They are always glad to be led if some one, eschewing -pretension and condescension, speaking to them with respect, but also -with that authority which knowledge and capacity imply, will point -out the path and give them the lead for which they are looking. To do -this has now, in our great cities, become more difficult than it used -to be, because men of different classes and different occupations do -not know one another as well as they once did, and economic conflicts -have made workingmen suspicious. But there are those in our English and -Scottish cities who do it successfully, and I have never heard that -it is resented. It is largely a matter of tact, and of knowing how to -express that genuine sense of human fellowship which is commoner in the -richer class than the constraint and shyness that are supposed to beset -Englishmen sometimes allow to appear. - -If you and we, both here and in Britain, are less active than we should -be in this and other forms of civic work, the fault lies in our not -caring enough for our country. It is easy to wave a flag, to cheer -an eminent statesman, to exult in some achievement by land or sea. -But our imaginations are too dull to realize either the grandeur of -the State in its splendid opportunities for promoting the welfare of -the masses, or the fact that the nobility of the State lies in its -being the true child, the true exponent, of the enlightened will of a -right-minded and law-abiding people. Absorbed in business or pleasure, -we think too little of what our membership in a free nation means for -the happiness of our poorer fellow-citizens. The eloquent voice of a -patriotic reformer sometimes breaks our slumber. But the daily round -of business and pleasure soon again fills the mind, and public duty -fades into the background of life. This dulness of imagination and the -mere indolence which makes us neglect to stop and think, are a chief -cause of that indifference which chokes the growth of civic duty. It is -because a great University like this is the place where the imagination -of young men may best be quickened by the divine fire, because the -sons of a great University are those who may best carry with them into -after life the inspiration which history and philosophy and poetry have -kindled within its venerable walls, that I have ventured to dwell here -on the special duty which those who enjoy these privileges owe to their -brethren, partners in the citizenship of a great republic. - - - - -HOW TO OVERCOME THE OBSTACLES TO GOOD CITIZENSHIP - - -In the preceding three lectures[3] the chief hindrances to the -discharge of civic duty have been considered. Let us now go on to -inquire what can be done to remove these hindrances by grappling with -those faults or weaknesses in the citizen to which they are due. When -symptoms have been examined, one looks about for remedies. - - [3] The two lectures reprinted in this volume are the first - and last of a series of four given by Mr. Bryce at Yale - University. - -We have seen that of the three causes assigned, Indolence, Selfish -Personal Interest, and Party Spirit, the first is the most common, the -second the most noxious, the third the most excusable, yet also the -most subtle, and perhaps the most likely to affect the class which -takes the lead in politics and is incessantly employed upon its daily -work. Whether the influence of these causes, or of any of them, is -increasing with that more complete democratization of government which -we see going on in Europe, is a question that cannot yet be answered. -Fifty years may be needed before it can be answered, for new tendencies -both for good and for evil are constantly emerging and affecting one -another in unpredictable ways. - -The remedies that may be applied to any defects in the working of -governments are some of them Mechanical, some of them Ethical. By -Mechanical remedies I understand those which consist in improving the -structure or the customs and working devices of government, i. e., -the laws and the institutions or political methods, by Ethical those -which affect the character and spirit of the people. If you want to -get more work and better work done in any industry, you may either -improve the machinery, or the implements, by which the work is done, or -else improve the strength and skill of the men who run the machinery -and use the tools. In doing the former, you sometimes do the latter -also, for when the workman has finer tools, he is led on to attempt -more difficult work, and thus not only does his own skill become more -perfect, but his interest in the work is likely to be increased. - -Although in politics by far the most real and lasting progress may be -expected from raising the intelligence and virtue of the citizens, -still improvements in the machinery of government must not be -undervalued. To take away from bad men the means and opportunities -by which they may work evil, to furnish good men with means and -opportunities which make it easier for them to prevent or overcome -evil, is to render a great service. And as laws which breathe a high -spirit help to educate the whole community, so does the presence of -opportunities for reform stimulate and invigorate the best citizens in -their efforts after better things. - -I will enumerate briefly some of the remedies that may be classed as -Mechanical because they consist in alterations of institutions or -methods. - -Two of these need only a few passing words, because they are so -sweeping as to involve the whole fabric of government, and therefore -too large to be discussed here. - -One is propounded by those thinkers whom, to distinguish them from the -persons who announce themselves as enemies of all society, we may call -the Philosophical Anarchists, thinkers who are entitled to respectful -consideration because their doctrine represents a protest that needs -to be made against the conception of an all-engulfing State in which -individual initiative and self-guided development might be merged and -lost. They desire to get rid of the defects of government by getting -rid of government itself; that is to say, by leaving men entirely -alone without any coercive control, trusting to their natural good -impulses to restrain them from harming one another. In such a state -of things there would be no Citizenship, properly so called, but only -the isolation of families, or perhaps of individuals--for it is not -quite clear how far the family is expected to remain in the Anarchist -paradise--an isolation more or less qualified by brotherly love. We are -so far at present from a prospect of reaching the conditions needed for -such an amelioration that it is enough to note this view and pass on. - -A second and diametrically opposite cure for the evils of existing -society comes from those who are commonly termed Socialists or -Collectivists. It consists in so widely enlarging the functions of -government as to commit to it not merely all the work it now performs -of defending the country, maintaining order, enacting laws, and -enforcing justice between man and man, but also the further work of -producing and distributing all commodities, allotting to each man his -proper labour and proper remuneration, or possibly, instead of giving -any pecuniary remuneration, providing each man with what he needs for -life. Under this régime two of the hindrances to good citizenship would -be much reduced. There ought to be less indifference to politics when -everybody’s interest in the management of public concerns had been -immensely increased by the fact that he found himself dependent on -the public officials for everything. Nobody could plead that he was -occupied by his own private business, because his private business -would have vanished. So also selfish personal interest in making gains -out of government must needs disappear when private property itself -had ceased to exist. Whether, however, self-interest might not still -find means of influencing public administration in ways beneficial to -individual cupidity, and whether personal selfishness might not be even -more dangerous, under such conditions, in proportion to the extended -range and power of government,--this is another question which cannot -be discussed till some definite scheme for the allotment of work and of -remuneration (if any) shall have been propounded. Party Spirit would -evidently, in a Collectivistic State, pass into new forms. It might, -however, become more potent than ever before. But that again would -depend on the kind of scheme for the reshaping of economic society that -had been adopted. - -We may pass from these suggestions for the extinction, or -reconstruction on new lines, of the existing social and political -system to certain minor devices for improving the structure and methods -of government which have been put forward as likely to help the citizen -to discharge his duties more efficiently. - -One of these is the system of Proportional Representation. It is argued -that if electoral areas were created with more than two members -each, and if each elector was either allowed to vote for a number -of candidates less than the number to be chosen, or was allowed to -concentrate all his votes upon one candidate, or more, according to the -number to be chosen, two good results would follow. The will of the -electors would be more adequately and exactly expressed, because the -minority, or possibly more than one minority, as well as the majority, -would have everywhere its representative. The zeal of the electors -would be stimulated, because in each district a section of opinion not -large enough to have a chance of winning an election, if there were -but one member, and accordingly now apathetic, because without hope, -would then be roused to organize itself and to take a warmer interest -in public affairs. The Proportional system is, therefore, advocated -as one of those improvements in machinery which would react upon the -people by quickening the pulses of public life. Some experiments have -already been made in this direction. Those tried in England did not -win general approval and have been dropped. That which is still in -operation in the State of Illinois has not, if my informants are right, -given much satisfaction. But the plan is said to work well both in -Belgium and in some of the cantons of Switzerland; so one may hope that -further experiments will be attempted. It deserves your careful study, -but it is too complicated and opens too many side issues to be further -discussed now and here.[4] - - [4] Since the above was written a Royal Commission has been - appointed in Britain to examine divers questions relating - to elections, and is investigating this, among other plans. - -Attempts have been made in some places to overcome the indifference of -citizens to their duty by fining those who, without sufficient excuse, -fail to vote. This plan of Obligatory Voting, as it is called, finds -favour in some Swiss cantons and in Belgium, but is too uncongenial to -the habits of England or of the United States to be worth considering -as a practical measure in either country. Moreover, the neglect to vote -is no very serious evil in either country, at least as regards the more -important elections. Swiss legislation on the subject is evidence not -so much of indifference among the citizens of that country as of the -high standard of public duty they are expected to reach. - -When we come to the proposals made both here and in England for the -reference of proposals to a direct popular vote, we come to a question -of real practical importance. I wish that I had time to state to -you and to examine the arguments both for and against this mode of -legislation, which has been practised for many years in Switzerland -with a virtually unanimous approval, and has been applied pretty freely -in some of your States. It has taken two forms. One is the so-called -Initiative, under which a section of the electors (being a number, -or a proportion, prescribed by law) may propose a law upon which the -people vote. This is being tried in Switzerland, but so far as I have -been able to gather, has not yet proved its utility. The balance of -skilled opinion seems to incline against it. The other is called the -Referendum, and consists in the submission to popular vote of measures -already passed by the legislative body. In this form the reference of -laws to the people undoubtedly sharpens the interest of the ordinary -citizen in the conduct of public affairs. The Swiss voters, at any -rate, take pains to inform themselves on the merits of the measures -submitted to them. These are widely and acutely canvassed at public -meetings, and in the press. A large vote is usually cast, and all, -whether or no they approve the result, agree that it is an intelligent, -not a heedless, vote. The Swiss do not seem to think that the power and -dignity of the legislature is weakened, as some might expect it to be, -when their final voice is thus superseded by that of the people. All I -need now ask you to note and remember is that the practice of bringing -political issues directly before the people, whatever its drawbacks, -does tend to diminish both that indolence and indifference which is -pretty common among European voters. It requires every citizen to think -for himself and deliver his vote upon all the more important measures, -and it also reduces the power of that Party Spirit which everywhere -distracts men’s minds from the real merits of the questions before -the country. When a law is submitted to the Swiss people for their -judgment, their decision nowise affects either the Executive or the -Legislature. The law may be rejected by the people, but the officials -who drafted the law continue to hold office. The party which brought it -in and carried it through the Legislature is not deemed to have been -censured or weakened by the fact of its ultimate rejection. That party -spirit is less strong in Switzerland than in any other free country -(except perhaps Norway) may be largely attributed to this disjunction -of the deciding voice in legislation from those governmental organs -which every political party seeks to control. The Swiss voter is to-day -an exceptionally intelligent and patriotic citizen, fitter to exercise -the function of direct legislation than perhaps any other citizen in -Europe, and the practice of directly legislating has doubtless helped -to train him for the function. - -It must, however, be admitted that the circumstances of that little -republic and its cantons are too peculiar to make it safe to draw -inferences from Swiss experience to large countries like Britain and -France, the political life of which is highly centralized. The States -of your Union may appear to offer a better field, and the results -of the various experiments which some of them (such as Oklahoma) are -trying will be watched with interest by Europeans. - -In considering the harm done to civic duty by selfish personal -interests we were led to observe that the fewer points of contact -between government and the pecuniary interests of private citizens, -the better both for the purity of government and for the conscience of -the private citizen. How far government ought to include within its -functions schemes for increasing national wealth, otherwise than by -such means (being means which a government alone can employ because -to be effective they must be done on a great scale) as the improving -of education, the diffusing of knowledge, the providing means of -transportation, the conservation of natural resources, and so forth, -may be matter for debate. But at any rate government ought to avoid -measures tending to enrich any one person or group of persons at the -expense of the citizens generally. Common justice requires that. -Accordingly, all contracts should be made on the terms best for the -public, and if possible by open bidding. Franchises, if not reserved -by the public authority for itself, should be granted only for limited -times and so as to secure the interests of the community, whether by -way of a rent payable to the city or county treasury or otherwise. -Public employees should not be made into a privileged class, to -which there is given larger pay than other workers of the same class -and capacity receive. All bills promoted by a private person, firm, -or company looking to his or their pecuniary advantage ought to be -closely scrutinized by some responsible public authority. In England -we draw a sharp distinction between such bills and general public -legislation, and we submit the former to a quasi-judicial examination -by a Parliamentary committee in order to avoid possible jobs or -scandals or losses to the public. As respects general legislation, -i. e., that which is not in its terms local or personal, it may be -difficult or impossible to prevent a law from incidentally benefiting -one group or class of men and injuring another. But everything that -can be done ought to be done to prevent any set of men from abusing -legislation to serve their own interest. If there be truth in what -one hears about the groups which in France, Belgium, and Germany have, -through political pressure, obtained by law bounties benefiting their -industries, or tariffs specially favourable to their own commercial -enterprises, the danger that the general taxpayer, or the consumer, may -be sacrificed to these private interests, is a real danger. To remove -the occasion and the opportunities for the exercise of such pressure, -which is likely to be often exerted in a covert way and to warp or -pervert the legislator’s mind, is to diminish a temptation and to -remove a stumbling block that lies in the path of civic duty. Whether -a man be in theory a Protectionist or a Free Trader, whether or not he -desires to nationalize public utilities, he must recognize the dangers -incident to the passing of laws which influential groups of wealthy -men may have a personal interest in promoting or resisting, because -they offer a prospect of gain sufficiently large to make it worth while -to “get at” legislatures and officials. Such dangers arise in all -governments. That which makes them formidable in democracies is the -fact that the interest of each individual citizen in protecting himself -and the public against the selfish groups may be so small an interest -that everybody neglects it, and the groups get their way. - -As we have been considering improvements in the machinery of -government, this would be a fitting place for a discussion of what you -call Primary Election Laws, which are intended both to reduce the power -of party organizations and to stimulate the personal zeal of the voter -by making it easier for him to influence the selection of a candidate. -We have, however, in Europe, nothing corresponding to the Primary -Laws of American States, nothing which recognizes a political party -as a concrete body, nothing which deals with the mode of selecting -candidates; and many of you doubtless know better than I do what has -been the effect of these American enactments and whether they have -really roused the ordinary citizen to bestir himself and to assert -his independence of such party organizations as may have heretofore -interfered with it. Europeans do not take kindly to the notion of -giving statutory recognition to a Party, and they doubt whether the -astuteness of those whom you call “machine politicians” may not succeed -in getting hold of the new statutory Primaries as they did of the old -ones. Be the merits of the new legislation what they may, one must hope -that its existence will not induce the friends of reform to relax their -efforts to reduce in other ways the power of political “Machines.” - -One obvious expedient to which good citizens may resort for keeping -other citizens up to the mark is to be found in the enactment and -enforcement of stringent laws against breaches of public trust. I -took occasion, in referring to the practices of bribery and treating -at elections, to note the wholesome effect of the statute passed in -England in 1883 for repressing those offences. Although St. Paul has -told us that he who is under grace does not need to be under the -law, Christianity has not yet gone far enough to enable any of us to -dispense with the moral force law can exert, both directly through -the penalties it imposes and indirectly through the type of conduct -which it exhorts the community to maintain. Laws may do much to raise -and sustain the tone of all the persons engaged in public affairs as -officials or as legislators, not only by appealing to their conscience, -but by giving them a quick and easy reply to those who seek improper -favours from them. A statute may express the best conscience of the -whole people and set the standard they approve, even where the practice -of most individuals falls short of the standard. If the prosecuting -authorities and the courts do their duty unflinchingly, without regard -to the social position of the offender, a statute may bring the -practice of ordinary men up to the level of that collective conscience -of the nation which it embodies. - -In every walk of life a class of persons constantly subject to a -particular set of temptations is apt to form habits, due to the -pressure of those temptations, which are below what the conscience -of the better men in the community approves. The aim of legislation, -as expressing that best conscience of the whole community, ought to -be to correct or extirpate those habits and make each particular -class understand that it is not to be excused because it has special -temptations and thinks its own sins venial. Even the men who yield -to the temptations peculiar to their own class are willing to join -in condemning those who yield to some other kind of temptation. Thus -the “better conscience” may succeed in screwing up one class after -another to a higher level. But the enactment of a law is not enough. -It must be strictly enforced. Procedure must be prompt. Juries must -be firm. Technicalities must not be suffered to obstruct the march of -justice. Sentences must be carried out, else the statute will become, -as statutes often have become, a record of aspiration rather than of -accomplishment. - -To contrive plans by which the interest of the citizen in public -affairs shall be aroused and sustained, is far easier than to induce -the citizen to use and to go on using, year in and year out, the -contrivances and opportunities provided for his benefit. Yet it is -from the heart and will of the citizen that all real and lasting -improvements must proceed. In the words of the Gospel, it is the inside -of the cup and platter that must be made clean. The central problem of -civic duty is the ethical problem. Indifference, selfish interests, the -excesses of party spirit, will all begin to disappear as civic life is -lifted on to a higher plane, and as the number of those who, standing -on that higher plane, will apply a strict test to their own conduct and -to that of their leaders, realizing and striving to discharge their -responsibilities, goes on steadily increasing until they come to form -the majority of the people. What we have called “the better conscience” -must be grafted on to the “wild stock” of the natural Average Man. - -How is this to be done? The difficulty is the same as that which meets -the social reformer or the preacher of religion. - -One must try to reach the Will through the Soul. The most obvious way -to begin is through the education of those who are to be citizens, -moral education combined with and made the foundation for instruction -in civic duty. This is a task which the Swiss alone among European -nations seem to have seriously undertaken. Here in America it has -become doubly important through the recent entrance into your -community of a vast mass of immigrants, most of them ignorant of our -language, still more of them ignorant, not only of your institutions, -but of the general principles and habits of free government. Most of -them doubtless belong to races of high natural intelligence, and many -of them have the simple virtues of the peasant. You are providing -for all of them good schools, and their children will soon become -Americans in speech and habits, quite patriotic enough so far as -flag-waving goes. But they will not so soon or so completely acquire -your intellectual and moral standard, or imbibe your historical and -religious traditions. There is no fear but what they will quickly learn -to vote. To some Europeans you seem to have been overconfident in -intrusting them with a power which most of them cannot yet have learned -to use wisely. That however you have done, and as you hold that it -cannot now be undone, your task must now be to teach them, if you can, -to understand your institutions, to think about the vote they have to -give, and to realize the responsibilities which the suffrage implies -as these were realized by your New England forefathers when they -planted free commonwealths in the wilderness nearly three centuries ago. - -Valuable as instruction may be in fitting the citizen to comprehend and -judge upon the issues which his vote determines, there must also be the -will to apply his knowledge for the public good. What appeal shall be -made to him? - -We--I say “we” because this is our task in Europe no less than it is -yours here--we may appeal to his enlightened self-interest, making -self-interest so enlightened that it loses its selfish quality. We can -remind him of all the useful work which governments may accomplish when -they are conducted by the right men in the right spirit. Take, for -instance, the work to be performed in those cities wherein so large and -increasing a part of the population now dwell. How much remains to be -done to make cities healthier, to secure better dwellings for the poor, -to root out nests of crime, to remove the temptations to intemperance -and gambling, to bring within the reach of the poorest all possible -facilities both for intellectual progress and for enjoying the -pleasures of art and music! How much may we do so to adorn the city -with parks and public buildings as to make its external aspect instil -the sense of beauty into its inhabitants and give them a fine pride -in it! These are some of the tasks which cannot safely be intrusted -to a municipality unless its government is above suspicion, unless -men of probity and capacity are placed in power, unless the whole -community extends its sympathy to the work and keeps a vigilant eye -upon all the officials. Municipal governments cannot be encouraged to -own public utilities so long as there is a risk that somebody may own -municipal governments. Have we not here a strong motive for securing -purity and efficiency in city administration? Is it not the personal -interest of every one of us that the city we dwell in should be such -as I have sought to describe? Nothing makes more for happiness than to -see others around one happy. The rich residents need not grudge--nor -indeed would your rich residents grudge, for there is less grumbling -among the rich tax payers here than in Europe--taxation which they -could see was being honestly spent for the benefit of the city. The -interest each one of us has as a member of a city or a nation in seeing -our fellow-citizens healthy, peaceful, and happy is a greater interest, -if it be measured in terms of our own real enjoyment of life, than is -that interest, of which we so constantly are reminded, which we have -in making the State either wealthy by the development of trade, or -formidable to foreign countries by its armaments. - -We may also appeal to every citizen’s sense of dignity and -self-respect. We may bid him recollect that he is the heir of rights -and privileges which you and our ancestors fought for, and which -place him, whatever his birth or fortune, among the rulers of his -country. He is unworthy of himself, unmindful of what he owes to the -Constitution that has given him these functions, if he does not try to -discharge them worthily. These considerations are no doubt familiar to -us Englishmen and Americans, though we may not always feel their force -as deeply as we ought. To the new immigrants of whom I have already -spoken they are unfamiliar; yet to the best among these also they have -sometimes powerfully appealed. You had, in the last generation, no more -high-minded and patriotic citizen than the German exile of 1849, the -late Mr. Carl Schurz. - -When every motive has been invoked, and every expedient applied that -can stimulate the sense of civic duty, one never can feel sure that -the desired result will follow. The moral reformer and the preacher -of religion have the same experience. The ebbs and flows of ethical -life are beyond the reach of scientific prediction. There are times -of awakening, “times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,” as -your Puritan ancestors said, but we do not know when they will come nor -can we explain why they come just when they do. Every man can recall -moments in his own life when the sky seemed to open above him, and when -his vision was so quickened that all things stood transfigured in a -purer and brighter radiance, when duty, and even toil done for the sake -of duty, seemed beautiful and full of joy. - -You remember Wordsworth’s lines-- - - “Hence, in a season of fair weather, - Though inland far we be, - Our souls have sight of that celestial sea - That brought us hither.” - -If we survey the wide field of European history, we shall find that -something like this happens with nations also. They, too, have moments -of exaltation, moments of depression. Their ideals rise and fall. They -are for a time filled with a spirit which seeks truth, which loves -honour, which is ready for self-sacrifice; and after a time the light -begins to fade from the hills and this spirit lingers only among the -best souls. - -Such a spirit is sometimes evoked by a great national crisis which -thrills all hearts. This happened to England or at least to a large -part of the people of England, in the seventeenth century. It happened -to Germany in the days of the War of Liberation, and to Italy when -she was striving to expel the Austrians and the petty princes who -ruled by Austria’s help. You here felt it during the War of Secession. -Sometimes, and usually at one of these crises, a great man stands out -who helps to raise the feeling of his people and inspire them with his -own lofty thoughts and aims. Such a man was Mazzini, seventy years -ago in Italy. Such were Washington and Lincoln, the former more by his -example than by his words, the latter by both, yet most by the quiet -patience, dignity, and hopefulness which he showed in the darkest -hours. Nations respond to the appeal which such a man makes to their -best instincts. He typifies for the moment whatever is highest in them. - -Unhappily, with nations as with individuals, there is apt to be a -relapse from these loftier moods into the old common ways when selfish -interest and trivial pleasures resume their sway. There comes a sort -of reaction from the stress of virtue and strenuous high-soaring -effort. Everything looks gray and dull. The divine light has died out -of the sky. This, too, is an oft-repeated lesson of European history. -Yet the reaction and decline are not inevitable. When an individual -man has been raised above himself by some spiritual impulse, he is -sometimes able to hold the ground he has won. His will may have been -strengthened. He has learnt to control the meaner desires. The impulse -that stirred him is not wholly spent, because the nobler thoughts and -acts which it prompted have become a habit with him. So, too, with -a nation. What habits are to the individual man, that, to a nation, -are its Traditions. They are the memories of the Past turned into -the standards of the Present. High traditions go to form a code of -honour, which speaks with authority to the sense of honour. Whoever -transgresses that code is felt to be unworthy of the nation, unfit to -hold that place in its respect and confidence which the great ones -of the days of old have held. Pride in the glorious foretime of the -race and in its heroes sustains in the individual man who is called -to public duty, the personal pride which makes him feel that all his -affections and all his emotions stand rooted in the sense of honour, -which is, for the man and for the nation, the foundation of all virtue. - -We have seen in our own time, in the people of Japan, a striking -example of what the passionate attachment to a national ideal can do -in war to intensify the sense of duty and self-sacrifice. A similar -example is held up to us by those who have recorded the earlier annals -of Rome. The deepest moral they teach is the splendid power which the -love of Rome and the idea of what her children owed to her exercised -over her great citizens, enabling them to set shining examples of -devotion to the city which the world has admired ever since. Each -example evoked later examples in later generations, till at last in -a changed community, its upper class demoralized by wealth and power -even more than it was torn by discord, its lower classes corrupted -by the upper and looking on their suffrage as a means of gain, the -ancient traditions died out. Whoever, studying the conditions of modern -European democracies, sees the infinite fatalities which popular -government in large countries full of rich men and of opportunities for -acquiring riches, offers for the perversion of government to private -selfish ends, will often feel that those European States which have -maintained the highest standard of civic purity have done it in respect -of their Traditions. Were these to be weakened, the fabric might -crumble into dust. - -Every new generation as it comes up can make the traditions which it -finds better or worse. If its imagination is touched and its emotions -stirred by all that is finest in the history of its country, it learns -to live up to the ideals set before it, and thus it strengthens the -best standards of conduct it has inherited and prolongs the reverence -felt for them. - -The responsibility for forming ideals and fixing standards does not -belong to statesmen alone. It belongs, and now perhaps more largely -than ever before, to the intellectual leaders of the nation, and -especially to those who address the people in the universities and -through the press. Teachers, writers, journalists, are forming the -mind of modern nations to an extent previously unknown. Here they -have opportunities such as have existed never before, nor in any -other country, for trying to inspire the nation with a love of truth -and honour, with a sense of the high obligations of citizenship, and -especially of those who hold public office. - -Of the power which the daily press exerts upon the thought and the -tastes of the people through the matter it scatters among them, and -of the grave import of the choice it has always and everywhere to make -between the serious treatment of public issues and that cheap cynicism -which so many readers find amusing, there is no need to speak here. You -know better than I do how far those who direct the press realize and -try to discharge the responsibilities which attach to their power. - -The observer who seeks to discern and estimate the forces working for -good or evil that mark the spirit and tendencies of an age, finds it -easiest to do this by noting the changes which have occurred within -his own memory. To-day everyone seems to dwell upon the growth not -only of luxury, but of the passion for amusement, and most of those -who can look back thirty or forty years find in this growth grounds -for discouragement. I deny neither the fact nor the significance of -the auguries that it suggests. But let us also note a hopeful sign -manifest during the last twenty years both here and in England. It -is the diffusion among the educated and richer classes of a warmer -feeling of sympathy and a stronger feeling of responsibility for the -less fortunate sections of the community. There is more of a sense -of brotherhood, more of a desire to help, more of a discontent with -those arrangements of society which press hardly on the common man -than there was forty years ago. This altruistic spirit which is now -everywhere visible in the field of private philanthropic work, seems -likely to spread into the field of civic action also, and may there -become a new motive power. It has already become a more efficient force -in legislation than it ever was before. We may well hope that it will -draw more and more of those who love and seek to help their fellow-men -into that legislative and administrative work whose opportunities for -grappling with economic and social problems become every day greater. - -Here in America I am told in nearly every city I visit that the young -men are more and more caring for and bestirring themselves to discharge -their civic duties. That is the best news one can hear. Surely no -country makes so clear a call upon her citizens to work for her as -yours does. Think of the wide-spreading results which good solid work -produces on so vast a community, where everything achieved for good -in one place is quickly known and may be quickly imitated in another. -Think of the advantages for the development of the highest civilization -which the boundless resources of your territory provide. Think of that -principle of the Sovereignty of the People which you have carried -further than it was ever carried before and which requires and inspires -and, indeed, compels you to endeavour to make the whole people fit to -bear a weight and discharge a task such as no other multitude of men -ever yet undertook. Think of the sense of fraternity, also without -precedent in any other great nation, which binds all Americans together -and makes it easier here than elsewhere for each citizen to meet every -other citizen as an equal upon a common ground. One who, coming from -the Old World, remembers the greater difficulties the Old World has -to face, rejoices to think how much, with all these advantages, the -youth of America, such youth as I see here to-night in this venerable -university, may accomplish for the future of your country. Nature -has done her best to provide a foundation whereon the fabric of an -enlightened and steadily advancing civilization may be reared. It is -for you to build upon that foundation. Free from many of the dangers -that surround the States of Europe, you have unequalled opportunities -for showing what a high spirit of citizenship--zealous, intelligent, -disinterested--may do for the happiness and dignity of a mighty nation, -enabling it to become what its founders hoped it might be--a model for -other peoples more lately emerged into the sunlight of freedom. - - - - -Transcriber’s Note - - -Page 48: “Americans” was printed as “Ameritans”, and changed here, -presuming it was a typographical error. - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PROMOTING GOOD -CITIZENSHIP *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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