ut little effect. Parties lose their hold on power through
some conspicuously obnoxious acts or failures; never, or very rarely,
through the judgments passed on them by hostile writers or orators. And
yet nothing is more necessary to successful government than abundant
criticism from sources not open to the suspicion of particular interest.
There is nothing which bad governments so much dislike and resent as
criticism, and have in past ages taken so much pains to put down. In
fact, a history of the civil liberty would consist largely of an account
of the resistance to criticism on the part of rulers. One of the first
acts of a successful tyranny or despotism is always the silencing of the
press or the establishment of a censorship.

Popular objection to criticism is however senseless, because it is
through criticism--that is, through discrimination between two things,
customs, or courses--that the race has managed to come out of the woods
and lead a civilized life. The first man who objected to the general
nakedness, and advised his fellows to put on clothes, was the first
critic. Criticism of a high tariff recommends a low tariff; criticism of
monarchy recommends a republic; criticism of vice recommends virtue. In
fact, almost every act of life, in the practice of a profession or the
conduct of a business, condemns one course and suggests another. The
word means _judging_, and judgment is the highest of the human
faculties, the one which most distinguishes us from the animals.

There is probably nothing from which the public service of the country
suffers more to-day than the silence of its educated class; that is, the
small amount of criticism which comes from the disinterested and
competent sources. It is a very rare thing for an educated man to say
anything publicly about the questions of the day. He is absorbed in
science, or art, or literature, in the practice of his profession, or in
the conduct of his business; and if he has any interest at all in public
affairs, it is a languid one. He is silent because he does not much
care, or because he does not wish to embarrass the administration or
"hurt the party," or because he does not feel that anything he could say
would make much difference. So that on the whole, it is very rarely that
the instructed opinion of the country is ever heard on any subject. The
report of the Bar Association on the nomination of Maynard in New York
was a remarkable exception to this rule.