degenerated,
as to fail in the vital point of bringing the best and ablest men to the
control of affairs. But has any more despotic or hereditary form been
equally successful, in the long run, in promoting the freedom, progress,
and grandeur of nations? Is the mediocrity of a whole people more
injurious to humanity than the precarious superiority of distinguished
families, or the selfish power of haughty privileged classes? One
important consideration seems to be overlooked by Mr. Mill in these
one-sided views of the present condition of society; and that is, the
comparatively greater elevation and improvement of the whole mass of
civilized communities; and the question is suggested, whether humanity
is more interested in the mediocre power of the millions, or the
exceptional greatness of a few men of extraordinary genius; whether the
influence of individual originality is actually lost to the world,
because it is apparently overshadowed by the moderate intelligence of
the countless masses of men. We maintain that the loss of this influence
is not real, but merely apparent: like some great wave in the boundless
ocean, it seems to sink into the quiet surface, while in truth its
effects are necessarily felt on the shores of the most distant
continents and islands. Society, at the present time, is in a state of
transition; it is engaged in absorbing ideas and influences which seem
utterly to disappear in its fathomless depths, while it is simply
preparing for higher exertions and nobler conquests over ignorance and
tyranny.

One thing at least may be said with obvious truth, and with certainty of
large compensation for the evils supposed to exist in the present
condition of society, as represented by Mr. Mill; it is this: if public
opinion is so omnipotent in the enforcement of mediocre schemes and
ideas, it can bring to bear a vast fund of power, whenever real genius
may be so fortunate as to make itself felt and respected. No man having
any faith in humanity, not even Mr. Mill himself, will deny the power of
individual genius to make its impression even on the mediocre masses;
for that would be to deny the essential nature and efficiency of
originality, and its capacity to accomplish the work which it is
destined to do for the benefit of mankind. Actual conditions at the
present moment, may possibly place unusual obstructions in the way of
genius; though the entire freedom and accessibility of the press would
seem to n