f all the social forces and material enginery--a
vigilant censorship of the press, a firm hand upon the church, keen
supervision of public meetings and public amusements, command of the
railroads, telegraph and all means of communication. It means, in
short, the ability to make use of all the beneficent influences of
enlightenment for the good of the people, and to array all the powers
of civilization against civilization's natural enemies--the people.
Government like this has a thousand defects, but it has one merit: it is
government.

Despotism? Yes. It is the despotisms of the world that have been the
conservators of civilization. It is the despot who, most powerful for
mischief, is alone powerful for good. It is conceded that government is
necessary--even by the "fierce democracies" that madly renounce it. But
in so far as government is not despotic it is not government. In Europe
for the last one hundred years, the tendency of all government has been
liberalization. The history of European politics during that period is
a history of renunciation by the rulers and assumption by the ruled.
Sovereign after sovereign has surrendered prerogative after prerogative;
the nobility privilege after privilege. Mark the result: society
honeycombed with treason; property menaced with partition; assassination
studied as a science and practiced as an art; everywhere powerful
secret organizations sworn to demolish the social fabric that the slow
centuries have but just erected and unmindful that themselves will
perish in the wreck. No heart in Europe can beat tranquilly under clean
linen. Such is the gratitude, such is the wisdom, such the virtue of
"The Masses." In 1863 Alexander II of Russia freed 25,000,000 serfs. In
1879 they had killed him and all joined the conspirators.

That ancient and various device, "a republican form of government,"
appears to be too good for all the peoples of the earth excepting one.
It is partly successful in Switzerland; in France and America, where
the majority is composed of persons having dark understandings and
criminal instincts, it has broken down. In our case, as in every case,
the momentum of successful revolution carried us too far. We
rebelled against tyranny and having overthrown it, overthrew also the
governmental form in which it had happened to be manifest. In their
anger and their triumph our good old gran'thers acted somewhat in the
spirit of the Irishman who cudgeled the dead snake