History of the Origin of Representative Government in Europe, by M. Guizot [pp. 199-211]

20-2 ORIGIN OF REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT IN EUROPIE.
ability, yet sees everything, throtugh the distorted iiiediumi of a
fallse philosophy. He wouldl, if' offered the opplorttlnrity, make
govecrnments to order for all sorts of people as fist, as,In Iunder taker turns out coffins, or as Locke or Abbe Sieges could make
constitultions w warranted( not to fit.." The pecili~ n tpe of
political mania uidier -whicih he labors was carried fromn Almerica
to France by Jefferson, Franklin iand Lafiiyette. It fotud there
a co,ngenial soil iand clime, spread faster thai small lpox, clolera
or yellow fever, and would be spreadi(ng still I)ut for the s.tgacious, l)old anid successfill practice of Louis Nap)oleon. This
form of madness was alike in all the patients, in tlhis, tli)t each
declared he had discovered a systemi of governiluent wvhich
wouil(l prove an infilliblo cure for all social diseases, and quite
banish mioral evil; but no two of these lunatics ever proposed
the samie system. Tlhe representative systemi that hs i-nperceptibly grown up in ]England(l, is our author's p'nl Cea. ie
believes it is suLited for all times, places and peoples, aii(l is quite
laclhrym-ose at the folly and wickledness of Louis Napoleon and
the Frencli people, vlwho, wholly unconscious of its )beauties and
its blessint's, banished it froim France.
Th)e attermpt of one people to copy and introduce tlie institutions of another, thas been taeated by practical statesiimen as a
proverbial aIbsur(lity for thousands of' years; yet (luizot wondeIrs at and deplores the filutre of an experiment wlii(:h has
alwavs failel whenever tried.
This thing of goverinient-mnaking would be tllhe easiest thling
ill thlle world, if one coulld mallle the men to be governed; for
tlhen one should lknow the value, foree and adal)tation of the
mnaterialls out of wlichli we proposed to rear our edifice. To
buil(l a governenllt or society, vwe must begini by constructing
its separate parts; the inltegers or individuals whlo are to coimposo it. That is the way God Almilghty makes goveilienicits or
societies, and mailn will never effect it )y taki,g a slhorter cut.
Until lhe can go to vwork in the same way, lie must lie content
to accept government, ready made, firom the ha.tnd of (-od.
The following quotation ifronm the preface will give thei reader
a fainit idea of the peculiar hallucination undei whliili hL. (X -uizot
labors: " AVIhen, in the year 18S0, I devoted iimy ene]g(ies to thlis
course of instruction, I was ttkiing leave of public( life, after
havingl, during six years,' t'tken an active part inll tlhe work of
establishing representaitive government in our land. The political ideas and friends with wvhom I had bee,t associated, were,
at that period, remo-ved firom the head of affairs. 1 connected
-myself with their reverses without abandoninag our coilnmon
hopes aild efforts. We had faithl in our institutions. AIlietlier
they entailed upon us good or evil fortune, we wvere equally
devoted to them. I was unwilling to cease to servo their cause.
I endeavored to explaii the origin and principles of represenftative governmient,,s I iad attempted to practise it."