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CHAPTER IV.
THAT THE AMERICANS COMBAT THE EFFECTS OF INDIVIDUALISM
BY FREE INSTITUTIONS.
Despotism, which is of a very timorous nature, is never more
secure of continuance than when it can keep men asunder; and
all its influence is commonly exerted for that purpose. No vice
of the human heart is so acceptable to it as egotism: a despot
easily forgives his subjects for not loving him, provided they do
not love each other. He does not ask them to assist him in
governing the state; it is enough that they do not aspire to govern it
themselves. He stigmatizes as turbulent and unruly spirits those
who would combine their exertions to promote the prosperity of
the community; and, perverting the natural meaning of words, he
applauds as good citizens those who have no sympathy for any but
themselves.
Thus the vices which despotism engenders are precisely those which equality fosters. These two things mutually and perniciously complete and assist each other. Equality places men side by side, unconnected by any common tie; despotism raises barriers to keep them asunder: the former predisposes them not to consider their fellow-creatures, the latter makes general indifference a sort of public virtue.
Despotism then, which is at all times dangerous, is more particularly to be feared in democratic ages. It is easy to see that in those same ages men stand most in need of freedom. When the members of a community are forced to attend to public affairs, they are necessarily drawn from the circle of their own interests, and snatched at times from self-observation. As soon as a man begins to treat of public affairs in public, he begins to perceive that he is not so independent of his fellow-men as he had at first
