The American Democrat/On the Advantages of an Aristocracy
ON THE ADVANTAGES OF
AN ARISTOCRACY.
The aristocratical form of government, though in an unmitigated form one of the worst known, has many advantages when tempered by franchises. This latter is the real polity of Great Britain, though it is under the pretence of a monarchy. No government, however, can properly be called a monarchy, in which the monarch does not form a distinct and independent portion of the state. The king of England, by the theory of the constitution, is supposed to hold a balance between the lords and the commons, whereas he, in truth, may be said merely to hold a casting vote between the several factions of the aristocracy, when the forces of these factions neutralize each other.
Aristocracies have a facility in combining measures for their interests that is not enjoyed by democracies. The power being in the hands of a few, these few can act with a despatch and energy, which, though unequaled by those of a monarchy, commonly have the material advantage of better agents. In an aristocracy, influence among the aristocrats themselves depending chiefly on the manly qualities, history shows us that the public agents are usually more chosen for their services than in a monarchy, where the favor of the prince is the chief requisite for success; it may therefore be assumed that the higher qualities of those who fill the public trusts, in an aristocracy, more than neutralize the greater concentration of a monarchy, and render it the most efficient form of government, for the purposes of conquest and foreign policy, that is known. Aristocracy has an absorbing quality, if such a term may be used, by which the active and daring of conquered territories, are induced to join the conquerors, in order to share in the advantages of the system. Thus we find that almost all the countries that have made extensive conquests over civilized people, and who have long retained them, have been aristocracies. We get examples of the facilities of aristocracies to extend their influence, as well as to retain it, in Rome, England, Venice, Florence and many other states.
An aristocracy is a combination of many powerful men, for the purpose of maintaining and advancing their own particular interests. It is consequently a concentration of all the most effective parts of a community for a given end; hence its energy, efficiency and success. Of all the forms of government, it is the one best adapted to support the system of metropolitan sway, since the most dangerous of the dependants can be bribed and neutralized, by admitting them to a participation of power. By this means it is rendered less offensive to human pride than the administration of one. The present relations between England and Ireland, are a striking instance of what is meant.
An aristocracy, unless unusually narrow, is peculiarly the government of the enterprising and the ambitious. High honors are attainable, and jealousy of rewards is confined to individuals, seldom effecting the state. The tendency of the system, therefore, is to render the aristocrats bold, independent and manly, and to cause them to be distinguished from the mass. In an age as advanced as ours, the leisure of the higher classes of an aristocracy, enable them to cultivate their minds and to improve their tastes. Hence aristocracies are particularly favorable to knowledge and the arts, as both grow under patronage.
It is necessary lo distinguish, however, between a political and a merely social aristocracy. These remarks apply chiefly to the former, which alone has any connexion with government. The term aristocracy, in fact, applies properly to no other, though vulgar use has perverted its signification to all nobles, and even to the gentry of democracies.