MR. MILL'S CLAIMS. 57 a legislator as any of them; but I am unable to see in what respect he is their superior. When what is best in theory becomes coincident with what is practicable in legislation, salutary consequences may result from the election of such a man as Mr. Mill. It will then be time to invite "the greatest thinkers of the age" to the direction of affairs. Mr. Mill has, doubtless, rendered great services to the science of politics, and Mr. F. W. Newman and others are willing, on this account, to accept "his large mind," notwithstanding its aberrations. But this condonation of a long journey. Why should not he register his vote with the returning officer of the town in which he temporarily resides, and thus declare his choice of candidates? I know no valid reason why each of the brothers should not vote in the manner most convenient to himself. If, as I assert, the right to vote has been conferred on him in order to obtain his views on public affairs, it is of little importance how he delivers his opinion-whether openly, as is the present custom; or by ballot, as is practised in clubs and other private societies; or by certified papers sent through the post, the plan adopted in the election of members for the universities. It surely is unneces_ sary for him to appear in person and at a certain place. To compel a man to vote by ballot in the election of a member of Parliament, as is proposed by the Ballot Society, is so manifestly unjust and tyrannical, that there is little fear of the bill, annually introduced into Parliament, being carried. Why should A be deprived of the legitimate influence exercised by his example, because B requires the protection of secrecy? appears to me unreasonable-as unreasonable as it would be to appoint a man teacher of arithmetic who deliberately propounds the notion that two and two make five. The admirers of Mr. Mill should find another way of rewarding him than by sending him to the House of Commons. Since the foregoing was written, Mr. Mill has served for one session in Parliament-has been for that period the six-hundred-and-fifty-eighth part of a king; with what result to the high reputation he had deservedly earned as a philosopher all of us have cause to lament. I could never bring myself to believe it would be well for us if philosophers were kings, and kings philosophers. Much better will it be, I presume, for each class to remain in its own sphere, mindful of the maxim, "Ne sutor ultra crepidam." As was predicted, he has been less successful as a politician than was anticipated by his too sanguine friends. Liberal organs of public opinion, which at the time of the contest were over-hard upon those who opposed his candidature, and urged upon the constituency the duty of rejecting any man possessing only the ordinary qualifications, for one of Mr. Mill's conspicuous and exceptional merits, have latterly confessed their disappointment. I am not sure whether the two I quote were among the number of Mr. Mill's more enthusiastic backers, but I subjoin their remarks, as they furnish us with the opinions of very influential and presumably educated writers as to the degree of success achieved by one of our wisest men of letters who has deserted his study for the senate. "The old saying, that no man can safely be called "fortunate until death has placed him beyond mis"fortune's reach," says the Saturday Review, "seems "in some danger of receiving a painful illustration "in the career of Mr. Mill. The contrast between "Mr. Mill the philosopher and Mr. Mill the politician " is deplorable, but it is really a question whether it "is not even more ludicrous. It is so absurdly suggestive of Molière's inimitable scene in which the "innocent M. Jourdain calls in his Maître de Philosophie' to calm the dispute raging between "his other masters as to the merits of their respective "arts. The philosopher begins by referring the disputants to Seneca's masterly treatise on Anger,' "and assuring them that in this world there is no 66 66 6 66 66 6 thing worth striving for but la sagesse et la vertu ;' "but in less than five minutes, to M. Jourdain's “horror and amazement, he is furiously pommelling "and being pommelled all round. The British nation, "struck by Mr. Mill's writings, summons him, amid "loud acclamations, into its Parliament as the great "philosopher of the age, and innocently congratulates 66 "itself on having among its advisers at least one man "who understands the virtues of moderation and self"control; and, on the first grave crisis which calls "for both, is amazed to find him the blindest and "most furious of partisans. Molière deliberately "intended to make philosophers ridiculous, but this can scarcely be the intention of Mr. Mill. And 'yet his appearance at the Agricultural Hall the "other night might almost furnish grounds for "even this supposition. We admit that this asso"ciation between Mr. Mill's philosophy and his speeches is not strictly logical. The Represen"❝tative Government' and the Essay on Liberty' 66 66 66 6 would remain exactly what they now are if their "author were in open Parliament to pull Mr. Dis"raeli's nose, or offer to take off coats' with Mr. "Walpole. But, logical or illogical, it is the way of "the world to measure the value of what a man says " or writes by its practical estimate of his character.” 66 "We are half inclined to regret," says the Pall Mall Gazette," that philosophers are not, like clergymen, excluded from the House of Commons. "Philosophers are beyond price, but philosophy is “frail, and party-politics are seductive. And as 'good "things corrupted are the worst,' so philosophers, "when they are once off the poise, are apt to rush "into intolerance with the fury of renegades. Mr. 66 DANGERS TO THEMSELVES. 61 Mill's late exhibitions illustrate this very pro vokingly. As Liberals, we regret this, because "whereas formerly in Mr. Mill's alliance we had the "sentence of a judge in our favour, we feel that we "have now, so to say, only the protestations of an "advocate. But we are deeply sorry for the trans"formation on other grounds too. Henceforth, "when Mr. Mill writes of social or political mat"ters, even his old admirers will read him with misgiving. What he would write would be in too flagrant contradiction to his present practice. But, indeed, just now the philosophical faculty has departed. He is a lost philosopher. 66 66 66 66 "No doubt Mr. Mill receives large compensation “of a kind in his political importance. But what a falling off there must be in philosophical temper if "such compensation can ever be sufficient! He has 66 66 given up to party, and party in its pettiest sense, "what was meant for mankind. All that abstraction "and disinterestedness which gave him authority has "vanished. He is no longer umpire, but a party to "the squabble. Instead of hardly condescending "laudari laudatis-instead of the cold proud atti"tude which seemed to show he thought it almost "too mercenary even to accept the esteem of the "estimable-we see Mr. Mill now readily helping "" to make a mob,' and apparently rewarded quite to |