DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5324, 20 April 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

DEMOCRACY IN EUROPE.

(From the Saii Francisco Bulletin .) ■ - - Under-this title Sir Thomas Erskine May has contributed to the literature of the period two very interesting volumes They are constructed on the modern plan of writing up history in special lines. The style is full and round, approaching very closely to the standard which Gibbon set up for this kind of composition. - SirT. E. May is the Chief Clerk of the House of Commons, and has already maclehia ddbut as an author in a work relative to the rules and customs of that -body. , The volumes now before the public contain a review of Democracy in the East, in Greece, in Rome, in the Italian Republics of the Middle Ages, in Switzerland, in the Netherlands, in France, and England. The greater part of the second volume is given up to Democracy in Franco. It is - evident , enough ' that the. work is written from the' standpoint of the -English Constitution.' ' The political moral that is, always suggested, if,,- not drawn, is that , there ioaa> be no * such thing as stability in Government,, except .with some such contrivance as Kings, Lords; and Commons. The title excluded the author from any reference to Democracy in America;' But still the history which he aspired to write can scarcely be regarded as complete without a review of free institutions in the place where they have received their highest development. It now reads somewhat like tho play ? of “Hamlet,” with, the character of the Prince of Denmark left out. In tracing up the His- • tory of' all attempts at self-government the germs are found in the' Jewish Republic. But this is the only Eastern people among whom that ;form of. government 'ever took root. All that is known of the early Jewish Republic is found * in the 1 Bible' and the Testament. In Greece Democracy won its greatest triumphs. Perhaps 'man never attained to a higher de« , :velopment, in a purely human point of view than in the Republic of -Attica. MiCFrem'an has remarked that tho Athenian of the time of Pericles knew more of the scienceof politics than the average member of Parliament. But the Greek communities were small and easily managed., , The citizens had little else to do but attend to politics. All tho labor was done by the slaves. But even in Athens there were indications of the piece clubs, which of late halve been giving us trouble in San Francisco, the youngest of all Democratic,cities; There was constant quarrelling between the rich and the great body of the people, with some symptoms of communism. Corruption, in office and the courts of justice was not by any means unuaual. They were unable in those days, to devise aiiy system' of book-keeping that would force the persons having charge of the funds to be honest. Even Pericles, the grandest of the’ old Democrats, is believed to-have precipi-, tated the .Peloponessian. war because he was unable to square up his accounts. From Greece the author passes to Rome, where Democracy:, in another form held sway for a long time., It is, something to reflect-that fLicius was in the field some time before-Senator Bones.. The'law which goes by his name limited the land to which any citizen could obtain! possession to 500 acres, with 250 for each of his-sons, but it was found, that it could not be executed. No less a personage than Augustus Csesar was the prototype of bomb of our officials,’The way in which- ho managed the transfers of the citizens who resided* 1 outside the walls; gave him the control of the city Democracy, - And -if such a descent from’ the sublime to the ridiou-' lous were permissible, we have in Denis Kearney a faint: survival of- Tiberius'Graobhus. There was always more or less trouble between the creditor and debtor classes. In Greece it was, often the practice, to,.scale,debts, all the way : from 25 to ,75 per, pent., f In Rome, relief was extended by ordering debts iii silver to be paid in brass, weight for weight,' ■ Bufrnonoof thebe ancient communities wore adroit-enough to getup the battle-stained greenbacks or ’.the dollar of ’the fathers. In all these Democratic, fonhs thero -was no, conception,of the-modern principle of-representation. - There was some inkling of it under the iule'which admitted a cer- i tain number of the Roman-Qaeafcors annually (o tho Senate. Biit that was all., Not even jp the Ttaliau Republics of ‘thb Middle AjjbsHVas ‘itknown.) :• • The, - -iKepublip- ! - where 1 It' "" {fast .made ~-its ..-appoaranpei•■rjyaain ,r,Switzer-

land. But'it does not appear .to have been working very well there,' .The last change in the Constitution of that ancient Republic (1876) establishes the principle of the releren - dum—that is to say, that any law passed by the Dietmust be .submitted to the. popular, vote when 30,000 citizens so demand. The. review of the French,'Democracy; is. particu-, larly interesting. The duration of republics, with , the exception of Switzerland and the little San Marino in. the mountains of | Romagna, would seem to be .about ,300 or; 400 years. ■ The ’■ struggle ; between' the different,, classes usually ends in a strong government of some monarchical 1 form.. The strong government likewise comes in as the defender of the. s Democracy. Cmsar, like Napoleon, established) simply an Imperial Democracy,- , h '; . ■ : .1