A Miscellany of MenChesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
General
A Miscellany of Men
Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)
English essays -- 20th century
Or, again, if you visit the villages that depend on one of the great
squires, you will hear praises, often just, of the landlord's good sense
or good nature; you will hear of whole systems of pensions or of care
for the sick, like those of a small and separate nation; you will see
much cleanliness, order, and business habits in the offices and accounts
of the estate. But if you ask again what has been the upshot, what has
been the actual result of the reign of landlords, again the answer is
plain. At the end of the reign of landlords men will not live on the
land. The practical effect of having landlords is not having tenants.
The practical effect of having employers is that men are not employed.
The unrest of the populace is therefore more than a murmur against
tyranny; it is against a sort of treason. It is the suspicion that
even at the top of the tree, even in the seats of the mighty, our very
success is unsuccessful.
THE OTHER KIND OF MAN
There are some who are conciliated by Conciliation Boards. There are
some who, when they hear of Royal Commissions, breathe again--or
snore again. There are those who look forward to Compulsory Arbitration
Courts as to the islands of the blest. These men do not understand the
day that they look upon or the sights that their eyes have seen.
The almost sacramental idea of representation, by which the few may
incarnate the many, arose in the Middle Ages, and has done great things
for justice and liberty. It has had its real hours of triumph, as when
the States General met to renew France's youth like the eagle's; or
when all the virtues of the Republic fought and ruled in the figure of
Washington. It is not having one of its hours of triumph now. The
real democratic unrest at this moment is not an extension of the
representative process, but rather a revolt against it. It is no good
giving those now in revolt more boards and committees and compulsory
regulations. It is against these very things that they are revolting.
Men are not only rising against their oppressors, but against their
representatives or, as they would say, their misrepresentatives.
The inner and actual spirit of workaday England is coming out not in
applause, but in anger, as a god who should come out of his tabernacle
to rebuke and confound his priests.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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