Excerpt from Statesmen, Past and Future The really remarkable feature in Lord Salisbury's progress from political journalism to the First Ministry Of the Crown is the contrast between his principles and his practice. This is no accusation Of dishonesty. His principles are spontaneous. His practice has been forced upon him by the necessities Of his position. An aristocrat by conviction rather than by temper, he has been compelled to work through democratic methods, and he is clever enough to succeed. But a very little Observation will Show how little he likes the job. It is probable that the act of his life which cost him the least previous hesitation or subsequent remorse was his retirement from the Government Of 1867. He thought the suffrage quite low enough then, if not too low. He deluged Mr. Disraeli with scornful invective for pander ing to the mob. Eighteen years afterwards he accepted household suffrage in counties, and even assisted in arranging the new constituencies. The contradiction is more apparent than real. Mr. Goschen thought that the rural districts were more than twenty years behind the urban, and that their partial disfranchisement should be continued. Lord Salisbury held that both were alike unfit, but as the vote had been given to the one, it might be tossed at the head Of the other. Democracy is altogether SO hateful to him that he cannot dis criminate between its degrees. The more ignorant the elector, the more likely he is to be guided by those who know better than himself. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.