88 CHAPTER XIII. ON OFFICIAL CRITICISM. х He who objects to what is proposed or written in the transaction of business, should consider himself under an obligation to propose and execute something to be substituted; for every political measure is in the nature of an alternative, and is not to be pronounced good or bad, except as it is better or worse than some other equally definite course of proceeding which might be adopted instead of it. Moreover the trouble of maturing an alternative is no more than a proper curb upon the indulgence of a spirit of crude criticism. Also the hand which executes a measure should belong to the head which propounds it; otherwise the hand, if an unassenting one, will carry an advantage over the head and even if willing, it will not be fully correspondent. The vitality of a measure turns full as much upon the punctum solvens as upon the punctum saliens; and there will commonly be something infirm and halting about any measure which is devised by one man and executed by another; or (for it amounts nearly to the same thing) any measure of which the execution is conclusively revised and corrected by another than its author. "Nel consultare e governar le 66 cose della corona e stato di Francia," says Sansovino, "sempre intervengono in maggior parte i Prelati; e gli altri signori non se ne 66 66 curano, perche sanno che le essecutione hanno "ad esser fatte da loro." For wise men have always perceived that the execution of political measures is in reality the essence of them, and that the course of things will almost inevitably run counter to the separation of the operative function from the deliberative. These objections, however, lie only against authoritative criticism; and that which is merely suggestive, to be taken quantum valeat or at will rejected by the author of the measure or the document, may be of great advantage; especially if that author be neither pertinacious nor diffident, but prepared to weigh his own judgment against his critic's in an even balance with a steady hand. It follows that official criticism is chiefly valuable when exercised by the inferior functionary upon the work of the superior, who will be enabled to weigh the comment undisturbed by deference for the authority of the commentator. CHAPTER XIV. ON THE ARTS OF RISING. It is not exactly the same arts that are adapted to the different stages of a man's ascent. Climbing the bole of the tree, a man clings with all his arms and legs, and lays hold of every knob and sliver. When he mounts amongst the branches, it should be with a more easy alacrity. A man will often be apt at the one operation, yet awkward at the other. Nor is it, indeed, common to meet with a man of such a character as can be carried from a low condition of life through successive ascents, with an aptitude for every condition into which he passes; and thus it is that men who rise well will often stand infirmly. But for want of due consideration being given to the nature of men and circumstances, it is a usual thing to hear, not only regret but surprise expressed, when a man who has attained an elevated position in life, exhibits in that position those very defects of character through which he is there. The humbleness, subserviency and pliancy which were indispensable to his advancement, incapacitate him for command; and the integrity which he could at length afford to maintain which might be even profitable to him it is not in nature that he should resume. Therefore the man who forces a way to power is commonly more fit for it in some respects than the man who finds a way. But this quality of man being rare, the case seldom occurs, unless under circumstances of political commotion and subversion. The arts of rising, properly so called, have commonly some mixture of baseness more or less according as the aid from natural endowments is less or more. |