No one has a more withering contempt for evil as
meanness and imbecility; but he cannot see it in the strong hand. Of two
views, equally correct, "evil is weakness," such evil as sloth, and
"corruptio optimi pessima," such evil as tyranny--he only recognises the
first. Despising the palpable anarchies of passion, he has no word of
censure for the more settled form of anarchy which announced, "Order
reigns at Warsaw." He refuses his sympathy to all unsuccessful efforts,
and holds that if races are trodden under foot, they are [Greek: phusei
doulo dunamenoi allou einai] they who have allowed themselves to be
subjugated deserve their fate. The cry of "oppressed nationalities" was to
him mere cant. His Providence is on the side of the big battalions, and
forgives very violent means to an orderly end. To his credit he declined
to acknowledge the right of Louis Napoleon to rule France; but he accepted
the Czars, and ridiculed Mazzini till forced to admit, almost with
chagrin, that he had, "after all," substantially succeeded.
Treason never prospers, what's the reason?
That when it prospers, none dare call it treason.
Apprehending, on the whole more keenly than any of his contemporaries,
the foundations of past greatness, his invectives and teaching lay
athwart much that is best as well as much that is most hazardous in the
new ideas of the age.
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