We have a great many politicians in the country, perhaps as many as the country requires. I should not wish to ask for a larger supply of these; but there is a wide difference between the politician and the statesman. A politician, for example, is a man who thinks of the next election; while the statesman thinks of the next generation. The politician thinks of the success of his party, the statesman of the good of his country. The politician wishes to carry this or that measure, the statesman to establish this or the other principle. Finally, the statesman wishes to steer; while the politician is contented to drift.
The difficulty about a politician, no matter how honest and well-intentioned he may be, is always this: that the matter of absolute importance in his mind, to which every thing else must yield, is to carry the next election for his party.
|
