 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
46
Hereditary Genius
on crag or ice, succeeds in Alpine work to a marvellous degree.
Thus far, I have spoken only of literary men and artists, who, however,
form the bulk of the 250 per million, that attain to eminence. The reasoning
that is true for them, requires large qualifications when applied to statesmen
and commanders. Unquestionably, the most illustrious statesmen and
commanders belong, to say the least, to the classes F and G of ability; but it
does not at all follow that an English cabinet minister, if he be a great
territorial lord, should belong to those classes, or even to the two or three
below them. Social advantages have enormous power in bringing a man into
so prominent a position as a statesman, that it is impossible to refuse him
the title of “eminent,” though it may be more than probable that if he had
been changed in his cradle, and reared in obscurity, he would have lived and
died without emerging from humble life. Again, we have seen that a union
of three separate qualities—intellect, zeal, and power of work—are
necessary to raise men from the ranks. Only two of these qualities, in a
remarkable degree, namely intellect and power of work, are required by a
man who is pushed into public life; because when he is once there, the
interest is so absorbing, and the competition so keen, as to supply the
necessary stimulus to an ordinary mind. Therefore, many men who have
succeeded as statesmen, would have been nobodies had they been born in a
lower rank of life: they would have needed zeal to rise. Talleyrand would
have passed his life in the same way as other grand seigneurs, if he had not
been ejected from his birthright, by a family council, on account of his
deformity, and thrown into the vortex of the French Revolution. The furious
excitement of the game overcame his inveterate indolence, and he
developed into the foremost man of the period, after Napoleon and
Mirabeau. As for sovereigns, they belong
 |
|
 |
|