WCP3245

[1]¹

60 at S. Flower St²

Los Angeles, Cal., U.S.A.

29 Aug[us]t. / [19]06.

Alfred R. Wallace Esq[ui]^re.

Old Orchard, Broadstone, England.

Dear Sir,

I have just had the great pleasure of reading 'My Life', which I have enjoyed very much[.]

Being an earnest and enthusiastic Spiritualist I seem to think with you on most subjects; there is one, however, that I am very doubtful about, viz., government.

You applaud the Americans for having based their system of government upon the right of all people to self-government; whilst I have always regarded this as an untoward premise, and think it requires qualification. Take a savage tribe like the Fijians some years ago, said to have been the most cruel and barbarous people that we know anything of, had they the right of self-government? Is not self-government something to be learned? I have always understood that the government of man is an art and should be in the hands of those who have studied it. Does not Plato tell us that the ills of human society will never erase until government is in the hands of philosophers, (Arthur Balfour³ for instance !!)

I have always had a sneaking fondness for a benevolent [2][p. 2] Despotism, said to be the best of all governments. Witness your old friend Rajah Brooke!⁴ And I would urge consideration of this on the analogy of the universe and God. I maintain that, from all we know of the spirit realness, they are an aristocratic Monarchy, and yet many Spiritualists, especially in this country, delight in comparing them to a Democracy. In the spirit world each one goes to his own sphere according to his absolute worth, which is the essential feature of aristocracy (the best people) allowance being made for human frailty; and government is from above not below. I have never met anyone who could answer this satisfactorily.

If the right to govern themselves is inherent in human nature then universal suffrage is the correct thing, men, women and children having equal votes. You, I presume, would put an age qualification upon voting, I an educational one.

I must say I believe in Democracy. You yourself and other advanced thinkers are in a small minority and what stands in the way of your ideas being carried out is the ignorance and inertia of the majority. It seems to me that in putting your only hope in the people you are tying a mill-stone round your own neck. Are not all the advanced thinkers intellectual people?

I think membership of Parliament should be confined to those who have passed through a certain intellectual training [3][p. 3] and fitted themselves for government.

It is only a few years that I have given any attention to these subjects so that I have no defined scheme to propose.

Look at the state of affairs in this country, — a democracy! The number of murders, suicides, lynchings, divorces and crimes of all sorts, which is steadily increasing, to say nothing of graft and swindling which pervade all classes, is something appalling. I have lived here for thirteen years now and should know something about it, and I think Americans are a degenerate, unprincipled people, and I have no respect whatever for them. And I put it down chiefly, as most people seem to do, to their secular education, all religious teaching being banished from the public schools; and that the people have never learned self-government or discipline of any kind. Liberty here is simply licence! And this is the system of education these vain-glorious people would have us admire and imitate. God forbid that England should ever be so silly!

Here we have an example of a people governing themselves, in their ignorance, and rapidly going downhill.

My best friend here is an old lady of 89, an American who has travelled & lived a good deal in Europe and she is more disgusted and bitter against her own people than I am by far, so I do not think I am prejudiced. And a well known American said the other day that unpleasant though it is to run down one's own country there can be little doubt that society [4][p. 4] in this country is rotten from the top to bottom.

If those who believe in Democracy would come and live here for five years and watch what goes on, I am quite sure they would change their opinions.

Have you read an article in XIX Century for July entitled 'A Plea for the White South by a Coloured Woman'? It is well worth reading. She shows that there are more murders in the US than in any other country, save Turkey & Italy; and that the Whites are using all their intellect & power to keep the Blacks ignorant and debased and in a far worse state of slavery than ever before; and that the whole country is deteriorating in consequence N as well as S. It is shameful the way the blacks are treated in this country, even here in California; and this is the rule of Democracy!

I know you are a busy man with much correspondence but this is an interesting question so I venture to submit it to you. I trust you will pardon a stranger troubling you but I have always regarded your character with great admiration, and for the last ten years since I have been a 'persecuted lunatic' have considered you as almost an old friend. Perhaps you will be more disposed to pardon me when I tell you that for some time now I have had your picture, out of 'Light',⁵ upon my wall, faced by one of our esteemed President & Editor, E. Dawson Rogers⁶

Believe me | Dear Sir | Sincerely yours | A. K. Venning[signature] P.T.O.

[5]⁷ I have not laughed so much for twenty years as I did over your examination papers.

I picked a stalk of Scarlet Geranium not long ago and found that among the cluster of flowers one bud had developed into a leaf instead of flower, — just a small leaf about ½ an in. long. Is this uncommon? I know nothing of Botany, so just mention it in case it may be interesting.

Flowers are said to be simply developed leaves, I believe, and this seems to prove it.