In order to apply this principle to universal suffrage, let us recall
the political evolution of modern nations. It follows a uniform and
inflexible curve. One by one, these nations escape from tyranny. A more
or less aristocratic or plutocratic government, elected by a restricted
suffrage, replaces the autocrat. This government, in its turn, makes
way, or is almost everywhere on the point of making way for the
government of all by universal suffrage. Where will the latter end? Will
it bring us back to tyranny? Will it turn into a graduated suffrage?
Will it become a sort of mandarinate, the government of a chosen few, or
an organized anarchy? We can not yet tell, no nation having hitherto
gone beyond the phase of the suffrage of all.