It is unwise to recommence a policy which so lately worked so ill." The king would indeed have the advantage which a permanent under-secretary has over his superior the Parliamentary secretary--that of having shared in the proceedings of the previous Parliamentary secretaries.
Bagehot warns against repeating policies that have previously failed, emphasizing the importance of historical awareness.
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The nation then selected the English policy, but the Crown chose the English Ministers.
If those persons be people of different temperaments, different ideas, and different educations, you have an almost infallible security that nothing, or almost nothing, will be done with excessive rapidity.
The Parliament, the laws, the press were human institutions; but the Monarchy was a Divine institution.
That a House of Commons may work well it must perform, as we saw, five functions well: it must elect a Ministry well, legislate well, teach the nation well, express the nation's will well, bring matters to the nation's attention well.
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