It is that the change from the age of status to the age of choice was first made in states where the government was to a great and a growing extent a government by discussion, and where the subjects of that discussion were in some degree abstract, or, as we should say, matters of principle.
Bagehot explains that the transition from fixed customs to individual choice began in states with a culture of discussion.
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They are solely concerned with his attractiveness as a candidate; they need not regard his efficiency as a ruler.
The whole history of civilisation, is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.
He gave an excellent moral example to his contemporaries, but he is an instance of those whose good dies with them, while their evil lives after them.
But the Jewish advantage never did so; beginning in religion, contrary to a thousand analogies, it remained religious.
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