Bad as these members would be, if they were left to themselves--if, in a free Parliament, they were confronted with the perils of government, close responsibility might improve them and make them tolerable.
He suggests that even flawed members of Parliament could improve under the pressures of governance and accountability.
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More from Walter Bagehot
At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.
Our law very often reminds one of those outskirts of cities where you cannot for a long time tell how the streets come to wind about in so capricious and serpent-like a manner.
But it is natural also that persons used to analyse political institutions should look at these anomalies with a little tenderness and a little interest.
The casual line was traced according to the strength of deceased combatants; succeeding generations fought elsewhere; and the hesitating line of a half-drawn battle was left to stand for a perpetual limit.
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