But, by an odd fatality, there was in the recesses of the Constitution an old prerogative which would have rendered agitation needless--which would have effected, without agitation, all that agitation could have effected.
Bagehot notes an old prerogative within the Constitution that could have achieved reform without public agitation.
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I cannot, therefore, join in the full cry against anomalies; in my judgment it may quickly overrun the scent, and so miss what we should be glad to find.
The lessons are good where its primitive assumptions hold, but may be false where those assumptions fail.
Just so the lines of our Constitution were framed in old eras of sparse population, few wants, and simple habits; and we adhere in seeming to their shape, though civilisation has come with its dangers, complications, and enjoyments.
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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