On the record
But would it not have been a miracle if the English people, directing their own policy, and being what they are, had directed a good policy?
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Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “But would it not have been a miracle if the English people, directing their own policy, and being what they are, had…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot questions the expectations placed on the English people regarding their foreign policy decisions, given their characteristics.
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More from Walter Bagehot
These anomalies, in a hundred instances, mark the old boundaries of a constitutional struggle.
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.
Political philosophy is still more imperfect; it has been framed from observations taken upon regular specimens of politics and States; as to these its teaching is most valuable.
Subject to this saving remark, however, I not only admit, but maintain, that our Constitution is full of curious oddities, which are impeding and mischievous, and ought to be struck out.
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