By what species of effort that error can be repaired I cannot tell; but, unless it is repaired, the intellectual capacity can never be what it would have been, will never be what it ought to be, will never be sufficient for its work.
This passage expresses Bagehot's concern about the long-term consequences of unaddressed errors in the intellectual capacity of the House of Lords.
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If the above reasoning be sound, compulsory constituencies are necessary, voluntary constituencies destructive; the optional transferability of votes is not a salutary aid, but a ruinous innovation.
The Parliament, the laws, the press were human institutions; but the Monarchy was a Divine institution.
The whole history of civilisation, is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.
He could have found the truth as a statesman just as he found it when a judge; but he never did find it.
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