On the record
Resting as it does upon old deference, and inveterate homage, it shows that the spasm of new forces, the outbreak of new agencies, which we call revolution, is for the time simply impossible.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “Resting as it does upon old deference, and inveterate homage, it shows that the spasm of new forces, the outbreak of new…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot suggests that the traditional deference to the House of Lords indicates a lack of revolutionary sentiment in society.
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More from Walter Bagehot
I own that I do not entirely sympathise with the horror of these anomalies which haunts some of our best critics.
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.
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.
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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