In general, too, the conquerors would be better than the conquered (most merits in early society are more or less military merits), but they would not be very much better, for the lowest steps in the ladder of civilisation are very steep, and the effort to mount them is slow and tedious.
Bagehot reflects on the relative merits of conquerors and the challenges of civilization in early societies.
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The progress of the military art is the most conspicuous, I was about to say the most SHOWY, fact in human history.
The moderate people of every party must combine to support the Government which, on the whole, suits every party best.
If those persons be people of different temperaments, different ideas, and different educations, you have an almost infallible security that nothing, or almost nothing, will be done with excessive rapidity.
There is no ELASTIC element, everything is rigid, specified, dated.
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