Walter Bagehot: “The popular theory of the English Constitution involves two errors as to the sovereign.”

Now it is not conceivable that a race of beings with valuable instincts supporting their existence and supplying their wants would need these simple tools.

The whole history of civilisation, is strewn with creeds and institutions which were invaluable at first, and deadly afterwards.

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.

And again, in political matters, how quickly a leading statesman can change the tone of the community!