A democracy will never, save after an awful catastrophe, return what has once been conceded to it, for to do so would be to admit an inferiority in itself, of which, except by some almost unbearable misfortune, it could never be convinced.
Bagehot argues that democracies rarely revert to previous governance structures without a significant crisis.
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The United States could not have become monarchical, even if the Constitutional Convention had decreed it, even if the component States had ratified it.
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.
They are solely concerned with his attractiveness as a candidate; they need not regard his efficiency as a ruler.
That a House of Commons may work well it must perform, as we saw, five functions well: it must elect a Ministry well, legislate well, teach the nation well, express the nation's will well, bring matters to the nation's attention well.
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