On the record
This course gave at the time great dissatisfaction to the party; notwithstanding that I believe it saved the existence of the House of Lords at the time, and the Constitution of the country.
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Walter Bagehot
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gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “This course gave at the time great dissatisfaction to the party; notwithstanding that I believe it saved the existence…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot discusses the dissatisfaction his political course caused, while believing it was necessary for the House of Lords' survival.
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Subject to this saving remark, however, I not only admit, but maintain, that our Constitution is full of curious oddities, which are impeding and mischievous, and ought to be struck out.
At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.
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.
The lessons are good where its primitive assumptions hold, but may be false where those assumptions fail.
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