On the record
But would it not have been a miracle if the English people, directing their own policy, and being what they are, had directed a good policy?
Said by
Walter Bagehot
Source
gutenberg.orgBut would it not have been a miracle if the English people, directing their own policy, and being what they are, had directed a good policy?
Bagehot questions the expectations placed on the English people regarding their foreign policy decisions, given their characteristics.
Share
More from Walter Bagehot
They say, We reject your Bill for this once or these twice, or even these thrice: but if you keep on sending it up, at last we won't reject it.
The Parliament, the laws, the press were human institutions; but the Monarchy was a Divine institution.
But, above all things, they were frightened of 'the world;' the spectacle of nature filled them with awe and dread.
Nothing promotes intellect like intellectual discussion, and nothing promotes intellectual discussion so much as government by discussion.