On the record
You have not a perception of the first elements in this matter till you know that government by a CLUB is a standing wonder.
Said by
Walter Bagehot
Source
gutenberg.orgWalter Bagehot: “You have not a perception of the first elements in this matter till you know that government by a CLUB is a standing…”
Editor's note · Context
Bagehot expresses astonishment at the peculiar nature of governance by informal clubs.
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He had seen that LEISURE is the great need of early societies, and slaves only can give men leisure.
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.
No doubt this momentary gain is bought at a ruinous after-cost.
The nation then selected the English policy, but the Crown chose the English Ministers.
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