We see how incomplete these old ideas were; how almost by chance one seized on one nation, and another on another; how often one set of men have persecuted another set for opinions on subjects of which neither, we now perceive, knew anything.
Bagehot critiques the historical randomness of how ideas influenced different nations and communities.
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Savages waste away before modern civilisation; they seem to have held their ground before the ancient.
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.
But all men heed great results, and a change of Government is a great result.
The Parliament, the laws, the press were human institutions; but the Monarchy was a Divine institution.
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