Nor does it absolutely depend on wealth; for, though great wealth is almost always a protection from social ignominy, and will always ensure a passive respect, it will not in a miscellaneous group of men of itself gain an active power to snub others.
Bagehot discusses the complexities of social power dynamics, emphasizing that wealth alone does not guarantee dominance.
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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.
He could have found the truth as a statesman just as he found it when a judge; but he never did find it.
Thirdly, we see why so few nations have made rapid advance, and how many have become stationary.
Perhaps such powers as these are what a wise man would most seek to exercise and least fear to possess.
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