If we had an ideal House of Commons perfectly representing the nation, always moderate, never passionate, abounding in men of leisure, never omitting the slow and steady forms necessary for good consideration, it is certain that we should not need a higher chamber.
Bagehot describes an ideal House of Commons as sufficient for governance without the need for a higher chamber.
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If the above reasoning be sound, compulsory constituencies are necessary, voluntary constituencies destructive; the optional transferability of votes is not a salutary aid, but a ruinous innovation.
And, to the effectual maintenance of such a separation, the exclusion of the President's Ministers from the legislature is essential.
In early society, originality in life was forbidden and repressed by the fixed rule of life.
Perhaps such powers as these are what a wise man would most seek to exercise and least fear to possess.
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