striking example of the solidity of Mr. Belloc's opinions to
find him expressing, twelve years later, exactly the same views. He went
into Parliament in 1906 holding this view; he came out of Parliament in
1910 confirmed in it. In 1911, the only possible means of reforming our
Parliamentary system, so far as he can see, is this:

It might be possible, by scattering and using a sufficient number
of trained workers, to extract from candidates definite pledges
during the electoral period.... The principal pledge which should
and could be extracted from candidates would be a pledge that they
would vote against the Government--whatever its composition--unless
there were carried through the House of Commons, within a set time,
those measures to which they stood pledged already in their
election addresses and on the platform.

But, just as Mr. Belloc realizes that the power of government must
always rest ultimately with the majority of the people, so he realizes
that all final reforms are brought about by the will of the majority.
Consequently, the first need in the attempt to remedy any evil is
exposure. The political education of democracy is the first step towards
a reform.

To tell a particular truth with regard to a particular piece of
corruption is, of course, dangerous in the extreme; the rash man
who might be tempted to employ this weapon would find himself
bankrupted or in prison, and probably both. But the general nature
of the unpleasant thing can be drilled into the public by books,
articles, and speeches.

This is the whole secret of Mr. Belloc's actions as a reformer. His
whole object, as has already been said in another connection, is to
instruct public opinion. His views and opinions are to be found clearly
expressed in books, but he is not content merely to express his views as
intellectual propositions, he is supremely anxious to convince men of
the truth and justice of his views, and to inspire men to action. Just
as he regards history as the record of the actions of men like
ourselves, so he regards the evils of the present day as the result of
men's actions and men's apathy. His whole object is to check those
actions and uproot that apathy.

It was with this object that he founded, in 1911, the weekly journal
called _The Eye-Witness_, the chief aim of which was to conduct a steady
and unflinching campaign against the evils of the Pa