ford,
in "The Lesson of Popular Government," goes further when he
declares:--"Not to speak disrespectfully, the ministry is like a company
of men who, after excessive conviviality, are able to stand upright only
by holding on to each other."

Yet, after all, the amount of stability simply depends on the state of
organization; and England has demonstrated in the golden period of her
political history (about the middle of the present century) that the
cabinet form of government can be quite as stable as the presidential
form. Therefore, if the present position gives cause for alarm, it is
not in the abolition of the cabinet or the restriction of the suffrage
that the remedy must be sought, but in improved organization. And this,
we hope to show, involves improved electoral machinery.

+France.+--Turn to France. Is there no lesson to be drawn from the
history of that unstable country since the Revolution let loose its
flood of human passions, ambitions, and aspirations? Has not every
attempt at popular government failed for the same cause--want of
organization?

France before the Revolution had groaned for centuries under the burden
of a decayed feudalism and an absolute monarchy. The last vestige of
constitutional forms had disappeared. The representatives of the estates
had not been convened since the meeting of the States-General in 1614.
The widespread and unprecedented misery of the people caused them to
revolt against being taxed without their consent, and a cry went up for
a convocation of the estates. The finances were in such a bad way that
Louis XVI. was forced to consent, and the three estates--clergy, nobles,
and commons--met at Versailles in 1789. At first they called themselves
the National Assembly, but the King foolishly took up such a position
with regard to the people's representatives that they swore solemnly
that they would not separate till they had laid the foundation of a new
Constitution, and henceforth were known as the Constituent Assembly. It
was determined that the King should no longer be absolute, and the
choice lay between a constitutional monarchy and a republic. The
Declaration of the Rights of Man was first drawn up, and the Assembly
settled down to its task. The leading spirit was Mirabeau. He had been
to England, and had studied the British Constitution, and he rightly saw
that France was too distracted by faction to maintain an independent
executive. He therefore openly advocated a c