elfare of
their fellow-men: the hallowed council chamber now of an empire, seat of
the Governor-general of the State, the Honourable Hilary Vane, and his
advisers. For years a benighted people, with a fond belief in their
participation of Republican institutions, had elected the noble five
hundred of the House and the stanch twenty of the Senate. Noble five
hundreds (biggest Legislature in the world) have come and gone; debated,
applauded, fought and on occasions denounced, kicked over the traces,
and even wept--to no avail. Behold that political institution of man,
representative government There it is on the stage, curtain up, a
sublime spectacle for all men to see, and thrill over speeches about the
Rights of Man, and the Forefathers in the Revolution; about Constituents
who do not constitute. The High Heavens allow it and smile, and it
is well for the atoms that they think themselves free American
representatives, that they do not feel the string of predestination
around their ankles. The senatorial twenty, from their high carved
seats, see the strings and smile, too; yes, and see their own strings,
and smile. Wisdom does not wish for flight. "The people" having changed
the constitution, the blackbirds are reduced from four and forty to a
score. This is cheaper--for the people.

Democracy on the front of the stage before an applauding audience;
performers absorbed in their parts, forgetting that the landlord has to
be paid in money yet to be earned. Behind the stage, the real play,
the absorbing interest, the high stakes--occasional discreet laughter
through the peep-hole when an actor makes an impassioned appeal to
the gods. Democracy in front, the Feudal System, the Dukes and Earls
behind--but in plain clothes; Democracy in stars and spangles and
trappings and insignia. Or, a better figure, the Fates weaving the web
in that mystic chamber, Number Seven, pausing now and again to smile as
a new thread is put in. Proclamations, constitutions, and creeds crumble
before conditions; the Law of Dividends is the high law, and the Forum
an open vent through which the white steam may rise heavenward and be
resolved again into water.

Mr. Crewe took his seat in the popular assemblage next day, although
most of the five hundred gave up theirs to the ladies who had come to
hear his Excellency deliver his inaugural. The Honourable Asa made a
splendid figure, all agreed, and read his speech in a firm and manly
voice. A large p