e people, but of that class or section which in the
evolution of our political system happened at the time to be the ruling
one. At one period it was the Church, at another the army, at another
the landlord or the capitalist; it was never that latent force lying in
the future, that peace-loving, industrial democracy which to-day we are
still striving to hold back from its aim. These ruling powers of the
past have now concentrated on the Cabinet as their last line of defense;
and so at the present day it is the Cabinet which has the largest
control not only of patronage (much of it corruptly applied), but of
certain penalizing devices by which monetary pressure can be brought
upon those who thwart its will. By its practical usurpation of the
Crown's right to decree a general election, and by its control of the
party funds, from which parliamentary candidates are subsidized and
assisted to the poll, it is able to hold over the heads of its
supporters a financial threat to which very few can remain indifferent.
And this is how our so-called popular chamber is manipulated and run.
The power of the purse (I speak now of the moneys voted for public
service) lies almost entirely in the hands of those who themselves have
the largest monetary interest for keeping away from their constituencies
and maintaining their leaders in power; and as a consequence the
Ministry's evasion of all regulations and safeguards, its increasing
seizure of parliamentary time, its postponement of finance to a date in
each session when the legislature's energies are exhausted, have become
more and more corrupt in character. Why, the very minister whose duty it
is to see that members are constant in their voting and their attendance
is the one with whom lies, if not the distribution of patronage, at
least its recommendation. He is the go-between, and they know it. How
likely, then, are the rank and file to throw their Government out of
office when the immediate result will be not only to transfer these
bribes to the hands of their political opponents but to inflict upon
themselves the cost of a contested election which privately they cannot
afford, and to face which they are accordingly obliged to go, cap in
hand, to the very men they have voted from power, but who still have
absolute control of the party organization and its funds?"

Here Max stopped to take breath.

IV

"But can you suggest any other way?" questioned the King. "Surely we
must ha