e old maxim:
"That which touches all shall be approved by all," and can perceive no
other way of obtaining that general approbation for the laws than by the
popular election of our representatives.

Demagogues may exploit the popular will, the cunning and unscrupulous in
power may have us at their mercy, in our folly and indifference the nation
may be brought to grave losses; but still there is always the means of
recovery for the well-disposed while the vote remains in their hands.

So it is that, in spite of obvious failings and shortcomings, democracy by
representative government remains for nations throughout the world that
have not yet tried it the goal of their political striving. We are alive to
the imperfections of democracy. It is no automatic machine for conferring
benefits in return for taxes. It is the creation of mankind, not a
revelation from heaven; and it needs, like all good human things, constant
attention and can bear many improvements. It has to be adjusted from time
to time to suit the growing capacities of mankind--as the popular assembly
gave way to the representative assembly--and only on the failure to make
the adjustment does it get rusty and out of order. It has to meet the
requirements of vast empires and mighty confederations of states, and to
fulfil the wants of small republics and parish councils.

What but democracy can answer to the call for political liberty that sounds
from so many lands and in so many varying tongues? Did any other form of
government devised by the wit of man make such universal appeal?

And when all is said and done--what does this democracy, this government by
popular representatives, mean, but government by the consent of the
governed--the only form of government tolerable to civilised mankind in the
twentieth century?

Given a fairly good standard of common honesty in the ordinary dealings of
life, and the honesty of our public life, whether in Parliament or in the
Civil Service, in executive or administration, will serve. If the private
and commercial life is corroded with dishonesty, then democracy will be
bitten by knaves and rascals. For our chosen rulers have a way of
faithfully reflecting the morality of their electors, and are not free to
indulge their fancies, as kings of old were.

Politics are not, and never will be, or ought to be, the chief interest and
concern of the mass of people in a healthy community where slavery is
extinct. And democracy ma