pestilence, earthquake, cyclone, drought, from extremes of heat and
cold, in the heart of the greatest and safest city in the world; and
yet-see the figure of that policeman! Running through all the good
behaviour of this crowd, however safe and free it looks, there is, there
always must be, a central force holding it together. Where does that
central force come from? From the crowd itself, you say. I answer: No.
Look back at the origin of human States. From the beginnings of things,
the best man has been the unconscious medium of authority, of the
controlling principle, of the divine force; he felt that power within
him--physical, at first--he used it to take the lead, he has held the
lead ever since, he must always hold it. All your processes of election,
your so-called democratic apparatus, are only a blind to the inquiring,
a sop to the hungry, a salve to the pride of the rebellious. They are
merely surface machinery; they cannot prevent the best man from coming
to the top; for the best man stands nearest to the Deity, and is the
first to receive the waves that come from Him. I'm not speaking of
heredity. The best man is not necessarily born in my class, and I, at
all events, do not believe he is any more frequent there than in other
classes."

He stopped as suddenly as he had begun.

"You needn't be afraid," answered Courtier, "that I take you for an
average specimen. You're at one end, and I at the other, and we probably
both miss the golden mark. But the world is not ruled by power, and the
fear which power produces, as you think, it's ruled by love. Society
is held together by the natural decency in man, by fellow-feeling. The
democratic principle, which you despise, at root means nothing at all
but that. Man left to himself is on the upward lay. If it weren't so,
do you imagine for a moment your 'boys in blue' could keep order? A man
knows unconsciously what he can and what he can't do, without losing
his self-respect. He sucks that knowledge in with every breath. Laws
and authority are not the be-all and end-all, they are conveniences,
machinery, conduit pipes, main roads. They're not of the structure of
the building--they're only scaffolding."

Miltoun lunged out with the retort

"Without which no building could be built."

Courtier parried.

"That's rather different, my friend, from identifying them with the
building. They are things to be taken down as fast as ever they can be
cleared away, to make