rongly. In this sense Christ was the first true democrat that
ever breathed, as the old dramatist Dekker said he was the first true
gentleman. The characters may be easily doubled, so strong is the
likeness between them. A beautiful and profound parable of the Persian
poet Jellaladeen tells us that "One knocked at the Beloved's door, and a
voice asked from within 'Who is there?' and he answered 'It is I.' Then
the voice said, 'This house will not hold me and thee;' and the door was
not opened. Then went the lover into the desert and fasted and prayed in
solitude, and after a year he returned and knocked again at the door; and
again the voice asked 'Who is there?' and he said 'It is thyself;' and
the door was opened to him." But that is idealism, you will say, and
this is an only too practical world. I grant it; but I am one of those
who believe that the real will never find an irremovable basis till it
rests on the ideal. It used to be thought that a democracy was possible
only in a small territory, and this is doubtless true of a democracy
strictly defined, for in such all the citizens decide directly upon every
question of public concern in a general assembly. An example still
survives in the tiny Swiss canton of Appenzell. But this immediate
intervention of the people in their own affairs is not of the essence of
democracy; it is not necessary, nor indeed, in most cases, practicable.
Democracies to which Mr. Lincoln's definition would fairly enough apply
have existed, and now exist, in which, though the supreme authority
reside in the people, yet they can act only indirectly on the national
policy. This generation has seen a democracy with an imperial
figurehead, and in all that have ever existed the body politic has never
embraced all the inhabitants included within its territory, the right to
share in the direction of affairs has been confined to citizens, and
citizenship has been further restricted by various limitations, sometimes
of property, sometimes of nativity, and always of age and sex.

The framers of the American Constitution were far from wishing or
intending to found a democracy in the strict sense of the word, though,
as was inevitable, every expansion of the scheme of government they
elaborated has been in a democratical direction. But this has been
generally the slow result of growth, and not the sudden innovation of
theory; in fact, they had a profound disbelief in theory, and knew better