yce has made a step in advance of Mr Bagehot in trusting the
people to determine ends, whatever they may be; why not go one step
further, and trust them to determine all questions of policy?

These are the two opposite points of view. They are both equally wrong.
The first is simply irresponsible leadership, and the second amounts to
the same thing in practice, however much the people may appear to lead
in theory. The true position is that the relation between the
representatives and the people is reciprocal. Both lead and both follow.
The people defer to the representatives, not on account of rank or
caste, nor upon the principle of _noblesse oblige_, but only in so far
as the representatives are able to demonstrate their fitness to devise
measures for the general welfare. The people, on the other hand, are the
ultimate judges, both of measures and of men. This mutual action and
reaction constitutes the responsible leadership, which is one of the
fundamental principles underlying the device of representation. To it we
have already traced the virtue of representation as a social force,
capable of moulding national character and of appealing to the higher
nature of the people.

An elector who is unable or unwilling to decide grave questions of
public policy himself may be a very shrewd judge as to who is best
fitted to decide them; and deference to ability is totally different in
principle to deference to caste. In a country in the transitional stage
between aristocracy and democracy, his judgment may be based partly on
the principle of _noblesse oblige_; but there is not the slightest
reason why in a democratic country he should require the representative
to defer to him. He will merely require a higher standard and a closer
and a more constant demonstration that the measures proposed are
conducive to the public well-being. Moreover, it is still necessary that
the representatives should be judged periodically on general lines of
policy, and that the elector should not have the power of exercising
control on single questions. Under these conditions the result of the
mutual relation will be an improvement on both sides. But if, under the
influence of irresponsible leadership outside Parliament, the people
insist on increasing control over their representatives, then not only
is Parliament degraded, but progress towards government in the general
welfare is stopped.

This long digression as to the real meaning o