thousands, into the very face of danger and death. The
difficulty of leading men to battle must have been for a long time a
very perplexing one to generals. It was at last removed by the very
simple expedient of creating a greater danger behind than there is
before. Without ingenuity of contrivance like this,--turning one
principle of human nature against another, and making it for the
momentary interest of men to act in a given way, no government could
stand a year.

I know of nothing which illustrates more perfectly the way by which a
knowledge of human nature is to be turned to account in managing human
minds, than a plan which was adopted for clearing the galleries of the
British House of Commons, as it was described to me by a gentleman who
had visited London. It is well known that the gallery is appropriated to
spectators, and that it sometimes becomes necessary to order them to
retire, when a vote is to be taken, or private business is to be
transacted. When the officer in attendance was ordered to clear the
gallery, it was sometimes found to be a very troublesome and slow
operation; for those who first went out, remained obstinately as close
to the doors as possible, so as to secure the opportunity to come in
again first, when the doors should be re-opened. The consequence was,
there was so great an accumulation around the doors outside, that it was
almost impossible for the crowd to get out. The whole difficulty arose
from the eager desire of every one to remain as near as possible to the
door, _through which they were to come back again_. I have been told,
that, notwithstanding the utmost efforts of the officers, fifteen
minutes were sometimes consumed in effecting the object, when the order
was given that the spectators should retire.

The whole difficulty was removed by a very simple plan. One door only
was opened when the crowd was to retire, and they were then admitted
through the other. The consequence was, that as soon as the order was
given to clear the galleries, every one fled as fast as possible through
the open door around to the one which was closed, so as to be ready to
enter first, when that, in its turn, should be opened; this was usually
in a few minutes, as the purpose for which the spectators were ordered
to retire was usually simply to allow time for taking a vote. Here it
will be seen that by the operation of a very simple plan, the very
eagerness of the crowd to get back as soon as possib