ext step taken marks
always a steady advance. Over and over again it has seemed that all the
liberties won in the past were lost, but looking back we can see that there
has been no lasting defeat of liberty. Only for a time have the forces of
oppression triumphed; it is soon found impossible in England to rest under
tyranny, or to govern without the consent of the governed. And every fresh
campaign for the restriction of kingly power brings us nearer the day of
democratic government.

* * * * *

CHAPTER II

THE BEGINNING OF PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION

DEMOCRACY AND REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT

To-day democracy takes the form of representative government in civilised
countries; and for representative government contend the nations and
peoples seeking democracy.

The weak spots in all popular electoral systems are obvious, and the
election of representatives is always a subject for jokes and satire. It
could hardly be otherwise. For the best machinery in the world needs some
sort of sympathetic intelligence in the person who manipulates it, and the
machinery of popular elections can only be worked successfully with a large
measure of sincerity and good will. In the hands of the ambitious, the
self-seeking, and the unscrupulous, democratic politics are a machine for
frustrating popular representation, and as this state of things is always
prevalent somewhere, the humorist and the satirist naturally treat politics
without respect.

But in spite of all its faults and failings--glaring as these are--mankind
can at present devise nothing better than representative government, and
the abuse of power, the cunning, roguery, and corruption that too often
accompany popular elections and democratic administration, rather stir
honest men to action than make them incline to dictatorship and absolutism.

The present notion about representative government is that it makes
possible the expression of popular will, and can ensure the fulfilment of
that will. In the thirteenth century, when we get the beginnings of
representative government, there is no question of the people making
positive proposals in legislation, but there is a distinct belief that the
consent of the governed ought to be obtained by the ruling power. The mere
legal maxim from the Code of Justinian, that "that which touches all shall
be approved by all,"[15] "becomes transmuted by Edward I. into a great
political and constitution