Truth Is The Only Merit That Gives

Machiavelli's Teaching Would Hardly Have Stood The Test Of Parliamentary Government, For Public Discussion Demands At Least The Profession Of Good Faith.

Government By Idea Tends To Take In Everything, To Make The Whole Of Society Obedient To The Idea. Spaces Not So Governed Are Unconquered, Beyond The Border, Unconverted, A Future Danger.

There Is No Error So Monstrous That It Fails To Find Defenders Among The Ablest Men.

Every Thing Secret Degenerates, Even The Administration Of Justice; Nothing Is Safe That Does Not Show How It Can Bear Discussion And Publicity.

Neither An Enlightened Philosophy, Nor All The Political Wisdom Of Rome, Nor Even The Faith And Virtue Of The Christians Availed Against The Incorrigible Tradition Of Antiquity. Something Was Wanted, Beyond All The Gifts Of Reflection And Experience - A Faculty Of Self Government And Self Control, Developed Like Its Language In The Fibre Of A Nation, And Growing With Its Growth.