LORD HALSBURY
fatigue. That it was so in his case is evident, for he was eighty-five years of age when this unequal struggle in the Upper Chamber, to prevent it from destroying itself, was maintained by a gallant band of twenty-two against six hundred.
Lord Willoughby de Broke was an active lieutenant and aide to Lord Halsbury. He organized meetings with the object of obtaining the moral support of the country against this proposal of self-immolation; and the Morning Post, ever and always the mouthpiece of Conservatism, eloquently supported his efforts. To me the situation was interesting historically and philosophically. The philosophy of government is second only in importance to the practice of Art. There is no such thing as a philosophy of Art, for it is not governed by changeable principles. It is based on unchangeable Nature: Art is a thing to be taken for granted, government is not.
There is but one form of government, whatever the name given to it—monarchy, oligarchy, or republic; there is no such thing as an autocracy or a democracy: the people cannot rule because of their plurality, and an autocrat cannot rule because of his "singularity." In a so-called "autocracy" there is a delegation of power from above; in a "democracy" a delegation of power from below—the many elect a few; the one selects many; and neither the one nor the other can know how much or how often their confidence will be abused.
After many experiments in the arrangement of government in ancient and mediæval times, the Mother of Parliaments decided that the best provision for good government was a constitutional sovereign, with the power of advice only, and two Houses, an upper and a lower, the first
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