carrying those nations up to the point of civilisation which they
attained. But having reached that point, they were brought to a
permanent halt for want of mental liberty and individuality;
requisites of improvement which the institutions that had carried them
thus far entirely incapacitated them from acquiring; and as the
institutions did not break down and give place to others, further
improvement stopped.

  In contrast with these nations, let us consider the example of an
opposite character afforded by another and a comparatively
insignificant Oriental people- the Jews. They, too, had an absolute
monarchy and a hierarchy, their organised institutions were as
obviously of sacerdotal origin as those of the Hindoos. These did
for them what was done for other Oriental races by their
institutions- subdued them to industry and order, and gave them a
national life. But neither their kings nor their priests ever
obtained, as in those other countries, the exclusive moulding of their
character. Their religion, which enabled persons of genius and a
high religious tone to be regarded and to regard themselves as
inspired from heaven, gave existence to an inestimably precious
unorganised institution- the Order (if it may be so termed) of
Prophets. Under the protection, generally though not always effectual,
of their sacred character, the Prophets were a power in the nation,
often more than a match for kings and priests, and kept up, in that
little corner of the earth, the antagonism of influences which is
the only real security for continued progress. Religion consequently
was not there what it has been in so many other places- a
consecration of all that was once established, and a barrier against
further improvement. The remark of a distinguished Hebrew, M.
Salvador, that the Prophets were, in Church and State, the
equivalent of the modern liberty of the press, gives a just but not an
adequate conception of the part fulfilled in national and universal
history by this great element of Jewish life; by means of which, the
canon of inspiration never being complete, the persons most eminent in
genius and moral feeling could not only denounce and reprobate, with
the direct authority of the Almighty, whatever appeared to them
deserving of such treatment, but could give forth better and higher
interpretations of the national religion, which thenceforth became
part of the religion. Accordingly, whoever can divest himself of the
habit of reading the Bible as if it was one book, which until lately
was equally inveterate in Christians and in unbelievers, sees with
admiration the vast interval between the morality and religion of
the Pentateuch, or even of the historical books (the unmistakable work
of Hebrew Conservatives of the sacerdotal order), and the morality and
religion of the Prophecies: a distance as wide as between these last
and the Gospels. Conditions more favourable to Progress could not
easily exist: accordingly, the Jews, instead of being stationary
like other Asiatics, were, next to the Greeks, the most progressive
people of antiquity, and, jointly with them, have been the
starting-point and main propelling agency of modern cultivation.

  It is, then, impossible to understand the question of the adaptation
of forms of government to states of society without taking into
account not only the next step, but all the steps which society has
yet to make; both those which can be foreseen, and the far wider
indefinite range which is at present out of sight. It follows, that to
judge of the merits of forms of government, an ideal must be
constructed of the form of government most eligible in itself, that
is, which, if the necessary conditions existed for giving effect to
its beneficial tendencies, would, more than all others, favour and
promote not some one improvement, but all forms and degrees of it.
This having been done, we must consider what are the mental conditions
of all sorts, necessary to enable this government to realise its
tendencies, and what, therefore, are the various defects by which a
people is made incapable of reaping its benefits. It would then be
possible to construct a theorem of the circumstances in which that
form of government may wisely be introduced; and also to judge, in
cases in which it had better not be introduced, what inferior forms of
polity will best carry those communities through the intermediate
stages which they must traverse before they can become fit for the
best form of government.

  Of these inquiries, the last does not concern us here; but the first
is an essential part of our subject: for we may, without rashness,
at once enunciate a proposition, the proofs and illustrations of which
will present themselves in the ensuing pages; that this ideally best
form of government will be found in some one or other variety of the
Representative System.

                              Chapter 3

  That the ideally best Form of Government is Representative
Government.

 IT HAS long (perhaps throughout the entire duration of British
freedom) been a common saying, that if a good despot could be ensured,
despotic monarchy would be the best form of government. I look upon
this as a radical and most pernicious misconception of what good
government is; which, until it can be got rid of, will fatally vitiate
all our speculations on government.

  The supposition is, that absolute power, in the hands of an
eminent individual, would ensure a virtuous and intelligent
performance of all the duties of government. Good laws would be
established and enforced, bad laws would be reformed; the best men
would be placed in all situations of trust; justice would be as well
administered, the public burthens would be as light and as judiciously
imposed, every branch of administration would be as purely and as
intelligently conducted, as the circumstances of the country and its
degree of intellectual and moral cultivation would admit. I am