Italian writers on nationality Nationality not necessarily a democratic idea Ambiguities about the elements that constitute it Good and evil sides of the doctrine of nationalities Not applicable to uncivilized nations The unity of Germany-The agglomeration of race ele- Increased value attached to national languages The military system accentuates national differences. DEMOCRACY AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Nations differ in their conceptions of liberty and in the Importance of taking stock of our conceptions of liberty 509 Its growth in English law. 509 And in public opinion-Causes of increased tolerance Abolition of religious disqualifications in the United Slow progress of the movement in England-The Catho- Higher education thrown open to Dissenters-Its effects The Established Church-Arguments for and against it The modern case for an establishment Anglo-Saxon democracy favourable to religious liberty. 557 DEMOCRACY AND LIBERTY CHAPTER I THE most remarkable political characteristic of the latter part of the nineteenth century has unquestionably been the complete displacement of the centre of power in free governments, and the accompanying changes in the prevailing theories about the principles on which representative government should be based. It has extended over a great part of the civilised world, and, although it has had all the effects of a profound and far-reaching revolution, it has, in some of the most conspicuous instances, been effected without any act of violence or any change in the external framework of government. I have attempted in another work to describe at length the guiding principles on which the English parliamentary government of the eighteenth century was mainly based, and which found their best expression and defence in the writings of Burke. It was then almost universally held that the right of voting was not a natural right, but a right conferred by legislation on grounds of expediency, or, in other words, for the benefit of the State. As the House of Commons had been, since the Revolution of 1688, the most powerful element of the Constitution, nothing in the Constitution was deemed more important than the efficiency of the machine, and measures of parliament VOL. I. 1 |