sort of men—­that is, men at one stage of rudeness—­will sacrifice all they hope for, all they have, themselves, for what is called an idea—­for some attraction which seems to transcend reality, which aspires to elevate men by an interest higher, deeper, wider than that of ordinary life.  But this order of men are uninterested in the plain, palpable ends of government; they do not prize them; they do not in the least comprehend how they should be attained.  It is very natural, therefore, that the most useful parts of the structure of government should by no means be those which excite the most reverence.  The elements which excite the most easy reverence will be the theatrical elements—­those which appeal to the senses, which claim to be embodiments of the greatest human ideas, which boast in some cases of far more than human origin.  That which is mystic in its claims; that which is occult in its mode of action; that which is brilliant to the eye; that which is seen vividly for a moment, and then is seen no more; that which is hidden and unhidden; that which is specious, and yet interesting, palpable in its seeming, and yet professing to be more than palpable in its results; this, howsoever its form may change, or however we may define it or describe it, is the sort of thing—­the only sort—­which yet comes home to the mass of men.  So far from the dignified parts of a constitution being necessarily the most useful, they are likely, according to outside presumption, to be the least so; for they are likely to be adjusted to the lowest orders—­those likely to care least and judge worst about what is useful.

There is another reason which, in an old constitution like that of England, is hardly less important.  The most intellectual of men are moved quite as much by the circumstances which they are used to as by their own will.  The active voluntary part of a man is very small, and if it were not economised by a sleepy kind of habit, its results would be null.  We could not do every day out of our own heads all we have to do.  We should accomplish nothing, for all our energies would be frittered away in minor attempts at petty improvement.  One man, too, would go off from the known track in one direction, and one in another; so that when a crisis came requiring massed combination, no two men would be near enough to act together.  It is the dull traditional habit of mankind that guides most men’s actions, and is the steady frame in which each new artist must set the picture that he paints.  And all this traditional part of human nature is, ex vi termini, most easily impressed and acted on by that which is handed down.  Other things being equal, yesterday’s institutions are by far the best for to-day; they are the most ready, the most influential, the most easy to get obeyed, the most likely to retain the reverence which they alone inherit, and which every other must win.  The most imposing institutions of mankind