Page:Democracy, theoretical and practical (IA democracytheoret00hendrich).pdf/12

 tells us that "though in name it (Athens) was a democracy, in fact it was a government administered by the first man."

Nor must we ever forget that Athens was a city-state. A flag was hoisted in the morning at the meeting place, and the citizens assembled during the day. How very different are our modern democracies, which include millions of people scattered over wide areas! It is only by means of representation that modern nations can make any form of democratic government possible. Even in Athens a man who lived in the country could not be a member of the Heliaea.

England has enjoyed representative government since 1295, but I know of no period in the history of that country when there was government for the people by the people. It is true that the people always exercised some control over their governors through the House of Commons; but in the fourteenth century the actual government was carried on by the king in his Ordinary and Perpetual Council; in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth by the king and his Privy Council, and in the eighteenth by a double Cabinet, one directed by the king, the other by the chief minister responsible to Parliament.

But, you will say, a great change came with the Reform Bills of 1832, 1867, and 1884-5. That is true. Since 1832 the people have had more control over ministers than ever before; but is it not also true that Great Britain in the last century has been governed by a few selected men? The Privy Council has given way to the Cabinet, and the Cabinet must have the confidence of a majority of the people's representatives in Par-