Page:Thomas Hare - The Election of Representatives, parliamentary and municipal.djvu/126



In forming the representative body, to which, co-ordinately with the other branches of Parliament, is committed the power of government and legislation, it is undeniable that it would be wise to invite by every suitable inducement, and to gather together with every possible diligence and care, such minds as are by constitution, experience, or study, the best fitted to deal with the subjects which, at this day, come within the range of political action. The election confers no quality that the elected did not before possess—none other than "nature and education, and their habits of life, have made them. Capacities beyond these the people have not to give. Virtue and wisdom may be the objects of their choice, but their choice confers neither the one nor the other on those upon whom they lay their ordaining hands. They have not the engagement of nature—they have not the promise of revelation—for any such powers."

Political science is, perhaps, of all studies, the most difficult, from the boundless variety of its phenomena. The apparent simplicity of much that is upon the surface leads us to think that we comprehend it; and the depth and complexity of what is beneath and behind, which eludes our sight, seem to mock our attempts to penetrate its secrets. "If there be not a true understanding of what constitutes social development, there must necessarily be grave mistakes