THE MIND OF THE NATION A STUDY OF POLITICAL THOUGHT IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 66 AND EFFECTS OF POPULAR THOUGHT LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LTD. P. R. SI PREFACE THE objects of the present work are first to describe and analyse the machinery of National Government, and the motive forces which have actuated it during the present century, secondly to point out the source, the direction and the balance of power at the present day, and thirdly to indicate which of the tendencies of modern constitutional development seem to lead to danger, and ought therefore to be resisted, and which will probably lead to strength, prosperity and happiness, and ought therefore to be encouraged. Book i. consists of a description of the main parts of the Constitutional Machine given as briefly as possible consistent with clearness and accuracy, but no attempt has been made to render it in any sense of the word a full or complete account of the details of executive and legislative government, and the history of constitutional development has only been introduced where it was absolutely necessary to render the present custom intelligible. The chief authorities consulted and quoted are Blackstone, Stephens, Stubbs, Hallam, Anson, and Dicey, and such of the Statutes as deal with the structure of the Constitution, the description given being intended to show the appearance of the machine at rest. Book ii. consists of a description and analysis of the psychological forces which have acted upon the machine during the century, and attempts to b |