"
"I know those are your ideas."
"Of course they are. There are no other ideas on which things can be
made to work. Were it not that men get drilled into it by the force
of circumstances any government in this country would be impossible.
Were it not so, what should we come to? The Queen would find herself
justified in keeping in any set of Ministers who could get her
favour, and ambitious men would prevail without any support from the
country. The Queen must submit to dictation from some quarter."
"She must submit to advice, certainly."
"Don't cavil at a word when you know it to be true," said Barrington,
energetically. "The constitution of the country requires that she
should submit to dictation. Can it come safely from any other quarter
than that of a majority of the House of Commons?"
"I think not."
"We are all agreed about that. Not a single man in either House would
dare to deny it. And if it be so, what man in his senses can think
of running counter to the party which he believes to be right in its
general views? A man so burthened with scruples as to be unable to
act in this way should keep himself aloof from public life.
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