ORIGIN OF DEMOCRATIC OPINION 223 



question from the point of view of the many, we do Book in 



nothing but arrive at the same conclusion to which 



we were brought when we approached it from the 



point of view of the few. We arrive, that is to say, 



at the conclusion that, if we mean by government 



the devising, the passing, and the administration 



of this and of that measure, the genuine power of 



the many, even under the most popular constitution, 



becomes less and less in proportion as the greatness Thus the voice 



,, ..,.. r i T-I of the many, 



and the civilisation ot the country increase. 1 he i n a ii complex 



voice of the many is heard as loudly as ever ; but 

 what guides the voice is not the personality that the few< 

 seems to utter it. What guides it is a handful of 

 men, exceptionally active, though not always excep- 

 tionally wise. The voice is the voice of Jacob, 

 but the hands are the hands of Esau. 



And here before pursuing the subject farther let 

 us look back for a moment, and consider the point 

 in our argument at which we have now arrived. 

 We have seen, then, that in the domain of modern 

 industrial activity the many, if we estimate the total 

 produced in terms of value, produce only an insig- 

 nificant portion of the total. We have seen that in 

 the domain of intellectual and speculative progress 

 the many literally produce or achieve nothing. We 

 have seen that in the devising and administration 

 of governmental measures the many are powerful in 

 proportion as the issues are exceptionally simple 

 that is to say, in proportion as they are few and 

 far between. 



Now the reader may think that this brings us to 



