WORKS BY THE RIGHT HON, W. E. H. LECKY HISTORY OF ENGLAND in the EIGHTEENTH Vols. VII. and VIII., 1793-1800. 30s. Cabinet Edition. ENGLAND. 7 vols. Crown 8vo. 6s. each HISTORY of EUROPEAN MORALS' from AUGUS HISTORY OF THE RISE and INFLUENCE of the 125. DEMOCRACY and LIBERTY. Library Edition. 2 Vols. 8vo. 35s. Cabinet Edition. 2 Vols. Crown 8vo. 125. THE EMPIRE: Its Value and Its Growth. An Inaugural Address delivered at the Imperial Institute. 20th November, 1893. Crown Evo. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY. INTRODUCTION TO THE CABINET EDITION I HAVE availed myself of the opportunity which the appearance of a Cabinet Edition gives to revise carefully this book, correcting such inaccuracies as I have been able to discover and, without attempting to re-write any portion of it, introducing into the text or notes a few lines relating to controversies which were pending at the time of its original publication and mentioning salient facts which have since occurred and which had a direct and important bearing on the subjects I have treated. The task of following in detail the later legislation on those subjects in the many different legislatures of the world must be left to other writers, but it is not, I think, inappropriate to devote a few pages to examining how far the experience of the last three years has confirmed or disproved the general principles I have laid down. In some of its most melancholy predictions this work has, I fear, been but too well confirmed. A great portion of it is devoted to describing the declining respect for parliamentary government and the great difficulty of reconciling this form of government with extreme democracy. I have pointed out the tendency of modern democratic parliaments to break up more and more into small groups with the inevitable consequence of enfeebling the executive; destroying or dislocating the party system; giving a disproportionate power to extreme, self-seeking and skilfully organised minorities; turning important branches of legislation into something little better than a competition of class bribery, and thus lowering the tone of public life and the character and influence of public men. I have argued that parliaments of this type are much less truly representative of the best elements of the nation than parliaments established on a less democratic basis; that they are peculiarly apt to lose the power of directing and guid ing public opinion, and that except in countries where a long experience of free government has produced an unusually high standard of political intelligence they are very unfit to exercise uncontrolled and commauding power, or to deal efficiently with the more difficult problems of politics. Less than three years have passed since these views were put forward, yet in that short time how many illustrations of them have occurred! Two of the noblest works of statesmanship accomplished in Europe during the second half of the nineteenth century were the unity of Italy and the transformation and consolidation of the Austrian Empire into a free and constitutional power. Both of these achievements were eminently beneficial to Europe and both under the influence of high suffrage parliaments seemed to have been definitely and permanently accomplished. It is impossible to deny that the events of the last years have filled the well-wishers both of Italy and Austria with profound misgiving. The furious and sanguinary riots almost amounting to civil war that have taken place in Italian towns; the crushing and ever-growing weight of taxation; the steady growth of Italian Socialism; and the manifest incapacity of a democratic parliament to command the confidence of the Italian people are signs that it is impossible to |