LATE SCHOLAR AND MACMAHON STUDENT OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; AND MODERN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA; UNIV. OF London NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1899 All rights reserved PREFACE No patriot of our times, however ardent may be his faith in democracy, or however optimistic may be his expectations with regard to industrial progress, can fail to be deeply impressed by the gravity of the problems which await solution. The political atmosphere is charged with storm; the unprecedented and bewildering complexity of social tendencies has given rise to a feeling of timorous unrest, at times to a deep and desponding sense of inevitable conflict. War and peace, democracy and autocracy, the syndicate and the trades union, socialism and individualism, the régime of competition and the cult of altruism! The solution of these contradictions, apparent or real, lies in the future; but in the meantime the State is certain to take a leading hand in attempted settlements, and this circumstance lends an altogether exceptional interest to suggestions for constitutional reform. The cynical student of modern politics may be b 274927 |