We have hardly yet reached, and are never likely to reach, that ideal of
direct government. But what is this price which Mr. Lilly is railing at?
"The price may be stated in eight words. 'The complete subordination of
national to party interests.' The _complete_ subordination. I use the
adjective advisedly. Party interests are not only the first thought of
politicians in England, but, too often, the last and only thought." All
this is sheer nonsense. The coincidence of party aims with the real
interests of the people which the British Parliament has displayed since
the _Reform Act_ of 1832 has never been even remotely approached by any
other country. Two causes have contributed to this great result; first,
the gradual extension of the franchise to all sections of the people,
and second, the fact that the principles of organization and leadership
have been highly developed. In one respect, however, Mr. Lilly is right.
The zenith has been passed. Party government is not the same to-day in
England as it was twenty years ago. But the fault lies not with the
extension of the suffrage, but with the fact that the principles of
organization and leadership are less operative. True, the extension of
the franchise is indirectly concerned in the failure, but the primary
cause is that the present system of election is unable to bear the
increased strain. It no longer suffices to organize the people into two
coherent parties. The effect on the parties is correctly noted by Mr.
Lilly. "A danger which ever besets them," he declares, "is that of
sinking into factions."

Now, the result of the want of organization is the presence in
Parliament of small independent factions, which, by holding the balance
of power, cause the main parties to degenerate into factions.

This tendency is apparent even in England, and the rock on which the
parties have split is the Irish faction. Into the merits of the Irish