the secret of national efficiency at present, and I cannot help
thinking that sooner or later, in spite of their evident aversion, they
will be forced to look into this dusty chamber of thought for the clue
to the thing they need. The corner they will have to turn is the
admission that no state and no people can be at its maximum efficiency
until every public function is discharged by the man best able to
perform it, and that no Commonweal can be near efficiency until it is
endeavouring very earnestly to bring that ideal condition of affairs
about. And when they have got round that corner they will have to face
the fact that an Hereditary Monarchy is a state in which this principle
is repudiated at a cardinal point, a state in which one position, which
no amount of sophistication will prevent common men and women regarding
as the most honourable, powerful, and responsible one of all, which is
indeed by that very fact alone a great and responsible one, is filled
on purely genealogical grounds. In a state that has also an
aristocratic constitution this repudiation of special personal
qualities is carried very much further. Reluctantly but certainly the
seeker after national efficiency will come to the point that the
aristocracy and their friends and connections _must_ necessarily
form a caste about the King, that their gradations _must_ set the
tone of the whole social body, and that their political position must
enable them to demand and obtain a predominating share in any
administration that may be formed. So long, therefore, as your
constitution remains aristocratic you must expect to see men of quite
ordinary ability, quite ordinary energy, and no exceptional force of
character, men frequently less clever and influential than their wives
and lady friends, controlling the public services, a Duke of Norfolk
managing so vital a business as the Post Office and succeeded by a
Marquis of Londonderry, and a Marquis of Lansdowne organizing military
affairs, and nothing short of a change in your political constitution