Excerpt from English Institutions and Their Most Necessary Reforms: A Contribution of Thought Where the object of a great national reform is, to strengthen one Order by lowering another; to humil iate the pride of a dynasty or of a peerage; or to en force some large sacrifice of pecuniary means - the nature of the proposed change cannot be disguised. Undoubtedly much strong language is heard among us against aristocracy and in favour of democracy, which, taken to the letter, might seem to imply that aristocracy, in its legitimate sense, is to be depressed and stript of honour. But in fact bureaucracy and centralzaatz'on are the real foes, both of them hostile to the genius of the constitution in former days, and in no way closely allied to aristocracy as such. Centralization has come in from Continental Despotism, from the first French Revolutionists, and largely from the writings of Bentham, as I under stand. Bureaucracy has been ever on the increase through the enormous extent of the empire, and the immensity of power devolving on the ministry of the day; while Parliament is too slow in learning facts to be any adequate check. The House of Peers, as an Order, has no interest in bureaucracy, and none in centralization. Hence without a shadow of paradox, and with perfect straightforwardness, I maintain, that from a true Conservative point of view our nation has to retrace many wron step and make many right ones, quickly and boldfiy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.