or the causes of danger to a man hanging on to a rope • 211 But there is another means of discriminating between the products of exceptional men and ordinary men • 212 This is by an analysis of the faculties necessary to produce the product • 213 Are these faculties possessed by all, or by a few only? • 213 CHAPTER II THE NATURE AND SCOPE OF PURELY DEMOCRATIC ACTION, OR THE ACTION OF AVERAGE MEN IN CO-OPERATION Carlyle was wrong in his claim for the great man because he failed to note that his powers were conditioned by the capacities of the ordinary men influenced by him • 215 The socialists are wrong because, seeing that the many do something, they argue that they do everything • 215 What the many do is limited. We must see precisely what the limits are • 216 If a Russian conspirator employs a hundred workmen to dig what they think is a cellar, but is a mine for blowing up the Czar, • 216 the conspirator contributes the entire criminal character of the enterprise • 217 When a choir sings Handel’s music, Handel contributes the specific character of the sounds sung by them • 217 Let us turn to the facts of progress, • 217 and begin with economic progress and progress in knowledge • 218 In the case of economic progress we must apply the method of inquiring what is produced by labour with and without the assistance of the great man • 218 To the question of progress in knowledge we must apply the method of inquiring what faculties are involved in it • 219 These are faculties entirely confined to the few • 219 And now let us turn to political government • 220 What can the faculties of average men do when left to themselves? • 220 They can accomplish only the simplest actions, • 220 and formulate only the simplest demands • 221 The moment matters become at all complex the faculties of the exceptional man are required • 221 Now in any civilised country few governmental measures are really simple • 222 Exceptional men must simplify them for the many • 222 Thus the voice of the many, in all complex cases, echoes the voice of the few • 223 This, however, is not the end of the matter; • 224 for the details of governmental measures are not the whole of government • 224 The true power of democracy is to be seen in religious and family life • 224 Though the influence of the great man in religion is enormous, • 225 yet religions have only grown and endured because they touch the heart of the average man • 225 Christianity exemplifies this fact, • 225 and especially Catholicism • 226 The doctrines formulated by the aristocracy of Popes and Councils originated among the mass of common believers • 227 Theologians and councils merely reasoned on the materials thus given them • 228 Catholicism shows the great part played by the many so clearly, because the part played by the few is defined by it so sharply • 228