There is, however, one very real and essential difference between the English and the French progress towards democracy. The point of departure is the same, the sovereignty of the king; the point of arrival is the same, the sovereignty of the people; but the intermediate stage is not the same. Thanks to the strength of her aristocracy, and especially to its fine energy and spirit, England has been able to pass through a highly convenient intermediate stage, that of an aristocratic republic preserving monarchical appearances. France has not been able to do this, though she tried the experiment in imitation of England, the reason for her inevitable failure being that she had not the kind and quality of aristocracy that was necessary for such a work. In all very disturbing changes there is nothing so convenient, nothing so conducive to prudent deliberation, as a shelter whilst the change is going on. If you destroy your old house to build a new one on its site, you will be glad to hire a temporary residence in the neighbourhood. The English were most fortunate in this, that they had a fine, substantial-looking mansion to retire to, a dignified building that looked as if it would last for ever; the French were out in the cold, and had to dwell in tents, by which I mean their temporary written constitutions. [Sidenote: The Ideal Monarchy.] [Sidenote: The old French Noble Caste.] [Sidenote: Irregular Nature of French Progress.] The transition to democratic government was not easy in an old country like France, where the monarchy, in such comparatively recent times as those of Louis XIV., had been the strongest and most splendid monarchy in the world, the realisation of that ideal monarchy in which the king is not simply a figure-head, but a governor whom all in his realm obey, they being his real, not nominal, _subjects_, thrown under his feet by a destiny outside of choice. Neither was Louis XIV. simply a governor; he was at the same time a kind of demigod, who dwelt in the midst of a ceremonious cultus whereof he was the centre and the object. And although this great prince had degraded the nobility into courtiers, the noble class was still a numerous and a coherent caste which had to be pulverised by democratic legislation before the democratic principle could be finally established. Surely it is not surprising that every step in advance should have been followed by a reaction. Restorations, periods of lassitude, experiments, mistakes--all these were the natural concomitants of a transition for which French history shows no precedent; yet so long as the transition was actually in progress how few Englishmen understood it--how few of them perceived that the modern democratic idea was always, in spite of appearances, steadily making its way! [Sidenote: Difference between the English and French Revolutions.] [Sidenote: Establishment of Cabinet Government.]