Now it is quite true that democracy does all this in some cases, but however grave the indictment may be, the friends of democracy can always answer: “What better alternative do you offer?” The great Italian statesman, Cavour, once remarked that, whatever faults it might have, a legislative chamber was better than a king’s antechamber. The justification of democracy is that it ensures, not necessarily the best government, or even good government; but the sort of government the people earn for themselves. A stream does not rise higher than its source. Nor can a representative government reach any higher level than that on which the people maintain it. It will reflect the intelligence, honesty, and patriotism of the governed. That is one reason why we should not apply to backward races the same principles of government which we apply to more civilized people. Democracy is the best form of government for those who are able to govern themselves, but this does not include all the people of the earth by any means. [Sidenote: How a government fulfils its purpose.] =The Purpose of Government.=—Having seen how governments originated, what forms they have assumed, and why they ought to be obeyed, it may be well to ask ourselves: What is the purpose of government? What ends does it serve? The purpose of government is to promote the interests of each by promoting the interests of all. This end it seeks to attain in various ways. It protects the whole body of its people against external aggression, against foreign invasion. It also in this connection maintains the rights and liberties of its citizens against wrongful interference on the part of foreign states or citizens. It is for this purpose that armies and navies are maintained. The government safeguards its own citizens from injustice at the hands of one another. This it does by laws which define the relations of individuals to one another, and of one group of individuals to other groups. These laws prescribe the relations of husband and wife, of parent and child, of landlord and tenant, of employer and employee, of office-holder and citizen—they define and regulate every person’s rights and duties towards others. In order that we may exercise our rights and perform our duties we must first know what they are. The state, through its laws, tells us. Through its courts, moreover, it applies such pressure upon reluctant individuals as may be necessary to make these rights and duties real. In a word, government exists to enforce rights and to secure liberty. [Sidenote: Relation of government to individual rights.]