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PROSPECTS OF REGENERATION 101
or democratic ideals on the part of the British people which
maintained monarchy in England ; it was the practical
consideration of the necessity of preserving the unity of
the huge Empire which could not be otherwise held together
than by retaining and confirming that principle as a
counterbalance to Home Rule. The person of the King-Emperor
assures the principle of homogeneity and co-ordination in
the plurality of the separate parts of the Empire. Great
Britain understood the advantages of local autonomy, and
found in the monarchy the necessary counterweight which
prevents the diversified edifice of the State from dissolving
itself into its component parts. The success of this State
system of particularism blended with monarchical solidarity
has been unequalled. The self-governing colonies, able to
shape their own fortunes according to local requirements,
although of much more recent creation than Russia, have
with gigantic strides emerged from primeval savagery and
become highly cultured, prosperous communities, while
Russia has remained practically stationary, and, on the
other hand, Great Britain has proved herself to be much
more united under the spur of Imperialism than Russia
could ever hope to become.
The inference is patent. Russia would be safer in
applying such methods to her future which in the case of Great
Britain have already proved their worth. A republic may
or may not be a good thing in itself, but for Russia under
existing conditions it would no doubt be unsafe and irrational.
According to the democratic idea, the people should have
the means of expressing their will intelligibly. In Russia,
however, the vast majority of her population do not even
understand the nature of a republic, their whole political
conception of the State being rooted in the idea of a monarch
as the viceroy of the Deity.
The principle of democracy demands equal chances for
all as to the development of knowledge, character, and
talent, but is not necessarily bound up with one special
form of State administration. On the contrary, such
government should be adapted to the form of education,
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