पृष्ठ 559 / 1391

The great crises in the history of nations have often been met by

an ecclesiastical positiveness, and a more obstinate reassertion

of principles which have lost their hold upon a nation. The fixed

ideas of a reactionary statesman may be compared to madness; they

grow upon him, and he becomes possessed by them; no judgement of

others is ever admitted by him to be weighed in the balance

against his own.