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But as the philosopher is apt to fail in the routine of political

life, so the ordinary statesman is also apt to fail in

extraordinary crises. When the face of the world is beginning to

alter, and thunder is heard in the distance, he is still guided

by his old maxims, and is the slave of his inveterate party

prejudices; he cannot perceive the signs of the times; instead of

looking forward he looks back; he learns nothing and forgets

nothing; with 'wise saws and modern instances' he would stem the

rising tide of revolution. He lives more and more within the

circle of his own party, as the world without him becomes

stronger. This seems to be the reason why the old order of things

makes so poor a figure when confronted with the new, why churches

can never reform, why most political changes are made blindly and

convulsively.