Mr. Shaw recently remarked in his concise way that "
everyone was heartily tired of Democracy," but we are glad to see that he was wrong in the case Of Lord -Grey of Fallodon, who- affirmed his- unshaken faith in. that principle of government in a recent address. He admitted, however, that Democracy has lost prestige in the last few years, and, utterly abandoned in Italy, is now, nowhere the unquestioned ideal that it was before the War. It is; of course, both natural and inevitable that any system which . has been iu force during the sufferings of these years should have become to some extent' discredited. But those people whose inexpensive sneers are so often directed- against democracy are the last to. consider its alternatives. The truth is that despite• the cumbersome. unwieldiness of administration that it entails, it is essential to entrust the government of a civilized people to the people. Any privileged persons or class entrusted with the government will in the end govern in the interests of themselves and not in the interests of. the community.
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