278 SELF AND NEIGHBOUR

upon a spirit rather than a system. In the last resort it
depends upon the hearts of the people themselves. A
Brotherhood can be constituted only as men are themselves
brothers indeed. The same may be said of the ideal of
Democracy. Democracy has had its critics, who declared
that it was disintegrating, having a strong tendency to
individualism. It may be said by way of defence that the
participation of the citizen in the government of his country
tends to give strength and unity to the democratic body.'
And this may be granted. Nevertheless it should be recog-
nised that such participation is more or less imperfect, until
the souls of a people are really united in heart. A true
democracy is a spiritual unity. The democratic will can
possess noble quality only as it is the expression of such
a spiritual unity.
In the absence of the spirit of brotherhood every attempt
to reconstruct the social order must surely fail. The recon-
struction must be inward — in the hearts of men — ^rather than
outward — ^by means of legislation. Otherwise, every merely
economic or political system will break down through the
failure of the human factor — ^through the inabiUty of the
individual to abandon the competitive spirit, or to eschew
selfish ambition, or to subordinate and sacrifice himself
on occasion.
