Excerpt from The Living Rulers of MankindIt cannot be denied that there has been a considerable transference of power from Kings and Queens, Princes, and other Rulers of the world to the hands of their subjects, and the elected representatives of the people. But, side by side with the growth of democratic institutions and ideals, we see another tendency, which, perhaps, can be best expressed in the form of a paradox, thus - The less they govern, the more important becomes the personal in¿uence of the governors' We do not mean to say that this applies to all countries, it certainly does not apply to such countries as Afghanistan, Abyssinia, or China. But it certainly applies to some European countries, and especially to Great Britain and Ireland.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.