Manifestly it was written
before the incident of the Trinity Hall plates, and most of it had
been done after Prothero's visit to Chexington. White could feel
that now inaudible interlocutor. And there were even traces of Sir
Godfrey Marayne's assertion that democracy was contrary to biology.
From the outset it was clear that whatever else it meant, True
Democracy, following the analogy of True Politeness, True Courage,
True Honesty and True Marriage, did not mean democracy at all.
Benham was, in fact, taking Prothero's word, and trying to impose
upon it his own solidifying and crystallizing opinion of life.
They were not as yet very large or well-formed crystals. The
proposition he struggled to develop was this, that True Democracy
did not mean an equal share in the government, it meant an equal
opportunity to share in the government. Men were by nature and in
the most various ways unequal. True Democracy aimed only at the
removal of artificial inequalities. . . .
It was on the truth of this statement, that men were by nature
unequal, that the debate had turned.
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