The English polity was in the main a common-sense structure, but there was always a corner in it where common-sense could not enter--where, somehow or other, the ordinary measurements were not applicable and the ordinary rules did not apply.
So our ancestors had laid it down, giving scope, in their wisdom, to that mystical element which, as it seems, can never quite be eradicated from the affairs of men.

Naturally it was in the Crown that the mysticism of the English polity was concentrated--the Crown, with its venerable antiquity, its sacred associations, its imposing spectacular array.

But, for nearly two centuries, common-sense had been predominant in the great building, and the little, unexplored, inexplicable corner had attracted small attention.

Then, with the rise of imperialism, there was a change.

For imperialism is a faith as well as a business; as it grew, the mysticism in English public life grew with it; and simultaneously a new importance began to attach to the Crown.