[word=□ | □] □
[word="," | □] □
All that can be said is , that the metaphors and similes employed naturally led to the rule which has prevailed , [ 385 ] and that , as this rule was just as good as any other , or at least was unobjectionable , it was drawn from the figures of speech without attracting attention , and before any one had seen that they were only figures , which proved nothing and justified no conclusion . Under a written , therefore , as under an unwritten constitution , we find in full existence the distinction between the law and the conventions of the constitution . As it is with the American lawyer compared with the American historian , so it is with the English lawyer as compared with the English historian . The task imposed upon British and upon colonial statesmanship is one of infinite difficulty . Now observe that if you take any person , whether an Englishman or Englishwoman , he or she will probably hold that in some one or more of these instances the referendum would have worked ill , and that in some one or more of these instances it would have worked well .