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obscured, the sense of responsibility forgotten, conscience, discipline and devotion to duty depreciated, and through a Parliamentary policy made up of compromises, intrigues and renunciation, they had ended by dominating the situation. While they still thought themslves the undisputed masters, they found their path blocked one fine day by a solid barrier; after a moment of bewilderment they attempted systematically to break up their opponents.
The efforts made from November 1922 onwards to graft the new order on to the old, so that, while the stimulating and reconstituent action of the new forces was maintained, there should be no solution of continuity in the governance of the State, were wilfully ignored and underrated. The more the process of adaptation progressed, the more the enemy attacked the Government and demanded that it should go. The more concessions were made, the more this opposition, just because it had very different aims, regarded this policy as a symptom of weakness, and therefore took further courage.
However we may define the seizure of power in
