to others and themselves the british have a reputation for being conservative——not in the narrow political sense, but in the sense of adherence to accepted ideas and unwilling to question them.the reputation comes partly from their 1 .for 900 2 they have suffered 3 invasion nor revolution (except in 1649 4 1688) nor disastrous defeat in 5 .
their monarchy (君主政体) survives 6 serious question.under its normal 7 the political arrangements have been 8 stable that, except for the 9 interruptions in the seventeenth 10 , they have been adopted throughout 11 centuries to meet changing needs without violent 12 .britain, in 1978, was 13 in managing without 14 written constitution. some fragmentary definitions of 1688 still 15 .there had been 16 quarrels, social and economic as well 17 political, but the quarrels had been 18 , usually 19 compromise.the underlying 20 had not been broken.