,,physics ,,and ,,politics   ,,or       
,,thoughts ,,on ,,the ,,application ,,of
 ,,the ,,principles ,,of ',,natural     
,,selection' ,,and ',,inheritance' ,,to 
,,political ,,society  ,,by ,,walter    
,,bagehot   ,,new ,,and ,,cheaper       
,,edition 7also published in the        
,international ,scientific ,series1     
crown #hvo4 #es47     ,,contents4       
,i4  ,,the ,,preliminary ,,age   ,,ii4  
,,the ,,use ,,of ,,conflict  ,,iii4     
,,nation-,,making   ,,iv4               
,,nation-,,making    ,v4  ,,the ,,age   
,,of ,,discussion   ,,vi4  ,,verifiable 
,,progress ,,politically ,,considered   
,,no4 ,i4  ,,the ,,preliminary ,,age4   
,one peculiarity of this age is the     
sudden acquisition of much physical     
knowledge4 ,there is scarcely a         
department of science or art which is   
the same1 or at all the same1 as it was 
fifty years ago4 ,a new world of        
inventions--of railways and of          
telegraphs--has grown up around us which
 we cannot help seeing2 a new world of  

ideas is in the air and affects us1     
though we do not see it4 ,a full        
estimate of these effects would require 
a great book1 and ,i am sure ,i could   
not write it2 but ,i think ,i may       
usefully1 in a few papers1 show how1    
upon one or two great points1 the new   
ideas are modifying two old             
sciences--politics and political        
economy4 ,even upon these points my     
ideas must be incomplete1 for the       
subject is novel2 but1 at any rate1 ,i  
may suggest some conclusions1 and so    
show what is requisite even if ,i do not
 supply it4  ,if we wanted to describe  
one of the most marked results1 perhaps 
the most marked result1 of late thought1
 we should say that by it everything is 
made 'an antiquity4' ,when1 in former   
times2 our ancestors thought of an      
antiquarian1 they described him as      
occupied with coins1 and medals1 and    
,druids' stones2 these were then the    
characteristic records of the           
decipherable past1 and it was with these

 that decipherers busied themselves4    
,but now there are other relics2 indeed1
 all matter is become such4 ,science    
tries to find in each bit of earth the  
record of the causes which made it      
precisely what it is2 those forces have 
left their trace1 she knows1 as much as 
the tact and hand of the artist left    
their mark on a classical gem4 ,it would
 be tedious 7and it is not in my way7 to
 reckon up the ingenious questionings by
 which geology has made part of the     
earth1 at least1 tell part of its tale2 
and the answers would have been         
meaningless if physiology and conchology
 and a hundred similar sciences had not 
brought their aid4 ,such subsidiary     
sciences are to the decipherer of the   
present day what old languages were to  
the antiquary of other days2 they       
construe for him the words which he     
discovers1 they give a richness and a   
truth-like complexity to the picture    
which he paints1 even in cases where the
 particular detail they tell is not     

much4 ,but what here concerns me is that
 man himself has1 to the eye of science1
 become 'an antiquity4' ,she tries to   
read1 is beginning to read1 knows she   
ought to read1 in the frame of each man 
the result of a whole history of all his
 life1 of what he is and what makes him 
so1--of all his fore-fathers1 of what   
they were and of what made them so4     
,each nerve has a sort of memory of its 
past life1 is trained or not trained1   
dulled or quickened1 as the case may be2
 each feature is shaped and             
characterised1 or left loose and        
meaningless1 as may happen2 each hand is
 marked with its trade and life1 subdued
 to what it works in2--,,if ,,we ,,could
 ,,but ,,see ,,it4  ,it may be answered 
that in this there is nothing new2 that 
we always knew how much a man's past    
modified a man's future2 that we all    
knew how much1 a man is apt to be like  
his ancestors2 that the existence of    
national character is the greatest      
commonplace in the world2 that when a   

philosopher cannot account for anything 
in any other manner1 he boldly ascribes 
it to an occult quality in some race4   
,but what physical science does is1 not 
to discover the hereditary element1 but 
to render it distinct1--to give us an   
accurate conception of what we may      
expect1 and a good account of the       
evidence by which we are led to expect  
it4 ,let us see what that science       
teaches on the subject2 and1 as far as  
may be1 ,i will give it in the words of 
those who have made it a professional   
study1 both that ,i may be more sure to 
state it rightly and vividly1 and       
because--as ,i am about to apply these  
principles to subjects which are my own 
pursuit--,i would rather have it quite  
clear that ,i have not made my premises 
to suit my own conclusions4  #ast1 then1
 as respects the individual1 we learn as
 follows3 ',even while the cerebral     
hemispheres are entire1 and in full     
possession of their powers1 the brain   
gives rise to actions which are as      

completely reflex as those of the spinal
 cord4  ',when the eyelids wink at a    
flash of light1 or a threatened blow1 a 
reflex action takes place1 in which the 
afferent nerves are the optic1 the      
efferent1 the facial4 ,when a bad smell 
causes a grimace1 there is a reflex     
action through the same motor nerve1    
while the olfactory nerves constitute   
the afferent channels4 ,in these cases1 
therefore1 reflex action must be        
effected through the brain1 all the     
nerves involved being cerebral4 ',when  
the whole body starts at a loud noise1  
the afferent auditory nerve gives rise  
to an impulse which passes to the       
medulla oblongata1 and thence affects   
the great majority of the motor nerves  
of the body4 ',it may be said that these
 are mere mechanical actions1 and have  
nothing to do with the acts which we    
associate with intelligence4 ,but let us
 consider what takes place in such an   
act as reading aloud4 ,in this case1 the
 whole attention of the mind is1 or     

ought to be1 bent upon the              
subject-matter of the book2 while a     
multitude of most delicate muscular     
actions are going on1 of which the      
reader is not in the slightest degree   
aware4 ,thus the book is held in the    
hand1 at the right distance from the    
eyes2 the eyes are moved1 from side to  
side1 over the lines1 and up and down   
the pages4 ,further1 the most delicately
 adjusted and rapid movements of the    
muscles of the lips1 tongue1 and throat1
 of laryngeal and respiratory muscles1  
are involved in the production of       
speech4 ,perhaps the reader is standing 
up and accompanying the lecture with    
appropriate gestures4 ,and yet every one
 of these muscular acts may be performed
 with utter unconsciousness1 on his     
part1 of anything but the sense of the  
words in the book4 ,in other words1 they
 are reflex acts4  ',the reflex actions 
proper to the spinal cord itself are    
,,natural1 and are involved in the      
structure of the cord and the properties

 of its constituents4 ,by the help of   
the brain we may acquire an affinity of 
,,artificial reflex actions4 ,that is to
 say1 an action may require all our     
attention and all our volition for its  
first1 or second1 or third performance1 
but by frequent repetition it becomes1  
in a manner1 part our organisation1 and 
is performed without volition1 or even  
consciousness4  ',as everyone knows1 it 
takes a soldier a very long time to     
learn his drill--to put himself1 for    
instance1 into the attitude of          
'attention' at the instant the word of  
command is heard4 ,but1 after a time1   
the sound of the word gives rise to the 
act1 whether the soldier be thinking of 
it or not4 ,there is a story1 which is  
credible enough1 though it may not be   
true1 of a practical joker1 who1 seeing 
a discharged veteran carrying home his  
dinner1 suddenly called out             
',attention6' whereupon the man         
instantly brought his hands down1 and   
lost his mutton and potatoes in the     

gutter4 ,the drill had been gone        
through1 and its effects had become     
embodied in the man's nervous structure4
  ',the possibility of all education 7of
 which military drill is only one       
particular form7 is based upon1 the     
existence of this power which the       
nervous system possesses1 of organising 
conscious actions into more or less     
unconscious1 or reflex1 operations4 ,it 
may be laid down as a rule1 that if any 
two mental states be called up together1
 or in succession1 with due frequency   
and vividness1 the subsequent production
 of the one of them will suffice to call
 up the other1 and that whether we      
desire it or not4'#a    #a ,huxley's    
,elementary ,physiology1 pp4 #bhd-bhf4  
,the body of the accomplished man has   
thus become by training different from  
what it once was1 and different from    
that of the rude man2 it is charged with
 stored virtue and acquired faculty     
which come away from it unconsciously4  
,again1 as to race1 another authority   

teaches3--',man's life truly represents 
a progressive development of the nervous
 system1 none the less so because it    
takes place out of the womb instead of  
in it4 ,the regular transmutation of    
motions which are at first voluntary    
into secondary automatic motions1 as    
,hartley calls them1 is due to a        
gradually effected organisation2 and we 
may rest assured of this1 that          
co-ordinate activity always testifies to
 stored-up power1 either innate or      
acquired4  ',the way in which an        
acquired faculty of the parent animal is
 sometimes distinctly transmitted to the
 progeny as a heritage1 instinct1 or    
innate endowment1 furnishes a striking  
confirmation of the foregoing           
observations4 ,power that has been      
laboriously acquired and stored up as   
statical in one generation manifestly in
 such case becomes the inborn faculty of
 the next2 and the development takes    
place in accordance with that law of    
increasing speciality and complexity of 

adaptation to external nature which is  
traceable through the animal kingdom2   
or1 in other words1 that law1 of        
progress from the general to the special
 in development which the appearance of 
nerve force amongst natural forces and  
the complexity of the nervous system of 
man both illustrate4 ,as the vital force
 gathers up1 as it were1 into itself    
inferior forces1 and might be said to be
 a development of them1 or1 as in the   
appearance of nerve force1 simpler and  
more general forces are gathered up and 
concentrated in a more special and      
complex mode of energy2 so again a      
further specialisation takes place in   
the development of the nervous system1  
whether watched through generations or  
through individual life4 ,it is not by  
limiting our observations to the life of
 the individual1 however1 who is but a  
link in the chain of organic beings     
connecting the past with the future1    
that we shall come at the full truth2   
the present individual is the inevitable

 consequence of his antecedents in the  
past1 and in the examination of these   
alone do we arrive at the adequate      
explanation of him4 ,it behoves us1     
then1 having found any faculty to be    
innate1 not to rest content there1 but  
steadily to follow backwards the line of
 causation1 and thus to display1 if     
possible1 its manner of origin4 ,this is
 the more necessary with the lower      
animals1 where so much is innate4'#b    
#b ,maudsley on the ,physiology and     
,pathology of the ,mind1 p4 #gc4    ,the
 special laws of inheritance are indeed 
as yet unknown4 ,all which is clear1 and
 all which is to my purpose is1 that    
there is a tendency1 a probability1     
greater or less according to            
circumstances1 but always considerable1 
that the descendants of cultivated      
parents will have1 by born nervous      
organisation1 a greater aptitude for    
cultivation than the descendants of such
 as are not cultivated2 and that this   
tendency augments1 in some enhanced     

ratio1 for many generations4  ,i do not 
think any who do not acquire--and it    
takes a hard effort to acquire--this    
notion of a transmitted nerve element   
will ever understand 'the connective    
tissue' of civilisation4 ,we have here  
the continuous force which binds age to 
age1 which enables each to begin with   
some improvement on the last1 if the    
last did itself improve2 which makes    
each civilisation not a set of detached 
dots1 but a line of colour1 surely      
enhancing shade by shade4 ,there is1 by 
this doctrine1 a physical cause of      
improvement from generation to          
generation3 and no imagination which has
 apprehended it can forget it2 but      
unless you appreciate that cause in its 
subtle materialism1 unless you see it1  
as it were1 playing upon the nerves of  
men1 and1 age after age1 making nicer   
music from finer chords1 you cannot     
comprehend the principle of inheritance 
either in its mystery or its power4     
,these principles are quite independent 

of any theory as to the nature of       
matter1 or the nature of mind4 ,they are
 as true upon the theory that mind acts 
on matter--though separate and          
altogether different from it--as upon   
the theory of ,bishop ,berkeley that    
there is no matter1 but only mind2 or   
upon the contrary theory--that there is 
no mind1 but only matter2 or upon the   
yet subtler theory now often held--that 
both mind and matter are different      
modifications of some one tertium quid1 
some hidden thing or force4 ,all these  
theories admit--indeed they are but     
various theories to account for--the    
fact that what we call matter has       
consequences in what we call mind1 and  
that what we call mind produces results 
in what we call matter2 and the         
doctrines ,i quote assume only that4    
,our mind in some strange way acts on   
our nerves1 and our nerves in some      
equally strange way store up the        
consequences1 and somehow the result1 as
 a rule and commonly enough1 goes down  

to our descendants2 these primitive     
facts all theories admit1 and all of    
them labour to explain4  ,nor have these
 plain principles any relation to the   
old difficulties of necessity and       
freewill4 ,every ,freewillist holds that
 the special force of free volition is  
applied to the pre-existing forces of   
our corporeal structure2 he does not    
consider it as an agency acting in      
vacuo1 but as an agency acting upon     
other agencies4 ,every ,freewillist     
holds that1 upon the whole1 if you      
strengthen the motive in a given        
direction1 mankind tend more to act in  
that direction4 ,better motives--better 
impulses1 rather--come from a good body3
 worse motives or worse impulses come   
from a bad body4 ,a ,freewillist may    
admit as much as a ,necessarian that    
such improved conditions tend to improve
 human action1 and that deteriorated    
conditions tend to deprave human action4
 ,no ,freewillist ever expects as much  
from ,st4 ,giles's as he expects from   

,belgravia3 he admits an hereditary     
nervous system as a datum for the will1 
though he holds the will to be an       
extraordinary incoming 'something4' ,no 
doubt the modern doctrine of the        
',conservation of ,force1' if applied to
 decision1 is inconsistent with free    
will2 if you hold that force 'is never  
lost or gained1' you cannot hold that   
there is a real gain--a sort of new     
creation of it in free volition4 ,but ,i
 have nothing to do here with the       
universal ',conservation of ,force4'    
,the conception of the nervous organs as
 stores of will-made power does not     
raise or need so vast a discussion4     
,still less are these principles to be  
confounded with ,mr4 ,buckle's idea that
 material forces have been the          
main-springs of progress1 and moral     
causes secondary1 and1 in comparison1   
not to be thought of4 ,on the contrary1 
moral causes are the first here4 ,it is 
the action of the will that causes the  
unconscious habit2 it is the continual  

effort of the beginning that creates the
 hoarded energy of the end2 it is the   
silent toil of the first generation that
 becomes the transmitted aptitude of the
 next4 ,here physical causes do not     
create the moral1 but moral create the  
physical2 here the beginning is by the  
higher energy1 the conservation and     
propagation only by the lower4 ,but we  
thus perceive how a science of history  
is possible1 as ,mr4 ,buckle said1--a   
science to teach the laws of            
tendencies--created by the mind1 and    
transmitted by the body--which act upon 
and incline the will of man from age to 
age4   ,,ii4  ,but how do these         
principles change the philosophy of our 
politics8 ,i think in many ways2 and    
first1 in one particularly4 ,political  
economy is the most systematised and    
most accurate part of political         
philosophy2 and yet1 by the help of what
 has been laid down1 ,i think we may    
travel back to a sort of 'pre-economic  
age1' when the very assumptions of      

political economy did not exist1 when   
its precepts would have been ruinous1   
and when the very contrary precepts were
 requisite and wise4  ,for this purpose 
,i do not need to deal with the dim ages
 which ethnology just reveals to        
us--with the stone age1 and the flint   
implements1 and the refuse-heaps4 ,the  
time to which ,i would go back is only  
that just before the dawn of            
history--coeval with the dawn1 perhaps1 
it would be right to say--for the first 
historians saw such a state of society1 
though they saw other and more advanced 
states too3 a period of which we have   
distinct descriptions from              
eye-witnesses1 and of which the traces  
and consequences abound in the oldest   
law4 ',the effect1' says ,sir ,henry    
,maine1 the greatest of our living      
jurists--the only one1 perhaps1 whose   
writings are in keeping with our best   
philosophy--'of the evidence derived    
from comparative jurisprudence is to    
establish that view of the primeval     

condition of the human race which is    
known as the ,patriarchal ,theory4      
,there is no doubt1 of course1 that this
 theory was originally based on the     
,scriptural history of the ,hebrew      
patriarchs in ,lower ,asia2 but1 as has 
been explained already1 its connection  
with ,scripture rather militated than   
otherwise against its reception as a    
complete theory1 since the majority of  
the inquirers who till recently         
addressed themselves with most          
earnestness to the colligation of social
 phenomena1 were either influenced by   
the strongest prejudice against ,hebrew 
antiquities or by the strongest desire  
to construct their system without the   
assistance of religious records4 ,even  
now there is perhaps a disposition to   
undervalue these accounts1 or rather to 
decline generalising from them1 as      
forming part of the traditions of a     
,semitic people4 ,it is to be noted1    
however1 that the legal testimony comes 
nearly exclusively from the institutions

 of societies belonging to the          
,indo-,european stock1 the ,romans1     
,hindoos1 and ,sclavonians supplying the
 greater part of it2 and indeed the     
difficulty1 at the present stage of the 
inquiry1 is to know where to stop1 to   
say of what races of men it is ,,not    
allowable to lay down that the society  
in which they are united was originally 
organised on the patriarchal model4 ,the
 chief lineaments of such a society1 as 
collected from the early chapters in    
,genesis1 ,i need not attempt to depict 
with any minuteness1 both because they  
are familiar to most of us from our     
earliest childhood1 and because1 from   
the interest once attaching to the      
controversy which takes its name from   
the debate between ,locke and ,filmer1  
they fill a whole chapter1 though not a 
very profitable one1 in ,english        
literature4 ,the points which lie on the
 surface of the history are these3--,the
 eldest male parent--the eldest         
ascendant--is absolutely supreme in his 

household4 ,his dominion extends to life
 and death1 and is as unqualified over  
his children and their houses as over   
his slaves2 indeed the relations of     
sonship and serfdom appear to differ in 
little beyond the higher capacity which 
the child in blood possesses of becoming
 one day the head of a family himself4  
,the flocks and herds of the children   
are the flocks and herds of the father1 
and the possessions of the parent1 which
 he holds in a representative rather    
than in a proprietary character1 are    
equally divided at his death among his  
descendants in the first degree1 the    
eldest son sometimes receiving a double 
share under the name of birthright1 but 
more generally endowed with no          
hereditary advantage beyond an honorary 
precedence4 ,a less obvious inference   
from the ,scriptural accounts is that   
they seem to plant us on the traces of  
the breach which is first effected in   
the empire of the parent4 ,the families 
of ,jacob and ,esau separate and form   

two nations2 but the families of        
,jacob's children hold together and     
become a people4 ,this looks like the   
immature germ of a state or             
commonwealth1 and of an order of rights 
superior to the claims of family        
relation4  ',if ,i were attempting for  
the more special purposes of the jurist 
to express compendiously the            
characteristics1 of the situation in    
which mankind disclose themselves at the
 dawn of their history1 ,i should be    
satisfied to quote a few verses from the
 ,odyssee of ,homer3--    ',tosin d'    
out' agorai boulphroi oute thmistes1    
themisteei d hkastos   padn ed alchn1   
out' allln algousin4'  ',they have      
neither assemblies for consultation nor 
,,themistes1 but everyone exercises     
jurisdiction over his wives and his     
children1 and they pay no regard to one 
another4' ,and this description of the  
beginnings of history is confirmed by   
what may be called the last lesson of   
prehistoric ethnology4 ,perhaps it is   

the most valuable1 as it is clearly the 
most sure result of that science1 that  
it has dispelled the dreams of other    
days as to a primitive high             
civilisation4 ,history catches man as he
 emerges1 from the patriarchal state3   
ethnology shows how he lived1 grew1 and 
improved in that state4 ,the conclusive 
arguments against the imagined original 
civilisation are indeed plain to        
everyone4 ,nothing is more intelligible 
than a moral deterioration of           
mankind--nothing than an aesthetic      
degradation--nothing than a political   
degradation4 ,but you cannot imagine    
mankind giving up the plain utensils of 
personal comfort1 if they once knew     
them2 still less can you imagine them   
giving up good weapons--say bows and    
arrows--if they once knew them4 ,yet if 
there were a primitive civilisation     
these things ,,must have been forgotten1
 for tribes can be found in every degree
 of ignorance1 and every grade of       
knowledge as to pottery1 as to the      

metals1 as to the means of comfort1 as  
to the instruments of war4 ,and what is 
more1 these savages have not failed from
 stupidity2 they are1 in various degrees
 of originality1 inventive about these  
matters4 ,you cannot trace the roots of 
an old perfect system variously maimed  
and variously dying2 you cannot find it1
 as you find the trace of the ,latin    
language in the mediaeval dialects4 ,on 
the contrary1 you find it beginning--as 
new scientific discoveries and          
inventions now begin--here a little and 
there a little1 the same thing half-done
 in various half-ways1 and so as no one 
who knew the best way would ever have   
begun4 ,an idea used to prevail that    
bows and arrows were the 'primitive     
weapons'--the weapons of universal      
savages2 but modern science has made a  
table1#c and some savages have them and 
some have not1 and some have substitutes
 of one sort and some have substitutes  
of another--several of these substitutes
 being like the 'boomerang1' so much    

more difficult to hit on or to use than 
the bow1 as well as so much less        
effectual4 ,and not only may the        
miscellaneous races of the world be     
justly described as being upon various  
edges of industrial civilisation1       
approaching it by various sides1 and    
falling short of it in various          
particulars1 but the moment they see the
 real thing they know how to use it as  
well1 or better1 than civilised man4    
,the ,south ,american uses the horse    
which the ,european brought better than 
the ,european4 ,many races use the      
rifle--the especial and very complicated
 weapon of civilised man--better1 upon  
an average1 than he can use it4 ,the    
savage with simple tools--tools he      
appreciates--is like a child1 quick to  
learn1 not like an old man1 who has once
 forgotten and who cannot acquire again4
 ,again1 if there had been an excellent 
aboriginal civilisation in ,australia   
and ,america1 where1 botanists and      
zoologists1 ask1 are its vestiges8 ,if  

these savages did care to cultivate     
wheat1 where is the wild wheat gone     
which their abandoned culture must have 
left8 if they did give up using good    
domestic animals1 what has become of the
 wild ones which would1 according to all
 natural laws1 have sprung up out of    
them8 ,this much is certain1 that the   
domestic animals of ,europe have1 since 
what may be called the discovery of the 
,,world during the last hundred years1  
run up and down it4 ,the ,english       
rat--not the pleasantest of our domestic
 creatures--has gone everywhere2 to     
,australia1 to ,new ,zealand1 to        
,america3 nothing but a complicated     
rat-miracle could ever root him out4    
,nor could a common force expel the     
horse from ,south ,america since the    
,spaniards took him thither2 if we did  
not know the contrary we should suppose 
him a principal aboriginal animal4      
,where then1 so to say1 are the rats and
 horses of the primitive civilisation8  
,not only can we not find them1 but     

zoological science tells us that they   
never existed1 for the 'feebly          
pronounced1' the ineffectual1 marsupials
 of ,australia and ,new ,zealand could  
never have survived a competition with  
better creatures1 such as that by which 
they are now perishing4 ,we catch then a
 first glimpse of patriarchal man1 not  
with any industrial relics of a         
primitive civilisation1 but with some   
gradually learnt knowledge of the       
simpler arts1 with some tamed animals   
and some little knowledge of the course 
of nature as far as it tells upon the   
seasons and affects the condition of    
simple tribes4 ,this is what1 according 
to ethnology1 we should expect the first
 historic man to be1 and this is what we
 in fact find him4 ,but what was his    
mind2 how are we to describe that8    #c
 ,see the very careful table and        
admirable discussion in ,sir ,john      
,lubbock's ,pre-,historic ,times4    ,i 
believe the general description in which
 ,sir ,john ,lubbock sums up his        

estimate of the savage mind suits the   
patriarchal mind4 ',savages1' he says1  
'unite the character of childhood with  
the passions and strength of men4' ,and 
if we open the first record of the pagan
 world--the poems of ,homer--how much do
 we find that suits this description    
better than any other4 ,civilisation has
 indeed already gone forward ages beyond
 the time at which any such description 
is complete4 ,man1 in ,homer1 is as good
 at oratory1 ,mr4 ,gladstone seems to   
say1 as he has ever been1 and1 much as  
that means1 other and better things     
might be added to it4 ,but after all1   
how much of the 'splendid savage' there 
is in ,achilles1 and how much of the    
'spoiled child sulking in his tent4'    
,impressibility and excitability are the
 main characteristics of the oldest     
,greek history1 and if we turn to the   
east1 the 'simple and violent' world1 as
 ,mr4 ,kinglake calls it1 of the first  
times meets us every moment4  ,and this 
is precisely what we should expect4 ,an 

'inherited drill1' science says1 'makes 
modern nations what they are2 their born
 structure bears the trace of the laws  
of their fathers2' but the ancient      
nations came into no such inheritance2  
they were the descendants of people who 
did what was right in their own eyes2   
they were born to no tutored habits1 no 
preservative bonds1 and therefore they  
were at the mercy of every impulse and  
blown by every passion4  ,the condition 
of the primitive man1 if we conceive of 
him rightly1 is1 in several respects1   
different from any we know4 ,we         
unconsciously assume around us the      
existence of a great miscellaneous      
social machine working to our hands1 and
 not only supplying our wants1 but even 
telling and deciding when those wants   
shall come4 ,no one can now without     
difficulty conceive how people got on   
before there were clocks and watches2 as
 ,sir ,g4 ,lewis said1 'it takes a      
vigorous effort of the imagination' to  
realise a period when it was a serious  

difficulty to know the hour of day4 ,and
 much more is it difficult to fancy the 
unstable minds of such men as neither   
knew nature1 which is the clock-work of 
material civilisation1 nor possessed a  
polity1 which is a kind of clock-work to
 moral civilisation4 ,they never could  
have known what to expect2 the whole    
habit of steady but varied anticipation1
 which makes our minds what they are1   
must have been wholly foreign to theirs4
  ,again1 ,i at least cannot call up to 
myself the loose conceptions 7as they   
must have been7 of morals which then    
existed4 ,if we set aside all the       
element derived from law and polity     
which runs through our current moral    
notions1 ,i hardly know what we shall   
have left4 ,the residuum was somehow1   
and in some vague way1 intelligible to  
the ante-political man1 but it must have
 been uncertain1 wavering1 and unfit to 
be depended upon4 ,in the best cases it 
existed much as the vague feeling of    
beauty now exists in minds sensitive but

 untaught2 a still small voice of       
uncertain meaning2 an unknown something 
modifying everything else1 and higher   
than anything else1 yet in form so      
indistinct that when you looked for it1 
it was gone--or if this be thought the  
delicate fiction of a later fancy1 then 
morality was at least to be found in the
 wild spasms of 'wild justice1' half    
punishment1 half outrage1--but anyhow1  
being unfixed by steady law1 it was     
intermittent1 vague1 and hard for us to 
imagine4 ,everybody who has studied     
mathematics knows how many shadowy      
difficulties he seemed to have before he
 understood the problem1 and how        
impossible it was when once the         
demonstration had flashed upon him1 ever
 to comprehend those indistinct         
difficulties again1 or to call up the   
mental confusion1 that admitted them4   
,so in these days1 when we cannot by any
 effort drive out of our minds the      
notion of law1 we cannot imagine the    
mind of one who had never known it1 and 

who could not by any effort have        
conceived it4  ,again1 the primitive man
 could not have imagined what we mean by
 a nation4 ,we on the other hand cannot 
imagine those to whom it is a           
difficulty2 'we know what it is when you
 do not ask us1' but we cannot very     
quickly explain or define it4 ,but so   
much as this is plain1 a nation means a 
,,like body of men1 because of that     
likeness capable of acting together1 and
 because of that likeness inclined to   
obey similar rules2 and even this       
,homer's ,cyclops--used only to sparse  
human beings--could not have conceived4 
,to sum up--,,law--rigid1 definite1     
concise law--is the primary want of     
early mankind2 that which they need     
above anything else1 that which is      
requisite before they can gain anything 
else4 ,but it is their greatest         
difficulty1 as well as their first      
requisite2 the thing most out of their  
reach1 as well as that most beneficial  
to them if they reach it4 ,in later ages

 many races have gained much of this    
discipline quickly1 though painfully2 a 
loose set of scattered clans has been   
often and often forced to substantial   
settlement by a rigid conqueror2 the    
,romans did half the work for above half
 ,europe4 ,but where could the first    
ages find ,romans or a conqueror8 ,men  
conquer by the power of government1 and 
it was exactly government which then was
 not4 ,the first ascent of civilisation 
was at a steep gradient1 though when now
 we look down upon it1 it seems almost  
nothing4   ,,iii4  ,how the step from   
polity to no polity was made distinct1  
history does not record1--on this point 
,sir ,henry ,maine has drawn a most     
interesting conclusion from his peculiar
 studies3--  ',it would be1' he tells   
us1 'a very simple explanation of the   
origin of society if we could base a    
general conclusion on the hint furnished
 us by the scriptural example already   
adverted to1 and could suppose that     
communities began to exist wherever a   

family held together instead of         
separating at the death of its          
patriarchal chieftain4 ,in most of the  
,greek states and in ,rome there long   
remained the vestiges of an ascending   
series of groups out of which the state 
was at first constituted4 ,the family1  
house1 and tribe of the ,romans may be  
taken as a type of them1 and they are so
 described to us that we can scarcely   
help conceiving them as a system of     
concentric circles which have gradually 
expanded from the same point4 ,the      
elementary group is the family1         
connected by common subjection to the   
highest male ascendant4 ,the aggregation
 of families forms the gens1 or house4  
,the aggregation of houses makes the    
tribe4 ,the aggregation of tribes       
constitutes the commonwealth4 ,are we at
 liberty to follow these indications1   
and to lay down that the commonwealth is
 a collection of persons united by      
common descent from the progenitor of an
 original family8 ,of this we may at    

least be certain1 that all ancient      
societies regarded themselves as having 
proceeded from one original stock1 and  
even laboured under an incapacity for   
comprehending any reason except this for
 their holding together in political    
union4 ,the history of political ideas  
begins1 in fact1 with the assumption    
that kinship in blood is the sole       
possible ground of community in         
political functions2 nor is there any of
 those subversions of feeling1 which we 
term emphatically revolutions1 so       
startling and so complete as the change 
which is accomplished when some other   
principle--such as that1 for instance1  
of ,,local ,,contiguity--establishes    
itself for the first time as the basis  
of common political action4'  ,if this  
theory were true1 the origin of politics
 would not seem a great change1 or1 in  
early days1 be really a great change4   
,the primacy of the elder brother1 in   
tribes casually cohesive1 would be      
slight2 it would be the beginning of    

much1 but it would be nothing in itself2
 it would be--to take an illustration   
from the opposite end of the political  
series--it would be like the headship of
 a weak parliamentary leader over       
adherents who may divide from him in a  
moment2 it was the germ of              
sovereignty1--it was hardly yet         
sovereignty itself4  ,i do not myself   
believe that the suggestion of ,sir     
,henry ,maine--for he does not1 it will 
be seen1 offer it as a confident        
theory--is an adequate account of the   
true origin of politics4 ,i shall in a  
subsequent essay show that there are1 as
 it seems to me1 abundant evidences of a
 time still older than that which he    
speaks of4 ,but the theory of ,sir      
,henry ,maine serves my present purpose 
well4 ,it describes1 and truly          
describes1 a kind of life antecedent to 
our present politics1 and the conclusion
 ,i have drawn from it will be          
strengthened1 not weakened1 when we come
 to examine and deal with an age yet    

older1 and a social bond far more       
rudimentary4  ,but when once polities   
were began1 there is no difficulty in   
explaining why they lasted4 ,whatever   
may be said against the principle of    
'natural selection' in other            
departments1 there is no doubt of its   
predominance in early human history4    
,the strongest killed out the weakest1  
as they could4 ,and ,i need not pause to
 prove that any form of politics more   
efficient than none2 that an aggregate  
of families owning even a slippery      
allegiance to a single head1 would be   
sure to have the better of a set of     
families acknowledging no obedience to  
anyone1 but scattering loose about the  
world and fighting where they stood4    
,homer's ,cyclops would be powerless    
against the feeblest band2 so far from  
its being singular that we find no other
 record of that state of man1 so        
unstable and sure to perish was it that 
we should rather wonder at even a single
 vestige lasting down to the age when   

for picturesqueness it became valuable  
in poetry4  ,but1 though the origin of  
polity is dubious1 we are upon the terra
 firma of actual records when we speak  
of the preservation of polities4        
,perhaps every young ,englishman who    
comes now-a-days to ,aristotle or ,plato
 is struck with their conservatism3     
fresh from the liberal doctrines of the 
present age1 he wonders at finding in   
those recognised teachers so much       
contrary teaching4 ,they both--unlike as
 they are--hold with ,xenophon--so      
unlike both--that man is the 'hardest of
 all animals to govern4' ,of ,plato it  
might indeed be plausibly said that the 
adherents of an intuitive philosophy1   
being 'the tories of speculation1' have 
commonly been prone to conservatism in  
government2 but ,aristotle1 the founder 
of the experience philosophy1 ought1    
according to that doctrine1 to have been
 a liberal1 if anyone ever was a        
liberal4 ,in fact1 both of these men    
lived when men had not 'had time to     

forget' the difficulties of government4 
,we have forgotten them altogether4 ,we 
reckon1 as the basis of our culture1    
upon an amount of order1 of tacit       
obedience1 of prescriptive              
governability1 which these philosophers 
hoped to get as a principal result of   
their culture4 ,we take without thought 
as a datum1 what they hunted as a       
quaesilum4  ,in early times the quantity
 of government is much more important   
than its quality4 ,what you want is a   
comprehensive rule binding men together1
 making them do much the same things1   
telling them what to expect of each     
other--fashioning them alike1 and       
keeping them so4 ,what this rule is does
 not matter so much4 ,a good rule is    
better than a bad one1 but any rule is  
better than none2 while1 for reasons    
which a jurist will appreciate1 none can
 be very good4 ,but to gain that rule1  
what may be called the impressive       
elements of a polity are incomparably   
more important than its useful elements4

 ,how to get the obedience of men is the
 hard problem2 what you do with that    
obedience is less critical4  ,to gain   
that obedience1 the primary condition is
 the identity--not the union1 but the   
sameness--of what we now call ,church   
and ,state4 ,dr4 ,arnold1 fresh from the
 study of ,greek thought and ,roman     
history1 used to preach that this       
identity was the great cure for the     
misguided modern world4 ,but he spoke to
 ears filled with other sounds and minds
 filled with other thoughts1 and they   
hardly knew his meaning1 much less      
heeded it4 ,but though the teaching was 
wrong for the modern age to which it was
 applied1 it was excellent for the old  
world from which it was learnt4 ,what is
 there requisite is a single            
government--call it ,church or ,state1  
as you like--regulating the whole of    
human life4 ,no division of power is    
then endurable without danger--probably 
without destruction2 the priest must not
 teach one thing and the king another2  

king must be priest1 and prophet king3  
the two must say the same1 because they 
are the same4 ,the idea of difference   
between spiritual penalties and legal   
penalties must never be awakened4       
,indeed1 early ,greek thought or early  
,roman thought would never have         
comprehended it4 ,there was a kind of   
rough public opinion and there were     
rough1 very rough1 hands which acted on 
it4 ,we now talk of political penalties 
and ecclesiastical prohibition1 and the 
social censure1 but they were all one   
then4 ,nothing is very like those old   
communities now1 but perhaps a 'trade's 
union' is as near as most things2 to    
work cheap is thought to be a 'wicked'  
thing1 and so some ,broadhead puts it   
down4  ,the object of such organisations
 is to create what may be called a cake 
of custom4 ,all the actions of life are 
to be submitted to a single rule for a  
single object2 that gradually created   
the 'hereditary drill' which science    
teaches to be essential1 and which the  

early instinct of men saw to be         
essential too4 ,that this regime forbids
 free thought is not an evil2 or rather1
 though an evil1 it is the necessary    
basis for the greatest good2 it is      
necessary for making the mould of       
civilisation1 and hardening the soft    
fibre of early man4  ,the first recorded
 history of the ,aryan race shows       
everywhere a king1 a council1 and1 as   
the necessity of early conflicts        
required1 the king in much prominence   
and with much power4 ,that there could  
be in such ages anything like an        
oriental despotism1 or a ,caesarean     
despotism1 was impossible2 the outside  
extra-political army which maintains    
them could not exist when the tribe was 
the nation1 and when all the men in the 
tribe were warriors4 ,hence1 in the time
 of ,homer1 in the first times of ,rome1
 in the first times of ancient ,germany1
 the king is the most visible part of   
the polity1 because for momentary       
welfare he is the most useful4 ,the     

close oligarchy1 the patriciate1 which  
alone could know the fixed law1 alone   
could apply the fixed law1 which was    
recognised as the authorised custodian  
of the fixed law1 had then sole command 
over the primary social want4 ,it alone 
knew the code of drill2 it alone was    
obeyed2 it alone could drill4 ,mr4      
,grote has admirably described the rise 
of the primitive oligarchies upon the   
face of the first monarchy1 but perhaps 
because he so much loves historic       
,athens1 he has not sympathised with    
pre-historic ,athens4 ,he has not shown 
us the need of a fixed life when all    
else was unfixed life4  ,it would be    
schoolboyish to explain at length how   
well the two great republics1 the two   
winning republics of the ancient world1 
embody these conclusions4 ,rome and     
,sparta were drilling aristocracies1 and
 succeeded because they were such4      
,athens was indeed of another and higher
 order2 at least to us instructed       
moderns who know her and have been      

taught by her4 ,but to the              
',philistines' of those days ,athens was
 of a lower order4 ,she was beaten2 she 
lost the great visible game which is all
 that short-sighted contemporaries know4
 ,she was the great 'free failure' of   
the ancient world4 ,she began1 she      
announced1 the good things that were to 
come2 but she was too weak to display   
and enjoy them2 she was trodden down by 
those of coarser make and better trained
 frame4  ,how much these principles are 
confirmed by ,jewish history is obvious4
 ,there was doubtless much else in      
,jewish history--whole elements with    
which ,i am not here concerned4 ,but so 
much is plain4 ,the ,jews were in the   
beginning the most unstable of nations2 
they were submitted to their law1 and   
they came out the most stable of        
nations4 ,their polity was indeed       
defective in unity4 ,after they asked   
for a king the spiritual and the secular
 powers 7as we should speak7 were never 
at peace1 and never agreed4 ,and the ten

 tribes who lapsed from their law1      
melted away into the neighbouring       
nations4 ,jeroboam has been called the  
'first ,liberal2' and1 religion apart1  
there is a meaning in the phrase4 ,he   
began to break up the binding polity    
which was what men wanted in that age1  
though eager and inventive minds always 
dislike it4 ,but the ,jews who adhered  
to their law became the ,jews of the    
day1 a nation of a firm set if ever     
there was one4  ,it is connected with   
this fixity that jurists tell us that   
the title 'contract' is hardly to be    
discovered in the oldest law4 ,in modern
 days1 in civilised days1 men's choice  
determines nearly all they do4 ,but in  
early times that choice determined      
scarcely anything4 ,the guiding rule was
 the law of ,,status4 ,everybody was    
born to a place in the community3 in    
that place he had to stay3 in that place
 he found certain duties which he had to
 fulfil1 and which were all he needed to
 think of4 ,the net of custom caught men

 in distinct spots1 and kept each where 
he stood4  ,what are called in ,european
 politics the principles of #aghi1 are  
therefore inconsistent with the early   
world2 they are fitted only to the new  
world in which society has gone through 
its early task2 when the inherited      
organisation is already confirmed and   
fixed2 when the soft minds and strong   
passions of youthful nations are fixed  
and guided by hard transmitted          
instincts4 ,till then not equality      
before the law is necessary but         
inequality1 for what is most wanted is  
an elevated elite who know the law3 not 
a good government seeking the happiness 
of its subjects1 but a dignified and    
overawing government getting its        
subjects to obey3 not a good law1 but a 
comprehensive law binding all life to   
one routine4 ,later are the ages of     
freedom2 first are the ages of          
servitude4 ,in #aghi1 when the great men
 of the ,constituent ,assembly looked on
 the long past1 they hardly saw anything

 in it which could be praised1 or       
admired1 or imitated3 all seemed a      
blunder--a complex error to be got rid  
of as soon as might be4 ,but that error 
had made themselves4 ,on their very     
physical organisation the hereditary    
mark of old times was fixed2 their      
brains were hardened and their nerves   
were steadied by the transmitted results
 of tedious usages4 ,the ages of        
monotony had their use1 for they trained
 men for ages when they need not be     
monotonous4   ,,iv4  ,but even yet we   
have not realised the full benefit of   
those early polities and those early    
laws4 ,they not only 'bound up' men in  
groups1 not only impressed on men a     
certain set of common usages1 but often1
 at least in an indirect way1 suggested1
 if ,i may use the expression1 national 
character4  ,we cannot yet explain--,i  
am sure1 at least1 ,i cannot attempt to 
explain--all the singular phenomena of  
national character3 how completely and  
perfectly they seem to be at first      

framed2 how slowly1 how gradually they  
can alone be altered1 if they can be    
altered at all4 ,but there is one       
analogous fact which may help us to see1
 at least dimly1 how such phenomena are 
caused4 ,there is a character of ages1  
as well as of nations2 and as we have   
full histories of many such periods1 we 
can examine exactly when and how the    
mental peculiarity of each began1 and   
also exactly when and how that mental   
peculiarity passed away4 ,we have an    
idea of ,queen ,anne's time1 for        
example1 or of ,queen ,elizabeth's time1
 or ,george ,,ii4's time2 or again of   
the age of ,louis ,,xiv41 or ,louis     
,,xv41 or the ,french ,revolution2 an   
idea more or less accurate in proportion
 as we study1 but probably even in the  
minds who know these ages best and most 
minutely1 more special1 more simple1    
more unique than the truth was4 ,we     
throw aside too much1 in making up our  
images of eras1 that which is common to 
all eras4 ,the ,english character was   

much the same in many great respects in 
,chaucer's time as it was in            
,elizabeth's time or ,anne's time1 or as
 it is now2 ,but some qualities were    
added to this common element in one era 
and some in another2 some qualities     
seemed to overshadow and eclipse it in  
one era1 and others in another4 ,we     
overlook and half forget the constant   
while we see and watch the variable4    
,but--for that is the present point--why
 is there this variable8 ,everyone must1
 ,i think1 have been puzzled about it4  
,suddenly1 in a quiet time--say1 in     
,queen ,anne's time--arises a special   
literature1 a marked variety of human   
expression1 pervading what is then      
written and peculiar to it3 surely this 
is singular4  ,the true explanation is1 
,i think1 something like this4 ,one     
considerable writer gets a sort of start
 because what he writes is somewhat     
more--only a little more very often1 as 
,i believe--congenial to the minds      
around him than any other sort4 ,this   

writer is very often not the one whom   
posterity remembers--not the one who    
carries the style of the age farthest   
towards its ideal type1 and gives it its
 charm and its perfection4 ,it was not  
,addison who began the essay-writing of 
,queen ,anne's time1 but ,steele2 it was
 the vigorous forward man who struck out
 the rough notion1 though it was the    
wise and meditative man who improved    
upon it and elaborated it1 and whom     
posterity reads4 ,some strong writer1 or
 group of writers1 thus seize on the    
public mind1 and a curious process soon 
assimilates other writers in appearance 
to them4 ,to some extent1 no doubt1 this
 assimilation is effected by a process  
most intelligible1 and not at all       
curious--the process of conscious       
imitation2 ,a sees that ,b's style of   
writing answers1 and he imitates it4    
,but definitely aimed mimicry like this 
is always rare2 original men who like   
their own thoughts do not willingly     
clothe them in words they feel they     

borrow4 ,no man1 indeed1 can think to   
much purpose when he is studying to     
write a style not his own4 ,after all1  
very few men are at all equal to the    
steady labour1 the stupid and mistaken  
labour mostly1 of making a style4 ,most 
men catch the words that are in the air1
 and the rhythm which comes to them they
 do not know from whence2 an unconscious
 imitation determines their words1 and  
makes them say what of themselves they  
would never have thought of saying4     
,everyone who has written in more than  
one newspaper knows how invariably his  
style catches the tone of each paper    
while he is writing for it1 and changes 
to the tone of another when in turn he  
begins to write for that4 ,he probably  
would rather write the traditional style
 to which the readers of the journal are
 used1 but he does not set himself to   
copy it2 he would have to force himself 
in order ,,not to write it if that was  
what he wanted4 ,exactly in this way1   
just as a writer for a journal without a

 distinctly framed purpose gives the    
readers of the journal the sort of words
 and the sort of thoughts they are used 
to--so1 on a larger scale1 the writers  
of an age1 without thinking of it1 give 
to the readers of the age the sort of   
words and the sort of thoughts--the     
special literature1 in fact--which those
 readers like and prize4 ,and not only  
does the writer1 without thinking1      
choose the sort of style and meaning    
which are most in vogue1 but the writer 
is himself chosen4 ,a writer does not   
begin to write in the traditional rhythm
 of an age unless he feels1 or fancies  
he feels1 a sort of aptitude for writing
 it1 any more than a writer tries to    
write in a journal in which the style is
 uncongenial or impossible to him4      
,indeed if he mistakes he is soon weeded
 out2 the editor rejects1 the age will  
not read his compositions4 ,how         
painfully this traditional style cramps 
great writers whom it happens not to    
suit1 is curiously seen in ,wordsworth1 

who was bold enough to break through it1
 and1 at the risk of contemporary       
neglect1 to frame a style of his own4   
,but he did so knowingly1 and he did so 
with an effort4 ',it is supposed1' he   
says1 'that by the act of writing in    
verse an author makes a formal          
engagement that he will gratify certain 
known habits of association2 that he not
 only then apprizes the reader that     
certain classes of ideas and expressions
 will be found in his book1 but that    
others will be carefully eschewed4 ,the 
exponent or symbol held forth by        
metrical language must1 in different    
ages of literature1 have excited very   
different expectations2 for example1 in 
the age of ,catullus1 ,terence1 or      
,lucretius1 and that of ,statius or     
,claudian2 and in our own country1 in   
the age of ,shakespeare and ,beaumont   
and ,metcher1 and that of ,donne and    
,cowley1 or ,pope4' ,and then1 in a kind
 of vexed way1 ,wordsworth goes on to   
explain that he himself can't and won't 

do what is expected from him1 but that  
he will write his own words1 and only   
his own words4 ,a strict1 ,i was going  
to say a ,puritan1 genius will act thus1
 but most men of genius are susceptible 
and versatile1 and fall into the style  
of their age4 ,one very unapt at the    
assimilating process1 but on that       
account the more curious about it1      
says3--    ,how we   ,track a livelong  
day1 great heaven1 and watch our        
shadows6   ,what our shadows seem1      
forsooth1 we will ourselves be4   ,do ,i
 look like that8 ,you think me that3    
then ,i ,,am that4  ,what writers are   
expected to write1 they write2 or else  
they do not write at all2 but1 like the 
writer of these lines1 stop discouraged1
 live disheartened1 and die leaving     
fragments which their friends treasure1 
but which a rushing world never heeds4  
,the ,nonconformist writers are         
neglected1 the ,conformist writers are  
encouraged1 until perhaps on a sudden   
the fashion shifts4 ,and as with the    

writers1 so in a less degree with       
readers4 ,many men--most men--get to    
like or think they like that which is   
ever before them1 and which those around
 them like1 and which received opinion  
says they ought to like2 or if their    
minds are too marked and oddly made to  
get into the mould1 they give up reading
 altogether1 or read old books and      
foreign books1 formed under another code
 and appealing to a different taste4    
,the principle of 'elimination1' the    
'use and disuse' of organs which        
naturalists speak of1 works here4 ,what 
is used strengthens2 what is disused    
weakens3 'to those who have1 more is    
given2' and so a sort of style settles  
upon an age1 and imprinting itself more 
than anything else in men's memories    
becomes all that is thought of about it4
  ,i believe that what we call national 
character arose in very much the same   
way4 ,at first a sort of 'chance        
predominance' made a model1 and then    
invincible attraction1 the necessity    

which rules all but the strongest men to
 imitate what is before their eyes1 and 
to be what they are expected to be1     
moulded men by that model4 ,this is1 ,i 
think1 the very process by which new    
national characters are being made in   
our own time4 ,in ,america and in       
,australia a new modification of what we
 call ,anglo-,saxonism is growing4 ,a   
sort of type of character arose from the
 difficulties of colonial life--the     
difficulty of struggling with the       
wilderness2 and this type has given its 
shape to the mass of characters because 
the mass of characters have             
unconsciously imitated it4 ,many of the 
,american characteristics are plainly   
useful in such a life1 and consequent on
 such a life4 ,the eager restlessness1  
the highly-strung nervous organisation  
are useful in continual struggle1 and   
also are promoted by it4 ,these traits  
seem to be arising in ,australia1 too1  
and wherever else the ,english race is  
placed in like circumstances4 ,but even 

in these useful particulars the innate  
tendency of the human mind to become    
like what is around it1 has effected    
much3 a sluggish ,englishman will often 
catch the eager ,american look in a few 
years2 an ,irishman or even a ,german   
will catch it1 too1 even in all ,english
 particulars4 ,and as to a hundred minor
 points--in so many that go to mark the 
typical ,yankee--usefulness has had no  
share either in their origin or their   
propagation4 ,the accident of some      
predominant person possessing them set  
the fashion1 and it has been imitated to
 this day4 ,anybody who inquires will   
find even in ,england1 and even in these
 days of assimilation1 parish           
peculiarities which arose1 no doubt1    
from some old accident1 and have been   
heedfully preserved by customary        
copying4 ,a national character is but   
the successful parish character2 just as
 the national speech is but the         
successful parish dialect1 the dialect1 
that is1 of the district which came to  

be more--in many cases but a little     
more--influential than other districts1 
and so set its yoke on books and on     
society4 ,i could enlarge much on this1 
for ,i believe this unconscious         
imitation to be the principal force in  
the making of national characters2 but  
,i have already said more about it than 
,i need4 ,everybody who weighs even half
 these arguments will admit that it is a
 great force in the matter1 a principal 
agency to be acknowledged and watched2  
and for my present purpose ,i want no   
more4 ,i have only to show the efficacy 
of the tight early polity 7so to speak7 
and the strict early law on the creation
 of corporate characters4 ,these settled
 the predominant type1 set up a sort of 
model1 made a sort of idol2 this was    
worshipped1 copied1 and observed1 from  
all manner of mingled feelings1 but most
 of all because it was the 'thing to    
do1' the then accepted form of human    
action4 ,when once the predominant type 
was determined1 the copying propensity  

of man did the rest4 ,the tradition     
ascribing ,spartan legislation to       
,lycurgus was literally untrue1 but its 
spirit was quite true4 ,in the origin of
 states strong and eager individuals got
 hold of small knots of men1 and made   
for them a fashion which they were      
attached to and kept4  ,it is only after
 duly apprehending the silent manner in 
which national characters thus form     
themselves1 that we can rightly         
appreciate the dislike which old        
,governments had to trade4 ,there must  
have been something peculiar about it1  
for the best philosophers1 ,plato and   
,aristotle1 shared it4 ,they regarded   
commerce as the source of corruption as 
naturally as a modern economist         
considers it the spring of industry1 and
 all the old ,governments acted in this 
respect upon the philosophers' maxims4  
',well1' said ,dr4 ,arnold1 speaking    
ironically and in the spirit of modern  
times--',well1 indeed1 might the policy 
of the old priest-nobles of ,egypt and  

,india endeavour to divert their people 
from becoming familiar with the sea1 and
 represent the occupation of a seaman as
 incompatible with the purity of the    
highest castes4 ,the sea deserved to be 
hated by the old aristocracies1 inasmuch
 as it has been the mightiest instrument
 in the civilisation of mankind4' ,but  
the old oligarchies had their own work1 
as we now know4 ,they were imposing a   
fashioning yoke2 they were making the   
human nature which after times employ4  
,they were at their labours1 we have    
entered into these labours4 ,and to the 
unconscious imitation which was their   
principal tool1 no impediment was so    
formidable as foreign intercourse4 ,men 
imitate what is before their eyes1 if it
 is before their eyes alone1 but they do
 not imitate it if it is only one among 
many present things--one competitor     
among others1 all of which are equal and
 some of which seem better4 ',whoever   
speaks two languages is a rascal1' says 
the saying1 and it rightly represents   

the feeling of primitive communities    
when the sudden impact of new thoughts  
and new examples breaks down the compact
 despotism of the single consecrated    
code1 and leaves pliant and impressible 
man--such as he then is--to follow his  
unpleasant will without distinct        
guidance by hereditary morality and     
hereditary religion4 ,the old           
oligarchies wanted to keep their type   
perfect1 and for that end they were     
right not to allow foreigners to touch  
it4 ',distinctions of race1' says       
,arnold himself elsewhere in a          
remarkable essay--for it was his last on
 ,greek history1 his farewell words on a
 long favourite subject--'were not of   
that odious and fantastic character     
which they have been in modern times2   
they implied real differences of the    
most important kind1 religious and      
moral4' ,and after exemplifying this at 
length he goes on1 ',it is not then to  
be wondered at that ,thucydides1 when   
speaking of a city founded jointly by   

,ionians and ,dorians1 should have      
thought it right to add that the        
prevailing institutions of the two were 
,ionian1 for according as they were     
derived from one or the other the       
prevailing type would be different4 ,and
 therefore the mixture of persons of    
different race in the same commonwealth1
 unless one race had a complete         
ascendancy1 tended to confuse all the   
relations of human life1 and all men's  
notions of right and wrong2 or by       
compelling men to tolerate in so near a 
relation as that of fellow-citizens     
differences upon the main points of     
human life1 led to a general            
carelessness and scepticism1 and        
encouraged the notion that right and    
wrong had no real existence1 but were   
mere creatures of human opinion4' ,but  
if this be so1 the oligarchies were     
right4 ,commerce brings this mingling of
 ideas1 this breaking down of old       
creeds1 and brings it inevitably4 ,it is
 now-a-days its greatest good that it   

does so2 the change is what we call     
'enlargement of mind'4 ,but in early    
times ,providence 'set apart the        
nations2' and it is not till the frame  
of their morals is set by long ages of  
transmitted discipline1 that such       
enlargement can be borne4 ,the ages of  
isolation had their use1 for they       
trained men for ages when they were not 
to be isolated4    ,,no4 ,,ii  ,,the    
,,use ,,of ,,conflict4  ',the difference
 between progression and stationary     
inaction1' says one of our greatest     
living writers1 'is one of the great    
secrets which science has yet to        
penetrate4' ,i am sure ,i do not pretend
 that ,i can completely penetrate it2   
but it undoubtedly seems to me that the 
problem is on the verge of solution1 and
 that scientific successes in kindred   
fields by analogy suggest some          
principles--which wholly remove many of 
its difficulties1 and indicate the sort 
of way in which those which remain may  
hereafter be removed too4  ,but what is 

the problem8 ,common ,english1 ,i might 
perhaps say common civilised thought1   
ignores it4 ,our habitual instructors1  
our ordinary conversation1 our          
inevitable and ineradicable prejudices  
tend to make us think that ',progress'  
is the normal fact in human society1 the
 fact which we should expect to see1 the
 fact which we should be surprised if we
 did not see4 ,but history refutes this4
 ,the ancients had no conception of     
progress2 they did not so much as reject
 the idea2 they did not even entertain  
the idea4 ,oriental nations are just the
 same now4 ,since history began they    
have always been what they are4         
,savages1 again1 do not improve2 they   
hardly seem to have the basis on which  
to build1 much less the material to put 
up anything worth having4 ,only a few   
nations1 and those of ,european origin1 
advance2 and yet these think--seem      
irresistibly compelled to think--such   
advance to be inevitable1 natural1 and  
eternal4 ,why then is this great        

contrast8 ,before we can answer1 we must
 investigate more accurately4 ,no doubt 
history shows that most nations are     
stationary now2 but it affords reason to
 think that all nations once advanced4  
,their progress was arrested at various 
points2 but nowhere1 probably not even  
in the hill tribes of ,india1 not even  
in the ,andaman ,islanders1 not even in 
the savages of ,terra del ,fuego1 do we 
find men who have not got some way4     
,they have made their little progress in
 a hundred different ways2 they have    
framed with infinite assiduity a hundred
 curious habits2 they have1 so to say1  
screwed themselves into the             
uncomfortable corners of a complex life1
 which is odd and dreary1 but yet is    
possible4 ,and the corners are never the
 same in any two parts of the world4    
,our record begins with a thousand      
unchanging edifices1 but it shows traces
 of previous building4 ,in historic     
times there has been little progress2 in
 prehistoric times there must have been 

much4 ,in solving1 or trying to solve1  
the question1 we must take notice of    
this remarkable difference1 and explain 
it1 too1 or else we may be sure our     
principles are utterly incomplete1 and  
perhaps altogether unsound4 ,but what   
then is that solution1 or what are the  
principles which tend towards it8 ,three
 laws1 or approximate laws1 may1 ,i     
think1 be laid down1 with only one of   
which ,i can deal in this paper1 but all
 three of which it will be best to      
state1 that it may be seen what ,i am   
aiming at4  ,first4 ,in every particular
 state of the world1 those nations which
 are strongest tend to prevail over the 
others2 and in certain marked           
peculiarities the strongest tend to be  
the best4 ,secondly4 ,within every      
particular nation the type or types of  
character then and there most attractive
 tend to prevail2 and1 the most         
attractive1 though with exceptions1 is  
what we call the best character4        
,thirdly4 ,neither of these competitions

 is in most historic conditions         
intensified by extrinsic forces1 but in 
some conditions1 such as those now      
prevailing in the most influential part 
of the world1 both are so intensified4  
,these are the sort of doctrines with   
which1 under the name of 'natural       
selection' in physical science1 we have 
become familiar2 and as every great     
scientific conception tends to advance  
its boundaries and to be of use in      
solving problems not thought of when it 
was started1 so here1 what was put      
forward for mere animal history may1    
with a change of form1 but an identical 
essence1 be applied to human history4   
,at first some objection was raised to  
the principle of 'natural selection' in 
physical science upon religious grounds2
 it was to be expected that so active an
 idea and so large a shifting of thought
 would seem to imperil much which men   
valued4 ,but in this1 as in other cases1
 the objection is1 ,i think1 passing    
away2 the new principle is more and more

 seen to be fatal to mere outworks of   
religion1 not to religion itself4 ,at   
all events1 to the sort of application  
here made of it1 which only amounts to  
searching out and following up an       
analogy suggested by it1 there is       
plainly no objection4 ,everyone now     
admits that human history is guided by  
certain laws1 and all that is here aimed
 at is to indicate1 in a more or less   
distinct way1 an infinitesimally small  
portion of such laws4 ,the discussion of
 these three principles cannot be kept  
quite apart except by pedantry2 but it  
is almost exclusively with the          
first--that of the competition between  
nation and nation1 or tribe and tribe   
7for ,i must use these words in their   
largest sense1 and so as to include     
every cohering aggregate of human       
beings7--that ,i can deal now2 and even 
as to that ,i can but set down a few    
principal considerations4 ,the progress 
of the military art is the most         
conspicuous1 ,i was about to say the    

most ,,showy1 fact in human history4    
,ancient civilisation may be compared   
with modern in many respects1 and       
plausible arguments constructed to show 
that it is better2 but you cannot       
compare the two in military power4      
,napoleon could indisputably have       
conquered ,alexander2 our ,indian army  
would not think much of the ,retreat of 
the ,ten ,thousand4 ,and ,i suppose the 
improvement has been continuous3 ,i have
 not the slightest pretence to special  
knowledge2 but1 looking at the mere     
surface of the facts1 it seems likely   
that the aggregate battle array1 so to  
say1 of mankind1 the fighting force of  
the human race1 has constantly and      
invariably grown4 ,it is true that the  
ancient civilisation long resisted the  
'barbarians1' and was then destroyed by 
the barbarians4 ,but the barbarians had 
improved4 ',by degrees1' says a most    
accomplished writer1#d 'barbarian       
mercenaries came to form the largest1 or
 at least the most effective1 part of   

the ,roman armies4 ,the body-guard of   
,augustus had been so composed2 the     
praetorians were generally selected from
 the bravest frontier troops1 most of   
them ,germans4' ',thus1' he continues1  
'in many ways was the old antagonism    
broken down1 ,romans admitting          
barbarians to rank and office2          
barbarians catching something of the    
manners and culture of their neighbours4
 ,and thus1 when the final movement     
came1 the ,teutonic tribes slowly       
established themselves through the      
provinces1 knowing something of the     
system to which they came1 and not      
unwilling to be considered its members4'
 ,taking friend and foe together1 it may
 be doubted whether the fighting        
capacity of the two armies was not as   
great at last1 when the ,empire fell1 as
 ever it was in the long period while   
the ,empire prevailed4 ,during the      
,middle ,ages the combining power of men
 often failed2 in a divided time you    
cannot collect as many soldiers as in a 

concentrated time4 ,but this difficulty 
is political1 not military4 ,if you     
added up the many little hosts of any   
century of separation1 they would       
perhaps be found equal or greater than  
the single host1 or the fewer hosts1 of 
previous centuries which were more      
united4 ,taken as a whole1 and allowing 
for possible exceptions1 the aggregate  
fighting power of mankind has grown     
immensely1 and has been growing         
continuously since we knew anything     
about it4    #d ,mr4 ,bryce    ,again1  
this force has tended to concentrate    
itself more and more in certain groups  
which we call 'civilised nations4' ,the 
literati of the last century were for   
ever in fear of a new conquest of the   
barbarians1 but only because their      
imagination was overshadowed and        
frightened by the old conquests4 ,a very
 little consideration would have shown  
them that1 since the monopoly of        
military inventions by cultivated       
states1 real and effective military     

power tends to confine itself to those  
states4 ,the barbarians are no longer so
 much as vanquished competitors2 they   
have ceased to compete at all4 ,the     
military vices1 too1 of civilisation    
seem to decline just as its military    
strength augments4 ,somehow or other    
civilisation does not make men          
effeminate or unwarlike now as it once  
did4 ,there is an improvement in our    
fibre--moral1 if not physical4 ,in      
ancient times city people could not be  
got to fight--seemingly could not fight2
 they lost their mental courage1 perhaps
 their bodily nerve4 ,but now-a-days in 
all countries the great cities could    
pour out multitudes wanting nothing but 
practice to make good soldiers1 and     
abounding in bravery and vigour4 ,this  
was so in ,america2 it was so in        
,prussia2 and it would be so in ,england
 too4 ,the breed of ancient times was   
impaired for war by trade and luxury1   
but the modern breed is not so impaired4
  ,a curious fact indicates the same    

thing probably1 if not certainly4       
,savages waste away before modern       
civilisation2 they seem to have held    
their ground before the ancient4 ,there 
is no lament in any classical writer for
 the barbarians4 ,the ,new ,zealanders  
say that the land will depart from their
 children2 the ,australians are         
vanishing2 the ,tasmanians have         
vanished4 ,if anything like this had    
happened in antiquity1 the classical    
moralists would have been sure to muse  
over it2 for it is just the large solemn
 kind of fact that suited them4 ,on the 
contrary1 in ,gaul1 in ,spain1 in       
,sicily--everywhere that we know of--the
 barbarian endured the contact of the   
,roman1 and the ,roman allied himself to
 the barbarian4 ,modern science explains
 the wasting away of savage men2 it says
 that we have diseases which we can     
bear1 though they cannot1 and that they 
die away before them as our fatted and  
protected cattle died out before the    
rinderpest1 which is innocuous1 in      

comparison1 to the hardy cattle of the  
,steppes4 ,savages in the first year of 
the ,christian era were pretty much what
 they were in the #ahjjth2 and if they  
stood the contact of ancient civilised  
men1 and cannot stand ours1 it follows  
that our race is presumably tougher than
 the ancient2 for we have to bear1 and  
do bear1 the seeds of greater diseases  
than those the ancients carried with    
them4 ,we may use1 perhaps1 the         
unvarying savage as a metre to gauge the
 vigour of the constitutions to whose   
contact he is exposed4  ,particular     
consequences may be dubious1 but as to  
the main fact there is no doubt3 the    
military strength of man has been       
growing from the earliest time known to 
our history1 straight on till now4 ,and 
we must not look at times known by      
written records only2 we must travel    
back to older ages1 known to us only by 
what lawyers call ,,real evidence--the  
evidence of things4 ,before history     
began1 there was at least as much       

progress in the military art as there   
has been since4 ,the ,roman legionaries 
or ,homeric ,greeks were about as       
superior to the men of the shell mounds 
and the flint implements as we are      
superior to them4 ,there has been a     
constant acquisition of military        
strength by man since we know anything  
of him1 either by the documents he has  
composed or the indications he has left4
  ,the cause of this military growth is 
very plain4 ,the strongest nation has   
always been conquering the weaker2      
sometimes even subduing it1 but always  
prevailing over it4 ,every intellectual 
gain1 so to speak1 that a nation        
possessed was in the earliest times made
 use of--was ,,invested and taken       
out--in war2 all else perished4 ,each   
nation tried constantly to be the       
stronger1 and so made or copied the best
 weapons2 by conscious and unconscious  
imitation each nation formed a type of  
character suitable to war and conquest4 
,conquest improved mankind by the       

intermixture of strengths2 the armed    
truce1 which was then called peace1     
improved them by the competition of     
training and the consequent creation of 
new power4 ,since the long-headed men   
first drove the short-headed men out of 
the best land in ,europe1 all ,european 
history has been the history of the     
superposition of the more military races
 over the less military of the efforts1 
sometimes successful1 sometimes         
unsuccessful1 of each race to get more  
military2 and so the art of war has     
constantly improved4 ,but why is one    
nation stronger than another8 ,in the   
answer to that1 ,i believe1 lies the key
 to the principal progress of early     
civilisation1 and to some of the        
progress of all civilisation4 ,the      
answer is that there are very many      
advantages--some small and some         
great--every one of which tends to make 
the nation which has it superior to the 
nation which has it not2 that many of   
these advantages can be imparted to     

subjugated races1 or imitated by        
competing races2 and that1 though some  
of these advantages may be perishable or
 inimitable1 yet1 on the whole1 the     
energy of civilisation grows by the     
coalescence of strengths and by the     
competition of strengths4   ,,ii4  ,by  
far the greatest advantage is that on   
which ,i observed before--that to which 
,i drew all the attention ,i was able by
 making the first of these essays an    
essay on the ,preliminary ,age4 ,the    
first thing to acquire is if ,i may so  
express it1 the ,,legal ,,fibre2 a      
polity first--what sort of polity is    
immaterial2 a law first--what kind of   
law is secondary2 a person or set of    
persons to pay deference to--though who 
he is1 or they are1 by comparison       
scarcely signifies4 ',there is1' it has 
been said1 'hardly any exaggerating the 
difference between civilised and        
uncivilised men2 it is greater than the 
difference between a tame and a wild    
animal1' because man can improve more4  

,but the difference at first was gained 
in much the same way4 ,the taming of    
animals as it now goes on among savage  
nations1 and as travellers who have seen
 it describe it1 is a kind of selection4
 ,the most wild are killed when food is 
wanted1 and the most tame and easy to   
manage kept1 because they are more      
agreeable to human indolence1 and so the
 keeper likes them best4 ,captain       
,galton1 who has often seen strange     
scenes of savage and of animal life1 had
 better describe the process3--',the    
irreclaimably wild members of every     
flock would escape and be utterly lost2 
the wilder of those that remained would 
assuredly be selected for               
slaughter--whenever it was necessary    
that one of the flock should be killed4 
,the tamest cattle--those which seldom  
ran away1 that kept the flocks together1
 and those which led them               
homeward--would be preserved alive      
longer than any of the others4 ,it is1  
therefore1 these that chiefly become the

 parents of stock and bequeath their    
domestic aptitudes to the future herd4  
,i have constantly witnessed this       
process of selection among the pastoral 
savages of ,south ,africa4 ,i believe it
 to be a very important one on account  
of its rigour and its regularity4 ,it   
must have existed from the earliest     
times1 and have been1 in continuous     
operation1 generation after generation1 
down to the present day4'#e    #e       
,ethnological ,society's ,transactions1 
vol4 iii4 p4 #acg4    ,man1 being the   
strongest of all animals1 differs from  
the rest2 he was obliged to be his own  
domesticator2 he had to tame himself4   
,and the way in which it happened was1  
that the most obedient1 the tamest      
tribes are1 at the first stage in the   
real struggle of life1 the strongest and
 the conquerors4 ,all are very wild     
then2 the animal vigour1 the savage     
virtue of the race has died out in none1
 and all have enough of it4 ,but what   
makes one tribe--one incipient tribe1   

one bit of a tribe--to differ from      
another is their relative faculty of    
coherence4 ,the slightest symptom of    
legal development1 the least indication 
of a military bond1 is then enough to   
turn the scale4 ,the compact tribes win1
 and the compact tribes are the tamest4 
,civilisation begins1 because the       
beginning of civilisation is a military 
advantage4 ,probably if we had historic 
records of the ante-historic ages--if   
some superhuman power had set down the  
thoughts and actions of men ages before 
they could set them down for            
themselves--we should know that this    
first step in civilisation was the      
hardest step4 ,but when we come to      
history as it is1 we are more struck    
with the difficulty of the next step4   
,all the absolutely incoherent men--all 
the ',cyclopes'--have been cleared away 
long before there was an authentic      
account of them4 ,and the least coherent
 only remain in the 'protected' parts of
 the world1 as we may call them4        

,ordinary civilisation begins near the  
,mediterranean ,sea2 the best1          
doubtless1 of the ante-historic         
civilisations were not far off4 ,from   
this centre the conquering ,,swarm--for 
such it is--has grown and grown2 has    
widened its subject territories         
steadily1 though not equably1 age by    
age4 ,but geography long defied it4 ,an 
,atlantic ,ocean1 a ,pacific ,ocean1 an 
,australian ,ocean1 an unapproachable   
interior ,africa1 an inaccessible and   
undesirable hill ,india1 were beyond its
 range4 ,in such remote places there was
 no real competition1 and on them       
inferior1 half-combined men continued to
 exist4 ,but in the regions of          
rivalry--the regions where the better   
man pressed upon the worse man--such    
half-made associations could not last4  
,they died out and history did not begin
 till after they were gone4 ,the great  
difficulty which history records is not 
that of the first step1 but that of the 
second step4 ,what is most evident is   

not the difficulty of getting a fixed   
law1 but getting out of a fixed law2 not
 of cementing 7as upon a former occasion
 ,i phrased it7 a cake of custom1 but of
 breaking the cake of custom2 not of    
making the first preservative habit1 but
 of breaking through it1 and reaching   
something better4  ,this is the precise 
case with the whole family of arrested  
civilisations4 ,a large part1 a very    
large part1 of the world seems to be    
ready to advance to something good--to  
have prepared all the means to advance  
to something good1--and then to have    
stopped1 and not advanced4 ,india1      
,japan1 ,china1 almost every sort of    
,oriental civilisation1 though differing
 in nearly all other things1 are in this
 alike4 ,they look as if they had paused
 when there was no reason for           
pausing--when a mere observer from      
without would say they were likely not  
to pause4  ,the reason is1 that only    
those nations can progress which        
preserve and use the fundamental        

peculiarity which was given by nature to
 man's organism as to all other         
organisms4 ,by a law of which we know no
 reason1 but which1 is among the first  
by which ,providence guides and governs 
the world1 there is a tendency in       
descendants to be like their            
progenitors1 and yet a tendency also in 
descendants to ,,differ from their      
progenitors4 ,the work of nature in     
making generations is a patchwork--part 
resemblance1 part contrast4 ,in certain 
respects each born generation is not    
like the last born2 and in certain other
 respects it is like the last4 ,but the 
peculiarity of arrested civilisation is 
to kill out varieties at birth almost2  
that is1 in early childhood1 and before 
they can develop4 ,the fixed custom     
which public opinion alone tolerates is 
imposed on all minds1 whether it suits  
them or not4 ,in that case the community
 feel that this custom is the only      
shelter from bare tyranny1 and the only 
security for they value4 ,most ,oriental

 communities live on land which in      
theory is the property of a despotic    
sovereign1 and neither they nor their   
families could have the elements of     
decent existence unless they held the   
land upon some sort of fixed terms4     
,land in that state of society is 7for  
all but a petty skilled minority7 a     
necessary of life1 and all the          
unincreasable land being occupied1 a man
 who is turned out of his holding is    
turned out of this world1 and must die4 
,and our notion of written leases is as 
out of place in a world without writing 
and without reading as a ,house of      
,commons among ,andaman ,islanders4     
,only one check1 one sole shield for    
life and good1 is then possible2--usage4
 ,and it is but too plain how in such   
places and periods men cling to customs 
because customs alone stand between them
 and starvation4  ,a still more powerful
 cause co-operated1 if a cause more     
powerful can be imagined4 ,dryden had a 
dream of an early age1 'when wild in    

woods the noble savage ran2' but 'when  
lone in woods the cringing savage crept'
 would have been more like all we know  
of that early1 bare1 painful period4    
,not only had they no comfort1 no       
convenience1 not the very beginnings of 
an epicurean life1 but their mind within
 was as painful to them as the world    
without4 ,it was full of fear4 ,so far  
as the vestiges inform us1 they were    
afraid of everything2 they were afraid  
of animals1 of certain attacks by near  
tribes1 and of possible inroads from far
 tribes4 ,but1 above all things1 they   
were frightened of 'the world2' the     
spectacle of nature filled them with awe
 and dread4 ,they fancied there were    
powers behind it which must be pleased1 
soothed1 flattered1 and this very often 
in a number of hideous ways4 ,we have   
too many such religions1 even among     
races of great cultivation4 ,men change 
their religions more slowly than they   
change anything else2 and accordingly we
 have religions 'of the ages'--7it is   

,mr4 ,jowett who so calls them7--of the 
'ages before morality2' of ages of which
 the civil life1 the common maxims1 and 
all the secular thoughts have long been 
dead4 ',every reader of the classics1'  
said ,dr4 ,johnson1 'finds their        
mythology tedious4' ,in that old world1 
which is so like our modern world in so 
many things1 so much more like than many
 far more recent1 or some that live     
beside us1 there is a part in which we  
seem to have no kindred1 which we stare 
at1 of which we cannot think how it     
could be credible1 or how it came to be 
thought of4 ,this is the archaic part of
 that very world which we look at as so 
ancient2 an 'antiquity' which descended 
to them1 hardly altered1 perhaps1 from  
times long antecedent1 which were as    
unintelligible to them as to us1 or more
 so4 ,how this terrible religion--for   
such it was in all living detail1 though
 we make1 and the ancients then made1 an
 artistic use of the more attractive    
bits of it--weighed on man1 the great   

poem of ,lucretius1 the most of a       
nineteenth-century poem of any in       
antiquity1 brings before us with a      
feeling so vivid as to be almost a      
feeling of our own4 ,yet the classical  
religion is a mild and tender specimen  
of the preserved religions4 ,to get at  
the worst1 you should look where the    
destroying competition has been         
least--at ,america1 where sectional     
civilisation was rare1 and a pervading  
coercive civilisation did not exist2 at 
such religions as those of the ,aztecs4 
,at first sight it seems impossible to  
imagine what conceivable function such  
awful religions can perform in the      
economy of the world4 ,and no one can   
fully explain them4 ,but one use they   
assuredly had3 they fixed the yoke of   
custom thoroughly on mankind4 ,they were
 the prime agents of the era4 ,they put 
upon a fixed law a sanction so fearful  
that no one could dream of not          
conforming to it4 ,no one will ever     
comprehend the arrested civilisations   

unless he sees the strict dilemma of    
early society4 ,either men had no law at
 all1 and lived in confused tribes1     
hardly hanging together1 or they had to 
obtain a fixed law by processes of      
incredible difficulty4 ,those who       
surmounted that difficulty soon         
destroyed all those that lay in their   
way who did not4 ,and then they a       
themselves were caught in their own     
yoke4 ,the customary discipline1 which  
could only be imposed on any early men  
by terrible sanctions1 continued with   
those sanctions1 and killed out of the  
whole society the propensities to       
variation which are the principle--of   
progress4 ,experience shows how         
incredibly difficult it is to get men   
really to encourage the principle of    
originality4 ,they will admit it in     
theory1 but in practice the old         
error--the error which arrested a       
hundred civilisations--returns again4   
,men are too fond of their own life1 too
 credulous of the completeness of their 

own ideas1 too angry at the pain of new 
thoughts1 to be able to bear easily with
 a changing existence2 or else1 having  
new ideas1 they want to enforce them on 
mankind--to make them heard1 and        
admitted1 and obeyed before1 in simple  
competition with other ideas1 they would
 ever be so naturally4 ,at this very    
moment there are the most rigid         
,comtists teaching that we ought to be  
governed by a hierarchy--a combination  
of savans orthodox in science4 ,yet who 
can doubt that ,comte would have been   
hanged by his own hierarchy2 that his   
essor materiel1 which was in fact       
troubled by the 'theologians and        
metaphysicians' of the ,polytechnic     
,school1 would have been more impeded by
 the government he wanted to make8 ,and 
then the secular ,comtists1 ,mr4        
,harrison and ,mr4 ,beesly1 who want to 
',frenchify the ,english                
institutions'--that is1 to introduce    
here an imitation of the ,napoleonic    
system1 a dictatorship founded on the   

proletariat--who can doubt that if both 
these clever writers had been real      
,frenchmen they would have been         
irascible anti-,bonapartists1 and have  
been sent to ,cayenne long ere now8 ,the
 wish of these writers is very natural4 
,they want to 'organise society1' to    
erect a despot who will do what they    
like1 and work out their ideas2 but any 
despot will do what he himself likes1   
and will root out new ideas ninety-nine 
times for once that he introduces them4 
,again1 side by side with these         
,comtists1 and warring with them--at    
least with one of them--is ,mr4 ,arnold1
 whose poems we know by heart1 and who  
has1 as much as any living ,englishman1 
the genuine literary impulse2 and yet   
even he wants to put a yoke upon        
us--and1 worse than a political yoke1 an
 academic yoke1 a yoke upon our minds   
and our styles4 ,he1 too1 asks us to    
imitate ,france2 and what else can we   
say than what the two most thorough     
,frenchmen of the last age did          

say8--',dans les corps a talent1 nulle  
distinction ne fait ombrage1 si ce n'est
 pas celle du talent4 ,un due et pair   
honore l',academie ,francaise1 qui ne   
veut point de ,boileau1 refuse la       
,bruyere1 fait attendre ,voltaire1 mais 
recoit tout d'abord ,chapelain et       
,conrart4 ,de meme nous voyons a        
l',academie ,grecque le vicomte invite1 
,corai repousse1 lorsque ,jormard y     
entre comme dans un moulin4' ,thus      
speaks ,paul-,louis ,courier in his own 
brief inimitable prose4 ,and a still    
greater writer--a real ,frenchman1 if   
ever there was one1 and 7what many      
critics would have denied to be         
possible7 a great poet by reason of his 
most ,french characteristics--,beranger1
 tells us in verse3--       ,je croyais 
voir le president      ,fairs           
bailler--en repondant      ,que l'on    
vient de perdre un grand homme2         
,que moi je le vaux1 ,dieu sait comme4  
,mais ce president sans facon#f      ,ne
 perore ici qu'en chanson3              

,toujours trop tot sa harangue est      
finie4      ,non1 non1 ce n'est point   
comme a l',academia2      ,ce n'est     
point comme a l',academie4       ,admis 
enfin1 aurai-jo alors1      ,pour tout  
esprit1 l'esprit de corps8      ,il rend
 le bon sens1 quoi qu'on dise1          
,solidaire de la sottise2      ,mais1   
dans votes societe1      ,l'esprit de   
corps1 c'est la gaite4      ,cet esprit 
la regne sans tyrannie4      ,non1 non1 
ce n'est point comme a l',academie2     
,ce n'est point comme a l',acadenie4    
#f ,desaugiers4    ,asylums of          
common-place1 he hints1 academies must  
ever be4 ,but that sentence is too      
harsh2 the true one is--the academies   
are asylums of the ideas and the tastes 
of the last age4 ',by the time1' ,i have
 heard a most eminent man of science    
observe1 'by the time a man of science  
attains eminence on any subject1 he     
becomes a nuisance upon it1 because he  
is sure to retain errors which were in  
vogue when he was young1 but which the  

new race have refuted4' ,these are the  
sort of ideas which find their home in  
academies1 and out of their dignified   
windows pooh-pooh new things4 ,i may    
seem to have wandered far from early    
society1 but ,i have not wandered4 ,the 
true scientific method is to explain the
 past by the present--what we see by    
what we do not see4 ,we can only        
comprehend why so many nations have not 
varied1 when we see how hateful         
variation is2 how everybody turns       
against it2 how not only the            
conservatives of speculation try to root
 it out1 but the very innovators invent 
most rigid machines for crushing the    
'monstrosities and anomalies'--the new  
forms1 out of which1 by competition and 
trial1 the best is to be selected for   
the future4 ,the point ,i am bringing   
out is simple3--one most important      
pre-requisite of a prevailing nation is 
that it should have passed out of the   
first stage of civilisation into the    
second stage--out of the stage where    

permanence is most wanted into that     
where variability is most wanted2 and   
you cannot comprehend why progress is so
 slow till you see how hard the most    
obstinate tendencies of human nature    
make that step to mankind4  ,of course  
the nation we are supposing must keep   
the virtues of its first stage as it    
passes into the after stage1 else it    
will be trodden out2 it will have lost  
the savage virtues in getting the       
beginning of the civilised virtues2 and 
the savage virtues which tend to war are
 the daily bread of human nature4       
,carlyle said1 in his graphic way1 ',the
 ultimate question between every two    
human beings is1 ,can ,i kill thee1 or  
canst thou kill me8' ,history is strewn 
with the wrecks of nations which have   
gained a little progressiveness at the  
cost of a great deal of hard manliness1 
and have thus prepared themselves for   
destruction as soon as the movements of 
the world gave a chance for it4 ,but    
these nations have come out of the      

'pre-economic stage' too soon2 they have
 been put to learn while yet only too   
apt to unlearn4 ,such cases do not      
vitiate1 they confirm1 the              
principle--that a nation which has just 
gained variability without losing       
legality has a singular likelihood to be
 a prevalent nation4  ,no nation admits 
of an abstract definition2 all nations  
are beings of many qualities and many   
sides2 no historical event exactly      
illustrates any one principle2 every    
cause is intertwined and surrounded with
 a hundred others4 ,the best history is 
but like the art of ,rembrandt2 it casts
 a vivid light on certain selected      
causes1 on those which were best and    
greatest2 it leaves all the rest in     
shadow and unseen4 ,to make a single    
nation illustrate a principle1 you must 
exaggerate much and you must omit much4 
,but1 not forgetting this caution1 did  
not ,rome--the prevalent nation in the  
ancient world--gain her predominance by 
the principle on which ,i have dwelt8   

,in the thick crust of her legality     
there was hidden a little seed of       
adaptiveness4 ,even in her law itself no
 one can fail to see that1 binding as   
was the habit of obedience1 coercive as 
use and wont at first seem1 a hidden    
impulse of extrication ,,did manage1 in 
some queer way1 to change the substance 
while conforming to the accidents--to do
 what was wanted for the new time while 
seeming to do only what was directed by 
the old time4 ,and the moral of their   
whole history is the same each ,roman   
generation1 so far as we know1 differs a
 little-and in the best times often but 
a ,,very little--from its predecessors4 
,and therefore the history is so        
continuous as it goes1 though its two   
ends are so unlike4 ,the history of many
 nations is like the stage of the       
,english drama3 one scene is succeeded  
on a sudden by a scene quite            
different1--a cottage by a palace1 and a
 windmill by a fortress4 ,but the       
history of ,rome changes as a good      

diorama changes2 while you look1 you    
hardly see it alter2 each moment is     
hardly different from the last moment2  
yet at the close the metamorphosis is   
complete1 and scarcely anything is as it
 began4 ,just so in the history of the  
great prevailing city3 you begin with a 
town and you end with an empire1 and    
this by unmarked stages8--,so shrouded1 
so shielded1 in the coarse fibre of     
other qualities--was the delicate       
principle of progress1 that it never    
failed1 and it was never broken4  ,one  
standing instance1 no doubt1 shows that 
the union of progressiveness and        
legality does not secure supremacy in   
war4 ,the ,jewish nation has its type of
 progress in the prophets1 side by side 
with its type of permanence in the law  
and ,levites1 more distinct than any    
other ancient people4 ,nowhere in common
 history do we see the two forces--both 
so necessary and both so dangerous--so  
apart and so intense3 ,judaea changed in
 inward thought1 just as ,borne changed 

in exterior power4 ,each change was     
continuous1 gradual and good4 ,in early 
times every sort of advantage tends to  
become a military advantage2 such is the
 best way1 then1 to keep it alive4 ,but 
the ,jewish advantage never did so2     
beginning in religion1 contrary to a    
thousand analogies1 it remained         
religious4 ,for that we care for them2  
from that have issued endless           
consequences4 ,but ,i cannot deal with  
such matters here1 nor are they to my   
purpose4 ,as respects this essay1       
,judaea is an example of combined       
variability and legality not investing  
itself in warlike power1 and so         
perishing at last1 but bequeathing      
nevertheless a legacy of the combination
 in imperishable mental effects4  ,it   
may be objected that this principle is  
like saying that men walk when they do  
walk1 and sit when they do sit4 ,the    
problem1 is1 why do men progress8 ,and  
the answer suggested seems to be1 that  
they progress when they have a certain  

sufficient amount of variability in     
their nature4 ,this seems to be the old 
style of explanation by occult          
qualities4 ,it seems like saying that   
opium sends men to sleep because it has 
a soporific virtue1 and bread feeds     
because it has an alimentary quality4   
,but the explanation is not so absurd4  
,it says3 ',the beginning of            
civilisation is marked by an intense    
legality2 that legality is the very     
condition of its existence1 the bond    
which ties it together2 but that        
legality--that tendency to impose a     
settled customary yoke upon all men and 
all actions if it goes on1 kills out the
 variability implanted by nature1 and   
makes different men and different ages  
facsimiles of other men and other ages1 
as we see them so often4 ,progress is   
only possible in those happy cases where
 the force of legality has gone far     
enough to bind the nation together1 but 
not far enough to kill out all varieties
 and destroy nature's perpetual tendency

 to change4' ,the point of the solution 
is not the invention of an imaginary    
agency1 but an assignment of comparative
 magnitude to two known agencies4       
,,iii4  ,this advantage is ,one of the  
greatest in early civilisation--one of  
the facts which give a decisive turn to 
the battle of nations2 but there are    
many others4 ,a little perfection in    
,,political ,,institutions may do it4   
,travellers have noticed that among     
savage tribes those seemed to answer    
best in which the monarchical power was 
most predominant1 and those worst in    
which the 'rule of many' was in its     
vigour4 ,so long as war is the main     
business of nations1 temporary          
despotism--despotism during the         
campaign--is indispensable4 ,macaulay   
justly said that many an army has       
prospered under a bad commander1 but no 
army has ever prospered under a         
'debating society2' that many-headed    
monster is then fatal4 ,despotism grows 
in the first societies1 just as         

democracy grows in more modern          
societies2 it is the government         
answering the primary need1 and         
congenial to the whole spirit of the    
time4 ,but despotism is unfavourable to 
the principle of variability1 as all    
history shows4 ,it tends to keep men in 
the customary stage of civilisation2 its
 very fitness for that age unfits it for
 the next4 ,it prevents men from passing
 into the first age of progress--the    
,,very slow and ,,very gradually        
improving age4 ,some 'standing system'  
of semi-free discussion is as necessary 
to break the thick crust of custom and  
begin progress as it is in later ages to
 carry on progress when begun2 probably 
it is even more necessary4 ,and in the  
most progressive races we find it4 ,i   
have spoken already of the ,jewish      
prophets1 the life of that nation1 and  
the principle of all its growth4 ,but a 
still more progressive race--that by    
which secular civilisation was once     
created1 by which it is now mainly      

administered--had a still better        
instrument of progression4 ',in the very
 earliest glimpses1' says ,mr4 ,freeman1
 'of ,teutonic political life1 we find  
the monarchic1 the aristocratic1 and the
 democratic elements already clearly    
marked4 ,there are leaders with or      
without the royal title2 there are men  
of noble birth1 whose noble birth 7in   
whatever the original nobility may have 
consisted7 entitles them to a           
pre-eminence in every way2 but beyond   
these there is a free and armed people1 
in whom it is clear that the ultimate   
sovereignty resides4 ,small matters are 
decided by the chiefs alone2 great      
matters are submitted by the chiefs to  
the assembled nation4 ,such a system is 
far more than ,teutonic2 it is a common 
,aryan possession2 it is the            
constitution of the ,homeric ,achaians  
on earth and of the ,homeric gods on    
,olympus4' ,perhaps1 and indeed         
probably1 this constitution may be that 
of the primitive tribe which ,romans    

left to go one way1 and ,greeks to go   
another1 and ,teutons to go a third4    
,the tribe took it with them1 as the    
,english take the common law with them1 
because it was the one kind of polity   
which they could conceive and act upon2 
or it may be that the emigrants from the
 primitive ,aryan stock only took with  
them a good aptitude--an excellent      
political nature1 which similar         
circumstances in distant countries were 
afterwards to develop into like forms4  
,but anyhow it is impossible not to     
trace the supremacy of ,teutons1        
,greeks1 and ,romans in part to their   
common form of government4 ,the contests
 of the assembly cherished the principle
 of change2 the influence of the elders 
insured sedateness and preserved the    
mould of thought2 and1 in the best      
cases1 military discipline was not      
impaired by freedom1 though military    
intelligence was enhanced with the      
general intelligence4 ,a ,roman army was
 a free body1 at its own choice governed

 by a peremptory despotism4  ,the       
,,mixture ,,of ,,races was often an     
advantage1 too4 ,much as the old world  
believed in pure blood1 it had very     
little of it4 ,most historic nations    
conquered prehistoric nations1 and      
though they massacred many1 they did not
 massacre all4 ,they enslaved the       
subject men1 and they married the       
subject women4 ,no doubt the whole bond 
of early society was the bond of        
descent2 no doubt it was essential to   
the notions of a new nation that it     
should have had common ancestors2 the   
modern idea that vicinity of habitation 
is the natural cement of civil union    
would have been repelled as an impiety  
if it could have been conceived as an   
idea4 ,but by one of those legal        
fictions which ,sir ,henry ,maine       
describes so well1 primitive nations    
contrived to do what they found         
convenient1 as well as to adhere to what
 they fancied to be right4 ,when they   
did not beget they ,,adopted2 they      

solemnly made believe that new persons  
were descended from the old stock1      
though everybody knew that in flesh and 
blood they were not4 ,they made an      
artificial unity in default of a real   
unity2 and what it is not easy to       
understand now1 the sacred sentiment    
requiring unity of race was somehow     
satisfied3 what was made did as well as 
what was born4 ,nations with these sort 
of maxims are not likely to have unity  
of race in the modern sense1 and as a   
physiologist understands it4 ,what sorts
 of unions improve the breed1 and which 
are worse than both the father-race and 
the mother1 it is not very easy to say4 
,the subject was reviewed by ,m4        
,quatrefages in an elaborate report upon
 the occasion of the ,french            
,exhibition1 of all things in the world4
 ,m4 ,quatrefages quotes from another   
writer the phrase that ,south ,america  
is a great laboratory of experiments in 
the mixture of races1 and reviews the   
different results which different cases 

have shown4 ,in ,south ,carolina the    
,mulatto race is not very prolific1     
whereas in ,louisiana and ,florida it   
decidedly is so4 ,in ,jamaica and in    
,java the ,mulatto cannot reproduce     
itself after the third generation2 but  
on the continent of ,america1 as        
everybody knows1 the mixed race is now  
most numerous1 and spreads generation   
after generation without impediment4    
,equally various likewise in various    
cases has been the fate of the mixed    
race between the white man and the      
native ,american2 sometimes it prospers1
 sometimes it fails4 ,and ,m4           
,quatrefages concludes his description  
thus3 ',en acceptant comme vraies toutes
 les observations qui tendent a faire   
admettre qu'il en sera autrement dans   
les localites dont j'ai parle plus haut1
 quelle est la conclusion a tirer de    
faits aussi peu semblables8 ,evidemment1
 on est oblige de reconnaitre que le    
developpement de la race mulatre est    
favorise1 retarde1 ou empeche par des   

circonstances locales2 en d'autres      
termes1 qu'il depend des influences     
exercees par l'ensemble des conditions  
d'existence1 par le ,,milieu4' ,by which
 ,i understand him to mean that the     
mixture of race sometimes brings out a  
form of character better suited than    
either parent form to the place and     
time2 that in such cases1 by a kind of  
natural selection1 it dominates over    
both parents1 and perhaps supplants     
both1 whereas in other cases the mixed  
race is not as good then and there as   
other parent forms1 and then it passes  
away soon and of itself4  ,early in     
history the continual mixtures by       
conquest were just so many experiments  
in mixing races as are going on in      
,south ,america now4 ,new races wandered
 into new districts1 and half killed1   
half mixed with the old races4 ,and the 
result was doubtless as various and as  
difficult to account for then as now2   
sometimes the crossing answered1        
sometimes it failed4 ,but when the      

mixture was at its best1 it must have   
excelled both parents in that of which  
so much has been said2 that is1         
variability1 and consequently           
progressiveness4 ,there is more life in 
mixed nations4 ,france1 for instance1 is
 justly said to be the mean term between
 the ,latin and the ,german races4 ,a   
,norman1 as you may see by looking at   
him1 is of the north2 a ,provencal is of
 the south1 of all that there is most   
southern4 ,you have in ,france ,latin1  
,celtic1 ,german1 compounded in an      
infinite number of proportions3 one as  
she is in feeling1 she is various not   
only in the past history of her various 
provinces1 but in their present         
temperaments4 ,like the ,irish element  
and the ,scotch element in the ,english 
,house of ,commons1 the variety of      
,french races contributes to the play of
 the polity2 it gives a chance for      
fitting new things which otherwise there
 would not be4 ,and early races must    
have wanted mixing more than modern     

races4 ,it is said1 in answer to the    
,jewish boast that 'their race still    
prospers1 though it is scattered and    
breeds in-and-in1' ',you prosper        
,,because you are so scattered2 by      
acclimatisation in various regions your 
nation has acquired singular elements of
 variety2 it contains within itself the 
principle of variability which other    
nations must seek by intermarriage4' ,in
 the beginning of things there was      
certainly no cosmopolitan race like the 
,jews2 each race was a sort of 'parish  
race1' narrow in thought and bounded in 
range1 and it wanted mixing accordingly4
  ,but the mixture of races has a       
singular danger as well as a singular   
advantage in the early world4 ,we know  
now the ,anglo-,indian suspicion or     
contempt for 'half-castes4' ,the union  
of the ,englishman and the ,hindoo      
produces something not only between     
races1 but ,,between ,,moralities4 ,they
 have no inherited creed or plain place 
in the world2 they have none of the     

fixed traditional sentiments which are  
the stays of human nature4 ,in the early
 world many mixtures must have wrought  
many ruins2 they must have destroyed    
what they could not replace--an inbred  
principle of discipline and of order4   
,but if these unions of races did not   
work thus2 if1 for example1 the two     
races were so near akin that their      
morals united as well as their breeds1  
if one race by its great numbers and    
prepotent organisation so presided over 
the other as to take it up and          
assimilate it1 and leave no separate    
remains of it1 ,,then the admixture was 
invaluable4 ,it added to the probability
 of variability1 and therefore of       
improvement2 and if that improvement    
even in part took the military line1 it 
might give the mixed and ameliorated    
state a steady advantage in the battle  
of nations1 and a greater chance of     
lasting in the world4  ,another mode in 
which one state acquires a superiority  
over competing states is by             

,,provisional institutions1 if ,i may so
 call them4 ,the most important of      
these--slavery--arises out of the same  
early conquest as the mixture of races4 
,a slave is an unassimilated1 an        
undigested atom2 something which is in  
the body politic1 but yet is hardly part
 of it4 ,slavery1 too1 has a bad name in
 the later world1 and very justly4 ,we  
connect it with gangs in chains1 with   
laws which keep men ignorant1 with laws 
that hinder families4 ,but the evils    
which we have endured from slavery in   
recent ages must not blind us to1 or    
make us forget1 the great services that 
slavery rendered in early ages4 ,there  
is a wonderful presumption in its       
favour2 it is one of the institutions   
which1 at a certain stage of growth1 all
 nations in all countries choose and    
cleave to4 ',slavery1' says ,aristotle1 
'exists by the law of nature1' meaning  
that it was everywhere to be found--was 
a rudimentary universal point of polity4
 ',there are very many ,english         

colonies1' said ,edward ,gibbon         
,wakefield1 as late as #ahdh1 'who would
 keep slaves at once if we would let    
them1' and he was speaking not only of  
old colonies trained in slavery1 and    
raised upon the products of it1 but     
likewise of new colonies started by     
freemen1 and which ought1 one would     
think1 to wish to contain freemen only4 
,but ,wakefield knew what he was saying2
 he was a careful observer of rough     
societies1 and he had watched the minds 
of men in them4 ,he had seen that       
,,leisure is the great need of early    
societies1 and slaves only can give men 
leisure4 ,all freemen in new countries  
must be pretty equal2 every one has     
labour1 and every one has land2 capital1
 at least in agricultural countries 7for
 pastoral countries are very different71
 is of little use2 it cannot hire       
labour2 the labourers go and work for   
themselves4 ,there is a story often told
 of a great ,english capitalist who went
 out to ,australia with a shipload of   

labourers and a carriage2 his plan was  
that the labourers should build a house 
for him1 and that he would keep his     
carriage1 just as in ,england4 ,but 7so 
the story goes7 he had to try to live in
 his carriage1 for his labourers left   
him1 and went away to work for          
themselves4 ,in such countries there can
 be few gentlemen and no ladies4        
,refinement is only possible when       
leisure is possible2 and slavery first  
makes it possible4 ,it creates a set of 
persons born to work that others may not
 work1 and not to think in order that   
others may think4 ,the sort of          
originality which slavery gives is of   
the first practical advantage in early  
communities2 and the repose it gives is 
a great artistic advantage when they    
come to be described in history4 ,the   
patriarchs ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob 
could not have had the steady calm which
 marks them1 if they had themselves been
 teased and hurried about their flocks  
and herds4 ,refinement of feeling and   

repose of appearance have indeed no     
market value in the early bidding of    
nations2 they do not tend to secure     
themselves a long future or any future4 
,but originality in war does1 and       
slave-owning nations1 having time to    
think1 are likely to be more shrewd in  
policy1 and more crafty in strategy4    
,no doubt this momentary gain is bought 
at a ruinous after-cost4 ,when other    
sources of leisure become possible1 the 
one use of slavery is past4 ,but all its
 evils remain1 and even grow worse4     
',retail' slavery--the slavery in which 
a master owns a few slaves1 whom he well
 knows and daily sees--is not at all an 
intolerable state2 the slaves of        
,abraham had no doubt a fair life1 as   
things went in that day4 ,but wholesale 
slavery1 where men are but one of the   
investments of large capital1 and where 
a great owner1 so far from knowing each 
slave1 can hardly tell how many gangs of
 them he works1 is an abominable state4 
,this is the slavery which has made the 

name revolting to the best minds1 and   
has nearly rooted the thing out of the  
best of the world4 ,there is no         
out-of-the-way marvel in this4 ,the     
whole history of civilisation1 is strewn
 with creeds and institutions which were
 invaluable at first1 and deadly        
afterwards4 ,progress would not have    
been the rarity it is if the early food 
had not been the late poison4 ,a full   
examination of these provisional        
institutions would need half a volume1  
and would be out of place and useless   
here4 ,venerable oligarchy1 august      
monarchy1 are two that would alone need 
large chapters4 ,but the sole point here
 necessary is to say that such          
preliminary forms and feelings at first 
often bring many graces and many        
refinements1 and often tend to secure   
them by the preservative military       
virtue4 ,there are cases in which some  
step in ,,intellectual progress gives an
 early society some gain in war2 more   
obvious cases are when some kind of     

,,moral quality gives some such gain4   
,war both needs and generates certain   
virtues2 not the highest1 but what may  
be called the preliminary virtues1 as   
valour1 veracity1 the spirit of         
obedience1 the habit of discipline4 ,any
 of these1 and of others like them1 when
 possessed by a nation1 and no matter   
how generated1 will give them a military
 advantage1 and make them more likely to
 stay in the race of nations4 ,the      
,romans probably had as much of these   
efficacious virtues as any race of the  
ancient world1--perhaps as much as any  
race in the modern world too4 ,and the  
success of the nations which possess    
these martial virtues has been the great
 means by which their continuance has   
been secured in the world1 and the      
destruction of the opposite vices       
insured also4 ,conquest is the          
missionary of valour1 and the hard      
impact of military virtues beats        
meanness out of the world4  ,in the last
 century it would have sounded strange  

to speak1 as ,i am going to speak1 of   
the military advantage of ,,religion4   
,such an idea would have been opposed to
 ruling prejudices1 and would hardly    
have escaped philosophical ridicule4    
,but the notion is but a commonplace in 
our day1 for a man of genius has made it
 his own4 ,mr4 ,carlyle's books are     
deformed by phrases like 'infinities'   
and 'verities' and altogether are full  
of faults1 which attract the very young1
 and deter all that are older4 ,in spite
 of his great genius1 after a long life 
of writing1 it is a question still      
whether even a single work of his can   
take a lasting place in high literature4
 ,there is a want of sanity in their    
manner which throws a suspicion on their
 substance 7though it is often          
profound72 and he brandishes one or two 
fallacies1 of which he has himself a    
high notion1 but which plain people will
 always detect and deride4 ,but whatever
 may be the fate of his fame1 ,mr4      
,carlyle has taught the present         

generation many lessons1 and one of     
these is that ',god-fearing' armies are 
the best armies4 ,before his time people
 laughed at ,cromwell's saying1 ',trust 
in ,god1 and keep your powder dry4' ,but
 we now know that the trust was of as   
much use as the powder1 if not of more4 
,that high concentration of steady      
feeling makes men dare everything and do
 anything4  ,this subject would run to  
an infinite extent if any one were      
competent to handle it4 ,those kinds of 
morals and that kind of religion which  
tend to make the firmest and most       
effectual character are sure to prevail1
 all else being the same2 and creeds or 
systems that conduce to a soft limp mind
 tend to perish1 except some hard       
extrinsic force keep them alive4 ,thus  
,epicureanism never prospered at ,rome1 
but ,stoicism did2 the stiff1 serious   
character of the great prevailing nation
 was attracted by what seemed a         
confirming creed1 and deterred by what  
looked like a relaxing creed4 ,the      

inspiriting doctrines fell upon the     
ardent character1 and so confirmed its  
energy4 ,strong beliefs win strong men1 
and then make them stronger4 ,such is no
 doubt one cause why ,monotheism tends  
to prevail over ,polytheism2 it produces
 a higher1 steadier character1 calmed   
and concentrated by a great single      
object2 it is not confused by competing 
rites1 or distracted by miscellaneous   
deities4 ,polytheism is religion ,,in   
,,commission1 and it is weak            
accordingly4 ,but it will be said the   
,jews1 who were monotheist1 were        
conquered by the ,romans1 who were      
polytheist4 ,yes1 it must be answered1  
because the ,romans had other gifts2    
they had a capacity for politics1 a     
habit of discipline1 and of these the   
,jews had not the least4 ,the religious 
advantage ,,was an advantage1 but it was
 counter-weighed4  ,no one should be    
surprised at the prominence given to    
war4 ,we are dealing with early ages2   
nation-,,making is the occupation of man

 in these ages1 and it is war that makes
 nations4 ,nation-,,changing comes      
afterwards1 and is mostly effected by   
peaceful revolution1 though even then   
war1 too1 plays its part4 ,the idea of  
an indestructible nation is a modern    
idea2 in early ages all nations were    
destructible1 and the further we go     
back1 the more incessant was the work of
 destruction4 ,the internal decoration  
of nations is a sort of secondary       
process1 which succeeds when the main   
forces that create nations have         
principally done their work4 ,we have   
here been concerned with the political  
scaffolding2 it will be the task of     
other papers to trace the process of    
political finishing and building4 ,the  
nicer play of finer forces may then     
require more pleasing thoughts than the 
fierce fights of early ages can ever    
suggest4 ,it belongs to the idea of     
progress that beginnings can never seem 
attractive to those who live far on2 the
 price of improvement is1 that the      

unimproved will always look degraded4   
,but how far are the strongest nations  
really the best nations8 how far is     
excellence in war a criterion of other  
excellence8 ,i cannot answer this now   
fully1 but three or four considerations 
are very plain4 ,war1 as ,i have said1  
nourishes the 'preliminary' virtues1 and
 this is almost as much as to say that  
there are virtues which it does not     
nourish4 ,all which may be called       
'grace' as well as virtue it does not   
nourish2 humanity1 charity1 a nice sense
 of the rights of others1 it certainly  
does not foster4 ,the insensibility to  
human suffering1 which is so striking a 
fact in the world as it stood when      
history first reveals it1 is doubtless  
due to the warlike origin of the old    
civilisation4 ,bred in war1 and nursed  
in war1 it could not revolt from the    
things of war1 and one of the principal 
of these is human pain4 ,since war has  
ceased to be the moving force in the    
world1 men have become more tender one  

to another1 and shrink from what they   
used to inflict without caring2 and this
 not so much because men are improved   
7which may or may not be in various     
cases71 but because they have no longer 
the daily habit of war--have no longer  
formed their notions upon war1 and      
therefore are guided by thoughts and    
feelings which soldiers as              
such--soldiers educated simply by their 
trade--are too hard to understand4      
,very like this is the contempt for     
physical weakness and for women which   
marks early society too4 ,the           
non-combatant population is sure to fare
 ill during the ages of combat4 ,but    
these defects1 too1 are cured or        
lessened2 women have now marvellous     
means of winning their way in the world2
 and mind without muscle has far greater
 force than muscle without mind4 ,these 
are some of the after-changes in the    
interior of nations1 of which the causes
 must be scrutinised1 and ,i now mention
 them only to bring out how many softer 

growths have now half-hidden the old and
 harsh civilisation which war made4 ,but
 it is very dubious whether the spirit  
of war does not still colour our        
morality far too much4 ,metaphors from  
law and metaphors from war make most of 
our current moral phrases1 and a nice   
examination would easily explain that   
both rather vitiate what both often     
illustrate4 ,the military habit makes   
man think far too much of definite      
action1 and far too little of brooding  
meditation4 ,life is not a set campaign1
 but an irregular work1 and the main    
forces in it are not overt resolutions1 
but latent and half-involuntary         
promptings4 ,the mistake of military    
ethics is to exaggerate the conception  
of discipline1 and so to present the    
moral force of the will in a barer form 
than it ever ought to take4 ,military   
morals can direct the axe to cut down   
the tree1 but it knows nothing of the   
quiet force by which the forest grows4  
,what has been said is enough1 ,i hope1 

to bring out that there are many        
qualities and many institutions of the  
most various sort which give nations an 
advantage in military competition2 that 
most of these and most warlike qualities
 tend principally to good2 that the     
constant winning of these favoured      
competitors is the particular mode by   
which the best qualities wanted in      
elementary civilisation are propagated  
and preserved4   ,,no4 ,,iii            
,,nation-,,making4  ,in the last essay  
,i endeavoured to show that in the early
 age of man--the 'fighting age' ,i      
called it--there was a considerable1    
though not certain1 tendency towards    
progress4 ,the best nations conquered   
the worst2 by the possession of one     
advantage or another the best competitor
 overcame the inferior competitor4 ,so  
long as there was continual fighting    
there was a likelihood of improvement in
 martial virtues1 and in early times    
many virtues are really 'martial'--that 
is1 tend to success in war--which in    

later times we do not think of so       
calling1 because the original usefulness
 is hid by their later usefulness4 ,we  
judge of them by the present effects1   
not by their first4 ,the love of law1   
for example1 is a virtue which no one   
now would call martial1 yet in early    
times it disciplined nations1 and the   
disciplined nations won4 ,the gift of   
'conservative innovation'--the gift of  
,,matching new institutions to old--is  
not nowadays a warlike virtue1 yet the  
,romans owed much of their success to   
it4 ,alone among ancient nations they   
had the deference to usage which1       
combines nations1 and the partial       
permission of selected change which     
improves nations2 and therefore they    
succeeded4 ,just so in most cases1 all  
through the earliest times1 martial     
merit is a token of real merit3 the     
nation that wins is the nation that     
ought to win4 ,the simple virtues of    
such ages mostly make a man a soldier if
 they make him anything4 ,no doubt the  

brute force of number may be too potent 
even then 7as so often it is            
afterwards73 civilisation may be thrown 
back by the conquest of many very rude  
men over a few less rude men4 ,but the  
first elements of civilisation are great
 military advantages1 and1 roughly1 it  
is a rule of the first times that you   
can infer merit from conquest1 and that 
progress is promoted by the competitive 
examination of constant war4  ,this     
principle explains at once why the      
'protected' regions of the world--the   
interior of continents like ,africa1    
outlying islands like ,australia or ,new
 ,zealand--are of necessity backward4   
,they are still in the preparatory      
school2 they have not been taken on     
class by class1 as ,no4 ,,ii41 being a  
little better1 routed effaced ,no4 ,i42 
and as ,no4 ,,iii41 being a little      
better still1 routed and effaced ,no4   
,,ii4 ,and it explains why ,western     
,europe was early in advance of other   
countries1 because there the contest of 

races was exceedingly severe4 ,unlike   
most regions1 it was a tempting part of 
the world1 and yet not a corrupting     
part2 those who did not possess it      
wanted it1 and those who had it1 not    
being enervated1 could struggle hard to 
keep it4 ,the conflict of nations is at 
first a main force in the improvement of
 nations4  ,but what ,,are nations8     
,what are these groups which are so     
familiar to us1 and yet1 if we stop to  
think1 so strange2 which are as old as  
history2 which ,herodotus found in      
almost as great numbers and with quite  
as marked distinctions as we see them   
now8 ,what breaks the human race up into
 fragments so unlike one another1 and   
yet each in its interior so monotonous8 
,the question is most puzzling1 though  
the fact is so familiar1 and ,i would   
not venture to say that ,i can answer it
 completely1 though ,i can advance some 
considerations which1 as it seems to me1
 go a certain way towards answering it4 
,perhaps these same considerations throw

 some light1 too1 on the further and    
still more interesting question why some
 few nations progress1 and why the      
greater part do not4  ,of course at     
first all such distinctions of nation   
and nation were explained by original   
diversity of race4 ,they ,,are          
dissimilar1 it was said1 because they   
were created dissimilar4 ,but in most   
cases this easy supposition will not do 
its work4 ,you cannot 7consistently with
 plain facts7 imagine enough original   
races to make it tenable4 ,some         
half-dozen or more great families of men
 may or may not have been descended from
 separate first stocks1 but             
sub-varieties have certainly not so     
descended4 ,you may argue1 rightly or   
wrongly1 that all ,aryan nations are of 
a single or peculiar origin1 just as it 
was long believed that all              
,greek-speaking nations were of one such
 stock4 ,but you will not be listened to
 if you say that there were one ,adam   
and ,eve for ,sparta1 and another ,adam 

and ,eve for ,athens4 ,all ,greeks are  
evidently of one origin1 but within the 
limits of the ,greek family1 as of all  
other families1 there is some           
contrast-making force which causes city 
to be unlike city1 and tribe unlike     
tribe4  ,certainly1 too1 nations did not
 originate by simple natural selection1 
as wild varieties of animals 7,i do not 
speak now of species7 no doubt arise in 
nature4 ,natural selection means the    
preservation of those individuals which 
struggle best with the forces that      
oppose their race4 ,but you could not   
show that the natural obstacles opposing
 human life much differed between       
,sparta and ,athens1 or indeed between  
,rome and ,athens2 and yet ,spartans1   
,athenians1 and ,romans differ          
essentially4 ,old writers fancied 7and  
it was a very natural idea7 that the    
direct effect of climate1 or rather of  
land1 sea1 and air1 and the sum total of
 physical conditions varied man from    
man1 and changed race to race4 ,but     

experience refutes this4 ,the ,english  
immigrant lives in the same climate as  
the ,australian or ,tasmanian1 but he   
has not become like those races2 nor    
will a thousand years1 in most respects1
 make him like them4 ,the ,papuan and   
the ,malay1 as ,mr4 ,wallace finds1 live
 now1 and have lived for ages1 side by  
side in the same tropical regions1 with 
every sort of diversity4 ,even in       
animals his researches show1 as by an   
object-lesson1 that the direct efficacy 
of physical conditions is overrated4    
',borneo1' he says 'closely resembles   
,new ,guinea1 not only in its vast size 
and freedom from volcanoes1 but in its  
variety of geological structure1 its    
uniformity of climate1 and the general  
aspect of the forest vegetation that    
clothes its surface4 ,the ,moluccas are 
the counterpart of the ,philippines in  
their volcanic structure1 their extreme 
fertility1 their luxuriant forests1 and 
their frequent earthquakes2 and ,bali1  
with the east end of ,java1 has a       

climate almost as arid as that of       
,timor4 ,yet between these corresponding
 groups of islands1 constructed1 as it  
were1 after the same pattern1 subjected 
to the same climate1 and bathed by the  
same oceans1 there exists the greatest  
possible contrast1 when we compare their
 animal productions4 ,nowhere does the  
ancient doctrine--that differences or   
similarities in the various forms of    
life that inhabit different countries   
are due to corresponding physical       
differences or similarities in the      
countries themselves--meet with so      
direct and palpable a contradiction4    
,borneo and ,new ,guinea1 as alike      
physically as two distinct countries can
 be1 are zoologically as wide as the    
poles asunder2 while ,australia1 with   
its dry winds1 its open plains1 its     
stony deserts and its temperate climate1
 yet produces birds and quadrupeds which
 are closely related to those inhabiting
 the hot1 damp1 luxuriant forests which 
everywhere clothe the plains and        

mountains of ,new ,guinea4' ,that is1 we
 have like living things in the most    
dissimilar situations1 and unlike living
 things in the most similar ones4 ,and  
though some of ,mr4 ,wallace's          
speculations on ethnology may be        
doubtful1 no one doubts that in the     
archipelago he has studied so well1 as  
often elsewhere in the world1 though    
rarely with such marked emphasis1 we    
find like men in contrasted places1 and 
unlike men in resembling places4        
,climate is clearly not ,,the force     
which makes nations1 for it does not    
always make them1 and they are often    
made without it4  ,the problem of       
'nation-making'--that is1 the           
explanation of the origin of nations    
such as we now see them1 and such as in 
historical times they have always       
been--cannot1 as it seems to me1 be     
solved without separating it into two3  
one1 the making of broadly-marked races1
 such as the negro1 or the red man1 or  
the ,european2 and the second1 that of  

making the minor distinctions1 such as  
the distinction between ,spartan and    
,athenian1 or between ,scotchman and    
,englishman4 ,nations1 as we see them1  
are 7if my arguments prove true7 the    
produce of two great forces3 one the    
race-making force which1 whatever it    
was1 acted in antiquity1 and has now    
wholly1 or almost1 given over acting2   
and the other the nation-making force1  
properly so called1 which is acting now 
as much as it ever acted1 and creating  
as much as it ever created4  ,the       
strongest light on the great causes     
which have formed and are forming       
nations is thrown by the smaller causes 
which are altering nations4 ,the way in 
which nations change1 generation after  
generation1 is exceedingly curious1 and 
the change occasionally happens when it 
is very hard to account for4 ,something 
seems to steal over society1 say of the 
,regency time as compared with that of  
the present ,queen4 ,if we read of life 
at ,windsor 7at the cottage now pulled  

down71 or of ,bond ,street as it was in 
the days of the ,loungers 7an extinct   
race71 or of ,st4 ,james's ,street as it
 was when ,mr4 ,fox and his party tried 
to make 'political capital' out of the  
dissipation of an heir apparent1 we seem
 to be reading not of the places we know
 so well1 but of very distant and unlike
 localities4 ,or let anyone think how   
little is the external change in        
,england between the age of ,elizabeth  
and the age of ,anne compared with the  
national change4 ,how few were the      
alterations in physical condition1 how  
few 7if any7 the scientific inventions  
affecting human life which the later    
period possessed1 but the earlier did   
not6 ,how hard it is to say what has    
caused the change in the people6 ,and   
yet how total is the contrast1 at least 
at first sight6 ,in passing from ,bacon 
to ,addison1 from ,shakespeare to ,pope1
 we seem to pass into a new world4  ,in 
the first of these essays ,i spoke of   
the mode in which the literary change   

happens1 and ,i recur to it because1    
literature being narrower and more      
definite than life1 a change in the less
 serves as a model and illustration of  
the change in the greater4 ,some writer1
 as was explained1 not necessarily a    
very excellent writer or a remembered   
one1 hit on something which suited the  
public taste3 he went on writing1 and   
others imitated him1 and they so        
accustomed their readers to that style  
that they would bear nothing else4      
,those readers who did not like it were 
driven to the works of other ages and   
other countries1--had to despise the    
'trash of the day1' as they would call  
it4 ,the age of ,anne patronised        
,steele1 the beginner of the essay1 and 
,addison its perfecter1 and it neglected
 writings in a wholly discordant key4 ,i
 have heard that the founder of the     
',times' was asked how all the articles 
in the ',times' came to seem to be      
written by one man1 and that he         
replied--',oh1 there is always some one 

best contributor1 and all the rest      
copy4' ,and this is doubtless the true  
account of the manner in which a certain
 trade mark1 a curious and indefinable  
unity1 settles on every newspaper4      
,perhaps it would be possible to name   
the men who a few years since created   
the ',saturday ,review' style1 now      
imitated by another and a younger race4 
,but when the style of a periodical is  
once formed1 the continuance of it is   
preserved by a much more despotic       
impulse than the tendency to            
imitation1--by the self-interest of the 
editor1 who acts as trustee1 if ,i may  
say so1 for the subscribers4 ,the       
regular buyers of a periodical want to  
read what they have been used to        
read--the same sort of thought1 the same
 sort of words4 ,the editor sees that   
they get that sort4 ,he selects the     
suitable1 the conforming articles1 and  
he rejects the non-conforming4 ,what the
 editor does in the case of a           
periodical1 the readers do in the case  

of literature in general4 ,they         
patronise one thing and reject the rest4
  ,of course there was always some      
reason 7if we only could find it7 which 
gave the prominence in each age to some 
particular winning literature4 ,there   
always is some reason why the fashion of
 female dress is what it is4 ,but just  
as in the case of dress we know that    
now-a-days the determining cause is very
 much of an accident1 so in the case of 
literary fashion1 the origin is a good  
deal of an accident4 ,what the milliners
 of ,paris1 or the demi-monde of ,paris1
 enjoin our ,english ladies1 is 7,i     
suppose7 a good deal chance2 but as soon
 as it is decreed1 those whom it suits  
and those whom it does not all wear it4 
,the imitative propensity at once       
insures uniformity2 and 'that horrid    
thing we wore last year' 7as the phrase 
may go7 is soon nowhere to be seen4     
,just so a literary fashion spreads1    
though ,i am far from saying with equal 
primitive unreasonableness--a literary  

taste always begins on some decent      
reason1 but once started1 it is         
propagated as a fashion in dress is     
propagated2 even those who do not like  
it read it because it is there1 and     
because nothing else is easily to be    
found4  ,the same patronage of favoured 
forms1 and persecution of disliked      
forms1 are the main causes too1 ,i      
believe1 which change national          
character4 ,some one attractive type    
catches the eye1 so to speak1 of the    
nation1 or a part of the nation1 as     
servants catch the gait of their        
masters1 or as mobile girls come home   
speaking the special words and acting   
the little gestures of each family whom 
they may have been visiting4 ,i do not  
know if many of my readers happen to    
have read ,father ,newman's celebrated  
sermon1 ',personal ,influence the ,means
 of ,propagating the ,truth2' if not1 ,i
 strongly recommend them to do so4 ,they
 will there see the opinion of a great  
practical leader of men1 of one who has 

led very many where they little thought 
of going1 as to the mode in which they  
are to be led2 and what he says1 put    
shortly and simply1 and taken out of his
 delicate language1 is but this--that   
men are guided by ,,type1 not by        
argument2 that some winning instance    
must be set up before them1 or the      
sermon will be vain1 and the doctrine   
will not spread4 ,i do not want to      
illustrate this matter from religious   
history1 for ,i should be led far from  
my purpose1 and after all ,i can but    
teach the commonplace that it is the    
life of teachers which is ,,catching1   
not their tenets4 ,and again1 in        
political matters1 how quickly a leading
 statesman can change the tone of the   
community6 ,we are most of us earnest   
with ,mr4 ,gladstone2 we were most of   
,,not so earnest in the time of ,lord   
,palmerston4 ,the change is what every  
one feels1 though no one can define it4 
,each predominant mind calls out a      
corresponding sentiment in the country3 

most feel it a little4 ,those who feel  
it much express it much2 those who feel 
it excessively express it excessively2  
those who dissent are silent1 or        
unheard4  ,after such great matters as  
religion and politics1 it may seem      
trifling to illustrate the subject from 
little boys4 ,but it is not trifling4   
,the bane of philosophy is pomposity3   
people will not see that small things   
are the miniatures of greater1 and it   
seems a loss of abstract dignity to     
freshen their minds by object lessons   
from what they know4 ,but every         
boarding-school changes as a nation     
changes4 ,most of us may remember       
thinking1 ',how odd it is that this half
 should be so unlike last half3 now we  
never go out of bounds1 last half we    
were always going3 now we play rounders1
 then we played prisoner's base2' and so
 through all the easy life of that time4
 ,in fact1 some ruling spirits1 some one
 or two ascendant boys1 had left1 one or
 two others had come2 and so all was    

changed4 ,the models were changed1 and  
the copies changed2 a different thing   
was praised1 and a different thing      
bullied4 ,a curious case of the same    
tendency was noticed to me only lately4 
,a friend of mine--a ,liberal           
,conservative--addressed a meeting of   
working men at ,leeds1 and was much     
pleased at finding his characteristic1  
and perhaps refined points1 both        
apprehended and applauded4 ',but then1' 
as he narrated1 'up rose a blatant      
,radical who said the very opposite     
things1 and the working men cheered him 
too1 and quite equally4' ,he was puzzled
 to account for so rapid a change4 ,but 
the mass of the meeting was no doubt    
nearly neutral1 and1 if set going1 quite
 ready to applaud any good words without
 much thinking4 ,the ringleaders        
changed4 ,the radical tailor started the
 radical cheer2 the more moderate       
shoemaker started the moderate cheer2   
and the great bulk followed suit4 ,only 
a few in each case were silent1 and an  

absolute contrast was in ten minutes    
presented by the same elements4  ,the   
truth is that the propensity of man to  
imitate what is before him is one of the
 strongest parts of his nature4 ,and one
 sign of it is the great pain which we  
feel when our imitation has been        
unsuccessful4 ,there is a cynical       
doctrine that most men would rather be  
accused of wickedness than of gaucherie4
 ,and this is but another way of saying 
that the bad copying of predominant     
manners is felt to be more of a disgrace
 than common consideration would account
 for its being1 since gaucherie in all  
but extravagant cases is not an offence 
against religion or morals1 but is      
simply bad imitation4 ,we must not think
 that this imitation is voluntary1 or   
even conscious4 ,on the contrary1 it has
 its seat mainly in very obscure parts  
of the mind1 whose notions1 so far from 
having been consciously produced1 are   
hardly felt to exist2 so far from being 
conceived beforehand1 are not even felt 

at the time4 ,the main seat of the      
imitative part of our nature is our     
belief1 and the causes predisposing us  
to believe this1 or disinclining us to  
believe that1 are among the obscurest   
parts of our nature4 ,but as to the     
imitative nature of credulity there can 
be no doubt4 ,in ',eothen' there is a   
capital description of how every sort of
 ,european resident in the ,east1 even  
the shrewd merchant and 'the            
post-captain1' with his bright1 wakeful 
eyes of commerce1 comes soon to believe 
in witchcraft1 and to assure you1 in    
confidence1 that there 'really is       
something in it4' ,he has never seen    
anything convincing himself1 but he has 
seen those who have seen those who have 
seen those who have seen4 ,in fact1 he  
has lived in an atmosphere of infectious
 belief1 and he has inhaled it4         
,scarcely any one can help yielding to  
the current infatuations of his sect or 
party4 ,for a short time--say some      
fortnight--he is resolute2 he argues and

 objects2 but1 day by day1 the poison   
thrives1 and reason wanes4 ,what he     
hears from his friends1 what he reads in
 the party organ1 produces its effect4  
,the plain1 palpable conclusion which   
every one around him believes1 has an   
influence yet greater and more subtle2  
that conclusion seems so solid and      
unmistakable2 his own good arguments get
 daily more and more like a dream4 ,soon
 the gravest sage shares the folly of   
the party with which he acts1 and the   
sect with which he worships4  ,in true  
metaphysics ,i believe that1 contrary to
 common opinion1 unbelief far oftener   
needs a reason and requires an effort   
than belief4 ,naturally1 and if man were
 made according to the pattern of the   
logicians1 he would say1 ',when ,i see a
 valid argument ,i will believe1 and    
till ,i see such argument ,i will not   
believe4' ,but1 in fact1 every idea     
vividly before us soon appears to us to 
be true1 unless we keep up our          
perceptions of the arguments which prove

 it untrue1 and voluntarily coerce our  
minds to remember its falsehood4 ',all  
clear ideas are true1' was for ages a   
philosophical maxim1 and though no maxim
 can be more unsound1 none can be more  
exactly conformable to ordinary human   
nature4 ,the child resolutely accepts   
every idea which passes through its     
brain as true2 it has no distinct       
conception of an idea which is strong1  
bright1 and permanent1 but which is     
false too4 ,the mere presentation of an 
idea1 unless we are careful about it1 or
 unless there is within some unusual    
resistance1 makes us believe it2 and    
this is why the belief of others adds to
 our belief so quickly1 for no ideas    
seem so very clear as those inculcated  
on us from every side4  ,the grave part 
of mankind are quite as liable to these 
imitated beliefs as the frivolous part4 
,the belief of the money-market1 which  
is mainly composed of grave people1 is  
as imitative as any belief4 ,you will   
find one day everyone enterprising1     

enthusiastic1 vigorous1 eager to buy1   
and eager to order3 in a week or so you 
will find almost the whole society      
depressed1 anxious1 and wanting to sell4
 ,if you examine the reasons for the    
activity1 or for the inactivity1 or for 
the change1 you will hardly be able to  
trace them at all1 and as far as you can
 trace them1 they are of little force4  
,in fact1 these opinions were not formed
 by reason1 but by mimicry4 ,something  
happened that looked a little good1 on  
which eager sanguine men talked loudly1 
and common people caught their tone4 ,a 
little while afterwards1 and when people
 were tired of talking this1 something  
also happened looking a little bad1 on  
which the dismal1 anxious people began1 
and all the rest followed their words4  
,and in both cases an avowed dissentient
 is set down as 'crotchety4' ',if you   
want1' said ,swift1 'to gain the        
reputation of a sensible man1 you should
 be of the opinion of the person with   
whom for the time being you are         

conversing4' ,there is much quiet       
intellectual persecution among          
'reasonable' men2 a cautious person     
hesitates before he tells them anything 
new1 for if he gets a name for such     
things he will be called 'flighty1' and 
in times of decision he will not be     
attended to4  ,in this way the infection
 of imitation catches men in their most 
inward and intellectual part--their     
creed4 ,but it also invades men--by the 
most bodily part of the mind--so to     
speak--the link between soul and        
body--the manner4 ,no one needs to have 
this explained2 we all know how a kind  
of subtle influence makes us imitate or 
try to imitate the manner of those      
around us4 ,to conform to the fashion of
 ,rome--whatever the fashion may be1 and
 whatever ,rome we may for the time be  
at--is among the most obvious needs of  
human nature4 ,but what is not so       
obvious1 though as certain1 is that the 
influence of the imitation goes deep as 
well as extends wide4 ',the matter1' as 

,wordsworth says1 'of style very much   
comes out of the manner4' ,if you will  
endeavour to write an imitation of the  
thoughts of ,swift in a copy of the     
style of ,addison1 you will find that   
not only is it hard to write ,addison's 
style1 from its intrinsic excellence1   
but also that the more you approach to  
it the more you lose the thought of     
,swift4 ,the eager passion of the       
meaning beats upon the mild drapery of  
the words4 ,so you could not express the
 plain thoughts of an ,englishman in the
 grand manner of a ,spaniard4           
,insensibly1 and as by a sort of magic1 
the kind of manner which a man catches  
eats into him1 and makes him in the end 
what at first he only seems4  ,this is  
the principal mode in which the greatest
 minds of an age produce their effect4  
,they set the tone which others take1   
and the fashion which others use4 ,there
 is an odd idea that those who take what
 is called a 'scientific view' of       
history need rate lightly the influence 

of individual character4 ,it would be as
 reasonable to say that those who take a
 scientific view of nature need think   
little of the influence of the sun4 ,on 
the scientific view a great man is a    
great new cause 7compounded or not out  
of other causes1 for ,i do not here1 or 
elsewhere in these papers1 raise the    
question of free-will71 but1 anyhow1 new
 in all its effects1 and all its        
results4 ,great models for good and evil
 sometimes appear among men1 who follow 
them either to improvement or           
degradation4  ,i am1 ,i know1 very long 
and tedious in setting out this2 but ,i 
want to bring home to others what every 
new observation of society brings more  
and more freshly to myself--that this   
unconscious imitation and encouragement 
of appreciated character1 and this      
equally unconscious shrinking from and  
persecution of disliked character1 is   
the main force which moulds and fashions
 men in society as we now see it4 ,soon 
,i shall try to show that the more      

acknowledged causes1 such as change of  
climate1 alteration of political        
institutions1 progress of science1 act  
principally through this cause2 that    
they change the object of imitation and 
the object of avoidance1 and so work    
their effect4 ,but first ,i must speak  
of the origin of nations--of            
nation-making as one may call it--the   
proper subject of this paper4  ,the     
process of nation-making is one of which
 we have obvious examples in the most   
recent times1 and which is going on now4
 ,the most simple example is the        
foundation of the first ,state of       
,america1 say ,new ,england1 which has  
such a marked and such a deep national  
character4 ,a great number of persons   
agreeing in fundamental disposition1    
agreeing in religion1 agreeing in       
politics1 form a separate settlement2   
they exaggerate their own disposition1  
teach their own creed1 set up their     
favourite government2 they discourage   
all other dispositions1 persecute other 

beliefs1 forbid other forms or habits of
 government4 ,of course a nation so made
 will have a separate stamp and mark4   
,the original settlers began of one     
type2 they sedulously imitated it2 and  
7though other causes have intervened and
 disturbed it7 the necessary operation  
of the principles of inheritance has    
transmitted many original traits still  
unaltered1 and has left an entire ,new  
,england character--in no respect       
unaffected by its first character4      
,this case is well known1 but it is not 
so that the same process1 in a weaker   
shape1 is going on in ,america now4     
,congeniality of sentiment is a reason  
of selection1 and a bond of cohesion in 
the ',west' at present4 ,competent      
observers say that townships grow up    
there by each place taking its own      
religion1 its own manners1 and its own  
ways4 ,those who have these morals and  
that religion go to that place1 and stay
 there2 and those who have not these    
morals and that religion either settle  

elsewhere at first1 or soon pass on4    
,the days of colonisation by sudden     
'swarms' of like creed is almost over1  
but a less visible process of attraction
 by similar faith over similar is still 
in vigour1 and very likely to continue4 
,and in cases where this principle does 
not operate all new settlements1 being  
formed of 'emigrants1' are sure to be   
composed of rather restless people1     
mainly4 ,the stay-at-home people are not
 to be found there1 and these are the   
quiet1 easy people4 ,a new settlement   
voluntarily formed 7for of old times1   
when people were expelled by terror1 ,i 
am not speaking7 is sure to have in it  
much more than the ordinary proportion  
of active men1 and much less than the   
ordinary proportion of inactive2 and    
this accounts for a large part1 though  
not perhaps all1 of the difference      
between the ,english in ,england1 and   
the ,english in ,australia4  ,the causes
 which formed ,new ,england in recent   
times cannot be conceived as acting much

 upon mankind in their infancy4 ,society
 is not then formed upon a 'voluntary   
system' but upon an involuntary4 ,a man 
in early ages is born to a certain      
obedience1 and cannot extricate himself 
from an inherited government4 ,society  
then is made up1 not of individuals1 but
 of families2 creeds then descend by    
inheritance in those families4 ,lord    
,melbourne once incurred the ridicule of
 philosophers by saying he should adhere
 to the ,english ,church ,,because it   
was the religion of his fathers4 ,the   
philosophers1 of course1 said that a    
man's fathers' believing anything was no
 reason for his believing it unless it  
was true4 ,but ,lord ,melbourne was only
 uttering out of season1 and in a modern
 time1 one of the most firm and accepted
 maxims of old times4 ,a secession on   
religious grounds of isolated ,romans to
 sail beyond sea would have seemed to   
the ancient ,romans an impossibility4   
,in still ruder ages the religion of    
savages is a thing too feeble to create 

a schism or to found a community4 ,we   
are dealing with people capable of      
history when we speak of great ideas1   
not with prehistoric flint-men or the   
present savages4 ,but though under very 
different forms1 the same essential     
causes--the imitation of preferred      
characters and the elimination of       
detested characters--were at work in the
 oldest times1 and are at work among    
rude men now4 ,strong as the propensity 
to imitation is among civilised men1 we 
must conceive it as an impulse of which 
their minds have been partially denuded4
 ,like the far-seeing sight1 the        
infallible hearing1 the magical scent of
 the savage1 it is a half-lost power4   
,it was strongest in ancient times1 and 
,,is strongest in uncivilised regions4  
,this extreme propensity to imitation is
 one great reason of the amazing        
sameness which every observer notices in
 savage nations4 ,when you have seen one
 ,euegian1 you have seen all            
,fuegians--one ,tasmanian1 all          

,tasmanians4 ,the higher savages1 as the
 ,new ,zealanders1 are less uniform2    
they have more of the varied and compact
 structure of civilised nations1 because
 in other respects they are more        
civilised4 ,they have greater mental    
capacity--larger stores of inward       
thought4 ,but much of the same          
monotonous nature clings to them too4 ,a
 savage tribe resembles a herd of       
gregarious beasts2 where the leader goes
 they go too2 they copy blindly his     
habits1 and thus soon become that which 
he already is4 ,for not only the        
tendency1 but also the power to imitate1
 is stronger in savages than civilised  
men4 ,savages copy quicker1 and they    
copy better4 ,children1 in the same way1
 are born mimics2 they cannot help      
imitating what comes before them4 ,there
 is nothing in their minds to resist the
 propensity to copy4 ,every educated man
 has a large inward supply of ideas to  
which he can retire1 and in which he can
 escape from or alleviate unpleasant    

outward objects4 ,but a savage or a     
child has no resource4 ,the external    
movements before it are its very life2  
it lives by what it sees and hears4     
,uneducated people in civilised nations 
have vestiges of the same condition4 ,if
 you send a housemaid and a philosopher 
to a foreign country of which neither   
knows the language1 the chances are that
 the housemaid will catch it before the 
philosopher4 ,he has something else to  
do2 he can live in his own thoughts4    
,but unless she can imitate the         
utterances1 she is lost2 she has no life
 till she can join in the chatter of the
 kitchen4 ,the propensity to mimicry1   
and the power of mimicry1 are mostly    
strongest in those who have least       
abstract minds4 ,the most wonderful     
examples of imitation in the world are  
perhaps the imitations of civilised men 
by savages in the use of martial        
weapons4 ,they learn the knack1 as      
sportsmen call it1 with inconceivable   
rapidity4 ,a ,north ,american           

,indian--an ,australian even--can shoot 
as well as any white man4 ,here the     
motive is at its maximum1 as well as the
 innate power4 ,every savage cares more 
for the power of killing than for any   
other power4  ,the persecuting tendency 
of all savages1 and1 indeed1 of all     
ignorant people1 is even more striking  
than their imitative tendency4 ,no      
barbarian can bear to see one of his    
nation deviate from the old barbarous   
customs and usages of their tribe4 ,very
 commonly all the tribe would expect a  
punishment from the gods if any one of  
them refrained from what was old1 or    
began what was new4 ,in modern times and
 in cultivated countries we regard each 
person as responsible only for his own  
actions1 and do not believe1 or think of
 believing1 that the misconduct of      
others can bring guilt on them4 ,guilt  
to us is an individual taint consequent 
on choice and cleaving to the chooser4  
,but in early ages the act of one member
 of the tribe is conceived to make all  

the tribe impious1 to offend its        
peculiar god1 to expose all the tribe to
 penalties from heaven4 ,there is no    
'limited liability' in the political    
notions of that time4 ,the early tribe  
or nation is a religious partnership1 on
 which a rash member by a sudden impiety
 may bring utter ruin4 ,if the state is 
conceived thus1 toleration becomes      
wicked4 ,a permitted deviation from the 
transmitted ordinances becomes simple   
folly4 ,it is a sacrifice of the        
happiness of the greatest number4 ,it is
 allowing one individual1 for a moment's
 pleasure or a stupid whim1 to bring    
terrible and irretrievable calamity upon
 all4 ,no one will ever understand even 
,athenian history1 who forgets this idea
 of the old world1 though ,athens was1  
in comparison with others1 a rational   
and sceptical place1 ready for new      
views1 and free from old prejudices4    
,when the street statues of ,hermes were
 mutilated1 all the ,athenians were     
frightened and furious2 they thought    

that they should ,,all be ruined because
 some one had mutilated a god's image1  
and so offended him4 ,almost every      
detail of life in the classical         
times--the times when real history      
opens--was invested with a religious    
sanction2 a sacred ritual regulated     
human action2 whether it was called     
'law' or not1 much of it was older than 
the word 'law2' it was part of an       
ancient usage conceived as emanating    
from a superhuman authority1 and not to 
be transgressed without risk of         
punishment by more than mortal power4   
,there was such a solidarite then       
between citizens1 that each might be led
 to persecute the other for fear of harm
 to himself4  ,it may be said that these
 two tendencies of the early world--that
 to persecution and that to             
imitation--must conflict2 that the      
imitative impulse would lead men to copy
 what is new1 and that persecution by   
traditional habit would prevent their   
copying it4 ,but in practice the two    

tendencies co-operate4 ,there is a      
strong tendency to copy the most common 
thing1 and that common thing is the old 
habit4 ,daily imitation is far oftenest 
a conservative force1 for the most      
frequent models are ancient4 ,of course1
 however1 something new is necessary for
 every man and for every nation4 ,we may
 wish1 if we please1 that to-morrow     
shall be like to-day1 but it will not be
 like it4 ,new forces will impinge upon 
us2 new wind1 new rain1 and the light of
 another sun2 and we must alter to meet 
them4 ,but the persecuting habit and the
 imitative combine to insure that the   
new thing shall be in the old fashion2  
it must be an alteration1 but it shall  
contain as little of variety as         
possible4 ,the imitative impulse tends  
to this1 because men most easily imitate
 what their minds are best prepared     
for1--what is like the old1 yet with the
 inevitable minimum of alteration2 what 
throws them least out of the old path1  
and puzzles least their minds4 ,the     

doctrine of development means           
this1--that in unavoidable changes men  
like the new doctrine which is most of a
 'preservative addition' to their old   
doctrines4 ,the imitative and the       
persecuting tendencies make all change  
in early nations a kind of selective    
conservatism1 for the most part keeping 
what is old1 but annexing some new but  
like practice--an additional turret in  
the old style4  ,it is this process of  
adding suitable things and rejecting    
discordant things which has raised those
 scenes of strange manners which in     
every part of the world puzzle the      
civilised men who come upon them first4 
,like the old head-dress of mountain    
villages1 they make the traveller think 
not so much whether they are good or    
whether they are bad1 as wonder how any 
one could have come to think of them2 to
 regard them as 'monstrosities1' which  
only some wild abnormal intellect could 
have hit upon4 ,and wild and abnormal   
indeed would be that intellect if it    

were a single one at all4 ,but in fact  
such manners are the growth of ages1    
like ,roman law or the ,british         
constitution4 ,no one man--no one       
generation--could have thought of       
them1--only a series of generations     
trained in the habits of the last and   
wanting something akin to such habits1  
could have devised them4 ,savages ,,pet 
their favourite habits1 so to say1 and  
preserve them as they do their favourite
 animals2 ages are required1 but at last
 a national character is formed by the  
confluence of congenial attractions and 
accordant detestations4  ,another cause 
helps4 ,in early states of civilisation 
there is a great mortality of infant    
life1 and this is a kind of selection in
 itself--the child most fit to be a good
 ,spartan is most likely to survive a   
,spartan childhood4 ,the habits of the  
tribe are enforced on the child2 if he  
is able to catch and copy them he lives2
 if he cannot he dies4 ,the imitation   
which assimilates early nations         

continues through life1 but it begins   
with suitable forms and acts on picked  
specimens4 ,i suppose1 too1 that there  
is a kind of parental selection         
operating in the same way and probably  
tending to keep alive the same          
individuals4 ,those children which      
gratified their fathers and mothers most
 would be most tenderly treated by them1
 and have the best chance to live1 and  
as a rough rule their favourites would  
be the children of most 'promise1' that 
is to say1 those who seemed most likely 
to be a credit to the tribe according to
 the leading tribal manners and the     
existing tribal tastes4 ,the most       
gratifying child would be the best      
looked after1 and the most gratifying   
would be the best specimen of the       
standard then and there raised up4      
,even so1 ,i think there will be a      
disinclination to attribute so marked1  
fixed1 almost physical a thing as       
national character to causes so         
evanescent as the imitation of          

appreciated habit and the persecution of
 detested habit4 ,but1 after all1       
national character is but a name for a  
collection of habits more or less       
universal4 ,and this imitation and this 
persecution in long generations have    
vast physical effects4 ,the mind of the 
parent 7as we speak7 passes somehow to  
the body of the child4 ,the transmitted 
'something' is more affected by habits  
than1 it is by anything else4 ,in time  
an ingrained type is sure to be formed1 
and sure to be passed on if only the    
causes ,i have specified be fully in    
action and without impediment4  ,as ,i  
have said1 ,i am not explaining the     
origin of races1 but of nations1 or1 if 
you like1 of tribes4 ,i fully admit that
 no imitation of predominant manner1 or 
prohibitions of detested manners1 will  
of themselves account for the broadest  
contrasts of human nature4 ,such means  
would no more make a ,negro out of a    
,brahmin1 or a ,red-man out of an       
,englishman1 than washing would change  

the spots of a leopard or the colour of 
an ,ethiopian4 ,some more potent causes 
must co-operate1 or we should not have  
these enormous diversities4 ,the minor  
causes ,i deal with made ,greek to      
differ from ,greek1 but they did not    
make the ,greek race4 ,we cannot        
precisely mark the limit1 but a limit   
there clearly is4  ,if we look at the   
earliest monuments of the human race1 we
 find these race-characters as decided  
as the race-characters now4 ,the        
earliest paintings or sculptures we     
anywhere have1 give us the present      
contrasts of dissimilar types as        
strongly as present observation4 ,within
 historical memory no such differences  
have been created as those between      
,negro and ,greek1 between ,papuan and  
,red ,indian1 between ,esquimaux and    
,goth4 ,we start with cardinal          
diversities2 we trace only minor        
modifications1 and we only see minor    
modifications4 ,and it is very hard to  
see how any number of such modifications

 could change man as he is in one       
race-type to man as he is in some other4
 ,of this there are but two             
explanations2 ,,one1 that these great   
types were originally separate          
creations1 as they stand--that the      
,negro was made so1 and the ,greek made 
so4 ,but this easy hypothesis of special
 creation has been tried so often1 and  
has broken down so very often1 that in  
no case1 probably1 do any great number  
of careful inquirers very firmly believe
 it4 ,they may accept it provisionally1 
as the best hypothesis at present1 but  
they feel about it as they cannot help  
feeling as to an army which has always  
been beaten2 however strong it seems1   
they think it will be beaten again4     
,what the other explanation is exactly  
,i cannot pretend to say4 ,possibly as  
yet the data for a confident opinion are
 not before us4 ,but by far the most    
plausible suggestion is that of ,mr4    
,wallace1 that these race-marks are     
living records of a time when the       

intellect of man was not as able as it  
is now to adapt his life and habits to  
change of region2 that consequently     
early mortality in the first wanderers  
was beyond conception great2 that only  
those 7so to say7 haphazard individuals 
throve who were born with a protected   
nature--that is1 a nature suited to the 
climate and the country1 fitted to use  
its advantages1 shielded from its       
natural diseases4 ,according to ,mr4    
,wallace1 the ,negro is the remnant of  
the one variety of man who without more 
adaptiveness than then existed could    
live in ,interior ,africa4 ,immigrants  
died off till they produced him or      
something like him1 and so of the       
,esquimaux or the ,american4  ,any      
protective habit also struck out in such
 a time would have a far greater effect 
than it could afterwards4 ,a gregarious 
tribe1 whose leader was in some imitable
 respects adapted to the struggle for   
life1 and which copied its leader1 would
 have an enormous advantage in the      

struggle for life4 ,it would be sure to 
win and live1 for it would be coherent  
and adapted1 whereas1 in comparison1    
competing tribes would be incoherent and
 unadapted4 ,and ,i suppose that in     
early times1 when those bodies did not  
already contain the records and the     
traces of endless generations1 any new  
habit would more easily fix its mark on 
the heritable element1 and would be     
transmitted more easily and more        
certainly4 ,in such an age1 man being   
softer and more pliable1 deeper         
race-marks would be more easily         
inscribed and would be more likely to   
continue legible4  ,but ,i have no      
pretence to speak on such matters2 this 
paper1 as ,i have so often explained1   
deals with nation-making and not with   
race-making4 ,i assume a world of marked
 varieties of man1 and only want to show
 how less marked contrasts would        
probably and naturally arise in each4   
,given large homogeneous populations1   
some ,negro1 some ,mongolian1 some      

,aryan1 ,i have tried to prove how small
 contrasting groups would certainly     
spring up within each--some to last and 
some to perish4 ,these are the eddies in
 each race-stream which vary its        
surface1 and are sure to last till some 
new force changes the current4 ,these   
minor varieties1 too1 would be          
infinitely compounded1 not only with    
those of the same race1 but with those  
of others4 ,since the beginning of man1 
stream has been a thousand times poured 
into stream--quick into sluggish1 dark  
into pale--and eddies and waters have   
taken new shapes and new colours1       
affected by what went before1 but not   
resembling it4 ,and then on the fresh   
mass1 the old forces of composition and 
elimination again begin to act1 and     
create over the new surface another     
world4 ',motley was the wear' of the    
world when ,herodotus first looked on it
 and described it to us1 and thus1 as it
 seems to me1 were its varying colours  
produced4  ,if it be thought that ,i    

have made out that these forces of      
imitation and elimination be the main   
ones1 or even at all powerful ones1 in  
the formation of national character1 it 
will follow that the effect of ordinary 
agencies upon that character will be    
more easy to understand than it often   
seems and is put down in books4 ,we get 
a notion that a change of government or 
a change of climate acts equally on the 
mass of a nation1 and so are we         
puzzled--at least1 ,i have been         
puzzled--to conceive how it acts4 ,but  
such changes do not at first act equally
 on all people in the nation1 ,on many1 
for a very long time1 they do not act at
 all4 ,but they bring out new qualities1
 and advertise the effects of new       
habits4 ,a change of climate1 say from a
 depressing to an invigorating one1 so  
acts4 ,everybody feels it a little1 but 
the most active feel it exceedingly4    
,they labour and prosper1 and their     
prosperity invites imitation4 ,just so  
with the contrary change1 from an       

animating to a relaxing place1--the     
naturally lazy look so happy as they do 
nothing1 that the naturally active are  
corrupted4 ,the effect of any           
considerable change on a nation is thus 
an intensifying and accumulating effect4
 ,with its maximum power it acts on some
 prepared and congenial individuals2 in 
them it is seen to produce attractive   
results1 and then the habits creating   
those results are copied far and wide4  
,and1 as ,i believe1 it is in this      
simple but not quite obvious way1 that  
the process of progress and of          
degradation may generally be seen to    
run4     ,,no4 ,,iv4  ,,nation-,,making4
  ,all theories as to the primitive man 
must be very uncertain4 ,granting the   
doctrine of evolution to be true1 man   
must be held to have a common ancestor  
with the rest of the ,primates4 ,but    
then we do not know what their common   
ancestor was like4 ,if ever we are to   
have a distinct conception of him1 it   
can only be after long years of future  

researches and the laborious            
accumulation of materials1 scarcely the 
beginning of which now exists4 ,but     
science has already done something for  
us4 ,it cannot yet tell us our first    
ancestor1 but it can tell us much of an 
ancestor very high up in the line of    
descent4 ,we cannot get the least idea  
7even upon the full assumption of the   
theory of evolution7 of the first man2  
but we can get a very tolerable idea of 
the ,paulo-prehistoric man1 if ,i may so
 say--of man as he existed some short   
time 7as we now reckon shortness71 some 
ten thousand years1 before history      
began4 ,investigators whose acuteness   
and diligence can hardly be             
surpassed--,sir ,john ,lubbock and ,mr4 
,tylor are the chiefs among them--have  
collected so much and explained so much 
that they have left a fairly vivid      
result4  ,that result is1 or seems to me
 to be1 if ,i may sum it up in my own   
words1 that the modern pre-historic     
men--those of whom we have collected so 

many remains1 and to whom are due the   
ancient1 strange customs of historical  
nations 7the fossil customs1 we might   
call them1 for very often they are stuck
 by themselves in real civilisation1 and
 have no more part in it than the       
fossils in the surrounding              
strata7--pre-historic men in this sense 
were 'savages without the fixed habits  
of savages2' that is1 that1 like        
savages1 they had strong passions and   
weak reason2 that1 like savages1 they   
preferred short spasms of greedy        
pleasure to mild and equable enjoyment2 
that1 like savages1 they could not      
postpone the present to the future2     
that1 like savages1 their ingrained     
sense of morality was1 to say the best  
of it1 rudimentary and defective4 ,but  
that1 unlike present savages1 they had  
not complex customs and singular        
customs1 odd and seemingly inexplicable 
rules guiding all human life4 ,and the  
reasons for these conclusions as to a   
race too ancient to leave a history1 but

 not too ancient to have left memorials1
 are briefly these3--,first1 that we    
cannot imagine a strong reason without  
attainments2 and1 plainly1 pre-historic 
men had not attainments4 ,they would    
never have lost them if they had4 ,it is
 utterly incredible that whole races of 
men in the most distant parts of the    
world 7capable of counting1 for they    
quickly learn to count7 should have lost
 the art of counting1 if they had ever  
possessed it4 ,it is incredible that    
whole races could lose the elements of  
common sense1 the elementary knowledge  
as to things material and things        
mental--the ,benjamin ,franklin         
philosophy--if they had ever known it4  
,without some data the reasoning        
faculties of man cannot work4 ,as ,lord 
,bacon said1 the mind of man must 'work 
upon stuff4' ,and in the absence of the 
common knowledge which trains us in the 
elements of reason as far as we are     
trained1 they had no 'stuff4' ,even1    
therefore1 if their passions were not   

absolutely stronger than ours1          
relatively they were stronger1 for their
 reason was weaker than our reason4     
,again1 it is certain that races of men 
capable of postponing the present to the
 future 7even if such races were        
conceivable without an educated reason7 
would have had so huge an advantage in  
the struggles of nations1 that no others
 would have survived them4 ,a single    
,australian tribe 7really capable of    
such a habit1 and really practising it7 
would have conquered all ,australia     
almost as the ,english have conquered   
it4 ,suppose a race of long-headed      
,scotchmen1 even as ignorant as the     
,australians1 and they would have got   
from ,torres to ,bass's ,straits1 no    
matter how fierce was the resistance of 
the other ,australians4 ,the whole      
territory would have been theirs1 and   
theirs only4 ,we cannot imagine         
innumerable races to have lost1 if they 
had once had it1 the most useful of all 
habits of mind--the habit which would   

most ensure their victory in the        
incessant contests which1 ever since    
they began1 men have carried on with one
 another and with nature1 the habit1    
which in historical times has above any 
other received for its possession the   
victory in those contests4 ,thirdly1 we 
may be sure that the morality of        
pre-historic man was as imperfect and as
 rudimentary as his reason4 ,the same   
sort of arguments apply to a            
self-restraining morality of a high type
 as apply to a settled postponement of  
the present to the future upon grounds  
recommended by argument4 ,both are so   
involved in difficult intellectual ideas
 7and a high morality the most of the   
two7 that it is all but impossible to   
conceive their existence among people   
who could not count more than five--who 
had only the grossest and simplest forms
 of language--who had no kind of writing
 or reading--who1 as it has been roughly
 said1 had 'no pots and no pans'--who   
could indeed make a fire1 but who could 

hardly do anything else--who could      
hardly command nature any further4      
,exactly also like a shrewd             
far-sightedness1 a sound morality on    
elementary transactions is far too      
useful a gift to the human race ever to 
have been thoroughly lost when they had 
once attained it4 ,but innumerable      
savages have lost all but completely    
many of the moral rules most conducive  
to tribal welfare4 ,there are many      
savages who can hardly be said to care  
for human life--who have scarcely the   
family feelings--who are eager to kill  
all old people 7their own parents       
included7 as soon as they get old and   
become a burden--who have scarcely the  
sense of truth--who1 probably from a    
constant tradition of terror1 wish to   
conceal everything1 and would 7as       
observers say7 'rather lie than         
not'--whose ideas of marriage are so    
vague and slight that the idea1         
'communal marriage' 7in which all the   
women of the tribe are common to all the

 men1 and them only71 has been invented 
to denote it4 ,now if we consider how   
cohesive and how fortifying to human    
societies are the love of truth1 and the
 love of parents1 and a stable marriage 
tie1 how sure such feelings would be to 
make a tribe which possessed them wholly
 and soon victorious over tribes which  
were destitute of them1 we shall begin  
to comprehend how unlikely it is that   
vast masses of tribes throughout the    
world should have lost all these moral  
helps to conquest1 not to speak of      
others4 ,if any reasoning is safe as to 
pre-historic man1 the reasoning which   
imputes to him a deficient sense of     
morals is safe1 for all the arguments   
suggested by all our late researches    
converge upon it1 and concur in teaching
 it4  ,nor on this point does the case  
rest wholly on recent investigations4   
,many years ago ,mr4 ,jowett said that  
the classical religions bore relics of  
the 'ages before morality4' ,and this is
 only one of several cases in which that

 great thinker has proved by a chance   
expression that he had exhausted        
impending controversies years before    
they arrived1 and had perceived more or 
less the conclusion at which the        
disputants would arrive long before the 
public issue was joined4 ,there is no   
other explanation of such religions than
 this4 ,we have but to open ,mr4        
,gladstone's ',homer' in order to see   
with how intense an antipathy a really  
moral age would regard the gods and     
goddesses of ,homer2 how inconceivable  
it is that a really moral age should    
first have invented and then bowed down 
before them2 how plain it is 7when once 
explained7 that they are antiquities1   
like an ,english court-suit1 or a       
,,stone-sacrificial knife1 for no one   
would use such things as implements of  
ceremony1 except those who had inherited
 them from a past age1 when there was   
nothing better4  ,nor is there anything 
inconsistent with our present moral     
theories of whatever kind in so thinking

 about our ancestors4 ,the intuitive    
theory of morality1 which would be that 
naturally most opposed to it1 has lately
 taken a new development4 ,it is not now
 maintained that all men have the same  
amount of conscience4 ,indeed1 only a   
most shallow disputant who did not      
understand even the plainest facts of   
human nature could ever have maintained 
it2 if men differ in anything they      
differ in the fineness and the delicacy 
of their moral intuitions1 however we   
may suppose those feelings to have been 
acquired4 ,we need not go as far as     
savages to learn that lesson2 we need   
only talk to the ,english poor or to our
 own servants1 and we shall be taught it
 very completely4 ,the lower classes in 
civilised countries1 like all classes in
 uncivilised countries1 are clearly     
wanting in the nicer part of those      
feelings which1 taken together1 we call 
the ,,sense of morality4 ,all this an   
intuitionist who knows his case will now
 admit1 but he will add that1 though the

 amount of the moral sense may and does 
differ in different persons1 yet that as
 far as it goes it is alike in all4 ,he 
likens it to the intuition of number1 in
 which some savages are so defective    
that they cannot really and easily count
 more than three4 ,yet as far as three  
his intuitions are the same as those of 
civilised people4 ,unquestionably if    
there are intuitions at all1 the primary
 truths of number are such4 ,there is a 
felt necessity in them if in anything1  
and it would be pedantry to say that any
 proposition of morals was ,,more       
certain than that five and five make    
ten4 ,the truths of arithmetic1         
intuitive or not1 certainly cannot be   
acquired independently of experience nor
 can those of morals be so either4      
,unquestionably they were aroused in    
life and by experience1 though after    
that comes the difficult and ancient    
controversy whether anything peculiar to
 them and not to be found in the other  
facts of life is superadded to them     

independently of experience out of the  
vigour of the mind itself4 ,no          
intuitionist1 therefore1 fears to speak 
of the conscience of his pre-historic   
ancestor as imperfect1 rudimentary1 or  
hardly to be discerned1 for he has to   
admit much the same so as to square his 
theory to plain modern facts1 and that  
theory in the modern form may           
consistently be held along with them4   
,of course if an intuitionist can accept
 this conclusion as to pre-historic men1
 so assuredly may ,mr4 ,spencer1 who    
traces all morality back to our         
inherited experience of utility1 or ,mr4
 ,darwin1 who ascribes it to an         
inherited sympathy1 or ,mr4 ,mill1 who  
with characteristic courage undertakes  
to build up the whole moral nature of   
man with no help whatever either from   
ethical intuition or from physiological 
instinct4 ,indeed of the everlasting    
questions1 such as the reality of free  
will1 or the nature of conscience1 it   
is1 as ,i have before explained1        

altogether inconsistent with the design 
of these papers to speak4 ,they have    
been discussed ever since the history of
 discussion begins2 human opinion is    
still divided1 and most people still    
feel many difficulties in every         
suggested theory1 and doubt if they have
 heard the last word of argument or the 
whole solution of the problem in any of 
them4 ,in the interest of sound         
knowledge it is essential to narrow to  
the utmost the debatable territory2 to  
see how many ascertained facts there are
 which are consistent with all theories1
 how many may1 as foreign lawyers would 
phrase it1 be equally held in           
condominium by them4  ,but though in    
these great characteristics there is    
reason to imagine that the pre-historic 
man--at least the sort of pre-historic  
man ,i am treating of1 the man some few 
thousand years before history began1 and
 not at all1 at least not necessarily1  
the primitive man--was identical with a 
modern savage1 in another respect there 

is equal or greater reason to suppose   
that he was most unlike a modern savage4
 ,a modern savage is anything but the   
simple being which philosophers of the  
eighteenth century imagined him to be2  
on the contrary1 his life is twisted    
into a thousand curious habits2 his     
reason is darkened by a thousand strange
 prejudices2 his feelings are frightened
 by a thousand cruel superstitions4 ,the
 whole mind of a modern savage is1 so to
 say1 tattooed over with monstrous      
images2 there is not a smooth place     
anywhere about it4 ,but there is no     
reason to suppose the minds of          
pre-historic men to be so cut and       
marked2 on the contrary1 the creation of
 these habits1 these superstitions1     
these prejudices1 must have taken ages4 
,in his nature1 it may be said1         
pre-historic man was the same as a      
modern savage2 it is only in his        
acquisition that he was different4  ,it 
may be objected that if man was         
developed out of any kind of animal 7and

 this is the doctrine of evolution      
which1 if it be not proved conclusively1
 has great probability and great        
scientific analogy in its favour7 he    
would necessarily at first possess      
animal instincts2 that these would only 
gradually be lost2 that in the meantime 
they would serve as a protection and an 
aid1 and that pre-historic men1         
therefore1 would have important helps   
and feelings which existing savages have
 not4 ,and probably of the first men1   
the first beings worthy to be so called1
 this was true3 they had1 or may have   
had1 certain remnants of instincts which
 aided them in the struggle of          
existence1 and as reason gradually came 
these instincts may have waned away4    
,some instincts certainly do wane when  
the intellect is applied steadily to    
their subject-matter4 ,the curious      
'counting boys1' the arithmetical       
prodigies1 who can work by a strange    
innate faculty the most wonderful sums1 
lose that faculty1 always partially1    

sometimes completely1 if they are taught
 to reckon by rule like the rest of     
mankind4 ,in like manner ,i have heard  
it said that a man could soon reason    
himself out of the instinct of decency  
if he would only take pains and work    
hard enough4 ,and perhaps other         
primitive instincts may have in like    
manner passed away4 ,but this does not  
affect my argument4 ,i am only saying   
that these instincts1 if they ever      
existed1 ,,did pass away--that there was
 a period2 probably an immense period as
 we reckon time in human history1 when  
pre-historic men lived much as savages  
live now1 without any important aids and
 helps4  ,the proofs of this are to be  
found in the great works of ,sir ,john  
,lubbock and ,mr4 ,tylor1 of which ,i   
just now spoke4 ,i can only bring out   
two of them here4 ,first1 it is plain   
that the first pre-historic men had the 
flint tools which the lowest savages    
use1 and we can trace a regular         
improvement in the finish and in the    

efficiency of their simple instruments  
corresponding to that which we see at   
this day in the upward transition from  
the lowest savages to the highest4 ,now 
it is not conceivable that a race of    
beings with valuable instincts          
supporting their existence and supplying
 their wants would need these simple    
tools4 ,they are exactly those needed by
 very poor people who have no instincts1
 and those were used by such1 for       
savages are the poorest of the poor4 ,it
 would be very strange if these same    
utensils1 no more no less1 were used by 
beings whose discerning instincts made  
them in comparison altogether rich4     
,such a being would know how to manage  
without such things1 or if it wanted    
any1 would know how to make better4     
,and1 secondly1 on the moral side we    
know that the pre-historic age was one  
of much licence1 and the proof is that  
in that age descent was reckoned through
 the female only1 just as it is among   
the lowest savages4 ',maternity1' it has

 been said1 'is a matter of fact1       
paternity is a matter of opinion2' and  
this not very refined expression exactly
 conveys the connection of the lower    
human societies4 ,in all slave-owning   
communities--in ,rome formerly1 and in  
,virginia yesterday--such was the       
accepted rule of law2 the child kept the
 condition of the mother1 whatever that 
condition was2 nobody inquired as to the
 father2 the law1 once for all1 assumed 
that he could not be ascertained4 ,of   
course no remains exist which prove this
 or anything else about the morality of 
pre-historic man2 and morality can only 
be described by remains amounting to a  
history4 ,but one of the axioms of      
pre-historic investigation binds us to  
accept this as the morality of the      
pre-historic races if we receive that   
axiom4 ,it is plain that the wide-spread
 absence of a characteristic which      
greatly aids the possessor in the       
conflicts between race and race probably
 indicates that the primary race did not

 possess that quality4 ,if one-armed    
people existed almost everywhere in     
every continent2 if people were found in
 every intermediate stage1 some with the
 mere germ of the second arm1 some with 
the second arm half-grown1 some with it 
nearly complete2 we should then         
argue--'the first race cannot have had  
two arms1 because men have always been  
fighting1 and as two arms are a great   
advantage in fighting1 one-armed and    
half-armed people would immediately have
 been killed off the earth2 they never  
could have attained any numbers4 ,a     
diffused deficiency in a warlike power  
is the best attainable evidence that the
 pre-historic men did not possess that  
power4' ,if this axiom be received it is
 palpably applicable to the             
marriage-bond of primitive races4 ,a    
cohesive 'family' is the best germ for a
 campaigning nation4 ,in a ,roman family
 the boys1 from the time of their birth1
 were bred to a domestic despotism1     
which well prepared them for a          

subjection in after life to a military  
discipline1 a military drill1 and a     
military despotism4 ,they were ready to 
obey their generals because they were   
compelled to obey their fathers2 they   
centered the world in manhood because as
 children they were bred in homes where 
the tradition of passionate valour was  
steadied by the habit of implacable     
order4 ,and nothing of this is possible 
in loosely-bound family groups 7if they 
can be called families at all7 where the
 father is more or less uncertain1 where
 descent is not traced through him1     
where1 that is1 property does not come  
from him1 where such property as he has 
passes to his ,,sure relations--to his  
sister's children4 ,an ill-knit nation  
which does not recognise paternity as a 
legal relation1 would be conquered like 
a mob by any other nation which had a   
vestige or a beginning of the patria    
potestas4 ,if1 therefore1 all the first 
men had the strict morality of families1
 they would no more have permitted the  

rise of ,,semi-moral nations anywhere in
 the world than the ,romans would have  
permitted them to arise in ,italy4 ,they
 would have conquered1 killed1 and      
plundered them before they became       
nations2 and yet semi-moral nations     
exist all over the world4  ,it will be  
said that this argument proves too much4
 ,for it proves that not only the       
somewhat-before-history men1 but the    
absolutely first men1 could not have had
 close family instincts1 and yet if they
 were like most though not all of the   
animals nearest to man they had such    
instincts4 ,there is a great story of   
some ,african chief who expressed his   
disgust at adhering to one wife1 by     
saying it was 'like the monkeys4' ,the  
semi-brutal ancestors of man1 if they   
existed1 had very likely an instinct of 
constancy which the ,african chief1 and 
others like him1 had lost4 ,how1 then1  
if it was so beneficial1 could they ever
 lose it8 ,the answer is plain3 they    
could lose it if they had it as an      

irrational propensity and habit1 and not
 as a moral and rational feeling4 ,when 
reason came1 it would weaken that habit 
like all other irrational habits4 ,and  
reason is a force of such infinite      
vigour--a victory-making agent of such  
incomparable efficiency--that its       
continually diminishing valuable        
instincts will not matter if it grows   
itself steadily all the while4 ,the     
strongest competitor wins in both the   
cases we are imagining2 in the first1 a 
race with intelligent reason1 but       
without blind instinct1 beats a race    
with that instinct but without that     
reason2 in the second1 a race with      
reason and high moral feeling beats a   
race with reason but without high moral 
feeling4 ,and the two are palpably      
consistent4  ,there is every reason1    
therefore1 to suppose pre-historic man  
to be deficient in much of sexual       
morality1 as we regard that morality4   
,as to the detail of 'primitive         
marriage' or ',,no marriage1' for that  

is pretty much what it comes to1 there  
is of course much room for discussion4  
,both ,mr4 ,m',clennan and ,sir ,john   
,lubbock are too accomplished reasoners 
and too careful investigators to wish   
conclusions so complex and refined as   
theirs to be accepted all in a mass1    
besides that on some critical points the
 two differ4 ,but the main issue is not 
dependent on nice arguments4 ,upon broad
 grounds we may believe that in         
pre-historic times men fought both to   
gain and to keep their wives2 that the  
strongest man took the best wife away   
from the weaker man2 and that if the    
wife was restive1 did not like the      
change1 her new husband beat her2 that  
7as in ,australia now7 a pretty woman   
was sure to undergo many such changes1  
and her back to bear the marks of many  
such chastisements2 that in the         
principal department of human conduct   
7which is the most tangible and easily  
traced1 and therefore the most          
obtainable specimen of the rest7 the    

minds of pre-historic men were not so   
much immoral as ,u,nmoral3 they did not 
violate a rule of conscience1 but they  
were somehow not sufficiently developed 
for them to feel on this point any      
conscience1 or for it to prescribe to   
them any rule4  ,the same argument      
applies to religion4 ,there are1 indeed1
 many points of the greatest obscurity1 
both in the present savage religions and
 in the scanty vestiges of pre-historic 
religion4 ,but one point is clear4 ,all 
savage religions are full of            
superstitions founded on luck4 ,savages 
believe that casual omens are a sign of 
coming events2 that some trees are      
lucky1 that some animals are lucky1 that
 some places are lucky1 that some       
indifferent actions--indifferent        
apparently and indifferent really--are  
lucky1 and so of others in each class1  
that they are unlucky4 ,nor can a savage
 well distinguish between a sign of     
'luck' or ill-luck1 as we should say1   
and a deity which causes the good or the

 ill2 the indicating precedent and the  
causing being are to the savage mind    
much the same2 a steadiness of head far 
beyond savages is required consistently 
to distinguish them4 ,and it is         
extremely natural that they should      
believe so4 ,they are playing a         
game--the game of life--with no         
knowledge of its rules4 ,they have not  
an idea of the laws of nature2 if they  
want to cure a man1 they have no        
conception at all of true scientific    
remedies4 ,if they try anything they    
must try it upon bare chance4 ,the most 
useful modern remedies were often       
discovered in this bare1 empirical way4 
,what could be more improbable--at      
least1 for what could a pre-historic man
 have less given a good reason--than    
that some mineral springs should stop   
rheumatic pains1 or mineral springs make
 wounds heal quickly8 ,and yet the      
chance knowledge of the marvellous      
effect of gifted springs is probably as 
ancient as any sound knowledge as to    

medicine whatever4 ,no doubt it was mere
 casual luck at first that tried these  
springs and found them answer4 ,somebody
 by accident tried them and by that     
accident was instantly cured4 ,the      
chance which happily directed men in    
this one case1 misdirected them in a    
thousand cases4 ,some expedition had    
answered when the resolution to         
undertake it was resolved on under an   
ancient tree1 and accordingly that tree 
became lucky and sacred4 ,another       
expedition failed when a magpie crossed 
its path1 and a magpie was said to be   
unlucky4 ,a serpent crossed the path of 
another expedition1 and it had a        
marvellous victory1 and accordingly the 
serpent became a sign of great luck 7and
 what a savage cannot distinguish from  
it--a potent deity which makes luck74   
,ancient medicine is equally            
unreasonable3 as late down as the       
,middle ,ages it was full of            
superstitions founded on mere luck4 ,the
 collection of prescriptions published  

under the direction of the ,master of   
the ,rolls abounds in such fancies as we
 should call them4 ,according to one of 
them1 unless ,i forget1 some disease--a 
fever1 ,i think--is supposed to be cured
 by placing the patient between two     
halves of a hare and a pigeon recently  
killed4#g ,nothing can be plainer than  
that there is no ground for this kind of
 treatment1 and that the idea of it     
arose out of a chance hit1 which came   
right and succeeded4 ,there was nothing 
so absurd or so contrary to common sense
 as we are apt to imagine about it4 ,the
 lying between two halves of a hare or a
 pigeon was a priori1 and to the        
inexperienced mind1 quite as likely to  
cure disease as the drinking certain    
draughts of nasty mineral water4 ,both1 
somehow1 were tried2 both answered--that
 is4 ,both were at the first time1 or at
 some memorable time1 followed by a     
remarkable recovery2 and the only       
difference is1 that the curative power  
of the mineral is persistent1 and       

happens constantly2 whereas1 on an      
average of trials1 the proximity of a   
hare or pigeon is found to have no      
effect1 and cures take place as often in
 cases where it is not tried as in cases
 where it is4 ,the nature of minds which
 are deeply engaged in watching events  
of which they do not know the reason1 is
 to single out some fabulous            
accompaniment or some wonderful series  
of good luck or bad luck1 and to dread  
ever after that accompaniment if it     
brings evil1 and to love it and long for
 it if it brings good4 ,all savages are 
in this position1 and the fascinating   
effect of striking accompaniments 7in   
some single case7 of singular good      
fortune and singular calamity1 is one   
great source of savage religions4    #g 
,readers of ,scott's life will remember 
that an admirer of his in humble life   
proposed to cure him of inflammation of 
the bowels by making him sleep a whole  
night on twelve smooth stones1 painfully
 collected by the admirer from twelve   

brooks1 which was1 it appeared1 a recipe
 of sovereign traditional power4 ,scott 
gravely told the proposer that he had   
mistaken the charm1 and that the stones 
were of no virtue unless wrapped up in  
the petticoat of a widow who never      
wished to marry again1 and as no such   
widow seems to have been forthcoming1 he
 escaped the remedy4    ,gamblers to    
this day are1 with respect to the chance
 part of their game1 in much the same   
plight as savages with respect to the   
main events of their whole lives4 ,and  
we well know how superstitious they all 
are4 ,to this day very sensible         
whist-players have a certain            
belief--not1 of course1 a fixed         
conviction1 but still a certain         
impression--that there is 'luck under a 
black deuce1' and will half mutter some 
not very gentle maledictions if they    
turn up as a trump the four of clubs1   
because it brings ill-luck1 and is 'the 
devil's bed-post4' ,of course grown-up  
gamblers have too much general          

knowledge1 too much organised common    
sense to prolong or cherish such ideas2 
they are ashamed of entertaining them1  
though1 nevertheless1 they cannot       
entirely drive them out of their minds4 
,but child gamblers--a number of little 
boys set to play loo-are just in the    
position of savages1 for their fancy is 
still impressible1 and they have not as 
yet been thoroughly subjected to the    
confuting experience of the real world  
and child gamblers have idolatries--at  
least ,i know that years ago a set of   
boy loo-players1 of whom ,i was one1 had
 considerable faith in a certain 'pretty
 fish' which was larger and more nicely 
made than the other fish we had4 ,we    
gave the best evidence of our belief in 
its power to 'bring luck2' we fought for
 it 7if our elders were out of the way72
 we offered to buy it with many other   
fish from the envied holder1 and ,i am  
sure ,i have often cried bitterly if the
 chance of the game took it away from   
me4 ,persons who stand up for the       

dignity of philosophy1 if any such there
 still are1 will say that ,i ought not  
to mention this1 because it seems       
trivial2 but the more modest spirit of  
modern thought plainly teaches1 if it   
teaches anything1 the cardinal value of 
occasional little facts4 ,i do not      
hesitate to say that many learned and   
elaborate explanations of the totem--the
 'clan' deity--the beast or bird which  
in some supernatural way1 attends to the
 clan and watches over it--do not seem  
to me to be nearly akin to the reality  
as it works and lives among--the lower  
races as the 'pretty fish' of my early  
boyhood4 ,and very naturally so1 for a  
grave philosopher is separated from     
primitive thought by the whole length of
 human culture2 but an impressible child
 is as near to1 and its thoughts are as 
much like1 that thought as anything can 
now be4  ,the worst of these            
superstitions is that they are easy to  
make and hard to destroy4 ,a single run 
of luck has made the fortune of many a  

charm and many idols4 ,i doubt if even a
 single run of luck be necessary4 ,i am 
sure that if an elder boy said that 'the
 pretty fish was lucky--of course it    
was1' all the lesser boys would believe 
it1 and in a week it would be an        
accepted idol4 ,and ,i suspect the      
,nestor of a savage tribe--the aged     
repository of guiding experience--would 
have an equal power of creating         
superstitions4 ,but if once created they
 are most difficult to eradicate4 ,if   
any one said that the amulet was of     
certain efficacy--that it always acted  
whenever it was applied--it would of    
course be very easy to disprove2 but no 
one ever said that the 'pretty fish'    
always brought luck2 it was only said   
that it did so on the whole1 and that if
 you had it you were more likely to be  
lucky than if you were without it4 ,but 
it requires a long table of statistics  
of the results of games to disprove this
 thoroughly2 and by the time people can 
make tables they are already above such 

beliefs1 and do not need to have them   
disproved4 ,nor in many cases where     
omens or amulets are used would such    
tables be easy to make1 for the data    
could not be found2 and a rash attempt  
to subdue the superstition by a striking
 instance may easily end in confirming  
it4 ,francis ,newman1 in the remarkable 
narrative of his experience as a        
missionary in ,asia1 gives a curious    
example of this4 ,as he was setting out 
on a distant and somewhat hazardous     
expedition1 his native servants tied    
round the neck of the mule a small bag  
supposed to be of preventive and mystic 
virtue4 ,as the place was crowded and a 
whole townspeople looking on1 ,mr4      
,newman thought that he would take an   
opportunity of disproving the           
superstition4 ,so he made a long speech 
of explanation in his best ,arabic1 and 
cut off the bag1 to the horror of all   
about him4 ,but as ill-fortune would    
have it1 the mule had not got thirty    
yards up the street before she put her  

foot into a hole and broke her leg2 upon
 which all the natives were confirmed in
 their former faith in the power of the 
bag1 and said1 ',you see now what       
happens to unbelievers4'  ,now the      
present point as to these superstitions 
is their military inexpediency4 ,a      
nation which was moved by these         
superstitions as to luck would be at the
 mercy of a nation1 in other respects   
equal1 which1 was not subject to them4  
,in historical times1 as we know1 the   
panic terror at eclipses has been the   
ruin of the armies which have felt it2  
or has made them delay to do something  
necessary1 or rush to do something      
destructive4 ,the necessity of          
consulting the auspices1 while it was   
sincerely practised and before it became
 a trick for disguising foresight1 was  
in classical history very dangerous4    
,and much worse is it with savages1     
whose life is one of omens1 who must    
always consult their sorcerers1 who may 
be turned this way or that by some      

chance accident1 who1 if they were      
intellectually able to frame a          
consistent military policy--and some    
savages in war see farther than in      
anything else--are yet liable to be put 
out1 distracted1 confused1 and turned   
aside in the carrying out of it1 because
 some event1 really innocuous but to    
their minds foreboding1 arrests and     
frightens them4 ,a religion full of     
omens is a military misfortune1 and will
 bring a nation to destruction if set to
 fight with a nation at all equal       
otherwise1 who had a religion without   
omens4 ,clearly then1 if all early men  
unanimously1 or even much the greater   
number of early men1 had a religion     
,,without omens1 no religion1 or        
scarcely a religion1 anywhere in the    
world could have come into existence    
,,with omens2 the immense majority      
possessing the superior military        
advantage1 the small minority destitute 
of it would have been crushed out and   
destroyed4 ,but1 on the contrary1 all   

over the world religions with omens once
 existed1 in most they still exist2 all 
savages have them1 and deep in the most 
ancient civilisations we find the       
plainest traces of them4 ,unquestionably
 therefore the pre-historic religion was
 like that of savages--viz41 in this    
that it largely consisted in the        
watching of omens and in the worship of 
lucky beasts and things1 which are a    
sort of embodied and permanent omens4   
,it may indeed be objected--an analogous
 objection was taken as to the          
ascertained moral deficiencies of       
pre-historic mankind--that if this      
religion of omens was so pernicious and 
so likely to ruin a race1 no race would 
ever have acquired it4 ,but it is only  
likely to ruin a race contending with   
another race otherwise equal4 ,the      
fancied discovery of these omens--not an
 extravagant thing in an early age1 as  
,i have tried to show1 not a whit then  
to be distinguished as improbable from  
the discovery of healing herbs or       

springs which pre-historic men also did 
discover--the discovery of omens was an 
act of reason as far as it went4 ,and if
 in reason the omen-finding race were   
superior to the races in conflict with  
them1 the omen-finding race would win1  
and we may conjecture that omen-finding 
races were thus superior since they won 
and prevailed in every latitude and in  
every zone4  ,in all particulars        
therefore we would keep to our formula1 
and say that pre-historic man was       
substantially a savage like present     
savages1 in morals1 intellectual        
attainments1 and in religion2 but that  
he differed in this from our present    
savages1 that he had not had time to    
ingrain his nature so deeply with bad   
habits1 and to impress bad beliefs so   
unalterably on his mind as they have4   
,they have had ages to fix the stain on 
them selves1 but primitive man was      
younger and had no such time4  ,i have  
elaborated the evidence for this        
conclusion at what may seem needless and

 tedious length1 but ,i have done so on 
account of its importance4 ,if we accept
 it1 and if we are sure of it1 it will  
help us to many most important          
conclusions4 ,some of these ,i have     
dwelt upon in previous papers1 but ,i   
will set them down again4  ,first1 it   
will in part explain to us what the     
world was about1 so to speak1 before    
history4 ,it was making1 so to say1 the 
intellectual consistence--the connected 
and coherent habits1 the preference of  
equable to violent enjoyment1 the       
abiding capacity to prefer1 if required1
 the future to the present1 the mental  
pre-requisites without which            
civilisation could not begin to exist1  
and without which it would soon cease to
 exist even had it begun4 ,the primitive
 man1 like the present savage1 had not  
these pre-requisites1 but1 unlike the   
present savage1 he was capable of       
acquiring them and of being trained in  
them1 for his nature was still soft and 
still impressible1 and possibly1 strange

 as it may seem to say1 his outward     
circumstances were more favourable to an
 attainment of civilisation than those  
of our present savages4 ,at any rate1   
the pre-historic times were spent in    
making men capable of writing a history1
 and having something to put in it when 
it is written1 and we can see how it was
 done4  ,two preliminary processes      
indeed there are which seem inscrutable4
 ,there was some strange preliminary    
process by which the main races of men  
were formed2 they began to exist very   
early1 and except by intermixture no new
 ones have been formed since4 ,it was a 
process singularly active in early ages1
 and singularly quiescent in later ages4
 ,such differences as exist between the 
,aryan1 the ,turanian1 the negro1 the   
red man1 and the ,australian1 are       
differences greater--altogether than any
 causes now active are capable of       
creating in present men1 at least in any
 way explicable by us4 ,and there is1   
therefore1 a strong presumption that 7as

 great authorities now hold7 these      
differences were created before the     
nature of men1 especially before the    
mind and the adaptive nature of men had 
taken their existing constitution4 ,and 
a second condition precedent of         
civilisation seems1 at least to me1 to  
have been equally inherited1 if the     
doctrine of evolution be true1 from some
 previous state or condition4 ,i at     
least find it difficult to conceive of  
men1 at all like the present men1 unless
 existing in something like families1   
that is1 in groups avowedly connected1  
at least on the mother's side1 and      
probably always with a vestige of       
connection1 more or less1 on the        
father's side1 and unless these groups  
were like many animals1 gregarious1     
tinder a leader more or less fixed4 ,it 
is almost beyond imagination how man1 as
 we know man1 could by any sort of      
process have gained this step in        
civilisation4 ,and it is a great        
advantage1 to say the least of it1 in   

the evolution theory that it enables us 
to remit this difficulty to a           
pre-existing period in nature1 where    
other instincts and powers than our     
present ones may perhaps have come into 
play1 and where our imagination can     
hardly travel4 ,at any rate1 for the    
present ,i may assume these two steps in
 human progress made1 and these two     
conditions realized4  ,the rest of the  
way1 if we grant these two conditions1  
is plainer4 ,the first thing is the     
erection of what--we may call a         
custom-making power1 that is1 of an     
authority which can enforce a fixed rule
 of life1 which1 by means of that fixed 
rule1 can in some degree create a       
calculable future1 which can make it    
rational to postpone present violent but
 momentary pleasure for future continual
 pleasure1 because it ensures1 what else
 is not sure1 that if the sacrifice of  
what is in hand be made1 enjoyment of   
the contingent expected recompense will 
be received4 ,of course ,i am not saying

 that we shall find in early society any
 authority of which these shall be the  
motives4 ,we must have travelled ages   
7unless all our evidence be wrong7 from 
the first men before there was a        
comprehension of such motives4 ,i only  
mean that the first thing in early      
society was an authority of whose action
 this shall be the result1 little as it 
knew what it was doing1 little as it    
would have cared if it had known4 ,the  
conscious end of early societies was not
 at all1 or scarcely at all1 the        
protection of life and property1 as it  
was assumed to be by the                
eighteenth-century theory of government4
 ,even in early historical ages--in the 
youth of the human race1 not its        
childhood--such is not the nature of    
early states4 ,sir ,henry ,maine has    
taught us that the earliest subject of  
jurisprudence is not the separate       
property of the individual1 but the     
common property of the family group2    
what we should call private property    

hardly then existed2 or if it did1 was  
so small as to be of no importance3 it  
was like the things little children are 
now allowed to ,,call their own1 which  
they feel it very hard to have taken    
from them1 but which they have no real  
right to hold and keep4 ,such is our    
earliest property-law1 and our earliest 
life--law is that the lives of all      
members of the family group were at the 
mercy of the head of the group4 ,as far 
as the individual goes1 neither his     
goods nor his existence were protected  
at all4 ,and this may teach us that     
something else was lacked in early      
societies besides what in our societies 
we now think of4  ,i do not think ,i put
 this too high when ,i say that a most  
important if not the most important     
object of early legislation was the     
enforcement of ,,lucky rites4 ,i do not 
like to say religious rites1 because    
that would involve me in a great        
controversy as to the power1 or even the
 existence1 of early religions4 ,but    

there is no savage tribe without a      
notion of luck2 and perhaps there is    
hardly any which has not a conception of
 luck for the tribe as a tribe1 of which
 each member has not some such a belief 
that his own action or the action of any
 other member of it--that he or the     
others doing anything which was unlucky 
or would bring a 'curse'--might cause   
evil not only to himself1 but to all the
 tribe as well4 ,i have said so much    
about 'luck' and about its naturalness  
before1 that ,i ought to say nothing    
again4 ,but ,i must add that the        
contagiousness of the idea of 'luck' is 
remarkable4 ,it does not at all1 like   
the notion of desert1 cleave to the     
doer4 ,there are people to this day who 
would not permit in their house people  
to sit down thirteen to dinner4 ,they do
 not expect any evil to themselves      
particularly for permitting it or       
sharing in it1 but they cannot get out  
of their heads the idea that some one or
 more of the number will come to harm if

 the thing is done4 ,this is what ,mr4  
,tylor calls survival in culture4 ,the  
faint belief in the corporate liability 
of these thirteen is the feeble relic   
and last dying representative of that   
great principle of corporate liability  
to good and ill fortune which has filled
 such an immense place in the world4    
,the traces of it are endless4 ,you can 
hardly take up a book of travels in rude
 regions without finding ',i wanted to  
do so and so4 ,but ,i was not permitted1
 for the natives feared it might bring  
ill luck on the party1 or perhaps the   
tribe4' ,mr4 ,galton1 for instance1     
could hardly feed his people4 ,the      
,damaras1 he says1 have numberless      
superstitions about meat which are very 
troublesome4 ,in the first place1 each  
tribe1 or rather family1 is prohibited  
from eating cattle of certain colours1  
savages 'who come from the sun'         
eschewing sheep spotted in a particular 
way1 which those 'who come from the     
rain' have no objection to4 ',as1' he   

says1 'there are five or six eandas or  
descents1 and ,i had men from most of   
them with me1 ,i could hardly kill a    
sheep that everybody would eat2' and he 
could not keep his meat1 for it had to  
be given away because it was commanded  
by one superstition1 nor buy milk1 the  
staple food of those parts1 because it  
was prohibited by another4 ,and so on   
without end4 ,doing anything unlucky is 
in their idea what putting on something 
that attracts the electric fluid is in  
fact1 you cannot be sure that harm will 
not be done1 not only to the person in  
fault1 but to those about him too4 ,as  
in the ,scriptural phrase1 doing what is
 of evil omen is 'like one that letteth 
out water4' ,he cannot tell what are the
 consequences of his act1 who will share
 them1 or how they can be prevented4    
,in the earliest historical nations ,i  
need not say that the corporate         
liabilities of states is to a modern    
student their most curious feature4 ,the
 belief is indeed raised far above the  

notion of mere 'luck1' because there is 
a distinct belief in gods or a god whom 
the act offends1 ,but the indiscriminate
 character of the punishment still      
survives2 not only the mutilator of the 
,hermae1 but all the ,athenians--not    
only the violator of the rites of the   
,bona dea1 but all the ,romans--are     
liable to the curse engendered2 and so  
all through ancient history4 ,the       
strength of the corporate anxiety so    
created is known to every one4 ,not only
 was it greately than any anxiety about 
personal property1 but it was           
immeasurably greater4 ,naturally1 even  
reasonably we may say1 it was greater4  
,the dread of the powers of nature1 or  
of the beings who rule those powers1 is 
properly1 upon grounds of reason1 as    
much greater than any other dread as the
 might of the powers of nature is       
superior to that of any other powers4   
,if a tribe or a nation have1 by a      
contagious fancy1 come to believe that  
the doing of any one thing by any number

 will be 'unlucky1' that is1 will bring 
an intense and vast liability on them   
all1 then that tribe and that nation    
will prevent the doing of that thing    
more than anything else4 ,they will deal
 with the most cherished chief who even 
by chance should do it1 as in a similar 
case the sailors dealt with ,jonah4  ,i 
do not of course mean that this strange 
condition of mind as it seems to us was 
the sole source of early customs4 ,on   
the contrary1 man might be described as 
a custom-making animal with more justice
 than by many of the short descriptions4
 ,in whatever way a man has done        
anything once1 he has a tendency to do  
it again3 if he has done it several     
times he has a great tendency so to do  
it1 and what is more1 he has a great    
tendency to make others do it also4 ,he 
transmits his formed customs to his     
children by example and by teaching4    
,this is true now of human nature1 and  
will always be true1 no doubt4 ,but what
 is peculiar in early societies is that 

over most of these customs there grows  
sooner or later a semi-supernatural     
sanction4 ,the whole community is       
possessed with the idea that if the     
primal usages of the tribe be broken1   
harm unspeakable will happen in ways you
 cannot think of1 and from sources you  
cannot imagine4 ,as people now-a-days   
believe that 'murder will out1' and that
 great crime will bring even an earthly 
punishment1 so in early times people    
believed that for any breach of sacred  
custom certain retribution would happen4
 ,to this day many semi-civilised races 
have great difficulty in regarding any  
arrangement as binding and conclusive   
unless they can also manage to look at  
it as an inherited usage4 ,sir ,h4      
,maine1 in his last work1 gives a most  
curious case4 ,the ,english ,government 
in ,india has in many cases made new and
 great works of irrigation1 of which no 
ancient ,indian ,government ever        
thought2 and it has generally left it to
 the native village community to say    

what share each man of the village      
should have in the water2 and the       
village authorities have accordingly    
laid down a series of most minute rules 
about it4 ,but the peculiarity is that  
in no case do these rules 'purport to   
emanate from the personal authority of  
their author or authors1 which rests on 
grounds of reason not on grounds of     
innocence and sanctity2 nor do they     
assume to be dictated by a sense of     
equity2 there is always1 ,i am assured1 
a sort of fiction under which some      
customs as to the distribution of water 
are supposed to have emanated from a    
remote antiquity1 although1 in fact1 no 
such artificial supply had ever been so 
much as thought of4' ,so difficult does 
this ancient race--like1 probably1 in   
this respect so much of the ancient     
world-find it to imagine a rule which is
 obligatory1 but not traditional4  ,the 
ready formation of custom-making groups 
in early society must have been greatly 
helped by the easy divisions of that    

society4 ,much of the world--all        
,europe1 for example--was then covered  
by the primeval forest2 men had only    
conquered1 and as yet could only        
conquer1 a few plots and corners from   
it4 ,these narrow spaces were soon      
exhausted1 and if numbers grew some of  
the new people must move4 ,accordingly1 
migrations were constant1 and were      
necessary4 ,and these migrations were   
not like those of modern times4 ,there  
was no such feeling as binds even       
,americans who hate1 or speak as if they
 hated1 the present political           
,england--nevertheless to 'the old      
home4' ,there was then no organised     
means of communication--no practical    
communication1 we may say1 between      
parted members of the same group2 those 
who once went out from the parent       
society went out for ever2 they left no 
abiding remembrance1 and they kept no   
abiding regard4 ,even the language of   
the parent tribe and of the descended   
tribe would differ in a generation or   

two4 ,there being no written literature 
and no spoken intercourse1 the speech of
 both would vary 7the speech of such    
communities is always varying71 and     
would vary in different directions4 ,one
 set of causes1 events1 and associations
 would act on one1 and another set on   
another2 sectional differences would    
soon arise1 and1 for speaking purposes1 
what philologists call a dialectical    
difference often amounts to real and    
total difference3 no connected          
interchange of thought is possible any  
longer4 ,separate groups soon 'set up   
house2' the early societies begin a new 
set of customs1 acquire and keep a      
distinct and special 'luck4'  ,if it    
were not for this facility of new       
formations1 one good or bad custom would
 long since have 'corrupted' the world2 
but even this would not have been enough
 but for those continual wars1 of which 
,i have spoken at such length in the    
essay on ',the ,use of ,conflict1' that 
,i need say nothing now4 ,these are by  

their incessant fractures of old images1
 and by their constant infusion of new  
elements1 the real regenerators of      
society4 ,and whatever be the truth or  
falsehood of the general dislike to     
mixed and half-bred races1 no such      
suspicion was probably applicable to the
 early mixtures of primitive society4   
,supposing1 as is likely1 each great    
aboriginal race to have had its own     
quarter of the world 7a quarter1 as it  
would seem1 corresponding to the special
 quarters in which plants and animals   
are divided71 then the immense majority 
of the mixtures would be between men of 
different tribes but of the same stock1 
and this no one would object to1 but    
every one would praise4  ,in general1   
too1 the conquerors would be better than
 the conquered 7most merits in early    
society are more or less military       
merits71 but they would not be very much
 better1 for the lowest steps in the    
ladder of civilisation are very steep1  
and the effort to mount them is slow and

 tedious4 ,and this is probably the     
better if they are to produce a good and
 quick effect in civilising those they  
have conquered4 ,the experience of the  
,english in ,india shows--if it shows   
anything--that a highly civilised race  
may fail in producing a rapidly         
excellent effect on a less civilised    
race1 because it is too good and too    
different4 ,the two are not en rapport  
together2 the merits of the one are not 
the merits prized by the other2 the     
manner-language of the one is not the   
manner-language of the other4 ,the      
higher being is not and cannot be a     
model for the lower2 he could not mould 
himself on it if he would1 and would not
 if he could4 ,consequently1 the two    
races have long lived together1 'near   
and yet far off1' daily seeing one      
another and daily interchanging         
superficial thoughts1 but in the depths 
of their mind separated by a whole era  
of civilisation1 and so affecting one   
another only a little in comparison with

 what might have been hoped4 ,but in    
early societies there were no such great
 differences1 and the rather superior   
conqueror must have easily improved the 
rather inferior conquered4  ,it is in   
the interior of these customary groups  
that national characters are formed4 ,as
 ,i wrote a whole essay on the manner of
 this before1 ,i cannot speak of it now4
 ,by proscribing nonconformist members  
for generations1 and cherishing and     
rewarding conformist members1           
nonconformists become fewer and fewer1  
and conformists more and more4 ,most men
 mostly imitate what they see1 and catch
 the tone of what they hear1 and so a   
settled type--a persistent character--is
 formed4 ,nor is the process wholly     
mental4 ,i cannot agree1 though the     
greatest authorities say it1 that no    
'unconscious selection' has been at work
 at the breed of man4 ,if neither that  
nor conscious selection has been at     
work1 how did there come to be these    
breeds1 and such there are in the       

greatest numbers1 though we call them   
nations8 ,in societies tyrannically     
customary1 uncongenial minds become     
first cowed1 then melancholy1 then out  
of health1 and at last die4 ,a ,shelley 
in ,new ,england could hardly have      
lived1 and a race of ,shelleys would    
have been impossible4 ,mr4 ,galton      
wishes that breeds of men should be     
created by matching men with marked     
characteristics with women of like      
characteristics4 ,but surely this is    
what nature has been doing time out of  
mind1 and most in the rudest nations and
 hardest times4 ,nature disheartened in 
each generation the ill-fitted members  
of each customary group1 so deprived    
them of their full vigour1 or1 if they  
were weakly1 killed them4 ,the ,spartan 
character was formed because none but   
people with1 a ,spartan make of mind    
could endure a ,spartan existence4 ,the 
early ,roman character was so formed    
too4 ,perhaps all very marked national  
characters can be traced back to a time 

of rigid and pervading discipline4 ,in  
modern times1 when society is more      
tolerant1 new national characters are   
neither so strong1 so featurely1 nor so 
uniform4  ,in this manner society was   
occupied in pre-historic times1--it is  
consistent with and explicable by our   
general principle as to savages1 that   
society should for ages have been so    
occupied1 strange as that conclusion is1
 and incredible as it would be1 if we   
had not been taught by experience to    
believe strange things4  ,secondly1 this
 principle and this conception of       
pre-historic times explain to us the    
meaning and the origin of the oldest and
 strangest of social anomalies--an      
anomaly which is among the first things 
history tells us--the existence of caste
 nations4 ,nothing is at first sight    
stranger than the aspect of those       
communities where several nations seem  
to be bound up together--where each is  
governed by its own rule of law1 where  
no one pays any deference to the rule of

 law of any of the others4 ,but if our  
principles be true1 these are just the  
nations most likely to last1 which would
 have a special advantage in early      
times1 and would probably not only      
maintain themselves1 but conquer and    
kill out others also4 ,the              
characteristic necessity of early       
society as we have seen1 is strict usage
 and binding coercive custom4 ,but the  
obvious result and inevitable evil of   
that is monotony in society2 no one can 
be much different from his fellows1 or  
can cultivate his difference4  ,such    
societies are necessarily weak from the 
want of variety in their elements4 ,but 
a caste nation is various and composite2
 and has in a mode suited to early      
societies the constant co-operation of  
contrasted persons1 which in a later age
 is one of the greatest triumphs of     
civilisation4 ,in a primitive age the   
division between the warrior caste and  
the priestly caste is especially        
advantageous4 ,little popular and little

 deserving to be popular now-a-days as  
are priestly hierarchies1 most probably 
the beginnings of science were made in  
such1 and were for ages transmitted in  
such4 ,an intellectual class was in that
 age only possible when it was protected
 by a notion that whoever hurt them     
would certainly be punished by heaven4  
,in this class apart discoveries were   
slowly made and some beginning of mental
 discipline was slowly matured4 ,but    
such a community is necessarily         
unwarlike1 and the superstition which   
protects priests from home murder will  
not aid them in conflict with the       
foreigner4 ,few nations mind killing    
their enemies' priests1 and many        
priestly civilisations have perished    
without record before they well began4  
,but such a civilisation will not perish
 if a warrior caste is tacked on to it  
and is bound to defend it4 ,on the      
contrary1 such a civilisation will be   
singularly likely to live4 ,the head of 
the sage will help the arm of the       

soldier4  ,that a nation divided into   
castes must be a most difficult thing to
 found is plain4 ,probably it could only
 begin in a country several times       
conquered1 and where the boundaries of  
each caste rudely coincided with the    
boundaries of certain sets of victors   
and vanquished4 ,but1 as we now see1    
when founded it is a likely nation to   
last4 ,a party-coloured community of    
many tribes and many usages is more     
likely to get on1 and help itself1 than 
a nation of a single lineage and one    
monotonous rule4 ,i say 'at first1'     
because ,i apprehend that in this case1 
as in so many others in the puzzling    
history of progress1 the very           
institutions which most aid at step     
number one are precisely those which    
most impede at step number two4 ,the    
whole of a caste nation is more various 
than the whole of a non-caste nation1   
but each caste itself is more monotonous
 than anything is1 or can be1 in a      
non-caste nation4 ,gradually a habit of 

action and type of mind forces itself on
 each caste1 and it is little likely to 
be rid of it1 for all who enter it are  
taught in one way and trained to the    
same employment4 ,several non-caste     
nations have still continued to         
progress4 ,but all caste nations have   
stopped early1 though some have lasted  
long4 ,each colour in the singular      
composite of these tesselated societies 
has an indelible and invariable shade4  
,thirdly1 we see why so few nations have
 made rapid advance1 and how many have  
become stationary4 ,it is in the process
 of becoming a nation1 and in order to  
become such1 that they subjected        
themselves to the influence which has   
made them stationary4 ,they could not   
become a real nation without binding    
themselves by a fixed law and usage1 and
 it is the fixity of that law and usage 
which has kept them as they were ever   
since4 ,i wrote a whole essay on this   
before1 so ,i need say nothing now2 and 
,i only name it because it is one of the

 most important consequences of this    
view of society1 if not indeed the most 
important4  ,again1 we can thus explain 
one of the most curious facts of the    
present world4 ',manner1' says a shrewd 
observer1 who has seen much of existing 
life1 'manner gets regularly worse as   
you go from the ,east to the ,west2 it  
is best in ,asia1 not so good in        
,europe1 and altogether bad in the      
western states of ,america4' ,and the   
reason is this--an imposing manner is a 
dignified usage1 which tends to preserve
 itself and also all other existing     
usages along with itself4 ,it tends to  
induce the obedience of mankind4 ,one of
 the cleverest novelists of the present 
day has a curious dissertation to settle
 why on the hunting-field1 and in all   
collections of men1 some men 'snub and  
some men get snubbed2' and why society  
recognises in each case the ascendancy  
or the subordination as if it was right4
 ',it is not at all1' ,mr4 ,trollope    
fully explains1 'rare ability which     

gains the supremacy2 very often the     
ill-treated man is quite as clever as   
the man who ill-treats him4 ,nor does it
 absolutely depend on wealth2 for1      
though great wealth is almost always a  
protection from social ignominy1 and    
will always ensure a passive respect1 it
 will not in a miscellaneous group of   
men of itself gain an active power to   
snub others4 ,schoolboys1 in the same   
way1' the novelist adds1 'let some boys 
have dominion1 and make other boys      
slaves4' ,and he decides1 no doubt      
truly1 that in each case 'something in  
the manner or gait' of the supreme boy  
or man has much to do with it4 ,on this 
account in early society a dignified    
manner is of essential importance2 it   
is1 then1 not only an auxiliary mode of 
acquiring respect1 but a principal mode4
 ,the competing institutions which have 
now much superseded it1 had not then    
begun4 ,ancient institutions or         
venerated laws did not then exist2 and  
the habitual ascendancy of grave manner 

was a primary force in winning and      
calming mankind4 ,to this day it is rare
 to find a savage chief without it2 and 
almost always they greatly excel in it4 
,only last year a red ,indian chief came
 from the prairies to see ,president    
,grant1 and everybody declared that he  
had the best manners in ,washington4    
,the secretaries and heads of           
departments seemed vulgar to him2       
though1 of course1 intrinsically they   
were infinitely above him1 for he was   
only 'a plundering rascal4' ,but an     
impressive manner had been a tradition  
in the societies in which he had lived1 
because it was of great value in those  
societies2 and it is not a tradition in 
,america1 for nowhere is it less thought
 of1 or of less use1 than in a rough    
,english colony2 the essentials of      
civilisation there depend on far        
different influences4  ,and manner1     
being so useful and so important1 usages
 and customs grow up to develop it4     
,asiatic society is full of such things1

 if it should not rather be said to be  
composed of them4  ',from the spirit and
 decision of a public envoy upon        
ceremonies and forms1' says ,sir ,john  
,malcolm1 'the ,persians very generally 
form their opinion of the character of  
the country he represents4 ,this fact ,i
 had read in books1 and all ,i saw      
convinced me of its truth4 ,fortunately 
the ,elchee had resided at some of the  
principal courts of ,india1 whose usages
 are very similar4 ,he was1 therefore1  
deeply versed in that important science 
denominated ,kaida-e-nishest-oo-berkhast
 7or the art of sitting and rising71 in 
which is included a knowledge of the    
forms and manners of good society1 and  
particularly those of ,asiatic kings and
 their courts4  ',he was quite aware1 on
 his first arrival in ,persia1 of the   
consequence of every step he took on    
such delicate points2 he was1 therefore1
 anxious to fight all his battles       
regarding ceremonies before he came near
 the footstool of royalty4 ,we were     

consequently plagued1 from the moment we
 landed at ,ambusheher1 till we reached 
,shiraz1 with daily almost hourly       
drilling1 that we might be perfect in   
our demeanour at all places1 and under  
all circumstances4 ,we were carefully   
instructed where to ride in a           
procession1 where to stand or sit       
within-doors1 when to rise from our     
seats1 how far to advance to meet a     
visitor1 and to what part of the tent or
 house we were to follow him when he    
departed1 if he was of sufficient rank  
to make us stir a step4  ',the          
regulations of our risings and          
standings1 and movings and reseatings1  
were1 however1 of comparatively less    
importance than the time and manner of  
smoking our ,kellians and taking our    
coffee4 ,it is quite astonishing how    
much depends upon coffee and tobacco in 
,persia4 ,men are gratified or offended1
 according to the mode in which these   
favourite refreshments are offered4 ,you
 welcome a visitor1 or send him off1 by 

the way in which you call for a pipe or 
a cup of coffee4 ,then you mark1 in the 
most minute manner1 every shade of      
attention and consideration1 by the mode
 in which he is treated4 ,if he be above
 you1 you present these refreshments    
yourself1 and do not partake till       
commanded2 if equal1 you exchange pipes1
 and present him with coffee1 taking the
 next cup yourself2 if a little below   
you1 and you wish to pay him attention1 
you leave him to smoke his own pipe1 but
 the servant gives him1 according to    
your condescending nod1 the first cup of
 coffee2 if much inferior1 you keep your
 distance and maintain your rank1 by    
taking the first cup of coffee yourself1
 and then directing the servant1 by a   
wave of the hand1 to help the guest4    
',when a visitor arrives1 the coffee and
 pipe are called for to welcome him2 a  
second call for these articles announces
 that he may depart2 but this part of   
the ceremony varies according to the    
relative rank or intimacy of the        

parties4  ',these matters may appear    
light to those with whom observances of 
this character are habits1 not rules2   
but in this country they are of primary 
consideration1 a man's importance with  
himself and with others depending on    
them4'  ,in ancient customary societies 
the influence of manner1 which is a     
primary influence1 has been settled into
 rules1 so that it may aid established  
usages and not thwart them--that it may1
 above all1 augment the ,,habit of going
 by custom1 and not break and weaken it4
 ,every aid1 as we have seen1 was wanted
 to impose the yoke of custom upon such 
societies2 and impressing the power of  
manner to serve them was one of the     
greatest aids4  ,and lastly1 we now     
understand why order and civilisation   
are so unstable even in progressive     
communities4 ,we see frequently in      
states what physiologists call          
',atavism'--the return1 in part1 to the 
unstable nature of their barbarous      
ancestors4 ,such scenes of cruelty and  

horror as happened in the great ,french 
,revolution1 and as happen1 more or     
less1 in every great riot1 have always  
been said to bring out a secret and     
suppressed side of human nature2 and we 
now see that they were the outbreak of  
inherited passions long repressed by    
fixed custom1 but starting into life as 
soon as that repression was             
catastrophically removed and when sudden
 choice was given4 ,the irritability of 
mankind1 too1 is only part of their     
imperfect1 transitory civilisation and  
of their original savage nature4 ,they  
could not look steadily to a given end  
for an hour in their pre-historic state2
 and even now1 when excited or when     
suddenly and wholly thrown out of their 
old grooves1 they can scarcely do so4   
,even some very high races1 as the      
,french and the ,irish1 seem in troubled
 times hardly to be stable at all1 but  
to be carried everywhere as the passions
 of the moment and the ideas generated  
at the hour may determine4 ,but1        

thoroughly to deal with such phenomena  
as these1 we must examine the mode in   
which national characters can be        
emancipated from the rule of custom1 and
 can be prepared for the use of choice4 
,,no4 ,v4  ,,the ,,age ,,of             
,,discussion4  ,the greatest living     
contrast is between the old ,eastern and
 customary civilisations and the new    
,western and changeable civilisations4  
,a year or two ago an inquiry was made  
of our most intelligent officers in the 
,east1 not as to whether the ,english   
,government were really doing good in   
the ,east1 but as to whether the natives
 of ,india themselves thought we were   
doing good2 to which1 in a majority of  
cases1 the officers who wore the best   
authority1 answered thus3 ',no doubt you
 are giving the ,indians many great     
benefits3 you give them continued peace1
 free trade1 the right to live as they  
like1 subject to the laws2 in these     
points and others they are far better   
off than1 they ever were2 but still they

 cannot make you out4 ,what puzzles them
 is your constant disposition to change1
 or as you call it1 improvement4 ,their 
own life in every detail being regulated
 by ancient usage1 they cannot          
comprehend a policy which is always     
bringing something new2 they do not a   
bit believe that the desire to make them
 comfortable and happy is the root of   
it2 they believe1 on the contrary1 that 
you are aiming at something which they  
do not understand--that you mean to take
 away their religion2 in a word1 that   
the end and object of all these         
continual changes is to make ,indians   
not what they are and what they like to 
be1 but something new and different from
 what they are1 and what they would not 
like to be4' ,in the ,east1 in a word1  
we are attempting to put new wine into  
old bottles-to pour what we can of a    
civilisation whose spirit is progress   
into the form of a civilisation whose   
spirit is fixity1 and whether we shall  
succeed or not is perhaps the most      

interesting question in an age abounding
 almost beyond example in questions of  
political interest4  ,historical        
inquiries show that the feeling of the  
,hindoos is the old feeling1 and that   
the feeling of the ,englishman is a     
modern feeling4 ',old law rests1' as    
,sir ,henry ,maine puts it1 'not on     
contract but on status4' ,the life of   
ancient civilisation1 so far as legal   
records go1 runs back to a time when    
every important particular of life was  
settled by a usage which was social1    
political1 and religious1 as we should  
now say1 all in one--which those who    
obeyed it could not have been able to   
analyse1 for those distinctions had no  
place in their mind and language1 but   
which they felt to be a usage of        
imperishable import1 and above all      
things to be kept unchanged4 ,in former 
papers ,i have shown1 or at least tried 
to show1 why these customary            
civilisations were the only ones which  
suited an early society2 why1 so to say1

 they alone could have been first2 in   
what manner they had in their very      
structure a decisive advantage over all 
competitors4 ,but now comes the farther 
question3 ,if fixity is an invariable   
ingredient in early civilisations1 how  
then did any civilisation become        
unfixed8 ,no doubt most civilisations   
stuck where they first were2 no doubt we
 see now why stagnation is the rule of  
the world1 and why progress is the very 
rare exception2 but we do not learn what
 it is which has caused progress in     
these few cases1 or the absence of what 
it is which has denied it in all others4
  ,to this question history gives a very
 clear and very remarkable answer4 ,it  
is that the change from the age of      
status to the age of choice was first   
made in states where the government was 
to a great and a growing extent a       
government by discussion1 and where the 
subjects of that discussion were in some
 degree abstract1 or1 as we should say1 
matters of principle4 ,it was in the    

small republics of ,greece and ,italy   
that the chain of custom was first      
broken4 ',liberty said1 ,let there be   
light1 and1 like a sunrise on the sea1  
,athens arose1' says ,shelley1 and his  
historical philosophy is in this case   
far more correct than is usual with him4
 ,a free state--a state with            
liberty--means a state1 call it republic
 or call it monarchy1 in which the      
sovereign power is divided between many 
persons1 and in which there is a        
discussion among those persons4 ,of     
these the ,greek republics were the     
first in history1 if not in time1 and   
,athens was the greatest of those       
republics4  ,after the event it is easy 
to see why the teaching of history      
should be this and nothing else4 ,it is 
easy to see why the common discussion of
 common actions or common interests     
should become the root of change and    
progress4 ,in early society1 originality
 in life was forbidden and repressed by 
the fixed rule of life4 ,it may not have

 been quite so much so in ,ancient      
,greece as in some other parts of the   
world4 ,but it was very much so even    
there4 ,as a recent writer has well     
said1 ',law then presented itself to    
men's minds as something venerable and  
unchangeable1 as old as the city2 it had
 been delivered by the founder himself1 
when he laid the walls of the city1 and 
kindled its sacred fire4' ,an ordinary  
man who wished to strike out a new path1
 to begin a new and important practice  
by himself1 would have been peremptorily
 required to abandon his novelties on   
pain of death2 he was deviating1 he     
would be told1 from the ordinances      
imposed by the gods on his nation1 and  
he must not do so to please himself4 ,on
 the contrary1 others were deeply       
interested in his actions4 ,if he       
disobeyed1 the gods might inflict       
grievous harm on all the people as well 
as him4 ,each partner in the most       
ancient kind of partnerships was        
supposed to have the power of attracting

 the wrath of the divinities on the     
entire firm1 upon the other partners    
quite as much as upon himself4 ,the     
quaking bystanders in a superstitious   
age would soon have slain an isolated   
bold man in the beginning of his        
innovations1 ,what ,macaulay so relied  
on as the incessant source of           
progress--the desire of man to better   
his condition--was not then permitted to
 work2 man was required to live as his  
ancestors had lived4  ,still further    
away from those times were the 'free    
thought' and the 'advancing sciences' of
 which we now hear so much4 ,the first  
and most natural subject upon which     
human thought concerns itself is        
religion2 the first wish of the         
half-emancipated thinker is to use his  
reason on the great problems of human   
destiny--to find out whence he came and 
whither he goes1 to form for himself the
 most reasonable idea of ,god which he  
can form4 ,but1 as ,mr4 ,grote happily  
said--',this is usually what ancient    

times would not let a man do4 ,his gens 
or his phratria required him to believe 
as they believed4' ,toleration is of all
 ideas the most modern1 because the     
notion that the bad religion of ,a      
cannot impair1 here or hereafter1 the   
welfare of ,b1 is1 strange to say1 a    
modern idea4 ,and the help of 'science1'
 at that stage of thought1 is still more
 nugatory4 ,physical science1 as we     
conceive it--that is1 the systematic    
investigation of external nature in     
detail--did not then exist4 ,a few      
isolated observations on surface        
things--a half-correct calendar1 secrets
 mainly of priestly invention1 and in   
priestly custody--were all that was then
 imagined2 the idea of using a settled  
study of nature as a basis for the      
discovery of new instruments and new    
things1 did not then exist4 ,it is      
indeed a modern idea1 and is peculiar to
 a few ,european countries even yet4 ,in
 the most intellectual city of the      
ancient world1 in its most intellectual 

age1 ,socrates1 its most intellectual   
inhabitant1 discouraged the study of    
physics because they engendered         
uncertainty1 and did not augment human  
happiness4 ,the kind of knowledge which 
is most connected with human progress   
now was that least connected with it    
then4  ,but a government by discussion1 
if it can be borne1 at once breaks down 
the yoke of fixed custom4 ,the idea of  
the two is inconsistent4 ,as far as it  
goes1 the mere putting up of a subject  
to discussion1 with the object of being 
guided by that discussion1 is a clear   
admission that that subject is in no    
degree settled by established rule1 and 
that men are free to choose in it4 ,it  
is an admission too that there is no    
sacred authority--no one transcendent   
and divinely appointed man whom in that 
matter the community is bound to obey4  
,and if a single subject or group of    
subjects be once admitted to discussion1
 ere long the habit of discussion comes 
to be established1 the sacred charm of  

use and wont to be dissolved4           
',democracy1' it has been said in modern
 times1 'is like the grave2 it takes1   
but it does not give4' ,the same is true
 of 'discussion4' ,once effectually     
submit a subject to that ordeal1 and you
 can never withdraw it again2 you can   
never again clothe it with mystery1 or  
fence it by consecration2 it remains for
 ever open to free choice1 and exposed  
to profane deliberation4  ,the only     
subjects which can be first submitted1  
or which till a very late age of        
civilisation can be submitted to        
discussion in the community1 are the    
questions involving the visible and     
pressing interests of the community2    
they are political questions of high and
 urgent import4 ,if a nation has in any 
considerable degree gained the habit1   
and exhibited the capacity1 to discuss  
these questions with freedom1 and to    
decide them with discretion1 to argue   
much on politics and not to argue       
ruinously1 an enormous advance in other 

kinds of civilisation may confidently be
 predicted for it4 ,and the reason is a 
plain deduction from the principles     
which we have found to guide early      
civilisation4 ,the first pre-historic   
men were passionate savages1 with the   
greatest difficulty coerced into order  
and compressed into a state4 ,for ages  
were spent in beginning that order and  
founding that state2 the only sufficient
 and effectual agent in so doing was    
consecrated custom2 but then that custom
 gathered over everything1 arrested all 
onward progress1 and stayed the         
originality of mankind4 ,if1 therefore1 
a nation is able to gain the benefit of 
custom without the evil--if after ages  
of waiting it can have order and choice 
together--at once the fatal clog is     
removed1 and the ordinary springs of    
progress1 as in a modern community we   
conceive them1 begin their elastic      
action4  ,discussion1 too1 has          
incentives to progress peculiar to      
itself4 ,it gives a premium to          

intelligence4 ,to set out the arguments 
required to determine political action  
with such force and effect that they    
really should determine it1 is a high   
and great exertion of intellect4 ,of    
course1 all such arguments are produced 
under conditions2 the argument          
abstractedly best is not necessarily the
 winning argument4 ,political discussion
 must move those who have to act2 it    
must be framed in the ideas1 and be     
consonant with the precedent1 of its    
time1 just as it must speak its         
language4 ,but within these marked      
conditions good discussion is better    
than bad2 no people can bear a          
government of discussion for a day1     
which does not1 within the boundaries of
 its prejudices and its ideas1 prefer   
good reasoning to bad reasoning1 sound  
argument to unsound4 ,a prize for       
argumentative mind is given in free     
states1 to which no other states have   
anything to compare4  ,tolerance too is 
learned in discussion1 and1 as history  

shows1 is only so learned4 ,in all      
customary societies bigotry is the      
ruling principle4 ,in rude places to    
this day any one who says anything new  
is looked on with suspicion1 and is     
persecuted by opinion if not injured by 
penalty4 ,one of the greatest pains to  
human nature is the pain of a new idea4 
,it is1 as common people say1 so        
'upsetting2' it makes you think that1   
after all1 your favourite notions may be
 wrong1 your firmest beliefs            
ill-founded2 it is certain that till now
 there was no place allotted in your    
mind to the new and startling           
inhabitant1 and now that it has         
conquered an entrance you do not at once
 see which of your old ideas it will or 
will not turn out1 with which of them it
 can be reconciled1 and with which it is
 at essential enmity4 ,naturally1       
therefore1 common men hate a new idea1  
and are disposed more or less to        
ill-treat the original man who brings   
it4 ,even nations with long habits of   

discussion are intolerant enough4 ,in   
,england1 where there is on the whole   
probably a freer discussion of a greater
 number of subjects than ever was before
 in the world1 we know how much power   
bigotry retains4 ,but discussion1 to be 
successful1 requires tolerance4 ,it     
fails wherever1 as in a ,french         
political assembly1 any one who hears   
anything which he dislikes tries to howl
 it down4 ,if we know that a nation is  
capable of enduring continuous          
discussion1 we know that it is capable  
of practising with equanimity continuous
 tolerance4  ,the power of a government 
by discussion as an instrument of       
elevation plainly depends--other things 
being equal--on the greatness or        
littleness of the things to be          
discussed4 ,there are periods when great
 ideas are 'in the air1' and when1 from 
some cause or other1 even common persons
 seem to partake of an unusual          
elevation4 ,the age of ,elizabeth in    
,england was conspicuously such a time4 

,the new idea of the ,reformation in    
religion1 and the enlargement of the    
,,moenia ,,mundi by the discovery of new
 and singular lands1 taken together1    
gave an impulse to thought which few1 if
 any1 ages can equal4 ,the discussion1  
though not wholly free1 was yet far     
freer than in the average of ages and   
countries4 ,accordingly1 every pursuit  
seemed to start forward4 ,poetry1       
science1 and architecture1 different as 
they are1 and removed as they all are at
 first sight from such an influence as  
discussion1 were suddenly started       
onward4 ,macaulay would have said you   
might rightly read the power of         
discussion 'in the poetry of            
,shakespeare1 in the prose of ,bacon1 in
 the oriels of ,longleat1 and the       
stately pinnacles of ,burleigh4' ,this  
is1 in truth1 but another case of the   
principle of which ,i have had occasion 
to say so much as to the character of   
ages and countries4 ,if any particular  
power is much prized in an age1 those   

possessed of that power will be         
imitated2 those deficient in that power 
will be despised4 ,in consequence an    
unusual quantity of that power will be  
developed1 and be conspicuous4 ,within  
certain limits vigorous and elevated    
thought was respected in ,elizabeth's   
time1 and1 therefore1 vigorous and      
elevated thinkers were many2 and the    
effect went far beyond the cause4 ,it   
penetrated into physical science1 for   
which very few men cared2 and it began a
 reform in philosophy to which almost   
all were then opposed4 ,in a word1 the  
temper of the age encouraged            
originality1 and in consequence original
 men started into prominence1 went      
hither and thither where they liked1    
arrived at goals which the age never    
expected1 and so made it ever memorable4
  ,in this manner all the great         
movements of thought in ancient and     
modern times have been nearly connected 
in time with government by discussion4  
,athens1 ,rome1 the ,italian republics  

of the ,middle ,ages1 the ,,communes and
 states-general of feudal ,europe1 have 
all had a special and peculiar          
quickening influence1 which they owed to
 their freedom1 and which states without
 that freedom have never communicated4  
,and it has been at the time of great   
epochs of thought--at the ,peloponnesian
 war1 at the fall of the ,roman         
,republic1 at the ,reformation1 at the  
,french ,revolution--that such liberty  
of speaking and thinking have produced  
their full effect4  ,it is on this      
account that the discussions of savage  
tribes have produced so little effect in
 emancipating those tribes from their   
despotic customs4 ,the oratory of the   
,north ,american ,indian--the first     
savage whose peculiarities fixed        
themselves in the public                
imagination--has become celebrated1 and 
yet the ,north ,american ,indians were  
scarcely1 if at all1 better orators than
 many other savages4 ,almost all of the 
savages who have melted away before the 

,englishman were better speakers than he
 is4 ,but the oratory of the savages has
 led to nothing1 and was likely to lead 
to nothing4 ,it is a discussion not of  
principles1 but of undertakings2 its    
topics are whether expedition ,a will   
answer1 and should be undertaken2       
whether expedition ,b will not answer1  
and should not be undertaken2 whether   
village ,a is the best village to       
plunder1 or whether village ,b is a     
better4 ,such discussions augment the   
vigour of language1 encourage a debating
 facility1 and develop those gifts of   
demeanour and of gesture which excite   
the confidence of the hearers4 ,but they
 do not excite the speculative          
intellect1 do not lead men to argue     
speculative doctrines1 or to question   
ancient principles4 ,they1 in some      
material respects1 improve the sheep    
within the fold2 but they do not help   
them or incline them to leap out of the 
fold4  ,the next question1 therefore1   
is1 ,why did discussions in some cases  

relate to prolific ideas1 and why did   
discussions in other cases relate only  
to isolated transactions8 ,the reply    
which history suggests is very clear and
 very remarkable4 ,some races of men at 
our earliest knowledge of them have     
already acquired the basis of a free    
constitution2 they have already the     
rudiments of a complex polity--a        
monarch1 a senate1 and a general meeting
 of citizens4 ,the ,greeks were one of  
those races1 and it happened1 as was    
natural1 that there was in process of   
time a struggle1 the earliest that we   
know of1 between the aristocratical     
party1 originally represented by the    
senate1 and the popular party1          
represented by the 'general meeting4'   
,this is plainly a question of          
principle1 and its being so has led to  
its history being written more than two 
thousand years afterwards in a very     
remarkable manner4 ,some seventy years  
ago an ,english country gentleman named 
,mitford1 who1 like so many of his age1 

had been terrified into aristocratic    
opinions by the first ,french           
,revolution1 suddenly found that the    
history of the ,peloponnesian ,war was  
the reflex of his own time4 ,he took up 
his ,thucydides1 and there he saw1 as in
 a mirror1 the progress and the         
struggles of his age4 ,it required some 
freshness of mind to see this2 at least1
 it had been hidden for many centuries4 
,all the modern histories of ,greece    
before ,mitford had but the vaguest idea
 of it2 and not being a man of supreme  
originality1 he would doubtless have had
 very little idea of it either1 except  
that the analogy of what he saw helped  
him by a telling object-lesson to the   
understanding of what he read4 ,just as 
in every country of ,europe in #agic    
there were two factions1 one of the     
old-world aristocracy1 and the other of 
the incoming democracy1 just so there   
was in every city of ancient ,greece1 in
 the year #djj ,b4,c41 one party of the 
many and another of the few4 ,this ,mr4 

,mitford perceived1 and being a strong  
aristocrat1 he wrote a 'history1' which 
is little except a party pamphlet1 and  
which1 it must be said1 is even now     
readable on that very account4 ,the     
vigour of passion with which it was     
written puts life into the words1 and   
retains the attention of the reader4    
,and that is not all4 ,mr4 ,grote1 the  
great scholar whom we have had lately to
 mourn1 also recognising the identity   
between the struggles of ,athens and    
,sparta and the struggles of our modern 
world1 and taking violently the contrary
 side to that of ,mitford1 being as     
great a democrat as ,mitford was an     
aristocrat1 wrote a reply1 far above    
,mitford's history in power and         
learning1 but being in its main         
characteristic almost identical1 being  
above all things a book of vigorous     
political passion1 written for persons  
who care for politics1 and not1 as      
almost all histories of antiquity are   
and must be1 the book of a man who cares

 for scholarship more than for anything 
else1 written mainly if not exclusively1
 for scholars4 ,and the effect of       
fundamental political discussion was the
 same in ancient as in modern times4    
,the whole customary ways of thought    
were at once shaken by it1 and shaken   
not only in the closets of philosophers1
 but in the common thought and daily    
business of ordinary men4 ,the          
'liberation of humanity1' as ,goethe    
used to call it--the deliverance of men 
from the yoke of inherited usage1 and of
 rigid1 unquestionable law--was begun in
 ,greece1 and had many of its greatest  
effects1 good and evil1 on ,greece4 ,it 
is just because of the analogy between  
the controversies of that time and those
 of our times that some one has said1   
',classical history is a part of modern 
history2 it is mediaeval history only   
which is ancient4'  ,if there had been  
no discussion of principle in ,greece1  
probably she would still have produced  
works of art4 ,homer contains no such   

discussion4 ,the speeches in the        
',iliad1' which ,mr4 ,gladstone1 the    
most competent of living judges1        
maintains to be the finest ever composed
 by man1 are not discussions of         
principle4 ,there is no more tendency in
 them to critical disquisition than     
there is to political economy4 ,in      
,herodotus you have the beginning of the
 age of discussion4 ,he belongs in his  
essence to the age which is going out4  
,he refers with reverence to established
 ordinance and fixed religion4 ,still1  
in his travels through ,greece1 he must 
have heard endless political arguments2 
and accordingly you can find in his book
 many incipient traces of abstract      
political disquisition4 ,the discourses 
on democracy1 aristocracy1 and monarchy1
 which he puts into the mouth of the    
,persian conspirators when the monarchy 
was vacant1 have justly been called     
absurd1 as speeches supposed to have    
been spoken by those persons4 ,no       
,asiatic ever thought of such things4   

,you might as well imagine ,saul or     
,david speaking them1 as those to whom  
,herodotus attributes them4 ,they are   
,greek speeches1 full of free ,greek    
discussion1 and suggested by the        
experience1 already considerable1 of the
 ,greeks in the results of discussion4  
,the age of debate is beginning1 and    
even ,herodotus1 the least of a wrangler
 of any man1 and the most of a sweet and
 simple narrator1 felt the effect4 ,when
 we come to ,thucydides1 the results of 
discussion are as full as they have ever
 been2 his light is pure1 'dry light1'  
free from the 'humours' of habit1 and   
purged from consecrated usage4 ,as      
,grote's history often reads like a     
report to ,parliament1 so half          
,thucydides reads like a speech1 or     
materials for a speech1 in the ,athenian
 ,assembly4 ,of later times it is       
unnecessary to speak4 ,every page of    
,aristotle and ,plato bears ample and   
indelible trace of the age of discussion
 in which they lived2 and thought cannot

 possibly be freer4 ,the deliverance of 
the speculative intellect from          
traditional and customary authority was 
altogether complete4  ,no doubt the     
'detachment' from prejudice1 and the    
subjection to reason1 which ,i ascribe  
to ancient ,athens1 only went down a    
very little way among the population of 
it4 ,two great classes of the people1   
the slaves and women1 were almost       
excluded from such qualities2 even the  
free population doubtless contained a   
far greater proportion of very ignorant 
and very superstitious persons than we  
are in the habit of imagining4 ,we fix  
our attention on the best specimens of  
,athenian culture--on the books which   
have descended to us1 and we forget that
 the corporate action of the ,athenian  
people at various critical junctures    
exhibited the most gross superstition4  
,still1 as far as the intellectual and  
cultivated part of society is concerned1
 the triumph of reason was complete2 the
 minds of the highest philosophers were 

then as ready to obey evidence and      
reason as they have ever been since2    
probably they were more ready4 ,the rule
 of custom over them at least had been  
wholly broken1 and the primary          
conditions of intellectual progress were
 in that respect satisfied4  ,it may be 
said that ,i am giving too much weight  
to the classical idea of human          
development2 that history contains the  
record of another progress as well2 that
 in a certain sense there was progress  
in ,judaea as well as in ,athens4 ,and  
unquestionably there was progress1 but  
it was only progress upon a single      
subject4 ,if we except religion and omit
 also all that the ,jews had learned    
from foreigners1 it may be doubted if   
there be much else new between the time 
of ,samuel and that of ,malachi4 ,in    
,religion there was progress1 but       
without it there was not any4 ,this was 
due to the cause of that progress4 ,all 
over antiquity1 all over the ,east1 and 
over other parts of the world which     

preserve more or less nearly their      
ancient condition1 there are two classes
 of religious teachers--one1 the        
priests1 the inheritors of past         
accredited inspiration2 the other1 the  
prophet1 the possessor of a like present
 inspiration4 ,curtius describes the    
distinction well in relation to the     
condition of ,greece with which history 
first presents us3--  ',the mantic art  
is an institution totally different from
 the priesthood4 ,it is based on the    
belief that the gods are in constant    
proximity to men1 and in their          
government of the world1 which          
comprehends every thing both great and  
small1 will not disdain to manifest     
their will2 nay1 it seems necessary     
that1 whenever any hitch has arisen in  
the moral system of the human world1    
this should also manifest itself by some
 sign in the world of nature1 if only   
mortals are able to understand and avail
 themselves of these divine hints4      
',for this a special capacity is        

requisite2 not a capacity which can be  
learnt like a human art or science1 but 
rather a peculiar state of grace in the 
case of single individuals and single   
families whose ears and eyes are opened 
to the divine revelations1 and who      
participate more largely than the rest  
of mankind in the divine spirit4        
,accordingly it is their office and     
calling to assert themselves as organs  
of the divine will2 they are justified  
in opposing their authority to every    
power of the world4 ,on this head       
conflicts were unavoidable1 and the     
reminiscences living in the ,greek      
people1 of the agency of a ,tiresias and
 ,calchas1 prove how the ,heroic kings  
experienced not only support and aid1   
but also opposition and violent         
protests1 from the mouths of the men of 
prophecy4'  ,in ,judaea there was       
exactly the same opposition as          
elsewhere4 ,all that is new comes from  
the prophets2 all which is old is       
retained by the priests4 ,but the       

peculiarity of ,judaea--a peculiarity   
which ,i do not for a moment pretend    
that ,i can explain--is that the        
prophetic revelations are1 taken as a   
whole1 indisputably improvements2 that  
they contain1 as time goes on1 at each  
succeeding epoch1 higher and better     
views of religion4 ,but the peculiarity 
is not to my present purpose4 ,my point 
is that there is no such spreading      
impetus in progress thus caused as there
 is in progress caused by discussion4   
,to receive a particular conclusion upon
 the ipse dixit1 upon the accepted      
authority of an admired instructor1 is  
obviously not so vivifying to the       
argumentative and questioning intellect 
as to argue out conclusions for         
yourself4 ,accordingly the religious    
progress caused by the prophets did not 
break down that ancient code of         
authoritative usage4 ,on the contrary1  
the two combined4 ,in each generation   
the conservative influence 'built the   
sepulchres' and accepted the teaching of

 past prophets1 even while it was       
slaying and persecuting those who were  
living4 ,but discussion and custom      
cannot be thus combined2 their 'method1'
 as modern philosophers would say1 is   
antagonistic4 ,accordingly1 the progress
 of the classical states gradually      
awakened the whole intellect2 that of   
,judaea was partial and improved        
religion only4 ,and1 therefore1 in a    
history of intellectual progress1 the   
classical fills the superior and the    
,jewish the inferior place2 just as in a
 special history of theology only1 the  
places of the two might be interchanged4
  ,a second experiment has been tried on
 the same subject--matter4 ,the         
characteristic of the ,middle ,ages may 
be approximately--though only           
approximately--described as a return to 
the period of authoritative usage and as
 an abandonment of the classical habit  
of independent and self-choosing        
thought4 ,i do not for an instant mean  
that this is an exact description of the

 main mediaeval characteristic2 nor can 
,i discuss how far that characteristic  
was an advance upon those of previous   
times2 its friends say it is far better 
than the peculiarities of the classical 
period2 its enemies that it is far      
worse4 ,but both friends and enemies    
will admit that the most marked feature 
of the ,middle ,ages may roughly be     
described as ,i have described it4 ,and 
my point is that just as this mediaeval 
characteristic was that of a return to  
the essence of the customary epoch which
 had marked the pre-,athenian times1 so 
it was dissolved much in the same manner
 as the influence of ,athens1 and other 
influences like it1 claim to have       
dissolved that customary epoch4  ,the   
principal agent in breaking up the      
persistent medieval customs1 which were 
so fixed that they seemed likely to last
 for ever1 or till some historical      
catastrophe overwhelmed them1 was the   
popular element in the ancient polity   
which was everywhere diffused in the    

,middle ,ages4 ,the ,germanic tribes    
brought with them from their ancient    
dwelling-place a polity containing1 like
 the classical1 a king1 a council1 and a
 popular assembly2 and wherever they    
went1 they carried these elements and   
varied them1 as force compelled or      
circumstances required4 ,as far as      
,england is concerned1 the excellent    
dissertations of ,mr4 ,freeman and ,mr4 
,stubbs have proved this in the amplest 
manner1 and brought it home to persons  
who cannot claim to possess much        
antiquarian learning4 ,the history of   
the ,english ,constitution1 as far as   
the world cares for it1 is1 in fact1 the
 complex history of the popular element 
in this ancient polity1 which was       
sometimes weaker and sometimes stronger1
 but which has never died out1 has      
commonly possessed great though varying 
power1 and is now entirely predominant4 
,the history of this growth is the      
history of the ,english people2 and the 
discussions about this constitution and 

the discussions within it1 the          
controversies as to its structure and   
the controversies as to its true        
effects1 have mainly trained the        
,english political intellect1 in so far 
as it is trained4 ,but in much of       
,europe1 and in ,england particularly1  
the influence of religion has been very 
different from what it was in antiquity4
 ,it has been an influence of           
discussion4 ,since ,luther's time there 
has been a conviction more or less      
rooted1 that a man may by an            
intellectual process think out a        
religion for himself1 and that1 as the  
highest of all duties1 he ought to do   
so4 ,the influence of the political     
discussion1 and the influence of the    
religious discussion1 have been so long 
and so firmly combined1 and have so     
effectually enforced one another1 that  
the old notions of loyalty1 and fealty1 
and authority1 as they existed in the   
,middle ,ages1 have now over the best   
minds almost no effect4  ,it is true    

that the influence of discussion is not 
the only force which has produced this  
vast effect4 ,both in ancient and in    
modern times other forces cooperated    
with it4 ,trade1 for example1 is        
obviously a force which has done much to
 bring men of different customs and     
different beliefs into close contiguity1
 and has thus aided to change the       
customs and the beliefs of them all4    
,colonisation is another such influence3
 it settles men among aborigines of     
alien race and usages1 and it commonly  
compels the colonists not to be         
over-strict in the choice of their own  
elements2 they are obliged to coalesce  
with and 'adopt' useful bands and useful
 men1 though their ancestral customs may
 not be identical1 nay1 though they may 
be1 in fact1 opposite to their own4 ,in 
modern ,europe1 the existence of a      
cosmopolite ,church1 claiming to be     
above nations1 and really extending     
through nations1 and the scattered      
remains of ,roman law and ,roman        

civilisation co-operated with the       
liberating influence of political       
discussion4 ,and so did other causes    
also4 ,but perhaps in no case have these
 subsidiary causes alone been able to   
generate intellectual freedom2 certainly
 in all the most remarkable cases the   
influence of discussion has presided at 
the creation of that freedom1 and has   
been active and dominant in it4  ,no    
doubt apparent cases of exception may   
easily be found4 ,it may be said that in
 the court of ,augustus there was much  
general intellectual freedom1 an almost 
entire detachment from ancient          
prejudice1 but that there was no free   
political discussion at all4 ,but1 then1
 the ornaments of that time were derived
 from a time of great freedom3 it was   
the republic which trained the men whom 
the empire ruled4 ,the close            
congregation of most miscellaneous      
elements under the empire1 was1 no      
doubt1 of itself unfavourable to        
inherited prejudice1 and favourable to  

intellectual exertion4 ,yet1 except in  
the instance of the ,church1 which is a 
peculiar subject that requires a        
separate discussion1 how little was     
added to what the republic left6 ,the   
power of free interchange of ideas being
 wanting1 the ideas themselves were     
barren4 ,also1 no doubt1 much           
intellectual freedom may emanate from   
countries of free political discussion1 
and penetrate to countries where that   
discussion is limited4 ,thus the        
intellectual freedom of ,france in the  
eighteenth century was in great part    
owing to the proximity of and incessant 
intercourse with ,england and ,holland4 
,voltaire resided among us2 and every   
page of the ',esprit des ,lois' proves  
how much ,montesquieu learned from      
living here4 ,but1 of course1 it was    
only part of the ,french culture which  
was so derived3 the germ might be       
foreign1 but the tissue was native4 ,and
 very naturally1 for it would be absurd 
to call the ancien regime a government  

without discussion3 discussion abounded 
there1 only1 by reason of the bad form  
of the government1 it was never sure    
with ease and certainty to affect       
political action4 ,the despotism        
'tempered by epigram1' was a government 
which permitted argument of licentious  
freedom within changing limits1 and     
which was ruled by that argument        
spasmodically and practically1 though   
not in name or consistently4  ,but      
though in the earliest and in the latest
 time government by discussion has been 
a principal organ for improving mankind1
 yet1 from its origin1 it is a plant of 
singular delicacy4 ,at first the chances
 are much against its living4 ,in the   
beginning1 the members of a free state  
are of necessity few4 ,the essence of it
 requires that discussion shall be      
brought home to those members4 ,but in  
early time1 when writing is difficult1  
reading rare1 and representation        
undiscovered1 those who are to be guided
 by the discussion must hear it with    

their own ears1 must be brought face to 
face with the orator1 and must feel his 
influence for themselves4 ,the first    
free states were little towns1 smaller  
than any political division which we now
 have1 except the ,republic of ,andorre1
 which is a sort of vestige of them4 ,it
 is in the market-place of the country  
town1 as we should now speak1 and in    
petty matters concerning the            
market-town1 that discussion began1 and 
thither all the long train of its       
consequences may be traced back4 ,some  
historical inquirers1 like myself1 can  
hardly look at such a place without some
 sentimental musing1 poor and trivial as
 the thing seems4 ,but such small towns 
are very feeble4 ,numbers in the        
earliest wars1 as in the latest1 are a  
main source of victory4 ,and in early   
times one kind of state is very common  
and is exceedingly numerous4 ,in every  
quarter of the globe we find great      
populations compacted by traditional    
custom and consecrated sentiment1 which 

are ruled by some soldier--generally    
some soldier of a foreign tribe1 who has
 conquered them1 and1 as it has been    
said1 'vaulted on the back' of them1 or 
whose ancestors have done so4 ,these    
great populations1 ruled by a single    
will1 have1 doubtless1 trodden down and 
destroyed innumerable little cities who 
were just beginning their freedom4  ,in 
this way the ,greek cities in ,asia were
 subjected to the ,persian ,power1 and  
so ,,ought the cities in ,greece proper 
to have been subjected also4 ,every     
schoolboy must have felt that nothing   
but amazing folly and unmatched         
mismanagement saved ,greece from        
conquest both in the time of ,xerxes and
 in that of ,darius4 ,the fortunes of   
intellectual civilisation were then at  
the mercy of what seems an insignificant
 probability4 ,if the ,persian leaders  
had only shown that decent skill and    
ordinary military prudence which it was 
likely they would show1 ,grecian freedom
 would have been at an end4 ,athens1    

like so many ,ionian cities on the other
 side of the ,a,egean1 would have been  
absorbed into a great despotism2 all we 
now remember her for we should not      
remember1 for it would never have       
occurred4 ,her citizens might have been 
ingenious1 and imitative1 and clever2   
they could not certainly have been free 
and original4 ,rome was preserved from  
subjection to a great empire by her     
fortunate distance from one4 ,the early 
wars of ,rome are with cities like      
,rome--about equal in size1 though      
inferior in valour4 ,it was only when   
she had conquered ,italy that she began 
to measure herself against ,asiatic     
despotisms4 ,she became great enough to 
beat them before she advanced far enough
 to contend with them4 ,but such great  
good fortune was and must be rare4      
,unnumbered little cities which might   
have rivalled ,rome or ,athens doubtless
 perished without a sign long before    
history was imagined4 ,the small size   
and slight strength of early free states

 made them always liable to easy        
destruction4  ,and their internal       
frailty is even greater4 ,as soon as    
discussion begins the savage            
propensities of men break forth2 even in
 modern communities1 where those        
propensities1 too1 have been weakened by
 ages of culture1 and repressed by ages 
of obedience1 as soon as a vital topic  
for discussion is well started the      
keenest and most violent passions break 
forth4 ,easily destroyed as are early   
free states by forces from without1 they
 are even more liable to destruction by 
forces from within4  ,on this account   
such states are very rare in history4   
,upon the first view of the facts a     
speculation might even be set up that   
they were peculiar to a particular race4
 ,by far the most important free        
institutions1 and the only ones which   
have left living representatives in the 
world1 are the offspring either of the  
first constitutions of the classical    
nations or of the first constitutions of

 the ,germanic nations4 ,all living     
freedom runs back to them1 and those    
truths which at first sight would seem  
the whole of historical freedom1 can be 
traced to them4 ,and both the ,germanic 
and the classical nations belong to what
 ethnologists call the ,aryan race4     
,plausibly it might be argued that the  
power of forming free states was        
superior in and peculiar to that family 
of mankind4 ,but unfortunately for this 
easy theory the facts are inconsistent  
with it4 ,in the first place1 all the   
so-called ,aryan race certainly is not  
free4 ,the eastern ,aryans--those1 for  
example1 who speak languages derived    
from the ,sanscrit--are amongst the most
 slavish divisions of mankind4 ,to offer
 the ,bengalese a free constitution1 and
 to expect them to work one1 would be   
the maximum of human folly4 ,there then 
must be something else besides ,aryan   
descent which is necessary to fit men   
for discussion and train them for       
liberty2 and1 what is worse for the     

argument we are opposing1 some          
non-,aryan races have been capable of   
freedom4 ,carthage1 for example1 was a  
,semitic republic4 ,we do not know all  
the details of its constitution1 but we 
know enough for our present purpose4 ,we
 know that it was a government in which 
many proposers took part1 and under     
which discussion was constant1 active1  
and conclusive4 ,no doubt ,tyre1 the    
parent city of ,carthage1 the other     
colonies of ,tyre besides ,carthage1 and
 the colonies of ,carthage1 were all as 
free as ,carthage4 ,we have thus a whole
 group of ancient republics of          
non-,aryan race1 and one which1 being   
more ancient than the classical         
republics1 could not have borrowed from 
or imitated them4 ,so that the theory   
which would make government by          
discussion the exclusive patrimony of a 
single race of mankind is on the face of
 it untenable4  ,i am not prepared with 
any simple counter theory4 ,i cannot    
profess to explain completely why a very

 small minimum of mankind were1 as long 
as we know of them1 possessed of a      
polity which as time went on suggested  
discussions of principle1 and why the   
great majority of mankind had nothing   
like it4 ,this is almost as hopeless as 
asking why ,milton was a genius and why 
,bacon was a philosopher4 ,indeed it is 
the same1 because the causes which give 
birth to the startling varieties of     
individual character1 and those which   
give birth to similar varieties of      
national character1 are1 in fact1 the   
same4 ,i have1 indeed1 endeavoured to   
show that a marked type of individual   
character once originating in a nation  
and once strongly preferred by it1 is   
likely to be fixed on it and to be      
permanent in it1 from causes which were 
stated4 ,granted the beginning of the   
type1 we may1 ,i think1 explain its     
development and aggravation2 but we     
cannot in the least explain why the     
incipient type of curious characters    
broke out1 if ,i may so say1 in one     

place rather than in another4 ,climate  
and 'physical' surroundings1 in the     
largest sense1 have unquestionably much 
influence2 they are one factor in the   
cause1 but they are not the only factor2
 for we find most dissimilar races of   
men living in the same climate and      
affected by the same surroundings1 and  
we have every reason to believe that    
those unlike races have so lived as     
neighbours for ages4 ,the cause of types
 must be something outside the tribe    
acting on something within--something   
inherited by the tribe4 ,but what that  
something is ,i do not know that any one
 can in the least explain4  ,the        
following conditions may1 ,i think1 be  
historically traced to the nation       
capable of a polity1 which suggests     
principles for discussion1 and so leads 
to progress4 ,first1 the nation must    
possess the ,,patria ,,potestas in some 
form so marked as to give family life   
distinctness and precision1 and to make 
a home education and a home discipline  

probable and possible4 ,while descent is
 traced only through the mother1 and    
while the family is therefore a vague   
entity1 no progress to a high polity is 
possible4 ,secondly1 that polity would  
seem to have been created very          
gradually2 by the aggregation of        
families into clans or ,,gentes1 and of 
clans into nations1 and then again by   
the widening of nations1 so as to       
include circumjacent outsiders1 as well 
as the first compact and sacred         
group--the number of parties to a       
discussion was at first augmented very  
slowly4 ,thirdly1 the number of 'open'  
subjects--as we should say              
nowadays--that is1 of subjects on which 
public opinion was optional1 and on     
which discussion was admitted1 was at   
first very small4 ,custom ruled         
everything originally1 and the area of  
free argument was enlarged but very     
slowly4 ,if ,i am at all right1 that    
area could only be enlarged thus slowly1
 for ,custom was in early days the      

cement of society1 and if you suddenly  
questioned such custom you would destroy
 society4 ,but though the existence1 of 
these conditions may be traced          
historically1 and though the reason of  
them may be explained philosophically1  
they do not completely solve the        
question why some nations have the      
polity and some not2 on the contrary1   
they plainly leave a large 'residual    
phenomenon' unexplained and unknown4    
,,ii4  ,in this manner politics or      
discussion broke up the old bonds of    
custom which were now strangling        
mankind1 though they had once aided and 
helped it4 ,but this is only one of the 
many gifts which those polities have    
conferred1 are conferring1 and will     
confer on mankind4 ,i am not going to   
write an eulogium on liberty1 but ,i    
wish to set down three points which have
 not been sufficiently noticed4         
,civilised ages inherit the human nature
 which was victorious in barbarous ages1
 and that nature is1 in many respects1  

not at all suited to civilised          
circumstances4 ,a main and principal    
excellence in the early times of the    
human races is the impulse to action4   
,the problems before men are then plain 
and simple4 ,the man who works hardest1 
the man who kills the most deer1 the man
 who catches the most fish--even later  
on1 the man who tends the largest herds1
 or the man who tills the largest       
field--is the man who succeeds2 the     
nation which is quickest to kill its    
enemies1 or which kills most of its     
enemies1 is the nation which succeeds4  
,all the inducements of early society   
tend to foster immediate action2 all its
 penalties fall on the man who pauses2  
the traditional wisdom of those times   
was never weary of inculcating that     
'delays are dangerous1' and that the    
sluggish man--the man 'who roasteth not 
that which he took in hunting'--will not
 prosper on the earth1 and indeed will  
very soon perish out of it4 ,and in     
consequence an inability to stay quiet1 

an irritable desire to act directly1 is 
one of the most conspicuous failings of 
mankind4  ,pascal said that most of the 
evils of life arose from 'man's being   
unable to sit still in a room2' and     
though ,i do not go that length1 it is  
certain that we should have been a far  
wiser race than we are if 'we had been  
readier to sit quiet--we should have    
known much better the way in which it   
was best to act when we came to act4    
,the rise of physical science1 the first
 great body of practical truth provable 
to all men1 exemplifies this in the     
plainest way4 ,if it had not been for   
quiet people1 who sat still and studied 
the sections of the cone1 if other quiet
 people had not sat still and studied   
the theory of infinitesimals1 or other  
quiet people had not sat still and      
worked out the doctrine of chances1 the 
most 'dreamy moonshine1' as the purely  
practical mind would consider1 of all   
human pursuits2 if 'idle star-gazers'   
had not watched long and carefully the  

motions of the heavenly bodies--our     
modern astronomy would have been        
impossible1 and without our astronomy   
'our ships1 our colonies1 our seamen1'  
all which makes modern life modern life 
could not have existed4 ,ages of        
sedentary1 quiet1 thinking people were  
required before that noisy existence    
began1 and without those pale           
preliminary students it never could have
 been brought into being4 ,and          
nine-tenths of modern science is in this
 respect the same3 it is the produce of 
men whom their contemporaries thought   
dreamers--who were laughed at for caring
 for what did not concern them--who1 as 
the proverb went1 'walked into a well   
from looking at the stars'--who were    
believed to be useless1 if any one could
 be such4 ,and the conclusion is plain  
that if there had been more such people1
 if the world had not laughed at those  
there were1 if rather it had encouraged 
them there would have been a great      
accumulation of proved science ages     

before there was4 ,it was the irritable 
activity1 the 'wish to be doing         
something1' that prevented it4 ,most men
 inherited a nature too eager and too   
restless to be quiet and find out       
things2 and even worse--with their idle 
clamour they 'disturbed the brooding    
hen1' they would not let those be quiet 
who wished to be so1 and out of whose   
calm thought much good might have come  
forth4  ,if we consider how much science
 has done and how much it is doing for  
mankind1 and if the over-activity of men
 is proved to be the cause why science  
came so late into the world1 and is so  
small and scanty still1 that will       
convince most people that our           
over-activity is a very great evil4 ,but
 this is only part1 and perhaps not the 
greatest part of the harm that          
over-activity does4 ,as ,i have said1 it
 is inherited from times when life was  
simple1 objects were plain1 and quick   
action generally led to desirable ends4 
,if ,a kills ,b before ,b kills ,a1 then

 ,a survives1 and the human race is a   
race of ,a's4 ,but the issues of life   
are plain no longer4 ,to act rightly in 
modern society requires a great deal of 
previous study1 a great deal of         
assimilated information1 a great deal of
 sharpened imagination2 and these       
pre-requisites of sound action require  
much time1 and1 ,i was going to say1    
much 'lying in the sun1' a long period  
of 'mere passiveness4' ,even the art of 
killing one another1 which at first     
particularly trained men to be quick1   
now requires them to be slow4 ,a hasty  
general is the worst of generals        
nowadays2 the best is a sort of ,von    
,moltke1 who is passive if any man ever 
was passive2 who is 'silent in seven    
languages2' who possesses more and      
better accumulated information as to the
 best way of killing people than any one
 who ever lived4 ,this man plays a      
restrained and considerate game of chess
 with his enemy4 ,i wish the art of     
benefiting men had kept pace with the   

art of destroying them2 for though war  
has become slow1 philanthropy has       
remained hasty4 ,the most melancholy of 
human reflections1 perhaps1 is that1 on 
the whole1 it is a question whether the 
benevolence of mankind does most good or
 harm4 ,great good1 no doubt1           
philanthropy does1 but then it also does
 great evil4 ,it augments so much vice1 
it multiplies so much suffering1 it     
brings to life such great populations to
 suffer and to be vicious1 that it is   
open to argument whether it be or be not
 an evil to the world1 and this is      
entirely because excellent people fancy 
that they can do much by rapid          
action--that they will most benefit the 
world when they most relieve their own  
feelings2 that as soon as an evil is    
seen 'something' ought to be done to    
stay and prevent it4 ,one may incline to
 hope that the balance of good over evil
 is in favour of benevolence2 one can   
hardly bear to think that it is not so2 
but anyhow it is certain that there is a

 most heavy debit of evil1 and that this
 burden might almost all have been      
spared us if philanthropists as well as 
others had not inherited from their     
barbarous forefathers a wild passion for
 instant action4  ,even in commerce1    
which is now the main occupation of     
mankind1 and one in which there is a    
ready test of success and failure       
wanting in many higher pursuits1 the    
same disposition to excessive action is 
very apparent to careful observers4     
,part of every mania is caused by the   
impossibility to get people to confine  
themselves to the amount of business for
 which their capital is sufficient1 and 
in which they can engage safely4 ,in    
some degree1 of course1 this is caused  
by the wish1 to get rich2 but in a      
considerable degree1 too1 by the mere   
love of activity4 ,there is a greater   
propensity to action in such men than   
they have the means of gratifying4      
,operations with their own capital will 
only occupy four hours of the day1 and  

they wish to be active and to be        
industrious for eight hours1 and so they
 are ruined4 ,if they could only have   
sat idle the other four hours1 they     
would have been rich men4 ,the          
amusements of mankind1 at least of the  
,english part of mankind1 teach the same
 lesson4 ,our shooting1 our hunting1 our
 travelling1 our climbing have become   
laborious pursuits4 ,it is a common     
saying abroad that 'an ,englishman's    
notion of a holiday is a fatiguing      
journey2' and this is only another way  
of saying that the immense energy and   
activity which have given us our place  
in the world have in many cases         
descended to those who do not find in   
modern life any mode of using that      
activity1 and of venting that energy4   
,even the abstract speculations of      
mankind bear conspicuous traces of the  
same excessive impulse4 ,every sort of  
philosophy has been systematised1 and   
yet as these philosophies utterly       
contradict one another1 most of them    

cannot be true4 ,unproved abstract      
principles without number have been     
eagerly caught up by sanguine men1 and  
then carefully spun out into books and  
theories1 which were to explain the     
whole world4 ,but the world goes clear  
against these abstractions1 and it must 
do so1 as they require it to go in      
antagonistic directions4 ,the mass of a 
system attracts the young and impresses 
the unwary2 but cultivated people are   
very dubious about it4 ,they are ready  
to receive hints and suggestions1 and   
the smallest real truth is ever welcome4
 ,but a large book of deductive         
philosophy is much to be suspected4 ,no 
doubt the deductions may be right2 in   
most writers they are so2 but where did 
the premises come from8 ,who is sure    
that they are the whole truth1 and      
nothing but the truth1 of the matter in 
hand8 ,who is not almost sure beforehand
 that they will contain a strange       
mixture of truth and error1 and         
therefore that it will not be worth     

while to spend life in reasoning over   
their consequences8 ,in a word1 the     
superfluous energy of mankind has flowed
 over into philosophy1 and has worked   
into big systems what should have been  
left as little suggestions4  ,and if the
 old systems of thought are not true as 
systems1 neither is the new revolt from 
them to be trusted in its whole vigour4 
,there is the same original vice in that
 also4 ,there is an excessive energy in 
revolutions if there is such energy     
anywhere4 ,the passion for action is    
quite as ready to pull down as to build 
up2 probably it is more ready1 for the  
task is easier4  ',old things need not  
be therefore true1 ,o brother men1 nor  
yet the new2 ,ah1 still awhile the old  
thought retain1 ,and yet consider it    
again4'  ,but this is exactly what the  
human mind will not do4 ,it will act    
somehow at once4 ,it will not 'consider 
it again4'  ,but it will be said1 ,what 
has government by discussion to do with 
these things8 ,will it prevent them1 or 

even mitigate them8 ,it can and does do 
both in the very plainest way4 ,if you  
want to stop instant and immediate      
action1 always make it a condition that 
the action shall not begin till a       
considerable number of persons have     
talked over it1 and have agreed on it4  
,if those persons be people of different
 temperaments1 different ideas1 and     
different educations1 you have an almost
 infallible security that nothing1 or   
almost nothing1 will be done with       
excessive rapidity4 ,each kind of       
persons will have their spokesman2 each 
spokesman will have his characteristic  
objection1 and each his characteristic  
counter-proposition1 and so in the end  
nothing will probably be done1 or at    
least only the minimum which is plainly 
urgent4 ,in1 many cases this delay may  
be dangerous2 in many cases quick action
 will be preferable4 ,a campaign1 as    
,macaulay well says1 cannot be directed 
by a 'debating society2' and many other 
kinds of action also require a single   

and absolute general4 ,but for the      
purpose now in hand--that of preventing 
hasty action1 and ensuring elaborate    
consideration--there is no device like a
 polity of discussion4  ,the enemies of 
this object--the people who want to act 
quickly--see this very distinctly4 ,they
 are for ever explaining that the       
present is 'an age of committees1' that 
the committees do nothing1 that all     
evaporates in talk4 ,their great enemy  
is parliamentary government2 they call  
it1 after ,mr4 ,carlyle1 the 'national  
palaver2' they add up the hours that are
 consumed in it1 and the speeches which 
are made in it1 and they sigh for a time
 when ,england might again be ruled1 as 
it once was1 by a ,cromwell--that is1   
when an eager1 absolute man might do    
exactly what other eager men wished1 and
 do it immediately4 ,all these          
invectives are perpetual and many-sided2
 they come from philosophers1 each of   
whom wants some new scheme tried2 from  
philanthropists1 who want some evil     

abated2 from revolutionists1 who want   
some old institution destroyed2 from new
 aeraists1 who want their new aera      
started forthwith4 ,and they all are    
distinct admissions that a polity of    
discussion is the greatest hindrance to 
the inherited mistake of human nature1  
to the desire to act promptly1 which in 
a simple age is so excellent1 but which 
in a later and complex time leads to so 
much evil4  ,the same accusation against
 our age sometimes takes a more general 
form4 ,it is alleged that our energies  
are diminishing2 that ordinary and      
average men have not the quick          
determination nowadays which they used  
to have when the world was younger2 that
 not only do not committees and         
parliaments act with rapid decisiveness1
 but that no one now so acts4 ,and ,i   
hope that in fact this is true1 for     
according to me1 it proves that the     
hereditary barbaric impulse is decaying 
and dying out4 ,so far from thinking the
 quality attributed to us a defect1 ,i  

wish that those who complain of it were 
far more right than ,i much fear they   
are4 ,still1 certainly1 eager and       
violent action ,,is somewhat diminished1
 though only by a small fraction of what
 it ought to be4 ,and ,i believe that   
this is in great part due1 in ,england  
at least1 to our government by          
discussion1 which has fostered a general
 intellectual tone1 a diffused          
disposition to weigh evidence1 a        
conviction that much may be said on     
every side of everything which the elder
 and more fanatic ages of the world     
wanted4 ,this is the real reason why our
 energies seem so much less than those  
of our fathers4 ,when we have a definite
 end in view1 which we know we want1 and
 which we think we know how to obtain1  
we can act well enough4 ,the campaigns  
of our soldiers are as energetic as any 
campaigns ever were2 the speculations of
 our merchants have greater promptitude1
 greater audacity1 greater vigour than  
any such speculations ever had before4  

,in old times a few ideas got possession
 of men and communities1 but this is    
happily now possible no longer4 ,we see 
how incomplete these old ideas were2 how
 almost by chance one seized on one     
nation1 and another on another2 how     
often one set of men have persecuted    
another set for opinions on subjects of 
which neither1 we now perceive1 knew    
anything4 ,it might be well if a greater
 number of effectual demonstrations     
existed among mankind2 but while no such
 demonstrations exist1 and while the    
evidence which completely convinces one 
man seems to another trifling and       
insufficient1 let us recognise the plain
 position of inevitable doubt4 ,let us  
not be bigots with a doubt1 and         
persecutors without a creed4 ,we are    
beginning to bee this1 and we are railed
 at for so beginning4 ,but it is a great
 benefit1 and it is to the incessant    
prevalence of detective discussion that 
our doubts are due2 and much of that    
discussion is due to the long existence 

of a government requiring constant      
debates1 written and oral4  ,this is one
 of the unrecognised benefits of free   
government1 one of the modes in which it
 counteracts the excessive inherited    
impulses of humanity4 ,there is another 
also for which it does the same1 but    
which ,i can only touch delicately1 and 
which at first sight will seem          
ridiculous4 ,the most successful races1 
other things being equal1 are those     
which multiply the fastest4 ,in the     
conflicts of mankind numbers have ever  
been a great power4 ,the most numerous  
group has always had an advantage over  
the less numerous1 and the fastest      
breeding group has always tended to be  
the most numerous4 ,in consequence1     
human nature has descended into a       
comparatively uncontentious             
civilisation1 with a desire far in      
excess of what is needed2 with a 'felt  
want1' as political economists would    
say1 altogether greater than the 'real  
want4' ,a walk in ,london is all which  

is necessary to establish this4 ',the   
great sin of great cities' is one vast  
evil consequent upon it4 ,and who is to 
reckon up how much these words mean8    
,how many spoiled lives1 how many broken
 hearts1 how many wasted bodies1 how    
many ruined minds1 how much misery      
pretending to be gay1 how much gaiety   
feeling itself to be miserable1 how much
 after mental pain1 how much eating and 
transmitted disease4 ,and in the moral  
part of the world1 how many minds are   
racked by incessant anxiety1 how many   
thoughtful imaginations which might have
 left something to mankind are debased  
to mean cares1 how much every successive
 generation sacrifices to the next1 how 
little does any of them make of itself  
in comparison with what might be4 ,and  
how many ,irelands have there been in   
the world where men would have been     
contented and happy if they had only    
been fewer2 how many more ,irelands     
would there have been if the intrusive  
numbers had not been kept down by       

infanticide and vice and misery4 ,how   
painful is the conclusion that it is    
dubious whether all the machines and    
inventions of mankind 'have yet         
lightened the day's labour of a human   
being4' ,they have enabled more people  
to exist1 but these people work just as 
hard and are just as mean and miserable 
as the elder and the fewer4  ,but it    
will be said of this passion just as it 
was said of the passion of activity4    
,granted that it is in excess1 how can  
you say1 how on earth can anyone say1   
that government by discussion can in any
 way cure or diminish1 it8 ,cure this   
evil that government certainly will not2
 but tend to diminish it--,i think it   
does and may4 ,to show that ,i am not   
making premises to support a conclusion 
so abnormal1 ,i will quote a passage    
from ,mr4 ,spencer1 the philosopher who 
has done most to illustrate this        
subject3--  ',that future progress of   
civilisation which the never-ceasing    
pressure of population must produce1    

will be accompanied by an enhanced cost 
of ,individuation1 both in structure and
 function2 and more especially in       
nervous structure and function4 ,the    
peaceful struggle for existence in      
societies ever growing more crowded and 
more complicated1 must have for its     
concomitant an increase of the great    
nervous centres in mass1 in complexity1 
in activity4 ,the larger body of emotion
 needed as a fountain of energy for men 
who have to hold their places and rear  
their families under the intensifying   
competition of social life1 is1 other   
things equal1 the correlative of larger 
brain4 ,those higher feelings           
presupposed by the better               
self-regulation which1 in a better      
society1 can alone enable the individual
 to leave a persistent posterity1 are1  
other things equal1 the correlatives of 
a more complex brain2 as are also those 
more numerous1 more varied1 more        
general1 and more abstract ideas1 which 
must also become increasingly requisite 

for successful life as society advances4
 ,and the genesis of this larger        
quantity of feeling and thought in a    
brain thus augmented in size and        
developed in structure1 is1 other things
 equal1 the correlative of a greater    
wear of nervous tissue and greater      
consumption of materials to repair it4  
,so that both in original cost of       
construction and in subsequent cost of  
working1 the nervous system must become 
a heavier tax on the organism4 ,already 
the brain of the civilised man is larger
 by nearly thirty percent1 than the     
brain of the savage4 ,already1 too1 it  
presents an increased                   
heterogeneity--especially in the        
distribution of its convolutions4 ,and  
further changes like these which have   
taken place under the discipline of     
civilised life1 we infer will continue  
to take place4444 ,but everywhere and   
always1 evolution is antagonistic to    
procreative dissolution4 ,whether it be 
in greater growth of the organs which   

subserve self-maintenance1 whether it be
 in their added complexity of structure1
 or whether it be in their higher       
activity1 the abstraction of the        
required materials implies a diminished 
reserve of materials for                
race-maintenance4 ,and we have seen     
reason to believe that this antagonism  
between ,individuation and ,genesis     
becomes unusually marked where the      
nervous system is concerned1 because of 
the costliness of nervous structure and 
function4 ,in ,section #cdf was pointed 
out the apparent connection between high
 cerebral development and prolonged     
delay of sexual maturity2 and in        
,sections #cff1 #cfg1 the evidence went 
to show that where exceptional fertility
 exists there is sluggishness of mind1  
and that where there has been during    
education excessive expenditure in      
mental action1 there frequently follows 
a complete or partial infertility4      
,hence the particular kind of further   
evolution which ,man is hereafter to    

undergo1 is one which1 more than any    
other1 may be expected to cause a       
decline in his power of reproduction4'  
,this means that men who have to live an
 intellectual life1 or who can be       
induced to lead one1 will be likely not 
to have so many children as they would  
otherwise have had4 ,in particular cases
 this may not be true2 such men may even
 have many children--they may be men in 
all ways of unusual power and vigour4   
,but they will not have their maximum of
 posterity--will not have so many as    
they would have had if they had been    
careless or thoughtless men2 and so1    
upon an average1 the issue of such      
intellectualised men will be less       
numerous than those of the              
unintellectual4  ,now1 supposing this   
philosophical doctrine to be true--and  
the best philosophers1 ,i think1 believe
 it--its application to the case in hand
 is plain4 ,nothing promotes intellect  
like intellectual discussion1 and       
nothing promotes intellectual discussion

 so much as government by discussion4   
,the perpetual atmosphere of            
intellectual inquiry acts powerfully1 as
 everyone may see by looking about him  
in ,london1 upon the constitution both  
of men and women4 ,there is only a      
certain ,,quantum of power in each of   
our race2 if it goes in one way it is   
spent1 and cannot go in another4 ,the   
intellectual atmosphere abstracts       
strength to intellectual matters2 it    
tends to divert that strength--which the
 circumstances of early society directed
 to the multiplication of numbers2 and  
as a polity of discussion tends1 above  
all things1 to produce an intellectual  
atmosphere1 the two things which seemed 
so far off have been shown to be near1  
and free government has1 in a second    
case1 been shown to tend to cure an     
inherited excess of human nature4       
,lastly1 a polity of discussion not only
 tends to diminish our inherited        
defects1 but also1 in one case at least1
 to augment a heritable excellence4 ,it 

tends to strengthen and increase a      
subtle quality or combination of        
qualities singularly useful in practical
 life-a quality which it is not easy to 
describe exactly1 and the issues of     
which it would require not a remnant of 
an essay1 but a whole essay to elucidate
 completely4 ,this quality ,i call      
,,animated ,,moderation4  ,if anyone    
were asked to describe what it is which 
distinguishes the writings of a man of  
genius who is also a great man of the   
world from all other writings1 ,i think 
he would use these same words1 'animated
 moderation4' ,he would say that such   
writings are never slow1 are never      
excessive1 are never exaggerated2 that  
they are always instinct with judgment1 
and yet that judgment is never a dull   
judgment2 that they have as much spirit 
in them as would go to make a wild      
writer1 and yet that every line of them 
is the product of a sane and sound      
writer4 ,the best and almost perfect    
instance of this in ,english is ,scott4 

,homer was perfect in it1 as far as we  
can judge2 ,shakespeare is often perfect
 in it for long together1 though then1  
from the defects of a bad education and 
a vicious age1 all at once he loses     
himself in excesses4 ,still1 ,homer1 and
 ,shakespeare at his best1 and ,scott1  
though in other respects so unequal to  
them1 have this remarkable quality in   
common--this union of life with measure1
 of spirit with reasonableness4  ,in    
action it is equally this quality in    
which the ,english--at least so ,i claim
 it for them--excel all other nations4  
,there is an infinite deal to be laid   
against us1 and as we are unpopular with
 most others1 and as we are always      
grumbling at ourselves1 there is no want
 of people to say it4 ,but1 after all1  
in a certain sense1 ,england is a       
success in the world2 her career has had
 many faults1 but still it has been1 a  
fine and winning career upon the whole4 
,and this on account of the exact       
possession of this particular quality4  

,what is the making of a successful     
merchant8 ,that he has plenty of energy1
 and yet that he does not go too far4   
,and if you ask for a description of a  
great practical ,englishman1 you will be
 sure to have this1 or something like   
it1 ',oh1 he has plenty of go in him2   
but he knows when to pull up4' ,he may  
have all other defects in him2 he may be
 coarse1 he may be illiterate1 he may be
 stupid to talk to2 still this great    
union of spur and bridle1 of energy and 
moderation1 will remain to him4         
,probably he will hardly be able to     
explain why he stops when he does stop1 
or why he continued to move as long as  
he1 in fact1 moved2 but still1 as by a  
rough instinct1 he pulls up pretty much 
where he should1 though he was going at 
such a pace before4  ,there is no better
 example of this quality in ,english    
statesmen than ,lord ,palmerston4 ,there
 are1 of course1 many most serious      
accusations to be made against him4 ,the
 sort of homage with which he was       

regarded in the last years of his life  
has passed away2 the spell is broken1   
and the magic cannot be again revived4  
,we may think that his information was  
meagre1 that his imagination was narrow1
 that his aims were short--sighted and  
faulty4 ,but though we may often object 
to his objects1 we rarely find much to  
criticise in his means4 ',he went1' it  
has been said1 'with a great swing2' but
 he never tumbled over2 he always       
managed to pull up 'before there was any
 danger4' ,he was an odd man to have    
inherited ,hampden's motto2 still1 in   
fact1 there was a great trace in him of 
mediocria firma--as much1 probably1 as  
there could be in anyone of such great  
vivacity and buoyancy4  ,it is plain    
that this is a quality which as much as1
 if not more than1 any other multiplies 
good results in practical life4 ,it     
enables men to see what is good2 it     
gives them intellect enough for         
sufficient perception2 but it does not  
make men all intellect2 it does not'    

sickly them o'er with the pale cast of  
thought2' it enables them to do the good
 things they see to be good1 as well as 
to see that they are good4 ,and it is   
plain that a government by popular      
discussion tends to produce this        
quality4 ,a strongly idiosyncratic mind1
 violently disposed to extremes of      
opinion1 is soon weeded out of political
 life1 and a bodiless thinker1 an       
ineffectual scholar1 cannot even live   
there for a day4 ,a vigorous            
moderateness in mind and body is the    
rule of a polity which works by         
discussion2 and1 upon the whole1 it is  
the kind of temper most suited to the   
active life of such a being as man in   
such a world as the present one4  ,these
 three great benefits of free           
government1 though great1 are entirely  
secondary to its continued usefulness in
 the mode in which it originally was    
useful4 ,the first great benefit was the
 deliverance of mankind from the        
superannuated yoke of customary law1 by 

the gradual development of an           
inquisitive originality4 ,and it        
continues to produce that effect upon   
persons apparently far remote from its  
influence1 and on subjects with which it
 has nothing to do4 ,thus ,mr4          
,mundella1 a most experienced and       
capable judge1 tells us that the        
,english artisan1 though so much less   
sober1 less instructed1 and less refined
 than the artisans of some other        
countries1 is yet more inventive than   
any other artisan4 ,the master will get 
more good suggestions from him than from
 any other4  ,again1 upon plausible     
grounds--looking1 for example1 to the   
position of ,locke and ,newton in the   
science of the last century1 and to that
 of ,darwin in our own--it may be argued
 that there is some quality in ,english 
thought which makes them strike out as  
many1 if not more1 first-rate and       
original suggestions than nations of    
greater scientific culture and more     
diffused scientific interest4 ,in both  

cases ,i believe the reason of the      
,english originality to be that         
government by discussion quickens and   
enlivens thought all through society2   
that it makes people think no harm may  
come of thinking2 that in ,england this 
force has long been operating1 and so it
 has developed more of all kinds of     
people ready to use their mental energy 
in their own way1 and not ready to use  
it in any other way1 than a despotic    
government4 ,and so rare is great       
originality among mankind1 and so great 
are its fruits1 that this one benefit of
 free government probably outweighs what
 are in many cases its accessory evils4 
,of itself it justifies1 or goes far to 
justify1 our saying with ,montesquieu1  
',whatever be the cost of this glorious 
liberty1 we must be content to pay it to
 heaven4'    ,,no4 ,,vi4  ,,verifiable  
,,progress ,,politically ,,considered4  
,the original publication of these      
essays was interrupted by serious       
illness and by long consequent          

ill--health1 ,i and now that ,i am      
putting them together ,i wish to add    
another which shall shortly explain the 
main thread of the argument which they  
contain4 ,in doing so there is a risk of
 tedious repetition1 but on a subject   
both obscure and important1 any defect  
is better than an appearance of         
vagueness4  ,in a former essay ,i       
attempted to show that slighter causes  
than is commonly thought may change a   
nation from the stationary to the       
progressive state of civilisation1 and  
from the stationary to the degrading4   
,commonly the effect of the agent is    
looked on in the wrong way4 ,it is      
considered as operating on every        
individual in the nation1 and it is     
assumed1 or half assumed1 that it is    
only the effect which the agent directly
 produces on everyone that need be      
considered4 ,but besides this diffused  
effect of the first impact of the cause1
 there is a second effect1 always       
considerable1 and commonly more         

potent--a new model in character is     
created for the nation2 those characters
 which resemble it are encouraged and   
multiplied2 those contrasted with it are
 persecuted and made fewer4 ,in a       
generation or two1 the look of the      
nation1 becomes quite different2 the    
characteristic men who stand out are    
different1 the men imitated are         
different2 the result of the imitation  
is different4 ,a lazy nation may be     
changed into an industrious1 a rich into
 a poor1 a religious into a profane1 as 
if by magic1 if any single cause1 though
 slight1 or any combination of causes1  
however subtle1 is strong enough to     
change the favourite and detested types 
of character4  ,this principle will1 ,i 
think1 help us in trying to solve the   
question why so few nations have        
progressed1 though to us progress seems 
so natural-what is the cause or set of  
causes which have prevented that        
progress in the vast majority of cases1 
and produced it in the feeble minority4 

,but there is a preliminary difficulty3 
,what is progress1 and what is decline8 
,even in the animal world there is no   
applicable rule accepted by             
physiologists1 which settles what       
animals are higher or lower than others2
 there are controversies about it4      
,still more then in the more complex    
combinations and politics of human      
beings it is likely to be hard to find  
an agreed criterion for saying which    
nation is before another1 or what age of
 a nation was marching forward and which
 was falling back4 ,archbishop ,manning 
would have one rule of progress and     
decline2 ,professor ,huxley1 in most    
important points1 quite an opposite     
rule2 what one would set down as an     
advance1 the other would set down as a  
retreat4 ,each has a distinct end which 
he wishes and a distinct calamity which 
he fears1 but the desire of the one is  
pretty near the fear of the other2 books
 would not hold the controversy between 
them4 ,again1 in art1 who is to settle  

what is advance and what decline8 ,would
 ,mr4 ,buskin agree with anyone else on 
this subject1 would he even agree with  
himself or could any common enquirer    
venture to say whether he was right or  
wrong8  ,i am afraid that ,i must1 as   
,sir ,wm4 ,hamilton used to say1        
'truncate a problem which ,i cannot     
solve4' ,i must decline to sit in       
judgment on disputed points of art1     
morals1 or religion4 ,but without so    
doing ,i think there is such a thing as 
'verifiable progress1' if we may say so2
 that is1 progress which ninety-nine    
hundredths or more of mankind will admit
 to be such1 against which there is no  
established or organised opposition     
creed1 and the objectors to which1      
essentially varying in opinion          
themselves1 and believing one thing and 
another the reverse1 may be safely and  
altogether rejected4  ,let us consider  
in what a village of ,english colonists 
is superior to a tribe of ,australian   
natives who roam about them4            

,indisputably in one1 and that a main   
sense1 they are superior4 ,they can beat
 the ,australians in war when they like2
 they can take from them anything they  
like1 and kill any of them they choose4 
,as a rule1 in all the outlying and     
uncontested districts of the world1 the 
aboriginal native lies at the mercy of  
the intruding ,european4 ',nor is this  
all4 ,indisputably in the ,english      
village there are more means of         
happiness1 a greater accumulation of the
 instruments of enjoyment1 than in the  
,australian tribe4 ,the ,english have   
all manner of books1 utensils1 and      
machines which the others do not use1   
value1 or understand4 ,and in addition1 
and beyond particular inventions1 there 
is a general strength which is capable  
of being used in conquering a thousand  
difficulties1 and is an abiding source  
of happiness1 because those who possess 
it always feel that they can use it4    
,if we omit the higher but disputed     
topics of morals and religion1 we shall 

find1 ,i think1 that the plainer and    
agreed--on superiorities of the         
,englishmen are these3 first1 that they 
have a greater command over the powers  
of nature upon the whole4 ,though they  
may fall short of individual            
,australians in certain feats of petty  
skill1 though they may not throw the    
boomerang as well1 or light a fire with 
earthsticks as well1 yet on the whole   
twenty ,englishmen with their implements
 and skill can change the material world
 immeasurably more than twenty          
,australians and their machines4        
,secondly1 that this power is not       
external only2 it is also internal4 ,the
 ,english not only possess better       
machines for moving nature1 but are     
themselves better machines4 ,mr4        
,babbage taught us years ago that one   
great use of machinery was not to       
augment the force of man1 but to        
register and regulate the power of man2 
and this in a thousand ways civilised   
man can do1 and is ready to do1 better  

and more precisely than the barbarian4  
,thirdly1  civilised man not only has   
greater powers over nature1 but knows   
better how to use them1 and by better ,i
 here mean better for the health and    
comfort of his present body and mind4   
,he can lay up for old age1 which a     
savage having no durable means of       
sustenance cannot2 he is ready to lay up
 because he can distinctly foresee the  
future1 which the vague--minded savage  
cannot2 he is mainly desirous of gentle1
 continuous pleasure1 ,i whereas the    
barbarian likes wild excitement1 and    
longs for stupefying repletion4 ,much1  
if not all1 of these three ways may be  
summed up in ,mr4 ,spencer's phrase1    
that progress is an increase of         
adaptation of man to his environment1   
that is1 of his internal powers and     
wishes to his external lot and life4    
,something of it too is expressed in the
 old pagan idea 'mens sana in corpore   
sano4' ,and ,i think this sort of       
progress may be fairly investigated     

quite separately1 as it is progress in a
 sort of good everyone worth reckoning  
with admits and ,i agrees in4 ,no doubt 
there will remain people like the aged  
savage1 who in his old age went back to 
his savage tribe and said that he had   
'tried civilisation for forty years1 and
 it was not worth the trouble4' ,but we 
need not take account of the mistaken   
ideas of unfit men and beaten races4 ,on
 the whole the plainer sort of          
civilisation1 the simpler moral         
training1 and the more elementary       
education are plain benefits4 ,and      
though there may be doubt as to the     
edges of the conception yet there       
certainly is a broad road of 'verifiable
 progress' which not only discoverers   
and admirers will like1 but which all   
those who come upon it will use and     
value4  ,unless some kind of abstraction
 like this is made in the subject the   
great problem ',what causes progress8'  
will1 ,i am confident1 long remain      
unsolved4 ,unless we are content to     

solve simple problems first1 the whole  
history of philosophy teaches that we   
shall never solve hard problems4 ,this  
is the maxim of scientific humility so  
often insisted on by the highest        
enquirers that1 in investigations1 as in
 life1 those 'who exalt themselves shall
 be abased1 and those who humble        
themselves shall be exalted2' and though
 we may seem mean only to look for the  
laws of plain comfort and simple present
 happiness1 yet we must work out that   
simple case first1 before we encounter  
the incredibly harder additional        
difficulties of the higher art1 morals  
and religion4  ,the difficulty of       
solving the problem even thus limited is
 exceedingly great4 ,the most palpable  
facts1 are exactly the contrary to what 
we should expect4 ,lord ,macaulay tells 
us that ',in every experimental science 
there is a tendency towards perfection4 
,in every human being there is a        
tendency to ameliorate his condition2'  
and these two principles operating      

everywhere and always1 might well have  
been expected to 'carry mankind rapidly 
forward4' ,indeed1 taking verifiable    
progress in the sense which has just    
been given to it1 we may say that nature
 gives a prize to every single step in  
it4 ,everyone that makes an invention   
that benefits himself or those around   
him1 is likely to be more comfortable   
himself and to be more respected by     
those around him4 ,to produce new things
 'serviceable to man's life and         
conducive to man's estate1' is1 we      
should say1 likely to bring increased   
happiness to the producer4 ,it often    
brings immense reward certainly now2 a  
new form of good steel pen1 a way of    
making some kind of clothes a little    
better or a little cheaper1 have brought
 men great fortunes4 ,and there is the  
same kind of prize for industrial       
improvement in the earliest times as in 
the latest2 though the benefits so      
obtainable in early society are poor    
indeed in comparison with those of      

advanced society4 ,nature is like a     
schoolmaster1 at least in this1 she     
gives her finest prizes to her high and 
most instructed classes2 ,still1 even in
 the earliest society1 nature helps     
those who can help themselves1 and helps
 them very much4  ,all this should have 
made the progress of mankind--progress  
at least in this limited                
sense-exceedingly common2 but1 in fact1 
any progress is extremely rare4 ,as a   
rule 7and as has been insisted on       
before7 a stationary state is by far the
 most frequent condition of man1 as far 
as history describes that condition2 the
 progressive state is only a rare and an
 occasional exception4 ,before history  
began there must have been in the nation
 which writes it much progress2 else    
there could have been no history4 ,it is
 a great advance in civilisation to be  
able to describe the common facts of    
life1 and perhaps1 if we were to examine
 it1 we should find that it was at least
 an equal advance to wish to describe   

them4 ,but very few races have made this
 step of progress2 very few have been   
capable even of the meanest sort of     
history2 and as for writing such a      
history as that of ,thucydides1 most    
nations could as soon have constructed a
 planet4 ,when history begins to record1
 she finds most of the races incapable  
of history1 arrested1 unprogressive1 and
 pretty much where they are now4  ,why1 
then1 have not the obvious and natural  
causes of progress 7as we should call   
them7 produced those obvious and natural
 effects8 ,why have the real fortunes of
 mankind been so different from the     
fortunes which we should expect8 ,this  
is the problem which in various forms ,i
 have taken up in these papers1 and this
 is the outline of the solution which ,i
 have attempted to propose4  ,the       
progress of ,,man requires the          
co--operation of ,,men for its          
development4 ,that which any one man or 
any one family could invent for         
themselves is obviously exceedingly     

limited4 ,and even if this were not     
true1 isolated progress could never be  
traced4 ,the rudest sort of cooperative 
society1 the lowest tribe and the       
feeblest government1 is so much stronger
 than isolated man1 that isolated man   
7if he ever existed in any shape which  
could be called man71 might very easily 
have ceased to exist4 ,the first        
principle of the subject is that man can
 only progress in 'co-operative groups2'
 ,i might say tribes and nations1 but ,i
 use the less common word because few   
people would at once see that tribes and
 nations ,,are co-operative groups1 and 
that it is their being so which makes   
their value2 that unless you can make a 
strong co-operative bond1 your society  
will be conquered and killed out by some
 other society which has such a bond2   
and the second principle is that the    
members of such a group should be       
similar enough to one another to        
co-operate easily and readily together4 
,the co-operation in all such cases     

depends on a ,,felt ,,union of heart and
 spirit2 and this is only felt when     
there is a great degree of real likeness
 in mind and feeling1 however that      
likeness may have been attained4  ,this 
needful co-operation and this requisite 
likeness ,i believe to have been        
produced by one of the strongest yokes  
7as we should think if it were to be    
reimposed now7 and the most terrible    
tyrannies ever known among men--the     
authority of 'customary law4'1 ,in its  
earlier stage this is no pleasant       
power--no 'rosewater' authority1 as     
,carlyle would have called it--but a    
stern1 incessant1 implacable rule4 ,and 
the rule is often of most childish      
origin1 beginning in a casual           
superstition or local accident4 ',these 
people1' says ,captain ,palmer of the   
,fiji1' are very conservative4 ,a chief 
was one day going over a mountain-path  
followed by a long string of his people1
 when he happened to stumble and fall2  
all the rest of the people immediately  

did the same except one man1 who was set
 upon by the rest to know whether he    
considered himself better than the      
chief4' ,what can be worse than a life  
regulated by that sort of obedience1 and
 that sort of imitation8 ,this is1 of   
course1 a bad specimen1 but the nature  
of customary law as we everywhere find  
it in its earliest stages is that of    
coarse casual comprehensive usage1      
beginning1 we cannot tell how1 deciding1
 we cannot tell why1 but ruling everyone
 in almost every action with an         
inflexible grasp4  ,the necessity of    
thus forming co-operative groups by     
fixed customs explains the necessity of 
isolation in early society4 ,as a matter
 of fact all great nations have been    
prepared in privacy and in secret4 ,they
 have been composed far away from all   
distraction4 ,greece1 ,borne1 ,judaea1  
were framed each by itself1 and the     
antipathy of each to men of different   
race and different speech is one of     
their most marked peculiarities1 and    

quite their strongest common property4  
,and the instinct of early ages is a    
right guide for the needs of early ages4
 ,intercourse with foreigners then broke
 down in states the fixed rules which   
were forming their characters1 so as to 
be a cause of weak fibre of mind1 of    
desultory and unsettled action2 the     
living spectacle of an admitted unbelief
 destroys the binding authority of      
religious custom and snaps the social   
cord4  ,thus we see the use of a sort of
 'preliminary' age in societies1 when   
trade is bad because it prevents the    
separation of nations1 because it       
infuses distracting ideas among occupied
 communities1 because it 'brings alien  
minds to alien shores4 ,and as the trade
 which we now think of as an            
incalculable good1 is in that age a     
formidable evil and destructive         
calamity2 so war and conquest1 which we 
commonly and justly see to be now evils1
 are in that age often singular benefits
 and great advantages4 ,it is only by   

the competition of customs that bad     
customs can be eliminated and good      
customs multiplied4 ,conquest is the    
premium given by nature to those        
national characters which their national
 customs have made most fit to win in   
war1 and in many most material respects 
those winning characters are really the 
best characters4 ,the characters which  
do win in war are the characters which  
we should wish to win in war4           
,similarly1 the best institutions have a
 natural military advantage over bad    
institutions4 ,the first great victory  
of civilisation was the conquest of     
nations with ill-defined families having
 legal descent through the mother only1 
by nations of definite families tracing 
descent through the father as well as   
the mother1 or through the father only4 
,such compact families are a much better
 basis for military discipline than the 
ill-bound families which indeed seem    
hardly to be families at all1 where     
'paternity' is1 for tribal purposes1 an 

unrecognised idea1 and where only the   
physical fact of 'maternity' is thought 
to be certain enough to be the          
foundation of law or custom4 ,the       
nations with a thoroughly compacted     
family system have 'possessed the       
earth1' that is1 they have taken all the
 finest districts in the most           
competed-for parts2 and the nations with
 loose systems have been merely left to 
mountain ranges and lonely islands4 ,the
 family system and that in its highest  
form has been so exclusively the system 
of civilisation1 that literature hardly 
recognises any other1 and that1 if it   
were not for the living testimony of a  
great multitude of scattered communities
 which are 'fashioned after the         
structure of the elder world1' we should
 hardly admit the possibility of        
something so contrary to all which we   
have lived amongst1 and which we have   
been used to think of4 ,after such an   
example of the fragmentary nature of the
 evidence it is in comparison easy to   

believe that hundreds of strange        
institutions may have passed away and   
have left behind them not only no       
memorial1 but not even a trace or a     
vestige to help the imagination to      
figure what they were4  ,i cannot expand
 the subject1 but in the same way the   
better religions have had a great       
physical advantage1 if ,i may say so1   
over the worse4 ,they have given what ,i
 may call a ,,confidence ,,in ,,the     
,,universe4 ,the savage subjected to a  
mean superstition1 is afraid to walk    
simply about the world--he cannot do    
,,this because it is ominous1 or he must
 do ,,that because it is lucky1 or he   
cannot do anything at all till the gods 
have spoken and given him leave to      
begin4 ,but under the higher religions  
there is no similar slavery and no      
similar terror4  ,the belief of the     
,greek    eis oianos aristos amnesthai  
per ptrs2  the belief of the ,roman that
 he was to trust in the gods of ,borne1 
for those gods are stronger than all    

others2 the belief of ,cromwell's       
soldiery that they were 'to trust in    
,god and keep their powder dry1' are    
great steps in upward progress1 using   
progress in its narrowest sense4 ,they  
all enabled those who believed them 'to 
take the world as it comes1' to be      
guided by no unreal reason1 and to be   
limited by no mystic scruple2 whenever  
they found anything to do1 to do it with
 their might4 ,and more directly what ,i
 may call the fortifying religions1 that
 is to say1 those which lay the plainest
 stress on the manly parts of           
morality--upon valour1 on truth and     
industry--have had plainly the most     
obvious effect in strengthening the     
races which believed them1 and in making
 those races the winning races4  ,no    
doubt many sorts of primitive           
improvement are pernicious to war2 an   
exquisite sense of beauty1 a love of    
meditation1 a tendency to cultivate the 
force of the mind at the expense of the 
force of the body1 for example1 help in 

their respective degrees to make men    
less warlike than they would otherwise  
be4 ,but these are the virtues of other 
ages4 ,the first work of the first ages 
is to bind men together in the strong   
bond of a rough1 coarse1 harsh custom2  
and the incessant conflict of nations   
effects this in the best way4 ,every    
nation1 is an 'hereditary co-operative  
group1' bound by a fixed custom2 and out
 of those groups those conquer which    
have the most binding and most          
invigorating customs1 and these are1 as 
a rough rule1 the best customs4 ,the    
majority of the 'groups' which win and  
conquer are better than the majority of 
those which fail and perish1 and thus   
the first world grow better and was     
improved4  ,this early customary world  
no doubt continued for ages4 ,the first 
history delineates great monarchies1    
each composed of a hundred customary    
groups1 all of which believed themselves
 to be of enormous antiquity1 and all of
 which must have existed for very many  

generations4 ,the first historical world
 is not a new-looking thing but a very  
ancient1 and according to principle it  
is necessary that it should exist for   
ages4 ,if human nature was to be        
gradually improved1 each generation must
 be born better tamed1 more calm1 more  
capable of civilisation--in a word1 more
 ,,legal than the one before it1 and    
such inherited improvements are always  
slow and dubious4 ,though a few gifted  
people may advance much1 the mass of    
each generation can improve but very    
little on the generation which preceded 
it2 and even the slight improvement so  
gained is liable to be destroyed by some
 mysterious atavism--some strange       
recurrence to a primitive past4 ,long   
ages of dreary monotony are the first   
facts in the history of human           
communities1 but those ages were not    
lost to mankind1 for it was then that   
was formed the comparatively gentle and 
guidable thing which we now call human  
nature4  ,and indeed the greatest       

difficulty is not in preserving such a  
world but in ending it4 ,we have brought
 in the yoke of custom to improve the   
world1 and in the world the custom      
sticks4 ,in a thousand cases--in the    
great majority of cases--the progress of
 mankind has been arrested in this its  
earliest shape2 it has been closely     
embalmed in a mummy-like imitation of   
its primitive existence4 ,i have        
endeavoured to show in what manner1 and 
how slowly1 and in how few cases this   
yoke of custom was removed4 ,it was     
'government by discussion '1 which broke
 the bond of ages and set free the      
originality of mankind4 ,then1 and then 
only1 the motives which ,lord ,macaulay 
counted on to secure the progress of    
mankind1 in fact1 begin to work2 ,,then 
'the tendency in every man to ameliorate
 his condition' begins to be important1 
because then man can alter his condition
 while before he is pegged down by      
ancient usage2 ,,then the tendency in   
each mechanical art towards perfection  

begins to have force1 because the artist
 is at last allowed to seek perfection1 
after having been forced for ages to    
move in the straight furrow of the old  
fixed way4  ,as soon as this great step 
upwards is once made1 all or almost all1
 the higher gifts and graces of humanity
 have a rapid and a definite effect on  
'verifiable progress'--on progress in   
the narrowest1 because in the most      
universally admitted sense of the term4 
,success in life1 then1 depends1 as we  
have seen1 more than anything else on   
'animated moderation1' on a certain     
combination of energy of mind and       
balance of mind1 hard to attain and     
harder to keep4 ,and this subtle        
excellence is aided by all the finer    
graces of humanity4 ,it is a matter of  
common observation that1 though often   
separated1 fine taste and fine judgment 
go very much together1 and especially   
that a man with gross want of taste1    
though he may act sensibly and correctly
 for a while1 is yet apt to break out1  

sooner or later1 into gross practical   
error4 ,in metaphysics1 probably both   
taste and judgment involve what is      
termed 'poise of mind1' that is the     
power of true passiveness--the faculty  
of 'waiting' till the stream of         
impressions1 whether those of life or   
those of art have done all that they    
have to do1 and cut their full type     
plainly upon the mind4 ,the ill-judging 
and the untasteful are both over-eager2 
both move too quick and blur the image4 
,in this way the union between a subtle 
sense of beauty and a subtle discretion 
in conduct is a natural one1 because it 
rests on the common possession of a fine
 power1 though1 in matter of fact1 that 
union may be often disturbed4 ,a complex
 sea of forces and passions troubles men
 in life and action1 which in the calmer
 region of art are hardly to be felt at 
all4 ,and1 therefore1 the cultivation of
 a fine taste tends to promote the      
function of a fine judgment1 which is a 
main help in the complex world of       

civilised existence4 ,just so too the   
manner in which the more delicate parts 
of religion daily work in producing that
 'moderation' which1 upon the whole1 and
 as a rule1 is essential to long        
success1 defining success even in its   
most narrow and mundane way1 might be   
worked out in a hundred cases1 though it
 would not suit these pages4 ,many of   
the finer intellectual tastes have a    
similar restraining effect they prevent1
 or tend to prevent1 a greedy voracity  
after the good things of life1 which    
makes both men and nations in excessive 
haste to be rich and famous1 often makes
 them do too much and do it ill1 and so 
often leaves them at last without money 
and without respect4  ,but there is no  
need to expand this further4 ,the       
principle is plain that1 though these   
better and higher graces of humanity are
 impediments and encumbrances in the    
early fighting period1 yet that in the  
later era they are among the greatest   
helps and benefits1 and that as soon as 

governments by discussion have become   
strong enough to secure a stable        
existence1 and as soon as they have     
broken the fixed rule of old custom1 and
 have awakened the dormant inventiveness
 of men1 then1 for the first time1      
almost every part of human nature begins
 to spring forward1 and begins to       
contribute its quota even to the        
narrowest1 even to 'verifiable'         
progress4 ,and this is the true reason  
of all those panegyrics on liberty which
 are often so measured in expression but
 are in essence so true to life and     
nature4 ,liberty is the strengthening   
and developing power--the light and heat
 of political nature2 and when some     
',caesarism' exhibits as it sometimes   
will an originality of mind1 it is only 
because it has managed to make its own  
the products of past free times or      
neighbouring free countries2 and even   
that originality is only brief and      
frail1 and after a little while1 when   
tested by a generation or two1 in time  

of need it falls away4  ,in a complete  
investigation of all the conditions of  
'verifiable progress1' much else would  
have to be set out2 for example1 science
 has secrets of her own4 ,nature does   
not wear her most useful lessons on her 
sleeve2 she only yields her most        
productive secrets1 those which yield   
the most wealth and the most 'fruit1' to
 those who have gone through a long     
process of preliminary abstraction4 ,to 
make a person really understand the     
'laws of motion' is not easy1 and to    
solve even simple problems in abstract  
dynamics is to most people exceedingly  
hard4 ,and yet it is on these           
out-of-the-way investigations1 so to    
speak1 that the art of navigation1 all  
physical astronomy1 and all the theory  
of physical movements at least depend4  
,but no nation would beforehand have    
thought that in so curious a manner such
 great secrets were to be discovered4   
,and many nations1 therefore1 which get 
on the wrong track1 may be              

distanced--supposing there to be no     
communication by some nation not better 
than any of them which happens to       
stumble on the right track4 ,if there   
were no ',bradshaw' and no one knew the 
time at which trains started1 a man who 
caught the express would not be a wiser 
or a more business-like man than he who 
missed it1 and yet he would arrive whole
 hours sooner at the capital both are   
going to4 ,and unless ,i misread the    
matter1 such was often the case with    
early knowledge4 ,at any rate before a  
complete theory of 'verifiable progress'
 could be made1 it would have to be     
settled whether this is so or not1 and  
the conditions of the development of    
physical science would have to be fully 
stated2 obviously you cannot explain the
 development of human comfort unless you
 know the way in which men learn and    
discover comfortable things4 ,then      
again1 for a complete discussion1       
whether of progress or degradation1 a   
whole course of analysis is necessary as

 to the effect of natural agencies on   
man1 and of change in those agencies4   
,but upon these ,i cannot touch2 the    
only way to solve these great problems  
is to take them separately4 ,i only     
profess to explain what seem to me the  
political prerequisites of progress1 and
 especially of early progress1 ,i do    
this the rather because the subject is  
insufficiently examined1 so that even if
 my views are found to be faulty1 the   
discussion upon them may bring out      
others which are truer and better4      
,,the ,,end