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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..667aa42 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #54076 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54076) diff --git a/old/54076-0.txt b/old/54076-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 2021c3f..0000000 --- a/old/54076-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,21240 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Essays: Scientific, Political, and -Speculative, Volume III (of 3), by Herbert Spencer - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative, Volume III (of 3) - Library Edition (1891), Containing Seven Essays not before - Republished, and Various other Additions. - -Author: Herbert Spencer - -Release Date: January 30, 2017 [EBook #54076] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAYS: SCIENTIFIC, POLITICAL, VOL III *** - - - - -Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Adrian Mastronardi, RichardW, -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian -Libraries) - - - - - - - - - ESSAYS: SCIENTIFIC, POLITICAL, & SPECULATIVE. - - BY - HERBERT SPENCER. - - LIBRARY EDITION, - (OTHERWISE FIFTH THOUSAND,) - _Containing Seven Essays not before Republished, - and various other additions_. - - VOL. III. - - WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, - 14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON; - AND 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH. - 1891. - - - - - LONDON: - G. NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, HART STREET, - COVENT GARDEN. - - - - -CONTENTS OF VOL. III. - - - PAGE - - MANNERS AND FASHION 1 - - RAILWAY MORALS AND RAILWAY POLICY 52 - - THE MORALS OF TRADE 113 - - PRISON-ETHICS 152 - - THE ETHICS OF KANT 192 - - ABSOLUTE POLITICAL ETHICS 217 - - OVER-LEGISLATION 229 - - REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT—WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? 283 - - STATE-TAMPERINGS WITH MONEY AND BANKS 326 - - PARLIAMENTARY REFORM: THE DANGERS AND THE SAFEGUARDS 358 - - “THE COLLECTIVE WISDOM” 387 - - POLITICAL FETICHISM 393 - - SPECIALIZED ADMINISTRATION 401 - - FROM FREEDOM TO BONDAGE 445 - - THE AMERICANS 471 - - THE INDEX. - -{1} - - - - -MANNERS AND FASHION. - -[_First published in_ The Westminster Review _for April 1854_.] - - -Whoever has studied the physiognomy of political meetings, cannot -fail to have remarked a connexion between democratic opinions and -peculiarities of costume. At a Chartist demonstration, a lecture -on Socialism, or a _soirée_ of the Friends of Italy, there will be -seen many among the audience, and a still larger ratio among the -speakers, who get themselves up in a style more or less unusual. -One gentleman on the platform divides his hair down the centre, -instead of on one side; another brushes it back off the forehead, in -the fashion known as “bringing out the intellect;” a third has so -long forsworn the scissors, that his locks sweep his shoulders. A -sprinkling of moustaches may be observed; here and there an imperial; -and occasionally some courageous breaker of conventions exhibits a -full-grown beard.[1] This nonconformity in hair is countenanced by -various nonconformities in dress, shown by others of the assemblage. -Bare necks, shirt-collars _à la_ Byron, waistcoats cut Quaker fashion, -wonderfully shaggy great coats, numerous oddities in form and -colour, destroy the monotony usual in crowds. Even those exhibiting -no conspicuous peculiarity, frequently indicate by something in the -pattern of their clothes, that they pay small regard to what their {2} -tailors tell them about the prevailing taste. And when the gathering -breaks up, the varieties of head gear displayed—the number of caps, -and the abundance of felt hats—suffice to prove that were the world at -large like-minded, the black cylinders which tyrannize over us would -soon be deposed. - - [1] This was written before moustaches and beards had become general. - -This relationship between political discontent and disregard of -customs exists on the Continent also. Red republicanism is everywhere -distinguished by its hirsuteness. The authorities of Prussia, Austria, -and Italy, alike recognize certain forms of hat as indicative of -disaffection, and fulminate against them accordingly. In some places -the wearer of a blouse runs a risk of being classed among the -_suspects_; and in others, he who would avoid the bureau of police, -must beware how he goes out in any but the ordinary colours. Thus, -democracy abroad, as at home, tends towards personal singularity. -Nor is this association of characteristics peculiar to modern times, -or to reformers of the State. It has always existed; and it has been -manifested as much in religious agitations as in political ones. The -Puritans, disapproving of the long curls of the Cavaliers, as of -their principles, cut their own hair short, and so gained the name of -“Roundheads.” The marked religious nonconformity of the Quakers was -accompanied by an equally-marked nonconformity of manners—in attire, -in speech, in salutation. The early Moravians not only believed -differently, but at the same time dressed differently, and lived -differently, from their fellow Christians. That the association between -political independence and independence of personal conduct, is not -a phenomenon of to-day only, we may see alike in the appearance of -Franklin at the French court in plain clothes, and in the white hats -worn by the last generation of radicals. Originality of nature is sure -to show itself in more ways than one. The mention of George Fox’s suit -of leather, or Pestalozzi’s school name, “Harry Oddity,” will at -once suggest the {3} remembrance that men who have in great things -diverged from the beaten track, have frequently done so in small things -likewise. Minor illustrations may be gathered in almost every circle. -We believe that whoever will number up his reforming and rationalist -acquaintances, will find among them more than the usual proportion of -those who in dress or behaviour exhibit some degree of what the world -calls eccentricity. - -If it be a fact that men of revolutionary aims in politics or religion, -are commonly revolutionists in custom also, it is not less a fact that -those whose office it is to uphold established arrangements in State -and Church, are also those who most adhere to the social forms and -observances bequeathed to us by past generations. Practices elsewhere -extinct still linger about the head quarters of government. The monarch -still gives assent to Acts of Parliament in the old French of the -Normans; and Norman French terms are still used in law. Wigs, such as -those we see depicted in old portraits, may yet be found on the heads -of judges and barristers. The Beefeaters at the Tower wear the costume -of Henry VIIth’s body-guard. The University dress of the present year -varies but little from that worn soon after the Reformation. The -claret-coloured coat, knee-breeches, lace shirt-frills, white silk -stockings, and buckled shoes, which once formed the usual attire of a -gentleman, still survive as the court-dress. And it need scarcely be -said that at _levées_ and drawing-rooms, the ceremonies are prescribed -with an exactness, and enforced with a rigour, not elsewhere to be -found. - -Can we consider these two series of coincidences as accidental and -unmeaning? Must we not rather conclude that some necessary relationship -obtains between them? Are there not such things as a constitutional -conservatism, and a constitutional tendency to change? Is there not a -class which clings to the old in all things; and another class so in -love with progress as often to mistake novelty for {4} improvement? Do -we not find some men ready to bow to established authority of whatever -kind; while others demand of every such authority its reason, and -reject it if it fails to justify itself? And must not the minds thus -contrasted tend to become respectively conformist and nonconformist, -not only in politics and religion, but in other things? Submission, -whether to a government, to the dogmas of ecclesiastics, or to that -code of behaviour which society at large has set up, is essentially -of the same nature; and the sentiment which induces resistance to the -despotism of rulers, civil or spiritual, likewise induces resistance -to the despotism of the world’s usages. All enactments, alike of the -legislature, the consistory, and the saloon—all regulations, formal or -virtual, have a common character: they are all limitations of men’s -freedom. “Do this—Refrain from that,” are the blank forms into which -they may severally be written; and throughout the understanding is -that obedience will bring approbation here and paradise hereafter; -while disobedience will entail imprisonment, or sending to Coventry, -or eternal torments, as the case may be. And if restraints, however -named, and through whatever apparatus of means exercised, are one in -their action upon men, it must happen that those who are patient under -one kind of restraint, are likely to be patient under another; and -conversely, that those impatient of restraint in general, will, on the -average, tend to show their impatience in all directions. - -That Law, Religion, and Manners are thus related, and that they have -in certain contrasted characteristics of men a common support and a -common danger, will, however, be most clearly seen on discovering -that they have a common origin. Little as from present appearances we -should suppose it, we shall yet find that at first, the control of -religion, the control of laws, and the control of manners, were all -one control. Strange as it now seems, we believe it to be demonstrable -that the rules of etiquette, the provisions of the statute-book, and -the commands of the {5} decalogue, have grown from the same root. If -we go far enough back into the ages of primeval Fetishism, it becomes -manifest that originally Deity, Chief, and Master of the Ceremonies -were identical. To make good these positions, and to show their bearing -on what is to follow, it will be necessary here to traverse ground that -is in part somewhat beaten, and at first sight irrelevant to our topic. -We will pass over it as quickly as consists with the exigencies of the -argument. - - * * * * * - -That the earliest social aggregations were ruled solely by the will -of the strong man, few dispute.[2] That from the strong man proceeded -not only Monarchy, but the conception of a God, few admit: much as -Carlyle and others have said in evidence of it. If, however, those who -are unable to believe this, will lay aside the ideas of God and man -in which they have been educated, and study the aboriginal ideas of -them, they will at least see some probability in the hypothesis. Let -them remember that before experience had yet taught men to distinguish -between the possible and the impossible; and while they were ready on -the slightest suggestion to ascribe unknown powers to any object and -make a fetish of it; their conceptions of humanity and its capacities -were necessarily vague, and without specific limits. The man who by -unusual strength, or cunning, achieved something that others had failed -to achieve, or something which they did not understand, was considered -by them as differing from themselves; and, as we see in the belief of -some Polynesians that only their chiefs have souls, or in that of the -ancient Peruvians that their nobles were divine by birth, the ascribed -difference was apt to be not one of degree only, but one of kind. Let -them remember next, how gross were the notions of God, or {6} rather -of gods, prevalent during the same era and afterwards—how concretely -gods were conceived as men of specific aspects dressed in specific -ways—how their names were literally “the strong,” “the destroyer,” -“the powerful one,”—how, according to the Scandinavian mythology, the -“sacred duty of blood-revenge” was acted on by the gods themselves,—and -how they were not only human in their vindictiveness, their cruelty, -and their quarrels with each other, but were supposed to have amours -on earth, and to consume the viands placed on their altars. Add to -which, that in various mythologies, Greek, Scandinavian, and others, -the oldest beings are giants; that according to a traditional genealogy -the gods, demi-gods, and in some cases men, are descended from these -after the human fashion; and that while in the East we hear of sons -of God who saw the daughters of men that they were fair, the Teutonic -myths tell of unions between the sons of men and the daughters of the -gods. Let them remember, too, that at first the idea of death differed -widely from that which we have; that there are still tribes who, on -the decease of one of their number, attempt to make the corpse stand, -and put food into its mouth; that the Peruvians had feasts at which -the mummies of their dead Incas presided, when, as Prescott says, they -paid attention “to these insensible remains as if they were instinct -with life;” that among the Fijians it is believed that every enemy has -to be killed twice; that the Eastern Pagans give extension and figure -to the soul, and attribute to it all the same members, all the same -substances, both solid and liquid, of which our bodies are composed; -and that it is the custom among most barbarous races to bury food, -weapons, and trinkets along with the dead body, under the manifest -belief that it will presently need them. Lastly, let them remember -that the other world, as originally conceived, is simply some distant -part of this world—some Elysian fields, some happy hunting-ground, -accessible even to the living, and to which, {7} after death, men -travel in anticipation of a life analogous in general character to that -which they led before. Then, co-ordinating these general facts—the -ascription of unknown powers to chiefs and medicine men; the belief -in deities having human forms, passions, and behaviour; the imperfect -comprehension of death as distinguished from life; and the proximity -of the future abode to the present, both in position and character—let -them reflect whether they do not almost unavoidably suggest the -conclusion that the aboriginal god is the dead chief: the chief not -dead in our sense, but gone away, carrying with him food and weapons to -some rumoured region of plenty, some promised land, whither he had long -intended to lead his followers, and whence he will presently return -to fetch them. This hypothesis once entertained, is seen to harmonize -with all primitive ideas and practices. The sons of the deified chief -reigning after him, it necessarily happens that all early kings are -held descendants of the gods; and the fact that alike in Assyria, -Egypt, among the Jews, Phœnicians, and ancient Britons, kings’ names -were formed out of the names of the gods, is fully explained. The -genesis of Polytheism out of Fetishism, by the successive migrations of -the race of god-kings to the other world—a genesis illustrated in the -Greek mythology, alike by the precise genealogy of the deities, and by -the specifically-asserted apotheosis of the later ones—tends further -to bear it out. It explains the fact that in the old creeds, as in the -still extant creed of the Otaheitans, every family has its guardian -spirit, who is supposed to be one of their departed relatives; and that -they sacrifice to these as minor gods—a practice still pursued by the -Chinese and even by the Russians. It is perfectly congruous with the -Grecian myths concerning the wars of the Gods with the Titans and their -final usurpation; and it similarly agrees with the fact that among the -Teutonic gods proper was one Freir who came among them by adoption, -“but was born {8} among the _Vanes_, a somewhat mysterious _other_ -dynasty of gods, who had been conquered and superseded by the stronger -and more warlike Odin dynasty.” It harmonizes, too, with the belief -that there are different gods to different territories and nations, -as there were different chiefs; that these gods contend for supremacy -as chiefs do; and it gives meaning to the boast of neighbouring -tribes—“Our god is greater than your god.” It is confirmed by the -notion universally current in early times, that the gods come from this -other abode, in which they commonly live, and appear among men—speak to -them, help them, punish them. And remembering this, it becomes manifest -that the prayers put up by primitive peoples to their gods for aid in -battle, are meant literally—that their gods are expected to come back -from the other kingdom they are reigning over, and once more fight the -old enemies they had before warred against so implacably; and it needs -but to name the Iliad, to remind every one how thoroughly they believed -the expectation fulfilled.[3] - - [2] The few who disputed it would be right however. There are stages - preceding that in which chiefly power becomes established; and in many - cases it never does become established. - - [3] In this paragraph, which I have purposely left standing word for - word as it did when republished with other essays in Dec. 1857, will be - seen the outline of the ghost-theory. Though there are references to - fetishism as a primitive form of belief, and though at that time I had - passively accepted the current theory (though never with satisfaction, - for the origin of fetishism as then conceived seemed incomprehensible) - yet the belief that inanimate objects may possess supernatural powers - (which is what was then understood as fetishism) is not dwelt upon as - a primitive belief. The one thing which is dwelt upon is the belief in - the double of the dead man as continuing to exist, and as becoming an - object of propitiation and eventually of worship. There are clearly - marked out the rudiments which, when supplied with the mass of facts - collected in the _Descriptive Sociology_ developed into the doctrine - elaborated in Part I. of _The Principles of Sociology_. - -All government, then, being originally that of the strong man who has -become a fetish by some manifestation of superiority, there arises, -at his death—his supposed departure on a long-projected expedition, -in which he is accompanied by the slaves and concubines sacrificed -at his tomb—there arises, then, the incipient division of religious -{9} from political control, of spiritual rule from civil. His son -becomes deputed chief during his absence; his authority is cited -as that by which his son acts; his vengeance is invoked on all who -disobey his son; and his commands, as previously known or as asserted -by his son, become the germ of a moral code: a fact we shall the more -clearly perceive if we remember, that early moral codes inculcate -mainly the virtues of the warrior, and the duty of exterminating some -neighbouring tribe whose existence is an offence to the deity. From -this point onwards, these two kinds of authority, at first complicated -together as those of principal and agent, become slowly more and more -distinct. As experience accumulates, and ideas of causation grow more -precise, kings lose their supernatural attributes; and, instead of -God-king, become God-descended king, God-appointed king, the Lord’s -anointed, the vicegerent of Heaven, ruler reigning by Divine right. -The old theory, however, long clings to men in feeling, after it has -disappeared in name; and “such divinity doth hedge a king,” that even -now, many, on first seeing one, feel a secret surprise at finding him -an ordinary sample of humanity. The sacredness attaching to royalty -attaches afterwards to its appended institutions—to legislatures, -to laws. Legal and illegal are synonymous with right and wrong; the -authority of Parliament is held unlimited; and a lingering faith -in governmental power continually generates unfounded hopes from -its enactments. Political scepticism, however, having destroyed the -divine _prestige_ of royalty, goes on ever increasing, and promises -ultimately to reduce the State to a purely secular institution, whose -regulations are limited in their sphere, and have no other authority -than the general will. Meanwhile, the religious control has been little -by little separating itself from the civil, both in its essence and -in its forms. While from the God-king of the barbarian have arisen -in one direction, secular rulers who, age by age, have been losing -{10} the sacred attributes men ascribed to them; there has arisen in -another direction, the conception of a deity, who, at first human in -all things, has been gradually losing human materiality, human form, -human passions, human modes of action: until now, anthropomorphism -has become a reproach. Along with this wide divergence in men’s ideas -of the divine and civil ruler has been taking place a corresponding -divergence in the codes of conduct respectively proceeding from them. -While the king was a deputy-god—a governor such as the Jews looked -for in the Messiah—a governor considered, as the Czar still is, “our -God upon earth,”—it, of course, followed that his commands were the -supreme rules. But as men ceased to believe in his supernatural origin -and nature, his commands ceased to be the highest; and there arose a -distinction between the regulations made by him, and the regulations -handed down from the old god-kings, who were rendered ever more sacred -by time and the accumulation of myths. Hence came respectively, Law -and Morality: the one growing ever more concrete, the other more -abstract; the authority of the one ever on the decrease, that of -the other ever on the increase; originally the same, but now placed -daily in more marked antagonism. Simultaneously there has been going -on a separation of the institutions administering these two codes of -conduct. While they were yet one, of course Church and State were -one: the king was arch-priest, not nominally, but really—alike the -giver of new commands and the chief interpreter of the old commands; -and the deputy-priests coming out of his family were thus simply -expounders of the dictates of their ancestry: at first as recollected, -and afterwards as ascertained by professed interviews with them. This -union between sacred and secular—which still existed practically -during the middle ages, when the authority of kings was mixed up -with the authority of the pope, when there were bishop-rulers having -all the powers of feudal lords, and when priests punished {11} by -penances—has been, step by step, becoming less close. Though monarchs -are still “defenders of the faith,” and ecclesiastical chiefs, they -are but nominally such. Though bishops still have civil power, it is -not what they once had. Protestantism shook loose the bonds of union; -Dissent has long been busy in organizing a mechanism for religious -control, wholly independent of law; in America, a separate organization -for that purpose already exists; and if anything is to be hoped from -the Anti-State-Church Association—or, as it has been newly named, -“The Society for the Liberation of Religion from State Patronage and -Control”—we shall presently have a separate organization here also. -Thus, in authority, in essence, and in form, political and spiritual -rule have been ever more widely diverging from the same root. That -increasing division of labour which marks the progress of society in -other things, marks it also in this separation of government into civil -and religious; and if we observe how the morality which now forms the -substance of religions in general, is beginning to be purified from -the associated creeds, we may anticipate that this division will be -ultimately carried much further. - -Passing now to the third species of control—that of Manners—we shall -find that this, too, while it had a common genesis with the others, -has gradually come to have a distinct sphere and a special embodiment. -Among early aggregations of men before yet social observances existed, -the sole forms of courtesy known were the signs of submission to the -strong man; as the sole law was his will, and the sole religion the awe -of his supposed supernaturalness. Originally, ceremonies were modes of -behaviour to the god-king. Our commonest titles have been derived from -his names. And all salutations were primarily worship paid to him. Let -us trace out these truths in detail, beginning with titles. - -The fact already noticed, that the names of early kings among divers -races are formed by the addition of certain {12} syllable to the -names of their gods—which certain syllables, like our _Mac_ and -_Fitz_, probably mean “son of,” or “descended from”—at once gives -meaning to the term _Father_ as a divine title. And when we read, in -Selden, that “the composition out of these names of Deities was not -only proper to Kings: their Grandees and more honorable Subjects” -(no doubt members of the royal race) “had sometimes the like;” we -see how the term _Father_, properly used by these also, and by their -multiplying descendants, came to be a title used by the people in -general. As bearing on this point, it is significant that in the -least advanced country of Europe, where belief in the divine nature -of the ruler still lingers, _Father_ in this higher sense, is still a -regal distinction. When, again, we remember how the divinity at first -ascribed to kings was not a complimentary fiction but a supposed fact; -and how, further, the celestial bodies were believed to be personages -who once lived among men; we see that the appellations of oriental -rulers, “Brother to the Sun,” &c., were probably once expressive of -a genuine belief; and have simply, like many other things, continued -in use after all meaning has gone out of them. We may infer, too, -that the titles God, Lord, Divinity, were given to primitive rulers -literally—that the _nostra divinitas_ applied to the Roman emperors, -and the various sacred designations that have been borne by monarchs, -down to the still extant phrase, “Our Lord the King,” are the dead and -dying forms of what were once living facts. From these names, God, -Father, Lord, Divinity, originally belonging to the God-king, and -afterwards to God and the king, the derivation of our commonest titles -of respect is traceable. There is reason to think that these titles -were originally proper names. Not only do we see among the Egyptians, -where Pharaoh was synonymous with king, and among the Romans, where to -be Cæsar, meant to be Emperor, that the proper names of the greatest -men were transferred to their successors, and so became class-names; -{13} but in the Scandinavian mythology we may trace a human title of -honour up to the proper name of a divine personage. In Anglo-Saxon -_bealdor_, or _baldor_, means _Lord_; and Balder is the name of the -favourite of Odin’s sons. How these names of honour became general is -easily understood. The relatives of the primitive kings—the grandees -described by Selden as having names formed on those of the gods, and -shown by this to be members of the divine race—necessarily shared -in the epithets descriptive of superhuman relationships and nature. -Their ever-multiplying offspring inheriting these, gradually rendered -them comparatively common. And then they came to be applied to every -man of power: partly from the fact that, in those early days when men -conceived divinity simply as a stronger kind of humanity, great persons -could be called by divine epithets with but little exaggeration; partly -from the fact that the unusually potent were apt to be considered as -unrecognised or illegitimate descendants of “the strong, the destroyer, -the powerful one;” and partly, also, from compliment and the desire -to propitiate. As superstition diminished, this last became the sole -cause. And if we remember that it is the nature of compliment, to -attribute more than is due—that in the ever widening application of -“esquire,” in the perpetual repetition of “your honour” by the fawning -Irishman, and in the use of the name “gentleman” to any coalheaver or -dustman by the lower classes of London, we have current examples of the -depreciation of titles consequent on compliment—and that in barbarous -times, when the wish to propitiate was stronger than now, this effect -must have been greater; we shall see that there naturally arose from -this cause an extensive misuse of all early distinctions. Hence the -facts that the Jews called Herod a god; that _Father_, in its higher -sense, was a term used among them by servants to masters; that _Lord_ -was applicable to any person of worth and power. Hence, too, the fact -that, in the later periods of the Roman Empire, every man saluted his -neighbour as {14} _Dominus_ or _Rex_. But it is in the titles of the -middle ages, and in the growth of our modern ones out of them, that -the process is most clearly seen. _Herr_, _Don_, _Signor_, _Seigneur_, -_Señor_, were all originally descriptive names of rulers. By the -complimentary use of these names to all who could, on any pretence, -be supposed to merit them, and by successive descents to still lower -grades, they have come to be common forms of address. At first the -phrase in which a serf accosted his despotic chief, _mein Herr_ is now -familiarly applied in Germany to ordinary people. The Spanish title -_Don_, once proper to noblemen and gentlemen only, is now accorded to -all classes. So, too, is it with _Signor_ in Italy. _Seigneur_ and -_Monseigneur_, by contraction in _Sieur_ and _Monsieur_, have produced -the term of respect claimed by every Frenchman. And whether _Sire_ be -or be not a like contraction of _Signor_, it is clear that, as it was -borne by sundry of the ancient feudal lords of France, who, as Selden -says, “affected rather to bee stiled by the name of _Sire_ than Baron, -as _Le Sire de Montmorencie_, _Le Sire de Beaujeu_, and the like,” -and as it has been commonly used to monarchs, our word _Sir_, which -is derived from it, originally meant lord or king. Thus, too, is it -with feminine titles. _Lady_, which, according to Horne Tooke, means -_exalted_, and was at first given only to the few, is now given to -all women of education. _Dame_, once an honourable name to which, in -old books, we find the epithets of “high-born” and “stately” affixed, -has now, by repeated widenings of its application, become relatively -a term of contempt. And if we trace the compound of this, _ma Dame_, -through its contractions—_Madam_, _ma’am_, _mam_, _mum_, we find that -the “Yes’m” of Sally to her mistress is originally equivalent to “Yes, -my exalted,” or “Yes, your highness.” Throughout, therefore, the -genesis of words of honour has been the same. Just as with the Jews and -with the Romans, has it been with the modern Europeans. Tracing these -everyday names to their primitive significations of _lord_ and _king_, -and {15} remembering that in aboriginal societies these were applied -only to the gods and their descendants, we arrive at the conclusion -that our familiar _Sir_ and _Monsieur_ are, in their primary and -expanded meanings, terms of adoration. - -Further to illustrate this gradual depreciation of titles, and to -confirm the inference drawn, it may be well to notice in passing, that -the oldest of them have, as might be expected, been depreciated to the -greatest extent. Thus, _Master_—a word proved by its derivation, and by -the similarity of the connate words in other languages (Fr., _maître_ -for _maistre_; Dutch, _meester_; Dan., _mester_; Ger., _meister_) -to have been one of the earliest in use for expressing lordship—has -now become applicable to children only, and, under the modification -of “Mister,” to persons next above the labourer. Again, knighthood, -the oldest kind of dignity, is also the lowest; and Knight Bachelor, -which is the lowest order of knighthood, is more ancient than any -other of the orders. Similarly, too, with the peerage: Baron is alike -the earliest and least elevated of its divisions. This continual -degradation of all names of honour has, from time to time, made it -requisite to introduce new ones having the distinguishing effects -which the originals had lost by generality of use; just as our habit -of misapplying superlatives has, by gradually destroying their force, -entailed the need for fresh ones. And if, within the last thousand -years, this process has worked results thus marked, we may readily -conceive how, during previous thousands, the titles of gods and -demi-gods came to be used to all persons exercising power; as they have -since come to be used to persons of respectability. - -If from names of honour we turn to phrases of honour, we find similar -facts. The oriental styles of address, applied to ordinary people—“I -am your slave,” “All I have is yours,” “I am your sacrifice”—attribute -to the individual spoken to the same greatness that _Monsieur_ and _My -Lord_ do: they ascribe to him the character of an {16} all-powerful -ruler, so immeasurably superior to the speaker as to be his owner. So, -likewise, with the Polish expressions of respect—“I throw myself under -your feet,” “I kiss your feet.” In our now meaningless subscription -to a formal letter—“Your most obedient servant”—the same thing is -visible. Nay, even in the familiar signature “Yours faithfully,” the -“yours,” if interpreted as originally meant, is the expression of a -slave to his master. All these dead forms were once living embodiments -of fact; were primarily the genuine indications of that submission to -authority which they verbally assert; were afterwards naturally used by -the weak and cowardly to propitiate those above them; gradually grew -to be considered the due of such; and, by a continually wider misuse, -have lost their meanings, as _Sir_ and _Master_ have done. That, like -titles, they were in the beginning used only to the God-king, is -indicated by the fact that, like titles, they were subsequently used -in common to God and the king. Religious worship has ever largely -consisted of professions of obedience, of being God’s servants, of -belonging to him to do what he will with. Like titles, therefore, these -common phrases of honour had a devotional origin. Perhaps, however, -it is in the use of the word _you_ as a singular pronoun that the -popularizing of what were once supreme distinctions is most markedly -illustrated. This addressing of a single individual in the plural, -was originally an honour given only to the highest—was the reciprocal -of the imperial “we” assumed by such. Yet now, by being applied to -successively lower and lower classes, it has become all but universal. -Only by one sect of Christians, and in a few secluded districts, is the -primitive _thou_ still used. And the _you_, in becoming common to all -ranks, has simultaneously lost every vestige of the distinction once -attaching to it. - -But the genesis of Manners out of forms of allegiance and worship, is -above all shown in modes of salutation. Note first the significance of -the word. Among the Romans, the {17} _salutatio_ was a daily homage -paid by clients and inferiors to their superiors. This was alike the -case with civilians and in the army. The very derivation of our word, -therefore, is suggestive of submission. Passing to particular forms of -obeisance (mark the word again), let us begin with the Eastern one of -baring the feet. This was, primarily, a mark of reverence, alike to -a god and a king. The act of Moses before the burning bush, and the -practice of Mahometans, who are sworn on the Koran with their shoes -off, exemplify the one employment of it; the custom of the Persians, -who remove their shoes on entering the presence of their monarch, -exemplifies the other. As usual, however, this homage, paid next to -inferior rulers, has descended from grade to grade. In India it is -a common mark of respect; the lower orders of Turks never enter the -presence of their superiors but in their stockings; and in Japan, -this baring of the feet is an ordinary salutation of man to man. -Take another case. Selden, describing the ceremonies of the Romans, -says:—“For whereas it was usuall either to kiss the Images of their -Gods, or, adoring them, to stand somewhat off before them, solemnly -moving the right hand to the lips, and then, casting it as if they had -cast kisses, to turne the body on the same hand (which was the right -forme of Adoration), it grew also by custom, first that the Emperors, -being next to Deities, and by some accounted as Deities, had the like -done to them in acknowledgment of their Greatness.” If, now, we call to -mind the awkward salute of a village school-boy, made by putting his -open hand up to his face and describing a semicircle with his forearm; -and if we remember that the salute thus used as a form of reverence in -country districts, is most likely a remnant of the feudal times; we -shall see reason for thinking that our common wave of the hand to a -friend across the street, represents what was primarily a devotional -act. - -Similarly have originated all forms of respect depending {18} upon -inclinations of the body. Entire prostration is the aboriginal sign -of submission. The passage of Scripture—“Thou hast put all under his -feet,” and that other one, so suggestive in its anthropomorphism—“The -Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make -thine enemies thy footstool,” imply, what the Assyrian sculptures -bear out, that it was the practice of the ancient god-kings of the -East to trample on the conquered. As there are existing savages who -signify submission by placing the neck under the foot of the person -submitted to, it becomes obvious that all prostration, especially when -accompanied by kissing the foot, expressed a willingness to be trodden -upon—was an attempt to mitigate wrath by saying, in signs, “Tread on -me if you will.” Remembering, too, that kissing the foot, as of the -Pope and of a saint’s statue, still continues in Europe to be a mark of -extreme reverence; that prostration to feudal lords was once general, -and that its disappearance must have taken place, not abruptly, but by -gradual change into something else; we have ground for deriving from -these deepest of humiliations all inclinations of respect: especially -as the transition is traceable. The reverence of a Russian serf, -who bends his head to the ground, and the salaam of the Hindoo, are -abridged prostrations; a bow is a short salaam; a nod is a short bow. -Should any hesitate to admit this conclusion, then perhaps, on being -reminded that the lowest of these obeisances are common where the -submission is most abject; that among ourselves the profundity of the -bow marks the amount of respect; and lastly, that the bow is even now -used devotionally in our churches—by Catholics to their altars, and by -Protestants at the name of Christ—they will see sufficient reason for -thinking that this salutation also was originally worship. - -The same may be said, too, of the curtsy, or courtesy, as it is -otherwise written. Its derivation from _courtoisie_, courteousness, -that is, behaviour like that at court, at once {19} shows that it -was primarily the reverence paid to a monarch. And if we call to mind -that falling on the knees, or on one knee, has been a common obeisance -of subjects to rulers; that in ancient manuscripts and tapestries, -servants are depicted as assuming this attitude while offering the -dishes to their masters at table; and that this same attitude is -assumed towards our own queen at every presentation; we may infer, what -the character of the curtsy itself suggests, that it is an abridged act -of kneeling. As the word has been contracted from _courtoisie_ into -curtsy; so the motion has been contracted from a placing of the knee on -the floor, to a lowering of the knee towards the floor. Moreover, when -we compare the curtsy of a lady with the awkward one a peasant girl -makes, which, if continued, would bring her down on both knees, we may -see in this last a remnant of that greater reverence required of serfs. -And when, from considering that simple kneeling of the West, still -represented by the curtsy, we pass Eastward, and note the attitude of -the Mahommedan worshipper, who not only kneels but bows his head to -the ground, we may infer that the curtsy also, is an evanescent form -of the aboriginal prostration. In further evidence of this it may be -remarked, that there has but recently disappeared from the salutations -of men, an action having the same proximate derivation with the curtsy. -That backward sweep of the right foot with which the conventional -stage-sailor accompanies his bow—a movement which prevailed generally -in past generations, when “a bow and a scrape” went together, and -which, within the memory of living persons, was made by boys to their -master when entering school, with the effect of wearing a hole in the -floor—is pretty clearly a preliminary to going on one knee. A motion -so ungainly could never have been intentionally introduced; even if -the artificial introduction of obeisances were possible. Hence we must -regard it as the remnant of something antecedent: and {20} that this -something antecedent was humiliating may be inferred from the phrase, -“scraping an acquaintance;” which, being used to denote the gaining of -favour by obsequiousness, implies that the scrape was considered a mark -of servility—that is, of servile position. - -Consider, again, the uncovering of the head. Almost everywhere this -has been a sign of reverence, alike in temples and before potentates; -and it yet preserves among us some of its original meaning. Whether -it rains, hails, or shines, you must keep your head bare while -speaking to the monarch; and no one may keep his hat on in a place of -worship. As usual, however, this ceremony, at first a submission to -gods and kings, has become in process of time a common civility. Once -an acknowledgment of another’s unlimited supremacy, the removal of -the hat is now a salute accorded to very ordinary persons; and that -uncovering originally reserved for entrance into “the house of God” or -the residence of the ruler, good manners now dictates on entrance into -a labourer’s cottage. - -Standing, too, as a mark of respect, has undergone like extensions -in its application. Shown, by the practice in our churches, to be -intermediate between the humiliation signified by kneeling and the -self-respect which sitting implies, and used at courts as a form of -homage when more active demonstrations of it have been made, this -posture is now employed in daily life to show consideration; as seen -alike in the attitude of a servant before a master, and in that rising -which politeness prescribes on the entrance of a visitor. - -Many other threads of evidence might have been woven into our argument. -As, for example, the significant fact, that if we trace back our -still existing law of primogeniture—if we consider it as displayed by -Scottish clans, in which not only ownership but government devolved -from the beginning on the eldest son of the eldest—if we look further -back, and observe that the old titles of lordship, {21} _Signor_, -_Seigneur_, _Señor_, _Sire_, _Sieur_, all originally mean senior, or -elder—if we go Eastward, and find that _Sheick_ has a like derivation, -and that the Oriental names for priests, as _Pir_, for instance, are -literally interpreted _old man_—if we note in Hebrew records how far -back dates the ascribed superiority of the first-born, how great the -authority of elders, and how sacred the memory of patriarchs—and if, -then, we remember that among divine titles are “Ancient of Days,” -and “Father of Gods and men;”—we see how completely these facts -harmonize with the hypothesis, that the aboriginal god is the first -man sufficiently great to become a tradition, the earliest whose power -and deeds made him remembered; that hence antiquity unavoidably became -associated with superiority, and age with nearness in blood to “the -powerful one;” that so there naturally arose that domination of the -eldest which characterizes the history of all the higher races, and -that theory of human degeneracy which even yet survives. We might -further dwell on the facts, that _Lord_ signifies high-born, or, as -the same root gives a word meaning heaven, possibly heaven-born; that, -before it became common, Sir or _Sire_, as well as _Father_, was the -distinction of a priest; that _worship_, originally worth-ship—a term -of respect that has been used commonly, as well as to magistrates—is -also our term for the act of attributing greatness or worth to the -Deity; so that to ascribe worth-ship to a man is to worship him. We -might make much of the evidence that all early governments are more -or less distinctly theocratic; and that among ancient Eastern nations -even the commonest forms and customs had religious sanctions. We -might enforce our argument respecting the derivation of ceremonies, -by tracing out the aboriginal obeisance made by putting dust on the -head, which symbolizes putting the head in the dust; by affiliating the -practice found in certain tribes, of doing another honour by presenting -him with a portion of hair torn from the head—an act which {22} seems -tantamount to saying, “I am your slave;” by investigating the Oriental -custom of giving to a visitor any object he speaks of admiringly, which -is pretty clearly a carrying out of the compliment, “All I have is -yours.” - -Without enlarging, however, on these and minor facts, we venture -to think that the evidence assigned is sufficient. Had the proofs -been few, or of one kind, little faith could have been placed in the -inference. But numerous as they are, alike in the case of titles, in -that of complimentary phrases, and in that of salutes—similar and -simultaneous, too, as the process of depreciation has been in all of -these; the evidences become strong by mutual confirmation. And when -we recollect, also, that not only have the results of this process -been visible in various nations and in all times, but that they are -occurring among ourselves at the present moment, and that the causes -assigned for previous depreciations may be seen daily working out -others—when we recollect this, it becomes scarcely possible to doubt -that the process has been as alleged; and that our ordinary words, -acts, and phrases of civility originally expressed submission to -another’s omnipotence. - -Thus the general doctrine, that all kinds of government exercised over -men were at first one government—that the political, the religious, -and the ceremonial forms of control are divergent branches of a -general and once indivisible control—begins to look tenable. When, -with the above facts fresh in mind, we read that in Eastern traditions -Nimrod, among others, figures in all the characters of hero, king, and -divinity—when we turn to the sculptures exhumed by Mr. Layard, and -contemplating in them the effigies of kings driving over enemies, and -adored by prostrate slaves, then observe how their actions correspond -to the primitive names for gods, “the strong,” “the destroyer,” “the -powerful one”—and when, lastly, we discover that among races of men -still living, there are current {23} superstitions analogous to those -which old records and old buildings indicate; we begin to realize the -probability of the hypothesis that has been set forth. Representing -to ourselves the conquering chief as figured in ancient myths, and -poems, and ruins; we may see that all rules of conduct spring from -his will. Alike legislator and judge, quarrels among his subjects -are decided by him; and his words become the Law. Awe of him is -the incipient Religion; and his maxims furnish his first precepts. -Submission is made to him in the forms he prescribes; and these give -birth to Manners. From the first, time developes political allegiance -and the administration of justice; from the second, the worship of a -being whose personality becomes ever more vague, and the inculcation of -precepts ever more abstract; from the third, forms and names of honour -and the rules of etiquette. In conformity with the law of evolution of -all organized bodies, that general functions are gradually separated -into the special functions constituting them, there have grown up in -the social organism for the better performance of the governmental -office, an apparatus of law-courts, judges, and barristers; a national -church, with its bishops and priests; and a system of caste, titles, -and ceremonies, administered by society at large. By the first, overt -aggressions are cognized and punished; by the second, the disposition -to commit such aggressions is in some degree checked; by the third, -those minor breaches of good conduct which the others do not notice, -are denounced and chastised. Law and Religion control behaviour in -its essentials; Manners control it in its details. For regulating -those daily actions which are too numerous and too unimportant to -be officially directed there comes into play this subtler set of -restraints. And when we consider what these restraints are—when we -analyze the words, and phrases, and movements employed, we see that -in origin as in effect, the system is a setting up of temporary {24} -governments between all men who come in contact, for the purpose of -better managing the intercourse between them. - - * * * * * - -From the proposition, that these several kinds of government are -essentially one, both in genesis and function, may be deduced several -important corollaries, directly bearing on our special topic. - -Let us first notice, that there is not only a common origin and -office for all forms of rule, but a common necessity for them. The -aboriginal man, coming fresh from the killing of bears and from lying -in ambush for his enemy, has, by the necessities of his condition, a -nature requiring to be curbed in its every impulse. Alike in war and -in the chase, his daily discipline has been that of sacrificing other -creatures to his own needs and passions. His character, bequeathed -to him by ancestors who led similar lives, is moulded by this -discipline—is fitted to this existence. The unlimited selfishness, -the love of inflicting pain, the blood-thirstiness, thus kept active, -he brings with him into the social state. These dispositions put him -in constant danger of conflict with his equally savage neighbour. In -small things as in great, in words as in deeds, he is aggressive; and -is hourly liable to the aggressions of others like natured. Only, -therefore, by rigorous control exercised over all actions, can the -primitive unions of men be maintained. There must be a ruler strong, -remorseless, and of indomitable will; there must be a creed terrible -in its threats to the disobedient; there must be servile submission -of inferiors to superiors. The law must be cruel; the religion must -be stern; the ceremonies must be strict. The co-ordinate necessity -for these several kinds of restraint might be largely illustrated -from history were there space. Suffice it to point out that where the -civil power has been weak, the multiplication of thieves, assassins, -and banditti, has indicated the approach of social dissolution; that -when, {25} from the corruptness of its ministry, religion has lost -its influence, as it did just before the Flagellants appeared, the -State has been endangered; and that the disregard of established social -observances has ever been an accompaniment of political revolutions. -Whoever doubts the necessity for a government of manners proportionate -in strength to the co-existing political and religious governments, -will be convinced on calling to mind that until recently even elaborate -codes of behaviour failed to keep gentlemen from quarrelling in the -streets and fighting duels in taverns; and on remembering that even now -people exhibit at the doors of a theatre, where there is no ceremonial -law to rule them, an aggressiveness which would produce confusion if -carried into social intercourse. - -As might be expected, we find that, having a common origin and like -general functions, these several controlling agencies act during each -era with similar degrees of vigour. Under the Chinese despotism, -stringent and multitudinous in its edicts and harsh in the enforcement -of them, and associated with which there is an equally stern domestic -despotism exercised by the eldest surviving male of the family, there -exists a system of observances alike complicated and rigid. There is a -tribunal of ceremonies. Previous to presentation at court, ambassadors -pass many days in practising the required forms. Social intercourse -is cumbered by endless compliments and obeisances. Class distinctions -are strongly marked by badges. And if there wants a definite measure -of the respect paid to social ordinances, we have it in the torture to -which ladies submit in having their feet crushed. In India, and indeed -throughout the East, there exists a like connexion between the pitiless -tyranny of rulers, the dread terrors of immemorial creeds, and the -rigid restraint of unchangeable customs. Caste regulations continue -still unalterable; the fashions of clothes and furniture have remained -the same for ages; suttees are so ancient as to be mentioned by Strabo -and {26} Diodorus Siculus; justice is still administered at the -palace-gates as of old; in short, “every usage is a precept of religion -and a maxim of jurisprudence.” A similar relationship of phenomena was -exhibited in Europe during the Middle Ages. While its governments, -general and local, were despotic, while the Church was unshorn of its -power, while the criminal code was full of horrors and the hell of the -popular creed full of terrors, the rules of behaviour were both more -numerous and more carefully conformed to than now. Differences of dress -marked divisions of rank. Men were limited by law to certain widths -of shoe-toes; and no one below a specified degree might wear a cloak -less than so many inches long. The symbols on banners and shields were -carefully attended to. Heraldry was an important branch of knowledge. -Precedence was strictly insisted on. And those various salutes of which -we now use the abridgments, were gone through in full. Even during our -own last century, with its corrupt House of Commons and little-curbed -monarchs, we may mark a correspondence of social formalities. Gentlemen -were still distinguished from lower classes by dress; and children -addressed their parents as _Sir_ and _Madam_. - -A further corollary naturally following this last, and almost, indeed, -forming part of it, is, that these several kinds of government -decrease in stringency at the same rate. Simultaneously with the -decline in the influence of priesthoods, and in the fear of eternal -torments—simultaneously with the mitigation of political tyranny, -the growth of popular power, and the amelioration of criminal codes; -has taken place that diminution of formalities and that fading of -distinctive marks, now so observable. Looking at home, we may note that -there is less attention to precedence than there used to be. No one in -our day ends an interview with the phrase “your humble servant.” The -employment of the word _Sir_, once general in social intercourse, is -at present considered bad breeding; and on the occasions {27} calling -for them, it is held vulgar to use the words “Your Majesty,” or “Your -Royal Highness,” more than once in a conversation. People no longer -formally drink one another’s healths; and even the taking wine with one -another at dinner has ceased to be fashionable. It is remarked of us -by foreigners, that we take off our hats less than any other nation in -Europe—a remark which should be coupled with the other, that we are the -freest nation in Europe. As already implied, this association of facts -is not accidental. These modes of address and titles and obeisances, -bearing about them, as they all do, something of that servility which -marks their origin, become distasteful in proportion as men become more -independent themselves, and sympathize more with the independence of -others. The feeling which makes the modern gentleman tell the labourer -standing bareheaded before him to put on his hat—the feeling which -gives us a dislike to those who cringe and fawn—the feeling which makes -us alike assert our own dignity and respect that of others—the feeling -which thus leads us more and more to discountenance forms and names -which confess inferiority and submission; is the same feeling which -resists despotic power and inaugurates popular government, denies the -authority of the Church and establishes the right of private judgment. - -A fourth fact, akin to the foregoing, is, that with decreasing -coerciveness in these several kinds of government, their respective -forms lose their meanings. The same process which has made our monarch -put forth as his own acts what are the acts of ministers approved -by the people, and has thus changed him from master into agent—the -same process which, making attendance at church very much a matter of -respectability, has done away with the telling of beads, the calling -on saints, and the performance of penances; is a process by which -titles and ceremonies that once had a meaning and a power have been -reduced to empty forms. Coats of arms which served to distinguish -{28} men in battle, now figure on the carriage panels of retired -merchants. Once a badge of high military rank, the shoulder-knot has -become, on the modern footman, a mark of servitude. The name Banneret, -which originally marked a partially-created Baron—a Baron who had -passed his military “little go”—is now, under the modification of -Baronet, applicable to any one favoured by wealth or interest or party -feeling. Knighthood has so far ceased to be an honour, that men honour -themselves by declining it. The military dignity _Escuyer_ has, in the -modern Esquire, become a wholly unmilitary affix. - -But perhaps it is in that class of social observances comprehended -under the term Fashion (which we must here discuss parenthetically) -that this process is seen with the greatest distinctness. As contrasted -with Manners, which dictate our minor acts in relation to other -persons, Fashion dictates our minor acts in relation to ourselves. -While the one prescribes that part of our deportment which directly -affects our neighbours; the other prescribes that part of our -deportment which is primarily personal, and in which our neighbours -are concerned only as spectators. Thus distinguished as they are, -however, the two have a common source. For while, as we have shown, -Manners originate by imitation of the behaviour pursued _towards_ -the great; Fashion originates by imitation of the behaviour _of_ the -great. While the one has its derivation in the titles, phrases, and -salutes used _to_ those in power; the other is derived from the habits -and appearances exhibited _by_ those in power. The Carrib mother who -squeezes her child’s head into a shape like that of the chief; the -young savage who makes marks on himself similar to the scars carried -by the warriors of his tribe; the Highlander who adopts the plaid worn -by the head of his clan; the courtiers who affect greyness, or limp, -or cover their necks, in imitation of their king, and the people who -ape the courtiers; are alike acting under a kind of government connate -with that of Manners, {29} and, like it too, primarily beneficial. -For notwithstanding the numberless absurdities into which this copying -has led people, from nose-rings to ear-rings, from painted faces to -beauty-spots, from shaven heads to powdered wigs, from filed teeth and -stained nails to bell-girdles, peaked shoes, and breeches stuffed with -bran, it must yet be concluded that as the men of will, intelligence, -and originality, who have got to the top, are, on the average, more -likely to show judgment in their habits and tastes than the mass, -the imitation of such is advantageous. By and by, however, Fashion, -decaying like these other forms of rule, almost wholly ceases to be an -imitation of the best, and becomes an imitation of quite other than -the best. As those who take orders are not those having a special -fitness for the priestly office, but those who hope to get livings; -as legislators and public functionaries do not become such by virtue -of their political insight and power to rule, but by virtue of birth, -acreage, and class influence; so, the self-elected clique who set the -fashion, do this, not by force of nature, by intellect, by higher -worth or better taste, but solely by unchecked assumption. Among the -initiated are to be found neither the noblest in rank, the chief in -power, the best cultured, the most refined, nor those of greatest -genius, wit, or beauty; and their reunions, so far from being superior -to others, are noted for their inanity. Yet, by the example of these -sham great, and not by that of the truly great, does society at large -now regulate its habits, its dress, its small usages. As a natural -consequence, these have generally little of that suitableness which -the theory of fashion implies they should have. Instead of a progress -towards greater elegance and convenience, which might be expected to -occur did people copy the ways of the really best, or follow their -own ideas of propriety, we have a reign of mere whim, of unreason, -of change for the sake of change, of wanton oscillations from either -extreme to the other. And so life _à la mode_, instead of being life -conducted in the {30} most rational manner, is life regulated by -spendthrifts and idlers, milliners and tailors, dandies and silly women. - -To these several corollaries—that the various orders of control -exercised over men have a common origin and a common function, are -called out by co-ordinate necessities and co-exist in like stringency, -decline together and decay together—it now only remains to add that -they simultaneously become less needful. The social discipline which -has already wrought out great changes in men, must go on eventually -to work out greater ones. That daily curbing of the lower nature and -culture of the higher, which out of cannibals and devil-worshippers has -evolved philanthropists, lovers of peace, and haters of superstition, -may be expected to evolve out of these, men as much superior to them -as they are to their progenitors. The causes that have produced past -modifications are still in action; must continue in action as long as -there exists any incongruity between men’s desires and the requirements -of the social state; and must eventually make them organically fit -for the social state. As it is now needless to forbid man-eating, so -will it ultimately become needless to forbid murder, theft, and the -minor offences of our criminal code. Along with growth of human nature -into harmony with the moral law, there will go decreasing need for -judges and statute-books; when the right course has become the course -spontaneously chosen, prospects of future reward or punishment will -not be wanted as incentives; and when due regard for others has become -instinctive, there will need no code of ceremonies to say how behaviour -shall be regulated. - - * * * * * - -Thus, then, may be recognized the meaning of those eccentricities of -reformers which we set out by describing. They are not accidental; -they are not mere personal caprices. They are inevitable results of -the law of relationship above illustrated. That community of genesis, -function, {31} and decay which all forms of restraint exhibit, is -simply the obverse of the fact at first pointed out, that they have -in two sentiments of human nature a common preserver and a common -destroyer. Awe of power originates and cherishes them all; love of -freedom undermines and weakens them all. The one defends despotism -and asserts the supremacy of laws, adheres to old creeds and supports -ecclesiastical authority, pays respect to titles and conserves forms; -the other, putting rectitude above legality, achieves periodical -instalments of political liberty, inaugurates Protestantism and works -out its consequences, ignores the senseless dictates of Fashion and -emancipates men from dead customs. To the true reformer no institution -is sacred, no belief above criticism. Everything shall conform itself -to equity and reason; nothing shall be saved by its prestige. Conceding -to each man liberty to pursue his own ends and satisfy his own tastes, -he demands for himself like liberty; and consents to no restrictions -on this, save those which other men’s equal claims involve. No matter -whether it be an ordinance of one man, or an ordinance of all men, if -it trenches on his legitimate sphere of action, he denies its validity. -The tyranny that would impose on him a particular style of dress and -a set mode of behaviour, he resists equally with the tyranny that -would limit his buyings and sellings, or dictate his creed. Whether -the regulation be formally made by a legislature, or informally -made by society at large—whether the penalty for disobedience be -imprisonment, or frowns and social ostracism, he sees to be a question -of no moment. He will utter his belief notwithstanding the threatened -punishment; he will break conventions spite of the petty persecutions -that will be visited on him. Show him that his actions are inimical -to his fellow-men, and he will pause. Prove that he is disregarding -their legitimate claims, and he will alter his course. But until you -do this—until you demonstrate that his proceedings are essentially -inconvenient or {32} inelegant, essentially irrational, unjust, or -ungenerous, he will persevere. - -Some, indeed, argue that his conduct _is_ unjust and ungenerous. They -say that he has no right to annoy other people by his whims; that the -gentleman to whom his letter comes with no “Esq.” appended to the -address, and the lady whose evening party he enters with gloveless -hands, are vexed at what they consider his want of respect or want of -breeding; that thus his eccentricities cannot be indulged save at the -expense of his neighbours’ feelings; and that hence his nonconformity -is in plain terms selfishness. - -He answers that this position, if logically developed, would deprive -men of all liberty whatever. Each must conform all his acts to the -public taste, and not his own. The public taste on every point having -been once ascertained, men’s habits must thenceforth remain for ever -fixed; seeing that no man can adopt other habits without sinning -against the public taste, and giving people disagreeable feelings. -Consequently, be it an era of pig-tails or high-heeled shoes, of -starched ruffs or trunk-hose, all must continue to wear pig-tails, -high-heeled shoes, starched ruffs, or trunk-hose to the crack of doom. - -If it be still urged that he is not justified in breaking through -others’ forms that he may establish his own, and so sacrificing the -wishes of many to the wishes of one, he replies that all religious and -political changes might be negatived on like grounds. He asks whether -Luther’s sayings and doings were not extremely offensive to the mass of -his cotemporaries; whether the resistance of Hampden was not disgusting -to the time-servers around him; whether every reformer has not shocked -men’s prejudices and given immense displeasure by the opinions he -uttered. The affirmative answer he follows up by demanding what right -the reformer has, then, to utter these opinions—whether he is not -sacrificing the feelings {33} of many to the feelings of one; and so -he proves that, to be consistent, his antagonists must condemn not only -all nonconformity in actions, but all nonconformity in beliefs. - -His antagonists rejoin that _his_ position, too, may be pushed to an -absurdity. They argue that if a man may offend by the disregard of some -forms, he may as legitimately do so by the disregard of all; and they -inquire—Why should he not go out to dinner in a dirty shirt, and with -an unshorn chin? Why should he not spit on the drawing-room carpet, and -stretch his heels up to the mantle-shelf? - -The convention-breaker answers, that to ask this, implies a confounding -of two widely-different classes of actions—the actions which are -_essentially_ displeasurable to those around, with the actions which -are but _incidentally_ displeasurable to them. He whose skin is so -unclean as to offend the nostrils of his neighbours, or he who talks -so loudly as to disturb a whole room, may be justly complained of, and -rightly excluded by society from its assemblies. But he who presents -himself in a surtout in place of a dress-coat, or in brown trousers -instead of black, gives offence not to men’s senses, or their innate -tastes, but merely to their bigotry of convention. It cannot be said -that his costume is less elegant or less intrinsically appropriate -than the one prescribed; seeing that a few hours earlier in the day it -is admired. It is the implied rebellion, therefore, which annoys. How -little the cause of quarrel has to do with the dress itself, is seen -in the fact that a century ago black clothes would have been thought -preposterous for hours of recreation, and that a few years hence some -now forbidden style may be nearer the requirements of Fashion than the -present one. Thus the reformer explains that it is not against the -natural restraints, but against the artificial ones, that he protests; -and that manifestly the fire of angry glances which he has to bear, -{34} is poured upon him because he will not bow down to the idol which -society has set up. - -Should he be asked how we are to distinguish between conduct which is -in itself disagreeable to others, and conduct which is disagreeable by -its implication, he answers, that they will distinguish themselves, -if men will let them. Actions intrinsically repugnant will ever be -frowned upon, and must ever remain as exceptional as now. Actions -not intrinsically repugnant will establish themselves as proper. No -relaxation of customs will introduce the practice of going to a party -in muddy boots, and with unwashed hands; for the dislike of dirt would -continue were Fashion abolished to-morrow. That love of approbation -which now makes people solicitous to be _en règle_ would still -exist—would still make them careful of their personal appearance—would -still induce them to seek admiration by making themselves -ornamental—would still cause them to respect the natural laws of good -behaviour, as they now do the artificial laws. The change would simply -be from a repulsive monotony to a picturesque variety. And if there be -any regulations respecting which it is uncertain whether they are based -on reality or on convention, experiment will soon decide, if due scope -be allowed. - -When at length the controversy comes round, as controversies often do, -to the point whence it started, and the “party of order” repeat their -charge against the rebel, that he is sacrificing the feelings of others -to gratify his own wilfulness, he replies once for all that they cheat -themselves by mis-statements. He accuses them of being so despotic, -that, not content with being masters over their own ways and habits, -they would be masters over his also; and grumble because he will not -let them. He merely asks the same freedom which they exercise; they, -however, propose to regulate his course as well as their own—to cut -and clip his mode of life into {35} agreement with their approved -pattern; and then charge him with wilfulness and selfishness, because -he does not quietly submit! He warns them that he shall resist, -nevertheless; and that he shall do so, not only for the assertion of -his own independence, but for their good. He tells them that they are -slaves, and know it not; that they are shackled, and kiss their chains; -that they have lived all their days in prison, and complain because the -walls are being broken down. He says he must persevere, however, with a -view to his own release; and, in spite of their present expostulations, -he prophesies that when they have recovered from the fright which the -prospect of freedom produces, they will thank him for aiding in their -emancipation. - -Unamiable as seems this find-fault mood, offensive as is this defiant -attitude, we must beware of overlooking the truths enunciated, in -dislike of the advocacy. It is an unfortunate hindrance to all -innovation, that in virtue of their very function, the innovators stand -in a position of antagonism; and the disagreeable manners, and sayings, -and doings, which this antagonism generates, are commonly associated -with the doctrines promulgated. Quite forgetting that whether the thing -attacked be good or bad, the combative spirit is necessarily repulsive; -and quite forgetting that the toleration of abuses seems amiable merely -from its passivity; the mass of men contract a bias against advanced -views, and in favour of stationary ones, from intercourse with their -respective adherents. “Conservatism,” as Emerson says, “is debonnair -and social; reform is individual and imperious.” And this remains true, -however vicious the system conserved, however righteous the reform to -be effected. Nay, the indignation of the purists is usually extreme in -proportion as the evils to be got rid of are great. The more urgent -the required change, the more intemperate is the vehemence of its -promoters. Let no one, then, confound with the principles {36} of this -social nonconformity the acerbity and the disagreeable self-assertion -of those who first display it. - - * * * * * - -The most plausible objection raised against resistance to conventions, -is grounded on its impolicy, considered even from the progressist’s -point of view. It is urged by many of the more liberal and -intelligent—usually those who have themselves shown some independence -of behaviour in earlier days—that to rebel in these small matters is -to destroy your own power of helping on reform in greater matters. -“If you show yourself eccentric in manners or dress, the world,” they -say, “will not listen to you. You will be considered as crotchety, and -impracticable. The opinions you express on important subjects, which -might have been treated with respect had you conformed on minor points, -will now inevitably be put down among your singularities; and thus, by -dissenting in trifles, you disable yourself from spreading dissent in -essentials.” - -Only noting, as we pass, that this is one of those anticipations which -bring about their own fulfilment—that it is because most who disapprove -these conventions do not show their disapproval, that the few who do -show it look eccentric—and that did all act out their convictions, no -such argument as the above would have force;—noting this as we pass, -we go on to reply that these social restraints are not small evils but -among the greatest. Estimate their sum total, and we doubt whether they -would not exceed most others. Could we add up the trouble, the cost, -the jealousies, vexations, misunderstandings, the loss of time and the -loss of pleasure, which these conventions entail—we should perhaps come -to the conclusion that the tyranny of Mrs. Grundy is worse than any -other tyranny. Let us look at a few of its hurtful results; beginning -with those of minor importance. - -It produces extravagance. The desire to be _comme il faut_, which -underlies all conformities, whether of manners, {37} dress, or styles -of entertainment, is the desire which makes many a spendthrift and many -a bankrupt. To “keep up appearances,” to have a house in an approved -quarter furnished in the latest taste, to give expensive dinners and -crowded _soirées_, is an ambition forming the natural outcome of the -conformist spirit. It is needless to enlarge on these follies: they -have been satirized by hosts of writers, and in every drawing-room. All -which here concerns us, is to point out that the respect for social -observances, which men think so praiseworthy, has the same root with -this effort to be fashionable in mode of living; and that, other things -equal, the last cannot be diminished without the first being diminished -also. If, now, we consider what this extravagance entails—if we count -up the robbed tradesmen, the stinted governesses, the ill-educated -children, the fleeced relatives, who have to suffer from it—if we mark -the anxiety and the many moral delinquencies which its perpetrators -involve themselves in; we shall see that this regard for conventions is -not quite so innocent as it looks. - -Again, it decreases the amount of social intercourse. Passing over the -reckless, and those who make a great display on speculation with the -occasional result of getting on in the world to the exclusion of better -men, we come to the far larger class who, being prudent and honest -enough not to exceed their means, and yet wishing to be “respectable,” -are obliged to limit their entertainments to the smallest possible -number; and that each of these may be turned to the greatest advantage -in meeting the claims on their hospitality, issue their invitations -with little or no regard to the comfort or mutual fitness of their -guests. A few inconveniently-large assemblies, made up of people mostly -strange to each other or but distantly acquainted, are made to serve -in place of many small parties of friends intimate enough to have some -bond of sympathy. Thus the quantity of intercourse is diminished, and -the quality deteriorated. Because it is the custom to make costly {38} -preparations and provide costly refreshments; and because it entails -both less expense and less trouble to do this for many persons on few -occasions than for few persons on many occasions; the reunions of our -less wealthy classes are rendered alike infrequent and tedious. - -Let it be further observed, that the existing formalities of social -intercourse drive away many who most need its refining influence; and -drive them into injurious habits and associations. Not a few men, -and not the least sensible men either, give up in disgust this going -out to stately dinners and stiff evening-parties; and instead, seek -society in clubs, and cigar-divans, and taverns. “I’m sick of this -standing about in drawing-rooms, talking nonsense, and trying to look -happy,” will answer one of them when taxed with his desertion. “Why -should I any longer waste time and money, and temper? Once I was ready -enough to rush home from the office to dress; I sported embroidered -shirts, submitted to tight boots, and cared nothing for tailors’ and -haberdashers’ bills. I know better now. My patience lasted a good -while; for though I found each night pass stupidly, I always hoped -the next would make amends. But I’m undeceived. Cab-hire and kid -gloves cost more than any evening party pays for; or rather—it is -worth the cost of them to avoid the party. No, no; I’ll no more of -it. Why should I pay five shillings a time for the privilege of being -bored?” If, now, we consider that this very common mood tends towards -billiard-rooms, towards long sittings over cigars and brandy-and-water, -towards Evans’s and the Coal Hole; it becomes a question whether these -precise observances which hamper our set meetings, have not to answer -for much of the prevalent dissoluteness. Men must have excitements of -some kind or other; and if debarred from higher ones will fall back -upon lower. It is not that those who thus take to irregular habits -are essentially those of low tastes. Often it is quite the reverse. -Among half a dozen intimate friends, abandoning {39} formalities and -sitting at ease round the fire, none will enter with greater enjoyment -into the highest kind of social intercourse—the genuine communion of -thought and feeling; and if the circle includes women of intelligence -and refinement, so much the greater is their pleasure. It is because -they will no longer be choked with the mere dry husks of conversation -which society offers them, that they fly its assemblies, and seek -those with whom they may have discourse that is at least real, though -unpolished. The men who thus long for substantial mental sympathy, -and will go where they can get it, are often, indeed, much better at -the core than the men who are content with the inanities of gloved -and scented party-goers—men who feel no need to come morally nearer -to their fellow-creatures than they can come while standing, tea-cup -in hand, answering trifles with trifles; and who, by feeling no such -need, prove themselves shallow-thoughted and cold-hearted. It is true, -that some who shun drawing-rooms do so from inability to bear the -restraints prescribed by a genuine refinement, and that they would be -greatly improved by being kept under these restraints. But it is not -less true that, by adding to the legitimate restraints, which are based -on convenience and a regard for others, a host of factitious restraints -based only on convention, the refining discipline, which would else -have been borne with benefit, is rendered unbearable, and so misses -its end. Excess of government defeats itself by driving away those to -be governed. And if over all who desert its entertainments in disgust -either at their emptiness or their formality, society thus loses its -salutary influence—if such not only fail to receive that moral culture -which the company of ladies, when rationally regulated, would give -them, but, in default of other relaxation, are driven into habits and -companionships which often end in gambling and drunkenness; must we not -say that here, too, is an evil not to be passed over as insignificant? - -Then consider what a blighting effect these {40} multitudinous -preparations and ceremonies have upon the pleasures they profess -to subserve. Who, on calling to mind the occasions of his highest -social enjoyments, does not find them to have been wholly informal, -perhaps impromptu? How delightful a pic-nic of friends, who forget -all observances save those dictated by good nature! How pleasant the -unpretending gatherings of small book-societies, and the like; or those -purely accidental meetings of a few people well known to each other! -Then, indeed, we may see that “a man sharpeneth the countenance of his -friend.” Cheeks flush, and eyes sparkle. The witty grow brilliant, and -even the dull are excited into saying good things. There is an overflow -of topics; and the right thought, and the right words to put it in, -spring up unsought. Grave alternates with gay: now serious converse, -and now jokes, anecdotes, and playful raillery. Everyone’s best nature -is shown; everyone’s best feelings are in pleasurable activity; and, -for the time, life seems well worth having. Go now and dress for some -half-past eight dinner, or some ten o’clock “at home;” and present -yourself in spotless attire, with every hair arranged to perfection. -How great the difference! The enjoyment seems in the inverse ratio of -the preparation. These figures, got up with such finish and precision, -appear but half alive. They have frozen each other by their primness; -and your faculties feel the numbing effects of the atmosphere the -moment you enter it. All those thoughts, so nimble and so apt awhile -since, have disappeared—have suddenly acquired a preternatural power -of eluding you. If you venture a remark to your neighbour, there comes -a trite rejoinder, and there it ends. No subject you can hit upon -outlives half a dozen sentences. Nothing that is said excites any real -interest in you; and you feel that all you say is listened to with -apathy. By some strange magic, things that usually give pleasure seem -to have lost all charm. You have a taste for art. Weary of frivolous -{41} talk, you turn to the table, and find that the book of engravings -and the portfolio of photographs are as flat as the conversation. You -are fond of music. Yet the singing, good as it is, you hear with utter -indifference; and say “Thank you” with a sense of being a profound -hypocrite. Wholly at ease though you could be, for your own part, you -find that your sympathies will not let you. You see young gentlemen -feeling whether their ties are properly adjusted, looking vacantly -round, and considering what they shall do next. You see ladies sitting -disconsolately, waiting for some one to speak to them, and wishing -they had the wherewith to occupy their fingers. You see the hostess -standing about the doorway, keeping a factitious smile on her face, -and racking her brain to find the requisite nothings with which to -greet her guests as they enter. You see numberless traits of weariness -and embarrassment; and, if you have any fellow feeling, these cannot -fail to produce a sense of discomfort. The disorder is catching; -and do what you will, you cannot resist the general infection. You -struggle against it; you make spasmodic efforts to be lively; but -none of your sallies or your good stories do more than raise a simper -or a forced laugh: intellect and feeling are alike asphyxiated. And -when, at length, yielding to your disgust, you rush away, how great -is the relief when you get into the fresh air, and see the stars! -How you “Thank God, that’s over!” and half resolve to avoid all such -boredom for the future! What, now, is the secret of this perpetual -miscarriage and disappointment? Does not the fault lie with these -needless adjuncts—these elaborate dressings, these set forms, these -expensive preparations, these many devices and arrangements that -imply trouble and raise expectation? Who that has lived thirty years -in the world has not discovered that Pleasure is coy; and must not -be too directly pursued, but must be caught unawares? An air from a -street-piano, heard while at work, will often gratify more than the -{42} choicest music played at a concert by the most accomplished -musicians. A single good picture seen in a dealer’s window, may give -keener enjoyment than a whole exhibition gone through with catalogue -and pencil. By the time we have got ready our elaborate apparatus by -which to secure happiness, the happiness is gone. It is too subtle to -be contained in these receivers, garnished with compliments, and fenced -round with etiquette. The more we multiply and complicate appliances, -the more certain are we to drive it away. The reason is patent enough. -These higher emotions to which social intercourse ministers, are of -extremely complex nature; they consequently depend for their production -upon very numerous conditions; the more numerous the conditions, -the greater the liability that one or other of them will not be -fulfilled. It takes a considerable misfortune to destroy appetite; but -cordial sympathy with those around may be extinguished by a look or -a word. Hence it follows, that the more multiplied the _unnecessary_ -requirements with which social intercourse is surrounded, the less -likely are its pleasures to be achieved. It is difficult enough to -fulfil continuously all the _essentials_ to a pleasurable communion -with others: how much more difficult, then, must it be continuously to -fulfil a host of _non-essentials_ also! What chance is there of getting -any genuine response from the lady who is thinking of your stupidity -in taking her in to dinner on the wrong arm? How are you likely to -have agreeable converse with the gentleman who is fuming internally -because he is not placed next to the hostess? Formalities, familiar -as they may become, necessarily occupy attention—necessarily multiply -the occasions for mistake, misunderstanding, and jealousy, on the part -of one or other—necessarily distract all minds from the thoughts and -feelings which should occupy them—necessarily, therefore, subvert those -conditions under which only any sterling intercourse is to be had. - -And this, indeed, is the fatal mischief which these {43} conventions -entail—a mischief to which every other is secondary. They destroy those -pleasures which they profess to subserve. All institutions are alike in -this, that however useful, and needful even, they originally were, they -in the end cease to be so, but often become detrimental. While humanity -is growing, they continue fixed; daily get more mechanical and unvital; -and by and by tend to strangle what they before preserved. Old forms -of government finally grow so oppressive, that they must be thrown off -even at the risk of reigns of terror. Old creeds end in being dead -formulas, which no longer aid but distort and arrest the general mind; -while the State-churches administering them, come to be instruments -for subsidizing conservatism and repressing progress. Old schemes -of education, incarnated in public schools and colleges, continue -filling the heads of new generations with what has become relatively -useless knowledge, and, by consequence, excluding knowledge which is -useful. Not an organization of any kind—political, religious, literary, -philanthropic—but what, by its ever-multiplying regulations, its -accumulating wealth, its yearly addition of officers, and the creeping -into it of patronage and party feeling, eventually loses its original -spirit, and sinks into a lifeless mechanism, worked with a view to -private ends—a mechanism which not merely fails of its first purpose, -but is a positive hindrance to it. Thus is it, too, with social usages. -We read of the Chinese that they have “ponderous ceremonies transmitted -from time immemorial,” which make social intercourse a burden. The -court forms prescribed by monarchs for their own exaltation, have, in -all times and places, ended in consuming the comfort of their lives. -And so the artificial observances of the dining-room and saloon, in -proportion as they are many and strict, extinguish that agreeable -communion which they were intended to secure. The dislike with which -people commonly speak of society that is “formal,” and “stiff,” and -“ceremonious,” {44} implies a general recognition of this fact; and -this recognition involves the inference that all usages of behaviour -which are not based on natural requirements, are injurious. That -these conventions defeat their own ends is no new assertion. Swift, -criticising the manners of his day, says—“Wise men are often more -uneasy at the over-civility of these refiners than they could possibly -be in the conversation of peasants and mechanics.” - -But it is not only in these details that the self-defeating action of -our arrangements is traceable; it is traceable in the very substance -and nature of them. Our social intercourse, as commonly managed, is a -mere semblance of the reality sought. What is it that we want? Some -sympathetic converse with our fellow-creatures:—some converse that -shall not be mere dead words, but the vehicle of living thoughts and -feelings—converse in which the eyes and the face shall speak, and the -tones of the voice be full of meaning—converse which shall make us -feel no longer alone, but shall draw us closer to others, and double -our own emotions by adding their’s to them. Who is there that has -not, from time to time, felt how cold and flat is all this talk about -politics and science, and the new books and the new men, and how a -genuine utterance of fellow-feeling outweighs the whole of it? Mark -the words of Bacon:—“For a crowd is not company, and faces are but a -gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no -love.” If this be true, then it is only after acquaintance has grown -into intimacy, and intimacy has ripened into friendship, that the real -communion which men need becomes possible. A rationally-formed circle -must consist almost wholly of those on terms of familiarity and regard, -with but one or two strangers. What folly, then, underlies the whole -system of our grand dinners, our “at homes,” our evening parties—crowds -made up of many who never met before, many who just bow to one another, -many who though well known feel mutual indifference, with just a few -{45} real friends lost in the general mass! You need but look round -at the artificial expressions of face, to see at once how it is. All -have their disguises on; and how can there be sympathy between masks? -No wonder that in private every one exclaims against the stupidity of -these gatherings. No wonder that hostesses get them up rather because -they must than because they wish. No wonder that the invited go less -from the expectation of pleasure than from fear of giving offence. The -whole thing is an organized disappointment. - -And then note, lastly, that in this case, as in others, an organization -inoperative for its proper purpose, it is employed for quite other -purposes. What is the usual plea put in for giving and attending these -tedious assemblies? “I admit that they are dull and frivolous enough,” -replies every man to your criticisms; “but then, you know, one must -keep up one’s connexions.” And could you get from his wife a sincere -answer, it would be—“Like you, I am sick of these formal parties; but -then, we must get our daughters married.” The one knows that there is a -profession to push, a business to extend; or parliamentary influence, -or county patronage, or votes, or office, to be got: position, -berths, favours, profit. The other’s thoughts run upon husbands -and settlements, wives and dowries. Worthless for their ostensible -purpose of daily bringing human beings into pleasurable relations -with each other, these cumbrous appliances of our social intercourse -are now perseveringly kept in action with a view to the pecuniary and -matrimonial results which they indirectly produce. - -Who then shall say that the reform of our system of observances -is unimportant? When we see how this system induces fashionable -extravagance, with its occasional ruin—when we mark how greatly -it limits the amount of social intercourse among the less wealthy -classes—when we find that many who most need to be disciplined by -mixing {46} with the refined are driven away by it, and led into bad -courses—when we count up the many minor evils it inflicts, the extra -work which its costliness entails on all professional and mercantile -men, the damage to public taste in dress and decoration by the setting -up of its absurdities as standards for imitation, the injury to health -indicated in the faces of its devotees at the close of the London -season, the mortality of milliners and the like, which its sudden -exigencies yearly involve;—and when to all these we add its fatal -sin, that it withers up and kills that high enjoyment it professedly -ministers to—shall we not conclude that to rationalize etiquette and -fashion, is an aim yielding to few in urgency? - - * * * * * - -There needs, then, a protestantism in social usages. Forms which have -ceased to facilitate and have become obstructive—have to be swept -away. Signs are not wanting that some change is at hand. A host of -satirists, led on by Thackeray, have long been engaged in bringing -our sham-festivities, and our fashionable follies, into contempt; and -in their candid moods, most men laugh at the frivolities with which -they and the world in general are deluded. Ridicule has always been a -revolutionary agent. Institutions that have lost their roots in men’s -respect and faith are doomed; and the day of their dissolution is not -far off. The time is approaching, then, when our system of social -observances must pass through some crisis, out of which it will come -purified and comparatively simple. - -How this crisis will be brought about, no one can say. Whether by the -continuance and increase of individual protests, or whether by the -union of many persons for the practice and diffusion of better usages, -the future alone can decide. The influence of dissentients acting -without co-operation, seems inadequate. Frowned on by conformists, and -expostulated with even by those who secretly sympathize with them; -subject to petty persecutions, and {47} unable to trace any benefit -produced by their example; they are apt, one by one, to give up their -attempts as hopeless. The young convention-breaker eventually finds -that he pays too heavily for his nonconformity. Hating, for example, -everything that bears about it any remnant of servility, he determines, -in the ardour of his independence, that he will uncover to no one. -But what he means simply as a general protest, he finds that ladies -interpret into a personal disrespect. In other cases his courage -fails him. Such of his unconventionalities as can be attributed only -to eccentricity, he has no qualms about; for, on the whole, he feels -rather complimented than otherwise in being considered a disregarder of -public opinion. But when they are liable to be put down to ignorance, -to ill-breeding, or to poverty, he becomes a coward. However clearly -the recent innovation of eating some kinds of fish with knife and fork -proves the fork-and-bread practice to have had little but caprice for -its basis, yet he dares not wholly ignore that practice while fashion -partially maintains it.[4] Though he thinks that a silk handkerchief -is quite as appropriate for drawing-room use as a white cambric one, -he is not altogether at ease in acting out his opinion. Then, too, he -begins to perceive that his resistance to prescription brings round -disadvantageous results which he had not calculated upon. He had -expected that it would save him from a great deal of social intercourse -of a frivolous kind—that it would offend the silly people, but not the -sensible people; and so would serve as a self-acting test by which -those worth knowing would be separated from those not worth knowing. -But the silly people prove to be so greatly in the majority that, -by offending them, he closes against himself nearly all the avenues -through which the sensible people are to be reached. Thus he finds, -that his nonconformity is frequently misinterpreted; that there are -but few directions in which he dares {48} to carry it consistently -out; that the disadvantages it entails are greater than he anticipated; -and that the chances of his doing any good are very remote. Hence he -gradually loses resolution, and lapses, step by step, into the ordinary -routine of observances. - - [4] This was written before the introduction of silver fish-knives. - -Abortive as individual protests thus generally turn out, it may -possibly be that nothing effectual will be done until there arises -some organized resistance to this invisible despotism, by which our -modes and habits are dictated. It may happen, that the government of -Manners and Fashion will be rendered less tyrannical, as the political -and religious governments have been, by some antagonistic union. -Alike in Church and State, men’s first emancipations from excesses -of restriction were achieved by numbers, bound together by a common -creed or a common political faith. What remained undone while there -were but individual schismatics or rebels, was effected when there -came to be many acting in concert. It is tolerably clear that these -earliest instalments of freedom could not have been obtained in any -other way; for so long as the feeling of personal independence was weak -and the rule strong, there could never have been a sufficient number -of separate dissentients to produce the desired results. Only in these -later times, during which the secular and spiritual controls have been -growing less coercive, and the tendency towards individual liberty -greater, has it become possible for smaller and smaller sects and -parties to fight against established creeds and laws; until now men may -safely stand even alone in their antagonism. The failure of individual -nonconformity to customs, suggests that an analogous series of changes -may have to be gone through in this case also. It is true that the -_lex non scripta_ differs from the _lex scripta_ in this, that, being -unwritten, it is more readily altered; and that it has, from time to -time, been quietly ameliorated. Nevertheless, we shall find that the -analogy holds substantially good. For in this case, as {49} in the -others, the essential revolution is not the substituting of any one -set of restraints for any other, but the limiting or abolishing the -authority which prescribes restraints. Just as the fundamental change -inaugurated by the Reformation, was not a superseding of one creed by -another, but an ignoring of the arbiter who before dictated creeds—just -as the fundamental change which Democracy long ago commenced, was not -from this particular law to that, but from the despotism of one to -the freedom of all; so, the parallel change yet to be wrought out in -this supplementary government of which we are treating, is not the -replacing of absurd usages by sensible ones, but the dethronement of -that power which now imposes our usages, and the assertion of the -rights of individuals to choose their own usages. In rules of living, -a West-end clique is our Pope; and we are all papists, with but a mere -sprinkling of heretics. On those who decisively rebel, comes down the -penalty of excommunication, with its long catalogue of disagreeable -and, indeed, serious consequences. The liberty of the subject asserted -in our constitution, and ever on the increase, has yet to be wrested -from this subtler tyranny. The right of private judgment, which our -ancestors wrung from the church, remains to be claimed from this -dictator of our habits. Or, as before said, to free us from these -idolatries and superstitious conformities, there has still to come a -protestantism in social usages. Parallel, therefore, as is the change -to be wrought out, it seems not improbable that it may be wrought out -in an analogous way. That influence which solitary dissentients fail to -gain, and that perseverance which they lack, may come into existence -when they unite. That persecution which the world now visits upon them -from mistaking their nonconformity for ignorance or disrespect, may -diminish when it is seen to result from principle. The penalty which -exclusion now entails may disappear when they become numerous enough to -form {50} visiting circles of their own. And when a successful stand -has been made, and the brunt of the opposition has passed, that large -amount of secret dislike to our observances which now pervades society, -may manifest itself with sufficient power to effect the desired -emancipation. - -Whether such will be the process, time alone can decide. That community -of origin, growth, supremacy, and decadence, which we have found among -all kinds of government, suggests a community in modes of change -also. On the other hand, Nature often performs substantially similar -operations, in ways apparently different. Hence these details can never -be foretold. - - * * * * * - -Meanwhile, let us glance at the conclusions that have been reached. On -the one side, government, originally one, and afterwards subdivided -for the better fulfilment of its function, must be considered as -having ever been, in all its branches—political, religious, and -ceremonial—beneficial; and, indeed, absolutely necessary. On the other -side, government, under all its forms, must be regarded as subserving -an office, made needful by the unfitness of aboriginal humanity for -social life; and the successive diminutions of its coerciveness in -State, in Church, and in Custom, must be looked upon accompanying the -increasing adaptation of humanity to its conditions. To complete the -conception, there requires to be borne in mind the third fact, that the -genesis, the maintenance, and the decline of all governments, however -named, are alike brought about by the humanity to be controlled; from -which may be drawn the inference that, on the average, restrictions of -every kind cannot last much longer than they are wanted, and cannot -be destroyed much faster than they ought to be. Society, in all its -developments, undergoes the process of exuviation. These old forms -which it successively throws off, have all been once vitally united -with it—have severally served as the protective envelopes within which -a higher humanity {51} was being evolved. They are cast aside only -when they become hindrances—only when some inner and better envelope -has been formed; and they bequeath to us all that there was in them -of good. The periodical abolitions of tyrannical laws have left the -administration of justice not only uninjured, but purified. Dead -and buried creeds have not carried with them the essential morality -they contained, which still exists, uncontaminated by the sloughs of -superstition. And all that there is of justice and kindness and beauty, -embodied in our cumbrous forms of etiquette, will live perennially when -the forms themselves have been forgotten. - -{52} - - - - -RAILWAY MORALS AND RAILWAY POLICY. - -[_First published in the_ Edinburgh Review _for October 1854_.] - - -Believers in the intrinsic virtues of political forms, might draw an -instructive lesson from the politics of our railways. If there needs -a conclusive proof that the most carefully-framed constitutions are -worthless, unless they be embodiments of the popular character—if -there needs a conclusive proof, that governmental arrangements in -advance of the time will inevitably lapse into congruity with the -time; such proof may be found over and over again repeated in the -current history of joint-stock enterprises. As devised by Act of -Parliament, the administrations of our public companies are almost -purely democratic. The representative system is carried out in them -with scarcely a check. Shareholders elect their directors, directors -their chairman; there is an annual retirement of a certain proportion -of members of the board, giving facilities for superseding them; -and, by this means, the whole ruling body may be changed in periods -varying from three to five years. Yet, not only are the characteristic -vices of our political state reproduced in each of these mercantile -corporations—some even in an intenser degree—but the very form of -government, while remaining nominally democratic, is substantially -so remodelled as to become a miniature of our national constitution. -The direction, ceasing to fulfil its theory as a {53} council formed -of members who possess equal powers, falls under the control of some -one member of superior cunning, will, or wealth, to whom the majority -become so subordinate, that the decision on every question depends on -the course he takes. Proprietors, instead of constantly exercising -their franchise, allow it to become on all ordinary occasions a dead -letter. Retiring directors are so habitually re-elected without -opposition, and have so great a power of insuring their own election -when opposed, that the board becomes practically a close body; and -it is only when the misgovernment grows extreme enough to produce a -revolutionary agitation among the shareholders, that any change can -be effected. Thus, a mixture of the monarchic, the aristocratic, and -the democratic elements, is repeated with such modifications only as -the circumstances involve. The modes of action, too, are substantially -the same; save in this, that the copy outruns the original. Threats of -resignation, which ministries hold out in extreme cases, are commonly -made by railway-boards to stave off disagreeable inquiries. By no -means regarding themselves as servants of the shareholders, directors -rebel against dictation from them; and construe any amendment to their -proposals into a vote of want of confidence. At half-yearly meetings, -disagreeable criticisms and objections are met by the chairman with -the remark, that if the shareholders cannot trust his colleagues and -himself, they had better choose others. With most, this assumption of -offended dignity tells; and, under fear that the company’s interests -may suffer from any disturbance, measures quite at variance with the -wishes of the proprietary are allowed to be carried. The parallel holds -yet further. If it be true of national administrations, that those in -power have the support of public _employés_; it is not less true of -incorporated companies, that the directors are aided by the officials -in their struggles with shareholders. If, in times past, there have -been ministries who spent public money to secure party ends; there -are, in {54} times present, railway-boards who use the funds of the -shareholders to defeat the shareholders. Nay, even in detail, the -similarity is maintained. Like their prototype, joint-stock companies -have their expensive election contests, managed by election committees, -employing election agents; they have their canvassing with its sundry -illegitimate accompaniments; they have their occasional manufacture of -fraudulent votes. And, as a general result, that class-legislation, -which has been habitually charged against statesmen, is now habitually -displayed in the proceedings of these trading associations: constituted -though they are on purely representative principles. - -These last assertions will surprise not a few. The general public who -never see a railway-journal, and who skip the reports of half-yearly -meetings which appear in the daily papers, are under the impression -that dishonesties like those gigantic ones so notorious during the -mania, are no longer committed. They do not forget the doings of -stags and stock-jobbers and runaway-directors. They remember how -men-of-straw held shares amounting to £100,000, and even £200,000; -how numerous directorates were filled by the same persons—one having -a seat at twenty-three boards; how subscription-contracts were made -up with signatures bought at 10_s_ and even 4_s_ each, and porters -and errand-boys made themselves liable for £30,000 and £40,000 -a-piece. They can narrate how boards kept their books in cipher, made -false registries, and refrained from recording their proceedings in -minute-books; how in one company, half-a-million of capital was put -down to unreal names; how in another, directors bought for account -more shares than they issued, and so forced up the price; and how in -many others, they repurchased for the company their own shares, paying -themselves with the depositors’ money. But, though more or less aware -of the iniquities which have been practised, the generality think -of them solely as the accompaniments {55} of bubble schemes. More -recent enterprises they know to have been _bonâ fide_ ones, mostly -carried out by old-established companies; and knowing this, they do -not suspect that in the getting-up of branch lines and extensions, -there are chicaneries near akin to those of Capel Court; and quite as -disastrous in their ultimate results. Associating the ideas of wealth -and respectability, and habitually using respectability as synonymous -with morality, it seems to them incredible that many of the large -capitalists and men of station who administer railway affairs, should -be guilty of indirectly enriching themselves at the expense of their -constituents. True, they occasionally meet with a law-report disclosing -some enormous fraud; or read a _Times_ leader, characterising -directorial acts in terms which are held libellous. But they regard -the cases thus brought to light as entirely exceptional; and, under -that feeling of loyalty which ever idealises men in authority, they -constantly tend towards the conviction, if not that directors can do no -wrong, yet that they are very unlikely to do wrong. - -A history of railway management and railway intrigue, however, would -quickly undeceive them. In such a history, the tricks of projectors -and the mysteries of the share-market would occupy less space than -the analysis of the multiform dishonesties which have been committed -since 1845, and the genesis of that elaborate system of tactics -by which companies are betrayed into ruinous undertakings which -benefit the few at the cost of the many. Such a history would not -only have to detail the doings of the personage famed for “making -things pleasant;” nor would it have merely to add the misdeeds of his -colleagues; but it would have to describe the kindred corruptness -of other railway administrations. From the published report of an -investigation-committee, it would be shown how, not many years since, -the directors of one of our lines allotted among themselves 15,000 -new shares then at a premium in the {56} market; how to pay the -deposits on these shares they used the company’s funds; and how one of -their number thus accommodated himself in meeting both deposits and -calls to the extent of more than £80,000. We should read in it of one -railway chairman who, with the secretary’s connivance, retained shares -exceeding a quarter of a million in amount, intending to claim them as -his allotment if they rose to a premium; and who, as they did not do -so, left them as unissued shares on the hands of the proprietors, to -their vast loss. We should also read in it of directors who made loans -to themselves out of the company’s floating balances at a low rate of -interest, when the market rate was high; and who paid themselves larger -salaries than those assigned: entering the difference in an obscure -corner of the ledger under the head of “petty disbursements.” There -would be a description of the manœuvres by which a delinquent board, -under impending investigation, gets a favourable committee nominated—“a -whitewashing committee.” There would be documents showing that the -proxies enabling boards to carry contested measures, have in some -cases been obtained by garbled statements; and, again, that proxies -given for a specified purpose have been used for other purposes. One -of our companies would be proved to have projected a line, serving as -a feeder, for which it obtained shareholders by offering a guaranteed -dividend, which, though understood by the public to be unconditional, -was really contingent upon a condition not likely to be fulfilled. -The managers of another company would be convicted of having carried -party measures by the aid of preference-shares standing in the names of -station-masters; and of being aided by the proxies of the secretary’s -children too young to write. - -That the corruptions here glanced at are not exceptional evils, but -result from some deep-seated vice in our system of railway-government, -is sufficiently proved by the fact, that notwithstanding the falling -of railway-dividends {57} produced by the extension policy, that -policy has been year after year continued. Does any tradesman, who, -having enlarged his shop, finds a proportionate diminution in his -rate of profits, go on, even under the stimulus of competition, -making further enlargements at the risk of further diminutions? Does -any merchant, however strong his desire to take away an opponent’s -markets, make successive mortgages on his capital, and pay for each sum -thus raised a higher interest than he gains by trading with it? Yet -this course, so absurd that no one would insult a private individual -by asking him to follow it, is the course which railway-boards, at -meeting after meeting, persuade their clients to pursue. Since 1845, -when the dividends of our leading lines ranged from 8 to 10 per cent., -they have, notwithstanding an ever-growing traffic, fallen from 10 -per cent. to 5, from 8 to 4, from 9 to 3 1/4; and yet the system of -extensions, leases, and guarantees, notoriously the cause of this, -has been year by year persevered in. Is there not something needing -explanation here—something more than the world is allowed to see? -If there be any one to whom the broad fact of obstinate persistence -in unprofitable expenditure does not alone carry the conviction -that sinister influences are at work, let him read the seductive -statements by which shareholders are led to authorize new projects, -and then compare these with the proved results. Let him look at the -estimated cost, anticipated traffic, and calculated dividend on some -proposed branch line; let him observe how the proprietary before whom -the scheme is laid, are induced to approve it as promising a fair -return; and then let him contemplate, in the resulting depreciation -of stock, the extent of their loss. Is there any avoiding the -inference? Railway-shareholders can never have habitually voted for -new undertakings which they knew would be injurious to them. Every -one knows, however, that these new undertakings have almost uniformly -proved injurious to them. Obviously, therefore, railway-shareholders -have been {58} continually deluded by false representations. The -only possible escape from this conclusion is in the belief that -boards and their officers have been themselves deceived; and were the -discrepancies between promises and results occasional only, there -would be grounds for this lenient interpretation. But to suppose -that a railway-government should repeatedly make such mistakes, -and yet gain no wisdom from disastrous experiences—should after a -dozen disappointments again mislead half-yearly meetings by bright -anticipations into dark realities, and all in good faith—taxes -credulity somewhat too far. Even, then, were there no demonstrated -iniquities to rouse suspicion, we think that the continuous -depreciation in the value of railway-stock, the determined perseverance -of boards in the policy which has produced this depreciation, and -the proved untruth of the statements by which they have induced -shareholders to sanction this policy, would of themselves suffice to -show the viciousness of railway-administration. - -That the existing evils, and the causes conspiring to produce them, -may be better understood, it will be needful to glance at the mode in -which the system of extensions grew up. Earliest among the incentives -to it was a feeling of rivalry. Even while yet their main lines were -unfinished, a contest for supremacy arose between our two greatest -companies. This presently generated a confirmed antagonism; and the -same impulse which in election contests has sometimes entailed the -squandering of a fortune to gain a victory, has largely aided to make -each of these great rivals submit to repeated sacrifices rather than be -beaten. Feuds of like nature are in other cases perpetually prompting -boards to make aggressions on each other’s territories—every attack -on the one side leading to a reprisal on the other; and so violent is -the hostility occasionally produced, that directors might be pointed -out whose votes are wholly determined by the desire to be revenged -on their opponents. {59} Among the first methods used by leading -companies to strengthen themselves and weaken their competitors, was -the leasing or purchase of subordinate neighbouring lines. Of course -those to whom overtures were made, obtained bids from both sides; and -it naturally resulted that the first sales thus effected, being at -prices far above the real values, brought great profits to the sellers. -What resulted? A few recurrences of this proceeding, made it clear to -quick-witted speculators, that constructing lines so circumstanced as -to be bid for by competing companies, would be a lucrative policy. -Shareholders who had once pocketed these large and easily-made gains, -were eager to repeat the process; and cast about for districts in which -it might be done. Even the directors of the companies by whom these -high prices were given, were under the temptation to aid in this; for -it was manifest to them that by obtaining a larger interest in any such -new undertaking than they possessed in the purchasing company, and -by using their influence in the purchasing company to obtain a good -price or guarantee for the new undertaking, a great advantage would be -gained. That this motive has been largely operative, railway history -abundantly proves. Once commenced, sundry other influences conspired -to stimulate this making of feeders and extensions. The non-closure -of capital-accounts rendered possible the “cooking” of dividends, -which was at one period carried to a great extent. Expenditure that -should have been charged against revenue was charged against capital; -works and rolling stock were allowed to go unrepaired, or insufficient -additions made to them, by which means the current expenses were -rendered delusively small; long-credit agreements with contractors -permitted sundry disbursements that had virtually been made, to be -kept out of the accounts; and thus the net returns were made to -appear greater than they really were. Naturally new undertakings put -before the moneyed world by companies whose stock and dividends had -been thus artificially raised, {60} were received with proportionate -favour. Under the prestige of their parentage their shares came out -at high premiums, bringing large profits to the projectors. The hint -was soon taken; and it presently became an established policy, under -the auspices of a prosperity either real or mock, to get up these -subsidiary lines—“calves,” as they were called in the slang of the -initiated—and to traffic in the premiums their shares commanded. -Meanwhile had been developing, a secondary set of influences which -also contributed to foster unwise enterprises; namely, the business -interests of the lawyers, engineers, contractors, and others directly -or indirectly employed in railway construction. The ways of getting up -and carrying new schemes, could not fail, in the course of years, to -become familiar to all concerned; and there could not fail to grow up -among them a system of concerted tactics for achieving their common -end. Thus, partly from the jealousy of rival boards, partly from -the greediness of shareholders in purchased lines, partly from the -dishonest schemings of directors, partly from the manœuvres of those -whose occupation it is to carry out the projects legally authorized, -partly, and perhaps mainly, from the delusive appearance of prosperity -maintained by many established companies, there came the wild -speculations of 1844 and 1845. The consequent disasters, while they -pretty well destroyed the last of these incentives, left the rest much -as they were. Though the painfully-undeceived public have ceased to aid -as they once did, the various private interests that had grown up have -since been working together as before—have developed their methods of -co-operation into still more complex and subtle forms; and are even now -daily thrusting unfortunate shareholders into losing undertakings. - -Before proceeding to analyze the existing state of things, however, -we would have it clearly understood that we do not suppose those -implicated to be _on the average_ morally lower than the community -at large. Men taken at random {61} from any class, would, in all -probability, behave much in the same way when placed in like positions. -There are unquestionably directors grossly dishonest. Unquestionably -also there are others whose standard of honour is far higher than that -of most persons. And for the remainder, they are, doubtless, as good as -the mass. Of the engineers, parliamentary agents, lawyers, contractors, -and others concerned, it may be admitted that though custom has -induced laxity of principle, yet they would be harshly judged were the -transactions which may be recorded against them, used as tests. Those -who do not see how in these involved affairs, bad deeds may be wrought -out by men not correspondingly bad, will readily do so on considering -all the conditions. In the first place, there is the familiar fact that -the corporate conscience is inferior to the individual conscience—that -a body of men will commit as a joint act, that which each one of them -would shrink from, did he feel personally responsible. And it may -be remarked that not only is the conduct _of_ a corporate body thus -comparatively lax, but also the conduct _towards_ one. There is ever a -more or less distinct perception, that a broad-backed company scarcely -feels what would be ruinous to a private person; and this perception is -in constant operation on all railway-boards and their _employés_, as -well as on all contractors, landowners, and others concerned: leading -them to show a want of principle foreign to their general behaviour. -Again, the indirectness and remoteness of the evils produced, greatly -weaken the restraints on wrongdoing. Men’s actions are proximately -caused by mental representations of the results to be anticipated; and -the decisions come to, largely depend on the vividness with which these -results can be imagined. A consequence, good or bad, that is immediate -and clearly apprehended, influences conduct far more potently than -a consequence that has to be traced through a long chain of actions -or influences, and, as eventually reached, is not a particular and -{62} readily conceivable one, but a general and vaguely conceivable -one. Hence, in railway affairs, a questionable share-transaction, -an exorbitant charge, a proceeding which brings great individual -advantage without apparently injuring any one, and which, even if -traced to its ultimate results, can but very circuitously affect -unknown persons living no one knows where, may be brought home to -men who, could the results be embodied before them, would be shocked -at the cruel injustices they had committed—men who in their private -business, where the results _can_ be thus embodied, are sufficiently -equitable. Further, it requires to be noted that most of these great -delinquencies are ascribable not to the extreme dishonesty of any one -man or group of men, but to the combined self-interest of many men -and groups of men, whose minor delinquencies are cumulative. Much as -a story which, passing from mouth to mouth, and receiving a slight -exaggeration at each repetition, comes round to the original narrator -in a form scarcely to be recognised; so, by a little improper influence -on the part of landowners, a little favouritism on the part of members -of Parliament, a little intriguing of lawyers, a little manœuvring -by contractors and engineers, a little self-seeking on the part of -directors, a little under-statement of estimates and over-statement -of traffic, a little magnifying of the evils to be avoided and the -benefits to be gained—it happens that shareholders are betrayed into -ruinous undertakings by grossly untrue representations, without any -one being guilty of more than a small portion of the fraud. Bearing -in mind then, the comparative laxity of the corporate conscience; the -diffusion and remoteness of the evils which malpractices produce; -and the composite origin of these malpractices; it becomes possible -to understand how, in railway affairs, gigantic dishonesties can be -perpetrated by men who, on the average, are little if at all below the -generality in moral character. - -With this preliminary mitigation we proceed to detail the {63} various -illegitimate influences by which these seemingly insane extensions and -this continual squandering of shareholders’ property are brought about. - - * * * * * - -Conspicuous among these is the self-interest of landowners. Once the -greatest obstacles to railway enterprise, owners of estates have of -late years been among its chief promoters. Since the Liverpool and -Manchester line was first defeated by landed opposition, and succeeded -with its second bill only by keeping out of sight of all mansions, and -avoiding game preserves—since the time when the London and Birmingham -Company, after seeing their project thrown out by a committee of peers -who ignored the evidence, had to “conciliate” opponents by raising -the estimate for land from £250,000 to £750,000—since the time when -Parliamentary counsel justified resistance by the flimsiest excuses, -even to reproaching engineers with having “trodden down the corn -of widows” and “destroyed the strawberry-beds of gardeners”—since -then, a marked change of policy has taken place. Nor was it in -human nature that it should be otherwise. When it became known that -railway-companies commonly paid for “land and compensation,” sums -varying from £4000 to £8000 per mile; that men were indemnified -for supposed injury to their property, by sums so inordinate that -the greater part has been known to be returned by the heir as -conscience-money; that in one case £120,000 was given for land said -to be worth but £5000—when it was noised abroad that large bonuses -in the shape of preference shares and the like, were granted to buy -off opposition—when it came to be an established fact that estates -are greatly enhanced in value by the proximity of railways; it is not -surprising that country gentlemen should have become active friends of -schemes to which they were once the bitterest enemies. On considering -the many temptations, we shall see nothing wonderful in the fact that -in 1845 they were zealous {64} provisional committee-men; nor in the -fact that their influence as promoters enabled them to get large sums -for their own acres. If we are told of squires soliciting interviews -with the engineer of a projected railway; prompting him to take their -side of the country; promising support if he did, and threatening -opposition if he did not; dictating the course to be followed through -their domains; and hinting that a good price would be expected; we are -simply told of the special modes in which certain private interests -show themselves. If we hear of an extensive landowner using his -influence as chairman of a board of directors, to project a branch -running for many miles through his own estate, and putting his company -to the cost of a parliamentary contest to carry this line; we hear -only of that which was likely to occur under such circumstances. If -we find now before the public, a line proposed by a large capitalist, -serving among other ends to effect desirable communications with his -property, and the estimates for which line, though considered by the -engineering world insufficient, are alleged by him to be ample; we have -but a marked case of the distorted representations which under such -conditions self-interest is sure to engender. If we discover of this or -that scheme, that it was got up by the local nobility and gentry—that -they employed to make the survey a third-rate engineer, who was ready -in anticipation of future benefit to do this for his bare expenses—that -principals and agent wearied the directors of an adjacent trunk-line -to take up their project; threatened that if they did not their great -rival would; alarmed them into concession; asked for a contribution -to their expenses; and would have gained all these points but for -shareholders’ resistance—we do but discover the organized tactics -which, in course of time, naturally grow up under such stimuli. It -is not that these facts are particularly remarkable. From the gross -instance of the landowner who asked £8000 for that which he eventually -accepted £80 for, down to the {65} every-day instances of influence -used to get railway accommodation for the neighbourhood, the acts of -the landed class are simply manifestations of the average character -acting under special conditions. All that it now behoves us to notice, -is, that we have here a large and powerful body whose interests are -ever pressing on railway extension, irrespective of its intrinsic -propriety. - -The great change in the attitude of the Legislature towards railways, -from “the extreme of determined rejection or dilatory acquiescence, -to the opposite extreme of unlimited concession,” was simultaneous -with the change above described. It could not well fail to be so. -Supplying, as the landowning community does, so large a portion of both -Houses of Parliament, it necessarily follows that the play of private -interests seen in the first, repeats itself in the last under modified -forms, and complicated by other influences. Remembering the extent to -which legislators were themselves implicated in the speculations of -the mania, it is unlikely that they should since have been free from -personal bias. A return proved, that in 1845 there were 157 members of -Parliament whose names were on the registers of new companies for sums -varying from £291,000 downwards. The supporters of new projects boasted -of the numbers of votes they could command in the House. Members -were personally canvassed, and peers were solicited. It was publicly -complained in the upper chamber, that “it was nearly impossible to -bring together a jury, some members of which were not interested in -the railway they were about to assess.” Doubtless this state of things -was in a great degree exceptional; and there has since been not only -a diminution of the temptations, but a marked increase of equitable -feeling. Still, it is not to be expected that private interests should -cease to act. It is not to be expected that a landowner who, out of -Parliament, exerts himself to get a railway for his district, should, -when in Parliament, not employ the power his new position gives him to -the same {66} end. It is not to be expected that the accumulation of -such individual actions should leave the legislative policy unchanged. -Hence the fact, that the influence once used to throw out railway bills -is now used to carry them. Hence the fact, that railway committees no -longer require a good traffic case to be made out in justification -for the powers asked. Hence the fact, that railway directors having -seats in the House of Commons, are induced to pledge their companies -to carry out extensions. We could name a member of Parliament who, -having bought an estate fitly situated, offered to an engineer, also -in Parliament, the making of a railway running through it; and having -obtained the Act (in doing which the influence of himself and his -friend was of course useful), pitted three railway companies against -each other for the purchase of it. We could name another member of -Parliament who, having projected and obtained powers for an extension -through his property, induced the directors of the main line, with -whom he had great influence, to subscribe half the capital for his -extension, to work it for fifty per cent. of the gross receipts, and to -give up all traffic brought by it on to the main line until he received -four per cent. on his capital; which was tantamount to a four per -cent. guarantee. But it is not only, nor indeed mainly, from directly -personal motives that legislators have of late years unduly fostered -railway enterprises. Indirectly personal motives of various kinds have -been largely operative. The wish to satisfy constituents has been one. -Inhabitants of an unaccommodated district, are naturally urgent with -their representatives to help them to a line. Not unfrequently such -representatives are conscious that their next elections may perhaps -turn upon their successful response to this appeal. Even when there is -no popular pressure there is the pressure of their leading political -supporters—of large landholders whom it will not do to neglect; of -local lawyers, important as electioneering friends, to whom a railway -always brings {67} business. Thus, without having immediately private -ends, members of Parliament are often almost coerced into urging -forward schemes which, from a national point of view, or from a -shareholder’s point of view, are very unwise ones. Then there come the -still less direct stimuli. Where neither personal nor political ends -are to be gained, there are still the interests of a relative to be -subserved; or, if not those of a relative, still those of a friend. -And where there is no decided impulse to the contrary, these motives, -of course, have their weight. Moreover, it requires in fairness to be -said, that possessed as most members of Parliament are, with the belief -that all railway-making is nationally beneficial, there exist in their -minds few or no reasons for resisting the influences brought to bear on -them. True, shareholders may be injured; but that is their own affair. -The public will be better served; constituents will be satisfied; -friends will be pleased; perhaps private ends gained: and under some -or all of these incentives, affirmative votes are readily given. -Thus, from the Legislature also, there has of late years proceeded a -factitious stimulus to railway extensions. - -From Parliament to Parliamentary agents, and the general body of -lawyers concerned in railway enterprise, is a ready transition. With -these, the getting up and carrying of new lines and branches is a -matter of business. Whoever traces the process of obtaining a railway -Act, or considers the number of legal transactions involved in the -execution of railway works, or notes the large sums that figure in -half-yearly reports under the head of “law charges;” will at once -see how strong are the temptations which a new project holds out to -solicitors, conveyancers, and counsel. It has been shown that in past -years, parliamentary expenses have varied from £650 to £3000 per -mile; of which a large proportion has gone into the pockets of the -profession. In one contest, £57,000 was spent among six counsel and -twenty solicitors. At a late {68} meeting of one of our companies -it was pointed out, that the sum expended in legal and parliamentary -expenses during nine years, had reached £480,000; or had averaged -£53,500 a-year. With these and scores of like facts before them, it -would be strange did not so acute a body of men as lawyers use vigorous -efforts and sagacious devices to promote fresh enterprises. Indeed, if -we look back at the proceedings of 1845, we shall suspect, not only -that lawyers are still the active promoters of fresh enterprises, but -often the originators of them. Many have heard how in those excited -times the projects daily announced were not uncommonly set afloat by -local solicitors—how these looked over maps to see where plausible -lines could be sketched out—how they canvassed the local gentry to -obtain provisional committeemen—how they agreed with engineers to make -trial surveys—how, under the wild hopes of the day, they found little -difficulty in forming companies—and how most of them managed to get as -far as the Committee on Standing Orders, if no farther. Remembering -all this, and remembering that those who were successful are not -likely to have forgotten their cunning, but rather to have yearly -exercised and increased it, we may expect to find railway lawyers -among the most influential of the many parties conspiring to urge -railway proprietaries into disastrous undertakings; and we shall not be -deceived. To a great extent they are in league with engineers. From the -proposal to the completion of a new line, the lawyer and the engineer -work together; and their interests are throughout identical. While the -one makes the survey, the other prepares the book of reference. The -parish plans which the one gets ready, the other deposits. The notices -to owners and occupiers which the one fills in, the other serves upon -those concerned. And there are frequent consultations between them -as to the dealing with local opposition and the obtainment of local -support. In the getting up of {69} their case for Parliament, they -necessarily act in concert. While, before committee, the one gets -his ten guineas per day for attending to give evidence, the other -makes profits on all the complicated transactions which carrying a -bill involves. During the execution of the works they are in constant -correspondence; and alike profit by any expansion of the undertaking. -Thus there naturally arises in each, the perception that in aiding the -other he is aiding himself; and gradually as, in course of years, the -proceedings come to be often repeated, and a perfect familiarity with -railway politics gained, there grows up a well-organized system of -co-operation between them—a system rendered the more efficient by the -wealth and influence which each has year by year accumulated. - -Among the manœuvres employed by railway solicitors thus established -and thus helped, not the least remarkable is that of getting their own -nominees elected as directors. It is a fact, which we state on good -authority, that there are puppet-directors who vote for this or that at -the instigation of the company’s lawyer. The obtainment of such tools -is not difficult. Vacancies are about to occur in the directorate. -Almost always there are men over whom a solicitor, conducting the -extensive law-business of a railway, has considerable power: not only -connexions and friends, but persons to whom in his legal capacity he -can do great benefit or great injury. He selects the most suitable of -these; giving the preference, if other things are equal, to one living -in the country near the line. On opening the matter to him, he points -out the sundry advantages attendant on a director’s position—the free -pass and the many facilities it gives; the annual £100 or so which the -office brings; the honour and influence accruing; the opportunities for -profitable investment that are likely to occur; and so forth. Should -ignorance of railway affairs be raised as an objection, the tempter, in -whose eyes this ignorance is a chief recommendation, {70} replies that -he shall always be at hand to guide his votes. Should non-possession of -a due amount of the company’s stock be pleaded, the tempter meets the -difficulty by offering himself to furnish the needful qualification. -Thus incited and flattered, and perhaps conscious that it would be -dangerous to refuse, the intended puppet allows himself to be put in -nomination; and as it is the habit of half-yearly meetings, unless -under great indignation, to elect any one proposed to them by those in -authority, the nomination is successful. On subsequent occasions this -proceeding can, of course, be repeated; and thus the company’s legal -agent and those leagued with him, may command sufficient votes to turn -the scale in their own favour. - -Then, to the personal interest and power of the head solicitor, have -to be added those of the local solicitors, with whom he is in daily -intercourse. They, too, profit by new undertakings; they, therefore, -are urgent in pressing them forwards. Acting in co-operation with -their chief, they form a dispersed staff of great influence. They are -active canvassers; they stimulate and concentrate the feeling of their -districts; they encourage rivalry with other lines; they alarm local -shareholders with rumours of threatened competition. When the question -of extension or non-extension comes to a division, they collect -proxies for the extension party. They bring pressure to bear on their -shareholding clients and relatives. Nay, so deep an interest do they -feel in the decision, as sometimes to create votes with the view of -influencing it. We have before us the case of a local solicitor, who, -before the special meeting called to adopt or reject a contemplated -branch, transferred portions of his own shares into the names of sundry -members of his family, and so multiplied his seventeen votes into -forty-one; all of which he recorded in favour of the new scheme. - -The morality of railway engineers is not much above {71} that of -railway lawyers. The gossip of Great George Street is fertile in -discreditable revelations. It tells how So-and-so, like others before -him, testified to estimates which he well knew were insufficient. It -makes jocose allusion to this man as being employed to do his senior’s -“dirty work”—his hard-swearing; and narrates of the other that, when -giving evidence before committee, he was told by counsel that he was -not to be believed even on his knees. It explains how cheaply the -projector of a certain line executed the parliamentary survey, by -employing on it part of the staff in the pay of another company to -which he was engineer. Now it alludes to the suspicion attaching to a -certain member of the fraternity from his having let a permanent-way -contract, for a term of years, at an extravagant sum per mile. Again it -rumours the great profits which some of the leaders of the profession -made in 1845, by charging for the use of their names at so much the -prospectus: even up to a thousand guineas. And then, it enlarges on the -important advantages possessed by engineers who have seats in the House -of Commons. - -Thus lax as is the ethical code of engineers, and greatly as they are -interested in railway enterprise, it is to be expected that they should -be active and not very scrupulous promoters of it. To illustrate the -vigour and skill with which they further new undertakings, a few facts -may be cited. Not far from London, and lying between two lines of -railway, is an estate lately purchased by one of our engineers. He has -since obtained Acts for branches to both of the adjacent lines. One -of these branches he has leased to the company whose line it joins; -and he has tried to do the like with the other, but as yet without -success. Even as it is, however, he is considered to have doubled the -value of his property. Again, an engineer of celebrity once nearly -succeeded in smuggling through Parliament, in the bill for a proposed -railway, a clause extending the limits of deviation, to several miles -on each side of the line, {72} throughout a certain district—the -usual limits being but five chains on each side; and the attempt is -accounted for by the fact, that this engineer possessed mines in this -district. To press forward extensions by the companies with which they -are connected, they occasionally go to great lengths. Not long since, -at a half-yearly meeting, certain projects which the proprietary had -already once rejected, were again brought forward by two engineers -who attended in their capacity of shareholders. Though known to be -personally interested, one of them moved and the other seconded, that -some new proposals from the promoters of these schemes be considered -without delay by the directors. The motion was carried; the directors -approved the proposals; and again, the proprietors negatived them. A -third time a like effort was made; a third time a conflict arose; and -within a few days of the special meeting at which the division was to -take place, one of these engineers circulated among the shareholders a -pamphlet denying the allegations of the dissentient party and making -counter-statements which it was then too late to meet. Nay, he did -more: he employed agents to canvass the shareholders for proxies in -support of the new undertaking; and was obliged to confess as much when -charged with it at the meeting. - -Turn we now to contractors. Railway-enterprise has given to this class -of men a gigantic development; not only in respect of numbers, but -in respect of the vast wealth to which some of them have acquired. -Originally, half a dozen miles of earthwork, fencing, and bridges, was -as much as any single contractor undertook. Of late years, however it -has become common for one man to engage to construct an entire railway; -and deliver it to the company in a fit condition for opening. Great -capital is required for this. Great profits are made by it. And the -fortunes accumulated in course of time have been such, that sundry -contractors are named as being each able to make a railway at his own -{73} cost. But they are as insatiable as millionaires in general; -and so long as they continue in business at all, are, in some sort, -forced to provide new undertakings to keep their plant employed. As -may be imagined, enormous stocks of working appliances are needed: -many hundreds of earth-waggons and of horses; many miles of temporary -rails and sleepers; some dozen locomotive engines, and several fixed -ones; innumerable tools; besides vast stores of timber, bricks, stone, -rails, and other constituents of permanent works, that have been bought -on speculation. To keep the capital thus invested, and also a large -staff of _employés_, standing idle, entails loss, partly negative, -partly positive. The great contractor, therefore, is both under a -strong stimulus to get fresh work, and enabled by his wealth to do -this. Hence the not unfrequent inversion of the old arrangement under -which companies and engineers employed contractors, into an arrangement -under which contractors employ engineers and form companies. Many -recent undertakings have been thus set on foot. The most gigantic -project which private enterprise has yet dared, originated with a -distinguished contracting firm. In some cases this mode of procedure -may, perhaps, be advantageous; but in far more numerous cases its -results are disastrous. Interested in promoting railway extensions, -even in a greater degree than engineers and lawyers, contractors -habitually co-operate with these, either as agents or as coadjutors. -Lines are fostered into being, which it is known from the beginning, -will not pay. Of late, it has become common for landowners, merchants, -and others personally interested, who, under the belief that their -indirect gains will compensate for their meagre dividends, have -themselves raised part of the capital for a local railway, but cannot -raise the rest—it has become common for such to make an agreement with -a wealthy contractor to construct the line, taking in part payment -a portion of the shares, amounting to perhaps a third of the whole, -and to charge for his work according to {74} a schedule of prices to -be thereafter settled between himself and the engineer. By this last -clause the contractor renders himself secure. It would never answer -his purpose to take part payment in shares likely to return some £2 -per cent., unless he compensated himself by unusually high profits; -and this subsequent settlement of prices with one whose interests, -like his own, are wrapped up in the prosecution of the undertaking, -ensures him high profits. Meanwhile, it is noised abroad that all the -capital has been subscribed and the line contracted for; these facts -unduly raise the public estimate of the scheme; the shares are quoted -at much above their true worth; unwary persons buy; the contractor -from time to time parts with his moiety at fair prices; and the new -shareholders ultimately find themselves part owners of a railway which, -unprofitable as it originally promised to be, had been made yet more -unprofitable by expensiveness of construction. Nor are these the only -cases in which contractors gain after this fashion. They do the like -with lines of their own projecting. To obtain Acts for these, they -sign the subscription-contracts for large amounts; knowing that in the -way above described, they can always make it answer to do this. So -general had the practice latterly become, as to attract the attention -of committees. As was remarked by a personage noted for his complicity -in these transactions—“Committees are getting too knowing; they won’t -stand that dodge now.” Nevertheless, the thing is still done under a -disguised form. Though contractors no longer enter their own names on -subscription lists for thousands of shares; yet they effect the same -end by making nominal holders of their foremen and others: themselves -being the real ones. - -Of directorial misdoings some samples have already been given; and more -might be added. Besides those arising from directly personal aims, -there are sundry others. One of these is the increasing community -between railway {75} boards and the House of Commons. There are -eighty-one directors sitting in Parliament; and though some of these -take little part in the affairs of their respective railways, many of -them are the most active members of the boards to which they belong. -We have but to look back a few years, and mark the unanimity with -which companies adopted the policy of getting themselves represented -in the Legislature, to see that the furtherance of their respective -interests—especially in cases of competition—was the incentive. How -well this policy is understood by the initiated, may be judged from -the fact, that gentlemen are now in some cases elected on boards, -simply because they are members of Parliament. Of course this implies -that railway legislation is affected by a complicated play of private -influences; and that these influences generally work towards the -facilitation of new enterprises, is obvious. It naturally happens that -directors having seats in the House of Commons can more or less smooth -the way of their annual batch of new bills through committees. It -naturally happens that those whose companies are not opposed, exchange -good offices. Not only do they aid the passing of schemes in which they -are interested, but they are solicited to undertake further schemes by -those around them. It is a common-sense conclusion that representatives -of small towns and country districts needing railway accommodation, who -are daily thrown in contact with the chairman of a company capable of -giving this accommodation, do not neglect the opportunity of furthering -their ends. It is a common-sense conclusion that by hospitalities, -by favours, by flattery, by the many means used to bias men, they -seek to obtain his assistance. And it is an equally common-sense -conclusion that in many cases they succeed—that by some complication of -persuasions and temptations they swerve him from his calmer judgment; -and so introduce into the company he represents, influences at variance -with its welfare. - -Under some motives however—whether those of direct {76} self-interest, -of private favour, or of antagonistic feeling, matters not here—it is -certain that directors are constantly committing their constituents -to unwise enterprises; and that they frequently employ unjustifiable -means for either eluding or overcoming their opposition. Shareholders -occasionally find that their directors have given to Parliament, -pledges of extension much exceeding any they were authorised to -give; and they are then persuaded that they are bound to endorse -the promises made for them by their agents. In some cases, among -the misleading statements laid before shareholders to obtain their -consent to a new project, will be found an abstract of the earnings -of a previously-executed branch to which the proposed one bears some -analogy. These earnings are shown (not always without “cooking”) -to be tolerably good and improving; and it is argued that the new -project, having like prospects, offers a fair investment. Meanwhile, -it is not stated that the capital for this previously-executed branch -was raised on debentures or by guaranteed shares at a higher rate of -interest than the dividend pays; it is not stated that as the capital -for this further undertaking will be raised on like terms, the annual -interest on debt will swallow up more than the annual revenue; and -thus unsuspecting shareholders—some unacquainted with the company’s -antecedents, some unable to understand its complicated accounts—give -their proxies, or raise their hands, for new works which will tell -with disastrous effect on their future dividends. In pursuit of their -ends, directors will from time to time go directly in the teeth of -established regulations. Where it has been made a rule that proxies -shall be issued only by order of a meeting of the proprietors, they -will yet issue them without any such order, when by so doing they can -steal a march on dissentients. If it suits their purpose, they will -occasionally bring forward most important measures without due notice. -In stating the amount of the company’s stock which has {77} voted with -them on a division, they have been known to include thousands of shares -on which a small sum only was paid up, counting them as though fully -paid up. - -To complete the sketch, something must be said on the management of -board meetings and meetings of shareholders. For the first—their -decisions are affected by various manœuvres. Of course, on fit -occasions, there is a whipping-up of those favourable to any project -which it is desired to carry. Were this all, there would be little to -complain of; but something more than this is done. There are boards -in which it is the practice to defeat opposition by stratagem. The -extension party having summoned their forces for the occasion, and -having entered on the minutes of business a notice worded with the -requisite vagueness, shape their proceedings according to the character -of the meeting. Should their antagonists muster more strongly than -was expected, this vaguely-worded notice serves simply to introduce -some general statement or further information concerning the project -named in it; and the matter is passed over as though nothing more -had been meant. On the contrary, should the proportion of the two -sides be more favourable, the notice becomes the basis of a definite -motion committing the board to some important act. If due precautions -have been taken, the motion is passed; and once passed, those who, -if present, would have resisted it, have no remedy; for in railway -government there is no “second reading,” much less a third. So -determined and so unscrupulous are the efforts sometimes made by the -stronger party to overcome and silence their antagonists, that when -a contested measure, carried by them at the board, has to go before -a general meeting for confirmation, they have been known to pass a -resolution that their dissentient colleagues shall not address the -proprietary! - -That, at half-yearly and special meetings, shareholders should be so -readily misled by boards, even after repeated {78} experience of their -untrustworthiness, seems at first sight difficult to understand. The -mystery disappears, however, on inquiry. Very frequently, contested -measures are carried against the sense of the meetings before which -they are laid, by means of the proxies previously collected by the -directors. These proxies are obtained from proprietors scattered -everywhere throughout the kingdom, who are mostly weak enough to -sign the first document sent to them. Then, of those present when -the question is brought to an issue, not many dare attempt a speech. -Of those who dare, but few are clear-headed enough to see the full -bearings of the measure they are about to vote upon; and such as -can see them are often prevented by nervousness from doing justice -to the views they hold. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that -proprietors displaying antagonism to the board are usually regarded -by their brother proprietors with more or less reprobation. Unless -the misconduct of the governing body has been very glaring and very -recent, there ever arises in the mass a prejudice against all playing -the part of an opposition. They are condemned as noisy, and factious, -and obstructive; and often only by determined courage avoid being put -down. Besides these negative reasons for the general inefficiency of -shareholders’ resistance, there are sundry positive ones. As writes to -us a Member of Parliament who has been an extensive holder of stock in -many companies from the first days of railway enterprise:—“My large -and long acquaintance with Railway Companies’ affairs, enables me -to say, that a large majority of shareholders trust wholly to their -directors, having little or no information, nor caring to have any -opinion of their own. . . . . Some others, better informed but timid, -are afraid, by opposing the directors, of causing a depreciation -of the value of their stock in the market, and are more alarmed at -the prospect of this temporary depreciation than at the permanent -loss entailed on the company by the useless, and therefore {79} -unprofitable, outlay of additional capital. . . . . Others again, -believing that the impending permanent evil is inevitable, resolve on -the spot to sell out immediately, and to keep up the prices of their -shares, also give their support to the directors.” Thus, from lack of -organization and efficiency among those who express their opposition, -and from the timidity and double-facedness of those who do not, it -happens that extremely unwise projects are carried by large majorities. -Nor is this all. The tactics of the aggressive party are commonly as -skilful as those of their antagonists are bungling. The chairman, who -is generally the chief promoter of the contested scheme, has it in his -power to favour those who take his own side, and to throw difficulties -in the way of opponents; and this he not unfrequently does to a great -extent—refusing to hear, putting down on some plea of breach of order, -browbeating, even using threats.[5] It generally turns out too, that, -whether intentionally or not, some of the most important motions are -postponed until nearly the close of the meeting, when the greater part -of the shareholders are gone. Large money-votes, extensive powers, -unlimited permits to directors to take, in certain matters, “such -steps as in their judgment they may deem most expedient,”—these, and -the like, are hurried over during the last half-hour, when the tired -and impatient remnant will no longer listen to objectors; and when -those who have personal ends to serve by outstaying the rest, carry -everything their own way. Indeed, in some cases, the arrangements -are such as almost ensure the meeting becoming a pro-extension one -towards the end. {80} This result is brought about thus:—A certain -portion of the general body of proprietors are also proprietors of -some subordinate work—some branch line, or canal, or steamboats, which -the Company has purchased or leased; and as holders of guaranteed -stock, ready to take up further such stock if they can get it, these -lean towards projects that are to be executed on the preference-share -system. They hold their meeting for the declaration of dividend, &c., -as soon as the meeting of the Company at large has been dissolved; and -in the same room. Hence it happens that being kept together by the -prospect of subsequent business, they gradually, towards the close of -the general meeting, come to form the majority of those present; and -the few ordinary shareholders who have been patient enough to stay, are -outvoted by those having interests distinct from their own and quite at -variance with the welfare of the Company. - - [5] We may remark in passing, that the practice of making the chairman - of the board also chairman of the half-yearly meetings, is a very - injudicious one. The directors are the servants of the proprietary; and - meet them from time to time to render an account of their stewardship. - That the chief of these servants, whose proceedings are about to - be examined, should himself act as chief of the jury is absurd. - Obviously, the business of each meeting should be conducted by some one - independently chosen for the purpose; as the Speaker is chosen by the - House of Commons. - -And here this allusion to the preference-share system, introduces -us to a fact which may fitly close this detail of private interests -and questionable practices—a fact serving at once to illustrate the -subtlety and concert of railway officialism, and the power it can -exert. That this fact may be fully appreciated, it must be premised, -that though preference-shares do not usually carry votes, they -are sometimes specially endowed with them; and further, that they -occasionally remain unpaid up until the expiration of a time after -which no further calls can be legally made. In the case in question, -a large number of £50 preference-shares had thus long stood with but -£5 paid. Promoters of extensions, &c., had here a fine opportunity of -getting great power in the Company at small cost; and, as we shall see, -they duly availed themselves of it. Already had their party twice tried -to thrust the proprietors into a new undertaking of great magnitude. -Twice had they entailed on them an expensive and harassing contest. A -third time, notwithstanding a professed relinquishment of it, they {81} -brought forward substantially the same scheme, and were defeated only -by a small majority. The following extracts from the division lists we -take from the statement of one of the scrutineers. - - +──────────────────────────+──────────+──────────────────────+────────+────────+──────────+ - │ │ 50_l._ │ │Recorded│ Total │ Number │ - │ │Preference│ Additional Stock or │Stock at│ actual │of Votes │ - │ │ Shares │ Shares │the Poll│Capital │ scored │ - │ │with 5_l._│ │as held.│paid up.│ for the │ - │ │ paid up. │ │ │ │Extension.│ - +──────────────────────────+──────────+──────────────────────+────────+────────+──────────+ - │ │ │ │ £ │ £ │ │ - │ │ +──────────────────────+────────+────────+──────────│ - │ │ │ 7,500_l._ stock, and │ │ │ │ - │The Company’s solicitor │ 500 │ 100 50_l._ shares, │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ with 42_l._ 10_s._ │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ paid up. │ 75,650 │ 18,140 │ 188 │ - │ │ │ │ │ │ │ - │Ditto in joint account │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ with another │ 778 │ None. │ │ │ │ - │ │ +──────────────────────+────────+────────+──────────│ - │The solicitor’s partner │ 60 │ None. │ 3,000 │ 300 │ 20 │ - │The Company’s engineer │ 150 │ None. │ 7,500 │ 750 │ 33 │ - │The engineer’s partner │ 1,354 │ 4,266_l._ stock. │ 71,966 │ 11,036 │ 161 │ - │One of the Company’s │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ parliamentary counsel │ 200 │ 1,000_l._ stock. │ 11,000 │ 2,000 │ 40 │ - │Another ditto, ditto │ 125 │ 200_l._ stock. │ 6,450 │ 825 │ 30 │ - │Local solicitor for │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ the proposed extension │ 7 │ None. │ 350 │ 35 │ 7 │ - │The Company’s contractor │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ for permanent-way │ 347 │ 52,833_l._ │ 70,183 │ 54,568 │ 158 │ - │The Company’s conveyancer │ 1,003 │ 333_l._ stock. │ 50,483 │ 5,348 │ 118 │ - │The Company’s furniture │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ printer │ 35 │ 10,000_l._ stock. │ 11,750 │ 10,175 │ 41 │ - │The Company’s surveyor │ 360 │ 1,250_l._ stock. │ 19,250 │ 3,050 │ 56 │ - │The Company’s architect │ 217 │14,916_l._ stock; 119 │ 32,230 │ 20,416 │ 82 │ - │ │ │ 50_l._ shares, with │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ 42_l._ 10_s._ paid │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ up; and 13 40_l._ │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ shares, with 34_l._ │ │ │ │ - │ │ │ paid up. │ │ │ │ - │One of the Company’s │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ carriers. │ 17 │ 833_l._ stock. │ 1,683 │ 918 │ 14 │ - │The Company’s bankers:— │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ One Partner │ .. .. │ .. .. │ 33,666 │ 32,366 │ 90 │ - │ Another partner │ .. .. │ .. .. │ 2,500 │ 2,500 │ 18 │ - │ Ditto in joint account │ │ │ │ │ │ - │ with another │ .. .. │ .. .. │ 1,000 │ 850 │ 12 │ - +──────────────────────────+──────────+──────────────────────+────────+────────+──────────+ - -To this list, some seven or eight of the Company’s tradesmen, similarly -armed, might be added; raising the number of the almost factitious -shares held by functionaries to about 5200, and increasing the votes -commanded by them, from its present total of 1068 to upwards of -1100. If now we separate the £380,000, which these gentlemen bring -to bear against their brother shareholders, into real and nominal; -we find that while not quite £120,000 of it is _bonâ fide_ property -invested, the remaining £260,000 is nine {82} parts shadow and one -part substance. And thus it results, that by virtue of certain stock -actually representing but £26,000, these lawyers, engineers, counsel, -conveyancers, contractors, bankers, and others interested in the -promotion of new schemes, outweigh more than a quarter of a million of -the real capital held by shareholders whom these schemes will injure! - - * * * * * - -Need we any longer wonder, then, at the persistence of Railway -Companies in seemingly reckless competition and ruinous extensions? -Is not this obstinate continuance of a policy that has year after -year proved disastrous, sufficiently explicable on contemplating the -many illegitimate influences at work? Is it not manifest that the -small organized party always out-manœuvres the large unorganized one? -Consider their respective characters and circumstances. Here are the -shareholders diffused throughout the kingdom, in towns and country -houses; knowing nothing of each other, and too remote to co-operate -were they acquainted. Very few of them see a railway journal; and -scarcely any know much of railway politics. Necessarily a fluctuating -body, only a small number are familiar with the Company’s history—its -acts, engagements, policy, management. A great proportion are -incompetent to judge of the matters that come before them, and lack -decision to act out such judgments as they may form—executors who do -not like to take steps involving much responsibility; trustees fearful -of interfering with the property under their care, lest possible loss -should entail a lawsuit; widows who have never in their lives acted for -themselves in any affair of moment; maiden ladies, alike nervous and -innocent of all business knowledge; clergymen whose daily discipline -has been little calculated to make them acute men of the world; -retired tradesmen whose retail transactions have given them small -ability for grasping large considerations; servants possessed of {83} -accumulated savings and cramped notions; with sundry others of like -helpless characters—all of them rendered more or less conservative by -ignorance or timidity, and proportionately inclined to support those in -authority. To these should be added the temporary shareholders, who, -having bought stock on speculation, and knowing that a revolution in -the Company is likely to depress prices for a time, have an interest in -supporting the board irrespective of the goodness of its policy. Turn -now to those whose efforts are directed to railway expansion. Consider -the constant pressure of local populations—of small towns, of rural -districts, of landowners: all of them eager for branch accommodation; -all of them with great and definite advantages in view; few of them -conscious of the loss those advantages may entail on others. Remember -the influence of legislators, prompted, some by their constituents, -some by personal aims, and encouraged by the belief that additional -railway facilities are in every case nationally beneficial; and then -infer the extent to which as stated to Mr. Cardwell’s committee, -Parliament has “excited and urged forward” Companies into rivalry. -Note the temptations under which lawyers are placed—the vast profits -accruing to them from every railway contest, whether ending in success -or failure; and then imagine the range and subtlety of their extension -manœuvring. Conceive the urgency of engineers; to the richer of whom -more railway-making means more wealth; to the mass of whom more -railway-making means daily bread. Estimate the capitalist-power of -contractors; whose unemployed plant brings heavy loss; whose plant when -employed brings great gain. Then recollect that to lawyers, engineers, -and contractors the getting up and executing of new undertakings is a -business—a business to which every energy is directed; in which many -years of practice have given great skill; and to the facilitation of -which, all means tolerated by men of the world are thought justifiable. -{84} Finally, consider that the classes interested in carrying out -new schemes, are in constant communication, and have every facility -for combined action. A great part of them live in London, and most -of these have offices at Westminster—in Great George Street, in -Parliament Street, clustering round the Legislature. Not only are they -thus concentrated—not only are they throughout the year in frequent -business intercourse; but during the session they are daily together, -in Palace-Yard Hotels, in the lobbies, in the committee-rooms, in the -House of Commons itself. Is it any wonder then, that the wide-spread, -ill-informed unorganized body of shareholders, standing severally -alone, and each pre-occupied with his private affairs, should be -continually out-generalled by the comparatively small but active, -skilful, combined body opposed to them, whose very occupation is at -stake in gaining the victory? - -“But how about the directors?” it will perhaps be asked. “How can they -be parties to these obviously unwise undertakings? They are themselves -shareholders; they gain by whatever benefits the proprietary at large; -they lose by whatever injures it. And if without their consent, or -rather their agency, no new scheme can be adopted by the Company, the -classes interested in fostering railway enterprise are powerless to do -harm.” - -This belief in the identity of directorial and proprietary interests, -is the fatal error commonly made by shareholders. It is this which, -in spite of bitter experiences, leads them to be so careless and so -trustful. “Their profit is our profit; their loss is our loss; they -know more than we do; therefore let us leave the matter to them.” -Such is the argument which more or less definitely passes through the -shareholding mind—an argument of which the premises are delusive, and -the inference disastrous. Let us consider it in detail. - -Not to dwell on the disclosures that have in years past {85} been made -respecting the share-trafficking of directors, and the large profits -realized by it—disclosures which alone suffice to disprove the assumed -identity between the interests of board and proprietary—and taking for -granted that little, if any, of this now takes place; let us go on -to notice the still-prevailing influences which render this apparent -community of aims illusive. The immediate interests which directors -have in the prosperity of the Company, are often much less than is -supposed. Occasionally they possess only the bare qualification of -£1000 worth of stock. In some instances even this is partly nominal. -Admitting, however, as we do frankly, that in the great majority of -cases the full qualification, and much more than the qualification, is -held; yet it must be borne in mind that the indirect advantages which -a wealthy member of a board may gain from the prosecution of a new -undertaking, will often far outweigh the direct injury it will inflict -on him by lowering the value of his shares. A board usually consists, -to a considerable extent, of gentlemen residing at different points -throughout the tract of country traversed by the railway they control: -some of them landowners; some merchants or manufacturers; some owners -of mines or shipping. Almost always some or all of them are advantaged -by a new branch or feeder. Those in close proximity to it, gain either -by enhanced value of their lands, or by increased facilities of transit -for their commodities. Those at more remote parts of the main line, -though less directly interested, are still frequently interested in -some degree; for every extension opens up new markets either for -produce or raw materials; and if it is one effecting a junction with -some other system of railways, the greater mercantile conveniences -afforded to directors thus circumstanced, become important. Obviously, -therefore, the indirect profits accruing to such from one of these -extensions, may more than counterbalance the direct loss upon their -railway investments; {86} and though there are, doubtless, men too -honourable to let such considerations sway them, yet the generality can -scarcely fail to be affected by temptations so strong. Then we have to -remember the influences brought to bear upon directors having seats in -Parliament. Already these have been noticed; and we recur to them only -for the purpose of pointing out that the immediate evil of an increased -discount on his £1000 worth of stock, may be to a director of much less -consequence than the favours, patronage, connexions, which his aid in -carrying a new scheme will bring him. So that here too the supposed -identity of interests between directors and shareholders does not hold. - -Moreover, this disunion of interests is increased by the system of -preference-stock. Were there no other cause in action, the raising -of capital for supplementary undertakings, by issuing shares bearing -a guaranteed interest of 5, 6, and 7 per cent., would destroy that -community of motives supposed to exist between a railway proprietary -and its executive. Little as the fact is recognized, it is yet readily -demonstrable that by raising one of these mortgages, a Company is -forthwith divided into two classes; the one consisting of the richer -shareholders, inclusive of the directors, and the other of the poorer -shareholders; of which classes the richer one can protect itself from -the losses which the poorer one has to bear—nay, can even profit by the -losses of the poorer one. This assertion, startling as it will be to -many, we will proceed to prove. - -When the capital required for a branch or extension is raised by -means of guaranteed shares, it is the custom to give each proprietor -the option of taking up a number of such shares proportionate to the -number of his original shares. By availing himself of this offer, he -partially protects himself against any loss which the new undertaking -may entail. Should this, not fulfilling the promises of its advocates, -diminish in some degree the general {87} dividend; yet, a high -dividend on the due proportion of preference-stock, may nearly or -quite compensate for this. Hence, it becomes the policy of all who -can do so, to take up as many guaranteed shares as they can get. -But what happens when the circular announcing this apportionment of -guaranteed shares is sent round? Those who possess much stock, being -generally capitalists, accept as many as are allotted to them. On the -other hand, the smaller holders, constituting as they do the bulk of -the Company, having no available funds with which to pay the calls -on new shares, are obliged to part with their letters of allotment. -What results? When this additional line has been opened, and it turns -out, as usual, that its revenue is insufficient to meet the guaranteed -dividend on its shares—when the general income of the Company is -laid under contribution to make up this guaranteed dividend—when as -a consequence, the dividend on the original stock is diminished; -then the poorer shareholders who possess original stock only, find -themselves losers; while the richer ones, possessing guaranteed shares -in addition, find that their gain on preference-dividends nearly or -quite counterbalances their loss on general dividends. Indeed, as above -hinted, the case is even worse. For as the large share-proprietor who -has obtained his proportion of guaranteed stock, is not obliged to -retain his original stock—as, if he doubts the paying character of the -new undertaking, he can always sell such of his shares as will suffer -from it; it is obvious that he may, if he pleases, become the possessor -of preference-shares only; and may so obtain a handsome return for his -money at the expense of the Company at large and the small shareholders -in particular. How far this policy is pursued we do not pretend to -say; though the table given some pages back suggests extensive pursuit -of it. All which it here concerns us to notice, is, that directors, -being mostly men of large means, and being therefore able to avail -themselves of this guaranteed {88} stock, are liable to be swayed -by motives different from those of the general proprietary. And that -they often are so swayed there cannot be a doubt. Without assuming -that any of them deliberately intend to benefit at the cost of their -co-proprietors; and believing, as we do, that few of them duly perceive -that the protection they will have, is a protection not available by -the shareholders at large; we think it is a rational deduction from -common experience, that this prospect of compensation often turns the -scale in the minds of those who are hesitating, and diminishes the -opposition of those who disapprove. - -Thus, the belief which leads most railway shareholders to place -implicit faith in their directors, is an erroneous one. It is not true -that there is an identity of interest between the proprietary and its -executive. It is not true that the board forms an efficient guard -against the intrigues of lawyers, engineers, contractors, and others -who profit by railway-making. Contrariwise, its members are not only -liable to be drawn from their line of duty by various indirect motives, -but by the system of guaranteed shares they are placed under a positive -temptation to betray their constituents. - - * * * * * - -And now what is the proximate origin of these corruptions? and what is -the remedy for them? What error in railway legislation is it that has -made possible such complicated chicaneries? Whence arises this facility -with which interested persons thrust companies into unwise enterprises? -We believe there is a very simple answer to these questions. It is an -answer, however, which will at first sight seem quite irrelevant; and -we doubt not that the corollary we propose drawing from it, will be -forthwith condemned by so-called practical men. Nevertheless, we are -not without hope of showing, both that the evils laboured under would -be excluded were this corollary recognized, and that recognition of it -is not only feasible, but would {89} even open the way out of sundry -perplexities in which railway legislation is at present involved. - -We conceive, then, that the fundamental vice of our system, as hitherto -carried out, lies in _the misinterpretation of the proprietary -contract_—the contract tacitly entered into between each shareholder -and the body of shareholders with whom he unites; and that the remedy -for these evils which have now become so great, lies simply in the -enforcement of an equitable interpretation of this contract. In reality -the contract is a strictly limited one. In practice it is treated -as altogether unlimited. And the thing needed is, that it should be -clearly defined and abided by. - -Our popular form of government has so habituated us to seeing public -questions decided by the voice of the majority, and the system is -so manifestly equitable in the cases daily before us, that there -has been produced in the general mind, an unhesitating belief that -the majority’s right is unbounded. Under whatever circumstances men -co-operate, it is held that if difference of opinion arises among -them, justice requires that the will of the greater number shall be -executed rather than that of the smaller number; be the question at -issue what it may. So confirmed is this conviction, that to most this -mere suggestion of a doubt will cause astonishment. Yet it needs but -a brief analysis to show that the conviction is little better than -a political superstition. Instances may readily be selected which -prove, by _reductio ad absurdum_, that the right of a majority is a -purely conditional right, valid only within specific limits. Let us -take a few. Suppose that at the general meeting of some philanthropic -association, it was resolved that in addition to relieving distress -the association should employ home-missionaries to preach down popery. -Might the subscriptions of Catholics, who had joined the body with -charitable views, be rightfully used for this end? Suppose that of the -members of a book-club, the greater number, thinking {90} that under -existing circumstances rifle-practice is more important than reading, -should decide to change the purpose of their union, and to apply the -funds in hand for the purchase of powder, ball, and targets. Would the -rest be bound by this decision? Suppose that under the excitement of -news from Australia, the majority of a Freehold Land Society should -determine, not simply to start in a body for the gold diggings, but -to use their accumulated capital to provide outfits. Would this -appropriation of property be just to the minority? and must these join -the expedition? Scarcely any one would venture an affirmative answer -even to the first of these questions; much less to the others. And why? -Because everyone must perceive that by joining with others, no man -can equitably be committed to acts utterly foreign to the purpose for -which he joined them. Each of these supposed minorities would properly -reply to those seeking to coerce them:—“We combined with you for a -defined object; we gave money and time for the furtherance of that -object; on all questions thence arising, we tacitly agreed to conform -to the will of the greater number; but we did not agree to conform -on any other questions. If you induce us to join you by professing a -certain end, and then undertake some other end of which we were not -apprised, you obtain our support under false pretences; you exceed -the expressed or understood compact to which we committed ourselves; -and we are no longer bound by your decisions.” Clearly this is the -only rational interpretation of the matter. The general principle -underlying the right government of every incorporated body, is, that -its members contract with each other severally to submit to the will of -the majority _in all matters concerning the fulfilment of the objects -for which they are incorporated; but in no others_. To this extent -only can the contract hold. For as it is implied in the very nature of -a contract, that those entering into it must know what they contract -to do; and as those who unite with others for a specified object, -{91} cannot contemplate all the unspecified objects which it is -hypothetically possible for the union to undertake; it follows that the -contract entered into cannot extend to such unspecified objects. And if -there exists no expressed or understood contract between the union and -its members respecting unspecified objects, then for the majority to -coerce the minority into undertaking them, is nothing less than gross -tyranny. - -Now this almost self-evident principle is wholly ignored, alike in our -railway legislation and the proceedings of our companies. Definite as -is the purpose with which the promoters of a public enterprise combine, -many other purposes not dreamed of at the outset are commonly added -to it; and this, apparently, without any suspicion that such a course -is unwarrantable, unless taken with the _unanimous_ consent of the -proprietors. The unsuspecting shareholder who signed the subscription -contract for a line from Greatborough to Grandport, did so under the -belief that this line would not only be a public benefit but a good -investment. He was familiar with the country. He had been at some -trouble to estimate the traffic. And, fully believing that he knew -what he was embarking in, he put down his name for a large amount. -The line has been made; a few years of prosperity have justified his -foresight; when, at some fatal special meeting, a project is put before -him for a branch from Littlehomestead to Stonyfield. The will of the -board and the intrigues of the interested, overbear all opposition; -and in spite of the protests of many who like him see its impolicy, -he presently finds himself involved in an undertaking which, when he -joined the promoters of the original line, he had not the remotest -conception would ever be proposed. From year to year this proceeding is -repeated. His dividends dwindle and his shares go down; and eventually -the congeries of enterprises to which he is committed, grows so vast -that the first enterprise of the series becomes but a small fraction -of the whole. Yet it is in virtue of his {92} consent to this first -of the series, that all the rest are thrust upon him. He feels that -there is injustice somewhere; but, believing in the unlimited right of -a majority, fails to detect it. He does not see that when the first of -these extensions was proposed, he should have denied the power of his -brother-shareholders to implicate him in an undertaking not named in -their deed of incorporation. He should have told its proposers that -they were perfectly free to form a separate Company for the execution -of it; but that they could not rightfully compel dissentients to -join in a new undertaking, any more than they could rightfully have -compelled dissentients to join in the original. Had such a shareholder -united with others for the specified purpose of _making railways_, he -would have had no ground for protest. But he united with others for -the specified purpose of _making a particular railway_. Yet such is -the confusion of ideas on the subject, that there is absolutely no -difference recognized between these cases! - -It will doubtless be alleged in defence of all this, that these -secondary enterprises are supplementary to the original one—are in -part undertaken for the furtherance of it; professedly minister to -its prosperity; cannot, therefore, be regarded as altogether separate -enterprises. And it is true that they have this for their excuse. But -if it is a sufficient excuse for accessories of this kind, it may -be made a sufficient excuse for any accessories whatever. Already, -Companies have carried the practice beyond the making of branches and -extensions. Already, under the plea of bringing traffic to their lines, -they have constructed docks; bought lines of steam-packets; built vast -hotels; deepened river-channels. Already, they have created small towns -for their workmen; erected churches and schools; salaried clergymen and -teachers. Are these warranted on the ground of advancing the Companies’ -interests? Then thousands of other undertakings are similarly -warranted. If a view to the development of traffic, justifies the -making {93} of a branch to some neighbouring coal-mines; then, should -the coal-mines be inefficiently worked, the same view would justify -the purchase of them—would justify the Company in becoming coal-miner -and coal-seller. If anticipated increase of goods and passengers is a -sufficient reason for carrying a feeder into an agricultural district; -then, it is a sufficient reason for organizing a system of coaches and -waggons to run in connexion with this feeder; for making the requisite -horse-breeding establishments; for hiring the needful farms; for buying -estates; for becoming agriculturists. If it be allowable to purchase -steamers plying in conjunction with the railway; it must be allowable -to purchase merchant vessels to trade in conjunction with it; it must -be allowable to set up a yard for building such vessels; it must be -allowable to erect depôts at foreign ports for the receipt of goods; -it must be allowable to employ commission agents for collecting such -goods; it must be allowable to extend a mercantile organization all -over the world. From making its own engines and carriages, a Company -may readily progress to manufacturing its own iron and growing -its own timber. From giving its _employés_ secular and religious -instruction, and providing houses for them, it may go on to supply them -with food, clothing, medical attendance, and all the needs of life. -Beginning simply as a corporation to make and work a railway between -A and B; it may become a miner, manufacturer, merchant, shipowner, -canal-proprietor, hotel-keeper, landowner, house-builder, farmer, -retail-trader, priest, teacher—an organization of indefinite extent -and complication. There is no logical alternative between permitting -this, and strictly limiting the corporation to the object first agreed -upon. A man joining with others for a specific purpose, must be held to -commit himself to that purpose only; or else to all purposes whatever -which they may choose to undertake. - -But proprietors dissenting from one of these supplementary projects -are told that they have the option of {94} selling out. So might the -dissentients from a new State-enforced creed be told, that if they -did not like it they might leave the country. The one reply is little -more satisfactory than the other would be. The opposing shareholder -sees himself in possession of a good investment—one perhaps which, -as an original subscriber, he ran some risk in obtaining. This -investment is about to be endangered by an act not named in the deed of -incorporation. And his protests are met by saying, that if he fears the -danger he may part with his investment. Surely this choice between two -evils scarcely meets his claims. Moreover, he has not even this in any -fair sense. It is often an unfavourable time to sell. The very rumour -of one of these extensions frequently causes a depreciation of stock. -And if many of the minority throw their shares on the market, this -depreciation is greatly increased; a fact which further hinders them -from selling. So that each is in a dilemma: he has to part with a good -investment at much less than its value; or to run the risk of having -its value greatly diminished. - -The injustice thus inflicted on minorities is, indeed, already -recognized in a vague way. The recently-established Standing Order -of the House of Lords, that before a Company carry out any new -undertaking, three-fourths of the votes of the proprietors shall be -recorded in its favour, clearly implies a perception that the usual -rule of the majority does not apply. And again, in the case of The -Great Western Railway Company _versus_ Rushout, the decision that the -funds of the Company could not be used for purposes not originally -authorized, without a special legislative permit, involves the doctrine -that the will of the greater number is not of unlimited validity. In -both these cases, however, it is taken for granted that a State-warrant -can justify an act which without it would be unjustifiable. We must -take leave to question this. If it be held that an Act of Parliament -can make murder proper, or can give rectitude to robbery; it may be -consistently held that it {95} can sanctify a breach of contract; -but not otherwise. We are not about to enter upon the vexed question -of the standard of right and wrong; and to inquire whether it is the -function of a government to make rules of conduct, or simply to enforce -rules deducible from the laws of social life. We are content, for the -occasion, to adopt the expediency-hypothesis; and adopting it, must -yet contend that, rightly interpreted, it gives no countenance to this -supposed power of a Government to alter the limits of an equitable -contract against the wishes of some of the contracting parties. For, -as understood by its teachers and their chief disciples, the doctrine -of expediency is not a doctrine implying that each particular act is -to be determined by the particular consequences that may be expected -to flow from it; but that the general consequences of entire classes -of acts having been ascertained by induction from experience, rules -shall be framed for the regulation of such classes of acts, and each -rule shall be uniformly applied to every act coming under it. Our whole -administration of justice proceeds on this principle of invariably -enforcing an ordained course, regardless of special results. Were -immediate consequences to be considered, the verdict gained by the rich -creditor against the poor debtor would generally be reversed; for the -starvation of the last is a much greater evil than the inconvenience -of the first. Most thefts arising from distress would go unpunished; a -large proportion of men’s wills would be cancelled; many of the wealthy -would be dispossessed of their fortunes. But it is clearly seen that -were judges thus guided by proximate evils and benefits, the ultimate -result would be social confusion; that what was immediately expedient -would be ultimately inexpedient; and hence the aim at rigorous -uniformity, spite of incidental hardships. Now, the binding nature -of agreements is one of the commonest and most important principles -of civil law. A large part of the causes daily heard in our courts, -involve the {96} question, whether in virtue of some expressed or -understood contract, some of those concerned are, or are not, bound to -certain acts or certain payments. And when it has been decided what -the contract implies, the matter is settled. The contract itself is -held sacred. This sacredness of a contract being, according to the -expediency-hypothesis, justified by the experience of all nations in -all times that it is generally beneficial, it is _not_ competent for -a Legislature to declare that contracts are violable. Assuming that -the contracts are themselves equitable, there is no rational system -of ethics which warrants the alteration or dissolving of them, save -by the consent of all concerned. If then it be shown, as we think it -has been shown, that the contract tacitly entered into by railway -shareholders with each other, has definite limits; it is the function -of the Government to _enforce_, and not to _abolish_, those limits. It -cannot decline to enforce them without running counter, not only to all -theories of moral obligation, but to its own judicial system. It cannot -abolish them without glaring self-stultification. - -Returning, now, to the manifold evils of which the cause was asked; -it only remains to point out that, were the just construction of the -proprietary contract insisted upon, such evils would, in great part, be -excluded. The various illicit influences by which Companies are daily -betrayed into disastrous extensions, would necessarily be inoperative -when such extensions could not be undertaken by them. When such -extensions had to be undertaken by independent bodies of shareholders, -with no one to guarantee them good dividends, those who are locally -and professionally interested would find it a less easy matter than at -present to aggrandize themselves at the expense of others. - - * * * * * - -And now as to the policy of thus modifying railway legislation—the -commercial policy we mean. Leaving out of sight the more general social -interests, let us glance at {97} the effects on business interests—the -proximate instead of the ultimate effects. The implication contained -in the last paragraph, that the making of supplementary lines would -no longer be so facile, will be thought to prove the disadvantage of -any such limit as the one advocated. Many will argue, that to restrict -Companies to their original undertakings would fatally cripple railway -enterprise. Many others will remark, that, however detrimental to -shareholders this extension system may have been, it has manifestly -proved beneficial to the public. Both these positions seem to us more -than questionable. We will first look at the last of them. - -Even were travelling accommodation the sole thing to be considered, it -would not be true that prodigality in new lines has been advantageous. -The districts supplied have, in many cases, themselves been injured -by it. It is shown by the evidence given before the Select Committee -on Railway and Canal Bills, that in Lancashire, the existence of -competing lines has, in some cases, both diminished the facilities -of communication and increased the cost. It is further shown by this -evidence, that a town obtaining branches from two antagonist Companies, -by-and-by, in consequence of a working arrangement between these -Companies, comes to be worse off than if it had but one branch; and -Hastings is quoted as an example. It is again shown that a district may -be wholly deprived of railway accommodation by granting a superfluity -of lines; as in the case of Wilts and Dorset. In 1844–5, the Great -Western and the South Western Companies projected rival systems of -lines, supplying these and parts of the adjacent counties. The Board of -Trade, “asserting that there was not sufficient traffic to remunerate -an outlay for two independent railways,” reported in favour of the -Great Western schemes; and bills were granted for them: a certain -agreement, suggested by the Board of Trade, being at the same time -made with the South Western, which, in {98} return for specified -advantages, conceded this district to its rival. Notwithstanding -this agreement, the South Western, in 1847, projected an extension -calculated to take most of the traffic from the Great Western -extensions; and in 1848, Parliament, though it had virtually suggested -this agreement, and though the Great Western Company had already spent -a million and a half in part execution of the new lines, authorized -the South Western project. The result was, that the Great Western -Company suspended their works; the South Western Company were unable, -from financial difficulties, to proceed with theirs; the district has -remained for years unaccommodated; and only since the powers granted -to the South Western have expired from delay, has the Great Western -recommenced its long-suspended undertakings. - -And if this undue multiplication of supplementary lines has often -directly decreased the facilities of communication, still more has -it done this indirectly, by maintaining the cost of travelling on -the main lines. Little as the public are conscious of the fact, -it is nevertheless true, that they pay for the accommodation of -unremunerative districts, by high fares in remunerative districts. -Before this reckless branch-making commenced, 8 and 9 per cent. were -the dividends returned by our chief railways; and these dividends were -rapidly increasing. The maximum dividend allowed by their Acts is 10 -per cent. Had there not been unprofitable extensions, this maximum -would have been reached many years since; and in the absence of the -power to undertake new works, the fact that it had been reached could -not have been hidden. Lower rates for goods and passengers would -necessarily have followed. These would have caused much additional -traffic; and with the aid of the natural increase otherwise going on, -the maximum would shortly again have been reached. There can scarcely -be a doubt that repetitions of this process would, before now, have -reduced the fares and {99} freights on our main lines by at least -one-third. This reduction, be it remembered, would have affected those -railways which subserve commercial and social intercourse in the -greatest degree—would, therefore, have applied to the most important -part of the traffic throughout the kingdom. As it is, however, this -greater proportion of the traffic has been heavily taxed for the -benefit of the smaller proportion. That the tens who travel on branches -might have railway communication, the hundreds who travel along -main lines have been charged 30, or 40 per cent. extra. Nay, worse: -that these few might be accommodated, the many who would have been -brought on to the main lines by lower fares have gone unaccommodated. -Is it then so clear that undertakings which have been disastrous to -shareholders have yet been beneficial to the public? - -But it is not only in greater cost of transit that the evil has been -felt; it has been felt also in diminished safety. The multiplication of -railway accidents, which has of late years drawn so much attention, has -been in no inconsiderable degree caused by the extension policy. The -relation is not obvious; and we had ourselves no conception that such -a relation existed, until the facts illustrative of it were furnished -to us by a director who had witnessed the whole process of causation. -When preference-share dividends and guarantees began to make large -draughts upon half-yearly returns—when original stock was greatly -depreciated, and the dividends upon it fell from 9 and 8 per cent. to -4 1/2 and 4 and 3 1/2, great dissatisfaction necessarily arose -among shareholders. There were stormy meetings, motions of censure, -and committees of investigation. Retrenchment was the general cry; -and retrenchment was carried to a most imprudent extent. Directors -with an indignant proprietary to face, and under the fear that their -next dividend would be no greater, perhaps less, than the last, -dared not to lay out money for the needful repairs. {100} Permanent -way, reported to them as requiring to be replaced, was made to serve -awhile longer. Old rolling stock was not superseded by new to the -proper extent; nor increased in proportion to the demand. Committees, -appointed to examine where the expenditure could be cut down, went -round discharging a porter here, dispensing with a clerk there, and -diminishing the salaries of the officials in general. To such a length -was this policy carried, that in one case, to effect a saving of £1200 -per annum, the working staff was so crippled as to cause, in the course -of a few years, a loss of probably £100,000: such, at least, is the -opinion of the gentleman on whose authority we make this statement, -who was himself one of the retrenchment committee. What, now, was the -necessary result of all this? With the line out of condition; with -engines and carriages neither sufficient in number nor in the best -working order; with drivers, guards, porters, clerks, and the rest, -decreased to the smallest number with which it was possible to work; -with inexperienced managers in place of the experienced ones driven -away by reduced salaries; what was likely to occur? Was it not certain -that an apparatus of means just competent to deal with the ordinary -traffic, would be incompetent to deal with extraordinary traffic? that -a decimated body of officials under inferior regulation, would fail -in the emergencies sure from time to time to occur? that with way and -works and rolling stock all below par, there would occasionally be a -concurrence of small defects, permitting something to go wrong? Was -not a multiplication of accidents inevitable? No one can doubt it. And -if we trace back this result step by step to its original cause—the -reckless expenditure on new lines—we shall see further reason to doubt -whether such expenditure has been as advantageous to the public as -is supposed. We shall hesitate to indorse the opinion of the Select -Committee on Railway and Canal Bills, that it is {101} desirable “to -increase the facility for obtaining lines of local convenience.” - -Still more doubtful becomes the alleged benefit accruing to the -public from extensions which cause loss to shareholders, when, from -considering the question as one of traffic, we turn to consider it as -a general commercial question—a question of political economy. Were -there no facts showing that the travelling facilities gained were -counterbalanced, if not more than counterbalanced, by the travelling -facilities lost; we should still contend that the making of branches -which do not return fair dividends, is a national evil, and not a -national good. The prevalent error committed in studying matters of -this nature, consists in looking at them separately, rather than in -connexion with other social wants and social benefits. Not only does -one of these undertakings, when executed, affect society in various -ways, but the effort put forth in the execution of it affects society -in various ways; and to form a true estimate, the two sets of results -must be compared. The axiom that “action and re-action are equal, and -in opposite directions,” is true, not only in mechanics—it is true -everywhere. No power can be put forth by a nation to achieve a given -end, without producing, for the time being, a corresponding inability -to achieve some other end. No amount of capital can be abstracted -for one purpose, without involving an equivalent lack of capital for -another purpose. Every advantage wrought out by labour, is purchased -by the relinquishment of some alternative advantage which that labour -might else have wrought out. In judging, therefore, of the benefits -flowing from any public undertaking, it is requisite to consider -them not by themselves, but as compared with the benefits which the -invested capital would otherwise have secured. But how can these -relative benefits be measured? it may be asked. Very simply. The rate -of interest which the capital will bring as thus respectively {102} -employed, is the measure. Money which, if used for a certain end, -gives a smaller return than it would give if otherwise used, is used -disadvantageously, not only to its possessors, but to the community. -This is a corollary from the commonest principles of political -economy—a corollary so obvious that we can scarcely understand how, -after the free-trade controversy, a committee, numbering among its -members Mr. Bright and Mr. Cardwell, should have overlooked it. Have -we not been long ago taught, that in the mercantile world capital -goes where it is most wanted—that the business which is at any time -attracting capital by unusually high returns, is a business proved by -that very fact to be unusually active—that its unusual activity shows -society to be making great demands upon it; giving it high profits; -wanting its commodities or services more than other commodities or -services? Do not comparisons among our railways demonstrate that -those paying large dividends are those subserving the public needs -in a greater degree than those paying small dividends? and is it not -obvious that the efforts of capitalists to get these large dividends -led them to supply the greater needs before the lesser needs? Surely, -the same law which holds in ordinary commerce, and also holds between -one railway investment and another, holds likewise between railway -investments and other investments. If the money spent in making -branches and feeders is yielding an average return of from 1 to 2 per -cent.; while if employed in land-draining or ship-building, it would -return 4 or 5 per cent.; it is a conclusive proof that money is more -wanted for land-draining and ship-building than for branch-making. And -the general conclusions to be drawn are, that that large proportion -of railway capital which does not pay the current rate of interest, -is capital ill laid out; that if the returns on such proportion were -capitalized at the current rate of interest, the resulting sum would -represent its real value; and that {103} the difference between this -sum and the amount expended, would indicate the national loss—a loss -which, on the lowest estimate, would exceed £100,000,000. And however -true it may be that the sum invested in unprofitable lines will go on -increasing in productiveness; yet as, if more wisely invested, it would -similarly have gone on increasing in productiveness, perhaps even at a -greater rate, this vast loss must be regarded as a permanent and not as -a temporary one. - -Again then, we ask, is it so obvious that undertakings which have -been disastrous to shareholders have been advantageous to the public? -Is it not obvious, rather, that, in this respect, as in others, the -interests of shareholders and the public are in the end identical? And -does it not seem that instead of recommending “increased facilities -for obtaining lines of local convenience,” the Select Committee might -properly have reported that the existing facilities are abnormally -great, and should be decreased? - -There remains still to be considered the other of the two objections -above stated as liable to be raised against the proposed interpretation -of the proprietary contract—the objection, namely, that it would be a -serious hindrance to railway enterprise. After what has already been -said, it is scarcely needful to reply, that the hindrance would be no -greater than is natural and healthful—no greater than is requisite -to hold in check the private interests at variance with public ones. -This notion that railway enterprise will not go on with due activity -without artificial incentives—that bills for local extensions “rather -need encouragement,” as the Committee say, is nothing but a remnant -of protectionism. The motive which has hitherto led to the formation -of all independent railway companies—the search of capitalists for -good investments—may safely be left to form others as fast as local -requirements become great enough to promise fair returns—as fast, that -is, as local requirements {104} should be satisfied. This would be -manifest enough without illustration; but there are facts proving it. - -Already we have incidentally referred to the circumstance, that it has -of late become common for landowners, merchants, and others locally -interested, to get up railways for their own accommodation, which they -do not expect to pay satisfactory dividends; and in which they are -yet content to invest considerable sums, under the belief that the -indirect profits accruing to them from increased facilities of traffic, -will outbalance the direct loss. To so great an extent is this policy -being carried that, as stated to the Select Committee, “in Yorkshire -and Northumberland, where branch lines are being made through mere -agricultural districts, the landowners are _giving their land_ for the -purpose, and taking shares.” With such examples before us, it cannot -rationally be doubted that there will always be capital forthcoming -for making local lines as soon as the sum of the calculated benefits, -direct and indirect, justifies its expenditure. - -“But,” it will be urged, “a branch that would be unremunerative as an -independent property, is often remunerative to the company which has -made it, in virtue of the traffic it brings to the trunk line. Though -yielding meagre returns on its own capital, yet, by increasing the -returns on the capital of the trunk line, it compensates, or more than -compensates. Were the existing company, however, forbidden to extend -its undertaking, such a branch would not be made; and injury would -result.” This is all true, with the exception of the last assertion, -that such a branch would not be made. Though in its corporate capacity -the company owning the trunk line would be unable to execute a work of -this nature, there would be nothing to prevent individual shareholders -in the trunk line from uniting to execute it; and were the prospects as -favourable as is assumed, this course, being manifestly advantageous to -individual shareholders, would be pursued by many of them. If, acting -in concert with others similarly {105} circumstanced, the owner of -£10,000 worth of stock in the trunk line, could aid the carrying out -of a proposed feeder promising to return only 2 per cent. on its cost, -by taking shares to the extent of £1000, it would answer his purpose -to do this, providing the extra traffic it brought would raise the -trunk-line dividend by one-fourth per cent. Thus, under a limited -proprietary contract, companies would still, as now, foster extensions -where they were wanted: the only difference being that, in the absence -of guaranteed dividends, due caution would be shown; and the poorer -shareholders would not, as at present, be sacrificed to the richer. - -In brief, our position is, that whenever, by the efforts of all parties -to be advantaged—local landowners, manufacturers, merchants, trunk-line -shareholders, &c., the capital for an extension can be raised—whenever -it becomes clear to all such, that their indirect profits plus their -direct profits will make the investment a paying one; the fact is proof -that the line is wanted. On the contrary, whenever the prospective -gains to those interested are insufficient to induce them to undertake -it, the fact is proof that the line is not wanted so much as other -things are wanted, and therefore _ought not to be made_. Instead, then, -of the principle we advocate being objectionable as a check to railway -enterprise, one of its merits is, that by destroying the artificial -incentives to such enterprise, it would confine it within normal limits. - -A perusal of the evidence given before the Select Committee will show -that it has sundry other merits, which we have space only to indicate. - -It is estimated by Mr. Laing—and Mr. Stephenson, while declining to -commit himself to the estimate, “does not believe he has overstated -it,”—that out of the £280,000,000 already raised for the construction -of our railways, £70,000,000 has been needlessly spent in contests, -in duplicate lines, in “the multiplication of an immense number of -schemes prosecuted at an almost reckless {106} expense;” and Mr. -Stephenson believes that this sum is “a very inadequate representative -of the actual loss in point of convenience, economy, and other -circumstances connected with traffic, which the public has sustained -by reason of parliamentary carelessness in legislating for railways.” -Under an equitable interpretation of the proprietary contract, the -greater part of this would have been avoided. - -The competition between rival companies in extension and branch-making, -which has already done vast injury, and the effects of which, if not -stopped, will, in the opinion of Mr. Stephenson, be such that “property -now paying 5 1/2 per cent. will in ten years be worth only 3 per -cent., and that on twenty-one millions of money”—this competition -could never have existed in its intense and deleterious form under the -limiting principle we advocate. - -Prompted by jealousy and antagonism, our companies have obtained powers -for 2000 miles of railway which they have never made. The millions thus -squandered in surveys and parliamentary contests—“food for lawyers and -engineers”—would nearly all have been saved, had each supplementary -line been obtainable only by an independent body of proprietors with no -one to shield them from the penalties of reckless scheming. - -It is admitted that the branches and feeders constructed from -competitive motives have not been laid out in the best directions for -the public. To defeat, or retaliate upon, opponents, having been one of -the ends—often the chief end—in making them, routes have been chosen -especially calculated to effect this end; and the local traffic has -in consequence been ill provided for. Had these branches and feeders, -however, been left to the enterprise of their respective districts, -aided by such other enterprise as they could attract, the reverse would -have been the fact; seeing that on the average, in these smaller cases -as in the greater ones, the routes which most accommodate the public -must be the routes most profitable to projectors. - -Were the illegitimate competition in extension-making {107} done away, -there would remain between companies just that normal competition which -is advantageous to all. It is not true, as is alleged, that there -cannot exist between railways a competition analogous to that which -exists between traders. The evidence of Mr. Saunders, the secretary of -the Great Western Company, proves the contrary. He shows that where -the Great Western and the North Western railways communicate with the -same towns, as at Birmingham and Oxford, each has tacitly adopted the -fare which the other was charging; and that while there is thus no -competition in fares, there is competition in speed and accommodation. -The results are, that each takes that portion of the traffic which, in -virtue of its position and local circumstances, naturally falls to its -share; that each stimulates the other to give the greatest advantages -it can afford; and that each keeps the other in order by threatening -to take away its natural share of the traffic if, by ill-behaviour or -inefficiency, it counterbalances the special advantages it offers. Now, -this is just the form which competition eventually assumes between -traders. After it has been ascertained by underselling what is the -lowest remunerative price at which any commodity can be sold, the -general results are, that that becomes the established price; that -each trader is content to supply those only who, from proximity or -other causes, naturally come to him; and that only when he treats his -customers ill, need he fear that they will inconvenience themselves by -going elsewhere for their goods. - - * * * * * - -Is there not, then, pressing need for an amendment of the laws -affecting the proprietary contract—an amendment which shall transform -it from an unlimited into a limited contract; or rather—not _transform_ -it into such, but _recognize_ it as such? If there be truth in our -argument, the absence of any limitation has been the chief cause of the -manifold evils of our railway administration. The share-trafficking -{108} of directors; the complicated intrigues of lawyers, engineers, -contractors, and others; the betrayal of proprietaries—all the -complicated corruptions which we have detailed, have primarily arisen -from it, have been made possible by it. It has rendered travelling more -costly and less safe than it would have been; and while apparently -facilitating traffic, has indirectly hindered it. By fostering -antagonism, it has led to the ill laying-out of supplementary lines; -to the wasting of enormous sums in useless parliamentary contests; to -the loss of an almost incredible amount of national capital in the -making of railways for which there is no due requirement. Regarded in -the mass, the investments of shareholders have been reduced by it to -less than half the average productiveness which such investments should -possess; and, as all authorities admit, railway property is, even -now, kept below its real value, by the fear of future depreciations -consequent on future extensions. Considering, then, the vastness of -the interests at stake—considering that the total capital of our -companies will soon reach £300,000,000—considering, on the one hand, -the immense number of persons owning this capital (many of them with -no incomes but what are derived from it), and, on the other hand, the -great extent to which the community is concerned, both directly as to -its commercial facilities, and indirectly as to the economy of its -resources—considering all this, it becomes extremely important that -railway property should be placed on a secure footing, and railway -enterprise confined within normal bounds. The change is demanded -alike for the welfare of shareholders and the public. No charge of -over-legislation can be brought against it. It is simply an extension -to joint-stock contracts, of the principle applied to all other -contracts; it is merely a fulfilment of the State’s judicial function -in cases hitherto neglected; it is nothing but a better administration -of justice. - - * * * * * - - -POSTSCRIPT.—That the proprietary contract should be {109} strictly -adhered to, and no undertakings beyond those specified in the -deed of incorporation entered upon, is a doctrine unpalatable to -those in authority. A friend who, as chairman of one of our great -railway-companies, has been familiar with railway-politics and -parliamentary usages in connexion with them, contends that such a -restrictive interpretation would be unworkable; and, further, that the -legislature would never allow itself to be shackled in the implied way. - -That he is right in the last of these assertions I think highly -probable. In face of the currently accepted dogma that an Act of -Parliament can do anything, it is foolish to expect that Parliament -would, by ethical considerations, be restrained from breaking -contracts and authorizing the breaking of contracts. When we see this -dogma habitually acted upon to the extent of trampling under foot -State-guarantees (as in the case of those who purchased land under -the Irish Encumbered Estates Act, or as in the case of agreements -originally entered into with companies to confer on them certain powers -under certain conditions) it would be absurd to suppose that any tender -regard for the claims of dissentient proprietors would deter the -ruling body from cancelling the understanding under which shareholders -consented to co-operate. Men must be much more conscientious than they -are before any such check is likely to be effective. - -To the other objection—that such a restriction would entail an -unworkable complication—I entirely demur. That its consequences would -be awkward under our present form of railway-administration may be -true; but it is also true that had such a restriction been insisted on, -another and better form of railway-administration would have arisen. -This will probably be thought an unwarranted assertion. Nevertheless -I make it with some confidence, since the form of administration to -which I refer is one which was, in a different guise, contemplated -when railways {110} were originally authorized. To those whose only -conception of the mode of carrying on railway-traffic is that derived -from their daily observations, this will be an incomprehensible -statement; but those who remember how railways were originally intended -to be used will know what I mean. - -Novel schemes are always more or less shaped by old habits. At the time -when the first railways were authorized, the experience men had of -coach-travelling on high roads, affected in various ways the structures -of the new appliances and the natures of the new arrangements. The -railway gauge was determined by the width between the wheels of a -stage-coach. Early first-class carriages were made to appear like the -central parts of three stage-coaches joined together: preserving their -convex panels and curved outlines, and frequently having, on the centre -one, the words “_Tria juncta in uno_.” The inside of the first-class -carriage was fitted up to resemble the inside of a stage-coach; and -the original second-class carriage, having bare wooden seats over -which, on vertical iron rods, was supported a roof allowing the wind -and rain to blow through from side to side, was so designed as to be -scarcely more comfortable than the outside of a coach. For some years -the guard had a seat on the outside, at the end of a carriage, as on -a coach; and for many years the luggage, covered with tarpaulin, was -placed on the roofs of carriages, as on the outsides of coaches. Once -more the booking-offices were at first like the booking-offices for -stage-coaches—places where passengers entered their names to secure -seats. Little as the fact is now recognized, this kinship of ideas -extended to the contemplated arrangements for working. Men thought -that traffic on railways might be carried on after the same manner as -traffic on high roads. It was assumed that on lines of rails, where the -passing of vehicles going in the same direction is impracticable, the -system pursued might be like that in use on high roads, {111} where -vehicles can pass and re-pass in any direction and join or leave the -stream at will. Does the reader ask proof of this? The proof lies in -the fact, well-known to those who were adult in the early days of -railways, that in the office or waiting-room of every railway-station -was fixed up a table of tolls, like that which was fixed up at every -toll-gate; but in this case specifying the rate chargeable per mile for -all things carried—passengers, horses, cattle, goods, &c. This table -of tolls implied that it was within the power of others besides the -company to run vehicles on the company’s line, and pay them at such and -such rates for the privilege of doing so—a privilege which, so far as -I know, was never made use of, for the sufficient reason that it would -have been impossible to carry on business amid the confusion which -would have resulted. - -But while this arrangement, in the form implied, would have been -impracticable, it foreshadows an arrangement which would have been -practicable; and one which would have grown up had each railway company -been limited to the undertaking specified in its deed of incorporation. -After experience of inefficient co-operation, when so many independent -bodies owning branches and extensions had to adjust their train -services, &c., there would, in all probability, have been formed what -we may call running-companies or traffic-companies, separate from the -original railway-companies. Each one of these would have proposed to -the companies owning the various main lines, extensions, and branches, -within some large district conveniently delimited, to undertake the -working of their various lines: either taking them severally on lease, -or agreeing to give a specified share of the net returns annually -received, or agreeing to pay certain tolls for passengers and goods. -Under such an arrangement the original companies, standing in the -position of landlords, would have had for their chief business to keep -the embankments, cuttings, bridges, permanent way, stations, &c., in -working {112} order; while the running-companies, standing in the -position of tenants, but owning the rolling-stock, would have had for -their business to conduct the passenger and goods traffic throughout -the whole area, with power to arrange the workings of the various -subdivisions of the system in a harmonious manner. Clearly, if there -is an advantage in division of labour in other cases, there would have -been an advantage in this case. The fixed works constituting each of -these inter-connected railways would have been kept in more perfect -repair, had preservation of them been the exclusive business of the -companies owning them; while the running-companies, with nothing -to attend to beyond the keeping in order of their rolling-stock -and the management of train-services &c. would have done this more -satisfactorily. - -A further reason for believing that better results would have been -achieved than are now achieved, is that under such circumstances -there would have been no absorption of directors’ time in carrying on -railway-wars and getting new acts of parliament—a business which, under -the existing system, has chiefly occupied the attention of boards. - -The enforcement of equitable arrangements is often fraught with -unanticipated benefits; and there seems reason to think that -unanticipated benefits would have resulted in this case also. - -{113} - - - - -THE MORALS OF TRADE. - -[_First published in_ The Westminster Review _for April 1859_.] - - -We are not about to repeat, under the above title, the often-told -tale of adulterations: albeit, were it our object to deal with this -familiar topic, there are not wanting fresh materials. It is rather the -less-observed and less-known dishonesties of trade, to which we would -here draw attention. The same lack of conscientiousness which shows -itself in the mixing of starch with cocoa, in the dilution of butter -with lard, in the colouring of confectionery with chromate of lead and -arsenite of copper, must of course come out in more concealed forms; -and these are nearly, if not quite, as numerous and as mischievous. - -It is not true, as many suppose, that only the lower classes of the -commercial world are guilty of fraudulent dealing. Those above them -are to a great extent blameworthy. On the average, men who deal in -bales and tons differ but little in morality from men who deal in yards -and pounds. Illicit practices of every form and shade, from venial -deception up to all but direct theft, may be brought home to the higher -grades of our commercial world. Tricks innumerable, lies acted or -uttered, elaborately-devised frauds, are prevalent: {114} many of them -established as “customs of the trade;” nay, not only established, but -defended. - -Passing over, then, the much-reprobated shopkeepers, of whose -delinquencies most people know something, let us turn our attention to -the delinquencies of the classes above them in the mercantile scale. - - * * * * * - -The business of wholesale houses—in the clothing-trades at least—is -chiefly managed by a class of men called “buyers.” Each wholesale -establishment is usually divided into several departments; and at the -head of each department is placed one of these functionaries. A buyer -is a partially-independent sub-trader. At the beginning of the year he -is debited with a certain share of the capital of his employers. With -this capital he trades. From the makers he orders for his department -such goods as he thinks will find a market; and for the goods thus -bought he obtains as large a sale as he can among the retailers of his -connexion. The accounts show at the end of the year what profit has -been made on the capital over which he has command; and, according -to the result, his engagement is continued—perhaps at an increased -salary—or he is discharged. - -Under such circumstances, bribery would hardly be expected. Yet we -learn, on unquestionable authority, that buyers habitually bribe and -are bribed. Giving presents, as a means of obtaining custom, is an -established practice between them and all with whom they have dealings. -Their connexions among retailers they extend by treating and favours; -and they are themselves influenced in their purchases by like means. It -might be presumed that self-interest would in both cases negative this. -But apparently, no very obvious sacrifice results from yielding to such -influences. When, as usually happens, there are many manufacturers -producing articles of like goodness at the same prices, or many buyers -between whose commodities and whose terms there is little room for -choice, there exists no {115} motive to purchase of one rather than -another; and then the temptation to take some immediate bonus turns -the scale. Whatever be the cause, however, the fact is testified to -us alike in London and the provinces. By manufacturers, buyers are -sumptuously entertained for days together, and are plied throughout the -year with hampers of game, turkeys, dozens of wine, etc.: nay, they -receive actual money-bribes; sometimes, as we hear from a manufacturer, -in the shape of bank-notes, but more commonly in the shape of discounts -on the amounts of their purchases. The extreme prevalence—universality -we might say—of this system, is proved by the evidence of one who, -disgusted as he is, finds himself inextricably entangled in it. He -confessed to us that all his transactions were thus tainted. “Each of -the buyers with whom I deal,” he said, “expects an occasional bonus in -one form or other. Some require the bribe to be wrapped up; and some -take it without disguise. To an offer of money, this one replies—‘Oh, -I don’t like that sort of thing,’ but nevertheless, does not object to -money’s-worth; while my friend So-and-so, who promises to bring me a -large trade this season, will, I very well know, look for one per cent. -discount in cash. The thing is not to be avoided. I could name sundry -buyers who look askance at me, and never will inspect my goods; and I -have no doubt about the cause—I have not bought their patronage.” And -then our informant appealed to another of the trade, who agreed in the -assertion that in London their business could not be done on any other -terms. So greedy do some of these buyers become, that their perquisites -absorb a great part of the profits, and make it a question whether -it is worth while to continue the dealing with them. Next, as above -hinted, there comes a like history of transactions between buyers and -retailers—the bribed being now the bribers. One of those above referred -to as habitually expecting douceurs, said to the giver of them, whose -testimony we have just repeated—“I’ve spent pounds and pounds over -――― {116} (naming a large tailor), and now I think I have gained him -over.” To which confession this buyer added the complaint, that his -house did not make him any allowance for sums thus disbursed. - -Under the buyer, who has absolute control of his own department -in a wholesale house, come sundry assistants, who transact the -business with retail traders; much as retail trader’s assistants -transact the business with the general public. These higher-class -assistants, working under the same pressure as the lower, are similarly -unscrupulous. Liable to prompt dismissal as they are for failure in -selling; gaining higher positions as they do in proportion to the -quantities of goods they dispose of at profitable rates; and finding -that no objections are made to any dishonest artifices they use, but -rather that they are applauded for them; these young men display a -scarcely credible demoralization. As we learn from those who have been -of them, their duplicity is unceasing—they speak almost continuous -falsehood; and their tricks range from the simplest to the most -Machiavellian. Take a few samples. When dealing with a retailer, it is -an habitual practice to bear in mind the character of his business; and -to delude him respecting articles of which he has least experience. If -his shop is in a neighbourhood where the sales are chiefly of inferior -goods (a fact ascertained from the traveller), it is inferred that, -having a comparatively small demand for superior goods, he is a bad -judge of them; and advantage is taken of his ignorance. Again, it is -usual purposely to present samples of cloths, silks, etc., in such -order as to disqualify the perceptions. As, when tasting different -foods or wines, the palate is disabled by something strongly flavoured, -from appreciating the more delicate flavour of another thing afterwards -taken; so with the other organs of sense, a temporary disability -follows an excessive stimulation. This holds not only with the eyes -in judging of colours, but also, as we are told by one who has been -in the trade, it holds with the fingers in judging of textures; and -cunning {117} salesmen are in the habit of thus partially paralysing -the customers’ perceptions, and then selling second-rate articles as -first-rate ones. Another common manœuvre is that of raising a false -belief of cheapness. Suppose a tailor is laying in a stock of broad -cloths. He is offered a bargain. Three pieces are put before him—two of -good quality, at, perhaps, 14_s._ per yard; and one of much inferior -quality, at 8_s._ per yard. These pieces have been purposely a little -tumbled and creased, to give an apparent reason for a pretended -sacrifice upon them. And the tailor is then told that he may have -these nominally-damaged cloths as “a job lot,” at 12_s._ per yard. -Misled by the appearances into a belief of the professed sacrifice; -impressed, moreover, by the fact that two of the pieces are really -worth considerably more than the price asked; and not sufficiently -bearing in mind that the great inferiority of the third just balances -this; the tailor probably buys; and he goes away with the comfortable -conviction that he has made a specially-advantageous purchase, when -he has really paid the full price for every yard. A still more subtle -trick has been described to us by one who himself made use of it, when -engaged in one of these wholesale-houses—a trick so successful that he -was often sent for to sell to customers who could be induced to buy -by none other of the assistants, and who ever afterwards would buy -only of him. His policy was to seem extremely simple and honest, and, -during the first few purchases, to exhibit his honesty by pointing -out defects in the things he was selling; and then, having gained the -customer’s confidence, he proceeded to pass off upon him inferior -goods at superior prices. These are a few out of the various manœuvres -in constant practice. Of course there is a running accompaniment of -falsehoods, uttered as well as acted. It is expected of the assistant -that he will say whatever is needed to effect a sale. “Any fool can -sell what is wanted,” said a master in reproaching a shopman for not -having persuaded a customer to buy something quite unlike that which -he asked {118} for. And the unscrupulous mendacity thus required by -employers, and encouraged by example, grows to a height of depravity -that has been described to us in words too strong to be repeated. -Our informant was obliged to relinquish his position in one of these -establishments, because he could not lower himself to the required -depth of degradation. “You don’t lie as though you believe what you -say,” observed one of his fellow-assistants. And this was uttered as a -reproach! - -As those subordinates who have fewest qualms of conscience are those -who succeed the best, are soonest promoted to more remunerative posts, -and have therefore the greatest chances of establishing businesses of -their own; it may be inferred that the morality of the heads of these -establishments, is much on a par with that of their _employés_. The -habitual malpractices of wholesale houses, confirm this inference. -Not only, as we have just seen, are assistants under a pressure -impelling them to deceive purchasers respecting the qualities of the -goods they buy, but purchasers are also deceived in respect to the -quantities; and that, not by an occasional unauthorized trick, but by -an organized system, for which the firm itself is responsible. The -general practice is to make up goods, or to have them made up, in -lengths that are shorter than they profess to be. A piece of calico -nominally thirty-six yards long, never measures more than thirty-one -yards—is understood throughout the trade to measure only so much. And -the long-accumulating delinquencies which this custom indicates—the -successive diminutions of length, each introduced by some adept in -dishonesty, and then imitated by his competitors—are now being daily -carried to a still greater extent, wherever they are not likely to be -immediately detected. Articles that are sold in small bundles, knots, -packets, or such forms as negative measurement at the time of sale, are -habitually deficient in quantity. Silk-laces called six quarters, or -fifty-four {119} inches, really measure four quarters, or thirty-six -inches. Tapes were originally sold in grosses containing twelve knots -of twelve yards each; but these twelve-yard-knots are now cut of all -lengths, from eight yards down to five yards, and even less—the usual -length being six yards. That is to say, the 144 yards which the gross -once contained, has now in some cases dwindled down to 60 yards. In -widths, as well as in lengths, this deception is practised. French -cotton-braid, for instance (French only in name), is made of different -widths; which are respectively marked 5, 7, 9, 11, etc.: each figure -indicating the number of threads of cotton which the width includes, or -rather should include, but does not. For those which should be marked -5 are marked 7; and those which should be marked 7 are marked 9: out -of three samples from different houses shown to us by our informant, -only one contained the alleged number of threads. Fringe, again, which -is sold wrapped on card, will often be found two inches wide at the -end exposed to view, but will diminish to one inch at the end next the -card; or perhaps the first twenty yards will be good, and all the rest, -hidden under it, will be bad. These frauds are committed unblushingly, -and as a matter of business. We have ourselves read in an agent’s -order-book, the details of an order, specifying the actual lengths of -which the articles were to be cut, and the much greater lengths to be -marked on the labels. And we have been told by a manufacturer who was -required to make up tapes into lengths of fifteen yards, and label them -“warranted 18 yards,” that when he did not label them falsely, his -goods were sent back to him; and that the greatest concession he could -obtain was to be allowed to send them without labels. - -It is not to be supposed that in their dealings with manufacturers, -these wholesale-houses adopt a code of morals differing much from -that which regulates their dealings with retailers. The facts prove -it to be much the {120} same. A buyer for instance (who exclusively -conducts the purchases of a wholesale-house from manufacturers) will -not unfrequently take from a first-class maker, a small supply of -some new fabric, on the pattern of which much time and money have -been spent; and this new-pattern fabric he will put into the hands -of another maker, to have copied in large quantities. Some buyers, -again, give their orders orally, that they may have the opportunity of -afterwards repudiating them if they wish; and in a case narrated to us, -where a manufacturer who had been thus deluded, wished on a subsequent -occasion to guarantee himself by obtaining the buyer’s signature to his -order, he was refused it. For other unjust acts of wholesale-houses, -the heads of these establishments are, we presume, responsible. Small -manufacturers working with insufficient capital, and in times of -depression not having the wherewith to meet their engagements, are -often obliged to become dependants on the wholesale-houses with which -they deal; and are then cruelly taken advantage of. One who has thus -committed himself, has either to sell his accumulated stock at a -great sacrifice—thirty to forty per cent. below its value—or else to -mortgage it; and when the wholesale-house becomes the mortgagee, the -manufacturer has little chance of escape. He is obliged to work at the -wholesale-dealer’s terms; and ruin almost certainly follows. This is -especially the case in the silk-hosiery business. As was said to us by -one of the larger silk-hosiers, who had watched the destruction of many -of his smaller brethren—“They may be spared for a time as a cat spares -a mouse; but they are sure to be eaten up in the end.” And we can the -more readily credit this statement from having found that a like policy -is pursued by some provincial curriers in their dealings with small -shoe-makers; and also by hop-merchants and maltsters in their dealings -with small publicans. We read that in Hindostan the ryots, when crops -fall short, borrow from the Jews to buy seed; and {121} once in their -clutches are doomed. It seems that our commercial world can furnish -parallels. - -Of another class of wholesale-traders—those who supply grocers with -foreign and colonial produce—we may say that though, in consequence -of the nature of their business, their malpractices are less numerous -and multiform, as well as less glaring, they bear the same stamp as -the foregoing. Unless it is to be supposed that sugar and spices are -moral antiseptics as well as physical ones, it must be expected that -wholesale dealers in them will transgress much as other wholesale -dealers do, in those directions where the facilities are greatest. And -the truth is that, both in the qualities and quantities of the articles -they sell, they take advantage of the retailers. The descriptions they -give of their commodities are habitually misrepresentations. Samples -sent round to their customers are characterized as first-rate when -they are really second-rate. The travellers are expected to endorse -these untrue statements; and unless the grocer has adequate keenness -and extensive knowledge, he is more or less deceived. In some cases, -indeed, no skill will save him. There are frauds that have grown up -little by little into customs of the trade, which the retailer must -submit to. In the purchase of sugar, for example, he is imposed on -in respect alike of the goodness and the weight. The history of the -dishonesty is this. Originally the tare allowed by the merchant on each -hogshead, was 14 per cent. of the gross weight. The actual weight of -the wood of which the hogshead was made, was at that time about 12 per -cent. of the gross weight. And thus the trade-allowance left a profit -of 2 per cent. to the buyer. Gradually, however, the hogshead has grown -thicker and heavier; until now, instead of amounting to 12 per cent. -of the gross weight, it amounts to 17 per cent. As the allowance of 14 -per cent. still continues, the result is that the retail grocer loses -3 per cent.: to the extent of 3 per cent. he buys wood {122} in place -of sugar. In the quality of the sugar, he is deluded by the practice -of giving him a sample from the best part of the hogshead. During its -voyage from Jamaica or elsewhere, the contents of a hogshead undergo a -slow drainage. The molasses, of which more or less is always present, -filters from the uppermost part of the mass of sugar to the lowermost -part; and this lowermost part, technically known as the “foots,” is -of darker colour and smaller value. The quantity of it contained -in a hogshead varies greatly; and the retailer, receiving a false -sample, has to guess what the quantity of “foots” may be; and, to his -cost, often under-estimates it. As will be seen from the following -letter, copied from the _Public Ledger_ for the 20th Oct., 1858, these -grievances, more severe even than we have represented them, are now -exciting an agitation. - - “_To the Retail Grocers of the United Kingdom._ - - “Gentlemen,—The time has arrived for the trade at once to make a move - for the revision of tares on all raw sugars. Facts prove the evil of - the present system to be greatly on the increase. We submit a case as - under, and only one out of twenty. On the 30th August, 1858, we bought - 3 hogsheads of Barbados, mark TG - K - - Invoice Tares. Re Tares. - No. cwt. qrs. lb. lb. No. cwt. qrs. lb. - 1 1 2 14 6 drft. 1 1 3 27 - 7 1 2 7 7 1 3 20 - 3 1 2 21 3 1 3 27 - ───────────── ───────────── - 4 3 20 5 3 18 - Deduct 4 3 20 - ───────────── _s._ £ _s._ _d._ - 0 3 26 at 42 — 2 1 3 - - “We make a claim for £2. 1_s._ 3_d._; we are told by the wholesale - grocer there is no redress. - - “There is another evil which the retail grocer has to contend with, - that is, the mode of sampling raw sugars: the foots are excluded - from the merchants’ samples. Facts will prove that in thousands of - hogsheads of Barbados this season there is an average of 5 cwt. of - foots in each; we have turned out some with 10 cwt., which are at - least 5_s._ per cwt. less value than sample, and in these cases we are - told again there is no redress. - - “These two causes are bringing hundreds of hard-working men to ruin - {123} and will bring hundreds more unless the trade take it up, and - we implore them to unite in obtaining so important a revision. - - “We are, Gentlemen, your obedient servants, - - “WALKER and STAINES.[6] - - “Birmingham, October 19, 1858.” - - [6] The abuses described in this letter have now, we believe, been - abolished. - -A more subtle method of imposition remains to be added. It is the -practice of sugar-refiners to put moist, crushed sugar into dried -casks. During the time that elapses before one of these casks is opened -by the retailer, the desiccated wood has taken up the excess of water -from the sugar; which is thus brought again into good condition. When -the retailer, finding that the cask weighs much more than was allowed -as tare by the wholesale dealer, complains to him of this excess, the -reply is—“Send it up to us, and we will _dry it_ and weigh it, as is -the custom of the trade.” - -Without further detailing these malpractices, of which the above -examples are perhaps the worst, we will advert only to one other -point in the transactions of these large houses—the drawing-up of -trade-circulars. It is the habit of many wholesale dealers to send -round to their customers, periodic accounts of the past transactions, -present condition, and prospects of the markets. Serving as checks on -each other, as they do, these documents are prevented from swerving -very widely from the truth. But it is scarcely to be expected that -they should be quite honest. Those who issue them, being in most -cases interested in the prices of the commodities referred to in -their circulars, are swayed by their interests in the representations -they make respecting the probabilities of the future. Far-seeing -retailers are on their guard against this. A large provincial grocer, -who thoroughly understands his business, said to us—“As a rule, I -throw trade-circulars on the fire.” And that this estimate of their -trustworthiness is not unwarranted, we gather from the expressions of -those engaged in other businesses. From two leather-dealers, one in -the country and one in London, we have heard the same complaint {124} -against the circulars published by houses in their trade, that they -are misleading. Not that they state untruths; but that they produce -false impressions by leaving out facts which they should have stated. - - * * * * * - -In illustrating the morality of manufacturers, we shall confine -ourselves to one class—those who work in silk. And it will be the most -convenient method of arranging facts, to follow the silk through its -various stages; from its state when imported, to its state when ready -for the wearer. - -Bundles of raw silk from abroad—not uncommonly weighted with rubbish, -stones, or rouleaux of Chinese copper coin, to the loss of the -buyer—are disposed of by auction. Purchases are made on behalf of the -silk-dealers by “sworn brokers;” and the regulation is, that these -sworn brokers shall confine themselves to their functions as agents. -From a silk-manufacturer, however, we learn that they are currently -understood to be themselves speculators in silk, either directly or -by proxy; and that as thus personally interested in prices, they -become faulty as agents. We give this, however, simply as a prevailing -opinion, for the truth of which we do not vouch. - -The silk bought by the London dealer, he sends into the manufacturing -districts to be “thrown;” that is, to be made into thread fit for -weaving. In the established form of bargain between the silk-dealer -and the silk-throwster, we have a strange instance of an organized and -recognized deception; which has seemingly grown out of a check on a -previous deception. The throwing of silk is necessarily accompanied -by some waste, from broken ends, knots, and fibres too weak to wind. -This waste varies in different kinds of silk from 3 per cent. to 20 per -cent.: the average being about 5 per cent. The per-centage of waste -being thus variable, it is obvious that in the absence of restraint, -a dishonest silk-throwster might abstract a portion of the silk; and, -on returning the rest to the dealer, might plead {125} that the great -diminution in weight had resulted from the large amount of loss in the -process of throwing. Hence there has arisen a system, called “working -on cost,” which requires the throwster to send back to the dealer -the same weight of silk which he receives: the meaning of the phrase -being, we presume, that whatever waste the throwster makes must be at -his own cost. Now, as it is impossible to throw silk without _some_ -waste—at least 3 per cent., and ordinarily 5 per cent.—this arrangement -necessitates a deception; if, indeed, that can be called a deception -which is tacitly understood by all concerned. The silk has to be -weighted. As much as is lost in throwing, has to be made up by some -foreign substance introduced. Soap is largely used for this. In small -quantity, soap is requisite to facilitate the running of the threads -in the process of manufacture; and the quantity is readily increased. -Sugar also is used. And by one means or other, the threads are made to -absorb enough matter to produce the desired weight. To this system all -silk-throwsters are obliged to succumb; and some of them carry it to -a great extent, as a means of hiding either carelessness or something -worse. - -The next stage through which silk passes, is that of dyeing. Here, -too, impositions have grown chronic and general. In times past, as we -learn from a ribbon-manufacturer, the weighting by water was the chief -dishonesty. Bundles returned from the dyer’s, if not manifestly damp, -still, containing moisture enough to make up for a portion of the silk -that had been kept back; and precautions had to be taken to escape -losses thus entailed. Since then, however, there has arisen a method -of deception which leaves this far behind—that of employing heavy -dyes. The following details have been given us by a silk-throwster. -It is now, he says, some five-and-thirty years since this method was -commenced. Before that time silk lost a considerable part of its weight -in the copper. The ultimate fibre of silk is coated, in issuing from -the spinneret of the silk-worm, with {126} a film of varnish which is -soluble in boiling water. In dyeing, therefore, this film, amounting -to 25 per cent. of the entire weight of the silk, is dissolved off; -and the silk is rendered that much lighter. So that originally, for -every sixteen ounces of silk sent to the dyer’s, only twelve ounces -were returned. Gradually, however, by the use of heavy dyes, this -result has been reversed. The silk now gains in weight; and sometimes -to a scarcely credible extent. According to the requirement, silk is -sent back from the dyer’s of any weight, from twelve ounces to the -pound up to forty ounces to the pound. The original pound of silk, -instead of losing four ounces, as it naturally would, is actually, -when certain black dyes are used, made to gain as much as twenty-four -ounces! Instead of 25 per cent. lighter, it is returned 150 per cent. -heavier—is weighted with 175 per cent. of foreign matter! Now as, -during this stage of its manufacture, the transactions in silk are -carried on by weight, it is manifest that in the introduction and -development of this system, we have a long history of frauds. At -present all in the trade are aware of it, and on their guard against -it. Like other modes of adulteration, in becoming established and -universal, it has ceased to be profitable to any one. But it still -serves to indicate the morals of those concerned. - -The thrown and dyed silk passes into the hands of the weaver; and here -again we come upon dishonesties. Manufacturers of figured silks sin -against their fellows by stealing their patterns. The laws which have -been found necessary to prevent this species of piracy, show that it -has been carried to a great extent. Even now it is not prevented. One -who has himself suffered from it, tells us that manufacturers still -get one another’s designs by bribing the workmen. In their dealings -with “buyers,” too, some manufacturers resort to deceptions: perhaps -tempted to do so by the desire to compensate themselves for the heavy -tax paid in treating, etc. Goods which have already been seen {127} -and declined by other buyers, are brought before a subsequent one with -artfully-devised appearances of secrecy, accompanied by professions -that these goods have been specially reserved for his inspection: -a manœuvre by which an unwary man is sometimes betrayed. That the -process of production has its delusions, scarcely needs saying. In the -ribbon-trade, for example, there is a practice called “top-ending;” -that is, making the first three yards good, and the rest (which is -covered when rolled up) of bad or loose texture—80 “shutes” to the inch -instead of 108. And then there comes the issuing of imitations made -of inferior materials—textile adulterations as we may call them. This -practice of debasement, not an occasional but an established one, is -carried to a surprising extent, and with surprising rapidity. Some new -fabric, first sold at 7_s._ 6_d._ per yard, is supplanted by successive -counterfeits; until at the end of eighteen months a semblance of it is -selling at 4_s._ 3_d._ per yard. Nay, still greater depreciations of -quality and price take place—from 10_s._ down to 3_s._, and even 2_s._ -per yard. Until at length the badness of these spurious fabrics becomes -so conspicuous, that they are unsaleable; and there ensues a reaction, -ending either in the reintroduction of the original fabric, or in the -production of some novelty to supply its place. - - * * * * * - -Among our notes of malpractices in trade, retail, wholesale, and -manufacturing, we have many others that must be passed over. We cannot -here enlarge on the not uncommon trick of using false trade-marks; or -of imitating another maker’s wrappers. We must be satisfied with simply -referring to the doings of apparently-reputable houses, which purchase -goods known to be dishonestly obtained. And we are obliged to refrain -from particularizing certain established arrangements, existing under -cover of the highest respectability, which seem intended to facilitate -these nefarious transactions. The frauds we have detailed {128} are -but samples of a state of things which it would take a volume to -describe in full. - -The further instances of trading-immorality which it seems desirable -here to give, are those which carry with them a certain excuse: showing -as they do how insensibly, and almost irresistibly, men are thrust -into vicious practices. Always, no doubt, some utterly unconscientious -trader is the first to introduce a new form of fraud. He is by-and-by -followed by others who wear their moral codes but loosely. The more -upright traders are continually tempted to adopt this questionable -device which those around them are adopting. The greater the number who -yield, and the more familiar the device becomes, the more difficult -is it for the remainder to stand out against it. The pressure of -competition upon them becomes more and more severe. They have to fight -an unequal battle: debarred as they are from one of the sources of -profit which their antagonists possess. And they are finally almost -compelled to follow the lead of the rest. Take for example what -has happened in the candle-trade. As all know, the commoner kinds -of candles are sold in bunches, supposed to weigh a pound each. -Originally, the nominal weight corresponded with the real weight. But -at present the weight is habitually short by an amount varying from -half an ounce to two ounces—is sometimes depreciated 12 1/2 per -cent. If, now, an honest chandler offers to supply a retailer at, say, -six shillings for the dozen pounds, the answer he receives is—“Oh, we -get them for five-and-eightpence.” “But mine,” replies the chandler, -“are of full weight; while those you buy at five-and-eightpence are -not.” “What does that matter to me?” the retailer rejoins—“a pound -of candles is a pound of candles: my customers buy them in the -bunch, and won’t know the difference between yours and another’s.” -And the honest chandler, being everywhere met with this argument, -finds that he must either make his bunches of short weight, or give -up business. Take another case, which, {129} like the last, we have -direct from the mouth of one who has been obliged to succumb. It is -that of a manufacturer of elastic webbing, now extensively used in -making boots, etc. From a London house with which he dealt largely, -this manufacturer recently received a sample of webbing produced by -some one else, accompanied by the question, “Can you make us this -at ——— per yard?” (naming a price below that at which he had before -supplied them); and hinting that if he could not do so they must go -elsewhere. On pulling to pieces the sample (which he showed to us), -this manufacturer found that sundry of the threads which should have -been of silk were of cotton. Indicating this fact to those who sent -him the sample, he replied that, if he made a like substitution, he -could furnish the fabric at the price named; and the result was that -he eventually did thus furnish it. He saw that if he did not do so, he -must lose a considerable share of his trade. He saw further, that if -he did not at once yield, he would have to yield in the end; for that -other elastic-webbing-makers would one after another engage to produce -this adulterated fabric at correspondingly diminished prices; and that -when at length he stood alone in selling an apparently-similar article -at a higher price, his business would leave him. This manufacturer we -have the best reasons for knowing to be a man of fine moral nature, -both generous and upright; and yet we here see him obliged, in a sense, -to implicate himself in one of these processes of vitiation. It is a -startling assertion, but it is none the less a true one, that those -who resist these corruptions often do it at the risk of bankruptcy; -sometimes the certainty of bankruptcy. We do not say this simply as -a manifest inference from the conditions, as above described. We say -it on the warrant of instances which have been given to us. From one -brought up in his house, we have had the history of a draper who, -carrying his conscience into his shop, refused to commit the current -frauds of the trade. He would not represent his {130} goods as of -better quality than they really were; he would not say that patterns -were just out, when they had been issued the previous season; he -would not warrant to wash well, colours which he knew to be fugitive. -Refraining from these and the like malpractices of his competitors; -and, as a consequence, daily failing to sell various articles which -his competitors would have sold by force of lying; his business was so -unremunerative that he twice became bankrupt. And in the opinion of -our informant, he inflicted more evil upon others by his bankruptcies, -than he would have done by committing the usual trade-dishonesties. -See, then, how complicated the question becomes; and how difficult to -estimate the trader’s criminality. Often—generally indeed—he has to -choose between two wrongs. He has tried to carry on his business with -strict integrity. He has sold none but genuine articles, and has given -full measure. Others in the same business adulterate or otherwise -delude, and are so able to undersell him. His customers, not adequately -appreciating the superiority in the quality or quantity of his goods, -and attracted by the apparent cheapness at other shops, desert him. -Inspection of his books proves the alarming fact that his diminishing -returns will soon be insufficient to meet his engagements, and provide -for his increasing family. What then must he do? Must he continue his -present course; stop payment; inflict heavy losses on his creditors; -and, with his wife and children, turn out into the streets? Or must he -follow the example of his competitors; use their artifices; and give -his customers the same apparent advantages? The last not only seems -the least detrimental to himself, but also may be considered the least -detrimental to others. Moreover, the like is done by men regarded as -respectable. Why should he ruin himself and family in trying to be -better than his neighbours? He will do as they do. - -Such is the position of the trader; such is the reasoning by which -he justifies himself; and it is hard to visit him {131} with harsh -condemnation. Of course this statement of the case is by no means -universally true. There are businesses in which, competition being -less active, the excuse for falling into corrupt practices does not -hold; and here, indeed, we find corrupt practices much less prevalent. -Many traders, too, have obtained connexions which secure to them -adequate returns without descending to small rogueries; and they have -no defence if they thus degrade themselves. Moreover, there are the -men—commonly not prompted by necessity but by greed—who introduce -these adulterations and petty frauds; and on these should descend -unmitigated indignation: both as being themselves criminals without -excuse, and as causing criminality in others. Leaving out, however, -these comparatively small classes, most traders by whom the commoner -businesses are carried on, must receive a much more qualified censure -than they at first sight seem to deserve. On all sides we have met with -the same conviction, that for those engaged in the ordinary trades -there are but two courses—either to adopt the practices of their -competitors, or to give up business. Men in different occupations and -in different places—men naturally conscientious, who manifestly chafed -under the degradations they submitted to, have one and all expressed to -us the sad belief that it is impossible to carry on trade with strict -rectitude. Their concurrent opinion, independently given by each, is -that the scrupulously honest man must go to the wall. - - * * * * * - -But that it has been, during the past year, frequently treated by -the daily press, we might here enter at some length on the topic of -banking-delinquencies. As it is, we may presume all to be familiar with -the facts, and shall limit ourselves to making a few comments. - -In the opinion of one whose means of judging have been second to those -of few, the directors of joint-stock-banks have rarely been guilty of -direct dishonesty. Admitting {132} notorious exceptions, the general -fact appears to be that directors have had no immediate interests -in furthering these speculations which have proved so ruinous to -depositors and shareholders; but have usually been among the greatest -sufferers. Their fault has rather been the less flagitious, though -still grave fault, of indifference to their responsibilities. Often -with very inadequate knowledge they have undertaken to trade with -property belonging in great part to needy people. Instead of using as -much care in the investment of this property as though it were their -own, many of them have shown culpable recklessness: either themselves -loaning the entrusted capital without adequate guarantee, or else -passively allowing their colleagues to do this. Sundry excuses may -doubtless be made for them. The well-known defects of a corporate -conscience, caused by divided responsibility, must be remembered in -mitigation. And it may also be pleaded for such delinquents that -if shareholders, swayed by reverence for mere wealth and position, -choose as directors, not the most intelligent, the most experienced, -and those of longest-tried probity, but those of largest capital or -highest rank, the blame must not be cast solely on the men so chosen, -but must be shared by the men who choose them. Nay, further, it must -fall on the public as well as on shareholders; seeing that this -unwise selection of directors is in part determined by the known bias -of depositors. But after all allowances have been made, it must be -admitted that these bank-administrators who risk the property of their -clients by lending it to speculators, are near akin in morality to the -speculators themselves. As these speculators risk other men’s money in -undertakings which they hope will be profitable; so do the directors -who lend them the money. If these last plead that the money thus lent -is lent with the belief that it will be repaid with good interest, the -first may similarly plead that they expect their investment to return -the borrowed capital along with a {133} handsome profit. In each -case the transaction is one of which the evil consequences, if they -come, fall more largely on others than on the actors. And though it -may be contended, on behalf of the director, that what he does is done -chiefly for the benefit of his constituents, whereas the speculator has -in view only his own benefit; it may be replied that the director’s -blameworthiness is not the less because he took a rash step with a -comparatively weak motive. The truth is that when a bank-director lends -the capital of shareholders to those to whom he would not lend his own -capital, he is guilty of a breach of trust. In tracing the gradations -of crime, we pass from direct robbery to robbery one, two, three, or -more degrees removed. Though a man who speculates with other people’s -money is not chargeable with direct robbery, he is chargeable with -robbery one degree removed: he deliberately stakes his neighbour’s -property, intending to appropriate the gain, if any, and to let his -neighbour suffer the loss, if any: his crime is that of contingent -robbery. And hence any one who, standing like a bank-director in the -position of trustee, puts the money with which he is entrusted into a -speculator’s hands, must be called an accessory to contingent robbery. - -If so grave a condemnation is to be passed on those who lend -trust-money to speculators, as well as on the speculators who borrow -it, what shall we say of the still more delinquent class who obtain -loans by fraud—who not only pawn other men’s property when obtained, -but obtain it under false pretences? For how else than thus must we -describe the doings of those who raise money by accommodation-bills? -When A and B agree, the one to draw and the other to accept a bill -of £1000 for “value received;” while in truth there has been no sale -of goods between them, or no value received; the transaction is not -simply an embodied lie, but it becomes thereafter a living and active -lie. Whoever discounts the bill, does so in the {134} belief that B, -having become possessed of £1000 worth of goods, will, when the bill -falls due, have either the £1000 worth of goods or some equivalent, -with which to meet it. Did he know that there were no such goods in the -hands of either A or B, and no other property available for liquidating -the bill, he would not discount it—he would not lend money to a man of -straw without security. Had A taken to the bank a forged mortgage-deed, -and obtained a loan upon it, he would not have committed a greater -wrong. Practically, an accommodation-bill is a forgery. It is an error -to suppose that forgery is limited to the production of documents -that are _physically_ false—that contain signatures or other symbols -which are not what they appear to be: forgery, properly understood, -equally includes the production of documents that are _morally_ false. -What constitutes the crime committed in forging a bank-note? Not the -mere mechanical imitation. This is but a means to the end; and, taken -alone, is no crime at all. The crime consists in deluding others into -the acceptance of what seems to be a representative of so much money, -but which actually represents nothing. It matters not whether the -delusion is effected by copying the forms of the letters and figures, -as in a forged bank-note, or by copying the form of expression, as in -an accommodation-bill. In either case a semblance of value is given to -that which has no value; and it is in giving this false appearance of -value that the crime consists. It is true that generally, the acceptor -of an accommodation-bill hopes to be able to meet it when due. But if -those who think this exonerates him, will remember the many cases in -which, by the use of forged documents, men have obtained possession of -moneys which they hoped presently to replace, and were nevertheless -judged guilty of forgery, they will see that the plea is insufficient. -We contend, then, that the manufacturers of accommodation-bills should -be classed as forgers. That if the law so classed them, much good -would result, we are {135} not prepared to say. Several questions -present themselves:—Whether such a change would cause inconvenience, -by negativing the many harmless transactions carried on under this -fictitious form by solvent men? Whether making it penal to use the -words “value received,” unless there _had_ been value received, would -not simply originate an additional class of bills in which these words -were omitted? Whether it would be an advantage if bills bore on their -faces proofs that they did or did not represent actual sales? Whether -a restraint on undue credit would result, when bankers and discounters -saw that certain bills coming to them in the names of speculative or -unsubstantial traders, were avowed accommodation-bills? But these -are questions we need not go out of our way to discuss. We are here -concerned only with the morality of the question. - -Duly to estimate the greatness of the evils indicated, however, we -must bear in mind both that the fraudulent transactions thus entered -into are numerous, and that each generally becomes the cause of -others. The original lie is commonly the parent of further lies, which -again give rise to an increasing progeny; and so on for successive -generations, multiplying as they descend. When A and B find their -£1000 bill about to fall due, and the expected proceeds of their -speculation not forthcoming—when they find, as they often do, either -that the investment has resulted in a loss instead of a gain; or that -the time for realizing their hoped-for profits, has not yet come; or -that the profits, if there are any, do not cover the extravagances of -living which, in the meantime, they have sanguinely indulged in—when, -in short, they find that the bill cannot be taken up; they resort to -the expedient of manufacturing other bills with which to liquidate -the first. And while they are about it, they usually think it will be -as well to raise a somewhat larger sum than is required to meet their -outstanding engagements. Unless it happens that great success enables -{136} them to redeem themselves, this proceeding is repeated, and -again repeated. So long as there is no monetary crisis, it continues -easy thus to keep afloat; and, indeed, the appearance of prosperity -which is given by an extended circulation of bills in their names, -bearing respectable indorsements, creates a confidence in them which -renders the obtainment of credit easier than at first. And where, as -in some cases, this process is carried to the extent of employing men -in different towns throughout the kingdom, and even in distant parts -of the world, to accept bills, the appearances are still better kept -up, and the bubble reaches a still greater development. As, however, -all these transactions are carried on with borrowed capital, on which -interest has to be paid; as, further, the maintenance of this organized -fraud entails constant expenses, as well as occasional sacrifices; -and as it is in the very nature of the system to generate reckless -speculation; the fabric of lies is almost certain ultimately to fall; -and, in falling, to ruin or embarrass others besides those who had -given credit. - -Nor does the evil end with the direct penalties from time to time -inflicted on honest traders. There is also a grave indirect penalty -which they suffer from the system. These forgers of credit are -habitually instrumental in lowering prices below their natural level. -To meet emergencies, they are obliged every now and then to sell goods -at a loss: the alternative being immediate stoppage. Though with each -such concern, this is but an occasional incident, yet, taking the whole -number of them connected with any one business, it results that there -are generally some who are making sacrifices—generally some who are -unnaturally depressing the market. In short, the capital fraudulently -obtained from some traders is, in part, dissipated in rendering the -business of other traders deficiently remunerative: often to their -serious embarrassment. - -If, however, the whole truth must be said, the condemnation visited on -these commercial vampires is not to be {137} confined to them; but -is in some degree deserved by a much more numerous class. Between the -penniless schemer who obtains the use of capital by false pretences, -and the upright trader who never contracts greater liabilities than -his estate will liquidate, there lie all gradations. From businesses -carried on entirely with other people’s capital, obtained by forgery, -we pass to businesses in which there is a real capital of one-tenth -and a credit-capital of nine-tenths; to other businesses in which the -ratio of real to fictitious capital is somewhat greater; and so on -until we reach the very extensive class of men who trade but a little -beyond their means. To get more credit than would be given were the -state of the business known, is in all cases the aim; and the cases -in which this credit is partially unwarranted, differ only in degree -from those in which it is wholly unwarranted. As most are beginning to -see, the prevalence of this indirect dishonesty has not a little to -do with our commercial disasters. Speaking broadly, the tendency is -for every trader to hypothecate the capital of other traders, as well -as his own. And when A has borrowed on the strength of B’s credit; B -on the strength of C’s; and C on the strength of A’s—when, throughout -the trading world, each has made engagements which he can meet only by -direct or indirect aid—when everybody is wanting help from some one -else to save him from falling; a crash is certain. The punishment of a -general unconscientiousness may be postponed, but it is sure to come -eventually. - - * * * * * - -The average commercial morality cannot, of course, be accurately -depicted in so brief a space. On the one hand, we have been able to -give but a few typical instances of the malpractices by which trade is -disgraced. On the other hand, we have been obliged to present these -alone; unqualified by the large amount of honest dealing throughout -which they are dispersed. While, by accumulating such evidences, the -indictment may be made heavier; by diluting them {138} with the -immense mass of equitable transactions daily carried on, the verdict -would be mitigated. After making every allowance, however, we fear -that the state of things is very bad. Our impression on this point -is due less to the particular facts above given, than to the general -opinion expressed by our informants. On all sides we have found -the result of long personal experience, to be the conviction that -trade is essentially corrupt. In tones of disgust or discouragement, -reprehension or derision, according to their several natures, men in -business have one after another expressed or implied this belief. -Omitting the highest mercantile classes, a few of the less common -trades, and those exceptional cases where an entire command of the -market has been obtained, the uniform testimony of competent judges -is, that success is incompatible with strict integrity. To live in -the commercial world it appears necessary to adopt its ethical code: -neither exceeding nor falling short of it—neither being less honest -nor more honest. Those who sink below its standard are expelled; -while those who rise above it are either pulled down to it or ruined. -As, in self-defence, the civilized man becomes savage among savages; -so, it seems that in self-defence, the scrupulous trader is obliged -to become as little scrupulous as his competitors. It has been said -that the law of the animal creation is—“Eat and be eaten;” and of -our trading community it may similarly be said that its law is—Cheat -and be cheated. A system of keen competition, carried on, as it is, -without adequate moral restraint, is very much a system of commercial -cannibalism. Its alternatives are—Use the same weapons as your -antagonists or be conquered and devoured. - -Of questions suggested by these facts, one of the most obvious -is—Are not the prejudices which have ever been entertained against -trade and traders, thus fully justified? do not these meannesses -and dishonesties, and the moral degradation they imply, warrant the -disrespect shown to men in business? A prompt affirmative answer will -{139} probably be looked for; but we very much doubt whether it -should be given. We are rather of opinion that these delinquencies are -products of the average character placed under special conditions. -There is no reason for assuming that the trading classes are -intrinsically worse than other classes. Men taken at random from higher -and lower ranks, would, most likely, if similarly circumstanced, do -much the same. Indeed the mercantile world might readily recriminate. -Is it a solicitor who comments on their misdoings? They may quickly -silence him by referring to the countless dark stains on the reputation -of his fraternity. Is it a barrister? His frequent practice of putting -in pleas which he knows are not valid, and his established habit of -taking fees for work he does not perform, make his criticism somewhat -suicidal. Does the condemnation come through the press? The condemned -may remind those who write, of the fact that it is not quite honest -to utter a positive verdict on a book merely glanced through, or to -pen glowing eulogies on the mediocre work of a friend while slighting -the good one of an enemy; and they may further ask whether those who, -at the dictation of an employer, write what they disbelieve, are not -guilty of the serious offence of adulterating public opinion. Moreover, -traders might contend that many of their delinquencies are thrust on -them by the injustice of their customers. They, and especially drapers, -might point to the fact that the habitual demand for an abatement of -price, is made in utter disregard of their reasonable profits; and -that, to protect themselves against attempts to gain by their loss, -they are obliged to name prices greater than those they intend to take. -They might also urge that the straits to which they are often brought -by non-payment of large sums due from their wealthier customers, is -itself a cause of their malpractices: obliging them, as it does, to -use all means, illegitimate as well as legitimate, for getting the -wherewith to meet their engagements. And then, after proving that -those without {140} excuse show this disregard of other men’s claims, -traders might ask whether they, who have the excuse of having to -contend with a merciless competition, are alone to be blamed if they -display a like disregard in other forms. Nay, even to the guardians -of social rectitude—members of the legislature—they might use the _tu -quoque_ argument: asking whether bribery of a customer’s servant, -is any worse than bribery of an elector? or whether the gaining -of suffrages by clap-trap hustings-speeches, containing insincere -professions adapted to the taste of the constituency, is not as bad as -getting an order for goods by delusive representations respecting their -quality? No; few if any classes are free from immoralities which are as -great, _relatively to the temptations_, as these we have been exposing. -Of course they will not be so petty or so gross where the circumstances -do not prompt pettiness or grossness; nor so constant and organized -where the class-conditions have not tended to make them habitual. But, -taken with these qualifications, we think that much might be said for -the proposition that the trading classes, neither better nor worse -intrinsically than other classes, are betrayed into their flagitious -habits by external causes. - -Another question, here naturally arising, is—Are not these evils -growing worse? Many of the facts we have cited seem to imply that they -are. Yet there are many other facts which point as distinctly the -other way. In weighing the evidence, we must bear in mind that the -greater public attention at present paid to such matters, is itself a -source of error—is apt to generate the belief that evils now becoming -recognized are evils that have recently arisen; when in truth they -have merely been hitherto disregarded, or less regarded. It has been -clearly thus with crime, with distress, with popular ignorance; and -it is very probably thus with trading-dishonesties. As it is true of -individual beings, that their height in the scale of creation may be -measured by the degree of their self-consciousness; {141} so, in a -sense, it is true of societies. Advanced and highly-organized societies -are distinguished from lower ones by the evolution of something that -stands for a _social self-consciousness_. Among ourselves there -has, happily, been of late years a remarkable growth of this social -self-consciousness; and we believe that to this is chiefly ascribable -the impression that commercial malpractices are increasing. Such facts -as have come down to us respecting the trade of past times, confirm -this view. In his _Complete English Tradesman_, Defoe mentions, among -other manœuvres of retailers, the false lights which they introduced -into their shops, for the purpose of giving delusive appearances -to their goods. He comments on the “shop rhetorick,” the “flux of -falsehoods,” which tradesmen habitually uttered to their customers; -and quotes their defence as being that they could not live without -lying. He says, too, that there was scarce a shopkeeper who had not a -bag of spurious or debased coin, from which he gave change whenever he -could; and that men, even the most honest, triumphed in their skill in -getting rid of bad money. These facts show that the mercantile morals -of that day were, at any rate, not better than ours; and if we call to -mind the numerous Acts of Parliament passed in old times to prevent -frauds of all kinds, we perceive the like implication. As much may, -indeed, be safely inferred from the general state of society. When, -reign after reign, governments debased the coinage, the moral tone of -the middle classes could scarcely have been higher than now. Among -generations whose sympathy with the claims of fellow-creatures was so -weak, that the slave-trade was not only thought justifiable, but the -initiator of it was rewarded by permission to record the feat in his -coat of arms, it is hardly possible that men respected the claims of -their fellow-citizens more than at present. Times characterized by an -administration of justice so inefficient, that there were in London -nests of criminals who defied the law, and on all high roads robbers -who eluded it, cannot {142} have been distinguished by just mercantile -dealings. While, conversely, an age which, like ours, has seen so many -equitable social changes thrust on the legislature by public opinion, -is very unlikely to be an age in which the transactions between -individuals have been growing more inequitable. Yet, on the other hand, -it is undeniable that many of the dishonesties we have described are -of modern origin. Not a few of them have become established during -the last thirty years; and others are even now arising. How are these -seeming contradictions to be reconciled? - -The reconciliation is not difficult. It lies in the fact that while -the _direct_ frauds have been diminishing, the _indirect_ frauds have -been increasing: alike in variety and in number. And this admission we -take to be consistent with the opinion that the standard of commercial -morals is higher than it was. For if we omit, as excluded from the -question, the penal restraints—religious and legal—and ask what is the -ultimate moral restraint to the aggression of man on man, we find it to -be—sympathy with the pain inflicted. Now the keenness of the sympathy, -depending on the vividness with which this pain is realized, varies -with the conditions of the case. It may be active enough to check -misdeeds which will manifestly cause great suffering, and yet not be -active enough to check misdeeds which will cause but slight annoyance. -While sufficiently acute to prevent a man from doing that which will -entail immediate injury on a known person, it may not be sufficiently -acute to prevent him from doing that which will entail remote injuries -on unknown persons. And we find the facts to agree with this deduction, -that the moral restraint varies according to the clearness with which -the evil consequences are conceived. Many a one who would shrink -from picking a pocket does not scruple to adulterate his goods; and -he who never dreams of passing base coin will yet be a party to -joint-stock-bank deceptions. Hence, as we say, the multiplication of -the more subtle and complex forms of {143} fraud, is consistent with -a general progress in morality; provided it is accompanied with a -decrease in the grosser forms of fraud. - - * * * * * - -But the question which most concerns us is, not whether the morals -of trade are better or worse than they have been? but rather—why are -they so bad? Why in this civilized state of ours, is there so much -that betrays the cunning selfishness of the savage? Why, after the -careful inculcations of rectitude during education, comes there in -after-life all this knavery? Why, in spite of all the exhortations to -which the commercial classes listen every Sunday, do they next morning -recommence their evil deeds? What is this so potent agency which almost -neutralizes the discipline of education, of law, of religion? - -Various subsidiary causes that might be assigned, must be passed over, -that we may have space to deal with the chief cause. In an exhaustive -statement, something would have to be said on the credulity of -consumers, which leads them to believe in representations of impossible -advantages; and something, too, on their greediness, which, ever -prompting them to look for more than they ought to get, encourages -sellers to offer delusive bargains. The increased difficulty of living -consequent on growing pressure of population, might perhaps come in -as a part cause; and that greater cost of bringing up a family, which -results from the higher standard of education, might be added. But -the chief inciter of these trading malpractices is intense desire for -wealth. And if we ask—Why this intense desire? the reply is—It results -from the _indiscriminate respect paid to wealth_. - -To be distinguished from the common herd—to be somebody—to make a -name, a position—this is the universal ambition; and to accumulate -riches is alike the surest and the easiest way of fulfilling this -ambition. Very early in life all learn this. At school, the court -paid to one whose {144} parents have called in their carriage to see -him, is conspicuous; while the poor boy whose insufficient stock of -clothes implies the small means of his family, soon has burnt into -his memory the fact that poverty is contemptible. On entering the -world, the lessons which may have been taught about the nobility of -self-sacrifice, the reverence due to genius, the admirableness of high -integrity, are quickly neutralized by experience: men’s actions proving -that these are not their standards of respect. It is soon perceived -that while abundant outward marks of deference from fellow-citizens -may almost certainly be gained by directing every energy to the -accumulation of property, they are but rarely to be gained in any other -way; and that even in the few cases in which they are otherwise gained, -they are not given with entire unreserve, but are commonly joined -with a more or less manifest display of patronage. When, seeing this, -the young man further sees that while the acquisition of property is -possible with his mediocre endowments, the acquirement of distinction -by brilliant discoveries, or heroic acts, or high achievements in -art, implies faculties and feelings which he does not possess; it is -not difficult to understand why he devotes himself heart and soul to -business. - -We do not mean to say that men act on the consciously reasoned-out -conclusions thus indicated; but we mean that these conclusions are the -unconsciously-formed products of their daily experiences. From early -childhood the sayings and doings of all around them have generated -the idea that wealth and respectability are two sides of the same -thing. This idea, growing with their growth, and strengthening with -their strength, becomes at last almost what we may call an organic -conviction. And this organic conviction it is which prompts the -expenditure of all their energies in money-making. We contend that the -chief stimulus is not the desire for the wealth itself, but for the -applause and position which the wealth brings. And in this belief, we -{145} find ourselves at one with various intelligent traders with whom -we have talked on the matter. It is incredible that men should make -the sacrifices, mental and bodily, which they do, merely to get the -material benefits which money purchases. Who would undertake an extra -burden of business for the purpose of getting a cellar of choice wines -for his own drinking? He who does it, does it that he may have choice -wines to give his guests and gain their praises. What merchant would -spend an additional hour at his office daily, merely that he might -move into a house in a more fashionable quarter? He submits to the -tax not to gain health and comfort but for the sake of the increased -social consideration which the new house will bring him. Where is the -man who would lie awake at nights devising means of increasing his -income, in the hope of being able to provide his wife with a carriage, -were the use of the carriage the sole consideration? It is because -of the _éclat_ which the carriage will give, that he enters on these -additional anxieties. So manifest, so trite, indeed, are these truths, -that we should be ashamed of insisting on them, did not our argument -require it. - -For if the desire for that homage which wealth brings, is the chief -stimulus to these strivings after wealth, then the giving of this -homage (when given, as it is, with but little discrimination) is the -chief cause of the dishonesties into which these strivings betray -mercantile men. When the shopkeeper, on the strength of a prosperous -year and favourable prospects, has yielded to his wife’s persuasions, -and replaced the old furniture with new, at an outlay greater than -his income covers—when, instead of the hoped-for increase, the next -year brings a decrease in his returns—when he finds that his expenses -are out-running his revenue; then does he fall under the strongest -temptation to adopt some newly-introduced adulteration or other -malpractice. When, having by display gained a certain recognition, the -wholesale trader begins to give dinners {146} appropriate only to -those of ten times his income, with other expensive entertainments to -match—when, having for a time carried on this style at a cost greater -than he can afford, he finds that he cannot discontinue it without -giving up his position; then is he most strongly prompted to enter -into larger transactions, to trade beyond his means, to seek undue -credit, to get into that ever-complicating series of misdeeds which -ends in disgraceful bankruptcy. And if these are the facts then is it -an unavoidable conclusion that the blind admiration which society gives -to mere wealth, and the display of wealth, is the chief source of these -multitudinous immoralities. - -Yes, the evil is deeper than appears—draws its nutriment from far -below the surface. This gigantic system of dishonesty, branching out -into every conceivable form of fraud, has roots which run underneath -our whole social fabric, and, sending fibres into every house, suck -up strength from our daily sayings and doings. In every dining-room -a rootlet finds food, when the conversation turns on So-and-so’s -successful speculations, his purchase of an estate, his probable -worth—on this man’s recent large legacy, and the other’s advantageous -match; for being thus talked about is one form of that tacit respect -which men struggle for. Every drawing-room furnishes nourishment -in the admiration awarded to costliness—to silks that are “rich,” -that is, expensive; to dresses that contain an enormous quantity of -material, that is, are expensive; to laces that are hand-made, that -is, expensive; to diamonds that are rare, that is, expensive; to china -that is old, that is, expensive. And from scores of small remarks and -minutiæ of behaviour which, in all circles, hourly imply how completely -the idea of respectability involves that of costly externals, there is -drawn fresh pabulum. - -We are all implicated. We all, whether with self-approbation or not, -give expression to the established feeling. Even he who disapproves -this feeling finds himself unable to {147} treat virtue in threadbare -apparel with a cordiality as great as that which he would show to the -same virtue endowed with prosperity. Scarcely a man is to be found who -would not behave with more civility to a knave in broadcloth than to -a knave in fustian. Though for the deference which they have shown to -the vulgar rich, or the dishonestly successful, men afterwards compound -with their consciences by privately venting their contempt; yet when -they again come face to face with these imposing externals covering -worthlessness, they do as before. And so long as imposing worthlessness -gets the visible marks of respect, while the disrespect felt for it is -hidden, it naturally flourishes. - -Hence, then, is it that men persevere in these evil practices which -all condemn. They can so purchase a homage which, if not genuine, is -yet, so far as appearances go, as good as the best. To one whose wealth -has been gained by a life of frauds, what matters it that his name is -in all circles a synonym of roguery? Has he not been conspicuously -honoured by being twice elected mayor of his town? (we state a fact) -and does not this, joined to the personal consideration shown him, -outweigh in his estimation all that is said against him; of which -he hears scarcely anything? When, not many years after the exposure -of his inequitable dealing, a trader attains to the highest civic -distinction which the kingdom has to offer, and that, too, through the -instrumentality of those who best know his delinquency, is not the fact -an encouragement to him, and to all others, to sacrifice rectitude to -aggrandizement? If, after listening to a sermon that has by implication -denounced the dishonesties he has been guilty of, the rich ill-doer -finds, on leaving church, that his neighbours cap to him, does not -this tacit approval go far to neutralize the effect of all he has -heard? The truth is that with the great majority of men, the visible -expression of social opinion is far the most efficient of incentives -and restraints. Let any one who wishes to estimate the strength {148} -of this control, propose to himself to walk through the streets in the -dress of a dustman, or hawk vegetables from door to door. Let him feel, -as he probably will, that he had rather do something morally wrong -than commit such a breach of usage and suffer the resulting derision. -He will then better estimate how powerful a curb to men is the open -disapproval of their fellows, and how, conversely, the outward applause -of their fellows is a stimulus surpassing all others in intensity. -Fully realizing which facts, he will see that the immoralities of trade -are in great part traceable to an immoral public opinion. - -Let none infer, from what has been said, that the payment of respect -to wealth rightly acquired and rightly used, is deprecated. In its -original meaning, and in due degree, the feeling which prompts such -respect is good. Primarily, wealth is the sign of mental power; and -this is always respectable. To have honestly-acquired property, implies -intelligence, energy, self-control; and these are worthy of the homage -that is indirectly paid to them by admiring their results. Moreover, -the good administration and increase of inherited property, also -requires its virtues; and therefore demands its share of approbation. -And besides being applauded for their display of faculty, men who gain -and increase wealth are to be applauded as public benefactors. For he -who, as manufacturer or merchant, has, without injustice to others, -realized a fortune, is thereby proved to have discharged his functions -better than those who have been less successful. By greater skill, -better judgment, or more economy than his competitors, he has afforded -the public greater advantages. His extra profits are but a share of the -extra produce obtained by the same outlay: the other share going to the -consumers. And similarly, the landowner who, by judicious investment -of money, has increased the value (that is, the productiveness) of his -estate, has thereby added to the stock of national capital. By all -means, then, {149} let the right acquisition and proper use of wealth -have their due share of admiration. - -But that which we condemn as the chief cause of commercial dishonesty, -is the _indiscriminate_ admiration of wealth—an admiration that has -little or no reference to the character of the possessor. When, as -generally happens, the external signs are reverenced where they -signify no internal worthiness—nay, even where they cover internal -unworthiness; then does the feeling become vicious. It is this idolatry -which worships the symbol apart from the thing symbolized, that is -the root of all these evils we have been exposing. So long as men -pay homage to those social benefactors who have grown rich honestly, -they give a wholesome stimulus to industry; but when they accord a -share of their homage to those social malefactors who have grown -rich dishonestly, then do they foster corruption—then do they become -accomplices in all these frauds of commerce. - - * * * * * - -As for remedy, it manifestly follows that there is none save a -purified public opinion. When that abhorrence which society now shows -to direct theft, is shown to theft of all degrees of indirectness; -then will these mercantile vices disappear. When not only the trader -who adulterates or gives short measure, but also the merchant who -over-trades, the bank-director who countenances an exaggerated report, -and the railway-director who repudiates his guarantee, come to be -regarded as of the same genus as the pickpocket, and are treated with -like disdain; then will the morals of trade become what they should be. - -We have little hope, however, that any such higher tone of public -opinion will shortly be reached. The present condition of things -appears to be, in great measure, a necessary accompaniment of our -present phase of progress. Throughout the civilized world, especially -in England, and above all in America, social activity is almost wholly -expended in material development. To subjugate Nature {150} and bring -the powers of production and distribution to their highest perfection, -is the task of our age, and probably will be the task of many future -ages. And as in times when national defence and conquest were the chief -desiderata, military achievement was honoured above all other things; -so now, when the chief desideratum is industrial growth, honour is -most conspicuously given to that which generally indicates the aiding -of industrial growth. The English nation at present displays what we -may call the commercial diathesis; and the undue admiration for wealth -appears to be its concomitant—a relation still more conspicuous in -the worship of “the almighty dollar” by the Americans. And while the -commercial diathesis, with its accompanying standard of distinction, -continues, we fear the evils we have been delineating can be but -partially cured. It seems hopeless to expect that men will distinguish -between that wealth which represents personal superiority and benefits -done to society, from that which does not. The symbols, the externals, -have all the world through swayed the masses, and must long continue to -do so. Even the cultivated, who are on their guard against the bias of -associated ideas, and try to separate the real from the seeming, cannot -escape the influence of current opinion. We must therefore content -ourselves with looking for a slow amelioration. - -Something, however, may even now be done by vigorous protest against -adoration of mere success. And it is important that it should be done, -considering how this vicious sentiment is being fostered. When we have -one of our leading moralists preaching, with increasing vehemence, -the doctrine of sanctification by force—when we are told that while -a selfishness troubled with qualms of conscience is contemptible, -a selfishness intense enough to trample down everything in the -unscrupulous pursuit of its ends is worthy of admiration—when we find -that if it be sufficiently great, power, no matter of what kind or how -directed, is held up for our reverence; we may fear lest the prevalent -applause {151} of mere success, together with the commercial vices -which it stimulates, should be increased rather than diminished. Not at -all by this hero-worship grown into brute-worship is society to be made -better, but by exactly the opposite—by a stern criticism of the means -through which success has been achieved, and by according honour to the -higher and less selfish modes of activity. - -And happily the signs of this more moral public opinion are showing -themselves. It is becoming a tacitly-received doctrine that the -rich should not, as in bygone times, spend their lives in personal -gratification; but should devote them to the general welfare. Year -by year is the improvement of the people occupying a larger share of -the attention of the upper classes. Year by year are they voluntarily -devoting more energy to furthering the material and mental progress -of the masses. And those among them who do not join in the discharge -of these high functions, are beginning to be looked upon with more or -less contempt by their own order. This latest and most hopeful fact in -human history—this new and better chivalry—promises to evolve a higher -standard of honour, and so to ameliorate many evils: among others those -which we have detailed. When wealth obtained by illegitimate means -inevitably brings nothing but disgrace—when to wealth rightly acquired -is accorded only its due share of homage, while the greatest homage is -given to those who consecrate their energies and their means to the -noblest ends; then may we be sure that, along with other accompanying -benefits, the morals of trade will be greatly purified. - -{152} - - - - -PRISON-ETHICS. - -[_First published in_ The British Quarterly Review _for July 1860_.] - - -The two antagonist theories of morals, like many other antagonist -theories, are both right and both wrong. The _a priori_ school has -its truth; the _a posteriori_ school has its truth; and for the -proper guidance of conduct, there must be due recognition of both. On -the one hand, it is asserted that there is an absolute standard of -rectitude; and, respecting certain classes of actions, it is rightly -so asserted. From the fundamental laws of life and the conditions of -social existence, are deducible certain imperative limitations to -individual action—limitations which are essential to a perfect life, -individual and social; or, in other words, essential to the greatest -happiness. And these limitations, following inevitably as they do -from undeniable first principles, deep as the nature of life itself, -constitute what we may distinguish as absolute morality. On the other -hand it is contended, and in a sense rightly contended, that with men -as they are and society as it is, the dictates of absolute morality -are impracticable. Legal control, which involves infliction of pain, -alike on those who are restrained and on those who pay the cost of -restraining them, is proved by this fact to be not absolutely moral; -seeing that absolute morality is the regulation of conduct in such way -that pain shall not be inflicted. {153} - -Wherefore, if it be admitted that legal control is at present -indispensable, it must be admitted that these _a priori_ rules cannot -be immediately carried out. And hence it follows that we must adapt -our laws and actions to the existing character of mankind—that we must -estimate the good or evil resulting from this or that arrangement, -and so reach, _a posteriori_, a code fitted for the time being. In -short, we must fall back on expediency. Now, each of these positions -being valid, it is a grave mistake to adopt either to the exclusion -of the other. They should be respectively appealed to for mutual -qualification. Progressing civilization, which is of necessity a -succession of compromises between old and new, requires a perpetual -readjustment of the compromise between the ideal and the practicable -in social arrangements: to which end both elements of the compromise -must be kept in view. If it is true that pure rectitude prescribes a -system of things too good for men as they are; it is not less true -that mere expediency does not of itself tend to establish a system -of things any better than that which exists. While absolute morality -owes to expediency the checks which prevent it from rushing into -utopian absurdities; expediency is indebted to absolute morality for -all stimulus to improvement. Granted that we are chiefly interested in -ascertaining what is _relatively right_; it still follows that we must -first consider what is _absolutely right_; since the one conception -presupposes the other. That is to say, though we must ever aim to do -what is best for the present times, yet we must ever bear in mind what -is abstractedly best; so that the changes we make may be _towards_ it, -and not _away_ from it. Unattainable as pure rectitude is, and will -long continue to be, we must keep an eye on the compass which tells -us whereabout it lies; or we shall otherwise wander in the opposite -direction. - -Illustrations from our recent history will show very conclusively, -we think, how important it is that {154} considerations of abstract -expediency should be joined with those of concrete expediency—how -immense would be the evils avoided and the benefits gained, if _a -posteriori_ morality were enlightened by _a priori_ morality. Take -first the case of free trade. Until recently it has been the practice -of all nations, artificially to restrict their commerce with other -nations. Throughout past centuries this course was defensible as -conducing to safety. Without saying that law-givers had the motive of -promoting industrial independence, it may yet be said that in ages when -national quarrels were perpetual, it would not have been well for any -people to be much dependent on others for necessary commodities. But -though there is this ground for asserting that commercial restrictions -were once expedient, it cannot be asserted that our corn-laws were thus -justified: it cannot be alleged that the penalties and prohibitions -which, until lately, hampered our trade, were needful to prevent us -from being industrially disabled by a war. Protection in all its forms -was established and maintained for other reasons of expediency; and -the reasons for which it was opposed and finally abolished were also -those of expediency. Calculations of immediate and remote consequences -were set forth by the antagonist parties; and the mode of decision was -by a balancing of these various anticipated consequences. And what, -after generations of mischievous legislation and long years of arduous -struggle, was the conclusion arrived at, and since justified by the -results? Exactly the one which abstract equity plainly teaches. The -moral course proves to be the politic course. That ability to exercise -the faculties, the total denial of which causes death—that liberty to -pursue the objects of desire, without which there cannot be complete -life—that freedom of action which his nature prompts every individual -to claim, and on which equity puts no limit save the like freedom -of action of other individuals, involves, among other corollaries, -freedom of exchange. {155} Government which, in protecting citizens -from murder, robbery, assault or other aggression, shows us that it -has the all-essential function of securing to each this free exercise -of faculties within the assigned limits, is called on, in the due -discharge of its function, to maintain this freedom of exchange; -and cannot abrogate it without reversing its function, and becoming -aggressor instead of protector. Thus, absolute morality would all along -have shown in what direction legislation should tend. Qualified only by -the consideration that in turbulent times they must not be so carried -out as to endanger national life, through suspensions in the supply of -necessaries, these _a priori_ principles would have guided statesmen, -as fast as circumstances allowed, towards the normal condition. We -should have been saved from thousands of needless restrictions. Such -restrictions as were needful would have been abolished as soon as was -safe. An enormous amount of suffering would have been prevented. That -prosperity which we now enjoy would have commenced much sooner. And -our present condition would have been one of greater power, wealth, -happiness, and morality. - -Our railway-politics furnish another instance. A vast loss of national -capital has been incurred, and great misery has been inflicted, in -consequence of the neglect of a simple principle clearly dictated by -abstract justice. Whoso enters into a contract, though he is bound to -do that which the contract specifies, is not bound to do some other -thing which is neither specified nor implied in the contract. We do -not appeal to moral perception only in warranty of this position. It -is one deducible from that first principle of equity which, as above -pointed out, follows from the laws of life, individual and social; -and it is one which the accumulated experience of mankind has so -uniformly justified, that it has become a tacitly-recognized doctrine -of civil law among all nations. In cases of disputes about agreements, -the question in each case brought to trial {156} always is, whether -the terms bind one or other of the contracting parties to do this -or that; and it is assumed, as a matter of course, that neither of -them can be called upon to do more than is expressed or understood -in the agreement. Now this almost self-evident principle has been -wholly ignored in railway-legislation. A shareholder, uniting with -others to make and work a line from one specified place to another -specified place, binds himself to pay certain sums in furtherance of -the project; and, by implication, agrees to yield to the majority -of his fellow-shareholders on all questions raised respecting the -execution of this project. But he commits himself no further than -this. He is not required to obey the majority concerning things -not named in the deed of incorporation. Though with respect to the -specified railway he has bound himself, he has not bound himself, -with respect to any _un_specified railway which his co-proprietors -may wish to make; and he cannot be committed to such unspecified -railway by a vote of the majority. But this distinction has been -wholly passed over. Shareholders in joint-stock undertakings have been -perpetually involved in other undertakings subsequently decided on by -their fellow-shareholders; and, against their will, have had their -properties heavily mortgaged for the execution of projects that were -ruinously unremunerative. In every case the proprietary contract for -making a particular railway, has been dealt with as though it were a -proprietary contract for making railways! Not only have directors thus -misinterpreted it, and not only have shareholders allowed it to be -thus misinterpreted, but legislators have so little understood their -duties as to have endorsed the misinterpretation. To this simple cause -has been owing most of our railway-companies’ disasters. Abnormal -facilities for getting capital have caused reckless competition in -extension-making and branch-making, and in needless opposition lines, -got up to be purchased by the companies they threatened. Had each new -scheme been {157} executed by an independent body of shareholders, -without any guarantee from another company—without any capital raised -by preference shares—there would have been little or none of the -ruinous expenditure we have seen. Something like a hundred millions of -money would have been saved, and thousands of families preserved from -misery, had the proprietary-contract been enforced according to the -dictates of pure equity. - -These cases go far to justify our position. The general reasons we -gave for thinking that the ethics of immediate experience must be -enlightened by abstract ethics, to ensure correct guidance, are -strongly enforced by these instances of the gigantic errors which are -made when the dictates of abstract ethics are ignored. The complex -estimates of relative expediency, cannot do without the clue furnished -by the simple deductions of absolute expediency. - - * * * * * - -We propose to study the treatment of criminals from this point of view. -And first, let us set down those temporary requirements which have -hitherto prevented, and do still, in part, prevent the establishment of -a just system. - -The same average popular character which necessitates a rigorous form -of government, necessitates also a rigorous criminal code. Institutions -are ultimately determined by the natures of the citizens living under -them; and when these citizens are too impulsive or selfish for free -institutions, and unscrupulous enough to supply the requisite staff -of agents for maintaining tyrannical institutions, they are proved -by implication to be citizens who will tolerate, and will probably -need, severe forms of punishment. The same mental defect underlies -both results. The character which originates and sustains political -liberty, is a character swayed by remote considerations—a character -not at the mercy of immediate temptations, but one which contemplates -the consequences likely to arise in future. We have only to remember -that, among ourselves, a political encroachment is {158} resisted, -not because of any direct evil it inflicts, but because of the evils -likely hereafter to flow from it, to see how the maintenance of -freedom presupposes the habit of weighing distant results, and being -chiefly guided by them. Conversely, it is manifest that men who dwell -only in the present, the special, the concrete—who do not realize -with clearness the contingencies of the future—will put little value -on those rights of citizenship which profit them nothing, save as a -means of warding off unspecified evils that can possibly affect them -only at a distant time in an obscure way. Well, is it not obvious -that the forms of mind thus contrasted, will require different kinds -of punishment for misconduct? To restrain the second, there must be -penalties which are severe, prompt, and specific enough to be vividly -conceived; while the first may be deterred by penalties which are less -definite, less intense, less immediate. For the more civilized, dread -of a long, monotonous, criminal discipline may suffice; but for the -less civilized there must be inflictions of bodily pain and death. Thus -we hold, not only that a social condition which generates a harsh form -of government, also generates harsh retributions; but also, that in -such a social condition, harsh retributions are requisite. And there -are facts which illustrate this. Witness the case of one of the Italian -states, in which the punishment of death having been abolished in -conformity with the wish of a dying duchess, assassinations increased -so greatly that it became needful to re-establish it. - -Besides the fact that in the less-advanced stages of civilization, a -bloody penal code is both a natural product of the time and a needful -restraint for the time, there must be noted the fact that a more -equitable and humane code could not be carried out from want of fit -administration. To deal with delinquents not by short and sharp methods -but by such methods as abstract justice indicates, implies a class of -agencies too complicated to exist in a low society, {159} and a class -of officers more trustworthy than can be found among its citizens. -Especially would the equitable treatment of criminals be impracticable -where the amount of crime was very great. The number to be dealt with -would be unmanageable. Some simpler method of purging the community of -its worst members becomes, under such circumstances, a necessity. - -The inapplicability of an absolutely just system of penal discipline to -a barbarous or semi-barbarous people, is thus, we think, as manifest -as is the inapplicability of an absolutely just form of government -to them. And in the same manner that, for some nations, a despotism -is warranted; so may a criminal code of the extremest severity be -warranted. In either case the defence is, that the institution is -as good as the average character of the people permits—that less -stringent institutions would entail social confusion and its far more -severe evils. Bad as a despotism is, yet where anarchy is the only -alternative, we must say that, as anarchy would bring greater suffering -than despotism brings, despotism is justified by the circumstances. And -similarly, however inequitable in the abstract were the beheadings, -crucifyings, and burnings of ruder ages, yet, if it be shown that, -without penalties thus extreme, the safety of society could not -have been insured—if, in their absence, the increase of crime would -have inflicted a larger total of evil, and that, too, on peaceable -members of the community; then it follows that morality warranted this -severity. In the one case, as in the other, we must say that, measured -by the quantities of pain respectively inflicted and avoided, the -course pursued was the _least wrong_; and to say that it was the least -wrong is to say that it was _relatively right_. - -But while we thus admit all that can be alleged by the defenders -of Draconian codes, we go on to assert a correlative truth which -they overlook. While fully recognizing the evils that must follow -the premature establishment of a {160} penal system dictated by -pure equity, let us not overlook the evils that have arisen from -altogether rejecting the guidance of pure equity. Let us note how -terribly the one-sided regard for immediate expediency has retarded the -ameliorations from time to time demanded. - -Consider, for instance, the immense amount of suffering and -demoralization needlessly caused by our severe laws in the last -century. Those many merciless penalties which Romilly and others -succeeded in abolishing, were as little justified by social necessities -as by abstract morality. Experience has since proved that to hang men -for theft, was not requisite for the security of property. And that -such a measure was opposed to pure equity, scarcely needs saying. -Evidently, had considerations of relative expediency been all along -qualified by considerations of absolute expediency, these severities, -with their many concomitant evils, would have ceased long before they -did. - -Again, the dreadful misery, demoralization, and crime, generated by the -harsh treatment of transported convicts, would have been impossible, -had our authorities considered what seemed just as well as what seemed -politic. There would never have been inflicted on transports the -shocking cruelties proved before the Parliamentary Committee of 1848. -We should not have had men condemned to the horrors of the chain-gang -even for insolent looks. There could not have been perpetrated such -an atrocity as that of locking up chain-gangs “from sunset to sunrise -in the caravans or boxes used for this description of prisons, which -hold from twenty to twenty-eight men, but in which the whole number -_can neither stand upright nor sit down at the same time, except with -their legs at right angles to their bodies_.” Men would never have been -doomed to tortures extreme enough to produce despair, desperation, -and further crimes—tortures under which “a man’s heart is taken -from him, and there is given to him the heart of a {161} beast,” as -said by one of these law-produced criminals before his execution. We -should not have been told, as by a chief justice of Australia, that -the discipline was “carried to an extent of _suffering, such as to -render death desirable, and to induce many prisoners to seek it under -its most appalling aspects_.” Sir G. Arthur would not have had to -testify that, in Van Diemen’s Land, convicts committed murder for the -purpose “_of being sent up to Hobart Town for trial, though aware that -in the ordinary course they must be executed within a fortnight after -arrival_;” nor would tears of commiseration have been drawn from Judge -Burton’s eyes, by one of these cruelly-used transports placed before -him for sentence. In brief, had abstract equity joined with immediate -expediency in devising convict discipline, not only would untold -suffering, degradation, and mortality have been prevented; but those -who were responsible for atrocities like those above-named, would not -themselves be chargeable with crime, as we now hold them to be. - -Probably we shall meet with a less general assent when, as a further -benefit which the guidance of absolute morality would have conferred, -we instance the prevention of such methods as those in use at -Pentonville. How the silent and the separate systems are negatived by -abstract justice we shall by and by see. For the present, the position -we have to defend is that these systems are bad. That but a moderate -per-centage of the prisoners subjected to them are re-convicted, may be -true; though, considering the fallaciousness of negative statistics, -this by no means proves that those not re-convicted are reformed. But -the question is not solely how many prisoners are prevented from again -committing crime? A further question is, how many of them have become -self-supporting members of society? It is notorious that this prolonged -denial of human intercourse not unfrequently produces insanity or -imbecility; and on those who remain sane, its depressing influence -must almost {162} of necessity entail serious debility, bodily and -mental.[7] Indeed, we think it probable that much of the apparent -success is due to an enfeeblement which incapacitates for crime as -much as for industry. Our own objection to such methods, however, has -always been, that their effect on the moral nature is the reverse of -that required. Crime is anti-social—is prompted by self-regarding -feelings and checked by social feelings. The natural prompter of right -conduct to others, and the natural opponent of misconduct to others, -is sympathy; for out of sympathy grow both the kindly emotions, and -that sentiment of justice which restrains us from aggressions. Well, -this sympathy, which makes society possible, is cultivated by social -intercourse. By habitual participation in the pleasures of others, the -faculty is strengthened; and whatever prevents this participation, -weakens it. Hence, therefore, shutting up prisoners within themselves, -or forbidding all interchange of feeling, inevitably deadens such -sympathies as they have; and so tends rather to diminish than to -increase the moral check to transgression. This _a priori_ conviction, -which we have long entertained, we now find confirmed by facts. Captain -Maconochie states, as a result of observation, that a long course -of separation so fosters the self-regarding desires, and so weakens -the sympathies, as to make even well-disposed men very unfit to bear -the little trials of domestic life on their return to their homes. -Thus there is good reason to think that, while silence and solitude -may cow the spirit or undermine the energies, it cannot produce true -reformation. - - [7] Mr. Baillie-Cochrane says:—“The officers at the Dartmoor prison - inform me that the prisoners who arrive there even after one year’s - confinement at Pentonville, may be distinguished from the others - by their miserable downcast look. In most instances their brain is - affected; and they are unable to give satisfactory replies to the - simplest questions.” - -“But how can it be shown,” asks the reader, “that these injudicious -penal systems are inequitable? Where is the method which will enable us -to say what kind of {163} punishment is justified by absolute morality, -and what kind is not?” These questions we will now attempt to answer. - - * * * * * - -So long as the individual citizen pursues the objects of his desires -without diminishing the equal freedom of any of his fellow citizens -to do the like, society cannot equitably interfere with him. While -he contents himself with the benefits won by his own energies, and -attempts not to intercept any of the benefits similarly won for -themselves by others, or any of those which Nature has conferred on -them; no legal penalties can rightly be inflicted on him. But when, -by murder, theft, assault, arson, or minor aggression, he has broken -through these limits, the community is warranted in putting him under -restraint. On the relative propriety of doing this we need say nothing: -it is demonstrated by social experience. Its absolute propriety not -being so manifest, we will proceed to point out how it is deducible -from the ultimate laws of life. - -Life depends on the maintenance of certain natural relations between -actions and their results. If respiration does not supply oxygen to -the blood, as in the normal order of things it should do, but instead -supplies carbonic acid, death quickly results. If the swallowing of -food is not followed by the usual organic sequences—the contractions -of the stomach, and the pouring into it of gastric juice—indigestion -arises, and the energies flag. If active movements of the limbs fail -in exciting the heart to supply blood more rapidly, or if the extra -current propelled by the heart is greatly retarded by an aneurism -through which it passes, speedy prostration ensues. In which, and -endless like cases, we see that bodily life depends on the maintenance -of the established connexions between physiological causes and their -consequences. Among the intellectual processes, the same thing -holds. If certain impressions made on the senses do not induce the -appropriate muscular adjustments—if the brain is clouded with wine, or -consciousness is {164} pre-occupied, or the perceptions are naturally -obtuse; the movements are so ill-controlled that accidents happen. -Where, as in paralytic patients, the natural link between mental -impressions and the appropriate motions is broken, the life is greatly -vitiated. And when, as during insanity, evidence fitted, according to -the usual order of thought, to produce certain convictions, produces -convictions of an opposite kind, conduct is reduced to chaos, and -life endangered—perhaps cut short. So it is with more involved -phenomena. Just as we here find that, throughout both its physical -and intellectual divisions, healthful life implies continuance of the -established successions of antecedents and consequents among our vital -actions; so shall we find it throughout the moral division. In our -dealings with external Nature and our fellow men, there are relations -of cause and effect, on the maintenance of which, as on the maintenance -of the internal ones above instanced, life depends. Conduct of this -or that kind tends to bring results which are pleasurable or painful; -and the welfare of every one demands that these natural sequences -shall not be interfered with. To speak more specifically, we see that -in the order of Nature, inactivity entails want. There is a connexion -between exertion and the fulfilment of certain imperative needs. If, -now, this connexion is broken—if labour of body or mind has been gone -through, and the produce of the labour is intercepted by another, -one of the conditions to complete life is unfulfilled. The defrauded -person is physically injured by deprivation of the wherewithal to -make good the wear and tear he had undergone; and if the robbery be -continually repeated, he must die. Where all men are dishonest a -reflex evil results. When, throughout a society, the normal relation -between work and benefit is habitually broken, not only are the lives -of many directly undermined, but the lives of all are indirectly -undermined by destruction of the motive for work, and by the consequent -poverty. Thus, to demand that there shall {165} be no breach of the -natural sequence between labour and the rewards obtained by labour, -is to demand that the laws of life shall be respected. What we call -the right of property, is simply a corollary from certain necessary -conditions to complete living. It is a formulated recognition of the -relation between expenditure of force and the need for force-sustaining -objects obtainable by the expenditure of force—a recognition in full -of a relation which cannot be wholly ignored without causing death. -And all else regarded as individual rights, are indirect implications -of like nature—similarly insist on certain relations between man and -man, as conditions without which there cannot be fully maintained that -correspondence between inner and outer actions which constitutes life. -It is not, as some moralists and most lawyers absurdly assert, that -such rights are derived from human legislation; nor is it, as asserted -by others with absurdity almost as great, that there is no basis for -them save the inductions of immediate expediency. These rights are -deducible from the established connexions between our acts and their -results. As certainly as there are conditions which must be fulfilled -before life can exist, so certainly are there conditions which must be -fulfilled before complete life can be enjoyed by the respective members -of a society; and those which we call the requirements of justice, -simply answer to the most important of such conditions. - -Hence, if life is our legitimate aim—if absolute morality means, as it -does, conformity to the laws of complete life; then absolute morality -warrants the restraint of those who force their fellow-citizens into -non-conformity. Our justification is, that life is impossible save -under certain conditions; that it cannot be entire unless these -conditions are maintained unbroken; and that if it is right for us to -live completely, it is right for us to remove any one who either breaks -these conditions in our persons or constrains us to break them. - -Such being the basis of our right to coerce the criminal, {166} there -next come the questions:—What is the legitimate extent of the coercion? -Can we from this source derive authority for certain demands on him? -and are there any similarly-derived limits to such demands? To both -these questions there are affirmative answers. - -First, we find authority for demanding restitution or compensation. -Conformity to the laws of life being the substance of absolute -morality; and the social regulations which absolute morality dictates, -being those which make this conformity possible; it is a manifest -corollary that whoever breaks these regulations, may be justly required -to undo, as far as possible, the wrong he has done. The object being to -maintain the conditions essential to complete life, it follows that, -when one of these conditions has been transgressed, the first thing -to be required of the transgressor is, that he shall put matters as -nearly as may be in the state they previously were. The property stolen -shall be restored, or an equivalent for it given. Any one injured by an -assault shall have his surgeon’s bill paid, compensation for lost time, -and also for the suffering he has borne. And similarly in all cases of -infringed rights. - -Second, we are warranted by this highest authority in restricting -the actions of the offender as much as is needful to prevent further -aggressions. Any citizen who will not allow others to fulfil the -conditions to complete life—who takes away the produce of his -neighbour’s labour, or deducts from that bodily health and comfort -which his neighbour has earned by good conduct, must be forced to -desist. And society is warranted in using such force as may be found -requisite. Equity justifies the fellow-citizens of such a man in -limiting the free exercise of his faculties to the extent necessary for -preserving the free exercise of their own faculties. - -But now mark that absolute morality countenances no restraint beyond -this—no gratuitous inflictions of pain, no revengeful penalties. The -conditions it insists on being such as make possible complete life, we -cannot rightly abrogate {167} these conditions, even in the person -of a criminal, further than is needful to prevent greater abrogations -of them. Freedom to fulfil the laws of life being the thing insisted -on, to the end that the sum of life may be the greatest possible, it -follows that the life of the offender must be taken into account as an -item in this sum. We must permit him to live as completely as consists -with social safety. It is commonly said that the criminal loses all his -rights. This may be so according to law, but it is not so according -to justice. Such portion of them only is justly taken away, as cannot -be left to him without danger to the community. Those exercises -of faculty, and consequent benefits, which are possible under the -necessary restraint, cannot be equitably denied. If any do not think it -proper that we should be thus regardful of an offender’s claims, let -them consider for a moment the lesson which Nature reads us. We do not -find that those processes of life by which bodily health is maintained, -are miraculously suspended in the person of the prisoner. In him, as in -others, good digestion waits on appetite. If he is wounded, the healing -process goes on with the usual rapidity. When he is ill, as much effect -is expected from the _vis medicatrix naturæ_ by the medical officer, as -in one who has not transgressed. His perceptions yield him guidance as -they did before he was imprisoned; and he is capable of much the same -pleasurable emotions. When we thus see that the beneficent arrangements -of things, are no less uniformly sustained in his person than in that -of another, are we not bound to respect in his person such of these -beneficent arrangements as we have power to thwart? are we not bound -to interfere with the laws of life no further than is needful? If -any still hesitate, there is another lesson for them having the same -implication. Whoso disregards any one of those simpler laws of life -out of which, as we have shown, the moral laws originate, has to bear -the evil necessitated by the transgression—just that, and no more. If, -careless of your footing, you fall, the {168} consequent bruise, and -possibly some constitutional disturbance entailed by it, are all you -have to suffer: there is not the further gratuitous penalty of a cold -or an attack of small-pox. If you have eaten something which you know -to be indigestible, there follow certain visceral derangements and -their concomitants; but, for your physical sin, there is no vengeance -in the shape of a broken bone or a spinal affection. The punishments, -in these and other cases, are neither greater nor less than flow from -the natural workings of things. Well, should we not with all humility -follow this example? Must we not infer that, similarly, a citizen who -has transgressed the conditions to social welfare, ought to bear the -needful penalties and restraints, but nothing beyond these? Is it not -clear that neither by absolute morality nor by Nature’s precedents, are -we warranted in visiting on him any pains besides those involved in -remedying, as far as may be, the evil committed, and preventing other -such evils? To us it seems manifest that if society exceeds this, it -trespasses against the criminal. - -Those who think that we are tending towards a mischievous leniency, -will find that the next step in our argument disposes of any such -objection; for while equity forbids us to punish the criminal otherwise -than by making him suffer the natural consequences, these, when -rigorously enforced, are quite severe enough. - -Society having proved in the high court of absolute morality, that -the offender must make restitution or compensation, and submit to -the restraints requisite for public safety; and the offender having -obtained from the same court the decision, that these restraints shall -be no greater than the specified end requires; society thereupon makes -the further demand that, while living in durance, the offender shall -maintain himself; and this demand absolute morality at once endorses. -The community having taken measures for self-preservation, and having -inflicted on the aggressor no punishments or disabilities beyond those -{169} involved in these necessary measures, is no further concerned in -the matter. With the support of the prisoner it has no more to do than -before he committed the crime. It is the business of society simply -to defend itself against him; and it is his business to live as well -as he can under the restrictions society is obliged to impose on him. -All he may rightly ask is, to have the opportunity of labouring, and -exchanging the produce of his labour for necessaries; and this claim -is a corollary from that already admitted, that his actions shall not -be restricted more than is needful for the public safety. With these -opportunities, however, he must make the best of his position. He must -be content to gain as good a livelihood as the circumstances permit; -and if he cannot employ his powers to the best advantage, if he has -to work hard and fare scantily, these evils must be counted among the -penalties of his transgression—the natural reactions of his wrong -action. - -On this self-maintenance equity sternly insists. The reasons which -justify his imprisonment, equally justify the refusal to let him have -any other sustenance than he earns. He is confined that he may not -further interfere with the complete living of his fellow-citizens—that -he may not again intercept any of those benefits which the order -of Nature has conferred on them, or any of those procured by their -exertions and careful conduct. And he is required to support himself -for exactly the same reasons—that he may not interfere with others’ -complete living—that he may not intercept the benefits they earn. For, -if otherwise, whence must come his food and clothing? Directly from -the public stores, and indirectly from the pockets of all tax-payers. -And what is the property thus abstracted from tax-payers? It is the -equivalent of so much benefit earned by labour. It is so much means -to complete living. And when this property is taken away—when the -toil has been gone through, and the produce of it is intercepted by -the tax-gatherer on behalf of the convict; the conditions to {170} -complete life are broken: the convict commits by deputy a further -aggression on his fellow-citizens. It matters not that such abstraction -is made according to law. We are here considering the _dictum_ of that -authority which is above law; and which law ought to enforce. And this -_dictum_ we find to be, that each individual shall take the evils and -benefits of his own conduct—that the offender must suffer, as far -as is possible, all pains entailed by his offence; and must not be -allowed to visit part of them on the unoffending. Unless the criminal -maintains himself, he indirectly commits an additional crime. Instead -of repairing the breach he has made in the conditions to complete -social life, he widens this breach. He inflicts on others that very -injury which the restraint imposed on him was to prevent. As certainly, -therefore, as such restraint is warranted by absolute morality; so -certainly does absolute morality warrant us in refusing him gratuitous -support. - -These, then, are the requirements of an equitable penal system:—That -the aggressor shall make restitution or compensation; that he shall -be placed under the restraints requisite for social security; that -neither any restraints beyond these, nor any gratuitous penalties, -shall be inflicted on him; and that while living in confinement, or -under surveillance, he shall maintain himself. We are not prepared -to say that such dictates may at once be fully obeyed. Already we -have admitted that the deductions of absolute expediency must, in -our transition state, be qualified by the inductions of relative -expediency. We have pointed out that in rude times, the severest -criminal codes were morally justified if, without them, crime could -not be repressed and social safety insured. Whence, by implication, it -follows that our present methods of treating criminals are warranted, -if they come as near to those of pure equity as circumstances permit. -That any system now feasible must fall short of the ideal sketched out, -is probable. It may be that the enforcement of restitution or {171} -compensation, is in many cases impracticable. It may be that on some -convicts, penalties more severe than abstract justice demands must be -inflicted. On the other hand, it may be that entire self-maintenance -would entail on the wholly-unskilled criminal, a punishment too -grievous to be borne. But any such shortcomings do not affect our -argument. All we insist on is, that the commands of absolute morality -shall be obeyed as far as possible—that we shall fulfil them up to -those limits beyond which experiment proves that more evil than good -results—that, ever keeping in view the ideal, each change we make shall -be towards its realization. - - * * * * * - -But now we are prepared to say, that this ideal may be in great part -realized at the present time. Experience in various countries, under -various circumstances, has shown that immense benefits result from -substituting for the old penal systems, systems that approximate to -that above indicated. Germany, France, Spain, England, Ireland, and -Australia, send statements to the effect that the most successful -criminal discipline, is a discipline of decreased restraints and -increased self-dependence. And the evidence proves the success to -be greatest, where the nearest approach is made to the arrangements -prescribed by abstract justice. We shall find the facts striking: some -of them even astonishing. - -When M. Obermair was appointed Governor of the Munich State-Prison― - - “He found from 600 to 700 prisoners in the jail, in the worst state - of insubordination, and whose excesses, he was told, defied the - harshest and most stringent discipline; the prisoners were all chained - together, and attached to each chain was an iron weight, which the - strongest found difficulty in dragging along. The guard consisted of - about 100 soldiers, who did duty not only at the gates and around - the walls, but also in the passages, and even in the workshops and - dormitories; and, strangest of all protections against the possibility - of an outbreak or individual invasion, twenty to thirty large savage - dogs, of the bloodhound breed, were let loose at night in the passages - and courts to keep their watch and ward. {172} According to his - account the place was a perfect Pandemonium, comprising, within the - limits of a few acres, the worst passions, the most slavish vices, and - the most heartless tyranny.” - -M. Obermair gradually relaxed this harsh system. He greatly lightened -the chains; and would, if allowed, have thrown them aside. The dogs, -and nearly all the guards, were dispensed with; and the prisoners -were treated with such consideration as to gain their confidence. Mr. -Baillie-Cochrane, who visited the place in 1852, says the prison-gates -were - - “Wide open, without any sentinel at the door, and a guard of - only twenty men idling away their time in a guard-room off the - entrance-hall. . . . . None of the doors were provided with bolts - and bars; the only security was an ordinary lock, and as in most of - the rooms the key was not turned, there was no obstacle to the men - walking into the passage. . . . . Over each workshop some of the - prisoners with the best characters were appointed overseers, and M. - Obermair assured me that if a prisoner transgressed a regulation, his - companions generally told him, ‘Es ist verboten’ (it is forbidden), - and it rarely happened that he did not yield to the opinion of his - fellow-prisoners. . . . . Within the prison walls every description - of work is carried on; the prisoners, divided into different gangs - and supplied with instruments and tools, make their own clothes, - repair their own prison walls, and forge their own chains, producing - various specimens of manufacture which are turned to most excellent - account—the result being, that each prisoner, by occupation and - industry, maintains himself; the surplus of his earnings being given - him on his emancipation, avoids his being parted with in a state of - destitution.” - -And further, the prisoners “associate in their leisure hours, without -any check on their intercourse, but at the same time under an efficient -system of observation and control”—an arrangement by which, after many -years’ experience, M. Obermair asserts that morality is increased. - -And now what has been the result? During his six-years’ government -of the Kaiserslauten (the first prison under his care), M. Obermair -discharged 132 criminals, of which number 123 have since conducted -themselves well, and 7 have been recommitted. From the Munich prison, -between 1843 and 1845, 298 prisoners were discharged. - -Of these, 246 have been restored, improved, to society. Those whose -characters are doubtful, but have not been {173} remanded for any -criminal act, 26; again under examination, 4; punished by the police, -6; remanded, 8; died, 8. This statement, says M. Obermair, “is based -on irrefutable evidence.” And to the reality of his success, we have -the testimony not only of Mr. Baillie-Cochrane, but of the Rev. C. H. -Townsend, Mr. George Combe, Mr. Matthew Hill, and Sir John Milbanke, -our Envoy at the Court of Bavaria. - -Take, again, the case of Mettray. Every one has heard something about -Mettray, and its success as a reformatory of juvenile criminals. -Observe how nearly the successful system there pursued, conforms to the -abstract principles above enunciated. - -This “Colonie Agricole” is “without wall or enclosure of any sort, for -the purposes at least of confinement;” and except when for some fault a -child is temporarily put in a cell, there is no physical restraint. The -life is industrial: the boys being brought up to trades or agriculture -as they prefer; and all the domestic services being discharged by them. -“They all do their work by the _piece_;” are rewarded according to -the judgment of the _chef d’atelier_; and, a portion being placed at -the disposal of the child, the rest is deposited in the savings-bank -at Tours. “A boy in receipt of any money has to make payment for any -part of his dress which requires to be renewed before the stated -time arrives at which fresh clothing is given out; . . . . . on the -other hand, if his clothes are found in good condition at such time, -he receives the benefit of it by having the money which would have -been laid out in clothes placed to his account. Two hours per day are -allowed for play. Part-singing is taught; and if a boy shows any turn -for drawing he receives a little instruction in it. . . . . . Some -of the boys also are formed into a fire-brigade, and have rendered -at times substantial assistance in the neighbourhood.” In which few -leading facts do we not clearly see that the essential peculiarities -{174} are—no more restraint than is absolutely necessary; self-support -as far as possible; extra benefits earned by extra labour; and as much -gratifying exercise of faculties as the circumstances permit. - -The “intermediate system” which has of late been carried out with much -success in Ireland, exemplifies, in a degree, the practicability of -the same general principles. Under this system, prisoners working as -artizans are allowed “such a modified degree of liberty as shall in -various ways prove their power of self-denial and self-dependence, in -a manner wholly incompatible with the rigid restraints of an ordinary -prison.” An offender who has passed through this stage of probation, -is tested by employment “on messenger’s duties daily throughout the -city, and also in special works required by the department outside the -prison-walls. The performance of the duties of messengers entails their -being out until seven or eight in the evening, unaccompanied by an -officer; and although a small portion of their earnings is allowed them -weekly, and they would have the power of compromising themselves if -so disposed, not one instance has as yet taken place of the slightest -irregularity, or even the want of punctuality, although careful checks -have been contrived to detect either, should it occur.” A proportion -of their prison-earnings is set aside for them in a savings-bank; and -to this they are encouraged to add during their period of partial -freedom, with a view to subsequent emigration. The results are:—“In the -penitentiary the greatest possible order and regularity, and an amount -of willing industry performed that cannot be obtained in the prisons.” -Employers to whom prisoners are eventually transferred, “have on many -occasions returned for others in consequence of the good conduct of -those at first engaged.” And according to Captain Crofton’s pamphlet -of 1857, out of 112 conditionally discharged during the previous year, -85 were going on satisfactorily, “9 have been discharged {175} too -recently to be spoken of, and 5 have had their licences revoked. As -to the remaining 13, it has been found impossible to obtain accurate -information, but it is supposed that 5 have left the country, and 3 -enlisted.” - -The “mark system” of Captain Maconochie, is one which more fully -carries out the principle of self-maintenance, under restraints -no greater than are needful for safety. The plan is to join with -time-sentences certain labour-sentences—specific tasks to be worked out -by the convicts. “No rations, or other supplies of any kind, whether -of food, bedding, clothing, or even education or indulgences, to be -given _gratuitously_, but all to be made exchangeable, at fixed rates, -at the prisoners’ own option, for marks previously earned; it being -understood, at the same time, that only those shall count towards -liberation which remain over and above all so exchanged; the prisoners -being thus caused to depend for every necessary on their own good -conduct; and their prison-offences to be in like manner restrained by -corresponding fines imposed according to the measures of each.” The -use of marks, which thus play the part of money, was first introduced -by Captain Maconochie in Norfolk Island. Describing the working of his -method, he says― - - “First, it gave me wages and then fines. One gave me willing and - progressively-skilled labourers, and the other saved me from the - necessity of imposing brutal and demoralizing punishments. . . . . - My form of money next gave me school fees. I was most anxious to - encourage education among my men, but as I refused them rations - gratuitously, so I would not give them schooling either, but compelled - them to yield marks to acquire it. . . . . I never saw adult schools - make such rapid progress. . . . . My form of money next gave me - bailbonds in cases of minor or even great offences; a period of close - imprisonment being wholly or in part remitted in consideration of a - sufficient number of other prisoners of good character becoming bound, - under a penalty, for the improved conduct of the culprit.” - -Even in the establishment of a sick-club and a burial-club, Captain -Maconochie applied “the inflexible principle of giving nothing for -nothing.” That is to say, here, as throughout, he made the discipline -of the prisoners as {176} much like the discipline of ordinary life -as possible: let them experience just such good or evil as naturally -flowed from their conduct—a principle which he rightly asserts is -the only true one. What were the effects? The extreme debasement of -Norfolk Island convicts was notorious; and on a preceding page we have -described some of the horrible sufferings inflicted on them. Yet, -starting with these most demoralized of criminals, Captain Maconochie -obtained highly-favourable results. “In four years,” he says, “I -discharged 920 doubly-convicted men to Sydney, of whom only 20, or -2 per cent., had been re-convicted up to January, 1845;” while, at -the same time, the ordinary proportion of re-convicted Van Diemen’s -Land men, otherwise trained, was 9 per cent. “Captain Maconochie,” -writes Mr. Harris in his _Settlers and Convicts_, “did more for the -reformation of these unhappy wretches, and amelioration of their -physical circumstances, than the most sanguine practical mind could -beforehand have ventured even to hope.” Another witness says—“a -reformation far greater than has been hitherto effected in any body -of men by any system, either before or after yours, has taken place -in them.” “As pastor of the island, and for two years a magistrate, -I can prove that at no period was there so little crime,” writes the -Rev. B. Naylor. And Thomas H. Dixon, Chief Superintendent of Convicts -in Western Australia, who partially introduced the system there in -1856, asserts that not only was the amount of work done under it -extraordinary, but that “even although the characters of some of the -party were by no means good previously (many of them being men whose -licences had been revoked in England), yet the transformation which -in this and all other respects they underwent, was very remarkable -indeed.” If such were the results, when the method was imperfectly -carried out (for the Government all along refused to give any fixed -value to the marks as a means to liberation); what might be {177} -expected if its motives and restraints were allowed their full -influence? - -Perhaps, however, of all evidence, the most conclusive is that afforded -by the prison of Valencia. When, in 1835, Colonel Montesinos was -appointed governor, “the average of re-committals was from 30 to 35 -per cent. per annum—nearly the same that is found in England and other -countries in Europe; but such has been the success of his method, that -for the last three years _there has not been even one re-committal to -it_, and for the ten previous years they did not, on an average, exceed -1 per cent.” And how has this marvellous change been brought about? By -diminished restraint and industrial discipline. The following extracts, -taken irregularly from Mr. Hoskins’s _Account of the Public Prison at -Valencia_, will prove this:― - - “When first the convict enters the establishment he wears chains, but - on his application to the commander they are taken off, unless he has - not conducted himself well.” - - “There are a thousand prisoners, and in the whole establishment I did - not see above three or four guardians to keep them in order. They - say there are only a dozen old soldiers, and not a bar or bolt that - might not be easily broken—apparently not more fastenings than in any - private house.” - - “When a convict enters, he is asked what trade or employment he will - work at or learn, and above forty are open to him. . . . . There - are weavers and spinners of every description; . . . . blacksmiths, - shoemakers, basketmakers, ropemakers, joiners, cabinetmakers, making - handsome mahogany drawers; and they had also a printing machine hard - at work.” - - “The labour of every description for the repair, rebuilding, and - cleaning the establishment, is supplied by the convicts. They were - all most respectful in demeanour, and certainly I never saw such - a good-looking set of prisoners, useful occupations (and other - considerate treatment) having apparently improved their countenances. - . . . . [And besides a] garden for exercise planted with orange trees, - there was also a poultry yard for their amusement, with pheasants and - various other kinds of birds; washing-houses, where they wash their - clothes; and a shop, where they can purchase, if they wish, tobacco - and other little comforts out of one-fourth of the profits of their - labour, which is given to them. Another fourth they are entitled to - when they leave; the other half goes to the establishment, and _often - this is sufficient for all expenses, without any assistance from the - Government_.” - -Thus the highest success, regarded by Mr. Hoskins as {178} “really -a miracle,” is achieved by a system most nearly conforming to those -dictates of absolute morality on which we have insisted. The convicts -are almost, if not quite, self-supporting. They are subject neither -to gratuitous penalties nor unnecessary restrictions. While made to -earn their living, they are allowed to purchase such enjoyments as -consist with their confinement: the avowed principle being, in the -words of Colonel Montesinos, to “give as much latitude to their free -agency as can be made conformable to discipline at all.” Thus they are -(as we found that equity required they should be) allowed to live as -satisfactorily as they can, under such restraints only as are needful -for the safety of their fellow-citizens. - -To us it appears extremely significant that there should be so close -a correspondence between _a priori_ conclusions, and the results -of experiments tried without reference to such conclusions. On the -one hand, neither in the doctrines of pure equity with which we set -out, nor in the corollaries drawn from them, is there any mention of -criminal-reformation: our concern has been solely with the rights of -citizens and convicts in their mutual relations. On the other hand, -those who have carried out the improved penal systems above described, -have had almost solely in view the improvement of the offender: the -just claims of society, and of those who sin against it, having been -left out of the question. Yet the methods which have succeeded so -marvellously in decreasing criminality, are the methods which most -nearly fulfil the requirements of abstract justice. - -That the most equitable system is the one best calculated to reform -the offender, may indeed be deductively shown. The internal experience -of every one must prove to him, that excessive punishment begets, -not penitence, but indignation and hatred. So long as an aggressor -suffers nothing beyond the evils which have naturally resulted from -his misconduct—so long as he perceives that his fellow-men have done -no more than was needful for self-defence—he {179} has no excuse for -anger; and is led to contemplate his crime and his punishment as cause -and effect. But if gratuitous sufferings are inflicted on him, a sense -of injustice is produced. He regards himself as an injured man. He -cherishes animosity against all who have brought this harsh treatment -on him. Glad of any plea for forgetting the injury he has done to -others, he dwells instead on the injury others have done to him. Thus -nurturing a desire for revenge rather than atonement, he re-enters -society not better but worse; and if he does not commit further crimes, -as he often does, he is restrained by the lowest of motives—fear. -Again, this industrial discipline, to which criminals subject -themselves under a purely equitable system, is the discipline they -especially need. Speaking generally, we are all compelled to work by -the necessities of our social existence. For most of us this compulsion -suffices; but there are some whose aversion to labour cannot be thus -overcome. Not labouring, and yet needing sustenance, they are compelled -to obtain it in illegitimate ways; and so bring on themselves the legal -penalties. The criminal class being thus in great part recruited from -the idle class; and the idleness being the source of the criminality; -it follows that a successful discipline must be one which shall cure -the idleness. The natural compulsions to labour having been eluded, the -thing required is that the offender shall be so placed that he cannot -elude them. And this is just what is done under the system we advocate. -Its action is such that men whose natures are ill-adapted to the -conditions of social life, bring themselves into a position in which a -better adaptation is forced on them by the alternative of starvation. -Lastly, let us not forget that this discipline which absolute morality -dictates, is salutary, not only because it is industrial, but because -it is voluntarily industrial. As we have shown, equity requires that -the confined criminal shall be left to maintain himself—that is, shall -be {180} left to work much or little, and to take the consequent -plenitude or hunger. When, therefore, under this sharp but natural -spur, a prisoner begins to exert himself, he does so by his own will. -The process which leads him into habits of labour, is a process by -which his self-control is strengthened; and this is what is wanted -to make him a better citizen. It is to no purpose that you make him -work by external coercion; for when he is again free, and the coercion -absent, he will be what he was before. The coercion must be an internal -one, which he shall carry with him out of prison. It avails little that -you force him to work; he must force himself to work. And this he will -do, only when placed in those conditions which equity dictates. - -Here, then, we find a third order of evidences. Psychology supports -our conclusion. The various experiments above detailed, carried out -by men who had no political or ethical theories to propagate, have -established facts which we find to be quite concordant, not only with -the deductions of absolute morality, but also with the deductions of -mental science. Such a combination of different kinds of proof, cannot, -we think, be resisted. - - * * * * * - -And now let us try whether, by pursuing somewhat further the method -thus far followed, we can see our way to the development of certain -improved systems which are coming into use. - -Equity requires that the restraint of the criminal shall be as great -as is needful for the safety of society; but not greater. In respect -to the _quality_ of the restraint, there is little difficulty in -interpreting this requirement; but there is considerable difficulty in -deciding on the _duration_ of the restraint. No obvious mode presents -itself of finding out how long a transgressor must be held in legal -bondage, to insure society against further injury from him. A longer -period than is necessary, implies an actual injustice to {181} the -offender. A shorter period than is necessary, implies a potential -injustice to society. And yet, without good guidance, one or other of -these extremes is almost sure to be fallen into. - -At present, the lengths of penal sentences are fixed in a manner -that is wholly empirical. For offences defined in certain technical -ways, Acts of Parliament assign transportations and imprisonments, -having durations not greater than so much nor less than so much: these -partially-determined periods being arbitrarily fixed by legislators, -under the promptings of moral feeling. Within the assigned limits -the judge exercises his discretion; and in deciding on the time over -which the restraint shall extend, he is swayed, partly by the special -quality of the offence, partly by the circumstances under which it was -committed, partly by the prisoner’s appearance and behaviour, partly -by the character given to him. And the conclusion he arrives at after -consideration of these data, depends very much on his individual -nature—his moral bias and his theories of human conduct. Thus the mode -of fixing the lengths of penal restraints, is from beginning to end, -little else than guessing. How ill this system of guessing works, we -have abundant proofs. “Justices’ justice,” which illustrates it in -its simplest form, has become a bye-word; and the decisions of higher -criminal court frequently err in the directions of both undue severity -and undue lenity. Daily there occur cases of extremely-trifling -transgressions visited with imprisonments of considerable lengths; and -daily there occur cases in which the punishments are so inadequate, -that the offenders time after time commit new crimes, when time after -time discharged from custody. - -Now the question is whether, in place of this purely empirical method -which answers so ill, equity can guide us to a method which shall more -correctly adjust the period of restraint to the requirement. We believe -it can. We believe that by following out its dictates, we shall arrive -{182} at a method that is in great measure self-acting; and therefore -less liable to be vitiated by errors of individual judgment or feeling. - -We have seen that were the injunctions of absolute morality obeyed, -every transgressor would be compelled to make restitution or -compensation. Throughout a considerable range of cases, this would -itself involve a period of restraint varying in proportion to the -magnitude of the offence. It is true that when the malefactor possessed -ample means, the making restitution or compensation would usually be -to him but a slight punishment. But though in these comparatively few -cases, the regulation would fall short of its object, in so far as its -effect on the criminal was concerned, yet in the immense majority of -cases—in all cases of aggressions committed by the poorer members of -the community—it would act with efficiency. It would involve periods -of detention that would be longer or shorter according as the injury -done was greater or less, and according as the transgressor was idle or -industrious. And although between the injury done by an offender and -his moral turpitude, there is no constant and exact proportion, yet -the greatness of the injury done, affords, on the average of cases, -a better measure of the discipline required, than do the votes of -Parliamentary majorities and the guesses of judges. - -But our guidance does not end here. An endeavour still further to do -that which is strictly equitable, will carry us still nearer to a -correct adjustment of discipline to delinquency. When, having enforced -restitution, we insist on some adequate guarantee that society shall -not again be injured, and accept any guarantee that is sufficient, we -open the way to a self-acting regulator of the period of detention. -Already our laws are in many cases satisfied with securities for future -good behaviour. Already this system manifestly tends to separate the -more vicious from the less vicious; seeing that, on the average, the -difficulty of {183} finding securities is great in proportion as the -character is bad. And what we propose is that this system, now confined -to particular kinds of offences, shall be made general. But let us be -more specific. - -A prisoner on his trial calls witnesses to testify to his previous -character—that is, if his character has been tolerably good. The -evidence thus given weighs more or less in his favour, according to -the respectability of the witnesses, their number, and the nature of -their testimony. Taking into account these several elements, the judge -forms his conception of the delinquent’s general disposition, and -modifies the length of punishment accordingly. Now, may we not fairly -say that if the current opinion respecting a convict’s character could -be brought _directly_ to bear in qualifying the statutory sentence, -instead of being brought _indirectly_ to bear, as at present, it -would be a great improvement? Clearly the estimate made by a judge -from such testimony, must be less accurate than the estimate made by -the prisoner’s neighbours and employers. Clearly, too, the opinion -expressed by such neighbours and employers in the witness-box, is -less trustworthy than an opinion which entails on them serious -responsibility. _The desideratum is, that a prisoner’s sentence shall -be qualified by the judgment of those who have had life-long experience -of him; and that the sincerity of this judgment shall be tested by -their readiness to act on it._ - -But how is this to be done? A very simple method of doing it has -been suggested.[8] When a convict has fulfilled his task of making -restitution or compensation, let it be possible for one or other of -those who have known him, to take him out of confinement, on giving -adequate bail for his good behaviour. Always premising that such -an arrangement shall be possible only under an official permit, to -be withheld if the prisoner’s conduct has been unsatisfactory; and -always premising that the person who offers bail shall {184} be -of good character and means; let it be competent for such a one to -liberate a prisoner by being bound on his behalf for a specific sum, -or by undertaking to make good any injury which he may do to his -fellow-citizens within a specified period. This will doubtless be -thought a startling proposal. We shall, however, find good reasons to -believe it might be safely acted on—nay, we shall find facts proving -the success of a plan that is obviously less safe. - - [8] We owe the suggestion to the late Mr. Octavius H. Smith. - -Under such an arrangement, the liberator and the convict would usually -stand in the relation of employer and employed. Those to be thus -conditionally released, would be ready to work for somewhat lower wages -than were usual in their occupation; and those who became bound for -them, besides having this economy of wages as an incentive, would be -in a manner guaranteed by it against the risk undertaken. In working -for less money, and in being under the surveillance of his master, -the convict would still be undergoing a mitigated discipline. And -while, on the one hand, he would be put on his good behaviour by the -consciousness that his master might at any time cancel the contract -and surrender him back to the authorities, he would, on the other -hand, have a remedy against his master’s harshness, in the option of -returning to prison, and there maintaining himself for the remainder of -his term. - -Observe, next, that the difficulty of obtaining such conditional -release would vary with the gravity of the offence which had been -committed. Men guilty of heinous crimes would remain in prison; for -none would dare to become responsible for their good behaviour. Any one -convicted a second time would remain unbailed for a much longer period -than before; seeing that having once inflicted loss on some one bound -for him, he would not again be so soon offered the opportunity of doing -the like: only after a long period of good behaviour testified to by -prison-officers, would he be likely to get another chance. Conversely, -those whose transgressions were not serious, and who had usually been -{185} well-conducted, would readily obtain recognizances; while to -venial offenders this qualified liberation would come as soon as -they had made restitution. Moreover, when innocent persons had been -pronounced guilty, as well as when solitary misdeeds had been committed -by those of really superior natures, the system we have described would -supply a remedy. From the wrong verdicts of the law and its mistaken -estimates of turpitude, there would be an appeal; and long-proved worth -would bring its reward in the mitigation of grievous injustices. - -A further advantage would by implication result, in the shape of a -long industrial discipline for those who most needed it. Speaking -generally, diligent and skilful workmen, who were on the whole useful -members of society, would, if their offences were not serious, soon -obtain employers to give bail for them. Whereas members of the criminal -class—the idle and the dissolute—would remain long in confinement; -since, until they had been brought by habitual self-maintenance under -restraint, to something like industrial efficiency, employers would not -be tempted to become responsible for them. - -We should thus have a self-acting test, not only of the length of -restraint required for social safety, but also of that apprenticeship -to labour which many convicts need; while there would be supplied a -means of rectifying sundry failures and excesses of our present system. -The plan would practically amount to an extension of trial by jury. At -present, the State calls in certain of a prisoner’s fellow-citizens to -decide whether he is guilty or not guilty: the judge, under guidance of -the penal laws, being left to decide what punishment he deserves, if -guilty. Under the arrangement we have described, the judge’s decision -would admit of modification by a jury of the convict’s neighbours. And -this natural jury, while it would be best fitted by previous knowledge -of the man to form an opinion, would be rendered cautious by the sense -of grave responsibility; inasmuch as {186} any one of its number who -gave a conditional release, would do so at his own peril. - -And now mark that all the evidence forthcoming to prove the safety -and advantages of the “intermediate system,” proves, still more -conclusively, the safety and advantages of this system which we would -substitute for it. What we have described, is nothing more than an -intermediate system reduced to a natural instead of an artificial -form—carried out with natural checks instead of artificial checks. -If, as Captain Crofton has experimentally shown, it is safe to give -a prisoner conditional liberation, on the strength of good conduct -during a certain period of prison-discipline; it is evidently safer to -let his conditional liberation depend not alone on good conduct while -under the eyes of his jailors, but also on the character he had earned -during his previous life. If it is safe to act on the judgments of -officials whose experience of a convict’s behaviour is comparatively -limited, and who do not suffer penalties when their judgments are -mistaken; then, manifestly, it is safer (when such officials can show -no reason to the contrary), to act on the additional judgment of one -who has not only had better opportunities of knowing the convict, but -who will be a serious loser if his judgment proves erroneous. Further, -that surveillance over each conditionally-liberated prisoner, which -the “intermediate system” exercises, would be still better exercised -when, instead of going to a strange master in a strange district, the -prisoner went to some master in his own district; and, under such -circumstances, it would be easier to get information respecting his -after-career. There is every reason to think that this method would be -workable. If, on the recommendation of the officers, Captain Crofton’s -prisoners obtain employers “who have on many occasions returned for -others, in consequence of the good conduct of those at first engaged;” -still better would be the action of the system when, instead of the -employers having “every {187} facility placed at their disposal for -satisfying themselves as to the antecedents of the convict,” they were -already familiar with his antecedents. - -Finally, let us not overlook the fact, that this course is the only one -which, while duly consulting social safety, is also entirely just to -the prisoner. As we have shown, the restraints imposed on a criminal -are warranted by absolute equity, only to the extent needful to prevent -further aggressions on his fellow-men; and when his fellow-men impose -greater restraints than these, they trespass against him. Hence, when -a prisoner has worked out his task of making restitution, and, so far -as is possible, undone the wrong he had done, society is, in strict -justice, bound to accept any arrangement which adequately protects -its members against further injury. And if, moved by the expectation -of profit, or other motive, any citizen sufficiently substantial and -trustworthy, will take on himself to hold society harmless, society -must agree to his proposal. All it can rightly require is, that the -guarantee against contingent injury _shall_ be adequate; which, of -course, it never can be where the contingent injury is of the gravest -kind. No bail could compensate for murder; and therefore against -this, and other extreme crimes, society would rightly refuse any such -guarantee, even if offered, which it would be very unlikely to be. - - * * * * * - -Such, then, is our code of prison-ethics. Such is the ideal which we -ought to keep ever in view when modifying our penal system. Again we -say, as we said at the outset, that the realization of such an ideal -wholly depends on the advance of civilization. Let no one carry away -the impression that we regard all these purely equitable regulations as -immediately practicable. Though they may be partially carried out, we -think it highly improbable that they could at present be carried out -in full. The number of offenders, the low average of enlightenment, -the ill-working of {188} administrative machinery, and above all, -the difficulty of obtaining officials of adequate intelligence, good -feeling, and self-control, are obstacles which must long stand in -the way of a system so complex as that which morality dictates. And -we here assert, as emphatically as before, that the harshest penal -system is ethically justified if it is as good as the circumstances -of the time permit. However great the cruelties it inflicts, yet -if a system theoretically more equitable would not be a sufficient -terror to evil-doers, or could not be worked, from lack of officers -sufficiently judicious, honest, and humane—if less rigorous methods -would entail a diminution of social security; then the methods in use -are extrinsically good though intrinsically bad. They are, as before -said, the least wrong, and therefore relatively right. - -Nevertheless, as we have endeavoured to prove, it is immensely -important that, while duly considering the relatively right, we should -keep the absolutely right constantly in view. True as it is that, in -this transition state, our conceptions of the ultimately expedient must -ever be qualified by our experience of the proximately expedient; it is -not the less true that the proximately expedient cannot be determined -unless the ultimately expedient is known. Before we can say what is as -good as the time permits, we must say what is abstractedly good; for -the first idea involves the last. We must have some fixed standard, -some invariable measure, some constant clue; otherwise we shall -inevitably be misled by the suggestions of immediate policy, and wander -away from the right rather than advance towards it. This conclusion is -fully borne out by the facts we have cited. In other cases, as well as -in the case of penal discipline, the evidence shows how terribly we -have erred from obstinately refusing to consult first principles and -clinging to an unreasoning empiricism. Though, during civilization, -grievous evils have occasionally arisen from attempts suddenly to -realize absolute rectitude, yet a {189} greater sum total of evils -has arisen from the more usual course of ignoring absolute rectitude. -Age after age, effete institutions have been maintained far longer -than they would else have been, and equitable arrangements have been -needlessly postponed. Is it not time for us to profit by past lessons? - - * * * * * - - -POSTSCRIPT.—Since the publication of this essay in 1860 further -evidence supporting its conclusions has been made public. Dr. F.J. -Mouat, late Inspector-General of Gaols in Lower Bengal, has given, -in various pamphlets and articles, dating from 1872, accounts of his -experiences, which entirely harmonize with the foregoing general -argument. Speaking of three leading systems of prison-discipline, -“based on opposite theories,” he says:― - - “The oldest is, that a prison should be rendered a terror to evil - doers by the infliction of as much pain as can be inflicted, without - direct injury to health or risk to life. The second plan is a - graduated system of punishment, from which the direct infliction of - pain is eliminated, and the prisoner is allowed to work his way to - freedom and mitigation of sentence, by mere good conduct in jail. - The third, and in my humble judgment the best, is to convert every - prison into a school of industry, labour being used as an instrument - of punishment, discipline, and reformation.”—_Prison Industry in its - Primitive, Reformatory, and Economic Aspects_ (London, Nov. 1889). - -In his pamphlet on the _Prison System of India_, published in 1872, Dr. -Mouat contends:― - - “That remunerative prison labour is an efficient instrument of - punishment and reformation by occupying the whole available time of - criminals in uncongenial and compulsory employments; by teaching - them the means of gaining an honest livelihood on release; by the - inculcation of habits of order and industry, to the displacement of - the irregularity and idleness which are the sources of so much vice - and crime; and by repaying to the State the whole or part of the cost - of repression of crime by the compulsory industry of the unproductive - classes, and thus relieving the community at large from a burden which - it is at present compelled to bear. - - “That the economic objections to the remunerative employment of - convicts are unsound and untenable; and that even if they were true - as respects individuals and small sections of the community, the - interests of the minority should yield to the general welfare.” - -Once more, under the title _Prison Discipline and its Results in -Bengal_, first published in the _Journal of the {190} Society of Arts_ -in 1872, Dr. Mouat, after describing an exhibition of gaol-manufactures -held in Calcutta in 1856, urges “that every prisoner sentenced to -labour should be made to repay to the State the whole cost of his -punishment in gaol; . . . and that prisons should be made, as much as -possible, schools of industry, as combining, more completely than can -be effected by any other system, the punishment of the offender, with -the protection of society.” He then goes on to show what have been the -results of the self-supporting system:― - - “The net profits realized from the labour of the convicts actually - employed in handicrafts, after deducting the cost of production, were, - in round numbers, as follows:― - - £ - 1855–56 11,019 - ’56–57 12,300 - ’57–58 10,841 - ’59–60 14,065 - ’60–61 23,124 - ’61–62 54,542 - ’62–63 30,604 - ’63–64 54,542 - ’64–65 32,988 - ’65–66 35,543 - ’66 14,287 - ’67 41,168 - ’68 56,817 - ’69 46,588 - ’70 45,274 - - In all, nearly half a million of money. In 1866, the accounts were - made up for only eight months, to introduce the calendar in place of - the official year, which ended on the 30th of April. - - “If the limits of time and space permitted, I could show you in minute - detail that each skilled prisoner employed in handicrafts, striking - the average of all the jails, earned considerably more than he cost; - that five of the prisons under my charge were at various times - self-supporting, and that one of them, the great industrial prison at - Alipore, a suburb of Calcutta, has repaid very considerably more than - its cost, for the last ten years continuously.” - -As Dr. Mouat held the position of Inspector-General of Gaols in Lower -Bengal for 15 years, and as, during that period, he had under his -control an average of 20,000 prisoners, it may, I think, be held that -his experiences have been tolerably extensive, and that a system -justified by such experiences is worthy of adoption. Unfortunately, -however, men pooh-pooh those experiences which do not accord with their -foregone conclusions. - -I have occasionally vented the paradox that mankind go {191} right -only when they have tried all possible ways of going wrong: intending -it to be taken with some qualification. Of late, however, I have -observed that in some respects this paradox falls short of the truth. -Sundry instances have shown me that even when mankind have at length -stumbled into the right course, they often deliberately return to the -wrong. - -{192} - - - - -THE ETHICS OF KANT. - -[_From the_ Fortnightly Review _for July 1888. This essay was called -forth by attacks on me made in essays published in preceding numbers of -the_ Fortnightly Review—_essays in which the Kantian system of ethics -was lauded as immensely superior to the system of ethics defended by -me. The last section now appears for the first time._] - - -If, before Kant uttered that often-quoted saying in which, with the -stars of Heaven he coupled the conscience of Man, as being the two -things that excited his awe, he had known more of Man than he did, he -would probably have expressed himself somewhat otherwise. Not, indeed, -that the conscience of Man is not wonderful enough, whatever be its -supposed genesis; but the wonderfulness of it is of a different kind -according as we assume it to have been supernaturally given or infer -that it has been naturally evolved. The knowledge of Man in that large -sense which Anthropology expresses, had made, in Kant’s day, but small -advances. The books of travel were relatively few, and the facts which -they contained concerning the human mind as existing in different -races, had not been gathered together and generalized. In our days the -conscience of Man, as inductively known, has none of that universality -of presence and unity of nature, which Kant’s saying tacitly assumes. -Sir John Lubbock writes:― - - “In fact, I believe that the lower races of men may be said to be - deficient {193} in the idea of right. . . . . That there should be any - races of men so deficient in moral feeling, was altogether opposed - to the preconceived ideas with which I commenced the study of savage - life, and I have arrived at the conviction by slow degrees, and even - with reluctance.”—_Origin of Civilization_, 1882, pp. 404–5. - -But now let us look at the evidence from which this impression -is derived, as we find it in the testimonies of travellers and -missionaries. - - Praising his deceased son, Tui Thakau, a Fijian Chief, concluded “by - speaking of his daring spirit and consummate cruelty, as he could kill - his own wives if they offended him, and eat them afterwards.”—_Western - Pacific._ J. E. Erskine, p. 248. - - “Shedding of blood is to him no crime, but a glory . . . . to be - somehow an acknowledged murderer is the object of the Fijian’s - restless ambition.”—_Fiji and the Fijians._ Rev. T. Williams, i., p. - 112. - - “It is a melancholy fact that when they [the Zulu boys] have arrived - at a very early age, should their mothers attempt to chastise them, - such is the law, that these lads are at the moment allowed to kill - their mothers.”—_Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa._ G. - Thompson, ii., p. 418. - - “Murther, adultery, thievery, and all other such like crimes, are here - [Gold Coast] accounted no sins.”—_Description of the Coast of Guinea._ - W. Bosman, p. 130. - - “The accusing conscience is unknown to him [the East African]. His - only fear after committing a treacherous murder is that of being - haunted by the angry ghost of the dead.”—_Lake Regions of Central - Africa._ R. F. Burton, ii., p. 336. - - “I never could make them [East Africans] understand the existence of - good principle.”—_The Albert N’Yanza._ S. W. Baker, i., pp. 241. - - “The Damaras kill useless and worn-out people; even sons smother their - sick fathers.”—_Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa._ F. - Galton, p. 112. - - The Damaras “seem to have no perceptible notion of right and - wrong.”—_Ibid._ p. 72. - -Against these we may set some converse facts. At the other extreme -we have a few Eastern tribes—pagans they are called—who practise the -virtues which Western nations—Christians they are called—do but teach. -While Europeans thirst for blood-revenge in much the same way as the -lowest savages, there are some simple peoples of the Indian Hills, -as the Lepchas, who “are singularly forgiving of injuries;”[9] and -Campbell exemplifies “the effect of a {194} very strong sense of duty -on this savage.”[10] That character which the creed of Christendom -is supposed to foster is exhibited in high degree by the Arafuras -(Papuans) who live in “peace and brotherly love with one another”[11] -to such extent that government is but nominal. And concerning various -of the Indian Hill-tribes, as the Santáls, Sowrahs, Marias, Lepchas, -Bodo and Dhimáls, different observers testify of them severally that -“they were the most truthful set of men I ever met,”[12] “crime and -criminal officers are almost unknown,”[13] “a pleasing feature in their -character is their complete truthfulness,”[14] “they bear a singular -character for truthfulness and honesty,”[15] they are “wonderfully -honest,”[16] “honest and truthful in deed and word.”[17] Irrespective -of race, we find these traits in men who are, and have long been, -absolutely peaceful (the uniform antecedent), be they the Jakuns of the -South Malayan Peninsula, who “are never known to steal anything, not -even the most insignificant trifle,”[18] or be it in the Hos of the -Himalaya, among whom “a reflection on a man’s honesty or veracity may -be sufficient to send him to self-destruction.”[19] So that in respect -of conscience these uncivilized people are as superior to average -Europeans, as average Europeans are superior to the brutal savages -previously described. - - [9] Campbell in _Journal of the Ethnological Society_, July, N. S. vol. - i., 1869, p. 150. - - [10] _Ibid._ p. 154. - - [11] Dr. H. Kolff, _Voyages of the Dutch brig “Dourga.”_ Earl’s - translation, pp. 161. - - [12] W. W. Hunter, _Annals of Rural Bengal_, p. 248. - - [13] _Ibid._ p. 217. - - [14] Dr. J. Shortt, _Hill Ranges of Southern India_, pt. iii., p. 38. - - [15] Glasfind in _Selections from the Records of Government of India_ - (Foreign Department), No. xxxix., p. 41. - - [16] Campbell in _Journal of the Ethnological Society_, N. S. vol. i., - 1869, p. 150. - - [17] B. H. Hodgson in _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, - xviii., p. 745. - - [18] Rev. P. Favre in _Journal of the Indian Archipelago_, ii., p. 266. - - [19] Col. E. T. Dalton, _Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal_, p. 206. - -Had Kant had these and kindred facts before him, {195} his conception -of the human mind, and consequently his ethical conception, would -scarcely have been what they were. Believing, as he did, that one -object of his awe—the stellar Universe—has been evolved, he might by -evidence like the foregoing have been led to suspect that the other -object of his awe—the human conscience—has been evolved, and has -consequently a real nature unlike its apparent nature. - - * * * * * - -For the disciples of Kant living in our day there can be made no such -defence as that which may be made for their master. On all sides of -them lie classes of facts of various kinds, which might suffice to make -them hesitate, if nothing more. Here are a few such classes of facts. - -Though, unlike the uncultured, who suppose everything to be what it -appears, chemists had for many generations known that multitudinous -substances which seem simple are really compound, and often highly -compound; yet, until the time of Sir Humphrey Davy, even chemists had -believed that certain substances which resisted all their powers of -decomposition, were to be classed among the elements. Davy, however, -by subjecting the alkalies to a force not before applied, proved that -they are oxides of metals; and, suspecting the like to be the case with -the earths, similarly proved the composite nature of these also. Not -only the common sense of the uncultured, but the common sense of the -cultured was shown to be wrong. Wider knowledge has, as usual, led to -greater modesty, and, since Davy’s day, chemists have felt less certain -that the so-called elements are elementary. Contrariwise, increasing -evidence of sundry kinds leads them to suspect more and more strongly -that they are all compound. - -Alike to the labourer who digs it out and to the carpenter who uses it -in his workshop, a piece of chalk appears a thing than which nothing -can be simpler; and ninety-nine people out of a hundred would agree -with them. Yet a {196} piece of chalk is highly complex. A microscope -shows it to consist of myriads of shells of _Foraminifera_; shows, -further, that it contains more kinds than one; and shows, further -still, that each minute shell, whole or broken, is formed of many -chambers, every one of which once contained a living unit. Thus by -ordinary inspection, however close, the true nature of chalk cannot be -known; and to one who has absolute confidence in his eyes the assertion -of its true nature appears absurd. - -Take again a living body of a seemingly uncomplicated kind—say a -potato. Cut it through and observe how structureless is its substance. -But though unaided vision gives this verdict, aided vision gives a -widely different one. Aided vision discovers, in the first place, that -the mass is everywhere permeated by vessels of complex formation. -Further, that it is made up of innumerable units called cells, each of -which has walls composed of several layers. Further still, that each -cell contains a number of starch-grains. And yet still further, that -each of these grains is formed of layer within layer, like the coats -of an onion. So that where there appears perfect simplicity there is -really complexity within complexity. - -From these examples which the objective world furnishes, let us turn to -some examples furnished by the subjective world—some of our states of -consciousness. Up to modern times any one who, looking out on the snow, -was told that the impression of whiteness it gave him was composed of -impressions such as those given by the rainbow, would have regarded his -informant as a lunatic; as would even now the great mass of mankind. -But since Newton’s day, it has become well known to a relatively small -number that this is literal fact. Not only may white light be resolved -by a prism into a number of brilliant colours, but, by an appropriate -arrangement, these colours can be re-combined into white light: the -visual sensation which seems perfectly simple proves to be highly -compound. Those who {197} habitually suppose that things are what they -seem, are wrong here as in multitudinous other cases. - -Another example is supplied by the sensation of sound. A solitary note -struck on the piano, or a blast from a horn, yields through the ear a -feeling which appears homogeneous; and the uninstructed are incredulous -if told that it is an intricate combination of noises. In the first -place, that which constitutes the more voluminous part of the tone is -accompanied by a number of over-tones, producing what is known as its -_timbre_: instead of one note, there are half a dozen notes, of which -the chief has its character specialized by the others. In the second -place, each of these notes, consisting objectively of a rapid series -of aërial waves, produces subjectively a rapid series of impressions -on the auditory nerve. Either by the appliance of Hooke or by Savart’s -machine or by the siren, it is proved to demonstration that every -musical sound is the product of successive units of sound, each in -itself unmusical, which, as they succeed one another with increasing -rapidity, produce a tone which progressively rises in pitch. Here -again, then, under an apparent simplicity there is a double complexity. - -Most of these examples of the illusiveness of unaided perception, -whether exercised upon objective or subjective existences, were unknown -to Kant. Had they been known to him they might have suggested other -views concerning certain of our states of consciousness, and might -have given a different character to his philosophy. Let us observe -what would possibly have been the changes in two of his cardinal -conceptions—metaphysical and ethical. - - * * * * * - -Our consciousness of Time and Space appeared to him, as they appear to -everyone, perfectly simple; and the apparent simplicity he accepted -as actual simplicity. Had he suspected that, just as the seemingly -homogeneous and undecomposable consciousness of Sound really consists -of multitudinous units of consciousness, so might the {198} apparently -homogeneous and undecomposable consciousness of Space, he would -possibly have been led to inquire whether the consciousness of Space -is not wholly composed of infinitely numerous relations of position, -such as those which every portion of it presents. And finding that -every portion of Space, immense or minute, cannot be either known or -conceived save in some relative position to the conscious subject, -and that, besides involving the relations of distance and direction, -it invariably contains within itself relations of right and left, -top and bottom, nearer and farther; he might perhaps have concluded -that our consciousness of that matrix of phenomena we call Space, has -been built up in the course of Evolution by accumulated experiences -registered in the nervous system. And had he concluded this, he would -not have committed himself to the many absurdities which his doctrine -involves.[20] - -Similarly, if, instead of assuming that conscience is simple because -it seems simple to ordinary introspection, he had entertained the -hypothesis that it is perhaps complex—a consolidated product of -multitudinous experiences received, mainly by ancestors and added -to by self—he might have arrived at a consistent system of Ethics. -That the habitual association of pains with certain things and acts, -generation after generation, may produce organic repugnance to such -things and acts,[21] might, had it been known to him, have made him -suspect that conscience is a product of Evolution. And in that case his -conception of it would not have been incongruous with the facts above -named, showing that there are widely different degrees of conscience in -different races. - - [20] See _Principles of Psychology_, § 399. - - [21] See _Principles of Psychology_, § 189 (note) and § 520. - -In brief, as already implied, had Kant, instead of his incongruous -beliefs that the celestial bodies have had an evolutionary origin, but -that the minds of living beings on them, or at least on one of them, -have had a {199} non-evolutionary origin, entertained the belief -that both have arisen by Evolution, he would have been saved from the -impossibilities of his Metaphysics, and the untenabilities of his -Ethics. To the consideration of these last, let us now pass. - - * * * * * - -Before doing this, however, something must be said concerning abnormal -reasoning as compared with normal reasoning. - -Knowledge which is of the highest order in respect of certainty, and -which we call exact science, is distinguished from other knowledge by -its definitely quantitative previsions.[22] It sets out with data, -and proceeds by steps which, taken together, enable it to say under -what specified conditions a specified relation of phenomena will be -found; and to say in what place, or at what time, or in what quantity, -or all of them, a certain effect will be witnessed. Given the factors -of any arithmetical operation, and there is absolute certainty in the -result reached, supposing there are no stumblings: stumblings which -always admit of detection and disproof by the method which we shall -presently find is pursued. Base and angles having been accurately -measured, that sub-division of geometry which is called trigonometry -yields with certainty the distance or the height of the object of -which the position is sought. The ratio of the arms of a lever having -been stated, mechanics tells us what weight at one end will balance -an assigned weight at the other. And by the aid of these three exact -sciences, the Calculus, Geometry, and Mechanics, Astronomy can predict -to the minute, for each separate place on the Earth, when an eclipse -will begin and end, and how near it will approach to totality. -Knowledge of this order has infinite justifications in the successful -guidance of infinitely numerous human actions. The accounts of every -trader, the operations of every workshop, the navigation of every -vessel, depend for their trustworthiness {200} on these sciences. The -method they pursue, therefore, verified in cases which pass all human -power to enumerate, is a method not to be transcended in certainty. - - [22] See Essay on “Genesis of Science.” - -What is this method? Whichever of these sciences we examine, we -find the course uniformly pursued to be that of setting out with -propositions of which the negations are inconceivable, and advancing -by successive dependent propositions, each of which has the like -character—that its negation is inconceivable. In a developed -consciousness (and of course I exclude minds of which the faculties -are unformed) it is impossible to represent things that are equal -to the same thing as being themselves unequal; and in a developed -consciousness, action and re-action cannot be thought of as other -than equal and opposite. In like manner, every _because_ and every -_therefore_, used in a mathematical argument, connotes a proposition of -which the terms are absolutely coherent in the mode alleged: the proof -being that an attempt to bring together in consciousness the terms -of the opposite proposition is futile. And this method of testing, -alike the fundamental propositions and all members of the fabrics of -propositions raised upon them, is consistently pursued in verifying -the conclusion. Inference and observation are compared; and when they -agree, it is held inconceivable that the inference is other than true. - -In contrast to the method which I have just described, distinguishable -as the legitimate _a priori_ method, there is one which may be called—I -was about to say, the illegitimate _a priori_ method. But the word is -not strong enough; it must be called the inverted _a priori_ method. -Instead of setting out with a proposition of which the negation is -inconceivable, it sets out with a proposition of which the affirmation -is inconceivable, and therefrom proceeds to draw conclusions. It is -not consistent, however: it does not continue to do that which it does -at first. Having posited an inconceivable proposition to begin with, -it does not {201} frame its argument out of a series of inconceivable -propositions. All steps after the first are of the kind ordinarily -accepted as valid. The successive _therefores_ and _becauses_ have -the usual connotations. The peculiarity lies in this, that in every -proposition save the first, the reader is expected to admit the logical -necessity of an inference drawn, for the reason that the opposite is -not thinkable; but he is not supposed to expect a like conformity to -logical necessity in the primary proposition. The dictum of a logical -consciousness which must be recognized as valid in every subsequent -step, must be ignored in the first step. We pass now to an illustration -of this method which here concerns us. - -The first sentence in Kant’s first chapter runs thus:—“Nothing can -possibly be conceived in the world, or even out of it, which can be -called good without qualification, except a Good Will.”[23] And then on -the next page we come upon the following definition:― - - “A good will is good not because of what it performs or effects, nor - by its aptness for the attainment of some proposed end, but simply by - virtue of the volition, that is, it is good in itself, and considered - by itself is to be esteemed much higher than all that can be brought - about by it in favour of any inclination, nay even of the sum total of - all inclinations.”[24] - - [23] _Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason and other works on the - Theory of Ethics_, trans. by T. K. Abbott, p. 11. - - [24] _Ibid._ pp. 12–13. - -Most fallacies result from the habit of using words without fully -rendering them into thoughts—passing them by with recognitions of their -meanings as ordinarily used, without stopping to consider whether -these meanings admit of being given to them in the cases named. Let -us not rest satisfied with thinking vaguely of what is understood -by “a Good Will,” but let us interpret the words definitely. Will -implies the consciousness of some end. Exclude from it every idea of -purpose and the conception of Will disappears. An end of some kind -being necessarily implied by the conception of Will, the quality of -the Will is determined {202} by the quality of the end contemplated. -Will itself, considered apart from any distinguishing epithet, is -not cognizable by Morality at all. It becomes cognizable by Morality -only when it gains its character as good or bad by virtue of its -contemplated end as good or bad. If any one doubts this, let him try -whether he can think of a good will which contemplates a bad end. The -whole question, therefore, centres in the meaning of the word good. Let -us look at the meanings habitually given to it. - -We speak of good meat, good bread, good wine; by which phrases we mean -either things that are palatable, and so give pleasure, or things that -are wholesome, and by conducing to health conduce to pleasure. A good -fire, good clothing, a good house, we so name because they minister -either to comfort, which means pleasure, or gratify the æsthetic -sentiment, which also means pleasure. So it is with things which more -indirectly further welfare, as good tools or good roads. When we speak -of a good workman, a good teacher, a good doctor, it is the same: -efficiency in aiding others’ well-being is what we indirectly mean. -Yet again, good government, good institutions, good laws, connote -benefits yielded to the society in which they exist: benefits being -equivalent to certain kinds of happiness, positive or negative. But -Kant tells us that a good will is one that is good in and for itself -without reference to ends. We are not to think of it as prompting acts -which will profit the man himself, either by conducing to his health, -advancing his culture, or improving his inclinations; for all these -are in the long run conducive to happiness, and are urged only for -the reason that they do this. We are not to think of a will as good -because, by fulfilment of it, friends are saved from sufferings or have -their gratifications increased; for this would involve calling it good -because of beneficial ends in view. Nor must conduciveness to social -ameliorations, present or future, be taken into account when we attempt -to conceive {203} a good will. In short, we are to frame our idea of a -good will without any material out of which to frame the idea of good: -good is to be used in thought as an eviscerated term. - -Here, then, is illustrated what I have called above the inverted _a -priori_ method of philosophizing: the setting out with an inconceivable -proposition. The Kantian Metaphysics starts by asserting that Space is -“nothing but” a form of intuition—pertains wholly to the subject and -not at all to the object. This is a verbally intelligible proposition, -but one of which the terms cannot be put together in consciousness; -for neither Kant, nor any one else, ever succeeded in bringing into -unity of representation the thought of Space and the thought of Self, -as being the one an attribute of the other. And here we see that, just -in the same way, the Kantian Ethics begins by positing something which -seems to have a meaning but which has really no meaning—something -which, under the conditions imposed, cannot be rendered into thought at -all. For neither Kant, nor any one else, ever has or ever can, frame a -consciousness of a good will when from the word good are expelled all -thoughts of those ends which we distinguish by the word good. - - * * * * * - -Evidently Kant himself sees that his assumption invites attack, for he -proceeds to defend it. He says:― - - “There is, however, something so strange in this idea of the absolute - value of the mere will, in which no account is taken of its utility, - that notwithstanding the thorough assent of even common reason to the - idea [!], yet a suspicion must arise that it may perhaps really be the - product of mere high-flown fancy, &c.” (p. 13). - -And then to prepare for a justification, he goes on to say:― - - “In the physical constitution of an organized being we assume it as - a fundamental principle that no organ for any purpose will be found - in it but what is also the fittest and best adapted for that purpose” - (pp. 13–14). - -Now, even had this assumption been valid, the argument he bases upon -it, far-fetched as it is, might be considered of very inadequate -strength to warrant the supposition that there can be a will conceived -as good without any reference {204} to good ends. But, unfortunately -for Kant, the assumption is utterly invalid. In his day it probably -passed without question; but in our day few if any biologists would -admit it. On the special-creation hypothesis some defence of the -proposition might be attempted, but the evolution-hypothesis tacitly -negatives it entirely. Let us begin with some minor facts which -militate against Kant’s supposition. Take, first, rudimentary organs. -These are numerous throughout the animal kingdom. While representing -organs which were of use in ancestral types, they are of no use in the -types possessing them; and, as being rudimentary, they are of necessity -imperfect. Moreover, besides being injurious by taxing nutrition to no -purpose, they are almost certainly in some cases injurious by being -in the way. Then, beyond the argument from rudimentary organs, there -is the argument from make-shift organs, which form a large class. We -have a conspicuous case in the swimming organ of the seal, formed by -the apposition of the two hind limbs—an organ manifestly inferior to -one specially shaped for its function, and one which, during early -stages of the changes which have produced it, must have been very -inefficient. But the untruth of the assumption is best shown by -comparing a given organ in a low type of creature with the same organ -in a high type. The alimentary canal, for example, in very inferior -creatures is a simple tube, substantially alike from end to end, and -having throughout all its parts the same function. But in a superior -creature this tube is differentiated into mouth, æsophagus, stomach -(or stomachs), small and large intestines with their various appended -glands pouring in secretions. Now if this last form of alimentary canal -is to be regarded as a perfect organ, or something like it, what shall -we say of the original form; and what shall we say of all those forms -lying between the two? The vascular system, again, furnishes a clear -instance. The primitive heart is nothing but a dilatation of the great -blood vessel—a pulsatile {205} sac. But a mammal has a four-chambered -heart with valves, by the aid of which the blood is propelled through -the lungs for aëration, and throughout the system at large for general -purposes. If this four-chambered heart is a perfect organ, what is -the primitive heart, and what are the hearts possessed by all the -multitudinous creatures below the higher _vertebrata_? Manifestly the -process of evolution implies a continual replacing of creatures having -inferior organs, by creatures having superior organs; leaving such of -the inferior as can survive to occupy inferior spheres of life. This -is not only so throughout the whole animal creation up to Man himself, -but it is so within the limits of the human race. Both the brains and -the lower limbs of various inferior races are ineffective organs, -compared with those of superior races. Nay, even in the highest type -of Man we have obvious imperfections. The structure of the groin is -imperfect: the frequent ruptures which result from it would have been -prevented by closure of the inguinal rings during fœtal life after they -had performed their office. That all-important organ the vertebral -column, too, is as yet but incompletely adapted to the upright posture. -Only while the vigour is considerable can there be maintained, without -appreciable effort, those muscular contractions which produce the -sigmoid flexure, and bring the lumbar portion into such a position -that the “line of direction” falls within it. In young children, in -boys and girls who are admonished to “sit up,” in weakly people, and -in the old, the spine lapses into that convex form characteristic of -lower _Primates_. It is the same with the balancing of the head. Only -by a muscular strain to which habit makes us insensible, as it does to -the exposure of the face to cold, is the head maintained in position. -Immediately certain cervical muscles are relaxed the head falls -forward; and where there is great debility the chin rests permanently -on the chest. - -So far, indeed, is the assumption of Kant from being true that the very -reverse is probably true. After {206} contemplating the countless -examples of imperfections exhibited in low types of creatures, and -decreasing with the ascent to high types, but still exemplified in the -highest, anyone who concludes, as he may reasonably do, that Evolution -has not yet reached its limit, must infer that most likely no such -thing as a perfect organ exists. Thus the basis of the argument by -which Kant attempts to justify his assumption that there exists a good -will apart from a good end, disappears utterly; and leaves his dogma in -all its naked unthinkableness.[25] - - [25] I find that in the above three paragraphs I have done Kant - less than justice and more than justice—less, in assuming that - his evolutionary view was limited to the genesis of our sidereal - system, and more, in assuming that he had not contradicted himself. - My knowledge of Kant’s writings is extremely limited. In 1844 a - translation of his _Critique of Pure Reason_ (then I think lately - published) fell into my hands, and I read the first few pages - enunciating his doctrine of Time and Space: my peremptory rejection - of which caused me to lay the book down. Twice since then the same - thing has happened; for, being an impatient reader, when I disagree - with the cardinal propositions of a work I can go no further. One - other thing I knew. By indirect references I was made aware that Kant - had propounded the idea that celestial bodies have been formed by - the aggregation of diffused matter. Beyond this my knowledge of his - conceptions did not extend; and my supposition that his evolutionary - conception had stopped short with the genesis of sun, stars, and - planets, was due to the fact that his doctrine of Time and Space, as - forms of thought anteceding experience, implied a supernatural origin - inconsistent with the hypothesis of natural genesis. Dr. Paul Carus, - who, shortly after the publication of this article in the _Fortnightly - Review_ for July, 1888, undertook to defend the Kantian ethics in the - American journal which he edits, _The Open Court_, has now (Sept. 4, - 1890), in another defensive article, translated sundry passages from - Kant’s _Critique of Judgment_, his _Presumable Origin of Humanity_, - and his work _Upon the different Races of Mankind_, showing that Kant - was, if not fully, yet partially, an evolutionist in his speculations - about living beings. There is, perhaps, some reason for doubting the - correctness of Dr. Carus’s rendering of these passages into English. - When, as in the first of the articles just named, he failed to - distinguish between consciousness and conscientiousness, and when, - as in this last article, he blames the English for mistranslating - Kant, since they have said “Kant maintained that Space and Time are - intuitions,” which is quite untrue, for they have everywhere described - him as maintaining that Space and Time are _forms_ of intuition, one - may be excused for thinking that possibly Dr. Carus has read into some - of Kant’s expressions, meanings which they do not rightly bear. Still, - the general drift of the passages quoted makes it tolerably clear - that Kant must have believed in the operation of natural causes as - largely, though not entirely, instrumental in producing organic forms: - extending this belief (which he says “can be named a daring venture of - reason”) in some measure to the origin of Man himself. He does not, - however, extend the theory of natural genesis to the exclusion of the - theory of supernatural genesis. When he speaks of an organic habit - “which in the wisdom of nature appears to be thus arranged in order - that the species shall be preserved;” and when, further, he says “we - see, moreover, that a germ of reason is placed in him, whereby, after - the development of the same, he is destined for social intercourse,” - he implies divine intervention. And this shows that I was justified in - ascribing to him the belief that Space and Time, as forms of thought, - are supernatural endowments. Had he conceived of organic evolution in - a consistent manner, he would necessarily have regarded Space and Time - as subjective forms generated by converse with objective realities. - - Beyond showing that Kant had a partial, if not a complete, belief in - organic evolution (though with no idea of its causes), the passages - translated by Dr. Carus show that he entertained an implied belief - which it here specially concerns me to notice as bearing on his theory - of “a good will.” He quotes approvingly Dr. Moscati’s lecture showing - “that the upright walk of man is constrained and unnatural,” and - showing the imperfect visceral arrangements and consequent diseases - which result: not only adopting, but further illustrating, Dr. - Moscati’s argument. If here, then, there is a distinct admission, or - rather assertion, that various human organs are imperfectly adjusted - to their functions, what becomes of the postulate above quoted “that - no organ for any purpose will be found in it but what is also the - fittest and best adapted for that purpose?” And what becomes of the - argument which sets out with this postulate? Clearly, I am indebted to - Dr. Carus for enabling me to prove that Kant’s defence of his theory - of “a good will” is, by his own showing, baseless. - - * * * * * - -One of the propositions contained in Kant’s first chapter {207} is -that “we find that the more a cultivated reason applies itself with -deliberate purpose to the enjoyment of life and happiness, so much the -more does the man fail of true satisfaction.” A preliminary remark to -be made on this statement is that in its sweeping form it is not true. -I assert that it is untrue on the strength of personal experiences. In -the course of my life there have occurred many intervals, averaging -more than a month each, in which the pursuit of happiness was the -sole object, and in {208} which happiness was successfully pursued. -How successfully, may be judged from the fact that I would gladly -live over again each of those periods without change—an assertion -which I certainly cannot make of any portions of my life spent in -the daily discharge of duties. That which Kant should have said is -that the _exclusive_ pursuit of what are distinguished as pleasures -and amusements, is disappointing. This is doubtless true; and for -the obvious reason that it over-exercises one group of faculties and -exhausts them, while it leaves unexercised another group of faculties, -which consequently do not yield the gratifications accompanying their -exercise. It is not, as Kant says, guidance by “a cultivated reason” -which leads to disappointment, but guidance by an uncultivated reason; -for a cultivated reason teaches that continuous action of a small -part of the nature joined with inaction of the rest, must end in -dissatisfaction. - -But now, supposing we accept Kant’s statement in full, what is its -implication? That happiness is the thing to be desired, and, in one way -or another, the thing to be achieved. For if not, what meaning is there -in the statement that it will not be achieved when made the immediate -object? One who was thus admonished might properly rejoin:—“You say I -shall fail to get happiness if I make it the object of pursuit? Suppose -then I do not make it the object of my pursuit; shall I get it? If I -do, then your admonition amounts to this, that I shall obtain it better -if I proceed in some other way than that I adopt. If I do not get it, -then I remain without happiness if I follow your way, just as much -as if I follow my own, and nothing is gained.” An illustration will -best show how the matter stands. To a tyro in archery the instructor -says:—“Sir, you must not point your arrow directly at the target. -If you do, you will inevitably miss it. You must aim high above the -target; and you may then possibly pierce the bull’s eye.” What now is -implied by the warning and the {209} advice? Clearly that the purpose -is to hit the target. Otherwise there is no sense in the remark that it -will be missed if directly aimed at; and no sense in the remark that to -be hit, something higher must be aimed at. Similarly with happiness. -There is no sense in the remark that happiness will not be found if it -is directly sought, unless happiness is a thing to be somehow or other -obtained. - -“Yes; there is sense,” I hear it said. “Just as it may be that the -target is not the thing to be hit at all, either by aiming directly or -indirectly at it, but that some other thing is to be hit; so it may be -that the thing to be achieved immediately or remotely is not happiness -at all, but some other thing: the other thing being duty.” In answer -to this the admonished man may reasonably say:—“What then is meant by -Kant’s statement that the man who pursues happiness ‘fails of true -satisfaction’? All happiness is made up of satisfactions. The ‘true -satisfaction’ which Kant offers as an alternative, must be some kind of -happiness; and if a truer satisfaction, must be a better happiness; and -better must mean on the average, and in the long run, greater. If this -‘true satisfaction’ does not mean greater happiness of self,—distant if -not proximate, in another life if not in this life—and if it does not -mean greater happiness by achieving the happiness of others; then you -propose to me as an end a smaller happiness instead of a greater, and I -decline it.” - -So that in this professed repudiation of happiness as an end, there -lies the inavoidable implication that it _is_ the end. - - * * * * * - -The last consideration introduces us naturally to another of Kant’s -cardinal doctrines. That there may be no mistake in my representation -of it, I must make a long quotation. - - “I omit here all actions which are already recognized as inconsistent - with duty, although they may be useful for this or that purpose, for - with these the question whether they are done _from duty_ cannot - arise at all, since they even conflict with it. I also set aside - those actions which really conform to {210} duty, but to which men - have _no_ direct _inclination_, performing them because they are - impelled thereto by some other inclination. For in this case we can - readily distinguish whether the action which agrees with duty is done - _from duty_, or from a selfish view. It is much harder to make this - distinction when the action accords with duty, and the subject has - besides a _direct_ inclination to it. For example, it is always a - matter of duty that a dealer should not overcharge an inexperienced - purchaser, and wherever there is much commerce the prudent tradesman - does not overcharge, but keeps a fixed price for every one, so that - a child buys of him as well as any other. Men are thus _honestly_ - served; but this is not enough to make us believe that the tradesman - has so acted from duty and from principles of honesty: his own - advantage required it; it is out of the question in this case to - suppose that he might besides have a direct inclination in favour of - the buyers, so that, as it were, from love he should give no advantage - to one over another [!]. Accordingly the action was done neither from - duty nor from direct inclination, but merely with a selfish view. On - the other hand, it is a duty to maintain one’s life; and, in addition, - every one has also a direct inclination to do so. But on this account - the often anxious care which most men take for it has no intrinsic - worth, and their maxim has no moral import. They preserve their life - _as duty requires_, no doubt, but not _because duty requires_. On the - other hand, if adversity and hopeless sorrow have completely taken - away the relish for life; if the unfortunate one, strong in mind, - indignant at his fate rather than desponding or dejected, wishes - for death, and yet preserves his life without loving it—not from - inclination or fear, but from duty—then his maxim has a moral worth. - - “To be beneficent when we can is a duty; and besides this, there are - many minds so sympathetically constituted that without any other - motive of vanity or self-interest, they find a pleasure in spreading - joy around them, and can take delight in the satisfaction of others - so far as it is their own work. But I maintain that in such a case - an action of this kind, however proper, however amiable it may be, - has nevertheless no true moral worth, but is on a level with other - inclinations” (pp. 17–19). - -I have given this extract at length that there may be fully understood -the remarkable doctrine it embodies—a doctrine especially remarkable as -exemplified in the last sentence. Let us now consider all that it means. - -Before doing this, however, I may remark that, space permitting, it -might be shown clearly enough that the assumed distinction between -_sense_ of duty and inclination is untenable. The very expression -sense of duty implies that the mental state signified is a feeling; -and if a feeling it must, like other feelings, be gratified by acts -of one kind and offended by acts of an opposite kind. If we take -the {211} name conscience, which is equivalent to sense of duty, -we see the same thing. The common expressions “a tender conscience” -“a seared conscience,” indicate the perception that conscience is a -feeling—a feeling which has its satisfactions and dissatisfactions, -and which _inclines_ a man to acts which yield the one and avoid the -other—produces an _inclination_. The truth is that conscience, or the -sense of duty, is an inclination of a complex kind as distinguished -from inclinations of simpler kinds. - -But let us grant Kant’s distinction in an unqualified form. Doing -this, let us entertain, too, his proposition that acts of whatever -kind done from inclination have no moral worth, and that the only acts -having moral worth are those done from a sense of duty. To test this -proposition let us follow an example he sets. As he would have the -quality of an act judged by supposing it universalized, let us judge of -moral worth as he conceives it by making a like supposition. That we -may do this effectually, let us assume that it is exemplified not only -by every man but by all the acts of every man. Unless Kant alleges that -a man may be morally worthy in too high a degree, we must admit that -the greater the number of his acts which have moral worth the better. -Let us then contemplate him as doing nothing from inclination but -everything from a sense of duty. - -When he pays the labourer who has done a week’s work for him, it -is not because letting a man go without wages would be against his -inclination, but solely because he sees it to be a duty to fulfil -contracts. Such care as he takes of his aged mother is prompted not by -tender feeling for her but by the consciousness of filial obligation. -When he gives evidence on behalf of a man whom he knows to have been -falsely charged, it is not that he would be hurt by seeing the man -wrongly punished, but simply in pursuance of a moral intuition showing -him that public duty requires him to testify. When he sees a little -child in danger of {212} being run over, and steps aside to snatch, -it away, he does so not because thought of the impending death of the -child pains him, but because he knows it is a duty to save life. And -so throughout, in all his relations as husband, as friend, as citizen, -he thinks always of what the law of right conduct directs, and does -it because it is the law of right conduct, not because he satisfies -his affections or his sympathies by doing it. This is not all however. -Kant’s doctrine commits him to something far beyond this. If those acts -only have moral worth which are done from a sense of duty, we must not -only say that the moral worth of a man is greater in proportion as the -number of the acts so done is greater. We must also say that his moral -worth is greater in proportion as his sense of duty makes him do the -right thing not only apart from inclination but against inclination. -According to Kant, then, the most moral man is the man whose sense of -duty is so strong that he refrains from picking a pocket though he is -much tempted to do it; who says of another that which is true though -he would like to injure him by a falsehood; who lends money to his -brother though he would prefer to see him in distress; who fetches the -doctor to his sick child though death would remove what he feels to -be a burden. What, now, shall we think of a world peopled with Kant’s -typically moral men—men who, in the one case, while doing right by one -another, do it with indifference, and severally know one another to be -so doing it; and men who, in the other case, do right by one another -notwithstanding the promptings of evil passions to do otherwise, and -who severally know themselves surrounded by others similarly prompted? -Most people will, I think, say that even in the first case life would -be hardly bearable, and that in the second case it would be absolutely -intolerable. Had such been men’s natures, Schopenhauer would indeed -have had good reason for urging that the race should bring itself to an -end as quickly as possible. - -Contemplate now the doings of one whose acts, according {213} to -Kant, have no moral worth. He goes through his daily work not thinking -of duty to wife and child, but having in his mind the pleasure of -witnessing their welfare; and on reaching home he delights to see his -little girl with rosy cheeks and laughing eyes eating heartily. When -he hands back to a shopkeeper the shilling given in excess of right -change, he does not stop to ask what the moral law requires: the -thought of profiting by the man’s mistake is intrinsically repugnant -to him. One who is drowning he plunges in to rescue without any idea -of obligation, but because he cannot contemplate without horror the -death which threatens. If, for a worthy man who is out of employment, -he takes much trouble to find a place, he does it because the -consciousness of the man’s difficulties is painful to him, and because -he knows that he will benefit not only him but the employer who engages -him: no moral maxim enters his mind. When he goes to see a sick friend -the gentle tones of his voice and the kindly expression of his face -show that he is come not from any sense of duty, but because pity and -a desire to raise his friend’s spirits have moved him. If he aids in -some public measure which helps men to help themselves, it is not in -pursuance of the admonition “Do as you would be done by,” but because -the distresses around make him unhappy, and the thought of mitigating -them gives him pleasure. And so throughout: he ever does the right -thing not in obedience to any injunction but because he loves the right -thing in and for itself. And now who would not like to live in a world -where everyone was thus characterized? - -What, then, shall we think of Kant’s conception of moral worth, when, -if it were displayed universally in men’s acts the world would be -intolerable, and when if these same acts were universally performed -from inclination, the world would be delightful? - - * * * * * - -But now, from these indirect criticisms, let us pass to a {214} direct -criticism of the Kantian principle—the principle often quoted as -distinctive of his ethics. He states it thus:― - - “There is therefore but one categorical imperative, namely this: _Act - only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it - should become a universal law_.” (pp. 54–5.) - -Again, subsequently, we read:― - - “_Act on maxims which can at the same time have for their object - themselves as universal laws of nature._ Such then is the formula of - an absolutely good will.” (p. 80.) - -Here, then, we have a clear statement of that which constitutes the -character of a good will; which good will, as we have already seen, -is said to exist independently of any contemplated end. Let us now -observe how this theory is reduced to practice. Speaking of a man who -is absolutely selfish and yet absolutely just, he represents him as -saying:― - - “Let everyone be as happy as heaven pleases or as he can make himself; - I will take nothing from him nor even envy him, only I do not wish - to contribute anything either to his welfare or to his assistance in - distress! Now no doubt if such a mode of thinking were a universal - law, the human race might very well subsist, and doubtless even better - than in a state in which every one talks of sympathy and good will, or - even takes care occasionally to put it into practice, but on the other - side, also cheats when he can, betrays the rights of men or otherwise - violates them. But although it is possible that a universal law of - nature might exist in accordance with that maxim, it is impossible to - _will_ that such a principle should have the universal validity of a - law of nature. For a will which resolved this would contradict itself, - inasmuch as many cases might occur in which one would have need of the - love and sympathy of others, and in which by such a law of nature, - sprung from his own will, he would deprive himself of all hope of the - aid he desires.” (pp. 58–9.) - -Thus we see illustrated the guidance of conduct in conformity with -the Kantian maxim; and what is the process of guidance? It is that -of considering what, in the particular case, would be the result if -the suggested course of conduct were made universal; and then being -deterred from willing such conduct by the badness of the conceived -result. Now, in the first place, what here becomes of the doctrine of a -good will, which we are told exists “without paying {215} any regard -to the effect expected from it”? (p. 24). The good will, characterized -by readiness to see the act it prompts made universal, has, in this -particular case, as in every other case, to be decided by contemplation -of an end—if not a special and immediate end then a general and remote -end. And what, in this case, is to be the deterrent from a suggested -course of conduct? Consciousness that the result, if such conduct were -universal, might be suffering to self: there might be no aid when it -was wanted. So that, in the first place, the question is to be decided -by the contemplation of happiness or misery as likely to be caused by -the one or the other course; and, in the second place, this happiness -or misery is that of the individual himself. Strangely enough, this -principle which is lauded because of its apparently implied altruism, -turns out, in the last resort, to have its justification in egoism! - -The essential truth here to be noted, however, is that the Kantian -principle, so much vaunted as higher than that of expediency or -utilitarianism, is compelled to take expediency or utilitarianism as -its basis. Do what it will, it cannot escape the need for conceiving -happiness or misery, to self or others or both, as respectively to -be achieved or avoided; for in any case what, except the conceived -happiness or misery which would follow if a given mode of action were -made universal, can determine the will for or against such mode of -action? If, in one who has been injured, there arises a temptation to -murder the injurer; and if, following out the Kantian injunction, the -tempted man thinks of himself as willing that all men who have been -injured should murder those who have injured them; and if, imagining -the consequences experienced by mankind at large, and possibly on some -occasion by himself in particular, he is deterred from yielding to the -temptation; what is it which deters him? Obviously the representation -of the many evils, pains, deprivations of happiness, which would be -caused. If, on imagining his act to be {216} universalized, he saw -that it would increase human happiness, the alleged deterrent would not -act. Hence the conduct to be insured by adoption of the Kantian maxim -is simply the conduct to be insured by making the happiness of self or -others or both the end to be achieved. By implication, if not avowedly, -the Kantian principle is as distinctly utilitarian as the principle -of Bentham. And it falls short of a scientific ethics in just the -same way; since it fails to furnish any method by which to determine -whether such and such acts _would_ or _would not_ be conducive to -happiness—leaves all such questions to be decided empirically. - -{217} - - - - -ABSOLUTE POLITICAL ETHICS. - -[_Originally published in_ The Nineteenth Century _for January 1890. -The writing of this essay was consequent on a controversy carried on -in_ The Times _between Nov. 7 and Nov. 27, 1889, and was made needful -by the misapprehensions and misrepresentations embodied in that -controversy. Hence the allusions which the essay contains. The last few -paragraphs of it in its original form were mainly personal in their -character; and, not wishing to perpetuate personalities, I have omitted -them_.] - - -Life in Fiji, at the time when Thomas Williams settled there, must -have been something worse than uncomfortable. One of the people who -passed near the string of nine hundred stones with which Ra Undreundre -recorded the number of human victims he had devoured, must have had -unpleasant waking thoughts and occasionally horrible dreams. A man -who had lost some fingers for breaches of ceremony, or had seen his -neighbour killed by a chief for behaviour not sufficiently respectful, -and who remembered how King Tanoa cut off his cousin’s arm, cooked -it and ate it in his presence, and then had him hacked to pieces, -must not unfrequently have had “a bad quarter of an hour.” Nor could -creeping sensations have failed to run through women who heard Tui -Thakau eulogizing his dead son for cruelty, and saying that “he could -kill his own wives if they offended him, and eat them afterwards.” -Happiness {218} could not have been general in a society where there -was a liability to be one among the ten whose life-blood baptized the -decks of a new canoe—a society in which the killing even of unoffending -persons was no crime but a glory; and in which everyone knew that his -neighbour’s restless ambition was to be an acknowledged murderer. -Still, there must have been some moderation in murdering even in Fiji. -Or must we hesitate to conclude that unlimited murder would have caused -extinction of the society? - -The extent to which each man’s possessions among the Biluchis are -endangered by the predatory instincts of his neighbours, may be judged -from the fact that “a small mud tower is erected in each field, where -the possessor and his retainers guard his produce.” If turbulent -states of society such as early histories tell of, do not show us so -vividly how the habit of appropriating one another’s goods interferes -with social prosperity and individual comfort, yet they do not leave -us in doubt respecting these results. It is an inference which few -will be hardy enough to dispute, that in proportion as the time of -each man, instead of being occupied in further production, is occupied -in guarding that which he has produced against marauders, the total -production must be diminished and the sustentation of each and all less -satisfactorily achieved. And it is a manifest corollary that if each -pushes beyond a certain limit the practice of trying to satisfy his -needs by robbing his neighbour, the society must dissolve: solitary -life will prove preferable. - -A deceased friend of mine, narrating incidents in his life, told me -that as a young man he sought to establish himself in Spain as a -commission agent; and that, failing by expostulation or other means -to obtain payment from one who had ordered goods through him, he, as -a last resource, went to the man’s house and presented himself before -him pistol in hand—a proceeding which had the desired effect: the -account was settled. Suppose now that everywhere {219} contracts had -thus to be enforced by more or less strenuous measures. Suppose that -a coal-mine proprietor in Derbyshire, having sent a train-load to a -London coal-merchant, had commonly to send a _posse_ of colliers up to -town, to stop the man’s wagons and take out the horses until payment -had been made. Suppose the farm-labourer or the artisan was constantly -in doubt whether, at the end of the week, the wages agreed upon would -be forthcoming; or whether he would get only half, or whether he -would have to wait six months. Suppose that daily in every shop there -occurred scuffles between shopman and customer, the one to get the -money without giving the goods, and the other to get the goods without -paying the money. What in such case would happen to the society? What -would become of its producing and distributing businesses? Is it a rash -inference that industrial co-operation (of the voluntary kind at least) -would cease? - -“Why these absurd questions?” asks the impatient reader. “Surely -everyone knows that murder, assault, robbery, fraud, breach of -contract, &c., are at variance with social welfare and must be punished -when committed,” My replies are several. In the first place, I am quite -content to have the questions called absurd; because this implies a -consciousness that the answers are so self-evident that it is absurd to -assume the possibility of any other answers. My second reply is that -I am not desirous of pressing the question _whether_ we know these -things, but of pressing the question _how_ we know these things. Can -we know them, and do we know them, by contemplating the necessities -of the case? or must we have recourse to “inductions based on careful -observation and experience”? Before we make and enforce laws against -murder, ought we to inquire into the social welfare and individual -happiness in places where murder prevails, and observe whether or not -the welfare and happiness are greater in places where murder is rare? -Shall robbery be allowed to go on until, {220} by collecting and -tabulating the effects in countries where thieves predominate and in -countries where thieves are but few, we are shown by induction that -prosperity is greater when each man is allowed to retain that which he -has earned? And is it needful to prove by accumulated evidence that -breaches of contract impede production and exchange, and those benefits -to each and all which mutual dependence achieves? In the third place, -these instances of actions which, pushed to extremes, cause social -dissolution, and which, in smaller degrees, hinder social co-operation -and its benefits, I give for the purpose of asking what is their -common trait. In each of such actions we see aggression—a carrying on -of life in a way which directly interferes with the carrying on of -another’s life. The relation between effort and consequent benefit in -one man, is either destroyed altogether or partially broken by the -doings of another man. If it be admitted that life can be maintained -only by certain activities (the internal ones being universal, and the -external ones being universal for all but parasites and the immature), -it must be admitted that when like-natured beings are associated, the -required activities must be mutually limited; and that the highest -life can result only when the associated beings are so constituted as -severally to keep within the implied limits. The restrictions stated -thus generally, may obviously be developed into special restrictions -referring to this or that kind of conduct. These, then, I hold are -_a priori_ truths which admit of being known by contemplation of the -conditions—axiomatic truths which bear to ethics a relation analogous -to that which the mathematical axioms bear to the exact sciences. - -I do not mean that these axiomatic truths are cognisable by all. For -the apprehension of them, as for the apprehension of simpler axioms, a -certain mental growth and a certain mental discipline are needed. In -the _Treatise on Natural Philosophy_ by Professors Thomson and Tait -[1st ed.], {221} it is remarked that “physical axioms are axiomatic -to those only who have sufficient knowledge of the action of physical -causes to enable them to see at once their necessary truth.” Doubtless -a fact and a significant fact. A plough-boy cannot form a conception -of the axiom that action and reaction are equal and opposite. In the -first place he lacks a sufficiently generalized idea of action—has not -united into one conception pushing and pulling, the blow of a fist, -the recoil of a gun, and the attraction of a planet. Still less has he -any generalized idea of reaction. And even had he these two ideas, it -is probable that, defective in power of representation as he is, he -would fail to recognize the necessary equality. Similarly with these -_a priori_ ethical truths. If a member of that Fijian slave-tribe who -regarded themselves as food for the chiefs had suggested that there -might arrive a time when men would not eat one another, his implied -belief that men might come to have a little respect for one another’s -lives, condemned as utterly without justification in experience, would -be considered as fit only for a wild speculator. Facts furnished by -every-day observation make it clear to the Biluchi, keeping watch -in his mud-tower, that possession of property can be maintained -only by force; and it is most likely to him scarcely conceivable -that there exist limits which, if mutually recognized, may exclude -aggressions, and make it needless to mount guard over fields: only an -absurd idealist (supposing such a thing known to him) would suggest -the possibility. And so even of our own ancestors in feudal times, -it may be concluded that, constantly going about armed and often -taking refuge in strongholds, the thought of a peaceful social state -would have seemed ridiculous; and the belief that there might be -a recognized equality among men’s claims to pursue the objects of -life, and a consequent desistence from aggressions, would have been -scarcely conceivable. But now that an orderly social state has been -maintained for generations—now that in daily {222} intercourse men -rarely use violence, commonly pay what they owe, and in most cases -respect the claims of the weak as well as those of the strong—now -that they are brought up with the idea that all men are equal before -the law, and daily see judicial decisions turning upon the question -whether one citizen has or has not infringed upon the equal rights -of another; there exist in the general mind materials for forming -the conception of a _régime_ in which men’s activities are mutually -limited, and in which maintenance of harmony depends on respect for the -limits. There has arisen an ability to see that mutual limitations are -required when lives are carried on in proximity; and to see that there -necessarily emerge definite sets of restraints applying to definite -classes of actions. And it has become manifest to some, though not it -seems to many, that there results an _a priori_ system of absolute -political ethics—a system under which men of like natures, severally -so constituted as spontaneously to refrain from trespassing, may work -together without friction, and with the greatest advantage to each and -all. - -“But men are not wholly like-natured and are unlikely to become so. Nor -are they so constituted that each is solicitous for his neighbour’s -claims as for his own, and there is small probability that they ever -will be. Your absolute political ethics is therefore an ideal beyond -the reach of the real.” This is true. Nevertheless, much as it seems to -do so, it does not follow that there is no use for absolute political -ethics. The contrary may clearly enough be shown. An analogy will -explain the paradox. - -There exists a division of physical science distinguished as abstract -mechanics or absolute mechanics—absolute in the sense that its -propositions are unqualified. It is concerned with statics and dynamics -in their pure forms—deals with forces and motions considered as free -from all interferences resulting from friction, resistances of media, -and special properties of matter. If it enunciates a law of motion, -it {223} recognizes nothing which modifies manifestation of it. If -it formulates the properties of the lever it treats of this assuming -it to be perfectly rigid and without thickness—an impossible lever. -Its theory of the screw imagines the screw to be frictionless; and in -treating of the wedge, absolute incompressibility is supposed. Thus -its truths are never presented in experience. Even those movements -of the heavenly bodies which are deducible from its propositions -are always more or less perturbed; and on the Earth the inferences -to be drawn from them deviate very considerably from the results -reached by experiment. Nevertheless this system of ideal mechanics is -indispensable for the guidance of real mechanics. The engineer has -to deal with its propositions as true in full, before he proceeds -to qualify them by taking into account the natures of the materials -he uses. The course which a projectile would take if subject only -to the propulsive force and the attraction of the Earth must be -recognized, though no such course is ever pursued: correction for -atmospheric resistance cannot else be made. That is to say, though, -by empirical methods, applied or relative mechanics may be developed -to a considerable extent, it cannot be highly developed without -the aid of absolute mechanics. So is it here. Relative political -ethics, or that which deals with right and wrong in public affairs -as partially determined by changing circumstances, cannot progress -without taking into account right and wrong considered apart from -changing circumstances—cannot do without absolute political ethics; the -propositions of which, deduced from the conditions under which life -is carried on in an associated state, take no account of the special -circumstances of any particular associated state. - -And now observe a truth which seems entirely overlooked; namely, that -the set of deductions thus arrived at is verified by an immeasurably -vast induction, or rather by a great assemblage of vast inductions. -For what else are the laws and judicial systems of all civilized -nations, and of {224} all societies which have risen above savagery? -What is the meaning of the fact that all peoples have discovered the -need for punishing murder, usually by death? How is it that where any -considerable progress has been made, theft is forbidden by law, and -a penalty attached to it? Why along with further advance does the -enforcing of contracts become general? And what is the reason that -among fully civilized peoples frauds, libels, and minor aggressions -of various kinds are repressed in more or less rigorous ways? No -cause can be assigned save a general uniformity in men’s experiences, -showing them that aggressions directly injurious to the individuals -aggressed upon are indirectly injurious to society. Generation after -generation observations have forced this truth on them; and generation -after generation they have been developing the interdicts into greater -detail. That is to say, the above fundamental principle and its -corollaries arrived at _a priori_ are verified in an infinity of cases -_a posteriori_. Everywhere the tendency has been to carry further -in practice the dictates of theory—to conform systems of law to the -requirements of absolute political ethics: if not consciously, still -unconsciously. Nay, indeed, is not this truth manifest in the very name -used for the end aimed at—equity or equalness? Equalness of what? No -answer can be given without a recognition—vague it may be, but still a -recognition—of the doctrine above set forth. - -Thus, instead of being described as putting faith in “long chains of -deduction from abstract ethical assumptions” I ought to be described as -putting faith in simple deductions from abstract ethical necessities; -which deductions are verified by infinitely numerous observations and -experiences of semi-civilized and civilized mankind in all ages and -places. Or rather I ought to be described as one who, contemplating -the restraints everywhere put on the various kinds of transgressions, -and seeing in them all a common principle everywhere dictated by the -necessities {225} of the associated state, proceeds to develop the -consequences of this common principle by deduction, and to justify both -the deductions and the conclusions which legislators have empirically -reached by showing that the two correspond. This method of deduction -verified by induction is the method of developed science at large. I -do not believe that I shall be led to abandon it and change my “way of -thinking” by any amount of disapproval, however strongly expressed. - -Are we then to understand that by this imposing title, “Absolute -Political Ethics,” nothing more is meant than a theory of the needful -restraints which law imposes on the actions of citizens—an ethical -warrant for systems of law? Well, supposing even that I had to answer -“Yes” to this question (which I do not), there would still be an ample -justification for the title. Having for its subject-matter all that is -comprehended under the word “Justice,” alike as formulated in law and -administered by legal instrumentalities, the title has a sufficiently -large area to cover. This would scarcely need saying were it not for a -curious defect of thought which we are everywhere led into by habit. - -Just as, when talking of knowledge, we ignore entirely that familiar -knowledge of surrounding things, animate and inanimate, acquired in -childhood, in the absence of which death would quickly result, and -think only of that far less essential knowledge gained at school -and college or from books and conversation—just as, when thinking -of mathematics, we include under the name only its higher groups of -truths and drop out that simpler group constituting arithmetic, though -for the carrying on of life this is more important than all the rest -put together; so, when politics and political ethics are discussed, -there is no thought of those parts of them which include whatever -is fundamental and long settled. The word political raises ideas of -party-contests, ministerial changes, prospective elections, or else of -the Home-Rule question, the {226} Land-Purchase scheme, Local Option, -or the Eight-Hours movement. Rarely does the word suggest law-reform, -or a better judicial organization, or a purified police. And if ethics -comes into consideration, it is in connexion with the morals of -parliamentary strife or of candidates’ professions, or of electoral -corruptions. Yet it needs but to look at the definition of politics -(“that part of ethics which consists in the regulation and government -of a nation or state, for the preservation of its safety, peace, and -prosperity”), to see that the current conception fails by omitting -the chief part. It needs but to consider how relatively immense a -factor in the life of each man is constituted by safety of person, -security of house and property, and enforcement of claims, to see that -not only the largest part but the part which is vital is left out. -Hence the absurdity does not exist in the conception of an absolute -political ethics, but it exists in the ignoring of its subject-matter. -Unless it be considered absurd to regard as absolute the interdicts -against murder, burglary, fraud and all other aggressions, it cannot -be considered absurd to regard as absolute the ethical system which -embodies these interdicts. - -It remains to add that beyond the deductions which, as we have seen, -are verified by vast assemblages of inductions, there may be drawn -other deductions not thus verified—deductions drawn from the same -data, but which have no relevant experiences to say yes or no to -them. Such deductions may be valid or invalid; and I believe that -in my first work, written forty years ago and long since withdrawn -from circulation, there are some invalid deductions. But to reject a -principle and a method because of some invalid deductions, is about as -proper as it would be to pooh-pooh arithmetic because of blunders in -certain arithmetical calculations. - - * * * * * - -I turn now to a question above put—whether, by absolute political -ethics, nothing more is meant than an ethical {227} warrant for -systems of law—a question to which, by implication, I answered No. -And now I have to answer that it extends over a further field equally -wide if less important. For beyond the relations among citizens taken -individually, there are the relations between the incorporated body of -citizens and each citizen. And on these relations between the State and -the man, absolute political ethics gives judgments as well as on the -relations between man and man. Its judgments on the relations between -man and man are corollaries from its primary truth, that the activities -of each in pursuing the objects of life may be rightly restricted -only by the like activities of others: such others being like-natured -(for the principle does not contemplate slave-societies or societies -in which one race dominates over another); and its judgments on the -relations between the man and the State are corollaries from the allied -truth, that the activities of each citizen may be rightly limited -by the incorporated body of citizens only as far as is needful for -securing to him the remainder. This further limitation is a necessary -accompaniment of the militant state; and must continue so long as, -besides the criminalities of individual aggression, there continue -the criminalities of international aggression. It is clear that the -preservation of the society is an end which must take precedence of the -preservation of its individuals taken singly; since the preservation -of each individual and the maintenance of his ability to pursue the -objects of life, depend on the preservation of the society. Such -restrictions upon his actions as are imposed by the necessities of -war, and of preparedness for war when it is probable, are therefore -ethically defensible. - -And here we enter upon the many and involved questions with which -relative political ethics has to deal. When originally indicating -the contrast, I spoke of “absolute political ethics, or that which -ought to be, as distinguished from relative political ethics, or that -which is at present the nearest practicable approach to it;” and had -any {228} attention been paid to this distinction, no controversy -need have arisen. Here I have to add that the qualifications which -relative political ethics sets forth vary with the type of the society, -which is primarily determined by the extent to which defence against -other societies is needful. Where international enmity is great and -the social organization has to be adapted to warlike activities, the -coercion of individuals by the State is such as almost to destroy -their freedom of action and make them slaves of the State; and where -this results from the necessities of defensive war (not offensive war, -however), relative political ethics furnishes a warrant. Conversely, -as militancy decreases, there is a diminished need both for that -subordination of individuals which is necessitated by consolidating -them into a fighting machine, and for that further subordination -entailed by supplying this fighting machine with the necessaries -of life; and as fast as this change goes on, the warrant for -State-coercion which relative political ethics furnishes becomes less -and less. - -Obviously it is out of the question here to enter upon the complex -questions raised. It must suffice to indicate them as above. Should I -be able to complete Part IV. of _The Principles of Ethics_, treating -of “Justice,” of which the first chapters only are at present written, -I hope to deal adequately with these relations between the ethics of -the progressive condition and the ethics of that condition which is -the goal of progress—a goal ever to be recognized, though it cannot be -actually reached. - -{229} - - - - -OVER-LEGISLATION.[26] - -[_First published in_ The Westminster Review _for July 1853_.] - - -From time to time there returns on the cautious thinker, the conclusion -that, considered simply as a question of probabilities, it is unlikely -that his views upon any debatable topic are correct. “Here,” he -reflects, “are thousands around me holding on this or that point -opinions differing from mine—wholly in many cases; partially in most -others. Each is as confident as I am of the truth of his convictions. -Many of them are possessed of great intelligence; and, rank myself high -as I may, I must admit that some are my equals—perhaps my superiors. -Yet, while every one of us is sure he is right, unquestionably most -of us are wrong. Why should not I be among the mistaken? True, I -cannot realize the likelihood that I am so. But this proves nothing; -for though the majority of us are necessarily in error, we all labour -under the inability to think we are in error. Is it not then foolish -thus to trust myself? When {230} I look back into the past, I find -nations, sects, theologians, philosophers, cherishing beliefs in -science, morals, politics, and religion, which we decisively reject. -Yet they held them with a faith quite as strong as ours: nay—stronger, -if their intolerance of dissent is any criterion. Of what little worth, -therefore, seems this strength of my conviction that I am right! A like -warrant has been felt by men all the world through; and, in nine cases -out of ten, has proved a delusive warrant. Is it not then absurd in me -to put so much faith in my judgments?” - - [26] Some of the illustrations used in this essay refer to laws - and arrangements changed since it was written; while many recent - occurrences might now be cited in further aid of its argument. As, - however, the reasoning is not affected by these changes; and as to - keep it corrected to the facts of the day would involve perpetual - alterations; it seems best to leave it substantially in its original - state: or rather in the state in which it was republished in Mr. - Chapman’s _Library for the People_. - -Barren of practical results as this reflection at first sight appears, -it may, and indeed should, influence some of our most important -proceedings. Though in daily life we are constantly obliged to act out -our inferences, trustless as they may be—though in the house, in the -office, in the street, there hourly arise occasions on which we may not -hesitate; seeing that if to act is dangerous, never to act at all is -fatal—and though, consequently, on our private conduct, this abstract -doubt as to the worth of our judgments, must remain inoperative; -yet, in our public conduct, we may properly allow it to weigh. Here -decision is no longer imperative; while the difficulty of deciding -aright is incalculably greater. Clearly as we may think we see how a -given measure will work, we may infer, drawing the above induction from -human experience, that the chances are many against the truth of our -anticipations. Whether in most cases it is not wiser to do nothing, -becomes now a rational question. Continuing his self-criticism, the -cautious thinker may reason:—“If in these personal affairs, where -all the conditions of the case were known to me, I have so often -miscalculated, how much oftener shall I miscalculate in political -affairs, where the conditions are too numerous, too wide-spread, too -complex, too obscure to be understood. Here, doubtless, is a social -evil and there a desideratum; and were I sure of doing no mischief I -would forthwith try to cure the one and achieve {231} the other. But -when I remember how many of my private schemes have miscarried—how -speculations have failed, agents proved dishonest, marriage been -a disappointment—how I did but pauperize the relative I sought to -help—how my carefully-governed son has turned out worse than most -children—how the thing I desperately strove against as a misfortune -did me immense good—how while the objects I ardently pursued brought -me little happiness when gained, most of my pleasures have come from -unexpected sources; when I recall these and hosts of like facts, I am -struck with the incompetence of my intellect to prescribe for society. -And as the evil is one under which society has not only lived but -grown, while the desideratum is one it may spontaneously obtain, as it -has most others, in some unforeseen way, I question the propriety of -meddling.” - - * * * * * - -There is a great want of this practical humility in our political -conduct. Though we have less self-confidence than our ancestors, who -did not hesitate to organize in law their judgments on all subjects -whatever, we have yet far too much. Though we have ceased to assume -the infallibility of our theological beliefs and so ceased to enact -them, we have not ceased to enact hosts of other beliefs of an -equally doubtful kind. Though we no longer presume to coerce men -for their _spiritual good_, we still think ourselves called upon to -coerce them for their _material good_: not seeing that the one is -as useless and as unwarrantable as the other. Innumerable failures -seem, so far, powerless to teach this. Take up a daily paper and you -will probably find a leader exposing the corruption, negligence, or -mismanagement of some State-department. Cast your eye down the next -column, and it is not unlikely that you will read proposals for an -extension of State-supervision. Yesterday came a charge of gross -carelessness against the Colonial office. To-day Admiralty bunglings -are burlesqued. To-morrow brings the question—“Should there {232} -not be more coal-mine inspectors?” Now there is a complaint that -the Board of Health is useless; and now an outcry for more railway -regulation. While your ears are still ringing with denunciations of -Chancery abuses, or your cheeks still glowing with indignation at some -well-exposed iniquity of the Ecclesiastical Courts, you suddenly come -upon suggestions for organizing “a priesthood of science.” Here is a -vehement condemnation of the police for stupidly allowing sight-seers -to crush each other to death. You look for the corollary that official -regulation is not to be trusted; when, instead, _à propos_ of a -shipwreck, you read an urgent demand for government-inspectors to see -that ships always have their boats ready for launching. Thus, while -every day chronicles a failure, there every day reappears the belief -that it needs but an Act of Parliament and a staff of officers, to -effect any end desired. Nowhere is the perennial faith of mankind -better seen. Ever since society existed Disappointment has been -preaching—“Put not your trust in legislation;” and yet the trust in -legislation seems scarcely diminished. - -Did the State fulfil efficiently its unquestionable duties, there -would be some excuse for this eagerness to assign it further duties. -Were there no complaints of its faulty administration of justice; of -its endless delays and untold expenses; of its bringing ruin in place -of restitution; of its playing the tyrant where it should have been -the protector—did we never hear of its complicated stupidities; its -20,000 statutes, which it assumes all Englishmen to know, and which not -one Englishman does know; its multiplied forms, which, in the effort -to meet every contingency, open far more loopholes than they provide -against—had it not shown its folly in the system of making every petty -alteration by a new act, variously affecting innumerable preceding -acts; or in its score of successive sets of Chancery rules, which so -modify, and limit, and extend, and abolish, and alter each other, that -not even Chancery lawyers know {233} what the rules are—were we never -astounded by such a fact as that, under the system of land registration -in Ireland, 6000l. have been spent in a “negative search” to establish -the title of an estate—did we find in its doings no such terrible -incongruity as the imprisonment of a hungry vagrant for stealing a -turnip, while for the gigantic embezzlements of a railway director it -inflicts no punishment;—had we, in short, proved its efficiency as -judge and defender, instead of having found it treacherous, cruel, and -anxiously to be shunned, there would be some encouragement to hope -other benefits at its hands. - -Or if, while failing in its judicial functions, the State had proved -itself a capable agent in some other department—the military for -example—there would have been some show of reason for extending its -sphere of action. Suppose that it had rationally equipped its troops, -instead of giving them cumbrous and ineffective muskets, barbarous -grenadier caps, absurdly heavy knapsacks and cartouche-boxes, and -clothing coloured so as admirably to help the enemy’s marksmen—suppose -that it organized well and economically, instead of salarying an -immense superfluity of officers, creating sinecure colonelcies -of 4000_l._ a year, neglecting the meritorious and promoting -incapables—suppose that its soldiers were always well housed instead of -being thrust into barracks that invalid hundreds, as at Aden, or that -fall on their occupants, as at Loodianah, where ninety-five were thus -killed—suppose that, in actual war, it had shown due administrative -ability, instead of occasionally leaving its regiments to march -barefoot, to dress in patches, to capture their own engineering -tools, and to fight on empty stomachs, as during the Peninsular -campaign;—suppose all this, and the wish for more State-control might -still have had some warrant. - -Even though it had bungled in everything else, yet had it in one case -done well—had its naval management alone been efficient—the sanguine -would have had a colourable {234} excuse for expecting success in a -new field. Grant that the reports about bad ships, ships that will -not sail, ships that have to be lengthened, ships with unfit engines, -ships that will not carry their guns, ships without stowage, and ships -that have to be broken up, are all untrue—assume those to be mere -slanderers who say that the _Megœra_ took double the time taken by -a commercial steamer to reach the Cape; that during the same voyage -the _Hydra_ was three times on fire, and needed the pumps kept going -day and night; that the _Charlotte_ troop-ship set out with 75 days’ -provisions on board, and was three months in reaching her destination; -that the _Harpy_, at an imminent risk of life, got home in 110 days -from Rio—disregard as calumnies the statements about septuagenarian -admirals, dilettante ship building, and “cooked” dockyard accounts—set -down the affair of the Goldner preserved meats as a myth, and -consider Professor Barlow mistaken when he reported of the Admiralty -compasses in store, that “at least one-half were mere lumber;”—let -all these, we say, be held groundless charges, and there would remain -for the advocates of much government some basis for their political -air-castles, spite of military and judicial mismanagement. - -As it is, however, they seem to have read backwards the parable of -the talents. Not to the agent of proved efficiency do they consign -further duties, but to the negligent and blundering agent. Private -enterprise has done much, and done it well. Private enterprise -has cleared, drained, and fertilized the country, and built the -towns—has excavated mines, laid out roads, dug canals, and embanked -railways—has invented, and brought to perfection, ploughs, looms, -steam-engines, printing-presses, and machines innumerable—has built -our ships, our vast manufactories, our docks—has established banks, -insurance societies, and the newspaper press—has covered the sea -with lines of steam-vessels, and the land with electric telegraphs. -Private enterprise has brought agriculture, manufactures, {235} and -commerce to their present height, and is now developing them with -increasing rapidity. Therefore, do not trust private enterprise. On -the other hand, the State so fulfils its judicial function as to ruin -many, delude others, and frighten away those who most need succour; -its national defences are so extravagantly and yet inefficiently -administered, as to call forth almost daily complaint, expostulation, -or ridicule; and as the nation’s steward, it obtains from some of our -vast public estates a minus revenue. Therefore, trust the State. Slight -the good and faithful servant, and promote the unprofitable one from -one talent to ten. - -Seriously, the case, while it may not, in some respects, warrant this -parallel, is, in one respect, even stronger. For the new work is not -of the same order as the old, but of a more difficult order. Ill as -government discharges its true duties, any other duties committed to -it are likely to be still worse discharged. To guard its subjects -against aggression, either individual or national, is a straightforward -and tolerably simple matter; to regulate, directly or indirectly, the -personal actions of those subjects is an infinitely complicated matter. -It is one thing to secure to each man the unhindered power to pursue -his own good; it is a widely different thing to pursue the good for -him. To do the first efficiently, the State has merely to look on while -its citizens act; to forbid unfairness; to adjudicate when called on; -and to enforce restitution for injuries. To do the last efficiently, -it must become an ubiquitous worker—must know each man’s needs better -than he knows them himself—must, in short, possess superhuman power and -intelligence. Even, therefore, had the State done well in its proper -sphere, no sufficient warrant would have existed for extending that -sphere; but seeing how ill it has discharged those simple offices which -we cannot help consigning to it, small indeed is the probability that -it will discharge well offices of a more complicated nature. - -Change the point of view however we may, and this {236} conclusion -still presents itself. If we define the primary State-duty to be -that of protecting each individual against others; then, all other -State-action comes under the definition of protecting each individual -against himself—against his own stupidity, his own idleness, his own -improvidence, rashness, or other defect—his own incapacity for doing -something or other which should be done. There is no questioning this -classification. For manifestly all the obstacles that lie between -a man’s desires and the satisfaction of them, are either obstacles -arising from other men’s counter desires, or obstacles arising from -inability in himself. Such of these counter desires as are just, -have as much claim to satisfaction as his; and may not, therefore, -be thwarted. Such of them as are unjust, it is the State’s duty to -hold in check. The only other possible sphere for it, therefore, is -that of saving the individual from the consequences of his nature, -or, as we say—protecting him against himself. Making no comment, at -present, on the policy of this, and confining ourselves solely to -the practicability of it, let us inquire how the proposal looks when -reduced to its simplest form. Here are men possessed of instincts, -and sentiments, and perceptions, all conspiring to self-preservation. -The due action of each brings its quantum of pleasure; the inaction, -its more or less of pain. Those provided with these faculties in due -proportions, prosper and multiply; those ill-provided, tend to die out. -And the general success of this human organization is seen in the fact, -that under it the world has been peopled, and by it the complicated -appliances and arrangements of civilized life have been developed. It -is complained, however, that there are certain directions in which this -apparatus of motives works but imperfectly. While it is admitted that -men are duly prompted by it to bodily sustenance, to the obtainment -of clothing and shelter, to marriage and the care of offspring, and -to the establishment of the more important industrial and commercial -agencies; it is argued that there are many desiderata, as pure air, -{237} more knowledge, good water, safe travelling, and so forth, -which it does not duly achieve. And these short-comings being assumed -permanent, it is urged that some supplementary means must be employed. -It is therefore proposed that out of the mass of men a certain number, -constituting the legislature, shall be instructed to attain these -various objects. The legislators thus instructed (all characterized, on -the average, by the same defects in this apparatus of motives as men in -general), being unable personally to fulfil their tasks, must fulfil -them by deputy—must appoint commissions, boards, councils, and staffs -of officers; and must construct their agencies of this same defective -humanity that acts so ill. Why now should this system of complex -deputation succeed where the system of simple deputation does not? The -industrial, commercial, and philanthropic agencies, which citizens -form spontaneously, are directly deputed agencies; these governmental -agencies made by electing legislators who appoint officers, are -indirectly deputed ones. And it is hoped that, by this process of -double deputation, things may be achieved which the process of single -deputation will not achieve. What is the rationale of this hope? Is it -that legislators, and their employés, are made to feel more intensely -than the rest these evils they are to remedy, these wants they are to -satisfy? Hardly; for by position they are mostly relieved from such -evils and wants. Is it, then, that they are to have the primary motive -replaced by a secondary motive—the fear of public displeasure, and -ultimate removal from office? Why scarcely; for the minor benefits -which citizens will not organize to secure _directly_, they will not -organize to secure _indirectly_, by turning out inefficient servants: -especially if they cannot readily get efficient ones. Is it, then, that -these State-agents are to do from a sense of duty, what they would -not do from any other motive? Evidently this is the only possibility -remaining. The proposition on which the {238} advocates of much -government have to fall back, is, that things which the people will -not unite to effect for personal benefit, a law-appointed portion of -them will unite to effect for the benefit of the rest. Public men -and functionaries love their neighbours better than themselves! The -philanthropy of statesmen is stronger than the selfishness of citizens! - -No wonder, then, that every day adds to the list of legislative -miscarriages. If colliery explosions increase, notwithstanding -the appointment of coal-mine inspectors, why it is but a natural -sequence to these false methods. If Sunderland shipowners complain -that, as far as tried, “the Mercantile Marine Act has proved a total -failure;” and if, meanwhile, the other class affected by it—the -sailors—show their disapprobation by extensive strikes; why it does -but exemplify the folly of trusting a theorising benevolence rather -than an experienced self-interest. On all sides we may expect such -facts; and on all sides we find them. Government, turning engineer, -appoints its lieutenant, the Sewers’ Commission, to drain London. -Presently Lambeth sends deputations to say that it pays heavy rates, -and gets no benefit. Tired of waiting, Bethnal-green calls meetings -to consider “the most effectual means of extending the drainage of -the district.” From Wandsworth come complainants, who threaten to -pay no more until something is done. Camberwell proposes to raise -a subscription and do the work itself. Meanwhile, no progress is -made towards the purification of the Thames; the weekly returns show -an increasing rate of mortality; in Parliament, the friends of the -Commission have nothing save good intentions to urge in mitigation of -censure; and, at length, despairing ministers gladly seize an excuse -for quietly shelving the Commission and its plans altogether.[27] -As architectural {239} surveyor, the State has scarcely succeeded -better than as engineer; witness the Metropolitan Buildings’ Act. New -houses still tumble down from time to time. A few months since two -fell at Bayswater, and one more recently near the Pentonville Prison: -all notwithstanding prescribed thicknesses, and hoop-iron bond, and -inspectors. It never struck those who provided these delusive sureties, -that it was possible to build walls without bonding the two surfaces -together, so that the inner layer might be removed after the surveyor’s -approval. Nor did they foresee that, in dictating a larger _quantity_ -of bricks than experience proved absolutely needful, they were simply -insuring a slow deterioration of _quality_ to an equivalent extent.[28] -The government guarantee for safe passenger ships answers no better -than its guarantee for safe houses. Though the burning of the _Amazon_ -arose from either bad construction or bad stowage, she had received -the Admiralty certificate before sailing. Notwithstanding official -approval, the _Adelaide_ was found, on her first voyage, to steer ill, -to have useless pumps, ports that let floods of water into the cabins, -and coals so near the furnaces that they twice caught fire. The _W. -S. Lindsay_, which turned out unfit for sailing, had been passed by -the government agent; and, but for the owner, might have gone to sea -at a great risk of life. The _Melbourne_—originally a State-built -ship—which took twenty-four days to reach Lisbon, and then needed to -be docked to undergo a thorough repair, had been duly inspected. And -lastly, the notorious _Australian_, before her third futile attempt -to proceed on her {240} voyage, had, her owners tell us, received -“the full approbation of the government inspector.” Neither does the -like supervision give security to land-travelling. The iron bridge -at Chester, which, breaking, precipitated a train into the Dee, had -passed under the official eye. Inspection did not prevent a column -on the South-Eastern from being so placed as to kill a man who put -his head out of the carriage window. The locomotive that burst at -Brighton lately, did so notwithstanding a State-approval given but ten -days previously. And—to look at the facts in the gross—this system of -supervision has not prevented the increase of railway accidents; which, -be it remembered, has arisen _since_ the system was commenced. - - [27] So complete is the failure of this and other sanitary bodies, - that, at the present moment (March, 1854) a number of philanthropic - gentlemen are voluntarily organizing a “Health Fund for London,” - with the view of meeting the threatened invasion of the Cholera; - and the plea for this _purely private enterprise_, is, that the - Local Boards of Health and Boards of Guardians are inoperative, from - “_ignorance_, 1st, _of the extent of the danger_; 2nd, _of the means - which experience has discovered for meeting it; and_ 3rd, _of the - comparative security which those means may produce_.” - - [28] The _Builder_ remarks, that “the removal of the brick-duties - has not yet produced that improvement in the make of bricks which we - ought to find, . . . . . but as bad bricks can be obtained for less - than good bricks, so long as houses built of the former will sell - as readily as if the better had been used, no improvement is to be - expected.” - -“Well; let the State fail. It can but do its best. If it succeed, so -much the better: if it do not, where is the harm? Surely it is wiser -to act, and take the chance of success, than to do nothing.” To this -plea the rejoinder is that, unfortunately, the results of legislative -intervention are not only negatively bad, but often positively so. -Acts of Parliament do not simply fail; they frequently make worse. The -familiar truth that persecution aids rather than hinders proscribed -doctrines—a truth lately afresh illustrated by the forbidden work of -Gervinus—is a part of the general truth that legislation often does -indirectly, the reverse of that which it directly aims to do. Thus has -it been with the Metropolitan Buildings’ Act. As was lately agreed -unanimously by the delegates from all the parishes in London, and as -was stated by them to Sir William Molesworth, this act “has encouraged -bad building, and has been the means of covering the suburbs of the -metropolis with thousands of wretched hovels, which are a disgrace to -a civilized country.” Thus, also, has it been in provincial towns. The -Nottingham Inclosure Act of 1845, by prescribing the structure of the -houses to be built, and the extent of yard or garden to be allotted -to each, has rendered it impossible to build working-class dwellings -at such moderate {241} rents as to compete with existing ones. It is -estimated that, as a consequence, 10,000 of the population are debarred -from the new homes they would otherwise have, and are forced to live -crowded together in miserable places unfit for human habitation; and -so, in its anxiety to insure healthy accommodation for artisans, the -law has entailed on them still worse accommodation than before. Thus, -too, has it been with the Passengers’ Act. The terrible fevers which -arose in the Australian emigrant ships a few months since, causing in -the _Bourneuf_ 83 deaths, in the _Wanota_ 39 deaths, in the _Marco -Polo_ 53 deaths, and in the _Ticonderoga_ 104 deaths, arose in vessels -sent out by the government; and arose _in consequence_ of the close -packing which the Passengers’ Act authorizes.[29] Thus, moreover, has -it been with the safeguards provided by the Mercantile Marine Act. The -examinations devised for insuring the efficiency of captains, have -had the effect of certifying the superficially-clever and unpractised -men, and, as we are told by a shipowner, rejecting many of the -long-tried and most trustworthy: the general result being that _the -ratio of shipwrecks has increased_. Thus also has it happened with -Boards of Health, which have, in sundry cases, exacerbated the evils -to be removed; as, for instance, at Croydon, where, according to the -official report, the measures of the sanitary authorities produced an -epidemic, which attacked 1600 people and killed 70. Thus again has it -been with the Joint Stock Companies Registration Act. As was shown -by Mr. James Wilson, in his late motion for a select committee on -life-assurance associations, this measure, passed in 1844 to guard the -public against bubble schemes, actually facilitated the rascalities -of 1845 and subsequent years. The legislative sanction, devised as -a guarantee of genuineness, and supposed by the people to be {242} -such, clever adventurers have without difficulty obtained for the most -worthless projects. Having obtained it, an amount of public confidence -has followed which they could never otherwise have gained. In this way -literally hundreds of sham enterprises that would not else have seen -the light, have been fostered into being; and thousands of families -have been ruined who would never have been so but for legislative -efforts to make them more secure. - - [29] Against which close packing, by the way, _a private mercantile - body_—the Liverpool Shipowners’ Association—unavailingly protested when - the Act was before Parliament. - -Moreover, when these topical remedies applied by statesmen do not -exacerbate the evils they were meant to cure, they constantly induce -collateral evils; and these often graver than the original ones. It -is the vice of this empirical school of politicians that they never -look beyond proximate causes and immediate effects. In common with the -uneducated masses they habitually regard each phenomenon as involving -but one antecedent and one consequent. They do not bear in mind that -each phenomenon is a link in an infinite series—is the result of -myriads of preceding phenomena, and will have a share in producing -myriads of succeeding ones. Hence they overlook the fact that, in -disturbing any natural chain of sequences, they are not only modifying -the result next in succession, but all the future results into which -this will enter as a part cause. The serial genesis of phenomena, -and the interaction of each series upon every other series, produces -a complexity utterly beyond human grasp. Even in the simplest cases -this is so. A servant who puts coals on the fire sees but few effects -from the burning of a lump. The man of science, however, knows that -there are very many effects. He knows that the combustion establishes -numerous atmospheric currents, and through them moves thousands of -cubic feet of air inside the house and out. He knows that the heat -diffused causes expansions and subsequent contractions of all bodies -within its range. He knows that the persons warmed are affected in -their rate of respiration and their waste of tissue; and that these -physiological {243} changes must have various secondary results. He -knows that, could he trace to their ramified consequences all the -forces disengaged, mechanical, chemical, thermal, electric—could he -enumerate all the subsequent effects of the evaporation caused, the -gases generated, the light evolved, the heat radiated; a volume would -scarcely suffice to enter them. If, now, from a simple inorganic change -such numerous and complex results arise, how infinitely multiplied and -involved must be the ultimate consequences of any force brought to bear -upon society. Wonderfully constructed as it is—mutually dependent as -are its members for the satisfaction of their wants—affected as each -unit of it is by his fellows, not only as to his safety and prosperity, -but in his health, his temper, his culture; the social organism cannot -be dealt with in any one part, without all other parts being influenced -in ways which cannot be foreseen. You put a duty on paper, and -by-and-by find that, through the medium of the jacquard-cards employed, -you have inadvertently taxed figured silk, sometimes to the extent of -several shillings per piece. On removing the impost from bricks, you -discover that its existence had increased the dangers of mining, by -preventing shafts from being lined and workings from being tunnelled. -By the excise on soap, you have, it turns out, greatly encouraged the -use of caustic washing-powders; and so have unintentionally entailed -an immense destruction of clothes. In every case you perceive, on -careful inquiry, that besides acting upon that which you sought to act -upon, you have acted upon many other things, and each of these again -on many others; and so have propagated a multitude of changes in all -directions. We need feel no surprise, then, that in their efforts to -cure specific evils, legislators have continually caused collateral -evils they never looked for. No Carlyle’s wisest man, nor any body of -such, could avoid causing them. Though their production is explicable -enough after it has occurred, it is never anticipated. {244} When, -under the New Poor-law, provision was made for the accommodation of -vagrants in the Union-houses, it was hardly expected that a body of -tramps would be thereby called into existence, who would spend their -time in walking from Union to Union throughout the kingdom. It was -little thought by those who in past generations assigned parish-pay -for the maintenance of illegitimate children, that, as a result, a -family of such would by-and-by be considered a small fortune, and the -mother of them a desirable wife; nor did the same statesmen see that, -by the law of settlement, they were organizing a disastrous inequality -of wages in different districts, and entailing a system of clearing -away cottages, which would result in the crowding of bedrooms, and in -a consequent moral and physical deterioration. The English tonnage law -was enacted simply with a view to regulate the mode of measurement. -Its framers overlooked the fact that they were practically providing -“for the effectual and compulsory construction of bad ships;” and -that “to cheat the law, that is, to build a tolerable ship in spite -of it, was the highest achievement left to an English builder.”[30] -Greater commercial security was alone aimed at by the partnership -law. We now find, however, that the unlimited liability it insists -upon is a serious hindrance to progress; it practically forbids the -association of small capitalists; it is found a great obstacle to the -building of improved dwellings for the people; it prevents a better -relationship between artisans and employers; and by withholding from -the working-classes good investments for their savings, it checks -the growth of provident habits and encourages drunkenness. Thus on -all sides are well-meant measures producing unforeseen mischiefs—a -licensing law that promotes the adulteration of beer; a ticket-of-leave -system that encourages men to commit crime; a {245} police regulation -that forces street-huxters into the workhouse. And then, in addition -to the obvious and proximate evils, come the remote and less -distinguishable ones, which, could we estimate their accumulated -result, we should probably find even more serious. - - [30] Lecture before the Royal Institution, by J. Scott Russell, Esq., - “On Wave-line Ships and Yachts,” Feb. 6, 1852. - - * * * * * - -But the thing to be discussed is, not so much whether, by any amount of -intelligence, it is _possible_ for a government to work out the various -ends consigned to it, as whether its fulfilment of them is _probable_. -It is less a question of _can_ than a question of _will_. Granting -the absolute competence of the State, let us consider what hope there -is of getting from it satisfactory performance. Let us look at the -moving force by which the legislative machine is worked, and then -inquire whether this force is thus employed as economically as it would -otherwise be. - -Manifestly, as desire of some kind is the invariable stimulus to action -in the individual, every social agency, of what nature soever, must -have some aggregate of desires for its motive power. Men in their -collective capacity can exhibit no result but what has its origin in -some appetite, feeling, or taste common among them. Did not they like -meat, there could be no cattle-graziers, no Smithfield, no distributing -organization of butchers. Operas, Philharmonic Societies, song-books, -and street organ-boys, have all been called into being by our love -of music. Look through the trades’ directory; take up a guide to the -London sights; read the index of Bradshaw’s time-tables, the reports -of the learned societies, or the advertisements of new books; and -you see in the publication itself, and in the things it describes, -so many products of human activities, stimulated by human desires. -Under this stimulus grow up agencies alike the most gigantic and the -most insignificant, the most complicated and the most simple—agencies -for national defence and for the sweeping of crossings; for the daily -distribution of letters, and for the collection of bits of coal out -{246} of the Thames mud—agencies that subserve all ends, from the -preaching of Christianity to the protection of ill-treated animals; -from the production of bread for a nation to the supply of groundsel -for caged singing-birds. The accumulated desires of individuals being, -then, the moving power by which every social agency is worked, the -question to be considered is—Which is the most economical kind of -agency? The agency having no power in itself, but being merely an -instrument, our inquiry must be for the most efficient instrument—the -instrument that costs least, and wastes the smallest amount of the -moving power—the instrument least liable to get out of order, and most -readily put right again when it goes wrong. Of the two kinds of social -mechanism exemplified above, the spontaneous and the governmental, -which is the best? - -From the form of this question will be readily foreseen the intended -answer—that is the best mechanism which contains the fewest parts. The -common saying—“What you wish well done you must do yourself,” embodies -a truth, equally applicable to political life as to private life. The -experience that farming by bailiff entails loss, while tenant-farming -pays, is an experience still better illustrated in national history -than in a landlord’s account books. This transference of power from -constituencies to members of parliament, from these to the executive, -from the executive to a board, from the board to inspectors, and from -inspectors through their subs down to the actual workers—this operating -through a series of levers, each, of which absorbs in friction -and inertia part of the moving force; is as bad, in virtue of its -complexity, as the direct employment by society of individuals, private -companies, and spontaneously-formed institutions, is good in virtue of -its simplicity. Fully to appreciate the contrast, we must compare in -detail the working of the two systems. - -Officialism is habitually slow. When non-governmental agencies are -dilatory, the public has its remedy: it ceases {247} to employ them -and soon finds quicker ones. Under this discipline all private bodies -are taught promptness. But for delays in State-departments there is -no such easy cure. Life-long Chancery suits must be patiently borne; -Museum-catalogues must be wearily waited for. While, by the people -themselves, a Crystal Palace is designed, erected, and filled, in the -course of a few months, the legislature takes twenty years to build -itself a new house. While, by private persons, the debates are daily -printed and dispersed over the kingdom within a few hours of their -utterance, the Board of Trade tables are regularly published a month, -and sometimes more, after date. And so throughout. Here is a Board of -Health which, since 1849, has been about to close the metropolitan -graveyards, but has not done it yet; and which has so long dawdled over -projects for cemeteries, that the London Necropolis Company has taken -the matter out of its hands. Here is a patentee who has had fourteen -years’ correspondence with the Horse Guards, before getting a definite -answer respecting the use of his improved boot for the Army. Here is a -Plymouth port-admiral who delays sending out to look for the missing -boats of the Amazon until ten days after the wreck. - -Again, officialism is stupid. Under the natural course of things each -citizen tends towards his fittest function. Those who are competent -to the kind of work they undertake, succeed, and, in the average of -cases, are advanced in proportion to their efficiency; while the -incompetent, society soon finds out, ceases to employ, forces to -try something easier, and eventually turns to use. But it is quite -otherwise in State-organizations. Here, as every one knows, birth, age, -back-stairs intrigue, and sycophancy, determine the selections rather -than merit. The “fool of the family” readily finds a place in the -Church, if “the family” have good connexions. A youth too ill-educated -for any profession, does very well for an officer in the Army. Grey -{248} hair, or a title, is a far better guarantee of naval promotion -than genius is. Nay, indeed, the man of capacity often finds that, in -government offices, superiority is a hindrance—that his chiefs hate -to be pestered with his proposed improvements, and are offended by -his implied criticisms. Not only, therefore, is legislative machinery -complex, but it is made of inferior materials. Hence the blunders we -daily read of—the supplying to the dockyards from the royal forests -of timber unfit for use; the administration of relief during the -Irish famine in such a manner as to draw labourers from the field, -and diminish the subsequent harvest by one-fourth[31]; the filing -of patents at three different offices and keeping an index at none. -Everywhere does this bungling show itself, from the elaborate failure -of House of Commons ventilation down to the publication of _The London -Gazette_, which invariably comes out wrongly folded. - -A further characteristic of officialism is its extravagance. In its -chief departments, Army, Navy, and Church, it employs far more officers -than are needful, and pays some of the useless ones exorbitantly. The -work done by the Sewers Commission has cost, as Sir B. Hall tells -us, from 300 to 400 per cent, over the contemplated outlay; while -the management charges have reached 35, 40, and 45 per cent. on the -expenditure. The trustees of Ramsgate Harbour—a harbour, by the way, -that has taken a century to complete—are spending 18,000_l._ a year -in doing what 5000_l._ has been proved sufficient for. The Board of -Health is causing new surveys to be made of all the towns under its -control—a proceeding which, as Mr. Stephenson states, and as every tyro -in engineering knows, is, for drainage purposes, a wholly needless -expense. These public agencies are subject to no such influence as -that which obliges private enterprise to be economical. Traders and -mercantile bodies succeed by serving society cheaply. Such of them -{249} as cannot do this are continually supplanted by those who can. -They cannot saddle the nation with the results of their extravagance, -and so are prevented from being extravagant. On works that are to -return a profit it does not answer to spend 48 per cent. of the capital -in superintendence, as in the engineering department of the Indian -Government; and Indian railway companies, knowing this, manage to -keep their superintendence charges within 8 per cent. A shopkeeper -leaves out of his accounts no item analogous to that 6,000,000_l._ of -its revenues, which Parliament allows to be deducted on the way to -the Exchequer. Walk through a manufactory, and you see that the stern -alternatives, carefulness or ruin, dictate the saving of every penny; -visit one of the national dockyards, and the comments you make on any -glaring wastefulness are carelessly met by the slang phrase—“Nunky -pays.” - - [31] See Evidence of Major Larcom. - -The unadaptiveness of officialism is another of its vices. Unlike -private enterprise which quickly modifies its actions to meet -emergencies—unlike the shopkeeper who promptly finds the wherewith -to satisfy a sudden demand—unlike the railway company which doubles -its trains to carry a special influx of passengers; the law-made -instrumentality lumbers on under all varieties of circumstances through -its ordained routine at its habitual rate. By its very nature it is -fitted only for average requirements, and inevitably fails under -unusual requirements. You cannot step into the street without having -the contrast thrust upon you. Is it summer? You see the water-carts -going their prescribed rounds with scarcely any regard to the needs -of the weather—to-day sprinkling afresh the already moist roads; -to-morrow bestowing their showers with no greater liberality upon -roads cloudy with dust. Is it winter? You see the scavengers do not -vary in number and activity according to the quantity of mud; and if -there comes a heavy fall of snow, you find the thoroughfares remaining -for nearly a week in a scarcely passable state, without an effort -being {250} made, even in the heart of London, to meet the exigency. -The late snow-storm, indeed, supplied a neat antithesis between the -two orders of agencies in the effects it respectively produced on -omnibuses and cabs. Not being under a law-fixed tariff, the omnibuses -put on extra horses and raised their fares. The cabs on the contrary, -being limited in their charges by an Act of Parliament which, with -the usual shortsightedness, never contemplated such a contingency as -this, declined to ply, deserted the stands and the stations, left -luckless travellers to stumble home with their luggage as best they -might, and so became useless at the very time of all others when they -were most wanted! Not only by its unsusceptibility of adjustment does -officialism entail serious inconveniences, but it likewise entails -great injustices. In this case of cabs for example, it has resulted -since the late change of law, that old cabs, which were before saleable -at 10_l._ and 12_l._ each, are now unsaleable and have to be broken -up; and thus legislation has robbed cab-proprietors of part of their -capital. Again, the recently-passed Smoke-Bill for London, which -applies only within certain prescribed limits, has the effect of taxing -one manufacturer while leaving untaxed his competitor working within a -quarter of a mile; and so, as we are credibly informed, gives one an -advantage of 1500_l._ a year over another. These typify the infinity -of wrongs, varying in degrees of hardship, which legal regulations -necessarily involve. Society, a living growing organism, placed within -apparatuses of dead, rigid, mechanical formulas, cannot fail to be -hampered and pinched. The only agencies which can efficiently serve it, -are those through which its pulsations hourly flow, and which change as -it changes. - -How invariably officialism becomes corrupt every one knows. Exposed to -no such antiseptic as free competition—not dependent for existence, -as private unendowed organizations are, on the maintenance of a -vigorous {251} vitality; all law-made agencies fall into an inert, -over-fed state, from which to disease is a short step. Salaries flow -in irrespective of the activity with which duty is performed; continue -after duty wholly ceases; become rich prizes for the idle well born; -and prompt to perjury, to bribery, to simony. East India directors are -elected not for any administrative capacity they have; but they buy -votes by promised patronage—a patronage alike asked and given in utter -disregard of the welfare of a hundred millions of people. Registrars -of wills not only get many thousands a year each for doing work which -their miserably paid deputies leave half done; but they, in some cases, -defraud the revenue, and that after repeated reprimands. Dockyard -promotion is the result not of efficient services, but of political -favouritism. That they may continue to hold rich livings, clergymen -preach what they do not believe; bishops make false returns of their -revenues; and at their elections to fellowships, well-to-do priests -severally make oath that they are _pauper_, _pius et doctus_. From -the local inspector whose eyes are shut to an abuse by a contractor’s -present, up to the prime minister who finds lucrative berths for his -relations, this venality is daily illustrated; and that in spite of -public reprobation and perpetual attempts to prevent it. As we once -heard said by a State-official of twenty-five years’ standing—“Wherever -there is government there is villainy.” It is the inevitable result of -destroying the direct connexion between the profit obtained and the -work performed. No incompetent person hopes, by offering a _douceur_ -in the _Times_ to get a permanent place in a mercantile office. But -where, as under government, there is no employer’s self-interest to -forbid—where the appointment is made by some one on whom inefficiency -entails no loss; there a _douceur_ is operative. In hospitals, in -public charities, in endowed schools, in all social agencies in which -duty done and income gained do not go hand in hand, the like corruption -is found; and is great in {252} proportion as the dependence of income -upon duty is remote. In State-organizations, therefore, corruption is -unavoidable. In trading-organizations it rarely makes its appearance; -and when it does, the instinct of self-preservation soon provides a -remedy. - -To all which broad contrasts add this, that while private bodies are -enterprising and progressive, public bodies are unchanging, and, -indeed, obstructive. That officialism should be inventive nobody -expects. That it should go out of its easy mechanical routine to -introduce improvements, and this at a considerable expense of thought -and application, without the prospect of profit, is not to be supposed. -But it is not simply stationary; it resists every amendment either -in itself or in anything with which it deals. Until now that County -Courts are taking away their practice, all agents of the law have -doggedly opposed law-reform. The universities have maintained an -old _curriculum_ for centuries after it ceased to be fit; and are -now struggling to prevent a threatened reconstruction. Every postal -improvement has been vehemently protested against by the postal -authorities. Mr. Whiston can say how pertinacious is the conservatism -of Church grammar-schools. Not even the gravest consequences in -view preclude official resistance: witness the fact that though, as -already mentioned, Professor Barlow reported in 1820, of the Admiralty -compasses then in store, that “at least one-half were mere lumber,” yet -notwithstanding the constant risk of shipwrecks thence arising, “very -little amelioration in this state of things appears to have taken place -until 1838 to 1840.”[32] Nor is official obstructiveness to be readily -overborne even by a powerful public opinion: witness the fact that -though, for generations, nine-tenths of the nation have disapproved -this ecclesiastical system which pampers the drones and starves the -workers, and though commissions have been appointed to rectify it, it -still remains substantially as it {253} was: witness again the fact -that though, since 1818, there have been a score attempts to rectify -the scandalous maladministration of Charitable Trusts—though ten times -in ten successive years, remedial measures have been brought before -Parliament—the abuses still continue in all their grossness. Not only -do these legal instrumentalities resist reforms in themselves, but they -hinder reforms in other things. In defending their vested interests the -clergy delay the closing of town burial-grounds. As Mr. Lindsay can -show, government emigration-agents are checking the use of iron for -sailing-vessels. Excise officers prevent improvements in the processes -they have to overlook. That organic conservatism which is visible in -the daily conduct of all men, is an obstacle which in private life -self-interest slowly overcomes. The prospect of profit does, in the -end, teach farmers that deep draining is good; though it takes long -to do this. Manufacturers do, ultimately, learn the most economical -speed at which to work their steam-engines; though precedent has long -misled them. But in the public service, where there is no self-interest -to overcome it, this conservatism exerts its full force; and produces -results alike disastrous and absurd. For generations after book-keeping -had become universal, the Exchequer accounts were kept by notches cut -on sticks. In the estimates for the current year appears the item, -“Trimming the oil-lamps at the Horse-Guards.” - - [32] “Rudimentary Magnetism,” by Sir W. Snow Harris. Part III. p. 145. - -Between these law-made agencies and the spontaneously formed ones, -who then can hesitate? The one class are slow, stupid, extravagant, -unadaptive, corrupt, and obstructive: can any point out in the other, -vices that balance these? It is true that trade has its dishonesties, -speculation its follies. These are evils inevitably entailed by the -existing imperfections of humanity. It is equally true, however, that -these imperfections of humanity are shared by State-functionaries; -and that being unchecked in them by the same stern discipline, they -grow to far worse results. {254} Given a race of men having a certain -proclivity to misconduct and the question is, whether a society of -these men shall be so organized that ill-conduct directly brings -punishment, or whether it shall be so organized that punishment is but -remotely contingent on ill-conduct? Which will be the most healthful -community—that in which agents who perform their functions badly, -immediately suffer by the withdrawal of public patronage; or that in -which such agents can be made to suffer only through an apparatus -of meetings, petitions, polling booths, parliamentary divisions, -cabinet-councils, and red-tape documents? Is it not an absurdly utopian -hope that men will behave better when correction is far removed and -uncertain than when it is near at hand and inevitable? Yet this is the -hope which most political schemers unconsciously cherish. Listen to -their plans, and you find that just what they propose to have done, -they assume the appointed agents will do. That functionaries are -trustworthy is their first postulate. Doubtless could good officers be -ensured, much might be said for officialism; just as despotism would -have its advantages could we ensure a good despot. - -If, however, we would duly appreciate the contrast between the -artificial modes and the natural modes of achieving social desiderata, -we must look not only at the vices of the one but at the virtues of the -other. These are many and important. Consider first how immediately -every private enterprise is dependent on the need for it; and how -impossible it is for it to continue if there be no need. Daily are new -trades and new companies established. If they subserve some existing -public want, they take root and grow. If they do not, they die of -inanition. It needs no agitation, no act of Parliament, to put them -down. As with all natural organizations, if there is no function for -them no nutriment comes to them, and they dwindle away. Moreover, not -only do the new agencies disappear if they {255} are superfluous, but -the old ones cease to be when they have done their work. Unlike public -instrumentalities—unlike Heralds’ Offices, which are maintained for -ages after heraldry has lost all value—unlike Ecclesiastial Courts, -which continue to flourish for generations after they have become an -abomination; these private instrumentalities dissolve when they become -needless. A widely ramified coaching-system ceases to exist as soon as -a more efficient railway-system comes into being. And not simply does -it cease to exist, and to abstract funds, but the materials of which -it was made are absorbed and turned to use. Coachmen, guards, and the -rest, are employed to profit elsewhere—do not continue for twenty years -a burden, like the compensated officials of some abolished department -of the State. Consider, again, how necessarily these unordained -agencies fit themselves to their work. It is a law of all organized -things that efficiency presupposes apprenticeship. Not only is it true -that the young merchant must begin by carrying letters to the post, -that the way to be a successful innkeeper is to commence as waiter—not -only is it true that in the development of the intellect there must -come first the perceptions of identity and duality, next of number, -and that without these, arithmetic, algebra, and the infinitesimal -calculus, remain impracticable; but it is true that there is no part -of an organism but begins in some simple form with some insignificant -function, and passes to its final stage through successive phases of -complexity. Every heart is at first a mere pulsatile sac; every brain -begins as a slight enlargement of the spinal chord. This law equally -extends to the social organism. An instrumentality that is to work -well must not be designed and suddenly put together by legislators, -but must grow gradually from a germ; each successive addition must be -tried and proved good by experience before another addition is made; -and by this tentative process only, can an efficient instrumentality be -produced. From a {256} trustworthy man who receives deposits of money, -insensibly grows up a vast banking system, with its notes, checks, -bills, its complex transactions, and its Clearing-house. Pack-horses, -then waggons, then coaches, then steam-carriages on common roads, and, -finally, steam-carriages on roads made for them—such has been the slow -genesis of our present means of communication. Not a trade in the -directory but has formed itself an apparatus of manufacturers, brokers, -travellers, and retailers, in so gradual a way that no one can trace -the steps. And so with organizations of another order. The Zoological -Gardens began as the private collection of a few naturalists. The best -working-class school known—that at Price’s factory—commenced with -half-a-dozen boys sitting among the candle-boxes, after hours, to teach -themselves writing with worn-out pens. Mark, too, that as a consequence -of their mode of growth, these spontaneously-formed agencies expand to -any extent required. The same stimulus which brought them into being -makes them send their ramifications wherever they are needed. But -supply does not thus readily follow demand in governmental agencies. -Appoint a board and a staff, fix their duties, and let the apparatus -have a generation or two to consolidate, and you cannot get it to -fulfil larger requirements without some act of parliament obtained only -after long delay and difficulty. - -Were there space, much more might be said upon the superiority of what -naturalists would call the _exogenous_ order of institutions over the -_endogenous_ one. But, from the point of view indicated, the further -contrasts between their characteristics will be sufficiently visible. - -Hence then the fact, that while the one order of means is ever failing, -making worse, or producing more evils than it cures, the other order -of means is ever succeeding, ever improving. Strong as it looks at the -outset, State-agency perpetually disappoints every one. Puny as are its -first {257} stages, private effort daily achieves results that astound -the world. It is not only that joint-stock companies do so much—it is -not only that by them a whole kingdom is covered with railways in the -same time that it takes the Admiralty to build a hundred-gun ship; but -it is that public instrumentalities are outdone even by individuals. -The often quoted contrast between the Academy whose forty members took -fifty-six years to compile the French Dictionary, while Dr. Johnson -alone compiled the English one in eight—a contrast still marked enough -after making due set-off for the difference in the works—is by no -means without parallel. That great sanitary desideratum—the bringing -of the New River to London—which the wealthiest corporation in the -world attempted and failed, Sir Hugh Myddleton achieved single-handed. -The first canal in England—a work of which government might have -been thought the fit projector, and the only competent executor—was -undertaken and finished as the private speculation of one man—the -Duke of Bridgewater. By his own unaided exertions, William Smith -completed that great achievement, the geological map of Great Britain; -meanwhile, the Ordnance Survey—a very accurate and elaborate one, it -is true—has already occupied a large staff for some two generations, -and will not be completed before the lapse of another. Howard and -the prisons of Europe; Bianconi and Irish travelling; Waghorn and -the Overland route; Dargan and the Dublin Exhibition—do not these -suggest startling contrasts? While private gentlemen like Mr. Denison, -build model lodging-houses in which the deaths are greatly below the -average, the State builds barracks in which the deaths are greatly -above the average, even of the much-pitied town populations: barracks -which, though filled with picked men under medical supervision, show -an annual mortality per thousand of 13·6, 17·9 and even 20·4; though -among civilians of the same age in the same places, the mortality -{258} per thousand is but 11·9.[33] While the State has laid out -large sums at Parkhurst in the effort to reform juvenile criminals, -who are _not_ reformed, Mr. Ellis takes fifteen of the worst young -thieves in London—thieves considered by the police irreclaimable—and -reforms them all. Side by side with the Emigration Board, under whose -management hundreds die of fever from close packing, and under whose -licence sail vessels which, like the _Washington_, are the homes of -fraud, brutality, tyranny, and obscenity, stands Mrs. Chisholm’s Family -Colonisation Loan Society, which does not provide worse accommodation -than ever before but much better; which does not demoralize by -promiscuous crowding but improves by mild discipline; which does not -pauperize by charity but encourages providence; which does not increase -our taxes, but is self-supporting. Here are lessons for the lovers of -legislation. The State outdone by a working shoemaker! The State beaten -by a woman! - -Stronger still becomes this contrast between the results of public -action and private action, when we remember that the one is constantly -eked out by the other, even in doing the things unavoidably left to -it. Passing over military and naval departments, in which much is done -by contractors and not by men receiving government pay,—passing over -the Church, which is constantly extended not by law but by voluntary -effort—passing over the Universities, where the efficient teaching is -given not by the appointed officers but by private tutors; let us look -at the mode in which our judicial system is worked. Lawyers perpetually -tell us that codification is impossible; and some are simple enough -to believe them. Merely remarking, in passing, that what government -and all its employés cannot do for the Acts of Parliament in general, -was done for the 1500 Customs acts in 1825 by the energy of one -man—Mr. Deacon Hume—let us see {259} how the absence of a digested -system of law is made good. In preparing themselves for the bar, and -finally the bench, law-students, by years of research, have to gain -an acquaintance with this vast mass of unorganized legislation; and -that organization which it is held impossible for the State to effect, -it is held possible (sly sarcasm on the State!) for each student to -effect for himself. Every judge can privately codify, though “united -wisdom” cannot. But how is each judge enabled to codify? By the -private enterprise of men who have prepared the way for him; by the -partial codifications of Blackstone, Coke, and others; by the digests -of Partnership Law, Bankruptcy Law, Law of Patents, Laws affecting -Women, and the rest that daily issue from the press; by abstracts of -cases, and volumes of reports—every one of them unofficial products. -Sweep away all these fractional codifications made by individuals, and -the State would be in utter ignorance of its own laws! Had not the -bunglings of legislators been made good by private enterprise, the -administration of justice would have been impossible! - - [33] See “Statistical Reports on the Sickness, Mortality, and - Invaliding amongst the Troops.” 1853. - -Where, then, is the warrant for the constantly-proposed extensions of -legislative action? If, as we have seen in a large class of cases, -government measures do not remedy the evils they aim at; if, in another -large class, they make these evils worse instead of remedying them; -and if, in a third large class, while curing some evils they entail -others, and often greater ones—if, as we lately saw, public action is -continually outdone in efficiency by private action; and if, as just -shown, private action is obliged to make up for the shortcomings of -public action, even in fulfilling the vital functions of the State; -what reason is there for wishing more public administrations? The -advocates of such may claim credit for philanthropy, but not for -wisdom; unless wisdom is shown by disregarding experience. - - * * * * * - -“Much of this argument is beside the question,” will {260} rejoin our -opponents. “The true point at issue is, not whether individuals and -companies outdo the State when they come in competition with it, but -whether there are not certain social wants which the State alone can -satisfy. Admitting that private enterprise does much, and does it well, -it is nevertheless true that we have daily thrust upon our notice many -desiderata which it has not achieved, and is not achieving. In these -cases its incompetency is obvious; and in these cases, therefore, it -behoves the State to make up for its deficiencies: doing this, if not -well, yet as well as it can.” - -Not to fall back upon the many experiences already quoted, showing -that the State is likely to do more harm than good in attempting this; -nor to dwell upon the fact that, in most of the alleged cases, the -apparent insufficiency of private enterprise is a _result_ of previous -State-interferences, as may be conclusively shown; let us deal with -the proposition on its own terms. Though there would have been no need -for a Mercantile Marine Act to prevent the unseaworthiness of ships -and the ill-treatment of sailors, had there been no Navigation Laws to -produce these; and though were all like cases of evils and shortcomings -directly or indirectly produced by law, taken out of the category, -there would probably remain but small basis for the plea above put; yet -let it be granted that, every artificial obstacle having been removed, -there would still remain many desiderata unachieved, which there was -no seeing how spontaneous effort could achieve. Let all this, we say, -be granted; the propriety of legislative action may yet be rightly -questioned. - -For the said plea involves the unwarrantable assumption that social -agencies will continue to work only as they are now working; and will -produce no results but those they seem likely to produce. It is the -habit of this school of thinkers to make a limited human intelligence -the measure of phenomena which it requires omniscience to grasp. {261} -That which it does not see the way to, it does not believe will -take place. Though society has, generation after generation, been -growing to developments which none foresaw, yet there is no practical -belief in unforeseen developments in the future. The parliamentary -debates constitute an elaborate balancing of probabilities, having -for data things as they are. Meanwhile every day adds new elements -to things as they are, and seemingly improbable results constantly -occur. Who, a few years ago, expected that a Leicester-square refugee -would shortly become Emperor of the French? Who looked for free trade -from a landlords’ ministry? Who dreamed that Irish over-population -would spontaneously cure itself, as it is now doing? So far from -social changes arising in likely ways, they usually arise in ways -which, to common sense, appear unlikely. A barber’s shop was not a -probable-looking place for the germination of the cotton manufacture. -No one supposed that important agricultural improvements would come -from a Leadenhall-street tradesman. A farmer would have been the last -man thought of to bring to bear the screw propulsion of steam-ships. -The invention of a new species of architecture we should have hoped -from any one rather than a gardener. Yet while the most unexpected -changes are daily wrought out in the strangest ways, legislation daily -assumes that things will go just as human foresight thinks they will -go. Though by the trite exclamation—“What would our forefathers have -said!” there is a frequent acknowledgment of the fact that wonderful -results have been achieved in modes wholly unforeseen, yet there seems -no belief that this will be again. Would it not be wise to admit such a -probability into our politics? May we not rationally infer that, as in -the past so in the future? - -This strong faith in State-agencies is, however, accompanied by so weak -a faith in natural agencies (the two being antagonistic), that, spite -of past experience, it will by {262} many be thought absurd to rest in -the conviction that existing social needs will be spontaneously met, -though we cannot say how they will be met. Nevertheless, illustrations -exactly to the point are now transpiring before their eyes. Instance -the scarcely credible phenomenon lately witnessed in the midland -counties. Every one has heard of the distress of the stockingers—a -chronic evil of some generation or two’s standing. Repeated petitions -have prayed Parliament for remedy; and legislation has made attempts, -but without success. The disease seemed incurable. Two or three years -since, however, the circular knitting machine was introduced—a machine -immensely outstripping the old stocking-frame in productiveness, but -which can make only the legs of stockings, not the feet. Doubtless, the -Leicester and Nottingham artizans regarded this new engine with alarm, -as likely to intensify their miseries. On the contrary, it has wholly -removed them. By cheapening production it has so enormously increased -consumption, that the old stocking-frames, which were before too many -by half for the work to be done, are now all employed in putting feet -to the legs which the new machines make. How insane would he have been -thought who anticipated cure from such a cause! If from the unforeseen -removal of evils we turn to the unforeseen achievement of desiderata, -we find like cases. No one recognized in Oersted’s electro-magnetic -discovery the germ of a new agency for the catching of criminals and -the facilitation of commerce. No one expected railways to become agents -for the diffusion of cheap literature, as they now are. No one supposed -when the Society of Arts was planning an international exhibition of -manufactures in Hyde Park, that the result would be a place for popular -recreation and culture at Sydenham. - -But there is yet a deeper reply to the appeals of impatient -philanthropists. It is not simply that social vitality may be trusted -by-and-by to fulfil each much-exaggerated {263} requirement in some -quiet spontaneous way—it is not simply that when thus naturally -fulfilled it will be fulfilled efficiently, instead of being botched -as when attempted artificially; but it is that until thus naturally -fulfilled it ought not to be fulfilled at all. A startling paradox, -this, to many; but one quite justifiable, as we hope shortly to show. - -It was pointed out some distance back, that the force which produces -and sets in motion every social mechanism—governmental, mercantile, -or other—is some accumulation of personal desires. As there is no -individual action without a desire, so, it was urged, there can be no -social action without an aggregate of desires. To which there here -remains to add, that as it is a general law of the individual that the -intenser desires—those corresponding to all-essential functions—are -satisfied first, and if need be to the neglect of the weaker and -less important ones; so, it must be a general law of society that -the chief requisites of social life—those necessary to popular -existence and multiplication—will, in the natural order of things, be -subserved before those of a less pressing kind. As the private man -first ensures himself food; then clothing and shelter; these being -secured, takes a wife; and, if he can afford it, presently supplies -himself with carpeted rooms, and piano, and wines, hires servants and -gives dinner parties; so, in the evolution of society, we see first a -combination for defence against enemies, and for the better pursuit -of game; by-and-by come such political arrangements as are needed -to maintain this combination; afterwards, under a demand for more -food, more clothes, more houses, arises division of labour; and when -satisfaction of the animal wants has been provided for, there slowly -grow up literature, science, and the arts. Is it not obvious that these -successive evolutions occur in the order of their importance? Is it not -obvious, that, being each of them produced by an aggregate of desires, -they _must_ occur in the order of their importance, if it be a law of -the individual that the {264} strongest desires correspond to the most -needful actions? Is it not, indeed, obvious that the order of relative -importance will be more uniformly followed in social action than in -individual action; seeing that the personal idiosyncrasies which -disturb that order in the latter case are _averaged_ in the former? If -any one does not see this, let him take up a book describing life at -the gold-diggings. There he will find the whole process exhibited in -little. He will read that as the diggers must eat, they are compelled -to offer such prices for food that it pays better to keep a store than -to dig. As the store-keepers must get supplies, they give enormous sums -for carriage from the nearest town; and some men, quickly seeing they -can get rich at that, make it their business. This brings drays and -horses into demand; the high rates draw these from all quarters; and, -after them, wheelwrights and harness-makers. Blacksmiths to sharpen -pickaxes, doctors to cure fevers, get pay exorbitant in proportion -to the need for them; and are so brought flocking in proportionate -numbers. Presently commodities become scarce; more must be fetched -from abroad; sailors must have increased wages to prevent them from -deserting and turning miners; this necessitates higher charges for -freight; higher freights quickly bring more ships; and so there rapidly -develops an organization for supplying goods from all parts of the -world. Every phase of this evolution takes place in the order of its -necessity; or as we say—in the order of the intensity of the desires -subserved. Each man does that which he finds pays best; that which -pays best is that for which other men will give most; that for which -they will give most is that which, under the circumstances, they most -desire. Hence the succession must be throughout from the more important -to the less important. A requirement which at any period remains -unfulfilled, must be one for the fulfilment of which men will not pay -so much as to make it worth any one’s while to fulfil it—must be a -_less_ requirement than all the {265} others for the fulfilment of -which they will pay more; and must wait until other more needful things -are done. Well, is it not clear that the same law holds good in every -community? Is it not true of the latter phases of social evolution, as -of the earlier, that when things are let alone the smaller desiderata -will be postponed to the greater. - -Hence, then, the justification of the seeming paradox, that until -spontaneously fulfilled a public want should not be fulfilled at all. -It must, on the average, result in our complex state, as in simpler -ones, that the thing left undone is a thing by doing which citizens -cannot gain so much as by doing other things—is therefore a thing which -society does not want done so much as it wants these other things done; -and the corollary is, that to effect a neglected thing by artificially -employing citizens to do it, is to leave undone some more important -thing which they would have been doing—is to sacrifice the greater -requisite to the smaller. - -“But,” it will perhaps be objected, “if the things done by a -government, or at least by a representative government, are also done -in obedience to some aggregate desire, why may we not look for this -normal subordination of the more needful to the less needful in them -too?” The reply is, that though they have a certain tendency to follow -this order—though those primal desires for public defence and personal -protection, out of which government originates, were satisfied through -its instrumentality in proper succession—though, possibly, some other -early and simple requirements may have been so too; yet, when the -desires are not few, universal and intense, but, like those remaining -to be satisfied in the latter stages of civilization, numerous, -partial, and moderate, the judgment of a government is no longer to be -trusted. To select out of an immense number of minor wants, physical, -intellectual, and moral, felt in different degrees by different -classes, and by a total mass varying in every case, the want that is -most pressing, is a task which no legislature can accomplish. No man or -men {266} by inspecting society can _see_ what it most needs; society -must be left to _feel_ what it most needs. The mode of solution must be -experimental, not theoretical. When left, day after day, to experience -evils and dissatisfactions of various kinds, affecting them in various -degrees, citizens gradually acquire repugnance to these proportionate -to their greatness, and corresponding desires to get rid of them, which -by spontaneously fostering remedial agencies are likely to end in the -worst inconvenience being first removed. And however irregular this -process may be (and we admit that men’s habits and prejudices produce -many anomalies, or seeming anomalies, in it) it is a process far more -trustworthy than are legislative judgments. For those who question this -there are instances; and, that the parallel may be the more conclusive, -we will take a case in which the ruling power is deemed specially fit -to decide. We refer to our means of communication. - -Do those who maintain that railways would have been better laid out -and constructed by government, hold that the order of importance would -have been as uniformly followed as it has been by private enterprise? -Under the stimulus of an enormous traffic—a traffic too great for the -then existing means—the first line sprung up between Liverpool and -Manchester. Next came the Grand Junction and the London and Birmingham -(now merged in the London and North Western); afterwards the Great -Western, the South Western, the South Eastern, the Eastern Counties, -the Midland. Since then subsidiary lines and branches have occupied -our capitalists. As they were quite certain to do, companies made -first the most needed, and therefore the best paying, lines; under the -same impulse that a labourer chooses high wages in preference to low. -That government would have adopted a better order can hardly be, for -the best has been followed; but that it would have adopted a worse, -all the evidence we have goes to show. In default of materials {267} -for a direct parallel, we might cite from India and the colonies, -cases of injudicious road-making. Or, as exemplifying State-efforts to -facilitate communication, we might dwell on the fact that while our -rulers have sacrificed hundreds of lives and spent untold treasure in -seeking a North-west passage, which would be useless if found, they -have left the exploration of the Isthmus of Panama, and the making -railways and canals through it, to private companies. But, not to make -much of this indirect evidence, we will content ourselves with the one -sample of a State-made channel for commerce, which we have at home—the -Caledonian Canal. Up to the present time (1853), this public work has -cost upwards of 1,100,000_l._ It has now been open for many years, and -salaried emissaries have been constantly employed to get traffic for -it. The results, as given in its forty-seventh annual report, issued -in 1852, are—receipts during the year, 7,909_l._; expenditure ditto, -9,261_l._—loss, 1,352_l._ Has any such large investment been made with -such a pitiful result by a private canal company? - -And if a government is so bad a judge of the relative importance of -social requirements, when these requirements are _of the same kind_, -how worthless a judge must it be when they are of different kinds. -If, where a fair share of intelligence might be expected to lead them -right, legislators and their officers go so wrong, how terribly will -they err where no amount of intelligence would suffice them,—where -they must decide among hosts of needs, bodily, intellectual, and -moral, which admit of no direct comparisons; and how disastrous must -be the results if they act out their erroneous decisions. Should any -one need this bringing home to him by an illustration, let him read -the following extract from the last of the series of letters some time -since published in the _Morning Chronicle_, on the state of agriculture -in France. After expressing the opinion that French farming is some -century behind English farming, the writer goes on to say:― - - “There are two causes principally chargeable with this. In the first - {268} place, strange as it may seem in a country in which two-thirds - of the population are agriculturists, agriculture is a very unhonoured - occupation. Develope in the slightest degree a Frenchman’s mental - faculties, and he flies to a town as surely as steel filings fly to - a loadstone. He has no rural tastes, no delight in rural habits. A - French amateur farmer would indeed be a sight to see. Again, this - national tendency is directly encouraged by the centralising system - of government—by the multitude of officials, and by the payment of - all functionaries. From all parts of France, men of great energy and - resource struggle up, and fling themselves on the world of Paris. - There they try to become great functionaries. Through every department - of the eighty-four, men of less energy and resource struggle up to the - _chef-lieu_—the provincial capital. There they try to become little - functionaries. Go still lower—deal with a still smaller scale—and - the result will be the same. As is the department to France, so - is the arrondissement to the department, and the commune to the - arrondissement. All who have, or think they have, heads on their - shoulders, struggle into towns to fight for office. All who are, or - are deemed by themselves or others, too stupid for anything else, are - left at home to till the fields, and breed the cattle, and prune the - vines, as their ancestors did for generations before them. Thus there - is actually no intelligence left in the country. The whole energy, and - knowledge, and resource of the land are barreled up in the towns. You - leave one city, and in many cases you will not meet an educated or - cultivated individual until you arrive at another—all between is utter - intellectual barrenness.”—_Morning Chronicle._ August, 1851. - -To what end now is this constant abstraction of able men from rural -districts? To the end that there may be enough functionaries to achieve -those many desiderata which French governments have thought ought to -be achieved—to provide amusements, to manage mines, to construct roads -and bridges, to erect numerous buildings—to print books, encourage the -fine arts, control this trade, and inspect that manufacture—to do all -the hundred-and-one things which the State does in France. That the -army of officers needed for this may be maintained, agriculture must go -unofficered. That certain social conveniences may be better secured, -the chief social necessity is neglected. The very basis of the national -life is sapped, to gain a few non-essential advantages. Said we not -truly, then, that until a requirement is spontaneously fulfilled, it -should not be fulfilled at all? - - * * * * * - -And here indeed we may recognise the close kinship {269} between the -fundamental fallacy involved in these State-meddlings and the fallacy -lately exploded by the free-trade agitation. These various law-made -instrumentalities for effecting ends which might otherwise not yet be -effected, all embody a subtler form of the protectionist hypothesis. -The same short-sightedness which, looking at commerce, prescribed -bounties and restrictions, looking at social affairs in general, -prescribes these multiplied administrations; and the same criticism -applies alike to all its proceedings. - -For was not the error that vitiated every law aiming at the artificial -maintenance of a trade, substantially that which we have just been -dwelling upon; namely, this overlooking of the fact that, in setting -people to do one thing, some other thing is inevitably left undone? The -statesmen who thought it wise to protect home-made silks against French -silks, did so under the impression that the manufacture thus secured -constituted a pure gain to the nation. They did not reflect that the -men employed in this manufacture would otherwise have been producing -something else—a something else which, as they could produce it without -legal help, they could more profitably produce. Landlords who have -been so anxious to prevent foreign wheat from displacing their own -wheat, have never duly realized the fact that if their fields would not -yield wheat so economically as to prevent the feared displacement, it -simply proved that they were growing unfit crops in place of fit crops; -and so working their land at a relative loss. In all cases where, by -restrictive duties, a trade has been upheld that would otherwise not -have existed, capital has been turned into a channel less productive -than some other into which it would naturally have flowed. And so, to -pursue certain State-patronized occupations, men have been drawn from -more advantageous occupations. - -Clearly then, as above alleged, the same oversight runs through all -these interferences; be they with commerce, or be they with other -things. In employing people to achieve {270} this or that desideratum, -legislators have not perceived that they were thereby preventing the -achievement of some other desideratum. They have habitually assumed -that each proposed good would, if secured, be a pure good, instead of -being a good purchasable only by submission to some evil which would -else have been remedied; and, making this error, have injuriously -diverted men’s labour. As in trade, so in other things, labour will -spontaneously find out, better than any government can find out for -it, the things on which it may best expend itself. Rightly regarded, -the two propositions are identical. This division into commercial and -non-commercial affairs is quite a superficial one. All the actions -going on in society come under the generalization—human effort -ministering to human desire. Whether the ministration be effected -through a process of buying and selling, or whether in any other way, -matters not so far as the general law of it is concerned. In all cases -it must be true that the stronger desires will get themselves satisfied -before the weaker ones; and in all cases it must be true that to get -satisfaction for the weaker ones before they would naturally have it, -is to deny satisfaction to the stronger ones. - - * * * * * - -To the immense positive evils entailed by over-legislation have to be -added the equally great negative evils—evils which, notwithstanding -their greatness, are scarcely at all recognized, even by the -far-seeing. While the State does those things which it ought not to do, -_as an inevitable consequence_, it leaves undone those things which it -ought to do. Time and activity being limited, it necessarily follows -that legislators’ sins of _commission_ entail sins of _omission_. -Mischievous meddling involves disastrous neglect; and until statesmen -are ubiquitous and omnipotent, must ever do so. In the very nature -of things an agency employed for two purposes must fulfil both -imperfectly; partly because, while fulfilling the one it cannot be -fulfilling {271} the other, and partly because its adaptation to both -ends implies incomplete fitness for either. As has been well said _à -propos_ of this point,—“A blade which is designed both to shave and to -carve, will certainly not shave so well as a razor or carve so well -as a carving-knife. An academy of painting, which should also be a -bank, would in all probability exhibit very bad pictures and discount -very bad bills. A gas company, which should also be an infant-school -society, would, we apprehend, light the streets ill, and teach the -children ill.”[34] And if an institution undertakes, not two functions -but a score—if a government, whose office it is to defend citizens -against aggressors, foreign and domestic, engages also to disseminate -Christianity, to administer charity, to teach children their lessons, -to adjust prices of food, to inspect coal-mines, to regulate railways, -to superintend house-building, to arrange cab-fares, to look into -people’s stink-traps, to vaccinate their children, to send out -emigrants, to prescribe hours of labour, to examine lodging-houses, to -test the knowledge of mercantile captains, to provide public libraries, -to read and authorize dramas, to inspect passenger-ships, to see that -small dwellings are supplied with water, to regulate endless things -from a banker’s issues down to the boat-fares on the Serpentine—is it -not manifest that its primary duty must be ill-discharged in proportion -to the multiplicity of affairs it busies itself with? Must not its -time and energies be frittered away in schemes, and inquiries, and -amendments, in discussions, and divisions, to the neglect of its -essential business? And does not a glance over the debates make it -clear that this is the fact? and that, while parliament and public are -alike occupied with these mischievous interferences, these Utopian -hopes, the one thing needful is left almost undone? - - [34] _Edinburgh Review_, April, 1839. - -See here, then, the proximate cause of our legal abominations. We drop -the substance in our efforts to catch shadows. While our firesides, -and clubs, and taverns are {272} filled with talk about corn-law -questions, and church questions, and education questions, and poor-law -questions—all of them raised by over-legislation—the justice question -gets scarcely any attention; and we daily submit to be oppressed, -cheated, robbed. This institution which should succour the man who -has fallen among thieves, turns him over to solicitors, barristers, -and a legion of law-officers; drains his purse for writs, briefs, -affidavits, subpœnas, fees of all kinds and expenses innumerable; -involves him in the intricacies of common courts, chancery courts, -suits, counter-suits, and appeals; and often ruins where it should -aid. Meanwhile, meetings are called, and leading articles written, -and votes asked, and societies formed, and agitations carried on, not -to rectify these gigantic evils, but partly to abolish our ancestors’ -mischievous meddlings and partly to establish meddlings of our own. Is -it not obvious that this fatal neglect is a result of this mistaken -officiousness? Suppose that external and internal protection had been -the sole recognized functions of the ruling powers. Is it conceivable -that our administration of justice would have been as corrupt as now? -Can any one believe that had parliamentary elections been habitually -contested on questions of legal reform, our judicial system would -still have been what Sir John Romilly calls it,—“a technical system -invented for the creation of costs?” Does any one suppose that, if -the efficient defence of person and property had been the constant -subject-matter of hustings pledges, we should yet be waylaid by a -Chancery Court which has now more than two hundred millions of property -in its clutches?—which keeps suits pending fifty years, until all the -funds are gone in fees—which swallows in costs two millions annually? -Dare any one assert that had constituencies been always canvassed -on principles of law-reform versus law-conservatism, Ecclesiastical -Courts would have continued for centuries fattening on the goods of -widows and orphans? The questions are next to absurd. A child may {273} -see that with the general knowledge people have of legal corruptions -and the universal detestation of legal atrocities, an end would long -since have been put to them, had the administration of justice always -been _the_ political topic. Had not the public mind been constantly -pre-occupied, it could never have been tolerated that a man neglecting -to file an answer to a bill in due course, should be imprisoned -fifteen years for contempt of court, as Mr. James Taylor was. It would -have been impossible that, on the abolition of their sinecures, the -sworn-clerks should have been compensated by the continuance of their -exorbitant incomes, not only till death, but for seven years after, -at a total estimated cost of £700,000. Were the State confined to its -defensive and judicial functions, not only the people but legislators -themselves would agitate against abuses. The sphere of activity and -the opportunities for distinction being narrowed, all the thought, -and industry, and eloquence which members of Parliament now expend on -impracticable schemes and artificial grievances, would be expended in -rendering justice pure, certain, prompt, and cheap. The complicated -follies of our legal verbiage, which the uninitiated cannot understand -and which the initiated interpret in various senses, would be quickly -put an end to. We should no longer frequently hear of Acts of -Parliament so bunglingly drawn up that it requires half a dozen actions -and judges’ decisions under them, before even lawyers can say how they -apply. There would be no such stupidly-designed measures as the Railway -Winding-up Act, which, though passed in 1846 to close the accounts -of the bubble schemes of the mania, leaves them still unsettled in -1854—which, even with funds in hand, withholds payment from creditors -whose claims have been years since admitted. Lawyers would no longer -be suffered to maintain and to complicate the present absurd system -of land titles, which, besides the litigation and loss it perpetually -causes, lowers the value of estates, prevents the {274} ready -application of capital to them, checks the development of agriculture, -and thus hinders the improvement of the peasantry and the prosperity -of the country. In short, the corruptions, follies, and terrors of law -would cease; and that which men now shrink from as an enemy they would -come to regard as what it purports to be—a friend. - -How vast then is the negative evil which, in addition to the positive -evils before enumerated, this meddling policy entails on us! How many -are the grievances men bear, from which they would otherwise be free! -Who is there that has not submitted to injuries rather than run the -risk of heavy law-costs? Who is there that has not abandoned just -claims rather than “throw good money after bad?” Who is there that -has not paid unjust demands rather than withstand the threat of an -action? This man can point to property that has been alienated from -his family from lack of funds or courage to fight for it. That man can -name several relations ruined by a law-suit. Here is a lawyer who has -grown rich on the hard earnings of the needy and the savings of the -oppressed. There is a once wealthy trader who has been brought by legal -iniquities to the workhouse or the lunatic asylum. The badness of our -judicial system vitiates our whole social life: renders almost every -family poorer than it would otherwise be; hampers almost every business -transaction; inflicts daily anxieties on every trader. And all this -loss of property, time, temper, comfort, men quietly submit to from -being absorbed in the pursuit of schemes which eventually bring on them -other mischiefs. - -Nay, the case is even worse. It is distinctly proveable that many of -these evils about which outcries are raised, and to cure which special -Acts of Parliament are loudly invoked, are themselves _produced_ -by our disgraceful judicial system. For example, it is well known -that the horrors out of which our sanitary agitators make political -capital, {275} are found in their greatest intensity on properties -that have been for a generation in Chancery—are distinctly traceable -to the ruin thus brought about; and would never have existed but for -the infamous corruptions of law. Again, it has been shown that the -long-drawn miseries of Ireland, which have been the subject of endless -legislation, have been mainly produced by inequitable land-tenure -and the complicated system of entail: a system which wrought such -involvements as to prevent sales; which practically negatived all -improvement; which brought landlords to the workhouse; and which -required an Incumbered Estates Act to cut its gordian knots and render -the proper cultivation of the soil possible. Judicial negligence, too, -is the main cause of railway accidents. If the State would fulfil -its true function, by giving passengers an easy remedy for breach of -contract when trains are behind time, it would do more to prevent -accidents than can be done by the minutest inspection or the most -cunningly-devised regulations; for it is notorious that the majority -of accidents are primarily caused by irregularity. In the case of bad -house-building, also, it is obvious that a cheap, rigorous, and certain -administration of justice, would make Building Acts needless. For is -not the man who erects a house of bad materials ill put together, and, -concealing these with papering and plaster, sells it as a substantial -dwelling, guilty of fraud? And should not the law recognize this fraud -as it does in the analogous case of an unsound horse? And if the -legal remedy were easy, prompt, and sure, would not builders cease -transgressing? So is it in other cases: the evils which men perpetually -call on the State to cure by superintendence, themselves arise from -non-performance of its original duty. - -See then how this vicious policy complicates itself. Not only does -meddling legislation fail to cure the evils it aims at; not only does -it make many evils worse; not only does it create new evils greater -than the old; but while doing {276} this it entails on men the -oppressions, robberies, ruin, which flow from the non-administration -of justice. And not only to the positive evils does it add this vast -negative one, but this again, by fostering many social abuses that -would not else exist, furnishes occasions for more meddlings which -again act and re-act in the same way. And thus as ever, “things bad -begun make strong themselves by ill.” - - * * * * * - -After assigning reasons thus fundamental, for condemning all -State-action save that which universal experience has proved to be -absolutely needful, it would seem superfluous to assign subordinate -ones. Were it called for, we might, taking for text Mr. Lindsay’s work -on “Navigation and Mercantile Marine Law,” say much upon the complexity -to which this process of adding regulation to regulation—each -necessitated by foregoing ones—ultimately leads: a complexity which, by -the misunderstandings, delays, and disputes it entails, greatly hampers -our social life. Something, too, might be added upon the perturbing -effects of that “gross delusion,” as M. Guizot calls it, “a belief in -the sovereign power of political machinery”—a delusion to which he -partly ascribes the late revolution in France; and a delusion which -is fostered by every new interference. But, passing over these, we -would dwell for a short space upon the national enervation which this -State-superintendence produces. - -The enthusiastic philanthropist, urgent for some act of parliament -to remedy this evil or secure the other good, thinks it a trivial -and far-fetched objection that the people will be morally injured by -doing things for them instead of leaving them to do things themselves. -He vividly conceives the benefit he hopes to get achieved, which is -a positive and readily imaginable thing. He does not conceive the -diffused, invisible, and slowly-accumulating effect wrought on the -popular mind, and so does not believe in it; or, if he admits it, -thinks it beneath consideration. Would he but {277} remember, however, -that all national character is gradually produced by the daily action -of circumstances, of which each day’s result seems so insignificant as -not to be worth mentioning, he would perceive that what is trifling -when viewed in its increments may be formidable when viewed in its -total. Or if he would go into the nursery, and watch how repeated -actions—each of them apparently unimportant,—create, in the end, a -habit which will affect the whole future life; he would be reminded -that every influence brought to bear on human nature tells, and, if -continued, tells seriously. The thoughtless mother who hourly yields -to the requests—“Mamma, tie my pinafore,” “Mamma, button my shoe,” -and the like, cannot be persuaded that each of these concessions is -detrimental; but the wiser spectator sees that if this policy be long -pursued, and be extended to other things, it will end in inaptitude. -The teacher of the old school who showed his pupil the way out of every -difficulty, did not perceive that he was generating an attitude of -mind greatly militating against success in life. The modern teacher, -however, induces his pupil to solve his difficulties himself; believes -that in so doing he is preparing him to meet the difficulties which, -when he goes into the world, there will be no one to help him through; -and finds confirmation for this belief in the fact that a great -proportion of the most successful men are self-made. Well, is it not -obvious that this relationship between discipline and success holds -good nationally? Are not nations made of men; and are not men subject -to the same laws of modification in their adult years as in their early -years? Is it not true of the drunkard, that each carouse adds a thread -to his bonds? of the trader, that each acquisition strengthens the -wish for acquisitions? of the pauper, that the more you assist him the -more he wants? of the busy man, that the more he has to do the more -he can do? And does it not follow that if every individual is subject -to this process of adaptation to conditions, a whole nation must be -{278} so—that just in proportion as its members are little helped by -extraneous power they will become self-helping, and in proportion as -they are much helped they will become helpless? What folly is it to -ignore these results because they are not direct, and not immediately -visible. Though slowly wrought out they are inevitable. We can no -more elude the laws of human development than we can elude the law of -gravitation; and so long as they hold true must these effects occur. - -If we are asked in what special directions this alleged helplessness, -entailed by much State-superintendence, shows itself; we reply -that it is seen in a retardation of all social growths requiring -self-confidence in the people—in a timidity that fears all difficulties -not before encountered—in a thoughtless contentment with things as -they are. Let any one, after duly watching the rapid evolution going -on in England, where men have been comparatively little helped by -governments—or better still, after contemplating the unparalleled -progress of the United States, which is peopled by self-made men, and -the recent descendants of self-made men;—let such an one, we say, go -on to the Continent, and consider the relatively slow advance which -things are there making; and the still slower advance they would -make but for English enterprise. Let him go to Holland, and see that -though the Dutch early showed themselves good mechanics, and have -had abundant practice in hydraulics, Amsterdam has been without any -due supply of water until now that works are being established by an -English company. Let him go to Berlin, and there be told that, to give -that city a water-supply such as London has had for generations, the -project of an English firm is about to be executed by English capital, -under English superintendence. Let him go to Vienna, and learn that -it, in common with other continental cities, is lighted by an English -gas-company. Let him go on the Rhone, on the Loire, on the Danube, -and discover that Englishmen established steam {279} navigation on -those rivers. Let him inquire concerning the railways in Italy, Spain, -France, Sweden, Denmark, how many of them are English projects, how -many have been largely helped by English capital, how many have been -executed by English contractors, how many have had English engineers. -Let him discover, too, as he will, that where railways have been -government-made, as in Russia, the energy, the perseverance, and -the practical talent developed in England and the United States -have been called in to aid. And then if these illustrations of the -progressiveness of a self-dependent race, and the torpidity of -paternally-governed ones, do not suffice him, he may read Mr. Laing’s -successive volumes of European travel, and there study the contrast -in detail. What, now, is the cause of this contrast? In the order of -nature, a capacity for self-help must in every case have been brought -into existence by the practice of self-help; and, other things equal, a -lack of this capacity must in every case have arisen from the lack of -demand for it. Do not these two antecedents and their two consequents -agree with the facts as presented in England and Europe? Were not the -inhabitants of the two, some centuries ago, much upon a par in point -of enterprise? Were not the English even behind in their manufactures, -in their colonization, in their commerce? Has not the immense relative -change the English have undergone in this respect, been coincident with -the great relative self-dependence they have been since habituated -to? And has not the one been caused by the other? Whoever doubts it, -is asked to assign a more probable cause. Whoever admits it, must -admit that the enervation of a people by perpetual State-aids is -not a trifling consideration, but the most weighty consideration. A -general arrest of national growth he will see to be an evil greater -than any special benefits can compensate for. And, indeed, when, after -contemplating this great fact, the overspreading of the Earth by the -English, he remarks the {280} absence of any parallel achievement -by a continental race—when he reflects how this difference must -depend chiefly on difference of character, and how such difference of -character has been mainly produced by difference of discipline; he will -perceive that the policy pursued in this matter may have a large share -in determining a nation’s ultimate fate. - - * * * * * - -We are not sanguine, however, that argument will change the convictions -of those who put their trust in legislation. With men of a certain -order of thought the foregoing reasons will have weight. With men -of another order of thought they will have little or none; nor -would any accumulation of such reasons affect them. The truth that -experience teaches, has its limits. The experiences which teach, must -be experiences which can be appreciated; and experiences exceeding a -certain degree of complexity become inappreciable to the majority. -It is thus with most social phenomena. If we remember that for these -two thousand years and more, mankind have been making regulations for -commerce, which have all along been strangling some trades and killing -others with kindness, and that though the proofs of this have been -constantly before their eyes, they have only just discovered that they -have been uniformly doing mischief—if we remember that even now only a -small portion of them see this; we are taught that perpetually-repeated -and ever-accumulating experiences will fail to teach, until there exist -the mental conditions required for the assimilation of them. Nay, when -they are assimilated, it is very imperfectly. The truth they teach is -only half understood, even by those supposed to understand it best. For -example, Sir Robert Peel, in one of his last speeches, after describing -the immensely increased consumption consequent on free trade, goes on -to say:― - - “If, then, you can only continue that consumption—if, _by your - legislation_, under the favour of Providence, _you can maintain the - demand for labour and make your trade and manufactures prosperous_, - you are not only increasing the {281} sum of human happiness, but are - giving the agriculturists of this country the best chance of that - increased demand which must contribute to their welfare.”—_Times_, - Feb. 22, 1850. - -Thus the prosperity really due to the abandonment of all legislation, -is ascribed to a particular kind of legislation. “_You_ can maintain -the demand,” he says; “_you_ can make trade and manufactures -prosperous;” whereas, the facts he quotes prove that they can do this -only by doing nothing. The essential truth of the matter—that law had -been doing immense harm, and that this prosperity resulted not from law -but from the absence of law—is missed; and his faith in legislation in -general, which should, by this experience, have been greatly shaken, -seemingly remains as strong as ever. Here, again, is the House of -Lords, apparently not yet believing in the relationship of supply and -demand, adopting within these few weeks the standing order― - - “That before the first reading of any bill for making any work in the - construction of which compulsory power is sought to take thirty houses - or more inhabited by the labouring classes in any one parish or place, - the promoters be required to deposit in the office of the clerk of - the parliaments a statement of the number, description, and situation - of the said houses, the number (so far as they can be estimated) of - persons to be displaced, _and whether any and what provision is made - in the bill for remedying the inconvenience likely to arise from such - displacements_.” - -If, then, in the comparatively simple relationships of trade, the -teachings of experience remain for so many ages unperceived, and are -so imperfectly apprehended when they are perceived, it is scarcely -to be hoped that where all social phenomena—moral, intellectual, and -physical—are involved, any due appreciation of the truths displayed -will presently take place. The facts cannot yet get recognized as -facts. As the alchemist attributed his successive disappointments to -some disproportion in the ingredients, some impurity, or some too -great temperature, and never to the futility of his process or the -impossibility of his aim; so, every failure of State-regulations -the law-worshipper explains away as being caused by this trifling -oversight, or that little {282} mistake: all which oversights and -mistakes he assures you will in future be avoided. Eluding the facts -as he does after this fashion, volley after volley of them produce no -effect. - -Indeed this faith in governments is in a certain sense organic; and -can diminish only by being outgrown. From the time when rulers were -thought demi-gods, there has been a gradual decline in men’s estimates -of their power. This decline is still in progress, and has still far -to go. Doubtless, every increment of evidence furthers it in _some_ -degree, though not to the degree that at first appears. Only in so -far as it modifies character does it produce a permanent effect. For -while the mental type remains the same, the removal of a special error -is inevitably followed by the growth of other errors of the same -genus. All superstitions die hard; and we fear that this belief in -government-omnipotence will form no exception. - -{283} - - - - -REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT—WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? - -[_First published in _The Westminster Review_ for October 1857._] - - -Shakspeare’s simile for adversity― - - Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, - Wears yet a precious jewel in his head, - -might fitly be used also as a simile for a disagreeable truth. -Repulsive as is its aspect, the hard fact which dissipates a cherished -illusion, is presently found to contain the germ of a more salutary -belief. The experience of every one furnishes instances in which an -opinion long shrunk from as seemingly at variance with all that is -good, but finally accepted as irresistible, turns out to be fraught -with benefits. It is thus with self-knowledge: much as we dislike to -admit our defects, we find it better to know and guard against than to -ignore them. It is thus with changes of creed: alarming as looks the -reasoning by which superstitions are overthrown, the convictions to -which it leads prove to be healthier ones than those they superseded. -And it is thus with political enlightenment: men eventually see cause -to thank those who pull to pieces their political air-castles, hateful -as they once seemed. Moreover, not only is it always better to believe -truth than error; but the repugnant-looking facts are ever found to -be parts of something far better than the ideal which they {284} -dispelled. To the many illustrations of this which might be cited, we -shall presently add another. - - * * * * * - -It is a conviction almost universally entertained here in England, -that our method of making and administering laws possesses every -virtue. Prince Albert’s unlucky saying that “Representative Government -is on its trial,” is vehemently repudiated: we consider that the -trial has long since ended in our favour on all the counts. Partly -from ignorance, partly from the bias of education, partly from that -patriotism which leads the men of each nation to pride themselves in -their own institutions, we have an unhesitating belief in the entire -superiority of our form of political organization. Yet unfriendly -critics can point out vices that are manifestly inherent. And if we -may believe the defenders of despotism, these vices are fatal to its -efficiency. - -Now instead of denying or blinking these allegations, it would -be wiser candidly to inquire whether they are true; and if true, -what they imply. If, as most of us are so confident, government by -representatives is better than any other, we can afford to listen -patiently to all adverse remarks: believing that they are either -invalid, or that if valid they do not essentially tell against its -merits. If our political system is well founded, this crucial criticism -will serve but to bring out its worth more clearly than ever; and to -give us higher conceptions of its nature, its meaning, its purpose. Let -us, then, banishing for the nonce all prepossessions, and taking up a -thoroughly antagonistic point of view, set down without mitigation its -many flaws, vices, and absurdities. - - * * * * * - -Is it not manifest that a ruling body made up of many individuals, -who differ in character, education, and aims, who belong to classes -having antagonistic ideas and feelings, and who are severally swayed -by the special {285} opinions of the districts deputing them, must -be a cumbrous apparatus for the management of public affairs? When we -devise a machine we take care that its parts are as few as possible; -that they are adapted to their respective ends; that they are properly -joined with one another; and that they work smoothly to their common -purpose. Our political machine, however, is constructed upon directly -opposite principles. Its parts are extremely numerous: multiplied, -indeed, beyond all reason. They are not severally chosen as specially -qualified for particular functions. No care is taken that they shall -fit well together: on the contrary, our arrangements are such that -they are certain not to fit. And that, as a consequence, they do not -and cannot act in harmony, is a fact nightly demonstrated to all the -world. In truth, had the problem been to find an appliance for the -slow and bungling transaction of business, it could scarcely have been -better solved. Immense hindrance results from the mere multiplicity of -parts; a further immense hindrance results from their incongruity; yet -another immense hindrance results from the frequency with which they -are changed; while the greatest hindrance of all results from the want -of subordination of the parts to their functions—from the fact that the -personal welfare of the legislator is not bound up with the efficient -performance of his political duty. - -These defects are inherent in the very nature of our institutions; -and they cannot fail to produce disastrous mismanagement. If proofs -be needed, they may be furnished in abundance, both from the current -history of our central representative government, and from that of -local ones, public and private. Let us, before going on to contemplate -these evils as displayed on a great scale in our legislature, glance at -some of them in their simpler and smaller manifestations. - -We will not dwell on the comparative inefficiency of deputed -administration in mercantile affairs. The {286} untrustworthiness -of directorial management might be afresh illustrated by the recent -joint-stock-bank catastrophies: the recklessness and dishonesty of -rulers whose interests are not one with those of the concern they -control, being in these cases conspicuously displayed. Or we could -enlarge on the same truth as exhibited in the doings of railway-boards: -instancing the malversations proved against their members; the -carelessness which has permitted Robson and Redpath frauds; the -rashness perseveringly shown in making unprofitable branches and -extensions. But facts of this kind are sufficiently familiar. - -Let us pass, then, to less notorious examples. Mechanics’ Institutions -will supply our first. The theory of these is plausible enough. -Artizans wanting knowledge, and benevolent middle-class people wishing -to help them to it, constitute the raw material. By uniting their -means they propose to obtain literary and other advantages, which -else would be beyond their reach. And it is concluded that, being all -interested in securing the proposed objects, and the governing body -being chosen out of their number, the results cannot fail to be such as -were intended. In most cases, however, the results are quite otherwise. -Indifference, stupidity, party-spirit, and religious dissension, -nearly always thwart the efforts of the promoters. It is thought good -policy to select as president some local notability; probably not -distinguished for wisdom, but whose donation or prestige more than -counterbalances his defect in this respect. Vice-presidents are chosen -with the same view: a clergyman or two; some neighbouring squires, -if they can be had; an ex-mayor; several aldermen; half a dozen -manufacturers and wealthy tradesmen; and a miscellaneous complement. -While the committee, mostly elected more because of their position -or popularity than their intelligence or fitness for co-operation, -exhibit similar incongruities. Causes of dissension quickly arise. A -book much wished for by the mass of the members, is tabooed, because -{287} ordering it would offend the clerical party in the institution. -Regard for the prejudices of certain magistrates and squires who figure -among the vice-presidents, forbids the engagement of an otherwise -desirable and popular lecturer, whose political and religious opinions -are somewhat extreme. The selection of newspapers and magazines for -the reading-room, is a fruitful source of disputes. Should some, -thinking it would be a great boon to those for whom the institution -was established, propose to open the reading-room on Sundays, there -arises a violent fight; ending, perhaps, in the secession of some of -the defeated party. The question of amusements, again, furnishes a bone -of contention. Shall the institution exist solely for instruction, or -shall it add gratification? The refreshment-question, also, is apt to -be raised, and to add to the other causes of difference. In short, -the stupidity, prejudice, party-spirit, and squabbling, are such as -eventually to drive away in disgust those who should have been the -administrators; and to leave the control in the hands of a clique, who -pursue some humdrum middle course, satisfying nobody. Instead of that -prosperity which would probably have been achieved under the direction -of one good man-of-business, whose welfare was bound up with its -success, the institution loses its prestige, and dwindles away: ceases -almost entirely to be what was intended—a _mechanics_’ institution; and -becomes little more than a middle-class lounge, kept up not so much by -the permanent adhesion of its members, as by the continual addition of -new ones in place of the old ones constantly falling off. Meanwhile, -the end originally proposed is fulfilled, so far as it gets fulfilled -at all, by private enterprise. Cheap newspapers and cheap periodicals, -provided by publishers having in view the pockets and tastes of the -working-classes; coffee-shops and penny reading-rooms, set up by men -whose aim is profit; are the instruments of the chief proportion of -such culture as is going on. - -In higher-class institutions of the same order—in Literary {288} -Societies and Philosophical Societies, etc.—the like inefficiency of -representative government is generally displayed. Quickly following -the vigour of early enthusiasm, come class and sectarian differences, -the final supremacy of a party, bad management, apathy. Subscribers -complain they cannot get what they want; and one by one desert to -private book-clubs or to Mudie. - -Turning from non-political to political institutions, we might, had -we space, draw illustrations from the doings of the old poor-law -authorities, or from those of modern boards of guardians; but omitting -these and others such, we will, among local governments, confine -ourselves to the reformed municipal corporations. - -If, leaving out of sight all other evidences, and forgetting that -they are newly-organized bodies into which corruption has scarcely -had time to creep, we were to judge of these municipal corporations -by the town-improvements they have effected, we might pronounce -them successful. But, even without insisting on the fact that such -improvements are more due to the removal of obstructions, and to that -same progressive spirit which has established railways and telegraphs, -than to the positive virtues of these civic governments; it is to be -remarked that the execution of numerous public works is by no means -an adequate test. With power of raising funds limited only by a -rebellion of ratepayers, it is easy in prosperous, increasing towns, -to make a display of efficiency. The proper questions to be asked -are:—Do municipal elections end in the choice of the fittest men who -are to be found? Does the resulting administrative body, perform well -and economically the work which devolves on it? And does it show -sound judgment in refraining from needless or improper work? To these -questions the answers are by no means satisfactory. - -Town-councils are not conspicuous for either intelligence or high -character. There are competent judges who think that, on the average, -their members are inferior to those of {289} the old corporations -they superseded. As all the world knows, the elections turn mainly on -political opinions. The first question respecting any candidate is, -not whether he has great knowledge, judgment, or business-faculty—not -whether he has any special aptitude for the duty to be discharged; -but whether he is Whig or Tory. Even supposing his politics to be -unobjectionable, his nomination still does not depend chiefly on his -proved uprightness or capacity, but much more on his friendly relations -with the dominant clique. A number of the town magnates, habitually -meeting probably at the chief hotel, and there held together as much -by the brotherhood of conviviality as by that of opinion, discuss the -merits of all whose names are before the public, and decide which are -the most suitable. This gin-and-water caucus it is which practically -determines the choice of candidates; and, by consequence, the -elections. Those who will succumb to leadership—those who will merge -their private opinions in the policy of their party, of course have -the preference. Men too independent for this—too far-seeing to join in -the shibboleth of the hour, or too refined to mix with the “jolly good -fellows” who thus rule the town, are shelved; notwithstanding that they -are, above all others, fitted for office. Partly from this underhand -influence, and partly from the consequent disgust which leads them -to decline standing if asked, the best men are generally not in the -governing body. It is notorious that in London the most respectable -merchants will have nothing to do with the local government. And in -New York, “the exertions of its better citizens are still exhausted -in private accumulation, while the duties of administration are left -to other hands,” It cannot then be asserted that in town-government, -the representative system succeeds in bringing the ablest and most -honourable men to the top. - -The efficient and economical discharge of duties is, of course, -hindered by this inferiority of the deputies chosen; {290} and it -is further hindered by the persistent action of party and personal -motives. Not whether he knows well how to handle a level, but -whether he voted for the popular candidate at the last parliamentary -election, is the question on which may, and sometimes does, hang the -choice of a town-surveyor; and if sewers are ill laid out, it is a -natural consequence. When, a new public edifice having been decided -on, competition designs are advertised for; and when the designs, -ostensibly anonymous but really identifiable, have been sent in; T. -Square, Esq., who has an influential relative in the corporation, -makes sure of succeeding, and is not disappointed: albeit his plans -are not those which would have been chosen by any one of the judges, -had the intended edifice been his own. Brown, who has for many years -been on the town-council and is one of the dominant clique, has a -son who is a doctor; and when, in pursuance of an Act of Parliament, -an officer of health is to be appointed, Brown privately canvasses -his fellow-councillors, and succeeds in persuading them to elect his -son; though his son is by no means the fittest man the place can -furnish. Similarly with the choice of tradesmen to execute work for -the town. A public clock which is frequently getting out of order, and -Board-of-Health water-closets which disgust those who have them (we -state facts), sufficiently testify that stupidity, favouritism, or -some sinister influence, is ever causing mismanagement. The choice of -inferior representatives, and by them of inferior _employés_, joined -with private interest and divided responsibility, inevitably prevent -the discharge of duties from being satisfactory. - -Moreover, the extravagance which is now becoming a notorious vice of -municipal bodies, is greatly increased by the practice of undertaking -things which they ought not to undertake; and the incentive to do this -is, in many cases, traceable to the representative origin of the body. -The system of compounding with landlords for municipal {291} rates, -leads the lower class of occupiers into the erroneous belief that -town-burdens do not fall in any degree on them; and they therefore -approve of an expenditure which seemingly gives them gratis advantages -while it creates employment. As they form the mass of the constituency, -lavishness becomes a popular policy; and popularity-hunters vie with -one another in bringing forward new and expensive projects. Here is -a councillor who, having fears about his next election, proposes an -extensive scheme for public gardens—a scheme which many who disapprove -do not oppose, because they, too, bear in mind the next election. There -is another councillor, who keeps a shop, and who raises and agitates -the question of baths and wash-houses; very well knowing that his trade -is not likely to suffer from such a course. And so in other cases: -the small direct interest which each member of the corporation has in -economical administration, is antagonized by so many indirect interests -of other kinds, that he is not likely to be a good guardian of the -public purse. - -Thus, neither in respect of the deputies chosen, nor the efficient -performance of their work, nor the avoidance of unfit work, can -the governments of our towns be held satisfactory. And if in these -recently-formed bodies the defects are so conspicuous, still more -conspicuous are they where they have had time to grow to their full -magnitude: witness the case of New York. According to the _Times_ -correspondent in that city, the New York people pay “over a million -and a half sterling, for which they have badly-paved streets, a police -by no means as efficient as it should be, though much better than -formerly, the greatest amount of dirt north of Italy, the poorest -cab-system of any metropolis in the world, and only unsheltered wooden -piers for the discharge of merchandize.” - - * * * * * - -And now, having glanced at the general bearings of the question in -these minor cases, let us take the major case of {292} our central -government; and, in connexion with it, pursue the inquiry more closely. -Here the inherent faults of the representative system are much more -clearly displayed. The greater multiplicity of rulers involves greater -cumbrousness, greater confusion, greater delay. Differences of class, -of aims, of prejudices, are both larger in number and wider in degree; -and hence arise dissensions still more multiplied. The direct effect -which each legislator is likely to experience from the working of -any particular measure, is usually very small and remote; while the -indirect influences which sway him are, in this above all other cases, -numerous and strong: whence follows a marked tendency to neglect -public welfare for private advantage. But let us set out from the -beginning—with the constituencies. - -The representative theory assumes that if a number of citizens, -deeply interested as they all are in good government, are endowed -with political power, they will choose the wisest and best men for -governors. Seeing how greatly they suffer from bad administration of -public affairs, it is considered self-evident that they must have -the _will_ to select proper representatives; and it is taken for -granted that average common sense gives the _ability_ to select proper -representatives. How does experience bear out these assumptions? Does -it not to a great degree negative them? - -Several considerable classes of electors have little or no _will_ in -the matter. Not a few of those on the register pique themselves on -taking no part in politics—claim credit for having the sense not to -meddle with things which they say do not concern them. Many others -there are whose interest in the choice of a member of Parliament is -so slight, that they do not think it worth while to vote. A notable -proportion, too, shopkeepers especially, care so little about the -result, that their votes are determined by their wishes to please -their chief patrons or to avoid offending them. In the minds of a -yet larger class, small sums of money, or {293} even _ad libitum_ -supplies of beer, outweigh any desires they have to use their political -powers independently. Those who adequately recognize the importance of -honestly exercising their judgments in the selection of legislators, -and who give conscientious votes, form but a minority; and the election -usually hangs less upon their wills than upon the illegitimate -influences which sway the rest. Here, therefore, the theory fails. - -Then, again, as to intelligence. Even supposing that the mass of -electors have a sufficiently decided _will_ to choose the best rulers, -what evidence have we of their _ability_? Is picking out the wisest -man among them, a task within the range of their capacities? Let any -one listen to the conversation of a farmer’s market-table, and then -answer how much he finds of that wisdom which is required to discern -wisdom in others. Or let him read the clap-trap speeches made from the -hustings with a view of pleasing constituents, and then estimate the -penetration of those who are to be thus pleased. Even among the higher -order of electors he will meet with gross political ignorance—with -notions that Acts of Parliament can do whatever it is thought well they -should do; that the value of gold can be fixed by law; that distress -can be cured by poor-laws; and so forth. If he descends a step, he will -find in the still-prevalent ideas that machinery is injurious to the -working-classes, and that extravagance is “good for trade,” indices -of a yet smaller insight. And in the lower and larger class, formed -by those who think that their personal interest in good government is -not worth the trouble of voting, or is outbalanced by the loss of a -customer, or is of less value than a bribe, he will perceive an almost -hopeless stupidity. Without going the length of Mr. Carlyle, and -defining the people as “twenty-seven millions, mostly fools,” he will -confess that they are but sparely gifted with wisdom. - -That these should succeed in choosing the fittest {294} governors, -would be strange; and that they do not so succeed is manifest. Even as -judged by the most common-sense tests, their selections are absurd, as -we shall shortly see. - -It is a self-evident truth that we may most safely trust those whose -interests are identical with our own; and that it is very dangerous -to trust those whose interests are antagonistic to our own. All -the legal securities we take in our transactions with one another, -are so many recognitions of this truth. We are not satisfied with -_professions_. If another’s position is such that he must be liable -to motives at variance with the promises he makes, we take care, by -introducing an artificial motive (the dread of legal penalties), to -make it his interest to fulfil these promises. Down to the asking for -a receipt, our daily business-habits testify that, in consequence of -the prevailing selfishness, it it extremely imprudent to expect men to -regard the claims of others equally with their own: all asseverations -of good faith notwithstanding. Now it might have been thought that -even the modicum of sense possessed by the majority of electors, -would have led them to recognize this fact in the choice of their -representatives. But they show a total disregard of it. While the -theory of our Constitution, in conformity with this same fact, assumes -that the three divisions composing the Legislature will severally -pursue each its own ends—while our history shows that Monarch, Lords, -and Commons, _have_ all along more or less conspicuously done this; -our electors manifest by their votes, the belief that their interests -will be as well cared for by members of the titled class as by members -of their own class. Though, in their determined opposition to the -Reform-Bill, the aristocracy showed how greedy they were, not only of -their legitimate power but of their illegitimate power—though, by the -enactment and pertinacious maintenance of the Corn-Laws, they proved -how little popular welfare weighed in the {295} scale against their -own profits—though they have ever displayed a watchful jealousy even of -their smallest privileges, whether equitable or inequitable (as witness -the recent complaint in the House of Lords, that the Mercantile Marine -Act calls on lords of manors to show their titles before they can claim -the wrecks thrown on the shores of their estates, which before they -had always done by prescription)—though they have habitually pursued -that self-seeking policy which men so placed were sure to pursue; -yet constituencies have decided that members of the aristocracy may -fitly be chosen as representatives of the people. Our present House -of Commons contains 98 Irish peers and sons of English peers; 66 -blood-relations of peers; and 67 connexions of peers by marriage: in -all, 231 members whose interests, or sympathies, or both, are with the -nobility rather than the commonalty. We are quite prepared to hear the -doctrine implied in this criticism condemned by rose-water politicians -as narrow and prejudiced. To such we simply reply that they and their -friends fully recognize this doctrine when it suits them to do so. Why -do they wish to prevent the town-constituencies from predominating -over the county-ones; if they do not believe that each division of the -community will consult its own welfare? Or what plea can there be for -Lord John Russell’s proposal to represent minorities, unless it be the -plea that those who have the opportunity will sacrifice the interests -of others to their own? Or how shall we explain the anxiety of the -upper class, to keep a tight rein on the growing power of the lower -class, save from their consciousness that _bonâ fide_ representatives -of the lower class would be less regardful of their privileges than -they are themselves? If there be any reason in the theory of the -Constitution, then, while the members of the House of Peers should -belong to the peerage, the members of the House of Commons should -belong to the commonalty. Either the constitutional theory is sheer -nonsense, or else {296} the choice of lords as representatives of the -people proves the folly of constituencies. - -But this folly by no means ends here: it works out other results quite -as absurd. What should we think of a man giving his servants equal -authority with himself over the affairs of his household? Suppose -the shareholders in a railway-company were to elect, as members of -their board of directors, the secretary, engineer, superintendent, -traffic-manager, and others such. Should we not be astonished at -their stupidity? Should we not prophesy that the private advantage of -officials would frequently override the welfare of the company? Yet our -parliamentary electors commit a blunder of just the same kind. For what -are military and naval officers but servants of the nation; standing to -it in a relation like that in which the officers of a railway-company -stand to the company? Do they not perform public work? do they not -take public pay? And do not their interests differ from those of the -public, as the interests of the employed from those of the employer? -The impropriety of admitting executive agents of the State into the -Legislature, has over and over again thrust itself into notice; and -in minor cases has been prevented by sundry Acts of Parliament. -Enumerating those disqualified for the House of Commons, Blackstone -says― - - “No persons concerned in the management of any duties or taxes created - since 1692, except the commissioners of the treasury, nor any of the - officers following, _viz._ commissioners of prizes, transports, sick - and wounded, wine licences, navy, and victualling; secretaries or - receivers of prizes; comptrollers of the army accounts; agents for - regiments; governors of plantations, and their deputies; officers of - Minorca or Gibraltar; officers of the excise and customs; clerks and - deputies in the several offices of the treasury, exchequer, navy, - victualling, admiralty, pay of the army and navy, secretaries of - state, salt, stamps, appeals, wine licences, hackney coaches, hawkers - and pedlars, nor any persons that hold any new office under the crown - created since 1705, are capable of being elected, or sitting as - members.” - -In which list naval and military officers would doubtless have been -included, had they not always been too powerful a body and too closely -identified with the dominant classes. {297} Glaring, however, as -is the impolicy of appointing public servants to make the laws; -and clearly as this impolicy is recognized in the above-specified -exclusions from time to time enacted; the people at large seem totally -oblivious of it. At the last general election they returned 9 naval -officers, 46 military officers, and 51 retired military officers, -who, in virtue of education, friendship, and _esprit de corps_, take -the same views with their active comrades—in all 106: not including -64 officers of militia and yeomanry, whose sympathies and ambitions -are in a considerable degree the same. If any one thinks that this -large infusion of officialism is of no consequence, let him look in -the division-lists. Let him inquire how much it has had to do with the -maintenance of the purchase-system. Let him ask whether the almost -insuperable obstacles to the promotion of the private soldier, have -not been strengthened by it. Let him see what share it had in keeping -up those worn-out practices, and forms, and mis-arrangements, which -entailed the disasters of our late war. Let him consider whether the -hushing-up of the Crimean Inquiry and the whitewashing of delinquents -were not aided by it. Yet, though abundant experience thus confirms -what common sense would beforehand have predicted; and though, -notwithstanding the late disasters, exposures, and public outcry for -army-reform, the influence of the military caste is so great that the -reform has been staved-off; our constituencies are stupid enough to -send to Parliament as many military officers as ever! - -Not even now have we reached the end of these impolitic selections. -The general principle on which we have been insisting, and which is -recognized by expounders of the constitution when they teach that -the legislative and executive divisions of the Government should be -distinct—this general principle is yet further sinned against; though -not in so literal a manner. For though they do not take State-pay, and -are not nominally Government-officers, yet, {298} practically, lawyers -are members of the executive organization. They form an important part -of the apparatus for the administration of justice. By the working of -this apparatus they make their profits; and their welfare depends on -its being so worked as to bring them profits, rather than on its being -so worked as to administer justice. Exactly as military officers have -interests distinct from, and often antagonistic to, the efficiency -of the army; so, barristers and solicitors have interests distinct -from, and often antagonistic to, the cheap and prompt enforcement of -the law. And that they are habitually swayed by these antagonistic -interests, is notorious. So strong is the bias, as sometimes even -to destroy the power of seeing from any other than the professional -stand-point. We have ourselves heard a lawyer declaiming on the damage -which the County-Courts-Act had done to the profession; and expecting -his non-professional hearers to join him in condemning it there-for! -And if, as all the world knows, the legal conscience is not of the -tenderest, is it wise to depute lawyers to frame the laws which they -will be concerned in carrying out; and the carrying out of which must -affect their private incomes? Are barristers, who constantly take fees -for work which they do not perform, and attorneys, whose bills are so -often exorbitant that a special office has been established for taxing -them—are these, of all others, to be trusted in a position which would -be trying even to the most disinterested? Nevertheless, the towns and -counties of England have returned to the present House of Commons 98 -lawyers—some 60 of them in actual practice, and the rest retired, -but doubtless retaining those class-views acquired during their -professional careers. - -These criticisms on the conduct of constituencies do not necessarily -commit us to the assertion that _none_ belonging to the official and -aristocratic classes ought to be chosen. Though it would be safer to -carry out, in these important {299} cases, the general principle -which, as above shown, Parliament has itself recognized and enforced -in unimportant cases; yet we are not prepared to say that occasional -exceptions might not be made, on good cause being shown. All we aim -to show is the gross impolicy of selecting so large a proportion of -representatives from classes having interests different from those of -the general public. That in addition to more than a third taken from -the dominant class, who already occupy one division of the Legislature, -the House of Commons should contain nearly another third taken from -the naval, military, and legal classes, whose policy, like that of -the dominant class, is to maintain things as they are; we consider a -decisive proof of electoral misjudgment. That out of the 654 members, -of which the People’s House now consists, there should be but 250 who, -as considered from a class point of view, are eligible, or tolerably -eligible (for we include a considerable number who are more or less -objectionable), is significant of anything but popular good sense. That -into an assembly established to protect their interests, the commonalty -of England should have sent one-third whose interests are the same as -their own, and two-thirds whose interests are at variance with their -own, proves a scarcely credible lack of wisdom; and seems an awkward -fact for the representative theory. - -If the intelligence of the mass is thus not sufficient even to choose -out men who by position and occupation are fit representatives, -still less is it sufficient to choose out men who are the fittest -in character and capacity. To see who will be liable to the bias -of private advantage is a very easy thing; to see who is wisest is -a very difficult thing; and those who do not succeed in the first -must necessarily fail in the last. The higher the wisdom the more -incomprehensible does it become by ignorance. It is a manifest fact -that the popular man or writer, is always one who is but little in -advance of the mass, and consequently {300} understandable by them: -never the man who is far in advance of them and out of their sight. -Appreciation of another implies some community of thought. “Only the -man of worth can recognize worth in men. . . . . . The worthiest, if he -appealed to universal suffrage, would have but a poor chance. . . . . . -Alas! Jesus Christ, asking the Jews what _he_ deserved—was not the -answer, Death on the gallows!” And though men do not now-a-days stone -the prophet, they, at any rate, ignore him. As Mr. Carlyle says in his -vehement way― - - “If of ten men nine are recognisable as fools, which is a common - calculation, how, . . . in the name of wonder, will you ever get a - ballot-box to grind you out a wisdom from the votes of these ten men? - . . . . . I tell you a million blockheads looking authoritatively into - one man of what you call genius, or noble sense, will make nothing but - nonsense out of him and his qualities, and his virtues and defects, if - they look till the end of time.” - -So that, even were electors content to choose the man proved by general -evidence to be the most far-seeing, and refrained from testing him -by the coincidence of his views with their own, there would be small -chance of their hitting on the best. But judging of him, as they do, by -asking him whether he thinks this or that crudity which they think, it -is manifest that they will fix on one far removed from the best. Their -deputy will be truly representative;—representative, that is, of the -average stupidity. - - * * * * * - -And now let us look at the assembly of representatives thus chosen. -Already we have noted the unfit composition of this assembly as -respects the interests of its members; and we have just seen what the -representative theory itself implies as to their intelligence. Let us -now, however, consider them more nearly under this last head. - -And first, what is the work they undertake? Observe, we do not say the -work which they _ought_ to do, but the work which they _propose_ to do, -and _try_ to do. This comprehends the regulation of nearly all actions -going on throughout society. Besides devising measures to prevent {301} -the aggression of citizens on one another, and to secure each the -quiet possession of his own; and besides assuming the further function, -also needful in the present state of mankind, of defending the nation -as a whole against invaders; they unhesitatingly take on themselves -to provide for countless wants, to cure countless ills, to oversee -countless affairs. Out of the many beliefs men have held respecting -God, Creation, the Future, etc., they presume to decide which are -true; and authorize an army of priests to perpetually repeat them to -the people. The distress resulting from improvidence, they undertake -to remove: they settle the minimum which each ratepayer shall give -in charity, and how the proceeds shall be administered. Judging that -emigration will not naturally go on fast enough, they provide means for -carrying off some of the labouring classes to the colonies. Certain -that social necessities will not cause a sufficiently rapid spread -of knowledge, and confident that they know what knowledge is most -required, they use public money for the building of schools and paying -of teachers; they print and publish State-school-books; they employ -inspectors to see that their standard of education is conformed to. -Playing the part of doctor, they insist that every one shall use their -specific, and escape the danger of small-pox by submitting to an attack -of cow-pox. Playing the part of moralist, they decide which dramas are -fit to be acted and which are not. Playing the part of artist, they -prompt the setting up of drawing-schools, provide masters and models; -and, at Marlborough House, enact what shall be considered good taste -and what bad. Through their lieutenants, the corporations of towns, -they furnish appliances for the washing of peoples’ skins and clothes; -they, in some cases, manufacture gas and put down water-pipes; they lay -out sewers and cover over cess-pools; they establish public libraries -and make public gardens. Moreover, they determine how houses shall be -built, and what is a safe construction for a ship; they take measures -for the {302} security of railway-travelling; they fix the hour -after which public-houses may not be open; they regulate the prices -chargeable by vehicles plying in the London streets; they inspect -lodging-houses; they arrange for burial-grounds; they fix the hours -of factory hands. If some social process does not seem to them to be -going on fast enough, they stimulate it; where the growth is not in the -direction which they think most desirable, they alter it; and so they -seek to realize some undefined ideal community. - -Such being the task undertaken, what, let us ask, are the -qualifications for discharging it? Supposing it possible to achieve -all this, what must be the knowledge and capacities of those who -shall achieve it? Successfully to prescribe for society, it is -needful to know the structure of society—the principles on which -it is organized—the natural laws of its progress. If there be not -a true understanding of what constitutes social development, there -must necessarily be grave mistakes made in checking these changes and -fostering those. If there be lack of insight respecting the mutual -dependence of the many functions which, taken together, make up the -national life, unforeseen disasters will ensue from not perceiving -how an interference with one will affect the rest. That is to say, -there must be a due acquaintance with the social science—the science -involving all others; the science standing above all others in -complexity. - -And now, how far do our legislators possess this qualification? Do -they in any moderate degree display it? Do they make even a distant -approximation to it? That many of them are very good classical scholars -is beyond doubt: not a few have written first-rate Latin verses, and -can enjoy a Greek play; but there is no obvious relation between a -memory well stocked with the words spoken two thousand years ago, -and an understanding disciplined to deal with modern society. That -in learning the languages of the past they have learnt some of its -history, is true; but considering that this history is mainly a {303} -narrative of battles and plots and negociations and treacheries, it -does not throw much light on social philosophy—not even the simplest -principles of political economy have ever been gathered from it. We -do not question, either, that a moderate per centage of members of -Parliament are fair mathematicians; and that mathematical discipline -is valuable. As, however, political problems are not susceptible of -mathematical analysis, their studies in this direction cannot much aid -them in legislation. To the large body of military officers who sit as -representatives, we would not for a moment deny a competent knowledge -of fortification, of strategy, of regimental discipline; but we do not -see that these throw much light on the causes and cure of national -evils. Indeed, considering that war fosters anti-social sentiments, -and that the government of soldiers is necessarily despotic, military -education and habits are more likely to unfit than to fit men for -regulating the doings of a free people. Extensive acquaintance with -the laws, may doubtless be claimed by the many barristers chosen by -our constituencies; and this seems a kind of information having some -relation to the work to be done. Unless, however, this information -is more than technical—unless it is accompanied by knowledge of the -ramified consequences which laws have produced in times past and are -producing now (which nobody will assert), it cannot give much insight -into Social Science. A familiarity with laws is no more a preparation -for rational legislation, than would a familiarity with all the -nostrums men have ever used be a preparation for the rational practice -of medicine. Nowhere, then, in our representative body, do we find -appropriate culture. Here is a clever novelist, and there a successful -maker of railways; this member has acquired a large fortune in trade, -and that member is noted as an agricultural improver; but none of -these achievements imply fitness for controlling and adjusting social -processes. Among the many who have passed through the public {304} -school and university _curriculum_—including though they may a few -Oxford double-firsts and one or two Cambridge wranglers—there are none -who have received the discipline required by the true legislator. None -have that competent knowledge of Science in general, culminating in -the Science of Life, which can alone form a basis for the Science of -Society. For it is one of those open secrets which seem the more secret -because they are so open, that all phenomena displayed by a nation are -phenomena of Life, and are dependent on the laws of Life. There is -no growth, decay, evil, improvement, or change of any kind, going on -in the body politic, but what has its cause in the actions of human -beings; and there are no actions of human beings but what conform to -the laws of Life in general, and cannot be truly understood until those -laws are understood. - -See, then, the immense incongruity between the end and the means. See -on the one hand the countless difficulties of the task; and on the -other hand the almost total unpreparedness of those who undertake -it. Need we wonder that legislation is ever breaking down? Is it -not natural that complaint, amendment, and repeal, should form the -staple business of every session? Is there anything more than might be -expected in the absurd Jack-Cadeisms which disgrace the debates? Even -without setting up so high a standard of qualification as that above -specified, the unfitness of most representatives for their duties is -abundantly manifest. You need but glance over the miscellaneous list -of noblemen, baronets, squires, merchants, barristers, engineers, -soldiers, sailors, railway-directors, etc., and then ask what training -their previous lives have given them for the intricate business of -legislation, to see at once how extreme must be the incompetence. One -would think that the whole system had been framed on the sayings of -some political Dogberry:—“The art of healing is difficult; the art of -government easy. The understanding of {305} arithmetic comes by study; -while the understanding of society comes by instinct. Watchmaking -requires a long apprenticeship; but there needs none for the making -of institutions. To manage a shop properly requires teaching; but the -management of a people may be undertaken without preparation.” Were -we to be visited by some wiser Gulliver, or, as in the “Micromegas” -of Voltaire, by some inhabitant of another sphere, his account of our -political institutions might run somewhat as follows:― - -“I found that the English were governed by an assembly of men, said to -embody the ‘collective wisdom.’ This assembly, joined with some other -authorities which seem practically subordinate to it, has unlimited -power. I was much perplexed by this. With us it is customary to define -the office of any appointed body; and, above all things, to see that -it does not defeat the ends for which it was appointed. But both the -theory and the practice of this English Government imply that it may do -whatever it pleases. Though, by their current maxims and usages, the -English recognize the right of property as sacred—though the infraction -of it is considered by them one of the gravest crimes—though the laws -profess to be so jealous of it as to punish even the stealing of a -turnip; yet their legislators suspend it at will. They take the money -of citizens for any project which they choose to undertake; though -such project was not in the least contemplated by those who gave them -authority—nay, though the greater part of the citizens from whom the -money is taken had no share in giving them such authority. Each citizen -can hold property only so long as the 654 deputies do not want it. It -seemed to me that an exploded doctrine once current among them of ‘the -divine right of kings,’ had simply been changed into the divine right -of Parliaments. - -“I was at first inclined to think that the constitution of things -on the Earth was totally different from what it is with us; for the -current political philosophy here, implies {306} that acts are not -right or wrong in themselves but are made one or the other by the votes -of law-makers. In our world it is considered manifest that if a number -of beings live together, there must, in virtue of their natures, be -certain primary conditions on which only they can work satisfactorily -in concert; and we infer that the conduct which breaks through these -conditions is bad. In the English legislature, however, a proposal to -regulate conduct by any such abstract standard would be held absurd. -I asked one of their members of Parliament whether a majority of the -House could legitimize murder. He said, No. I asked him whether it -could sanctify robbery. He thought not. But I could not make him see -that if murder and robbery are intrinsically wrong, and not to be made -right by decisions of statesmen, that similarly _all_ actions must be -either right or wrong, apart from the authority of the law; and that if -the right and wrong of the law are not in harmony with this intrinsic -right and wrong, the law itself is criminal. Some, indeed, among the -English think as we do. One of their remarkable men (_not_ included in -their Assembly of Notables) writes thus:― - - “‘To ascertain better and better what the will of the Eternal was - and is with us, what the laws of the Eternal are, all Parliaments, - Ecumenic Councils, Congresses, and other Collective Wisdoms, have - had this for their object. . . . . Nevertheless, in the inexplicable - universal votings and debatings of these Ages, an idea or rather a - dumb presumption to the contrary has gone idly abroad; and at this - day, over extensive tracts of the world, poor human beings are to be - found, whose practical belief it is that if we “vote” this or that, - so this or that will thenceforth _be_. . . . . Practically, men have - come to imagine that the Laws of this Universe, like the laws of - constitutional countries, are decided by voting. . . . It is an idle - fancy. The Laws of this Universe, of which if the Laws of England are - not an exact transcript, they should passionately study to become - such, are fixed by the everlasting congruity of things, and are not - fixable or changeable by voting!’ - -“But I find that, contemptuously disregarding all such protests, the -English legislators persevere in their hyperatheistic notion, that an -Act of Parliament duly enforced by State-officers, will work out any -object: no question being {307} put whether Laws of Nature permit. -I forgot to ask whether they considered that different kinds of food -could be made wholesome or unwholesome by State-decree. - -“One thing that struck me was the curious way in which the members of -their House of Commons judge of one another’s capacities. Many who -expressed opinions of the crudest kinds, or trivial platitudes, or -worn-out superstitions, were civilly treated. Follies as great as that -but a few years since uttered by one of their ministers, who said that -free-trade was contrary to common sense, were received in silence. But -I was present when one of their number, who, as I thought, was speaking -very rationally, made a mistake in his pronunciation—made what they -call a wrong quantity; and immediately there arose a shout of derision. -It seemed quite tolerable that a member should know little or nothing -about the business he was there to transact; but quite intolerable that -he should be ignorant on a point of no moment. - -“The English pique themselves on being especially practical—have a -great contempt for theorizers, and profess to be guided exclusively -by facts. Before making or altering a law it is the custom to appoint -a committee of inquiry, who send for men able to give information -concerning the matter in hand, and ask them some thousands of -questions. These questions, and the answers given to them, are printed -in large books, and distributed among the members of the Houses of -Parliament; and I was told that they spent about £100,000 a year in -thus collecting and distributing evidence. Nevertheless, it appeared -to me that the ministers and representatives of the English people, -pertinaciously adhere to theories long ago disproved by the most -conspicuous facts. They pay great respect to petty details of evidence, -but of large truths they are quite regardless. Thus, the experience -of age after age has shown that their state-management is almost -invariably bad. The national estates are so miserably administered as -often to bring loss {308} instead of gain. The government ship-yards -are uniformly extravagant and inefficient. The judicial system works -so ill that most citizens will submit to serious losses rather than -run risks of being ruined by law-suits. Countless facts prove the -Government to be the worst owner, the worst manufacturer, the worst -trader: in fact, the worst manager, be the thing managed what it may. -But though the evidence of this is abundant and conclusive—though, -during a recent war, the bunglings of officials were as glaring and -multitudinous as ever; yet the belief that any proposed duties will -be satisfactorily discharged by a new public department appointed to -them, seems not a whit the weaker. Legislators, thinking themselves -practical, cling to the plausible theory of an officially-regulated -society, spite of overwhelming evidence that official regulation -perpetually fails. - -“Nay, indeed, the belief seems to gain strength among these fact-loving -English statesmen, notwithstanding the facts are against it. Proposals -for State-control over this and the other, have been of late more rife -than ever. And, most remarkable of all, their representative assembly -lately listened with grave faces to the assertion, made by one of their -high authorities, that State-workshops are more economical than private -workshops. Their prime minister, in defending a recently-established -arms-factory, actually told them that, at one of their arsenals, -certain missiles of war were manufactured not only better than by the -trade, but at about one-third the price; and added, ‘_so it would be in -all things_.’ The English being a trading people, who must be tolerably -familiar with the usual rates of profit among manufacturers, and the -margin for possible economy, the fact that they should have got for -their chief representative one so utterly in the dark on these matters, -struck me as a wonderful result of the representative system. - -“I did not inquire much further, for it was manifest that {309} if -these were really their wisest men, the English were not a wise people.” - - * * * * * - -Representative government, then, cannot be called a success, in so far -as the choice of men is concerned. Those it puts into power are the -fittest neither in respect of their interests, nor their culture, nor -their wisdom. And as a consequence, partly of this and partly of its -complex and cumbrous nature, representative government is anything -but efficient for administrative purposes. In these respects it is -manifestly inferior to monarchical government. This has the advantage -of simplicity, which is always conducive to efficiency. And it has the -further advantage that the power is in the hands of one who is directly -concerned in the good management of national affairs; seeing that the -continued maintenance of his power—nay, often his very life—depends -on this. For his own sake a monarch chooses the wisest councillors he -can find, regardless of class-distinctions. His interest in getting -the best help is too great to allow of prejudices standing between -him and a far-seeing man. We see this abundantly illustrated. Did not -the kings of France take Richelieu, and Mazarin, and Turgot to assist -them? Had not Henry VIII. his Wolsey, Elizabeth her Burleigh, James his -Bacon, Cromwell his Milton? And were not these men of greater calibre -than those who hold the reins under our constitutional _régime?_ So -strong is the motive of an autocrat to make use of ability wherever it -exists, that he will, like Louis XI., take even his barber into council -if he finds him a clever fellow. Besides choosing them for ministers -and advisers, he seeks out the most competent men for other offices. -Napoleon raised his marshals from the ranks; and owed his military -success in great part to the readiness with which he saw and availed -himself of merit wherever found. We have recently seen in Russia how -prompt was the recognition and promotion of engineering talent in -the case of Todleben; and know to {310} our cost how greatly the -prolonged defence of Sebastopol was due to this. In the marked contrast -to these cases supplied by our own army, in which genius is ignored -while muffs are honoured—in which wealth and caste make the advance -of plebeian merit next to impossible—in which jealousies between -Queen’s service and Company’s service render the best generalship -almost unavailable; we see that the representative system fails in -the officering of its executive, as much as in the officering of its -legislative. A striking antithesis between the actions of the two forms -of government, is presented in the evidence given before the Sebastopol -Committee respecting the supply of huts to the Crimean army—evidence -showing that while, in his negotiations with the English Government, -the contractor for the huts met with nothing but vacillation, delay, -and official rudeness, the conduct of the French Government was -marked by promptitude, decision, sound judgment, and great civility. -Everything goes to show that for administrative efficiency, autocratic -power is the best. If your aim is a well-organized army—if you want -to have sanitary departments, and educational departments, and -charity-departments, managed in a business-like way—if you would have -society actively regulated by staffs of State-agents; then by all means -choose that system of complete centralization which we call despotism. - - * * * * * - -Probably, notwithstanding the hints dropped at the outset, most have -read the foregoing pages with surprise. Very likely some have referred -to the cover of the _Review_, to see whether they have not, in mistake, -taken up some other than the “_Westminster_;” while some may, perhaps, -have accompanied their perusal by a running commentary of epithets -condemnatory of our seeming change of principles. Let them not be -alarmed. We have not in the least swerved from the confession of faith -set forth in our prospectus. On the contrary, as we shall shortly show, -{311} our adhesion to free institutions is as strong as ever—nay, has -even gained strength through this apparently antagonistic criticism. - -The subordination of a nation to a man, is not a wholesome but a -vicious state of things: needful, indeed, for a vicious humanity; but -to be outgrown as fast as may be. The instinct which makes it possible -is anything but a noble one. Call it “hero-worship,” and it looks -respectable. Call it what it is—a blind awe and fear of power, no -matter of what kind, but more especially of the brutal kind; and it is -by no means to be admired. Watch it in early ages deifying the cannibal -chief; singing the praises of the successful thief; commemorating the -most blood-thirsty warriors; speaking with reverence of those who had -shown undying revenge; and erecting altars to such as carried furthest -the vices which disgrace humanity; and the illusion disappears. Read -how, where it was strongest, it immolated crowds of victims at the tomb -of the dead king—how, at the altars raised to its heroes, it habitually -sacrificed prisoners and children to satisfy their traditional appetite -for human flesh—how it produced that fealty of subjects to rulers which -made possible endless aggressions, battles, massacres, and horrors -innumerable—how it has mercilessly slain those who would not lick the -dust before its idols;—read all this, and the feeling no longer seems -so worthy an one. See it in later days idealizing the worst as well -as the best monarchs; receiving assassins with acclamation; hurrahing -before successful treachery; rushing to applaud the processions and -shows and ceremonies wherewith effete power strengthens itself; -and it looks far from laudable. Autocracy presupposes inferiority -of nature on the part of both ruler and subject: on the one side a -cold, unsympathetic sacrificing of other’s wills to self-will; on the -other side a mean, cowardly abandonment of the claims of manhood. -Our very language {312} bears testimony to this. Do not _dignity_, -_independence_, and other words of approbation, imply a nature at -variance with this relation? Are not _tyrannical_, _arbitrary_, -_despotic_, epithets of reproach? and are not _truckling_, _fawning_, -_cringing_, epithets of contempt? Is not _slavish_ a condemnatory -term? Does not _servile_, that is, serf-like, imply littleness, -meanness? And has not the word _villain_, which originally meant -bondsman, come to signify everything which is hateful? That language -should thus inadvertently embody dislike for those who most display -the instinct of subordination, is alone sufficient proof that this -instinct is associated with evil dispositions. It has been the parent -of countless crimes. It is answerable for the torturing and murder of -the noble-minded who would not submit—for the horrors of Bastiles and -Siberias. It has ever been the represser of knowledge, of free thought, -of true progress. In all times it has fostered the vices of courts, and -made those vices fashionable throughout nations. With a George IV. on -the throne, it weekly tells ten thousand lies, in the shape of prayers -for a “most religious and gracious king.” Whether you read the annals -of the far past—whether you look at the various uncivilized races -dispersed over the globe—or whether you contrast the existing nations -of Europe; you equally find that submission to authority decreases as -morality and intelligence increase. From ancient warrior-worship down -to modern flunkeyism, the sentiment has ever been strongest where human -nature has been vilest. - -This relation between barbarism and loyalty, is one of those beneficent -arrangements which “the servant and interpreter of nature” everywhere -meets with. The subordination of many to one, is a form of society -needful for men so long as their natures are savage, or anti-social; -and that it may be maintained, it is needful that they should have an -extreme awe of the one. Just in proportion {313} as their conduct -to one another is such as to breed perpetual antagonism, endangering -social union; just in that proportion must there be a reverence for -the strong, determined, cruel ruler, who alone can repress their -explosive natures and keep them from mutual destruction. Among such a -people any form of free government is an impossibility. There must be a -despotism as stern as the people are savage; and, that such a despotism -may exist, there must be a superstitious worship of the despot. But -as fast as the discipline of social life modifies character—as fast -as, through lack of use, the old predatory instincts dwindle—as fast -as the sympathetic feelings grow; so fast does this hard rule become -less necessary; so fast does the authority of the ruler diminish; so -fast does the awe of him disappear. From being originally god, or -demi-god, he comes at length to be a very ordinary person; liable to -be criticized, ridiculed, caricatured. Various influences conspire to -this result. Accumulating knowledge gradually divests the ruler of -those supernatural attributes at first ascribed to him. The conceptions -which developing science gives of the grandeur of creation, as well -as the constancy and irresistibleness of its Omnipresent Cause, make -all feel the comparative littleness of human power; and the awe once -felt for the great man is, by degrees, transferred to that Universe of -which the great man is seen to form but an insignificant part. Increase -of population, with its average per-centage of great men, involves -the comparative frequency of such; and the more numerous they are the -less respect can be given to each: they dwarf one another. As society -becomes settled and organized, its welfare and progress become more -and more independent of any one. In a primitive society the death of a -chief may alter the whole course of things; but in a society like ours, -things go on much as before, no matter who dies. Thus, many influences -combine to diminish autocratic power, whether political or other. It -is true, {314} not only in the sense in which Tennyson writes it, but -also in a higher sense, that― - - . . . “the individual withers, and the world is more and more.” - -Further, it is to be noted that while the unlimited authority of the -greatest man ceases to be needful; and while the superstitious awe -which upholds that unlimited authority decreases; it at the same time -becomes impossible to get the greatest man to the top. In a rude social -state, where might is right, where war is the business of life, where -the qualities required in the ruler, alike for controlling his subjects -and defeating his enemies, are bodily strength, courage, cunning, will, -it is easy to pick out the best; or rather—he picks himself out. The -qualities which make him the fittest governor for the barbarians around -him, are the qualities by which he gets the mastery over them. But -in an advanced, complex, and comparatively peaceful state like ours, -these are not the qualities needed; and even were they needed, the -firmly-organized arrangements of society do not allow the possessor of -them to break through to the top. For the rule of a settled, civilized -community, the characteristics required are—not a love of conquest but -a desire for the general happiness; not undying hate of enemies but -a calm dispassionate equity; not artful manœuvring but philosophic -insight. How is the man most endowed with these to be found? In no -country is he ordinarily born heir to the throne; and that he can be -chosen out of thirty millions of people none will be foolish enough -to think. The incapacity for recognizing the greatest worth, we have -already seen illustrated in our parliamentary elections. And if the few -thousands forming a constituency cannot pick out from among themselves -their wisest man, still less can the millions forming a nation do it. -Just as fast as society becomes populous, complex, peaceful; so fast -does the political supremacy of the best become impossible. {315} - -But even were the relation of autocrat and slave a morally wholesome -one; and even were it possible to find the fittest man to be autocrat; -we should still contend that such a form of government is bad. We -should not contend this simply on the ground that self-government is a -valuable educator. But we should take the ground that no human being, -however wise and good, is fit to be sole ruler over the doings of an -involved society; and that, with the best intentions, a benevolent -despot is very likely to produce the most terrible mischiefs which -would else have been impossible. We will take the case of all others -the most favourable to those who would give supreme power to the -best. We will instance Mr. Carlyle’s model hero—Cromwell. Doubtless -there was much in the manners of the times when Puritanism arose, to -justify its disgust. Doubtless the vices and follies bequeathed by -effete Catholicism still struggling for existence, were bad enough to -create a reactionary asceticism. It is in the order of Nature, however, -that men’s habits and pleasures are not to be changed suddenly. For -any _permanent_ effect to be produced it must be produced slowly. -Better tastes, higher aspirations, must be developed; not enforced -from without. Disaster is sure to result from the withdrawal of -lower gratifications before higher ones have taken their places; for -gratification of some kind is a condition to healthful existence. -Whatever ascetic morality, or rather immorality, may say, pleasures -and pains are the incentives and restraints by which Nature keeps her -progeny from destruction. No contemptuous title of “pig-philosophy” -will alter the eternal fact that Misery is the highway to Death; while -Happiness is added Life and the giver of Life. But indignant Puritanism -could not see this truth; and with the extravagance of fanaticism -sought to abolish pleasure in general. Getting into power, it put down -not only questionable amusements but all others along with them. And -{316} for these repressions Cromwell, either as enacting, maintaining, -or allowing them, was responsible. What, now, was the result of this -attempt to dragoon men into virtue? What came when the strong man -who thought he was thus “helping God to mend all,” died? A dreadful -reaction brought in one of the most degraded periods of our history. -Into the newly-garnished house entered “seven other spirits more wicked -than the first.” For generations the English character was lowered. -Vice was gloried in, virtue was ridiculed; dramatists made marriage the -stock-subject of laughter; profaneness and obscenity flourished; high -aspirations ceased; the whole age was corrupt. Not until George III. -reigned was there a better standard of living. And for this century of -demoralization we have, in great measure, to thank Cromwell. Is it, -then, so clear that the domination of one man, righteous though he may -be, is a blessing? - -Lastly, it is to be remarked that when the political supremacy of the -greatest no longer exists in an overt form, it still continues in a -disguised and more beneficent form. For is it not manifest that in -these latter days the wise man eventually gets his edicts enforced -by others, if not by himself. Adam Smith, from his chimney-corner, -dictated greater changes than prime ministers do. A General Thompson -who forges the weapons with which the Anti-Corn-Law battle is fought—a -Cobden and a Bright who add to and wield them, forward civilization -much more than those who hold sceptres. Repugnant as the fact may -be to statesmen, it is yet one not to be gainsayed. Whoever, to the -great effects already produced by Free-trade, joins the far greater -effects which will be hereafter produced, must see that the revolution -initiated by these men is far wider than has been initiated by any -potentate of modern times. As Mr. Carlyle very well knows, those -who elaborate new truths and teach them to their fellows, are {317} -now-a-days the real rulers—“the unacknowledged legislators”—the -virtual kings. Thus we have the good which great men can do us, while -we are saved from the evil. - -No; the old _régime_ has passed away. For ourselves at least, the -subordination of the many to the one has become alike needless, -repugnant, and impossible. Good for its time, bad for ours, the ancient -“hero-worship” is dead; and happily no declamations, be they never so -eloquent, can revive it. - - * * * * * - -Here seem to be two irreconcileable positions—two mutually-destructive -arguments. First, a condemnatory criticism on representative -government, and then a still more condemnatory criticism on monarchical -government: each apparently abolishing the other. - -Nevertheless, the paradox is easily explicable. It is quite possible -to say all that we have said concerning the defects of representative -government, and still to hold that it is the best form of government. -Nay, it is quite possible to derive a more profound conviction of its -superiority from the very evidence which appears so unfavourable to it. - -For nothing that we have urged tells against its goodness as a means -of securing justice between man and man, or class and class. Abundant -evidence shows that the maintenance of equitable relations among its -subjects, which forms the essential business of a ruling power, is -surest when the ruling power is of popular origin; notwithstanding the -defects to which such a ruling power is liable. For discharging the -true function of a government, representative government is shown to be -the best, alike by its _origin_, its _theory_, and its _results_. Let -us glance at the facts under these three heads. - -Alike in Spain, in England, and in France, popular power embodied -itself as a check upon kingly tyranny, that is—kingly injustice. The -earliest accounts we have of the Spanish Cortes, say that it was their -office to advise {318} the King; and to follow their advice was -his duty. They petitioned, remonstrated, complained of grievances, -and supplicated for redress. The King, having acceded to their -requirements, swore to observe them; and it was agreed that any act -of his in contravention of the statutes thus established, should be -“respected as the King’s commands, but not executed, as contrary to -the rights and privileges of the subject.” In all which we see very -clearly that the special aim of the Cortes was to get rectified the -injustices committed by the King or others; that the King was in the -habit of breaking the promises of amendment he made to them; and that -they had to adopt measures to enforce the fulfilment of his promises. -In England we trace analogous facts. The Barons who bridled the tyranny -of King John, though not formally appointed, were virtually impromptu -representatives of the nation; and in their demand that justice should -neither be sold, denied, nor delayed, we discern the social evils -which led to this taking of the power into their own hands. In early -times the knights and burgesses, summoned by the King with the view -of getting supplies from them, had for their especial business to -obtain from him the redress of grievances, that is—the execution of -justice; and in their eventually-obtained and occasionally-exercised -power of withholding supplies until justice was granted, we see both -the need there was for remedying the iniquities of autocracy, and the -adaptation of representative institutions to this end. And the further -development of popular power latterly obtained, originated from the -demand for fairer laws—for less class-privilege, class-exemption, -class-injustice: a fact which the speeches of the Reform-Bill agitation -abundantly prove. In France, again, representative government grew into -a definite form under the stimulus of unbearable oppression. When the -accumulated extortion of centuries had reduced the mass of the people -to misery—when millions of haggard faces were seen throughout the {319} -land—when starving complainants were hanged on “a gallows forty feet -high”—when the exactions and cruelties of good-for-nothing kings and -vampire-nobles had brought the nation to the eve of dissolution; there -came, as a remedy, an assembly of men elected by the people. - -That, considered _a priori_, representative government is fitted for -establishing just laws, is implied by the unanimity with which Spanish, -English, and French availed themselves of it to this end; as well as -by the endeavours latterly made by other European nations to do the -like. The _rationale_ of the matter is simple enough. Manifestly, -on the average of cases, a man will protect his own interests more -solicitously than others will protect them for him. Manifestly, where -regulations have to be made affecting the interests of several men, -they are most likely to be equitably made when all those concerned are -present, and have equal shares in the making of them. And manifestly, -where those concerned are so numerous and so dispersed, that it is -physically impossible for them all to take part in the framing of -such regulations, the next best thing is for the citizens in each -locality to appoint one of their number to speak for them, to care -for their claims, to be their representative. The general principle -is that the welfare of all will be most secure when each looks after -his own welfare; and the principle is carried out as directly as the -circumstances permit. It is inferable, alike from human nature and from -history, that a single man cannot be trusted with the interests of a -nation of men, where his real or imagined interests clash with theirs. -It is similarly inferable from human nature and from history, that no -small section of a nation, as the nobles, can be expected to consult -the welfare of the people at large in preference to their own. And it -is further inferable that only in a general diffusion of political -power, is there a safeguard for the general welfare. This has all -along been the conviction under which representative government has -been advocated, {320} maintained, and extended. From the early writs -summoning the members of the House of Commons—writs which declared it -to be a most equitable rule that the laws which concerned all should be -approved of by all—down to the reasons now urged by the unenfranchised -for a participation in political power, this is the implied theory. -Observe, nothing is said about wisdom or administrative ability. From -the beginning, the end in view has been _justice_. Whether we consider -the question in the abstract, or whether we examine the opinions men -have entertained upon it from old times down to the present day, we -equally see the theory of representative government to be, that it is -the best means of insuring equitable social relations. - -And do not the results justify the theory? Did not our early -Parliaments, after long-continued struggles, succeed in curbing the -licentious exercise of royal power, and in establishing the rights -of the subject? Are not the comparative security and justice enjoyed -under our form of government, indicated by the envy with which other -nations regard it? Was not the election of the French Constituent -Assembly followed by the sweeping away of the grievous burdens that -weighed down the people—by the abolition of tithes, seignorial dues, -gabelle, excessive preservation of game—by the withdrawal of numerous -feudal privileges and immunities—by the manumission of the slaves in -the French colonies?—And has not that extension of our own electoral -system embodied in the Reform-Bill, brought about more equitable -arrangements?—as witness the repeal of the Corn-Laws, and the -equalization of probate and legacy duties. The proofs are undeniable. -It is clear, both _a priori_ and _a posteriori_, that representative -government is especially adapted for the establishment and maintenance -of just laws. - -And now mark that the objections to representative government awhile -since urged, scarcely tell against it at all, so long as it does -not exceed this comparatively limited {321} function. Though its -mediocrity of intellect makes it incompetent to oversee and regulate -the countless involved processes which make up the national life; it -nevertheless has quite enough intellect to enact and enforce those -simple principles of equity which underlie the right conduct of -citizens to one another. These are such that the commonest minds can -understand their chief applications. Stupid as may be the average -elector, he can see the propriety of such regulations as shall prevent -men from murdering and robbing; he can understand the fitness of -laws which enforce the payment of debts; he can perceive the need of -measures to prevent the strong from tyrannizing over the weak; and he -can feel the rectitude of a judicial system that is the same for rich -and poor. The average representative may be but of small capacity, but -he is competent, under the leadership of his wiser fellows, to devise -appliances for carrying out these necessary restraints; or rather—he is -competent to uphold the set of appliances slowly elaborated by the many -generations of his predecessors, and to do something towards improving -and extending them in those directions where the need is most manifest. -It is true that even these small demands upon electoral and senatorial -wisdom are but imperfectly met. But though constituencies are blind -to the palpable truth that if they would escape laws which favour the -nobility at the expense of the commonalty, they must cease to choose -representatives from among the nobility; yet when the injustice of -this class-legislation is glaring—as in the case of the Corn-Laws—they -have sense enough to use means for getting it abolished. And though -most legislators have not sufficient penetration to perceive that -the greater part of the evils which they attempt to cure by official -inspection and regulation, would disappear were there a certain, -prompt, and cheap administration of justice; yet the County-Courts-Act -and other recent law-reforms, show that they do eventually recognize -the importance of more efficient {322} judicial arrangements. While, -therefore, the lower average of intelligence which necessarily -characterizes representative government, unfits it for discharging the -complex business of regulating the entire national life; it does not -unfit it for discharging the comparatively simple duties of protector. -Again, in respect of this all-essential function of a government, there -is a much clearer identity of interest between representative and -citizen, than in respect of the multitudinous other functions which -governments undertake. Though it is generally of but little consequence -to the member of Parliament whether state-teachers, state-preachers, -state-officers of health, state-dispensers of charity, etc., do their -work well, it is of great consequence to him that life and property -should be secure; and hence he is more likely to care for the efficient -administration of justice than for the efficient administration of -anything else. Moreover, the complexity, incongruity of parts, and -general cumbrousness which deprive a representative government of -that activity and decision required for paternally-superintending -the affairs of thirty millions of citizens; do not deprive it of the -ability to establish and maintain the regulations by which these -citizens are prevented from trespassing against one another. For the -principles of equity are permanent as well as simple; and once having -been legally embodied in their chief outlines, all that devolves -on a government is to develop them more perfectly, and improve the -appliances for enforcing them: an undertaking for which the slow and -involved action of a representative government does not unfit it. -So that while by its origin, theory, and results, representative -government is shown to be the best for securing justice between class -and class, as well as between man and man, the objections which so -strongly tell against it in all its other relations to society, do not -tell against it in this fundamental relation. - -Thus, then, we reach the solution of the paradox. Here is the -reconciliation between the two seemingly-contradictory {323} positions -awhile since taken. To the question—What is representative government -good for? our reply is—It is good, especially good, good above all -others, for doing the thing which a government should do. It is bad, -especially bad, bad above all others, for doing the things which a -government should not do. - - * * * * * - -One point remains. We said, some distance back, that not only may -representative government be the best, notwithstanding its many -conspicuous deficiencies; but that it is even possible to discern -in these very deficiencies further proofs of its superiority. -The conclusion just arrived at, implying, as it does, that these -deficiencies tend to hinder it from doing the things which -no government should do, has already furnished a key to this -strange-looking assertion. But it will be well here to make a more -specific justification of it. This brings us to the pure science of the -matter. - -The ever-increasing complexity which characterizes advancing societies, -is a complexity that results from the multiplication of different parts -performing different duties. The doctrine of the division of labour -is now-a-days understood by most to some extent; and most know that -by this division of labour each operative, each manufacturer, each -town, each district, is constantly more and more restricted to one -kind of work. Those who study the organization of living bodies find -the uniform process of development to be, that each organ gradually -acquires a definite and limited function: there arises, step by step, -a more perfect “physiological division of labour.” And in an article -on “Progress: its Law and Cause,” published in our April number, we -pointed out that this increasing specialization of functions which goes -on in all organized bodies, social as well as individual, is one of -the manifestations of a still more general process pervading creation, -inorganic as well as organic. - -Now this specialization of functions, which is the law of {324} all -organization, has a twofold implication. At the same time that each -part grows adapted to the particular duty it has to discharge, it grows -unadapted to all other duties. The becoming especially fit for one -thing, is a becoming less fit than before for everything else. We have -not space here to exemplify this truth. Any modern work on physiology, -however, will furnish the reader with abundant illustrations of it, -as exhibited in the evolution of living creatures; and as exhibited -in the evolution of societies, it may be studied in the writings of -political economists. All which we wish here to point out is, that the -governmental part of the body politic exemplifies this truth equally -with its other parts. In virtue of this universal law, a government -cannot gain ability to perform its special work without losing such -ability as it had to perform other work. - -This then is, as we say, the pure science of the matter. The original -and essential office of a government is that of protecting its -subjects against aggression external and internal. In low, undeveloped -forms of society, where yet there is but little differentiation of -parts, and little specialization of functions, this essential work, -discharged with extreme imperfection, is joined with endless other -work: the government has a controlling action over all conduct, -individual and social—regulates dress, food, ablutions, prices, trade, -religion—exercises unbounded power. In becoming so constituted as -to discharge better its essential function, the government becomes -more limited alike in the power and the habit of doing other things. -Increasing ability to perform its true duty, involves decreasing -ability to perform all other kinds of actions. And this conclusion, -deducible from the universal law of organization, is the conclusion -to which inductive reasoning has already led us. We have seen that, -whether considered in theory or practice, representative government -is the best for securing justice. We have also seen that, whether -{325} considered in theory or practice, it is the worst for all other -purposes. And here we find that this last characteristic is a necessary -accompaniment of the first. These various incapacities, which seem to -tell so seriously against the goodness of representative government, -are but the inevitable consequences of its more complete adaptation to -its proper work; and, so understood, are themselves indications that -it is the form of government natural to a more highly-organized and -advanced social state. - -We do not expect this consideration to weigh much with those whom -it most concerns. Truths of so abstract a character find no favour -with senates. The metamorphosis we have described is not mentioned in -Ovid. History, as at present written, makes no comments on it. There -is nothing about it to be found in blue-books and committee-reports. -Neither is it proved by statistics. Evidently, then, it has but small -chance of recognition by the “practical” legislator. But to the select -few who study the Social Science, properly so called, we commend -this general fact as one of the highest significance. Those who know -something of the general laws of life, and who perceive that these -general laws of life underlie all social phenomena, will see that this -dual change in the character of advanced governments, involves an -answer to the first of all political questions. They will see that this -specialization in virtue of which an advanced government gains power to -perform one function, while it loses power to perform others, clearly -indicates the true limitations of State-duty. They will see that, even -leaving out all other evidence, this fact alone shows conclusively what -is the proper sphere of legislation. - -{326} - - - - -STATE-TAMPERINGS WITH MONEY AND BANKS. - -[_First published in_ The Westminster Review _for January 1858_.] - - -Among unmitigated rogues, mutual trust is impossible. Among people -of absolute integrity, mutual trust would be unlimited. These are -truisms. Given a nation made up of liars and thieves, and all trade -among its members must be carried on either by barter or by a currency -of intrinsic value: nothing in the shape of _promises_-to-pay can pass -in place of _actual_ payments; for, by the hypothesis, such promises -being never fulfilled, will not be taken. On the other hand, given a -nation of perfectly honest men—men as careful of others’ rights as of -their own—and nearly all trade among its members may be carried on -by memoranda of debts and claims, eventually written off against one -another in the books of bankers; seeing that as, by the hypothesis, -no man will ever issue more memoranda of debts than his goods and his -claims will liquidate, his paper will pass current for whatever it -represents. Coin will be needed only as a measure of value, and to -facilitate those small transactions for which it is physically the most -convenient. These we take to be self-evident truths. - -From them follows the corollary that in a nation neither wholly honest -nor wholly dishonest, there may, and eventually will, be established a -mixed currency—a currency {327} partly of intrinsic value and partly -of credit-value. The ratio between the quantities of these two kinds of -currency, will be determined by a combination of several causes. - -Supposing that there is no legislative meddling to disturb the -natural balance, it is clear from what has already been said, that, -fundamentally, the proportion of coin to paper will depend on the -average conscientiousness of the people. Daily experience must ever -be teaching each citizen, which other citizens he can put confidence -in, and which not. Daily experience must also ever be teaching him how -far this confidence may be carried. From personal experiment, and from -current opinion, which results from the experiments of others, every -one must learn, more or less truly, what credit may safely be given. -If all find that their neighbours are little to be trusted, but few -promises-to-pay will circulate. And the circulation of promises-to-pay -will be great, if all find that the fulfilment of trading engagements -is tolerably certain. The degree of _honesty_ characterizing a -community, being the first regulator of a credit-currency; the second -is the degree of _prudence_. Other things equal, it is manifest that -among a sanguine, speculative people, promissory payments will be taken -more readily, and will therefore circulate more largely, than among -a cautious people. Two men having exactly the same experiences of -mercantile risks will, under the same circumstances, respectively give -credit and refuse it, if they are respectively rash and circumspect. -And two nations thus contrasted in prudence, will be similarly -contrasted in the relative quantities of notes and bills in circulation -among them. Nay, they will be more than similarly contrasted in this -respect; seeing that the prevailing incautiousness, besides making -each citizen unduly ready to give credit, will also produce in him -an undue readiness to risk his own capital in speculations, and a -consequent undue demand for credit from other citizens. There will be -both an increased pressure for credit and a diminished resistance; and -therefore a more {328} than proportionate excess of paper-currency. -Of this national characteristic and its consequences, we have a -conspicuous example in the United States. - -To these comparatively permanent moral causes, on which the ordinary -ratio of hypothetical to real money in a community depends, have to -be added certain temporary moral and physical causes, which produce -temporary variations in the ratio. The prudence of any people is liable -to more or less fluctuation. In railway-manias and the like, we see -that irrational expectations may spread through a whole nation, and -lead its members to give and take credit almost recklessly. But the -chief causes of temporary variations are those which directly affect -the quantity of available capital. Wars, deficient harvests, or losses -consequent on the misfortunes of other nations, will, by impoverishing -the community, inevitably lead to an increase in the ratio of -_promissory payments to actual payments_. For what must be done by -the citizen disabled by such causes from meeting his engagements?—the -shopkeeper whose custom has fallen off in consequence of the high -price of bread; or the manufacturer whose goods lie in his ware-rooms -unsaleable; or the merchant whose foreign correspondents fail him? As -the proceeds of his business do not suffice to liquidate the claims on -him that are falling due, he is compelled either to find other means -of liquidating them, or to stop payment. Rather than stop payment, he -will, of course, make temporary sacrifices—will give high terms to -whoever will furnish him with the desired means. If, by depositing -securities with his banker, he can get a loan at an advanced rate of -interest, well. If not, by offering an adequate temptation, he may -mortgage his property to some one having good credit; who either gives -bills, or draws on his banker for the sum agreed to. In either case, -extra promises to pay are issued; or, if the difficulty is met by -accommodation-bills, the same result follows. And in proportion to the -number of citizens obliged to resort to one {329} or other of these -expedients, must be the increase of promissory payments in circulation. - -Reduce this proposition to its most general terms, and it becomes -self-evident. Thus:—All bank-notes, cheques, bills of exchange, etc., -are so many _memoranda of claims_. No matter what may be the technical -distinctions among them, on which upholders of the “currency principle” -seek to establish their dogma, they all come within this definition. -Under the ordinary state of things, the amount of available wealth in -the hands, or at the command, of those concerned, suffices to meet -these claims as they are severally presented for payment; and they are -paid either by equivalents of intrinsic value, as coin, or by giving -in place of them other memoranda of claims on some body of undoubted -solvency. But now let the amount of available wealth in the hands -of the community be greatly diminished. Suppose a large portion of -the necessaries of life, or of coin, which is the most exchangeable -equivalent of such necessaries, has been sent abroad to support an -army, or to subsidize foreign states; or, suppose that there has -been a failure in the crops of grain or potatoes. What follows? It -follows that part of the claims cannot be liquidated. And what must -happen from their non-liquidation? It must happen that those unable to -liquidate them will either fail, or they will redeem them by directly -or indirectly giving in exchange certain memoranda of claims on their -stock-in-trade, houses, or land. That is, such of these claims as the -deficient _floating_ capital does not suffice to meet, are replaced -by claims on _fixed_ capital. The memoranda of claims which should -have _dis_appeared by liquidation, _re_-appear in a new form; and the -quantity of paper-currency is increased. If the war, famine, or other -cause of impoverishment, continues, the process is repeated. Those -who have no further fixed capital to mortgage, become bankrupt; while -those whose fixed capital admits of it, mortgage still further, and -still further increase the promissory {330} payments in circulation. -Manifestly, if the members of a community whose annual returns but -little more than suffice to meet their annual payments suddenly lose -part of their annual returns, they must become proportionately in -debt to one another; and the documents expressive of debt must be -proportionately multiplied. - -This _a priori_ conclusion is in perfect harmony with mercantile -experience. The last hundred years have furnished repeated -illustrations of its truth. After the enormous export of gold in -1795–6 for war-loans to Germany, and to meet bills drawn on the -Treasury by British agents abroad; and after large advances made under -a moral compulsion by the Bank of England to the Government; there -followed an excessive issue of bank-notes. In 1796–7, there were -failures of the provincial banks; a panic in London; a run on the -nearly-exhausted Bank of England; and a suspension of cash-payments—a -State-authorized refusal to redeem promises to pay. In 1800, the -further impoverishment consequent on a bad harvest, joined with -the legalized inconvertibility of bank-notes, entailed so great a -multiplication of them as to cause their depreciation. During the -temporary peace of 1802, the country partly recovered itself; and -the Bank of England would have liquidated the claims on it had the -Government allowed. On the subsequent resumption of war, the phenomenon -was repeated; as in later times it has been on each occasion when the -community, carried away by irrational hopes, has locked up an undue -proportion of its capital in permanent works. Moreover, we have still -more conclusive illustrations—illustrations of the sudden cessation of -commercial distress and bankruptcy, resulting from a sudden increase of -credit-circulation. When, in 1793, there came a general crash, mainly -due to an unsafe banking-system which had grown up in the provinces -_in consequence_ of the Bank of England monopoly—when the pressure, -extending to London, became so great as to alarm the Bank-directors -and to cause {331} them suddenly to restrict their issues, thereby -producing a frightful multiplication of bankruptcies; the Government -(to mitigate an evil indirectly produced by legislation) determined -to issue Exchequer-Bills to such as could give adequate security. -That is, they allowed hard-pressed citizens to mortgage their fixed -capitals for equivalents of State-promises to pay, with which to -liquidate the demands on them. The effect was magical. £2,202,000 only -of Exchequer-Bills were required. The consciousness that loans could be -had, in many cases prevented them from being needed. The panic quickly -subsided; and all the loans were very soon repaid. In 1825, again, -when the Bank of England, after having intensified a panic by extreme -restriction of its issues, suddenly changed its policy, and in four -days advanced £5,000,000 notes on all sorts of securities, the panic at -once ceased. - -And now, mark two important truths. As just implied, those expansions -of paper-circulation which naturally take place in times of -impoverishment or commercial difficulty, are highly salutary. This -issuing of securities for future payment when there does not exist the -wherewith for immediate payment, is a means of mitigating national -disasters. The process amounts to a postponement of trading-engagements -which cannot at once be met. And the alternative questions to be asked -respecting it are—Shall all the merchants, manufacturers, shopkeepers, -etc., who, by unwise investments, or war, or famine, or great losses -abroad, have been in part deprived of the means of meeting the claims -upon them, be allowed to mortgage their fixed capital? or, by being -debarred from issuing memoranda of claims on their fixed capital, shall -they be made bankrupts? On the one hand, if they are permitted to avail -themselves of that credit which their fellow-citizens willingly give -them on the strength of the proffered securities, most of them will -tide over their difficulties; and in virtue of that accumulation of -surplus capital ever going on, they will be {332} able, by-and-by, to -liquidate their debts in full. On the other hand, if they are forthwith -bankrupted, carrying with them others, and these again others, there -follows a disastrous loss to all the creditors: property to an -immense amount being peremptorily sold at a time when there can be -comparatively few able to buy, must go at a great sacrifice; and those -who in a year or two would have been paid in full, must be content with -10_s._ in the pound. Added to which evil comes the still greater one—an -extensive damage to the organization of society. Numerous importing, -producing, and distributing establishments are swept away; tens of -thousands of their dependents are left without work; and before the -industrial fabric can be repaired, a long time must elapse, much labour -must lie idle, and great distress be borne. Between these alternatives, -who, then, can pause? Let this spontaneous remedial process follow its -own course, and the evil will either be in great measure eventually -escaped, or will be spread little by little over a considerable period. -Stop this remedial process, and the whole evil, falling at once on -society, will bring wide-spread ruin and misery. - -The second of these important truths is, that an expanded circulation -of promises to pay, caused by absolute or relative impoverishment, -contracts to its normal limits as fast as the need for expansion -disappears. For the conditions of the case imply that all who have -mortgaged their fixed capitals to obtain the means of meeting their -engagements, have done so on unfavourable terms; and are therefore -under a strong stimulus to pay off their mortgages as quickly as -possible. Every one who, at a time of commercial pressure, gets a loan -from a bank, has to give high interest. Hence, as fast as prosperity -returns, and his profits accumulate, he gladly escapes this heavy -tax by repaying the loan; in doing which he, directly or indirectly, -takes back to the bank as large a number of its credit documents as he -originally received, and so diminishes the {333} credit-circulation -as much as his original transaction had increased it. Considered apart -from technical distinctions, a banker performs, in such case, the -function of an agent in whose name traders issue negotiable memoranda -of claims on their estates. The agent is already known to the public -as one who issues memoranda of claims on capital that is partly -floating and partly fixed—memoranda of claims that have an established -character, and are convenient in their amounts. What the agent does -under the circumstances specified, is to issue more such memoranda of -claims, on the security of more fixed, and partially-fixed, capital -put in his possession. His clients hypothecate their estates through -the banker, instead of doing it in their own names, simply because -of the facilities which he has and which they have not. And as the -banker requires to be paid for his agency and his risk, his clients -redeem their estates, and close these special transactions with him, as -quickly as they can: thereby diminishing the amount of credit-currency. - -Thus we see that the balance of a mixed currency of voluntary origin -is, under all circumstances, self-adjusting. Supposing considerations -of physical convenience out of the question, the average ratio of paper -to coin is primarily dependent on the average trustworthiness of the -people, and secondarily dependent on their average prudence. When, -in consequence of unusual prosperity, there is an unusual increase -in the number of mercantile transactions, there is a corresponding -increase in the quantity of currency, both metallic and paper, to meet -the requirement. And when from war, famine, or over-investment, the -available wealth in the hands of citizens is insufficient to pay their -debts to one another, the memoranda of debts in circulation acquire an -increased ratio to the quantity of gold: to decrease again as fast as -the excess of debts can be liquidated. - -That these self-regulating processes act but imperfectly, is doubtless -true. With an imperfect humanity, they cannot {334} act otherwise -than imperfectly. People who are dishonest, or rash, or stupid, -will inevitably suffer the penalties of dishonesty, or rashness, or -stupidity. If any think that by some patent legislative mechanism, -a society of bad citizens can be made to work together as well -as a society of good ones, we shall not take pains to show them -the contrary. If any think that the dealings of men deficient in -uprightness and foresight, may be so regulated by cunningly-devised -Acts of Parliament as to secure the effects of uprightness and -foresight, we have nothing to say to them. Or if there are any (and -we fear there are numbers) who think that in times of commercial -difficulty, resulting from impoverishment or other natural causes, the -evil can be staved-off by some ministerial sleight of hand, we despair -of convincing them that the thing is impossible. See it or not, the -truth is that the State can do none of these things. As we shall show, -the State can, and sometimes does, _produce_ commercial disasters. -As we shall also show, it can, and sometimes does, _exacerbate_ the -commercial disasters otherwise produced. But while it can create and -can make worse, it cannot prevent. - -All which the State has to do in the matter is to discharge its -ordinary office—to administer justice. The enforcement of contracts is -one of the functions included in its general function of maintaining -the rights of citizens. And among other contracts which it is called -on to enforce, are the contracts expressed in credit-documents—bills -of exchange, cheques, bank-notes. If any one issues a promise-to-pay, -either on demand or at specified date, and does not fulfil that -promise, the State, when appealed to by the creditor, is bound in its -protective capacity to obtain fulfilment of the promise, at whatever -cost to the debtor, or such partial fulfilment of it as his effects -suffice for. The State’s duty in the case of the currency, as in other -cases, is sternly to threaten the penalty of bankruptcy on all who make -engagements which they cannot meet, and sternly to inflict the {335} -penalty when called on by those aggrieved. If it falls short of this, -mischief ensues. If it exceeds this, mischief ensues. Let us glance at -the facts. - - * * * * * - -Had we space to trace in detail the history of the Bank of England—to -show how the privileges contained in its first charter were bribes -given by a distressed Government in want of a large loan—how, soon -afterwards, the law which forbad a partnership of more than six persons -from becoming bankers, was passed to prevent the issue of notes by -the South-Sea Company, and so to preserve the Bank-monopoly—how the -continuance of State-favours to the Bank, corresponded with the -continuance of the Bank’s claims on the State; we should see that, from -the first, banking-legislation has been an organized injustice. But -passing over earlier periods, let us begin with the events that closed -the last century. Our rulers of that day had entered into a war—whether -with adequate reason needs not here be discussed. They had lent vast -sums in gold to their allies. They had demanded large advances from -the Bank of England, which the Bank durst not refuse. They had thus -necessitated an excessive issue of notes by the Bank. That is, they -had so greatly diminished the floating capital of the community, that -engagements could not be met; and an immense number of promises-to-pay -took the place of actual payments. Soon after, the fulfilment of these -promises became so difficult that it was forbidden by law; that is, -cash-payments were suspended. Now for these results—for the national -impoverishment and consequent abnormal condition of the currency, the -State was responsible. How much of the blame lay with the governing -classes and how much with the nation at large, we do not pretend to -say. What it concerns us here to note is, that the calamity arose from -the acts of the ruling power. When, again, in 1802, after a short -peace, the available capital of the community had so far increased -that the redemption of promises-to-pay became {336} possible, and the -Bank of England was anxious to begin redeeming them, the legislature -interposed its veto; and so continued the evils of an inconvertible -paper-currency after they would naturally have ceased. Still more -disastrous, however, were the results that by-and-by ensued from -State-meddlings. Cash-payments having been suspended—the Government, -instead of enforcing all contracts, having temporarily cancelled a -great part of them, by saying to every banker, “You shall not be called -on to liquidate in coin the promises-to-pay which you issue;” the -natural checks to the multiplication of promises-to-pay, disappeared. -What followed? Banks being no longer required to cash their notes in -coin; and easily obtaining from the Bank of England, supplies of its -notes in exchange for fixed securities; were ready to make advances to -almost any extent. Not being obliged to raise their rate of discount in -consequence of the diminution of their available capital; and reaping a -profit by every loan (of notes) made on fixed capital; there arose both -an abnormal facility of borrowing, and an abnormal desire to lend. Thus -were fostered the wild speculations of 1809—speculations that were not -only thus fostered, but were in great measure _caused_ by the previous -over-issue of notes; which, by further exaggerating the natural rise -of prices, increased the apparent profitableness of investments. And -all this, be it remembered, took place at a time when there should have -been rigid economy—at a time of impoverishment consequent on continued -war—at a time when, but for law-produced illusions, there would have -been commercial straitness and a corresponding carefulness. Just when -its indebtedness was unusually great, the community was induced still -further to increase its indebtedness. Clearly, then, the progressive -accumulation and depreciation of promises-to-pay, and the commercial -disasters which finally resulted from it in 1814–15–16, when ninety -provincial banks were broken and more dissolved, were State-produced -evils: partly due to {337} a war which, whether necessary or not, -was carried on by the Government, and greatly exacerbated by the -currency-regulations which that Government had made. - -Before passing to more recent facts, let us parenthetically notice -the similarly-caused degradation of the currency which had previously -arisen in Ireland. When examined by a parliamentary committee in 1804, -Mr. Colville, one of the directors of the Bank of Ireland, stated -that before the passing of the Irish Bank-Restriction-Bill (the bill -by which cash-payments were suspended) the directors habitually met -any unusual demand for gold by diminishing their issues. That is to -say, in the ordinary course of business, they raised their rate of -discount whenever the demand enabled them; and so, both increased -their profits and warded-off the danger of bankruptcy. During this -unregulated period their note-circulation was between £600,000 and -£700,000. But as soon as they were guaranteed by law against the danger -of bankruptcy, their circulation began rapidly to increase; and very -soon reached £3,000,000. The results, as proved before the committee, -were these:—The exchange with England became greatly depressed; -nearly all the good specie was exported to England; it was replaced -in Dublin (where small notes could not be issued) by a base coinage, -adulterated to the extent of fifty per cent.; and elsewhere it was -replaced by notes payable at twenty-one days’ date, issued by all sorts -of persons, for sums down even as low as sixpence. And this excessive -multiplication of small notes was _necessitated_ by the impossibility -of otherwise carrying on retail trade, after the disappearance of -the silver coinage. For these disastrous effects, then, legislation -was responsible. The swarms of “silver-notes” resulted from the -exportation of silver; the exportation of silver was due to the great -depression of the exchange with England; this great depression arose -from the excessive issue of notes by the Bank of Ireland; and this -{338} excessive issue followed from their legalized inconvertibility. -Yet, though these facts were long ago established by a committee -of the House of Commons, the defenders of the “currency-principle” -are actually blind enough to cite this multiplication of sixpenny -promises-to-pay, _as proving the evils of an unregulated currency_! - -Returning now to the case of the Bank of England, let us pass at once -to the Act of 1844. While still a protectionist—while still a believer -in the beneficence of law as a controller of commerce—Sir Robert Peel -undertook to stop the recurrence of monetary crises, like those of -1825, 1836, and 1839. Overlooking the truth that, when not _caused_ by -the meddlings of legislators, a monetary crisis is due, either to an -absolute impoverishment, or to a relative impoverishment consequent -on speculative over-investment; and that for the bad season, or the -imprudence, causing this, there is no remedy; he boldly proclaimed that -“_it is better to prevent the paroxysm than to excite it_:” and he -brought forward the Bank-Act of 1844 as the means of prevention. How -merciless has been Nature’s criticism on this remnant of Protectionism, -we all know. The monetary sliding-scale has been as great a failure as -its prototype. Within three years arose one of these crises which were -to have been prevented. Within another ten years has arisen a second -of these crises. And on both occasions this intended safeguard has so -intensified the evil, that a temporary repeal of it has been imperative. - -We should have thought that, even without facts, every one might have -seen that it is impossible, by Act of Parliament, to prevent imprudent -people from doing imprudent things; and, if facts were needed, we -should have thought that our commercial history up to 1844 supplied a -sufficiency. But a superstitious faith in State-ordinances disregards -such facts. And we doubt not that even now, though there have been two -glaring failures of this professed check on over-speculation—though -the evidence conclusively {339} shows that the late commercial -catastrophes have had nothing whatever to do with the issue of -bank-notes, but, as in the case of the Western Bank of Scotland, -occurred along with diminished issues—and though in Hamburg, where the -“currency principle” has been rigidly carried out to the very letter, -there has been a worse crisis than anywhere else; yet there will remain -plenty of believers in the efficiency of Sir R. Peel’s prophylactic. - -But, as already said, the measure has not only failed; it has made -worse the panics it was to have warded-off. And it was sure to do -this. As shown at the outset, the multiplication of promises-to-pay -that occurs at a period of impoverishment caused by war, famine, -over-investment, or losses abroad, is a salutary process of -mitigation—is a mode of postponing actual payments till actual payments -are possible—is a preventive of wholesale bankruptcy—is a spontaneous -act of self-preservation. We pointed out, not only that this is an -_a priori_ conclusion, but that facts in our own mercantile history -illustrate at once the naturalness, the benefits, the necessity of it. -And if this conclusion needs enforcing by further evidence, we have -it in the recent events at Hamburg. In that city, there are no notes -in circulation but such as are represented by actual equivalents of -bullion or jewels in the bank: no one is allowed, as with us, to obtain -bank-promises-to-pay in return for securities. Hence it resulted that -when the Hamburg merchants, lacking their remittances from abroad, -were suddenly deprived of the wherewith to meet their engagements; -and were prevented by law from getting bank-promises-to-pay by -pawning their estates; bankruptcy swept them away wholesale. And -what finally happened? To prevent universal ruin, the Government -was obliged to decree that all bills of exchange coming due, should -have a month’s grace; and that there should be immediately formed a -State-Discount-Bank—an office for issuing State-promises-to-pay in -return for securities. That is, having first by its {340} restrictive -law ruined a host of merchants, the Government was obliged to legalize -that postponement of payments which, but for its law, would have -spontaneously taken place. With such further confirmation of an -_a priori_ conclusion, can it be doubted that our late commercial -difficulties were intensified by the measure of 1844? Is it not, -indeed, notorious in the City, that the progressively-increasing demand -for accommodation, was in great part due to the conviction that, in -consequence of the Bank-Act, there would shortly be no accommodation -at all? Does not every London merchant know that his neighbours who -had bills coming due, and who saw that by the time they were due the -Bank would discount only at still higher rates, or not at all, decided -to lay in beforehand the means of meeting those bills? Is it not an -established fact that the hoarding thus induced, not only rendered the -pressure on the Bank greater than it would otherwise have been, but, by -taking both gold and notes out of circulation, made the Bank’s issues -temporarily useless to the general public? Did it not happen in this -case, as in 1793 and 1825, that when at last restriction was removed, -the mere consciousness that loans could be had, itself prevented them -from being required? And, indeed, is not the simple fact that the panic -quickly subsided when the Act was suspended, sufficient proof that the -Act had, in great measure, produced it. - -See, then, for what we have to thank legislative meddling. During -ordinary times Sir R. Peel’s Act, by obliging the Bank of England, -and occasionally provincial banks, to keep more gold than they would -otherwise have kept (and if it has not done this it has done nothing), -has inflicted a tax on the nation to the extent of the interest on such -portion of the gold-currency as was in excess of the need: a tax which, -in the course of the last thirteen years, has probably amounted to some -millions. And then, on the two occasions when there have arisen the -crises that were to {341} have been prevented, the Act, after having -intensified the pressure, made bankrupt a great number of respectable -firms which would else have stood, and increased the distress not only -of the trading but of the working population, has been twice abandoned -at the moment when its beneficence was to have been conspicuous. It -has been a cost, a mischief, and a failure. Yet such is the prevailing -delusion that, judging from appearances, it will be maintained! - -“But,” ask our opponents, “shall the Bank be allowed to let gold drain -out of the country without check? Shall it have permission to let its -reserve of gold diminish so greatly as to risk the convertibility of -its notes? Shall it be enabled recklessly to increase its issues, and -so produce a depreciated paper-currency?” - -Really, in these Free-trade days, it seems strange to have to answer -questions like these; and, were it not for the confusion of facts and -ideas which legislation has produced, it would be inexcusable to ask -them. - -In the first place, the common notion that the draining of gold out of -the country is intrinsically, and in all cases, an evil, is nothing -but a political superstition—a superstition in part descended from the -antique fallacy that money is the only wealth, and in part from the -maxims of an artificial, law-produced state of things, under which -the exportation of gold really _was_ a sign of a corrupted currency: -we mean, during the suspension of cash-payments. Law having cancelled -millions of contracts which it was its duty to enforce—law having -absolved bankers from liquidating their promises-to-pay in coin, having -rendered it needless to keep a stock of coin with which to liquidate -them, and having thus taken away that natural check which prevents the -over-issue and depreciation of notes—law having partly suspended that -_home_ demand for gold which ordinarily competes with and balances -the _foreign_ demand; there resulted an abnormal exportation of gold. -By-and-by it {342} was seen that this efflux of gold was a consequence -of the over-issue of notes; and that the accompanying high price of -gold, as paid for in notes, proved the depreciation of notes. And then -it became an established doctrine that an adverse state of the foreign -exchanges, indicating a drain of gold, was significant of an excessive -circulation of notes; and that the issue of notes should be regulated -by the state of the exchanges. - -This unnatural condition of the currency having continued for a quarter -of a century, the concomitant doctrine rooted itself in the general -mind. And now mark one of the multitudinous evils of legislative -meddling. This artificial test, good only for an artificial state, has -survived the return to a natural state; and men’s ideas about currency -have been reduced by it to chronic confusion. - -The truth is that while, during a legalized inconvertibility of -bank-notes, an efflux of gold may, and often does, indicate an -excessive issue of bank-notes; under ordinary circumstances an efflux -of gold has little or nothing to do with the issue of bank-notes, -but is determined by merely mercantile causes. And the truth is -that far from being an evil, an efflux of gold thus brought about -by mercantile causes, is a good. Leaving out of the question, as of -course we must, such exportations of gold as take place for the support -of armies abroad; the cause of efflux is either an actual plethora -of all commodities, gold included, which results in gold being sent -out of the country for the purpose of foreign investment; or else an -abundance of gold as compared with other leading commodities. And -while, in this last case, the efflux of gold indicates some absolute -or relative impoverishment of the nation, it is a means of mitigating -the bad consequences of that impoverishment. Consider the question as -one of political economy, and this truth becomes obvious. Thus:—The -nation habitually requires for use and consumption certain quantities -of commodities, of which gold is one. These commodities {343} are -severally and collectively liable to fall short; either from deficient -harvests, from waste in war, from losses abroad, or from too great -a diversion of labour or capital in some special direction. When a -scarcity of some chief commodity or necessary occurs, what is the -remedy? The commodity of which there is an excess (or if none is in -excess, then that which can best be spared) is exported in exchange -for an additional supply of the deficient commodity. And, indeed, the -whole of our foreign trade, alike in ordinary and extraordinary times, -consists in this process. But when it happens either that the commodity -which we can best spare is not wanted abroad; or (as recently) that a -chief foreign customer is temporarily disabled from buying; or that the -commodity which we can best spare is gold; then gold itself is exported -in exchange for the thing which we most want. Whatever form the -transaction takes, it is nothing but bringing the supplies of various -commodities into harmony with the demands for them. The fact that gold -is exported, is simply a proof that the need for gold is less than -the need for other things. Under such circumstances an efflux of gold -will continue, and _ought_ to continue, until other things have become -relatively so abundant, and gold relatively so scarce, that the demand -for gold is equal to other demands. And he who would prevent this -process, is about as wise as the miser who, finding his house without -food, chooses to starve rather than draw upon his purse. - -The second question—“Shall the Bank have permission to let its reserve -of gold diminish so greatly as to risk the convertibility of its -notes?” is not more profound than the first. It may fitly be answered -by the more general question—“Shall the merchant, the manufacturer, -or the shopkeeper, be allowed so to invest his capital as to risk the -fulfilment of his engagements?” If the answer to the first be “No,” it -must be “No” to the second. If to the {344} second it be “Yes,” it -must be “Yes” to the first. Any one who proposed that the State should -oversee the transactions of every trader, so as to insure his ability -to cash all demands as they fell due, might with consistency argue -that bankers should be under like control. But while no one has the -folly to contend for the one, nearly all contend for the other. One -would think that the banker acquired, in virtue of his occupation, some -abnormal desire to ruin himself—that while traders in other things are -restrained by a wholesome dread of bankruptcy, traders in capital have -a longing to appear in the _Gazette_, which law alone can prevent them -from gratifying! Surely the moral checks which act on other men will -act on bankers. And if these moral checks do not suffice to produce -perfect security, we have ample proof that no cunning legislative -checks will supply their place. The current notion that bankers -can, and will, if allowed, issue notes to any extent, is one of the -absurdest illusions—an illusion, however, which would never have arisen -but for the vicious over-issues induced by law. The truth is that, -in the first place, a banker _cannot_ increase his issue of notes at -will. It has been proved by the unanimous testimony of all bankers who -have been examined before successive parliamentary committees, that -“the amount of their issues is exclusively regulated by the extent of -local dealings and expenditure in their respective districts;” and that -any notes issued in excess of the demand are “immediately returned -to them.” And the truth is, in the second place, that a banker _will -not_, on the average of cases, issue more notes than in his judgment it -is safe to issue; seeing that if his promises-to-pay in circulation, -are much in excess of his available means of paying them, he runs a -great risk of having to stop payment—a result of which he has no less -a horror than other men. If facts are needed in proof of this, they -are furnished by the history of both the Bank of England and the Bank -of Ireland; which, {345} before they were debauched by the State, -habitually regulated their issues according to their stock of bullion, -and would probably always have been still more careful but for the -consciousness that there was the State-credit to fall back upon. - -The third question—“Shall the Bank be allowed to issue notes in such -numbers as to cause their depreciation?” has, in effect, been answered -in answering the first two. There can be no depreciation of notes -so long as they are exchangeable for gold on demand. And so long as -the State, in discharge of its duty, insists on the fulfilment of -contracts, the alternative of bankruptcy must ever be a restraint -on such over-issue of notes as endangers that exchangeability. The -bugbear of depreciation is one that would have been unknown but for -the sins of governments. In the case of America, where there have been -occasional depreciations, the sin has been a sin of omission: the -State has not enforced the fulfilment of contracts—has not forthwith -bankrupted those who failed to cash their notes; and, if accounts are -true, has allowed those to be mobbed who brought back far-wandering -notes for payment.[35] In all other cases the sin has been a sin of -commission. The depreciated paper-currency in France, during the -revolution, was a State-currency. The depreciated paper-currencies -of Austria and Russia have been State-currencies. And the only -depreciated paper-currency we have known, has been to all intents and -purposes a State-currency. It was the State which, in 1795–6, _forced_ -upon the Bank of England that excessive issue of notes which led to -the suspension of cash-payments. It was the State which, in 1802, -_forbad_ the resumption of cash-payments, when the Bank of England -wished to resume them. It was the State which, during a quarter of a -century, _maintained_ that suspension of cash-payments from which the -excessive multiplication and depreciation of notes resulted. The entire -corruption {346} was entailed by State-expenditure, and established -by State-warrant. Yet now the State affects a virtuous horror of the -crime committed at its instigation! Having contrived to shuffle-off -the odium on to the shoulders of its tools, the State gravely lectures -the banking-community upon its guilt; and with sternest face passes -measures to prevent it from sinning! - - [35] This was written in 1858; when “greenbacks” were unknown. - -We contend, then, that neither to restrain the efflux of gold, nor to -guard against the over-issue of bank-notes, is legislative interference -warranted. If Government will promptly execute the law against all -defaulters, the self-interest of bankers and traders will do the -rest: such evils as would still result from mercantile dishonesties -and imprudences, being evils which legal regulation may augment but -cannot prevent. Let the Bank of England, in common with every other -bank, simply consult its own safety and its own profits; and there -will result just as much check as should be put, on the efflux of -gold or the circulation of paper; and the only check that can be put -on the doings of speculators. Whatever leads to unusual draughts on -the resources of banks, immediately causes a rise in the rate of -discount—a rise dictated both by the wish to make increased profits, -and the wish to avoid a dangerous decrease of resources. This raised -rate of discount prevents the demand from being so great as it would -else have been—alike checks undue expansion of the note-circulation; -stops speculators from making further engagements; and, if gold is -being exported, diminishes the profit of exportation. Successive rises -successively increase these effects; until, eventually, none will give -the rate of discount asked, save those in peril of stopping payment; -the increase of the credit-currency ceases; and the efflux of gold, -if it is going on, is arrested by the home-demand out-balancing the -foreign demand. And if, in times of great pressure, and under the -temptation of high discounts, banks allow their circulation to expand -to {347} a somewhat dangerous extent, the course is justified by the -necessities. As shown at the outset, the process is one by which banks, -on the deposit of good securities, loan their credit to traders who -but for loans would be bankrupt. And that banks should run some risks -to save hosts of solvent men from inevitable ruin, few will deny. -Moreover, during a crisis which thus runs its natural course, there -will really occur that purification of the mercantile world which many -think can be effected only by some Act-of-Parliament ordeal. Under the -circumstances described, men who have adequate securities to offer will -get bank-accommodation; but those who, having traded without capital -or beyond their means, have not, will be denied it, and will fail. -Under a free system the good will be sifted from the bad; whereas the -existing restrictions on bank-accommodation, tend to destroy good and -bad together. - -Thus it is not true that there need special regulations to prevent -the inconvertibility and depreciation of notes. It is not true that, -but for legislative supervision, bankers would let gold drain out of -the country to an undue extent. It is not true that these “currency -theorists” have discovered a place at which the body-politic would -bleed to death but for a State-styptic. - - * * * * * - -What else we have to say on the general question, may best be joined -with some commentaries on provincial and joint-stock banking, to which -let us now turn. - -Government, to preserve the Bank of England-monopoly, having enacted -that no partnership exceeding six persons should become bankers; -and the Bank of England having refused to establish branches in the -provinces; it happened, during the latter half of the last century, -when the industrial progress was rapid and banks much needed, that -numerous private traders, shopkeepers and others, began to issue -notes payable on demand. And when, of the four {348} hundred small -banks which had thus grown up in less than fifty years, a great -number gave way under the first pressure—when, on several subsequent -occasions, like results occurred—when in Ireland, where the Bank of -Ireland-monopoly had been similarly guaranteed, it happened that -out of fifty private provincial banks, forty became bankrupt—and -when, finally, it grew notorious that in Scotland, where there had -been no law limiting the number of partners, a whole century had -passed with scarcely a single bank-failure; legislators at once -decided to abolish the restriction which had entailed such mischiefs. -Having, to use Mr. Mill’s words, “actually made the formation of -safe banking-establishments a punishable offence”—having, for one -hundred and twenty years, maintained a law which first caused -great inconvenience and then extensive ruin, time after time -repeated—Government, in 1826, conceded the liberty of joint-stock -banking: a liberty which the good easy public, not distinguishing -between a right done and a wrong undone, regarded as a great boon! - -But the liberty was not without conditions. Having previously, in -anxiety for its _protégé_, the Bank of England, been reckless of -the banking-security of the community at large, the State, like a -repentant sinner rushing into asceticism, all at once became extremely -solicitous on this point; and determined to put guarantees of its own -devising, in place of the natural guarantee of mercantile judgment. -To intending bank-shareholders it said—“You shall not unite on -such publicly-understood conditions as you think fit, and get such -confidence as will naturally come to you on those conditions.” And to -the public it said—“You shall not put trust in this or that association -in proportion as, from the character of its members and constitution, -you judge it to be worthy of trust.” But to both it said—“You shall the -one give, and the other receive, my infallible safeguards.” - -And now what have been the results? Every one knows {349} that these -safeguards have proved anything but infallible. Every one knows that -these banks with State-constitutions have been especially characterized -by instability. Every one knows that credulous citizens, with a faith -in legislation which endless disappointments fail to diminish, have -trusted implicitly in these law-devised securities; and, not exercising -their own judgments, have been led into ruinous undertakings. The evils -of substituting artificial guarantees for natural ones, which the -clear-sighted long ago discerned, have, by the late catastrophes, been -made conspicuous to all. - -When commencing this article we had intended to dwell on this -point. For though the mode of business which brought about these -joint-stock-bank failures was, for weeks after their occurrence, time -after time clearly described; yet nowhere did we see drawn the obvious -corollary. Though in three separate City-articles of _The Times_, it -was explained that, “relying upon the ultimate liability of large -bodies of infatuated shareholders, the discount houses supply these -banks with unlimited means, looking not to the character of the bills -sent up, but simply to the security afforded by the Bank endorsement;” -yet, in none of them was it pointed out that, but for the law of -unlimited liability, this reckless trading would not have gone on. -More recently, however, this truth has been duly recognized, alike in -Parliament and in the Press; and it is therefore needless further to -elucidate it. We will simply add that as, if there had been no law of -unlimited liability, the London houses would not have discounted these -bad bills; and as, in that case, these provincial joint-stock-banks -could not have given these enormous credits to insolvent speculators; -and as, if they had not done this, they would not have been ruined; it -follows, inevitably, that these joint-stock-bank failures have been -_law-produced disasters_. - -A measure for further increasing the safety of the provincial public, -was that which limited the circulation of provincial bank-notes. At the -same time that it established {350} a sliding-scale for the issues of -the Bank of England, the Act of 1844 fixed the maximum circulation of -every provincial bank-of-issue; and forbad any further banks-of-issue. -We have not space to discuss at length the effects of this restriction; -which must have fallen rather hardly on those especially-careful -bankers who had, during the twelve weeks preceding the 27th April, -1844, narrowed their issues to meet any incidental contingencies; while -it gave a perennial license to such as had been incautious during that -period. All which we can notice is, that this rigorous limitation of -provincial issues to a low maximum (and a low maximum was purposely -fixed) effectually prevents those local expansions of bank-note -circulation which, as we have shown, _ought_ to take place in periods -of commercial difficulty. And further, that by transferring all local -demands to the Bank of England, as the only place from which extra -accommodation can be had, the tendency is to concentrate a pressure -which would else be diffused, and so to create panic. - -Saying nothing more, however, respecting the impolicy of the measure, -let us mark its futility. As a means of preserving the convertibility -of the provincial bank-note, it is useless unless it acts as some -safeguard against bank-failures; and that it does not do this is -demonstrable. While it diminishes the likelihood of failures caused by -over-issue of notes, it increases the likelihood of failures from other -causes. For what will be done by a provincial banker whose issues are -restricted by the Act of 1844, to a level lower than that to which he -would otherwise have let them rise? If he would, but for the law, have -issued more notes than he now does—if his reserve is greater than, -in his judgment, is needful for the security of his notes; is it not -clear that he will simply extend his operations in other directions? -Will not the excess of his available capital be to him a warrant either -for entering into larger speculations himself, or for allowing his -customers to draw on {351} him beyond the limit he would else have -fixed? If, in the absence of restriction, his rashness would have led -him to risk bankruptcy by over-issue, will it not now equally lead -him to risk bankruptcy by over-banking? And is not the one kind of -bankruptcy as fatal to the convertibility of notes as the other? - -Nay, the case is even worse. There is reason to believe that bankers -are tempted into greater dangers under this protective system. They can -and will hypothecate their capital in ways less direct than by notes; -and may very likely be led, by the unobtrusiveness of the process, to -commit themselves more than they would else do. A trader, applying to -his banker in times of commercial difficulty, will often be met by the -reply—“I cannot make you any direct advances, having already loaned -as much as I can spare; but knowing you to be a safe man I will lend -you my name. Here is my acceptance for the sum you require: they will -discount it for you in London.” Now, as loans thus made do not entail -the same immediate responsibilities as when made in notes (seeing that -they are neither at once payable, nor do they add to the dangers of a -possible run), a banker is under a temptation to extend his liabilities -in this way further than he would have done, had not law forced him to -discover a new channel through which to give credit. - -And does not the evidence that has lately transpired go to show -that these roundabout ways of giving credit _do_ take the place -of the interdicted ways; and that they _are_ more dangerous than -the interdicted ways? Is it not notorious that dangerous forms of -paper-currency have had an unexampled development since the Act of -1844? Do not the newspapers and the debates give daily proofs of this? -And is not the process of causation obvious? - -Indeed it might have been known, _a priori_, that such a result was -sure to take place. It has been shown {352} conclusively that, -when uninterfered with, the amount of note-circulation at any given -time, is determined by the amount of trade going on—the quantity of -payments that are being made. It has been repeatedly testified before -committees, that when any local banker contracts his issues, he simply -causes an equivalent increase in the issues of neighbouring bankers. -And in past times it has been more than once complained, that when -from prudential motives the Bank of England withdrew part of its -notes, the provincial bankers immediately multiplied their notes to -a proportionate extent. Well, is it not manifest that this inverse -variation, which holds between one class of bank-notes and another, -also holds between bank-notes and other forms of paper-currency? -Will it not happen that just as diminishing the note-circulation of -one bank, merely adds to the note-circulation of other banks; so, an -artificial restriction on the circulation of bank-notes in general, -will simply cause an increased circulation of some substituted kind -of promise-to-pay? And is not this substituted kind, in virtue of its -novelty and irregularity, likely to be a more unsafe kind? See, then, -the predicament. Over all the bills of exchange, cheques, etc., which -constitute nine-tenths of the paper-currency of the kingdom, the State -exercises, and can exercise, no control. And the limit it puts on the -remaining tenth vitiates the other nine-tenths, by causing an abnormal -growth of new forms of credit, which experience proves to be especially -dangerous. - -Thus, all which the State does when it exceeds its true duty is to -hinder, to disturb, to corrupt. As already pointed out, the quantity -of credit men will give each other, is determined by natural causes, -moral and physical—their average characters, their temporary states of -feeling, their circumstances. If the Government forbids one mode of -giving credit, they will find another, and probably a worse. Be the -degree of mutual trust prudent {353} or imprudent, it must take its -course. The attempt to restrict it by law is nothing but a repetition -of the old story of keeping out the sea with a fork. - -And now mark that were it not for these worse than futile -State-safeguards, there might grow up certain natural safeguards, which -would really put a check on undue credit and abnormal speculation. Were -it not for the attempts to insure security by law, it is very possible -that, under our high-pressure system of business, banks would compete -with each other in respect of the degree of security they offered—would -endeavour to outdo each other in the obtainment of a legitimate -public confidence. Consider the position of a new joint-stock-bank -with limited liability, and unchecked by legal regulations. It can -do nothing until it has gained the general good opinion. In the way -of this there stand great difficulties. Its constitution is untried, -and is sure to be looked upon by the trading world with considerable -distrust. The field is already occupied by old banks with established -connexions and reputations. Out of a constituency satisfied with the -present accommodation, it has to obtain supporters for a system which -is apparently less safe than the old. How shall it do this? Evidently -it must find some unusual mode of assuring the community of its -trustworthiness. And out of a number of new banks so circumstanced, it -is not too much to suppose that ultimately one would hit on some mode. -It might be, for instance, that such a bank would give to all who held -deposits over £1000 the liberty of inspecting its books—of ascertaining -from time to time its liabilities and its investments. Already this -plan is frequently adopted by private traders, as a means of assuring -those who lend money to them; and this extension of it might naturally -take place under the pressure of competition. We have put the question -to a gentleman who has had long and successful experience, as manager -of a joint-stock-bank, and his reply is, that some such course would -very probably be adopted: adding that, {354} under this arrangement, a -depositor would practically become a partner with limited liability. - -Were a system of this kind to establish itself, it would form a double -check to unhealthy trading. Consciousness that its rashness would -become known to its chief clients, would prevent the bank-management -from being rash; and consciousness that his credit would be damaged -when his large debt to the bank was whispered, would prevent the -speculator from contracting so large a debt. Both lender and borrower -would be restrained from reckless enterprize. Very little inspection -would suffice to effect this end. One or two cautious depositors would -be enough; seeing that the mere expectation of immediate disclosure, in -case of misconduct, would mostly keep in order all those concerned. - -Should it however be contended, as by some it may, that this safeguard -would be of no avail—should it be alleged that, having in their own -hands the means of safety, citizens would not use them, but would still -put blind faith in directors, and give unlimited trust to respectable -names; then we reply that they would deserve whatever bad consequences -fell on them. If they did not take advantage of the proffered -guarantee, the penalty be on their own heads. We have no patience -with the mawkish philanthropy which would ward-off the punishment of -stupidity. The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of -folly, is to fill the world with fools. - - * * * * * - -A few words in conclusion respecting the attitude of our opponents. -Leaving joint-stock-bank legislation, on which the eyes of the public -are happily becoming opened; and returning to the Bank-Charter, with -its theory of currency-regulation; we have to charge its supporters -with gross, if not wilful, misrepresentation. Their established policy -is to speak of all antagonism as identified with adhesion to the -vulgarest fallacies. They daily present, as the only alternatives, -their own dogma or some wild doctrine too {355} absurd to be argued. -“Side with us or choose anarchy,” is the substance of their homilies. - -To speak specifically:—They boldly assert, in the first place, that -they are the upholders of “principle;” and on all opposition they seek -to fasten the title of “empiricism.” Now we are at a loss to see what -there is “empirical” in the position, that a bank-note-circulation -will regulate itself in the same way that the circulation of other -paper-currency does. It seems to us anything but “empirical,” to say -that the natural check of prospective bankruptcy, which restrains the -trader from issuing too many promises-to-pay at given dates, will -similarly restrain the banker from issuing too many promises-to-pay on -demand. We take him to be the very opposite of an “empiric,” who holds -that people’s characters and circumstances determine the quantity of -credit-memoranda in circulation; and that the monetary disorders which -their imperfect characters and changing circumstances occasionally -entail, can be exacerbated, but cannot be prevented, by State-nostrums. -On the other hand, we do not see in virtue of what “principle” it -is, that the contract expressed on the face of a bank-note must be -dealt with differently from any other contract. We cannot understand -the “principle” which requires the State to control the business of -bankers, so that they may not make engagements they cannot fulfil, but -which does _not_ require the State to do the like with other traders. -To us it is a very incomprehensible “principle” which permits the Bank -of England to issue £14,000,000 on the credit of the State; but which -is broken if the State-credit is mortgaged beyond this—a “principle” -which implies that £14,000,000 of notes may be issued without gold to -meet them, but insists on rigorous precautions for the convertibility -of every pound more. We are curious to learn how it was inferred from -this “principle” that the average note-circulation of each provincial -bank, during certain twelve weeks in 1844, was exactly the {356} -note-circulation which its capital justified. So far from discerning a -“principle,” it seems to us that both the idea and its applications are -as empirical as they can well be. - -Still more astounding, however, is the assumption of these -“currency-theorists,” that their doctrines are those of Free-trade. -In the Legislature, Lord Overstone, and in the press, the _Saturday -Review_, have, among others, asserted this. To call that a Free-trade -measure, which has the avowed object of restricting certain voluntary -acts of exchange, appears so manifest a contradiction in terms that -it is scarcely credible it should be made. The whole system of -currency-legislation is restrictionist from beginning to end: equally -in spirit and detail. Is that a Free-trade regulation which has all -along forbidden banks of issue within sixty-five miles of London? -Is that Free-trade which enacts that none but such as have now the -State-warrant, shall henceforth give promises-to-pay on demand? Is that -Free-trade which at a certain point steps in between the banker and his -customer, and puts a veto on any further exchange of credit-documents? -We wonder what would be said by two merchants, the one about to draw -a bill on the other in return for goods sold, who should be stopped -by a State-officer with the remark that, having examined the buyer’s -ledger, he was of opinion that ready as the seller might be to take -the bill, it would be unsafe for him to do so; and that the law, in -pursuance of the principles of Free-trade, negatived the transaction! -Yet for the promise-to-pay in six months, it needs but to substitute a -promise-to-pay on demand, and the case becomes substantially that of -banker and customer. - -It is true that the “currency-theorists” have a colourable excuse -in the fact, that among their opponents are the advocates of -various visionary schemes, and propounders of regulations quite as -protectionist in spirit as their own. It is true that there are some -who contend for inconvertible “labour-notes;” and others who argue -that, in times of {357} commercial pressure, banks should not raise -their rates of discount. But is this any justification for recklessly -stigmatizing all antagonism as coming from these classes, in the -face of the fact that the Bank-Act has been protested against by -the highest authorities in political economy? Do not the defenders -of the “currency-principle” know that among their opponents are Mr. -Thornton, long known as an able writer on currency-questions; Mr. -Tooke and Mr. Newmarch, famed for their laborious and exhaustive -researches respecting currency and prices; Mr. Fullarton, whose -“Regulation of Currencies” is a standard work; Mr. Macleod, whose -just-issued book displays the endless injustices and stupidities of our -monetary history; Mr. James Wilson, M.P., who, in detailed knowledge -of commerce, currency, and banking, is probably unrivalled; and Mr. -John Stuart Mill, who both as logician and economist, stands in the -first rank? Do they not know that the alleged distinction between -bank-notes and other credit-documents, which forms the professed basis -of the Bank-Act (and for which Sir R. Peel could quote only the one -poor authority of Lord Liverpool) is denied, not only by the gentlemen -above named, but also by Mr. Huskisson, Professor Storch, Dr. Travers -Twiss, and the distinguished French Professors, M. Joseph Garnier and -M. Michel Chevalier?[36] Do they not know, in short, that both the -profoundest thinkers and the most patient inquirers are against them? -If they do not know this, it is time they studied the subject on which -they write with such an air of authority. If they do know it, a little -more respect for their opponents would not be unbecoming. - - [36] See Mr. Tooke’s “Bank Charter Act of 1844,” etc. - -{358} - - - - -PARLIAMENTARY REFORM: THE DANGERS AND THE SAFEGUARDS. - -[_First published in_ The Westminster Review _for April 1860_.] - - -Thirty years ago, the dread of impending evils agitated not a few -breasts throughout England. Instinctive fear of change, justified as -it seemed by outbursts of popular violence, conjured up visions of the -anarchy which would follow the passing of a Reform Bill. In scattered -farm-houses there was chronic terror, lest those newly endowed with -political power should in some way filch all the profits obtained by -rearing cattle and growing corn. The occupants of halls and manors -spoke of ten-pound householders almost as though they formed an army -of spoilers, threatening to overrun and devastate the property of -landholders. Among townspeople there were some who interpreted the -abolition of old corruptions into the establishment of mob-government; -which they thought equivalent to spoliation. And even in Parliament, -such alarms found occasional utterance: as, for instance, through the -mouth of Sir Robert Inglis, who hinted that the national debt would not -improbably be repudiated if the proposed measure became law. - -There may perhaps be a few who regard the now pending change in the -representation with similar dread—who think {359} that artizans -and others of their grade are prepared, when the power is given -to them, to lay hands on property. We presume, however, that such -irrational alarmists form but a small percentage of the nation. Not -only throughout the Liberal party, but among the Conservatives, there -exists a much fairer estimate of the popular character than is implied -by anticipations of so gloomy a kind. Many of the upper and middle -classes are conscious of the fact that, if critically compared, the -average conduct of the wealthy would not be found to differ very -widely in rectitude from that of the poor. Making due allowance for -differences in the kinds and degrees of temptations to which they are -exposed, the respective grades of society are tolerably uniform in -their morals. That disregard of the rights of property which, among -the people at large, shows itself in the direct form of petty thefts, -shows itself among their richer neighbours in various indirect forms, -which are scarcely less flagitious and often much more detrimental -to fellow-citizens. Traders, wholesale and retail, commit countless -dishonesties, ranging from adulteration and short measure up to -fraudulent bankruptcy—dishonesties of which we sketched out some of -the ramifications in a late article on “The Morals of Trade.” The -trickeries of the turf; the bribery of electors; the non-payment of -tradesmen’s bills; the jobbing in railway-shares; the obtainment of -exorbitant prices for land from railway-companies; the corruption that -attends the getting of private bills through Parliament—these, and -other such illustrations, show that the unconscientiousness of the -upper class, manifested though it is in different forms, is not less -than that of the lower class: bears as great a ratio to the size of the -class, and, if traced to its ultimate results, produces evils as great -if not greater. - -And if the facts prove that in uprightness of intentions there is -little to choose between one class of the community and another, an -extension of the franchise cannot rationally {360} be opposed on the -ground that property would be directly endangered. There is no more -reason to suppose that the mass of artizans and labourers would use -political power with conscious injustice to their richer neighbours, -than there is reason to suppose that their richer neighbours now -consciously commit legal injustices against artizans and labourers. - - * * * * * - -What, then, is the danger to be apprehended? If land, and houses, -and railways, and funds, and property of all other kinds, would be -held with no less security than now, why need there be any fears that -the franchise would be misused? What are the misuses of it which are -rationally to be anticipated? - -The ways in which those to be endowed with political power are likely -to abuse it, may be inferred from the ways in which political power has -been abused by those who have possessed it. - -What general trait has characterized the rule of the classes hitherto -dominant? These classes have not habitually sought their own _direct_ -advantage at the expense of other classes; but their measures have -nevertheless frequently been such as were _indirectly_ advantageous to -themselves. Voluntary self-sacrifice has been the exception. The rule -has been so to legislate as to preserve private interests from injury; -whether public interests were injured or not. Though, in equity, a -landlord has no greater claim on a defaulting tenant than any other -creditor; yet landlords, having formed the majority of the legislature, -have made laws giving them power to recover rent in anticipation -of other creditors. Though the duties payable to government on the -transfer of property to heirs and legatees, might justly have been -made to fall more heavily on the wealthy than on the comparatively -poor, and on real property rather than on personal property; yet the -reverse arrangement was enacted and long maintained, and is even -still partially in force. Rights of presentation to places in the -Church, {361} obtained however completely in violation of the spirit -of the law, are yet tenaciously defended, with little or no regard -to the welfare of those for whom the Church ostensibly exists. Were -it not accounted for by the bias of personal interests, it would be -impossible to explain the fact that, on the question of protection -to agriculture, the landed classes and their dependents were ranged -against the other classes: the same evidence being open to both. -And if there needs a still stronger illustration, we have it in the -opposition made to the repeal of the Corn-Laws by the established -clergy. Though, by their office, preachers of justice and mercy—though -constantly occupied in condemning selfishness and holding up a supreme -example of self-sacrifice; yet so swayed were they by those temporal -interests which they thought endangered, that they offered to this -proposed change an almost uniform resistance. Out of some ten thousand -_ex officio_ friends of the poor and needy, there was but one (the Rev. -Thomas Spencer), who took an active part in abolishing this tax imposed -on the people’s bread for the maintenance of landlords’ rents. - -Such are a few of the ways in which, in modern times, those who have -the power seek their own benefit at the expense of the rest. It is -in analogous ways that we must expect any section of the community -which may be made predominant by a political change, to sacrifice the -welfare of other sections to its own. While we do not see reason to -think that the lower classes are intrinsically less conscientious than -the upper classes, we do not see reason to think that they are more -conscientious. Holding, as we do, that in each society and in each -age, the morality is, on the average, the same throughout all ranks; -it seems to us clear that if the rich, when they have the opportunity, -make laws which unduly favour themselves, the poor, if their power was -in excess, will do the like in similar ways and to a similar extent. -Without knowingly enacting injustice, they will be unconsciously biased -by personal {362} considerations; and our legislation will err as much -in a new direction as it has hitherto done in the old. - -This abstract conclusion we shall find confirmed on contemplating the -feelings and opinions current among artizans and labourers. What the -working classes now wish done, indicates what they would be likely to -do, if a reform in the representation made them preponderate. Judging -from their prevailing sentiments, they would doubtless do, or aid in -doing, many things which it is desirable to have done. Such a question -as that of Church-rates would have been settled long ago had the -franchise been wider. Any great increase of popular influence, would -go far to rectify the present inequitable relation of the established -religious sect to the rest of the community. And other remnants of -class-legislation would be swept away. But besides ideas likely to -eventuate in changes which we should regard as beneficial, the working -classes entertain ideas that could not be realized without gross -injustice to other classes and ultimate injury to themselves. There is -among them a prevailing enmity towards capitalists. The fallacy that -machinery acts to their damage, is still widely spread, both among -rural labourers and the inhabitants of towns. And they show a wish, not -only to dictate how long per day men shall work, but to regulate all -the relations between employers and employed. Let us briefly consider -the evidence of this. - -When, adding another to the countless errors which it has taught the -people, the Legislature, by passing the Ten-Hours-Bill, asserted that -it is the duty of the State to limit the duration of labour, there -naturally arose among the working classes the desire for further -ameliorations to be secured in the same way. First came the formidable -strike of the Amalgamated Engineers. The rules of this body aim to -restrict the supply of labour in various ways. No member is allowed -to work more than a fixed number of hours per week; nor for less -than a fixed rate of wages. {363} No man is admitted into the trade -who has not “earned a right by probationary servitude.” There is a -strict registration; which is secured by fines on any one who neglects -to notify his marriage, removal, or change of service. The council -decides, without appeal, on all the affairs, individual and general, -of the body. How tyrannical are the regulations may be judged from the -fact, that members are punished for divulging anything concerning the -society’s business; for censuring one another; for vindicating the -conduct of those fined, etc. And their own unity of action having been -secured by these coercive measures, the Amalgamated Engineers made a -prolonged effort to impose on their employers, sundry restrictions -which they supposed would be beneficial to themselves. More recently, -we have seen similar objects worked for by similar means during the -strike of the Operative Builders. In one of their early manifestoes, -this body of men contended that they had “an equal right to share with -other workers, that large amount of public sympathy which is now being -so widely extended in the direction of shortening the hours of labour:” -thus showing at once their delusion and its source. Believing, as they -had been taught by an Act of Parliament to believe, that the relation -between the quantity of labour given and the wages received, is not -a natural but an artificial one; they demanded that while the wages -remained the same, the hours should be reduced from ten to nine. They -recommended their employers so to make their future contracts, as to -allow for this diminished day’s work: saying they were “so sanguine as -to consider the consummation of their desire inevitable:” a polite way -of hinting that their employers must succumb to the irresistible power -of their organization. Referring to the threat of the master-builders -to close their works, they warned them against “the responsibility -of causing the public disaster” thus indicated. And when the breach -finally took place, the {364} Unionists set in action the approved -appliances for bringing masters to terms; and would have succeeded had -it not been that their antagonists, believing that concessions would -be ruinous, made a united resistance. During several previous years, -master-builders had been yielding to various extravagant demands, of -which those recently made were a further development. Had they assented -to the diminished day’s work, and abolished systematic overtime, as -they were required to do, there is no reason to suppose the dictation -would have ended. Success would have presently led to still more -exacting requirements; and future years would have witnessed further -extensions of this mischievous meddling between capital and labour. - -Perhaps the completest illustration of the industrial regulations -which find favour with artizans, is supplied by the Printers’ Union. -With the exception of those engaged in _The Times_ office, and in -one other large establishment, the proprietors of which successfully -resisted the combination, the compositors, pressmen, etc., throughout -the kingdom, form a society which controls all the relations between -employers and employed. There is a fixed price for setting up type—so -much per thousand letters: no master can give less; no compositor being -allowed by the Union to work for less. There are established rates for -press-work; and established numbers less than which you cannot have -printed without paying for work that is not done. The scale rises by -what are called “tokens” of 250; and if but 50 copies are required, -the charge is the same as for printing 250; or if 300 are wanted, -payment must be made for 500. Besides regulating prices and modes of -charging to their own advantage, in these and other ways, the members -of the Union restrict competition by limiting the number of apprentices -brought into the business. So well organized is this combination that -the masters are obliged to succumb. An infraction of the rules in any -{365} printing-office leads to a strike of the men; and as this is -supported by the Union at large, the employer has to yield. - -That in other trades artizans would, if they could, establish -restrictive systems equally complete with this, we take to -be sufficiently proved by their often-repeated attempts. The -Tin-plate-Workers’ strike, the Coventry-Weavers’ strikes, the -Engineers’ strike, the Shoemakers’ strike, the Builders’ strike, -all show a most decided leaning towards a despotic regulation of -trade-prices, hours, and arrangements—towards an abolition of free -trade between employers and employed. Should the men engaged in our -various industries succeed in their aims, each industry would be so -shackled as seriously to raise the cost of production. The chief -penalty would thus fall on the working classes themselves. Each -producer, while protected in the exercise of his own occupation, would -on every commodity he bought have to pay an extra price, consequent -on the protection of other producers. In short, there would be -established, under a new form, the old mischievous system of mutual -taxation. And a final result would be such a diminished ability to -compete with other nations as to destroy our foreign trade. - -Against results like these it behoves us to guard. It becomes a grave -question how far we may safely give political power to those who -entertain views so erroneous respecting fundamental social relations; -and who so pertinaciously struggle to enforce these erroneous views. -Men who render up their private liberties to the despotic rulers of -trades-unions, seem scarcely independent enough rightly to exercise -political liberties. Those who so ill understand the nature of freedom, -as to think that any man or body of men has a right to prevent employer -and employed from making any contract they please, would almost -appear to be incapacitated for the guardianship of their own freedom -and that of their fellow-citizens. When their notions of rectitude -are so confused, that they think it a duty to obey the arbitrary -{366} commands of their union-authorities, and to abandon the right -of individually disposing of their labour on their own terms—when, -in conformity with this inverted sense of duty, they even risk the -starvation of their families—when they call that an “odious document” -which simply demands that master and man shall be free to make their -own bargains—when their sense of justice is so obtuse that they are -ready to bully, to deprive of work, to starve, and even to kill, -members of their own class who rebel against dictation, and assert -their rights to sell their labour at such rates and to such persons -as they think fit—when in short they prove themselves ready to become -alike slaves and tyrants, we may well pause before giving them the -franchise. - -The objects which artizans have long sought to achieve by their private -organizations, they would, had they adequate political power, seek -to achieve by public enactments. If, on points like those instanced, -their convictions are so strong and their determination so great, that -they will time after time submit to extreme privations in the effort -to carry them; it is a reasonable expectation that these convictions, -pushed with this determination, would soon be expressed in law, if -those who held them had predominant power. With working men, questions -concerning the regulation of labour are of the highest interest. -Candidates for Parliament would be more likely to obtain their -suffrages by pandering to their prejudices on such questions, than in -any other way. Should it be said that no evil need be feared unless -the artizan-class numerically preponderated in the constituencies; -it may be rejoined that not unfrequently, where two chief political -parties are nearly balanced, some other party, though much smaller, -determines the election. When we bear in mind that the trades-unions -throughout the kingdom number 600,000 members, and command a fund of -£300,000—when we remember that these trades-unions are in the habit of -aiding each other, and have even been incorporated into one national -association—when we also remember that {367} their organization -is very complete, and their power over their members mercilessly -exercised; it seems likely that at a general election their combined -action would decide the result in many towns: even though the artizans -in each case formed but a moderate portion of the constituency. How -influential small but combined bodies are, the Irish Members of -our House of Commons prove to us; and still more clearly the Irish -emigrants in America. Certainly these trade-combinations are not less -perfectly organized; nor are the motives of their members less strong. -Judge then how efficient their political action would be. - -It is true that in county-constituencies and rural towns, the artizan -class have no power; and that in the antagonism of agriculturists -there would be a restraint on their projects. But, on the other hand, -the artizans would, on these questions, have the sympathy of many not -belonging to their own body. Numerous small shopkeepers and others who -are in point of means about on their level, would go with them in their -efforts to regulate the relations of capital and labour. Among the -middle classes, too, there are not a few kindly-disposed men who are -so ignorant of political economy as to think the artizans justified in -their aims. Even among the landed class they might find supporters. We -have but to recollect the antipathy shown by landowners in Parliament -to the manufacturing interest, during the ten-hours’ agitation, to see -that it is quite possible for country squires to join the working men -in imposing restrictions unfavourable to employers. True, the angry -feeling which then prompted them has in some measure died away. It is -to be hoped, too, that they have gained wisdom. But still, remembering -the past, we must take this contingency into account. - -Here, then, is one of the dangers to which an extension of the -franchise opens the door. While the fear that the rights of property -may be directly interfered with, is absurd, it is a very rational fear -that the rights of property may be indirectly interfered with—that, by -cramping laws, {368} the capitalist may be prevented from using his -money as he finds best, and the workman from selling his labour as he -pleases. We are not prepared to say what widening of the representation -would bring about such results. We profess neither to estimate what -amount of artizan-power a £6 or a £5 borough-franchise would give; nor -to determine whether the opposing powers would suffice to keep it in -check. Our purpose here is simply to indicate this establishment of -injurious industrial regulations, as one of the dangers to be kept in -view. - - * * * * * - -Turn we now to another danger, distinct from the foregoing though -near akin to it. Next after the evils of that over-legislation which -restricts the exchange of capital and labour, come the evils of that -over-legislation which provides for the community, by State-agency, -benefits which capital and labour should be left spontaneously to -provide. And it naturally, though unfortunately, happens, that those -who lean to the one kind of over-legislation, lean also to the other -kind. Men leading laborious lives, relieved by little in the shape of -enjoyment, give willing ears to the doctrine that the State should -provide them with various positive advantages and gratifications. The -much-enduring poor cannot be expected to deal very critically with -those who promise them gratis pleasures. As a drowning man catches at -a straw, so will one whose existence is burdensome catch at anything, -no matter how unsubstantial, which holds out the slightest hope of a -little happiness. We must not, therefore, blame the working-classes for -being ready converts to socialistic schemes, or to a belief in “the -sovereign power of political machinery.” - -Not that the working-classes alone fall into these delusions. -Unfortunately they are countenanced, and have been in part misled, by -those above them. In Parliament and out of Parliament, well-meaning men -among the upper and middle ranks, have been active apostles of these -false {369} doctrines. There has ever been, and continues to be, much -law-making based on the assumption, that it is the duty of the State, -not simply to insure each citizen fair play in the battle of life, but -to help him in fighting the battle of life: having previously taken -money from his, or some one else’s, pocket to pay the cost of doing -this. And we cannot glance over the papers without seeing how active -are the agitations carried on out of doors in furtherance of this -policy; and how they threaten to become daily more active. The doings -of the Chadwick-school furnish one set of illustrations. From those -of the Shaftesbury-school other illustrations may be gathered. And in -the transactions of the body, absurdly self-entitled “The National -Association for the Promotion of Social Science,” we find still more -numerous developments of this mischievous error. - -When we say that the working-classes, and more especially the -artizan-classes, have strong leanings towards these Utopianisms which -they have unhappily been encouraged to entertain by many who should -have known better, we do not speak at random. We are not drawing an _a -priori_ inference as to the doctrines likely to find favour with men -in their position. Nor are we guided merely by evidence to be gathered -from newspapers. We have a basis of definite fact in the proceedings -of reformed municipal governments. These bodies have from year to year -extended their functions; and so heavy has in some cases become the -consequent local taxation, as to have caused a reaction against the -political party which was responsible. Town-councils almost exclusively -Whig, have of late been made comparatively Conservative, by the efforts -of those richer classes who suffer most from municipal extravagance. -With whom, then, has this extravagance been popular? With the poorer -members of the constituencies. Candidates for town-councillorships -have found no better means of obtaining the suffrages of the mass, -than the advocacy of this or the other local undertaking. To {370} -build baths and wash-houses at the expense of the town, has proved a -popular proposal. The support of public gardens out of funds raised -by local rates, has been applauded by the majority. So, too, with -the establishment of free libraries, which has, of course, met with -encouragement from working-men, and from those who wish to find favour -with them. Should some one, taking a hint from the cheap concerts now -common in our manufacturing towns, propose to supply music at the -public cost, we doubt not he would be hailed as a friend of the people. -And similarly with countless socialistic schemes, of which, when once -commenced, there is no end. - -Such being the demonstrated tendencies of municipal governments, with -their extended bases of representation, is it not a fair inference -that a Central Government having a base of representation much wider -than the present, would manifest like tendencies? We shall see the -more reason for fearing this, when we remember that those who approve -of multiplied State-agencies, would generally ally themselves with -those who seek for the legislative regulation of labour. The doctrines -are near akin; and they are, to a considerable extent, held by the -same persons. If united the two bodies would have a formidable power; -and, appealed to, as they would often be, by candidates expressing -agreement on both these points, they might, even though a minority, -get unduly represented in the legislature. Such, at least, seems to us -a further danger. Led by philanthropists having sympathies stronger -than their intellects, the working-classes are very likely to employ -their influence in increasing over-legislation: not only by agitating -for industrial regulations, but in various other ways. What extension -of franchise would make this danger a serious one, we do not pretend -to say. Here, as before, we would simply indicate a probable source of -mischief. - - * * * * * - -And now what are the safeguards? Not such as we {371} believe will -be adopted. To meet evils like those which threaten to follow the -impending political change, the common plan is to devise special -checks—minor limitations and qualifications. Not to dry up the evil at -its source but to dam it out, is, in analogous cases, the usual aim. -We have no faith in such methods. The only efficient safeguard lies -in a change of convictions and motives. And, to work a change of this -kind, there is no certain way but that of letting men directly feel -the penalties which mistaken legislation brings on them. “How is this -to be done?” the reader will doubtless ask. Simply by letting causes -and effects stand in their natural relations. Simply by taking away -those vicious arrangements which now mostly prevent men from seeing the -reactions that follow legislative actions. - -At present the extension of public administrations is popular, mainly -because there has not been established in the minds of the people, -any distinct connexion between the benefits to be gained and the -expenses to be paid. Of the conveniences or gratifications secured to -them by some new body of officials with a fund at its disposal, they -have immediate experience; but of the way in which the costs fall -on the nation, and ultimately on themselves, they have no immediate -experience. Our fiscal arrangements dissociate the ideas of increased -public expenditure and increased burdens on all who labour; and thus -encourage the superstition that law can give gratis benefits. This is -clearly the chief cause of that municipal extravagance to which we have -above adverted. The working men of our towns possess public power, -while most of them do not directly bear public burdens. On small houses -the taxes for borough-purposes are usually paid by the landlords; and -of late years, for the sake of convenience and economy, there has grown -up a system of compounding with landlords of small houses even for the -poor-rates chargeable to their tenants. Under this {372} arrangement, -at first voluntary but now compulsory, a certain discount off the -total rates due from a number of houses is allowed to the owner, in -consideration of his paying the rates, and thus saving the authorities -trouble and loss in collection. And he is supposed to raise his rents -by the full amount of the rates charged. Thus, most municipal electors, -not paying local taxes in a separate form, are not constantly reminded -of the connexion between public expenditure and personal costs; and -hence it happens that any outlay made for local purposes, no matter -how extravagant and unreasonable, which brings to them some kind of -advantage, is regarded as pure gain. If the corporation resolves, -quite unnecessarily, to rebuild a town-hall, the resolution is of -course approved by the majority. “It is good for trade and it costs us -nothing,” is the argument which passes vaguely through their minds. If -some one proposes to buy an adjoining estate and turn it into a public -park, the working classes naturally give their support to the proposal; -for ornamental grounds cannot but be an advantage, and though the rates -may be increased that will be no affair of theirs. Thus necessarily -arises a tendency to multiply public agencies and increase public -outlay. It becomes an established policy with popularity-hunters to -advocate new works to be executed by the town. Those who disapprove -this course are in fear that their seats may be jeopardized at the next -election, should they make a vigorous opposition. And thus do these -local administrations inevitably lean towards abnormal developments. - -No one can, we think, doubt that were the rates levied directly on -all electors, a check would be given to this municipal communism. -If each small occupier found that every new work undertaken by the -authorities cost him so many pence extra in the pound, he would begin -to consider with himself whether the advantage gained was equivalent -to the price paid; and would often reach a {373} negative conclusion. -It would become a question with him whether, instead of letting the -local government provide him with certain remote advantages in return -for certain moneys, he might not himself purchase with such moneys -immediate advantages of greater worth; and, generally, he would -decide that he could do this. Without saying to what extent such a -restraint would act, we may safely say that it would be beneficial. -Every one must admit that each inhabitant of a town ought constantly -to be reminded of the relation between the work performed for him by -the corporation and the sum he pays for it. No one can deny that the -habitual experience of this relation would tend to keep the action of -local governments within proper bounds. - -Similarly with the Central Government. Here the effects wrought by -public agencies are still more dissociated from the costs they entail -on each citizen. The bulk of the taxes being raised in so unobtrusive -a way, and affecting the masses in modes so difficult to trace, it is -scarcely possible for the masses to realize the fact that the sums paid -by Government for supporting schools, for facilitating emigration, -for inspecting mines, factories, railways, ships, etc., have been in -great part taken from their own pockets. The more intelligent of them -understand this as an abstract truth; but it is not a truth present to -their minds in such a definite shape as to influence their actions. -Quite otherwise, however, would it be if taxation were direct; and -the expense of every new State-agency were felt by each citizen as an -additional demand made on him by the tax-gatherer. Then would there -be a clear, constantly-recurring experience of the truth, that for -everything which the State gives with one hand it takes away something -with the other; and then would it be less easy to propagate absurd -delusions about the powers and duties of Governments. No one can -question this conclusion who calls to mind the reason currently given -for maintaining {374} indirect taxation; namely, that the required -revenue could not otherwise be raised. Statesmen see that if instead of -taking from the citizen here a little and there a little, in ways that -he does not know or constantly forgets, the whole amount were demanded -in a lump sum, it would scarcely be possible to get it paid. Grumbling -and resistance would rise probably to disaffection. Coercion would -in hosts of cases be needed to obtain this large total tax; which, -indeed, even with this aid, could not be obtained from the majority -of the people, whose improvident habits prevent the accumulation of -considerable sums. And so the revenue would fall immensely short of -that expenditure which is supposed necessary. This being assented to, -it must perforce be admitted that under a system of direct taxation, -further extension of public administrations, entailing further costs, -would meet with general opposition. Instead of multiplying the -functions of the State, the tendency would obviously be to reduce their -number. - -Here, then, is one of the safeguards. The incidence of taxation -must be made more direct in proportion as the franchise is -extended. Our changes ought not to be in the direction of the -Compound-Householders-Act of 1851, which makes it no longer needful for -a Parliamentary elector to have paid poor-rates before giving a vote; -but they ought to be in the opposite direction. The exercise of power -over the national revenue, should be indissolubly associated with the -_conscious_ payment of contributions to that revenue. Direct taxation -instead of being limited, as many wish, must be extended to lower and -wider classes, as fast as these classes are endowed with political -power. - -Probably this proposal will be regarded with small favour by statesmen. -It is not in the nature of things for men to approve a system which -tends to restrict their powers. We know, too, that any great extension -of direct taxation will be held at present impossible; and we are not -prepared {375} to assert the contrary. This, however, is no reason -against reducing the indirect taxation and augmenting the direct -taxation as far as circumstances allow. And if when the last had -been increased and the first decreased to the greatest extent now -practicable, it were made an established principle that any additional -revenue must be raised by direct taxes, there would be an efficient -check to one of the evils likely to follow from further political -enfranchisement. - - * * * * * - -The other evil which we have pointed out as rationally to be feared, -cannot be thus met, however. Though an ever-recurring experience of -the relation between State-action and its cost, would hinder the -growth of those State-agencies which undertake to supply citizens with -positive conveniences and gratifications; it would be no restraint on -that negative and inexpensive over-legislation which trespasses on -individual freedom—it would not prevent mischievous meddling with the -relations between labour and capital. Against this danger the only -safeguards appear to be, the spread of sounder views among the working -classes, and the moral advance which such sounder views imply. - -“That is to say, the people must be educated,” responds the reader. -Yes, education is the thing wanted; but not the education for which -most men agitate. Ordinary school-training is not a preparation for the -right exercise of political power. Conclusive proof of this is given by -the fact that the artizans, from whose mistaken ideas the most danger -is to be feared, are the best informed of the working classes. Far -from promising to be a safeguard, the spread of such education as is -commonly given appears more likely to increase the danger. Raising the -working classes in general to the artizan-level of culture, threatens -to augment, rather than to diminish, their power of working political -evil. The current faith in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, as fitting -men for citizenship, seems to us quite {376} unwarranted; as are, -indeed, most other anticipations of the benefits to be derived from -learning lessons. There is no connexion between the ability to parse -a sentence, and a clear understanding of the causes which determine -the rate of wages. The multiplication-table affords no aid in seeing -through the fallacy that the destruction of property is good for -trade. Long practice may have produced extremely good penmanship -without having given the least power to understand the paradox that -machinery eventually increases the number of persons employed in the -trades into which it is introduced. Nor is it proved that smatterings -of mensuration, astronomy, or geography, fit men for estimating the -characters and motives of Parliamentary candidates. Indeed we have only -thus to bring together the antecedents and the anticipated consequents, -to see how untenable is the belief in a relation between them. When we -wish a girl to become a good musician, we seat her before the piano: -we do not put drawing implements into her hands, and expect music to -come along with skill in the use of pencils and colour-brushes. Sending -a boy to pore over law-books would be thought an extremely irrational -way of preparing him for civil engineering. And if in these and all -other cases, we do not expect fitness for any function except through -instruction and exercise in that function; why do we expect fitness -for citizenship to be produced by a discipline which has no relation -to the duties of the citizen? Probably it will be replied that by -making the working man a good reader, we give him access to sources of -information from which he may learn how to use his electoral power; and -that other studies sharpen his faculties and make him a better judge -of political questions. This is true; and the eventual tendency is -unquestionably good. But what if for a long time to come he reads only -to obtain confirmation of his errors? What if there exists a literature -appealing to his prejudices, and supplying him with fallacious -arguments for the mistaken beliefs which he naturally takes {377} up? -What if he rejects all teaching that aims to disabuse him of cherished -delusions? Must we not say that the culture which thus merely helps the -workman to establish himself in error, rather unfits than fits him for -citizenship? And do not the trades’-unions furnish evidence of this? - -How little that which people commonly call education prepares them -for the use of political power, may be judged from the incompetency -of those who have received the highest education the country affords. -Glance back at the blunders of our legislation, and then remember that -the men who committed them had mostly taken University-degrees; and -you must admit that the profoundest ignorance of Social Science may -accompany intimate acquaintance with all which our cultivated classes -regard as valuable knowledge. Do but take a young member of Parliament, -fresh from Oxford or Cambridge, and ask him what he thinks Law should -do, and why? or what it should not do, and why? and it will become -manifest that neither his familiarity with Aristotle nor his readings -in Thucydides, have prepared him to answer the very first question a -legislator ought to solve. A single illustration will suffice to show -how different an education from that usually given, is required by -legislators, and consequently by those who elect them: we mean the -illustration which the Free-trade agitation supplies. By kings, peers, -and members of Parliament, mostly brought up at universities, trade had -been hampered by protections, prohibitions, and bounties. For centuries -had been maintained these legislative appliances which a very moderate -insight shows to be detrimental. Yet, of all the highly-educated -throughout the nation during these centuries, scarcely a man saw how -mischievous such appliances were. Not from one who devoted himself to -the most approved studies, came the work which set politicians right -on these points; but from one who left college without a degree, -and prosecuted inquiries which the established education ignored. -Adam {378} Smith examined for himself the industrial phenomena of -societies; contemplated the productive and distributive activities -going on around him; traced out their complicated mutual dependences; -and thus reached general principles for political guidance. In recent -days, those who have most clearly understood the truths he enunciated, -and by persevering exposition have converted the nation to their views, -have not been graduates of universities. While, contrariwise, those -who have passed through the prescribed _curriculum_, have commonly -been the most bitter and obstinate opponents of the changes dictated -by politico-economical science. In this all-important direction, right -legislation was urged by men deficient in the so-called best education, -and was resisted by the great majority of men who had received this -so-called best education! - -The truth for which we contend, and which is so strangely overlooked, -is, indeed, almost a truism. Does not our whole theory of training -imply that the right preparation for political power is political -cultivation? Must not that teaching which can alone guide the citizen -in the fulfilment of his public actions, be a teaching that acquaints -him with the effects of his public actions? - -The second chief safeguard to which we must trust is, then, the spread, -not of that mere technical and miscellaneous knowledge which men are -so eagerly propagating, but of political knowledge; or, to speak more -accurately—knowledge of Social Science. Above all, the essential thing -is the establishment of a true theory of government—a true conception -of what legislation is for, and what are its proper limits. This -question which our political discussions habitually ignore, is a -question of greater moment than any other. Inquiries which statesmen -deride as speculative and unpractical, will one day be found infinitely -more practical than those which they wade through Blue Books to master, -and nightly spend many hours in debating. The considerations that -every morning fill a dozen columns {379} of _The Times_, are mere -frivolities when compared with the fundamental consideration—What is -the proper sphere of government? Before discussing the way in which -law should regulate some particular thing, would it not be wise to -put the previous question—Whether law ought or ought not to meddle -with that thing? and before answering this, to put the more general -questions—What law should do? and what it should leave undone? Surely, -if there are any limits at all to legislation, the settlement of these -limits must have effects far more profound than any particular Act of -Parliament can have; and must be by so much the more momentous. Surely, -if there is danger that the people may misuse political power, it is -of supreme importance that they should be taught for what purpose -political power ought alone to be used. - -Did the upper classes understand their position they would, we think, -see that the diffusion of sound views on this matter more nearly -concerns their own welfare and that of the nation at large, than -any other thing whatever. Popular influence will inevitably go on -increasing. Should the masses gain a predominant power while their -ideas of social arrangements and legislative action remain as crude -as at present, there will certainly result disastrous meddlings with -the relations of capital and labour, as well as a disastrous extension -of State-administrations. Immense damage will be inflicted: primarily -on employers; secondarily on the employed; and eventually on the -nation as a whole. If these evils can be prevented at all, they can be -prevented only by establishing in the public mind a profound conviction -that there are certain definite limits to the functions of the State; -and that these limits ought on no account to be transgressed. Having -learned what these limits are, the upper classes ought to use all means -of making them clear to the people. - - * * * * * - -In No. XXIV. of this Review, for October, 1857, we {380} endeavoured -to show that while representative government is, by its intrinsic -nature, better than any other for administering justice or insuring -equitable relations among citizens, it is, by its intrinsic nature, -worse than any other for all the various additional functions which -governments commonly undertake. To the question—What is representative -government good for? our reply was—“It is good, especially good, good -above all others, for doing the thing which a government should do. -It is bad, especially bad, bad above all others, for doing the things -which a government should not do.” - -To this truth we may here add a correlative one. As fast as a -government, by becoming representative, grows better fitted for -maintaining the rights of citizens, it grows not only unfitted for -other purposes, but dangerous for other purposes. In gaining adaptation -for the essential function of a government, it loses such adaptation -as it had for other functions; not only because its complexity is a -hindrance to administrative action, but also because in discharging -other functions it must be mischievously influenced by class bias. So -long as it is confined to the duty of preventing the aggressions of -individuals on one another, and protecting the nation at large against -external enemies, the wider its basis the better; for all men are -similarly interested in the security of life, property, and freedom to -exercise the faculties. But let it undertake to bring home positive -benefits to citizens, or to interfere with any of the special relations -between class and class, and there necessarily enters an incentive to -injustice. For in no such cases can the immediate interests of all -classes be alike. Therefore do we say that as fast as representation is -extended, the sphere of government must be contracted. - - * * * * * - - -POSTSCRIPT.—Since the foregoing pages were written, Lord John Russell -has introduced his Reform Bill; and in {381} application of the -general principles we contend for, a few words may fitly be added -respecting it. - -Of the extended county-franchise most will approve, save those whose -illegitimate influence is diminished by it. Adding to the rural -constituencies a class less directly dependent on large landowners, -can scarcely fail to be beneficial. Even should it not at first -perceptibly affect the choice of representatives, it will still be a -good stimulus to political education and to consequent future benefits. -Of the re-distribution of seats little is to be said, further than -that, however far short it may fall of an equitable arrangement, it is -perhaps as much as can at present be obtained. - -Whether the right limit for the borough-franchise has been chosen is, -on the other hand, a question that admits of much discussion. Some -hesitation will probably be felt by all who duly weigh the evidence on -both sides. Believing, as we do, that the guidance of abstract equity, -however much it may need qualification, must never be ignored, we -should be glad were it at once practicable more nearly to follow it; -since it is certain that only as fast as the injustice of political -exclusion is brought to an end, will the many political injustices -which grow out of it disappear. Nevertheless, we are convinced that -the forms which freedom requires will not of themselves produce -the reality of freedom, in the absence of an appropriate national -character; any more than the most perfect mechanism will do its work -in the absence of a motive power. There seems reason to think that the -degree of liberty a people is capable of in any given age, is a fixed -quantity; and that any artificial extension of it in one direction -brings about an equivalent limitation in some other direction. French -republics show scarcely any more respect for individual rights than -the despotisms they supplant; and French electors use their freedom -to put themselves again in slavery. In America the feeble restraints -imposed by the {382} State are supplemented by the strong restraints -of a public opinion which, in many respects, holds the citizens in -greater bondage than here. And if there needs a demonstration that -representative equality is an insufficient safeguard for freedom, -we have it in the trades’-unions already referred to; which, purely -democratic as are their organizations, yet exercise over their members -a tyranny almost Neapolitan in its rigour and unscrupulousness. The -greatest attainable amount of individual liberty being the true end; -and the diffusion of political power being regarded mainly as a means -to this end; the real question when considering further extensions of -the franchise, is—whether the average freedom of action of citizens -will be increased?—whether men will be severally freer than before to -pursue the objects of life in their own way? Or, in the present case, -the question is—whether the good which £7, £6, or £5 householders would -do in helping to abolish existing injustices, will be partly or wholly -neutralized by the evil they may do in establishing other injustices? -The desideratum is as large an increase in the electorate as can be -made without enabling the people to carry out their delusive schemes of -over-legislation. Whether the increase proposed is greater or less than -this, is the essential point. Let us briefly consider the evidence on -each side. - -As shown by Lord J. Russell’s figures, the new borough-electors -will consist mainly of artizans; and these, as we have seen, are -in great part banded together by a common wish to regulate the -relations of capital and labour. As a class, they are not as Lord J. -Russell describes them, “fitted to exercise the franchise freely and -independently.” On the contrary, there are no men in the community so -shackled. They are the slaves of the authorities they have themselves -set up. The dependence of farmers on landlords, or of operatives on -employers, is much less servile; for they can carry their capital -or labour elsewhere. But {383} the penalty for disobedience to -trades-union dictates, pursues the rebel throughout the kingdom. Hence -the great mass of the new borough-electors must be expected to act -simultaneously, on the word of command being issued from a central -council of united trades. Even while we write we meet with fresh reason -for anticipating this result. An address from the Conference of the -Building Trades to the working classes throughout the kingdom, has -just been published; thanking them for their support; advising the -maintenance of the organization; anticipating future success in their -aims; and intimating the propriety of recommencing the nine-hours’ -agitation. We must, then, be prepared to see these industrial questions -made leading questions; for artizans have a much keener interest in -them than in any others. And we may feel certain that many elections -will turn upon them. - -How many? There are some thirty boroughs in which the -newly-enfranchised will form an actual majority—will, if they act -together, be able to outvote the existing electors; even supposing -the parties into which they are now divided were to unite. In -half-a-dozen other boroughs the newly-enfranchised will form a virtual -majority—will preponderate unless the present liberal and conservative -voters co-operate with great unanimity, which they will be unlikely -to do. And the number proposed to be added to the constituency, is -one-half or more in nearly fifty other boroughs: that is, in nearly -fifty other boroughs, the new party will be able to arbitrate between -the two existing parties; and will give its support to whichever of -these promises most aid to artizan-schemes. It maybe said that in this -estimate we assume the whole of the new borough-electors to belong to -the artizan-class, which they do not. This is true. But, on the other -hand, it must be remembered that among the £10 householders there is a -very considerable sprinkling of this class, while the freemen chiefly -consist of it; and hence the whole artizan body in each constituency -will probably {384} be not smaller than we have assumed. If so, it -follows that should the trades-union organization be brought to bear -on borough-elections, as it is pretty certain to be, it may prevail in -some eighty or ninety places, and sway the votes of representatives in -from 100 to 150 seats—supposing, that is, that it can obtain as many -eligible candidates. - -Meanwhile, the county-constituencies in their proposed state, as much -as in their existing state, not being under trades-union influence, -may be expected to stand in antagonism to the artizan-constituencies; -as may also the small boroughs. It is just possible, indeed, that -irritated by the ever-growing power of a rich mercantile class, -continually treading closer on their heels, the landowners, carrying -with them their dependents, might join the employed in their dictation -to employers; just as, in past times, the nobles joined the commonalty -against the kings, or the kings joined the commonalty against the -nobles. But leaving out this remote contingency, we may fairly expect -the rural constituencies to oppose the large urban ones on these -industrial questions. Thus, then, the point to be decided is, whether -the benefits that will result from this extended suffrage—benefits -which we doubt not will be great—may not be secured while the -accompanying evil tendencies are kept in check. It may be that these -new artizan-electors will be powerful for good, while their power to -work evil will be in a great degree neutralized. But this we should -like to see well discussed. - -On one question, however, we feel no hesitation; namely, the question -of a ratepaying-qualification. From Lord John Russell’s answer to Mr. -Bright, and more recently from his answer to Mr. Steel, we gather -that on this point there is to be no alteration—that £6 householders -will stand on the same footing that £10 householders do at present. -Now by the Compound-Householders-Act of 1851, to which we have -already referred, it is provided that tenants of £10 houses whose -rates are paid by their {385} landlords, shall, after having _once_ -tendered payment of rates to the authorities, be thereafter considered -as ratepayers, and have votes accordingly. That is to say, the -ratepaying-qualification is made nominal; and that in practice it has -become so, is proved by the fact that under this Act, 4000 electors -were suddenly added to the constituency of Manchester. - -The continuance and extension of this arrangement we conceive to be -wholly vicious. Already we have shown that the incidence of taxation -ought to be made more direct as fast as popular power is increased, and -that, as diminishing the elector’s personal experience of the costs of -public administration, this abolition of a ratepaying-qualification -is a retrograde step. But this is by no means the sole ground for -disapproval. The ratepaying-qualification is a valuable test—a test -which tends to separate the more worthy of the working classes from the -less worthy. Nay more, it tends to select for enfranchisement, those -who have the moral and intellectual qualities especially required for -judicious political conduct. For what general mental characteristic -does judicious political conduct presuppose? The power of realizing -remote consequences. People who are misled by demagogues, are those who -are impressed with the proximate results set forth to them but are not -impressed by the distant results, even when these are explained—regard -them as vague, shadowy, theoretical, and are not to be deterred by -them from clutching at a promised boon. Conversely, the wise citizen -is the one who conceives the distant evils so clearly that they are -practically present to him, and thus outweigh the immediate temptation. -Now these are just the respective characteristics of the two classes -of tenants whom a ratepaying-qualification separates:—the one having -their rates paid by their landlords and so losing their votes; the -other paying their own rates that they may get votes:—the one unable to -resist present temptations, unable to save money, {386} and therefore -so inconvenienced by the payment of rates as to be disfranchised rather -than pay them; the other resisting present temptations and saving -money, with the view, among other ends, of paying rates and becoming -electors. Trace these respective traits to their sources, and it -becomes manifest that, on the average, the pecuniarily improvident must -be also the politically improvident; and that the politically provident -must be far more numerous among those who are pecuniarily provident. -Hence, it is folly to throw aside a regulation under which these -spontaneously separate themselves—severally disfranchise themselves and -enfranchise themselves. - -{387} - - - - -“THE COLLECTIVE WISDOM.” - -[_First published in_ The Reader _for April 15, 1865_.] - - -A test of senatorial capacity is a desideratum. We rarely learn how -near the mark or how wide of the mark the calculations of statesmen -are: the slowness and complexity of social changes, hindering, as -they do, the definite comparisons of results with anticipations. -Occasionally, however, parliamentary decisions admit of being -definitely valued. One which was arrived at a few weeks ago furnished a -measure of legislative judgment too significant to be passed by. - -On the edge of the Cotswolds, just above the valley of the Severn, -occur certain springs, which, as they happen to be at the end of the -longest of the hundred streams which join to form the Thames, have been -called by a poetical fiction “the sources of the Thames.” Names, even -when poetical fictions, suggest conclusions; and conclusions drawn from -words instead of facts are equally apt to influence conduct. Thus it -happened that when, recently, there was formed a company for supplying -Cheltenham and some other places from these springs, great opposition -arose. The _Times_ published a paragraph headed “Threatened Absorption -of the Thames,” stating that the application of {388} this company -to Parliament had “caused some little consternation in the city of -Oxford, and will, doubtless, throughout the valley of the Thames;” -and that “such a measure, if carried out, will diminish the water -of that noble river a million of gallons per day.” A million is an -alarming word—suggests something necessarily vast. Translating words -into thoughts, however, would have calmed the fears of the _Times_ -paragraphist. Considering that a million gallons would be contained -by a room fifty-six feet cube, the nobility of the Thames would not -be much endangered by the deduction. The simple fact is, that the -current of the Thames, above the point at which the tides influence it, -discharges in twenty-four hours eight hundred times this amount! - -When the bill of this proposed water-company was brought before the -House of Commons for second reading, it became manifest that the -imaginations of our rulers were affected by such expressions as the -“sources of the Thames,” and “a million gallons daily,” in much the -same way as the imaginations of the ignorant. Though the quantity of -water proposed to be taken bears, to the quantity which runs over -Teddington weir, about the same ratio that a yard bears to half a -mile, it was thought by many members that its loss would be a serious -evil. No method of measurement would be accurate enough to detect the -difference between the Thames as it now is, and the Thames _minus_ the -Cerney springs; and yet it was gravely stated in the House that, were -the Thames diminished in the proposed way, “the proportion of sewage to -pure water would be seriously increased.” Taking a minute out of twelve -hours, would be taking as large a proportion as the Cheltenham people -wish to take from the Thames. Nevertheless, it was contended that to -let Cheltenham have this quantity would be “to rob the towns along the -banks of the Thames of their rights,” Though, of the Thames flowing by -each of these towns, some 999 parts out of 1,000 pass by unused, it was -held {389} that a great injustice would be committed were one or two -of these 999 parts appropriated by the inhabitants of a town who can -now obtain daily but four gallons of foul water per head! - -But the apparent inability thus shown to think of causes and effects -in something like their true quantitative relations, was still more -conspicuously shown. It was stated by several members that the Thames -Navigation Commissioners would have opposed the bill if the commission -had not been bankrupt; and this hypothetical opposition appeared to -have weight. If we may trust the reports, the House of Commons listened -with gravity to the assertion of one of its members, that, if the -Cerney springs were diverted, “shoals and flats would be created.” Not -a laugh nor a cry of “Oh! oh,” appears to have been produced by the -prophecy, that the volume and scouring power of the Thames would be -seriously affected by taking away from it twelve gallons per second! -The whole quantity which these springs supply would be delivered by a -current moving through a pipe one foot in diameter at the rate of less -than two miles per hour. Yet, when it was said that the navigability -of the Thames would be injuriously affected by this deduction, there -were no shouts of derision. On the contrary, the House rejected the -Cheltenham Water Bill by a majority of one hundred and eighteen to -eighty-eight. It is true that the data were not presented in the -above shape. But the remarkable fact is that, even in the absence of -a specific comparison, it should not have been at once seen that the -water of springs which drain but a few square miles at most, can be -but an inappreciable part of the water which runs out of the Thames -basin, extending over several thousand square miles. In itself, this is -a matter of small moment. It interests us here simply as an example of -legislative judgment. The decision is one of those small holes through -which a wide prospect may be seen, and a disheartening prospect it -is. In a very simple case there {390} is here displayed a scarcely -credible inability to see how much effect will follow so much cause; -and yet the business of the assembly exhibiting this inability is that -of dealing with causes and effects of an extremely involved kind. All -the processes going on in society arise from the concurrences and -conflicts of human actions, which are determined in their nature and -amounts by the human constitution as it now is—are as much results of -natural causation as any other results, and equally imply definite -quantitative relations between causes and effects. Every legislative -act presupposes a diagnosis and a prognosis; both of them involving -estimations of social forces and the work done by them. Before it can -be remedied, an evil must be traced to its source in the motives and -ideas of men as they are, living under the social conditions which -exist—a problem requiring that the actions tending toward the result -shall be identified, and that there shall be something like a true idea -of the quantities of their effects as well as the qualities. A further -estimation has then to be made of the kinds and degrees of influence -that will be exerted by the additional factors which the proposed -law will set in motion: what will be the resultants produced by the -new forces coöperating with preëxisting forces—a problem still more -complicated than the other. - -We are quite prepared to hear the unhesitating reply, that men -incapable of forming an approximately true judgment on a matter of -simple physical causation may yet be very good law-makers. So obvious -will this be thought by most, that a tacit implication to the contrary -will seem to them absurd; and that it will seem to them absurd is one -of the many indications of the profound ignorance that prevails. It -is true that mere empirical generalizations which men draw from their -dealings with their fellows suffice to give them some ideas of the -proximate effects which new enactments will work; and, seeing these, -they think they see as far as needful. Discipline in physical {391} -science, however, would help to show them the futility of calculating -consequences based on such simple data. And if there needs proof that -calculations of consequences so based are futile, we have it in the -enormous labour annually entailed on the Legislature in trying to undo -the mischiefs it has previously done. - -Should any say that it is useless to dwell on this incompetency, seeing -that the House of Commons contains the select of the nation, than whose -judgments no better are to be had, we reply that there may be drawn -two inferences which have important practical bearings. In the first -place, we are shown how completely the boasted intellectual discipline -of our upper classes fails to give them the power of following out in -thought, with any correctness, the sequences of even simple phenomena, -much less those of complex phenomena. And, in the second place, we may -draw the corollary, that if the sequences of those complex phenomena -which societies display, difficult beyond all others to trace out, -are so unlikely to be understood by them, they may advantageously be -restricted in their interferences with such sequences. - -In one direction, especially, shall we see reason to resist the -extension of legislative action. There has of late been urged the -proposal that the class contemptuously described as dividing its -energies between business and bethels shall have its education -regulated by the class which might, with equal justice, be described -as dividing its energies between club-rooms and game preserves. This -scheme does not seem to us a hopeful one. Considering that during the -last half century our society has been remoulded by ideas that have -come from the proposed pupil, and have had to overcome the dogged -resistance of the proposed teacher, the propriety of the arrangement -is not obvious. And if the propriety of the arrangement is not -obvious on the face of it, still less obvious does it become when the -competency of {392} the proposed teacher comes to be measured. British -intelligence, as distilled through the universities and re-distilled -into the House of Commons, is a product admitting of such great -improvement in quality, that we should be sorry to see the present -method of manufacture extended and permanently established. - -{393} - - - - -POLITICAL FETICHISM. - -[_First published in_ The Reader _for June 10, 1865_.] - - -A Hindoo, who, before beginning his day’s work, salaams to a bit of -plastic clay, out of which, in a few moments, he has extemporized a god -in his own image, is an object of amazement to the European. We read -with surprise bordering on scepticism of worship done by machinery, and -of prayers which owe their supposed efficacy to the motion given by the -wind to the papers they are written on. When told how certain of the -Orientals, if displeased with their wooden deities, take them down and -beat them, men laugh and wonder. - -Why should men wonder? Kindred superstitions are exhibited by their -fellows every day—superstitions that are, indeed, not so gross, but -are intrinsically of the same nature. There is an idolatry which, -instead of carving the object of its worship out of dead matter, takes -humanity for its raw material, and expects, by moulding a mass of this -humanity into a particular form, to give it powers or properties quite -different from those it had before it was moulded. In the one case as -in the other, the raw material is, as much as may be, disguised. There -are decorative appliances by which the savage helps himself to think -that he has something more than wood before him; and the {394} citizen -gives to the political agencies he has helped to create, such imposing -externals and distinctive names expressive of power, as serve to -strengthen his belief in the benefits prayed for. Some faint reflection -of that “divinity” which “doth hedge a king” spreads down through every -state department to the lowest ranks; so that, in the eyes of the -people, even the policeman puts on along with his uniform a certain -indefinable power. Nay, the mere dead symbols of authority excite -reverence in spite of better knowledge. A legal form of words seems to -have something especially binding in it; and there is a preternatural -efficiency about a government stamp. - -The parallelism is still more conspicuous between the persistency of -faith in the two cases, notwithstanding perpetual disappointments. It -is difficult to perceive how graven images, that have been thrashed -for not responding to their worshipper’s desires, should still be -reverenced and petitioned; but the difficulty of conceiving this is -diminished when we remember how, in their turns, all the idols in -our political pantheon undergo castigations for failing to do what -was expected of them, and are nevertheless daily looked up to in the -trustful hope that future prayers will be answered. The stupidity, -the slowness, the perversity, the dishonesty of officialism, in one -or other of its embodiments, are demonstrated afresh in almost every -newspaper that issues. Probably half the leading articles written have -for texts some absurd official blunder, some exasperating official -delay, some astounding official corruption, some gross official -injustice, some incredible official extravagance. And yet these -whippings, in which balked expectation continually vents itself, are -immediately followed by renewed faith: the benefits that have not -come are still hoped for, and prayers for others are put up. Along -with proof that the old State-machines are in themselves inert, and -owe such powers as they seem to have to the public opinion which -sets their parts in motion, there are continually proposed {395} -new State-machines of the same type as the old. This inexhaustible -credulity is counted on by men of the widest political experience. -Lord Palmerston, who probably knows his public better than any other -man, lately said, in reply to a charge made in the House—“I am quite -convinced that no person belonging to the government, in whatever -department he may be, high or low, would be guilty of any breach of -faith in regard to any matter confided to him.” To assert as much in -the face of facts continually disclosed, implies that Lord Palmerston -knows well that men’s faith in officialism survives all adverse -evidence. - -In which case are the hopes from State-agency realized? One might -have thought that the vital interests at stake would have kept the -all-essential apparatus for administering justice up to its work; but -they do not. On the one hand, here is a man wrongly convicted, and -afterward proved to be innocent, who is “pardoned” for an offence -he did not commit; and has this as consolation for his unmerited -suffering. On the other hand, here is a man whose grave delinquencies -a Lord Chancellor overlooks, on partial restitution being made—nay, -more, countenances the granting of a pension to him. Proved guilt is -rewarded, while proved innocence is left without compensation for -pains borne and fortunes blasted! This marvellous antithesis, if not -often fully paralleled in the doings of officialism as administrator -of justice, is, in endless cases, paralleled in part. The fact that -imprisonment is the sentence on a boy for stealing a pennyworth of -fruit, while thousands of pounds may be transferred from a public -into a private purse without any positive punishment being adjudged, -is an anomaly kept in countenance by numerous other judicial acts. -Theoretically, the State is a protector of the rights of subjects; -practically, the State continually plays the part of aggressor. Though -it is a recognized principle of equity that he who makes a false charge -shall pay the costs of the {396} defence, yet, until quite recently, -the Crown has persisted in refusing to pay the costs of citizens -against whom it has brought false charges. Nay, worse, deliberate -attempts used to be made to establish charges by corrupt means. Within -the memory of those now living, the Crown, in excise-prosecutions, -bribed juries. When the verdict was for the Crown, the custom was to -give double fees; and the practice was not put an end to until the -counsel for a defendant announced in open court that the jury should -have double fees if their verdict was for his client! - -Not alone in the superior parts of our judicial apparatus is this -ill-working of officialism so thrust on men’s notice as to have -become proverbial; not alone in the life-long delays and ruinous -expenses which have made Chancery a word of dread; not alone in the -extravagances of bankruptcy courts, which lead creditors carefully to -shun them; not alone in that uncertainty which makes men submit to -gross injustice rather than risk the still grosser injustice which -the law will, as likely as not, inflict on them; but down through the -lower divisions of the judicial apparatus are all kinds of failures -and absurdities daily displayed. If may be fairly urged in mitigation -of the sarcasms current respecting the police, that among so many men -cases of misconduct and inefficiency must be frequent; but we might -have expected the orders under which they act to be just and well -considered. Very little inquiry shows that they are not. There is a -story current that, in the accounts of an Irish official, a small -charge for a telegram which an emergency had called for, was objected -to at the head office in London, and, after a long correspondence, -finally allowed, but with the understanding that in future no such -item would be passed, unless the department in London had authorized -it! We cannot vouch for this story, but we can vouch for one which -gives credibility to it. A friend who had been robbed by his cook -went to the police-office, detailed the case, gave good reasons for -inferring the direction of her {397} flight, and requested the police -to telegraph, that she might be intercepted. He was told, however, -that they could not do this without authority; and this authority was -not to be had without a long delay. The result was that the thief, who -had gone to the place supposed, escaped, and has not since been heard -of. Take another function assumed by the police—the regulation of -traffic. Daily, all through London, ten thousand fast-going vehicles, -with hard-pressed men of business in them, are stopped by a sprinkle -of slow-going carts and wagons. Greater speed in these comparatively -few carts and wagons, or limitation of them to early and late hours, -would immensely diminish the evil. But, instead of dealing with these -really great hinderances to traffic, the police deal with that which -is practically no hindrance. Men with advertisement-boards were lately -forbidden to walk about, on the groundless plea that they are in the -way; and incapables, prevented thus from getting a shilling a day, -were driven into the ranks of paupers and thieves. Worse cases may be -observed. For years past there has been a feud between the police and -the orange-girls, who are chased hither and thither because they are -said to be obstructions to foot-passengers. Meanwhile, in some of the -chief thoroughfares, may constantly be seen men standing with toys, -which they delude children and their parents into buying by pretending -that the toys make certain sounds which they themselves make; and when -the police, quietly watching this obtainment of money under false -pretences, are asked why they do not interfere, they reply that they -have no orders. Admirable contrast! Trade dishonestly, and you may -collect a small crowd on the pavement without complaint being made that -you interrupt the traffic. Trade honestly, and you shall be driven from -the pavement-edge as an impediment—shall be driven to dishonesty! - -One might have thought that the notorious inefficiency of officialism -as a protector against injustice would have {398} made men sceptical -of its efficiency in other things. If here, where citizens have such -intense interests in getting a function well discharged, they have -failed through all these centuries in getting it well discharged—if -this agency, which is in theory the guardian of each citizen, is -in so many cases his enemy, that going to law is suggestive of -impoverishment and possible ruin; it might have been supposed that -officialism would scarcely be expected to work well where the interests -at stake are less intense. But so strong is political fetichism, that -neither these experiences, nor the parallel experiences which every -state-department affords, diminish men’s faith. For years past there -has been thrust before them the fact that, of the funds of Greenwich -Hospital, one-third goes to maintain the sailors, while two-thirds go -in administration; but this and other such facts do not stop their -advocacy of more public administrations. The parable of straining -at gnats and swallowing camels they see absolutely paralleled by -officialism, in the red-tape particularity with which all minute -regulations are enforced, and the astounding carelessness with which -the accounts of a whole department, like the Patent Office, are -left utterly uncontrolled; and yet we continue to hear men propose -government-audits as checks for mercantile companies! No diminution -of confidence seems to result from disclosure of stupidities which -even a wild imagination would scarcely have thought possible: instance -the method of promotion lately made public, under which a clerk in -one branch of a department takes the higher duties of some deceased -superior clerk, without any rise of salary, while some clerk in another -branch of the department gets the rise of salary without any increase -in his responsibilities! - -Endless as are these evils and absurdities, and surviving generation -after generation as they do, spite of commissions and reports and -debates, there is an annual crop of new schemes for government agencies -which are expected {399} to work just as legislators propose they -shall work. With a system of army-promotion which insures an organized -incompetence, but which survives perpetual protests; with a notoriously -ill-constituted admiralty, of which the doings are stock-subjects of -ridicule; with a church that maintains effete formulas, notwithstanding -almost universal repudiation of them; there are daily demands for -more law-established appliances. With building acts under which -arise houses less stable than those of the last generation; with -coal-mine inspection that does not prevent coal-mine explosions; with -railway inspection that has for its accompaniment plenty of railway -accidents—with these and other such failures continually displayed, -there still prevails what M. Guizot rightly calls that “gross delusion, -a belief in the sovereign power of political machinery.” - -A great service would be done by any man who would analyze the -legislation, say of the last half century, and compare the expected -results of Acts of Parliament with their proved results. He might make -it an instructive revelation by simply taking all the preambles, and -observing how many of the evils to be rectified were evils produced by -preceding enactments. His chief difficulty would be that of getting -within any moderate compass the immense number of cases in which the -benefits anticipated were not achieved, while unanticipated disasters -were caused. And then he might effectively close his digest by showing -what immense advantages have, in instance after instance, followed -the entire cessation of legislative action. Not, indeed, that such an -accumulation of cases, however multitudinous and however conclusive, -would have an appreciable effect on the average mind. Political -fetichism will continue so long as men remain without scientific -discipline—so long as they recognize only proximate causes, and never -think of the remoter and more general causes by which their special -agencies are set in motion. Until the thing which now usurps the name -of education {400} has been dethroned by a true education, having -for its end to teach men the nature of the world they live in, new -political delusions will grow up as fast as old ones are extinguished. -But there is a select class existing, and a larger select class -arising, on whom a work of the kind described would have an effect, and -for whom it would be well worth while to write it. - -{401} - - - - -SPECIALIZED ADMINISTRATION. - -[_First published in_ The Fortnightly Review _for December 1871_.] - - -It is contrary to common-sense that fish should be more difficult to -get at the sea-side than in London; but it is true, nevertheless. No -less contrary to common-sense seems the truth that though, in the -West Highlands, oxen are to be seen everywhere, no beef can be had -without sending two or three hundred miles to Glasgow for it. Rulers -who, guided by common-sense, tried to suppress certain opinions -by forbidding the books containing them, never dreamed that their -interdicts would cause the diffusion of these opinions; and rulers who, -guided by common-sense, forbade excessive rates of interest, never -dreamed that they were thereby making the terms harder for borrowers -than before. When printing replaced copying, any one who had prophesied -that the number of persons engaged in the manufacture of books would -immensely increase, as a consequence, would have been thought wholly -devoid of common-sense. And equally devoid of common-sense would have -been thought any one who, when railways were displacing coaches, -said that the number of horses employed in bringing passengers and -goods to and from railways, would be greater than the number directly -displaced by railways. Such cases might {402} be multiplied. Whoso -remembers that, among quite simple phenomena, causes produce effects -which are sometimes utterly at variance with anticipation, will see how -frequently this must happen among complex phenomena. That a balloon -is made to rise by the same force which makes a stone fall; that -the melting of ice may be greatly retarded by wrapping the ice in a -blanket; that the simplest way of setting potassium on fire is to throw -it into the water; are truths which those who know only the outside -aspect of things would regard as manifest falsehoods. And, if, when the -factors are few and simple, the results may be so absolutely opposed -to seeming probability, much more will they be often thus opposed when -the factors are many and involved. The saying of the French respecting -political events, that “it is always the unexpected which happens”—a -saying which they have been abundantly re-illustrating of late—is -one which legislators, and those who urge on schemes of legislation, -should have ever in mind. Let us pause a moment to contemplate a -seemingly-impossible set of results which social forces have wrought -out. - -Up to quite recent days, Language was held to be of supernatural -origin. That this elaborate apparatus of symbols, so marvellously -adapted for the conveyance of thought from mind to mind, was a -miraculous gift, seemed unquestionable. No possible alternative way -could be thought of by which there had come into existence these -multitudinous assemblages of words of various orders, genera, and -species, moulded into fitness for articulating with one another, -and capable of being united from moment to moment into ever-new -combinations, which represent with precision each idea as it arises. -The supposition that, in the slow progress of things, Language grew -out of the continuous use of signs—at first mainly mimetic, afterward -partly mimetic, partly vocal, and at length almost wholly vocal—was an -hypothesis never even conceived by men in early stages of civilization; -and when {403} the hypothesis was at length conceived, it was thought -too monstrous an absurdity to be even entertained. Yet this monstrous -absurdity proves to be true. Already the evolution of Language has -been traced back far enough to show that all its particular words, -and all its leading traits of structure, have had a natural genesis; -and day by day investigation makes it more manifest that its genesis -has been natural from the beginning. Not only has it been natural -from the beginning, but it has been spontaneous. No language is a -cunningly-devised scheme of a ruler or body of legislators. There -was no council of savages to invent the parts of speech, and decide -on what principles they should be used. Nay, more. Going on without -any authority or appointed regulation, this natural process went on -without any man observing that it was going on. Solely under pressure -of the need for communicating their ideas and feelings—solely in -pursuit of their personal interests—men little by little developed -speech in absolute unconsciousness that they were doing any thing more -than pursuing their personal interests. Even now the unconsciousness -continues. Take the whole population of the globe, and there is -probably not above one in a million who knows that in his daily talk he -is carrying on the process by which Language has been evolved. - -I commence thus by way of giving the key-note to the argument which -follows. My general purpose, in dwelling a moment on this illustration, -has been that of showing how utterly beyond the conceptions of -common-sense, literally so called, and even beyond the conceptions -of cultivated common-sense, are the workings-out of sociological -processes—how these workings-out are such that even those who have -carried to the uttermost “the scientific use of the imagination,” would -never have anticipated them. And my more special purpose has been -that of showing how marvellous are the results indirectly and {404} -unintentionally achieved by the coöperation of men who are severally -pursuing their private ends. Let me pass now to the particular topic to -be here dealt with. - - * * * * * - -I have greatly regretted to see Prof. Huxley strengthening, by his -deservedly high authority, a school of politicians which can scarcely -be held to need strengthening: its opponents being so few. I regret it -the more because, thus far, men prepared for the study of Sociology by -previous studies of Biology and Psychology, have scarcely expressed -any opinions on the question at issue; and that Prof. Huxley, who by -both general and special culture is so eminently fitted to judge, -should have come to the conclusions set forth in the last number of the -_Fortnightly Review_, will be discouraging to the small number who have -reached opposite conclusions. Greatly regretting however, though I do, -this avowed antagonism of Prof. Huxley to a general political doctrine -with which I am identified, I do not propose to make any reply to his -arguments at large: being deterred partly by reluctance to dwell on -points of difference with one whom I so greatly admire, and partly by -the consciousness that what I should say would be mainly a repetition -of what I have explicitly or implicitly said elsewhere. But with one -point raised I feel obliged to deal. Prof. Huxley tacitly puts to me a -question. By so doing he leaves me to choose between two alternatives, -neither of which is agreeable to me. I must either, by leaving it -unanswered, accept the implication that it is unanswerable, and the -doctrine I hold untenable; or else I must give it an adequate answer. -Little as I like it, I see that the latter of these alternatives is -that which, on public as well as on personal grounds, I must accept. - -Had I been allowed to elaborate more fully the Review-article from -which Prof. Huxley quotes, this question would possibly not have been -raised. That article closes {405} with the following words:—“We -had hoped to say something respecting the different types of social -organization, and something also on social metamorphoses; but we -have reached our assigned limits.” These further developments of the -conception—developments to be hereafter set forth in the _Principles of -Sociology_—I must here sketch in outline before my answer can be made -intelligible. In sketching them, I must say much that would be needless -were my answer addressed to Prof. Huxley only. Bare allusions to -general phenomena of organization, with which he is immeasurably more -familiar than I am, would suffice. But, as the sufficiency of my answer -has to be judged by the general reader, the general reader must be -supplied with the requisite data: my presentation of them being under -correction from Prof. Huxley if it is inaccurate. - - * * * * * - -The primary differentiation in organic structures, manifested alike -in the history of each organism and in the history of the organic -world as a whole, is the differentiation between outer and inner -parts—the parts which hold direct converse with the environment and -the parts which do not hold direct converse with the environment. We -see this alike in those smallest and lowest forms improperly, though -suggestively, sometimes called unicellular, and also in the next higher -division of creatures which, with considerable reason, are regarded as -aggregations of the lower. In these creatures the body is divisible -into endoderm and ectoderm, differing very little in their characters, -but serving the one to form the digestive sac, and the other to form -the outer wall of the body. As Prof. Huxley describes them in his -_Oceanic Hydrozoa_, these layers represent respectively the organs of -nutrition and the organs of external relation—generally, though not -universally; for there are exceptions, especially among parasites. In -the embryos of higher types, these two layers severally become double -by the splitting of a layer formed between {406} them; and from the -outer double layer is developed the body-wall with its limbs, nervous -system, senses, muscles, etc.; while from the inner double layer there -arise the alimentary canal and its appendages, together with the heart -and lungs. Though in such higher types these two systems of organs, -which respectively absorb nutriment and expend nutriment, become so -far connected by ramifying blood-vessels and nerves that this division -cannot be sharply made, still the broad contrast remains. At the very -outset, then, there arises this separation, which implies at once a -coöperation and an antagonism—a co-operation, because, while the outer -organs secure for the inner organs the crude food, the inner organs -elaborate and supply to the outer organs the prepared materials by -which they are enable to do their work; and an antagonism, because -each set of organs, living and growing at the cost of these prepared -materials, cannot appropriate any portion of the total supply without -diminishing by so much the supply available for the other. This general -coöperation and general antagonism becomes complicated with special -coöperations and special antagonisms, as fast as these two great -systems of organs develop. The originally simple alimentary canal, -differentiating into many parts, becomes a congeries of structures -which, by coöperation, fulfil better their general function, but -between which there nevertheless arise antagonisms; since each has to -make good its waste and to get matter for growth, at the cost of the -general supply of nutriment available for them all. Similarly, as fast -as the outer system develops into special senses and limbs, there arise -among these, also, secondary coöperations and secondary antagonisms. By -their variously-combined actions, food is obtained more effectually; -and yet the activity of each set of muscles, or each directive nervous -structure, entails a draft upon the stock of prepared nutriment which -the outer organs receive, and is by so much at the cost of the rest. -Thus the method of {407} organization, both in general and in detail, -is a simultaneous combination and opposition. All the organs unite in -subserving the interests of the organism they form; and yet they have -all their special interests, and compete with one another for blood. - -A form of government, or control, or coördination, develops as fast -as these systems of organs develop. Eventually this becomes double. -A general distinction arises between the two controlling systems -belonging to the two great systems of organs. Whether the inner -controlling system is or is not originally derived from the outer, -matters not to the argument—when developed it is in great measure -independent.[37] If we contemplate their respective sets of functions, -we shall perceive the origin of this distinction. That the outer organs -may coöperate effectively for the purposes of catching prey, escaping -danger, etc., it is needful that they should be under a government -capable of directing their combined actions, now in this way and -now in that, according as outer circumstances vary. From instant to -instant there must be quick adjustments to occasions that are more or -less new; and hence there requires a complex and centralized nervous -apparatus, to which all these organs are promptly and completely -obedient. The government needful for the {408} inner system of organs -is a different and much simpler one. When the food obtained by the -outer organs has been put into the stomach, the coöperation required -of the viscera, though it varies somewhat as the quantity or kind of -food varies, has nevertheless a general uniformity; and it is required -to go on in much the same way whatever the outer circumstances may -be. In each case the food has to be reduced to a pulp, supplied with -various solvent secretions, propelled onward, and its nutritive part -taken up by absorbent surfaces. That these processes may be effective, -the organs which carry them on must be supplied with fit blood; and to -this end the heart and the lungs have to act with greater vigor. This -visceral coöperation, carried on with this comparative uniformity, is -regulated by a nervous system which is to a large extent independent -of that higher and more complex nervous system controlling the -external organs. The act of swallowing is, indeed, mainly effected by -the higher nervous system; but, being swallowed, the food affects by -its presence the local nerves, through them the local ganglia, and -indirectly, through nervous connexions with other ganglia, excites the -rest of the viscera into coöperative activity. It is true that the -functions of the sympathetic or ganglionic nervous system, or “nervous -system of organic life,” as it is otherwise called, are imperfectly -understood. But, since we know positively that some of its plexuses, -as the cardiac, are centres of local stimulation and coördination, -which can act independently, though they are influenced by higher -centres, it is fairly to be inferred that the other and still larger -plexuses, distributed among the viscera, are also such local and -largely independent centres; especially as the nerves they send into -the viscera, to join the many subordinate ganglia distributed through -them, greatly exceed in quantity the cerebro-spinal fibres accompanying -them. Indeed, to suppose otherwise is to leave unanswered the -question—What are their functions? as well as the {409} question—How -are these unconscious visceral coördinations effected? There remains -only to observe the kind of co-operation which exists between the two -nervous systems. This is both a general and a special coöperation. -The general coöperation is that by which either system of organs is -enabled to stimulate the other to action. The alimentary canal yields -through certain nervous connexions the sensation of hunger to the -higher nervous system; and so prompts efforts for procuring food. -Conversely, the activity of the nervo-muscular system, or, at least, -its normal activity, sends inward to the cardiac and other plexuses -a gush of stimulus which excites the viscera to action. The special -coöperation is one by which it would seem that each system puts an -indirect restraint on the other. Fibres from the sympathetic accompany -every artery throughout the organs of external relation, and exercise -on the artery a constrictive action; and the converse is done by -certain of the cerebro-spinal fibres which ramify with the sympathetic -throughout the viscera: through the vagus and other nerves, an -inhibitory influence is exercised on the heart, intestines, pancreas, -etc. Leaving doubtful details, however, the fact which concerns us here -is sufficiently manifest. There are, for these two systems of organs, -two nervous systems, in great measure independent; and, if it is true -that the higher system influences the lower, it is no less true that -the lower very powerfully influences the higher. The restrictive action -of the sympathetic upon the circulation, throughout the nervo-muscular -system, is unquestionable; and it is possibly through this that, -when the viscera have much work to do, the nervo-muscular system is -incapacitated in so marked a manner.[38] - - [37] Here, and throughout the discussion, I refer to these controlling - systems only as they exist in the _Vertebrata_, because their - relations are far better known in this great division of the animal - kingdom—not because like relations do not exist elsewhere. Indeed, - in the great sub-kingdom _Annulosa_, these controlling systems have - relations that are extremely significant to us here. For while an - inferior annulose animal has only a single set of nervous structures, - a superior annulose animal (as a moth) has a set of nervous structures - presiding over the viscera, as well as a more conspicuous set - presiding over the organs of external relation. And this contrast is - analogous to one of the contrasts between undeveloped and developed - societies; for, while among the uncivilized and incipiently civilized - there is but a single set of directive agencies, there are among the - fully civilized, as we shall presently see, two sets of directive - agencies, for the outer and inner structures respectively. - - [38] To meet the probable objection that the experiments of Bernard, - Ludwig, and others, show that in the case of certain glands the - nerves of the cerebro-spinal system are those which set up the - secreting process, I would remark that in these cases, and in many - others where the relative functions of the cerebro-spinal nerves - and the sympathetic nerves have been studied, the organs have been - those in which _sensation_ is either the stimulus to activity or its - accompaniment; and that from these cases no conclusion can be drawn - applying to the cases of those viscera which normally perform their - functions without sensation. Perhaps it may even be that the functions - of those sympathetic fibres which accompany the arteries of the outer - organs are simply ancillary to those of the central parts of the - sympathetic system, which stimulate and regulate the viscera—ancillary - in this sense, that they check the diffusion of blood in external - organs when it is wanted in internal organs: cerebro-spinal inhibition - (except in its action on the heart) working the opposite way. And - possibly this is the instrumentality for carrying on that competition - for nutriment which, as we saw, arises at the very outset between - these two great systems of organs. - -The one further fact here concerning us is the contrast {410} -presented in different kinds of animals, between the degrees of -development of these two great sets of structures that carry on -respectively the outer functions and the inner functions. There are -active creatures in which the locomotive organs, the organs of sense, -together with the nervous apparatus which combines their actions, bear -a large ratio to the organs of alimentation and their appendages; while -there are inactive creatures in which these organs of external relation -bear a very small ratio to the organs of alimentation. And a remarkable -fact, here especially instructive to us, is that very frequently there -occurs a metamorphosis, which has for its leading trait a great change -in the ratio of these two systems—a metamorphosis which accompanies a -great change in the mode of life. The most familiar metamorphosis is -variously illustrated among insects. During the early or larval stage -of a butterfly, the organs of alimentation are largely developed, -while the organs of external relation are but little developed; and -then, during a period of quiescence, the organs of external relation -undergo an immense development, making possible the creature’s active -and varied adjustments to the surrounding world, while the alimentary -system becomes relatively small. On the other hand, among the lower -invertebrate animals there is a very common metamorphosis of an -opposite kind. When young, the creature, with scarcely any alimentary -system, but supplied {411} with limbs and sense organs, swims about -actively. Presently it settles in a _habitat_ where food is to be -obtained without moving about, loses in great part its organs of -external relation, develops its visceral system, and, as it grows, -assumes a nature utterly unlike that which it originally had—a nature -adapted almost exclusively to alimentation and the propagation of the -species. - - * * * * * - -Let us turn now to the social organism, and the analogies of structure -and function which may be traced in it. Of course these analogies -between the phenomena presented in a physically coherent aggregate -forming an individual, and the phenomena presented in a physically -incoherent aggregate of individuals distributed over a wide area, -cannot be analogies of a visible or sensible kind; but can only be -analogies between the systems, or methods, of organization. Such -analogies as exist result from the one unquestionable community -between the two organizations: _there is in both a mutual dependence -of parts_. This is the origin of all organization; and determines what -similarities there are between an individual organism and a social -organism. Of course the similarities thus determined are accompanied -by transcendent differences, determined, as above said, by the -unlikenesses of the aggregates. One cardinal difference is that, while -in the individual organism there is but one centre of consciousness -capable of pleasure or pain, there are, in the social organism, as many -such centres as there are individuals, and the aggregate of them has no -consciousness of pleasure or pain—a difference which entirely changes -the ends to be pursued. Bearing in mind this qualification, let us now -glance at the parallelisms indicated. - -A society, like an individual, has a set of structures fitting it to -act upon its environment—appliances for attack and defence, armies, -navies, fortified and garrisoned places. At the same time, a society -has an industrial organization {412} which carries on all those -processes that make possible the national life. Though these two sets -of organs for external activity and internal activity do not bear to -one another just the same relation which the outer and inner organs -of an animal do (since the industrial structures in a society supply -themselves with raw materials, instead of being supplied by the -external organs), yet they bear a relation otherwise similar. There is -at once a coöperation and an antagonism. By the help of the defensive -system the industrial system is enabled to carry on its functions -without injury from foreign enemies; and by the help of the industrial -system, which supplies it with food and materials, the defensive -system is enabled to maintain this security. At the same time the two -systems are opposed in so far that they both depend for their existence -upon the common stock of produce. Further, in the social organism, as -in the individual organism, this primary coöperation and antagonism -subdivides into secondary coöperations and antagonisms. If we look at -the industrial organization, we see that its agricultural part and its -manufacturing part aid one another by the exchange of their products, -and are yet otherwise opposed to one another; since each takes of the -other’s products the most it can get in return for its own products. -Similarly throughout the manufacturing system itself. Of the total -returns secured by Manchester for its goods, Liverpool obtains as much -as possible for the raw material, and Manchester gives as little as -possible—the two at the same time coöperating in secreting for the -rest of the community the woven fabrics it requires, and in jointly -obtaining from the rest of the community the largest payment in other -commodities. And thus it is in all kinds of direct and indirect ways -throughout the industrial structures. Men prompted by their own needs -as well as those of their children, and bodies of such men more or -less aggregated, are quick to find every unsatisfied need of their -fellow-men, and to {413} satisfy it in return for the satisfaction of -their own needs; and the working of this process is inevitably such -that the strongest need, ready to pay the most for satisfaction, is -that which draws most workers to satisfy it, so that there is thus a -perpetual balancing of the needs and of the appliances which subserve -them. - -This brings us to the regulative structures under which these two -systems of coöperating parts work. As in the individual organism, so -in the social organism, the outer parts are under a rigorous central -control. For adjustment to the varying and incalculable changes in the -environment, the external organs, offensive and defensive, must be -capable of prompt combination; and that their actions may be quickly -combined to meet each exigency as it arises, they must be completely -subordinated to a supreme executive power: armies and navies must be -despotically controlled. Quite otherwise is it with the regulative -apparatus required for the industrial system. This, which carries on -the nutrition of a society, as the visceral system carries on the -nutrition of an individual, has a regulative apparatus in great measure -distinct from that which regulates the external organs. It is not by -any “order in council” that farmers are determined to grow so much -wheat and so much barley, or to divide their land in due proportion -between arable and pasture. There requires no telegram from the Home -Office to alter the production of woollens in Leeds, so that it may -be properly adjusted to the stocks on hand and the forthcoming crop -of wool. Staffordshire produces its due quantity of pottery, and -Sheffield sends out cutlery with rapidity adjusted to the consumption, -without any legislative stimulus or restraint. The spurs and checks -to production which manufacturers and manufacturing centres receive, -have quite another origin. Partly by direct orders from distributors -and partly by the indirect indications furnished by the market reports -throughout the kingdom, they are prompted to {414} secrete actively -or to diminish their rates of secretion. The regulative apparatus by -which these industrial organs are made to coöperate harmoniously, acts -somewhat as the sympathetic does in a vertebrate animal. There is a -system of communications among the great producing and distributing -centres, which excites or retards as the circumstances vary. From -hour to hour messages pass between all the chief provincial towns, -as well as between each of them and London; from hour to hour prices -are adjusted, supplies are ordered hither or thither, and capital is -drafted from place to place, according as there is greater or less need -for it. All this goes on without any ministerial overseeing—without -any dictation from those executive centres which combine the actions -of the outer organs. There is, however, one all-essential influence -which these higher centres exercise over the industrial activities—a -restraining influence which prevents aggression, direct and indirect. -The condition under which only these producing and distributing -processes can go on healthfully, is that, wherever there is work -and waste, there shall be a proportionate supply of materials for -repair. And securing this is nothing less than securing fulfilment of -contracts. Just in the same way that a bodily organ which performs -function, but is not adequately paid in blood, must dwindle, and -the organism as a whole eventually suffer; so an industrial centre -which has made and sent out its special commodity, but does not get -adequately paid in other commodities, must decay. And when we ask what -is requisite to prevent this local innutrition and decay, we find -the requisite to be that agreements shall be carried out; that goods -shall be paid for at the stipulated prices; that justice shall be -administered. - -One further leading parallelism must be described—that between the -metamorphoses which occur in the two cases. These metamorphoses are -analogous in so far that {415} they are changes in the ratios of the -inner and outer systems of organs; and also in so far as they take -place under analogous conditions. At the one extreme we have that -small and simple type of society which a wandering horde of savages -presents. This is a type almost wholly predatory in its organization. -It consists of little else than a coöperative structure for carrying -on warfare—the industrial part is almost absent, being represented -only by the women. When the wandering tribe becomes a settled tribe, -an industrial organization begins to show itself—especially where, by -conquest, there has been obtained a slave-class that may be forced -to labour. The predatory structure, however, still for a long time -predominates. Omitting the slaves and the women, the whole body -politic consists of parts organized for offence and defence, and -is efficient in proportion as the control of them is centralized. -Communities of this kind, continuing to subjugate their neighbours, -and developing an organization of some complexity, nevertheless retain -a mainly-predatory type, with just such industrial structures as are -needful for supporting the offensive and defensive structures. Of this -Sparta furnished a good example. The characteristics of such a social -type are these—that each member of the ruling race is a soldier; that -war is the business of life; that every one is subject to a rigorous -discipline fitting him for this business; that centralized authority -regulates all the social activities, down to the details of each man’s -daily conduct; that the welfare of the State is every thing, and that -the individual lives for public benefit. So long as the environing -societies are such as necessitate and keep in exercise the militant -organization, these traits continue; but when, mainly by conquest -and the formation of large aggregates, the militant activity becomes -less constant, and war ceases to be the occupation of every free man, -the industrial structures begin to predominate. Without tracing the -transition, it will suffice to take, as a sample {416} of the pacific -or industrial type, the Northern States of America before the late -war. Here military organization had almost disappeared; the infrequent -local assemblings of militia had turned into occasions for jollity, and -every thing martial had fallen into contempt. The traits of the pacific -or industrial type are these—that the central authority is relatively -feeble; that it interferes scarcely at all with the private actions of -individuals; and that the State, instead of being that for the benefit -of which individuals exist, has become that which exists for the -benefit of individuals. - -It remains to add that this metamorphosis, which takes place in -societies along with a higher civilization, very rapidly retrogrades if -the surrounding conditions become unfavorable to it. During the late -war in America, Mr. Seward’s boast—“I touch this bell, and any man in -the remotest State is a prisoner of the Government” (a boast which was -not an empty one, and which was by many of the Republican party greatly -applauded)—shows us how rapidly, along with militant activities, there -tends to be resumed the needful type of centralized structure; and -how there quickly grow up the corresponding sentiments and ideas. -Our own history since 1815 has shown a double change of this kind. -During the thirty years’ peace, the militant organization dwindled, -the military sentiment greatly decreased, the industrial organization -rapidly developed, the assertion of the individuality of the citizen -became more decided, and many restrictive and despotic regulations were -got rid of. Conversely, since the revival of militant activities and -structures on the Continent, our own offensive and defensive structures -have been re-developing; and the tendency toward increase of that -centralized control which accompanies such structures has become marked. - - * * * * * - -And now, closing this somewhat elaborate introduction, {417} I am -prepared to deal with the question put to me. Prof. Huxley, after -quoting some passages from that essay on the “Social Organism” which I -have supplemented in the foregoing paragraphs; and after expressing a -qualified concurrence which I greatly value as coming from so highly -fitted a judge, proceeds, with characteristic acumen, to comment on -what seems an incongruity between certain analogies set forth in that -essay, and the doctrine I hold respecting the duty of the State. -Referring to a passage in which I have described the function of -the individual brain as “that of _averaging_ the interests of life, -physical, intellectual, moral, social,” and have compared it to the -function of Parliament as “that of _averaging_ the interests of the -various classes in a community,” adding that “a good Parliament is one -in which the parties answering to these respective interests are so -balanced that their united legislation concedes to each class as much -as consists with the claims of the rest;” Prof. Huxley proceeds to say:― - - “All this appears to be very just. But if the resemblances between the - body physiological and the body politic are any indication, not only - of what the latter is, and how it has become what it is, but what it - ought to be, and what it is tending to become, I cannot but think that - the real force of the analogy is totally opposed to the negative view - of State function. - - “Suppose that, in accordance with this view, each muscle were to - maintain that the nervous system had no right to interfere with its - contraction, except to prevent it from hindering the contraction of - another muscle; or each gland, that it had a right to secrete, so long - as its secretion interfered with no other; suppose every separate cell - left free to follow its own “interests,” and _laissez-faire_ Lord of - all, what would become of the body physiological?” - -On this question the remark I have first to make is, that if I held the -doctrine of M. Proudhon, who deliberately named himself an “anarchist,” -and if along with this doctrine I held the above-indicated theory of -social structures and functions, the inconsistency implied by the -question put would be clear, and the question would be unanswerable. -But since I entertain no such view as that of Proudhon—since I hold -that within its proper limits {418} governmental action is not -simply legitimate but all-important—I do not see how I am concerned -with a question which tacitly supposes that I deny the legitimacy -and the importance. Not only do I contend that the restraining power -of the State over individuals, and bodies or classes of individuals, -is requisite, but I have contended that it should be exercised much -more effectually, and carried out much further, than at present.[39] -And as the maintenance of this control implies the maintenance of a -controlling apparatus, I do not see that I am placed in any difficulty -when I am asked what would happen were the controlling apparatus -forbidden to interfere. Further, on this general aspect of the -question I have to say that, by comparing the deliberative assembly of -a nation to the deliberative nervous centre of a vertebrate animal, -as respectively averaging the interests of the society and of the -individual, and as both doing this through processes of representation, -I do not mean to _identify_ the two sets of interests; for these in -a society (or at least a peaceful society) refer mainly to interior -actions, while in an individual creature they refer mainly to exterior -actions. The “interests” to which I refer, as being averaged by a -representative governing body, are the conflicting interests between -class and class, as well as between man and man—conflicting interests -the balancing of which is nothing but the preventing of aggression and -the administration of justice. - - [39] See _Social Statics_ chap. xxi., “The Duty of the State.” See also - essay on “Over-Legislation.” - -I pass now from this general aspect of the question, which does not -concern me, to a more special aspect which does concern me. Dividing -the actions of governing structures, whether in bodies individual or -bodies politic, into the _positively regulative_ and the _negatively -regulative_, or those which stimulate and direct, as distinguished -from those which simply restrain, I may say that if there is raised -the question—What will happen when the controlling {419} apparatus -does not act? there are quite different replies according as one or -other system of organs is referred to. If, in the individual body, -the muscles were severally independent of the deliberative and -executive centres, utter impotence would result: in the absence of -muscular coördination, there would be no possibility of standing, -much less of acting on surrounding things, and the body would be a -prey to the first enemy. Properly to combine the actions of these -outer organs, the great nervous centres must exercise functions that -are both positively regulative and negatively regulative—must both -command action and arrest action. Similarly with the outer organs of a -political body. Unless the offensive and defensive structures can be -despotically commanded by a central authority, there cannot be those -prompt combinations and adjustments required for meeting the variable -actions of external enemies. But if, instead of asking what would -happen supposing the outer organs in either case were without control -from the great governing centres, we ask what would happen were the -inner organs (the industrial and commercial structures in the one case, -and the alimentary and distributive in the other) without such control, -the answer is quite different. Omitting the respiratory and some -minor ancillary parts of the individual organism, to which the social -organism has nothing analogous; and limiting ourselves to absorptive, -elaborative, and distributive structures, which are found in both; it -may, I think, be successfully contended that in neither the one case -nor the other do they require the positively regulative control of the -great governing centres, but only the negatively regulative. Let us -glance at the facts.[40] - - [40] Lest there should be any misunderstanding of the terms - _positively regulative_ and _negatively regulative_, let me briefly - illustrate them. If a man has land, and I either cultivate it for - him, partially or wholly, or dictate any or all of his modes of - cultivation, my action is positively regulative; but if, leaving him - absolutely unhelped and unregulated in his farming, I simply prevent - him from taking his neighbour’s crops, or from making approach-roads - over his neighbour’s land, or from depositing rubbish upon it, - my action is negatively regulative. There is a tolerably sharp - distinction between the act of securing a citizen’s ends for him or - interfering with his mode of securing them, and the act of checking - him when he interferes with another citizen in the pursuit of his - ends. - -Digestion and circulation go on very well in lunatics {420} and idiots, -though the higher nervous centres are either deranged or partly absent. -The vital functions proceed properly during sleep, though less actively -than when the brain is at work. In infancy, while the cerebro-spinal -system is almost incapable, and cannot even perform such simple -actions as those of commanding the sphincters, the visceral functions -are active and regular. Nor in an adult does that arrest of cerebral -action shown by insensibility, or that extensive paralysis of the -spinal system which renders all the limbs immovable, prevent these -functions from being carried on for a considerable time; though they -necessarily begin to flag in the absence of the demand which an active -system of outer organs makes upon them. These internal organs are, -indeed, so little under the positively directive control of the great -nervous centres, that their independence is often very inconvenient. No -mandate sent into the interior stops an attack of diarrhœa; nor, when -an indigestible meal excites the circulation at night, and prevents -sleep, will the bidding of the brain cause the heart to pulsate more -quietly. It is doubtless true that these vital processes are modified -in important ways, both by general stimulation and by inhibition, -from the cerebro-spinal system; but that they are mainly independent -cannot, I think, be questioned. The facts that peristaltic motion of -the intestines can go on when their nervous connexions are cut, and -that the heart (in cold-blooded vertebrates, at least) continues to -pulsate for some time after being detached from the body, make it -manifest that the spontaneous activities of these vital organs subserve -the wants of the body at large without direction from its higher -governing centres. And this is made even {421} more manifest if it -be a fact, as alleged by Schmulewitsch experimenting under Ludwig’s -direction, that, under duly-adjusted conditions, the secretion of bile -may be kept up for some time when blood is passed through the excised -liver of a newly-killed rabbit. There is an answer, not, I think, -unsatisfactory, even to the crucial part of the question—“Suppose every -separate cell left free to follow its own interests, and _laissez -faire_ Lord of all, what would become of the body physiological?” -Limiting the application of this question in the way above shown to -the organs and parts of organs which carry on vital actions, it seems -to me that much evidence may be given for the belief that, when they -follow their respective “interests” (limited here to growing and -multiplying), the general welfare will be tolerably well secured. It -was proved by Hunter’s experiments on a kite and a sea-gull, that a -part of the alimentary canal which has to triturate harder food than -that which the creature naturally eats, acquires a thicker and harder -lining. When a stricture of the intestine impedes the passage of its -contents, the muscular walls of the intestine above, thicken and propel -the contents with greater force. When there is somewhere in the course -of the circulation a serious resistance to the passage of blood, -there habitually occurs hypertrophy of the heart, or thickening of -its muscular walls; giving it greater power to propel the blood. And -similarly, when the duct through which it discharges its contents is -obstructed, the gall-bladder thickens and strengthens. These changes go -on without any direction from the brain—without any consciousness that -they are going on. They are effected by the growth, or multiplication, -or adaptation, of the local units, be they cells or fibres, which -results from the greater action or modified action thrown upon them. -The only pre-requisite to this spontaneous adaptive change is, that -these local units shall be supplied with extra blood in proportion as -they perform extra function—a pre-requisite answering to that secured -{422} by the administration of justice in a society; namely, that more -work shall bring more pay. If, however, direct proof be called for -that a system of organs may, by carrying on their several independent -activities uncontrolled, secure the welfare of the aggregate they -form, we have it in that extensive class of creatures which do not -possess any nervous systems at all; and which nevertheless show, some -of them, considerable degrees of activity. The Oceanic Hydrozoa supply -good examples. Notwithstanding “the multiplicity and complexity of the -organs which some of them possess,” these creatures have no nervous -centres—no regulative apparatus by which the actions of their organs -are coördinated. One of their higher kinds is composed of different -parts distinguished as cœnosarc, polypites, tentacles, hydrocysts, -nectocalyces, genocalyces, etc., and each of these different parts is -composed of many partially-independent units—thread-cells, ciliated -cells, contractile fibres, etc.; so that the whole organism is a group -of heterogeneous groups, each one of which is itself a more or less -heterogeneous group. And, in the absence of a nervous system, the -arrangement must necessarily be such that these different units, and -different groups of units, severally pursuing their individual lives -without positive direction from the rest, nevertheless do, by virtue of -their constitutions, and the relative positions into which they have -grown, coöperate for the maintenance of one another and the entire -aggregate. And if this can be so with a set of organs that are not -connected by nerves, much more can it be so with a set of organs which, -like the viscera of a higher animal, have a special set of nervous -communications for exciting one another to coöperation. - -Let us turn now to the parallel classes of phenomena which the social -organism presents. In it, as in the individual organism, we find that -while the system of external organs must be rigorously subordinated -to a great governing centre which positively regulates it, the system -{423} of internal organs needs no such positive regulation. The -production and interchange by which the national life is maintained, -go on as well while Parliament is not sitting as while it is sitting. -When the members of the Ministry are following grouse or stalking -deer, Liverpool imports, Manchester manufactures, London distributes, -just as usual. All that is needful for the normal performance of these -internal social functions is, that the restraining or inhibitory -structures shall continue in action: these activities of individuals, -corporate bodies, and classes, must be carried on in such ways as not -to transgress certain conditions, necessitated by the simultaneous -carrying on of other activities. So long as order is maintained, and -the fulfilment of contracts is everywhere enforced—so long as there -is secured to each citizen, and each combination of citizens, the -full return agreed upon for work done or commodities produced; and so -long as each may enjoy what he obtains by labour, without trenching -on his neighbour’s like ability to enjoy; these functions will go on -healthfully—more healthfully, indeed, than when regulated in any other -way. Fully to recognize this fact, it is needful only to look at the -origins and actions of the leading industrial structures. We will take -two of them, the most remote from one another in their natures. - -The first shall be those by which food is produced and distributed. -In the fourth of his _Introductory Lectures on Political Economy_, -Archbishop Whately remarks that:― - - “Many of the most important objects are accomplished by the joint - agency of persons who never think of them, nor have any idea of acting - in concert; and that, with a certainty, completeness, and regularity, - which probably the most diligent benevolence, under the guidance of - the greatest human wisdom, could never have attained.” - -To enforce this truth he goes on to say:—“Let any one propose to -himself the problem of supplying with daily provisions of all -kinds such a city as our metropolis, containing above a million of -inhabitants.” And then he points out the many immense difficulties of -the task {424} caused by inconstancy in the arrival of supplies; by -the perishable nature of many of the commodities; by the fluctuating -number of consumers; by the heterogeneity of their demands; by -variations in the stocks, immediate and remote, and the need for -adjusting the rate of consumption; and by the complexity in the -process of distribution required to bring due quantities of these many -commodities to the homes of all citizens. And, having dwelt on these -many difficulties, he finishes his picture by saying:― - - “Yet this object is accomplished far better than it could be by any - effort of human wisdom, through the agency of men who think each of - nothing beyond his own immediate interest—who, with that object in - view, perform their respective parts with cheerful zeal—and combine - unconsciously to employ the wisest means for effecting an object, the - vastness of which it would bewilder them even to contemplate.” - -But though the far-spreading and complex organization by which foods -of all kinds are produced, prepared, and distributed throughout the -entire kingdom, is a natural growth and not a State-manufacture; though -the State does not determine where and in what quantities cereals and -cattle and sheep shall be reared; though it does not arrange their -respective prices so as to make supplies last until fresh supplies can -come; though it has done nothing toward causing that great improvement -of quality which has taken place in food since early times; though it -has not the credit of that elaborate apparatus by which bread, and -meat, and milk, come round to our doors with a daily pulse that is as -regular as the pulse of the heart; yet the State has not been wholly -passive. It has from time to time done a great deal of mischief. -When Edward I. forbade all towns to harbour forestallers, and when -Edward VI. made it penal to buy grain for the purpose of selling -it again, they were preventing the process by which consumption is -adjusted to supply: they were doing all that could be done to insure -alternations of abundance and starvation. Similarly with the many -legislative attempts {425} since made to regulate one branch or other -of the food-industry, down to the corn-law sliding-scale of odious -memory. For the marvellous efficiency of this organization we are -indebted to private enterprise; while the derangements of it we owe -to the positively-regulative action of the Government. Meanwhile, its -negatively-regulative action, required to keep this organization in -order, Government has not duly performed. A quick and costless remedy -for breach of contract, when a trader sells, as the commodity asked -for, what proves to be wholly or in part some other commodity, is still -wanting. - -Our second case shall be the organization which so immensely -facilitates commerce by transfers of claims and credits. Banks were -not inventions of rulers or their counsellors. They grew up by small -stages out of the transactions of traders with one another. Men who -for security deposited money with goldsmiths, and took receipts; -goldsmiths who began to lend out at interest the moneys left with -them, and then to offer interest at lower rates to those who would -deposit money; were the founders of them. And when, as presently -happened, the receipt-notes became transferable by indorsement, banking -commenced. From that stage upward the development, notwithstanding many -hinderances, has gone on naturally. Banks have sprung up under the -same stimulus which has produced all other kinds of trading bodies. -The multiplied forms of credit have been gradually differentiated -from the original form; and while the banking system has spread and -become complex, it has also become consolidated into a whole by a -spontaneous process. The clearing-house, which is a place for carrying -on the banking between bankers, arose unobtrusively out of an effort -to economize time and money. And when, in 1862, Sir John Lubbock—not -in his legislative capacity but in his capacity as banker—succeeded -in extending the privileges of the clearing-house to country banks, -the unification was made {426} perfect; so that now the transactions -of any trader in the kingdom with any other may be completed by the -writing off and balancing of claims in bankers’ books. This natural -evolution, be it observed, has reached with us a higher phase than -has been reached where the positively-regulative control of the State -is more decided. They have no clearing-house in France; and in France -the method of making payments by checks, so dominant among ourselves, -is very little employed and in an imperfect way. I do not mean to -imply that in England the State has been a mere spectator of this -development. Unfortunately, it has from the beginning had relations -with banks and bankers: not much, however, to their advantage, or -that of the public. The first kind of deposit-bank was in some sense -a State-bank: merchants left funds for security at the Mint in the -Tower. But when Charles I. appropriated their property without consent, -and gave it back to them only under pressure, after a long delay, he -destroyed their confidence. Similarly, when Charles II., in furtherance -of State-business, came to have habitual transactions with the richer -of the private bankers; and when, having got nearly a million and a -half of their money in the Exchequer, he stole it, ruined a multitude -of merchants, distressed ten thousand depositors, and made some -lunatics and suicides, he gave a considerable shock to the banking -system as it then existed. Though the results of State-relations with -banks in later times have not been so disastrous in this direct way, -yet they have been indirectly disastrous—perhaps even in a greater -degree. In return for a loan, the State gave the Bank of England -special privileges; and for the increase and continuance of this -loan the bribe was the maintenance of these privileges—privileges -which immensely hindered the development of banks. The State did -worse. It led the Bank of England to the verge of bankruptcy by a -forced issue of notes, and then authorized it to break its promises -{427} to pay. Nay, worse still, it prevented the Bank of England -from fulfilling its promises to pay when it wished to fulfil them. -The evils that have arisen from the positively-regulative action of -the State on banks are too multitudinous to be here enumerated. They -may be found in the writings of Tooke, Newmarch, Fullarton, Macleod, -Wilson, J. S. Mill, and others. All we have here to note is, that -while the enterprise of citizens in the pursuit of private ends has -developed this great trading-process, which so immensely facilitates -all other trading-processes, Governments have over and over again -disturbed it to an almost fatal extent; and that, while they have done -enormous mischief of one kind by their positively-regulative action, -they have done enormous mischief of another kind by failing in their -negatively-regulative action. They have not done the one thing they -had to do: they have not uniformly insisted on fulfilment of contract -between the banker and the customer who takes his promise to pay on -demand. - -Between these two cases of the trade in food and the trade in money, -might be put the cases of other trades: all of them carried on by -organizations similarly evolved, and similarly more or less deranged -from time to time by State-meddling. Passing over these, however, let -us turn from the positive method of elucidation to the comparative -method. When it is questioned whether the spontaneous coöperation -of men in pursuit of personal benefits will adequately work out the -general good, we may get guidance for judgment by comparing the results -achieved in countries where spontaneous coöperation has been most -active and least regulated, with the results achieved in countries -where spontaneous coöperation has been less trusted and State-action -more trusted. Two cases, furnished by the two leading nations on the -Continent, will suffice. - -In France, the École des Ponts et Chaussées was founded in 1747 for -educating civil engineers; and in 1795 was {428} founded the École -Polytechnique, serving, among other purposes, to give a general -scientific training to those who were afterward to be more specially -trained for civil engineering. Averaging the two dates, we may say that -for a century France has had a State-established and State-maintained -appliance for producing skilled men of this class—a double gland, -we may call it, to secrete engineering faculty for public use. In -England, until quite recently, we have had no institution for preparing -civil engineers. Not by intention, but unconsciously, we left the -furnishing of engineering faculty to take place under the law of supply -and demand—a law which at present seems to be no more recognized as -applying to education, than it was recognized as applying to commerce -in the days of bounties and restrictions. This, however, by the way. We -have here simply to note that Brindley, Smeaton, Rennie, Telford, and -the rest, down to George Stephenson, acquired their knowledge, and got -their experience, without State-aid or supervision. What have been the -comparative results in the two nations? Space does not allow a detailed -comparison: the later results must suffice. Railways originated in -England, not in France. Railways spread through England faster than -through France. Many railways in France were laid out and officered by -English engineers. The earlier French railways were made by English -contractors; and English locomotives served the French makers as -models. The first French work written on locomotive engines, published -about 1840 (at least I had a copy at that date), was by the Comte de -Pambour, who had studied in England, and who gave in his work nothing -whatever but drawings and descriptions of the engines of English makers. - -The second illustration is supplied to us by the model nation, now so -commonly held up to us for imitation. Let us contrast London and Berlin -in respect of an all-essential appliance for the comfort and health of -citizens. When, {429} at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the -springs and local conduits, supplemented by water-carriers, failed to -supply the Londoners; and when the water-famine, for a long time borne, -had failed to make the Corporation do more than propose schemes, and -had not spurred the central government to do any thing; Hugh Myddleton, -a merchant citizen, took in hand himself the work of bringing the New -River to Islington. When he had half completed the work, the king came -to his help—not, indeed, in his capacity of ruler, but in the capacity -of speculator, investing his money with a view to profit: his share -being disposed of by his successor after the formation of the New -River Company, which finished the distributing system. Subsequently, -the formation of other water-companies, utilizing other sources, has -given London a water-supply that has grown with its growth. What, -meanwhile, happened at Berlin? Did there in 1613, when Hugh Myddleton -completed his work, grow up there a like efficient system? Not at all. -The seventeenth century passed, the eighteenth century passed, the -middle of the nineteenth century was reached, and still Berlin had no -water-supply like that of London. What happened then? Did the paternal -government at length do what had been so long left undone? No. Did -the citizens at length unite to secure the desideratum? No. It was -finally achieved by the citizens of another nation, more accustomed to -coöperate in gaining their own profits by ministering to public needs. -In 1845 an English company was formed for giving Berlin an adequate -water-supply; and the work was executed by English contractors—Messrs. -Fox and Crampton. - -Should it be said that great works of ancient nations, in the shape -of aqueducts, roads, etc., might be instanced in proof that State -agency secures such ends, or should it be said that a comparison -between the early growth of inland navigation on the Continent, and -its later growth here, {430} would be to our disadvantage, I reply -that, little as they at first seem so, these facts are congruous with -the general doctrine. While the militant social type is dominant, and -the industrial organization but little developed, there is but one -coördinating agency for regulating both sets of activities; just as we -saw happens with the lower types of individual organisms. It is only -when a considerable advance has been made in that metamorphosis which -develops the industrial structures at the expense of the militant -structures, and which brings along with it a substantially-independent -coördinating agency for the industrial structures—it is only then that -the efficiency of these spontaneous coöperations for all purposes of -internal social life becomes greater than the efficiency of the central -governing agency. - -Possibly it will be said that though, for subserving material needs, -the actions of individuals, stimulated by necessity and made quick -by competition, are demonstrably adequate, they are not adequate for -subserving other needs. I do not see, however, that the facts justify -this position. We have but to glance around to find in abundance -similarly-generated appliances for satisfying our higher desires, as -well as our lower desires. The fact that the Fine Arts have not thriven -here as much as in some Continental countries, is ascribable to natural -character, to absorption of our energies in other activities, and to -the repressive influence of chronic asceticism, rather than to the -absence of fostering agencies: these the interests of individuals have -provided in abundance. Literature, in which we are second to none, -owes, with us, nothing to State-aid. The poetry which will live is -poetry which has been written without official prompting; and though -we have habitually had a prize-poet, paid to write loyal verses, it -may be said, without disparaging the present one, that a glance over -the entire list does not show any benefit derived by poetry from -State-patronage. Nor are other {431} forms of literature any more -indebted to State-patronage. It was because there was a public liking -for fiction that fiction began to be produced; and the continued public -liking causes a continued production, including, along with much that -is worthless, much that could not have been made better by any academic -or other supervision. And the like holds of biographies, histories, -scientific books, etc. Or, as a still more striking case of an agency -that has grown up to meet a non-material want, take the newspaper -press. What has been the genesis of this marvellous appliance, which -each day gives us an abstract of the world’s life the day before? Under -what promptings have there been got together its staffs of editors, -sub-editors, article-writers, reviewers; its reporters of parliamentary -debates, of public meetings, of law cases and police cases; its critics -of music, theatricals, paintings, etc.; its correspondents in all -parts of the world? Who devised and brought to perfection this system -which at six o’clock in the morning gives the people of Edinburgh a -report of the debates that ended at two or three o’clock in the House -of Commons, and at the same time tells them of events that occurred -the day before in America? It is not a Government invention. It is -not a Government suggestion. It has not been in anyway improved or -developed by legislation. On the contrary, it has grown up in spite of -many hinderances from the Government and burdens which the Government -has imposed on it. For a long time the reporting of parliamentary -debates was resisted; for generations censorships and prosecutions -kept newspapers down, and for several subsequent generations the -laws in force negatived a cheap press, and the educational benefits -accompanying it. From the war-correspondent, whose letters give to -the very nations that are fighting their only trustworthy accounts of -what is being done, down to the newsboy who brings round the third -edition with the latest telegrams, the whole organization is a product -of spontaneous {432} coöperation among private individuals, aiming to -benefit themselves by ministering to the intellectual needs of their -fellows—aiming also, not a few of them, to benefit their fellows by -giving them clearer ideas and a higher standard of right. Nay, more -than this is true. While the press is not indebted to the Government, -the Government is enormously indebted to the press; without which, -indeed, it would stumble daily in the performance of its functions. -This agency which the State once did its best to put down, and has -all along impeded, now gives to the ministers news in anticipation of -their dispatches, gives to members of Parliament a guiding knowledge of -public opinion, enables them to speak from the House of Commons benches -to their constituents, and gives to both legislative chambers a full -record of their proceedings. - -I do not see, therefore, how there can be any doubt respecting the -sufficiency of agencies thus originating. The truth that in this -condition of mutual dependence brought about by social life, there -inevitably grow up arrangements such that each secures his own ends -by ministering to the ends of others, seems to have been for a long -time one of those open secrets which remain secret because they are so -open; and even now the conspicuousness of this truth seems to cause -an imperfect consciousness of its full meaning. The evidence shows, -however, that even were there no other form of spontaneous coöperation -among men than that dictated by self-interest, it might be rationally -held that this, under the negatively-regulative control of a central -power, would work out, in proper order, the appliances for satisfying -all needs, and carrying on healthfully all the essential social -functions. - -But there is a further kind of spontaneous coöperation, arising, -like the other, independently of State-action, which takes a large -share in satisfying certain classes of needs. Familiar though it -is, this kind of spontaneous coöperation is habitually ignored in -sociological discussions. Alike {433} from newspaper articles and -parliamentary debates, it might be inferred that, beyond the force -due to men’s selfish activities, there is no other social force than -the governmental force. There seems to be a deliberate omission of -the fact that, in addition to their selfish interests, men have -sympathetic interests, which, acting individually and coöperatively, -work out results scarcely less remarkable than those which the selfish -interests work out. It is true that, during the earlier phases of -social evolution, while yet the type is mainly militant, agencies -thus produced do not exist: among the Spartans, I suppose, there were -few, if any, philanthropic agencies. But as there arise forms of -society leading toward the pacific type—forms in which the industrial -organization develops itself, and men’s activities become of a kind -that do not perpetually sear their sympathies; these structures which -their sympathies generate become many and important. To the egoistic -interests, and the coöperations prompted by them, there come to be -added the altruistic interests and their coöperations; and what the -one set fails to do, the other does. That, in his presentation of the -doctrine he opposes, Prof. Huxley did not set down the effects of -fellow-feeling as supplementing the effects of self-regarding feelings, -surprises me the more, because he displays fellow-feeling himself in -so marked a degree, and shows in his career how potent a social agency -it becomes. Let us glance rapidly over the results wrought out among -ourselves by individual and combined “altruism”—to employ M. Comte’s -useful word. - -Though they show a trace of this feeling, I will not dwell upon the -numerous institutions by which men are enabled to average the chances -throughout life by insurance societies, which provide against the evils -entailed by premature deaths, accidents, fires, wrecks, etc.; for these -are mainly mercantile and egoistic in their origin. Nor will I do more -than name those multitudinous Friendly Societies that have arisen -spontaneously among the {434} working-classes to give mutual aid in -time of sickness, and which the Commission now sitting is showing to be -immensely beneficial, notwithstanding their defects; for these also, -though containing a larger element of sympathy, are prompted chiefly -by anticipations of personal benefits. Leaving these, let us turn to -the organizations in which altruism is more decided: taking first that -by which religious ministrations are carried on. Throughout Scotland -and England, cut away all that part of it which is not established by -law—in Scotland, the Episcopal Church, the Free Church, the United -Presbyterians, and other Dissenting bodies; in England, the Wesleyans, -Independents, and the various minor sects. Cut off, too, from the -Established Church itself, all that part added in recent times by -voluntary zeal, made conspicuous enough by the new steeples that have -been rising on all sides; and then also take out, from the remainder -of the Established Church, that energy which has during these three -generations been infused into it by competition with the Dissenters: so -reducing it to the degraded, inert state in which John Wesley found it. -Do this, and it becomes manifest that more than half the organisation, -and immensely more than half its function, is extra-governmental. -Look round, again, at the multitudinous institutions for mitigating -men’s ills—the hospitals, dispensaries, alms-houses, and the like—the -various benevolent and mendicity societies, etc., of which London alone -contains between six and seven hundred. From our vast St. Thomas’s, -exceeding the palace of the Legislature itself in bulk, down to Dorcas -societies and village clothing-clubs, we have charitable agencies, -many in kind and countless in number, which supplement, perhaps too -largely, the legally-established one; and which, whatever evil they -may have done along with the good, have done far less evil than the -Poor-Law organization did before it was reformed in 1834. Akin to -these are still more striking examples of power in {435} agencies -thus originating, such as that furnished by the Anti-slavery Society, -which carried the emancipation of the slaves, notwithstanding the -class-opposition so predominant in the Legislature. And if we look for -more recent like instances, we have them in the organization which -promptly and efficiently dealt with the cotton-famine in Lancashire, -and in that which last year ministered to the wounded and distressed -in France. Once more, consider our educational system as it existed -till within these few years. Such part of it as did not consist of -private schools, carried on for personal profit, consisted of schools -or colleges set up or maintained by men for the benefit of their -fellows, and the posterity of their fellows. Omitting the few founded -or partially founded by kings, the numerous endowed schools scattered -throughout the kingdom, originated from altruistic feelings (so far, -at least, as they were not due to egoistic desires for good places in -the other world). And then, after these appliances for teaching the -poor had been almost entirely appropriated by the rich, whence came -the remedy? Another altruistic organization grew up for educating the -poor, struggled against the opposition of the Church and the governing -classes, eventually forced these to enter into competition and produce -like altruistic organizations, until by school systems, local and -general, ecclesiastical, dissenting, and secular, the mass of the -people had been brought from a state of almost entire ignorance to one -in which nearly all of them possessed the rudiments of knowledge. But -for these spontaneously-developed agencies, ignorance would have been -universal. Not only such knowledge as the poor now possess—not only -the knowledge of the trading-classes—not only the knowledge of those -who write books and leading articles; but the knowledge of those who -carry on the business of the country as ministers and legislators, -has been derived from these extra-governmental agencies, egoistic or -altruistic. Yet now, strangely enough, the {436} cultured intelligence -of the country has taken to spurning its parent; and that to which -it owes both its existence and the consciousness of its own value is -pooh-poohed as though it had done, and could do, nothing of importance! -One other fact let me add. While such teaching organizations, and their -results in the shape of enlightenment, are due to these spontaneous -agencies, to such agencies also are due the great improvements in the -quality of the culture now happily beginning to take place. The spread -of scientific knowledge, and of the scientific spirit, has not been -brought about by laws and officials. Our scientific societies have -arisen from the spontaneous coöperation of those interested in the -accumulation and diffusion of the kinds of truth they respectively deal -with. Though the British Association has from time to time obtained -certain small subsidies, their results in the way of advancing science -have borne but an extremely small ratio to the results achieved -without any such aid. If there needs a conclusive illustration of -the power of agencies thus arising, we have it in the history and -achievements of the Royal Institution. From this, which is a product -of altruistic coöperation, and which has had for its successive -professors Young, Davy, Faraday, and Tyndall, there has come a series -of brilliant discoveries which cannot be paralleled by a series from -any State-nurtured institution. - -I hold, then, that forced, as men in society are, to seek satisfaction -of their own wants by satisfying the wants of others; and led as they -also are by sentiments which social life has fostered, to satisfy -many wants of others irrespective of their own; they are moved by two -sets of forces which, working together, will amply suffice to carry -on all needful activities; and I think the facts fully justify this -belief. It is true that, _a priori_, one would not have supposed that -by their unconscious coöperations men could have wrought out such -results, any more than one would have supposed, _a priori_, that by -their unconscious coöperation they could {437} have evolved Language. -But reasoning _a posteriori_, which it is best to do when we have the -facts before us, it becomes manifest that they can do this; that they -have done it in very astonishing ways; and perhaps may do it hereafter -in ways still more astonishing. Scarcely any scientific generalization -has, I think, a broader inductive basis than we have for the belief -that these egoistic and altruistic feelings are powers which, taken -together, amply suffice to originate and carry on all the activities -which constitute healthy national life: the only pre-requisite being, -that they shall be under the negatively-regulative control of a -central power—that the entire aggregate of individuals, acting through -the legislature and executive as its agents, shall put upon each -individual, and group of individuals, the restraints needful to prevent -aggression, direct and indirect. - -And here I might go on to supplement the argument by showing that -the immense majority of the evils which government aid is invoked to -remedy, are evils which arise immediately or remotely because it does -not perform properly its negatively-regulative function. From the -waste of, probably, £100,000,000 of national capital in unproductive -railways, for which the Legislature is responsible by permitting the -original proprietary contracts to be broken,[41] down to the railway -accidents and loss of life caused by unpunctuality, which would never -have grown to its present height were there an easy remedy for breach -of contract between company and passenger; nearly all the vices of -railway management have arisen from the non-administration of justice. -And everywhere else we shall find that, were the restraining action of -the State prompt, effective, and costless to those aggrieved, the pleas -put in for positive regulation would nearly all disappear. - - [41] See Essay on “Railway Morals and Railway Policy.” - - * * * * * - -I am thus brought naturally to remark on the title given {438} to this -theory of State-functions. That “Administrative Nihilism” adequately -describes the view set forth by Von Humboldt, may be: I have not read -his work. But I cannot see how it adequately describes the doctrine I -have been defending; nor do I see how this can be properly expressed by -the more positive title, “police-government.” The conception suggested -by police-government does not include the conception of an organization -for external protection. So long as each nation is given to burglary, -I quite admit each other nation must keep guards, under the forms -of army or navy, or both, to prevent burglars from breaking in. And -the title police-government does not, in its ordinary acceptation, -comprehend these offensive and defensive appliances needful for -dealing with foreign enemies. At the other extreme, too, it falls -short of the full meaning to be expressed. While it duly conveys the -idea of an organization required for checking and punishing criminal -aggression, it does not convey any idea of the no less important -organization required for dealing with civil aggression—an organization -quite essential for properly discharging the negatively-regulative -function. Though latent police-force may be considered as giving -their efficiency to legal decisions on all questions brought into -_nisi prius_ courts, yet, since here police-force rarely comes into -visible play, police-government does not suggest this very extensive -part of the administration of justice. Far from contending for a -_laissez-faire_ policy in the sense which the phrase commonly suggests, -I have contended for a more active control of the kind distinguishable -as negatively regulative. One of the reasons I have urged for -excluding State-action from other spheres, is, that it may become -more efficient within its proper sphere. And I have argued that the -wretched performance of its duties within its proper sphere continues, -because its time is chiefly spent over imaginary duties.[42] The facts -that often, in bankruptcy {439} cases, three-fourths and more of -the assets go in costs; that creditors are led by the expectation of -great delay and a miserable dividend to accept almost any composition -offered; and that so the bankruptcy-law offers a premium to roguery; -are facts which would long since have ceased to be facts, had citizens -been mainly occupied in getting an efficient judicial system. If the -due performance by the State of its all-essential function had been -the question on which elections were fought, we should not see, as we -now do, that a shivering cottager who steals palings for firewood, -or a hungry tramp who robs an orchard, gets punishment in more than -the old Hebrew measure, while great financial frauds which ruin their -thousands bring no punishments. Were the negatively-regulative function -of the State in internal affairs dominant in the thoughts of men, -within the Legislature and without, there would be tolerated no such -treatment as that suffered lately by Messrs. Walker, of Cornhill; -who, having been robbed of £6,000 worth of property and having spent -£950 in rewards for apprehending thieves and prosecuting them, cannot -get back the proceeds of their property found on the thieves—who bear -the costs of administering justice, while the Corporation of London -makes £940 profit out of their loss. It is in large measure because -I hold that these crying abuses and inefficiencies, which everywhere -characterize the administration of justice, need more than any other -evils to be remedied; and because I hold that remedy of them can go on -only as fast as the internal function of the State is more and more -restricted to the administration of justice; that I take the view which -I have been re-explaining. _It is a law illustrated by organizations -of every kind, that, in proportion as there is to be efficiency, there -must be specialization, both of structure and function—specialization -which, of necessity, implies accompanying limitation._ And, as I have -elsewhere argued, the development of representative government is the -development of a type of {440} government fitted above all others for -this negatively-regulative control, and, above all others, ill fitted -for positively-regulative control.[43] This doctrine, that while the -negatively-regulative control should be extended and made better, -the positively-regulative control should be diminished, and that the -one change implies the other, may properly be called the doctrine of -Specialized Administration—if it is to be named from its administrative -aspect. I regret that my presentation of this doctrine has been such as -to lead to misinterpretation. Either it is that I have not adequately -explained it, which, if true, surprises me, or else it is that the -space occupied in seeking to show what are not the duties of the State -is so much greater than the space occupied in defining its duties, that -these last make but little impression. In any case, that Prof. Huxley -should have construed my view in the way he has done, shows me that it -needs fuller exposition; since, had he put upon it the construction I -intended, he would not, I think, have included it under the title he -has used, nor would he have seen it needful to raise the question I -have endeavoured to answer. - - [42] See Essay on “Over-Legislation.” - - [43] See Essay on “Representative Government—What is it good for?” - - * * * * * - - -POSTSCRIPT.—Since the above article was written, a fact of some -significance in relation to the question of State-management has -come under my notice. There is one department, at any rate, in which -the State succeeds well—the Post-Office. And this department is -sometimes instanced as showing the superiority of public over private -administration. - -I am not about to call in question the general satisfactoriness of -our postal arrangements; nor shall I contend that this branch of -State-organization, now well-established, could be replaced with -advantage. Possibly the type of our social structure has become, in -this respect, so far fixed that a radical change would be injurious. -In dealing {441} with those who make much of this success, I have -contented myself with showing that the developments which have made -the Post-Office efficient, have not originated with the Government, -but have been thrust upon it from without. I have in evidence cited -the facts that the mail-coach system was established by a private -individual, Mr. Palmer, and lived down official opposition; that the -reform originated by Mr. Rowland Hill had to be made against the -wills of _employés_; and, further, I have pointed out that, even as -it is, a large part of the work is done by private enterprise—that -the Government gets railway-companies to do for it most of the inland -carriage, and steam-boat companies the outland carriage: contenting -itself with doing the local collection and distribution. - -Respecting the general question whether, in the absence of our existing -postal system, private enterprise would have developed one as good or -better, I have been able to say only that analogies like that furnished -by our newspaper-system, with its efficient news-vending organization, -warrant us in believing that it would. Recently, however, I have been -shown both that private enterprise is capable of this, and that, but -for a legal interdict, it would have done long ago what the State has -but lately done. Here is the proof:― - - “To facilitate correspondence between one part of London and another - was not originally one of the objects of the Post-Office. But, - in the reign of Charles II., an enterprising citizen of London, - William Dockwray, set up, at great expense, a penny post, which - delivered letters and parcels six or eight times a-day in the busy - and crowded streets near the Exchange, and four times a-day in the - outskirts of the capital. . . . As soon as it became clear that the - speculation would be lucrative, the Duke of York complained of it as - an infraction of his monopoly, and the courts of law decided in his - favour.”—_Macaulay_, _History of England_, 1866, i., 302–3. - -Thus it appears that two centuries since, private enterprise initiated -a local postal system, similar, in respect both of cheapness and -frequency of distribution, to that lately-established one boasted of -as a State-success. Judging by what has happened in other cases with -private {442} enterprises which had small beginnings, we may infer -that the system thus commenced, would have developed throughout the -kingdom as fast as the needs pressed and the possibilities allowed. So -far from being indebted to the State, we have reason to believe that, -but for State-repression, we should have obtained a postal organization -like our present one generations ago! - - * * * * * - -SECOND POSTSCRIPT.—When the foregoing essay was republished in the -third series of my _Essays, Scientific, Political, and Speculative_, -I included, in the preface to the volume, some comments upon Prof. -Huxley’s reply. In the absence of this preface, now no longer -appropriate, there seems no other fit place for these comments than -this. I therefore here append them. - -“On the brief rejoinder to my arguments which Prof. Huxley makes in the -preface to his _Critiques and Addresses_, I may here say a few words. -The reasons he gives for still thinking that the name ‘Administrative -Nihilism’ fitly indicates the system which I have described as -‘negatively regulative,’ are, I think, adequately met by asking whether -‘Ethical Nihilism’ would fitly describe the remnant of the decalogue, -were all its positive injunctions omitted. If the eight commandments -which, substantially or literally, come under the form ‘thou shalt -not,’ constitute by themselves a set of rules which can scarcely -be called nihilistic; I do not see how an administrative system -limited to the enforcement of such rules can be called nihilistic: -especially if to the punishment of murder, adultery, stealing, and -false-witness, it adds the punishment of assault, breach of contract, -and all minor aggressions, down to the annoyance of neighbours by -nuisances. Respecting the second and essential question, whether -limitation of the internal functions of government to those which are -negatively regulative, is consistent with that theory of the social -organism and its controlling {443} agencies held by me, I may say that -the insufficiency of my reply has not, I think, been shown. I was -tacitly asked how the analogy I have drawn between those governmental -structures by which the parts of the body politic have their actions -regulated and those nervous structures which regulate the organic -actions of the individual living body, is to be reconciled with my -belief that social activities will in the main adjust themselves. My -answer was this. I recognized as essential the positively-regulative -functions of the State in respect to the offensive and defensive -appliances needful for national self-preservation, during the predatory -phase of social evolution; and I not only admitted the importance of -its negatively-regulative functions in respect to the internal social -activities, but insisted that these should be carried out much more -efficiently than now. Assuming always, however, that the internal -social activities continue subject to that restraining action of the -State which consists in preventing aggressions, direct and indirect, -I contended that the coördination of these internal social activities -is effected by other structures of a different kind. I aimed to show -that my two beliefs are not inconsistent, by pointing out that in -the individual organism, also, those vital activities which parallel -the activities constituting national life, are regulated by a -substantially-independent nervous system. Prof. Huxley does, indeed, -remind me that recent researches show increasingly the influence of -the cerebro-spinal nervous system over the processes of organic life; -against which, however, has to be set the growing evidence of the power -exercised by the visceral nervous system over the cerebro-spinal. But, -recognizing the influence he names (which, indeed, corresponds to that -governmental influence I regard as necessary); I think the consistency -of my positions is maintainable so long as it is manifest that the -viscera, under the control of their {444} own nervous system, can carry -on the vital actions when the control of the cerebro-spinal system is -substantially arrested by sleep, or by anæsthetics, or by other causes -of insensibility; and while it is shown that a considerable degree of -coördination may exist among the organs of a creature which has no -nervous system at all.” - -{445} - - - - -FROM FREEDOM TO BONDAGE. - -[_First published as the Introduction to a volume entitled_ A Plea -for Liberty, &c.: _a series of anti-socialistic essays, issued at the -beginning of 1891_.] - - -Of the many ways in which common-sense inferences about social affairs -are flatly contradicted by events (as when measures taken to suppress a -book cause increased circulation of it, or as when attempts to prevent -usurious rates of interest make the terms harder for the borrower, or -as when there is greater difficulty in getting things at the places of -production than elsewhere) one of the most curious is the way in which -the more things improve the louder become the exclamations about their -badness. - -In days when the people were without any political power, their -subjection was rarely complained of; but after free institutions had -so far advanced in England that our political arrangements were envied -by continental peoples, the denunciations of aristocratic rule grew -gradually stronger, until there came a great widening of the franchise, -soon followed by complaints that things were going wrong for want of -still further widening. If we trace up the treatment of women from the -days of savagedom, when they bore all the burdens and after the men -had eaten received such food as remained, up through the middle ages -when they served the men at their meals, to {446} our own day when -throughout our social arrangements the claims of women are always put -first, we see that along with the worst treatment there went the least -apparent consciousness that the treatment was bad; while now that -they are better treated than ever before, the proclaiming of their -grievances daily strengthens: the loudest outcries coming from “the -paradise of women,” America. A century ago, when scarcely a man could -be found who was not occasionally intoxicated, and when inability to -take one or two bottles of wine brought contempt, no agitation arose -against the vice of drunkenness; but now that, in the course of fifty -years, the voluntary efforts of temperance societies, joined with -more general causes, have produced comparative sobriety, there are -vociferous demands for laws to prevent the ruinous effects of the -liquor traffic. Similarly again with education. A few generations -back, ability to read and write was practically limited to the upper -and middle classes, and the suggestion that the rudiments of culture -should be given to labourers was never made, or, if made, ridiculed; -but when, in the days of our grandfathers, the Sunday-school system, -initiated by a few philanthropists, began to spread and was followed by -the establishment of day-schools, with the result that among the masses -those who could read and write were no longer the exceptions, and the -demand for cheap literature rapidly increased, there began the cry that -the people were perishing for lack of knowledge, and that the State -must not simply educate them but must force education upon them. - -And so is it, too, with the general state of the population in respect -of food, clothing, shelter, and the appliances of life. Leaving out -of the comparison early barbaric states, there has been a conspicuous -progress from the time when most rustics lived on barley bread, rye -bread, and oatmeal, down to our own time when the consumption of white -wheaten bread is universal—from the days when coarse jackets reaching -to the knees left the legs bare, down to the present {447} day when -labouring people, like their employers, have the whole body covered, -by two or more layers of clothing—from the old era of single-roomed -huts without chimneys, or from the 15th century when even an ordinary -gentleman’s house was commonly without wainscot or plaster on its -walls, down to the present century when every cottage has more rooms -than one and the houses of artizans usually have several, while all -have fire-places, chimneys, and glazed windows, accompanied mostly by -paper-hangings and painted doors; there has been, I say, a conspicuous -progress in the condition of the people. And this progress has been -still more marked within our own time. Any one who can look back 60 -years, when the amount of pauperism was far greater than now and -beggars abundant, is struck by the comparative size and finish of the -new houses occupied by operatives—by the better dress of workmen, who -wear broad-cloth on Sundays, and that of servant girls, who vie with -their mistresses—by the higher standard of living which leads to a -great demand for the best qualities of food by working people: all -results of the double change to higher wages and cheaper commodities, -and a distribution of taxes which has relieved the lower classes at -the expense of the upper classes. He is struck, too, by the contrast -between the small space which popular welfare then occupied in public -attention, and the large space it now occupies, with the result that -outside and inside Parliament, plans to benefit the millions form the -leading topics, and everyone having means is expected to join in some -philanthropic effort. Yet while elevation, mental and physical, of -the masses is going on far more rapidly than ever before—while the -lowering of the death-rate proves that the average life is less trying, -there swells louder and louder the cry that the evils are so great -that nothing short of a social revolution can cure them. In presence -of obvious improvements, joined with that increase of longevity which -even alone yields conclusive proof of general amelioration, it is {448} -proclaimed, with increasing vehemence, that things are so bad that -society must be pulled to pieces and re-organized on another plan. In -this case, then, as in the previous cases instanced, in proportion as -the evil decreases the denunciation of it increases; and as fast as -natural causes are shown to be powerful there grows up the belief that -they are powerless. - -Not that the evils to be remedied are small. Let no one suppose -that, by emphasizing the above paradox, I wish to make light of -the sufferings which most men have to bear. The fates of the great -majority have ever been, and doubtless still are, so sad that it is -painful to think of them. Unquestionably the existing type of social -organization is one which none who care for their kind can contemplate -with satisfaction; and unquestionably men’s activities accompanying -this type are far from being admirable. The strong divisions of rank -and the immense inequalities of means, are at variance with that ideal -of human relations on which the sympathetic imagination likes to dwell; -and the average conduct, under the pressure and excitement of social -life as at present carried on, is in sundry respects repulsive. Though -the many who revile competition strangely ignore the enormous benefits -resulting from it—though they forget that most of the appliances -and products distinguishing civilization from savagery, and making -possible the maintenance of a large population on a small area, have -been developed by the struggle for existence—though they disregard the -fact that while every man, as producer, suffers from the under-bidding -of competitors, yet, as consumer, he is immensely advantaged by the -cheapening of all he has to buy—though they persist in dwelling on the -evils of competition and saying nothing of its benefits; yet it is -not to be denied that the evils are great, and form a large set-off -from the benefits. The system under which we at present live fosters -dishonesty and lying. It prompts adulterations of countless kinds; -it is answerable for the {449} cheap imitations which eventually -in many cases thrust the genuine articles out of the market; it -leads to the use of short weights and false measures; it introduces -bribery, which vitiates most trading relations, from those of the -manufacturer and buyer down to those of the shopkeeper and servant; it -encourages deception to such an extent that an assistant who cannot -tell a falsehood with a good face is blamed; and often it gives the -conscientious trader the choice between adopting the malpractices of -his competitors, or greatly injuring his creditors by bankruptcy. -Moreover, the extensive frauds, common throughout the commercial world -and daily exposed in law-courts and newspapers, are largely due to the -pressure under which competition places the higher industrial classes; -and are otherwise due to that lavish expenditure which, as implying -success in the commercial struggle, brings honour. With these minor -evils must be joined the major one, that the distribution achieved by -the system, gives to those who regulate and superintend, a share of the -total produce which bears too large a ratio to the share it gives to -the actual workers. Let it not be thought, then, that in saying what I -have said above, I under-estimate those vices of our competitive system -which, 30 years ago, I described and denounced.[44] But it is not a -question of absolute evils; it is a question of relative evils—whether -the evils at present suffered are or are not less than the evils which -would be suffered under another system—whether efforts for mitigation -along the lines thus far followed are not more likely to succeed than -efforts along utterly different lines. - -This is the question here to be considered. I must be excused for first -of all setting forth sundry truths which are, to some at any rate, -tolerably familiar, before proceeding to draw inferences which are not -so familiar. - - [44] See essay on “The Morals of Trade.” - - * * * * * - -Speaking broadly, every man works that he may avoid {450} suffering. -Here, remembrance of the pangs of hunger prompts him; and there, he is -prompted by the sight of the slave-driver’s lash. His immediate dread -may be the punishment which physical circumstances will inflict, or -may be punishment inflicted by human agency. He must have a master; -but the master may be Nature or may be a fellow man. When he is under -the impersonal coercion of Nature, we say that he is free; and when -he is under the personal coercion of some one above him, we call -him, according to the degree of his dependence, a slave, a serf, or -a vassal. Of course I omit the small minority who inherit means: an -incidental, and not a necessary, social element. I speak only of the -vast majority, both cultured and uncultured, who maintain themselves by -labour, bodily or mental, and must either exert themselves of their own -unconstrained wills, prompted only by thoughts of naturally-resulting -evils or benefits, or must exert themselves with constrained wills, -prompted by thoughts of evils and benefits artificially resulting. - -Men may work together in a society under either of these two forms of -control: forms which, though in many cases mingled, are essentially -contrasted. Using the word coöperation in its wide sense, and not in -that restricted sense now commonly given to it, we may say that social -life must be carried on by either voluntary coöperation or compulsory -coöperation; or, to use Sir Henry Maine’s words, the system must be -that of _contract_ or that of _status_—that in which the individual is -left to do the best he can by his spontaneous efforts and get success -or failure according to his efficiency, and that in which he has his -appointed place, works under coercive rule, and has his apportioned -share of food, clothing, and shelter. - -The system of voluntary coöperation is that by which, in civilized -societies, industry is now everywhere carried on. Under a simple form -we have it on every farm, where the labourers, paid by the farmer -himself and taking orders {451} directly from him, are free to stay -or go as they please. And of its more complex form an example is -yielded by every manufacturing concern, in which, under partners, come -managers and clerks, and under these, time-keepers and over-lookers, -and under these operatives of different grades. In each of these cases -there is an obvious working together, or coöperation, of employer and -employed, to obtain in the one case a crop and in the other case a -manufactured stock. And then, at the same time, there is a far more -extensive, though unconscious, coöperation with other workers of all -grades throughout the society. For while these particular employers -and employed are severally occupied with their special kinds of work, -other employers and employed are making other things needed for the -carrying on of their lives as well as the lives of all others. This -voluntary coöperation, from its simplest to its most complex forms, has -the common trait that those concerned work together by consent. There -is no one to force terms or to force acceptance. It is perfectly true -that in many cases an employer may give, or an _employé_ may accept, -with reluctance: circumstances he says compel him. But what are the -circumstances? In the one case there are goods ordered, or a contract -entered into, which he cannot supply or execute without yielding; and -in the other case he submits to a wage less than he likes because -otherwise he will have no money wherewith to procure food and warmth. -The general formula is not—“Do this, or I will make you;” but it is—“Do -this, or leave your place and take the consequences.” - -On the other hand compulsory coöperation is exemplified by an army—not -so much by our own army, the service in which is under agreement for a -specified period, but in a continental army, raised by conscription. -Here, in time of peace, the daily duties—cleaning, parade, drill, -sentry work, and the rest—and in time of war the various actions of -the camp and the battle-field, are done under command, {452} without -room for any exercise of choice. Up from the private soldier through -the non-commissioned officers and the half-dozen or more grades of -commissioned officers, the universal law is absolute obedience from -the grade below to the grade above. The sphere of individual will -is such only as is allowed by the will of the superior. Breaches -of subordination are, according to their gravity, dealt with by -deprivation of leave, extra drill, imprisonment, flogging, and, in the -last resort, shooting. Instead of the understanding that there must -be obedience in respect of specified duties under pain of dismissal; -the understanding now is—“Obey in everything ordered under penalty of -inflicted suffering and perhaps death.” - -This form of coöperation, still exemplified in an army, has in days -gone by been the form of coöperation throughout the civil population. -Everywhere, and at all times, chronic war generates a militant type -of structure, not in the body of soldiers only but throughout the -community at large. Practically, while the conflict between societies -is actively going on, and fighting is regarded as the only manly -occupation, the society is the quiescent army and the army the -mobilized society: that part which does not take part in battle, -composed of slaves, serfs, women, &c., constituting the commissariat. -Naturally, therefore, throughout the mass of inferior individuals -constituting the commissariat, there is maintained a system of -discipline identical in nature if less elaborate. The fighting body -being, under such conditions, the ruling body, and the rest of the -community being incapable of resistance, those who control the fighting -body will, of course, impose their control upon the non-fighting -body; and the _régime_ of coercion will be applied to it with such -modifications only as the different circumstances involve. Prisoners -of war become slaves. Those who were free cultivators before the -conquest of their country, become serfs attached to the soil. Petty -chiefs become subject to superior chiefs; these smaller lords {453} -become vassals to over-lords; and so on up to the highest: the social -ranks and powers being of like essential nature with the ranks and -powers throughout the military organization. And while for the slaves -compulsory coöperation is the unqualified system, a coöperation which -is in part compulsory is the system that pervades all grades above. -Each man’s oath of fealty to his suzerain takes the form—“I am your -man.” - -Throughout Europe, and especially in our own country, this system of -compulsory coöperation gradually relaxed in rigour, while the system -of voluntary coöperation step by step replaced it. As fast as war -ceased to be the business of life, the social structure produced by -war and appropriate to it, slowly became qualified by the social -structure produced by industrial life and appropriate to it. In -proportion as a decreasing part of the community was devoted to -offensive and defensive activities, an increasing part became devoted -to production and distribution. Growing more numerous, more powerful, -and taking refuge in towns where it was less under the power of the -militant class, this industrial population carried on its life under -the system of voluntary coöperation. Though municipal governments and -guild-regulations, partially pervaded by ideas and usages derived -from the militant type of society, were in some degree coercive; -yet production and distribution were in the main carried on under -agreement—alike between buyers and sellers, and between masters and -workmen. As fast as these social relations and forms of activity became -dominant in urban populations, they influenced the whole community: -compulsory coöperation lapsed more and more, through money commutation -for services, military and civil; while divisions of rank became less -rigid and class-power diminished. Until at length, restraints exercised -by incorporated trades having fallen into desuetude, as well as the -rule of rank over rank, voluntary coöperation became the universal -principle. {454} Purchase and sale became the law for all kinds of -services as well as for all kinds of commodities. - - * * * * * - -The restlessness generated by pressure against the conditions of -existence, perpetually prompts the desire to try a new position. -Everyone knows how long-continued rest in one attitude becomes -wearisome—everyone has found how even the best easy chair, at first -rejoiced in, becomes after many hours intolerable; and change to a -hard seat, previously occupied and rejected, seems for a time to be a -great relief. It is the same with incorporated humanity. Having by long -struggles emancipated itself from the hard discipline of the ancient -_régime_, and having discovered that the new _régime_ into which it has -grown, though relatively easy, is not without stresses and pains, its -impatience with these prompts the wish to try another system: which -other system is, in principle if not in appearance, the same as that -which during past generations was escaped from with much rejoicing. - -For as fast as the _régime_ of contract is discarded the _régime_ of -status is of necessity adopted. As fast as voluntary coöperation is -abandoned compulsory coöperation must be substituted. Some kind of -organization labour must have; and if it is not that which arises by -agreement under free competition, it must be that which is imposed by -authority. Unlike in appearance and names as it may be to the old order -of slaves and serfs, working under masters, who were coerced by barons, -who were themselves vassals of dukes or kings, the new order wished -for, constituted by workers under foremen of small groups, overlooked -by superintendents, who are subject to higher local managers, who -are controlled by superiors of districts, themselves under a central -government, must be essentially the same in principle. In the one -case, as in the other, there must be established grades, and enforced -subordination of each grade to the grades above. This is a truth which -the communist or the socialist does not dwell upon. Angry {455} with -the existing system under which each of us takes care of himself, while -all of us see that each has fair play, he thinks how much better it -would be for all of us to take care of each of us; and he refrains from -thinking of the machinery by which this is to be done. Inevitably, if -each is to be cared for by all, then the embodied all must get the -means—the necessaries of life. What it gives to each must be taken from -the accumulated contributions; and it must therefore require from each -his proportion—must tell him how much he has to give to the general -stock in the shape of production, that he may have so much in the shape -of sustentation. Hence, before he can be provided for, he must put -himself under orders, and obey those who say what he shall do, and at -what hours, and where; and who give him his share of food, clothing, -and shelter. If competition is excluded, and with it buying and -selling, there can be no voluntary exchange of so much labour for so -much produce; but there must be apportionment of the one to the other -by appointed officers. This apportionment must be enforced. Without -alternative the work must be done, and without alternative the benefit, -whatever it may be, must be accepted. For the worker may not leave -his place at will and offer himself elsewhere. Under such a system he -cannot be accepted elsewhere, save by order of the authorities. And -it is manifest that a standing order would forbid employment in one -place of an insubordinate member from another place: the system could -not be worked if the workers were severally allowed to go or come as -they pleased. With corporals and sergeants under them, the captains -of industry must carry out the orders of their colonels, and these -of their generals, up to the council of the commander-in-chief; and -obedience must be required throughout the industrial army as throughout -a fighting army. “Do your prescribed duties, and take your apportioned -rations,” must be the rule of the one as of the other. - -“Well, be it so;” replies the socialist. “The workers {456} will -appoint their own officers, and these will always be subject to -criticisms of the mass they regulate. Being thus in fear of public -opinion, they will be sure to act judiciously and fairly; or when they -do not, will be deposed by the popular vote, local or general. Where -will be the grievance of being under superiors, when the superiors -themselves are under democratic control?” And in this attractive vision -the socialist has full belief. - - * * * * * - -Iron and brass are simpler things than flesh and blood, and dead wood -than living nerve; and a machine constructed of the one works in more -definite ways than an organism constructed of the other,—especially -when the machine is worked by the inorganic forces of steam or water, -while the organism is worked by the forces of living nerve-centres. -Manifestly, then, the ways in which the machine will work are much -more readily calculable than the ways in which the organism will work. -Yet in how few cases does the inventor foresee rightly the actions of -his new apparatus! Read the patent-list, and it will be found that not -more than one device in fifty turns out to be of any service. Plausible -as his scheme seemed to the inventor, one or other hitch prevents the -intended operation, and brings out a widely different result from that -which he wished. - -What, then, shall we say of these schemes which have to do not with -dead matters and forces, but with complex living organisms working -in ways less readily foreseen, and which involve the coöperation -of multitudes of such organisms? Even the units out of which this -re-arranged body politic is to be formed are often incomprehensible. -Everyone is from time to time surprised by others’ behaviour, and even -by the deeds of relatives who are best known to him. Seeing, then, how -uncertainly anyone can foresee the actions of an individual, how can -he with any certainty foresee the operation of a social structure? -He proceeds on the assumption that all concerned will judge rightly -and act {457} fairly—will think as they ought to think, and act -as they ought to act; and he assumes this regardless of the daily -experiences which show him that men do neither the one nor the other, -and forgetting that the complaints he makes against the existing -system show his belief to be that men have neither the wisdom nor the -rectitude which his plan requires them to have. - -Paper constitutions raise smiles on the faces of those who have -observed their results; and paper social systems similarly affect those -who have contemplated the available evidence. How little the men who -wrought the French revolution and were chiefly concerned in setting up -the new governmental apparatus, dreamt that one of the early actions of -this apparatus would be to behead them all! How little the men who drew -up the American Declaration of Independence and framed the republic, -anticipated that after some generations the legislature would lapse -into the hands of wire-pullers; that its doings would turn upon the -contests of office-seekers; that political action would be everywhere -vitiated by the intrusion of a foreign element holding the balance -between parties; that electors, instead of judging for themselves, -would habitually be led to the polls in thousands by their “bosses;” -and that respectable men would be driven out of public life by the -insults and slanders of professional politicians. Nor were there better -previsions in those who gave constitutions to the various other states -of the New World, in which unnumbered revolutions have shown with -wonderful persistence the contrasts between the expected results of -political systems and the achieved results. It has been no less thus -with proposed systems of social re-organization, so far as they have -been tried. Save where celibacy has been insisted on, their history has -been everywhere one of disaster; ending with the history of Cabet’s -Icarian colony lately given by one of its members, Madame Fleury -Robinson, in _The Open Court_—a history of splittings, re-splittings -and re-re-splittings, accompanied by {458} numerous individual -secessions and final dissolution. And for the failure of such social -schemes, as for the failure of the political schemes, there has been -one general cause. - - * * * * * - -Metamorphosis is the universal law, exemplified throughout the Heavens -and on the Earth: especially throughout the organic world; and above -all in the animal division of it. No creature, save the simplest and -most minute, commences its existence in a form like that which it -eventually assumes; and in most cases the unlikeness is great—so great -that kinship between the first and the last forms would be incredible -were it not daily demonstrated in every poultry-yard and every garden. -More than this is true. The changes of form are often several: each -of them being an apparently complete transformation—egg, larva, pupa, -imago, for example. And this universal metamorphosis, displayed alike -in the development of a planet and of every seed which germinates on -its surface, holds also of societies, whether taken as wholes or in -their separate institutions. No one of them ends as it begins; and the -difference between its original structure and its ultimate structure -is such that, at the outset, change of the one into the other would -have seemed incredible. In the rudest tribe the chief, obeyed as leader -in war, loses his distinctive position when the fighting is over; and -even where continued warfare has produced permanent chieftainship, -the chief, building his own hut, getting his own food, making his own -implements, differs from others only by his predominant influence. -There is no sign that in course of time, by conquests and unions of -tribes, and consolidations of clusters so formed with other such -clusters, until a nation has been produced, there will originate from -the primitive chief, one who, as czar or emperor, surrounded with pomp -and ceremony, has despotic power over scores of millions, exercised -through hundreds of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands -of officials. When the early Christian missionaries, having humble -{459} externals and passing self-denying lives, spread over pagan -Europe, preaching forgiveness of injuries and the returning of good -for evil, no one dreamt that in course of time their representatives -would form a vast hierarchy, possessing everywhere a large part of -the land, distinguished by the haughtiness of its members grade above -grade, ruled by military bishops who led their retainers to battle, -and headed by a pope exercising supreme power over kings. So, too, -has it been with that very industrial system which many are now so -eager to replace. In its original form there was no prophecy of the -factory-system or kindred organizations of workers. Differing from -them only as being the head of his house, the master worked along with -his apprentices and a journeyman or two, sharing with them his table -and accommodation, and himself selling their joint produce. Only with -industrial growth did there come employment of a larger number of -assistants, and a relinquishment, on the part of the master, of all -other business than that of superintendence. And only in the course -of recent times did there evolve the organizations under which the -labours of hundreds and thousands of men receiving wages, are regulated -by various orders of paid officials under a single or multiple head. -These originally small, semi-socialistic, groups of producers, like the -compound families or house-communities of early ages, slowly dissolved -because they could not hold their ground: the larger establishments, -with better sub-division of labour, succeeded because they ministered -to the wants of society more effectually. But we need not go back -through the centuries to trace transformations sufficiently great and -unexpected. On the day when £30,000 a year in aid of education was -voted as an experiment, the name of idiot would have been given to an -opponent who prophesied that in 50 years the sum spent through imperial -taxes and local rates would amount to £10,000,000 or who said that -the aid to education would be followed by aids to feeding and {460} -clothing, or who said that parents and children, alike deprived of all -option, would, even if starving, be compelled by fine or imprisonment -to conform, and receive that which, with papal assumption, the State -calls education. No one, I say, would have dreamt that out of so -innocent-looking a germ would have so quickly evolved this tyrannical -system, tamely submitted to by people who fancy themselves free. - -Thus in social arrangements, as in all other things, change is -inevitable. It is foolish to suppose that new institutions set up, will -long retain the character given them by those who set them up. Rapidly -or slowly they will be transformed into institutions unlike those -intended—so unlike as even to be unrecognizable by their devisers. -And what, in the case before us, will be the metamorphosis? The -answer pointed to by instances above given, and warranted by various -analogies, is manifest. - -A cardinal trait in all advancing organization is the development of -the regulative apparatus. If the parts of a whole are to act together, -there must be appliances by which their actions are directed; and in -proportion as the whole is large and complex, and has many requirements -to be met by many agencies, the directive apparatus must be extensive, -elaborate, and powerful. That it is thus with individual organisms -needs no saying; and that it must be thus with social organisms is -obvious. Beyond the regulative apparatus such as in our own society is -required for carrying on national defence and maintaining public order -and personal safety, there must, under the _régime_ of socialism, be -a regulative apparatus everywhere controlling all kinds of production -and distribution, and everywhere apportioning the shares of products -of each kind required for each locality, each working establishment, -each individual. Under our existing voluntary coöperation, with its -free contracts and its competition, production and distribution need -no official oversight. Demand and {461} supply, and the desire of -each man to gain a living by supplying the needs of his fellows, -spontaneously evolve that wonderful system whereby a great city has -its food daily brought round to all doors or stored at adjacent shops; -has clothing for its citizens everywhere at hand in multitudinous -varieties; has its houses and furniture and fuel ready made or stocked -in each locality; and has mental pabulum from halfpenny papers -hourly hawked round, to weekly shoals of novels, and less abundant -books of instruction, furnished without stint for small payments. -And throughout the kingdom, production as well as distribution is -similarly carried on with the smallest amount of superintendence which -proves efficient; while the quantities of the numerous commodities -required daily in each locality are adjusted without any other agency -than the pursuit of profit. Suppose now that this industrial _régime_ -of willinghood, acting spontaneously, is replaced by a _régime_ of -industrial obedience, enforced by public officials. Imagine the vast -administration required for that distribution of all commodities to -all people in every city, town and village, which is now effected by -traders! Imagine, again, the still more vast administration required -for doing all that farmers, manufacturers, and merchants do; having not -only its various orders of local superintendents, but its sub-centres -and chief centres needed for apportioning the quantities of each -thing everywhere needed, and the adjustment of them to the requisite -times. Then add the staffs wanted for working mines, railways, roads, -canals; the staffs required for conducting the importing and exporting -businesses and the administration of mercantile shipping; the staffs -required for supplying towns not only with water and gas but with -locomotion by tramways, omnibuses, and other vehicles, and for the -distribution of power, electric and other. Join with these the existing -postal, telegraphic, and telephonic administrations; and finally those -of the police and army, by which the dictates {462} of this immense -consolidated regulative system are to be everywhere enforced. Imagine -all this and then ask what will be the position of the actual workers! -Already on the continent, where governmental organizations are more -elaborate and coercive than here, there are chronic complaints of -the tyranny of bureaucracies—the _hauteur_ and brutality of their -members. What will these become when not only the more public actions -of citizens are controlled, but there is added this far more extensive -control of all their respective daily duties? What will happen when the -various divisions of this vast army of officials, united by interests -common to officialism—the interests of the regulators _versus_ those -of the regulated—have at their command whatever force is needful to -suppress insubordination and act as “saviours of society”? Where will -be the actual diggers and miners and smelters and weavers, when those -who order and superintend, everywhere arranged class above class, have -come, after some generations, to inter-marry with those of kindred -grades, under feelings such as are operative in existing classes; -and when there have been so produced a series of castes rising in -superiority; and when all these, having everything in their own power, -have arranged modes of living for their own advantage: eventually -forming a new aristocracy far more elaborate and better organized than -the old? How will the individual worker fare if he is dissatisfied with -his treatment—thinks that he has not an adequate share of the products, -or has more to do than can rightly be demanded, or wishes to undertake -a function for which he feels himself fitted but which is not thought -proper for him by his superiors, or desires to make an independent -career for himself? This dissatisfied unit in the immense machine will -be told he must submit or go. The mildest penalty for disobedience will -be industrial excommunication. And if an international organization of -labour is formed as proposed, exclusion in one country {463} will mean -exclusion in all others—industrial excommunication will mean starvation. - -That things must take this course is a conclusion reached not by -deduction only, nor only by induction from those experiences of the -past instanced above, nor only from consideration of the analogies -furnished by organisms of all orders; but it is reached also by -observation of cases daily under our eyes. The truth that the -regulative structure always tends to increase in power, is illustrated -by every established body of men. The history of each learned society, -or society for other purpose, shows how the staff, permanent or -partially permanent, sways the proceedings and determines the actions -of the society with but little resistance, even when most members of -the society disapprove: the repugnance to anything like a revolutionary -step being ordinarily an efficient deterrent. So is it with joint-stock -companies—those owning railways for example. The plans of a board of -directors are usually authorized with little or no discussion; and if -there is any considerable opposition, this is forthwith crushed by an -overwhelming number of proxies sent by those who always support the -existing administration. Only when the misconduct is extreme does the -resistance of shareholders suffice to displace the ruling body. Nor -is it otherwise with societies formed of working men and having the -interests of labour especially at heart—the trades-unions. In these, -too, the regulative agency becomes all powerful. Their members, even -when they dissent from the policy pursued, habitually yield to the -authorities they have set up. As they cannot secede without making -enemies of their fellow workmen, and often losing all chance of -employment, they succumb. We are shown, too, by the late congress, -that already, in the general organization of trades-unions so recently -formed, there are complaints of “wire-pullers” and “bosses” and -“permanent officials.” If, then, this supremacy of the regulators is -seen in bodies of quite modern origin, formed of men who {464} have, -in many of the cases instanced, unhindered powers of asserting their -independence, what will the supremacy of the regulators become in -long-established bodies, in bodies which have become vast and highly -organized, and in bodies which, instead of controlling only a small -part of the unit’s life, control the whole of his life? - - * * * * * - -Again there will come the rejoinder—“We shall guard against all that. -Everybody will be educated; and all, with their eyes constantly open to -the abuse of power, will be quick to prevent it.” The worth of these -expectations would be small even could we not identify the causes which -will bring disappointment; for in human affairs the most promising -schemes go wrong in ways which no one anticipated. But in this case -the going wrong will be necessitated by causes which are conspicuous. -The working of institutions is determined by men’s characters; and -the existing defects in their characters will inevitably bring about -the results above indicated. There is no adequate endowment of those -sentiments required to prevent the growth of a despotic bureaucracy. - -Were it needful to dwell on indirect evidence, much might be made -of that furnished by the behaviour of the so-called Liberal party—a -party which, relinquishing the original conception of a leader as a -mouthpiece for a known and accepted policy, thinks itself bound to -accept a policy which its leader springs upon it without consent or -warning—a party so utterly without the feeling and idea implied by -liberalism, as not to resent this trampling on the right of private -judgment, which constitutes the root of liberalism—nay, a party -which vilifies as renegade liberals, those of its members who refuse -to surrender their independence! But without occupying space with -indirect proofs that the mass of men have not the natures required to -check the development of tyrannical officialism, it will suffice to -contemplate the direct proofs furnished by those classes among whom -{465} the socialistic idea most predominates, and who think themselves -most interested in propagating it—the operative classes. These would -constitute the great body of the socialistic organization, and their -characters would determine its nature. What, then, are their characters -as displayed in such organizations as they have already formed? - -Instead of the selfishness of the employing classes and the selfishness -of competition, we are to have the unselfishness of a mutually-aiding -system. How far is this unselfishness now shown in the behaviour of -working men to one another? What shall we say to the rules limiting -the numbers of new hands admitted into each trade, or to the rules -which hinder ascent from inferior classes of workers to superior -classes? One does not see in such regulations any of that altruism by -which socialism is to be pervaded. Contrariwise, one sees a pursuit of -private interests no less keen than among traders. Hence, unless we -suppose that men’s natures will be suddenly exalted, we must conclude -that the pursuit of private interests will sway the doings of all the -component classes in a socialistic society. - -With passive disregard of others’ claims goes active encroachment on -them. “Be one of us or we will cut off your means of living,” is the -usual threat of each trades-union to outsiders of the same trade. While -their members insist on their own freedom to combine and fix the rates -at which they will work (as they are perfectly justified in doing), -the freedom of those who disagree with them is not only denied but the -assertion of it is treated as a crime. Individuals who maintain their -rights to make their own contracts are vilified as “blacklegs” and -“traitors,” and meet with violence which would be merciless were there -no legal penalties and no police. Along with this trampling on the -liberties of men of their own class, there goes peremptory dictation to -the employing class: not prescribed terms and working arrangements only -shall be conformed {466} to, but none save those belonging to their -body shall be employed—nay, in some cases, there shall be a strike if -the employer carries on transactions with trading bodies that give work -to non-union men. Here, then, we are variously shown by trades-unions, -or at any rate by the newer trades-unions, a determination to impose -their regulations without regard to the rights of those who are to be -coerced. So complete is the inversion of ideas and sentiments that -maintenance of these rights is regarded as vicious and trespass upon -them as virtuous.[45] - -Along with this aggressiveness in one direction there goes -submissiveness in another direction. The coercion of outsiders by -unionists is paralleled only by their subjection to their leaders. -That they may conquer in the struggle they surrender their individual -liberties and individual judgments, and show no resentment however -dictatorial may be the rule exercised over them. Everywhere we see such -subordination that bodies of workmen unanimously leave their work or -return to it as their authorities order them. Nor do they resist when -taxed all round to support strikers whose acts they may or may not -approve, but instead, ill-treat recalcitrant members of their body who -do not subscribe. {467} - - [45] Marvellous are the conclusions men reach when once they desert - the simple principle, that each man should be allowed to pursue the - objects of life, restrained only by the limits which the similar - pursuits of their objects by other men impose. A generation ago we - heard loud assertions of ‘the right to labour,’ that is, the right - to have labour provided; and there are still not a few who think the - community bound to find work for each person. Compare this with the - doctrine current in France at the time when the monarchical power - culminated; namely, that ‘the right of working is a royal right - which the prince can sell and the subjects must buy.’ This contrast - is startling enough; but a contrast still more startling is being - provided for us. We now see a resuscitation of the despotic doctrine, - differing only by the substitution of Trades-Unions for kings. For now - that Trades-Unions are becoming universal, and each artisan has to - pay prescribed monies to one or another of them, with the alternative - of being a non-unionist to whom work is denied by force, it has come - to this, that the right to labour is a Trade-Union right, which the - Trade-Union can sell and the individual worker must buy! - -The traits thus shown must be operative in any new social organization, -and the question to be asked is—What will result from their operation -when they are relieved from all restraints? At present the separate -bodies of men displaying them are in the midst of a society partially -passive, partially antagonistic; are subject to the criticisms and -reprobations of an independent press; and are under the control of law, -enforced by police. If in these circumstances these bodies habitually -take courses which override individual freedom, what will happen when, -instead of being only scattered parts of the community, governed -by their separate sets of regulators, they constitute the whole -community, governed by a consolidated system of such regulators; when -functionaries of all orders, including those who officer the press, -form parts of the regulative organization; and when the law is both -enacted and administered by this regulative organization? The fanatical -adherents of a social theory are capable of taking any measures, no -matter how extreme, for carrying out their views: holding, like the -merciless priesthoods of past times, that the end justifies the means. -And when a general socialistic organization has been established, -the vast, ramified, and consolidated body of those who direct its -activities, using without check whatever coercion seems to them needful -in the interests of the system (which will practically become their -own interests) will have no hesitation in imposing their rigorous rule -over the entire lives of the actual workers; until, eventually, there -is developed an official oligarchy, with its various grades, exercising -a tyranny more gigantic and more terrible than any which the world has -seen. - - * * * * * - -Let me again repudiate an erroneous inference. Any one who supposes -that the foregoing argument implies contentment with things as -they are, makes a profound mistake. The present social state is -transitional, as past social states have been transitional. There will, -I hope {468} and believe, come a future social state differing as much -from the present as the present differs from the past with its mailed -barons and defenceless serfs. In _Social Statics_, as well as in _The -Study of Sociology_ and in _Political Institutions_, is clearly shown -the desire for an organization more conducive to the happiness of men -at large than that which exists. My opposition to socialism results -from the belief that it would stop the progress to such a higher state -and bring back a lower state. Nothing but the slow modification of -human nature by the discipline of social life, can produce permanently -advantageous changes. - -A fundamental error pervading the thinking of nearly all parties, -political and social, is that evils admit of immediate and radical -remedies. “If you will but do this, the mischief will be prevented.” -“Adopt my plan and the suffering will disappear.” “The corruption -will unquestionably be cured by enforcing this measure.” Everywhere -one meets with beliefs, expressed or implied, of these kinds. They -are all ill-founded. It is possible to remove causes which intensify -the evils; it is possible to change the evils from one form into -another; and it is possible, and very common, to exacerbate the evils -by the efforts made to prevent them; but anything like immediate cure -is impossible. In the course of thousands of years mankind have, by -multiplication, been forced out of that original savage state in which -small numbers supported themselves on wild food, into the civilized -state in which the food required for supporting great numbers can be -got only by continuous labour. The nature required for this last mode -of life is widely different from the nature required for the first; and -long-continued pains have to be passed through in re-moulding the one -into the other. Misery has necessarily to be borne by a constitution -out of harmony with its conditions; and a constitution inherited -from primitive men is out of harmony with the conditions imposed on -existing men. Hence it is impossible to establish forthwith a {469} -satisfactory social state. No such nature as that which has filled -Europe with millions of armed men, here eager for conquest and there -for revenge—no such nature as that which prompts the nations called -Christian to vie with one another in filibustering expeditions all over -the world, regardless of the claims of aborigines, while their tens of -thousands of priests of the religion of love look on approvingly—no -such nature as that which, in dealing with weaker races, goes beyond -the primitive rule of life for life, and for one life takes many -lives—no such nature, I say, can, by any device, be framed into a -harmonious community. The root of all well-ordered social action is a -sentiment of justice, which at once insists on personal freedom and is -solicitous for the like freedom of others; and there at present exists -but a very inadequate amount of this sentiment. - -Hence the need for further long continuance of a social discipline -which requires each man to carry on his activities with due regard to -the like claims of others to carry on their activities; and which, -while it insists that he shall have all the benefits his conduct -naturally brings, insists also that he shall not saddle on others -the evils his conduct naturally brings: unless they freely undertake -to bear them. And hence the belief that endeavours to elude this -discipline, will not only fail, but will bring worse evils than those -to be escaped. - -It is not, then, chiefly in the interests of the employing classes that -socialism is to be resisted, but much more in the interests of the -employed classes. In one way or other production must be regulated; and -the regulators, in the nature of things, must always be a small class -as compared with the actual producers. Under voluntary coöperation -as at present carried on, the regulators, pursuing their personal -interests, take as large a share of the produce as they can get; -but, as we are daily shown by trades-union successes, are restrained -in the selfish pursuit {470} of their ends. Under that compulsory -coöperation which socialism would necessitate, the regulators, pursuing -their personal interests with no less selfishness, could not be met by -the combined resistance of free workers; and their power, unchecked -as now by refusals to work save on prescribed terms, would grow and -ramify and consolidate till it became irresistible. The ultimate -result, as I have before pointed out, must be a society like that of -ancient Peru, dreadful to contemplate, in which the mass of the people, -elaborately regimented in groups of 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000, ruled -by officers of corresponding grades, and tied to their districts, were -superintended in their private lives as well as in their industries, -and toiled hopelessly for the support of the governmental organization. - -{471} - - - - -THE AMERICANS: - -A CONVERSATION AND A SPEECH, WITH AN ADDITION. - - -[_Originally published in America and afterwards published in -England in_ The Contemporary Review _for January 1883, preceded by -the following editorial note:—“The state of Mr. Spencer’s health -unfortunately not permitting him, to give in the form of articles -the results of his observations on American society, it is thought -useful to reproduce, under his own revision and with some additional -remarks, what he has said on the subject; especially as the accounts of -it which have appeared in this country are imperfect: reports of the -conversation having been abridged, and the speech being known only by -telegraphic summary._ - -_“The earlier paragraphs of the conversation, which refer to Mr. -Spencer’s persistent exclusion of reporters and his objections to the -interviewing system, are omitted, as not here concerning the reader. -There was no eventual yielding, as has been supposed. It was not to -a newspaper-reporter that the opinions which follow were expressed, -but to an intimate American friend: the primary purpose being to -correct the many misstatements to which the excluded interviewers had -given currency; and the occasion being taken for giving utterance to -impressions of American affairs._”—ED.] - - -I.—A CONVERSATION: _October 20, 1882_. - -Has what you have seen answered your expectations? - -It has far exceeded them. Such books about America as I had looked into -had given me no adequate idea of the immense developments of material -civilization which {472} I have everywhere found. The extent, wealth, -and magnificence of your cities, and especially the splendour of New -York, have altogether astonished me. Though I have not visited the -wonder of the West, Chicago, yet some of your minor modern places, -such as Cleveland, have sufficiently amazed me by the results of one -generation’s activity. Occasionally, when I have been in places of some -ten thousand inhabitants where the telephone is in general use, I have -felt somewhat ashamed of our own unenterprising towns, many of which, -of fifty thousand inhabitants and more, make no use of it. - -I suppose you recognize in these results the great benefits of free -institutions? - -Ah! Now comes one of the inconveniences of interviewing. I have been -in the country less than two months, have seen but a relatively small -part of it, and but comparatively few people, and yet you wish from me -a definite opinion on a difficult question. - -Perhaps you will answer, subject to the qualification that you are but -giving your first impressions? - -Well, with that understanding, I may reply that though the free -institutions have been partly the cause, I think they have not been the -chief cause. In the first place, the American people have come into -possession of an unparalleled fortune—the mineral wealth and the vast -tracts of virgin soil producing abundantly with small cost of culture. -Manifestly, that alone goes a long way towards producing this enormous -prosperity. Then they have profited by inheriting all the arts, -appliances, and methods, developed by older societies, while leaving -behind the obstructions existing in them. They have been able to pick -and choose from the products of all past experience, appropriating the -good and rejecting the bad. Then, besides these favours of fortune, -there are factors proper to themselves. I perceive in American faces -generally a great amount of determination—a kind of “do or die” {473} -expression; and this trait of character, joined with a power of work -exceeding that of any other people, of course produces an unparalleled -rapidity of progress. Once more, there is the inventiveness which, -stimulated by the need for economizing labour, has been so wisely -fostered. Among us in England, there are many foolish people who, while -thinking that a man who toils with his hands has an equitable claim to -the product, and if he has special skill may rightly have the advantage -of it, also hold that if a man toils with his brain, perhaps for years, -and, uniting genius with perseverance, evolves some valuable invention, -the public may rightly claim the benefit. The Americans have been more -far-seeing. The enormous museum of patents which I saw at Washington -is significant of the attention paid to inventors’ claims; and the -nation profits immensely from having in this direction (though not in -all others) recognized property in mental products. Beyond question, -in respect of mechanical appliances the Americans are ahead of all -nations. If along with your material progress there went equal progress -of a higher kind, there would remain nothing to be wished. - -That is an ambiguous qualification. What do you mean by it? - -You will understand me when I tell you what I was thinking the other -day. After pondering over what I have seen of your vast manufacturing -and trading establishments, the rush of traffic in your street-cars -and elevated railways, your gigantic hotels and Fifth Avenue palaces, -I was suddenly reminded of the Italian Republics of the Middle Ages; -and recalled the fact that while there was growing up in them great -commercial activity, a development of the arts, which made them the -envy of Europe, and a building of princely mansions which continue to -be the admiration of travellers, their people were gradually losing -their freedom. - -Do you mean this as a suggestion that we are doing the like? - -It seems to me that you are. You retain the forms of {474} freedom; -but, so far as I can gather, there has been a considerable loss of the -substance. It is true that those who rule you do not do it by means of -retainers armed with swords; but they do it through regiments of men -armed with voting papers, who obey the word of command as loyally as -did the dependants of the old feudal nobles, and who thus enable their -leaders to override the general will, and make the community submit -to their exactions as effectually as their prototypes of old. It is -doubtless true that each of your citizens votes for the candidate he -chooses for this or that office, from President downwards; but his hand -is guided by an agency behind which leaves him scarcely any choice. -“Use your political power as we tell you, or else throw it away,” -is the alternative offered to the citizen. The political machinery -as it is now worked, has little resemblance to that contemplated at -the outset of your political life. Manifestly, those who framed your -Constitution never dreamed that twenty thousand citizens would go to -the poll led by a “boss.” America exemplifies at the other end of -the social scale, a change analogous to that which has taken place -under sundry despotisms. You know that in Japan, before the recent -Revolution, the divine ruler, the Mikado, nominally supreme, was -practically a puppet in the hands of his chief minister, the Shogun. -Here it seems to me that “the sovereign people” is fast becoming a -puppet which moves and speaks as wire-pullers determine. - -Then you think that Republican institutions are a failure? - -By no means: I imply no such conclusion. Thirty years ago, when often -discussing politics with an English friend, and defending Republican -institutions, as I always have done and do still, and when he urged -against me the ill-working of such institutions over here, I habitually -replied that the Americans got their form of government by a happy -accident, not by normal progress, and that they would have to go back -before they could go forward. What has since happened seems to me -to have justified that {475} view; and what I see now, confirms me -in it. America is showing, on a larger scale than ever before, that -“paper Constitutions” will not work as they are intended to work. -The truth, first recognized by Mackintosh, that Constitutions are -not made but grow, which is part of the larger truth that societies, -throughout their whole organizations, are not made but grow, at once, -when accepted, disposes of the notion that you can work as you hope -any artificially-devised system of government. It becomes an inference -that if your political structure has been manufactured and not grown, -it will forthwith begin to grow into something different from that -intended—something in harmony with the natures of the citizens, and the -conditions under which the society exists. And it evidently has been so -with you. Within the forms of your Constitution there has grown up this -organization of professional politicians altogether uncontemplated at -the outset, which has become in large measure the ruling power. - -But will not education and the diffusion of political knowledge fit men -for free institutions? - -No. It is essentially a question of character, and only in a secondary -degree a question of knowledge. But for the universal delusion about -education as a panacea for political evils, this would have been made -sufficiently clear by the evidence daily disclosed in your papers. -Are not the men who officer and control your Federal, your State, -and your Municipal organizations—who manipulate your caucuses and -conventions, and run your partisan campaigns—all educated men? And has -their education prevented them from engaging in, or permitting, or -condoning, the briberies, lobbyings, and other corrupt methods which -vitiate the actions of your administrations? Perhaps party newspapers -exaggerate these things; but what am I to make of the testimony of your -civil service reformers—men of all parties? If I understand the matter -aright, they are attacking, as vicious and dangerous, a system {476} -which has grown up under the natural spontaneous working of your free -institutions—are exposing vices which education has proved powerless to -prevent? - -Of course, ambitious and unscrupulous men will secure the offices, and -education will aid them in their selfish purposes. But would not those -purposes be thwarted, and better Government secured, by raising the -standard of knowledge among the people at large? - -Very little. The current theory is that if the young are taught what is -right, and the reasons why it is right, they will do what is right when -they grow up. But considering what religious teachers have been doing -these two thousand years, it seems to me that all history is against -the conclusion, as much as is the conduct of these well-educated -citizens I have referred to; and I do not see why you expect better -results among the masses. Personal interests will sway the men in -the ranks, as they sway the men above them; and the education which -fails to make the last consult public good rather than private good, -will fail to make the first do it. The benefits of political purity -are so general and remote, and the profit to each individual is so -inconspicuous, that the common citizen, educate him as you like, will -habitually occupy himself with his personal affairs, and hold it not -worth his while to fight against each abuse as soon as it appears. Not -lack of information, but lack of certain moral sentiment, is the root -of the evil. - -You mean that people have not a sufficient sense of public duty? - -Well, that is one way of putting it; but there is a more specific way. -Probably it will surprise you if I say the American has not, I think, a -sufficiently quick sense of his own claims, and, at the same time, as a -necessary consequence, not a sufficiently quick sense of the claims of -others—for the two traits are organically related. I observe that they -tolerate various small interferences and dictations which Englishmen -are prone to resist. I am told that the {477} English are remarked on -for their tendency to grumble in such cases; and I have no doubt it is -true. - -Do you think it worth while for people to make themselves disagreeable -by resenting every trifling aggression? We Americans think it involves -too much loss of time and temper, and doesn’t pay. - -Exactly; that is what I mean by character. It is this easy-going -readiness to permit small trespasses, because it would be troublesome -or profitless or unpopular to oppose them, which leads to the habit -of acquiescence in wrong, and the decay of free institutions. Free -institutions can be maintained only by citizens, each of whom is -instant to oppose every illegitimate act, every assumption of -supremacy, every official excess of power, however trivial it may seem. -As Hamlet says, there is such a thing as “greatly to find quarrel in -a straw,” when the straw implies a principle. If, as you say of the -American, he pauses to consider whether he can afford the time and -trouble—whether it will pay, corruption is sure to creep in. All these -lapses from higher to lower forms begin in trifling ways, and it is -only by incessant watchfulness that they can be prevented. As one of -your early statesmen said—“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” -But it is far less against foreign aggressions upon national liberty -that this vigilance is required, than against the insidious growth -of domestic interferences with personal liberty. In some private -administrations which I have been concerned with, I have often insisted -that instead of assuming, as people usually do, that things are going -right until it is proved that they are going wrong, the proper course -is to assume that they are going wrong until it is proved that they -are going right. You will find continually that private corporations, -such as joint-stock banking companies, come to grief from not acting -on this principle; and what holds of these small and simple private -administrations holds still more of the great and complex public -administrations. {478} People are taught, and I suppose believe, -that the heart of man “is deceitful above all things, and desperately -wicked;” and yet, strangely enough, believing this, they place implicit -trust in those they appoint to this or that function. I do not think so -ill of human nature; but, on the other hand, I do not think so well of -human nature as to believe it will go straight without being watched. - -You hinted that while Americans do not assert their own individualities -sufficiently in small matters, they, reciprocally, do not sufficiently -respect the individualities of others. - -Did I? Here, then, comes another of the inconveniences of interviewing. -I should have kept this opinion to myself if you had asked me no -questions; and now I must either say what I do not think, which I -cannot, or I must refuse to answer, which, perhaps, will be taken to -mean more than I intend, or I must specify, at the risk of giving -offence. As the least evil, I suppose I must do the last. The trait I -refer to comes out in various ways, small and great. It is shown by -the disrespectful manner in which individuals are dealt with in your -journals—the placarding of public men in sensational headings, the -dragging of private people and their affairs into print. There seems to -be a notion that the public have a right to intrude on private life as -far as they like; and this I take to be a kind of moral trespassing. -Then, in a larger way, the trait is seen in this damaging of private -property by your elevated railways without making compensation; and -it is again seen in the doings of railway autocrats, not only when -overriding the rights of shareholders, but in dominating over courts -of justice and State governments. The fact is that free institutions -can be properly worked only by men, each of whom is jealous of his own -rights, and also sympathetically jealous of the rights of others—who -will neither himself aggress on his neighbours in small things or -great, nor tolerate aggression on them by others. The Republican form -of government is the highest form of government; but because of this -it {479} requires the highest type of human nature—a type nowhere at -present existing. We have not grown up to it; nor have you. - -But we thought, Mr. Spencer, you were in favour of free government in -the sense of relaxed restraints, and letting men and things very much -alone, or what is called _laissez faire_? - -That is a persistent misunderstanding of my opponents. Everywhere, -along with the reprobation of Government intrusion into various spheres -where private activities should be left to themselves, I have contended -that in its special sphere, the maintenance of equitable relations -among citizens, governmental action should be extended and elaborated. - -To return to your various criticisms, must I then understand that you -think unfavourably of our future? - -No one can form anything more than vague and general conclusions -respecting your future. The factors are too numerous, too vast, too far -beyond measure in their quantities and intensities. The world has never -before seen social phenomena at all comparable with those presented -in the United States. A society spreading over enormous tracts, while -still preserving its political continuity, is a new thing. This -progressive incorporation of vast bodies of immigrants of various -bloods, has never occurred on such a scale before. Large empires, -composed of different peoples, have, in previous cases, been formed -by conquest and annexation. Then your immense _plexus_ of railways -and telegraphs tends to consolidate this vast aggregate of States in -a way that no such aggregate has ever before been consolidated. And -there are many minor co-operating causes, unlike those hitherto known. -No one can say how it is all going to work out. That there will come -hereafter troubles of various kinds, and very grave ones, seems highly -probable; but all nations have had, and will have, their troubles. -Already you have triumphed over one great trouble, and {480} may -reasonably hope to triumph over others. It may, I think, be concluded -that, both because of its size and the heterogeneity of its components, -the American nation will be a long time in evolving its ultimate -form, but that its ultimate form will be high. One great result is, I -think, tolerably clear. From biological truths it is to be inferred -that the eventual mixture of the allied varieties of the Aryan race -forming the population, will produce a finer type of man than has -hitherto existed; and a type of man more plastic, more adaptable, more -capable of undergoing the modifications needful for complete social -life. I think that whatever difficulties they may have to surmount, -and whatever tribulations they may have to pass through, the Americans -may reasonably look forward to a time when they will have produced a -civilization grander than any the world has known. - - -II.—A SPEECH: - -_Delivered on the occasion of a Complimentary Dinner in New York, on -November 9, 1882._ - -Mr. President and Gentlemen:—Along with your kindness there comes -to me a great unkindness from Fate; for, now that, above all times -in my life, I need full command of what powers of speech I possess, -disturbed health so threatens to interfere with them that I fear I -shall very inadequately express myself. Any failure in my response -you must please ascribe, in part at least, to a greatly disordered -nervous system. Regarding you as representing Americans at large, I -feel that the occasion is one on which arrears of thanks are due. I -ought to begin with the time, some two-and-twenty years ago, when my -highly valued friend Professor Youmans, making efforts to diffuse my -books here, interested on their behalf the Messrs. Appleton, who have -ever treated me so honourably and so handsomely; and I ought to detail -from that time onward the various {481} marks and acts of sympathy by -which I have been encouraged in a struggle which was for many years -disheartening. But, intimating thus briefly my general indebtedness -to my numerous friends, most of them unknown, on this side of the -Atlantic, I must name more especially the many attentions and proffered -hospitalities met with during my late tour, as well as, lastly and -chiefly, this marked expression of the sympathies and good wishes -which many of you have travelled so far to give, at great cost of that -time which is so precious to the American. I believe I may truly say, -that the better health which you have so cordially wished me, will be -in a measure furthered by the wish; since all pleasurable emotion is -conducive to health, and, as you will fully believe, the remembrance of -this event will ever continue to be a source of pleasurable emotion, -exceeded by few, if any, of my remembrances. - -And now that I have thanked you, sincerely though too briefly, I am -going to find fault with you. Already, in some remarks drawn from me -respecting American affairs and American character, I have passed -criticisms, which have been accepted far more good-humouredly than I -could have reasonably expected; and it seems strange that I should now -propose again to transgress. However, the fault I have to comment upon -is one which most will scarcely regard as a fault. It seems to me that -in one respect Americans have diverged too widely from savages, I do -not mean to say that they are in general unduly civilized. Throughout -large parts of the population, even in long-settled regions, there -is no excess of those virtues needed for the maintenance of social -harmony. Especially out in the West, men’s dealings do not yet betray -too much of the “sweetness and light” which we are told distinguish -the cultured man from the barbarian. Nevertheless, there is a sense -in which my assertion is true. You know that the primitive man lacks -power of application. Spurred by hunger, by danger, by revenge, he -can exert himself {482} energetically for a time; but his energy is -spasmodic. Monotonous daily toil is impossible to him. It is otherwise -with the more developed man. The stern discipline of social life has -gradually increased the aptitude for persistent industry; until, among -us, and still more among you, work has become with many a passion. -This contrast of nature has another aspect. The savage thinks only of -present satisfactions, and leaves future satisfactions uncared for. -Contrariwise, the American, eagerly pursuing a future good, almost -ignores what good the passing day offers him; and when the future good -is gained, he neglects that while striving for some still remoter good. - -What I have seen and heard during my stay among you has forced on -me the belief that this slow change from habitual inertness to -persistent activity has reached an extreme from which there must begin -a counterchange—a reaction. Everywhere I have been struck with the -number of faces which told in strong lines of the burdens that had -to be borne. I have been struck, too, with the large proportion of -gray-haired men; and inquiries have brought out the fact, that with you -the hair commonly begins to turn some ten years earlier than with us. -Moreover, in every circle I have met men who had themselves suffered -from nervous collapse due to stress of business, or named friends who -had either killed themselves by overwork, or had been permanently -incapacitated, or had wasted long periods in endeavours to recover -health. I do but echo the opinion of all the observant persons I have -spoken to, that immense injury is being done by this high-pressure -life—the physique is being undermined. That subtle thinker and poet -whom you have lately had to mourn, Emerson, says, in his essay on the -Gentleman, that the first requisite is that he shall be a good animal. -The requisite is a general one—it extends to the man, to the father, -to the citizen. We hear a great deal about “the vile body;” and many -are encouraged by the phrase to transgress the laws of {483} health. -But Nature quietly suppresses those who treat thus disrespectfully one -of her highest products, and leaves the world to be peopled by the -descendants of those who are not so foolish. - -Beyond these immediate mischiefs there are remoter mischiefs. Exclusive -devotion to work has the result that amusements cease to please; and, -when relaxation becomes imperative, life becomes dreary from lack of -its sole interest—the interest in business. The remark current in -England that, when the American travels, his aim is to do the greatest -amount of sight-seeing in the shortest time, I find current here also: -it is recognized that the satisfaction of getting on devours nearly all -other satisfactions. When recently at Niagara, which gave us a whole -week’s pleasure, I learned from the landlord of the hotel that most -Americans come one day and go away the next. Old Froissart, who said -of the English of his day that “they take their pleasures sadly after -their fashion,” would doubtless, if he lived now, say of the Americans -that they take their pleasures hurriedly after their fashion. In large -measure with us, and still more with you, there is not that abandonment -to the moment which is requisite for full enjoyment; and this -abandonment is prevented by the ever-present sense of multitudinous -responsibilities. So that, beyond the serious physical mischief caused -by overwork, there is the further mischief that it destroys what value -there would otherwise be in the leisure part of life. - -Nor do the evils end here. There is the injury to posterity. Damaged -constitutions reappear in children, and entail on them far more of -ill than great fortunes yield them of good. When life has been duly -rationalized by science, it will be seen that among a man’s duties, -care of the body is imperative; not only out of regard for personal -welfare, but also out of regard for descendants. His constitution -will be considered as an entailed estate, which he ought to pass -on uninjured, if not improved, to those who follow; and it will be -held that millions bequeathed by him {484} will not compensate for -feeble health and decreased ability to enjoy life. Once more, there -is the injury to fellow-citizens, taking the shape of undue disregard -of competitors. I hear that a great trader among you deliberately -endeavoured to crush out every one whose business competed with -his own; and manifestly the man who, making himself a slave to -accumulation, absorbs an inordinate share of the trade or profession -he is engaged in, makes life harder for all others engaged in it, and -excludes from it many who might otherwise gain competencies. Thus, -besides the egoistic motive, there are two altruistic motives which -should deter from this excess in work. - -The truth is, there needs a revised ideal of life. Look back through -the past, or look abroad through the present, and we find that the -ideal of life is variable, and depends on social conditions. Every -one knows that to be a successful warrior was the highest aim among -all ancient peoples of note, as it is still among many barbarous -peoples. When we remember that in the Norseman’s heaven the time was -to be passed in daily battles, with magical healing of wounds, we see -how deeply rooted may become the conception that fighting is man’s -proper business, and that industry is fit only for slaves and people -of low degree. That is to say, when the chronic struggles of races -necessitate perpetual wars, there is evolved an ideal of life adapted -to the requirements. We have changed all that in modern civilized -societies; especially in England, and still more in America. With the -decline of militant activity, and the growth of industrial activity, -the occupations once disgraceful have become honourable. The duty to -work has taken the place of the duty to fight; and in the one case, as -in the other, the ideal of life has become so well established that -scarcely any dream of questioning it. Practically, business has been -substituted for war as the purpose of existence. - -Is this modern ideal to survive throughout the future? I think not. -While all other things undergo continuous {485} change, it is -impossible that ideals should remain fixed. The ancient ideal was -appropriate to the ages of conquest by man over man, and spread of -the strongest races. The modern ideal is appropriate to ages in which -conquest of the earth and subjection of the powers of Nature to human -use, is the predominant need. But hereafter, when both these ends -have in the main been achieved, the ideal formed will probably differ -considerably from the present one. May we not foresee the nature of -the difference? I think we may. Some twenty years ago, a good friend -of mine, and a good friend of yours too, though you never saw him, -John Stuart Mill, delivered at St. Andrews an inaugural address on the -occasion of his appointment to the Lord Rectorship. It contained much -to be admired, as did all he wrote. There ran through it, however, -the tacit assumption that life is for learning and working. I felt at -the time that I should have liked to take up the opposite thesis. I -should have liked to contend that life is not for learning, nor is life -for working, but learning and working are for life. The primary use -of knowledge is for such guidance of conduct under all circumstances -as shall make living complete. All other uses of knowledge are -secondary. It scarcely needs saying that the primary use of work is -that of supplying the materials and aids to living completely; and -that any other uses of work are secondary. But in men’s conceptions -the secondary has in great measure usurped the place of the primary. -The apostle of culture as it is commonly conceived, Mr. Matthew -Arnold, makes little or no reference to the fact that the first use of -knowledge is the right ordering of all actions; and Mr. Carlyle, who is -a good exponent of current ideas about work, insists on its virtues for -quite other reasons than that it achieves sustentation. We may trace -everywhere in human affairs a tendency to transform the means into the -end. All see that the miser does this when, making the accumulation of -money his sole satisfaction, he forgets that money is of value only -to {486} purchase satisfactions. But it is less commonly seen that -the like is true of the work by which the money is accumulated—that -industry too, bodily or mental, is but a means; and that it is as -irrational to pursue it to the exclusion of that complete living it -subserves, as it is for the miser to accumulate money and make no use -of it. Hereafter, when this age of active material progress has yielded -mankind its benefits, there will, I think, come a better adjustment of -labour and enjoyment. Among reasons for thinking this, there is the -reason that the process of evolution throughout the organic world at -large, brings an increasing surplus of energies that are not absorbed -in fulfilling material needs, and points to a still larger surplus for -the humanity of the future. And there are other reasons, which I must -pass over. In brief, I may say that we have had somewhat too much of -“the gospel of work.” It is time to preach the gospel of relaxation. - -This is a very unconventional after-dinner speech. Especially it will -be thought strange that in returning thanks I should deliver something -very much like a homily. But I have thought I could not better convey -my thanks than by the expression of a sympathy which issues in a fear. -If, as I gather, this intemperance in work affects more especially the -Anglo-American part of the population—if there results an undermining -of the physique, not only in adults, but also in the young, who, as I -learn from your daily journals, are also being injured by overwork—if -the ultimate consequence should be a dwindling away of those among -you who are the inheritors of free institutions and best adapted to -them; then there will come a further difficulty in the working out of -that great future which lies before the American nation. To my anxiety -on this account you must please ascribe the unusual character of my -remarks. - -And now I must bid you farewell. When I sail by the _Germanic_ on -Saturday, I shall bear with me pleasant {487} remembrances of my -intercourse with many Americans, joined with regrets that my state of -health has prevented me from seeing a larger number. - - * * * * * - - -POSTSCRIPT.—A few words may fitly be added respecting the causes of -this over-activity in American life—causes which may be identified -as having in recent times partially operated among ourselves, and as -having wrought kindred, though less marked, effects. It is the more -worth while to trace the genesis of this undue absorption of the -energies in work, since it well serves to illustrate the general truth -which should be ever present to all legislators and politicians, that -the indirect and unforeseen results of any cause affecting a society -are frequently, if not habitually, greater and more important than the -direct and foreseen results. - -This high pressure under which Americans exist, and which is most -intense in places like Chicago, where the prosperity and rate of growth -are greatest, is seen by many intelligent Americans themselves to be -an indirect result of their free institutions and the absence of those -class-distinctions and restraints existing in older communities. A -society in which the man who dies a millionaire is so often one who -commenced life in poverty, and in which (to paraphrase a French saying -concerning the soldier) every news-boy carries a president’s seal in -his bag, is, by consequence, a society in which all are subject to a -stress of competition for wealth and honour, greater than can exist in -a society whose members are nearly all prevented from rising out of -the ranks in which they were born, and have but remote possibilities -of acquiring fortunes. In those European societies which have in great -measure preserved their old types of structure (as in our own society -up to the time when the great development of industrialism began to -open ever-multiplying careers for the producing and distributing -classes) there is so little chance of overcoming the obstacles to any -great rise in position or possessions, that {488} nearly all have -to be content with their places: entertaining little or no thought -of bettering themselves. A manifest concomitant is that, fulfilling, -with such efficiency as a moderate competition requires, the daily -tasks of their respective situations, the majority become habituated -to making the best of such pleasures as their lot affords, during -whatever leisure they get. But it is otherwise where an immense growth -of trade multiplies greatly the chances of success to the enterprising; -and still more is it otherwise where class-restrictions are partially -removed or wholly absent. Not only are more energy and thought put into -the time daily occupied in work, but the leisure comes to be trenched -upon, either literally by abridgment, or else by anxieties concerning -business. Clearly, the larger the number who, under such conditions, -acquire property, or achieve higher positions, or both, the sharper -is the spur to the rest. A raised standard of activity establishes -itself and goes on rising. Public applause given to the successful, -becoming in communities thus circumstanced the most familiar kind of -public applause, increases continually the stimulus to action. The -struggle grows more and more strenuous, and there comes an increasing -dread of failure—a dread of being “left,” as the Americans say: a -significant word, since it is suggestive of a race in which the harder -any one runs, the harder others have to run to keep up with him—a word -suggestive of that breathless haste with which each passes from a -success gained to the pursuit of a further success. And on contrasting -the English of to-day with the English of a century ago, we may see -how, in a considerable measure, the like causes have entailed here -kindred results. - -Even those who are not directly spurred on by this intensified struggle -for wealth and honour, are indirectly spurred on by it. For one of its -effects is to raise the standard of living, and eventually to increase -the average rate of expenditure for all. Partly for personal enjoyment, -{489} but much more for the display which brings admiration, those -who acquire fortunes distinguish themselves by luxurious habits. The -more numerous they become, the keener becomes the competition for that -kind of public attention given to those who make themselves conspicuous -by great expenditure. The competition spreads downwards step by step; -until, to be “respectable,” those having relatively small means feel -obliged to spend more on houses, furniture, dress, and food; and are -obliged to work the harder to get the requisite larger income. This -process of causation is manifest enough among ourselves; and it is -still more manifest in America, where the extravagance in style of -living is greater than here. - -Thus, though it seems beyond doubt that the removal of all political -and social barriers, and the giving to each man an unimpeded career, -must be purely beneficial; yet there is (at first) a considerable -set-off from the benefits. Among those who in older communities have -by laborious lives gained distinction, some may be heard privately to -confess that “the game is not worth the candle;” and when they hear -of others who wish to tread in their steps, shake their heads and -say—“If they only knew!” Without accepting in full so pessimistic an -estimate of success, we must still say that very generally the cost of -the candle deducts largely from the gain of the game. That which in -these exceptional cases holds among ourselves, holds more generally in -America. An intensified life, which may be summed up as—great labour, -great profit, great expenditure—has for its concomitant a wear and -tear which considerably diminishes in one direction the good gained in -another. Added together, the daily strain through many hours and the -anxieties occupying many other hours—the occupation of consciousness -by feelings that are either indifferent or painful, leaving relatively -little time for occupation of it by pleasurable feelings—tend to -lower its level more than its level is raised by the gratifications -of achievement {490} and the accompanying benefits. So that it may, -and in many cases does, result that diminished happiness goes along -with increased prosperity. Unquestionably, as long as order is fairly -maintained, that absence of political and social restraints which gives -free scope to the struggles for profit and honour, conduces greatly -to material advance of the society—develops the industrial arts, -extends and improves the business organizations, augments the wealth; -but that it raises the value of individual life, as measured by the -average state of its feeling, by no means follows. That it will do -so eventually, is certain; but that it does so now seems, to say the -least, very doubtful. - -The truth is that a society and its members act and react in such wise -that while, on the one hand, the nature of the society is determined -by the natures of its members; on the other hand, the activities of -its members (and presently their natures) are re-determined by the -needs of the society, as these alter: change in either entails change -in the other. It is an obvious implication that, to a great extent the -life of a society so sways the wills of its members as to turn them to -its ends. That which is manifest during the militant stage, when the -social aggregate coerces its units into co-operation for defence, and -sacrifices many of their lives for its corporate preservation holds -under another form during the industrial stage, as we at present know -it. Though the co-operation of citizens is now voluntary instead of -compulsory; yet the social forces impel them to achieve social ends -while apparently achieving only their own ends. The man who, carrying -out an invention, thinks only of private welfare to be thereby secured, -is in far larger measure working for public welfare: instance the -contrast between the fortune made by Watt and the wealth which the -steam-engine has given to mankind. He who utilizes a new material, -improves a method of production, or introduces a better way of carrying -on business, and does this for the purpose of distancing competitors, -gains {491} for himself little compared with that which he gains for -the community by facilitating the lives of all. Either unknowingly or -in spite of themselves, Nature leads men by purely personal motives to -fulfil her ends: Nature being one of our expressions for the Ultimate -Cause of things, and the end, remote when not proximate, being the -highest form of human life. - -Hence no argument, however cogent, can be expected to produce much -effect: only here and there one may be influenced. As in an actively -militant stage of society it is impossible to make many believe -that there is any glory preferable to that of killing enemies; so, -where rapid material growth is going on, and affords unlimited scope -for the energies of all, little can be done by insisting that life -has higher uses than work and accumulation. While among the most -powerful of feelings continue to be the desire for public applause -and dread of public censure—while the anxiety to achieve distinction, -now by conquering enemies, now by beating competitors, continues -predominant—while the fear of public reprobation affects men more -than the fear of divine vengeance (as witness the long survival of -duelling in Christian societies); this excess of work which ambition -prompts, seems likely to continue with but small qualification. The -eagerness for the honour accorded to success, first in war and then in -commerce, has been indispensable as a means to peopling the Earth with -the higher types of man, and the subjugation of its surface and its -forces to human use. Ambition may fitly come to bear a smaller ratio -to other motives, when the working out of these needs is approaching -completeness; and when also, by consequence, the scope for satisfying -ambition is diminishing. Those who draw the obvious corollaries from -the doctrine of Evolution—those who believe that the process of -modification upon modification which has brought life to its present -height must raise it still higher, will anticipate that the “last -infirmity of noble mind” will in the distant future slowly {492} -decrease. As the sphere for achievement becomes smaller, the desire -for applause will lose that predominance which it now has. A better -ideal of life may simultaneously come to prevail. When there is fully -recognized the truth that moral beauty is higher than intellectual -power—when the wish to be admired is in large measure replaced by the -wish to be loved; that strife for distinction which the present phase -of civilization shows us will be greatly moderated. Along with other -benefits may then come a rational proportioning of work and relaxation; -and the relative claims of to-day and to-morrow may be properly -balanced. - -THE END. - -{493} - - - - -SUBJECT-INDEX. - -(For this Index the Author is indebted to F. HOWARD COLLINS, Esq., of -Edgbaston, Birmingham.) - - -_A priori_, method, III, 199–203. - -Absolute, The: - Martineau on, II, 250–8; - and relativity of knowledge, II, 260. - -Abstract, definition of, II, 78. - -Abstract nouns, succeed concrete, I, 323. - -Abstraction, comparative psychology, I, 365–6. - -Accommodation bills: - morals of banking, III, 133–7; - state tamperings with money, III, 326–35, 335–47. - -Acoustics: - genesis, II, 57, 60–1; - “beats,” II, 169–70. - -Acquisitiveness, comparative psychology, I, 367. - -Action and reaction: - universal, III, 101; - the axiom, III, 221. - -Activity, relation to growth, I, 63–4. - -Adaptation: - individual and social, III, 277–8; - of alimentary canal, III, 421. - -Address, forms of, III, 15–6. - -_Adelaide_, Admiralty certificate of, III, 239. - -Adjective, collocation of substantive, III, 340–1. - -Administrative Nihilism, the title, II, 438, 442. - -Admiralty, ship certificates, III, 239. - -Adulteration: - examples, III, 113; - silk, III, 124–7. - -Æsthetics, and natural selection, I, 408. - -Agriculture, in France, III, 267–8. - -Air, expansion without pressure, I, 118. - -Alas! intonation of, II, 409. - -Albert, Prince, on representative government, III, 284. - -_Algæ_: - development and homogeneity, I, 90; - cell membrane, I, 439; - cells, I, 446. - -Algebra: - genesis, II, 56; - classification of sciences, II, 85; - subject matter, II, 113, 115; - evolution, II, 156; - (_see also_ Mathematics.) - -Alimentary canal: - evolution, III, 204; - differentiation, III, 406; - and nervous system, III, 409; - adaptation, III, 421. - -Allegory, compound metaphor, II, 354. - -Allotropism, complexity of elements, I, 155, 373. - -Alternative necessity, law of, II, 191–2. - -Altruism: - development, I, 346–50; - comparative psychology, I, 367–9. - -_Amazon_, burning of the ship, III, 239. - -America: - paleontological evidence, I, 17; - effects of subsidence, I, 42–3; - age of rocks, I, 200–5, 206, 209, 210; - admiration for wealth, III, 149–51; - progress in, III, 278; - paper currency, III, 328, 345; - liberty, III, 381–2; - militancy and industrialism, III, 415–6, 484–92; - politics, III, 457; - the Americans, III, 471–92; - New York, III, 472; - Cleveland, III, 472; - free institutions, III, 472; - patents, 473; - freedom, III, 473–4, 477; - republicanism, III, 474–5; - education, III, 475–6; - character, III, 476, 482–7; - railways, III, 478; - future, III, 479–80; - hair, III, 482; - health, III, 482, 483–4; - pleasures in, III, 482–3; - causes of over-activity, III, 487–92. - -_Amœba_, instability of homogeneous, I, 86. - -Amsterdam, English enterprise in, III, 278. - -Analysis, psychology and classification, I, 245–57. - -Anarchy, and despotism, III, 159. - -Anatomy: - transcendental, I, 63; - organic correlation, I, 96–101. - -Andes, age of rocks, I, 200–1. - -Andrews, Prof. T., researches, I, 164–7. - -Anger: - natural language of, I, 340–50; - indications, II, 402, 404, 405; - and laughter, II, 462–3. - -Anglesea, age of rocks, I, 198. - -Animals: - number of species, I, 1–2; - increase in heterogeneity, I, 14–7, 35; - structure, I, 73, 76, 372–3; - form, I, 73, 76; - chemical composition, I, 74, 76; - specific gravity, I, 74, 76; - temperature, I, 74, 76; - self-mobility, I, 75, 76; - evolution and homogeneity, I, 83–4; - distribution and heat, I, 223–4; - also terrestrial change, I, 224–6; - social analogy, I, 272–7; - origin of worship, I, 308–30; - indistinguishable from plants, I, 375–6; - function, I, 392–3; - gracefulness, II, 381, 385; - muscular excitement, II, 400, 403. - -_Annulosa_: - integration, I, 67–71; - division of labour, I, 287–8; - nervous system, I, 300; - controlling system, III, 407. - -Anthropology, comparative psychology of man, I, 351–70. - -Antipodes, belief in, II, 199. - -Anti-realism, H. Sidgwick’s criticism, II, 242–50. - -Aphis, development, I, 65–6. - -Apoplexy: - belief in spirits, I, 311–2; - heart disease, I, 411. - -Appleton, D. & Co., as publishers, III, 480. - -Approbation, love of, I, 36–7, II, 421. - -Arago, F. J. D.: - distribution of nebulæ, I, 112; - also forms, I, 122, 123, 124. - -Architect, the State as, III, 239. - -Architecture: - relation to painting and sculpture, I, 24; - types, II, 375–80; - symmetry in buildings, II, 376–7; - Gothic type, II, 374, 377, 378; - Grecian, II, 376, 377, 378. - -Argyll, Duke of, criticism of, I, 467–78. - -Arithmetic, and test of necessity, II, 196–7; (_See also_ Mathematics.) - -Army: - maladministration, III, 233, 247, 257, 308, 310, 399; - parliamentary representatives, III, 297, 303, 304; - compulsory co-operation, III, 451–4. - -Arrest, H. L. d’, planetoids, I, 174. - -Art: - recognition of likeness, II, 34; - interdependence of the arts, II, 68–71; - use and beauty in historical pictures, II, 373; - contrast in, II, 373–4; - English and continental, III, 430. - -Arthur, Sir G., Van Diemen’s Land convicts, III, 161. - -_Articulata_, nervous system, I, 301. - -Assyrians: - language and painting, I, 25–6; - sculpture, I, 26, 29. - -Astronomy: - evolution and increase in heterogeneity, I, 10–11, 35; - nebular hypothesis and multiplication of effects, I, 38–9, 59; - history and generalization in, I, 192; - geology and earth’s motion, I, 221–4; - analogy from survival of the fittest, I, 478; - science and common knowledge, II, 3; - Hegel’s classification, II, 13; - Comte’s, II, 21–7; - genesis, II, 48–9, 52, 55; - genesis of trigonometry, II, 55–6; - genesis of physical, II, 59; - interdependence of sciences, II, 66–7, 70–1; - and abstract science, II, 80; - and concrete, II, 88–92; - terrestrial evolution, II, 94–9; - deals with aggregates, II, 99; - Bain on classification of sciences, II, 111; - also Mill, II, 114; - discovery of laws, II, 149; - evolution, II, 152; - judgments of reason and common sense, II, 243–4; - laws of motion, II, 271–5, 283–8; - motion of system, II, 293; - exact science, III, 199. - -Australia: - size of the human limb, I, 17; - age of rocks, I, 206; - fauna, I, 216. - -_Australian_, the ship, and admiralty certificate, III, 239. - -Austria, paper currency, III, 345. - -Authority, and intelligence, III, 311. - -Axioms: - knowledge implied by, II, 270, 277–88; - origin of physical, II, 298–301, 313–4, 315–20; - Thomson and Tait on physical, III, 220–1. - -Babinet, M., on nebular hypothesis, I, 121. - -Bach, J. S., and heredity, I, 407. - -Bacon, Francis, Viscount St. Alban’s: - organization of sciences, II, 121; - literary style, II, 365; - “A crowd is not company,” III, 44. - -_Bacteria_, action of light, I, 465–6. - -Baer, C. von, formula of, and general evolution, I, 35, II, 137–8. - -Bail, prison discipline, III, 180–7. - -Baillie-Cochrane, Mr., on Munich prison, III, 172. - -Bain, A.: - _Emotions and the Will_, I, 241–64; - _Mental and Moral Science_, I, 332; - classification of sciences, II, 105–17; - on logic, II, 105–6; - mathematics, II, 106–7; - incongruities, II, 463. - -Balfour, F. M.: - on invagination, I, 452; - development of nervous system, I, 454. - -Ball, embryological analogy, I, 452. - -Balloon, reason for ascent, I, 427. - -Ballot, Carlyle on, III, 300. - -Balzac, H. de, quoted, II, 364. - -Bank notes: - forgery, III, 134; - issue, III, 349–50, 352, 355. - -Bank of England: - advances by, III, 330–5, 335–47; - note issue, III, 349–50. - -Bankers, local integration, I, 103. - -Banking: - morals of trade, III, 131–7; - accommodation bills, III, 133–7; - evolution, III, 255–6. - -Bankruptcy: - morals of trade, III, 129–31; - and Bank of England, III, 330–2, 341; - evils of law, III, 438–9. - -Banks: - State tamperings, III, 326–57; - joint-stock, III, 347–54; - and free-trade, III, 355–7; - and government, III, 425–7. - -Barbadoes, sugar, III, 122. - -Barnacle goose, myth of, II, 162. - -Barometer: - action, I, 426; - scientific knowledge, II, 3, 5. - -Baron, the title, III, 15, 28. - -Barracks, maladministration, III, 233, 257. - -Barristers: - and traders, III, 139; - number in parliament, III, 298, 303, 304. - -Barter, and measures, II, 46; (_see also_ Exchange.) - -Bas-relief, increase in heterogeneity, I, 26, 27. - -Beats, acoustical, II, 169–70. - -Beauty: - officialism, I, 335–6; - and use, II, 370–4; - personal, II, 387–99. - -Bees: - sex of, I, 48; - analogy for distribution of nebulæ, I, 114. - -Beethoven, L. von: - heredity, I, 406; - Adelaïde of, II, 447. - -Beliefs: - and pedigree, I, 108; - different meaning of, II, 188–91, 193, 222. - -Berkeley, Bishop, subject and object, II, 329. - -Berlin: - English enterprise, III, 278; - water supply, III, 429. - -Bills of accommodation, morals of banking, III, 133–7. - -Biluchis, robbery, III, 218, 221. - -Biology: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 14–7, 35; - multiplication of effects, I, 46–53; - concrete science, II, 89–92; - deals with aggregates, II, 103; - Bain on classification, II, 109–11; - origin of species, II, 131; - evolution of science, II, 153; - universality of law, II, 159; - organic matter and incident forces, II, 177; - organic differentiation, III, 405. - -Birds: - in newly discovered lands, I, 255–6; - use and disuse, I, 418; - colour as illustrating propositions, II, 205–8; - muscular excitement, II, 400, 403; - origin of music, II, 428; - evolution, II, 438. - -Black horse, the phrase, II, 340. - -Blacksmith, arm and heredity, I, 475. - -Blackstone, Sir Wm., persons ineligible for parliament, III, 296. - -Blister: - effect on walking, I, 403; - action of medicine, I, 448. - -Blood: - multiplication of effects, I, 47; - nutrition and growth, I, 289; - function and supply, I, 290; - social analogy, I, 291–8; - mental mass and bodily state, I, 354. - -Board-meetings, railway, III, 77–80. - -Bondage, from freedom to, III, 445–70. - -Bones: - evolution and ratio of, I, 17; - weight in duck, I, 417–8; - water hen, I, 418. - -Bookkeeping: - railway, III, 59; - officialism, III, 253. - -Books, serial arrangement, II, 28. - -Botany: - classification, II, 64; - discovery of laws, II, 150. - -Bow, the obeisance, III, 18, 19. - -Braid, morals of trade, III, 119. - -Brain: - effect on viscera, I, 290; - analogy to parliament, I, 302–5; - mental and bodily mass, I, 353–4; - size of jaw, I, 397; - embryo development, I, 454. - -Bribery: - of buyers, III, 114–8; - of juries, III, 396. - -Bricks: - position of falling, I, 99; - and building, III, 239; - tax on, III, 243. - -British Association, and government, III, 436. - -_British Quarterly Review_, criticism, II, 267–301, 315–20. - -Bronze, multiplication of effects, I, 55–6. - -Brown-Séquard, E., epilepsy in guinea pigs, I, 415–6. - -Builders, strike of, III, 363–4, 365, 383. - -Buildings Acts: - failure, III, 239, 240–1, 275; - displacements caused by, III, 281; - representative government, III, 301. - -Bull-dog, jaws of, I, 401. - -Burial, primitive ideas, III, 6–11. - -Buyers, in clothing trades, III, 114–8. - -Cabet, S., Icarian colony, III, 457. - -Cabs: - officialism, III, 250; - in New York, III, 291; - representative government, III, 302. - -Cadence, defined, II, 422. - -Caird, Rev. Princ., reply to criticism, II, 219–21. - -Calculus: - implies absolute equality, II,38; - classification of sciences, II, 84; - evolution, II, 156. - -Cambium, in plants, I, 450. - -Cambrian system, thickness, I, 231. - -Campbell, G., on style, II, 338–9. - -Canals: - first English, III, 257; - officialism, III, 267. - -Candles: - multiplication of effects, I, 37; - morals of trade, III, 128; - Price’s school, III, 256. - -Cannibalism, in Fiji, III, 217–8. - -Cannon ball, disintegration, I, 436. - -Caoutchouc, effects of, I, 58. - -Capital: - direction of flow, III, 101–3, 264; - amount of railway, III, 108; - relative and absolute ethics, III, 155–7; - State tamperings with, III, 326–35, 335–47. - -Captains, certificated, of ships, III, 241. - -Caradoc sandstone, age, I, 201. - -Carat, a small bean, II, 44. - -Carboniferous system, origin, I, 237. - -Carlyle, Thomas: - on people, III, 293; - the ballot, III, 300; - the real rulers, III, 316–7; - quotation from _Heroes and Hero-worship_, II, 357. - -Carpenter, W. B., evolution and paleontology, I, 16. - -Carus, P., on Kantian ethics, III, 206–7. - -Castles: - use and beauty, II, 371; - situation, II, 376. - -Cat, muscular excitement, II, 400–1, 403. - -Catalepsy, belief in spirits, I, 311–2. - -Caterpillar, mistake by, I, 419. - -Causation: - establishment of belief, I, 109; - ignorance of, III, 487–92. - -Cause: - multiplication of effects, I, 37; - consciousness of, II, 127; - proportionality to effect, II, 300–1, 302–5, 305–7, 310–11, 318–20. - -Cell, doctrine of, I, 442–3. - -Centralization, French, III, 268. - -Cerebrum, consciousness of, representative, I, 303. - -Ceremony: - increase of heterogeneity, I, 20–1; - evolution, III, 11–6, 23, 50; - obeisances, III, 17–22; - primitive man, III, 24; - Chinese, III, 25; - evolution of governments, III, 27–8, 50. - -Cerney springs, III, 387–92. - -Chaldeans, prediction of eclipses, II, 48–9. - -Chalk, complexity of, III, 195–6. - -Chancery: - rules, III, 232; - maladministration, III, 247, 272; - dread of, III, 396. - -Change: - pleasure of, III, 454; - universal, III, 458–60. - -Charity, and government, III, 434. - -_Charlotte_, The, naval maladministration, III, 234. - -Cheek-bones, personal beauty, I, 390–2. - -Cheltenham, water supply, III, 387–92. - -Chemistry: - multiplication of effects, I, 43–5, 59; - unstable equilibrium, I, 83; - organic evolution, I, 83–4; - complexity of elements, I, 155–9, 371–4; - organic synthesis, I, 374; - genesis, II, 51, 58, 60; - galvanic electricity, II, 61; - classification, II, 64; - abstract concrete science, II, 85–8; - terrestrial evolution, II, 95–9; - deals with properties, II, 102, 103; - Bain on classification, II, 107–11; - elements, II, 195; - development, II, 423. - -Cheques (_see_ Money). - -Chesil Beach, size of stones, I, 432. - -Chicken, evolution of mind, I, 377. - -Chiefs: - differentiation, I, 284–5; - duties and individual nervous system, I, 299–307; - primitive belief in spirits, I, 344. - -Children: - emotions and expression, I, 339–50; - lack generalization, I, 354; - and traits of savage, I, 355; - mental variability, I, 356–7; - impulsiveness, I, 358; - vocabulary, II, 336; - poor law and illegitimate, III, 244; - old and new education, III, 277. - -China, manners and fashion, III, 25. - -Chisholme, Mrs., colonization society, III, 258. - -Cholera, private and state enterprise, III, 238–9. - -Chopin, F., character, II, 417. - -Chrysalis, transformations, II, 163. - -Church: - differentiation from State, I, 21; - officialism, III, 251, 252; - corn laws, III, 361; - franchise and rates, III, 362. - -Circle, relation to hyperbola, I, 5. - -Circulars, morals of trade, III, 123–4. - -_Cirrhipedia_, classification, I, 248. - -Civilization, development of sympathy, II, 425. - -Classification: - psychology and analysis, I, 245–57; - historical, I, 248; - non-linear of sciences, II, 27–9; - recognition of likeness and unlikeness, II, 29–31, 34; - and language, II, 31–3, 40; - and reasoning, II, 33, 34, 40; - genesis of science, II, 63–5, 72; - (_See also_ Sciences, Classification of the.) - -Clearing house, banker’s, III, 425. - -Climate: - increase of heterogeneity, I, 13–4, 35; - and paleontological evidence, I, 221–4. - -Coach: - and railway travelling, III, 110–2; - Palmer, III, 441. - -Coats of arms, derivation, I, 28. - -Cognitions, defined, I, 261–2, II, 241. - -Coleridge, S. T., sonnet quoted, II, 352. - -Colligation, the word, II, 368–9. - -Colloids, evolution of life, I, 374. - -Comets, origin, direction and constitution, I, 125–8, 153, 177–8. - -Common sense: - judgment of reason, II, 243–4; - anomalies, III, 401–4, 445. - -Companies (_see_ Joint-stock companies.) - -Comparative Psychology (see Psychology.) - -Compass, faulty Admiralty, III, 234, 252. - -Competition: - effect of railway, III, 97, 106–7; - effects, III, 448–9; - American, III, 487–92. - -Comte, A.: - classification of sciences, II, 15–29; - mathematics, II, 15–19; - astronomy, II, 21–3; - progress of mathematics, II, 56; - on gravitation, II, 65, 66; - on education, II, 72, 133; - Littré on classification of, II, 74–6; - abstract and concrete science, II, 79; - science and positivism, II, 118–22, 128, 139; - origin of knowledge, II, 122–5; - propositions of, II, 125–32; - and social statics, II, 134–7; - Mill on philosophy, II, 143; - Fouillée on, II, 143–4; - progress from simple to complex, II, 147; - positivism rejected by Mr. Spencer, II, 221. - -Concrete: - precedes abstract, I, 323; - definition, II, 78. - -Conduct (_see_ Morals.) - -Conglomerate, origin, I, 444. - -Conic sections, relation of circle to hyperbola, I, 5. - -Conscience: - corporate and individual, III, 61–2; - Kant on human, III, 192; - Lubbock, III, 192–3; - and duty, III, 210–1. - -Consciousness, the phrase, state of, II, 326–7. - -Conservatism: - and social state, I, 356; - of women, I, 363; - Emerson on, III, 35; - effects, III, 43–4. - -Contract: - principle of, III, 90, 108; - and expediency, III, 95–6; - railway proprietary, III, 108–12; - enforcement in Spain, III, 218; - effect of breaches, III, 220; - State to enforce, III, 334, 336. - -Contractors: - sociological division of labour, I, 106; - railway, III, 72–4, 83, 88, 108. - -Contrast: - in literature and art, II, 373–4; - in music, II, 444, 446. - -Convicts (_see_ Prison Ethics.) - -Coöperation: - needful to social life, III, 450; - voluntary, III, 450–1; - compulsory, III, 451–4; - and socialism, III, 454–6. - -Copernicus, N., solar theory, I, 193. - -Copula, arrangement of sentences, II, 342–4. - -Corn laws: - representative government, III, 294; - and clergy, III, 361. - -Corporations, representative government, III, 289. - -Correlation, organic, I, 96–101. - -Costume: - and political opinion, III, 1–5, 30; - reform and custom, III, 30–6, 36–7; - development, III, 447. - -Cotton: - industry and locality, I, 104; - manufacture, II, 68. - -Counterpoint, origin of music, II, 448. - -Counties, social development, I, 288. - -Courage, emotional expression, I, 343–50. - -Crabs, of Kentucky caves, I, 400–1, 402. - -Creation (_see_ Special creation.) - -Credit, State tamperings with money, III, 326–35, 335–47. - -Creed: - fatal to science, I, 463; - use and beauty, II, 371. - -Criminals (_see_ Prison Ethics.) - -Critical point, of gases, I, 164–7. - -Critics, faith in, II, 322. - -Crofton, Captain, prison discipline, III, 186. - -Cromwell, O., and representative government, III, 315–6. - -Croshek, the name, I, 313. - -Crosse, A. F., on Hungarian music, II, 449. - -Croydon, board of health, III, 241. - -_Crustacea_, integration, I, 68–71. - -Cubit, length of, II, 43, 44. - -Curiosity, comparative psychology, I, 364–5. - -Curtsy, obeisance, III, 18–9. - -Custom: - and political opinion, III, 1–5, 30; - Eastern, III, 25; - and reform, III, 30–6, 36–7; - effect on railways, III, 110–2. - -Cuvier, Baron de, organic correlation, I, 96–101. - -D’Alembert, J. le R., composition of forces, II, 24. - -Damaras, ethics of the, III, 193. - -Dancing: - origin and differentiation, I, 30–2; - grace in, II, 381, 382; - and pleasure, II, 402; - evolution, II, 441. - -Darwin, Charles: - natural selection of one variation, I, 407, 421; - natural selection and heredity, I, 408–12, 421; - on E. Darwin, I, 417; - inheritance of functionally produced changes, I, 417–21, 422; - origin of music, II, 426–37; - on the phrase natural selection, I, 429; - effect of changed conditions, I, 433. - -Darwin, Dr. E., organic evolution, I, 390–1, 397. - -Davy, Sir H., chemical elements, III, 195. - -Dawn, as name, I, 318, 319, 324. - -Death: - primitive ideas, III, 6; - punishment and associations, III, 158, 187; - duty and inclination, III, 212, 213, 215; - rate in barracks, III, 257; - improvement in rate, III, 447. - -Deduction: - and physiology, I, 77–81, 107; - qualitative and quantitative science, II, 7. - -Deer, growth of horns, I, 393. - -Defoe, D., _Complete English Tradesman_, III, 141. - -Deities, primitive ideas, III, 6–11, 12. - -De la Beche, Sir H., paleontological evidence, I, 205. - -Democracy, change inaugurated, III, 49. - -Desire, associated with talent, I, 54. - -Despotism: - and social state, I, 268, III, 313; - and anarchy, III, 159; - and representative government, III, 309–10. - -Development: - hypothesis, I, 1–7; - relation to function, I, 63–4; - (_see also_ Evolution.) - -Devonian System, age of, I, 203–5, 210. - -Dewar, Prof., complexity of elements, I, 162. - -Differentiation, sociological, I, 102–7. - -Directors: - and railway companies, III, 52–63, 69; - and shareholder’s interests, III, 82–8, 108; - morals of banking, III, 131–7. - -Disease: - multiplication of effects, I, 47; - dissimilar effects, I, 100; - beliefs about, II, 153; - criminality, III, 167; - representative government, III, 301, 304; - body and nerve functions, III, 419–22, 443. - -Distribution, individual and social, I, 291–8. - -Dividends, railway, III, 57, 98. - -Division of labour: - multiplication of effects, I, 53–8; - sociological, I, 105–6, 292–3, III, 323; - illustrations and growth, I, 266; - social and individual nervous system, I, 299–307; - progress of science, II, 24–7. - -Dixon, T. H., on Norfolk Island convicts, III, 176. - -Dogs: - size of jaws, I, 398–400, 401, 422; - use and disuse, I, 469–71; - simile of Hodgson, II, 231–3; - gracefulness, II, 381, 385; - muscular excitement, II, 400, 403; - origin of music, II, 428. - -Don, the title, III, 14. - -Downes, Dr., on light and protoplasm, I, 465–6. - -Drama: - cause of laughter, II, 461; - representative government, III, 301. - -Draper, honesty and bankruptcy, III, 129–31. - -Drawing, comparative psychology, I, 366. - -Dreams, belief in spirits, I, 310–3. - -Dress: - and political opinion, III, 1–5, 30; - custom and reform, III, 30–6, 36–7; - and extravagance, III, 36–7; - and enjoyment, III, 40–6. - -Drunkenness, and temperance, III, 446. - -Duck, weight of bones, I, 417–8. - -Duty: - Kant and pursuit of happiness, III, 207–9; - and inclination, III, 209–13. - -Dyeing, morals of trade, III, 125. - -Dymond, J., _Principles of Morality_, I, 346. - -Dynamics, Comte’s classification, II, 19. - -Ear, embryological development, I, 454. - -Earth: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 11–4, 35; - rotatory movement, I, 135, 136; - number of satellites, I, 139; - density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52; - size, I, 145; - paleontology and motion, I, 221–4; - laws of motion, II, 272, 283–8; - (_see also_ Geology.) - -Ease, and grace, II, 382. - -East Indies, effects of upheaval, I, 49–52. - -Echoes, belief in spirits, I, 310–3. - -Eclipse, prediction of, II, 48. - -Ectoderm: - development, I, 284; - social and individual analogy, I, 298–9; - differentiation, III, 405. - -Education: - comparative psychology, I, 370; - development of science, II, 72; - Comte’s views, II, 133; - and conservatism, III, 43; - old and new, III, 277; - representative government, III, 301; - parliamentary reform, III, 375–9; - and government, III, 435–6; - development, III, 446, 459–60; - American, III, 475–6. - -Effect: - proportionality to cause, II, 300–1, 302–5, 305–7, 310–11, 318–20; - relation to cause, III, 487–92. - -Egg, evolution of mind, I, 377. - -Egyptians: - language and painting, I, 25–6; - sculpture, I, 26–7, 29, 30; - music, I, 32. - -Electricity: - multiplication of effects, I, 59; - genesis of galvanic, II, 61; - Whewell on progress of theory, II, 62; - abstract-concrete science, II, 88; - mode of molecular motion, II, 126; - what is? 168–72, 186–7; - also thermo-, II, 172–6; - statical and molecular motion, II, 180–3, 186–7; - induction, II, 183; - voltaic and molecular motion, II, 183–4, 186–7. - -Elements, complexity of, I, 155–9, 162, 371–4. - -Ell, the measure, II, 44. - -Ellipse, relation to circle, I, 5. - -Embryo: - relation to adult, I, 6; - early changes in, I, 445; - development, I, 451–8. - -Embryology: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 17–9; - multiplication of effects, I, 48; - organic correlation, I, 97; - importance of, II, 8–9; - von Baer’s formula, II, 137–8. - -Emerson, R. W.: - _Lectures on the Times_, II, 354; - use and ornament, II, 370; - on conservatism, III, 35. - -Emotion: - Bain’s definition, I, 258–60; - defined, I, 262; - of beauty, I, 335–6; - relation to idea, I, 336; - expression in children, I, 339–50; - and intellect, I, 353, II, 465; - sexual sentiment, I, 363–4; - sociality, freedom, approbation, and acquisitiveness, I, 366–7; - poetry and effect on language, II, 357–61; - demonstration of, II, 401–3; - nervous and muscular system, II, 453–8; - physiology of laughter, II, 458–64; - waste, repair, and language, II, 361–7; - and health, III, 481. - -Empiricism: - reasoning of, II, 201–5; - test of truth, II, 214–7. - -Endoderm: - development, I, 284; - differentiation, III, 405. - -Endymion, the myth, I, 326, 327. - -Energy, conservation and persistence of force, II, 295. - -Engel, Carl, on ancient music, II, 414. - -Engineers: - and railways, III, 68–72, 83, 88, 108; - society, III, 362–3, 365; - English and French, III, 427–8. - -Engines, dissimilarity of similar, I, 99. - -England: - government in, I, 302–5; - enterprise in, III, 278–80; - representative government in, III, 305–9, 318–9; - militancy and industrialism, III, 416; - political liberty, III, 445. - -English language: - words, II, 336–8; - Latin and Greek words, II, 367–9. - -Entomology, insect transformations, II, 163. - -Epiblast, development, I, 452–3. - -Epilepsy: - belief in spirits, I, 311–2; - in guinea pigs, I, 415–6. - -Equality: - relations of likeness, I, 35–7, 40; - quantitative prevision, II, 41–9; - and barter, II, 46; - and mechanics, II, 50; - and law, II, 52; - and astronomy, II, 53; - hydrostatics, II, 57; - optics, II, 57; - acoustics, II, 57; - dynamics, II, 58. - -Equity (_see_ Justice.) - -Esquire, the title, III, 13, 28, 32. - -Ethics: - use and disuse, I, 463–5; - of lower races, II, 192–5; - _Quarterly Review_ criticisms, II, 259–65; - absolute politics, III, 217–28; - (_see also_ Kant, Morality, Morals, Prison Ethics.) - -Euclid: - test of necessity, II, 198; - axioms, II, 282–3. - -Evidence, valuation of, II, 161–7. - -Evolution: - and special creation, I, 1–7; - of solar system, I, 128–31; - law of elements, I, 156; - Hugh Miller on, I, 219; - geological record, I, 226–32, 232–40; - emotional, I, 250–7; - of mind, I, 263, 376–8; - of animal worship, I, 329; - comparative psychology of man, I, 352; - mental and bodily mass, 353–4; - rate of mental, I, 355; - mental variability, I, 356–7; - impulsiveness, I, 357–9; - Martineau on, I, 371–88; - complexity of elements, I, 371–4; - of life from not life, I, 374–5; - plants and animals indistinguishable, I, 375–6; - the word, I, 380; - and originating mind, I, 381–6; - materialism, I, 386–8; - and catastrophism in geology, I, 389–90; - Dr. Darwin and Lamarck, I, 390–1,397; - and reproductive system, I, 409, 412, 422–5; - summary on use and disuse, I, 421–5; - effect of conditions, I, 427–35; - of life, I, 458–60, 460–2; - Huxley on, I, 462–3; - terrestrial, II, 94–9; - von Baer’s formula, II, 137–8; - outline of synthetic philosophy, II, 140–2; - advance in complexity of science, II, 150–7; - Quarterly Reviewer on, II, 261–5; - Prof. Tait on, II, 274–5; - relation of thoughts to things, II, 320; - Prof. Green on, II, 323; - limitation of traits, II, 438; - of musical scales, II, 440–1; - of dancing, II, 441; - of music, II, 448–9; - Kant and, III, 197–9, 206–7; - and Kantian assumptions, III, 203–6, 206–7; - officialism, III, 255; - individual and social, III, 263–5; - railways, III, 266; - language, III, 402–3; - universal, III, 458; - industrialism, III, 459; - education, III, 459–60; - prospective, III, 491–2. - -Exchange: - origin, I, 54, II, 46; - State tamperings with money, III, 326–35, 335–47. - -Exchequer bills, and Bank of England, III, 331. - -Excitement, poetry and effect on language, II, 357–61. - -Excluded middle, law of, II, 191–2. - -Expediency: - doctrine of, III, 95–6; - relative and absolute ethics, III, 152–7, 188, 333; - and penal code, III, 159–63, 188. - -Experience hypothesis: - origin of knowledge, II, 122–5; - reasoning of empiricism, II, 201–5; - consciousness of object, II, 211–4; - and _a priori_ truths, II, 287–8. - -Extravagance: - and fashion, III, 36–7; - representative government, III, 290–1; - good for trade, III, 293. - -Eyes: - position in development, I, 71–2, 454; - brighter from good news, II, 402. - -Factors of organic evolution, I, 389–478. - -Faculties, exhausted by exercise, II, 361–7. - -Fainting, belief in spirits, I, 311–2. - -Farming, by owner and bailiff, III, 246. - -Fashion: - origin, III, 28; - extravagance of, III, 36–7; - social intercourse and pleasure, III, 36–46; - need of change, III, 46–51; - prospect, III, 51. - -Father, the title, III, 12, 13, 21. - -Faye, M.: - solar constitution, I, 182; - solar spots, I, 183–4, 188–9. - -Feathers, structure and function, I, 392. - -Features, and personal beauty, II, 387–99. - -Feelings: - definition, I, 262–4; - evolution, I, 263–4; - indications of, II, 400–3; - loudness of voice, II, 404–5; - also timbre, II, 405, 411; - and pitch, II, 406, 411; - and intervals, II, 406–9, 411; - variability of pitch, II, 409, 411; - emphasis and time in music, II, 412–3; - relation of music to sympathy, II, 424–6; - nervous and muscular system, II, 453–8. - -Feet, obeisance of uncovering, III, 17. - -Fetichism, political, III, 393–400. - -Figures of speech, II, 350–5. - -Fiji: - ethics in, III, 193; - life in, III, 217–8, 221. - -Fingers: - heredity and number, I, 413–4, 475; - and memory, II, 465. - -Fire, indirect effects, III, 242. - -_First Principles_: - Martineau on, II, 250–8; - data of philosophy, II, 286. - -Fish: - evolution and heterogeneity, I, 15–7; - temperature, I, 75, 76; - self-mobility, I, 76; - paleontological remains, I, 227, 235, 240; - eating of, III, 47; - anomalies, III, 401. - -Flint implements, discovery, I, 413. - -Flocculi, appearance of nebulæ, I, 118–25. - -Food: - absorption and deductive biology, I, 77–81; - for the dead, I, 311–2; - nutrition, III, 408; - and government, III, 423–4. - -Foot, the measure, II, 44. - -Force: - cognition of its persistence, II, 269, 275; - Tait on central forces, II, 290–3; - persistence and conservation of energy, II, 295; - relation to motion, II, 310–4. - -Forgery, III, 134. - -Forms of thought, consciousness of object, II, 211–4. - -Fossils (_see_ Paleontology.) - -Fouillée, Alfred, on Comte’s philosophy, II, 143–4. - -Fowls, use and disuse, I, 418. - -France: - English and French sheep, II, 396, 398; - agriculture and officialism, III, 267–8; - representative government, III, 318–9, 320; - paper currency, III, 345; - liberty in, III, 381; - banks in, III, 426; - engineering, III, 427–8. - -Franchise (_see_ Parliamentary Reform.) - -Freedom: - manners and customs, III, 30–6, 36–7, 46–51; - to bondage, III, 445–70; - loss of American, III, 473–4, 477, 478–9. - -Free trade: - effects on industry, I, 22–3; - and officialism, III, 268–70; - and banking, III, 356. - -Friendly societies, and individualism, III, 433–4. - -Frog, reflex action, II, 308. - -Fugue, origin, I, 33. - -Function: - relation to growth, I, 63–4; - and to integration of parts, I, 73; - and to structure, I, 249. - -Galactic circle, nebular distribution, I, 112. - -Galton, F., _English Men of Science_, I, 360. - -Ganglia (_see_ Nervous System.) - -Gas: - heat and liquifaction, I, 164–7; - English enterprise, III, 278. - -Gastrula stage, of embryos, I, 452, 457. - -General: - Comte’s use of word, II, 20; - definition, II, 79. - -Generalization: - universal tendency, I, 192; - absent in children, I, 354; - comparative psychology, I, 365–6. - -Generosity, comparative psychology, I, 368. - -Genius: - literary style, II, 365–7; - non-recognition, III, 299–300. - -Geology: - special creation and evolution, I, 6–7; - increase in heterogeneity, I, 11–4, 14–7, 35; - life and multiplication of effects, I, 39–46, 49–53; - illogical, I, 192–240; - evolution of, I, 192–8; - Wernerian, I, 194–7; - Huttonian, I, 195–7; - age of systems, I, 198–205; - and paleontological evidence, I, 205–12; - past and present changes, I, 212–8; - Hugh Miller’s doctrines, I, 218–20; - breaks in record, I, 220–6, 226–32, 232–40; - original object of Geological Society, I, 241; - catastrophism and evolution, I, 389–90; - genesis, II, 60; - concrete science, II, 89–92; - terrestrial evolution, II, 95–9; - deals with aggregates, II, 100; - English map, II, 257; - (_see also_ Earth.) - -Geometry: - Comte’s classification, II, 16–21; - origin, II, 40, 151; - genesis, II, 48–50, 59; - genesis of trigonometry, II, 55–6; - interdependence of science and art, II, 69; - and abstract science, II, 79–80; - classification of sciences, II, 84; - the name, II, 113, 115; - evolution, II, 155; - test of necessity, II, 198–200. - -Gerard, E., Hungarian music, II, 450–1. - -Gesticulation, and language, II, 335. - -Ghost: - the word misleading, I, 311; - outline of theory, III, 8. - -Giraffe, correlation of parts, I, 402–5. - -Glück, C. W. von, Handel on, II, 448. - -Gnomon, use, II, 53–4. - -God: - belief in personal, II, 223; - primitive ideas, III, 6–11, 12, 23. - -Gold: - digging for, and evolution, III, 264; - efflux of, III, 341–3; - (_see also_ Money.) - -Good, meaning of word, III, 202. - -Gothic, allied to vegetative style, II, 376, 377, 378. - -Gould, J., on colour of birds, I, 433. - -Gout, and heredity, II, 395. - -Government: - differentiation of, I, 21; - ideal society, II, 131–2; - evolution and divergence of, III, 22, 24–30, 50; - criminal code, III, 157; - what is representative government good for? III, 283–325; - belief in English, III, 284; - flaws, &c., III, 284–91; - selection of representatives, III, 291–300; - individualism and the state, III, 416–37, 442–4; - and food supply, III, 423–4; - banks, III, 425–6; - engineering, III, 427–8; - water supply, III, 429; - art and literature, III, 430–1; - and churches, III, 434; - charity, III, 434; - education, III, 435–6; - railways, III, 437; - post-office, III, 440–2; - (_see also_ Over-legislation.) - -Gracefulness, II, 381–6. - -Grand, the word great, II, 368. - -Granite: - metamorphism, I, 229; - at Philæ, I, 437. - -Gravitation: - Newton and law of, II, 26–7; - discovery of laws, II, 148. - -Great, and the word grand, II, 367–9. - -Great Western Railway: - _versus_ Rushout, III, 94; - and South Western, III, 97–8; - and North Western, III, 107. - -Greece: - sculpture, I, 27, 30; - dancing, I, 31; - poetry, I, 31; - music, I, 33; - architecture, II, 376, 377, 378; - personal beauty, II, 391–3; - early poems, II, 414–8. - -Greek language: - Latin and English words, II, 367–9; - sociology and knowledge of, III, 377. - -Green, Prof. T. H., criticism, II, 322–32. - -Greenwich Hospital, funds, III, 398. - -Greyhounds, use and disuse in, I, 469–71. - -Grief, voice of, II, 405. - -Grocers, morals of trade, III, 121–3. - -Grotz, A., on science and religion, II, 225. - -Growth: - relation to activity, I, 63–4; - various forms, I, 65–7; - social, I, 265–9, 306. - -Guinea pigs, epilepsy in, I, 415–6. - -Guizot, M.: - social aggregation, I, 282; - and specialization, I, 287; - political machinery, III, 276, 399. - -Gulliver, L., an imaginary, on English institutions, III, 305–9. - -Gurney, E., on origin of music, II, 437–43. - -Habit (_see_ Heredity.) - -Hair: - and political opinion, III, 1–5; - obeisance of offering, III, 21; - colour of American, III, 482. - -Hallo! intonation of, II, 407. - -Hamburg, currency, III, 339. - -Hamilton, Sir W.: - on space, II, 191–2; - the word belief, II, 222–3; - Grotz on, II, 225; - necessity of causation, II, 320; - (_see also_ Mill.) - -Hampstead Heath, II, 370. - -Hand: - the measure, II, 44; - ribbing of skin, I, 448; - rubbing together of hands, II, 402. - -Handel, G. F., on Glück, II, 448. - -Happiness, Kant and pursuit of, III, 207–9; (_see also_ Kant.) - -Harmony, origin of music, II, 448. - -Harp, strings in ancient, II, 415. - -Harris, Mr., on Norfolk Island convicts, III, 176. - -Hastings, railway service, II, 97. - -Hat, obeisance of removal, III, 20, 27, 47. - -Hayward, R. B., criticism, II, 307–14. - -Head: - obeisance of uncovering, III, 20; - putting dust on, III, 21. - -Health: - and criminality, III, 167; - failure of boards of, III, 241, 248, 290; - representative government, III, 301, 304; - body and nerve functions, III, 419–22, 443; - and feeling, III, 481; - in America, III, 482, 483–4. - -Heart.: - integration, I, 67; - disease, I, 410–11; - effect of emotion, II, 454, 455, 464; - and nervous system, III, 420–1. - -Heat: - multiplication of effects, I, 37, 38, 39, 47, 59; - terrestrial effects of diminishing, I, 40–6; - cause of heterogeneity, I, 82; - nebular change, I, 118; - liquefaction of gases, I, 164–7; - terrestrial motion and paleontological evidence, I, 221–4; - rock metamorphism, I, 229–30, 232; - action on bodies, I, 436; - genesis of science, II, 62, 63; - abstract concrete science, II, 88; - what is thermo-electricity? II, 172–6; - effect on compound molecules, II, 178–80, 186; - insensible motion, II, 266–8, 276. - -Hegel, G. W. F.: - “to philosophize on Nature,” II, 10, 11; - classification of sciences, II, 12–5. - -Heraldry, and manners and fashion, III, 26, 27–8. - -Heredity: - the general law, I, 64, 103, 104; - organic development, I, 90–2; - moral sentiments, I, 338; - effect of sex, I, 362; - size of jaw, I, 397–400, 422; - musical faculty, I, 406–7; - natural selection, I, 408–12; - functional modifications, I, 415–7; - Darwin’s belief in their inheritance, I, 417–21, 422; - summary on use and disuse, I, 421–5; - also their bearing on ethics, psychology, and sociology, I, 463–5; - Duke of Argyll’s criticism, I, 467–78; - personal beauty, II, 387–99; - officialism, III, 255. - -Hero-worship, III, 317. - -Herr, the title, III, 14. - -Herschel, Sir J.: - Magellanic clouds, I, 116–7; - form of nebulæ, I, 122, 124; - variation of terrestrial temperature, I, 222, 223; - complexity of elements, I, 372; - cause and effect, II, 306, 319. - -Herschel, Sir W.: - on nebulous matter, I, 110; - stellar magnitude and distance, I, 115; - stellar genesis, I, 129; - solar surface, I, 185, 187. - -Heterogeneity: - increase in, displayed by astronomy, I, 10–11, 35; - geology, I, 11–14, 35; - meteorology, I, 13–4, 35; - biology, I, 14–7, 35; - man, I, 17–9, 35; - society, I, 19–23, 35; - ceremony, I, 20–1; - religion, I, 20–3; - language, I, 23–6; - writing, I, 24–6; - the arts, I, 24–30; - poetry, music and drama, I, 30–2; - literature and science, I, 34–5; - development, I, 67; - (_see also_ Multiplication of Effects.) - -History, measure of time, II, 45–9. - -Hobbes, T., commonwealth of, I, 270–2. - -Hodgson, S. H.: - criticism of, II, 225–34; - reply to Prof. Green, II, 321–2, 329. - -Homogeneous: - instability of the, I, 81–4, 459–60; - orderly heterogeneity, I, 84–93. - -Honesty: - in trade and bankruptcy, III, 129–31, 138; - of lower races, III, 194; - state tamperings with money, III, 326–35, 335–47; - and social grade, III, 359; - and officialism, III, 397. - -Hornbills, head excrescences of, I, 392. - -Horns, evolution of, I, 395. - -Horse, the phrase black, II, 340. - -Hoskins, G. A., on Valencia prison, III, 177–8. - -Huguenots, Smiles on the, I, 360. - -Humboldt, A. von, distribution of nebulæ, I, 113, 114, 115. - -Hume, D.: - subject and object, II, 329; - law codification, III, 258. - -Hungary, music in, II, 449. - -Hutton, James, geological theory, I, 195, 197. - -Hutton, Richard H., “a questionable parentage for morals,” I, 331–50. - -Huxley, T. H.: - evolution and biological heterogeneity, I, 17; - organic correlation, I, 96–101; - belief in double personality, I, 310; - on “Origin of Species,” I, 389–90; - on evolution, I, 462–3; - a creed fatal to science, I, 463; - specialized administration, III, 404–5; - endoderm and ectoderm, III, 405; - function of parliament, III, 417; - and altruism, III, 433; - administrative nihilism, III, 438, 442–4. - -Hybrids, origin of worship, I, 320–2, 329. - -_Hydra_, the, naval maladministration, III, 234. - -Hydrogen, liquefaction, I, 160. - -Hydrostatics, genesis, II, 57, 59. - -_Hydrozoa_: - analogy to social organism, I, 280–3; - development, I, 284; - circulation, I, 291; - nervous system, III, 422. - -Hyperbola, relation to circle, I, 5. - -_Hyperion_, verse from, II, 344. - -Hypoblast, embryo development, I, 452–3, 455. - -Hypothesis, effect on observation, II, 162–7. - -Ice, temperature as illustrating propositions, II, 205–8. - -Idealism: - reasoning of, II, 201; - Sidgwick’s criticism, II, 242–50. - -Ideas: - relation to emotions, I, 336–8; - comparative psychology, I, 365–6; - actual and pseud-, I, 383. - -Idols, worship of, III, 393. - -Imitativeness, comparative psychology, I, 364. - -Impatience, indications of, II, 402. - -Impulsiveness, comparative psychology, I, 357–9. - -Inclination, and duty, III, 210–1. - -Inconceivability, Mill on, II, 193–200. - -Incongruities, Bain on, II, 463. - -Incuriosity, comparative psychology, I, 364–5. - -Indeed! intonation of, II, 408. - -India: - prisons of, III, 189–91; - ethics in, III, 193–5; - failure of government, III, 249. - -Individual, and the State, III, 416–37, 442–4. - -Induction: - qualitative and quantitative science, II, 7; - electrical, II, 183. - -Industrialism: - and social organism, III, 412–6; - development of, III, 459; - and unionism, III, 465; - in America, III, 487–92. - -Industry: - multiplication of effects, I, 53–8; - effects of railways, I, 57; - boundaries ignored by, I, 289. - -Infant: - relation to ovum, I, 6; - resemblance to uncivilized, I, 18. - -_Infusoria_, cell membrane, I, 441. - -Insanity: - and heredity, I, 416, II, 396; - Pentonville Prison, III, 162; - and life, III, 164; - and bodily functions, III, 419–20. - -Insects: - temperature, I, 75; - self-mobility, I, 76; - mimicry, I, 396; - colours of, I, 433; - metamorphosis, III, 410. - -Intaglio, increase of heterogeneity, I, 26. - -Integration: - longitudinal and tranverse, I, 67–73; - relation to function, I, 73; - sociological, I, 102–7. - -Intellect, effect of emotion, II, 465. - -Intelligence: - relation to sexual sentiment, I, 363–4; - and authority, III, 311. - -Intonation, origin in churches, II, 416. - -Invagination, Balfour on, I, 452. - -Involution, and evolution, I, 380. - -Ireland: - prison discipline, III, 174; - and bad legislation, III, 275; - currency in, III, 337, 344–5; - bank of, III, 348. - -Irish elk, correlation of parts, I, 402. - -Iron: - analogy from cutting, I, 97–8; - industry and locality, I, 104; - complexity of, I, 373. - -Isomerism: - complexity of elements, I, 155; - evolution of life, I, 374–5. - -Italy, language, II, 423. - -Jam, association of ideas, I, 337. - -Jaw: - personal beauty, II, 389–90, 391; - size, I, 397–400, 473; - size of teeth, I, 401; - drooping from excitement, II, 464. - -Joint-stock companies: - history, III, 52, 108; - failure of Act, III, 241; - importance of, III, 257; - maladministration, III, 286; - banking, III, 347–54; - regulative system, III, 463. - -Jupiter: - rotatory movement, I, 135, 136; - motion of satellites, I, 137, 141–2; - number of satellites, I, 139–40; - density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52; - size, I, 145; - luminosity, I, 150; - orbit, I, 169. - -Juries, bribery of, III, 396. - -Justice: - re-representative sentiment, I, 263; - development of sympathy, I, 347–50; - comparative psychology, I, 368; - and equity, II, 52; - and prison ethics, III, 165, 167, 180, 181; - political ethics, III, 225, 228; - faulty administration, III, 232, 235; - over-legislation, III, 272; - and representative government, III, 317–23, 324, 380; - duty of state, III, 334; - and officialism, III, 395–400; - needful to society, III, 469. - -Kames, Lord, arrangement of sentences, II, 343. - -Kant, I.: - forms of thought, II, 77; - space and time, II, 226–7, 229–32, III, 197–9; - form and matter, II, 230–1, 232; - and experientialism, II, 234–5; - Max Müller on Spencer and, II, 235–8; - Spencer’s disagreement from, II, 238; - ethics, III, 192–216; - on lower races, III, 192–5; - examples of unaided perception, III, 195–7; - reasoning of, III, 199–203; - space, III, 203, 207; - on good will, III, 201–3, 207; - and evolution, III, 203–6, 207; - Carus on ethics, III, 206–7; - pursuit of happiness, III, 207–9; - duty and inclination, III, 209–13; - ethical principles, III, 213–6. - -Kent, W. S., on _infusoria_, I, 440. - -Kepler, J: - laws of, I, 36; - belief in planetary spirits, I, 108; - solar theory, I, 193. - -Kid, laughter caused by, II, 461–2. - -Kirchhoff, solar spots, I, 187. - -Kissing, obeisance of, III, 18. - -Kneeling, obeisance of, III, 19. - -Knight, the title, III, 15, 28. - -Knowledge: - common and scientific, II, 1–8, 29; - dependent on experience, II, 122; - relativity, II, 122, 220–1; - and word belief, II, 188–91; - Quarterly Reviewer on, II, 260; - and reasoning, III, 199, 201; - and political ethics, III, 225. - -Labour: - division of, I, 19–23, 283–91; - right to, III, 466. - -Lady, the title, III, 14. - -_Lady of the Lake_, quoted, II, 351. - -Laing, Mr., on railway construction, III, 105–6. - -Lamarck, J. B. P. A. de M., organic evolution, I, 390–1, 397. - -Lancashire: - cotton industry, I, 266; - effect of railway competition, III, 97, 106. - -Landowners, railway policy, III, 63–7. - -Landscape, appreciation of, I, 335–6. - -Language: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 23–6, II, 366–7; - belief in spirits, I, 311–2; - poverty of Australian, I, 315; - precedence of concrete nouns, I, 323; - comparative psychology, I, 365–6; - classification, II, 31–3, 34, 40; - Saxon words, II, 336–8; - under excitement, and poetry, II, 357–61; - emotional waste and repair, II, 361–7; - Latin, Greek, and old English, II, 367–9; - duality and development, II, 421–3; - sociology and knowledge, III, 302; - of subordination, III, 312; - evolution, III, 402–3. - -Lankester, Prof. E. Ray, on heredity, I, 476. - -Laplace, P. S. Marquis de: - genesis and structure of solar system, I, 128–9, 130, 131; - planetary axial movements, I, 132–6; - lunar axial motion, I, 141; - motion of satellites, I, 142; - planetoids, I, 168, 174, 178. - -Latham, R. G., on grammar, II, 333. - -Latin, Greek and English words, II, 367–9. - -Laugel, M., on _First Principles_, II, 118. - -Laughter, physiology of, II, 452–66. - -Law: - multiplication of effects, I, 37; - genesis of science, II, 51; - belief in natural, II, 123; - conditions affecting discovery, II, 145–8, 148–50; - evolution of sciences, II, 150–7; - prospective, II, 157–9; - universality of, II, 159–60; - religion and manners, III, 4, 23; - and morality, III, 10–11, 23, 50; - for primitive man, III, 24; - officialism and reform, III, 252, 258–9; - and over-legislation, III, 272; - legal verbiage, III, 273; - cost, III, 308; - representative government, III, 317–23; - knowledge of, and parliamentary reform, III, 375–9; - (_see also_ Over-legislation.) - -Lawyers: - and railways, III, 67–72, 83, 88, 108; - in parliament, III, 298, 303, 304. - -Leather, morals of trade, III, 123. - -Leaves, cells in, I, 446. - -Legislation, and social growth, I, 265–9; (_see also_ Over-legislation.) - -Length, morals of trade, III, 118–9. - -Lepchas, ethics, III, 193, 194. - -Liability (_see_ Banks _and_ Joint-Stock Companies). - -Liberalism, behaviour of party, III, 464. - -Liberty: - French idea of, II, 343; - traits of reform, III, 30–6; - social use, III, 46–51; - degree of, for people, III, 381; - in America, III, 473–4, 477, 478–9. - -Libraries, free, III, 370. - -Licensing law, failure, III, 244. - -Liebig, J. von, analogy from blood corpuscles, I, 293–4. - -Life: - evolution from not-life, I, 374–5; - plants and animals indistinguishable, I, 375–6; - evolution of mind, I, 376–8; - survival and degree of, I, 405–8, 421; - evolution and action of medium, I, 458–60, 460–2; - primitive ideas of, III, 6–11; - maintenance and prison ethics, III, 163–71; - failure of assurance act, III, 241–2; - sociology and knowledge of, III, 304; - and pleasure, III, 315; - and sociology, III, 325; - increase in longevity, III, 447; - Mill and Spencer on, III, 485. - -_Life Drama_, quoted, II, 351, 353. - -Light: - multiplication of effects, I, 37, 38, 39, 59; - action on bodies, I, 436; - and on protoplasm, I, 465–6; - genesis of science, II, 61; - polarization, II, 63; - effect on molecules, II, 178; - perception of white, III, 196; - (_see also_ Optics). - -Likeness: - of classification, II, 29–31, 34; - of language, II, 31–3, 34; - of reasoning, II, 33–4; - of art, II, 34; - relation to equality, II, 35–7. - -_Lindsay, W. S._, Admiralty certificate, III, 239. - -Literature: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 34–5; - multiplication of effects, I, 57; - use and beauty, II, 371; - contrast in, II, 373–4; - popularity of authors, III, 299–300; - and sociology, III, 376–7; - English and continental, III, 430–1. - -Littré, E., on Comte’s classification, II, 74–6, 81–3. - -Liver: - development, I, 106; - use and disuse, I, 419. - -Liverpool, and Manchester railway, III, 63, 266. - -Liverworts, cells in, I, 446. - -Locke, J.: - and experientialism, II, 234–5; - and evolution, II, 237. - -Locomotive engine: - effects of, I, 56–8; - balance weight, II, 383. - -Logic: - Hegel’s classification, II, 12–5; - implies equality, II, 40; - abstract science, II, 77, 81–5; - terrestrial evolution, II, 99; - Bain on relation to psychology, II, 105–6; - Sidgwick’s criticism, II, 241; - Tristram Shandy on, II, 333. - -London: - and Birmingham railway, III, 63; - New River to, III, 257; - representative government, III, 289; - water supply, III, 429. - -Lord, the title, III, 12–5, 21. - -Love: - Darwin and origin of music, II, 426–37; - also Gurney, II, 437–43. - -Loyalty, and social state, III, 312. - -Lubbock, Sir John: - derivation of tribal names, I, 314; - _Origin of Civilization_, I, 331; - conscience of lower races, III, 192–3; - banker’s clearing house, III, 425–6. - -Lungs: - development, I, 67, 106; - use and disuse, I, 419; - relation to voice, II, 404–5. - -Lyell, Sir C.: - age of rocks, I, 204; - paleontological evidence, I, 205, 208–12; - geological hiatus, I, 220–1; - uniformitarianism and geological record, I, 227, 229. - -Lyre, increase in heterogeneity, I, 32, II, 415. - -Machine, and organism, III, 456–8. - -Machinery, disliked by labourers, III, 362, 376. - -Macaulay, Lord, on Post-office, III, 441. - -Mackintosh, Sir J., on constitutions, I, 265, 269. - -MacLennan, J. F., plant and animal worship, I, 308–9, 320. - -Maconochie, Captain, “mark” prison system, III, 175–7. - -Madam, the title, II, 14, 26. - -Magellanic clouds, Sir J. Herschel on, I, 116–7. - -Magnetism, abstract concrete science, II, 88. - -Magnificent, and the word grand, II, 367–9. - -Magnitudes, relation of thought, II, 252–3. - -Maize, transformation of, I, 434. - -Majority, right of, III, 89, 94. - -_Mammalia_: - evolution and heterogeneity, I, 15–7; - increase in heterogeneity, I, 17–9; - temperature, I, 75, 76; - self-mobility, I, 76; - organic correlation, I, 97; - paleontological remains, I, 227, 238, 240; - imitation of evolution, II, 438. - -Mammary glands, evolution, I, 395. - -Man: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 17–9, 35; - multiplication of effects, I, 52–3; - traits of primitive, III, 24. - -Manchester, electors in, III, 385. - -Manners: - and fashion, III, 1–51; - evolution of ceremonies, III, 11–6, 23, 50; - origin, III, 28; - Swift on, III, 44. - -Mansel, Dean H. L.: - criticism, II, 221–5; - Grotz on, II, 225. - -_Marchantia_, cells in, I, 446. - -_Mariana_, quoted, II, 356. - -_Marmion_, quoted, II, 343. - -Mars: - rotatory motion, I, 135, 136; - number of satellites, I, 139–40; - and motion, I, 142; - density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52. - -_Marsupialia_, integration, I, 69–70. - -Martineau, Rev. J.: - on evolution, I, 371–88; - criticism, II, 250–8. - -Master, the title, III, 15, 16. - -Materialism, and evolution, I, 386–8. - -Mathematics: - things learnt, II, 1; - Oken on, II, 10–11; - Comte’s classification, II, 16–21; - implies equality, II, 40; - genesis, II, 48–50; - abstract science, II, 77, 84–5; - terrestrial evolution, II, 99; - deals with relations, II, 102, 103; - Bain on nature of, II, 105–6; - origin, II, 151; - evolution, II, 156; - ultimate truths, II, 283; - exact science, III, 199–200; - and political ethics, III, 225; - mental development, III, 255; - and sociology, III, 303, 305. - -Matter: - discovery of laws, II, 148; - inscrutable, II, 247; - Martineau’s criticism, II, 257; - properties, II, 277, 315–6. - -Mayer, J., as physicist, II, 269, 314. - -Measurement: - origin of weight, II, 43–5; - of time, II, 45–6. - -Mechanics: - Comte’s classification, II, 19; - genesis, II, 50, 56, 59; - abstract concrete science, II, 85–8,101; - terrestrial evolution, II, 97; - Bain on science classification, II, 112; - science classification, II, 117; - origin, II, 151; - evolution, II, 155, 156; - real and ideal, III, 222–3. - -Mechanics’ Institutes, representative government, III, 286. - -Medicine, association of ideas, I, 337. - -_Medusa_, vascular system, I, 79. - -_Megœra_, naval maladministration, III, 234. - -_Melbourne_, the, and Admiralty certificate, III, 239. - -Memory: - and test of truth, II, 215; - and emotion, II, 465. - -Mendelejeff, D., complexity of elements, I, 155. - -Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, F., character, II, 417. - -Mercantile Marine Act, failure of, III, 260, 276, 295. - -Mercury: - rotatory movement, I, 135, 136; - number of satellites, I, 139; - density, I, 144; - density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52. - -Mesoblast, embryo development, I, 453, 455. - -Metallurgy, genesis, II, 51. - -Metamorphic rocks, age, I, 198. - -Metamorphosis, universal, III, 458–60. - -Metaphor, and simile, II, 352–4. - -Metaphysics: - Comte on, II, 123; - reasoning of, II, 201–5; - relation to physics, II, 268. - -_Metaphyta_, origin, I, 444. - -_Metazoa_: - origin, I, 444; - embryo development, I, 451–8. - -Meteorology: - increase in heterogeneity of climates, I, 13–4, 35; - effect of American subsidence, I, 43; - concrete science, II, 92. - -Meteors: - constitution of comets, I, 127; - origin, I, 174–7. - -Metonymy, effectiveness, II, 350. - -Mettray, reformatory, III, 173. - -Militancy: - political ethics, III, 227–8; - and industrialism, III, 416; - in America, III, 484. - -Milky way, distribution of nebulæ, I, 112. - -Mill, J. S.: - letter on morals to, I, 333; - classification of science, II, 114; - on Comte’s philosophy, II, 143; - on Hamilton and word belief, II, 188–91; - noumenal existence, II, 191–2; - inconceivable and unbelievable, II, 193–200; - test of necessity, II, 196; - general agreement with, II, 217; - on the State and banks, III, 348, 357; - on life, III, 485. - -Miller, Hugh: - life and doctrines, I, 218–20; - terrestrial life, I, 220. - -Mimicry: - of savages, I, 364; - evolution, I, 396. - -Mineralogy, and classification, II, 64, 92, 108. - -Mind (_see_ Psychology.) - -Missionaries, development, III, 458–9. - -Mivart, Prof. St. George, genesis of species, I, 332. - -Mole, pelvis in, I, 97. - -Molecules, mutual action and electricity, II, 178–84, 184–7. - -Molesworth, Sir W., on buildings acts, III, 240. - -_Mollusca_: - great age of, I, 217; - circulation, I, 296. - -_Molluscoida_, social analogy, I, 281. - -_Monaclinæ_, cell membrane, I, 440. - -Monarchy, and representative government, III, 309–10, 310–7, 317–23. - -Money: - analogy to blood corpuscles, I, 293–4; - trading with bad, III, 141; - state tamperings with, III, 326–57; - and joint-stock banks, III, 347–54; - and free trade, III, 355–7; anomaly - of interest, III, 401. - -Monkeys, origin of music, II, 432. - -_Monotremata_, integration, I, 69–70. - -Monsieur, the title, III, 14, 15. - -Montesinos, Captain, prison discipline, III, 177–8. - -Month, measure of time, II, 45–9. - -Moon: - axial motion, I, 141; - heat and contraction, I, 149; - as name, I, 317, 327. - -Moquin-Tandon, A., plant leaves, I, 433. - -Morality: - _Quarterly Review_ criticism, II, 259–65; - and law, III, 10–11, 23, 50; - and awe of authority, III, 311; - average social, III, 359, 360. - -Morals: - and moral sentiments, I, 331–50; - parentage of, I, 331–4, 334–50; - the science of right conduct, I, 333; - relation to expediency, I, 333; - prospect, III, 30, 51; - average of, and trade, III, 137–40. - -Moray, Sir R., on Barnacle geese, II, 162. - -Mosses, cell membrane, I, 439. - -Motion: - of animals and plants, I, 75, 76; - discovery of laws, II, 148; - implies thing moving, II, 205–6, 207; - inscrutable, II, 247; - insensible forms, II, 266, 276; - Tait on laws of, II, 271–5; - Spencer on laws of, II, 297–320; - axioms and laws of, II, 298–301, 315–20; - relation to force, II, 310–4; - and gracefulness, II, 381–6. - -Mouat, Dr. F. J., on prisons, III, 189–91. - -Moulton, J. F., _British Quarterly Review_, II, 307. - -Mountains: - age and altitude, I, 13; - formation, I, 40; - as name, I, 318. - -Mozart, J. C. W. T.: - heredity, I, 406; - character, II, 417; - _Addio_ of, II, 447. - -Mucous membrane, effect of surroundings, I, 449, 450. - -Müller, F. Max: - misinterpretation of names, I, 315, 327; - on abstract nouns, I, 323, 324; - criticism, II, 235–8. - -Multiplication, various forms, I, 65–7. - -Multiplication of effects: - general, I, 35–8; - astronomy, I, 38–9; - geology, I, 39–46; - biology, I, 46–53; - sociology, I, 53–8; - science, literature and art, I, 59. - -Munich, prison, III, 171–3 - -Murchison, Sir R.: - Silurian system, I, 199, 231; - paleontological evidence, I, 206; - azoic rocks, I, 228. - -Murder, social co-operation, III, 217–20, 224. - -Muscle: - waste and repair, I, 362; - evolution, I, 396; - size of jaws, I, 398–400, 422; - origin of music, II, 403–4; - nervous system and action of, II, 453–8; - laughter and action of, II, 458–64. - -Music: - origin, I, 30–1; - increase in heterogeneity, 31–4; - comparative psychology, I, 366; - development of faculty, I, 406–7; - Kantian ideas of space, II, 227; - contrast in, II, 373; - origin and function, II, 400–51; - originally vocal, II, 403–4; - feelings and loudness of voice, II, 404, 410; - and timbre, II, 405, 411; - pitch, II, 406, 411; - intervals, II, 406–9, 411; - variability of pitch, II, 409, 411; - tremolo, staccato, and slur, II, 412; - time in, II, 412–3; - slow divergence from speech, II, 414–8; - indirect evidence of theory, II, 418–20; - function, II, 420–4; - relation to sympathy, II, 424–6; - Darwin on origin, II, 426–37; - of lowest tribes, II, 433–7; - Gurney on origin, II, 437–43; - evolution of scales, II, 440–1; - sensational effects, II, 443–4; - perceptional, II, 445–7; - emotional, II, 447; - harmony, II, 448; - counterpoint, II, 448; - and evolution, II, 448–9; - Hungarian, II, 449–51; - and social intercourse, III, 41, 42; - sensation of sound, III, 197; - indirect effects, III, 245; - free, III, 370. - -Myddelton, Sir Hugh, New River, III, 257, 429. - -Mythology, primitive, III, 6–11. - -Myths, origin of animal worship, I, 322–8. - -Nails, heredity and negro blood, II, 396. - -Names: - origin of animal worship, I, 311–7, 317–20, 328; - of hybrids, I, 320–2; - misinterpretation of nicknames, I, 325–8, 328–30; - classification, II, 31–3, 34, 40; - and evolution of ceremonies, III, 11–6, 23. - -Napoleon I., and his marshals, III, 309. - -Natural selection: - essay on progress, I. 53; - the phrase, I, 428–30; - (_see also_ Survival of the fittest). - -Navy: - maladministration, III, 233–4, 247, 248, 249, 251, 252, 399; - officers in parliament, III, 297, 304. - -Naylor, Rev. B., on Norfolk Island convicts, III, 176. - -Nebulæ: - appearance, I, 118–25; - Sir J. Herschel on regular and irregular, I, 122; - origin, direction and constitution of comets, I, 125–8, 153; - origin, I, 153. - -Nebular hypothesis: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 10–11; - discoveries of Herschel and Rosse, I, 110–2; - and ultimate mystery, I, 154; - evolution of heat and condensation, I, 159–63; - essay on, I, 108–84; - distance and distribution, I, 112–8. - -Necessity, Mill on test of, II, 196–200. - -Negro, heredity and nails, II, 396. - -Neptune: - axial motion, I, 133–6; - density, I, 144; - heat, I, 144–8, 148–52. - -Nervous system: - of savage and civilized, I, 18; - integration, I, 68–71; - analogous to government, I, 299–307; - development from epidermis, I, 454; - Sidgwick’s criticism, II, 238; - muscular action, II, 453–8; - differentiation, III, 406; - sympathetic, III, 408–9; - and society, III, 418; - positive and negative regulation, III, 419, 443. - -New River Company, origin, III, 429. - -New York, government, III, 289, 291. - -New Zealanders, belief in another world, II, 223. - -Newcomb, Prof. S.: - nebular hypothesis, I, 121; - planetoids, I, 167–8. - -Newspapers, evolution, III, 431. - -Newton, Sir I.: - expansion of air, I, 118; - solar theory, I, 193; - gravity, II, 26–7, 291–3; - genesis of science, II, 59–60; - problem of three bodies, II, 112; - laws of motion, II, 271, 274, 277–88, 297–320. - -Nitrogen: - compounds, I, 157; - molecules, I, 158. - -Nod, as obeisance, III, 18. - -Nomenclature, genesis of science, II, 63–5, 72. - -Norfolk Island, prison, III, 175–7. - -_North British Review_, on _Social Statics_, II, 134. - -Nose, personal beauty, II, 391. - -Nottingham, Enclosure act, III, 240. - -Nubecula, Sir J. Herschel on, I, 116–7. - -Number and classification, II, 37. - -Nummulites, Lyell on, I, 208. - -Nutrition: - individual and social, I, 289–90; - process, III, 408; - social, III, 413. - -Oak, acorn and music, II, 442. - -Obeisance, forms of, III, 17–22, III, 25. - -Obermair, M., on prisons, III, 171. - -Object: - consciousness of, II, 211–4; - relation to subject, II, 323–32. - -Observation and hypothesis, II, 160–7. - -Officialism: - failure, III, 394, 395; - Lord Palmerston on, III, 395; - (_see also_ Over-legislation). - -Offspring, and parents’ qualities, II, 395, 398. - -Oken, L., classification of sciences, II, 9–12. - -Olbers, H. W. M., hypothesis, I, 167, 171, 173. - -Old Red Sandstone (_see_ Devonian System.) - -Omnibus, and officialism, III, 250. - -Oolite, age of, I, 202–5. - -Opium, dissimilar effects, I, 100. - -Optics: - multiplication of effects, I, 59; - genesis, II, 57, 59, 61; - interdependence of sciences, II, 66; - abstract concrete science, II, 85–8; - Bain on classification of sciences, II, 107. - -Orange, planet analogy, I, 133–4. - -Orders, signature of, III, 120. - -Organic matter: - chemistry, I, 83–4; - evolution, I, 458–60. - -Organisms: - differentiation, III, 405; - social and individual, III, 411–6; - and machinery, III, 456–8. - -Organs, rudimentary, III, 204. - -_Origin of Species_: - Huxley on, I, 389–90; - effect of, I, 393–4. - -Originality, literary style, II, 365–7. - -_Ossian_, quoted, II, 355. - -Osteology, correlation, I, 96–101. - -Over-legislation: - essay on, III, 229–82; - individual uncertainty, III, 229–31; - examples of failure in legislation, III, 231–45; - probability of success, III, 245–6; - slowness of, III, 246–7; - stupidity, III, 247–9; - unadaptive, III, 249; - corruptness, III, 250–2; - fixity, III, 252; - officialism and trade contrasted, III, 253–9; - is there a sphere for officialism? III, 259–68; - free trade, III, 268–70; - negative evils, III, 270–6; - enervation of, III, 276–80; - faith in governments, III, 280–2; - dangers, III, 368–70; - and collective wisdom, III, 391–2. - -Ovum, relation to infant, I, 6. - -Owen, Prof. Sir R.: - evolution and paleontology, I, 16; - organic correlation, I, 96–101. - -Oxygen: - deductive biology, I, 77–81; - liquefaction, I, 160; - action on protoplasm, I, 465–6. - -Pacific Ocean, upheaval and geological record, I, 232–40. - -Pain: - expression in children, I, 339–50; - indications of, II, 401–3, 404; - loudness of voice, II, 404–5. - -Painting: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 24–30; - multiplication of effects, I, 59. - -Palmerston, Lord, III, 395. - -Palæozoic, the title, I, 15. - -Paleontology: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 14–7; - life and multiplication of effects, I, 49–53; - organic correlation, I, 96–101; - age of strata, I, 205–12; - past and present geological changes, I, 212–8; - gaps in record, I, 220–1, 226–32; - effect of climate on evidence, I, 221–4; - and of terrestrial change, I, 224–6; - effect of upheaval, I, 232–40. - -Panama Canal, III, 267. - -Pantheism, rejected by H. Spencer, II, 221. - -Paper tax, III, 243; (_see also_ Money.) - -Parents and offspring, II, 395–6, 398. - -Parabola, relation to circle, I, 5. - -_Paradise Lost_, quoted, II, 346. - -Parasites, natural selection, I, 379–80. - -Parkhurst, criminals at, III, 258. - -Parliament: - analogy to brain, I, 302–5; - railways and members of, III, 65–7, 74–7, 83, 86; - and parliamentary agents, III, 67–71, 108; - right of majority, III, 94; - belief in acts, III, 109, 306–7; - 20,000 statutes, III, 232; - officialism and acts of, III, 258–9; - badly drawn acts, III, 273; - selection of members, III, 291; - members of, III, 295–9; - ineligible members, III, 296; - bank act, III, 338, 339, 340; - private bills, III, 359; - Thames water supply, III, 387–92; - function, III, 417; - (_see also_ Over-legislation.) - -Parliamentary reform: - essay on, III, 358–86; - apprehended dangers, III, 360–8, 368–70; - direct and indirect taxation, III, 370–5; - value of representative government, III, 380; - Reform Bill, III, 380–6. - -Passengers Act, failure, III, 241. - -Passion, social analogy, I, 269–71. - -Patent-office, accounts, III, 398. - -Patents: - failure, III, 456; - American, III, 473. - -Patterns, piracy, III, 126 - -Pedigree, importance, I, 108; (_see also_ Heredity.) - -Peel, Sir Robert: - on legislation, III, 280–1; - Bank Act, III, 338, 339, 340, 357. - -Penal code (_see_ Prison ethics.) - -Pentonville, treatment at, III, 161–2. - -Perception: - relation to science, II, 1–8; - presentative-representative, I, 261. - -Perseverance, of savages, I, 375. - -Personal beauty, essay, II, 387–99. - -Perthes, B. de, flint implements, I, 413. - -Peru, social organization, III, 470. - -Pestalozzi, H. L., school name, III, 2. - -Phanerogams, pollen, I, 439. - -Philæ, granite at, I, 437. - -Philosophy, relation to religion, I, 60–2; (_see also_ Comte.) - -Phosphorus, allotropic, I, 373. - -Physics: - Comte’s classification, II, 21–3; - genesis, II, 57, 59, 60, 61; - interdependence of sciences, II, 67; - abstract-concrete science, II, 85–8; - deals with properties, II, 101, 103; - relation to chemistry, II, 109–11; - evolution, II, 152, 156; - _British Quarterly_ Reviewer on, II, 267–301; - relation to metaphysics, II, 268; - axioms, II, 270, 277–88, 297; - their origin, II, 298–301, 313–4, 315–20. - -Physiology: - transcendental, I, 63–107; - deductive, I, 76–81; - organic correlation, I, 96–101; - individual and social organism, I, 101–7; - concrete science, II, 92; - development, II, 423. - -Picnic, interest in, II, 374. - -Pictures, subjects of historical, II, 373; (_see also_ Painting.) - -Pigeons: - beak and tongue, I, 401; - heredity and variation, I, 414–5; - use and disuse, I, 418; - origin of music, II, 428. - -Pigs, use and disuse, I, 419. - -Pins, stellar analogy, I, 161. - -Pitcher plant, evolution, I, 394. - -Pity, comparative psychology, I, 368. - -Placards, derivation, I, 28. - -Planetoids: - origin, I, 167–80; - number, I, 168, 171, 179; - distances, I, 169, 172, 179; - orbits, I, 169–70, 173–4, 179; - distribution, I, 171; - magnitudes, I, 172; - periods, I, 177; - velocity, I, 180. - -Planets: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 11; - origin, I, 39, 153; - direction, I, 127, 129, 153; - planes of, and solar equator, I, 131–2; - axial movements, I, 132–6, 153; - arrangement and number of satellites, I, 137, 139–41; - density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52; - structure, I, 163–7, 182; - origin of minor, I, 167–80; - origin of meteors, I, 174–7; - (_see also_ Astronomy.) - -Plants: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 14–7, 35; - structure, I, 73, 76, 391–2; - form, I, 73, 76; - chemical composition, I, 74, 76; - specific gravity, I, 74, 70; - temperature, I, 74, 76; - self-mobility, I, 75, 76; - evolution and homogeneity I, 83–4; - heat and distribution, I, 223–4; - also terrestrial change, I, 224–6; - and animals, I, 375–6; - evolution and sensitive, I, 377; - cambium, I, 449–50. - -Plateau, J. A. F., fluid rotation, I, 131. - -Plato, Republic, 269–72. - -Pleasure: - expression in children, I, 339–50; - indications of, II, 401–3, 404; - loudness of voice, II, 404–5; - bodily effect, II, 454–8; - destroyed by formality, III, 36–46; - and life, III, 315; - social and individual organism, III, 411; - American life, III, 489–90. - -Plough, Hindoo worship of, II, 354. - -Plumber, action of pump, I, 425. - -Poetry: - origin and differentiation, I, 30–2; - and prose, II, 357–61; - development of epic and lyric, II, 416; - and government, III, 430–1. - -Pointers, use and disuse, I, 470–1. - -Police, officialism, III, 396–7. - -Political economy: - and railways, III, 101–3; - flow of capital, III, 264; - representative government, III, 303; - efflux of gold, III, 341–3. - -Politics: - use and disuse, I, 463–5; - and costume, III, 1–5, 30; - definition, III, 226. - -_Polyzoa_: - form, I, 73; - composition, I, 74; - not sea-weeds, I, 248; - analogy to social organism, I, 281. - -Poor law, action of, III, 244. - -Pope, A., literary style, II, 365. - -Porcupine, evolution of quills, I, 394–5. - -Positivism (_see_ Comte.) - -Post-office: - and officialism, III, 252; - and government, III, 440–2. - -Potato, complexity, III, 196. - -Poverty, effect of, III, 143–9. - -Predicate, arrangement of sentences, II, 342–4. - -Preference stock, effect, III, 86–8, 108. - -Prevision: - and science, II, 1–8; - origin of quantitative, II, 41–9. - -Printing: - increase of heterogeneity, I, 26; - analogy from press, I, 98, II, 33; - printer’s union rules, III, 364–5; - anomaly, III, 401. - -Prison Ethics: - essay on, III, 152–91; - relative and absolute ethics, III, 152–7, 188; - treatment of criminals, III, 157–63; - laws of life, III, 163–71; - self-maintenance, III, 168–71; - foreign prisons and reformatories, III, 172–8; - evils of excessive punishment, III, 178–80; - improved system of discipline, III, 180–7, 189–91; - and social state, III, 187–9; - Indian prisons, III, 189–91. - -Procter, R.A., nebular distance, I, 118. - -Profit, defined, I, 290. - -Progress: - its law and cause, I, 8–62, 81, III, 323; - current conception, I, 8–9; - increase in heterogeneity, I, 9–10. - -_Prometheus Unbound_, quoted, II, 353. - -Promissory notes, State tamperings with money, III, 326–35, 335–47, 356. - -Property: - emotion of possession, I, 253, 263, 307, II, 421; - and parliamentary reform, III, 358–60, 367–8. - -Propositions: - the thinkable, I, 383; - ultimate test, II, 14; - states of consciousness, II, 205–8; - testing of reasoning, II, 208–11; - arrangement of sentences, II, 344. - -Prose: - and poetry, II, 357–61; - contrast in, II, 374. - -Protection, and officialism, III, 268–70. - -_Protophyta_: - composition, I, 74; - self-mobility, I, 75; - instability of homogeneous, I, 86; - social analogy, I, 277; - cell membrane, I, 439. - -Protoplasm, action of light, I, 465–6. - -_Protozoa_: - differentiation from environment, I, 73; - self-mobility, I, 75; - instability of homogeneous, I, 86; - social analogy, I, 277–83; - cell membrane, I, 440; - development, I, 452. - -Proudhon, P. J., policy, III, 417. - -Proxies, railway, III, 76, 78. - -Psychology: - relation of science to religion, I, 61–2; - _The Emotions and The Will_, I, 241–64; - organization provisional, I, 241–5; - classification of emotions, I, 245–57; - evolution of emotions, I, 250–7; - Bain’s definition of emotion and volition, I, 258–60; - also feeling and sensation, I, 260; - classification of mind, I, 260–4; - comparative, of man in outline, I, 351, 353; - mental and bodily mass, I, 353–4; - mental complexity, I, 354–5; - rate of development, I, 355; - relative plasticity, I, 355–6; - variability, I, 356–7; - impulsiveness, I, 357–9; - effect of race inter-mixture, I, 359–60; - effect of sex, I, 361–4; - imitativeness, I, 364; - curiosity, I, 364–5; - peculiar aptitudes, I, 366; - sociality, freedom, approbation, and acquisitiveness, I, 366–7; - altruistic sentiments, I, 367–9; - evolution of mind, I, 376–8, 381–6; - use and disuse, I, 463–5; - Hegel’s classification, II, 12–5; - concrete science, II, 92, 100; - terrestrial evolution, II, 96; - Bain on logic, II, 105–6; - origin of knowledge, II, 122–5; - Comte on, II, 131; - Sidgwick on _Principles_, II, 238–50. - -Publishers, local integration, I, 103. - -Pump, action of, I, 425–6. - -Punishment (_see_ Prison Ethics.) - -Pyramids, architectural types, II, 379. - -Quakers: - intonation, II, 416; - nonconformity, III, 2. - -_Quarterly Review_, criticism, II, 259–65. - -Rabbits, use and disuse, I, 418. - -Railways: - effects, I, 56–8; - distributing systems, I, 296–8; - morals and policy, III, 52–112; - directors, III, 52–63, 69; - extensions, III, 56–9, 71–2, 82–8, 91, 94, 96, 101–7, 107–8; - dividends, III, 57, 98–9, 105–6; - book-keeping, III, 59; - and land-owners, III, 63–7; - and members of parliament, III, 65–7, 74–7, 83; - and lawyers, III, 67–72, 83, 88, 108; - and engineers, III, 68–72, 83, 88, 108; - contractors, III, 72–4, 83; - boards, 77–8; - shares, 80–2, 108; - effect of competing lines, III, 97–8, 107; - safety, III, 99–100; - cause and remedy of corruptions, III, 88–96; - secondary organizations, III, 92–3; - and political economy, III, 101–3; - capital, III, 108; - proprietary contract, III, 108–112; - and coaching, III, 110–2, 255; - relative and absolute ethics, III, 155–7; - state inspection, III, 239–40; - individualism, III, 249; - evolution, III, 256, 266; - diffusion of literature, III, 262; - winding up act, III, 273; - legislature and accidents, III, 275; - English enterprise, III, 279; - maladministration, III, 285–6; - representative government, III, 296, 302, 304; - inspection, III, 399; - anomaly, III, 401; - English and French, III, 428; - and government, III, 437; - in America, III, 478. - -Rainbow, beliefs about, II, 154. - -Ramsgate, harbour, III, 248. - -Realism, Sidgwick’s criticism, II, 242–50. - -Reason: - social analogy, I, 269–71; - limited sphere, II, 221; - judgment of common sense, II, 243–4. - -Reasoning: - recognition of likeness, II, 33–4, 37, 40; - of Kant, III, 199–203; - of metaphysicians, II, 201–5, 208–11; - a testing of conclusions, II, 208–11; - (_see also_ Logic.) - -Recitative: - ancient and modern, II, 415–8; - Gurney on, II, 439. - -Reflection, belief in spirits, I, 310–3. - -Reflex action: - and emotion, I, 258; - impulsiveness, I, 358; - indication of feelings, II, 403; - examples, III, 453. - -Reform: - and costume, III, 1–5; - and custom, III, 31. - -Reform bill: - representative government, III, 294; - fear of, III, 358; - of Lord Russell, III, 380–6. - -Reformation, change by, III, 49. - -Regulative system, social, III, 458–64. - -Relative, Martineau on the, II, 250–8. - -Religion: - increase of heterogeneity, I, 20–3; - relation to early art, I, 27; - and to science, I, 60–2; - rudimentary form of all, I, 309; - object of sentiment, II, 132; - and science, Caird on, II, 219–21; - Mansel’s criticism, II, 221–5; - Grotz on, II, 225; - manners and law, III, 4, 23; - primitive ideas, III, 6–11; - and state, III, 11; - for primitive man, III, 24; - representative government, III, 301; - and government, III, 434. - -Repair, and waste, II, 362–7. - -Representative government: - knowledge of representatives, III, 300–9; - and despotism, III, 309–10; - and monarchy, III, 310–7; - superiority, III, 317–23, 323–5; - value of, III, 380. - -Reproductive system, and organic evolution, I, 409, 412, 422–5. - -Reptiles: - evolution and heterogeneity, I, 15–7; - paleontological remains, I, 227, 237, 240. - -Republicanism, American, III, 474–5, 478–9. - -Respiration, effect of emotion, II, 459. - -Reviewing, morals of trade, III, 139. - -Rhythm, in speech, II, 440. - -Ribbon, morals of trade, III, 127. - -Right (_see_ Ethics.) - -Roads, distributing system, I, 296–8. - -Robbery: - social co-operation, III, 217–20; - of Messrs. Walker, III, 439. - -Roberts, I., photographs of, I, 180. - -Robinson, F., Icarian colony, III, 457. - -Rocking stone, origin, I, 437. - -Rocks, age of, I, 198–205. - -_Rodentia_, transverse integration, I, 69. - -Romilly, Sir S., on judicial system, III, 272. - -Rooks, cawing of, I, 337, 338. - -Roots, imbedded and exposed, I, 447. - -Rosse, Lord, nebular hypothesis, I, 110–1. - -Rossini, G. A., heredity, I, 406. - -Royal Institution, III, 436. - -Royal Society, published barnacle goose myth, II, 162. - -Ruskin, J., effects of art, I, 59. - -Russell, Lord John: - on minorities, III, 295; - reform bill, III, 380–6. - -Russia: - age of rocks in, I, 200–1, 206; - paper currency, III, 345. - -Sachs, J., on cell membranes, I, 438–9. - -Safety, in railways, III, 99–100. - -Satellites: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 11; - origin, I, 39; - arrangement and number, I, 137–8; - distribution, I, 138; - number and forces, I, 139–40; - motion, I, 141–3, 153–4. - -Saturn: - origin of rings, I, 39; - rotatory movement, I, 135, 136; - motion of satellites, I, 137; - their distance, I, 138; - their number, I, 139–40; - rotation of rings, I, 142; - location, I, 143; - density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52. - -Saxon words, II, 336–8. - -Scales, unstable equilibrium of, I, 82. - -Scepticism, reasoning of, II, 201. - -Schleiden, M. J., cell doctrine, I, 443. - -School, Price’s, III, 256. - -Schopenhauer, A., ethics, III, 212. - -Schwann, T., cell doctrine, I, 443. - -Science: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 34–5; - multiplication of effects, I, 59; - relation to religion, I, 60–2; - establishment of causation, I, 109; - creed fatal to, I, 463; - and common knowledge, II, 1–8, 29, 71; - Oken’s classification, II, 9–12; - Hegel’s, II, 12–5; - Comte’s, II, 15–29; - progress analytic and synthetic, II, 24–7; - linear arrangement, II, 27–9; - interdependent with arts, II, 67–71, 94–9; - summary of genesis, II, 71–3; - interdependence of, II, 94–9; - Comte and Positivism, II, 118–22, 128, 139; - origin and evolution, II, 150–7; - “practical,” II, 151; - Caird on religion and science, II, 219–21; - exact, III, 199–200. - -Sciences, Classification of the: - Littré on Comte’s, II, 74–6; - characteristics of a true, II, 76; - abstract concrete, II, 77–8, 85–88, 92–4; - concrete, II, 77–81, 88–92, 92–4; - divisions of abstract, II, 81–5, 92–4; - needs three dimensions, II, 92–4; - concrete deals with aggregates, II, 99–103; - abstract-concrete, with properties, II, 101–3; - abstract with relations, II, 102–3; - Bain, II, 105–17; - Mill, II, 114; - Comte, II, 130. - -Scotch, dialect, II, 424. - -Scotland: - age of rocks, I, 198–205; - bank success, III, 348. - -Scott, Sir W., anecdote of, II, 466. - -Scrofula, heredity, II, 395. - -Sculpture, heterogeneity of, I, 24–30. - -Sea, action on: - geological formations, I, 212, 213; - upheaved land, I, 232–40; - shores, I, 431–2, 444. - -Selene, the myth, I, 326. - -Senior wrangler, criticism of, II, 302–5, 305–7. - -Sensations: - defined, I, 260, 262; - evolution, I, 264; - demonstration of, II, 401–3; - pleasure of music, II, 444–5; - (_see also_ Psychology.) - -Sense, disablement of organs, III, 116–7. - -Sentences, arrangement of, II, 341–50. - -Settlement, failure of law of, III, 244. - -Sewers commission, III, 238, 248. - -Sex: - mental development, I, 355; - comparative psychology, I, 361–4. - -Shadows: - belief in spirits, I, 310–5; - colour, II, 165–6. - -Shares: - railway, III, 80–2, 108; - directors and holders of, III, 82–8; - preference, III, 86; - depressed by rail extension, III, 94, 98–9, 106; - morals of banking, III, 131–7; - relative and absolute ethics, III, 155–7. - -Shakespeare, W., I, 317, III, 283. - -Shears, analogy from iron, I, 97–8. - -Sheep, English and French, II, 396, 398. - -Shell, use and beauty, II, 370. - -Ships: - naval maladministration, III, 233–4, 247, 248, 251, 252, 258, 259; - private administration, III, 234, 238; - and Admiralty certificate, III, 239, 241; - tonnage law, III, 244; - officialism, III, 253; - mercantile marine acts, III, 260; - screw propeller, III, 261; - representative government, III, 301. - -Shoes, removing, III, 17. - -Shooting stars, origin, I, 174–7. - -Shopkeepers, lying and believing, III, 118. - -Sidgwick, H., criticism, II, 238–50. - -Sight: - and exercise, II, 362, 363; - and state of faculties, II, 364. - -Signature, of orders, III, 120. - -Signor, the title, III, 14, 21. - -Signs, force of gesticulative, II, 335. - -Silk, trade morals, III, 120, 124–7. - -Silurian system: - age, I, 198–205; - paleontological evidence, I, 206–7; - thickness, I, 231. - -Simile: - use and position, II, 350–2; - and metaphor, II, 354. - -Singing, II, 410–4; (_see also_ Music.) - -Sir, the title, III, 14, 15, 16, 21, 26. - -Sirius, distance from sun, I, 113, 114. - -Skating, grace in, II, 385. - -Skin, action of medicine, I, 448, 450. - -Skull, personal beauty, II, 389–90, 391. - -Slave trade, former opinion, III, 141. - -Small-pox, effects, I, 47. - -Smell, sense of: - and eye position, I, 72; - in dogs, I, 470; - exercise, II, 362. - -Smith, Adam: - theory of morals, I, 346; - importance, III, 316; - non-university training, III, 377–8. - -Smoke bill, of London, III, 250. - -Sneeze, and laughter, II, 460. - -Snow, officialism, II, 249–50. - -Soap: - adulterant, III, 125; - tax, III, 243. - -Social organism: - the, I, 265–307; - analogy to individual, I, 269–72, 272–3, 277, 291–8, 306–7, III, 411–16; - difference, I, 273–7; - analogy to lower animal forms, I, 277–83; - division of labour, I, 283–91. - -_Social Statics_: - origin of morals, I, 332–3; - of sympathy, I, 317; - Comte and title of, II, 134–7; - thesis of, II, 262. - -Socialism: - compulsory co-operation, III, 454–6; - and regulative system, III, 460–4; - effect, III, 467; - evils, III, 467–70. - -Sociality, and psychology, I, 366–7, 368. - -Society: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 19–23, 35; - a growth, I, 265–9, 306; - the ideal, II, 131–2; - self-conscious, III, 141; - influence of wealth, III, 143–9; - political ethics and the individual, III, 226–8; - evolution, III, 263–5; - increasing complexity, III, 323–5; - average morality, III, 359; - and individual organism, III, 411–6; - regulative system, III, 463; - (_see also_ Prison Ethics, Sociology.) - -Sociology: - multiplication of effects, I, 53–60; - homogeneity unstable, I, 83; - individual and social organism, I, 101–7; - psychical traits and social state, I, 354, 355; - conservatism, I, 356; - mental variability, I, 356–7; - impulsiveness, I, 357–9; - effect of mixing races, I, 359–60; - and of sexes, I, 361–4; - curiosity, I, 361–5; - imitativeness, I, 364; - peculiar aptitudes, I, 366; - sociality, freedom, approbation, and acquisitiveness, I, 366–7; - altruistic sentiments, 367–9; - use and disuse, I, 463–5; - genesis, II, 57; - concrete science, II, 92; - terrestrial evolution, II, 96; - deals with aggregates, II, 100, 103; - a word of Comte’s, II, 133; - universality of law, II, 159; - representative government, III, 302; - life, III, 325; - education, III, 375–9; - cause and effect, III, 487–92. - -Solar system: - heterogeneity, I, 10–11; - origin, I, 108–10; - Laplace on, I, 128–9; - evolution, I, 128–31. - -Solicitor, and trader, III, 139. - -Sound: - multiplication of effects, I, 37; - Kantian ideas of space, II, 227; - as illustrating crude and transfigured realism, II, 245–6; - velocity, II, 267; - sensation, III, 197. - -Space: - concept of, I, 247; - Hutton on intuitions of, I, 339; - classification of science, II, 77, 81–5; - Bain on nature of mathematics, II, 105–6; - Hamilton II, 191–2; - Hodgson, II, 220–34; - Kant, II, 220–7, 229–32, 236–8; - Martineau, II, 257; - consciousness, II, 308; - Kant and evolution, III, 197–9, 203, 207. - -Spain: - contracts in, III, 218; - representative government, III, 317–9. - -Spalding, D., experiments of, II, 226. - -Sparta, social type, III, 415. - -Special creation: - lack of facts, I, 1; - and evolution, I, 1–7; - conception of, I, 265. - -Specialized administration, III, 401–44. - -Species: - number of, I, 1; - evolution and creation, I, 1–7; - effect of upheavals, I, 49–52; - of climate, I, 221–4; - of terrestrial change, I, 224–6; - fertility of varieties, II, 397–8. - -Specific gravity: - of animals and plants, I, 74, 76; - of planets, I, 144–8, 154; - solar system, I, 163. - -Spectrum analysis, complexity of elements, I, 372–4. - -Speech, figures of, II, 350–5; (_see also_ Language.) - -Spencer, Herbert, propositions held by, II, 125–32. - -Spencer, Rev. Thomas, III, 361. - -Spheroid, ring formation, I, 133–4. - -Spine, and evolution, III, 205. - -Spirit, the word misleading, I, 311. - -Spirits, belief in, I, 311–2, 344. - -Sponges: - form of, I, 73; - instability of homogeneous, I, 87. - -Staccato, in singing, II, 412. - -Staffordshire, potteries, I, 266. - -Stage coach, III, 110–2, 255. - -Stars: - distribution of nebulæ, I, 112–8; - magnitude and distance, I, 115–8; - Sir W. Herschel on genesis, I, 129; - distance apart, I, 161; - star as name, I, 317, 326; - Kant’s awe of universe, III, 192, 195; - (_see also_ Astronomy.) - -State, the: - duty of, III, 236; - and religion, III, 11, 23, 50; - (_see also_ Over-legislation.) - -Statics, Comte’s classification, II, 19. - -Steam power, effects, I, 56–8. - -Stephenson, R., on railways, III, 105–6. - -Stereoscope, analogy from, II, 265. - -Stick, equilibrium of, I, 82. - -Stocking trade, and officialism, III, 262. - -Stonehenge, use and beauty, II, 371–2. - -Strikes, III, 362–4, 365, 383. - -Strings, in musical instruments, II, 415. - -Structure: - animal and vegetal, I, 73–7; - relation to function, I, 249. - -Style: - philosophy of, II, 333–69; - forcibleness of Saxon, II, 336–7; - and brevity, II, 337–8; - specific expression, II, 338–9; - sequence of words, II, 339–41; - arrangement of sentences, II, 341–7; - direct and indirect, II, 347–50; - figures of speech, II, 350–5. - -Subject: - consciousness of, II, 211–4; - relation to object, II, 323–32; - arrangement of sentences, II, 342–4. - -Substantive and adjective, II, 340–1. - -Sugar, morals of trade, III, 121–3, 125. - -Suicide, belief in another world, II, 223. - -Sun: - origin, I, 39; - distance from Sirius, I, 113, 114; - density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52; - content of, I, 151; - atmosphere, I, 151; - temperature, I, 151; - constitution, I, 153, 182–91; - duration of heat, I, 101; - willow-leaves and rice grains, I, 186, 188; - faculæ I, 186–7; - Faye’s sun-spot theory, I, 183–4, 188–9; - cyclonic theory, I, 187–91; - as name, I, 317, 326, 327, 328. - -Survival of the fittest: - Martineau on evolution, I, 379–81; - a factor only of evolution, I, 397–400, 400–5, 405–8, 421–5; - and heredity, I, 408–12, 412–5; - the phrase, I, 429–30; - and effect of medium, I, 444–5; - and nervous system, I, 457–8; - early action of, I, 460–2; - Huxley on, I, 462–3; - Duke of Argyll’s criticism, I, 467–78; - three factors, I, 472. - -Swift, J., on manners, III, 44. - -Swiss, architecture, II, 379. - -Syllables, style and length, II, 337–8. - -Syllogism, Hodgson on, II, 231. - -Symbolization, infrequent, I, 322. - -Symmetry, in buildings and animals, II, 376–7. - -Sympathy: - altruism, I, 346; - comparative psychology, I, 368–9; - and gracefulness, II, 386; - music, II, 424–6; - morals of trade, III, 142–3. - -_Syncrypta_, life in, I, 443. - -Synecdoche, effective, II, 350. - -Synthesis, chemical, I, 374. - -Synthetic philosophy, outline, II, 140–2. - -Tailor, morals of trade, III, 117. - -Tait, P. G.: - on natural philosophy, II, 269, 315–20; - axioms, II, 270, 298–301, 315–20; - laws of motion, II, 271–5, 277–88, 299–320; - ultimate scientific ideas, II, 289; - central forces, II, 290–93; - on synthetic philosophy, II, 294–6. - -Talent, relation to desire, I, 54. - -Tamberlik, E., ut de poitrine, II, 442. - -Tanner, Prof. E., use and disuse, I, 419. - -Tape, morals of trade, III, 118, 119. - -Taste, exhausted by exercise, II, 362. - -Taxes, and parliament, III, 371–5. - -Teeth: - organic correlation, I, 96–101; - size of jaw, I, 401. - -Telegrams, officialism, III, 396–7. - -Telegraphs: - analogous to nerves, I, 306; - private enterprise, III, 234. - -Telephone, in America, III, 472. - -Temperance society, III, 446. - -Temperature: - of solar system, I, 11; - animal and vegetal, I, 74, 76; - vegetal density, I, 144–8, 148–52; - solar, I, 151; - chemical unions, I, 159; - duration of solar, I, 161–3; - evolution of, and nebular hypothesis, I, 159–63. - -Ten hours bill, III, 362, 365. - -Tenby, sea shore, I, 432. - -Tennyson, Lord, quoted, II, 356, III, 314. - -_Thalassicolla_, instability of homogeneous, I, 87. - -Thames: - sewers commission, III, 238; - water supply, III, 387–92. - -Theft, punishment, III, 233. - -Thermo-electricity, what is? II, 172–6. - -Thermology, genesis, II, 61. - -Thomson, Sir W., terrestrial density, I, 149. - -Thomson, Sir W., and Prof. Tait, on physical axioms, III, 220–1. - -Thorns, protection and growth of, I, 391. - -Ticket of leave, system, III, 244. - -Time: - measures of, II, 45–9; - classification of science, II, 77, 81–5; - S. H. Hodgson on, II, 226–34; - Kant, II, 226–7, 229–32, 236–8, III, 197–9, 207; - Martineau’s criticism, II, 257; - terrestrial motion, II, 272; - Emerson on, II, 354. - -Titles, evolution of, III, 11–6, 23, 27–8. - -Todleben, Gen. F. E. von, III, 309–10. - -Totemism, I, 309–17. - -Town councils: - representative government, III, 288; - parliamentary reform, III, 369–70, 371, 372. - -Town hall, building of, III, 372. - -Trade: - localization, I, 22; - morals of, III, 113–51, 448–9; - adulteration, III, 113, 121–3; - bribery, III, 114–8; - short weight, III, 118–9; - circulars, III, 123–4; - silk manufacture, III, 124–7; - candle making, III, 128; - elastic webbing, III, 129; - bankruptcy, III, 129–31; - morals of banking, III, 131–7; - average morality, III, 137–40; - and sympathy, III, 142–3; - homage to wealth, III, 143–9, 149–51; - ethics of free trade, III, 154; - (_see also_ Industry.) - -Trade unions: - parliamentary reform, III, 362–8, 384; - tyranny of, III, 382, 383; - selfishness, III, 465–7, 469. - -Tramps, and poor law, III, 244. - -Transcendental Physiology (_see_ Physiology.) - -Tremolo, in singing, II, 412. - -Triangle, space perception, II, 309. - -Trigonometry, evolution, II, 55, 155. - -Truth, denial of, II, 259–65. - -Tyndall, J.: - on heat, II, 173; - of light, II, 178. - -Tzigane, music, II, 450–1. - -Ulcer, effects on skin, I, 448–9. - -Unbelievable, Mill on word, II, 193–200. - -United States (_see_ America.) - -University, training, III, 377–8. - -Unknowable, The: - knowledge of, II, 220; - Hodgson on, II, 234; - Martineau on, II, 250–8. - -Unstable equilibrium, of homogeneity, I, 81–4. - -Uranus: - axial motion, I, 133–6; - motion of satellites, I, 137; - their distance, I, 138; - their number, I, 139–40; - density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52. - -_Uroglena_, life in, I, 443. - -Use, and beauty, II, 370–4; (_see also_ Heredity.) - -Utilitarianism, and Mr. Spencer’s views, I, 334, 338, 347–50. - -Valencia, prison discipline, III, 177–8. - -Variability, mental, I, 356–7. - -Variation, natural selection and heredity, I, 408–12, 421. - -Varieties: - effect of union, I, 359; - fertility, II, 397–8. - -Vascular system: - deductive biology, I, 78–81; - development, I, 285–6; - and evolution, III, 204. - -_Vaucheria_, cell membrane, I, 439. - -Veddahs, invocation of, I, 311–2. - -Venus: - motion, I, 135, 136; - satellites, I, 139–41; - density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52. - -Vertebræ, evolution, I, 395, III, 205. - -_Vertebrata_: - evolution and heterogeneity, I, 15–7, 17–9; - integration, I, 68–71; - position of eyes, I, 71–2; - self-mobility, I, 76; - germ and instability of homogeneous, I, 88; - cervical vertebræ, II, 83; - origin of music, II, 432; - controlling system, III, 407. - -_Vestiges of Creation_, and evolution, I, 390. - -Vienna, English enterprise in, III, 278. - -Voice: - feelings and loudness, II, 404, 410; - timbre, II, 405, 411; - pitch, II, 406, 411; - intervals, II, 406–9, 411; - variability, II, 409, 411; - ordinary and singing, II, 410–4. - -Volition, Bain’s definition, I, 258–9. - -_Volvox_: - instability of homogeneous, I, 87; - life in, I, 443; - development, I, 456. - -Wales, age of rocks, I, 198–205, 207–8. - -Walker, Messrs., robbery at, III, 439. - -Walking: - effect of blister, I, 404; - grace in, II, 382. - -Waste, and repair, II, 362–7. - -Water: - compound, I, 372; - government carts and officialism, III, 249; - and supply, III, 387–92, 429. - -Wealth, homage to, III, 143–9, 149–51. - -Weapons, division of labour, I, 54. - -Weber, K. M. von, heredity, I, 406. - -Weight, measures of, II, 43–5. - -Werner, A. G.: - geological theory, I, 194–7; - influence of, I, 201. - -Whales, not fish, I, 247. - -Whately, Abp.: - metaphor and simile, II, 352; - political economy, III, 423–4. - -Whewell, W.: - _History of Inductive Sciences_, II, 23; - electrical theory, II, 62. - -Whirlwind, sun-spot analogy, I, 190–1. - -White, perception of, III, 196. - -Will, the: - social analogy, I, 269–71; - Kant on, III, 201–3; - (_see also_ Psychology.) - -Wills, registrars of, III, 251. - -Wisdom, the collective, III, 387–92. - -Wolf, as name, I, 312–3, 315, 316, 321. - -Wollaston, W. H., insect colours, I, 433. - -Women: - comparative psychology and sex, I, 361–4; - size of jaw, I, 398; - treatment of, III, 445–6. - -Wool, industry and locality, I, 104. - -Words (_see_ Language.) - -Workpeople, residences, III, 447. - -Writing: - increase in heterogeneity, I, 24–6; - derived from picture language, II, 33. - -Yorkshire, woollen industry, I, 266. - -Yours faithfully, etc., III, 16, 26. - -Zoology: - genesis, II, 57; - classification, II, 64; - discovery of laws, II, 149–50. - -Zoophytes, evolution of mind, I, 377. - -Zulus, ethics, III, 193. - -Zygomatic arches, and beauty, II, 390–2. - - - - -MR. HERBERT SPENCER’S WORKS. - -_A SYSTEM OF SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY._ - - - _8th Thousand._ - (WITH AN APPENDIX DEALING WITH CRITICISMS.) - In one vol. 8vo, cloth, price 16s., - FIRST PRINCIPLES. - -CONTENTS. - -PART I.—THE UNKNOWABLE. - - 1. Religion and Science. - 2. Ultimate Religious Ideas. - 3. Ultimate Scientific Ideas. - 4. The Relativity of All Knowledge. - 5. The Reconciliation. - -PART II.—THE KNOWABLE. - - 1. Philosophy Defined - 2. The Data of Philosophy. - 3. Space, Time, Matter, Motion, and Force. - 4. The Indestructibility of Matter. - 5. The Continuity of Motion. - 6. The Persistence of Force. - 7. The Persistence of Relations among Forces. - 8. The Transformation and Equivalence of Forces. - 9. The Direction of Motion. - 10. The Rhythm of Motion. - 11. Recapitulation, Criticism, and Recommencement. - 12. Evolution and Dissolution. - 13. Simple and Compound Evolution. - 14. The Law of Evolution. - 15. The Law of Evolution, continued. - 16. The Law of Evolution, continued. - 17. The Law of Evolution, concluded. - 18. The Interpretation of Evolution. - 19. The Instability of the Homogeneous. - 20. The Multiplication of Effects. - 21. Segregation. - 22. Equilibration. - 23. Dissolution. - 24. Summary and Conclusion. - - - _4th Thousand._ - In two vols. 8vo, cloth, price 34s. - THE PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY. - -CONTENTS OF VOL. I. - -PART I.—THE DATA OF BIOLOGY. - - 1. Organic Matter. - 2. The Actions of Forces on Organic Matter. - 3. The Re-actions of Organic Matter on Forces. - 4. Proximate Definition of Life. - 5. The Correspondence between Life and its Circumstances. - 6. The Degree of Life varies as the Degree of Correspondence. - 7. The Scope of Biology. - -PART II.—THE INDUCTIONS OF BIOLOGY. - - 1. Growth. - 2. Development. - 3. Function. - 4. Waste and Repair. - 5. Adaptation. - 6. Individuality. - 7. Genesis. - 8. Heredity. - 9. Variation. - 10. Genesis, Heredity, and Variation. - 11. Classification. - 12. Distribution. - -PART III.—THE EVOLUTION OF LIFE. - - 1. Preliminary. - 2. General Aspects of the Special-Creation-Hypothesis. - 3. General Aspects of the Evolution-Hypothesis. - 4. The Arguments from Classification. - 5. The Arguments from Embryology. - 6. The Arguments from Morphology. - 7. The Arguments from Distribution. - 8. How is Organic Evolution caused? - 9. External Factors. - 10. Internal Factors. - 11. Direct Equilibration. - 12. Indirect Equilibration. - 13. The Co-operation of the Factors. - 14. The Convergence of the Evidences. - -APPENDIX. - - The Spontaneous-Generation Question. - -CONTENTS OF VOL. II. - -PART IV.—MORPHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT. - - 1. The Problems of Morphology. - 2. The Morphological Composition of Plants. - 3. The Morphological Composition of Plants, continued. - 4. The Morphological Composition of Animals. - 5. The Morphological Composition of Animals, continued. - 6. Morphological Differentiation in Plants. - 7. The General Shapes of Plants. - 8. The Shapes of Branches. - 9. The Shapes of Leaves. - 10. The Shapes of Flowers. - 11. The Shapes of Vegetal Cells. - 12. Changes of Shape otherwise caused. - 13. Morphological Differentiation in Animals. - 14. The General Shapes of Animals. - 15. The Shapes of Vertebrate Skeletons. - 16. The Shapes of Animal Cells. - 17. Summary of Morphological Development. - -PART V.—PHYSIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT. - - 1. The Problems of Physiology. - - 2. Differentiations between the Outer and Inner Tissues of Plants. - - 3. Differentiations among the Outer Tissues of Plants. - - 4. Differentiations among the Inner Tissues of Plants. - - 5. Physiological Integration in Plants. - - 6. Differentiations between the Outer and Inner Tissues of Animals. - - 7. Differentiations among the Outer Tissues of Animals. - - 8. Differentiations among the Inner Tissues of Animals. - - 9. Physiological Integration in Animals. - - 10. Summary of Physiological Development. - -PART VI.—LAWS OF MULTIPLICATION. - - 1. The Factors. - - 2. _À Priori_ Principle. - - 3. Obverse _à priori_ Principle. - - 4. Difficulties of Inductive Verification. - - 5. Antagonism between Growth and Asexual Genesis. - - 6. Antagonism between Growth and Sexual Genesis. - - 7. Antagonism between Development and Genesis, Asexual and Sexual. - - 8. Antagonism between Expenditure and Genesis. - - 9. Coincidence between high Nutrition and Genesis. - - 10. Specialities of these Relations. - - 11. Interpretation and Qualification. - - 12. Multiplication of the Human Race. - - 13. Human Evolution in the Future. - -APPENDIX. - - A Criticism on Professor Owen’s Theory of the Vertebrate Skeleton. - - On Circulation and the Formation of Wood in Plants. - - - _5th Thousand._ - (WITH AN ADDITIONAL PART.) - In two vols. 8vo, cloth, price 36s., - THE PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY. - -CONTENTS OF VOL. I. - -PART I.—THE DATA OF PSYCHOLOGY. - - 1. The Nervous System. - 2. The Structure of the Nervous System. - 3. The Functions of the Nervous System. - 4. The Conditions essential to Nervous Action. - 5. Nervous Stimulation and Nervous Discharge. - 6. Æstho-Physiology. - -PART II.—THE INDUCTIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY. - - 1. The Substance of Mind. - 2. The Composition of Mind. - 3. The Relativity of Feelings. - 4. The Relativity of Relations between Feelings. - 5. The Revivability of Feelings. - 6. The Revivability of Relations between Feelings. - 7. The Associability of Feelings. - 8. The Associability of Relations between Feelings. - 9. Pleasures and Pains. - -PART III.—GENERAL SYNTHESIS. - - 1. Life and Mind as Correspondence. - 2. The Correspondence as Direct and Homogeneous. - 3. The Correspondence as Direct but Heterogeneous. - 4. The Correspondence as extending in Space. - 5. The Correspondence as extending in Time. - 6. The Correspondence as increasing in Speciality. - 7. The Correspondence as increasing in Generality. - 8. The Correspondence as increasing in Complexity. - 9. The Co-ordination of Correspondences. - 10. The Integration of Correspondences. - 11. The Correspondences in their Totality. - -PART IV.—SPECIAL SYNTHESIS. - - 1. The Nature of Intelligence. - 2. The Law of Intelligence. - 3. The Growth of Intelligence. - 4. Reflex Action. - 5. Instinct. - 6. Memory. - 7. Reason. - 8. The Feelings. - 9. The Will. - -PART V.—PHYSICAL SYNTHESIS. - - 1. A Further Interpretation Needed. - 2. The Genesis of Nerves. - 3. The Genesis of Simple Nervous Systems. - 4. The Genesis of Compound Nervous Systems. - 5. The Genesis of Doubly-Compound Nervous Systems. - 6. Functions as Related to these Structures. - 7. Psychical Laws as thus Interpreted. - 8. Evidence from Normal Variations. - 9. Evidence from Abnormal Variations. - 10. Results. - -APPENDIX. - - On the Action of Anæsthetics and Narcotics. - -CONTENTS OF VOL. II. - -PART VI.—SPECIAL ANALYSIS. - - 1. Limitation of the Subject. - - 2. Compound Quantitative Reasoning. - - 3. Compound Quantitative Reasoning, continued. - - 4. Imperfect and Simple Quantitative Reasoning. - - 5. Quantitative Reasoning in General. - - 6. Perfect Qualitative Reasoning. - - 7. Imperfect Qualitative Reasoning. - - 8. Reasoning in General. - - 9. Classification, Naming, and Recognition. - - 10. The Perception of Special Objects. - - 11. The Perception of Body as presenting Dynamical, Statico-Dynamical, - and Statical Attributes. - - 12. The Perception of Body as presenting Statico-Dynamical and - Statical Attributes. - - 13. The Perception of Body as presenting Statical Attributes. - - 14. The Perception of Space. - - 15. The Perception of Time. - - 16. The Perception of Motion. - - 17. The Perception of Resistance. - - 18. Perception in General. - - 19. The Relations of Similarity and Dissimilarity. - - 20. The Relations of Cointension and Non-Cointension. - - 21. The Relations of Coextension and Non-Coextension. - - 22. The Relations of Coexistence and Non-Coexistence. - - 23. The Relations of Connature and Non-Connature. - - 24. The Relations of Likeness and Unlikeness. - - 25. The Relation of Sequence. - - 26. Consciousness in General. - - 27. Results. - -PART VII.—GENERAL ANALYSIS. - - 1. The Final Question. - 2. The Assumption of Metaphysicians. - 3. The Words of Metaphysicians. - 4. The Reasonings of Metaphysicians. - 5. Negative Justification of Realism. - 6. Argument from Priority. - 7. The Argument from Simplicity. - 8. The Argument from Distinctness. - 9. A Criterion Wanted. - 10. Propositions qualitatively distinguished. - 11. The Universal Postulate. - 12. The test of Relative Validity. - 13. Its Corollaries. - 14. Positive Justification of Realism. - 15. The Dynamics of Consciousness. - 16. Partial Differentiation of Subject and Object. - 17. Completed Differentiation of Subject and Object. - 18. Developed Conception of the Object. - 19. Transfigured Realism. - -PART VIII.—CONGRUITIES. - - 1. Preliminary. - 2. Co-ordination of Data and Inductions. - 3. Co-ordination of Syntheses. - 4. Co-ordination of Special Analyses. - 5. Co-ordination of General Analyses. - 6. Final Comparison. - -PART IX.—COROLLARIES. - - 1. Special Psychology. - 2. Classification. - 3. Development of Conceptions. - 4. Language of the Emotions. - 5. Sociality and Sympathy. - 6. Egoistic Sentiments. - 7. Ego-Altruistic Sentiments. - 8. Altruistic Sentiments. - 9. Æsthetic Sentiments. - - - _3rd Edition, revised and enlarged._ - In 8vo., cloth, price 21s., Vol. I. of - THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY. - -CONTENTS. - -PART I.—THE DATA OF SOCIOLOGY. - - 1. Super-Organic Evolution. - - 2. The Factors of Social Phenomena. - - 3. Original External Factors. - - 4. Original Internal Factors. - - 5. The Primitive Man—Physical. - - 6. The Primitive Man—Emotional. - - 7. The Primitive Man—Intellectual. - - 8. Primitive Ideas. - - 9. The Ideas of the Animate and the Inanimate. - - 10. The Ideas of Sleep and Dreams. - - 11. The Ideas of Swoon, Apoplexy, Catelepsy, Ecstacy, and other forms - of Insensibility. - - 12. The Ideas of Death and Resurrection. - - 13. The Ideas of Souls, Ghosts, Spirits, Demons. - - 14. The Ideas of Another Life. - - 15. The Ideas of Another World. - - 16. The Ideas of Supernatural Agents. - - 17. Supernatural Agents as causing Epilepsy and Convulsive Actions, - Delirium and Insanity, Disease and Death. - - 18. Inspiration, Divination, Exorcism, and Sorcery. - - 19. Sacred Places, Temples, and Altars; Sacrifice, Fasting, and - Propitiation; Praise and Prayer. - - 20. Ancestor-Worship in General. - - 21. Idol-Worship and Fetich-Worship. - - 22. Animal-Worship. - - 23. Plant-Worship. - - 24. Nature-Worship. - - 25. Deities. - - 26. The Primitive Theory of Things. - - 27. The Scope of Sociology. - -PART II.—THE INDUCTIONS OF SOCIOLOGY. - - 1. What is a Society? - 2. A Society is an Organism. - 3. Social Growth. - 4. Social Structures. - 5. Social Functions. - 6. Systems of Organs. - 7. The Sustaining System. - 8. The Distributing System. - 9. The Regulating System. - 10. Social Types and Constitutions. - 11. Social Metamorphoses. - 12. Qualifications and Summary. - -PART III.—THE DOMESTIC RELATIONS. - - 1. The Maintenance of Species. - - 2. The Diverse Interests of the Species, of the Parents, and of the - Offspring. - - 3. Primitive Relations of the Sexes. - - 4. Exogamy and Endogamy. - - 5. Promiscuity. - - 6. Polyandry. - - 7. Polygyny. - - 8. Monogamy. - - 9. The Family. - - 10. The _Status_ of Women. - - 11. The _Status_ of Children. - - 12. Domestic Retrospect and Prospect. - - - _2nd Thousand._ - In 8vo, cloth, price 18s. Vol. II of - THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY. - - (_Containing the two following divisions, which may still_ - _be had separately._) - - - In one vol. 8vo, cloth, price 7s., - CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS. - -CONTENTS. - - 1. Ceremony in General. - 2. Trophies. - 3. Mutilations. - 4. Presents. - 5. Visits. - 6. Obeisances. - 7. Forms of Address. - 8. Titles. - 9. Badges and Costumes. - 10. Further Class-Distinctions. - 11. Fashion. - 12. Ceremonial Retrospect and Prospect. - - - In one vol. 8vo, cloth, price 12s. - POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. - -CONTENTS. - - 1. Preliminary. - 2. Political Organization in General. - 3. Political Integration. - 4. Political Differentiation. - 5. Political Forms and Forces. - 6. Political Heads—Chiefs, Kings, etc. - 7. Compound Political Heads. - 8. Consultative Bodies. - 9. Representative Bodies. - 10. Ministries. - 11. Local Governing Agencies. - 12. Military Systems. - 13. Judicial Systems. - 14. Laws. - 15. Property. - 16. Revenue. - 17. The Militant Type of Society. - 18. The Industrial Type of Society. - 19. Political Retrospect and Prospect. - - - _2nd Thousand._ - In one vol. 8vo., cloth, price 5_s._ - ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS. - -(_Being Part VI. of the PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY._) - -CONTENTS. - - 1. The Religious Idea. - 2. Medicine-men and Priests. - 3. Priestly Duties of Descendants. - 4. Eldest Male Descendants as Quasi-Priests. - 5. The Ruler as Priest. - 6. The Rise of a Priesthood. - 7. Polytheistic and Monotheistic Priesthoods. - 8. Ecclesiastical Hierarchies. - 9. An Ecclesiastical System as a Social Bond. - 10. The Military Functions of Priests. - 11. The Civil Functions of Priests. - 12. Church and State. - 13. Nonconformity. - 14. The Moral Influences of Priesthoods. - 15. Ecclesiastical Retrospect and Prospect. - 16. Religious Retrospect and Prospect. - - - _5th Thousand._ - - WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER, AND - REPLIES TO CRITICISMS. - - In one vol. 8vo, cloth, price 8s., - - THE DATA OF ETHICS. - -(_Being Part I. of the PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS._) - -CONTENTS. - - 1. Conduct in General. - 2. The Evolution of Conduct. - 3. Good and Bad Conduct. - 4. Ways of Judging Conduct. - 5. The Physical View. - 6. The Biological View. - 7. The Psychological View. - 8. The Sociological View. - 9. Criticisms and Explanations. - 10. The Relativity of Pains and Pleasures. - 11. Egoism _versus_ Altruism. - 12. Altruism _versus_ Egoism. - 13. Trial and Compromise. - 14. Conciliation. - 15. Absolute Ethics and Relative Ethics. - 16. The Scope of Ethics. - - -_OTHER WORKS._ - - - _5th Thousand._ - In one vol. 8vo, cloth, price 6s., - EDUCATION: - INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL. - -CONTENTS. - - 1. What Knowledge is of most Worth? - 2. Intellectual Education. - 3. Moral Education. - 4. Physical Education. - - - _Also, 20th and 21st Thousand,_ - _A CHEAP EDITION OF THE FOREGOING WORK._ - -In one vol. crown 8vo, price 2s. 6d. - - - _Library Edition (the 9th), with a Postscript._ - In one vol., price 10s. 6d., - THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY. - -CONTENTS. - - 1. Our Need of it. - 2. Is there a Social Science? - 3. Nature of the Social Science. - 4. Difficulties of the Social Science. - 5. Objective Difficulties. - 6. Subjective Difficulties—Intellectual. - 7. Subjective Difficulties—Emotional. - 8. The Educational Bias. - 9. The Bias of Patriotism. - 10. The Class-Bias. - 11. The Political Bias. - 12. The Theological Bias. - 13. Discipline. - 14. Preparation in Biology. - 15. Preparation in Psychology. - 16. Conclusion. - Postscript. - - - _10th Thousand._ - In wrapper, 1s., in cloth, better paper, 2s. 6d. - THE MAN _VERSUS_ THE STATE. - -CONTENTS. - - 1. The New Toryism. - 2. The Coming Slavery. - 3. The Sins of Legislators. - 4. The Great Political Superstition. - Postscript. - - - _4th Thousand._ - In two vols. 8vo, cloth, price 16s., - ESSAYS: - SCIENTIFIC, POLITICAL, AND SPECULATIVE. - -CONTENTS OF VOL. I. - - 1. Progress: its Law and Cause. - 2. Manners and Fashion. - 3. The Genesis of Science. - 4. The Physiology of Laughter. - 5. The Origin and Function of Music. - 6. The Nebular Hypothesis. - 7. Bain on the Emotions and the Will. - 8. Illogical Geology. - 9. The Development Hypothesis. - 10. The Social Organism. - 11. Use and Beauty. - 12. The Sources of Architectural Types. - 13. The Use of Anthropomorphism. - -CONTENTS OF VOL. II. - - 1. The Philosophy of Style. - 2. Over-Legislation. - 3. The Morals of Trade. - 4. Personal Beauty. - 5. Representative Government. - 6. Prison Ethics. - 7. Railway Morals and Railway Policy. - 8. Gracefulness. - 9. State-Tamperings with Money and Banks. - 10. Parliamentary Reform: the Dangers and the Safeguards. - 11. Mill _versus_ Hamilton—the Test of Truth. - - - _3rd Edition._ - In one vol. 8vo., price 8s., - THIRD SERIES OF - ESSAYS: - -CONTENTS. - - 1. The Classification of the Sciences (with a Postscript, replying to - Criticisms). - - 2. Reasons for Dissenting from the Philosophy of M. Comte. - - 3. Laws in General. - - 4. The Origin of Animal-Worship. - - 5. Specialized Administration. - - 6. “The Collective Wisdom.” - - 7. Political Fetichism. - - 8. What is Electricity? - - 9. The Constitution of the Sun. - - 10. Mr. Martineau on Evolution. - - 11. Replies to Criticisms. - - 12. Transcendental Physiology. - - 13. The Comparative Psychology of Man. - - - Price 2s. 6d., - THE FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION. - - - DESCRIPTIVE SOCIOLOGY; OR GROUPS OF SOCIOLOGICAL FACTS, CLASSIFIED AND - ARRANGED BY HERBERT SPENCER, - -COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED BY - -DAVID DUNCAN, M.A., Professor of Logic, &c., in the Presidency College, -Madras; RICHARD SCHEPPIG, Ph.D.; and JAMES COLLIER. - -EXTRACT FROM THE PROVISIONAL PREFACE. - -Something to introduce the work of which an instalment is annexed, -seems needful, in anticipation of the time when completion of a volume -will give occasion for a Permanent Preface. - -In preparation for _The Principles of Sociology_, requiring as bases of -induction large accumulations of data, fitly arranged for comparison, -I, some twelve years ago, commenced, by proxy, the collection and -organization of facts presented by societies of different types, -past and present; being fortunate enough to secure the services of -gentlemen competent to carry on the process in the way I wished. -Though this classified compilation of materials was entered upon -solely to facilitate my own work; yet, after having brought the mode -of classification to a satisfactory form, and after having had some -of the Tables filled up, I decided to have the undertaking executed -with a view to publication; the facts collected and arranged for easy -reference and convenient study of their relations, being so presented, -apart from hypothesis, as to aid all students of Social Science in -testing such conclusions as they have drawn and in drawing others. - -The Work consists of three large Divisions. Each comprises a set -of Tables exhibiting the facts as abstracted and classified, and a -mass of quotations and abridged abstracts otherwise classified, on -which the statements contained in the Tables are based. The condensed -statements, arranged after a uniform manner, give, in each Table or -succession of Tables, the phenomena of all orders which each society -presents—constitute an account of its morphology, its physiology, and -(if a society having a known history) its development. On the other -hand, the collected Extracts, serving as authorities for the statements -in the Tables, are (or, rather will be, when the Work is complete) -classified primarily according to the kinds of phenomena to which they -refer, and secondarily according to the societies exhibiting these -phenomena; so that each kind of phenomenon as it is displayed in all -societies, may be separately studied with convenience. - -In further explanation I may say that the classified compilations and -digests of materials to be thus brought together under the title of -_Descriptive Sociology_, are intended to supply the student of Social -Science with data, standing towards his conclusions in a relation like -that in which accounts of the structures and functions of different -types of animals stand to the conclusions of the biologist. Until there -had been such systematic descriptions of different kinds of organisms, -as made it possible to compare the connexions, and forms, and actions, -and modes of origin, of their parts, the Science of Life could make no -progress. And in like manner, before there can be reached in Sociology, -generalizations having a certainty making them worthy to be called -scientific, there must be definite accounts of the institutions and -actions of societies of various types, and in various stages of -evolution, so arranged as to furnish the means of readily ascertaining -what social phenomena are habitually associated. - -Respecting the tabulation, devised for the purpose of exhibiting social -phenomena in a convenient way, I may explain that the primary aim -has been so to present them that their relations of simultaneity and -succession may be seen at one view. As used for delineating uncivilized -societies, concerning which we have no records, the tabular form -serves only to display the various social traits as they are found to -co-exist. But as used for delineating societies having known histories, -the tabular form is so employed as to exhibit not only the connexions -of phenomena existing at the same time, but also the connexions of -phenomena that succeed one another. By reading horizontally across a -Table at any period, there may be gained a knowledge of the traits of -all orders displayed by the society at that period; while by reading -down each column, there may be gained a knowledge of the modifications -which each trait, structural or functional, underwent during successive -periods. - -Of course, the tabular form fulfils these purposes but approximately. -To preserve complete simultaneity in the statements of facts, as read -from side to side of the Tables, has proved impracticable; here much -had to be inserted, and there little; so that complete correspondence -in time could not be maintained. Moreover, it has not been possible -to carry out the mode of classification in a theoretically-complete -manner, by increasing the number of columns as the classes of facts -multiply in the course of Civilization. To represent truly the progress -of things, each column should divide and sub-divide in successive ages, -so as to indicate the successive differentiations of the phenomena. -But typographical difficulties have negatived this: a great deal has -had to be left in a form which must be accepted simply as the least -unsatisfactory. - -The three Divisions constituting the entire work, comprehend three -groups of societies:—(1) _Uncivilized Societies_; (2) _Civilized -Societies—Extinct or Decayed_; (3) _Civilized Societies—Recent or Still -Flourishing_. These divisions have at present reached the following -stages:― - -DIVISION I.—_Uncivilized Societies._ Commenced in 1867 by the gentleman -I first engaged, Mr. DAVID DUNCAN, M.A. (now Professor of Logic, -&c., in the Presidency College, Madras), and continued by him since -he left England, this part of the work is complete. It contains four -parts, including “Types of Lowest Races,” the “Negrito Races,” the -“Malayo-Polynesian Races,” the “African Races,” the “Asiatic Races,” -and the “American Races.” - -DIVISION II.—_Civilized Societies—Extinct or Decayed._ On this part of -the work Dr. RICHARD SCHEPPIG has been engaged since January, 1872. The -first instalment, including the four Ancient American Civilizations, -was issued in March, 1874. A second instalment, containing “Hebrews and -Phœnicians,” will shortly be issued. - -DIVISION III.—_Civilized Societies—Recent or Still Flourishing._ Of -this Division the first instalment, prepared by Mr. JAMES COLLIER, of -St. Andrew’s and Edinburgh Universities, was issued in August, 1873. -This presents the English Civilization. It covers seven consecutive -Tables; and the Extracts occupy seventy pages folio. The next part, -presenting in a still more extensive form the French Civilization, is -now in the press. - -The successive parts belonging to these several Divisions, issued at -intervals, are composed of different numbers of Tables and different -numbers of Pages. The Uncivilized Societies occupy four parts, each -containing a dozen or more Tables, with their accompanying Extracts. -Of the Division comprising Extinct Civilized Societies, the first part -contains four, and the second contains two. While of Existing Civilized -Societies, the records of which are so much more extensive, each -occupies a single part. - - H. S. - _March, 1880._ - - - _In Royal Folio, Price 18s._, - No. I. - English. - -COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED - -BY - -JAMES COLLIER. - - - _In Royal Folio, Price 16s._, - No. II. - Mexicans, Central Americans, Chibchas, - and Peruvians. - -COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED - -BY - -RICHARD SCHEPPIG, PH.D. - - - _In Royal Folio, Price 18s._, - No. III. - Lowest Races, Negrito Races, and - Malayo-Polynesian Races. - -COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED - -BY - -PROF. DUNCAN, M.A. - -TYPES OF LOWEST RACES. - - Fuegians. - Andamanese. - Veddahs. - Australians. - -NEGRITO RACES. - - Tasmanians. - New Caledonians, etc. - New Guinea People. - Fijians. - -MALAYO-POLYNESIAN RACES. - - Sandwich Islanders. - Tahitians. - Tongans. - Samoans. - New Zealanders. - Dyaks. - Javans. - Sumatrans. - Malagasy. - - - _In Royal Folio, Price 16s._, - No. IV. - African Races. - -COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED - -BY - -PROF. DUNCAN, M.A. - - Bushmen. - Hottentots. - Damaras. - Bechuanas. - Kaffirs. - East Africans. - Congo People. - Coast Negroes. - Inland Negroes. - Dahomans. - Ashantis. - Fulahs. - Abyssinians. - - - _In Royal Folio, Price 18s._, - No. V. - Asiatic Races. - -COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED - -BY - -PROF. DUNCAN, M.A. - - Arabs. - Todas. - Khonds. - Gonds. - Bhils. - Santals. - Karens. - Kukis. - Nagas. - Bodo and Dhimals. - Mishmis. - Kirghiz. - Kalmucks. - Ostyaks. - Kamtschadales. - - - _In Royal Folio, Price 18s._, - No. VI. - American Races. - -COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED - -BY - -PROF. DUNCAN, M.A. - - Esquimaux. - Chinooks. - Snakes. - Comanches. - Iroquois. - Chippewayans. - Chippewas. - Dakotas. - Mandans. - Creeks. - Guiana Tribes. - Caribs. - Brazilians. - Uaupés. - Abipones. - Patagonians. - Araucanians. - - - _In Royal Folio, Price 21s._, - No. VII. - Hebrews and Phœnicians. - -COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED - -BY - -RICHARD SCHEPPIG, PH.D. - - - _In Royal Folio, Price 30s._, - No. VIII. - French. - -COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED - -BY - -JAMES COLLIER. - - -MR. HERBERT SPENCER’S WORKS. - -_A SYSTEM OF SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY._ - - FIRST PRINCIPLES 16_s._ - - PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY. 2 vols. 34_s._ - - PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY. 2 vols. 36_s._ - - PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY, Vol. I. 21_s._ - - DITTO Vol. II. 18_s._ - -(_This Volume includes the two following Works, which are at present -published separately._) - - CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS 7_s._ - - POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS 12_s._ - - ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS 5_s._ - - THE DATA OF ETHICS 8_s._ - - -_OTHER WORKS._ - - THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY 10_s._ 6_d._ - - EDUCATION 6_s._ - - DITTO _Cheap Edition_ 2_s._ 6_d._ - - ESSAYS. 2 vols. 16_s._ - - ESSAYS (Third Series) 8_s._ - - THE MAN _versus_ THE STATE 2_s._ 6_d._ - - DITTO _Cheap Edition_ 1_s._ - - REASONS FOR DISSENTING FROM THE - PHILOSOPHY OF M. COMTE 6_d._ - - THE FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION 2_s._ 6_d._ - -[For particulars see end of the volume.] - -WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, - -14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON. - - - ALSO MR. SPENCER’S - _DESCRIPTIVE SOCIOLOGY_, - -COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED BY - -PROF. DUNCAN, DR. SCHEPPIG, & MR. COLLIER. - -FOLIO, BOARDS. - - 1. ENGLISH 18_s._ - - 2. ANCIENT AMERICAN RACES 16_s._ - - 3. LOWEST RACES, NEGRITOS, POLYNESIANS 18_s._ - - 4. AFRICAN RACES 16_s._ - - 5. ASIATIC RACES 18_s._ - - 6. AMERICAN RACES 18_s._ - - 7. HEBREWS AND PHŒNICIANS 21_s._ - - 8. FRENCH 30_s._ - -[For particulars see end of the volume.] - -WILLIAMS AND NORGATE, - -14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON. - -Harrison & Sons, Printers, St. Martin’s Lane. - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE - -Original spelling and grammar have generally been retained, with -some exceptions noted below. Original printed page numbers are shown -like this: {52}. Original small caps are now uppercase. Italics look -_like this_. Footnotes have been relabeled 1–45. The transcriber -produced the cover image and hereby assigns it to the public domain. -Original page images are available from archive.org — search for -“essaysscientific03spenuoft”. - -Page 81. The table rows headed by “The Company’s soliciter” and by -“Ditto in joint account with another” had a large “}” on the right side -of column 3, covering both rows. In this edition, table cell borders -have been drawn so as to indicate the combination of information. - -Page 157. Inserted “of” into “dictates abstract ethics”. - -Page 198n. “Pyschology” was changed to “Psychology”. - -Page 409. Changed “coödinations” to “coördinations”. - -Page 471. A left double quotation mark was added before ‘The earlier -paragraphs of the conversation’. - -Page 487. Changed “with many Americans joined with regrets that my -state of health has prevented, me from” to “with many Americans, joined -with regrets that my state of health has prevented me from”. - -Page 493. The index covers all three volumes of this series of books. -Volume II is available as Project Gutenburg ebook #53395; all editions -of Vol. II display the original printed page numbers, corresponding to -the index entries herein. Volume I is available as PG ebook #29869. -Unfortunately, ebook #29869 displays the original page numbers only in -the html edition. With a little html coding skill, however, one could -modify the epub version to display page numbers if that is desired. - -Page 501. In entry “Great Western Railway:” changed “III, 9;” to “III, -94;”. - -Page 509. Changed “Philae” to “Philæ”, to agree with Volume I. - -Page 510. The entry “_Polyzoa_” was moved below “Politics”, to -conform with alphabetical ordering. Likewise, “Pope” was moved above -“Porcupine”. - -Page 513. 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-} -.smcap, -.smmaj { - font-style: normal; - text-transform: uppercase; - letter-spacing: 0.05em; -} -b, -.smmaj { - font-weight: normal; - font-size: 0.72em; -} -.xxpn { - font-size: 0.72em; - font-weight: normal; - color: #865; - text-decoration: none; - position: absolute; - right: 0.5em; - line-height: 1.81; /*assumes lh of container is 1.3*/ -} -.hr33 { - margin: 1em 33%; - height: 0; - border: thin black solid; -} -#hrend { - border: medium black solid; -} -.emoe { - font-weight: bold; - font-style: normal; - letter-spacing: 0.1em; -} -sub, -sup { - font-size: 0.6em; - line-height: 1.3em; -} -sup { - vertical-align: top; -} -sub { - vertical-align: bottom; -} - -/* === handheld === */ -@media handheld { - .xxpn { - position: static; - line-height: inherit; - } - body { - margin: 0.5em; - padding: 0; - font-size: 100%; - } - div, - p { - max-height: none; - } -} -</style> -</head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Essays: Scientific, Political, and -Speculative, Volume III (of 3), by Herbert Spencer - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Essays: Scientific, Political, and Speculative, Volume III (of 3) - Library Edition (1891), Containing Seven Essays not before - Republished, and Various other Additions. - -Author: Herbert Spencer - -Release Date: January 30, 2017 [EBook #54076] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAYS: SCIENTIFIC, POLITICAL, VOL III *** - - - - -Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Adrian Mastronardi, RichardW, -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian -Libraries) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="dctr02"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="600" height="800" alt="" /> -</div> - -<div class="dfront"> -<h1 class="h1thisbook">ESSAYS: -<span class="hsmall">SCIENTIFIC, -POLITICAL, & SPECULATIVE.</span></h1> - -<div class="fsz8">BY</div> -<div class="fsz3">HERBERT SPENCER.</div> - -<div class="padtopa">LIBRARY EDITION,</div> - -<div class="fsz7 padtopc">(otherwise fifth thousand,)</div> - -<div class="fsz7 padtopc"><i>Containing Seven Essays not before Republished, -and various other additions</i>.</div> - -<div class="fsz5 padtopa">VOL. III.</div> - -<div class="fsz5 padtopa">WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,</div> -<div class="fsz6">14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON;</div> -<div class="fsz6"><span class="smmaj">AND</span> 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.</div> - -<div class="fsz6">1891.</div> -</div><!--dfront--> - -<div class="dfront"> -<div class="fsz8 padtop1">LONDON:</div> -<div class="fsz8">G. NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, HART STREET,</div> -<div class="fsz8">COVENT GARDEN.</div> -</div><!--dfront--> - -<div class="dfront"> -<h2 class="h2nobreak" id="idcontents">CONTENTS OF VOL. III.</h2> -<table class="tabw100 fsz6a" summary="contents"> -<tr> - <td></td> - <th class="fsz7">PAGE</th></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">MANNERS AND FASHION</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p001" class="atoc">1</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">RAILWAY MORALS AND RAILWAY POLICY</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p052" class="atoc">52</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">THE MORALS OF TRADE</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p113" class="atoc">113</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">PRISON-ETHICS</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p152" class="atoc">152</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">THE ETHICS OF KANT</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p192" class="atoc">192</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">ABSOLUTE POLITICAL ETHICS</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p217" class="atoc">217</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">OVER-LEGISLATION</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p229" class="atoc">229</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT—WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p283" class="atoc">283</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">STATE-TAMPERINGS WITH MONEY AND BANKS</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p326" class="atoc">326</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">PARLIAMENTARY REFORM: THE DANGERS AND THE SAFEGUARDS</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p358" class="atoc">358</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">“THE COLLECTIVE WISDOM”</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p387" class="atoc">387</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">POLITICAL FETICHISM</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p393" class="atoc">393</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">SPECIALIZED ADMINISTRATION</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p401" class="atoc">401</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">FROM FREEDOM TO BONDAGE</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p445" class="atoc">445</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">THE AMERICANS</td> - <td class="tdright"><a href="#p471" class="atoc">471</a></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdcenter"><a href="#p493" class="atoc">THE INDEX</a>.</td></tr> -</table></div><!--dfront--> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p001">{1}</span></div> - -<h2 class="h2nobreak">MANNERS AND FASHION.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First -published in</i> The Westminster Review -<i>for April 1854</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>Whoever has studied the physiognomy of political meetings, -cannot fail to have remarked a connexion between -democratic opinions and peculiarities of costume. At a -Chartist demonstration, a lecture on Socialism, or a <i>soirée</i> -of the Friends of Italy, there will be seen many among the -audience, and a still larger ratio among the speakers, who -get themselves up in a style more or less unusual. One -gentleman on the platform divides his hair down the centre, -instead of on one side; another brushes it back off the forehead, -in the fashion known as “bringing out the intellect;” -a third has so long forsworn the scissors, that his locks -sweep his shoulders. A sprinkling of moustaches may be -observed; here and there an imperial; and occasionally -some courageous breaker of conventions exhibits a full-grown -beard.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn1" id="fnanch1">1</a> -This nonconformity in hair is countenanced -by various nonconformities in dress, shown by others of the -assemblage. Bare necks, shirt-collars <i>à la</i> Byron, waistcoats -cut Quaker fashion, wonderfully shaggy great coats, -numerous oddities in form and colour, destroy the monotony -usual in crowds. Even those exhibiting no conspicuous -peculiarity, frequently indicate by something in the pattern -of their clothes, that they pay small regard -to what their <span class="xxpn" id="p002">{2}</span> -tailors tell them about the prevailing taste. And when the -gathering breaks up, the varieties of head gear displayed—the -number of caps, and the abundance of felt hats—suffice -to prove that were the world at large like-minded, -the black cylinders which tyrannize over us would soon -be deposed.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch1" id="fn1">1</a> -This was written before moustaches and beards had become general.</p></div> - -<p>This relationship between political discontent and disregard -of customs exists on the Continent also. Red -republicanism is everywhere distinguished by its hirsuteness. -The authorities of Prussia, Austria, and Italy, alike -recognize certain forms of hat as indicative of disaffection, -and fulminate against them accordingly. In some places -the wearer of a blouse runs a risk of being classed among -the <i>suspects</i>; and in others, he who would avoid the bureau -of police, must beware how he goes out in any but the -ordinary colours. Thus, democracy abroad, as at home, -tends towards personal singularity. Nor is this association -of characteristics peculiar to modern times, or to reformers -of the State. It has always existed; and it has been -manifested as much in religious agitations as in political -ones. The Puritans, disapproving of the long curls of the -Cavaliers, as of their principles, cut their own hair short, -and so gained the name of “Roundheads.” The marked -religious nonconformity of the Quakers was accompanied -by an equally-marked nonconformity of manners—in attire, -in speech, in salutation. The early Moravians not only -believed differently, but at the same time dressed differently, -and lived differently, from their fellow Christians. That -the association between political independence and independence -of personal conduct, is not a phenomenon of -to-day only, we may see alike in the appearance of Franklin -at the French court in plain clothes, and in the white hats -worn by the last generation of radicals. Originality of -nature is sure to show itself in more ways than one. The -mention of George Fox’s suit of leather, or Pestalozzi’s -school name, “Harry Oddity,” will at -once suggest the <span class="xxpn" id="p003">{3}</span> -remembrance that men who have in great things diverged -from the beaten track, have frequently done so in small -things likewise. Minor illustrations may be gathered in -almost every circle. We believe that whoever will number -up his reforming and rationalist acquaintances, will find -among them more than the usual proportion of those who in -dress or behaviour exhibit some degree of what the world -calls eccentricity.</p> - -<p>If it be a fact that men of revolutionary aims in politics -or religion, are commonly revolutionists in custom also, it is -not less a fact that those whose office it is to uphold -established arrangements in State and Church, are also -those who most adhere to the social forms and observances -bequeathed to us by past generations. Practices elsewhere -extinct still linger about the head quarters of government. -The monarch still gives assent to Acts of Parliament in the -old French of the Normans; and Norman French terms are -still used in law. Wigs, such as those we see depicted in -old portraits, may yet be found on the heads of judges and -barristers. The Beefeaters at the Tower wear the costume -of Henry VIIth’s body-guard. The University dress of the -present year varies but little from that worn soon after the -Reformation. The claret-coloured coat, knee-breeches, -lace shirt-frills, white silk stockings, and buckled shoes, -which once formed the usual attire of a gentleman, still -survive as the court-dress. And it need scarcely be said -that at <i>levées</i> and drawing-rooms, the ceremonies are prescribed -with an exactness, and enforced with a rigour, not -elsewhere to be found.</p> - -<p>Can we consider these two series of coincidences as accidental -and unmeaning? Must we not rather conclude that -some necessary relationship obtains between them? Are -there not such things as a constitutional conservatism, and -a constitutional tendency to change? Is there not a class -which clings to the old in all things; and another class so in -love with progress as often to mistake -novelty for <span class="xxpn" id="p004">{4}</span> -improvement? Do we not find some men ready to bow to established -authority of whatever kind; while others demand of every -such authority its reason, and reject it if it fails to justify -itself? And must not the minds thus contrasted tend to -become respectively conformist and nonconformist, not only -in politics and religion, but in other things? Submission, -whether to a government, to the dogmas of ecclesiastics, or -to that code of behaviour which society at large has set up, -is essentially of the same nature; and the sentiment which -induces resistance to the despotism of rulers, civil or -spiritual, likewise induces resistance to the despotism of the -world’s usages. All enactments, alike of the legislature, -the consistory, and the saloon—all regulations, formal or -virtual, have a common character: they are all limitations -of men’s freedom. “Do this—Refrain from that,” are the -blank forms into which they may severally be written; and -throughout the understanding is that obedience will bring -approbation here and paradise hereafter; while disobedience -will entail imprisonment, or sending to Coventry, or eternal -torments, as the case may be. And if restraints, however -named, and through whatever apparatus of means exercised, -are one in their action upon men, it must happen that those -who are patient under one kind of restraint, are likely to be -patient under another; and conversely, that those impatient -of restraint in general, will, on the average, tend to show -their impatience in all directions.</p> - -<p>That Law, Religion, and Manners are thus related, and -that they have in certain contrasted characteristics of men -a common support and a common danger, will, however, be -most clearly seen on discovering that they have a common -origin. Little as from present appearances we should -suppose it, we shall yet find that at first, the control of -religion, the control of laws, and the control of manners, -were all one control. Strange as it now seems, we believe -it to be demonstrable that the rules of etiquette, the -provisions of the statute-book, and the -commands of the <span class="xxpn" id="p005">{5}</span> -decalogue, have grown from the same root. If we go far -enough back into the ages of primeval Fetishism, it becomes -manifest that originally Deity, Chief, and Master of the -Ceremonies were identical. To make good these positions, -and to show their bearing on what is to follow, it will be -necessary here to traverse ground that is in part somewhat -beaten, and at first sight irrelevant to our topic. We -will pass over it as quickly as consists with the exigencies -of the argument.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">That the earliest social aggregations were ruled solely by -the will of the strong man, few dispute.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn2" id="fnanch2">2</a> -That from the -strong man proceeded not only Monarchy, but the conception -of a God, few admit: much as Carlyle and others have -said in evidence of it. If, however, those who are unable -to believe this, will lay aside the ideas of God and man in -which they have been educated, and study the aboriginal -ideas of them, they will at least see some probability in the -hypothesis. Let them remember that before experience -had yet taught men to distinguish between the possible and -the impossible; and while they were ready on the slightest -suggestion to ascribe unknown powers to any object and -make a fetish of it; their conceptions of humanity and its -capacities were necessarily vague, and without specific -limits. The man who by unusual strength, or cunning, -achieved something that others had failed to achieve, or -something which they did not understand, was considered -by them as differing from themselves; and, as we see in -the belief of some Polynesians that only their chiefs have -souls, or in that of the ancient Peruvians that their nobles -were divine by birth, the ascribed difference was apt to be -not one of degree only, but one of kind. Let them -remember next, how gross were the notions -of God, or <span class="xxpn" id="p006">{6}</span> -rather of gods, prevalent during the same era and afterwards—how -concretely gods were conceived as men of -specific aspects dressed in specific ways—how their names -were literally “the strong,” “the destroyer,” “the powerful -one,”—how, according to the Scandinavian mythology, -the “sacred duty of blood-revenge” was acted on by the -gods themselves,—and how they were not only human in -their vindictiveness, their cruelty, and their quarrels with -each other, but were supposed to have amours on earth, -and to consume the viands placed on their altars. Add to -which, that in various mythologies, Greek, Scandinavian, -and others, the oldest beings are giants; that according to -a traditional genealogy the gods, demi-gods, and in some -cases men, are descended from these after the human -fashion; and that while in the East we hear of sons of God -who saw the daughters of men that they were fair, the -Teutonic myths tell of unions between the sons of men and -the daughters of the gods. Let them remember, too, that -at first the idea of death differed widely from that which -we have; that there are still tribes who, on the decease of -one of their number, attempt to make the corpse stand, -and put food into its mouth; that the Peruvians had feasts -at which the mummies of their dead Incas presided, when, -as Prescott says, they paid attention “to these insensible -remains as if they were instinct with life;” that among the -Fijians it is believed that every enemy has to be killed -twice; that the Eastern Pagans give extension and figure -to the soul, and attribute to it all the same members, all -the same substances, both solid and liquid, of which our -bodies are composed; and that it is the custom among most -barbarous races to bury food, weapons, and trinkets along -with the dead body, under the manifest belief that it will -presently need them. Lastly, let them remember that -the other world, as originally conceived, is simply some -distant part of this world—some Elysian fields, some happy -hunting-ground, accessible even to the living, -and to which, <span class="xxpn" id="p007">{7}</span> -after death, men travel in anticipation of a life analogous -in general character to that which they led before. Then, -co-ordinating these general facts—the ascription of unknown -powers to chiefs and medicine men; the belief in -deities having human forms, passions, and behaviour; the -imperfect comprehension of death as distinguished from -life; and the proximity of the future abode to the present, -both in position and character—let them reflect whether -they do not almost unavoidably suggest the conclusion -that the aboriginal god is the dead chief: the chief not -dead in our sense, but gone away, carrying with him food -and weapons to some rumoured region of plenty, some -promised land, whither he had long intended to lead -his followers, and whence he will presently return to -fetch them. This hypothesis once entertained, is seen to -harmonize with all primitive ideas and practices. The -sons of the deified chief reigning after him, it necessarily -happens that all early kings are held descendants of the -gods; and the fact that alike in Assyria, Egypt, among -the Jews, Phœnicians, and ancient Britons, kings’ names -were formed out of the names of the gods, is fully explained. -The genesis of Polytheism out of Fetishism, by -the successive migrations of the race of god-kings to the -other world—a genesis illustrated in the Greek mythology, -alike by the precise genealogy of the deities, and by the -specifically-asserted apotheosis of the later ones—tends -further to bear it out. It explains the fact that in the old -creeds, as in the still extant creed of the Otaheitans, every -family has its guardian spirit, who is supposed to be one of -their departed relatives; and that they sacrifice to these as -minor gods—a practice still pursued by the Chinese and -even by the Russians. It is perfectly congruous with the -Grecian myths concerning the wars of the Gods with the -Titans and their final usurpation; and it similarly agrees -with the fact that among the Teutonic gods proper was one -Freir who came among them by adoption, -“but was born <span class="xxpn" id="p008">{8}</span> -among the <i>Vanes</i>, a somewhat mysterious <i>other</i> dynasty of -gods, who had been conquered and superseded by the -stronger and more warlike Odin dynasty.” It harmonizes, -too, with the belief that there are different gods to different -territories and nations, as there were different chiefs; that -these gods contend for supremacy as chiefs do; and it -gives meaning to the boast of neighbouring tribes—“Our -god is greater than your god.” It is confirmed by the -notion universally current in early times, that the gods -come from this other abode, in which they commonly live, -and appear among men—speak to them, help them, punish -them. And remembering this, it becomes manifest that -the prayers put up by primitive peoples to their gods for -aid in battle, are meant literally—that their gods are -expected to come back from the other kingdom they are -reigning over, and once more fight the old enemies they -had before warred against so implacably; and it needs but -to name the Iliad, to remind every one how thoroughly they -believed the expectation fulfilled.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn3" id="fnanch3">3</a></p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch2" id="fn2">2</a> -The few who disputed it would be right however. There are stages -preceding that in which chiefly power becomes established; and in many -cases it never does become established.</p> - -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch3" id="fn3">3</a> -In this paragraph, which I have purposely left -standing word for word as it did when republished with -other essays in Dec. 1857, will be seen the outline of the -ghost-theory. Though there are references to fetishism -as a primitive form of belief, and though at that time I -had passively accepted the current theory (though never -with satisfaction, for the origin of fetishism as then -conceived seemed incomprehensible) yet the belief that -inanimate objects may possess supernatural powers (which is -what was then understood as fetishism) is not dwelt upon -as a primitive belief. The one thing which is dwelt upon -is the belief in the double of the dead man as continuing -to exist, and as becoming an object of propitiation and -eventually of worship. There are clearly marked out the -rudiments which, when supplied with the mass of facts -collected in the <i>Descriptive Sociology</i> developed into -the doctrine elaborated in Part I. of <i>The Principles of -Sociology</i>.</p></div> - -<p>All government, then, being originally that of the strong -man who has become a fetish by some manifestation of -superiority, there arises, at his death—his supposed departure -on a long-projected expedition, in which he is -accompanied by the slaves and concubines sacrificed at his -tomb—there arises, then, the incipient -division of religious <span class="xxpn" id="p009">{9}</span> -from political control, of spiritual rule from civil. His son -becomes deputed chief during his absence; his authority -is cited as that by which his son acts; his vengeance is -invoked on all who disobey his son; and his commands, as -previously known or as asserted by his son, become the -germ of a moral code: a fact we shall the more clearly -perceive if we remember, that early moral codes inculcate -mainly the virtues of the warrior, and the duty of exterminating -some neighbouring tribe whose existence is an -offence to the deity. From this point onwards, these -two kinds of authority, at first complicated together as -those of principal and agent, become slowly more and -more distinct. As experience accumulates, and ideas of -causation grow more precise, kings lose their supernatural -attributes; and, instead of God-king, become God-descended -king, God-appointed king, the Lord’s anointed, -the vicegerent of Heaven, ruler reigning by Divine right. -The old theory, however, long clings to men in feeling, -after it has disappeared in name; and “such divinity -doth hedge a king,” that even now, many, on first -seeing one, feel a secret surprise at finding him an ordinary -sample of humanity. The sacredness attaching to -royalty attaches afterwards to its appended institutions—to -legislatures, to laws. Legal and illegal are synonymous -with right and wrong; the authority of Parliament is held -unlimited; and a lingering faith in governmental power -continually generates unfounded hopes from its enactments. -Political scepticism, however, having destroyed the divine -<i>prestige</i> of royalty, goes on ever increasing, and promises -ultimately to reduce the State to a purely secular institution, -whose regulations are limited in their sphere, and have no -other authority than the general will. Meanwhile, the -religious control has been little by little separating itself -from the civil, both in its essence and in its forms. While -from the God-king of the barbarian have arisen in one -direction, secular rulers who, age by age, -have been losing <span class="xxpn" id="p010">{10}</span> -the sacred attributes men ascribed to them; there has -arisen in another direction, the conception of a deity, who, -at first human in all things, has been gradually losing -human materiality, human form, human passions, human -modes of action: until now, anthropomorphism has become -a reproach. Along with this wide divergence in men’s -ideas of the divine and civil ruler has been taking place -a corresponding divergence in the codes of conduct -respectively proceeding from them. While the king was a -deputy-god—a governor such as the Jews looked for in the -Messiah—a governor considered, as the Czar still is, “our -God upon earth,”—it, of course, followed that his commands -were the supreme rules. But as men ceased to believe in -his supernatural origin and nature, his commands ceased to -be the highest; and there arose a distinction between the -regulations made by him, and the regulations handed down -from the old god-kings, who were rendered ever more -sacred by time and the accumulation of myths. Hence -came respectively, Law and Morality: the one growing ever -more concrete, the other more abstract; the authority of -the one ever on the decrease, that of the other ever on the -increase; originally the same, but now placed daily in more -marked antagonism. Simultaneously there has been going -on a separation of the institutions administering these two -codes of conduct. While they were yet one, of course -Church and State were one: the king was arch-priest, not -nominally, but really—alike the giver of new commands -and the chief interpreter of the old commands; and the -deputy-priests coming out of his family were thus simply -expounders of the dictates of their ancestry: at first as -recollected, and afterwards as ascertained by professed -interviews with them. This union between sacred and -secular—which still existed practically during the middle -ages, when the authority of kings was mixed up with the -authority of the pope, when there were bishop-rulers having -all the powers of feudal lords, and -when priests punished <span class="xxpn" id="p011">{11}</span> -by penances—has been, step by step, becoming less close. -Though monarchs are still “defenders of the faith,” and -ecclesiastical chiefs, they are but nominally such. Though -bishops still have civil power, it is not what they once had. -Protestantism shook loose the bonds of union; Dissent has -long been busy in organizing a mechanism for religious -control, wholly independent of law; in America, a separate -organization for that purpose already exists; and if anything -is to be hoped from the Anti-State-Church Association—or, -as it has been newly named, “The Society for the -Liberation of Religion from State Patronage and Control”—we -shall presently have a separate organization here also. -Thus, in authority, in essence, and in form, political and -spiritual rule have been ever more widely diverging from -the same root. That increasing division of labour which -marks the progress of society in other things, marks it also -in this separation of government into civil and religious; -and if we observe how the morality which now forms the -substance of religions in general, is beginning to be purified -from the associated creeds, we may anticipate that this -division will be ultimately carried much further.</p> - -<p>Passing now to the third species of control—that of -Manners—we shall find that this, too, while it had a common -genesis with the others, has gradually come to have a -distinct sphere and a special embodiment. Among early -aggregations of men before yet social observances existed, -the sole forms of courtesy known were the signs of submission -to the strong man; as the sole law was his will, and -the sole religion the awe of his supposed supernaturalness. -Originally, ceremonies were modes of behaviour to the god-king. -Our commonest titles have been derived from his -names. And all salutations were primarily worship paid to -him. Let us trace out these truths in detail, beginning -with titles.</p> - -<p>The fact already noticed, that the names of early kings -among divers races are formed by the -addition of certain <span class="xxpn" id="p012">{12}</span> -syllable to the names of their gods—which certain syllables, -like our <i>Mac</i> and <i>Fitz</i>, probably mean “son of,” or -“descended from”—at once gives meaning to the term -<i>Father</i> as a divine title. And when we read, in Selden, -that “the composition out of these names of Deities was -not only proper to Kings: their Grandees and more honorable -Subjects” (no doubt members of the royal race) “had -sometimes the like;” we see how the term <i>Father</i>, properly -used by these also, and by their multiplying descendants, came -to be a title used by the people in general. As bearing -on this point, it is significant that in the least advanced -country of Europe, where belief in the divine nature of the -ruler still lingers, <i>Father</i> in this higher sense, is still a regal -distinction. When, again, we remember how the divinity -at first ascribed to kings was not a complimentary fiction -but a supposed fact; and how, further, the celestial bodies -were believed to be personages who once lived among men; -we see that the appellations of oriental rulers, “Brother to -the Sun,” &c., were probably once expressive of a genuine -belief; and have simply, like many other things, continued -in use after all meaning has gone out of them. We may -infer, too, that the titles God, Lord, Divinity, were given -to primitive rulers literally—that the <i>nostra divinitas</i> -applied to the Roman emperors, and the various sacred -designations that have been borne by monarchs, down to -the still extant phrase, “Our Lord the King,” are the dead -and dying forms of what were once living facts. From -these names, God, Father, Lord, Divinity, originally belonging -to the God-king, and afterwards to God and the -king, the derivation of our commonest titles of respect is -traceable. There is reason to think that these titles were -originally proper names. Not only do we see among the -Egyptians, where Pharaoh was synonymous with king, and -among the Romans, where to be Cæsar, meant to be -Emperor, that the proper names of the greatest men were -transferred to their successors, and -so became class-names; <span class="xxpn" id="p013">{13}</span> -but in the Scandinavian mythology we may trace a human -title of honour up to the proper name of a divine personage. -In Anglo-Saxon <i>bealdor</i>, or <i>baldor</i>, means <i>Lord</i>; and Balder -is the name of the favourite of Odin’s sons. How these -names of honour became general is easily understood. The -relatives of the primitive kings—the grandees described by -Selden as having names formed on those of the gods, and -shown by this to be members of the divine race—necessarily -shared in the epithets descriptive of superhuman -relationships and nature. Their ever-multiplying offspring -inheriting these, gradually rendered them comparatively -common. And then they came to be applied to every man -of power: partly from the fact that, in those early days -when men conceived divinity simply as a stronger kind of -humanity, great persons could be called by divine epithets -with but little exaggeration; partly from the fact that the -unusually potent were apt to be considered as unrecognised -or illegitimate descendants of “the strong, the destroyer, -the powerful one;” and partly, also, from compliment and -the desire to propitiate. As superstition diminished, this last -became the sole cause. And if we remember that it is the -nature of compliment, to attribute more than is due—that -in the ever widening application of “esquire,” in the perpetual -repetition of “your honour” by the fawning Irishman, -and in the use of the name “gentleman” to any coalheaver -or dustman by the lower classes of London, we have current -examples of the depreciation of titles consequent on compliment—and -that in barbarous times, when the wish to -propitiate was stronger than now, this effect must have been -greater; we shall see that there naturally arose from this -cause an extensive misuse of all early distinctions. Hence the -facts that the Jews called Herod a god; that <i>Father</i>, in its -higher sense, was a term used among them by servants to -masters; that <i>Lord</i> was applicable to any person of worth -and power. Hence, too, the fact that, in the later periods -of the Roman Empire, every man saluted -his neighbour as <span class="xxpn" id="p014">{14}</span> -<i>Dominus</i> or <i>Rex</i>. But it is in the titles of the middle ages, -and in the growth of our modern ones out of them, that the -process is most clearly seen. <i>Herr</i>, <i>Don</i>, <i>Signor</i>, <i>Seigneur</i>, -<i>Señor</i>, were all originally descriptive names of rulers. -By the complimentary use of these names to all who could, -on any pretence, be supposed to merit them, and by -successive descents to still lower grades, they have come -to be common forms of address. At first the phrase in which -a serf accosted his despotic chief, <i>mein Herr</i> is now familiarly -applied in Germany to ordinary people. The Spanish title -<i>Don</i>, once proper to noblemen and gentlemen only, is now -accorded to all classes. So, too, is it with <i>Signor</i> in Italy. -<i>Seigneur</i> and <i>Monseigneur</i>, by contraction in <i>Sieur</i> and -<i>Monsieur</i>, have produced the term of respect claimed by -every Frenchman. And whether <i>Sire</i> be or be not a like -contraction of <i>Signor</i>, it is clear that, as it was borne by -sundry of the ancient feudal lords of France, who, as Selden -says, “affected rather to bee stiled by the name of <i>Sire</i> -than Baron, as <i>Le Sire de Montmorencie</i>, <i>Le Sire de Beaujeu</i>, -and the like,” and as it has been commonly used to -monarchs, our word <i>Sir</i>, which is derived from it, originally -meant lord or king. Thus, too, is it with feminine titles. -<i>Lady</i>, which, according to Horne Tooke, means <i>exalted</i>, and -was at first given only to the few, is now given to all women -of education. <i>Dame</i>, once an honourable name to which, -in old books, we find the epithets of “high-born” and -“stately” affixed, has now, by repeated widenings of its -application, become relatively a term of contempt. And -if we trace the compound of this, <i>ma Dame</i>, through its -contractions—<i>Madam</i>, <i>ma’am</i>, <i>mam</i>, <i>mum</i>, we find that the -“Yes’m” of Sally to her mistress is originally equivalent to -“Yes, my exalted,” or “Yes, your highness.” Throughout, -therefore, the genesis of words of honour has been the same. -Just as with the Jews and with the Romans, has it been -with the modern Europeans. Tracing these everyday names -to their primitive significations of <i>lord</i> -and <i>king</i>, and <span class="xxpn" id="p015">{15}</span> -remembering that in aboriginal societies these were applied -only to the gods and their descendants, we arrive at the -conclusion that our familiar <i>Sir</i> and <i>Monsieur</i> are, in their -primary and expanded meanings, terms of adoration.</p> - -<p>Further to illustrate this gradual depreciation of titles, -and to confirm the inference drawn, it may be well to notice -in passing, that the oldest of them have, as might be -expected, been depreciated to the greatest extent. Thus, -<i>Master</i>—a word proved by its derivation, and by the -similarity of the connate words in other languages (Fr., -<i>maître</i> for <i>maistre</i>; Dutch, <i>meester</i>; Dan., <i>mester</i>; Ger., -<i>meister</i>) to have been one of the earliest in use for expressing -lordship—has now become applicable to children only, -and, under the modification of “Mister,” to persons next -above the labourer. Again, knighthood, the oldest kind of -dignity, is also the lowest; and Knight Bachelor, which is -the lowest order of knighthood, is more ancient than any -other of the orders. Similarly, too, with the peerage: -Baron is alike the earliest and least elevated of its divisions. -This continual degradation of all names of honour has, -from time to time, made it requisite to introduce new ones -having the distinguishing effects which the originals had -lost by generality of use; just as our habit of misapplying -superlatives has, by gradually destroying their force, -entailed the need for fresh ones. And if, within the last -thousand years, this process has worked results thus marked, -we may readily conceive how, during previous thousands, -the titles of gods and demi-gods came to be used to all -persons exercising power; as they have since come to be -used to persons of respectability.</p> - -<p>If from names of honour we turn to phrases of honour, -we find similar facts. The oriental styles of address, -applied to ordinary people—“I am your slave,” “All I -have is yours,” “I am your sacrifice”—attribute to the -individual spoken to the same greatness that <i>Monsieur</i> and -<i>My Lord</i> do: they ascribe to him the -character of an <span class="xxpn" id="p016">{16}</span> -all-powerful ruler, so immeasurably superior to the speaker as -to be his owner. So, likewise, with the Polish expressions -of respect—“I throw myself under your feet,” “I kiss -your feet.” In our now meaningless subscription to a -formal letter—“Your most obedient servant”—the same -thing is visible. Nay, even in the familiar signature -“Yours faithfully,” the “yours,” if interpreted as originally -meant, is the expression of a slave to his master. All -these dead forms were once living embodiments of fact; -were primarily the genuine indications of that submission -to authority which they verbally assert; were afterwards -naturally used by the weak and cowardly to propitiate -those above them; gradually grew to be considered the -due of such; and, by a continually wider misuse, have lost -their meanings, as <i>Sir</i> and <i>Master</i> have done. That, like -titles, they were in the beginning used only to the God-king, -is indicated by the fact that, like titles, they were -subsequently used in common to God and the king. -Religious worship has ever largely consisted of professions -of obedience, of being God’s servants, of belonging to him -to do what he will with. Like titles, therefore, these -common phrases of honour had a devotional origin. Perhaps, -however, it is in the use of the word <i>you</i> as a singular -pronoun that the popularizing of what were once supreme -distinctions is most markedly illustrated. This addressing -of a single individual in the plural, was originally an honour -given only to the highest—was the reciprocal of the imperial -“we” assumed by such. Yet now, by being applied to -successively lower and lower classes, it has become all but -universal. Only by one sect of Christians, and in a few -secluded districts, is the primitive <i>thou</i> still used. And the -<i>you</i>, in becoming common to all ranks, has simultaneously -lost every vestige of the distinction once attaching to it.</p> - -<p>But the genesis of Manners out of forms of allegiance and -worship, is above all shown in modes of salutation. Note -first the significance of the word. Among -the Romans, the <span class="xxpn" id="p017">{17}</span> -<i>salutatio</i> was a daily homage paid by clients and inferiors -to their superiors. This was alike the case with civilians -and in the army. The very derivation of our word, therefore, -is suggestive of submission. Passing to particular -forms of obeisance (mark the word again), let us begin with -the Eastern one of baring the feet. This was, primarily, -a mark of reverence, alike to a god and a king. The act -of Moses before the burning bush, and the practice of -Mahometans, who are sworn on the Koran with their shoes -off, exemplify the one employment of it; the custom of the -Persians, who remove their shoes on entering the presence -of their monarch, exemplifies the other. As usual, however, -this homage, paid next to inferior rulers, has descended -from grade to grade. In India it is a common mark of -respect; the lower orders of Turks never enter the presence -of their superiors but in their stockings; and in Japan, this -baring of the feet is an ordinary salutation of man to man. -Take another case. Selden, describing the ceremonies of -the Romans, says:—“For whereas it was usuall either to -kiss the Images of their Gods, or, adoring them, to stand -somewhat off before them, solemnly moving the right hand -to the lips, and then, casting it as if they had cast kisses, to -turne the body on the same hand (which was the right -forme of Adoration), it grew also by custom, first that the -Emperors, being next to Deities, and by some accounted as -Deities, had the like done to them in acknowledgment -of their Greatness.” If, now, we call to mind the awkward -salute of a village school-boy, made by putting his open -hand up to his face and describing a semicircle with his -forearm; and if we remember that the salute thus used as -a form of reverence in country districts, is most likely -a remnant of the feudal times; we shall see reason -for thinking that our common wave of the hand to a -friend across the street, represents what was primarily -a devotional act.</p> - -<p>Similarly have originated all forms -of respect depending <span class="xxpn" id="p018">{18}</span> -upon inclinations of the body. Entire prostration is the -aboriginal sign of submission. The passage of Scripture—“Thou -hast put all under his feet,” and that other one, so -suggestive in its anthropomorphism—“The Lord said unto -my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine -enemies thy footstool,” imply, what the Assyrian sculptures -bear out, that it was the practice of the ancient god-kings -of the East to trample on the conquered. As there are -existing savages who signify submission by placing the -neck under the foot of the person submitted to, it becomes -obvious that all prostration, especially when accompanied -by kissing the foot, expressed a willingness to be trodden -upon—was an attempt to mitigate wrath by saying, in -signs, “Tread on me if you will.” Remembering, too, -that kissing the foot, as of the Pope and of a saint’s statue, -still continues in Europe to be a mark of extreme reverence; -that prostration to feudal lords was once general, -and that its disappearance must have taken place, not -abruptly, but by gradual change into something else; we -have ground for deriving from these deepest of humiliations -all inclinations of respect: especially as the transition -is traceable. The reverence of a Russian serf, who bends -his head to the ground, and the salaam of the Hindoo, are -abridged prostrations; a bow is a short salaam; a nod is -a short bow. Should any hesitate to admit this conclusion, -then perhaps, on being reminded that the lowest of these -obeisances are common where the submission is most -abject; that among ourselves the profundity of the bow -marks the amount of respect; and lastly, that the bow is -even now used devotionally in our churches—by Catholics -to their altars, and by Protestants at the name of Christ—they -will see sufficient reason for thinking that this salutation -also was originally worship.</p> - -<p>The same may be said, too, of the curtsy, or courtesy, as -it is otherwise written. Its derivation from <i>courtoisie</i>, -courteousness, that is, behaviour like that at -court, at once <span class="xxpn" id="p019">{19}</span> -shows that it was primarily the reverence paid to a -monarch. And if we call to mind that falling on the -knees, or on one knee, has been a common obeisance of -subjects to rulers; that in ancient manuscripts and -tapestries, servants are depicted as assuming this attitude -while offering the dishes to their masters at table; and -that this same attitude is assumed towards our own queen -at every presentation; we may infer, what the character of -the curtsy itself suggests, that it is an abridged act of -kneeling. As the word has been contracted from <i>courtoisie</i> -into curtsy; so the motion has been contracted from a -placing of the knee on the floor, to a lowering of the knee -towards the floor. Moreover, when we compare the curtsy -of a lady with the awkward one a peasant girl makes, -which, if continued, would bring her down on both knees, -we may see in this last a remnant of that greater reverence -required of serfs. And when, from considering that simple -kneeling of the West, still represented by the curtsy, we -pass Eastward, and note the attitude of the Mahommedan -worshipper, who not only kneels but bows his head to the -ground, we may infer that the curtsy also, is an evanescent -form of the aboriginal prostration. In further evidence of -this it may be remarked, that there has but recently -disappeared from the salutations of men, an action having -the same proximate derivation with the curtsy. That -backward sweep of the right foot with which the conventional -stage-sailor accompanies his bow—a movement -which prevailed generally in past generations, when “a -bow and a scrape” went together, and which, within the -memory of living persons, was made by boys to their -master when entering school, with the effect of wearing a -hole in the floor—is pretty clearly a preliminary to going -on one knee. A motion so ungainly could never have -been intentionally introduced; even if the artificial introduction -of obeisances were possible. Hence we must -regard it as the remnant of -something antecedent: and <span class="xxpn" id="p020">{20}</span> -that this something antecedent was humiliating may be -inferred from the phrase, “scraping an acquaintance;” -which, being used to denote the gaining of favour by -obsequiousness, implies that the scrape was considered a -mark of servility—that is, of servile position.</p> - -<p>Consider, again, the uncovering of the head. Almost -everywhere this has been a sign of reverence, alike in -temples and before potentates; and it yet preserves among -us some of its original meaning. Whether it rains, hails, -or shines, you must keep your head bare while speaking to -the monarch; and no one may keep his hat on in a place -of worship. As usual, however, this ceremony, at first a -submission to gods and kings, has become in process of -time a common civility. Once an acknowledgment of -another’s unlimited supremacy, the removal of the hat is -now a salute accorded to very ordinary persons; and that -uncovering originally reserved for entrance into “the house -of God” or the residence of the ruler, good manners now -dictates on entrance into a labourer’s cottage.</p> - -<p>Standing, too, as a mark of respect, has undergone like -extensions in its application. Shown, by the practice in -our churches, to be intermediate between the humiliation -signified by kneeling and the self-respect which sitting -implies, and used at courts as a form of homage when -more active demonstrations of it have been made, this -posture is now employed in daily life to show consideration; -as seen alike in the attitude of a servant before -a master, and in that rising which politeness prescribes on -the entrance of a visitor.</p> - -<p>Many other threads of evidence might have been woven -into our argument. As, for example, the significant fact, -that if we trace back our still existing law of primogeniture—if -we consider it as displayed by Scottish clans, in which -not only ownership but government devolved from the -beginning on the eldest son of the eldest—if we look -further back, and observe that the old -titles of lordship, <span class="xxpn" id="p021">{21}</span> -<i>Signor</i>, <i>Seigneur</i>, <i>Señor</i>, <i>Sire</i>, <i>Sieur</i>, all originally mean -senior, or elder—if we go Eastward, and find that <i>Sheick</i> -has a like derivation, and that the Oriental names for -priests, as <i>Pir</i>, for instance, are literally interpreted <i>old -man</i>—if we note in Hebrew records how far back dates -the ascribed superiority of the first-born, how great the -authority of elders, and how sacred the memory of patriarchs—and -if, then, we remember that among divine titles are -“Ancient of Days,” and “Father of Gods and men;”—we -see how completely these facts harmonize with the hypothesis, -that the aboriginal god is the first man sufficiently -great to become a tradition, the earliest whose power and -deeds made him remembered; that hence antiquity unavoidably -became associated with superiority, and age -with nearness in blood to “the powerful one;” that so -there naturally arose that domination of the eldest which -characterizes the history of all the higher races, and that -theory of human degeneracy which even yet survives. We -might further dwell on the facts, that <i>Lord</i> signifies high-born, -or, as the same root gives a word meaning heaven, -possibly heaven-born; that, before it became common, Sir -or <i>Sire</i>, as well as <i>Father</i>, was the distinction of a priest; -that <i>worship</i>, originally worth-ship—a term of respect that -has been used commonly, as well as to magistrates—is -also our term for the act of attributing greatness or worth -to the Deity; so that to ascribe worth-ship to a man is to -worship him. We might make much of the evidence that -all early governments are more or less distinctly theocratic; -and that among ancient Eastern nations even the commonest -forms and customs had religious sanctions. We -might enforce our argument respecting the derivation of -ceremonies, by tracing out the aboriginal obeisance made -by putting dust on the head, which symbolizes putting -the head in the dust; by affiliating the practice found in -certain tribes, of doing another honour by presenting him -with a portion of hair torn from the -head—an act which <span class="xxpn" id="p022">{22}</span> -seems tantamount to saying, “I am your slave;” by -investigating the Oriental custom of giving to a visitor any -object he speaks of admiringly, which is pretty clearly a -carrying out of the compliment, “All I have is yours.”</p> - -<p>Without enlarging, however, on these and minor facts, -we venture to think that the evidence assigned is sufficient. -Had the proofs been few, or of one kind, little -faith could have been placed in the inference. But numerous -as they are, alike in the case of titles, in that of -complimentary phrases, and in that of salutes—similar -and simultaneous, too, as the process of depreciation has -been in all of these; the evidences become strong by -mutual confirmation. And when we recollect, also, that -not only have the results of this process been visible in -various nations and in all times, but that they are occurring -among ourselves at the present moment, and that the -causes assigned for previous depreciations may be seen -daily working out others—when we recollect this, it -becomes scarcely possible to doubt that the process has -been as alleged; and that our ordinary words, acts, and -phrases of civility originally expressed submission to -another’s omnipotence.</p> - -<p>Thus the general doctrine, that all kinds of government -exercised over men were at first one government—that the -political, the religious, and the ceremonial forms of control -are divergent branches of a general and once indivisible -control—begins to look tenable. When, with the above -facts fresh in mind, we read that in Eastern traditions -Nimrod, among others, figures in all the characters of -hero, king, and divinity—when we turn to the sculptures -exhumed by Mr. Layard, and contemplating in them the -effigies of kings driving over enemies, and adored by prostrate -slaves, then observe how their actions correspond to the -primitive names for gods, “the strong,” “the destroyer,” -“the powerful one”—and when, lastly, we discover that -among races of men still living, -there are current <span class="xxpn" id="p023">{23}</span> -superstitions analogous to those which old records and old -buildings indicate; we begin to realize the probability of -the hypothesis that has been set forth. Representing to -ourselves the conquering chief as figured in ancient myths, -and poems, and ruins; we may see that all rules of conduct -spring from his will. Alike legislator and judge, quarrels -among his subjects are decided by him; and his words -become the Law. Awe of him is the incipient Religion; and -his maxims furnish his first precepts. Submission is made -to him in the forms he prescribes; and these give birth to -Manners. From the first, time developes political allegiance -and the administration of justice; from the second, the -worship of a being whose personality becomes ever more -vague, and the inculcation of precepts ever more abstract; -from the third, forms and names of honour and the rules of -etiquette. In conformity with the law of evolution of all -organized bodies, that general functions are gradually -separated into the special functions constituting them, there -have grown up in the social organism for the better performance -of the governmental office, an apparatus of law-courts, -judges, and barristers; a national church, with its -bishops and priests; and a system of caste, titles, and -ceremonies, administered by society at large. By the -first, overt aggressions are cognized and punished; by -the second, the disposition to commit such aggressions -is in some degree checked; by the third, those minor -breaches of good conduct which the others do not notice, -are denounced and chastised. Law and Religion control -behaviour in its essentials; Manners control it in its details. -For regulating those daily actions which are too numerous -and too unimportant to be officially directed there comes -into play this subtler set of restraints. And when we consider -what these restraints are—when we analyze the words, -and phrases, and movements employed, we see that in -origin as in effect, the system is a setting -up of temporary <span class="xxpn" id="p024">{24}</span> -governments between all men who come in contact, for the -purpose of better managing the intercourse between them.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">From the proposition, that these several kinds of -government are essentially one, both in genesis and function, may be -deduced several important corollaries, directly bearing on our special -topic.</p> - -<p>Let us first notice, that there is not only a common origin -and office for all forms of rule, but a common necessity for -them. The aboriginal man, coming fresh from the killing -of bears and from lying in ambush for his enemy, has, by -the necessities of his condition, a nature requiring to be -curbed in its every impulse. Alike in war and in the -chase, his daily discipline has been that of sacrificing other -creatures to his own needs and passions. His character, -bequeathed to him by ancestors who led similar lives, is -moulded by this discipline—is fitted to this existence. The -unlimited selfishness, the love of inflicting pain, the blood-thirstiness, -thus kept active, he brings with him into the -social state. These dispositions put him in constant danger -of conflict with his equally savage neighbour. In small -things as in great, in words as in deeds, he is aggressive; -and is hourly liable to the aggressions of others like natured. -Only, therefore, by rigorous control exercised over all -actions, can the primitive unions of men be maintained. -There must be a ruler strong, remorseless, and of indomitable -will; there must be a creed terrible in its threats to -the disobedient; there must be servile submission of inferiors -to superiors. The law must be cruel; the religion must be -stern; the ceremonies must be strict. The co-ordinate -necessity for these several kinds of restraint might be -largely illustrated from history were there space. Suffice -it to point out that where the civil power has been weak, -the multiplication of thieves, assassins, and banditti, has -indicated the approach of social -dissolution; that when, <span class="xxpn" id="p025">{25}</span> -from the corruptness of its ministry, religion has lost its -influence, as it did just before the Flagellants appeared, the -State has been endangered; and that the disregard of -established social observances has ever been an accompaniment -of political revolutions. Whoever doubts the necessity -for a government of manners proportionate in strength to -the co-existing political and religious governments, will be -convinced on calling to mind that until recently even elaborate -codes of behaviour failed to keep gentlemen from -quarrelling in the streets and fighting duels in taverns; -and on remembering that even now people exhibit at the -doors of a theatre, where there is no ceremonial law to rule -them, an aggressiveness which would produce confusion if -carried into social intercourse.</p> - -<p>As might be expected, we find that, having a common -origin and like general functions, these several controlling -agencies act during each era with similar degrees of vigour. -Under the Chinese despotism, stringent and multitudinous -in its edicts and harsh in the enforcement of them, and -associated with which there is an equally stern domestic -despotism exercised by the eldest surviving male of the -family, there exists a system of observances alike complicated -and rigid. There is a tribunal of ceremonies. -Previous to presentation at court, ambassadors pass many -days in practising the required forms. Social intercourse -is cumbered by endless compliments and obeisances. Class -distinctions are strongly marked by badges. And if there -wants a definite measure of the respect paid to social -ordinances, we have it in the torture to which ladies submit -in having their feet crushed. In India, and indeed throughout -the East, there exists a like connexion between the -pitiless tyranny of rulers, the dread terrors of immemorial -creeds, and the rigid restraint of unchangeable customs. -Caste regulations continue still unalterable; the fashions -of clothes and furniture have remained the same for ages; -suttees are so ancient as to be mentioned -by Strabo and <span class="xxpn" id="p026">{26}</span> -Diodorus Siculus; justice is still administered at the palace-gates -as of old; in short, “every usage is a precept of -religion and a maxim of jurisprudence.” A similar relationship -of phenomena was exhibited in Europe during the -Middle Ages. While its governments, general and local, -were despotic, while the Church was unshorn of its power, -while the criminal code was full of horrors and the hell of -the popular creed full of terrors, the rules of behaviour -were both more numerous and more carefully conformed to -than now. Differences of dress marked divisions of rank. -Men were limited by law to certain widths of shoe-toes; -and no one below a specified degree might wear a cloak -less than so many inches long. The symbols on banners -and shields were carefully attended to. Heraldry was an -important branch of knowledge. Precedence was strictly -insisted on. And those various salutes of which we now -use the abridgments, were gone through in full. Even -during our own last century, with its corrupt House of -Commons and little-curbed monarchs, we may mark a -correspondence of social formalities. Gentlemen were still -distinguished from lower classes by dress; and children -addressed their parents as <i>Sir</i> and <i>Madam</i>.</p> - -<p>A further corollary naturally following this last, and -almost, indeed, forming part of it, is, that these several -kinds of government decrease in stringency at the same -rate. Simultaneously with the decline in the influence of -priesthoods, and in the fear of eternal torments—simultaneously -with the mitigation of political tyranny, the growth -of popular power, and the amelioration of criminal codes; -has taken place that diminution of formalities and that -fading of distinctive marks, now so observable. Looking at -home, we may note that there is less attention to precedence -than there used to be. No one in our day ends an interview -with the phrase “your humble servant.” The employment -of the word <i>Sir</i>, once general in social intercourse, is -at present considered bad breeding; and -on the occasions <span class="xxpn" id="p027">{27}</span> -calling for them, it is held vulgar to use the words “Your -Majesty,” or “Your Royal Highness,” more than once -in a conversation. People no longer formally drink one -another’s healths; and even the taking wine with one -another at dinner has ceased to be fashionable. It is -remarked of us by foreigners, that we take off our hats less -than any other nation in Europe—a remark which should -be coupled with the other, that we are the freest nation in -Europe. As already implied, this association of facts is -not accidental. These modes of address and titles and -obeisances, bearing about them, as they all do, something -of that servility which marks their origin, become distasteful -in proportion as men become more independent themselves, -and sympathize more with the independence of others. -The feeling which makes the modern gentleman tell the -labourer standing bareheaded before him to put on his hat—the -feeling which gives us a dislike to those who cringe -and fawn—the feeling which makes us alike assert our own -dignity and respect that of others—the feeling which thus -leads us more and more to discountenance forms and names -which confess inferiority and submission; is the same feeling -which resists despotic power and inaugurates popular -government, denies the authority of the Church and establishes -the right of private judgment.</p> - -<p>A fourth fact, akin to the foregoing, is, that with -decreasing coerciveness in these several kinds of government, -their respective forms lose their meanings. The -same process which has made our monarch put forth as his -own acts what are the acts of ministers approved by the -people, and has thus changed him from master into agent—the -same process which, making attendance at church very -much a matter of respectability, has done away with the -telling of beads, the calling on saints, and the performance -of penances; is a process by which titles and ceremonies -that once had a meaning and a power have been reduced to -empty forms. Coats of arms which -served to distinguish <span class="xxpn" id="p028">{28}</span> -men in battle, now figure on the carriage panels of retired -merchants. Once a badge of high military rank, the -shoulder-knot has become, on the modern footman, a mark -of servitude. The name Banneret, which originally marked -a partially-created Baron—a Baron who had passed his -military “little go”—is now, under the modification of -Baronet, applicable to any one favoured by wealth or interest -or party feeling. Knighthood has so far ceased to be an -honour, that men honour themselves by declining it. The -military dignity <i>Escuyer</i> has, in the modern Esquire, -become a wholly unmilitary affix.</p> - -<p>But perhaps it is in that class of social observances comprehended -under the term Fashion (which we must here -discuss parenthetically) that this process is seen with the -greatest distinctness. As contrasted with Manners, which -dictate our minor acts in relation to other persons, Fashion -dictates our minor acts in relation to ourselves. While the -one prescribes that part of our deportment which directly -affects our neighbours; the other prescribes that part of -our deportment which is primarily personal, and in which -our neighbours are concerned only as spectators. Thus -distinguished as they are, however, the two have a common -source. For while, as we have shown, Manners originate -by imitation of the behaviour pursued <i>towards</i> the great; -Fashion originates by imitation of the behaviour <i>of</i> the -great. While the one has its derivation in the titles, -phrases, and salutes used <i>to</i> those in power; the other is -derived from the habits and appearances exhibited <i>by</i> those -in power. The Carrib mother who squeezes her child’s -head into a shape like that of the chief; the young savage -who makes marks on himself similar to the scars carried by -the warriors of his tribe; the Highlander who adopts the -plaid worn by the head of his clan; the courtiers who affect -greyness, or limp, or cover their necks, in imitation of their -king, and the people who ape the courtiers; are alike acting -under a kind of government connate with -that of Manners, <span class="xxpn" id="p029">{29}</span> -and, like it too, primarily beneficial. For notwithstanding -the numberless absurdities into which this copying has led -people, from nose-rings to ear-rings, from painted faces to -beauty-spots, from shaven heads to powdered wigs, from -filed teeth and stained nails to bell-girdles, peaked shoes, -and breeches stuffed with bran, it must yet be concluded -that as the men of will, intelligence, and originality, who -have got to the top, are, on the average, more likely to -show judgment in their habits and tastes than the mass, the -imitation of such is advantageous. By and by, however, -Fashion, decaying like these other forms of rule, almost -wholly ceases to be an imitation of the best, and becomes -an imitation of quite other than the best. As those who -take orders are not those having a special fitness for the -priestly office, but those who hope to get livings; as -legislators and public functionaries do not become such by -virtue of their political insight and power to rule, but by -virtue of birth, acreage, and class influence; so, the self-elected -clique who set the fashion, do this, not by force of -nature, by intellect, by higher worth or better taste, but -solely by unchecked assumption. Among the initiated are -to be found neither the noblest in rank, the chief in power, -the best cultured, the most refined, nor those of greatest -genius, wit, or beauty; and their reunions, so far from being -superior to others, are noted for their inanity. Yet, by the -example of these sham great, and not by that of the truly -great, does society at large now regulate its habits, its -dress, its small usages. As a natural consequence, these -have generally little of that suitableness which the theory of -fashion implies they should have. Instead of a progress -towards greater elegance and convenience, which might be -expected to occur did people copy the ways of the really -best, or follow their own ideas of propriety, we have a reign -of mere whim, of unreason, of change for the sake of change, -of wanton oscillations from either extreme to the other. -And so life <i>à la mode</i>, instead of being life -conducted in the <span class="xxpn" id="p030">{30}</span> -most rational manner, is life regulated by spendthrifts and -idlers, milliners and tailors, dandies and silly women.</p> - -<p>To these several corollaries—that the various orders of -control exercised over men have a common origin and a -common function, are called out by co-ordinate necessities -and co-exist in like stringency, decline together and decay -together—it now only remains to add that they simultaneously -become less needful. The social discipline which -has already wrought out great changes in men, must go on -eventually to work out greater ones. That daily curbing -of the lower nature and culture of the higher, which out of -cannibals and devil-worshippers has evolved philanthropists, -lovers of peace, and haters of superstition, may be expected -to evolve out of these, men as much superior to them as -they are to their progenitors. The causes that have -produced past modifications are still in action; must -continue in action as long as there exists any incongruity -between men’s desires and the requirements of the social -state; and must eventually make them organically fit for -the social state. As it is now needless to forbid man-eating, -so will it ultimately become needless to forbid -murder, theft, and the minor offences of our criminal code. -Along with growth of human nature into harmony with the -moral law, there will go decreasing need for judges and -statute-books; when the right course has become the -course spontaneously chosen, prospects of future reward or -punishment will not be wanted as incentives; and when -due regard for others has become instinctive, there will -need no code of ceremonies to say how behaviour shall -be regulated.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Thus, then, may be recognized the meaning of those -eccentricities of reformers which we set out by describing. -They are not accidental; they are not mere personal -caprices. They are inevitable results of the law of relationship -above illustrated. That community -of genesis, function, <span class="xxpn" id="p031">{31}</span> -and decay which all forms of restraint exhibit, is simply -the obverse of the fact at first pointed out, that they have -in two sentiments of human nature a common preserver -and a common destroyer. Awe of power originates and -cherishes them all; love of freedom undermines and -weakens them all. The one defends despotism and asserts -the supremacy of laws, adheres to old creeds and supports -ecclesiastical authority, pays respect to titles and conserves -forms; the other, putting rectitude above legality, achieves -periodical instalments of political liberty, inaugurates Protestantism -and works out its consequences, ignores the -senseless dictates of Fashion and emancipates men from -dead customs. To the true reformer no institution is -sacred, no belief above criticism. Everything shall conform -itself to equity and reason; nothing shall be saved by its -prestige. Conceding to each man liberty to pursue his own -ends and satisfy his own tastes, he demands for himself -like liberty; and consents to no restrictions on this, save -those which other men’s equal claims involve. No matter -whether it be an ordinance of one man, or an ordinance of -all men, if it trenches on his legitimate sphere of action, he -denies its validity. The tyranny that would impose on -him a particular style of dress and a set mode of behaviour, -he resists equally with the tyranny that would limit his -buyings and sellings, or dictate his creed. Whether the -regulation be formally made by a legislature, or informally -made by society at large—whether the penalty for disobedience -be imprisonment, or frowns and social ostracism, -he sees to be a question of no moment. He will utter his -belief notwithstanding the threatened punishment; he will -break conventions spite of the petty persecutions that will -be visited on him. Show him that his actions are inimical -to his fellow-men, and he will pause. Prove that he is -disregarding their legitimate claims, and he will alter his -course. But until you do this—until you demonstrate -that his proceedings are -essentially inconvenient or <span class="xxpn" id="p032">{32}</span> -inelegant, essentially irrational, unjust, or ungenerous, he -will persevere.</p> - -<p>Some, indeed, argue that his conduct <i>is</i> unjust and -ungenerous. They say that he has no right to annoy other -people by his whims; that the gentleman to whom his -letter comes with no “Esq.” appended to the address, and -the lady whose evening party he enters with gloveless -hands, are vexed at what they consider his want of respect -or want of breeding; that thus his eccentricities cannot -be indulged save at the expense of his neighbours’ -feelings; and that hence his nonconformity is in plain -terms selfishness.</p> - -<p>He answers that this position, if logically developed, -would deprive men of all liberty whatever. Each must -conform all his acts to the public taste, and not his own. -The public taste on every point having been once ascertained, -men’s habits must thenceforth remain for ever fixed; -seeing that no man can adopt other habits without sinning -against the public taste, and giving people disagreeable -feelings. Consequently, be it an era of pig-tails or high-heeled -shoes, of starched ruffs or trunk-hose, all must -continue to wear pig-tails, high-heeled shoes, starched -ruffs, or trunk-hose to the crack of doom.</p> - -<p>If it be still urged that he is not justified in breaking -through others’ forms that he may establish his own, and -so sacrificing the wishes of many to the wishes of one, -he replies that all religious and political changes might be -negatived on like grounds. He asks whether Luther’s -sayings and doings were not extremely offensive to the -mass of his cotemporaries; whether the resistance of -Hampden was not disgusting to the time-servers around -him; whether every reformer has not shocked men’s -prejudices and given immense displeasure by the opinions -he uttered. The affirmative answer he follows up by -demanding what right the reformer has, then, to utter -these opinions—whether he is not -sacrificing the feelings <span class="xxpn" id="p033">{33}</span> -of many to the feelings of one; and so he proves -that, to be consistent, his antagonists must condemn not -only all nonconformity in actions, but all nonconformity -in beliefs.</p> - -<p>His antagonists rejoin that <i>his</i> position, too, may be -pushed to an absurdity. They argue that if a man may -offend by the disregard of some forms, he may as legitimately -do so by the disregard of all; and they inquire—Why -should he not go out to dinner in a dirty shirt, and -with an unshorn chin? Why should he not spit on the -drawing-room carpet, and stretch his heels up to the -mantle-shelf?</p> - -<p>The convention-breaker answers, that to ask this, implies -a confounding of two widely-different classes of actions—the -actions which are <i>essentially</i> displeasurable to those -around, with the actions which are but <i>incidentally</i> displeasurable -to them. He whose skin is so unclean as to -offend the nostrils of his neighbours, or he who talks so -loudly as to disturb a whole room, may be justly complained -of, and rightly excluded by society from its assemblies. -But he who presents himself in a surtout in place of a -dress-coat, or in brown trousers instead of black, gives -offence not to men’s senses, or their innate tastes, but -merely to their bigotry of convention. It cannot be said -that his costume is less elegant or less intrinsically appropriate -than the one prescribed; seeing that a few hours -earlier in the day it is admired. It is the implied rebellion, -therefore, which annoys. How little the cause of quarrel -has to do with the dress itself, is seen in the fact that a -century ago black clothes would have been thought preposterous -for hours of recreation, and that a few years -hence some now forbidden style may be nearer the requirements -of Fashion than the present one. Thus the reformer -explains that it is not against the natural restraints, but -against the artificial ones, that he protests; and that -manifestly the fire of angry glances which he -has to bear, <span class="xxpn" id="p034">{34}</span> -is poured upon him because he will not bow down to the -idol which society has set up.</p> - -<p>Should he be asked how we are to distinguish between -conduct which is in itself disagreeable to others, and -conduct which is disagreeable by its implication, he -answers, that they will distinguish themselves, if men will -let them. Actions intrinsically repugnant will ever be -frowned upon, and must ever remain as exceptional as -now. Actions not intrinsically repugnant will establish -themselves as proper. No relaxation of customs will -introduce the practice of going to a party in muddy -boots, and with unwashed hands; for the dislike of dirt -would continue were Fashion abolished to-morrow. That -love of approbation which now makes people solicitous to -be <i>en règle</i> would still exist—would still make them careful -of their personal appearance—would still induce them to -seek admiration by making themselves ornamental—would -still cause them to respect the natural laws of good -behaviour, as they now do the artificial laws. The change -would simply be from a repulsive monotony to a picturesque -variety. And if there be any regulations respecting -which it is uncertain whether they are based on reality -or on convention, experiment will soon decide, if due scope -be allowed.</p> - -<p>When at length the controversy comes round, as -controversies often do, to the point whence it started, and -the “party of order” repeat their charge against the -rebel, that he is sacrificing the feelings of others to -gratify his own wilfulness, he replies once for all that -they cheat themselves by mis-statements. He accuses -them of being so despotic, that, not content with being -masters over their own ways and habits, they would be -masters over his also; and grumble because he will not let -them. He merely asks the same freedom which they -exercise; they, however, propose to regulate his course as -well as their own—to cut and clip his mode -of life into <span class="xxpn" id="p035">{35}</span> -agreement with their approved pattern; and then charge -him with wilfulness and selfishness, because he does not -quietly submit! He warns them that he shall resist, nevertheless; -and that he shall do so, not only for the assertion -of his own independence, but for their good. He tells -them that they are slaves, and know it not; that they are -shackled, and kiss their chains; that they have lived all -their days in prison, and complain because the walls are -being broken down. He says he must persevere, however, -with a view to his own release; and, in spite of -their present expostulations, he prophesies that when -they have recovered from the fright which the prospect -of freedom produces, they will thank him for aiding in -their emancipation.</p> - -<p>Unamiable as seems this find-fault mood, offensive as is -this defiant attitude, we must beware of overlooking the -truths enunciated, in dislike of the advocacy. It is an -unfortunate hindrance to all innovation, that in virtue of -their very function, the innovators stand in a position of -antagonism; and the disagreeable manners, and sayings, -and doings, which this antagonism generates, are commonly -associated with the doctrines promulgated. Quite forgetting -that whether the thing attacked be good or bad, the -combative spirit is necessarily repulsive; and quite forgetting -that the toleration of abuses seems amiable merely -from its passivity; the mass of men contract a bias against -advanced views, and in favour of stationary ones, from -intercourse with their respective adherents. “Conservatism,” -as Emerson says, “is debonnair and social; reform -is individual and imperious.” And this remains true, -however vicious the system conserved, however righteous -the reform to be effected. Nay, the indignation of the -purists is usually extreme in proportion as the evils to -be got rid of are great. The more urgent the required -change, the more intemperate is the vehemence of its -promoters. Let no one, then, confound -with the principles <span class="xxpn" id="p036">{36}</span> -of this social nonconformity the acerbity and the disagreeable -self-assertion of those who first display it.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">The most plausible objection raised against resistance to -conventions, is grounded on its impolicy, considered even -from the progressist’s point of view. It is urged by many -of the more liberal and intelligent—usually those who have -themselves shown some independence of behaviour in -earlier days—that to rebel in these small matters is to -destroy your own power of helping on reform in greater -matters. “If you show yourself eccentric in manners or -dress, the world,” they say, “will not listen to you. You -will be considered as crotchety, and impracticable. The -opinions you express on important subjects, which might -have been treated with respect had you conformed on -minor points, will now inevitably be put down among your -singularities; and thus, by dissenting in trifles, you disable -yourself from spreading dissent in essentials.”</p> - -<p>Only noting, as we pass, that this is one of those anticipations -which bring about their own fulfilment—that it -is because most who disapprove these conventions do not -show their disapproval, that the few who do show it look -eccentric—and that did all act out their convictions, no such -argument as the above would have force;—noting this as -we pass, we go on to reply that these social restraints are -not small evils but among the greatest. Estimate their -sum total, and we doubt whether they would not exceed -most others. Could we add up the trouble, the cost, the -jealousies, vexations, misunderstandings, the loss of time -and the loss of pleasure, which these conventions entail—we -should perhaps come to the conclusion that the tyranny -of Mrs. Grundy is worse than any other tyranny. Let us -look at a few of its hurtful results; beginning with those of -minor importance.</p> - -<p>It produces extravagance. The desire to be <i>comme il -faut</i>, which underlies all conformities, -whether of manners, <span class="xxpn" id="p037">{37}</span> -dress, or styles of entertainment, is the desire which makes -many a spendthrift and many a bankrupt. To “keep up -appearances,” to have a house in an approved quarter -furnished in the latest taste, to give expensive dinners and -crowded <i>soirées</i>, is an ambition forming the natural outcome -of the conformist spirit. It is needless to enlarge on these -follies: they have been satirized by hosts of writers, and -in every drawing-room. All which here concerns us, is to -point out that the respect for social observances, which -men think so praiseworthy, has the same root with this -effort to be fashionable in mode of living; and that, other -things equal, the last cannot be diminished without the -first being diminished also. If, now, we consider what -this extravagance entails—if we count up the robbed -tradesmen, the stinted governesses, the ill-educated children, -the fleeced relatives, who have to suffer from it—if we mark -the anxiety and the many moral delinquencies which its -perpetrators involve themselves in; we shall see that this -regard for conventions is not quite so innocent as it looks.</p> - -<p>Again, it decreases the amount of social intercourse. -Passing over the reckless, and those who make a great -display on speculation with the occasional result of getting -on in the world to the exclusion of better men, we come to -the far larger class who, being prudent and honest enough -not to exceed their means, and yet wishing to be “respectable,” -are obliged to limit their entertainments to the -smallest possible number; and that each of these may be -turned to the greatest advantage in meeting the claims on -their hospitality, issue their invitations with little or no -regard to the comfort or mutual fitness of their guests. A -few inconveniently-large assemblies, made up of people -mostly strange to each other or but distantly acquainted, -are made to serve in place of many small parties of friends -intimate enough to have some bond of sympathy. Thus -the quantity of intercourse is diminished, and the quality -deteriorated. Because it is the custom -to make costly <span class="xxpn" id="p038">{38}</span> -preparations and provide costly refreshments; and because -it entails both less expense and less trouble to do this for -many persons on few occasions than for few persons on -many occasions; the reunions of our less wealthy classes -are rendered alike infrequent and tedious.</p> - -<p>Let it be further observed, that the existing formalities -of social intercourse drive away many who most need its -refining influence; and drive them into injurious habits -and associations. Not a few men, and not the least sensible -men either, give up in disgust this going out to stately -dinners and stiff evening-parties; and instead, seek society -in clubs, and cigar-divans, and taverns. “I’m sick of this -standing about in drawing-rooms, talking nonsense, and -trying to look happy,” will answer one of them when taxed -with his desertion. “Why should I any longer waste time -and money, and temper? Once I was ready enough to -rush home from the office to dress; I sported embroidered -shirts, submitted to tight boots, and cared nothing for -tailors’ and haberdashers’ bills. I know better now. My -patience lasted a good while; for though I found each night -pass stupidly, I always hoped the next would make amends. -But I’m undeceived. Cab-hire and kid gloves cost more -than any evening party pays for; or rather—it is worth the -cost of them to avoid the party. No, no; I’ll no more of -it. Why should I pay five shillings a time for the privilege -of being bored?” If, now, we consider that this very -common mood tends towards billiard-rooms, towards long -sittings over cigars and brandy-and-water, towards Evans’s -and the Coal Hole; it becomes a question whether these -precise observances which hamper our set meetings, have -not to answer for much of the prevalent dissoluteness. -Men must have excitements of some kind or other; and if -debarred from higher ones will fall back upon lower. It -is not that those who thus take to irregular habits are -essentially those of low tastes. Often it is quite the reverse. -Among half a dozen -intimate friends, abandoning <span class="xxpn" id="p039">{39}</span> -formalities and sitting at ease round the fire, none will enter -with greater enjoyment into the highest kind of social -intercourse—the genuine communion of thought and feeling; -and if the circle includes women of intelligence and -refinement, so much the greater is their pleasure. It is -because they will no longer be choked with the mere dry -husks of conversation which society offers them, that they -fly its assemblies, and seek those with whom they may have -discourse that is at least real, though unpolished. The men -who thus long for substantial mental sympathy, and will go -where they can get it, are often, indeed, much better at the -core than the men who are content with the inanities of -gloved and scented party-goers—men who feel no need to -come morally nearer to their fellow-creatures than they can -come while standing, tea-cup in hand, answering trifles -with trifles; and who, by feeling no such need, prove -themselves shallow-thoughted and cold-hearted. It is true, -that some who shun drawing-rooms do so from inability to -bear the restraints prescribed by a genuine refinement, and -that they would be greatly improved by being kept under -these restraints. But it is not less true that, by adding to -the legitimate restraints, which are based on convenience -and a regard for others, a host of factitious restraints based -only on convention, the refining discipline, which would -else have been borne with benefit, is rendered unbearable, -and so misses its end. Excess of government defeats itself -by driving away those to be governed. And if over all who -desert its entertainments in disgust either at their emptiness -or their formality, society thus loses its salutary influence—if -such not only fail to receive that moral culture which the -company of ladies, when rationally regulated, would give -them, but, in default of other relaxation, are driven into -habits and companionships which often end in gambling -and drunkenness; must we not say that here, too, is an evil -not to be passed over as insignificant?</p> - -<p>Then consider what a -blighting effect these <span class="xxpn" id="p040">{40}</span> -multitudinous preparations and ceremonies have upon the -pleasures they profess to subserve. Who, on calling to -mind the occasions of his highest social enjoyments, does -not find them to have been wholly informal, perhaps -impromptu? How delightful a pic-nic of friends, who -forget all observances save those dictated by good nature! -How pleasant the unpretending gatherings of small book-societies, -and the like; or those purely accidental meetings -of a few people well known to each other! Then, indeed, -we may see that “a man sharpeneth the countenance of -his friend.” Cheeks flush, and eyes sparkle. The witty -grow brilliant, and even the dull are excited into saying -good things. There is an overflow of topics; and the -right thought, and the right words to put it in, spring -up unsought. Grave alternates with gay: now serious -converse, and now jokes, anecdotes, and playful raillery. -Everyone’s best nature is shown; everyone’s best feelings -are in pleasurable activity; and, for the time, life seems -well worth having. Go now and dress for some half-past -eight dinner, or some ten o’clock “at home;” and present -yourself in spotless attire, with every hair arranged to perfection. -How great the difference! The enjoyment seems -in the inverse ratio of the preparation. These figures, got -up with such finish and precision, appear but half alive. -They have frozen each other by their primness; and your -faculties feel the numbing effects of the atmosphere the -moment you enter it. All those thoughts, so nimble and -so apt awhile since, have disappeared—have suddenly -acquired a preternatural power of eluding you. If you -venture a remark to your neighbour, there comes a trite -rejoinder, and there it ends. No subject you can hit upon -outlives half a dozen sentences. Nothing that is said -excites any real interest in you; and you feel that all you -say is listened to with apathy. By some strange magic, -things that usually give pleasure seem to have lost all -charm. You have a taste for art. -Weary of frivolous <span class="xxpn" id="p041">{41}</span> -talk, you turn to the table, and find that the book of -engravings and the portfolio of photographs are as flat as -the conversation. You are fond of music. Yet the singing, -good as it is, you hear with utter indifference; and say -“Thank you” with a sense of being a profound hypocrite. -Wholly at ease though you could be, for your own part, -you find that your sympathies will not let you. You see -young gentlemen feeling whether their ties are properly -adjusted, looking vacantly round, and considering what -they shall do next. You see ladies sitting disconsolately, -waiting for some one to speak to them, and wishing they -had the wherewith to occupy their fingers. You see the -hostess standing about the doorway, keeping a factitious -smile on her face, and racking her brain to find the requisite -nothings with which to greet her guests as they enter. -You see numberless traits of weariness and embarrassment; -and, if you have any fellow feeling, these cannot fail to -produce a sense of discomfort. The disorder is catching; -and do what you will, you cannot resist the general -infection. You struggle against it; you make spasmodic -efforts to be lively; but none of your sallies or your good -stories do more than raise a simper or a forced laugh: -intellect and feeling are alike asphyxiated. And when, at -length, yielding to your disgust, you rush away, how great -is the relief when you get into the fresh air, and see the -stars! How you “Thank God, that’s over!” and half -resolve to avoid all such boredom for the future! What, -now, is the secret of this perpetual miscarriage and disappointment? -Does not the fault lie with these needless -adjuncts—these elaborate dressings, these set forms, these -expensive preparations, these many devices and arrangements -that imply trouble and raise expectation? Who -that has lived thirty years in the world has not discovered -that Pleasure is coy; and must not be too directly pursued, -but must be caught unawares? An air from a street-piano, -heard while at work, will often gratify -more than the <span class="xxpn" id="p042">{42}</span> -choicest music played at a concert by the most accomplished -musicians. A single good picture seen in a dealer’s -window, may give keener enjoyment than a whole exhibition -gone through with catalogue and pencil. By the -time we have got ready our elaborate apparatus by which -to secure happiness, the happiness is gone. It is too subtle -to be contained in these receivers, garnished with compliments, -and fenced round with etiquette. The more we -multiply and complicate appliances, the more certain are -we to drive it away. The reason is patent enough. These -higher emotions to which social intercourse ministers, are -of extremely complex nature; they consequently depend -for their production upon very numerous conditions; the -more numerous the conditions, the greater the liability that -one or other of them will not be fulfilled. It takes a -considerable misfortune to destroy appetite; but cordial -sympathy with those around may be extinguished by a look -or a word. Hence it follows, that the more multiplied the -<i>unnecessary</i> requirements with which social intercourse is -surrounded, the less likely are its pleasures to be achieved. -It is difficult enough to fulfil continuously all the <i>essentials</i> -to a pleasurable communion with others: how much more -difficult, then, must it be continuously to fulfil a host of -<i>non-essentials</i> also! What chance is there of getting any -genuine response from the lady who is thinking of your -stupidity in taking her in to dinner on the wrong arm? -How are you likely to have agreeable converse with the -gentleman who is fuming internally because he is not -placed next to the hostess? Formalities, familiar as they -may become, necessarily occupy attention—necessarily -multiply the occasions for mistake, misunderstanding, and -jealousy, on the part of one or other—necessarily distract -all minds from the thoughts and feelings which should -occupy them—necessarily, therefore, subvert those conditions -under which only any sterling intercourse is to be had.</p> - -<p>And this, indeed, is the fatal -mischief which these <span class="xxpn" id="p043">{43}</span> -conventions entail—a mischief to which every other is -secondary. They destroy those pleasures which they profess -to subserve. All institutions are alike in this, that -however useful, and needful even, they originally were, they -in the end cease to be so, but often become detrimental. -While humanity is growing, they continue fixed; daily get -more mechanical and unvital; and by and by tend to -strangle what they before preserved. Old forms of government -finally grow so oppressive, that they must be thrown -off even at the risk of reigns of terror. Old creeds end -in being dead formulas, which no longer aid but distort -and arrest the general mind; while the State-churches -administering them, come to be instruments for subsidizing -conservatism and repressing progress. Old schemes of -education, incarnated in public schools and colleges, continue -filling the heads of new generations with what has -become relatively useless knowledge, and, by consequence, -excluding knowledge which is useful. Not an organization -of any kind—political, religious, literary, philanthropic—but -what, by its ever-multiplying regulations, its accumulating -wealth, its yearly addition of officers, and the -creeping into it of patronage and party feeling, eventually -loses its original spirit, and sinks into a lifeless mechanism, -worked with a view to private ends—a mechanism which -not merely fails of its first purpose, but is a positive hindrance -to it. Thus is it, too, with social usages. We read -of the Chinese that they have “ponderous ceremonies -transmitted from time immemorial,” which make social -intercourse a burden. The court forms prescribed by -monarchs for their own exaltation, have, in all times and -places, ended in consuming the comfort of their lives. -And so the artificial observances of the dining-room and -saloon, in proportion as they are many and strict, extinguish -that agreeable communion which they were intended to -secure. The dislike with which people commonly speak of -society that is “formal,” and -“stiff,” and “ceremonious,” <span class="xxpn" id="p044">{44}</span> -implies a general recognition of this fact; and this recognition -involves the inference that all usages of behaviour -which are not based on natural requirements, are injurious. -That these conventions defeat their own ends is no new -assertion. Swift, criticising the manners of his day, says—“Wise -men are often more uneasy at the over-civility of -these refiners than they could possibly be in the conversation -of peasants and mechanics.”</p> - -<p>But it is not only in these details that the self-defeating -action of our arrangements is traceable; it is traceable in -the very substance and nature of them. Our social intercourse, -as commonly managed, is a mere semblance of the -reality sought. What is it that we want? Some sympathetic -converse with our fellow-creatures:—some converse that -shall not be mere dead words, but the vehicle of living -thoughts and feelings—converse in which the eyes and the -face shall speak, and the tones of the voice be full of meaning—converse -which shall make us feel no longer alone, -but shall draw us closer to others, and double our own -emotions by adding their’s to them. Who is there that -has not, from time to time, felt how cold and flat is all this -talk about politics and science, and the new books and the -new men, and how a genuine utterance of fellow-feeling -outweighs the whole of it? Mark the words of Bacon:—“For -a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery -of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is -no love.” If this be true, then it is only after acquaintance -has grown into intimacy, and intimacy has ripened into -friendship, that the real communion which men need -becomes possible. A rationally-formed circle must consist -almost wholly of those on terms of familiarity and regard, -with but one or two strangers. What folly, then, underlies -the whole system of our grand dinners, our “at homes,” our -evening parties—crowds made up of many who never met -before, many who just bow to one another, many who -though well known feel mutual indifference, with -just a few <span class="xxpn" id="p045">{45}</span> -real friends lost in the general mass! You need but look -round at the artificial expressions of face, to see at once how -it is. All have their disguises on; and how can there be -sympathy between masks? No wonder that in private every -one exclaims against the stupidity of these gatherings. No -wonder that hostesses get them up rather because they -must than because they wish. No wonder that the -invited go less from the expectation of pleasure than -from fear of giving offence. The whole thing is an -organized disappointment.</p> - -<p>And then note, lastly, that in this case, as in others, -an organization inoperative for its proper purpose, it is -employed for quite other purposes. What is the usual -plea put in for giving and attending these tedious assemblies? -“I admit that they are dull and frivolous enough,” -replies every man to your criticisms; “but then, you know, -one must keep up one’s connexions.” And could you get -from his wife a sincere answer, it would be—“Like you, I -am sick of these formal parties; but then, we must get our -daughters married.” The one knows that there is a -profession to push, a business to extend; or parliamentary -influence, or county patronage, or votes, or office, to -be got: position, berths, favours, profit. The other’s -thoughts run upon husbands and settlements, wives and -dowries. Worthless for their ostensible purpose of daily -bringing human beings into pleasurable relations with -each other, these cumbrous appliances of our social intercourse -are now perseveringly kept in action with a view -to the pecuniary and matrimonial results which they -indirectly produce.</p> - -<p>Who then shall say that the reform of our system of -observances is unimportant? When we see how this system -induces fashionable extravagance, with its occasional ruin—when -we mark how greatly it limits the amount of social -intercourse among the less wealthy classes—when we find -that many who most need to be -disciplined by mixing <span class="xxpn" id="p046">{46}</span> -with the refined are driven away by it, and led into bad -courses—when we count up the many minor evils it inflicts, -the extra work which its costliness entails on all professional -and mercantile men, the damage to public taste -in dress and decoration by the setting up of its absurdities -as standards for imitation, the injury to health indicated -in the faces of its devotees at the close of the London season, -the mortality of milliners and the like, which its sudden -exigencies yearly involve;—and when to all these we add -its fatal sin, that it withers up and kills that high enjoyment -it professedly ministers to—shall we not conclude that -to rationalize etiquette and fashion, is an aim yielding to -few in urgency?</p> - -<p class="padtopb">There needs, then, a protestantism in social usages. -Forms which have ceased to facilitate and have become -obstructive—have to be swept away. Signs are not -wanting that some change is at hand. A host of satirists, -led on by Thackeray, have long been engaged in bringing -our sham-festivities, and our fashionable follies, into contempt; -and in their candid moods, most men laugh at the -frivolities with which they and the world in general are -deluded. Ridicule has always been a revolutionary agent. -Institutions that have lost their roots in men’s respect and -faith are doomed; and the day of their dissolution is not -far off. The time is approaching, then, when our system of -social observances must pass through some crisis, out of -which it will come purified and comparatively simple.</p> - -<p>How this crisis will be brought about, no one can say. -Whether by the continuance and increase of individual -protests, or whether by the union of many persons for the -practice and diffusion of better usages, the future alone -can decide. The influence of dissentients acting without -co-operation, seems inadequate. Frowned on by conformists, -and expostulated with even by those who secretly -sympathize with them; subject to -petty persecutions, and <span class="xxpn" id="p047">{47}</span> -unable to trace any benefit produced by their example; -they are apt, one by one, to give up their attempts as -hopeless. The young convention-breaker eventually finds -that he pays too heavily for his nonconformity. Hating, -for example, everything that bears about it any remnant -of servility, he determines, in the ardour of his independence, -that he will uncover to no one. But what he means -simply as a general protest, he finds that ladies interpret -into a personal disrespect. In other cases his courage -fails him. Such of his unconventionalities as can be attributed -only to eccentricity, he has no qualms about; for, on -the whole, he feels rather complimented than otherwise in -being considered a disregarder of public opinion. But -when they are liable to be put down to ignorance, to ill-breeding, -or to poverty, he becomes a coward. However -clearly the recent innovation of eating some kinds of fish -with knife and fork proves the fork-and-bread practice to -have had little but caprice for its basis, yet he dares not -wholly ignore that practice while fashion partially maintains -it.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn4" id="fnanch4">4</a> -Though he thinks that a silk handkerchief is -quite as appropriate for drawing-room use as a white -cambric one, he is not altogether at ease in acting out his -opinion. Then, too, he begins to perceive that his resistance -to prescription brings round disadvantageous results -which he had not calculated upon. He had expected that -it would save him from a great deal of social intercourse -of a frivolous kind—that it would offend the silly people, -but not the sensible people; and so would serve as a self-acting -test by which those worth knowing would be separated -from those not worth knowing. But the silly people -prove to be so greatly in the majority that, by offending -them, he closes against himself nearly all the avenues -through which the sensible people are to be reached. Thus -he finds, that his nonconformity is frequently misinterpreted; -that there are but few directions in -which he dares <span class="xxpn" id="p048">{48}</span> -to carry it consistently out; that the disadvantages it -entails are greater than he anticipated; and that the -chances of his doing any good are very remote. Hence he -gradually loses resolution, and lapses, step by step, into the -ordinary routine of observances.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch4" id="fn4">4</a> -This was written before the introduction -of silver fish-knives.</p></div> - -<p>Abortive as individual protests thus generally turn out, -it may possibly be that nothing effectual will be done until -there arises some organized resistance to this invisible -despotism, by which our modes and habits are dictated. -It may happen, that the government of Manners and -Fashion will be rendered less tyrannical, as the political and -religious governments have been, by some antagonistic -union. Alike in Church and State, men’s first emancipations -from excesses of restriction were achieved by -numbers, bound together by a common creed or a common -political faith. What remained undone while there were -but individual schismatics or rebels, was effected when -there came to be many acting in concert. It is tolerably -clear that these earliest instalments of freedom could not -have been obtained in any other way; for so long as the -feeling of personal independence was weak and the rule -strong, there could never have been a sufficient number of -separate dissentients to produce the desired results. Only -in these later times, during which the secular and spiritual -controls have been growing less coercive, and the tendency -towards individual liberty greater, has it become possible -for smaller and smaller sects and parties to fight against -established creeds and laws; until now men may safely -stand even alone in their antagonism. The failure of -individual nonconformity to customs, suggests that an -analogous series of changes may have to be gone through -in this case also. It is true that the <i>lex non scripta</i> differs -from the <i>lex scripta</i> in this, that, being unwritten, it is -more readily altered; and that it has, from time to time, -been quietly ameliorated. Nevertheless, we shall find that -the analogy holds substantially good. For in -this case, as <span class="xxpn" id="p049">{49}</span> -in the others, the essential revolution is not the substituting -of any one set of restraints for any other, but the limiting -or abolishing the authority which prescribes restraints. -Just as the fundamental change inaugurated by the -Reformation, was not a superseding of one creed by -another, but an ignoring of the arbiter who before dictated -creeds—just as the fundamental change which Democracy -long ago commenced, was not from this particular law to -that, but from the despotism of one to the freedom of all; -so, the parallel change yet to be wrought out in this -supplementary government of which we are treating, is not -the replacing of absurd usages by sensible ones, but the -dethronement of that power which now imposes our usages, -and the assertion of the rights of individuals to choose -their own usages. In rules of living, a West-end clique is -our Pope; and we are all papists, with but a mere sprinkling -of heretics. On those who decisively rebel, comes -down the penalty of excommunication, with its long -catalogue of disagreeable and, indeed, serious consequences. -The liberty of the subject asserted in our constitution, and -ever on the increase, has yet to be wrested from this -subtler tyranny. The right of private judgment, which -our ancestors wrung from the church, remains to be -claimed from this dictator of our habits. Or, as before -said, to free us from these idolatries and superstitious -conformities, there has still to come a protestantism in -social usages. Parallel, therefore, as is the change to be -wrought out, it seems not improbable that it may be -wrought out in an analogous way. That influence which -solitary dissentients fail to gain, and that perseverance -which they lack, may come into existence when they unite. -That persecution which the world now visits upon them -from mistaking their nonconformity for ignorance or disrespect, -may diminish when it is seen to result from -principle. The penalty which exclusion now entails may -disappear when they become numerous -enough to form <span class="xxpn" id="p050">{50}</span> -visiting circles of their own. And when a successful stand -has been made, and the brunt of the opposition has passed, -that large amount of secret dislike to our observances -which now pervades society, may manifest itself with -sufficient power to effect the desired emancipation.</p> - -<p>Whether such will be the process, time alone can decide. -That community of origin, growth, supremacy, and decadence, -which we have found among all kinds of government, -suggests a community in modes of change also. -On the other hand, Nature often performs substantially -similar operations, in ways apparently different. Hence -these details can never be foretold.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Meanwhile, let us glance at the conclusions that have -been reached. On the one side, government, originally -one, and afterwards subdivided for the better fulfilment of -its function, must be considered as having ever been, in all -its branches—political, religious, and ceremonial—beneficial; -and, indeed, absolutely necessary. On the other -side, government, under all its forms, must be regarded as -subserving an office, made needful by the unfitness of -aboriginal humanity for social life; and the successive -diminutions of its coerciveness in State, in Church, and in -Custom, must be looked upon accompanying the increasing -adaptation of humanity to its conditions. To complete the -conception, there requires to be borne in mind the third fact, -that the genesis, the maintenance, and the decline of all -governments, however named, are alike brought about by -the humanity to be controlled; from which may be drawn the -inference that, on the average, restrictions of every kind -cannot last much longer than they are wanted, and cannot -be destroyed much faster than they ought to be. Society, -in all its developments, undergoes the process of exuviation. -These old forms which it successively throws off, have all -been once vitally united with it—have severally served as -the protective envelopes within which -a higher humanity <span class="xxpn" id="p051">{51}</span> -was being evolved. They are cast aside only when they -become hindrances—only when some inner and better -envelope has been formed; and they bequeath to us all that -there was in them of good. The periodical abolitions of -tyrannical laws have left the administration of justice not -only uninjured, but purified. Dead and buried creeds -have not carried with them the essential morality they -contained, which still exists, uncontaminated by the sloughs -of superstition. And all that there is of justice and -kindness and beauty, embodied in our cumbrous forms of -etiquette, will live perennially when the forms themselves -have been forgotten.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p052">{52}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">RAILWAY MORALS AND RAILWAY POLICY.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First published -in the</i> Edinburgh Review <i>for October 1854</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>Believers in the intrinsic virtues of political forms, might -draw an instructive lesson from the politics of our railways. -If there needs a conclusive proof that the most carefully-framed -constitutions are worthless, unless they be embodiments -of the popular character—if there needs a conclusive -proof, that governmental arrangements in advance of the -time will inevitably lapse into congruity with the time; -such proof may be found over and over again repeated in -the current history of joint-stock enterprises. As devised -by Act of Parliament, the administrations of our public -companies are almost purely democratic. The representative -system is carried out in them with scarcely a check. -Shareholders elect their directors, directors their chairman; -there is an annual retirement of a certain proportion of -members of the board, giving facilities for superseding -them; and, by this means, the whole ruling body may be -changed in periods varying from three to five years. Yet, -not only are the characteristic vices of our political state -reproduced in each of these mercantile corporations—some -even in an intenser degree—but the very form of government, -while remaining nominally democratic, is substantially -so remodelled as to become a miniature of our national -constitution. The direction, ceasing to fulfil its -theory as a <span class="xxpn" id="p053">{53}</span> -council formed of members who possess equal powers, falls -under the control of some one member of superior cunning, -will, or wealth, to whom the majority become so subordinate, -that the decision on every question depends on the course -he takes. Proprietors, instead of constantly exercising -their franchise, allow it to become on all ordinary occasions -a dead letter. Retiring directors are so habitually re-elected -without opposition, and have so great a power of insuring -their own election when opposed, that the board becomes -practically a close body; and it is only when the misgovernment -grows extreme enough to produce a revolutionary -agitation among the shareholders, that any change -can be effected. Thus, a mixture of the monarchic, the -aristocratic, and the democratic elements, is repeated with -such modifications only as the circumstances involve. The -modes of action, too, are substantially the same; save in -this, that the copy outruns the original. Threats of -resignation, which ministries hold out in extreme cases, -are commonly made by railway-boards to stave off disagreeable -inquiries. By no means regarding themselves as -servants of the shareholders, directors rebel against dictation -from them; and construe any amendment to their proposals -into a vote of want of confidence. At half-yearly meetings, -disagreeable criticisms and objections are met by the chairman -with the remark, that if the shareholders cannot trust -his colleagues and himself, they had better choose others. -With most, this assumption of offended dignity tells; and, -under fear that the company’s interests may suffer from -any disturbance, measures quite at variance with the wishes -of the proprietary are allowed to be carried. The parallel -holds yet further. If it be true of national administrations, -that those in power have the support of public <i>employés</i>; -it is not less true of incorporated companies, that the -directors are aided by the officials in their struggles with -shareholders. If, in times past, there have been ministries -who spent public money to secure party ends; -there are, in <span class="xxpn" id="p054">{54}</span> -times present, railway-boards who use the funds of the -shareholders to defeat the shareholders. Nay, even in -detail, the similarity is maintained. Like their prototype, -joint-stock companies have their expensive election contests, -managed by election committees, employing election -agents; they have their canvassing with its sundry -illegitimate accompaniments; they have their occasional -manufacture of fraudulent votes. And, as a general result, -that class-legislation, which has been habitually charged -against statesmen, is now habitually displayed in the -proceedings of these trading associations: constituted -though they are on purely representative principles.</p> - -<p>These last assertions will surprise not a few. The -general public who never see a railway-journal, and who -skip the reports of half-yearly meetings which appear in -the daily papers, are under the impression that dishonesties -like those gigantic ones so notorious during the mania, are -no longer committed. They do not forget the doings of -stags and stock-jobbers and runaway-directors. They -remember how men-of-straw held shares amounting to -£100,000, and even £200,000; how numerous directorates -were filled by the same persons—one having a seat at -twenty-three boards; how subscription-contracts were -made up with signatures bought at 10<i>s</i> and even 4<i>s</i> each, -and porters and errand-boys made themselves liable for -£30,000 and £40,000 a-piece. They can narrate how -boards kept their books in cipher, made false registries, -and refrained from recording their proceedings in minute-books; -how in one company, half-a-million of capital was -put down to unreal names; how in another, directors -bought for account more shares than they issued, and so -forced up the price; and how in many others, they repurchased -for the company their own shares, paying -themselves with the depositors’ money. But, though more -or less aware of the iniquities which have been practised, -the generality think of them solely -as the accompaniments <span class="xxpn" id="p055">{55}</span> -of bubble schemes. More recent enterprises they know to -have been <i>bonâ fide</i> ones, mostly carried out by old-established -companies; and knowing this, they do not suspect -that in the getting-up of branch lines and extensions, -there are chicaneries near akin to those of Capel Court; -and quite as disastrous in their ultimate results. Associating -the ideas of wealth and respectability, and habitually -using respectability as synonymous with morality, it seems -to them incredible that many of the large capitalists and -men of station who administer railway affairs, should be -guilty of indirectly enriching themselves at the expense -of their constituents. True, they occasionally meet with -a law-report disclosing some enormous fraud; or read a -<i>Times</i> leader, characterising directorial acts in terms -which are held libellous. But they regard the cases thus -brought to light as entirely exceptional; and, under that -feeling of loyalty which ever idealises men in authority, -they constantly tend towards the conviction, if not that -directors can do no wrong, yet that they are very unlikely to -do wrong.</p> - -<p>A history of railway management and railway intrigue, -however, would quickly undeceive them. In such a history, -the tricks of projectors and the mysteries of the share-market -would occupy less space than the analysis of the -multiform dishonesties which have been committed since -1845, and the genesis of that elaborate system of tactics by -which companies are betrayed into ruinous undertakings -which benefit the few at the cost of the many. Such a -history would not only have to detail the doings of the -personage famed for “making things pleasant;” nor would -it have merely to add the misdeeds of his colleagues; but -it would have to describe the kindred corruptness of other -railway administrations. From the published report of an -investigation-committee, it would be shown how, not many -years since, the directors of one of our lines allotted among -themselves 15,000 new shares then at a -premium in the <span class="xxpn" id="p056">{56}</span> -market; how to pay the deposits on these shares they used -the company’s funds; and how one of their number thus -accommodated himself in meeting both deposits and calls -to the extent of more than £80,000. We should read in -it of one railway chairman who, with the secretary’s connivance, -retained shares exceeding a quarter of a million -in amount, intending to claim them as his allotment if -they rose to a premium; and who, as they did not do -so, left them as unissued shares on the hands of the -proprietors, to their vast loss. We should also read -in it of directors who made loans to themselves out of -the company’s floating balances at a low rate of interest, -when the market rate was high; and who paid themselves -larger salaries than those assigned: entering the difference -in an obscure corner of the ledger under the head of -“petty disbursements.” There would be a description of -the manœuvres by which a delinquent board, under impending -investigation, gets a favourable committee nominated—“a -whitewashing committee.” There would be documents -showing that the proxies enabling boards to carry contested -measures, have in some cases been obtained by garbled -statements; and, again, that proxies given for a specified -purpose have been used for other purposes. One of our -companies would be proved to have projected a line, serving -as a feeder, for which it obtained shareholders by offering a -guaranteed dividend, which, though understood by the public -to be unconditional, was really contingent upon a condition -not likely to be fulfilled. The managers of another company -would be convicted of having carried party measures by the -aid of preference-shares standing in the names of station-masters; -and of being aided by the proxies of the secretary’s -children too young to write.</p> - -<p>That the corruptions here glanced at are not exceptional -evils, but result from some deep-seated vice in our system -of railway-government, is sufficiently proved by the fact, -that notwithstanding the -falling of railway-dividends <span class="xxpn" id="p057">{57}</span> -produced by the extension policy, that policy has been year -after year continued. Does any tradesman, who, having -enlarged his shop, finds a proportionate diminution in -his rate of profits, go on, even under the stimulus of -competition, making further enlargements at the risk of -further diminutions? Does any merchant, however strong -his desire to take away an opponent’s markets, make successive -mortgages on his capital, and pay for each sum thus -raised a higher interest than he gains by trading with it? -Yet this course, so absurd that no one would insult a private -individual by asking him to follow it, is the course which -railway-boards, at meeting after meeting, persuade their -clients to pursue. Since 1845, when the dividends of our -leading lines ranged from 8 to 10 per cent., they have, -notwithstanding an ever-growing traffic, fallen from 10 per -cent. to 5, from 8 to 4, from 9 to -3 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>4</sub>; -and yet the system -of extensions, leases, and guarantees, notoriously the -cause of this, has been year by year persevered in. Is -there not something needing explanation here—something -more than the world is allowed to see? If there be any -one to whom the broad fact of obstinate persistence in -unprofitable expenditure does not alone carry the conviction -that sinister influences are at work, let him read the seductive -statements by which shareholders are led to authorize new -projects, and then compare these with the proved results. -Let him look at the estimated cost, anticipated traffic, and -calculated dividend on some proposed branch line; let him -observe how the proprietary before whom the scheme is laid, -are induced to approve it as promising a fair return; and -then let him contemplate, in the resulting depreciation of -stock, the extent of their loss. Is there any avoiding the -inference? Railway-shareholders can never have habitually -voted for new undertakings which they knew would be injurious -to them. Every one knows, however, that these new -undertakings have almost uniformly proved injurious to -them. Obviously, therefore, -railway-shareholders have been <span class="xxpn" id="p058">{58}</span> -continually deluded by false representations. The only -possible escape from this conclusion is in the belief that -boards and their officers have been themselves deceived; -and were the discrepancies between promises and results -occasional only, there would be grounds for this lenient -interpretation. But to suppose that a railway-government -should repeatedly make such mistakes, and yet gain no -wisdom from disastrous experiences—should after a dozen -disappointments again mislead half-yearly meetings by -bright anticipations into dark realities, and all in good -faith—taxes credulity somewhat too far. Even, then, -were there no demonstrated iniquities to rouse suspicion, -we think that the continuous depreciation in the value -of railway-stock, the determined perseverance of boards in -the policy which has produced this depreciation, and the -proved untruth of the statements by which they have -induced shareholders to sanction this policy, would of -themselves suffice to show the viciousness of -railway-administration.</p> - -<p>That the existing evils, and the causes conspiring to -produce them, may be better understood, it will be needful -to glance at the mode in which the system of extensions -grew up. Earliest among the incentives to it was a feeling -of rivalry. Even while yet their main lines were unfinished, -a contest for supremacy arose between our two greatest -companies. This presently generated a confirmed antagonism; -and the same impulse which in election contests has -sometimes entailed the squandering of a fortune to gain a -victory, has largely aided to make each of these great rivals -submit to repeated sacrifices rather than be beaten. Feuds -of like nature are in other cases perpetually prompting -boards to make aggressions on each other’s territories—every -attack on the one side leading to a reprisal on the -other; and so violent is the hostility occasionally produced, -that directors might be pointed out whose votes are wholly -determined by the desire to be revenged -on their opponents. <span class="xxpn" id="p059">{59}</span> -Among the first methods used by leading companies to -strengthen themselves and weaken their competitors, was -the leasing or purchase of subordinate neighbouring lines. -Of course those to whom overtures were made, obtained -bids from both sides; and it naturally resulted that the -first sales thus effected, being at prices far above the real -values, brought great profits to the sellers. What resulted? -A few recurrences of this proceeding, made it clear to -quick-witted speculators, that constructing lines so circumstanced -as to be bid for by competing companies, would be -a lucrative policy. Shareholders who had once pocketed -these large and easily-made gains, were eager to repeat the -process; and cast about for districts in which it might be -done. Even the directors of the companies by whom these -high prices were given, were under the temptation to aid in -this; for it was manifest to them that by obtaining a larger -interest in any such new undertaking than they possessed -in the purchasing company, and by using their influence in -the purchasing company to obtain a good price or guarantee -for the new undertaking, a great advantage would be -gained. That this motive has been largely operative, railway -history abundantly proves. Once commenced, sundry -other influences conspired to stimulate this making of -feeders and extensions. The non-closure of capital-accounts -rendered possible the “cooking” of dividends, which was -at one period carried to a great extent. Expenditure that -should have been charged against revenue was charged -against capital; works and rolling stock were allowed to go -unrepaired, or insufficient additions made to them, by which -means the current expenses were rendered delusively small; -long-credit agreements with contractors permitted sundry -disbursements that had virtually been made, to be kept out -of the accounts; and thus the net returns were made to -appear greater than they really were. Naturally new -undertakings put before the moneyed world by companies -whose stock and dividends had been -thus artificially raised, <span class="xxpn" id="p060">{60}</span> -were received with proportionate favour. Under the prestige -of their parentage their shares came out at high premiums, -bringing large profits to the projectors. The hint -was soon taken; and it presently became an established -policy, under the auspices of a prosperity either real or -mock, to get up these subsidiary lines—“calves,” as they -were called in the slang of the initiated—and to traffic in -the premiums their shares commanded. Meanwhile had -been developing, a secondary set of influences which also -contributed to foster unwise enterprises; namely, the business -interests of the lawyers, engineers, contractors, and -others directly or indirectly employed in railway construction. -The ways of getting up and carrying new -schemes, could not fail, in the course of years, to become -familiar to all concerned; and there could not fail to grow -up among them a system of concerted tactics for achieving -their common end. Thus, partly from the jealousy of rival -boards, partly from the greediness of shareholders in purchased -lines, partly from the dishonest schemings of directors, -partly from the manœuvres of those whose occupation -it is to carry out the projects legally authorized, partly, and -perhaps mainly, from the delusive appearance of prosperity -maintained by many established companies, there came the -wild speculations of 1844 and 1845. The consequent disasters, -while they pretty well destroyed the last of these -incentives, left the rest much as they were. Though the -painfully-undeceived public have ceased to aid as they once -did, the various private interests that had grown up have -since been working together as before—have developed -their methods of co-operation into still more complex and -subtle forms; and are even now daily thrusting unfortunate -shareholders into losing undertakings.</p> - -<p>Before proceeding to analyze the existing state of things, -however, we would have it clearly understood that we do -not suppose those implicated to be <i>on the average</i> morally -lower than the community at large. Men -taken at random <span class="xxpn" id="p061">{61}</span> -from any class, would, in all probability, behave much in -the same way when placed in like positions. There are -unquestionably directors grossly dishonest. Unquestionably -also there are others whose standard of honour is far higher -than that of most persons. And for the remainder, they -are, doubtless, as good as the mass. Of the engineers, -parliamentary agents, lawyers, contractors, and others -concerned, it may be admitted that though custom has -induced laxity of principle, yet they would be harshly -judged were the transactions which may be recorded -against them, used as tests. Those who do not see how in -these involved affairs, bad deeds may be wrought out by -men not correspondingly bad, will readily do so on considering -all the conditions. In the first place, there is the -familiar fact that the corporate conscience is inferior to the -individual conscience—that a body of men will commit as a -joint act, that which each one of them would shrink from, -did he feel personally responsible. And it may be remarked -that not only is the conduct <i>of</i> a corporate body thus -comparatively lax, but also the conduct <i>towards</i> one. There -is ever a more or less distinct perception, that a broad-backed -company scarcely feels what would be ruinous to a -private person; and this perception is in constant operation -on all railway-boards and their <i>employés</i>, as well as on all -contractors, landowners, and others concerned: leading -them to show a want of principle foreign to their general -behaviour. Again, the indirectness and remoteness of the -evils produced, greatly weaken the restraints on wrongdoing. -Men’s actions are proximately caused by mental -representations of the results to be anticipated; and the -decisions come to, largely depend on the vividness with -which these results can be imagined. A consequence, good -or bad, that is immediate and clearly apprehended, influences -conduct far more potently than a consequence -that has to be traced through a long chain of actions or -influences, and, as eventually reached, is not -a particular and <span class="xxpn" id="p062">{62}</span> -readily conceivable one, but a general and vaguely conceivable -one. Hence, in railway affairs, a questionable -share-transaction, an exorbitant charge, a proceeding which -brings great individual advantage without apparently -injuring any one, and which, even if traced to its ultimate -results, can but very circuitously affect unknown persons -living no one knows where, may be brought home to men -who, could the results be embodied before them, would be -shocked at the cruel injustices they had committed—men -who in their private business, where the results <i>can</i> be thus -embodied, are sufficiently equitable. Further, it requires -to be noted that most of these great delinquencies are -ascribable not to the extreme dishonesty of any one man or -group of men, but to the combined self-interest of many -men and groups of men, whose minor delinquencies are -cumulative. Much as a story which, passing from mouth -to mouth, and receiving a slight exaggeration at each -repetition, comes round to the original narrator in a form -scarcely to be recognised; so, by a little improper influence -on the part of landowners, a little favouritism on the part -of members of Parliament, a little intriguing of lawyers, -a little manœuvring by contractors and engineers, a little -self-seeking on the part of directors, a little under-statement -of estimates and over-statement of traffic, a little magnifying -of the evils to be avoided and the benefits to be gained—it -happens that shareholders are betrayed into ruinous undertakings -by grossly untrue representations, without any one -being guilty of more than a small portion of the fraud. -Bearing in mind then, the comparative laxity of the corporate -conscience; the diffusion and remoteness of the evils -which malpractices produce; and the composite origin of -these malpractices; it becomes possible to understand how, -in railway affairs, gigantic dishonesties can be perpetrated -by men who, on the average, are little if at all below the -generality in moral character.</p> - -<p>With this preliminary mitigation we proceed -to detail the <span class="xxpn" id="p063">{63}</span> -various illegitimate influences by which these seemingly -insane extensions and this continual squandering of shareholders’ -property are brought about.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Conspicuous among these is the self-interest of landowners. -Once the greatest obstacles to railway enterprise, -owners of estates have of late years been among its chief -promoters. Since the Liverpool and Manchester line was -first defeated by landed opposition, and succeeded with its -second bill only by keeping out of sight of all mansions, -and avoiding game preserves—since the time when the -London and Birmingham Company, after seeing their project -thrown out by a committee of peers who ignored the -evidence, had to “conciliate” opponents by raising the -estimate for land from £250,000 to £750,000—since the -time when Parliamentary counsel justified resistance by -the flimsiest excuses, even to reproaching engineers with -having “trodden down the corn of widows” and “destroyed -the strawberry-beds of gardeners”—since then, a marked -change of policy has taken place. Nor was it in human -nature that it should be otherwise. When it became known -that railway-companies commonly paid for “land and -compensation,” sums varying from £4000 to £8000 per -mile; that men were indemnified for supposed injury to -their property, by sums so inordinate that the greater part -has been known to be returned by the heir as conscience-money; -that in one case £120,000 was given for land said -to be worth but £5000—when it was noised abroad that -large bonuses in the shape of preference shares and the -like, were granted to buy off opposition—when it came to -be an established fact that estates are greatly enhanced in -value by the proximity of railways; it is not surprising -that country gentlemen should have become active friends -of schemes to which they were once the bitterest enemies. -On considering the many temptations, we shall see nothing -wonderful in the fact that in 1845 -they were zealous <span class="xxpn" id="p064">{64}</span> -provisional committee-men; nor in the fact that their influence -as promoters enabled them to get large sums for their own -acres. If we are told of squires soliciting interviews with -the engineer of a projected railway; prompting him to -take their side of the country; promising support if he -did, and threatening opposition if he did not; dictating -the course to be followed through their domains; and hinting -that a good price would be expected; we are simply -told of the special modes in which certain private interests -show themselves. If we hear of an extensive landowner -using his influence as chairman of a board of directors, to -project a branch running for many miles through his own -estate, and putting his company to the cost of a parliamentary -contest to carry this line; we hear only of that -which was likely to occur under such circumstances. If -we find now before the public, a line proposed by a large -capitalist, serving among other ends to effect desirable -communications with his property, and the estimates for -which line, though considered by the engineering world -insufficient, are alleged by him to be ample; we have but -a marked case of the distorted representations which under -such conditions self-interest is sure to engender. If we -discover of this or that scheme, that it was got up by the -local nobility and gentry—that they employed to make the -survey a third-rate engineer, who was ready in anticipation -of future benefit to do this for his bare expenses—that -principals and agent wearied the directors of an adjacent -trunk-line to take up their project; threatened that if they -did not their great rival would; alarmed them into concession; -asked for a contribution to their expenses; and -would have gained all these points but for shareholders’ -resistance—we do but discover the organized tactics which, -in course of time, naturally grow up under such stimuli. -It is not that these facts are particularly remarkable. From -the gross instance of the landowner who asked £8000 for -that which he eventually accepted £80 for, -down to the <span class="xxpn" id="p065">{65}</span> -every-day instances of influence used to get railway accommodation -for the neighbourhood, the acts of the landed -class are simply manifestations of the average character -acting under special conditions. All that it now behoves -us to notice, is, that we have here a large and powerful -body whose interests are ever pressing on railway extension, -irrespective of its intrinsic propriety.</p> - -<p>The great change in the attitude of the Legislature towards -railways, from “the extreme of determined rejection -or dilatory acquiescence, to the opposite extreme of unlimited -concession,” was simultaneous with the change above -described. It could not well fail to be so. Supplying, as -the landowning community does, so large a portion of both -Houses of Parliament, it necessarily follows that the play -of private interests seen in the first, repeats itself in the last -under modified forms, and complicated by other influences. -Remembering the extent to which legislators were themselves -implicated in the speculations of the mania, it is -unlikely that they should since have been free from personal -bias. A return proved, that in 1845 there were 157 members -of Parliament whose names were on the registers of new -companies for sums varying from £291,000 downwards. The -supporters of new projects boasted of the numbers of votes -they could command in the House. Members were personally -canvassed, and peers were solicited. It was publicly -complained in the upper chamber, that “it was nearly impossible -to bring together a jury, some members of which -were not interested in the railway they were about to -assess.” Doubtless this state of things was in a great -degree exceptional; and there has since been not only a -diminution of the temptations, but a marked increase of -equitable feeling. Still, it is not to be expected that private -interests should cease to act. It is not to be expected that -a landowner who, out of Parliament, exerts himself to get -a railway for his district, should, when in Parliament, not -employ the power his new position gives him -to the same <span class="xxpn" id="p066">{66}</span> -end. It is not to be expected that the accumulation of -such individual actions should leave the legislative policy -unchanged. Hence the fact, that the influence once used -to throw out railway bills is now used to carry them. -Hence the fact, that railway committees no longer require a -good traffic case to be made out in justification for the -powers asked. Hence the fact, that railway directors -having seats in the House of Commons, are induced to -pledge their companies to carry out extensions. We could -name a member of Parliament who, having bought an estate -fitly situated, offered to an engineer, also in Parliament, the -making of a railway running through it; and having -obtained the Act (in doing which the influence of himself -and his friend was of course useful), pitted three railway -companies against each other for the purchase of it. We -could name another member of Parliament who, having -projected and obtained powers for an extension through -his property, induced the directors of the main line, with -whom he had great influence, to subscribe half the capital -for his extension, to work it for fifty per cent. of the gross -receipts, and to give up all traffic brought by it on to the -main line until he received four per cent. on his capital; -which was tantamount to a four per cent. guarantee. But -it is not only, nor indeed mainly, from directly personal -motives that legislators have of late years unduly fostered -railway enterprises. Indirectly personal motives of various -kinds have been largely operative. The wish to satisfy -constituents has been one. Inhabitants of an unaccommodated -district, are naturally urgent with their representatives -to help them to a line. Not unfrequently such -representatives are conscious that their next elections may -perhaps turn upon their successful response to this appeal. -Even when there is no popular pressure there is the pressure -of their leading political supporters—of large landholders -whom it will not do to neglect; of local lawyers, important -as electioneering friends, to whom a -railway always brings <span class="xxpn" id="p067">{67}</span> -business. Thus, without having immediately private ends, -members of Parliament are often almost coerced into -urging forward schemes which, from a national point of -view, or from a shareholder’s point of view, are very unwise -ones. Then there come the still less direct stimuli. Where -neither personal nor political ends are to be gained, there -are still the interests of a relative to be subserved; or, if not -those of a relative, still those of a friend. And where there -is no decided impulse to the contrary, these motives, of -course, have their weight. Moreover, it requires in fairness -to be said, that possessed as most members of Parliament -are, with the belief that all railway-making is nationally -beneficial, there exist in their minds few or no reasons for -resisting the influences brought to bear on them. True, -shareholders may be injured; but that is their own affair. -The public will be better served; constituents will be -satisfied; friends will be pleased; perhaps private ends -gained: and under some or all of these incentives, -affirmative votes are readily given. Thus, from the Legislature -also, there has of late years proceeded a factitious -stimulus to railway extensions.</p> - -<p>From Parliament to Parliamentary agents, and the -general body of lawyers concerned in railway enterprise, -is a ready transition. With these, the getting up and -carrying of new lines and branches is a matter of business. -Whoever traces the process of obtaining a railway Act, or -considers the number of legal transactions involved in the -execution of railway works, or notes the large sums that -figure in half-yearly reports under the head of “law -charges;” will at once see how strong are the temptations -which a new project holds out to solicitors, conveyancers, -and counsel. It has been shown that in past years, -parliamentary expenses have varied from £650 to £3000 -per mile; of which a large proportion has gone into the -pockets of the profession. In one contest, £57,000 was -spent among six counsel and twenty solicitors. -At a late <span class="xxpn" id="p068">{68}</span> -meeting of one of our companies it was pointed out, that -the sum expended in legal and parliamentary expenses -during nine years, had reached £480,000; or had averaged -£53,500 a-year. With these and scores of like facts -before them, it would be strange did not so acute a body -of men as lawyers use vigorous efforts and sagacious -devices to promote fresh enterprises. Indeed, if we look -back at the proceedings of 1845, we shall suspect, not -only that lawyers are still the active promoters of fresh -enterprises, but often the originators of them. Many have -heard how in those excited times the projects daily -announced were not uncommonly set afloat by local solicitors—how -these looked over maps to see where plausible -lines could be sketched out—how they canvassed the local -gentry to obtain provisional committeemen—how they -agreed with engineers to make trial surveys—how, under -the wild hopes of the day, they found little difficulty in -forming companies—and how most of them managed to -get as far as the Committee on Standing Orders, if no -farther. Remembering all this, and remembering that -those who were successful are not likely to have forgotten -their cunning, but rather to have yearly exercised and -increased it, we may expect to find railway lawyers among -the most influential of the many parties conspiring to urge -railway proprietaries into disastrous undertakings; and -we shall not be deceived. To a great extent they are in -league with engineers. From the proposal to the completion -of a new line, the lawyer and the engineer work -together; and their interests are throughout identical. -While the one makes the survey, the other prepares the -book of reference. The parish plans which the one gets -ready, the other deposits. The notices to owners and -occupiers which the one fills in, the other serves upon -those concerned. And there are frequent consultations -between them as to the dealing with local opposition and -the obtainment of local support. In the -getting up of <span class="xxpn" id="p069">{69}</span> -their case for Parliament, they necessarily act in concert. -While, before committee, the one gets his ten guineas -per day for attending to give evidence, the other makes -profits on all the complicated transactions which carrying -a bill involves. During the execution of the works they -are in constant correspondence; and alike profit by any -expansion of the undertaking. Thus there naturally arises -in each, the perception that in aiding the other he is -aiding himself; and gradually as, in course of years, the -proceedings come to be often repeated, and a perfect -familiarity with railway politics gained, there grows up a -well-organized system of co-operation between them—a -system rendered the more efficient by the wealth and -influence which each has year by year accumulated.</p> - -<p>Among the manœuvres employed by railway solicitors -thus established and thus helped, not the least remarkable -is that of getting their own nominees elected as directors. -It is a fact, which we state on good authority, that there -are puppet-directors who vote for this or that at the -instigation of the company’s lawyer. The obtainment of -such tools is not difficult. Vacancies are about to occur in -the directorate. Almost always there are men over whom -a solicitor, conducting the extensive law-business of a -railway, has considerable power: not only connexions and -friends, but persons to whom in his legal capacity he can -do great benefit or great injury. He selects the most -suitable of these; giving the preference, if other things -are equal, to one living in the country near the line. On -opening the matter to him, he points out the sundry -advantages attendant on a director’s position—the free -pass and the many facilities it gives; the annual £100 or -so which the office brings; the honour and influence -accruing; the opportunities for profitable investment that -are likely to occur; and so forth. Should ignorance of -railway affairs be raised as an objection, the tempter, in -whose eyes this ignorance is -a chief recommendation, <span class="xxpn" id="p070">{70}</span> -replies that he shall always be at hand to guide his votes. -Should non-possession of a due amount of the company’s -stock be pleaded, the tempter meets the difficulty by -offering himself to furnish the needful qualification. Thus -incited and flattered, and perhaps conscious that it would -be dangerous to refuse, the intended puppet allows himself -to be put in nomination; and as it is the habit of half-yearly -meetings, unless under great indignation, to elect -any one proposed to them by those in authority, the -nomination is successful. On subsequent occasions this -proceeding can, of course, be repeated; and thus the -company’s legal agent and those leagued with him, may -command sufficient votes to turn the scale in their -own favour.</p> - -<p>Then, to the personal interest and power of the head -solicitor, have to be added those of the local solicitors, -with whom he is in daily intercourse. They, too, profit by -new undertakings; they, therefore, are urgent in pressing -them forwards. Acting in co-operation with their chief, -they form a dispersed staff of great influence. They are -active canvassers; they stimulate and concentrate the -feeling of their districts; they encourage rivalry with -other lines; they alarm local shareholders with rumours of -threatened competition. When the question of extension -or non-extension comes to a division, they collect proxies -for the extension party. They bring pressure to bear on -their shareholding clients and relatives. Nay, so deep an -interest do they feel in the decision, as sometimes to create -votes with the view of influencing it. We have before us -the case of a local solicitor, who, before the special -meeting called to adopt or reject a contemplated branch, -transferred portions of his own shares into the names of -sundry members of his family, and so multiplied his seventeen -votes into forty-one; all of which he recorded in -favour of the new scheme.</p> - -<p>The morality of railway engineers is -not much above <span class="xxpn" id="p071">{71}</span> -that of railway lawyers. The gossip of Great George -Street is fertile in discreditable revelations. It tells how -So-and-so, like others before him, testified to estimates -which he well knew were insufficient. It makes jocose -allusion to this man as being employed to do his senior’s -“dirty work”—his hard-swearing; and narrates of the -other that, when giving evidence before committee, he was -told by counsel that he was not to be believed even on his -knees. It explains how cheaply the projector of a certain -line executed the parliamentary survey, by employing on it -part of the staff in the pay of another company to which -he was engineer. Now it alludes to the suspicion attaching -to a certain member of the fraternity from his having -let a permanent-way contract, for a term of years, at an -extravagant sum per mile. Again it rumours the great -profits which some of the leaders of the profession made in -1845, by charging for the use of their names at so much -the prospectus: even up to a thousand guineas. And then, -it enlarges on the important advantages possessed by -engineers who have seats in the House of Commons.</p> - -<p>Thus lax as is the ethical code of engineers, and greatly -as they are interested in railway enterprise, it is to be -expected that they should be active and not very scrupulous -promoters of it. To illustrate the vigour and skill with -which they further new undertakings, a few facts may be -cited. Not far from London, and lying between two lines -of railway, is an estate lately purchased by one of our -engineers. He has since obtained Acts for branches to -both of the adjacent lines. One of these branches he has -leased to the company whose line it joins; and he has tried -to do the like with the other, but as yet without success. -Even as it is, however, he is considered to have doubled the -value of his property. Again, an engineer of celebrity -once nearly succeeded in smuggling through Parliament, -in the bill for a proposed railway, a clause extending the -limits of deviation, to several miles on each side -of the line, <span class="xxpn" id="p072">{72}</span> -throughout a certain district—the usual limits being but -five chains on each side; and the attempt is accounted for -by the fact, that this engineer possessed mines in this -district. To press forward extensions by the companies with -which they are connected, they occasionally go to great -lengths. Not long since, at a half-yearly meeting, certain -projects which the proprietary had already once rejected, -were again brought forward by two engineers who attended -in their capacity of shareholders. Though known to be -personally interested, one of them moved and the other -seconded, that some new proposals from the promoters of -these schemes be considered without delay by the directors. -The motion was carried; the directors approved the proposals; -and again, the proprietors negatived them. A -third time a like effort was made; a third time a conflict -arose; and within a few days of the special meeting at -which the division was to take place, one of these engineers -circulated among the shareholders a pamphlet denying the -allegations of the dissentient party and making counter-statements -which it was then too late to meet. Nay, -he did more: he employed agents to canvass the shareholders -for proxies in support of the new undertaking; and -was obliged to confess as much when charged with it at -the meeting.</p> - -<p>Turn we now to contractors. Railway-enterprise has -given to this class of men a gigantic development; not only -in respect of numbers, but in respect of the vast wealth to -which some of them have acquired. Originally, half a -dozen miles of earthwork, fencing, and bridges, was as much -as any single contractor undertook. Of late years, however -it has become common for one man to engage to construct -an entire railway; and deliver it to the company in a fit -condition for opening. Great capital is required for this. -Great profits are made by it. And the fortunes accumulated -in course of time have been such, that sundry contractors -are named as being each able to make a railway -at his own <span class="xxpn" id="p073">{73}</span> -cost. But they are as insatiable as millionaires in general; -and so long as they continue in business at all, are, in some -sort, forced to provide new undertakings to keep their -plant employed. As may be imagined, enormous stocks of -working appliances are needed: many hundreds of earth-waggons -and of horses; many miles of temporary rails and -sleepers; some dozen locomotive engines, and several fixed -ones; innumerable tools; besides vast stores of timber, -bricks, stone, rails, and other constituents of permanent works, -that have been bought on speculation. To keep the capital -thus invested, and also a large staff of <i>employés</i>, standing -idle, entails loss, partly negative, partly positive. The -great contractor, therefore, is both under a strong stimulus -to get fresh work, and enabled by his wealth to do this. -Hence the not unfrequent inversion of the old arrangement -under which companies and engineers employed contractors, -into an arrangement under which contractors employ -engineers and form companies. Many recent undertakings -have been thus set on foot. The most gigantic project -which private enterprise has yet dared, originated with a -distinguished contracting firm. In some cases this mode -of procedure may, perhaps, be advantageous; but in far -more numerous cases its results are disastrous. Interested -in promoting railway extensions, even in a greater degree -than engineers and lawyers, contractors habitually co-operate -with these, either as agents or as coadjutors. Lines are -fostered into being, which it is known from the beginning, -will not pay. Of late, it has become common for landowners, -merchants, and others personally interested, who, -under the belief that their indirect gains will compensate -for their meagre dividends, have themselves raised part of -the capital for a local railway, but cannot raise the rest—it -has become common for such to make an agreement with a -wealthy contractor to construct the line, taking in part -payment a portion of the shares, amounting to perhaps a -third of the whole, and to charge for his -work according to <span class="xxpn" id="p074">{74}</span> -a schedule of prices to be thereafter settled between himself -and the engineer. By this last clause the contractor -renders himself secure. It would never answer his purpose -to take part payment in shares likely to return some £2 per -cent., unless he compensated himself by unusually high -profits; and this subsequent settlement of prices with one -whose interests, like his own, are wrapped up in the -prosecution of the undertaking, ensures him high profits. -Meanwhile, it is noised abroad that all the capital has been -subscribed and the line contracted for; these facts unduly -raise the public estimate of the scheme; the shares are -quoted at much above their true worth; unwary persons -buy; the contractor from time to time parts with his -moiety at fair prices; and the new shareholders ultimately -find themselves part owners of a railway which, unprofitable -as it originally promised to be, had been made yet more -unprofitable by expensiveness of construction. Nor are -these the only cases in which contractors gain after this -fashion. They do the like with lines of their own projecting. -To obtain Acts for these, they sign the subscription-contracts -for large amounts; knowing that in the way -above described, they can always make it answer to do -this. So general had the practice latterly become, as to -attract the attention of committees. As was remarked by -a personage noted for his complicity in these transactions—“Committees -are getting too knowing; they won’t stand -that dodge now.” Nevertheless, the thing is still done -under a disguised form. Though contractors no longer -enter their own names on subscription lists for thousands -of shares; yet they effect the same end by making nominal -holders of their foremen and others: themselves being the -real ones.</p> - -<p>Of directorial misdoings some samples have already been -given; and more might be added. Besides those arising -from directly personal aims, there are sundry others. One -of these is the increasing -community between railway <span class="xxpn" id="p075">{75}</span> -boards and the House of Commons. There are eighty-one -directors sitting in Parliament; and though some of these -take little part in the affairs of their respective railways, many -of them are the most active members of the boards to -which they belong. We have but to look back a few years, -and mark the unanimity with which companies adopted the -policy of getting themselves represented in the Legislature, -to see that the furtherance of their respective interests—especially -in cases of competition—was the incentive. How -well this policy is understood by the initiated, may be -judged from the fact, that gentlemen are now in some cases -elected on boards, simply because they are members of -Parliament. Of course this implies that railway legislation -is affected by a complicated play of private influences; and -that these influences generally work towards the facilitation -of new enterprises, is obvious. It naturally happens that -directors having seats in the House of Commons can more -or less smooth the way of their annual batch of new bills -through committees. It naturally happens that those -whose companies are not opposed, exchange good offices. -Not only do they aid the passing of schemes in which they -are interested, but they are solicited to undertake further -schemes by those around them. It is a common-sense -conclusion that representatives of small towns and country -districts needing railway accommodation, who are daily -thrown in contact with the chairman of a company capable -of giving this accommodation, do not neglect the opportunity -of furthering their ends. It is a common-sense -conclusion that by hospitalities, by favours, by flattery, by -the many means used to bias men, they seek to obtain his -assistance. And it is an equally common-sense conclusion -that in many cases they succeed—that by some complication -of persuasions and temptations they swerve him from his -calmer judgment; and so introduce into the company he -represents, influences at variance with its welfare.</p> - -<p>Under some motives however—whether -those of direct <span class="xxpn" id="p076">{76}</span> -self-interest, of private favour, or of antagonistic feeling, -matters not here—it is certain that directors are constantly -committing their constituents to unwise enterprises; and -that they frequently employ unjustifiable means for either -eluding or overcoming their opposition. Shareholders -occasionally find that their directors have given to Parliament, -pledges of extension much exceeding any they were -authorised to give; and they are then persuaded that they -are bound to endorse the promises made for them by -their agents. In some cases, among the misleading statements -laid before shareholders to obtain their consent to -a new project, will be found an abstract of the earnings -of a previously-executed branch to which the proposed -one bears some analogy. These earnings are shown (not -always without “cooking”) to be tolerably good and improving; -and it is argued that the new project, having like -prospects, offers a fair investment. Meanwhile, it is not -stated that the capital for this previously-executed branch -was raised on debentures or by guaranteed shares at a -higher rate of interest than the dividend pays; it is not -stated that as the capital for this further undertaking will -be raised on like terms, the annual interest on debt will -swallow up more than the annual revenue; and thus -unsuspecting shareholders—some unacquainted with the -company’s antecedents, some unable to understand its -complicated accounts—give their proxies, or raise their -hands, for new works which will tell with disastrous effect -on their future dividends. In pursuit of their ends, -directors will from time to time go directly in the teeth of -established regulations. Where it has been made a rule -that proxies shall be issued only by order of a meeting of -the proprietors, they will yet issue them without any such -order, when by so doing they can steal a march on dissentients. -If it suits their purpose, they will occasionally -bring forward most important measures without due notice. -In stating the amount of the company’s -stock which has <span class="xxpn" id="p077">{77}</span> -voted with them on a division, they have been known to -include thousands of shares on which a small sum only was -paid up, counting them as though fully paid up.</p> - -<p>To complete the sketch, something must be said on the -management of board meetings and meetings of shareholders. -For the first—their decisions are affected by -various manœuvres. Of course, on fit occasions, there is a -whipping-up of those favourable to any project which it is -desired to carry. Were this all, there would be little to -complain of; but something more than this is done. There -are boards in which it is the practice to defeat opposition -by stratagem. The extension party having summoned their -forces for the occasion, and having entered on the minutes -of business a notice worded with the requisite vagueness, -shape their proceedings according to the character of the -meeting. Should their antagonists muster more strongly -than was expected, this vaguely-worded notice serves -simply to introduce some general statement or further -information concerning the project named in it; and the -matter is passed over as though nothing more had been -meant. On the contrary, should the proportion of the -two sides be more favourable, the notice becomes the -basis of a definite motion committing the board to some -important act. If due precautions have been taken, the -motion is passed; and once passed, those who, if present, -would have resisted it, have no remedy; for in railway -government there is no “second reading,” much less a -third. So determined and so unscrupulous are the efforts -sometimes made by the stronger party to overcome and -silence their antagonists, that when a contested measure, -carried by them at the board, has to go before a general -meeting for confirmation, they have been known to pass a -resolution that their dissentient colleagues shall not address -the proprietary!</p> - -<p>That, at half-yearly and special meetings, shareholders -should be so readily misled by boards, -even after repeated <span class="xxpn" id="p078">{78}</span> -experience of their untrustworthiness, seems at first sight -difficult to understand. The mystery disappears, however, -on inquiry. Very frequently, contested measures are -carried against the sense of the meetings before which they -are laid, by means of the proxies previously collected by -the directors. These proxies are obtained from proprietors -scattered everywhere throughout the kingdom, who are -mostly weak enough to sign the first document sent to -them. Then, of those present when the question is brought -to an issue, not many dare attempt a speech. Of those -who dare, but few are clear-headed enough to see the full -bearings of the measure they are about to vote upon; and -such as can see them are often prevented by nervousness -from doing justice to the views they hold. Moreover, -it must be borne in mind that proprietors displaying -antagonism to the board are usually regarded by their -brother proprietors with more or less reprobation. Unless -the misconduct of the governing body has been very glaring -and very recent, there ever arises in the mass a prejudice -against all playing the part of an opposition. They are -condemned as noisy, and factious, and obstructive; and -often only by determined courage avoid being put down. -Besides these negative reasons for the general inefficiency -of shareholders’ resistance, there are sundry positive ones. -As writes to us a Member of Parliament who has been an -extensive holder of stock in many companies from the -first days of railway enterprise:—“My large and long -acquaintance with Railway Companies’ affairs, enables me -to say, that a large majority of shareholders trust wholly -to their directors, having little or no information, nor -caring to have any opinion of their own. . . . . Some others, -better informed but timid, are afraid, by opposing the -directors, of causing a depreciation of the value of their -stock in the market, and are more alarmed at the prospect -of this temporary depreciation than at the permanent loss -entailed on the company by the -useless, and therefore <span class="xxpn" id="p079">{79}</span> -unprofitable, outlay of additional capital. . . . . Others -again, believing that the impending permanent evil is -inevitable, resolve on the spot to sell out immediately, and -to keep up the prices of their shares, also give their support -to the directors.” Thus, from lack of organization and -efficiency among those who express their opposition, and -from the timidity and double-facedness of those who do -not, it happens that extremely unwise projects are carried -by large majorities. Nor is this all. The tactics of the -aggressive party are commonly as skilful as those of their -antagonists are bungling. The chairman, who is generally -the chief promoter of the contested scheme, has it in his -power to favour those who take his own side, and to throw -difficulties in the way of opponents; and this he not unfrequently -does to a great extent—refusing to hear, putting -down on some plea of breach of order, browbeating, even -using threats.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn5" id="fnanch5">5</a> -It generally turns out too, that, whether -intentionally or not, some of the most important motions -are postponed until nearly the close of the meeting, when the -greater part of the shareholders are gone. Large money-votes, -extensive powers, unlimited permits to directors to -take, in certain matters, “such steps as in their judgment -they may deem most expedient,”—these, and the like, are -hurried over during the last half-hour, when the tired and -impatient remnant will no longer listen to objectors; and -when those who have personal ends to serve by outstaying -the rest, carry everything their own way. Indeed, in some -cases, the arrangements are such as almost ensure the -meeting becoming a pro-extension one -towards the end. <span class="xxpn" id="p080">{80}</span> -This result is brought about thus:—A certain portion of -the general body of proprietors are also proprietors of some -subordinate work—some branch line, or canal, or steamboats, -which the Company has purchased or leased; and -as holders of guaranteed stock, ready to take up further -such stock if they can get it, these lean towards projects -that are to be executed on the preference-share system. -They hold their meeting for the declaration of dividend, -&c., as soon as the meeting of the Company at large has -been dissolved; and in the same room. Hence it happens -that being kept together by the prospect of subsequent -business, they gradually, towards the close of the general -meeting, come to form the majority of those present; and -the few ordinary shareholders who have been patient -enough to stay, are outvoted by those having interests -distinct from their own and quite at variance with the -welfare of the Company.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch5" id="fn5">5</a> -We may remark in passing, that the practice of making the chairman -of the board also chairman of the half-yearly meetings, is a very injudicious -one. The directors are the servants of the proprietary; and meet them -from time to time to render an account of their stewardship. That the chief -of these servants, whose proceedings are about to be examined, should -himself act as chief of the jury is absurd. Obviously, the business of each -meeting should be conducted by some one independently chosen for the -purpose; as the Speaker is chosen by the -House of Commons.</p></div> - -<p>And here this allusion to the preference-share system, -introduces us to a fact which may fitly close this detail of -private interests and questionable practices—a fact serving -at once to illustrate the subtlety and concert of railway -officialism, and the power it can exert. That this fact may -be fully appreciated, it must be premised, that though -preference-shares do not usually carry votes, they are -sometimes specially endowed with them; and further, that -they occasionally remain unpaid up until the expiration of -a time after which no further calls can be legally made. -In the case in question, a large number of £50 preference-shares -had thus long stood with but £5 paid. Promoters -of extensions, &c., had here a fine opportunity of getting -great power in the Company at small cost; and, as we shall -see, they duly availed themselves of it. Already had their -party twice tried to thrust the proprietors into a new -undertaking of great magnitude. Twice had they entailed -on them an expensive and harassing contest. A third time, -notwithstanding a professed relinquishment -of it, they <span class="xxpn" id="p081">{81}</span> -brought forward substantially the same scheme, and were -defeated only by a small majority. The following extracts -from the division lists we take from the statement of one of -the scrutineers.</p> - -<div class="section dtablebox"> -<table class="fsz7 borall" summary=""> -<colgroup> -<col width="32%" /><col width="10%" /><col width="28%" /> -<col width="10%" /><col width="10%" /><col width="10%" /> -</colgroup> -<tr> - <th class="borall" rowspan="2"></th> - <th class="borall" rowspan="2">50<i>l.</i> Preference - Shares with 5<i>l.</i> paid up.</th> - <th class="borall" rowspan="2">Additional Stock or Shares</th> - <th class="borall">Recorded Stock at the Poll as held.</th> - <th class="borall">Total actual Capital paid up.</th> - <th class="borall" rowspan="2">Number of Votes scored for - the Extension.</th></tr> -<tr> - <th class="borall">£</th> - <th class="borall">£</th></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">The Company’s solicitor</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">500</td> - <td class="tdleft bort borr borl">7,500<i>l.</i> stock, and 100 50<i>l.</i> - shares, with 42<i>l.</i> 10<i>s.</i> paid up.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall" rowspan="2">75,650</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall" rowspan="2">18,140</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall" rowspan="2">188</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">Ditto in joint account with another</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">778</td> - <td class="tdcenter borr borb borl">None.</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">The solicitor’s partner</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">60</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">None.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">3,000</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">300</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">20</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">The Company’s engineer</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">150</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">None.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">7,500</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">750</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">33</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">The engineer’s partner</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">1,354</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">4,266<i>l.</i> stock.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">71,966</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">11,036</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">161</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">One of the Company’s - parliamentary counsel</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">200</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">1,000<i>l.</i> stock.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">11,000</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">2,000</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">40</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">Another ditto, ditto</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">125</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">200<i>l.</i> stock.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">6,450</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">825</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">30</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">Local solicitor for the - proposed extension</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">7</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">None.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">350</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">35</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">7</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">The Company’s contractor - for permanent-way</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">347</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">52,833<i>l.</i></td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">70,183</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">54,568</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">158</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">The Company’s conveyancer</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">1,003</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">333<i>l.</i> stock.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">50,483</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">5,348</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">118</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">The Company’s furniture printer</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">35</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">10,000<i>l.</i> stock.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">11,750</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">10,175</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">41</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">The Company’s surveyor</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">360</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">1,250<i>l.</i> stock.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">19,250</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">3,050</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">56</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">The Company’s architect</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">217</td> - <td class="tdleft borall">14,916<i>l.</i> stock; 119 50<i>l.</i> shares, with 42<i>l.</i> 10<i>s.</i> paid up; and 13 40<i>l.</i> shares, with 34<i>l.</i> paid up.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">32,230</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">20,416</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">82</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall">One of the Company’s carriers.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">17</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">833<i>l.</i> stock.</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">1,683</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">918</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">14</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft borall" colspan="6">The Company’s bankers:—</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft tdina borall">One Partner</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">.. ..</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">..  ..</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">33,666</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">32,366</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">90</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft tdina borall">Another partner</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">.. ..</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">..  ..</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">2,500</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">2,500</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">18</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft tdina borall">Ditto - in joint account with another</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">.. ..</td> - <td class="tdcenter borall">..  ..</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">1,000</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">850</td> - <td class="tdrighta borall">12</td></tr> -</table></div> - -<p>To this list, some seven or eight of the Company’s -tradesmen, similarly armed, might be added; raising the -number of the almost factitious shares held by functionaries -to about 5200, and increasing the votes commanded -by them, from its present total of 1068 to upwards of 1100. -If now we separate the £380,000, which these gentlemen -bring to bear against their brother shareholders, into real -and nominal; we find that while not quite £120,000 of it is -<i>bonâ fide</i> property invested, the remaining -£260,000 is nine <span class="xxpn" id="p082">{82}</span> -parts shadow and one part substance. And thus it results, -that by virtue of certain stock actually representing but -£26,000, these lawyers, engineers, counsel, conveyancers, -contractors, bankers, and others interested in the promotion -of new schemes, outweigh more than a quarter of a million -of the real capital held by shareholders whom these -schemes will injure!</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Need we any longer wonder, then, at the persistence -of Railway Companies in seemingly reckless competition and ruinous -extensions? Is not this obstinate continuance of a policy that has year -after year proved disastrous, sufficiently explicable on contemplating -the many illegitimate influences at work? Is it not manifest that the -small organized party always out-manœuvres the large unorganized one? -Consider their respective characters and circumstances. Here are the -shareholders diffused throughout the kingdom, in towns and country -houses; knowing nothing of each other, and too remote to co-operate -were they acquainted. Very few of them see a railway journal; and -scarcely any know much of railway politics. Necessarily a fluctuating -body, only a small number are familiar with the Company’s history—its -acts, engagements, policy, management. A great proportion are -incompetent to judge of the matters that come before them, and lack -decision to act out such judgments as they may form—executors who do -not like to take steps involving much responsibility; trustees fearful -of interfering with the property under their care, lest possible -loss should entail a lawsuit; widows who have never in their lives -acted for themselves in any affair of moment; maiden ladies, alike -nervous and innocent of all business knowledge; clergymen whose daily -discipline has been little calculated to make them acute men of the -world; retired tradesmen whose retail transactions have given them -small ability for grasping large considerations; servants possessed -of <span class="xxpn" id="p083">{83}</span> accumulated savings and -cramped notions; with sundry others of like helpless characters—all -of them rendered more or less conservative by ignorance or timidity, -and proportionately inclined to support those in authority. To these -should be added the temporary shareholders, who, having bought stock -on speculation, and knowing that a revolution in the Company is likely -to depress prices for a time, have an interest in supporting the board -irrespective of the goodness of its policy. Turn now to those whose -efforts are directed to railway expansion. Consider the constant -pressure of local populations—of small towns, of rural districts, of -landowners: all of them eager for branch accommodation; all of them -with great and definite advantages in view; few of them conscious of -the loss those advantages may entail on others. Remember the influence -of legislators, prompted, some by their constituents, some by personal -aims, and encouraged by the belief that additional railway facilities -are in every case nationally beneficial; and then infer the extent to -which as stated to Mr. Cardwell’s committee, Parliament has “excited -and urged forward” Companies into rivalry. Note the temptations under -which lawyers are placed—the vast profits accruing to them from every -railway contest, whether ending in success or failure; and then imagine -the range and subtlety of their extension manœuvring. Conceive the -urgency of engineers; to the richer of whom more railway-making means -more wealth; to the mass of whom more railway-making means daily bread. -Estimate the capitalist-power of contractors; whose unemployed plant -brings heavy loss; whose plant when employed brings great gain. Then -recollect that to lawyers, engineers, and contractors the getting up -and executing of new undertakings is a business—a business to which -every energy is directed; in which many years of practice have given -great skill; and to the facilitation of which, all means tolerated -by men of the world are thought justifiable. <span class="xxpn" -id="p084">{84}</span> Finally, consider that the classes interested in -carrying out new schemes, are in constant communication, and have every -facility for combined action. A great part of them live in London, and -most of these have offices at Westminster—in Great George Street, in -Parliament Street, clustering round the Legislature. Not only are they -thus concentrated—not only are they throughout the year in frequent -business intercourse; but during the session they are daily together, -in Palace-Yard Hotels, in the lobbies, in the committee-rooms, in the -House of Commons itself. Is it any wonder then, that the wide-spread, -ill-informed unorganized body of shareholders, standing severally -alone, and each pre-occupied with his private affairs, should be -continually out-generalled by the comparatively small but active, -skilful, combined body opposed to them, whose very occupation is at -stake in gaining the victory?</p> - -<p>“But how about the directors?” it will perhaps be -asked. “How can they be parties to these obviously -unwise undertakings? They are themselves shareholders; -they gain by whatever benefits the proprietary at large; -they lose by whatever injures it. And if without their -consent, or rather their agency, no new scheme can be -adopted by the Company, the classes interested in fostering -railway enterprise are powerless to do harm.”</p> - -<p>This belief in the identity of directorial and proprietary -interests, is the fatal error commonly made by shareholders. -It is this which, in spite of bitter experiences, -leads them to be so careless and so trustful. “Their -profit is our profit; their loss is our loss; they know more -than we do; therefore let us leave the matter to them.” -Such is the argument which more or less definitely passes -through the shareholding mind—an argument of which the -premises are delusive, and the inference disastrous. Let -us consider it in detail.</p> - -<p>Not to dwell on the disclosures that have -in years past <span class="xxpn" id="p085">{85}</span> -been made respecting the share-trafficking of directors, -and the large profits realized by it—disclosures which -alone suffice to disprove the assumed identity between the -interests of board and proprietary—and taking for granted -that little, if any, of this now takes place; let us go on -to notice the still-prevailing influences which render this -apparent community of aims illusive. The immediate -interests which directors have in the prosperity of the -Company, are often much less than is supposed. Occasionally -they possess only the bare qualification of £1000 -worth of stock. In some instances even this is partly -nominal. Admitting, however, as we do frankly, that in -the great majority of cases the full qualification, and much -more than the qualification, is held; yet it must be borne -in mind that the indirect advantages which a wealthy -member of a board may gain from the prosecution of a -new undertaking, will often far outweigh the direct injury -it will inflict on him by lowering the value of his shares. -A board usually consists, to a considerable extent, of -gentlemen residing at different points throughout the tract -of country traversed by the railway they control: some of -them landowners; some merchants or manufacturers; some -owners of mines or shipping. Almost always some or all -of them are advantaged by a new branch or feeder. -Those in close proximity to it, gain either by enhanced -value of their lands, or by increased facilities of transit for -their commodities. Those at more remote parts of the -main line, though less directly interested, are still frequently -interested in some degree; for every extension -opens up new markets either for produce or raw materials; -and if it is one effecting a junction with some other -system of railways, the greater mercantile conveniences -afforded to directors thus circumstanced, become important. -Obviously, therefore, the indirect profits accruing to such -from one of these extensions, may more than counterbalance -the direct loss upon -their railway investments; <span class="xxpn" id="p086">{86}</span> -and though there are, doubtless, men too honourable to let -such considerations sway them, yet the generality can -scarcely fail to be affected by temptations so strong. -Then we have to remember the influences brought to bear -upon directors having seats in Parliament. Already -these have been noticed; and we recur to them only for -the purpose of pointing out that the immediate evil of -an increased discount on his £1000 worth of stock, may be -to a director of much less consequence than the favours, -patronage, connexions, which his aid in carrying a new -scheme will bring him. So that here too the supposed -identity of interests between directors and shareholders -does not hold.</p> - -<p>Moreover, this disunion of interests is increased by the -system of preference-stock. Were there no other cause in -action, the raising of capital for supplementary undertakings, -by issuing shares bearing a guaranteed interest of 5, 6, -and 7 per cent., would destroy that community of motives -supposed to exist between a railway proprietary and its -executive. Little as the fact is recognized, it is yet readily -demonstrable that by raising one of these mortgages, a -Company is forthwith divided into two classes; the one -consisting of the richer shareholders, inclusive of the -directors, and the other of the poorer shareholders; of -which classes the richer one can protect itself from the -losses which the poorer one has to bear—nay, can even -profit by the losses of the poorer one. This assertion, -startling as it will be to many, we will proceed to prove.</p> - -<p>When the capital required for a branch or extension is -raised by means of guaranteed shares, it is the custom to -give each proprietor the option of taking up a number of -such shares proportionate to the number of his original -shares. By availing himself of this offer, he partially -protects himself against any loss which the new undertaking -may entail. Should this, not fulfilling the promises -of its advocates, diminish in some -degree the general <span class="xxpn" id="p087">{87}</span> -dividend; yet, a high dividend on the due proportion of -preference-stock, may nearly or quite compensate for this. -Hence, it becomes the policy of all who can do so, to take -up as many guaranteed shares as they can get. But what -happens when the circular announcing this apportionment -of guaranteed shares is sent round? Those who possess -much stock, being generally capitalists, accept as many as -are allotted to them. On the other hand, the smaller -holders, constituting as they do the bulk of the Company, -having no available funds with which to pay the calls on -new shares, are obliged to part with their letters of allotment. -What results? When this additional line has been -opened, and it turns out, as usual, that its revenue is -insufficient to meet the guaranteed dividend on its shares—when -the general income of the Company is laid under -contribution to make up this guaranteed dividend—when -as a consequence, the dividend on the original stock is -diminished; then the poorer shareholders who possess -original stock only, find themselves losers; while the richer -ones, possessing guaranteed shares in addition, find that -their gain on preference-dividends nearly or quite counterbalances -their loss on general dividends. Indeed, as above -hinted, the case is even worse. For as the large share-proprietor -who has obtained his proportion of guaranteed -stock, is not obliged to retain his original stock—as, if he -doubts the paying character of the new undertaking, he -can always sell such of his shares as will suffer from it; -it is obvious that he may, if he pleases, become the possessor -of preference-shares only; and may so obtain a handsome -return for his money at the expense of the Company at -large and the small shareholders in particular. How far -this policy is pursued we do not pretend to say; though -the table given some pages back suggests extensive pursuit -of it. All which it here concerns us to notice, is, that -directors, being mostly men of large means, and being -therefore able to avail themselves -of this guaranteed <span class="xxpn" id="p088">{88}</span> -stock, are liable to be swayed by motives different from -those of the general proprietary. And that they often are -so swayed there cannot be a doubt. Without assuming -that any of them deliberately intend to benefit at the cost -of their co-proprietors; and believing, as we do, that few -of them duly perceive that the protection they will have, is -a protection not available by the shareholders at large; we -think it is a rational deduction from common experience, -that this prospect of compensation often turns the scale in -the minds of those who are hesitating, and diminishes the -opposition of those who disapprove.</p> - -<p>Thus, the belief which leads most railway shareholders -to place implicit faith in their directors, is an erroneous one. -It is not true that there is an identity of interest between -the proprietary and its executive. It is not true that the -board forms an efficient guard against the intrigues of -lawyers, engineers, contractors, and others who profit by -railway-making. Contrariwise, its members are not only -liable to be drawn from their line of duty by various -indirect motives, but by the system of guaranteed shares -they are placed under a positive temptation to betray -their constituents.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">And now what is the proximate origin of these corruptions? -and what is the remedy for them? What error -in railway legislation is it that has made possible such -complicated chicaneries? Whence arises this facility with -which interested persons thrust companies into unwise -enterprises? We believe there is a very simple answer to -these questions. It is an answer, however, which will at -first sight seem quite irrelevant; and we doubt not that the -corollary we propose drawing from it, will be forthwith -condemned by so-called practical men. Nevertheless, we -are not without hope of showing, both that the evils laboured -under would be excluded were this corollary recognized, -and that recognition of it is not only -feasible, but would <span class="xxpn" id="p089">{89}</span> -even open the way out of sundry perplexities in which -railway legislation is at present involved.</p> - -<p>We conceive, then, that the fundamental vice of our -system, as hitherto carried out, lies in <i>the misinterpretation -of the proprietary contract</i>—the contract tacitly entered into -between each shareholder and the body of shareholders -with whom he unites; and that the remedy for these evils -which have now become so great, lies simply in the -enforcement of an equitable interpretation of this contract. -In reality the contract is a strictly limited one. In -practice it is treated as altogether unlimited. And the -thing needed is, that it should be clearly defined and -abided by.</p> - -<p>Our popular form of government has so habituated us to -seeing public questions decided by the voice of the majority, -and the system is so manifestly equitable in the cases daily -before us, that there has been produced in the general -mind, an unhesitating belief that the majority’s right is -unbounded. Under whatever circumstances men co-operate, -it is held that if difference of opinion arises among them, -justice requires that the will of the greater number shall -be executed rather than that of the smaller number; be -the question at issue what it may. So confirmed is this -conviction, that to most this mere suggestion of a doubt will -cause astonishment. Yet it needs but a brief analysis to -show that the conviction is little better than a political -superstition. Instances may readily be selected which -prove, by <i>reductio ad absurdum</i>, that the right of a majority -is a purely conditional right, valid only within specific limits. -Let us take a few. Suppose that at the general meeting -of some philanthropic association, it was resolved that in -addition to relieving distress the association should employ -home-missionaries to preach down popery. Might the subscriptions -of Catholics, who had joined the body with charitable -views, be rightfully used for this end? Suppose that -of the members of a book-club, the -greater number, thinking <span class="xxpn" id="p090">{90}</span> -that under existing circumstances rifle-practice is more -important than reading, should decide to change the purpose -of their union, and to apply the funds in hand for the purchase -of powder, ball, and targets. Would the rest be bound by -this decision? Suppose that under the excitement of news -from Australia, the majority of a Freehold Land Society -should determine, not simply to start in a body for the gold -diggings, but to use their accumulated capital to provide -outfits. Would this appropriation of property be just to the -minority? and must these join the expedition? Scarcely -any one would venture an affirmative answer even to the -first of these questions; much less to the others. And -why? Because everyone must perceive that by joining -with others, no man can equitably be committed to acts -utterly foreign to the purpose for which he joined them. -Each of these supposed minorities would properly reply to -those seeking to coerce them:—“We combined with you -for a defined object; we gave money and time for the -furtherance of that object; on all questions thence arising, -we tacitly agreed to conform to the will of the greater -number; but we did not agree to conform on any other -questions. If you induce us to join you by professing a -certain end, and then undertake some other end of which -we were not apprised, you obtain our support under false -pretences; you exceed the expressed or understood compact -to which we committed ourselves; and we are no longer -bound by your decisions.” Clearly this is the only rational -interpretation of the matter. The general principle underlying -the right government of every incorporated body, is, -that its members contract with each other severally to -submit to the will of the majority <i>in all matters concerning -the fulfilment of the objects for which they are incorporated; -but in no others</i>. To this extent only can the contract hold. -For as it is implied in the very nature of a contract, that -those entering into it must know what they contract to do; -and as those who unite with others for -a specified object, <span class="xxpn" id="p091">{91}</span> -cannot contemplate all the unspecified objects which it is -hypothetically possible for the union to undertake; it -follows that the contract entered into cannot extend to -such unspecified objects. And if there exists no expressed -or understood contract between the union and its members -respecting unspecified objects, then for the majority to -coerce the minority into undertaking them, is nothing less -than gross tyranny.</p> - -<p>Now this almost self-evident principle is wholly ignored, -alike in our railway legislation and the proceedings of our -companies. Definite as is the purpose with which the promoters -of a public enterprise combine, many other purposes -not dreamed of at the outset are commonly added to it; and -this, apparently, without any suspicion that such a course -is unwarrantable, unless taken with the <i>unanimous</i> consent -of the proprietors. The unsuspecting shareholder who -signed the subscription contract for a line from Greatborough -to Grandport, did so under the belief that this line -would not only be a public benefit but a good investment. -He was familiar with the country. He had been at some -trouble to estimate the traffic. And, fully believing that he -knew what he was embarking in, he put down his name for -a large amount. The line has been made; a few years of -prosperity have justified his foresight; when, at some fatal -special meeting, a project is put before him for a branch -from Littlehomestead to Stonyfield. The will of the board -and the intrigues of the interested, overbear all opposition; -and in spite of the protests of many who like him see its -impolicy, he presently finds himself involved in an undertaking -which, when he joined the promoters of the original -line, he had not the remotest conception would ever be proposed. -From year to year this proceeding is repeated. His -dividends dwindle and his shares go down; and eventually -the congeries of enterprises to which he is committed, grows -so vast that the first enterprise of the series becomes but -a small fraction of the whole. Yet it is in -virtue of his <span class="xxpn" id="p092">{92}</span> -consent to this first of the series, that all the rest are thrust -upon him. He feels that there is injustice somewhere; but, -believing in the unlimited right of a majority, fails to detect -it. He does not see that when the first of these extensions -was proposed, he should have denied the power of his -brother-shareholders to implicate him in an undertaking not -named in their deed of incorporation. He should have told -its proposers that they were perfectly free to form a separate -Company for the execution of it; but that they could not -rightfully compel dissentients to join in a new undertaking, -any more than they could rightfully have compelled dissentients -to join in the original. Had such a shareholder -united with others for the specified purpose of <i>making -railways</i>, he would have had no ground for protest. But -he united with others for the specified purpose of <i>making a -particular railway</i>. Yet such is the confusion of ideas on -the subject, that there is absolutely no difference recognized -between these cases!</p> - -<p>It will doubtless be alleged in defence of all this, that -these secondary enterprises are supplementary to the -original one—are in part undertaken for the furtherance of -it; professedly minister to its prosperity; cannot, therefore, -be regarded as altogether separate enterprises. And it is -true that they have this for their excuse. But if it is a -sufficient excuse for accessories of this kind, it may be -made a sufficient excuse for any accessories whatever. -Already, Companies have carried the practice beyond the -making of branches and extensions. Already, under the -plea of bringing traffic to their lines, they have constructed -docks; bought lines of steam-packets; built vast hotels; -deepened river-channels. Already, they have created small -towns for their workmen; erected churches and schools; -salaried clergymen and teachers. Are these warranted on -the ground of advancing the Companies’ interests? Then -thousands of other undertakings are similarly warranted. -If a view to the development of traffic, -justifies the making <span class="xxpn" id="p093">{93}</span> -of a branch to some neighbouring coal-mines; then, should -the coal-mines be inefficiently worked, the same view would -justify the purchase of them—would justify the Company in -becoming coal-miner and coal-seller. If anticipated increase -of goods and passengers is a sufficient reason for carrying -a feeder into an agricultural district; then, it is a sufficient -reason for organizing a system of coaches and waggons to -run in connexion with this feeder; for making the requisite -horse-breeding establishments; for hiring the needful -farms; for buying estates; for becoming agriculturists. -If it be allowable to purchase steamers plying in conjunction -with the railway; it must be allowable to purchase -merchant vessels to trade in conjunction with it; it must -be allowable to set up a yard for building such vessels; it -must be allowable to erect depôts at foreign ports for the -receipt of goods; it must be allowable to employ commission -agents for collecting such goods; it must be allowable -to extend a mercantile organization all over the world. -From making its own engines and carriages, a Company -may readily progress to manufacturing its own iron and -growing its own timber. From giving its <i>employés</i> secular -and religious instruction, and providing houses for them, -it may go on to supply them with food, clothing, medical -attendance, and all the needs of life. Beginning simply as -a corporation to make and work a railway between A and -B; it may become a miner, manufacturer, merchant, shipowner, -canal-proprietor, hotel-keeper, landowner, house-builder, -farmer, retail-trader, priest, teacher—an organization -of indefinite extent and complication. There is no -logical alternative between permitting this, and strictly -limiting the corporation to the object first agreed upon. -A man joining with others for a specific purpose, must be -held to commit himself to that purpose only; or else to all -purposes whatever which they may choose to undertake.</p> - -<p>But proprietors dissenting from one of these supplementary -projects are told that they have -the option of <span class="xxpn" id="p094">{94}</span> -selling out. So might the dissentients from a new State-enforced -creed be told, that if they did not like it they might -leave the country. The one reply is little more satisfactory -than the other would be. The opposing shareholder sees -himself in possession of a good investment—one perhaps -which, as an original subscriber, he ran some risk in -obtaining. This investment is about to be endangered by -an act not named in the deed of incorporation. And his -protests are met by saying, that if he fears the danger he -may part with his investment. Surely this choice between -two evils scarcely meets his claims. Moreover, he has not -even this in any fair sense. It is often an unfavourable -time to sell. The very rumour of one of these extensions -frequently causes a depreciation of stock. And if many of -the minority throw their shares on the market, this depreciation -is greatly increased; a fact which further hinders -them from selling. So that each is in a dilemma: he has -to part with a good investment at much less than its value; -or to run the risk of having its value greatly diminished.</p> - -<p>The injustice thus inflicted on minorities is, indeed, -already recognized in a vague way. The recently-established -Standing Order of the House of Lords, that before a Company -carry out any new undertaking, three-fourths of the -votes of the proprietors shall be recorded in its favour, -clearly implies a perception that the usual rule of the -majority does not apply. And again, in the case of The -Great Western Railway Company <i>versus</i> Rushout, the -decision that the funds of the Company could not be used -for purposes not originally authorized, without a special -legislative permit, involves the doctrine that the will of the -greater number is not of unlimited validity. In both these -cases, however, it is taken for granted that a State-warrant -can justify an act which without it would be unjustifiable. -We must take leave to question this. If it be held that an -Act of Parliament can make murder proper, or can give -rectitude to robbery; it may be consistently -held that it <span class="xxpn" id="p095">{95}</span> -can sanctify a breach of contract; but not otherwise. We -are not about to enter upon the vexed question of the -standard of right and wrong; and to inquire whether it is -the function of a government to make rules of conduct, or -simply to enforce rules deducible from the laws of social -life. We are content, for the occasion, to adopt the -expediency-hypothesis; and adopting it, must yet contend -that, rightly interpreted, it gives no countenance to this -supposed power of a Government to alter the limits of -an equitable contract against the wishes of some of the -contracting parties. For, as understood by its teachers -and their chief disciples, the doctrine of expediency is -not a doctrine implying that each particular act is to -be determined by the particular consequences that may -be expected to flow from it; but that the general consequences -of entire classes of acts having been ascertained -by induction from experience, rules shall be framed for the -regulation of such classes of acts, and each rule shall be -uniformly applied to every act coming under it. Our whole -administration of justice proceeds on this principle of -invariably enforcing an ordained course, regardless of -special results. Were immediate consequences to be considered, -the verdict gained by the rich creditor against the -poor debtor would generally be reversed; for the starvation -of the last is a much greater evil than the inconvenience of -the first. Most thefts arising from distress would go -unpunished; a large proportion of men’s wills would be -cancelled; many of the wealthy would be dispossessed of -their fortunes. But it is clearly seen that were judges thus -guided by proximate evils and benefits, the ultimate result -would be social confusion; that what was immediately -expedient would be ultimately inexpedient; and hence the -aim at rigorous uniformity, spite of incidental hardships. -Now, the binding nature of agreements is one of the commonest -and most important principles of civil law. A large -part of the causes daily heard in our -courts, involve the <span class="xxpn" id="p096">{96}</span> -question, whether in virtue of some expressed or understood -contract, some of those concerned are, or are not, bound to -certain acts or certain payments. And when it has been -decided what the contract implies, the matter is settled. -The contract itself is held sacred. This sacredness of a -contract being, according to the expediency-hypothesis, -justified by the experience of all nations in all times that it -is generally beneficial, it is <i>not</i> competent for a Legislature -to declare that contracts are violable. Assuming that the -contracts are themselves equitable, there is no rational -system of ethics which warrants the alteration or dissolving -of them, save by the consent of all concerned. If then it -be shown, as we think it has been shown, that the contract -tacitly entered into by railway shareholders with each -other, has definite limits; it is the function of the Government -to <i>enforce</i>, and not to <i>abolish</i>, those limits. It cannot -decline to enforce them without running counter, not -only to all theories of moral obligation, but to its own -judicial system. It cannot abolish them without glaring -self-stultification.</p> - -<p>Returning, now, to the manifold evils of which the cause -was asked; it only remains to point out that, were the just -construction of the proprietary contract insisted upon, such -evils would, in great part, be excluded. The various -illicit influences by which Companies are daily betrayed -into disastrous extensions, would necessarily be inoperative -when such extensions could not be undertaken by them. -When such extensions had to be undertaken by independent -bodies of shareholders, with no one to guarantee -them good dividends, those who are locally and professionally -interested would find it a less easy matter than at -present to aggrandize themselves at the expense of others.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">And now as to the policy of thus modifying railway -legislation—the commercial policy we mean. Leaving out -of sight the more general social interests, let -us glance at <span class="xxpn" id="p097">{97}</span> -the effects on business interests—the proximate instead of -the ultimate effects. The implication contained in the last -paragraph, that the making of supplementary lines would -no longer be so facile, will be thought to prove the -disadvantage of any such limit as the one advocated. -Many will argue, that to restrict Companies to their -original undertakings would fatally cripple railway enterprise. -Many others will remark, that, however detrimental -to shareholders this extension system may have been, it -has manifestly proved beneficial to the public. Both these -positions seem to us more than questionable. We will first -look at the last of them.</p> - -<p>Even were travelling accommodation the sole thing to -be considered, it would not be true that prodigality in new -lines has been advantageous. The districts supplied have, -in many cases, themselves been injured by it. It is shown -by the evidence given before the Select Committee on -Railway and Canal Bills, that in Lancashire, the existence -of competing lines has, in some cases, both diminished the -facilities of communication and increased the cost. It is -further shown by this evidence, that a town obtaining -branches from two antagonist Companies, by-and-by, in -consequence of a working arrangement between these -Companies, comes to be worse off than if it had but one -branch; and Hastings is quoted as an example. It is -again shown that a district may be wholly deprived of -railway accommodation by granting a superfluity of lines; -as in the case of Wilts and Dorset. In 1844–5, the Great -Western and the South Western Companies projected -rival systems of lines, supplying these and parts of the -adjacent counties. The Board of Trade, “asserting that -there was not sufficient traffic to remunerate an outlay for -two independent railways,” reported in favour of the Great -Western schemes; and bills were granted for them: a -certain agreement, suggested by the Board of Trade, being -at the same time made with the South -Western, which, in <span class="xxpn" id="p098">{98}</span> -return for specified advantages, conceded this district to -its rival. Notwithstanding this agreement, the South -Western, in 1847, projected an extension calculated to -take most of the traffic from the Great Western extensions; -and in 1848, Parliament, though it had virtually suggested -this agreement, and though the Great Western Company -had already spent a million and a half in part execution -of the new lines, authorized the South Western project. -The result was, that the Great Western Company suspended -their works; the South Western Company were -unable, from financial difficulties, to proceed with theirs; -the district has remained for years unaccommodated; and -only since the powers granted to the South Western have -expired from delay, has the Great Western recommenced -its long-suspended undertakings.</p> - -<p>And if this undue multiplication of supplementary lines -has often directly decreased the facilities of communication, -still more has it done this indirectly, by maintaining the -cost of travelling on the main lines. Little as the public -are conscious of the fact, it is nevertheless true, that they -pay for the accommodation of unremunerative districts, -by high fares in remunerative districts. Before this reckless -branch-making commenced, 8 and 9 per cent. were -the dividends returned by our chief railways; and these -dividends were rapidly increasing. The maximum dividend -allowed by their Acts is 10 per cent. Had there not been -unprofitable extensions, this maximum would have been -reached many years since; and in the absence of the -power to undertake new works, the fact that it had been -reached could not have been hidden. Lower rates for -goods and passengers would necessarily have followed. -These would have caused much additional traffic; and -with the aid of the natural increase otherwise going on, -the maximum would shortly again have been reached. -There can scarcely be a doubt that repetitions of this -process would, before now, have reduced -the fares and <span class="xxpn" id="p099">{99}</span> -freights on our main lines by at least one-third. This -reduction, be it remembered, would have affected those -railways which subserve commercial and social intercourse -in the greatest degree—would, therefore, have applied to -the most important part of the traffic throughout the -kingdom. As it is, however, this greater proportion of -the traffic has been heavily taxed for the benefit of the -smaller proportion. That the tens who travel on branches -might have railway communication, the hundreds who -travel along main lines have been charged 30, or 40 per -cent. extra. Nay, worse: that these few might be accommodated, -the many who would have been brought on to -the main lines by lower fares have gone unaccommodated. -Is it then so clear that undertakings which have been -disastrous to shareholders have yet been beneficial to -the public?</p> - -<p>But it is not only in greater cost of transit that the evil -has been felt; it has been felt also in diminished safety. -The multiplication of railway accidents, which has of late -years drawn so much attention, has been in no inconsiderable -degree caused by the extension policy. The relation -is not obvious; and we had ourselves no conception that -such a relation existed, until the facts illustrative of it -were furnished to us by a director who had witnessed the -whole process of causation. When preference-share dividends -and guarantees began to make large draughts upon -half-yearly returns—when original stock was greatly depreciated, -and the dividends upon it fell from 9 and 8 per -cent. to 4 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> -and 4 and 3 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub>, -great dissatisfaction necessarily -arose among shareholders. There were stormy meetings, -motions of censure, and committees of investigation. -Retrenchment was the general cry; and retrenchment -was carried to a most imprudent extent. Directors with -an indignant proprietary to face, and under the fear that -their next dividend would be no greater, perhaps less, than -the last, dared not to lay out money for -the needful repairs. <span class="xxpn" id="p100">{100}</span> -Permanent way, reported to them as requiring to be replaced, -was made to serve awhile longer. Old rolling -stock was not superseded by new to the proper extent; -nor increased in proportion to the demand. Committees, -appointed to examine where the expenditure could be cut -down, went round discharging a porter here, dispensing -with a clerk there, and diminishing the salaries of the -officials in general. To such a length was this policy -carried, that in one case, to effect a saving of £1200 -per annum, the working staff was so crippled as to cause, -in the course of a few years, a loss of probably £100,000: -such, at least, is the opinion of the gentleman on whose -authority we make this statement, who was himself one -of the retrenchment committee. What, now, was the -necessary result of all this? With the line out of condition; -with engines and carriages neither sufficient in number -nor in the best working order; with drivers, guards, -porters, clerks, and the rest, decreased to the smallest -number with which it was possible to work; with inexperienced -managers in place of the experienced ones -driven away by reduced salaries; what was likely to occur? -Was it not certain that an apparatus of means just -competent to deal with the ordinary traffic, would be -incompetent to deal with extraordinary traffic? that a -decimated body of officials under inferior regulation, would -fail in the emergencies sure from time to time to occur? -that with way and works and rolling stock all below par, -there would occasionally be a concurrence of small defects, -permitting something to go wrong? Was not a multiplication -of accidents inevitable? No one can doubt it. -And if we trace back this result step by step to its original -cause—the reckless expenditure on new lines—we shall -see further reason to doubt whether such expenditure -has been as advantageous to the public as is supposed. -We shall hesitate to indorse the opinion of the Select -Committee on Railway and Canal Bills, -that it is <span class="xxpn" id="p101">{101}</span> -desirable “to increase the facility for obtaining lines of -local convenience.”</p> - -<p>Still more doubtful becomes the alleged benefit accruing -to the public from extensions which cause loss to shareholders, -when, from considering the question as one of -traffic, we turn to consider it as a general commercial -question—a question of political economy. Were there no -facts showing that the travelling facilities gained were -counterbalanced, if not more than counterbalanced, by -the travelling facilities lost; we should still contend that -the making of branches which do not return fair dividends, -is a national evil, and not a national good. The prevalent -error committed in studying matters of this nature, consists -in looking at them separately, rather than in connexion -with other social wants and social benefits. Not only -does one of these undertakings, when executed, affect -society in various ways, but the effort put forth in the -execution of it affects society in various ways; and to -form a true estimate, the two sets of results must be -compared. The axiom that “action and re-action are equal, -and in opposite directions,” is true, not only in mechanics—it -is true everywhere. No power can be put forth by a -nation to achieve a given end, without producing, for the -time being, a corresponding inability to achieve some other -end. No amount of capital can be abstracted for one -purpose, without involving an equivalent lack of capital -for another purpose. Every advantage wrought out by -labour, is purchased by the relinquishment of some alternative -advantage which that labour might else have -wrought out. In judging, therefore, of the benefits -flowing from any public undertaking, it is requisite to -consider them not by themselves, but as compared with -the benefits which the invested capital would otherwise -have secured. But how can these relative benefits be -measured? it may be asked. Very simply. The rate of -interest which the capital will bring -as thus respectively <span class="xxpn" id="p102">{102}</span> -employed, is the measure. Money which, if used for a -certain end, gives a smaller return than it would give if -otherwise used, is used disadvantageously, not only to -its possessors, but to the community. This is a corollary -from the commonest principles of political economy—a -corollary so obvious that we can scarcely understand how, -after the free-trade controversy, a committee, numbering -among its members Mr. Bright and Mr. Cardwell, should -have overlooked it. Have we not been long ago taught, -that in the mercantile world capital goes where it is most -wanted—that the business which is at any time attracting -capital by unusually high returns, is a business proved -by that very fact to be unusually active—that its unusual -activity shows society to be making great demands upon -it; giving it high profits; wanting its commodities or -services more than other commodities or services? Do -not comparisons among our railways demonstrate that -those paying large dividends are those subserving the -public needs in a greater degree than those paying small -dividends? and is it not obvious that the efforts of -capitalists to get these large dividends led them to supply -the greater needs before the lesser needs? Surely, the -same law which holds in ordinary commerce, and also -holds between one railway investment and another, holds -likewise between railway investments and other investments. -If the money spent in making branches and -feeders is yielding an average return of from 1 to 2 per -cent.; while if employed in land-draining or ship-building, -it would return 4 or 5 per cent.; it is a conclusive -proof that money is more wanted for land-draining and -ship-building than for branch-making. And the general -conclusions to be drawn are, that that large proportion of -railway capital which does not pay the current rate of -interest, is capital ill laid out; that if the returns on such -proportion were capitalized at the current rate of interest, -the resulting sum would represent its real -value; and that <span class="xxpn" id="p103">{103}</span> -the difference between this sum and the amount expended, -would indicate the national loss—a loss which, on the lowest -estimate, would exceed £100,000,000. And however true -it may be that the sum invested in unprofitable lines will go -on increasing in productiveness; yet as, if more wisely -invested, it would similarly have gone on increasing in -productiveness, perhaps even at a greater rate, this vast -loss must be regarded as a permanent and not as a temporary -one.</p> - -<p>Again then, we ask, is it so obvious that undertakings -which have been disastrous to shareholders have been -advantageous to the public? Is it not obvious, rather, -that, in this respect, as in others, the interests of -shareholders and the public are in the end identical? -And does it not seem that instead of recommending -“increased facilities for obtaining lines of local convenience,” -the Select Committee might properly have -reported that the existing facilities are abnormally great, -and should be decreased?</p> - -<p>There remains still to be considered the other of the two -objections above stated as liable to be raised against the -proposed interpretation of the proprietary contract—the -objection, namely, that it would be a serious hindrance to -railway enterprise. After what has already been said, it is -scarcely needful to reply, that the hindrance would be no -greater than is natural and healthful—no greater than is -requisite to hold in check the private interests at variance -with public ones. This notion that railway enterprise will -not go on with due activity without artificial incentives—that -bills for local extensions “rather need encouragement,” -as the Committee say, is nothing but a remnant of protectionism. -The motive which has hitherto led to the formation -of all independent railway companies—the search of -capitalists for good investments—may safely be left to form -others as fast as local requirements become great enough to -promise fair returns—as fast, that is, -as local requirements <span class="xxpn" id="p104">{104}</span> -should be satisfied. This would be manifest enough without -illustration; but there are facts proving it.</p> - -<p>Already we have incidentally referred to the circumstance, -that it has of late become common for landowners, merchants, -and others locally interested, to get up railways for their own -accommodation, which they do not expect to pay satisfactory -dividends; and in which they are yet content to invest -considerable sums, under the belief that the indirect profits -accruing to them from increased facilities of traffic, will outbalance -the direct loss. To so great an extent is this policy -being carried that, as stated to the Select Committee, “in -Yorkshire and Northumberland, where branch lines are -being made through mere agricultural districts, the landowners -are <i>giving their land</i> for the purpose, and taking -shares.” With such examples before us, it cannot rationally -be doubted that there will always be capital forthcoming for -making local lines as soon as the sum of the calculated -benefits, direct and indirect, justifies its expenditure.</p> - -<p>“But,” it will be urged, “a branch that would be -unremunerative as an independent property, is often remunerative -to the company which has made it, in virtue of the -traffic it brings to the trunk line. Though yielding meagre -returns on its own capital, yet, by increasing the returns on -the capital of the trunk line, it compensates, or more than -compensates. Were the existing company, however, forbidden -to extend its undertaking, such a branch would not -be made; and injury would result.” This is all true, with -the exception of the last assertion, that such a branch -would not be made. Though in its corporate capacity the -company owning the trunk line would be unable to execute -a work of this nature, there would be nothing to prevent -individual shareholders in the trunk line from uniting -to execute it; and were the prospects as favourable as is -assumed, this course, being manifestly advantageous to -individual shareholders, would be pursued by many of -them. If, acting in concert with -others similarly <span class="xxpn" id="p105">{105}</span> -circumstanced, the owner of £10,000 worth of stock in the trunk -line, could aid the carrying out of a proposed feeder -promising to return only 2 per cent. on its cost, by taking -shares to the extent of £1000, it would answer his purpose -to do this, providing the extra traffic it brought would raise -the trunk-line dividend by one-fourth per cent. Thus, -under a limited proprietary contract, companies would still, -as now, foster extensions where they were wanted: the -only difference being that, in the absence of guaranteed -dividends, due caution would be shown; and the poorer -shareholders would not, as at present, be sacrificed to -the richer.</p> - -<p>In brief, our position is, that whenever, by the efforts -of all parties to be advantaged—local landowners, manufacturers, -merchants, trunk-line shareholders, &c., the -capital for an extension can be raised—whenever it becomes -clear to all such, that their indirect profits plus their -direct profits will make the investment a paying one; -the fact is proof that the line is wanted. On the contrary, -whenever the prospective gains to those interested are -insufficient to induce them to undertake it, the fact is proof -that the line is not wanted so much as other things are -wanted, and therefore <i>ought not to be made</i>. Instead, -then, of the principle we advocate being objectionable as -a check to railway enterprise, one of its merits is, that -by destroying the artificial incentives to such enterprise, -it would confine it within normal limits.</p> - -<p>A perusal of the evidence given before the Select -Committee will show that it has sundry other merits, which -we have space only to indicate.</p> - -<p>It is estimated by Mr. Laing—and Mr. Stephenson, -while declining to commit himself to the estimate, “does -not believe he has overstated it,”—that out of the -£280,000,000 already raised for the construction of our -railways, £70,000,000 has been needlessly spent in contests, -in duplicate lines, in “the multiplication of an immense -number of schemes prosecuted at -an almost reckless <span class="xxpn" id="p106">{106}</span> -expense;” and Mr. Stephenson believes that this sum is -“a very inadequate representative of the actual loss in -point of convenience, economy, and other circumstances -connected with traffic, which the public has sustained by -reason of parliamentary carelessness in legislating for railways.” -Under an equitable interpretation of the proprietary -contract, the greater part of this would have been avoided.</p> - -<p>The competition between rival companies in extension -and branch-making, which has already done vast injury, -and the effects of which, if not stopped, will, in the opinion -of Mr. Stephenson, be such that “property now paying -5 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> -per cent. will in ten years be worth only 3 per cent., and -that on twenty-one millions of money”—this competition -could never have existed in its intense and deleterious -form under the limiting principle we advocate.</p> - -<p>Prompted by jealousy and antagonism, our companies -have obtained powers for 2000 miles of railway which -they have never made. The millions thus squandered in -surveys and parliamentary contests—“food for lawyers and -engineers”—would nearly all have been saved, had each -supplementary line been obtainable only by an independent -body of proprietors with no one to shield them from the -penalties of reckless scheming.</p> - -<p>It is admitted that the branches and feeders constructed -from competitive motives have not been laid out in the best -directions for the public. To defeat, or retaliate upon, -opponents, having been one of the ends—often the chief -end—in making them, routes have been chosen especially -calculated to effect this end; and the local traffic has in -consequence been ill provided for. Had these branches and -feeders, however, been left to the enterprise of their -respective districts, aided by such other enterprise as they -could attract, the reverse would have been the fact; seeing -that on the average, in these smaller cases as in the greater -ones, the routes which most accommodate the public must -be the routes most profitable to projectors.</p> - -<p>Were the illegitimate -competition in extension-making <span class="xxpn" id="p107">{107}</span> -done away, there would remain between companies just -that normal competition which is advantageous to all. It -is not true, as is alleged, that there cannot exist between -railways a competition analogous to that which exists -between traders. The evidence of Mr. Saunders, the -secretary of the Great Western Company, proves the -contrary. He shows that where the Great Western and the -North Western railways communicate with the same towns, -as at Birmingham and Oxford, each has tacitly adopted the -fare which the other was charging; and that while there is -thus no competition in fares, there is competition in speed -and accommodation. The results are, that each takes that -portion of the traffic which, in virtue of its position and -local circumstances, naturally falls to its share; that each -stimulates the other to give the greatest advantages it can -afford; and that each keeps the other in order by threatening -to take away its natural share of the traffic if, by -ill-behaviour or inefficiency, it counterbalances the special -advantages it offers. Now, this is just the form which -competition eventually assumes between traders. After it -has been ascertained by underselling what is the lowest -remunerative price at which any commodity can be sold, -the general results are, that that becomes the established -price; that each trader is content to supply those only who, -from proximity or other causes, naturally come to him; and -that only when he treats his customers ill, need he fear that -they will inconvenience themselves by going elsewhere for -their goods.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Is there not, then, pressing need for an amendment of -the laws affecting the proprietary contract—an amendment -which shall transform it from an unlimited into a limited -contract; or rather—not <i>transform</i> it into such, but <i>recognize</i> -it as such? If there be truth in our argument, the absence -of any limitation has been the chief cause of the manifold -evils of our railway -administration. The share-trafficking <span class="xxpn" id="p108">{108}</span> -of directors; the complicated intrigues of lawyers, engineers, -contractors, and others; the betrayal of proprietaries—all -the complicated corruptions which we have detailed, have -primarily arisen from it, have been made possible by it. -It has rendered travelling more costly and less safe than it -would have been; and while apparently facilitating traffic, -has indirectly hindered it. By fostering antagonism, it has -led to the ill laying-out of supplementary lines; to the -wasting of enormous sums in useless parliamentary contests; -to the loss of an almost incredible amount of national -capital in the making of railways for which there is no due -requirement. Regarded in the mass, the investments of -shareholders have been reduced by it to less than half the -average productiveness which such investments should -possess; and, as all authorities admit, railway property is, -even now, kept below its real value, by the fear of future -depreciations consequent on future extensions. Considering, -then, the vastness of the interests at stake—considering -that the total capital of our companies will soon reach -£300,000,000—considering, on the one hand, the immense -number of persons owning this capital (many of them with -no incomes but what are derived from it), and, on the other -hand, the great extent to which the community is concerned, -both directly as to its commercial facilities, and indirectly -as to the economy of its resources—considering all this, it -becomes extremely important that railway property should -be placed on a secure footing, and railway enterprise -confined within normal bounds. The change is demanded -alike for the welfare of shareholders and the public. No -charge of over-legislation can be brought against it. It is -simply an extension to joint-stock contracts, of the principle -applied to all other contracts; it is merely a fulfilment of -the State’s judicial function in cases hitherto neglected; it -is nothing but a better administration of justice.</p> - -<p class="padtopb"><span class="smcap">P<b>OSTSCRIPT</b>.</span>—That -the proprietary -contract should be <span class="xxpn" id="p109">{109}</span> -strictly adhered to, and no undertakings beyond those -specified in the deed of incorporation entered upon, is a -doctrine unpalatable to those in authority. A friend who, -as chairman of one of our great railway-companies, has -been familiar with railway-politics and parliamentary -usages in connexion with them, contends that such a -restrictive interpretation would be unworkable; and, -further, that the legislature would never allow itself to be -shackled in the implied way.</p> - -<p>That he is right in the last of these assertions I think -highly probable. In face of the currently accepted dogma -that an Act of Parliament can do anything, it is foolish to -expect that Parliament would, by ethical considerations, -be restrained from breaking contracts and authorizing -the breaking of contracts. When we see this dogma -habitually acted upon to the extent of trampling under -foot State-guarantees (as in the case of those who purchased -land under the Irish Encumbered Estates Act, or -as in the case of agreements originally entered into with -companies to confer on them certain powers under certain -conditions) it would be absurd to suppose that any tender -regard for the claims of dissentient proprietors would deter -the ruling body from cancelling the understanding under -which shareholders consented to co-operate. Men must -be much more conscientious than they are before any such -check is likely to be effective.</p> - -<p>To the other objection—that such a restriction would -entail an unworkable complication—I entirely demur. That -its consequences would be awkward under our present -form of railway-administration may be true; but it is also -true that had such a restriction been insisted on, another -and better form of railway-administration would have -arisen. This will probably be thought an unwarranted -assertion. Nevertheless I make it with some confidence, -since the form of administration to which I refer is one -which was, in a different guise, -contemplated when railways <span class="xxpn" id="p110">{110}</span> -were originally authorized. To those whose only conception -of the mode of carrying on railway-traffic is that -derived from their daily observations, this will be an -incomprehensible statement; but those who remember how -railways were originally intended to be used will know -what I mean.</p> - -<p>Novel schemes are always more or less shaped by old -habits. At the time when the first railways were authorized, -the experience men had of coach-travelling on high roads, -affected in various ways the structures of the new appliances -and the natures of the new arrangements. The railway -gauge was determined by the width between the wheels of -a stage-coach. Early first-class carriages were made to -appear like the central parts of three stage-coaches joined -together: preserving their convex panels and curved -outlines, and frequently having, on the centre one, the -words “<i>Tria juncta in uno</i>.” The inside of the first-class -carriage was fitted up to resemble the inside of a stage-coach; -and the original second-class carriage, having -bare wooden seats over which, on vertical iron rods, was -supported a roof allowing the wind and rain to blow -through from side to side, was so designed as to be scarcely -more comfortable than the outside of a coach. For some -years the guard had a seat on the outside, at the end of a -carriage, as on a coach; and for many years the luggage, -covered with tarpaulin, was placed on the roofs of carriages, -as on the outsides of coaches. Once more the booking-offices -were at first like the booking-offices for stage-coaches—places -where passengers entered their names to secure -seats. Little as the fact is now recognized, this kinship of -ideas extended to the contemplated arrangements for -working. Men thought that traffic on railways might be -carried on after the same manner as traffic on high roads. -It was assumed that on lines of rails, where the passing of -vehicles going in the same direction is impracticable, the -system pursued might be like that in use -on high roads, <span class="xxpn" id="p111">{111}</span> -where vehicles can pass and re-pass in any direction and join -or leave the stream at will. Does the reader ask proof of -this? The proof lies in the fact, well-known to those who -were adult in the early days of railways, that in the office -or waiting-room of every railway-station was fixed up a -table of tolls, like that which was fixed up at every toll-gate; -but in this case specifying the rate chargeable per mile for -all things carried—passengers, horses, cattle, goods, &c. -This table of tolls implied that it was within the power -of others besides the company to run vehicles on the -company’s line, and pay them at such and such rates for the -privilege of doing so—a privilege which, so far as I know, -was never made use of, for the sufficient reason that it -would have been impossible to carry on business amid the -confusion which would have resulted.</p> - -<p>But while this arrangement, in the form implied, would -have been impracticable, it foreshadows an arrangement -which would have been practicable; and one which would -have grown up had each railway company been limited to -the undertaking specified in its deed of incorporation. -After experience of inefficient co-operation, when so many -independent bodies owning branches and extensions had to -adjust their train services, &c., there would, in all probability, -have been formed what we may call running-companies -or traffic-companies, separate from the original railway-companies. -Each one of these would have proposed to -the companies owning the various main lines, extensions, and -branches, within some large district conveniently delimited, -to undertake the working of their various lines: either -taking them severally on lease, or agreeing to give a -specified share of the net returns annually received, or -agreeing to pay certain tolls for passengers and goods. -Under such an arrangement the original companies, standing -in the position of landlords, would have had for -their chief business to keep the embankments, cuttings, -bridges, permanent way, stations, -&c., in working <span class="xxpn" id="p112">{112}</span> -order; while the running-companies, standing in the -position of tenants, but owning the rolling-stock, would -have had for their business to conduct the passenger and -goods traffic throughout the whole area, with power to -arrange the workings of the various subdivisions of the -system in a harmonious manner. Clearly, if there is an -advantage in division of labour in other cases, there -would have been an advantage in this case. The fixed -works constituting each of these inter-connected railways -would have been kept in more perfect repair, had preservation -of them been the exclusive business of the companies -owning them; while the running-companies, with nothing -to attend to beyond the keeping in order of their rolling-stock -and the management of train-services &c. would -have done this more satisfactorily.</p> - -<p>A further reason for believing that better results would -have been achieved than are now achieved, is that under such -circumstances there would have been no absorption of -directors’ time in carrying on railway-wars and getting new -acts of parliament—a business which, under the existing -system, has chiefly occupied the attention of boards.</p> - -<p>The enforcement of equitable arrangements is often -fraught with unanticipated benefits; and there seems -reason to think that unanticipated benefits would have -resulted in this case also.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p113">{113}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">THE MORALS OF TRADE.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First -published in</i> The Westminster Review <i>for April 1859</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>We are not about to repeat, under the above title, the often-told -tale of adulterations: albeit, were it our object to deal -with this familiar topic, there are not wanting fresh materials. -It is rather the less-observed and less-known dishonesties of -trade, to which we would here draw attention. The same -lack of conscientiousness which shows itself in the mixing -of starch with cocoa, in the dilution of butter with lard, in -the colouring of confectionery with chromate of lead and -arsenite of copper, must of course come out in more concealed -forms; and these are nearly, if not quite, as numerous and -as mischievous.</p> - -<p>It is not true, as many suppose, that only the lower -classes of the commercial world are guilty of fraudulent -dealing. Those above them are to a great extent blameworthy. -On the average, men who deal in bales and tons differ but -little in morality from men who deal in yards and pounds. -Illicit practices of every form and shade, from venial deception -up to all but direct theft, may be brought home to the -higher grades of our commercial world. Tricks innumerable, -lies acted or uttered, elaborately-devised -frauds, are prevalent: <span class="xxpn" id="p114">{114}</span> -many of them established as “customs of the trade;” nay, -not only established, but defended.</p> - -<p>Passing over, then, the much-reprobated shopkeepers, of -whose delinquencies most people know something, let us turn -our attention to the delinquencies of the classes above them -in the mercantile scale.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">The business of wholesale houses—in the clothing-trades at -least—is chiefly managed by a class of men called “buyers.” -Each wholesale establishment is usually divided into several -departments; and at the head of each department is placed -one of these functionaries. A buyer is a partially-independent -sub-trader. At the beginning of the year he is -debited with a certain share of the capital of his employers. -With this capital he trades. From the makers he orders for -his department such goods as he thinks will find a market; -and for the goods thus bought he obtains as large a sale as -he can among the retailers of his connexion. The accounts -show at the end of the year what profit has been made on the -capital over which he has command; and, according to the -result, his engagement is continued—perhaps at an increased -salary—or he is discharged.</p> - -<p>Under such circumstances, bribery would hardly be -expected. Yet we learn, on unquestionable authority, that -buyers habitually bribe and are bribed. Giving presents, -as a means of obtaining custom, is an established practice -between them and all with whom they have dealings. -Their connexions among retailers they extend by treating -and favours; and they are themselves influenced in their -purchases by like means. It might be presumed that self-interest -would in both cases negative this. But apparently, -no very obvious sacrifice results from yielding to such -influences. When, as usually happens, there are many manufacturers -producing articles of like goodness at the same -prices, or many buyers between whose commodities and -whose terms there is little room for choice, -there exists no <span class="xxpn" id="p115">{115}</span> -motive to purchase of one rather than another; and then the -temptation to take some immediate bonus turns the scale. -Whatever be the cause, however, the fact is testified to us -alike in London and the provinces. By manufacturers, -buyers are sumptuously entertained for days together, and -are plied throughout the year with hampers of game, turkeys, -dozens of wine, etc.: nay, they receive actual money-bribes; -sometimes, as we hear from a manufacturer, in the shape of -bank-notes, but more commonly in the shape of discounts on -the amounts of their purchases. The extreme prevalence—universality -we might say—of this system, is proved by the -evidence of one who, disgusted as he is, finds himself inextricably -entangled in it. He confessed to us that all his -transactions were thus tainted. “Each of the buyers with -whom I deal,” he said, “expects an occasional bonus in one -form or other. Some require the bribe to be wrapped up; -and some take it without disguise. To an offer of money, -this one replies—‘Oh, I don’t like that sort of thing,’ but -nevertheless, does not object to money’s-worth; while my -friend So-and-so, who promises to bring me a large trade -this season, will, I very well know, look for one per cent. -discount in cash. The thing is not to be avoided. I could -name sundry buyers who look askance at me, and never -will inspect my goods; and I have no doubt about the -cause—I have not bought their patronage.” And then our -informant appealed to another of the trade, who agreed in -the assertion that in London their business could not be done -on any other terms. So greedy do some of these buyers -become, that their perquisites absorb a great part of the -profits, and make it a question whether it is worth while to -continue the dealing with them. Next, as above hinted, -there comes a like history of transactions between buyers -and retailers—the bribed being now the bribers. One of -those above referred to as habitually expecting douceurs, -said to the giver of them, whose testimony we have just -repeated—“I’ve spent pounds and pounds over ―― <span class="xxpn" id="p116">{116}</span> -(naming a large tailor), and now I think I have gained him -over.” To which confession this buyer added the complaint, -that his house did not make him any allowance for sums -thus disbursed.</p> - -<p>Under the buyer, who has absolute control of his own -department in a wholesale house, come sundry assistants, -who transact the business with retail traders; much as retail -trader’s assistants transact the business with the general -public. These higher-class assistants, working under the -same pressure as the lower, are similarly unscrupulous. -Liable to prompt dismissal as they are for failure in selling; -gaining higher positions as they do in proportion to the -quantities of goods they dispose of at profitable rates; and -finding that no objections are made to any dishonest artifices -they use, but rather that they are applauded for them; these -young men display a scarcely credible demoralization. As -we learn from those who have been of them, their duplicity -is unceasing—they speak almost continuous falsehood; and -their tricks range from the simplest to the most Machiavellian. -Take a few samples. When dealing with a retailer, it is an -habitual practice to bear in mind the character of his business; -and to delude him respecting articles of which he has -least experience. If his shop is in a neighbourhood where -the sales are chiefly of inferior goods (a fact ascertained from -the traveller), it is inferred that, having a comparatively -small demand for superior goods, he is a bad judge of them; -and advantage is taken of his ignorance. Again, it is usual -purposely to present samples of cloths, silks, etc., in such -order as to disqualify the perceptions. As, when tasting -different foods or wines, the palate is disabled by something -strongly flavoured, from appreciating the more delicate flavour -of another thing afterwards taken; so with the other organs -of sense, a temporary disability follows an excessive stimulation. -This holds not only with the eyes in judging of colours, -but also, as we are told by one who has been in the trade, it -holds with the fingers in judging of -textures; and cunning <span class="xxpn" id="p117">{117}</span> -salesmen are in the habit of thus partially paralysing the -customers’ perceptions, and then selling second-rate articles -as first-rate ones. Another common manœuvre is that of -raising a false belief of cheapness. Suppose a tailor is laying -in a stock of broad cloths. He is offered a bargain. Three -pieces are put before him—two of good quality, at, perhaps, -14<i>s.</i> per yard; and one of much inferior quality, at 8<i>s.</i> per -yard. These pieces have been purposely a little tumbled -and creased, to give an apparent reason for a pretended -sacrifice upon them. And the tailor is then told that he may -have these nominally-damaged cloths as “a job lot,” at 12<i>s.</i> -per yard. Misled by the appearances into a belief of the -professed sacrifice; impressed, moreover, by the fact that -two of the pieces are really worth considerably more than -the price asked; and not sufficiently bearing in mind that -the great inferiority of the third just balances this; the tailor -probably buys; and he goes away with the comfortable conviction -that he has made a specially-advantageous purchase, -when he has really paid the full price for every yard. A -still more subtle trick has been described to us by one who -himself made use of it, when engaged in one of these wholesale-houses—a -trick so successful that he was often sent for -to sell to customers who could be induced to buy by none -other of the assistants, and who ever afterwards would buy -only of him. His policy was to seem extremely simple and -honest, and, during the first few purchases, to exhibit his -honesty by pointing out defects in the things he was selling; -and then, having gained the customer’s confidence, he -proceeded to pass off upon him inferior goods at superior -prices. These are a few out of the various manœuvres in -constant practice. Of course there is a running accompaniment -of falsehoods, uttered as well as acted. It is expected -of the assistant that he will say whatever is needed to effect -a sale. “Any fool can sell what is wanted,” said a master -in reproaching a shopman for not having persuaded a -customer to buy something quite unlike that -which he asked <span class="xxpn" id="p118">{118}</span> -for. And the unscrupulous mendacity thus required by -employers, and encouraged by example, grows to a height -of depravity that has been described to us in words too -strong to be repeated. Our informant was obliged to -relinquish his position in one of these establishments, because -he could not lower himself to the required depth of degradation. -“You don’t lie as though you believe what you say,” -observed one of his fellow-assistants. And this was uttered -as a reproach!</p> - -<p>As those subordinates who have fewest qualms of -conscience are those who succeed the best, are soonest -promoted to more remunerative posts, and have therefore -the greatest chances of establishing businesses of their -own; it may be inferred that the morality of the heads of -these establishments, is much on a par with that of their -<i>employés</i>. The habitual malpractices of wholesale houses, -confirm this inference. Not only, as we have just seen, -are assistants under a pressure impelling them to deceive -purchasers respecting the qualities of the goods they buy, -but purchasers are also deceived in respect to the quantities; -and that, not by an occasional unauthorized trick, but by -an organized system, for which the firm itself is responsible. -The general practice is to make up goods, or to have them -made up, in lengths that are shorter than they profess to -be. A piece of calico nominally thirty-six yards long, -never measures more than thirty-one yards—is understood -throughout the trade to measure only so much. And -the long-accumulating delinquencies which this custom -indicates—the successive diminutions of length, each introduced -by some adept in dishonesty, and then imitated -by his competitors—are now being daily carried to a -still greater extent, wherever they are not likely to be -immediately detected. Articles that are sold in small -bundles, knots, packets, or such forms as negative -measurement at the time of sale, are habitually deficient -in quantity. Silk-laces called six -quarters, or fifty-four <span class="xxpn" id="p119">{119}</span> -inches, really measure four quarters, or thirty-six inches. -Tapes were originally sold in grosses containing twelve -knots of twelve yards each; but these twelve-yard-knots -are now cut of all lengths, from eight yards down to five -yards, and even less—the usual length being six yards. -That is to say, the 144 yards which the gross once contained, -has now in some cases dwindled down to 60 yards. -In widths, as well as in lengths, this deception is practised. -French cotton-braid, for instance (French only in name), is -made of different widths; which are respectively marked -5, 7, 9, 11, etc.: each figure indicating the number of -threads of cotton which the width includes, or rather -should include, but does not. For those which should be -marked 5 are marked 7; and those which should be -marked 7 are marked 9: out of three samples from -different houses shown to us by our informant, only one -contained the alleged number of threads. Fringe, again, -which is sold wrapped on card, will often be found two -inches wide at the end exposed to view, but will diminish -to one inch at the end next the card; or perhaps the first -twenty yards will be good, and all the rest, hidden under -it, will be bad. These frauds are committed unblushingly, -and as a matter of business. We have ourselves read in -an agent’s order-book, the details of an order, specifying -the actual lengths of which the articles were to be cut, and -the much greater lengths to be marked on the labels. And -we have been told by a manufacturer who was required to -make up tapes into lengths of fifteen yards, and label them -“warranted 18 yards,” that when he did not label them -falsely, his goods were sent back to him; and that the -greatest concession he could obtain was to be allowed to -send them without labels.</p> - -<p>It is not to be supposed that in their dealings with -manufacturers, these wholesale-houses adopt a code of -morals differing much from that which regulates their -dealings with retailers. The facts prove it to -be much the <span class="xxpn" id="p120">{120}</span> -same. A buyer for instance (who exclusively conducts the -purchases of a wholesale-house from manufacturers) will -not unfrequently take from a first-class maker, a small -supply of some new fabric, on the pattern of which much -time and money have been spent; and this new-pattern -fabric he will put into the hands of another maker, to have -copied in large quantities. Some buyers, again, give their -orders orally, that they may have the opportunity of -afterwards repudiating them if they wish; and in a case -narrated to us, where a manufacturer who had been thus -deluded, wished on a subsequent occasion to guarantee -himself by obtaining the buyer’s signature to his order, he -was refused it. For other unjust acts of wholesale-houses, -the heads of these establishments are, we presume, responsible. -Small manufacturers working with insufficient -capital, and in times of depression not having the wherewith -to meet their engagements, are often obliged to become -dependants on the wholesale-houses with which they deal; -and are then cruelly taken advantage of. One who has -thus committed himself, has either to sell his accumulated -stock at a great sacrifice—thirty to forty per cent. below -its value—or else to mortgage it; and when the wholesale-house -becomes the mortgagee, the manufacturer has little -chance of escape. He is obliged to work at the wholesale-dealer’s -terms; and ruin almost certainly follows. This is -especially the case in the silk-hosiery business. As was -said to us by one of the larger silk-hosiers, who had -watched the destruction of many of his smaller brethren—“They -may be spared for a time as a cat spares a mouse; -but they are sure to be eaten up in the end.” And we can -the more readily credit this statement from having found -that a like policy is pursued by some provincial curriers in -their dealings with small shoe-makers; and also by hop-merchants -and maltsters in their dealings with small -publicans. We read that in Hindostan the ryots, when -crops fall short, borrow from the Jews to -buy seed; and <span class="xxpn" id="p121">{121}</span> -once in their clutches are doomed. It seems that our -commercial world can furnish parallels.</p> - -<p>Of another class of wholesale-traders—those who supply -grocers with foreign and colonial produce—we may say that -though, in consequence of the nature of their business, -their malpractices are less numerous and multiform, as -well as less glaring, they bear the same stamp as the foregoing. -Unless it is to be supposed that sugar and spices -are moral antiseptics as well as physical ones, it must be -expected that wholesale dealers in them will transgress -much as other wholesale dealers do, in those directions -where the facilities are greatest. And the truth is that, -both in the qualities and quantities of the articles they sell, -they take advantage of the retailers. The descriptions -they give of their commodities are habitually misrepresentations. -Samples sent round to their customers are -characterized as first-rate when they are really second-rate. -The travellers are expected to endorse these untrue statements; -and unless the grocer has adequate keenness and -extensive knowledge, he is more or less deceived. In -some cases, indeed, no skill will save him. There are -frauds that have grown up little by little into customs of -the trade, which the retailer must submit to. In the -purchase of sugar, for example, he is imposed on in respect -alike of the goodness and the weight. The history of the -dishonesty is this. Originally the tare allowed by the -merchant on each hogshead, was 14 per cent. of the gross -weight. The actual weight of the wood of which the -hogshead was made, was at that time about 12 per cent. of -the gross weight. And thus the trade-allowance left a -profit of 2 per cent. to the buyer. Gradually, however, -the hogshead has grown thicker and heavier; until now, -instead of amounting to 12 per cent. of the gross weight, -it amounts to 17 per cent. As the allowance of 14 per cent. -still continues, the result is that the retail grocer loses -3 per cent.: to the extent of 3 per cent. -he buys wood <span class="xxpn" id="p122">{122}</span> -in place of sugar. In the quality of the sugar, he is -deluded by the practice of giving him a sample from the -best part of the hogshead. During its voyage from Jamaica -or elsewhere, the contents of a hogshead undergo a slow -drainage. The molasses, of which more or less is always -present, filters from the uppermost part of the mass of -sugar to the lowermost part; and this lowermost part, -technically known as the “foots,” is of darker colour and -smaller value. The quantity of it contained in a hogshead -varies greatly; and the retailer, receiving a false sample, -has to guess what the quantity of “foots” may be; and, to -his cost, often under-estimates it. As will be seen from the -following letter, copied from the <i>Public Ledger</i> for the -20th Oct., 1858, these grievances, more severe even than -we have represented them, are now exciting an agitation.</p> - -<blockquote> -<div>“<i>To the Retail Grocers of the United Kingdom.</i></div> - -<div class="pnormal">“Gentlemen,—The time has arrived for the trade at once to make a move -for the revision of tares on all raw sugars. Facts prove the evil of the -present system to be greatly on the increase. We submit a case as under, -and only one out of twenty. On the 30th August, 1858, we bought 3 hogsheads -of Barbados, mark -<table id="p122glyph" summary="trademark glyph TG over K"> -<tr> - <td class="tdtight">TG</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdtight">K</td></tr></table> - -<div class="dctr01"> -<img src="images/p122table.png" width="600" height="224" -alt="<Illustration of data table>" /></div></div> - -<p>“We make a claim for £2. 1<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.</i>; we are told by the wholesale grocer -there is no redress.</p> - -<p>“There is another evil which the retail grocer has to contend with, that -is, the mode of sampling raw sugars: the foots are excluded from the merchants’ -samples. Facts will prove that in thousands of hogsheads of -Barbados this season there is an average of 5 cwt. of foots in each; we have -turned out some with 10 cwt., which are at least 5<i>s.</i> per cwt. less value than -sample, and in these cases we are told again there is no redress.</p> - -<p>“These two causes are bringing hundreds of hard-working -men to ruin <span class="xxpn" id="p123">{123}</span> -and will bring hundreds more unless the trade take it up, and we implore -them to unite in obtaining so important a revision.</p> - -<div>“We are, Gentlemen, your obedient servants,</div> - -<p class="psignature">“<span class="smcap">W<b>ALKER</b></span> and -<span class="smcap">S<b>TAINES</b></span>.<a -class="afnanch" href="#fn6" id="fnanch6">6</a></p> - -<p>“Birmingham, October 19, 1858.”</p> -</blockquote> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch6" id="fn6">6</a> -The abuses described in this letter have now, we -believe, been abolished.</p></div> - -<p>A more subtle method of imposition remains to be added. -It is the practice of sugar-refiners to put moist, crushed -sugar into dried casks. During the time that elapses before -one of these casks is opened by the retailer, the desiccated -wood has taken up the excess of water from the sugar; -which is thus brought again into good condition. When -the retailer, finding that the cask weighs much more than -was allowed as tare by the wholesale dealer, complains to -him of this excess, the reply is—“Send it up to us, and we -will <i>dry it</i> and weigh it, as is the custom of the trade.”</p> - -<p>Without further detailing these malpractices, of which -the above examples are perhaps the worst, we will advert -only to one other point in the transactions of these large -houses—the drawing-up of trade-circulars. It is the habit -of many wholesale dealers to send round to their customers, -periodic accounts of the past transactions, present condition, -and prospects of the markets. Serving as checks on each -other, as they do, these documents are prevented from -swerving very widely from the truth. But it is scarcely to -be expected that they should be quite honest. Those who -issue them, being in most cases interested in the prices of -the commodities referred to in their circulars, are swayed -by their interests in the representations they make respecting -the probabilities of the future. Far-seeing retailers are -on their guard against this. A large provincial grocer, -who thoroughly understands his business, said to us—“As -a rule, I throw trade-circulars on the fire.” And that this -estimate of their trustworthiness is not unwarranted, we -gather from the expressions of those engaged in other -businesses. From two leather-dealers, one in the country -and one in London, we have heard -the same complaint <span class="xxpn" id="p124">{124}</span> -against the circulars published by houses in their trade, -that they are misleading. Not that they state untruths; -but that they produce false impressions by leaving out -facts which they should have stated.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">In illustrating the morality of manufacturers, we shall -confine ourselves to one class—those who work in silk. And -it will be the most convenient method of arranging facts, -to follow the silk through its various stages; from its state -when imported, to its state when ready for the wearer.</p> - -<p>Bundles of raw silk from abroad—not uncommonly -weighted with rubbish, stones, or rouleaux of Chinese -copper coin, to the loss of the buyer—are disposed of by -auction. Purchases are made on behalf of the silk-dealers -by “sworn brokers;” and the regulation is, that these -sworn brokers shall confine themselves to their functions as -agents. From a silk-manufacturer, however, we learn that -they are currently understood to be themselves speculators -in silk, either directly or by proxy; and that as thus -personally interested in prices, they become faulty as -agents. We give this, however, simply as a prevailing -opinion, for the truth of which we do not vouch.</p> - -<p>The silk bought by the London dealer, he sends into the -manufacturing districts to be “thrown;” that is, to be -made into thread fit for weaving. In the established form -of bargain between the silk-dealer and the silk-throwster, -we have a strange instance of an organized and recognized -deception; which has seemingly grown out of a check on a -previous deception. The throwing of silk is necessarily -accompanied by some waste, from broken ends, knots, and -fibres too weak to wind. This waste varies in different -kinds of silk from 3 per cent. to 20 per cent.: the average -being about 5 per cent. The per-centage of waste being -thus variable, it is obvious that in the absence of restraint, -a dishonest silk-throwster might abstract a portion of the -silk; and, on returning the rest to the -dealer, might plead <span class="xxpn" id="p125">{125}</span> -that the great diminution in weight had resulted from the -large amount of loss in the process of throwing. Hence -there has arisen a system, called “working on cost,” which -requires the throwster to send back to the dealer the same -weight of silk which he receives: the meaning of the -phrase being, we presume, that whatever waste the throwster -makes must be at his own cost. Now, as it is impossible -to throw silk without <i>some</i> waste—at least 3 per cent., and -ordinarily 5 per cent.—this arrangement necessitates a -deception; if, indeed, that can be called a deception -which is tacitly understood by all concerned. The silk -has to be weighted. As much as is lost in throwing, -has to be made up by some foreign substance introduced. -Soap is largely used for this. In small quantity, soap is requisite -to facilitate the running of the threads in the process -of manufacture; and the quantity is readily increased. -Sugar also is used. And by one means or other, the threads -are made to absorb enough matter to produce the desired -weight. To this system all silk-throwsters are obliged to -succumb; and some of them carry it to a great extent, as a -means of hiding either carelessness or something worse.</p> - -<p>The next stage through which silk passes, is that of -dyeing. Here, too, impositions have grown chronic and -general. In times past, as we learn from a ribbon-manufacturer, -the weighting by water was the chief dishonesty. -Bundles returned from the dyer’s, if not manifestly damp, -still, containing moisture enough to make up for a portion of -the silk that had been kept back; and precautions had to be -taken to escape losses thus entailed. Since then, however, -there has arisen a method of deception which leaves this -far behind—that of employing heavy dyes. The following -details have been given us by a silk-throwster. It is now, -he says, some five-and-thirty years since this method was -commenced. Before that time silk lost a considerable part -of its weight in the copper. The ultimate fibre of silk is -coated, in issuing from the spinneret of -the silk-worm, with <span class="xxpn" id="p126">{126}</span> -a film of varnish which is soluble in boiling water. In -dyeing, therefore, this film, amounting to 25 per cent. of the -entire weight of the silk, is dissolved off; and the silk is -rendered that much lighter. So that originally, for every -sixteen ounces of silk sent to the dyer’s, only twelve ounces -were returned. Gradually, however, by the use of heavy -dyes, this result has been reversed. The silk now gains in -weight; and sometimes to a scarcely credible extent. -According to the requirement, silk is sent back from the -dyer’s of any weight, from twelve ounces to the pound up -to forty ounces to the pound. The original pound of silk, -instead of losing four ounces, as it naturally would, is -actually, when certain black dyes are used, made to gain as -much as twenty-four ounces! Instead of 25 per cent. -lighter, it is returned 150 per cent. heavier—is weighted -with 175 per cent. of foreign matter! Now as, during this -stage of its manufacture, the transactions in silk are carried -on by weight, it is manifest that in the introduction and -development of this system, we have a long history of frauds. -At present all in the trade are aware of it, and on their -guard against it. Like other modes of adulteration, in -becoming established and universal, it has ceased to be profitable -to any one. But it still serves to indicate the morals -of those concerned.</p> - -<p>The thrown and dyed silk passes into the hands of the -weaver; and here again we come upon dishonesties. -Manufacturers of figured silks sin against their fellows by -stealing their patterns. The laws which have been found -necessary to prevent this species of piracy, show that it has -been carried to a great extent. Even now it is not prevented. -One who has himself suffered from it, tells us that -manufacturers still get one another’s designs by bribing -the workmen. In their dealings with “buyers,” too, some -manufacturers resort to deceptions: perhaps tempted to do -so by the desire to compensate themselves for the heavy tax -paid in treating, etc. Goods which have -already been seen <span class="xxpn" id="p127">{127}</span> -and declined by other buyers, are brought before a subsequent -one with artfully-devised appearances of secrecy, -accompanied by professions that these goods have been -specially reserved for his inspection: a manœuvre by which -an unwary man is sometimes betrayed. That the process of -production has its delusions, scarcely needs saying. In the -ribbon-trade, for example, there is a practice called “top-ending;” -that is, making the first three yards good, and -the rest (which is covered when rolled up) of bad or loose -texture—80 “shutes” to the inch instead of 108. And then -there comes the issuing of imitations made of inferior -materials—textile adulterations as we may call them. This -practice of debasement, not an occasional but an established -one, is carried to a surprising extent, and with surprising -rapidity. Some new fabric, first sold at 7<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> per yard, is -supplanted by successive counterfeits; until at the end of -eighteen months a semblance of it is selling at 4<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.</i> per -yard. Nay, still greater depreciations of quality and price -take place—from 10<i>s.</i> down to 3<i>s.</i>, and even 2<i>s.</i> per yard. -Until at length the badness of these spurious fabrics -becomes so conspicuous, that they are unsaleable; and -there ensues a reaction, ending either in the reintroduction -of the original fabric, or in the production of some novelty -to supply its place.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Among our notes of malpractices in trade, retail, wholesale, -and manufacturing, we have many others that must be -passed over. We cannot here enlarge on the not uncommon -trick of using false trade-marks; or of imitating another -maker’s wrappers. We must be satisfied with simply -referring to the doings of apparently-reputable houses, -which purchase goods known to be dishonestly obtained. -And we are obliged to refrain from particularizing certain -established arrangements, existing under cover of the -highest respectability, which seem intended to facilitate -these nefarious transactions. The frauds -we have detailed <span class="xxpn" id="p128">{128}</span> -are but samples of a state of things which it would take -a volume to describe in full.</p> - -<p>The further instances of trading-immorality which it -seems desirable here to give, are those which carry with -them a certain excuse: showing as they do how insensibly, -and almost irresistibly, men are thrust into vicious practices. -Always, no doubt, some utterly unconscientious trader is -the first to introduce a new form of fraud. He is by-and-by -followed by others who wear their moral codes but loosely. -The more upright traders are continually tempted to adopt -this questionable device which those around them are -adopting. The greater the number who yield, and the more -familiar the device becomes, the more difficult is it for the -remainder to stand out against it. The pressure of competition -upon them becomes more and more severe. They -have to fight an unequal battle: debarred as they are from -one of the sources of profit which their antagonists possess. -And they are finally almost compelled to follow the lead of -the rest. Take for example what has happened in the -candle-trade. As all know, the commoner kinds of candles -are sold in bunches, supposed to weigh a pound each. -Originally, the nominal weight corresponded with the real -weight. But at present the weight is habitually short by -an amount varying from half an ounce to two ounces—is -sometimes depreciated -12 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>2</sub> -per cent. If, now, an honest -chandler offers to supply a retailer at, say, six shillings for -the dozen pounds, the answer he receives is—“Oh, we get -them for five-and-eightpence.” “But mine,” replies the -chandler, “are of full weight; while those you buy at five-and-eightpence -are not.” “What does that matter to me?” -the retailer rejoins—“a pound of candles is a pound of -candles: my customers buy them in the bunch, and won’t -know the difference between yours and another’s.” And -the honest chandler, being everywhere met with this argument, -finds that he must either make his bunches of short -weight, or give up business. Take -another case, which, <span class="xxpn" id="p129">{129}</span> -like the last, we have direct from the mouth of one who has -been obliged to succumb. It is that of a manufacturer of -elastic webbing, now extensively used in making boots, etc. -From a London house with which he dealt largely, this -manufacturer recently received a sample of webbing -produced by some one else, accompanied by the question, -“Can you make us this at —— per yard?” (naming a price -below that at which he had before supplied them); and -hinting that if he could not do so they must go elsewhere. -On pulling to pieces the sample (which he showed to us), -this manufacturer found that sundry of the threads which -should have been of silk were of cotton. Indicating this -fact to those who sent him the sample, he replied that, if he -made a like substitution, he could furnish the fabric at the -price named; and the result was that he eventually did -thus furnish it. He saw that if he did not do so, he must -lose a considerable share of his trade. He saw further, that -if he did not at once yield, he would have to yield in the -end; for that other elastic-webbing-makers would one after -another engage to produce this adulterated fabric at -correspondingly diminished prices; and that when at length -he stood alone in selling an apparently-similar article at a -higher price, his business would leave him. This manufacturer -we have the best reasons for knowing to be a man -of fine moral nature, both generous and upright; and yet -we here see him obliged, in a sense, to implicate himself -in one of these processes of vitiation. It is a startling -assertion, but it is none the less a true one, that those -who resist these corruptions often do it at the risk of -bankruptcy; sometimes the certainty of bankruptcy. We -do not say this simply as a manifest inference from the -conditions, as above described. We say it on the warrant -of instances which have been given to us. From one brought -up in his house, we have had the history of a draper who, -carrying his conscience into his shop, refused to commit the -current frauds of the trade. He would -not represent his <span class="xxpn" id="p130">{130}</span> -goods as of better quality than they really were; he would -not say that patterns were just out, when they had been -issued the previous season; he would not warrant to wash -well, colours which he knew to be fugitive. Refraining -from these and the like malpractices of his competitors; -and, as a consequence, daily failing to sell various articles -which his competitors would have sold by force of lying; -his business was so unremunerative that he twice became -bankrupt. And in the opinion of our informant, he inflicted -more evil upon others by his bankruptcies, than he would -have done by committing the usual trade-dishonesties. See, -then, how complicated the question becomes; and how -difficult to estimate the trader’s criminality. Often—generally -indeed—he has to choose between two wrongs. -He has tried to carry on his business with strict integrity. -He has sold none but genuine articles, and has given full -measure. Others in the same business adulterate or otherwise -delude, and are so able to undersell him. His -customers, not adequately appreciating the superiority in -the quality or quantity of his goods, and attracted by the -apparent cheapness at other shops, desert him. Inspection -of his books proves the alarming fact that his diminishing -returns will soon be insufficient to meet his engagements, -and provide for his increasing family. What then must he -do? Must he continue his present course; stop payment; -inflict heavy losses on his creditors; and, with his wife and -children, turn out into the streets? Or must he follow the -example of his competitors; use their artifices; and give -his customers the same apparent advantages? The last not -only seems the least detrimental to himself, but also may be -considered the least detrimental to others. Moreover, the -like is done by men regarded as respectable. Why should -he ruin himself and family in trying to be better than his -neighbours? He will do as they do.</p> - -<p>Such is the position of the trader; such is the reasoning -by which he justifies himself; and it is hard -to visit him <span class="xxpn" id="p131">{131}</span> -with harsh condemnation. Of course this statement of the -case is by no means universally true. There are businesses -in which, competition being less active, the excuse for -falling into corrupt practices does not hold; and here, -indeed, we find corrupt practices much less prevalent. -Many traders, too, have obtained connexions which secure -to them adequate returns without descending to small -rogueries; and they have no defence if they thus degrade -themselves. Moreover, there are the men—commonly not -prompted by necessity but by greed—who introduce these -adulterations and petty frauds; and on these should descend -unmitigated indignation: both as being themselves criminals -without excuse, and as causing criminality in others. -Leaving out, however, these comparatively small classes, -most traders by whom the commoner businesses are carried -on, must receive a much more qualified censure than they -at first sight seem to deserve. On all sides we have met -with the same conviction, that for those engaged in the -ordinary trades there are but two courses—either to adopt -the practices of their competitors, or to give up business. -Men in different occupations and in different places—men -naturally conscientious, who manifestly chafed under the -degradations they submitted to, have one and all expressed -to us the sad belief that it is impossible to carry on trade -with strict rectitude. Their concurrent opinion, independently -given by each, is that the scrupulously honest -man must go to the wall.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">But that it has been, during the past year, frequently -treated by the daily press, we might here enter at some -length on the topic of banking-delinquencies. As it is, we -may presume all to be familiar with the facts, and shall limit -ourselves to making a few comments.</p> - -<p>In the opinion of one whose means of judging have been -second to those of few, the directors of joint-stock-banks -have rarely been guilty of -direct dishonesty. Admitting <span class="xxpn" id="p132">{132}</span> -notorious exceptions, the general fact appears to be that -directors have had no immediate interests in furthering -these speculations which have proved so ruinous to depositors -and shareholders; but have usually been among -the greatest sufferers. Their fault has rather been the less -flagitious, though still grave fault, of indifference to their -responsibilities. Often with very inadequate knowledge -they have undertaken to trade with property belonging in -great part to needy people. Instead of using as much care -in the investment of this property as though it were their -own, many of them have shown culpable recklessness: -either themselves loaning the entrusted capital without -adequate guarantee, or else passively allowing their colleagues -to do this. Sundry excuses may doubtless be made -for them. The well-known defects of a corporate conscience, -caused by divided responsibility, must be remembered in -mitigation. And it may also be pleaded for such delinquents -that if shareholders, swayed by reverence for mere -wealth and position, choose as directors, not the most -intelligent, the most experienced, and those of longest-tried -probity, but those of largest capital or highest rank, the -blame must not be cast solely on the men so chosen, but -must be shared by the men who choose them. Nay, -further, it must fall on the public as well as on shareholders; -seeing that this unwise selection of directors is in -part determined by the known bias of depositors. But -after all allowances have been made, it must be admitted -that these bank-administrators who risk the property of -their clients by lending it to speculators, are near akin in -morality to the speculators themselves. As these speculators -risk other men’s money in undertakings which they -hope will be profitable; so do the directors who lend them -the money. If these last plead that the money thus lent -is lent with the belief that it will be repaid with good -interest, the first may similarly plead that they expect their -investment to return the borrowed capital -along with a <span class="xxpn" id="p133">{133}</span> -handsome profit. In each case the transaction is one of -which the evil consequences, if they come, fall more largely -on others than on the actors. And though it may be -contended, on behalf of the director, that what he does is -done chiefly for the benefit of his constituents, whereas the -speculator has in view only his own benefit; it may be -replied that the director’s blameworthiness is not the less -because he took a rash step with a comparatively weak -motive. The truth is that when a bank-director lends the -capital of shareholders to those to whom he would not lend -his own capital, he is guilty of a breach of trust. In -tracing the gradations of crime, we pass from direct robbery -to robbery one, two, three, or more degrees removed. -Though a man who speculates with other people’s money is -not chargeable with direct robbery, he is chargeable with -robbery one degree removed: he deliberately stakes his -neighbour’s property, intending to appropriate the gain, if -any, and to let his neighbour suffer the loss, if any: his -crime is that of contingent robbery. And hence any one -who, standing like a bank-director in the position of -trustee, puts the money with which he is entrusted into -a speculator’s hands, must be called an accessory to contingent -robbery.</p> - -<p>If so grave a condemnation is to be passed on those who -lend trust-money to speculators, as well as on the speculators -who borrow it, what shall we say of the still more -delinquent class who obtain loans by fraud—who not only -pawn other men’s property when obtained, but obtain it -under false pretences? For how else than thus must we -describe the doings of those who raise money by accommodation-bills? -When A and B agree, the one to draw and -the other to accept a bill of £1000 for “value received;” -while in truth there has been no sale of goods between -them, or no value received; the transaction is not simply -an embodied lie, but it becomes thereafter a living and -active lie. Whoever discounts the bill, does -so in the <span class="xxpn" id="p134">{134}</span> -belief that B, having become possessed of £1000 worth of -goods, will, when the bill falls due, have either the £1000 -worth of goods or some equivalent, with which to meet it. -Did he know that there were no such goods in the hands of -either A or B, and no other property available for liquidating -the bill, he would not discount it—he would not lend -money to a man of straw without security. Had A taken -to the bank a forged mortgage-deed, and obtained a loan -upon it, he would not have committed a greater wrong. -Practically, an accommodation-bill is a forgery. It is an -error to suppose that forgery is limited to the production -of documents that are <i>physically</i> false—that contain signatures -or other symbols which are not what they appear to -be: forgery, properly understood, equally includes the -production of documents that are <i>morally</i> false. What -constitutes the crime committed in forging a bank-note? -Not the mere mechanical imitation. This is but a means -to the end; and, taken alone, is no crime at all. The -crime consists in deluding others into the acceptance of -what seems to be a representative of so much money, but -which actually represents nothing. It matters not whether -the delusion is effected by copying the forms of the letters -and figures, as in a forged bank-note, or by copying the -form of expression, as in an accommodation-bill. In either -case a semblance of value is given to that which has no -value; and it is in giving this false appearance of value -that the crime consists. It is true that generally, the -acceptor of an accommodation-bill hopes to be able to meet -it when due. But if those who think this exonerates him, -will remember the many cases in which, by the use of -forged documents, men have obtained possession of moneys -which they hoped presently to replace, and were nevertheless -judged guilty of forgery, they will see that the plea is -insufficient. We contend, then, that the manufacturers of -accommodation-bills should be classed as forgers. That if -the law so classed them, much good would -result, we are <span class="xxpn" id="p135">{135}</span> -not prepared to say. Several questions present themselves:—Whether -such a change would cause inconvenience, -by negativing the many harmless transactions -carried on under this fictitious form by solvent men? -Whether making it penal to use the words “value -received,” unless there <i>had</i> been value received, would not -simply originate an additional class of bills in which these -words were omitted? Whether it would be an advantage -if bills bore on their faces proofs that they did or did not -represent actual sales? Whether a restraint on undue -credit would result, when bankers and discounters saw -that certain bills coming to them in the names of speculative -or unsubstantial traders, were avowed accommodation-bills? -But these are questions we need not go out of our -way to discuss. We are here concerned only with the -morality of the question.</p> - -<p>Duly to estimate the greatness of the evils indicated, -however, we must bear in mind both that the fraudulent -transactions thus entered into are numerous, and that each -generally becomes the cause of others. The original lie is -commonly the parent of further lies, which again give rise -to an increasing progeny; and so on for successive generations, -multiplying as they descend. When A and B find -their £1000 bill about to fall due, and the expected proceeds -of their speculation not forthcoming—when they find, as -they often do, either that the investment has resulted in a -loss instead of a gain; or that the time for realizing their -hoped-for profits, has not yet come; or that the profits, if -there are any, do not cover the extravagances of living -which, in the meantime, they have sanguinely indulged in—when, -in short, they find that the bill cannot be taken -up; they resort to the expedient of manufacturing other -bills with which to liquidate the first. And while they are -about it, they usually think it will be as well to raise a somewhat -larger sum than is required to meet their outstanding -engagements. Unless it happens that -great success enables <span class="xxpn" id="p136">{136}</span> -them to redeem themselves, this proceeding is repeated, and -again repeated. So long as there is no monetary crisis, it -continues easy thus to keep afloat; and, indeed, the appearance -of prosperity which is given by an extended circulation -of bills in their names, bearing respectable indorsements, -creates a confidence in them which renders the obtainment -of credit easier than at first. And where, as in some cases, -this process is carried to the extent of employing men in -different towns throughout the kingdom, and even in -distant parts of the world, to accept bills, the appearances -are still better kept up, and the bubble reaches a still -greater development. As, however, all these transactions -are carried on with borrowed capital, on which interest has -to be paid; as, further, the maintenance of this organized -fraud entails constant expenses, as well as occasional -sacrifices; and as it is in the very nature of the system to -generate reckless speculation; the fabric of lies is almost -certain ultimately to fall; and, in falling, to ruin or embarrass -others besides those who had given credit.</p> - -<p>Nor does the evil end with the direct penalties from time -to time inflicted on honest traders. There is also a grave -indirect penalty which they suffer from the system. These -forgers of credit are habitually instrumental in lowering -prices below their natural level. To meet emergencies, -they are obliged every now and then to sell goods at a loss: -the alternative being immediate stoppage. Though with -each such concern, this is but an occasional incident, yet, -taking the whole number of them connected with any one -business, it results that there are generally some who are -making sacrifices—generally some who are unnaturally -depressing the market. In short, the capital fraudulently -obtained from some traders is, in part, dissipated in rendering -the business of other traders deficiently remunerative: -often to their serious embarrassment.</p> - -<p>If, however, the whole truth must be said, the condemnation -visited on these commercial vampires is -not to be <span class="xxpn" id="p137">{137}</span> -confined to them; but is in some degree deserved by a -much more numerous class. Between the penniless schemer -who obtains the use of capital by false pretences, and the -upright trader who never contracts greater liabilities than -his estate will liquidate, there lie all gradations. From -businesses carried on entirely with other people’s capital, -obtained by forgery, we pass to businesses in which there -is a real capital of one-tenth and a credit-capital of nine-tenths; -to other businesses in which the ratio of real to -fictitious capital is somewhat greater; and so on until we -reach the very extensive class of men who trade but a little -beyond their means. To get more credit than would be -given were the state of the business known, is in all cases -the aim; and the cases in which this credit is partially -unwarranted, differ only in degree from those in which it -is wholly unwarranted. As most are beginning to see, the -prevalence of this indirect dishonesty has not a little to do -with our commercial disasters. Speaking broadly, the -tendency is for every trader to hypothecate the capital of -other traders, as well as his own. And when A has -borrowed on the strength of B’s credit; B on the strength -of C’s; and C on the strength of A’s—when, throughout -the trading world, each has made engagements which he -can meet only by direct or indirect aid—when everybody is -wanting help from some one else to save him from falling; a -crash is certain. The punishment of a general unconscientiousness -may be postponed, but it is sure to come eventually.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">The average commercial morality cannot, of course, be -accurately depicted in so brief a space. On the one hand, -we have been able to give but a few typical instances of the -malpractices by which trade is disgraced. On the other -hand, we have been obliged to present these alone; unqualified -by the large amount of honest dealing throughout which -they are dispersed. While, by accumulating such evidences, -the indictment may be made heavier; -by diluting them <span class="xxpn" id="p138">{138}</span> -with the immense mass of equitable transactions daily -carried on, the verdict would be mitigated. After making -every allowance, however, we fear that the state of things -is very bad. Our impression on this point is due less to -the particular facts above given, than to the general opinion -expressed by our informants. On all sides we have found -the result of long personal experience, to be the conviction -that trade is essentially corrupt. In tones of disgust or discouragement, -reprehension or derision, according to their -several natures, men in business have one after another -expressed or implied this belief. Omitting the highest mercantile -classes, a few of the less common trades, and those -exceptional cases where an entire command of the market has -been obtained, the uniform testimony of competent judges -is, that success is incompatible with strict integrity. To -live in the commercial world it appears necessary to adopt -its ethical code: neither exceeding nor falling short of it—neither -being less honest nor more honest. Those who sink -below its standard are expelled; while those who rise above -it are either pulled down to it or ruined. As, in self-defence, -the civilized man becomes savage among savages; so, it -seems that in self-defence, the scrupulous trader is obliged -to become as little scrupulous as his competitors. It has -been said that the law of the animal creation is—“Eat and -be eaten;” and of our trading community it may similarly -be said that its law is—Cheat and be cheated. A system -of keen competition, carried on, as it is, without adequate -moral restraint, is very much a system of commercial cannibalism. -Its alternatives are—Use the same weapons as your -antagonists or be conquered and devoured.</p> - -<p>Of questions suggested by these facts, one of the most -obvious is—Are not the prejudices which have ever been -entertained against trade and traders, thus fully justified? -do not these meannesses and dishonesties, and the moral -degradation they imply, warrant the disrespect shown to -men in business? A prompt -affirmative answer will <span class="xxpn" id="p139">{139}</span> -probably be looked for; but we very much doubt whether it -should be given. We are rather of opinion that these -delinquencies are products of the average character placed -under special conditions. There is no reason for assuming -that the trading classes are intrinsically worse than other -classes. Men taken at random from higher and lower -ranks, would, most likely, if similarly circumstanced, do -much the same. Indeed the mercantile world might readily -recriminate. Is it a solicitor who comments on their misdoings? -They may quickly silence him by referring to the -countless dark stains on the reputation of his fraternity. -Is it a barrister? His frequent practice of putting in pleas -which he knows are not valid, and his established habit of -taking fees for work he does not perform, make his criticism -somewhat suicidal. Does the condemnation come through -the press? The condemned may remind those who write, -of the fact that it is not quite honest to utter a positive -verdict on a book merely glanced through, or to pen glowing -eulogies on the mediocre work of a friend while slighting -the good one of an enemy; and they may further ask -whether those who, at the dictation of an employer, write -what they disbelieve, are not guilty of the serious offence -of adulterating public opinion. Moreover, traders might -contend that many of their delinquencies are thrust on them -by the injustice of their customers. They, and especially -drapers, might point to the fact that the habitual demand -for an abatement of price, is made in utter disregard of their -reasonable profits; and that, to protect themselves against -attempts to gain by their loss, they are obliged to name -prices greater than those they intend to take. They might -also urge that the straits to which they are often brought -by non-payment of large sums due from their wealthier -customers, is itself a cause of their malpractices: obliging -them, as it does, to use all means, illegitimate as well -as legitimate, for getting the wherewith to meet their -engagements. And then, after proving -that those without <span class="xxpn" id="p140">{140}</span> -excuse show this disregard of other men’s claims, traders -might ask whether they, who have the excuse of having to -contend with a merciless competition, are alone to be blamed -if they display a like disregard in other forms. Nay, even -to the guardians of social rectitude—members of the legislature—they -might use the <i>tu quoque</i> argument: asking -whether bribery of a customer’s servant, is any worse than -bribery of an elector? or whether the gaining of suffrages -by clap-trap hustings-speeches, containing insincere professions -adapted to the taste of the constituency, is not as -bad as getting an order for goods by delusive representations -respecting their quality? No; few if any classes are -free from immoralities which are as great, <i>relatively to -the temptations</i>, as these we have been exposing. Of -course they will not be so petty or so gross where the -circumstances do not prompt pettiness or grossness; nor so -constant and organized where the class-conditions have not -tended to make them habitual. But, taken with these -qualifications, we think that much might be said for the -proposition that the trading classes, neither better nor -worse intrinsically than other classes, are betrayed into -their flagitious habits by external causes.</p> - -<p>Another question, here naturally arising, is—Are not -these evils growing worse? Many of the facts we have -cited seem to imply that they are. Yet there are many -other facts which point as distinctly the other way. In -weighing the evidence, we must bear in mind that the -greater public attention at present paid to such matters, is -itself a source of error—is apt to generate the belief that -evils now becoming recognized are evils that have recently -arisen; when in truth they have merely been hitherto disregarded, -or less regarded. It has been clearly thus with -crime, with distress, with popular ignorance; and it is very -probably thus with trading-dishonesties. As it is true of -individual beings, that their height in the scale of creation -may be measured by the degree -of their self-consciousness; <span class="xxpn" id="p141">{141}</span> -so, in a sense, it is true of societies. Advanced and highly-organized -societies are distinguished from lower ones by the -evolution of something that stands for a <i>social self-consciousness</i>. -Among ourselves there has, happily, been of late -years a remarkable growth of this social self-consciousness; -and we believe that to this is chiefly ascribable the impression -that commercial malpractices are increasing. Such -facts as have come down to us respecting the trade of past -times, confirm this view. In his <i>Complete English Tradesman</i>, -Defoe mentions, among other manœuvres of retailers, -the false lights which they introduced into their shops, for -the purpose of giving delusive appearances to their goods. -He comments on the “shop rhetorick,” the “flux of -falsehoods,” which tradesmen habitually uttered to their -customers; and quotes their defence as being that they -could not live without lying. He says, too, that there was -scarce a shopkeeper who had not a bag of spurious or -debased coin, from which he gave change whenever he -could; and that men, even the most honest, triumphed in -their skill in getting rid of bad money. These facts show -that the mercantile morals of that day were, at any rate, -not better than ours; and if we call to mind the numerous -Acts of Parliament passed in old times to prevent frauds of -all kinds, we perceive the like implication. As much may, -indeed, be safely inferred from the general state of society. -When, reign after reign, governments debased the coinage, -the moral tone of the middle classes could scarcely have -been higher than now. Among generations whose sympathy -with the claims of fellow-creatures was so weak, that the -slave-trade was not only thought justifiable, but the initiator -of it was rewarded by permission to record the feat in his -coat of arms, it is hardly possible that men respected the -claims of their fellow-citizens more than at present. Times -characterized by an administration of justice so inefficient, -that there were in London nests of criminals who defied the -law, and on all high roads robbers who -eluded it, cannot <span class="xxpn" id="p142">{142}</span> -have been distinguished by just mercantile dealings. While, -conversely, an age which, like ours, has seen so many equitable -social changes thrust on the legislature by public -opinion, is very unlikely to be an age in which the transactions -between individuals have been growing more inequitable. -Yet, on the other hand, it is undeniable that many of -the dishonesties we have described are of modern origin. -Not a few of them have become established during the last -thirty years; and others are even now arising. How are -these seeming contradictions to be reconciled?</p> - -<p>The reconciliation is not difficult. It lies in the fact that -while the <i>direct</i> frauds have been diminishing, the <i>indirect</i> -frauds have been increasing: alike in variety and in -number. And this admission we take to be consistent with -the opinion that the standard of commercial morals is higher -than it was. For if we omit, as excluded from the question, -the penal restraints—religious and legal—and ask what is -the ultimate moral restraint to the aggression of man on -man, we find it to be—sympathy with the pain inflicted. -Now the keenness of the sympathy, depending on the -vividness with which this pain is realized, varies with the -conditions of the case. It may be active enough to check -misdeeds which will manifestly cause great suffering, and -yet not be active enough to check misdeeds which will -cause but slight annoyance. While sufficiently acute to -prevent a man from doing that which will entail immediate -injury on a known person, it may not be sufficiently acute -to prevent him from doing that which will entail remote -injuries on unknown persons. And we find the facts to -agree with this deduction, that the moral restraint varies -according to the clearness with which the evil consequences -are conceived. Many a one who would shrink from picking -a pocket does not scruple to adulterate his goods; and he -who never dreams of passing base coin will yet be a party -to joint-stock-bank deceptions. Hence, as we say, the -multiplication of the more subtle and -complex forms of <span class="xxpn" id="p143">{143}</span> -fraud, is consistent with a general progress in morality; -provided it is accompanied with a decrease in the grosser -forms of fraud.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">But the question which most concerns us is, not whether -the morals of trade are better or worse than they have been? -but rather—why are they so bad? Why in this civilized -state of ours, is there so much that betrays the cunning -selfishness of the savage? Why, after the careful inculcations -of rectitude during education, comes there in after-life -all this knavery? Why, in spite of all the exhortations to -which the commercial classes listen every Sunday, do they -next morning recommence their evil deeds? What is this -so potent agency which almost neutralizes the discipline of -education, of law, of religion?</p> - -<p>Various subsidiary causes that might be assigned, must be -passed over, that we may have space to deal with the chief -cause. In an exhaustive statement, something would have -to be said on the credulity of consumers, which leads them -to believe in representations of impossible advantages; and -something, too, on their greediness, which, ever prompting -them to look for more than they ought to get, encourages -sellers to offer delusive bargains. The increased difficulty -of living consequent on growing pressure of population, -might perhaps come in as a part cause; and that greater -cost of bringing up a family, which results from the higher -standard of education, might be added. But the chief -inciter of these trading malpractices is intense desire for -wealth. And if we ask—Why this intense desire? the -reply is—It results from the <i>indiscriminate respect paid -to wealth</i>.</p> - -<p>To be distinguished from the common herd—to be somebody—to -make a name, a position—this is the universal -ambition; and to accumulate riches is alike the surest and -the easiest way of fulfilling this ambition. Very early in -life all learn this. At school, the court paid -to one whose <span class="xxpn" id="p144">{144}</span> -parents have called in their carriage to see him, is conspicuous; -while the poor boy whose insufficient stock of -clothes implies the small means of his family, soon has -burnt into his memory the fact that poverty is contemptible. -On entering the world, the lessons which may have been -taught about the nobility of self-sacrifice, the reverence -due to genius, the admirableness of high integrity, are -quickly neutralized by experience: men’s actions proving -that these are not their standards of respect. It is soon -perceived that while abundant outward marks of deference -from fellow-citizens may almost certainly be gained by -directing every energy to the accumulation of property, -they are but rarely to be gained in any other way; and -that even in the few cases in which they are otherwise -gained, they are not given with entire unreserve, but are -commonly joined with a more or less manifest display of -patronage. When, seeing this, the young man further -sees that while the acquisition of property is possible with -his mediocre endowments, the acquirement of distinction -by brilliant discoveries, or heroic acts, or high achievements -in art, implies faculties and feelings which he does not -possess; it is not difficult to understand why he devotes -himself heart and soul to business.</p> - -<p>We do not mean to say that men act on the consciously -reasoned-out conclusions thus indicated; but we mean that -these conclusions are the unconsciously-formed products of -their daily experiences. From early childhood the sayings -and doings of all around them have generated the idea that -wealth and respectability are two sides of the same thing. -This idea, growing with their growth, and strengthening -with their strength, becomes at last almost what we may -call an organic conviction. And this organic conviction it -is which prompts the expenditure of all their energies in -money-making. We contend that the chief stimulus is not -the desire for the wealth itself, but for the applause and -position which the wealth brings. And in -this belief, we <span class="xxpn" id="p145">{145}</span> -find ourselves at one with various intelligent traders with -whom we have talked on the matter. It is incredible that -men should make the sacrifices, mental and bodily, which -they do, merely to get the material benefits which money -purchases. Who would undertake an extra burden of -business for the purpose of getting a cellar of choice wines -for his own drinking? He who does it, does it that he -may have choice wines to give his guests and gain their -praises. What merchant would spend an additional hour -at his office daily, merely that he might move into a house -in a more fashionable quarter? He submits to the tax -not to gain health and comfort but for the sake of the -increased social consideration which the new house will -bring him. Where is the man who would lie awake at -nights devising means of increasing his income, in the hope -of being able to provide his wife with a carriage, were the -use of the carriage the sole consideration? It is because -of the <i>éclat</i> which the carriage will give, that he enters on -these additional anxieties. So manifest, so trite, indeed, -are these truths, that we should be ashamed of insisting on -them, did not our argument require it.</p> - -<p>For if the desire for that homage which wealth brings, is -the chief stimulus to these strivings after wealth, then the -giving of this homage (when given, as it is, with but little -discrimination) is the chief cause of the dishonesties into -which these strivings betray mercantile men. When the -shopkeeper, on the strength of a prosperous year and -favourable prospects, has yielded to his wife’s persuasions, -and replaced the old furniture with new, at an outlay -greater than his income covers—when, instead of the hoped-for -increase, the next year brings a decrease in his returns—when -he finds that his expenses are out-running his -revenue; then does he fall under the strongest temptation to -adopt some newly-introduced adulteration or other malpractice. -When, having by display gained a certain -recognition, the wholesale trader begins -to give dinners <span class="xxpn" id="p146">{146}</span> -appropriate only to those of ten times his income, with -other expensive entertainments to match—when, having -for a time carried on this style at a cost greater than he -can afford, he finds that he cannot discontinue it without -giving up his position; then is he most strongly prompted -to enter into larger transactions, to trade beyond his means, -to seek undue credit, to get into that ever-complicating -series of misdeeds which ends in disgraceful bankruptcy. -And if these are the facts then is it an unavoidable conclusion -that the blind admiration which society gives to -mere wealth, and the display of wealth, is the chief source -of these multitudinous immoralities.</p> - -<p>Yes, the evil is deeper than appears—draws its nutriment -from far below the surface. This gigantic system of dishonesty, -branching out into every conceivable form of -fraud, has roots which run underneath our whole social -fabric, and, sending fibres into every house, suck up -strength from our daily sayings and doings. In every -dining-room a rootlet finds food, when the conversation -turns on So-and-so’s successful speculations, his purchase -of an estate, his probable worth—on this man’s recent large -legacy, and the other’s advantageous match; for being -thus talked about is one form of that tacit respect which -men struggle for. Every drawing-room furnishes nourishment -in the admiration awarded to costliness—to silks that -are “rich,” that is, expensive; to dresses that contain an -enormous quantity of material, that is, are expensive; to -laces that are hand-made, that is, expensive; to diamonds -that are rare, that is, expensive; to china that is old, that -is, expensive. And from scores of small remarks and -minutiæ of behaviour which, in all circles, hourly imply how -completely the idea of respectability involves that of costly -externals, there is drawn fresh pabulum.</p> - -<p>We are all implicated. We all, whether with self-approbation -or not, give expression to the established feeling. -Even he who disapproves this feeling finds -himself unable to <span class="xxpn" id="p147">{147}</span> -treat virtue in threadbare apparel with a cordiality as great -as that which he would show to the same virtue endowed -with prosperity. Scarcely a man is to be found who would -not behave with more civility to a knave in broadcloth than -to a knave in fustian. Though for the deference which they -have shown to the vulgar rich, or the dishonestly successful, -men afterwards compound with their consciences by privately -venting their contempt; yet when they again come face to -face with these imposing externals covering worthlessness, -they do as before. And so long as imposing worthlessness -gets the visible marks of respect, while the disrespect felt -for it is hidden, it naturally flourishes.</p> - -<p>Hence, then, is it that men persevere in these evil practices -which all condemn. They can so purchase a homage which, -if not genuine, is yet, so far as appearances go, as good as the -best. To one whose wealth has been gained by a life of -frauds, what matters it that his name is in all circles a -synonym of roguery? Has he not been conspicuously -honoured by being twice elected mayor of his town? (we -state a fact) and does not this, joined to the personal consideration -shown him, outweigh in his estimation all that is -said against him; of which he hears scarcely anything? -When, not many years after the exposure of his inequitable -dealing, a trader attains to the highest civic distinction which -the kingdom has to offer, and that, too, through the instrumentality -of those who best know his delinquency, is not the -fact an encouragement to him, and to all others, to sacrifice -rectitude to aggrandizement? If, after listening to a sermon -that has by implication denounced the dishonesties he has -been guilty of, the rich ill-doer finds, on leaving church, that -his neighbours cap to him, does not this tacit approval go -far to neutralize the effect of all he has heard? The truth -is that with the great majority of men, the visible expression -of social opinion is far the most efficient of incentives and -restraints. Let any one who wishes to -estimate the strength <span class="xxpn" id="p148">{148}</span> -of this control, propose to himself to walk through the streets -in the dress of a dustman, or hawk vegetables from door to -door. Let him feel, as he probably will, that he had rather -do something morally wrong than commit such a breach of -usage and suffer the resulting derision. He will then -better estimate how powerful a curb to men is the open disapproval -of their fellows, and how, conversely, the outward -applause of their fellows is a stimulus surpassing all others in -intensity. Fully realizing which facts, he will see that the -immoralities of trade are in great part traceable to an -immoral public opinion.</p> - -<p>Let none infer, from what has been said, that the payment -of respect to wealth rightly acquired and rightly used, is -deprecated. In its original meaning, and in due degree, the -feeling which prompts such respect is good. Primarily, -wealth is the sign of mental power; and this is always -respectable. To have honestly-acquired property, implies -intelligence, energy, self-control; and these are worthy of -the homage that is indirectly paid to them by admiring their -results. Moreover, the good administration and increase of -inherited property, also requires its virtues; and therefore -demands its share of approbation. And besides being -applauded for their display of faculty, men who gain and -increase wealth are to be applauded as public benefactors. -For he who, as manufacturer or merchant, has, without -injustice to others, realized a fortune, is thereby proved to -have discharged his functions better than those who have -been less successful. By greater skill, better judgment, or -more economy than his competitors, he has afforded the public -greater advantages. His extra profits are but a share of -the extra produce obtained by the same outlay: the other -share going to the consumers. And similarly, the landowner -who, by judicious investment of money, has increased the -value (that is, the productiveness) of his estate, has thereby -added to the stock of national capital. By -all means, then, <span class="xxpn" id="p149">{149}</span> -let the right acquisition and proper use of wealth have their -due share of admiration.</p> - -<p>But that which we condemn as the chief cause of commercial -dishonesty, is the <i>indiscriminate</i> admiration of wealth—an -admiration that has little or no reference to the character -of the possessor. When, as generally happens, the external -signs are reverenced where they signify no internal worthiness—nay, -even where they cover internal unworthiness; -then does the feeling become vicious. It is this idolatry -which worships the symbol apart from the thing symbolized, -that is the root of all these evils we have been exposing. So -long as men pay homage to those social benefactors who have -grown rich honestly, they give a wholesome stimulus to -industry; but when they accord a share of their homage to -those social malefactors who have grown rich dishonestly, -then do they foster corruption—then do they become -accomplices in all these frauds of commerce.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">As for remedy, it manifestly follows that there is none -save a purified public opinion. When that abhorrence -which society now shows to direct theft, is shown to theft -of all degrees of indirectness; then will these mercantile -vices disappear. When not only the trader who adulterates -or gives short measure, but also the merchant who over-trades, -the bank-director who countenances an exaggerated -report, and the railway-director who repudiates his -guarantee, come to be regarded as of the same genus as -the pickpocket, and are treated with like disdain; then will -the morals of trade become what they should be.</p> - -<p>We have little hope, however, that any such higher tone -of public opinion will shortly be reached. The present -condition of things appears to be, in great measure, a -necessary accompaniment of our present phase of progress. -Throughout the civilized world, especially in England, and -above all in America, social activity is almost wholly -expended in material development. -To subjugate Nature <span class="xxpn" id="p150">{150}</span> -and bring the powers of production and distribution to their -highest perfection, is the task of our age, and probably will -be the task of many future ages. And as in times when -national defence and conquest were the chief desiderata, -military achievement was honoured above all other things; -so now, when the chief desideratum is industrial growth, -honour is most conspicuously given to that which generally -indicates the aiding of industrial growth. The English -nation at present displays what we may call the commercial -diathesis; and the undue admiration for wealth appears -to be its concomitant—a relation still more conspicuous in -the worship of “the almighty dollar” by the Americans. -And while the commercial diathesis, with its accompanying -standard of distinction, continues, we fear the evils we have -been delineating can be but partially cured. It seems -hopeless to expect that men will distinguish between that -wealth which represents personal superiority and benefits -done to society, from that which does not. The symbols, the -externals, have all the world through swayed the masses, -and must long continue to do so. Even the cultivated, who -are on their guard against the bias of associated ideas, and -try to separate the real from the seeming, cannot escape the -influence of current opinion. We must therefore content -ourselves with looking for a slow amelioration.</p> - -<p>Something, however, may even now be done by vigorous -protest against adoration of mere success. And it is important -that it should be done, considering how this vicious -sentiment is being fostered. When we have one of our -leading moralists preaching, with increasing vehemence, the -doctrine of sanctification by force—when we are told that -while a selfishness troubled with qualms of conscience is -contemptible, a selfishness intense enough to trample down -everything in the unscrupulous pursuit of its ends is worthy -of admiration—when we find that if it be sufficiently great, -power, no matter of what kind or how directed, is held up -for our reverence; we may fear lest -the prevalent applause <span class="xxpn" id="p151">{151}</span> -of mere success, together with the commercial vices which -it stimulates, should be increased rather than diminished. -Not at all by this hero-worship grown into brute-worship -is society to be made better, but by exactly the opposite—by -a stern criticism of the means through which success has -been achieved, and by according honour to the higher and -less selfish modes of activity.</p> - -<p>And happily the signs of this more moral public opinion -are showing themselves. It is becoming a tacitly-received -doctrine that the rich should not, as in bygone times, spend -their lives in personal gratification; but should devote them -to the general welfare. Year by year is the improvement -of the people occupying a larger share of the attention of -the upper classes. Year by year are they voluntarily -devoting more energy to furthering the material and mental -progress of the masses. And those among them who do not -join in the discharge of these high functions, are beginning -to be looked upon with more or less contempt by their own -order. This latest and most hopeful fact in human history—this -new and better chivalry—promises to evolve a higher -standard of honour, and so to ameliorate many evils: among -others those which we have detailed. When wealth obtained -by illegitimate means inevitably brings nothing but disgrace—when -to wealth rightly acquired is accorded only its -due share of homage, while the greatest homage is given to -those who consecrate their energies and their means to -the noblest ends; then may we be sure that, along with -other accompanying benefits, the morals of trade will be -greatly purified.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p152">{152}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">PRISON-ETHICS.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First -published in</i> The British Quarterly Review <i>for July 1860</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>The two antagonist theories of morals, like many other -antagonist theories, are both right and both wrong. The -<i>a priori</i> school has its truth; the <i>a posteriori</i> school has its -truth; and for the proper guidance of conduct, there must -be due recognition of both. On the one hand, it is -asserted that there is an absolute standard of rectitude; -and, respecting certain classes of actions, it is rightly so -asserted. From the fundamental laws of life and the -conditions of social existence, are deducible certain imperative -limitations to individual action—limitations which -are essential to a perfect life, individual and social; or, -in other words, essential to the greatest happiness. And -these limitations, following inevitably as they do from -undeniable first principles, deep as the nature of life itself, -constitute what we may distinguish as absolute morality. -On the other hand it is contended, and in a sense rightly -contended, that with men as they are and society as it is, -the dictates of absolute morality are impracticable. Legal -control, which involves infliction of pain, alike on those -who are restrained and on those who pay the cost of -restraining them, is proved by this fact to be not absolutely -moral; seeing that absolute morality is the regulation of -conduct in such way that pain shall -not be inflicted. <span class="xxpn" id="p153">{153}</span></p> - -<p>Wherefore, if it be admitted that legal control is at present -indispensable, it must be admitted that these <i>a priori</i> rules -cannot be immediately carried out. And hence it follows -that we must adapt our laws and actions to the existing -character of mankind—that we must estimate the good or -evil resulting from this or that arrangement, and so reach, -<i>a posteriori</i>, a code fitted for the time being. In short, we -must fall back on expediency. Now, each of these positions -being valid, it is a grave mistake to adopt either -to the exclusion of the other. They should be respectively -appealed to for mutual qualification. Progressing civilization, -which is of necessity a succession of compromises -between old and new, requires a perpetual readjustment -of the compromise between the ideal and the practicable -in social arrangements: to which end both elements of the -compromise must be kept in view. If it is true that pure -rectitude prescribes a system of things too good for men -as they are; it is not less true that mere expediency does -not of itself tend to establish a system of things any -better than that which exists. While absolute morality -owes to expediency the checks which prevent it from -rushing into utopian absurdities; expediency is indebted -to absolute morality for all stimulus to improvement. -Granted that we are chiefly interested in ascertaining what -is <i>relatively right</i>; it still follows that we must first consider -what is <i>absolutely right</i>; since the one conception -presupposes the other. That is to say, though we must -ever aim to do what is best for the present times, yet we -must ever bear in mind what is abstractedly best; so that -the changes we make may be <i>towards</i> it, and not <i>away</i> -from it. Unattainable as pure rectitude is, and will long -continue to be, we must keep an eye on the compass which -tells us whereabout it lies; or we shall otherwise wander -in the opposite direction.</p> - -<p>Illustrations from our recent history will show very -conclusively, we think, how important -it is that <span class="xxpn" id="p154">{154}</span> -considerations of abstract expediency should be joined with those -of concrete expediency—how immense would be the evils -avoided and the benefits gained, if <i>a posteriori</i> morality -were enlightened by <i>a priori</i> morality. Take first the -case of free trade. Until recently it has been the practice -of all nations, artificially to restrict their commerce with -other nations. Throughout past centuries this course was -defensible as conducing to safety. Without saying that -law-givers had the motive of promoting industrial independence, -it may yet be said that in ages when national -quarrels were perpetual, it would not have been well -for any people to be much dependent on others for -necessary commodities. But though there is this ground -for asserting that commercial restrictions were once expedient, -it cannot be asserted that our corn-laws were thus -justified: it cannot be alleged that the penalties and -prohibitions which, until lately, hampered our trade, were -needful to prevent us from being industrially disabled by -a war. Protection in all its forms was established and -maintained for other reasons of expediency; and the -reasons for which it was opposed and finally abolished -were also those of expediency. Calculations of immediate -and remote consequences were set forth by the antagonist -parties; and the mode of decision was by a balancing of -these various anticipated consequences. And what, after -generations of mischievous legislation and long years of -arduous struggle, was the conclusion arrived at, and since -justified by the results? Exactly the one which abstract -equity plainly teaches. The moral course proves to be the -politic course. That ability to exercise the faculties, the -total denial of which causes death—that liberty to pursue -the objects of desire, without which there cannot be complete -life—that freedom of action which his nature prompts -every individual to claim, and on which equity puts no -limit save the like freedom of action of other individuals, -involves, among other corollaries, -freedom of exchange. <span class="xxpn" id="p155">{155}</span> -Government which, in protecting citizens from murder, -robbery, assault or other aggression, shows us that it has -the all-essential function of securing to each this free -exercise of faculties within the assigned limits, is called on, -in the due discharge of its function, to maintain this -freedom of exchange; and cannot abrogate it without -reversing its function, and becoming aggressor instead of -protector. Thus, absolute morality would all along have -shown in what direction legislation should tend. Qualified -only by the consideration that in turbulent times they -must not be so carried out as to endanger national life, -through suspensions in the supply of necessaries, these -<i>a priori</i> principles would have guided statesmen, as fast as -circumstances allowed, towards the normal condition. We -should have been saved from thousands of needless restrictions. -Such restrictions as were needful would have -been abolished as soon as was safe. An enormous amount -of suffering would have been prevented. That prosperity -which we now enjoy would have commenced much sooner. -And our present condition would have been one of greater -power, wealth, happiness, and morality.</p> - -<p>Our railway-politics furnish another instance. A vast -loss of national capital has been incurred, and great misery -has been inflicted, in consequence of the neglect of a -simple principle clearly dictated by abstract justice. Whoso -enters into a contract, though he is bound to do that which -the contract specifies, is not bound to do some other thing -which is neither specified nor implied in the contract. We -do not appeal to moral perception only in warranty of this -position. It is one deducible from that first principle of -equity which, as above pointed out, follows from the laws -of life, individual and social; and it is one which the -accumulated experience of mankind has so uniformly -justified, that it has become a tacitly-recognized doctrine -of civil law among all nations. In cases of disputes about -agreements, the question in each case -brought to trial <span class="xxpn" id="p156">{156}</span> -always is, whether the terms bind one or other of the -contracting parties to do this or that; and it is assumed, -as a matter of course, that neither of them can be called -upon to do more than is expressed or understood in the -agreement. Now this almost self-evident principle has -been wholly ignored in railway-legislation. A shareholder, -uniting with others to make and work a line from one -specified place to another specified place, binds himself to -pay certain sums in furtherance of the project; and, by -implication, agrees to yield to the majority of his fellow-shareholders -on all questions raised respecting the execution -of this project. But he commits himself no further than -this. He is not required to obey the majority concerning -things not named in the deed of incorporation. Though -with respect to the specified railway he has bound himself, -he has not bound himself, with respect to any <i>un</i>specified -railway which his co-proprietors may wish to make; and he -cannot be committed to such unspecified railway by a vote -of the majority. But this distinction has been wholly passed -over. Shareholders in joint-stock undertakings have been -perpetually involved in other undertakings subsequently -decided on by their fellow-shareholders; and, against their -will, have had their properties heavily mortgaged for the -execution of projects that were ruinously unremunerative. -In every case the proprietary contract for making a -particular railway, has been dealt with as though it were a -proprietary contract for making railways! Not only have -directors thus misinterpreted it, and not only have shareholders -allowed it to be thus misinterpreted, but legislators -have so little understood their duties as to have endorsed -the misinterpretation. To this simple cause has been -owing most of our railway-companies’ disasters. Abnormal -facilities for getting capital have caused reckless competition -in extension-making and branch-making, and in -needless opposition lines, got up to be purchased by the -companies they threatened. Had each -new scheme been <span class="xxpn" id="p157">{157}</span> -executed by an independent body of shareholders, without -any guarantee from another company—without any capital -raised by preference shares—there would have been little -or none of the ruinous expenditure we have seen. Something -like a hundred millions of money would have been -saved, and thousands of families preserved from misery, -had the proprietary-contract been enforced according to -the dictates of pure equity.</p> - -<p>These cases go far to justify our position. The general -reasons we gave for thinking that the ethics of immediate -experience must be enlightened by abstract ethics, to -ensure correct guidance, are strongly enforced by these -instances of the gigantic errors which are made when the -dictates of abstract ethics are ignored. -The complex estimates -of relative expediency, cannot do without the clue furnished -by the simple deductions of absolute expediency.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">We propose to study the treatment of criminals from this -point of view. And first, let us set down those temporary -requirements which have hitherto prevented, and do still, -in part, prevent the establishment of a just system.</p> - -<p>The same average popular character which necessitates a -rigorous form of government, necessitates also a rigorous -criminal code. Institutions are ultimately determined by -the natures of the citizens living under them; and when -these citizens are too impulsive or selfish for free institutions, -and unscrupulous enough to supply the requisite staff of -agents for maintaining tyrannical institutions, they are -proved by implication to be citizens who will tolerate, and -will probably need, severe forms of punishment. The -same mental defect underlies both results. The character -which originates and sustains political liberty, is a character -swayed by remote considerations—a character not at the -mercy of immediate temptations, but one which contemplates -the consequences likely to arise in future. We have only to -remember that, among ourselves, a -political encroachment is <span class="xxpn" id="p158">{158}</span> -resisted, not because of any direct evil it inflicts, but because -of the evils likely hereafter to flow from it, to see how the -maintenance of freedom presupposes the habit of weighing -distant results, and being chiefly guided by them. Conversely, -it is manifest that men who dwell only in the -present, the special, the concrete—who do not realize with -clearness the contingencies of the future—will put little -value on those rights of citizenship which profit them -nothing, save as a means of warding off unspecified evils -that can possibly affect them only at a distant time in an -obscure way. Well, is it not obvious that the forms of -mind thus contrasted, will require different kinds of punishment -for misconduct? To restrain the second, there must -be penalties which are severe, prompt, and specific enough -to be vividly conceived; while the first may be deterred by -penalties which are less definite, less intense, less immediate. -For the more civilized, dread of a long, monotonous, -criminal discipline may suffice; but for the less civilized -there must be inflictions of bodily pain and death. Thus -we hold, not only that a social condition which generates a -harsh form of government, also generates harsh retributions; -but also, that in such a social condition, harsh -retributions are requisite. And there are facts which -illustrate this. Witness the case of one of the Italian -states, in which the punishment of death having been -abolished in conformity with the wish of a dying duchess, -assassinations increased so greatly that it became needful -to re-establish it.</p> - -<p>Besides the fact that in the less-advanced stages of -civilization, a bloody penal code is both a natural product -of the time and a needful restraint for the time, there -must be noted the fact that a more equitable and humane -code could not be carried out from want of fit administration. -To deal with delinquents not by short and sharp methods -but by such methods as abstract justice indicates, implies a -class of agencies too complicated to exist in -a low society, <span class="xxpn" id="p159">{159}</span> -and a class of officers more trustworthy than can be found -among its citizens. Especially would the equitable treatment -of criminals be impracticable where the amount of -crime was very great. The number to be dealt with would -be unmanageable. Some simpler method of purging the -community of its worst members becomes, under such -circumstances, a necessity.</p> - -<p>The inapplicability of an absolutely just system of penal -discipline to a barbarous or semi-barbarous people, is thus, -we think, as manifest as is the inapplicability of an absolutely -just form of government to them. And in the same manner -that, for some nations, a despotism is warranted; so may a -criminal code of the extremest severity be warranted. In -either case the defence is, that the institution is as good -as the average character of the people permits—that less -stringent institutions would entail social confusion and its -far more severe evils. Bad as a despotism is, yet where -anarchy is the only alternative, we must say that, as anarchy -would bring greater suffering than despotism brings, despotism -is justified by the circumstances. And similarly, -however inequitable in the abstract were the beheadings, -crucifyings, and burnings of ruder ages, yet, if it be shown -that, without penalties thus extreme, the safety of society -could not have been insured—if, in their absence, the -increase of crime would have inflicted a larger total of evil, -and that, too, on peaceable members of the community; -then it follows that morality warranted this severity. In -the one case, as in the other, we must say that, measured -by the quantities of pain respectively inflicted and avoided, -the course pursued was the <i>least wrong</i>; and to say that it -was the least wrong is to say that it was <i>relatively right</i>.</p> - -<p>But while we thus admit all that can be alleged by the -defenders of Draconian codes, we go on to assert a correlative -truth which they overlook. While fully recognizing -the evils that must follow the premature -establishment of a <span class="xxpn" id="p160">{160}</span> -penal system dictated by pure equity, let us not overlook -the evils that have arisen from altogether rejecting the -guidance of pure equity. Let us note how terribly the -one-sided regard for immediate expediency has retarded -the ameliorations from time to time demanded.</p> - -<p>Consider, for instance, the immense amount of suffering -and demoralization needlessly caused by our severe laws in -the last century. Those many merciless penalties which -Romilly and others succeeded in abolishing, were as little -justified by social necessities as by abstract morality. -Experience has since proved that to hang men for theft, -was not requisite for the security of property. And that -such a measure was opposed to pure equity, scarcely needs -saying. Evidently, had considerations of relative expediency -been all along qualified by considerations of absolute -expediency, these severities, with their many concomitant -evils, would have ceased long before they did.</p> - -<p>Again, the dreadful misery, demoralization, and crime, -generated by the harsh treatment of transported convicts, -would have been impossible, had our authorities considered -what seemed just as well as what seemed politic. There -would never have been inflicted on transports the shocking -cruelties proved before the Parliamentary Committee of -1848. We should not have had men condemned to the -horrors of the chain-gang even for insolent looks. There -could not have been perpetrated such an atrocity as that of -locking up chain-gangs “from sunset to sunrise in the -caravans or boxes used for this description of prisons, -which hold from twenty to twenty-eight men, but in which -the whole number <i>can neither stand upright nor sit down at -the same time, except with their legs at right angles to their -bodies</i>.” Men would never have been doomed to tortures -extreme enough to produce despair, desperation, and -further crimes—tortures under which “a man’s heart is -taken from him, and there is given to him the -heart of a <span class="xxpn" id="p161">{161}</span> -beast,” as said by one of these law-produced criminals -before his execution. We should not have been told, as -by a chief justice of Australia, that the discipline was -“carried to an extent of <i>suffering, such as to render death -desirable, and to induce many prisoners to seek it under its -most appalling aspects</i>.” Sir G. Arthur would not have -had to testify that, in Van Diemen’s Land, convicts committed -murder for the purpose “<i>of being sent up to Hobart -Town for trial, though aware that in the ordinary course they -must be executed within a fortnight after arrival</i>;” nor -would tears of commiseration have been drawn from Judge -Burton’s eyes, by one of these cruelly-used transports -placed before him for sentence. In brief, had abstract -equity joined with immediate expediency in devising -convict discipline, not only would untold suffering, degradation, -and mortality have been prevented; but those who -were responsible for atrocities like those above-named, -would not themselves be chargeable with crime, as we now -hold them to be.</p> - -<p>Probably we shall meet with a less general assent when, -as a further benefit which the guidance of absolute morality -would have conferred, we instance the prevention of such -methods as those in use at Pentonville. How the silent -and the separate systems are negatived by abstract justice -we shall by and by see. For the present, the position we -have to defend is that these systems are bad. That but a -moderate per-centage of the prisoners subjected to them -are re-convicted, may be true; though, considering the -fallaciousness of negative statistics, this by no means proves -that those not re-convicted are reformed. But the question -is not solely how many prisoners are prevented from again -committing crime? A further question is, how many of -them have become self-supporting members of society? It -is notorious that this prolonged denial of human intercourse -not unfrequently produces insanity or imbecility; and on -those who remain sane, its depressing -influence must almost <span class="xxpn" id="p162">{162}</span> -of necessity entail serious debility, bodily and mental.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn7" id="fnanch7">7</a> -Indeed, we think it probable that much of the apparent -success is due to an enfeeblement which incapacitates for -crime as much as for industry. Our own objection to such -methods, however, has always been, that their effect on -the moral nature is the reverse of that required. Crime is -anti-social—is prompted by self-regarding feelings and -checked by social feelings. The natural prompter of right -conduct to others, and the natural opponent of misconduct -to others, is sympathy; for out of sympathy grow both -the kindly emotions, and that sentiment of justice which -restrains us from aggressions. Well, this sympathy, -which makes society possible, is cultivated by social intercourse. -By habitual participation in the pleasures of -others, the faculty is strengthened; and whatever prevents -this participation, weakens it. Hence, therefore, shutting -up prisoners within themselves, or forbidding all interchange -of feeling, inevitably deadens such sympathies as they -have; and so tends rather to diminish than to increase the -moral check to transgression. This <i>a priori</i> conviction, -which we have long entertained, we now find confirmed by -facts. Captain Maconochie states, as a result of observation, -that a long course of separation so fosters the self-regarding -desires, and so weakens the sympathies, as to -make even well-disposed men very unfit to bear the little -trials of domestic life on their return to their homes. -Thus there is good reason to think that, while silence and -solitude may cow the spirit or undermine the energies, it -cannot produce true reformation.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch7" id="fn7">7</a> -Mr. Baillie-Cochrane says:—“The officers at -the Dartmoor prison inform me that the prisoners who arrive -there even after one year’s confinement at Pentonville, -may be distinguished from the others by their miserable -downcast look. In most instances their brain is affected; -and they are unable to give satisfactory replies to the -simplest questions.”</p></div> - -<p>“But how can it be shown,” asks the reader, “that these -injudicious penal systems are inequitable? Where is the -method which will enable us to -say what kind of <span class="xxpn" id="p163">{163}</span> -punishment is justified by absolute morality, and what kind is -not?” These questions we will now attempt to answer.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">So long as the individual citizen pursues the objects of -his desires without diminishing the equal freedom of any of -his fellow citizens to do the like, society cannot equitably -interfere with him. While he contents himself with the -benefits won by his own energies, and attempts not to -intercept any of the benefits similarly won for themselves -by others, or any of those which Nature has conferred on -them; no legal penalties can rightly be inflicted on him. -But when, by murder, theft, assault, arson, or minor -aggression, he has broken through these limits, the community -is warranted in putting him under restraint. On -the relative propriety of doing this we need say nothing: -it is demonstrated by social experience. Its absolute -propriety not being so manifest, we will proceed to point -out how it is deducible from the ultimate laws of life.</p> - -<p>Life depends on the maintenance of certain natural -relations between actions and their results. If respiration -does not supply oxygen to the blood, as in the normal order -of things it should do, but instead supplies carbonic acid, -death quickly results. If the swallowing of food is not -followed by the usual organic sequences—the contractions -of the stomach, and the pouring into it of gastric juice—indigestion -arises, and the energies flag. If active movements -of the limbs fail in exciting the heart to supply blood -more rapidly, or if the extra current propelled by the heart -is greatly retarded by an aneurism through which it passes, -speedy prostration ensues. In which, and endless like -cases, we see that bodily life depends on the maintenance -of the established connexions between physiological causes -and their consequences. Among the intellectual processes, -the same thing holds. If certain impressions made on the -senses do not induce the appropriate muscular adjustments—if -the brain is clouded with wine, -or consciousness is <span class="xxpn" id="p164">{164}</span> -pre-occupied, or the perceptions are naturally obtuse; the -movements are so ill-controlled that accidents happen. -Where, as in paralytic patients, the natural link between -mental impressions and the appropriate motions is broken, -the life is greatly vitiated. And when, as during insanity, -evidence fitted, according to the usual order of thought, to -produce certain convictions, produces convictions of an -opposite kind, conduct is reduced to chaos, and life -endangered—perhaps cut short. So it is with more involved -phenomena. Just as we here find that, throughout both -its physical and intellectual divisions, healthful life implies -continuance of the established successions of antecedents -and consequents among our vital actions; so shall we find -it throughout the moral division. In our dealings with -external Nature and our fellow men, there are relations of -cause and effect, on the maintenance of which, as on the -maintenance of the internal ones above instanced, life -depends. Conduct of this or that kind tends to bring -results which are pleasurable or painful; and the welfare of -every one demands that these natural sequences shall not -be interfered with. To speak more specifically, we see that -in the order of Nature, inactivity entails want. There is a -connexion between exertion and the fulfilment of certain -imperative needs. If, now, this connexion is broken—if -labour of body or mind has been gone through, and the -produce of the labour is intercepted by another, one of the -conditions to complete life is unfulfilled. The defrauded -person is physically injured by deprivation of the wherewithal -to make good the wear and tear he had undergone; -and if the robbery be continually repeated, he must die. -Where all men are dishonest a reflex evil results. When, -throughout a society, the normal relation between work -and benefit is habitually broken, not only are the lives of -many directly undermined, but the lives of all are indirectly -undermined by destruction of the motive for work, and by -the consequent poverty. Thus, to demand -that there shall <span class="xxpn" id="p165">{165}</span> -be no breach of the natural sequence between labour and -the rewards obtained by labour, is to demand that the laws -of life shall be respected. What we call the right of -property, is simply a corollary from certain necessary -conditions to complete living. It is a formulated recognition -of the relation between expenditure of force and the -need for force-sustaining objects obtainable by the expenditure -of force—a recognition in full of a relation which -cannot be wholly ignored without causing death. And all -else regarded as individual rights, are indirect implications -of like nature—similarly insist on certain relations between -man and man, as conditions without which there cannot be -fully maintained that correspondence between inner and outer -actions which constitutes life. It is not, as some moralists -and most lawyers absurdly assert, that such rights are derived -from human legislation; nor is it, as asserted by others with -absurdity almost as great, that there is no basis for them save -the inductions of immediate expediency. These rights are -deducible from the established connexions between our acts -and their results. As certainly as there are conditions which -must be fulfilled before life can exist, so certainly are -there conditions which must be fulfilled before complete -life can be enjoyed by the respective members of a society; -and those which we call the requirements of justice, simply -answer to the most important of such conditions.</p> - -<p>Hence, if life is our legitimate aim—if absolute morality -means, as it does, conformity to the laws of complete life; -then absolute morality warrants the restraint of those who -force their fellow-citizens into non-conformity. Our justification -is, that life is impossible save under certain conditions; -that it cannot be entire unless these conditions are maintained -unbroken; and that if it is right for us to live completely, -it is right for us to remove any one who either -breaks these conditions in our persons or constrains us to -break them.</p> - -<p>Such being the basis of our right to -coerce the criminal, <span class="xxpn" id="p166">{166}</span> -there next come the questions:—What is the legitimate -extent of the coercion? Can we from this source derive -authority for certain demands on him? and are there any -similarly-derived limits to such demands? To both these -questions there are affirmative answers.</p> - -<p>First, we find authority for demanding restitution or compensation. -Conformity to the laws of life being the substance -of absolute morality; and the social regulations which -absolute morality dictates, being those which make this -conformity possible; it is a manifest corollary that whoever -breaks these regulations, may be justly required to undo, -as far as possible, the wrong he has done. The object -being to maintain the conditions essential to complete life, -it follows that, when one of these conditions has been transgressed, -the first thing to be required of the transgressor -is, that he shall put matters as nearly as may be in the state -they previously were. The property stolen shall be restored, -or an equivalent for it given. Any one injured by an -assault shall have his surgeon’s bill paid, compensation for -lost time, and also for the suffering he has borne. And -similarly in all cases of infringed rights.</p> - -<p>Second, we are warranted by this highest authority in -restricting the actions of the offender as much as is needful to -prevent further aggressions. Any citizen who will not allow -others to fulfil the conditions to complete life—who takes -away the produce of his neighbour’s labour, or deducts from -that bodily health and comfort which his neighbour has -earned by good conduct, must be forced to desist. And society -is warranted in using such force as may be found requisite. -Equity justifies the fellow-citizens of such a man in limiting -the free exercise of his faculties to the extent necessary for -preserving the free exercise of their own faculties.</p> - -<p>But now mark that absolute morality countenances no -restraint beyond this—no gratuitous inflictions of pain, no -revengeful penalties. The conditions it insists on being such -as make possible complete life, we -cannot rightly abrogate <span class="xxpn" id="p167">{167}</span> -these conditions, even in the person of a criminal, further -than is needful to prevent greater abrogations of them. -Freedom to fulfil the laws of life being the thing insisted on, -to the end that the sum of life may be the greatest possible, -it follows that the life of the offender must be taken into -account as an item in this sum. We must permit him to -live as completely as consists with social safety. It is -commonly said that the criminal loses all his rights. This -may be so according to law, but it is not so according to -justice. Such portion of them only is justly taken away, -as cannot be left to him without danger to the community. -Those exercises of faculty, and consequent benefits, which -are possible under the necessary restraint, cannot be equitably -denied. If any do not think it proper that we should -be thus regardful of an offender’s claims, let them consider -for a moment the lesson which Nature reads us. We do -not find that those processes of life by which bodily health -is maintained, are miraculously suspended in the person of -the prisoner. In him, as in others, good digestion waits on -appetite. If he is wounded, the healing process goes on -with the usual rapidity. When he is ill, as much effect is -expected from the <i>vis medicatrix naturæ</i> by the medical -officer, as in one who has not transgressed. His perceptions -yield him guidance as they did before he was imprisoned; -and he is capable of much the same pleasurable emotions. -When we thus see that the beneficent arrangements of things, -are no less uniformly sustained in his person than in that -of another, are we not bound to respect in his person such -of these beneficent arrangements as we have power to -thwart? are we not bound to interfere with the laws of life -no further than is needful? If any still hesitate, there is -another lesson for them having the same implication. -Whoso disregards any one of those simpler laws of life out -of which, as we have shown, the moral laws originate, has -to bear the evil necessitated by the transgression—just that, -and no more. If, careless of your footing, -you fall, the <span class="xxpn" id="p168">{168}</span> -consequent bruise, and possibly some constitutional disturbance -entailed by it, are all you have to suffer: there is not -the further gratuitous penalty of a cold or an attack of -small-pox. If you have eaten something which you know -to be indigestible, there follow certain visceral derangements -and their concomitants; but, for your physical sin, -there is no vengeance in the shape of a broken bone or a -spinal affection. The punishments, in these and other cases, -are neither greater nor less than flow from the natural -workings of things. Well, should we not with all humility -follow this example? Must we not infer that, similarly, a -citizen who has transgressed the conditions to social welfare, -ought to bear the needful penalties and restraints, but -nothing beyond these? Is it not clear that neither by absolute -morality nor by Nature’s precedents, are we warranted in -visiting on him any pains besides those involved in remedying, -as far as may be, the evil committed, and preventing -other such evils? To us it seems manifest that if society -exceeds this, it trespasses against the criminal.</p> - -<p>Those who think that we are tending towards a mischievous -leniency, will find that the next step in our argument -disposes of any such objection; for while equity -forbids us to punish the criminal otherwise than by making -him suffer the natural consequences, these, when rigorously -enforced, are quite severe enough.</p> - -<p>Society having proved in the high court of absolute -morality, that the offender must make restitution or compensation, -and submit to the restraints requisite for public -safety; and the offender having obtained from the same -court the decision, that these restraints shall be no greater -than the specified end requires; society thereupon makes -the further demand that, while living in durance, the -offender shall maintain himself; and this demand absolute -morality at once endorses. The community having taken -measures for self-preservation, and having inflicted on the -aggressor no punishments or -disabilities beyond those <span class="xxpn" id="p169">{169}</span> -involved in these necessary measures, is no further concerned -in the matter. With the support of the prisoner it has no -more to do than before he committed the crime. It is the -business of society simply to defend itself against him; -and it is his business to live as well as he can under the -restrictions society is obliged to impose on him. All he -may rightly ask is, to have the opportunity of labouring, -and exchanging the produce of his labour for necessaries; -and this claim is a corollary from that already admitted, -that his actions shall not be restricted more than is needful -for the public safety. With these opportunities, however, -he must make the best of his position. He must be content -to gain as good a livelihood as the circumstances permit; -and if he cannot employ his powers to the best advantage, -if he has to work hard and fare scantily, these evils must -be counted among the penalties of his transgression—the -natural reactions of his wrong action.</p> - -<p>On this self-maintenance equity sternly insists. The -reasons which justify his imprisonment, equally justify the -refusal to let him have any other sustenance than he earns. -He is confined that he may not further interfere with the -complete living of his fellow-citizens—that he may not -again intercept any of those benefits which the order of -Nature has conferred on them, or any of those procured by -their exertions and careful conduct. And he is required -to support himself for exactly the same reasons—that he -may not interfere with others’ complete living—that he -may not intercept the benefits they earn. For, if otherwise, -whence must come his food and clothing? Directly from -the public stores, and indirectly from the pockets of all -tax-payers. And what is the property thus abstracted -from tax-payers? It is the equivalent of so much benefit -earned by labour. It is so much means to complete living. -And when this property is taken away—when the toil has -been gone through, and the produce of it is intercepted by -the tax-gatherer on behalf of the convict; -the conditions to <span class="xxpn" id="p170">{170}</span> -complete life are broken: the convict commits by deputy -a further aggression on his fellow-citizens. It matters not -that such abstraction is made according to law. We are -here considering the <i>dictum</i> of that authority which is -above law; and which law ought to enforce. And this -<i>dictum</i> we find to be, that each individual shall take the -evils and benefits of his own conduct—that the offender -must suffer, as far as is possible, all pains entailed by his -offence; and must not be allowed to visit part of them on -the unoffending. Unless the criminal maintains himself, he -indirectly commits an additional crime. Instead of repairing -the breach he has made in the conditions to complete -social life, he widens this breach. He inflicts on others -that very injury which the restraint imposed on him was -to prevent. As certainly, therefore, as such restraint is -warranted by absolute morality; so certainly does absolute -morality warrant us in refusing him gratuitous support.</p> - -<p>These, then, are the requirements of an equitable penal -system:—That the aggressor shall make restitution or compensation; -that he shall be placed under the restraints -requisite for social security; that neither any restraints -beyond these, nor any gratuitous penalties, shall be inflicted -on him; and that while living in confinement, or under -surveillance, he shall maintain himself. We are not -prepared to say that such dictates may at once be fully -obeyed. Already we have admitted that the deductions of -absolute expediency must, in our transition state, be -qualified by the inductions of relative expediency. We -have pointed out that in rude times, the severest criminal -codes were morally justified if, without them, crime could -not be repressed and social safety insured. Whence, by -implication, it follows that our present methods of treating -criminals are warranted, if they come as near to those of -pure equity as circumstances permit. That any system -now feasible must fall short of the ideal sketched out, is -probable. It may be that the enforcement -of restitution or <span class="xxpn" id="p171">{171}</span> -compensation, is in many cases impracticable. It may be -that on some convicts, penalties more severe than abstract -justice demands must be inflicted. On the other hand, it -may be that entire self-maintenance would entail on the -wholly-unskilled criminal, a punishment too grievous to be -borne. But any such shortcomings do not affect our -argument. All we insist on is, that the commands of -absolute morality shall be obeyed as far as possible—that -we shall fulfil them up to those limits beyond which experiment -proves that more evil than good results—that, ever -keeping in view the ideal, each change we make shall be -towards its realization.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">But now we are prepared to say, that this ideal may be -in great part realized at the present time. Experience in -various countries, under various circumstances, has shown -that immense benefits result from substituting for the old -penal systems, systems that approximate to that above -indicated. Germany, France, Spain, England, Ireland, -and Australia, send statements to the effect that the most -successful criminal discipline, is a discipline of decreased -restraints and increased self-dependence. And the evidence -proves the success to be greatest, where the nearest -approach is made to the arrangements prescribed by -abstract justice. We shall find the facts striking: some of -them even astonishing.</p> - -<p>When M. Obermair was appointed Governor of the -Munich State-Prison―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“He found from 600 to 700 prisoners in the jail, in the worst state of -insubordination, and whose excesses, he was told, defied the harshest and -most stringent discipline; the prisoners were all chained together, and -attached to each chain was an iron weight, which the strongest found -difficulty in dragging along. The guard consisted of about 100 soldiers, -who did duty not only at the gates and around the walls, but also in the -passages, and even in the workshops and dormitories; and, strangest of all -protections against the possibility of an outbreak or individual invasion, -twenty to thirty large savage dogs, of the bloodhound breed, were let -loose at night in the passages and courts to keep their -watch and ward. <span class="xxpn" id="p172">{172}</span> -According to his account the place was a perfect Pandemonium, comprising, -within the limits of a few acres, the worst passions, the most slavish vices, -and the most heartless tyranny.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>M. Obermair gradually relaxed this harsh system. He -greatly lightened the chains; and would, if allowed, have -thrown them aside. The dogs, and nearly all the guards, -were dispensed with; and the prisoners were treated with -such consideration as to gain their confidence. Mr. Baillie-Cochrane, -who visited the place in 1852, says the prison-gates -were</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“Wide open, without any sentinel at the door, and a guard of only twenty -men idling away their time in a guard-room off the entrance-hall. . . . . -None of the doors were provided with bolts and bars; the only security was -an ordinary lock, and as in most of the rooms the key was not turned, there -was no obstacle to the men walking into the passage. . . . . Over each -workshop some of the prisoners with the best characters were appointed -overseers, and M. Obermair assured me that if a prisoner transgressed a -regulation, his companions generally told him, ‘Es ist verboten’ (it is -forbidden), and it rarely happened that he did not yield to the opinion of his -fellow-prisoners. . . . . Within the prison walls every description of work is -carried on; the prisoners, divided into different gangs and supplied with -instruments and tools, make their own clothes, repair their own prison walls, -and forge their own chains, producing various specimens of manufacture -which are turned to most excellent account—the result being, that each -prisoner, by occupation and industry, maintains himself; the surplus of his -earnings being given him on his emancipation, avoids his being parted with -in a state of destitution.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>And further, the prisoners “associate in their leisure -hours, without any check on their intercourse, but at the -same time under an efficient system of observation and -control”—an arrangement by which, after many years’ -experience, M. Obermair asserts that morality is increased.</p> - -<p>And now what has been the result? During his six-years’ -government of the Kaiserslauten (the first prison -under his care), M. Obermair discharged 132 criminals, of -which number 123 have since conducted themselves well, -and 7 have been recommitted. From the Munich prison, -between 1843 and 1845, 298 prisoners were discharged.</p> - -<p>Of these, 246 have been restored, improved, to society. -Those whose characters are doubtful, but -have not been <span class="xxpn" id="p173">{173}</span> -remanded for any criminal act, 26; again under examination, -4; punished by the police, 6; remanded, 8; died, 8. -This statement, says M. Obermair, “is based on irrefutable -evidence.” And to the reality of his success, -we have the testimony not only of Mr. Baillie-Cochrane, -but of the Rev. C. H. Townsend, Mr. George Combe, -Mr. Matthew Hill, and Sir John Milbanke, our Envoy at -the Court of Bavaria.</p> - -<p>Take, again, the case of Mettray. Every one has heard -something about Mettray, and its success as a reformatory -of juvenile criminals. Observe how nearly the successful -system there pursued, conforms to the abstract principles -above enunciated.</p> - -<p>This “Colonie Agricole” is “without wall or enclosure -of any sort, for the purposes at least of confinement;” and -except when for some fault a child is temporarily put in a -cell, there is no physical restraint. The life is industrial: -the boys being brought up to trades or agriculture as they -prefer; and all the domestic services being discharged -by them. “They all do their work by the <i>piece</i>;” are -rewarded according to the judgment of the <i>chef d’atelier</i>; -and, a portion being placed at the disposal of the child, -the rest is deposited in the savings-bank at Tours. “A -boy in receipt of any money has to make payment for any -part of his dress which requires to be renewed before the -stated time arrives at which fresh clothing is given out; -. . . . . on the other hand, if his clothes are found in good -condition at such time, he receives the benefit of it by -having the money which would have been laid out in -clothes placed to his account. Two hours per day are -allowed for play. Part-singing is taught; and if a boy -shows any turn for drawing he receives a little instruction -in it. . . . . . Some of the boys also are formed into a -fire-brigade, and have rendered at times substantial assistance -in the neighbourhood.” In which few leading facts -do we not clearly see that -the essential peculiarities <span class="xxpn" id="p174">{174}</span> -are—no more restraint than is absolutely necessary; self-support -as far as possible; extra benefits earned by extra labour; -and as much gratifying exercise of faculties as the circumstances -permit.</p> - -<p>The “intermediate system” which has of late been -carried out with much success in Ireland, exemplifies, in a -degree, the practicability of the same general principles. -Under this system, prisoners working as artizans are -allowed “such a modified degree of liberty as shall in -various ways prove their power of self-denial and self-dependence, -in a manner wholly incompatible with the -rigid restraints of an ordinary prison.” An offender who -has passed through this stage of probation, is tested by -employment “on messenger’s duties daily throughout the -city, and also in special works required by the department -outside the prison-walls. The performance of the duties -of messengers entails their being out until seven or eight -in the evening, unaccompanied by an officer; and although -a small portion of their earnings is allowed them weekly, -and they would have the power of compromising themselves -if so disposed, not one instance has as yet taken place of -the slightest irregularity, or even the want of punctuality, -although careful checks have been contrived to detect -either, should it occur.” A proportion of their prison-earnings -is set aside for them in a savings-bank; and to -this they are encouraged to add during their period of -partial freedom, with a view to subsequent emigration. -The results are:—“In the penitentiary the greatest possible -order and regularity, and an amount of willing industry -performed that cannot be obtained in the prisons.” -Employers to whom prisoners are eventually transferred, -“have on many occasions returned for others in consequence -of the good conduct of those at first engaged.” -And according to Captain Crofton’s pamphlet of 1857, out -of 112 conditionally discharged during the previous year, -85 were going on satisfactorily, “9 -have been discharged <span class="xxpn" id="p175">{175}</span> -too recently to be spoken of, and 5 have had their licences -revoked. As to the remaining 13, it has been found -impossible to obtain accurate information, but it is supposed -that 5 have left the country, and 3 enlisted.”</p> - -<p>The “mark system” of Captain Maconochie, is one -which more fully carries out the principle of self-maintenance, -under restraints no greater than are needful for -safety. The plan is to join with time-sentences certain -labour-sentences—specific tasks to be worked out by the -convicts. “No rations, or other supplies of any kind, -whether of food, bedding, clothing, or even education or -indulgences, to be given <i>gratuitously</i>, but all to be made -exchangeable, at fixed rates, at the prisoners’ own option, -for marks previously earned; it being understood, at the -same time, that only those shall count towards liberation -which remain over and above all so exchanged; the -prisoners being thus caused to depend for every necessary -on their own good conduct; and their prison-offences to be -in like manner restrained by corresponding fines imposed -according to the measures of each.” The use of marks, -which thus play the part of money, was first introduced by -Captain Maconochie in Norfolk Island. Describing the -working of his method, he says―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“First, it gave me wages and then fines. One gave me willing and -progressively-skilled labourers, and the other saved me from the necessity of -imposing brutal and demoralizing punishments. . . . . My form of money -next gave me school fees. I was most anxious to encourage education -among my men, but as I refused them rations gratuitously, so I would not -give them schooling either, but compelled them to yield marks to acquire it. . . . . -I never saw adult schools make such rapid progress. . . . . My form -of money next gave me bailbonds in cases of minor or even great offences; -a period of close imprisonment being wholly or in part remitted in consideration -of a sufficient number of other prisoners of good character -becoming bound, under a penalty, for the improved conduct -of the culprit.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>Even in the establishment of a sick-club and a burial-club, -Captain Maconochie applied “the inflexible principle -of giving nothing for nothing.” That is to say, here, as -throughout, he made the discipline of -the prisoners as <span class="xxpn" id="p176">{176}</span> -much like the discipline of ordinary life as possible: let -them experience just such good or evil as naturally flowed -from their conduct—a principle which he rightly asserts is -the only true one. What were the effects? The extreme -debasement of Norfolk Island convicts was notorious; and -on a preceding page we have described some of the -horrible sufferings inflicted on them. Yet, starting with -these most demoralized of criminals, Captain Maconochie -obtained highly-favourable results. “In four years,” he -says, “I discharged 920 doubly-convicted men to Sydney, -of whom only 20, or 2 per cent., had been re-convicted up -to January, 1845;” while, at the same time, the ordinary -proportion of re-convicted Van Diemen’s Land men, -otherwise trained, was 9 per cent. “Captain Maconochie,” -writes Mr. Harris in his <i>Settlers and Convicts</i>, “did more -for the reformation of these unhappy wretches, and -amelioration of their physical circumstances, than the -most sanguine practical mind could beforehand have ventured -even to hope.” Another witness says—“a reformation -far greater than has been hitherto effected in any body of -men by any system, either before or after yours, has taken -place in them.” “As pastor of the island, and for two -years a magistrate, I can prove that at no period was -there so little crime,” writes the Rev. B. Naylor. And -Thomas H. Dixon, Chief Superintendent of Convicts in -Western Australia, who partially introduced the system -there in 1856, asserts that not only was the amount of -work done under it extraordinary, but that “even although -the characters of some of the party were by no means -good previously (many of them being men whose licences -had been revoked in England), yet the transformation -which in this and all other respects they underwent, -was very remarkable indeed.” If such were the results, -when the method was imperfectly carried out (for the -Government all along refused to give any fixed value -to the marks as a means to liberation); -what might be <span class="xxpn" id="p177">{177}</span> -expected if its motives and restraints were allowed their -full influence?</p> - -<p>Perhaps, however, of all evidence, the most conclusive is -that afforded by the prison of Valencia. When, in 1835, -Colonel Montesinos was appointed governor, “the average -of re-committals was from 30 to 35 per cent. per annum—nearly -the same that is found in England and other -countries in Europe; but such has been the success of his -method, that for the last three years <i>there has not been even -one re-committal to it</i>, and for the ten previous years they -did not, on an average, exceed 1 per cent.” And how -has this marvellous change been brought about? By -diminished restraint and industrial discipline. The following -extracts, taken irregularly from Mr. Hoskins’s <i>Account -of the Public Prison at Valencia</i>, will prove this:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“When first the convict enters the establishment he wears chains, but -on his application to the commander they are taken off, unless he has not -conducted himself well.”</p> - -<p>“There are a thousand prisoners, and in the whole establishment I did -not see above three or four guardians to keep them in order. They say -there are only a dozen old soldiers, and not a bar or bolt that might not be -easily broken—apparently not more fastenings than in any private house.”</p> - -<p>“When a convict enters, he is asked what trade or employment he will -work at or learn, and above forty are open to him. . . . . There are -weavers and spinners of every description; . . . . blacksmiths, shoemakers, -basketmakers, ropemakers, joiners, cabinetmakers, making handsome -mahogany drawers; and they had also a printing machine hard at work.”</p> - -<p>“The labour of every description for the repair, rebuilding, and cleaning -the establishment, is supplied by the convicts. They were all most respectful -in demeanour, and certainly I never saw such a good-looking set of -prisoners, useful occupations (and other considerate treatment) having -apparently improved their countenances. . . . . [And besides a] garden for -exercise planted with orange trees, there was also a poultry yard for their -amusement, with pheasants and various other kinds of birds; washing-houses, -where they wash their clothes; and a shop, where they can purchase, -if they wish, tobacco and other little comforts out of one-fourth of the -profits of their labour, which is given to them. Another fourth they are -entitled to when they leave; the other half goes to the establishment, -and <i>often this is sufficient for all expenses, without any assistance from -the Government</i>.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>Thus the highest success, regarded by -Mr. Hoskins as <span class="xxpn" id="p178">{178}</span> -“really a miracle,” is achieved by a system most nearly -conforming to those dictates of absolute morality on which -we have insisted. The convicts are almost, if not quite, -self-supporting. They are subject neither to gratuitous -penalties nor unnecessary restrictions. While made to earn -their living, they are allowed to purchase such enjoyments -as consist with their confinement: the avowed principle -being, in the words of Colonel Montesinos, to “give as -much latitude to their free agency as can be made conformable -to discipline at all.” Thus they are (as we found -that equity required they should be) allowed to live as -satisfactorily as they can, under such restraints only as are -needful for the safety of their fellow-citizens.</p> - -<p>To us it appears extremely significant that there should -be so close a correspondence between <i>a priori</i> conclusions, -and the results of experiments tried without reference to -such conclusions. On the one hand, neither in the doctrines -of pure equity with which we set out, nor in the corollaries -drawn from them, is there any mention of criminal-reformation: -our concern has been solely with the rights -of citizens and convicts in their mutual relations. On the -other hand, those who have carried out the improved penal -systems above described, have had almost solely in view -the improvement of the offender: the just claims of society, -and of those who sin against it, having been left out of -the question. Yet the methods which have succeeded so -marvellously in decreasing criminality, are the methods -which most nearly fulfil the requirements of abstract justice.</p> - -<p>That the most equitable system is the one best calculated -to reform the offender, may indeed be deductively shown. -The internal experience of every one must prove to him, -that excessive punishment begets, not penitence, but indignation -and hatred. So long as an aggressor suffers nothing -beyond the evils which have naturally resulted from his -misconduct—so long as he perceives that his fellow-men -have done no more than was -needful for self-defence—he <span class="xxpn" id="p179">{179}</span> -has no excuse for anger; and is led to contemplate his -crime and his punishment as cause and effect. But if -gratuitous sufferings are inflicted on him, a sense of -injustice is produced. He regards himself as an injured -man. He cherishes animosity against all who have brought -this harsh treatment on him. Glad of any plea for forgetting -the injury he has done to others, he dwells instead on -the injury others have done to him. Thus nurturing a -desire for revenge rather than atonement, he re-enters -society not better but worse; and if he does not commit -further crimes, as he often does, he is restrained by the -lowest of motives—fear. Again, this industrial discipline, -to which criminals subject themselves under a purely -equitable system, is the discipline they especially need. -Speaking generally, we are all compelled to work by the -necessities of our social existence. For most of us this -compulsion suffices; but there are some whose aversion to -labour cannot be thus overcome. Not labouring, and yet -needing sustenance, they are compelled to obtain it in -illegitimate ways; and so bring on themselves the legal -penalties. The criminal class being thus in great part -recruited from the idle class; and the idleness being the -source of the criminality; it follows that a successful -discipline must be one which shall cure the idleness. The -natural compulsions to labour having been eluded, the -thing required is that the offender shall be so placed that -he cannot elude them. And this is just what is done -under the system we advocate. Its action is such that -men whose natures are ill-adapted to the conditions of -social life, bring themselves into a position in which a -better adaptation is forced on them by the alternative of -starvation. Lastly, let us not forget that this discipline -which absolute morality dictates, is salutary, not only -because it is industrial, but because it is voluntarily industrial. -As we have shown, equity requires that the confined -criminal shall be left to maintain himself—that -is, shall be <span class="xxpn" id="p180">{180}</span> -left to work much or little, and to take the consequent -plenitude or hunger. When, therefore, under this sharp -but natural spur, a prisoner begins to exert himself, he -does so by his own will. The process which leads him into -habits of labour, is a process by which his self-control is -strengthened; and this is what is wanted to make him a -better citizen. It is to no purpose that you make him work -by external coercion; for when he is again free, and the -coercion absent, he will be what he was before. The -coercion must be an internal one, which he shall carry -with him out of prison. It avails little that you force -him to work; he must force himself to work. And this -he will do, only when placed in those conditions which -equity dictates.</p> - -<p>Here, then, we find a third order of evidences. Psychology -supports our conclusion. The various experiments -above detailed, carried out by men who had no political -or ethical theories to propagate, have established facts -which we find to be quite concordant, not only with the -deductions of absolute morality, but also with the deductions -of mental science. Such a combination of different kinds -of proof, cannot, we think, be resisted.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">And now let us try whether, by pursuing somewhat -further the method thus far followed, we can see our way -to the development of certain improved systems which are -coming into use.</p> - -<p>Equity requires that the restraint of the criminal shall -be as great as is needful for the safety of society; but not -greater. In respect to the <i>quality</i> of the restraint, there is -little difficulty in interpreting this requirement; but there -is considerable difficulty in deciding on the <i>duration</i> of the -restraint. No obvious mode presents itself of finding out -how long a transgressor must be held in legal bondage, to -insure society against further injury from him. A longer -period than is necessary, implies an -actual injustice to <span class="xxpn" id="p181">{181}</span> -the offender. A shorter period than is necessary, implies -a potential injustice to society. And yet, without good -guidance, one or other of these extremes is almost sure to -be fallen into.</p> - -<p>At present, the lengths of penal sentences are fixed in a -manner that is wholly empirical. For offences defined in -certain technical ways, Acts of Parliament assign transportations -and imprisonments, having durations not greater -than so much nor less than so much: these partially-determined -periods being arbitrarily fixed by legislators, under -the promptings of moral feeling. Within the assigned -limits the judge exercises his discretion; and in deciding -on the time over which the restraint shall extend, he is -swayed, partly by the special quality of the offence, partly -by the circumstances under which it was committed, partly -by the prisoner’s appearance and behaviour, partly by the -character given to him. And the conclusion he arrives at -after consideration of these data, depends very much on -his individual nature—his moral bias and his theories of -human conduct. Thus the mode of fixing the lengths of -penal restraints, is from beginning to end, little else than -guessing. How ill this system of guessing works, we have -abundant proofs. “Justices’ justice,” which illustrates it -in its simplest form, has become a bye-word; and the -decisions of higher criminal court frequently err in the -directions of both undue severity and undue lenity. Daily -there occur cases of extremely-trifling transgressions visited -with imprisonments of considerable lengths; and daily there -occur cases in which the punishments are so inadequate, that -the offenders time after time commit new crimes, when -time after time discharged from custody.</p> - -<p>Now the question is whether, in place of this purely empirical -method which answers so ill, equity can guide us to -a method which shall more correctly adjust the period of -restraint to the requirement. We believe it can. We -believe that by following out its dictates, -we shall arrive <span class="xxpn" id="p182">{182}</span> -at a method that is in great measure self-acting; and -therefore less liable to be vitiated by errors of individual -judgment or feeling.</p> - -<p>We have seen that were the injunctions of absolute -morality obeyed, every transgressor would be compelled to -make restitution or compensation. Throughout a considerable -range of cases, this would itself involve a period of -restraint varying in proportion to the magnitude of the -offence. It is true that when the malefactor possessed -ample means, the making restitution or compensation would -usually be to him but a slight punishment. But though in -these comparatively few cases, the regulation would fall -short of its object, in so far as its effect on the criminal was -concerned, yet in the immense majority of cases—in all -cases of aggressions committed by the poorer members -of the community—it would act with efficiency. It would -involve periods of detention that would be longer or -shorter according as the injury done was greater or less, -and according as the transgressor was idle or industrious. -And although between the injury done by an offender and -his moral turpitude, there is no constant and exact proportion, -yet the greatness of the injury done, affords, on the -average of cases, a better measure of the discipline required, -than do the votes of Parliamentary majorities and the -guesses of judges.</p> - -<p>But our guidance does not end here. An endeavour still -further to do that which is strictly equitable, will carry us -still nearer to a correct adjustment of discipline to delinquency. -When, having enforced restitution, we insist on -some adequate guarantee that society shall not again be -injured, and accept any guarantee that is sufficient, we -open the way to a self-acting regulator of the period of detention. -Already our laws are in many cases satisfied with -securities for future good behaviour. Already this system -manifestly tends to separate the more vicious from the less -vicious; seeing that, on the average, -the difficulty of <span class="xxpn" id="p183">{183}</span> -finding securities is great in proportion as the character is bad. -And what we propose is that this system, now confined to -particular kinds of offences, shall be made general. But -let us be more specific.</p> - -<p>A prisoner on his trial calls witnesses to testify to his -previous character—that is, if his character has been tolerably -good. The evidence thus given weighs more or less -in his favour, according to the respectability of the witnesses, -their number, and the nature of their testimony. Taking -into account these several elements, the judge forms his -conception of the delinquent’s general disposition, and -modifies the length of punishment accordingly. Now, may -we not fairly say that if the current opinion respecting a -convict’s character could be brought <i>directly</i> to bear in -qualifying the statutory sentence, instead of being brought -<i>indirectly</i> to bear, as at present, it would be a great improvement? -Clearly the estimate made by a judge from -such testimony, must be less accurate than the estimate -made by the prisoner’s neighbours and employers. Clearly, -too, the opinion expressed by such neighbours and employers -in the witness-box, is less trustworthy than an -opinion which entails on them serious responsibility. <i>The -desideratum is, that a prisoner’s sentence shall be qualified by -the judgment of those who have had life-long experience of -him; and that the sincerity of this judgment shall be tested -by their readiness to act on it.</i></p> - -<p>But how is this to be done? A very simple method of -doing it has been suggested.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn8" id="fnanch8">8</a> -When a convict has fulfilled -his task of making restitution or compensation, let it -be possible for one or other of those who have known him, to -take him out of confinement, on giving adequate bail for his -good behaviour. Always premising that such an arrangement -shall be possible only under an official permit, to be -withheld if the prisoner’s conduct has been unsatisfactory; -and always premising that the person who -offers bail shall <span class="xxpn" id="p184">{184}</span> -be of good character and means; let it be competent for -such a one to liberate a prisoner by being bound on his -behalf for a specific sum, or by undertaking to make good -any injury which he may do to his fellow-citizens within a -specified period. This will doubtless be thought a startling -proposal. We shall, however, find good reasons to believe -it might be safely acted on—nay, we shall find facts proving -the success of a plan that is obviously less safe.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch8" id="fn8">8</a> -We owe the suggestion to the late Mr. -Octavius H. Smith.</p></div> - -<p>Under such an arrangement, the liberator and the convict -would usually stand in the relation of employer and employed. -Those to be thus conditionally released, would be -ready to work for somewhat lower wages than were usual in -their occupation; and those who became bound for them, -besides having this economy of wages as an incentive, -would be in a manner guaranteed by it against the risk -undertaken. In working for less money, and in being -under the surveillance of his master, the convict would still -be undergoing a mitigated discipline. And while, on the -one hand, he would be put on his good behaviour by the -consciousness that his master might at any time cancel the -contract and surrender him back to the authorities, he -would, on the other hand, have a remedy against his master’s -harshness, in the option of returning to prison, and there -maintaining himself for the remainder of his term.</p> - -<p>Observe, next, that the difficulty of obtaining such conditional -release would vary with the gravity of the offence -which had been committed. Men guilty of heinous crimes -would remain in prison; for none would dare to become -responsible for their good behaviour. Any one convicted a -second time would remain unbailed for a much longer period -than before; seeing that having once inflicted loss on some -one bound for him, he would not again be so soon offered -the opportunity of doing the like: only after a long period of -good behaviour testified to by prison-officers, would he be -likely to get another chance. Conversely, those whose transgressions -were not serious, and who -had usually been <span class="xxpn" id="p185">{185}</span> -well-conducted, would readily obtain recognizances; while to -venial offenders this qualified liberation would come as soon -as they had made restitution. Moreover, when innocent -persons had been pronounced guilty, as well as when solitary -misdeeds had been committed by those of really superior -natures, the system we have described would supply a -remedy. From the wrong verdicts of the law and its mistaken -estimates of turpitude, there would be an appeal; -and long-proved worth would bring its reward in the -mitigation of grievous injustices.</p> - -<p>A further advantage would by implication result, in the -shape of a long industrial discipline for those who most -needed it. Speaking generally, diligent and skilful workmen, -who were on the whole useful members of society, -would, if their offences were not serious, soon obtain employers -to give bail for them. Whereas members of the -criminal class—the idle and the dissolute—would remain -long in confinement; since, until they had been brought by -habitual self-maintenance under restraint, to something like -industrial efficiency, employers would not be tempted to -become responsible for them.</p> - -<p>We should thus have a self-acting test, not only of the -length of restraint required for social safety, but also of that -apprenticeship to labour which many convicts need; while -there would be supplied a means of rectifying sundry failures -and excesses of our present system. The plan would practically -amount to an extension of trial by jury. At present, -the State calls in certain of a prisoner’s fellow-citizens to -decide whether he is guilty or not guilty: the judge, under -guidance of the penal laws, being left to decide what punishment -he deserves, if guilty. Under the arrangement we -have described, the judge’s decision would admit of modification -by a jury of the convict’s neighbours. And this -natural jury, while it would be best fitted by previous -knowledge of the man to form an opinion, would be rendered -cautious by the sense of grave -responsibility; inasmuch as <span class="xxpn" id="p186">{186}</span> -any one of its number who gave a conditional release, would -do so at his own peril.</p> - -<p>And now mark that all the evidence forthcoming to -prove the safety and advantages of the “intermediate -system,” proves, still more conclusively, the safety and -advantages of this system which we would substitute for -it. What we have described, is nothing more than an -intermediate system reduced to a natural instead of an -artificial form—carried out with natural checks instead of -artificial checks. If, as Captain Crofton has experimentally -shown, it is safe to give a prisoner conditional liberation, -on the strength of good conduct during a certain period of -prison-discipline; it is evidently safer to let his conditional -liberation depend not alone on good conduct while under -the eyes of his jailors, but also on the character he had -earned during his previous life. If it is safe to act on the -judgments of officials whose experience of a convict’s -behaviour is comparatively limited, and who do not suffer -penalties when their judgments are mistaken; then, manifestly, -it is safer (when such officials can show no reason -to the contrary), to act on the additional judgment of one -who has not only had better opportunities of knowing the -convict, but who will be a serious loser if his judgment -proves erroneous. Further, that surveillance over each -conditionally-liberated prisoner, which the “intermediate -system” exercises, would be still better exercised when, -instead of going to a strange master in a strange district, -the prisoner went to some master in his own district; and, -under such circumstances, it would be easier to get information -respecting his after-career. There is every reason -to think that this method would be workable. If, on the -recommendation of the officers, Captain Crofton’s prisoners -obtain employers “who have on many occasions returned -for others, in consequence of the good conduct of those at -first engaged;” still better would be the action of the -system when, instead of the -employers having “every <span class="xxpn" id="p187">{187}</span> -facility placed at their disposal for satisfying themselves as -to the antecedents of the convict,” they were already familiar -with his antecedents.</p> - -<p>Finally, let us not overlook the fact, that this course is -the only one which, while duly consulting social safety, is -also entirely just to the prisoner. As we have shown, the -restraints imposed on a criminal are warranted by absolute -equity, only to the extent needful to prevent further -aggressions on his fellow-men; and when his fellow-men -impose greater restraints than these, they trespass against -him. Hence, when a prisoner has worked out his task of -making restitution, and, so far as is possible, undone the -wrong he had done, society is, in strict justice, bound to -accept any arrangement which adequately protects its -members against further injury. And if, moved by the -expectation of profit, or other motive, any citizen sufficiently -substantial and trustworthy, will take on himself to hold -society harmless, society must agree to his proposal. All -it can rightly require is, that the guarantee against contingent -injury <i>shall</i> be adequate; which, of course, it never -can be where the contingent injury is of the gravest kind. -No bail could compensate for murder; and therefore against -this, and other extreme crimes, society would rightly refuse -any such guarantee, even if offered, which it would be very -unlikely to be.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Such, then, is our code of prison-ethics. Such is the -ideal which we ought to keep ever in view when modifying -our penal system. Again we say, as we said at the outset, -that the realization of such an ideal wholly depends on the -advance of civilization. Let no one carry away the impression -that we regard all these purely equitable regulations -as immediately practicable. Though they may be partially -carried out, we think it highly improbable that they could -at present be carried out in full. The number of offenders, -the low average of enlightenment, -the ill-working of <span class="xxpn" id="p188">{188}</span> -administrative machinery, and above all, the difficulty of obtaining -officials of adequate intelligence, good feeling, and self-control, -are obstacles which must long stand in the way of -a system so complex as that which morality dictates. And -we here assert, as emphatically as before, that the harshest -penal system is ethically justified if it is as good as the -circumstances of the time permit. However great the -cruelties it inflicts, yet if a system theoretically more -equitable would not be a sufficient terror to evil-doers, or -could not be worked, from lack of officers sufficiently -judicious, honest, and humane—if less rigorous methods -would entail a diminution of social security; then the -methods in use are extrinsically good though intrinsically -bad. They are, as before said, the least wrong, and therefore -relatively right.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, as we have endeavoured to prove, it is -immensely important that, while duly considering the relatively -right, we should keep the absolutely right constantly -in view. True as it is that, in this transition state, our -conceptions of the ultimately expedient must ever be -qualified by our experience of the proximately expedient; -it is not the less true that the proximately expedient cannot -be determined unless the ultimately expedient is known. -Before we can say what is as good as the time permits, we -must say what is abstractedly good; for the first idea -involves the last. We must have some fixed standard, -some invariable measure, some constant clue; otherwise we -shall inevitably be misled by the suggestions of immediate -policy, and wander away from the right rather than advance -towards it. This conclusion is fully borne out by the facts -we have cited. In other cases, as well as in the case of penal -discipline, the evidence shows how terribly we have erred -from obstinately refusing to consult first principles and -clinging to an unreasoning empiricism. Though, during -civilization, grievous evils have occasionally arisen from -attempts suddenly to realize absolute -rectitude, yet a <span class="xxpn" id="p189">{189}</span> -greater sum total of evils has arisen from the more usual -course of ignoring absolute rectitude. Age after age, effete -institutions have been maintained far longer than they -would else have been, and equitable arrangements have -been needlessly postponed. Is it not time for us to profit -by past lessons?</p> - -<p class="padtopb"><span class="smcap">P<b>OSTSCRIPT</b>.</span>—Since the publication of this essay in 1860 -further evidence supporting its conclusions has been made -public. Dr. F.J. Mouat, late Inspector-General of Gaols in -Lower Bengal, has given, in various pamphlets and articles, -dating from 1872, accounts of his experiences, which -entirely harmonize with the foregoing general argument. -Speaking of three leading systems of prison-discipline, -“based on opposite theories,” he says:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“The oldest is, that a prison should be rendered a terror to evil doers by -the infliction of as much pain as can be inflicted, without direct injury to -health or risk to life. The second plan is a graduated system of punishment, -from which the direct infliction of pain is eliminated, and the prisoner is -allowed to work his way to freedom and mitigation of sentence, by mere -good conduct in jail. The third, and in my humble judgment the best, is -to convert every prison into a school of industry, labour being used as an -instrument of punishment, discipline, and reformation.”—<i>Prison Industry in -its Primitive, Reformatory, and Economic Aspects</i> -(London, Nov. 1889).</p></blockquote> - -<p>In his pamphlet on the <i>Prison System of India</i>, published -in 1872, Dr. Mouat contends:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“That remunerative prison labour is an efficient instrument of punishment -and reformation by occupying the whole available time of criminals in -uncongenial and compulsory employments; by teaching them the means of -gaining an honest livelihood on release; by the inculcation of habits of -order and industry, to the displacement of the irregularity and idleness -which are the sources of so much vice and crime; and by repaying to the -State the whole or part of the cost of repression of crime by the compulsory -industry of the unproductive classes, and thus relieving the community at -large from a burden which it is at present compelled to bear.</p> - -<p>“That the economic objections to the remunerative employment of convicts -are unsound and untenable; and that even if they were true as respects -individuals and small sections of the community, the interests of the -minority should yield to the general welfare.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>Once more, under the title <i>Prison Discipline and its -Results in Bengal</i>, first published in the -<i>Journal of the <span class="xxpn" id="p190">{190}</span> -Society of Arts</i> in 1872, Dr. Mouat, after describing an -exhibition of gaol-manufactures held in Calcutta in 1856, -urges “that every prisoner sentenced to labour should be -made to repay to the State the whole cost of his punishment -in gaol; . . . and that prisons should be made, as -much as possible, schools of industry, as combining, more -completely than can be effected by any other system, the -punishment of the offender, with the protection of society.” -He then goes on to show what have been the results of -the self-supporting system:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“The net profits realized from the labour of the convicts actually employed -in handicrafts, after deducting the cost of production, were, in round numbers, -as follows:―</p> - -<div class="dtablebox"><div class="nowrap"> -<table summary="" class="borall"> -<tr> - <th></th> - <th>£</th> - <th class="borl"></th> - <th>£</th></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft">1855–56</td> - <td class="tdleft">11,019</td> - <td class="tdleft borl">1864–65</td> - <td class="tdleft">32,988</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft"> ’56–57</td> - <td class="tdleft">12,300</td> - <td class="tdleft borl"> ’65–66</td> - <td class="tdleft">35,543</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft"> ’57–58</td> - <td class="tdleft">10,841</td> - <td class="tdleft borl"> ’66</td> - <td class="tdleft">14,287</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft"> ’59–60</td> - <td class="tdleft">14,065</td> - <td class="tdleft borl"> ’67</td> - <td class="tdleft">41,168</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft"> ’60–61</td> - <td class="tdleft">23,124</td> - <td class="tdleft borl"> ’68</td> - <td class="tdleft">56,817</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft"> ’61–62</td> - <td class="tdleft">54,542</td> - <td class="tdleft borl"> ’69</td> - <td class="tdleft">46,588</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft"> ’62–63</td> - <td class="tdleft">30,604</td> - <td class="tdleft borl"> ’70</td> - <td class="tdleft">45,274</td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdleft"> ’63–64</td> - <td class="tdleft">54,542</td> - <td class="borl" colspan="2"></td></tr> -</table></div></div> - -<p class="pcontinue">In all, nearly half a million of -money. In 1866, the accounts were made -up for only eight months, to introduce the calendar in place of the official -year, which ended on the 30th of April.</p> - -<p>“If the limits of time and space permitted, I could show you in minute -detail that each skilled prisoner employed in handicrafts, striking the -average of all the jails, earned considerably more than he cost; that five of -the prisons under my charge were at various times self-supporting, and -that one of them, the great industrial prison at Alipore, a suburb of -Calcutta, has repaid very considerably more than its cost, for the last ten -years continuously.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>As Dr. Mouat held the position of Inspector-General of -Gaols in Lower Bengal for 15 years, and as, during that -period, he had under his control an average of 20,000 -prisoners, it may, I think, be held that his experiences -have been tolerably extensive, and that a system justified -by such experiences is worthy of adoption. Unfortunately, -however, men pooh-pooh those experiences which do not -accord with their foregone conclusions.</p> - -<p>I have occasionally vented the paradox -that mankind go <span class="xxpn" id="p191">{191}</span> -right only when they have tried all possible ways of going -wrong: intending it to be taken with some qualification. -Of late, however, I have observed that in some respects -this paradox falls short of the truth. Sundry instances -have shown me that even when mankind have at length -stumbled into the right course, they often deliberately return -to the wrong.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p192">{192}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">THE ETHICS OF KANT.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>From the</i> Fortnightly -Review <i>for July 1888. This essay was -called forth by attacks on me made in essays published in -preceding numbers of the</i> Fortnightly Review—<i>essays in which -the Kantian system of ethics was lauded as immensely superior to -the system of ethics defended by me. The last section now appears -for the first time.</i>]</p></div> - -<p>If, before Kant uttered that often-quoted saying in -which, with the stars of Heaven he coupled the conscience -of Man, as being the two things that excited his awe, he -had known more of Man than he did, he would probably -have expressed himself somewhat otherwise. Not, indeed, -that the conscience of Man is not wonderful enough, whatever -be its supposed genesis; but the wonderfulness of it -is of a different kind according as we assume it to have -been supernaturally given or infer that it has been naturally -evolved. The knowledge of Man in that large sense -which Anthropology expresses, had made, in Kant’s day, -but small advances. The books of travel were relatively -few, and the facts which they contained concerning the -human mind as existing in different races, had not been -gathered together and generalized. In our days the -conscience of Man, as inductively known, has none of that -universality of presence and unity of nature, which Kant’s -saying tacitly assumes. Sir John Lubbock writes:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“In fact, I believe that the lower races of men may be said -to be deficient <span class="xxpn" id="p193">{193}</span> -in the idea of right. . . . . That there should be any races of men so -deficient in moral feeling, was altogether opposed to the preconceived ideas -with which I commenced the study of savage life, and I have arrived at the -conviction by slow degrees, and even with reluctance.”—<i>Origin of Civilization</i>, -1882, pp. 404–5.</p></blockquote> - -<p>But now let us look at the evidence from which this -impression is derived, as we find it in the testimonies of -travellers and missionaries.</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>Praising his deceased son, Tui Thakau, a Fijian Chief, concluded “by -speaking of his daring spirit and consummate cruelty, as he could kill his -own wives if they offended him, and eat them afterwards.”—<i>Western Pacific.</i> -J. E. Erskine, p. 248.</p> - -<p>“Shedding of blood is to him no crime, but a glory . . . . to be somehow -an acknowledged murderer is the object of the Fijian’s restless ambition.”—<i>Fiji -and the Fijians.</i> Rev. T. Williams, i., p. 112.</p> - -<p>“It is a melancholy fact that when they [the Zulu boys] have arrived at a -very early age, should their mothers attempt to chastise them, such is the -law, that these lads are at the moment allowed to kill their mothers.”—<i>Travels -and Adventures in Southern Africa.</i> G. Thompson, ii., p. 418.</p> - -<p>“Murther, adultery, thievery, and all other such like crimes, are here -[Gold Coast] accounted no sins.”—<i>Description of the Coast of Guinea.</i> W. -Bosman, p. 130.</p> - -<p>“The accusing conscience is unknown to him [the East African]. His -only fear after committing a treacherous murder is that of being haunted by -the angry ghost of the dead.”—<i>Lake Regions of Central Africa.</i> R. F. -Burton, ii., p. 336.</p> - -<p>“I never could make them [East Africans] understand the existence of -good principle.”—<i>The Albert N’Yanza.</i> S. W. Baker, i., pp. 241.</p> - -<p>“The Damaras kill useless and worn-out people; even sons smother -their sick fathers.”—<i>Narrative of an Explorer in Tropical South Africa.</i> -F. Galton, p. 112.</p> - -<p>The Damaras “seem to have no perceptible notion of right and wrong.”—<i>Ibid.</i> -p. 72.</p></blockquote> - -<p>Against these we may set some converse facts. At the -other extreme we have a few Eastern tribes—pagans they -are called—who practise the virtues which Western nations—Christians -they are called—do but teach. While Europeans -thirst for blood-revenge in much the same way as -the lowest savages, there are some simple peoples of the -Indian Hills, as the Lepchas, who “are singularly forgiving -of injuries;”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn9" id="fnanch9">9</a> -and Campbell exemplifies “the -effect of a <span class="xxpn" id="p194">{194}</span> -very strong sense of duty on this savage.”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn10" id="fnanch10">10</a> -That character -which the creed of Christendom is supposed to foster -is exhibited in high degree by the Arafuras (Papuans) who -live in “peace and brotherly love with one another”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn11" id="fnanch11">11</a> -to -such extent that government is but nominal. And concerning -various of the Indian Hill-tribes, as the Santáls, -Sowrahs, Marias, Lepchas, Bodo and Dhimáls, different -observers testify of them severally that “they were the -most truthful set of men I ever met,”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn12" id="fnanch12">12</a> -“crime and criminal -officers are almost unknown,”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn13" id="fnanch13">13</a> -“a pleasing feature in -their character is their complete truthfulness,”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn14" id="fnanch14">14</a> -“they -bear a singular character for truthfulness and honesty,”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn15" id="fnanch15">15</a> -they are “wonderfully honest,”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn16" id="fnanch16">16</a> -“honest and truthful in -deed and word.”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn17" id="fnanch17">17</a> -Irrespective of race, we find these -traits in men who are, and have long been, absolutely -peaceful (the uniform antecedent), be they the Jakuns of -the South Malayan Peninsula, who “are never known to -steal anything, not even the most insignificant trifle,”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn18" id="fnanch18">18</a> -or -be it in the Hos of the Himalaya, among whom “a reflection -on a man’s honesty or veracity may be sufficient to send -him to self-destruction.”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn19" id="fnanch19">19</a> -So that in respect of conscience -these uncivilized people are as superior to average Europeans, -as average Europeans are superior to the brutal -savages previously described.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch9" id="fn9">9</a> -Campbell in <i>Journal of the Ethnological -Society</i>, July, N. S. vol. i., 1869, p. 150.</p> - -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch10" id="fn10">10</a> -<i>Ibid.</i> p. 154.</p> - -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch11" id="fn11">11</a> -Dr. H. Kolff, <i>Voyages of the Dutch brig -“Dourga.”</i> Earl’s translation, pp. 161.</p> - -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch12" id="fn12">12</a> -W. W. Hunter, <i>Annals of Rural Bengal</i>, p. -248.</p> - -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch13" id="fn13">13</a> -<i>Ibid.</i> p. 217.</p> - -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch14" id="fn14">14</a> -Dr. J. Shortt, <i>Hill Ranges of Southern -India</i>, pt. iii., p. 38.</p> - -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch15" id="fn15">15</a> -Glasfind in <i>Selections from the Records of -Government of India</i> (Foreign Department), No. xxxix., p. -41.</p> - -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch16" id="fn16">16</a> -Campbell in <i>Journal of the Ethnological -Society</i>, N. S. vol. i., 1869, p. 150.</p> - -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch17" id="fn17">17</a> -B. H. Hodgson in <i>Journal of the Asiatic -Society of Bengal</i>, xviii., p. 745.</p> - -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch18" id="fn18">18</a> -Rev. P. Favre in <i>Journal of the Indian -Archipelago</i>, ii., p. 266.</p> - -<p class="phanga"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch19" id="fn19">19</a> -Col. E. T. Dalton, <i>Descriptive Ethnology of -Bengal</i>, p. 206.</p></div> - -<p>Had Kant had these and kindred -facts before him, <span class="xxpn" id="p195">{195}</span> -his conception of the human mind, and consequently his -ethical conception, would scarcely have been what they -were. Believing, as he did, that one object of his awe—the -stellar Universe—has been evolved, he might by evidence -like the foregoing have been led to suspect that the -other object of his awe—the human conscience—has been -evolved, and has consequently a real nature unlike its -apparent nature.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">For the disciples of Kant living in our day there can be -made no such defence as that which may be made for their -master. On all sides of them lie classes of facts of various -kinds, which might suffice to make them hesitate, if nothing -more. Here are a few such classes of facts.</p> - -<p>Though, unlike the uncultured, who suppose everything -to be what it appears, chemists had for many generations -known that multitudinous substances which seem simple -are really compound, and often highly compound; yet, -until the time of Sir Humphrey Davy, even chemists had -believed that certain substances which resisted all their -powers of decomposition, were to be classed among the -elements. Davy, however, by subjecting the alkalies to -a force not before applied, proved that they are oxides -of metals; and, suspecting the like to be the case with -the earths, similarly proved the composite nature of these -also. Not only the common sense of the uncultured, but -the common sense of the cultured was shown to be wrong. -Wider knowledge has, as usual, led to greater modesty, -and, since Davy’s day, chemists have felt less certain that -the so-called elements are elementary. Contrariwise, increasing -evidence of sundry kinds leads them to suspect -more and more strongly that they are all compound.</p> - -<p>Alike to the labourer who digs it out and to the carpenter -who uses it in his workshop, a piece of chalk appears a -thing than which nothing can be simpler; and ninety-nine -people out of a hundred would agree with -them. Yet a <span class="xxpn" id="p196">{196}</span> -piece of chalk is highly complex. A microscope shows it -to consist of myriads of shells of <i>Foraminifera</i>; shows, -further, that it contains more kinds than one; and shows, -further still, that each minute shell, whole or broken, is -formed of many chambers, every one of which once contained -a living unit. Thus by ordinary inspection, however close, -the true nature of chalk cannot be known; and to one who -has absolute confidence in his eyes the assertion of its true -nature appears absurd.</p> - -<p>Take again a living body of a seemingly uncomplicated -kind—say a potato. Cut it through and observe how -structureless is its substance. But though unaided vision -gives this verdict, aided vision gives a widely different one. -Aided vision discovers, in the first place, that the mass is -everywhere permeated by vessels of complex formation. -Further, that it is made up of innumerable units called -cells, each of which has walls composed of several layers. -Further still, that each cell contains a number of starch-grains. -And yet still further, that each of these grains is -formed of layer within layer, like the coats of an onion. -So that where there appears perfect simplicity there is really -complexity within complexity.</p> - -<p>From these examples which the objective world furnishes, -let us turn to some examples furnished by the subjective -world—some of our states of consciousness. Up to modern -times any one who, looking out on the snow, was told that -the impression of whiteness it gave him was composed of -impressions such as those given by the rainbow, would have -regarded his informant as a lunatic; as would even now -the great mass of mankind. But since Newton’s day, it -has become well known to a relatively small number that -this is literal fact. Not only may white light be resolved -by a prism into a number of brilliant colours, but, by an -appropriate arrangement, these colours can be re-combined -into white light: the visual sensation which seems perfectly -simple proves to be highly -compound. Those who <span class="xxpn" id="p197">{197}</span> -habitually suppose that things are what they seem, are wrong -here as in multitudinous other cases.</p> - -<p>Another example is supplied by the sensation of sound. -A solitary note struck on the piano, or a blast from a horn, -yields through the ear a feeling which appears homogeneous; -and the uninstructed are incredulous if told that it is an -intricate combination of noises. In the first place, that which -constitutes the more voluminous part of the tone is accompanied -by a number of over-tones, producing what is known -as its <i>timbre</i>: instead of one note, there are half a dozen -notes, of which the chief has its character specialized by -the others. In the second place, each of these notes, consisting -objectively of a rapid series of aërial waves, produces -subjectively a rapid series of impressions on the auditory -nerve. Either by the appliance of Hooke or by Savart’s -machine or by the siren, it is proved to demonstration that -every musical sound is the product of successive units of -sound, each in itself unmusical, which, as they succeed one -another with increasing rapidity, produce a tone which progressively -rises in pitch. Here again, then, under an -apparent simplicity there is a double complexity.</p> - -<p>Most of these examples of the illusiveness of unaided -perception, whether exercised upon objective or subjective -existences, were unknown to Kant. Had they been known -to him they might have suggested other views concerning -certain of our states of consciousness, and might have given -a different character to his philosophy. Let us observe -what would possibly have been the changes in two of his -cardinal conceptions—metaphysical and ethical.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Our consciousness of Time and Space appeared to him, -as they appear to everyone, perfectly simple; and the -apparent simplicity he accepted as actual simplicity. Had -he suspected that, just as the seemingly homogeneous and -undecomposable consciousness of Sound really consists of -multitudinous units of consciousness, -so might the <span class="xxpn" id="p198">{198}</span> -apparently homogeneous and undecomposable consciousness of -Space, he would possibly have been led to inquire whether -the consciousness of Space is not wholly composed of infinitely -numerous relations of position, such as those which -every portion of it presents. And finding that every portion -of Space, immense or minute, cannot be either known -or conceived save in some relative position to the conscious -subject, and that, besides involving the relations of distance -and direction, it invariably contains within itself relations -of right and left, top and bottom, nearer and farther; he -might perhaps have concluded that our consciousness of -that matrix of phenomena we call Space, has been built up -in the course of Evolution by accumulated experiences -registered in the nervous system. And had he concluded -this, he would not have committed himself to the many -absurdities which his doctrine involves.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn20" id="fnanch20">20</a></p> - -<p>Similarly, if, instead of assuming that conscience is simple -because it seems simple to ordinary introspection, he had -entertained the hypothesis that it is perhaps complex—a -consolidated product of multitudinous experiences received, -mainly by ancestors and added to by self—he might have -arrived at a consistent system of Ethics. That the habitual -association of pains with certain things and acts, generation -after generation, may produce organic repugnance to such -things and acts,<a class="afnanch" href="#fn21" id="fnanch21">21</a> -might, had it been known to him, have -made him suspect that conscience is a product of Evolution. -And in that case his conception of it would not have -been incongruous with the facts above named, showing -that there are widely different degrees of conscience in -different races.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch20" id="fn20">20</a> -See <i>Principles of Psychology</i>, § 399.</p> - -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch21" id="fn21">21</a> -See <i>Principles of Psychology</i>, § 189 (note) -and § 520.</p></div> - -<p>In brief, as already implied, had Kant, instead of his -incongruous beliefs that the celestial bodies have had an -evolutionary origin, but that the minds of living beings on -them, or at least on one of them, -have had a <span class="xxpn" id="p199">{199}</span> -non-evolutionary origin, entertained the belief that both have arisen -by Evolution, he would have been saved from the impossibilities -of his Metaphysics, and the untenabilities of his -Ethics. To the consideration of these last, let us now pass.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Before doing this, however, something must be -said concerning abnormal reasoning as compared with -normal reasoning.</p> - -<p>Knowledge which is of the highest order in respect of -certainty, and which we call exact science, is distinguished -from other knowledge by its definitely quantitative previsions.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn22" id="fnanch22">22</a> -It sets out with data, and proceeds by steps -which, taken together, enable it to say under what specified -conditions a specified relation of phenomena will be found; -and to say in what place, or at what time, or in what -quantity, or all of them, a certain effect will be witnessed. -Given the factors of any arithmetical operation, and there -is absolute certainty in the result reached, supposing there -are no stumblings: stumblings which always admit of -detection and disproof by the method which we shall -presently find is pursued. Base and angles having been -accurately measured, that sub-division of geometry which -is called trigonometry yields with certainty the distance or -the height of the object of which the position is sought. -The ratio of the arms of a lever having been stated, -mechanics tells us what weight at one end will balance an -assigned weight at the other. And by the aid of these -three exact sciences, the Calculus, Geometry, and Mechanics, -Astronomy can predict to the minute, for each separate -place on the Earth, when an eclipse will begin and end, -and how near it will approach to totality. Knowledge of -this order has infinite justifications in the successful guidance -of infinitely numerous human actions. The accounts -of every trader, the operations of every workshop, the -navigation of every vessel, depend -for their trustworthiness <span class="xxpn" id="p200">{200}</span> -on these sciences. The method they pursue, therefore, -verified in cases which pass all human power to enumerate, -is a method not to be transcended in certainty.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch22" id="fn22">22</a> -See Essay on “Genesis of Science.”</p></div> - -<p>What is this method? Whichever of these sciences we -examine, we find the course uniformly pursued to be that -of setting out with propositions of which the negations are -inconceivable, and advancing by successive dependent -propositions, each of which has the like character—that its -negation is inconceivable. In a developed consciousness -(and of course I exclude minds of which the faculties are -unformed) it is impossible to represent things that are -equal to the same thing as being themselves unequal; and -in a developed consciousness, action and re-action cannot be -thought of as other than equal and opposite. In like -manner, every <i>because</i> and every <i>therefore</i>, used in a mathematical -argument, connotes a proposition of which the -terms are absolutely coherent in the mode alleged: the -proof being that an attempt to bring together in consciousness -the terms of the opposite proposition is futile. And -this method of testing, alike the fundamental propositions -and all members of the fabrics of propositions raised upon -them, is consistently pursued in verifying the conclusion. -Inference and observation are compared; and when they -agree, it is held inconceivable that the inference is other -than true.</p> - -<p>In contrast to the method which I have just described, -distinguishable as the legitimate <i>a priori</i> method, there is -one which may be called—I was about to say, the illegitimate -<i>a priori</i> method. But the word is not strong enough; -it must be called the inverted <i>a priori</i> method. Instead of -setting out with a proposition of which the negation is -inconceivable, it sets out with a proposition of which the -affirmation is inconceivable, and therefrom proceeds to draw -conclusions. It is not consistent, however: it does not -continue to do that which it does at first. Having posited -an inconceivable proposition to begin with, -it does not <span class="xxpn" id="p201">{201}</span> -frame its argument out of a series of inconceivable -propositions. All steps after the first are of the kind -ordinarily accepted as valid. The successive <i>therefores</i> and -<i>becauses</i> have the usual connotations. The peculiarity lies -in this, that in every proposition save the first, the reader -is expected to admit the logical necessity of an inference -drawn, for the reason that the opposite is not thinkable; -but he is not supposed to expect a like conformity to -logical necessity in the primary proposition. The dictum -of a logical consciousness which must be recognized as -valid in every subsequent step, must be ignored in the first -step. We pass now to an illustration of this method which -here concerns us.</p> - -<p>The first sentence in Kant’s first chapter runs thus:—“Nothing -can possibly be conceived in the world, or even -out of it, which can be called good without qualification, -except a Good Will.”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn23" id="fnanch23">23</a> -And then on the next page we -come upon the following definition:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“A good will is good not because of what it performs or -effects, nor by its aptness for the attainment of some -proposed end, but simply by virtue of the volition, that -is, it is good in itself, and considered by itself is to -be esteemed much higher than all that can be brought about -by it in favour of any inclination, nay even of the sum -total of all inclinations.”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn24" -id="fnanch24">24</a></p></blockquote> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch23" id="fn23">23</a> -<i>Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason and other -works on the Theory of Ethics</i>, trans. -by T. K. Abbott, p. 11.</p> - -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch24" id="fn24">24</a> -<i>Ibid.</i> pp. 12–13.</p></div> - -<p class="pcontinue">Most -fallacies result from the habit of using words without -fully rendering them into thoughts—passing them by with -recognitions of their meanings as ordinarily used, without -stopping to consider whether these meanings admit of -being given to them in the cases named. Let us not rest -satisfied with thinking vaguely of what is understood by -“a Good Will,” but let us interpret the words definitely. -Will implies the consciousness of some end. Exclude from -it every idea of purpose and the conception of Will disappears. -An end of some kind being necessarily implied by -the conception of Will, the quality of the -Will is determined <span class="xxpn" id="p202">{202}</span> -by the quality of the end contemplated. Will itself, considered -apart from any distinguishing epithet, is not -cognizable by Morality at all. It becomes cognizable by -Morality only when it gains its character as good or bad by -virtue of its contemplated end as good or bad. If any one -doubts this, let him try whether he can think of a good -will which contemplates a bad end. The whole question, -therefore, centres in the meaning of the word good. Let -us look at the meanings habitually given to it.</p> - -<p>We speak of good meat, good bread, good wine; by -which phrases we mean either things that are palatable, -and so give pleasure, or things that are wholesome, and by -conducing to health conduce to pleasure. A good fire, -good clothing, a good house, we so name because they -minister either to comfort, which means pleasure, or gratify -the æsthetic sentiment, which also means pleasure. So it -is with things which more indirectly further welfare, as -good tools or good roads. When we speak of a good workman, -a good teacher, a good doctor, it is the same: -efficiency in aiding others’ well-being is what we indirectly -mean. Yet again, good government, good institutions, -good laws, connote benefits yielded to the society in which -they exist: benefits being equivalent to certain kinds of -happiness, positive or negative. But Kant tells us that a -good will is one that is good in and for itself without reference -to ends. We are not to think of it as prompting acts -which will profit the man himself, either by conducing to -his health, advancing his culture, or improving his inclinations; -for all these are in the long run conducive to -happiness, and are urged only for the reason that they do -this. We are not to think of a will as good because, by -fulfilment of it, friends are saved from sufferings or have -their gratifications increased; for this would involve -calling it good because of beneficial ends in view. Nor -must conduciveness to social ameliorations, present or -future, be taken into account when we -attempt to conceive <span class="xxpn" id="p203">{203}</span> -a good will. In short, we are to frame our idea of a good -will without any material out of which to frame the idea of -good: good is to be used in thought as an eviscerated term.</p> - -<p>Here, then, is illustrated what I have called above the -inverted <i>a priori</i> method of philosophizing: the setting out -with an inconceivable proposition. The Kantian Metaphysics -starts by asserting that Space is “nothing but” a -form of intuition—pertains wholly to the subject and not at -all to the object. This is a verbally intelligible proposition, -but one of which the terms cannot be put together in -consciousness; for neither Kant, nor any one else, ever -succeeded in bringing into unity of representation the -thought of Space and the thought of Self, as being the one -an attribute of the other. And here we see that, just in -the same way, the Kantian Ethics begins by positing -something which seems to have a meaning but which has -really no meaning—something which, under the conditions -imposed, cannot be rendered into thought at all. For -neither Kant, nor any one else, ever has or ever can, frame -a consciousness of a good will when from the word good are -expelled all thoughts of those ends which we distinguish -by the word good.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Evidently Kant himself sees that his assumption invites -attack, for he proceeds to defend it. He says:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“There is, however, something so strange in this idea of the absolute -value of the mere will, in which no account is taken of its utility, that -notwithstanding the thorough assent of even common reason to the idea [!], -yet a suspicion must arise that it may perhaps really be the product of mere -high-flown fancy, &c.” (p. 13).</p></blockquote> - -<p class="pcontinue">And -then to prepare for a justification, he goes on to say:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“In the physical constitution of an organized being we assume it as a -fundamental principle that no organ for any purpose will be found in it but -what is also the fittest and best adapted for that purpose” (pp. 13–14).</p></blockquote> - -<p>Now, even had this assumption been valid, the argument -he bases upon it, far-fetched as it is, might be considered -of very inadequate strength to warrant the supposition that -there can be a will conceived as good -without any reference <span class="xxpn" id="p204">{204}</span> -to good ends. But, unfortunately for Kant, the assumption -is utterly invalid. In his day it probably passed without -question; but in our day few if any biologists would admit -it. On the special-creation hypothesis some defence of -the proposition might be attempted, but the evolution-hypothesis -tacitly negatives it entirely. Let us begin with -some minor facts which militate against Kant’s supposition. -Take, first, rudimentary organs. These are numerous -throughout the animal kingdom. While representing -organs which were of use in ancestral types, they are of -no use in the types possessing them; and, as being -rudimentary, they are of necessity imperfect. Moreover, -besides being injurious by taxing nutrition to no purpose, -they are almost certainly in some cases injurious by being -in the way. Then, beyond the argument from rudimentary -organs, there is the argument from make-shift organs, -which form a large class. We have a conspicuous case in -the swimming organ of the seal, formed by the apposition -of the two hind limbs—an organ manifestly inferior to one -specially shaped for its function, and one which, during -early stages of the changes which have produced it, must -have been very inefficient. But the untruth of the assumption -is best shown by comparing a given organ in a low -type of creature with the same organ in a high type. The -alimentary canal, for example, in very inferior creatures is -a simple tube, substantially alike from end to end, and -having throughout all its parts the same function. But in -a superior creature this tube is differentiated into mouth, -æsophagus, stomach (or stomachs), small and large intestines -with their various appended glands pouring in -secretions. Now if this last form of alimentary canal is to -be regarded as a perfect organ, or something like it, what -shall we say of the original form; and what shall we say of -all those forms lying between the two? The vascular system, -again, furnishes a clear instance. The primitive heart is -nothing but a dilatation of the great -blood vessel—a pulsatile <span class="xxpn" id="p205">{205}</span> -sac. But a mammal has a four-chambered heart with valves, -by the aid of which the blood is propelled through the lungs -for aëration, and throughout the system at large for general -purposes. If this four-chambered heart is a perfect organ, -what is the primitive heart, and what are the hearts possessed -by all the multitudinous creatures below the higher <i>vertebrata</i>? -Manifestly the process of evolution implies a continual -replacing of creatures having inferior organs, by creatures -having superior organs; leaving such of the inferior as can -survive to occupy inferior spheres of life. This is not only -so throughout the whole animal creation up to Man himself, -but it is so within the limits of the human race. Both the -brains and the lower limbs of various inferior races are -ineffective organs, compared with those of superior races. -Nay, even in the highest type of Man we have obvious -imperfections. The structure of the groin is imperfect: the -frequent ruptures which result from it would have been -prevented by closure of the inguinal rings during fœtal life -after they had performed their office. That all-important -organ the vertebral column, too, is as yet but incompletely -adapted to the upright posture. Only while the vigour is -considerable can there be maintained, without appreciable -effort, those muscular contractions which produce the sigmoid -flexure, and bring the lumbar portion into such a -position that the “line of direction” falls within it. In -young children, in boys and girls who are admonished to -“sit up,” in weakly people, and in the old, the spine lapses -into that convex form characteristic of lower <i>Primates</i>. It -is the same with the balancing of the head. Only by a -muscular strain to which habit makes us insensible, as it -does to the exposure of the face to cold, is the head maintained -in position. Immediately certain cervical muscles -are relaxed the head falls forward; and where there is -great debility the chin rests permanently on the chest.</p> - -<p>So far, indeed, is the assumption of Kant from being -true that the very reverse is -probably true. After <span class="xxpn" id="p206">{206}</span> -contemplating the countless examples of imperfections exhibited -in low types of creatures, and decreasing with the ascent -to high types, but still exemplified in the highest, anyone -who concludes, as he may reasonably do, that Evolution -has not yet reached its limit, must infer that most likely -no such thing as a perfect organ exists. Thus the basis -of the argument by which Kant attempts to justify his -assumption that there exists a good will apart from a good -end, disappears utterly; and leaves his dogma in all its -naked unthinkableness.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn25" id="fnanch25">25</a></p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch25" id="fn25">25</a> -I find that in the above three paragraphs I have done Kant less than -justice and more than justice—less, in assuming that his evolutionary view -was limited to the genesis of our sidereal system, and more, in assuming that -he had not contradicted himself. My knowledge of Kant’s writings is -extremely limited. In 1844 a translation of his <i>Critique of Pure Reason</i> -(then I think lately published) fell into my hands, and I read the first few -pages enunciating his doctrine of Time and Space: my peremptory rejection -of which caused me to lay the book down. Twice since then the same thing -has happened; for, being an impatient reader, when I disagree with the -cardinal propositions of a work I can go no further. One other thing I knew. -By indirect references I was made aware that Kant had propounded the idea -that celestial bodies have been formed by the aggregation of diffused matter. -Beyond this my knowledge of his conceptions did not extend; and my -supposition that his evolutionary conception had stopped short with the -genesis of sun, stars, and planets, was due to the fact that his doctrine of -Time and Space, as forms of thought anteceding experience, implied a -supernatural origin inconsistent with the hypothesis of natural genesis. Dr. -Paul Carus, who, shortly after the publication of this article in the <i>Fortnightly -Review</i> for July, 1888, undertook to defend the Kantian ethics in the -American journal which he edits, <i>The Open Court</i>, has now (Sept. 4, 1890), -in another defensive article, translated sundry passages from Kant’s -<i>Critique of Judgment</i>, his <i>Presumable Origin of Humanity</i>, and his work -<i>Upon the different Races of Mankind</i>, showing that Kant was, if not fully, -yet partially, an evolutionist in his speculations about living beings. There -is, perhaps, some reason for doubting the correctness of Dr. Carus’s rendering -of these passages into English. When, as in the first of the articles just -named, he failed to distinguish between consciousness and conscientiousness, -and when, as in this last article, he blames the English for mistranslating -Kant, since they have said “Kant maintained that Space and Time are -intuitions,” which is quite untrue, for they have -everywhere described him -as maintaining that Space and Time are <i>forms</i> of intuition, one may be -excused for thinking that possibly Dr. Carus has read into some of Kant’s -expressions, meanings which they do not rightly bear. Still, the general -drift of the passages quoted makes it tolerably clear that Kant must have -believed in the operation of natural causes as largely, though not entirely, -instrumental in producing organic forms: extending this belief (which he -says “can be named a daring venture of reason”) in some measure to the -origin of Man himself. He does not, however, extend the theory of natural -genesis to the exclusion of the theory of supernatural genesis. When he speaks -of an organic habit “which in the wisdom of nature appears to be thus -arranged in order that the species shall be preserved;” and when, further, -he says “we see, moreover, that a germ of reason is placed in him, whereby, -after the development of the same, he is destined for social intercourse,” he -implies divine intervention. And this shows that I was justified in ascribing -to him the belief that Space and Time, as forms of thought, are supernatural -endowments. Had he conceived of organic evolution in a consistent manner, -he would necessarily have regarded Space and Time as subjective forms -generated by converse with objective realities.</p> - -<p>Beyond showing that Kant had a partial, if not a complete, belief in -organic evolution (though with no idea of its causes), the passages translated -by Dr. Carus show that he entertained an implied belief which it here -specially concerns me to notice as bearing on his theory of “a good will.” -He quotes approvingly Dr. Moscati’s lecture showing “that the upright walk -of man is constrained and unnatural,” and showing the imperfect visceral -arrangements and consequent diseases which result: not only adopting, but -further illustrating, Dr. Moscati’s argument. If here, then, there is a distinct -admission, or rather assertion, that various human organs are imperfectly -adjusted to their functions, what becomes of the postulate above quoted -“that no organ for any purpose will be found in it but what is also the -fittest and best adapted for that purpose?” And what becomes of the -argument which sets out with this postulate? Clearly, I am indebted to -Dr. Carus for enabling me to prove that Kant’s defence of his theory of “a -good will” is, by his own showing, baseless.</p></div> - -<p class="padtopb">One of the propositions contained in Kant’s -first chapter <span class="xxpn" id="p207">{207}</span> -is that “we find that the more a cultivated reason applies -itself with deliberate purpose to the enjoyment of life and -happiness, so much the more does the man fail of true -satisfaction.” A preliminary remark to be made on this -statement is that in its sweeping form it is not true. I -assert that it is untrue on the strength of personal experiences. -In the course of my life there have occurred -many intervals, averaging more than a month each, in -which the pursuit of happiness was the sole -object, and in <span class="xxpn" id="p208">{208}</span> -which happiness was successfully pursued. How successfully, -may be judged from the fact that I would gladly live -over again each of those periods without change—an -assertion which I certainly cannot make of any portions of -my life spent in the daily discharge of duties. That which -Kant should have said is that the <i>exclusive</i> pursuit of what -are distinguished as pleasures and amusements, is disappointing. -This is doubtless true; and for the obvious -reason that it over-exercises one group of faculties and -exhausts them, while it leaves unexercised another group -of faculties, which consequently do not yield the gratifications -accompanying their exercise. It is not, as Kant says, -guidance by “a cultivated reason” which leads to disappointment, -but guidance by an uncultivated reason; for a -cultivated reason teaches that continuous action of a small -part of the nature joined with inaction of the rest, must -end in dissatisfaction.</p> - -<p>But now, supposing we accept Kant’s statement in full, -what is its implication? That happiness is the thing to be -desired, and, in one way or another, the thing to be achieved. -For if not, what meaning is there in the statement that it -will not be achieved when made the immediate object? -One who was thus admonished might properly rejoin:—“You -say I shall fail to get happiness if I make it the -object of pursuit? Suppose then I do not make it the -object of my pursuit; shall I get it? If I do, then your -admonition amounts to this, that I shall obtain it better if I -proceed in some other way than that I adopt. If I do not -get it, then I remain without happiness if I follow your -way, just as much as if I follow my own, and nothing is -gained.” An illustration will best show how the matter -stands. To a tyro in archery the instructor says:—“Sir, -you must not point your arrow directly at the target. If -you do, you will inevitably miss it. You must aim high -above the target; and you may then possibly pierce the -bull’s eye.” What now is implied by the -warning and the <span class="xxpn" id="p209">{209}</span> -advice? Clearly that the purpose is to hit the target. -Otherwise there is no sense in the remark that it will be -missed if directly aimed at; and no sense in the remark -that to be hit, something higher must be aimed at. -Similarly with happiness. There is no sense in the remark -that happiness will not be found if it is directly sought, -unless happiness is a thing to be somehow or other obtained.</p> - -<p>“Yes; there is sense,” I hear it said. “Just as it may -be that the target is not the thing to be hit at all, either -by aiming directly or indirectly at it, but that some other -thing is to be hit; so it may be that the thing to be -achieved immediately or remotely is not happiness at all, but -some other thing: the other thing being duty.” In answer -to this the admonished man may reasonably say:—“What -then is meant by Kant’s statement that the man who -pursues happiness ‘fails of true satisfaction’? All happiness -is made up of satisfactions. The ‘true satisfaction’ -which Kant offers as an alternative, must be some kind of -happiness; and if a truer satisfaction, must be a better -happiness; and better must mean on the average, and in -the long run, greater. If this ‘true satisfaction’ does not -mean greater happiness of self,—distant if not proximate, -in another life if not in this life—and if it does not mean -greater happiness by achieving the happiness of others; -then you propose to me as an end a smaller happiness -instead of a greater, and I decline it.”</p> - -<p>So that in this professed repudiation of happiness as an -end, there lies the inavoidable implication that it <i>is</i> the end.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">The last consideration introduces us naturally to another -of Kant’s cardinal doctrines. That there may be no -mistake in my representation of it, I must make a -long quotation.</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“I omit here all actions which are already recognized as inconsistent with -duty, although they may be useful for this or that purpose, for with these the -question whether they are done <i>from duty</i> cannot arise at all, since they -even conflict with it. I also set aside those actions -which really conform to <span class="xxpn" id="p210">{210}</span> -duty, but to which men have <i>no</i> direct <i>inclination</i>, performing them because -they are impelled thereto by some other inclination. For in this case we -can readily distinguish whether the action which agrees with duty is done -<i>from duty</i>, or from a selfish view. It is much harder to make this -distinction when the action accords with duty, and the subject has besides -a <i>direct</i> inclination to it. For example, it is always a matter of duty that a -dealer should not overcharge an inexperienced purchaser, and wherever -there is much commerce the prudent tradesman does not overcharge, but -keeps a fixed price for every one, so that a child buys of him as well as any -other. Men are thus <i>honestly</i> served; but this is not enough to make us -believe that the tradesman has so acted from duty and from principles of -honesty: his own advantage required it; it is out of the question in this -case to suppose that he might besides have a direct inclination in favour of -the buyers, so that, as it were, from love he should give no advantage to -one over another [!]. Accordingly the action was done neither from duty -nor from direct inclination, but merely with a selfish view. On the other -hand, it is a duty to maintain one’s life; and, in addition, every one has -also a direct inclination to do so. But on this account the often anxious -care which most men take for it has no intrinsic worth, and their maxim -has no moral import. They preserve their life <i>as duty requires</i>, no doubt, -but not <i>because duty requires</i>. On the other hand, if adversity and hopeless -sorrow have completely taken away the relish for life; if the unfortunate -one, strong in mind, indignant at his fate rather than desponding or dejected, -wishes for death, and yet preserves his life without loving it—not from -inclination or fear, but from duty—then his maxim has a moral worth.</p> - -<p>“To be beneficent when we can is a duty; and besides this, there are -many minds so sympathetically constituted that without any other motive -of vanity or self-interest, they find a pleasure in spreading joy around them, -and can take delight in the satisfaction of others so far as it is their own -work. But I maintain that in such a case an action of this kind, however -proper, however amiable it may be, has nevertheless no true moral worth, -but is on a level with other inclinations” (pp. 17–19).</p></blockquote> - -<p>I have given this extract at length that there may be -fully understood the remarkable doctrine it embodies—a -doctrine especially remarkable as exemplified in the last -sentence. Let us now consider all that it means.</p> - -<p>Before doing this, however, I may remark that, space -permitting, it might be shown clearly enough that the -assumed distinction between <i>sense</i> of duty and inclination -is untenable. The very expression sense of duty implies -that the mental state signified is a feeling; and if a feeling -it must, like other feelings, be gratified by acts of one kind -and offended by acts of an opposite kind. If -we take the <span class="xxpn" id="p211">{211}</span> -name conscience, which is equivalent to sense of duty, we -see the same thing. The common expressions “a tender -conscience” “a seared conscience,” indicate the perception -that conscience is a feeling—a feeling which has its -satisfactions and dissatisfactions, and which <i>inclines</i> a man -to acts which yield the one and avoid the other—produces -an <i>inclination</i>. The truth is that conscience, or the sense -of duty, is an inclination of a complex kind as distinguished -from inclinations of simpler kinds.</p> - -<p>But let us grant Kant’s distinction in an unqualified -form. Doing this, let us entertain, too, his proposition -that acts of whatever kind done from inclination have no -moral worth, and that the only acts having moral worth -are those done from a sense of duty. To test this proposition -let us follow an example he sets. As he would have -the quality of an act judged by supposing it universalized, -let us judge of moral worth as he conceives it by making -a like supposition. That we may do this effectually, let us -assume that it is exemplified not only by every man but by -all the acts of every man. Unless Kant alleges that a man -may be morally worthy in too high a degree, we must -admit that the greater the number of his acts which have -moral worth the better. Let us then contemplate him as -doing nothing from inclination but everything from a -sense of duty.</p> - -<p>When he pays the labourer who has done a week’s work -for him, it is not because letting a man go without wages -would be against his inclination, but solely because he sees -it to be a duty to fulfil contracts. Such care as he takes -of his aged mother is prompted not by tender feeling for -her but by the consciousness of filial obligation. When he -gives evidence on behalf of a man whom he knows to have -been falsely charged, it is not that he would be hurt by -seeing the man wrongly punished, but simply in pursuance -of a moral intuition showing him that public duty requires -him to testify. When he sees a little child -in danger of <span class="xxpn" id="p212">{212}</span> -being run over, and steps aside to snatch, it away, he does -so not because thought of the impending death of the -child pains him, but because he knows it is a duty to save -life. And so throughout, in all his relations as husband, -as friend, as citizen, he thinks always of what the law of -right conduct directs, and does it because it is the law of -right conduct, not because he satisfies his affections or his -sympathies by doing it. This is not all however. Kant’s -doctrine commits him to something far beyond this. If -those acts only have moral worth which are done from a -sense of duty, we must not only say that the moral worth -of a man is greater in proportion as the number of the acts -so done is greater. We must also say that his moral worth -is greater in proportion as his sense of duty makes him do -the right thing not only apart from inclination but against -inclination. According to Kant, then, the most moral man -is the man whose sense of duty is so strong that he refrains -from picking a pocket though he is much tempted to do it; -who says of another that which is true though he would -like to injure him by a falsehood; who lends money to his -brother though he would prefer to see him in distress; who -fetches the doctor to his sick child though death would -remove what he feels to be a burden. What, now, shall we -think of a world peopled with Kant’s typically moral men—men -who, in the one case, while doing right by one another, -do it with indifference, and severally know one another to -be so doing it; and men who, in the other case, do right by -one another notwithstanding the promptings of evil passions -to do otherwise, and who severally know themselves surrounded -by others similarly prompted? Most people will, -I think, say that even in the first case life would be hardly -bearable, and that in the second case it would be absolutely -intolerable. Had such been men’s natures, Schopenhauer -would indeed have had good reason for urging that the -race should bring itself to an end as quickly as possible.</p> - -<p>Contemplate now the doings of one -whose acts, according <span class="xxpn" id="p213">{213}</span> -to Kant, have no moral worth. He goes through his daily -work not thinking of duty to wife and child, but having in -his mind the pleasure of witnessing their welfare; and on -reaching home he delights to see his little girl with rosy -cheeks and laughing eyes eating heartily. When he hands -back to a shopkeeper the shilling given in excess of right -change, he does not stop to ask what the moral law requires: -the thought of profiting by the man’s mistake is intrinsically -repugnant to him. One who is drowning he plunges in to -rescue without any idea of obligation, but because he cannot -contemplate without horror the death which threatens. If, -for a worthy man who is out of employment, he takes much -trouble to find a place, he does it because the consciousness -of the man’s difficulties is painful to him, and because he -knows that he will benefit not only him but the employer -who engages him: no moral maxim enters his mind. When -he goes to see a sick friend the gentle tones of his voice and -the kindly expression of his face show that he is come not -from any sense of duty, but because pity and a desire to -raise his friend’s spirits have moved him. If he aids in -some public measure which helps men to help themselves, -it is not in pursuance of the admonition “Do as you would -be done by,” but because the distresses around make him -unhappy, and the thought of mitigating them gives him -pleasure. And so throughout: he ever does the right thing -not in obedience to any injunction but because he loves the -right thing in and for itself. And now who would not like -to live in a world where everyone was thus characterized?</p> - -<p>What, then, shall we think of Kant’s conception of moral -worth, when, if it were displayed universally in men’s acts -the world would be intolerable, and when if these same acts -were universally performed from inclination, the world -would be delightful?</p> - -<p class="padtopb">But now, from these indirect criticisms, let us -pass to a <span class="xxpn" id="p214">{214}</span> -direct criticism of the Kantian principle—the principle often -quoted as distinctive of his ethics. He states it thus:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“There is therefore but one categorical imperative, namely this: <i>Act only -on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become -a universal law</i>.” (pp. 54–5.)</p></blockquote> - -<p>Again, subsequently, we read:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“<i>Act on maxims which can at the same time have for their object themselves -as universal laws of nature.</i> Such then is the formula of an absolutely good -will.” (p. 80.)</p></blockquote> - -<p>Here, then, we have a clear statement of that which -constitutes the character of a good will; which good will, -as we have already seen, is said to exist independently of -any contemplated end. Let us now observe how this -theory is reduced to practice. Speaking of a man who is -absolutely selfish and yet absolutely just, he represents -him as saying:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“Let everyone be as happy as heaven pleases or as he can make himself; -I will take nothing from him nor even envy him, only I do not wish to contribute -anything either to his welfare or to his assistance in distress! Now no -doubt if such a mode of thinking were a universal law, the human race -might very well subsist, and doubtless even better than in a state in which -every one talks of sympathy and good will, or even takes care occasionally -to put it into practice, but on the other side, also cheats when he can, betrays -the rights of men or otherwise violates them. But although it is possible -that a universal law of nature might exist in accordance with that maxim, -it is impossible to <i>will</i> that such a principle should have the universal -validity of a law of nature. For a will which resolved this would contradict -itself, inasmuch as many cases might occur in which one would have need -of the love and sympathy of others, and in which by such a law of nature, -sprung from his own will, he would deprive himself of all hope of the aid he -desires.” (pp. 58–9.)</p></blockquote> - -<p>Thus we see illustrated the guidance of conduct in conformity -with the Kantian maxim; and what is the process -of guidance? It is that of considering what, in the particular -case, would be the result if the suggested course of -conduct were made universal; and then being deterred from -willing such conduct by the badness of the conceived result. -Now, in the first place, what here becomes of the doctrine -of a good will, which we are told -exists “without paying <span class="xxpn" id="p215">{215}</span> -any regard to the effect expected from it”? (p. 24). The -good will, characterized by readiness to see the act it -prompts made universal, has, in this particular case, as in -every other case, to be decided by contemplation of an -end—if not a special and immediate end then a general and -remote end. And what, in this case, is to be the deterrent -from a suggested course of conduct? Consciousness that -the result, if such conduct were universal, might be suffering -to self: there might be no aid when it was wanted. So -that, in the first place, the question is to be decided by the -contemplation of happiness or misery as likely to be caused -by the one or the other course; and, in the second place, -this happiness or misery is that of the individual himself. -Strangely enough, this principle which is lauded because -of its apparently implied altruism, turns out, in the last -resort, to have its justification in egoism!</p> - -<p>The essential truth here to be noted, however, is that the -Kantian principle, so much vaunted as higher than that of -expediency or utilitarianism, is compelled to take expediency -or utilitarianism as its basis. Do what it will, it -cannot escape the need for conceiving happiness or misery, -to self or others or both, as respectively to be achieved or -avoided; for in any case what, except the conceived happiness -or misery which would follow if a given mode of -action were made universal, can determine the will for or -against such mode of action? If, in one who has been -injured, there arises a temptation to murder the injurer; -and if, following out the Kantian injunction, the tempted -man thinks of himself as willing that all men who have -been injured should murder those who have injured them; -and if, imagining the consequences experienced by mankind -at large, and possibly on some occasion by himself in -particular, he is deterred from yielding to the temptation; -what is it which deters him? Obviously the representation -of the many evils, pains, deprivations of happiness, -which would be caused. If, on imagining his -act to be <span class="xxpn" id="p216">{216}</span> -universalized, he saw that it would increase human happiness, -the alleged deterrent would not act. Hence the conduct -to be insured by adoption of the Kantian maxim is -simply the conduct to be insured by making the happiness -of self or others or both the end to be achieved. By implication, -if not avowedly, the Kantian principle is as distinctly -utilitarian as the principle of Bentham. And it falls short -of a scientific ethics in just the same way; since it fails to -furnish any method by which to determine whether such -and such acts <i>would</i> or <i>would not</i> be conducive to happiness—leaves -all such questions to be decided empirically.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p217">{217}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">ABSOLUTE POLITICAL ETHICS.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>Originally published in</i> The Nineteenth Century -<i>for January 1890. The writing of this essay was consequent on a -controversy carried on in</i> The Times <i>between Nov. 7 and Nov. 27, 1889, -and was made needful by the misapprehensions and misrepresentations -embodied in that controversy. Hence the allusions which the essay -contains. The last few paragraphs of it in its original form were -mainly personal in their character; and, not wishing to perpetuate -personalities, I have omitted them</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>Life in Fiji, at the time when Thomas Williams settled -there, must have been something worse than uncomfortable. -One of the people who passed near the string of nine -hundred stones with which Ra Undreundre recorded the -number of human victims he had devoured, must have had -unpleasant waking thoughts and occasionally horrible -dreams. A man who had lost some fingers for breaches of -ceremony, or had seen his neighbour killed by a chief for -behaviour not sufficiently respectful, and who remembered -how King Tanoa cut off his cousin’s arm, cooked it and ate -it in his presence, and then had him hacked to pieces, must -not unfrequently have had “a bad quarter of an hour.” -Nor could creeping sensations have failed to run through -women who heard Tui Thakau eulogizing his dead son for -cruelty, and saying that “he could kill his own wives if -they offended him, and eat -them afterwards.” Happiness <span class="xxpn" id="p218">{218}</span> -could not have been general in a society where there was a -liability to be one among the ten whose life-blood baptized -the decks of a new canoe—a society in which the killing -even of unoffending persons was no crime but a glory; -and in which everyone knew that his neighbour’s restless -ambition was to be an acknowledged murderer. Still, -there must have been some moderation in murdering even -in Fiji. Or must we hesitate to conclude that unlimited -murder would have caused extinction of the society?</p> - -<p>The extent to which each man’s possessions among the -Biluchis are endangered by the predatory instincts of his -neighbours, may be judged from the fact that “a small -mud tower is erected in each field, where the possessor -and his retainers guard his produce.” If turbulent states -of society such as early histories tell of, do not show us so -vividly how the habit of appropriating one another’s goods -interferes with social prosperity and individual comfort, -yet they do not leave us in doubt respecting these results. -It is an inference which few will be hardy enough to -dispute, that in proportion as the time of each man, instead -of being occupied in further production, is occupied in -guarding that which he has produced against marauders, -the total production must be diminished and the sustentation -of each and all less satisfactorily achieved. And it -is a manifest corollary that if each pushes beyond a certain -limit the practice of trying to satisfy his needs by robbing -his neighbour, the society must dissolve: solitary life will -prove preferable.</p> - -<p>A deceased friend of mine, narrating incidents in his life, -told me that as a young man he sought to establish himself -in Spain as a commission agent; and that, failing by -expostulation or other means to obtain payment from one -who had ordered goods through him, he, as a last resource, -went to the man’s house and presented himself before him -pistol in hand—a proceeding which had the desired effect: -the account was settled. Suppose -now that everywhere <span class="xxpn" id="p219">{219}</span> -contracts had thus to be enforced by more or less strenuous -measures. Suppose that a coal-mine proprietor in Derbyshire, -having sent a train-load to a London coal-merchant, -had commonly to send a <i>posse</i> of colliers up to town, to -stop the man’s wagons and take out the horses until -payment had been made. Suppose the farm-labourer or -the artisan was constantly in doubt whether, at the end of -the week, the wages agreed upon would be forthcoming; -or whether he would get only half, or whether he would -have to wait six months. Suppose that daily in every shop -there occurred scuffles between shopman and customer, -the one to get the money without giving the goods, and the -other to get the goods without paying the money. What in -such case would happen to the society? What would become -of its producing and distributing businesses? Is it a rash -inference that industrial co-operation (of the voluntary -kind at least) would cease?</p> - -<p>“Why these absurd questions?” asks the impatient -reader. “Surely everyone knows that murder, assault, -robbery, fraud, breach of contract, &c., are at variance -with social welfare and must be punished when committed,” -My replies are several. In the first place, I am quite -content to have the questions called absurd; because this -implies a consciousness that the answers are so self-evident -that it is absurd to assume the possibility of any other -answers. My second reply is that I am not desirous of -pressing the question <i>whether</i> we know these things, but of -pressing the question <i>how</i> we know these things. Can we -know them, and do we know them, by contemplating -the necessities of the case? or must we have recourse to -“inductions based on careful observation and experience”? -Before we make and enforce laws against murder, ought we -to inquire into the social welfare and individual happiness -in places where murder prevails, and observe whether or -not the welfare and happiness are greater in places where -murder is rare? Shall robbery be allowed to -go on until, <span class="xxpn" id="p220">{220}</span> -by collecting and tabulating the effects in countries where -thieves predominate and in countries where thieves are -but few, we are shown by induction that prosperity is -greater when each man is allowed to retain that which -he has earned? And is it needful to prove by accumulated -evidence that breaches of contract impede production -and exchange, and those benefits to each and all which mutual -dependence achieves? In the third place, these instances of -actions which, pushed to extremes, cause social dissolution, -and which, in smaller degrees, hinder social co-operation -and its benefits, I give for the purpose of asking what is -their common trait. In each of such actions we see aggression—a -carrying on of life in a way which directly interferes -with the carrying on of another’s life. The relation -between effort and consequent benefit in one man, is either -destroyed altogether or partially broken by the doings of -another man. If it be admitted that life can be maintained -only by certain activities (the internal ones being universal, -and the external ones being universal for all but parasites -and the immature), it must be admitted that when like-natured -beings are associated, the required activities must -be mutually limited; and that the highest life can result -only when the associated beings are so constituted as -severally to keep within the implied limits. The restrictions -stated thus generally, may obviously be developed -into special restrictions referring to this or that kind of -conduct. These, then, I hold are <i>a priori</i> truths which admit -of being known by contemplation of the conditions—axiomatic -truths which bear to ethics a relation analogous -to that which the mathematical axioms bear to the -exact sciences.</p> - -<p>I do not mean that these axiomatic truths are cognisable -by all. For the apprehension of them, as for the apprehension -of simpler axioms, a certain mental growth and a -certain mental discipline are needed. In the <i>Treatise on -Natural Philosophy</i> by Professors Thomson -and Tait [1st ed.], <span class="xxpn" id="p221">{221}</span> -it is remarked that “physical axioms are axiomatic to -those only who have sufficient knowledge of the action of -physical causes to enable them to see at once their necessary -truth.” Doubtless a fact and a significant fact. A plough-boy -cannot form a conception of the axiom that action and -reaction are equal and opposite. In the first place he lacks -a sufficiently generalized idea of action—has not united -into one conception pushing and pulling, the blow of a fist, -the recoil of a gun, and the attraction of a planet. Still -less has he any generalized idea of reaction. And even had -he these two ideas, it is probable that, defective in power -of representation as he is, he would fail to recognize the -necessary equality. Similarly with these <i>a priori</i> ethical -truths. If a member of that Fijian slave-tribe who regarded -themselves as food for the chiefs had suggested that there -might arrive a time when men would not eat one another, -his implied belief that men might come to have a little -respect for one another’s lives, condemned as utterly without -justification in experience, would be considered as fit only -for a wild speculator. Facts furnished by every-day -observation make it clear to the Biluchi, keeping watch in -his mud-tower, that possession of property can be maintained -only by force; and it is most likely to him scarcely -conceivable that there exist limits which, if mutually -recognized, may exclude aggressions, and make it needless -to mount guard over fields: only an absurd idealist (supposing -such a thing known to him) would suggest the -possibility. And so even of our own ancestors in feudal -times, it may be concluded that, constantly going about -armed and often taking refuge in strongholds, the thought -of a peaceful social state would have seemed ridiculous; -and the belief that there might be a recognized equality -among men’s claims to pursue the objects of life, and a -consequent desistence from aggressions, would have been -scarcely conceivable. But now that an orderly social state -has been maintained for generations—now -that in daily <span class="xxpn" id="p222">{222}</span> -intercourse men rarely use violence, commonly pay what -they owe, and in most cases respect the claims of the weak -as well as those of the strong—now that they are brought -up with the idea that all men are equal before the law, and -daily see judicial decisions turning upon the question -whether one citizen has or has not infringed upon the equal -rights of another; there exist in the general mind materials -for forming the conception of a <i>régime</i> in which men’s -activities are mutually limited, and in which maintenance -of harmony depends on respect for the limits. There has -arisen an ability to see that mutual limitations are required -when lives are carried on in proximity; and to see that -there necessarily emerge definite sets of restraints applying -to definite classes of actions. And it has become -manifest to some, though not it seems to many, that there -results an <i>a priori</i> system of absolute political ethics—a -system under which men of like natures, severally so -constituted as spontaneously to refrain from trespassing, -may work together without friction, and with the greatest -advantage to each and all.</p> - -<p>“But men are not wholly like-natured and are unlikely -to become so. Nor are they so constituted that each is -solicitous for his neighbour’s claims as for his own, and -there is small probability that they ever will be. Your -absolute political ethics is therefore an ideal beyond the -reach of the real.” This is true. Nevertheless, much as it -seems to do so, it does not follow that there is no use for -absolute political ethics. The contrary may clearly enough -be shown. An analogy will explain the paradox.</p> - -<p>There exists a division of physical science distinguished as -abstract mechanics or absolute mechanics—absolute in the -sense that its propositions are unqualified. It is concerned -with statics and dynamics in their pure forms—deals with -forces and motions considered as free from all interferences -resulting from friction, resistances of media, and special -properties of matter. If it enunciates a law -of motion, it <span class="xxpn" id="p223">{223}</span> -recognizes nothing which modifies manifestation of it. -If it formulates the properties of the lever it treats of this -assuming it to be perfectly rigid and without thickness—an -impossible lever. Its theory of the screw imagines -the screw to be frictionless; and in treating of the -wedge, absolute incompressibility is supposed. Thus -its truths are never presented in experience. Even those -movements of the heavenly bodies which are deducible -from its propositions are always more or less perturbed; and -on the Earth the inferences to be drawn from them deviate -very considerably from the results reached by experiment. -Nevertheless this system of ideal mechanics is indispensable -for the guidance of real mechanics. The engineer has to -deal with its propositions as true in full, before he proceeds -to qualify them by taking into account the natures of the -materials he uses. The course which a projectile would -take if subject only to the propulsive force and the attraction -of the Earth must be recognized, though no such course is -ever pursued: correction for atmospheric resistance cannot -else be made. That is to say, though, by empirical methods, -applied or relative mechanics may be developed to a considerable -extent, it cannot be highly developed without the -aid of absolute mechanics. So is it here. Relative political -ethics, or that which deals with right and wrong in public -affairs as partially determined by changing circumstances, -cannot progress without taking into account right and -wrong considered apart from changing circumstances—cannot -do without absolute political ethics; the propositions -of which, deduced from the conditions under which life is -carried on in an associated state, take no account of the -special circumstances of any particular associated state.</p> - -<p>And now observe a truth which seems entirely overlooked; -namely, that the set of deductions thus arrived at -is verified by an immeasurably vast induction, or rather by -a great assemblage of vast inductions. For what else are -the laws and judicial systems of all civilized -nations, and of <span class="xxpn" id="p224">{224}</span> -all societies which have risen above savagery? What is -the meaning of the fact that all peoples have discovered -the need for punishing murder, usually by death? How is -it that where any considerable progress has been made, -theft is forbidden by law, and a penalty attached to it? -Why along with further advance does the enforcing of -contracts become general? And what is the reason that -among fully civilized peoples frauds, libels, and minor -aggressions of various kinds are repressed in more or less -rigorous ways? No cause can be assigned save a general -uniformity in men’s experiences, showing them that aggressions -directly injurious to the individuals aggressed -upon are indirectly injurious to society. Generation after -generation observations have forced this truth on them; -and generation after generation they have been developing -the interdicts into greater detail. That is to say, the above -fundamental principle and its corollaries arrived at <i>a priori</i> -are verified in an infinity of cases <i>a posteriori</i>. Everywhere -the tendency has been to carry further in practice -the dictates of theory—to conform systems of law to the -requirements of absolute political ethics: if not consciously, -still unconsciously. Nay, indeed, is not this truth manifest -in the very name used for the end aimed at—equity or -equalness? Equalness of what? No answer can be given -without a recognition—vague it may be, but still a recognition—of -the doctrine above set forth.</p> - -<p>Thus, instead of being described as putting faith in -“long chains of deduction from abstract ethical assumptions” -I ought to be described as putting faith in simple -deductions from abstract ethical necessities; which deductions -are verified by infinitely numerous observations and -experiences of semi-civilized and civilized mankind in all -ages and places. Or rather I ought to be described as one -who, contemplating the restraints everywhere put on the -various kinds of transgressions, and seeing in them all a -common principle everywhere dictated -by the necessities <span class="xxpn" id="p225">{225}</span> -of the associated state, proceeds to develop the consequences -of this common principle by deduction, and to justify both -the deductions and the conclusions which legislators have -empirically reached by showing that the two correspond. -This method of deduction verified by induction -is the method of developed science at large. I do not -believe that I shall be led to abandon it and change my -“way of thinking” by any amount of disapproval, however -strongly expressed.</p> - -<p>Are we then to understand that by this imposing title, -“Absolute Political Ethics,” nothing more is meant than -a theory of the needful restraints which law imposes on the -actions of citizens—an ethical warrant for systems of law? -Well, supposing even that I had to answer “Yes” to this -question (which I do not), there would still be an ample -justification for the title. Having for its subject-matter all -that is comprehended under the word “Justice,” alike as -formulated in law and administered by legal instrumentalities, -the title has a sufficiently large area to cover. -This would scarcely need saying were it not for a curious -defect of thought which we are everywhere led into by habit.</p> - -<p>Just as, when talking of knowledge, we ignore entirely -that familiar knowledge of surrounding things, animate -and inanimate, acquired in childhood, in the absence of -which death would quickly result, and think only of that -far less essential knowledge gained at school and college or -from books and conversation—just as, when thinking of -mathematics, we include under the name only its higher -groups of truths and drop out that simpler group constituting -arithmetic, though for the carrying on of life -this is more important than all the rest put together; -so, when politics and political ethics are discussed, there -is no thought of those parts of them which include whatever -is fundamental and long settled. The word political -raises ideas of party-contests, ministerial changes, prospective -elections, or else of the -Home-Rule question, the <span class="xxpn" id="p226">{226}</span> -Land-Purchase scheme, Local Option, or the Eight-Hours -movement. Rarely does the word suggest law-reform, or -a better judicial organization, or a purified police. And -if ethics comes into consideration, it is in connexion with the -morals of parliamentary strife or of candidates’ professions, -or of electoral corruptions. Yet it needs but to look at -the definition of politics (“that part of ethics which consists -in the regulation and government of a nation or state, for -the preservation of its safety, peace, and prosperity”), to -see that the current conception fails by omitting the chief -part. It needs but to consider how relatively immense -a factor in the life of each man is constituted by safety of -person, security of house and property, and enforcement of -claims, to see that not only the largest part but the part -which is vital is left out. Hence the absurdity does not -exist in the conception of an absolute political ethics, but it -exists in the ignoring of its subject-matter. Unless it be -considered absurd to regard as absolute the interdicts -against murder, burglary, fraud and all other aggressions, -it cannot be considered absurd to regard as absolute the -ethical system which embodies these interdicts.</p> - -<p>It remains to add that beyond the deductions which, as we -have seen, are verified by vast assemblages of inductions, -there may be drawn other deductions not thus verified—deductions -drawn from the same data, but which have no -relevant experiences to say yes or no to them. Such -deductions may be valid or invalid; and I believe that in -my first work, written forty years ago and long since withdrawn -from circulation, there are some invalid deductions. -But to reject a principle and a method because of some -invalid deductions, is about as proper as it would be to -pooh-pooh arithmetic because of blunders in certain arithmetical -calculations.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">I turn now to a question above put—whether, by absolute -political ethics, nothing more is meant -than an ethical <span class="xxpn" id="p227">{227}</span> -warrant for systems of law—a question to which, by implication, -I answered No. And now I have to answer that it -extends over a further field equally wide if less important. -For beyond the relations among citizens taken individually, -there are the relations between the incorporated body of -citizens and each citizen. And on these relations between -the State and the man, absolute political ethics gives -judgments as well as on the relations between man and man. -Its judgments on the relations between man and man are -corollaries from its primary truth, that the activities of -each in pursuing the objects of life may be rightly -restricted only by the like activities of others: such others -being like-natured (for the principle does not contemplate -slave-societies or societies in which one race dominates -over another); and its judgments on the relations between -the man and the State are corollaries from the allied truth, -that the activities of each citizen may be rightly limited by -the incorporated body of citizens only as far as is needful -for securing to him the remainder. This further limitation -is a necessary accompaniment of the militant state; and -must continue so long as, besides the criminalities of -individual aggression, there continue the criminalities of -international aggression. It is clear that the preservation -of the society is an end which must take precedence of the -preservation of its individuals taken singly; since the -preservation of each individual and the maintenance of his -ability to pursue the objects of life, depend on the preservation -of the society. Such restrictions upon his actions as -are imposed by the necessities of war, and of preparedness -for war when it is probable, are therefore ethically defensible.</p> - -<p>And here we enter upon the many and involved questions -with which relative political ethics has to deal. When -originally indicating the contrast, I spoke of “absolute -political ethics, or that which ought to be, as distinguished -from relative political ethics, or that which is at present -the nearest practicable approach to it;” -and had any <span class="xxpn" id="p228">{228}</span> -attention been paid to this distinction, no controversy need have -arisen. Here I have to add that the qualifications which -relative political ethics sets forth vary with the type of the -society, which is primarily determined by the extent to -which defence against other societies is needful. Where -international enmity is great and the social organization -has to be adapted to warlike activities, the coercion of -individuals by the State is such as almost to destroy their -freedom of action and make them slaves of the State; and -where this results from the necessities of defensive war (not -offensive war, however), relative political ethics furnishes a -warrant. Conversely, as militancy decreases, there is a -diminished need both for that subordination of individuals -which is necessitated by consolidating them into a fighting -machine, and for that further subordination entailed by -supplying this fighting machine with the necessaries of life; -and as fast as this change goes on, the warrant for State-coercion -which relative political ethics furnishes becomes -less and less.</p> - -<p>Obviously it is out of the question here to enter upon the -complex questions raised. It must suffice to indicate them -as above. Should I be able to complete Part IV. of <i>The -Principles of Ethics</i>, treating of “Justice,” of which the -first chapters only are at present written, I hope to deal -adequately with these relations between the ethics of the -progressive condition and the ethics of that condition -which is the goal of progress—a goal ever to be recognized, -though it cannot be actually reached.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p229">{229}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak" title="OVER-LEGISLATION."> - OVER-LEGISLATION.<a class="afnanch" - href="#fn26" id="fnanch26">26</a></h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First published in</i> -The Westminster Review <i>for July 1853</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>From time to time there returns on the cautious thinker, -the conclusion that, considered simply as a question of probabilities, -it is unlikely that his views upon any debatable -topic are correct. “Here,” he reflects, “are thousands -around me holding on this or that point opinions differing -from mine—wholly in many cases; partially in most others. -Each is as confident as I am of the truth of his convictions. -Many of them are possessed of great intelligence; and, -rank myself high as I may, I must admit that some are my -equals—perhaps my superiors. Yet, while every one of us -is sure he is right, unquestionably most of us are wrong. -Why should not I be among the mistaken? True, I -cannot realize the likelihood that I am so. But this proves -nothing; for though the majority of us are necessarily in -error, we all labour under the inability to think we are in -error. Is it not then foolish thus -to trust myself? When <span class="xxpn" id="p230">{230}</span> -I look back into the past, I find nations, sects, theologians, -philosophers, cherishing beliefs in science, morals, politics, -and religion, which we decisively reject. Yet they held -them with a faith quite as strong as ours: nay—stronger, if -their intolerance of dissent is any criterion. Of what little -worth, therefore, seems this strength of my conviction that -I am right! A like warrant has been felt by men all the -world through; and, in nine cases out of ten, has proved a -delusive warrant. Is it not then absurd in me to put so -much faith in my judgments?”</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch26" id="fn26">26</a> -Some of the illustrations used in this essay refer to laws and -arrangements changed since it was written; while many recent occurrences -might now be cited in further aid of its argument. As, however, the -reasoning is not affected by these changes; and as to keep it corrected to -the facts of the day would involve perpetual alterations; it seems best to -leave it substantially in its original state: or rather in the state in which it -was republished in Mr. Chapman’s <i>Library -for the People</i>.</p></div> - -<p>Barren of practical results as this reflection at first sight -appears, it may, and indeed should, influence some of our -most important proceedings. Though in daily life we are -constantly obliged to act out our inferences, trustless as -they may be—though in the house, in the office, in the -street, there hourly arise occasions on which we may not -hesitate; seeing that if to act is dangerous, never to act at -all is fatal—and though, consequently, on our private -conduct, this abstract doubt as to the worth of our judgments, -must remain inoperative; yet, in our public conduct, -we may properly allow it to weigh. Here decision is no -longer imperative; while the difficulty of deciding aright -is incalculably greater. Clearly as we may think we see -how a given measure will work, we may infer, drawing -the above induction from human experience, that the -chances are many against the truth of our anticipations. -Whether in most cases it is not wiser to do nothing, -becomes now a rational question. Continuing his self-criticism, -the cautious thinker may reason:—“If in these -personal affairs, where all the conditions of the case were -known to me, I have so often miscalculated, how much -oftener shall I miscalculate in political affairs, where the -conditions are too numerous, too wide-spread, too complex, -too obscure to be understood. Here, doubtless, is a social -evil and there a desideratum; and were I sure of doing no -mischief I would forthwith try to cure the -one and achieve <span class="xxpn" id="p231">{231}</span> -the other. But when I remember how many of my private -schemes have miscarried—how speculations have failed, -agents proved dishonest, marriage been a disappointment—how -I did but pauperize the relative I sought to help—how -my carefully-governed son has turned out worse than most -children—how the thing I desperately strove against as a -misfortune did me immense good—how while the objects I -ardently pursued brought me little happiness when gained, -most of my pleasures have come from unexpected sources; -when I recall these and hosts of like facts, I am struck -with the incompetence of my intellect to prescribe for -society. And as the evil is one under which society has -not only lived but grown, while the desideratum is one it -may spontaneously obtain, as it has most others, in some -unforeseen way, I question the propriety of meddling.”</p> - -<p class="padtopb">There is a great want of this practical humility in our -political conduct. Though we have less self-confidence -than our ancestors, who did not hesitate to organize in law -their judgments on all subjects whatever, we have yet far -too much. Though we have ceased to assume the infallibility -of our theological beliefs and so ceased to enact them, -we have not ceased to enact hosts of other beliefs of an -equally doubtful kind. Though we no longer presume to -coerce men for their <i>spiritual good</i>, we still think ourselves -called upon to coerce them for their <i>material good</i>: not -seeing that the one is as useless and as unwarrantable as -the other. Innumerable failures seem, so far, powerless to -teach this. Take up a daily paper and you will probably -find a leader exposing the corruption, negligence, or mismanagement -of some State-department. Cast your eye -down the next column, and it is not unlikely that you will -read proposals for an extension of State-supervision. -Yesterday came a charge of gross carelessness against the -Colonial office. To-day Admiralty bunglings are burlesqued. -To-morrow brings -the question—“Should there <span class="xxpn" id="p232">{232}</span> -not be more coal-mine inspectors?” Now there is a complaint -that the Board of Health is useless; and now an -outcry for more railway regulation. While your ears are -still ringing with denunciations of Chancery abuses, or -your cheeks still glowing with indignation at some well-exposed -iniquity of the Ecclesiastical Courts, you suddenly -come upon suggestions for organizing “a priesthood of -science.” Here is a vehement condemnation of the police -for stupidly allowing sight-seers to crush each other to -death. You look for the corollary that official regulation is -not to be trusted; when, instead, <i>à propos</i> of a shipwreck, -you read an urgent demand for government-inspectors to -see that ships always have their boats ready for launching. -Thus, while every day chronicles a failure, there every day -reappears the belief that it needs but an Act of Parliament -and a staff of officers, to effect any end desired. Nowhere -is the perennial faith of mankind better seen. Ever since -society existed Disappointment has been preaching—“Put -not your trust in legislation;” and yet the trust in legislation -seems scarcely diminished.</p> - -<p>Did the State fulfil efficiently its unquestionable duties, -there would be some excuse for this eagerness to assign it -further duties. Were there no complaints of its faulty -administration of justice; of its endless delays and untold -expenses; of its bringing ruin in place of restitution; of its -playing the tyrant where it should have been the protector—did -we never hear of its complicated stupidities; its -20,000 statutes, which it assumes all Englishmen to know, -and which not one Englishman does know; its multiplied -forms, which, in the effort to meet every contingency, open -far more loopholes than they provide against—had it not -shown its folly in the system of making every petty alteration -by a new act, variously affecting innumerable preceding -acts; or in its score of successive sets of Chancery -rules, which so modify, and limit, and extend, and abolish, -and alter each other, that not even -Chancery lawyers know <span class="xxpn" id="p233">{233}</span> -what the rules are—were we never astounded by such a fact -as that, under the system of land registration in Ireland, -6000l. have been spent in a “negative search” to establish -the title of an estate—did we find in its doings no such -terrible incongruity as the imprisonment of a hungry -vagrant for stealing a turnip, while for the gigantic embezzlements -of a railway director it inflicts no punishment;—had -we, in short, proved its efficiency as judge and -defender, instead of having found it treacherous, cruel, and -anxiously to be shunned, there would be some encouragement -to hope other benefits at its hands.</p> - -<p>Or if, while failing in its judicial functions, the State had -proved itself a capable agent in some other department—the -military for example—there would have been some -show of reason for extending its sphere of action. Suppose -that it had rationally equipped its troops, instead of giving -them cumbrous and ineffective muskets, barbarous grenadier -caps, absurdly heavy knapsacks and cartouche-boxes, and -clothing coloured so as admirably to help the enemy’s -marksmen—suppose that it organized well and economically, -instead of salarying an immense superfluity of officers, creating -sinecure colonelcies of 4000<i>l.</i> a year, neglecting the meritorious -and promoting incapables—suppose that its soldiers -were always well housed instead of being thrust into barracks -that invalid hundreds, as at Aden, or that fall on their -occupants, as at Loodianah, where ninety-five were thus -killed—suppose that, in actual war, it had shown due -administrative ability, instead of occasionally leaving its -regiments to march barefoot, to dress in patches, to capture -their own engineering tools, and to fight on empty stomachs, -as during the Peninsular campaign;—suppose all this, -and the wish for more State-control might still have had -some warrant.</p> - -<p>Even though it had bungled in everything else, yet had -it in one case done well—had its naval management alone -been efficient—the sanguine would have -had a colourable <span class="xxpn" id="p234">{234}</span> -excuse for expecting success in a new field. Grant that -the reports about bad ships, ships that will not sail, ships -that have to be lengthened, ships with unfit engines, ships -that will not carry their guns, ships without stowage, and -ships that have to be broken up, are all untrue—assume -those to be mere slanderers who say that the <i>Megœra</i> took -double the time taken by a commercial steamer to reach the -Cape; that during the same voyage the <i>Hydra</i> was three times -on fire, and needed the pumps kept going day and night; -that the <i>Charlotte</i> troop-ship set out with 75 days’ provisions -on board, and was three months in reaching her destination; -that the <i>Harpy</i>, at an imminent risk of life, got home in -110 days from Rio—disregard as calumnies the statements -about septuagenarian admirals, dilettante ship building, -and “cooked” dockyard accounts—set down the affair of -the Goldner preserved meats as a myth, and consider Professor -Barlow mistaken when he reported of the Admiralty -compasses in store, that “at least one-half were mere -lumber;”—let all these, we say, be held groundless charges, -and there would remain for the advocates of much government -some basis for their political air-castles, spite of -military and judicial mismanagement.</p> - -<p>As it is, however, they seem to have read backwards the -parable of the talents. Not to the agent of proved efficiency -do they consign further duties, but to the negligent and -blundering agent. Private enterprise has done much, and -done it well. Private enterprise has cleared, drained, -and fertilized the country, and built the towns—has -excavated mines, laid out roads, dug canals, and embanked -railways—has invented, and brought to perfection, ploughs, -looms, steam-engines, printing-presses, and machines innumerable—has -built our ships, our vast manufactories, -our docks—has established banks, insurance societies, and -the newspaper press—has covered the sea with lines of -steam-vessels, and the land with electric telegraphs. -Private enterprise has -brought agriculture, manufactures, <span class="xxpn" id="p235">{235}</span> -and commerce to their present height, and is now developing -them with increasing rapidity. Therefore, do not trust -private enterprise. On the other hand, the State so fulfils -its judicial function as to ruin many, delude others, and -frighten away those who most need succour; its national -defences are so extravagantly and yet inefficiently administered, -as to call forth almost daily complaint, expostulation, -or ridicule; and as the nation’s steward, it obtains from -some of our vast public estates a minus revenue. Therefore, -trust the State. Slight the good and faithful servant, -and promote the unprofitable one from one talent to ten.</p> - -<p>Seriously, the case, while it may not, in some respects, -warrant this parallel, is, in one respect, even stronger. For -the new work is not of the same order as the old, but of a -more difficult order. Ill as government discharges its true -duties, any other duties committed to it are likely to be still -worse discharged. To guard its subjects against aggression, -either individual or national, is a straightforward and -tolerably simple matter; to regulate, directly or indirectly, -the personal actions of those subjects is an infinitely complicated -matter. It is one thing to secure to each man the -unhindered power to pursue his own good; it is a widely -different thing to pursue the good for him. To do the first -efficiently, the State has merely to look on while its citizens -act; to forbid unfairness; to adjudicate when called on; -and to enforce restitution for injuries. To do the last -efficiently, it must become an ubiquitous worker—must -know each man’s needs better than he knows them himself—must, -in short, possess superhuman power and intelligence. -Even, therefore, had the State done well in its -proper sphere, no sufficient warrant would have existed for -extending that sphere; but seeing how ill it has discharged -those simple offices which we cannot help consigning to it, -small indeed is the probability that it will discharge well -offices of a more complicated nature.</p> - -<p>Change the point of view however we -may, and this <span class="xxpn" id="p236">{236}</span> -conclusion still presents itself. If we define the primary State-duty -to be that of protecting each individual against others; -then, all other State-action comes under the definition of -protecting each individual against himself—against his own -stupidity, his own idleness, his own improvidence, rashness, -or other defect—his own incapacity for doing something or -other which should be done. There is no questioning this -classification. For manifestly all the obstacles that lie -between a man’s desires and the satisfaction of them, are -either obstacles arising from other men’s counter desires, or -obstacles arising from inability in himself. Such of these -counter desires as are just, have as much claim to satisfaction -as his; and may not, therefore, be thwarted. Such of -them as are unjust, it is the State’s duty to hold in check. -The only other possible sphere for it, therefore, is that of -saving the individual from the consequences of his nature, -or, as we say—protecting him against himself. Making no -comment, at present, on the policy of this, and confining -ourselves solely to the practicability of it, let us inquire how -the proposal looks when reduced to its simplest form. Here -are men possessed of instincts, and sentiments, and perceptions, -all conspiring to self-preservation. The due action of -each brings its quantum of pleasure; the inaction, its more -or less of pain. Those provided with these faculties in due -proportions, prosper and multiply; those ill-provided, tend -to die out. And the general success of this human organization -is seen in the fact, that under it the world has been -peopled, and by it the complicated appliances and arrangements -of civilized life have been developed. It is complained, -however, that there are certain directions in which this -apparatus of motives works but imperfectly. While it is -admitted that men are duly prompted by it to bodily sustenance, -to the obtainment of clothing and shelter, to -marriage and the care of offspring, and to the establishment -of the more important industrial and commercial agencies; -it is argued that there are many desiderata, -as pure air, <span class="xxpn" id="p237">{237}</span> -more knowledge, good water, safe travelling, and so forth, -which it does not duly achieve. And these short-comings -being assumed permanent, it is urged that some supplementary -means must be employed. It is therefore proposed -that out of the mass of men a certain number, constituting -the legislature, shall be instructed to attain these various -objects. The legislators thus instructed (all characterized, -on the average, by the same defects in this apparatus of -motives as men in general), being unable personally to -fulfil their tasks, must fulfil them by deputy—must appoint -commissions, boards, councils, and staffs of officers; and -must construct their agencies of this same defective -humanity that acts so ill. Why now should this system -of complex deputation succeed where the system of -simple deputation does not? The industrial, commercial, -and philanthropic agencies, which citizens form -spontaneously, are directly deputed agencies; these -governmental agencies made by electing legislators who -appoint officers, are indirectly deputed ones. And it is -hoped that, by this process of double deputation, things -may be achieved which the process of single deputation -will not achieve. What is the rationale of this hope? Is -it that legislators, and their employés, are made to feel -more intensely than the rest these evils they are to remedy, -these wants they are to satisfy? Hardly; for by position -they are mostly relieved from such evils and wants. Is it, -then, that they are to have the primary motive replaced by -a secondary motive—the fear of public displeasure, and -ultimate removal from office? Why scarcely; for the -minor benefits which citizens will not organize to secure -<i>directly</i>, they will not organize to secure <i>indirectly</i>, by -turning out inefficient servants: especially if they cannot -readily get efficient ones. Is it, then, that these State-agents -are to do from a sense of duty, what they would not -do from any other motive? Evidently this is the only -possibility remaining. The proposition -on which the <span class="xxpn" id="p238">{238}</span> -advocates of much government have to fall back, is, that -things which the people will not unite to effect for personal -benefit, a law-appointed portion of them will unite to effect -for the benefit of the rest. Public men and functionaries -love their neighbours better than themselves! The -philanthropy of statesmen is stronger than the selfishness -of citizens!</p> - -<p>No wonder, then, that every day adds to the list of -legislative miscarriages. If colliery explosions increase, -notwithstanding the appointment of coal-mine inspectors, -why it is but a natural sequence to these false methods. If -Sunderland shipowners complain that, as far as tried, “the -Mercantile Marine Act has proved a total failure;” and if, -meanwhile, the other class affected by it—the sailors—show -their disapprobation by extensive strikes; why it does but -exemplify the folly of trusting a theorising benevolence -rather than an experienced self-interest. On all sides we -may expect such facts; and on all sides we find them. -Government, turning engineer, appoints its lieutenant, the -Sewers’ Commission, to drain London. Presently Lambeth -sends deputations to say that it pays heavy rates, and gets -no benefit. Tired of waiting, Bethnal-green calls meetings -to consider “the most effectual means of extending the -drainage of the district.” From Wandsworth come complainants, -who threaten to pay no more until something is -done. Camberwell proposes to raise a subscription and do -the work itself. Meanwhile, no progress is made towards -the purification of the Thames; the weekly returns show an -increasing rate of mortality; in Parliament, the friends of -the Commission have nothing save good intentions to urge -in mitigation of censure; and, at length, despairing -ministers gladly seize an excuse for quietly shelving the -Commission and its plans altogether.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn27" id="fnanch27">27</a> -As architectural <span class="xxpn" id="p239">{239}</span> -surveyor, the State has scarcely succeeded better than as -engineer; witness the Metropolitan Buildings’ Act. New -houses still tumble down from time to time. A few months -since two fell at Bayswater, and one more recently near the -Pentonville Prison: all notwithstanding prescribed thicknesses, -and hoop-iron bond, and inspectors. It never struck -those who provided these delusive sureties, that it was -possible to build walls without bonding the two surfaces -together, so that the inner layer might be removed after the -surveyor’s approval. Nor did they foresee that, in dictating -a larger <i>quantity</i> of bricks than experience proved absolutely -needful, they were simply insuring a slow deterioration of -<i>quality</i> to an equivalent extent.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn28" id="fnanch28">28</a> -The government guarantee -for safe passenger ships answers no better than its guarantee -for safe houses. Though the burning of the <i>Amazon</i> arose -from either bad construction or bad stowage, she had -received the Admiralty certificate before sailing. Notwithstanding -official approval, the <i>Adelaide</i> was found, on her -first voyage, to steer ill, to have useless pumps, ports that -let floods of water into the cabins, and coals so near the -furnaces that they twice caught fire. The <i>W. S. Lindsay</i>, -which turned out unfit for sailing, had been passed by the -government agent; and, but for the owner, might have gone -to sea at a great risk of life. The <i>Melbourne</i>—originally a -State-built ship—which took twenty-four days to reach -Lisbon, and then needed to be docked to undergo a thorough -repair, had been duly inspected. And lastly, the notorious -<i>Australian</i>, before her third futile attempt -to proceed on her <span class="xxpn" id="p240">{240}</span> -voyage, had, her owners tell us, received “the full approbation -of the government inspector.” Neither does the like -supervision give security to land-travelling. The iron -bridge at Chester, which, breaking, precipitated a train into -the Dee, had passed under the official eye. Inspection did -not prevent a column on the South-Eastern from being so -placed as to kill a man who put his head out of the carriage -window. The locomotive that burst at Brighton lately, did -so notwithstanding a State-approval given but ten days -previously. And—to look at the facts in the gross—this -system of supervision has not prevented the increase of -railway accidents; which, be it remembered, has arisen -<i>since</i> the system was commenced.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch27" id="fn27">27</a> -So complete -is the failure of this and other sanitary bodies, that, at the -present moment (March, 1854) a number of philanthropic gentlemen are -voluntarily organizing a “Health Fund for London,” with the -view of meeting the threatened invasion of the Cholera; -and the plea for this <i>purely private enterprise</i>, is, that -the Local Boards of Health and Boards of Guardians are -inoperative, from “<i>ignorance</i>, 1st, <i>of the extent of the -danger</i>; 2nd, <i>of the means which experience has discovered -for meeting it; and</i> 3rd, <i>of the comparative security -which those means may produce</i>.”</p> - -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch28" id="fn28">28</a> -The <i>Builder</i> remarks, that “the removal of the brick-duties has not yet -produced that improvement in the make of bricks which we ought to find, -. . . . . but as bad bricks can be obtained for less than good bricks, so long -as houses built of the former will sell as readily as if the better had been -used, no improvement is -to be expected.”</p></div> - -<p>“Well; let the State fail. It can but do its best. If it -succeed, so much the better: if it do not, where is the -harm? Surely it is wiser to act, and take the chance of -success, than to do nothing.” To this plea the rejoinder is -that, unfortunately, the results of legislative intervention -are not only negatively bad, but often positively so. Acts -of Parliament do not simply fail; they frequently make -worse. The familiar truth that persecution aids rather -than hinders proscribed doctrines—a truth lately afresh -illustrated by the forbidden work of Gervinus—is a part of -the general truth that legislation often does indirectly, the -reverse of that which it directly aims to do. Thus has it -been with the Metropolitan Buildings’ Act. As was lately -agreed unanimously by the delegates from all the parishes -in London, and as was stated by them to Sir William -Molesworth, this act “has encouraged bad building, and -has been the means of covering the suburbs of the metropolis -with thousands of wretched hovels, which are a disgrace -to a civilized country.” Thus, also, has it been in provincial -towns. The Nottingham Inclosure Act of 1845, by prescribing -the structure of the houses to be built, and the extent -of yard or garden to be allotted to each, has rendered it -impossible to build working-class dwellings -at such moderate <span class="xxpn" id="p241">{241}</span> -rents as to compete with existing ones. It is estimated -that, as a consequence, 10,000 of the population are -debarred from the new homes they would otherwise have, -and are forced to live crowded together in miserable places -unfit for human habitation; and so, in its anxiety to insure -healthy accommodation for artisans, the law has entailed on -them still worse accommodation than before. Thus, too, -has it been with the Passengers’ Act. The terrible fevers -which arose in the Australian emigrant ships a few months -since, causing in the <i>Bourneuf</i> 83 deaths, in the <i>Wanota</i> 39 -deaths, in the <i>Marco Polo</i> 53 deaths, and in the <i>Ticonderoga</i> -104 deaths, arose in vessels sent out by the government; -and arose <i>in consequence</i> of the close packing which the -Passengers’ Act authorizes.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn29" id="fnanch29">29</a> -Thus, moreover, has it been -with the safeguards provided by the Mercantile Marine -Act. The examinations devised for insuring the efficiency -of captains, have had the effect of certifying the -superficially-clever and unpractised men, and, as we are -told by a shipowner, rejecting many of the long-tried and -most trustworthy: the general result being that <i>the -ratio of shipwrecks has increased</i>. Thus also has it -happened with Boards of Health, which have, in sundry -cases, exacerbated the evils to be removed; as, for instance, -at Croydon, where, according to the official report, the -measures of the sanitary authorities produced an epidemic, -which attacked 1600 people and killed 70. Thus again has -it been with the Joint Stock Companies Registration Act. -As was shown by Mr. James Wilson, in his late motion for -a select committee on life-assurance associations, this -measure, passed in 1844 to guard the public against bubble -schemes, actually facilitated the rascalities of 1845 and -subsequent years. The legislative sanction, devised as a -guarantee of genuineness, and supposed -by the people to be <span class="xxpn" id="p242">{242}</span> -such, clever adventurers have without difficulty obtained -for the most worthless projects. Having obtained it, an -amount of public confidence has followed which they could -never otherwise have gained. In this way literally -hundreds of sham enterprises that would not else have seen -the light, have been fostered into being; and thousands of -families have been ruined who would never have been so -but for legislative efforts to make them more secure.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch29" id="fn29">29</a> -Against which close packing, by the way, -<i>a private mercantile body</i>—the Liverpool Shipowners’ -Association—unavailingly protested when the Act was before -Parliament.</p></div> - -<p>Moreover, when these topical remedies applied by -statesmen do not exacerbate the evils they were meant to -cure, they constantly induce collateral evils; and these -often graver than the original ones. It is the vice of this -empirical school of politicians that they never look beyond -proximate causes and immediate effects. In common with -the uneducated masses they habitually regard each phenomenon -as involving but one antecedent and one consequent. -They do not bear in mind that each phenomenon -is a link in an infinite series—is the result of myriads of -preceding phenomena, and will have a share in producing -myriads of succeeding ones. Hence they overlook the fact -that, in disturbing any natural chain of sequences, they are -not only modifying the result next in succession, but all the -future results into which this will enter as a part cause. -The serial genesis of phenomena, and the interaction of -each series upon every other series, produces a complexity -utterly beyond human grasp. Even in the simplest cases -this is so. A servant who puts coals on the fire sees but -few effects from the burning of a lump. The man of -science, however, knows that there are very many effects. -He knows that the combustion establishes numerous -atmospheric currents, and through them moves thousands -of cubic feet of air inside the house and out. He knows -that the heat diffused causes expansions and subsequent -contractions of all bodies within its range. He knows that -the persons warmed are affected in their rate of respiration -and their waste of tissue; and -that these physiological <span class="xxpn" id="p243">{243}</span> -changes must have various secondary results. He knows -that, could he trace to their ramified consequences all the -forces disengaged, mechanical, chemical, thermal, electric—could -he enumerate all the subsequent effects of the -evaporation caused, the gases generated, the light evolved, -the heat radiated; a volume would scarcely suffice to enter -them. If, now, from a simple inorganic change such -numerous and complex results arise, how infinitely multiplied -and involved must be the ultimate consequences of -any force brought to bear upon society. Wonderfully constructed -as it is—mutually dependent as are its members -for the satisfaction of their wants—affected as each unit of -it is by his fellows, not only as to his safety and prosperity, -but in his health, his temper, his culture; the social -organism cannot be dealt with in any one part, without all -other parts being influenced in ways which cannot be -foreseen. You put a duty on paper, and by-and-by find -that, through the medium of the jacquard-cards employed, -you have inadvertently taxed figured silk, sometimes to the -extent of several shillings per piece. On removing the -impost from bricks, you discover that its existence had -increased the dangers of mining, by preventing shafts from -being lined and workings from being tunnelled. By the -excise on soap, you have, it turns out, greatly encouraged -the use of caustic washing-powders; and so have unintentionally -entailed an immense destruction of clothes. In -every case you perceive, on careful inquiry, that besides -acting upon that which you sought to act upon, you have -acted upon many other things, and each of these again on -many others; and so have propagated a multitude of -changes in all directions. We need feel no surprise, then, -that in their efforts to cure specific evils, legislators have -continually caused collateral evils they never looked for. -No Carlyle’s wisest man, nor any body of such, could avoid -causing them. Though their production is explicable -enough after it has occurred, it -is never anticipated. <span class="xxpn" id="p244">{244}</span> -When, under the New Poor-law, provision was made for -the accommodation of vagrants in the Union-houses, it was -hardly expected that a body of tramps would be thereby -called into existence, who would spend their time in walking -from Union to Union throughout the kingdom. It was -little thought by those who in past generations assigned -parish-pay for the maintenance of illegitimate children, -that, as a result, a family of such would by-and-by be -considered a small fortune, and the mother of them a -desirable wife; nor did the same statesmen see that, by -the law of settlement, they were organizing a disastrous -inequality of wages in different districts, and entailing a -system of clearing away cottages, which would result in -the crowding of bedrooms, and in a consequent moral and -physical deterioration. The English tonnage law was -enacted simply with a view to regulate the mode of -measurement. Its framers overlooked the fact that they -were practically providing “for the effectual and compulsory -construction of bad ships;” and that “to cheat -the law, that is, to build a tolerable ship in spite of it, was -the highest achievement left to an English builder.”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn30" id="fnanch30">30</a> -Greater commercial security was alone aimed at by the -partnership law. We now find, however, that the unlimited -liability it insists upon is a serious hindrance to -progress; it practically forbids the association of small -capitalists; it is found a great obstacle to the building of -improved dwellings for the people; it prevents a better -relationship between artisans and employers; and by withholding -from the working-classes good investments for -their savings, it checks the growth of provident habits and -encourages drunkenness. Thus on all sides are well-meant -measures producing unforeseen mischiefs—a licensing -law that promotes the adulteration of beer; a ticket-of-leave -system that encourages men to -commit crime; a <span class="xxpn" id="p245">{245}</span> -police regulation that forces street-huxters into the workhouse. -And then, in addition to the obvious and proximate -evils, come the remote and less distinguishable ones, which, -could we estimate their accumulated result, we should -probably find even more serious.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch30" id="fn30">30</a> -Lecture before the Royal Institution, by J. -Scott Russell, Esq., “On Wave-line Ships and Yachts,” Feb. -6, 1852.</p></div> - -<p class="padtopb">But the thing to be discussed is, not so much whether, -by any amount of intelligence, it is <i>possible</i> for a government -to work out the various ends consigned to it, as -whether its fulfilment of them is <i>probable</i>. It is less a -question of <i>can</i> than a question of <i>will</i>. Granting the -absolute competence of the State, let us consider what -hope there is of getting from it satisfactory performance. -Let us look at the moving force by which the legislative -machine is worked, and then inquire whether this force is -thus employed as economically as it would otherwise be.</p> - -<p>Manifestly, as desire of some kind is the invariable -stimulus to action in the individual, every social agency, of -what nature soever, must have some aggregate of desires -for its motive power. Men in their collective capacity can -exhibit no result but what has its origin in some appetite, -feeling, or taste common among them. Did not they like -meat, there could be no cattle-graziers, no Smithfield, no -distributing organization of butchers. Operas, Philharmonic -Societies, song-books, and street organ-boys, have -all been called into being by our love of music. Look -through the trades’ directory; take up a guide to the -London sights; read the index of Bradshaw’s time-tables, -the reports of the learned societies, or the advertisements -of new books; and you see in the publication itself, and in -the things it describes, so many products of human activities, -stimulated by human desires. Under this stimulus grow up -agencies alike the most gigantic and the most insignificant, the -most complicated and the most simple—agencies for national -defence and for the sweeping of crossings; for the daily distribution -of letters, and for the collection of bits -of coal out <span class="xxpn" id="p246">{246}</span> -of the Thames mud—agencies that subserve all ends, from -the preaching of Christianity to the protection of ill-treated -animals; from the production of bread for a nation to the -supply of groundsel for caged singing-birds. The accumulated -desires of individuals being, then, the moving power -by which every social agency is worked, the question to be -considered is—Which is the most economical kind of -agency? The agency having no power in itself, but being -merely an instrument, our inquiry must be for the most -efficient instrument—the instrument that costs least, and -wastes the smallest amount of the moving power—the instrument -least liable to get out of order, and most readily -put right again when it goes wrong. Of the two kinds of -social mechanism exemplified above, the spontaneous and -the governmental, which is the best?</p> - -<p>From the form of this question will be readily foreseen -the intended answer—that is the best mechanism which -contains the fewest parts. The common saying—“What -you wish well done you must do yourself,” embodies a truth, -equally applicable to political life as to private life. The -experience that farming by bailiff entails loss, while tenant-farming -pays, is an experience still better illustrated in -national history than in a landlord’s account books. This -transference of power from constituencies to members of -parliament, from these to the executive, from the executive -to a board, from the board to inspectors, and from inspectors -through their subs down to the actual workers—this -operating through a series of levers, each, of which absorbs -in friction and inertia part of the moving force; is as bad, -in virtue of its complexity, as the direct employment by -society of individuals, private companies, and spontaneously-formed -institutions, is good in virtue of its simplicity. -Fully to appreciate the contrast, we must compare in detail -the working of the two systems.</p> - -<p>Officialism is habitually slow. When non-governmental -agencies are dilatory, the public has its -remedy: it ceases <span class="xxpn" id="p247">{247}</span> -to employ them and soon finds quicker ones. Under this -discipline all private bodies are taught promptness. But -for delays in State-departments there is no such easy cure. -Life-long Chancery suits must be patiently borne; Museum-catalogues -must be wearily waited for. While, by the -people themselves, a Crystal Palace is designed, erected, -and filled, in the course of a few months, the legislature -takes twenty years to build itself a new house. While, -by private persons, the debates are daily printed and dispersed -over the kingdom within a few hours of their utterance, -the Board of Trade tables are regularly published a -month, and sometimes more, after date. And so throughout. -Here is a Board of Health which, since 1849, has -been about to close the metropolitan graveyards, but has -not done it yet; and which has so long dawdled over projects -for cemeteries, that the London Necropolis Company -has taken the matter out of its hands. Here is a patentee -who has had fourteen years’ correspondence with the -Horse Guards, before getting a definite answer respecting -the use of his improved boot for the Army. Here is a -Plymouth port-admiral who delays sending out to look for -the missing boats of the Amazon until ten days after -the wreck.</p> - -<p>Again, officialism is stupid. Under the natural course -of things each citizen tends towards his fittest function. -Those who are competent to the kind of work they undertake, -succeed, and, in the average of cases, are advanced -in proportion to their efficiency; while the incompetent, -society soon finds out, ceases to employ, forces to try something -easier, and eventually turns to use. But it is quite -otherwise in State-organizations. Here, as every one knows, -birth, age, back-stairs intrigue, and sycophancy, determine -the selections rather than merit. The “fool of the family” -readily finds a place in the Church, if “the family” have -good connexions. A youth too ill-educated for any profession, -does very well for an officer in -the Army. Grey <span class="xxpn" id="p248">{248}</span> -hair, or a title, is a far better guarantee of naval promotion -than genius is. Nay, indeed, the man of capacity often -finds that, in government offices, superiority is a hindrance—that -his chiefs hate to be pestered with his proposed improvements, -and are offended by his implied criticisms. -Not only, therefore, is legislative machinery complex, but -it is made of inferior materials. Hence the blunders we -daily read of—the supplying to the dockyards from the -royal forests of timber unfit for use; the administration -of relief during the Irish famine in such a manner as to -draw labourers from the field, and diminish the subsequent -harvest by one-fourth<a class="afnanch" href="#fn31" id="fnanch31">31</a>; the filing of patents at three -different offices and keeping an index at none. Everywhere -does this bungling show itself, from the elaborate -failure of House of Commons ventilation down to the -publication of <i>The London Gazette</i>, which invariably comes -out wrongly folded.</p> - -<p>A further characteristic of officialism is its extravagance. -In its chief departments, Army, Navy, and Church, it -employs far more officers than are needful, and pays some -of the useless ones exorbitantly. The work done by the -Sewers Commission has cost, as Sir B. Hall tells us, from -300 to 400 per cent, over the contemplated outlay; while -the management charges have reached 35, 40, and 45 per -cent. on the expenditure. The trustees of Ramsgate -Harbour—a harbour, by the way, that has taken a century -to complete—are spending 18,000<i>l.</i> a year in doing what -5000<i>l.</i> has been proved sufficient for. The Board of Health -is causing new surveys to be made of all the towns under -its control—a proceeding which, as Mr. Stephenson states, -and as every tyro in engineering knows, is, for drainage -purposes, a wholly needless expense. These public agencies -are subject to no such influence as that which obliges private -enterprise to be economical. Traders and mercantile -bodies succeed by serving society cheaply. -Such of them <span class="xxpn" id="p249">{249}</span> -as cannot do this are continually supplanted by those who -can. They cannot saddle the nation with the results of -their extravagance, and so are prevented from being extravagant. -On works that are to return a profit it does -not answer to spend 48 per cent. of the capital in superintendence, -as in the engineering department of the Indian -Government; and Indian railway companies, knowing -this, manage to keep their superintendence charges within -8 per cent. A shopkeeper leaves out of his accounts no -item analogous to that 6,000,000<i>l.</i> of its revenues, which -Parliament allows to be deducted on the way to the Exchequer. -Walk through a manufactory, and you see that -the stern alternatives, carefulness or ruin, dictate the saving -of every penny; visit one of the national dockyards, and -the comments you make on any glaring wastefulness are -carelessly met by the slang phrase―“Nunky pays.”</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch31" id="fn31">31</a> -See Evidence of Major Larcom.</p></div> - -<p>The unadaptiveness of officialism is another of its vices. -Unlike private enterprise which quickly modifies its actions -to meet emergencies—unlike the shopkeeper who promptly -finds the wherewith to satisfy a sudden demand—unlike -the railway company which doubles its trains to carry a -special influx of passengers; the law-made instrumentality -lumbers on under all varieties of circumstances through its -ordained routine at its habitual rate. By its very nature it -is fitted only for average requirements, and inevitably fails -under unusual requirements. You cannot step into the -street without having the contrast thrust upon you. Is it -summer? You see the water-carts going their prescribed -rounds with scarcely any regard to the needs of the weather—to-day -sprinkling afresh the already moist roads; to-morrow -bestowing their showers with no greater liberality -upon roads cloudy with dust. Is it winter? You see the -scavengers do not vary in number and activity according -to the quantity of mud; and if there comes a heavy fall -of snow, you find the thoroughfares remaining for nearly -a week in a scarcely passable state, without -an effort being <span class="xxpn" id="p250">{250}</span> -made, even in the heart of London, to meet the exigency. -The late snow-storm, indeed, supplied a neat antithesis -between the two orders of agencies in the effects it respectively -produced on omnibuses and cabs. Not being under -a law-fixed tariff, the omnibuses put on extra horses -and raised their fares. The cabs on the contrary, being -limited in their charges by an Act of Parliament which, -with the usual shortsightedness, never contemplated -such a contingency as this, declined to ply, deserted the -stands and the stations, left luckless travellers to stumble -home with their luggage as best they might, and so became -useless at the very time of all others when they were most -wanted! Not only by its unsusceptibility of adjustment -does officialism entail serious inconveniences, but it likewise -entails great injustices. In this case of cabs for -example, it has resulted since the late change of law, that -old cabs, which were before saleable at 10<i>l.</i> and 12<i>l.</i> each, -are now unsaleable and have to be broken up; and thus -legislation has robbed cab-proprietors of part of their -capital. Again, the recently-passed Smoke-Bill for London, -which applies only within certain prescribed limits, has -the effect of taxing one manufacturer while leaving untaxed -his competitor working within a quarter of a mile; and -so, as we are credibly informed, gives one an advantage of -1500<i>l.</i> a year over another. These typify the infinity of -wrongs, varying in degrees of hardship, which legal regulations -necessarily involve. Society, a living growing -organism, placed within apparatuses of dead, rigid, mechanical -formulas, cannot fail to be hampered and pinched. -The only agencies which can efficiently serve it, are those -through which its pulsations hourly flow, and which change -as it changes.</p> - -<p>How invariably officialism becomes corrupt every one -knows. Exposed to no such antiseptic as free competition—not -dependent for existence, as private unendowed -organizations are, on the maintenance -of a vigorous <span class="xxpn" id="p251">{251}</span> -vitality; all law-made agencies fall into an inert, over-fed -state, from which to disease is a short step. Salaries -flow in irrespective of the activity with which duty is performed; -continue after duty wholly ceases; become rich -prizes for the idle well born; and prompt to perjury, to -bribery, to simony. East India directors are elected not -for any administrative capacity they have; but they buy -votes by promised patronage—a patronage alike asked -and given in utter disregard of the welfare of a hundred -millions of people. Registrars of wills not only get many -thousands a year each for doing work which their miserably -paid deputies leave half done; but they, in some cases, -defraud the revenue, and that after repeated reprimands. -Dockyard promotion is the result not of efficient services, -but of political favouritism. That they may continue to -hold rich livings, clergymen preach what they do not -believe; bishops make false returns of their revenues; and -at their elections to fellowships, well-to-do priests severally -make oath that they are <i>pauper</i>, <i>pius et doctus</i>. From the -local inspector whose eyes are shut to an abuse by a contractor’s -present, up to the prime minister who finds lucrative -berths for his relations, this venality is daily illustrated; -and that in spite of public reprobation and perpetual -attempts to prevent it. As we once heard said by a State-official -of twenty-five years’ standing—“Wherever there is -government there is villainy.” It is the inevitable result of -destroying the direct connexion between the profit obtained -and the work performed. No incompetent person hopes, -by offering a <i>douceur</i> in the <i>Times</i> to get a permanent place -in a mercantile office. But where, as under government, -there is no employer’s self-interest to forbid—where the -appointment is made by some one on whom inefficiency -entails no loss; there a <i>douceur</i> is operative. In hospitals, -in public charities, in endowed schools, in all social agencies -in which duty done and income gained do not go hand in -hand, the like corruption is found; and -is great in <span class="xxpn" id="p252">{252}</span> -proportion as the dependence of income upon duty is remote. In -State-organizations, therefore, corruption is unavoidable. -In trading-organizations it rarely makes its appearance; -and when it does, the instinct of self-preservation soon -provides a remedy.</p> - -<p>To all which broad contrasts add this, that while private -bodies are enterprising and progressive, public bodies are unchanging, -and, indeed, obstructive. That officialism should -be inventive nobody expects. That it should go out of its -easy mechanical routine to introduce improvements, and this -at a considerable expense of thought and application, without -the prospect of profit, is not to be supposed. But it is -not simply stationary; it resists every amendment either -in itself or in anything with which it deals. Until now -that County Courts are taking away their practice, all -agents of the law have doggedly opposed law-reform. The -universities have maintained an old <i>curriculum</i> for centuries -after it ceased to be fit; and are now struggling to prevent -a threatened reconstruction. Every postal improvement -has been vehemently protested against by the postal authorities. -Mr. Whiston can say how pertinacious is the conservatism -of Church grammar-schools. Not even the -gravest consequences in view preclude official resistance: -witness the fact that though, as already mentioned, Professor -Barlow reported in 1820, of the Admiralty compasses -then in store, that “at least one-half were mere lumber,” -yet notwithstanding the constant risk of shipwrecks thence -arising, “very little amelioration in this state of things -appears to have taken place until 1838 to 1840.”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn32" id="fnanch32">32</a> -Nor is -official obstructiveness to be readily overborne even by a -powerful public opinion: witness the fact that though, for -generations, nine-tenths of the nation have disapproved -this ecclesiastical system which pampers the drones and -starves the workers, and though commissions have been -appointed to rectify it, it still remains -substantially as it <span class="xxpn" id="p253">{253}</span> -was: witness again the fact that though, since 1818, there -have been a score attempts to rectify the scandalous maladministration -of Charitable Trusts—though ten times in -ten successive years, remedial measures have been brought -before Parliament—the abuses still continue in all their -grossness. Not only do these legal instrumentalities resist -reforms in themselves, but they hinder reforms in other -things. In defending their vested interests the clergy -delay the closing of town burial-grounds. As Mr. Lindsay -can show, government emigration-agents are checking the -use of iron for sailing-vessels. Excise officers prevent -improvements in the processes they have to overlook. That -organic conservatism which is visible in the daily conduct -of all men, is an obstacle which in private life self-interest -slowly overcomes. The prospect of profit does, in the end, -teach farmers that deep draining is good; though it takes -long to do this. Manufacturers do, ultimately, learn the -most economical speed at which to work their steam-engines; -though precedent has long misled them. But in -the public service, where there is no self-interest to overcome -it, this conservatism exerts its full force; and produces -results alike disastrous and absurd. For generations after -book-keeping had become universal, the Exchequer accounts -were kept by notches cut on sticks. In the estimates for -the current year appears the item, “Trimming the oil-lamps -at the Horse-Guards.”</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch32" id="fn32">32</a> -“Rudimentary Magnetism,” by Sir W. Snow Harris. Part -III. p. 145.</p></div> - -<p>Between these law-made agencies and the spontaneously -formed ones, who then can hesitate? The one class are -slow, stupid, extravagant, unadaptive, corrupt, and obstructive: -can any point out in the other, vices that balance -these? It is true that trade has its dishonesties, speculation -its follies. These are evils inevitably entailed by the existing -imperfections of humanity. It is equally true, however, -that these imperfections of humanity are shared by State-functionaries; -and that being unchecked in them by the -same stern discipline, they grow to -far worse results. <span class="xxpn" id="p254">{254}</span> -Given a race of men having a certain proclivity to misconduct -and the question is, whether a society of these -men shall be so organized that ill-conduct directly brings -punishment, or whether it shall be so organized that -punishment is but remotely contingent on ill-conduct? -Which will be the most healthful community—that in which -agents who perform their functions badly, immediately -suffer by the withdrawal of public patronage; or that in -which such agents can be made to suffer only through an -apparatus of meetings, petitions, polling booths, parliamentary -divisions, cabinet-councils, and red-tape documents? -Is it not an absurdly utopian hope that men will behave -better when correction is far removed and uncertain than -when it is near at hand and inevitable? Yet this is -the hope which most political schemers unconsciously -cherish. Listen to their plans, and you find that just -what they propose to have done, they assume the appointed -agents will do. That functionaries are trustworthy is -their first postulate. Doubtless could good officers be -ensured, much might be said for officialism; just as -despotism would have its advantages could we ensure a -good despot.</p> - -<p>If, however, we would duly appreciate the contrast -between the artificial modes and the natural modes of -achieving social desiderata, we must look not only at the -vices of the one but at the virtues of the other. These are -many and important. Consider first how immediately -every private enterprise is dependent on the need for it; -and how impossible it is for it to continue if there be no -need. Daily are new trades and new companies established. -If they subserve some existing public want, they take root -and grow. If they do not, they die of inanition. It needs -no agitation, no act of Parliament, to put them down. As -with all natural organizations, if there is no function for -them no nutriment comes to them, and they dwindle away. -Moreover, not only do the new agencies -disappear if they <span class="xxpn" id="p255">{255}</span> -are superfluous, but the old ones cease to be when they -have done their work. Unlike public instrumentalities—unlike -Heralds’ Offices, which are maintained for ages after -heraldry has lost all value—unlike Ecclesiastial Courts, -which continue to flourish for generations after they have -become an abomination; these private instrumentalities -dissolve when they become needless. A widely ramified -coaching-system ceases to exist as soon as a more efficient -railway-system comes into being. And not simply does it -cease to exist, and to abstract funds, but the materials -of which it was made are absorbed and turned to use. -Coachmen, guards, and the rest, are employed to profit -elsewhere—do not continue for twenty years a burden, like -the compensated officials of some abolished department of -the State. Consider, again, how necessarily these unordained -agencies fit themselves to their work. It is a law -of all organized things that efficiency presupposes apprenticeship. -Not only is it true that the young merchant must -begin by carrying letters to the post, that the way to be a -successful innkeeper is to commence as waiter—not only is -it true that in the development of the intellect there must -come first the perceptions of identity and duality, next of -number, and that without these, arithmetic, algebra, and -the infinitesimal calculus, remain impracticable; but it is -true that there is no part of an organism but begins in -some simple form with some insignificant function, and -passes to its final stage through successive phases of -complexity. Every heart is at first a mere pulsatile sac; -every brain begins as a slight enlargement of the spinal -chord. This law equally extends to the social organism. -An instrumentality that is to work well must not be designed -and suddenly put together by legislators, but must -grow gradually from a germ; each successive addition -must be tried and proved good by experience before -another addition is made; and by this tentative process -only, can an efficient instrumentality be -produced. From a <span class="xxpn" id="p256">{256}</span> -trustworthy man who receives deposits of money, insensibly -grows up a vast banking system, with its notes, checks, -bills, its complex transactions, and its Clearing-house. -Pack-horses, then waggons, then coaches, then steam-carriages -on common roads, and, finally, steam-carriages -on roads made for them—such has been the slow genesis -of our present means of communication. Not a trade in the -directory but has formed itself an apparatus of manufacturers, -brokers, travellers, and retailers, in so gradual a -way that no one can trace the steps. And so with organizations -of another order. The Zoological Gardens began -as the private collection of a few naturalists. The best -working-class school known—that at Price’s factory—commenced -with half-a-dozen boys sitting among the -candle-boxes, after hours, to teach themselves writing with -worn-out pens. Mark, too, that as a consequence of their -mode of growth, these spontaneously-formed agencies -expand to any extent required. The same stimulus which -brought them into being makes them send their ramifications -wherever they are needed. But supply does not -thus readily follow demand in governmental agencies. -Appoint a board and a staff, fix their duties, and let -the apparatus have a generation or two to consolidate, -and you cannot get it to fulfil larger requirements without -some act of parliament obtained only after long delay -and difficulty.</p> - -<p>Were there space, much more might be said upon the -superiority of what naturalists would call the <i>exogenous</i> -order of institutions over the <i>endogenous</i> one. But, from -the point of view indicated, the further contrasts between -their characteristics will be sufficiently visible.</p> - -<p>Hence then the fact, that while the one order of means -is ever failing, making worse, or producing more evils than -it cures, the other order of means is ever succeeding, ever -improving. Strong as it looks at the outset, State-agency -perpetually disappoints every one. Puny as -are its first <span class="xxpn" id="p257">{257}</span> -stages, private effort daily achieves results that astound -the world. It is not only that joint-stock companies do so -much—it is not only that by them a whole kingdom is -covered with railways in the same time that it takes the -Admiralty to build a hundred-gun ship; but it is that -public instrumentalities are outdone even by individuals. -The often quoted contrast between the Academy whose -forty members took fifty-six years to compile the French -Dictionary, while Dr. Johnson alone compiled the English -one in eight—a contrast still marked enough after making -due set-off for the difference in the works—is by no means -without parallel. That great sanitary desideratum—the -bringing of the New River to London—which the -wealthiest corporation in the world attempted and failed, -Sir Hugh Myddleton achieved single-handed. The first -canal in England—a work of which government might -have been thought the fit projector, and the only competent -executor—was undertaken and finished as the private -speculation of one man—the Duke of Bridgewater. By -his own unaided exertions, William Smith completed that -great achievement, the geological map of Great Britain; -meanwhile, the Ordnance Survey—a very accurate and -elaborate one, it is true—has already occupied a large -staff for some two generations, and will not be completed -before the lapse of another. Howard and the prisons of -Europe; Bianconi and Irish travelling; Waghorn and the -Overland route; Dargan and the Dublin Exhibition—do -not these suggest startling contrasts? While private -gentlemen like Mr. Denison, build model lodging-houses -in which the deaths are greatly below the average, the -State builds barracks in which the deaths are greatly -above the average, even of the much-pitied town populations: -barracks which, though filled with picked men -under medical supervision, show an annual mortality per -thousand of 13·6, 17·9 and even 20·4; though among -civilians of the same age in the same -places, the mortality <span class="xxpn" id="p258">{258}</span> -per thousand is but 11·9.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn33" id="fnanch33">33</a> -While the State has laid out -large sums at Parkhurst in the effort to reform juvenile -criminals, who are <i>not</i> reformed, Mr. Ellis takes fifteen of -the worst young thieves in London—thieves considered -by the police irreclaimable—and reforms them all. Side -by side with the Emigration Board, under whose management -hundreds die of fever from close packing, and under -whose licence sail vessels which, like the <i>Washington</i>, -are the homes of fraud, brutality, tyranny, and obscenity, -stands Mrs. Chisholm’s Family Colonisation Loan Society, -which does not provide worse accommodation than ever -before but much better; which does not demoralize by -promiscuous crowding but improves by mild discipline; -which does not pauperize by charity but encourages -providence; which does not increase our taxes, but is -self-supporting. Here are lessons for the lovers of legislation. -The State outdone by a working shoemaker! The -State beaten by a woman!</p> - -<p>Stronger still becomes this contrast between the results -of public action and private action, when we remember that -the one is constantly eked out by the other, even in doing -the things unavoidably left to it. Passing over military -and naval departments, in which much is done by contractors -and not by men receiving government pay,—passing over -the Church, which is constantly extended not by law but by -voluntary effort—passing over the Universities, where the -efficient teaching is given not by the appointed officers but by -private tutors; let us look at the mode in which our judicial -system is worked. Lawyers perpetually tell us that codification -is impossible; and some are simple enough to believe -them. Merely remarking, in passing, that what government -and all its employés cannot do for the Acts of Parliament -in general, was done for the 1500 Customs acts in 1825 by -the energy of one man—Mr. Deacon -Hume—let us see <span class="xxpn" id="p259">{259}</span> -how the absence of a digested system of law is made good. -In preparing themselves for the bar, and finally the bench, -law-students, by years of research, have to gain an -acquaintance with this vast mass of unorganized legislation; -and that organization which it is held impossible for -the State to effect, it is held possible (sly sarcasm on the -State!) for each student to effect for himself. Every judge -can privately codify, though “united wisdom” cannot. But -how is each judge enabled to codify? By the private -enterprise of men who have prepared the way for him; by -the partial codifications of Blackstone, Coke, and others; -by the digests of Partnership Law, Bankruptcy Law, Law -of Patents, Laws affecting Women, and the rest that daily -issue from the press; by abstracts of cases, and volumes of -reports—every one of them unofficial products. Sweep -away all these fractional codifications made by individuals, -and the State would be in utter ignorance of its own laws! -Had not the bunglings of legislators been made good by -private enterprise, the administration of justice would have -been impossible!</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch33" id="fn33">33</a> -See “Statistical Reports on the Sickness, Mortality, and Invaliding -amongst the Troops.” 1853.</p></div> - -<p>Where, then, is the warrant for the constantly-proposed -extensions of legislative action? If, as we have seen in a -large class of cases, government measures do not remedy -the evils they aim at; if, in another large class, they make -these evils worse instead of remedying them; and if, in a -third large class, while curing some evils they entail others, -and often greater ones—if, as we lately saw, public action -is continually outdone in efficiency by private action; and -if, as just shown, private action is obliged to make up for -the shortcomings of public action, even in fulfilling the -vital functions of the State; what reason is there for -wishing more public administrations? The advocates of -such may claim credit for philanthropy, but not for wisdom; -unless wisdom is shown by disregarding experience.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">“Much of this argument is beside -the question,” will <span class="xxpn" id="p260">{260}</span> -rejoin our opponents. “The true point at issue is, not -whether individuals and companies outdo the State when -they come in competition with it, but whether there are not -certain social wants which the State alone can satisfy. -Admitting that private enterprise does much, and does it -well, it is nevertheless true that we have daily thrust upon -our notice many desiderata which it has not achieved, and is -not achieving. In these cases its incompetency is obvious; -and in these cases, therefore, it behoves the State to make -up for its deficiencies: doing this, if not well, yet as well -as it can.”</p> - -<p>Not to fall back upon the many experiences already -quoted, showing that the State is likely to do more harm -than good in attempting this; nor to dwell upon the fact -that, in most of the alleged cases, the apparent insufficiency -of private enterprise is a <i>result</i> of previous State-interferences, -as may be conclusively shown; let us deal with -the proposition on its own terms. Though there would -have been no need for a Mercantile Marine Act to prevent -the unseaworthiness of ships and the ill-treatment of -sailors, had there been no Navigation Laws to produce -these; and though were all like cases of evils and shortcomings -directly or indirectly produced by law, taken out -of the category, there would probably remain but small -basis for the plea above put; yet let it be granted that, -every artificial obstacle having been removed, there would -still remain many desiderata unachieved, which there was -no seeing how spontaneous effort could achieve. Let all -this, we say, be granted; the propriety of legislative action -may yet be rightly questioned.</p> - -<p>For the said plea involves the unwarrantable assumption -that social agencies will continue to work only as they are -now working; and will produce no results but those they -seem likely to produce. It is the habit of this school of -thinkers to make a limited human intelligence the measure -of phenomena which it requires -omniscience to grasp. <span class="xxpn" id="p261">{261}</span> -That which it does not see the way to, it does not believe -will take place. Though society has, generation after -generation, been growing to developments which none foresaw, -yet there is no practical belief in unforeseen developments -in the future. The parliamentary debates constitute -an elaborate balancing of probabilities, having for data -things as they are. Meanwhile every day adds new -elements to things as they are, and seemingly improbable -results constantly occur. Who, a few years ago, expected -that a Leicester-square refugee would shortly become -Emperor of the French? Who looked for free trade from -a landlords’ ministry? Who dreamed that Irish over-population -would spontaneously cure itself, as it is now -doing? So far from social changes arising in likely ways, -they usually arise in ways which, to common sense, appear -unlikely. A barber’s shop was not a probable-looking -place for the germination of the cotton manufacture. No -one supposed that important agricultural improvements -would come from a Leadenhall-street tradesman. A farmer -would have been the last man thought of to bring to bear -the screw propulsion of steam-ships. The invention of a -new species of architecture we should have hoped from any -one rather than a gardener. Yet while the most unexpected -changes are daily wrought out in the strangest -ways, legislation daily assumes that things will go just as -human foresight thinks they will go. Though by the trite -exclamation—“What would our forefathers have said!” -there is a frequent acknowledgment of the fact that wonderful -results have been achieved in modes wholly unforeseen, yet -there seems no belief that this will be again. Would -it not be wise to admit such a probability into our -politics? May we not rationally infer that, as in the past -so in the future?</p> - -<p>This strong faith in State-agencies is, however, accompanied -by so weak a faith in natural agencies (the two being -antagonistic), that, spite of past experience, -it will by <span class="xxpn" id="p262">{262}</span> -many be thought absurd to rest in the conviction that -existing social needs will be spontaneously met, though we -cannot say how they will be met. Nevertheless, illustrations -exactly to the point are now transpiring before -their eyes. Instance the scarcely credible phenomenon -lately witnessed in the midland counties. Every one has -heard of the distress of the stockingers—a chronic evil of -some generation or two’s standing. Repeated petitions -have prayed Parliament for remedy; and legislation has -made attempts, but without success. The disease seemed -incurable. Two or three years since, however, the circular -knitting machine was introduced—a machine immensely -outstripping the old stocking-frame in productiveness, but -which can make only the legs of stockings, not the feet. -Doubtless, the Leicester and Nottingham artizans regarded -this new engine with alarm, as likely to intensify their -miseries. On the contrary, it has wholly removed them. -By cheapening production it has so enormously increased -consumption, that the old stocking-frames, which were -before too many by half for the work to be done, are now -all employed in putting feet to the legs which the new -machines make. How insane would he have been thought -who anticipated cure from such a cause! If from the -unforeseen removal of evils we turn to the unforeseen -achievement of desiderata, we find like cases. No one -recognized in Oersted’s electro-magnetic discovery the -germ of a new agency for the catching of criminals and -the facilitation of commerce. No one expected railways to -become agents for the diffusion of cheap literature, as they -now are. No one supposed when the Society of Arts was -planning an international exhibition of manufactures in -Hyde Park, that the result would be a place for popular -recreation and culture at Sydenham.</p> - -<p>But there is yet a deeper reply to the appeals of impatient -philanthropists. It is not simply that social vitality may be -trusted by-and-by to -fulfil each much-exaggerated <span class="xxpn" id="p263">{263}</span> -requirement in some quiet spontaneous way—it is not simply that -when thus naturally fulfilled it will be fulfilled efficiently, -instead of being botched as when attempted artificially; -but it is that until thus naturally fulfilled it ought not to -be fulfilled at all. A startling paradox, this, to many; but -one quite justifiable, as we hope shortly to show.</p> - -<p>It was pointed out some distance back, that the force -which produces and sets in motion every social mechanism—governmental, -mercantile, or other—is some accumulation -of personal desires. As there is no individual action -without a desire, so, it was urged, there can be no social -action without an aggregate of desires. To which there -here remains to add, that as it is a general law of the -individual that the intenser desires—those corresponding -to all-essential functions—are satisfied first, and if need be -to the neglect of the weaker and less important ones; so, -it must be a general law of society that the chief requisites -of social life—those necessary to popular existence and -multiplication—will, in the natural order of things, be subserved -before those of a less pressing kind. As the private -man first ensures himself food; then clothing and shelter; -these being secured, takes a wife; and, if he can afford it, -presently supplies himself with carpeted rooms, and piano, -and wines, hires servants and gives dinner parties; so, in -the evolution of society, we see first a combination for -defence against enemies, and for the better pursuit of -game; by-and-by come such political arrangements as are -needed to maintain this combination; afterwards, under a -demand for more food, more clothes, more houses, arises -division of labour; and when satisfaction of the animal -wants has been provided for, there slowly grow up literature, -science, and the arts. Is it not obvious that these -successive evolutions occur in the order of their importance? -Is it not obvious, that, being each of them produced by an -aggregate of desires, they <i>must</i> occur in the order of their -importance, if it be a law of the -individual that the <span class="xxpn" id="p264">{264}</span> -strongest desires correspond to the most needful actions? -Is it not, indeed, obvious that the order of relative importance -will be more uniformly followed in social action than -in individual action; seeing that the personal idiosyncrasies -which disturb that order in the latter case are <i>averaged</i> in -the former? If any one does not see this, let him take up -a book describing life at the gold-diggings. There he will -find the whole process exhibited in little. He will read -that as the diggers must eat, they are compelled to offer -such prices for food that it pays better to keep a store than -to dig. As the store-keepers must get supplies, they give -enormous sums for carriage from the nearest town; and -some men, quickly seeing they can get rich at that, make it -their business. This brings drays and horses into demand; -the high rates draw these from all quarters; and, after -them, wheelwrights and harness-makers. Blacksmiths to -sharpen pickaxes, doctors to cure fevers, get pay exorbitant -in proportion to the need for them; and are so brought -flocking in proportionate numbers. Presently commodities -become scarce; more must be fetched from abroad; sailors -must have increased wages to prevent them from deserting -and turning miners; this necessitates higher charges for -freight; higher freights quickly bring more ships; and so -there rapidly develops an organization for supplying goods -from all parts of the world. Every phase of this evolution -takes place in the order of its necessity; or as we say—in -the order of the intensity of the desires subserved. -Each man does that which he finds pays best; that -which pays best is that for which other men will give -most; that for which they will give most is that which, -under the circumstances, they most desire. Hence the -succession must be throughout from the more important -to the less important. A requirement which at any period -remains unfulfilled, must be one for the fulfilment of which -men will not pay so much as to make it worth any one’s -while to fulfil it—must be a <i>less</i> requirement -than all the <span class="xxpn" id="p265">{265}</span> -others for the fulfilment of which they will pay more; and -must wait until other more needful things are done. Well, -is it not clear that the same law holds good in every -community? Is it not true of the latter phases of social -evolution, as of the earlier, that when things are let alone -the smaller desiderata will be postponed to the greater.</p> - -<p>Hence, then, the justification of the seeming paradox, that -until spontaneously fulfilled a public want should not be fulfilled -at all. It must, on the average, result in our complex -state, as in simpler ones, that the thing left undone is a -thing by doing which citizens cannot gain so much as by -doing other things—is therefore a thing which society does -not want done so much as it wants these other things done; -and the corollary is, that to effect a neglected thing by -artificially employing citizens to do it, is to leave undone -some more important thing which they would have been -doing—is to sacrifice the greater requisite to the smaller.</p> - -<p>“But,” it will perhaps be objected, “if the things done -by a government, or at least by a representative government, -are also done in obedience to some aggregate desire, -why may we not look for this normal subordination of the -more needful to the less needful in them too?” The reply -is, that though they have a certain tendency to follow this -order—though those primal desires for public defence and -personal protection, out of which government originates, -were satisfied through its instrumentality in proper succession—though, -possibly, some other early and simple requirements -may have been so too; yet, when the desires are not -few, universal and intense, but, like those remaining to be -satisfied in the latter stages of civilization, numerous, -partial, and moderate, the judgment of a government is no -longer to be trusted. To select out of an immense number -of minor wants, physical, intellectual, and moral, felt in -different degrees by different classes, and by a total mass -varying in every case, the want that is most pressing, is a -task which no legislature can accomplish. No -man or men <span class="xxpn" id="p266">{266}</span> -by inspecting society can <i>see</i> what it most needs; society -must be left to <i>feel</i> what it most needs. The mode of solution -must be experimental, not theoretical. When left, day -after day, to experience evils and dissatisfactions of various -kinds, affecting them in various degrees, citizens gradually -acquire repugnance to these proportionate to their greatness, -and corresponding desires to get rid of them, which -by spontaneously fostering remedial agencies are likely to -end in the worst inconvenience being first removed. And -however irregular this process may be (and we admit that -men’s habits and prejudices produce many anomalies, or -seeming anomalies, in it) it is a process far more trustworthy -than are legislative judgments. For those who question -this there are instances; and, that the parallel may be the -more conclusive, we will take a case in which the ruling -power is deemed specially fit to decide. We refer to our -means of communication.</p> - -<p>Do those who maintain that railways would have been -better laid out and constructed by government, hold that -the order of importance would have been as uniformly -followed as it has been by private enterprise? Under the -stimulus of an enormous traffic—a traffic too great for the -then existing means—the first line sprung up between -Liverpool and Manchester. Next came the Grand Junction -and the London and Birmingham (now merged in the -London and North Western); afterwards the Great -Western, the South Western, the South Eastern, the -Eastern Counties, the Midland. Since then subsidiary -lines and branches have occupied our capitalists. As they -were quite certain to do, companies made first the most -needed, and therefore the best paying, lines; under the -same impulse that a labourer chooses high wages in preference -to low. That government would have adopted -a better order can hardly be, for the best has been -followed; but that it would have adopted a worse, all the -evidence we have goes to show. In -default of materials <span class="xxpn" id="p267">{267}</span> -for a direct parallel, we might cite from India and the -colonies, cases of injudicious road-making. Or, as exemplifying -State-efforts to facilitate communication, we might -dwell on the fact that while our rulers have sacrificed -hundreds of lives and spent untold treasure in seeking a -North-west passage, which would be useless if found, they -have left the exploration of the Isthmus of Panama, and -the making railways and canals through it, to private companies. -But, not to make much of this indirect evidence, -we will content ourselves with the one sample of a State-made -channel for commerce, which we have at home—the -Caledonian Canal. Up to the present time (1853), this -public work has cost upwards of 1,100,000<i>l.</i> It has now -been open for many years, and salaried emissaries have been -constantly employed to get traffic for it. The results, as -given in its forty-seventh annual report, issued in 1852, are—receipts -during the year, 7,909<i>l.</i>; expenditure ditto, -9,261<i>l.</i>—loss, 1,352<i>l.</i> Has any such large investment been -made with such a pitiful result by a private canal company?</p> - -<p>And if a government is so bad a judge of the relative importance -of social requirements, when these requirements -are <i>of the same kind</i>, how worthless a judge must it be when -they are of different kinds. If, where a fair share of -intelligence might be expected to lead them right, legislators -and their officers go so wrong, how terribly will they -err where no amount of intelligence would suffice them,—where -they must decide among hosts of needs, bodily, -intellectual, and moral, which admit of no direct comparisons; -and how disastrous must be the results if they -act out their erroneous decisions. Should any one need -this bringing home to him by an illustration, let him read -the following extract from the last of the series of letters -some time since published in the <i>Morning Chronicle</i>, on -the state of agriculture in France. After expressing the -opinion that French farming is some century behind English -farming, the writer goes on to say:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“There are two causes principally chargeable with this. -In the first <span class="xxpn" id="p268">{268}</span> -place, strange as it may seem in a country in which two-thirds of the population -are agriculturists, agriculture is a very unhonoured occupation. Develope -in the slightest degree a Frenchman’s mental faculties, and he flies to a town -as surely as steel filings fly to a loadstone. He has no rural tastes, no delight -in rural habits. A French amateur farmer would indeed be a sight to see. -Again, this national tendency is directly encouraged by the centralising -system of government—by the multitude of officials, and by the payment of -all functionaries. From all parts of France, men of great energy and resource -struggle up, and fling themselves on the world of Paris. There they try to -become great functionaries. Through every department of the eighty-four, -men of less energy and resource struggle up to the <i>chef-lieu</i>—the provincial -capital. There they try to become little functionaries. Go still lower—deal -with a still smaller scale—and the result will be the same. As is the department -to France, so is the arrondissement to the department, and the commune -to the arrondissement. All who have, or think they have, heads on their -shoulders, struggle into towns to fight for office. All who are, or are deemed -by themselves or others, too stupid for anything else, are left at home to till -the fields, and breed the cattle, and prune the vines, as their ancestors did -for generations before them. Thus there is actually no intelligence left in -the country. The whole energy, and knowledge, and resource of the land -are barreled up in the towns. You leave one city, and in many cases you -will not meet an educated or cultivated individual until you arrive at -another—all between is utter intellectual barrenness.”—<i>Morning Chronicle.</i> -August, 1851.</p></blockquote> - -<p>To what end now is this constant abstraction of able men -from rural districts? To the end that there may be enough -functionaries to achieve those many desiderata which French -governments have thought ought to be achieved—to provide -amusements, to manage mines, to construct roads and -bridges, to erect numerous buildings—to print books, -encourage the fine arts, control this trade, and inspect -that manufacture—to do all the hundred-and-one things -which the State does in France. That the army of officers -needed for this may be maintained, agriculture must go -unofficered. That certain social conveniences may be -better secured, the chief social necessity is neglected. The -very basis of the national life is sapped, to gain a few non-essential -advantages. Said we not truly, then, that until -a requirement is spontaneously fulfilled, it should not be -fulfilled at all?</p> - -<p class="padtopb">And here indeed we may recognise -the close kinship <span class="xxpn" id="p269">{269}</span> -between the fundamental fallacy involved in these State-meddlings -and the fallacy lately exploded by the free-trade -agitation. These various law-made instrumentalities for -effecting ends which might otherwise not yet be effected, all -embody a subtler form of the protectionist hypothesis. The -same short-sightedness which, looking at commerce, prescribed -bounties and restrictions, looking at social affairs in -general, prescribes these multiplied administrations; and -the same criticism applies alike to all its proceedings.</p> - -<p>For was not the error that vitiated every law aiming at -the artificial maintenance of a trade, substantially that -which we have just been dwelling upon; namely, this -overlooking of the fact that, in setting people to do one -thing, some other thing is inevitably left undone? The -statesmen who thought it wise to protect home-made silks -against French silks, did so under the impression that the -manufacture thus secured constituted a pure gain to the -nation. They did not reflect that the men employed in this -manufacture would otherwise have been producing something -else—a something else which, as they could produce -it without legal help, they could more profitably produce. -Landlords who have been so anxious to prevent foreign -wheat from displacing their own wheat, have never duly -realized the fact that if their fields would not yield wheat -so economically as to prevent the feared displacement, it -simply proved that they were growing unfit crops in place -of fit crops; and so working their land at a relative loss. -In all cases where, by restrictive duties, a trade has been -upheld that would otherwise not have existed, capital has -been turned into a channel less productive than some other -into which it would naturally have flowed. And so, to -pursue certain State-patronized occupations, men have been -drawn from more advantageous occupations.</p> - -<p>Clearly then, as above alleged, the same oversight runs -through all these interferences; be they with commerce, or -be they with other things. In employing -people to achieve <span class="xxpn" id="p270">{270}</span> -this or that desideratum, legislators have not perceived -that they were thereby preventing the achievement of some -other desideratum. They have habitually assumed that -each proposed good would, if secured, be a pure good, instead -of being a good purchasable only by submission to some -evil which would else have been remedied; and, making -this error, have injuriously diverted men’s labour. As in -trade, so in other things, labour will spontaneously find -out, better than any government can find out for it, the -things on which it may best expend itself. Rightly regarded, -the two propositions are identical. This division -into commercial and non-commercial affairs is quite a superficial -one. All the actions going on in society come under -the generalization—human effort ministering to human -desire. Whether the ministration be effected through a -process of buying and selling, or whether in any other way, -matters not so far as the general law of it is concerned. -In all cases it must be true that the stronger desires will -get themselves satisfied before the weaker ones; and in all -cases it must be true that to get satisfaction for the weaker -ones before they would naturally have it, is to deny satisfaction -to the stronger ones.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">To the immense positive evils entailed by over-legislation -have to be added the equally great negative evils—evils -which, notwithstanding their greatness, are scarcely at all -recognized, even by the far-seeing. While the State does -those things which it ought not to do, <i>as an inevitable -consequence</i>, it leaves undone those things which it ought -to do. Time and activity being limited, it necessarily -follows that legislators’ sins of <i>commission</i> entail sins of -<i>omission</i>. Mischievous meddling involves disastrous neglect; -and until statesmen are ubiquitous and omnipotent, must -ever do so. In the very nature of things an agency -employed for two purposes must fulfil both imperfectly; -partly because, while fulfilling the one it -cannot be fulfilling <span class="xxpn" id="p271">{271}</span> -the other, and partly because its adaptation to both ends -implies incomplete fitness for either. As has been well -said <i>à propos</i> of this point,—“A blade which is designed -both to shave and to carve, will certainly not shave so well -as a razor or carve so well as a carving-knife. An academy -of painting, which should also be a bank, would in all -probability exhibit very bad pictures and discount very bad -bills. A gas company, which should also be an infant-school -society, would, we apprehend, light the streets ill, -and teach the children ill.”<a class="afnanch" href="#fn34" id="fnanch34">34</a> -And if an institution undertakes, -not two functions but a score—if a government, -whose office it is to defend citizens against aggressors, -foreign and domestic, engages also to disseminate Christianity, -to administer charity, to teach children their lessons, -to adjust prices of food, to inspect coal-mines, to regulate -railways, to superintend house-building, to arrange cab-fares, -to look into people’s stink-traps, to vaccinate their -children, to send out emigrants, to prescribe hours of labour, -to examine lodging-houses, to test the knowledge of -mercantile captains, to provide public libraries, to read and -authorize dramas, to inspect passenger-ships, to see that -small dwellings are supplied with water, to regulate endless -things from a banker’s issues down to the boat-fares on the -Serpentine—is it not manifest that its primary duty must be -ill-discharged in proportion to the multiplicity of affairs it -busies itself with? Must not its time and energies be frittered -away in schemes, and inquiries, and amendments, in discussions, -and divisions, to the neglect of its essential business? -And does not a glance over the debates make it clear that -this is the fact? and that, while parliament and public -are alike occupied with these mischievous interferences, these -Utopian hopes, the one thing needful is left almost undone?</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch34" id="fn34">34</a> -<i>Edinburgh Review</i>, April, 1839.</p></div> - -<p>See here, then, the proximate cause of our legal abominations. -We drop the substance in our efforts to catch -shadows. While our firesides, and -clubs, and taverns are <span class="xxpn" id="p272">{272}</span> -filled with talk about corn-law questions, and church -questions, and education questions, and poor-law questions—all -of them raised by over-legislation—the justice question -gets scarcely any attention; and we daily submit to be -oppressed, cheated, robbed. This institution which should -succour the man who has fallen among thieves, turns him -over to solicitors, barristers, and a legion of law-officers; -drains his purse for writs, briefs, affidavits, subpœnas, fees -of all kinds and expenses innumerable; involves him in -the intricacies of common courts, chancery courts, suits, -counter-suits, and appeals; and often ruins where it should -aid. Meanwhile, meetings are called, and leading articles -written, and votes asked, and societies formed, and agitations -carried on, not to rectify these gigantic evils, but -partly to abolish our ancestors’ mischievous meddlings and -partly to establish meddlings of our own. Is it not obvious -that this fatal neglect is a result of this mistaken officiousness? -Suppose that external and internal protection had -been the sole recognized functions of the ruling powers. -Is it conceivable that our administration of justice would -have been as corrupt as now? Can any one believe that -had parliamentary elections been habitually contested on -questions of legal reform, our judicial system would still have -been what Sir John Romilly calls it,—“a technical system -invented for the creation of costs?” Does any one suppose -that, if the efficient defence of person and property had -been the constant subject-matter of hustings pledges, we -should yet be waylaid by a Chancery Court which has now -more than two hundred millions of property in its clutches?—which -keeps suits pending fifty years, until all the funds -are gone in fees—which swallows in costs two millions -annually? Dare any one assert that had constituencies -been always canvassed on principles of law-reform versus -law-conservatism, Ecclesiastical Courts would have continued -for centuries fattening on the goods of widows and -orphans? The questions are next to absurd. -A child may <span class="xxpn" id="p273">{273}</span> -see that with the general knowledge people have of legal -corruptions and the universal detestation of legal atrocities, -an end would long since have been put to them, had the -administration of justice always been <i>the</i> political topic. -Had not the public mind been constantly pre-occupied, it -could never have been tolerated that a man neglecting to -file an answer to a bill in due course, should be imprisoned -fifteen years for contempt of court, as Mr. James Taylor was. -It would have been impossible that, on the abolition of their -sinecures, the sworn-clerks should have been compensated -by the continuance of their exorbitant incomes, not only -till death, but for seven years after, at a total estimated -cost of £700,000. Were the State confined to its -defensive and judicial functions, not only the people but -legislators themselves would agitate against abuses. The -sphere of activity and the opportunities for distinction -being narrowed, all the thought, and industry, and -eloquence which members of Parliament now expend on -impracticable schemes and artificial grievances, would be -expended in rendering justice pure, certain, prompt, and -cheap. The complicated follies of our legal verbiage, which -the uninitiated cannot understand and which the initiated -interpret in various senses, would be quickly put an end -to. We should no longer frequently hear of Acts of -Parliament so bunglingly drawn up that it requires half a -dozen actions and judges’ decisions under them, before -even lawyers can say how they apply. There would be no -such stupidly-designed measures as the Railway Winding-up -Act, which, though passed in 1846 to close the accounts -of the bubble schemes of the mania, leaves them still -unsettled in 1854—which, even with funds in hand, withholds -payment from creditors whose claims have been years -since admitted. Lawyers would no longer be suffered to -maintain and to complicate the present absurd system of -land titles, which, besides the litigation and loss it perpetually -causes, lowers the value of -estates, prevents the <span class="xxpn" id="p274">{274}</span> -ready application of capital to them, checks the development -of agriculture, and thus hinders the improvement of -the peasantry and the prosperity of the country. In short, -the corruptions, follies, and terrors of law would cease; -and that which men now shrink from as an enemy they -would come to regard as what it purports to be—a -friend.</p> - -<p>How vast then is the negative evil which, in addition to -the positive evils before enumerated, this meddling policy -entails on us! How many are the grievances men bear, -from which they would otherwise be free! Who is there -that has not submitted to injuries rather than run the risk -of heavy law-costs? Who is there that has not abandoned -just claims rather than “throw good money after bad?” -Who is there that has not paid unjust demands rather than -withstand the threat of an action? This man can point to -property that has been alienated from his family from -lack of funds or courage to fight for it. That man can -name several relations ruined by a law-suit. Here is a -lawyer who has grown rich on the hard earnings of the -needy and the savings of the oppressed. There is a once -wealthy trader who has been brought by legal iniquities to -the workhouse or the lunatic asylum. The badness of our -judicial system vitiates our whole social life: renders -almost every family poorer than it would otherwise be; -hampers almost every business transaction; inflicts daily -anxieties on every trader. And all this loss of property, -time, temper, comfort, men quietly submit to from being -absorbed in the pursuit of schemes which eventually bring -on them other mischiefs.</p> - -<p>Nay, the case is even worse. It is distinctly proveable -that many of these evils about which outcries are raised, -and to cure which special Acts of Parliament are loudly -invoked, are themselves <i>produced</i> by our disgraceful judicial -system. For example, it is well known that the horrors -out of which our sanitary agitators -make political capital, <span class="xxpn" id="p275">{275}</span> -are found in their greatest intensity on properties that -have been for a generation in Chancery—are distinctly -traceable to the ruin thus brought about; and would never -have existed but for the infamous corruptions of law. -Again, it has been shown that the long-drawn miseries of -Ireland, which have been the subject of endless legislation, -have been mainly produced by inequitable land-tenure and -the complicated system of entail: a system which wrought -such involvements as to prevent sales; which practically -negatived all improvement; which brought landlords to the -workhouse; and which required an Incumbered Estates Act -to cut its gordian knots and render the proper cultivation -of the soil possible. Judicial negligence, too, is the main -cause of railway accidents. If the State would fulfil its -true function, by giving passengers an easy remedy for -breach of contract when trains are behind time, it would -do more to prevent accidents than can be done by the -minutest inspection or the most cunningly-devised regulations; -for it is notorious that the majority of accidents -are primarily caused by irregularity. In the case of bad -house-building, also, it is obvious that a cheap, rigorous, -and certain administration of justice, would make Building -Acts needless. For is not the man who erects a house of -bad materials ill put together, and, concealing these with -papering and plaster, sells it as a substantial dwelling, -guilty of fraud? And should not the law recognize this -fraud as it does in the analogous case of an unsound horse? -And if the legal remedy were easy, prompt, and sure, would -not builders cease transgressing? So is it in other cases: -the evils which men perpetually call on the State to cure -by superintendence, themselves arise from non-performance -of its original duty.</p> - -<p>See then how this vicious policy complicates itself. Not -only does meddling legislation fail to cure the evils it aims -at; not only does it make many evils worse; not only does -it create new evils greater than the old; -but while doing <span class="xxpn" id="p276">{276}</span> -this it entails on men the oppressions, robberies, ruin, which -flow from the non-administration of justice. And not only -to the positive evils does it add this vast negative one, but -this again, by fostering many social abuses that would not -else exist, furnishes occasions for more meddlings which -again act and re-act in the same way. And thus as ever, -“things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.”</p> - -<p class="padtopb">After assigning reasons thus fundamental, for condemning -all State-action save that which universal experience has -proved to be absolutely needful, it would seem superfluous -to assign subordinate ones. Were it called for, we might, -taking for text Mr. Lindsay’s work on “Navigation and -Mercantile Marine Law,” say much upon the complexity -to which this process of adding regulation to regulation—each -necessitated by foregoing ones—ultimately leads: a -complexity which, by the misunderstandings, delays, and -disputes it entails, greatly hampers our social life. Something, -too, might be added upon the perturbing effects of -that “gross delusion,” as M. Guizot calls it, “a belief in -the sovereign power of political machinery”—a delusion to -which he partly ascribes the late revolution in France; and -a delusion which is fostered by every new interference. -But, passing over these, we would dwell for a short space -upon the national enervation which this State-superintendence -produces.</p> - -<p>The enthusiastic philanthropist, urgent for some act of -parliament to remedy this evil or secure the other good, -thinks it a trivial and far-fetched objection that the people -will be morally injured by doing things for them instead of -leaving them to do things themselves. He vividly conceives -the benefit he hopes to get achieved, which is a positive and -readily imaginable thing. He does not conceive the diffused, -invisible, and slowly-accumulating effect wrought on the -popular mind, and so does not believe in it; or, if he admits -it, thinks it beneath consideration. -Would he but <span class="xxpn" id="p277">{277}</span> -remember, however, that all national character is gradually -produced by the daily action of circumstances, of which -each day’s result seems so insignificant as not to be worth -mentioning, he would perceive that what is trifling when -viewed in its increments may be formidable when viewed in -its total. Or if he would go into the nursery, and watch -how repeated actions—each of them apparently unimportant,—create, -in the end, a habit which will affect the -whole future life; he would be reminded that every -influence brought to bear on human nature tells, and, if -continued, tells seriously. The thoughtless mother who -hourly yields to the requests—“Mamma, tie my pinafore,” -“Mamma, button my shoe,” and the like, cannot be persuaded -that each of these concessions is detrimental; but -the wiser spectator sees that if this policy be long pursued, -and be extended to other things, it will end in inaptitude. -The teacher of the old school who showed his pupil the way -out of every difficulty, did not perceive that he was generating -an attitude of mind greatly militating against success -in life. The modern teacher, however, induces his pupil to -solve his difficulties himself; believes that in so doing he is -preparing him to meet the difficulties which, when he goes -into the world, there will be no one to help him through; -and finds confirmation for this belief in the fact that a great -proportion of the most successful men are self-made. Well, -is it not obvious that this relationship between discipline -and success holds good nationally? Are not nations made -of men; and are not men subject to the same laws of -modification in their adult years as in their early years? -Is it not true of the drunkard, that each carouse adds a -thread to his bonds? of the trader, that each acquisition -strengthens the wish for acquisitions? of the pauper, that -the more you assist him the more he wants? of the busy -man, that the more he has to do the more he can do? And -does it not follow that if every individual is subject to this -process of adaptation to conditions, a whole -nation must be <span class="xxpn" id="p278">{278}</span> -so—that just in proportion as its members are little helped -by extraneous power they will become self-helping, and in -proportion as they are much helped they will become helpless? -What folly is it to ignore these results because -they are not direct, and not immediately visible. Though -slowly wrought out they are inevitable. We can no more -elude the laws of human development than we can elude -the law of gravitation; and so long as they hold true must -these effects occur.</p> - -<p>If we are asked in what special directions this alleged -helplessness, entailed by much State-superintendence, -shows itself; we reply that it is seen in a retardation of all -social growths requiring self-confidence in the people—in a -timidity that fears all difficulties not before encountered—in -a thoughtless contentment with things as they are. Let -any one, after duly watching the rapid evolution going on -in England, where men have been comparatively little -helped by governments—or better still, after contemplating -the unparalleled progress of the United States, which is -peopled by self-made men, and the recent descendants of -self-made men;—let such an one, we say, go on to the -Continent, and consider the relatively slow advance which -things are there making; and the still slower advance they -would make but for English enterprise. Let him go to -Holland, and see that though the Dutch early showed themselves -good mechanics, and have had abundant practice in -hydraulics, Amsterdam has been without any due supply of -water until now that works are being established by an -English company. Let him go to Berlin, and there be told -that, to give that city a water-supply such as London has had -for generations, the project of an English firm is about to be -executed by English capital, under English superintendence. -Let him go to Vienna, and learn that it, in common with -other continental cities, is lighted by an English gas-company. -Let him go on the Rhone, on the Loire, on the -Danube, and discover that -Englishmen established steam <span class="xxpn" id="p279">{279}</span> -navigation on those rivers. Let him inquire concerning -the railways in Italy, Spain, France, Sweden, Denmark, -how many of them are English projects, how many -have been largely helped by English capital, how many -have been executed by English contractors, how many -have had English engineers. Let him discover, too, as he -will, that where railways have been government-made, as -in Russia, the energy, the perseverance, and the practical -talent developed in England and the United States have -been called in to aid. And then if these illustrations of the -progressiveness of a self-dependent race, and the torpidity -of paternally-governed ones, do not suffice him, he may -read Mr. Laing’s successive volumes of European travel, -and there study the contrast in detail. What, now, is the -cause of this contrast? In the order of nature, a capacity -for self-help must in every case have been brought into -existence by the practice of self-help; and, other things -equal, a lack of this capacity must in every case have -arisen from the lack of demand for it. Do not these two -antecedents and their two consequents agree with the facts -as presented in England and Europe? Were not the -inhabitants of the two, some centuries ago, much upon a -par in point of enterprise? Were not the English even -behind in their manufactures, in their colonization, in their -commerce? Has not the immense relative change the -English have undergone in this respect, been coincident -with the great relative self-dependence they have been -since habituated to? And has not the one been caused by -the other? Whoever doubts it, is asked to assign a more -probable cause. Whoever admits it, must admit that the -enervation of a people by perpetual State-aids is not a -trifling consideration, but the most weighty consideration. -A general arrest of national growth he will see to be an -evil greater than any special benefits can compensate for. -And, indeed, when, after contemplating this great fact, the -overspreading of the Earth by the English, -he remarks the <span class="xxpn" id="p280">{280}</span> -absence of any parallel achievement by a continental race—when -he reflects how this difference must depend chiefly on -difference of character, and how such difference of character -has been mainly produced by difference of discipline; he -will perceive that the policy pursued in this matter may -have a large share in determining a nation’s ultimate fate.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">We are not sanguine, however, that argument will -change the convictions of those who put their trust in -legislation. With men of a certain order of thought the -foregoing reasons will have weight. With men of another -order of thought they will have little or none; nor would -any accumulation of such reasons affect them. The truth -that experience teaches, has its limits. The experiences -which teach, must be experiences which can be appreciated; -and experiences exceeding a certain degree of complexity -become inappreciable to the majority. It is thus with most -social phenomena. If we remember that for these two -thousand years and more, mankind have been making -regulations for commerce, which have all along been -strangling some trades and killing others with kindness, -and that though the proofs of this have been constantly -before their eyes, they have only just discovered that they -have been uniformly doing mischief—if we remember that -even now only a small portion of them see this; we are -taught that perpetually-repeated and ever-accumulating -experiences will fail to teach, until there exist the mental -conditions required for the assimilation of them. Nay, -when they are assimilated, it is very imperfectly. The -truth they teach is only half understood, even by those -supposed to understand it best. For example, Sir Robert -Peel, in one of his last speeches, after describing the -immensely increased consumption consequent on free trade, -goes on to say:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“If, then, you can only continue that consumption—if, -<i>by your legislation</i>, under the favour of Providence, -<i>you can maintain the demand for labour and make your -trade and manufactures prosperous</i>, you are not only -increasing the <span class="xxpn" id="p281">{281}</span> sum of human happiness, but are -giving the agriculturists of this country the best chance -of that increased demand which must contribute to their -welfare.”—<i>Times</i>, Feb. 22, 1850.</p></blockquote> - -<p>Thus the prosperity really due to the abandonment of all -legislation, is ascribed to a particular kind of legislation. -“<i>You</i> can maintain the demand,” he says; “<i>you</i> can make -trade and manufactures prosperous;” whereas, the facts -he quotes prove that they can do this only by doing -nothing. The essential truth of the matter—that law had -been doing immense harm, and that this prosperity resulted -not from law but from the absence of law—is missed; and -his faith in legislation in general, which should, by this -experience, have been greatly shaken, seemingly remains -as strong as ever. Here, again, is the House of Lords, -apparently not yet believing in the relationship of supply -and demand, adopting within these few weeks the -standing order―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“That before the first reading of any bill for making any work in the -construction of which compulsory power is sought to take thirty houses or -more inhabited by the labouring classes in any one parish or place, the -promoters be required to deposit in the office of the clerk of the parliaments -a statement of the number, description, and situation of the said houses, the -number (so far as they can be estimated) of persons to be displaced, <i>and -whether any and what provision is made in the bill for remedying the inconvenience -likely to arise from such displacements</i>.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>If, then, in the comparatively simple relationships of -trade, the teachings of experience remain for so many ages -unperceived, and are so imperfectly apprehended when they -are perceived, it is scarcely to be hoped that where all social -phenomena—moral, intellectual, and physical—are involved, -any due appreciation of the truths displayed will presently -take place. The facts cannot yet get recognized as facts. -As the alchemist attributed his successive disappointments -to some disproportion in the ingredients, some impurity, or -some too great temperature, and never to the futility of his -process or the impossibility of his aim; so, every failure of -State-regulations the law-worshipper explains away as -being caused by this trifling oversight, -or that little <span class="xxpn" id="p282">{282}</span> -mistake: all which oversights and mistakes he assures -you will in future be avoided. Eluding the facts as he -does after this fashion, volley after volley of them produce -no effect.</p> - -<p>Indeed this faith in governments is in a certain sense -organic; and can diminish only by being outgrown. From -the time when rulers were thought demi-gods, there has -been a gradual decline in men’s estimates of their power. -This decline is still in progress, and has still far to go. -Doubtless, every increment of evidence furthers it in <i>some</i> -degree, though not to the degree that at first appears. -Only in so far as it modifies character does it produce a -permanent effect. For while the mental type remains the -same, the removal of a special error is inevitably followed -by the growth of other errors of the same genus. All -superstitions die hard; and we fear that this belief in -government-omnipotence will -form no exception.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p283">{283}</span></div> - -<h2 class="h2nobreak">REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT—WHAT IS IT -GOOD FOR?</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First published in </i>The Westminster - Review<i> for October 1857.</i>]</p></div> - -<p>Shakspeare’s simile for adversity―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"><div class="nowrap"> -<p class="pfirst">Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,</p> -<p class="pcontinue">Wears yet a precious jewel in his head,</p> -</div></blockquote> - -<p class="pcontinue">might fitly be used also as a simile for a disagreeable -truth. Repulsive as is its aspect, the hard fact which -dissipates a cherished illusion, is presently found to contain -the germ of a more salutary belief. The experience of -every one furnishes instances in which an opinion long -shrunk from as seemingly at variance with all that is good, -but finally accepted as irresistible, turns out to be fraught -with benefits. It is thus with self-knowledge: much as -we dislike to admit our defects, we find it better to know -and guard against than to ignore them. It is thus with -changes of creed: alarming as looks the reasoning by -which superstitions are overthrown, the convictions to -which it leads prove to be healthier ones than those they -superseded. And it is thus with political enlightenment: -men eventually see cause to thank those who pull to pieces -their political air-castles, hateful as they once seemed. -Moreover, not only is it always better to believe truth -than error; but the repugnant-looking facts are ever found -to be parts of something far better than the -ideal which they <span class="xxpn" id="p284">{284}</span> -dispelled. To the many illustrations of this which might -be cited, we shall presently add another.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">It is a conviction almost universally entertained here in -England, that our method of making and administering -laws possesses every virtue. Prince Albert’s unlucky -saying that “Representative Government is on its trial,” is -vehemently repudiated: we consider that the trial has -long since ended in our favour on all the counts. Partly -from ignorance, partly from the bias of education, partly -from that patriotism which leads the men of each nation to -pride themselves in their own institutions, we have an -unhesitating belief in the entire superiority of our form of -political organization. Yet unfriendly critics can point -out vices that are manifestly inherent. And if we may -believe the defenders of despotism, these vices are fatal to -its efficiency.</p> - -<p>Now instead of denying or blinking these allegations, it -would be wiser candidly to inquire whether they are true; -and if true, what they imply. If, as most of us are so -confident, government by representatives is better than -any other, we can afford to listen patiently to all adverse -remarks: believing that they are either invalid, or that -if valid they do not essentially tell against its merits. If -our political system is well founded, this crucial criticism -will serve but to bring out its worth more clearly than -ever; and to give us higher conceptions of its nature, its -meaning, its purpose. Let us, then, banishing for the -nonce all prepossessions, and taking up a thoroughly -antagonistic point of view, set down without mitigation its -many flaws, vices, and absurdities.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Is it not manifest that a ruling body made up of many -individuals, who differ in character, education, and aims, -who belong to classes having antagonistic ideas and -feelings, and who are severally swayed -by the special <span class="xxpn" id="p285">{285}</span> -opinions of the districts deputing them, must be a cumbrous -apparatus for the management of public affairs? When -we devise a machine we take care that its parts are as -few as possible; that they are adapted to their respective -ends; that they are properly joined with one another; -and that they work smoothly to their common purpose. -Our political machine, however, is constructed upon directly -opposite principles. Its parts are extremely numerous: -multiplied, indeed, beyond all reason. They are not -severally chosen as specially qualified for particular functions. -No care is taken that they shall fit well together: -on the contrary, our arrangements are such that they -are certain not to fit. And that, as a consequence, they do -not and cannot act in harmony, is a fact nightly demonstrated -to all the world. In truth, had the problem been -to find an appliance for the slow and bungling transaction -of business, it could scarcely have been better solved. -Immense hindrance results from the mere multiplicity of -parts; a further immense hindrance results from their -incongruity; yet another immense hindrance results from -the frequency with which they are changed; while the -greatest hindrance of all results from the want of subordination -of the parts to their functions—from the fact that -the personal welfare of the legislator is not bound up with -the efficient performance of his political duty.</p> - -<p>These defects are inherent in the very nature of our -institutions; and they cannot fail to produce disastrous -mismanagement. If proofs be needed, they may be -furnished in abundance, both from the current history of -our central representative government, and from that of -local ones, public and private. Let us, before going on to -contemplate these evils as displayed on a great scale in our -legislature, glance at some of them in their simpler and -smaller manifestations.</p> - -<p>We will not dwell on the comparative inefficiency of -deputed administration in -mercantile affairs. The <span class="xxpn" id="p286">{286}</span> -untrustworthiness of directorial management might be afresh -illustrated by the recent joint-stock-bank catastrophies: -the recklessness and dishonesty of rulers whose interests -are not one with those of the concern they control, being -in these cases conspicuously displayed. Or we could enlarge -on the same truth as exhibited in the doings of railway-boards: -instancing the malversations proved against their -members; the carelessness which has permitted Robson -and Redpath frauds; the rashness perseveringly shown in -making unprofitable branches and extensions. But facts of -this kind are sufficiently familiar.</p> - -<p>Let us pass, then, to less notorious examples. Mechanics’ -Institutions will supply our first. The theory of these is -plausible enough. Artizans wanting knowledge, and benevolent -middle-class people wishing to help them to it, -constitute the raw material. By uniting their means they -propose to obtain literary and other advantages, which else -would be beyond their reach. And it is concluded that, -being all interested in securing the proposed objects, and -the governing body being chosen out of their number, the -results cannot fail to be such as were intended. In most -cases, however, the results are quite otherwise. Indifference, -stupidity, party-spirit, and religious dissension, nearly -always thwart the efforts of the promoters. It is thought -good policy to select as president some local notability; -probably not distinguished for wisdom, but whose donation -or prestige more than counterbalances his defect in this -respect. Vice-presidents are chosen with the same view: -a clergyman or two; some neighbouring squires, if they -can be had; an ex-mayor; several aldermen; half a dozen -manufacturers and wealthy tradesmen; and a miscellaneous -complement. While the committee, mostly elected more -because of their position or popularity than their intelligence -or fitness for co-operation, exhibit similar incongruities. -Causes of dissension quickly arise. A book much wished -for by the mass of the members, -is tabooed, because <span class="xxpn" id="p287">{287}</span> -ordering it would offend the clerical party in the institution. -Regard for the prejudices of certain magistrates and squires -who figure among the vice-presidents, forbids the engagement -of an otherwise desirable and popular lecturer, whose -political and religious opinions are somewhat extreme. -The selection of newspapers and magazines for the reading-room, -is a fruitful source of disputes. Should some, thinking -it would be a great boon to those for whom the institution -was established, propose to open the reading-room on -Sundays, there arises a violent fight; ending, perhaps, in -the secession of some of the defeated party. The question -of amusements, again, furnishes a bone of contention. Shall -the institution exist solely for instruction, or shall it add -gratification? The refreshment-question, also, is apt to be -raised, and to add to the other causes of difference. In -short, the stupidity, prejudice, party-spirit, and squabbling, -are such as eventually to drive away in disgust those who -should have been the administrators; and to leave the -control in the hands of a clique, who pursue some humdrum -middle course, satisfying nobody. Instead of that prosperity -which would probably have been achieved under the -direction of one good man-of-business, whose welfare was -bound up with its success, the institution loses its prestige, -and dwindles away: ceases almost entirely to be what was -intended—a <i>mechanics</i>’ institution; and becomes little more -than a middle-class lounge, kept up not so much by the -permanent adhesion of its members, as by the continual -addition of new ones in place of the old ones constantly -falling off. Meanwhile, the end originally proposed is -fulfilled, so far as it gets fulfilled at all, by private enterprise. -Cheap newspapers and cheap periodicals, provided -by publishers having in view the pockets and tastes of the -working-classes; coffee-shops and penny reading-rooms, -set up by men whose aim is profit; are the instruments of -the chief proportion of such culture as is going on.</p> - -<p>In higher-class institutions of the -same order—in Literary <span class="xxpn" id="p288">{288}</span> -Societies and Philosophical Societies, etc.—the like inefficiency -of representative government is generally displayed. -Quickly following the vigour of early enthusiasm, come -class and sectarian differences, the final supremacy of a -party, bad management, apathy. Subscribers complain they -cannot get what they want; and one by one desert to -private book-clubs or to Mudie.</p> - -<p>Turning from non-political to political institutions, we -might, had we space, draw illustrations from the doings of -the old poor-law authorities, or from those of modern boards -of guardians; but omitting these and others such, we will, -among local governments, confine ourselves to the reformed -municipal corporations.</p> - -<p>If, leaving out of sight all other evidences, and forgetting -that they are newly-organized bodies into which corruption -has scarcely had time to creep, we were to judge of these -municipal corporations by the town-improvements they have -effected, we might pronounce them successful. But, even -without insisting on the fact that such improvements are -more due to the removal of obstructions, and to that same -progressive spirit which has established railways and telegraphs, -than to the positive virtues of these civic governments; -it is to be remarked that the execution of numerous -public works is by no means an adequate test. With power -of raising funds limited only by a rebellion of ratepayers, -it is easy in prosperous, increasing towns, to make a display -of efficiency. The proper questions to be asked are:—Do -municipal elections end in the choice of the fittest men who -are to be found? Does the resulting administrative body, -perform well and economically the work which devolves on -it? And does it show sound judgment in refraining from -needless or improper work? To these questions the answers -are by no means satisfactory.</p> - -<p>Town-councils are not conspicuous for either intelligence -or high character. There are competent judges who think -that, on the average, their members are inferior -to those of <span class="xxpn" id="p289">{289}</span> -the old corporations they superseded. As all the world -knows, the elections turn mainly on political opinions. The -first question respecting any candidate is, not whether he -has great knowledge, judgment, or business-faculty—not -whether he has any special aptitude for the duty to be discharged; -but whether he is Whig or Tory. Even supposing -his politics to be unobjectionable, his nomination still does -not depend chiefly on his proved uprightness or capacity, -but much more on his friendly relations with the dominant -clique. A number of the town magnates, habitually meeting -probably at the chief hotel, and there held together as -much by the brotherhood of conviviality as by that of -opinion, discuss the merits of all whose names are before -the public, and decide which are the most suitable. This -gin-and-water caucus it is which practically determines the -choice of candidates; and, by consequence, the elections. -Those who will succumb to leadership—those who will -merge their private opinions in the policy of their party, of -course have the preference. Men too independent for this—too -far-seeing to join in the shibboleth of the hour, or too -refined to mix with the “jolly good fellows” who thus rule -the town, are shelved; notwithstanding that they are, -above all others, fitted for office. Partly from this underhand -influence, and partly from the consequent disgust -which leads them to decline standing if asked, the best -men are generally not in the governing body. It is -notorious that in London the most respectable merchants -will have nothing to do with the local government. And -in New York, “the exertions of its better citizens are still -exhausted in private accumulation, while the duties of -administration are left to other hands,” It cannot then be -asserted that in town-government, the representative -system succeeds in bringing the ablest and most honourable -men to the top.</p> - -<p>The efficient and economical discharge of duties is, of -course, hindered by this inferiority of -the deputies chosen; <span class="xxpn" id="p290">{290}</span> -and it is further hindered by the persistent action of party -and personal motives. Not whether he knows well how to -handle a level, but whether he voted for the popular candidate -at the last parliamentary election, is the question on -which may, and sometimes does, hang the choice of a town-surveyor; -and if sewers are ill laid out, it is a natural -consequence. When, a new public edifice having been -decided on, competition designs are advertised for; and -when the designs, ostensibly anonymous but really identifiable, -have been sent in; T. Square, Esq., who has an -influential relative in the corporation, makes sure of succeeding, -and is not disappointed: albeit his plans are not those -which would have been chosen by any one of the judges, -had the intended edifice been his own. Brown, who has -for many years been on the town-council and is one of the -dominant clique, has a son who is a doctor; and when, in -pursuance of an Act of Parliament, an officer of health -is to be appointed, Brown privately canvasses his fellow-councillors, -and succeeds in persuading them to elect his -son; though his son is by no means the fittest man the -place can furnish. Similarly with the choice of tradesmen -to execute work for the town. A public clock which is -frequently getting out of order, and Board-of-Health water-closets -which disgust those who have them (we state -facts), sufficiently testify that stupidity, favouritism, or -some sinister influence, is ever causing mismanagement. -The choice of inferior representatives, and by them of -inferior <i>employés</i>, joined with private interest and divided -responsibility, inevitably prevent the discharge of duties -from being satisfactory.</p> - -<p>Moreover, the extravagance which is now becoming a -notorious vice of municipal bodies, is greatly increased by -the practice of undertaking things which they ought not to -undertake; and the incentive to do this is, in many cases, -traceable to the representative origin of the body. The -system of compounding with -landlords for municipal <span class="xxpn" id="p291">{291}</span> -rates, leads the lower class of occupiers into the erroneous -belief that town-burdens do not fall in any degree on them; -and they therefore approve of an expenditure which seemingly -gives them gratis advantages while it creates employment. -As they form the mass of the constituency, lavishness -becomes a popular policy; and popularity-hunters vie with -one another in bringing forward new and expensive projects. -Here is a councillor who, having fears about his next -election, proposes an extensive scheme for public gardens—a -scheme which many who disapprove do not oppose, because -they, too, bear in mind the next election. There is another -councillor, who keeps a shop, and who raises and agitates -the question of baths and wash-houses; very well knowing -that his trade is not likely to suffer from such a course. -And so in other cases: the small direct interest which -each member of the corporation has in economical administration, -is antagonized by so many indirect interests of -other kinds, that he is not likely to be a good guardian -of the public purse.</p> - -<p>Thus, neither in respect of the deputies chosen, nor the -efficient performance of their work, nor the avoidance of -unfit work, can the governments of our towns be held satisfactory. -And if in these recently-formed bodies the defects -are so conspicuous, still more conspicuous are they where -they have had time to grow to their full magnitude: witness -the case of New York. According to the <i>Times</i> correspondent -in that city, the New York people pay “over a -million and a half sterling, for which they have badly-paved -streets, a police by no means as efficient as it should be, -though much better than formerly, the greatest amount of -dirt north of Italy, the poorest cab-system of any metropolis -in the world, and only unsheltered wooden piers for the -discharge of merchandize.”</p> - -<p class="padtopb">And now, having glanced at the general bearings of the -question in these minor cases, let us take the -major case of <span class="xxpn" id="p292">{292}</span> -our central government; and, in connexion with it, pursue -the inquiry more closely. Here the inherent faults of the -representative system are much more clearly displayed. -The greater multiplicity of rulers involves greater cumbrousness, -greater confusion, greater delay. Differences of -class, of aims, of prejudices, are both larger in number and -wider in degree; and hence arise dissensions still more -multiplied. The direct effect which each legislator is likely -to experience from the working of any particular measure, -is usually very small and remote; while the indirect influences -which sway him are, in this above all other cases, -numerous and strong: whence follows a marked tendency -to neglect public welfare for private advantage. But let us -set out from the beginning—with the constituencies.</p> - -<p>The representative theory assumes that if a number of -citizens, deeply interested as they all are in good government, -are endowed with political power, they will choose the -wisest and best men for governors. Seeing how greatly -they suffer from bad administration of public affairs, it is -considered self-evident that they must have the <i>will</i> -to select proper representatives; and it is taken for -granted that average common sense gives the <i>ability</i> to -select proper representatives. How does experience bear -out these assumptions? Does it not to a great degree -negative them?</p> - -<p>Several considerable classes of electors have little or no -<i>will</i> in the matter. Not a few of those on the register -pique themselves on taking no part in politics—claim credit -for having the sense not to meddle with things which they -say do not concern them. Many others there are whose -interest in the choice of a member of Parliament is so slight, -that they do not think it worth while to vote. A notable -proportion, too, shopkeepers especially, care so little about -the result, that their votes are determined by their wishes -to please their chief patrons or to avoid offending them. -In the minds of a yet larger class, small sums -of money, or <span class="xxpn" id="p293">{293}</span> -even <i>ad libitum</i> supplies of beer, outweigh any desires -they have to use their political powers independently. -Those who adequately recognize the importance of honestly -exercising their judgments in the selection of legislators, -and who give conscientious votes, form but a minority; and -the election usually hangs less upon their wills than upon -the illegitimate influences which sway the rest. Here, -therefore, the theory fails.</p> - -<p>Then, again, as to intelligence. Even supposing that the -mass of electors have a sufficiently decided <i>will</i> to choose -the best rulers, what evidence have we of their <i>ability</i>? -Is picking out the wisest man among them, a task within -the range of their capacities? Let any one listen to the -conversation of a farmer’s market-table, and then answer -how much he finds of that wisdom which is required to -discern wisdom in others. Or let him read the clap-trap -speeches made from the hustings with a view of pleasing -constituents, and then estimate the penetration of those -who are to be thus pleased. Even among the higher order -of electors he will meet with gross political ignorance—with -notions that Acts of Parliament can do whatever it is -thought well they should do; that the value of gold can be -fixed by law; that distress can be cured by poor-laws; -and so forth. If he descends a step, he will find in the -still-prevalent ideas that machinery is injurious to the -working-classes, and that extravagance is “good for trade,” -indices of a yet smaller insight. And in the lower and -larger class, formed by those who think that their personal -interest in good government is not worth the trouble -of voting, or is outbalanced by the loss of a customer, -or is of less value than a bribe, he will perceive an -almost hopeless stupidity. Without going the length of -Mr. Carlyle, and defining the people as “twenty-seven -millions, mostly fools,” he will confess that they are but -sparely gifted with wisdom.</p> - -<p>That these should succeed in -choosing the fittest <span class="xxpn" id="p294">{294}</span> -governors, would be strange; and that they do not so -succeed is manifest. Even as judged by the most -common-sense tests, their selections are absurd, as we -shall shortly see.</p> - -<p>It is a self-evident truth that we may most safely trust -those whose interests are identical with our own; and that -it is very dangerous to trust those whose interests are -antagonistic to our own. All the legal securities we take -in our transactions with one another, are so many recognitions -of this truth. We are not satisfied with <i>professions</i>. -If another’s position is such that he must be liable to -motives at variance with the promises he makes, we take -care, by introducing an artificial motive (the dread of legal -penalties), to make it his interest to fulfil these promises. -Down to the asking for a receipt, our daily business-habits -testify that, in consequence of the prevailing selfishness, it -it extremely imprudent to expect men to regard the claims -of others equally with their own: all asseverations of good -faith notwithstanding. Now it might have been thought -that even the modicum of sense possessed by the majority -of electors, would have led them to recognize this fact in -the choice of their representatives. But they show a -total disregard of it. While the theory of our Constitution, -in conformity with this same fact, assumes -that the three divisions composing the Legislature will -severally pursue each its own ends—while our history -shows that Monarch, Lords, and Commons, <i>have</i> all along -more or less conspicuously done this; our electors manifest -by their votes, the belief that their interests will be as -well cared for by members of the titled class as by members -of their own class. Though, in their determined opposition -to the Reform-Bill, the aristocracy showed how -greedy they were, not only of their legitimate power -but of their illegitimate power—though, by the enactment -and pertinacious maintenance of the Corn-Laws, -they proved how little popular welfare -weighed in the <span class="xxpn" id="p295">{295}</span> -scale against their own profits—though they have ever -displayed a watchful jealousy even of their smallest -privileges, whether equitable or inequitable (as witness the -recent complaint in the House of Lords, that the Mercantile -Marine Act calls on lords of manors to show their titles -before they can claim the wrecks thrown on the shores of -their estates, which before they had always done by prescription)—though -they have habitually pursued that self-seeking -policy which men so placed were sure to pursue; -yet constituencies have decided that members of the aristocracy -may fitly be chosen as representatives of the people. -Our present House of Commons contains 98 Irish peers -and sons of English peers; 66 blood-relations of peers; -and 67 connexions of peers by marriage: in all, 231 members -whose interests, or sympathies, or both, are with the -nobility rather than the commonalty. We are quite prepared -to hear the doctrine implied in this criticism condemned -by rose-water politicians as narrow and prejudiced. -To such we simply reply that they and their friends fully -recognize this doctrine when it suits them to do so. Why -do they wish to prevent the town-constituencies from predominating -over the county-ones; if they do not believe -that each division of the community will consult its own -welfare? Or what plea can there be for Lord John -Russell’s proposal to represent minorities, unless it be -the plea that those who have the opportunity will sacrifice -the interests of others to their own? Or how shall we -explain the anxiety of the upper class, to keep a tight -rein on the growing power of the lower class, save from -their consciousness that <i>bonâ fide</i> representatives of the -lower class would be less regardful of their privileges -than they are themselves? If there be any reason in the -theory of the Constitution, then, while the members of the -House of Peers should belong to the peerage, the members -of the House of Commons should belong to the commonalty. -Either the constitutional theory is sheer -nonsense, or else <span class="xxpn" id="p296">{296}</span> -the choice of lords as representatives of the people proves -the folly of constituencies.</p> - -<p>But this folly by no means ends here: it works out other -results quite as absurd. What should we think of a man -giving his servants equal authority with himself over the -affairs of his household? Suppose the shareholders in a -railway-company were to elect, as members of their board -of directors, the secretary, engineer, superintendent, traffic-manager, -and others such. Should we not be astonished -at their stupidity? Should we not prophesy that the -private advantage of officials would frequently override the -welfare of the company? Yet our parliamentary electors -commit a blunder of just the same kind. For what are -military and naval officers but servants of the nation; standing -to it in a relation like that in which the officers of a -railway-company stand to the company? Do they not perform -public work? do they not take public pay? And do not -their interests differ from those of the public, as the interests -of the employed from those of the employer? The impropriety -of admitting executive agents of the State into the -Legislature, has over and over again thrust itself into -notice; and in minor cases has been prevented by sundry -Acts of Parliament. Enumerating those disqualified for -the House of Commons, Blackstone says―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“No persons concerned in the management of any duties or taxes created -since 1692, except the commissioners of the treasury, nor any of the officers -following, <i>viz.</i> commissioners of prizes, transports, sick and wounded, wine -licences, navy, and victualling; secretaries or receivers of prizes; comptrollers -of the army accounts; agents for regiments; governors of plantations, -and their deputies; officers of Minorca or Gibraltar; officers of the excise -and customs; clerks and deputies in the several offices of the treasury, exchequer, -navy, victualling, admiralty, pay of the army and navy, secretaries -of state, salt, stamps, appeals, wine licences, hackney coaches, hawkers and -pedlars, nor any persons that hold any new office under the crown created -since 1705, are capable of being elected, or sitting as members.”</p></blockquote> - -<p class="pcontinue">In which list naval and military -officers would doubtless -have been included, had they not always been too powerful -a body and too closely identified with -the dominant classes. <span class="xxpn" id="p297">{297}</span> -Glaring, however, as is the impolicy of appointing public -servants to make the laws; and clearly as this impolicy is -recognized in the above-specified exclusions from time to -time enacted; the people at large seem totally oblivious of -it. At the last general election they returned 9 naval -officers, 46 military officers, and 51 retired military officers, -who, in virtue of education, friendship, and <i>esprit de corps</i>, -take the same views with their active comrades—in all 106: -not including 64 officers of militia and yeomanry, whose -sympathies and ambitions are in a considerable degree the -same. If any one thinks that this large infusion of officialism -is of no consequence, let him look in the division-lists. -Let him inquire how much it has had to do with the -maintenance of the purchase-system. Let him ask whether -the almost insuperable obstacles to the promotion of the -private soldier, have not been strengthened by it. Let -him see what share it had in keeping up those worn-out -practices, and forms, and mis-arrangements, which -entailed the disasters of our late war. Let him consider -whether the hushing-up of the Crimean Inquiry and the -whitewashing of delinquents were not aided by it. Yet, -though abundant experience thus confirms what common -sense would beforehand have predicted; and though, notwithstanding -the late disasters, exposures, and public -outcry for army-reform, the influence of the military caste -is so great that the reform has been staved-off; our constituencies -are stupid enough to send to Parliament as many -military officers as ever!</p> - -<p>Not even now have we reached the end of these impolitic -selections. The general principle on which we have been -insisting, and which is recognized by expounders of the -constitution when they teach that the legislative and -executive divisions of the Government should be distinct—this -general principle is yet further sinned against; though -not in so literal a manner. For though they do not take -State-pay, and are not -nominally Government-officers, yet, <span class="xxpn" id="p298">{298}</span> -practically, lawyers are members of the executive organization. -They form an important part of the apparatus for -the administration of justice. By the working of this -apparatus they make their profits; and their welfare -depends on its being so worked as to bring them profits, -rather than on its being so worked as to administer justice. -Exactly as military officers have interests distinct from, -and often antagonistic to, the efficiency of the army; so, -barristers and solicitors have interests distinct from, and -often antagonistic to, the cheap and prompt enforcement -of the law. And that they are habitually swayed by these -antagonistic interests, is notorious. So strong is the bias, -as sometimes even to destroy the power of seeing from any -other than the professional stand-point. We have ourselves -heard a lawyer declaiming on the damage which the -County-Courts-Act had done to the profession; and -expecting his non-professional hearers to join him in -condemning it there-for! And if, as all the world knows, -the legal conscience is not of the tenderest, is it wise to -depute lawyers to frame the laws which they will be concerned -in carrying out; and the carrying out of which must -affect their private incomes? Are barristers, who constantly -take fees for work which they do not perform, -and attorneys, whose bills are so often exorbitant that a -special office has been established for taxing them—are -these, of all others, to be trusted in a position which -would be trying even to the most disinterested? Nevertheless, -the towns and counties of England have returned -to the present House of Commons 98 lawyers—some -60 of them in actual practice, and the rest retired, but -doubtless retaining those class-views acquired during their -professional careers.</p> - -<p>These criticisms on the conduct of constituencies do not -necessarily commit us to the assertion that <i>none</i> belonging -to the official and aristocratic classes ought to be chosen. -Though it would be safer to carry out, -in these important <span class="xxpn" id="p299">{299}</span> -cases, the general principle which, as above shown, Parliament -has itself recognized and enforced in unimportant -cases; yet we are not prepared to say that occasional -exceptions might not be made, on good cause being shown. -All we aim to show is the gross impolicy of selecting so -large a proportion of representatives from classes having -interests different from those of the general public. That -in addition to more than a third taken from the dominant -class, who already occupy one division of the Legislature, -the House of Commons should contain nearly another third -taken from the naval, military, and legal classes, whose -policy, like that of the dominant class, is to maintain things -as they are; we consider a decisive proof of electoral misjudgment. -That out of the 654 members, of which the -People’s House now consists, there should be but 250 who, -as considered from a class point of view, are eligible, or -tolerably eligible (for we include a considerable number -who are more or less objectionable), is significant of anything -but popular good sense. That into an assembly -established to protect their interests, the commonalty of -England should have sent one-third whose interests are the -same as their own, and two-thirds whose interests are at -variance with their own, proves a scarcely credible lack -of wisdom; and seems an awkward fact for the representative -theory.</p> - -<p>If the intelligence of the mass is thus not sufficient even to choose -out men who by position and occupation are fit representatives, -still less is it sufficient to choose out men who are the fittest -in character and capacity. To see who will be liable to the bias -of private advantage is a very easy thing; to see who is wisest is -a very difficult thing; and those who do not succeed in the first -must necessarily fail in the last. The higher the wisdom the more -incomprehensible does it become by ignorance. It is a manifest fact -that the popular man or writer, is always one who is but little in -advance of the mass, and consequently <span class="xxpn" id="p300">{300}</span> understandable by them: -never the man who is far in advance of them and out of their sight. -Appreciation of another implies some community of thought. “Only the -man of worth can recognize worth in men. . . . . . The worthiest, if he -appealed to universal suffrage, would have but a poor chance. . . . . . -Alas! Jesus Christ, asking the Jews what <i>he</i> deserved—was not the -answer, Death on the gallows!” And though men do not now-a-days stone -the prophet, they, at any rate, ignore him. As Mr. Carlyle says in his -vehement way―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“If of ten men nine are recognisable as fools, which is a common -calculation, how, . . . in the name of wonder, will you ever get a -ballot-box to grind you out a wisdom from the votes of these ten men? -. . . . . I tell you a million blockheads looking authoritatively into -one man of what you call genius, or noble sense, will make nothing but -nonsense out of him and his qualities, and his virtues and defects, if -they look till the end of time.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>So that, even were electors content to choose the man -proved by general evidence to be the most far-seeing, and -refrained from testing him by the coincidence of his views -with their own, there would be small chance of their hitting -on the best. But judging of him, as they do, by asking him -whether he thinks this or that crudity which they think, it -is manifest that they will fix on one far removed from the -best. Their deputy will be truly representative;—representative, -that is, of the average stupidity.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">And now let us look at the assembly of representatives -thus chosen. Already we have noted the unfit composition -of this assembly as respects the interests of its members; -and we have just seen what the representative theory itself -implies as to their intelligence. Let us now, however, consider -them more nearly under this last head.</p> - -<p>And first, what is the work they undertake? Observe, -we do not say the work which they <i>ought</i> to do, but the -work which they <i>propose</i> to do, and <i>try</i> to do. This comprehends -the regulation of nearly all actions going on -throughout society. Besides devising -measures to prevent <span class="xxpn" id="p301">{301}</span> -the aggression of citizens on one another, and to secure each -the quiet possession of his own; and besides assuming the -further function, also needful in the present state of mankind, -of defending the nation as a whole against invaders; -they unhesitatingly take on themselves to provide for -countless wants, to cure countless ills, to oversee countless -affairs. Out of the many beliefs men have held respecting -God, Creation, the Future, etc., they presume to decide -which are true; and authorize an army of priests to perpetually -repeat them to the people. The distress resulting -from improvidence, they undertake to remove: they settle -the minimum which each ratepayer shall give in charity, -and how the proceeds shall be administered. Judging that -emigration will not naturally go on fast enough, they provide -means for carrying off some of the labouring classes to the -colonies. Certain that social necessities will not cause a -sufficiently rapid spread of knowledge, and confident that -they know what knowledge is most required, they use public -money for the building of schools and paying of teachers; -they print and publish State-school-books; they employ -inspectors to see that their standard of education is conformed -to. Playing the part of doctor, they insist that -every one shall use their specific, and escape the danger of -small-pox by submitting to an attack of cow-pox. Playing -the part of moralist, they decide which dramas are fit to be -acted and which are not. Playing the part of artist, they -prompt the setting up of drawing-schools, provide masters -and models; and, at Marlborough House, enact what shall -be considered good taste and what bad. Through their -lieutenants, the corporations of towns, they furnish appliances -for the washing of peoples’ skins and clothes; they, in -some cases, manufacture gas and put down water-pipes; -they lay out sewers and cover over cess-pools; they -establish public libraries and make public gardens. Moreover, -they determine how houses shall be built, and what is a -safe construction for a ship; they take -measures for the <span class="xxpn" id="p302">{302}</span> -security of railway-travelling; they fix the hour after which -public-houses may not be open; they regulate the prices -chargeable by vehicles plying in the London streets; they -inspect lodging-houses; they arrange for burial-grounds; -they fix the hours of factory hands. If some social process -does not seem to them to be going on fast enough, they -stimulate it; where the growth is not in the direction which -they think most desirable, they alter it; and so they seek -to realize some undefined ideal community.</p> - -<p>Such being the task undertaken, what, let us ask, are the -qualifications for discharging it? Supposing it possible to -achieve all this, what must be the knowledge and capacities -of those who shall achieve it? Successfully to prescribe -for society, it is needful to know the structure of society—the -principles on which it is organized—the natural laws of -its progress. If there be not a true understanding of what -constitutes social development, there must necessarily be -grave mistakes made in checking these changes and fostering -those. If there be lack of insight respecting the mutual -dependence of the many functions which, taken together, -make up the national life, unforeseen disasters will ensue -from not perceiving how an interference with one will affect -the rest. That is to say, there must be a due acquaintance -with the social science—the science involving all others; -the science standing above all others in complexity.</p> - -<p>And now, how far do our legislators possess this qualification? -Do they in any moderate degree display it? Do -they make even a distant approximation to it? That many -of them are very good classical scholars is beyond doubt: -not a few have written first-rate Latin verses, and can -enjoy a Greek play; but there is no obvious relation -between a memory well stocked with the words spoken -two thousand years ago, and an understanding disciplined -to deal with modern society. That in learning the languages -of the past they have learnt some of its history, is -true; but considering that this history -is mainly a <span class="xxpn" id="p303">{303}</span> -narrative of battles and plots and negociations and treacheries, -it does not throw much light on social philosophy—not -even the simplest principles of political economy have ever -been gathered from it. We do not question, either, that -a moderate per centage of members of Parliament are -fair mathematicians; and that mathematical discipline is -valuable. As, however, political problems are not susceptible -of mathematical analysis, their studies in this direction -cannot much aid them in legislation. To the large body -of military officers who sit as representatives, we would not -for a moment deny a competent knowledge of fortification, -of strategy, of regimental discipline; but we do not see -that these throw much light on the causes and cure of -national evils. Indeed, considering that war fosters anti-social -sentiments, and that the government of soldiers is -necessarily despotic, military education and habits are more -likely to unfit than to fit men for regulating the doings of -a free people. Extensive acquaintance with the laws, may -doubtless be claimed by the many barristers chosen by -our constituencies; and this seems a kind of information -having some relation to the work to be done. Unless, -however, this information is more than technical—unless it -is accompanied by knowledge of the ramified consequences -which laws have produced in times past and are producing -now (which nobody will assert), it cannot give much -insight into Social Science. A familiarity with laws is no -more a preparation for rational legislation, than would a -familiarity with all the nostrums men have ever used be a -preparation for the rational practice of medicine. Nowhere, -then, in our representative body, do we find appropriate -culture. Here is a clever novelist, and there a successful -maker of railways; this member has acquired a large -fortune in trade, and that member is noted as an agricultural -improver; but none of these achievements imply -fitness for controlling and adjusting social processes. -Among the many who have passed -through the public <span class="xxpn" id="p304">{304}</span> -school and university <i>curriculum</i>—including though they -may a few Oxford double-firsts and one or two Cambridge -wranglers—there are none who have received the discipline -required by the true legislator. None have that competent -knowledge of Science in general, culminating in the -Science of Life, which can alone form a basis for the -Science of Society. For it is one of those open secrets -which seem the more secret because they are so open, -that all phenomena displayed by a nation are phenomena -of Life, and are dependent on the laws of Life. There is -no growth, decay, evil, improvement, or change of any -kind, going on in the body politic, but what has its cause -in the actions of human beings; and there are no actions -of human beings but what conform to the laws of Life in -general, and cannot be truly understood until those laws -are understood.</p> - -<p>See, then, the immense incongruity between the end and -the means. See on the one hand the countless difficulties -of the task; and on the other hand the almost total -unpreparedness of those who undertake it. Need we -wonder that legislation is ever breaking down? Is it not -natural that complaint, amendment, and repeal, should -form the staple business of every session? Is there anything -more than might be expected in the absurd Jack-Cadeisms -which disgrace the debates? Even without -setting up so high a standard of qualification as that above -specified, the unfitness of most representatives for their duties -is abundantly manifest. You need but glance over the -miscellaneous list of noblemen, baronets, squires, merchants, -barristers, engineers, soldiers, sailors, railway-directors, etc., -and then ask what training their previous lives have given -them for the intricate business of legislation, to see at once -how extreme must be the incompetence. One would think -that the whole system had been framed on the sayings of -some political Dogberry:—“The art of healing is difficult; -the art of government easy. -The understanding of <span class="xxpn" id="p305">{305}</span> -arithmetic comes by study; while the understanding of -society comes by instinct. Watchmaking requires a long -apprenticeship; but there needs none for the making of -institutions. To manage a shop properly requires teaching; -but the management of a people may be undertaken without -preparation.” Were we to be visited by some wiser -Gulliver, or, as in the “Micromegas” of Voltaire, by some -inhabitant of another sphere, his account of our political -institutions might run somewhat as follows:―</p> - -<p>“I found that the English were governed by an assembly -of men, said to embody the ‘collective wisdom.’ This -assembly, joined with some other authorities which seem -practically subordinate to it, has unlimited power. I was -much perplexed by this. With us it is customary to define -the office of any appointed body; and, above all things, to -see that it does not defeat the ends for which it was -appointed. But both the theory and the practice of this -English Government imply that it may do whatever it -pleases. Though, by their current maxims and usages, the -English recognize the right of property as sacred—though -the infraction of it is considered by them one of the gravest -crimes—though the laws profess to be so jealous of it as to -punish even the stealing of a turnip; yet their legislators -suspend it at will. They take the money of citizens for -any project which they choose to undertake; though such -project was not in the least contemplated by those who -gave them authority—nay, though the greater part of the -citizens from whom the money is taken had no share in -giving them such authority. Each citizen can hold property -only so long as the 654 deputies do not want it. It -seemed to me that an exploded doctrine once current -among them of ‘the divine right of kings,’ had simply been -changed into the divine right of Parliaments.</p> - -<p>“I was at first inclined to think that the constitution of -things on the Earth was totally different from what it is -with us; for the current political -philosophy here, implies <span class="xxpn" id="p306">{306}</span> -that acts are not right or wrong in themselves but are -made one or the other by the votes of law-makers. In our -world it is considered manifest that if a number of beings -live together, there must, in virtue of their natures, be -certain primary conditions on which only they can work -satisfactorily in concert; and we infer that the conduct -which breaks through these conditions is bad. In the -English legislature, however, a proposal to regulate conduct -by any such abstract standard would be held absurd. I -asked one of their members of Parliament whether a -majority of the House could legitimize murder. He said, -No. I asked him whether it could sanctify robbery. He -thought not. But I could not make him see that if murder -and robbery are intrinsically wrong, and not to be made -right by decisions of statesmen, that similarly <i>all</i> actions -must be either right or wrong, apart from the authority of -the law; and that if the right and wrong of the law are -not in harmony with this intrinsic right and wrong, the -law itself is criminal. Some, indeed, among the English -think as we do. One of their remarkable men (<i>not</i> included -in their Assembly of Notables) writes thus:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“‘To ascertain better and better what the will of the Eternal was and is -with us, what the laws of the Eternal are, all Parliaments, Ecumenic -Councils, Congresses, and other Collective Wisdoms, have had this for their -object. . . . . Nevertheless, in the inexplicable universal votings and -debatings of these Ages, an idea or rather a dumb presumption to the -contrary has gone idly abroad; and at this day, over extensive tracts of the -world, poor human beings are to be found, whose practical belief it is that if -we “vote” this or that, so this or that will thenceforth <i>be</i>. . . . . Practically, -men have come to imagine that the Laws of this Universe, like the laws of -constitutional countries, are decided by voting. . . . It is an idle fancy. -The Laws of this Universe, of which if the Laws of England are not an -exact transcript, they should passionately study to become such, are fixed -by the everlasting congruity of things, and are not fixable or changeable -by voting!’</p></blockquote> - -<p>“But I find that, contemptuously disregarding all such -protests, the English legislators persevere in their -hyperatheistic -notion, that an Act of Parliament duly enforced by -State-officers, will work out any object: -no question being <span class="xxpn" id="p307">{307}</span> -put whether Laws of Nature permit. I forgot to ask whether -they considered that different kinds of food could be made -wholesome or unwholesome by State-decree.</p> - -<p>“One thing that struck me was the curious way in which -the members of their House of Commons judge of one -another’s capacities. Many who expressed opinions of the -crudest kinds, or trivial platitudes, or worn-out superstitions, -were civilly treated. Follies as great as that but a few -years since uttered by one of their ministers, who said that -free-trade was contrary to common sense, were received in -silence. But I was present when one of their number, who, -as I thought, was speaking very rationally, made a mistake -in his pronunciation—made what they call a wrong quantity; -and immediately there arose a shout of derision. It seemed -quite tolerable that a member should know little or nothing -about the business he was there to transact; but quite intolerable -that he should be ignorant on a point of no moment.</p> - -<p>“The English pique themselves on being especially -practical—have a great contempt for theorizers, and profess -to be guided exclusively by facts. Before making or altering -a law it is the custom to appoint a committee of inquiry, -who send for men able to give information concerning the -matter in hand, and ask them some thousands of questions. -These questions, and the answers given to them, are printed -in large books, and distributed among the members of the -Houses of Parliament; and I was told that they spent about -£100,000 a year in thus collecting and distributing evidence. -Nevertheless, it appeared to me that the ministers and -representatives of the English people, pertinaciously adhere -to theories long ago disproved by the most conspicuous -facts. They pay great respect to petty details of evidence, -but of large truths they are quite regardless. Thus, the -experience of age after age has shown that their state-management -is almost invariably bad. The national estates -are so miserably administered as often -to bring loss <span class="xxpn" id="p308">{308}</span> -instead of gain. The government ship-yards are uniformly -extravagant and inefficient. The judicial system works so -ill that most citizens will submit to serious losses rather -than run risks of being ruined by law-suits. Countless -facts prove the Government to be the worst owner, the -worst manufacturer, the worst trader: in fact, the worst -manager, be the thing managed what it may. But though -the evidence of this is abundant and conclusive—though, -during a recent war, the bunglings of officials were as glaring -and multitudinous as ever; yet the belief that any proposed -duties will be satisfactorily discharged by a new public -department appointed to them, seems not a whit the -weaker. Legislators, thinking themselves practical, cling -to the plausible theory of an officially-regulated society, -spite of overwhelming evidence that official regulation -perpetually fails.</p> - -<p>“Nay, indeed, the belief seems to gain strength among -these fact-loving English statesmen, notwithstanding the -facts are against it. Proposals for State-control over this -and the other, have been of late more rife than ever. And, -most remarkable of all, their representative assembly lately -listened with grave faces to the assertion, made by one of their -high authorities, that State-workshops are more economical -than private workshops. Their prime minister, in defending -a recently-established arms-factory, actually told them that, -at one of their arsenals, certain missiles of war were manufactured -not only better than by the trade, but at about -one-third the price; and added, ‘<i>so it would be in all things</i>.’ -The English being a trading people, who must be tolerably -familiar with the usual rates of profit among manufacturers, -and the margin for possible economy, the fact that they -should have got for their chief representative one so utterly -in the dark on these matters, struck me as a wonderful -result of the representative system.</p> - -<p>“I did not inquire much further, for it -was manifest that <span class="xxpn" id="p309">{309}</span> -if these were really their wisest men, the English were not -a wise people.”</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Representative government, then, cannot be called a success, -in so far as the choice of men is concerned. Those it -puts into power are the fittest neither in respect of their -interests, nor their culture, nor their wisdom. And as a -consequence, partly of this and partly of its complex and -cumbrous nature, representative government is anything -but efficient for administrative purposes. In these respects -it is manifestly inferior to monarchical government. This -has the advantage of simplicity, which is always conducive -to efficiency. And it has the further advantage that the -power is in the hands of one who is directly concerned in -the good management of national affairs; seeing that the -continued maintenance of his power—nay, often his very -life—depends on this. For his own sake a monarch chooses -the wisest councillors he can find, regardless of class-distinctions. -His interest in getting the best help is too -great to allow of prejudices standing between him and a -far-seeing man. We see this abundantly illustrated. Did -not the kings of France take Richelieu, and Mazarin, and -Turgot to assist them? Had not Henry VIII. his Wolsey, -Elizabeth her Burleigh, James his Bacon, Cromwell his -Milton? And were not these men of greater calibre than -those who hold the reins under our constitutional <i>régime?</i> -So strong is the motive of an autocrat to make use of ability -wherever it exists, that he will, like Louis XI., take even his -barber into council if he finds him a clever fellow. Besides -choosing them for ministers and advisers, he seeks out the -most competent men for other offices. Napoleon raised his -marshals from the ranks; and owed his military success in -great part to the readiness with which he saw and availed -himself of merit wherever found. We have recently seen -in Russia how prompt was the recognition and promotion of -engineering talent in the case of Todleben; -and know to <span class="xxpn" id="p310">{310}</span> -our cost how greatly the prolonged defence of Sebastopol -was due to this. In the marked contrast to these cases -supplied by our own army, in which genius is ignored while -muffs are honoured—in which wealth and caste make the -advance of plebeian merit next to impossible—in which -jealousies between Queen’s service and Company’s service -render the best generalship almost unavailable; we see that -the representative system fails in the officering of its -executive, as much as in the officering of its legislative. A -striking antithesis between the actions of the two forms of -government, is presented in the evidence given before the -Sebastopol Committee respecting the supply of huts to the -Crimean army—evidence showing that while, in his negotiations -with the English Government, the contractor for the -huts met with nothing but vacillation, delay, and official -rudeness, the conduct of the French Government was -marked by promptitude, decision, sound judgment, and -great civility. Everything goes to show that for administrative -efficiency, autocratic power is the best. If your aim -is a well-organized army—if you want to have sanitary -departments, and educational departments, and -charity-departments, -managed in a business-like way—if you would -have society actively regulated by staffs of State-agents; -then by all means choose that system of complete centralization -which we call despotism.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Probably, notwithstanding the hints dropped at the -outset, most have read the foregoing pages with surprise. -Very likely some have referred to the cover of the <i>Review</i>, -to see whether they have not, in mistake, taken up some -other than the “<i>Westminster</i>;” while some may, perhaps, -have accompanied their perusal by a running commentary -of epithets condemnatory of our seeming change of principles. -Let them not be alarmed. We have not in the -least swerved from the confession of faith set forth in our -prospectus. On the contrary, as we -shall shortly show, <span class="xxpn" id="p311">{311}</span> -our adhesion to free institutions is as strong as ever—nay, -has even gained strength through this apparently -antagonistic criticism.</p> - -<p>The subordination of a nation to a man, is not a wholesome -but a vicious state of things: needful, indeed, for a -vicious humanity; but to be outgrown as fast as may be. -The instinct which makes it possible is anything but a -noble one. Call it “hero-worship,” and it looks respectable. -Call it what it is—a blind awe and fear of power, no -matter of what kind, but more especially of the brutal -kind; and it is by no means to be admired. Watch it in -early ages deifying the cannibal chief; singing the praises -of the successful thief; commemorating the most blood-thirsty -warriors; speaking with reverence of those who -had shown undying revenge; and erecting altars to such -as carried furthest the vices which disgrace humanity; -and the illusion disappears. Read how, where it was -strongest, it immolated crowds of victims at the tomb of -the dead king—how, at the altars raised to its heroes, it -habitually sacrificed prisoners and children to satisfy their -traditional appetite for human flesh—how it produced that -fealty of subjects to rulers which made possible endless -aggressions, battles, massacres, and horrors innumerable—how -it has mercilessly slain those who would not lick the -dust before its idols;—read all this, and the feeling no -longer seems so worthy an one. See it in later days -idealizing the worst as well as the best monarchs; receiving -assassins with acclamation; hurrahing before successful -treachery; rushing to applaud the processions and shows -and ceremonies wherewith effete power strengthens itself; -and it looks far from laudable. Autocracy presupposes -inferiority of nature on the part of both ruler and subject: -on the one side a cold, unsympathetic sacrificing of other’s -wills to self-will; on the other side a mean, cowardly -abandonment of the claims of manhood. -Our very language <span class="xxpn" id="p312">{312}</span> -bears testimony to this. Do not <i>dignity</i>, <i>independence</i>, -and other words of approbation, imply a nature at variance -with this relation? Are not <i>tyrannical</i>, <i>arbitrary</i>, <i>despotic</i>, -epithets of reproach? and are not <i>truckling</i>, <i>fawning</i>, -<i>cringing</i>, epithets of contempt? Is not <i>slavish</i> a condemnatory -term? Does not <i>servile</i>, that is, serf-like, imply -littleness, meanness? And has not the word <i>villain</i>, which -originally meant bondsman, come to signify everything -which is hateful? That language should thus inadvertently -embody dislike for those who most display the -instinct of subordination, is alone sufficient proof that this -instinct is associated with evil dispositions. It has been -the parent of countless crimes. It is answerable for the -torturing and murder of the noble-minded who would not -submit—for the horrors of Bastiles and Siberias. It has -ever been the represser of knowledge, of free thought, of -true progress. In all times it has fostered the vices of -courts, and made those vices fashionable throughout -nations. With a George IV. on the throne, it weekly tells -ten thousand lies, in the shape of prayers for a “most -religious and gracious king.” Whether you read the -annals of the far past—whether you look at the various -uncivilized races dispersed over the globe—or whether -you contrast the existing nations of Europe; you equally -find that submission to authority decreases as morality and -intelligence increase. From ancient warrior-worship down -to modern flunkeyism, the sentiment has ever been strongest -where human nature has been vilest.</p> - -<p>This relation between barbarism and loyalty, is one of -those beneficent arrangements which “the servant and -interpreter of nature” everywhere meets with. The subordination -of many to one, is a form of society needful for -men so long as their natures are savage, or anti-social; -and that it may be maintained, it is needful that they -should have an extreme awe of the one. -Just in proportion <span class="xxpn" id="p313">{313}</span> -as their conduct to one another is such as to breed -perpetual antagonism, endangering social union; just in -that proportion must there be a reverence for the strong, -determined, cruel ruler, who alone can repress their -explosive natures and keep them from mutual destruction. -Among such a people any form of free government is an -impossibility. There must be a despotism as stern as the -people are savage; and, that such a despotism may exist, -there must be a superstitious worship of the despot. But -as fast as the discipline of social life modifies character—as -fast as, through lack of use, the old predatory instincts -dwindle—as fast as the sympathetic feelings grow; so -fast does this hard rule become less necessary; so fast -does the authority of the ruler diminish; so fast does the -awe of him disappear. From being originally god, or -demi-god, he comes at length to be a very ordinary person; -liable to be criticized, ridiculed, caricatured. Various -influences conspire to this result. Accumulating knowledge -gradually divests the ruler of those supernatural attributes -at first ascribed to him. The conceptions which developing -science gives of the grandeur of creation, as well as the -constancy and irresistibleness of its Omnipresent Cause, -make all feel the comparative littleness of human power; -and the awe once felt for the great man is, by degrees, -transferred to that Universe of which the great man is -seen to form but an insignificant part. Increase of -population, with its average per-centage of great men, -involves the comparative frequency of such; and the more -numerous they are the less respect can be given to each: -they dwarf one another. As society becomes settled and -organized, its welfare and progress become more and more -independent of any one. In a primitive society the death -of a chief may alter the whole course of things; but in a -society like ours, things go on much as before, no matter -who dies. Thus, many influences combine to diminish -autocratic power, whether political or other. -It is true, <span class="xxpn" id="p314">{314}</span> -not only in the sense in which Tennyson writes it, but also -in a higher sense, that―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"><div class="nowrap"> <p -class="pcontinue">. . . “the individual withers, and the -world is more and more.”</p></div></blockquote> - -<p>Further, it is to be noted that while the unlimited -authority of the greatest man ceases to be needful; and -while the superstitious awe which upholds that unlimited -authority decreases; it at the same time becomes impossible -to get the greatest man to the top. In a rude social -state, where might is right, where war is the business of -life, where the qualities required in the ruler, alike for -controlling his subjects and defeating his enemies, are -bodily strength, courage, cunning, will, it is easy to pick -out the best; or rather—he picks himself out. The -qualities which make him the fittest governor for the -barbarians around him, are the qualities by which he gets -the mastery over them. But in an advanced, complex, -and comparatively peaceful state like ours, these are not -the qualities needed; and even were they needed, the -firmly-organized arrangements of society do not allow the -possessor of them to break through to the top. For the -rule of a settled, civilized community, the characteristics -required are—not a love of conquest but a desire for the -general happiness; not undying hate of enemies but a -calm dispassionate equity; not artful manœuvring but -philosophic insight. How is the man most endowed with -these to be found? In no country is he ordinarily born -heir to the throne; and that he can be chosen out of -thirty millions of people none will be foolish enough to -think. The incapacity for recognizing the greatest worth, -we have already seen illustrated in our parliamentary -elections. And if the few thousands forming a constituency -cannot pick out from among themselves their -wisest man, still less can the millions forming a nation -do it. Just as fast as society becomes populous, complex, -peaceful; so fast does the political supremacy of the best -become impossible. <span class="xxpn" id="p315">{315}</span></p> - -<p>But even were the relation of autocrat and slave a -morally wholesome one; and even were it possible to find -the fittest man to be autocrat; we should still contend that -such a form of government is bad. We should not contend -this simply on the ground that self-government is a valuable -educator. But we should take the ground that no human -being, however wise and good, is fit to be sole ruler over -the doings of an involved society; and that, with the best -intentions, a benevolent despot is very likely to produce -the most terrible mischiefs which would else have been -impossible. We will take the case of all others the most -favourable to those who would give supreme power to the -best. We will instance Mr. Carlyle’s model hero—Cromwell. -Doubtless there was much in the manners of the -times when Puritanism arose, to justify its disgust. Doubtless -the vices and follies bequeathed by effete Catholicism -still struggling for existence, were bad enough to create a -reactionary asceticism. It is in the order of Nature, however, -that men’s habits and pleasures are not to be changed -suddenly. For any <i>permanent</i> effect to be produced it must -be produced slowly. Better tastes, higher aspirations, must -be developed; not enforced from without. Disaster is -sure to result from the withdrawal of lower gratifications -before higher ones have taken their places; for gratification -of some kind is a condition to healthful existence. -Whatever ascetic morality, or rather immorality, may say, -pleasures and pains are the incentives and restraints by -which Nature keeps her progeny from destruction. No -contemptuous title of “pig-philosophy” will alter the -eternal fact that Misery is the highway to Death; while -Happiness is added Life and the giver of Life. But indignant -Puritanism could not see this truth; and with the -extravagance of fanaticism sought to abolish pleasure in -general. Getting into power, it put down not only questionable -amusements but all others along -with them. And <span class="xxpn" id="p316">{316}</span> -for these repressions Cromwell, either as enacting, maintaining, -or allowing them, was responsible. What, now, -was the result of this attempt to dragoon men into virtue? -What came when the strong man who thought he was thus -“helping God to mend all,” died? A dreadful reaction -brought in one of the most degraded periods of our history. -Into the newly-garnished house entered “seven other spirits -more wicked than the first.” For generations the English -character was lowered. Vice was gloried in, virtue was -ridiculed; dramatists made marriage the stock-subject of -laughter; profaneness and obscenity flourished; high -aspirations ceased; the whole age was corrupt. Not until -George III. reigned was there a better standard of living. -And for this century of demoralization we have, in great -measure, to thank Cromwell. Is it, then, so clear that the -domination of one man, righteous though he may be, is -a blessing?</p> - -<p>Lastly, it is to be remarked that when the political -supremacy of the greatest no longer exists in an overt form, -it still continues in a disguised and more beneficent form. -For is it not manifest that in these latter days the wise man -eventually gets his edicts enforced by others, if not by himself. -Adam Smith, from his chimney-corner, dictated -greater changes than prime ministers do. A General -Thompson who forges the weapons with which the Anti-Corn-Law -battle is fought—a Cobden and a Bright who add -to and wield them, forward civilization much more than -those who hold sceptres. Repugnant as the fact may be to -statesmen, it is yet one not to be gainsayed. Whoever, -to the great effects already produced by Free-trade, joins -the far greater effects which will be hereafter produced, -must see that the revolution initiated by these men is far -wider than has been initiated by any potentate of modern -times. As Mr. Carlyle very well knows, those who elaborate -new truths and teach them to -their fellows, are <span class="xxpn" id="p317">{317}</span> -now-a-days the real rulers—“the unacknowledged legislators”—the -virtual kings. Thus we have the good which great -men can do us, while we are saved from the evil.</p> - -<p>No; the old <i>régime</i> has passed away. For ourselves at -least, the subordination of the many to the one has become -alike needless, repugnant, and impossible. Good for its -time, bad for ours, the ancient “hero-worship” is dead; -and happily no declamations, be they never so eloquent, -can revive it.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Here seem to be two irreconcileable positions—two -mutually-destructive arguments. First, a condemnatory -criticism on representative government, and then a still -more condemnatory criticism on monarchical government: -each apparently abolishing the other.</p> - -<p>Nevertheless, the paradox is easily explicable. It is -quite possible to say all that we have said concerning the -defects of representative government, and still to hold that -it is the best form of government. Nay, it is quite possible -to derive a more profound conviction of its superiority from -the very evidence which appears so unfavourable to it.</p> - -<p>For nothing that we have urged tells against its goodness -as a means of securing justice between man and man, or -class and class. Abundant evidence shows that the maintenance -of equitable relations among its subjects, which -forms the essential business of a ruling power, is surest -when the ruling power is of popular origin; notwithstanding -the defects to which such a ruling power is liable. For -discharging the true function of a government, representative -government is shown to be the best, alike by its <i>origin</i>, -its <i>theory</i>, and its <i>results</i>. Let us glance at the facts under -these three heads.</p> - -<p>Alike in Spain, in England, and in France, popular -power embodied itself as a check upon kingly tyranny, -that is—kingly injustice. The earliest accounts we have of -the Spanish Cortes, say that it was their -office to advise <span class="xxpn" id="p318">{318}</span> -the King; and to follow their advice was his duty. They -petitioned, remonstrated, complained of grievances, and -supplicated for redress. The King, having acceded to -their requirements, swore to observe them; and it was -agreed that any act of his in contravention of the statutes -thus established, should be “respected as the King’s -commands, but not executed, as contrary to the rights and -privileges of the subject.” In all which we see very clearly -that the special aim of the Cortes was to get rectified the -injustices committed by the King or others; that the King -was in the habit of breaking the promises of amendment -he made to them; and that they had to adopt measures to -enforce the fulfilment of his promises. In England we -trace analogous facts. The Barons who bridled the tyranny -of King John, though not formally appointed, were virtually -impromptu representatives of the nation; and in -their demand that justice should neither be sold, denied, -nor delayed, we discern the social evils which led to this -taking of the power into their own hands. In early times -the knights and burgesses, summoned by the King with -the view of getting supplies from them, had for their -especial business to obtain from him the redress of grievances, -that is—the execution of justice; and in their -eventually-obtained and occasionally-exercised power of -withholding supplies until justice was granted, we see both -the need there was for remedying the iniquities of autocracy, -and the adaptation of representative institutions to this -end. And the further development of popular power -latterly obtained, originated from the demand for fairer laws—for -less class-privilege, class-exemption, class-injustice: -a fact which the speeches of the Reform-Bill agitation -abundantly prove. In France, again, representative government -grew into a definite form under the stimulus of -unbearable oppression. When the accumulated extortion -of centuries had reduced the mass of the people to misery—when -millions of haggard faces were -seen throughout the <span class="xxpn" id="p319">{319}</span> -land—when starving complainants were hanged on “a -gallows forty feet high”—when the exactions and cruelties -of good-for-nothing kings and vampire-nobles had brought -the nation to the eve of dissolution; there came, as a -remedy, an assembly of men elected by the people.</p> - -<p>That, considered <i>a priori</i>, representative government is -fitted for establishing just laws, is implied by the unanimity -with which Spanish, English, and French availed themselves -of it to this end; as well as by the endeavours latterly made -by other European nations to do the like. The <i>rationale</i> of -the matter is simple enough. Manifestly, on the average of -cases, a man will protect his own interests more solicitously -than others will protect them for him. Manifestly, where -regulations have to be made affecting the interests of -several men, they are most likely to be equitably made -when all those concerned are present, and have equal -shares in the making of them. And manifestly, where -those concerned are so numerous and so dispersed, that it -is physically impossible for them all to take part in the -framing of such regulations, the next best thing is for the -citizens in each locality to appoint one of their number to -speak for them, to care for their claims, to be their representative. -The general principle is that the welfare of all will -be most secure when each looks after his own welfare; and -the principle is carried out as directly as the circumstances -permit. It is inferable, alike from human nature and from -history, that a single man cannot be trusted with the -interests of a nation of men, where his real or imagined -interests clash with theirs. It is similarly inferable from -human nature and from history, that no small section of a -nation, as the nobles, can be expected to consult the welfare -of the people at large in preference to their own. And it -is further inferable that only in a general diffusion of -political power, is there a safeguard for the general -welfare. This has all along been the conviction under -which representative government -has been advocated, <span class="xxpn" id="p320">{320}</span> -maintained, and extended. From the early writs summoning the -members of the House of Commons—writs which declared it -to be a most equitable rule that the laws which concerned -all should be approved of by all—down to the reasons now -urged by the unenfranchised for a participation in political -power, this is the implied theory. Observe, nothing is said -about wisdom or administrative ability. From the beginning, -the end in view has been <i>justice</i>. Whether we -consider the question in the abstract, or whether we -examine the opinions men have entertained upon it from -old times down to the present day, we equally see the -theory of representative government to be, that it is the -best means of insuring equitable social relations.</p> - -<p>And do not the results justify the theory? Did not our -early Parliaments, after long-continued struggles, succeed -in curbing the licentious exercise of royal power, and in -establishing the rights of the subject? Are not the comparative -security and justice enjoyed under our form of -government, indicated by the envy with which other -nations regard it? Was not the election of the French -Constituent Assembly followed by the sweeping away of -the grievous burdens that weighed down the people—by -the abolition of tithes, seignorial dues, gabelle, excessive -preservation of game—by the withdrawal of numerous -feudal privileges and immunities—by the manumission of -the slaves in the French colonies?—And has not that -extension of our own electoral system embodied in the -Reform-Bill, brought about more equitable arrangements?—as -witness the repeal of the Corn-Laws, and the equalization -of probate and legacy duties. The proofs are undeniable. -It is clear, both <i>a priori</i> and <i>a posteriori</i>, that representative -government is especially adapted for the establishment -and maintenance of just laws.</p> - -<p>And now mark that the objections to representative -government awhile since urged, scarcely tell against it at all, -so long as it does not exceed -this comparatively limited <span class="xxpn" id="p321">{321}</span> -function. Though its mediocrity of intellect makes it -incompetent to oversee and regulate the countless involved -processes which make up the national life; it nevertheless -has quite enough intellect to enact and enforce those simple -principles of equity which underlie the right conduct of -citizens to one another. These are such that the commonest -minds can understand their chief applications. Stupid as -may be the average elector, he can see the propriety of -such regulations as shall prevent men from murdering and -robbing; he can understand the fitness of laws which enforce -the payment of debts; he can perceive the need of -measures to prevent the strong from tyrannizing over the -weak; and he can feel the rectitude of a judicial system that -is the same for rich and poor. The average representative -may be but of small capacity, but he is competent, under -the leadership of his wiser fellows, to devise appliances for -carrying out these necessary restraints; or rather—he is -competent to uphold the set of appliances slowly elaborated -by the many generations of his predecessors, and to do -something towards improving and extending them in those -directions where the need is most manifest. It is true that -even these small demands upon electoral and senatorial -wisdom are but imperfectly met. But though constituencies -are blind to the palpable truth that if they would -escape laws which favour the nobility at the expense of the -commonalty, they must cease to choose representatives -from among the nobility; yet when the injustice of this -class-legislation is glaring—as in the case of the Corn-Laws—they -have sense enough to use means for getting -it abolished. And though most legislators have not sufficient -penetration to perceive that the greater part of the -evils which they attempt to cure by official inspection and -regulation, would disappear were there a certain, prompt, -and cheap administration of justice; yet the County-Courts-Act -and other recent law-reforms, show that they do -eventually recognize the importance -of more efficient <span class="xxpn" id="p322">{322}</span> -judicial arrangements. While, therefore, the lower average -of intelligence which necessarily characterizes representative -government, unfits it for discharging the complex business -of regulating the entire national life; it does not unfit it for -discharging the comparatively simple duties of protector. -Again, in respect of this all-essential function of a government, -there is a much clearer identity of interest between -representative and citizen, than in respect of the multitudinous -other functions which governments undertake. -Though it is generally of but little consequence to the member -of Parliament whether state-teachers, state-preachers, -state-officers of health, state-dispensers of charity, etc., do -their work well, it is of great consequence to him that life -and property should be secure; and hence he is more likely -to care for the efficient administration of justice than for -the efficient administration of anything else. Moreover, the -complexity, incongruity of parts, and general cumbrousness -which deprive a representative government of that activity -and decision required for paternally-superintending the -affairs of thirty millions of citizens; do not deprive it of the -ability to establish and maintain the regulations by which -these citizens are prevented from trespassing against one -another. For the principles of equity are permanent as well -as simple; and once having been legally embodied in their -chief outlines, all that devolves on a government is to develop -them more perfectly, and improve the appliances for enforcing -them: an undertaking for which the slow and involved -action of a representative government does not unfit it. So -that while by its origin, theory, and results, representative -government is shown to be the best for securing justice -between class and class, as well as between man and man, -the objections which so strongly tell against it in all its -other relations to society, do not tell against it in this -fundamental relation.</p> - -<p>Thus, then, we reach the solution of the paradox. Here is -the reconciliation between -the two seemingly-contradictory <span class="xxpn" id="p323">{323}</span> -positions awhile since taken. To the question—What is -representative government good for? our reply is—It is -good, especially good, good above all others, for doing the -thing which a government should do. It is bad, especially -bad, bad above all others, for doing the things which a -government should not do.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">One point remains. We said, some distance back, that -not only may representative government be the best, notwithstanding -its many conspicuous deficiencies; but that it is -even possible to discern in these very deficiencies further -proofs of its superiority. The conclusion just arrived at, -implying, as it does, that these deficiencies tend to hinder it -from doing the things which no government should do, has -already furnished a key to this strange-looking assertion. -But it will be well here to make a more specific justification -of it. This brings us to the pure science of the matter.</p> - -<p>The ever-increasing complexity which characterizes advancing -societies, is a complexity that results from the -multiplication of different parts performing different duties. -The doctrine of the division of labour is now-a-days understood -by most to some extent; and most know that by -this division of labour each operative, each manufacturer, -each town, each district, is constantly more and more -restricted to one kind of work. Those who study the -organization of living bodies find the uniform process -of development to be, that each organ gradually acquires a -definite and limited function: there arises, step by step, -a more perfect “physiological division of labour.” And -in an article on “Progress: its Law and Cause,” published -in our April number, we pointed out that this increasing -specialization of functions which goes on in all organized -bodies, social as well as individual, is one of the manifestations -of a still more general process pervading creation, -inorganic as well as organic.</p> - -<p>Now this specialization of functions, which is -the law of <span class="xxpn" id="p324">{324}</span> -all organization, has a twofold implication. At the same -time that each part grows adapted to the particular duty -it has to discharge, it grows unadapted to all other duties. -The becoming especially fit for one thing, is a becoming -less fit than before for everything else. We have not -space here to exemplify this truth. Any modern work -on physiology, however, will furnish the reader with -abundant illustrations of it, as exhibited in the evolution -of living creatures; and as exhibited in the evolution of -societies, it may be studied in the writings of political -economists. All which we wish here to point out is, that -the governmental part of the body politic exemplifies this -truth equally with its other parts. In virtue of this -universal law, a government cannot gain ability to perform -its special work without losing such ability as it had to -perform other work.</p> - -<p>This then is, as we say, the pure science of the matter. -The original and essential office of a government is that of -protecting its subjects against aggression external and -internal. In low, undeveloped forms of society, where -yet there is but little differentiation of parts, and little -specialization of functions, this essential work, discharged -with extreme imperfection, is joined with endless other -work: the government has a controlling action over all -conduct, individual and social—regulates dress, food, -ablutions, prices, trade, religion—exercises unbounded -power. In becoming so constituted as to discharge better -its essential function, the government becomes more limited -alike in the power and the habit of doing other things. -Increasing ability to perform its true duty, involves -decreasing ability to perform all other kinds of actions. -And this conclusion, deducible from the universal law of -organization, is the conclusion to which inductive reasoning -has already led us. We have seen that, whether considered -in theory or practice, representative government is the -best for securing justice. We have also -seen that, whether <span class="xxpn" id="p325">{325}</span> -considered in theory or practice, it is the worst for all -other purposes. And here we find that this last characteristic -is a necessary accompaniment of the first. These -various incapacities, which seem to tell so seriously against -the goodness of representative government, are but the -inevitable consequences of its more complete adaptation -to its proper work; and, so understood, are themselves -indications that it is the form of government natural to a -more highly-organized and advanced social state.</p> - -<p>We do not expect this consideration to weigh much -with those whom it most concerns. Truths of so abstract -a character find no favour with senates. The metamorphosis -we have described is not mentioned in Ovid. -History, as at present written, makes no comments on it. -There is nothing about it to be found in blue-books and -committee-reports. Neither is it proved by statistics. -Evidently, then, it has but small chance of recognition by -the “practical” legislator. But to the select few who -study the Social Science, properly so called, we commend -this general fact as one of the highest significance. Those -who know something of the general laws of life, and who -perceive that these general laws of life underlie all social -phenomena, will see that this dual change in the character -of advanced governments, involves an answer to the first -of all political questions. They will see that this specialization -in virtue of which an advanced government gains -power to perform one function, while it loses power to -perform others, clearly indicates the true limitations of -State-duty. They will see that, even leaving out all other -evidence, this fact alone shows conclusively what is the -proper sphere of legislation.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> <div><span class="xxpn" -id="p326">{326}</span></div> <h2 class="h2nobreak">STATE-TAMPERINGS -WITH MONEY AND BANKS.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First published in</i> The Westminster Review <i>for -January 1858</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>Among unmitigated rogues, mutual trust is impossible. -Among people of absolute integrity, mutual trust would be -unlimited. These are truisms. Given a nation made up of -liars and thieves, and all trade among its members must be -carried on either by barter or by a currency of intrinsic value: -nothing in the shape of <i>promises</i>-to-pay can pass in place of -<i>actual</i> payments; for, by the hypothesis, such promises -being never fulfilled, will not be taken. On the other -hand, given a nation of perfectly honest men—men as -careful of others’ rights as of their own—and nearly all -trade among its members may be carried on by memoranda -of debts and claims, eventually written off against one -another in the books of bankers; seeing that as, by the -hypothesis, no man will ever issue more memoranda of -debts than his goods and his claims will liquidate, his -paper will pass current for whatever it represents. Coin -will be needed only as a measure of value, and to facilitate -those small transactions for which it is physically the most -convenient. These we take to be self-evident truths.</p> - -<p>From them follows the corollary that in a nation neither -wholly honest nor wholly dishonest, there may, and eventually -will, be established a -mixed currency—a currency <span class="xxpn" id="p327">{327}</span> -partly of intrinsic value and partly of credit-value. The -ratio between the quantities of these two kinds of currency, -will be determined by a combination of several causes.</p> - -<p>Supposing that there is no legislative meddling to disturb -the natural balance, it is clear from what has already been -said, that, fundamentally, the proportion of coin to paper -will depend on the average conscientiousness of the people. -Daily experience must ever be teaching each citizen, which -other citizens he can put confidence in, and which not. -Daily experience must also ever be teaching him how far -this confidence may be carried. From personal experiment, -and from current opinion, which results from the experiments -of others, every one must learn, more or less truly, what credit -may safely be given. If all find that their neighbours are -little to be trusted, but few promises-to-pay will circulate. -And the circulation of promises-to-pay will be great, if all -find that the fulfilment of trading engagements is tolerably -certain. The degree of <i>honesty</i> characterizing a community, -being the first regulator of a credit-currency; the second is -the degree of <i>prudence</i>. Other things equal, it is manifest -that among a sanguine, speculative people, promissory -payments will be taken more readily, and will therefore -circulate more largely, than among a cautious people. Two -men having exactly the same experiences of mercantile -risks will, under the same circumstances, respectively give -credit and refuse it, if they are respectively rash and -circumspect. And two nations thus contrasted in prudence, -will be similarly contrasted in the relative quantities of -notes and bills in circulation among them. Nay, they will -be more than similarly contrasted in this respect; seeing -that the prevailing incautiousness, besides making each -citizen unduly ready to give credit, will also produce in him -an undue readiness to risk his own capital in speculations, -and a consequent undue demand for credit from other -citizens. There will be both an increased pressure for -credit and a diminished resistance; and -therefore a more <span class="xxpn" id="p328">{328}</span> -than proportionate excess of paper-currency. Of this -national characteristic and its consequences, we have a -conspicuous example in the United States.</p> - -<p>To these comparatively permanent moral causes, on which -the ordinary ratio of hypothetical to real money in a community -depends, have to be added certain temporary moral -and physical causes, which produce temporary variations in -the ratio. The prudence of any people is liable to more or -less fluctuation. In railway-manias and the like, we see -that irrational expectations may spread through a whole -nation, and lead its members to give and take credit almost -recklessly. But the chief causes of temporary variations are -those which directly affect the quantity of available capital. -Wars, deficient harvests, or losses consequent on the misfortunes -of other nations, will, by impoverishing the -community, inevitably lead to an increase in the ratio of -<i>promissory payments to actual payments</i>. For what must be -done by the citizen disabled by such causes from meeting his -engagements?—the shopkeeper whose custom has fallen off -in consequence of the high price of bread; or the manufacturer -whose goods lie in his ware-rooms unsaleable; or -the merchant whose foreign correspondents fail him? As -the proceeds of his business do not suffice to liquidate the -claims on him that are falling due, he is compelled either to -find other means of liquidating them, or to stop payment. -Rather than stop payment, he will, of course, make -temporary sacrifices—will give high terms to whoever will -furnish him with the desired means. If, by depositing -securities with his banker, he can get a loan at an advanced -rate of interest, well. If not, by offering an adequate -temptation, he may mortgage his property to some one -having good credit; who either gives bills, or draws on his -banker for the sum agreed to. In either case, extra -promises to pay are issued; or, if the difficulty is met by -accommodation-bills, the same result follows. And in proportion -to the number of citizens obliged to -resort to one <span class="xxpn" id="p329">{329}</span> -or other of these expedients, must be the increase of -promissory payments in circulation.</p> - -<p>Reduce this proposition to its most general terms, and -it becomes self-evident. Thus:—All bank-notes, cheques, -bills of exchange, etc., are so many <i>memoranda of claims</i>. -No matter what may be the technical distinctions among -them, on which upholders of the “currency principle” seek -to establish their dogma, they all come within this definition. -Under the ordinary state of things, the amount of -available wealth in the hands, or at the command, of those -concerned, suffices to meet these claims as they are severally -presented for payment; and they are paid either by equivalents -of intrinsic value, as coin, or by giving in place of -them other memoranda of claims on some body of undoubted -solvency. But now let the amount of available wealth in -the hands of the community be greatly diminished. Suppose -a large portion of the necessaries of life, or of coin, which -is the most exchangeable equivalent of such necessaries, -has been sent abroad to support an army, or to subsidize -foreign states; or, suppose that there has been a failure in -the crops of grain or potatoes. What follows? It follows -that part of the claims cannot be liquidated. And what -must happen from their non-liquidation? It must happen -that those unable to liquidate them will either fail, or they -will redeem them by directly or indirectly giving in exchange -certain memoranda of claims on their stock-in-trade, -houses, or land. That is, such of these claims as the -deficient <i>floating</i> capital does not suffice to meet, are replaced -by claims on <i>fixed</i> capital. The memoranda of -claims which should have <i>dis</i>appeared by liquidation, <i>re</i>-appear -in a new form; and the quantity of paper-currency -is increased. If the war, famine, or other cause of impoverishment, -continues, the process is repeated. Those who -have no further fixed capital to mortgage, become bankrupt; -while those whose fixed capital admits of it, mortgage -still further, and still further -increase the promissory <span class="xxpn" id="p330">{330}</span> -payments in circulation. Manifestly, if the members of a -community whose annual returns but little more than suffice -to meet their annual payments suddenly lose part of their -annual returns, they must become proportionately in debt -to one another; and the documents expressive of debt must -be proportionately multiplied.</p> - -<p>This <i>a priori</i> conclusion is in perfect harmony with mercantile -experience. The last hundred years have furnished -repeated illustrations of its truth. After the enormous -export of gold in 1795–6 for war-loans to Germany, and to -meet bills drawn on the Treasury by British agents abroad; -and after large advances made under a moral compulsion -by the Bank of England to the Government; there followed -an excessive issue of bank-notes. In 1796–7, there were -failures of the provincial banks; a panic in London; a run -on the nearly-exhausted Bank of England; and a suspension -of cash-payments—a State-authorized refusal to redeem -promises to pay. In 1800, the further impoverishment -consequent on a bad harvest, joined with the legalized -inconvertibility of bank-notes, entailed so great a multiplication -of them as to cause their depreciation. During the -temporary peace of 1802, the country partly recovered -itself; and the Bank of England would have liquidated -the claims on it had the Government allowed. On the -subsequent resumption of war, the phenomenon was repeated; -as in later times it has been on each occasion when -the community, carried away by irrational hopes, has locked -up an undue proportion of its capital in permanent works. -Moreover, we have still more conclusive illustrations—illustrations -of the sudden cessation of commercial distress -and bankruptcy, resulting from a sudden increase of credit-circulation. -When, in 1793, there came a general crash, -mainly due to an unsafe banking-system which had grown -up in the provinces <i>in consequence</i> of the Bank of England -monopoly—when the pressure, extending to London, became -so great as to alarm the Bank-directors -and to cause <span class="xxpn" id="p331">{331}</span> -them suddenly to restrict their issues, thereby producing a -frightful multiplication of bankruptcies; the Government -(to mitigate an evil indirectly produced by legislation) -determined to issue Exchequer-Bills to such as could give -adequate security. That is, they allowed hard-pressed -citizens to mortgage their fixed capitals for equivalents of -State-promises to pay, with which to liquidate the demands -on them. The effect was magical. £2,202,000 only of -Exchequer-Bills were required. The consciousness that -loans could be had, in many cases prevented them from -being needed. The panic quickly subsided; and all the -loans were very soon repaid. In 1825, again, when the -Bank of England, after having intensified a panic by extreme -restriction of its issues, suddenly changed its policy, and in -four days advanced £5,000,000 notes on all sorts of securities, -the panic at once ceased.</p> - -<p>And now, mark two important truths. As just implied, -those expansions of paper-circulation which naturally take -place in times of impoverishment or commercial difficulty, -are highly salutary. This issuing of securities for future -payment when there does not exist the wherewith for -immediate payment, is a means of mitigating national -disasters. The process amounts to a postponement of -trading-engagements which cannot at once be met. And the -alternative questions to be asked respecting it are—Shall -all the merchants, manufacturers, shopkeepers, etc., who, -by unwise investments, or war, or famine, or great losses -abroad, have been in part deprived of the means of meeting -the claims upon them, be allowed to mortgage their fixed -capital? or, by being debarred from issuing memoranda of -claims on their fixed capital, shall they be made bankrupts? -On the one hand, if they are permitted to avail themselves -of that credit which their fellow-citizens willingly give -them on the strength of the proffered securities, most of -them will tide over their difficulties; and in virtue of that -accumulation of surplus capital ever going on, -they will be <span class="xxpn" id="p332">{332}</span> -able, by-and-by, to liquidate their debts in full. On the -other hand, if they are forthwith bankrupted, carrying -with them others, and these again others, there follows a -disastrous loss to all the creditors: property to an immense -amount being peremptorily sold at a time when there can be -comparatively few able to buy, must go at a great sacrifice; -and those who in a year or two would have been paid in -full, must be content with 10<i>s.</i> in the pound. Added to -which evil comes the still greater one—an extensive damage -to the organization of society. Numerous importing, producing, -and distributing establishments are swept away; -tens of thousands of their dependents are left without -work; and before the industrial fabric can be repaired, a -long time must elapse, much labour must lie idle, and great -distress be borne. Between these alternatives, who, then, -can pause? Let this spontaneous remedial process follow -its own course, and the evil will either be in great measure -eventually escaped, or will be spread little by little over a -considerable period. Stop this remedial process, and the -whole evil, falling at once on society, will bring wide-spread -ruin and misery.</p> - -<p>The second of these important truths is, that an expanded -circulation of promises to pay, caused by absolute or -relative impoverishment, contracts to its normal limits as -fast as the need for expansion disappears. For the conditions -of the case imply that all who have mortgaged their -fixed capitals to obtain the means of meeting their engagements, -have done so on unfavourable terms; and are -therefore under a strong stimulus to pay off their mortgages -as quickly as possible. Every one who, at a time of commercial -pressure, gets a loan from a bank, has to give high -interest. Hence, as fast as prosperity returns, and his -profits accumulate, he gladly escapes this heavy tax by -repaying the loan; in doing which he, directly or indirectly, -takes back to the bank as large a number of its credit -documents as he originally received, and -so diminishes the <span class="xxpn" id="p333">{333}</span> -credit-circulation as much as his original transaction had -increased it. Considered apart from technical distinctions, -a banker performs, in such case, the function of an agent -in whose name traders issue negotiable memoranda of claims -on their estates. The agent is already known to the public -as one who issues memoranda of claims on capital that is -partly floating and partly fixed—memoranda of claims that -have an established character, and are convenient in their -amounts. What the agent does under the circumstances -specified, is to issue more such memoranda of claims, on the -security of more fixed, and partially-fixed, capital put in his -possession. His clients hypothecate their estates through -the banker, instead of doing it in their own names, simply -because of the facilities which he has and which they have -not. And as the banker requires to be paid for his agency -and his risk, his clients redeem their estates, and close these -special transactions with him, as quickly as they can: thereby -diminishing the amount of credit-currency.</p> - -<p>Thus we see that the balance of a mixed currency of -voluntary origin is, under all circumstances, self-adjusting. -Supposing considerations of physical convenience out of the -question, the average ratio of paper to coin is primarily -dependent on the average trustworthiness of the people, -and secondarily dependent on their average prudence. -When, in consequence of unusual prosperity, there is an -unusual increase in the number of mercantile transactions, -there is a corresponding increase in the quantity of currency, -both metallic and paper, to meet the requirement. And -when from war, famine, or over-investment, the available -wealth in the hands of citizens is insufficient to pay -their debts to one another, the memoranda of debts in -circulation acquire an increased ratio to the quantity of -gold: to decrease again as fast as the excess of debts can -be liquidated.</p> - -<p>That these self-regulating processes act but imperfectly, -is doubtless true. With an imperfect -humanity, they cannot <span class="xxpn" id="p334">{334}</span> -act otherwise than imperfectly. People who are dishonest, -or rash, or stupid, will inevitably suffer the penalties of dishonesty, -or rashness, or stupidity. If any think that by -some patent legislative mechanism, a society of bad citizens -can be made to work together as well as a society of good -ones, we shall not take pains to show them the contrary. -If any think that the dealings of men deficient in uprightness -and foresight, may be so regulated by cunningly-devised -Acts of Parliament as to secure the effects of -uprightness and foresight, we have nothing to say to them. -Or if there are any (and we fear there are numbers) who -think that in times of commercial difficulty, resulting from -impoverishment or other natural causes, the evil can be -staved-off by some ministerial sleight of hand, we despair -of convincing them that the thing is impossible. See it or -not, the truth is that the State can do none of these things. -As we shall show, the State can, and sometimes does, <i>produce</i> -commercial disasters. As we shall also show, it can, -and sometimes does, <i>exacerbate</i> the commercial disasters -otherwise produced. But while it can create and can make -worse, it cannot prevent.</p> - -<p>All which the State has to do in the matter is to discharge -its ordinary office—to administer justice. The enforcement -of contracts is one of the functions included in its general -function of maintaining the rights of citizens. And among -other contracts which it is called on to enforce, are the -contracts expressed in credit-documents—bills of exchange, -cheques, bank-notes. If any one issues a promise-to-pay, -either on demand or at specified date, and does not fulfil -that promise, the State, when appealed to by the creditor, -is bound in its protective capacity to obtain fulfilment of -the promise, at whatever cost to the debtor, or such partial -fulfilment of it as his effects suffice for. The State’s duty -in the case of the currency, as in other cases, is sternly to -threaten the penalty of bankruptcy on all who make engagements -which they cannot meet, and sternly -to inflict the <span class="xxpn" id="p335">{335}</span> -penalty when called on by those aggrieved. If it falls short -of this, mischief ensues. If it exceeds this, mischief ensues. -Let us glance at the facts.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Had we space to trace in detail the history of the Bank of -England—to show how the privileges contained in its first -charter were bribes given by a distressed Government in -want of a large loan—how, soon afterwards, the law which -forbad a partnership of more than six persons from becoming -bankers, was passed to prevent the issue of notes by the -South-Sea Company, and so to preserve the Bank-monopoly—how -the continuance of State-favours to the Bank, corresponded -with the continuance of the Bank’s claims on the -State; we should see that, from the first, banking-legislation -has been an organized injustice. But passing over earlier -periods, let us begin with the events that closed the last -century. Our rulers of that day had entered into a war—whether -with adequate reason needs not here be discussed. -They had lent vast sums in gold to their allies. They had -demanded large advances from the Bank of England, which -the Bank durst not refuse. They had thus necessitated an -excessive issue of notes by the Bank. That is, they had so -greatly diminished the floating capital of the community, -that engagements could not be met; and an immense -number of promises-to-pay took the place of actual payments. -Soon after, the fulfilment of these promises became -so difficult that it was forbidden by law; that is, cash-payments -were suspended. Now for these results—for the -national impoverishment and consequent abnormal condition -of the currency, the State was responsible. How much of -the blame lay with the governing classes and how much -with the nation at large, we do not pretend to say. What -it concerns us here to note is, that the calamity arose from -the acts of the ruling power. When, again, in 1802, after -a short peace, the available capital of the community had so -far increased that the redemption -of promises-to-pay became <span class="xxpn" id="p336">{336}</span> -possible, and the Bank of England was anxious to begin -redeeming them, the legislature interposed its veto; and so -continued the evils of an inconvertible paper-currency after -they would naturally have ceased. Still more disastrous, -however, were the results that by-and-by ensued from State-meddlings. -Cash-payments having been suspended—the -Government, instead of enforcing all contracts, having temporarily -cancelled a great part of them, by saying to every -banker, “You shall not be called on to liquidate in coin the -promises-to-pay which you issue;” the natural checks to -the multiplication of promises-to-pay, disappeared. What -followed? Banks being no longer required to cash their -notes in coin; and easily obtaining from the Bank of England, -supplies of its notes in exchange for fixed securities; -were ready to make advances to almost any extent. Not -being obliged to raise their rate of discount in consequence -of the diminution of their available capital; and reaping a -profit by every loan (of notes) made on fixed capital; there -arose both an abnormal facility of borrowing, and an abnormal -desire to lend. Thus were fostered the wild speculations -of 1809—speculations that were not only thus -fostered, but were in great measure <i>caused</i> by the previous -over-issue of notes; which, by further exaggerating the -natural rise of prices, increased the apparent profitableness -of investments. And all this, be it remembered, took -place at a time when there should have been rigid economy—at -a time of impoverishment consequent on continued -war—at a time when, but for law-produced illusions, there -would have been commercial straitness and a corresponding -carefulness. Just when its indebtedness was unusually -great, the community was induced still further to increase -its indebtedness. Clearly, then, the progressive accumulation -and depreciation of promises-to-pay, and the commercial -disasters which finally resulted from it in 1814–15–16, -when ninety provincial banks were broken and -more dissolved, were State-produced evils: -partly due to <span class="xxpn" id="p337">{337}</span> -a war which, whether necessary or not, was carried on by -the Government, and greatly exacerbated by the currency-regulations -which that Government had made.</p> - -<p>Before passing to more recent facts, let us parenthetically -notice the similarly-caused degradation of the -currency which had previously arisen in Ireland. When -examined by a parliamentary committee in 1804, Mr. -Colville, one of the directors of the Bank of Ireland, stated -that before the passing of the Irish Bank-Restriction-Bill -(the bill by which cash-payments were suspended) the -directors habitually met any unusual demand for gold by -diminishing their issues. That is to say, in the ordinary -course of business, they raised their rate of discount whenever -the demand enabled them; and so, both increased -their profits and warded-off the danger of bankruptcy. -During this unregulated period their note-circulation was -between £600,000 and £700,000. But as soon as they -were guaranteed by law against the danger of bankruptcy, -their circulation began rapidly to increase; and very soon -reached £3,000,000. The results, as proved before the -committee, were these:—The exchange with England -became greatly depressed; nearly all the good specie was -exported to England; it was replaced in Dublin (where -small notes could not be issued) by a base coinage, -adulterated to the extent of fifty per cent.; and elsewhere -it was replaced by notes payable at twenty-one days’ date, -issued by all sorts of persons, for sums down even as low -as sixpence. And this excessive multiplication of small -notes was <i>necessitated</i> by the impossibility of otherwise -carrying on retail trade, after the disappearance of the -silver coinage. For these disastrous effects, then, legislation -was responsible. The swarms of “silver-notes” -resulted from the exportation of silver; the exportation of -silver was due to the great depression of the exchange -with England; this great depression arose from the -excessive issue of notes by the Bank of -Ireland; and this <span class="xxpn" id="p338">{338}</span> -excessive issue followed from their legalized inconvertibility. -Yet, though these facts were long ago established -by a committee of the House of Commons, the defenders -of the “currency-principle” are actually blind enough to -cite this multiplication of sixpenny promises-to-pay, <i>as -proving the evils of an unregulated currency</i>!</p> - -<p>Returning now to the case of the Bank of England, let -us pass at once to the Act of 1844. While still a protectionist—while -still a believer in the beneficence of law -as a controller of commerce—Sir Robert Peel undertook to -stop the recurrence of monetary crises, like those of 1825, -1836, and 1839. Overlooking the truth that, when not -<i>caused</i> by the meddlings of legislators, a monetary crisis is -due, either to an absolute impoverishment, or to a relative -impoverishment consequent on speculative over-investment; -and that for the bad season, or the imprudence, causing -this, there is no remedy; he boldly proclaimed that “<i>it is -better to prevent the paroxysm than to excite it</i>:” and he -brought forward the Bank-Act of 1844 as the means of -prevention. How merciless has been Nature’s criticism on -this remnant of Protectionism, we all know. The monetary -sliding-scale has been as great a failure as its prototype. -Within three years arose one of these crises which were to -have been prevented. Within another ten years has arisen -a second of these crises. And on both occasions this -intended safeguard has so intensified the evil, that a -temporary repeal of it has been imperative.</p> - -<p>We should have thought that, even without facts, -every one might have seen that it is impossible, by Act of -Parliament, to prevent imprudent people from doing imprudent -things; and, if facts were needed, we should have -thought that our commercial history up to 1844 supplied a -sufficiency. But a superstitious faith in State-ordinances disregards -such facts. And we doubt not that even now, though -there have been two glaring failures of this professed check -on over-speculation—though -the evidence conclusively <span class="xxpn" id="p339">{339}</span> -shows that the late commercial catastrophes have had -nothing whatever to do with the issue of bank-notes, but, -as in the case of the Western Bank of Scotland, occurred -along with diminished issues—and though in Hamburg, -where the “currency principle” has been rigidly carried -out to the very letter, there has been a worse crisis than -anywhere else; yet there will remain plenty of believers in -the efficiency of Sir R. Peel’s prophylactic.</p> - -<p>But, as already said, the measure has not only failed; it -has made worse the panics it was to have warded-off. -And it was sure to do this. As shown at the outset, the -multiplication of promises-to-pay that occurs at a period of -impoverishment caused by war, famine, over-investment, or -losses abroad, is a salutary process of mitigation—is a -mode of postponing actual payments till actual payments -are possible—is a preventive of wholesale bankruptcy—is -a spontaneous act of self-preservation. We pointed out, -not only that this is an <i>a priori</i> conclusion, but that facts -in our own mercantile history illustrate at once the naturalness, -the benefits, the necessity of it. And if this conclusion -needs enforcing by further evidence, we have it in the recent -events at Hamburg. In that city, there are no notes in -circulation but such as are represented by actual equivalents -of bullion or jewels in the bank: no one is allowed, as with -us, to obtain bank-promises-to-pay in return for securities. -Hence it resulted that when the Hamburg merchants, -lacking their remittances from abroad, were suddenly -deprived of the wherewith to meet their engagements; and -were prevented by law from getting bank-promises-to-pay -by pawning their estates; bankruptcy swept them away -wholesale. And what finally happened? To prevent -universal ruin, the Government was obliged to decree that -all bills of exchange coming due, should have a month’s -grace; and that there should be immediately formed a -State-Discount-Bank—an office for issuing State-promises-to-pay -in return for securities. That is, having -first by its <span class="xxpn" id="p340">{340}</span> -restrictive law ruined a host of merchants, the Government -was obliged to legalize that postponement of payments -which, but for its law, would have spontaneously taken -place. With such further confirmation of an <i>a priori</i> -conclusion, can it be doubted that our late commercial -difficulties were intensified by the measure of 1844? Is it -not, indeed, notorious in the City, that the progressively-increasing -demand for accommodation, was in great part -due to the conviction that, in consequence of the Bank-Act, -there would shortly be no accommodation at all? Does not -every London merchant know that his neighbours who had -bills coming due, and who saw that by the time they were -due the Bank would discount only at still higher rates, -or not at all, decided to lay in beforehand the means of -meeting those bills? Is it not an established fact that the -hoarding thus induced, not only rendered the pressure on -the Bank greater than it would otherwise have been, but, -by taking both gold and notes out of circulation, made the -Bank’s issues temporarily useless to the general public? -Did it not happen in this case, as in 1793 and 1825, that -when at last restriction was removed, the mere consciousness -that loans could be had, itself prevented them from -being required? And, indeed, is not the simple fact that -the panic quickly subsided when the Act was suspended, -sufficient proof that the Act had, in great measure, -produced it.</p> - -<p>See, then, for what we have to thank legislative meddling. -During ordinary times Sir R. Peel’s Act, by obliging the -Bank of England, and occasionally provincial banks, to -keep more gold than they would otherwise have kept (and -if it has not done this it has done nothing), has inflicted a -tax on the nation to the extent of the interest on such -portion of the gold-currency as was in excess of the need: -a tax which, in the course of the last thirteen years, has -probably amounted to some millions. And then, on the two -occasions when there have arisen the crises -that were to <span class="xxpn" id="p341">{341}</span> -have been prevented, the Act, after having intensified the -pressure, made bankrupt a great number of respectable -firms which would else have stood, and increased the -distress not only of the trading but of the working population, -has been twice abandoned at the moment when its -beneficence was to have been conspicuous. It has been -a cost, a mischief, and a failure. Yet such is the -prevailing delusion that, judging from appearances, it will -be maintained!</p> - -<p>“But,” ask our opponents, “shall the Bank be allowed -to let gold drain out of the country without check? Shall -it have permission to let its reserve of gold diminish so -greatly as to risk the convertibility of its notes? Shall it -be enabled recklessly to increase its issues, and so produce -a depreciated paper-currency?”</p> - -<p>Really, in these Free-trade days, it seems strange to have -to answer questions like these; and, were it not for the confusion -of facts and ideas which legislation has produced, it -would be inexcusable to ask them.</p> - -<p>In the first place, the common notion that the draining of -gold out of the country is intrinsically, and in all cases, an -evil, is nothing but a political superstition—a superstition in -part descended from the antique fallacy that money is the -only wealth, and in part from the maxims of an artificial, -law-produced state of things, under which the exportation of -gold really <i>was</i> a sign of a corrupted currency: we mean, -during the suspension of cash-payments. Law having cancelled -millions of contracts which it was its duty to enforce—law -having absolved bankers from liquidating their -promises-to-pay in coin, having rendered it needless to keep -a stock of coin with which to liquidate them, and having -thus taken away that natural check which prevents the -over-issue and depreciation of notes—law having partly -suspended that <i>home</i> demand for gold which ordinarily -competes with and balances the <i>foreign</i> demand; there -resulted an abnormal exportation of -gold. By-and-by it <span class="xxpn" id="p342">{342}</span> -was seen that this efflux of gold was a consequence of the -over-issue of notes; and that the accompanying high price -of gold, as paid for in notes, proved the depreciation of -notes. And then it became an established doctrine that an -adverse state of the foreign exchanges, indicating a drain of -gold, was significant of an excessive circulation of notes; -and that the issue of notes should be regulated by the state -of the exchanges.</p> - -<p>This unnatural condition of the currency having continued -for a quarter of a century, the concomitant doctrine rooted -itself in the general mind. And now mark one of the multitudinous -evils of legislative meddling. This artificial test, -good only for an artificial state, has survived the return to a -natural state; and men’s ideas about currency have been -reduced by it to chronic confusion.</p> - -<p>The truth is that while, during a legalized inconvertibility -of bank-notes, an efflux of gold may, and often does, indicate -an excessive issue of bank-notes; under ordinary circumstances -an efflux of gold has little or nothing to do with the -issue of bank-notes, but is determined by merely mercantile -causes. And the truth is that far from being an evil, an -efflux of gold thus brought about by mercantile causes, is a -good. Leaving out of the question, as of course we must, -such exportations of gold as take place for the support -of armies abroad; the cause of efflux is either an actual -plethora of all commodities, gold included, which results -in gold being sent out of the country for the purpose of -foreign investment; or else an abundance of gold as -compared with other leading commodities. And while, in -this last case, the efflux of gold indicates some absolute -or relative impoverishment of the nation, it is a means of -mitigating the bad consequences of that impoverishment. -Consider the question as one of political economy, and -this truth becomes obvious. Thus:—The nation habitually -requires for use and consumption certain quantities of -commodities, of which gold is -one. These commodities <span class="xxpn" id="p343">{343}</span> -are severally and collectively liable to fall short; either -from deficient harvests, from waste in war, from losses -abroad, or from too great a diversion of labour or capital -in some special direction. When a scarcity of some chief -commodity or necessary occurs, what is the remedy? The -commodity of which there is an excess (or if none is in -excess, then that which can best be spared) is exported -in exchange for an additional supply of the deficient -commodity. And, indeed, the whole of our foreign trade, -alike in ordinary and extraordinary times, consists in this -process. But when it happens either that the commodity -which we can best spare is not wanted abroad; or (as -recently) that a chief foreign customer is temporarily -disabled from buying; or that the commodity which we -can best spare is gold; then gold itself is exported in -exchange for the thing which we most want. Whatever -form the transaction takes, it is nothing but bringing the -supplies of various commodities into harmony with the -demands for them. The fact that gold is exported, is -simply a proof that the need for gold is less than the need -for other things. Under such circumstances an efflux of -gold will continue, and <i>ought</i> to continue, until other -things have become relatively so abundant, and gold -relatively so scarce, that the demand for gold is equal to -other demands. And he who would prevent this process, -is about as wise as the miser who, finding his house -without food, chooses to starve rather than draw upon -his purse.</p> - -<p>The second question—“Shall the Bank have permission -to let its reserve of gold diminish so greatly as to risk the -convertibility of its notes?” is not more profound than -the first. It may fitly be answered by the more general -question—“Shall the merchant, the manufacturer, or the -shopkeeper, be allowed so to invest his capital as to risk -the fulfilment of his engagements?” If the answer to the -first be “No,” it must be “No” to the second. -If to the <span class="xxpn" id="p344">{344}</span> -second it be “Yes,” it must be “Yes” to the first. Any -one who proposed that the State should oversee the -transactions of every trader, so as to insure his ability to -cash all demands as they fell due, might with consistency -argue that bankers should be under like control. But -while no one has the folly to contend for the one, nearly -all contend for the other. One would think that the -banker acquired, in virtue of his occupation, some abnormal -desire to ruin himself—that while traders in other things -are restrained by a wholesome dread of bankruptcy, traders -in capital have a longing to appear in the <i>Gazette</i>, which -law alone can prevent them from gratifying! Surely the -moral checks which act on other men will act on bankers. -And if these moral checks do not suffice to produce perfect -security, we have ample proof that no cunning legislative -checks will supply their place. The current notion that -bankers can, and will, if allowed, issue notes to any extent, -is one of the absurdest illusions—an illusion, however, -which would never have arisen but for the vicious over-issues -induced by law. The truth is that, in the first -place, a banker <i>cannot</i> increase his issue of notes at will. -It has been proved by the unanimous testimony of all -bankers who have been examined before successive parliamentary -committees, that “the amount of their issues is -exclusively regulated by the extent of local dealings and -expenditure in their respective districts;” and that any -notes issued in excess of the demand are “immediately -returned to them.” And the truth is, in the second place, -that a banker <i>will not</i>, on the average of cases, issue -more notes than in his judgment it is safe to issue; seeing -that if his promises-to-pay in circulation, are much in -excess of his available means of paying them, he runs a -great risk of having to stop payment—a result of which he -has no less a horror than other men. If facts are needed -in proof of this, they are furnished by the history of both -the Bank of England and the Bank -of Ireland; which, <span class="xxpn" id="p345">{345}</span> -before they were debauched by the State, habitually regulated -their issues according to their stock of bullion, and -would probably always have been still more careful but for -the consciousness that there was the State-credit to fall -back upon.</p> - -<p>The third question—“Shall the Bank be allowed to issue -notes in such numbers as to cause their depreciation?” -has, in effect, been answered in answering the first two. -There can be no depreciation of notes so long as they are -exchangeable for gold on demand. And so long as the -State, in discharge of its duty, insists on the fulfilment of -contracts, the alternative of bankruptcy must ever be a -restraint on such over-issue of notes as endangers that -exchangeability. The bugbear of depreciation is one that -would have been unknown but for the sins of governments. -In the case of America, where there have been occasional -depreciations, the sin has been a sin of omission: the State -has not enforced the fulfilment of contracts—has not forthwith -bankrupted those who failed to cash their notes; and, -if accounts are true, has allowed those to be mobbed who -brought back far-wandering notes for payment.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn35" id="fnanch35">35</a> -In all -other cases the sin has been a sin of commission. The -depreciated paper-currency in France, during the revolution, -was a State-currency. The depreciated paper-currencies -of Austria and Russia have been State-currencies. And -the only depreciated paper-currency we have known, has -been to all intents and purposes a State-currency. It was -the State which, in 1795–6, <i>forced</i> upon the Bank of England -that excessive issue of notes which led to the suspension of -cash-payments. It was the State which, in 1802, <i>forbad</i> -the resumption of cash-payments, when the Bank of England -wished to resume them. It was the State which, -during a quarter of a century, <i>maintained</i> that suspension -of cash-payments from which the excessive multiplication -and depreciation of notes resulted. -The entire corruption <span class="xxpn" id="p346">{346}</span> -was entailed by State-expenditure, and established by -State-warrant. Yet now the State affects a virtuous -horror of the crime committed at its instigation! Having -contrived to shuffle-off the odium on to the shoulders of its -tools, the State gravely lectures the banking-community -upon its guilt; and with sternest face passes measures to -prevent it from sinning!</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch35" id="fn35">35</a> -This was written in 1858; when -“greenbacks” were unknown.</p></div> - -<p>We contend, then, that neither to restrain the efflux of -gold, nor to guard against the over-issue of bank-notes, -is legislative interference warranted. If Government will -promptly execute the law against all defaulters, the self-interest -of bankers and traders will do the rest: such evils -as would still result from mercantile dishonesties and -imprudences, being evils which legal regulation may -augment but cannot prevent. Let the Bank of England, -in common with every other bank, simply consult its own -safety and its own profits; and there will result just as -much check as should be put, on the efflux of gold or the -circulation of paper; and the only check that can be put -on the doings of speculators. Whatever leads to unusual -draughts on the resources of banks, immediately causes a -rise in the rate of discount—a rise dictated both by the -wish to make increased profits, and the wish to avoid a -dangerous decrease of resources. This raised rate of -discount prevents the demand from being so great as it -would else have been—alike checks undue expansion of the -note-circulation; stops speculators from making further -engagements; and, if gold is being exported, diminishes -the profit of exportation. Successive rises successively -increase these effects; until, eventually, none will give the -rate of discount asked, save those in peril of stopping -payment; the increase of the credit-currency ceases; and -the efflux of gold, if it is going on, is arrested by the -home-demand out-balancing the foreign demand. And if, -in times of great pressure, and under the temptation of -high discounts, banks allow their circulation -to expand to <span class="xxpn" id="p347">{347}</span> -a somewhat dangerous extent, the course is justified by the -necessities. As shown at the outset, the process is one by -which banks, on the deposit of good securities, loan their -credit to traders who but for loans would be bankrupt. -And that banks should run some risks to save hosts of -solvent men from inevitable ruin, few will deny. Moreover, -during a crisis which thus runs its natural course, -there will really occur that purification of the mercantile -world which many think can be effected only by some -Act-of-Parliament ordeal. Under the circumstances described, -men who have adequate securities to offer will -get bank-accommodation; but those who, having traded -without capital or beyond their means, have not, will be -denied it, and will fail. Under a free system the good -will be sifted from the bad; whereas the existing restrictions -on bank-accommodation, tend to destroy good and -bad together.</p> - -<p>Thus it is not true that there need special regulations to -prevent the inconvertibility and depreciation of notes. It -is not true that, but for legislative supervision, bankers -would let gold drain out of the country to an undue extent. -It is not true that these “currency theorists” have -discovered a place at which the body-politic would bleed -to death but for a State-styptic.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">What else we have to say on the general question, may -best be joined with some commentaries on provincial and -joint-stock banking, to which let us now turn.</p> - -<p>Government, to preserve the Bank of England-monopoly, -having enacted that no partnership exceeding six persons -should become bankers; and the Bank of England having -refused to establish branches in the provinces; it happened, -during the latter half of the last century, when the industrial -progress was rapid and banks much needed, that -numerous private traders, shopkeepers and others, began -to issue notes payable on demand. And when, -of the four <span class="xxpn" id="p348">{348}</span> -hundred small banks which had thus grown up in less -than fifty years, a great number gave way under the -first pressure—when, on several subsequent occasions, -like results occurred—when in Ireland, where the Bank -of Ireland-monopoly had been similarly guaranteed, it -happened that out of fifty private provincial banks, forty -became bankrupt—and when, finally, it grew notorious -that in Scotland, where there had been no law limiting the -number of partners, a whole century had passed with -scarcely a single bank-failure; legislators at once decided -to abolish the restriction which had entailed such mischiefs. -Having, to use Mr. Mill’s words, “actually made the -formation of safe banking-establishments a punishable -offence”—having, for one hundred and twenty years, maintained -a law which first caused great inconvenience and then -extensive ruin, time after time repeated—Government, in -1826, conceded the liberty of joint-stock banking: a liberty -which the good easy public, not distinguishing between a -right done and a wrong undone, regarded as a great boon!</p> - -<p>But the liberty was not without conditions. Having -previously, in anxiety for its <i>protégé</i>, the Bank of England, -been reckless of the banking-security of the community at -large, the State, like a repentant sinner rushing into -asceticism, all at once became extremely solicitous on this -point; and determined to put guarantees of its own -devising, in place of the natural guarantee of mercantile -judgment. To intending bank-shareholders it said—“You -shall not unite on such publicly-understood conditions as -you think fit, and get such confidence as will naturally -come to you on those conditions.” And to the public it -said—“You shall not put trust in this or that association -in proportion as, from the character of its members and -constitution, you judge it to be worthy of trust.” But to -both it said—“You shall the one give, and the other -receive, my infallible safeguards.”</p> - -<p>And now what have been the results? -Every one knows <span class="xxpn" id="p349">{349}</span> -that these safeguards have proved anything but infallible. -Every one knows that these banks with State-constitutions -have been especially characterized by instability. Every -one knows that credulous citizens, with a faith in legislation -which endless disappointments fail to diminish, have -trusted implicitly in these law-devised securities; and, not -exercising their own judgments, have been led into ruinous -undertakings. The evils of substituting artificial guarantees -for natural ones, which the clear-sighted long ago discerned, -have, by the late catastrophes, been made conspicuous to all.</p> - -<p>When commencing this article we had intended to dwell -on this point. For though the mode of business which -brought about these joint-stock-bank failures was, for weeks -after their occurrence, time after time clearly described; -yet nowhere did we see drawn the obvious corollary. -Though in three separate City-articles of <i>The Times</i>, it was -explained that, “relying upon the ultimate liability of large -bodies of infatuated shareholders, the discount houses -supply these banks with unlimited means, looking not to -the character of the bills sent up, but simply to the security -afforded by the Bank endorsement;” yet, in none of them -was it pointed out that, but for the law of unlimited -liability, this reckless trading would not have gone on. -More recently, however, this truth has been duly recognized, -alike in Parliament and in the Press; and it is -therefore needless further to elucidate it. We will simply -add that as, if there had been no law of unlimited liability, -the London houses would not have discounted these bad -bills; and as, in that case, these provincial joint-stock-banks -could not have given these enormous credits to insolvent -speculators; and as, if they had not done this, they would -not have been ruined; it follows, inevitably, that these -joint-stock-bank failures have been <i>law-produced disasters</i>.</p> - -<p>A measure for further increasing the safety of the provincial -public, was that which limited the circulation of -provincial bank-notes. At the same time -that it established <span class="xxpn" id="p350">{350}</span> -a sliding-scale for the issues of the Bank of England, the -Act of 1844 fixed the maximum circulation of every provincial -bank-of-issue; and forbad any further banks-of-issue. -We have not space to discuss at length the effects of this -restriction; which must have fallen rather hardly on those -especially-careful bankers who had, during the twelve -weeks preceding the 27th April, 1844, narrowed their -issues to meet any incidental contingencies; while it gave -a perennial license to such as had been incautious during -that period. All which we can notice is, that this rigorous -limitation of provincial issues to a low maximum (and a -low maximum was purposely fixed) effectually prevents -those local expansions of bank-note circulation which, as -we have shown, <i>ought</i> to take place in periods of commercial -difficulty. And further, that by transferring all -local demands to the Bank of England, as the only place -from which extra accommodation can be had, the tendency -is to concentrate a pressure which would else be diffused, -and so to create panic.</p> - -<p>Saying nothing more, however, respecting the impolicy -of the measure, let us mark its futility. As a means of -preserving the convertibility of the provincial bank-note, -it is useless unless it acts as some safeguard against bank-failures; -and that it does not do this is demonstrable. -While it diminishes the likelihood of failures caused by -over-issue of notes, it increases the likelihood of failures -from other causes. For what will be done by a provincial -banker whose issues are restricted by the Act of 1844, to a -level lower than that to which he would otherwise have let -them rise? If he would, but for the law, have issued more -notes than he now does—if his reserve is greater than, in -his judgment, is needful for the security of his notes; is it -not clear that he will simply extend his operations in other -directions? Will not the excess of his available capital be -to him a warrant either for entering into larger speculations -himself, or for allowing his customers -to draw on <span class="xxpn" id="p351">{351}</span> -him beyond the limit he would else have fixed? If, in the -absence of restriction, his rashness would have led him to -risk bankruptcy by over-issue, will it not now equally lead -him to risk bankruptcy by over-banking? And is not the -one kind of bankruptcy as fatal to the convertibility of -notes as the other?</p> - -<p>Nay, the case is even worse. There is reason to believe -that bankers are tempted into greater dangers under this -protective system. They can and will hypothecate their -capital in ways less direct than by notes; and may very -likely be led, by the unobtrusiveness of the process, to -commit themselves more than they would else do. A -trader, applying to his banker in times of commercial -difficulty, will often be met by the reply—“I cannot make -you any direct advances, having already loaned as much as -I can spare; but knowing you to be a safe man I will lend -you my name. Here is my acceptance for the sum you -require: they will discount it for you in London.” Now, -as loans thus made do not entail the same immediate -responsibilities as when made in notes (seeing that they are -neither at once payable, nor do they add to the dangers of -a possible run), a banker is under a temptation to extend -his liabilities in this way further than he would have done, -had not law forced him to discover a new channel through -which to give credit.</p> - -<p>And does not the evidence that has lately transpired go -to show that these roundabout ways of giving credit <i>do</i> -take the place of the interdicted ways; and that they <i>are</i> -more dangerous than the interdicted ways? Is it not -notorious that dangerous forms of paper-currency have had -an unexampled development since the Act of 1844? Do -not the newspapers and the debates give daily proofs of -this? And is not the process of causation obvious?</p> - -<p>Indeed it might have been known, <i>a priori</i>, that such a -result was sure to take place. It -has been shown <span class="xxpn" id="p352">{352}</span> -conclusively that, when uninterfered with, the amount of note-circulation -at any given time, is determined by the amount -of trade going on—the quantity of payments that are being -made. It has been repeatedly testified before committees, -that when any local banker contracts his issues, he simply -causes an equivalent increase in the issues of neighbouring -bankers. And in past times it has been more than once -complained, that when from prudential motives the Bank -of England withdrew part of its notes, the provincial -bankers immediately multiplied their notes to a proportionate -extent. Well, is it not manifest that this inverse -variation, which holds between one class of bank-notes and -another, also holds between bank-notes and other forms of -paper-currency? Will it not happen that just as diminishing -the note-circulation of one bank, merely adds to the -note-circulation of other banks; so, an artificial restriction -on the circulation of bank-notes in general, will simply -cause an increased circulation of some substituted kind of -promise-to-pay? And is not this substituted kind, in -virtue of its novelty and irregularity, likely to be a more -unsafe kind? See, then, the predicament. Over all the -bills of exchange, cheques, etc., which constitute nine-tenths -of the paper-currency of the kingdom, the State -exercises, and can exercise, no control. And the limit it -puts on the remaining tenth vitiates the other nine-tenths, -by causing an abnormal growth of new forms of credit, -which experience proves to be especially dangerous.</p> - -<p>Thus, all which the State does when it exceeds its true -duty is to hinder, to disturb, to corrupt. As already -pointed out, the quantity of credit men will give each -other, is determined by natural causes, moral and physical—their -average characters, their temporary states of -feeling, their circumstances. If the Government forbids -one mode of giving credit, they will find another, and -probably a worse. Be the degree of -mutual trust prudent <span class="xxpn" id="p353">{353}</span> -or imprudent, it must take its course. The attempt to -restrict it by law is nothing but a repetition of the old story -of keeping out the sea with a fork.</p> - -<p>And now mark that were it not for these worse than -futile State-safeguards, there might grow up certain natural -safeguards, which would really put a check on undue credit -and abnormal speculation. Were it not for the attempts to -insure security by law, it is very possible that, under our -high-pressure system of business, banks would compete with -each other in respect of the degree of security they offered—would -endeavour to outdo each other in the obtainment of -a legitimate public confidence. Consider the position of a -new joint-stock-bank with limited liability, and unchecked -by legal regulations. It can do nothing until it has gained -the general good opinion. In the way of this there stand -great difficulties. Its constitution is untried, and is sure to -be looked upon by the trading world with considerable -distrust. The field is already occupied by old banks with -established connexions and reputations. Out of a constituency -satisfied with the present accommodation, it has to -obtain supporters for a system which is apparently less -safe than the old. How shall it do this? Evidently it -must find some unusual mode of assuring the community of -its trustworthiness. And out of a number of new banks so -circumstanced, it is not too much to suppose that ultimately -one would hit on some mode. It might be, for instance, -that such a bank would give to all who held deposits over -£1000 the liberty of inspecting its books—of ascertaining -from time to time its liabilities and its investments. -Already this plan is frequently adopted by private traders, -as a means of assuring those who lend money to them; and -this extension of it might naturally take place under the -pressure of competition. We have put the question to a -gentleman who has had long and successful experience, as -manager of a joint-stock-bank, and his reply is, that some -such course would very probably be -adopted: adding that, <span class="xxpn" id="p354">{354}</span> -under this arrangement, a depositor would practically -become a partner with limited liability.</p> - -<p>Were a system of this kind to establish itself, it would -form a double check to unhealthy trading. Consciousness -that its rashness would become known to its chief clients, -would prevent the bank-management from being rash; and -consciousness that his credit would be damaged when his -large debt to the bank was whispered, would prevent the -speculator from contracting so large a debt. Both lender -and borrower would be restrained from reckless enterprize. -Very little inspection would suffice to effect this end. One -or two cautious depositors would be enough; seeing that -the mere expectation of immediate disclosure, in case of -misconduct, would mostly keep in order all those concerned.</p> - -<p>Should it however be contended, as by some it may, that -this safeguard would be of no avail—should it be alleged -that, having in their own hands the means of safety, citizens -would not use them, but would still put blind faith in -directors, and give unlimited trust to respectable names; -then we reply that they would deserve whatever bad consequences -fell on them. If they did not take advantage of -the proffered guarantee, the penalty be on their own heads. -We have no patience with the mawkish philanthropy which -would ward-off the punishment of stupidity. The ultimate -result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill -the world with fools.</p> - -<div class="section"> -<p class="padtopb">A few words in conclusion respecting the attitude of our -opponents. Leaving joint-stock-bank legislation, on which -the eyes of the public are happily becoming opened; and -returning to the Bank-Charter, with its theory of currency-regulation; -we have to charge its supporters with gross, if -not wilful, misrepresentation. Their established policy is -to speak of all antagonism as identified with adhesion to -the vulgarest fallacies. They daily present, as the only -alternatives, their own dogma or some -wild doctrine too <span class="xxpn" id="p355">{355}</span> -absurd to be argued. “Side with us or choose anarchy,” -is the substance of their homilies.</p></div> - -<p>To speak specifically:—They boldly assert, in the first -place, that they are the upholders of “principle;” and on -all opposition they seek to fasten the title of “empiricism.” -Now we are at a loss to see what there is “empirical” in -the position, that a bank-note-circulation will regulate -itself in the same way that the circulation of other paper-currency -does. It seems to us anything but “empirical,” -to say that the natural check of prospective bankruptcy, -which restrains the trader from issuing too many promises-to-pay -at given dates, will similarly restrain the banker -from issuing too many promises-to-pay on demand. We -take him to be the very opposite of an “empiric,” who holds -that people’s characters and circumstances determine the -quantity of credit-memoranda in circulation; and that the -monetary disorders which their imperfect characters and -changing circumstances occasionally entail, can be exacerbated, -but cannot be prevented, by State-nostrums. On -the other hand, we do not see in virtue of what “principle” -it is, that the contract expressed on the face of a bank-note -must be dealt with differently from any other contract. -We cannot understand the “principle” which requires the -State to control the business of bankers, so that they may -not make engagements they cannot fulfil, but which does -<i>not</i> require the State to do the like with other traders. -To us it is a very incomprehensible “principle” which -permits the Bank of England to issue £14,000,000 on the -credit of the State; but which is broken if the State-credit -is mortgaged beyond this—a “principle” which implies -that £14,000,000 of notes may be issued without gold -to meet them, but insists on rigorous precautions for the -convertibility of every pound more. We are curious to -learn how it was inferred from this “principle” that the -average note-circulation of each provincial bank, during -certain twelve weeks in 1844, -was exactly the <span class="xxpn" id="p356">{356}</span> -note-circulation which its capital justified. So far from discerning a -“principle,” it seems to us that both the idea and its applications -are as empirical as they can well be.</p> - -<p>Still more astounding, however, is the assumption of these -“currency-theorists,” that their doctrines are those of Free-trade. -In the Legislature, Lord Overstone, and in the -press, the <i>Saturday Review</i>, have, among others, asserted -this. To call that a Free-trade measure, which has the -avowed object of restricting certain voluntary acts of exchange, -appears so manifest a contradiction in terms that it -is scarcely credible it should be made. The whole system -of currency-legislation is restrictionist from beginning to -end: equally in spirit and detail. Is that a Free-trade -regulation which has all along forbidden banks of issue -within sixty-five miles of London? Is that Free-trade -which enacts that none but such as have now the State-warrant, -shall henceforth give promises-to-pay on demand? -Is that Free-trade which at a certain point steps in between -the banker and his customer, and puts a veto on any -further exchange of credit-documents? We wonder what -would be said by two merchants, the one about to draw a -bill on the other in return for goods sold, who should be -stopped by a State-officer with the remark that, having -examined the buyer’s ledger, he was of opinion that ready -as the seller might be to take the bill, it would be unsafe -for him to do so; and that the law, in pursuance of the -principles of Free-trade, negatived the transaction! Yet -for the promise-to-pay in six months, it needs but to substitute -a promise-to-pay on demand, and the case becomes -substantially that of banker and customer.</p> - -<p>It is true that the “currency-theorists” have a colourable -excuse in the fact, that among their opponents are the -advocates of various visionary schemes, and propounders of -regulations quite as protectionist in spirit as their own. It -is true that there are some who contend for inconvertible -“labour-notes;” and others who argue that, -in times of <span class="xxpn" id="p357">{357}</span> -commercial pressure, banks should not raise their rates of -discount. But is this any justification for recklessly stigmatizing -all antagonism as coming from these classes, in the -face of the fact that the Bank-Act has been protested -against by the highest authorities in political economy? Do -not the defenders of the “currency-principle” know that -among their opponents are Mr. Thornton, long known as -an able writer on currency-questions; Mr. Tooke and -Mr. Newmarch, famed for their laborious and exhaustive -researches respecting currency and prices; Mr. Fullarton, -whose “Regulation of Currencies” is a standard work; -Mr. Macleod, whose just-issued book displays the endless -injustices and stupidities of our monetary history; Mr. -James Wilson, <span class="smmaj">M.P.</span>, who, in detailed knowledge of commerce, -currency, and banking, is probably unrivalled; and -Mr. John Stuart Mill, who both as logician and economist, -stands in the first rank? Do they not know that the alleged -distinction between bank-notes and other credit-documents, -which forms the professed basis of the Bank-Act (and for -which Sir R. Peel could quote only the one poor authority -of Lord Liverpool) is denied, not only by the gentlemen -above named, but also by Mr. Huskisson, Professor Storch, -Dr. Travers Twiss, and the distinguished French Professors, -M. Joseph Garnier and M. Michel Chevalier?<a class="afnanch" href="#fn36" id="fnanch36">36</a> -Do they -not know, in short, that both the profoundest thinkers and -the most patient inquirers are against them? If they do -not know this, it is time they studied the subject on which -they write with such an air of authority. If they do know -it, a little more respect for their opponents would not -be unbecoming.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch36" id="fn36">36</a> -See Mr. Tooke’s “Bank Charter Act -of 1844,” etc.</p></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p358">{358}</span></div> - -<h2 class="h2nobreak">PARLIAMENTARY REFORM: THE DANGERS AND -THE SAFEGUARDS.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First published in</i> -The Westminster Review <i>for April 1860</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>Thirty years ago, the dread of impending evils agitated -not a few breasts throughout England. Instinctive fear of -change, justified as it seemed by outbursts of popular -violence, conjured up visions of the anarchy which would -follow the passing of a Reform Bill. In scattered farm-houses -there was chronic terror, lest those newly endowed -with political power should in some way filch all the profits -obtained by rearing cattle and growing corn. The -occupants of halls and manors spoke of ten-pound householders -almost as though they formed an army of spoilers, -threatening to overrun and devastate the property of -landholders. Among townspeople there were some who -interpreted the abolition of old corruptions into the -establishment of mob-government; which they thought -equivalent to spoliation. And even in Parliament, such -alarms found occasional utterance: as, for instance, through -the mouth of Sir Robert Inglis, who hinted that the national -debt would not improbably be repudiated if the proposed -measure became law.</p> - -<p>There may perhaps be a few who regard the now pending -change in the representation with -similar dread—who think <span class="xxpn" id="p359">{359}</span> -that artizans and others of their grade are prepared, when -the power is given to them, to lay hands on property. We -presume, however, that such irrational alarmists form but a -small percentage of the nation. Not only throughout the -Liberal party, but among the Conservatives, there exists -a much fairer estimate of the popular character than is -implied by anticipations of so gloomy a kind. Many of the -upper and middle classes are conscious of the fact that, if -critically compared, the average conduct of the wealthy -would not be found to differ very widely in rectitude from -that of the poor. Making due allowance for differences in -the kinds and degrees of temptations to which they are -exposed, the respective grades of society are tolerably -uniform in their morals. That disregard of the rights of -property which, among the people at large, shows itself in -the direct form of petty thefts, shows itself among their -richer neighbours in various indirect forms, which are -scarcely less flagitious and often much more detrimental -to fellow-citizens. Traders, wholesale and retail, commit -countless dishonesties, ranging from adulteration and short -measure up to fraudulent bankruptcy—dishonesties of -which we sketched out some of the ramifications in a late -article on “The Morals of Trade.” The trickeries of the -turf; the bribery of electors; the non-payment of tradesmen’s -bills; the jobbing in railway-shares; the obtainment -of exorbitant prices for land from railway-companies; the -corruption that attends the getting of private bills through -Parliament—these, and other such illustrations, show that -the unconscientiousness of the upper class, manifested -though it is in different forms, is not less than that of the -lower class: bears as great a ratio to the size of the class, -and, if traced to its ultimate results, produces evils as great -if not greater.</p> - -<p>And if the facts prove that in uprightness of intentions -there is little to choose between one class of the community -and another, an extension of the -franchise cannot rationally <span class="xxpn" id="p360">{360}</span> -be opposed on the ground that property would be directly -endangered. There is no more reason to suppose that the -mass of artizans and labourers would use political power with -conscious injustice to their richer neighbours, than there is -reason to suppose that their richer neighbours now consciously -commit legal injustices against artizans and labourers.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">What, then, is the danger to be apprehended? If land, -and houses, and railways, and funds, and property of all -other kinds, would be held with no less security than now, -why need there be any fears that the franchise would be -misused? What are the misuses of it which are rationally -to be anticipated?</p> - -<p>The ways in which those to be endowed with political -power are likely to abuse it, may be inferred from the ways -in which political power has been abused by those who have -possessed it.</p> - -<p>What general trait has characterized the rule of the -classes hitherto dominant? These classes have not habitually -sought their own <i>direct</i> advantage at the expense of other -classes; but their measures have nevertheless frequently -been such as were <i>indirectly</i> advantageous to themselves. -Voluntary self-sacrifice has been the exception. The rule -has been so to legislate as to preserve private interests -from injury; whether public interests were injured or not. -Though, in equity, a landlord has no greater claim on a -defaulting tenant than any other creditor; yet landlords, -having formed the majority of the legislature, have made -laws giving them power to recover rent in anticipation of -other creditors. Though the duties payable to government -on the transfer of property to heirs and legatees, might -justly have been made to fall more heavily on the wealthy -than on the comparatively poor, and on real property rather -than on personal property; yet the reverse arrangement -was enacted and long maintained, and is even still partially -in force. Rights of presentation to places -in the Church, <span class="xxpn" id="p361">{361}</span> -obtained however completely in violation of the spirit of the -law, are yet tenaciously defended, with little or no regard -to the welfare of those for whom the Church ostensibly -exists. Were it not accounted for by the bias of personal -interests, it would be impossible to explain the fact that, on -the question of protection to agriculture, the landed classes -and their dependents were ranged against the other classes: -the same evidence being open to both. And if there needs -a still stronger illustration, we have it in the opposition -made to the repeal of the Corn-Laws by the established -clergy. Though, by their office, preachers of justice and -mercy—though constantly occupied in condemning selfishness -and holding up a supreme example of self-sacrifice; -yet so swayed were they by those temporal interests which -they thought endangered, that they offered to this proposed -change an almost uniform resistance. Out of some ten -thousand <i>ex officio</i> friends of the poor and needy, there was -but one (the Rev. Thomas Spencer), who took an active -part in abolishing this tax imposed on the people’s bread -for the maintenance of landlords’ rents.</p> - -<p>Such are a few of the ways in which, in modern times, -those who have the power seek their own benefit at the -expense of the rest. It is in analogous ways that we must -expect any section of the community which may be made -predominant by a political change, to sacrifice the welfare -of other sections to its own. While we do not see reason -to think that the lower classes are intrinsically less conscientious -than the upper classes, we do not see reason to -think that they are more conscientious. Holding, as we -do, that in each society and in each age, the morality is, -on the average, the same throughout all ranks; it seems to -us clear that if the rich, when they have the opportunity, -make laws which unduly favour themselves, the poor, if -their power was in excess, will do the like in similar ways -and to a similar extent. Without knowingly enacting -injustice, they will be unconsciously -biased by personal <span class="xxpn" id="p362">{362}</span> -considerations; and our legislation will err as much in a -new direction as it has hitherto done in the old.</p> - -<p>This abstract conclusion we shall find confirmed on contemplating -the feelings and opinions current among artizans -and labourers. What the working classes now wish done, -indicates what they would be likely to do, if a reform in the -representation made them preponderate. Judging from -their prevailing sentiments, they would doubtless do, or aid -in doing, many things which it is desirable to have done. -Such a question as that of Church-rates would have been -settled long ago had the franchise been wider. Any great -increase of popular influence, would go far to rectify the -present inequitable relation of the established religious sect -to the rest of the community. And other remnants of -class-legislation would be swept away. But besides ideas -likely to eventuate in changes which we should regard as -beneficial, the working classes entertain ideas that could -not be realized without gross injustice to other classes and -ultimate injury to themselves. There is among them a -prevailing enmity towards capitalists. The fallacy that -machinery acts to their damage, is still widely spread, both -among rural labourers and the inhabitants of towns. And -they show a wish, not only to dictate how long per day -men shall work, but to regulate all the relations between -employers and employed. Let us briefly consider the -evidence of this.</p> - -<p>When, adding another to the countless errors which it -has taught the people, the Legislature, by passing the Ten-Hours-Bill, -asserted that it is the duty of the State to limit -the duration of labour, there naturally arose among the -working classes the desire for further ameliorations to be -secured in the same way. First came the formidable strike -of the Amalgamated Engineers. The rules of this body -aim to restrict the supply of labour in various ways. No -member is allowed to work more than a fixed number of -hours per week; nor for less than a fixed -rate of wages. <span class="xxpn" id="p363">{363}</span> -No man is admitted into the trade who has not “earned a -right by probationary servitude.” There is a strict registration; -which is secured by fines on any one who neglects -to notify his marriage, removal, or change of service. The -council decides, without appeal, on all the affairs, individual -and general, of the body. How tyrannical are the regulations -may be judged from the fact, that members are -punished for divulging anything concerning the society’s -business; for censuring one another; for vindicating the -conduct of those fined, etc. And their own unity of action -having been secured by these coercive measures, the -Amalgamated Engineers made a prolonged effort to impose -on their employers, sundry restrictions which they supposed -would be beneficial to themselves. More recently, we have -seen similar objects worked for by similar means during -the strike of the Operative Builders. In one of their early -manifestoes, this body of men contended that they had “an -equal right to share with other workers, that large amount -of public sympathy which is now being so widely extended -in the direction of shortening the hours of labour:” thus -showing at once their delusion and its source. Believing, -as they had been taught by an Act of Parliament to believe, -that the relation between the quantity of labour given and -the wages received, is not a natural but an artificial one; -they demanded that while the wages remained the same, -the hours should be reduced from ten to nine. They -recommended their employers so to make their future -contracts, as to allow for this diminished day’s work: -saying they were “so sanguine as to consider the consummation -of their desire inevitable:” a polite way of hinting -that their employers must succumb to the irresistible power -of their organization. Referring to the threat of the master-builders -to close their works, they warned them against -“the responsibility of causing the public disaster” thus -indicated. And when the breach finally -took place, the <span class="xxpn" id="p364">{364}</span> -Unionists set in action the approved appliances for bringing -masters to terms; and would have succeeded had it not -been that their antagonists, believing that concessions -would be ruinous, made a united resistance. During -several previous years, master-builders had been yielding -to various extravagant demands, of which those recently -made were a further development. Had they assented to -the diminished day’s work, and abolished systematic overtime, -as they were required to do, there is no reason to -suppose the dictation would have ended. Success would -have presently led to still more exacting requirements; and -future years would have witnessed further extensions of -this mischievous meddling between capital and labour.</p> - -<p>Perhaps the completest illustration of the industrial -regulations which find favour with artizans, is supplied by -the Printers’ Union. With the exception of those engaged -in <i>The Times</i> office, and in one other large establishment, -the proprietors of which successfully resisted the combination, -the compositors, pressmen, etc., throughout the -kingdom, form a society which controls all the relations -between employers and employed. There is a fixed price -for setting up type—so much per thousand letters: no -master can give less; no compositor being allowed by the -Union to work for less. There are established rates for -press-work; and established numbers less than which you -cannot have printed without paying for work that is not -done. The scale rises by what are called “tokens” of 250; -and if but 50 copies are required, the charge is the same as -for printing 250; or if 300 are wanted, payment must be -made for 500. Besides regulating prices and modes of -charging to their own advantage, in these and other ways, -the members of the Union restrict competition by limiting -the number of apprentices brought into the business. So -well organized is this combination that the masters are -obliged to succumb. An infraction of the -rules in any <span class="xxpn" id="p365">{365}</span> -printing-office leads to a strike of the men; and as this is -supported by the Union at large, the employer has to yield.</p> - -<p>That in other trades artizans would, if they could, establish -restrictive systems equally complete with this, we take -to be sufficiently proved by their often-repeated attempts. -The Tin-plate-Workers’ strike, the Coventry-Weavers’ -strikes, the Engineers’ strike, the Shoemakers’ strike, the -Builders’ strike, all show a most decided leaning towards a -despotic regulation of trade-prices, hours, and arrangements—towards -an abolition of free trade between employers -and employed. Should the men engaged in our various -industries succeed in their aims, each industry would be so -shackled as seriously to raise the cost of production. The -chief penalty would thus fall on the working classes -themselves. Each producer, while protected in the exercise -of his own occupation, would on every commodity he bought -have to pay an extra price, consequent on the protection of -other producers. In short, there would be established, -under a new form, the old mischievous system of mutual -taxation. And a final result would be such a diminished -ability to compete with other nations as to destroy our -foreign trade.</p> - -<p>Against results like these it behoves us to guard. It -becomes a grave question how far we may safely give -political power to those who entertain views so erroneous -respecting fundamental social relations; and who so pertinaciously -struggle to enforce these erroneous views. Men -who render up their private liberties to the despotic rulers -of trades-unions, seem scarcely independent enough rightly -to exercise political liberties. Those who so ill understand -the nature of freedom, as to think that any man or body of -men has a right to prevent employer and employed from -making any contract they please, would almost appear to be -incapacitated for the guardianship of their own freedom and -that of their fellow-citizens. When their notions of rectitude -are so confused, that they think it a duty to -obey the arbitrary <span class="xxpn" id="p366">{366}</span> -commands of their union-authorities, and to abandon the -right of individually disposing of their labour on their own -terms—when, in conformity with this inverted sense of duty, -they even risk the starvation of their families—when they -call that an “odious document” which simply demands that -master and man shall be free to make their own bargains—when -their sense of justice is so obtuse that they are ready -to bully, to deprive of work, to starve, and even to kill, -members of their own class who rebel against dictation, and -assert their rights to sell their labour at such rates and to -such persons as they think fit—when in short they prove -themselves ready to become alike slaves and tyrants, we may -well pause before giving them the franchise.</p> - -<p>The objects which artizans have long sought to achieve by -their private organizations, they would, had they adequate -political power, seek to achieve by public enactments. If, -on points like those instanced, their convictions are so strong -and their determination so great, that they will time after -time submit to extreme privations in the effort to carry -them; it is a reasonable expectation that these convictions, -pushed with this determination, would soon be expressed in -law, if those who held them had predominant power. With -working men, questions concerning the regulation of labour -are of the highest interest. Candidates for Parliament -would be more likely to obtain their suffrages by pandering -to their prejudices on such questions, than in any other way. -Should it be said that no evil need be feared unless the -artizan-class numerically preponderated in the constituencies; -it may be rejoined that not unfrequently, where two -chief political parties are nearly balanced, some other party, -though much smaller, determines the election. When we -bear in mind that the trades-unions throughout the kingdom -number 600,000 members, and command a fund of £300,000—when -we remember that these trades-unions are in the -habit of aiding each other, and have even been incorporated -into one national association—when we -also remember that <span class="xxpn" id="p367">{367}</span> -their organization is very complete, and their power over -their members mercilessly exercised; it seems likely that at -a general election their combined action would decide the -result in many towns: even though the artizans in each case -formed but a moderate portion of the constituency. How -influential small but combined bodies are, the Irish Members -of our House of Commons prove to us; and still more -clearly the Irish emigrants in America. Certainly these -trade-combinations are not less perfectly organized; nor -are the motives of their members less strong. Judge then -how efficient their political action would be.</p> - -<p>It is true that in county-constituencies and rural towns, -the artizan class have no power; and that in the antagonism -of agriculturists there would be a restraint on their projects. -But, on the other hand, the artizans would, on these questions, -have the sympathy of many not belonging to their own body. -Numerous small shopkeepers and others who are in point of -means about on their level, would go with them in their -efforts to regulate the relations of capital and labour. -Among the middle classes, too, there are not a few kindly-disposed -men who are so ignorant of political economy as to -think the artizans justified in their aims. Even among the -landed class they might find supporters. We have but to -recollect the antipathy shown by landowners in Parliament -to the manufacturing interest, during the ten-hours’ agitation, -to see that it is quite possible for country squires to -join the working men in imposing restrictions unfavourable -to employers. True, the angry feeling which then prompted -them has in some measure died away. It is to be hoped, -too, that they have gained wisdom. But still, remembering -the past, we must take this contingency into account.</p> - -<p>Here, then, is one of the dangers to which an extension -of the franchise opens the door. While the fear that the -rights of property may be directly interfered with, is -absurd, it is a very rational fear that the rights of property -may be indirectly interfered with—that, -by cramping laws, <span class="xxpn" id="p368">{368}</span> -the capitalist may be prevented from using his money as -he finds best, and the workman from selling his labour as -he pleases. We are not prepared to say what widening of -the representation would bring about such results. We -profess neither to estimate what amount of artizan-power a -£6 or a £5 borough-franchise would give; nor to determine -whether the opposing powers would suffice to keep it in -check. Our purpose here is simply to indicate this establishment -of injurious industrial regulations, as one of the -dangers to be kept in view.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Turn we now to another danger, distinct from the foregoing -though near akin to it. Next after the evils of that -over-legislation which restricts the exchange of capital and -labour, come the evils of that over-legislation which provides -for the community, by State-agency, benefits which -capital and labour should be left spontaneously to provide. -And it naturally, though unfortunately, happens, that those -who lean to the one kind of over-legislation, lean also to -the other kind. Men leading laborious lives, relieved by -little in the shape of enjoyment, give willing ears to the -doctrine that the State should provide them with various -positive advantages and gratifications. The much-enduring -poor cannot be expected to deal very critically with those -who promise them gratis pleasures. As a drowning man -catches at a straw, so will one whose existence is burdensome -catch at anything, no matter how unsubstantial, -which holds out the slightest hope of a little happiness. -We must not, therefore, blame the working-classes for -being ready converts to socialistic schemes, or to a belief -in “the sovereign power of political machinery.”</p> - -<p>Not that the working-classes alone fall into these delusions. -Unfortunately they are countenanced, and have -been in part misled, by those above them. In Parliament -and out of Parliament, well-meaning men among the upper -and middle ranks, have been active apostles -of these false <span class="xxpn" id="p369">{369}</span> -doctrines. There has ever been, and continues to be, much -law-making based on the assumption, that it is the duty of -the State, not simply to insure each citizen fair play in the -battle of life, but to help him in fighting the battle of life: -having previously taken money from his, or some one else’s, -pocket to pay the cost of doing this. And we cannot -glance over the papers without seeing how active are the -agitations carried on out of doors in furtherance of this -policy; and how they threaten to become daily more active. -The doings of the Chadwick-school furnish one set of -illustrations. From those of the Shaftesbury-school other -illustrations may be gathered. And in the transactions of -the body, absurdly self-entitled “The National Association -for the Promotion of Social Science,” we find still more -numerous developments of this mischievous error.</p> - -<p>When we say that the working-classes, and more -especially the artizan-classes, have strong leanings towards -these Utopianisms which they have unhappily been encouraged -to entertain by many who should have known -better, we do not speak at random. We are not drawing -an <i>a priori</i> inference as to the doctrines likely to find -favour with men in their position. Nor are we guided -merely by evidence to be gathered from newspapers. We -have a basis of definite fact in the proceedings of reformed -municipal governments. These bodies have from year to -year extended their functions; and so heavy has in some -cases become the consequent local taxation, as to have -caused a reaction against the political party which was -responsible. Town-councils almost exclusively Whig, have -of late been made comparatively Conservative, by the -efforts of those richer classes who suffer most from municipal -extravagance. With whom, then, has this extravagance -been popular? With the poorer members of the constituencies. -Candidates for town-councillorships have found no -better means of obtaining the suffrages of the mass, than -the advocacy of this or the other -local undertaking. To <span class="xxpn" id="p370">{370}</span> -build baths and wash-houses at the expense of the town, -has proved a popular proposal. The support of public -gardens out of funds raised by local rates, has been applauded -by the majority. So, too, with the establishment -of free libraries, which has, of course, met with encouragement -from working-men, and from those who wish to find -favour with them. Should some one, taking a hint from -the cheap concerts now common in our manufacturing -towns, propose to supply music at the public cost, we doubt -not he would be hailed as a friend of the people. And -similarly with countless socialistic schemes, of which, when -once commenced, there is no end.</p> - -<p>Such being the demonstrated tendencies of municipal -governments, with their extended bases of representation, -is it not a fair inference that a Central Government having a -base of representation much wider than the present, would -manifest like tendencies? We shall see the more reason -for fearing this, when we remember that those who approve -of multiplied State-agencies, would generally ally themselves -with those who seek for the legislative regulation of labour. -The doctrines are near akin; and they are, to a considerable -extent, held by the same persons. If united the two bodies -would have a formidable power; and, appealed to, as they -would often be, by candidates expressing agreement on -both these points, they might, even though a minority, get -unduly represented in the legislature. Such, at least, -seems to us a further danger. Led by philanthropists -having sympathies stronger than their intellects, the -working-classes are very likely to employ their influence -in increasing over-legislation: not only by agitating for -industrial regulations, but in various other ways. What -extension of franchise would make this danger a serious -one, we do not pretend to say. Here, as before, we would -simply indicate a probable source of mischief.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">And now what are the safeguards? Not -such as we <span class="xxpn" id="p371">{371}</span> -believe will be adopted. To meet evils like those which -threaten to follow the impending political change, the -common plan is to devise special checks—minor limitations -and qualifications. Not to dry up the evil at its source but -to dam it out, is, in analogous cases, the usual aim. We -have no faith in such methods. The only efficient safeguard -lies in a change of convictions and motives. And, -to work a change of this kind, there is no certain way but -that of letting men directly feel the penalties which mistaken -legislation brings on them. “How is this to be -done?” the reader will doubtless ask. Simply by letting -causes and effects stand in their natural relations. Simply -by taking away those vicious arrangements which now -mostly prevent men from seeing the reactions that follow -legislative actions.</p> - -<p>At present the extension of public administrations is -popular, mainly because there has not been established -in the minds of the people, any distinct connexion between -the benefits to be gained and the expenses to be paid. -Of the conveniences or gratifications secured to them by -some new body of officials with a fund at its disposal, -they have immediate experience; but of the way in which -the costs fall on the nation, and ultimately on themselves, -they have no immediate experience. Our fiscal arrangements -dissociate the ideas of increased public expenditure -and increased burdens on all who labour; and thus -encourage the superstition that law can give gratis benefits. -This is clearly the chief cause of that municipal extravagance -to which we have above adverted. The working -men of our towns possess public power, while most of -them do not directly bear public burdens. On small -houses the taxes for borough-purposes are usually paid -by the landlords; and of late years, for the sake of -convenience and economy, there has grown up a system -of compounding with landlords of small houses even for -the poor-rates chargeable to their -tenants. Under this <span class="xxpn" id="p372">{372}</span> -arrangement, at first voluntary but now compulsory, a -certain discount off the total rates due from a number -of houses is allowed to the owner, in consideration of his -paying the rates, and thus saving the authorities trouble -and loss in collection. And he is supposed to raise his -rents by the full amount of the rates charged. Thus, -most municipal electors, not paying local taxes in a separate -form, are not constantly reminded of the connexion -between public expenditure and personal costs; and hence -it happens that any outlay made for local purposes, no -matter how extravagant and unreasonable, which brings -to them some kind of advantage, is regarded as pure gain. -If the corporation resolves, quite unnecessarily, to rebuild -a town-hall, the resolution is of course approved by the -majority. “It is good for trade and it costs us nothing,” -is the argument which passes vaguely through their minds. -If some one proposes to buy an adjoining estate and turn -it into a public park, the working classes naturally give -their support to the proposal; for ornamental grounds -cannot but be an advantage, and though the rates may be -increased that will be no affair of theirs. Thus necessarily -arises a tendency to multiply public agencies and increase -public outlay. It becomes an established policy with -popularity-hunters to advocate new works to be executed -by the town. Those who disapprove this course are in -fear that their seats may be jeopardized at the next -election, should they make a vigorous opposition. And -thus do these local administrations inevitably lean towards -abnormal developments.</p> - -<p>No one can, we think, doubt that were the rates levied -directly on all electors, a check would be given to this -municipal communism. If each small occupier found that -every new work undertaken by the authorities cost him -so many pence extra in the pound, he would begin to -consider with himself whether the advantage gained was -equivalent to the price paid; and would -often reach a <span class="xxpn" id="p373">{373}</span> -negative conclusion. It would become a question with -him whether, instead of letting the local government -provide him with certain remote advantages in return for -certain moneys, he might not himself purchase with such -moneys immediate advantages of greater worth; and, -generally, he would decide that he could do this. Without -saying to what extent such a restraint would act, we may -safely say that it would be beneficial. Every one must -admit that each inhabitant of a town ought constantly to -be reminded of the relation between the work performed -for him by the corporation and the sum he pays for it. -No one can deny that the habitual experience of this -relation would tend to keep the action of local governments -within proper bounds.</p> - -<p>Similarly with the Central Government. Here the effects -wrought by public agencies are still more dissociated from -the costs they entail on each citizen. The bulk of the -taxes being raised in so unobtrusive a way, and affecting -the masses in modes so difficult to trace, it is scarcely -possible for the masses to realize the fact that the sums -paid by Government for supporting schools, for facilitating -emigration, for inspecting mines, factories, railways, ships, -etc., have been in great part taken from their own pockets. -The more intelligent of them understand this as an abstract -truth; but it is not a truth present to their minds in such -a definite shape as to influence their actions. Quite -otherwise, however, would it be if taxation were direct; -and the expense of every new State-agency were felt by -each citizen as an additional demand made on him by the -tax-gatherer. Then would there be a clear, constantly-recurring -experience of the truth, that for everything -which the State gives with one hand it takes away -something with the other; and then would it be less easy -to propagate absurd delusions about the powers and duties -of Governments. No one can question this conclusion who -calls to mind the reason currently -given for maintaining <span class="xxpn" id="p374">{374}</span> -indirect taxation; namely, that the required revenue could -not otherwise be raised. Statesmen see that if instead of -taking from the citizen here a little and there a little, -in ways that he does not know or constantly forgets, the -whole amount were demanded in a lump sum, it would -scarcely be possible to get it paid. Grumbling and -resistance would rise probably to disaffection. Coercion -would in hosts of cases be needed to obtain this large -total tax; which, indeed, even with this aid, could not -be obtained from the majority of the people, whose -improvident habits prevent the accumulation of considerable -sums. And so the revenue would fall immensely short -of that expenditure which is supposed necessary. This -being assented to, it must perforce be admitted that under -a system of direct taxation, further extension of public -administrations, entailing further costs, would meet with -general opposition. Instead of multiplying the functions -of the State, the tendency would obviously be to reduce -their number.</p> - -<p>Here, then, is one of the safeguards. The incidence -of taxation must be made more direct in proportion as -the franchise is extended. Our changes ought not to be -in the direction of the Compound-Householders-Act of -1851, which makes it no longer needful for a Parliamentary -elector to have paid poor-rates before giving a vote; but -they ought to be in the opposite direction. The exercise -of power over the national revenue, should be indissolubly -associated with the <i>conscious</i> payment of contributions to -that revenue. Direct taxation instead of being limited, as -many wish, must be extended to lower and wider classes, -as fast as these classes are endowed with political power.</p> - -<p>Probably this proposal will be regarded with small favour -by statesmen. It is not in the nature of things for men -to approve a system which tends to restrict their powers. -We know, too, that any great extension of direct taxation -will be held at present impossible; and we -are not prepared <span class="xxpn" id="p375">{375}</span> -to assert the contrary. This, however, is no reason against -reducing the indirect taxation and augmenting the direct -taxation as far as circumstances allow. And if when the -last had been increased and the first decreased to the -greatest extent now practicable, it were made an established -principle that any additional revenue must be raised by -direct taxes, there would be an efficient check to one of the -evils likely to follow from further political enfranchisement.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">The other evil which we have pointed out as rationally -to be feared, cannot be thus met, however. Though an -ever-recurring experience of the relation between State-action -and its cost, would hinder the growth of those -State-agencies which undertake to supply citizens with -positive conveniences and gratifications; it would be no -restraint on that negative and inexpensive over-legislation -which trespasses on individual freedom—it would not prevent -mischievous meddling with the relations between labour -and capital. Against this danger the only safeguards -appear to be, the spread of sounder views among the -working classes, and the moral advance which such sounder -views imply.</p> - -<p>“That is to say, the people must be educated,” responds -the reader. Yes, education is the thing wanted; but not -the education for which most men agitate. Ordinary -school-training is not a preparation for the right exercise -of political power. Conclusive proof of this is given by the -fact that the artizans, from whose mistaken ideas the most -danger is to be feared, are the best informed of the working -classes. Far from promising to be a safeguard, the spread -of such education as is commonly given appears more likely -to increase the danger. Raising the working classes in -general to the artizan-level of culture, threatens to augment, -rather than to diminish, their power of working political -evil. The current faith in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, -as fitting men for citizenship, seems -to us quite <span class="xxpn" id="p376">{376}</span> -unwarranted; as are, indeed, most other anticipations of -the benefits to be derived from learning lessons. There is -no connexion between the ability to parse a sentence, and -a clear understanding of the causes which determine the -rate of wages. The multiplication-table affords no aid in -seeing through the fallacy that the destruction of property -is good for trade. Long practice may have produced -extremely good penmanship without having given the least -power to understand the paradox that machinery eventually -increases the number of persons employed in the trades -into which it is introduced. Nor is it proved that smatterings -of mensuration, astronomy, or geography, fit men for -estimating the characters and motives of Parliamentary -candidates. Indeed we have only thus to bring together -the antecedents and the anticipated consequents, to see -how untenable is the belief in a relation between them. -When we wish a girl to become a good musician, we seat -her before the piano: we do not put drawing implements -into her hands, and expect music to come along with skill in -the use of pencils and colour-brushes. Sending a boy to pore -over law-books would be thought an extremely irrational way -of preparing him for civil engineering. And if in these and -all other cases, we do not expect fitness for any function -except through instruction and exercise in that function; -why do we expect fitness for citizenship to be produced by -a discipline which has no relation to the duties of the citizen? -Probably it will be replied that by making the working -man a good reader, we give him access to sources of information -from which he may learn how to use his electoral -power; and that other studies sharpen his faculties and -make him a better judge of political questions. This is -true; and the eventual tendency is unquestionably good. -But what if for a long time to come he reads only to obtain -confirmation of his errors? What if there exists a literature -appealing to his prejudices, and supplying him with fallacious -arguments for the mistaken beliefs which -he naturally takes <span class="xxpn" id="p377">{377}</span> -up? What if he rejects all teaching that aims to disabuse -him of cherished delusions? Must we not say that the -culture which thus merely helps the workman to establish -himself in error, rather unfits than fits him for citizenship? -And do not the trades’-unions furnish evidence of this?</p> - -<p>How little that which people commonly call education -prepares them for the use of political power, may be judged -from the incompetency of those who have received the -highest education the country affords. Glance back at the -blunders of our legislation, and then remember that the -men who committed them had mostly taken University-degrees; -and you must admit that the profoundest ignorance -of Social Science may accompany intimate acquaintance -with all which our cultivated classes regard as valuable -knowledge. Do but take a young member of Parliament, -fresh from Oxford or Cambridge, and ask him what he -thinks Law should do, and why? or what it should not do, -and why? and it will become manifest that neither his -familiarity with Aristotle nor his readings in Thucydides, -have prepared him to answer the very first question a -legislator ought to solve. A single illustration will suffice -to show how different an education from that usually given, -is required by legislators, and consequently by those who -elect them: we mean the illustration which the Free-trade -agitation supplies. By kings, peers, and members of -Parliament, mostly brought up at universities, trade had -been hampered by protections, prohibitions, and bounties. -For centuries had been maintained these legislative -appliances which a very moderate insight shows to be -detrimental. Yet, of all the highly-educated throughout -the nation during these centuries, scarcely a man saw how -mischievous such appliances were. Not from one who -devoted himself to the most approved studies, came the -work which set politicians right on these points; but from -one who left college without a degree, and prosecuted -inquiries which the established -education ignored. Adam <span class="xxpn" id="p378">{378}</span> -Smith examined for himself the industrial phenomena of -societies; contemplated the productive and distributive -activities going on around him; traced out their complicated -mutual dependences; and thus reached general -principles for political guidance. In recent days, those -who have most clearly understood the truths he enunciated, -and by persevering exposition have converted the nation -to their views, have not been graduates of universities. -While, contrariwise, those who have passed through the prescribed -<i>curriculum</i>, have commonly been the most bitter and -obstinate opponents of the changes dictated by politico-economical -science. In this all-important direction, right -legislation was urged by men deficient in the so-called -best education, and was resisted by the great majority -of men who had received this so-called best education!</p> - -<p>The truth for which we contend, and which is so -strangely overlooked, is, indeed, almost a truism. Does -not our whole theory of training imply that the right -preparation for political power is political cultivation? -Must not that teaching which can alone guide the citizen -in the fulfilment of his public actions, be a teaching that -acquaints him with the effects of his public actions?</p> - -<p>The second chief safeguard to which we must trust is, -then, the spread, not of that mere technical and miscellaneous -knowledge which men are so eagerly propagating, -but of political knowledge; or, to speak more accurately—knowledge -of Social Science. Above all, the essential -thing is the establishment of a true theory of government—a -true conception of what legislation is for, and what are -its proper limits. This question which our political discussions -habitually ignore, is a question of greater moment -than any other. Inquiries which statesmen deride as -speculative and unpractical, will one day be found infinitely -more practical than those which they wade through Blue -Books to master, and nightly spend many hours in debating. -The considerations that every morning fill -a dozen columns <span class="xxpn" id="p379">{379}</span> -of <i>The Times</i>, are mere frivolities when compared with the -fundamental consideration—What is the proper sphere of -government? Before discussing the way in which law -should regulate some particular thing, would it not be wise -to put the previous question—Whether law ought or ought -not to meddle with that thing? and before answering this, -to put the more general questions—What law should do? -and what it should leave undone? Surely, if there are any -limits at all to legislation, the settlement of these limits -must have effects far more profound than any particular -Act of Parliament can have; and must be by so much the -more momentous. Surely, if there is danger that the -people may misuse political power, it is of supreme importance -that they should be taught for what purpose political -power ought alone to be used.</p> - -<p>Did the upper classes understand their position they -would, we think, see that the diffusion of sound views on -this matter more nearly concerns their own welfare and -that of the nation at large, than any other thing whatever. -Popular influence will inevitably go on increasing. Should -the masses gain a predominant power while their ideas of -social arrangements and legislative action remain as crude -as at present, there will certainly result disastrous meddlings -with the relations of capital and labour, as well as a disastrous -extension of State-administrations. Immense damage -will be inflicted: primarily on employers; secondarily on -the employed; and eventually on the nation as a whole. -If these evils can be prevented at all, they can be prevented -only by establishing in the public mind a profound conviction -that there are certain definite limits to the functions of -the State; and that these limits ought on no account to be -transgressed. Having learned what these limits are, the -upper classes ought to use all means of making them -clear to the people.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">In No. XXIV. of this Review, for -October, 1857, we <span class="xxpn" id="p380">{380}</span> -endeavoured to show that while representative government -is, by its intrinsic nature, better than any other for administering -justice or insuring equitable relations among citizens, -it is, by its intrinsic nature, worse than any other for all the -various additional functions which governments commonly -undertake. To the question—What is representative -government good for? our reply was—“It is good, -especially good, good above all others, for doing the thing -which a government should do. It is bad, especially bad, -bad above all others, for doing the things which a government -should not do.”</p> - -<p>To this truth we may here add a correlative one. As -fast as a government, by becoming representative, grows -better fitted for maintaining the rights of citizens, it grows -not only unfitted for other purposes, but dangerous for -other purposes. In gaining adaptation for the essential -function of a government, it loses such adaptation as it had -for other functions; not only because its complexity is a -hindrance to administrative action, but also because in -discharging other functions it must be mischievously -influenced by class bias. So long as it is confined to the -duty of preventing the aggressions of individuals on one -another, and protecting the nation at large against external -enemies, the wider its basis the better; for all men are -similarly interested in the security of life, property, and -freedom to exercise the faculties. But let it undertake -to bring home positive benefits to citizens, or to interfere -with any of the special relations between class and -class, and there necessarily enters an incentive to injustice. -For in no such cases can the immediate interests of all -classes be alike. Therefore do we say that as fast as -representation is extended, the sphere of government must -be contracted.</p> - -<p class="padtopb"><span class="smcap">P<b>OSTSCRIPT</b>.</span>—Since the foregoing pages were written, -Lord John Russell has introduced his Reform -Bill; and in <span class="xxpn" id="p381">{381}</span> -application of the general principles we contend for, a few -words may fitly be added respecting it.</p> - -<p>Of the extended county-franchise most will approve, -save those whose illegitimate influence is diminished by it. -Adding to the rural constituencies a class less directly -dependent on large landowners, can scarcely fail to be -beneficial. Even should it not at first perceptibly affect -the choice of representatives, it will still be a good stimulus -to political education and to consequent future benefits. -Of the re-distribution of seats little is to be said, further -than that, however far short it may fall of an equitable -arrangement, it is perhaps as much as can at present -be obtained.</p> - -<p>Whether the right limit for the borough-franchise has -been chosen is, on the other hand, a question that admits -of much discussion. Some hesitation will probably be felt -by all who duly weigh the evidence on both sides. Believing, -as we do, that the guidance of abstract equity, however -much it may need qualification, must never be ignored, we -should be glad were it at once practicable more nearly to -follow it; since it is certain that only as fast as the injustice -of political exclusion is brought to an end, will the many -political injustices which grow out of it disappear. Nevertheless, -we are convinced that the forms which freedom -requires will not of themselves produce the reality of -freedom, in the absence of an appropriate national character; -any more than the most perfect mechanism will do its -work in the absence of a motive power. There seems -reason to think that the degree of liberty a people is -capable of in any given age, is a fixed quantity; and that -any artificial extension of it in one direction brings about -an equivalent limitation in some other direction. French -republics show scarcely any more respect for individual -rights than the despotisms they supplant; and French -electors use their freedom to put themselves again in -slavery. In America the feeble restraints -imposed by the <span class="xxpn" id="p382">{382}</span> -State are supplemented by the strong restraints of a public -opinion which, in many respects, holds the citizens in -greater bondage than here. And if there needs a demonstration -that representative equality is an insufficient safeguard -for freedom, we have it in the trades’-unions already -referred to; which, purely democratic as are their organizations, -yet exercise over their members a tyranny almost -Neapolitan in its rigour and unscrupulousness. The -greatest attainable amount of individual liberty being the -true end; and the diffusion of political power being -regarded mainly as a means to this end; the real question -when considering further extensions of the franchise, is—whether -the average freedom of action of citizens will be -increased?—whether men will be severally freer than -before to pursue the objects of life in their own way? Or, -in the present case, the question is—whether the good -which £7, £6, or £5 householders would do in helping to -abolish existing injustices, will be partly or wholly -neutralized by the evil they may do in establishing other -injustices? The desideratum is as large an increase in the -electorate as can be made without enabling the people to -carry out their delusive schemes of over-legislation. -Whether the increase proposed is greater or less than this, -is the essential point. Let us briefly consider the evidence -on each side.</p> - -<p>As shown by Lord J. Russell’s figures, the new borough-electors -will consist mainly of artizans; and these, as we -have seen, are in great part banded together by a common -wish to regulate the relations of capital and labour. As a -class, they are not as Lord J. Russell describes them, -“fitted to exercise the franchise freely and independently.” -On the contrary, there are no men in the community so -shackled. They are the slaves of the authorities they have -themselves set up. The dependence of farmers on landlords, -or of operatives on employers, is much less servile; -for they can carry their capital or -labour elsewhere. But <span class="xxpn" id="p383">{383}</span> -the penalty for disobedience to trades-union dictates, -pursues the rebel throughout the kingdom. Hence the -great mass of the new borough-electors must be expected -to act simultaneously, on the word of command being -issued from a central council of united trades. Even while -we write we meet with fresh reason for anticipating this -result. An address from the Conference of the Building -Trades to the working classes throughout the kingdom, -has just been published; thanking them for their support; -advising the maintenance of the organization; anticipating -future success in their aims; and intimating the propriety -of recommencing the nine-hours’ agitation. We must, -then, be prepared to see these industrial questions made -leading questions; for artizans have a much keener interest -in them than in any others. And we may feel certain that -many elections will turn upon them.</p> - -<p>How many? There are some thirty boroughs in which -the newly-enfranchised will form an actual majority—will, -if they act together, be able to outvote the existing electors; -even supposing the parties into which they are now -divided were to unite. In half-a-dozen other boroughs the -newly-enfranchised will form a virtual majority—will preponderate -unless the present liberal and conservative voters -co-operate with great unanimity, which they will be unlikely -to do. And the number proposed to be added to the constituency, -is one-half or more in nearly fifty other boroughs: -that is, in nearly fifty other boroughs, the new party will -be able to arbitrate between the two existing parties; and -will give its support to whichever of these promises most -aid to artizan-schemes. It maybe said that in this estimate -we assume the whole of the new borough-electors to belong -to the artizan-class, which they do not. This is true. But, -on the other hand, it must be remembered that among the -£10 householders there is a very considerable sprinkling of -this class, while the freemen chiefly consist of it; and hence -the whole artizan body in each -constituency will probably <span class="xxpn" id="p384">{384}</span> -be not smaller than we have assumed. If so, it follows -that should the trades-union organization be brought to -bear on borough-elections, as it is pretty certain to be, it -may prevail in some eighty or ninety places, and sway the -votes of representatives in from 100 to 150 seats—supposing, -that is, that it can obtain as many eligible candidates.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, the county-constituencies in their proposed -state, as much as in their existing state, not being under -trades-union influence, may be expected to stand in antagonism -to the artizan-constituencies; as may also the small -boroughs. It is just possible, indeed, that irritated by the -ever-growing power of a rich mercantile class, continually -treading closer on their heels, the landowners, carrying -with them their dependents, might join the employed in -their dictation to employers; just as, in past times, the -nobles joined the commonalty against the kings, or the -kings joined the commonalty against the nobles. But -leaving out this remote contingency, we may fairly expect -the rural constituencies to oppose the large urban ones -on these industrial questions. Thus, then, the point to be -decided is, whether the benefits that will result from this -extended suffrage—benefits which we doubt not will be -great—may not be secured while the accompanying evil -tendencies are kept in check. It may be that these new -artizan-electors will be powerful for good, while their -power to work evil will be in a great degree neutralized. -But this we should like to see well discussed.</p> - -<p>On one question, however, we feel no hesitation; namely, -the question of a ratepaying-qualification. From Lord -John Russell’s answer to Mr. Bright, and more recently -from his answer to Mr. Steel, we gather that on this -point there is to be no alteration—that £6 householders -will stand on the same footing that £10 householders do -at present. Now by the Compound-Householders-Act of -1851, to which we have already referred, it is provided -that tenants of £10 houses whose rates are -paid by their <span class="xxpn" id="p385">{385}</span> -landlords, shall, after having <i>once</i> tendered payment of -rates to the authorities, be thereafter considered as ratepayers, -and have votes accordingly. That is to say, the -ratepaying-qualification is made nominal; and that in -practice it has become so, is proved by the fact that -under this Act, 4000 electors were suddenly added to the -constituency of Manchester.</p> - -<p>The continuance and extension of this arrangement we -conceive to be wholly vicious. Already we have shown -that the incidence of taxation ought to be made more -direct as fast as popular power is increased, and that, as -diminishing the elector’s personal experience of the costs -of public administration, this abolition of a ratepaying-qualification -is a retrograde step. But this is by no means -the sole ground for disapproval. The ratepaying-qualification -is a valuable test—a test which tends to separate -the more worthy of the working classes from the less -worthy. Nay more, it tends to select for enfranchisement, -those who have the moral and intellectual qualities especially -required for judicious political conduct. For what -general mental characteristic does judicious political conduct -presuppose? The power of realizing remote consequences. -People who are misled by demagogues, are those who are -impressed with the proximate results set forth to them but -are not impressed by the distant results, even when these -are explained—regard them as vague, shadowy, theoretical, -and are not to be deterred by them from clutching at a -promised boon. Conversely, the wise citizen is the one -who conceives the distant evils so clearly that they are -practically present to him, and thus outweigh the immediate -temptation. Now these are just the respective characteristics -of the two classes of tenants whom a ratepaying-qualification -separates:—the one having their rates paid -by their landlords and so losing their votes; the other -paying their own rates that they may get votes:—the one -unable to resist present temptations, unable -to save money, <span class="xxpn" id="p386">{386}</span> -and therefore so inconvenienced by the payment of rates -as to be disfranchised rather than pay them; the other -resisting present temptations and saving money, with the -view, among other ends, of paying rates and becoming -electors. Trace these respective traits to their sources, -and it becomes manifest that, on the average, the pecuniarily -improvident must be also the politically improvident; -and that the politically provident must be far more -numerous among those who are pecuniarily provident. -Hence, it is folly to throw aside a regulation under which -these spontaneously separate themselves—severally disfranchise -themselves -and enfranchise themselves.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p387">{387}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">“THE COLLECTIVE WISDOM.”</h2> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First published in</i> -The Reader <i>for April 15, 1865</i>.]</p></div></div> - -<p>A test of senatorial capacity is a desideratum. We -rarely learn how near the mark or how wide of the mark -the calculations of statesmen are: the slowness and complexity -of social changes, hindering, as they do, the definite -comparisons of results with anticipations. Occasionally, -however, parliamentary decisions admit of being definitely -valued. One which was arrived at a few weeks ago furnished -a measure of legislative judgment too significant to -be passed by.</p> - -<p>On the edge of the Cotswolds, just above the valley of -the Severn, occur certain springs, which, as they happen -to be at the end of the longest of the hundred streams -which join to form the Thames, have been called by a -poetical fiction “the sources of the Thames.” Names, even -when poetical fictions, suggest conclusions; and conclusions -drawn from words instead of facts are equally apt to influence -conduct. Thus it happened that when, recently, there was -formed a company for supplying Cheltenham and some -other places from these springs, great opposition arose. -The <i>Times</i> published a paragraph headed “Threatened -Absorption of the Thames,” stating that -the application of <span class="xxpn" id="p388">{388}</span> -this company to Parliament had “caused some little consternation -in the city of Oxford, and will, doubtless, -throughout the valley of the Thames;” and that “such a -measure, if carried out, will diminish the water of that -noble river a million of gallons per day.” A million is -an alarming word—suggests something necessarily vast. -Translating words into thoughts, however, would have -calmed the fears of the <i>Times</i> paragraphist. Considering -that a million gallons would be contained by a room fifty-six -feet cube, the nobility of the Thames would not be -much endangered by the deduction. The simple fact is, -that the current of the Thames, above the point at which -the tides influence it, discharges in twenty-four hours eight -hundred times this amount!</p> - -<p>When the bill of this proposed water-company was brought -before the House of Commons for second reading, it became -manifest that the imaginations of our rulers were affected -by such expressions as the “sources of the Thames,” and -“a million gallons daily,” in much the same way as the -imaginations of the ignorant. Though the quantity of -water proposed to be taken bears, to the quantity which -runs over Teddington weir, about the same ratio that a yard -bears to half a mile, it was thought by many members that -its loss would be a serious evil. No method of measurement -would be accurate enough to detect the difference between -the Thames as it now is, and the Thames <i>minus</i> the Cerney -springs; and yet it was gravely stated in the House that, -were the Thames diminished in the proposed way, “the -proportion of sewage to pure water would be seriously increased.” -Taking a minute out of twelve hours, would be -taking as large a proportion as the Cheltenham people wish -to take from the Thames. Nevertheless, it was contended -that to let Cheltenham have this quantity would be “to rob -the towns along the banks of the Thames of their rights,” -Though, of the Thames flowing by each of these towns, -some 999 parts out of 1,000 pass by unused, -it was held <span class="xxpn" id="p389">{389}</span> -that a great injustice would be committed were one or two -of these 999 parts appropriated by the inhabitants of a -town who can now obtain daily but four gallons of foul -water per head!</p> - -<p>But the apparent inability thus shown to think of causes -and effects in something like their true quantitative relations, -was still more conspicuously shown. It was stated by -several members that the Thames Navigation Commissioners -would have opposed the bill if the commission had not been -bankrupt; and this hypothetical opposition appeared to -have weight. If we may trust the reports, the House of -Commons listened with gravity to the assertion of one of -its members, that, if the Cerney springs were diverted, -“shoals and flats would be created.” Not a laugh nor a -cry of “Oh! oh,” appears to have been produced by the -prophecy, that the volume and scouring power of the Thames -would be seriously affected by taking away from it twelve -gallons per second! The whole quantity which these -springs supply would be delivered by a current moving -through a pipe one foot in diameter at the rate of less than -two miles per hour. Yet, when it was said that the navigability -of the Thames would be injuriously affected by -this deduction, there were no shouts of derision. On the -contrary, the House rejected the Cheltenham Water Bill by -a majority of one hundred and eighteen to eighty-eight. It -is true that the data were not presented in the above shape. -But the remarkable fact is that, even in the absence of a -specific comparison, it should not have been at once seen -that the water of springs which drain but a few square miles -at most, can be but an inappreciable part of the water which -runs out of the Thames basin, extending over several -thousand square miles. In itself, this is a matter of small -moment. It interests us here simply as an example of -legislative judgment. The decision is one of those small -holes through which a wide prospect may be seen, and a -disheartening prospect it is. In a very -simple case there <span class="xxpn" id="p390">{390}</span> -is here displayed a scarcely credible inability to see how -much effect will follow so much cause; and yet the business -of the assembly exhibiting this inability is that of dealing -with causes and effects of an extremely involved kind. All -the processes going on in society arise from the concurrences -and conflicts of human actions, which are determined -in their nature and amounts by the human constitution as -it now is—are as much results of natural causation as any -other results, and equally imply definite quantitative relations -between causes and effects. Every legislative act -presupposes a diagnosis and a prognosis; both of them -involving estimations of social forces and the work done by -them. Before it can be remedied, an evil must be traced -to its source in the motives and ideas of men as they are, -living under the social conditions which exist—a problem -requiring that the actions tending toward the result shall -be identified, and that there shall be something like a true -idea of the quantities of their effects as well as the qualities. -A further estimation has then to be made of the kinds and -degrees of influence that will be exerted by the additional -factors which the proposed law will set in motion: what -will be the resultants produced by the new forces coöperating -with preëxisting forces—a problem still more -complicated than the other.</p> - -<p>We are quite prepared to hear the unhesitating reply, -that men incapable of forming an approximately true -judgment on a matter of simple physical causation may yet -be very good law-makers. So obvious will this be thought -by most, that a tacit implication to the contrary will seem -to them absurd; and that it will seem to them absurd -is one of the many indications of the profound ignorance -that prevails. It is true that mere empirical generalizations -which men draw from their dealings with their -fellows suffice to give them some ideas of the proximate -effects which new enactments will work; and, seeing these, -they think they see as far as needful. -Discipline in physical <span class="xxpn" id="p391">{391}</span> -science, however, would help to show them the futility of -calculating consequences based on such simple data. And -if there needs proof that calculations of consequences so -based are futile, we have it in the enormous labour annually -entailed on the Legislature in trying to undo the mischiefs -it has previously done.</p> - -<p>Should any say that it is useless to dwell on this incompetency, -seeing that the House of Commons contains -the select of the nation, than whose judgments no better -are to be had, we reply that there may be drawn two -inferences which have important practical bearings. In -the first place, we are shown how completely the boasted -intellectual discipline of our upper classes fails to give them -the power of following out in thought, with any correctness, -the sequences of even simple phenomena, much less those -of complex phenomena. And, in the second place, we -may draw the corollary, that if the sequences of those complex -phenomena which societies display, difficult beyond all -others to trace out, are so unlikely to be understood by -them, they may advantageously be restricted in their interferences -with such sequences.</p> - -<p>In one direction, especially, shall we see reason to resist -the extension of legislative action. There has of late been -urged the proposal that the class contemptuously described -as dividing its energies between business and bethels shall -have its education regulated by the class which might, with -equal justice, be described as dividing its energies between -club-rooms and game preserves. This scheme does not -seem to us a hopeful one. Considering that during the -last half century our society has been remoulded by ideas -that have come from the proposed pupil, and have had to -overcome the dogged resistance of the proposed teacher, -the propriety of the arrangement is not obvious. And if the -propriety of the arrangement is not obvious on the face of -it, still less obvious does it become when -the competency of <span class="xxpn" id="p392">{392}</span> -the proposed teacher comes to be measured. British -intelligence, as distilled through the universities and re-distilled -into the House of Commons, is a product admitting -of such great improvement in quality, that we should be -sorry to see the present method of manufacture extended -and permanently established.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p393">{393}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">POLITICAL FETICHISM.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First published in</i> -The Reader <i>for June 10, 1865</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>A Hindoo, who, before beginning his day’s work, salaams -to a bit of plastic clay, out of which, in a few moments, he -has extemporized a god in his own image, is an object -of amazement to the European. We read with surprise -bordering on scepticism of worship done by machinery, -and of prayers which owe their supposed efficacy to the -motion given by the wind to the papers they are written on. -When told how certain of the Orientals, if displeased with -their wooden deities, take them down and beat them, men -laugh and wonder.</p> - -<p>Why should men wonder? Kindred superstitions are -exhibited by their fellows every day—superstitions that -are, indeed, not so gross, but are intrinsically of the same -nature. There is an idolatry which, instead of carving the -object of its worship out of dead matter, takes humanity -for its raw material, and expects, by moulding a mass of -this humanity into a particular form, to give it powers or -properties quite different from those it had before it was -moulded. In the one case as in the other, the raw material -is, as much as may be, disguised. There are decorative -appliances by which the savage helps himself to think that -he has something more than wood before -him; and the <span class="xxpn" id="p394">{394}</span> -citizen gives to the political agencies he has helped to -create, such imposing externals and distinctive names -expressive of power, as serve to strengthen his belief in -the benefits prayed for. Some faint reflection of that -“divinity” which “doth hedge a king” spreads down -through every state department to the lowest ranks; so -that, in the eyes of the people, even the policeman puts on -along with his uniform a certain indefinable power. Nay, -the mere dead symbols of authority excite reverence in -spite of better knowledge. A legal form of words seems to -have something especially binding in it; and there is a -preternatural efficiency about a government stamp.</p> - -<p>The parallelism is still more conspicuous between the -persistency of faith in the two cases, notwithstanding perpetual -disappointments. It is difficult to perceive how -graven images, that have been thrashed for not responding -to their worshipper’s desires, should still be reverenced and -petitioned; but the difficulty of conceiving this is diminished -when we remember how, in their turns, all the idols in our -political pantheon undergo castigations for failing to do -what was expected of them, and are nevertheless daily -looked up to in the trustful hope that future prayers will be -answered. The stupidity, the slowness, the perversity, the -dishonesty of officialism, in one or other of its embodiments, -are demonstrated afresh in almost every newspaper that -issues. Probably half the leading articles written have for -texts some absurd official blunder, some exasperating official -delay, some astounding official corruption, some gross official -injustice, some incredible official extravagance. And yet -these whippings, in which balked expectation continually -vents itself, are immediately followed by renewed faith: -the benefits that have not come are still hoped for, and -prayers for others are put up. Along with proof that the -old State-machines are in themselves inert, and owe such -powers as they seem to have to the public opinion which -sets their parts in motion, there -are continually proposed <span class="xxpn" id="p395">{395}</span> -new State-machines of the same type as the old. This -inexhaustible credulity is counted on by men of the widest -political experience. Lord Palmerston, who probably -knows his public better than any other man, lately said, in -reply to a charge made in the House—“I am quite convinced -that no person belonging to the government, in -whatever department he may be, high or low, would be -guilty of any breach of faith in regard to any matter -confided to him.” To assert as much in the face of -facts continually disclosed, implies that Lord Palmerston -knows well that men’s faith in officialism survives all -adverse evidence.</p> - -<p>In which case are the hopes from State-agency realized? -One might have thought that the vital interests at stake -would have kept the all-essential apparatus for administering -justice up to its work; but they do not. On the one -hand, here is a man wrongly convicted, and afterward -proved to be innocent, who is “pardoned” for an offence -he did not commit; and has this as consolation for his -unmerited suffering. On the other hand, here is a man -whose grave delinquencies a Lord Chancellor overlooks, on -partial restitution being made—nay, more, countenances -the granting of a pension to him. Proved guilt is rewarded, -while proved innocence is left without compensation for -pains borne and fortunes blasted! This marvellous antithesis, -if not often fully paralleled in the doings of officialism -as administrator of justice, is, in endless cases, paralleled -in part. The fact that imprisonment is the sentence on a -boy for stealing a pennyworth of fruit, while thousands of -pounds may be transferred from a public into a private -purse without any positive punishment being adjudged, is -an anomaly kept in countenance by numerous other judicial -acts. Theoretically, the State is a protector of the rights of -subjects; practically, the State continually plays the part -of aggressor. Though it is a recognized principle of equity -that he who makes a false charge shall pay the -costs of the <span class="xxpn" id="p396">{396}</span> -defence, yet, until quite recently, the Crown has persisted -in refusing to pay the costs of citizens against whom it has -brought false charges. Nay, worse, deliberate attempts -used to be made to establish charges by corrupt means. -Within the memory of those now living, the Crown, in -excise-prosecutions, bribed juries. When the verdict was -for the Crown, the custom was to give double fees; and the -practice was not put an end to until the counsel for a -defendant announced in open court that the jury should -have double fees if their verdict was for his client!</p> - -<p>Not alone in the superior parts of our judicial apparatus -is this ill-working of officialism so thrust on men’s notice as -to have become proverbial; not alone in the life-long delays -and ruinous expenses which have made Chancery a word of -dread; not alone in the extravagances of bankruptcy courts, -which lead creditors carefully to shun them; not alone in -that uncertainty which makes men submit to gross injustice -rather than risk the still grosser injustice which the law -will, as likely as not, inflict on them; but down through the -lower divisions of the judicial apparatus are all kinds of -failures and absurdities daily displayed. If may be fairly -urged in mitigation of the sarcasms current respecting the -police, that among so many men cases of misconduct and -inefficiency must be frequent; but we might have expected -the orders under which they act to be just and well considered. -Very little inquiry shows that they are not. -There is a story current that, in the accounts of an Irish -official, a small charge for a telegram which an emergency -had called for, was objected to at the head office in London, -and, after a long correspondence, finally allowed, but with -the understanding that in future no such item would be -passed, unless the department in London had authorized it! -We cannot vouch for this story, but we can vouch for one -which gives credibility to it. A friend who had been -robbed by his cook went to the police-office, detailed the -case, gave good reasons for inferring the -direction of her <span class="xxpn" id="p397">{397}</span> -flight, and requested the police to telegraph, that she -might be intercepted. He was told, however, that they -could not do this without authority; and this authority was -not to be had without a long delay. The result was that -the thief, who had gone to the place supposed, escaped, -and has not since been heard of. Take another function -assumed by the police—the regulation of traffic. Daily, -all through London, ten thousand fast-going vehicles, with -hard-pressed men of business in them, are stopped by a -sprinkle of slow-going carts and wagons. Greater speed -in these comparatively few carts and wagons, or limitation -of them to early and late hours, would immensely diminish -the evil. But, instead of dealing with these really great -hinderances to traffic, the police deal with that which is -practically no hindrance. Men with advertisement-boards -were lately forbidden to walk about, on the groundless plea -that they are in the way; and incapables, prevented thus -from getting a shilling a day, were driven into the ranks of -paupers and thieves. Worse cases may be observed. For -years past there has been a feud between the police and -the orange-girls, who are chased hither and thither because -they are said to be obstructions to foot-passengers. Meanwhile, -in some of the chief thoroughfares, may constantly -be seen men standing with toys, which they delude children -and their parents into buying by pretending that the toys -make certain sounds which they themselves make; and -when the police, quietly watching this obtainment of money -under false pretences, are asked why they do not interfere, -they reply that they have no orders. Admirable contrast! -Trade dishonestly, and you may collect a small crowd on -the pavement without complaint being made that you -interrupt the traffic. Trade honestly, and you shall be -driven from the pavement-edge as an impediment—shall be -driven to dishonesty!</p> - -<p>One might have thought that the notorious inefficiency -of officialism as a protector against -injustice would have <span class="xxpn" id="p398">{398}</span> -made men sceptical of its efficiency in other things. If -here, where citizens have such intense interests in getting -a function well discharged, they have failed through all -these centuries in getting it well discharged—if this -agency, which is in theory the guardian of each citizen, is -in so many cases his enemy, that going to law is suggestive -of impoverishment and possible ruin; it might have been -supposed that officialism would scarcely be expected to -work well where the interests at stake are less intense. -But so strong is political fetichism, that neither these -experiences, nor the parallel experiences which every state-department -affords, diminish men’s faith. For years past -there has been thrust before them the fact that, of the -funds of Greenwich Hospital, one-third goes to maintain -the sailors, while two-thirds go in administration; but this -and other such facts do not stop their advocacy of more -public administrations. The parable of straining at gnats -and swallowing camels they see absolutely paralleled by -officialism, in the red-tape particularity with which all -minute regulations are enforced, and the astounding carelessness -with which the accounts of a whole department, -like the Patent Office, are left utterly uncontrolled; and -yet we continue to hear men propose government-audits -as checks for mercantile companies! No diminution of -confidence seems to result from disclosure of stupidities -which even a wild imagination would scarcely have thought -possible: instance the method of promotion lately made -public, under which a clerk in one branch of a department -takes the higher duties of some deceased superior clerk, -without any rise of salary, while some clerk in another -branch of the department gets the rise of salary without -any increase in his responsibilities!</p> - -<p>Endless as are these evils and absurdities, and surviving -generation after generation as they do, spite of commissions -and reports and debates, there is an annual crop of -new schemes for government agencies -which are expected <span class="xxpn" id="p399">{399}</span> -to work just as legislators propose they shall work. With -a system of army-promotion which insures an organized -incompetence, but which survives perpetual protests; with -a notoriously ill-constituted admiralty, of which the doings -are stock-subjects of ridicule; with a church that maintains -effete formulas, notwithstanding almost universal repudiation -of them; there are daily demands for more law-established -appliances. With building acts under which -arise houses less stable than those of the last generation; -with coal-mine inspection that does not prevent coal-mine -explosions; with railway inspection that has for its -accompaniment plenty of railway accidents—with these -and other such failures continually displayed, there still -prevails what M. Guizot rightly calls that “gross delusion, -a belief in the sovereign power of political machinery.”</p> - -<p>A great service would be done by any man who would -analyze the legislation, say of the last half century, and -compare the expected results of Acts of Parliament with -their proved results. He might make it an instructive -revelation by simply taking all the preambles, and observing -how many of the evils to be rectified were evils -produced by preceding enactments. His chief difficulty -would be that of getting within any moderate compass the -immense number of cases in which the benefits anticipated -were not achieved, while unanticipated disasters were -caused. And then he might effectively close his digest by -showing what immense advantages have, in instance after -instance, followed the entire cessation of legislative action. -Not, indeed, that such an accumulation of cases, however -multitudinous and however conclusive, would have an -appreciable effect on the average mind. Political fetichism -will continue so long as men remain without scientific -discipline—so long as they recognize only proximate -causes, and never think of the remoter and more general -causes by which their special agencies are set in motion. -Until the thing which now usurps the -name of education <span class="xxpn" id="p400">{400}</span> -has been dethroned by a true education, having for its end -to teach men the nature of the world they live in, new -political delusions will grow up as fast as old ones are -extinguished. But there is a select class existing, and a -larger select class arising, on whom a work of the kind -described would have an effect, and for whom it would be -well worth while -to write it.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p401">{401}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">SPECIALIZED ADMINISTRATION.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First published in</i> -The Fortnightly Review <i>for December 1871</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>It is contrary to common-sense that fish should be more -difficult to get at the sea-side than in London; but it is -true, nevertheless. No less contrary to common-sense -seems the truth that though, in the West Highlands, oxen -are to be seen everywhere, no beef can be had without -sending two or three hundred miles to Glasgow for it. -Rulers who, guided by common-sense, tried to suppress -certain opinions by forbidding the books containing them, -never dreamed that their interdicts would cause the -diffusion of these opinions; and rulers who, guided by -common-sense, forbade excessive rates of interest, never -dreamed that they were thereby making the terms harder -for borrowers than before. When printing replaced -copying, any one who had prophesied that the number -of persons engaged in the manufacture of books would -immensely increase, as a consequence, would have been -thought wholly devoid of common-sense. And equally -devoid of common-sense would have been thought any one -who, when railways were displacing coaches, said that the -number of horses employed in bringing passengers and -goods to and from railways, would be greater than the -number directly displaced by railways. -Such cases might <span class="xxpn" id="p402">{402}</span> -be multiplied. Whoso remembers that, among quite simple -phenomena, causes produce effects which are sometimes -utterly at variance with anticipation, will see how frequently -this must happen among complex phenomena. That a -balloon is made to rise by the same force which makes a -stone fall; that the melting of ice may be greatly retarded -by wrapping the ice in a blanket; that the simplest way of -setting potassium on fire is to throw it into the water; are -truths which those who know only the outside aspect of -things would regard as manifest falsehoods. And, if, when -the factors are few and simple, the results may be so -absolutely opposed to seeming probability, much more will -they be often thus opposed when the factors are many and -involved. The saying of the French respecting political -events, that “it is always the unexpected which happens”—a -saying which they have been abundantly re-illustrating -of late—is one which legislators, and those who urge on -schemes of legislation, should have ever in mind. Let us -pause a moment to contemplate a seemingly-impossible set -of results which social forces have wrought out.</p> - -<p>Up to quite recent days, Language was held to be of -supernatural origin. That this elaborate apparatus of -symbols, so marvellously adapted for the conveyance of -thought from mind to mind, was a miraculous gift, seemed -unquestionable. No possible alternative way could be -thought of by which there had come into existence these -multitudinous assemblages of words of various orders, -genera, and species, moulded into fitness for articulating -with one another, and capable of being united from -moment to moment into ever-new combinations, which -represent with precision each idea as it arises. The -supposition that, in the slow progress of things, Language -grew out of the continuous use of signs—at first mainly -mimetic, afterward partly mimetic, partly vocal, and at -length almost wholly vocal—was an hypothesis never even -conceived by men in early stages of -civilization; and when <span class="xxpn" id="p403">{403}</span> -the hypothesis was at length conceived, it was thought -too monstrous an absurdity to be even entertained. Yet -this monstrous absurdity proves to be true. Already the -evolution of Language has been traced back far enough -to show that all its particular words, and all its leading -traits of structure, have had a natural genesis; and day -by day investigation makes it more manifest that its -genesis has been natural from the beginning. Not only -has it been natural from the beginning, but it has been -spontaneous. No language is a cunningly-devised scheme -of a ruler or body of legislators. There was no council -of savages to invent the parts of speech, and decide on -what principles they should be used. Nay, more. Going -on without any authority or appointed regulation, this -natural process went on without any man observing that -it was going on. Solely under pressure of the need for -communicating their ideas and feelings—solely in pursuit -of their personal interests—men little by little developed -speech in absolute unconsciousness that they were doing -any thing more than pursuing their personal interests. -Even now the unconsciousness continues. Take the -whole population of the globe, and there is probably not -above one in a million who knows that in his daily talk -he is carrying on the process by which Language has -been evolved.</p> - -<p>I commence thus by way of giving the key-note to -the argument which follows. My general purpose, in -dwelling a moment on this illustration, has been that of -showing how utterly beyond the conceptions of common-sense, -literally so called, and even beyond the conceptions -of cultivated common-sense, are the workings-out of -sociological processes—how these workings-out are such -that even those who have carried to the uttermost “the -scientific use of the imagination,” would never have anticipated -them. And my more special purpose has been that -of showing how marvellous are the -results indirectly and <span class="xxpn" id="p404">{404}</span> -unintentionally achieved by the coöperation of men who -are severally pursuing their private ends. Let me pass -now to the particular topic to be here dealt with.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">I have greatly regretted to see Prof. Huxley strengthening, -by his deservedly high authority, a school of -politicians which can scarcely be held to need strengthening: -its opponents being so few. I regret it the more -because, thus far, men prepared for the study of Sociology -by previous studies of Biology and Psychology, have -scarcely expressed any opinions on the question at issue; -and that Prof. Huxley, who by both general and special -culture is so eminently fitted to judge, should have come -to the conclusions set forth in the last number of the -<i>Fortnightly Review</i>, will be discouraging to the small -number who have reached opposite conclusions. Greatly -regretting however, though I do, this avowed antagonism -of Prof. Huxley to a general political doctrine with which -I am identified, I do not propose to make any reply to -his arguments at large: being deterred partly by reluctance -to dwell on points of difference with one whom I so -greatly admire, and partly by the consciousness that what -I should say would be mainly a repetition of what I have -explicitly or implicitly said elsewhere. But with one point -raised I feel obliged to deal. Prof. Huxley tacitly puts to -me a question. By so doing he leaves me to choose -between two alternatives, neither of which is agreeable to -me. I must either, by leaving it unanswered, accept the -implication that it is unanswerable, and the doctrine I hold -untenable; or else I must give it an adequate answer. -Little as I like it, I see that the latter of these alternatives -is that which, on public as well as on personal grounds, I -must accept.</p> - -<p>Had I been allowed to elaborate more fully the Review-article -from which Prof. Huxley quotes, this question -would possibly not have been raised. -That article closes <span class="xxpn" id="p405">{405}</span> -with the following words:—“We had hoped to say something -respecting the different types of social organization, -and something also on social metamorphoses; but we have -reached our assigned limits.” These further developments -of the conception—developments to be hereafter set forth -in the <i>Principles of Sociology</i>—I must here sketch in -outline before my answer can be made intelligible. In -sketching them, I must say much that would be needless -were my answer addressed to Prof. Huxley only. Bare -allusions to general phenomena of organization, with which -he is immeasurably more familiar than I am, would suffice. -But, as the sufficiency of my answer has to be judged by -the general reader, the general reader must be supplied -with the requisite data: my presentation of them being -under correction from Prof. Huxley if it is inaccurate.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">The primary differentiation in organic structures, manifested -alike in the history of each organism and in the -history of the organic world as a whole, is the differentiation -between outer and inner parts—the parts which hold direct -converse with the environment and the parts which do -not hold direct converse with the environment. We see -this alike in those smallest and lowest forms improperly, -though suggestively, sometimes called unicellular, and also -in the next higher division of creatures which, with -considerable reason, are regarded as aggregations of the -lower. In these creatures the body is divisible into endoderm -and ectoderm, differing very little in their characters, -but serving the one to form the digestive sac, and the -other to form the outer wall of the body. As Prof. Huxley -describes them in his <i>Oceanic Hydrozoa</i>, these layers represent -respectively the organs of nutrition and the organs -of external relation—generally, though not universally; -for there are exceptions, especially among parasites. In -the embryos of higher types, these two layers severally -become double by the splitting of a -layer formed between <span class="xxpn" id="p406">{406}</span> -them; and from the outer double layer is developed the -body-wall with its limbs, nervous system, senses, muscles, -etc.; while from the inner double layer there arise the -alimentary canal and its appendages, together with the -heart and lungs. Though in such higher types these two -systems of organs, which respectively absorb nutriment -and expend nutriment, become so far connected by ramifying -blood-vessels and nerves that this division cannot -be sharply made, still the broad contrast remains. At -the very outset, then, there arises this separation, which -implies at once a coöperation and an antagonism—a co-operation, -because, while the outer organs secure for the -inner organs the crude food, the inner organs elaborate -and supply to the outer organs the prepared materials by -which they are enable to do their work; and an antagonism, -because each set of organs, living and growing at the cost -of these prepared materials, cannot appropriate any portion -of the total supply without diminishing by so much the -supply available for the other. This general coöperation -and general antagonism becomes complicated with special -coöperations and special antagonisms, as fast as these two -great systems of organs develop. The originally simple -alimentary canal, differentiating into many parts, becomes -a congeries of structures which, by coöperation, fulfil -better their general function, but between which there -nevertheless arise antagonisms; since each has to make -good its waste and to get matter for growth, at the cost of -the general supply of nutriment available for them all. -Similarly, as fast as the outer system develops into special -senses and limbs, there arise among these, also, secondary -coöperations and secondary antagonisms. By their variously-combined -actions, food is obtained more effectually; and -yet the activity of each set of muscles, or each directive -nervous structure, entails a draft upon the stock of prepared -nutriment which the outer organs receive, and is -by so much at the cost of the rest. Thus -the method of <span class="xxpn" id="p407">{407}</span> -organization, both in general and in detail, is a simultaneous -combination and opposition. All the organs unite in -subserving the interests of the organism they form; and -yet they have all their special interests, and compete with -one another for blood.</p> - -<p>A form of government, or control, or coördination, -develops as fast as these systems of organs develop. -Eventually this becomes double. A general distinction -arises between the two controlling systems belonging to -the two great systems of organs. Whether the inner controlling -system is or is not originally derived from the -outer, matters not to the argument—when developed it is -in great measure independent.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn37" id="fnanch37">37</a> -If we contemplate their -respective sets of functions, we shall perceive the origin of -this distinction. That the outer organs may coöperate -effectively for the purposes of catching prey, escaping -danger, etc., it is needful that they should be under a -government capable of directing their combined actions, -now in this way and now in that, according as outer -circumstances vary. From instant to instant there must -be quick adjustments to occasions that are more or less -new; and hence there requires a complex and centralized -nervous apparatus, to which all these organs are promptly -and completely obedient. The government -needful for the <span class="xxpn" id="p408">{408}</span> -inner system of organs is a different and much simpler one. -When the food obtained by the outer organs has been put -into the stomach, the coöperation required of the viscera, -though it varies somewhat as the quantity or kind of food -varies, has nevertheless a general uniformity; and it is -required to go on in much the same way whatever the -outer circumstances may be. In each case the food has -to be reduced to a pulp, supplied with various solvent -secretions, propelled onward, and its nutritive part taken -up by absorbent surfaces. That these processes may be -effective, the organs which carry them on must be supplied -with fit blood; and to this end the heart and the lungs -have to act with greater vigor. This visceral coöperation, -carried on with this comparative uniformity, is regulated -by a nervous system which is to a large extent independent -of that higher and more complex nervous system controlling -the external organs. The act of swallowing is, indeed, -mainly effected by the higher nervous system; but, being -swallowed, the food affects by its presence the local nerves, -through them the local ganglia, and indirectly, through -nervous connexions with other ganglia, excites the rest of -the viscera into coöperative activity. It is true that the -functions of the sympathetic or ganglionic nervous system, -or “nervous system of organic life,” as it is otherwise -called, are imperfectly understood. But, since we know -positively that some of its plexuses, as the cardiac, are -centres of local stimulation and coördination, which can -act independently, though they are influenced by higher -centres, it is fairly to be inferred that the other and still -larger plexuses, distributed among the viscera, are also -such local and largely independent centres; especially as -the nerves they send into the viscera, to join the many -subordinate ganglia distributed through them, greatly exceed -in quantity the cerebro-spinal fibres accompanying -them. Indeed, to suppose otherwise is to leave unanswered -the question—What are their functions? as -well as the <span class="xxpn" id="p409">{409}</span> -question—How are these unconscious visceral coördinations -effected? There remains only to observe the kind of co-operation -which exists between the two nervous systems. -This is both a general and a special coöperation. The -general coöperation is that by which either system of -organs is enabled to stimulate the other to action. The -alimentary canal yields through certain nervous connexions -the sensation of hunger to the higher nervous system; -and so prompts efforts for procuring food. Conversely, -the activity of the nervo-muscular system, or, at least, its -normal activity, sends inward to the cardiac and other -plexuses a gush of stimulus which excites the viscera to -action. The special coöperation is one by which it would -seem that each system puts an indirect restraint on the -other. Fibres from the sympathetic accompany every artery -throughout the organs of external relation, and exercise -on the artery a constrictive action; and the converse is -done by certain of the cerebro-spinal fibres which ramify -with the sympathetic throughout the viscera: through the -vagus and other nerves, an inhibitory influence is exercised -on the heart, intestines, pancreas, etc. Leaving doubtful -details, however, the fact which concerns us here is sufficiently -manifest. There are, for these two systems of organs, two -nervous systems, in great measure independent; and, if it -is true that the higher system influences the lower, it is no -less true that the lower very powerfully influences the -higher. The restrictive action of the sympathetic upon the -circulation, throughout the nervo-muscular system, is unquestionable; -and it is possibly through this that, when -the viscera have much work to do, the nervo-muscular -system is incapacitated in so marked a manner.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn38" id="fnanch38">38</a></p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch37" id="fn37">37</a> -Here, and throughout the discussion, I refer to these -controlling systems only as they exist in the <i>Vertebrata</i>, because -their relations are far better known in this great division of the -animal kingdom—not because like relations do not exist elsewhere. -Indeed, in the great sub-kingdom <i>Annulosa</i>, these controlling systems -have relations that are extremely significant to us here. For while an -inferior annulose animal has only a single set of nervous structures, -a superior annulose animal (as a moth) has a set of nervous structures -presiding over the viscera, as well as a more conspicuous set presiding -over the organs of external relation. And this contrast is analogous to -one of the contrasts between undeveloped and developed societies; for, -while among the uncivilized and incipiently civilized there is but a -single set of directive agencies, there are among the fully civilized, -as we shall presently see, two sets of directive agencies, for the -outer and inner structures respectively.</p> - -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch38" id="fn38">38</a> -To meet the probable objection that the experiments of -Bernard, Ludwig, and others, show that in the case of certain glands -the nerves of the cerebro-spinal system are those which set up the -secreting process, I would remark that in these cases, and in many -others where the relative functions of the cerebro-spinal nerves and -the sympathetic nerves have been studied, the -organs have been those in which <i>sensation</i> is either the -stimulus to activity or its accompaniment; and that from these cases no -conclusion can be drawn applying to the cases of those viscera which -normally perform their functions without sensation. Perhaps it may -even be that the functions of those sympathetic fibres which accompany -the arteries of the outer organs are simply ancillary to those of the -central parts of the sympathetic system, which stimulate and regulate -the viscera—ancillary in this sense, that they check the diffusion -of blood in external organs when it is wanted in internal organs: -cerebro-spinal inhibition (except in its action on the heart) working -the opposite way. And possibly this is the instrumentality for carrying -on that competition for nutriment which, as we saw, arises at the very -outset between these two great systems of organs.</p></div> - -<p>The one further fact here concerning -us is the contrast <span class="xxpn" id="p410">{410}</span> -presented in different kinds of animals, between the degrees -of development of these two great sets of structures that -carry on respectively the outer functions and the inner -functions. There are active creatures in which the locomotive -organs, the organs of sense, together with the -nervous apparatus which combines their actions, bear a -large ratio to the organs of alimentation and their appendages; -while there are inactive creatures in which these -organs of external relation bear a very small ratio to the -organs of alimentation. And a remarkable fact, here -especially instructive to us, is that very frequently there -occurs a metamorphosis, which has for its leading trait a -great change in the ratio of these two systems—a metamorphosis -which accompanies a great change in the mode -of life. The most familiar metamorphosis is variously -illustrated among insects. During the early or larval -stage of a butterfly, the organs of alimentation are largely -developed, while the organs of external relation are but -little developed; and then, during a period of quiescence, -the organs of external relation undergo an immense development, -making possible the creature’s active and varied -adjustments to the surrounding world, while the alimentary -system becomes relatively small. On the other hand, among -the lower invertebrate animals there is a very common -metamorphosis of an opposite kind. When young, the -creature, with scarcely any alimentary -system, but supplied <span class="xxpn" id="p411">{411}</span> -with limbs and sense organs, swims about actively. Presently -it settles in a <i>habitat</i> where food is to be obtained -without moving about, loses in great part its organs of -external relation, develops its visceral system, and, as it -grows, assumes a nature utterly unlike that which it originally -had—a nature adapted almost exclusively to alimentation -and the propagation of the species.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Let us turn now to the social organism, and the analogies -of structure and function which may be traced in it. Of -course these analogies between the phenomena presented -in a physically coherent aggregate forming an individual, -and the phenomena presented in a physically incoherent -aggregate of individuals distributed over a wide area, -cannot be analogies of a visible or sensible kind; but can -only be analogies between the systems, or methods, of -organization. Such analogies as exist result from the one -unquestionable community between the two organizations: -<i>there is in both a mutual dependence of parts</i>. This is the -origin of all organization; and determines what similarities -there are between an individual organism and a social -organism. Of course the similarities thus determined are -accompanied by transcendent differences, determined, as -above said, by the unlikenesses of the aggregates. One -cardinal difference is that, while in the individual organism -there is but one centre of consciousness capable of pleasure -or pain, there are, in the social organism, as many such -centres as there are individuals, and the aggregate of them -has no consciousness of pleasure or pain—a difference -which entirely changes the ends to be pursued. Bearing -in mind this qualification, let us now glance at the -parallelisms indicated.</p> - -<p>A society, like an individual, has a set of structures -fitting it to act upon its environment—appliances for attack -and defence, armies, navies, fortified and garrisoned places. -At the same time, a society has -an industrial organization <span class="xxpn" id="p412">{412}</span> -which carries on all those processes that make possible the -national life. Though these two sets of organs for external -activity and internal activity do not bear to one another -just the same relation which the outer and inner organs of -an animal do (since the industrial structures in a society -supply themselves with raw materials, instead of being -supplied by the external organs), yet they bear a relation -otherwise similar. There is at once a coöperation and an -antagonism. By the help of the defensive system the -industrial system is enabled to carry on its functions without -injury from foreign enemies; and by the help of the -industrial system, which supplies it with food and materials, -the defensive system is enabled to maintain this security. -At the same time the two systems are opposed in so far -that they both depend for their existence upon the common -stock of produce. Further, in the social organism, as in -the individual organism, this primary coöperation and -antagonism subdivides into secondary coöperations and -antagonisms. If we look at the industrial organization, -we see that its agricultural part and its manufacturing -part aid one another by the exchange of their products, -and are yet otherwise opposed to one another; since each -takes of the other’s products the most it can get in return -for its own products. Similarly throughout the manufacturing -system itself. Of the total returns secured by -Manchester for its goods, Liverpool obtains as much as -possible for the raw material, and Manchester gives as -little as possible—the two at the same time coöperating -in secreting for the rest of the community the woven -fabrics it requires, and in jointly obtaining from the rest of -the community the largest payment in other commodities. -And thus it is in all kinds of direct and indirect ways -throughout the industrial structures. Men prompted by -their own needs as well as those of their children, and -bodies of such men more or less aggregated, are quick to -find every unsatisfied need of their -fellow-men, and to <span class="xxpn" id="p413">{413}</span> -satisfy it in return for the satisfaction of their own needs; -and the working of this process is inevitably such that the -strongest need, ready to pay the most for satisfaction, is -that which draws most workers to satisfy it, so that there -is thus a perpetual balancing of the needs and of the appliances -which subserve them.</p> - -<p>This brings us to the regulative structures under which -these two systems of coöperating parts work. As in the -individual organism, so in the social organism, the outer -parts are under a rigorous central control. For adjustment -to the varying and incalculable changes in the environment, -the external organs, offensive and defensive, must -be capable of prompt combination; and that their actions -may be quickly combined to meet each exigency as it -arises, they must be completely subordinated to a supreme -executive power: armies and navies must be despotically -controlled. Quite otherwise is it with the regulative -apparatus required for the industrial system. This, which -carries on the nutrition of a society, as the visceral system -carries on the nutrition of an individual, has a regulative -apparatus in great measure distinct from that which -regulates the external organs. It is not by any “order -in council” that farmers are determined to grow so much -wheat and so much barley, or to divide their land in due -proportion between arable and pasture. There requires -no telegram from the Home Office to alter the production -of woollens in Leeds, so that it may be properly adjusted -to the stocks on hand and the forthcoming crop of wool. -Staffordshire produces its due quantity of pottery, and -Sheffield sends out cutlery with rapidity adjusted to the -consumption, without any legislative stimulus or restraint. -The spurs and checks to production which manufacturers -and manufacturing centres receive, have quite another -origin. Partly by direct orders from distributors and -partly by the indirect indications furnished by the market -reports throughout the kingdom, they -are prompted to <span class="xxpn" id="p414">{414}</span> -secrete actively or to diminish their rates of secretion. -The regulative apparatus by which these industrial organs -are made to coöperate harmoniously, acts somewhat as the -sympathetic does in a vertebrate animal. There is a -system of communications among the great producing -and distributing centres, which excites or retards as the -circumstances vary. From hour to hour messages pass -between all the chief provincial towns, as well as between -each of them and London; from hour to hour prices are -adjusted, supplies are ordered hither or thither, and -capital is drafted from place to place, according as there -is greater or less need for it. All this goes on without -any ministerial overseeing—without any dictation from -those executive centres which combine the actions of -the outer organs. There is, however, one all-essential -influence which these higher centres exercise over the -industrial activities—a restraining influence which prevents -aggression, direct and indirect. The condition under -which only these producing and distributing processes can -go on healthfully, is that, wherever there is work and -waste, there shall be a proportionate supply of materials -for repair. And securing this is nothing less than securing -fulfilment of contracts. Just in the same way that a -bodily organ which performs function, but is not adequately -paid in blood, must dwindle, and the organism as a whole -eventually suffer; so an industrial centre which has made -and sent out its special commodity, but does not get -adequately paid in other commodities, must decay. And -when we ask what is requisite to prevent this local -innutrition and decay, we find the requisite to be that -agreements shall be carried out; that goods shall be -paid for at the stipulated prices; that justice shall -be administered.</p> - -<p>One further leading parallelism must be described—that -between the metamorphoses which occur in the two -cases. These metamorphoses are analogous in -so far that <span class="xxpn" id="p415">{415}</span> -they are changes in the ratios of the inner and outer -systems of organs; and also in so far as they take place -under analogous conditions. At the one extreme we have -that small and simple type of society which a wandering -horde of savages presents. This is a type almost wholly -predatory in its organization. It consists of little else -than a coöperative structure for carrying on warfare—the -industrial part is almost absent, being represented only by -the women. When the wandering tribe becomes a settled -tribe, an industrial organization begins to show itself—especially -where, by conquest, there has been obtained a -slave-class that may be forced to labour. The predatory -structure, however, still for a long time predominates. -Omitting the slaves and the women, the whole body politic -consists of parts organized for offence and defence, and is -efficient in proportion as the control of them is centralized. -Communities of this kind, continuing to subjugate their -neighbours, and developing an organization of some complexity, -nevertheless retain a mainly-predatory type, with -just such industrial structures as are needful for supporting -the offensive and defensive structures. Of this Sparta -furnished a good example. The characteristics of such a -social type are these—that each member of the ruling -race is a soldier; that war is the business of life; that -every one is subject to a rigorous discipline fitting him for -this business; that centralized authority regulates all the -social activities, down to the details of each man’s daily -conduct; that the welfare of the State is every thing, and -that the individual lives for public benefit. So long as -the environing societies are such as necessitate and keep -in exercise the militant organization, these traits continue; -but when, mainly by conquest and the formation of large -aggregates, the militant activity becomes less constant, -and war ceases to be the occupation of every free man, -the industrial structures begin to predominate. Without -tracing the transition, it will suffice to take, -as a sample <span class="xxpn" id="p416">{416}</span> -of the pacific or industrial type, the Northern States of -America before the late war. Here military organization -had almost disappeared; the infrequent local assemblings -of militia had turned into occasions for jollity, and every -thing martial had fallen into contempt. The traits of -the pacific or industrial type are these—that the central -authority is relatively feeble; that it interferes scarcely -at all with the private actions of individuals; and that -the State, instead of being that for the benefit of which -individuals exist, has become that which exists for the -benefit of individuals.</p> - -<p>It remains to add that this metamorphosis, which takes -place in societies along with a higher civilization, very -rapidly retrogrades if the surrounding conditions become -unfavorable to it. During the late war in America, Mr. -Seward’s boast—“I touch this bell, and any man in the -remotest State is a prisoner of the Government” (a boast -which was not an empty one, and which was by many of -the Republican party greatly applauded)—shows us how -rapidly, along with militant activities, there tends to be -resumed the needful type of centralized structure; and -how there quickly grow up the corresponding sentiments -and ideas. Our own history since 1815 has shown a -double change of this kind. During the thirty years’ -peace, the militant organization dwindled, the military -sentiment greatly decreased, the industrial organization -rapidly developed, the assertion of the individuality of the -citizen became more decided, and many restrictive and -despotic regulations were got rid of. Conversely, since -the revival of militant activities and structures on the -Continent, our own offensive and defensive structures -have been re-developing; and the tendency toward increase -of that centralized control which accompanies such structures -has become marked.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">And now, closing this -somewhat elaborate introduction, <span class="xxpn" id="p417">{417}</span> -I am prepared to deal with the question put to me. Prof. -Huxley, after quoting some passages from that essay on -the “Social Organism” which I have supplemented in the -foregoing paragraphs; and after expressing a qualified -concurrence which I greatly value as coming from so highly -fitted a judge, proceeds, with characteristic acumen, to -comment on what seems an incongruity between certain -analogies set forth in that essay, and the doctrine I hold -respecting the duty of the State. Referring to a passage -in which I have described the function of the individual -brain as “that of <i>averaging</i> the interests of life, physical, -intellectual, moral, social,” and have compared it to the -function of Parliament as “that of <i>averaging</i> the interests -of the various classes in a community,” adding that “a -good Parliament is one in which the parties answering to -these respective interests are so balanced that their united -legislation concedes to each class as much as consists with -the claims of the rest;” Prof. Huxley proceeds to say:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“All this appears to be very just. But if the resemblances between the -body physiological and the body politic are any indication, not only of what -the latter is, and how it has become what it is, but what it ought to be, and -what it is tending to become, I cannot but think that the real force of the -analogy is totally opposed to the negative view of State function.</p> - -<p>“Suppose that, in accordance with this view, each muscle were to -maintain that the nervous system had no right to interfere with its -contraction, except to prevent it from hindering the contraction of another -muscle; or each gland, that it had a right to secrete, so long as its secretion -interfered with no other; suppose every separate cell left free to follow -its own “interests,” and <i>laissez-faire</i> Lord of all, what would become of the -body physiological?”</p></blockquote> - -<p>On this question the remark I have first to make is, that -if I held the doctrine of M. Proudhon, who deliberately -named himself an “anarchist,” and if along with this -doctrine I held the above-indicated theory of social -structures and functions, the inconsistency implied by the -question put would be clear, and the question would be -unanswerable. But since I entertain no such view as that of -Proudhon—since I hold that within -its proper limits <span class="xxpn" id="p418">{418}</span> -governmental action is not simply legitimate but all-important—I -do not see how I am concerned with a question which -tacitly supposes that I deny the legitimacy and the importance. -Not only do I contend that the restraining power -of the State over individuals, and bodies or classes of -individuals, is requisite, but I have contended that it should -be exercised much more effectually, and carried out much -further, than at present.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn39" id="fnanch39">39</a> -And as the maintenance of this -control implies the maintenance of a controlling apparatus, -I do not see that I am placed in any difficulty when I am -asked what would happen were the controlling apparatus -forbidden to interfere. Further, on this general aspect of -the question I have to say that, by comparing the deliberative -assembly of a nation to the deliberative nervous centre of a -vertebrate animal, as respectively averaging the interests -of the society and of the individual, and as both doing this -through processes of representation, I do not mean to -<i>identify</i> the two sets of interests; for these in a society (or -at least a peaceful society) refer mainly to interior actions, -while in an individual creature they refer mainly to exterior -actions. The “interests” to which I refer, as being -averaged by a representative governing body, are the -conflicting interests between class and class, as well as -between man and man—conflicting interests the balancing -of which is nothing but the preventing of aggression and -the administration of justice.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch39" id="fn39">39</a> -See <i>Social Statics</i> chap. xxi., -“The Duty of the State.” See also essay -on “Over-Legislation.”</p></div> - -<p>I pass now from this general aspect of the question, -which does not concern me, to a more special aspect which -does concern me. Dividing the actions of governing structures, -whether in bodies individual or bodies politic, into -the <i>positively regulative</i> and the <i>negatively regulative</i>, or -those which stimulate and direct, as distinguished from -those which simply restrain, I may say that if there is -raised the question—What will happen -when the controlling <span class="xxpn" id="p419">{419}</span> -apparatus does not act? there are quite different replies -according as one or other system of organs is referred to. -If, in the individual body, the muscles were severally -independent of the deliberative and executive centres, utter -impotence would result: in the absence of muscular -coördination, there would be no possibility of standing, -much less of acting on surrounding things, and the body -would be a prey to the first enemy. Properly to combine -the actions of these outer organs, the great nervous centres -must exercise functions that are both positively regulative -and negatively regulative—must both command action and -arrest action. Similarly with the outer organs of a political -body. Unless the offensive and defensive structures can -be despotically commanded by a central authority, there -cannot be those prompt combinations and adjustments -required for meeting the variable actions of external -enemies. But if, instead of asking what would happen -supposing the outer organs in either case were without -control from the great governing centres, we ask what -would happen were the inner organs (the industrial and -commercial structures in the one case, and the alimentary -and distributive in the other) without such control, the -answer is quite different. Omitting the respiratory and -some minor ancillary parts of the individual organism, to -which the social organism has nothing analogous; and -limiting ourselves to absorptive, elaborative, and distributive -structures, which are found in both; it may, I think, be -successfully contended that in neither the one case nor the -other do they require the positively regulative control of -the great governing centres, but only the negatively -regulative. Let us glance at the facts.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn40" id="fnanch40">40</a></p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch40" id="fn40">40</a> -Lest there should be any misunderstanding of the terms <i>positively -regulative</i> and <i>negatively regulative</i>, let me briefly illustrate them. If a man -has land, and I either cultivate it for him, partially or wholly, or dictate any -or all of his modes of cultivation, my action is positively regulative; but if, -leaving him absolutely unhelped and unregulated in his -farming, I simply prevent him from taking his neighbour’s crops, or from making approach-roads -over his neighbour’s land, or from depositing rubbish upon it, my action is -negatively regulative. There is a tolerably sharp distinction between the act -of securing a citizen’s ends for him or interfering with his mode of securing -them, and the act of checking him when he interferes with another citizen -in the pursuit -of his ends.</p></div> - -<p>Digestion and circulation go on very -well in lunatics <span class="xxpn" id="p420">{420}</span> -and idiots, though the higher nervous centres are either -deranged or partly absent. The vital functions proceed -properly during sleep, though less actively than when the -brain is at work. In infancy, while the cerebro-spinal -system is almost incapable, and cannot even perform such -simple actions as those of commanding the sphincters, the -visceral functions are active and regular. Nor in an adult -does that arrest of cerebral action shown by insensibility, -or that extensive paralysis of the spinal system which -renders all the limbs immovable, prevent these functions -from being carried on for a considerable time; though they -necessarily begin to flag in the absence of the demand -which an active system of outer organs makes upon them. -These internal organs are, indeed, so little under the -positively directive control of the great nervous centres, -that their independence is often very inconvenient. No -mandate sent into the interior stops an attack of diarrhœa; -nor, when an indigestible meal excites the circulation at -night, and prevents sleep, will the bidding of the brain -cause the heart to pulsate more quietly. It is doubtless -true that these vital processes are modified in important -ways, both by general stimulation and by inhibition, from -the cerebro-spinal system; but that they are mainly independent -cannot, I think, be questioned. The facts that -peristaltic motion of the intestines can go on when their -nervous connexions are cut, and that the heart (in cold-blooded -vertebrates, at least) continues to pulsate for some -time after being detached from the body, make it manifest -that the spontaneous activities of these vital organs subserve -the wants of the body at large without direction from -its higher governing centres. -And this is made even <span class="xxpn" id="p421">{421}</span> -more manifest if it be a fact, as alleged by Schmulewitsch -experimenting under Ludwig’s direction, that, under duly-adjusted -conditions, the secretion of bile may be kept up -for some time when blood is passed through the excised -liver of a newly-killed rabbit. There is an answer, not, I -think, unsatisfactory, even to the crucial part of the question—“Suppose -every separate cell left free to follow its -own interests, and <i>laissez faire</i> Lord of all, what would -become of the body physiological?” Limiting the application -of this question in the way above shown to the organs -and parts of organs which carry on vital actions, it seems -to me that much evidence may be given for the belief that, -when they follow their respective “interests” (limited here -to growing and multiplying), the general welfare will be -tolerably well secured. It was proved by Hunter’s experiments -on a kite and a sea-gull, that a part of the alimentary -canal which has to triturate harder food than that which the -creature naturally eats, acquires a thicker and harder lining. -When a stricture of the intestine impedes the passage of its -contents, the muscular walls of the intestine above, thicken -and propel the contents with greater force. When there -is somewhere in the course of the circulation a serious resistance -to the passage of blood, there habitually occurs -hypertrophy of the heart, or thickening of its muscular -walls; giving it greater power to propel the blood. And -similarly, when the duct through which it discharges its -contents is obstructed, the gall-bladder thickens and -strengthens. These changes go on without any direction -from the brain—without any consciousness that they are -going on. They are effected by the growth, or multiplication, -or adaptation, of the local units, be they cells or fibres, -which results from the greater action or modified action -thrown upon them. The only pre-requisite to this spontaneous -adaptive change is, that these local units shall be -supplied with extra blood in proportion as they perform -extra function—a pre-requisite answering -to that secured <span class="xxpn" id="p422">{422}</span> -by the administration of justice in a society; namely, that -more work shall bring more pay. If, however, direct proof -be called for that a system of organs may, by carrying on -their several independent activities uncontrolled, secure the -welfare of the aggregate they form, we have it in that -extensive class of creatures which do not possess any -nervous systems at all; and which nevertheless show, some -of them, considerable degrees of activity. The Oceanic -Hydrozoa supply good examples. Notwithstanding “the -multiplicity and complexity of the organs which some of -them possess,” these creatures have no nervous centres—no -regulative apparatus by which the actions of their organs -are coördinated. One of their higher kinds is composed of -different parts distinguished as cœnosarc, polypites, tentacles, -hydrocysts, nectocalyces, genocalyces, etc., and each -of these different parts is composed of many partially-independent -units—thread-cells, ciliated cells, contractile -fibres, etc.; so that the whole organism is a group of -heterogeneous groups, each one of which is itself a more or -less heterogeneous group. And, in the absence of a nervous -system, the arrangement must necessarily be such that these -different units, and different groups of units, severally -pursuing their individual lives without positive direction -from the rest, nevertheless do, by virtue of their constitutions, -and the relative positions into which they have grown, -coöperate for the maintenance of one another and the entire -aggregate. And if this can be so with a set of organs that -are not connected by nerves, much more can it be so with a -set of organs which, like the viscera of a higher animal, -have a special set of nervous communications for exciting -one another to coöperation.</p> - -<p>Let us turn now to the parallel classes of phenomena -which the social organism presents. In it, as in the -individual organism, we find that while the system of -external organs must be rigorously subordinated to a great -governing centre which positively regulates -it, the system <span class="xxpn" id="p423">{423}</span> -of internal organs needs no such positive regulation. The -production and interchange by which the national life is -maintained, go on as well while Parliament is not sitting as -while it is sitting. When the members of the Ministry are -following grouse or stalking deer, Liverpool imports, -Manchester manufactures, London distributes, just as -usual. All that is needful for the normal performance of -these internal social functions is, that the restraining or -inhibitory structures shall continue in action: these -activities of individuals, corporate bodies, and classes, must -be carried on in such ways as not to transgress certain conditions, -necessitated by the simultaneous carrying on of -other activities. So long as order is maintained, and the -fulfilment of contracts is everywhere enforced—so long as -there is secured to each citizen, and each combination of -citizens, the full return agreed upon for work done or commodities -produced; and so long as each may enjoy what he -obtains by labour, without trenching on his neighbour’s like -ability to enjoy; these functions will go on healthfully—more -healthfully, indeed, than when regulated in any other -way. Fully to recognize this fact, it is needful only to look -at the origins and actions of the leading industrial structures. -We will take two of them, the most remote from one -another in their natures.</p> - -<p>The first shall be those by which food is produced and -distributed. In the fourth of his <i>Introductory Lectures on -Political Economy</i>, Archbishop Whately remarks that:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“Many of the most important objects are accomplished by the joint -agency of persons who never think of them, nor have any idea of acting in -concert; and that, with a certainty, completeness, and regularity, which -probably the most diligent benevolence, under the guidance of the greatest -human wisdom, could never have attained.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>To enforce this truth he goes on to say:—“Let any one -propose to himself the problem of supplying with daily -provisions of all kinds such a city as our metropolis, -containing above a million of inhabitants.” And then he -points out the many immense difficulties -of the task <span class="xxpn" id="p424">{424}</span> -caused by inconstancy in the arrival of supplies; by the -perishable nature of many of the commodities; by the -fluctuating number of consumers; by the heterogeneity -of their demands; by variations in the stocks, immediate -and remote, and the need for adjusting the rate of consumption; -and by the complexity in the process of -distribution required to bring due quantities of these -many commodities to the homes of all citizens. And, -having dwelt on these many difficulties, he finishes his -picture by saying:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“Yet this object is accomplished far better than it could be by any effort -of human wisdom, through the agency of men who think each of nothing -beyond his own immediate interest—who, with that object in view, perform -their respective parts with cheerful zeal—and combine unconsciously to -employ the wisest means for effecting an object, the vastness of which it -would bewilder them even to contemplate.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>But though the far-spreading and complex organization -by which foods of all kinds are produced, prepared, and -distributed throughout the entire kingdom, is a natural -growth and not a State-manufacture; though the State -does not determine where and in what quantities cereals -and cattle and sheep shall be reared; though it does not -arrange their respective prices so as to make supplies last -until fresh supplies can come; though it has done nothing -toward causing that great improvement of quality which -has taken place in food since early times; though it has -not the credit of that elaborate apparatus by which bread, -and meat, and milk, come round to our doors with a daily -pulse that is as regular as the pulse of the heart; yet the -State has not been wholly passive. It has from time to -time done a great deal of mischief. When Edward I. -forbade all towns to harbour forestallers, and when -Edward VI. made it penal to buy grain for the purpose of -selling it again, they were preventing the process by which -consumption is adjusted to supply: they were doing all -that could be done to insure alternations of abundance and -starvation. Similarly with the -many legislative attempts <span class="xxpn" id="p425">{425}</span> -since made to regulate one branch or other of the food-industry, -down to the corn-law sliding-scale of odious -memory. For the marvellous efficiency of this organization -we are indebted to private enterprise; while the derangements -of it we owe to the positively-regulative action of -the Government. Meanwhile, its negatively-regulative -action, required to keep this organization in order, Government -has not duly performed. A quick and costless -remedy for breach of contract, when a trader sells, as the -commodity asked for, what proves to be wholly or in part -some other commodity, is still wanting.</p> - -<p>Our second case shall be the organization which so -immensely facilitates commerce by transfers of claims and -credits. Banks were not inventions of rulers or their -counsellors. They grew up by small stages out of the -transactions of traders with one another. Men who for -security deposited money with goldsmiths, and took -receipts; goldsmiths who began to lend out at interest -the moneys left with them, and then to offer interest at -lower rates to those who would deposit money; were the -founders of them. And when, as presently happened, the -receipt-notes became transferable by indorsement, banking -commenced. From that stage upward the development, -notwithstanding many hinderances, has gone on naturally. -Banks have sprung up under the same stimulus which has -produced all other kinds of trading bodies. The multiplied -forms of credit have been gradually differentiated from the -original form; and while the banking system has spread -and become complex, it has also become consolidated into -a whole by a spontaneous process. The clearing-house, -which is a place for carrying on the banking between -bankers, arose unobtrusively out of an effort to economize -time and money. And when, in 1862, Sir John Lubbock—not -in his legislative capacity but in his capacity as -banker—succeeded in extending the privileges of the -clearing-house to country banks, the -unification was made <span class="xxpn" id="p426">{426}</span> -perfect; so that now the transactions of any trader in -the kingdom with any other may be completed by the -writing off and balancing of claims in bankers’ books. -This natural evolution, be it observed, has reached with -us a higher phase than has been reached where the -positively-regulative control of the State is more decided. -They have no clearing-house in France; and in France -the method of making payments by checks, so dominant -among ourselves, is very little employed and in an imperfect -way. I do not mean to imply that in England the -State has been a mere spectator of this development. -Unfortunately, it has from the beginning had relations -with banks and bankers: not much, however, to their -advantage, or that of the public. The first kind of deposit-bank -was in some sense a State-bank: merchants left funds -for security at the Mint in the Tower. But when Charles -I. appropriated their property without consent, and gave -it back to them only under pressure, after a long delay, -he destroyed their confidence. Similarly, when Charles -II., in furtherance of State-business, came to have habitual -transactions with the richer of the private bankers; and -when, having got nearly a million and a half of their -money in the Exchequer, he stole it, ruined a multitude -of merchants, distressed ten thousand depositors, and -made some lunatics and suicides, he gave a considerable -shock to the banking system as it then existed. Though -the results of State-relations with banks in later times -have not been so disastrous in this direct way, yet they -have been indirectly disastrous—perhaps even in a greater -degree. In return for a loan, the State gave the Bank of -England special privileges; and for the increase and continuance -of this loan the bribe was the maintenance of -these privileges—privileges which immensely hindered the -development of banks. The State did worse. It led the -Bank of England to the verge of bankruptcy by a forced -issue of notes, and then authorized it to -break its promises <span class="xxpn" id="p427">{427}</span> -to pay. Nay, worse still, it prevented the Bank of -England from fulfilling its promises to pay when it wished -to fulfil them. The evils that have arisen from the -positively-regulative action of the State on banks are too -multitudinous to be here enumerated. They may be -found in the writings of Tooke, Newmarch, Fullarton, -Macleod, Wilson, J. S. Mill, and others. All we have -here to note is, that while the enterprise of citizens in the -pursuit of private ends has developed this great trading-process, -which so immensely facilitates all other trading-processes, -Governments have over and over again disturbed -it to an almost fatal extent; and that, while they have -done enormous mischief of one kind by their positively-regulative -action, they have done enormous mischief of -another kind by failing in their negatively-regulative -action. They have not done the one thing they had to do: -they have not uniformly insisted on fulfilment of contract -between the banker and the customer who takes his -promise to pay on demand.</p> - -<p>Between these two cases of the trade in food and the -trade in money, might be put the cases of other trades: -all of them carried on by organizations similarly evolved, -and similarly more or less deranged from time to time by -State-meddling. Passing over these, however, let us turn -from the positive method of elucidation to the comparative -method. When it is questioned whether the spontaneous -coöperation of men in pursuit of personal benefits will adequately -work out the general good, we may get guidance for -judgment by comparing the results achieved in countries -where spontaneous coöperation has been most active and -least regulated, with the results achieved in countries -where spontaneous coöperation has been less trusted and -State-action more trusted. Two cases, furnished by the -two leading nations on the Continent, will suffice.</p> - -<p>In France, the École des Ponts et Chaussées was founded -in 1747 for educating civil engineers; and -in 1795 was <span class="xxpn" id="p428">{428}</span> -founded the École Polytechnique, serving, among other -purposes, to give a general scientific training to those -who were afterward to be more specially trained for civil -engineering. Averaging the two dates, we may say that for -a century France has had a State-established and State-maintained -appliance for producing skilled men of this -class—a double gland, we may call it, to secrete engineering -faculty for public use. In England, until quite recently, -we have had no institution for preparing civil engineers. -Not by intention, but unconsciously, we left the furnishing -of engineering faculty to take place under the law of -supply and demand—a law which at present seems to be -no more recognized as applying to education, than it was -recognized as applying to commerce in the days of bounties -and restrictions. This, however, by the way. We have -here simply to note that Brindley, Smeaton, Rennie, -Telford, and the rest, down to George Stephenson, -acquired their knowledge, and got their experience, -without State-aid or supervision. What have been the -comparative results in the two nations? Space does not -allow a detailed comparison: the later results must suffice. -Railways originated in England, not in France. Railways -spread through England faster than through France. -Many railways in France were laid out and officered by -English engineers. The earlier French railways were -made by English contractors; and English locomotives -served the French makers as models. The first French -work written on locomotive engines, published about 1840 -(at least I had a copy at that date), was by the Comte de -Pambour, who had studied in England, and who gave in -his work nothing whatever but drawings and descriptions -of the engines of English makers.</p> - -<p>The second illustration is supplied to us by the model -nation, now so commonly held up to us for imitation. Let -us contrast London and Berlin in respect of an all-essential -appliance for the comfort and health -of citizens. When, <span class="xxpn" id="p429">{429}</span> -at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the springs -and local conduits, supplemented by water-carriers, failed -to supply the Londoners; and when the water-famine, for -a long time borne, had failed to make the Corporation do -more than propose schemes, and had not spurred the central -government to do any thing; Hugh Myddleton, a merchant -citizen, took in hand himself the work of bringing the -New River to Islington. When he had half completed the -work, the king came to his help—not, indeed, in his -capacity of ruler, but in the capacity of speculator, investing -his money with a view to profit: his share being -disposed of by his successor after the formation of the New -River Company, which finished the distributing system. -Subsequently, the formation of other water-companies, -utilizing other sources, has given London a water-supply -that has grown with its growth. What, meanwhile, -happened at Berlin? Did there in 1613, when Hugh -Myddleton completed his work, grow up there a like -efficient system? Not at all. The seventeenth century -passed, the eighteenth century passed, the middle of the -nineteenth century was reached, and still Berlin had no -water-supply like that of London. What happened then? -Did the paternal government at length do what had been -so long left undone? No. Did the citizens at length -unite to secure the desideratum? No. It was finally -achieved by the citizens of another nation, more accustomed -to coöperate in gaining their own profits by ministering -to public needs. In 1845 an English company was formed -for giving Berlin an adequate water-supply; and the -work was executed by English contractors—Messrs. Fox -and Crampton.</p> - -<p>Should it be said that great works of ancient nations, in -the shape of aqueducts, roads, etc., might be instanced in -proof that State agency secures such ends, or should it be -said that a comparison between the early growth of inland -navigation on the Continent, and its -later growth here, <span class="xxpn" id="p430">{430}</span> -would be to our disadvantage, I reply that, little as they -at first seem so, these facts are congruous with the general -doctrine. While the militant social type is dominant, and -the industrial organization but little developed, there is -but one coördinating agency for regulating both sets of -activities; just as we saw happens with the lower types -of individual organisms. It is only when a considerable -advance has been made in that metamorphosis which -develops the industrial structures at the expense of the -militant structures, and which brings along with it a -substantially-independent coördinating agency for the -industrial structures—it is only then that the efficiency of -these spontaneous coöperations for all purposes of internal -social life becomes greater than the efficiency of the central -governing agency.</p> - -<p>Possibly it will be said that though, for subserving -material needs, the actions of individuals, stimulated by -necessity and made quick by competition, are demonstrably -adequate, they are not adequate for subserving other -needs. I do not see, however, that the facts justify this -position. We have but to glance around to find in abundance -similarly-generated appliances for satisfying our -higher desires, as well as our lower desires. The fact that -the Fine Arts have not thriven here as much as in some -Continental countries, is ascribable to natural character, to -absorption of our energies in other activities, and to the -repressive influence of chronic asceticism, rather than to -the absence of fostering agencies: these the interests of -individuals have provided in abundance. Literature, in -which we are second to none, owes, with us, nothing to -State-aid. The poetry which will live is poetry which has -been written without official prompting; and though we -have habitually had a prize-poet, paid to write loyal verses, -it may be said, without disparaging the present one, that -a glance over the entire list does not show any benefit -derived by poetry from State-patronage. -Nor are other <span class="xxpn" id="p431">{431}</span> -forms of literature any more indebted to State-patronage. -It was because there was a public liking for fiction that -fiction began to be produced; and the continued public -liking causes a continued production, including, along -with much that is worthless, much that could not have -been made better by any academic or other supervision. -And the like holds of biographies, histories, scientific -books, etc. Or, as a still more striking case of an agency -that has grown up to meet a non-material want, take the -newspaper press. What has been the genesis of this -marvellous appliance, which each day gives us an abstract -of the world’s life the day before? Under what promptings -have there been got together its staffs of editors, sub-editors, -article-writers, reviewers; its reporters of parliamentary -debates, of public meetings, of law cases and police cases; -its critics of music, theatricals, paintings, etc.; its correspondents -in all parts of the world? Who devised and -brought to perfection this system which at six o’clock in -the morning gives the people of Edinburgh a report of the -debates that ended at two or three o’clock in the House of -Commons, and at the same time tells them of events that -occurred the day before in America? It is not a Government -invention. It is not a Government suggestion. It -has not been in anyway improved or developed by legislation. -On the contrary, it has grown up in spite of many hinderances -from the Government and burdens which the Government -has imposed on it. For a long time the reporting of -parliamentary debates was resisted; for generations censorships -and prosecutions kept newspapers down, and for -several subsequent generations the laws in force negatived -a cheap press, and the educational benefits accompanying -it. From the war-correspondent, whose letters give to the -very nations that are fighting their only trustworthy -accounts of what is being done, down to the newsboy who -brings round the third edition with the latest telegrams, -the whole organization is a -product of spontaneous <span class="xxpn" id="p432">{432}</span> -coöperation among private individuals, aiming to benefit -themselves by ministering to the intellectual needs of their -fellows—aiming also, not a few of them, to benefit their -fellows by giving them clearer ideas and a higher standard -of right. Nay, more than this is true. While the press is -not indebted to the Government, the Government is enormously -indebted to the press; without which, indeed, it -would stumble daily in the performance of its functions. -This agency which the State once did its best to put down, -and has all along impeded, now gives to the ministers news -in anticipation of their dispatches, gives to members of -Parliament a guiding knowledge of public opinion, enables -them to speak from the House of Commons benches to their -constituents, and gives to both legislative chambers a full -record of their proceedings.</p> - -<p>I do not see, therefore, how there can be any doubt -respecting the sufficiency of agencies thus originating. -The truth that in this condition of mutual dependence -brought about by social life, there inevitably grow up arrangements -such that each secures his own ends by -ministering to the ends of others, seems to have been for a -long time one of those open secrets which remain secret -because they are so open; and even now the conspicuousness -of this truth seems to cause an imperfect consciousness -of its full meaning. The evidence shows, however, that -even were there no other form of spontaneous coöperation -among men than that dictated by self-interest, it might be -rationally held that this, under the negatively-regulative -control of a central power, would work out, in proper -order, the appliances for satisfying all needs, and carrying -on healthfully all the essential social functions.</p> - -<p>But there is a further kind of spontaneous coöperation, -arising, like the other, independently of State-action, which -takes a large share in satisfying certain classes of needs. -Familiar though it is, this kind of spontaneous coöperation -is habitually ignored in sociological -discussions. Alike <span class="xxpn" id="p433">{433}</span> -from newspaper articles and parliamentary debates, it -might be inferred that, beyond the force due to men’s -selfish activities, there is no other social force than the -governmental force. There seems to be a deliberate omission -of the fact that, in addition to their selfish interests, -men have sympathetic interests, which, acting individually -and coöperatively, work out results scarcely less remarkable -than those which the selfish interests work out. It is true -that, during the earlier phases of social evolution, while yet -the type is mainly militant, agencies thus produced do not -exist: among the Spartans, I suppose, there were few, if -any, philanthropic agencies. But as there arise forms of -society leading toward the pacific type—forms in which the -industrial organization develops itself, and men’s activities -become of a kind that do not perpetually sear their sympathies; -these structures which their sympathies generate -become many and important. To the egoistic interests, -and the coöperations prompted by them, there come to be -added the altruistic interests and their coöperations; and -what the one set fails to do, the other does. That, in his -presentation of the doctrine he opposes, Prof. Huxley did -not set down the effects of fellow-feeling as supplementing -the effects of self-regarding feelings, surprises me the more, -because he displays fellow-feeling himself in so marked a -degree, and shows in his career how potent a social agency -it becomes. Let us glance rapidly over the results wrought -out among ourselves by individual and combined “altruism”—to -employ M. Comte’s useful word.</p> - -<p>Though they show a trace of this feeling, I will not -dwell upon the numerous institutions by which men are -enabled to average the chances throughout life by insurance -societies, which provide against the evils entailed by -premature deaths, accidents, fires, wrecks, etc.; for these -are mainly mercantile and egoistic in their origin. Nor -will I do more than name those multitudinous Friendly -Societies that have arisen -spontaneously among the <span class="xxpn" id="p434">{434}</span> -working-classes to give mutual aid in time of sickness, and -which the Commission now sitting is showing to be -immensely beneficial, notwithstanding their defects; for -these also, though containing a larger element of sympathy, -are prompted chiefly by anticipations of personal benefits. -Leaving these, let us turn to the organizations in which -altruism is more decided: taking first that by which -religious ministrations are carried on. Throughout Scotland -and England, cut away all that part of it which is -not established by law—in Scotland, the Episcopal Church, -the Free Church, the United Presbyterians, and other -Dissenting bodies; in England, the Wesleyans, Independents, -and the various minor sects. Cut off, too, from -the Established Church itself, all that part added in -recent times by voluntary zeal, made conspicuous enough -by the new steeples that have been rising on all sides; and -then also take out, from the remainder of the Established -Church, that energy which has during these three generations -been infused into it by competition with the -Dissenters: so reducing it to the degraded, inert state -in which John Wesley found it. Do this, and it becomes -manifest that more than half the organisation, and immensely -more than half its function, is extra-governmental. -Look round, again, at the multitudinous institutions for -mitigating men’s ills—the hospitals, dispensaries, alms-houses, -and the like—the various benevolent and mendicity -societies, etc., of which London alone contains between -six and seven hundred. From our vast St. Thomas’s, -exceeding the palace of the Legislature itself in bulk, -down to Dorcas societies and village clothing-clubs, we -have charitable agencies, many in kind and countless in -number, which supplement, perhaps too largely, the legally-established -one; and which, whatever evil they may have -done along with the good, have done far less evil than the -Poor-Law organization did before it was reformed in 1834. -Akin to these are still more striking examples -of power in <span class="xxpn" id="p435">{435}</span> -agencies thus originating, such as that furnished by the -Anti-slavery Society, which carried the emancipation of -the slaves, notwithstanding the class-opposition so predominant -in the Legislature. And if we look for more -recent like instances, we have them in the organization -which promptly and efficiently dealt with the cotton-famine -in Lancashire, and in that which last year ministered to -the wounded and distressed in France. Once more, -consider our educational system as it existed till within -these few years. Such part of it as did not consist of -private schools, carried on for personal profit, consisted of -schools or colleges set up or maintained by men for the -benefit of their fellows, and the posterity of their fellows. -Omitting the few founded or partially founded by kings, -the numerous endowed schools scattered throughout the -kingdom, originated from altruistic feelings (so far, at least, -as they were not due to egoistic desires for good places in -the other world). And then, after these appliances for -teaching the poor had been almost entirely appropriated by -the rich, whence came the remedy? Another altruistic -organization grew up for educating the poor, struggled -against the opposition of the Church and the governing -classes, eventually forced these to enter into competition -and produce like altruistic organizations, until by school -systems, local and general, ecclesiastical, dissenting, and -secular, the mass of the people had been brought from a -state of almost entire ignorance to one in which nearly all -of them possessed the rudiments of knowledge. But for -these spontaneously-developed agencies, ignorance would -have been universal. Not only such knowledge as the -poor now possess—not only the knowledge of the trading-classes—not -only the knowledge of those who write books -and leading articles; but the knowledge of those who carry -on the business of the country as ministers and legislators, -has been derived from these extra-governmental agencies, -egoistic or altruistic. Yet now, -strangely enough, the <span class="xxpn" id="p436">{436}</span> -cultured intelligence of the country has taken to spurning -its parent; and that to which it owes both its existence and -the consciousness of its own value is pooh-poohed as though -it had done, and could do, nothing of importance! One -other fact let me add. While such teaching organizations, -and their results in the shape of enlightenment, are due to -these spontaneous agencies, to such agencies also are due -the great improvements in the quality of the culture now -happily beginning to take place. The spread of scientific -knowledge, and of the scientific spirit, has not been brought -about by laws and officials. Our scientific societies have -arisen from the spontaneous coöperation of those interested -in the accumulation and diffusion of the kinds of truth they -respectively deal with. Though the British Association -has from time to time obtained certain small subsidies, -their results in the way of advancing science have borne -but an extremely small ratio to the results achieved without -any such aid. If there needs a conclusive illustration of -the power of agencies thus arising, we have it in the history -and achievements of the Royal Institution. From this, -which is a product of altruistic coöperation, and which has -had for its successive professors Young, Davy, Faraday, -and Tyndall, there has come a series of brilliant discoveries -which cannot be paralleled by a series from any State-nurtured -institution.</p> - -<p>I hold, then, that forced, as men in society are, to seek -satisfaction of their own wants by satisfying the wants of -others; and led as they also are by sentiments which social -life has fostered, to satisfy many wants of others irrespective -of their own; they are moved by two sets of forces which, -working together, will amply suffice to carry on all needful -activities; and I think the facts fully justify this belief. -It is true that, <i>a priori</i>, one would not have supposed that -by their unconscious coöperations men could have wrought -out such results, any more than one would have supposed, -<i>a priori</i>, that by their unconscious -coöperation they could <span class="xxpn" id="p437">{437}</span> -have evolved Language. But reasoning <i>a posteriori</i>, which -it is best to do when we have the facts before us, it becomes -manifest that they can do this; that they have done it in -very astonishing ways; and perhaps may do it hereafter -in ways still more astonishing. Scarcely any scientific -generalization has, I think, a broader inductive basis than -we have for the belief that these egoistic and altruistic -feelings are powers which, taken together, amply suffice -to originate and carry on all the activities which constitute -healthy national life: the only pre-requisite being, -that they shall be under the negatively-regulative control -of a central power—that the entire aggregate of individuals, -acting through the legislature and executive as -its agents, shall put upon each individual, and group -of individuals, the restraints needful to prevent aggression, -direct and indirect.</p> - -<p>And here I might go on to supplement the argument by -showing that the immense majority of the evils which -government aid is invoked to remedy, are evils which arise -immediately or remotely because it does not perform -properly its negatively-regulative function. From the -waste of, probably, £100,000,000 of national capital in unproductive -railways, for which the Legislature is responsible -by permitting the original proprietary contracts to be -broken,<a class="afnanch" href="#fn41" id="fnanch41">41</a> -down to the railway accidents and loss of life -caused by unpunctuality, which would never have grown -to its present height were there an easy remedy for breach -of contract between company and passenger; nearly all the -vices of railway management have arisen from the non-administration -of justice. And everywhere else we shall -find that, were the restraining action of the State prompt, -effective, and costless to those aggrieved, the pleas put in -for positive regulation would nearly all disappear.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch41" id="fn41">41</a> -See Essay on “Railway Morals -and Railway Policy.”</p></div> - -<p class="padtopb">I am thus brought naturally to remark on -the title given <span class="xxpn" id="p438">{438}</span> -to this theory of State-functions. That “Administrative -Nihilism” adequately describes the view set forth by Von -Humboldt, may be: I have not read his work. But I cannot -see how it adequately describes the doctrine I have -been defending; nor do I see how this can be properly -expressed by the more positive title, “police-government.” -The conception suggested by police-government does not -include the conception of an organization for external -protection. So long as each nation is given to burglary, I -quite admit each other nation must keep guards, under the -forms of army or navy, or both, to prevent burglars from -breaking in. And the title police-government does not, in -its ordinary acceptation, comprehend these offensive and -defensive appliances needful for dealing with foreign -enemies. At the other extreme, too, it falls short of the -full meaning to be expressed. While it duly conveys the -idea of an organization required for checking and punishing -criminal aggression, it does not convey any idea of the no -less important organization required for dealing with civil -aggression—an organization quite essential for properly -discharging the negatively-regulative function. Though -latent police-force may be considered as giving their -efficiency to legal decisions on all questions brought into -<i>nisi prius</i> courts, yet, since here police-force rarely comes -into visible play, police-government does not suggest this -very extensive part of the administration of justice. Far -from contending for a <i>laissez-faire</i> policy in the sense which -the phrase commonly suggests, I have contended for a more -active control of the kind distinguishable as negatively -regulative. One of the reasons I have urged for excluding -State-action from other spheres, is, that it may become -more efficient within its proper sphere. And I have argued -that the wretched performance of its duties within its -proper sphere continues, because its time is chiefly spent -over imaginary duties.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn42" id="fnanch42">42</a> -The facts that -often, in bankruptcy <span class="xxpn" id="p439">{439}</span> -cases, three-fourths and more of the assets go in costs; -that creditors are led by the expectation of great delay and -a miserable dividend to accept almost any composition -offered; and that so the bankruptcy-law offers a premium -to roguery; are facts which would long since have ceased -to be facts, had citizens been mainly occupied in getting an -efficient judicial system. If the due performance by the -State of its all-essential function had been the question on -which elections were fought, we should not see, as we now -do, that a shivering cottager who steals palings for -firewood, or a hungry tramp who robs an orchard, gets -punishment in more than the old Hebrew measure, while -great financial frauds which ruin their thousands bring no -punishments. Were the negatively-regulative function of -the State in internal affairs dominant in the thoughts of -men, within the Legislature and without, there would be -tolerated no such treatment as that suffered lately by -Messrs. Walker, of Cornhill; who, having been robbed of -£6,000 worth of property and having spent £950 in rewards -for apprehending thieves and prosecuting them, cannot get -back the proceeds of their property found on the thieves—who -bear the costs of administering justice, while the -Corporation of London makes £940 profit out of their loss. -It is in large measure because I hold that these crying -abuses and inefficiencies, which everywhere characterize -the administration of justice, need more than any other -evils to be remedied; and because I hold that remedy of -them can go on only as fast as the internal function of the -State is more and more restricted to the administration of -justice; that I take the view which I have been re-explaining. -<i>It is a law illustrated by organizations of every kind, that, -in proportion as there is to be efficiency, there must be -specialization, both of structure and function—specialization -which, of necessity, implies accompanying limitation.</i> And, -as I have elsewhere argued, the development of representative -government is the development of -a type of <span class="xxpn" id="p440">{440}</span> -government fitted above all others for this negatively-regulative -control, and, above all others, ill fitted for positively-regulative -control.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn43" id="fnanch43">43</a> -This doctrine, that while the -negatively-regulative control should be extended and -made better, the positively-regulative control should be -diminished, and that the one change implies the other, -may properly be called the doctrine of Specialized Administration—if -it is to be named from its administrative -aspect. I regret that my presentation of this doctrine has -been such as to lead to misinterpretation. Either it is that -I have not adequately explained it, which, if true, surprises -me, or else it is that the space occupied in seeking to show -what are not the duties of the State is so much greater -than the space occupied in defining its duties, that these -last make but little impression. In any case, that Prof. -Huxley should have construed my view in the way he has -done, shows me that it needs fuller exposition; since, had -he put upon it the construction I intended, he would not, I -think, have included it under the title he has used, nor -would he have seen it needful to raise the question I have -endeavoured to answer.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch42" id="fn42">42</a> -See Essay on “Over-Legislation.”</p> - -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch43" id="fn43">43</a> -See Essay on “Representative Government—What is -it good for?”</p></div> - -<p class="padtopb"><span class="smcap">P<b>OSTSCRIPT</b>.</span>—Since the above article was written, a fact -of some significance in relation to the question of State-management -has come under my notice. There is one -department, at any rate, in which the State succeeds well—the -Post-Office. And this department is sometimes -instanced as showing the superiority of public over -private administration.</p> - -<p>I am not about to call in question the general satisfactoriness -of our postal arrangements; nor shall I contend -that this branch of State-organization, now well-established, -could be replaced with advantage. Possibly the type of -our social structure has become, in this respect, so far -fixed that a radical change would be -injurious. In dealing <span class="xxpn" id="p441">{441}</span> -with those who make much of this success, I have contented -myself with showing that the developments which have -made the Post-Office efficient, have not originated with the -Government, but have been thrust upon it from without. -I have in evidence cited the facts that the mail-coach -system was established by a private individual, Mr. Palmer, -and lived down official opposition; that the reform originated -by Mr. Rowland Hill had to be made against the wills of -<i>employés</i>; and, further, I have pointed out that, even as it -is, a large part of the work is done by private enterprise—that -the Government gets railway-companies to do for it -most of the inland carriage, and steam-boat companies the -outland carriage: contenting itself with doing the local -collection and distribution.</p> - -<p>Respecting the general question whether, in the absence -of our existing postal system, private enterprise would -have developed one as good or better, I have been able -to say only that analogies like that furnished by our -newspaper-system, with its efficient news-vending organization, -warrant us in believing that it would. Recently, -however, I have been shown both that private enterprise -is capable of this, and that, but for a legal interdict, it -would have done long ago what the State has but lately -done. Here is the proof:―</p> - -<blockquote class="blktight"> - -<p>“To facilitate correspondence between one part of London and another -was not originally one of the objects of the Post-Office. But, in the reign of -Charles II., an enterprising citizen of London, William Dockwray, set up, -at great expense, a penny post, which delivered letters and parcels six or -eight times a-day in the busy and crowded streets near the Exchange, and -four times a-day in the outskirts of the capital. . . . As soon as it became -clear that the speculation would be lucrative, the Duke of York complained -of it as an infraction of his monopoly, and the courts of law decided in his -favour.”—<i>Macaulay</i>, <i>History of England</i>, 1866, i., 302–3.</p></blockquote> - -<p>Thus it appears that two centuries since, private enterprise -initiated a local postal system, similar, in respect -both of cheapness and frequency of distribution, to that -lately-established one boasted of as a State-success. Judging -by what has happened in other -cases with private <span class="xxpn" id="p442">{442}</span> -enterprises which had small beginnings, we may infer that the -system thus commenced, would have developed throughout -the kingdom as fast as the needs pressed and the possibilities -allowed. So far from being indebted to the State, we -have reason to believe that, but for State-repression, we -should have obtained a postal organization like our present -one generations ago!</p> - -<p class="padtopb"><span class="smcap">S<b>ECOND</b> -P<b>OSTSCRIPT.</b></span>—When the foregoing essay was -republished in the third series of my <i>Essays, Scientific, -Political, and Speculative</i>, I included, in the preface to -the volume, some comments upon Prof. Huxley’s reply. -In the absence of this preface, now no longer appropriate, -there seems no other fit place for these comments than -this. I therefore here append them.</p> - -<p>“On the brief rejoinder to my arguments which Prof. -Huxley makes in the preface to his <i>Critiques and Addresses</i>, -I may here say a few words. The reasons he gives for -still thinking that the name ‘Administrative Nihilism’ -fitly indicates the system which I have described as -‘negatively regulative,’ are, I think, adequately met by -asking whether ‘Ethical Nihilism’ would fitly describe -the remnant of the decalogue, were all its positive injunctions -omitted. If the eight commandments which, -substantially or literally, come under the form ‘thou shalt -not,’ constitute by themselves a set of rules which can -scarcely be called nihilistic; I do not see how an administrative -system limited to the enforcement of such rules can -be called nihilistic: especially if to the punishment of -murder, adultery, stealing, and false-witness, it adds the -punishment of assault, breach of contract, and all minor -aggressions, down to the annoyance of neighbours by -nuisances. Respecting the second and essential question, -whether limitation of the internal functions of government -to those which are negatively regulative, is consistent with -that theory of the social organism -and its controlling <span class="xxpn" id="p443">{443}</span> -agencies held by me, I may say that the insufficiency of -my reply has not, I think, been shown. I was tacitly -asked how the analogy I have drawn between those -governmental structures by which the parts of the body -politic have their actions regulated and those nervous -structures which regulate the organic actions of the individual -living body, is to be reconciled with my belief that -social activities will in the main adjust themselves. My -answer was this. I recognized as essential the positively-regulative -functions of the State in respect to the -offensive and defensive appliances needful for national -self-preservation, during the predatory phase of social -evolution; and I not only admitted the importance of its -negatively-regulative functions in respect to the internal -social activities, but insisted that these should be carried -out much more efficiently than now. Assuming always, -however, that the internal social activities continue subject -to that restraining action of the State which consists in -preventing aggressions, direct and indirect, I contended -that the coördination of these internal social activities -is effected by other structures of a different kind. I -aimed to show that my two beliefs are not inconsistent, by -pointing out that in the individual organism, also, those -vital activities which parallel the activities constituting -national life, are regulated by a substantially-independent -nervous system. Prof. Huxley does, indeed, remind me -that recent researches show increasingly the influence of -the cerebro-spinal nervous system over the processes of -organic life; against which, however, has to be set the -growing evidence of the power exercised by the visceral -nervous system over the cerebro-spinal. But, recognizing -the influence he names (which, indeed, corresponds to that -governmental influence I regard as necessary); I think -the consistency of my positions is maintainable so long -as it is manifest that the viscera, under the -control of their <span class="xxpn" id="p444">{444}</span> -own nervous system, can carry on the vital actions when -the control of the cerebro-spinal system is substantially -arrested by sleep, or by anæsthetics, or by other causes of -insensibility; and while it is shown that a considerable -degree of coördination may exist among the organs of a -creature which has no nervous -system at all.”</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p445">{445}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">FROM FREEDOM TO BONDAGE.</h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>First published as the Introduction to a volume -entitled</i> A Plea for Liberty, &c.: <i>a series of anti-socialistic -essays, issued at the beginning of 1891</i>.]</p></div> - -<p>Of the many ways in which common-sense inferences -about social affairs are flatly contradicted by events (as -when measures taken to suppress a book cause increased -circulation of it, or as when attempts to prevent usurious -rates of interest make the terms harder for the borrower, -or as when there is greater difficulty in getting things at -the places of production than elsewhere) one of the most -curious is the way in which the more things improve the -louder become the exclamations about their badness.</p> - -<p>In days when the people were without any political -power, their subjection was rarely complained of; but -after free institutions had so far advanced in England that -our political arrangements were envied by continental -peoples, the denunciations of aristocratic rule grew gradually -stronger, until there came a great widening of the -franchise, soon followed by complaints that things were -going wrong for want of still further widening. If we trace -up the treatment of women from the days of savagedom, -when they bore all the burdens and after the men had -eaten received such food as remained, up through the -middle ages when they served the men at -their meals, to <span class="xxpn" id="p446">{446}</span> -our own day when throughout our social arrangements the -claims of women are always put first, we see that along -with the worst treatment there went the least apparent -consciousness that the treatment was bad; while now that -they are better treated than ever before, the proclaiming -of their grievances daily strengthens: the loudest outcries -coming from “the paradise of women,” America. A -century ago, when scarcely a man could be found who was -not occasionally intoxicated, and when inability to take one -or two bottles of wine brought contempt, no agitation arose -against the vice of drunkenness; but now that, in the course -of fifty years, the voluntary efforts of temperance societies, -joined with more general causes, have produced comparative -sobriety, there are vociferous demands for laws to prevent -the ruinous effects of the liquor traffic. Similarly again -with education. A few generations back, ability to read -and write was practically limited to the upper and middle -classes, and the suggestion that the rudiments of culture -should be given to labourers was never made, or, if made, -ridiculed; but when, in the days of our grandfathers, the -Sunday-school system, initiated by a few philanthropists, -began to spread and was followed by the establishment of -day-schools, with the result that among the masses those -who could read and write were no longer the exceptions, -and the demand for cheap literature rapidly increased, -there began the cry that the people were perishing for lack -of knowledge, and that the State must not simply educate -them but must force education upon them.</p> - -<p>And so is it, too, with the general state of the population in -respect of food, clothing, shelter, and the appliances of life. -Leaving out of the comparison early barbaric states, there -has been a conspicuous progress from the time when most -rustics lived on barley bread, rye bread, and oatmeal, down -to our own time when the consumption of white wheaten -bread is universal—from the days when coarse jackets -reaching to the knees left the legs bare, down -to the present <span class="xxpn" id="p447">{447}</span> -day when labouring people, like their employers, have the -whole body covered, by two or more layers of clothing—from -the old era of single-roomed huts without chimneys, -or from the 15th century when even an ordinary gentleman’s -house was commonly without wainscot or plaster on -its walls, down to the present century when every cottage -has more rooms than one and the houses of artizans -usually have several, while all have fire-places, chimneys, -and glazed windows, accompanied mostly by paper-hangings -and painted doors; there has been, I say, a conspicuous -progress in the condition of the people. And this progress -has been still more marked within our own time. Any one -who can look back 60 years, when the amount of pauperism -was far greater than now and beggars abundant, is struck -by the comparative size and finish of the new houses -occupied by operatives—by the better dress of workmen, -who wear broad-cloth on Sundays, and that of servant girls, -who vie with their mistresses—by the higher standard -of living which leads to a great demand for the best -qualities of food by working people: all results of the double -change to higher wages and cheaper commodities, and a distribution -of taxes which has relieved the lower classes at -the expense of the upper classes. He is struck, too, by the -contrast between the small space which popular welfare then -occupied in public attention, and the large space it now -occupies, with the result that outside and inside Parliament, -plans to benefit the millions form the leading topics, and -everyone having means is expected to join in some philanthropic -effort. Yet while elevation, mental and physical, of -the masses is going on far more rapidly than ever before—while -the lowering of the death-rate proves that the average -life is less trying, there swells louder and louder the -cry that the evils are so great that nothing short of a social -revolution can cure them. In presence of obvious improvements, -joined with that increase of longevity which even -alone yields conclusive proof of general -amelioration, it is <span class="xxpn" id="p448">{448}</span> -proclaimed, with increasing vehemence, that things are so -bad that society must be pulled to pieces and re-organized -on another plan. In this case, then, as in the previous -cases instanced, in proportion as the evil decreases the -denunciation of it increases; and as fast as natural causes -are shown to be powerful there grows up the belief that -they are powerless.</p> - -<p>Not that the evils to be remedied are small. Let no one -suppose that, by emphasizing the above paradox, I wish to -make light of the sufferings which most men have to bear. -The fates of the great majority have ever been, and doubtless -still are, so sad that it is painful to think of them. -Unquestionably the existing type of social organization is -one which none who care for their kind can contemplate -with satisfaction; and unquestionably men’s activities -accompanying this type are far from being admirable. -The strong divisions of rank and the immense inequalities -of means, are at variance with that ideal of human relations -on which the sympathetic imagination likes to dwell; and -the average conduct, under the pressure and excitement -of social life as at present carried on, is in sundry respects -repulsive. Though the many who revile competition -strangely ignore the enormous benefits resulting from it—though -they forget that most of the appliances and products -distinguishing civilization from savagery, and making -possible the maintenance of a large population on a small -area, have been developed by the struggle for existence—though -they disregard the fact that while every man, as -producer, suffers from the under-bidding of competitors, yet, -as consumer, he is immensely advantaged by the cheapening -of all he has to buy—though they persist in dwelling on -the evils of competition and saying nothing of its benefits; -yet it is not to be denied that the evils are great, and form -a large set-off from the benefits. The system under which -we at present live fosters dishonesty and lying. It prompts -adulterations of countless kinds; it is -answerable for the <span class="xxpn" id="p449">{449}</span> -cheap imitations which eventually in many cases thrust -the genuine articles out of the market; it leads to the use -of short weights and false measures; it introduces bribery, -which vitiates most trading relations, from those of the -manufacturer and buyer down to those of the shopkeeper -and servant; it encourages deception to such an extent -that an assistant who cannot tell a falsehood with a good -face is blamed; and often it gives the conscientious trader -the choice between adopting the malpractices of his competitors, -or greatly injuring his creditors by bankruptcy. -Moreover, the extensive frauds, common throughout the -commercial world and daily exposed in law-courts and -newspapers, are largely due to the pressure under which -competition places the higher industrial classes; and are -otherwise due to that lavish expenditure which, as implying -success in the commercial struggle, brings honour. -With these minor evils must be joined the major one, that -the distribution achieved by the system, gives to those who -regulate and superintend, a share of the total produce -which bears too large a ratio to the share it gives to the -actual workers. Let it not be thought, then, that in saying -what I have said above, I under-estimate those vices of our -competitive system which, 30 years ago, I described and -denounced.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn44" id="fnanch44">44</a> -But it is not a question of absolute evils; it -is a question of relative evils—whether the evils at present -suffered are or are not less than the evils which would -be suffered under another system—whether efforts for -mitigation along the lines thus far followed are not more -likely to succeed than efforts along utterly different lines.</p> - -<p>This is the question here to be considered. I must be -excused for first of all setting forth sundry truths which -are, to some at any rate, tolerably familiar, before proceeding -to draw inferences which are not so familiar.</p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch44" id="fn44">44</a> -See essay on “The -Morals of Trade.”</p></div> - -<p class="padtopb">Speaking broadly, every man works -that he may avoid <span class="xxpn" id="p450">{450}</span> -suffering. Here, remembrance of the pangs of hunger -prompts him; and there, he is prompted by the sight of the -slave-driver’s lash. His immediate dread may be the -punishment which physical circumstances will inflict, or -may be punishment inflicted by human agency. He must -have a master; but the master may be Nature or may be a -fellow man. When he is under the impersonal coercion of -Nature, we say that he is free; and when he is under the -personal coercion of some one above him, we call him, -according to the degree of his dependence, a slave, a serf, -or a vassal. Of course I omit the small minority who -inherit means: an incidental, and not a necessary, social -element. I speak only of the vast majority, both cultured -and uncultured, who maintain themselves by labour, bodily -or mental, and must either exert themselves of their own -unconstrained wills, prompted only by thoughts of naturally-resulting -evils or benefits, or must exert themselves with -constrained wills, prompted by thoughts of evils and benefits -artificially resulting.</p> - -<p>Men may work together in a society under either of -these two forms of control: forms which, though in many -cases mingled, are essentially contrasted. Using the word -coöperation in its wide sense, and not in that restricted -sense now commonly given to it, we may say that social -life must be carried on by either voluntary coöperation or -compulsory coöperation; or, to use Sir Henry Maine’s -words, the system must be that of <i>contract</i> or that of <i>status</i>—that -in which the individual is left to do the best he can -by his spontaneous efforts and get success or failure -according to his efficiency, and that in which he has his -appointed place, works under coercive rule, and has his -apportioned share of food, clothing, and shelter.</p> - -<p>The system of voluntary coöperation is that by which, -in civilized societies, industry is now everywhere carried -on. Under a simple form we have it on every farm, where -the labourers, paid by the farmer himself -and taking orders <span class="xxpn" id="p451">{451}</span> -directly from him, are free to stay or go as they please. -And of its more complex form an example is yielded by -every manufacturing concern, in which, under partners, -come managers and clerks, and under these, time-keepers -and over-lookers, and under these operatives of different -grades. In each of these cases there is an obvious working -together, or coöperation, of employer and employed, to -obtain in the one case a crop and in the other case a manufactured -stock. And then, at the same time, there is a far -more extensive, though unconscious, coöperation with -other workers of all grades throughout the society. For -while these particular employers and employed are severally -occupied with their special kinds of work, other employers -and employed are making other things needed for the -carrying on of their lives as well as the lives of all others. -This voluntary coöperation, from its simplest to its most -complex forms, has the common trait that those concerned -work together by consent. There is no one to force terms -or to force acceptance. It is perfectly true that in many -cases an employer may give, or an <i>employé</i> may accept, -with reluctance: circumstances he says compel him. But -what are the circumstances? In the one case there are -goods ordered, or a contract entered into, which he cannot -supply or execute without yielding; and in the other case he -submits to a wage less than he likes because otherwise he -will have no money wherewith to procure food and warmth. -The general formula is not—“Do this, or I will make -you;” but it is—“Do this, or leave your place and take -the consequences.”</p> - -<p>On the other hand compulsory coöperation is exemplified -by an army—not so much by our own army, the service in -which is under agreement for a specified period, but in a -continental army, raised by conscription. Here, in time of -peace, the daily duties—cleaning, parade, drill, sentry -work, and the rest—and in time of war the various actions -of the camp and the battle-field, are -done under command, <span class="xxpn" id="p452">{452}</span> -without room for any exercise of choice. Up from the -private soldier through the non-commissioned officers and -the half-dozen or more grades of commissioned officers, the -universal law is absolute obedience from the grade below -to the grade above. The sphere of individual will is such -only as is allowed by the will of the superior. Breaches of -subordination are, according to their gravity, dealt with by -deprivation of leave, extra drill, imprisonment, flogging, -and, in the last resort, shooting. Instead of the understanding -that there must be obedience in respect of specified -duties under pain of dismissal; the understanding now is—“Obey -in everything ordered under penalty of inflicted -suffering and perhaps death.”</p> - -<p>This form of coöperation, still exemplified in an army, -has in days gone by been the form of coöperation throughout -the civil population. Everywhere, and at all times, -chronic war generates a militant type of structure, not in -the body of soldiers only but throughout the community at -large. Practically, while the conflict between societies is -actively going on, and fighting is regarded as the only -manly occupation, the society is the quiescent army and -the army the mobilized society: that part which does not -take part in battle, composed of slaves, serfs, women, -&c., constituting the commissariat. Naturally, therefore, -throughout the mass of inferior individuals constituting the -commissariat, there is maintained a system of discipline -identical in nature if less elaborate. The fighting body being, -under such conditions, the ruling body, and the rest of the -community being incapable of resistance, those who control -the fighting body will, of course, impose their control upon -the non-fighting body; and the <i>régime</i> of coercion will be -applied to it with such modifications only as the different -circumstances involve. Prisoners of war become slaves. -Those who were free cultivators before the conquest of -their country, become serfs attached to the soil. Petty -chiefs become subject to superior chiefs; -these smaller lords <span class="xxpn" id="p453">{453}</span> -become vassals to over-lords; and so on up to the highest: -the social ranks and powers being of like essential nature with -the ranks and powers throughout the military organization. -And while for the slaves compulsory coöperation is the -unqualified system, a coöperation which is in part -compulsory is the system that pervades all grades above. -Each man’s oath of fealty to his suzerain takes the form—“I -am your man.”</p> - -<p>Throughout Europe, and especially in our own country, -this system of compulsory coöperation gradually relaxed in -rigour, while the system of voluntary coöperation step by -step replaced it. As fast as war ceased to be the business -of life, the social structure produced by war and appropriate -to it, slowly became qualified by the social structure -produced by industrial life and appropriate to it. In -proportion as a decreasing part of the community was -devoted to offensive and defensive activities, an increasing -part became devoted to production and distribution. -Growing more numerous, more powerful, and taking refuge -in towns where it was less under the power of the militant -class, this industrial population carried on its life under the -system of voluntary coöperation. Though municipal governments -and guild-regulations, partially pervaded by ideas -and usages derived from the militant type of society, were -in some degree coercive; yet production and distribution -were in the main carried on under agreement—alike -between buyers and sellers, and between masters and -workmen. As fast as these social relations and forms -of activity became dominant in urban populations, they -influenced the whole community: compulsory coöperation -lapsed more and more, through money commutation for -services, military and civil; while divisions of rank became -less rigid and class-power diminished. Until at length, -restraints exercised by incorporated trades having fallen -into desuetude, as well as the rule of rank over rank, -voluntary coöperation became -the universal principle. <span class="xxpn" id="p454">{454}</span> -Purchase and sale became the law for all kinds of services -as well as for all kinds of commodities.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">The restlessness generated by pressure against the conditions -of existence, perpetually prompts the desire to try a -new position. Everyone knows how long-continued rest in -one attitude becomes wearisome—everyone has found how -even the best easy chair, at first rejoiced in, becomes after -many hours intolerable; and change to a hard seat, previously -occupied and rejected, seems for a time to be a great -relief. It is the same with incorporated humanity. Having -by long struggles emancipated itself from the hard discipline -of the ancient <i>régime</i>, and having discovered that the new -<i>régime</i> into which it has grown, though relatively easy, is not -without stresses and pains, its impatience with these prompts -the wish to try another system: which other system is, in -principle if not in appearance, the same as that which during -past generations was escaped from with much rejoicing.</p> - -<p>For as fast as the <i>régime</i> of contract is discarded the -<i>régime</i> of status is of necessity adopted. As fast as -voluntary coöperation is abandoned compulsory coöperation -must be substituted. Some kind of organization labour -must have; and if it is not that which arises by agreement -under free competition, it must be that which is imposed by -authority. Unlike in appearance and names as it may be to -the old order of slaves and serfs, working under masters, -who were coerced by barons, who were themselves vassals -of dukes or kings, the new order wished for, constituted -by workers under foremen of small groups, overlooked by -superintendents, who are subject to higher local managers, -who are controlled by superiors of districts, themselves -under a central government, must be essentially the same -in principle. In the one case, as in the other, there must -be established grades, and enforced subordination of each -grade to the grades above. This is a truth which the -communist or the socialist does not -dwell upon. Angry <span class="xxpn" id="p455">{455}</span> -with the existing system under which each of us takes care -of himself, while all of us see that each has fair play, he -thinks how much better it would be for all of us to take -care of each of us; and he refrains from thinking of the -machinery by which this is to be done. Inevitably, if each -is to be cared for by all, then the embodied all must get the -means—the necessaries of life. What it gives to each must -be taken from the accumulated contributions; and it must -therefore require from each his proportion—must tell him -how much he has to give to the general stock in the shape -of production, that he may have so much in the shape of -sustentation. Hence, before he can be provided for, he must -put himself under orders, and obey those who say what -he shall do, and at what hours, and where; and who give -him his share of food, clothing, and shelter. If competition -is excluded, and with it buying and selling, there can be no -voluntary exchange of so much labour for so much produce; -but there must be apportionment of the one to the other by -appointed officers. This apportionment must be enforced. -Without alternative the work must be done, and without -alternative the benefit, whatever it may be, must be accepted. -For the worker may not leave his place at will and offer -himself elsewhere. Under such a system he cannot be -accepted elsewhere, save by order of the authorities. And -it is manifest that a standing order would forbid employment -in one place of an insubordinate member from another place: -the system could not be worked if the workers were severally -allowed to go or come as they pleased. With corporals and -sergeants under them, the captains of industry must carry -out the orders of their colonels, and these of their generals, -up to the council of the commander-in-chief; and obedience -must be required throughout the industrial army as throughout -a fighting army. “Do your prescribed duties, and -take your apportioned rations,” must be the rule of the one -as of the other.</p> - -<p>“Well, be it so;” replies the -socialist. “The workers <span class="xxpn" id="p456">{456}</span> -will appoint their own officers, and these will always be -subject to criticisms of the mass they regulate. Being thus -in fear of public opinion, they will be sure to act judiciously -and fairly; or when they do not, will be deposed by the -popular vote, local or general. Where will be the grievance -of being under superiors, when the superiors themselves -are under democratic control?” And in this attractive -vision the socialist has full belief.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Iron and brass are simpler things than flesh and blood, -and dead wood than living nerve; and a machine constructed -of the one works in more definite ways than an -organism constructed of the other,—especially when the -machine is worked by the inorganic forces of steam or -water, while the organism is worked by the forces of living -nerve-centres. Manifestly, then, the ways in which the -machine will work are much more readily calculable than -the ways in which the organism will work. Yet in how -few cases does the inventor foresee rightly the actions of -his new apparatus! Read the patent-list, and it will be found -that not more than one device in fifty turns out to be of any -service. Plausible as his scheme seemed to the inventor, -one or other hitch prevents the intended operation, and brings -out a widely different result from that which he wished.</p> - -<p>What, then, shall we say of these schemes which have -to do not with dead matters and forces, but with complex -living organisms working in ways less readily foreseen, -and which involve the coöperation of multitudes of such -organisms? Even the units out of which this re-arranged -body politic is to be formed are often incomprehensible. -Everyone is from time to time surprised by others’ behaviour, -and even by the deeds of relatives who are best known to -him. Seeing, then, how uncertainly anyone can foresee the -actions of an individual, how can he with any certainty foresee -the operation of a social structure? He proceeds on the -assumption that all concerned will judge -rightly and act <span class="xxpn" id="p457">{457}</span> -fairly—will think as they ought to think, and act as they -ought to act; and he assumes this regardless of the daily -experiences which show him that men do neither the one -nor the other, and forgetting that the complaints he makes -against the existing system show his belief to be that men -have neither the wisdom nor the rectitude which his plan -requires them to have.</p> - -<p>Paper constitutions raise smiles on the faces of those -who have observed their results; and paper social systems -similarly affect those who have contemplated the available -evidence. How little the men who wrought the French -revolution and were chiefly concerned in setting up the -new governmental apparatus, dreamt that one of the early -actions of this apparatus would be to behead them all! -How little the men who drew up the American Declaration -of Independence and framed the republic, anticipated that -after some generations the legislature would lapse into the -hands of wire-pullers; that its doings would turn upon the -contests of office-seekers; that political action would be -everywhere vitiated by the intrusion of a foreign element -holding the balance between parties; that electors, instead of -judging for themselves, would habitually be led to the polls -in thousands by their “bosses;” and that respectable men -would be driven out of public life by the insults and slanders -of professional politicians. Nor were there better previsions -in those who gave constitutions to the various other states of -the New World, in which unnumbered revolutions have shown -with wonderful persistence the contrasts between the -expected results of political systems and the achieved -results. It has been no less thus with proposed systems of -social re-organization, so far as they have been tried. Save -where celibacy has been insisted on, their history has been -everywhere one of disaster; ending with the history of -Cabet’s Icarian colony lately given by one of its members, -Madame Fleury Robinson, in <i>The Open Court</i>—a history of -splittings, re-splittings and -re-re-splittings, accompanied by <span class="xxpn" id="p458">{458}</span> -numerous individual secessions and final dissolution. And -for the failure of such social schemes, as for the failure of -the political schemes, there has been one general cause.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Metamorphosis is the universal law, exemplified throughout -the Heavens and on the Earth: especially throughout -the organic world; and above all in the animal division -of it. No creature, save the simplest and most minute, -commences its existence in a form like that which it -eventually assumes; and in most cases the unlikeness is -great—so great that kinship between the first and the last -forms would be incredible were it not daily demonstrated -in every poultry-yard and every garden. More than this -is true. The changes of form are often several: each of them -being an apparently complete transformation—egg, larva, -pupa, imago, for example. And this universal metamorphosis, -displayed alike in the development of a planet and -of every seed which germinates on its surface, holds also of -societies, whether taken as wholes or in their separate -institutions. No one of them ends as it begins; and the difference -between its original structure and its ultimate structure -is such that, at the outset, change of the one into the other -would have seemed incredible. In the rudest tribe the -chief, obeyed as leader in war, loses his distinctive position -when the fighting is over; and even where continued warfare -has produced permanent chieftainship, the chief, building -his own hut, getting his own food, making his own implements, -differs from others only by his predominant influence. -There is no sign that in course of time, by conquests and -unions of tribes, and consolidations of clusters so formed -with other such clusters, until a nation has been produced, -there will originate from the primitive chief, one who, as czar -or emperor, surrounded with pomp and ceremony, has despotic -power over scores of millions, exercised through hundreds of -thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of officials. -When the early Christian -missionaries, having humble <span class="xxpn" id="p459">{459}</span> -externals and passing self-denying lives, spread over pagan -Europe, preaching forgiveness of injuries and the returning -of good for evil, no one dreamt that in course of time their -representatives would form a vast hierarchy, possessing -everywhere a large part of the land, distinguished by the -haughtiness of its members grade above grade, ruled by -military bishops who led their retainers to battle, and -headed by a pope exercising supreme power over kings. -So, too, has it been with that very industrial system which -many are now so eager to replace. In its original form -there was no prophecy of the factory-system or kindred -organizations of workers. Differing from them only as -being the head of his house, the master worked along with -his apprentices and a journeyman or two, sharing with -them his table and accommodation, and himself selling -their joint produce. Only with industrial growth did there -come employment of a larger number of assistants, and a -relinquishment, on the part of the master, of all other -business than that of superintendence. And only in the -course of recent times did there evolve the organizations -under which the labours of hundreds and thousands of men -receiving wages, are regulated by various orders of paid -officials under a single or multiple head. These originally -small, semi-socialistic, groups of producers, like the compound -families or house-communities of early ages, slowly -dissolved because they could not hold their ground: the -larger establishments, with better sub-division of labour, -succeeded because they ministered to the wants of society -more effectually. But we need not go back through the -centuries to trace transformations sufficiently great and -unexpected. On the day when £30,000 a year in aid of -education was voted as an experiment, the name of idiot -would have been given to an opponent who prophesied -that in 50 years the sum spent through imperial taxes and -local rates would amount to £10,000,000 or who said that the -aid to education would be followed by aids -to feeding and <span class="xxpn" id="p460">{460}</span> -clothing, or who said that parents and children, alike -deprived of all option, would, even if starving, be compelled -by fine or imprisonment to conform, and receive that -which, with papal assumption, the State calls education. -No one, I say, would have dreamt that out of so innocent-looking -a germ would have so quickly evolved this tyrannical -system, tamely submitted to by people who fancy -themselves free.</p> - -<p>Thus in social arrangements, as in all other things, -change is inevitable. It is foolish to suppose that new -institutions set up, will long retain the character given -them by those who set them up. Rapidly or slowly they -will be transformed into institutions unlike those intended—so -unlike as even to be unrecognizable by their -devisers. And what, in the case before us, will be the -metamorphosis? The answer pointed to by instances above -given, and warranted by various analogies, is manifest.</p> - -<p>A cardinal trait in all advancing organization is the -development of the regulative apparatus. If the parts of -a whole are to act together, there must be appliances by -which their actions are directed; and in proportion as the -whole is large and complex, and has many requirements -to be met by many agencies, the directive apparatus must -be extensive, elaborate, and powerful. That it is thus with -individual organisms needs no saying; and that it must be -thus with social organisms is obvious. Beyond the regulative -apparatus such as in our own society is required for -carrying on national defence and maintaining public order -and personal safety, there must, under the <i>régime</i> of -socialism, be a regulative apparatus everywhere controlling -all kinds of production and distribution, and everywhere -apportioning the shares of products of each kind required -for each locality, each working establishment, each individual. -Under our existing voluntary coöperation, with -its free contracts and its competition, production and -distribution need no official oversight. Demand and <span class="xxpn" id="p461">{461}</span> -supply, and the desire of each man to gain a living by -supplying the needs of his fellows, spontaneously evolve -that wonderful system whereby a great city has its food -daily brought round to all doors or stored at adjacent -shops; has clothing for its citizens everywhere at hand in -multitudinous varieties; has its houses and furniture and -fuel ready made or stocked in each locality; and has -mental pabulum from halfpenny papers hourly hawked -round, to weekly shoals of novels, and less abundant books -of instruction, furnished without stint for small payments. -And throughout the kingdom, production as well as distribution -is similarly carried on with the smallest amount of -superintendence which proves efficient; while the quantities -of the numerous commodities required daily in each -locality are adjusted without any other agency than the -pursuit of profit. Suppose now that this industrial <i>régime</i> -of willinghood, acting spontaneously, is replaced by a <i>régime</i> -of industrial obedience, enforced by public officials. Imagine -the vast administration required for that distribution of -all commodities to all people in every city, town and -village, which is now effected by traders! Imagine, again, -the still more vast administration required for doing all -that farmers, manufacturers, and merchants do; having -not only its various orders of local superintendents, but its -sub-centres and chief centres needed for apportioning the -quantities of each thing everywhere needed, and the -adjustment of them to the requisite times. Then add the -staffs wanted for working mines, railways, roads, canals; -the staffs required for conducting the importing and -exporting businesses and the administration of mercantile -shipping; the staffs required for supplying towns not only -with water and gas but with locomotion by tramways, -omnibuses, and other vehicles, and for the distribution of -power, electric and other. Join with these the existing -postal, telegraphic, and telephonic administrations; and -finally those of the police and army, by -which the dictates <span class="xxpn" id="p462">{462}</span> -of this immense consolidated regulative system are to be -everywhere enforced. Imagine all this and then ask what -will be the position of the actual workers! Already on the -continent, where governmental organizations are more -elaborate and coercive than here, there are chronic complaints -of the tyranny of bureaucracies—the <i>hauteur</i> and -brutality of their members. What will these become when -not only the more public actions of citizens are controlled, -but there is added this far more extensive control of -all their respective daily duties? What will happen -when the various divisions of this vast army of officials, -united by interests common to officialism—the interests -of the regulators <i>versus</i> those of the regulated—have -at their command whatever force is needful to suppress -insubordination and act as “saviours of society”? Where -will be the actual diggers and miners and smelters -and weavers, when those who order and superintend, -everywhere arranged class above class, have come, after -some generations, to inter-marry with those of kindred -grades, under feelings such as are operative in existing -classes; and when there have been so produced a series of -castes rising in superiority; and when all these, having -everything in their own power, have arranged modes of -living for their own advantage: eventually forming a new -aristocracy far more elaborate and better organized than -the old? How will the individual worker fare if he is -dissatisfied with his treatment—thinks that he has not -an adequate share of the products, or has more to do -than can rightly be demanded, or wishes to undertake -a function for which he feels himself fitted but which is -not thought proper for him by his superiors, or desires to -make an independent career for himself? This dissatisfied -unit in the immense machine will be told he must submit -or go. The mildest penalty for disobedience will be industrial -excommunication. And if an international organization -of labour is formed as proposed, exclusion -in one country <span class="xxpn" id="p463">{463}</span> -will mean exclusion in all others—industrial excommunication -will mean starvation.</p> - -<p>That things must take this course is a conclusion reached -not by deduction only, nor only by induction from those -experiences of the past instanced above, nor only from -consideration of the analogies furnished by organisms of -all orders; but it is reached also by observation of cases -daily under our eyes. The truth that the regulative -structure always tends to increase in power, is illustrated -by every established body of men. The history of each -learned society, or society for other purpose, shows how -the staff, permanent or partially permanent, sways the -proceedings and determines the actions of the society with -but little resistance, even when most members of the society -disapprove: the repugnance to anything like a revolutionary -step being ordinarily an efficient deterrent. So is it with -joint-stock companies—those owning railways for example. -The plans of a board of directors are usually authorized -with little or no discussion; and if there is any considerable -opposition, this is forthwith crushed by an overwhelming -number of proxies sent by those who always support the -existing administration. Only when the misconduct is extreme -does the resistance of shareholders suffice to displace the -ruling body. Nor is it otherwise with societies formed of -working men and having the interests of labour especially -at heart—the trades-unions. In these, too, the regulative -agency becomes all powerful. Their members, even when -they dissent from the policy pursued, habitually yield to the -authorities they have set up. As they cannot secede without -making enemies of their fellow workmen, and often losing -all chance of employment, they succumb. We are shown, -too, by the late congress, that already, in the general -organization of trades-unions so recently formed, there are -complaints of “wire-pullers” and “bosses” and “permanent -officials.” If, then, this supremacy of the regulators is -seen in bodies of quite modern origin, formed -of men who <span class="xxpn" id="p464">{464}</span> -have, in many of the cases instanced, unhindered powers -of asserting their independence, what will the supremacy of -the regulators become in long-established bodies, in bodies -which have become vast and highly organized, and in bodies -which, instead of controlling only a small part of the unit’s -life, control the whole of his life?</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Again there will come the rejoinder—“We shall guard -against all that. Everybody will be educated; and all, with -their eyes constantly open to the abuse of power, will be -quick to prevent it.” The worth of these expectations would -be small even could we not identify the causes which -will bring disappointment; for in human affairs the most -promising schemes go wrong in ways which no one anticipated. -But in this case the going wrong will be necessitated -by causes which are conspicuous. The working of institutions -is determined by men’s characters; and the existing -defects in their characters will inevitably bring about the -results above indicated. There is no adequate endowment -of those sentiments required to prevent the growth -of a despotic bureaucracy.</p> - -<p>Were it needful to dwell on indirect evidence, much might -be made of that furnished by the behaviour of the so-called -Liberal party—a party which, relinquishing the original -conception of a leader as a mouthpiece for a known and -accepted policy, thinks itself bound to accept a policy which -its leader springs upon it without consent or warning—a -party so utterly without the feeling and idea implied by -liberalism, as not to resent this trampling on the right of -private judgment, which constitutes the root of liberalism—nay, -a party which vilifies as renegade liberals, those of its -members who refuse to surrender their independence! But -without occupying space with indirect proofs that the mass -of men have not the natures required to check the development -of tyrannical officialism, it will suffice to contemplate -the direct proofs furnished by those -classes among whom <span class="xxpn" id="p465">{465}</span> -the socialistic idea most predominates, and who think -themselves most interested in propagating it—the operative -classes. These would constitute the great body of the -socialistic organization, and their characters would determine -its nature. What, then, are their characters as displayed -in such organizations as they have already formed?</p> - -<p>Instead of the selfishness of the employing classes and -the selfishness of competition, we are to have the unselfishness -of a mutually-aiding system. How far is this -unselfishness now shown in the behaviour of working men -to one another? What shall we say to the rules limiting -the numbers of new hands admitted into each trade, or -to the rules which hinder ascent from inferior classes of -workers to superior classes? One does not see in such -regulations any of that altruism by which socialism is to be -pervaded. Contrariwise, one sees a pursuit of private -interests no less keen than among traders. Hence, unless -we suppose that men’s natures will be suddenly exalted, -we must conclude that the pursuit of private interests -will sway the doings of all the component classes in a -socialistic society.</p> - -<p>With passive disregard of others’ claims goes active -encroachment on them. “Be one of us or we will cut off -your means of living,” is the usual threat of each trades-union -to outsiders of the same trade. While their members -insist on their own freedom to combine and fix the rates at -which they will work (as they are perfectly justified in -doing), the freedom of those who disagree with them is not -only denied but the assertion of it is treated as a crime. -Individuals who maintain their rights to make their own -contracts are vilified as “blacklegs” and “traitors,” and -meet with violence which would be merciless were there no -legal penalties and no police. Along with this trampling -on the liberties of men of their own class, there goes -peremptory dictation to the employing class: not prescribed -terms and working arrangements only -shall be conformed <span class="xxpn" id="p466">{466}</span> -to, but none save those belonging to their body shall be -employed—nay, in some cases, there shall be a strike if the -employer carries on transactions with trading bodies that -give work to non-union men. Here, then, we are variously -shown by trades-unions, or at any rate by the newer trades-unions, -a determination to impose their regulations without -regard to the rights of those who are to be coerced. So -complete is the inversion of ideas and sentiments that -maintenance of these rights is regarded as vicious and -trespass upon them as virtuous.<a class="afnanch" href="#fn45" id="fnanch45">45</a></p> - -<p>Along with this aggressiveness in one direction there -goes submissiveness in another direction. The coercion of -outsiders by unionists is paralleled only by their subjection -to their leaders. That they may conquer in the struggle -they surrender their individual liberties and individual -judgments, and show no resentment however dictatorial may -be the rule exercised over them. Everywhere we see such -subordination that bodies of workmen unanimously leave -their work or return to it as their authorities order them. -Nor do they resist when taxed all round to support strikers -whose acts they may or may not approve, but instead, ill-treat -recalcitrant members of their body -who do not subscribe. <span class="xxpn" id="p467">{467}</span></p> - -<div class="dftnt"> -<p class="pfirst"><a class="afnlabel" href="#fnanch45" id="fn45">45</a> -Marvellous are the conclusions men reach when once they desert the -simple principle, that each man should be allowed to pursue the objects of -life, restrained only by the limits which the similar pursuits of their objects -by other men impose. A generation ago we heard loud assertions of ‘the -right to labour,’ that is, the right to have labour provided; and there are -still not a few who think the community bound to find work for each person. -Compare this with the doctrine current in France at the time when the -monarchical power culminated; namely, that ‘the right of working is a -royal right which the prince can sell and the subjects must buy.’ This -contrast is startling enough; but a contrast still more startling is being -provided for us. We now see a resuscitation of the despotic doctrine, -differing only by the substitution of Trades-Unions for kings. For now -that Trades-Unions are becoming universal, and each artisan has to pay -prescribed monies to one or another of them, with the alternative of being -a non-unionist to whom work is denied by force, it has come to this, that -the right to labour is a Trade-Union right, which the Trade-Union can sell -and the individual -worker must buy!</p></div> - -<p>The traits thus shown must be operative in any new -social organization, and the question to be asked is—What -will result from their operation when they are relieved -from all restraints? At present the separate bodies of men -displaying them are in the midst of a society partially -passive, partially antagonistic; are subject to the criticisms -and reprobations of an independent press; and are under -the control of law, enforced by police. If in these circumstances -these bodies habitually take courses which override -individual freedom, what will happen when, instead of -being only scattered parts of the community, governed by -their separate sets of regulators, they constitute the whole -community, governed by a consolidated system of such -regulators; when functionaries of all orders, including those -who officer the press, form parts of the regulative organization; -and when the law is both enacted and administered -by this regulative organization? The fanatical adherents -of a social theory are capable of taking any measures, no -matter how extreme, for carrying out their views: holding, -like the merciless priesthoods of past times, that the end -justifies the means. And when a general socialistic organization -has been established, the vast, ramified, and consolidated -body of those who direct its activities, using -without check whatever coercion seems to them needful in -the interests of the system (which will practically become -their own interests) will have no hesitation in imposing -their rigorous rule over the entire lives of the actual -workers; until, eventually, there is developed an official -oligarchy, with its various grades, exercising a tyranny more -gigantic and more terrible than any which the world has seen.</p> - -<p class="padtopb">Let me again repudiate an erroneous inference. Any -one who supposes that the foregoing argument implies -contentment with things as they are, makes a profound -mistake. The present social state is transitional, as past -social states have been transitional. There -will, I hope <span class="xxpn" id="p468">{468}</span> -and believe, come a future social state differing as much -from the present as the present differs from the past -with its mailed barons and defenceless serfs. In <i>Social -Statics</i>, as well as in <i>The Study of Sociology</i> and in <i>Political -Institutions</i>, is clearly shown the desire for an organization -more conducive to the happiness of men at large than -that which exists. My opposition to socialism results from -the belief that it would stop the progress to such a higher -state and bring back a lower state. Nothing but the slow -modification of human nature by the discipline of social -life, can produce permanently advantageous changes.</p> - -<p>A fundamental error pervading the thinking of nearly -all parties, political and social, is that evils admit of -immediate and radical remedies. “If you will but do this, -the mischief will be prevented.” “Adopt my plan and -the suffering will disappear.” “The corruption will unquestionably -be cured by enforcing this measure.” Everywhere -one meets with beliefs, expressed or implied, of these -kinds. They are all ill-founded. It is possible to remove -causes which intensify the evils; it is possible to change -the evils from one form into another; and it is possible, and -very common, to exacerbate the evils by the efforts made to -prevent them; but anything like immediate cure is impossible. -In the course of thousands of years mankind have, -by multiplication, been forced out of that original savage -state in which small numbers supported themselves on wild -food, into the civilized state in which the food required for -supporting great numbers can be got only by continuous -labour. The nature required for this last mode of life is -widely different from the nature required for the first; -and long-continued pains have to be passed through in -re-moulding the one into the other. Misery has necessarily -to be borne by a constitution out of harmony with its conditions; -and a constitution inherited from primitive men is -out of harmony with the conditions imposed on existing -men. Hence it is impossible to -establish forthwith a <span class="xxpn" id="p469">{469}</span> -satisfactory social state. No such nature as that which has -filled Europe with millions of armed men, here eager for -conquest and there for revenge—no such nature as that -which prompts the nations called Christian to vie with one -another in filibustering expeditions all over the world, -regardless of the claims of aborigines, while their tens of -thousands of priests of the religion of love look on approvingly—no -such nature as that which, in dealing with -weaker races, goes beyond the primitive rule of life for -life, and for one life takes many lives—no such nature, I -say, can, by any device, be framed into a harmonious community. -The root of all well-ordered social action is a -sentiment of justice, which at once insists on personal -freedom and is solicitous for the like freedom of others; -and there at present exists but a very inadequate amount -of this sentiment.</p> - -<p>Hence the need for further long continuance of a social -discipline which requires each man to carry on his activities -with due regard to the like claims of others to carry on -their activities; and which, while it insists that he shall -have all the benefits his conduct naturally brings, insists -also that he shall not saddle on others the evils his conduct -naturally brings: unless they freely undertake to bear them. -And hence the belief that endeavours to elude this discipline, -will not only fail, but will bring worse evils than -those to be escaped.</p> - -<p>It is not, then, chiefly in the interests of the employing -classes that socialism is to be resisted, but much more in -the interests of the employed classes. In one way or -other production must be regulated; and the regulators, -in the nature of things, must always be a small class as -compared with the actual producers. -Under voluntary coöperation -as at present carried on, the regulators, pursuing -their personal interests, take as large a share of the -produce as they can get; but, as we are daily shown by -trades-union successes, are restrained in -the selfish pursuit <span class="xxpn" id="p470">{470}</span> -of their ends. Under that compulsory coöperation which -socialism would necessitate, the regulators, pursuing their -personal interests with no less selfishness, could not be -met by the combined resistance of free workers; and their -power, unchecked as now by refusals to work save on -prescribed terms, would grow and ramify and consolidate -till it became irresistible. The ultimate result, as I have -before pointed out, must be a society like that of ancient -Peru, dreadful to contemplate, in which the mass of the -people, elaborately regimented in groups of 10, 50, 100, -500, and 1000, ruled by officers of corresponding grades, -and tied to their districts, were superintended in their -private lives as well as in their industries, and toiled -hopelessly for the support of -the governmental organization.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p471">{471}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">THE AMERICANS:<br /> -A <span class="smcap">C<b>ONVERSATION</b></span> -<span class="smmaj">AND A</span> -<span class="smcap">S<b>PEECH</b>,</span> -<span class="smmaj">WITH AN</span> -<span class="smcap">A<b>DDITION.</b></span></h2></div> - -<div class="dchappre"> -<p class="pfirst">[<i>Originally published -in America and afterwards published in -England in</i> The Contemporary Review <i>for January 1883, preceded -by the following editorial note:—“The state of Mr. Spencer’s -health unfortunately not permitting him, to give in the form of -articles the results of his observations on American society, it is -thought useful to reproduce, under his own revision and with some -additional remarks, what he has said on the subject; especially as -the accounts of it which have appeared in this country are imperfect: -reports of the conversation having been abridged, and the -speech being known only by telegraphic summary.</i></p> - -<p><i>“The earlier paragraphs of the conversation, which refer to Mr. -Spencer’s persistent exclusion of reporters and his objections to the -interviewing system, are omitted, as not here concerning the reader. -There was no eventual yielding, as has been supposed. It was not -to a newspaper-reporter that the opinions which follow were expressed, -but to an intimate American friend: the primary purpose -being to correct the many misstatements to which the excluded interviewers -had given currency; and the occasion being taken for giving -utterance to impressions of American -affairs.</i>”—<span class="smcap">E<b>D.</b></span>]</p></div> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<h3>I.—A <span class="smcap">C<b>ONVERSATION</b></span>: -<i>October 20, 1882</i>.</h3> - -<p>Has what you have seen answered your expectations ?</p></div> - -<p>It has far exceeded them. Such books about America -as I had looked into had given me no adequate idea of -the immense developments of -material civilization which <span class="xxpn" id="p472">{472}</span> -I have everywhere found. The extent, wealth, and magnificence -of your cities, and especially the splendour of -New York, have altogether astonished me. Though I have -not visited the wonder of the West, Chicago, yet some of -your minor modern places, such as Cleveland, have sufficiently -amazed me by the results of one generation’s activity. -Occasionally, when I have been in places of some ten -thousand inhabitants where the telephone is in general -use, I have felt somewhat ashamed of our own unenterprising -towns, many of which, of fifty thousand inhabitants -and more, make no use of it.</p> - -<p>I suppose you recognize in these results the great -benefits of free institutions ?</p> - -<p>Ah ! Now comes one of the inconveniences of interviewing. -I have been in the country less than two months, -have seen but a relatively small part of it, and but comparatively -few people, and yet you wish from me a definite -opinion on a difficult question.</p> - -<p>Perhaps you will answer, subject to the qualification that -you are but giving your first impressions ?</p> - -<p>Well, with that understanding, I may reply that though -the free institutions have been partly the cause, I think -they have not been the chief cause. In the first place, the -American people have come into possession of an unparalleled -fortune—the mineral wealth and the vast tracts -of virgin soil producing abundantly with small cost of -culture. Manifestly, that alone goes a long way towards -producing this enormous prosperity. Then they have profited -by inheriting all the arts, appliances, and methods, -developed by older societies, while leaving behind the -obstructions existing in them. They have been able to -pick and choose from the products of all past experience, -appropriating the good and rejecting the bad. Then, -besides these favours of fortune, there are factors proper -to themselves. I perceive in American faces generally a -great amount of determination—a kind of -“do or die” <span class="xxpn" id="p473">{473}</span> -expression; and this trait of character, joined with a power -of work exceeding that of any other people, of course produces -an unparalleled rapidity of progress. Once more, -there is the inventiveness which, stimulated by the need -for economizing labour, has been so wisely fostered. Among -us in England, there are many foolish people who, while -thinking that a man who toils with his hands has an equitable -claim to the product, and if he has special skill may -rightly have the advantage of it, also hold that if a man -toils with his brain, perhaps for years, and, uniting genius -with perseverance, evolves some valuable invention, the -public may rightly claim the benefit. The Americans have -been more far-seeing. The enormous museum of patents -which I saw at Washington is significant of the attention -paid to inventors’ claims; and the nation profits immensely -from having in this direction (though not in all others) -recognized property in mental products. Beyond question, -in respect of mechanical appliances the Americans are -ahead of all nations. If along with your material progress -there went equal progress of a higher kind, there would -remain nothing to be wished.</p> - -<p>That is an ambiguous qualification. What do you mean -by it ?</p> - -<p>You will understand me when I tell you what I was -thinking the other day. After pondering over what I have -seen of your vast manufacturing and trading establishments, -the rush of traffic in your street-cars and elevated railways, -your gigantic hotels and Fifth Avenue palaces, I was suddenly -reminded of the Italian Republics of the Middle Ages; -and recalled the fact that while there was growing up in -them great commercial activity, a development of the arts, -which made them the envy of Europe, and a building of -princely mansions which continue to be the admiration of -travellers, their people were gradually losing their freedom.</p> - -<p>Do you mean this as a suggestion that we are doing -the like ?</p> - -<p>It seems to me that you are. You retain -the forms of <span class="xxpn" id="p474">{474}</span> -freedom; but, so far as I can gather, there has been a -considerable loss of the substance. It is true that those who -rule you do not do it by means of retainers armed with -swords; but they do it through regiments of men armed -with voting papers, who obey the word of command as -loyally as did the dependants of the old feudal nobles, and -who thus enable their leaders to override the general will, -and make the community submit to their exactions as -effectually as their prototypes of old. It is doubtless true -that each of your citizens votes for the candidate he chooses -for this or that office, from President downwards; but his -hand is guided by an agency behind which leaves him -scarcely any choice. “Use your political power as we tell -you, or else throw it away,” is the alternative offered to the -citizen. The political machinery as it is now worked, has -little resemblance to that contemplated at the outset of -your political life. Manifestly, those who framed your Constitution -never dreamed that twenty thousand citizens would -go to the poll led by a “boss.” America exemplifies at the -other end of the social scale, a change analogous to that -which has taken place under sundry despotisms. You -know that in Japan, before the recent Revolution, the -divine ruler, the Mikado, nominally supreme, was practically -a puppet in the hands of his chief minister, the -Shogun. Here it seems to me that “the sovereign people” -is fast becoming a puppet which moves and speaks as wire-pullers -determine.</p> - -<p>Then you think that Republican institutions are a failure ?</p> - -<p>By no means: I imply no such conclusion. Thirty years -ago, when often discussing politics with an English friend, -and defending Republican institutions, as I always have -done and do still, and when he urged against me the ill-working -of such institutions over here, I habitually replied -that the Americans got their form of government by -a happy accident, not by normal progress, and that they -would have to go back before they could go forward. What -has since happened seems to me to -have justified that <span class="xxpn" id="p475">{475}</span> -view; and what I see now, confirms me in it. America -is showing, on a larger scale than ever before, that “paper -Constitutions” will not work as they are intended to -work. The truth, first recognized by Mackintosh, that -Constitutions are not made but grow, which is part -of the larger truth that societies, throughout their whole -organizations, are not made but grow, at once, when -accepted, disposes of the notion that you can work as -you hope any artificially-devised system of government. -It becomes an inference that if your political structure has -been manufactured and not grown, it will forthwith begin -to grow into something different from that intended—something -in harmony with the natures of the citizens, and -the conditions under which the society exists. And it -evidently has been so with you. Within the forms of your -Constitution there has grown up this organization of professional -politicians altogether uncontemplated at the outset, -which has become in large measure the ruling power.</p> - -<p>But will not education and the diffusion of political -knowledge fit men for free institutions ?</p> - -<p>No. It is essentially a question of character, and only in -a secondary degree a question of knowledge. But for the -universal delusion about education as a panacea for political -evils, this would have been made sufficiently clear by the -evidence daily disclosed in your papers. Are not the men -who officer and control your Federal, your State, and your -Municipal organizations—who manipulate your caucuses -and conventions, and run your partisan campaigns—all -educated men? And has their education prevented them -from engaging in, or permitting, or condoning, the -briberies, lobbyings, and other corrupt methods which -vitiate the actions of your administrations? Perhaps party -newspapers exaggerate these things; but what am I to -make of the testimony of your civil service reformers—men -of all parties? If I understand the matter aright, -they are attacking, as vicious and -dangerous, a system <span class="xxpn" id="p476">{476}</span> -which has grown up under the natural spontaneous working -of your free institutions—are exposing vices which -education has proved powerless to prevent?</p> - -<p>Of course, ambitious and unscrupulous men will secure -the offices, and education will aid them in their selfish -purposes. But would not those purposes be thwarted, and -better Government secured, by raising the standard of -knowledge among the people at large ?</p> - -<p>Very little. The current theory is that if the young are -taught what is right, and the reasons why it is right, they -will do what is right when they grow up. But considering -what religious teachers have been doing these two thousand -years, it seems to me that all history is against the conclusion, -as much as is the conduct of these well-educated -citizens I have referred to; and I do not see why you -expect better results among the masses. Personal interests -will sway the men in the ranks, as they sway the men -above them; and the education which fails to make the -last consult public good rather than private good, will fail to -make the first do it. The benefits of political purity are so -general and remote, and the profit to each individual is so -inconspicuous, that the common citizen, educate him as you -like, will habitually occupy himself with his personal affairs, -and hold it not worth his while to fight against each abuse -as soon as it appears. Not lack of information, but lack of -certain moral sentiment, is the root of the evil.</p> - -<p>You mean that people have not a sufficient sense of -public duty ?</p> - -<p>Well, that is one way of putting it; but there is a more -specific way. Probably it will surprise you if I say the -American has not, I think, a sufficiently quick sense of his -own claims, and, at the same time, as a necessary consequence, -not a sufficiently quick sense of the claims of others—for -the two traits are organically related. I observe that -they tolerate various small interferences and dictations -which Englishmen are prone to resist. I am -told that the <span class="xxpn" id="p477">{477}</span> -English are remarked on for their tendency to grumble in -such cases; and I have no doubt it is true.</p> - -<p>Do you think it worth while for people to make themselves -disagreeable by resenting every trifling aggression ? We -Americans think it involves too much loss of time and -temper, and doesn’t pay.</p> - -<p>Exactly; that is what I mean by character. It is this -easy-going readiness to permit small trespasses, because it -would be troublesome or profitless or unpopular to oppose -them, which leads to the habit of acquiescence in wrong, -and the decay of free institutions. Free institutions can be -maintained only by citizens, each of whom is instant to -oppose every illegitimate act, every assumption of supremacy, -every official excess of power, however trivial it may -seem. As Hamlet says, there is such a thing as “greatly -to find quarrel in a straw,” when the straw implies a -principle. If, as you say of the American, he pauses to -consider whether he can afford the time and trouble—whether -it will pay, corruption is sure to creep in. All -these lapses from higher to lower forms begin in trifling -ways, and it is only by incessant watchfulness that they can -be prevented. As one of your early statesmen said—“The -price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” But it is far less -against foreign aggressions upon national liberty that this -vigilance is required, than against the insidious growth of -domestic interferences with personal liberty. In some -private administrations which I have been concerned with, -I have often insisted that instead of assuming, as people -usually do, that things are going right until it is proved -that they are going wrong, the proper course is to assume -that they are going wrong until it is proved that they -are going right. You will find continually that private -corporations, such as joint-stock banking companies, come -to grief from not acting on this principle; and what holds -of these small and simple private administrations holds still -more of the great and -complex public administrations. <span class="xxpn" id="p478">{478}</span> -People are taught, and I suppose believe, that the heart -of man “is deceitful above all things, and desperately -wicked;” and yet, strangely enough, believing this, they -place implicit trust in those they appoint to this or that -function. I do not think so ill of human nature; but, on -the other hand, I do not think so well of human nature as -to believe it will go straight without being watched.</p> - -<p>You hinted that while Americans do not assert their own -individualities sufficiently in small matters, they, reciprocally, -do not sufficiently respect the individualities of others.</p> - -<p>Did I? Here, then, comes another of the inconveniences -of interviewing. I should have kept this opinion to myself -if you had asked me no questions; and now I must either -say what I do not think, which I cannot, or I must refuse -to answer, which, perhaps, will be taken to mean more than -I intend, or I must specify, at the risk of giving offence. -As the least evil, I suppose I must do the last. The trait I -refer to comes out in various ways, small and great. It is -shown by the disrespectful manner in which individuals are -dealt with in your journals—the placarding of public men -in sensational headings, the dragging of private people and -their affairs into print. There seems to be a notion that the -public have a right to intrude on private life as far as they -like; and this I take to be a kind of moral trespassing. -Then, in a larger way, the trait is seen in this damaging of -private property by your elevated railways without making -compensation; and it is again seen in the doings of railway -autocrats, not only when overriding the rights of shareholders, -but in dominating over courts of justice and State -governments. The fact is that free institutions can be -properly worked only by men, each of whom is jealous of -his own rights, and also sympathetically jealous of the -rights of others—who will neither himself aggress on his -neighbours in small things or great, nor tolerate aggression -on them by others. The Republican form of government -is the highest form of government; but because -of this it <span class="xxpn" id="p479">{479}</span> -requires the highest type of human nature—a type -nowhere at present existing. We have not grown up to it; -nor have you.</p> - -<p>But we thought, Mr. Spencer, you were in favour of -free government in the sense of relaxed restraints, and -letting men and things very much alone, or what is called -<i>laissez faire</i> ?</p> - -<p>That is a persistent misunderstanding of my opponents. -Everywhere, along with the reprobation of Government -intrusion into various spheres where private activities -should be left to themselves, I have contended that in its -special sphere, the maintenance of equitable relations -among citizens, governmental action should be extended -and elaborated.</p> - -<p>To return to your various criticisms, must I then understand -that you think unfavourably of our future ?</p> - -<p>No one can form anything more than vague and general -conclusions respecting your future. The factors are too -numerous, too vast, too far beyond measure in their quantities -and intensities. The world has never before seen social -phenomena at all comparable with those presented in the -United States. A society spreading over enormous tracts, -while still preserving its political continuity, is a new thing. -This progressive incorporation of vast bodies of immigrants -of various bloods, has never occurred on such a scale before. -Large empires, composed of different peoples, have, in -previous cases, been formed by conquest and annexation. -Then your immense <i>plexus</i> of railways and telegraphs -tends to consolidate this vast aggregate of States in a way -that no such aggregate has ever before been consolidated. -And there are many minor co-operating causes, unlike those -hitherto known. No one can say how it is all going to -work out. That there will come hereafter troubles of -various kinds, and very grave ones, seems highly probable; -but all nations have had, and will have, their troubles. -Already you have triumphed over one -great trouble, and <span class="xxpn" id="p480">{480}</span> -may reasonably hope to triumph over others. It may, I -think, be concluded that, both because of its size and the -heterogeneity of its components, the American nation will -be a long time in evolving its ultimate form, but that its -ultimate form will be high. One great result is, I think, -tolerably clear. From biological truths it is to be inferred -that the eventual mixture of the allied varieties of the -Aryan race forming the population, will produce a finer -type of man than has hitherto existed; and a type of man -more plastic, more adaptable, more capable of undergoing -the modifications needful for complete social life. I think -that whatever difficulties they may have to surmount, and -whatever tribulations they may have to pass through, the -Americans may reasonably look forward to a time when -they will have produced a civilization grander than any the -world has known.</p> - -<div class="section"> -<h3>II.—A <span class="smcap">S<b>PEECH</b></span>:</h3> - -<div class="dh3pre"> -<i>Delivered on the occasion of a Complimentary Dinner in -New York, on November 9, 1882.</i></div></div> - -<p>Mr. President and Gentlemen:—Along with your kindness -there comes to me a great unkindness from Fate; for, -now that, above all times in my life, I need full command -of what powers of speech I possess, disturbed health so -threatens to interfere with them that I fear I shall very -inadequately express myself. Any failure in my response -you must please ascribe, in part at least, to a greatly disordered -nervous system. Regarding you as representing -Americans at large, I feel that the occasion is one on which -arrears of thanks are due. I ought to begin with the time, -some two-and-twenty years ago, when my highly valued -friend Professor Youmans, making efforts to diffuse my -books here, interested on their behalf the Messrs. Appleton, -who have ever treated me so honourably and so handsomely; -and I ought to detail from that time -onward the various <span class="xxpn" id="p481">{481}</span> -marks and acts of sympathy by which I have been encouraged -in a struggle which was for many years disheartening. -But, intimating thus briefly my general indebtedness to my -numerous friends, most of them unknown, on this side of -the Atlantic, I must name more especially the many attentions -and proffered hospitalities met with during my late -tour, as well as, lastly and chiefly, this marked expression of -the sympathies and good wishes which many of you have -travelled so far to give, at great cost of that time which is -so precious to the American. I believe I may truly say, -that the better health which you have so cordially wished -me, will be in a measure furthered by the wish; since all -pleasurable emotion is conducive to health, and, as you will -fully believe, the remembrance of this event will ever continue -to be a source of pleasurable emotion, exceeded by -few, if any, of my remembrances.</p> - -<p>And now that I have thanked you, sincerely though too -briefly, I am going to find fault with you. Already, in some -remarks drawn from me respecting American affairs and -American character, I have passed criticisms, which have -been accepted far more good-humouredly than I could -have reasonably expected; and it seems strange that I -should now propose again to transgress. However, the -fault I have to comment upon is one which most will -scarcely regard as a fault. It seems to me that in one -respect Americans have diverged too widely from savages, -I do not mean to say that they are in general unduly -civilized. Throughout large parts of the population, even -in long-settled regions, there is no excess of those virtues -needed for the maintenance of social harmony. Especially -out in the West, men’s dealings do not yet betray too much -of the “sweetness and light” which we are told distinguish -the cultured man from the barbarian. Nevertheless, there -is a sense in which my assertion is true. You know that -the primitive man lacks power of application. Spurred by -hunger, by danger, by revenge, he -can exert himself <span class="xxpn" id="p482">{482}</span> -energetically for a time; but his energy is spasmodic. -Monotonous daily toil is impossible to him. It is otherwise -with the more developed man. The stern discipline of -social life has gradually increased the aptitude for persistent -industry; until, among us, and still more among you, work -has become with many a passion. This contrast of nature -has another aspect. The savage thinks only of present -satisfactions, and leaves future satisfactions uncared for. -Contrariwise, the American, eagerly pursuing a future good, -almost ignores what good the passing day offers him; and -when the future good is gained, he neglects that while -striving for some still remoter good.</p> - -<p>What I have seen and heard during my stay among you -has forced on me the belief that this slow change from -habitual inertness to persistent activity has reached an -extreme from which there must begin a counterchange—a -reaction. Everywhere I have been struck with the -number of faces which told in strong lines of the burdens -that had to be borne. I have been struck, too, with the -large proportion of gray-haired men; and inquiries have -brought out the fact, that with you the hair commonly -begins to turn some ten years earlier than with us. Moreover, -in every circle I have met men who had themselves -suffered from nervous collapse due to stress of business, or -named friends who had either killed themselves by overwork, -or had been permanently incapacitated, or had wasted long -periods in endeavours to recover health. I do but echo the -opinion of all the observant persons I have spoken to, that -immense injury is being done by this high-pressure life—the -physique is being undermined. That subtle thinker -and poet whom you have lately had to mourn, Emerson, -says, in his essay on the Gentleman, that the first requisite -is that he shall be a good animal. The requisite is a general -one—it extends to the man, to the father, to the citizen. -We hear a great deal about “the vile body;” and many -are encouraged by the phrase to transgress -the laws of <span class="xxpn" id="p483">{483}</span> -health. But Nature quietly suppresses those who treat thus -disrespectfully one of her highest products, and leaves the -world to be peopled by the descendants of those who are -not so foolish.</p> - -<p>Beyond these immediate mischiefs there are remoter -mischiefs. Exclusive devotion to work has the result that -amusements cease to please; and, when relaxation becomes -imperative, life becomes dreary from lack of its sole interest—the -interest in business. The remark current in England -that, when the American travels, his aim is to do the -greatest amount of sight-seeing in the shortest time, I find -current here also: it is recognized that the satisfaction of -getting on devours nearly all other satisfactions. When -recently at Niagara, which gave us a whole week’s pleasure, -I learned from the landlord of the hotel that most Americans -come one day and go away the next. Old Froissart, who -said of the English of his day that “they take their pleasures -sadly after their fashion,” would doubtless, if he lived now, -say of the Americans that they take their pleasures -hurriedly after their fashion. In large measure with us, -and still more with you, there is not that abandonment to -the moment which is requisite for full enjoyment; and this -abandonment is prevented by the ever-present sense of -multitudinous responsibilities. So that, beyond the serious -physical mischief caused by overwork, there is the further -mischief that it destroys what value there would otherwise -be in the leisure part of life.</p> - -<p>Nor do the evils end here. There is the injury to -posterity. Damaged constitutions reappear in children, and -entail on them far more of ill than great fortunes yield -them of good. When life has been duly rationalized by -science, it will be seen that among a man’s duties, care of -the body is imperative; not only out of regard for personal -welfare, but also out of regard for descendants. His constitution -will be considered as an entailed estate, which he -ought to pass on uninjured, if not improved, to those who -follow; and it will be held that millions -bequeathed by him <span class="xxpn" id="p484">{484}</span> -will not compensate for feeble health and decreased ability -to enjoy life. Once more, there is the injury to fellow-citizens, -taking the shape of undue disregard of competitors. -I hear that a great trader among you deliberately -endeavoured to crush out every one whose business competed -with his own; and manifestly the man who, making himself -a slave to accumulation, absorbs an inordinate share of the -trade or profession he is engaged in, makes life harder for -all others engaged in it, and excludes from it many who -might otherwise gain competencies. Thus, besides the -egoistic motive, there are two altruistic motives which should -deter from this excess in work.</p> - -<p>The truth is, there needs a revised ideal of life. Look -back through the past, or look abroad through the present, -and we find that the ideal of life is variable, and depends on -social conditions. Every one knows that to be a successful -warrior was the highest aim among all ancient peoples of -note, as it is still among many barbarous peoples. When -we remember that in the Norseman’s heaven the time was -to be passed in daily battles, with magical healing of -wounds, we see how deeply rooted may become the conception -that fighting is man’s proper business, and that -industry is fit only for slaves and people of low degree. -That is to say, when the chronic struggles of races necessitate -perpetual wars, there is evolved an ideal of life -adapted to the requirements. We have changed all that in -modern civilized societies; especially in England, and still -more in America. With the decline of militant activity, and -the growth of industrial activity, the occupations once -disgraceful have become honourable. The duty to work has -taken the place of the duty to fight; and in the one case, -as in the other, the ideal of life has become so well established -that scarcely any dream of questioning it. Practically, -business has been substituted for war as the purpose -of existence.</p> - -<p>Is this modern ideal to survive throughout the future? -I think not. While all other -things undergo continuous <span class="xxpn" id="p485">{485}</span> -change, it is impossible that ideals should remain fixed. The -ancient ideal was appropriate to the ages of conquest by -man over man, and spread of the strongest races. The -modern ideal is appropriate to ages in which conquest of the -earth and subjection of the powers of Nature to human use, -is the predominant need. But hereafter, when both these ends -have in the main been achieved, the ideal formed will probably -differ considerably from the present one. May we not foresee -the nature of the difference? I think we may. Some twenty -years ago, a good friend of mine, and a good friend of yours -too, though you never saw him, John Stuart Mill, delivered -at St. Andrews an inaugural address on the occasion of his -appointment to the Lord Rectorship. It contained much -to be admired, as did all he wrote. There ran through it, -however, the tacit assumption that life is for learning and -working. I felt at the time that I should have liked to -take up the opposite thesis. I should have liked to contend -that life is not for learning, nor is life for working, but -learning and working are for life. The primary use of -knowledge is for such guidance of conduct under all -circumstances as shall make living complete. All other -uses of knowledge are secondary. It scarcely needs saying -that the primary use of work is that of supplying the -materials and aids to living completely; and that any other -uses of work are secondary. But in men’s conceptions the -secondary has in great measure usurped the place of the -primary. The apostle of culture as it is commonly conceived, -Mr. Matthew Arnold, makes little or no reference -to the fact that the first use of knowledge is the right -ordering of all actions; and Mr. Carlyle, who is a good -exponent of current ideas about work, insists on its virtues -for quite other reasons than that it achieves sustentation. -We may trace everywhere in human affairs a tendency to -transform the means into the end. All see that the miser -does this when, making the accumulation of money his sole -satisfaction, he forgets that money is of -value only to <span class="xxpn" id="p486">{486}</span> -purchase satisfactions. But it is less commonly seen that -the like is true of the work by which the money is accumulated—that -industry too, bodily or mental, is but a -means; and that it is as irrational to pursue it to the -exclusion of that complete living it subserves, as it is for the -miser to accumulate money and make no use of it. Hereafter, -when this age of active material progress has yielded -mankind its benefits, there will, I think, come a better -adjustment of labour and enjoyment. Among reasons for -thinking this, there is the reason that the process of evolution -throughout the organic world at large, brings an -increasing surplus of energies that are not absorbed in -fulfilling material needs, and points to a still larger surplus -for the humanity of the future. And there are other reasons, -which I must pass over. In brief, I may say that we have -had somewhat too much of “the gospel of work.” It is -time to preach the gospel of relaxation.</p> - -<p>This is a very unconventional after-dinner speech. -Especially it will be thought strange that in returning -thanks I should deliver something very much like a homily. -But I have thought I could not better convey my thanks -than by the expression of a sympathy which issues in a fear. -If, as I gather, this intemperance in work affects more -especially the Anglo-American part of the population—if -there results an undermining of the physique, not only in -adults, but also in the young, who, as I learn from your -daily journals, are also being injured by overwork—if the -ultimate consequence should be a dwindling away of those -among you who are the inheritors of free institutions and -best adapted to them; then there will come a further -difficulty in the working out of that great future which lies -before the American nation. To my anxiety on this -account you must please ascribe the unusual character of -my remarks.</p> - -<p>And now I must bid you farewell. When I sail by the <i>Germanic</i> on -Saturday, I shall bear with me pleasant <span class="xxpn" id="p487">{487}</span> remembrances of my -intercourse with many Americans, joined with regrets that my state of -health has prevented me from seeing a larger number.</p> - -<p class="padtopb"><span class="smcap">P<b>OSTSCRIPT</b>.</span>—A few words may fitly be added respecting -the causes of this over-activity in American life—causes -which may be identified as having in recent times partially -operated among ourselves, and as having wrought kindred, -though less marked, effects. It is the more worth while to -trace the genesis of this undue absorption of the energies -in work, since it well serves to illustrate the general truth -which should be ever present to all legislators and politicians, -that the indirect and unforeseen results of any cause -affecting a society are frequently, if not habitually, greater -and more important than the direct and foreseen results.</p> - -<p>This high pressure under which Americans exist, and -which is most intense in places like Chicago, where the -prosperity and rate of growth are greatest, is seen by many -intelligent Americans themselves to be an indirect result of -their free institutions and the absence of those class-distinctions -and restraints existing in older communities. -A society in which the man who dies a millionaire is so -often one who commenced life in poverty, and in which (to -paraphrase a French saying concerning the soldier) every -news-boy carries a president’s seal in his bag, is, by -consequence, a society in which all are subject to a stress of -competition for wealth and honour, greater than can exist -in a society whose members are nearly all prevented from -rising out of the ranks in which they were born, and have -but remote possibilities of acquiring fortunes. In those -European societies which have in great measure preserved -their old types of structure (as in our own society up to the -time when the great development of industrialism began to -open ever-multiplying careers for the producing and distributing -classes) there is so little chance of overcoming the -obstacles to any great rise in position -or possessions, that <span class="xxpn" id="p488">{488}</span> -nearly all have to be content with their places: entertaining -little or no thought of bettering themselves. A manifest concomitant -is that, fulfilling, with such efficiency as a moderate -competition requires, the daily tasks of their respective -situations, the majority become habituated to making the best -of such pleasures as their lot affords, during whatever leisure -they get. But it is otherwise where an immense growth of -trade multiplies greatly the chances of success to the enterprising; -and still more is it otherwise where class-restrictions -are partially removed or wholly absent. Not only -are more energy and thought put into the time daily -occupied in work, but the leisure comes to be trenched -upon, either literally by abridgment, or else by anxieties -concerning business. Clearly, the larger the number who, -under such conditions, acquire property, or achieve higher -positions, or both, the sharper is the spur to the rest. A -raised standard of activity establishes itself and goes on -rising. Public applause given to the successful, becoming -in communities thus circumstanced the most familiar kind -of public applause, increases continually the stimulus to -action. The struggle grows more and more strenuous, -and there comes an increasing dread of failure—a dread of -being “left,” as the Americans say: a significant word, -since it is suggestive of a race in which the harder any one -runs, the harder others have to run to keep up with him—a -word suggestive of that breathless haste with which each -passes from a success gained to the pursuit of a further -success. And on contrasting the English of to-day with -the English of a century ago, we may see how, in a considerable -measure, the like causes have entailed here -kindred results.</p> - -<p>Even those who are not directly spurred on by this -intensified struggle for wealth and honour, are indirectly -spurred on by it. For one of its effects is to raise the -standard of living, and eventually to increase the average -rate of expenditure for all. Partly -for personal enjoyment, <span class="xxpn" id="p489">{489}</span> -but much more for the display which brings admiration, -those who acquire fortunes distinguish themselves by -luxurious habits. The more numerous they become, the -keener becomes the competition for that kind of public -attention given to those who make themselves conspicuous -by great expenditure. The competition spreads downwards -step by step; until, to be “respectable,” those having -relatively small means feel obliged to spend more on houses, -furniture, dress, and food; and are obliged to work the -harder to get the requisite larger income. This process of -causation is manifest enough among ourselves; and it is -still more manifest in America, where the extravagance in -style of living is greater than here.</p> - -<p>Thus, though it seems beyond doubt that the removal of -all political and social barriers, and the giving to each -man an unimpeded career, must be purely beneficial; yet -there is (at first) a considerable set-off from the benefits. -Among those who in older communities have by laborious -lives gained distinction, some may be heard privately to -confess that “the game is not worth the candle;” and -when they hear of others who wish to tread in their steps, -shake their heads and say—“If they only knew!” Without -accepting in full so pessimistic an estimate of success, -we must still say that very generally the cost of the candle -deducts largely from the gain of the game. That which in -these exceptional cases holds among ourselves, holds more -generally in America. An intensified life, which may be -summed up as—great labour, great profit, great expenditure—has -for its concomitant a wear and tear which considerably -diminishes in one direction the good gained in -another. Added together, the daily strain through many -hours and the anxieties occupying many other hours—the -occupation of consciousness by feelings that are either indifferent -or painful, leaving relatively little time for occupation -of it by pleasurable feelings—tend to lower its level more -than its level is raised by the -gratifications of achievement <span class="xxpn" id="p490">{490}</span> -and the accompanying benefits. So that it may, and in -many cases does, result that diminished happiness goes along -with increased prosperity. Unquestionably, as long as -order is fairly maintained, that absence of political and -social restraints which gives free scope to the struggles -for profit and honour, conduces greatly to material advance -of the society—develops the industrial arts, extends and -improves the business organizations, augments the wealth; -but that it raises the value of individual life, as measured -by the average state of its feeling, by no means follows. -That it will do so eventually, is certain; but that it does -so now seems, to say the least, very doubtful.</p> - -<p>The truth is that a society and its members act and -react in such wise that while, on the one hand, the nature -of the society is determined by the natures of its members; -on the other hand, the activities of its members (and -presently their natures) are re-determined by the needs -of the society, as these alter: change in either entails -change in the other. It is an obvious implication that, to -a great extent the life of a society so sways the wills of its -members as to turn them to its ends. That which is -manifest during the militant stage, when the social aggregate -coerces its units into co-operation for defence, and -sacrifices many of their lives for its corporate preservation -holds under another form during the industrial stage, as we -at present know it. Though the co-operation of citizens -is now voluntary instead of compulsory; yet the social forces -impel them to achieve social ends while apparently achieving -only their own ends. The man who, carrying out an invention, -thinks only of private welfare to be thereby secured, -is in far larger measure working for public welfare: instance -the contrast between the fortune made by Watt and the wealth -which the steam-engine has given to mankind. He who -utilizes a new material, improves a method of production, -or introduces a better way of carrying on business, and -does this for the purpose of -distancing competitors, gains <span class="xxpn" id="p491">{491}</span> -for himself little compared with that which he gains for -the community by facilitating the lives of all. Either -unknowingly or in spite of themselves, Nature leads men by -purely personal motives to fulfil her ends: Nature being one -of our expressions for the Ultimate Cause of things, and the -end, remote when not proximate, being the highest form of -human life.</p> - -<p>Hence no argument, however cogent, can be expected to -produce much effect: only here and there one may be -influenced. As in an actively militant stage of society it is -impossible to make many believe that there is any glory -preferable to that of killing enemies; so, where rapid -material growth is going on, and affords unlimited scope -for the energies of all, little can be done by insisting that -life has higher uses than work and accumulation. While -among the most powerful of feelings continue to be the -desire for public applause and dread of public censure—while -the anxiety to achieve distinction, now by conquering -enemies, now by beating competitors, continues predominant—while -the fear of public reprobation affects men more than -the fear of divine vengeance (as witness the long survival -of duelling in Christian societies); this excess of work which -ambition prompts, seems likely to continue with but small -qualification. The eagerness for the honour accorded to -success, first in war and then in commerce, has been indispensable -as a means to peopling the Earth with the higher -types of man, and the subjugation of its surface and its forces -to human use. Ambition may fitly come to bear a smaller -ratio to other motives, when the working out of these needs -is approaching completeness; and when also, by consequence, -the scope for satisfying ambition is diminishing. Those who -draw the obvious corollaries from the doctrine of Evolution—those -who believe that the process of modification upon -modification which has brought life to its present height -must raise it still higher, will anticipate that the “last -infirmity of noble mind” will in the -distant future slowly <span class="xxpn" id="p492">{492}</span> -decrease. As the sphere for achievement becomes smaller, -the desire for applause will lose that predominance which it -now has. A better ideal of life may simultaneously come to -prevail. When there is fully recognized the truth that -moral beauty is higher than intellectual power—when the -wish to be admired is in large measure replaced by the wish -to be loved; that strife for distinction which the present -phase of civilization shows us will be greatly moderated. -Along with other benefits may then come a rational proportioning -of work and relaxation; and the relative claims of -to-day and to-morrow may be properly balanced. -<span class="hsmall">THE END.</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div><span class="xxpn" id="p493">{493}</span></div> -<h2 class="h2nobreak">SUBJECT-INDEX.</h2> - -<div class="dh3pre">(For this Index the Author is indebted to -F. <span class="smcap">H<b>OWARD</b></span> -<span class="smcap">C<b>OLLINS</b></span>, Esq., -of Edgbaston, Birmingham.)</div></div> - -<div id="dndx"> -<ul> -<li><i>A priori</i>, method, III, - <a href="#p199" title="go to p. 199">199</a>–203.</li> - -<li>Absolute, The: -<ul> -<li>Martineau on, II, 250–8;</li> -<li>and relativity of knowledge, II, 260.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Abstract, definition of, II, 78.</li> - -<li>Abstract nouns, succeed concrete, I, 323.</li> - -<li>Abstraction, comparative psychology, I, 365–6.</li> - -<li>Accommodation bills: -<ul> -<li>morals of banking, III, - <a href="#p133" title="go to p. 133">133</a>–7;</li> -<li>state tamperings with money, III, - <a href="#p326" title="go to p. 326">326</a>–35, - <a href="#p335" title="go to p. 335">335</a>–47.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Acoustics: -<ul> -<li>genesis, II, 57, 60–1;</li> -<li>“beats,” II, 169–70.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Acquisitiveness, comparative psychology, I, 367.</li> - -<li>Action and reaction: -<ul> -<li>universal, III, - <a href="#p101" title="go to p. 101">101</a>;</li> -<li>the axiom, III, - <a href="#p221" title="go to p. 221">221</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Activity, relation to growth, I, 63–4.</li> - -<li>Adaptation: -<ul> -<li>individual and social, III, - <a href="#p277" title="go to p. 277">277</a>–8;</li> -<li>of alimentary canal, III, - <a href="#p421" title="go to p. 421">421</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Address, forms of, III, - <a href="#p015" title="go to p. 15">15</a>–6.</li> - -<li><i>Adelaide</i>, Admiralty certificate of, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>.</li> - -<li>Adjective, collocation of substantive, III, - <a href="#p340" title="go to p. 340">340</a>–1.</li> - -<li>Administrative Nihilism, the title, II, 438, 442.</li> - -<li>Admiralty, ship certificates, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>.</li> - -<li>Adulteration: -<ul> -<li>examples, III, - <a href="#p113" title="go to p. 113">113</a>;</li> -<li>silk, III, - <a href="#p124" title="go to p. 124">124</a>–7.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Æsthetics, and natural selection, I, 408.</li> - -<li>Agriculture, in France, III, - <a href="#p267" title="go to p. 267">267</a>–8.</li> - -<li>Air, expansion without pressure, I, 118.</li> - -<li>Alas! intonation of, II, 409.</li> - -<li>Albert, Prince, on representative government, III, - <a href="#p284" title="go to p. 284">284</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Algæ</i>: -<ul> -<li>development and homogeneity, I, 90;</li> -<li>cell membrane, I, 439;</li> -<li>cells, I, 446.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Algebra: -<ul> -<li>genesis, II, 56;</li> -<li>classification of sciences, II, 85;</li> -<li>subject matter, II, 113, 115;</li> -<li>evolution, II, 156;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Mathematics.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Alimentary canal: -<ul> -<li>evolution, III, - <a href="#p204" title="go to p. 204">204</a>;</li> -<li>differentiation, III, - <a href="#p406" title="go to p. 406">406</a>;</li> -<li>and nervous system, III, - <a href="#p409" title="go to p. 409">409</a>;</li> -<li>adaptation, III, - <a href="#p421" title="go to p. 421">421</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Allegory, compound metaphor, II, 354.</li> - -<li>Allotropism, complexity of elements, I, 155, 373.</li> - -<li>Alternative necessity, law of, II, 191–2.</li> - -<li>Altruism: -<ul> -<li>development, I, 346–50;</li> -<li>comparative psychology, I, 367–9.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Amazon</i>, burning of the ship, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>.</li> - -<li>America: -<ul> -<li>paleontological evidence, I, 17;</li> -<li>effects of subsidence, I, 42–3;</li> -<li>age of rocks, I, 200–5, 206, 209, 210;</li> -<li>admiration for wealth, III, - <a href="#p149" title="go to p. 149">149</a>–51;</li> -<li>progress in, III, - <a href="#p278" title="go to p. 278">278</a>;</li> -<li>paper currency, III, - <a href="#p328" title="go to p. 328">328</a>, - <a href="#p345" title="go to p. 345">345</a>;</li> -<li>liberty, III, - <a href="#p381" title="go to p. 381">381</a>–2;</li> -<li>militancy and industrialism, III, - <a href="#p415" title="go to p. 415">415</a>–6, - <a href="#p484" title="go to p. 484">484</a>–92;</li> -<li>politics, III, - <a href="#p457" title="go to p. 457">457</a>;</li> -<li>the Americans, III, - <a href="#p471" title="go to p. 471">471</a>–92;</li> -<li>New York, III, - <a href="#p472" title="go to p. 472">472</a>;</li> -<li>Cleveland, III, - <a href="#p472" title="go to p. 472">472</a>;</li> -<li>free institutions, III, - <a href="#p472" title="go to p. 472">472</a>;</li> -<li>patents, 473;</li> -<li>freedom, III, - <a href="#p473" title="go to p. 473">473</a>–4, - <a href="#p477" title="go to p. 477">477</a>;</li> -<li>republicanism, III, - <a href="#p474" title="go to p. 474">474</a>–5;</li> -<li>education, III, - <a href="#p475" title="go to p. 475">475</a>–6;</li> -<li>character, III, - <a href="#p476" title="go to p. 476">476</a>, - <a href="#p482" title="go to p. 482">482</a>–7;</li> -<li>railways, III, - <a href="#p478" title="go to p. 478">478</a>;</li> -<li>future, III, - <a href="#p479" title="go to p. 479">479</a>–80;</li> -<li>hair, III, - <a href="#p482" title="go to p. 482">482</a>;</li> -<li>health, III, - <a href="#p482" title="go to p. 482">482</a>, - <a href="#p483" title="go to p. 483">483</a>–4;</li> -<li>pleasures in, III, - <a href="#p482" title="go to p. 482">482</a>–3;</li> -<li>causes of over-activity, III, - <a href="#p487" title="go to p. 487">487</a>–92.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Amœba</i>, instability of homogeneous, I, 86.</li> - -<li>Amsterdam, English enterprise in, III, - <a href="#p278" title="go to p. 278">278</a>.</li> - -<li>Analysis, psychology and classification, I, 245–57.</li> - -<li>Anarchy, and despotism, III, - <a href="#p159" title="go to p. 159">159</a>.</li> - -<li>Anatomy: -<ul> -<li>transcendental, I, 63;</li> -<li>organic correlation, I, 96–101.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Andes, age of rocks, I, 200–1.</li> - -<li>Andrews, Prof. T., researches, I, 164–7.</li> - -<li>Anger: -<ul> -<li>natural language of, I, 340–50;</li> -<li>indications, II, 402, 404, 405;</li> -<li>and laughter, II, 462–3.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Anglesea, age of rocks, I, 198.</li> - -<li>Animals: -<ul> -<li>number of species, I, 1–2;</li> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 14–7, 35;</li> -<li>structure, I, 73, 76, 372–3;</li> -<li>form, I, 73, 76;</li> -<li>chemical composition, I, 74, 76;</li> -<li>specific gravity, I, 74, 76;</li> -<li>temperature, I, 74, 76;</li> -<li>self-mobility, I, 75, 76;</li> -<li>evolution and homogeneity, I, 83–4;</li> -<li>distribution and heat, I, 223–4;</li> -<li>also terrestrial change, I, 224–6;</li> -<li>social analogy, I, 272–7;</li> -<li>origin of worship, I, 308–30;</li> -<li>indistinguishable from plants, I, 375–6;</li> -<li>function, I, 392–3;</li> -<li>gracefulness, II, 381, 385;</li> -<li>muscular excitement, II, 400, 403.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Annulosa</i>: -<ul> -<li>integration, I, 67–71;</li> -<li>division of labour, I, 287–8;</li> -<li>nervous system, I, 300;</li> -<li>controlling system, III, - <a href="#p407" title="go to p. 407">407</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Anthropology, comparative psychology of man, I, 351–70.</li> - -<li>Antipodes, belief in, II, 199.</li> - -<li>Anti-realism, H. Sidgwick’s criticism, II, 242–50.</li> - -<li>Aphis, development, I, 65–6.</li> - -<li>Apoplexy: -<ul> -<li>belief in spirits, I, 311–2;</li> -<li>heart disease, I, 411.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Appleton, D. & Co., as publishers, III, - <a href="#p480" title="go to p. 480">480</a>.</li> - -<li>Approbation, love of, I, 36–7, II, 421.</li> - -<li>Arago, F. J. D.: -<ul> -<li>distribution of nebulæ, I, 112;</li> -<li>also forms, I, 122, 123, 124.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Architect, the State as, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>.</li> - -<li>Architecture: -<ul> -<li>relation to painting and sculpture, I, 24;</li> -<li>types, II, 375–80;</li> -<li>symmetry in buildings, II, 376–7;</li> -<li>Gothic type, II, 374, 377, 378;</li> -<li>Grecian, II, 376, 377, 378.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Argyll, Duke of, criticism of, I, 467–78.</li> - -<li>Arithmetic, and test of necessity, II, 196–7; (<i>See also</i> Mathematics.)</li> - -<li>Army: -<ul> -<li>maladministration, III, - <a href="#p233" title="go to p. 233">233</a>, - <a href="#p247" title="go to p. 247">247</a>, - <a href="#p257" title="go to p. 257">257</a>, - <a href="#p308" title="go to p. 308">308</a>, - <a href="#p310" title="go to p. 310">310</a>, - <a href="#p399" title="go to p. 399">399</a>;</li> -<li>parliamentary representatives, III, - <a href="#p297" title="go to p. 297">297</a>, - <a href="#p303" title="go to p. 303">303</a>, - <a href="#p304" title="go to p. 304">304</a>;</li> -<li>compulsory co-operation, III, - <a href="#p451" title="go to p. 451">451</a>–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Arrest, H. L. d’, planetoids, I, 174.</li> - -<li>Art: -<ul> -<li>recognition of likeness, II, 34;</li> -<li>interdependence of the arts, II, 68–71;</li> -<li>use and beauty in historical pictures, II, 373;</li> -<li>contrast in, II, 373–4;</li> -<li>English and continental, III, - <a href="#p430" title="go to p. 430">430</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Arthur, Sir G., Van Diemen’s Land convicts, III, - <a href="#p161" title="go to p. 161">161</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Articulata</i>, nervous system, I, 301.</li> - -<li>Assyrians: -<ul> -<li>language and painting, I, 25–6;</li> -<li>sculpture, I, 26, 29.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Astronomy: -<ul> -<li>evolution and increase in heterogeneity, I, 10–11, 35;</li> -<li>nebular hypothesis and multiplication of effects, I, 38–9, 59;</li> -<li>history and generalization in, I, 192;</li> -<li>geology and earth’s motion, I, 221–4;</li> -<li>analogy from survival of the fittest, I, 478;</li> -<li>science and common knowledge, II, 3;</li> -<li>Hegel’s classification, II, 13;</li> -<li>Comte’s, II, 21–7;</li> -<li>genesis, II, 48–9, 52, 55;</li> -<li>genesis of trigonometry, II, 55–6;</li> -<li>genesis of physical, II, 59;</li> -<li>interdependence of sciences, II, 66–7, 70–1;</li> -<li>and abstract science, II, 80;</li> -<li>and concrete, II, 88–92;</li> -<li>terrestrial evolution, II, 94–9;</li> -<li>deals with aggregates, II, 99;</li> -<li>Bain on classification of sciences, II, 111;</li> -<li>also Mill, II, 114;</li> -<li>discovery of laws, II, 149;</li> -<li>evolution, II, 152;</li> -<li>judgments of reason and common sense, II, 243–4;</li> -<li>laws of motion, II, 271–5, 283–8;</li> -<li>motion of system, II, 293;</li> -<li>exact science, III, - <a href="#p199" title="go to p. 199">199</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Australia: -<ul> -<li>size of the human limb, I, 17;</li> -<li>age of rocks, I, 206;</li> -<li>fauna, I, 216.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Australian</i>, the ship, and admiralty certificate, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>.</li> - -<li>Austria, paper currency, III, - <a href="#p345" title="go to p. 345">345</a>.</li> - -<li>Authority, and intelligence, III, - <a href="#p311" title="go to p. 311">311</a>.</li> - -<li>Axioms: -<ul> -<li>knowledge implied by, II, 270, 277–88;</li> -<li>origin of physical, II, 298–301, 313–4, 315–20;</li> -<li>Thomson and Tait on physical, III, - <a href="#p220" title="go to p. 220">220</a>–1.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Babinet, M., on nebular hypothesis, I, 121.</li> - -<li>Bach, J. S., and heredity, I, 407.</li> - -<li>Bacon, Francis, Viscount St. Alban’s: -<ul> -<li>organization of sciences, II, 121;</li> -<li>literary style, II, 365;</li> -<li>“A crowd is not company,” III, - <a href="#p044" title="go to p. 44">44</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Bacteria</i>, action of light, I, 465–6.</li> - -<li>Baer, C. von, formula of, and general evolution, I, 35, II, 137–8.</li> - -<li>Bail, prison discipline, III, - <a href="#p180" title="go to p. 180">180</a>–7.</li> - -<li>Baillie-Cochrane, Mr., on Munich prison, III, - <a href="#p172" title="go to p. 172">172</a>.</li> - -<li>Bain, A.: -<ul> -<li><i>Emotions and the Will</i>, I, 241–64;</li> -<li><i>Mental and Moral Science</i>, I, 332;</li> -<li>classification of sciences, II, 105–17;</li> -<li>on logic, II, 105–6;</li> -<li>mathematics, II, 106–7;</li> -<li>incongruities, II, 463.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Balfour, F. M.: -<ul> -<li>on invagination, I, 452;</li> -<li>development of nervous system, I, 454.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Ball, embryological analogy, I, 452.</li> - -<li>Balloon, reason for ascent, I, 427.</li> - -<li>Ballot, Carlyle on, III, - <a href="#p300" title="go to p. 300">300</a>.</li> - -<li>Balzac, H. de, quoted, II, 364.</li> - -<li>Bank notes: -<ul> -<li>forgery, III, - <a href="#p134" title="go to p. 134">134</a>;</li> -<li>issue, III, - <a href="#p349" title="go to p. 349">349</a>–50, - <a href="#p352" title="go to p. 352">352</a>, - <a href="#p355" title="go to p. 355">355</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Bank of England: -<ul> -<li>advances by, III, - <a href="#p330" title="go to p. 330">330</a>–5, - <a href="#p335" title="go to p. 335">335</a>–47;</li> -<li>note issue, III, - <a href="#p349" title="go to p. 349">349</a>–50.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Bankers, local integration, I, 103.</li> - -<li>Banking: -<ul> -<li>morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p131" title="go to p. 131">131</a>–7;</li> -<li>accommodation bills, III, - <a href="#p133" title="go to p. 133">133</a>–7;</li> -<li>evolution, III, - <a href="#p255" title="go to p. 255">255</a>–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Bankruptcy: -<ul> -<li>morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p129" title="go to p. 129">129</a>–31;</li> -<li>and Bank of England, III, - <a href="#p330" title="go to p. 330">330</a>–2, - <a href="#p341" title="go to p. 341">341</a>;</li> -<li>evils of law, III, - <a href="#p438" title="go to p. 438">438</a>–9.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Banks: -<ul> -<li>State tamperings, III, - <a href="#p326" title="go to p. 326">326</a>–57;</li> -<li>joint-stock, III, - <a href="#p347" title="go to p. 347">347</a>–54;</li> -<li>and free-trade, III, - <a href="#p355" title="go to p. 355">355</a>–7;</li> -<li>and government, III, - <a href="#p425" title="go to p. 425">425</a>–7.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Barbadoes, sugar, III, - <a href="#p122" title="go to p. 122">122</a>.</li> - -<li>Barnacle goose, myth of, II, 162.</li> - -<li>Barometer: -<ul> -<li>action, I, 426;</li> -<li>scientific knowledge, II, 3, 5.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Baron, the title, III, - <a href="#p015" title="go to p. 15">15</a>, - <a href="#p028" title="go to p. 28">28</a>.</li> - -<li>Barracks, maladministration, III, - <a href="#p233" title="go to p. 233">233</a>, - <a href="#p257" title="go to p. 257">257</a>.</li> - -<li>Barristers: -<ul> -<li>and traders, III, - <a href="#p139" title="go to p. 139">139</a>;</li> -<li>number in parliament, III, - <a href="#p298" title="go to p. 298">298</a>, - <a href="#p303" title="go to p. 303">303</a>, - <a href="#p304" title="go to p. 304">304</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Barter, and measures, II, 46; (<i>see also</i> Exchange.)</li> - -<li>Bas-relief, increase in heterogeneity, I, 26, 27.</li> - -<li>Beats, acoustical, II, 169–70.</li> - -<li>Beauty: -<ul> -<li>officialism, I, 335–6;</li> -<li>and use, II, 370–4;</li> -<li>personal, II, 387–99.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Bees: -<ul> -<li>sex of, I, 48;</li> -<li>analogy for distribution of nebulæ, I, 114.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Beethoven, L. von: -<ul> -<li>heredity, I, 406;</li> -<li>Adelaïde of, II, 447.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Beliefs: -<ul> -<li>and pedigree, I, 108;</li> -<li>different meaning of, II, 188–91, 193, 222.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Berkeley, Bishop, subject and object, II, 329.</li> - -<li>Berlin: -<ul> -<li>English enterprise, III, - <a href="#p278" title="go to p. 278">278</a>;</li> -<li>water supply, III, - <a href="#p429" title="go to p. 429">429</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Bills of accommodation, morals of banking, III, - <a href="#p133" title="go to p. 133">133</a>–7.</li> - -<li>Biluchis, robbery, III, - <a href="#p218" title="go to p. 218">218</a>, - <a href="#p221" title="go to p. 221">221</a>.</li> - -<li>Biology: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 14–7, 35;</li> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 46–53;</li> -<li>concrete science, II, 89–92;</li> -<li>deals with aggregates, II, 103;</li> -<li>Bain on classification, II, 109–11;</li> -<li>origin of species, II, 131;</li> -<li>evolution of science, II, 153;</li> -<li>universality of law, II, 159;</li> -<li>organic matter and incident forces, II, 177;</li> -<li>organic differentiation, III, - <a href="#p405" title="go to p. 405">405</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Birds: -<ul> -<li>in newly discovered lands, I, 255–6;</li> -<li>use and disuse, I, 418;</li> -<li>colour as illustrating propositions, II, 205–8;</li> -<li>muscular excitement, II, 400, 403;</li> -<li>origin of music, II, 428;</li> -<li>evolution, II, 438.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Black horse, the phrase, II, 340.</li> - -<li>Blacksmith, arm and heredity, I, 475.</li> - -<li>Blackstone, Sir Wm., persons ineligible for parliament, III, - <a href="#p296" title="go to p. 296">296</a>.</li> - -<li>Blister: -<ul> -<li>effect on walking, I, 403;</li> -<li>action of medicine, I, 448.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Blood: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 47;</li> -<li>nutrition and growth, I, 289;</li> -<li>function and supply, I, 290;</li> -<li>social analogy, I, 291–8;</li> -<li>mental mass and bodily state, I, 354.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Board-meetings, railway, III, - <a href="#p077" title="go to p. 77">77</a>–80.</li> - -<li>Bondage, from freedom to, III, - <a href="#p445" title="go to p. 445">445</a>–70.</li> - -<li>Bones: -<ul> -<li>evolution and ratio of, I, 17;</li> -<li>weight in duck, I, 417–8;</li> -<li>water hen, I, 418.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Bookkeeping: -<ul> -<li>railway, III, - <a href="#p059" title="go to p. 59">59</a>;</li> -<li>officialism, III, - <a href="#p253" title="go to p. 253">253</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Books, serial arrangement, II, 28.</li> - -<li>Botany: -<ul> -<li>classification, II, 64;</li> -<li>discovery of laws, II, 150.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Bow, the obeisance, III, - <a href="#p018" title="go to p. 18">18</a>, - <a href="#p019" title="go to p. 19">19</a>.</li> - -<li>Braid, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p119" title="go to p. 119">119</a>.</li> - -<li>Brain: -<ul> -<li>effect on viscera, I, 290;</li> -<li>analogy to parliament, I, 302–5;</li> -<li>mental and bodily mass, I, 353–4;</li> -<li>size of jaw, I, 397;</li> -<li>embryo development, I, 454.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Bribery: -<ul> -<li>of buyers, III, - <a href="#p114" title="go to p. 114">114</a>–8;</li> -<li>of juries, III, - <a href="#p396" title="go to p. 396">396</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Bricks: -<ul> -<li>position of falling, I, 99;</li> -<li>and building, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>;</li> -<li>tax on, III, - <a href="#p243" title="go to p. 243">243</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>British Association, and government, III, - <a href="#p436" title="go to p. 436">436</a>.</li> - -<li><i>British Quarterly Review</i>, criticism, II, 267–301, 315–20.</li> - -<li>Bronze, multiplication of effects, I, 55–6.</li> - -<li>Brown-Séquard, E., epilepsy in guinea pigs, I, 415–6.</li> - -<li>Builders, strike of, III, - <a href="#p363" title="go to p. 363">363</a>–4, - <a href="#p365" title="go to p. 365">365</a>, - <a href="#p383" title="go to p. 383">383</a>.</li> - -<li>Buildings Acts: -<ul> -<li>failure, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>, - <a href="#p240" title="go to p. 240">240</a>–1, - <a href="#p275" title="go to p. 275">275</a>;</li> -<li>displacements caused by, III, - <a href="#p281" title="go to p. 281">281</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p301" title="go to p. 301">301</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Bull-dog, jaws of, I, 401.</li> - -<li>Burial, primitive ideas, III, - <a href="#p006" title="go to p. 6">6</a>–11.</li> - -<li>Buyers, in clothing trades, III, - <a href="#p114" title="go to p. 114">114</a>–8.</li> - -<li>Cabet, S., Icarian colony, III, - <a href="#p457" title="go to p. 457">457</a>.</li> - -<li>Cabs: -<ul> -<li>officialism, III, - <a href="#p250" title="go to p. 250">250</a>;</li> -<li>in New York, III, - <a href="#p291" title="go to p. 291">291</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p302" title="go to p. 302">302</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Cadence, defined, II, 422.</li> - -<li>Caird, Rev. Princ., reply to criticism, II, 219–21.</li> - -<li>Calculus: -<ul> -<li>implies absolute equality, II,38;</li> -<li>classification of sciences, II, 84;</li> -<li>evolution, II, 156.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Cambium, in plants, I, 450.</li> - -<li>Cambrian system, thickness, I, 231.</li> - -<li>Campbell, G., on style, II, 338–9.</li> - -<li>Canals: -<ul> -<li>first English, III, - <a href="#p257" title="go to p. 257">257</a>;</li> -<li>officialism, III, - <a href="#p267" title="go to p. 267">267</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Candles: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 37;</li> -<li>morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p128" title="go to p. 128">128</a>;</li> -<li>Price’s school, III, - <a href="#p256" title="go to p. 256">256</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Cannibalism, in Fiji, III, - <a href="#p217" title="go to p. 217">217</a>–8.</li> - -<li>Cannon ball, disintegration, I, 436.</li> - -<li>Caoutchouc, effects of, I, 58.</li> - -<li>Capital: -<ul> -<li>direction of flow, III, - <a href="#p101" title="go to p. 101">101</a>–3, - <a href="#p264" title="go to p. 264">264</a>;</li> -<li>amount of railway, III, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>relative and absolute ethics, III, - <a href="#p155" title="go to p. 155">155</a>–7;</li> -<li>State tamperings with, III, - <a href="#p326" title="go to p. 326">326</a>–35, - <a href="#p335" title="go to p. 335">335</a>–47.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Captains, certificated, of ships, III, - <a href="#p241" title="go to p. 241">241</a>.</li> - -<li>Caradoc sandstone, age, I, 201.</li> - -<li>Carat, a small bean, II, 44.</li> - -<li>Carboniferous system, origin, I, 237.</li> - -<li>Carlyle, Thomas: -<ul> -<li>on people, III, - <a href="#p293" title="go to p. 293">293</a>;</li> -<li>the ballot, III, - <a href="#p300" title="go to p. 300">300</a>;</li> -<li>the real rulers, III, - <a href="#p316" title="go to p. 316">316</a>–7;</li> -<li>quotation from <i>Heroes and Hero-worship</i>, II, 357.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Carpenter, W. B., evolution and paleontology, I, 16.</li> - -<li>Carus, P., on Kantian ethics, III, - <a href="#p206" title="go to p. 206">206</a>–7.</li> - -<li>Castles: -<ul> -<li>use and beauty, II, 371;</li> -<li>situation, II, 376.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Cat, muscular excitement, II, 400–1, 403.</li> - -<li>Catalepsy, belief in spirits, I, 311–2.</li> - -<li>Caterpillar, mistake by, I, 419.</li> - -<li>Causation: -<ul> -<li>establishment of belief, I, 109;</li> -<li>ignorance of, III, - <a href="#p487" title="go to p. 487">487</a>–92.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Cause: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 37;</li> -<li>consciousness of, II, 127;</li> -<li>proportionality to effect, II, 300–1, 302–5, 305–7, 310–11, 318–20.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Cell, doctrine of, I, 442–3.</li> - -<li>Centralization, French, III, - <a href="#p268" title="go to p. 268">268</a>.</li> - -<li>Cerebrum, consciousness of, representative, I, 303.</li> - -<li>Ceremony: -<ul> -<li>increase of heterogeneity, I, 20–1;</li> -<li>evolution, III, - <a href="#p011" title="go to p. 11">11</a>–6, - <a href="#p023" title="go to p. 23">23</a>, - <a href="#p050" title="go to p. 50">50</a>;</li> -<li>obeisances, III, - <a href="#p017" title="go to p. 17">17</a>–22;</li> -<li>primitive man, III, - <a href="#p024" title="go to p. 24">24</a>;</li> -<li>Chinese, III, - <a href="#p025" title="go to p. 25">25</a>;</li> -<li>evolution of governments, III, - <a href="#p027" title="go to p. 27">27</a>–8, - <a href="#p050" title="go to p. 50">50</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Cerney springs, III, - <a href="#p387" title="go to p. 387">387</a>–92.</li> - -<li>Chaldeans, prediction of eclipses, II, 48–9.</li> - -<li>Chalk, complexity of, III, - <a href="#p195" title="go to p. 195">195</a>–6.</li> - -<li>Chancery: -<ul> -<li>rules, III, - <a href="#p232" title="go to p. 232">232</a>;</li> -<li>maladministration, III, - <a href="#p247" title="go to p. 247">247</a>, - <a href="#p272" title="go to p. 272">272</a>;</li> -<li>dread of, III, - <a href="#p396" title="go to p. 396">396</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Change: -<ul> -<li>pleasure of, III, - <a href="#p454" title="go to p. 454">454</a>;</li> -<li>universal, III, - <a href="#p458" title="go to p. 458">458</a>–60.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Charity, and government, III, - <a href="#p434" title="go to p. 434">434</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Charlotte</i>, The, naval maladministration, III, - <a href="#p234" title="go to p. 234">234</a>.</li> - -<li>Cheek-bones, personal beauty, I, 390–2.</li> - -<li>Cheltenham, water supply, III, - <a href="#p387" title="go to p. 387">387</a>–92.</li> - -<li>Chemistry: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 43–5, 59;</li> -<li>unstable equilibrium, I, 83;</li> -<li>organic evolution, I, 83–4;</li> -<li>complexity of elements, I, 155–9, 371–4;</li> -<li>organic synthesis, I, 374;</li> -<li>genesis, II, 51, 58, 60;</li> -<li>galvanic electricity, II, 61;</li> -<li>classification, II, 64;</li> -<li>abstract concrete science, II, 85–8;</li> -<li>terrestrial evolution, II, 95–9;</li> -<li>deals with properties, II, 102, 103;</li> -<li>Bain on classification, II, 107–11;</li> -<li>elements, II, 195;</li> -<li>development, II, 423.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Cheques (<i>see</i> Money).</li> - -<li>Chesil Beach, size of stones, I, 432.</li> - -<li>Chicken, evolution of mind, I, 377.</li> - -<li>Chiefs: -<ul> -<li>differentiation, I, 284–5;</li> -<li>duties and individual nervous system, I, 299–307;</li> -<li>primitive belief in spirits, I, 344.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Children: -<ul> -<li>emotions and expression, I, 339–50;</li> -<li>lack generalization, I, 354;</li> -<li>and traits of savage, I, 355;</li> -<li>mental variability, I, 356–7;</li> -<li>impulsiveness, I, 358;</li> -<li>vocabulary, II, 336;</li> -<li>poor law and illegitimate, III, - <a href="#p244" title="go to p. 244">244</a>;</li> -<li>old and new education, III, - <a href="#p277" title="go to p. 277">277</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>China, manners and fashion, III, - <a href="#p025" title="go to p. 25">25</a>.</li> - -<li>Chisholme, Mrs., colonization society, III, - <a href="#p258" title="go to p. 258">258</a>.</li> - -<li>Cholera, private and state enterprise, III, - <a href="#p238" title="go to p. 238">238</a>–9.</li> - -<li>Chopin, F., character, II, 417.</li> - -<li>Chrysalis, transformations, II, 163.</li> - -<li>Church: -<ul> -<li>differentiation from State, I, 21;</li> -<li>officialism, III, - <a href="#p251" title="go to p. 251">251</a>, - <a href="#p252" title="go to p. 252">252</a>;</li> -<li>corn laws, III, - <a href="#p361" title="go to p. 361">361</a>;</li> -<li>franchise and rates, III, - <a href="#p362" title="go to p. 362">362</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Circle, relation to hyperbola, I, 5.</li> - -<li>Circulars, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p123" title="go to p. 123">123</a>–4.</li> - -<li><i>Cirrhipedia</i>, classification, I, 248.</li> - -<li>Civilization, development of sympathy, II, 425.</li> - -<li>Classification: -<ul> -<li>psychology and analysis, I, 245–57;</li> -<li>historical, I, 248;</li> -<li>non-linear of sciences, II, 27–9;</li> -<li>recognition of likeness and unlikeness, II, 29–31, 34;</li> -<li>and language, II, 31–3, 40;</li> -<li>and reasoning, II, 33, 34, 40;</li> -<li>genesis of science, II, 63–5, 72;</li> -<li>(<i>See also</i> Sciences, Classification of the.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Clearing house, banker’s, III, - <a href="#p425" title="go to p. 425">425</a>.</li> - -<li>Climate: -<ul> -<li>increase of heterogeneity, I, 13–4, 35;</li> -<li>and paleontological evidence, I, 221–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Coach: -<ul> -<li>and railway travelling, III, - <a href="#p110" title="go to p. 110">110</a>–2;</li> -<li>Palmer, III, - <a href="#p441" title="go to p. 441">441</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Coats of arms, derivation, I, 28.</li> - -<li>Cognitions, defined, I, 261–2, II, 241.</li> - -<li>Coleridge, S. T., sonnet quoted, II, 352.</li> - -<li>Colligation, the word, II, 368–9.</li> - -<li>Colloids, evolution of life, I, 374.</li> - -<li>Comets, origin, direction and constitution, I, 125–8, 153, 177–8.</li> - -<li>Common sense: -<ul> -<li>judgment of reason, II, 243–4;</li> -<li>anomalies, III, - <a href="#p401" title="go to p. 401">401</a>–4, - <a href="#p445" title="go to p. 445">445</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Companies (<i>see</i> Joint-stock companies.)</li> - -<li>Comparative Psychology (see Psychology.)</li> - -<li>Compass, faulty Admiralty, III, - <a href="#p234" title="go to p. 234">234</a>, - <a href="#p252" title="go to p. 252">252</a>.</li> - -<li>Competition: -<ul> -<li>effect of railway, III, - <a href="#p097" title="go to p. 97">97</a>, - <a href="#p106" title="go to p. 106">106</a>–7;</li> -<li>effects, III, - <a href="#p448" title="go to p. 448">448</a>–9;</li> -<li>American, III, - <a href="#p487" title="go to p. 487">487</a>–92.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Comte, A.: -<ul> -<li>classification of sciences, II, 15–29;</li> -<li>mathematics, II, 15–19;</li> -<li>astronomy, II, 21–3;</li> -<li>progress of mathematics, II, 56;</li> -<li>on gravitation, II, 65, 66;</li> -<li>on education, II, 72, 133;</li> -<li>Littré on classification of, II, 74–6;</li> -<li>abstract and concrete science, II, 79;</li> -<li>science and positivism, II, 118–22, 128, 139;</li> -<li>origin of knowledge, II, 122–5;</li> -<li>propositions of, II, 125–32;</li> -<li>and social statics, II, 134–7;</li> -<li>Mill on philosophy, II, 143;</li> -<li>Fouillée on, II, 143–4;</li> -<li>progress from simple to complex, II, 147;</li> -<li>positivism rejected by Mr. Spencer, II, 221.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Concrete: -<ul> -<li>precedes abstract, I, 323;</li> -<li>definition, II, 78.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Conduct (<i>see</i> Morals.)</li> - -<li>Conglomerate, origin, I, 444.</li> - -<li>Conic sections, relation of circle to hyperbola, I, 5.</li> - -<li>Conscience: -<ul> -<li>corporate and individual, III, - <a href="#p061" title="go to p. 61">61</a>–2;</li> -<li>Kant on human, III, - <a href="#p192" title="go to p. 192">192</a>;</li> -<li>Lubbock, III, - <a href="#p192" title="go to p. 192">192</a>–3;</li> -<li>and duty, III, - <a href="#p210" title="go to p. 210">210</a>–1.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Consciousness, the phrase, state of, II, 326–7.</li> - -<li>Conservatism: -<ul> -<li>and social state, I, 356;</li> -<li>of women, I, 363;</li> -<li>Emerson on, III, - <a href="#p035" title="go to p. 35">35</a>;</li> -<li>effects, III, - <a href="#p043" title="go to p. 43">43</a>–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Contract: -<ul> -<li>principle of, III, - <a href="#p090" title="go to p. 90">90</a>, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>and expediency, III, - <a href="#p095" title="go to p. 95">95</a>–6;</li> -<li>railway proprietary, III, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>–12;</li> -<li>enforcement in Spain, III, - <a href="#p218" title="go to p. 218">218</a>;</li> -<li>effect of breaches, III, - <a href="#p220" title="go to p. 220">220</a>;</li> -<li>State to enforce, III, - <a href="#p334" title="go to p. 334">334</a>, - <a href="#p336" title="go to p. 336">336</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Contractors: -<ul> -<li>sociological division of labour, I, 106;</li> -<li>railway, III, - <a href="#p072" title="go to p. 72">72</a>–4, - <a href="#p083" title="go to p. 83">83</a>, - <a href="#p088" title="go to p. 88">88</a>, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Contrast: -<ul> -<li>in literature and art, II, 373–4;</li> -<li>in music, II, 444, 446.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Convicts (<i>see</i> Prison Ethics.)</li> - -<li>Coöperation: -<ul> -<li>needful to social life, III, - <a href="#p450" title="go to p. 450">450</a>;</li> -<li>voluntary, III, - <a href="#p450" title="go to p. 450">450</a>–1;</li> -<li>compulsory, III, - <a href="#p451" title="go to p. 451">451</a>–4;</li> -<li>and socialism, III, - <a href="#p454" title="go to p. 454">454</a>–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Copernicus, N., solar theory, I, 193.</li> - -<li>Copula, arrangement of sentences, II, 342–4.</li> - -<li>Corn laws: -<ul> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p294" title="go to p. 294">294</a>;</li> -<li>and clergy, III, - <a href="#p361" title="go to p. 361">361</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Corporations, representative government, III, - <a href="#p289" title="go to p. 289">289</a>.</li> - -<li>Correlation, organic, I, 96–101.</li> - -<li>Costume: -<ul> -<li>and political opinion, III, - <a href="#p001" title="go to p. 1">1</a>–5, - <a href="#p030" title="go to p. 30">30</a>;</li> -<li>reform and custom, III, - <a href="#p030" title="go to p. 30">30</a>–6, - <a href="#p036" title="go to p. 36">36</a>–7;</li> -<li>development, III, - <a href="#p447" title="go to p. 447">447</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Cotton: -<ul> -<li>industry and locality, I, 104;</li> -<li>manufacture, II, 68.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Counterpoint, origin of music, II, 448.</li> - -<li>Counties, social development, I, 288.</li> - -<li>Courage, emotional expression, I, 343–50.</li> - -<li>Crabs, of Kentucky caves, I, 400–1, 402.</li> - -<li>Creation (<i>see</i> Special creation.)</li> - -<li>Credit, State tamperings with money, III, - <a href="#p326" title="go to p. 326">326</a>–35, - <a href="#p335" title="go to p. 335">335</a>–47.</li> - -<li>Creed: -<ul> -<li>fatal to science, I, 463;</li> -<li>use and beauty, II, 371.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Criminals (<i>see</i> Prison Ethics.)</li> - -<li>Critical point, of gases, I, 164–7.</li> - -<li>Critics, faith in, II, 322.</li> - -<li>Crofton, Captain, prison discipline, III, - <a href="#p186" title="go to p. 186">186</a>.</li> - -<li>Cromwell, O., and representative government, III, - <a href="#p315" title="go to p. 315">315</a>–6.</li> - -<li>Croshek, the name, I, 313.</li> - -<li>Crosse, A. F., on Hungarian music, II, 449.</li> - -<li>Croydon, board of health, III, - <a href="#p241" title="go to p. 241">241</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Crustacea</i>, integration, I, 68–71.</li> - -<li>Cubit, length of, II, 43, 44.</li> - -<li>Curiosity, comparative psychology, I, 364–5.</li> - -<li>Curtsy, obeisance, III, - <a href="#p018" title="go to p. 18">18</a>–9.</li> - -<li>Custom: -<ul> -<li>and political opinion, III, - <a href="#p001" title="go to p. 1">1</a>–5, - <a href="#p030" title="go to p. 30">30</a>;</li> -<li>Eastern, III, - <a href="#p025" title="go to p. 25">25</a>;</li> -<li>and reform, III, - <a href="#p030" title="go to p. 30">30</a>–6, - <a href="#p036" title="go to p. 36">36</a>–7;</li> -<li>effect on railways, III, - <a href="#p110" title="go to p. 110">110</a>–2.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Cuvier, Baron de, organic correlation, I, 96–101.</li> - -<li>D’Alembert, J. le R., composition of forces, II, 24.</li> - -<li>Damaras, ethics of the, III, - <a href="#p193" title="go to p. 193">193</a>.</li> - -<li>Dancing: -<ul> -<li>origin and differentiation, I, 30–2;</li> -<li>grace in, II, 381, 382;</li> -<li>and pleasure, II, 402;</li> -<li>evolution, II, 441.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Darwin, Charles: -<ul> -<li>natural selection of one variation, I, 407, 421;</li> -<li>natural selection and heredity, I, 408–12, 421;</li> -<li>on E. Darwin, I, 417;</li> -<li>inheritance of functionally produced changes, I, 417–21, 422;</li> -<li>origin of music, II, 426–37;</li> -<li>on the phrase natural selection, I, 429;</li> -<li>effect of changed conditions, I, 433.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Darwin, Dr. E., organic evolution, I, 390–1, 397.</li> - -<li>Davy, Sir H., chemical elements, III, - <a href="#p195" title="go to p. 195">195</a>.</li> - -<li>Dawn, as name, I, 318, 319, 324.</li> - -<li>Death: -<ul> -<li>primitive ideas, III, - <a href="#p006" title="go to p. 6">6</a>;</li> -<li>punishment and associations, III, - <a href="#p158" title="go to p. 158">158</a>, - <a href="#p187" title="go to p. 187">187</a>;</li> -<li>duty and inclination, III, - <a href="#p212" title="go to p. 212">212</a>, - <a href="#p213" title="go to p. 213">213</a>, - <a href="#p215" title="go to p. 215">215</a>;</li> -<li>rate in barracks, III, - <a href="#p257" title="go to p. 257">257</a>;</li> -<li>improvement in rate, III, - <a href="#p447" title="go to p. 447">447</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Deduction: -<ul> -<li>and physiology, I, 77–81, 107;</li> -<li>qualitative and quantitative science, II, 7.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Deer, growth of horns, I, 393.</li> - -<li>Defoe, D., <i>Complete English Tradesman</i>, III, - <a href="#p141" title="go to p. 141">141</a>.</li> - -<li>Deities, primitive ideas, III, - <a href="#p006" title="go to p. 6">6</a>–11, - <a href="#p012" title="go to p. 12">12</a>.</li> - -<li>De la Beche, Sir H., paleontological evidence, I, 205.</li> - -<li>Democracy, change inaugurated, III, - <a href="#p049" title="go to p. 49">49</a>.</li> - -<li>Desire, associated with talent, I, 54.</li> - -<li>Despotism: -<ul> -<li>and social state, I, 268, III, - <a href="#p313" title="go to p. 313">313</a>;</li> -<li>and anarchy, III, - <a href="#p159" title="go to p. 159">159</a>;</li> -<li>and representative government, III, - <a href="#p309" title="go to p. 309">309</a>–10.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Development: -<ul> -<li>hypothesis, I, 1–7;</li> -<li>relation to function, I, 63–4;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Evolution.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Devonian System, age of, I, 203–5, 210.</li> - -<li>Dewar, Prof., complexity of elements, I, 162.</li> - -<li>Differentiation, sociological, I, 102–7.</li> - -<li>Directors: -<ul> -<li>and railway companies, III, - <a href="#p052" title="go to p. 52">52</a>–63, - <a href="#p069" title="go to p. 69">69</a>;</li> -<li>and shareholder’s interests, III, - <a href="#p082" title="go to p. 82">82</a>–8, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>morals of banking, III, - <a href="#p131" title="go to p. 131">131</a>–7.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Disease: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 47;</li> -<li>dissimilar effects, I, 100;</li> -<li>beliefs about, II, 153;</li> -<li>criminality, III, - <a href="#p167" title="go to p. 167">167</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p301" title="go to p. 301">301</a>, - <a href="#p304" title="go to p. 304">304</a>;</li> -<li>body and nerve functions, III, - <a href="#p419" title="go to p. 419">419</a>–22, - <a href="#p443" title="go to p. 443">443</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Distribution, individual and social, I, 291–8.</li> - -<li>Dividends, railway, III, - <a href="#p057" title="go to p. 57">57</a>, - <a href="#p098" title="go to p. 98">98</a>.</li> - -<li>Division of labour: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 53–8;</li> -<li>sociological, I, 105–6, 292–3, III, - <a href="#p323" title="go to p. 323">323</a>;</li> -<li>illustrations and growth, I, 266;</li> -<li>social and individual nervous system, I, 299–307;</li> -<li>progress of science, II, 24–7.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Dixon, T. H., on Norfolk Island convicts, III, - <a href="#p176" title="go to p. 176">176</a>.</li> - -<li>Dogs: -<ul> -<li>size of jaws, I, 398–400, 401, 422;</li> -<li>use and disuse, I, 469–71;</li> -<li>simile of Hodgson, II, 231–3;</li> -<li>gracefulness, II, 381, 385;</li> -<li>muscular excitement, II, 400, 403;</li> -<li>origin of music, II, 428.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Don, the title, III, - <a href="#p014" title="go to p. 14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Downes, Dr., on light and protoplasm, I, 465–6.</li> - -<li>Drama: -<ul> -<li>cause of laughter, II, 461;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p301" title="go to p. 301">301</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Draper, honesty and bankruptcy, III, - <a href="#p129" title="go to p. 129">129</a>–31.</li> - -<li>Drawing, comparative psychology, I, 366.</li> - -<li>Dreams, belief in spirits, I, 310–3.</li> - -<li>Dress: -<ul> -<li>and political opinion, III, - <a href="#p001" title="go to p. 1">1</a>–5, - <a href="#p030" title="go to p. 30">30</a>;</li> -<li>custom and reform, III, - <a href="#p030" title="go to p. 30">30</a>–6, - <a href="#p036" title="go to p. 36">36</a>–7;</li> -<li>and extravagance, III, - <a href="#p036" title="go to p. 36">36</a>–7;</li> -<li>and enjoyment, III, - <a href="#p040" title="go to p. 40">40</a>–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Drunkenness, and temperance, III, - <a href="#p446" title="go to p. 446">446</a>.</li> - -<li>Duck, weight of bones, I, 417–8.</li> - -<li>Duty: -<ul> -<li>Kant and pursuit of happiness, III, - <a href="#p207" title="go to p. 207">207</a>–9;</li> -<li>and inclination, III, - <a href="#p209" title="go to p. 209">209</a>–13.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Dyeing, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p125" title="go to p. 125">125</a>.</li> - -<li>Dymond, J., <i>Principles of Morality</i>, I, 346.</li> - -<li>Dynamics, Comte’s classification, II, 19.</li> - -<li>Ear, embryological development, I, 454.</li> - -<li>Earth: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 11–4, 35;</li> -<li>rotatory movement, I, 135, 136;</li> -<li>number of satellites, I, 139;</li> -<li>density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52;</li> -<li>size, I, 145;</li> -<li>paleontology and motion, I, 221–4;</li> -<li>laws of motion, II, 272, 283–8;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Geology.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Ease, and grace, II, 382.</li> - -<li>East Indies, effects of upheaval, I, 49–52.</li> - -<li>Echoes, belief in spirits, I, 310–3.</li> - -<li>Eclipse, prediction of, II, 48.</li> - -<li>Ectoderm: -<ul> -<li>development, I, 284;</li> -<li>social and individual analogy, I, 298–9;</li> -<li>differentiation, III, - <a href="#p405" title="go to p. 405">405</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Education: -<ul> -<li>comparative psychology, I, 370;</li> -<li>development of science, II, 72;</li> -<li>Comte’s views, II, 133;</li> -<li>and conservatism, III, - <a href="#p043" title="go to p. 43">43</a>;</li> -<li>old and new, III, - <a href="#p277" title="go to p. 277">277</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p301" title="go to p. 301">301</a>;</li> -<li>parliamentary reform, III, - <a href="#p375" title="go to p. 375">375</a>–9;</li> -<li>and government, III, - <a href="#p435" title="go to p. 435">435</a>–6;</li> -<li>development, III, - <a href="#p446" title="go to p. 446">446</a>, - <a href="#p459" title="go to p. 459">459</a>–60;</li> -<li>American, III, - <a href="#p475" title="go to p. 475">475</a>–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Effect: -<ul> -<li>proportionality to cause, II, 300–1, 302–5, 305–7, 310–11, 318–20;</li> -<li>relation to cause, III, - <a href="#p487" title="go to p. 487">487</a>–92.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Egg, evolution of mind, I, 377.</li> - -<li>Egyptians: -<ul> -<li>language and painting, I, 25–6;</li> -<li>sculpture, I, 26–7, 29, 30;</li> -<li>music, I, 32.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Electricity: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 59;</li> -<li>genesis of galvanic, II, 61;</li> -<li>Whewell on progress of theory, II, 62;</li> -<li>abstract-concrete science, II, 88;</li> -<li>mode of molecular motion, II, 126;</li> -<li>what is? 168–72, 186–7;</li> -<li>also thermo-, II, 172–6;</li> -<li>statical and molecular motion, II, 180–3, 186–7;</li> -<li>induction, II, 183;</li> -<li>voltaic and molecular motion, II, 183–4, 186–7.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Elements, complexity of, I, 155–9, 162, 371–4.</li> - -<li>Ell, the measure, II, 44.</li> - -<li>Ellipse, relation to circle, I, 5.</li> - -<li>Embryo: -<ul> -<li>relation to adult, I, 6;</li> -<li>early changes in, I, 445;</li> -<li>development, I, 451–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Embryology: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 17–9;</li> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 48;</li> -<li>organic correlation, I, 97;</li> -<li>importance of, II, 8–9;</li> -<li>von Baer’s formula, II, 137–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Emerson, R. W.: -<ul> -<li><i>Lectures on the Times</i>, II, 354;</li> -<li>use and ornament, II, 370;</li> -<li>on conservatism, III, - <a href="#p035" title="go to p. 35">35</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Emotion: -<ul> -<li>Bain’s definition, I, 258–60;</li> -<li>defined, I, 262;</li> -<li>of beauty, I, 335–6;</li> -<li>relation to idea, I, 336;</li> -<li>expression in children, I, 339–50;</li> -<li>and intellect, I, 353, II, 465;</li> -<li>sexual sentiment, I, 363–4;</li> -<li>sociality, freedom, approbation, and acquisitiveness, I, 366–7;</li> -<li>poetry and effect on language, II, 357–61;</li> -<li>demonstration of, II, 401–3;</li> -<li>nervous and muscular system, II, 453–8;</li> -<li>physiology of laughter, II, 458–64;</li> -<li>waste, repair, and language, II, 361–7;</li> -<li>and health, III, - <a href="#p481" title="go to p. 481">481</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Empiricism: -<ul> -<li>reasoning of, II, 201–5;</li> -<li>test of truth, II, 214–7.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Endoderm: -<ul> -<li>development, I, 284;</li> -<li>differentiation, III, - <a href="#p405" title="go to p. 405">405</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Endymion, the myth, I, 326, 327.</li> - -<li>Energy, conservation and persistence of force, II, 295.</li> - -<li>Engel, Carl, on ancient music, II, 414.</li> - -<li>Engineers: -<ul> -<li>and railways, III, - <a href="#p068" title="go to p. 68">68</a>–72, - <a href="#p083" title="go to p. 83">83</a>, - <a href="#p088" title="go to p. 88">88</a>, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>society, III, - <a href="#p362" title="go to p. 362">362</a>–3, - <a href="#p365" title="go to p. 365">365</a>;</li> -<li>English and French, III, - <a href="#p427" title="go to p. 427">427</a>–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Engines, dissimilarity of similar, I, 99.</li> - -<li>England: -<ul> -<li>government in, I, 302–5;</li> -<li>enterprise in, III, - <a href="#p278" title="go to p. 278">278</a>–80;</li> -<li>representative government in, III, - <a href="#p305" title="go to p. 305">305</a>–9, - <a href="#p318" title="go to p. 318">318</a>–9;</li> -<li>militancy and industrialism, III, - <a href="#p416" title="go to p. 416">416</a>;</li> -<li>political liberty, III, - <a href="#p445" title="go to p. 445">445</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>English language: -<ul> -<li>words, II, 336–8;</li> -<li>Latin and Greek words, II, 367–9.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Entomology, insect transformations, II, 163.</li> - -<li>Epiblast, development, I, 452–3.</li> - -<li>Epilepsy: -<ul> -<li>belief in spirits, I, 311–2;</li> -<li>in guinea pigs, I, 415–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Equality: -<ul> -<li>relations of likeness, I, 35–7, 40;</li> -<li>quantitative prevision, II, 41–9;</li> -<li>and barter, II, 46;</li> -<li>and mechanics, II, 50;</li> -<li>and law, II, 52;</li> -<li>and astronomy, II, 53;</li> -<li>hydrostatics, II, 57;</li> -<li>optics, II, 57;</li> -<li>acoustics, II, 57;</li> -<li>dynamics, II, 58.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Equity (<i>see</i> Justice.)</li> - -<li>Esquire, the title, III, - <a href="#p013" title="go to p. 13">13</a>, - <a href="#p028" title="go to p. 28">28</a>, - <a href="#p032" title="go to p. 32">32</a>.</li> - -<li>Ethics: -<ul> -<li>use and disuse, I, 463–5;</li> -<li>of lower races, II, 192–5;</li> -<li><i>Quarterly Review</i> criticisms, II, 259–65;</li> -<li>absolute politics, III, - <a href="#p217" title="go to p. 217">217</a>–28;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Kant, Morality, Morals, Prison Ethics.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Euclid: -<ul> -<li>test of necessity, II, 198;</li> -<li>axioms, II, 282–3.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Evidence, valuation of, II, 161–7.</li> - -<li>Evolution: -<ul> -<li>and special creation, I, 1–7;</li> -<li>of solar system, I, 128–31;</li> -<li>law of elements, I, 156;</li> -<li>Hugh Miller on, I, 219;</li> -<li>geological record, I, 226–32, 232–40;</li> -<li>emotional, I, 250–7;</li> -<li>of mind, I, 263, 376–8;</li> -<li>of animal worship, I, 329;</li> -<li>comparative psychology of man, I, 352;</li> -<li>mental and bodily mass, 353–4;</li> -<li>rate of mental, I, 355;</li> -<li>mental variability, I, 356–7;</li> -<li>impulsiveness, I, 357–9;</li> -<li>Martineau on, I, 371–88;</li> -<li>complexity of elements, I, 371–4;</li> -<li>of life from not life, I, 374–5;</li> -<li>plants and animals indistinguishable, I, 375–6;</li> -<li>the word, I, 380;</li> -<li>and originating mind, I, 381–6;</li> -<li>materialism, I, 386–8;</li> -<li>and catastrophism in geology, I, 389–90;</li> -<li>Dr. Darwin and Lamarck, I, 390–1,397;</li> -<li>and reproductive system, I, 409, 412, 422–5;</li> -<li>summary on use and disuse, I, 421–5;</li> -<li>effect of conditions, I, 427–35;</li> -<li>of life, I, 458–60, 460–2;</li> -<li>Huxley on, I, 462–3;</li> -<li>terrestrial, II, 94–9;</li> -<li>von Baer’s formula, II, 137–8;</li> -<li>outline of synthetic philosophy, II, 140–2;</li> -<li>advance in complexity of science, II, 150–7;</li> -<li>Quarterly Reviewer on, II, 261–5;</li> -<li>Prof. Tait on, II, 274–5;</li> -<li>relation of thoughts to things, II, 320;</li> -<li>Prof. Green on, II, 323;</li> -<li>limitation of traits, II, 438;</li> -<li>of musical scales, II, 440–1;</li> -<li>of dancing, II, 441;</li> -<li>of music, II, 448–9;</li> -<li>Kant and, III, - <a href="#p197" title="go to p. 197">197</a>–9, - <a href="#p206" title="go to p. 206">206</a>–7;</li> -<li>and Kantian assumptions, III, - <a href="#p203" title="go to p. 203">203</a>–6, - <a href="#p206" title="go to p. 206">206</a>–7;</li> -<li>officialism, III, - <a href="#p255" title="go to p. 255">255</a>;</li> -<li>individual and social, III, - <a href="#p263" title="go to p. 263">263</a>–5;</li> -<li>railways, III, - <a href="#p266" title="go to p. 266">266</a>;</li> -<li>language, III, - <a href="#p402" title="go to p. 402">402</a>–3;</li> -<li>universal, III, - <a href="#p458" title="go to p. 458">458</a>;</li> -<li>industrialism, III, - <a href="#p459" title="go to p. 459">459</a>;</li> -<li>education, III, - <a href="#p459" title="go to p. 459">459</a>–60;</li> -<li>prospective, III, - <a href="#p491" title="go to p. 491">491</a>–2.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Exchange: -<ul> -<li>origin, I, 54, II, 46;</li> -<li>State tamperings with money, III, - <a href="#p326" title="go to p. 326">326</a>–35, - <a href="#p335" title="go to p. 335">335</a>–47.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Exchequer bills, and Bank of England, III, - <a href="#p331" title="go to p. 331">331</a>.</li> - -<li>Excitement, poetry and effect on language, II, 357–61.</li> - -<li>Excluded middle, law of, II, 191–2.</li> - -<li>Expediency: -<ul> -<li>doctrine of, III, - <a href="#p095" title="go to p. 95">95</a>–6;</li> -<li>relative and absolute ethics, III, - <a href="#p152" title="go to p. 152">152</a>–7, - <a href="#p188" title="go to p. 188">188</a>, - <a href="#p333" title="go to p. 333">333</a>;</li> -<li>and penal code, III, - <a href="#p159" title="go to p. 159">159</a>–63, - <a href="#p188" title="go to p. 188">188</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Experience hypothesis: -<ul> -<li>origin of knowledge, II, 122–5;</li> -<li>reasoning of empiricism, II, 201–5;</li> -<li>consciousness of object, II, 211–4;</li> -<li>and <i>a priori</i> truths, II, 287–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Extravagance: -<ul> -<li>and fashion, III, - <a href="#p036" title="go to p. 36">36</a>–7;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p290" title="go to p. 290">290</a>–1;</li> -<li>good for trade, III, - <a href="#p293" title="go to p. 293">293</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Eyes: -<ul> -<li>position in development, I, 71–2, 454;</li> -<li>brighter from good news, II, 402.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Factors of organic evolution, I, 389–478.</li> - -<li>Faculties, exhausted by exercise, II, 361–7.</li> - -<li>Fainting, belief in spirits, I, 311–2.</li> - -<li>Farming, by owner and bailiff, III, - <a href="#p246" title="go to p. 246">246</a>.</li> - -<li>Fashion: -<ul> -<li>origin, III, - <a href="#p028" title="go to p. 28">28</a>;</li> -<li>extravagance of, III, - <a href="#p036" title="go to p. 36">36</a>–7;</li> -<li>social intercourse and pleasure, III, - <a href="#p036" title="go to p. 36">36</a>–46;</li> -<li>need of change, III, - <a href="#p046" title="go to p. 46">46</a>–51;</li> -<li>prospect, III, - <a href="#p051" title="go to p. 51">51</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Father, the title, III, - <a href="#p012" title="go to p. 12">12</a>, - <a href="#p013" title="go to p. 13">13</a>, - <a href="#p021" title="go to p. 21">21</a>.</li> - -<li>Faye, M.: -<ul> -<li>solar constitution, I, 182;</li> -<li>solar spots, I, 183–4, 188–9.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Feathers, structure and function, I, 392.</li> - -<li>Features, and personal beauty, II, 387–99.</li> - -<li>Feelings: -<ul> -<li>definition, I, 262–4;</li> -<li>evolution, I, 263–4;</li> -<li>indications of, II, 400–3;</li> -<li>loudness of voice, II, 404–5;</li> -<li>also timbre, II, 405, 411;</li> -<li>and pitch, II, 406, 411;</li> -<li>and intervals, II, 406–9, 411;</li> -<li>variability of pitch, II, 409, 411;</li> -<li>emphasis and time in music, II, 412–3;</li> -<li>relation of music to sympathy, II, 424–6;</li> -<li>nervous and muscular system, II, 453–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Feet, obeisance of uncovering, III, - <a href="#p017" title="go to p. 17">17</a>.</li> - -<li>Fetichism, political, III, - <a href="#p393" title="go to p. 393">393</a>–400.</li> - -<li>Figures of speech, II, 350–5.</li> - -<li>Fiji: -<ul> -<li>ethics in, III, - <a href="#p193" title="go to p. 193">193</a>;</li> -<li>life in, III, - <a href="#p217" title="go to p. 217">217</a>–8, - <a href="#p221" title="go to p. 221">221</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Fingers: -<ul> -<li>heredity and number, I, 413–4, 475;</li> -<li>and memory, II, 465.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Fire, indirect effects, III, - <a href="#p242" title="go to p. 242">242</a>.</li> - -<li><i>First Principles</i>: -<ul> -<li>Martineau on, II, 250–8;</li> -<li>data of philosophy, II, 286.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Fish: -<ul> -<li>evolution and heterogeneity, I, 15–7;</li> -<li>temperature, I, 75, 76;</li> -<li>self-mobility, I, 76;</li> -<li>paleontological remains, I, 227, 235, 240;</li> -<li>eating of, III, - <a href="#p047" title="go to p. 47">47</a>;</li> -<li>anomalies, III, - <a href="#p401" title="go to p. 401">401</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Flint implements, discovery, I, 413.</li> - -<li>Flocculi, appearance of nebulæ, I, 118–25.</li> - -<li>Food: -<ul> -<li>absorption and deductive biology, I, 77–81;</li> -<li>for the dead, I, 311–2;</li> -<li>nutrition, III, - <a href="#p408" title="go to p. 408">408</a>;</li> -<li>and government, III, - <a href="#p423" title="go to p. 423">423</a>–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Foot, the measure, II, 44.</li> - -<li>Force: -<ul> -<li>cognition of its persistence, II, 269, 275;</li> -<li>Tait on central forces, II, 290–3;</li> -<li>persistence and conservation of energy, II, 295;</li> -<li>relation to motion, II, 310–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Forgery, III, - <a href="#p134" title="go to p. 134">134</a>.</li> - -<li>Forms of thought, consciousness of object, II, 211–4.</li> - -<li>Fossils (<i>see</i> Paleontology.)</li> - -<li>Fouillée, Alfred, on Comte’s philosophy, II, 143–4.</li> - -<li>Fowls, use and disuse, I, 418.</li> - -<li>France: -<ul> -<li>English and French sheep, II, 396, 398;</li> -<li>agriculture and officialism, III, - <a href="#p267" title="go to p. 267">267</a>–8;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p318" title="go to p. 318">318</a>–9, - <a href="#p320" title="go to p. 320">320</a>;</li> -<li>paper currency, III, - <a href="#p345" title="go to p. 345">345</a>;</li> -<li>liberty in, III, - <a href="#p381" title="go to p. 381">381</a>;</li> -<li>banks in, III, - <a href="#p426" title="go to p. 426">426</a>;</li> -<li>engineering, III, - <a href="#p427" title="go to p. 427">427</a>–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Franchise (<i>see</i> Parliamentary Reform.)</li> - -<li id="p501">Freedom: -<ul> -<li>manners and customs, III, - <a href="#p030" title="go to p. 30">30</a>–6, - <a href="#p036" title="go to p. 36">36</a>–7, - <a href="#p046" title="go to p. 46">46</a>–51;</li> -<li>to bondage, III, - <a href="#p445" title="go to p. 445">445</a>–70;</li> -<li>loss of American, III, - <a href="#p473" title="go to p. 473">473</a>–4, - <a href="#p477" title="go to p. 477">477</a>, - <a href="#p478" title="go to p. 478">478</a>–9.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Free trade: -<ul> -<li>effects on industry, I, 22–3;</li> -<li>and officialism, III, - <a href="#p268" title="go to p. 268">268</a>–70;</li> -<li>and banking, III, - <a href="#p356" title="go to p. 356">356</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Friendly societies, and individualism, III, - <a href="#p433" title="go to p. 433">433</a>–4.</li> - -<li>Frog, reflex action, II, 308.</li> - -<li>Fugue, origin, I, 33.</li> - -<li>Function: -<ul> -<li>relation to growth, I, 63–4;</li> -<li>and to integration of parts, I, 73;</li> -<li>and to structure, I, 249.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Galactic circle, nebular distribution, I, 112.</li> - -<li>Galton, F., <i>English Men of Science</i>, I, 360.</li> - -<li>Ganglia (<i>see</i> Nervous System.)</li> - -<li>Gas: -<ul> -<li>heat and liquifaction, I, 164–7;</li> -<li>English enterprise, III, - <a href="#p278" title="go to p. 278">278</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Gastrula stage, of embryos, I, 452, 457.</li> - -<li>General: -<ul> -<li>Comte’s use of word, II, 20;</li> -<li>definition, II, 79.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Generalization: -<ul> -<li>universal tendency, I, 192;</li> -<li>absent in children, I, 354;</li> -<li>comparative psychology, I, 365–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Generosity, comparative psychology, I, 368.</li> - -<li>Genius: -<ul> -<li>literary style, II, 365–7;</li> -<li>non-recognition, III, - <a href="#p299" title="go to p. 299">299</a>–300.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Geology: -<ul> -<li>special creation and evolution, I, 6–7;</li> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 11–4, 14–7, 35;</li> -<li>life and multiplication of effects, I, 39–46, 49–53;</li> -<li>illogical, I, 192–240;</li> -<li>evolution of, I, 192–8;</li> -<li>Wernerian, I, 194–7;</li> -<li>Huttonian, I, 195–7;</li> -<li>age of systems, I, 198–205;</li> -<li>and paleontological evidence, I, 205–12;</li> -<li>past and present changes, I, 212–8;</li> -<li>Hugh Miller’s doctrines, I, 218–20;</li> -<li>breaks in record, I, 220–6, 226–32, 232–40;</li> -<li>original object of Geological Society, I, 241;</li> -<li>catastrophism and evolution, I, 389–90;</li> -<li>genesis, II, 60;</li> -<li>concrete science, II, 89–92;</li> -<li>terrestrial evolution, II, 95–9;</li> -<li>deals with aggregates, II, 100;</li> -<li>English map, II, 257;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Earth.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Geometry: -<ul> -<li>Comte’s classification, II, 16–21;</li> -<li>origin, II, 40, 151;</li> -<li>genesis, II, 48–50, 59;</li> -<li>genesis of trigonometry, II, 55–6;</li> -<li>interdependence of science and art, II, 69;</li> -<li>and abstract science, II, 79–80;</li> -<li>classification of sciences, II, 84;</li> -<li>the name, II, 113, 115;</li> -<li>evolution, II, 155;</li> -<li>test of necessity, II, 198–200.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Gerard, E., Hungarian music, II, 450–1.</li> - -<li>Gesticulation, and language, II, 335.</li> - -<li>Ghost: -<ul> -<li>the word misleading, I, 311;</li> -<li>outline of theory, III, - <a href="#p008" title="go to p. 8">8</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Giraffe, correlation of parts, I, 402–5.</li> - -<li>Glück, C. W. von, Handel on, II, 448.</li> - -<li>Gnomon, use, II, 53–4.</li> - -<li>God: -<ul> -<li>belief in personal, II, 223;</li> -<li>primitive ideas, III, - <a href="#p006" title="go to p. 6">6</a>–11, - <a href="#p012" title="go to p. 12">12</a>, - <a href="#p023" title="go to p. 23">23</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Gold: -<ul> -<li>digging for, and evolution, III, - <a href="#p264" title="go to p. 264">264</a>;</li> -<li>efflux of, III, - <a href="#p341" title="go to p. 341">341</a>–3;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Money.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Good, meaning of word, III, - <a href="#p202" title="go to p. 202">202</a>.</li> - -<li>Gothic, allied to vegetative style, II, 376, 377, 378.</li> - -<li>Gould, J., on colour of birds, I, 433.</li> - -<li>Gout, and heredity, II, 395.</li> - -<li>Government: -<ul> -<li>differentiation of, I, 21;</li> -<li>ideal society, II, 131–2;</li> -<li>evolution and divergence of, III, - <a href="#p022" title="go to p. 22">22</a>, - <a href="#p024" title="go to p. 24">24</a>–30, - <a href="#p050" title="go to p. 50">50</a>;</li> -<li>criminal code, III, - <a href="#p157" title="go to p. 157">157</a>;</li> -<li>what is representative government good for? III, - <a href="#p283" title="go to p. 283">283</a>–325;</li> -<li>belief in English, III, - <a href="#p284" title="go to p. 284">284</a>;</li> -<li>flaws, &c., III, - <a href="#p284" title="go to p. 284">284</a>–91;</li> -<li>selection of representatives, III, - <a href="#p291" title="go to p. 291">291</a>–300;</li> -<li>individualism and the state, III, - <a href="#p416" title="go to p. 416">416</a>–37, - <a href="#p442" title="go to p. 442">442</a>–4;</li> -<li>and food supply, III, - <a href="#p423" title="go to p. 423">423</a>–4;</li> -<li>banks, III, - <a href="#p425" title="go to p. 425">425</a>–6;</li> -<li>engineering, III, - <a href="#p427" title="go to p. 427">427</a>–8;</li> -<li>water supply, III, - <a href="#p429" title="go to p. 429">429</a>;</li> -<li>art and literature, III, - <a href="#p430" title="go to p. 430">430</a>–1;</li> -<li>and churches, III, - <a href="#p434" title="go to p. 434">434</a>;</li> -<li>charity, III, - <a href="#p434" title="go to p. 434">434</a>;</li> -<li>education, III, - <a href="#p435" title="go to p. 435">435</a>–6;</li> -<li>railways, III, - <a href="#p437" title="go to p. 437">437</a>;</li> -<li>post-office, III, - <a href="#p440" title="go to p. 440">440</a>–2;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Over-legislation.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Gracefulness, II, 381–6.</li> - -<li>Grand, the word great, II, 368.</li> - -<li>Granite: -<ul> -<li>metamorphism, I, 229;</li> -<li>at Philæ, I, 437.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Gravitation: -<ul> -<li>Newton and law of, II, 26–7;</li> -<li>discovery of laws, II, 148.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Great, and the word grand, II, 367–9.</li> - -<li>Great Western Railway: -<ul> -<li><i>versus</i> Rushout, III, - <a href="#p094" title="go to p. 94">94</a>;</li> -<li>and South Western, III, - <a href="#p097" title="go to p. 97">97</a>–8;</li> -<li>and North Western, III, - <a href="#p107" title="go to p. 107">107</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Greece: -<ul> -<li>sculpture, I, 27, 30;</li> -<li>dancing, I, 31;</li> -<li>poetry, I, 31;</li> -<li>music, I, 33;</li> -<li>architecture, II, 376, 377, 378;</li> -<li>personal beauty, II, 391–3;</li> -<li>early poems, II, 414–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Greek language: -<ul> -<li>Latin and English words, II, 367–9;</li> -<li>sociology and knowledge of, III, - <a href="#p377" title="go to p. 377">377</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Green, Prof. T. H., criticism, II, 322–32.</li> - -<li>Greenwich Hospital, funds, III, - <a href="#p398" title="go to p. 398">398</a>.</li> - -<li>Greyhounds, use and disuse in, I, 469–71.</li> - -<li>Grief, voice of, II, 405.</li> - -<li>Grocers, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p121" title="go to p. 121">121</a>–3.</li> - -<li>Grotz, A., on science and religion, II, 225.</li> - -<li>Growth: -<ul> -<li>relation to activity, I, 63–4;</li> -<li>various forms, I, 65–7;</li> -<li>social, I, 265–9, 306.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Guinea pigs, epilepsy in, I, 415–6.</li> - -<li>Guizot, M.: -<ul> -<li>social aggregation, I, 282;</li> -<li>and specialization, I, 287;</li> -<li>political machinery, III, - <a href="#p276" title="go to p. 276">276</a>, - <a href="#p399" title="go to p. 399">399</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Gulliver, L., an imaginary, on English institutions, III, - <a href="#p305" title="go to p. 305">305</a>–9.</li> - -<li>Gurney, E., on origin of music, II, 437–43.</li> - -<li>Habit (<i>see</i> Heredity.)</li> - -<li>Hair: -<ul> -<li>and political opinion, III, - <a href="#p001" title="go to p. 1">1</a>–5;</li> -<li>obeisance of offering, III, - <a href="#p021" title="go to p. 21">21</a>;</li> -<li>colour of American, III, - <a href="#p482" title="go to p. 482">482</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Hallo! intonation of, II, 407.</li> - -<li>Hamburg, currency, III, - <a href="#p339" title="go to p. 339">339</a>.</li> - -<li>Hamilton, Sir W.: -<ul> -<li>on space, II, 191–2;</li> -<li>the word belief, II, 222–3;</li> -<li>Grotz on, II, 225;</li> -<li>necessity of causation, II, 320;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Mill.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Hampstead Heath, II, 370.</li> - -<li>Hand: -<ul> -<li>the measure, II, 44;</li> -<li>ribbing of skin, I, 448;</li> -<li>rubbing together of hands, II, 402.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Handel, G. F., on Glück, II, 448.</li> - -<li>Happiness, Kant and pursuit of, III, - <a href="#p207" title="go to p. 207">207</a>–9; (<i>see also</i> Kant.)</li> - -<li>Harmony, origin of music, II, 448.</li> - -<li>Harp, strings in ancient, II, 415.</li> - -<li>Harris, Mr., on Norfolk Island convicts, III, - <a href="#p176" title="go to p. 176">176</a>.</li> - -<li>Hastings, railway service, II, 97.</li> - -<li>Hat, obeisance of removal, III, - <a href="#p020" title="go to p. 20">20</a>, - <a href="#p027" title="go to p. 27">27</a>, - <a href="#p047" title="go to p. 47">47</a>.</li> - -<li>Hayward, R. B., criticism, II, 307–14.</li> - -<li>Head: -<ul> -<li>obeisance of uncovering, III, - <a href="#p020" title="go to p. 20">20</a>;</li> -<li>putting dust on, III, - <a href="#p021" title="go to p. 21">21</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Health: -<ul> -<li>and criminality, III, - <a href="#p167" title="go to p. 167">167</a>;</li> -<li>failure of boards of, III, - <a href="#p241" title="go to p. 241">241</a>, - <a href="#p248" title="go to p. 248">248</a>, - <a href="#p290" title="go to p. 290">290</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p301" title="go to p. 301">301</a>, - <a href="#p304" title="go to p. 304">304</a>;</li> -<li>body and nerve functions, III, - <a href="#p419" title="go to p. 419">419</a>–22, - <a href="#p443" title="go to p. 443">443</a>;</li> -<li>and feeling, III, - <a href="#p481" title="go to p. 481">481</a>;</li> -<li>in America, III, - <a href="#p482" title="go to p. 482">482</a>, - <a href="#p483" title="go to p. 483">483</a>–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Heart.: -<ul> -<li>integration, I, 67;</li> -<li>disease, I, 410–11;</li> -<li>effect of emotion, II, 454, 455, 464;</li> -<li>and nervous system, III, - <a href="#p420" title="go to p. 420">420</a>–1.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Heat: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 37, 38, 39, 47, 59;</li> -<li>terrestrial effects of diminishing, I, 40–6;</li> -<li>cause of heterogeneity, I, 82;</li> -<li>nebular change, I, 118;</li> -<li>liquefaction of gases, I, 164–7;</li> -<li>terrestrial motion and paleontological evidence, I, 221–4;</li> -<li>rock metamorphism, I, 229–30, 232;</li> -<li>action on bodies, I, 436;</li> -<li>genesis of science, II, 62, 63;</li> -<li>abstract concrete science, II, 88;</li> -<li>what is thermo-electricity? II, 172–6;</li> -<li>effect on compound molecules, II, 178–80, 186;</li> -<li>insensible motion, II, 266–8, 276.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Hegel, G. W. F.: -<ul> -<li>“to philosophize on Nature,” II, 10, 11;</li> -<li>classification of sciences, II, 12–5.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Heraldry, and manners and fashion, III, - <a href="#p026" title="go to p. 26">26</a>, - <a href="#p027" title="go to p. 27">27</a>–8.</li> - -<li>Heredity: -<ul> -<li>the general law, I, 64, 103, 104;</li> -<li>organic development, I, 90–2;</li> -<li>moral sentiments, I, 338;</li> -<li>effect of sex, I, 362;</li> -<li>size of jaw, I, 397–400, 422;</li> -<li>musical faculty, I, 406–7;</li> -<li>natural selection, I, 408–12;</li> -<li>functional modifications, I, 415–7;</li> -<li>Darwin’s belief in their inheritance, I, 417–21, 422;</li> -<li>summary on use and disuse, I, 421–5;</li> -<li>also their bearing on ethics, psychology, and sociology, I, 463–5;</li> -<li>Duke of Argyll’s criticism, I, 467–78;</li> -<li>personal beauty, II, 387–99;</li> -<li>officialism, III, - <a href="#p255" title="go to p. 255">255</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Hero-worship, III, - <a href="#p317" title="go to p. 317">317</a>.</li> - -<li>Herr, the title, III, - <a href="#p014" title="go to p. 14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Herschel, Sir J.: -<ul> -<li>Magellanic clouds, I, 116–7;</li> -<li>form of nebulæ, I, 122, 124;</li> -<li>variation of terrestrial temperature, I, 222, 223;</li> -<li>complexity of elements, I, 372;</li> -<li>cause and effect, II, 306, 319.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Herschel, Sir W.: -<ul> -<li>on nebulous matter, I, 110;</li> -<li>stellar magnitude and distance, I, 115;</li> -<li>stellar genesis, I, 129;</li> -<li>solar surface, I, 185, 187.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Heterogeneity: -<ul> -<li>increase in, displayed by astronomy, I, 10–11, 35;</li> -<li>geology, I, 11–14, 35;</li> -<li>meteorology, I, 13–4, 35;</li> -<li>biology, I, 14–7, 35;</li> -<li>man, I, 17–9, 35;</li> -<li>society, I, 19–23, 35;</li> -<li>ceremony, I, 20–1;</li> -<li>religion, I, 20–3;</li> -<li>language, I, 23–6;</li> -<li>writing, I, 24–6;</li> -<li>the arts, I, 24–30;</li> -<li>poetry, music and drama, I, 30–2;</li> -<li>literature and science, I, 34–5;</li> -<li>development, I, 67;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Multiplication of Effects.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>History, measure of time, II, 45–9.</li> - -<li>Hobbes, T., commonwealth of, I, 270–2.</li> - -<li>Hodgson, S. H.: -<ul> -<li>criticism of, II, 225–34;</li> -<li>reply to Prof. Green, II, 321–2, 329.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Homogeneous: -<ul> -<li>instability of the, I, 81–4, 459–60;</li> -<li>orderly heterogeneity, I, 84–93.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Honesty: -<ul> -<li>in trade and bankruptcy, III, - <a href="#p129" title="go to p. 129">129</a>–31, - <a href="#p138" title="go to p. 138">138</a>;</li> -<li>of lower races, III, - <a href="#p194" title="go to p. 194">194</a>;</li> -<li>state tamperings with money, III, - <a href="#p326" title="go to p. 326">326</a>–35, - <a href="#p335" title="go to p. 335">335</a>–47;</li> -<li>and social grade, III, - <a href="#p359" title="go to p. 359">359</a>;</li> -<li>and officialism, III, - <a href="#p397" title="go to p. 397">397</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Hornbills, head excrescences of, I, 392.</li> - -<li>Horns, evolution of, I, 395.</li> - -<li>Horse, the phrase black, II, 340.</li> - -<li>Hoskins, G. A., on Valencia prison, III, - <a href="#p177" title="go to p. 177">177</a>–8.</li> - -<li>Huguenots, Smiles on the, I, 360.</li> - -<li>Humboldt, A. von, distribution of nebulæ, I, 113, 114, 115.</li> - -<li>Hume, D.: -<ul> -<li>subject and object, II, 329;</li> -<li>law codification, III, - <a href="#p258" title="go to p. 258">258</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Hungary, music in, II, 449.</li> - -<li>Hutton, James, geological theory, I, 195, 197.</li> - -<li>Hutton, Richard H., “a questionable parentage for morals,” I, 331–50.</li> - -<li>Huxley, T. H.: -<ul> -<li>evolution and biological heterogeneity, I, 17;</li> -<li>organic correlation, I, 96–101;</li> -<li>belief in double personality, I, 310;</li> -<li>on “Origin of Species,” I, 389–90;</li> -<li>on evolution, I, 462–3;</li> -<li>a creed fatal to science, I, 463;</li> -<li>specialized administration, III, - <a href="#p404" title="go to p. 404">404</a>–5;</li> -<li>endoderm and ectoderm, III, - <a href="#p405" title="go to p. 405">405</a>;</li> -<li>function of parliament, III, - <a href="#p417" title="go to p. 417">417</a>;</li> -<li>and altruism, III, - <a href="#p433" title="go to p. 433">433</a>;</li> -<li>administrative nihilism, III, - <a href="#p438" title="go to p. 438">438</a>, - <a href="#p442" title="go to p. 442">442</a>–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Hybrids, origin of worship, I, 320–2, 329.</li> - -<li><i>Hydra</i>, the, naval maladministration, III, - <a href="#p234" title="go to p. 234">234</a>.</li> - -<li>Hydrogen, liquefaction, I, 160.</li> - -<li>Hydrostatics, genesis, II, 57, 59.</li> - -<li><i>Hydrozoa</i>: -<ul> -<li>analogy to social organism, I, 280–3;</li> -<li>development, I, 284;</li> -<li>circulation, I, 291;</li> -<li>nervous system, III, - <a href="#p422" title="go to p. 422">422</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Hyperbola, relation to circle, I, 5.</li> - -<li><i>Hyperion</i>, verse from, II, 344.</li> - -<li>Hypoblast, embryo development, I, 452–3, 455.</li> - -<li>Hypothesis, effect on observation, II, 162–7.</li> - -<li>Ice, temperature as illustrating propositions, II, 205–8.</li> - -<li>Idealism: -<ul> -<li>reasoning of, II, 201;</li> -<li>Sidgwick’s criticism, II, 242–50.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Ideas: -<ul> -<li>relation to emotions, I, 336–8;</li> -<li>comparative psychology, I, 365–6;</li> -<li>actual and pseud-, I, 383.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Idols, worship of, III, - <a href="#p393" title="go to p. 393">393</a>.</li> - -<li>Imitativeness, comparative psychology, I, 364.</li> - -<li>Impatience, indications of, II, 402.</li> - -<li>Impulsiveness, comparative psychology, I, 357–9.</li> - -<li>Inclination, and duty, III, - <a href="#p210" title="go to p. 210">210</a>–1.</li> - -<li>Inconceivability, Mill on, II, 193–200.</li> - -<li>Incongruities, Bain on, II, 463.</li> - -<li>Incuriosity, comparative psychology, I, 364–5.</li> - -<li>Indeed! intonation of, II, 408.</li> - -<li>India: -<ul> -<li>prisons of, III, - <a href="#p189" title="go to p. 189">189</a>–91;</li> -<li>ethics in, III, - <a href="#p193" title="go to p. 193">193</a>–5;</li> -<li>failure of government, III, - <a href="#p249" title="go to p. 249">249</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Individual, and the State, III, - <a href="#p416" title="go to p. 416">416</a>–37, - <a href="#p442" title="go to p. 442">442</a>–4.</li> - -<li>Induction: -<ul> -<li>qualitative and quantitative science, II, 7;</li> -<li>electrical, II, 183.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Industrialism: -<ul> -<li>and social organism, III, - <a href="#p412" title="go to p. 412">412</a>–6;</li> -<li>development of, III, - <a href="#p459" title="go to p. 459">459</a>;</li> -<li>and unionism, III, - <a href="#p465" title="go to p. 465">465</a>;</li> -<li>in America, III, - <a href="#p487" title="go to p. 487">487</a>–92.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Industry: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 53–8;</li> -<li>effects of railways, I, 57;</li> -<li>boundaries ignored by, I, 289.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Infant: -<ul> -<li>relation to ovum, I, 6;</li> -<li>resemblance to uncivilized, I, 18.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Infusoria</i>, cell membrane, I, 441.</li> - -<li>Insanity: -<ul> -<li>and heredity, I, 416, II, 396;</li> -<li>Pentonville Prison, III, - <a href="#p162" title="go to p. 162">162</a>;</li> -<li>and life, III, - <a href="#p164" title="go to p. 164">164</a>;</li> -<li>and bodily functions, III, - <a href="#p419" title="go to p. 419">419</a>–20.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Insects: -<ul> -<li>temperature, I, 75;</li> -<li>self-mobility, I, 76;</li> -<li>mimicry, I, 396;</li> -<li>colours of, I, 433;</li> -<li>metamorphosis, III, - <a href="#p410" title="go to p. 410">410</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Intaglio, increase of heterogeneity, I, 26.</li> - -<li>Integration: -<ul> -<li>longitudinal and tranverse, I, 67–73;</li> -<li>relation to function, I, 73;</li> -<li>sociological, I, 102–7.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Intellect, effect of emotion, II, 465.</li> - -<li>Intelligence: -<ul> -<li>relation to sexual sentiment, I, 363–4;</li> -<li>and authority, III, - <a href="#p311" title="go to p. 311">311</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Intonation, origin in churches, II, 416.</li> - -<li>Invagination, Balfour on, I, 452.</li> - -<li>Involution, and evolution, I, 380.</li> - -<li>Ireland: -<ul> -<li>prison discipline, III, - <a href="#p174" title="go to p. 174">174</a>;</li> -<li>and bad legislation, III, - <a href="#p275" title="go to p. 275">275</a>;</li> -<li>currency in, III, - <a href="#p337" title="go to p. 337">337</a>, - <a href="#p344" title="go to p. 344">344</a>–5;</li> -<li>bank of, III, - <a href="#p348" title="go to p. 348">348</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Irish elk, correlation of parts, I, 402.</li> - -<li>Iron: -<ul> -<li>analogy from cutting, I, 97–8;</li> -<li>industry and locality, I, 104;</li> -<li>complexity of, I, 373.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Isomerism: -<ul> -<li>complexity of elements, I, 155;</li> -<li>evolution of life, I, 374–5.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Italy, language, II, 423.</li> - -<li>Jam, association of ideas, I, 337.</li> - -<li>Jaw: -<ul> -<li>personal beauty, II, 389–90, 391;</li> -<li>size, I, 397–400, 473;</li> -<li>size of teeth, I, 401;</li> -<li>drooping from excitement, II, 464.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Joint-stock companies: -<ul> -<li>history, III, - <a href="#p052" title="go to p. 52">52</a>, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>failure of Act, III, - <a href="#p241" title="go to p. 241">241</a>;</li> -<li>importance of, III, - <a href="#p257" title="go to p. 257">257</a>;</li> -<li>maladministration, III, - <a href="#p286" title="go to p. 286">286</a>;</li> -<li>banking, III, - <a href="#p347" title="go to p. 347">347</a>–54;</li> -<li>regulative system, III, - <a href="#p463" title="go to p. 463">463</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Jupiter: -<ul> -<li>rotatory movement, I, 135, 136;</li> -<li>motion of satellites, I, 137, 141–2;</li> -<li>number of satellites, I, 139–40;</li> -<li>density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52;</li> -<li>size, I, 145;</li> -<li>luminosity, I, 150;</li> -<li>orbit, I, 169.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Juries, bribery of, III, - <a href="#p396" title="go to p. 396">396</a>.</li> - -<li>Justice: -<ul> -<li>re-representative sentiment, I, 263;</li> -<li>development of sympathy, I, 347–50;</li> -<li>comparative psychology, I, 368;</li> -<li>and equity, II, 52;</li> -<li>and prison ethics, III, - <a href="#p165" title="go to p. 165">165</a>, - <a href="#p167" title="go to p. 167">167</a>, - <a href="#p180" title="go to p. 180">180</a>, - <a href="#p181" title="go to p. 181">181</a>;</li> -<li>political ethics, III, - <a href="#p225" title="go to p. 225">225</a>, - <a href="#p228" title="go to p. 228">228</a>;</li> -<li>faulty administration, III, - <a href="#p232" title="go to p. 232">232</a>, - <a href="#p235" title="go to p. 235">235</a>;</li> -<li>over-legislation, III, - <a href="#p272" title="go to p. 272">272</a>;</li> -<li>and representative government, III, - <a href="#p317" title="go to p. 317">317</a>–23, - <a href="#p324" title="go to p. 324">324</a>, - <a href="#p380" title="go to p. 380">380</a>;</li> -<li>duty of state, III, - <a href="#p334" title="go to p. 334">334</a>;</li> -<li>and officialism, III, - <a href="#p395" title="go to p. 395">395</a>–400;</li> -<li>needful to society, III, - <a href="#p469" title="go to p. 469">469</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Kames, Lord, arrangement of sentences, II, 343.</li> - -<li>Kant, I.: -<ul> -<li>forms of thought, II, 77;</li> -<li>space and time, II, 226–7, 229–32, III, - <a href="#p197" title="go to p. 197">197</a>–9;</li> -<li>form and matter, II, 230–1, 232;</li> -<li>and experientialism, II, 234–5;</li> -<li>Max Müller on Spencer and, II, 235–8;</li> -<li>Spencer’s disagreement from, II, 238;</li> -<li>ethics, III, - <a href="#p192" title="go to p. 192">192</a>–216;</li> -<li>on lower races, III, - <a href="#p192" title="go to p. 192">192</a>–5;</li> -<li>examples of unaided perception, III, - <a href="#p195" title="go to p. 195">195</a>–7;</li> -<li>reasoning of, III, - <a href="#p199" title="go to p. 199">199</a>–203;</li> -<li>space, III, - <a href="#p203" title="go to p. 203">203</a>, - <a href="#p207" title="go to p. 207">207</a>;</li> -<li>on good will, III, - <a href="#p201" title="go to p. 201">201</a>–3, - <a href="#p207" title="go to p. 207">207</a>;</li> -<li>and evolution, III, - <a href="#p203" title="go to p. 203">203</a>–6, - <a href="#p207" title="go to p. 207">207</a>;</li> -<li>Carus on ethics, III, - <a href="#p206" title="go to p. 206">206</a>–7;</li> -<li>pursuit of happiness, III, - <a href="#p207" title="go to p. 207">207</a>–9;</li> -<li>duty and inclination, III, - <a href="#p209" title="go to p. 209">209</a>–13;</li> -<li>ethical principles, III, - <a href="#p213" title="go to p. 213">213</a>–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Kent, W. S., on <i>infusoria</i>, I, 440.</li> - -<li>Kepler, J: -<ul> -<li>laws of, I, 36;</li> -<li>belief in planetary spirits, I, 108;</li> -<li>solar theory, I, 193.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Kid, laughter caused by, II, 461–2.</li> - -<li>Kirchhoff, solar spots, I, 187.</li> - -<li>Kissing, obeisance of, III, - <a href="#p018" title="go to p. 18">18</a>.</li> - -<li>Kneeling, obeisance of, III, - <a href="#p019" title="go to p. 19">19</a>.</li> - -<li>Knight, the title, III, - <a href="#p015" title="go to p. 15">15</a>, - <a href="#p028" title="go to p. 28">28</a>.</li> - -<li>Knowledge: -<ul> -<li>common and scientific, II, 1–8, 29;</li> -<li>dependent on experience, II, 122;</li> -<li>relativity, II, 122, 220–1;</li> -<li>and word belief, II, 188–91;</li> -<li>Quarterly Reviewer on, II, 260;</li> -<li>and reasoning, III, - <a href="#p199" title="go to p. 199">199</a>, - <a href="#p201" title="go to p. 201">201</a>;</li> -<li>and political ethics, III, - <a href="#p225" title="go to p. 225">225</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Labour: -<ul> -<li>division of, I, 19–23, 283–91;</li> -<li>right to, III, - <a href="#p466" title="go to p. 466">466</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Lady, the title, III, - <a href="#p014" title="go to p. 14">14</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Lady of the Lake</i>, quoted, II, 351.</li> - -<li>Laing, Mr., on railway construction, III, - <a href="#p105" title="go to p. 105">105</a>–6.</li> - -<li>Lamarck, J. B. P. A. de M., organic evolution, I, 390–1, 397.</li> - -<li>Lancashire: -<ul> -<li>cotton industry, I, 266;</li> -<li>effect of railway competition, III, - <a href="#p097" title="go to p. 97">97</a>, - <a href="#p106" title="go to p. 106">106</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Landowners, railway policy, III, - <a href="#p063" title="go to p. 63">63</a>–7.</li> - -<li>Landscape, appreciation of, I, 335–6.</li> - -<li>Language: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 23–6, II, 366–7;</li> -<li>belief in spirits, I, 311–2;</li> -<li>poverty of Australian, I, 315;</li> -<li>precedence of concrete nouns, I, 323;</li> -<li>comparative psychology, I, 365–6;</li> -<li>classification, II, 31–3, 34, 40;</li> -<li>Saxon words, II, 336–8;</li> -<li>under excitement, and poetry, II, 357–61;</li> -<li>emotional waste and repair, II, 361–7;</li> -<li>Latin, Greek, and old English, II, 367–9;</li> -<li>duality and development, II, 421–3;</li> -<li>sociology and knowledge, III, - <a href="#p302" title="go to p. 302">302</a>;</li> -<li>of subordination, III, - <a href="#p312" title="go to p. 312">312</a>;</li> -<li>evolution, III, - <a href="#p402" title="go to p. 402">402</a>–3.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Lankester, Prof. E. Ray, on heredity, I, 476.</li> - -<li>Laplace, P. S. Marquis de: -<ul> -<li>genesis and structure of solar system, I, 128–9, 130, 131;</li> -<li>planetary axial movements, I, 132–6;</li> -<li>lunar axial motion, I, 141;</li> -<li>motion of satellites, I, 142;</li> -<li>planetoids, I, 168, 174, 178.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Latham, R. G., on grammar, II, 333.</li> - -<li>Latin, Greek and English words, II, 367–9.</li> - -<li>Laugel, M., on <i>First Principles</i>, II, 118.</li> - -<li>Laughter, physiology of, II, 452–66.</li> - -<li>Law: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 37;</li> -<li>genesis of science, II, 51;</li> -<li>belief in natural, II, 123;</li> -<li>conditions affecting discovery, II, 145–8, 148–50;</li> -<li>evolution of sciences, II, 150–7;</li> -<li>prospective, II, 157–9;</li> -<li>universality of, II, 159–60;</li> -<li>religion and manners, III, - <a href="#p004" title="go to p. 4">4</a>, - <a href="#p023" title="go to p. 23">23</a>;</li> -<li>and morality, III, - <a href="#p010" title="go to p. 10">10</a>–11, - <a href="#p023" title="go to p. 23">23</a>, - <a href="#p050" title="go to p. 50">50</a>;</li> -<li>for primitive man, III, - <a href="#p024" title="go to p. 24">24</a>;</li> -<li>officialism and reform, III, - <a href="#p252" title="go to p. 252">252</a>, - <a href="#p258" title="go to p. 258">258</a>–9;</li> -<li>and over-legislation, III, - <a href="#p272" title="go to p. 272">272</a>;</li> -<li>legal verbiage, III, - <a href="#p273" title="go to p. 273">273</a>;</li> -<li>cost, III, - <a href="#p308" title="go to p. 308">308</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p317" title="go to p. 317">317</a>–23;</li> -<li>knowledge of, and parliamentary reform, III, - <a href="#p375" title="go to p. 375">375</a>–9;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Over-legislation.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Lawyers: -<ul> -<li>and railways, III, - <a href="#p067" title="go to p. 67">67</a>–72, - <a href="#p083" title="go to p. 83">83</a>, - <a href="#p088" title="go to p. 88">88</a>, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>in parliament, III, - <a href="#p298" title="go to p. 298">298</a>, - <a href="#p303" title="go to p. 303">303</a>, - <a href="#p304" title="go to p. 304">304</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Leather, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p123" title="go to p. 123">123</a>.</li> - -<li>Leaves, cells in, I, 446.</li> - -<li>Legislation, and social growth, I, 265–9; (<i>see also</i> Over-legislation.)</li> - -<li>Length, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p118" title="go to p. 118">118</a>–9.</li> - -<li>Lepchas, ethics, III, - <a href="#p193" title="go to p. 193">193</a>, - <a href="#p194" title="go to p. 194">194</a>.</li> - -<li>Liability (<i>see</i> Banks <i>and</i> Joint-Stock Companies).</li> - -<li>Liberalism, behaviour of party, III, - <a href="#p464" title="go to p. 464">464</a>.</li> - -<li>Liberty: -<ul> -<li>French idea of, II, 343;</li> -<li>traits of reform, III, - <a href="#p030" title="go to p. 30">30</a>–6;</li> -<li>social use, III, - <a href="#p046" title="go to p. 46">46</a>–51;</li> -<li>degree of, for people, III, - <a href="#p381" title="go to p. 381">381</a>;</li> -<li>in America, III, - <a href="#p473" title="go to p. 473">473</a>–4, - <a href="#p477" title="go to p. 477">477</a>, - <a href="#p478" title="go to p. 478">478</a>–9.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Libraries, free, III, - <a href="#p370" title="go to p. 370">370</a>.</li> - -<li>Licensing law, failure, III, - <a href="#p244" title="go to p. 244">244</a>.</li> - -<li>Liebig, J. von, analogy from blood corpuscles, I, 293–4.</li> - -<li>Life: -<ul> -<li>evolution from not-life, I, 374–5;</li> -<li>plants and animals indistinguishable, I, 375–6;</li> -<li>evolution of mind, I, 376–8;</li> -<li>survival and degree of, I, 405–8, 421;</li> -<li>evolution and action of medium, I, 458–60, 460–2;</li> -<li>primitive ideas of, III, - <a href="#p006" title="go to p. 6">6</a>–11;</li> -<li>maintenance and prison ethics, III, - <a href="#p163" title="go to p. 163">163</a>–71;</li> -<li>failure of assurance act, III, - <a href="#p241" title="go to p. 241">241</a>–2;</li> -<li>sociology and knowledge of, III, - <a href="#p304" title="go to p. 304">304</a>;</li> -<li>and pleasure, III, - <a href="#p315" title="go to p. 315">315</a>;</li> -<li>and sociology, III, - <a href="#p325" title="go to p. 325">325</a>;</li> -<li>increase in longevity, III, - <a href="#p447" title="go to p. 447">447</a>;</li> -<li>Mill and Spencer on, III, - <a href="#p485" title="go to p. 485">485</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Life Drama</i>, quoted, II, 351, 353.</li> - -<li>Light: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 37, 38, 39, 59;</li> -<li>action on bodies, I, 436;</li> -<li>and on protoplasm, I, 465–6;</li> -<li>genesis of science, II, 61;</li> -<li>polarization, II, 63;</li> -<li>effect on molecules, II, 178;</li> -<li>perception of white, III, - <a href="#p196" title="go to p. 196">196</a>;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Optics).</li></ul></li> - -<li>Likeness: -<ul> -<li>of classification, II, 29–31, 34;</li> -<li>of language, II, 31–3, 34;</li> -<li>of reasoning, II, 33–4;</li> -<li>of art, II, 34;</li> -<li>relation to equality, II, 35–7.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Lindsay, W. S.</i>, Admiralty certificate, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>.</li> - -<li>Literature: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 34–5;</li> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 57;</li> -<li>use and beauty, II, 371;</li> -<li>contrast in, II, 373–4;</li> -<li>popularity of authors, III, - <a href="#p299" title="go to p. 299">299</a>–300;</li> -<li>and sociology, III, - <a href="#p376" title="go to p. 376">376</a>–7;</li> -<li>English and continental, III, - <a href="#p430" title="go to p. 430">430</a>–1.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Littré, E., on Comte’s classification, II, 74–6, 81–3.</li> - -<li>Liver: -<ul> -<li>development, I, 106;</li> -<li>use and disuse, I, 419.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Liverpool, and Manchester railway, III, - <a href="#p063" title="go to p. 63">63</a>, - <a href="#p266" title="go to p. 266">266</a>.</li> - -<li>Liverworts, cells in, I, 446.</li> - -<li>Locke, J.: -<ul> -<li>and experientialism, II, 234–5;</li> -<li>and evolution, II, 237.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Locomotive engine: -<ul> -<li>effects of, I, 56–8;</li> -<li>balance weight, II, 383.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Logic: -<ul> -<li>Hegel’s classification, II, 12–5;</li> -<li>implies equality, II, 40;</li> -<li>abstract science, II, 77, 81–5;</li> -<li>terrestrial evolution, II, 99;</li> -<li>Bain on relation to psychology, II, 105–6;</li> -<li>Sidgwick’s criticism, II, 241;</li> -<li>Tristram Shandy on, II, 333.</li></ul></li> - -<li>London: -<ul> -<li>and Birmingham railway, III, - <a href="#p063" title="go to p. 63">63</a>;</li> -<li>New River to, III, - <a href="#p257" title="go to p. 257">257</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p289" title="go to p. 289">289</a>;</li> -<li>water supply, III, - <a href="#p429" title="go to p. 429">429</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Lord, the title, III, - <a href="#p012" title="go to p. 12">12</a>–5, - <a href="#p021" title="go to p. 21">21</a>.</li> - -<li>Love: -<ul> -<li>Darwin and origin of music, II, 426–37;</li> -<li>also Gurney, II, 437–43.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Loyalty, and social state, III, - <a href="#p312" title="go to p. 312">312</a>.</li> - -<li>Lubbock, Sir John: -<ul> -<li>derivation of tribal names, I, 314;</li> -<li><i>Origin of Civilization</i>, I, 331;</li> -<li>conscience of lower races, III, - <a href="#p192" title="go to p. 192">192</a>–3;</li> -<li>banker’s clearing house, III, - <a href="#p425" title="go to p. 425">425</a>–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Lungs: -<ul> -<li>development, I, 67, 106;</li> -<li>use and disuse, I, 419;</li> -<li>relation to voice, II, 404–5.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Lyell, Sir C.: -<ul> -<li>age of rocks, I, 204;</li> -<li>paleontological evidence, I, 205, 208–12;</li> -<li>geological hiatus, I, 220–1;</li> -<li>uniformitarianism and geological record, I, 227, 229.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Lyre, increase in heterogeneity, I, 32, II, 415.</li> - -<li>Machine, and organism, III, - <a href="#p456" title="go to p. 456">456</a>–8.</li> - -<li>Machinery, disliked by labourers, III, - <a href="#p362" title="go to p. 362">362</a>, - <a href="#p376" title="go to p. 376">376</a>.</li> - -<li>Macaulay, Lord, on Post-office, III, - <a href="#p441" title="go to p. 441">441</a>.</li> - -<li>Mackintosh, Sir J., on constitutions, I, 265, 269.</li> - -<li>MacLennan, J. F., plant and animal worship, I, 308–9, 320.</li> - -<li>Maconochie, Captain, “mark” prison system, III, - <a href="#p175" title="go to p. 175">175</a>–7.</li> - -<li>Madam, the title, II, 14, 26.</li> - -<li>Magellanic clouds, Sir J. Herschel on, I, 116–7.</li> - -<li>Magnetism, abstract concrete science, II, 88.</li> - -<li>Magnificent, and the word grand, II, 367–9.</li> - -<li>Magnitudes, relation of thought, II, 252–3.</li> - -<li>Maize, transformation of, I, 434.</li> - -<li>Majority, right of, III, - <a href="#p089" title="go to p. 89">89</a>, - <a href="#p094" title="go to p. 94">94</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Mammalia</i>: -<ul> -<li>evolution and heterogeneity, I, 15–7;</li> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 17–9;</li> -<li>temperature, I, 75, 76;</li> -<li>self-mobility, I, 76;</li> -<li>organic correlation, I, 97;</li> -<li>paleontological remains, I, 227, 238, 240;</li> -<li>imitation of evolution, II, 438.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mammary glands, evolution, I, 395.</li> - -<li>Man: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 17–9, 35;</li> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 52–3;</li> -<li>traits of primitive, III, - <a href="#p024" title="go to p. 24">24</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Manchester, electors in, III, - <a href="#p385" title="go to p. 385">385</a>.</li> - -<li>Manners: -<ul> -<li>and fashion, III, - <a href="#p001" title="go to p. 1">1</a>–51;</li> -<li>evolution of ceremonies, III, - <a href="#p011" title="go to p. 11">11</a>–6, - <a href="#p023" title="go to p. 23">23</a>, - <a href="#p050" title="go to p. 50">50</a>;</li> -<li>origin, III, - <a href="#p028" title="go to p. 28">28</a>;</li> -<li>Swift on, III, - <a href="#p044" title="go to p. 44">44</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mansel, Dean H. L.: -<ul> -<li>criticism, II, 221–5;</li> -<li>Grotz on, II, 225.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Marchantia</i>, cells in, I, 446.</li> - -<li><i>Mariana</i>, quoted, II, 356.</li> - -<li><i>Marmion</i>, quoted, II, 343.</li> - -<li>Mars: -<ul> -<li>rotatory motion, I, 135, 136;</li> -<li>number of satellites, I, 139–40;</li> -<li>and motion, I, 142;</li> -<li>density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Marsupialia</i>, integration, I, 69–70.</li> - -<li>Martineau, Rev. J.: -<ul> -<li>on evolution, I, 371–88;</li> -<li>criticism, II, 250–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Master, the title, III, - <a href="#p015" title="go to p. 15">15</a>, - <a href="#p016" title="go to p. 16">16</a>.</li> - -<li>Materialism, and evolution, I, 386–8.</li> - -<li>Mathematics: -<ul> -<li>things learnt, II, 1;</li> -<li>Oken on, II, 10–11;</li> -<li>Comte’s classification, II, 16–21;</li> -<li>implies equality, II, 40;</li> -<li>genesis, II, 48–50;</li> -<li>abstract science, II, 77, 84–5;</li> -<li>terrestrial evolution, II, 99;</li> -<li>deals with relations, II, 102, 103;</li> -<li>Bain on nature of, II, 105–6;</li> -<li>origin, II, 151;</li> -<li>evolution, II, 156;</li> -<li>ultimate truths, II, 283;</li> -<li>exact science, III, - <a href="#p199" title="go to p. 199">199</a>–200;</li> -<li>and political ethics, III, - <a href="#p225" title="go to p. 225">225</a>;</li> -<li>mental development, III, - <a href="#p255" title="go to p. 255">255</a>;</li> -<li>and sociology, III, - <a href="#p303" title="go to p. 303">303</a>, - <a href="#p305" title="go to p. 305">305</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Matter: -<ul> -<li>discovery of laws, II, 148;</li> -<li>inscrutable, II, 247;</li> -<li>Martineau’s criticism, II, 257;</li> -<li>properties, II, 277, 315–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mayer, J., as physicist, II, 269, 314.</li> - -<li>Measurement: -<ul> -<li>origin of weight, II, 43–5;</li> -<li>of time, II, 45–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mechanics: -<ul> -<li>Comte’s classification, II, 19;</li> -<li>genesis, II, 50, 56, 59;</li> -<li>abstract concrete science, II, 85–8,101;</li> -<li>terrestrial evolution, II, 97;</li> -<li>Bain on science classification, II, 112;</li> -<li>science classification, II, 117;</li> -<li>origin, II, 151;</li> -<li>evolution, II, 155, 156;</li> -<li>real and ideal, III, - <a href="#p222" title="go to p. 222">222</a>–3.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mechanics’ Institutes, representative government, III, - <a href="#p286" title="go to p. 286">286</a>.</li> - -<li>Medicine, association of ideas, I, 337.</li> - -<li><i>Medusa</i>, vascular system, I, 79.</li> - -<li><i>Megœra</i>, naval maladministration, III, - <a href="#p234" title="go to p. 234">234</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Melbourne</i>, the, and Admiralty certificate, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>.</li> - -<li>Memory: -<ul> -<li>and test of truth, II, 215;</li> -<li>and emotion, II, 465.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mendelejeff, D., complexity of elements, I, 155.</li> - -<li>Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, F., character, II, 417.</li> - -<li>Mercantile Marine Act, failure of, III, - <a href="#p260" title="go to p. 260">260</a>, - <a href="#p276" title="go to p. 276">276</a>, - <a href="#p295" title="go to p. 295">295</a>.</li> - -<li>Mercury: -<ul> -<li>rotatory movement, I, 135, 136;</li> -<li>number of satellites, I, 139;</li> -<li>density, I, 144;</li> -<li>density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mesoblast, embryo development, I, 453, 455.</li> - -<li>Metallurgy, genesis, II, 51.</li> - -<li>Metamorphic rocks, age, I, 198.</li> - -<li>Metamorphosis, universal, III, - <a href="#p458" title="go to p. 458">458</a>–60.</li> - -<li>Metaphor, and simile, II, 352–4.</li> - -<li>Metaphysics: -<ul> -<li>Comte on, II, 123;</li> -<li>reasoning of, II, 201–5;</li> -<li>relation to physics, II, 268.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Metaphyta</i>, origin, I, 444.</li> - -<li><i>Metazoa</i>: -<ul> -<li>origin, I, 444;</li> -<li>embryo development, I, 451–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Meteorology: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity of climates, I, 13–4, 35;</li> -<li>effect of American subsidence, I, 43;</li> -<li>concrete science, II, 92.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Meteors: -<ul> -<li>constitution of comets, I, 127;</li> -<li>origin, I, 174–7.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Metonymy, effectiveness, II, 350.</li> - -<li>Mettray, reformatory, III, - <a href="#p173" title="go to p. 173">173</a>.</li> - -<li>Militancy: -<ul> -<li>political ethics, III, - <a href="#p227" title="go to p. 227">227</a>–8;</li> -<li>and industrialism, III, - <a href="#p416" title="go to p. 416">416</a>;</li> -<li>in America, III, - <a href="#p484" title="go to p. 484">484</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Milky way, distribution of nebulæ, I, 112.</li> - -<li>Mill, J. S.: -<ul> -<li>letter on morals to, I, 333;</li> -<li>classification of science, II, 114;</li> -<li>on Comte’s philosophy, II, 143;</li> -<li>on Hamilton and word belief, II, 188–91;</li> -<li>noumenal existence, II, 191–2;</li> -<li>inconceivable and unbelievable, II, 193–200;</li> -<li>test of necessity, II, 196;</li> -<li>general agreement with, II, 217;</li> -<li>on the State and banks, III, - <a href="#p348" title="go to p. 348">348</a>, - <a href="#p357" title="go to p. 357">357</a>;</li> -<li>on life, III, - <a href="#p485" title="go to p. 485">485</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Miller, Hugh: -<ul> -<li>life and doctrines, I, 218–20;</li> -<li>terrestrial life, I, 220.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mimicry: -<ul> -<li>of savages, I, 364;</li> -<li>evolution, I, 396.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mineralogy, and classification, II, 64, 92, 108.</li> - -<li>Mind (<i>see</i> Psychology.)</li> - -<li>Missionaries, development, III, - <a href="#p458" title="go to p. 458">458</a>–9.</li> - -<li>Mivart, Prof. St. George, genesis of species, I, 332.</li> - -<li>Mole, pelvis in, I, 97.</li> - -<li>Molecules, mutual action and electricity, II, 178–84, 184–7.</li> - -<li>Molesworth, Sir W., on buildings acts, III, - <a href="#p240" title="go to p. 240">240</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Mollusca</i>: -<ul> -<li>great age of, I, 217;</li> -<li>circulation, I, 296.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Molluscoida</i>, social analogy, I, 281.</li> - -<li><i>Monaclinæ</i>, cell membrane, I, 440.</li> - -<li>Monarchy, and representative government, III, - <a href="#p309" title="go to p. 309">309</a>–10, - <a href="#p310" title="go to p. 310">310</a>–7, - <a href="#p317" title="go to p. 317">317</a>–23.</li> - -<li>Money: -<ul> -<li>analogy to blood corpuscles, I, 293–4;</li> -<li>trading with bad, III, - <a href="#p141" title="go to p. 141">141</a>;</li> -<li>state tamperings with, III, - <a href="#p326" title="go to p. 326">326</a>–57;</li> -<li>and joint-stock banks, III, - <a href="#p347" title="go to p. 347">347</a>–54;</li> -<li>and free trade, III, - <a href="#p355" title="go to p. 355">355</a>–7; anomaly</li> -<li>of interest, III, - <a href="#p401" title="go to p. 401">401</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Monkeys, origin of music, II, 432.</li> - -<li><i>Monotremata</i>, integration, I, 69–70.</li> - -<li>Monsieur, the title, III, - <a href="#p014" title="go to p. 14">14</a>, - <a href="#p015" title="go to p. 15">15</a>.</li> - -<li>Montesinos, Captain, prison discipline, III, - <a href="#p177" title="go to p. 177">177</a>–8.</li> - -<li>Month, measure of time, II, 45–9.</li> - -<li>Moon: -<ul> -<li>axial motion, I, 141;</li> -<li>heat and contraction, I, 149;</li> -<li>as name, I, 317, 327.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Moquin-Tandon, A., plant leaves, I, 433.</li> - -<li>Morality: -<ul> -<li><i>Quarterly Review</i> criticism, II, 259–65;</li> -<li>and law, III, - <a href="#p010" title="go to p. 10">10</a>–11, - <a href="#p023" title="go to p. 23">23</a>, - <a href="#p050" title="go to p. 50">50</a>;</li> -<li>and awe of authority, III, - <a href="#p311" title="go to p. 311">311</a>;</li> -<li>average social, III, - <a href="#p359" title="go to p. 359">359</a>, - <a href="#p360" title="go to p. 360">360</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Morals: -<ul> -<li>and moral sentiments, I, 331–50;</li> -<li>parentage of, I, 331–4, 334–50;</li> -<li>the science of right conduct, I, 333;</li> -<li>relation to expediency, I, 333;</li> -<li>prospect, III, - <a href="#p030" title="go to p. 30">30</a>, - <a href="#p051" title="go to p. 51">51</a>;</li> -<li>average of, and trade, III, - <a href="#p137" title="go to p. 137">137</a>–40.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Moray, Sir R., on Barnacle geese, II, 162.</li> - -<li>Mosses, cell membrane, I, 439.</li> - -<li>Motion: -<ul> -<li>of animals and plants, I, 75, 76;</li> -<li>discovery of laws, II, 148;</li> -<li>implies thing moving, II, 205–6, 207;</li> -<li>inscrutable, II, 247;</li> -<li>insensible forms, II, 266, 276;</li> -<li>Tait on laws of, II, 271–5;</li> -<li>Spencer on laws of, II, 297–320;</li> -<li>axioms and laws of, II, 298–301, 315–20;</li> -<li>relation to force, II, 310–4;</li> -<li>and gracefulness, II, 381–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mouat, Dr. F. J., on prisons, III, - <a href="#p189" title="go to p. 189">189</a>–91.</li> - -<li>Moulton, J. F., <i>British Quarterly Review</i>, II, 307.</li> - -<li>Mountains: -<ul> -<li>age and altitude, I, 13;</li> -<li>formation, I, 40;</li> -<li>as name, I, 318.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mozart, J. C. W. T.: -<ul> -<li>heredity, I, 406;</li> -<li>character, II, 417;</li> -<li><i>Addio</i> of, II, 447.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Mucous membrane, effect of surroundings, I, 449, 450.</li> - -<li>Müller, F. Max: -<ul> -<li>misinterpretation of names, I, 315, 327;</li> -<li>on abstract nouns, I, 323, 324;</li> -<li>criticism, II, 235–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Multiplication, various forms, I, 65–7.</li> - -<li>Multiplication of effects: -<ul> -<li>general, I, 35–8;</li> -<li>astronomy, I, 38–9;</li> -<li>geology, I, 39–46;</li> -<li>biology, I, 46–53;</li> -<li>sociology, I, 53–8;</li> -<li>science, literature and art, I, 59.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Munich, prison, III, - <a href="#p171" title="go to p. 171">171</a>–3</li> - -<li>Murchison, Sir R.: -<ul> -<li>Silurian system, I, 199, 231;</li> -<li>paleontological evidence, I, 206;</li> -<li>azoic rocks, I, 228.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Murder, social co-operation, III, - <a href="#p217" title="go to p. 217">217</a>–20, - <a href="#p224" title="go to p. 224">224</a>.</li> - -<li>Muscle: -<ul> -<li>waste and repair, I, 362;</li> -<li>evolution, I, 396;</li> -<li>size of jaws, I, 398–400, 422;</li> -<li>origin of music, II, 403–4;</li> -<li>nervous system and action of, II, 453–8;</li> -<li>laughter and action of, II, 458–64.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Music: -<ul> -<li>origin, I, 30–1;</li> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, 31–4;</li> -<li>comparative psychology, I, 366;</li> -<li>development of faculty, I, 406–7;</li> -<li>Kantian ideas of space, II, 227;</li> -<li>contrast in, II, 373;</li> -<li>origin and function, II, 400–51;</li> -<li>originally vocal, II, 403–4;</li> -<li>feelings and loudness of voice, II, 404, 410;</li> -<li>and timbre, II, 405, 411;</li> -<li>pitch, II, 406, 411;</li> -<li>intervals, II, 406–9, 411;</li> -<li>variability of pitch, II, 409, 411;</li> -<li>tremolo, staccato, and slur, II, 412;</li> -<li>time in, II, 412–3;</li> -<li>slow divergence from speech, II, 414–8;</li> -<li>indirect evidence of theory, II, 418–20;</li> -<li>function, II, 420–4;</li> -<li>relation to sympathy, II, 424–6;</li> -<li>Darwin on origin, II, 426–37;</li> -<li>of lowest tribes, II, 433–7;</li> -<li>Gurney on origin, II, 437–43;</li> -<li>evolution of scales, II, 440–1;</li> -<li>sensational effects, II, 443–4;</li> -<li>perceptional, II, 445–7;</li> -<li>emotional, II, 447;</li> -<li>harmony, II, 448;</li> -<li>counterpoint, II, 448;</li> -<li>and evolution, II, 448–9;</li> -<li>Hungarian, II, 449–51;</li> -<li>and social intercourse, III, - <a href="#p041" title="go to p. 41">41</a>, - <a href="#p042" title="go to p. 42">42</a>;</li> -<li>sensation of sound, III, - <a href="#p197" title="go to p. 197">197</a>;</li> -<li>indirect effects, III, - <a href="#p245" title="go to p. 245">245</a>;</li> -<li>free, III, - <a href="#p370" title="go to p. 370">370</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Myddelton, Sir Hugh, New River, III, - <a href="#p257" title="go to p. 257">257</a>, - <a href="#p429" title="go to p. 429">429</a>.</li> - -<li>Mythology, primitive, III, - <a href="#p006" title="go to p. 6">6</a>–11.</li> - -<li>Myths, origin of animal worship, I, 322–8.</li> - -<li>Nails, heredity and negro blood, II, 396.</li> - -<li>Names: -<ul> -<li>origin of animal worship, I, 311–7, 317–20, 328;</li> -<li>of hybrids, I, 320–2;</li> -<li>misinterpretation of nicknames, I, 325–8, 328–30;</li> -<li>classification, II, 31–3, 34, 40;</li> -<li>and evolution of ceremonies, III, - <a href="#p011" title="go to p. 11">11</a>–6, - <a href="#p023" title="go to p. 23">23</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Napoleon I., and his marshals, III, - <a href="#p309" title="go to p. 309">309</a>.</li> - -<li>Natural selection: -<ul> -<li>essay on progress, I. 53;</li> -<li>the phrase, I, 428–30;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Survival of the fittest).</li></ul></li> - -<li>Navy: -<ul> -<li>maladministration, III, - <a href="#p233" title="go to p. 233">233</a>–4, - <a href="#p247" title="go to p. 247">247</a>, - <a href="#p248" title="go to p. 248">248</a>, - <a href="#p249" title="go to p. 249">249</a>, - <a href="#p251" title="go to p. 251">251</a>, - <a href="#p252" title="go to p. 252">252</a>, - <a href="#p399" title="go to p. 399">399</a>;</li> -<li>officers in parliament, III, - <a href="#p297" title="go to p. 297">297</a>, - <a href="#p304" title="go to p. 304">304</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Naylor, Rev. B., on Norfolk Island convicts, III, - <a href="#p176" title="go to p. 176">176</a>.</li> - -<li>Nebulæ: -<ul> -<li>appearance, I, 118–25;</li> -<li>Sir J. Herschel on regular and irregular, I, 122;</li> -<li>origin, direction and constitution of comets, I, 125–8, 153;</li> -<li>origin, I, 153.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Nebular hypothesis: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 10–11;</li> -<li>discoveries of Herschel and Rosse, I, 110–2;</li> -<li>and ultimate mystery, I, 154;</li> -<li>evolution of heat and condensation, I, 159–63;</li> -<li>essay on, I, 108–84;</li> -<li>distance and distribution, I, 112–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Necessity, Mill on test of, II, 196–200.</li> - -<li>Negro, heredity and nails, II, 396.</li> - -<li>Neptune: -<ul> -<li>axial motion, I, 133–6;</li> -<li>density, I, 144;</li> -<li>heat, I, 144–8, 148–52.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Nervous system: -<ul> -<li>of savage and civilized, I, 18;</li> -<li>integration, I, 68–71;</li> -<li>analogous to government, I, 299–307;</li> -<li>development from epidermis, I, 454;</li> -<li>Sidgwick’s criticism, II, 238;</li> -<li>muscular action, II, 453–8;</li> -<li>differentiation, III, - <a href="#p406" title="go to p. 406">406</a>;</li> -<li>sympathetic, III, - <a href="#p408" title="go to p. 408">408</a>–9;</li> -<li>and society, III, - <a href="#p418" title="go to p. 418">418</a>;</li> -<li>positive and negative regulation, III, - <a href="#p419" title="go to p. 419">419</a>, - <a href="#p443" title="go to p. 443">443</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>New River Company, origin, III, - <a href="#p429" title="go to p. 429">429</a>.</li> - -<li>New York, government, III, - <a href="#p289" title="go to p. 289">289</a>, - <a href="#p291" title="go to p. 291">291</a>.</li> - -<li>New Zealanders, belief in another world, II, 223.</li> - -<li>Newcomb, Prof. S.: -<ul> -<li>nebular hypothesis, I, 121;</li> -<li>planetoids, I, 167–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Newspapers, evolution, III, - <a href="#p431" title="go to p. 431">431</a>.</li> - -<li>Newton, Sir I.: -<ul> -<li>expansion of air, I, 118;</li> -<li>solar theory, I, 193;</li> -<li>gravity, II, 26–7, 291–3;</li> -<li>genesis of science, II, 59–60;</li> -<li>problem of three bodies, II, 112;</li> -<li>laws of motion, II, 271, 274, 277–88, 297–320.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Nitrogen: -<ul> -<li>compounds, I, 157;</li> -<li>molecules, I, 158.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Nod, as obeisance, III, - <a href="#p018" title="go to p. 18">18</a>.</li> - -<li>Nomenclature, genesis of science, II, 63–5, 72.</li> - -<li>Norfolk Island, prison, III, - <a href="#p175" title="go to p. 175">175</a>–7.</li> - -<li><i>North British Review</i>, on <i>Social Statics</i>, II, 134.</li> - -<li>Nose, personal beauty, II, 391.</li> - -<li>Nottingham, Enclosure act, III, - <a href="#p240" title="go to p. 240">240</a>.</li> - -<li>Nubecula, Sir J. Herschel on, I, 116–7.</li> - -<li>Number and classification, II, 37.</li> - -<li>Nummulites, Lyell on, I, 208.</li> - -<li>Nutrition: -<ul> -<li>individual and social, I, 289–90;</li> -<li>process, III, - <a href="#p408" title="go to p. 408">408</a>;</li> -<li>social, III, - <a href="#p413" title="go to p. 413">413</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Oak, acorn and music, II, 442.</li> - -<li>Obeisance, forms of, III, - <a href="#p017" title="go to p. 17">17</a>–22, III, - <a href="#p025" title="go to p. 25">25</a>.</li> - -<li>Obermair, M., on prisons, III, - <a href="#p171" title="go to p. 171">171</a>.</li> - -<li>Object: -<ul> -<li>consciousness of, II, 211–4;</li> -<li>relation to subject, II, 323–32.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Observation and hypothesis, II, 160–7.</li> - -<li>Officialism: -<ul> -<li>failure, III, - <a href="#p394" title="go to p. 394">394</a>, - <a href="#p395" title="go to p. 395">395</a>;</li> -<li>Lord Palmerston on, III, - <a href="#p395" title="go to p. 395">395</a>;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Over-legislation).</li></ul></li> - -<li>Offspring, and parents’ qualities, II, 395, 398.</li> - -<li>Oken, L., classification of sciences, II, 9–12.</li> - -<li>Olbers, H. W. M., hypothesis, I, 167, 171, 173.</li> - -<li>Old Red Sandstone (<i>see</i> Devonian System.)</li> - -<li>Omnibus, and officialism, III, - <a href="#p250" title="go to p. 250">250</a>.</li> - -<li>Oolite, age of, I, 202–5.</li> - -<li id="p509">Opium, dissimilar effects, I, 100.</li> - -<li>Optics: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 59;</li> -<li>genesis, II, 57, 59, 61;</li> -<li>interdependence of sciences, II, 66;</li> -<li>abstract concrete science, II, 85–8;</li> -<li>Bain on classification of sciences, II, 107.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Orange, planet analogy, I, 133–4.</li> - -<li>Orders, signature of, III, - <a href="#p120" title="go to p. 120">120</a>.</li> - -<li>Organic matter: -<ul> -<li>chemistry, I, 83–4;</li> -<li>evolution, I, 458–60.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Organisms: -<ul> -<li>differentiation, III, - <a href="#p405" title="go to p. 405">405</a>;</li> -<li>social and individual, III, - <a href="#p411" title="go to p. 411">411</a>–6;</li> -<li>and machinery, III, - <a href="#p456" title="go to p. 456">456</a>–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Organs, rudimentary, III, - <a href="#p204" title="go to p. 204">204</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Origin of Species</i>: -<ul> -<li>Huxley on, I, 389–90;</li> -<li>effect of, I, 393–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Originality, literary style, II, 365–7.</li> - -<li><i>Ossian</i>, quoted, II, 355.</li> - -<li>Osteology, correlation, I, 96–101.</li> - -<li>Over-legislation: -<ul> -<li>essay on, III, - <a href="#p229" title="go to p. 229">229</a>–82;</li> -<li>individual uncertainty, III, - <a href="#p229" title="go to p. 229">229</a>–31;</li> -<li>examples of failure in legislation, III, - <a href="#p231" title="go to p. 231">231</a>–45;</li> -<li>probability of success, III, - <a href="#p245" title="go to p. 245">245</a>–6;</li> -<li>slowness of, III, - <a href="#p246" title="go to p. 246">246</a>–7;</li> -<li>stupidity, III, - <a href="#p247" title="go to p. 247">247</a>–9;</li> -<li>unadaptive, III, - <a href="#p249" title="go to p. 249">249</a>;</li> -<li>corruptness, III, - <a href="#p250" title="go to p. 250">250</a>–2;</li> -<li>fixity, III, - <a href="#p252" title="go to p. 252">252</a>;</li> -<li>officialism and trade contrasted, III, - <a href="#p253" title="go to p. 253">253</a>–9;</li> -<li>is there a sphere for officialism? III, - <a href="#p259" title="go to p. 259">259</a>–68;</li> -<li>free trade, III, - <a href="#p268" title="go to p. 268">268</a>–70;</li> -<li>negative evils, III, - <a href="#p270" title="go to p. 270">270</a>–6;</li> -<li>enervation of, III, - <a href="#p276" title="go to p. 276">276</a>–80;</li> -<li>faith in governments, III, - <a href="#p280" title="go to p. 280">280</a>–2;</li> -<li>dangers, III, - <a href="#p368" title="go to p. 368">368</a>–70;</li> -<li>and collective wisdom, III, - <a href="#p391" title="go to p. 391">391</a>–2.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Ovum, relation to infant, I, 6.</li> - -<li>Owen, Prof. Sir R.: -<ul> -<li>evolution and paleontology, I, 16;</li> -<li>organic correlation, I, 96–101.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Oxygen: -<ul> -<li>deductive biology, I, 77–81;</li> -<li>liquefaction, I, 160;</li> -<li>action on protoplasm, I, 465–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Pacific Ocean, upheaval and geological record, I, 232–40.</li> - -<li>Pain: -<ul> -<li>expression in children, I, 339–50;</li> -<li>indications of, II, 401–3, 404;</li> -<li>loudness of voice, II, 404–5.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Painting: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 24–30;</li> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 59.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Palmerston, Lord, III, - <a href="#p395" title="go to p. 395">395</a>.</li> - -<li>Palæozoic, the title, I, 15.</li> - -<li>Paleontology: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 14–7;</li> -<li>life and multiplication of effects, I, 49–53;</li> -<li>organic correlation, I, 96–101;</li> -<li>age of strata, I, 205–12;</li> -<li>past and present geological changes, I, 212–8;</li> -<li>gaps in record, I, 220–1, 226–32;</li> -<li>effect of climate on evidence, I, 221–4;</li> -<li>and of terrestrial change, I, 224–6;</li> -<li>effect of upheaval, I, 232–40.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Panama Canal, III, - <a href="#p267" title="go to p. 267">267</a>.</li> - -<li>Pantheism, rejected by H. Spencer, II, 221.</li> - -<li>Paper tax, III, - <a href="#p243" title="go to p. 243">243</a>; (<i>see also</i> Money.)</li> - -<li>Parents and offspring, II, 395–6, 398.</li> - -<li>Parabola, relation to circle, I, 5.</li> - -<li><i>Paradise Lost</i>, quoted, II, 346.</li> - -<li>Parasites, natural selection, I, 379–80.</li> - -<li>Parkhurst, criminals at, III, - <a href="#p258" title="go to p. 258">258</a>.</li> - -<li>Parliament: -<ul> -<li>analogy to brain, I, 302–5;</li> -<li>railways and members of, III, - <a href="#p065" title="go to p. 65">65</a>–7, - <a href="#p074" title="go to p. 74">74</a>–7, - <a href="#p083" title="go to p. 83">83</a>, - <a href="#p086" title="go to p. 86">86</a>;</li> -<li>and parliamentary agents, III, - <a href="#p067" title="go to p. 67">67</a>–71, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>right of majority, III, - <a href="#p094" title="go to p. 94">94</a>;</li> -<li>belief in acts, III, - <a href="#p109" title="go to p. 109">109</a>, - <a href="#p306" title="go to p. 306">306</a>–7;</li> -<li>20,000 statutes, III, - <a href="#p232" title="go to p. 232">232</a>;</li> -<li>officialism and acts of, III, - <a href="#p258" title="go to p. 258">258</a>–9;</li> -<li>badly drawn acts, III, - <a href="#p273" title="go to p. 273">273</a>;</li> -<li>selection of members, III, - <a href="#p291" title="go to p. 291">291</a>;</li> -<li>members of, III, - <a href="#p295" title="go to p. 295">295</a>–9;</li> -<li>ineligible members, III, - <a href="#p296" title="go to p. 296">296</a>;</li> -<li>bank act, III, - <a href="#p338" title="go to p. 338">338</a>, - <a href="#p339" title="go to p. 339">339</a>, - <a href="#p340" title="go to p. 340">340</a>;</li> -<li>private bills, III, - <a href="#p359" title="go to p. 359">359</a>;</li> -<li>Thames water supply, III, - <a href="#p387" title="go to p. 387">387</a>–92;</li> -<li>function, III, - <a href="#p417" title="go to p. 417">417</a>;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Over-legislation.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Parliamentary reform: -<ul> -<li>essay on, III, - <a href="#p358" title="go to p. 358">358</a>–86;</li> -<li>apprehended dangers, III, - <a href="#p360" title="go to p. 360">360</a>–8, - <a href="#p368" title="go to p. 368">368</a>–70;</li> -<li>direct and indirect taxation, III, - <a href="#p370" title="go to p. 370">370</a>–5;</li> -<li>value of representative government, III, - <a href="#p380" title="go to p. 380">380</a>;</li> -<li>Reform Bill, III, - <a href="#p380" title="go to p. 380">380</a>–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Passengers Act, failure, III, - <a href="#p241" title="go to p. 241">241</a>.</li> - -<li>Passion, social analogy, I, 269–71.</li> - -<li>Patent-office, accounts, III, - <a href="#p398" title="go to p. 398">398</a>.</li> - -<li>Patents: -<ul> -<li>failure, III, - <a href="#p456" title="go to p. 456">456</a>;</li> -<li>American, III, - <a href="#p473" title="go to p. 473">473</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Patterns, piracy, III, - <a href="#p126" title="go to p. 126">126</a></li> - -<li>Pedigree, importance, I, 108; (<i>see also</i> Heredity.)</li> - -<li>Peel, Sir Robert: -<ul> -<li>on legislation, III, - <a href="#p280" title="go to p. 280">280</a>–1;</li> -<li>Bank Act, III, - <a href="#p338" title="go to p. 338">338</a>, - <a href="#p339" title="go to p. 339">339</a>, - <a href="#p340" title="go to p. 340">340</a>, - <a href="#p357" title="go to p. 357">357</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Penal code (<i>see</i> Prison ethics.)</li> - -<li>Pentonville, treatment at, III, - <a href="#p161" title="go to p. 161">161</a>–2.</li> - -<li>Perception: -<ul> -<li>relation to science, II, 1–8;</li> -<li>presentative-representative, I, 261.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Perseverance, of savages, I, 375.</li> - -<li>Personal beauty, essay, II, 387–99.</li> - -<li>Perthes, B. de, flint implements, I, 413.</li> - -<li>Peru, social organization, III, - <a href="#p470" title="go to p. 470">470</a>.</li> - -<li>Pestalozzi, H. L., school name, III, - <a href="#p002" title="go to p. 2">2</a>.</li> - -<li>Phanerogams, pollen, I, 439.</li> - -<li>Philæ, granite at, I, 437.</li> - -<li>Philosophy, relation to religion, I, 60–2; (<i>see also</i> Comte.)</li> - -<li id="p510">Phosphorus, allotropic, I, 373.</li> - -<li>Physics: -<ul> -<li>Comte’s classification, II, 21–3;</li> -<li>genesis, II, 57, 59, 60, 61;</li> -<li>interdependence of sciences, II, 67;</li> -<li>abstract-concrete science, II, 85–8;</li> -<li>deals with properties, II, 101, 103;</li> -<li>relation to chemistry, II, 109–11;</li> -<li>evolution, II, 152, 156;</li> -<li><i>British Quarterly</i> Reviewer on, II, 267–301;</li> -<li>relation to metaphysics, II, 268;</li> -<li>axioms, II, 270, 277–88, 297;</li> -<li>their origin, II, 298–301, 313–4, 315–20.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Physiology: -<ul> -<li>transcendental, I, 63–107;</li> -<li>deductive, I, 76–81;</li> -<li>organic correlation, I, 96–101;</li> -<li>individual and social organism, I, 101–7;</li> -<li>concrete science, II, 92;</li> -<li>development, II, 423.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Picnic, interest in, II, 374.</li> - -<li>Pictures, subjects of historical, II, 373; (<i>see also</i> Painting.)</li> - -<li>Pigeons: -<ul> -<li>beak and tongue, I, 401;</li> -<li>heredity and variation, I, 414–5;</li> -<li>use and disuse, I, 418;</li> -<li>origin of music, II, 428.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Pigs, use and disuse, I, 419.</li> - -<li>Pins, stellar analogy, I, 161.</li> - -<li>Pitcher plant, evolution, I, 394.</li> - -<li>Pity, comparative psychology, I, 368.</li> - -<li>Placards, derivation, I, 28.</li> - -<li>Planetoids: -<ul> -<li>origin, I, 167–80;</li> -<li>number, I, 168, 171, 179;</li> -<li>distances, I, 169, 172, 179;</li> -<li>orbits, I, 169–70, 173–4, 179;</li> -<li>distribution, I, 171;</li> -<li>magnitudes, I, 172;</li> -<li>periods, I, 177;</li> -<li>velocity, I, 180.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Planets: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 11;</li> -<li>origin, I, 39, 153;</li> -<li>direction, I, 127, 129, 153;</li> -<li>planes of, and solar equator, I, 131–2;</li> -<li>axial movements, I, 132–6, 153;</li> -<li>arrangement and number of satellites, I, 137, 139–41;</li> -<li>density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52;</li> -<li>structure, I, 163–7, 182;</li> -<li>origin of minor, I, 167–80;</li> -<li>origin of meteors, I, 174–7;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Astronomy.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Plants: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 14–7, 35;</li> -<li>structure, I, 73, 76, 391–2;</li> -<li>form, I, 73, 76;</li> -<li>chemical composition, I, 74, 76;</li> -<li>specific gravity, I, 74, 70;</li> -<li>temperature, I, 74, 76;</li> -<li>self-mobility, I, 75, 76;</li> -<li>evolution and homogeneity I, 83–4;</li> -<li>heat and distribution, I, 223–4;</li> -<li>also terrestrial change, I, 224–6;</li> -<li>and animals, I, 375–6;</li> -<li>evolution and sensitive, I, 377;</li> -<li>cambium, I, 449–50.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Plateau, J. A. F., fluid rotation, I, 131.</li> - -<li>Plato, Republic, 269–72.</li> - -<li>Pleasure: -<ul> -<li>expression in children, I, 339–50;</li> -<li>indications of, II, 401–3, 404;</li> -<li>loudness of voice, II, 404–5;</li> -<li>bodily effect, II, 454–8;</li> -<li>destroyed by formality, III, - <a href="#p036" title="go to p. 36">36</a>–46;</li> -<li>and life, III, - <a href="#p315" title="go to p. 315">315</a>;</li> -<li>social and individual organism, III, - <a href="#p411" title="go to p. 411">411</a>;</li> -<li>American life, III, - <a href="#p489" title="go to p. 489">489</a>–90.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Plough, Hindoo worship of, II, 354.</li> - -<li>Plumber, action of pump, I, 425.</li> - -<li>Poetry: -<ul> -<li>origin and differentiation, I, 30–2;</li> -<li>and prose, II, 357–61;</li> -<li>development of epic and lyric, II, 416;</li> -<li>and government, III, - <a href="#p430" title="go to p. 430">430</a>–1.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Pointers, use and disuse, I, 470–1.</li> - -<li>Police, officialism, III, - <a href="#p396" title="go to p. 396">396</a>–7.</li> - -<li>Political economy: -<ul> -<li>and railways, III, - <a href="#p101" title="go to p. 101">101</a>–3;</li> -<li>flow of capital, III, - <a href="#p264" title="go to p. 264">264</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p303" title="go to p. 303">303</a>;</li> -<li>efflux of gold, III, - <a href="#p341" title="go to p. 341">341</a>–3.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Politics: -<ul> -<li>use and disuse, I, 463–5;</li> -<li>and costume, III, - <a href="#p001" title="go to p. 1">1</a>–5, - <a href="#p030" title="go to p. 30">30</a>;</li> -<li>definition, III, - <a href="#p226" title="go to p. 226">226</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Polyzoa</i>: -<ul> -<li>form, I, 73;</li> -<li>composition, I, 74;</li> -<li>not sea-weeds, I, 248;</li> -<li>analogy to social organism, I, 281.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Poor law, action of, III, - <a href="#p244" title="go to p. 244">244</a>.</li> - -<li>Pope, A., literary style, II, 365.</li> - -<li>Porcupine, evolution of quills, I, 394–5.</li> - -<li>Positivism (<i>see</i> Comte.)</li> - -<li>Post-office: -<ul> -<li>and officialism, III, - <a href="#p252" title="go to p. 252">252</a>;</li> -<li>and government, III, - <a href="#p440" title="go to p. 440">440</a>–2.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Potato, complexity, III, - <a href="#p196" title="go to p. 196">196</a>.</li> - -<li>Poverty, effect of, III, - <a href="#p143" title="go to p. 143">143</a>–9.</li> - -<li>Predicate, arrangement of sentences, II, 342–4.</li> - -<li>Preference stock, effect, III, - <a href="#p086" title="go to p. 86">86</a>–8, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>.</li> - -<li>Prevision: -<ul> -<li>and science, II, 1–8;</li> -<li>origin of quantitative, II, 41–9.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Printing: -<ul> -<li>increase of heterogeneity, I, 26;</li> -<li>analogy from press, I, 98, II, 33;</li> -<li>printer’s union rules, III, - <a href="#p364" title="go to p. 364">364</a>–5;</li> -<li>anomaly, III, - <a href="#p401" title="go to p. 401">401</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Prison Ethics: -<ul> -<li>essay on, III, - <a href="#p152" title="go to p. 152">152</a>–91;</li> -<li>relative and absolute ethics, III, - <a href="#p152" title="go to p. 152">152</a>–7, - <a href="#p188" title="go to p. 188">188</a>;</li> -<li>treatment of criminals, III, - <a href="#p157" title="go to p. 157">157</a>–63;</li> -<li>laws of life, III, - <a href="#p163" title="go to p. 163">163</a>–71;</li> -<li>self-maintenance, III, - <a href="#p168" title="go to p. 168">168</a>–71;</li> -<li>foreign prisons and reformatories, III, - <a href="#p172" title="go to p. 172">172</a>–8;</li> -<li>evils of excessive punishment, III, - <a href="#p178" title="go to p. 178">178</a>–80;</li> -<li>improved system of discipline, III, - <a href="#p180" title="go to p. 180">180</a>–7, - <a href="#p189" title="go to p. 189">189</a>–91;</li> -<li>and social state, III, - <a href="#p187" title="go to p. 187">187</a>–9;</li> -<li>Indian prisons, III, - <a href="#p189" title="go to p. 189">189</a>–91.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Procter, R.A., nebular distance, I, 118.</li> - -<li>Profit, defined, I, 290.</li> - -<li>Progress: -<ul> -<li>its law and cause, I, 8–62, 81, III, - <a href="#p323" title="go to p. 323">323</a>;</li> -<li>current conception, I, 8–9;</li> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 9–10.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Prometheus Unbound</i>, quoted, II, 353.</li> - -<li>Promissory notes, State tamperings with money, III, - <a href="#p326" title="go to p. 326">326</a>–35, - <a href="#p335" title="go to p. 335">335</a>–47, - <a href="#p356" title="go to p. 356">356</a>.</li> - -<li>Property: -<ul> -<li>emotion of possession, I, 253, 263, 307, II, 421;</li> -<li>and parliamentary reform, III, - <a href="#p358" title="go to p. 358">358</a>–60, - <a href="#p367" title="go to p. 367">367</a>–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Propositions: -<ul> -<li>the thinkable, I, 383;</li> -<li>ultimate test, II, 14;</li> -<li>states of consciousness, II, 205–8;</li> -<li>testing of reasoning, II, 208–11;</li> -<li>arrangement of sentences, II, 344.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Prose: -<ul> -<li>and poetry, II, 357–61;</li> -<li>contrast in, II, 374.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Protection, and officialism, III, - <a href="#p268" title="go to p. 268">268</a>–70.</li> - -<li><i>Protophyta</i>: -<ul> -<li>composition, I, 74;</li> -<li>self-mobility, I, 75;</li> -<li>instability of homogeneous, I, 86;</li> -<li>social analogy, I, 277;</li> -<li>cell membrane, I, 439.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Protoplasm, action of light, I, 465–6.</li> - -<li><i>Protozoa</i>: -<ul> -<li>differentiation from environment, I, 73;</li> -<li>self-mobility, I, 75;</li> -<li>instability of homogeneous, I, 86;</li> -<li>social analogy, I, 277–83;</li> -<li>cell membrane, I, 440;</li> -<li>development, I, 452.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Proudhon, P. J., policy, III, - <a href="#p417" title="go to p. 417">417</a>.</li> - -<li>Proxies, railway, III, - <a href="#p076" title="go to p. 76">76</a>, - <a href="#p078" title="go to p. 78">78</a>.</li> - -<li>Psychology: -<ul> -<li>relation of science to religion, I, 61–2;</li> -<li><i>The Emotions and The Will</i>, I, 241–64;</li> -<li>organization provisional, I, 241–5;</li> -<li>classification of emotions, I, 245–57;</li> -<li>evolution of emotions, I, 250–7;</li> -<li>Bain’s definition of emotion and volition, I, 258–60;</li> -<li>also feeling and sensation, I, 260;</li> -<li>classification of mind, I, 260–4;</li> -<li>comparative, of man in outline, I, 351, 353;</li> -<li>mental and bodily mass, I, 353–4;</li> -<li>mental complexity, I, 354–5;</li> -<li>rate of development, I, 355;</li> -<li>relative plasticity, I, 355–6;</li> -<li>variability, I, 356–7;</li> -<li>impulsiveness, I, 357–9;</li> -<li>effect of race inter-mixture, I, 359–60;</li> -<li>effect of sex, I, 361–4;</li> -<li>imitativeness, I, 364;</li> -<li>curiosity, I, 364–5;</li> -<li>peculiar aptitudes, I, 366;</li> -<li>sociality, freedom, approbation, and acquisitiveness, I, 366–7;</li> -<li>altruistic sentiments, I, 367–9;</li> -<li>evolution of mind, I, 376–8, 381–6;</li> -<li>use and disuse, I, 463–5;</li> -<li>Hegel’s classification, II, 12–5;</li> -<li>concrete science, II, 92, 100;</li> -<li>terrestrial evolution, II, 96;</li> -<li>Bain on logic, II, 105–6;</li> -<li>origin of knowledge, II, 122–5;</li> -<li>Comte on, II, 131;</li> -<li>Sidgwick on <i>Principles</i>, II, 238–50.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Publishers, local integration, I, 103.</li> - -<li>Pump, action of, I, 425–6.</li> - -<li>Punishment (<i>see</i> Prison Ethics.)</li> - -<li>Pyramids, architectural types, II, 379.</li> - -<li>Quakers: -<ul> -<li>intonation, II, 416;</li> -<li>nonconformity, III, - <a href="#p002" title="go to p. 2">2</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Quarterly Review</i>, criticism, II, 259–65.</li> - -<li>Rabbits, use and disuse, I, 418.</li> - -<li>Railways: -<ul> -<li>effects, I, 56–8;</li> -<li>distributing systems, I, 296–8;</li> -<li>morals and policy, III, - <a href="#p052" title="go to p. 52">52</a>–112;</li> -<li>directors, III, - <a href="#p052" title="go to p. 52">52</a>–63, - <a href="#p069" title="go to p. 69">69</a>;</li> -<li>extensions, III, - <a href="#p056" title="go to p. 56">56</a>–9, - <a href="#p071" title="go to p. 71">71</a>–2, - <a href="#p082" title="go to p. 82">82</a>–8, - <a href="#p091" title="go to p. 91">91</a>, - <a href="#p094" title="go to p. 94">94</a>, - <a href="#p096" title="go to p. 96">96</a>, - <a href="#p101" title="go to p. 101">101</a>–7, - <a href="#p107" title="go to p. 107">107</a>–8;</li> -<li>dividends, III, - <a href="#p057" title="go to p. 57">57</a>, - <a href="#p098" title="go to p. 98">98</a>–9, - <a href="#p105" title="go to p. 105">105</a>–6;</li> -<li>book-keeping, III, - <a href="#p059" title="go to p. 59">59</a>;</li> -<li>and land-owners, III, - <a href="#p063" title="go to p. 63">63</a>–7;</li> -<li>and members of parliament, III, - <a href="#p065" title="go to p. 65">65</a>–7, - <a href="#p074" title="go to p. 74">74</a>–7, - <a href="#p083" title="go to p. 83">83</a>;</li> -<li>and lawyers, III, - <a href="#p067" title="go to p. 67">67</a>–72, - <a href="#p083" title="go to p. 83">83</a>, - <a href="#p088" title="go to p. 88">88</a>, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>and engineers, III, - <a href="#p068" title="go to p. 68">68</a>–72, - <a href="#p083" title="go to p. 83">83</a>, - <a href="#p088" title="go to p. 88">88</a>, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>contractors, III, - <a href="#p072" title="go to p. 72">72</a>–4, - <a href="#p083" title="go to p. 83">83</a>;</li> -<li>boards, 77–8;</li> -<li>shares, 80–2, 108;</li> -<li>effect of competing lines, III, - <a href="#p097" title="go to p. 97">97</a>–8, - <a href="#p107" title="go to p. 107">107</a>;</li> -<li>safety, III, - <a href="#p099" title="go to p. 99">99</a>–100;</li> -<li>cause and remedy of corruptions, III, - <a href="#p088" title="go to p. 88">88</a>–96;</li> -<li>secondary organizations, III, - <a href="#p092" title="go to p. 92">92</a>–3;</li> -<li>and political economy, III, - <a href="#p101" title="go to p. 101">101</a>–3;</li> -<li>capital, III, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>proprietary contract, III, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>–112;</li> -<li>and coaching, III, - <a href="#p110" title="go to p. 110">110</a>–2, - <a href="#p255" title="go to p. 255">255</a>;</li> -<li>relative and absolute ethics, III, - <a href="#p155" title="go to p. 155">155</a>–7;</li> -<li>state inspection, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>–40;</li> -<li>individualism, III, - <a href="#p249" title="go to p. 249">249</a>;</li> -<li>evolution, III, - <a href="#p256" title="go to p. 256">256</a>, - <a href="#p266" title="go to p. 266">266</a>;</li> -<li>diffusion of literature, III, - <a href="#p262" title="go to p. 262">262</a>;</li> -<li>winding up act, III, - <a href="#p273" title="go to p. 273">273</a>;</li> -<li>legislature and accidents, III, - <a href="#p275" title="go to p. 275">275</a>;</li> -<li>English enterprise, III, - <a href="#p279" title="go to p. 279">279</a>;</li> -<li>maladministration, III, - <a href="#p285" title="go to p. 285">285</a>–6;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p296" title="go to p. 296">296</a>, - <a href="#p302" title="go to p. 302">302</a>, - <a href="#p304" title="go to p. 304">304</a>;</li> -<li>inspection, III, - <a href="#p399" title="go to p. 399">399</a>;</li> -<li>anomaly, III, - <a href="#p401" title="go to p. 401">401</a>;</li> -<li>English and French, III, - <a href="#p428" title="go to p. 428">428</a>;</li> -<li>and government, III, - <a href="#p437" title="go to p. 437">437</a>;</li> -<li>in America, III, - <a href="#p478" title="go to p. 478">478</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Rainbow, beliefs about, II, 154.</li> - -<li>Ramsgate, harbour, III, - <a href="#p248" title="go to p. 248">248</a>.</li> - -<li>Realism, Sidgwick’s criticism, II, 242–50.</li> - -<li>Reason: -<ul> -<li>social analogy, I, 269–71;</li> -<li>limited sphere, II, 221;</li> -<li>judgment of common sense, II, 243–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Reasoning: -<ul> -<li>recognition of likeness, II, 33–4, 37, 40;</li> -<li>of Kant, III, - <a href="#p199" title="go to p. 199">199</a>–203;</li> -<li>of metaphysicians, II, 201–5, 208–11;</li> -<li>a testing of conclusions, II, 208–11;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Logic.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Recitative: -<ul> -<li>ancient and modern, II, 415–8;</li> -<li>Gurney on, II, 439.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Reflection, belief in spirits, I, 310–3.</li> - -<li>Reflex action: -<ul> -<li>and emotion, I, 258;</li> -<li>impulsiveness, I, 358;</li> -<li>indication of feelings, II, 403;</li> -<li>examples, III, - <a href="#p453" title="go to p. 453">453</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Reform: -<ul> -<li>and costume, III, - <a href="#p001" title="go to p. 1">1</a>–5;</li> -<li>and custom, III, - <a href="#p031" title="go to p. 31">31</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Reform bill: -<ul> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p294" title="go to p. 294">294</a>;</li> -<li>fear of, III, - <a href="#p358" title="go to p. 358">358</a>;</li> -<li>of Lord Russell, III, - <a href="#p380" title="go to p. 380">380</a>–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Reformation, change by, III, - <a href="#p049" title="go to p. 49">49</a>.</li> - -<li>Regulative system, social, III, - <a href="#p458" title="go to p. 458">458</a>–64.</li> - -<li>Relative, Martineau on the, II, 250–8.</li> - -<li>Religion: -<ul> -<li>increase of heterogeneity, I, 20–3;</li> -<li>relation to early art, I, 27;</li> -<li>and to science, I, 60–2;</li> -<li>rudimentary form of all, I, 309;</li> -<li>object of sentiment, II, 132;</li> -<li>and science, Caird on, II, 219–21;</li> -<li>Mansel’s criticism, II, 221–5;</li> -<li>Grotz on, II, 225;</li> -<li>manners and law, III, - <a href="#p004" title="go to p. 4">4</a>, - <a href="#p023" title="go to p. 23">23</a>;</li> -<li>primitive ideas, III, - <a href="#p006" title="go to p. 6">6</a>–11;</li> -<li>and state, III, - <a href="#p011" title="go to p. 11">11</a>;</li> -<li>for primitive man, III, - <a href="#p024" title="go to p. 24">24</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p301" title="go to p. 301">301</a>;</li> -<li>and government, III, - <a href="#p434" title="go to p. 434">434</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Repair, and waste, II, 362–7.</li> - -<li>Representative government: -<ul> -<li>knowledge of representatives, III, - <a href="#p300" title="go to p. 300">300</a>–9;</li> -<li>and despotism, III, - <a href="#p309" title="go to p. 309">309</a>–10;</li> -<li>and monarchy, III, - <a href="#p310" title="go to p. 310">310</a>–7;</li> -<li>superiority, III, - <a href="#p317" title="go to p. 317">317</a>–23, - <a href="#p323" title="go to p. 323">323</a>–5;</li> -<li>value of, III, - <a href="#p380" title="go to p. 380">380</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Reproductive system, and organic evolution, I, 409, 412, 422–5.</li> - -<li>Reptiles: -<ul> -<li>evolution and heterogeneity, I, 15–7;</li> -<li>paleontological remains, I, 227, 237, 240.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Republicanism, American, III, - <a href="#p474" title="go to p. 474">474</a>–5, - <a href="#p478" title="go to p. 478">478</a>–9.</li> - -<li>Respiration, effect of emotion, II, 459.</li> - -<li>Reviewing, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p139" title="go to p. 139">139</a>.</li> - -<li>Rhythm, in speech, II, 440.</li> - -<li>Ribbon, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p127" title="go to p. 127">127</a>.</li> - -<li>Right (<i>see</i> Ethics.)</li> - -<li>Roads, distributing system, I, 296–8.</li> - -<li>Robbery: -<ul> -<li>social co-operation, III, - <a href="#p217" title="go to p. 217">217</a>–20;</li> -<li>of Messrs. Walker, III, - <a href="#p439" title="go to p. 439">439</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Roberts, I., photographs of, I, 180.</li> - -<li>Robinson, F., Icarian colony, III, - <a href="#p457" title="go to p. 457">457</a>.</li> - -<li>Rocking stone, origin, I, 437.</li> - -<li>Rocks, age of, I, 198–205.</li> - -<li><i>Rodentia</i>, transverse integration, I, 69.</li> - -<li>Romilly, Sir S., on judicial system, III, - <a href="#p272" title="go to p. 272">272</a>.</li> - -<li>Rooks, cawing of, I, 337, 338.</li> - -<li>Roots, imbedded and exposed, I, 447.</li> - -<li>Rosse, Lord, nebular hypothesis, I, 110–1.</li> - -<li>Rossini, G. A., heredity, I, 406.</li> - -<li>Royal Institution, III, - <a href="#p436" title="go to p. 436">436</a>.</li> - -<li>Royal Society, published barnacle goose myth, II, 162.</li> - -<li>Ruskin, J., effects of art, I, 59.</li> - -<li>Russell, Lord John: -<ul> -<li>on minorities, III, - <a href="#p295" title="go to p. 295">295</a>;</li> -<li>reform bill, III, - <a href="#p380" title="go to p. 380">380</a>–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Russia: -<ul> -<li>age of rocks in, I, 200–1, 206;</li> -<li>paper currency, III, - <a href="#p345" title="go to p. 345">345</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Sachs, J., on cell membranes, I, 438–9.</li> - -<li>Safety, in railways, III, - <a href="#p099" title="go to p. 99">99</a>–100.</li> - -<li>Satellites: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 11;</li> -<li>origin, I, 39;</li> -<li>arrangement and number, I, 137–8;</li> -<li>distribution, I, 138;</li> -<li>number and forces, I, 139–40;</li> -<li>motion, I, 141–3, 153–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Saturn: -<ul> -<li>origin of rings, I, 39;</li> -<li>rotatory movement, I, 135, 136;</li> -<li>motion of satellites, I, 137;</li> -<li>their distance, I, 138;</li> -<li>their number, I, 139–40;</li> -<li>rotation of rings, I, 142;</li> -<li>location, I, 143;</li> -<li>density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Saxon words, II, 336–8.</li> - -<li>Scales, unstable equilibrium of, I, 82.</li> - -<li>Scepticism, reasoning of, II, 201.</li> - -<li>Schleiden, M. J., cell doctrine, I, 443.</li> - -<li>School, Price’s, III, - <a href="#p256" title="go to p. 256">256</a>.</li> - -<li>Schopenhauer, A., ethics, III, - <a href="#p212" title="go to p. 212">212</a>.</li> - -<li>Schwann, T., cell doctrine, I, 443.</li> - -<li>Science: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 34–5;</li> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 59;</li> -<li>relation to religion, I, 60–2;</li> -<li>establishment of causation, I, 109;</li> -<li>creed fatal to, I, 463;</li> -<li>and common knowledge, II, 1–8, 29, 71;</li> -<li>Oken’s classification, II, 9–12;</li> -<li>Hegel’s, II, 12–5;</li> -<li>Comte’s, II, 15–29;</li> -<li>progress analytic and synthetic, II, 24–7;</li> -<li>linear arrangement, II, 27–9;</li> -<li>interdependent with arts, II, 67–71, 94–9;</li> -<li>summary of genesis, II, 71–3;</li> -<li>interdependence of, II, 94–9;</li> -<li>Comte and Positivism, II, 118–22, 128, 139;</li> -<li>origin and evolution, II, 150–7;</li> -<li>“practical,” II, 151;</li> -<li>Caird on religion and science, II, 219–21;</li> -<li>exact, III, - <a href="#p199" title="go to p. 199">199</a>–200.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Sciences, Classification of the: -<ul> -<li>Littré on Comte’s, II, 74–6;</li> -<li>characteristics of a true, II, 76;</li> -<li>abstract concrete, II, 77–8, 85–88, 92–4;</li> -<li>concrete, II, 77–81, 88–92, 92–4;</li> -<li>divisions of abstract, II, 81–5, 92–4;</li> -<li>needs three dimensions, II, 92–4;</li> -<li>concrete deals with aggregates, II, 99–103;</li> -<li>abstract-concrete, with properties, II, 101–3;</li> -<li>abstract with relations, II, 102–3;</li> -<li>Bain, II, 105–17;</li> -<li>Mill, II, 114;</li> -<li>Comte, II, 130.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Scotch, dialect, II, 424.</li> - -<li>Scotland: -<ul> -<li>age of rocks, I, 198–205;</li> -<li>bank success, III, - <a href="#p348" title="go to p. 348">348</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li id="p513">Scott, Sir W., anecdote of, II, 466.</li> - -<li>Scrofula, heredity, II, 395.</li> - -<li>Sculpture, heterogeneity of, I, 24–30.</li> - -<li>Sea, action on: -<ul> -<li>geological formations, I, 212, 213;</li> -<li>upheaved land, I, 232–40;</li> -<li>shores, I, 431–2, 444.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Selene, the myth, I, 326.</li> - -<li>Senior wrangler, criticism of, II, 302–5, 305–7.</li> - -<li>Sensations: -<ul> -<li>defined, I, 260, 262;</li> -<li>evolution, I, 264;</li> -<li>demonstration of, II, 401–3;</li> -<li>pleasure of music, II, 444–5;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Psychology.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Sense, disablement of organs, III, - <a href="#p116" title="go to p. 116">116</a>–7.</li> - -<li>Sentences, arrangement of, II, 341–50.</li> - -<li>Settlement, failure of law of, III, - <a href="#p244" title="go to p. 244">244</a>.</li> - -<li>Sewers commission, III, - <a href="#p238" title="go to p. 238">238</a>, - <a href="#p248" title="go to p. 248">248</a>.</li> - -<li>Sex: -<ul> -<li>mental development, I, 355;</li> -<li>comparative psychology, I, 361–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Shadows: -<ul> -<li>belief in spirits, I, 310–5;</li> -<li>colour, II, 165–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Shares: -<ul> -<li>railway, III, - <a href="#p080" title="go to p. 80">80</a>–2, - <a href="#p108" title="go to p. 108">108</a>;</li> -<li>directors and holders of, III, - <a href="#p082" title="go to p. 82">82</a>–8;</li> -<li>preference, III, - <a href="#p086" title="go to p. 86">86</a>;</li> -<li>depressed by rail extension, III, - <a href="#p094" title="go to p. 94">94</a>, - <a href="#p098" title="go to p. 98">98</a>–9, - <a href="#p106" title="go to p. 106">106</a>;</li> -<li>morals of banking, III, - <a href="#p131" title="go to p. 131">131</a>–7;</li> -<li>relative and absolute ethics, III, - <a href="#p155" title="go to p. 155">155</a>–7.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Shakespeare, W., I, 317, III, - <a href="#p283" title="go to p. 283">283</a>.</li> - -<li>Shears, analogy from iron, I, 97–8.</li> - -<li>Sheep, English and French, II, 396, 398.</li> - -<li>Shell, use and beauty, II, 370.</li> - -<li>Ships: -<ul> -<li>naval maladministration, III, - <a href="#p233" title="go to p. 233">233</a>–4, - <a href="#p247" title="go to p. 247">247</a>, - <a href="#p248" title="go to p. 248">248</a>, - <a href="#p251" title="go to p. 251">251</a>, - <a href="#p252" title="go to p. 252">252</a>, - <a href="#p258" title="go to p. 258">258</a>, - <a href="#p259" title="go to p. 259">259</a>;</li> -<li>private administration, III, - <a href="#p234" title="go to p. 234">234</a>, - <a href="#p238" title="go to p. 238">238</a>;</li> -<li>and Admiralty certificate, III, - <a href="#p239" title="go to p. 239">239</a>, - <a href="#p241" title="go to p. 241">241</a>;</li> -<li>tonnage law, III, - <a href="#p244" title="go to p. 244">244</a>;</li> -<li>officialism, III, - <a href="#p253" title="go to p. 253">253</a>;</li> -<li>mercantile marine acts, III, - <a href="#p260" title="go to p. 260">260</a>;</li> -<li>screw propeller, III, - <a href="#p261" title="go to p. 261">261</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p301" title="go to p. 301">301</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Shoes, removing, III, - <a href="#p017" title="go to p. 17">17</a>.</li> - -<li>Shooting stars, origin, I, 174–7.</li> - -<li>Shopkeepers, lying and believing, III, - <a href="#p118" title="go to p. 118">118</a>.</li> - -<li>Sidgwick, H., criticism, II, 238–50.</li> - -<li>Sight: -<ul> -<li>and exercise, II, 362, 363;</li> -<li>and state of faculties, II, 364.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Signature, of orders, III, - <a href="#p120" title="go to p. 120">120</a>.</li> - -<li>Signor, the title, III, - <a href="#p014" title="go to p. 14">14</a>, - <a href="#p021" title="go to p. 21">21</a>.</li> - -<li>Signs, force of gesticulative, II, 335.</li> - -<li>Silk, trade morals, III, - <a href="#p120" title="go to p. 120">120</a>, - <a href="#p124" title="go to p. 124">124</a>–7.</li> - -<li>Silurian system: -<ul> -<li>age, I, 198–205;</li> -<li>paleontological evidence, I, 206–7;</li> -<li>thickness, I, 231.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Simile: -<ul> -<li>use and position, II, 350–2;</li> -<li>and metaphor, II, 354.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Singing, II, 410–4; (<i>see also</i> Music.)</li> - -<li>Sir, the title, III, - <a href="#p014" title="go to p. 14">14</a>, - <a href="#p015" title="go to p. 15">15</a>, - <a href="#p016" title="go to p. 16">16</a>, - <a href="#p021" title="go to p. 21">21</a>, - <a href="#p026" title="go to p. 26">26</a>.</li> - -<li>Sirius, distance from sun, I, 113, 114.</li> - -<li>Skating, grace in, II, 385.</li> - -<li>Skin, action of medicine, I, 448, 450.</li> - -<li>Skull, personal beauty, II, 389–90, 391.</li> - -<li>Slave trade, former opinion, III, - <a href="#p141" title="go to p. 141">141</a>.</li> - -<li>Small-pox, effects, I, 47.</li> - -<li>Smell, sense of: -<ul> -<li>and eye position, I, 72;</li> -<li>in dogs, I, 470;</li> -<li>exercise, II, 362.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Smith, Adam: -<ul> -<li>theory of morals, I, 346;</li> -<li>importance, III, - <a href="#p316" title="go to p. 316">316</a>;</li> -<li>non-university training, III, - <a href="#p377" title="go to p. 377">377</a>–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Smoke bill, of London, III, - <a href="#p250" title="go to p. 250">250</a>.</li> - -<li>Sneeze, and laughter, II, 460.</li> - -<li>Snow, officialism, II, 249–50.</li> - -<li>Soap: -<ul> -<li>adulterant, III, - <a href="#p125" title="go to p. 125">125</a>;</li> -<li>tax, III, - <a href="#p243" title="go to p. 243">243</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Social organism: -<ul> -<li>the, I, 265–307;</li> -<li>analogy to individual, I, 269–72, 272–3, 277, 291–8, 306–7, III, - <a href="#p411" title="go to p. 411">411</a>–16;</li> -<li>difference, I, 273–7;</li> -<li>analogy to lower animal forms, I, 277–83;</li> -<li>division of labour, I, 283–91.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Social Statics</i>: -<ul> -<li>origin of morals, I, 332–3;</li> -<li>of sympathy, I, 317;</li> -<li>Comte and title of, II, 134–7;</li> -<li>thesis of, II, 262.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Socialism: -<ul> -<li>compulsory co-operation, III, - <a href="#p454" title="go to p. 454">454</a>–6;</li> -<li>and regulative system, III, - <a href="#p460" title="go to p. 460">460</a>–4;</li> -<li>effect, III, - <a href="#p467" title="go to p. 467">467</a>;</li> -<li>evils, III, - <a href="#p467" title="go to p. 467">467</a>–70.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Sociality, and psychology, I, 366–7, 368.</li> - -<li>Society: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 19–23, 35;</li> -<li>a growth, I, 265–9, 306;</li> -<li>the ideal, II, 131–2;</li> -<li>self-conscious, III, - <a href="#p141" title="go to p. 141">141</a>;</li> -<li>influence of wealth, III, - <a href="#p143" title="go to p. 143">143</a>–9;</li> -<li>political ethics and the individual, III, - <a href="#p226" title="go to p. 226">226</a>–8;</li> -<li>evolution, III, - <a href="#p263" title="go to p. 263">263</a>–5;</li> -<li>increasing complexity, III, - <a href="#p323" title="go to p. 323">323</a>–5;</li> -<li>average morality, III, - <a href="#p359" title="go to p. 359">359</a>;</li> -<li>and individual organism, III, - <a href="#p411" title="go to p. 411">411</a>–6;</li> -<li>regulative system, III, - <a href="#p463" title="go to p. 463">463</a>;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Prison Ethics, Sociology.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Sociology: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 53–60;</li> -<li>homogeneity unstable, I, 83;</li> -<li>individual and social organism, I, 101–7;</li> -<li>psychical traits and social state, I, 354, 355;</li> -<li>conservatism, I, 356;</li> -<li>mental variability, I, 356–7;</li> -<li>impulsiveness, I, 357–9;</li> -<li>effect of mixing races, I, 359–60;</li> -<li>and of sexes, I, 361–4;</li> -<li>curiosity, I, 361–5;</li> -<li>imitativeness, I, 364;</li> -<li>peculiar aptitudes, I, 366;</li> -<li>sociality, freedom, approbation, and acquisitiveness, I, 366–7;</li> -<li>altruistic sentiments, 367–9;</li> -<li>use and disuse, I, 463–5;</li> -<li>genesis, II, 57;</li> -<li>concrete science, II, 92;</li> -<li>terrestrial evolution, II, 96;</li> -<li>deals with aggregates, II, 100, 103;</li> -<li>a word of Comte’s, II, 133;</li> -<li>universality of law, II, 159;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p302" title="go to p. 302">302</a>;</li> -<li>life, III, - <a href="#p325" title="go to p. 325">325</a>;</li> -<li>education, III, - <a href="#p375" title="go to p. 375">375</a>–9;</li> -<li>cause and effect, III, - <a href="#p487" title="go to p. 487">487</a>–92.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Solar system: -<ul> -<li>heterogeneity, I, 10–11;</li> -<li>origin, I, 108–10;</li> -<li>Laplace on, I, 128–9;</li> -<li>evolution, I, 128–31.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Solicitor, and trader, III, - <a href="#p139" title="go to p. 139">139</a>.</li> - -<li>Sound: -<ul> -<li>multiplication of effects, I, 37;</li> -<li>Kantian ideas of space, II, 227;</li> -<li>as illustrating crude and transfigured realism, II, 245–6;</li> -<li>velocity, II, 267;</li> -<li>sensation, III, - <a href="#p197" title="go to p. 197">197</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Space: -<ul> -<li>concept of, I, 247;</li> -<li>Hutton on intuitions of, I, 339;</li> -<li>classification of science, II, 77, 81–5;</li> -<li>Bain on nature of mathematics, II, 105–6;</li> -<li>Hamilton II, 191–2;</li> -<li>Hodgson, II, 220–34;</li> -<li>Kant, II, 220–7, 229–32, 236–8;</li> -<li>Martineau, II, 257;</li> -<li>consciousness, II, 308;</li> -<li>Kant and evolution, III, - <a href="#p197" title="go to p. 197">197</a>–9, - <a href="#p203" title="go to p. 203">203</a>, - <a href="#p207" title="go to p. 207">207</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Spain: -<ul> -<li>contracts in, III, - <a href="#p218" title="go to p. 218">218</a>;</li> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p317" title="go to p. 317">317</a>–9.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Spalding, D., experiments of, II, 226.</li> - -<li>Sparta, social type, III, - <a href="#p415" title="go to p. 415">415</a>.</li> - -<li>Special creation: -<ul> -<li>lack of facts, I, 1;</li> -<li>and evolution, I, 1–7;</li> -<li>conception of, I, 265.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Specialized administration, III, - <a href="#p401" title="go to p. 401">401</a>–44.</li> - -<li>Species: -<ul> -<li>number of, I, 1;</li> -<li>evolution and creation, I, 1–7;</li> -<li>effect of upheavals, I, 49–52;</li> -<li>of climate, I, 221–4;</li> -<li>of terrestrial change, I, 224–6;</li> -<li>fertility of varieties, II, 397–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Specific gravity: -<ul> -<li>of animals and plants, I, 74, 76;</li> -<li>of planets, I, 144–8, 154;</li> -<li>solar system, I, 163.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Spectrum analysis, complexity of elements, I, 372–4.</li> - -<li>Speech, figures of, II, 350–5; (<i>see also</i> Language.)</li> - -<li>Spencer, Herbert, propositions held by, II, 125–32.</li> - -<li>Spencer, Rev. Thomas, III, - <a href="#p361" title="go to p. 361">361</a>.</li> - -<li>Spheroid, ring formation, I, 133–4.</li> - -<li>Spine, and evolution, III, - <a href="#p205" title="go to p. 205">205</a>.</li> - -<li>Spirit, the word misleading, I, 311.</li> - -<li>Spirits, belief in, I, 311–2, 344.</li> - -<li>Sponges: -<ul> -<li>form of, I, 73;</li> -<li>instability of homogeneous, I, 87.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Staccato, in singing, II, 412.</li> - -<li>Staffordshire, potteries, I, 266.</li> - -<li>Stage coach, III, - <a href="#p110" title="go to p. 110">110</a>–2, - <a href="#p255" title="go to p. 255">255</a>.</li> - -<li>Stars: -<ul> -<li>distribution of nebulæ, I, 112–8;</li> -<li>magnitude and distance, I, 115–8;</li> -<li>Sir W. Herschel on genesis, I, 129;</li> -<li>distance apart, I, 161;</li> -<li>star as name, I, 317, 326;</li> -<li>Kant’s awe of universe, III, - <a href="#p192" title="go to p. 192">192</a>, - <a href="#p195" title="go to p. 195">195</a>;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Astronomy.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>State, the: -<ul> -<li>duty of, III, - <a href="#p236" title="go to p. 236">236</a>;</li> -<li>and religion, III, - <a href="#p011" title="go to p. 11">11</a>, - <a href="#p023" title="go to p. 23">23</a>, - <a href="#p050" title="go to p. 50">50</a>;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Over-legislation.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Statics, Comte’s classification, II, 19.</li> - -<li>Steam power, effects, I, 56–8.</li> - -<li>Stephenson, R., on railways, III, - <a href="#p105" title="go to p. 105">105</a>–6.</li> - -<li>Stereoscope, analogy from, II, 265.</li> - -<li>Stick, equilibrium of, I, 82.</li> - -<li>Stocking trade, and officialism, III, - <a href="#p262" title="go to p. 262">262</a>.</li> - -<li>Stonehenge, use and beauty, II, 371–2.</li> - -<li>Strikes, III, - <a href="#p362" title="go to p. 362">362</a>–4, - <a href="#p365" title="go to p. 365">365</a>, - <a href="#p383" title="go to p. 383">383</a>.</li> - -<li>Strings, in musical instruments, II, 415.</li> - -<li>Structure: -<ul> -<li>animal and vegetal, I, 73–7;</li> -<li>relation to function, I, 249.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Style: -<ul> -<li>philosophy of, II, 333–69;</li> -<li>forcibleness of Saxon, II, 336–7;</li> -<li>and brevity, II, 337–8;</li> -<li>specific expression, II, 338–9;</li> -<li>sequence of words, II, 339–41;</li> -<li>arrangement of sentences, II, 341–7;</li> -<li>direct and indirect, II, 347–50;</li> -<li>figures of speech, II, 350–5.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Subject: -<ul> -<li>consciousness of, II, 211–4;</li> -<li>relation to object, II, 323–32;</li> -<li>arrangement of sentences, II, 342–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Substantive and adjective, II, 340–1.</li> - -<li>Sugar, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p121" title="go to p. 121">121</a>–3, - <a href="#p125" title="go to p. 125">125</a>.</li> - -<li>Suicide, belief in another world, II, 223.</li> - -<li>Sun: -<ul> -<li>origin, I, 39;</li> -<li>distance from Sirius, I, 113, 114;</li> -<li>density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52;</li> -<li>content of, I, 151;</li> -<li>atmosphere, I, 151;</li> -<li>temperature, I, 151;</li> -<li>constitution, I, 153, 182–91;</li> -<li>duration of heat, I, 101;</li> -<li>willow-leaves and rice grains, I, 186, 188;</li> -<li>faculæ I, 186–7;</li> -<li>Faye’s sun-spot theory, I, 183–4, 188–9;</li> -<li>cyclonic theory, I, 187–91;</li> -<li>as name, I, 317, 326, 327, 328.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Survival of the fittest: -<ul> -<li>Martineau on evolution, I, 379–81;</li> -<li>a factor only of evolution, I, 397–400, 400–5, 405–8, 421–5;</li> -<li>and heredity, I, 408–12, 412–5;</li> -<li>the phrase, I, 429–30;</li> -<li>and effect of medium, I, 444–5;</li> -<li>and nervous system, I, 457–8;</li> -<li>early action of, I, 460–2;</li> -<li>Huxley on, I, 462–3;</li> -<li>Duke of Argyll’s criticism, I, 467–78;</li> -<li>three factors, I, 472.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Swift, J., on manners, III, - <a href="#p044" title="go to p. 44">44</a>.</li> - -<li>Swiss, architecture, II, 379.</li> - -<li>Syllables, style and length, II, 337–8.</li> - -<li>Syllogism, Hodgson on, II, 231.</li> - -<li>Symbolization, infrequent, I, 322.</li> - -<li>Symmetry, in buildings and animals, II, 376–7.</li> - -<li>Sympathy: -<ul> -<li>altruism, I, 346;</li> -<li>comparative psychology, I, 368–9;</li> -<li>and gracefulness, II, 386;</li> -<li>music, II, 424–6;</li> -<li>morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p142" title="go to p. 142">142</a>–3.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Syncrypta</i>, life in, I, 443.</li> - -<li>Synecdoche, effective, II, 350.</li> - -<li>Synthesis, chemical, I, 374.</li> - -<li>Synthetic philosophy, outline, II, 140–2.</li> - -<li>Tailor, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p117" title="go to p. 117">117</a>.</li> - -<li>Tait, P. G.: -<ul> -<li>on natural philosophy, II, 269, 315–20;</li> -<li>axioms, II, 270, 298–301, 315–20;</li> -<li>laws of motion, II, 271–5, 277–88, 299–320;</li> -<li>ultimate scientific ideas, II, 289;</li> -<li>central forces, II, 290–93;</li> -<li>on synthetic philosophy, II, 294–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Talent, relation to desire, I, 54.</li> - -<li>Tamberlik, E., ut de poitrine, II, 442.</li> - -<li>Tanner, Prof. E., use and disuse, I, 419.</li> - -<li>Tape, morals of trade, III, - <a href="#p118" title="go to p. 118">118</a>, - <a href="#p119" title="go to p. 119">119</a>.</li> - -<li>Taste, exhausted by exercise, II, 362.</li> - -<li>Taxes, and parliament, III, - <a href="#p371" title="go to p. 371">371</a>–5.</li> - -<li>Teeth: -<ul> -<li>organic correlation, I, 96–101;</li> -<li>size of jaw, I, 401.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Telegrams, officialism, III, - <a href="#p396" title="go to p. 396">396</a>–7.</li> - -<li>Telegraphs: -<ul> -<li>analogous to nerves, I, 306;</li> -<li>private enterprise, III, - <a href="#p234" title="go to p. 234">234</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Telephone, in America, III, - <a href="#p472" title="go to p. 472">472</a>.</li> - -<li>Temperance society, III, - <a href="#p446" title="go to p. 446">446</a>.</li> - -<li>Temperature: -<ul> -<li>of solar system, I, 11;</li> -<li>animal and vegetal, I, 74, 76;</li> -<li>vegetal density, I, 144–8, 148–52;</li> -<li>solar, I, 151;</li> -<li>chemical unions, I, 159;</li> -<li>duration of solar, I, 161–3;</li> -<li>evolution of, and nebular hypothesis, I, 159–63.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Ten hours bill, III, - <a href="#p362" title="go to p. 362">362</a>, - <a href="#p365" title="go to p. 365">365</a>.</li> - -<li>Tenby, sea shore, I, 432.</li> - -<li>Tennyson, Lord, quoted, II, 356, III, - <a href="#p314" title="go to p. 314">314</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Thalassicolla</i>, instability of homogeneous, I, 87.</li> - -<li>Thames: -<ul> -<li>sewers commission, III, - <a href="#p238" title="go to p. 238">238</a>;</li> -<li>water supply, III, - <a href="#p387" title="go to p. 387">387</a>–92.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Theft, punishment, III, - <a href="#p233" title="go to p. 233">233</a>.</li> - -<li>Thermo-electricity, what is? II, 172–6.</li> - -<li>Thermology, genesis, II, 61.</li> - -<li>Thomson, Sir W., terrestrial density, I, 149.</li> - -<li>Thomson, Sir W., and Prof. Tait, on physical axioms, III, - <a href="#p220" title="go to p. 220">220</a>–1.</li> - -<li>Thorns, protection and growth of, I, 391.</li> - -<li>Ticket of leave, system, III, - <a href="#p244" title="go to p. 244">244</a>.</li> - -<li>Time: -<ul> -<li>measures of, II, 45–9;</li> -<li>classification of science, II, 77, 81–5;</li> -<li>S. H. Hodgson on, II, 226–34;</li> -<li>Kant, II, 226–7, 229–32, 236–8, III, - <a href="#p197" title="go to p. 197">197</a>–9, - <a href="#p207" title="go to p. 207">207</a>;</li> -<li>Martineau’s criticism, II, 257;</li> -<li>terrestrial motion, II, 272;</li> -<li>Emerson on, II, 354.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Titles, evolution of, III, - <a href="#p011" title="go to p. 11">11</a>–6, - <a href="#p023" title="go to p. 23">23</a>, - <a href="#p027" title="go to p. 27">27</a>–8.</li> - -<li>Todleben, Gen. F. E. von, III, - <a href="#p309" title="go to p. 309">309</a>–10.</li> - -<li>Totemism, I, 309–17.</li> - -<li>Town councils: -<ul> -<li>representative government, III, - <a href="#p288" title="go to p. 288">288</a>;</li> -<li>parliamentary reform, III, - <a href="#p369" title="go to p. 369">369</a>–70, - <a href="#p371" title="go to p. 371">371</a>, - <a href="#p372" title="go to p. 372">372</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Town hall, building of, III, - <a href="#p372" title="go to p. 372">372</a>.</li> - -<li>Trade: -<ul> -<li>localization, I, 22;</li> -<li>morals of, III, - <a href="#p113" title="go to p. 113">113</a>–51, - <a href="#p448" title="go to p. 448">448</a>–9;</li> -<li>adulteration, III, - <a href="#p113" title="go to p. 113">113</a>, - <a href="#p121" title="go to p. 121">121</a>–3;</li> -<li>bribery, III, - <a href="#p114" title="go to p. 114">114</a>–8;</li> -<li>short weight, III, - <a href="#p118" title="go to p. 118">118</a>–9;</li> -<li>circulars, III, - <a href="#p123" title="go to p. 123">123</a>–4;</li> -<li>silk manufacture, III, - <a href="#p124" title="go to p. 124">124</a>–7;</li> -<li>candle making, III, - <a href="#p128" title="go to p. 128">128</a>;</li> -<li>elastic webbing, III, - <a href="#p129" title="go to p. 129">129</a>;</li> -<li>bankruptcy, III, - <a href="#p129" title="go to p. 129">129</a>–31;</li> -<li>morals of banking, III, - <a href="#p131" title="go to p. 131">131</a>–7;</li> -<li>average morality, III, - <a href="#p137" title="go to p. 137">137</a>–40;</li> -<li>and sympathy, III, - <a href="#p142" title="go to p. 142">142</a>–3;</li> -<li>homage to wealth, III, - <a href="#p143" title="go to p. 143">143</a>–9, - <a href="#p149" title="go to p. 149">149</a>–51;</li> -<li>ethics of free trade, III, - <a href="#p154" title="go to p. 154">154</a>;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Industry.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Trade unions: -<ul> -<li>parliamentary reform, III, - <a href="#p362" title="go to p. 362">362</a>–8, - <a href="#p384" title="go to p. 384">384</a>;</li> -<li>tyranny of, III, - <a href="#p382" title="go to p. 382">382</a>, - <a href="#p383" title="go to p. 383">383</a>;</li> -<li>selfishness, III, - <a href="#p465" title="go to p. 465">465</a>–7, - <a href="#p469" title="go to p. 469">469</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Tramps, and poor law, III, - <a href="#p244" title="go to p. 244">244</a>.</li> - -<li>Transcendental Physiology (<i>see</i> Physiology.)</li> - -<li>Tremolo, in singing, II, 412.</li> - -<li>Triangle, space perception, II, 309.</li> - -<li>Trigonometry, evolution, II, 55, 155.</li> - -<li>Truth, denial of, II, 259–65.</li> - -<li>Tyndall, J.: -<ul> -<li>on heat, II, 173;</li> -<li>of light, II, 178.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Tzigane, music, II, 450–1.</li> - -<li>Ulcer, effects on skin, I, 448–9.</li> - -<li>Unbelievable, Mill on word, II, 193–200.</li> - -<li>United States (<i>see</i> America.)</li> - -<li>University, training, III, - <a href="#p377" title="go to p. 377">377</a>–8.</li> - -<li>Unknowable, The: -<ul> -<li>knowledge of, II, 220;</li> -<li>Hodgson on, II, 234;</li> -<li>Martineau on, II, 250–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Unstable equilibrium, of homogeneity, I, 81–4.</li> - -<li>Uranus: -<ul> -<li>axial motion, I, 133–6;</li> -<li>motion of satellites, I, 137;</li> -<li>their distance, I, 138;</li> -<li>their number, I, 139–40;</li> -<li>density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Uroglena</i>, life in, I, 443.</li> - -<li>Use, and beauty, II, 370–4; (<i>see also</i> Heredity.)</li> - -<li>Utilitarianism, and Mr. Spencer’s views, I, 334, 338, 347–50.</li> - -<li>Valencia, prison discipline, III, - <a href="#p177" title="go to p. 177">177</a>–8.</li> - -<li>Variability, mental, I, 356–7.</li> - -<li>Variation, natural selection and heredity, I, 408–12, 421.</li> - -<li>Varieties: -<ul> -<li>effect of union, I, 359;</li> -<li>fertility, II, 397–8.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Vascular system: -<ul> -<li>deductive biology, I, 78–81;</li> -<li>development, I, 285–6;</li> -<li>and evolution, III, - <a href="#p204" title="go to p. 204">204</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Vaucheria</i>, cell membrane, I, 439.</li> - -<li>Veddahs, invocation of, I, 311–2.</li> - -<li>Venus: -<ul> -<li>motion, I, 135, 136;</li> -<li>satellites, I, 139–41;</li> -<li>density and heat, I, 144–8, 148–52.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Vertebræ, evolution, I, 395, III, - <a href="#p205" title="go to p. 205">205</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Vertebrata</i>: -<ul> -<li>evolution and heterogeneity, I, 15–7, 17–9;</li> -<li>integration, I, 68–71;</li> -<li>position of eyes, I, 71–2;</li> -<li>self-mobility, I, 76;</li> -<li>germ and instability of homogeneous, I, 88;</li> -<li>cervical vertebræ, II, 83;</li> -<li>origin of music, II, 432;</li> -<li>controlling system, III, - <a href="#p407" title="go to p. 407">407</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li><i>Vestiges of Creation</i>, and evolution, I, 390.</li> - -<li>Vienna, English enterprise in, III, - <a href="#p278" title="go to p. 278">278</a>.</li> - -<li>Voice: -<ul> -<li>feelings and loudness, II, 404, 410;</li> -<li>timbre, II, 405, 411;</li> -<li>pitch, II, 406, 411;</li> -<li>intervals, II, 406–9, 411;</li> -<li>variability, II, 409, 411;</li> -<li>ordinary and singing, II, 410–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Volition, Bain’s definition, I, 258–9.</li> - -<li><i>Volvox</i>: -<ul> -<li>instability of homogeneous, I, 87;</li> -<li>life in, I, 443;</li> -<li>development, I, 456.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Wales, age of rocks, I, 198–205, 207–8.</li> - -<li>Walker, Messrs., robbery at, III, - <a href="#p439" title="go to p. 439">439</a>.</li> - -<li>Walking: -<ul> -<li>effect of blister, I, 404;</li> -<li>grace in, II, 382.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Waste, and repair, II, 362–7.</li> - -<li>Water: -<ul> -<li>compound, I, 372;</li> -<li>government carts and officialism, III, - <a href="#p249" title="go to p. 249">249</a>;</li> -<li>and supply, III, - <a href="#p387" title="go to p. 387">387</a>–92, - <a href="#p429" title="go to p. 429">429</a>.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Wealth, homage to, III, - <a href="#p143" title="go to p. 143">143</a>–9, - <a href="#p149" title="go to p. 149">149</a>–51.</li> - -<li>Weapons, division of labour, I, 54.</li> - -<li>Weber, K. M. von, heredity, I, 406.</li> - -<li>Weight, measures of, II, 43–5.</li> - -<li>Werner, A. G.: -<ul> -<li>geological theory, I, 194–7;</li> -<li>influence of, I, 201.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Whales, not fish, I, 247.</li> - -<li>Whately, Abp.: -<ul> -<li>metaphor and simile, II, 352;</li> -<li>political economy, III, - <a href="#p423" title="go to p. 423">423</a>–4.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Whewell, W.: -<ul> -<li><i>History of Inductive Sciences</i>, II, 23;</li> -<li>electrical theory, II, 62.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Whirlwind, sun-spot analogy, I, 190–1.</li> - -<li>White, perception of, III, - <a href="#p196" title="go to p. 196">196</a>.</li> - -<li>Will, the: -<ul> -<li>social analogy, I, 269–71;</li> -<li>Kant on, III, - <a href="#p201" title="go to p. 201">201</a>–3;</li> -<li>(<i>see also</i> Psychology.)</li></ul></li> - -<li>Wills, registrars of, III, - <a href="#p251" title="go to p. 251">251</a>.</li> - -<li>Wisdom, the collective, III, - <a href="#p387" title="go to p. 387">387</a>–92.</li> - -<li>Wolf, as name, I, 312–3, 315, 316, 321.</li> - -<li>Wollaston, W. H., insect colours, I, 433.</li> - -<li>Women: -<ul> -<li>comparative psychology and sex, I, 361–4;</li> -<li>size of jaw, I, 398;</li> -<li>treatment of, III, - <a href="#p445" title="go to p. 445">445</a>–6.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Wool, industry and locality, I, 104.</li> - -<li>Words (<i>see</i> Language.)</li> - -<li>Workpeople, residences, III, - <a href="#p447" title="go to p. 447">447</a>.</li> - -<li>Writing: -<ul> -<li>increase in heterogeneity, I, 24–6;</li> -<li>derived from picture language, II, 33.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Yorkshire, woollen industry, I, 266.</li> - -<li>Yours faithfully, etc., III, - <a href="#p016" title="go to p. 16">16</a>, - <a href="#p026" title="go to p. 26">26</a>.</li> - -<li>Zoology: -<ul> -<li>genesis, II, 57;</li> -<li>classification, II, 64;</li> -<li>discovery of laws, II, 149–50.</li></ul></li> - -<li>Zoophytes, evolution of mind, I, 377.</li> - -<li>Zulus, ethics, III, - <a href="#p193" title="go to p. 193">193</a>.</li> - -<li>Zygomatic arches, and beauty, II, 390–2.</li></ul> -</div><!--dndx--> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr id="hrend" /> -<h2 class="h2nobreak" id="idads" -title="Advertisements: MR. HERBERT SPENCER’S WORKS.">MR. -HERBERT SPENCER’S WORKS.</h2></div> - -<div class="fszc"><i>A SYSTEM OF SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY.</i></div> - -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>8th Thousand.</i></div> -<div class="fsza">(WITH AN APPENDIX DEALING WITH CRITICISMS.)</div> -<div class="fszb">In one vol. 8vo, cloth, price 16s.,</div> -<div class="fszd">FIRST PRINCIPLES.</div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> -I.—<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span -class="smcap">U<b>NKNOWABLE.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Religion and Science.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Ultimate Religious Ideas.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Ultimate Scientific Ideas.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. The Relativity of All Knowledge.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Reconciliation.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> -II.—<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span -class="smcap">K<b>NOWABLE.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Philosophy Defined</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Data of Philosophy.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Space, Time, Matter, Motion, and Force.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. The Indestructibility of Matter.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Continuity of Motion.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. The Persistence of Force.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. The Persistence of Relations among Forces.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. The Transformation and Equivalence of Forces.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. The Direction of Motion.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. The Rhythm of Motion.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. Recapitulation, Criticism, and Recommencement.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. Evolution and Dissolution.</li> -<li class="liad2">13. Simple and Compound Evolution.</li> -<li class="liad2">14. The Law of Evolution.</li> -<li class="liad2">15. The Law of Evolution, continued.</li> -<li class="liad2">16. The Law of Evolution, continued.</li> -<li class="liad2">17. The Law of Evolution, concluded.</li> -<li class="liad2">18. The Interpretation of Evolution.</li> -<li class="liad2">19. The Instability of the Homogeneous.</li> -<li class="liad2">20. The Multiplication of Effects.</li> -<li class="liad2">21. Segregation.</li> -<li class="liad2">22. Equilibration.</li> -<li class="liad2">23. Dissolution.</li> -<li class="liad2">24. Summary and Conclusion.</li> -</ul></li></ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>4th Thousand.</i></div> -<div class="fszb">In two vols. 8vo, cloth, price 34s.</div> -<div class="fszd">THE PRINCIPLES OF BIOLOGY.</div></div> - -<div class="fszc">CONTENTS OF VOL. I.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> -I.—<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> -<span class="smcap">D<b>ATA</b></span> -<span class="smmaj">OF</span> -<span class="smcap">B<b>IOLOGY.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Organic Matter.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Actions of Forces on Organic Matter.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Re-actions of Organic Matter on Forces.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Proximate Definition of Life.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Correspondence between Life and its Circumstances.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. The Degree of Life varies as the Degree of Correspondence.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. The Scope of Biology.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> - II.—<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span - class="smcap">I<b>NDUCTIONS</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> - <span class="smcap">B<b>IOLOGY.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Growth.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Development.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Function.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Waste and Repair.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Adaptation.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Individuality.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. Genesis.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. Heredity.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. Variation.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. Genesis, Heredity, and Variation.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. Classification.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. Distribution.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> - III.—<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span - class="smcap">E<b>VOLUTION</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> - <span class="smcap">L<b>IFE.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Preliminary.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. General Aspects of the Special-Creation-Hypothesis.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. General Aspects of the Evolution-Hypothesis.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. The Arguments from Classification.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Arguments from Embryology.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. The Arguments from Morphology.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. The Arguments from Distribution.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. How is Organic Evolution caused?</li> -<li class="liad2">9. External Factors.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. Internal Factors.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. Direct Equilibration.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. Indirect Equilibration.</li> -<li class="liad2">13. The Co-operation of the Factors.</li> -<li class="liad2">14. The Convergence of the Evidences.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">A<b>PPENDIX.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">The Spontaneous-Generation Question.</li> -</ul></li></ul> - - - -<div class="fszc padtopa">CONTENTS OF VOL. II.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> IV.—<span - class="smcap">M<b>ORPHOLOGICAL</b></span> <span - class="smcap">D<b>EVELOPMENT.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Problems of Morphology.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Morphological Composition of Plants.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Morphological Composition of Plants, continued.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. The Morphological Composition of Animals.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Morphological Composition of Animals, continued.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Morphological Differentiation in Plants.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. The General Shapes of Plants.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. The Shapes of Branches.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. The Shapes of Leaves.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. The Shapes of Flowers.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. The Shapes of Vegetal Cells.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. Changes of Shape otherwise caused.</li> -<li class="liad2">13. Morphological Differentiation in Animals.</li> -<li class="liad2">14. The General Shapes of Animals.</li> -<li class="liad2">15. The Shapes of Vertebrate Skeletons.</li> -<li class="liad2">16. The Shapes of Animal Cells.</li> -<li class="liad2">17. Summary of Morphological Development.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> V.—<span class="smcap">P<b>HYSIOLOGICAL</b></span> - <span class="smcap">D<b>EVELOPMENT.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Problems of Physiology.</li> - -<li class="liad2">2. Differentiations between the -Outer and Inner Tissues of -Plants.</li> - -<li class="liad2">3. Differentiations among the -Outer Tissues of Plants.</li> - -<li class="liad2">4. Differentiations among the -Inner Tissues of Plants.</li> - -<li class="liad2">5. Physiological Integration in -Plants.</li> - -<li class="liad2">6. Differentiations between the -Outer and Inner Tissues of -Animals.</li> - -<li class="liad2">7. Differentiations among the -Outer Tissues of Animals.</li> - -<li class="liad2">8. Differentiations among the -Inner Tissues of Animals.</li> - -<li class="liad2">9. Physiological Integration in -Animals.</li> - -<li class="liad2">10. Summary of Physiological Development.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> VI.—<span - class="smcap">L<b>AWS</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> <span - class="smcap">M<b>ULTIPLICATION.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Factors.</li> - -<li class="liad2">2. <i>À Priori</i> Principle.</li> - -<li class="liad2">3. Obverse <i>à priori</i> Principle.</li> - -<li class="liad2">4. Difficulties of Inductive Verification.</li> - -<li class="liad2">5. Antagonism between Growth -and Asexual Genesis.</li> - -<li class="liad2">6. Antagonism between Growth -and Sexual Genesis.</li> - -<li class="liad2">7. Antagonism between Development -and Genesis, Asexual -and Sexual.</li> - -<li class="liad2">8. Antagonism between Expenditure -and Genesis.</li> - -<li class="liad2">9. Coincidence between high -Nutrition and Genesis.</li> - -<li class="liad2">10. Specialities of these Relations.</li> - -<li class="liad2">11. Interpretation and Qualification.</li> - -<li class="liad2">12. Multiplication of the Human Race.</li> - -<li class="liad2">13. Human Evolution in the Future.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">A<b>PPENDIX.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">A Criticism on Professor Owen’s -Theory of the Vertebrate Skeleton.</li> - -<li class="liad2">On Circulation and the Formation -of Wood in Plants.</li></ul></li></ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>5th Thousand.</i></div> -<div class="fsza">(WITH AN ADDITIONAL PART.)</div> -<div class="fszb">In two vols. 8vo, cloth, price 36s.,</div> -<div class="fszd">THE PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY.</div></div> - -<div class="fszc">CONTENTS OF VOL. I.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> - I.—<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span - class="smcap">D<b>ATA</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> <span - class="smcap">P<b>SYCHOLOGY.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Nervous System.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Structure of the Nervous System.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Functions of the Nervous System.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. The Conditions essential to Nervous Action.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Nervous Stimulation and Nervous Discharge.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Æstho-Physiology.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> - II.—<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span - class="smcap">I<b>NDUCTIONS</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> - <span class="smcap">P<b>SYCHOLOGY.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Substance of Mind.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Composition of Mind.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Relativity of Feelings.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. The Relativity of Relations between Feelings.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Revivability of Feelings.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. The Revivability of Relations between Feelings.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. The Associability of Feelings.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. The Associability of Relations between Feelings.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. Pleasures and Pains.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> III.—<span class="smcap">G<b>ENERAL</b></span> - <span class="smcap">S<b>YNTHESIS.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Life and Mind as Correspondence.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Correspondence as Direct and Homogeneous.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Correspondence as Direct but Heterogeneous.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. The Correspondence as extending in Space.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Correspondence as extending in Time.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. The Correspondence as increasing in Speciality.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. The Correspondence as increasing in Generality.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. The Correspondence as increasing in Complexity.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. The Co-ordination of Correspondences.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. The Integration of Correspondences.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. The Correspondences in their - Totality.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> IV.—<span class="smcap">S<b>PECIAL</b></span> - <span class="smcap">S<b>YNTHESIS.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Nature of Intelligence.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Law of Intelligence.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Growth of Intelligence.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Reflex Action.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Instinct.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Memory.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. Reason.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. The Feelings.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. The Will.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> V.—<span class="smcap">P<b>HYSICAL</b></span> - <span class="smcap">S<b>YNTHESIS.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. A Further Interpretation Needed.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Genesis of Nerves.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Genesis of Simple Nervous Systems.</li> - -<li class="liad2">4. The Genesis of Compound Nervous Systems.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Genesis of Doubly-Compound Nervous Systems.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Functions as Related to these Structures.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. Psychical Laws as thus Interpreted.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. Evidence from Normal Variations.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. Evidence from Abnormal Variations.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. Results.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">A<b>PPENDIX.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">On the Action of Anæsthetics - and Narcotics.</li></ul></li></ul> - -<div class="fszc">CONTENTS OF VOL. II.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> VI.—<span class="smcap">S<b>PECIAL</b></span> - <span class="smcap">A<b>NALYSIS.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Limitation of the Subject.</li> - -<li class="liad2">2. Compound Quantitative Reasoning.</li> - -<li class="liad2">3. Compound Quantitative Reasoning, -continued.</li> - -<li class="liad2">4. Imperfect and Simple Quantitative Reasoning.</li> - -<li class="liad2">5. Quantitative Reasoning in General.</li> - -<li class="liad2">6. Perfect Qualitative Reasoning.</li> - -<li class="liad2">7. Imperfect Qualitative Reasoning.</li> - -<li class="liad2">8. Reasoning in General.</li> - -<li class="liad2">9. Classification, Naming, and -Recognition.</li> - -<li class="liad2">10. The Perception of Special Objects.</li> - -<li class="liad2">11. The Perception of Body as -presenting Dynamical, Statico-Dynamical, -and Statical Attributes.</li> - -<li class="liad2">12. The Perception of Body as -presenting Statico-Dynamical -and Statical Attributes.</li> - -<li class="liad2">13. The Perception of Body as presenting -Statical Attributes.</li> - -<li class="liad2">14. The Perception of Space.</li> - -<li class="liad2">15. The Perception of Time.</li> - -<li class="liad2">16. The Perception of Motion.</li> - -<li class="liad2">17. The Perception of Resistance.</li> - -<li class="liad2">18. Perception in General.</li> - -<li class="liad2">19. The Relations of Similarity -and Dissimilarity.</li> - -<li class="liad2">20. The Relations of Cointension -and Non-Cointension.</li> - -<li class="liad2">21. The Relations of Coextension -and Non-Coextension.</li> - -<li class="liad2">22. The Relations of Coexistence -and Non-Coexistence.</li> - -<li class="liad2">23. The Relations of Connature -and Non-Connature.</li> - -<li class="liad2">24. The Relations of Likeness and -Unlikeness.</li> - -<li class="liad2">25. The Relation of Sequence.</li> - -<li class="liad2">26. Consciousness in General.</li> - -<li class="liad2">27. Results.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> - VII.—<span class="smcap">G<b>ENERAL</b></span> - <span class="smcap">A<b>NALYSIS.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Final Question.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Assumption of Metaphysicians.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Words of Metaphysicians.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. The Reasonings of Metaphysicians.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Negative Justification of Realism.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Argument from Priority.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. The Argument from Simplicity.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. The Argument from Distinctness.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. A Criterion Wanted.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. Propositions qualitatively distinguished.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. The Universal Postulate.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. The test of Relative Validity.</li> -<li class="liad2">13. Its Corollaries.</li> -<li class="liad2">14. Positive Justification of Realism.</li> -<li class="liad2">15. The Dynamics of Consciousness.</li> -<li class="liad2">16. Partial Differentiation of Subject and Object.</li> -<li class="liad2">17. Completed Differentiation of Subject and Object.</li> -<li class="liad2">18. Developed Conception of the Object.</li> -<li class="liad2">19. Transfigured Realism.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> - VIII.—<span class="smcap">C<b>ONGRUITIES.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Preliminary.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Co-ordination of Data and Inductions.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Co-ordination of Syntheses.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Co-ordination of Special Analyses.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Co-ordination of General Analyses.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Final Comparison.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> - IX.—<span class="smcap">C<b>OROLLARIES.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Special Psychology.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Classification.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Development of Conceptions.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Language of the Emotions.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Sociality and Sympathy.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Egoistic Sentiments.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. Ego-Altruistic Sentiments.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. Altruistic Sentiments.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. Æsthetic Sentiments.</li> -</ul></li></ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>3rd Edition, revised and enlarged.</i></div> -<div class="fszb">In 8vo., cloth, price 21s., Vol. I. of</div> -<div class="fszd">THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY.</div></div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> - I.—<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span - class="smcap">D<b>ATA</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> <span - class="smcap">S<b>OCIOLOGY.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Super-Organic Evolution.</li> - -<li class="liad2">2. The Factors of Social Phenomena.</li> - -<li class="liad2">3. Original External Factors.</li> - -<li class="liad2">4. Original Internal Factors.</li> - -<li class="liad2">5. The Primitive Man—Physical.</li> - -<li class="liad2">6. The Primitive Man—Emotional.</li> - -<li class="liad2">7. The Primitive Man—Intellectual.</li> - -<li class="liad2">8. Primitive Ideas.</li> - -<li class="liad2">9. The Ideas of the Animate and -the Inanimate.</li> - -<li class="liad2">10. The Ideas of Sleep and Dreams.</li> - -<li class="liad2">11. The Ideas of Swoon, Apoplexy, -Catelepsy, Ecstacy, -and other forms of Insensibility.</li> - -<li class="liad2">12. The Ideas of Death and -Resurrection.</li> - -<li class="liad2">13. The Ideas of Souls, Ghosts, -Spirits, Demons.</li> - -<li class="liad2">14. The Ideas of Another Life.</li> - -<li class="liad2">15. The Ideas of Another World.</li> - -<li class="liad2">16. The Ideas of Supernatural -Agents.</li> - -<li class="liad2">17. Supernatural Agents as causing -Epilepsy and Convulsive -Actions, Delirium and -Insanity, Disease and Death.</li> - -<li class="liad2">18. Inspiration, Divination, Exorcism, -and Sorcery.</li> - -<li class="liad2">19. Sacred Places, Temples, and -Altars; Sacrifice, Fasting, -and Propitiation; Praise -and Prayer.</li> - -<li class="liad2">20. Ancestor-Worship in General.</li> - -<li class="liad2">21. Idol-Worship and Fetich-Worship.</li> - -<li class="liad2">22. Animal-Worship.</li> - -<li class="liad2">23. Plant-Worship.</li> - -<li class="liad2">24. Nature-Worship.</li> - -<li class="liad2">25. Deities.</li> - -<li class="liad2">26. The Primitive Theory of -Things.</li> - -<li class="liad2">27. The Scope of Sociology.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> II.—<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> - <span class="smcap">I<b>NDUCTIONS</b></span> - <span class="smmaj">OF</span> - <span class="smcap">S<b>OCIOLOGY.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. What is a Society?</li> -<li class="liad2">2. A Society is an Organism.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Social Growth.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Social Structures.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Social Functions.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Systems of Organs.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. The Sustaining System.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. The Distributing System.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. The Regulating System.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. Social Types and Constitutions.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. Social Metamorphoses.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. Qualifications and Summary.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">P<b>ART</b></span> III.—<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> - <span class="smcap">D<b>OMESTIC</b></span> - <span class="smcap">R<b>ELATIONS.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Maintenance of Species.</li> - -<li class="liad2">2. The Diverse Interests of the Species, of - the Parents, and of the Offspring.</li> - -<li class="liad2">3. Primitive Relations of the Sexes.</li> - -<li class="liad2">4. Exogamy and Endogamy.</li> - -<li class="liad2">5. Promiscuity.</li> - -<li class="liad2">6. Polyandry.</li> - -<li class="liad2">7. Polygyny.</li> - -<li class="liad2">8. Monogamy.</li> - -<li class="liad2">9. The Family.</li> - -<li class="liad2">10. The <i>Status</i> of Women.</li> - -<li class="liad2">11. The <i>Status</i> of Children.</li> - -<li class="liad2">12. Domestic Retrospect and Prospect.</li> -</ul></li></ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>2nd Thousand.</i></div> -<div class="fszb">In 8vo, cloth, price 18s. Vol. II of</div> -<div class="fszd">THE PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY.</div> - -<div class="fszb">(<i>Containing the two following divisions, which may still -be had separately.</i>)</div></div> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa">In one vol. 8vo, cloth, price 7s.,</div> -<div class="fszd">CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS.</div></div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Ceremony in General.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Trophies.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Mutilations.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Presents.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Visits.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Obeisances.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. Forms of Address.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. Titles.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. Badges and Costumes.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. Further Class-Distinctions.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. Fashion.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. Ceremonial Retrospect and Prospect.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa">In one vol. 8vo, cloth, price 12s.</div> -<div class="fszd">POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS.</div></div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Preliminary.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Political Organization in General.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Political Integration.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Political Differentiation.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Political Forms and Forces.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Political Heads—Chiefs, Kings, etc.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. Compound Political Heads.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. Consultative Bodies.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. Representative Bodies.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. Ministries.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. Local Governing Agencies.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. Military Systems.</li> -<li class="liad2">13. Judicial Systems.</li> -<li class="liad2">14. Laws.</li> -<li class="liad2">15. Property.</li> -<li class="liad2">16. Revenue.</li> -<li class="liad2">17. The Militant Type of Society.</li> -<li class="liad2">18. The Industrial Type of Society.</li> -<li class="liad2">19. Political Retrospect and Prospect.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>2nd Thousand.</i></div> -<div class="fszb">In one vol. 8vo., cloth, price 5<i>s.</i></div> -<div class="fszd">ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS.</div> - -<div class="fszb">(<i>Being Part VI. of the - PRINCIPLES OF SOCIOLOGY.</i>)</div></div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Religious Idea.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Medicine-men and Priests.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Priestly Duties of Descendants.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Eldest Male Descendants as Quasi-Priests.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Ruler as Priest.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. The Rise of a Priesthood.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. Polytheistic and Monotheistic Priesthoods.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. Ecclesiastical Hierarchies.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. An Ecclesiastical System as a Social Bond.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. The Military Functions of Priests.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. The Civil Functions of Priests.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. Church and State.</li> -<li class="liad2">13. Nonconformity.</li> -<li class="liad2">14. The Moral Influences of Priesthoods.</li> -<li class="liad2">15. Ecclesiastical Retrospect and Prospect.</li> -<li class="liad2">16. Religious Retrospect and Prospect.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>5th Thousand.</i></div> -<div class="fsza">WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER, AND REPLIES TO CRITICISMS.</div> -<div class="fszb">In one vol. 8vo, cloth, price 8s.,</div> -<div class="fszd">THE DATA OF ETHICS.</div> -<div class="fszb">(<i>Being Part I. of the - PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS.</i>)</div></div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Conduct in General.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Evolution of Conduct.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Good and Bad Conduct.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Ways of Judging Conduct.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Physical View.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. The Biological View.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. The Psychological View.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. The Sociological View.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. Criticisms and Explanations.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. The Relativity of Pains and Pleasures.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. Egoism <i>versus</i> Altruism.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. Altruism <i>versus</i> Egoism.</li> -<li class="liad2">13. Trial and Compromise.</li> -<li class="liad2">14. Conciliation.</li> -<li class="liad2">15. Absolute Ethics and Relative Ethics.</li> -<li class="liad2">16. The Scope of Ethics.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="fszc"><i>OTHER WORKS.</i></div> -</div><!--chapter--> - -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>5th Thousand.</i></div> -<div class="fszb">In one vol. 8vo, cloth, price 6s.,</div> -<div class="fszd">EDUCATION:</div> -<div class="fszc">INTELLECTUAL, MORAL, AND PHYSICAL.</div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. What Knowledge is of most Worth?</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Intellectual Education.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Moral Education.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Physical Education.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>Also, 20th and 21st Thousand,</i></div> -<div class="fszc"><i>A CHEAP EDITION OF THE FOREGOING WORK.</i></div></div> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb">In one vol. crown 8vo, price 2s. 6d.</div> - -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>Library Edition (the 9th), with a Postscript.</i></div> -<div class="fszb">In one vol., price 10s. 6d.,</div> -<div class="fszd">THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY.</div></div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Our Need of it.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Is there a Social Science?</li> -<li class="liad2">3. Nature of the Social Science.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Difficulties of the Social Science.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Objective Difficulties.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Subjective Difficulties—Intellectual.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. Subjective Difficulties—Emotional.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. The Educational Bias.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. The Bias of Patriotism.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. The Class-Bias.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. The Political Bias.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. The Theological Bias.</li> -<li class="liad2">13. Discipline.</li> -<li class="liad2">14. Preparation in Biology.</li> -<li class="liad2">15. Preparation in Psychology.</li> -<li class="liad2">16. Conclusion.</li> -<li class="liad2">    Postscript.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>10th Thousand.</i></div> -<div class="fszb">In wrapper, 1s., in cloth, better paper, 2s. 6d.</div> -<div class="fszd">THE MAN - <i><span class="smmaj">VERSUS</span></i> THE STATE.</div></div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The New Toryism.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. The Coming Slavery.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Sins of Legislators.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. The Great Political Superstition.</li> -<li class="liad2">    Postscript.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>4th Thousand.</i></div> -<div class="fszb">In two vols. 8vo, cloth, price 16s.,</div> -<div class="fszd">ESSAYS:</div> -<div class="fszc">SCIENTIFIC, POLITICAL, AND -SPECULATIVE.</div></div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS OF VOL. I.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. Progress: its Law and Cause.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Manners and Fashion.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Genesis of Science.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. The Physiology of Laughter.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. The Origin and Function of Music.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. The Nebular Hypothesis.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. Bain on the Emotions and the Will.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. Illogical Geology.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. The Development Hypothesis.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. The Social Organism.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. Use and Beauty.</li> -<li class="liad2">12. The Sources of Architectural Types.</li> -<li class="liad2">13. The Use of Anthropomorphism.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS OF VOL. II.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Philosophy of Style.</li> -<li class="liad2">2. Over-Legislation.</li> -<li class="liad2">3. The Morals of Trade.</li> -<li class="liad2">4. Personal Beauty.</li> -<li class="liad2">5. Representative Government.</li> -<li class="liad2">6. Prison Ethics.</li> -<li class="liad2">7. Railway Morals and Railway Policy.</li> -<li class="liad2">8. Gracefulness.</li> -<li class="liad2">9. State-Tamperings with Money and Banks.</li> -<li class="liad2">10. Parliamentary Reform: the Dangers and the Safeguards.</li> -<li class="liad2">11. Mill <i>versus</i> Hamilton—the Test of - Truth.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>3rd Edition.</i></div> -<div class="fszb">In one vol. 8vo., price 8s.,</div> -<div class="fszc">THIRD SERIES OF</div> -<div class="fszd">ESSAYS:</div></div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">CONTENTS.</div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">1. The Classification of the Sciences (with a Postscript, replying to Criticisms).</li> - -<li class="liad2">2. Reasons for Dissenting from the Philosophy of M. Comte.</li> - -<li class="liad2">3. Laws in General.</li> - -<li class="liad2">4. The Origin of Animal-Worship.</li> - -<li class="liad2">5. Specialized Administration.</li> - -<li class="liad2">6. “The Collective Wisdom.”</li> - -<li class="liad2">7. Political Fetichism.</li> - -<li class="liad2">8. What is Electricity?</li> - -<li class="liad2">9. The Constitution of the Sun.</li> - -<li class="liad2">10. Mr. Martineau on Evolution.</li> - -<li class="liad2">11. Replies to Criticisms.</li> - -<li class="liad2">12. Transcendental Physiology.</li> - -<li class="liad2">13. The Comparative Psychology of Man.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa">Price 2s. 6d.,</div> -<div class="fszd">THE FACTORS OF ORGANIC EVOLUTION.</div></div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="fszd padtopa">DESCRIPTIVE SOCIOLOGY;</div> -<div class="fsza padtopc">OR GROUPS OF</div> -<div class="fszc padtopc">SOCIOLOGICAL FACTS,</div> -<div class="fsza padtopc">CLASSIFIED AND ARRANGED BY</div> -<div class="fszc padtopc">HERBERT SPENCER,</div> - -<div class="fsza padtopc">COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED BY</div> - -<p class="fszb phanga padtopc">DAVID DUNCAN, M.A., Professor of Logic, &c., in the Presidency College, -Madras; RICHARD SCHEPPIG, Ph.D.; and JAMES COLLIER.</p> -</div><!--chapter--> - -<div class="fsza padtopc">EXTRACT FROM THE PROVISIONAL PREFACE.</div> - -<p class="fsza padtopc">Something to introduce the work of which an instalment is annexed, seems needful, in -anticipation of the time when completion of a volume will give occasion for a Permanent -Preface.</p> - -<p class="fsza">In preparation for <i>The Principles of Sociology</i>, requiring as bases of induction large accumulations -of data, fitly arranged for comparison, I, some twelve years ago, commenced, by -proxy, the collection and organization of facts presented by societies of different types, past -and present; being fortunate enough to secure the services of gentlemen competent to -carry on the process in the way I wished. Though this classified compilation of materials -was entered upon solely to facilitate my own work; yet, after having brought the mode of -classification to a satisfactory form, and after having had some of the Tables filled up, I -decided to have the undertaking executed with a view to publication; the facts collected -and arranged for easy reference and convenient study of their relations, being so presented, -apart from hypothesis, as to aid all students of Social Science in testing such conclusions as -they have drawn and in drawing others.</p> - -<p class="fsza">The Work consists of three large Divisions. Each comprises a set of Tables exhibiting -the facts as abstracted and classified, and a mass of quotations and abridged abstracts otherwise -classified, on which the statements contained in the Tables are based. The condensed -statements, arranged after a uniform manner, give, in each Table or succession of Tables, -the phenomena of all orders which each society presents—constitute an account of its morphology, -its physiology, and (if a society having a known history) its development. On the -other hand, the collected Extracts, serving as authorities for the statements in the Tables, are -(or, rather will be, when the Work is complete) classified primarily according to the kinds of -phenomena to which they refer, and secondarily according to the societies exhibiting these -phenomena; so that each kind of phenomenon as it is displayed in all societies, may be -separately studied with convenience.</p> - -<p class="fsza">In further explanation I may say that the classified compilations and digests of materials -to be thus brought together under the title of <i>Descriptive Sociology</i>, are intended to supply the -student of Social Science with data, standing towards his conclusions in a relation like that -in which accounts of the structures and functions of different types of animals stand to the -conclusions of the biologist. Until there had been such systematic descriptions of different -kinds of organisms, as made it possible to compare the connexions, and forms, and actions, -and modes of origin, of their parts, the Science of Life could make no progress. And in -like manner, before there can be reached in Sociology, generalizations having a certainty -making them worthy to be called scientific, there must be definite accounts of the institutions -and actions of societies of various types, and in various stages of evolution, so arranged -as to furnish the means of readily ascertaining what social phenomena are habitually -associated.</p> - -<p class="fsza">Respecting the tabulation, devised for the purpose of exhibiting social phenomena in a -convenient way, I may explain that the primary aim has been so to present them that their -relations of simultaneity and succession may be seen at one view. As used for delineating -uncivilized societies, concerning which we have no records, the tabular form serves only to -display the various social traits as they are found to co-exist. But as used for delineating -societies having known histories, the tabular form is so employed as to exhibit not only the -connexions of phenomena existing at the same time, but also the connexions of phenomena -that succeed one another. By reading horizontally across a Table at any period, there may -be gained a knowledge of the traits of all orders displayed by the society at that period; while -by reading down each column, there may be gained a knowledge of the modifications which -each trait, structural or functional, underwent during successive periods.</p> - -<p class="fsza">Of course, the tabular form fulfils these purposes but approximately. To preserve complete -simultaneity in the statements of facts, as read from side to side of the Tables, has proved -impracticable; here much had to be inserted, and there little; so that complete correspondence -in time could not be maintained. Moreover, it has not been possible to carry out the -mode of classification in a theoretically-complete manner, by increasing the number of -columns as the classes of facts multiply in the course of Civilization. To represent truly the -progress of things, each column should divide and sub-divide in successive ages, so as to -indicate the successive differentiations of the phenomena. But typographical difficulties have -negatived this: a great deal has had to be left in a form which must be accepted simply as the -least unsatisfactory.</p> - -<p class="fsza">The three Divisions constituting the entire work, comprehend three groups of societies:—(1) -<i>Uncivilized Societies</i>; (2) <i>Civilized Societies—Extinct or Decayed</i>; (3) <i>Civilized Societies—Recent -or Still Flourishing</i>. These divisions have at present reached the following <span class="nowrap">stages:―</span></p> - -<p class="fsza"><span class="smcap">D<b>IVISION</b></span> I.—<i>Uncivilized Societies.</i> Commenced in 1867 by -the gentleman I first engaged, Mr. <span class="smcap">D<b>AVID</b></span> <span class="smcap">D<b>UNCAN</b></span>, -M.A. (now Professor of Logic, &c., in the Presidency College, Madras), -and continued by him since he left England, this part of the work is -complete. It contains four parts, including “Types of Lowest Races,” -the “Negrito Races,” the “Malayo-Polynesian Races,” the “African -Races,” the “Asiatic Races,” and the “American Races.”</p> - -<p class="fsza"><span class="smcap">D<b>IVISION</b></span> II.—<i>Civilized - Societies—Extinct or Decayed.</i> On this part of the work Dr. <span class="smcap">R<b>ICHARD</b></span> -<span class="smcap">S<b>CHEPPIG</b></span> has been engaged since January, 1872. The first instalment, including the four -Ancient American Civilizations, was issued in March, 1874. A second instalment, containing -“Hebrews and Phœnicians,” will shortly be issued.</p> - -<p class="fsza"><span class="smcap">D<b>IVISION</b></span> III.—<i>Civilized Societies—Recent or Still Flourishing.</i> Of this Division the first -instalment, prepared by Mr. <span class="smcap">J<b>AMES</b></span> <span class="smcap">C<b>OLLIER</b></span>, of St. Andrew’s and Edinburgh Universities, was -issued in August, 1873. This presents the English Civilization. It covers seven consecutive -Tables; and the Extracts occupy seventy pages folio. The next part, presenting in a still -more extensive form the French Civilization, is now in the press.</p> - -<p class="fsza">The successive parts belonging to these several Divisions, issued at intervals, are composed -of different numbers of Tables and different numbers of Pages. The Uncivilized Societies -occupy four parts, each containing a dozen or more Tables, with their accompanying Extracts. -Of the Division comprising Extinct Civilized Societies, the first part contains four, and the -second contains two. While of Existing Civilized Societies, the records of which are so much -more extensive, each occupies a single part.</p> - -<p class="fsza psignature">H. S.</p> -<p class="fsza"><i>March, 1880.</i></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="fszb"><i>In Royal Folio, Price 18s.</i>,</div> -<div class="fszc">No. I.</div> -<div class="fszd"><em class="emoe">English</em>.</div> - -<div class="fsza">COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED</div> - -<div class="fsza">BY</div> - -<div class="fszc">JAMES COLLIER.</div> -</div><!--chapter--> - - -<div class="padtopa dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb"><i>In Royal Folio, Price 16s.</i>,</div> -<div class="fszc">No. II.</div> -<div class="fszd"><em class="emoe">Mexicans, Central Americans, - Chibchas, and Peruvians</em>.</div> - -<div class="fsza">COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED</div> - -<div class="fsza">BY</div> - -<div class="fszc">RICHARD SCHEPPIG, <span class="smcap">P<b>H.</b></span>D.</div> -</div><!--padtopa dkeeptogether--> - -<div class="padtopa dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb"><i>In Royal Folio, Price 18s.</i>,</div> -<div class="fszc">No. III.</div> -<div class="fszd"><em class="emoe">Lowest Races, Negrito Races, and - Malayo-Polynesian Races.</em></div> - -<div class="fsza">COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED</div> - -<div class="fsza">BY</div> - -<div class="fszc">PROF. DUNCAN, M.A.</div> -</div><!--padtopa dkeeptogether--> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">T<b>YPES</b></span> <span - class="smmaj">OF</span> <span class="smcap">L<b>OWEST</b></span> <span - class="smcap">R<b>ACES.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">Fuegians.</li> -<li class="liad2">Andamanese.</li> -<li class="liad2">Veddahs.</li> -<li class="liad2">Australians.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">N<b>EGRITO</b></span> -<span class="smcap">R<b>ACES.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">Tasmanians.</li> -<li class="liad2">New Caledonians, etc.</li> -<li class="liad2">New Guinea People.</li> -<li class="liad2">Fijians.</li></ul></li> - -<li class="liad1"><span class="smcap">M<b>ALAYO</b>-P<b>OLYNESIAN</b></span> -<span class="smcap">R<b>ACES.</b></span> -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">Sandwich Islanders.</li> -<li class="liad2">Tahitians.</li> -<li class="liad2">Tongans.</li> -<li class="liad2">Samoans.</li> -<li class="liad2">New Zealanders.</li> -<li class="liad2">Dyaks.</li> -<li class="liad2">Javans.</li> -<li class="liad2">Sumatrans.</li> -<li class="liad2">Malagasy.</li></ul></li> -</ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>In Royal Folio, Price 16s.</i>,</div> -<div class="fszc">No. IV.</div> -<div class="fszd"><em class="emoe">African Races</em>.</div> - -<div class="fszb">COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED</div> - -<div class="fszb">BY</div> - -<div class="fszc">PROF. DUNCAN, M.A.</div></div> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">Bushmen.</li> -<li class="liad2">Hottentots.</li> -<li class="liad2">Damaras.</li> -<li class="liad2">Bechuanas.</li> -<li class="liad2">Kaffirs.</li> -<li class="liad2">East Africans.</li> -<li class="liad2">Congo People.</li> -<li class="liad2">Coast Negroes.</li> -<li class="liad2">Inland Negroes.</li> -<li class="liad2">Dahomans.</li> -<li class="liad2">Ashantis.</li> -<li class="liad2">Fulahs.</li> -<li class="liad2">Abyssinians.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="padtopa dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb"><i>In Royal Folio, Price 18s.</i>,</div> -<div class="fszc">No. V.</div> -<div class="fszd"><em class="emoe">Asiatic Races</em>.</div> - -<div class="fszb">COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED</div> - -<div class="fszb">BY</div> - -<div class="fszc">PROF. DUNCAN, M.A.</div> -</div><!--padtopa dkeeptogether--> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">Arabs.</li> -<li class="liad2">Todas.</li> -<li class="liad2">Khonds.</li> -<li class="liad2">Gonds.</li> -<li class="liad2">Bhils.</li> -<li class="liad2">Santals.</li> -<li class="liad2">Karens.</li> -<li class="liad2">Kukis.</li> -<li class="liad2">Nagas.</li> -<li class="liad2">Bodo and Dhimals.</li> -<li class="liad2">Mishmis.</li> -<li class="liad2">Kirghiz.</li> -<li class="liad2">Kalmucks.</li> -<li class="liad2">Ostyaks.</li> -<li class="liad2">Kamtschadales.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="padtopa dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb"><i>In Royal Folio, Price 18s.</i>,</div> -<div class="fszc">No. VI.</div> -<div class="fszd"><em class="emoe">American Races</em>.</div> - -<div class="fszb">COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED</div> - -<div class="fszb">BY</div> - -<div class="fszc">PROF. DUNCAN, M.A.</div> -</div><!--padtopa dkeeptogether--> - -<ul class="ulad"> -<li class="liad2">Esquimaux.</li> -<li class="liad2">Chinooks.</li> -<li class="liad2">Snakes.</li> -<li class="liad2">Comanches.</li> -<li class="liad2">Iroquois.</li> -<li class="liad2">Chippewayans.</li> -<li class="liad2">Chippewas.</li> -<li class="liad2">Dakotas.</li> -<li class="liad2">Mandans.</li> -<li class="liad2">Creeks.</li> -<li class="liad2">Guiana Tribes.</li> -<li class="liad2">Caribs.</li> -<li class="liad2">Brazilians.</li> -<li class="liad2">Uaupés.</li> -<li class="liad2">Abipones.</li> -<li class="liad2">Patagonians.</li> -<li class="liad2">Araucanians.</li> -</ul> - -<div class="dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb padtopa"><i>In Royal Folio, Price 21s.</i>,</div> -<div class="fszc">No. VII.</div> -<div class="fszd"><em class="emoe">Hebrews and Phœnicians</em>.</div> - -<div class="fszb">COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED</div> - -<div class="fszb">BY</div> - -<div class="fszc">RICHARD SCHEPPIG, - <span class="smcap">P<b>H.</b></span>D.</div></div> - -<div class="padtopa dkeeptogether"> -<div class="fszb"><i>In Royal Folio, Price 30s.</i>,</div> -<div class="fszc">No. VIII.</div> -<div class="fszd"><em class="emoe">French</em>.</div> - -<div class="fszb">COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED</div> - -<div class="fszb">BY</div> - -<div class="fszc">JAMES COLLIER.</div> -</div><!--padtopa dkeeptogether--> - -<hr class="hr33" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<table class="tabw100" summary=""> -<caption class="fszc"><i>A SYSTEM OF SYNTHETIC PHILOSOPHY.</i></caption> -<tr> -<td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">F<b>IRST</b></span> - <span class="smcap">P<b>RINCIPLES</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">16<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">P<b>RINCIPLES</b></span> - <span class="smmaj">OF</span> <span class="smcap">B<b>IOLOGY.</b></span> 2 vols.</td> - <td class="tdb15r">34<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">P<b>RINCIPLES</b></span> - <span class="smmaj">OF</span> - <span class="smcap">P<b>SYCHOLOGY.</b></span> 2 vols.</td> - <td class="tdb15r">36<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">P<b>RINCIPLES</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> - <span class="smcap">S<b>OCIOLOGY</b></span>, Vol. I.</td> - <td class="tdb15r">21<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">D<b>ITTO</b></span> Vol. II.</td> - <td class="tdb15r">18<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="2"> -<div class="fsza">(<i>This Volume includes the two - following Works, which are - at present published separately.</i>)</div></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdb15l"> -<span class="smcap">C<b>EREMONIAL</b></span> <span class="smcap">I<b>NSTITUTIONS</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">7<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdb15l"> -<span class="smcap">P<b>OLITICAL</b></span> <span class="smcap">I<b>NSTITUTIONS</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">12<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdb15l"> -<span class="smcap">E<b>CCLESIASTICAL</b></span> <span class="smcap">I<b>NSTITUTIONS</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">5<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdb15l"> -<span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span class="smcap">D<b>ATA</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> <span class="smcap">E<b>THICS</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">8<i>s.</i></td></tr> -</table></div><!--chapter--> - -<table class="tabw100" summary=""> -<caption class="fszc"><i>OTHER WORKS.</i></caption> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span class="smcap">S<b>TUDY</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> <span class="smcap">S<b>OCIOLOGY</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">10<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">E<b>DUCATION</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">6<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"> <span class="smcap">D<b>ITTO</b></span> <i>Cheap Edition</i></td> - <td class="tdb15r">2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">E<b>SSAYS.</b></span> 2 vols.</td> - <td class="tdb15r">16<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">E<b>SSAYS</b></span> (Third Series)</td> - <td class="tdb15r">8<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span class="smcap">M<b>AN</b></span> <i>versus</i> - <span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span class="smcap">S<b>TATE</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"> <span class="smcap">D<b>ITTO</b></span> <i>Cheap Edition</i></td> - <td class="tdb15r">1<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">R<b>EASONS</b></span> <span class="smmaj">FOR</span> <span class="smcap">D<b>ISSENTING</b></span> <span class="smmaj">FROM</span> <span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> - <span class="smcap">P<b>HILOSOPHY</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> M. <span class="smcap">C<b>OMTE</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">6<i>d.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l"><span class="smcap">T<b>HE</b></span> <span - class="smcap">F<b>ACTORS</b></span> <span class="smmaj">OF</span> - <span class="smcap">O<b>RGANIC</b></span> <span - class="smcap">E<b>VOLUTION</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> -</td></tr></table> - -<div class="fszb">[For particulars see end of the volume.]</div> - -<div class="fszc padtopb">WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,</div> - -<div class="fszb">14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON.</div> - -<div class="fszb padtopa">ALSO MR. SPENCER’S</div> -<div class="fszd"><i>DESCRIPTIVE SOCIOLOGY</i>,</div> - -<div class="fsza padtopc">COMPILED AND ABSTRACTED BY</div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc"><span class="smcap">P<b>ROF.</b></span> -<span class="smcap">D<b>UNCAN</b></span>, -<span class="smcap">D<b>R.</b></span> <span -class="smcap">S<b>CHEPPIG</b></span>, & -<span class="smcap">M<b>R.</b></span> <span -class="smcap">C<b>OLLIER</b></span>.</div> - -<div class="fsza padtopc"><span class="smcap">F<b>OLIO,</b></span> <span -class="smcap">B<b>OARDS.</b></span></div> - -<table class="tabw100" summary=""> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l">1. <span class="smcap">E<b>NGLISH</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">18<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l">2. <span class="smcap">A<b>NCIENT</b></span> <span class="smcap">A<b>MERICAN</b></span> <span class="smcap">R<b>ACES</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">16<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l">3. <span class="smcap">L<b>OWEST</b></span> <span class="smcap">R<b>ACES,</b></span> <span class="smcap">N<b>EGRITOS,</b></span> <span class="smcap">P<b>OLYNESIANS</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">18<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l">4. <span class="smcap">A<b>FRICAN</b></span> <span - class="smcap">R<b>ACES</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">16<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l">5. <span class="smcap">A<b>SIATIC</b></span> <span - class="smcap">R<b>ACES</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">18<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l">6. <span class="smcap">A<b>MERICAN</b></span> <span class="smcap">R<b>ACES</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">18<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l">7. <span class="smcap">H<b>EBREWS</b></span> <span class="smmaj">AND</span> <span class="smcap">P<b>HŒNICIANS</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">21<i>s.</i></td></tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdb15l">8. <span class="smcap">F<b>RENCH</b></span></td> - <td class="tdb15r">30<i>s.</i></td></tr> -</table> - -<div class="fszb">[For particulars see end of the volume.]</div> - -<div class="fszc padtopc">WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,</div> - -<div class="fszb">14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON.</div> - -<p class="fsza padtopc">Harrison & Sons, Printers, -St. Martin’s Lane.</p> - -<div class="transnote">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE - -<p class="pfirst">Original spelling and grammar have generally been retained, with -some exceptions noted below. Original printed page numbers are shown -like this: <span class="fsz7">{52}</span>. -Footnotes have been relabeled 1–45. The transcriber -produced the cover image and hereby assigns it to the public domain. -Original page images are available from archive.org — search for -“essaysscientific03spenuoft”.</p> - -<ul class="ultn"><li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page -  <a href="#p081" title="go to p. 81">81</a>.</span> -The table rows headed by “The Company’s soliciter” and by “Ditto in -joint account with another” had a large “}” on the right side of column -3, covering both rows. In this edition, table cell borders have been -drawn so as to indicate the combination of information.</li> - -<li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page - <a href="#p157" title="go to p. 157">157</a>.</span> -Inserted “of” into “dictates abstract -ethics”.</li> - -<li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page - <a href="#p198" title="go to p. 198">198</a>n.</span> -“Pyschology” was changed to -“Psychology”.</li> - -<li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page - <a href="#p409" title="go to p. 409">409</a>.</span> -Changed “coödinations” to -“coördinations”.</li> - -<li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page - <a href="#p471" title="go to p. 471">471</a>.</span> - A left double quotation mark was added -before ‘The earlier paragraphs of the conversation’.</li> - -<li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page - <a href="#p487" title="go to p. 487">487</a>.</span> - Changed “with many Americans joined -with regrets that my state of health has prevented, me from” to “with -many Americans, joined with regrets that my state of health has -prevented me from”.</li> - -<li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page - <a href="#p493" title="go to p. 493">493</a>.</span> - The index covers all three -volumes of this series of books. Volume II is available as Project -Gutenburg ebook #53395; all editions of Vol. II display the original -printed page numbers, corresponding to the index entries herein. Volume -I is available as PG ebook #29869. Unfortunately, ebook #29869 displays -the original page numbers only in the html edition. With a little html -coding skill, however, one could modify the epub version to display -page numbers if that is desired.</li> - -<li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page - <a href="#p501" title="go to p. 501">501</a>.</span> - In entry “Great Western Railway:” -changed “III, 9;” to “III, 94;”.</li> - -<li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page - <a href="#p509" title="go to p. 509">509</a>.</span> - Changed “Philae” to “Philæ”, to agree -with Volume I.</li> - -<li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page - <a href="#p510" title="go to p. 510">510</a>.</span> - The entry “<i>Polyzoa</i>” was moved below -“Politics”, to conform with alphabetical ordering. Likewise, “Pope” was -moved above “Porcupine”.</li> - -<li class="litn"> -<span class="nowrap">Page - <a href="#p513" title="go to p. 513">513</a>.</span> - Under entry “Social organism -. . . analogy to individual”, changed “III, 411–6” to “III, -411–16”.</li></ul> - - - -</div> -<!--transnote--> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Essays: Scientific, Political, and -Speculative, Volume III (of 3), by Herbert Spencer - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ESSAYS: SCIENTIFIC, POLITICAL, VOL III *** - -***** This file should be named 54076-h.htm or 54076-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/4/0/7/54076/ - -Produced by Josep Cols Canals, Adrian Mastronardi, RichardW, -and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at -http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images -generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian -Libraries) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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