824 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to the past ages of barbarism and semi-civilization they are far 

 from being correct. Nor will it be difficult, in support of the 

 above assertion, to present instances of long-prevailing peace and 

 of continued warfare, and to show that the latter has had far the 

 most beneficial influence on human progress. 



I shall adduce some such instances here as historical evidences 

 in support of my proposition, and afterward consider the causes 

 which lead to such seemingly improbable results. While it may 

 not be possible to name any nations which have existed for a 

 long period in a state of profound peace, there are two very prom- 

 inent ones which during many centuries have not indulged, or 

 only to an unimportant extent, in foreign warfare. These two 

 possessors of the golden age of peace are China and India. They 

 have had their petty internal combats, but they have not gone 

 abroad as conquerors. They have been conquered, at long inter- 

 vals apart, by exterior races ; but the influx of strange peoples 

 has been like that of the waters of a brook into a lake the vast 

 masses of the conquered have given color to, instead of receiving 

 color from, their few conquerors. Thus, in these two great na- 

 tions, the results of long-continued peace have been attained to a 

 more complete extent than elsewhere in the world of civilization. 



But when we look at these results we are not strongly en- 

 couraged in favor of a golden age of peace. These nations have 

 grown old as many men grow old, their prejudices become rigid, 

 their conceits hardened, their beliefs inflexible. They have 

 reached the limit of their narrow line of development, and crys- 

 tallized there. Their ideas of industry, of social custom, of law 

 and government, have become fixed and unchangeable. National 

 isolation has removed China from the useful influence of intel- 

 lectual contact with exterior peoples. Mental isolation has had 

 the same effect in India. Local pride and self-satisfaction have 

 hindered progress, but they have not hindered the deterioration 

 which is sure to set in when progress halts. These nations hav- 

 ing, ages ago, lost all active development, and solidified into un- 

 changeable forms, they have become subject to the influences 

 which affect a tree that has ceased to grow. Inevitable decay 

 has supervened. Whole swarms of political, social, and moral 

 delinquencies have crept in and fastened themselves upon the 

 body corporate, which has lacked the vitality to throw them off, 

 and which is being gradually consumed by these eating para- 

 sites. 



It may be argued, however, that both these nations had at- 

 tained a considerable degree of civilization before their prog- 

 ress became thus checked. This must be admitted ; but it must 

 also be admitted that this progress was chiefly attained during 

 their earlier, warlike stage. Of this we have abundant evidence. 



