612 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



nation compromises its civilization, and lies open either to anarchy oi 

 conquest, or both. Governmental progress is never made by radical 

 destruction or suppression of established order, with a view to evolve 

 a new organization, giving up historic advantages. Gradual modifica- 

 tion is the condition of true progress, for no constitution or organiza- 

 tion is of any value, unless it is the work of ages. 



In order to guarantee security and respect for individual rights, the 

 government derives a certain amount of force from the nation, and this 

 force makes up the power of the state. The value of a government is 

 to be estimated by the difference between what it costs and the benefits 

 it secures. If we would know what is the value of French political in- 

 stitutions, for instance, we have only to estimate the value of our pres- 

 ent capital, and compare it with what we should have were our insti- 

 tutions at an end. Hence, we see that political institutions are a true 

 civilizing force, as yielding an excess of utility over expenditure. 



A political society is an oi'ganism, and the individuals may be re- 

 garded as elementary cellules. Social progress consists in the increas- 

 ing adaptation of individuals, which results from the separation of 

 functions and the division of labor. Just as, in the lower grades of the 

 physiological scale, one organ will discharge many very diverse func- 

 tions, so, in the more imperfect forms of society, the government dis- 

 charges every kind of office, as that of the soldier, priest, school-master, 

 tutor, manufacturer, agriculturist, merchant, banker. The great prob- 

 lem is, to determine what is to be done by the state, what by other 

 forces. The government will be more effective in proportion as it is 

 freed from the embarrassment of diverse functions. 



From this point of view we should say that France has departed 

 from the path of progress in two directions : First, her revolutions have 

 unduly weakened the government; second, public opinion has unduly 

 favored the extension of governmental interference. The result of the 

 first is, that no government in France is sufficiently strong ; the re- 

 sult of the second, that government is entangled in affairs from 

 which it were better freed, and every schemer and visionary is clamor- 

 ing for government assistance to work out his plans. 



Every ephemeral constitution we have had, has to-day a factious 

 party ready to do battle for it. Thus, every administration finds it- 

 self surrounded with a coalition of minorities. Time alone can give 

 authority to any constitution. 



Not less serious are the consequences of Utopianism which would 

 shape the state according to every fantastic notion. All forms of so- 

 cialism strive to enlarge the action of society ; and communism, its 

 latest development, seeks to absorb the individual in the state. Gov- 

 ernments have often unconsciously yielded to the influence of these 

 dreams, as we see where they favor protection, state interference in 

 religious matters, and in the direction of art and science, etc. 



The university, too, is to blame for our disasters. Its metaphysics 



