750 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL IJSTSTITUTIOl^rS. 



By HERBERT SPENCER. 

 X. THE MILITANT TYPE OF SOCIETY. 



PRECEDING chapters have prepared the way for framing con- 

 ceptions of the two fundamentally-imlike kinds of political or- 

 ganization, proper to the militant life and the industrial life, respec- 

 tively. It will be instructive here to arrange in coherent order those 

 traits of the militant type already incidentally marked, and to join 

 with them various dependent traits ; and in the next chapter to deal 

 in like manner with the traits of the industrial tyjDe. 



During social evolution there has habitually been a mingling of the 

 two. But we shall find that, alike in theory and in fact, it is possible 

 to trace out with due clearness those opposite characters which dis- 

 tinguish them in their respective complete developments. Especially 

 is the essential nature of the organization which accompanies chronic 

 militancy caj^able of being inferred a priori, and proved a posteriori 

 to exist in numerous cases, while the essential nature of the organi- 

 zation accompanying pure industrialism, of which at present we have 

 little experience, will be made clear by opposition, and such illustra- 

 tions as exist of progress toward it will become recognizable. 



In drawing conclusions, two liabilities to error must be guarded 

 against. We have to deal with societies compounded and recom- 

 pounded in various degrees ; and we have to deal with societies which, 

 differing in their stages of culture, have their organizations elaborated 

 to different extents. We shall be misled, therefore, unless our com- 

 parisons are such as take account of unlikenesses in size and in civiliza- 

 tion. Clearly, characteristics of the militant type wdiich admit of 

 being displayed by a vast nation may not admit of being displayed 

 by a horde of savages, though this is equally militant. Moreover, as 

 institutions take a long time to acquire their finished forms, it is not to 

 be expected that all militant societies will display the structure appro- 

 priate to them in its completeness. Rather may we expect that in 

 most cases it will be incompletely displayed. 



In face of these difficulties the best course will be to consider, first, 

 what are the several traits which of necessity militancy tends to pro- 

 duce ; and tlij3n to observe how far these traits are conjointly shown 

 in past and present nations distinguished by militancy. Having con- 

 templated the society ideally organized for Avar, we shall be prej^ared 

 to recognize in real societies the character which war has brought about. 



For preserving its corporate life, a society is impelled to corporate 

 action ; and the preservation of its corporate life is the more probable 



