LITERARY NOTICES. 



705 



ing truth from falsehood. An encour- 

 aging improvement in our educational 

 ideas has been shown of late, and it 

 seems as if the time could not be far 

 distant when all who have any voice in 

 the training of the young will see clear- 

 ly what knowledge and what acquire- 

 ments are of most worth. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Individualism, a System of Politics. By 

 Wordsworth Donisthoupe, Barrister-at- 

 Law, author of " Principles of Plutolo- 

 gy," etc. London and New York : Mac- 

 millan & Co. Pp. 393. Price, $4. 



This is a work which we feel justified, 

 after a careful perusal, in commending to 

 the study of our readers. The questions 

 which it discusses are of the first impor- 

 tance, and Mr. Donisthorpe gives one the 

 impression of a man thoroughly familiar 

 with his own ground, and whose conclusions 

 have not been formed at hap-hazard or with- 

 out deep and earnest reflection. The main 

 idea of the book is that individualism proper- 

 ly understood furnishes the key to a true 

 political system. The last thing Mr. Donis- 

 thorpe would wish to do would be to relax 

 the bonds of society. His aim, on the con- 

 trary, is to strengthen and perfect society, 

 in the first place, by a scientific separation 

 of the domain of the state and that of pri- 

 vate activity ; and, secondly, by carrying to 

 its fullest legitimate development the prin- 

 ciple of individual liberty. He has not, per- 

 haps, developed his thesis in the most co- 

 herent manner possible ; we think the work 

 might be rearranged and perhaps some- 

 what compressed, with advantage to the 

 main argument ; but meantime we are glad 

 to recognize in it a powerful and timely plea 

 for principles of government with which 

 " The Popular Science Monthly " has always 

 been distinctly in sympathy. Mr. Donis- 

 thorpe writes as a lawyer ; and the influence 

 of his juristic studies is visible on every 

 page. At times his argument gains in force 

 through the dispassionate practicality of 

 the legal mind ; and at times it assumes a 

 character somewhat too forensic for the best 

 general effect. 



In Chapter I we have a discussion of the 

 growth and evolution of the state. There is 

 vol. xxxvi. 45 



nothing here distinctly novel. As regards 

 the origin of political government the author 

 accepts the ideas of Mr. Spencer, and refers 

 also with approval to " the learned and fas- 

 cinating works of the late Sir Henry Maine." 

 He develops well, however, the idea that 

 the tendency of modern times has been 

 toward the forming of larger and larger 

 political aggregates ; and that in the pres- 

 ent day the facilities for communication and 

 transport which science has made available 

 have increased more wonderfully than ever 

 the possibilities of state growth. Apparent- 

 ly Mr. Donisthorpe's ideal is one center of 

 law so far as law is an absolute necessity 

 and the widest possible individual liberty 

 throughout the whole community. He is 

 not a friend to what is called " local op- 

 tion " ; he considers that it means little else 

 than local tyranny, and perhaps he is right. 

 He does not believe in cutting up a country 

 into larger and smaller geographical squares, 

 and making the conditions of life for each 

 man depend on the particular square in 

 which he chances to live. He holds that 

 the same (legal) conditions of life should be 

 available for all members of the community, 

 and that these should be of the simplest 

 character possible. " Imperial law," he says, 

 "must henceforth be based on individual 

 and local liberty." 



Chapter II deals with "The Structure 

 of the State." The author announces him- 

 self a thorough-going democrat, and ventures 

 to lay down the principles to which a true 

 democratic government must conform. We 

 must refer to the book itself, however, for 

 his definition and defense of democracy, in- 

 cluding the principle, unreservedly accepted, 

 of universal suffrage. One remark here is 

 worth quoting : " Majorities for their own 

 sakes would do well not to bring minorities 

 to bay. The result may be either painful or 

 humiliating painful, as when the minority 

 (in heads, in riches, and in organization) 

 withstood the tyranny of the Stuarts ; hu- 

 miliating, as when England bowed down 

 before the determined Boers of the Trans- 

 vaal. It is not wise to threaten what you 

 do. not mean to perform. Minorities mean 

 action ; majorities as a rule do not." 



In Chapter III, on " The Functions of 

 the State," we have, in the first place, a 

 resume of the functions commonly assigned 



