EDITOR'S TABLE. 



273 



vincial, there is nothing of the kind. Then, 

 in a larger way, the trait is seen in this 

 damaging of private property by your ele- 

 vated railways without making compensa- 

 tion ; and it is again seen in the doings of 

 railway governments, not only when over- 

 riding the rights of shareholders, but in 

 dominating over courts of justice and State 

 governments. The fact is, that free insti- 

 tutions 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 will neither himself ag- 

 gress on his neighbors, in small things or 

 great, nor tolerate aggression on them by 

 others. The republican form of govern- 

 ment is the highest form of government; 

 but because of this it 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 

 favor of free government in the sense of re- 

 laxed restraints, and letting men and things 

 very much alone or what is called laissez 

 /aire ? 



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 con- 

 tended that in its special sphere, the main- 

 tenance of equitable relations among citi- 

 zens, governmental action should be extend- 

 ed and elaborated. 



To return to your various criticisms, must 

 I then understand that you think unfavorably 

 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 oc- 

 curred on such a scale before. Large em- 

 pires composed of different peoples, have, 

 in previous cases, been formed by conquest 

 and annexation. Then your immense plex- 

 VOL. xxii. 18 



us of railways and telegraphs tends to con- 

 solidate 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 hith- 

 erto 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 tri- 

 umphed over one great trouble, and may 

 reasonably hope to triumph over others. 

 It may, I think, be reasonably held that 

 both because of its size and the heterogene- 

 ity of its components, the American na- 

 tion will be a long time in evolving its ul- 

 timate 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 form- 

 ing the population, will produce a more 

 powerful type of man than has hitherto ex- 

 isted, 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 tribu- 

 lations they may have to pass through, the 

 Americans may reasonably look forward to 

 a time when they will have produced a civ- 

 ilization grander than any the world has 

 known. 



PRINCIPLE IN SMALL THINGS. 



No part of the foregoing deliver- 

 ance is more true than that which re- 

 fers to American tolerance of interfer- 

 ence and dictation in the lesser affairs 

 of life. What people do, habitually il- 

 lustrates character, and American char- 

 acter in this important respect is un- 

 doubtedly of a low type. The forms 

 of free institutions have not engendered 

 the sentiment of personal independence 

 which resents encroachments and in- 

 sists upon justice. The institutions are 

 nominally free, but the citizens who 

 grow up under them are not free in 

 the sense of exemption from imperti- 

 nent meddlings and petty tyranny. 



