338 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



joyment of wealth already acquired and the acquisition of a yet higher 

 good. Sensual pleasure yields, in a measure, to intellectual pleasure, 

 the acquisition of money to the acquisition of learning. 



Where brute intelligence is the order of the day, man requires no 

 more governing than brutes, but when lands are divided, and the soil 

 cultivated, when wealth begins to accumulate and commerce and in- 

 dustry to flourish, then protection and lawful punishment become 

 necessary. Like the wild-horse, leave him free, and he will take care 

 of himself; but catch him and curb him, and the wilder and stronger 

 he is the stronger must be the curb until he is subdued and trained, 

 and then he is guided by a light rein. The kind of government makes 

 little difference, so that it be strong enough. 



Granted that it is absolutely essential to the first step toward cult- 

 ure that society should be strongly governed, how is the first govern- 

 ment to be accomplished ; how is one member of a passionate, un- 

 bridled heterogeneous community to obtain dominion absolute over all 

 the others ? Here comes in another evil to the assistance of the former 

 evils, all for future good superstition. Never could physical force 

 alone compress and hold the necessary power with which to burst the 

 shell of savagism. The government is but a reflex of the governed. 

 Xot until one man is physically or intellectually stronger than ten 

 thousand, will an independent people submit to a tyrannical govern- 

 ment, or a humane people submit to a cruel government, or a people 

 accustomed to free discussion to an intolerant priesthood. 



At the outset, if man is to be governed at all, there must be no 

 division of governmental force. The cause for fear arising from both 

 the physical and the supernatural must be united in one individual. 

 In the absence of the moral sentiment, the fear of legal and that of 

 spiritual punishments are identical, for the spiritual is feared only as it 

 works temporal or corporal evil. Freedom of thought at this stage is 

 incompatible with progress, for thought without experience is dan- 

 gerous, tending toward anarchy. Before men can govern themselves 

 they must be subjected to the sternest discipline of government ; and 

 whether this government be just, or humane, or pleasant, is of small 

 consequence, so that it be only strong enough. As with polity, so 

 with morality and religion : conjointly with despotism there must be 

 an arbitrary central church government, or moral anarchy is the in- 

 evitable consequence. At the outset it is not for man to rule, but to 

 obey ; it is not for savages, who are children in intellect, to think and 

 reason, but to believe. 



And thus we see how wonderfully man is provided with the essen- 

 tials of growth. This tender germ of progress is preserved in hard 

 shells and prickly coverings, which, when they have served their 

 purpose, are thrown aside, as not only useless but detrimental to 

 further development. We know not what will come hereafter, but up 



