time: the refreshing river 



quiet home-transforming phase (the industrial type of society), 

 viewed with horror the rise of British capitaHsm in its imperiaHstic 

 phase.^ It was, he said, the retrogression of the ideal form of society 

 to a predatory phase. He abominated^ "the recent growth of expendi- 

 ture for army and navy, the making of fortifications, the formation 

 of the volunteer force, the establishment of permanent camps, the 

 repetition of autumn manoeuvres, and the building of military stations 

 throughout the kingdom." As his Autobiography shows,^ he was even 

 willing to take active part in the rather ineffective anti -militarist 

 movements of his day. But the nature of his position forced him to 

 fight on two separate fronts at the same time. He did not approve 

 of imperialism, but neither did he approve of socialist, anti-indi- 

 vidualist, legislation, favouring the working-class. By an extraordinary 

 extension of the word "militarism" he was able to include both 

 tendencies in the same condemnation. His individualism carried him 

 to impressive lengths. Thus the compulsory notification of infectious 

 diseases^ and the unification of examinations for the learned profes- 

 sions^ were regarded by him as unwarrantable interference with the 

 freedom of the industrial social unit. Municipal housing,* nationalised 

 telegraphs,^ public museums,^ even universal compulsory sanitary 

 inspection and main drainage, were all put down as "tyrannical," 

 "coercive philanthropy."^ "Not by quick and certain penalty for 

 breach of contract," he complained bitterly, "is adulteration to be 

 remedied, but by public analysers."^ Deeply ingrained in his sociology 

 was the conception of free competition; "From the savings of the 

 more worthy shall be taken by the tax-gatherer means of supplying 

 the less worthy who have not saved. "^ Or again, in his autobiography 

 we find a passage^ in which, while describing one of his early essays, 

 he says, "Among reasons given for reprobating the policy of guarding 

 imprudent people against the dangers of reckless banking, one was 

 that such a policy interferes with that normal process which brings 

 benefit to the sagacious and disaster to the stupid." In such considera- 

 tions men of Spencer's mind never stopped to reflect that the "less 

 worthy" might also be the "more generous," or that "rapacious" 

 might have been a better word in the sentence just quoted.' 



' PS, I. 60 1. 2 ps^ I. 602. 



^ A, II. 329 ff., 375 fF. Spencer attributed much of his breakdown in health to his 

 activities in connection with a league for "anti-militancy" and "anti-aggression," which 

 seems to have got little public support. 



* PS, I. 604.^ 5 ps^ I. 605. « A, II. 5. 



' Spencer's discussion of communism illustrates this point strikingly. "State adminis- 



252 



