Sociology of Comte. 477 



(Pol. III., 576.) They corrupt older countries by exciting the spirit 

 of military adventure, and this is indeed the object of their existence 

 as far as their royal founders are concerned. (lb. IV., 419.) Italy 

 is superior tO' Spain because it has nO' colonies. (lb. IV., 486.) 



It would not be difficult to shew how impossible it is to recon- 

 cile this description of colonial origins with the facts. But it is more 

 important tO' point out the utter unsuitability of Comte's system to 

 the circumstances of colonial life. To begin with, Comte's arrange- 

 ment of the internal structure of states is unsuitable to the colonies. 

 In them circumstances change rapidly, owing to the sparsity of the 

 population ; a man may have to be prepared to turn his hand to 

 many things. He unites in himself several functions. It is imp>os- 

 sible so to sub-divide labour that there shall be self-contained classes 

 for each department. Most citizens are also soldiers; many priests 

 are also carpenters and doctors ; it is not long since old soldiers were 

 commonly teachers ; and the distinction between the merchant and 

 the man whO' works with his hands cannot always be maintained. 

 Further, a young country cannot at first sfFcrd a special class of 

 learned men, or of politicians, while its political problems are far 

 beyond the powers of bankers to adjust The only hope, then, for 

 young countries is that wisdom may be found among a class which 

 cannot be spared from practical life so wholly as to devote itself 

 entirely tO' searching after it. The distinction must be between 

 elements in the individual mind and not between actual individuals, 

 and the conception of immanent thought, which Comte altogether 

 neglected, becomes a practical necessity. Democracy is thus the 

 natural form of government for new countries. The varied needs of 

 the population confirm the first part of Comte's early view that the 

 people should be enabled to voice their desires, and so render 

 absolute government and oligarchy unsuitable, while the paucity of 

 men makes the rise of a special class of wise counsellors impossible. 

 (Separation generale entre les opinions et les desirs.) The justifi- 

 cation of democracy is that it tends to bring out the universal 

 elements of reason and will which are common to men, and so 

 through democracy the colonies correct the extreme individualistic 

 atomism of Comte's psychology. 



If the internal structure of colonial .society is essentally dis- 

 crepant from Comte's ideal, their external relations are no less so. 

 We have seen that Comte disapproved of the existence of colonies ; 

 but mere disapproval is futile, at any rate, as regards colonies which 

 have established themselves in countries genuinely fitted for white 

 men. Adopting Comte's method, there is no way of proving the 

 point; according to the method suggested here there is a way. 

 Comte conceived of small, self-contained, and independent states, 

 but in a new country this would meaji stagnation. Each colony 

 would be divided up into ten or twenty small states, none of which 

 would have the resources to do much for the development of itself 

 or its neighbours. Co-operation would become necessary, and co- 

 operation would tend to- mean organisation, and organisation federa- 

 tion. Thus the circumstances of voung countries seem to demand 



