534 LOGIC OF THE MORAL SCIENCES. 



of events which depend on moral qualities, that the moral 

 qualities of mankind are little capable of being improved, or 

 are of little importance in the general progress of society, 

 compared with intellectual or economic causes. But to draw 

 this inference is to forget that the statistical tables, from 

 which the invariable averages are deduced, were compiled from 

 facts occurring within narrow geographical limits and in a 

 small number of successive years ; that is, from a field the 

 whole of which was under the operation of the same general 

 causes, and during too short a time to allow of much change 

 therein. All moral causes but those common to the country 

 generally, have been eliminated by the great number of in 

 stances taken; and those which are common to the whole 

 country have not varied considerably, in the short space of 

 time comprised in the observations. If we admit the suppo 

 sition that they have varied; if we compare one age with 

 another, or one country with another, or even one part of a 

 country with another, differing in position and character as to 

 the moral elements, the crimes committed within a year give 

 no longer the same, but a widely different numerical aggre 

 gate. And this cannot but be the case : for inasmuch as every 

 single crime committed by an individual mainly depends on 

 his moral qualities, the crimes committed by the entire popu 

 lation of the country must depend in an equal degree on their 

 collective moral qualities. To render this element inoperative 

 upon the large scale, it would be necessary to suppose that 

 the general moral average of mankind does not vary from 

 country to country or from age to age; which is not true, and 

 even if it were true, could not possibly be proved by any 

 existing statistics. I do not on this account the less agree in 

 the opinion of Mr. Buckle, that the intellectual element in 

 mankind, including in that expression the nature of their 

 beliefs, the amount of their knowledge, and the development 

 of their intelligence, is the predominant circumstance in de 

 termining their progress. But I am of this opinion, not because 

 I regard their moral or economical condition either as less 

 powerful or less variable agencies, but because these are in a 

 great degree the consequences of the intellectual condition, 

 and are, in all cases, limited by it ; as was observed in the 



