59-i POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



the time of the Abbe Brantome, the spirit was such that 

 ecclesiastic, enjoining on his nephews by his will to avenge 

 any unredressed wrongs done to him in his old age, says of 

 himself &quot; I may boast, and I thank God for it, that I never 

 received an injury without being revenged on the author of 

 it.&quot; That where militancy is active, revenge, private as well 

 as public, becomes a duty, is well shown at the present time 

 among the Montenegrins a people who have been at war 

 with the Turks for centuries. &quot; Dans le Montenegro,&quot; says 

 Boue, &quot; on dira d un homme d une natrie [clan] ayant tue un 

 individu d une autre : Cette natrie nous doit une tete, et il 

 faut que cette dette soit acquittee, car qui ne se venge pas ne 

 se sancitie pas.&quot; 



Where activity in destroying enemies is chronic, destruc 

 tion will become a source of pleasure ; where success in sub 

 duing fellow-men is above all things honoured, there will 

 arise delight in the forcible exercise of mastery ; and with 

 pride in spoiling the vanquished, will go disregard for the 

 rights of property at large. As it is incredible that men 

 should be courageous in face of foes and cowardly in face of 

 friends, so it is incredible that the other feelings fostered 

 by perpetual conflicts abroad should not come into play 

 at home. We have just seen that with the pursuit of 

 vengeance outside the society, there goes the pursuit of ven 

 geance inside the society ; and whatever other habits of 

 thought and action constant war necessitates, must show 

 their effects on the social life at large. Facts from various 

 places and times prove that in militant communities the 

 claims to life, liberty, and property, are little regarded. The 

 Daliomans, warlike to the extent that both sexes are warriors, 

 and by whom slave-hunting invasions are, or were, annually 

 undertaken &quot; to furnish funds for the royal exchequer,&quot; show 

 their bloodthirstiness by their annual &quot; customs,&quot; at which 

 multitudinous victims are publicly slaughtered for the popu 

 lar gratification. The Fijians, again, highly militant in their 

 activities and type of organization, who display their reckless- 



