PREFACE ix 



The changes which have taken place in the structure 

 of human society, the unparalleled intricacy of the rela- 

 tions of men to one another in the modern civilized 

 State, the growth side by side, nay by mutual implication, 

 of social necessities and individual freedom, have ren- 

 dered many of our old formulae obsolete. The_ simple 

 creed of Individualism, fullovirtue Jts_it was _fo 



a century, will no longer work, for we know that there 

 is more in freedom than emancipation. The creed that 

 would not merely supplant, but sublate it, taking up its 

 truth in correcting its errors, is hardly formulated ; and, in 

 consequence, there is much confusion. We have few, if 

 any, hypotheses that we can employ with confidence to 

 elucidate the social facts with which the new circumstances 

 are flooding our lives. We appoint Commissions, some 

 of them, like the Poor Law Commission, able in some 

 respects to rise to the greatness of their responsibilities. 

 Ceaseless enquiries regarding the conditions of life, in town 

 and country, and in regard to all their greater interests, 

 industrial and charitable, are being carried on. History, if 

 history is an accumulation of details, description, statistics, 

 we have in plenitude. But the principles which should 

 not merely systematize but give the meaning of the 

 facts, are hardly better than unexamined prejudices which 

 split the commissions, and leave them helpless to give 

 practical guidance. Everything is discussed except these. 



And principles are very powerful, either for mischief 

 or for good. They may appear to be remote from 

 practice ; but they are, in truth, the most practical forces 

 of all. They warp our judgment of all facts, if they 

 are false; they inform our judgment if they are true; 

 they rule our lives consciously or unconsciously in either 



