THE HUMAN SCIENCES 55 



is true. But I should examine the alleged exceptions, and 

 I should expect to find that when the forces of evil have 

 taken the citadel of the soul there was a traitor within who 

 had been holding secret parley with the enemy without ; 

 and, on the other hand, that where there was the conversion 

 of an adult vicious character to the ways of virtue there 

 had been a good upbringing there were old memories 

 and associations, remnants of good intentions and virtuous 

 effort to which appeal could be made. The mere force of 

 circumstance, taken by itself, has no potency once the 

 character is formed. And the substantial truth remains 

 thafiF society allows any of its members to entrench them- 

 selves in their inner world of character as enemies of the 

 public weal, it cannot add to the opportunities of their 

 environment without degrading them further. 



I am not urging these considerations as an excuse for 

 doing nothing to assist our less fortunate fellows, but rather 

 as a reason for doing more and especially for doing it in 

 a different way. They seem to indicate a principle which 

 should guide effort. It is : that the succour which is given 

 is justified only if it promises to restore the individual into 

 social relations that will sustain whatever of good remains 

 in him ; and, if that be impossible, that methods of coercion 

 must be employed, both for the sake of the individual and 

 for the sake of society. For the vitiated nature, carrying 

 its environment within, lives in its own stifling atmosphere, 

 sees and selects only what corrupts it further : it must 

 therefore be placed where it cannot pervert and denaturalise 

 its social medium. And, in this regard, labour-colonies 

 and other therapeutic methods seem to me to have a far 

 larger use than is as yet recognised either by the people/ 

 or by the Parliament of this country. 



