Mr. Buckle's Fallacies. 195 



upon another's sphere of action. If it but per- 

 forms its duty, it will do well. But when it goes 

 to making plans for securing the " greatest hap- 

 piness to the greatest number," it usually con- 

 trives to end up by securing the least happiness 

 to every one, having failed in its projects, and 

 neglected its proper function meanwhile. 



But on looking back and contemplating society 

 in its primitive state, we shall arrive at very dif- 

 ferent conclusions. We shall perceive that the 

 protective spirit, far from being prejudicial to 

 progress, was one of its most essential conditions. 

 Indeed, on calling to mind all those centuries 

 of primeval history, when there was nothing to 

 counteract the workings of the protective spirit, 

 and when all things conspired to strengthen its 

 power, one might reasonably ask at the outset 

 why it was that under such circumstances the 

 human race made such sure and unceasing prog- 

 ress ; why it was that it progressed at all ; why 

 it was that it did not even retrograde. If the 

 protective spirit is of necessity in every age the 

 enemy of civilization, how did it happen that we 

 ever emerged from a state of barbarism ? How 

 comes it that we have not remained uncivilized, 

 mere nomads, or at best diggers of earth, living 

 from hand to mouth, little better, on the whole, 



