1 82 Mr. Buckle's Fallacies. [ix. 



classes, and the same contemptible subservience 

 on the part of the lower." ^ Again, in Babylonia, 

 Assyria, and Persia, despotism was the only form of 

 government ever experienced or thought of. ^ We 

 have evidence of the same in the case of China and 

 Japan. We find, moreover, that in barbarous coun- 

 tries, like Ashantee, despotism universally prevails. 

 Going still lower — still farther back — we see nomadic 

 tribes always in subjection to the will of the strong 

 man. Now, for many thousands of years,^ civilisation 

 was advancing in Egypt ; Babylonia, Persia, and many 

 of the other nations above-mentioned made consider- 

 able progress ; India even arrived at a high state of 

 refinement, as is witnessed by her extensive and mag- 

 nificent literature. All this shows that in early times 

 progress did coexist with the strongest possible 

 manifestation of the protective spirit ; and when we 

 consider that there was nothing then to counter- 

 balance the workings of the protective spirit — that 

 all physical causes contributed to favour its develop- 



' P. loi. In Peru, according to Mr. Prescott, the people could not 

 even change their dress without a licence from their rulers ! 



* The passage in Herodotus, b. iii. c. 80 — 83, is well known to 

 have no historical value ; see the remarks of Rawlinson, vol. ii. 



P- 393- 



^ Bunsen's Egypt, passim. Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 23. 



