THE HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGISTS 1 79 



were in some degree abstract, or, as we should say, matters of 

 principle," 1 — such as those connected with religion, philosophy 

 and politics, in the abstract. 2 Matters of practical social import 

 were the first questions to be discussed, but if concerning merely 

 methods of warfare as with the Indians, progress did not result. 3 

 The chief value of discussion, he holds, is due to the premium it 

 puts on intelligence and its effect in promoting tolerance. 4 



Bagehot mentions the following as conditions that may be 

 traced historically to the nation capable of a polity that suggests 

 principles for discussion, and so leads to progress: — 



First, the nation must possess the patria potestas in some form so marked 

 as to give family life distinctness and precision, and to make a home educa- 

 tion and a home discipline probable and possible. . . . Secondly, that polity 

 would seem to have been created very gradually by the aggregation of 

 families into clans or gentes, and of clans into nations, and then again by the 

 widening of nations, so as to include circumjacent outsiders as well as the 

 first compact and sacred group, — the number of parties to a discussion was 

 first augmented very slowly. Thirdly, the number of "open" subjects, — 

 that is, of subjects on which public opinion was optional, and on which dis- 

 cussion was admitted, was at first very small. 6 



Another valuable result that comes from discussion is a char- 

 acter which he terms " animated moderation." 6 " To act 

 rightly in modern society," he says, "requires a great deal of pre- 

 vious study, a great deal of assimilated information, a great deal 

 of sharpened imagination; and these prerequisites of sound action 

 require much time." He shows how true this is especially in the 

 art of benefiting men, where " haste makes waste." 7 Discus- 

 sion, too, leads to intellectuality and this in turn by virtue of the 

 law of conservation of energy, to limitation of population. 8 A 

 final value comes from the relation of discussion to intellectual 

 development and of this to mechanical ingenuity. 



In the final chapter he shows how " a lazy nation may be 

 changed into an industrious, a rich into a poor, a religious into a 

 profane, as if by magic, if any single cause, though slight, or any 

 combination of causes, however subtle, is strong enough to change 



1 Physics and Politics, p. 158. 5 Ibid., p. 184. 



2 Ibid., pp. 164 f. 6 Ibid., pp. 114 f., 185 f. 



3 Ibid., p. 166. 7 Ibid., p. 188. 



4 Ibid., pp. 162, 163. 8 Ibid., p. 197. 



