If he had the courage to think out clearly what he vaguely discerns, he would discover that self-sacrifice passing a certain limit entails evil on all — evil on those for whom sacrifice is made as well as on those who make it. While a continual giving-up of pleasures and continual submission to pains is physically injurious, so that its final outcome is debility, dis ease, and abridgment of life; the continual acceptance of benefits at the expense of a fellow-being is morally injurious. Just as much as unselfishness is cultivated by the one, selfish ness is cultivated by the other. If to surrender a gratification to another is noble, readiness to accept the gratification so sur rendered is ignoble; and if repetition of the one kind of act is elevating, repetition of the other kind of act is degrading. So that though up to a certain point altruistic action blesses giver and receiver, beyond that point it curses giver and receiver — physically deteriorates the one and morally deteriorates the other. Everyone can remember cases where greediness for pleasures, reluctance to take trouble, and utter disregard of those around, have been perpetually increased by unmeasured and ever-ready kindnesses; while the unwise benefactor has shown by languid movements and pale face the debility con sequent on disregard of self: the outcome of the policy being destruction of the worthy in making worse the unworthy.
The absurdity of unqualified altruism becomes, indeed, glaring on remembering that it can be extensively practised only if in the same society there coexist one moiety altruistic and one moiety egoistic. Only those who are intensely selfish will allow their fellows habitually to behave to them with 168 THE STUDY OP SOCIOLOGY.
extreme unselfishness. If all are duly regardful of others, there are none to accept the sacrifices which others are ready to make. If a high degree of sympathy characterizes all, no one can be so unsympathetic as to let another receive positive or negative injury that he may benefit. So that pure altru ism in a society implies a nature which makes pure altruism impossible, from the absence of those towards whom it may be exercised!
Equally untenable does the doctrine show itself when looked at from another point of view. If life and its gratifi cations are valuable in another, they are equally valuable in self. There is no total increase of happiness if only as much is gained by one as is lost by another; and if, as con tinually happens, the gain is not equal to the loss — if the re cipient, already inferior, is further demoralized by habitual acceptance of sacrifices, and so made less capable of happiness (which he inevitably is), the total amount of happiness is di minished: benefactor and beneficiary are both losers.
The maintenance of the individuality is thus demonstrably a duty. The assertion of personal claims is essential; both as a means to self-happiness, which is a unit in the general hap piness, and as a means to furthering the general happiness al truistically. Resistance to aggression is not simply justifiable but imperative. Non-resistance is at variance with altruism and egoism alike. The extreme Christian theory, which 110 one acts upon, which no one really believes, but which most tacitly profess and a few avowedly profess, is as logically in defensible as it is impracticable.
The religion of amity, then, taken by itself, is incomplete — it needs supplementing. The doctrines it inculcates and the sentiments it fosters, arising by reactions against opposite doctrines and sentiments, run into extremes the other way.
Let us now turn to these opposite doctrines and sentiments, inculcated and fostered by the religion of enmity, and note the excesses to which they run.
Worthy of highest admiration is the " Tasmanian devil," which, fighting to the last gasp, snarls with its dying breath. Admirable, too, though less admirable, is our own bull-dog — a creature said sometimes to retain its hold even when a limb is THE EDUCATIONAL BIAS. 169 cut off. To be admired also for their " pluck," perhaps nearly in as great a degree, are some of the carnivora, as the lion and the tiger; since when driven to bay they fight against great odds. Nor should we forget the game-cock, supplying as it does a word of eulogy to the mob of roughs who witness the hanging of a murderer, and who half condone his crime if he " dies game." Below these animals come mankind; some of whom, indeed, as the American Indians, bear tortures without groaning. And then, considerably lower, must be placed the civilized man; who, fighting up to a certain point, and bear ing considerable injury, ordinarily yields when further fight ing is useless.
Is the reader startled by this classification? Why should he be? It is but a literal application of that standard of worth tacitly assumed by most, and by some deliberately avowed. Obviously it is the standard of worth believed in by M. Gam- betta, who, after bloodshed carried to the extent of prostrating France, lately reproached the French Assembly by saying — " You preferred peace to honour; you gave five milliards and two provinces." And there are not a few among ourselves who so thoroughly agree in M. Gambetta's feeling, that this utterance of his has gone far to redeem him in their estima tion. If the reader needs encouragement to side with such, plenty more may be found for him. The Staffordshire collier, enjoying the fighting of dogs when the fighting of men is not to be witnessed, would doubtless take the same view. In the slums of Whitechapel and St. Giles's, among leaders of " the fancy," it is an unhesitating belief that pluck and endurance are the highest of attributes; and probably most readers of Bell's Life in London would concur in this belief. More over, if he wants further sympathy to support him, he may find entire races ready to give it; especially that noble race of cannibals, the Fijians, among whom bravery is so highly honoured that, on their return from battle, the triumphant warriors are met by the women, who place themselves at their unrestricted disposal. So that whoever inclines to adopt this measure of superiority will find many to side with him — that is, if he likes his company.
Seriously, is it not amazing that civilized men should espe cially pride themselves on a quality in which they are ex- 170 THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY.
eecded br inferior varieties of their own race, and still more eivvevied by inferior ••»"mfi^* f Instead of regarding' a man as manly in proportion as he po<ssesses moral attributes dis tinctively human, -we regard him as manly in proportion as he shows an attribute possessed in greater degrees by beings from whom we derive our words of contempt It was lately remarked by Mr. Greg that we take our point of honour from the prbe-rin^r: but we do worse, — we take our point of honour from beasts. Nay. we take it from a beast inferior to those we are familiar with: for the ~ Tasnianian devil," in structure and intelligence, stands on a much lower level of brutality than our lions and bull-dogs.
That resistance to aggression is to be applauded, and that the courage implied by resistance is to be valued and admired, may be fully admitted while denying that courage is to be regarded as the supreme virtue. A large endowment of it is essential to a complete nature; bat so are large endowments of other things which we do not therefore make oar measures of worth, A good body, well grown, well proportioned, and of such quality in its tissues as to be enduring, should brimr. as it does brn: i. its share of admiration. Admirable, too* in their wavs, are gvxxl stomach and lungs, as well as a vigorous vas cular system -. for without these the power of self-preservation and die power of preserving others will fall short. To be a fine animal is. indeed, essential to many kinds of achieve- - ng1 from in aement; or as it is called.
men, that hearteaowek to show THE EDCCAT10XAL BIAS, 171 circumstances of peril. But while we are thus taught that in admiring courage, we are admiring physical superiorities and those superiorities of mental faculty which give fitness for dealing with emergencies, we are also taught that unless we rank as supreme the bodily powers and those powers which directly conduce to self-preservation, we cannot say that cour age is the highest attribute, and that the degree of it should be our standard of honour.
That an over-estimate of courage is appropriate to cm- phase of civilization may be very true. It is beyond doubt that during the struggle for existence among nations, it is needful that men should admire extremely the quality with out which there can be no success in the struggle. While. among neighbouring nations, we have one in which all the males are trained for war — while the sentiment of this nation is such that students slash one another's faces in duels about trifles, and are admired for their scars, especially by women — while the military ascendancy it tolerates is such that, for ill- usage by soldiers, ordinary citizens have no adequate redress — while the government is such that though the monarch as head of the Church condemns duelling as irreligious, and as head of the Law forbids it as a crime, yet as head of the Army he insists on it to the extent of expelling officers who will not fight duels — while. I say. we have a neighbouring nation thus characterized, something of a kindred character in appli ances, sentiments, and beliefs, has to be maintained among' ourselves. When we find another neighbouring nation be lieving that no motive is so high as the love of glory, and no glory so great as that gained by successful war— when we perceive the military spirit so pervading this nation that it loves to clothe its children in ^«a.si-military ^n **«•««* — when. we find one of its historians writing that the French army is the great civilizer. and one of its generals lately saying that the army is the soul of France — when we see that the vital energies of this nation run mainly to teeth and claws, and that it quickly grows new sets of teeth and claws in place of those pulled out: it is needful that we. too. should keep our teeth and claws in order, and should maintain ideas and feel ings adapted to the effectual use of them. There is no gain saying the truth that while the predatory instincts continue 172 THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY.
prompting nations to rob one another, destructive agencies must be met by antagonist destructive agencies; and that this may be done, honour must be given to the men who act as destructive agents, and there must be an exaggerated estimate of the attributes which make them efficient.
It may be needful, therefore, that our boys should be accus tomed to harsh treatment, giving and receiving brutal punish ments without too nice a consideration of their justice. It may be that as the Spartans and as the North- American In dians, in preparation for warfare, subjected their young men to tortures, so should we; and thus, perhaps, the " education of a gentleman " may properly include giving and receiving " hacking " of the shins at foot-ball: boot-toes being purposely made heavy that they may inflict greater damage. So, too, it may be well that boys should all in turn be subject to the tender mercies of elder boys; with whose thrashings and kick- ings the masters decline to interfere, even though they are sometimes carried to the extent of maiming for life. Possibly, also, it is fit that each boy should be disciplined in submission to any tyrant who may be set over him, by finding that appeal brings additional evils. That each should be made callous, morally as well as physically, by the bearing of frequent wrongs, and should be made yet more callous when, coming into power, he inflicts punishments as whim or spite prompts, may also be desirable. Nor, perhaps, can we wholly regret that confusion of moral ideas which results when breaches of conventional rules bring penalties as severe as are brought by acts morally wrong. For war does not consist with keen sen sitiveness, physical or moral. Reluctance to inflict injury, and reluctance to risk injury, would equally render it impos sible. Scruples of conscience respecting the rectitude of their cause would paralyze officers and soldiers. So that a certain brutalization has to be maintained during our passing phase of civilization. It may be, indeed, that "the Public School spirit," which, as truly said, is carried into our public life, is not the most desirable for a free country. It may be that early subjection to despotism and early exercise of uncon trolled power, are not the best possible preparations for legis lators. It may be that those who, on the magistrate's bench, have to maintain right against might, could be better trained THE EDUCATIONAL BIAS. 173 than by submission to violence and subsequent exercise of violence. And it may be that some other discipline than that of the stick, would be desirable for men who officer the press and guide public opinion on questions of equity. But, doubt less, while national antagonisms continue strong and national defence a necessity, there is a fitness in this semi-military dis cipline, with pains and bruises to uphold it. And a duly- adapted code of honour has the like defence.
Here, however, if we are to free ourselves from transitory sentiments and ideas, so as to be capable of framing scientific conceptions, we must ask what warrant there is for this exal tation of the destructive activities and of the qualities implied by them? We must ask how it is possible for men rightly to pride themselves on attributes possessed in higher degrees by creatures so much lower? We must consider whether, in the absence of a religious justification, there is any ethical justifi cation for the idea that the most noble traits are such as can not be displayed without the infliction of pain and death. When we do this, -we are obliged to admit that the religion of enmity in its unqualified form, is as indefensible as the re ligion of amity in its unqualified form. Each proves itself to be one of those insane extremes out of which there comes a sane mean by union with its opposite. The two religions stand respectively for the claims of self and the claims of others. The first religion holds it glorious to resist aggres sion, and, while risking death in doing this, to inflict death on enemies. The second religion teaches that the glory is in not resisting aggression, and in yielding to enemies while not asserting the claims of self. A civilized humanity will render either glory just as impossible of achievement as its opposite. A diminishing egoism and an increasing altruism, must make each of these diverse kinds of honour unattainable. For such an advance implies a cessation of those aggressions which make possible the nobility of resistance; while it implies a refusal to accept those sacrifices without which there cannot be the nobility of self-sacrifice. The two extremes must can cel; leaving a moral code and a standard of honour free from irrational excesses. Along with a latent self-assertion, there will go a readiness to yield to others, kept in check by the refusal of others to accept more than their due.
174: THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY.
And now, having noted the perversions of thought and sentiment fostered by the religion of amity and the religion of enmity, under which we are educated in so chaotic a fashion, let us go on to note the ways in which these affect sociological conceptions. Certain important truths apt to be shut out from the minds of the few wrho are unduly swayed by the religion of amity, may first be set down.
One of the facts difficult to reconcile with current theories of the Universe, is that high organizations throughout the animal kingdom habitually serve to aid destruction or to aid escape from destruction. If we hold to the ancient view, we must say that high organization has been deliberately devised for such purposes. If we accept the modern view, we must say that high organization has been evolved by the exercise of destructive activities during immeasurable periods of the past. Here we choose the latter alternative. To the never- ceasiiig efforts to catch and eat, and the never-ceasing en deavours to avoid being caught and eaten, is to be ascribed the development of the various senses and the various motor organs directed by them. The bird of prey with the keenest vision, has, other things equal, survived when members of its species that did not see so far, died from want of food; and by such survivals, keenness of vision has been made greater in course of generations. The fleetest members of a herbivorous herd, escaping when the slower fell victims to a carnivore, left posterity; among which, again, those with the most per fectly-adapted limbs survived: the carnivores themselves being at the same time similarly disciplined and their speed in creased. So, too, with intelligence. Sagacity that detected a danger which stupidity did not perceive, lived and propagated; and the cunning which hit upon a new deception, and so se cured prey not otherwise to be caught, left posterity where a smaller endowment of cunning failed. This mutual perfect ing of pursuer and pursued, acting upon their entire organiza tions, has been going on throughout all time; and human beings have been subject to it just as much as other beings. Warfare among men, like warfare among animals, has had a large share in raising their organizations to a higher stage. The following are some of the various ways in which it has worked.
THE EDUCATIONAL BIAS. 175 In the first place, it has had the effect of continually ex tirpating races which, for some reason or other, were least fitted to cope with the conditions of existence they were sub ject to. The killing-off of relatively-feeble tribes, or tribes relatively wanting in endurance, or courage, or sagacity, or power of co-operation, must have tended ever to maintain, and occasionally to increase, the amounts of life-preserving powers possessed by men.
Beyond this average advance caused by destruction of the least-developed races and the least-developed individuals, there has been an average advance caused by inheritance of those further developments due to functional activity. Re member the skill of the Indian in following a trail, and re member that under kindred stimuli many of his perceptions and feelings and bodily powers have been habitually taxed to the uttermost, and it becomes clear that the struggle for ex istence between neighbouring tribes has had an important effect in cultivating faculties of various kinds. Just as, to take an illustration from among ourselves, the skill of the police cultivates cunning among burglars, which, again, lead ing to further precautions generates further devices to evade them; so, by the unceasing antagonisms between human so cieties, small and large, there has been a mutual culture of an adapted intelligence, a mutual culture of certain traits of char acter not to be undervalued, and a mutual culture of bodily powers.
A large effect, too, has been produced upon the develop ment of the arts. In responding to the imperative demands of war, industry made important advances and gained much of its skill. Indeed, it may be questioned whether, in the absence of that exercise of manipulative faculty which the making of weapons originally gave, there would ever have been produced the tools required for developed industry. If we go back to the Stone- Age, we see that implements of the chase and implements of war are those showing most labour and dexterity. If we take still-existing human races which were without metals when we found them, we see in their skil fully-wrought stone clubs, as well as in their large war- canoes, that the needs of defence and attack were the chief stimuli to the cultivation of arts afterwards available for 176 THE STUDY OP SOCIOLOGY.
productive purposes. Passing over intermediate stages, we may note in comparatively-recent stages the same rela tion. Observe a coat of mail, or one of the more highly- finished suits of armour— compare it with articles of iron and steel of the same date; and there is evidence that these desires to kill enemies and escape being killed, more ex treme than any other, have had great effects on those arts of working in metal to which most other arts owe their progress. The like relation is shown us in the uses made of gunpowder. At first a destructive agent, it has. be come an agent of immense service in quarrying, mining, railway-making, &c.
A no less important benefit bequeathed by war, has been the formation of large societies. By force alone were small nomadic hordes welded into large tribes; by force alone were large tribes welded into small nations; by force alone have small nations been welded into large nations. While the fighting of societies usually maintains separateness, or by conquest produces only temporary unions, it produces, from time to time, permanent unions; and as fast as there are formed permanent unions of small into large, and then of large into still larger, industrial progress is furthered in three ways. Hostilities, instead of being perpetual, are broken by intervals of peace. When they occur, hostilities do not so profoundly derange the industrial activities. And there arises the possibility of carrying out the division of labour much more effectually. War, in short, in the slow course of things, brings about a social aggregation which furthers that indus trial state at variance with war; and yet nothing but war could binrig about this social aggregation. These truths,' that without war large aggregates of men cannot be formed, and that without large aggregates of men there cannot be a developed industrial state, are illustrated in all places and times. Among existing uncivilized and semi-civilized races, we everywhere find that union of small societies by a con quering society is a step in civilization. The records of peo ples now extinct show us this with equal clearness. On look ing back into our own history, and into the histories of neighbouring nations, we similarly see that only by coercion were the smaller feudal governments so subordinated as to THE EDUCATIONAL BIAS. 177 secure internal peace. And even lately, the long-desired con solidation of Germany, if not directly effected by " blood and iron," as Bismarck said it must be, has been indirectly effected by them. The furtherance of industrial development by aggregation is no less manifest. If we compare a small so ciety with a large one, we get clear proof that those processes of co-operation by which social life is made possible, assume high forms only when the numbers of the co-operating citi zens are great. Ask of what use a cloth-factory, supposing they could have one, would be to the members of a small tribe, and it becomes manifest that, producing as it would in a single day a year's supply of cloth, the vast cost of making it and keeping it in order could never be compensated by the advantage gained. Ask what would happen were a shop like Shoolbred's, supplying all textile products, set up in a village, and you see that the absence of a sufficiently-extensive dis tributing function would negative its continuance. Ask what sphere a bank would have had in the Old English period, when nearly all people grew their own food and spun their own wool, and it is at once seen that the various appliances for facilitating exchange can grow up only when a community becomes so large that the amount of exchange to be facilitated is great. Hence, unquestionably, that integration of societies effected by war, has been a needful preliminary to industrial development, and consequently to developments of other kinds — Science, the Fine Arts, &c.