embraced the civilized world, that was followed by a new social conquest, and the rise of a new and potent monied aristocracy. It grew greater; and generalizing from this tendency, Karl Marx prophesied it would grow still greater until all capital was concentrated in a few hands: the capitalists would then be expropriated, and Socialism and equality would come, But Marx, as already stated, based his prophecy on a misread tendency, a short tendency which had spent its full force before he died, just as De Tocqueville based his prediction on a supposed tendency gathered from the facts of a generation earlier. Both were wrong, a great current towards inequality came, especially in America, after De Tocqueville wrote, in 1835, just as there came a check to the concentration of capital in fewer hands, and a tendency to its dispersal, before Marx died. Others also have prophesied in our century, though without pretending to base their predictions on the scientific study of political or social phenomena: St. Simon, that the golden age was in the future, and that society would reach it through his doctrine; Carlyle, that the abyss lay before society, unless the Great Man appeared to save it. To the like effect the poet-laureate also speaks: "Before Earth reach her earthly best a God must mingle with the game." What is the lesson to be gathered from the prophets and writers on the science of society? Not that we should expect an early and radical transformation of society; neither the supremacy of a few capitalists, nor yet their early expropriation; hardly even that we should expect the coming of the semi-divine man of Carlyle and Tennyson to set things right. The chief lesson is the rashness and exceeding doubtfulness of specific prophecies which are grounded as often on hopes or fears, likes or dislikes, as on superior insight. The prophets are, however, in general optimistic; they believe in progress or evolution; and they believe that civilized society is progressing to something better than the present state, though they differ considerably as to what constitutes that better. I share this faith on the whole myself. I believe that society is in movement as part of an inevitable process to something better in the end, though some of the stages to it may appear to be really worse for particular generations. I believe we are moving towards a better, to "a far-off divine event" which cannot be fully perceived at present; and I believe that the road to it lies through something better than the present which can be perceived. To get to this better will require the co-operative efforts and volitions of men, especially of the working classes, and of their leaders. Social thinkers will be required to furnish light and guidance, and also, it may be, great statesmen filled with the spirit of understanding and justice, and with regard for the general good. There will be neither miracle wrought, nor sudden social transformation, which would be a miracle in order to last; but with good sense, self-reliance, and persistence on the part of the many, assisted by the light and help of the few, and with better dispositions on the part of employers of labour, a considerable advance for the whole people, and especially for the cause of labour, might be made during the present generation: while with these same conditions as permanent facts, the movement for social reform, if not the socialistic movement, will advance as fast as is desirable, and will realize in future as much good as the nature and complexity of things social and things human will allow. THE END. PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LTD., ST JOHN'S HOUSE, CLERKENWELL E.C 57 and 59, Ludgate Hill; and 1, Paternoster Square, Actors, Eminent. Edited by WILLIAM ARCHER. Crown Svo, 2s. 6d. each. I. William Charles Macready. By WILLIAM ARCHER. II. Thomas Betterton. By. R. W. Lowe. ADAMS, W. H. Davenport.-The White King; or, Charles the First, and Men and Women, Life and Manners, etc., in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century. 2 vols. Demy 8vo, 215. AGASSIZ, Louis.-An Essay on Classification. 8vo, 125. ALLIBONE, S. A.-A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors. From the Earliest Accounts to the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. 3 vols. Royal 8vo, £5 8s. Amateur Mechanic's Workshop (The). A Treatise containing Plain and Concise Directions for the Manipulation of Wood and Metals. By the Author of "The Lathe and its Uses." Sixth Edition. Numerous Woodcuts. Demy 8vo, 6s. American Almanac and Treasury of Facts, Statistical, Financial, and Political. Edited by AINSWORTH R. SPOFFORD. Published Yearly. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. each. |