as a remedy is a policy of despair. Those who hold these opinions are certainly deficient neither in social instincts nor in social sympathies, and their position is quite consistent with that of the earlier Christian socialists such as Kingsley and Maurice.
At the other end of the scale we have another sort of Socialism altogether, a Socialism which is very distinct and definite, and the adherents to which know their own mind very clearly: a Socialism which, whether practicable or not, is quite logical and consistent. I mean that academic Socialism which is the inheritor of the traditions of the French Revolution, and of the doctrines of the German socialists of the middle of the last century, and which must be looked upon as the source of inspiration of all the English Socialism of the day, and the centre round which a mass of social theory gravitates. It would, as we all know, throw the whole responsibility for social welfare upon the State, and for that purpose would abolish private property as an institution, and vest all the means of production in the State, which would organise industry and carry on all manufactures, and whilst accepting the responsibility for the maintenance of its citizens, would regulate their lives and affairs upon lines adopted by the vote of the majority. It cannot be denied that Socialism of this kind has made great advances of late years; not that, in my opinion, it is itself any nearer realisation, but that it has acted with constantly increasing momentum in the promotion of another form of Socialism to which I shall presently refer. In the future it can, I think, never be more than a dream. In the past it has never been more than a theory: there is no instance in history in which society has organised itself upon such principles; many attempts have been made to form communities upon such a basis
