and needful,—as the point from which all improvement must proceed; he requires all good men to unite their efforts with his, and to subject them to him for the accomplishment of his particular purpose, and holds it to be treason to the good cause if they refuse;—while they on the other hand make the same demands upon him, and accuse him of similar treason, should he refuse. Thus do all good intentions among men appear to be lost in vain disputations, which leave behind them no trace of their existence; while in the meantime the world goes on as well, or as ill, as it can without human effort, by the blind mechanism of Nature,—and so will go on for ever.
And so go on for ever?—No;—not so, unless the whole existence of humanity is to be an idle game, without significance and without end. It cannot be intended that those savage tribes should always remain savage: no race can be born with all the capacities of perfect humanity, and yet be destined never to develop these capacities, and never to become more than that which a sagacious animal by its own proper nature might become. Those savages must be destined to be the progenitors of more powerful, cultivated, and virtuous generations;—otherwise it is impossible to conceive of a purpose in their existence, or even of the possibility of their existence in a world ordered and arranged by reason. Savage races may become civilized, for this has already occurred, and the most cultivated nations of modern times are the descendants of savages. Whether civilization be a direct and natural development of human society, or
