The disposition to regard a supposed 'state of nature' as a standard of society as it ought to be, is, however, partly owing to the belief in a fixed providential arrangement of human affairs, or, more vaguely, in a natural course of phenomena, which it is impious to disturb and alter. Art is opposed, as something factitious, arbitrary, and merely human, to the divine and natural order of the world. It is in this spirit that Cowper sings— God made the country, and man made the town. Task, b. i. Everything which exists by positive institution, being a work of human contrivance, is analogous to art, and therefore is opposed to nature, (120) as we have pointed out in a former chapter. (121) The idea that precautions against disease-as inoculation and vaccination—are impious, belongs to the same train of thought. The preventive means which man employs against disease are merely natural powers which he uses, and does not create. The action of the vaccine matter in the human body is as natural, that is, as much in accordance with the laws of nature, as the small-pox which it averts. In like manner, the flow of water through a pipe, or along an artificial channel, is as much in accordance with the laws of nature as if it flowed in a river, though the conduit is made by men. If, indeed, by natural, is meant that which would exist if man did not interfere, then it is clear that all human action which influences the course of external phenomena must be called unnatural. The dislike of art and human contrivance is analogous to the (120) When the phenomena of nature are regarded as the works of the Divine artificer, they assume the character of art: hence the verses of Pope : All Nature is but art, unknown to thee; All chance, direction which thou canst not see.' Essay on Man, ep. i. v. 289. The same view had been likewise developed by Zeno: 'Censet enim artis maxime proprium esse, creare et gignere; quodque in operibus nostrarum artium manus efficiat, id multo artificiosius naturam efficere ... Atque hâc quidem ratione omnis natura artificiosa est, quod habet quasi viam quandam et sectam quam sequatur.'-Čic. de N. D. ii. 22. (121) Above, ch. xviii. § 6. feeling, that the beauty of natural scenery is destroyed by de coration : Quanto præstantius esset Numen aquæ, viridi si margine clauderet undas Herba, nec irriguum violarent marmora tophum. (122) Formal lines and architectural gardens are condemned, as inferior to the variety and irregularity of nature. The theory of a state of nature, as something which it is unnatural and impious to disturb, seems to assume, that man sets himself up as a rival creator to the divine architect of the world, whereas he merely avails himself of the powers of nature, and of the laws of phenomena which he is able to discover. If once this antithesis were admitted-if an ideal type of primitive nature were once established from which it was impious to depart, the progressive element in man would be destroyed. It is only by artificial contrivance, made in conformity with the laws of natural and social phenomena, that he improves his condition. At the same time it is to be observed, with reference to those who establish a type of primitive society, that inasmuch as the state of nature is ideal, different ideas may be formed of it, and as some conceive it under the form of peace, so others conceive it under the form of war;(123) while some regard it as the tranquil reign of right, others treat it as the triumphant despotism of wrong. Thus Callicles, in the Gorgias, describes justice as an innovation upon the injustice which exercised a supreme sway in the state of nature, and as set up by the confederation of the weak majority.(124) In like manner, Philus, in the Republic of Cicero, argues that neither nature nor voluntary institution, but weakness, is the mother of justice. (125) § 22 In all the schemes which we have hitherto described, the (122) Juv. iii. 20. (123) This view of the state of nature is discussed by Puffendorf, L. of N. and N. ii. 2, § 5-9. (124) Plat. Gorg. c. 85, sqq. (125) Etenim justitiæ non natura, nec voluntas, sed imbecillitas mater est.'-ii. 14. projector has taken the entire commonwealth, or an entire state of society, and has recast it in his ideal mould. He has comprehended the whole sum of human interests and institutions-he has treated the problem as unfettered by any conditions of reality, and has imposed no limit on his organizing imagination. Sometimes, however, a more confined problem has been selected ; certain real conditions have been recognised, and an ideal creation has been adapted to a selected and definite portion of the political aggregate. One of these limited ideal schemes is the project of perpetual peace. The earliest appearance of this idea is in the Republic of Plato, where it is laid down that the Greeks are natural enemies of the Barbarians, but are natural friends and allies of one another, so that all hostilities between Greek states are as much as possible to be avoided-are to be conducted on principles of mildness and forbearance, and to be considered as civil discord rather than foreign war.(126) The extension of the Roman dominion was likewise conceived under the image of universal peace-a conquered province was said to be pacifiedand the Roman authority was supposed to guarantee to its subjects perpetual exemption from war. Lucan includes this feature in his anticipation of the blessings of the imperial rule: Tunc genus humanum positis sibi consulat armis, Inque vicem gens omnis amet: pax missa per orbem (126) Rep. v. 15, 16, p. 470-1. The ten kings of the Atlantic island were never to make war on each other: there was a sort of congress between them.-Critias, c. 15. (127) i. 60. The Romans considered conquest by their arms in the light of pacification. Hence Virgil says: Pacis imponere morem;' and Seneca, Omnes considera gentes, in quibus Romana pax desinit; Germanos dico, et quicquid circa Istrum vagarum gentium occursat.'-De Prov. c. 4. Tacitus represents Cerialis as convincing the Gauls, that if they threw off the Roman yoke their country would be invaded by German tribes, and a general barbaric war would ensue: Nam pulsis Romanis, quid aliud quam bella inter se gentium exsistent ?'-Hist. iv. 74. Augustin, speaking of Rome, says: Per quam Deo placuit orbem debellare terrarum, et in unam societatem reipublicæ legumque perductum longe lateque pacare.'-De Civ. Dei, xviii. 22. Concerning universal peace, as an institution of the civitas Dei, see xix. 11-3. After the disruption of the Roman empire, the division of Europe into numerous states, and the frequent wars which they waged against each other, kept all practical idea of a perpetual peace in abeyance. A scheme, however, for a general pacification of Europe, adapted to the circumstances of the time, seems to have been agreed upon by Henry IV. of France and Queen Elizabeth, and to have been considered by them as feasible. This scheme proceeded on the basis, that the existing religious creed of each European country, whether catholic or protestant, was to be recognised and maintained; that the infidel powers should be expelled from Europe; that Europe should be repartitioned, with a view mainly of diminishing the power of the house of Austria; and that a federal council, with a federal army and navy for all the European states, should be established. By these means, it was thought, a perpetual peace would be preserved among the members of the great Christian republic. (128) All the Utopian states, from the romance of Sir Thomas More (129) downwards, are described as detesting war, and cultivating peace, so far as the encroaching spirit of neighbouring states will permit. The Télémaque of Fenelon also breathes the same spirit. The happy land of Bætica-which is the type of the golden age, or of the primitive state of nature-enjoys per (128) This scheme is expounded and justified at length in the thirtieth book of Sully's Memoirs. Compare the remarks on the interest of the European powers in maintaining peace, ib. liv. xiv. tom. iv. p. 390; ed. 1778. A summary of the plan of Henri IV. for the federal union of Europe, and the formation of a European congress, is given by Perefixe, in his Histoire de Henri le Grand, p. 469-85, ed. 1749-who entertains no doubt as to its reality. It has been thought by some writers (see the editor's note on Sully, tom. viii. p. 305), and lastly by Sismondi, in his Histoire des Français, part viii. c. 10, A.D. 1603, that this project was never really entertained, and that it was fabricated by Sully. It has, however, been treated as genuine by several historians of authority, and no reasonable ground is adduced for doubting the accuracy of Sully's account. 6 (129) Bellum, utpote rem plane belluinam, nec ulli tamen belluarum formæ in tam assiduo, atque homini est, usu, summopere abominantur, contraque morem gentium fere omnium nihil æque ducunt inglorium atque petitam e bello gloriam.'-Utop. lib. ii. p. 205; ed. 1750. The Solarians of Campanella only engage in defensive wars. petual peace; (130) the evils of war are expounded by Mentor, and lamented by Telemachus ;(131) and Mentor even shows how international disputes are to be decided by the arbitration of a third power, and wars prevented by this mediatory jurisdiction. (132) William Penn, at the end of the seventeenth, (13) and the Abbé de St. Pierre at the beginning of the eighteenth, century, promulgated plans of perpetual peace, founded, like that of (130) Télémaque, liv. vii. (131) Ib. liv. xi. xiii. (132) Ib. liv. xvii. The Utopian writers have in this, as in other points, copied the features of the golden age. The brazen and iron ages of Hesiod were marked by war, whereas the golden age was tranquil, and free from care.-Op. et Di. 115, 119, 144, 187. Aratus likewise says, that there was no fighting in the golden age-the brazen age began to wage war, 109, 125, 131. Ovid (Met. i. 98-100) gives the same description of the golden age: 'Non tuba directi, non æris cornua flexi, Non galeæ, non ensis erat: sine militis usu On the other hand, the iron age is characterized by the presence of war: v. 141-3. Tibullus, in like manner, contrasts the reigns of Saturn and Jupiter: 'Non acies, non ira fuit, non bella; nec ensem Immiti sævus duxerat arte faber. Nunc Jove sub domino cædes, nunc vulnera semper.' i. 3. 47-9. Virgil, singularly enough, supposes the restoration of the golden age to be Atque iterum ad Trojam magnus mittetur Achilles.' Pope, in his Messiah, thus describes the Redeemer's reign upon earth : (133) An Essay towards the present and future Peace of Europe by the Establishment of an European Diet, Parliament, or Estates, by William Penn [1693]. In the collection of his works, 2 vols. fol. 1726; vol. ii. p. 838-48. Compare Dixon's Life of Penn, p. 358-60. He refers to the project of |