assert that economic benefits may be dearly purchased at the cost of political degeneration.

The absorbing force which heretofore has had so beneficial effect may be powerless when applied to different material. The government of The United States, like every government of a popular nature, is unfitted to deal with subordinate classes. For its full development it demands the united action of a homogeneous people. If the contiguous territory of Mexico should, for instance, be annexed, with its population foreign in every sense to the nature of the American people, its incorporation would be a risk, its state of dependency would be a contradiction to the system. For similar reasons the African race offers a problem of difficult solution. If held subordinate, it creates an incongruity; if elevated, it may demand a social recognition injurious to both

races.

These dangers are here mentioned, not with a view of suggesting the manner in which they should be met, but as an illustration of the relations which exist between kinds of people and governments. That they must be met and averted is evident. Neither sentiment nor material advantage should imperil the integrity of the Republican system. The right of self-preservation appertains to States as well as to individuals.

Before leaving for the present the subject of immigration, it is proper to acknowledge the purely political benefit which it has conferred. The United States narrowly escaped destruction from the force of a political idea encouraged and fostered for many years for personal and sectional aggrandisement, a narrow conception opposed to the broader and grander conception of a united nation and a State. To this first conception immigration opposed itself. In Alexander Johnston's History of the United States are to be found these reflections upon the political effects of immigration: "Its best part was a

It had not

come to any It had none

powerful nationalising force. particular State, but to The United States. of the traditional prejudices in favour of a State, but a strong feeling for the whole country." It is difficult to trace with accuracy the causes of effects. It is possible that this force, strengthening an existing sentiment, and foreshadowing its enlarged extension, may have precipitated the contest. There is no doubt that it was a powerful aid in the conflict between these opposing ideas. Thus far, that force which might naturally be supposed to have a denationalising influence has been acting in an opposite direction, but we may not expect that the same results may be witnessed in the different phase in which immigration now exhibits itself.

The opportunities for applied governmental science are probably better now than ever before. States have heretofore advanced by slow steps, though their disruption has been more rapid. Nevertheless there have been some sudden and beneficent changes in Constitutions, noticeably that effected in England in 1688. In more recent times new Constitutions have been created, as that of The United States in 1789, and of the present government of France in 1875, the establishment of the German Empire, and the extension of one governmental system to the whole of Italy. Upon the soundness of their systems the welfare of the countries must depend. There can be no question, then, of the value of the study, nor of its practical importance. Perhaps its most valuable, because its most constant, use is found in its application to ever-changing social conditions. Civilisation and governmental science move with equal steps, and are mutually assistant. A highly developed governmental system is adapted only to a highly developed social system. While the principles of right are ever the same, they can find their full expression only in favourable circumstances, or rather their methods of

application are dependent upon the social conditions to which they are applied.

The topics thus far considered are the true reason for a State's existence, a consideration of which is made necessary by the fact that a false conception of its authority leads to an incorrect notion of its just power, the conditions of existing societies and their character, the influence of race upon social conditions, the capacity for assimilation between families of people within a State. In the next chapter an attempt will be made to ascertain the true purpose and ends of government and the basis on which governmental systems should rest.

CHAPTER II

A

PURPOSE OF EXISTENCE

LL social unions exist for a definite purpose, usually distinctly set forth at the time of incorporation. Necessarily, therefore, the administration of the affairs of each society must be limited and directed by the purpose for which the society is organised. That particular form of social union which is designated by the word "State," is governed by the same law of purpose which applies to every other social union. It is only by recognising the fact of a distinct object to be attained, and of the need of a fit instrument for its attainment, that governmental science is a possibility. The State, though agreeing with all other social bodies in its subjection to this law, differs from them in the definiteness of its purpose, and in its method of creation. It is not the privilege of Political Science to create anew, to form an organisation whose methods are carefully adjusted to the object. It must reform and improve, not create. It must find the purposes of government by the general study of man individually and in societies. It is but seldom that governmental systems in their entirety are constituted anew. Constitutions may be organised, but are usually applied to existing social systems, in great measure adopting or modifying existing laws and customs. Social conditions, as found at any one time, are the product of gradual growth and development.

Gregariousness is a law of animal nature. Solitary life is not congenial to man, nor can his full faculties, his

powers of enjoyment, or his material comforts be found in such condition. Men are mutually dependent. The inadequateness of the earth to furnish subsistence to man individually, makes necessary a certain co-operation. For such beneficial purposes societies exist, but their progress is in certain lines and by the operations of certain laws. We may speculate as to their growth, and call in the aid of ethnography. We may imagine a sparsely settled tract where individual freedom has its largest expression. Next appears the family. The parental and filial relations, continuing for a longer period in man than in other animals, create a sentiment of lasting nature, and constitute the binding force of family. The extension and ramification of family form tribes, which further develop intonations. The migration of peoples and, as a consequence, their subjection to numerous influences effect a differentiation of peoples, and explain social states as found to be at any historic period.

Along with the growth of States there goes a growth of government. The patriarchal or family rule is probably the earliest. With the extension of societies, that form would naturally be displaced by some other better fitted to the requirements of an enlarged society. Society and its rule advance together. There is evolution in both, leading to present conditions. Between social and political conditions there seems to be an interdependence. A certain social state may give rise to a peculiar political system; political institutions long continued modify the character of a society. There is an interaction, but it would seem that the influence of social conditions on government is larger than that of government on social conditions. Some of the most active influences operating upon societies are those of race, of political institutions, of religion, and of intellectual development. Many others, even those of a physical nature, are enumerated