life for such great masses can only be
acquired by ceaseless toil. The nature of man in this latter mode of
existence is very different from what it was in the first period; and
centuries of pain have been necessary to transform it sufficiently. A
human constitution that is no longer in harmony with its environment
is necessarily in a miserable position, and a constitution inherited
from primitive man does not harmonise with the circumstances to which
those of to-day have to adapt themselves. Consequently it is
impossible to create immediately a social condition that shall bring
happiness to all. A state of society which even to-day fills Europe
with millions of armed warriors, eager for conquest or thirsting for
revenge; which impels so-called Christian nations to vie with one
another all over the world in piratical enterprises without any regard
to the rights of the aborigines, while thousands of their priests and
pastors watch them with approval; which, in intercourse with weaker
races, goes far beyond the primitive law of revenge, "a life for a
life," and for one life demands seven--such a state of human society,
says Spencer, cannot under any circumstances be ripe for a harmonious
communal existence. The root of every well-ordered social activity is
the sense of justice, resting, on the one hand, on personal freedom,
and, on the other on the sanctity of similar freedom for others; and
this sense of justice is so far not present in sufficient quantity.
Therefore a further and longer continuance of a social discipline is
necessary, which demands from each that he should look after his own
affairs with due regard to the equal rights of others, and insists
that everyone shall enjoy all the pleasures which naturally flow from
his efforts, and, at the same time, not place upon the shoulders of
others the inconveniences that arise from the same cause, in so far as
others are not ready to undertake them. And therefore it is Spencer's
conviction that the attempts to remove this form of discipline will
not only fail, but will produce worse evils than those which it is
sought to avoid.

We need not discuss Spencer's views further in a book about Anarchism.
But to those representatives of so-called scientific Socialism, as
well as to those Liberals who are so ready to condemn as "Anarchist"
any inconvenient critic of their own opinions, we should like to
remark that Anarchism will only be overcome by free and fearless
scienti