With what they do the vulgar natures buy
Their titles; and with what they are, the great.’
Other forces may have raised these men to their exalted positions; but their influence is due to their height, their potential energy. Placed on a lower level, they would cease to have that power. How calm the dignity of this potential rank! The water in the reservoir is scarcely ruffled or disturbed, as if unconscious of its power; when it has lost its force it rushes along with a sullen murmur and a roar, howling and hissing and boiling in endless torture, until—
‘It gains a safer bed, and steals at last
Along the mazes of the quiet vale.’
[78]
So the vulgar crowd rushes on, with plenty of kinetic force, making noise enough and looking very busy; while those who seem to sleep in calm forgetfulness, exercise their potential energy, and do the real work of turning the great engine of the State.
There are attractive and repulsive forces (more commonly the latter, the cynic will say) in our social system, but each individual is the centre of various forces acting upon him. In nature all matter possesses the force of gravity, and whatever the size of two particles may be, they mutually attract each other. The earth attracts the moon; the moon attracts the earth. A stone thrown up into the air exercises an infinitesimal force upon the earth; so in the social system every individual, however small and insignificant he may be, exercises some attractive force upon his neighbour. There is no one in the world who does not exercise some influence for good or for evil upon his fellows.
The force of cohesion is manifest in society as in nature, that force, I mean, [79] which resists the separation of a body’s particles. Different bodies possess different powers of cohesion, e.g., the cohesion of chalk is far less than that of flint embedded in it; even the same body possesses different powers of cohesion in different directions, e.g., it is easier to split wood in the direction of the fibres than perpendicular to them. If by our old principle of continuity we change the words ‘bodies’ into ‘States’ or ‘individuals,’ we shall see that the same laws hold good in social science as in natural philosophy.
These are a few analogous laws which I have taken almost at random; but it must strike the most casual listener to my remarks that it is wondrous strange that men, regarded as social beings, should possess the same qualities, and be governed by the same laws, as the rest of matter. As Bishop Butler says, ‘the force of analogy consists in the frequency of the supposed analogous facts, and the real resemblance of the things compared.’ It appeals to the reasoning faculty, and may form a solid argument. Hence, if we can prove the [80] similarity of various laws and conditions, we may not be wrong in assuming by analogy the identity of those laws and conditions.
I have stated my case in this manner in order to convince the gainsayers, if any such there be, and to banish any doubts or questionings which may have arisen in your minds. I will now proceed with some further investigations, full of the most profound interest and importance.