G. C. Middlemore, 1878
Part I
THE STATE AS A WORK OF ART
INTRODUCTION
This work bears the title of an essay in the strictest sense of the
word. No one is more conscious than the writer with what limited means
and strength he has addressed himself to a task so arduous. And even if
he could look with greater confidence upon his own researches, he would
hardly thereby feel more assured of the approval of competent judges.
To each eye, perhaps, the outlines of a given civilization present a
different picture; and in treating of a civilization which is the
mother of our own, and whose influence is still at work among us, it is
unavoidable that individual judgement and feeling should tell every
moment both on the writer and on the reader. In the wide ocean upon
which we venture, the possible ways and directions are many; and the
same studies which have served for this work might easily, in other
hands, not only receive a wholly different treatment and application,
but lead also to essentially different conclusions. Such indeed is the
importance of the subject that it still calls for fresh investigation,
and may be studied with advantage from the most varied points of view.
Meanwhile we are content if a patient hearing is granted us, and if
this book be taken and judged as a whole. It is the most serious
difficulty of the history of civilization that a great intellectual
process must be broken up into single, and often into what seem
arbitrary categories in order to be in any way intelligible.
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