this tendency as he is an enemy of the tendency which is now reaching
its term. His simplicity and catholicity give him a solid hold on
tradition, and he will attack, on _a priori_ grounds, nothing that is
already established in the tradition of man. He is by no means a friend
of reaction; but he can see nothing but peril and foolishness in Mr.
Wells' attempts to construct a new universe out of chaos between two
numbers of a half-crown review. Being, as he is, mystically impressed
with the transitoriness of individual man and the permanence of the
human race, he will not lightly condemn anything that has appeared
useful to many past generations, and he cannot accept the mere charge of
age as a damaging indictment against any human institution.

It is not Mr. Belloc's aim to drive us towards "a world set free." He
does not visualize an ideal state which he would have the world attain.
His whole object is to solve our immediate problems, practically and
usefully, as they may best be solved; that is, by applying to the
present the teachings of the past. He leaves himself open to the
influences of his time: he does not attempt to force the men of his day
into a mould of his own creation. For example, he points to the
distributive state as the happiest political condition to be found in
the Christian era. He sees no safe solution of present problems which
does not involve a return to that state. But he does not indulge in the
foolish exercise of elaborating a ready-made scheme by which the
distributive state may be reinstituted. He is too much of an historian,
too practical a reformer, to be a lover of fantasy.

In _Danton_, Mr. Belloc says:

A man who is destined to represent at any moment the chief energies
of a nation, especially a man who will not only represent but lead,
must, by his nature, follow the national methods on his road to
power.

His career must be nearly parallel (so to speak) with the direction
of the national energies, and must merge with their main current at
an imperceptible angle. It is the chief error of those who
deliberately plan success that they will not leave themselves
amenable to such influences, and it is the most frequent cause of
their failure. Thus such men as arrive at great heights of power
are most often observed to succeed by a kind of fatality, which is
nothing more than the course of natures vigorous and original, but,