in the
reciprocal relation of the representative body and the people any less
important. Society cannot progress faster than the individual units
composing it. True progress lies therefore in raising the standard of
public opinion, and it is this principle which ensures that result by
reacting upon and moulding individual character. Hence we find that in
countries like England, where the principle is operative, progress is
effected without supervision and undue interference in the affairs of
the individual by the State, while in countries where the principle is
not operative, such as the Continental countries of Europe and some of
the Australian colonies, the contrary is the case. Legislation should
therefore be directed to changing the nature of the individual, and
should not be too far in advance of public opinion. This is what Mr.
Lester F. Ward, in his work on "Outlines of Sociology," calls attractive
legislation. He writes:--

The principle involved in attraction, when applied to social
affairs, is simply that of _inducing_ men to act for the good of
society. It is that of harmonizing the interests of the individual
with those of society, of making it advantageous to the individual
to do that which is socially beneficial; not merely in a negative
form as an alternative of two evils, as is done when a penalty is
attached to an action, but positively, in such a manner that he
will exert himself to do those things that society most needs to
have done. The sociologist and the statesman should co-operate in
discovering the laws of society and the methods of utilizing them,
so as to let the social forces flow freely and strongly,
untrammelled by penal statutes, mandatory laws, irritating
prohibitions, and annoying obstacles. (p. 274.)

Now, we submit that this attractive legislation is possible only when
there is no oppressed minority, and is therefore the peculiar province
of representative government; for we have shown that the whole machinery
is adapted to induce the people to desire only what is best in the
interests of society.

Let us briefly examine the bearing of the view that representative
machinery is the agent of progress on previous theories of social
progress.

+Professor Huxley.+--No one has more clearly laid down the conditions of
social progress than the late Professor Huxley in his essay on
_Evolution and Ethics_. The gradual strength