ainst the poor. The law never forbids the poor man to cheat the state
out of more than L3,000 a year. Again, political power still depends on
the social position of your cousins and your aunts. But something has
been done.

We hear much more nowadays about social than about political or legal
reform. That, in itself, is a sign of a change of attitude. In the
revolution of 1381 the crowds came marching to London swearing, in the
words of the old chronicle, that there would be no peace in the land
till each and every lawyer was slain. In the revolutions of 1830 and
1848 it was 'death to the politicians'. Now--it may be that we despair
of lawyers or politicians, dead or alive. In any case the attention of
those in every state who are moved by enthusiasm for a better society is
concentrated less upon votes and laws than upon the distribution of
well-being.

Secondly, there has been a transference of enthusiasm of the religious
or poetic kind from the sphere of contemplation or aloofness to that of
earthly and even material action. Ideals of social reform do not any
longer involve a neglect of food and clothing: we are all more and more
convinced that it is idle to preach culture to a starving man, or to
talk of liberty to one whose whole life is a bestial struggle for bare
food and covering. I speak of normal times. In England, France, and
Germany, social betterment means giving to a greater number security of
bare life, upon which alone the good life can be built.

It will be seen that I imply a disagreement with the Tolstoian
conception of reform; in so far as that involves a neglect of food and
clothing and generally of what are called material goods. That
conception is not perhaps powerful among those who deal with what is
usually called social reform. It is not 'modern', and it is also
dependent upon a mistaken argument in ethical theory. An unfortunate
confusion made by what is called Eastern, Stoic, or Mediaeval asceticism
led to the idea that because the mind is more important than the body,
the body has no importance at all. But we need not deal with this theory
in detail, especially as the general attitude of to-day is opposed to
it. There is undoubtedly a concentration upon the bare necessities of
human life with a view to discovering how these can be shared more
generally.

We are fully aware of the immense social danger in the desire for
riches; but that is no objection to the desire for bread and clothing