444 A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

dent world these inclinations create conflicts, just as the
egoisms of individuals lead to inharmonious relations in
society. Humanity is at present striving to reconcile its
international disharmonies, in the same way as it has inte-
grated individuals into families, communities, and nations.
In the ealier stages of civilisation individuals or at best
families or clans were left to themselves in securing justice.
This license continued almost down to the dawn of modern
times. Then they were all reduced to subjection to a
common law. Vendetta can no longer settle domestic
or municipal disputes; the days of the Gudphs and Ghibd*
lines, the Montagues and Capulets are gone. Is it similarly
possible to compel and habituate nations to the reign of inter-
national law instead of national vendetta? Evidently the
human race has not yet been civilised to that height of
regulated conduct. Will it ever be? The answer will de-
pend on our capacity to assimilate the lessons of universal
history.

A careful survey of human history unravels to our vision
the two vistas of achievements and failures. Deeper analysis
will indicate that -man has been able to subdue his environ-
ment more readily than his own primitive instincts. The
material comforts provided by modern civilisation are evi-
dence of the former; the crimes of both individuals and
nations are proofs of the latter. It is this contrast between
the outer and inner aspects of our civilisation that has
induced some thinkers to question its benefits and blessings.1
At times one really feels as if our civilisation is only -the
thin veneer of incorrigible barbarians. Beneath the polish
.of even the most advanced peoples in the modern world

1. Edward Carpenter wrote a book on Civilisation : Its Cause
and Cure.