ABSTRACT
The rising generation to which Sir John Seeley spoke is the departing generation; yet both his appeal and his example seem to have been without effect, since nothing of note has been done towards the effective inauguration of a real historical science. The reformers of historical method who have taken as their leading idea such notions as justice, liberty, self-government, or “the immortal working of the moral powers,” have made the mistake of choosing their unifying principle from among conditions of civilization which are too advanced. The discussion will deal only with the evolution of government subsequent to the institution of monarchy or of some fixed political control, which is assumed as existing before the present inquiry begins. In the mind of the inquirer there must be a readiness to allow the possibility of a new interpretation for some of the oldest and most common-place events.
