“ Man was so completely at the mercy of man, each whom he encountered being able, if so willing, to slay him on the instant, that all notions of government by force gradually vanished from political systems and forms of law. It is only by force that vast communities, dispersed through great distances of space, can be kept together ”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Coming Race (1871). copy citation
| Author | Edward Bulwer-Lytton |
|---|---|
| Source | The Coming Race |
| Topic | government instant |
| Date | 1871 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1951/1951-h/1951-h.htm |
Context
“If army met army, and both had command of this agency, it could be but to the annihilation of each. The age of war was therefore gone, but with the cessation of war other effects bearing upon the social state soon became apparent. Man was so completely at the mercy of man, each whom he encountered being able, if so willing, to slay him on the instant, that all notions of government by force gradually vanished from political systems and forms of law. It is only by force that vast communities, dispersed through great distances of space, can be kept together; but now there was no longer either the necessity of self-preservation or the pride of aggrandisement to make one state desire to preponderate in population over another. The Vril-discoverers thus, in the course of a few generations, peacefully split into communities of moderate size.”
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