And we ask them in turn. Why now and at once, even if the
power were commensumte with the will to execute it ?
Evidently that old illusion of the clean-cut historical stages
which we saw was so disastrous to Comte's scheme, as if in
stepping across from one to the other you were stepping across
a gulf as great as that which separates Russia in manners and
habits from China; instead of, as is the case, each stage gliding
into the next imperceptibly, and the changes necessary in
industrial methods and administration being so slow and



THE ILLUSIONS OF HISTORY. 13

gradual as to be appreciable only after long periods of time.
