Page:The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind.djvu/65



But freedom of thought and action, and toleration of diversities and disunions were encouraged in India, and the almost absolute independence and autonomy of the ancient village republics were preserved here up to the modern age, owing to the vastness and physical immensity of this "epitome of the world," which presented unsurmountable obstacles to the employment of the principles of Imperialism and consolidation, and necessarily gave ample scope for the application of laissez-faire and let-alone in religion, society, politics, and industry.

Besides the external conditions, internal circumstances also regulate the form and spirit of the administrative machinery of a state. Lycurgus' military-pedagogic state was the direct and conscious result of the existence