The wild Tuaregs of the Sahara have a system of phonetic writing used
by a few of them--the women being the literati of those tribes (the
men not knowing how to read or write); but civilization means more
than this; it means the use of iron weapons and tools; it means also
the adoption of a definite currency which is established on a fixed
basis and recognized throughout the community; it means the
establishment of commercial lines--a progress distinct above that
which is the mere barter of the lower conditions of savagery and
barbarism. In all these respects we see that civilization means a type
about such as we enjoy at present. It is such as has existed in Europe
since the Renaissance; because during the middle ages we could only
say that Europe was in a semi-civilized condition. They knew something
about writing; but at a time when Dean, the writer of the early
history of England, said that throughout the whole of England there
were not half a dozen men who could read what he had written, you can
see that writing was a very unimportant part of the culture of that
nation; so it can only be when writing becomes a common possession of
the majority that we can call it an element of civilization.

It is not to be supposed that we ourselves have reached the type of
the highest culture. We leave something for our descendants to do. We
do not wish to relieve them of the privilege of being better than
ourselves; and we shall leave them, probably, plenty of room; because
it is supposed that the stage of enlightenment which is the highest
stage of culture--which we foresee, but do not see--that that rather
applies to the future than to ourselves. That period will come when
mankind has freed itself very much more than now from the bonds of
nature and the environment of society. It will come when the ideas of
our equality are much more perfect than they are now; when that