Page 2254 - war-and-peace

Chapter V

The life of the nations is not contained in the lives of a
few men, for the connection between those men and the na-
tions has not been found. The theory that this connection is
based on the transference of the collective will of a people to
certain historical personages is an hypothesis unconfirmed
by the experience of history.
The theory of the transference of the collective will of
the people to historic persons may perhaps explain much in
the domain of jurisprudence and be essential for its purpos-
es, but in its application to history, as soon as revolutions,
conquests, or civil wars occurthat is, as soon as history be-
ginsthat theory explains nothing.
The theory seems irrefutable just because the act of
transference of the people’s will cannot be verified, for it
never occurred.
Whatever happens and whoever may stand at the head
of affairs, the theory can always say that such and such a
person took the lead because the collective will was trans-
ferred to him.
The replies this theory gives to historical questions are
like the replies of a man who, watching the movements of a
herd of cattle and paying no attention to the varying quality
of the pasturage in different parts of the field, or to the driv-
ing of the herdsman, should attribute the direction the herd

2254 War and Peace