ORGANIZED POSITIVISM IN ENGLAND 29

Like Congreve they regarded the Empire as immoral, but proposed a different solution. Congreve
believed that all problems could be solved by the Religion of Humanity : the Empire would end when
Englishmen became more religious, the regeneration of free India would be accomplished through
religion, and the basis for the new relationship between independent India and Great Britain would be
religion. Therefore, Congreve encouraged the Indians interested in Positivism to set up a Positivist
Society, affiliated with the London Church of Humanity and devoted to the encouragement of religious
Positivism. The Newton-Hall Positivists believed in actively working with schools, trade unions, and
local government boards to improve the quality of social life in England. They were interested in India
because it diverted the attention of the government away from pressing social issues. That the British
exploited the Indian people economically without granting them political rights distressed the
Newton-Hall Positivists who interpreted the situation as part of the universal tendency of the strong to
exploit the weak. Their aim was to unite the weak so that they would be in a position to exert pressure
on the strong in contrast to Congreve who was concerned with each individual’s moral and spiritual
well-being.
Positivism, Congreve stated, was “Catholicism plus science”. And his previous connection
with the Anglican Church, his unchallenged authority in the London Church of Humanity, and his
“Sacerdotal pretensions” gave rise to unarticulated fantasies of himself as the world’s new pope.
Analysing the parallels between the spread of Positivism and the spread of Christianity, Congreve
predicted that Positivism would be successful where Christianity had failed. Modern man no longer
concerned himself with questions of divinity and afterlife but sought solutions for contemporary social
and political problems. Therefore, Congreve argued, they would find the Positive Philosophy
attractive. Based on the scientific method, Positivism concerned itself with social and political issues
that Christianity, lacking both historical theory and political-science principles, had neglected.46
Congreve was more interested in spreading Positivism throughout the world than either
Auguste Comte or his heir,
46 R. Congreve, ‘Propagation of the Religion of Humanity’, Essays, I, P. 311 ; W. M. Simon,

‘August Comte’s English Disciples’, Victorian Studies, p. 162.