safely attributed the social instincts which afforded the basis for the development of the moral sense.". 2 Darwin disclaims the connexion, which had been alleged in Germany, between the doctrine of natural selection and socialism.' He sees clearly enough that his theory gives a prima facie support not to socialism, but to industrial competition. Yet he is amused at the idea of The Origin of Species having turned Sir Joseph Hooker into "a jolly old Tory." "Primogeni ture," he says, "is dreadfully opposed to selection: suppose the first-born bull was necessarily made by each farmer the begetter of his stock!" Still, he admits that English peers have an advantage in the selection of "beautiful and charming women out of the lower ranks" and thus get some benefit from the principle. In answering Mr. Galton's questions, Darwin describes his 1 Life and Letters III. 237. 2 Ib. II. 385. own politics as "Liberal or Radical: " and this was in 1873, by which time Radicalism was no longer bound to out and out laissez faire. Evolution, as applied to the whole of the universe, means a great deal more than the principle of natural selection. In the wider sense it is professedly applied to the guidance of life -by Strauss in his famous book The Old Faith and the New, where military conquest and social inequalities are expressly defended as right, because natural; and nothing but contempt is reserved for those who venture to hope for the abolition of war, who look beyond the limits of the nation or who dream of a better social order. It might be objected that in these passages we do not hear the voice of German science and philosophy but of that reactionary military spirit which has infected the 1 ib. III. 178. * See esp. secs. 78, 79, 82, 83, 84 in German (ed. 8. 1875) = secs. 74, 75, 78, 79, 80 in Eng. Tr. (ed. 3. 1874). = new German nation; and I think it could be shown that such sentiments are inconsistent with admissions that Strauss himself makes, although he and most German savants with him believe that they are a necessary consequence of the Evolutionist creed. Let us turn, however, to our English philosopher who is always protesting against everything that can on any pretext be ascribed to the revived militancy of the present day. In the name of Evolution and on behalf of the survival of the fittest Mr. Herbert Spencer cries out against "The Sins of Legislators" in interfering with the beneficent operation of the pitiless discipline which kills off the unsuccessful members of society, and against "The Coming Slavery" of socialistic attempts to diminish the misery of the world. Now, just as in Strauss's case the military spirit, so in 1 See The Man v. the State, esp. the two essays named. Spencer's the old-fashioned individualistic. radicalism of his early days might be assigned as the true source of such opinions; but there can be no doubt that the formulæ of Evolution do supply an apparent justification to the defenders of unrestricted laissez faire and to the champions, more or less consistent and thorough-going, of existing inequalities of race, class and sex, and a plausible weapon of attack against those who look to something better than slavery or competition as the basis of human society. Thus Spencer rejoices overthe Liberty and Property Defence League, "largely consisting of Conservatives," ' and the late Sir Henry Maine in the congenial pages of the Quarterly Review rejoiced over Mr. Herbert Spencer and glorified "the beneficent private war" of economical competition, which 1 The Man versus the State, p. 17. Republished in Popular Government. See pp. 49, 50 52. scourge." "So far," he be considered the only alternative to "the daily task, enforced by the prison or the "So far," he says, "as we have any experience to teach us, we are driven to the conclusion that every society of men must adopt one system or the other, or it will pass through penury to starvation." Even those, who are more full of hope for the future and more full of sympathy for human beings, are apt to adopt a similar mode of speaking. Thus, in his interesting little book, The Story of Creation, Mr. Edward Clodd, though he looks forward to "a goal, where might shall be subdued by right," still speaks as follows: "When the weeding process has done its utmost, there remains a sharp struggle for life between the survivors. Man's normal state is therefore one of conflict; further back than we can trace, it impelled the defenceless bipeds from whom he sprang to unity, and the more so because of their relative inferiority in physique to many other animals. The range of that unity continued narrow long after he had |