396 THE INFLUENXE OF THE DARWINIAN THEORY. 



wildest Jingo to entertain. As Mr. Bagehot, in his "Physics and 

 Politics," points out in a very pregnant sentence — 



" Military morals can direct the axe to cut down the tree, but it 

 knows nothing of the quiet force by which the forest grows." 

 Hence, the moment the period of conflict is over all the other more 

 permanent and persistent determining conditions of struggle and 

 progress come into play. 



What, then, is the teaching of evolutionary ethics in this 

 matter? It is surely to pay more attention to these determining 

 conditions of survival, and to do all in our power, bv conference, 

 by conciliation, by education, by respect for national rights and 

 national religions, and by international deputations and congresses, 

 to bring the best thought of each civilisation into sympathetic con- 

 tact with that of the other, and so promote the establishment of 

 that "paramount authority of right reason" which will make for 

 the development of a sense of world-citizenship and the constitu- 

 tional machinery by which it may be fostered. As Darwin him- 

 self said : 



" As man advances in civilisation, and small tribes are united 

 into larger communities, the simplest reason would tell each indi- 

 vidual that he ought to extend his social instincts and sympathies to 

 all members of the same nation, though personally unknown to him. 

 This point being once reached, there is only an artificial barrier to 

 prevent his sympathies extending to men of all nations and races." 

 Already a beginning has been made in this direction. Next year 

 a Universal Races Congress will meet in London for the purposes 

 of discussing racial, national, political, sociological, economic, 

 and commercial questions in this spirit. And it is only by discuss- 

 ing our problems in this spirit that we can promote, directly within 

 each nation itself, and indirectly, by the friendly rivalry of races 

 and nations, the survival of the best types. Just as Dante had his 

 dream of a world-emp're from the point of view of the mediaeval 

 spiritually-minded Catholic, so the modern evolutionist may have 

 his dream, not perhaps of a world-empire, but of a world-common- 

 wealth, in which the penetrative power of ideas, and the freedom 

 of the spirit in assimilating and propagating ideas shall triumph 

 over the brute conditions of struggle which have hitherto been 

 the determining conditions of survival. New types begin in the 

 realm of consciousness, in the dim dawn of an ever-ascending con- 

 sciousness, and it is to this ever-evolving and developing conscious- 

 ness — with full opportunities given to it to manifest Its life at its 

 best — that we must look for the emergence of those higher types 

 which this secret and mysterious realm holds within its illimitable 

 domain. 



It will be obvious, I think, from this paper, that the Darwinian 

 theory of evolution has enriched the whole field of ethical study. It 

 has brought new ethical problems to our notice, and has shown 

 how intimately connected the science of ethics is with evolutionary 

 thought. Whether our individual standpoint is naturalistic or 

 spritualistic, we cannot but express our indebtedness to the labour 

 of the evolutionists and join hands toe'ether in the work of endeav- 

 ouring to solve the problems which this great upheaval of thought 

 has brought more fully and clearly into the light of day. The 

 cause of ethical progress is a platform on which all can meet. 



