BLUE BLOOD 147 



to possibly, nay, probably, umvorthy descendants 

 to-morrow. 



Assuming social grades to be a necessity, two 

 methods of constituting what we may call nobility 

 suggest themselves. The first is the creation of an 

 hereditary nobility which shall be noble not only in 

 name, as at present, but in fact. Theoretically this 

 course is feasible. Practically, it can never be more 

 than a speculative thesis. It is impossible to con- 

 ceive that any class of men would consent for genera- 

 tions to have their wives chosen for them and their 

 lives controlled by some permanent Scientific Com- 

 mittee, and no means but this would ensure the de- 

 velopment of a special race. The other method of 

 maintaining a peerage is election pure and simple, 

 without reference to heredity. This has already 

 been tried successfully enough. Life peerages, created 

 at present for legal purposes, are the thin end of the 

 wedge which will ultimately destroy hereditary privi- 

 lege. When our hereditary legislators accepted the 

 principle of life peerages they signed the death war- 

 rant of their order. 



