MORAL EVOLUTION 305 



We have as yet found no proof that injustice thrives, or that 

 the evolution of civilised man can dispense with religion and 

 moral principle. On the other hand, it is easy to show that the 

 enslavement of savages brings evil upon their owners. The insti- 

 tution of slavery is degrading to the masters as much as to the 

 slaves. And when the white man's conscience begins to work, 

 and he declares the man of colour shall be free, then he finds 

 himself confronted with a political question far more difficult than 

 any question we in England have to deal with. The abolition of 

 slavery does not settle the black problem. So that here a terrible 

 retribution has followed the foul inhumanity of which our race was 

 guilty in the days of the slave trade. Whether the punishment 

 has fallen where it is most due is another matter. 



We will now go on to consider the question whether the The 

 power of a nation to cope with its enemies depends to any great 

 extent on the sincerity of the religion of the citizens. We must 

 proceed on the assumption that moral principle for large masses 

 of men must have a religious foundation, and that success in war 

 is impossible without honesty in officials. In fact, as far as 

 honesty is concerned, the case seems to require no proving. 

 But there is in many persons a belief that the best soldiers are 

 either fanatics or else hard-swearing, ungodly ruffians. " Crom- 

 well's fanatical sectarians," they would say, "and the lawless 

 failures of civilisation that formed the rank and file of the East 

 India Company's white army, were about equally good soldiers. 

 The English soldiers under Wellington, too rough a lot to be 

 managed except by flogging, were fighting material almost impos- 

 sible to match. Our sailors in the Napoleonic war were an 

 utterly godless set, and yet of unsurpassed heroism in battle. 

 The French revolutionists abjured Christianity, and yet sent out 

 armies that eclipsed the grand traditions of the old regime." 



These arguments show a certain amount of discernment and 

 require investigation. A nation, like a man, is a combination of 

 qualities. A strong nation is strong because of some of its 

 characteristics and in spite of others. Our navy in Nelson's 

 time was not irresistible because the men were treated as brute 

 beasts, were pressed into the service Englishmen, Irish revolu- 



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