THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 45 



I here take leave of the friend who has helped 

 me so far in the steering and guiding of my 

 argument. As he was summoned from the realm of 

 shadows to serve my purpose, I now dismiss him to 

 return to it. 



Until the middle of the last century all thinking 

 men contemplated with admiration the beneficence 

 and benevolence that were displayed in the arrange- 

 ment of Nature for the well-being and happiness 

 of her sentient progeny. They did not shut their 

 eyes to the fact that some species must needs live 

 by the slaughter of other species, but they found 

 consolation in the " belief that the war of Nature 

 is not incessant, that no fear is felt, that death is 

 generally prompt, and the vigorous, the healthy, and 

 the happy survive and multiply." 



Our ancestors believed in a benevolent Power 

 ordering the arrangements of Nature, and providing 

 for the welfare and happiness of her various tribes. 

 But all this has been changed. Darwin came, saw, 

 and conquered. He deposed the benevolent Deity 

 from His throne, and put the Devil in the place of 

 honour : and now Arimanes reigns. The doctrine of 

 Malthus, which deals with the maintenance of the 

 human race, was bad and immoral as well as radically 

 false, as, indeed, being immoral, it was bound to be. 

 Darwin took up this immoral and utterly false 

 doctrine, and extended its operation to all life, to the 

 whole vegetable and animal kingdoms, and averred 

 that it is applied to those kingdoms with manifold force. 



