THE ETHICS OF HUMAN BEINGS 279 



to its effects upon the human species of animals is 

 a practice which, while infinitely broader and more 

 nearly ultimate than that of the savage, belongs 

 logically in the same category with it. The par- 

 tially emancipated human being who extends his 

 moral sentiments to all the members of his own 

 species, but denies to all other species the justice 

 and humanity he accords to his own, is making 

 on a larger scale the same ethical mess of it as the 

 savage. The only consistent attitude, since Darwin 

 established the unity of life (and the attitude we 

 shall assume, if we ever become really civilised), is 

 the attitude of universal gentleness and humanity. 



' The world is my country,' said Thomas Paine, 

 and every man, woman, and child capable ol 

 appreciating the exalted sentiment applauded. 

 But ' the world ' of the great freethinker was 

 inhabited by men only. 



The following lines were written by Robert 

 Whitaker, and first printed in a San Francisco 

 newspaper : 



' My Country is the world I I count 



No son of man my foe, 

 Whether the warm life currents mount 



And mantle brows like snow, 

 Or whether yellow, brown, or black, 

 The face that into mine looks back. 



' My Native Land is Mother Earth, 



And all men are my kin, 

 Whether of rude or gentle birth, 



However steeped in sin ; 

 Or rich or poor, or great or small, 

 I count them brothers one and all. 



