232 THE GENESIS OF SPECIES. [CHAP. 



and makes no approximation to an explanation of its 

 origin. 



Could the views of Mr. Herbert Spencer, of Mr. Mill, or 

 of Mr. Darwin on this subject be maintained, or should 

 they come to be generally accepted, the consequences 

 would be disastrous indeed ! Were it really the case 

 that virtue was a mere kind of " retrieving" then certainly 

 we should have to view with apprehension the spread of 

 intellectual cultivation, which would lead the human 

 " retrievers " to regard from a new point of view their 

 fetching and carrying. We should be logically compelled 

 to acquiesce in the vociferations of some continental utili- 

 tarians, who would banish altogether the senseless words 

 " duty " and " merit ; " and then, one important influence 

 which has aided human progress being withdrawn, we 

 should be reduced to hope that in this case the maxim 

 cessante causa cessat ipse effectus might through some 

 incalculable accident fail to apply. 



It is true that Mr. Spencer tries to erect a safeguard 

 against such moral disruption, by asserting that for every 

 immoral act, word, or thought, each man during this life 

 receives minute and exact retribution, and that thus a 

 regard for individual self-interest will effectually prevent 

 any moral catastrophe. But by what means will he 

 enforce the acceptance of a dogma which is not only 

 incapable of proof, but is opposed to the commonly 

 received opinion of mankind in all ages ? Ancient litera- 

 ture, sacred and profane, teems with protests against the 

 successful evil-doer, and certainly, as Mr. Hutton observes: 1 

 " Honesty must have been associated by our ancestors with 

 many unhappy as well as many happy consequences, and 



i Macmillaris Magazine, No. 117, July 1869. 



