40 SCIENTIFIC WORK, 1860-1865 



of the South as negatively against the North, resenting as he 

 did the unfairness of Northern criticisms of England, and the 

 overbearing and loud-mouthed tone of meetings held even in 

 cultured Boston, while he deplored the blinding and undigni- 

 fied effect produced on the tone and temper of such a man as 

 his friend Asa Gray * I mean of course in his capacity as a 

 citizen, for I have the same high opinion of him as a man, as 

 ever,' he tells Darwin, with whom as well as Hooker, Gray 

 maintained a correspondence. When Gray spoke of the 

 two nations as naturally destined to be on the best of terms, 

 he reflected on the inevitable contention in the struggle for 

 life between two great organisms at once so like and so bent on 

 the same ends. In writing to Gray his only allusion to the 

 war ' was to the effect that it would clear off the mass of scum 

 under which, I considered, his nation groaned this I intended 

 as the only conceivable good that could come out of such a 

 political contest ' and Gray had taken this as applying solely 

 to the opposite side. ' You and I,' he tells Darwin, ' have 

 always differed a good deal about America,' and continues 

 (March 10, 1862) : 



Our aristocracy may have been (and has been) a great 

 drawback to civilisation, but on the other hand it has had 

 its advantages, has kept in check the uneducated and 

 unreflecting, and has forced those who had intellect enough 

 to rise to their own level, to use it all in the struggle. There 

 is a deal in breeding, and I do not think that any but high bred 

 gentlemen are safe guides in emergencies such as these. The 

 moral effect of Lord Russell's despatches on the English 

 mind has been quite astounding, and I do not think you can 

 point out a dozen men in public life, but of less breeding 

 and culture (I do not mean by this aristocratic training, a 

 specific thing) who would have been safe to have behaved 

 with equal prudence, dignity and consideration, and yet Gray 

 calls this the pressure of a mob ! If there is anything at all 

 in force of circumstances and Natural Selection, it must 

 arrive that the best trained, bred and ablest man will be 

 found in the higher walks of life true he will be rare, but 

 then he will be obvious and easily selected by a discriminating 

 public. When got too he is removed above a multitude of 



