1 76 THE RULE OF FORCE IN NATURE. 



raised among certain sections of the human race, for 

 a lawless liberty, equality, and fraternity, finds no 

 support in the political economy of Nature. tt Earth " 

 (says Win wood Reade) "should be a reflexion of 

 Heaven and Heaven is an Empire." * 



Everything is made strictly subservient to rule, 

 and to subordination; and no two things are ever 

 created alike, or equal: on the contrary some things 

 are created beautiful, others repulsive and ugly. Some 

 forms of animated Nature are created strong, and 

 others weak and timid; and the law of force appears 

 to govern throughout the whole range of the animal, 

 and even the vegetable kingdom. Every form of life 

 is found engaged in waging a continual warfare with 

 everything around it, wherein the iron necessities 

 arising out of the fierce struggle for existence render 

 each class pitiless in its dealings with the rest; and 

 so the weak go down before the strong, and life 

 flourishes upon the destruction of other forms of living 

 creatures. Judging from these precedents therefore, the 

 advent of an era of universal peace seems to be 

 indeed remote. 



These things being so, show that " the hunting instinct" 

 has descended among the whole animal creation, as 

 part and parcel of their nature, and in this the genus 

 homo is necessarily included. This makes good our 

 contention respecting the " sporting tastes " in human 

 nature, which are therefore by no means to be lightly 

 decried on the grounds of being demoralizing and un- 

 natural ; for in fact, man was created a hunting animal, 

 and still is, and will always continue to be one of the 

 beasts of prey : however much doctrinaires may desire 



* Savage Africa, by W. Winwood Reade, 1863, p. 31. 



