142 LIFE OF PROFESSOR HUXLEY CHAP. VI 



the mechaniccal instinct of the engineer which was so 

 strong in him. 



The four articles which followed in quick succession 

 on " The Natural Inequality of Man," " Natural and 

 Political Rights," "Capital the Mother of Labour," 

 and " Government," appeared in the January, 

 February, March, and May numbers of the Nineteenth 

 Century, and, as was said above, are directed against 

 a priori reasoning in social philosophy. The first, 

 which appeared simultaneously with Mr, Herbert 

 Spencer's article on "Justice," in the Nineteenth Century, 

 assails, on the ground of fact and history, the dictum 

 that men are born free and equal, and have a natural 

 right to freedom and equality, so that property and 

 political rights are a matter of contract. History 

 denies that thej^ thus originated ; and, in fact. 

 " proclaim human equality as loudly as you like, 

 Witless will serve his brother." Yet, in justice tc 

 Rousseau and the influence he vrielded, he adds : — 



It is not to be forgotten that what we call rational 

 grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational 

 attempts to justify our instincts. 



Thus if, in their plain and obvious sense, the doctrines 

 which Rousseau advanced are so easily upset, it is probable 

 that he had in his mind something which is different from 

 that sense. 



When they sought speculative grounds to justify 

 the empirical truth 



that it is desirable in the interests of society, that all 

 men should be as free as possible, consistently with those 



