220 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



the people would give up their allegiance to their 

 king. How evident it is that emotion caused that new 

 series of events which produced the crusades and 

 resulted in the modern nations! The wild enthusi- 

 asm excited by Peter the Hermit drew hundreds of 

 thousands into a hopeless cause, which the slightest 

 reasoning power would have shown to be suicidal. 

 But these emotions changed the face of Europe and 

 founded the modern nations. The French Eevolu- 

 tion was a most extraordinary burst of emotion ; and 

 it was, again, another kind of enthusiasm which gave 

 to Napoleon his control over the lives of his soldiers 

 and thus over the history of Europe. Even in these 

 modern days the same is true, for every war must 

 start with an appeal to the impulses of the people. 

 The intelligence of the leaders may bring about a 

 condition of things demanding redress; but unless 

 the emotions of the masses are aroused, the conduct 

 of a war is impossible. Slavery could be argued 

 indefinitely, but a war which ended it in the United 

 States was possible only when emotions were excited 

 by Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the feeling of patriotism 

 had been aroused by the firing on the flag. Masses 

 of men are ruled through their emotions and 

 instincts. It was the intensity of the emotions of the 

 masses in behalf of the Cubans that made the 

 Spanish-American War possible, whatever might 

 have been the logic of the leaders. Arguments could 

 never have produced the results had not the narra- 

 tion of the events kindled the emotions of the people. 

 The English people were not ready for a South 

 African war so long as the matter was treated by 

 argument ; but as soon as the South African Republic 

 declared war against them, the nation arose almost 



