io DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 



the military spirit, so in Spencer's th e old - 

 fashioned individualistic radicalis m of his e arly 

 days might be assigned as the true source o f 

 such opinions ; but there can be no doubt that 

 the formulae of Evolution do supply an appa- 

 rent justification to the defenders of unrestricted 

 laissez faire and to the champions, more or less 

 consistent and thorough-going-, of existing in- 

 equalities of race, class and sex, and a pla usible 

 weapon of attack against those who look to 

 something better than slavery or compet ition 

 as the basis of hum nn c^^L^y Thus Spencer 

 rejoices over the Liberty and Property Defe nce 

 League, " larg ely consisting of Conservati ves," 1 

 and the late Sir Henry Maine in the congenial 

 pages of the Quarterly Review 2 rejoiced over 

 Air. Herbert Spencer and glorified " the 

 beneficent private war " of economical competi- 

 tion, which he considered the only alternative 

 to " the daily task, enforced by the prison and 

 the scourge." " So far," he says, " as we have 

 any experience to teach us, we are driven -to 

 the conclusion that every society of men must 



1 The Man versus the State, p. 17. 



2 Republished in Popular Government. See pp. 49, 50, 



5 ? 



