16 DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 



selves in very various ways. Thus anindi- 

 vidual may, conceivably, belo ng by desce nt to 



one group, by political allegiance to ano ther, 

 by language, and all that language carries w ith 

 it of tradition and culture, to a third, by re- 

 ligion to a fourth, by occupation to a fifth 

 though in most cases two or more of these will 

 coincide. Now between each of these groups 

 and similar groups there are, as the doctrine 

 of Evolution teaches us if we need to be 

 taught, st ruggles constantly proceeding - . Race 

 struggles with race, nation with nation, Ian- 

 guage with language, religion with religion, 

 and social castes based on occupation and on 

 economic status struggle with one another for 

 pre-eminence, apart from the struggle going on 

 between individuals and groups of individuals 

 within each of them. Now, if in each of these 

 cases the struggle were no t complicated by the 

 other struggles, we might contentedly as sert 

 that natural selection leads to the fittest always 

 s ucceeding . But a defeated and subject race 

 may impose its language, its civilisation, or its 

 religion upon its conquerors ; and the apparent 

 failure of a race or a nation d oes not entitle us 

 at once to pronounce it inferior or less fit, be- 



