DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 17 



cause its failure in warfare may be the prelude 

 to a greater and more lasting success in peace. 



4- DOES THE DOCTRINE OF HEREDITY 

 SUPPORT ARISTOCRACY? 



On the other hand, it is easy to see how the 

 pre-eminence of a caste, based either on race 

 or on occupation, may be maintained at the 

 cost of the physical and intellectual advance of 

 its members. Where noble may marry only 

 noble and where marriages are " arranged," as 

 the phrase runs (more truthful than most of 

 those current in the fashionable world), the 

 interests of the health and of the intelligence 



i o 



of the race may be sacrifice d to the maj nte- 

 nance of a closely coherent class with large 

 es tates and social predominanc e. Such a type 

 of nobility will in the long run inevitably lose 

 power owing to its own internal decay through 

 continued intermarriage and lack of new blood. 

 Yet superhcially plausible arguments trom the 

 doctrine of heredity are occasionally brought 

 forward in its favour. The democrat is often 

 told that he is very unscientific ; but the evo- 

 lutionist, who points to the aristocratic pre- 

 ferences of history, errs greatly if he thinks the 



c 



