DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 



after another throughout the civilised world. 

 Highly respectable and pious people in the last 

 century had no objection even to the slave- 

 trade. Now that slavery has been officially 

 buried, it has not many friends left to shed 

 tears over its grave. Certain eccentric indi- 

 viduals were disposed to favour religious 

 toleration in the sixteenth and seventeenth 

 centuries. But even those who, being inclined 

 to heresy themselves, like John Milton and 

 John Locke, extended the bounds of liberty 

 pretty far, had very distinct limits beyond which 

 they would not go. There is always the risk 

 of an outburst of the persecuting spirit, even 

 in communities that are not as a rule fiercely 

 fanatical. Henc e a great step is gained wh en 

 in any country i t is expressly and officially de- 

 clared that distinctions of creed shall make no 



difference in the ri ghts of citizens . It is often 

 argued that the possession of the suffrage is of 

 very infinitesimal value to the poor man and 

 will do very little good to the poor woman when 

 she gets it. What is a vote to those who are 

 in want of bread ? A vote is not merely an 

 occasional and indirect means of exerting a 

 small fraction of political influence, but, what is 



