4o DARWINISM AND POLITICS. 



much more important, it is a stamp of full 

 citizenship, of dignity and of responsibility. It 

 is a distinct mark that the possessors of it can 

 no longer be systematically ignored by govern- 

 ments and can no longer shirk the duty of 

 thinking about public and common interests. 

 The slaves of a kindly master, the subjects of 

 a kindly tyrant or ruling caste may be very 

 comfortable animals : but the master or tyrant 

 may become unkindly or impotent, and the 

 poor wretches who have been dependent on 

 him suffer without being able to help them- 

 selves. It is always much easier to ignore an 

 unuttered or feebly uttered claim than to revoke 

 a right once granted. The same remark ap- 

 plies to the acquisition of representative insti- 

 tutions by a country or a locality : it marks a 

 step gained which is not likely to be lost. Few 

 persons, at least in this country, care so very 

 much for the abstract advantage of a republic 

 over a monarchy. A nominal republic may be 

 less democratic than a nominal monarchy : 

 and to change a state into a republic might in 

 some cases be grasping the shadow and letting 

 the substance go. But a republic has at least 

 this advantage, that it does not call the 



