June, 1903.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



139 



to eri- by diffusing over the whole the accidental com- 

 plexion of a part. War in all its phases is a pathological 

 phenomenon like a surgical operation, a collision at sea, 

 or an explosion in a chemical works. Ninety-nine hun- 

 dredths of the normal processes of nature arc of a wholly 

 different character. The myriad dance of the atoms, 

 molecular cohesion, attraction of gravity, chemical affinity, 

 biological assimilation, and sociological union are 

 different forms of the same fact. War consists in the 

 comparatively rare collisions that mark the passage to 

 these ends ; the real struggle consists in the effort made 

 by individuals or societies to overcome obstacles, to put 

 forth all their powers, to shape new products, to realise 

 themselves. Conflict with others is a mere incident of 

 the real battle. War is not the type of social effort ; it is 

 the action of society iu a state of disease. 

 Its Chabactees. 



Count Gaston de Saporta has desci-ibed the gradual 

 transformation of vegetal species in prehistoric Provence. 

 A single or a few individuals of a new species or variety 

 appear in a given area. They may be immigrants, or the 

 variation may have arisen on the spot in consequence of 

 some outward change. TJiejiew form proves to be better 

 adapted than the old to the changed environment. A 

 conflict ensues. Step by step the immigrant or variant 

 advances to the conquest of the entire area. Foot by foot 

 the species in possession of it resists. The battle (what 

 we call battle) may stretch through thousands of years. 

 There are no visible signs of struggle. The " fairy fineness 

 of ear " that Arthur Hallam ascribed to young Tennyson 

 would hear no cries. None the less, a great racial battle 

 has been fought and, in the long run, a great victory won. 

 The invaders have, to all appearance, driven out the in- 

 digenous species, which survives only in inaccessible or 

 less-favoured spots. 



A Danish naturalist has ascertained the tactics of the 

 battle. The birch is in possession of a tract. Its branches 

 are open and let down the sunshine to its base, where the 

 beech strikes root in the humus formed by the decomposi- 

 tion of birch-leaves. The beech gi'ows up, and, being 

 longer-lived, it survives and prevails over the birch, whose 

 seeds can effect no lodgment under the dense shadow of 

 the beech. Only in sterile or sandy tracts, by lakes or in 

 marshy soil, can the birch hold its ground. 



We perceive iu what the battle, the victory, and the 

 defeat consist. No single bircli perishes till its time is 

 come, but it leaves fewer and fewer offspring, and it 

 fattens the soil for its supplanter. No tree has been 

 driven out of its habitat ; those that survive in inhospit- 

 able spots have been there from the first. It is battle 

 by elimination, victory by supplanting, defeat by 

 disappearance. 



The vegetal elimination thus described is the type of 

 all substitution of one species for another. Animal species 

 become mobile, add to these tactics the destruction of a 

 rival or hostile species. To the animal methods man 

 superadds systematic warfare and wholesale massacre. 

 The additions affect only the degree and the rate. In 

 vegetiil, Uruimal, human, and sociological species the 

 process is at bottom identical. War, as we know it, is a 

 mere incident, or at best an intenser form of the conflict. 

 It is not its type. 



TllK EtIINU'AI, StRUOGIjE. 



The old I'dinology descrilied in detail the long series of 

 luigralions in mass from " soinewliere in Asi;i. " that 

 peopleil I'lurope. Even so sober a historian as Auu'dce 

 Thierry assigns dates to these great, racial movements with 

 a precision that rivals the pre-Noachian chronology of 

 -\rclibishop Usher. The new ethnology is satisfied that 

 no such collective displacements ever occurred. All the 



probabilities, such historical evidence as we possess, and 

 the analogies of our own day combine to suggest that 

 human races have generally migrated as plants and 

 animals have migrated. But instead of reasoning 

 hypothelically, on data drawn from language and 

 anthropology, about the early European migrations, let us 

 take a contemporary example. Every step and incident 

 of the colonisation of New Zealand can be traced ; the 

 process, indeed, can still be observed, and for grasping it 

 in its' reality direct observation is, in some form, almost 

 essential. 



The early explorers, who touched at the islands but did 

 not remain, resemble the adventurous seeds and individuals 

 that vegetal and animal species send out as scouts. The 

 first immigrant to New Zealand was the fu'st runaway 

 sailor from one of the exploring ships. If John Ruther- 

 ford, whose instructive narrative was incorporated by 

 Professor Craik in his " New Zealanders " of 1830, was the 

 first (as he is the first known) of this variety, then is he 

 tlie progenitor of all existing white Nen' Zealanders. He 

 was soon followed by other adventiu-ers. Runaway whalers, 

 escaped convicts from Australia, beach-combers, wandering 

 Jews, and sometimes a stray educated man like F. E. 

 Mailing, arrived one after another on a scene where wild 

 men found themselves in a congenial element. Altogether, 

 it was estimated that there were 150 pakelias scattered 

 over the North Island before its annexation. Missionaries 

 accoin])auied or followed them. A British Resident was 

 appointed. The ways having been opened and the ground 

 prepared by these forerunners, it was felt that tlie time 

 had come for systematic colonisation. Another adventurer, 

 the great colonising genius Edward Gibbon Wakefield, 

 organized a series of semi-commercial, semi-philanthropic 

 associations which in course of years despatched some 

 thousands of colonists. Smaller groups from time to 

 time founded special agricultural settlements. The local 

 Government brought out shiploads of artizans and 

 domestic servants. But there has been comparatively 

 little emigration in mass For the most part, it has 

 taken place by individuals and families. 



The resistance made by the natives to the early explorers 

 was hostile, inspired by terror. When they got over their 

 fright they received immigrants, the best and the worst, 

 with impartial goodwill. Differences arose. War broke 

 out ; in the middle forties and the early sixties there was 

 real war, waged by English generals, disciplined troops, 

 and colonial auxiliaries. Though the two wars lasted for 

 years and many battles were fought there was little 

 destruction of life ; perhaps a thousand ISIaoris at the 

 most bit the dust. None the less, they have silently 

 melted away " like snaw-wreaths in thaw," or like wax 

 before a strong fire. From probably over 100,000 at the 

 time of the British occujjation of New Zealand, they sank 

 iu forty years to 40,00t\ and the decline steadily continues, 

 in full peace, at the rate of one-eleventh in five years. As 

 they have not been killeil. neitlier have they been, on the 

 whole, ill-used, two or three things have happened. They 

 have mixed with the whites ; .5000 half-castes are scattered 

 through a population of 800,000, and iu five years the 

 number has increased by one-sixth. Next, ever fewer 

 children are liorn. The large families of tlie old figliting 

 days are no longer to be found. The uatives themselves 

 cannot account for the falling off ; Darwin would ascribe 

 it to the elTcct of the change of life on the most susceptible 

 part of the system — the reiirodiktive organs. The young 

 die of cousiiniption or other iliseascs induced by altered 

 habits; drink has its hecatombs among the adults of both 

 sexes. The older tribesmeu die where they have always 

 lived ; the younger migrate. They cease to live by the 

 side of the white man because they can no longer 



