154 UNIVERSAL EVOLUTION 



is a natural law by which alone the social bond could 

 be preserved. This is the law to which all conventional 

 laws, all written constitutions, and statutes must 

 conform, under penalty of social and individual extinc- 

 tion for violations. The Stoics first gave distinctive 

 expression to this principle the conception of an 

 ethical ideal, abiding above the will of legislators. 

 Plato undertook to prove that this principle rested 

 on the constitution of man, and of human society. 

 Aristotle recognized that there was an ideal standard 

 more fundamental than the written or unwritten law 

 of custom. Thus C4reece and Rome gave to mankind 

 a natural ethic, viz., that natural law is the fundamental 

 morality, independent of convention, and superior to 

 enactment of kings. This is really the law of evolution 

 in its broadest sense. If the law of evolution by natural 

 selection is really the natural law it seems to be, then 

 it is the principle that the reason of man must conform 

 to, which is independent of convention and superior to 

 enactment of kings or parliaments. Man's reason will 

 therefore, eventually grow to fit into it. 



In the British Museum, among the great number of 

 valuable ancient manuscripts, is one of 1419, attributed 

 to Henry 5th, King of England. There is another 

 manuscript, letter of Queen Victoria's dated March 16, 

 1885. Henry's was written before the art of printing 

 was invented in Europe. There is a period of 466 years 

 between the two dates, which represent a wonderful 

 evolution in the methods of ruling the people, the 

 constitution of laws, the manners and customs of the 

 English people. But what is to be noticed here is the 

 difference between these two manuscripts, in the 

 chirography. the spelling, the grammar, and the ideas 

 expressed. There would naturally be much difference 



