In Peace 



ideas have not penetrated into the com- 

 mon literature of common life. 



The survival of the fittest in the 

 struggle for existence is the primal . / 

 cause of race-progress and race-changes. 

 But in the red field of human history 

 the natural process of selection is often 

 reversed. The survival of the unfittest 

 is the primal cause of the downfall of 

 nations. Let us see in what ways this ^ 

 cause has operated in the history of 

 France. 



First, we may consider the relation 

 of the nobility to the peasantry, the 

 second to the third estate. 



The feudal nobility of each nation 

 was in the beginning made up of the 

 fair, the brave, and the strong. By 

 their courage and strength their men 

 became the rulers of the people, and 

 by the same token they chose the 

 beauty of the realm to be their own. 



In the polity of England this supe- 



25 



