198 EVOLUTION AND NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



wrongs, or that the idle and worthless, may 

 be encouraged, and the honest and industrious 

 left to struggle alone against unfair odds. Yet 

 these evils are only temporary and reactionary, 

 and are a sign of real progress. Better indis- 

 criminate charity with all its evils than callous- 

 ness and indifference. 



Individual progress is always in advance of 

 national. In private life, the stage of indis- 

 criminate charity is already left behind ; its evils 

 are fully known and recognised, and avoided, as 

 far as possible. In politics we have just arrived 

 at the stage of indiscriminate charity, in conse- 

 quence of the national conscience waking to the 

 fact that other nations and communities are en- 

 titled to fair play as well as ourselves. Great as 

 are the evils of indiscriminate charity in private 

 life, in politics they are far greater, as witness 

 the present state of Ireland and South Africa. 

 But as this is more clearly seen, the evil will 

 right itself in politics, as has been the case in 

 private life ; and science and history both en- 

 courage us to look forward to the future of 

 humanity with confidence, sure that no really 

 retrogressive movement is possible. 



