18 EVOLUTION AND ETHICS i 



stop to the influence of external competition by 

 thoroughly extirpating and excluding the native 

 rivals, whether men, beasts, or plants. And 

 our administrator would select his human agents, 

 with a view to his ideal of a successful colony, 

 just as the gardener selects his plants with a view 

 to his ideal of useful or beautiful products. 



In the second place, in order that no struggle 

 for the means of existence between these human 

 agents should weaken the efficiency of the cor- 

 porate whole in the battle with the state of 

 nature, he would make arrangements by which 

 each would be provided with those means ; and 

 would be relieved from the fear of being deprived 

 of them by his stronger or more cunning fellows. 

 Laws, sanctioned by the combined force of the 

 colony, would restrain the self-assertion of each 

 man within the limits required for the mainten- 

 ance of peace. In other words, the cosmic struggle 

 for existence, as between man and man, would be 

 rigorously suppressed ; and selection, by its means, 

 would be as completely excluded as it is from 

 the garden. 



At the same time, the obstacles to the full 

 development of the capacities of the colonists 

 by other conditions of the state of nature 

 than those already mentioned, would be re- 

 moved by the creation of artificial conditions of 

 existence of a more favourable character. Pro- 

 tection against extremes of heat and cold would 



