THE ERRORS OF MR, KIDD 21 



were never held to be the source of power by any- Book i 

 body. M. de Lavelaye might as well take one Chapter2 

 half of the passengers on a Dover packet, and 

 treating them as identical with the British nation 

 at large, ask how it is that those who are held to 

 rule the waves can hardly set foot on a deck without 

 clamouring for the steward's basin. 



And now let us turn to Mr. Kidd himself. The Mr. Kidd's 



,. r i i i i i reasoning itself 



object of his book is to vindicate supernatural j s not less 

 religion by exhibiting it as advantageous to its 

 possessors in the social struggle for existence. He 

 endeavours to make good his position by two distinct prompts the 



J . few to sur- 



lines of argument. The first of these is that the render advan- 



. , i r 11- i tages to the 



social struggle tor existence, though it produces man y, which. 



progressive communities, and communities fitted to 

 endure, is injurious to the majority of those who a t couldkeep - 

 any given time are engaged in it, and benefits only 

 a minority, described by him as " the power-holding 

 classes." This minority, according to his account, 

 could always, if it pleased, as it has pleased in all 

 former ages, defend its position and keep the 

 majority in subjection ; but it is now beginning, 

 under the pressure of a religious impulse, to 

 surrender to its inferiors voluntarily advantages 

 which they could never have extorted from it ; and 

 in this great fact our hope for the future lies. 



Such is one of the two main portions of Mr. The second 

 Kidd's message to the world ; and here follows the man y at any 

 other, which will be found to be fundamentally n 

 inconsistent with it. "Man" if he had chosen to 

 do so, Mr. Kidd maintains and this assertion 



taken 



