dominant 

 races, 



302 ARISTOCRACY AND E VOL UTION 



Book iv why men will do as soldiers what no one will do in 

 any other capacity, and what soldiers themselves 

 will cease to do as soon as they become commis- 

 sionaires. 

 The fighting For this peculiarity in the soldier's conduct there 



instinct is , /~\ ' \ r 



inherent in the are three separate reasons. One is the strictness of 

 military discipline, which socialistic reformers would 

 hardly find popular if they tried to introduce it into 

 factories and contractors' yards. A second is the 

 peculiar character of the circumstances in which the 

 soldier is placed when his courage is most severely 

 taxed circumstances which render the attempt to 

 evade peril almost as difficult, and often more 

 perilous than facing it, and which in ordinary life 

 would be intolerable if they did not happen to be 

 impossible. But the most important reason is this 

 and the others without it would be non-existent 

 that the instinct of fighting is inherent in the very 

 nature of the dominant races, and it will always 

 prompt numbers to do for the smallest reward what 

 they could hardly, in its absence, be induced to do 

 for the largest. This immemorial instinct has been 

 wrought into our blood and nerves by the innumer- 

 able thousands of years that have made us what we 

 are ; and all the battles of their fathers are pulsing in 

 men's veins to-day. These instincts, no doubt, are 

 more controlled than formerly, and not so frequently 

 roused ; but they are still there. They are ready 

 to quicken at the mere sound of military music ; 

 and the sight of a regiment marching draws cheers 

 from the most democratic crowd. Here is the 



