158 DARWINISM AND RACE PROGRESS. 



survival that until as late as 1891 a father could not 

 forfeit these either by contract or neglect. Before 

 the Act to amend the law relating to the custody of 

 children passed in March, 1891, a man who had 

 deserted his children could afterwards insist on their 

 returning to him, and, although a reprobate in every 

 way, he could claim them from the parish or custo- 

 dian who had been responsible for their upbringing. 

 These and many other injustices have been and are 

 being removed, and it must be remembered that this 

 has been done not by a forcible adjustment gained 

 by strength of numbers, but by the force of public 

 opinion and the sense of justice of all classes and of 

 both sexes. The rights have been given, they have 

 not been taken ; the poor have had rich men on their 

 side, and the promoters of women's independence 

 and advancement have in large numbers been the 

 men themselves. It is true that much unnecessary 

 inequality remains, and that we treat certain sections 

 of the community in a most undesirable fashion 

 witness the herding of the profligate with the un- 

 fortunate or aged pauper but the very fact that 

 justice has come as the result of claims put forward 

 and recognised as just, rather than at the point of the 

 sword in open rebellion of the many against the few, 

 shows that as a nation we are instinct with the feel- 

 ing of obligation. There is a feeling that whatever 

 is right will ultimately be done, that so-called in- 



