PT. n. Mr. Darwin and Mr. Buckle. 107 



their operation. If Mr. Darwin is correct in sup- 

 posing that there are natural differences in different 

 races of Man, which are either coeval with their 

 birth or spring from some very remote and ante- 

 cedent state, then these natural differences would 

 inevitably act upon the future progress of the 

 different races, and would be a cause of difference 

 quite independent of either of the four to which 

 Mr. Buckle would alone confine them. Mr. Buckle 

 is very fond of laying down some absolute rule to 

 which he conceives the whole history of Man con- 

 forms. As an instance, we will take his position 

 the fertility of the soil in an early state of society 

 always leads to a small wealthy class who are abso- 

 lutely despotic, and who crush and oppress the bulk 

 of the population. He instances Egypt, but Egypt 

 is not singular in being despotic, or in sharing that 

 principle of government with fertile countries alone. 

 The whole of Asia, from the earliest records, seems 

 to have been governed by despotic rulers, yet many 

 parts of Asia are rigorous in climate and sterile in 

 soil a proof that there is no exclusive connection 

 between fertility and despotism, since despotism is 

 quite as absolute and quite as cruel in the less 

 favoured regions of the north. Were Zingis Khan, 



