48 THE SCIENCE OF POWER 



it before. Soon after the middle of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury and onward the history of the West takes on a new 

 spirit. From this date forward George Peel's terrible 

 saying that history and homicide are indistinguish- 

 able terms l becomes a truth pregnant with a mean- 

 ing which it never possessed before in civilization. 



To understand clearly the character of this sur- 

 prising development of which modern Germany 

 became the life centre in civilization it is necessary 

 to glance briefly at Darwin's central thesis. The 

 truth of Darwin's conception may be compressed 

 within clear boundaries. It is of great importance 

 to grasp the characteristic outlines thereof. Darwin 

 gave to the world the true science of the evolution 

 of the animal in the past epochs of the world. Dar- 

 winism is essentially the science of the integration 

 of the individual efficient in his own interests. " If 

 A was able to kill B before B killed A, then A sur- 

 vived. And the race became a race of As, inheriting 

 A's qualities." 2 This was Bagehot's brief and vivid 

 summary of the Darwinian doctrine. Darwinism is, 

 in short, the science of the causes which have made 

 those who are efficient in the struggle for their own 

 interests supreme and omnipotent in the world. 



Now this doctrine has nothing to do with the 



1 The Future of England, p. 142. 

 1 Physics and Politics, p. 188 



