MORAL, SENSE. 113 



It Is obvious that every one may with an easy conscience 

 gratify his own desires, if they do not interfere with his social 

 instincts, that is with the good of others; but in order to he 

 quite free from self-reproach, or at least of anxiety. It is almost 

 necessary for him to avoid the disapprobation, whether reason- 

 able or not, of his fellow-men. Nor must he break through the 

 fixed habits of his life, especially If these are supported by reason; 

 for if he does, he will assuredly feel dissatisfaction. He must 

 likewise avoid the reprobation of the one God or gods in whom, 

 according to his knowledge or superstition, he may believe; but 

 in this case the additional fear of divine punishment often super- 

 venes. 



The strictly Social Virtues at first alone regarded. — The above 

 view of the origin and nature of the moral sense, which tells us 

 what we ought to do, and of the conscience which reproves us if 

 we disobey it, accords well with what we see of the early and 

 undeveloped condition of this faculty in mankind. The virtues 

 which must be practiced, at least generally, by rude men, so 

 that they may associate in a body, are those which are still 

 recognized as the most important. But they are practiced almost 

 exclusively in relation to the men of the same tribe; and their 

 opposites are not regarded as crimes in relation to the men of 

 other tribes. No tribe could hold together if murder, robbery, 

 treachery, &c., were common; consequently such crimes within 

 the limits of the same tribe "are branded with everlasting in- 

 "famy;"" but excite no such sentiment beyond these limits. A 

 North- American Indian is well pleased with himself, and is hon- 

 ored by others, when he scalps a man of another tribe; and a 

 Dyak cuts off the head of an unoffending person, and dries it as 

 a trophy. The murder of infants has prevailed on the largest 

 scale throughout the world,"^ and has met with no reproach; but 

 infanticide, especially of females, has been thought to be good 

 for the tribe, or at least not injurious. Suicide during former 

 times was not generally considered as a crime,"' but rather, from 



'1 See an able article in the 'North British Review," 1867, p. 395. See 

 also Mr. W. Bagehot's articles on the Importance of Obedience and 

 Coherence to Primitive Man, in the 'Fortnightly Review,' 1867, p. 529, 

 and 1868, p. 457, &c. 



^2 The fullest account which I have met with is by Dr. Gerland, In 

 his 'Ueber das Aussterben der Naturvolker,' 1868; but I shall have to 

 recur to the subject of infanticide in a, future chapter. 



^ See the very interesting discussion on Suicide in Lecky's 'History 

 of European Morals,' vol. i. 1869, p. 223. With respect to savages, Mr. 

 Winwood Reade informs me that the negroes of West Africa often 

 commit suicide. It is well known how common it was amongst the 

 miserable aborigines of South America, after the Spanish conquest. 

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