220 The Ideal State 



order to secure the best possible physical development 

 of the men who are to man our ships and defend our 

 shores. There is in addition the altruistic impulse to 

 procure the highest standard of physique of the races 

 yet unborn. 



Taking this for granted, we can go on to consider 

 two aphorisms which Mr. Kidd presents. " It would 

 appear," he says, " that the process at work in society 

 is evolving religious character as a first product, and 

 intellectual capacity only so far as it can be associated 

 with this quality." With the first part no doubt most 

 will agree, and a fortunate thing it is for the world that 

 it is so, otherwise no other result is possible than the 

 ascendancy of the Nietzscheian philosophy, with the 

 revival of the rule of the " superman," which can only 

 mean slavery, the gospel of " Be hard " — a world 

 without kindness or sympathy or love, government by 

 the whip — the law of " the weaker go to the wall, and 

 we shall help them to " — the cessation of all tenderness 

 or self-sacrifice in the hearts of men, which these two 

 greatest prophets of modern times and two of the 

 greatest of all time, Carlyle and Ruskin, have shown to 

 be the most potent influence for good in the world. 

 Either Nietzsche or Karl Marx must rule ; in the latter 

 case we shall be governed by the Social Democrat, 

 which would very soon prove as chaotic as the other, 

 for the reason that social stability can only be attained 

 by means of an all-pervading content which is only 

 procurable by willing self-sacrifice on the part of each 

 individual in the interest of the State as a whole. This 

 attitude of mind, which results in self-sacrificing action 

 not only for one's neighbour and society generally, but 

 also for the generations to come, can only be attained 

 directly or indirectly through religious influence, and 

 the lesson of history is that the teachings of the Founder 

 of our religion alone are those which have so influenced 



