166 
THE DESCENT OF MAN. 
Pakt I. 
social instincts, largely guided by the approbation of 
our fellow-men, ruled by reason, self-interest, and in 
later times by deep religious feelings, confirmed by 
instruction and habit, all combined, constitute our moral 
sense or conscience. 
It must not be forgotten that although a high stand- 
ard of morality gives but a slight or no advantage to 
each individual man and his children over the other 
men of the same tribe, yet that an advancement in the 
standard of morality and an increase in the number 
of well-endowed men will certainty give an immense 
advantage to one tribe over another. There can be no 
doubt that a tribe including many members who, from 
possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, 
fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, were always 
ready to give aid to each other and to sacrifice them- 
selves for the common good, would be victorious over 
most other tribes ; and this would be natural selection. 
At all times throughout the world tribes have sup- 
planted other tribes ; and as morality is one element 
in their success, the standard of morality and the num- 
ber of well-endowed men will thus everywhere tend to 
rise and increase. 
It is, however, very difficult to form any judgment why 
one particular tribe and not another has been successful 
and has risen in the scale of civilisation. Many savages 
are in the same condition as when first discovered several 
centuries ago. As Mr. Bagehot has remarked, we are 
apt to look at progress as the normal rule in human 
society ; but history refutes this. The ancients did not 
even entertain the idea ; nor do the oriental nations at 
the present day. According to another high authority, 
Mr. Maine , 8 “the greatest part of mankind has never 
8 1 Ancient Law,’ 1861, p. 22. For Mr. Bageliot’s remarks, ‘Fort- 
nightly Eeview/ April 1, 1868, p. 452. 
