evolution. It is only at the present clay that, by surveying human
history from the widest possible outlook, and with the aid of the habits
of thought which the study of evolution fosters, we are enabled
distinctly to observe this tendency. As this is the most wonderful of
all the phases of that stupendous revolution in nature which was
inaugurated in the Creation of Man, it deserves especial attention here;
and we shall find it leading us quite directly to our conclusion. From
the Origin of Man, when thoroughly comprehended in its general outlines,
we shall at length be able to catch some glimpses of his Destiny.




XI.

Universal Warfare of Primeval Men.


In speaking of the higher altruistic feelings as being antagonistic to
the continuance of warfare, I did not mean to imply that warfare can
ever be directly put down by our horror of cruelty or our moral
disapproval of strife. The actual process is much more indirect and
complex than this. In respect of belligerency the earliest men were
doubtless no better than brutes. They were simply the most crafty and
formidable among brutes. To get food was the prime necessity of life,
and as long as food was obtainable only by hunting and fishing, or
otherwise seizing upon edible objects already in existence, chronic and
universal quarrel was inevitable. The conditions of the struggle for
existence were not yet visibly changed from what they had been from the
outset in the animal world. That struggle meant everlasting slaughter,