the few only can succeed while the many must fail; and where all are doing their best in their several ways, with their special capacities and their unequal opportunities, the result is very much of a lottery, and there is usually no real merit, no specially high intellectual or moral quality in those that succeed.

It is the misfortune of the Americans that they had such a vast continent to occupy. Had it ended at the line of the Mississippi, agricultural development might have gone on more slowly and naturally, from east to west, as increase of population required. So again, if they had had another century for development before railways were invented, expansion would necessarily have gone on more slowly, the need for good roads would have shown that the rectangular system of dividing up new lands was a mistake, and some of that charm of rural scenery which we possess would probably have arisen.

But with the conditions that actually existed we can hardly wonder at the result. A nation formed by emigrants from several of the most energetic and intellectual nations of the old world, for the most part driven from their homes by religious persecution or political oppression, including from the very first all ranks and conditions of life-farmers and mechanics, traders and manufacturers, students and teachers, rich and poor-the very circumstances which drove them to emigrate led to a natural selection of the most energetic, the most independent, in many respects the best of their several nations. Such a people, further tried and hardened by two centuries of struggle against the forces of nature and a savage population, and finally by a war of emancipation from the tyranny of the mother country, would almost necessarily develop both the virtues, the prejudices, and even the vices of the parent stock in an exceptionally high degree. Hence, when the march of invention and of science (to which they contributed their share) gave them the steamship and the railroad; when California gave them gold and Nevada silver, with the prospect of wealth to the lucky beyond the dreams of avarice; when the great

prairies of the West gave them illimitable acres of marvellously fertile soil;-it is not surprising that these conditions with such a people should have resulted in that mad race for wealth in which they have beaten the record, and have produced a greater number of multi-millionaires than all the rest of the world combined, with the disastrous results already briefly indicated.

But this is only one side of the American character. Everywhere there are indications of a deep love of nature, a devotion to science and to literature fully proportionate to that of the older countries; while in inventiveness and in the applications of science to human needs they have long been in the first rank. But what is more important, there is also rapidly developing among them a full recognition of the failings of our common social system, and a determination to remedy it. As in Germany, in France, and in England, the socialists are becoming a power in America. They already influence public opinion, and will soon influence the legislatures. The glaring fact is now being widely recognized that with them, as with all the old nations of Europe, an increase in wealth and in command over the powers of nature such as the world has never before seen, has not added to the true well-being of any part of society. It is also indisputable that, as regards the enormous masses of the labouring and industrial population, it has greatly increased the numbers of those whose lives are "below the margin of poverty," while, as John Stuart Mill declared many years ago, it has not reduced the labour of any human being.

An American (Mr. Bellamy) gave us the books that first opened the eyes of great numbers of educated readers to the practicability, the simplicity, and the beauty of Socialism. It is to America that the world looks to lead the way towards a just and peaceful modification of the social organism, based upon a recognition of the principle of Equality of Opportunity, and by means of the Organization of the Labour of all for the Equal Good of all.

CHAPTER XXXIII

LITERARY WORK, ETC., 1887-1905

LEAVING Quebec early in the morning of Friday, August 12, after a week of cold and dull weather, we anchored at 6 a.m. on the 17th off Portrush, on the north coast of Ireland, to leave mails and passengers for Londonderry. Here and all along this coast I gazed upon the intensely vivid green of the grassy slopes, and for the first time understood the appropriateness of "Emerald Isle" as a name for Ireland; for the colour is altogether unique, and such as I have never seen elsewhere. Two hours later we passed the grand range of basaltic cliffs above the Giant's Causeway, and here, too, all the grassy patches and slopes were of the same vivid tint. Then the Mull of Cantire, in Scotland, came into view, and later Port Patrick and the Mull of Galloway, just catching sight of Ailsa Craig between them. In the afternoon we passed south of the Isle of Man, and reached Liverpool late at night, having thus seen a portion of the British Isles that was quite new to me. Between 6 and 10 a.m. I managed to get all my baggage through the Custom House and taken to the station, had a good breakfast at the hotel, and was off by the 11.5 a.m. express to London, then to Waterloo, and home to Godalming at 5.30.

On my way from Godalming old station to Frith Hill in a fly, an extraordinary event happened. Suddenly I perceived that the driver's coat was on fire behind-actually in flames! I called out to him. He looked round, beat it with his hands, said, "All right, sir!" and went on. After a few minutes it began smoking again. I called out louder, it

flamed again; both overcoat, trousers, and cushion were burning. Then he got down, took off his overcoat, trampled on it, and beat out the rest. We went on. A third time it burst out in smoke and flame. Again I shouted, and passersby called out and stopped to look. And then at last, with their help, he finally extinguished the conflagration. A cabman on fire! No more curious incident occurred during my six thousand miles of travel in America. It originated, no doubt, from his having put a lighted pipe in his pocket, or perhaps from a loose phosphorous match. But he did not seem to mind it much, even when in a blaze.

The rest of the year 1887 was occupied at home in overtaking my correspondence, looking after my garden, and making up for lost time in scientific and literary reading, and in considering what work I should next occupy myself with. Many of my correspondents, as well as persons I met in America, told me that they could not understand Darwin's Origin of Species," but they did understand my lecture on "Darwinism ;" and it therefore occurred to me that a popular exposition of the subject might be useful, not only as enabling the general reader to understand Darwin, but also to serve as an answer to the many articles and books professing to disprove the theory of natural selection. During the whole of the year 1888 I was engaged in writing this book, which, though largely following the lines of Darwin's work, contained a great many new features, and dwelt especially with those parts of the subject which had been most generally misunderstood.

The spring of 1889 was occupied in passing it through the press, and it was published in May, while a few corrections were made for a second edition in the following October. During this time, however, I gave several of my American lectures in various parts of the country-at Newcastle and Darlington in the spring of 1888; in the autumn at Altrincham and Darwen; and in 1889 at Newcastle, York, Darlington, and Liverpool.

In the autumn of this year the University of Oxford did

me the honour of giving me the honorary degree of D.C.L., which I went to receive in November, when I enjoyed the hospitality of my friend Professor E. B. Poulton. The Latin speech of the Public Orator on the occasion has been translated for me by my friend Mr. Comerford Casey, and I here give a copy of the translation.

Addressing the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors of the University of Oxford, the Public Orator spoke words to this effect:

"In that department of natural science which is concerned with the accurate study of animals and plants, be well assured that no living man has laboured more diligently and with happier results than Alfred Russel Wallace.

"For having wandered long in early life through the forests of Brazil, and among those islands which lie beyond the Golden Chersonese, and beneath a burning sun, he thought out and explained with wonderful insight the law according to which (as learned men now believe) new species of animals arise: namely, that a stronger and more vigorous offspring is left behind by those individuals whom nature has, in some way or other, best fitted to endure the vicissitudes of life. Thus, in the course of ages, scions are produced which differ more and more widely from the original stock.

"When this law was discovered, almost simultaneously by the distinguished naturalist, Charles Darwin, neither begrudged to the other his meed of praise; and so highminded were they both that each was more desirous of discovering new truths than of gaining credit for himself.

"I need not enumerate the many and learned works which Alfred Russel Wallace has published, since the facts which I have related give him sufficient claim to the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law which this University is about to confer upon him."

Finding my house at Godalming in an unsatisfactory situation, with a view almost confined to the small garden, the