n, or
would he not rather wait a while--a few years, say--till the habit
of sitting on chairs had worn off some of the tail, and a greater
familiarity with society suggested not to store up their dinner in their
jaws? Would he like to see them at once take their places in public
life, become public functionaries, and ministers, and grand cordons?

Would he not rather, with that philosophy his country eminently teaches,
say, "I will do the pity and the compassion. To me be the sympathetic
part of a graceful sorrow. To posterity I bequeath the recognition of
these poor captives. Let them be liberated, by all means; but let it
be when I shall be no longer here to witness it. Let others face that
glorious millennium of gorilla greatness."

I am afraid he would reason in this fashion; it is one thing to have an
opinion, and to have what Frenchmen call the "courage of your opinion."
He would say, "If Nature work surely, she works slowly; her changes are
measured, regular, and progressive. With her there are no paroxysms;
all is orderly--all is gradual It took centuries of centuries to advance
these poor creatures to the point they occupy; their next stage on the
journey is perhaps countless years away. I will not attempt to forestall
what I cannot assist. I will let Time do its work. They are not
ill-treated, besides; that large creature with the yellow eyebrows
grinned at me very pleasantly this morning, and the she-ourang-outang
was whipping her infant most naturally as I came by."

"What a cold-blooded philanthropy is this!" cries another. "You say
these are our brothers and our kinsmen; you declare that anatomy only
can detect some small and insignificant discrepancies between us, and
that even in these there are some of whose functions we know nothing,
and others, such as the prehensile power, where the ape has the best
of it. What do you mean by keeping them there 'cribbed, cabined, and
confined'? Is a slight frontal inclination to disqualify a person from
being a prefect? Is an additional joint in the coccyx to prevent a man
sitting on the woolsack, or an extra inch in the astragalus to interfere
with his wearing spurs? If there be minute differences between us,
intercourse will abolish them. It will be of inestimable service
to yourselves to come into contact with these fresh, fine, generous
natures, uncontaminated by the vices of an effete and worn-out
civilisation. Great as are the benefits you extend to them, the