My first article upon Mr. Belloc’s _Companion to the Outline of
History_ dealt, much against my inclination and as charitably and
amiably as possible, with the oddities of Mr. Belloc’s manner and
method, and those remarkable non-existent “European authorities” to
whom he appeals habitually in moments of argumentative stress. I do
not propose to go on thus girding at Mr. Belloc. He is a Catholic
apologist, endorsed by Catholic authorities, and there is matter of
very great importance for our consideration in what he has to say about
the history of life and mankind.
After his second paper is finished his abuse of me becomes merely
incidental or indirect. He goes on to a staggering rush at Natural
Selection. Let us see to where Catholic thought has got--if Mr. Belloc
is to be trusted--in relation to this very fundamental matter.
It is Mr. Belloc’s brilliant careless way to begin most of his
arguments somewhere about the middle and put the end first. His
opening peroration, so to speak, is a proclamation that this “Natural
Selection”--whatever it is--is “an old and done-for theory of
Darwin and Wallace.” It is “a laughing-stock for half a generation
among competent men.” Mr. George Bernard Shaw does not believe in
it! G. B. S. among the Fathers! That wonderful non-existent “latest
European work” which plays so large a part in Mr. Belloc’s dialectic is
summoned briefly, its adverse testimony is noted, and it is dismissed
to the safe again. And then there is a brief statement of how these
two vile fellows, Darwin and Wallace, set out upon this reprehensible
theorising. What a ruthless exposé it is of the true motives of
scientific people!
“The process of thought was as follows:
“‘There is no Mind at work in the universe; therefore changes of
this sort must come from blind chance or at least _mechanically_.
At all costs we must get rid of the idea of design: of a desired
end conceived in a Creative Mind. Here is a theory which will make
the whole process entirely mechanical and dead, and get rid of the
necessity for a Creator.’”
And so having invented and then as it were visited and spat upon the
derided and neglected tomb of Natural Selection and assured us that
God, Mr. Shaw, “European opinion,” and all good Catholics are upon his
side, Mr. Belloc plucks up courage and really begins to write about
Natural Selection.