In the latter group, the environment must be admitted--on the whole--to
be uniformly favorable. It has varied, naturally, in each case, but
speaking broadly it is certain that all the members of this group have
had the advantage of a good education, of unusual care and attention. If
such things affect achievement, then the achievements of this class
ought to be pretty generally distributed among the whole class. If
opportunity is the cause of a man's success, then most of the members of
this class ought to have succeeded, because to every one of royal blood,
the door of opportunity usually stands open. One would expect the heir
to the throne to show a better record than his younger brothers,
however, because his opportunity to distinguish himself is naturally
greater. This last point will be discussed first.
Dr. Woods divided all the individuals in his study into ten classes for
intellectuality and ten for morality, those most deficient in the
qualities being put in class 1, while the men and women of preeminent
intellectual and moral worth were put in class 10. Now if preeminent
intellect and morality were at all linked with the better chances that
an inheritor of succession has, then heirs to the throne ought to be
more plentiful in the higher grades than in the lower. Actual count
shows this not to be the case. A slightly larger percentage of
inheritors is rather to be found in the lower grades. The younger sons
have made just as good a showing as the sons who succeeded to power; as
one would expect if intellect and morality are due largely to heredity,
but as one would not expect if intellect and morality are due largely to
outward circumstances.
Are "conditions of turmoil, stress and adversity" strong forces in the
production of great men, as has often been claimed? There is no evidence
from facts to support that view. In the case of a few great commanders,
the times seemed particularly favorable. Napoleon, for example, could
hardly have been Napoleon had it not been for the French revolution. But
in general there have been wars going on during the whole period of
modern European history; there have always been opportunities for a
royal hero to make his appearance; but often the country has called for
many years in vain. Circumstances were powerless to produce a great man
and the nation had to wait until heredity produced him. Spain has for
several centuries been calling for genius in leadership in some lines;
but in vain. England could not get an able man from the Stuart line,
despite her need, and had to wait for William of Orange, who was a
descendant of a man of genius, William the Silent. "Italy had to wait
fifty years in bondage for her deliverers, Cavour, Garibaldi and Victor
Emmanuel."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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