VII. Generosity

CHAPTER VII.' GENEROSITY. § 142. To bring into intelligible order the kinds of con duct ordinarily grouped under the name Generosity, is diffi cult; partly because luuch which passes under the nalne is not really prolnpted by generous feeling, and partly because generosity rightly so-called is complex in nature and its, composition variable. Generosity is a double-rooted sentiment: one of its roots being very ancient and the other very modern. Its ancient root is the philoprogenitive instinct, which, as manifested throughout a large part of the animal kingdom, leads to the sacrifice of self for the benefit of offspring. This form of generosity coexists in many creatures with absolute disregard of the welfare of all save offspring: conspicuously so in the Oarnivora and less conspicuously so in the I£erbivora. The relatively modern root of generosity is sympathy, which is shown by some of the higher gregari ous creatures, as the dog, in considerable degrees. This trait is 1110re variously and largely displayed by hUlnan beings, and especially by certain higher types of then!.

The earlier factor in the sentirnent is personal and narrow, while the later is impersonal and broad. In Inankind, generosity ordinarily combines the two. The love of the helpless, which constitutes the essential part of the philoprogenitive instinct, is, nearly always, associated vvith fello~T-feeling: the parent sympathizes with the pleasures and pains of the child. Oonversely, the GENEROSITY. 319 feeling which prolnpts a generous act of one adult to another, commonly includes an element derived from the early instinct. The individual aided is conceived in a distinct or vague way as an object of pity; and pity is a sentiment closely allied to the parental, since it is drawn out towards some being relatively helpless or unfortuna~ or suffering. To' this mixed nature of the sentitnent as comrnonly displayed, is due the confusion in its nlanifestations among races in different stages; and to it must consequently be ascribed the perplexities which stand in the way of satisfac tory inductions.

§ 143. As a preliminary it should be further remarked that the sentiment of generosity, even in its developed form, is simpler than the sentiment of justice; and hence is earlier manifested. The one results from rnental repre sentations of the pleasures or pains of another or others-is shown in acts instigated by the feelings which these men tal representations arouse. But the other implies repre sentations, not shnply of pains or pleasures, but also, and chiefly, representations of the conditions which are required for, or are conducive to, the avoidance of pains or pro curing of pleasures. lIenee it includes a set of mental actions superposed on the luental actions constituting generosity. Recognition of this truth makes comprehensible the order of their succession in the course of civilization. And this order will be rendered still more conlprebensible if we re luember that generosity, among people of low intelligence, often results fronl inability to represent to themselves dis tinctly the consequences of the sacrifices they make-they are improvident.

§ 144. First to be dealt with is that pseudo-generosity nlainly cOlnposed of other feelings than benevolent ones.

380 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS. The wish for the welfare of another is, indeed, rarely with .. out alloy: there are mostly present other Inotives-,chiefly the desire for applause. But to the lowest of the actions apparently caused by generosity, these other motives form the predominant or sole prolnpters instead of .. the subordi nat8'&prompters. The displays of hospitality among uncivilized and barbar ous peoples furnishes striking exalnples. Of the Bedouin "at once rapacious and profuse," and who is scrupulously hospitable, Palgrave says:"He has in general but little to offer, and for that very little he not unfrequently promises himself an ample retribution, by plundering his last night's guest when a few hours distant on his morning journey." Similarly of the Kirghiz, we are told by Atkinson that a chief who does not molest travellers while with him, sends his followers to rob them on their march. In East Africa, too, a chief of Urori "will entertain his guests hospitably as long as they relnain in his village, but he will plunder them the moment they leave it." Still rnore startling are the apparent incongruities of conduct arnong the Fijians.

"The same native who within a few yards of his house would murder a coming or departing guest for sake of.a knife or a hatchet, will defend him at the risk of his own life as soon as he has passed his threshold." And then how little relation there is between generosity rightly so-called and hospitality in such cases, is further sho,vn by the staternent of Jackson that the Europeans who have lived long among Fijians have become hospitable: "a practice which they have adopted through the example of these savages." Among the uncivilized at large, of whatever type, hospi tality of a less treacherous kind, prompted apparently by usa?;e the origin of which is difficult to .understand, is con stantly displayed. " •Custom' enjoins the exercise of hospitality on every Aino. They receive all strangers as they received me, giving them of their best, placing them in the most honourable place, bestowing gifts upon them, and, when they depart, furnishing them with cakes of boiled millet."

GENEROSITY. 381 We read that among the Australians, the laws of hospitality require. that stranger~. shoul<lbe .. perfectly unmolested. dur ing their sojourn. Jackson says that according to .. the rules of Samoan hospitality, strangers are well treated,receiv ing the best of everything.., According to Lichtenstein "the .Caffres are hospitable;" and that" the hospitality of the African_s has heen .noticed by almost every traveller who has been much among them" is remarked by Winter bottom. Of the tribes inhabiting North America Morgan says:~ " One of the most attractive features of Indian society was the spirit of hospitality by which it was pervaded. Perhaps no people ever carried this principle to the same degree of universality, as did the Iroquois." SO, too, Angas tells us of theN ew Zealanders that· they are very hospitable to strangers. By this last people we are shown ill' how large a measure the love of applause is a factor in apparent generosity.

The New Zealanders, writes Thomson, have a great admira tion of profuseness, andd~siretobe considered libera} at their feasts; and elsewhere he says that. by them" heaping up riches, unless' to squander, was· disgracefuL" To an allied. feeling may be ascribed the trait presented by the people of St. Augustine Island, among whom the dead were judged and sent to happiness or n1isery according to their " goodness" or "badness;" and " goodnessmeant .one.whose friends had given a grand funeral feast, and badness a per son whose stingy friends. provided nothing at all." To this peremptory desire for approval is in some cases due an ex penditure, on the occasion of a death ora Inarriage, so great that the family is impoverished by it for years; .and in one case, if not in more cases, female infanticide is committed ,vith the view of avoiding the ruinous expense,vhich a daughter's marriage entails.

To the prompters of pseudo-generosity thus disclosed,may be added another disclosed .. by the habits of civilized settlers in remote regions. Leading solitary lives. as such men do, 382 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS. the arrival of a stranger brings "an irnmense relief from mo-: notony, and gratifies the craving for social intercourse. Hence it happens that travellers and sportsmen are not only "welcomedbut even pressed to stay. ~lanifestly, then, the sentiment which in many cases insti gates hospitality to visitors and feasts to friends, is a pro ethical sentirnent. There goes with it little, or none, of the ethical sentiment proper. § 145. We find, however, among some of the most un civilized peoples, displays of a generosity which is Inanifestly genuine-sornetimes, indeed, find displays of it greater than among the civilized. Burchell tells us even of the Bushmen that towards one another they" exercise the virtues of hospitality and generosity; often in an extraordinary degree." So, too, he says that the Hottentots are very hospitable among them selves, and often to people of other tribes; and ]{olben expresses the belief that" In }Vlunificence and Hospitality the Hottentots, perhaps, go beyond all the other Nations upon Earth." Of the East Africans, again, Livingstone says:"The real politeness with which food is given by nearly all the interior tribes, who have not had much intercourse with Europeans, makes it a pleasure to accept."

Though, in the fol]owing extract concerning the people of Loango, there is proof that love of approbation is a strong prompter to generous actions, yet there seelns evidence that there is mingled with it a t.rue sentiment of generosity. " They are always ready to share the little they have with those whom they know to be in need. If they have been fortunate in hunting and fishing, or have procured something rare, they immediately run and tell their friends and neighbours, taking to each his share. They would choose to stint themselves rather than not give them this proof of their friendship ...• They call the Europeans close fists, because they give nothing for nothing." Other races, sorne lower and some higher, yield like facts. We read that the Australian natives who have been success ful in hunting always, and without any remark, supply GENEROSITY. 383 'those of their number who have been unsuccessful with. a share of their meal. The account given by Vancouver of the Sandwich Islanders, shows that, in their generosity towards strangers, they were like rnost uncivilized peoples before bad treatment by Europeans had demoralized them.

He says:" Our reception and entertainment here [at HawaiiJ by these unlettered people, who in general have been distingui8hed by the appellation of sav ages, was such as, I believe, is seldom equalled by the most civilized nations of Europe." Brett· describes the Guiana tribes as "passionatel.y fond of their children; hospitable to everyone; and, anlong themselves, generous to a fault." These instances I may reinforce by one from a renlote region. Bogle stayed while in Thibet ,with the Lama's farnily-that is, with his relations, at whose hands he received much kindness. When he offered them presents they refused to accept them; say ing-"Y ou . . . are COlne from a far country; it is our business to render your stay agreeable; why should you make· us presents ~ " § 146. Various of the uncivilized display generosity in other "rays than by hospitality, and in 'ways which exhibit the sentiment· more clearly detached from other sentilnents.

Illustrations are furnished by that very inferior race, the :Australians. They were al"ways willing to show Mr. Eyre where water "vas to be had, and, even unsolicited, would help his rn.en to dig for it. Their kindness in this respect seems the more remarkable on renlembering how difficult it was for them to find a proper supply forthemselves. Sturt tells us that a friendly native has heen known to interpose, at great personal risk,. on behalf of travellers whom a hostile tribe was about to attack. With' an adjacent race it was the same. During troubled times in Tasmania, the lives of white people were in several instances ~'saved by the native "ronlen, ,vho .would often steal away fronl the tribe, and give notice of an 26 384 THE' INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS. intended attack." Under another form, much generosity of feeling is shown by the Tongans. Mariner writes of them that"They never exult in any feats of bravery they may have performed, but, on the contrary, take every opportunity of praising their adversaries; and this a man will do, although his adversary may be plainly a coward, and will make an excuse for him, such as the unfavorableness of the opportunity, or great fatigue, or ill state of health, or badness of his ground, &c."

These, and lnany kindred facts, lnake it clear that the name "savages," as applied to the uncivilized, mi~leads us; and they suggest that the name nlight with greater propriety be applied to many among ourselves and our European neighbours. § 147'. If, as we see, under the forln of hospitality enforced by custom, in which it is largely simulated, or under forms in which it is more manifestly genuine, gener osity is widely prevalent anlong peoples who have not emerged from low stages of culture; we need not be sur prised to find expressions of generous sentiments, and in junctions to perform generous actions, in the early literatures of races ·which have risen to higher stages. The ancient Indian books furnish examples. Here, from the Rig-Veda, is an extract exhibiting the interested or non-sympathetic prolnpting of generosity:"The givers of largesses abide high in the sky; the givers of horses live wit.h the sun; the givers of gold enjoy immortality; the givprs of raiment prolong their Ii ves."

Sirnilarly Rig-Veda X. 107, eulogizes liberality to priests. ".I regard as the king of men him who first presented a gift .... The wise man makes largesse, giving his breastplate. Bountiful men neither die nor fall into calamity; they suffer neither wrong nor pain. Their liber ality confers on them this whole world as well as h~aven." In tIle Code of Manu, too, 've read that strangers are to be allowed to sojourn and be well entertained. He must eat before the householder (iii. 105). "The honouring of a guest confers wealth, reputation, life, and heaven" (iii.

GENEROSITY. 38-5 106; iv. 29) and delivers from guilt (iii. 98). And kin dred reasons for hospitality are given by Apastamba: The reception of guests is rewarded by" immunity from misfortunes, and heavenly bliss," (ii. 3, 6, 6.) "He who entertains guests for one night obtains earthly happiness, a second night gains the middle air, a· third heavenly bliss, a fourth the world of unsurpassable bliss; many nights procure endless worlds" (ii. 3, 7, 16.) The literature of the Persians contains kindred thoughts. In the Shdiya8t, the clothing of the soul in the next ,,"orld is said to be formed "out of ahnsgivings." Passages in the Gulistan enjoin liberality while reprobating asceticism. "The liberal man who eats and bestows, is better than the religious man who fasts and hoards. Whosoever hath forsaken luxury to gain the appro bation of mankind, hath fallen from lawful into unlawful voluptuousness."

And in the same work we have a more positive injunction to be generous, but still associated with self-interest as a motive. "Do good, and do not speak of it, and assuredly thy kindness will be recompensed to thee." Passing to China we find in Confucius various kindred injunctions; dissociated, too, from promptings of lower motives. Here are examples" Now the man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks a.lso to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others.'" "rrhe Master said, 'Though a man have abilities as admirable as those of the duke of Chow, yet if he be proud and niggardly, those other things are really not worth being looked at.'" "When any of his [Confucius's] friends died, if he had no relations who could be depended on for the necessary offices, he would say, 'I will bury him.'" That .in the sacred books of the Hebrews are to be fonnd kindred adillonitions, here joined withprolnises of super natural rewards and there without such promises, needs no saying. It should be added, however, that we are not enabled by these quoted passages to compare· the characters displayed by Indians, Persians, Chinese, or Hebrews, with the characters described in the foregoing accounts travellers 386 THE INDUOTIONS OF E'rHIOS.

give us of the uncivilized; for these passages come from the writings of exceptional men-poets and sages. But though violent reaction against an all-pervading selfishness may nlostly be the cause of exaggerated expressions of generosity, we must adlnit that the possibility of such exaggerated expressions goes for something. § 148. Concerning generosity among European peoples, as exhibited in history at successive stages of their progress, no very definite statements can be made. We have evidence that in early days there existed much the same feelings and practices as those now existing among savages-practices silnulating generosity. Tacitus says of the primitive Ger mans:"No nation indulges more profusely in entertainments and hospitality. To exclude any human being from their roof is thought impious." And these usages and ideas went, as we know, along with utte:r lack, of sympathy: they implied the generosity of dis play sanctified by tradition.

Throughout the Middle Ages and down to comparatively recent times, we see, along with a decreasing generosity of display, little lnore than the generosity prompted·by hope of buying divine favour. The motive has been all along expressed in the saying,--" He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord" (Prov. xix. 17); and the Lord is expected to pay good interest. Christianity, even in its initial form, represents the giving of alms as a means of salvation; and throughout nlany centuries of Ohristian history the giving of alms had little other Inotive. ,Just as they built chapels to cOlnpound for crilnes and manumitted slaves to Inake peace with God; so, beyond a desire for the applause which follo,ved largesse, the only lTIotiveof the rich for perforlning kind actions was an other-worldly Hlotive-a dread of hell and wish for heaven. As ~Ir. Lecky remarks-" Men gave Inoney to the poor, simply. and exclusively for their own spiritual benefit, and the welfare of the sufferer was altogether GENEROSITY. 38'7 foreign to their thoughts." How utterly alien to generosity, rightly so-called, was the feeling at· work, is shown by the unblushing, and indeed self-satisfied, avowal made by Sir Thomas Browne in the passage w'hich Mr. Lecky quotes from hinl,-" I give no alnls to satisfy the hunger of my brother, but to fulfil and accolnplish the will and command of my God."

In modern days, however, we nlay recognize a growing proportion of true generosity-the ethical sentiment as distinguished from the pro-ethical sentiment. Though there is still. in predominant amount that transcendental self-seeking which' does good here merely to get happiness hereafter-though there are even nlultitudes who, in the spirit of Sir Thomas Brovvne, feel no shalne in the avowal that their kindnesses to others are prolnpted by the .wish to please God more than' by the wish to further human ,vel fare; yet there are many who, in conferring benefits, are prompted nlainly, and others who are prompted ~rholl'y, bi fellow-feeling with those vvhom they aid. And beyond the manifestations of this sentirnent of true generosity in private actions, there are occasionally Inanifestations of it in public actions; as ,vhen' the nation made a sacrifice o£ twenty millions of money that the West Indian slaves might be emancipated.

That this development of true ,generosity has been conse quent on increase of sympathy, and that syrnpathy has gained scope for exercise and growth with the advance to an orderly and amicable social life, scarcely needs saying. § 149. For reasons given at the outset, it is difficult to bring the various manifestations of pseudo-generosity and generosity proper, into generalizations of a definite kind. And the impediment due to the cOlnplexity and variable composition of the emotion prornpting generous acts, is made greater by the inconsistency of the traits which 111en, and especially the 10,,"'e1" types of men, present. Un388 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS. balanced as their natures are, they act in quite opposite ways according to the impulse which is for the' rnornent in pos session of consciousness. Angas tells us that "infanticide is frequent among the New Zealanders." Yet" both parents are alrnost idolatrously fond of their children;" and while Cook described thelll as "implacable towards their enemies,"

Thomson observed that they were kind to their slaves. Other instances are furnished by the Negro races. Reade says that in parts of Equatorial Africa where there is the greatest treachery, there are also strong marks of affec tionate friendship. Concerning the East Africans Burton writes :" When childhood is passed, the father and son become natural enemies, after the manner of wild beasts. Yet they are a sociable race, and the sudden loss of relatives sometimes leads from grief to hypochondria and insanity." Lacking those higher emotions 'which serve to coordinate the lower, these last severally determine the actions now this way and now that, according to the incidents of the mornent. Hence only by comparison of extremes are we likely to dis cover any significant relations of facts. In the accounts of those most ferocious savages, the cannibal Fijians, 'rho 'worship cannibal gods,-savages whose titles of honour are "the waster of" such a coast, "the depopulator of" such an island, and who committed atrocities ,"vhich Williarrls said "I dare not record here,"

no mention is made of any generosity save that which results from display. Among the predatory red lnen of North America, the Dakotas may be singled out as those who, in the greatest degree, show the aggressiveness and revengefulness fostered by a life of chronic war-rnen by whom prisoners, especially aged ones, are handed over to the squaws to torture for their aruusement. Here gen erosity is referred to only to note its absence: the Dakota is ungenerous, says Burton-never gives except to get more in return. Similarly of the N agas, ever fighting, GENEROSITY. 389 village with village as well as with neighbouring races, carrying blood-feuds to extremes, dreaded as robbers and murderers, and always mutilating their dead enemies, 1ve read that "they are totally devoid of a spark of generosity, -and will not give the Inost trifling articles without receiving rellluneration.' , Of the converse connexion of traits the evidence is usually not clear, for the reason that the generosity ascribed to tribes which do not carryon perpetual hostilities is mostly of the kind shown in hospitality, 'which is always open to the interpretation of being due in part, if not wholly, to usage or love of display. Thus Oolquhoun, who talks of the "hos pitable aborigines" and says" it is quite refreshing to turn from the Ohristian Anarnites to the less repulsive, if heathen, hill-tribes" (the Steins who inhabit" fever-stricken haunts,"

where they can lead peaceful lives) says that" amongst theIl1 a stranger is certain of a welconle; the fatted pig or fowl is at once killed, the loving cup produced." Similarly in his earlier ,vork, Across Oh:rYS8, lVlr. Colquhoun, speaking of indigenous peoples here and there islanded among the' con quering Tartars, speaks of them as "very pleasant in their ways, kind and. hospitable;" and afterwards he quotes the impressions of a resident French missionary, who spoke of the peaceful native inhabitants as "simple, hospitable, hon est," haviJlg "Ie bon creur," while of the governing Ohinese, and especially the n1ilitary mandarins, his verdict was " etre mandarin, c'est etre voleur, brigand!" Of like mean ing is the contrast drawn by the Abbe Favre in his Accottnt ..qf the Wild Tribes ofthe Malayan Peninsula. On the one hand he describes the conquering race, the Malays, as being full of predatory vices, lying, cheating, plundering-" no man can entrust them vvith anything;" and, so far from being hospitable, using every means to fleece the traveller.

On the other hand of the aboriginal peoples, who "fled to the fastnesses of the interior, where they have since con tinued in a savage state," he tells us that their disputes are 390 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS. settled" without fighting or malice," that they are" entirely inoffensive," and "generally kind, affable, inclined to grati tude and to beneficence," "liberal and-generous." Briefly contrasting the two he says-" The actions of Malays gen erally show low sentiments and a sordid feeling; but the J akuns are naturally proud and generous;" and then he asks-" Whence then conIes so remarkable a difference?" As a cause he comments on the "plundering and bloody actions" of the piratical lVIalays; while the J akuns have been led into quiet lives in their fastnesses. Let me add, lastly, the case of the peaceful and "simple Arafuras," of wholn the French resident,1\L Bik, says :-" They have a very excusable anlbition to gain the name of rich men, by paying the debts of their poorer fellow-villagers ... Thus the only use they make of their riches is to ernploy it in settling differences."