,,home ,,university ,,library ,,of      
,,modern ,,knowledge    ,no4 #ajc       
,editors3    ,,herbert ,,fisher1 ,m4,a41
 ,f4,b4,a4  ,,prof4 ,,gilbert ,,murray1 
,,litt4,d4 ,,ll4,d41 ,f4,b4,a4  ,,prof4 
,j4 ,,arthur ,,thomson1 ,m4,a4  ,,prof4 
,,william ,t4 ,,brewster1 ,m4,a4        
,,political ,,thought ,,in ,,england    
,,from ,,locke ,,to ,,bentham      ,,by 
,,harold ,j4 ,,laski      ,,sometime    
,,exhibitioner ,,of ,,new ,,college1    
,,oxford1 ,,of ,,the ,,department ,,of  
,,history ,,in ,,harvard ,,university1  
,,author ,,of ,,studies ,,in ,,the      
,,problem ,,of  ,,sovereignty ,,and     
,,authority ,,in ,,the ,,modern ,,state 
,,new ,,york  ,,henry ,,holt ,,and      
,,company  ,,london  ,,williams ,,and   
,,norgate          #aibj          ,,note
    ,it is impossible for me to publish 
this book without some expression of    
the debt it owes to ,leslie ,stephen's  
,history of the ,english ,thought in    
the ,eighteenth ,century4 ,it is almost 
insolent to praise such work2 but  ,i   

may be permitted to say that no one can 
fully appreciate either its  wisdom or  
its knowledge who has not had to dig    
among the original texts4    ,were so   
small a volume worthy to bear a         
dedication1 ,i should associate  it with
 the name of my friend ,walter          
,lippmann4 ,he and ,i have so often     
discussed the substance of its problems 
that ,i am certain a good deal of  what 
,i feel to be my own is1 where it has   
merit1 really his4 ,this volume  is thus
 in great part a tribute to him2 though 
there is little that can  repay such    
friendship as he gives4    ,h4,j4,l4    
,,harvard ,,university  ,sept4 #ae1     
#aiai          ,,contents    ,,chapter  
,,page      ,i4 ,,introduction          
#g     ,,ii4 ,,the ,,principles ,,of    
,,the ,,revolution           #bd        
,,iii4 ,,church ,,and ,,state           
#gg     ,,iv4 ,,the ,,era ,,of          
,,stagnation                     #abg   
,v4 ,,signs ,,of ,,change               
#aei     ,,vi4 ,,burke                  

#bac    ,,vii4 ,,the ,,foundations ,,of 
,,economic ,,liberalism    #bha         
,,bibliography                          
#cag    ,,index                         
#cba          ,,chapter ,i              
,,introduction      ,the eighteenth     
century may be said to begin with the   
,revolution of #afhh2  for1 with its    
completion1 the dogma of ,divine ,right 
disappeared for ever  from ,english     
politics4 ,its place was but partially  
filled until ,hume and  ,burke supplied 
the outlines of a new philosophy4 ,for  
the observer of  this age can hardly    
fail1 as he notes its relative          
barrenness of  abstract ideas1 to be    
impressed by the large part ,divine     
,right must have  played in the politics
 of the succeeding century4 ,its very   
absoluteness  made for keen partisanship
 on the one side and the other4 ,it     
could  produce at once the longwinded   
rhapsodies of ,filmer and1 by repulsion1
  the wearisome reiterations of         
,algernon ,sidney4 ,once the foundations

 of  ,divine ,right had been destroyed  
by ,locke1 the basis of passionate      
controversy was absent4 ,the theory of a
 social contract never produced  in     
,england the enthusiasm it evoked in    
,france1 for the simple reason  that the
 main objective of ,rousseau and his    
disciples had already been  secured     
there by other weapons4 ,and this has   
perhaps given to the  eighteenth century
 an urbaneness from which its           
predecessor was largely  free4 ,sermons 
are perhaps the best test of such a     
change2 and it is a  relief to move from
 the addresses bristling with ,suarez   
and ,bellarmine  to the noble           
exhortations of ,bishop ,butler4 ,not   
until the ,french  ,revolution were     
ultimate dogmas again called into       
question2 and it is  about them only    
that political speculation provokes deep
 feeling4 ,the  urbanity1 indeed1 is not
 entirely new4 ,the ,restoration had    
heralded its  coming1 and the tone of   
,halifax has more in common with        

,bolingbroke and  ,hume than with       
,hobbes and ,filmer4 ,nor has the       
eighteenth century an  historical       
profundity to compare with that of the  
zealous pamphleteers  in the            
seventeenth4 ,heroic archivists like    
,prynne find very different  substitutes
 in brilliant journalists like ,defoe1  
and if ,dalrymple and  ,blackstone are  
respectable1 they bear no comparison    
with masters like  ,selden and ,sir     
,henry ,spelman4    ,yet urbanity must  
not deceive us4 ,the eighteenth century 
has an  importance in ,english politics 
which the comparative absence of        
systematic speculation can not conceal4 
,if its large constitutional  outlines  
had been traced by a preceding age1 its 
administrative detail  had still to be  
secured4 ,the process was very gradual2 
and the attempt  of ,george ,,iii to    
arrest it produced the splendid effort  
of ,edmund ,burke4  ,locke's work may   
have been not seldom confused and       
stumbling2 but it  gave to the principle

 of consent a permanent place in        
,english politics4  ,it is the age which
 saw the crystallization of the         
party-system1 and  therein it may       
perhaps lay claim to have recognized    
what ,bagehot called  the vital         
principle of representative government4 
,few discussions of the  sphere of      
government have been so productive as   
that in which ,adam ,smith  gave a new  
basis to economic science4 ,few         
controversies have1 despite  its        
dullness1 so carefully investigated the 
eternal problem of ,church  and ,state  
as that to which ,hoadly's bishopric    
contributed its name4 ,de  ,lolme is the
 real parent of that interpretative     
analysis which has1 in  ,bagehot's      
hands1 become not the least fruitful    
type of political method4  ,blackstone1 
in a real sense1 may be called the      
ancestor of ,professor  ,dicey4 ,the    
very calmness of the atmosphere only the
 more surely paved  the way for the     
surprising novelties of ,godwin and the 

revolutionists4    ,nor must we neglect 
the relation between its ethics and its 
politics4  ,the eighteenth century      
school of ,british moralists has        
suffered somewhat  beside the greater   
glories of ,berkeley and ,hume4 ,yet it 
was a great work  to which they bent    
their effort1 and they knew its         
greatness4 ,the  deistic controversy    
involved a fresh investigation of the   
basis of  morals2 and it is to the      
credit of the investigators that they   
attempted  to provide it in social      
terms4 ,it is1 indeed1 one of the       
primary  characteristics of the ,british
 mind to be interested in problems of   
conduct rather than of thought4 ,the    
seventeenth century had1 for the  most  
part1 been interested in theology and   
government2 and its  preoccupation1 in  
both domains1 with supernatural         
sanctions1 made its  conclusions        
unfitted for a period dominated by      
rationalism4 ,locke  regarded his ,human
 ,understanding as the preliminary to an

 ethical  enquiry2 and ,hume seems to   
have considered his ,principles of      
,morals  the most vital of his works4   
,it may be true1 as the mordant insight 
of  ,mark ,pattison suggested1 that     
those periods in which morals have been 
represented as the proper study of man1 
and his only business1 have been        
periods of spiritual abasement and      
poverty4 ,certainly no one will be      
inclined to claim for the eighteenth    
century the spiritual idealism of  the  
seventeenth1 though ,law and ,bishop    
,wilson and the ,wesleyan revival  will 
make us generalize with caution4 ,but   
the truth was that theological  ethics  
had become empty and inadequate1 and the
 problem was therefore  urgent4 ,that is
 why ,shaftesbury1 ,hutcheson1 ,hume and
 ,adam ,smith--to take  only men of the 
first eminence--were thinking not less  
for politics than  for ethics when they 
sought to justify the ways of man to    
man4 ,for all  of them saw that a theory
 of society is impossible without the   

provision  of psychological foundations2
 and those must1 above all1 result in a 
theory of conduct if the social bond is 
to be maintained4 ,that sure  insight   
is1 of course1 one current only in a    
greater ,english stream  which reaches  
back to ,hobbes at its source and       
forward to ,t4,h4 ,green at  perhaps its
 fullest4 ,its value is its denial of   
politics as a science  distinct from    
other human relations2 and that is why  
,adam ,smith can  write of moral        
sentiments no less than of the wealth of
 nations4 ,the  eighteenth century saw  
clearly that each aspect of social life 
must find  its place in the political   
equation4    ,yet it is undoubtedly an  
age of methods rather than of           
principles2 and1  as such its peaceful  
prosperity was well suited to its       
questions4  ,problems of technique1 such
 as the cabinet and the ,bank of        
,england  required the absence of       
passionate debate if they were in any   
fruitful  fashion to be solved4 ,nor    

must the achievement of the age in      
politics be  minimized4 ,it was1 of     
course1 a complacent time2 but we ought 
to note  that foreigners of distinction 
did not wonder at its complacency4      
,voltaire and ,montesquieu look back to 
,england in the eighteenth century  for 
the substance of political truths4 ,the 
,american colonies took alike  their    
methods and their arguments from        
,english ancestors2 and ,burke  provided
 them with the main elements of         
justification4 ,the very  quietness1    
indeed1 of the time was the natural     
outcome of a century of  storm2 and     
,england surely had some right to be    
contented when her  political system was
 compared with the governments of       
,france and  ,germany4 ,not1 indeed1    
that the full fruit of the ,revolution  
was  gathered4 ,the principle of consent
 came1 in practice and till #agfj1 to   
mean the government of the ,whig        
,oligarchy2 and the ,extraordinary      
,black  ,book remains to tell us what   

happened when ,george ,,iii gave the    
,tory  party a new lease of power4      
,there is throughout the time an        
over-emphasis upon the value of order1  
and a not unnatural tendency to         
confound the private good of the        
governing class with the general        
welfare of the state4 ,it became the    
fixed policy of ,walpole to make        
prosperity the mask for political       
stagnation4 ,he turned political debate 
from principles to personalities1 and a 
sterile generation was the  outcome of  
his cunning4    ,not that this          
barrenness is without its compensations4
 ,the theories of  the ,revolution had  
exhausted their fruitfulness within a   
generation4 ,the  constitutional ideas  
of the seventeenth century had no       
substance for an  ,england where        
,anglicanism and agriculture were       
beginning to lose the  rigid outlines of
 overwhelming predominance4 ,what was   
needed was the  assurance of safety for 
the ,church that her virtue might be    

tested in  the light of nonconformist   
practice on the one hand1 and the new   
rationalism on the other4 ,what was     
needed also was the expansion of        
,english commerce into the new channels 
opened for it by the victories of       
,chatham4 ,mr4 ,chief ,justice ,holt had
 given it the legal categories it  would
 require2 and ,hume and ,adam ,smith    
were to explain that commerce  might    
grow with small danger to agricultural  
prosperity4 ,beneath the  apparent calm 
of ,walpole's rule new forces were fast 
stirring4 ,that can  be seen on every   
side4 ,the sturdy morality of ,johnson1 
the new literary  forms of ,richardson  
and ,fielding1 the theatre which        
,garrick founded upon  the ruins        
produced by ,collier's indignation1 the 
revival of which ,law  and ,wesley are  
the great symbols1 show that the        
stagnation was sleep  rather than death4
 ,the needed events of shock were close 
at hand4 ,the  people of ,england would 
never have discovered the real meaning  

of #afhh  if ,george ,,iii had not      
denied its principles4 ,when he enforced
 the  resignation of the elder ,pitt the
 theories at once of ,edmund ,burke and 
,english radicalism were born2 for the  
,present ,discontents and the  ,society 
for the ,support of the ,bill of ,rights
 are the dawn of a  splendid recovery4  
,and they made possible the speculative 
ferment which  showed that ,england was 
at last awake to the meaning of         
,montesquieu and  ,rousseau4 ,just as   
the shock of the ,lancastrian wars      
produced the ,tudor  despotism1 so did  
the turmoil of civil strife produce the 
complacency of  the eighteenth century4 
,but the peace of the ,tudors was the   
death-bed of  the ,stuarts2 and it was  
the stagnant optimism of the early      
eighteenth  century which made possible 
the birth of democratic ,england4       
,the atmosphere of the time1 in fact1 is
 deep-rooted in the conditions of  the  
past4 ,locke could not have written had 
not ,hobbes and ,filmer  defended in set

 terms the ideal of despotic government4
 ,he announced the  advent of the modern
 system of parliamentary government2 and
 from his  time the debate has been     
rather of the conditions under which it 
is to  work1 than of the foundations    
upon which it is based4 ,burke1 for     
example1 wrote what constitutes the     
supreme analysis of the statesman's     
art4 ,adam ,smith discussed in what     
fashion the prosperity of peoples  could
 be best advanced4 ,from ,locke1 that is
 to say1 the subject of  discussion is  
rather politik than staatslehre4 ,the   
great debate  inaugurated by the        
,reformation ceased when ,locke had     
outlined an  intelligible basis for     
parliamentary government4 ,hume1        
,bolingbroke1  ,burke1 are all of them  
concerned with the detail of political  
arrangement in a fashion which          
presupposes the acceptance of a basis   
previously known4 ,burke1 indeed1 toward
 the latter part of his life1  awoke to 
the realization that men were           

dissatisfied with the traditional       
substance of the ,state4 ,but he met the
 new desires with hate instead of       
understanding1 and the ,napoleonic wars 
drove the current of democratic  opinion
 underground4 ,hall and ,owen and       
,hodgskin inherited the thoughts  of    
,ogilvie and ,spence and ,paine2 and if 
they did not give them  substance1 at   
least they gave them form for a later   
time4    ,nor is the reason for this    
preoccupation far to seek4 ,the advance 
of  ,english politics in the preceding  
two centuries was mainly an advance of  
structure2 yet relative at least to     
continental fact1 it appeared  liberal  
enough to hide the disharmonies of its  
inner content4 ,the ,king  was still a  
mighty influence4 ,the power of the     
aristocracy was hardly  broken until the
 ,reform ,bill of #ahfg4 ,the ,church   
continued to dominate  the political    
aspect of ,english religious life until1
 after #ahcb1 new  elements alien from  
her ideals were introduced into the     

,house of  ,commons4 ,the conditions of 
change lay implicit in the ,industrial  
,revolution1 when a new class of men    
attained control of the nation's        
economic power4 ,only then was a        
realignment of political forces         
essential4 ,only then1 that is to say1  
had the time arrived for a new  theory  
of the ,state4    ,the political ideas  
of the eighteenth century are thus in   
some sort a  comment upon the system    
established by the ,revolution2 and that
 is1 in  its turn1 the product of the   
struggle between ,parliament and ,crown 
in  the preceding age4 ,but we cannot   
understand the eighteenth century1 or   
its theories1 unless we realize that its
 temper was still dominantly            
aristocratic4 ,from no accusation were  
its statesmen more anxious to be  free  
than from that of a belief in democratic
 government4 ,whether ,whigs  or ,tories
 were in power1 it was always the great 
families who ruled4 ,for  them the      
,church1 at least in its higher         

branches1 existed2 and the  difference  
between nobleman and commoner at ,oxford
 is as striking as it  is hideous to    
this generation4 ,for them also         
literature and the theatre  made their  
display2 and if ,dr4 ,johnson could heap
 an immortal contumely  upon the name of
 patron1 we all know of the reverence he
 felt in the  presence of the king4     
,divine ,right and non-resistance were  
dead1 but  they had not died without a  
struggle4 ,freedom of the press and     
legal  equality may have been obtained2 
but it was not until the passage of     
,fox's ,libel ,act that the first became
 secure1 and ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,hammond    
have recently illumined for us the      
inward meaning of the second4 ,the      
populace might1 on occasion1 be strong  
enough to force the elder ,pitt  upon an
 unwilling king1 or to shout for ,wilkes
 and liberty against the                
unconstitutional usurpation of the      
monarch-ridden ,house of ,commons4 ,such
  outbursts are yet the exception to the

 prevailing temper4 ,the  deliberations 
of ,parliament were still1 at least     
technically1 a secret2  and membership  
therein1 save for one or two anomalies  
like ,westminster  and ,bristol1 was    
still the private possession of a       
privileged class4 ,the  ,revolution1 in 
fact1 meant less an abstract and general
 freedom1 than a  special release from  
the arbitrary will of a stupid monarch  
who aroused  against himself every      
deep-seated prejudice of his generation4
 ,the  ,england which sent ,james ,,ii  
upon his travels may be1 as ,hume       
pointed  out1 reduced to a pathetic     
fragment even of its electorate4 ,the   
masses  were unknown and undiscovered1  
or1 where they emerged1 it was either to
  protest against some wise reform like 
,walpole's ,excise ,scheme1 or to       
become1 as in ,goldsmith and ,cowper and
 ,crabbe1 the object of  half-pitying   
poetic sentiment4 ,how deep-rooted was  
the notion of  aristocratic control was 
to be shown when ,france turned into    

substantial  fact ,rousseau's demand for
 freedom4 ,the protest of ,burke against
 its  supposed anarchy swept ,england   
like a flame2 and only a courageous     
handful could be found to protest       
against ,pitt's prostitution of her     
freedom4    ,such an age could make but 
little pretence to discovery2 and1      
indeed1 it  is most largely absent from 
its speculation4 ,in its political ideas
 this  is necessarily and especially the
 case4 ,for the ,state is at no time an 
unchanging organization2 it reflects    
with singular exactness the  dominating 
ideas of its environment4 ,that division
 into government and  subjects which is 
its main characteristic is here         
noteworthy for the  narrowness of the   
class from which the government is      
derived1 and the  consistent inertia of 
those over whom it rules4 ,there is     
curiously  little controversy over the  
seat of sovereign power4 ,that is with  
most  men acknowledged to reside in the 
king in ,parliament4 ,what balance of   

forces is necessary to its most perfect 
equilibrium may arouse  dissension when 
,george ,,iii forgets the result of half
 a century's  evolution4 ,junius may    
have to explain in invective what ,burke
  magistrally demonstrated in terms of  
political philosophy4 ,but the  deeper  
problems of the state lay hidden until  
,bentham and the  revolutionists came to
 insist upon their presence4 ,that did  
not mean  that the eighteenth century   
was a soulless failure4 ,rather did it  
mean  that a period of transition had   
been successfully bridged4 ,the stage   
was  set for a new effort simply because
 the theories of the older philosophy   
no longer represented the facts at      
issue4    ,it was thus ,locke only in   
this period who confronted the general  
problems of the modern ,state4 ,other   
thinkers assumed his structure and      
dealt with the details he left          
undetermined4 ,the main problems1 the   
,church apart1 arose when a foreigner   
occupied the ,english throne and  left  

the methods of government to those who  
were acquainted with them4  ,that most  
happy of all the happy accidents in     
,english history made  ,walpole the     
fundamental statesman of the time4 ,he  
used his opportunity  to the full4      
,inheriting the possibilities of the    
cabinet system he gave  it its modern   
expression by creating the office of    
,prime ,minister4 ,the  party-system was
 already inevitable2 and with his advent
 to full power  in #agbg we have the    
characteristic outlines of ,english     
representative  government4             
,thenceforward1 there are1 on the whole1
 but three large  questions with which  
the age concerned itself4 ,toleration   
had already  been won by the persistent 
necessities of two generations1 and the 
noble  determination of ,william ,,iii2 
but the place of the ,church in the     
,revolution ,state and the nature of    
that ,state were still undetermined4    
,hoadly had one solution1 ,law another2 
and the genial rationalism of the  time1

 coupled with the political affiliations
 of the ,high ,church party1  combined  
to give ,hoadly the victory2 but his    
opponents1 and ,law  especially1        
remained to be the parents of a movement
 for ecclesiastical  freedom of which it
 has been the good fortune of ,oxford to
 supply in  each succeeding century the 
leaders4 ,america presented again the   
problem  of consent in the special      
perspective of the imperial relation2   
and the  decision which grew out of the 
blundering obscurantism of the ,king    
enabled ,burke nobly to restate and     
amply to revivify the principles of     
#afhh4 ,chatham meanwhile had stumbled  
upon a vaster empire2 and the           
industrial system which his effort      
quickened could not live under an       
economic rgime which still bore traces  
of the narrow nationalism of the        
,tudors4 ,no man was so emphatically    
representative of his epoch as ,adam    
,smith2 and no thinker has ever stated  
in such generous terms the answer  of   

his time to the most vital of its       
questions4 ,the answer1 indeed1 like    
all good answers1 revealed rather the   
difficulty of the problem than the      
prospect of its solution2 though nothing
 so clearly heralded the new age  that  
was coming than his repudiation of the  
past in terms of a real  appreciation of
 it4 ,the ,american ,war and the two    
great revolutions  brought a new race of
 thinkers into being4 ,the ,french seed 
at last  produced its harvest4 ,bentham 
absorbed the purpose of ,rousseau even  
while he rejected his methods4 ,for a   
time1 indeed1 the heat and dust of  war 
obscured the issue that ,bentham raised4
 ,but the certainties of the  future lay
 on his side4          ,,chapter ,,ii   
,,the ,,principles ,,of ,,the           
,,revolution        ,i      ,the        
,english ,revolution was in the main a  
protest against the attempt of  ,james  
,,ii to establish a despotism in        
alliance with ,france and ,rome4 ,it    
was almost entirely a movement of the   

aristocracy1 and1 for the most  part1 it
 was aristocratic opposition that it    
encountered4 ,what it did  was to make  
for ever impossible the thought of      
reunion with ,rome and the  theory that 
the throne could be established on any  
other basis than the  consent of        
,parliament4 ,for no one could pretend  
that ,william of ,orange  ruled by      
,divine ,right4 ,the scrupulous shrank  
from proclaiming the  deposition of     
,james2 and the fiction that he had     
abdicated was not  calculated to deceive
 even the warmest of ,william's         
adherents4 ,an  unconstitutional        
,parliament thereupon declared the      
throne vacant2 and  after much          
negotiation ,william and ,mary were     
invited to occupy it4 ,to  ,william the 
invitation was irresistible4 ,it gave   
him the assistance of  the first        
maritime power in ,europe against the   
imperialism of ,louis ,,xiv4  ,it       
ensured the survival of ,protestantism  
against the encroachments of an  enemy  

who never slumbered4 ,nor did ,england  
find the new rgime  unwelcome4 ,every   
widespread conviction of her people had 
been wantonly  outraged by the          
blundering stupidity of ,james4 ,if a   
large fraction of  the ,english ,church 
held aloof from the new order on        
technical grounds1  the commercial      
classes gave it their warm support2 and 
many who doubted  in theory submitted in
 practice4 ,all at least were conscious 
that a new  era had dawned4    ,for     
,william had come over with a definite  
purpose in view4 ,james had  wrought    
havoc with what the ,civil ,wars had    
made the essence of the  ,english       
constitution2 and it had become         
important to define in set terms  the   
conditions upon which the life of kings 
must in the future be  regulated4 ,the  
reign of ,william is nothing so much as 
the period of that  definition2 and the 
fortunate discovery was made of the     
mechanisms  whereby its translation into
 practice might be secured4 ,the ,bill  

of  ,rights 7#afhi7 and the ,act of     
,settlement 7#agja7 are the             
foundation-stones  of the modern        
constitutional system4    ,what1        
broadly1 was established was the        
dependence of the crown upon            
,parliament4 ,finance and the army were 
brought under ,parliamentary  control by
 the simple expedient of making its     
annual summons essential4  ,the right of
 petition was re-affirmed2 and the      
independence of the  judges and         
ministerial responsibility were secured 
by the same act which  forever excluded 
the legitimate heirs from their royal   
inheritance4 ,it  is difficult not to be
 amazed at the almost casual fashion in 
which so  striking a revolution was     
effected4 ,not1 indeed1 that the        
solution  worked easily at the outset4  
,william remained to the end a          
foreigner1  who could not understand the
 inwardness of ,english politics4 ,it   
was the  necessities of foreign policy  
which drove him to admit the immense    

possibilities of the party-system as    
also to accept his own best  safeguard  
in the foundation of the ,bank of       
,england4 ,the ,cabinet1  towards the   
close of his reign1 had already become  
the fundamental  administrative         
instrument4 ,originally a committee of  
the ,privy ,council1  it had no party   
basis until the ingenious ,sunderland   
atoned for a score  of dishonesties by  
insisting that the root of its          
efficiency would be  found in its       
selection from a single party4 ,william 
acquiesced but  doubtfully2 for1 until  
the end of his life1 he never understood
 why his  ministers should not be a     
group of able counsellors chosen without
  reference to their political          
affiliations4 ,sunderland knew better   
for  the simple reason that he belonged 
to that period when the ,whigs and      
,tories had gambled against each other  
for their heads4 ,he knew that no       
council-board could with comfort contain
 both himself and ,halifax2 just  as    

,william himself was to learn quite     
early that neither honor nor  confidence
 could win unswerving support from ,john
 ,churchill4 ,there is a  certain       
feverishness in the atmosphere of the   
reign which shows how many  kept an     
anxious eye on ,st4 ,germain even while 
they attended the morning  levee at     
,whitehall4    ,what secured the        
permanence of the settlement was less   
the policy of  ,william than the blunder
 of the ,french monarch4 ,patience1     
foresight and  generosity had not       
availed to win for ,william more than a 
grudging  recognition of his kingship4  
,he had received only a half-hearted    
support  for his foreign policy4 ,the   
army1 despite his protests1 had been    
reduced2 and the enforced return of his 
own ,dutch ,guards to ,holland was      
deliberately conceived to cause him     
pain4 ,but at the very moment when  his 
strength seemed weakest ,james ,,ii     
died2 and ,louis ,,xiv1 despite  written
 obligation1 sought to comfort the last 

moments of his tragic  exile by the     
falsely chivalrous recognition of the   
,old ,pretender as the  rightful        
,english king4 ,it was a terrible       
mistake4 ,it did for ,william  what no  
action of his own could ever have       
achieved4 ,it suggested that  ,england  
must receive its ruler at the hands of a
 foreign sovereign4 ,the  national pride
 of the people rallied to the cause for 
which ,william  stood4 ,he was king--so1
 at least in contrast to ,louis'        
decision1 it  appeared--by their        
deliberate choice and the settlement of 
which he was  the symbol would be       
maintained4 ,parliament granted to      
,william all that  his foreign policy   
could have demanded4 ,his own death was 
only the  prelude to the victories of   
,marlborough4 ,those victories seemed to
 seal  the solution of #afhh4 ,a moment 
came when sentiment and intrigue        
combined  to throw in jeopardy the ,act 
of ,settlement4 ,but ,death held the    
stakes  against the gambler's throw of  

,bolingbroke2 and the accession of      
,george  ,i assured the permanence of   
,revolution principles4        ,,ii     
,the theorist of the ,revolution is     
,locke2 and it was his conscious effort 
to justify the innovations of #afhh4 ,he
 sought1 as he said1 to establish  the  
throne of our great ,restorer1 our      
present ,king ,william1 and make  good  
his title in the consent of the people4 
,in the debate which  followed his      
argument remained unanswered1 for the   
sufficient reason  that it had the      
common sense of the generation on his   
side4 ,yet ,locke  has suffered not a   
little at the hands of succeeding       
thinkers4 ,though  his influence upon   
his own time was immense2 though        
,montesquieu owed to  him the acutest of
 his insights2 though the principles of 
the ,american  ,revolution are in large 
part an acknowledged adoption of his    
own2 he has  become one of the political
 classics who are taken for granted     
rather  than read4 ,it is a profound and

 regrettable error4 ,locke may not      
possess  the clarity and ruthless logic 
of ,hobbes1 or the genius for           
compressing  into a phrase the          
experience of a lifetime which makes    
,burke the first  of ,english political 
thinkers4 ,he yet stated more clearly   
than either  the general problem of the 
modern ,state4 ,hobbes1 after all1      
worked with  an impossible psychology   
and sought no more than the prescription
  against disorder4 ,burke wrote rather 
a text-book for the cautious            
administrator than a guide for the      
liberal statesman4 ,but ,locke saw that 
the main problem of the ,state is the   
conquest of freedom and it was for  its 
definition in terms of individual good  
that he above all strove4    ,much1     
doubtless1 of his neglect is due to the 
medium in which he worked4  ,he wrote at
 a time when the social contract seemed 
the only possible  retort to the theory 
of ,divine ,right4 ,he so emphasized the
 principle of  consent that when        

contractualism came in its turn to be   
discarded1 it  was discovered that      
,locke suffered far more than ,hobbes by
 the change so  made4 ,for ,hobbes cared
 nothing for the contract so long as    
strong  government could be shown to be 
implicit in the natural badness of men1 
while ,locke assumed their goodness and 
made his contract essential to  their   
opportunity for moral expression4 ,nor  
did he1 like ,rousseau1 seize  upon the 
organic nature of the ,state4 ,to him   
the ,state was always a mere  aggregate1
 and the convenient simplicity of       
majority-rule solved1 for  him1 the     
vital political problems4 ,but ,rousseau
 was translated into the  complex       
dialectic of ,hegel and lived to become 
the parent of theories he  would have   
doubtless been the first to disown4 ,nor
 was ,locke aided by  his philosophic   
outlook4 ,few great thinkers have so    
little perceived the  psychological     
foundations of politics4 ,what he did   
was rather to fasten  upon the great    

institutional necessity of his time--the
 provision of  channels of assent--and  
emphasize its importance to the         
exclusion of all  other factors4 ,the   
problem is in fact more complex2 and the
 solution he  indicated became so       
natural a part of the political fabric  
that the  value of his emphasis upon its
 import was largely forgotten when men  
again took up the study of foundations4 
,john ,locke was born at ,wrington in   
,somerset on the #bith of ,august1      
#afcb4  ,his father was clerk to the    
county justices and acted as a captain  
in a  cavalry regiment during the ,civil
 ,war4 ,though he suffered heavy losses1
  he was able to give his son as good an
 education as the time afforded4        
,westminster under ,dr4 ,busby may not  
have been the gentlest of academies1    
but at least it provided ,locke with an 
admirable training in the  classics4 ,he
 himself1 indeed1 in the ,thoughts on   
,education doubted the  value of such   
exercises2 nor does he seem to have     

conceived any  affection for ,oxford    
whither he proceeded in #afeb as a      
junior student of  ,christ ,church4 ,the
 university was then under the ,puritan 
control of ,dr4  ,john ,owen2 but not   
even his effort to redeem the university
 from its  reputation for intellectual  
laxity rescued it from the wrangling and
  ostentation of the peripatetic        
philosophy4 ,yet it was at ,oxford that 
he encountered the work of ,descartes   
which first attracted him to            
metaphysics4 ,there1 too1 he met        
,pocock1 the ,arabic scholar1 and       
,wallis  the mathematician1 who must at 
least have commanded his respect4 ,in   
#afei  he accepted a ,senior            
,studentship of his college1 which he   
retained until  he was deemed           
politically undesirable in #afhd4 ,after
 toying with his  father's desire that  
he should enter the ,church1 he began   
the study of  medicine4 ,scientific     
interest won for him the friendship of  
,boyle2 and  while he was administering 

physic to the patients of ,dr4 ,thomas1 
he was  making the observations recorded
 in ,boyle's ,history of the ,air which 
,locke himself edited after the death of
 his friend4    ,meanwhile accident had 
turned his life into far different      
paths4 ,an  appointment as secretary to 
a special ambassador opened up to him a 
diplomatic career2 but his sturdy       
commonsense showed him his unfitness    
for such labors4 ,after his visit to    
,prussia he returned to ,oxford1 and    
there1 in #affg1 in the course of his   
medical work1 he met ,anthony  ,ashley1 
the later ,lord ,shaftesbury and the    
,ahitophel of ,dryden's great  satire4  
,the two men were warmly attracted to   
each other1 and ,locke  accepted an     
appointment as physician to ,lord       
,ashley's household4 ,but he  was also  
much more than this4 ,the tutor of      
,ashley's philosophic  grandson1 he     
became also his patron's confidential   
counsellor4 ,in #affc  he became part   
author of a constitutional scheme for   

,carolina which is  noteworthy for its  
emphasis1 thus early1 upon the          
importance of  religious toleration4 ,in
 #afgb1 when ,ashley became ,lord       
,chancellor1 he  became ,secretary of   
,presentations and1 until #afge1        
,secretary to the  ,council of ,trade   
and ,foreign ,plantations4 ,meanwhile he
 carried on his  medical work and must  
have obtained some reputation in it2 for
 he is  honorably mentioned by          
,sydenham1 in his ,method of ,curing    
,fevers  7#afgf71 and had been elected  
to the ,royal ,society in #affh4 ,but   
his real  genius lay in other           
directions4    ,locke himself has told  
us how a few friends began to meet at   
his chamber  for the discussions of     
questions which soon passed into        
metaphysical  enquiry2 and a page from a
 commonplace book of #afga is the first 
beginning of his systematic work4       
,relieved of his administrative duties  
in #afge1 he spent the next four years  
in ,france1 mainly occupied with        

medical observation4 ,he returned to    
,england in #afgi to assist ,lord       
,shaftesbury in the passionate debates  
upon the ,exclusion ,bill4 ,locke       
followed his patron into exile1         
remaining abroad from #afhc until the   
,revolution4 ,deprived of his fellowship
 in #afhd through the malice of         
,charles ,,ii1 he would have been       
without means of support had not        
,shaftesbury bequeathed him a pension4  
,as it was1 he had no easy time4  ,his  
extradition was demanded by ,james ,,ii 
after the ,monmouth rebellion2  and     
though he was later pardoned he refused 
to return to ,england until  ,william of
 ,orange had procured his freedom4 ,a   
year after his return he  made his      
appearance as a writer4 ,the ,essay     
,concerning ,human  ,understanding and  
the ,two ,treatises of ,government were 
both published  in #afij4 ,five years   
earlier the ,letter ,concerning         
,toleration was  published in its ,latin
 dress2 and four years afterwards an    

,english  translation appeared4 ,this   
last1 however1 perhaps on grounds of    
expediency1 ,locke never acknowledged   
until his will was published2 for  the  
time was not yet suited to such generous
 speculations4 ,locke was  thus in his  
fifty-eighth year when his first        
admitted work appeared4 ,but  the rough 
attempts at the essay date from #afga1  
and hints towards the  ,letter on       
,toleration can be found in fragments of
 various dates  between the             
twenty-eighth and thirty-fifth years of 
his life4 ,of the  ,two ,treatises the  
first seems to have been written between
 #afhj and  #afhe1 the second in the    
last year of his ,dutch exile4#a        
,footnote #a3 ,on the evidence for these
 dates see the convincing argument  of  
,mr4 ,fox-,bourne in his ,life of       
,locke1 ,vol4 ,,ii1 pp4 #afe-g4    ,the 
remaining fourteen years of ,locke's    
life were passed in  semi-retirement in 
,east ,anglia4 ,though he held public   
office1 first as  ,commissioner of      

,appeals1 and later of ,trade1 for      
twelve years1 he could  not stand the   
pressure of ,london writers1 and his    
public work was only  intermittent4 ,his
 counsel1 nevertheless1 was highly      
valued2 and he seems  to have won no    
small confidence from ,william in       
diplomatic matters4  ,somers and        
,charles ,montagu held him in high      
respect1 and he had the  warm friendship
 of ,sir ,isaac ,newton4 ,he published  
some short discussions  on economic     
matters1 and in #afie gave valuable     
assistance in the  destruction of the   
censorship of the press4 ,two years     
earlier he had  published his ,thoughts 
on ,education1 in which the observant   
reader may  find the germ of most of    
,emile's ideas4 ,he did not fail to     
revise the  ,essay from time to time2   
and his ,reasonableness of              
,christianity1  which1 through ,toland1 
provoked a reply from ,stillingfleet and
 showed  ,locke in retort a master of   
the controversial art1 was in some sort 

the  foundation of the deistic debate in
 the next epoch4 ,but his chief work    
had already been done1 and he spent his 
energies in rewarding the  affection of 
his friends4 ,locke died on ,october    
#bh1 #agjd1 amid  circumstances of      
singular majesty4 ,he had lived a full  
life1 and few  have so completely       
realized the medieval ideal of          
specializing in  omniscience4 ,he left  
warm friends behind him2 and ,lady      
,masham has said  of him that beyond    
which no man may dare to aspire4#b      
,footnote #b3 ,fox-,bourne1 op4 cit4    
,letter from ,lady ,masham to ,jean le  
,clerc4        ,,iii      ,locke's ,two 
,treatises of ,government are different 
both in object and  in value4 ,the first
 is a detailed and tiresome response to 
the historic  imagination of ,sir       
,robert ,filmer4 ,in his ,patriarcha1   
which first saw  the light in #afhj1    
though it had been written long before1 
the latter  had sought to reach the     
ultimate conclusion of ,hobbes without  

the  element of contract upon which the 
great thinker depended4 ,i consent  with
 him1 said ,filmer of ,hobbes1 about the
 ,rights of exercising  ,government1 but
 ,i cannot agree to his means of        
acquiring it4 ,that power  must be      
absolute1 ,filmer1 like ,hobbes1 has no 
manner of doubt2 but his  method of     
proof is to derive the title of ,charles
 ,i from ,adam4 ,little  difficulties   
like the origin of primogeniture1 or    
whence1 as ,locke  points out1 the      
universal monarchy of ,shem can be      
derived1 the good ,sir  ,robert does not
 satisfactorily determine4 ,locke takes 
him up point by  point1 and there is    
little enough left1 save a sense that   
history is the  root of institutions1   
when he has done4 ,what troubles us is  
rather why  ,locke should have wasted   
the resources of his intelligence upon  
so  feeble an opponent4 ,the book of    
,hobbes lay ready to his hand2 yet he   
almost ostentatiously refused to grapple
 with it4 ,the answer doubtless  lies in

 ,hobbes' unsavory fame4 ,the man who   
made the ,church a mere  department of  
the ,state and justified not less the   
title of ,cromwell  than of the ,stuarts
 was not the opponent for one who had a 
very  practical problem in hand4 ,and   
,locke could answer that he was         
answering  ,hobbes implicitly in the    
second ,treatise4 ,and though ,filmer   
might  never have been known had not    
,locke thus honored him by retort1 he   
doubtless symbolized what many a        
nobleman's chaplain preached to his     
master's dependents at family prayers4  
,the ,second ,treatise goes to the root 
of the matter4 ,why does political      
power1 a ,right of making ,laws and     
,penalties of ,death and consequently   
all less ,penalties1 exist8 ,it can only
 be for the public benefit1 and  our    
enquiry is thus a study of the grounds  
of political obedience4 ,locke  thus    
traverses the ground ,hobbes had covered
 in his ,leviathan though  he rejects   
every premise of the earlier thinker4   

,to ,hobbes the state of  nature which  
precedes political organization had been
 a state of war4  ,neither peace nor    
reason could prevail where every man was
 his  neighbor's enemy2 and the         
establishment of absolute power1 with   
the  consequent surrender by men of all 
their natural liberties1 was the only   
means of escape from so brutal a rgime4 
,that the state of nature was so        
distinguished ,locke at the outset      
denies4 ,the state of nature is         
governed by the law of nature4 ,the law 
of nature is not1 as ,hobbes had  made  
it1 the antithesis of real law1 but     
rather its condition  antecedent4 ,it is
 a body of rules which governs1 at all  
times and all  places1 the conduct of   
men4 ,its arbiter is reason and1 in the 
natural  state1 reason shows us that men
 are equal4 ,from this equality are born
  men's natural rights which ,locke1    
like the ,independents in the ,puritan  
,revolution1 identifies with life1      
liberty and property4 ,obviously        

enough1 as ,hobbes had also granted1 the
 instinct to self-preservation is  the  
deepest of human impulses4 ,by liberty  
,locke means the right of the           
individual to follow his own bent       
granted only his observance of the  law 
of nature4 ,law1 in such an aspect1 is  
clearly a means to the  realization of  
freedom in the same way that the rule of
 the road will1  by its common          
acceptance1 save its observers from     
accident4 ,it promotes  the initiative  
of men by defining in terms which by    
their very statement  obtain            
acknowledgment the conditions upon which
 individual caprice may  have its play4 
,property ,locke derives from a         
primitive communism which  becomes      
transmuted into individual ownership    
whenever a man has mingled  his labor   
with some object4 ,this labor theory of 
ownership lived1 it may  be remarked1 to
 become1 in the hands of ,hodgskin and  
,thompson1 the  parent of modern        
socialism4    ,the state of nature is   

thus1 in contrast to the argument of    
,hobbes1  pre-eminently social in       
character4 ,there may be war or         
violence2 but  that is only when men    
have abandoned the rule of reason which 
is  integral to their character4 ,but   
the state of nature is not a civil      
,state4 ,there is no common superior to 
enforce the law of nature4 ,each  man1  
as best he may1 works out his own       
interpretation of it4 ,but  because the 
intelligences of men are different there
 is an inconvenient  variety in the     
conceptions of justice4 ,the result is  
uncertainty and  chaos2 and means of    
escape must be found from a condition   
which the  weakness of men must         
ultimately make intolerable4 ,it is here
 that the  social contract emerges4 ,but
 just as ,locke's natural state implies 
a  natural man utterly distinct from    
,hobbes' gloomy picture1 so does        
,locke's social contract represent      
rather the triumph of reason than of    
hard necessity4 ,it is a contract of    

each with all1 a surrender by the       
individual of his personal right to     
fulfil the commands of the law of       
nature in return for the guarantee that 
his rights as nature ordains  them--life
 and liberty and property--will be      
preserved4 ,the contract is  thus not   
general as with ,hobbes but limited and 
specific in character4  ,nor is it1 as  
,hobbes made it1 the resignation of     
power into the hands of  some single man
 or group4 ,on the contrary1 it is a    
contract with the  community as a whole 
which thus becomes that common political
  superior--the ,state--which is to     
enforce the law of nature and punish    
infractions of it4 ,nor is ,locke's     
state a sovereign ,state3 the very  word
 sovereignty does not occur1            
significantly enough1 throughout the    
treatise4 ,the ,state has power only for
 the protection of natural law4  ,its   
province ends when it passes beyond     
those boundaries4    ,such a contract1  
in ,locke's view1 involves the          

pre-eminent necessity of  majority-rule4
 ,unless the minority is content to be  
bound by the will of  superior numbers  
the law of nature has no more protection
 than it had  before the institution of 
political society4 ,and it is further to
 be  assumed that the individual has    
surrendered to the community his        
individual right of carrying out the    
judgment involved in natural law4       
,whether ,locke conceived the contract  
so formulated to be historical1 it  is  
no easy matter to determine4 ,that no   
evidence of its early existence  can be 
adduced he ascribes to its origin in the
 infancy of the race2 and  the histories
 of ,rome and ,sparta and ,venice seem  
to him proof that the  theory is somehow
 demonstrable by facts4 ,more important 
than origins1 he  seems to deem its     
implications4 ,he has placed consent in 
the foreground  of the argument2 and he 
was anxious to establish the grounds for
 its  continuance4 ,can the makers of   
the original contract1 that is to say1  

bind their successors8 ,if legitimate   
government is based upon the  consent of
 its subjects1 may they withdraw their  
consent8 ,and what of a  child born into
 the community8 ,locke is at least      
logical in his consent4  ,the contract  
of obedience must be free or else1 as   
,hooker had previously  insisted1 it is 
not a contract4 ,yet ,locke urged that  
the primitive  members of a ,state are  
bound to its perpetuation simply because
 unless  the majority had power to      
enforce obedience government1 in any    
satisfactory sense1 would be impossible4
 ,with children the case is  different4 
,they are born subjects of no government
 or country2 and their  consent to its  
laws must either be derived from express
 acknowledgment1  or by the tacit       
implication of the fact that the        
protection of the ,state  has been      
accepted4 ,but no one is bound until he 
has shown by the rule of  his mature    
conduct that he considers himself a     
common subject with his  fellows4       

,consent implies an act of will and we  
must have evidence to  infer its        
presence before the rule of subjection  
can be applied4    ,we have thus the    
,state1 though the method of its        
organization is not  yet outlined4 ,for 
,locke there is a difference1 though he 
did not  explicitly describe its nature1
 between ,state and ,government4 ,indeed
 he  sometimes approximates1 without    
ever formally adopting1 the attitude of 
,pufendorf1 his great ,german           
contemporary1 where government is       
derived  from a secondary contract      
dependent upon the original institution 
of  civil society4 ,the distinction is  
made in the light of what is to  follow4
 ,for ,locke was above all anxious to   
leave supreme power in a  community     
whose single will1 as manifested by     
majority-verdict1 could  not be         
challenged by any lesser organ than     
itself4 ,government there must  be if   
political society is to endure2 but its 
form and substance are  dependent upon  

popular institution4    ,locke follows  
in the great ,aristotelian tradition of 
dividing the types  of government into  
three4 ,where the power of making laws  
is in a single  hand we have a monarchy2
 where it is exercised by a few or all  
we have  alternatively oligarchy and    
democracy4 ,the disposition of the      
legislative power is the fundamental    
test of type2 for executive and         
judiciary are clearly dependent on it4  
,nor1 as ,hobbes argued1 is the  form of
 government permanent in character2 the 
supreme community is as  capable of     
making temporary as of registering      
irrevocable decisions4 ,and  though     
,locke admits that monarchy1 from its   
likeness to the family1 is  the most    
primitive type of government1 he denies 
,hobbes' assertion that  it is the best4
 ,it seems1 in his view1 always to      
degenerate into the  hands of lesser men
 who betray the contract they were      
appointed to  observe4 ,nor is oligarchy
 much better off since it emphasizes the

  interest of a group against the       
superior interest of the community as a 
whole4 ,democracy alone proffers        
adequate safeguards of an enduring good 
rule2 a democracy1 that is to say1 which
 is in the hands of delegates           
controlled by popular election4 ,not    
that ,locke is anxious for the          
abolition of kingship4 ,his letters show
 that he disliked the ,cromwellian      
system and the republicanism which      
,harrington and ,milton had based upon  
it4 ,he was content to have a kingship  
divested of legislative power so  long  
as hereditary succession was            
acknowledged to be dependent upon       
popular consent4 ,the main thing was to 
be rid of the ,divine ,right of  kings4 
,we have thus an organ for the          
interpretation of natural law free from 
the shifting variety of individual      
judgment4 ,we have a means for  securing
 impartial justice between members of   
civil society1 and to that  means the   
force of men has been surrendered4 ,the 

formulation of the  rules by which life1
 liberty and property are to be secured 
is  legislation and this1 from the terms
 of the original contract1 is the       
supreme function of the ,state4 ,but1 in
 ,locke's view1 two other functions     
still remain4 ,law has not only to be   
declared4 ,it must be enforced2 and  the
 business of the executive is to secure 
obedience to the command of  law4 ,but  
,locke here makes a third distinction4  
,the ,state must live with  other       
,states1 both as regards its individual 
members1 and as a  collective body2 and 
the power which deals with this aspect  
of its  relationships1 ,locke termed    
federative4 ,this last distinction1     
indeed1  has no special value2 and its  
author's own defence of it is far from  
clear4 ,more important1 especially1 for 
future history1 was his emphasis  of the
 distinction between legislature and    
executive4 ,the making of laws  is for  
,locke a relatively simple and rapid    
task2 the legislature may do  its work  

and be gone4 ,but those who attend to   
their execution must be  ceaseless in   
their vigilance4 ,it is better1         
therefore1 to separate the  two both as 
to powers and persons4 ,otherwise       
legislators may exempt  themselves from 
obedience to the laws they make1 and    
suit the law1 both  in its making and   
its execution1 to their own private     
wish1 and thereby  come to have a       
distinct interest from the rest of the  
community1  contrary to the end of      
society and government4 ,the legislator 
must  therefore be bound by his own     
laws2 and he must be chosen in such     
fashion that the representative assembly
 may fairly represent its               
constituencies4 ,it was the patent      
anomalies of the existent scheme of     
distribution which made ,locke here     
proffer his famous suggestion that  the 
rotten boroughs should be abolished by  
executive act4 ,one hundred  and forty  
years were still to pass before this    
wise suggestion was  translated into    

statute4    ,though ,locke thus insisted
 upon the separation of powers1 he      
realized  that emergencies are the      
parent of special need2 and he          
recognized that  not only may the       
executive1 as in ,england1 share in the 
task of  legislation1 but also may issue
 ordinances when the legislature is not 
in session1 or act contrary to law in   
case of grave danger4 ,nor can the      
executive be forced to summon the       
legislature4 ,here1 clearly enough1     
,locke is generalizing from the ,english
 constitution2 and its sense of         
compromise is implicit in his remarks4  
,nor is his surrender here of  consent  
sufficient to be inconsistent with his  
general outlook4 ,for at  the back of   
each governmental act1 there is1 in his 
own mind1 an active  citizen body       
occupied in judging it with             
single-minded reference to the  law of  
nature and their own natural rights4    
,there is thus a standard of  right and 
wrong superior to all powers within the 

,state4 ,a government1  as he says1 is  
not free to do as it pleases 444 the law
 of nature  stands as an eternal rule to
 all men1 legislators as well as others4
  ,the social contract is secreted in   
the interstices of public statutes4     
,its corollary is the right of          
revolution4 ,it is interesting that he  
should have adopted this position2 for  
in #afgf he had uttered the  thought    
that not even the demands of            
conscience#c can justify  rebellion4    
,that was1 however1 before the tyranny  
of ,charles had driven  him into exile  
with his patron1 and before ,james had  
attempted the  subversion of all        
constitutional government4 ,to deny the 
right of  revolution was to justify the 
worst demands of ,james1 and it is in   
its  favor that he exerts his ablest    
controversial power4 ,the true remedy1  
he says1 of force without authority is  
to oppose force to it4 ,let the         
sovereign but step outside the powers   
derived from the social contract  and   

resistance becomes a natural right4 ,but
 how define such invasion of  powers8   
,the instances ,locke chose show how    
closely1 here at least1 he  was         
following the events of #afhh4 ,the     
substitution of arbitrary will for  law1
 the corruption of ,parliament by       
packing it with the prince's            
instruments1 betrayal to a foreign      
prince1 prevention of the due           
assemblage of ,parliament--all these are
 a perversion of the trust  imposed and 
operate to effect the dissolution of the
 contract4 ,the  state of nature again  
supervenes1 and a new contract may be   
made with  one more fitted to observe   
it4 ,here1 also1 ,locke takes occasion  
to deny  the central position of        
,hobbes' thesis4 ,power1 the latter had 
argued1  must be absolute and there     
cannot1 therefore1 be usurpation4 ,but  
,locke  retorts that an absolute        
government is no government at all since
 it  proceeds by caprice instead of     
reason2 and it is comparable only to a  

state of war since it implies the       
absence of judgment upon the character  
of power4 ,it lacks the essential       
element of consent without which the    
binding force of law is absent4 ,all    
government is a moral trust1 and the    
idea of limitation is therein implied4  
,but a limitation without the  means of 
enforcement would be worthless1 and     
revolution remains as the  reserve power
 in society4 ,the only hindrance to its 
exertion that ,locke  suggests is that  
of number4 ,revolution should not1 he   
urges1 be the act  of a minority2 for   
the contract is the action of the major 
portion of  the people and its consent  
should likewise obtain to the           
dissolution of  the covenant4           
,footnote #c3 ,king1 ,life of ,locke1   
pp4 #fb1 #fc4    ,the problem of ,church
 and ,state demanded a separate         
discussion2 and it  is difficult not to 
feel that the great ,letter on          
,toleration is the  noblest of all his  
utterances4 ,it came as the climax to a 

long evolution  of opinion2 and1 in the 
light of ,william's own conviction1 it  
may be  said to have marked a decisive  
epoch of thought4 ,already in the       
sixteenth century ,robert ,brown and    
,william the ,silent had denounced the  
persecution of sincere belief4 ,early   
,baptists like ,busher and ,richardson  
had finely denied its validity4 ,roger  
,williams in ,america1 ,milton in       
,england had attacked its moral         
rightness and political adequacy2 while 
churchmen like ,hales and ,taylor and   
the noble ,chillingworth had shown  the 
incompatibility between a religion of   
love and a spirit of hate4 ,nor  had    
example been wanting4 ,the religious    
freedom of ,holland was narrow1  as     
,spinoza had found1 but it was still    
freedom4 ,rhode ,island1  ,pennsylvania1
 ,south ,carolina and ,massachusetts had
 all embarked upon  admirable           
experiment2 and ,penn himself had aptly 
said that a man may go  to chapel       
instead of church1 even while he remains

 a good constable4  ,and in #afhg1 in   
the preface to his translation of       
,lactantius1 ,burnet had  not merely    
attacked the moral viciousness of       
persecution1 but had drawn  a           
distinction between the spheres of      
,church and ,state which is a           
remarkable anticipation of ,locke's own 
theory4    ,locke himself covers the    
whole ground2 and since his opinions on 
the  problem were at least twenty years 
old1 it is clear that he was  consistent
 in a worthy outlook4 ,he proceeds by a 
denial that any element  of theocratic  
government can claim political validity4
 ,the magistrate is  concerned only with
 the preservation of social peace and   
does not deal  with the problem of men's
 souls4 ,where1 indeed1 opinions        
destructive of  the ,state are          
entertained or a party subversive of    
peace makes its  appearance1 the        
magistrate has the right of suppression2
 though in the  latter case force is the
 worst and last of remedies4 ,in the    

,english  situation1 it follows that all
 men are to be tolerated save           
,catholics1  ,mahomedans and atheists4  
,the first are themselves deniers of the
 rights  they would seek1 and they find 
the centre of their political allegiance
  in a foreign power4 ,mahomedan morals 
are incompatible with ,european  civil  
systems2 and the central factor in      
atheism is the absence of the  only     
ultimately satisfactory sanction of good
 conduct4 ,though ,church and  ,state   
are thus distinct1 they act for a       
reciprocal benefit2 and it is  thus     
important to see why ,locke insists on  
the invalidity of  persecution4 ,for    
such an end as the cure of souls1 he    
argues1 the  magistrate has no divine   
legation4 ,he cannot1 on other grounds1 
use  force for the simple reason that it
 does not produce internal  conviction4 
,but even if that were possible1 force  
would still be  mistaken2 for the       
majority of the world is not ,christian1
 yet it would  have the right to        

persecute in the belief that it was     
possessed of  truth4 ,nor can the       
implication that the magistrate has the 
keys of  heaven be accepted4 ,no        
religion1 says ,locke finely1 which ,i  
believe  not to be true can be either   
true or profitable to me4 ,he thus makes
 of  the ,church an institution         
radically different from the ruling     
conceptions of his time4 ,it becomes    
merely a voluntary society1 which  can  
exert no power save over its members4   
,it may use its own ceremonies1  but it 
cannot impose them on the unwilling2 and
 since persecution is  alien from the   
spirit of ,christ1 exclusion from       
membership must be the  limit of        
ecclesiastical disciplinary power4 ,nor 
must we forget the  advantages of       
toleration4 ,its eldest child is        
charity1 and without it  there can be no
 honesty of opinion4 ,later controversy 
did not make him  modify these          
principles2 and they lived1 in          
,macaulay's hands1 to be a  vital weapon

 in the political method of the         
nineteenth century4        ,,iv         
,any survey of earlier political theory 
would show how little of novelty  there 
is in the specific elements of ,locke's 
general doctrine4 ,he is at  all points 
the offspring of a great and unbroken   
tradition2 and that not  the least when 
he seems unconscious of it4 ,definite   
teachers1 indeed1 he  can hardly be said
 to have had2 no one can read his book  
without  perceiving how much of it is   
rooted in the problems of his own day4  
,he  himself has expressed his sense of 
,hooker's greatness1 and he elsewhere   
had recommended the works of ,grotius   
and ,pufendorf as an essential  element 
in education4 ,but his was a nature     
which learned more from men  than books2
 and he more than once insisted that his
 philosophy was woven  of his own coarse
 thoughts4 ,what1 doubtless1 he therein 
meant was to  emphasize the freshness of
 his contact with contemporary fact in  
contrast with the technical jargon of   

the earlier thinkers4 ,at least his     
work is free from the mountains of      
allusion which ,prynne rolled into the  
bottom of his pages2 and if the first   
,whig was the devil1 he is  singularly  
free from the irritating pedantry of    
biblical citation4 ,yet  even with these
 novelties1 no estimate of his work     
would be complete  which failed to take 
account of the foundations upon which he
 builded4    ,herein1 perhaps1 the      
danger is lest we exaggerate ,locke's   
dependence  upon the earlier current of 
thought4 ,the social contract is at     
least as  old as when ,glaucon debated  
with ,socrates in the market-place at   
,athens4  ,the theory of a state of     
nature1 with the rights therein implied1
 is the  contribution1 through          
,stoicism1 of the ,roman lawyers1 and   
the great  medieval contrast to         
,aristotle's experimentalism4 ,to the   
latter1 also1  may be traced the        
separation of powers2 and it was then   
but little more  than a hundred years   

since ,bodin had been taken to make the 
doctrine an  integral part of scientific
 politics4 ,nor is the theory of a right
 to  revolution in any sense his        
specific creation4 ,so soon as the      
,reformation had given a new perspective
 to the problem of ,church and  ,state  
every element of ,locke's doctrine had  
become a commonplace of  debate4        
,goodman and ,knox among ,presbyterians1
 ,suarez and ,mariana among  ,catholics1
 the author of the ,vindici and ,francis
 ,hotman among the  ,huguenots1 had all 
of them emphasized the concept of public
 power as a  trust2 with1 of course1 the
 necessary corollary that its abuse     
entails  resistance4 ,algernon ,sydney  
was at least his acquaintance2 and he   
must  have been acquainted with the     
tradition1 even if tragedy spared him   
the  details1 of the ,discourses on     
,government4 ,even his theory of        
toleration had in every detail been     
anticipated by one or other of a        
hundred controversialists2 and his      

argument can hardly claim either the    
lofty eloquence of ,jeremy ,taylor or   
the cogent simplicity of ,william       
,penn4    ,what differentiates ,locke   
from all his predecessors is the manner 
of his  writing on the one hand1 and the
 fact of the ,revolution on the other4  
,every previous thinker save            
,sydney--the latter's work was not      
published  until #afhi--was writing with
 the ,church hardly less in mind than   
the  purely political problems of the   
,state2 even the secular ,hobbes had    
devoted much thought and space to that  
kingdom of darkness which is  ,rome4    
,and1 ,sydney apart1 the resistance they
 had justified was always  resistance to
 a religious tyrant2 and ,cartwright was
 as careful to  exclude political       
oppression from the grounds of          
revolution as ,locke was  to insist upon
 it as the fundamental excuse4 ,locke   
is1 in fact1 the  first of ,english     
thinkers the basis of whose argument is 
mainly secular4  ,not1 indeed1 that he  

can wholly escape the trammels of       
ecclesiasticism2  not until the         
sceptical intelligence of ,hume was such
 freedom possible4  ,but it is clear    
enough that ,locke was shifting to very 
different ground  from that which       
arrested the attention of his           
predecessors4 ,he is  attempting1 that  
is to say1 a separation between ,church 
and ,state not  merely in that          
,scoto-,jesuit sense which aimed at     
ecclesiastical  independence1 but in    
order to assert the pre-eminence of the 
,state as  such4 ,the central problem is
 with him political1 and all other      
questions  are subsidiary to it4        
,therein we have a sense1 less clear in 
any  previous writer save ,machiavelli1 
of the real result of the decay of      
medieval ideals4 ,church and ,state have
 become transposed in their             
significance4 ,the way1 as a            
consequence1 lies open to new dogmas4   
,the historical research of the         
nineteenth century has long since made  

an  end of the social contract as an    
explanation of state-origins2 and with  
it1 of necessity1 has gone the          
conception of natural rights as anterior
  to organized society4 ,the problem1 as
 we now know1 is far more complex  than 
the older thinkers imagined4 ,yet       
,locke's insistence on consent and      
natural rights has received new meaning 
from each critical period of  history   
since he wrote4 ,the theory of consent  
is vital because without  the provision 
of channels for its administrative      
expression1 men tend to  become the     
creatures of a power ignorant at once   
and careless of their  will4 ,active    
consent on the part of the mass of men  
emphasizes the  contingent nature of all
 power and is essential to the full     
realization  of freedom2 and the purpose
 of the ,state1 in any sense save the   
mere  satisfaction of material appetite1
 remains1 without it1 unfulfilled4 ,the 
concept of natural right is most closely
 related to this position4 ,for  so long

 as we regard rights as no more than the
 creatures of law1 there  is at no point
 adequate safeguard against their       
usurpation4 ,a merely  legal theory of  
the ,state can never1 therefore1 exhaust
 the problems of  political philosophy4 
,no thinker has seen this fact more     
clearly than ,locke2 and if his effort  
to make rights something more than      
interests under juridical protection    
can not be accepted in the form he made 
it1 the underlying purpose  remains4 ,a 
,state1 that is to say1 which aims at   
giving to men the full  capacity their  
trained initiative would permit is      
compelled to regard  certain things as  
beyond the action of an ordinary        
legislature4 ,what  ,stammler calls a   
natural law with changing content#d--;a 
content  which changes with our         
increasing power to satisfy demand--is  
essential  if the state is to live the  
life of law4 ,for here was the head and 
centre of ,locke's enquiry4 ,what he was
 really concerned about1 said  ,t4,h4   

,green1 was to dispute 'the right divine
 of kings to govern  wrong4' ,the       
method1 as he conceived1 by which this  
could be  accomplished was the          
limitation of power4 ,this he effected  
by two  distinct methods1 the one       
external1 the other internal1 in        
character4    ,footnote #d3 ,cf4 my     
,authority in the ,modern ,state1 p4    
#fd41 and  the references there cited4  
,the external method has1 at bottom1 two
 sides4 ,it is1 in the first  place1    
achieved by a narrow definition of the  
purpose of the state4 ,to  ,locke the   
,state is little more than a negative   
institution1 a kind of  gigantic limited
 liability company2 and if we are       
inclined to cavil at  such restraint1 we
 may perhaps remember that even to      
neo-,hegelians like  ,green and         
,bosanquet this negative sense is rarely
 absent1 in the  interest of individual 
exertion4 ,but for ,locke the real      
guarantee of  right lies in another     
direction4 ,what his whole work amounts 

to in  substance--it is a significant   
anticipation of ,rousseau--is a denial  
that sovereignty can exist anywhere save
 in the community as a whole4 ,a  common
 political superior there doubtless must
 be2 but government is an  organ to     
which omnipotence is wanting4 ,so far as
 there is a sovereign at  all in        
,locke's book1 it is the will of that   
majority which ,rousseau  tried to      
disguise under the name of the general  
will2 but obviously the  conception     
lacks precision enough to give the      
notion of sovereignty the  means of     
operation4 ,the denial is natural enough
 to a man who had seen1  under three    
sovereigns1 the evils of unlimited      
power2 and if there is  lacking to his  
doctrine the well-rounded logic of      
,hobbes' proof that an  unlimited       
sovereign is unavoidable1 it is well to 
remember that the  shift of opinion is1 
in our own time1 more and more in the   
direction of  ,locke's attitude4 ,that  
omnicompetence of ,parliament which     

,bentham and  ,austin crystallized into 
the retort to ,locke admits1 in later   
hands1 of  exactly the amelioration he  
had in mind2 and its ethical inadequacy 
becomes the more obvious the more       
closely it is studied4#e    ,footnote   
#e3 ,cf4 my ,problem of ,sovereignty1   
,chap4 ,i4    ,the internal limitation  
,locke suggested is of more doubtful    
value4  ,government1 he says1 in        
substance1 is a trustee and trustees    
abuse their  power2 let us therefore    
divide it as to parts and persons that  
the  temptation to usurp may be         
diminished4 ,there is a long history to 
this  doctrine in its more obvious form1
 and it is a lamentable history4 ,it    
tied men down to a tyrannous            
classification which had no root in the 
material it was supposed to distinguish4
 ,montesquieu took it for the  root of  
liberty2 ,blackstone1 who should have   
known better1 repeated the  pious       
phrases of the ,frenchman2 and they went
 in company to ,america to  persuade    

,madison and the ,supreme ,court of the 
,united ,states that only  the          
separation of powers can prevent the    
approach of tyranny4 ,the facts  do not 
bear out such assumption4 ,the division 
of powers means in the  event not less  
than their confusion4 ,none can         
differentiate between the  judge's      
declaration of law and his making of    
it4#f ,every government  department is  
compelled to legislate1 and1 often      
enough1 to undertake  judicial          
functions4 ,the ,american history of the
 separation of powers  has most largely 
been an attempt to bridge them2 and all 
that has been  gained is to drive the   
best talent1 save on rare occasion1 from
 its  public life4 ,in ,france the      
separation of powers meant1 until recent
  times1 the excessive subordination of 
the judiciary to the cabinet4 ,nor  must
 we forget1 as ,locke should have       
remembered1 the plain lesson of the     
,cromwellian constitutional experiments4
 ,that the dispersion of power is  one  

of the great needs of the modern ,state 
at no point justifies the  rigid        
categories into which ,locke sought its 
division4#g    ,footnote #f3 ,cf4 ,mr4  
,justice ,holmes' remarks in ,jensen v4 
,southern ,pacific1 #bdd ,u4,s4 #bba4   
,footnote #g3 ,cf4 my ,authority in the 
,modern ,state1 pp4 #gj f4    ,nor must 
we belittle the criticism1 in its       
clearest form the work of  ,fitz ,james 
,stephen1#h that has been levelled at   
,locke's theory of  toleration4 ,for the
 larger part of the modern world1 his   
argument is  acceptable enough2 and its 
ingenious compromises have made it      
especially  representative of the       
,english temper4 ,yet much of it hardly 
meets the  argument that some of his    
opponents1 as ,proast for example1 had  
made4  ,his conception of the visible   
church as no part of the essence of     
religion could win no assent from even a
 moderate ,anglican2 and1 once  the     
visible church is admitted1 ,locke's    
facile distinction between  ,church and 

,state falls to the ground4 ,nor can it 
be doubted that he  underestimated the  
power of coercion to produce assent2 the
 policy of  ,louis ,,xiv to the         
,huguenots may have been brutal1 but its
 efficacy must  be unquestionable4 ,and 
it is at least doubtful whether his     
theory has  any validity for a man who  
held1 as ,roman ,catholics of his       
generation  were bound to hold1 that the
 communication of his particular brand  
of  truth outweighed in value all other 
questions4 ,every ,church1 he wrote1  is
 orthodox to itself2 to others1         
erroneous or heretical2 but to any      
earnest believer this would approximate 
to blasphemy4 ,nor could any  serious   
,christian accept the view that under   
the gospel '444there is no  such thing  
as a ,christian commonwealth'2 to       
,catholics and ,presbyterians  this must
 have appeared the merest travesty of   
their faith4    ,footnote #h3 ,cf4 also 
,coleridge's apt remark4 ,table ,talk1  
,jan4 #c1  #ahcd4    ,here1 indeed1 as  

elsewhere ,locke is the true progenitor 
of ,benthamism1  and his work can hardly
 be understood save in this context4    
,just as in  his ethical enquiries it   
was always the happiness of the         
individual that  he sought1 so in his   
politics it was the happiness of the    
subject he had  in view4 ,in each case  
it was to immediate experience that he  
made his  appeal2 and this perhaps      
explains the clear sense of a contempt  
for past  tradition which pervades all  
his work4 ,that which is for the public 
welfare1 he said1 is ,god's will2 and   
therein we have the root of that        
utilitarianism which1 as ,maine pointed 
out1 is the real parent of all          
nineteenth century change4 ,and with    
,locke1 as with the ,benthamites1 his   
clear sense of what utilitarianism      
demanded led to an over-emphasis of     
human rationalism4 ,no one can read the 
,second ,treatise without  perceiving   
that ,locke looked upon the ,state as a 
machine which can be  built and taken to

 pieces in very simple fashion4 ,herein1
 undoubtedly1  he over-simplified the   
problem2 and that made him miss some of 
the  cardinal points a true psychology  
of the ,state must seize4 ,his very     
contractualism1 indeed1 is part of this 
affection for the rational4 ,it         
resulted in his failure to perceive how 
complex is the mass of motives  imbedded
 in the political act4 ,the significance
 of herd instinct and the  vast         
primitive deeps of the unconscious were 
alike hidden from him4 ,all  this is of 
defect2 and yet excusably4 ,for it      
needed the demonstration by  ,darwin of 
the kinship of man and beast for us to  
see the real substance  of ,aristotle's 
vision that man is embedded in political
 society4        ,v      ,once ,locke's 
work had become known1 its reputation   
was secure4 ,not1  indeed1 that it was  
entirely welcome to his generation4 ,men
 were not  wanting who shrank from his  
thoroughgoing rationalism and felt that 
anything but reason must be the test of 

truth4 ,those who stood by the  ancient 
ways found it easy to discover          
republicanism and the roots of          
atheistic doctrine in his work2 and even
 the theories of ,filmer could  find    
defenders against him in the ,indian    
summer of prerogative under  ,queen     
,anne4 ,john ,hutton informed a friend  
that he was not less dangerous  than    
,spinoza2 and the opinion found an echo 
from the nonjuring sect4  ,but these1   
after all1 were but the eddies of a     
stream fast burying  itself in the      
sands4 ,for most1 the ,revolution was a 
final settlement1  and ,locke was       
welcome as a writer who had discovered  
the true source of  political comfort4  
,so it was that ,william ,molyneux could
 embody the  ideas of the incomparable  
treatise in his demand for ,irish       
freedom2 a  book which1 even in those   
days1 occasioned some controversy4 ,nor 
is it  uninteresting to discover that   
the translation of ,hotman's            
,franco-,gallia should have been        

embellished with a preface from one     
who1 as ,molyneux wrote to ,locke1#i    
never met the ,irish writer without     
conversing of their common master4 ,how 
rapidly the doctrine spread we  learn   
from a letter of ,bayle's in which1 as  
early as #afic1 ,locke has  already     
became the gospel of the ,protestants4  
,nor was his immediate  influence       
confined to ,england4 ,french ,huguenots
 and the ,dutch drew  naturally upon so 
happy a defender2 and ,barbeyrac1 in the
 translation of  ,pufendorf which he    
published in #agjf1 cites no writer so  
often as  ,locke4 ,the speeches for the 
prosecution in the trial of ,sacheverell
 were  almost wholesale adaptations of  
his teaching2 and even the accused      
counsel admitted the legality of ,james'
 deposition in his speech for the       
defence4    ,footnote #i3 ,locke1 ,works
 7ed4 of #ahab71 ,,ix4 #dce4    ,more   
valuable testimony is not wanting4 ,in  
the ,spectator1 on six  separate        
occasions1 ,addison speaks of him as one

 whose possession is a  national glory4 
,defoe in his ,original ,power of the   
,people of ,england  made ,locke the    
common possession of the average man1   
and offered his  acknowledgments to his 
master4 ,even the malignant genius of   
,swift  softened his hate to find the   
epithet judicious for one in whose      
doctrines he can have found no comfort4 
,pope summarized his teaching in  the   
form that ,bolingbroke chose to give it4
 ,hoadly1 in his ,original and          
,institution of ,civil ,government1 not 
only dismisses ,filmer in a first  part 
each page of which is modelled upon     
,locke1 but adds a second  section in   
which a defence of ,hooker serves rather
 clumsily to conceal  the care with     
which the ,second ,treatise had also    
been pillaged4 ,even  ,warburton ceased 
for a moment his habit of belittling all
 rivals in the  field he considered his 
own to call him1 in that ,divine        
,legation which  he considered his      
masterpiece1 the honor of this age and  

the instructor  of the future2 but since
 ,warburton's attack on the ,high       
,church theory  is at every point       
,locke's argument1 he may have          
considered this  self-eulogy instead of 
tribute4 ,sir ,thomas ,hollis1 on the   
eve of ,english  ,radicalism1 published 
a noble edition of his book4 ,and there 
is perhaps  a certain humor in the      
remembrance that it was to ,locke's     
economic  tracts that ,bolingbroke went 
for the arguments with which1 in the    
,craftsman1 he attacked the excise      
scheme of ,walpole4 ,that is            
irrefutable evidence of the position he 
had attained4    ,yet the tide was      
already on the ebb1 and for cogent      
reasons4 ,there still  remained the     
tribute to be paid by ,montesquieu when 
he made ,locke's  separation of powers  
the keystone of his own more splendid   
arch4 ,the  most splendid of all        
sciolists was still to use his book for 
the outline  of a social contract more  
daring even than his own4 ,the authors  

of the  ,declaration of ,independence   
had still1 in words taken from ,locke1  
to  reassert the state of nature and his
 rights2 and ,mr4 ,martin of ,north     
,carolina was to find him quotable in   
the debates of the ,philadelphia        
,convention4 ,yet ,locke's own weapons  
were being turned against him and  what 
was permanent in his work was being cast
 into the new form required  by the     
time4 ,a few sentences of ,hume were    
sufficient to make the social  contract 
as worthless as the ,divine ,right of   
kings1 and when ,blackstone  came to sum
 up the result of the ,revolution1 if he
 wrote in contractual  terms it was with
 a full admission that he was making use
 of fiction so  far as he went behind   
the settlement of #afhh4 ,nor is the    
work of ,dean  ,tucker without          
significance4 ,the failure of ,england  
in the ,american war  was already       
evident2 and it was not without justice 
that he looked to  ,locke as the author 
of their principles4 ,the ,americans1 he

 wrote1  have made the maxims of ,locke 
the ground of the present war2 and in   
his ,treatise ,concerning ,civil        
,government and his ,four ,letters he   
declares himself unable to understand on
 what ,locke's reputation was  based4   
,meanwhile the ,english disciples of    
,rousseau in the persons of  ,price and 
,priestley suggested to him that ,locke1
 the idol of the  levellers of ,england1
 was the parent also of ,french         
destructiveness4  ,burke took up the    
work thus begun2 and after he had dealt 
with the  contract theory it ceased to  
influence political speculation in      
,england4  ,its place was taken by the  
utilitarian doctrine which ,hume had    
outlined2  and once ,bentham's ,fragment
 had begun to make its way1 a new epoch 
opened in the history of political      
ideas4    ,locke might1 indeed1 claim   
that he had a part in this renaissance2 
but1  once the influence of ,burke had  
passed1 it was to other gods men turned4
  ,for ,bentham made an end of natural  

rights2 and his contempt for the past   
was even more unsparing than ,locke's   
own4 ,it is more instructive to  compare
 his work with ,hobbes and ,rousseau    
than with later thinkers2 for  after    
,hume ,english speculation works in a   
medium ,locke would not have            
understood4 ,clearly enough1 he has     
nothing of the relentless logic which   
made ,hobbes' mind the clearest         
instrument in the history of ,english   
philosophy4 ,nor has he ,hobbes' sense  
of style or pungent grasp of the        
grimness of facts about him4 ,yet he    
need not fear the comparison with  the  
earlier thinker4 ,if ,hobbes' theory of 
sovereignty is today one of  the        
commonplaces of jurisprudence1 ethically
 and politically we occupy  ourselves   
with erecting about it a system of      
limitations each one of  which is in    
some sort due to ,locke's perception4   
,if we reject ,locke's  view of the     
natural goodness of men1 ,hobbes' sense 
of their evil  character is not less    

remote from our speculations4 ,nor can  
we accept  ,hobbes' ,erastianism4       
,locke's view of ,church and ,state     
became1 indeed1 a  kind of stepchild to 
it in the stagnant days of the later    
,georges2 but  ,wesleyanism1 on the one 
hand1 and the ,oxford movement on the   
other1  pointed the inevitable moral of 
even an approximation to the ,hobbesian 
view4 ,and anyone who surveys the       
history of ,church and ,state in        
,america  will be tempted to assert that
 in the last hundred years the          
separateness for which ,locke contended 
is not without its justification4       
,locke's theory is a means of preserving
 the humanity of men2 ,hobbes  makes    
their reason and conscience the subjects
 of a power he forbids  them to judge4  
,locke saw that vigilance is the sister 
of liberty1 where  ,hobbes dismissed the
 one as faction and the other as        
disorder4 ,at every  point1 that is to  
say1 where ,hobbes and ,locke are at    
variance1 the  future has been on       

,locke's side4 ,he may have defended his
 cause less  splendidly than his rival2 
but it will at least be admitted by most
 that  he had a more splendid cause to  
defend4    ,with ,rousseau there is no  
contrast1 for the simple reason that his
  teaching is only a broadening of the  
channel dug by ,locke4 ,no element      
integral to the ,two ,treatises is      
absent from the ,social ,contract4      
,rousseau1 indeed1 in many aspects saw  
deeper than his predecessor4 ,the  form 
into which he threw his questions gave  
them an eternal significance  ,locke can
 perhaps hardly claim4 ,he understood   
the organic character of  the ,state1   
where ,locke was still trammelled by the
 bonds of his narrow  individualism4 ,it
 is yet difficult to see that the       
contribution upon  which ,rousseau's    
fame has mainly rested is at any point a
 real advance  upon ,locke4 ,the general
 will1 in practical instead of          
semi-mystic terms1  really means the    
welfare of the community as a whole2 and

 when we  enquire how that general will 
is to be known1 we come1 after much     
shuffling1 upon the will of that        
majority in which ,locke also put his   
trust4 ,rousseau's general will1 indeed1
 is at bottom no more than an  assertion
 that right and truth should prevail2   
and for this also ,locke  was anxious4  
,but he did not think an infallible     
criterion existed for  its detection2   
and he was satisfied with the           
convenience of a simple  numerical test4
 ,nor would it be difficult to show that
 ,locke's state has  more real room for 
individuality than ,rousseau's4 ,the    
latter made much  show of an impartible 
and inalienable sovereignty eternally   
vested in  the people2 but in practice  
its exercise is impossible outside the  
confines of a city-state4 ,once1 that is
 to say1 we deal with modern  problems  
our real enquiry is still the question  
of ,locke--what limits  shall we place  
upon the power of government8 ,rousseau 
has only  emphasized the urgency of the 

debate4    ,wherein1 perhaps1 the most  
profound distinction between ,locke's   
teaching  and our own time may be       
discovered is in our sense of the       
impossibility  that a final answer can  
be found to political questions4 ,each  
age has  new materials at its command2  
and1 today1 a static philosophy would   
condemn itself before completion4 ,we do
 not build ,utopias2 and the  attempt to
 discover the eternal principles of     
political right invites  disaster at the
 outset4 ,yet that does not render      
useless1 even for our  own day1 the kind
 of work ,locke did4 ,in the largest    
sense1 his questions  are still our own4
 ,in the largest sense1 also1 we are    
near enough to his  time to profit at   
each step of our own efforts by the     
hints he proffers4  ,the point at which 
he stood in ,english history bears not a
 little  resemblance to our own4 ,the   
emphasis1 now as then1 is upon the      
problem  of freedom4 ,the problem1 now  
as then1 was its translation into       

institutional terms4 ,it is the glory of
 ,locke that he brought a generous      
patience and a searching wisdom to the  
solution he proffered to his            
generation4          ,,chapter ,,iii    
,,church ,,and ,,state ,,in ,,the       
,,eighteenth ,,century        ,i        
,the ,revolution of #afhh drew its main 
source of strength from the  traditional
 dislike of ,rome1 and the eager desire 
to place the ,church of  ,england beyond
 the reach of ,james' aggression4 ,yet  
it was not until a  generation had      
passed that the lines of ecclesiastical 
settlement were1  in any full sense     
clear4 ,the difficulties involved were  
mostly  governmental1 and it can hardly 
even yet be said that they have been    
solved4 ,the nature of the relation     
between ,church and ,state1 the         
affiliation between the ,church and     
,nonconformist bodies1 the character  of
 its internal government--all these had 
still to be defined4 ,nor was  this all4
 ,the problem of definition was made    

more complex by schism and  disloyalty4 
,an important fraction of the ,church   
could not accept at all  the fact of    
,william's kingship2 and if the larger  
part submitted1 it  cannot be said to   
have been enthusiastic4    ,nor did the 
,church make easy the situation of the  
,nonconformists4  ,toleration of some   
kind was rapidly becoming inevitable2   
and with a  ,calvinist upon the throne  
persecution of1 at any rate1 the        
,presbyterians  became finally          
impossible4 ,yet the definition of what 
limits were to be  set to toleration was
 far from easy4 ,the ,church seemed like
 a fortress  beleaguered when           
,nonjurors1 ,deists1 ,nonconformists1   
all alike assaulted  her foundations4   
,to loosen her hold upon political      
privilege seemed to  be akin to         
self-destruction4 ,and1 after all1 if   
,church and ,state were to  stand in    
some connection1 the former must have   
some benefit from the  alliance4 ,did   
such partnership imply exclusion from   

its privilege for  all who could not    
accept the special brand of religious   
doctrine8 ,locke1  at least1 denied the 
assumption1 and argued that since       
,churches are  voluntary societies1 they
 cannot and ought not to have reciprocal
  relation with the ,state4 ,but        
,locke's theory was meat too strong for 
the  digestion of his time2 and no      
statesman would then have argued that a 
government could forego the advantage of
 religious support4 ,and ,william1      
after all1 had come to free the church  
from her oppressor4 ,freedom  implied   
protection1 and protection in that age  
involved establishment4  ,it was thus   
taken for granted by most members of the
 ,church of ,england  that her adoption 
by the ,state meant her superiority to  
every other form  of religious          
organization4 ,superiority is1 by its   
nature exclusive1 the  more especially  
when it is united to a certainty of     
truth and a kinship  with the dominant  
political interest of the time4 ,long   

years were thus  to pass before the real
 meaning of the ,toleration ,act secured
  translation into more generous        
statutes4    ,the problem of the        
,church's government was hardly less    
complex4 ,the very  acerbity with which 
it was discussed proclaims that we are  
in an age of  settlement4 ,much of the  
dispute1 indeed1 is doubtless due to the
 dislike  of all ,high ,churchmen for   
,william2 with their consequent         
unwillingness  to admit the full meaning
 of his ecclesiastical supremacy4 ,much 
also is  due to the fact that the bench 
of bishops1 despite great figures like  
,tillotson and ,wake1 was necessarily   
chosen for political aptitude rather    
than for religious value4 ,nor did men  
like ,burnet and ,hoadly1 for all  their
 learning1 make easy the path for       
brethren of more tender  consciences4   
,the ,church1 moreover1 must have felt  
its powers the more  valuable from the  
very strength of the assault to which   
she was  subjected4 ,and the direct     

interference with her governance implied
 by  the ,oaths of ,allegiance and of   
,abjuration raised questions we have not
  yet solved4 ,it suggested the         
subordination of ,church to ,state2 and 
men  like ,hickes and ,leslie were quick
 to point out the ,erastianism of the   
age4 ,it is a fact inevitable in the    
situation of the ,english ,church that  
the charge of subjection to the ,state  
should rouse a deep and quick           
resentment4 ,she cannot be a church     
unless she is a societas perfecta2  she 
cannot have within herself the elements 
of perfect fellowship if  what seem the 
plain commands of ,christ are to be at  
the mercy of the  king in ,parliament4  
,that is the difficulty which lies at   
the bottom of  the debate with ,wake in 
one age and with ,hoadly in the next4   
,in some  sort1 it is the problem of    
sovereignty that is here at issue2 and  
it is  in this sense that the problems  
of the ,revolution are linked with the  
,oxford ,movement4 ,but ,newman and his 

followers are the unconscious  sponsors 
of a debate which grows in volume2 and  
to discuss the thoughts  of ,wake and   
,hoadly and ,law is thus1 in a vital    
aspect1 the study of  contemporary      
ideas4    ,we are not here concerned    
with the wisdom of those of ,william's  
advisers  who exacted an oath of        
allegiance from the clergy4 ,it raised  
in acute  form the validity of a        
doctrine which had1 for more than a     
century1 been  the main foundation of   
the alliance between throne and altar in
 ,england4  ,the demand precipitated a  
schism which lingered on1 though        
fitfully1  until the threshold of the   
nineteenth century4 ,the men who could  
not  take the oath were1 many of them1  
among the most distinguished churchmen  
of the time4 ,great ecclesiastics like  
,sancroft1 the archbishop of            
,canterbury and one of the seven who had
 gained immortality by his  resistance  
to ,james1 saints like ,ken1 the bishop 
of ,bath and ,wells1  scholars like     

,george ,hickes and ,henry ,dodwell1 men
 like ,charles ,leslie1  born with a    
genius for recrimination2 much1 it is   
clear1 of what was  best in the ,church 
of ,england was to be found amongst     
them4 ,there is not  a little of beauty1
 and much of pathos in their history4   
,most1 after  their deprivation1 were   
condemned to poverty2 few of them       
recanted4 ,the  lives of men like       
,sancroft and ,ken and the younger      
,ambrose ,bonwicke are  part of the     
great ,anglican tradition of earnest    
simplicity which later  ,john ,keble was
 to illustrate for the nineteenth       
century4 ,the ,nonjurors1  as they were 
called1 were not free from bitterness2  
and the history of  their effort1 after 
the consecration of ,hilkiah ,bedford   
and ,ralph  ,taylor1 to perpetuate the  
schism is a lamentable one4 ,not1       
indeed1 that  the history even of their 
decline is without its interest2 and the
  study1 alike of their liturgy and     
their attempt at reunion with the       

,eastern ,church1 must always possess a 
singular interest for students of       
ecclesiastical history4    ,yet the real
 interest of the ,nonjuring schism was  
political rather than  religious2 and   
its roots go out to vital events of the 
past4 ,at the  bottom it is the obverse 
side of the ,divine ,right of kings that
 they  represent4 ,that theory1 which   
was the main weapon of the early secular
  state against the pretensions of      
,rome1 must naturally have commanded the
  allegiance of members of a church     
which ,james ,i1 its main exponent1 had 
declared of vital import to his very    
existence4 ,its main opponents1         
moreover1 were ,catholics and           
,dissenters2 so that men like ,andrewes 
must  have felt that when they answered 
,bellarmine they were in substance also 
defenders of their ,church4 ,after the  
great controversy of ,james ,i's  reign 
resistance as a duty had come to be     
regarded as a main element in  ,jesuit  
and ,nonconformist teaching2 with the   

result that its antithesis  became1 as a
 consequence of the political situation1
 no less integral a  part of ,church of 
,england doctrine4 ,for it was upon the 
monarchy that  the ,church had come to  
depend for its existence2 and if        
resistance to  the king were made1 as   
,knox and ,bellarmine had in substance  
made it1 the  main weapon of the        
dissenting churches there was little    
hope that it  would continue to exist   
once the monarchy was overthrown4 ,and  
it is  this1 unquestionably1 which      
explains why stout ecclesiastics like   
,barrow  and ,jackson can write in what 
seems so ,erastian a temper4 ,when they 
urge  the sovereignty of the ,state1    
their thesis is in truth the sovereignty
  of the ,church2 and that means the    
triumph of men who looked with          
contemptuous hatred upon ,nonconformists
 of every sect4 ,the ,church of         
,england taught non-resistance as the   
condition of its own survival4    ,how  
deep-rooted this doctrine had become in 

the course of the  seventeenth century  
the writings of men like ,mainwaring and
 ,sanderson  sufficiently show2 yet     
nothing so completely demonstrates its  
widespread  acceptance as the result of 
the ,revolution4 ,four hundred clergy   
abandoned their preferment because      
,james ruled by ,divine ,right2 and they
  could not in conscience resist even   
his iniquities4 ,an able tract of       
#afhiaj had collected much material to  
show how integral the doctrine  was to  
the beliefs of the ,church4 ,had        
,william's government1 indeed1          
refrained from the imposition of the    
oath1 it is possible that there  might  
have been no schism at all2 for the     
early ,nonjurors at  least--perhaps     
,hickes and ,turner are                 
exceptions--would probably have         
welcomed anything which enabled the     
avoidance of schism4 ,once1 however1    
the oath was imposed three vital        
questions were raised4 ,deprivation     
obviously involved the problem of the   

power of the ,state over the  ,church4  
,if the act of a convention whose own   
legality was at best  doubtful could    
deprive the consecrated of their        
position1 was the ,church  a ,church at 
all1 or was it the mere creature of the 
secular power8 ,and  what1 moreover1 of 
conscience8 ,it could not be an inherent
 part of the  ,church's belief that men 
should betray their faith for the sake  
of  peace4 ,later thinkers added the    
purely secular argument that resistance 
in one case made for resistance in all4 
,admit1 it was argued by ,leslie1  the  
right to disobey1 and the fabric of     
society is at a stroke  dissolved4 ,the 
attitude is characteristic of that able 
controversialist2  and it shows how     
hardly the earlier notions of ,divine   
,right were to  die4    ,footnote #aj3  
,the ,history of ,passive ,obedience4   
,its author was  ,jeremy ,collier4      
,these theories merit a further         
examination4 ,williams1 later the       
,bishop  of ,chichester1 had argued that

 separation on the basis of the oath was
  unreasonable4 ,all that the civil     
power here pretends to1 he wrote is  to 
secure itself against the practices of  
dissatisfied persons4 ,the  ,nonjurors1 
in this view1 were making an            
ecclesiastical matter of a  purely      
secular issue4 ,he was answered1 among  
others1 by ,samuel ,grascom1  in an     
argument which found high favor among   
the stricter of his sect4  ,the matter  
and substance of these ,oaths1 he said1 
is put into the  prayers of the ,church1
 and so far it becomes a matter of      
communion4 ,what  people are enjoined in
 the solemn worship to pray for1 is made
 a matter  of communion2 and if it be   
simple1 will not only justify1 but      
require a  separation4 ,here is the pith
 of the matter4 ,for if the form and    
substance of ,church affairs is thus to 
be left to governmental will1  then     
those who obey have left the ,church and
 it is the faithful remnant  only who   
constitute the true fellowship4 ,the    

schism1 in this view1 was  the fault of 
those who remained subject to ,william's
 dominion4 ,the  ,nonjurors had not     
changed2 and they were preserving the   
,church in its  integrity from men who  
strove to betray it to the civil power4 
,this matter of integrity is important4 
,the glamour of ,macaulay has  somewhat 
softened the situation of those who took
 the oaths2 and in his  pages the       
,nonjurors appear as stupid men         
unworthily defending a dead  cause4 ,it 
is worth while to note that this is the 
merest travesty4  ,tillotson1 who       
succeeded ,sancroft on the latter's     
deprivation1 and  ,burnet himself had   
urged passive resistance upon ,lord     
,william ,russell as  essential to      
salvation2 ,tenison had done likewise at
 the execution of  ,monmouth4           
,stillingfleet1 ,patrick1 ,white        
,kennett1 had all written in its  favor2
 and to ,william ,sherlock belongs the  
privilege of having defended  and       
attacked it in two pamphlets each of    

which challenges the pithy  brilliance  
of the other4 ,clearly1 so far as       
consistency is in question1  the        
,nonjurors might with justice contend   
that they had right on their  side4 ,and
 even if it is said that the policy of  
,james introduced a new  situation the  
answer surely is that ,divine ,right and
 non-resistance can1  by their very     
nature1 make no allowance for novelty4  
,the root1 then1 of this ecclesiastical 
contention is the argument later        
advanced by ,leslie in his ,case of the 
,regale and the ,pontificate in  which  
he summarized the ,convocation dispute4 
,the ,state1 he argues1 has  no power   
over bishops whose relationship to their
 flock is purely  spiritual and derived 
from ,christ4 ,the ,church is           
independent of all  civil institution1  
and must have therefore within herself  
the powers  necessary to her life as a  
society4 ,leslie repudiates ,erastianism
 in the  strongest terms4 ,not only is  
it1 for him1 an encroachment upon the   

rights of ,christ1 but it leads to deism
 in the gentry and to dissent  among the
 common people4 ,the ,church of ,england
 comes to be regarded as  no more than  
the creature of ,parliamentary          
enactment2 and thus to leave  it as the 
creature of human votes1 is to destroy  
its divinity4    ,it is easy enough to  
see that men who felt in this fashion   
could hardly  have decided otherwise    
than as they did4 ,the matter of        
conscience1  indeed1 was fundamental to 
their position4 ,i think1 said the      
,bishop of  ,worcester on his death-bed1
 ,i could suffer at a stake rather than 
take  this oath4 ,that1 indeed1         
represents the general temper4 ,many of 
them  did not doubt that ,james had done
 grievous wrong2 but they had taken the 
oath of allegiance to him1 and they saw 
in their conscience no means of  escape 
from their vow4 ,their ,majesties1      
writes the author of the  account of    
,bishop ,lake's death1 are the two      
persons in the world whose  reign over  

them1 their interest and inclination    
oblige them most to  desire1 and nothing
 but conscience could restrain them from
 being as  forward as any in all        
expressions of loyalty4 ,in such an     
aspect1 even  those who believe their   
attitude to have been wrong1 can hardly 
doubt  that they acted rightly in their 
expression of it4 ,for1 after all1      
experience has shown that the ,state is 
built upon the consciences of  men4 ,and
 the protest they made stands out in the
 next generation in  vivid contrast to a
 worldly-minded and politically-corrupt 
,church which  only internal revolution 
could awaken from its slumbers4    ,no  
one represents so admirably as ,charles 
,leslie the political argument  of the  
case4 ,at bottom it is an argument      
against anarchy that he  constructs1 and
 much of what he said is medieval enough
 in tone to  suggest de ,maistre's great
 defence of papalism as the secret of   
world-order4 ,he stands four square upon
 divine right and passive  obedience4   

,what man is he who can by his own      
natural authority bend the  conscience  
of another8 ,that would be far more than
 the power of life1  liberty or         
prosperity4 ,therefore they saw the     
necessity of a divine  original4 ,such a
 foundation1 he argued elsewhere1 is    
necessary to  order1 for if the last    
resort be in the people1 there is no end
 of  controversy at all1 but endless and
 unremediable confusion4 ,nor had he    
sympathy for the ,whig attack on        
monarchy4 ,the reasons against ,kings1  
he wrote1 are as strong against all     
powers1 for men of any titles are       
subject to err1 and numbers more than   
fewer4 ,and nothing can unloose  the    
chain4 ,obedience1 he said in the ,best 
of ,all1 is due to  commonwealths by    
their subjects even for conscience'     
sake1 where the  princes from whom they 
have revolted have given up their claim4
    ,the argument has a wider history   
than its controversial statement might  
seem to warrant4 ,at bottom1 clearly    

enough1 it is an attack upon the new    
tradition which ,locke had brought into 
being4 ,what seems to impress it  most  
is the impossibility of founding society
 upon other than a divine  origin4      
,anything less will not command the     
assent of men sufficiently to  be immune
 from their evil passions4 ,let their   
minds but once turn to  resistance1 and 
the bonds of social order will be       
broken4 ,complete  submission is the    
only safeguard against anarchy4 ,so1 a  
century later1  de ,maistre could argue 
that unless the whole world became the  
subject of  ,rome1 the complete         
dissolution of ,christian society must  
follow4 ,so1  too1 fifty years before1  
,hobbes had argued for an absolute      
dominion lest  the ambitions and desires
 of men break through the fragile       
boundaries of  the social estate4       
,the answer is clear enough2 and1       
indeed1 the case against the ,nonjurors 
is nowhere so strong as on its political
 side4 ,men cannot be confined  within  

the limits of so narrow a logic4 ,they  
will not1 with ,bishop ,ken1  rejoice in
 suffering as a doctrine of the ,cross4 
,rather will oppression  in its turn    
arouse a sense of wrong and that be     
parent of a conscience  which provokes  
to action4 ,here was the root of        
,locke's doctrine of  consent2 for      
unless the government1 as ,hume was     
later to point out1 has  on its side the
 opinion of men1 it cannot hope to      
endure4 ,the fall of  ,james was caused1
 not as the ,nonjurors were tempted to  
think1 by popular  disregard of ,divine 
personality1 but by his own             
misunderstanding of the  limits to which
 misgovernment may go4 ,here their      
opponents had a  strong case to present2
 for1 as ,stillingfleet remarked1 if    
,william had  not come over there might 
have been no ,church of ,england for the
  ,nonjurors to preserve4 ,and other    
ingenious compromises were suggested4   
,non-resistance1 it was argued by       
,sherlock1 applied to government in     

general2 and the oath1 as a passage in  
the ,convocation ,book of ,overall      
seemed to suggest1 might be taken not   
less to a de facto monarch than  to one 
de jure4 ,few1 indeed would have taken  
the ground of ,bishop  ,burnet1 and     
allotted the throne to ,william and     
,mary as conquerors of  the ,kingdom2 at
 least the pamphlet in which this       
uncomfortable doctrine  was put forward 
the ,house of ,commons had burned by the
 common hangman4    ,what really        
defeated the ,nonjurors' claims was     
commonsense4 ,much the  ablest attack   
upon their position was ,stillingfleet's
 defence of the  policy employed in     
filling up the sees vacated by          
deprivation2 and it is  remarkable that 
the theory he employs is to insist that 
unless the  lawfulness of what had been 
done is admitted1 the ,nonjuror's       
position is  inevitable4 ,if it be      
unlawful to succeed a deprived bishop1  
he  wrote1#aa then he is the bishop of  
the diocese still3 and then the law     

that deprives him is no law1 and        
consequently the king and ,parliament   
that made that law no king and          
,parliament3 and how can this be        
reconciled with the ,oath of            
,allegiance1 unless the ,doctor can     
swear  allegiance to him who is no ,king
 and hath no authority to govern4 ,all  
this the ,nonjurors would have admitted1
 and the mere fact that it could  be    
used as argument against them is proof  
that they were out of touch  with the   
national temper4 ,what they wanted was a
 legal revolution which  is in the      
nature of things impossible4 ,we may    
regret that the oath was  deemed        
essential1 and feel that it might not   
have been so stoutly  pressed4 ,but the 
leaders of a revolution tread a path of 
fire2 and the  fault lay less at the    
door of the civil government than in the
 fact that  this was an age when men    
acted on their principles4 ,william and 
his  advisers1 with the condition of    
,ireland and ,scotland a cause for      

agitation1 with ,france hostile1 with   
treason and plot not absent from  the   
episcopate itself1 had no easy task2    
what1 in the temper of the  time1 gives 
most cause for consideration1 is the    
moderate spirit in  which they          
accomplished it4    ,footnote #aa3 ,a   
,vindication of their ,majesties'       
,authority to fill  the ,sees of the    
,deprived ,bishops 7#afia74        ,,iii
      ,the ,nonjuring schism was by no  
means the only difficulty which the     
,church of ,england had to confront in  
these troubled years4 ,the  definition  
of her relationship with ,state and     
nation1 if at the moment  it aroused    
less bitterness1 was in the long run    
more intricate in its  nature4 ,that    
some sort of toleration was inevitable  
few1 save a group of  prejudiced        
irreconcilables1 would have denied4 ,but
 greater things were  in the air1 and   
there were still many who dreamed of a  
grand scheme of  ,comprehension1 by     
which all save the more extreme         

,dissenters would have  been admitted to
 the ,church4 ,it is this which explains
 the acrimonious  debates of the next   
two years4 ,the hatred of the ,church   
for dissent can  only be understood by  
those who study with care the insults   
heaped upon  her by the sectaries during
 the ,civil ,wars4 ,that men who had    
striven for  her dissolution should be  
admitted to her privileges seemed to    
,churchmen  as tragic as ironical4 ,nor 
must we miss the political aspect of the
  matter4 ,william had received an      
eager1 if natural1 support from         
,nonconformists2 and since the vast     
majority of them was ,whig in temper1   
the greater the degree of toleration1   
the greater likelihood there was  of an 
attack upon the ,church4 ,exclusion thus
 became a fundamental  article of the   
,tory creed2 and it was the more valued 
because it  enabled them to strike at   
their opponents through an institution  
which  at the trial of ,sacheverell1 in 
#agaj1 still showed an overwhelming hold

  upon the mass of the people4    ,the  
attitude of mind herein implied is in   
large part the reaction from  the       
,erastian temper of the government4     
,under ,william1 that temper is         
intelligible enough2 for unless he held 
the ,church in strict control1 he  must 
have felt that he was giving a large    
handle to his enemies4 ,under  ,anne1   
the essence of the situation remained   
unchanged1 even though her  eager       
sympathy with the ,church was beyond all
 question4 ,william had  relieved       
,nonconformists from the burden of penal
 statute2 the ,occasional  ,conformity  
,act of #agac broadly continued the     
exclusion of all save the  more yielding
 of them from political office4 ,when   
the ,hanoverians  succeeded they were   
willing to repeal its more rigid        
intolerance2 but  the ,test ,act        
remained as evidence that the           
,dissenters were not yet  regarded as in
 a full sense part of the national life4
    ,the reasons for the hatred of      

dissent go back in part to the ,civil   
,war  and in part also to the feeling of
 common ground between the dissenting   
interest and ,rome which was born of the
 struggle under ,elizabeth and  ,james4 
,the pamphlets are innumerable2 and most
 of them deserve the  complete obliquity
 into which they have fallen4 ,we are   
told1 in the  eighteenth as in the      
seventeenth century1 that the           
,presbyterian theory  of government is  
inconsistent with the existence of the  
civil power4  ,they claim1 said ,leslie1
 power to abrogate the laws of the land 
touching ecclesiastical matters1 if they
 judge them hurtful or  unprofitable444 
,they require the civil magistrate to be
 subject to their  power4 ,of ,knox or  
,cartwright this is no unfair account2  
but of the  later ,presbyterians it is  
the merest travesty4 ,it supposes that  
they  would be willing to push to the   
utmost limit the implications of the    
theory of the two kingdoms--a           
supposition which their passive         

submission  to the ,act of #agab        
restoring lay patronage decisively      
refutes4 ,bramhall  had no doubt that   
their discipline was the very           
quintessence of refined  popery1 and the
 argument is repeated by a hundred less 
learned  pamphleteers4 ,neither the grim
 irony of ,defoe nor the proven facts of
  the case could wean either the        
majority of ,churchmen or the masses of 
the people from the belief that the     
,revolution endangered the very         
existence of the ,church and that       
concession would be fatal4 ,so stoutly  
did the ,church resist it that the      
accession of ,george ,i alone1 in       
,lecky's view1 prevented the repeal of  
the ,toleration ,act and the            
destruction of the political benefits of
 the ,revolution4    ,but nowhere was   
the temper of the time more clearly     
displayed than in  the disputes over    
,convocation4 ,to ,william's advisers1  
perhaps1 more than  to the ,church      
itself their precipitation is due2 for  

had they not1 at  the outset of the     
reign1 suggested large changes in the   
liturgy  suspicions then aroused might  
well have slumbered4 ,as it was1 the    
question of the royal supremacy         
immediately came into view and the      
clergy spared no effort to meet the     
issue so raised4 ,and this they felt    
the more bitterly because the upper     
house of ,convocation1 two-thirds of    
which were ,william's nominees1         
naturally inclined to his side4 ,both   
under ,william and ,anne the dispute    
continued1 and the lower clergy  shrank 
from no opportunity of conflict4 ,they  
fought the king1 the  archbishop1 the   
upper house4 ,they attacked the writings
 of ,toland and  ,burnet1 the latter's  
book since recognized as one of the     
great treasures  of ,anglican           
literature4 ,in the main1 of course1 the
 struggle was part of  the perennial    
conflict between ,high ,church doctrine 
and  latitudinarianism4 ,but that was   
only a fragment of the issue4 ,what     

really was in question was the nature of
 the ,state's power over the  ,church4  
,that could be left unanswered so long1 
as with ,james ,i and  ,charles1 the two
 powers had but a single thought4 ,the  
situation changed  only when ,state and 
,church had different policies to fulfil
 and  different means for their         
attainment4    ,the controversy had     
begun on the threshold of ,william's    
accession2 but  its real commencement   
dates from #afig4 ,in that year was     
published the  ,letter to a ,convocation
 ,man1 probably written by ,sir         
,bartholomew  ,shower1 an able if       
unscrupulous ,jacobite lawyer1 which    
maliciously1  though with abounding     
skill1 raised every question that       
peaceful  churchmen must have been      
anxious to avoid4 ,the ,letter pointed  
out the  growth of infidelity and the   
increasing suspicion that the ,church   
was  becoming tainted with ,socinian    
doctrine4 ,only the assembly of         
,convocation could arrest these evils4  

,the author did not deny that the       
king's assent was necessary to its      
summons4 ,but he argued that once the   
,convocation had met1 it could1 like    
,parliament1 debate all questions       
relevant to its purpose4 ,the one of    
these courts1 said ,shower1 is of  the  
same power and use with regard to the   
,church as the other is in  respect to  
the ,state1 and he insisted that the    
writ of summons could  not at any point 
confine debate4 ,and since the          
,convocation was an  ecclesiastical     
,parliament1 it followed that it could  
legislate and thus  make any canons     
provided they do not impugn common law1 
statutes1  customs or prerogative4 ,to  
confer1 debate and resolve1 said        
,shower1  without the king's license1 is
 at common law the undoubted right of   
convocation4    ,here was a clear       
challenge which was at once answered1 in
 ,the ,authority  of ,christian         
,princes1 by ,william ,wake1 who was by 
far the most learned  of the            

latitudinarian clergy1 and the successor
 of ,tenison in the see of  ,canterbury4
 ,his argument was purely historical4   
,he endeavored to show  that the right  
to summon ecclesiastical synods was     
always the  prerogative of the early    
,christian princes until the aggression 
of the  popes had won church            
independence4 ,the ,reformation resumed 
the primitive  practice2 and the ,act of
 ,submission of #aecb had made it       
legally  impossible for the clergy to   
discuss ecclesiastical matters without  
royal permission4 ,historically1 the    
argument of ,wake was irrefutable2  but 
what mostly impressed the ,church was   
the uncompromising ,erastianism  of his 
tone4 ,princes1 he said1 may make what  
laws or constitutions they  think fit   
for the ,church4444 a canon is but as   
matter prepared for the  royal stamp4   
,in this view1 obviously1 the ,church is
 more than a  department of the ,state4 
,but ,wake went even farther1 ,i cannot 
see why  the ,supreme ,magistrate1 he   

wrote1 who confessedly has a power to   
confirm or reject their 7,convocation's7
 decrees1 may not also make such  other 
use of them as he pleases1 and correct1 
improve1 or otherwise  alter their      
resolutions1 according to his own       
liking1 before he gives  his authority  
to them4    ,so defined no ,church could
 claim in any true sense the headship of
  ,christ2 for it was clearly left at   
the mercy of the governmental view of   
expedient conduct4 ,wake's answer       
aroused a sensation almost as acute as  
the original ,letter of ,shower4 ,but by
 far the ablest criticism it  provoked  
was that of ,francis ,atterbury1 then a 
young student of ,christ  ,church and on
 the threshold of his turbulent career4 
,his ,rights1 ,powers  and ,privileges  
of an ,english ,convocation ,stated and 
,vindicated not only  showed a masterly 
historic sense in its effort to traverse
 the  unanswerable induction of ,wake1  
but challenged his position more        
securely on the ground of right4 ,the   

historical argument1 indeed1 was  not a 
safe position for the ,church1 and      
,wake's rejoinder in his ,state  of the 
,church 7#agjc7 is generally conceded to
 have proved his point1 so  far as the  
claim of prescription is concerned4 ,but
 when ,atterbury moves  to the deeper   
problem of what is involved in the      
nature of a church1 he  has a powerful  
plea to make4 ,it is unnecessary now to 
deal with his  contention that ,wake's  
defence of the ,royal ,supremacy        
undermines the  rights of ,parliament2  
for ,wake could clearly reply that the  
seat of that  power had changed with the
 advent of the ,revolution4 ,where the  
avoidance  of sympathy is difficult is  
in his insistence that no ,church can   
live  without an assembly to debate its 
problems1 and that no assembly can be   
real which is subject to external       
control4 ,their body1 as he remarks1    
will be useless to the ,state and by    
consequence contemptible2 for its       
opinions will not be born of that free  

deliberation which can alone  ensure    
respect4 ,like all ,high ,churchmen1    
,atterbury has a clear sense  that      
,church and ,state can no longer be     
equated1 and he is anxious to  preserve 
the personality of the ,church from the 
invasions of an alien  body4 ,to be     
real1 it must be independent1 and to be 
independent1 it must  have organs of    
self-expression4 ,but neither ,william  
nor ,anne could  afford to forego the   
political capital involved in           
ecclesiastical  control and ,erastian   
principles proceeded to their triumph4  
,here1 as elsewhere1 it was ,charles    
,leslie who best summed up the  feeling 
of ,high ,churchmen4 ,his ,case of the  
,regale 7#agja7 is by far the  ablest of
 his many able performances4 ,he saw at 
the outset that the real  issue was     
defined by the ,church's claim to be a  
divine society1 with  rights thus       
consecrated by the conditions of its    
origin4 ,if it was  divine1 invasion did
 not touch its de jure rights4 ,how1 he 

asked1  can rights that are divine be   
given up8 ,if they are divine1 no human 
authority can either supersede or limit 
them4444 ,how can rights that are       
inherent be given up8 ,if they are      
inherent1 they are inseparable4 ,the    
right to meet1 to consult1 to make rules
 or canons for the regulation of  the   
society1 is essential to every society  
as such 444 can she then part  with what
 is essential to her8 ,nor could it be  
denied that where the  choice of the    
governors of one society is in the hands
 of another  society1 that society must 
be dependent and subject to the other4  
,the  ,church1 in the ,latitudinarian   
view was thus either the creature of the
  state or an imperium in imperio2 but  
,leslie would not admit that  fruitful  
stumbling block to the debate4 ,the     
sacred and civil powers  were like two  
parallel lines which could never meet or
 interfere 444 the  confusion arises 444
 when the civil power will take upon    
them to control  or give laws to the    

,church1 in the exercise of her         
spiritual authority4  ,he did not doubt 
that the ,church should give securities 
for its loyalty  to the king1 and       
renounce any effort at the coercion of  
the civil  magistrate4 ,but the ,church 
was entitled to a similar privilege1 and
  kings should not have their           
beneficence and protection to the       
,church of  ,christ understood as a     
bribe to her1 to betray and deliver up  
into their  hands the powers committed  
into her charge by ,christ4 ,nor did he 
fail  to point out the suicidal nature  
of ,erastianism4 ,for the church's hold 
upon men is dependent upon their faith  
in the independence of her  principles4 
,when they see bishops1 he wrote wisely1
 made by the  ,court1 they are apt to   
imagine that they speak to them the     
court  language2 and lay no further     
stress upon it than the charge of a     
judge  at an assizes1 who has received  
his instructions beforehand from the    
,court2 and by this means the state has 

lost the greatest security of her       
government4    ,the argument is powerful
 enough2 though it should be noted that 
some of  its implications remain        
undetermined4 ,leslie does not say how  
the  spheres of ,church and ,state are  
to be differentiated4 ,he does not      
explain the methods whereby an          
establishment is to be made compatible  
with freedom4 ,for it is obvious that   
the partnership of ,church and ,state   
must be upon conditions2 and once the   
,state had permitted the existence  of  
creeds other than that of its official  
adoption1 it could not  maintain the    
exclusive power for which the ,church   
contended4 ,and when  the ,church not   
only complained of ,state-betrayal1 but 
attempted the use  of political means to
 enforce remedial measures it was       
inevitable that  statesmen would use the
 weapons ready to their hand to coerce  
it to  their will4 ,the real remedy for 
the ,high ,churchmen was not            
exclusiveness  but disestablishment4    

,that this is the meaning of the        
struggle did not appear until the reign 
of ,george ,i4 ,what is known as the    
,bangorian controversy was due to the   
posthumous publication1 in #agaf1 of the
 papers of ,george ,hickes1 the  most   
celebrated of the ,nonjurors in his     
generation4 ,the papers are of  no      
special import2 but taken in connection 
with the ,jacobite rising of  #agae they
 seemed to imply a new attack upon the  
,revolution settlement4  ,so1 at least1 
they were interpreted by ,benjamin      
,hoadly1 then ,bishop of  ,bangor1 and a
 stout upholder of the ,latitudinarian  
school4 ,the conflict  today has turned 
to dust and ashes2 and few who read the 
multitude of  pamphlets it evoked1 or   
stand amazed at their personal          
bitterness1 can  understand why more    
than a hundred writers should have      
thought it  necessary to inform the     
world of their opinions1 or why the     
,london ,stock  ,exchange should have   
felt so passionate an interest in the   

debate as to  cease for a day the hubbub
 of its transactions4 ,nor can any one  
make  heroes from the personalities of  
its protagonists4 ,hoadly himself was a 
typical bishop of the political school1 
who rose from humble  circumstances to  
the wealthy bishopric of ,winchester    
through a  remarkable series of         
translations4 ,before the debate of     
#agaf1 he was  chiefly known by two     
political tracts in which he had        
rewritten1 in less  cogent form1 and    
without adequate acknowledgment1 the two
 treatises of  ,locke4 ,he clearly      
realized how worthless the dogma of     
,divine ,right had  become1 without     
being certain of the principles by which
 it was to be  replaced4 ,probably1 as  
,leslie ,stephen has pointed out1 his   
theorizing is  the result of a cloudy   
sense of the bearing of the ,deist      
controversy4 ,if  ,god is to be banished
 from direct connection with earthly    
affairs1 we  must seek a human          
explanation of political facts4 ,and he 

became  convinced that this attitude    
applies not less completely to          
ecclesiastical than to secular politics4
 ,of his opponents1 by far the  ablest  
was ,william ,law1 the only theologian  
whom ,gibbon may be said to  have       
respected1 and the parent1 through his  
mystical writings1 of the  ,wesleyan    
movement4 ,snape1 then ,provost of      
,eton1 was always incisive2 and  his    
pamphlet went through seventeen editions
 in a single year and  provoked seven   
replies within three months4 ,thomas    
,sherlock would not be  either himself  
or his father's son1 were he not        
caustic1 logical and  direct4 ,but      
,hoadly and ,law between them exhaust   
the controversy1 so far  as it has      
meaning for our own day4 ,the less      
essential questions like  ,hoadly's     
choice of friends1 his attitude to      
prayer1 the accuracy of the  details in 
his account of the ,test ,act1 the cause
 of his refusal to  answer ,law         
directly1 are hardly now germane to the 

substance of the  debate4 ,hoadly's     
position is most fully stated in his    
,preservative  against the ,principles  
and ,practice of ,nonjurors which he    
published in  #agaf as a counterblast to
 the papers of ,hickes2 and they are    
briefly  summarized in the sermon       
preached before the ,king on ,march #ca1
 #agag1 on  the text ,my ,kingdom is not
 of this world1 and published by royal  
command4 ,amid a vast wilderness of     
quibbles and qualifications1 some       
simple points emerge4 ,what he was doing
 was to deprive the priesthood of       
claims to supernatural authority that he
 might vindicate for civil  government  
the right to preserve itself not less   
against persons in  ecclesiastical      
office than against civil assailants4   
,to do so he is  forced to deny that the
 miraculous powers of ,christ and the   
,apostles  descended to their           
successors4 ,for if that assumption is  
made we grant  to fallible men          
privileges which confessedly belong to  

persons outside  the category of        
fallibility4 ,and1 exactly in the       
fashion of ,leslie in  the ,regale he   
goes on to show that if a ,church is a  
supernatural  institution1 it cannot    
surrender one jot or tittle of its      
prerogative4  ,it is1 in fact1 an       
imperium in imperio and its conflict    
with the state  is inevitable4 ,but if  
the ,church is not a supernatural       
institution1 what  is its nature8       
,hoadly here attacks the doctrine which 
lies at the basis  of all ecclesiastical
 debate4 ,the ,church1 he claims1 is not
 a visible  society1 presided over by   
men who have authority directly         
transmitted by  ,christ4 ,there are not 
within it viceregents who can be said   
properly to  supply his place2 no       
interpreters upon whom his subjects are 
absolutely  to depend2 no judges over   
the conscience or religion of his       
people4 ,for  if this were so that any  
such absolute viceregent authority1     
either for  the making of new laws1 or  

interpreting old ones1 or judging his   
subjects1 in religious matters1 were    
lodged in any men upon earth1 the       
consequence would be that what still    
retains the name of the ,church of      
,christ would not be the kingdom of     
,christ1 but the kingdom of those men   
invested with such authority4 ,for      
whoever hath such an authority of       
making laws is so far a king1 and       
whoever can add new laws to those of    
,christ1 equally obligatory1 is as truly
 a king as ,christ himself4 ,nay1       
whosoever hath an absolute authority to 
interpret any written or spoken  laws1  
it is he who is truly the lawgiver to   
all intents and purposes1  and not the  
person who first wrote and spoke them4  
,the meaning is clear enough4 ,what     
,hoadly is attacking is the theory of a 
visible ,church of ,christ on earth1    
with the immense superstructure of      
miracle and infallibility erected       
thereon4 ,the true ,church of ,christ is
  in heaven2 and the members of the     

earthly society can but try in a  human1
 blundering way1 to act with decency and
 justice4 ,apostolic  succession1 the   
power of excommunication1 the dealing   
out of forgiveness  for men's sins1 the 
determination of true doctrine1 insofar 
as the  ,church claims these powers1 it 
is usurping an authority that is not its
  own4 ,the relation of man to ,god is  
his private affair1 and ,god will ask   
from him sincerity and honesty1 rather  
than judge him for his  possession of   
some special set of dogmas4 ,clearly1   
therefore1 if the  ,church is no more   
than this1 it has no supernatural       
pretensions to  oppose to the human     
claims of the ,state4 ,and since the    
,state must have  within itself all the 
means of sufficient life1 it has the    
right to  resist the ecclesiastical     
onslaught as based upon the usurpation  
of  power assumed without right4 ,and in
 later treatises ,hoadly did for        
ceremonial exactly what he had done for 
church government4 ,the eucharist       

became a piece of symbolism and         
excommunication nothing more than an    
announcement--a mere external           
thing--that the rules of the fellowship 
have been broken4 ,it at no point is    
related to the sinner's opportunity  of 
salvation4    ,in such an aspect1 it    
would clearly follow that the ,church   
has no  monopoly of truth4 ,it can1     
indeed1 judge its own beliefs2 but      
reason  alone can demonstrate the       
inadequacy of other attitudes4 ,nor does
 its  judgment preclude the individual  
duty to examine into the truth of       
things4 ,the real root of faith is not  
the possession of an infallible  dogma1 
but the arriving honestly at the dogma  
in which you happen to  believe4 ,for   
the magistrate1 he urges1 what is       
important is not the  table of your     
springs of action1 but the conduct      
itself which is based  upon that table2 
from which it follows that things like  
the ,test and  ,corporation ,acts have  
no real political validity4 ,they have  

been imposed  upon the ,state by the    
narrow interpretations of an usurping   
power2 and  the ,nonconformist claim to 
citizenship would thus seem as valid as 
that  of a member of the ,church of     
,england4    ,all this sounds sensible  
enough2 though it is curious doctrine in
 the  mouth of a bishop of that church4 
,and this1 in fact1 is the              
starting-point of ,law's analysis of    
,hoadly4 ,no one who reads the          
unsparing vigor of his criticism can    
doubt that ,law must have been          
thoroughly happy in the composition of  
his defence2 and1 indeed1 his is  the   
only contribution to the debate which   
may claim a permanent place in          
political literature4 ,in one sense1    
indeed1 the whole of ,law's answer is   
an ignoratio elenchi1 for he assumes the
 truth of that which ,hoadly  sets out  
to examine1 with the inevitable result  
that each writer is1 for  the most part1
 arguing from different premises4 ,but  
on the assumption  that ,hoadly is a    

,christian1 ,law's argument is an attack
 of great power4  ,he shows conclusively
 that if the ,church of ,england is no  
more than  ,hoadly imagines it to be1 it
 cannot1 in any proper historic sense1  
be  called the ,church of ,england at   
all4 ,for every one of the institutions 
which ,hoadly calls an usurpation1 is   
believed by ,churchmen to be  integral  
to its nature4 ,and if sincerity alone  
is to count as the test1  then there    
cannot1 for the existing world1 be any  
such thing as  objective religious      
truth4 ,it subverted not merely absolute
  authority--which the ,church of       
,england did not claim--but any         
authority  in the ,church4 ,it impugned 
the authority of the ,crown to enforce  
religious belief by civil penalties4    
,hoadly's rejection of authority1       
moreover1 is in ,law's view fatal to    
government of any kind4 ,for all  lawful
 authority must affect eternal salvation
 insofar as to disobey it  is to sin4   
,the authority the ,church possesses is 

inherent in the very  nature of the     
,church2 for the obligation to a belief 
in ,christianity is  the same thing as  
to a belief in that ,church which can be
 shown to  represent ,christ's teaching4
    ,from ,law's own point of view1 the 
logic of his position is undeniable2    
and in his third letter to ,hoadly1 the 
real heart of his attack1 he  touches   
the centre of the latter's argument4    
,for if it is sincerity  which is alone 
important it would follow that things   
false and wrong are  as acceptable to   
,god as things true and right1 which is 
patently absurd4  ,nor has ,hoadly given
 us means for the detection of          
sincerity4 ,he seemed  to think that    
anyone was sincere who so thought       
himself2 but1 says ,law1  it is also    
possible and as likely for a man to be  
mistaken in those  things which         
constitute true sincerity as in those   
things which  constitute true religion4 
,clearly1 sincerity cannot be the pith  
of the  matter2 for it may be mistaken  

and directed to wrong ends4 ,the ,state1
 in  fact1 may respect conscience1 but  
,hoadly is no more entitled to assume   
the infallibility of private belief than
 he is to deny the infallibility  of the
 ,church's teaching4 ,that way lies     
anarchy4    ,here1 indeed1 the          
antagonists were on common ground4 ,both
 had denied the  absolute character of  
any authority2 but while ,hoadly        
virtually  postulates a ,church which   
logically is no more than those who     
accept  the moral law as ,christ        
described it1 ,law restricts the ,church
 to that  society which bears the       
traditional marks of the historic       
institution4  ,on ,hoadly's principles1 
there was no reason why anyone not      
hostile to  the civil power should not  
enjoy political privilege2 on ,law's    
there was  every reason simply because  
those who denied the doctrines of the   
,high  ,church refused a truth open for 
their acceptance4 ,law1 indeed1 goes so 
far as to argue that in the light of his

 principles ,hoadly should be a  ,deist2
 and there is ground for what1 in that  
age1 was a valuable point  to make4 ,the
 sum total of it all is that for the    
bishop the outward  actions of men alone
 concern the ,state2 while ,law insists 
that the root  of action and the test of
 fitness is whether men have seen a     
certain  aspect of the truth and grasped
 it4    ,the result1 to say the least1  
was calamitous4 ,in ,may of #agag1      
convocation met and the ,lower ,house   
immediately adopted an unanimous  report
 condemning the ,preservative and the   
sermon4 ,but ,hoadly had the  government
 behind him and the convocation was     
prorogued before further  action could  
be taken4 ,snape1 ,hare1 ,mosse and     
,sherlock1 all of whom were  chaplains  
royal1 and had been drawn into the      
conflict1 were dismissed  from their    
office2 and for more than one hundred   
and thirty-five years  convocation was  
not again summoned4 ,it was a striking  
triumph for  ,erastianism1 though the   

more liberal principles of ,hoadly were 
less  successful4 ,robert ,walpole was  
on the threshold of his power1 and1 as a
  manager of ,sacheverell's impeachment1
 he had seen the hold of the ,church    
upon the common people1 may even1       
indeed1 have remembered that ,hoadly's  
own dwelling had been threatened with   
destruction in the popular  excitement4 
,quieta non movere was his motto2 and he
 was not interested  in the niceties of 
ecclesiastic metaphysic4 ,so the ,test  
,act remained  immovable until #ahbh2   
while the annual ,act of ,indemnity for 
its  infractions represented that       
,english genius for illogical mitigation
  which solves the deeper problems of   
principle while avoiding the            
consideration of their substance4    ,in
 the hundred and twenty years which     
passed between the ,bangorian           
,controversy and the ,oxford ,movement1 
there is only one volume upon the       
problem of ,church and ,state which     
deserves more than passing notice4      

,bishop ,warburton was the ,lord        
,brougham of his age2 and as its        
self-constituted universal provider of  
intellectual fare1 he deemed it  his    
duty to settle this1 amongst others of  
the eternal questions4 ,the  effort     
excited only the contempt of ,leslie    
,stephen--the peculiar  ,warburton      
mixture1 he says of sham logic and      
bluster4 ,yet that is  hardly fair to   
the total result of ,warburton's        
remarks4 ,he tried to  steer a middle   
path between the logical result of such 
,erastianism as  that of the            
,independent ,whig1 on the one hand1 and
 the excessive claim  of ,high          
,churchmanship on the other4 ,naturally 
enough1 or the writer  would not be     
,warburton1 the book is full of tawdry  
rhetoric and stupid  quibbles4 ,but the 
,alliance between ,church and ,state    
7#agcf7 set the  temper of speculation  
until the advent of ,newman1 and is     
therefore  material for something more  
than contempt4 ,it acutely points out   

that  societies generate a personality  
distinct from that of their members in  
words reminiscent of an historic legal  
pronouncement4#ab ,when any  number of  
men1 he says1 form themselves into a    
society1 whether civil  or religious1   
this society becomes a body different   
from that aggregate  which the number of
 individuals composed before the society
 was  formed4444 ,but a body must have  
its proper personality and will1 which  
without these is no more than a shadow  
or a name4    ,footnote #ab3 ,dicey1    
,law and ,opinion in ,england 7#bnd     
edition71  p4 #afe4    ,and that is the 
root of ,warburton's pronouncement4 ,the
 ,church is a  society distinct from the
 ,state1 but lending to that body its   
assistance  because without the sanction
 of religion the full achievement of the
  social purpose is impossible4 ,there  
is thus an alliance between them1  each 
lending its support to the other for    
their common benefit4 ,the two  remain  
distinct2 the union between them is of a

 federal kind4 ,but they  interchange   
their powers1 and this it is which      
explains at once the  royal supremacy   
and the right of ,churchmen to a share  
in the  legislature4 ,this also it is   
which explains the existence of a ,test 
,act1 whereby those who might injure    
that which the ,state has undertaken  to
 protect are deprived of their power to 
evil4 ,and1 in return1 the  ,church     
engages to apply its utmost endeavors in
 the service of the  ,state4 ,it becomes
 attached to its benefactor from the    
privilege it  receives2 and the dangers 
which might arise from its natural      
independence are thus obviated4 ,for a  
federal union precludes the grave       
problem of an imperium in imperio1 and  
the mischiefs which so  terrified       
,hobbes are met by the terms upon which 
it is founded4    ,it is easy enough to 
discover the loopholes in the theory4   
,the contract  does not exist1 or1 at   
least1 it is placed by ,warburton in the
 same  archive with the famous original 

compact between monarch and people      
which has been the object of vast but   
fruitless searches4 ,nor does the  ,act 
of ,submission bear upon its face the   
marks of that tender care of  the       
protection of an independent society    
which ,warburton declared a  vital tenet
 of the ,union4 ,yet such criticisms    
miss the real significance  of the      
theory4 ,it is really the introduction  
into ,english politics of  that notion  
of the two societies which1 a century   
before1 ,melville and  ,bellarmine had  
made so fruitful4 ,with neither         
,presbyterian nor ,jesuit  was the      
separation complete1 for the simple     
reason that each had a  secret          
conviction that the ecclesiastical      
society was at bottom the  superior4    
,yet the theory was the parent of       
liberty1 if only because it  pointed the
 way to a balance of power between      
claims which1 before1 had  seemed       
mutually exclusive4    ,until the       
,toleration ,act1 the theory was        

worthless to the ,english ,church       
because its temper1 under the gis of    
,laudian views1 had been in  substance  
theocratic4 ,but after #afib it aptly   
expressed the compromise  the dominant  
party of the ,church had then in mind4  
,they did1 indeed1  mistake the power of
 the ,church1 or1 rather1 they submitted
 to the ,state  so fully that what they 
had intended for a partnership became an
  absorption4 ,so that the ,erastianism 
of the eighteenth century goes deep     
enough to make the ,church no more than 
a moral police department of the        
,state4 ,saints like ,ken and preachers 
like ,south are replaced by  fashionable
 prelates like ,cornwallis1 who made    
,lambeth ,palace an adjunct  to         
,ranelagh ,gardens1 and self-seeking    
pluralists like ,bishop ,watson4 ,the   
,church could not even perceive the     
meaning of the ,wesleyan revolt2 and    
its charity was the irritating and      
complacent patronage of the  obstrusive 
,hannah ,more4 ,its learning decayed1   

its intelligence  slumbered2 and the    
main function it fulfilled until        
,newman's advent was  the provision of  
rich preferment to the younger sons of  
the nobility4 ,it  is a far cry from    
,lake of ,chichester and ,bishop ,ken to
 a church which  was merely an annex to 
the iniquities of the civil list4       
,,iv      ,no one can mistake the       
significance of this conflict4 ,the     
opponents of  ,erastianism had a deep   
sense of their corporate ,church1 and it
 was a  plea for ecclesiastical freedom 
that they were making4 ,they saw that a 
,church whose patronage and discipline  
and debates were under the control  of  
an alien body could not with honesty    
claim that ,christ was in truth  their  
head4 ,if the ,church was to be at the  
mercy of private judgment  and political
 expediency1 the notion of a dogmatic   
basis would have to  be abandoned4      
,here1 indeed1 is the root of the       
condemnation of ,tindal  and of ,hoadly2
 for they made it1 by their teaching1   

impossible for the  ,church to possess  
an ethos of her own4 ,it was thus       
against the  sovereignty of the ,state  
that they protested4 ,somewhere1 a line 
must be  drawn about its functions that 
the independence of the ,church might be
  safeguarded4 ,for its supporters could
 not be true to their divine  mission if
 the accidental vote of a secular       
authority was by right to  impose its   
will upon the ,church4 ,the view of it  
as simply a religious  body to which the
 ,state had conceded certain rights and 
dignities1 they  repudiated with        
passion4 ,the life of the ,church was   
not derived from the  ,state2 and for   
the latter to attempt its               
circumscription was to usurp an         
authority not rightly its own4    ,the  
real difficulty of this attitude lay in 
the establishment4 ,for here  the       
,church was1 at bottom1 declaring that  
the ,state life must be lived  upon     
terms of her own definition4 ,that was  
possible before the  ,reformation2 but  

with the advent of ,nonconformity and   
the growth of  rationalism the exclusive
 character of the ,church's solution had
 become  unacceptable4 ,if the ,church  
was to become so intimately involved    
with  the ,state as an establishment    
implied1 it had no right to complain1 if
  statesmen with a genius for expediency
 were willing to sacrifice it to  the   
attainment of that ideal4 ,for the real 
secret of independence is1  after all1  
no more than independence4 ,the ,church 
sought it without being  willing to pay 
the price4 ,and this it is which enabled
 ,hoadly to emerge  triumphant from an  
ordeal where logically he should have   
failed4 ,the  ,state1 by definition is  
an absorptive animal2 and the ,church   
had no  right to complain if the price  
of its privileges was royal supremacy4  
,a  century so self-satisfied as the    
eighteenth would not have faced the     
difficulties involved in giving         
political expression to the ,high       
,church  theory4    ,yet the protest    

remained1 and it bore a noble fruit in  
the next century4  ,the ,oxford movement
 is usually regarded as a return to the 
seventeenth  century1 to the ideals1    
that is to say1 of ,laud and            
,andrewes4#ac ,in  fact1 its real       
kinship is with ,atterbury and ,law4    
,like them1 it was  searching the secret
 of ecclesiastical independence1 and    
like them it  discovered that connection
 with the ,state means1 in the end1 the 
sacrifice of the church to the needs of 
each political situation4 ,the  ,state  
has deserted us1 wrote ,newman2 and the 
words might have been  written of the   
earlier time4 ,the ,oxford movement1    
indeed1 like its  predecessor1 built    
upon foundations of sand2 and when ,lord
 ,brougham told  the ,house of ,lords   
that the idea of the ,church possessing 
absolute and  unalienable rights was a  
gross and monstrous anomaly because it  
would  make impossible the supremacy of 
,parliament1 he simply announced the    
result of a doctrine which1 implicit in 

the ,act of ,submission1 was first      
completely defined by ,wake and ,hoadly4
 ,nor has the history of this           
controversy ended4 ,thoughtful men1 the 
,archbishop of ,canterbury has  told the
 ,house of ,lords1#ad 444 see the       
absolute need1 if a ,church is  to be   
strong and vigorous1 for the ,church1   
qua church1 to be able to  say what it  
can do as a church4 ,the rule of the    
sovereign1 the rule of  ,parliament1    
replied ,lord ,haldane1#ae extend as far
 as the rule of the  ,church4 ,they are 
not to be distinguished or              
differentiated1 and that was  the       
condition under which ecclesiastical    
power was transmitted to the  ,church of
 ,england4 ,today1 that is to say1 as in
 the past1 antithetic  theories of the  
nature of the ,state hinge1 in essence1 
upon the problem  of its sovereignty4 ,a
 free church in a free state1 now1 as   
then1 may  be our ideal2 but we still   
seek the means wherewith to build it4   
,footnote #ac3 ,cf4 my ,problem of      

,sovereignty1 ,chapter ,,iii4           
,footnote #ad3 ,parliamentary ,debates4 
,fifth ,series1 ,vol4 #cd1  p4 #iib     
7,june #c1 #aiai74    ,footnote #ae3    
,parliamentary ,debates4 ,fifth ,series1
 ,vol4 #cd1 p #ajjb4  ,the quotation    
does not fully represent ,lord          
,haldane's views4          ,,chapter    
,,iv    ,,the ,,era ,,of ,,stagnation   
,i      ,with the accession of ,george  
,i1 there ensued an era of unexampled   
calm  in ,english politics1 which lasted
 until the expulsion of ,walpole from   
power in #agdb4 ,no vital questions were
 debated1 nor did problems of  principle
 force themselves into view2 and if the 
,jacobites remained in  the background  
as an element invincibly hostile to     
absorption1 the  failure of their effort
 in #agae showed how feeble was their   
hold on  ,english opinion4 ,not1 indeed1
 that the new dynasty was popular4 ,it  
had  nothing of that romantic glamour of
 a lost cause so imperishably  recorded 
in ,scott's pages4 ,the first ,georges  

were heavy and foreign and              
meagre-souled2 but at least they were   
,protestant1 and1 until the reign  of   
,george ,,iii1 they were amenable to    
management4 ,in the result1 an          
opposition in the classic sense was     
hardly needed2 for the only question  to
 be considered was the personalities who
 were to share in power4 ,the           
dominating temper of ,walpole decided   
that issue2 and he gave thereby to  the 
political struggle the outlines in which
 it was encased for a  generation4      
,it is a dull period1 but complacent2   
for it was not an unprosperous  time4   
,agriculture and commerce both were     
abundant2 and the increasing            
development of towns shows us that the  
,industrial ,revolution loomed in  the  
near distance4 ,the eager continuance of
 the deistic controversy  suggests that 
there was something of novelty beneath  
the calm2 for  ,tindal and ,woolston and
 ,chubb struck at the root of religious 
belief1  and ,shaftesbury's exaltation  

of ,hellenism not only contributed to   
the  ,aufklarung in ,scotland1 but      
suggested that ,christian ideals were   
not  to go unchallenged4 ,but the       
literature of the time is summarized in 
,pope2 and the easy neatness of his     
verses is quaintly representative of    
the ,georgian peace4 ,defoe and ,swift  
had both done their work2 and the       
latter had withdrawn to ,ireland to die 
like a rat in a hole4 ,bishop           
,berkeley1 indeed1 was convinced of the 
decadence of ,england2 but his  ,essay  
towards ,preventing the ,ruin of ,great 
,britain 7#agba7 shows rather  the      
effect of the speculative mania which   
culminated in the ,south ,sea  ,bubble  
upon a noble moral nature than a genius 
for political thought4  ,certainly no   
one in that generation was likely to    
regard with  seriousness proposals for  
the endowment of motherhood and a tax   
upon the  estate of bachelors4 ,the     
cynical sophistries of ,mandeville were1
 despite  the indignation they aroused1 

more suited to the age that ,walpole    
governed4 ,it is1 in fact1 the character
 of the minister which sets the  keynote
 of the time4 ,an able speaker1 without 
being a great orator1 a  superb         
administrator1 eager rather for power   
than for good1 rating men  low by       
instinct and corrupting them by         
intelligence1 ,walpole was not the  man1
 either in type of mind or of           
temperament1 to bring great questions   
to the foreground of debate4 ,he was    
content to maintain his hold over  the  
respect of the ,crown1 and to punish    
able rivals by exclusion from  office4  
,one by one1 the younger men of talent1 
,carteret1 ,pulteney1  ,chesterfield1   
,pitt1 were driven into hostility4 ,he  
maintained himself in  office by a      
corruption as efficiently administered  
as it was cynically  conceived4 ,an     
opposition developed less on principle  
than on the belief  that spoils are     
matter rather for distribution than for 
concentration4  ,the party so formed    

had1 indeed1 little ground save personal
 animosity  upon which to fight2 and its
 ablest exertions could only seize upon 
a  doubtful insult to a braggart        
sea-captain as the pretext of the war it
  was ,walpole's ambition no less than  
policy to avoid4 ,from #agbf until      
#agce the guiding spirit of the party   
was ,bolingbroke2 but in the latter     
year he quarrelled with ,pulteney1      
nominally its leader1 and retired in    
high dudgeon to ,france4 ,but in the    
years of his leadership he had  evolved 
a theory of politics than which nothing 
so clearly displays the  intellectual   
bankruptcy of the time4    ,to          
understand the argument of ,bolingbroke 
it is necessary to remember  the        
peculiar character of his career4 ,he   
had attained to the highest  office     
under ,anne at an exceptionally early   
age2 and his period of  power had been  
distinguished by the vehemence with     
which he pursued the  ideal of a strict 
division of parties and the expulsion of

 all alien  elements from the           
government4 ,but he had staked all his  
fortunes upon a  scheme he had neither  
the resolution to plan nor the courage  
to execute2  and his flight to ,france1 
on the ,hanoverian accession1 had been  
followed  by his proscription4 ,walpole 
soon succeeded alike to his reputation  
and  place2 and through an enormous     
bribe to the bottomless pocket of the   
,king's mistress ,st4 ,john was enabled 
to return from exile1 though not to     
political place4 ,his restless mind was 
dissatisfied with exclusion from  power1
 and he occupied himself with creating  
an alliance between the  ,tories and    
malcontent ,whigs for ,walpole's        
overthrow4 ,the alliance  succeeded1    
though too late for ,bolingbroke to     
enjoy the fruits of  success2 but in    
effecting the purgation of the ,tory    
party from its taint  of ,jacobitism he 
rendered no inconsiderable service4 ,his
 foundation1  moreover1 of the          
,craftsman--the first official journal  

of a political  party in                
,england--showed his appreciation of the
 technique of political  controversy4   
,most of it is dead now1 and1 indeed1 no
 small part of its  contemporary success
 is due to the making of comment in     
terms of the  immediate situation1 as   
also by its consistent use of a personal
  reference which has1 save in the mass1
 no meaning for today4 ,though1         
doubtless1 the idea of its inception was
 derived from journals like  ,defoe's   
,review and ,leslie's ,rehearsal1 which 
had won success1 its  intimate          
connection with the party leadership was
 a novel element2 and  it may therein   
claim a special relation to the official
 periodicals of a  later generation4    
,the reputation of ,bolingbroke as a    
political philosopher is something  that
 our age can hardly understand4 ,a      
solemn trifler1 ,lord ,morley has       
called him2 and it is difficult to know 
why his easy declamation was so  long   
mistaken for profound thought4 ,much1   

doubtless1 is due to that  personal     
fascination which made him the          
inspiration of men so different  as     
,pope and ,voltaire2 and the man who    
could supply ideas to ,chatham and      
,disraeli cannot be wholly devoid of    
merit4 ,certainly he wrote well1 in     
that easy elegance of style which was   
the delight of the eighteenth  century2 
and he is consistently happy in his     
choice of adjectives4 ,but  his work is 
at every point embellished with that    
affectation of  classical learning which
 was the curse of his age4 ,he sought no
 general  truths1 and he is free from   
the accusation of sincerity4 ,nor has he
 any  enthusiasm save that of bitter    
partisanship4 ,he hated ,walpole1 and   
his  political writings are1 at bottom1 
no more than an attempt to generalize   
his animosity4 ,the ,dissertation on    
,parties 7#agcd7 and the ,idea of a     
,patriot ,king 7#agch7 might have       
betrayed us1 taken alone1 into regarding
  their author as a disinterested       

observer watching with regret the       
development of a fatal system2 but taken
 in conjunction with the ,letter  to    
,sir ,w4 ,windham 7#agag71 which was not
 published until after his  death1 and  
is written with an acrid cynicism fatal 
to his claim to  honesty1 they reveal   
the opinions as no more than a mask for 
ambition  born of hate4    ,the whole1  
of course1 must have some sort of       
background2 and the  ,letters on the    
,study of ,history 7#agce7 was doubtless
 intended to  supply it4 ,experience is 
to be the test of truth1 since history  
is  philosophy teaching by example4 ,but
 ,bolingbroke's own argument supplies   
its refutation4 ,his history is an      
arbitrary selection of instances        
intended to illustrate the particular   
ideas which happened to be  uppermost in
 his mind4 ,the ,roman consuls were     
chosen by annual election2  whence it is
 clear that ,england should have1 if not
 an annual1 at least  a triennial       
parliament4 ,he acknowledges that the   

past in some degree  unknown determines 
the present4 ,he has some not unhappy   
remarks upon the  evils of an attitude  
which fails to look upon events from a  
larger  aspect than their immediate     
environment4 ,but his history is        
intended  less to illustrate the working
 of principle than to collect cases     
worthy  of citation4 ,time and space do 
not exist as categories2 he is as       
content  with a ,roman anecdote as with 
a ,stuart illustration4 ,he is willing1 
indeed1 to look for the causes of the   
,revolution as far back as the  reign of
 ,james ,i2 though he shows his lack of 
true perception when he  ascribes the   
true inwardness of the ,reformation to  
the greed of the  monarch for the spoils
 of the clergy4 ,at bottom what mainly  
impresses  him is the immense influence 
of personal accident upon events4       
,intrigue1 a sudden dislike1 some       
backstairs piece of gossip1 here is the 
real root of great changes4 ,and when he
 expresses a thorough contempt  for the 

kind of work scholars such as ,scaliger 
and ,petavius had  achieved1 he shows   
his entire ignorance of the method      
whereby alone a  knowledge of general   
principle can be attained4    ,a clear  
vision1 of course1 he has1 and he was   
not beguiled by high  notions of        
prerogative or the like4 ,the divine    
right of kings is too  stupid to be     
worth the trouble of refutation2 all    
that makes a king  important is the     
authority he exerts4 ,so1 too1 with the 
,church2 for  ,bolingbroke1 as a        
professed deist1 has no trouble with    
such matters as  the apostolic          
succession4 ,he makes great show of his 
love of liberty1  which is the true end 
of government2 and we are informed with 
a vast  solemnity of the perpetual      
danger in which it always stands4 ,so   
that  the chief end of patriotism is its
 maintenance2 though we are never told  
what liberty is1 nor how it is to be    
maintained4 ,the social compact  seems  
to win his approbation and we learn that

 the secret of the  ,british            
constitution is the balance of powers   
and their mutual  independency4 ,but    
what the powers are1 and how their      
independence is  preserved we do not    
learn1 save by an insistence that the   
safety of  ,europe is to be found in    
playing off the ambitions of ,france and
 ,austria  against each other2 an       
analogy the rejection of which has been 
the  secret of ,english constitutional  
success4 ,we learn of the evil of       
standing armies and the danger of       
,septennial ,parliaments4 ,we are told  
that parties are mainly moved by the    
prospect of enjoying office and  vast   
patronage2 and a great enough show is   
made of his hatred for  corruption as to
 convince at least some critics of      
distinction of his  sincerity4 ,the     
parties of the time had1 as he sees1    
become divided by no  difference save   
that of interest2 and herein1 at least1 
he shows us how  completely the         
principles of the ,revolution had become

 exhausted4 ,he  wants severe penalties 
upon electoral corruption4 ,he would    
have  disfranchised the rotten boroughs 
and excluded placemen from ,parliament4 
,the press was to be free2 and there is 
at least a degree of generous  insight  
in his plea for a wider commercial      
freedom in colonial matters4  ,yet what1
 after all1 does this mean save that he 
is fighting a man with  the patronage at
 his disposal and a majority upon the   
committee for the  settlement of        
disputed elections8 ,and what else can  
we see in his desire  for liberty of the
 press save a desire to fight ,walpole  
in the open1  without fear of the       
penalties his former treason had        
incurred8    ,his value can be tested in
 another way4 ,his ,idea of a ,patriot  
,king is  the remedy for the ills he has
 depicted4 ,he was sixty years old when 
it  appeared1 and he had then been in   
active politics for thirty-five years1  
so that we are entitled to regard it as 
the fruit of his mature  experience4 ,he

 was too convinced that the constitution
 was in the  strictest sense a bargain1 
a conditional contract between the      
prince and  the people to attempt again 
the erection of a system of prerogative4
  ,yet it is about the person of the    
monarch that the theory hinges4 ,he is  
to have no powers inconsistent with the 
liberties of the people2 for  such      
restraints will not shackle his virtues 
while they limit the evil  propensities 
of a bad king4 ,what is needed is a     
patriot king who will  destroy          
corruption and awaken the spirit of     
liberty4 ,his effective  government will
 synchronize with the commencement of   
his reign2 and he  will at once dismiss 
the old and cunning ministers1 to       
replace them by  servants who are wise4 
,he will not stand upon party1 but upon 
the ,state4  ,he will unite the forces  
of good counsel into a single scheme4   
,complaints will be answered1 the       
evildoers punished4 ,commerce will flow 
on with uninterrupted prosperity1 and   

the navy of ,england receive its  due   
meed of attention4 ,his conduct must be 
dignified1 and he must  acquire his     
influence not apart from1 but on account
 of1 the affection  of his people4      
,concord1 says ,bolingbroke in          
rhapsodical prospection1  will appear   
breeding peace and prosperity on every  
hand2 though he  prudently hopes also   
that men will look back with affection  
upon one  who desired life for nothing  
so much as to see a ,king of ,great     
,britain  the most powerful man in the  
country1 and a patriot ,king at the head
 of  a united people4    ,bolingbroke   
himself has admitted that such a monarch
 would be a sort of  standing miracle1  
and perhaps no other comment upon his   
system is  required4 ,a smile in ,plato 
at the sight of his philosopher-,king in
 such  strange company might well be    
pardoned4 ,it is only necessary to point
  out that the person whom ,bolingbroke 
designates for this high function  was  
,frederick1 ,prince of ,wales1 to us the

 most meagre of a meagre  generation1   
but to ,bolingbroke1 by whose grace he  
was captivated1 the  greatest and most  
glorious of human beings4 ,this         
exaltation of the  monarch came at a    
time when a variety of circumstances had
 combined to  show the decrease of      
monarchical sentiment4 ,it bears upon   
its every page  the marks of a personal 
antagonism4 ,it is too obviously the    
programme of  a party to be capable of  
serious interpretation as a system4 ,the
  minister who is to be impeached1 the  
wise servants who are to gain  office1  
the attack on corruption1 the spirited  
foreign policy--all these  have the     
earmarks of a platform rather than of a 
philosophy4 ,attacks on  corruption     
hardly read well in the mouth of a      
dissolute gambler2 and the  one solid   
evidence of deep feeling is the remark  
on the danger of  finance in politics4  
,for none of the ,tories save ,barnard1 
who owed his  party influence thereto1  
understood the financial schemes of     

,walpole2  and since they were his      
schemes obviously they represented the  
triumph  of devilish ingenuity4 ,the    
return of landed men to power would mean
 the  return of simplicity to politics2 
and one can imagine the country         
squires1 the last resort of enthusiasm  
for ,church and ,king1 feeling that     
,bolingbroke had here emphasized the    
dangers of a rgime which already        
faintly foreshadowed their exclusion    
from power4 ,the pamphlet was the       
cornerstone in the education of         
,frederick's son2 and when ,george ,,iii
  came to the throne he proceeded to    
give such heed to his master as the     
circumstances permitted4 ,it is perhaps1
 as ,mr4 ,a4,l4 ,smith has argued1      
unfair to visit ,bolingbroke with       
,george's version of his ideal2 yet they
  are sufficiently connected for the one
 to give the meaning to the other4      
,chatham1 indeed1 was later intrigued by
 this ideal of a national party2  and   
before ,disraeli discovered that        

,england does not love coalitions he    
expended much rhetoric upon the beauties
 of a patriotic king4 ,but  ,chatham was
 a wayward genius who had nothing of    
that instinct for common  counsel which 
is of the essence of party government2  
while it is  necessary to draw a firm   
line between ,disraeli's genial         
declamation and  his practice when in   
office4 ,it is sufficient to say that   
the one effort  founded upon the        
principles of ,bolingbroke ended in     
disaster2 and that  his own last        
reflections express a bitter disillusion
 at the result of  the event which he   
looked to as the inauguration of the    
golden age4        ,,ii      ,the fall  
of ,walpole1 indeed1 released no        
energies for political thought2  the    
system continued1 though the men were   
different4 ,what alone can be  detected 
is the growth of a democratic opinion   
which found its  sustenance outside the 
,house of ,commons1 the opinion the     
strength of  which was later to force   

the elder ,pitt upon an unwilling king4 
,an able  pamphlet of the time shows us 
the arrival of this unlooked-for        
portent4  ,faction detected by the      
,evidence of ,facts 7#agdb7 was1 though 
it is  anonymous1#af obviously written  
by one in touch with the inner current  
of affairs4 ,the author had hoped for   
the fall of ,walpole1 though he sees    
the chaos in its result4 ,a republican  
spirit1 he says1 has strangely  arisen2 
and he goes on to tell how the electors 
of ,london and  ,westminster were now   
regarding their members as delegates to 
whom  instructions might be issued4 ,a  
new party of malcontents had arisen1    
assuming to themselves1 though very     
falsely1 the title of the ,people4      
,they affect1 he tells us1 superiority  
to the whole legislature 444 and        
endeavor in effect to animate the people
 to resume into their own hands  that   
vague and loose authority which exists  
7unless in theory7 in the  people of no 
country upon earth1 and the             

inconvenience of which is so  obvious   
that it is the first step of mankind1   
when formed into society1  to divest    
themselves of it1 and to delegate it    
forever from themselves4  ,the writer   
clearly foreshadows1 even in his        
dislike1 that temper which  produced the
 ,wilkes affair1 and made it possible   
for ,cartwright and  ,horne ,tooke and  
,sir ,thomas ,hollis to become the      
founders of ,english  radicalism4       
,footnote #af3 ,it was probably written 
by ,lord ,egmont4    ,yet the influence 
of that temper still lay a generation   
ahead2 and the  next piece of import    
comes from a mind which1 though perhaps 
the most  powerful of all which have    
applied themselves to political         
philosophy in  ,england1 was1 from its  
very scepticism1 incapable of           
constructive  effort4 ,david ,hume was  
thirty-one years of age when he         
published 7#agdb7  the first series of  
his essays2 and his ,treatise of ,human 
,nature which  had fallen dead-born from

 the press was in some sort compensated 
by  the success of the new work4 ,the   
second part1 entitled ,political        
,discourses1 was published in #ageb1    
almost simultaneously with the  ,inquiry
 concerning the ,principles of ,morals4 
,as in the case of  ,hume's metaphysical
 studies1 they constitute the most      
powerful  dissolvent the century was to 
see4 ,yet nowhere was so clearly to be  
demonstrated the euthanasia into which  
,english politics had fallen4    ,hume1 
of course1 is always critical and       
suggestive1 and even if he had  no      
distinctive contribution to make1 he    
gave a new turn to speculation4  ,there 
is something almost of magic in the ease
 with which he demolishes  divine right 
and the social contract4 ,the one is an 
inevitable deduction  from theism1 but  
it protects an usurper not less than an 
hereditary  king1 and gives a divine    
commission as well to a constable as to 
the  most majestic prince4 ,the         
proponents of the social contract are in

 no  better case4 ,were you to preach1  
he remarks1 in most parts of the  world 
that political connections are founded  
altogether on voluntary  consent1 or on 
a mutual promise1 the magistrate would  
soon imprison you  as seditious for     
loosening the ties of obedience2 if your
 friends did  not before shut you up as 
delirious for advancing such            
absurdities4 ,the  original contract    
could not be produced1 and1 even if it  
were1 it would  suppose the consent of  
the fathers to bind the children even to
 the  most remote generations4 ,the real
 truth1 as he remarks1 is that almost   
all the governments which exist at      
present1 or of which there remains  any 
record in story1 have been founded      
originally on usurpation1 or on         
conquest1 or both1 without any pretence 
of a fair consent or voluntary          
subjection of the people4 ,if we then   
ask why obedience is possible1 the      
sufficient answer is that it becomes so 
familiar that most men never  make any  

inquiry about its origin or cause1 any  
more than about the  principle of       
gravity1 resistance1 or the most        
universal laws of nature4               
,government1 in short1 is dependent upon
 the inescapable facts of  psychology4  
,it might be unnecessary if all desires 
could be individually  fulfilled by     
making them1 or if man showed to his    
fellow-men the same  tender regard he   
has for himself4 ,so happy a condition  
does not exist2  and government is the  
most useful way of remedying the defects
 of our  situation4 ,a theologian might 
say that ,hume derives government from  
original sin2 to which he would have    
replied by denying the fall4 ,his  whole
 attitude is simply an insistence that  
utility is the touchstone of            
institutions1 and he may claim to be the
 first thinker who attempted its        
application to the whole field of       
political science4 ,he knows that       
opinion is the sovereign ruler of       
mankind1 and that ideas of utility lie  

at the base of the thoughts which get   
accepted4 ,he does not1 indeed1  deny   
that fear and consent enter into the    
attitude of men2 he simply  asserts that
 these also are founded upon a judgment 
of utility in the  thing judged4 ,we    
obey because otherwise society could not
 subsist1 and  society subsists for its 
utility4 ,men1 he says could not live at
 all  in society1 at least in a         
civilized society1 without laws and     
magistrates and judges1 to prevent the  
encroachments of the strong upon  the   
weak1 of the violent upon the just and  
equitable4    ,utilitarianism is1 of    
course1 above all a method2 and it is   
not unfair  to say of ,hume that he did 
not get very far beyond insistence on   
that  point4 ,he sees that the          
subjection of the many to the few is    
rooted in  human impulse2 but he has no 
penetrating inquiry1 such as that of    
,locke  or ,hobbes1 into the purpose of 
such subjection4 ,so1 too1 it is the    
sense  of public interest which         

determines men's thoughts on government1
 on who  should rule1 and what should be
 the system of property2 but the ethical
  substance of these questions he leaves
 undetermined4 ,politics1 he  thinks1   
may one day be a science2 though he     
considers the world still  too young for
 general truths therein4 ,the maxims he 
suggests as of  permanent value1 that a 
hereditary prince1 a nobility without   
vassals1  and a people voting by their  
representatives form the best monarchy1 
autocracy and democracy2 that free      
governments 444 are the most  ruinous   
and oppressive to their provinces2 that 
republics are more  favorable to        
science1 monarchies to art2 that the    
death of a political  body is           
inevitable2 would none of them1         
probably1 be accepted by most  thinkers 
at the present time4 ,and when he       
constructs an ideal  constitution1      
irrespective of time and place1 which is
 to be regarded as  practical because it
 resembles that of ,holland1 it is      

obvious that the  historical method had 
not yet come fully into being4    ,yet  
,hume is full of flashes of deep wisdom1
 and it would be an avoidance  of       
justice not to note the extent of the   
spasmodic insight that he had4  ,he has 
a keen eye for the absurdity of ,pope's 
maxim that administration  is all in    
all2 nothing can ever make the forms of 
government immaterial4  ,he accepts     
,harrington's dictum that the substance 
of government  corresponds to the       
distribution of property1 without making
 it1 as later  thinkers have done1 the  
foundation of all political forces4 ,he 
sees that  the ,crown cannot influence  
the mass of men1 or withstand the new   
balance  of property in the ,state2 a   
prophecy of which the accuracy was      
demonstrated by the failure of ,george  
,,iii4 ,in all governments1 as he  says1
 there is a perpetual intestinal        
struggle1 open or secret1  between      
,authority and ,liberty2 though his     
judgment that neither can  ever         

absolutely prevail1 shows us rather that
 we are on the threshold  of            
laissez-faire than that ,hume really    
understood the problem of  freedom4 ,he 
realized that the ,house of ,commons had
 become the pivot of  the ,state2 though
 he looked with dread upon the onset of 
popular  government4 ,he saw the        
inevitability of parties1 as also their 
tendency  to persist in terms of men    
instead of principles4 ,he was convinced
 of  the necessity of liberty to the    
progress of the arts and sciences2 and  
no one1 save ,adam ,smith1 has more     
acutely insisted upon the evil effect   
on commerce of an absolute government4  
,he emphasized the value of  freedom of 
the press1 in which he saw the secret   
whereby the mixed  government of        
,england was maintained4 ,it has also   
been found1 he said  in a happy phrase1 
444 that the people are no such         
dangerous monsters  as they have been   
represented1 and that it is in every    
respect better to  guide them like      

rational creatures than to lead or drive
 them like brute  beasts4 ,there is1 in 
fact1 hardly a page of his work in which
 some such  acuteness may not be found4 
,not1 indeed1 that a curious blindness  
is absent4 ,hume was a typical  child of
 one aspect of the eighteenth century in
 his hatred of  enthusiasm1 and the form
 in which he most abominates it is      
religious4  ,why people's religious     
opinions should lead to antagonism he   
could no  more understand than why      
people should refuse to pass one another
 on a  road4 ,wars of religion thus     
seemed to him based upon a merely       
frivolous  principle2 and in his ideal  
commonwealth he made the ,church a      
department  of the ,state lest it should
 get out of hand4 ,he was1 moreover1 a  
static  philosopher1 disturbed by signs 
of political restlessness2 and this led 
to the purgation of ,whig doctrines from
 his writings1 and their  consistent    
replacement by a cynical conservatism4  
,he was always afraid  that popular     

government would mean mob-rule2 and     
absolute government is  accordingly     
recommended as the euthanasia of the    
,british constitution4  ,not even the   
example of ,sweden convinced him that a 
standing army might  exist without civil
 liberty being endangered2 and he has   
all the noxious  fallacies of his time  
upon the balance of power4 ,above all1  
it is  striking to see his helplessness 
before the problem of national          
character4 ,mainly he ascribes it to the
 form of government1 and that in  turn  
to chance4 ,even the friend of          
,montesquieu can see no significance  in
 race or climate4 ,the idea1 in fact1 of
 evolution is entirely absent  from his 
political speculation4 ,political life1 
like human life1 ends in  death2 and the
 problem is to make our egress as       
comfortable as we can1  for the prime   
evil is disturbance4 ,it is difficult   
not to feel that  there is almost a     
physical basis in his own disease for   
this love of  quiet4 ,the man who put   

indolence among the primary motives of  
human  happiness was not likely to view 
novel theories with unruffled temper4   
,hume has an eminent place among        
economists1 and for one to whom the     
study of such phenomena was but a casual
 inquiry1 it is marvelous how  much he  
saw4 ,he is free from the crude errors  
of mercantilism2 and  twenty years      
before ,adam ,smith hopes1 as a ,british
 subject1 for the  prosperity of other  
countries4 ,free communication and      
exchange seems  to him an ordinance of  
nature2 and he heaps contempt upon those
  numberless bars1 obstructions and     
imposts which all nations of ,europe1   
and none more than ,england1 have put   
upon trade4 ,specie he places in  its   
true light as merely a medium of        
exchange4 ,the supposed antagonism      
between commerce and agriculture he     
disposes of in a half-dozen  effective  
sentences4 ,he sees the place of time   
and distance in the  discussion of      
economic want4 ,he sees the value of a  

general level of  economic equality1    
even while he is sceptical of its       
attainment4 ,he  insists upon the       
economic value of high wages1 though he 
somewhat  belittles the importance of   
wealth in the achievement of happiness4 
,before ,bentham1 who on this point     
converted ,adam ,smith1 he knew that the
  rate of interest depends upon the     
supply of and demand for loans4 ,he     
insists that commerce demands a free    
government for its progress1  pointing  
out1 doubtless from his abundant ,french
 experience1 that an  absolute          
government gives to the commercial class
 an insufficient status  of honor4 ,he  
pointed out1 doubtless with ,france     
again in his mind1 the  evils of an     
arbitrary system of taxation4 ,they are 
commonly converted1  he says with       
unwonted severity1 into punishments on  
industry2 and also1  by their           
unavoidable inequality1 are more        
grievous1 than by the real  burden which
 they impose4 ,and he emphasizes his    

belief that the best  taxes are those   
which1 like taxes upon luxury1 press    
least upon the  poor4    ,such insight  
is extraordinary enough in the          
pre-,adamite epoch2 but even  more      
remarkable are his psychological        
foundations4 ,the wealth of the  ,state1
 he says1 is the labor of its subjects1 
and they work because the  wants of man 
are not a stated sum1 but multiply every
 moment upon  him4 ,the desire for      
wealth comes from the idea of pleasure2 
and in the  ,treatise on ,human ,nature 
he discusses with superb clarity the way
 in  which the idea of pleasure is      
related at once to individual           
satisfaction  and to that sympathy for  
others which is one of the roots of     
social  existence4 ,he points out the   
need for happiness in work4 ,the mind1  
he  writes1 acquires new vigor1 enlarges
 its powers and faculties1 and by  an   
assiduity in honest industry both       
satisfies its own appetites and         
prevents growth of unnatural ones2      

though1 like his predecessor1  ,francis 
,hutcheson1 he overemphasizes the       
delights opened by civilization  to the 
humbler class of men4 ,he gives large   
space in his discussion to  the power of
 will2 and1 indeed1 one of the main     
advantages he ascribed  to government   
was the compulsion it puts upon us to   
allow the categories  of time and space 
a part in our calculations4 ,he does    
not1 being in his  own life entirely    
free from avarice1 regard the appetite  
for riches as  man's main motive to     
existence2 though no one was more urgent
 in his  insistence that the avidity of 
acquiring goods and possessions for     
ourselves and our nearest friends is 444
 destructive of society unless  balanced
 by considerations of justice4 ,and what
 he therein intended may  be gathered   
from the liberal notions of equality he 
manifested4 ,every  person1 he wrote in 
a famous passage1 if possible ought to  
enjoy the  fruits of his labor in a full
 possession of all the necessaries1 and 

many of the conveniences of life4 ,no   
one can doubt but such an equality  is  
most suitable to human nature1 and      
diminishes much less the happiness  of  
the rich than it adds to that of the    
poor4 ,it is clear that we have  moved  
far from the narrow confines of the old 
political arithmetic4 ,the  theory of   
utility enables ,hume to see the scope  
of economics--the word  itself he did   
not know--in a more generous perspective
 than at any  previous time4 ,it would  
be too much to say that his grasp of its
  psychological foundation enabled him  
entirely to move from the  limitations  
of the older concept of a national      
prosperity expressed only  in terms of  
bullion to the view of economics as a   
social science4 ,but at  least he saw   
that economics is rooted in the nature  
of men and therein  he had the secret of
 its true understanding4 ,the ,wealth of
 ,nations  would less easily have made  
its way had not the insight of ,hume    
prepared  the road for its reception4   

,what1 then1 and in general1 is his     
place in the history of political       
thought8 ,clearly enough1 he is not the 
founder of a system2 his work is  rather
 a series of pregnant hints than a      
consecutive account of  political facts4
 ,nor must we belittle the debt he owes 
to his  predecessors4 ,much1 certainly1 
he owed to ,locke1 and the full radiance
  of the ,scottish enlightenment emerges
 into the day with his teaching4        
,francis ,hutcheson gave him no small   
inspiration2 and ,hutcheson means  that 
he was indebted to ,shaftesbury4        
,indeed1 there is much of the sturdy    
commonsense of the ,scottish school     
about him1 particularly perhaps in  that
 interweaving of ethics1 politics and   
economics1 which is  characteristic of  
the school from ,hutcheson in the middle
 seventeenth  century1 to the able1 if  
neglected1 ,lorimer in the              
nineteenth4#ag ,he is  entitled to be   
considered the real founder of          
utilitarianism4 ,he first  showed how   

difficult it is in politics to draw a   
distinction between  ethical right and  
men's opinion of what ought to be4 ,he  
brings to an end  what ,coleridge       
happily called the metapolitical school4
 ,after him we  are done with the abuse 
of history to bolster up ,divine ,right 
and social  contract2 for there is      
clearly present in his use of facts a   
true sense  of historical method4 ,he   
put an end also to the confusion which  
resulted  from the effort of thinkers to
 erect standards of right and wrong     
independent of all positive law4 ,he    
took the facts as phenomena to be       
explained rather than as illustrations  
of some favorite thesis to be           
maintained in part defiance of them4    
,conventional ,whiggism has no  foothold
 after he has done with its analysis4   
,his utilitarianism was the  first      
efficient substitute for the labored    
metaphysics of the contract  school2 and
 even if he was not the first to see    
through its  pretensions--that is       

perhaps the claim of ,shaftesbury--he   
was the first  to show the grounds of   
their uselessness4 ,he saw that history 
and  psychology together provide the    
materials for a political philosophy4   
,so that even if he could not himself   
construct it the hints at least  were   
there4    ,footnote #ag3 ,there are few 
books which show so clearly as          
,lorimer's  ,institutes of ,nations     
7#ahgb7 how fully the ,scottish school  
was in the  midstream of ,european      
thought4    ,his suggestiveness1 indeed1
 may be measured in another fashion4    
,the  metaphysics of ,burke1 so far as  
one may use a term he would himself have
  repudiated1 are largely those of      
,hume4 ,the place of habit and of social
  instinct alongside of consent1 the    
perception that reason alone will not   
explain political facts1 the emphasis   
upon resistance as of last resort1  the 
denial that allegiance is a mere        
contract to be presently explained1  the
 deep respect for order--all these are1 

after all1 the fabric from  which the   
thought of ,burke was woven4 ,nor is    
there in ,bentham's defence  of         
,utilitarianism argument in which he    
would have recognized novelty4  ,herein1
 at least1 his proof that morality is no
 more than general  opinion of utility  
constructs1 in briefer form1 the later  
arguments of  ,bentham1 ,paley and the  
,mills1 nor can their mode of statement 
claim  superiority to ,hume's4 ,so that 
on either side of his work he           
foreshadows  the advent of the two great
 schools of modern political thought4   
,his  utilitarianism is the real path by
 which radical opinion at last found    
means of acceptance4 ,his use of history
 is1 through ,burke1 the ancestor  of   
that specialized conservatism begotten  
of the historical method4 ,if  there is 
thus so much1 it is1 of course1 tempting
 to ask why there is  not more4 ,if     
,hume has the materials why did he fail 
to build up a system  from them8 ,the   
answer seems twofold4 ,in part it is the

 man himself4 ,his  genius1 as his      
metaphysics show1 lay essentially in his
 power of  destruction2 and the man who 
gave solipsism to philosophy was not    
likely  to effect a new creation in     
politics4 ,in part1 also1 the condition 
of  the time gave little stimulus to    
novelty4 ,herein ,hume was born a       
generation too early4 ,had he written   
when ,george ,,iii attempted the        
destruction of the system of the        
,revolution1 and when ,america and      
,france  combined to raise again the    
basic questions of politics1 he might   
have  done therein what ,adam ,smith    
effected in his own field4 ,but the time
 had  not yet come2 and it was left to  
,burke and ,bentham to reap where he had
  sown4          ,,chapter ,v    ,,signs
 ,,of ,,change        ,i      ,from     
,hume until the publication of ,burke's 
,present ,discontents 7#aggj7  there is 
no work on ,english politics of the     
first importance4 ,walpole  had fallen  
in #agdb2 but for the next fifteen years

 his methods dominated  the             
parliamentary scene4 ,it was only with  
the advent of the elder ,pitt  to power 
that a new temper may be observed1 a    
temper quickened by what  followed on   
the accession of ,george ,,iii4         
,henceforward1 it is not untrue  to say 
that the early complacency of the time  
was lost2 or1 at least1 it  was no      
longer in the ascendant again until the 
excesses of the ,french  ,revolution    
enabled ,burke to persuade his          
countrymen into that grim  satisfaction 
with their own achievement of which     
,lord ,eldon is the  standing model4    
,the signs of change are in each        
instance slight1 though  collectively   
they acquire significance4 ,it was      
difficult for men to  grumble where1 as 
under ,walpole1 each harvest brought    
them greater  prosperity1 or where1 as  
under ,chatham1 they leaped from victory
 to  victory4 ,something of the         
exhilaration of these years we can still
 catch  in the letters which show the   

effort made by the jaded ,horace        
,walpole to  turn off with easy laughter
 his deep sense of pride4 ,in the ,house
 of  ,commons1 indeed1 there is nothing1
 until the ,wilkes case1 to show that a 
new age has come4 ,it is in the novels  
of ,richardson and ,fielding1 the  first
 shy hints of the romantic temper in    
,gray and ,collins1 above all in  the   
awakening of political science1 that    
novelty is apparent4    ,so far as a new
 current of thought can ever be referred
 to a single  source1 the ,french       
influence is the effective cause of     
change4 ,voltaire  and ,montesquieu had 
both visited ,england in the period of  
,walpole's  administration1 and both had
 been greatly influenced by what they   
saw4  ,rousseau1 indeed1 came later on  
that amazing voyage which the           
good-natured ,hume insisted would save  
him from his dread of persecution1  and 
there is evidence enough that he did not
 relish his experience4 ,yet  when he   
came1 in #agfb1 to publish the ,contrat 

,social it was obvious  that he had     
drunk deeply of ,english thought4 ,the  
real meaning of their  work to          
,englishmen lay in the perspective they 
gave to ,english  institutions4         
,naturally enough1 there was a vast     
difference between the  simplicity of a 
government where sovereignty was the    
monarch's will and  one in which a      
complex distribution of powers was found
 to secure a  general freedom4 ,the     
,frenchmen were amazed at the generous  
equality of  ,english judicial          
procedure4 ,the liberty of unlicensed   
printing--less  admirable than they     
accounted it--the difference between a  
,habeas  ,corpus and a lettre de cachet1
 the regular succession of ,parliaments1
  all these impressed them1 who knew the
 meaning of their absence1 as a         
magnificent achievement4 ,the ,english  
constitution revealed to ,france an     
immense and unused reservoir of         
philosophic illustration4 ,even to      
,englishmen itself that meaning was but 

partly known4 ,locke's system was  a    
generalization from its significance at 
a special crisis4 ,hume had  partial    
glimpses of its inner substance4 ,but   
for most it had become a  discreet      
series of remedies for particular       
wrongs4 ,its analysis as a  connected   
whole invigorated thought as nothing had
 done since the ,civil  ,wars had       
elaborated the theory of parliamentary  
sovereignty4 ,what was  more significant
 was the realization of ,montesquieu's  
import  simultaneously with the effort  
of ,george ,,iii to revive crown        
influence4  ,montesquieu thus became the
 prophet of a new race of thinkers4     
,rousseau's time was not yet2 though    
within a score of years it was  possible
 to see him as the rival to ,burke's    
conservatism4    ,it is worth while to  
linger for a moment upon the thesis     
which underlies  the ,esprit des ,lois  
7#agdh74 ,it is a commonplace now that  
,montesquieu  is to be regarded as the  
founder of the historical method4 ,the  

present  is to be explained by its      
ancestry4 ,laws1 governments1 customs   
are not  truths absolute and universal1 
but relative to the time of their origin
  and the country from which they       
derive4 ,it would be inaccurate1 with   
,rousseau on the threshold1 to say that 
his influence demolished the  systems of
 political abstraction which1 at their  
logical best1 and in  the most complete 
unreality1 are to be found in ,godwin's 
,political  ,justice2 but it is not     
beyond the mark to affirm that after his
 time  such abstract systems were on the
 defensive4 ,therein1 with all his      
faults1 he had given ,burke the clue to 
those truths he so profoundly  saw--the 
sense of the ,state as more than a      
mechanical contrivance1 the  high regard
 for prescription1 the sense of law as  
the voice of past  wisdom4 ,he was1 said
 ,burke1 the greatest genius which has  
enlightened  this age2 and ,burke had   
every reason to utter that noble        
panegyric4 ,but  ,montesquieu was more  

than this4 ,he emphasized legislation as
 the main  mechanism of social change2  
and therein he is the parent of that    
decisive reversal of past methods of    
which ,bentham first revealed the  true 
significance4 ,nor had any thinker      
before his time so emphasized the       
importance of liberty as the true end of
 government2 even the placid            
,blackstone adopted the utterance from  
him in his inaugural lecture as         
,vinerian professor4 ,he insisted1 too1 
on the danger of perversion to  which   
political principle lies open2 a feeling
 which found consistent  utterance both 
in the debates of the ,philadelphia     
,convention1 and in  the writings of    
,bentham and ,james ,mill4 ,what1       
perhaps1 is most  immediately           
significant is his famous praise of the 
,british  ,constitution--the secret of  
which he entirely misapprehended--and   
his  discovery of its essence in the    
separation of powers4 ,the short sixth  
chapter of his eleventh book is the real

 keynote of ,blackstone and ,de  ,lolme4
 ,it led them to investigate1 on        
principles of at least doubtful         
validity1 an edifice never before       
described in detail4 ,it is1 when the   
last criticism has been made1 an immense
 step forward from the uncouth          
antiquarianism of ,coke's ,second       
,institute to the neatly reticulated    
structure erected upon the foundations  
of ,montesquieu's hint4 ,that it  was   
wrong was less important than that the  
attempt should have been  made4 ,the    
evil that men do lives after them2 and  
few doctrines have been  more noxious in
 their consequence than this theory of  
checks and  balances4 ,but ,blackstone's
 ,commentaries 7#agfe-i7 produced       
,bentham's  ,fragment on ,government    
7#aggf71 and with that book we enter    
upon the  realistic study of the        
,british ,constitution4    ,rousseau is 
in an antithetic tradition2 but just as 
he drew from  ,english thinkers so did  
he exercise upon the next generation an 

influence the more logical because the  
inferences he drew were those  that his 
masters1 with the ,english love of      
compromise1 had sought to  avoid4       
,rousseau is the disciple of ,locke2 and
 the real difference  between them is no
 more than a removal of the limitations 
upon the power  of government which     
,locke had proposed4 ,it is a removal at
 every point  conditioned by the        
interest of the people4 ,for ,rousseau  
declared that  the existing distribution
 of power in ,europe was a monstrous    
thing1 and  he made the people sovereign
 that there might be no hindrance to    
their  achievement in the shape of      
sinister interest4 ,the powers of the   
people  thus became their rights and    
herein was an unlimited sanction for    
innovation4 ,it is easy enough then to  
understand why such a philosophy  should
 have been anathema to ,burke4          
,rousseau's eager sympathy for humble   
men1 his optimistic faith in the        
immediate prospect of popular power     

were to ,burke the symptoms of insane   
delusion and their author the  great    
professor and founder of the philosophy 
of vanity in ,england4  ,but ,burke     
forgot that the real secret of          
,rousseau's influence was the  success  
of the ,american ,revolution2 and no one
 had done more than ,burke  himself to  
promote its cause and justify its       
principles4 ,that revolution            
established what ,europe might well     
consider a democracy2 and its  statesmen
 were astonished not less at the        
vigilance with which ,america  guarded  
against the growth of autocratic        
government1 than at the  soberness with 
which it checked the supposed weakness  
of the sovereign  people4 ,america made 
herself independent while what was best 
in ,europe  combined in enthusiastic    
applause2 and it seemed as though the   
maxims of  ,rousseau had been taken to  
heart and that a single1 vigorous       
exertion of  power could remove what    
deliberation was impotent to secure4    

,here  ,rousseau had a message for      
,great ,britain which ,burke at every   
stage  denied4 ,nor1 at the moment1 was 
it influential except in the general    
impetus it gave to thought4 ,but from   
the moment of its appearance it is  an  
undercurrent of decisive importance2 and
 while in its metaphysical  form it     
failed to command acceptance1 in the    
hands of ,bentham its  results were     
victorious4 ,bentham differs from       
,rousseau not in the  conclusions he    
recommends so much as in the language in
 which he clothes  them4 ,either make a 
final end of the optimism of men like   
,hume and  ,blackstone1 or the          
veneration for the past which is at the 
root of  ,burke's own teaching4    ,it  
is easy to see why thought such as this 
should have given the  stimulus it did4 
,montesquieu came to praise the ,british
 constitution at  a time when good men  
were aghast at its perversion4 ,there   
was no room in  many years for          
revolution1 but at least there was place

 for hearty  discontent and a seeking   
after new methods4 ,of that temper two  
men so  different as the elder ,pitt and
 ,wilkes are the political symbols4 ,the
  former's rise to power upon the       
floodtide of popular enthusiasm meant   
nothing so much as a protest against the
 cynical corruption of the  previous    
generation4 ,wilkes was a sign that the 
populace was slowly  awaking to a sense 
of its own power4 ,the ,french creed was
 too purely  logical1 too obviously the 
outcome of alien conditions1 to fit in  
its  entirety the ,english facts2 and1  
it must be admitted1 memories of wooden 
shoes played not a little part in its   
rejection4 ,the rights of man made  only
 a partial appeal until the miseries of 
,pitt's wars showed what was  involved  
in that rejection2 and then it was too  
late4 ,but no one could  feel without   
being stirred the illumination of       
,montesquieu2 and  ,rousseau's          
questions1 even if they proved          
unanswerable1 were stuff for  thought4  

,the work of the forty years before the 
,french ,revolution is  nothing so much 
as a preparation for ,bentham4 ,the     
torpor slowly passes4  ,the theorists   
build an edifice each part of which a   
man whose passion is  attuned to the    
,english nature can show to be obsolete 
and ugly4 ,if the  ,french thinkers had 
conferred no other benefit1 that1 at    
least1 would  have been a supreme       
achievement4        ,,ii      ,the first
 book to show the signs of change came  
in #ageg4 ,john ,brown's  ,estimate of  
the ,manners and ,principles of the     
,times is largely  forgotten now2 though
 it went through seven editions in a    
year and was  at once translated into   
,french4 ,brown was a clergyman1 a minor
 planet in  the vast ,warburtonian      
system1 who had already published a     
volume of  comment upon the             
,characteristics of ,shaftesbury4 ,his  
book is too  evidently modelled upon    
,montesquieu1 whom he mentions with     
reverence1 to  make us doubt its        

derivation4 ,there is the same reliance 
upon ,livy and  ,machiavelli1 the same  
attempt at striking generalization2     
though the  argument upon which ,brown's
 conclusions are based is seldom given1 
perhaps because his geometric clarity of
 statement impressed him as             
self-demonstrative4 ,brown's volumes are
 an essay upon the depravity of  the    
times4 ,he does not deny it             
humanitarianism1 and a still lingering  
sense of freedom1 but it is steeped in  
corruption and displays nothing  so much
 as a luxurious and selfish effeminacy4 
,he condemns the  universities out of   
hand1 in phrases which ,gibbon and ,adam
 ,smith would  not have rejected4 ,he   
deplores the decay of taste and         
learning4 ,men  trifle with ,hume's gay 
impieties1 and could not1 if they would1
  appreciate the great works of ,bishop 
,warburton4 ,politics has become        
nothing save a means of promoting       
selfish interests4 ,the church1 the     
theatre1 and the arts have all of them  

lost their former virtues4 ,the         
neurotic temper of the times is known to
 all4 ,the nation1 as was shown  in     
#agde1 when a handful of ,highlanders   
penetrated without opposition to  the   
heart of the kingdom1 has grown slack   
and cowardly4 ,gambling  penetrates     
every nook and cranny of the upper      
class2 the officers of the  army devote 
themselves to fashion2 the navy's main  
desire is for prize  money4 ,even the   
domestic affections are at a low ebb2   
and the grand tour  brings back a new   
species of ,italianate ,englishman4 ,the
 poor1 indeed1  the middle class1 and   
the legal and medical professions1      
,brown  specifically exempts from this  
indictment4 ,but he emphasizes his      
belief  that this is unimportant4 ,the  
manners and principles of those who     
lead1 he says1 444 not of those who are 
governed 444 will ever  determine the   
strength or weakness1 and therefore the 
continuance or  dissolution of a state4 
,this profligacy ,brown compares to the 

languid vice which preceded the  fall of
 ,carthage and of ,rome2 and he sees the
 approaching ruin of ,great  ,britain at
 the hands of ,france1 unless it can be 
cured4 ,so far as he has  an explanation
 to offer1 it seems to be the fault of  
,walpole1 and the  decay of religious   
sentiment4 ,his remedy is only          
,bolingbroke's ,patriot  ,king1 dressed 
up in the habit of the elder ,pitt1 now 
risen to the height  of power4 ,what    
mainly stirred ,englishmen was the      
prophecy of defeat on  the morrow of the
 disastrous convention of ,kloster      
,seven2 but when ,wolfe  and ,clive     
repaired that royal humiliation ,brown  
seems to have died a  natural death4    
,what is more interesting than his      
prophecies was the  evidence of a close 
reading of ,montesquieu4 ,english       
liberty1 he says1 is  the product of the
 climate2 a kind of mixture1 it appears1
 of fog and  sullen temper4 ,nations    
inevitably decay1 and the commercial    
grandeur of  ,england is the symptom of 

old age2 it means a final departure from
 the  simplicity of nature and breeds   
the luxury which kills by enervation4   
,brown has no passion1 and his book     
reads rather like ,mr4 ,galsworthy's    
,island ,pharisees sufficiently         
expurgated to be declaimed by a         
well-bred clergyman in search of        
preferment on the ground of attention   
to the evils of his time4 ,it describes 
undoubted facts1 and it shows  that the 
era of content has gone4 ,but its       
careful periods and strangely  far-off  
air lack the eagerness for truth which  
,rousseau put into his  questions4      
,brown can neither explain nor can he   
proffer remedy4 ,he sees  that ,pitt is 
somehow significant2 but when he rules  
out the popular  voice as devoid of all 
importance1 he deprives himself of the  
means  whereby to grasp the meaning of  
the power that ,pitt exerted4 ,nothing  
could prove more strongly the exactitude
 of ,burke's ,present  ,discontents4    
,nothing could better justify the savage

 indignation of  ,junius4    ,hume was  
the friend of ,montesquieu1 though      
twenty years his junior2 and  the       
,esprit des ,lois travelled rapidly to  
,scotland4 ,there it caught the  eye of 
,adam ,ferguson1 the author of a        
treatise on refinement1 and by the      
influence of ,hume and ,adam ,smith1    
,professor of ,moral ,philosophy in the 
,university of ,edinburgh4 ,ferguson    
seems to have been immensely popular  in
 his time1 and certainly he has a skill 
for polished phrase1 and a  genial      
paraphrase of other men's ideas4 ,his   
,essay on the ,history of  ,civil       
,society 7#agfg71 which in a quarter of 
a century went through six  editions1   
was thought by ,helvtius superior to    
,montesquieu1 though ,hume  himself1 as 
always the incarnation of kindness1     
recommended its  suppression4 ,at least 
,ferguson read enough of ,montesquieu to
 make some  fluent generalities sound   
plausible4 ,he knows that the           
investigation of  savage life will throw

 some light upon the origins of         
government4 ,he  sees the folly of      
generalizing easily upon the state of   
nature4 ,he  insists1 probably after    
conversation with ,adam ,smith1 upon the
 social  value of the division of       
functions4 ,he does not doubt the       
original  equality of men4 ,he thinks   
the luxury of his age has reached the   
limit  of its useful growth4 ,property  
he traces back to a parental desire to  
make a better provision for children    
than is found under the  promiscuous    
management of many copartners4 ,climate 
has the new  importance upon which      
,montesquieu has insisted2 or1 at least1
 as it  ripens the pineapple and the    
tamarina1 so it inspires a degree of    
mildness that can even assuage the      
rigours of despotical government4  ,the 
priesthood--this is ,hume--becomes a    
separate influence under the  sway of   
superstition4 ,liberty1 he says1 is     
maintained by the continued  differences
 and oppositions of numbers1 not by     

their concurring zeal in  behalf of     
equitable government4 ,the hand that can
 bend ,ulysses' bow is  certainly not   
here2 and this pinchbeck ,montesquieu   
can best be left in  the obscurity into 
which he has fallen4 ,the ,esprit des   
,lois took  twenty years in writing2 and
 it needed the immense researches of men
  like ,savigny before its significance 
could fully be grasped4 ,facile         
popularisers of this sort may have      
mollified the drawing-room2 but they    
did not add to political ideas4         
,,iii      ,a more fertile source of    
inquiry was to be found among the       
students of  constitutional law4        
,blackstone's ,commentaries on the ,laws
 of ,england  7#agfe-i7 has had ever    
since its first publication an authority
 such as  ,coke only before possessed4  
,he it is1 said ,bentham1 who1 first of 
all institutional writers1 has taught   
jurisprudence to speak the  language of 
the ,scholar and the ,gentleman4        
,certainly1 as ,professor  ,dicey has   

remarked1 the book contains much real   
learning about our  system of           
government4 ,we are less concerned here 
with ,blackstone as an  antiquarian     
lawyer than as a student of political   
philosophy4 ,here his  purpose seems    
obvious enough4 ,the ,english           
constitution raised him from  humble    
means through a ,professorship at       
,oxford to a judgeship in the  ,court of
 ,common ,pleas4 ,he had been a member  
of ,parliament and refused  the office  
of ,solicitor-,general4 ,he had thus no 
reason to be  dissatisfied with the     
conditions of his time2 and the first   
book of the  ,commentaries is nothing so
 much as an attempt to explain why      
,english  constitutional law is a       
miracle of wisdom4    ,constitutional   
law1 as such1 indeed1 found no place in 
,blackstone's  book4 ,it creeps in under
 the rights of persons1 where he deals  
with the  power of king and ,parliament4
 ,his treatment implies a whole         
philosophy4  ,laws are of three         

kinds--of nature1 of ,god1 and of the   
civil state4  ,civil law1 with which    
alone he is concerned1 is a rule of     
civil conduct  prescribed by the supreme
 power in a state1 commanding what is   
right and  prohibiting what is wrong4   
,it is1 he tells us1 called a rule to   
distinguish it from a compact or        
agreement4 ,it derives from the         
sovereign power1 of which the chief     
character is the making of laws4        
,society is based upon the wants and    
fears of men2 and it is coeval  with    
their origin4 ,the idea of a state of   
nature is too wild to be  seriously     
admitted1 besides being contrary to     
historical knowledge4  ,society implies 
government1 and whatever its origins or 
its forms there  must be in all of them 
a supreme1 irresistible1 absolute1      
uncontrolled  authority1 in which the   
jura summa imperii1 or rights of        
sovereignty  reside4 ,the forms of      
government are classified in the usual  
way2 and  the ,british constitution is  

noted as a happy mixture of them all4   
,the  legislature of the ,kingdom1      
,blackstone writes1 is entrusted to     
three  powers entirely independent of   
each other2 first the ,king1 secondly   
the  lords spiritual and temporal1 which
 is an aristocratical assembly of       
persons1 chosen for their piety1 their  
birth1 their wisdom1 their valour  or   
their property2 and1 thirdly1 the ,house
 of ,commons1 freely chosen by  the     
people from among themselves1 which     
makes it a kind of democracy2  and as   
this aggregate body1 actuated by        
different springs and attentive  to     
different interests1 composes the       
,british ,parliament and has the        
supreme disposal of everything2 there   
can be no inconvenience attempted  by   
either of the three branches1 but will  
be withstood by one of the  other two2  
each branch being armed with a negative 
power1 sufficient to  repel any         
innovation which it shall think         
inexpedient or dangerous4 ,it  is in the

 king in ,parliament that ,british      
sovereignty resides4 ,eschewing  the    
notion of an original contract1         
,blackstone yet thinks that all the     
implications of it are secured4 ,the    
constitutional government of this       
island1 he says1 is so admirably        
tempered and compounded1 that nothing   
can endanger or hurt it1 but destroying 
the equilibrium of power between  one   
branch of the legislature and the rest4 
,all this is not enough2 though1 as     
,bentham was to show in his ,fragment   
on ,government1 it is already far too   
much4 ,a body of nobility1 such  is the 
philosophic interpretation of the ,house
 of ,lords1 is also more  peculiarly    
necessary in our mixed and compounded   
constitution1 in order  to support the  
rights of both the ,crown and people1 by
 forming a barrier  to withstand the    
encroachments of both 444 if they were  
confounded with  the mass of the people1
 and like them had only a vote in       
electing  representatives1 their        

privileges would soon be borne down and 
overwhelmed by the popular torrent1     
which would effectually level all       
distinctions4 ,the ,commons1 he says    
further1 consist of all such men  of    
property in the kingdom as have not     
seats in the ,house of ,lords4 ,the     
legal irresponsibility of the ,king is  
emphasized4 ,he is not only  incapable  
of doing wrong1 says ,blackstone1 but   
even of thinking wrong2  he can never   
mean to do an improper thing2 in him is 
no folly or  weakness1 though he points 
out that the constitution has allowed a 
latitude of supposing the contrary4 ,the
 powers of the ,king are  described in  
terms more suitable to the iron         
despotism of ,william the  ,norman than 
to the backstairs corruption of ,george 
,,iii4 ,the right of  revolution is     
noted1 with justice1 as belonging to the
 sphere of morals  rather than of law4  
,its true defect1 says ,professor ,dicey
 of the ,commentaries1 is the  hopeless 
confusion both of language and of       

thought introduced into the  whole      
subject of constitutional law by        
,blackstone's habit--common to all  the 
lawyers of his time--of applying old and
 inapplicable terms to new              
institutions4 ,this is severe enough2   
yet ,blackstone's sins are deeper  than 
the criticism would suggest4 ,he        
introduced into ,english political      
philosophy that systematic attention to 
forms instead of substance upon  which  
the whole vicious theory of checks and  
balances was erected4 ,he  made no      
distinction between the unlimited       
sovereignty of law and the  very        
obviously limited sovereignty of        
reality4 ,he must have known that  to   
talk of the independence of the branches
 of the legislature was  simple nonsense
 at a time when ,king and peers competed
 for the control  of elections to the   
,house of ,commons4 ,his idealization of
 a peerage  whose typical spiritual     
member was ,archbishop ,cornwallis and  
whose  temporal embodiment was the ,duke

 of ,bedford would not have deceived a  
schoolboy had it not provided a bulwark 
against improvement4 ,it was  ridiculous
 to describe the ,commons as            
representative of property so long  as  
places like ,manchester and ,sheffield  
were virtually disfranchised4  ,his     
picture of the royal prerogative was a  
portrait against every detail  of which 
what was best in ,england had struggled 
in the preceding century  and a half4   
,he has nothing to say of the cabinet1  
nothing of ministerial  responsibility1 
nothing of the party system4 ,what he   
did was to produce  the defence of a    
non-existent system which acted as a    
barrier to all  legal1 and much         
political1 progress in the next         
half-century4 ,he gave  men material    
without cause for satisfaction4    ,as a
 description of the existing government 
there is thus hardly an  element of     
,blackstone's work which could stand the
 test of critical  inquiry4 ,but even   
worse was its philosophy4 ,as ,bentham  

pointed out1 he  was unaware of the     
distinction between society and         
government4 ,the state  of nature       
exists1 or fails to exist1 with         
startling inconsistency4  ,blackstone1  
in fact1 was a ,lockian who knows that  
,hume and ,montesquieu  have cut the    
ground from under his master's feet1 and
 yet cannot  understand how1 without    
him1 a foundation is to be supplied4    
,locke1  indeed1 seems to him1 as a     
natural conservative1 to go too far1 and
 he  rejects the original contract as   
without basis in history2 yet           
contractual notions are present at every
 fundamental stage of his  argument4    
,the sovereign power1 so we are told1 is
 irresistible2 and then  because        
,blackstone is uncertain what right is  
to mean1 we hear of moral  limitations  
upon its exercise4 ,he speaks           
continually of representation  without  
any effort to examine into the notions  
it conveys4 ,the members  of society are
 held to be equal2 and great pains are  

taken to justify  existent inequalities4
 ,the natural foundations of            
sovereignty1 he  writes1 are the three  
great requisites444 of wisdom1 goodness 
and  power4 ,yet there is nowhere any   
proof in his book that steps have been  
taken in the ,british ,constitution to  
associate these with the actual         
exertion of authority4 ,nor has he clear
 notions of the way in which  property  
is to be founded4 ,communism1 he writes 
in seventeenth century  fashion1 is the 
institution of the all-beneficent       
,creator who gave the  earth to men2    
property comes when men occupy some     
special portion of the  soil            
continuously or mix their labor with    
movable possessions4 ,this is  pure     
,locke2 though the conclusions drawn by 
,blackstone are utterly  remote from the
 logical result of his own premises4    
,the truth surely is that ,blackstone   
had1 upon all these questions1 only  the
 most confused sort of notions4 ,he had 
to preface his work with some  sort of  

philosophic theory because the          
conditions of the age demanded  it4 ,the
 one source of enlightenment when he    
wrote was ,hume2 but for some  uncertain
 reason1 perhaps his piety1 ,blackstone 
makes no reference to  the great        
sceptic's speculations4 ,so that he was 
driven back upon  notions he felt to be 
false1 without a proper realization of  
their  falsity4 ,his use of ,montesquieu
 shows rather how dangerous a weapon a  
great idea can be in the hands of one   
incompetent to understand it1 than  the 
fertility it contained4 ,the merit of   
,blackstone is his learning1  which was 
substantial1 his realization that the   
powers of law demand  some              
classification1 his dim yet constant    
sense that ,montesquieu is  right alike 
in searching for the roots of law in    
custom and in applying  the historical  
method to his explanations4 ,but as a   
thinker he was  little more than an     
optimistic trifler1 too content with the
 conditions  of his time to question its

 assumptions4    ,de ,lolme is a more   
interesting figure2 and though1 as with 
,blackstone1  what he failed to see was 
even more remarkable than what he did   
perceive1 his book has real ability and 
merit4 ,de ,lolme was a citizen of      
,geneva1 who published his ,constitution
 of ,england in #agge1 after a  twelve  
months' visit to shores sufficiently    
inhospitable to leave him to  die in    
obscurity and want4 ,his book1 as he    
tells us in his preface1 was  no mean   
success1 though he derived no profit    
from it4 ,like ,blackstone1  he was     
impressed by the necessity of obtaining 
a constitutional  equilibrium1 wherein  
he finds the secret of liberty4 ,the    
attitude was  not unnatural in one who1 
with his head full of ,montesquieu1 was 
a  witness of the struggle between      
,junius and the ,king4 ,he has1 of      
course1  the limitation common to all   
writers before ,burke of thinking of    
government in purely mechanical terms4  
,it is upon the passions of  mankind1 he

 says1 that is1 upon causes which are   
unalterable1 that the  action of the    
various parts of a state depends4 ,the  
machine may vary as  to its dimensions2 
but its movement and acting springs     
still remain  intrinsically the same4   
,elsewhere he speaks of government as a 
great  ballet or dance in which 444     
everything depends upon the disposition 
of  the figures4 ,he does not deal1 that
 is to say1 with men as men1 but  only  
as inert adjuncts of a machine by which 
they are controlled4 ,such  an attitude 
is bound to suffer from the patent vices
 of all abstraction4  ,it regards       
historic forces as distinct from the men
 related to them4  ,every mob1 he says1 
must have its ,spartacus2 every republic
 will tend to  unstability4 ,the        
,english avoid these dangers by playing 
off the royal  power against the        
popular4 ,the ,king's interest is       
safeguarded by the  division of         
,parliament into two ,houses1 each of   
which rejects the  encroachment of the  

other upon the executive4 ,his power is 
limited by  parliamentary privilege1    
freedom of the press1 the right of      
taxation and  so forth4 ,the theory was 
not true2 though it represented with    
some  accuracy the ideals of the time4  
,nor must we belittle what insight ,de  
,lolme possessed4 ,he saw that the      
early concentration of power in the     
royal hands prevented the  continental  
type of feudalism from developing in    
,england2 with the  result that while   
,french nobles were massacring each     
other1 the ,english  people could unite 
to wrest privileges from the superior   
power4 ,he  understood that one of the  
mainsprings of the system was the       
independence of the judges4 ,he realized
 that the party-system--he never  used  
the actual term--while it provides room 
for men's ambitions at the  same time   
prevents the equation of ambition with  
indispensability4 ,woe  to him1 says ,de
 ,lolme1 444 who should endeavor to make
 the people  believe that their fate    

depends on the persevering virtue of a  
single  citizen4 ,he sees the paramount 
value of freedom of the press4 ,this1 as
  he says1 with the necessity that      
members should be re-elected1 has       
delivered into the hands of the people  
at large the exercise of the  censorial 
power4 ,he has no doubt but that        
resistance is the remedy  whereby       
governmental encroachment can be        
prevented2 resistance1 he  says1 is the 
ultimate and lawful resource against the
 violences of  power4 ,he points out how
 real is the guarantee of liberty where 
the  onus of proof in criminal cases is 
thrown upon the government4 ,he  regards
 with admiration the supremacy of the   
civil over the military  arm1 and the   
skillful way in which1 contrary to      
,french experience1 it  has been found  
possible to maintain a standing army    
without adding to  the royal power4 ,nor
 can he fail to admire the insight which
 organizes  the agitation of the popular
 mind1 not as the forerunner of violent 

commotions but to animate all parts of  
the state4 ,therein ,de ,lolme  had     
grasped the real essence of party       
government4    ,it was1 of course1 no   
more than symptomatic of his time that  
cabinet and  prime minister should have 
escaped his notice4 ,a more serious     
defect was  his inability1 with the     
,wilkes contest prominently in his      
notice1 to  see that the people had     
assumed a new importance4 ,for the      
masses1  indeed1 ,de ,lolme had no      
enthusiasm4 ,a passive share1 he        
thought1 was  the only one that could1  
with safety to the state1 be trusted to 
the  humble man4 ,the greater part1 he  
wrote1 of those who compose this        
multitude1 taken up with the care of    
providing for their subsistence1  have  
neither sufficient leisure1 nor even1 in
 consequence of their  imperfect        
education1 the degree of information1   
requisite for functions  of this kind4  
,such an attitude blinded him to the    
significance of the  ,american conflict1

 which he saw unattended by its moral   
implications4 ,he  trusted too          
emphatically to the power of mechanisms 
to realize that  institutions which     
allowed of such manipulation as that of 
,george ,,iii  could not be satisfactory
 once the people had awakened to a sense
 of its  own power4 ,the real social    
forces of the time found there no       
channels of  activity2 and the          
difference between ,de ,lolme and       
,bagehot is the  latter's power to go   
behind the screen of statute to the     
inner sources  of power4        ,,iv    
,the basis of revolutionary doctrine was
 already present in ,england when1  in  
#agfb1 ,rousseau published his ,contrat 
,social4 ,with its fundamental          
doctrines ,locke had already made his   
countrymen familiar2 and what was       
needed for the appreciation of its      
teaching was less a renaissance than    
discontent4 ,so soon as men are         
dissatisfied with the traditional       
foundations of the ,state1 a gospel of  

natural rights is certain to make  its  
appearance4 ,and1 once the design of    
,george ,,iii had been made  familiar by
 his treatment of ,chatham and ,wilkes1 
the discontent did not  fail to show    
itself4 ,indeed1 in the year before the 
publication of  ,rousseau's book1       
,robert ,wallace1 a ,scottish chaplain  
royal1 had written  in his ,various     
,prospects 7#agfa7 a series of essays   
which are at once  an anticipation of   
the main thesis of ,malthus and a plea  
for the  integration of social forces by
 which alone the mass of men could be   
raised from misery4 ,in the light of    
later experience it is difficult not  to
 be impressed by the modernist flavour  
of ,wallace's attack4 ,he  insists upon 
the capacity of men and the             
disproportion between their  potential  
achievement and that which is secured by
 actual society4 ,men  are in the mass  
condemned to ignorance and toil2 and the
 lust of power  sets man against his    
neighbor to the profit of the rich4     

,wallace traces  these evils to private 
property and the individualistic        
organization of  work1 and he sees no   
remedy save community of possessions and
 a  renovated educational system4 ,yet  
he does not conceal from himself that   
it is to the interest of the governing  
class to prevent a revolution  which1   
beneficent to the masses1 would be fatal
 to themselves2 nor does  he conceive it
 possible until the fertility of men has
 been reduced to  the capacity of the   
soil4 ,he speculates upon the chances of
 a new spirit  among men1 of an all-wise
 legislator1 and of the beneficent      
example of  colonies upon the later     
,owenite model4 ,but his book is        
contemporaneous  with our own ideas     
rather than with the thoughts of his    
generation4 ,nor  does it seem to have  
excited any general attention4    ,it is
 five years after ,rousseau that we see 
the first clear signs of his  influence4
 ,naturally enough the men amongst whom 
the new spirit spread  abroad were the  

,nonconformists4 ,for more than seventy 
years they had  been allowed existence  
without recognition4 ,none had more     
faithfully  supported the new dynasty   
than they2 none had been paid less for  
their  allegiance4 ,their utmost effort 
could secure only a sparing mitigation  
of the ,test ,act4 ,all of them were    
,whigs1 and the doctrines of ,locke     
suited exactly their temper and their   
wants4 ,there were amongst them  able   
men in every walk of life1 and they were
 apt to publication4 ,joseph            
,priestley1 in particular1 gave up with 
willingness to mankind what was         
obviously meant for chemical science4 ,a
 few years previously ,brown of  the    
,estimate had submitted a scheme for    
national education1 in which  the       
essential principle was ,church control4
 ,priestley had answered him1  and was  
encouraged by friends to expand his     
argument into a general  treatise4 ,his 
,essay on the ,first ,principles of     
,government appeared in  #agfh2 and1 if 

for nothing else1 it would be noteworthy
 because it was  therein that the       
significance of the greatest happiness  
principle  first flashed across         
,bentham's mind4 ,but the book shows    
more than this4  ,i had placed1 says    
,priestley with due modesty1 the        
foundation of some  of the most valuable
 interests of mankind on a broader and  
firmer basis  than ,mr4 ,locke2 and the 
breadth and firmness are ,rousseau's    
contribution4    ,certainly we herein   
meet new elements4 ,on the very         
threshold of the book  we meet the dogma
 of the perfectibility of man4          
,whatever1 ,priestley  rhapsodizes1 was 
the beginning of this world1 the end    
will be glorious  and paradisaical1     
beyond what our imaginations can now    
conceive4 ,the  instrument of this      
progress 444 towards this glorious state
 is  government2 though a little later  
we are to find that the main business   
of government is noninterference4 ,men  
are all equal1 and their natural  rights

 are indefeasible4 ,government must be  
restrained in the interests  of liberty4
 ,no man can be governed without his    
consent2 for government  is founded upon
 a contract by which civil liberty is   
surrendered in  exchange for a power to 
share in public decisions4 ,it thus     
follows that  the people must be        
sovereign1 and interference with their  
natural  rights will justify resistance4
 ,every government1 he says1 is in its  
original principles1 and antecedent to  
its present form an equal  republic2    
wherefore1 of course1 it follows that we
 must restore to men  the equality they 
have lost4 ,and1 equally1 of course1    
this would bestow  upon the             
,nonconformists their full citizenship2 
for ,warburton's  ,alliance1 to attack  
which ,priestley exhausts all the       
resources of his  ingenuity1 has been   
one of the main instruments in their    
degradation4  ,unbounded liberty in     
matters of religion1 which means the    
abolition of  the ,establishment1       

promises to be very favorable to the    
best interests  of mankind4    ,so far  
the book might well be called an edition
 of ,rousseau for ,english              
,nonconformists2 but there are          
divergences of import4 ,it can never be 
forgotten in the history of political   
ideas that the alliance of ,church  and 
,state made ,nonconformists suspicious  
of government interference4  ,their     
original desire to be left unimpeded was
 soon exalted into a  definite theory2  
and since political conditions had      
confined them so  largely to trade none 
felt as they did the hampering influence
 of  ,state-restrictions4 ,the result   
has been a great difficulty in making   
liberal doctrines in ,england realize1  
until after #ahgj1 the organic  nature  
of the ,state4 ,it remains for them     
almost entirely a police  institution   
which1 once it aims at the realization  
of right1 usurps a  function far better 
performed by individuals4 ,there is no  
sense of the  community2 all that exists

 is a sum of private sentiments4 ,civil 
liberty1 says ,priestley1 has been      
greatly impaired by an abuse of the     
maxim that the joint understanding of   
all the members of a ,state1  properly  
collected1 must be preferable to that of
 individuals2 and  consequently that the
 more the cases are in which mankind are
 governed  by this united reason of the 
whole community1 so much the better2    
whereas1 in truth1 the greater part of  
human actions are of such a  nature1    
that more inconvenience would follow    
from their being fixed by  laws than    
from their being left to every man's    
arbitrary will4 ,if my  neighbor        
assaults me1 he suggests1 ,i may        
usefully call in the police2  but where 
the object is the discovery of truth1   
the means of education1  the method of  
religious belief1 individual initiative 
is superior to  ,state action4 ,the     
latter produces an uniform result       
incompatible with  the spirit of        
discovery4 ,nor is such attempt at      

uniform conditions just  to posterity2  
men have no natural right to judge for  
the future4 ,men are  too ignorant to   
fix their own ideas as the basis of all 
action4    ,priestley could not escape  
entirely the bondage of past tradition2 
and  the metaphysics which ,bentham     
abhorred are scattered broadcast over   
his  pages4 ,nevertheless the basis upon
 which he defended his ideas was a      
utilitarianism hardly less complete than
 that which ,bentham made the           
instrument of revolution4 ,regard to the
 general good1 he says1 is the  main    
method by which natural rights are to be
 defended4 ,the good and  happiness of  
the members1 that is1 the majority of   
the members of any  ,state1 is the great
 standard by which everything relating  
to that state  must finally be          
determined4 ,in substance1 that is to   
say1 if not  completely in theory1 we   
pass with ,priestley from arguments of  
right to  those of expediency4 ,his     
chief attack upon religious legislation 

is  similarly based upon considerations 
of policy4 ,his view of the  individual 
as a never-ending source of fruitful    
innovation anticipates  all the later   
,benthamite arguments about the         
well-spring of individual  energy4      
,interference and stagnation are equated
 in exactly similar  fashion to ,adam   
,smith and his followers4 ,priestley1 of
 course1 was  inconsistent in urging at 
the outset that government is the chief 
instrument of progress2 but what he     
seems to mean is less that  government  
has the future in its hands than that   
government action may  well be decisive 
for good or evil4 ,typical1 too1 of the 
later ,benthamism  is his glorification 
of reason as the great key which is to  
unlock all  doors4 ,that is1 of course1 
natural in a scientist who had himself  
made  discoveries of vital import2 but  
it was characteristic also of a school  
which scanned a limitless horizon with  
serene confidence in a future of        
unbounded good4 ,even if it be said that

 ,priestley has all the vices of  that  
rationalism which1 as with ,bentham1    
oversimplifies every problem it         
encounters1 it is yet adequate to retort
 that a confidence in the  energies of  
men was better than the complacent      
stagnation of the  previous age4    ,it 
is difficult to measure the precise     
influence that ,priestley exerted2      
certainly among ,nonconformists it      
cannot have been small4 ,dr4 ,richard   
,price is a lesser figure2 and much of  
the standing he might have had has  been
 obliterated by two unfortunate         
incidents4 ,his sinking-fund scheme  was
 taken up by the younger ,pitt1 and     
proved1 though the latter believed  in  
it to the last1 to be founded upon an   
arithmetical fallacy which did  not sit 
well upon a fellow of the ,royal        
,society4 ,his sermon on the  ,french   
,revolution provoked the ,reflections of
 ,burke2 and1 though much  of the right 
was on the side of ,price1 it can hardly
 be said that he  survived ,burke's     

onslaught4 ,yet he was a considerable   
figure in his day1  and he shows1 like  
,priestley1 how deep-rooted was the     
,english  revolutionary temper4 ,he has 
not1 indeed1 ,priestley's superb        
optimism2  for the rigid a priori       
morality of which he was the somewhat   
muddled  defender was less favorable to 
a confidence in reason4 ,he had a good  
deal of ,john ,brown's fear that luxury 
was the seed of ,english  degeneration2 
the proof of which he saw in the decline
 of the  population4 ,his figures1 in   
fact1 were false2 but they were         
unessential  to the general thesis he   
had to make4    ,price1 like ,priestley 
a leading ,nonconformist1 was stirred to
 print by  the ,american ,revolution2   
and if his views were not widely        
popular1 his  ,observations on the      
,nature of ,civil ,liberty 7#aggf7      
attained its eighth  edition within a   
decade4 ,this1 with its supplement      
,additional  ,observations 7#aggg71     
presents a perfectly coherent theory4   

,nor is their  ancestry concealed4 ,they
 represent the tradition of ,locke1     
modified by  the importations of        
,rousseau4 ,price owes much to          
,priestley and to ,hume1  and he takes  
sentences from ,montesquieu where they  
aid him4 ,but he has  little or nothing 
of ,priestley's utilitarianism and the  
whole argument  is upon the abstract    
basis of right4 ,liberty means          
self-government1 and  self-government   
means the right of every man to be his  
own legislator4  ,price1 with strict    
logic1 follows out this doctrine to its 
last  consequence4 ,taxes become free   
gifts for public services2 laws are     
particular provisions or regulations    
established by ,common ,consent for     
gaining protection and safety2          
magistrates are trustees or deputies    
for carrying these regulations into     
execution4 ,and almost in the words  of 
,rousseau1 ,price goes on to admit that 
liberty1 in its most perfect  degree1   
can be enjoyed only in small states     

where every independent  agent is       
capable of giving his suffrage in person
 and of being chosen  into public       
offices4 ,he knows that large ,states   
are inevitable1 though  he thinks that  
representation may be made so adequate  
as to minimize the  sacrifice of liberty
 involved4    ,but the limitation upon  
government is everywhere emphasized4    
,government1 he says1 444 is in the very
 nature of it a trust2 and  all its     
powers a ,delegation for particular     
ends4 ,he rejects the theory  of        
parliamentary sovereignty as            
incompatible with self-government2 if   
the ,parliament1 for instance1 prolonged
 its life1 it would betray its          
constituents and dissolve itself4 ,if   
omnipotence1 he writes1 can with  any   
sense be ascribed to a legislature1 it  
must be lodged where all  legislative   
authority originates2 that is1 in the   
,people4 ,such a  system is alone       
compatible with the ends of government1 
since it cannot  be supposed that men   

combine into communities and institute  
government  for self-enslavement4 ,nor  
is any other political system consistent
 with  the natural equality of mankind2 
by which ,price means that no man is    
constituted by the author of nature the 
vassal or subject of another1 or  has   
any right to give law to him1 or1       
without his consent1 to take away  any  
part of his property or to abridge him  
of his liberty4 ,from all of  which it  
is concluded that liberty is            
inalienable2 and a people which  has    
lost it must have a right to emancipate 
themselves as soon as they  can4 ,the   
aptness of the argument to the ,american
 situation is obvious  enough2 and      
nowhere is ,price more happy or more    
formidable than when he  applies his    
precepts to phrases like the unity of   
the empire and the  honor of the kingdom
 which were so freely used to cover up  
the  inevitable results of ,george's    
obstinacy4    ,the ,essay on the ,right 
of ,property in ,land 7#agha7 of        

,william ,ogilvie  deserves at least a  
passing notice4 ,the author1 who        
published his book  anonymously1 was a  
,professor of ,latin in the ,university 
of ,aberdeen and  an agriculturist of   
some success4 ,his own career was       
distinctly  honorable4 ,the teacher of  
,sir ,james ,mackintosh1 he had a high  
reputation  as a classical scholar and  
deserves to be remembered for his effort
 to  reform a college which had         
practically ceased to perform its proper
  academic functions4 ,his book is      
virtually an essay upon the natural     
right of men to the soil4 ,he does not  
doubt that the distress of the  times is
 due to the land monopoly4 ,the earth   
being given to men in  common1 its      
invasion by private ownership is a      
dangerous perversion4 ,men  have the    
right to the full product of their      
labor2 but the privileges of  the       
landowner prevent the enjoyment of that 
right4 ,the primary duty of  every      
,state is the increase of public        

happiness2 and the happiest nation  is  
that which has the greatest number of   
free and independent  cultivators4 ,but 
governments attend rather to the        
interest of the higher  classes1 even   
while they hold out the protection of   
the common people as  the main pretext  
of their authority4 ,the result is their
 maintenance of  land-monopoly even     
though it affects the prime material of 
all essential  industries1 prevents the 
growth of population1 and makes the rich
  wealthier at the expense of the poor4 
,it breeds oppression and  ignorance1   
and poisons improvement by preventing   
individual initiative4  ,he points out  
how a nation is dominated by its        
landlords1 and how they  have           
consistently evaded the fiscal burdens  
they should bear4 ,only in a  return to 
a nation of freeholders can ,ogilvie see
 the real source of an  increase in     
happiness4    ,such criticism is        
revolutionary enough1 though when he    
comes to speak of  actual changes1 he   

had little more to propose than a system
 of peasant  proprietorship4 ,what is   
striking in the book is its sense of    
great1  impending changes1 its thorough 
grasp of the principle of utility1 its  
realization of the immense agricultural 
improvement that is possible if  the    
landed system can be so changed as to   
bring into play the impulses  of humble 
men4 ,he sees clearly enough that wealth
 dominates the ,state2  and his         
interpretation of history is throughout 
economic4 ,ogilvie is  one of the first 
of those agrarian ,socialists who1      
chiefly through  ,spence and ,paine1 are
 responsible for a special current of   
their own in  the great tide of protest 
against the unjust situation of labor4  
,like  them1 he builds his system upon  
natural rights2 though1 unlike them1 his
  natural rights are defended by        
expediency and in a style that is always
  clear and logical4 ,the book itself   
has rather a curious history4 ,at its   
appearance1 it seems to have excited no 

notice of any kind4 ,mackintosh  knew of
 its authorship2 for he warned its      
author against the amiable  delusion    
that its excellence would persuade the  
,british government to  force a system  
of peasant proprietorship upon the ,east
 ,india ,company4  ,reprinted in #ahch  
as the work of ,john ,ogilby1 it was    
intended to  instruct the ,chartists in 
the secret of their oppression2 and     
therein it  may well have contributed to
 the tragicomic land-scheme of ,feargus 
,o',connor4 ,in #ahia the problem of the
 land was again eagerly debated  under  
the stimulus of ,mr4 ,henry ,george2 and
 a patriotic ,scotchman  published the  
book with biographical notes that       
constitute one of the  most amazing     
curiosities in ,english political       
literature4        ,v      ,against the 
school of ,rousseau's ,english disciples
 it is comparatively  easy to multiply  
criticisms4 ,they lacked any historic   
sense4 ,government1  for them1 was      
simply an instrument which was made and 

unmade at the  volition of men4 ,how    
complex were its psychological          
foundations they had  no conception2    
with the single factor of consent they  
could explain the  most marvellous      
edifice of any time4 ,they were buried  
beneath a mountain  of metaphysical     
right which they never related to legal 
facts or to  political possibility4     
,they pursued relentlessly the logical  
conclusions  of the doctrines they      
abhorred without being willing carefully
 to  investigate the results to which   
their own doctrines in logic led4 ,they 
overestimated the extent to which men   
are willing to occupy themselves  with  
political affairs4 ,they made no proper 
allowance for the protective  armour    
each social system must acquire by the  
mere force of  prescription4 ,nor is    
there sufficient allowance in their     
attitude for  those limiting conditions 
of circumstance of which every statesman
 must  of necessity take account4 ,they 
occupy themselves1 that is to say1 so   

completely with staatslehre that they do
 not admit the mollifying  influence of 
politik4 ,they search for principles of 
universal right1  without the perception
 that a right which is to be universal  
must  necessarily be so general in      
character as to be useless in its       
application4    ,yet such defects must  
not blind us to the general rightness of
 their  insight4 ,they were protesting  
against a system strongly upheld on     
grounds which now appear to have been   
simply indefensible4 ,the business  of  
government had been made the private    
possession of a privileged  class2 and  
eagerness for desirable change was1 in  
the mass1 absent from  the minds of most
 men engaged in its direction4 ,the loss
 of ,america1 the  heartless treatment  
of ,ireland1 the unconstitutional       
practices in the  ,wilkes affair1 the   
heightening of corruption undertaken by 
,henry ,fox and  ,north at the direct   
instance of the king1 had blinded the   
eyes of most  to the fact that principle

 is a vital part of policy4 ,the        
revolutionists  recalled men to the need
 of explaining1 no less than carrying   
on1 the  government of the ,crown4 ,they
 represented the new sense of power felt
 by  elements of which the importance   
had been forgotten in the sordid        
intrigues of the previous half-century4 
,their emphasis upon government  as in  
its nature a public trust was at least  
accompanied by a useful  reminder that1 
after all1 ultimate power must rest upon
 the side of the  governed4 ,for twenty 
years ,whigs and ,tories alike carried  
on political  controversy as though no  
public opinion existed outside the small
 circle  of the aristocracy4 ,the mob   
which made ,wilkes its idol was1 in a   
blind  and unconscious way1 enforcing   
the lesson that ,price and ,priestley   
had  in mind4 ,for the moment1 they were
 unsuccessful4 ,cartwright1 with his    
,constitutional ,societies1 might       
capture the support of an eccentric peer
  like the ,duke of ,richmond2 but the  

vast majority remained1 if irritated1   
unconvinced4 ,it needed the realization 
that the new doctrines were part  of a  
vaster synthesis which swept within its 
purview the fortunes of  ,europe and    
,america before they would give serious 
heed2 and even then  they met antagonism
 with nothing save oppression and hate4 
,yet the  doctrines remained2 for       
thought1 after all1 is killed by        
reasoned answer  alone4 ,and when the   
first gusts of war and revolution had   
passed1 the  cause for which they stood 
was found to have permeated all classes 
save  that which had all to lose by     
learning4    ,we must not1 however1     
commit the error of thinking of ,price  
and  ,priestley as representing more    
than an important segment of opinion4   
,the  opposition to their theories was  
not less articulate than their own      
defence of them4 ,some1 like ,burke1    
desired a purification of the  existing 
system2 others1 like ,dr4 ,johnson1 had 
no sort of sympathy with  new-fangled   

ideas4 ,one thinker1 at least1 deserves 
some mention less for  the inherent     
value of what he had to say1 than for   
the nature of the  opinions he          
expounded4 ,josiah ,tucker1 the ,dean of
 ,gloucester1 has a  reputation alike in
 political and economic enquiry4 ,he    
represents the  sturdy nationalism of   
,arbuthnot's ,john ,bull1 the unreasoned
 prejudice  against all foreigners1 the 
hatred of all metaphysics as            
inconsistent  with common sense1 the    
desire to let things be on the ground   
that the  effort after change is worse  
than the evil of which men complain4    
,his  ,treatise on ,civil ,government   
7#agha7 is in many ways a delightful    
book1  bluff1 hardy1 full of common     
sense1 with1 at times1 a quaint humor   
that  is all its own4 ,he had really two
 objects in view2 to deal1 in the first 
place1 faithfully with the ,american    
problem1 and1 in the second1 to  explode
 the new bubble of ,rousseau's          
followers4 ,the second point takes  the 

form of an examination of ,locke1 to    
whom1 as ,tucker shrewdly saw1  the     
theories of the school may trace their  
ancestry4 ,he analyses the  theory of   
consent in such fashion as to show that 
if its adherents could  be persuaded to 
be logical1 they would have to admit    
themselves  anarchists4 ,he has no      
sympathy with the state of nature2 the  
noble  savage1 on investigation1 turns  
out to be a barbaric creature with a    
club and scalping knife4 ,government1 he
 does not doubt1 is a trust1 or1  as he 
prefers1 somewhat oddly1 to call it1 a  
quasi-contract2 but that  does not mean 
that the actual governors can be        
dismissed when any  eccentric happens to
 take exception to their views4 ,he has 
no sympathy  with parliamentary reform4 
,give the mob an increase of power1 he  
says1  and nothing is to be expected but
 outrage and violence4 ,he thinks the   
constitution very well as it is1 and    
those who preach the evils of           
corruption ought to prove their charges 

instead of blasphemously  asserting that
 the voice of the people is the voice of
 ,god4    ,upon ,america ,tucker has    
doctrines all his own4 ,he does not     
doubt that  the ,americans deserve the  
worst epithets that can be showered upon
 them4  ,their right to self-government 
he denied as stoutly as ever ,george    
,,iii  himself could have desired4 ,but 
not for one moment would he fight them  
to compel their return to ,british      
allegiance4 ,if the ,american colonies  
want to go1 let them by all means cut   
adrift4 ,they are only a useless  source
 of expenditure4 ,the trade they        
represent does not depend upon          
allegiance but upon wants that ,england 
can supply if she keeps shop in  the    
proper way1 if1 that is1 she makes it to
 their interest to buy in  her market4  
,indeed1 colonies of all kinds seem to  
him quite useless4  ,they ever are1 he  
says1 and ever were1 a drain to and an  
incumbrance on  the ,mother-country1    
requiring perpetual and expensive       

nursing in their  infancy1 and becoming 
headstrong and ungovernable in          
proportion as they  grow up4 ,all wise  
relations depend upon self-interest1 and
 that needs  no compulsion4 ,if         
,gibraltar and ,port ,mahon and the rest
 were given up1  the result would be    
multitudes of places 444 abolished1 jobs
 and  contracts effectually prevented1  
millions of money saved1 universal      
industry encouraged1 and the influence  
of the ,crown reduced to that           
mediocrity it ought to have4 ,here is   
pure ,manchesterism half-a-century      
before its time2 and one can imagine the
 good ,dean crustily explaining  his    
notions to the merchants of ,bristol who
 had just rejected ,edmund  ,burke for  
advocating free trade with ,ireland4    
,no word on ,toryism would be complete  
without mention of ,dr4 ,johnson4       
,here1 indeed1 we meet less with opinion
 than with a set of gloomy  prejudices1 
acceptable only because of the stout    
honesty of the source  from which they  

come4 ,he thought life a poor thing at  
the best and took  a low view of human  
nature4 ,the notion of liberty1 he told 
the  faithful ,boswell1 amuses the      
people of ,england and helps to keep off
  the tedium vitae4 ,the idea of a      
society properly organized into ranks   
and societies he always esteemed highly4
 ,i am a friend to  subordination1 he   
said1 as most conducive to the happiness
 of  society4 ,he was a ,jacobite and   
,tory to the end4 ,whiggism was the     
offspring of the devil1 the negation of 
all principle2 and he seems to  have    
implied that it led to atheism1 which he
 regarded as the worst of  sins4 ,he did
 not believe in the honesty of          
republicans2 they levelled  down1 but   
were never inclined to level up4 ,men1  
he felt1 had a part to  act in society1 
and their business was to fulfil their  
allotted station4  ,rousseau was a very 
bad man3 ,i would sooner sign a sentence
 for his  transportation than that of   
any fellow who has gone from the ,old   

,bailey  these many years4 ,political   
liberty was worthless2 the only thing   
worth  while was freedom in private     
concerns4 ,he blessed the government in 
the  case of general warrants and       
thought the power of the ,crown too     
small4  ,toleration he considered due to
 an inapt distinction between freedom to
  think and freedom to talk1 and any    
magistrate while he thinks himself      
right 444 ought to enforce what he      
thinks4 ,the ,american revolt he        
ascribed to selfish faction2 and in his 
,taxation no ,tyranny 7#agge7 he        
defended the ,british government root   
and branch upon his favorite ground  of 
the necessity of subordination4 ,he was 
willing1 he said1 to love all  mankind  
except an ,american4    ,yet ,dr4       
,johnson was the friend of ,burke1 and  
he found pleasure in an  acquaintance   
with ,wilkes4 ,nor1 in all his          
admiration for rank and  fortune1 is    
there a single element of meanness4 ,the
 man who wrote the  letter to ,lord     

,chesterfield need never fear the charge
 of abasement4 ,he  knew that there was 
a remedy in human nature that will keep 
us safe  under every form of government4
 ,he defined a courtier in the ,idler as
  one whose business it is to watch the 
looks of a being weak and foolish  as   
himself4 ,much of what he felt was in   
part a revolt against the  sentimental  
aspect of contemporary liberalism1 in   
part a sturdy contempt  for the talk of 
degeneracy that men such as ,brown had  
made popular4  ,there is1 indeed1 in all
 his political observations a strong    
sense of  the virtue of order1 and a    
perception that the radicalism of the   
time  was too abstract to provide an    
adequate basis for government4 ,here1 as
  elsewhere1 ,johnson hated all         
speculation which raised the fundamental
  questions4 ,what he did not see was   
the important truth that in no age  are 
fundamental questions raised save where 
the body politic is  diseased4 ,rousseau
 and ,voltaire1 even ,priestley and     

,price1 require  something more for     
answer than unreasoned prejudice4       
,johnson's attitude  would have been    
admirable where there were no questions 
to debate2 but  where ,pelham ruled1 or 
,grenville1 or ,north1 it had nothing to
  contribute4 ,thought1 after all1 is   
the one certain weapon of utility in  a 
different and complex world2 and it was 
because the age refused to  look it in  
the face that it invited the approach of
 revolution4          ,,chapter ,,vi    
,,burke        ,i      ,it is the       
special merit of the ,english           
constitutional system that the  king    
stands outside the categories of        
political conflict4 ,he is the          
dignified emollient of an organized     
quarrel which1 at least in theory1  is  
due to the clash of antagonistic        
principle4 ,the merit1 indeed1 is       
largely accidental2 and we shall miss   
the real fashion in which it came  to be
 established unless we remark the       
vicissitudes through which it has       

passed4 ,the foreign birth of the first 
two ,hanoverians1 the insistent         
widowhood of ,queen ,victoria1 these    
rather than deliberate foresight have   
secured the elevated nullification of   
the ,crown4 ,yet the first  twenty-five 
years of ,george ,,iii's reign represent
 the deliberate effort  of an obstinate 
man to stem the progress of fifty years 
and secure once  more the balance of    
power4 ,nor was the effort defeated     
without a  struggle which went to the   
root of constitutional principle4       
,and ,george ,,iii attempted the        
realization of his ambition at a time   
highly favorable to its success4 ,party 
government had lost much credit  during 
,walpole's administration4 ,men like    
,bolingbroke1 ,carteret and the  elder  
,pitt were all of them dissatisfied with
 a system which depended  for its       
existence upon the exclusion of able men
 from power4 ,a  generation of corrupt  
practice and the final defeat of ,stuart
 hopes had  already deprived the ,whigs 

of any special hold on their past       
ideals4  ,they were divided already into
 factions the purpose of which was no   
more  than the avid pursuit of place and
 pension4 ,government by connection     
proved itself irreconcilable with good  
government4 ,but it showed also  that   
once corruption was centralized there   
was no limit to its  influence1 granted 
only the absence of great questions4    
,when ,george ,,iii  transferred that   
organization from the office of the     
minister to his own  court1 there was   
already a tolerable certainty of his    
success4 ,for more  than forty years the
 ,tories had been excluded from office2 
and they  were more than eager to sell  
their support4 ,the ,church had become  
the  creature of the ,state4 ,the drift 
of opinion in continental ,europe was   
towards benevolent despotism4 ,the      
narrow1 obstinate and ungenerous mind   
of ,george had been fed on high notions 
of the power he might exert4 ,he  had   
been taught the kingship of             

,bolingbroke's glowing picture2 and a   
reading in manuscript of the seventh    
chapter of ,blackstone's first book  can
 only have confirmed the ideals he found
 there4 ,nor was it obvious  that a     
genuine kingship would have been worse  
than the oligarchy of the  great ,whig  
families4    ,what made it worse1 and   
finally impossible1 was the character of
 the  king4 ,the pathetic circumstances 
of his old age have combined somewhat   
to obscure the viciousness of his       
maturity4 ,he was excessively ignorant  
and as obstinate as arbitrary4 ,he      
trusted no one but himself1 and he      
totally misunderstood the true nature of
 his office4 ,there is no  question     
which arose in the first forty years of 
his reign in which he  was not upon the 
wrong side and proud of his error4 ,he  
was wrong about  ,wilkes1 wrong about   
,america1 wrong about ,ireland1 wrong   
about ,france4 ,he  demanded servants   
instead of ministers4 ,he attacked every
 measure for  the purification of the   

political system4 ,he supported the     
,slave trade  and he opposed the repeal 
of the ,test ,act4 ,he prevented the    
grant of  ,catholic emancipation at the 
one moment when it might have genuinely 
healed the wounds of ,ireland4 ,he      
destroyed by his perverse creations the 
value of the ,house of ,lords as a      
legislative assembly4 ,he was clearly   
determined to make his will the         
criterion of policy2 and his design     
might have succeeded had his ability and
 temper been proportionate to  its      
greatness4 ,it was not likely that the  
mass of men would have seen  with regret
 the destruction of the aristocratic    
monopoly in politics4  ,the elder ,pitt 
might well have based a ministry of the 
court upon a  broad bottom of           
popularity4 ,the ,house of ,commons1 as 
the event proved1  could be as          
subservient to the king as to his       
minister4    ,yet the design failed2 and
 it failed because1 with characteristic 
stupidity1 the king did not know the    

proper instruments for his  purpose4    
,whatever he touched he mismanaged4 ,he 
aroused the suspicion of  the people by 
enforcing the resignation of the elder  
,pitt4 ,in the ,wilkes  affair he threw 
the clearest light of the century upon  
the true nature  of the ,house of       
,commons4 ,his own system of            
proscription restored to the  ,whig     
party not a little of the idealism it   
had lost2 and ,burke came to  supply    
them with a philosophy4 ,chatham        
remained the idol of the people  despite
 his hatred4 ,he raised ,wilkes to be   
the champion of  representative         
government and of personal liberty4 ,he 
lost ,america and  it was not his fault 
that ,ireland was retained4 ,the early  
popularity he  received he never        
recovered until increasing years and    
madness had made  him too pathetic for  
dislike4 ,the real result of his attempt
 was to  compel attention once again to 
the foundations of politics2 and        
,george's  effort1 in the light of his  

immense failures1 could not1 in the     
nature  of things1 survive that         
analysis4    ,not1 of course1 that      
,george ever lacked defenders4 ,as early
 as #agfa1 the  old rival of ,walpole1  
,pulteney1 whom a peerage had condemned 
to  obsolescence1 published his         
,seasonable ,hints from an ,honest ,man 
on the  new ,reign4 ,pulteney urged the 
sovereign no longer to be content with  
the shadow of royalty4 ,he should use   
his legal prerogatives to check  the    
illegal claims of factious oligarchy4   
,government had become the  private     
possession of a few powerful men4 ,the  
king was but a puppet in  leading       
strings4 ,the basis of government should
 be widened1 for every  honest man was  
aware that distinctions of party were   
now merely nominal4  ,the ,tories should
 be admitted to place4 ,they were now   
friendly to the  accession and they no  
longer boasted their hostility to       
dissent4 ,they  knew that ,toleration   
and the ,establishment were of the      

essence of the  ,constitution4 ,were    
once the ,whig oligarchy overthrown1    
corruption would  cease and ,parliament 
could no longer hope to dominate the    
kingdom4 ,the  ministers1 he said1 will 
depend on the ,crown not the ,crown on  
ministers if ,george but showed his     
resolution to break all factitious      
connections and confederacies4 ,the tone
 is ,bolingbroke's1 and it was  the     
lesson ,george had insistently heard    
from early youth4 ,how sinister  was the
 advice1 men did not see until the elder
 ,pitt was in political  exile1 with    
,wilkes an outlaw1 and general warrants 
threatening the whole  basis of past    
liberties4    ,the first writer who     
pointed out in unmistakable terms the   
meaning of  the new synthesis was       
,junius4 ,that his anonymity concealed  
the malignant  talent of ,sir ,philip   
,francis seems now beyond denial4       
,junius1 indeed1  can hardly claim a    
place in the history of political ideas4
 ,his genius  lay not in the discussion 

of principle but the dissection of      
personality4 ,his power lay in his style
 and the knowledge that enabled  him to 
inform the general public of facts which
 were the private  possession of the    
inner political circle4 ,his mind was   
narrow and  pedantic4 ,he stood with    
,grenville on ,american taxation2 and he
  maintained without perceiving what it 
meant that a nomination borough  was a  
freehold beyond the competence of the   
legislature to abolish4 ,he  was never  
generous1 always abusive1 and truth did 
not enter into his  calculations4 ,but  
he saw with unsurpassed clearness the   
nature of the  issue and he was a       
powerful instrument in the discomfiture 
of the king4  ,he won a new audience for
 political conflict and that audience   
was the  unenfranchised populace of     
,england4 ,his letters1 moreover1       
appearing as  they did in the daily     
journals gave the press a significance  
in politics  which it has never lost4   
,he made the significance of ,george's  

effort  known to the mass of men at a   
time when no other means of information 
was at hand4 ,the opposition was        
divided2 the king's friends were in a   
vast majority2 the publication of       
debates was all but impossible4         
,english government was a secret        
conflict in which the entrance of       
spectators was forbidden even though    
they were the subjects of debate4  ,it  
was the glory of ,junius that he        
destroyed that system4 ,not even the    
combined influence of the ,crown and    
,commons1 not even ,lord ,mansfield's   
doctrine of the law of libel1 could     
break the power of his vituperation  and
 ,wilkes' courage4 ,bad men have        
sometimes been the instruments of  noble
 destiny2 and there are few more curious
 episodes in ,english  history than the 
result of this alliance between         
revengeful hate and  insolent ambition4 
,,ii      ,yet1 in the long run1 the    
real weapon which defeated ,george was  
the  ideas of ,edmund ,burke2 for he    

gave to the political conflict its real 
place in philosophy4 ,there is no       
immortality save in ideas2 and it was   
,burke who gave a permanent form to the 
debate in which he was the  liberal     
protagonist4 ,his career is illustrative
 at once of the merits  and defects of  
,english politics in the eighteenth     
century4 ,the son of an  ,irish         
,protestant lawyer and a ,catholic      
mother1 he served1 after learning  what 
,trinity ,college1 ,dublin1 could offer 
him1 a long apprenticeship to  politics 
in the upper part of ,grub ,street4 ,the
 story that he applied1  along with     
,hume1 for ,adam ,smith's chair at      
,glasgow seems apocryphal2  though the  
,dissertation on the ,sublime and the   
,beautiful 7#agef7 shows  his singular  
fitness for the studies that ,hutcheson 
had made the special  possession of the 
,scottish school4 ,it was in ,grub      
,street that he appears  to have        
attained that amazing amount of varied  
yet profound knowledge  which made him  

without equal in the ,house of ,commons4
 ,his earliest  production was a        
,vindication of ,natural ,society       
7#agef71 written in the  manner of ,lord
 ,bolingbroke1 and successful enough in 
its imitative  satire not only to       
deceive its immediate public1 but also  
to become the  basis of ,godwin's       
,political ,justice4 ,after a vain      
attempt to serve in  ,ireland with      
,single-,speech ,hamilton1 he became the
 private secretary  to ,lord            
,rockingham1 the leader of the one      
section of the ,whig party to  which an 
honorable record still remained4 ,that  
connection secured for  him a seat in   
,parliament at the comparatively late   
age of thirty-six2  and henceforward1   
until his death in #agig1 he was among  
its leading  members4 ,his intellectual 
pre-eminence1 indeed1 seems from the    
very  outset to have been recognized on 
all hands2 though he was still1 in the  
eyes of the system1 enough of an        
outsider to be given1 in the short      

months during which he held office1 the 
minor office of  ,paymaster-,general1   
without a seat in the ,cabinet4 ,the man
 of whom all  ,england was the political
 pupil was denied without discussion a  
place at  the council board4 ,yet when  
,fox is little more than a memory of    
great  lovableness and ,pitt a          
marvellous youth of apt quotations1     
,burke has  endured as the permanent    
manual of political wisdom without which
  statesmen are as sailors on an        
uncharted sea4    ,for it has been the  
singular good fortune of ,burke not     
merely to obtain  acceptance as the     
apostle of philosophic conservatism1 but
 to give deep  comfort to men of liberal
 temper4 ,he is1 indeed1 a singularly   
lovable  figure4 ,his stream of mind is 
perpetual1 said ,johnson2 and ,goldsmith
  has told us how he wound his way into 
a subject like a serpent4 ,macaulay     
thought him the greatest man since      
,milton1 ,lord ,morley the greatest     
master of civil wisdom in our tongue4   

,no ,english writer1 says ,sir  ,leslie 
,stephen1 has received or has deserved  
more splendid panegyrics4  ,even when   
the last criticism has been made1       
detraction from these  estimates is     
impossible4 ,it is easy to show how     
irritable and violent  was his          
temperament4 ,there is evidence and to  
spare of the way in which  he allowed   
the spirit of party to cloud his        
judgment4 ,his relations with  ,lord    
,chatham give lamentable proof of the   
violence of his personal  antipathies4  
,as an orator1 his speeches are often   
turgid1 wanting in  self-control1 and   
full of those ample digressions in which
 ,mr4 ,gladstone  delighted to obscure  
his principles4 ,yet the irritation did 
not conceal  a magnificent loyalty to   
his friends1 and it was in his days of  
comparative poverty that he shared his  
means with ,barry and with ,crabbe4     
,his alliance with ,fox is the classic  
partnership in ,english politics1       
unmarried1 even enriched1 by the tragedy

 of its close4 ,he was never  guilty of 
mean ambition4 ,he thought of nothing   
save the public welfare4  ,no man has   
ever more consistently devoted his      
energies to the service of  the nation  
with less regard for personal           
advancement4 ,no ,english  statesman has
 ever more firmly moved amid a mass of  
details to the  principle they involve4 
,he was a member of no school of        
thought1 and there is no influence to   
whom his outlook can be directly traced4
 ,his politics1 indeed1 bear upon  their
 face the preoccupation with the        
immediate problems of the ,house of     
,commons4 ,yet through them all the     
principles that emerge form a           
consistent whole4 ,nor is this all4 ,he 
hated oppression with all the  passion  
of a generous moral nature4 ,he cared   
for the good as he saw it  with a       
steadfastness which ,bright and ,cobden 
only can claim to  challenge4 ,what he  
had to say he said in sentences which   
form the maxims  of administrative      

wisdom4 ,his horizon reached from       
,london out to ,india  and ,america2 and
 he cared as deeply for the ,indian     
ryot's wrongs as for  the iniquities of 
,english policy to ,ireland4 ,with less 
width of mind  than ,hume and less      
intensity of gaze than ,adam ,smith1 he 
yet had a width  and intensity which1   
fused with his own imaginative sympathy1
 gave him  more insight than either4 ,he
 had an unerring eye for the eternal    
principles of politics4 ,he knew that   
ideals must be harnessed to an ,act  of 
,parliament if they are not to cease    
their influence4 ,admitting while  he   
did that politics must rest upon        
expediency1 he never failed to find     
good reason why expediency should be    
identified with what he saw as  right4  
,it is a stainless and a splendid       
record4 ,there are men in ,english      
politics to whom a greater immediate    
influence may be ascribed1 just as  in  
political philosophy he cannot claim the
 persistent inspiration of  ,hobbes and 

,locke4 ,but in that middle ground      
between the facts and  speculation his  
supremacy is unapproached4 ,there had   
been nothing like  him before in        
,english politics2 and in continental   
politics ,royer  ,collard alone has     
something of his moral fibre1 though his
 practical  insight was far less        
profound4 ,hamilton had ,burke's full   
grasp of  political wisdom1 but he      
lacked his moral elevation4 ,so that he 
remains  a figure of uniqueness4 ,he    
may1 as ,goldsmith said1 have expended  
upon  his party talents that should have
 illuminated the universal aspect of    
the ,state4 ,yet there is no question   
with which he dealt that he did not     
leave the richer for his enquiry4       
,,iii      ,the liberalism of ,burke is 
most apparent in his handling of the    
immediate issues of the age4 ,upon      
,ireland1 ,america and ,india1 he was at
  every point upon the side of the      
future4 ,where constitutional reform was
  in debate no man saw more clearly than

 he the evils that needed remedy2       
though1 to a later generation1 his own  
schemes bear the mark of timid          
conservatism4 ,in the last decade of his
 life he encountered the greatest       
cataclysm unloosed upon ,europe since   
the ,reformation1 and it is not too     
much to say that at every point he      
missed the essence of its meaning4  ,yet
 even upon ,france and the ,english     
,constitution he was full of  practical 
sagacity4 ,had his warning been uttered 
without the fury of  hate that          
accompanied it1 he might well have      
guided the forces of the  ,revolution   
into channels that would have left no   
space for the military  dictatorship he 
so marvellously foresaw4 ,had he        
perceived the real evils  of the        
aristocratic monopoly against which he  
so eloquently inveighed1  forty barren  
years might well have been a fruitful   
epoch of wise and  continuous reform4   
,but ,burke was not a democrat1 and1 at 
bottom1 he had  little regard for that  

popular sense of right which1 upon      
occasion1 he  was ready to praise4 ,what
 impressed him was less the evils of the
  constitution than its possibilities1  
could the defects quite alien from  its 
nature but be pruned away4 ,moments1    
indeed1 there are of a deeper  vision1  
and it is not untrue to say that the    
best answer to ,burke's  conservatism is
 to be found in his own pages4 ,but he  
was too much the  apostle of order to   
watch with calm the struggles involved  
in the  overthrow of privilege4 ,he had 
too much the sense of a ,divine         
,providence  taking thought for the     
welfare of men to interfere with        
violence in his  handiwork4 ,the tinge  
of caution is never absent1 even from   
his most  liberal moments2 and he was   
willing to endure great evil if it      
seemed  dangerous to estimate the cost  
of change4    ,his ,american speeches   
are the true text-book for colonial     
administration4 ,he put aside the empty 
plea of right which satisfied  legal    

pedants like ,george ,grenville4 ,what  
moved him was the tragic  fashion in    
which men clung to the shadow of a power
 they could not  maintain instead of    
searching for the roots of freedom4 ,he 
never  concealed from himself that the  
success of ,america was bound up with   
the  maintenance of ,english liberties4 
,armies1 he said many years later1      
first victorious over ,englishmen1 in a 
conflict for ,english  constitutional   
rights and privileges1 and afterwards   
habituated 7though  in ,america7 to keep
 an ,english people in a state of abject
 subjection1  would prove fatal in the  
end to the liberties of ,england itself4
 ,he had  firm hold of that insidious   
danger which belittles freedom itself in
 the  interest of curtailing some       
special desire4 ,in order to prove that 
the  ,americans have no right to their  
liberties1 he said in the famous        
,speech on ,conciliation with ,america  
7#agge71 we are every day  endeavoring  
to subvert the maxims which preserve the

 whole spirit of our  own4 ,the way for 
the later despotism of the younger      
,pitt1 was1 as ,burke  saw1 prepared by 
those who persuaded ,englishmen of the  
paltry character  of the ,american      
contest4 ,his own receipt was sounder4  
,in the ,speech on  ,american ,taxation 
7#aggd7 he had riddled the view that the
 fiscal  methods of ,lord ,north were   
likely to succeed4 ,the true method was 
to  find a way of peace4 ,nobody shall  
persuade me1 he told a hostile ,house   
of ,commons1 when a whole people are    
concerned that acts of lenity are  not  
means of conciliation4 ,magnanimity in  
politics1 he said in the  next year1 is 
not seldom the truest wisdom2 and a     
great empire and  little minds go ill   
together4 ,he did not know1 in the most 
superb of  all his maxims1 how to draw  
up an indictment against a whole people4
 ,he  would win the colonies by binding 
them to ,england with the ties of       
freedom4 ,the question with me1 he said1
 is not whether you have a  right to    

render your people miserable1 but       
whether it is not your  interest to make
 them happy4 ,the problem1 in fact1 was 
one not of  abstract right but of       
expediency2 and nothing could be lost by
  satisfying ,american desire4 ,save for
 ,johnson and ,gibbon1 that was         
apparent to every first-class mind in   
,england4 ,but the obstinate king       
prevailed2 and ,burke's great protest   
remained no more than material for  the 
legislation of the future4 ,yet it was  
something that ninety years  after his  
speech the ,british ,north ,america ,act
 should have given his  dreams full     
substance4    ,ireland had always a     
place apart in ,burke's affections1 and 
when he  first entered the ,house of    
,commons he admitted that uppermost in  
his  thoughts was the desire to assist  
its freedom4 ,he saw that here1 as in   
,america1 no man will be argued into    
slavery4 ,a government which defied  the
 fundamental impulses of men was bound  
to court disaster4 ,how could  it seek  

security where it defied the desires of 
the vast majority of its  subjects8 ,why
 is the ,irish ,catholic to have less   
justice than the  ,catholic of ,quebec  
or the ,indian ,mohammedan8 ,the system 
of ,protestant  control1 he said in the 
,letter to ,sir ,hercules ,langrishe    
7#agib71 was  well fitted for the       
oppression1 impoverishment and          
degradation of a  people1 and the       
debasement in them of human nature      
itself4 ,the  ,catholics paid their     
taxes2 they served with glory in the    
army and navy4  ,yet they were denied a 
share in the commonwealth4 ,common      
sense1 he  said1 and common justice     
dictate 444 some sort of compensation to
 a  people for their slavery4 ,the      
,british ,constitution was not made for 
great1 general and proscriptive         
exclusions2 sooner or later it will     
destroy them1 or they will destroy the  
constitution4 ,the argument that  the   
body of ,catholics was prone to sedition
 was no reason to oppress  them4 ,no man

 will assert seriously1 he said1 that   
when people are of  a turbulent spirit  
the best way to keep them in order is to
 furnish them  with something to        
complain of4 ,the advantages of subjects
 were1 as he  urged1 their right2 and a 
wise government would regard all their  
reasonable wishes as so many claims4 ,to
 neglect them was to have a  nation full
 of uneasiness2 and the end was bound to
 be disaster4    ,there is nothing more 
noble in ,burke's career than his long  
attempt to  mitigate the evils of       
,company rule in ,india4 ,research may  
well have  shown that in some details he
 pressed the case too far2 yet nothing  
has  so far come to light to cast doubt 
upon the principles he there            
maintained4 ,he was the first ,english  
statesman fully to understand the  moral
 import of the problem of subject races2
 and if he did not make  impossible the 
,joseph ,sedleys of the future1 at least
 he flung an  eternal challenge to their
 malignant complacency4 ,he did not ask 

the  abandonment of ,british dominion in
 ,india1 though he may have doubted the 
wisdom of its conquest4 ,all that he    
insisted upon was this1 that in         
imperial adventure the conquering race  
must abide by a moral code4 ,a  lie was 
a lie whether its victim be black or    
white4 ,the ,european must  respect the 
powers and rights of the ,hindu as he   
would be compelled by  law to respect   
them in his own ,state4 ,if we are not  
able1 he said1 to  contrive some method 
of governing ,india well which will not 
of necessity  become the means of       
governing ,great ,britain ill1 a ground 
is laid for  their eternal separation1  
but none for sacrificing the people of  
that  country to our constitution4      
,england must be in ,india for ,india's 
benefit or not at all2 political power  
and commercial monopoly such as  the    
,east ,india ,company enjoyed could be  
had only insofar as they are            
instruments of right and not of         
violence4 ,the ,company's system was the

  antithesis of this4 ,there is nothing1
 he said in a magnificent  passage1     
before the eyes of the natives but an   
endless1 hopeless  prospect of new      
flights of birds of prey and passage1   
with appetites  continually renewing for
 a food that is continually wasting4    
,sympathy  with the native1 regard for  
his habits and wants1 the ,company's    
servants  failed to display4 ,the       
,english youth in ,india drink the      
intoxicating  draught of authority and  
dominion before their heads are able to 
bear  it1 and as they are full grown in 
fortune long before they are ripe in    
principle1 neither nature nor reason    
have any opportunity to exert           
themselves for the excesses of their    
premature power4 ,the consequences  of  
their conduct1 which in good minds 7and 
many of theirs are probably  such7 might
 produce penitence or amendment1 are    
unable to pursue the  rapidity of their 
flight4 ,their prey is lodged in        
,england2 and the cries  of ,india are  

given to seas and winds to be blown     
about in every breaking  up of the      
monsoon over a remote and unhearing     
ocean4 ,more than a  century was to pass
 before the wisest of ,burke's          
interpreters attempted  the translation 
of his maxims into statute4 ,but there  
has never1 in any  language1 been drawn 
a clearer picture of the danger implicit
 in  imperial adventure4 ,the situation 
of man1 said ,burke1 is the  preceptor  
of his duty4 ,he saw how a nation might 
become corrupted by  the spoils of other
 lands4 ,he knew that cruelty abroad is 
the parent of  a later cruelty at home4 
,men will complain of their wrongdoing  
in the  remoter empire2 and imperialism 
will employ the means ,burke painted in 
unforgettable terms in his picture of   
,paul ,benfield4 ,he denied that the    
government of subject races can be      
regarded as a commercial transaction4   
,its problem was not to secure dividends
 but to accomplish moral benefit4  ,he  
abhorred the politics of prestige4 ,he  

knew the difficulties involved  in      
administering distant territories1 the  
ignorance and apathy of the  public1 the
 consequent erosion of responsibility1  
the chance that wrong  will fail of     
discovery4 ,but he did not shrink from  
his conclusion4 ,let  us do what we     
please1 he said1 to put ,india from our 
thoughts1 we can  do nothing to separate
 it from our public interest and our    
national  reputation4 ,that is a general
 truth not less in ,africa and ,china   
than  in ,india itself4 ,the main       
thought in ,burke's mind was the danger 
lest  colonial dominion become the      
breeding-ground of arbitrary ideas4     
,that  his own safeguards were          
inadequate is clear enough at the       
present time4  ,he knew that the need   
was good government4 ,he did not nor    
could he  realize how intimately that   
ideal was connected with                
self-government4  ,yet the latest lesson
 is no more than the final outcome of   
his teaching4        ,,iv      ,a       

background so consistent as this in the 
inflexible determination to  moralize   
political action resulted in a noble    
edifice4 ,yet1 through it  all1 the     
principles of policy are rather implied 
than admitted4 ,it was  when he came to 
deal with domestic problems and the     
,french ,revolution  that ,burke most   
clearly showed the real trend of his    
thought4 ,that trend  is unmistakable4  
,burke was a utilitarian who was        
convinced that what was  old was        
valuable by the mere fact of its arrival
 at maturity4 ,the ,state  appeared to  
him an organic compound that came but   
slowly to its full  splendour4 ,it was  
easy to destroy2 creation was           
impossible4 ,political  philosophy was  
nothing for him but accurate            
generalization from  experience2 and he 
held the presumption to be against      
novelty4 ,while he  did not belittle the
 value of reason1 he was always         
impressed by the  immense part played by
 prejudice in the determination of      

policy4 ,he had  no doubt that property 
was a rightful index to power2 and to   
disturb  prescription seemed to him the 
opening of the flood gates4 ,nor must we
  miss the religious aspect of his      
philosophy4 ,he never doubted that      
religion was the foundation of the      
,english ,state4 ,englishmen1 he said   
in the ,reflections on the ,french      
,revolution 7#agij71 know1 and what is  
better1 we feel inwardly1 that religion 
is the basis of civil society  and the  
source of all good and of all comfort4  
,the utterance is  characteristic1 not  
merely in its depreciation of reason1   
but in its  ultimate reliance upon a    
mystic explanation of social facts4     
,nothing was  more alien from ,burke's  
temper than deductive thinking in       
politics4 ,the  only safeguard he could 
find was in empiricism4    ,this hatred 
of abstraction is1 of course1 the basis 
of his earliest  publication2 but it    
remained with him to the end4 ,he would 
not discuss  ,america in terms of right4

 ,i do not enter into these metaphysical
  distinctions1 he said in the ,speech  
on ,american ,taxation1 ,i hate the     
very sound of them4 ,one sure symptom of
 an ill-conducted state1 he  wrote in   
the ,reflections1 is the propensity of  
the people to resort  to theories4 ,it  
is always to be lamented1 he said in a  
,speech on the  ,duration of            
,parliament1 when men are driven to     
search into the  foundations of the     
commonwealth4 ,the theory of a social   
contract he  declared at best a         
confusion of judicial with civil        
principles1 and he  found no sense in   
the doctrine of popular sovereignty4    
,the lines of  morality1 he said in the 
,appeal from the ,new to the ,old ,whigs
 7#agia71  are not like ideal lines of  
mathematics4 ,they are broad and deep as
  well as long4 ,they admit of          
exceptions2 they demand modifications4  
,these  exceptions and modifications are
 made1 not by the process of logic but  
by the rules of prudence4 ,prudence is  

not only first in rank of the  virtues  
political and moral1 but she is the     
director1 the regulator1 the  standard  
of them all4 ,nor did he hesitate to    
draw the obvious  conclusion4 ,this1 he 
said1 is the true touchstone of all     
theories  which regard man and the      
affairs of men--does it suit his nature 
in  general1 does it suit his nature as 
modified by his habits8    ,of the truth
 of this general attitude it is         
difficult to make denial4  ,but when    
,burke came to apply it to the ,british 
,constitution the rules  of prudence he 
was willing to admit are narrow enough  
to cause  surprised enquiry4 ,he did not
 doubt that the true end of a           
legislature  was to give a direction1 a 
form1 a technical dress 444 to the      
general  sense of the community2 he     
admitted that popular revolt is so much 
the  outcome of suffering that in any   
dispute between government and people1  
the presumption is at least equal in the
 latter's favor4 ,he urged the          

acceptance of ,grenville's bill for     
improving the method of decision upon   
disputed elections4 ,he made a          
magnificent defence of the popular cause
  in the ,middlesex election4 ,he was in
 favor of the publication of            
parliamentary debates and of the voting 
lists in divisions4 ,he supported       
almost with passion the ending of that  
iniquitous system by which the          
enfranchisement of revenue officers gave
 government a corrupt reservoir  of     
electoral support4 ,his ,speech on      
,economical ,reform 7#aghj7 was the     
prelude to a nobly-planned and          
successful attack upon the waste of the 
,civil list4    ,yet beyond these       
measures ,burke could never be persuaded
 to go4 ,he was  against the demand for 
shorter ,parliaments on the excellent   
ground that  the elections would be more
 corrupt and the ,commons less          
responsible4 ,he  opposed the remedy of 
a ,place ,bill for the good and         
sufficient reason  that it gave the     

executive an interest against the       
legislature4 ,he would  not1 as in the  
great speech at ,bristol 7#aggd71 accept
 the doctrine that  a member of         
,parliament was a mere delegate of his  
constituents rather  than a             
representative of his own convictions4  
,government and  legislation1 he said1  
are matters of reason and of judgment2  
and once  the private member had        
honorably arrived at a decision which he
 thought  was for the interest of the   
whole community1 his duty was done4 ,all
  this1 in itself1 is unexceptionable2  
and it shows ,burke's admirable  grasp  
of the practical application of         
attractive theories to the event4  ,but 
it is to be read in conjunction with a  
general hostility to basic              
constitutional change which is more     
dubious4 ,he had no sympathy with the   
,radicals4 ,the bane of the ,whigs1 he  
said1 has been the admission  among them
 of the corps of schemers 444 who do us 
infinite mischief by  persuading many   

sober and well-meaning people that we   
have designs  inconsistent with the     
,constitution left us by our            
forefathers4 ,if the  nation at large1  
he wrote in another letter1 has         
disposition enough to  oppose all bad   
principles and all bad men1 its form of 
government is1 in  my opinion1 fully    
sufficient for it2 but if the general   
disposition be  against a virtuous and  
manly line of public conduct1 there is  
no form  into which it can be thrown    
that will improve its nature or add to  
its  energy2 and in the same letter he  
foreshadows a possible retirement  from 
the ,house of ,commons as a protest     
against the growth of radical  opinion  
in his party4 ,he resisted every effort 
to reduce the suffrage  qualification4  
,he had no sympathy with the effort     
either to add to the  county            
representation or to abolish the rotten 
boroughs4 ,the framework  of the        
parliamentary system seemed to him      
excellent4 ,he deplored all  criticism  

of ,parliament1 and even the discussion 
of its essentials4 ,our  representation1
 he said1 is as nearly perfect as the   
necessary  imperfections of human       
affairs and of human creatures will     
suffer it to  be4 ,it was in the same   
temper that he resisted all effort at   
the  political relief of the ,protestant
 dissenters4 ,the machine itself1 he    
had said1 is well enough to answer any  
good purpose1 provided the  materials   
were sound2 and he never moved from that
 opinion4    ,burke's attitude was      
obsolete even while he wrote2 yet the   
suggestiveness of his very errors makes 
examination of their ground  important4 
,broadly1 he was protesting against     
natural right in the name  of           
expediency4 ,his opponents argued that1 
since men are by nature equal1  it must 
follow that they have an equal right to 
self-government4 ,to  ,burke1 the       
admission of this principle would have  
meant the overthrow of  the ,british    
constitution4 ,its implication was that 

every institution not  of immediate     
popular origin should be destroyed4 ,to 
secure their ends1  he thought1 the     
radicals were compelled to preach the   
injustice of those  institutions and    
thus to injure that affection for       
government upon which  peace and        
security depend4 ,here was an effort to 
bring all institutions  to the test of  
logic which he thought highly dangerous4
 ,no rational man  ever did govern      
himself1 he said1 by abstractions and   
universals4 ,the  question for him was  
not the abstract rightness of the system
 upon some  set of a priori principles  
but whether1 on the whole1 that system  
worked for the happiness of the         
community4 ,he did not doubt that it    
did2  and to overthrow a structure so   
nobly tested by the pressure of events  
in favor of some theories outside       
historic experience seemed to him       
ruinous to society4 ,government1 for    
him1 was the general harmony of  diverse
 interests2 and the continual           

adjustments and exquisite  modifications
 of which it stood in need were         
admirably discovered in the  existing   
system4 ,principles were thus           
unimportant compared to the  problem of 
their application4 ,the major1 he said  
of all political  premises1 makes a     
pompous figure in the battle1 but the   
victory depends  upon the little minor  
of circumstances4    ,to abstract       
natural right he therefore opposed      
prescription4 ,the  presumption of      
wisdom is on the side of the past1 and  
when we change1  we act at our peril4   
,prescription1 he said in #aghb1 is the 
most solid  of all titles1 not only to  
property1 but to what is to secure that 
property1 to government4 ,because he saw
 the ,state organically he was          
impressed by the smallness both of the  
present moment and the  individual's    
thought4 ,it is built upon the wisdom of
 the past for the  species is wise1 and 
when time is given to it1 as a species  
it almost  always acts right4 ,and since

 it is the past alone which has had the 
opportunity to accumulate this rightness
 our disposition should be to  preserve 
all ancient things4 ,they could not be  
without a reason2 and  that reason is   
grounded upon ancestral experience4 ,so 
the prescriptive  title becomes not the 
creature1 but the master1 of positive   
law 444 the  soundest1 the most general 
and the most recognized title between   
man and  man that is known in municipal 
or public jurisprudence4 ,it is by      
prescription that he defends the        
existence of ,catholicism in ,ireland   
not  less than the supposed deformities 
of the ,british ,constitution4 ,so1 too1
  his main attack on atheism is its     
implication that everything is to be    
discussed4 ,he does not say that all    
which is has rightness in it2 but  at   
least he urges that to doubt it is to   
doubt the construction of a  past       
experience which built according to the 
general need4 ,nor does he  doubt the   
chance that what he urges may be wrong4 

,rather does he insist  that at least it
 gives us security1 for him the highest 
good4 ,truth1  he said1 may be far      
better 444 but as we have scarcely ever 
that  certainty in the one that we have 
in the other1 ,i would1 unless the      
truth were evident indeed1 hold fast to 
peace1 which has in her company         
charity1 the highest of the virtues4    
,such a philosophy1 indeed1 so barely   
stated1 would seem a defence of         
political immobility2 but ,burke        
attempted safeguards against that       
danger4 ,his insistence upon the        
superior value of past experience was   
balanced by a general admission that    
particular circumstances must  always   
govern the immediate decision4 ,when the
 reason of old  establishments is gone1 
he said in his ,speech on ,economical   
,reform1  it is absurd to preserve      
nothing but the burden of them4 ,a      
disposition to preserve and an ability  
to improve1 he wrote in the             
,reflections on the ,french ,revolution1

 taken together would be my  standard of
 a statesman4 ,but that ability to      
improve conceals two  principles of     
which ,burke never relaxed his hold4    
,all the reformations  we have hitherto 
made1 he said1 have proceeded upon the  
principle of  reference to antiquity2   
and the ,appeal from the ,new to the    
,old ,whigs1  which is the most         
elaborate exposition of his general     
attitude1 proceeds  upon the general    
basis that #afhh is a perpetual model   
for the future4  ,nor is this all4 ,if  
,i cannot reform with equity1 said      
,burke1 ,i will  not reform at all2 and 
equity seems here to mean a sacrifice of
 the  present and its passionate demands
 to the selfish errors of past policy4  
,burke1 indeed1 was never a democrat1   
and that is the real root of his        
philosophy4 ,he saw the value of the    
party-system1 and he admitted the       
necessity of some degree of popular     
representation4 ,but he was entirely    
satisfied with current ,whig principles1

 could they but be purged of  their     
grosser deformities4 ,he knew too well  
how little reason is wont to  enter into
 the formation of political opinion to  
make the sacrifice of  innovation to its
 power4 ,he saw so much of virtue in the
 old order1 that  he insisted upon the  
equation of virtue with quintessence4   
,men of great  property and position    
using their influence as a public trust1
 delicate  in their sense of honor1 and 
acting only from motives of right--these
  seemed to him the men who should with 
justice exercise political power4  ,he  
did not doubt that there is no          
qualification for government but  virtue
 and wisdom 444 wherever they are       
actually found1 they have1 in  whatever 
state1 condition1 profession or trade1  
the passport to heaven2  but he is      
careful to dissociate the possibility   
that they can be found  in those who    
practice the mechanical arts4 ,he did   
not mean that his  aristocracy should   
govern without response to popular      

demand4 ,he had no  objection to        
criticism1 nor to the public exercise of
 government4 ,there  was no reason even 
for agreement1 so long as each party was
 guided by an  honorable sense of the   
public good4 ,this1 so he urged1 was the
 system  which underlay the temporary   
evils of the ,british ,constitution4 ,an
  aristocracy delegated to do its work  
by the mass of men was the best  form of
 government his imagination could       
conceive4 ,it meant that  property must 
be dominant in the system of government1
 that1 while  office should be open to  
all1 it should be out of the reach of   
most4  ,the characteristic essence of   
property1 he wrote in the ,reflections1 
444 is to be unequal2 and he thought the
 perpetuation of that  inequality by    
inheritance that which tends most to the
 perpetuation of  society itself4 ,the  
system was difficult to maintain1 and it
 must be  put out of the reach of       
popular temptation4 ,our constitution1  
he said  in the ,present ,discontents1  

stands on a nice equipoise1 with sharp  
precipices and deep waters on all sides 
of it4 ,in removing it from a  dangerous
 leaning towards one side1 there may be 
a danger towards  oversething it on the 
other4 ,in straining1 that is to say1   
after too  large a purification1 we may 
end with destruction4 ,and ,burke1 of   
course1  was emphatic upon the need that
 property should be undisturbed4 ,it was
  always1 he thought1 at a great        
disadvantage in any struggle with       
ability2 and there are many passages in 
which he urges the consequent  special  
representation which the adequate       
defence of property requires4    ,the   
argument1 at bottom1 is common to all   
thinkers over-impressed by the  sanctity
 of past experience4 ,hegel and ,savigny
 in ,germany1 ,taine and  ,renan in     
,france1 ,sir ,henry ,maine and ,lecky  
in ,england1 have all urged  what is in 
effect a similar plea4 ,we must not     
break what ,bagehot called  the cake of 
custom1 for men have been trained to its

 digestion1 and new  food breeds        
trouble4 ,laws are the offspring of the 
original genius of a  people1 and while 
we may renovate1 we must not unduly     
reform4 ,the true  idea of national     
development is always latent in the past
 experience of  the race and it is from 
that perpetual spring alone that wisdom 
can be  drawn4 ,we render obedience to  
what is with effortless unconsciousness2
  and without this loyalty to inherited 
institutions the fabric of society      
would be dissolved4 ,civilization1 in   
fact1 depends upon the performance  of  
actions defined in preconceived         
channels2 and if we obeyed those novel  
impulses of right which seem1 at times1 
to contradict our inheritance1  we      
should disturb beyond repair the        
intricate equilibrium of countless      
ages4 ,the experience of the past rather
 than the desires of the present  is    
thus the true guide to our policy4 ,we  
ought1 he said in a famous  sentence1 to
 venerate where we are unable presently 

to comprehend4    ,it is easy to see why
 a mind so attuned recoiled from horror 
at the  ,french ,revolution4 ,there is  
something almost sinister in the destiny
  which confronted ,burke with the one  
great spectacle of the eighteenth       
century which he was certain not merely 
to misunderstand but also to  hate4 ,he 
could not endure the most fragmentary   
change in tests of  religious belief2   
and the ,revolution swept overboard the 
whole religious  edifice4 ,he would not 
support the abolition even of the most  
flagrant  abuses in the system of       
representation2 and he was to see in    
,france an  overthrow of a monarchy even
 more august in its prescriptive rights 
than  the ,english ,parliament4         
,privileges were scattered to the winds 
in a  single night4 ,peace was          
sacrificed to exactly those metaphysical
  theories of equality and justice which
 he most deeply abhorred4 ,the  doctrine
 of progress found an eloquent defender 
in that last and  noblest utterance of  

,condorcet which is still perhaps its   
most perfect  justification4 ,on all    
hands there was the sense of a new world
 built by  the immediate thought of man 
upon the wholehearted rejection of past 
history4 ,politics was emphatically     
declared to be a system of which the    
truths could be stated in terms of      
mathematical certainty4 ,the religious  
spirit which ,burke was convinced lay at
 the root of good gave way before  a    
general scepticism which1 from the      
outset of his life1 he had declared     
incompatible with social order4 ,justice
 was asserted to be the centre of       
social right2 and it was defined as the 
overthrow of those prescriptive         
privileges which ,burke regarded as the 
protective armour of the body  politic4 
,above all1 the men who seized the reins
 of power became  convinced that theirs 
was a specific of universal application4
 ,their  disciples in ,england seemed in
 the same diabolic frenzy with          
themselves4  ,in a moment of time1 the  

,england which had been the example to  
,europe of  ordered popular liberty     
became1 for these enthusiasts1 only less
  barbaric than the despotic princes of 
the continent4 ,that ,price and         
,priestley should suffer the infection  
was1 even for ,burke1 a not  unnatural  
thing4 ,but when ,charles ,fox cast     
aside the teaching of twenty  years for 
its antithesis1 ,burke must have felt   
that no price was too  great to pay for 
the overthrow of the ,revolution4       
,certainly his pamphlets on events in   
,france are at every point  consistent  
with his earlier doctrine4 ,the charge  
that he supported the  ,revolution in   
,america and deserted it in ,france is  
without meaning2 for  in the one there  
is no word that can honorably be twisted
 to support the  other4 ,and when we    
make allowances for the grave errors of 
personal  taste1 the gross exaggeration1
 the inability to see the ,revolution as
  something more than a single point in 
time1 it becomes obvious enough  that   

his criticism1 de ,maistre's apart1 is  
by far the soundest we  possess from the
 generation which knew the movement as a
 living thing4  ,the attempt to produce 
an artificial equality upon which he    
seized as  the essence of the           
,revolution was1 as ,mirabeau was urging
 in private to  the king1 the inevitable
 precursor of dictatorship4 ,he realized
 that  freedom is born of a certain     
spontaneity for which the rigid lines of
  doctrinaire thinkers left no room4    
,that worship of symmetrical form  which
 underlies the constitutional           
experiments of the next few years he    
exposed in a sentence which has in it   
the essence of political wisdom4  ,the  
nature of man is intricate2 he wrote in 
the ,reflections1 the  objects of       
society are of the greatest possible    
complexity2 and  therefore no simple    
disposition or direction of power can be
 suitable  either to man's nature or to 
the quality of his affairs4 ,the note   
recurs in substance throughout his      

criticism4 ,much of its application1    
indeed1 will not stand for one moment   
the test of inquiry2 as when1 for       
instance1 he correlates the monarchical 
government of ,france with the  ,english
 constitutional system and extols the   
perpetual virtues of #afhh4  ,the       
,french made every effort to find the   
secret of ,english principles1  but the 
roots were absent from their national   
experience4    ,a year after the        
publication of the ,reflections he      
himself perceived  the narrowness of    
that judgment4 ,in the ,thoughts on     
,french ,affairs  7#agia7 he saw that   
the essence of the ,revolution was its  
foundation in  theoretic dogma4 ,it was 
like nothing else in the history of the 
world  except the ,reformation2 which   
last event it especially resembles in   
its  genius for self-propagation4       
,herein he has already envisaged the    
importance of that patrie intellectuelle
 which ,tocqueville  emphasized as born 
of the ,revolution4 ,that led ,burke    

once again to  insist upon the peculiar 
genius of each separate state1 the      
difficulties  of a change1 the danger of
 grafting novelties upon an ancient     
fabric4 ,he  saw the certainty that in  
adhering to an abstract metaphysical    
scheme  the ,french were in truth       
omitting human nature from their        
political  equation2 for general ideas  
can find embodiment in institutional    
forms  only after they have been moulded
 by a thousand varieties of             
circumstance4 ,the ,french created an   
universal man not less destructive  of  
their practical sagacity than the       
,frankenstein of the economists4  ,they 
omitted1 as ,burke saw1 the elements    
which objective experience must  demand2
 with the result that1 despite          
themselves1 they came rather to  destroy
 than to fulfil4 ,napoleon1 as ,burke   
prophesied1 reaped the  harvest of their
 failure4    ,nor was he less right in  
his denunciation of that distrust of the
 past  which played so large a part in  

the revolutionary consciousness4 ,we are
  afraid1 he wrote in the ,reflections1 
to put men to live and trade  each on   
his own private stock of reason1 because
 we suspect that this  stock in each man
 is small1 and that the individuals     
would do better to  avail themselves of 
the general bank and capital of nations 
and of  ages4 ,of ,siys' building       
constitutions overnight1 this is no     
unfair  picture2 but it points a more   
general truth never long absent from    
,burke's mind4 ,man is for him so much  
the creature of prejudice1 so much  a   
mosaic of ancestral tradition1 that the 
chance of novel thought  finding a      
peaceful place among his institutions is
 always small4 ,for  ,burke1 thought is 
always at the service of the instincts1 
and these lie  buried in the remote     
experience of the state4 ,so that men   
like  ,robespierre were asking from     
their subjects an impossible task4 ,that
  which they had conceived in the gray  
abstractness of their speculations  was 

too little related to what the average  
,frenchman knew and desired to  be      
enduring4 ,burke looks with sober       
admiration at the way in which the      
,english revolution related itself at   
every point to ideas and theories  with 
which the average man was as familiar as
 with the physical  landmarks of his own
 neighborhood4 ,for the motives which   
underlie all  human effort are1 he      
thought1 sufficiently constant to compel
 regard4  ,that upon which they feed    
submits to change2 but the effort is    
slow and  the disappointments many4 ,the
 ,revolution taught the populace the    
thirst  for power4 ,but it failed to    
remember that sense of continuity in    
human  effort without which new         
constructions are built on sand4 ,the   
power it  exercised lacked that horizon 
of the past through which alone it      
suffers  limitation to right ends4      
,the later part of ,burke's attack upon 
the ,revolution does not belong to      
political philosophy4 ,no man is more   

responsible than he for the temper      
which drew ,england into war4 ,he came  
to write rather with the zeal of a      
fanatic waging a holy war than in the   
temper of a statesman confronted  with  
new ideas4 ,yet even the ,letters on a  
,regicide ,peace 7#agif7 have  flashes  
of the old1 incomparable insight2 and   
they show that even in the  midst of his
 excesses he did not war for love of it4
 ,so that it is  permissible to think he
 did not lightly pen those sentences on 
peace  which stand as oases of wisdom in
 a desert of extravagant rhetoric4 ,war 
never leaves where it found a nation1 he
 wrote1 it is never to be  entered upon 
without mature deliberation4 ,that was a
 lesson his  generation had still to    
learn2 nor did it take to heart the even
 nobler  passage that follows4 ,the     
blood of man1 he said1 should never be  
shed  but to redeem the blood of man4   
,it is well shed for our family1 for our
  friends1 for our ,god1 for our        
country1 for mankind4 ,the rest is      

vanity2  the rest is crime4 ,it is      
perhaps the most tragic wrong in that   
century's history that these words were 
written to justify an effort of  which  
they supply an irrefutable condemnation4
        ,v      ,criticism of ,burke's  
theories can be made from at least two  
angles4 ,it  is easy to show that his   
picture of the ,british ,constitution   
was remote  from the facts even when he 
wrote4 ,every change that he opposed was
  essential to the security of the next 
generation2 and there followed  none of 
the disastrous consequences he had      
foreshadowed4 ,such criticism  would be 
at almost every point just2 and yet it  
would fail to touch the  heart of       
,burke's position4 ,what is mainly      
needed is analysis at once of  his      
omissions and of the underlying         
assumptions of what he wrote4 ,burke    
came to his maturity upon the eve of the
 ,industrial ,revolution2 and we  have  
it upon the authority of ,adam ,smith   
himself that no one had so  clearly     

apprehended his own economic principles4
 ,yet there is no word in  what ,burke  
had to say of their significance4 ,the  
vast agrarian changes  of the time      
contained1 as it appears1 no special    
moment even for him who  burdened       
himself unduly to restore the           
,beaconsfield estate4 ,no man was  more 
eager than he that the public should be 
admitted to the mysteries  of political 
debate2 yet he steadfastly refused to   
draw the obvious  inference that once   
the means of government were made known 
those who  possessed the knowledge would
 demand their share in its application4 
,he  did not see that the metaphysics he
 so profoundly distrusted was itself    
the offspring of that contemptible      
worship of expediency which  ,blackstone
 generalized into a legalistic jargon4  
,men never move to the  adumbration of  
general right until the conquest of     
political rights has  been proved       
inadequate4 ,that ,burke himself may be 
said in a sense to  have seen when he   

insisted upon the danger of examining   
the foundations  of the ,state4 ,yet a  
man who refuses to admit that the       
constant  dissatisfaction with those    
foundations his age expressed is the    
expression of serious ill in the body   
politic is wilfully blind to the  facts 
at issue4 ,no one had more faithfully   
than ,burke himself explained  why the  
,whig oligarchy was obsolete2 yet       
nothing would induce him ever  to       
realize that the alternative to         
aristocratic government is democracy    
and that its absence was the cause of   
that disquiet of which he realized  that
 ,wilkes was but the symptom4           
,broadly1 that is to say1 ,burke would  
not realize that the reign of  political
 privilege was drawing to its close4    
,that is the real meaning  of the       
,french ,revolution and therein it      
represents a stream of tendency  not    
less active in ,england than abroad4 ,in
 ,france1 indeed1 the lines  were more  
sharply drawn than elsewhere4 ,the      

rights men craved were not1  as ,burke  
insisted1 the immediate offspring of    
metaphysic fancy1 but the  result of a  
determination to end the malignant wrong
 of centuries4 ,a  power that knew no   
responsibility1 war and intolerance that
 derived only  from the accidental      
caprice of the court1 arrest that bore  
no relation  to offence1 taxation       
inversely proportionate to the ability  
to pay1  these were the prescriptive    
privileges that ,burke invited his      
generation  to accept as part of the    
accumulated wisdom of the past4 ,it is  
not  difficult to see why those who     
swore their oath in the tennis-court at 
,versailles should have felt such wisdom
 worthy to be condemned4 ,burke's       
caution was for them the timidity of one
 who embraces existent evils  rather    
than fly to the refuge of an accessible 
good4 ,in a less degree1  the same is   
true of ,england4 ,the constitution that
 ,burke called upon  men to worship was 
the constitution which made the ,duke of

 ,bedford  powerful1 that gave no       
representation to ,manchester and a     
member to ,old  ,sarum1 which enacted   
the game laws and left upon the         
statute-book a  penal code which hardly 
yielded to the noble attack of ,romilly4
 ,these1  which were for ,burke merely  
the accidental excrescences of a noble  
ideal1 were for them its inner essence2 
and where they could not reform  they   
were willing to destroy4    ,the        
revolutionary spirit1 in fact1 was as   
much the product of the past  as the    
very institutions it came to condemn4   
,the innovations were the  inevitable   
outcome of past oppression4 ,burke      
refused to see that aspect  of the      
picture4 ,he ascribed to the crime of   
the present what was due to  the        
half-wilful errors of the past4 ,the man
 who grounded his faith in  historic    
experience refused to admit as history  
the elements alien from  his special    
outlook4 ,he took that liberty not to   
venerate where he was  unable to        

comprehend which he denied to his       
opponents4 ,nor did he admit  the uses  
to which his doctrine of prescription   
was bound to be put in  the hands of    
selfish and unscrupulous men4 ,no one   
will object to  privilege for a         
,chatham2 but privilege for the ,duke of
 ,grafton is a  different thing1 and    
,burke's doctrine safeguards the        
innumerable men of  whom ,grafton is the
 type in the hope that by happy accident
 some ,chatham  will one day emerge4 ,he
 justifies the privileges of the        
,english ,church  in the name of        
religious well-being2 but it is         
difficult to see what men  like ,watson 
or ,archbishop ,cornwallis have got to  
do with religion4 ,the  doctrine of     
prescription might be admirable if all  
statesmen were so  wise as ,burke2 but  
in the hands of lesser men it becomes no
 more than  the protective armour of    
vested interests into the ethics of     
which it  refuses us leave to examine4  
,that suspicion of thought is integral  

to ,burke's philosophy1 and it  deserves
 more examination than it has received4 
,in part it is a  rejection of the      
,benthamite position that man is a      
reasoning animal4 ,it  puts its trust in
 habit as the chief source of human     
action2 and it  thus is distrustful of  
thought as leading into channels to     
which the  nature of man is not adapted4
 ,novelty1 which is assumed to be the   
outcome of thought1 it regards as       
subversive of the routine upon which    
civilization depends4 ,thought is       
destructive of peace2 and it is argued  
that we know too little of political    
phenomena to make us venture into  the  
untried places to which thought invites 
us4 ,yet the first of many  answers is  
surely the most obvious fact that if man
 is so much the  creature of his custom 
no reason would prevail save where they 
proved  inadequate4 ,if thought is      
simply a reserve power in society1 its  
strength must obviously depend upon     
common acceptance2 and that can only    

come when some routine has failed to    
satisfy the impulses of men4 ,but we    
may urge a difficulty that is even more 
decisive4 ,no system of habits  can ever
 hope to endure long in a world where   
the cumulative power of  memory enables 
change to be so swift2 and no system of 
habits can endure  at all unless its    
underlying idea represents the          
satisfaction of a  general desire4 ,it  
must1 that is to say1 make rational     
appeal2 and1  indeed1 as ,aristotle     
said1 it can have virtue only to the    
point where it  is conscious of itself4 
,the uncritical routine of which ,burke 
is the  sponsor would here deprive the  
mass of men of virtue4 ,yet in modern   
civilization the whole strength of any  
custom depends upon exactly that        
consciousness of right which ,burke     
restricted to his aristocracy4 ,our     
real need is less the automatic response
 to ancient stimulus than power  to know
 what stimulus has social value4 ,we    
need1 that is to say1 the  gift of      

criticism rather than the gift of inert 
acceptance4 ,not1 of  course1 that the  
habits which ,burke so earnestly admired
 are at all part  of our nervous        
endowment in any integral sense4 ,the   
short space of the  ,french ,revolution 
made the habit of thinking in terms of  
progress an  essential part of our      
intellectual inheritance2 and where the 
,burkian  school proclaims how          
exceptional progress has been in        
history1 we take  that as proof of the  
ease with which essential habit may be  
acquired4  ,habit1 in fact1 without     
philosophy destroys the finer side of   
civilized  life4 ,it may leave a stratum
 to whom its riches have been           
discovered2  but it leaves the mass of  
men soulless automata without           
spontaneous  response to the chords     
struck by another hand4    ,burke's     
answer would1 of course1 have been that 
he was not a democrat4  ,he did not     
trust the people and he rated their     
capacity as low4 ,he  thought of the    

people--it was obviously a              
generalization from his  time--as       
consistently prone to disorder and      
checked only by the force of  ancient   
habit4 ,yet he has himself supplied the 
answer to that attitude4  ,my           
observation1 he said in his ,speech on  
the ,east ,india ,bill1 has  furnished  
me with nothing that is to be found in  
any habits of life or  education which  
tends wholly to disqualify men for the  
functions of  government4 ,we can go    
further than that sober caution4 ,we    
know that  there is one technique only  
capable of securing good government and 
that  is the training of the mass of men
 to interest in it4 ,we know that no    
,state can hope for peace in which large
 types of experience are without        
representation4 ,indeed1 if proof were  
here wanting1 an examination of  the    
eighteenth century would supply it4 ,few
 would deny that statesmen  are capable 
of disinterested sacrifice for classes  
of whose inner life  they are ignorant2 

yet the relation between law and the    
interest of the  dominant class is too  
intimate to permit with safety the      
exclusion of a  part of the ,state from 
sharing in its guidance4 ,nor did ,burke
 remember  his own wise saying that in  
all disputes between the people and     
their  rulers the presumption is at     
least upon a par in favor of the people2
  and he quotes with agreement that     
great sentence of ,sully's which traces 
popular violence to popular suffering4  
,no one can watch the economic          
struggles of the eighteenth and         
nineteenth centuries or calculate the   
pain they have involved to humble men1  
without admitting that they  represent  
the final protest of an outraged mind   
against oppression too  intolerable to  
be borne4 ,burke himself1 as his own    
speeches show1 knew  little or nothing  
of the pain involved in the agrarian    
changes of his  age4 ,the one way to    
avoid violent outbreak is not exclusion 
of the  people from power but their     

participation in it4 ,the popular sense 
of  right may often1 as ,aristotle saw1 
be wiser than the opinion of  statesmen4
 ,it is not necessary to equate the     
worth of untrained  commonsense with    
experienced wisdom to suggest that1 in  
the long run1  neglect of common sense  
will make the effort of that wisdom     
fruitless4    ,this1 indeed1 is to take 
the lowest ground4 ,for the case against
 ,burke's  aristocracy has a moral      
aspect with which he did not deal4 ,he  
did not  inquire by what right a handful
 of men were to be hereditary governors 
of a whole people4 ,expediency is no    
answer to the question1 for ,bentham    
was presently to show how shallow was   
that basis of consent4 ,once it is      
admitted that the personality of men is 
entitled to respect  institutional room 
must be found for its expression4 ,the  
,state is  morally stunted where their  
powers go undeveloped4 ,there is        
something  curious here in ,burke's     
inability to suspect deformity in a     

system which  gave his talents but      
partial place4 ,he must have known that 
no one in  the ,house of ,commons was   
his equal4 ,he must have known how few  
of those  he called upon to recognize   
the splendor of their function were     
capable  of playing the part he pictured
 for them4 ,the answer to a morally     
bankrupt aristocracy is surely not the  
overwhelming effort required in  its    
purification when the plaintiff is the  
people2 for the mere fact  that the     
people is the plaintiff is already      
evidence of its fitness for  power4     
,burke gave no hint of how the level of 
his governing class could  be           
maintained4 ,he said nothing of what    
education might accomplish for  the     
people4 ,he did not examine the obvious 
consequences of their  economic status4 
,had his eyes not been obscured by      
passion the work of  that               
,states-,general the names in which     
appeared to him so astonishing in  their
 inexperience1 might have given him     

pause4 ,the obscure provincial          
advocates 444 stewards of petty local   
jurisdictions 444 the fomenters  and    
conductors of the petty war of village  
vexation legislated1 out of  their      
inexperience1 for the world4 ,their     
resolution1 their constancy1  their high
 sense of the national need1 were       
precisely the qualities  ,burke demanded
 in his governing class2 and the        
,states-,general did not  move from the 
straight path he laid down until they   
met with intrigue  from those of whom   
,burke became the licensed champion4    
,nor is it in the least clear that his  
emphasis upon expediency is1 in  any    
real way1 a release from metaphysical   
inquiry4 ,rather may it be  urged that  
what was needed in ,burke's philosophy  
was the clear avowal  of the metaphysic 
it implied4 ,nothing is more greatly    
wanted in  political inquiry than       
discovery of that intuition more subtle 
than any  articulate major premise      
which1 as ,mr4 ,justice ,holmes has     

said1 is the  true foundation of so many
 of our political judgments4 ,the theory
 of  natural rights upon which ,burke   
heaped such contempt was wrong rather in
  its form than in its substance4 ,it   
clearly suffered from its mistaken      
effort to trace to an imaginary state of
 nature what was due to a  complex      
experience4 ,it suffered also from its  
desire to lay down  universal formul4   
,it needed to state the rights demanded 
in terms of  the social interests they  
involved rather than in the abstract    
ethic  they implied4 ,but the demands   
which underlay the thought of men like  
,price and ,priestley was as much the   
offspring of experience as ,burke's  own
 doctrine4 ,they made1 indeed1 the      
tactical mistake of seeking to give  an 
unripe philosophic form to a political  
strategy wherein1 clearly  enough1      
,burke was their master4 ,but no one can
 read the answers of ,paine  and        
,mackintosh1 who both were careful to   
avoid the panoply of  metaphysics1 to   

the ,reflections1 without feeling that  
,burke failed  to move them from their  
main position4 ,expediency may be       
admirable in  telling the statesmen what
 to do2 but it does not explain the     
sources of  his ultimate act1 nor       
justify the thing finally done4 ,the    
unconscious  deeps which lie beneath the
 surface of the mind are rarely less    
urgent  than the motives that are       
avowed4 ,action is less their           
elimination than  their index2 and we   
must penetrate within their recesses    
before we have  the full materials for  
judgment4    ,considered in this        
fashion1 the case for natural rights is 
surely  unanswerable4 ,the things that  
men desire correspond1 in some rough    
fashion1 to the things they need4       
,natural rights are nothing more than   
the armour evolved to protect their     
vital interests4 ,upon the narrow  basis
 of legal history it is1 of course1     
impossible to protect them4  ,history is
 rather the record of the thwarting of  

human desire than of  its achievement4  
,but upon the value of certain things   
there is a  sufficient and constant     
opinion to give us assurance that       
repression  will ultimately involve     
disorder4 ,nor is there any difference  
between  the classes of men in this     
regard4 ,forms1 indeed1 will vary2 and  
the  power we have of answering demand  
will always wait upon the discoveries   
of science4 ,our natural rights1 that is
 to say1 will have a changing  content  
simply because this is not a static     
world4 ,but that does not  mean1 as     
,burke insisted1 that they are empty of 
experience4 ,they come1  of course1     
mainly from men who have been excluded  
from intimate contact  with the fruits  
of power4 ,nonconformists in religion1  
workers without  land or capital save   
the power of their own hands1 it is from
 the  disinherited that they draw1 as   
demands1 their strength4 ,yet it is     
difficult to see1 as ,burke would       
undoubtedly have insisted1 that they    

are the worse from the source whence    
they derive4 ,rather do they point  to  
grave inadequacy in the substance of the
 state1 inadequacy neglect of  which has
 led to the cataclysms of historic      
experience4 ,the  unwillingness of      
,burke to examine into their foundation 
reveals his lack  of moral insight into 
the problem he confronted4    ,that lack
 of insight must1 of course1 be given   
some explanation2 and its  cause seems  
rooted in ,burke's metaphysic outlook4  
,he was profoundly  religious2 and he   
did not doubt that the order of the     
universe was the  command of ,god4 ,it  
was1 as a consequence1 beneficent2 and  
to deny its  validity was1 for him1 to  
doubt the wisdom of ,god4 ,having       
disposed1 he  wrote1 and marshalled us  
by a divine tactic1 not according to our
 will1  but to ,his1 ,he had1 in and by 
that disposition1 vitally subjected us  
to  act the part which belongs to the   
place assigned us4 ,the ,state1 in      
fact1 it is to be built upon the        

sacrifice of men2 and this they must    
accept as of the will of ,god4 ,we are  
to do our duty in our allotted  station 
without repining1 in anticipation1      
doubtless1 of a later reward4  ,what we 
are is thus the expression of his       
goodness2 and there is a real  sense in 
which ,burke may be said to have        
maintained the inherent  rightness of   
the existing order4 ,certainly he throws
 a cloak of  religious veneration about 
the purely metaphysical concept of      
property2  and his insistence upon the  
value of peace as opposed to truth is   
surely  part of the same attitude4 ,nor 
is it erroneous to connect this         
background with his antagonism to the   
,french ,revolution4 ,what there was    
most distressing to him was the         
overthrowal of the ,church1 and he did  
not hesitate1 in very striking fashion1 
to connect revolutionary opinion  with  
infidelity4 ,indeed ,burke1 like ,locke1
 seems to have been convinced  that a   
social sense was impossible in an       

atheist2 and his ,letters on a          
,regicide ,peace have a good deal of    
that relentless illogic which made  de  
,maistre connect the first sign of      
dissent from ultramontanism with  the   
road to a denial of all faith4 ,nothing 
is more difficult than to  deal with a  
thinker who has had a revelation2 and   
this sense that the  universe was a     
divine mystery not to be too nearly     
scrutinized by man  grew greatly upon   
,burke in his later years4 ,it was not  
an attitude which  reason could         
overthrow2 for its first principle was  
an awe in the  presence of facts to     
which reason is a stranger4    ,there   
is1 moreover1 in ,burke a ,platonic     
idealism which made him1 like  later    
thinkers of the school1 regard existing 
difficulties with  something akin to    
complacent benevolence4 ,what interested
 him was the  idea of the ,english      
,state2 and whatever1 as he thought1    
deformed it1  was not of the essence of 
its nature4 ,he denied1 that is to say1 

that  the degree to which a purpose is  
fulfilled is as important as the        
purpose itself4 ,a thing becomes good by
 the end it has in view2 and the        
deformities of time and place ought not 
to lead us to deny the beauty of  the   
end4 ,it is the great defect of all     
idealistic philosophy that it  should   
come to the examination of facts in so  
optimistic a temper4 ,it  never         
sufficiently realizes that in the       
transition from theoretic  purpose to   
practical realization a significant     
transformation may occur4  ,we do not   
come to grips with the facts4 ,what we  
are bidden to remember  is the splendor 
of what the facts are trying to be4 ,the
 existing order  is beatified as a      
necessary stage in a beneficent process4
 ,we are not to  separate out the       
constituent elements therein1 and judge 
them as facts  in time and space4       
,society is one and indivisible2 and the
 defects do  not at any point impair the
 ultimate integrity of the social bond4 

,yet it is surely evident that in the   
heat and stress of social life1 we      
cannot afford so long a period as the   
basis for our judgment4 ,we may  well   
enough regard the corruption of the     
monarchy under the later  ,hanoverians  
as the necessary prelude to its         
purification under ,victoria2  but that 
does not make it any the less corrupt4  
,we may even see how a  monistic view of
 society is possible to one who1 like   
,burke1 is uniquely  occupied with the  
public good4 ,but the men who1 like     
,muir and ,hardy in  the treason trials 
of the ,revolution1 think rather in     
terms of the  existing disharmonies than
 the beauty of the purpose upon which   
they  rest1 are only human if they think
 those disharmonies more real than the  
purpose they do not meet4 ,they were    
surely to be pardoned if1 reading  the  
,reflections of ,burke1 they regarded   
class distinctions as more  vital than  
their harmony of interest1 when they saw
 the tenacity with  which privileges    

they did not share were defended4 ,it is
 even possible  to understand why some  
insisted that if those privileges were1 
as ,burke  had argued1 essential to the 
construction of the whole1 it was       
against  that whole1 alike in purpose   
and in realization1 that they were in   
revolt4 ,for them the fact of           
discontinuity was vital4 ,they could not
 but  ask for happiness in their own    
individual lives no less than in the    
,state of which they were part4 ,they   
came to see that without                
self-government in the sense of their   
own active participation in power1  such
 happiness must go unfulfilled4 ,the    
,state1 in fact1 may have the  noblest  
purpose2 but its object is attempted by 
agents who are also  mortal men4 ,the   
basis of their scrutiny became at once  
pragmatic4 ,the  test of allegiance to  
established institutions became         
immediately the  achievement for which  
they were responsible4 ,the achievement1
 as they  urged1 was hardly written with

 adequacy in terms of the lives of      
humble  men4 ,that was why they judged  
no attitude of worth which sought the   
equation of the real and the ideal4 ,the
 first lesson of their own  experience  
of power was the need for its limitation
 by the instructed  judgment of free    
minds4#ah    ,footnote #ah3 ,cf4 my     
,authority in the ,modern ,state1 pp4   
#fe-i4        ,,vi      ,no man was more
 deeply hostile to the early politics of
 the romantic  movement1 to the ,contrat
 ,social of ,rousseau and the ,political
  ,justice of ,godwin1 than was ,burke2 
yet1 on the whole1 it is with the       
romantics that ,burke's fundamental     
influence remains4 ,his attitude to     
reason1 his exaltation of passion and   
imagination over the conscious  logic of
 men1 were of the inmost stuff of which 
they were made4 ,in that  sense1 at     
least1 his kinship is with the great    
conservative revolution  of the         
generation which followed him4 ,hegel   
and ,savigny in ,germany1 de  ,maistre  

and ,bonald in ,france1 ,coleridge and  
the later ,wordsworth in  ,england1 are 
in a true sense his disciples4 ,that    
does not mean that any  of them were    
directly conscious of his work but that 
the movement he  directed had its       
necessary outcome in their defence of   
his ideals4 ,the  path of history is    
strewn with undistributed middles2 and  
it is possible  that in the clash       
between his attitude and that of        
,bentham there were  the materials for a
 fuller synthesis in a later time4      
,certainly there is  no more admirable  
corrective in historical politics that  
the contrast  they afford4    ,it is    
easy to praise ,burke and easier still  
to miss the greatness of his  effort4   
,perspective apart1 he is destined      
doubtless to live rather as  the author 
of some maxims that few statesmen will  
dare to forget than  as the creator of a
 system which1 even in its unfinished   
implications1  is hardly less gigantic  
than that of ,hobbes or ,bentham4 ,his  

very defects  are lessons in themselves4
 ,his unhesitating inability to see how 
dangerous is the concentration of       
property is standing proof that men  are
 over-prone to judge the rightness of a 
,state by their own wishes4  ,his own   
contempt for the results of reasonable  
inquiry is a ceaseless  lesson in the   
virtue of consistent scrutiny of our    
inheritance4 ,his  disregard of popular 
desire suggests the fatal ease with     
which we  neglect the opinion of those  
who stand outside the active centre of  
political conflict4 ,above all1 his     
hostility to the ,revolution should at  
least make later generations beware lest
 novelty of outlook be unduly           
confounded with erroneous doctrine4     
,yet even when such deduction has been  
made1 there is hardly a greater  figure 
in the history of political thought in  
,england4 ,without the  relentless logic
 of ,hobbes1 the acuteness of ,hume1 the
 moral insight of  ,t4,h4 ,green1 he has
 a large part of the faculties of each4 

,he brought to  the political philosophy
 of his generation a sense of its       
direction1 a  lofty vigour of purpose1  
and a full knowledge of its complexity1 
such as  no other statesman has ever    
possessed4 ,his flashes of insight are  
things  that go1 as few men have ever   
gone1 into the hidden deeps of political
  complexity4 ,unquestionably1 his      
speculation is rather that of the orator
  in the tribune than of the thinker in 
his study4 ,he never forgot his  party1 
and he wrote always in that ,house of   
,commons atmosphere which  makes a man  
unjust to the argument and motives of   
his opponent4 ,yet1  when the last word 
of criticism has been made1 the balance 
of  illumination is immense4 ,he        
illustrates at its best the value of    
that  party-system the worth of which   
made so deep an impression on all he    
wrote4 ,he showed that government by    
discussion can be made to illuminate    
great principles4 ,he showed also that  
allegiance to party is never            

inconsistent with the deeper allegiance 
to the demand of conscience4  ,when he  
came to the ,house of ,commons1 the     
prospects of representative  government 
were very dark2 and it is mainly to his 
emphasis upon its  virtues that its     
victory must be attributed4             
,institutional change is  likely to be  
more rapid than in his generation2 for  
we seem to have  reached that moment    
when1 as he foresaw1 they who persist in
 opposing  that mighty current will     
appear rather to resist the decrees of  
,providence itself than the mere designs
 of men4 ,the principles upon  which we 
proceed are doubtless different from    
those that he commended2  yet his very  
challenge to their wisdom only gives to 
his warning a  deeper inspiration for   
our effort4          ,,chapter ,,vii    
,,the ,,foundations ,,of ,,economic     
,,liberalism        ,i      ,the        
,industrial ,revolution is hardly less a
 fundamental change in the  habits of   
,english thought than in the technique  

of commercial  production4 ,alongside   
the discoveries of ,hargreaves and      
,crompton1 the  ideas of ,hume and ,adam
 ,smith shifted the whole perspective of
 men's  minds4 ,the ,revolution1 indeed1
 like all great movements1 did not      
originate at any given moment4 ,there   
was no sudden invention which made  the 
hampering system of government-control  
seem incompatible with  industrial      
advance4 ,the mercantilism against which
 the work of ,adam  ,smith was so       
magistral a protest was already rather a
 matter of external  than internal      
commerce when he wrote4 ,he triumphed   
less because he  suddenly opened men's  
eyes to a truth hitherto concealed than 
because he  represented the culmination 
of certain principles which1 under      
various  aspects1 were common to his    
time4 ,the movement for religious       
toleration  is not only paralleled in   
the next century by the movement for    
economic  freedom1 but is itself in a   
real sense the parent of the latter4    

,for it  is not without significance    
that the pre-,adamite economists were   
almost  without exception the urgent    
defenders of religious toleration4 ,the 
landowners were churchmen1 the men of   
commerce largely ,nonconformist2  and   
religious proscription interfered with  
the balance of trade4 ,when  the roots  
of religious freedom had been secured1  
it was easy for them to  transfer their 
argument to the secular sphere4         
,nothing1 indeed1 is more important in  
the history of ,english political       
philosophy than to realize that from    
,stuart times the ,nonconformists  were 
deeply bitten with distrust of          
government4 ,its courts of special      
instance hampered industrial life at    
every turn in the interest of  religious
 conformity4 ,their heavy fines and     
irritating restrictions upon  foreign   
workmen were nothing so much as a tax   
upon industrial progress4  ,what the    
,nonconformists wanted was to be left   
alone2 and ,davenant  explained the root

 of their desire when he tells of the   
gaols crowded  with substantial         
tradesmen whose imprisonment spelt      
unemployment for  thousands of workmen4 
,sir ,william ,temple1 in his           
description of ,holland1  represents    
economic prosperity as the child of     
toleration4 ,the movement  for          
ecclesiastical freedom in ,england1     
moreover1 became causally linked  with  
that protest against the system of      
monopolies with which it was the  habit 
of the court to reward its favorites4   
,freedom in economic matters1  like     
freedom in religion1 came rapidly to    
mean permission that diversity  shall   
exist2 and economic diversity soon came 
to mean free competition4  ,the latter  
easily became imbued with religious     
significance4 ,english  puritanism1 as  
,troeltsch has shown us1 insisted that  
work was the will  of ,god and its      
performance the test of grace4 ,the     
greater the energy of  its performance1 
the greater the likelihood of           

prosperity2 and thence it  is but a step
 to argue that the free development of a
 man's industrial  worth is the law of  
,god4 ,success in business1 indeed1     
became for many a  test of religious    
grace1 and poverty the proof of ,god's  
disfavor4 ,books  like ,steele's        
,religious ,tradesman 7#afhd7 show      
clearly how close is the  connection4   
,the hostility of the ,english          
landowners to the commercial  classes in
 the eighteenth century is at bottom the
 inheritance of  religious antagonism4  
,the typical qualities of dissent became
 a certain  pushful exertion by which   
the external criteria of salvation could
 be  secured4    ,much of the           
contemporary philosophy1 moreover1 fits 
in with this  attitude4 ,from the time  
of ,bacon1 the main object of           
speculation was to  disrupt the         
scholastic teleology4 ,in the result the
 ,state becomes  dissolved into a       
discrete mass of individuals1 and the   
self-interest of  each is the           

starting-point of all inquiry4 ,hobbes  
built his state upon  the selfishness of
 men2 even ,locke makes the individual  
enter political  life for the benefits  
that accrue therefrom4 ,the cynicism of 
,mandeville1  the utilitarianism of     
,hume1 are only bypaths of the same     
tradition4 ,the  organic society of the 
middle ages gives place to an individual
 who  builds the ,state out of his own  
desires4 ,liberty becomes their         
realization2 and the object of the      
,state is to enable men in the  fullest 
sense to secure the satisfaction of     
their private wants4 ,how far  is that  
conception from the ,anglican outlook of
 the seventeenth century1  a sermon of  
,laud's makes clear4 ,if any man1 he    
said1#ai be so  addicted to his private 
interest that he neglects the common    
,state1 he  is void of the sense of     
piety1 and wishes peace and happiness   
for  himself in vain4 ,for1 whoever he  
be1 he must live in the body of the     
commonwealth and in the body of the     

,church4 ,so ,platonic an outlook was   
utterly alien from the temper of        
puritanism4 ,they had no thought of     
sacrificing themselves to an institution
 which they had much ground for         
thinking existed only for their torment4
 ,the development of the  religious     
instinct to the level of salvation found
 its philosophic  analogue in the       
development of the economic sense of    
fitness4 ,the ,state  became the servant
 of the individual from being his       
master2 and service  became equated with
 an internal policy of laissez-faire4   
,footnote #ai3 ,sermon of ,june #ai1    
#afba4 ,works 7ed4 of #ahdg71 p4 #bh4   
,such summary1 indeed1 abridges the long
 process of release from which  the     
eighteenth century had still to suffer2 
nor does it sufficiently  insist upon   
the degree to which the old idea of     
state control still held  sway in       
external policies of trade4             
,mercantilism was still in the          
ascendant when ,adam ,smith came to     

write4 ,few statesmen of importance     
before the younger ,pitt had learned the
 secret of its fallacies2 and1  indeed1 
the chief ground for difference between 
,chatham and ,burke was  the former's   
suspicion that ,burke had embraced the  
noxious doctrine of  free trade4        
,mercantilism1 by the time of ,locke1 is
 not the simple error  that wealth      
consists in bullion but the insistence  
that the balance of  trade must be      
preserved4 ,partly it was doubtless     
derived from the  methods of the old    
political arithmetic of men like ,petty 
and ,davenant2  the individual seeks a  
balance at the end of his year's        
accounting and  so1 too1 the ,state must
 have a balance4 ,a ,kingdom1 said      
,locke1 grows  rich or poor just as a   
farmer does1 and no other way2 and while
 there  is a sense in which this is     
wholly true1 the meaning attached to it 
by  the mercantilists was that foreign  
competition meant national weakness4    
,they could not conceive a commercial   

bargain which was profitable to  both   
sides4 ,nations grow prosperous at each 
other's expense2 wherefore a  woolen    
trade in ,ireland necessarily spells    
,english unemployment4 ,even  ,davenant1
 who was in many respects on the high   
road to free trade1 was  in this problem
 adamant4 ,protection was essential in  
the colonial  market2 for unless the    
trade of the colonies was directed      
through  ,england they might be         
dangerous rivals4 ,so ,ireland and      
,america were  sacrificed to the fear of
 ,british merchants1 with the inevitable
 result  that repression brought from   
both the obvious search for remedy4     
,herein it might appear that ,adam      
,smith had novelty to contribute2 yet   
nothing is more certain than that his   
full sense of the world as the  only    
true unit of marketing was fully grasped
 before him4 ,in #afia ,sir  ,dudley    
,north published his ,discourses upon   
,trade4 ,therein he clearly  sees that  
commercial barriers between ,great      

,britain and ,france are  basically as  
senseless as would be commercial        
barriers between ,yorkshire  and        
,middlesex4 ,indeed1 in one sense1      
,north goes even further than ,adam     
,smith1 for he argues against the usury 
laws in terms ,bentham would  hardly    
have disowned4 ,ten years later an      
anonymous writer in a tract  entitled   
,considerations on the ,east ,india     
,trade 7#agja7 has no  illusions about  
the evil of monopoly4 ,he sees with     
striking clarity that  the real problem 
is not at any cost to maintain the      
industries a nation  actually possesses1
 but to have the national capital       
applied in the most  efficient channels4
 ,so1 too1 ,hume dismissed the          
,mercantile theory with  the            
contemptuous remark that it was trying  
to keep water beyond its  proper level4 
,tucker1 as has been pointed out1 was a 
free trader1 and  his opinion of the    
,american war was that it was as mad as 
those who  fought under the peaceful    

,cross to recover the ,holy ,land2 and  
he  urged1 indeed1 prophesied1 the union
 with ,ireland in the interest of       
commercial amity4 ,nor must the emphasis
 of the ,physiocrats upon free  trade be
 forgotten4 ,there is no evidence now   
that ,adam ,smith owed this  perception 
to his acquaintance with ,quesnay and   
,turgot2 but they may  well have        
confirmed him in it1 and they show that 
the older philosophy  was attacked on   
every side4    ,nor must we miss the    
general atmosphere of the time4 ,on the 
whole his  age was a conservative one1  
convinced1 without due reason1 that     
happiness was independent of birth or   
wealth and that natural law  somehow    
could be made to justify existing       
institutions4 ,the poets1 like  ,pope1  
were singing of the small part of life  
which kings and laws may  hope to cure2 
and that attitude is written in the     
general absence of  economic legislation
 during the period4 ,religiously1 the   
,church exalted  the status quo2 and    

where1 as with ,wesley1 there was       
revolt1 its  impetus directed the mind  
to the source of salvation in the       
individual  act4 ,it may1 indeed1 be    
generally argued that the religious     
teachers  acted as a social soporific4  
,where riches accumulated1 they could be
  regarded as the blessing of ,god2     
where they were absent their            
unimportance for eternal happiness could
 be emphasized4 ,burke's early  attack  
on a system which condemned two hundred 
thousand innocent  persons 444 to so    
intolerable slavery was1 in truth1 a    
justification of  the existing order4   
,the social question which1 in the      
previous century1  men like ,bellers and
 ,winstanley had brought into view1     
dropped out of  notice until the last   
quarter of the century4 ,there was1 that
 is to say1  no organized resistance    
possible to the power of individualism2 
and  resistance was unlikely to make    
itself heard once the resources of the  
,industrial ,revolution were brought    

into play4 ,men discovered with         
something akin to ecstasy the           
possibilities of the new inventions2 and
  when the protest came against the     
misery they effected1 it was answered   
that they represented the working of    
that natural law by which the  energies 
of men may raise them to success4 ,and  
discontent could easily1  as with the   
saintly ,wilberforce1 be countered by   
the assertion that it  was revolt       
against the will of ,god4        ,,ii   
,few lives represent more splendidly    
than that of ,adam ,smith the           
speculative ideal of a dispassionate    
study of philosophy4 ,he was  fortunate 
in his teachers and his friends4 ,at    
,glasgow he was the pupil  of ,francis  
,hutcheson2 and even if he was taught   
nothing at ,oxford1 at  least six years 
of leisure gave him ample opportunity to
 learn4 ,his  professorship at ,glasgow 
not only brought him into contact with  
men like  ,hume1 but also admitted him  
to intercourse with a group of business 

men  whose liberal sentiments on        
commerce undoubtedly strengthened1 if   
they  did not originate1 his own liberal
 views4 ,at ,glasgow1 too1 in #agei1 he 
published his ,theory of ,moral         
,sentiments1 written with sufficient    
power of style to obscure its inner     
poverty of thought4 ,the book brought   
him immediately a distinguished         
reputation from a public which exalted  
elegance of diction beyond all literary 
virtues4 ,the volatile ,charles         
,townshend made him tutor to the ,duke  
of ,buccleuch1 through whom ,smith  not 
only secured comparative affluence for  
the rest of his days1 but  also a       
,french tour in which he met at its best
 the most brilliant  society in ,europe4
 ,the germ of his ,wealth of ,nations   
already lay  hidden in those ,glasgow   
lectures which ,mr4 ,cannan has so      
happily  recovered for us2 and it was in
 a moment of leisure in ,france that he 
set to work to put them together in     
systematic fashion4 ,not1 indeed1  that 

the ,frenchmen whom he met1 ,turgot1    
,quesnay and ,dupont de ,nemours1  can  
be said to have done more than confirm  
the truths he had already  been         
teaching4 ,when he returned to ,scotland
 and a competence ten years  of constant
 labor were necessary before the ,wealth
 of ,nations was  complete4 ,after its  
publication1 in #aggf1 ,adam ,smith did 
little save  attend to the              
administrative duties of a minor1 but   
lucrative office in  the ,customs4      
,until the end1 indeed1 he never quite  
gave up the hope1  foreshadowed first in
 the ,moral ,sentiments of completing a 
gigantic  survey of civilized           
institutions4 ,but he was a slow worker1
 and his  health was never robust4 ,it  
was enough that he should have written  
his  book and cherished friendships such
 as it is given to few men to  possess4 
,hume and ,burke1 ,millar the jurist1   
,james ,watt1 ,foulis the  printer1     
,black the chemist and ,hutton of       
geological fame--it is an  enviable     

circle4 ,he had known ,turgot on        
intimate terms and visited  ,voltaire on
 ,lake ,geneva4 ,hume had told him that 
his book had depth and  solidity and    
acuteness2 the younger ,pitt had        
consulted him on public  affairs4 ,few  
men have moved amid such happy peace    
within the very centre  of what was most
 illustrious in their age4    ,we are   
less concerned here with the specific   
economic details of the  ,wealth of     
,nations than with its general attitude 
to the ,state4 ,but  here a limitation  
upon criticism must be noted4 ,the man  
of whom ,smith  writes is man in search 
of wealth2 by definition the economic   
motive  dominates his actions4 ,such    
abuse1 therefore1 as ,ruskin poured upon
 him  is really beside the point when   
his objective is borne in mind4 ,what   
virtually he does is to assume the      
existence of a natural economic order   
which tends1 when unrestrained by       
counter-tendencies1 to secure the       
happiness of men4 ,that order of things 

which necessity imposes in  general1 he 
writes1 444 is1 in every particular     
country promoted by  the natural        
inclinations of man2 and he goes on to  
explain what would  have resulted if    
human institutions had never thwarted   
those natural  inclinations4 ,all       
systems either of preference or of      
restraint1  therefore1 being thus       
completely taken away1 he writes again1 
the  obvious and simple system of       
natural liberty establishes itself of   
its  own accord4 ,every man1 as long as 
he does not violate the laws of         
justice1 is left perfectly free to      
pursue his own interest in his own      
way4444 ,the sovereign is completely    
discharged from a duty in the           
attempting to perform which he must     
always be exposed to innumerable        
delusions1 and for the proper           
performance of which no human wisdom or 
knowledge would ever be sufficient2 the 
duty of superintending the  industry of 
private people and of directing it      

towards the employments  most suitable  
to the interests of the society4    ,the
 ,state1 in this conception has but     
three functions--defence1 justice  and  
the duty of erecting and maintaining    
certain public works and  certain public
 institutions which it can never be for 
the interest of  any individual1 or     
small number of individuals1 to erect   
and maintain4  ,the ,state1 in fact1 is 
simply to provide the atmosphere in     
which  production is possible4 ,nor does
 ,smith conceal his thought that the    
main  function of justice is the        
protection of property4 ,the affluence  
of  the rich1 he wrote1 excites the     
indignation of the poor1 who are often  
both driven by want and prompted by envy
 to invade their possessions4 ,it  is   
only under the shelter of the civil     
magistrate that the owner of that       
valuable property1 acquired by the labor
 of many years1 or perhaps many         
successive generations1 can sleep a     
single night in security4 ,the          

attitude1 indeed1 is intensified by his 
constant sense that the capital  which  
makes possible new productivity is the  
outcome of men's sacrifice2  to protect 
it is thus to safeguard the sources of  
wealth itself4 ,and  even if the ,state 
is entrusted with education and the     
prevention of  disease1 this is rather  
for the general benefit they confer and 
the  doubt that private enterprise would
 find them profitable than as the       
expression of a general rule4           
,collective effort of every kind        
awakened  in him a deep distrust4 ,trade
 regulations such as the limitation of  
apprenticeship he condemned as manifest 
encroachment upon the just  liberty of  
the workman and of those who may be     
disposed to employ him4  ,even          
educational establishments are suspect  
on the ground--not  unnatural after his 
own experience of ,oxford--that their   
possibilities  of comfort may enervate  
the natural energies of men4    ,the key
 to this attitude is clear enough4 ,the 

improvement of society is  due1 he      
thinks not to the calculations of       
government but to the natural  instincts
 of economic man4 ,we cannot avoid the  
impulse to better our  condition2 and   
the less its effort is restrained the   
more certain it is  that happiness will 
result4 ,we gain1 in fact1 some sense of
 its inherent  power when we bear in    
mind the magnitude of its accomplishment
 despite  the folly and extravagance of 
princes4 ,therein we have some index of 
what it would achieve if left unhindered
 to work out its own destinies4  ,human 
institutions continually thwart its     
power2 for those who build  those       
institutions are moved rather by the    
momentary fluctuations of  affairs than 
their true nature4 ,that insidious and  
crafty animal1  vulgarly called a       
politician or statesman meets little    
mercy for his  effort compared to the   
magic power of the natural order4 ,in   
all  countries where there is a         
tolerable security1 he writes1 every man

  of common understanding will endeavor 
to employ whatever stock he can  command
 in procuring either present enjoyment  
or future profit4  ,individual          
spontaneity is thus the root of economic
 good2 and the real  justification of   
the state is the protection it affords  
to this impulse4  ,man1 in fact1 is by  
nature a trader and he is bound by      
nature to  discover the means most apt  
to progress4    ,nor was he greatly     
troubled by differences of fortune4     
,like most of the  ,scottish school1    
especially ,hutcheson and ,hume1 he     
thought that men are  much alike in     
happiness1 whatever their station or    
endowments4 ,for there  is a            
never-failing certainty that all men    
sooner or later accommodate  themselves 
to whatever becomes their permanent     
situation2 though he  admits that there 
is a certain level below which poverty  
and misery go  hand in hand4 ,but1 for  
the most part1 happiness is simply a    
state of  mind2 and he seems to have had

 but little suspicion that differences  
of  wealth might issue in dangerous     
social consequence4 ,men1 moreover1 he  
regarded as largely equal in their      
original powers2 and differences of     
character he ascribes to the various    
occupations implied in the  division of 
labor4 ,each man1 therefore1 as he      
follows his self-interest  promotes the 
general happiness of society4 ,that     
principle is inherent in  the social    
order4 ,every man1 he wrote in the      
,moral ,sentiments1 is  by nature first 
and principally recommended to his own  
care and therein  he is led by an       
invisible hand to promote an end which  
was no part of  his intention4 ,the     
,state1 that is to say1 is the sum of   
individual  goods2 whereby to better    
ourselves is clearly to its benefit4    
,and that  desire which comes with us   
from the womb and never leaves us till  
we go  to the grave is the more         
efficacious the less it is restrained by
  governmental artifice4 ,for we know so

 well what makes us happy that none  can
 hope to help us so much as we help     
ourselves4    ,enlightened selfishness  
is thus the root of prosperity2 but we  
must not  fall into the easy fallacy    
which makes ,smith deaf to the plaint of
 the  poor4 ,he urged the employer to   
have regard to the health and welfare of
  the worker1 a regard which was the    
voice of reason and humanity4 ,where    
there was conflict between love of the  
status quo and a social good  which     
,revolution alone could achieve1 he did 
not1 at least in the ,moral             
,sentiments1 hesitate to choose the     
latter4 ,order was1 for the most  part1 
indispensable2 but the greatest and     
noblest of all characters he  made the  
reformer of the ,state4 ,yet he is too  
impressed by the working  of natural    
economic laws to belittle their         
influence4 ,employers1 in his  picture1 
are little capable of benevolence or    
charity4 ,their rule is the  law of     
supply and demand and not the ,sermon on

 the ,mount4 ,they combine  without     
hesitation to depress wages to the      
lowest point of subsistence4  ,they     
seize every occasion of commercial      
misfortune to make better terms  for    
themselves2 and the greater the poverty 
the more submissive do  servants become 
so that scarcity is naturally regarded  
as more favorable  to industry4         
,obviously enough1 the inner hinge of   
all this argument is ,smith's           
conception of nature4 ,nor can there be 
much doubt of what he thought its  inner
 substance4 ,facile distinctions such as
 the effort of ,buckle to  show that    
while in the ,moral ,sentiments ,adam   
,smith was dealing with  the unselfish  
side of man's nature1 in the ,wealth of 
,nations he was  dealing with a group of
 facts which required the abstraction of
 such  altruistic elements1 are really  
beside the point4 ,nature for ,smith is 
simply the spontaneous action of human  
character unchecked by hindrances  of   
,state4 ,it is1 as ,bonar has aptly     

said1 a vindication of the  unconscious 
law present in the separate actions of  
men when these  actions are directed by 
a certain strong personal motive4 ,adam 
,smith's  argument is an assumption that
 the facts can be made to show the      
relative powerlessness of institutions  
in the face of economic laws  grounded  
in human psychology4 ,the psychology    
itself is relatively  simple1 and1 at   
least in the ,wealth of ,nations not    
greatly different  from the avowed      
assumptions of utilitarianism4 ,he      
emphasizes the  strength of reason in   
the economic field1 and his sense that  
it enables  men to judge much better of 
their best interests than an external   
authority can hope to do4 ,and therefore
 the practices accomplished by  this    
reason are those in which the impulses  
of men are to be found4 ,the  order they
 represent is the natural order2 and    
whatever hinders its full  operation is 
an unwise check upon the things for     
which men strive4    ,obviously enough1 

this attitude runs the grave risk of    
seeming to  abstract a single           
motive--the desire for wealth--from the 
confused  welter of human impulses and  
to make it dominant at the expense of   
human  nature itself4 ,a hasty reading  
of ,adam ,smith would1 indeed1 confirm  
that  impression2 and that is perhaps   
why he seemed to ,ruskin to blaspheme   
human nature4 ,but a more careful       
survey1 particularly when the ,moral    
,sentiments is borne in mind suggests a 
different conclusion4 ,his  attitude is 
implicit in the general medium in which 
he worked4 ,what he  was trying to do   
was less to emphasize that men care     
above all things  for the pursuit of    
wealth than that no institutional       
modifications are  able to destroy the  
power of that motive to labor4 ,there is
 too much  history in the ,wealth of    
,nations to make tenable the hypothesis 
of  complete abstraction4 ,and there is 
even clear a sense of a nature behind   
his custom when he speaks of a sacred   

regard for life1 and urges that  every  
man has property in his own labor4 ,the 
truth here surely is that  ,smith was   
living in a time of commercial          
expansion4 ,what was evident to  him was
 the potential wealth to be made        
available if the obsolete system  of    
restraint could be destroyed4 ,liberty  
to him meant absence of  restraint not  
because its more positive aspect was    
concealed from him  but rather because  
the kind of freedom wanted in the       
environment in  which he moved was      
exactly that for which he made his plea4
 ,there is a  hint that freedom as a    
positive thing was known to him from the
 fact  that he relied upon education to 
relieve the evils of the division of    
labor4 ,but the general context of his  
book required less emphasis upon  the   
virtues of state-interference than upon 
its defects4 ,his cue was to  show that 
all the benefits of regulation had been 
achieved despite its  interference2 from
 which1 of course1 it followed that     

restraint was a  matter of              
supererogation4        ,,iii      ,it   
would be tedious to praise the ,wealth  
of ,nations4 ,it may be  doubtful       
whether ,buckle's ecstatic judgment that
 it has had more  influence than any    
other book in the world was justified   
even when he  wrote2 but certainly it is
 one of the seminal books of the modern 
time4  ,what is more important is to    
note the perspective in which its main  
teaching was set4 ,he wrote in the midst
 of the first significant  beginnings of
 the ,industrial ,revolution2 and his   
emphatic approval of  ,watt's           
experiments suggests that he was not    
unalive to its importance4  ,yet it     
cannot in any full sense be said that   
the ,industrial ,revolution  has a large
 part in his book4 ,the picture of      
industrial organization and  its        
possibilities is too simple to suggest  
that he had caught any far  reaching    
glimpse into the future4 ,industry1 for 
him1 is still in the  last stage of     

handicraft2 it is a matter of skillful  
workmanship and not  of mechanical      
appliance4 ,capital is still the        
laborious result of  parsimony4 ,credit 
is spoken of rather in the tones of one 
who sees it  less as a new instrument of
 finance than a dangerous attempt by the
  aspiring needy to scale the heights of
 wealth4 ,profits are always a          
justified return for productive labor2  
interest the payment for the use  of the
 owner's past parsimony4 ,business is   
still the middleman  distributing to the
 consumer on a small scale4 ,he did not1
 or could not1  conceive of an industry 
either so vast or so depersonalized as  
at  present4 ,he was rather writing of a
 system which1 like the politics of  the
 eighteenth century1 had reached an     
equilibrium of passable comfort4  ,his  
natural order was1 at bottom1 the       
beatification of that to which  this    
equilibrium tended4 ,its benefits might 
be improved by free trade  and free     
workmanship2 but1 upon the whole1 he saw

 no reason to call in  question its     
fundamental dogmas4    ,therein1 of     
course1 may be found the main secret of 
his omissions4 ,the  problem of labor   
finds no place in his book4 ,the things 
that the poor  have absent from their   
lives1 that concept of a national       
minimum below  which no ,state can hope 
to fulfil even the meanest of its aims1 
of these  he has no conception4 ,rather 
the note of the book is a quiet         
optimism1  impressed by the             
possibilities of constant improvement   
which lie  imbedded in the human impulse
 to better itself4 ,what he did not see 
is  the way in which the logical outcome
 of the system he describes may  well be
 the attainment of great wealth at a    
price in human cost that is  beyond its 
worth4 ,therein1 it is clear1 all       
individualistic theories of  the state  
miss the true essence of the social     
bond4 ,those who came after  ,adam      
,smith saw only half his problem4 ,he   
wrote a consumer's theory of  value4    

,but whereas he had in mind a happy and 
contented people1 the  economics of     
,ricardo and ,malthus seized upon a     
single element in human  nature as that 
which alone the ,state must serve4      
,freedom from restraint  came ultimately
 to mean a judgment upon national       
well-being in terms of  the volume of   
trade4 ,it is not with happiness1 said  
,nassau ,senior1  but with wealth that  
,i am concerned as a political          
economist2 and ,i am  not only justified
 in omitting1 but am perhaps bound to   
omit1 all  considerations which have no 
influence upon wealth4    ,in such an   
aspect1 it was natural for the balance  
of investigation to  swing towards the  
study of the technique of production2   
and with the  growing importance of     
capital1 as machinery was introduced1   
the worker1  without difficulty1 became 
an adjunct1 easily replaced1 to the     
machine4  ,what was remembered then was 
the side of ,adam ,smith which looked   
upon  enlightened selfishness as the key

 to social good4 ,regulation became     
anathema even when the evils it         
attempted to restrain were those which  
made the mass of the people incapable of
 citizenship4 ,even national  education 
was regarded as likely to destroy       
initiative2 or1 as a  pauper's dole     
which men of self-respect would regard  
with due  abhorrence4 ,the ,state1 in   
short1 ceased to concern itself with    
justice  save insofar as the            
administration of a judicial code       
spelled the  protection of the new      
industrial system4 ,nothing is more     
striking in the  half-century after     
,adam ,smith than the optimism of the   
economist and the  business man in      
contrast to the hopeless despair of     
labor4 ,that men can  organize to       
improve their lot was denied with       
emphasis1 so that until  ,francis ,place
 even the workers themselves were       
half-convinced4 ,the  manufacturers were
 the ,state2 and the whole intellectual 
strength of  economics was massed to    

prove the rightness of the equation4    
,the  literature of protest1 men like   
,hall and ,thompson1 ,hodgskin and      
,bray1  exerted no influence upon the   
legislation of the time2 and ,robert    
,owen  was deemed an amiable eccentric  
rather than the prophet of a new hope4  
,the men who succeeded1 as ,wilberforce1
 carried out to the letter the  unstated
 assumptions of ,puritan economics4 ,the
 poor were consigned to a  ,god whose   
dictates were by definition beneficent2 
and if they failed to  understand the   
curious incidence of his rewards that   
was because his  ways were inscrutable4 
,no one who reads the tracts of writers 
like  ,harriet ,martineau can fail to   
see how pitiless was the operation of   
this  attitude4 ,life is made a struggle
 beneficent1 indeed1 but deriving its   
ultimate meaning from the misery        
incident to it4 ,the tragedy is excused 
because the export-trade increases in   
its volume4 ,the iron law of wages1  the
 assumed transition of every energetic  

worker to the ranks of wealth1  the     
danger lest the natural ability of the  
worker to better his  condition be      
sapped by giving to him that which his  
self-respect can  better win--these     
became the unconscious assumptions of   
all economic  discussion4    ,in all    
this1 as in the foundation with which   
,adam ,smith provided it1 we  must not  
miss the element of truth that it       
contains4 ,no poison is more  subtly    
destructive of the democratic ,state    
than paternalism2 and the  release of   
the creative impulses of men must always
 be the coping-stone  of public policy4 
,adam ,smith is the supreme             
representative of a  tradition which saw
 that release effected by individual    
effort4 ,where  each man cautiously     
pursued the good as he saw it1 the      
realization was  bound1 in his view1 to 
be splendid4 ,a population each element 
of which  was active and alert to its   
economic problems could not escape the  
achievement of greatness4 ,all that is  

true2 but it evades the obvious         
conditions we have inherited4 ,for even 
when the psychological  inadequacies of 
,smith's attitude are put aside1 we can 
judge his theory  in the light of the   
experience it summarizes4 ,once it is   
admitted that  the object of the ,state 
is the achievement of the good life1 the
 final  canon of politics is bound to be
 a moral one4 ,we have to inquire into  
the dominant conception of the good     
life1 the number of those upon whom  it 
is intended that good shall be          
conferred4    ,in the light of this     
conception it is obvious enough that    
,smith's view  is impossible4 ,no mere  
conflict of private interests1 however  
pure in  motive1 seems able to achieve a
 harmony of interest between the members
  of the ,state4 ,liberty1 in the sense 
of a positive and equal opportunity  for
 self-realization1 is impossible save   
upon the basis of the  acceptance of    
certain minimal standards which can get 
accepted only  through collective       

effort4 ,smith did not see that in the  
processes of  politics what gets        
accepted is not the will that is at     
every moment a  part of the             
state-purpose1 but the will of those who
 in fact operate the  machinery of      
government4 ,in the half-century after  
he wrote the men who  dominated         
political life were1 with the best      
intentions1 moved by  motives at most   
points unrelated to the national        
well-being4 ,the  fellow-servant        
doctrine would never have obtained      
acceptance in a state  where1 as he     
thought1 employer and workman stood upon
 an equal footing4  ,opposition to the  
,factory ,acts would never have         
developed in a community  where it was  
realized that below certain standards of
 subsistence the  very concept of       
humanity is impossible4 ,modern         
achievement implies a  training in the  
tools of life2 and that1 for most1 is   
denied even in our  own day to the vast 
majority of men4 ,in the absence of     

legislation1 it  is certain that those  
who employ the services of men will be  
their  political masters2 and it will   
follow that their ,acts of ,parliament  
will  be adapted to the needs of        
property4 ,that shrinkage of the purpose
 of  the ,state will mean for most not  
merely hardship but degradation of all  
that makes life worthy4 ,upon those     
stunted existences1 indeed1 a wealthy   
civilization may easily be builded4 ,yet
 it will be a civilization of  slaves   
rather than of men4    ,the             
individualism1 that is to say1 for which
 ,adam ,smith was zealous  demands a    
different institutional expression from 
that which he gave it4  ,we must not    
assume an a priori justification for the
 forces of the  past4 ,the customs of   
men may represent the thwarting of the  
impulses of  the many at the expense of 
the few not less easily than they may   
embody  a general desire2 and it is     
surely a mistaken usage to dignify as   
natural whatever may happen to have     

occurred4 ,a man may find               
self-realization not less in working for
 the common good than in the  limited   
satisfaction of his narrow desire for   
material advancement4 ,and  that1       
indeed1 is the starting-point of modern 
effort4 ,our liberty means  the         
consistent expression of our personality
 in media where we find  people         
like-minded with ourselves in their     
conception of social life4  ,the very   
scale of civilization implies collective
 plans and common  effort4 ,the constant
 revision of our basic notions was      
inevitable  immediately science was     
applied to industry4 ,there was thus no 
reason to  believe that the system of   
individual interests for which ,smith   
stood  sponsor was more likely to fit   
requirements of a new time than one     
which  implied the national regulation  
of business enterprise4 ,the danger in  
every period of history is lest we take 
our own age as the term in              
institutional evolution4 ,private       

enterprise has the sanction of          
prescription2 but since the ,industrial 
,revolution the chief lesson we  have   
had to learn is the unsatisfactory      
character of that title4 ,history  is an
 unenviable record of bad metaphysics   
used to defend obsolete  systems4 ,it   
took almost a century after the         
publication of the ,wealth  of ,nations 
for men to realize that its axioms      
represented the  experience of a        
definite time4 ,smith thought of freedom
 in the terms  most suitable to his     
generation and stated them with a       
largeness of view  which remains        
impressive even at a century's distance4
    ,but nothing is more certain in the 
history of political philosophy than    
that the problem of freedom changes with
 each age4 ,the nineteenth  century     
sought release from political privilege2
 and it built its  success upon the     
system prepared by its predecessor4 ,it 
can never be too  greatly emphasized    
that in each age the substance of       

liberty will be  found in what the      
dominating forces of that age most      
greatly want4 ,with  ,locke1 with       
,smith1 with ,hegel and with ,marx1 the 
ultimate hypothesis is  always the      
summary of some special experience      
universalized4 ,that does  not mean that
 the past is worthless4 ,politics1 as   
,seeley said1 are  vulgar unless they   
are liberalized by history2 and a state 
which failed  to see itself as a mosaic 
of ancestral institutions would build   
its  novelties upon foundations of sand4
 ,suspicions of collective effort in    
the eighteenth century ought not to mean
 suspicion in the twentieth2 to  think  
in such fashion is to fall into the     
error for which ,lassalle so  finely    
criticized ,hegel4 ,it is as though one 
were to confound the  accidental phases 
of the history of property with the     
philosophic basis  of property itself4  
,from such an error it is the task of   
history above  all to free us4 ,for it  
records the ideals and doubts of earlier

 ages as  a perennial challenge to the  
coming time4    ,the rightness of this  
attitude admits of proof in terms of the
 double  tradition to which ,adam ,smith
 gave birth4 ,on the one hand he is the 
founder of the classic political        
economy4 ,with ,ricardo1 the elder ,mill
  and ,nassau ,senior1 the main         
preoccupation is the production of      
wealth  without regard to its moral     
environment2 and the state for them is  
merely an engine to protect the         
atmosphere in which business men achieve
  their labors4 ,there is nothing in    
them of that fine despair which made    
,stuart ,mill welcome socialism itself  
rather than allow the continuance  of   
the new capitalist system4 ,herein the  
,state is purged of moral  purpose2 and 
the utilitarian method achieves the     
greatest happiness by  insisting that   
the technique of production must        
dominate all other  circumstances4      
,until the ,reform ,act of #ahfg1 the   
orthodox economists  remained           

unchallenged4 ,the use of the franchise 
was only beginning to be  understood4   
,the new model of trade unionism had not
 yet been tested in  the political      
field4 ,but it was discovered impossible
 to act any longer  upon the assumptions
 of the abstract economic man4 ,the     
infallible sense  of his own interest   
was discovered to be without basis in   
the facts for  the simple reason that   
the instruments of his perception       
obviously  required training if they    
were to be applied to a complex world4  
,individualism1 in the old1 utilitarian 
sense1 passed away because it  failed to
 build a ,state wherein a channel of    
expression might be found  for the      
creative energies of humble men4    ,it 
is only within the last two decades that
 we have begun to understand  the inner 
significance of the protest against this
 economic liberalism4  ,adam ,smith had 
declared the source of value to lie in  
labor2 and1 at  the moment of its       
deepest agony1 there were men willing to

 point the  moral of his tale4 ,that it 
represented an incautious analysis was1 
for  them1 unimportant beside the fact  
that it opened once more a path  whereby
 economics could be reclaimed for moral 
science4 ,for if labor was  the source  
of value1 as ,bray and ,thompson pointed
 out1 it seemed as  though degradation  
was the sole payment for its services4  
,they did not  ask whether the          
organization they envisaged was         
economically profitable1  but whether it
 was ethically right4 ,no one can read  
the history of these  years and fail to 
understand their uncompromising denial  
of its  rightness4 ,their negation fell 
upon unheeding ears2 but twenty years   
later1 the tradition for which they     
stood came into ,marx's hands and was   
fashioned by him into an interpretation 
of history4 ,with all its faults  of    
statement and of emphasis1 the doctrine 
of the ,english socialists has  been1 in
 later hands1 the most fruitful         
hypothesis of modern politics4  ,it was 

a deliberate effort1 upon the basis of  
,adam ,smith's ideas1 to  create a      
commonwealth in the interests of the    
masses4 ,wealth1 in its  view1 was less 
the mere production of goods than the   
accumulated  happiness of humble men4   
,the impulses it praised and sought     
through  state-action to express were1  
indeed1 different from those upon which 
,smith laid emphasis2 and he would      
doubtless have stood aghast at the way  
in which his thought was turned to ends 
of which he did not dream4 ,yet  he can 
hardly have desired a greater glory4 ,he
 thus made possible not  only knowledge 
of a ,state untrammelled in its economic
 life by moral  considerations2 but also
 the road to those categories wherein   
the old  conception of co-operative     
effort might find a new expression4     
,those who  trod in his footsteps may   
have repudiated the ideal for which he  
stood1  but they made possible a larger 
hope in which he would have been proud  
and glad to share4                      

,,bibliography      ,this bibliography  
makes no pretence to completeness4 ,it  
attempts only to  enumerate the more    
obvious sources that an interested      
reader would care  to examine4          
,,general      ,,leslie ,,stephen4      
,history of ,english ,thought in the    
,eighteenth ,century4  #ahgf4 ,vol4     
,,ii1 ,chapters ,,ix and ,x4            
,w4,e4,h4 ,,lecky4 ,history of ,england 
in the ,eighteenth ,century4    ,a4,l4  
,,smith4 ,political ,philosophy in      
,england in the ,seventeenth and        
,eighteenth ,centuries in the ,cambridge
 ,modern ,history4 ,vol4 ,,vi1  ,chapter
 ,,xxiii4    ,j4 ,,bonar4 ,philosophy   
and ,political ,economy4 ,chapters      
,v-,,ix4    ,f4,w4 ,,maitland4 ,an      
,historical ,sketch of ,liberty and     
,equality in  ,collected ,papers4 ,vol4 
,i4        ,,chapter ,,ii      ,,john   
,,locke4 ,works 7,eleventh ,edition71   
#aj volumes4 ,london1 #ahab4    ,h4,r4  
,,fox-,,bourne4 ,life of ,john ,locke4  
,london1 #ahgf4    ,t4,h4 ,,green4 ,the 

,principles of ,political ,obligation in
 ,collected  ,works4 ,vol4 ,,ii4        
,london1 #aijh4    ,,peter4 ,,lord      
,,king4 ,the ,life and ,letters of ,john
 ,locke4 ,london1 #aheh4    ,,sir ,f4   
,,pollock4 ,locke's ,theory of the      
,state in ,proc4 ,brit4 ,acad44  ,vol4  
,i4 ,london1 #aijd4    ,s4,p4           
,,lamprecht4 ,the ,moral and ,political 
,philosophy of ,locke4 ,new ,york1      
#aiah4    ,a4,a4 ,,seaton4 ,the ,theory 
of ,toleration under the ,later         
,stuarts4  ,cambridge1 #aiaa4    ,j4,n4 
,,figgis4 ,the ,divine ,right of ,kings4
 ,cambridge1 #aiad4        ,,chapter    
,,iii      ,,jeremy ,,collier4 ,the     
,history of ,passive ,obedience4        
,london1 #afhi4    ,,william ,,sherlock4
 ,the ,case of ,resistance4 ,london1    
#afhd4    ,,charles ,,leslie4 ,the ,case
 of the ,regale 7,collected ,works74    
,vol4 ,,iii1                     p4     
#bia4                  ,the ,rehearsal4 
,the ,new ,association4                 
,cassandra4                  ,the       

,finishing ,stroke4                     
,obedience to ,civil ,government        
,clearly ,stated4                  ,the 
,best ,answer4                  ,the    
,best of ,all4    ,,samuel ,,grascom4 ,a
 ,brief ,answer4    ,e4 ,,shellingfleet4
 ,a ,vindication of their ,majesties    
,authoritie4    ,b4 ,,shower4 ,a ,letter
 to a ,convocation ,man4    ,w4 ,,wake4 
,the ,authority of ,christian ,princes4 
,the ,state of the ,church  7#agjc74    
,,francis ,,atterbury4 ,rights1 ,powers 
and ,privileges of an ,english          
,convocation 7#agja74    ,,benjamin     
,,hoadly4 ,origins of ,civil ,government
 7#agaj74                               
,preservative ,against ,nonjurors       
7#agaf74                   ,works1 #c   
vols4 ,london 7#aggc74    ,,william     
,,law4 ,a ,defence of ,church           
,principles 7ed4 ,gore74 ,edinburgh1    
#aijd4    ,w4 ,,warburton4 ,alliance    
between ,church and ,state 7#agcf74     
,j4,h4 ,,overton4 ,the ,nonjurors4 ,new 
,york1 #aijc4    ,t4 ,,lathebury4       

,history of ,convocation4 ,london1      
#ahdb4        ,,chapter ,,iv            
,,berkeley4 ,essay ,towards ,preventing 
the ,ruin of ,great ,britain 7#agba74   
,h4 ,,st4 ,,john 7,viscount             
,bolingbroke74 ,works4 #e vols4 ,london1
 #aged4    ,,lord ,,egmont4 ,faction    
detected by the ,evidence of ,facts     
7#agdb74    ,,david ,,hume4 ,inquiry    
,concerning the ,principles of ,morals  
7#ageb74              ,essays4          
7#agdb-ageb7 ed4 ,green  ,grose4        
,london1 #ahgf4    ,w4 ,,sichel4 ,life  
of ,bolingbroke4 #b vols4 #aijj-d4      
,j4 ,,churton ,,collins4 ,bolingbroke   
and ,voltaire in ,england4    ,j4 ,,hill
 ,,burton4 ,life of ,hume4              
,,chapter ,v      ,,montesquieu4        
,l',esprit des ,lois 7#agdh74    ,j4,j4 
,,rousseau4 ,du ,contrat ,social        
7#agfb74 ,see ed4 by ,vaughan1 #aiah4   
,,john ,,brown4 ,estimate of the        
,manners and ,principles of the ,times  
7#ageg74    ,,adam ,,ferguson4 ,essay on
 the ,history of ,civil ,society        

7#agfg74    ,,william ,,blackstone4     
,commentaries 7#agfe-i74    ,,jeremy    
,,bentham4 ,a ,fragment on ,government  
7#aggf74 ,ed4 ,f4,c4 ,montague1  #ahia4 
,j4 ,,de ,,lolme4 ,the ,constitution of 
,england 7#agge74    ,,robert ,,wallace4
 ,various ,prospects 7#agfa74           
,,joseph ,,priestley4 ,essay on the     
,first ,principles of ,government       
7#agfh74    ,,richard ,,price4          
,observations on ,civil ,liberty        
7#aggf74 ,additional  ,observations     
7#aggg74    ,,william ,,ogilvie4 ,the   
,right of ,property in ,land 7#agha74   
,ed4 ,macdonald1  #ahia4    ,,josiah    
,,tucker4 ,treatise on ,civil           
,government 7#agha74    ,,samuel        
,,johnson4 ,taxation ,no ,tyranny       
7#agge74    ,m4 ,,beer4 ,history of     
,british ,socialism 7#aiai74    ,,james 
,,boswell4 ,life of ,samuel ,johnson    
7#agia74        ,,chapter ,,vi          
,,edmund ,,burke4 ,collected ,works4    
,london1 #ahjh4    ,,john ,,morley4     
,edmund ,burke 7#ahfg74 ,life of ,burke 

7#ahhg74    ,j4 ,,maccunn4 ,the         
,political ,philosophy of ,burke        
7#aijh74    ,,junius4 ,letters          
7#agfi-gb74 ,london1 #ahab4    ,,thomas 
,,paine4 ,the ,rights of ,man 7#agia-b74
    ,,james ,,mackintosh4 ,vendici      
,gallic 7#agia74        ,,chapter ,,vii 
,,charles ,,davenant4 ,works4 ,london1  
#agga4    ,,sir ,,dudley ,,north4 ,a    
,discourse upon ,trade 7#afia74         
,,adam ,,smith4 ,theory of ,moral       
,sentiments 7#agei74                    
,wealth of ,nations 7#aggf74            
,lectures on ,justice and ,police4 7,ed4
 ,cannan1 #ahif74    ,w4,r4 ,,scott4    
,life of ,francis ,hutcheson 7#aijj74   
,,john ,,rae4 ,life of ,adam ,smith     
7#ahie74    ,w4 ,,bagehot4 ,adam ,smith 
as a ,person in ,coll4 ,works4 ,vol4    
,,vii4    ,f4,w4 ,,hirst4 ,adam ,smith  
7#aijd74    ,w4 ,,hasbach4              
,untersuchungen ber ,adam ,smith        
7#ahia74    ,j4 ,,bonar4 ,a ,catalogue  
of ,adam ,smith's ,library 7#ahid74     
,t4 ,,cliffe ,,leslie4 ,adam ,smith in  

,essays in ,moral and ,political        
,philosophy 7#ahgi74    ,e4 ,,troeltsch4
 ,die ,sociallehren der ,christlichen   
,kirchen 7#aiab74          ,,index      
,addison1 #fi  ,andrewes1 #hc  ,ashley1 
#cc-d  ,atterbury1 #ajb  ,austin1 #fb   
,bagehot1 #i1 #bdi  ,barbeyrac1 #fh     
,barrow1 #hd  ,bellarmine1 #hc1 #aba    
,bentham1 #bc1 #fb1 #gb1 #aea1 #aeg1    
#age1 #aid  ,berkeley1 #aj1 #abi        
,blackstone1 #afc-d1 #agd;f             
,bolingbroke1 #fi1 #aca;f  ,bonald1 #bgg
  ,bonar1 #cjj  ,bonwicke1 #hb          
,boswell1 #bji  ,bray1 #cjg1 #cae       
,brown 7,j471 #afh  ,brown 7,r471 #eb   
,burke1 #g1 #h1 #af1 #cj1 #aeg1 #aei1   
#aff1 #bba;f1 #bhf  ,burnet1 #hj1 #hg1  
#ic  ,busher1 #eb    ,cartwright1 #ig   
,chatham1 #acb1 #afg1 #ahh1 #bfb        
,chillingworth1 #eb  ,chubb1 #abh       
,coleridge1 #bgg  ,collier1 #hdn        
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