ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF A VARIETY OF FORMS — COMPAR~ ED WITH THE ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF A VARIETY OF RELIGIOUS CREEDS. — THAT THERE IS ONE BEST FORM OF GOVERNMENT PROVED — FROM THE UNITY OF TRUTH — FROM THE NATURE OF MAN. — OBJECTION FROM HUMAN WEAKNESS AND PREJUDICE. — DANGER IN ESTABLISHING AN IMPERFECT CODE. MANNERS OF NATIONS PRODU- CED BY THEIR FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. — GRADUAL IM- PROVEMENT NECESSARY. — SIMPLICITY CHIEFLY TO BE DESIRED. — PUBLICATION OF TRUTH THE GRAND IN- STRUMENT BY INDIVIDUALS, NOT BY GOVERNMENT THE TRUTH ENTIRE, AND NOT BY PARCELS. — SORT OF PROGRESS TO BE DESIRED.
A PROPOSITION that by many political reafoners has BOOK in. ■; / CHAP. VII. been vehemently maintained, is that of the propriety of "■ v ■;> Argument in jnflituting different political governments fuited to the charac- favour of a variety of ters, the habits and prejudices of different nations, " The Englifh ^°''™^ '• conftitution," fay thefe reafoners, " is adapted to the thought- ful, rough and unfubmitting character of this ifland race j the A a 2 flownefs i8o OF FORMS OF GOVERNMENT.
flownefs and complication of Dutch formality to the phlegma- tic Hollander; and the fplendour of the grand monarque to the vivacity of Frenchmen. Among the ancients what could be better aflbrted than a pure democracy to the intelleiStual acute- nefs and impetuous energy of the Athenians; while the hardy and unpolilhed Spartan flouriihed much more under the rugged and inflexible difcipline of Lycurgus? The great art of the legiflator is to penetrate into the true character of the nation with whom he is concerned, and to difcover the exadl ftrucSture of government which is calculated to render that nation flourifh- Ing and happy." Accordingly an Englifhman who Ihould reafon upon thefe poftulata might fay, " It is not necefTary I fhould affert the Englifh conftitution to be the happieft and fublimell conception of the human mind; I do not enquire into- the abfl;ra£t excellence of that government under which France made herfelf illuftrious for centuries. I contemplate with en- thufiafm the venerable republics of Greece and Rome. But I am an enemy to the removing ancient land-marks, and difturbing with our crude devices the wifdom of ages. I regard ^vith horror the Quixote plan, that would reduce the irregular great- nefs of nations to the frigid and impracticable llandard of metaphyfical accuracy*."
This * Thefe arguments bear fonie refemblance to tliofe of Mr. Burke. It was not neceffary that they fliould do fo precifely, or that we fhould take ad- vantage of the argumentitm ad hominem built upon his fervent admiration of the Englifli OF FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. i8i This queftion has been anticipated in various parts of the BOOK III. prefent work; but the argument is fo popular and plaufible to a ' v— ' fuperficial view, as juflly to entitle it to a feparate examination.
The idea bears fome refemblance to one which was formerly compared with the arinfifted upon by certain latitudinarians in religion. "It is gamcnt in fa.
vour of a vaimpious," faid they, " to endeavour to reduce all men to uni- «'5ty of reUgious creeds.
formity of opinion upon this fubje£t. Men's minds are as various as their faces. God has made them fo; and it is to be prefumed that he is well pleafed to be addrefled In different languages, by different names, and with the confenting ardour of difagreeing fedls." Thus did thefe reafoners confound the majefty of truth with the deformity of falfhood; and fuppofe that that being who was all truth,, took delight in the errors, the abfurdities, and the vices, for all falfhood in fome way or other engenders vice, of his creatures. At the fame time they were employed in unnerving that adivlty of mind, which is the fmgle fource of human improvement. If truth and falfhood be in reality upon a level, I fhall be very weakly employed in a ftrenuous endeavour either to difcover truth for myfelf, or to imprefs it upon others.
Truth is in reality fmgle and uniform. There mufl in the That there IS one bdl EngUlh conftltutlon. Not to fay that we fliall feel ourfelves more at our eafe in examining the queftion generally, than in a perfonal attack upon this illuflrious and virtuous hero of former times.
I nature 0F FORMS OF GOVERNMENT.
CH^S'^^^vu ' '^^t^^'^6 °f things be one beft form of government, whieh all f~~~Y~~^ intelledlts, fufficiently roufed from the flumbsr of favage ignorance, vernment ^^^jj ]^q irrefiftibly incited to approve. If an equal participation of the benefits of nature be good in itfelf, it muft be good for -you and me and all mankind. Defpotifm may be of ufe to keep Jiuman beings in ignorance, but can.never conduce to render them wife or -virtuous or happy. If the general tendency of defpotifm be injurious, every portion and fragment of it muft -be a noxious ingredient. Truth cannot be fo variable, as to change its nature by croffing-^n arm of the fea, a petty brook or an ideal line, and become fallliood. On the contrary it is. at ^.11 times and in all places the fame.
from tne unity of truth: from the na- rturc of man.
The fubjedl of legrllation is every where the fame, man. The points in which human beings refemble are infinitely more confidei-able than thofe in which they differ. We have the fame ■fenfes, the fame inlets of pleafure and paiq, the fame faculty to -reafon, to judge and.to infer. The lame caufes that make me happy will make you happy. We may differ in our opi- jiions upon this fubje.£t at firft, but this difference is only in pre- judice, and is by no means invincible. An event may often conduce moft to the benefit of a human being, which his erro- neous judgment perhaps regarded with leaft complacency. A wife fuperintendent of affairs would purfue with fteady attention ^he real advantage of thofe over whom he prefided, carelefs of "the temporary difapprcbation he incurred, and which would laft no .2 longer OF FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. i8j longer than the partial and mifguided apprehenfion from which BOOK iii. it flowed. ''^ " ' Is there a country In which a prudent director of education would propofe fome other objedt for his labours than to make his pupil temperate and juft and wife? Is there a climate that requires its inhabitants to be hard drinkers or horfe-jockies or gamefters or bullies, rather than men? Can there be a corner of the world, where the lover of juftice and truth would find him- felf out of his element and ufelefs? If no; then liberty muft be every where better than flavery, and the government of recSlI- tude and impartiahty better than the government of caprice.
But to this It may be objected that " men may not be every Obj-aion where capable of liberty. A gift however valuable in itfelf, if weaknefs and r* • prejudice.
it be intended to be beneficial, muft be adapted to the capacity of the receiver. In human affairs every thing muft be gradual; and it is contrary to every idea that experience furniflies of the nature of mind to expert to advance men to a ftate of perfedtion at- once. It was in a fpirit fomewhat fimilar to this, that Solon, the Athenian lawgiver, apologifed for the imperfedion of his code, faying, " that he had not fought to promulgate fuch laws as were good in themfelves, but fuch as his countrymen werC' able to bear."
The experiment of Solon feems to be of a dangerous nature. Danger in A code, fuch as his, bid fair for permanence, and does not an imperfta code.
appear i84 OF FORMS OF GOVERNMENT.
appear to have contained in it a principle of improvement. He" did not meditate that gradual progrefs which was above de-- fcribed, nor contemplate in the Athenians of his own time, the , root from which were to fpring the polTible Athenians of fome future period, v/ho might realife all that he was able to conceive of good fenfe, fortitude and virtue. His inflitutions were rather calculated to hold them down in perpetuity to one certain de- gree of excellence and no more.
Manners of This fugg^ftion fumifhes US with the real clue to that ftriking duced by Coincidence between the manners of a nation and the form of its their forn;is of government, government, which was mentioned in the beginning of the chaptei", and v/hich has furnifhed fo capital an argument to the advocates for the local propriety of different forms of government. It was in reality fomewhat illogical in thefe reafoners to employ .this as an argument upon the fubjedl, without previoufly afcer- :taining which of the two things was to be regarded as a caufe and which as an effedt, whether the government arofe out of the manners of the nation, or the manners of the nation out of the government. The laft of thefe ftatements appears upon the whole to be neareft to the fa£t. The government may be in- debted for its exiftence to accident or force. Revolutions, as they have moft frequently taken place in the world, are epochas, in which the temper and wifhcs of a nation are lead confulted*. When it is otherwife, ftlU the real effedl of the governmeat * See Kume's Effays. Part II. EiTliy xii.
which OF OBEDIENCE. 1S5 which is inftituted, is to perpetuate propenfities and fentiments, p,?fp' J|?" which without its operation would fpeedily have given place to *^ ^^ ' other propenfities. Upon every iuppofition, the exifting corre- fpondence between national chara£ter and national government will be found in a jufi: confideration to arife outof the latter.
The principle of c;radual improvement advanced in the lafl Gradual Imcited objection muft be admitted for true; but then it is necef- "eceffaq'. fary, while we adopt it, that we iTiould not fuffer ourfelves to a£t in dire£l oppofition to it; and that we fliould choofe the beft and moll powerful means for forwarding that improvement.
Man is in a ftate of perpetual progrefs. He muft grow either Si'mpHcky better or worfe, either correal his habits or confirm them. The defued. government propofed muft either increafe our paflions and. pre- judices by fanning the flame, or by gradually difcouraging tend to extirpate them. In reality, it is fufficiently difficult to imagine a government that fhall have the latter tendency. By its very nature political inftitution has a tendency to fufpend the elafticity, and put an end to the advancement of mind. Every fcheme for embodying imperfedlion muft be injurious. That which is to-day a confiderable melioration, will at fome future period, if preferved unaltered, appear a defedt and dileafe in the body po- litic. It were earneftly to be defired that each man was wife ■ enough to govern himfelf without the intervention of any com- pulfory reftraint; and, fmce government even in its beft ftate is Bb an^ iS6 OF OBEDIENCE.
CHAP^vir' ''^" ^^'^^' ^^^ obje(Et principally to be aimed at is, that we fliould " have as little of it as the general peace of human fociety will permit.
Tublicntion But the grand inftrument for forwarding the improvement of of truth the grand inftiu- mind is the publication of truth. Not the publication on the ment: by iiidiW- P^^^ °^ government; for it is infinitely difEcult to difcover in- £ovcnim"ent^ fallibly what the truth is, efpecially upon controverted points, and government is as liable as individuals to be miftaken in this refpeft. In reality it is more liable; for the depofitaries of go- vernment have a very obvious temptation to defire, by means of ignorance and implicit faith, to perpetuate the exifting ftate of things. The only fubftantial method for the propagation of truth is difcuffion, fo that the errors of one man may be detect- ed by the acutenefs and fevere difquifition of his neighbours. All we have to demand from the ofBcers of government, at leaft in their public charadler, is neutrality. The intervention of authority in a field proper to reafcning and demonftration is alvvays injurious. If on the right fide, it can only difcredit truth, and call off the attention of men to a foreign confideration. If on. the wrong, though it may not be able to fupprefs the fpirit of enquiry, it will have a tendency to convert the calm purfuit of knowledge into paffion and tumult.
the truth en- " But in v/hat manner fhall the principles of truth be commutire, and not by parcels, nicated fo.as bell to lead to the pra<aice? By fliewing to man- A. kind OF OBEDIENCE. 187 kind truth in all its evidence, or concealinjj; one half of it? Shall BOOK ill.
they be initiated by a partial difcovery, and thus led on by *■ v ' regular degrees to conclufions that would at firft have wholly alienated their minds?"
This queflion will come to be more fully difcufled in a fol- lowing chapter. In the mean time let us only confider for the prefent the quantity of efFedt that may be expedled from thefe two oppofite plans.
An inhabitant of Turkey or Morocco may perhaps be of opinion, that the vefting power in the arbitrary will or caprice of an individual has in it more advantages than difadvantages. If I be defirous to change his opinion, fhould I undertake to re- commend to him in animated language fome modification of this caprice? I fhould attack it in its principle. If I do other- wife, I fhall betray the ftrength of my caufe. The principle oppofite to his own, will not poflefs half the irrefiftible force which I could have given to it. His objections will affiime vigour. The principle I am maintaining being half truth and half falfhood, he will in every ftep of the conteft pofTefs an advan- tage in the offenfive, of which, if he be fufficiently acute, I can never deprive him.
Now the principle I fhould have to explain of equal law and equal juflice to the inhabitant of Morocco, would be as new to CHA? vn ^"^' ^® ^^y principle of the boldeft political defcrlptlon that I "^ •^ ' could propagate in this country. Whatever apparent difference may exift between the two cafes, may fairly be fufpeited to ov/e its exiftence to the imagination of the obferver. The rule therefore which fuggefts itfelf in this cafe is fitted for univer- fal application.
^refs to be dcfired, ^refs to be°' -^^^ ^° *^^ improvements which are to be introduced Into the political fyftem, their quantity and their period muft be deter- mined by the degree of knowledge exifting in any country, and the ftate of prepai^ation of the public mind for the changes that are to be defired. Political renovation may ftridly be confider- ed as one of the ftages in intelledlual improvement. Literature and difquifition cannot of themfelves be rendered fufficiently general; it will be only the cruder and grofler parts that can be expefted to defcend in their genuine form to the multitude; while thofe abftrad; and bold fpeculations, in which the value of literature principally confifts, muft necefTarily continue the por- tion of th€ favoured few. It is here that focial inftitution offers itfelf in aid of the abftrufer powers of argumentative communi- cation. As foon as any important truth has become eftablifhed to a fufFicient extent in the minds of the enterprifmg and the wife, it may tranquilly and with eafe be rendered a part of the general fyftem; fmce the uninlliruded and the poor are never the ftrenuous fupporters of thofe complicated fyftems by which oppreffion is maintained; and fince they have an obvious intereft OF OBEDIENCE. 189 tereft in the pra£llcal introdudion of fimpliclty and truth, One BOOK III.
valuable principle being thus realifed, prepares the way for the *^ v- — ' realifing of more. It ferves as a refting-place to the human mind in its great bufinefs of exploring the regions of truth, and gives it new alacrity and encouragement for farther exertions.
AN A N ENQUIRY CONCERNING POLITICAL JUSTICE.
MISCELLANEOUS PRINCIPLES.
CHAP. I. OF RESISTANCE.
EVERY INDIVIDUAL THE JUDGE OF HIS OWN RESISTANCE.
OBJECTION. ANSWERED FROM THE NATURE OF GO- VERNMENT FROM THEMODESOF RESISTANCE. 1. FORCE RARELY TO BE EMPLOYED EITHER WHERE THERE IS SMALL PROSPECT OF SUCCESS — OR WHERE THE PROSPECT 15 GREAT. — HISTORY OF CHARLES THE FIRST ESTI- MATED. 2. REASONING THE LEGITIMATE MODE.
IT has appeared in the courfe of our reafonings upon politi- BOOK IV. cal authority, that every man is bound to refift every unjuft ^^ ^ ' Every indiproceeding on the part of the community. But who is the vidualthe judge X 192 OFRESISTANCE.
BOOK IV. judge of this injuPdce? The queftion anfwers Itfelf: the private judgment of the individual. Were it not fo, the appeal would be nugatory, for w^e have no infallible judge to whom to refer our controverfies. He is obliged to confult his own private judgment in this cafe, for the fame reafon that obliges him to confult it in every other article of his condudt.
Objeaion. " But is not this pofition neceiTarily fubverfive of all government? Can there be a power to rule, where no man is bound to obey; or at leaft where every man is to confult his own under- ftanding firft, and then to yield his concurrence no farther than he fhall conceive the regulation to be juft? The very idea of government is that of an authority fuperfeding private judgment; how then can the exercife of private judgment be left entire? What degree of order is to be expected in a community, where every man is taught to indulge his own fpeculations, and even to refift the decifion of the whole, whenever that decifion is op- pofed to the didates of his own fancy?"
Anfwered The true anfwer to thefe queftions lies in the obfervation with of go- VN^hich we began our dilquilition on governm.ent, that this boafted inftitution is nothing more than a fcheme for enforcing by brute violence the fenfe of one man or fet of men upon another, neceffary to be employed in certain cafes of peculiar emergency. Suppofnig the queftion then to lie merely between the force of the community on one part> and the force with which tare or go vcrnment OF RESIST AN CE. jg^ which any hidlvldual member fhould think it Incumbeni upon l^OOK iv.
him to refift their decifions on the other, it is fufficiently evident * <- ' that a certain kind of authority and fupremacy M'ould be the re- fult. But this is not the true ftate of the queftion.
It is farther evident, that, though the duty of every man to exercife his private judgment be unalterable, yet fo far as relates to pradlice, wherever government fubfifts, the exercife of private judgment is fubftantially intrenched upon. The force put by the community upon thofe who exercife rapine and injuftice, and the influence of that force as a moral motive upon its mem- bers in general, are each of them exhibitions of an argument, not founded in general reafon, but in the precarious interference of a fidlible individual. Nor is this all. Without anticipating the queftion of the different kinds of refiftance and the election that it may be our duty to make of one kind rather than another, it Is certain in fa<3:, that my condud will be materially altered by the forefight that, if I ad in a certain manner, I fhall have the combined force of a number of individuals to oppofe me. That government therefore is the beft, which in no one inftance interferes with the exercife of private judgment without abfolute neceflity.
The modes according to which an individual may oppofe any from die meafure which his judgment difapproves are of two forts, adion lidance.
and fpeech. Shall he upon every occafion have recourfe to the '■ Force rare- ly to be em- C c former? F'^yed, 194 OFRESISTANCE.
former? This it is ablurd fo much as to fuppofe. The ob- je£i: of every virtuous man is the general good. But how can he be faid to pi-omote the general good, who is ready to wafte his a£live force upon every trivial occafion, and facrifice his life without the chance of any public benefit I either where " But he refcrves himfelf," I will fuppofe, " for fome great ocprofped of cafion; and then, carelels as to luccels, which is a large object' only to little minds, generoufly embarks in a cauie where he has no hope but to perifh. He becomes the martyr of truth. He believes that fuch an example will tend to imprefs the minds of his fellow men, and to roufe them from their lethargy."
The queftion of martyrdom is of a difficult nature; I had rather convince men by my arguments, than feduce them by my example. It is fcarcely poffible for me to tell what oppor-- tunities for ufefulnefs may offer themfelves in the future years of my exiftence. Nor is it improbable in a general confidcration. that long and perfevering fervices may be more advantageous than brilliant and tranfitory ones. The cafe being thus circum- ftanced, a truly wife man cannot fail to hefitate as to the idea of offering up his life a voluntary oblation...Whenever martyrdom becomes an indifpenfible duty, when: nothing can preferve him fhort of the cleareft derelidion of prin- ciple and the moll palpable defertion of truth, he will then meet it OF RESISTANCE. 195 It with perfed ferenky. He did not avoid it before from any ^9?iyy' weaknefs of perfonal feeling. When it muft be encountered, ' » ' he knows that it is indebted for that hiflre which has been fo generally acknowledged among mankind, to the intrepidity of the fufferer. He knows that nothing is fo eflential to true virtue, as an utter difregard to individual advantage.
The objedions that offer themfelves to an exertion of adual force, where there are no hopes of fuccefs, are numerous. Such an exertion cannot be made without injury to the lives of more than a fingle individual. A certain number both of enemies and friends muft be expected to be the victims of fo wild an under- taking. It is regarded by contemporaries, and recorded by hiftory as an intemperate ebullition of the pafTions; and ferves rather as a beacon to deter others, than as a motive to animate them.- It is not the frenzy of enthufiafm, but the calm, fagacious and de- liberate effort of reafon, to which truth muft be indebted for its progrefs.
But let us fuppole, " that the profpeit of fuccefs is confidera- or where the ble, and that there is reafon to believe that refolute violence may great. in no long time accompliih its purpofe." Even here we may be allowed to hefitate'. Force has already appeared to be an odious weapon; and, if the ufe of it be to be regretted in the hands of government, it does not change its nature though wielded by a band of patriots. If the caufe we plead be the caufe of truth, C c 2 there ig6 OF RESISTANCE.
I\^OK iV. there is no douk thfit by our reafonings, if fufficieiitly ziealouj ' -^ ^ and couftant, the flxine purpofe. may be eiTedied iu a milder and more Uberal way *v In a word, it- is proper to reeolIecSt hsre what has been effa-- blilhed as to the dodrine offeree in general,-- that it- is in no cafe to be employed but where every other means- is ineffefhual. In: the queilion therefore of refiflance to government, force ought: - never to be introduced without the moft imminent neceffity; never but in ci-rcumftances fimilar to thofe of defending my life from a ruffian, where time can by no means be gained, and the confequences inftantly to. enfue are. unqueftionably fatal.
Hiiioryof The hiftoiy of Icing Charles the firll furnifhes an inftrudlve Charles the firil efti- example in both kinds. The original defign of Ms opponents was- that of confining his power within narrow and palpable limits. This objeft, after a ftruggle of many years,, was fully accompliftied by the parliament of 1640, without bloodflxed (except indeed in the fmgle inftance of lord Strafford) and without commotion.- They next conceived the project of over- turning the hierarchy and the monarchy of England, in oppofi- tion to great numbers, and. in the lail point no doubt to a ma- jority of their countrymen. Admitting thefe objedls to have- been in the utmoft degree excellent, they ought not, for the pur-- * See this cafe more fully difcufled in the foUowihg chapter..
pofe mated.
OF RESISTANCE.
fofs of obtaining them, to have precipitated the queflioa to the BOOK IV. extremity of a civil war.. ' » ' " But, fmce force is fcarcely under any circumftances to be 2. Reafonmg the legitimate employed, of w^hat nature is that refiftance which ought con- mode, ftantly to be given to every mftance of injuftice?" The refift- ance I am bound to employ is that of uttering the truth, of eenfuring in the mofl explicit manner every proceeding that I perceive to be adverfe to the true interefts of mankind. I am bound to difleminate without referve all the principles with which I am acquainted, and which it may be of importance to mankind to know; and this duty it behoves me to pradlife upon every occafion and with the moft perfevering conftancy. I muft difclofe the whole fyflem of moral and political truth, without fuppreffing any part under the idea of its being too bold and paradoxical, and thus depriving the whole of that complete and irrefiflible evidence, without which its effeds muft always be feeble, partial and uncertain.
CHAP.
CHAP. IL OF REVOLUTIONS.
SECTION I.
DUTIES OF A CITIZEN.
OBLIGATION TO SUPPORT THE CONSTITUTION OF OUR COUNTRY CONSIDERED — MUST ARISE EITHER FROM THE REASON OF THE CASE, OR FROM A PERSONAL AND LOCAL CONSIDERATION. — THE FIRST EXAMINED. — THE SECOND.
BOOK IV. T^T O queftion can be more important than that which relpedts Section I, CHAP. II.
the beft mode of efFeding revolutions. Before we enter Obligation to upon it howevcr, it may be proper to remove a difficulty which conftkution has fuggcfted itfclf to the minds of fome men, how far we ought ofourcountry confidered: generally fpeaking to be the friends of revolution; or, in other words, whether it be juftifiable in a man to be the enemy of the conftitution of his countr)% *' We live," it will be faid, " under the protection of this con- ftitution; and protedion, being a benefit conferred, obliges us to a reciprocation of fupport in return."
DUTIES OF A CITIZEN.
To this it may be anfwered, firft, that this protedion is a very BOOK iv. equivocal thino;; and, till it can be flaown that the vices, from j! -^ ' ^ " Section I.