savages, even where property is held in common, and where of course there is no theft, there are still obligations, rules, and restrictions, of some kind.

The coward is punished with death; the parricide is banished; the traitor is shot. Every member of such a society is under certain restraints, and certain abridgments of absolute liberty. If one is guilty of cowardice, he consents to lose his life; if he kills his parent, he consents to be forever cast out of his tribe; if he betrays his nation, he agrees that he shall be slain by an arrow. Thus he is restrained from cowardice, killing a father or mother, or betraying his country; all of which are abridgments of absolute liberty.

Thus, in the simplest and rudest stages of natural liberty, as put in practice among mankind, we see certain restraints upon absolute liberty, established by the laws or customs of the nation. But, in point of fact, other restraints are put upon the largest part of the community; for in such a state of society the weak are obliged, for the most part, to bow to the strong. If, indeed, the weak are protected from the strong, then the strong are restrained, and so far natural or absolute liberty, is abridged. If it is not thus abridged, if the weak are not protected from the strong, then they are the slaves of the strong. In this state of society, where natural liberty is said to prevail, the mass are subject to the despotism of a few; the weak are the slaves of the strong. A state of natural liberty, is, therefore, practically, a state of tyranny on the one hand and slavery on the other.

An illustration of this is found among the

animal tribes. Among the fowls of the barnyard, there is no law: the males meet in conflict, and the strongest or most active becomes the master. Among a pack of wolves, or among dogs, the question who shall have the bone, is settled by fighting it out, and the strongest has it. The law of nature, then, is a law of force: where there is no other than natural law, might is the only rule of right.

Even if all men were virtuous, a state of natural and universal liberty could not exist for virtue itself implies an observance of rules, obligations, laws. A virtuous man will not steal; therefore, his liberty in this respect, is restrained. It is restrained by law; and the only difference between this restraint and that of civil government, is, that God enacts, and his own heart enforces, the law.

Civil government is founded in the idea that men are not all virtuous; that men will not enact and observe just laws individually and of themselves; and therefore, to secure order, peace and justice, government must enact and enforce laws, and thus abridge natural or absolute liberty.

Experience, in all ages, has taught the lesson, that among men, as well as among animals, there being some strong and some weak, the former will ever seek to get the advantage of the latter. Thus government steps in to protect the weak against the strong; to substitute justice for force, right for might.

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CHAPTER XI.

Civil Liberty.

CIVIL liberty is freedom to think and act as we see fit, except so far as the good of society may require abridgment and restraint. A man has a natural right to all he gains by his honest labor,. but in civilized society he consents to be taxed, and thus part with a portion of his earnings, to sustain the government, on the ground that it is best for the whole, and for himself among the number, to have a government. A man has a natural right to walk or ride where he pleases; but in civilized society, he consents to have his absolute liberty so far abridged, as not to have a right to ride or walk in his neighbor's garden or parlor, or on the sidewalks of a city.

Thus, in a great variety of ways, a member of civilized society consents to have his absolute liberty abridged; he consents to be obliged to serve on juries; to be compelled to do military duty; to forego the privilege of selling noxious drugs; of dealing in gunpowder, except under license; he consents to be obliged to buy his wood, fish, flour, and various other articles, only when inspected.

He consents to all these restraints and privations, not because they are good in themselves, but because society is benefited, and he is himself better off than he would be, if such restraints did not exist. He gives up some of his natural rights, some of his absolute liberty, for a greater good, which is, security to the remainder of his rights.

This is the great principle on which civilized

society rests; it is the basis of all good and well ordered government. All government is restraint and abridgment of our natural and absolute liberty. But government is necessary for the security of our lives, our property, our houses, our families, our characters. Without a good, stable, and well ordered government, nine out of ten, being the weaker, must be the slaves of the stronger. A good government places the weak and strong on the same level; it sets up a standard of right, and restrains that of might; it weighs everything in the balance of justice, and does not decide questions by force or violence.

It is in order to secure justice, that men in civilized society, give up certain portions of their absolute liberty, or absolute rights. They give up a part to secure the remainder. Thus, if a man has a property of 10,000 dollars, he consents to be taxed fifty dollars a year; and what he gets in return for this, is the obligation of the government that he shall securely enjoy the remainder. Without this security, the strong man, or several men combined, might come upon him, and by violence take all his money away, and he could have no remedy. But by paying fifty dollars a year he secures the enjoyment of the remaining 9,950 dollars. Thus he yields a part of his liberty or his right, to secure a greater and more important good.

In a civilized society, the laws are numerous, and as each law is an abridgment of some portion of absolute liberty, it might seem that all liberty, would be taken away. But still, it appears that all liberty, essential to happiness, is compatible with a complete system of laws; and in fact where

the laws are just, and most completely carried into effect, there is the greatest amount of practical liberty. When a just law is transgressed, an injury is done to the rights and liberties of at least some member of society; where just laws are most strictly observed, there is the greatest equality of rights, and the greatest amount of practical liberty.

If you were to go among the savage tribes of New Holland, you would see that the lands, dwellings, and most of the property are held in common. You would see that each person seems to go where he pleases, to take what he pleases, and to think and act as he pleases. You would find among these people no book of statutes or laws; you would find no court-houses, no jails, none of that mighty machinery, which belongs to the making and enforcing of laws among us.

You

would perhaps be ready to say that here is a people in the enjoyment of absolute liberty, or if indeed it be abridged, it is in a very slight degree.

But examine a little closer. You see a savage making a bow. He toils at it, day by day, for a month. Nothing can exceed the patience and care with which he selects a stick, shapes it with a sharp stone, bends it so as to retain the proper shape, and finally finishes it by covering the ends with a coating of sinews. It has cost him a month's labor. And now for a quiver of arrows! Here is another long and tedious job. It takes two or three days to make a good arrow, with a savage's tools. After another month's toil, the quiver is finished.

Now, would you not say that this bow and this