TRENTHAM, A Fagot om Gurenmenk Oxf, Bash, Bhldwelt, eo A FRAGMENT ON GOVERNMENT without justier, to excel; at least in comparison of any thing, that way that has hitherto appeared. “lis to eee ‘owe such an arrangement of the clements of Jurisprudence, heads, stands an invincible obstacle to every other than a technical arrangement. For to denoninate in general terms, what is it but to arrange? and to arrange under heads, what ‘what sort of an arrangement that must be which can be ‘other words, as naturally, that is readily, engage, and firmly. fix the attention cf any one to whom they are pointed out, ‘The materials, or clements here in questi 54. Now chen, with respect to actions in general, there is no property in ear oa = that is calculated 50 readily to engage, SSASTEA) tee enn of obey fe tendency that way have to, ot divergency (if one may 56 fete wie cay be seed te eoomen Star ay hem. ‘The end Lean is Happiness: and this tendency in any Aackis what we style its wility: as this divergency is that to which uch 3a articular as are among the objects of the Law, ness, is the only way to make him sce clearly that property Mlyaties al adrra fp” Bua Bes fetevec rr ndertand rma) TWinwAnW Em Ne Le re such actions PREFACE 3 of he wich ver man sin sate of the only way, in short, to give hin satisfaction, ' i theh we may denominste & prindpe, that aide over and. govern a1 He wet, 30ch it a8 shall. be made of he several institutions or ti ins ae camp te ptr of haces and ie 8 th principe, that by puting fe ap thom the several name given to those|combinatons, can ne render ifacry and kar any atangement that an be made of them, $6 Governed inthis manner by a pile that is recop- nicod by all men, she same arrangement that would serve for the jucisprodence of any one country, wéuld serve with lite variation for that of any other. | 57. Yet more. The mischievousness of a bad Law would be daca leat the viity oft would be rendered ssp cous, by the difficulty of finding a plabe for it in such an Stramgement: while, on the othet hand! « technical arrange- rent 2 sink chat with eqsal filing ‘will swallow any Beto athe int a ‘ 38. That this advantage ma yy a natural arrangement, is not Si oe ay Inston wold be characterized by it in the univers ‘in whic ey eahe characterized; the aa prishipeen modes of ‘onduet which, by prohibiting, they constitute offences: hee offences would be eolleded into canes de nominated by the various modes of their ency from the Egan a wee ts SPT SRe ot minheeayes ina word, by thbse proper Sindee town for tee beng made seer: and whether Shy such mode of conduct possesses any such property is 2 a ih oF experince, Nowy a bad Lays tht which pro- hibits a mode of conduct that is wot mischievous? Thus would ic be found impracticable to place the mode of conduct pro- hibited by 2 bad law under any dendmination of offence, + offences the leader wil semembe, may 8 well be offences of emis ss of conmbiim, Tovodd wold the embicrament of making sepante trenton of tch Laer ay exert emelyt i emandng, "Ts on ths nzcunt {oye the pee ‘mote of onus which inden omlsons ox feberen31, wells ace Mee note 4 p27 See note 1wUUCUVUVUUVUVITS. seyxvuvevuvuUY UUW US ee La le te Be 6 1) FRAGMENT ON GOVERNMENT Mit then be men's dy to observe then? Would it then be right to make Lavrs, and apply ponishment to oblige men to observe them? Ajatuy "46. 4s Ge may perkaps be replied) “but for this reas ait g proms sme dite ae that every me all are wad: now these you have been supposing, ate umqu Cionably of the number, A promise that is in itself weil, cannot, it is teuc, create any obligation. But allow the promise to be walid, and iis the promise itself that erates the Dbligation, and nothing che.” ‘The fallacy of this argument itis easy to perceive. For what is it then that the promise depends on for its validity? what iit that being present makes i valid? what is st chat being wanting makes it void? To acknowledge that any one promise may be void, i to ackaiow- jedge that if any eter is binding it 8 not merely because it isa promise That cccunsunee then, whatever i Bey on hich the validity ofa promize depend, that circumstance, say, and a he monte uel muse spain, be thecouse of the OB gation on which a promise is apt in general to carry with it. Tie oigeion 47. But farther. Allow, for argnment sake, what we 2 momir” have disproved: allow that the obligation of 3. promise is SEG independent of every otber: allow that 2 promise is binding one ke proprié vi—Dinding then on whom? On him certainly who Rene kes it. Aditi: For what enon is these individual Face omiise to bc binding om those who never made it? The Ki Hy years ogo, promised my Gredt-Chafaher to govern secnvding to Law: iny Great-Grandfather, fifty years ag, promised the King to obey him according’ to Law. ‘The King, jiue now, promised my neighbour to govern him according to Law: my neighbour, jus! now, promised the KGing to ubey bins according o Lew. Be ie fo — What are these promises, all or any of them, tome? To make answer th gion see oe ent is mani, at Be fesoreed to, than that of the intrinsic obligation of promises ‘upon those who make them, Barhepnipe 48, Now ths other principle that sill recucs upon ws, what afirae ogher can it be than the prnple of vnurry? ‘The peinciple ‘ a A ee marae equa tat jupon any higher reatoa, but which is itself the sole and all- sufficient reason for every point of practice whatsoever. of promises were to proshice aif, wo ' 1 ' CHAPTER | FORMS OF GOVERNMANT) 1. Tum contents of the whole digression we are examining, Suet oh were distcibuted, we may remember, at the outset of this” Tsay, into five divisions. ‘The first, relative to the manner , in which Government in general was forthed, bas already been examined in the preceding chapter. The next, relative tothe diferent spies efor may un, comes now to 3 considered. . i} ‘2. The first object that strikes us in this division of our Theta! subject is the ae flourish it sets out with.’ In Scala ve may be said, though in a peculiar sense, to be our Author's Strength. In theology he has found a not infrequent source, ff omament to divert us, of authority to dverawe us, frgm sounding into the shallowness of his doctrine.* ‘3. That governors, of some sore of other, we must have, Coven: is hae he has been shewing in the manner we hate seen in oe, the lst chapter, Now for endowments to qualify them for the dm exercise of theit function. These endowments then, as if it ‘were to make them shew the brighter, and to kecp them, a5 Thu 3s posible, ftom being soled by the rough hands of pertinent spectators, he has chosen should be of zthereal texture, and has fetched them from the clouds. “All mankind,* he says, ‘will agree that government should be reposed in such persons in whom those’ qualities are most likely to be found, the perfection of whieh are among the anilutes of Lies ‘whe fy emphasially stjled the Supreme Hing: the cree. geet equ, T mesh, of wisdom, of goodness, and of power, ‘Bt let us see the whole pattage asi stands— 4, ‘But as all the members of Society.) (meaning natural Me pemte Society) ‘are naturally Equat,’ (i.e. T suppose, with respect to “Thine what thee would be occasion to shew 3 lage, were what he sayy of Laven gene and of the Lh of mare, ad vevdtion in partic, tobe examined 1 2 Coen pA I 7