The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State: A Statement of the Moral Principles of the Party of Individual Liberty, and the Political Measures Founded Upon ThemWilliams and Norgate, 1885 - 105 pages |
Other editions - View all
The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State; a Statement of the Moral ... Auberon Edward William Herbert No preview available - 2013 |
The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State: A Statement of the Moral ... Auberon Herbert No preview available - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
accept Act of Parliament actions anti-vivisectionists AUBERON HERBERT believe better body brutal character Church compel competition compulsory consent constrained COVENT GARDEN creed desire direct force energies and faculties enforcing evils exercise power existence external Factory Acts fashion free trade freedom gain give Government hands happiness Herbert Spencer human ideas indirect compulsion individual intelligence interests kind labour land leave lettuces live look Lymington majority man's matter means ment methods minds Moloch monopoly moral influence nation nature never offence official once opinions oppressive ourselves owner parent party pass person political political parties poor laws possess present Prince Bismarck principle profession protection qualities question regards regulations restrain self-preservation simply society souls special paper stupefied taxation taxes thing tion to-day true truth unselfish vivisection voluntary association whilst Whitehall wise wrong
Popular passages
Page 43 - ... the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because in the opinions of others to do so would be wise or even right.
Page 43 - These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil in case he do otherwise.
Page 59 - ... of that cell which may be called " the Empire of the Individual" ? We must discard all attempts to derive just laws from a single high moral principle. The attempt is as vain as that of Descartes to recreate the universe out of a single physical principle. Moreover, whence sprang this grand moral principle that " a man has inalienable rights over himself, over his own faculties and possessions " ? This, even if true now, was not always true. It is meaningless when applied to "bears and lions,"...
Page 22 - ... justice. But this is not all. Mr. Herbert oversteps the bounds of limited Individualism and enters the region of Anarchy, when he says he is not quite sure that even this pittance of administrative power is strictly justifiable. I do not think that it is possible to find a perfect moral foundation for the authority of any Government, be it the Government of an emperor or a Republic. They are all of the nature of a usurpation, though I think, when confined within certain exact limits, of a justifiable...
Page 3 - It is to Mr. Herbert Spencer's clear and comprehensive sight that we owe so much in this matter of liberty. Mr. Mill was an earnest and eloquent advocate of individual liberty. He was penetrated with the leading truth that all the great human qualities depend upon a man's mental independence, and upon his steady refusal to let a church, or a party, or the society in which he lives think for him. His book on liberty remains as a monument of a clearer sight, a higher faith, and nobler aspirations than...
Page 15 - Now I do not hesitate to say that this question stands in importance far before all other questions which the human race has to answer. Indeed if we could see clearly, we should see that the decision of all these other questions is wrapped up in this one great decision; for I know of no question that would not be settled in one fashion by a free race and in another by a state-regulated race. But apart from this influence on character, which freedom and state-regulation must respectively exercise,...
Page 1 - ... whom he might have loved as friends. The creed of Liberty does not offer what the politician offers. She neither offers to perform State services, to take land from some and transfer it to others, or to place everincreasing burdens of taxation upon the shoulders of the rich. She does not offer to shower down upon any man gifts that are not of his own making and winning. All those who hunger for such gifts she can only bid, with scorn upon her lips, to go elsewhere. But if you wish to have much...