294 PROCEEDINGS OP THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



distrust extreme forms of democracy and government by mere ma- 

 jorities. Accordingly, among his later works, bis " Considerations 

 on Representative Government " undertakes to devise cbecks to the 

 abuse of power by majorities. But it is evident that Mill's greatest 

 trust was in those influences which have given to communities the 

 ability, and thence the power and right, to govern themselves ; namely, 

 their intelligence and moral integrity, or that which reduces the neoes- 

 sity of government by force to the fewest functions and occasions. His 

 famous essay on Liberty sought to establish, on grounds of moral prin- 

 ciple, restraints of governmental foi'ce, in whatever way it might be exer- 

 cised, whether in the form of public law or of public opinion ; neither 

 of which in any form of government is likely to be wiser beyond its 

 proper sphere of duty than those it seeks to control. Government in 

 advanced communities, capable of self-govei'nment, should not be of the 

 parental type or degree of powei*. Coercion, which in itself is an evil, 

 becomes a wrong, where persuasion, rational discussion, and conviction 

 ai'e capable of effecting the same ends, especially when these ends are 

 less urgent than the need of security and self-protection in a community, 

 for which it is the proper duty of government by force to provide. To 

 place government in the hands of those sufficiently intelligent, whose 

 true interests are most affected by it, and to limit its province and 

 its functions as much as possible, leaving as much as possible to non- 

 coercive agencies, was the simple abstract creed of Mill's political 

 philosophy. 



The essay on " Liberty " and his later essay on " The Subjection 

 of Women" exhibit the ardent, emotional, enthusiastic, j^erhaps not 

 the soundest, side of Mr. Mill's mental character and observation of 

 human nature. Yet he cannot be said to have been without much 

 experience in the practical art of government. He was in immediate 

 charge of the " political department," so called, of the East India House 

 for more than twenty years. It was during this period, and in the midst 

 of active employments, that his Logic and Political Economy were 

 written. Both were thoucrht out in the vigor of life and at the 

 summit of his powers. His mind and pen were never idle. At about 

 the age of fifty, he made selections from his occasional short writings 

 for reviews, which were published in two large octavo volumes in the 

 English edition, and make four compact small volumes in the American 

 reprint. These, though occasional writings, had more than a passing 

 interest, since in them, as in all his writings, great and often new prin- 

 ciples of criticism ai-e lucidly set forth. In all his writings, his judg- 

 ments were valued by his readers, not as judgments on occasional 



