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expedient, as signifying those which may be neg- 

 lected without fear of these results, but from the 

 performance of which much, or the greatest, good, 

 jnay be anticipated. But here arises a difficulty 

 which sets both schools at issue, and regarding which 

 few of the disciples of either can agree amongst 

 themselves, viz. which are the obligatory, and which 

 the expedient ? Volumes have been written, are 

 daily being written on this subject: but none of the 

 arguments adduced from the ' abstract principle' 

 point, can possibly carry anything convincing with 

 them, for the very simple reason here dwelt on, that 

 the subject cannot be separated from social consider- 

 ations. The fundamental principles of both schools 

 if rightly applied, may be productive of very happy 

 results ; but if misapplied, of quite the reverse. 

 Indeed, there can be no comparison between the two 

 doctrines, for each properly contemplates an entirely 

 different order of things. The one pre-supposes a 

 state of society in which the people are not suffi- 

 ciently enlightened to manage their own affairs ; 

 while to admit the truth of the other, it is absolutely 

 necessary to assume an amount of education, intelli- 

 gence, and many other qualifications on the part of 

 the people, that will warrant the belief, that they 

 are the best judges, not of what they like, but, of 

 what is good for them, and this again requires not 

 only a highly cultivated, but a peculiarly constituted 

 society. Thus, if we take twenty highly cultivated, 

 and highly educated men, and set them around a 



