ETHICS AND ALTRUISM 259 



Hobhouse says, that in England death was theoreti- 

 cally the penalty for all felonies, except petty larceny 

 and mayhem, from the middle ages, down to 1826. 



The excess! veness and cruelty of punishment for 

 offenses seem to have been proportioned to the weak- 

 ness of the people in their efforts to defend themselves. 

 They were the result of fear and weakness. When 

 larceny and robbery were more or less prevalent among 

 the powerful, who stood together as clansmen, those 

 whose duty it was to make the laws, and inflict the 

 punishment, invoked heavy penalty, as a preventive 

 of crime. But when public opinion became more moral, 

 it took the place of unusual punishment, and the powers, 

 having the public opinion behind them, as an aid to 

 good order, abolished excessive penalties for milder 

 ones. This sort of evolution will continue, parallel 

 with the growth of intellect and morals, until eventually 

 mankind will do right without fear of punishment, be- 

 cause they will then perceive that crime brings its own 

 punishment, when the community at large keeps control 

 of it. That is, men will do the right for its own sake, 

 or rather because that habit brings the greatest welfare, 

 to both the individual and the community. 



Hobhouse says also, that serfdom was finally abol- 

 ished in France, without compensation, on the night 

 of August 4th, 1789, along with the other incidents of 

 the feudal tenure. At the same time fell the whole 

 system of privilegevS, which had made the nobles, and 

 the clergy, castes set apart from the mass of the 

 people. 



It perhaps could not have been done, in France, in 

 any other way, than by the French revolution, or for 

 that matter, great reforms are forced by the people, 

 who need the reforms, never by the oppressor. 



