i* CRITIQUES AND ADDRESSES. [r. 



The statesman, on the other hand, is like the physician, who 

 knows that he can stop the pain at once by an opiate ; 

 but who also knows that the opiate may do more harm 

 than good in the long run. In three cases out of four 

 the wisest thing he can do is to wait, and leave the case 

 to nature. But in the fourth case, in which the symptoms 

 are unmistakable, and the cause of the disease distinctly 

 known, prompt remedy saves a life. Is the fact that 

 a wise physician wdll give as little medicine as possible 

 any argument for his abstaining from giving any at all ? 



But the argument may be met directly. It may be 

 granted that the State, or corporate authority of the 

 people, might with perfect propriety order my religion, or 

 my waistcoat, if as good grounds could be assigned for 

 such an order as for the command to educate my children. 

 And this leads us to the question which lies at the root 

 of the whole discussion the question, namely, upon 

 what foundation does the authority of the State rest, 

 and how arc the limits of that authority to be deter- 

 mined ? 



One of the oldest and profoundest of English philoso- 

 phers, Hobbes of Malmesbury, writes thus : 



"The office of the sovereign, be it monarch or an assembly, con- 

 sisteth in the end for which he was entrusted with the sovereign 

 power, namely, the procuration of the safety of the people : to which he 

 is obliged by the law of nature, and to render an account thereof to 

 God, the author of that law, and to none but Him. But by safety, 

 here, is not meant a bare preservation, but also all other contentments 

 of life, which every man by lawful industry, without danger or hurt to 

 the commonwealth, shall acquire to himself." 



At first sight this may appear to be a statement of the 

 police-theory of government, pure and simple ; but it is 

 not so. For Hobbes goes on to say : 



" And this is intended should be done, not by care applied to in- 

 dividuals, further than their protection from injuries, when they shall 



