28 CRITIQUES AND ADDRESSED [i. 



mote friendship and sympathy between man and man 

 directly. But I see no reason why, if it be otherwise expe- 

 dient, the State may not do something towards that end 

 indirectly. For example, I can conceive the existence 

 of an Established Church which should be a blessing to 



o 



the community. A Church in which, week by week, 

 services should be devoted, not to the iteration of abstract 

 propositions in theology, but to the setting before men's 

 minds of an ideal of true, just, and pure living ; a place 

 in which those who are weary of the burden of daily 

 cares, should find a moment's rest in the contemplation 

 of the higher life which is possible for all, though attained 

 by so few ; a place in which the man of strife and of busi- 

 ness should have time to think how small, after all, are 

 the rewards he covets compared with peace and charity. 

 Depend upon it, if such a Church existed, no one would 

 seek to disestablish it. 



Whatever the State may not do, however, it is uni- 

 versally agreed that it may take charge of the main- 

 tenance of internal and external peace. Even the 

 strongest advocate of administrative nihilism admits 

 that Government may prevent aggression of one man 

 on another. But this implies the maintenance of an 

 army and navy, as much as of a body of police ; it 

 implies a diplomatic as well as a detective force ; and 

 it implies, further, that the State, as a corporate whole, 

 shall have distinct and definite views as to its wants, 

 powers, and obligations. 



For independent States stand in the same relation to 

 one another as men in a state of nature, or unlimited 

 freedom. Each endeavours to get all it can, until the 

 inconvenience of the state of war suggests either the 

 formation of those express contracts we call treaties, or 

 mutual consent to those implied contracts which are 

 expressed by international law. The moral rights of a 



