IX GOVERNMENT 



article, he diametrically opposes Hobbes, and d 

 clares that the surrender of natural rights Avlii.- 

 took place when the social compact was made w 

 not complete, but, on the contrary, most strict 

 and carefully limited. 



The difference is of great importance. It 

 marks the point of separation of two schools of d 

 priori political philosophy, which have continued 

 to be represented, with constantly increasing 

 divergence, down to the present time, when the 

 ultimate stages of their respective series confront 

 one another as Anarchy on the one hand, and 

 Regimentation on the other. 



But it is necessary to define these epithets with 

 care, before going further. Anarchy, .as a term of 

 political philosophy, must be taken only in its 

 proper sense, which has nothing to do with dis- 

 order or with crime ; but denotes a state of 

 society, in which the rule of each individual by 

 himself is the only government the legitimacy of 

 which is recognised. In this sense, strict anarchy 

 may be the highest conceivable grade of perfection 

 of social existence ; for, if all men spontaneously 

 did justice and loved mercy, it is plain 

 that all swords might be advantageously turned 

 into ploughshares, and that the occupation of 

 judges and police would be gone. 1 Anarchy, as 



1 "For if men could rule themselves, every man by his own 

 command, that is to say, could they live according to the laws 

 of nature, there would be no need at all of a city, nor of a 



