398 GOVERNMENT is 



reignty to a liquidator. But then the members of 

 industrial associations certainly do not undergo 

 that transfiguration which, according to Rousseau, 

 is worked by entrance into the social contract. 

 " The general will," says he, " is always upright 

 and always tends towards the general good " (liv. 

 ii. chap, iii.) ; " the people are never corrupted " 

 (ibid.} ; " all constantly desire the happiness of 

 each " (liv. ii. chap. iv.). 



Unfortunately, the intellect and the information 

 of the sovereign are not always quite up to the 

 standard of his morality : 



The general will is always just ; but the judgment which 

 guides it is not always enlightened (liv. ii. chap. vi.). 



It would seem that flattery of the sovereign is 

 not peculiar to monarchies. Notoriously, kings 

 can do no wrong, and always spend their lives in 

 sighing for the welfare of their subjects. If they 

 seem to err, it is only because they are misled and 

 misinformed. That has been the great make- 

 believe of apologists for despotism from all time. 



A properly enlightened sovereign people, with 

 its incorruptible altruism, can never lose sight of 

 the true end of legislation, the greatest good of 

 all ; and if we seek to know what that is, Rous- 

 seau tells us that it embraces two things, Liberty 

 and Equality (liv. ii. chap. xi.). Liberty, he says, 

 is " obedience to the law which one has laid down 

 for oneself" (liv. i. chap, viii.) ; a well-sounding 



