IX GOVERNMENT 



to yield to government, in Border that it should 

 exercise its only legitimate function, the defence 

 of the liberty and property of the individual. 

 According to this limited individualist view, tin- 

 business of government (except in relation to ex- 

 ternal enemies) is negative ; it is to interfere only 

 for the purpose of preventing any one citizen from 

 using his liberty in such a way as to interfere 

 with the equal liberty of another citizen. Accord- 

 ing to the regimentalist view, on the contrary, the 

 business of government is not only negative, but 

 also and eminently positive. It is the duty of the 

 State to interfere for the purpose of promoting 

 the. welfare of society (of which equality is sup- 

 posed to be a necessary condition), however much 

 such interference may restrict individual liberty. 

 The final outcome of Regimentation is seen in 

 those extreme forms of regimental Socialism which 

 undertake to regulate not only production and 

 consumption, but every detail of human life; 

 that of Individualism is Anarchy, which abolishes 

 collective government and trusts to the struggle 

 for existence, modified by such ethical and in- 

 tellectual considerations as may be freely recog- 

 nised by the individual, for the establishment of a 

 social modus vivendi, in which freedom remains 

 intact, except so far as it may be voluntarily 

 limited. 



Granting the premisses, I am unable to see that 

 one of these lines of argument is any better than 



