6o2 



LOGIC OF THE MORAL SCIENCES. 



cline, became either the slave of a 

 despotism, or the prey of a foreign 

 invader. 



"The second condition of perma- 

 nent political society has been found 

 to be the existence, in some form or 

 other, of the feeling of allegiance or 

 loyalty. This feeling may vary in its 

 objects, and is not confined to any 

 particular form of government ; but 

 whether in a democracy or in a mon- 

 archy, its essence is always the same, 

 viz. that there be in the constitution 

 of the state something which is settled, 

 something permanent, and not to be 

 called in question ; something which, 

 by general agreement, has a right to 

 be where rt is, and to be secure 

 against disturbance, whatever else 

 may change. This feeling may attach 

 itself, as among the Jews, (and in most 

 of the commonwealths of antiquity, ) 

 to a common God or gods, the protec- 

 tors and guardians of their state. Or 

 it may attach itself to certain persons, 

 who are deemed to be, whether by 

 divine appointment, by long prescrip- 

 tion, or by the general recognition of 

 their superior capacity and worthiness, 

 the rightful guides and guardians of 

 the rest Or it may connect itself 

 with laws ; with ancient liberties or 

 ordinances. Or, finally, (and this is 

 the only shape in which the feel- 

 ing is likely to exist hereafter,) it 

 may attach itself to the principles 

 of individual freedom and political 

 and social equality, as realised in in- 

 stitutions which as yet exist nowhere, 

 or exist only in a rudimentary state. 

 But in all political societies which 

 have had a durable existence there 

 has been some fixed point, something 

 which people agree in holding sacred ; 

 which, wherever freedom of discus- 

 sion was a recognised principle, it was 

 of course lawful to contest in theory, 

 but which no one could either fear or 

 hope to see shaken in practice ; which, 

 in short (except perhaps during some 

 temporary crisis) was in the common 

 estimation placed beyond discussion. 

 And the necessity of this may easily 

 be made evident. A state never is, 



nor, until mankind are vastly im- 

 proved, can hope to be, for any long 

 time exempt from internal dissension ; 

 for there neither is nor ever has been 

 any state of society in which collisions 

 did not occur between the immediate 

 interests and passions of powerful sec- 

 tions of the people. What, then, en- 

 ables nations to weather these storms, 

 and pass through turbulent times with- 

 out any permanent weakening of the 

 securities for peaceable existence ? 

 Precisely this — that however impor- 

 tant the interests about which men fell 

 out, the conflict did not affect the 

 fundamental principle of the system of 

 social union which happened to exist, 

 nor threaten large portions of the com- 

 munity with the subversion of that on 

 which they had built their calcula- 

 tions, and with which their hopes and 

 aims had become identified. But when 

 the qtiestioning of these fundamental 

 principles is (not the occasional dis- 

 ease or salutary medicine, but) the 

 habitual condition of the body politic, 

 and when all the violent animosities 

 are called forth which spring natu- 

 rally from such a situation, the state is 

 virtually in a position of civil war, 

 and can never long remain free from 

 it in act and fact. 



•'The third essential condition of 

 stability in political society is a strong 

 and active principle of cohesion among 

 the members of the same community 

 or state. We need scarcely say that 

 we <'^ not mean nationality, in the 

 vulgar sense of the term ; a senseless 

 antipathy to foreigners ; indifference 

 to the general welfare of the human 

 race, or an unjust preference of the 

 supposed interest of our own country ; 

 a cherishing of bad peculiarities be- 

 cause they are national, or a refusal 

 to adopt what has been found good by 

 other countries. We mean a principle 

 of sympathy, not of hostility ; of union, 

 not of separation. We mean a feeling 

 of common interest among those who 

 live under the same government, and 

 are contained within the same natural 

 or historical boundaries. We mean, 

 that one part of the community do 



I 



