V IN HUMAN SOCIETY. 227 



lished for a moral object only — namely, the good 

 of its members — and therefore that it may take 

 such measures as seem fitting for the attainment 

 of that which the general voice decides to be the 

 general good. That the suffrage of the majority 

 is by no means a scientific test of social good and 

 evil is unfortunately too true; but, in practice, 

 it is the only test we can apply, and the refusal to 

 abide by it means anarchy. The purest despotism 

 that ever existed is as much based upon that will 

 of the majority (which is usually submission to 

 the will of a small minority) as the freest re- 

 public. Law^ is the expression of the opinion of 

 the majority; and it is law, and not mere opin- 

 ion, because the many are strong enough to en- 

 force it. 



I am as strongly convinced as the most pro- 

 nounced individualist can be, that it is desirable 

 that every man should be free to act in every way 

 which does not limit the corresponding freedom 

 of his fellow-man. But I fail to connect that 

 great induction of political science with the prac- 

 tical corollary which is frequently drawn from it: 

 that the State — that is, the people in their cor- 

 porate capacity — ^has no business to meddle with 

 anything but the administration of justice and 

 external defence. It appears to me that the 



published in Critiques and Addresses in 1873, and in Vol. 

 i. of these Essays). I have seen no reason to modify 

 them, notwithstanding high authority on the other side. 



