360 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



duct of business,* and when he adds, " It is 

 unspeakable how advantageous it is that a man 

 should think he has something which he may 

 call his own, for it is by no means to no 

 purpose that each person should have an affec- 

 tion for himself, for that is " natural" \ he touches 

 the very root idea of the modern science of Poli- 

 tical Economy. He touches it, but he does not 

 grasp it. It is a line of argument which is never 

 consistently maintained ; and though there are 

 perpetual appeals to "nature" — to that which is 

 "natural" — to that which nature teaches — no de- 

 finite meaning can be attached to these expres- 

 sions ; and dogmas are laid down as "natural," 

 which are purely abstract and metaphysical con- 

 ceptions. Nature is called as a witness, and then 

 the witness she gives is condemned and put out 

 of court. Industry is occasionally praised, whilst 

 the means and 'the motives to industry are syste- 

 matically despised. The exercise of any mechani- 



* fiaWov 5' eTriSiixxovsLv (lis trpbs iSiov Zkolgtov Trposedpetiovros. 

 — Aristot. Pol., Bk. ii., c. 5. 



"f £ti 5£ teal vpbs TjSovrjv dp.v6rjTov osov 8ia<pepei to vo/mifeiv I8i6v tl 

 pvr) yap ou p.a.Tt]v tj\v irpbs avrbv dvrbs ex et <p^\ioiv eKasros, a\\' esrt 

 tovto (pvsLKov. — Bk. ii., c. v. 



