366 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



determined. This restraint may be said to be 

 artificial as opposed to the natural restraints of 

 the individual reason : and this perhaps is the dis- 

 tinction most generally intended when the natural 

 conduct of men is contrasted with their conduct 

 under the control of Positive Institution. But as 

 the motives which determine individual conduct 

 are not always reasonable motives, so it is clear, 

 that what men naturally do is no sure test 

 either of what they ought to do, or of what 

 they ought to be allowed to do. It is their 

 nature, under certain conditions, to do all that 

 is bad and injurious to themselves and others. 

 Hence it is the most difficult of all problems in 

 the Science of Government to determine when, 

 where, and how, it is wise to interfere by the 

 authority of Law with the motives which are 

 usually called the natural motives of men. The 

 question is no other than this — How far the abuse 

 of those motives can be checked and resisted 

 by that public authority whose duty and function 

 it is to place itself above the influences which, in 

 individual men, overpower the voice of reason 

 and of conscience? 



