LAW IN POLITICS. 393 



they felt them to be true in the light of Con- 

 science. 



The truth is, that some of the finest distinctions 

 in Philosophy were then for the first time emerg- 

 ing on the stage of Politics. The newest debates 

 of Parliament were circling unconsciously round 

 one of the oldest disputations of the Schools. A 

 question of practical legislation had arisen which 

 involved one of the most difficult problems in 

 metaphysical analysis. On the one hand, Free- 

 dom was asserted for the Will under conditions 

 and in a sense in which it did not exist. On 

 the other hand, Freedom was denied to the Will 

 in a sense in which the instincts of humanity 

 testified to its presence, and to the possibility 

 of its being exerted with effect. The true Doc- 

 trine of Necessity was exemplified in the conduct 

 of Employers and Employed — that conduct being 

 determined in a wrong direction by the force 

 of overpowering motives. The false Doctrine of 

 Necessity was exemplified in the argument, that 

 this conduct could not be changed under the force 

 of higher motives asserting themselves through 

 the Will of the Community in the form of Law. 



