394 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



The antagonism which was and still is so 

 often assumed between Natural Law and Hu- 

 man Law, or in other words between Natural 

 Law and Positive Institution, is an antagonism 

 which may indeed exist, and does very often exist. 

 But it is also an antagonism which may be elimi- 

 nated, and must be eliminated if Legislation is ever 

 to be attended with permanent success. It is, alas, 

 a Natural Law that men should be thoughtless, 

 and selfish, and reckless of moral consequences, 

 when they are bent exclusively on material results. 

 But when the consequences of this conduct has 

 been brought home to their convictions by the 

 force of imminent danger or of actual calamity, it 

 is a law not less natural that they should take 

 alarm, that they should retrace their steps, and 

 that by walking in another course they should bring 

 about conditions of a better kind. The Laws of 

 Man are also Laws of Nature, when founded on 

 a true perception of natural tendencies and a just 

 appreciation of combined results. On the other 

 hand, Human Laws are at variance with, or anta- 

 gonistic to the Laws of Nature, when founded 

 either on the desire of attaining a wrong end, or 



