422 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



limit is, it must always be difficult to determine 

 except by actual experiment. It is enough 

 here to observe that in this, as in every other 

 department of human conduct, men are being 

 led gradually to a knowledge of the truth by 

 the teachings of Natural Consequence. It is by 

 the experience of actual results that Ave are 

 taught both as to the objects which are legiti- 

 mate objects of desire, and as to the proper 

 methods by which these may be attained. The 

 very attempt of the Working Classes to govern 

 through Combination their own affairs, and to de- 

 termine their own condition, is an Education in it- 

 self. On the extended scale in which that attempt 

 is being made, it must accustom them to consider 

 great general causes, and to estimate the manner 

 and the degree in which these can be affected by 

 the methods of Adjustment. Last, not least, it 

 must lead them to study and to recognise the moral 

 duties which are indeed the most fundamental 

 of all Natural Laws. For it ought to be remem- 

 bered, that the first and most important object of 

 Combinations is one against which there can be 

 no opposition founded on the doctrines of Economic' 



