LAW IN POLITICS. 427 



such miseries come to be. That which is needed 

 to open our eyes to such questions, is not mere 

 intellectual power. Rarer and finer qualities have 

 this work to do. Among the characteristics of the 

 individual men who have exerted the most power- 

 ful influence for good on the condition of Society, 

 no quality has been more remarkable than a 

 certain natural openness and simplicity of mind. 

 Readiness to entertain, willingness to accept, and 

 enthusiasm to pursue a new idea, have always 

 been among the most fruitful gifts of genius. 



Is it vain to hope that the thoughtfulness and 

 candour which have been the natural inheritance 

 of a few, may yet be more common among all 

 educated men ? The whole constitution and course 

 of things would receive an earlier fulfilment did 

 we carry about with us an habitual belief in the 

 inexhaustible treasures which it holds — in the 

 power of the agencies which it offers to Know- 

 ledge and Contrivance. For then the results of 

 Natural Consequence would be accepted for that 

 which they teach, and not simply submitted to for 

 that which they inflict. The disorders of Society 

 would not so often be supinely regarded as the 



