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creatures that have life. Brutes have freedom in a prescribed 
groove. And the higher we get in the scale of intelligence, 
the wider is the groove of freedom assigned. Man, the 
crowning work of creation, has a larger freedom than the 
brutes, corresponding to his higher order of intellect. This 
shows that motives stir the man, but do not govern or control 
him. The higher the regulative powers, the wider is the 
freedom. And here I feel myself compelled to take excep- 
tion to a passage which I shall quote from the Duke of Argyll's 
Reign of Law : — • 
“ Accordingly we may see that, in proportion as there is an approach 
among the lower animals to the higher faculties of mind, there is, in corre- 
sponding proportion, a difficulty in predicting their conduct. Perhaps the 
best illustration of this is a very homely one — it is the effect of baits and 
traps. Some animals can be trapped and caught with perfect certainty ; 
whilst there are others upon which the motive presented by a bait is counter- 
acted by the stronger motive of caution against danger, when a higher degree 
of intelligence enables the animal to detect its presence. Yet the will of 
the cunning animal is not more free than the will of the stupid animal ; 
nor is the will of the stupid animal more subject to law than the will of the 
cunning one. The will of the young rat which yields to the temptation of 
a bait, and is caught, is not more subject to law than the will of the old 
rat, who suspects stratagems, resists the temptation and escapes. They are 
both subject to law in precisely the same sense and in precisely the same 
degree — that is to say, their actions are alike determined by the forces to 
which their faculties are accessible. Where these are few and simple, the 
resulting action is simple also ; where these are many and complicated, 
the resulting action has a corresponding variety. Thus the conduct of 
animals is less capable of being predicted, in proportion as it is difficult or 
impossible to foresee the number or nature of the motive forces which are 
brought to bear upon the will. Man’s will is free in the same sense, and in 
the same sense only. It is subject to law in the same sense, and in the 
same sense alone. That is to say, it is subject to the influence of motives, 
and it can only choose among those which are presented to it, or w’hich it 
has been given the pow r er of presenting to itself.” * 
With the facts liere posited there is no room to disagree. 
With the inference drawn, that an equal freedom only is en- 
joyed in an ascending scale of intelligence, I must differ. 
I fail entirely to see its legitimacy, or the grounds for the 
assertion “ the will of the cunning animal is not more free 
than the will of the stupid animal.” Man, it is admitted, has 
the “ power of bringing to bear upon himself motives, arising 
out of his power of forming abstract ideas, out of his pos- 
* Reign of Law, pp. 332 3. 
