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Benevolence and good-will require self-sacrifice. There is the duty of self-denial even as to things harmless. My neighbor has not the decision and self-control necessary to temperance in certain amusements. He must then abstain entirely, and it is my duty to encourage and help him by my own entire abstinence.

This is an ethic aspect in application to my use or disuse of certain amusements-precisely the principle and ethic character that applies to temperance in drink. One man knows how to drink pure wine temperately and with useful effect; another and the major part do not. These run into excess, and so the good becomes bad. This is the ethic principle in temperance societies. It is not that there is no good in any of the beverages, but it is that as this good is not essential to my life and well-being, I will forego it, to promote the good of my neighbor. The ethic character is in this limitation.

The conclusion must be that amusements may properly be indulged in, so far as they are consistent with the duties of life, are subordinate to the higher principles of life, and that it is the duty of each one to carefully study his duty in this comparative view of it.

DIVISION III. POLITICAL ETHICS.

45. GENERAL VIEW; SPECIAL APPLICATION.Political ethics have for their subject moral considerations in the conduct of the municipal, state and national affairs of the people, and in general

how the ends of justice as to all the natural rights of the people are to be attained, in the enactment and administration of law. In this view, if it be granted, that an individual has obtained rightful ownership to certain lands or other property, it is a question of political ethics, under what limitations, if any, he should enjoy this right; for instance, to cite Dr. Lieber's examples: "Whether, under certain given circumstances, this general right of property is best secured by unlimited possession or by revertible titles, as was the case in the Mosaic law; whether the general principle demands, under the given circumstances, that the accumulation of property as well as its division should be unlimited; or whether it is wise to prevent division below a certain standard, as is the case in Sweden and some other countries; or prevent accumulation beyond a certain limit, as Solon prescribed. The whole great question of constitutions with respect to everything that is not strictly a principle of natural law-e. g., protection of personal liberty, of freedom from molestation as long as no wrong is done, of a degree of protection extended even to the evildoer, and while we bring him to punishment-belongs to political ethics."

Other questions belonging to this subject are-how long ought a senator or a peer to hold office? For six years, as in the United States; for life, as it was in France; or for a hereditary period, as in England; and what the qualifications for the office; and is it ethical, in order to hold on to an order of succession in monarchical governments, to have the throne occupied by a female monarch?

The moral considerations involved in these and like questions are recondite and beyond the limit of this inquiry.

General ethic laws and considerations must guide in the solution of them; but they cannot be specifically determined except in the light of facts and experience.

Political ethics is applicable to international law, an extensive subject in itself. All that can here be said of it is that international friendships and goodwill are best secured and cemented by a mutual interchange of good offices, in all sincerity and honesty, with a keen perception of what is right and just.

For the attainment of these ends the statesman must be "wise as the serpent, harmless as the dove."

The following extract from Mrs. Barbauld exhibits the ground-principle in political ethics: "We act as a nation, when through the organ of the legis lative power which speaks the will of the nation, and by means of the executive power which does the will of the nation, we enact laws, form alliances, make war or peace, dispose of the public money, or do any of those things which belong to us in our collective capacity; and we are called upon to repent of national sins because we can help them, and because we ought to help them. We are not to imagine we can make government the scapegoat to answer for our follies and our crimes. The blame rests where the power ultimately rests. It were trifling with our consciences to endeavor to separate

the acts of governors sanctioned by the nation from the acts of the nation; for in every transaction the principal is answerable for the conduct of the agents he employs. If the maxim that "the king can do no wrong" throws upon ministers the responsibility because without ministers no wrong can be done, the same reason throws it from them upon the people, without whom ministers could do no wrong.

"The vices of nations may be divided into those which relate to their own internal proceedings and to their relations with other states. With regard to the first, the causes for humiliation are various. Many nations are guilty of the crime of permitting oppressive laws and bad governments to remain among them, by which the poor are crushed, and the lives of the innocent are laid at the mercy of wicked and arbitrary men. This is a national sin of the deepest dye, as it involves in it most others. It is painful to reflect how many atrocious governments there are in the world, and how little even they who enjoy good ones seem to understand their true nature. We are apt to speak of the happiness of living under a mild government as if it were like the happiness of living under an indulgent climate; and when we thank God for it we rank it with the blessings of the air and the soil; whereas we ought to ask God for wisdom and virtue to live under a good government, for a good government is the first of national duties. It is indeed a happiness, and one which demands our most grateful thanks, to be born under one which spares us the

trouble and hazard of changing it; but a people born under a good government will probably not die under one, if they conceive of it as an indolent and passive happiness, to be left for its preservation to fortunate conjectures, and the floating and variable chances of incalculable events. Our second duty is to keep it good."

46.

LIBERTY; ITS SUBSTANCE.-The substance of liberty or freedom consists in the guarantees which the individual has from the invasion of his rights by a stronger party, whether this party be an individual, the public at large, or the government.

The same truth applies to a nation; hence we speak of national liberty, or independence from foreign interference. Our fathers suffered, fought and bled for this, in the time of the American Revolution, the memorable seven years' struggle in 1776-83.

The following extracts from a distinguished writer bear on this subject: "It is impossible to imagine liberty in its fullness, if the people as a totality, the country, the nation, whatever name may be preferred, or its government, is not independent of foreign interference. The country must have what the Greeks called autonomy. This implies that the country must have the right, and of course the power, of establishing that government which it considers best, unexposed to interference from without or pressure from above. No foreigner must dictate: No extra-governmental principle, no divine right, or 'principle of legitimacy' must act in the foundation of the government; no claim superior to

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