a turnkey and the mild courage of an Elizabeth Fry! Experience, incontestable experience, has proved, that the minds of few men are so depraved or desperate as to prevent them from being influenced by real Christian conduct. Let him therefore who advocates the taking the life of an aggressor, first show that all other means of safety are vain; let him show that bad men, notwithstanding the exercise of true Christian forbearance, persist in their purposes of death: when he has done this he will have adduced an argument in favor of taking their lives which will not indeed be conclusive, but which will approach nearer to conclusiveness than any that has yet been adduced. Of the consequences of forbearance, even in the case of personal attack, there are some examples: Archbishop Sharpe was assaulted by a footpad on the highway, who presented a pistol and demanded his money. The Archbishop spoke to the robber in the language of a fellow man and of a Christian. The man was really in distress, and the prelate gave him such money as he had, and promised that, if he would call at the palace, he would make up the amount to fifty pounds. This was the sum of which the robber had said he stood in the utmost need. The man called and received the money. About a year and a half afterwards, this man again came to the palace and brought back the same sum. He said that his circumstances had become improved and that, through the "astonishing goodness" of the Archbishop, he had become "the most penitent, the most grateful, and happiest of his species."--Let the reader consider how different the Archbishop's feelings were, from what they would have been if, by his hand this man had been cut off.* See Lond. Chron. "Aug. 12, 1785." See also life of Granville Sharpe, Esq., p. 13. man. Barclay, the Apologist, was attacked by a highwayHe substituted for the ordinary modes of resistance, a calm expostulation. The felon dropped his presented pistol, and offered no further violence. A Leonard Fell was similarly attacked, and from him the robber took both his money and his horse, and then threatened to blow out his brains. Fell solemnly spoke to the man on the wickedness of his life. The robber was astonished: he had expected, perhaps, curses, or perhaps a dagger. He declared he would not keep either the horse or the money, and returned both. "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head."'*-The tenor of the short narrative that follows is somewhat different. Ellwood, who is known to the literary world as the suggester to Milton of Paradise Regained, was attending his father in his coach. Two men waylaid them in the dark and stopped the carriage. Young Ellwood got out, and on going up to the nearest, the ruffian raised a heavy club, heavy club, "when," says Ellwood, "I whipped out my rapier and made a pass upon him. I could not have failed running him through up to the hilt," but the sudden appearance of the bright blade terrified the man so that he stepped aside, avoided the thrust, and both he and the other fled. "At that time," proceeds Ellwood," and for a good while after, I had no regret upon my mind for what I had done. This was whilst he was young, and when the forbearing principles of Christianity had little influence upon him. But afterwards, when this influence became powerful, a sort of horror," he says, "seized on me when I considered how near I had been to the staining of my hands with human blood. And whensoever afterwards I went that way, and indeed as often since as the matter has come into my remembrance, my soul * "Select Anecdotes, &c." by John Barclay. "a has blessed Him who preserved and withheld me from shedding man's blood."'* That those over whom, as over Ellwood, the influence of Christianity is imperfect and weak, should think themselves at liberty upon such occasions to take the lives of their fellow-men, needs to be no subject of wonder. Christianity, if we would rightly estimate its obligations, must be felt in the heart. They in whose hearts it is not felt, or felt but little, cannot be expected perfectly to know what its obligations are. I know not therefore that more appropriate advice can be given to him who contends for the lawfulness of taking another man's life in order to save his own, than that he would first enquire whether the influence of religion is dominant in his mind. If it is not, let him suspend his decision until he has attained to the fulness of the stature of a Christian man. Then, as he will be of that number who do the will of Heaven, he may hope to "know of this doctrine whether it be of God." * Ellwood's Life. ESSAY III.* POLITICAL RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS. CHAPTER I. PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL TRUTH, AND OF I.—" Political Power is rightly exercised only when it is possessed by consent of the community"-Governors Officers of the public-Transfer of their rights by a whole people-The people hold the sovereign power-Rights of Governors—A conciliating system. II.-" Political Power is rightly exercised only when it subserves the welfare of the community"-Interference with other nations-Present expedients for present occasions— Proper business of Governments. III. "Political Power is rightly exercised only when it subserves the welfare of the community by means which the moral law permits "The moral law alike binding on nations and individuals—Deviation from rectitude impolitic. [*This Essay the author did not live to revise, a circumstance which will account for a want of complete connection of the different parts of a subject which the reader will sometimes meet with. There occur also in this part of the manuscript numerous memoranda, which the author intended to make use of in a future revision. These are to be distinguished from the Notes, as the former refer, not to any particular passage but only to the subject of the chapter or section. They were hastily, as the thought occurred, written in the margin or on a blank leaf of the manuscript, and they are here introduced at the bottom of the page, in those parts to which they appear to have the nearest reference.-ED.] THE fundamental principles which are deducible from the law of nature and from Christianity, respecting political affairs, appear to be these: 1. Political Power is rightly possessed only when it is possessed by consent of the community ; 2. It is rightly exercised only when it subserves the welfare of the community; 3. And only when it subserves this purpose, by means which the moral law permits. I-" POLITICAL POWER IS RIGHTLY POSSESSED ONLY WHEN IT IS POSSESSED BY CONSENT OF THE COMMUNITY." Perfect liberty is desirable if it were consistent with the greatest degree of happiness. But it is not. Men find that, by giving up a part of their liberty, they are more happy than by retaining, or attempting to retain, the whole. Government, whatever be its form, is the agent by which the inexpedient portion of individual liberty is taken away. Men institute government for their own advantage, and because they find they are more happy with it than without it. This is the sole reason, in principle, how little soever it be adverted to in practice. Governors, therefore, are the officers of the public, in the proper sense of the word: not the slaves of the public; for if they do not incline to conform to the public will, they are at liberty, like other officers, to give up their office. They are servants, in the same manner, and for the same purpose, as a solicitor is the servant of his client, and the physician of his patient. These are employed by the patient or the client voluntarily for his own advantage, and for nothing else. (A nation, (not an individ- \ ual, but a nation,) is under no other obligation to obedience, than that which arises from the conviction that obedience is good for itself :-or rather, in more |