The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State, and Other Essays

Essay Four. The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State, p. 123

Right_101-150.indd 23 5/11/11 2:23 PM ESSAY FOUR THE RIGHT AND WRONG OF COMPULSION BY THE STATE Published as a book by Williams and Norgate (London) in 1.885, this essay was based on a series of articles by Herbert which had previously appeared in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle. We need not look for better words, than those used by Mr. Herbert Spencer,* to describe the aim which *It is to Mr. Herbert Spencer's clear and comprehensive sight that we owe so much in this matter of liberty. Mr. Mill was an earnest and eloquent advocate of individual liberty. He was penetrated with the leading truth that all the great human qualities depend upon a man's mental independence , and upon his steady refusal to let a church, or a party, or the society in which he lives think for him. His book on liberty remains as a monument of a clearer sight, a higher faith, and nobler aspirations than those which exist at the present time, when both political parties compete with each other to tread their own principles underfoot, and to serve the expediency of the moment. But Mr. Spencer has approached the subject from a more comprehensive point of view than Mr. Mill, and has laid foundations on which, as men will presently acknowledge, the whole structure of society must be laid, if they are to live at peace with one another, and if all the great possibilities of progress are to be steadily and happily evolved. We owe to Mr. Spencer the clear perception that all ideas of justice and morality are bound up in the parent idea of libertythat is, in the right of man to direct his own faculties and energies-and that where this idea is not acknowledged and obeyed, justice and morality cannot be said to exist. They can only be more shadows and imitations of the realities. I should advise all persons to read Mr. Spencer's Man Versus the State, Introduction to Sociology, Social Statics, Data of Ethics, Right_101-150.indd 24 5/11/11 2:23 PM 124 Auberon Herbert ESSAY FOUR we place before ourselves, as the party of individual liberty . That aim is to secure "the liberty of each, limited alone by the like liberty of all." Let us see clearly what we mean. Each man and woman are to be free to direct their faculties and their energies, according to their own sense of what is right and wise, in every direction, except one. They are not to use their faculties for the purpose of forcibly restraining their neighbor from the same free use of his faculties. We claim for A and B perfect freedom as regards themselves, but on the one condition that they respect the same freedom as regards C. If A and B are stronger either in virtue of greater physical strength or greater numbers than their neighbor C, they must neither use their superior strength after the simply brutal fashion of those who live by violence, to tie C's hands and take from him what he possesses, or after the less brutal but equally unjust fashion, to pass laws to direct C as to the manner in which he shall use his faculties and live his life. I will explain yet more fully what I mean. Under a system of the widest possible liberty, each man thinks and acts according to his own judgment and his own sense of right. He labors as he will, making such free bargains as he chooses respecting the price and all other conditions that affect his labor; he is idle or industrious, he spends and First Principles. I ought perhaps to add here that I have reason to believe that Mr. Spencer disagrees with the conclusions regarding taxation , which I have drawn from his principles. I have discussed this question of taxation shortly in the last chapter of a little book called A Politician in Trouble About His Soul, published by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, and would beg to refer any persons who may be interested in the subject to what I have said there. I hope soon to have ready a special paper dealing with this matter. Right_101-150.indd 25 5/11/11 2:23 PM ESSAY FOUR The Right and Wrong of Compulsion 125 or he lays by, he remains poor, or he becomes rich, he turns...