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Thk death of one King , and the accession of another , the dissolution of Parliament in consequence of those events , and probable changes in the administration of our country , lead our minds to the consideration of government generally , and elicit the inquiries , what is its proper use to mankind ? What are the advantages which it is ultimately to produce ? For , that government of every kind is an instrument in the hand of Divine Providence to work out some great and beneficial result to the human race , no one can disbelieve who has faith in the ever-ruling wisdom and goodness of the Almighty . That it is intended merely to teach men patience , through the wrongs inflicted by tyrants , or to stir their unquenchable love of liberty into an active principle of resistance , when those wrongs become too great and multiplied for longer endurance ; that it is intended to call forth men's charity for the fatal and gainful mistakes in legislation which are made by the hereditary wise , and by those who purchase the right of being so ; that it is intended to teach men trust in heaven , by taking from them all hope on earth , giving them a stab for every impious murmur , and death for every attempt at constitutional independence , may be true ; for there are many mournful truths necessary to be learned ; but looking at man , his nature and capacities , recalling what we have been taught , what we have seen , what we have laid up deep in our hearts and understandings , respecting the Eternal Spirit of the universe , can these be the only ends for which such fearful powers are employed as those which , in every civilized nation , are entrusted to some of our fellow-men ? Is there not some further object whose accomplishment shall shed an universal blessing on the human race ? Yes . The proper use of government is to teach men the true enjoyment of of their liberties .
The notion which the complete savage entertains of freedom is , to do whatever he pleases , to go wherever he pleases , to take for his own gratification whatever excites his desire , and to revenge his injuries , according to his own sense of justice , or the implacableness of his disposition . But the wretchedness of such freedom is very apparent . Where there are no laws to secure the possession of property when it has been acquired , there is no encouragement to industry . Hence among savage nations there is but little cultivation of the ground . They depend for their subsistence upon the natural productions of the earth , and on their success in hunting and fishing . These things afford them but a scanty subsistence , consequently their numbers are few , and even those few are frequently obliged to pass whole days without food . And , owing to the difficulty or procuring the commonest necessar ies of life , among some tribes of savages many children are destroyed as soon as they are born , that they may not afterwards endure a more lingering death by starvation . Again , where there are no laws by which persons appointed for that purpose may judge between man and man , but every man pursues his private quarrel by such means as strength or cunning prompts , there is no end to contention . H blood be shed , one death brings many others in its train : the nearest relation of the deceased takes upon him the duty of revenge , and animosity and slaughter are continued from age to age . So that , notwithstanding the praises of savage life which have f ^ en put forth by sophistical writers , who have endeavoured to prove that ] gnorance is better than knowledge , and barbarism than civilization , and l ° at human laws are but so many ways by which the strong oppress the
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ON THE PROPER USE OF GOVERNMENT .
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( 601 ) ^
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vol iv . 2 u
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1830, page 601, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2588/page/17/
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