' It would not be difficult for
any man of intelligence and observation to recall instances, within his
own knowledge, in which this arbitrary power of the community has been
most unjustly exerted to oppress and injure individuals. The injury and
oppression have been none the less, because their operation has been
silent, attended with no physical force or legal restraint, but reaching
only the mind and heart of the sufferer, crushing them with the moral
weight of unjust opprobrium, and torturing them with all the ingenious
appliances of social tyranny.
The remedy for this sort of despotism--the most dangerous of all, if not
the only danger to be feared in civilized communities and in liberal
governments--is not to be found in laws or constitutions, but in the
enlightened liberality and trained habits and sentiments of society
itself. 'Some,' says Mr. Mill, 'whenever they see any good to be done or
any evil to be remedied, would willingly instigate the government to
undertake the business; while others prefer to bear almost any amount of
social evil, rather than to add one to the departments of human
interests amenable to governmental control.' And, upon the whole, he
thinks, 'the interference of government is, with about equal frequency,
improperly invoked and improperly condemned.' The only device which Mr.
Mill proposes, as the effectual means of counteracting this sort of
tyranny, either political or social, is the establishment of a rule or
principle, by which the limits of authority over individuals shall, in
both cases, be strictly and philosophically defined.
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