第49章

thoughthereissomethingmuchmorecomplex，inthegrowthofasocietythaninthegrowthofanaturalspecies。Butasitsupposesachangeduetosomethingintheconstitutionofthemanhimself，nottomerely’externalcircumstances，’ithastoberejectedasmuchaspossible。Hencewegetouromnipotentsovereigncreatinglawsandcustomsandtobetakenasanultimatefact。

IneednotpointoutatlengththerelationoftheseviewstoUtilitarianismingeneral，andtothebeliefintheindefinitemodifiabilityofhumannatureandthetranscendentimportanceofpoliticalmachinery。ItisenoughtonotethatAustin’spositioninvolvesoneassumptionremarkableinaUtilitarian。TheempiricismoftheUtilitariansisinterpretedtomeanthateverythingmustbeexplainedbycircumstances，andconductthereforeby’external’sanctions。Austinfeelsthat，afterall，somebondmustberequiredtoholdmentogether。Thelegislativesanctionscannotbequiteultimate。Infact，wewant’morality’；

andhethereforeincludesthe’lawsofGod’amongthelawswhicharereally，notmetaphorically，laws。HethusacceptsthePaleyview，thoughwithacertainreserve。，Utility，isthesolecriterionor’index，’ashecallsit，tothemorallaw。Still，thelawrequiresasanction。Thesanctionisleftinjudiciousvagueness；butwearetoldthatGodmustbebenevolent，andmustthereforebeheldtoapprovetheconductwhichpromotesthehappinessofhiscreatures。This，itwouldseem，isessentialtoAustin’sposition。(11*)Whetherhewaspractisingsome’economy，’

andwhathisfellowUtilitarianswouldhavethoughtofit，andhowpreciselyhewouldhavejustifiedhispositionlogically，arequestionswhichIcannotdiscuss。

TheapplicationofAustin’sprinciplestothepurelylegalsphereliesbeyondmypurpose。Hisaimistoanalysetheprimaryconceptionsofjurisprudenceinaccordancewithhisprinciples，andtoobtainarationalclassificationoflawingeneral。

Whethertheresultwassatisfactory，orhowfarsatisfactory，I

cannotinquire。ThelectureswerereviewedintheEdinburghbothbyJ。F。Stephen(12*)andbyJ。S。Mill。(13*)BothofthemspeakwarmlyofthemeritsofSirHenryMaine，thenbeginningtobefamous，andbothregardthetwomethodsascorrelativeratherthanantagonistic。Thattheyoughttobecorrelativeisclear。A

soundtheoryoforiginsandgrowthshouldbeperfectlycompatiblewithasoundtheoryoftheactualorder。Butwhetherthetwosystemsactuallypresentthatharmonyisanotherquestion。

ThepoliticalapplicationofAustin’sprinciplesmightbeillustratedfromthewritingsofhisfriendanddisciple，SirGeorgeCornewallLewis(1806-1863)。(14*)Strongsense，unflaggingindustry，andthehighestintegritywonforLewishighauthorityinparliament。Aboundlessthirstforknowledge，supportedbyaremarkable，memory，enabledhimtodiscussmanytopicsofhistoricalcriticism。HewasintimatewithGrote，whoacceptedhissuggestionsuponGreekhistoryrespectfully。andhisintellectwasofthetrueUtilitariantype。HiswritingsareasdryasthemostthoroughgoingUtilitariancoulddesire。Hewillnotgivehisreaderscreditforunderstandingthesimplestargumenttillitissetdownatfulllengthinplainblackandwhite。Hewassceptical，andpracticalexperiencehadimpressedhim，eventoexcess，withtheworthlessnessofhumantestimony。

Inpoliticsscepticismnaturallybecomesempiricism；andasathoroughgoingempiricistherejectsaltogetherJamesMill’sabsolutemethods。HeisasconvincedasMacaulaythatpoliticaltheoriesmustbebaseduponobservation，andisentirelyfreefromtheerrorofsupposingthataconstitutioncanbedevisedwithoutreferencetotime，place，andcircumstance。Yethecouldwriteadialogueuponthebestformofgovernment，whichseemstoimplythatsomerealmeaningcanbegiventotheproblemwithoutreferencetothestageofsocialdevelopment，thatis，totheoneconditionwhichmakestheproblemintelligible。

Onere