The Map of Life. William Edward Hartpole Lecky. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: William Edward Hartpole Lecky
Издательство: Bookwire
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Жанр произведения: Языкознание
Год издания: 0
isbn: 4057664612021
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freedom and by widespread coercive sanitary regulations, and are thus more akin to despotism than to free government. How different would have been the condition of the world, and how far greater would have been the popularity of strong monarchy if at the time when such a form of government generally prevailed rulers had had the intelligence to put before them the improvement of the health and the prolongation of the lives of their subjects as the main object of their policy rather than military glory or the acquisition of territory or mere ostentatious and selfish display!

      In this as in most questions affecting life there are opposite dangers to be avoided, and wisdom lies mainly in a just sense of proportion and degree. That sanitary reform, promoted by governments, has on the whole been a great blessing seems to me scarcely open to reasonable question, but many of the best judges are of opinion that it may easily be pushed to dangerous extremes. Few things are more curious than to observe how rapidly during the past generation the love of individual liberty has declined; how contentedly the English race are submitting great departments of their lives to a web of regulations restricting and encircling them. Each individual case must be considered on its merits, and few persons will now deny that the right of adult men and women to regulate the conditions of their own work and to determine the risks that they will assume may be wisely infringed in more cases than the Manchester School would have admitted. At the same time the marked tendency of this generation to extend the stringency and area of coercive legislation in the fields of industry and sanitary reform is one that should be carefully watched. Its exaggerations may in more ways than one greatly injure the very classes it is intended to benefit.

      FOOTNOTES:

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      [2] Active and Moral Powers, ii. 312.

      [3] Much curious information on this subject will be found in Cabanis' Rapports du physique et du moral de l'homme.

       Table of Contents

      Before entering into a more particular account of the chief elements of a happy life it may be useful to devote a few pages to some general considerations on the subject.