84 CHAP. XI. DEFINITIONS OF LIBERTY. The liberties of nations are from God and nature, not from kings. ALGERNON SIDNEY. MANY definitions have been given of liberty. Most of these deserve no notice whatever; but there are two that, having been adopted by celebrated men, merit consideration. The first of these is the definition of the Roman civil lawyers, that liberty is the power of doing that which is not forbidden by the laws. The other is, that liberty is the power of doing all that we ought to be allowed to do. Of these two, it appears to me, the first includes too little, and the second too much. If liberty consists in being able to do what the law permits, a despotism, established by law, and which always works by law, is a free government. Napoleon, for instance, scarcely ever violated in France the laws he had made; these laws, however, were tyrannical. But if no country is free except where no unjust prohibitions, and no unnecessary penal laws are found, it is impossible to say that there has ever existed a free government. What shall we say, for instance, to that law of the Twelve Tables, by which it was enacted that insolvent debtors should be given up to their creditors, to be bound in fetters and cords; and by which, though not made slaves, they were liable to be treated with the same or greater harshness.* Indeed, what shall we say to the freedom of any democracy; for they have all passed laws measured by the rule of their own passions? Even England, whose governing power is formed expressly from a composition of conflicting forces, has admitted on her statute-book many an unjust and cruel enactment. A complete definition of liberty is perhaps impossible. Nor is liberty all of one kind. A nation may have one kind, * Adam, R. Antiq. p. 45. A. Gellius. N. A. 1. 20. 1. and be quite deprived of another. The greatest advantages, however, which a community can procure to itself, by uniting under one government, may perhaps be comprehended under the titles of Civil Liberty, Personal Liberty, and Political Liberty. By civil liberty, I mean the power of doing that, and that only, which is not forbidden by the laws. This definition comprehends the security of person and of property. By personal liberty, I mean, the power of doing that which in itself is harmless, as speaking or writing, and of which the abuse only is criminal. Eligibility to office may also be comprehended under this head. By political liberty, I mean the acknowledged and legal right of the people to controul their government, or to take a share in it. Each of these kinds of liberty should be allowed to exist in as great a proportion as possible. They were all comprehended by Cromwell's representative under the names of "the peace and security, the rights and privileges of the people." 87 CHAP. XII. CIVIL LIBERTY. The laws of England are the birthright of the people thereof; and all the Kings and Queens who shall ascend the throne of this realm, ought to administer the government of the same, according to the said laws; and all their officers and ministers ought to serve them respectively according to the same. Statute 12 & 13 WILL. III. c. 2. CIVIL liberty comprehends the security of person and property. For if a man is only allowed to do that which the law permits, he is liable to punishment should he raise his hand against his neighbour in violation of law; and if he is free to do all that the law does not forbid, he cannot be called in question for a legal exercise of his rights. "In walking over a large field with about thirty attendants and slaves, Hassan told the owner that he had done wrong in sowing the field with barley, as water-melons would have grown better. He then took some melon-seed out of his pocket, and giving it to the man, said, You had better tear up the barley, and sow this.' As the barley was nearly ripe, the man, of course, excused himself from complying with the Kashef's command. Then I will sow them for you;' said the latter, and ordered his people immediately to tear up the crop, and lay out the field for the reception of the melonseed. The boat was then loaded with the barley, and a family thus reduced to misery, in order that the governor might feed his horses and camels for three days on the barley-stalks."* Every one must feel that, in a country where this could happen, there can be no security for property. Tavernier tells us of a king of Persia, who ordered the heads of all the beasts he had killed in one day's chase to be set up in the form of a pyramid. When it was done, the architect came and told him that the pyramid was When complete, with the exception of one large head Burckhardt's Travels in Nubia, v. i. p. 94. Quart. Rev. No. 44. p. 457. |