nceptions of human freedom were like forms of slavery compared to his
broad, exhaustive theories. But, on the other hand, there never was a
more earnest advocate of moderation. Burke and the French royalists could
not have been more eloquent opponents of violent measures of reform than
he was. Towards the end of the last century it was easier for a
Dissenter, who had already overthrown one barrier, than for the orthodox,
to rebel against existing social and political laws and customs. From the
belief that freedom from the authority of the Church of England was
necessary to true piety, it was but a step to the larger faith that
freedom from the restraints of government and society was indispensable
to virtue. Godwin, after he ceased to be a religious, became a political
and social Dissenter. In his zeal for the liberty of humanity, he
contended for nothing less than the destruction of all human laws. French
Republicans demanded the simplest possible form of government. But
Godwin, outstripping them, declared there should be none whatsoever. "It
may seem strange," Mrs. Shelley writes, "that any one should, in the
sincerity of his heart, believe that no vice could exist with perfect
freedom, but my father did; it was the very basis of his system, the very
keystone of the arch of justice, by which he desired to knit together the
whole human family."

His ultra-radicalism led him to some wise and reasonable, and other
strange and startling conclusions, and these he set before the public in
his "Political Justice," the first book he published under his own name.
It appeared in 1793, and immediately created a great sensation. It must
be ranked as one of the principal factors in the development of English
thought. A short explanation of the doctrines embodied in it will throw
important light on his subsequent relations to Mary, as well as on his
own character. The foundation of the arguments he advances in this book
is his belief in the efficacy of reason in the individual as a guide to
conduct. He thought that, if each human being were free to act as he
chose, he would be sure to act for the best; for, according to him,
instincts do not exist. He makes no allowance for the influence of the
past in forming the present, ignoring the laws of heredity. A man's
character is formed by the nature of his surroundings. Virtue and vice
are the result not of innate tendencies, but of external circumstances.
When these are perfected, evil