o need for inquiring into the social instincts which lie
beneath all political action. You can make your machine and assume the
moving force. That is the natural result of considering political and
legislative problems without taking into account the whole character of
the human materials employed in the construction. Bentham's sovereign is
thus absolute. He rules by coercion, as a foreign power may rule by the
sword in a conquered province. Thus, force is the essence of government,
and it is needless to go further. To secure the right application of the
force, we have simply to distribute it among the subjects. Government
still means coercion, and ultimately nothing else; but then, as the
subjects are simply moved by their own interests, that is, by utility,
they will apply the power to secure those interests. Therefore, all that
is wanted is this distribution, and Mill's first problem, What
government is for the good of the people? is summarily answered. The
question, how obedience is to be secured, is evaded by confining the
answer to the 'sanctions,' and taking for granted that the process of
distributing power is perfectly simple, or that a new order can be
introduced as easily as parliament can pass an act for establishing a
new police in London. The 'social contract' is abolished; but it is
taken for granted that the whole power of the sovereign can be
distributed, and rules made for its application by the common sense of
the various persons interested. Finally, the one bond outside of the
individual is the sovereign. He represents all that holds society
together; his 'sanctions,' as I have said, are taken to be on the same
plane with the 'moral sanctions'--not dependent upon them, but other
modes of applying similar motives. As the sovereign, again, is in a
sense omnipotent, and yet can be manufactured, so to speak, by voluntary
arrangements among the individual members of society, there is no limit
to the influence which he may exercise. I note, indeed, that I am
speaking rather of the tendencies of the theory than of definitely
formulated conclusions. Most of the Utilitarians were exceedingly
shrewd, practical people, whose regard for hard facts imposed limits
upon their speculations. They should have been the last people to
believe too implicitly in the magical efficacy of political
contrivances, for they were fully aware that many men are knaves and
most men fools. They probably put little faith in Bentham's U