greatest number. It is
expressed with the most force and accuracy by that master of the
science, Bynkershoek; _Utilitas, utilitas, justi PROPE mater et aequi_:
in which observe that the word _prope_ is emphatic. Legislation for
classes violates this plain rule of equal justice, and moreover does
not, in the long run, benefit those for whom it is intended. The
indirect evils upon society at large are even more injurious than those
which are direct. Men are often thus poor to-day and rich to-morrow. The
bubble, while it dances in the sunbeam, glitters with golden hues,
though destined almost immediately to burst and be seen no more.

What government owes to society, and all it owes, is the impartial
administration of equal and just laws. This produces security of life,
of liberty, and of property. It has become a favorite maxim, that it is
the duty of government to promote the happiness of the people. The
phrase may be interpreted so as to mean well, but it is a very
inaccurate and unhappy one. It is the inalienable right of men to pursue
their _own_ happiness; each man under such restraints of law as will
leave every other man equally free to do the same. The true and only
true object of government is to secure this right. The happiness of the
people is the happiness of the individuals who compose the mass.
Speaking now with reference to those objects only, which human laws can
reach and influence, he is the happy man, who sees his condition in life
constantly and gradually, though it may be slowly, improving. Let
government keep its hands off--do nothing in the way of creating the
subject-matter of speculation--and things naturally fall into this
channel. There will be some speculators, as there will be some gamblers;
but they will be few. The stock market is filled with fancies, which the
government has manufactured and continues to manufacture to order. It is
the duty of government to encourage the accumulation of the savings of
industry. The best way to do so is to guard the strong box from the
invasion of others, and not itself to invade it. Property has an
especial claim to protection against the government itself. The power of
taxation in the legislature is in fact a part of the _eminent domain_; a
power that must necessarily be reposed in the discretion of every
government to furnish the means of its own existence. One grievous
invasion of property--and of course ultimately of labor, from whose
accumulations all