ns of
life, men might attain, and that in such attainment lies the social
ideal. To attempt the systematic proof of this postulate would take us
into the field of philosophical first principles. It is the point at
which the philosophy of politics comes into contact with that of ethics.
It must suffice to say here that, just as the endeavour to establish
coherent system in the world of thought is the characteristic of the
rational impulse which lies at the root of science and philosophy, so
the impulse to establish harmony in the world of feeling and action--a
harmony which must include all those who think and feel--is of the
essence of the rational impulse in the world of practice. To move
towards harmony is the persistent impulse of the rational being, even if
the goal lies always beyond the reach of accomplished effort.

These principles may appear very abstract, remote from practical life,
and valueless for concrete teaching. But this remoteness is of the
nature of first principles when taken without the connecting links that
bind them to the details of experience. To find some of these links let
us take up again our old Liberal principles, and see how they look in
the light of the organic, or, as we may now call it, the harmonic
conception. We shall readily see, to begin with, that the old idea of
equality has its place. For the common good includes every individual.
It is founded on personality, and postulates free scope for the
development of personality in each member of the community. This is the
foundation not only of equal rights before the law, but also of what is
called equality of opportunity. It does not necessarily imply actual
equality of treatment for all persons any more than it implies original
equality of powers.[9] It does, I think, imply that whatever inequality
of actual treatment, of income, rank, office, consideration, there be in
a good social system, it would rest, not on the interest of the favoured
individual as such, but on the common good. If the existence of
millionaires on the one hand and of paupers on the other is just, it
must be because such contrasts are the result of an economic system
which upon the whole works out for the common good, the good of the
pauper being included therein as well as the good of the millionaire;
that is to say, that when we have well weighed the good and the evil of
all parties concerned we can find no alternative open to us which could
do better for the g