A Fragment on Government-第6章 PREFACE(6)

It is not here,for example,he would persuade us,that a trader who occupies a booth at a fair is a fool for his pains;and on that account no fit object of the Law's protection.(8)It is not here that he gives the presence of one man at the making of a Law,as a reason why ten thousand others that are to obey it,need know nothing of the matter.(9)It is not here,that after telling us,in express terms,there must be an `actual breaking'to make burglary,he tells us,in the same breath,and in terms equally express,where burglary may be without actual breaking;and this because `the Law will not suffer itself to be trifled with.'(10)It is not here,that after relating the Laws by which peaceable Christians are made punishable for worshipping God according to their consciences,he pronounces with equal peremptoriness and complacency,that every thing,yes,`every thing is as it should be.'(11)It is not here,that he commands us to believe,and that on pain of forfeiting all pretensions to either `sense or probity,'that the system of our jurisprudence is,in the whole and every part of it,the very quintessence of perfection.(12)It is not here that he assures us in point of fact,that there never has been an alteration made in the Law that men have not afterwards found reason to regret.(13)It is not here that he turns the Law into a Castle,for the purpose of opposing every idea of `fundamental'reparation.(14)It is not here that he turns with scorn upon those beneficent Legislators,whose care it has been to pluck the mask of Mystery from the face of Jurisprudence.(15)If here,(16)as every where,he is eager to hold the cup of flattery to high station,he has stopt short,however,in this place,of idolatry.(17)It is not then,I say,this part,it is not even any part of that Introduction,to which alone I have any thoughts of extending my examination,that is the principal seat of that poison,against which it was the purpose of this attempt to give an antidote.The subject handled in this part of the work is such,as admits not of much to be said in the person of the Censor.