Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/38

 law," it cannot reach and adjust the inner workings of society. Man is not merely a subject but also an associate; and his relations with his neighbours are far too numerous and complex to be regulated by any government. The thousand and one occasions which bring man and man together in the daily transactions of life, must necessarily lie beyond the ken of the most watchful, and elude the grasp of the most vigorous, of administrative bodies. Thus society supplements government; and able to employ a closer surveillance and a more effective means of influence, it moulds, as no political administration can, the complete round of existence. Nothing is too commonplace and nothing too personal for its intervention. This is the era of communion. But if man is not a mere machine to be always regulated, neither is he a mere animal to be always herded. The inborn inclination to "individuality" will assert itself, despite the most strenuous efforts to hold it down. The threats of political pain or social ruin will