Page:Thoughts on civil liberty, on licentiousness and faction.djvu/28

 Were these Desires universally coincident with the Welfare and Happiness of others, no coercive Power would be wanting, as the Means of producing and securing perfect Liberty.

But the acknowledged Necessity of penal Laws affords an incontestable Proof, that the unbridled Desires of Man are utterly inconsistent with the Welfare and Happiness of his Fellow Creatures.

Whatever Means, therefore, are most effectual in curbing and subduing the selfish Desires of Man, are the most effectual Means of regulating his Actions, and establishing civil Liberty on its most permanent Foundations.

The mere coercive Power of human Laws, without an assistant Regulation of the Passions and Desires, is utterly inadequate to the great Ends either of private Happiness or public Liberty.

It cannot produce private Happiness to the Individual, because while it leaves his Mind open to be infested by every unruly