ABSTRACT

It is more natural to say that a horse is useful to his rider than that the rider is useful to his horse; yet with a strange egotism, peoples ridden by governments talk of the uses the government 326may have for them rather than of the uses they have for their government. We have just seen how governments may indeed be useful even when moved only by the crudest self-interest; as horse-breeders and trainers are useful to horses, which they breed scientifically and keep fit and well-fed. Some romantic person might here suggest that to be tamed is to be degraded, that the wild ass is infinitely superior to the market donkey, and that the mustang leads a happier life than the hunter or the war-horse. If any polite admirer of barbarism sincerely holds this view, he may not be easy to refute; but he may be invited to retire unmolested into the wilderness he loves. He will probably not be happy there for long, because shelter and society under a government are a relief, and become a necessity, to anyone whose vital liberty tends to grow rational.