ABSTRACT
With a regard to chronology which contrasts with the seemingly capricious selection of most of his illustrations, the Author of Physical Force points first to Greece. The political privileges of Roman people were acquired gradually, and from the first secession to the Sacred Hill, and the establishment of the Tribunate, to the struggle for the Agrarian Laws of Tiberius Gracchus, they were obtained by moral force and mutual concession. The American war of Independence is an instance of the use of Physical Force which demands a more careful investigation. That it was used successfully on that great occasion, and that its results have been on the whole beneficial, does not at all affect the abstract question of the sufficiency of moral power to procure political rights. The Author of Physical Force expresses his deep-rooted abhorrence to the shedding of blood. It may be argued that a majority of England men are in favour of the use of Physical Force.
