slaves to duty - 1894 john badcock

8/13/2019 Slaves to Duty - 1894 John Badcock

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Slaves To uty

1894)

John Badcock Jr


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Slaves To Duty


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SL VES TO DUTY :

LECTURE

Delivered before tke South Place Junior tkical Socidy

on January 29th I894

Y

j JOHN ~ A D C O C KJUN


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LADIES AI'ID G ENTLEIIE K,-

When , some little time back, I was cogitating on1he sense of duty, and wondering how we should getalong without it, my mind reverted persistently to thattypically dutiful child Casabianca, the boy who, according-to Mrs . Hemans,

stood on the burning deckWhence all but he had fled.''

For that boy had figured in my school -lessons as a praiseworthy example of devotion to duty- the duty of obedi

ence - of obe


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is to me sickening. For the boy, i f he ever Jived, I haveonly the most profound pi ty -and think the pity of it is.he did not run away with the r s ~of the crew.

Having looked on that picture, I beg you will look onthis:

In the first act of Offenbach's opera, " T h e GrandDuchess, a young soldier, by name Fritz, is discoveredstrutting up and down before the imperial tent . Hegoes with the regulation step, and holds his head erectin the regulation attitude. Presently a beautiful damsel,

the soldier's sweetheart, comes on the scene SeeingFritz, she rushes up to him, but he scarce deigns tonotice her. He does not stop marching, and dare noteven bend his head when on duty. He merely muttersaloud : I must o-bey the reg-a-la-tions I'' This exasperates the girl, who answers, "Confound the regulati ons ' ' She presses her attentions upon Fritz, who, however, stiff as a clothes-prop, repeats: I must o-bey thereg -u -la-tions. The conflict between love and duty goes

on apace- but, at last, Fritz unbends, puts down hismusket, kisses his sweetheart, and they both dance to asong whose chorus is Damn the Regulations I

With these two extreme and opposi te examples-Casabianca and Offenbach's Fritz-before us; seeing that th epath of duty is beset with many temptations; and thatthe pressure of obligation has to compete with the


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taxes voluntarily, for .their own proteci on, and who can

co n


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possession of the country I live in, 1 stultify myself. So

I do whatever or wherever the government. The fetling of duty prevents my judging correctly as to wheremy self - interest lies. To act for my best advantage, 1require freedom to act as I like, and, so long as I allowthe same freedom to others, the just demands of otherscan no further g o, as far as I am concerned. I, who recognise n o political duty, am free to form an opinion asto whether the gre a t political machine over me- theBritish Empire to w i t - i s worth preserv ing. There's a

gain in being able to take that standpoint; on theother hand, men become voluntary slaves to the State byhl\rboring ideas of political duty .

See how far political duty was carried in old Japan.To rrotect their lord and master was taught as a sacredduty to all subjects . Political edu cation was thiswise :

Thou shalt not lie beneath the same sky, n or tread onthe same earth as the murderer of thy lord, and therights of the avenger of blood were admitted even though

he should pay thep e t ~ l t y

of his life. The story of the47 Ronin exemplifies this : I t is related that w h ~thePrince of Ako was executed, through the mean contrivanceef some other lord, that 7 gentlemen, faithful vassals athe dead Prince, swore to avenge the honor of theirmaster. For this end they put aside all other considerations and, through every obstacle, pursued their plan up


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have, therefore, been invented to reconcile the governedto their governors. Majority rule is now the fashion,and is called representative :e . representative of themajority of b ~ who cannot govern themselves or whowish to have a haDd in go-.erniog others. Majority-ruleis said to be sanctioned by the consent of the governed.Unfortunately for that theory, it so happens that all ofus have to submit, whether we consc11t to be governed orDOL I t is also said that people govern themselves byre legating powers into the hands of representatives. Do

they, indeed ? I t rather appears to me that when a manrelegates the control over his purse, the control over hisbody or the direction of his energies, to others--as if beh:1d lost the use of his head- tha t bdi cation best describes his performance. In the present state of politicaledueat iop, the repr.esmtative. theory certainly gives toma j ority-rule the semblance ef a justification, and a respectability not otherwise obtainable,-so it will stickfor a time. It may be better than monarchy-i t

may , ort

mayn't (we receive the blessings of both bythe way ; but when we realise that all government derives its rights from its might, and that majority -rule ismere ly a short-cut to the victory of the numericallystron ger party ; we see that the ballot confers no riglltsU ;Kll l majorities or their representatives that are inviol-aAd imposes no dubes upon minorities that are


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on the money they have lent to government, as peragreement; and that the people and their descendantsmust be taxed to pay such interest for ever or until suchtime as they chose to pay off the principal. I f the repayment of the principal is an impossibility then taxeswill be permanent for the benefit of the heirs of stockholders. This is all said to be supported by free contract I Well, as far as am concerned the mere statement of the case is sufficient to show its absurdity. As a private citizen of the world in no way sharing with

any government the responsibility of contracting debts,being in no sense a consenting party to what a government does in my name entirely repudiate the dutythat has been put upon me of paying a quota of eitherprincipal or interest of the government's debts . LetNational Fund-holder3 fight out their claims before impartial juries; and if the Royal Fami ly the Peerage andthe whole of the House of Commons get sold up to satisfythose creditors shall not shed a tear.

The saying that treaties are made to be broken,evidently originated in the easily-perceived fact that wartreaties are never free contracts. A promise wrung froma people at the sword's point counts for nothing . Letthe tables be turned and the vanquished gain strength

enough and the promise is repudiated as a matter ofcourse . Between individuals the same rule of equity holds


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b y fines and penalties, the freest and, therefore, most

-equitable, contracts require these threats least of all, ifa t all . The pity of i t is that, nowadays, the vitiating

-element offorce enters into nearly all contracts-a statement I ask your patience while 1 prove.

Let me first draw your attention to th es e despotic-ordinances, known as the Bank Charter Act$, of 1844-5.and the Coinage Acts. Those Acts are commands of theBritish Government to all its subjects in this mann er :

Thou shalt use no other money than mine, o r such as

is issued by those bankers whom I have gr;u.tcd specialprivileges to. Other governments have cnal :e d cu rrencylaws to much the same effect as o urs . Y.>u understandthat, owing to the ind irect nature of all exchange, due to

-division of labor, a medium is required in order thatachanges be completed. This medium, money, is necessitated in the transa ctions between sh opkeepe rs and theircustomers, bet ween capitalists and laborers, and, infact , whenever producers want to exchange the ir pro-

-ducts with one an other. Given division ol labor, audo n ~ e q u e n tindirect exchange, and money is a necessity.t is, in fact, the first necessity in any community t hat

has advanced beyond direct barter . I t goes withoutsaying, therefore, that any tampering with the moneysupply will have far-reaching effects, and that wherevercurrency Jaws exist trade cannot be free. Lab or ers


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people in this line are f id y met. The law now says.in effect, to the laborer: "You must buy gold, or.ame of our token s, before you will be allowed to eatbread ; and if there are not enough of these trinkets to geround you may starve. Wh en the supply of money fallsbelow the demand of those who have all the other requisites to exchange, someone's goods won't sell exceptat a loss, someone will have to go without dinner, andunproductive idleness for some capitalists and somelaborers is inevitable. At the same time, those who do

obtain the use of the scarce money have to pay thescarcity price for it . The holders of money are thusable to co rner those who don't happen to own any-te>keep the needful medium from circulating, and so cripplet rade- to lend it at interest, and so live without work.

These results follow, whether the limitation of the moneysupp ly is caused by statute-law, or arises from lack o finventiveness. The effect upon contracts is obvious. Ifcontracts are entered into beyond the means of theallowed monetary redits to liquidate, men of busine $are pushed towards bankruptcy, and have to pay usury,in order to raise the needful cash. Then, again, with.a short supply of money, the unit of value appreciates.When contracts are worded in terms of a monetary unit -that alters in value, an element of uncertainty is introduced which is capable of upsetting a ll values, and traders

i fi d h l l i f


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of a scarce metal, or by the issue of tokens upon whi ch

. the government mades a profit, , e robs laborers , itfollows that wages in the aggregate are kept . down to a.de d level The supply of laborers is ever g r o w i n g ~and their requirement is that production, all round, shallincrease . But farmers and manufacturers will not in-crease the producri n of food and other ne cess ities unlessthey can sell .such increase. This they cannot do, exceptat a loss, while the total purcnas,-nc power of the masses.i s kept down by a lim ited and expensive and taxedcurrency. The competition amongst labourers to getsome of the needful but short cash (i n order to buyfood, etc.) reduces wages to the lowest, -e . compelsworkmen to give a great deal for a very l ittle return,compels inequity . The fact of a luxurious aristocracy

existing side by side with the other extreme of hardworked pover ty- in fact, the whole glaring inequitabledistribution of weal this mainly the effect of our antiquated money >ystem .

If a man binds himself to work during long hours forlow wages (in default of getting better terms in a Statelimited labor market) I cannot say he is under anobligation to fulfil his tasks on those terms. f hescamps his work, or uses fraud to obtain a more equitable

return for his labour, I cannot aecuse him , underM

com il tions, of violating the just rights of others. H ebl h h f b


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at all clearly into this question, the use of violence wasno cure at all, and w ould give plausible e:a:cuse to thepowers that be of curtailing still further the public libertyand so making the condition of him and his fellows worsethan before . I would point out that the domain ofeconomics contained mu ch debateable ground, arid that,so long as free speech was allowed, the road w s openfor him to influeuce the minds of his fellows and so gainjustice by the surest way.

Such considerations as the foregoing are however ,

only thoseof

expediency. According tothe

co nditionsin

~ h case of oppression, more or less force may be the onlymeans left for the wronged ones to assert their rightsand to .get some satisfaction out of x i s t ~ n c e .

To return to the contract question . Putting aside the

vitiating effect of force, it will still be asked if I admitthat , under perfectly free conditi ons, men are in dutybound to fulfil their pro mises . I reply : there is no dutyin the matter. The binding power of a p romise haslimits, as anyone can see who appreciates the uncertaintyof human expectations . Promises have to do with thefuture, an uncertain factor in any case. Alterations mayoccur in the valut measurer, whether it is one chosenfreely or one imposed by authori ty-and inequity mayresult . If I promise to deliver a ton of coals to Smith byne:a:t Saturday but fall ill, or find I have miscalcu la tedth ti t t th l t S ith h t


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suppose exempt contractors from penalties as much as.the specified ones. Not that I have any deep-rootedobjections to risks, nor that 1 advocate insurance againstevery blessed little contingency that m i ~ thappen. lsimply assert that the chances of the unexpected havpening do cut -under the idea of the sacredness of contract.

Contracts will be kept, when all idea of their sacredness has disappeared, because it is for the contractors self-interest to keep them. If any one thinlcs he can takeadvantage of a general D. V. unwritten clause, in order to .

repudiate his promises on the strength of his unexpectedweakness, he does so at the peril of losing the confidenceo f others in him, and of being lett.'' Jails are not themost potent enforcers of contracts. The attractions o fthe benefits which a good reputation confers are greater.

Moreover, the keeping of promises is an essential feature of the condition of jual liberty so much desired. f1 do not keep my promises to others, they need not keeptheir promises to me; and I, besides. give them an excuse to treat me as an inferior person altogether. The condition of equal liberty is nothing more than a condition arising out of the idea of free contract, when each oneagrees to respect the liberty of others in consider tion of having his own liberty respected. Such social contract is not drawn upon parchment. When I and my neighbor appreciate the economies and other benefits


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fools or knaves, kings or slaves; be they county-council

lors, tax-imposers, or other invaders--if they will notrespect the liberty of all others, they thereby give up alltitle to have their own respected. When aggressivelyinclined legality-mongers see the force of this argumentthey may, perchance, hesitate before accepting positionsof privilege and rulership.

What has to be guarded against is an unreasoning,-slavish adherence to written agreements, as i f the fact oftheir being tn wrz hng- made them more honest thanotherwise. The important thing is that the contract beequitable, i .1., honesf-not that it be written in black ink-or red ink, on parchment or straw-paper. Do not let usmiss the substance. In all cases where breakage of contract is an invasion of another s liberty injuring, perhaps,

those who depended upon the fulfilment of the contract),the injured parties may justly use force to defend them-selves . Those who were upholders of equal libertywould be the most punctilious in keeping contracts, i.e.,equitable contracts, just because equity is the conditionof liperty.

Still, after all, liberty is only a means to happiness.Those who sacrifice happiness to liberty commit suicide.In nine cases out of ten, say, I find my self-interestprompts me to fulfil my promises. In the tenth case,which I deem antagonistic to my interests, I am under

d t t f lfil Of i f I i ti h th


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upon the conditions prevailing p ~ hrank superstition.f a poor man steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving


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why should any principle, or any law, be considered ofmore importance than human life, than human happiness?Ifi t be urged that no laws could be enforced if exceptionswere allowed I reply : the need for the exceptions showsthe foolishness of the laws. Cease to make any morelaws, and put those you have upon the shelf.

The trouble with contracts is : to know when a breachof contract constitutes a breach of liberty, t:e., an invasion.When it comes to be seen generally, that that is the onlyquestion for juries and other defensive institutions to

argue upon, we shall be nearer the realization of equitythan we are at p e3ent.

f I choose to fulfil a promise of life-long marriage, Ican do so. f I choose to pay usurious debts to a Shylock, I can do so. But neither the woman nor the Jewshould, in these cases, have any help from the Courts ofJustice, any more than betting creditors have now inthis country. The natural consequences which l takein breaking those promises-(say I am shunned in the

one case and lose my credit in certain circles in theo t h e r ) - I must take, and may deserve. But as the keeping of either uf those promises might land me in slavery;would give to the Jew the gains of his cunning uponwhich he had no just claim to rely, while to the womani t would give a hold upon my future up on which she,l h d b i t l it i l t th t


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As for the duties said to be created by the relati onships

between husband and wife, and between parents andchildren, these require special notice .To commence with, the marriage contract is not a free

contract. The Powef11 only acknowledge one form of it,and put disabilities upon the offspring from those whohave not obeyed the marriage regulations. Therefore,the parrot -like, repeated-after-the -official, marriage vows,c:an no more be considered as the voluntary expressiono f the free desires of both contracting parties than canany other promises that are dictated by public usage andlaw. Therefore are we not justified in condemning, oft -hand, those who are nonconformists to marriage. Whenthe law threatens, society ostracises, and education produces its bias against those who participate in free natural

unions, and against natural children, those who aretoo weak to openly face the tempest need not berestrained by duties from seeking in secret thosesatisfactions denied them openly .

As the poverty-producing currency laws, land laws,aDd taxes, intensify the struggle for an enjoyable existence, the marriage market inevitably feels some of theresulting speculation which runs through all markets ;and this must sometimes subordinate, distort and degradethe natural attractions which alone give to marriage arat son d etre. In one of Ibsen's plays, Mrs. Tesman is

ld l h d d


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birth of a child is the realization of a want, a gratification

of the maternal longing, then is the mother paid for thetrials preceeding her deliverance .f a woman does not, with pleasure, contemplate h -

ing children, but bears a child in order to please a manwhom she has married in order to have a home, she is aslave to circumstances ; the conditions of existence arenot free enough for her .

Whoso cannot defend himself , will not be defended,is a remark of Emerson's that is as applicable to womanas to man . Those women who, through their beauty orlovely dispositions, find some men only too happy to beallowed the great pleasure of supporting them, have,thereby, defensive attributes agai:ut want, in addition totheir w or king powers. The support eranted them by their

husbands is not given under a compulsory sense of dutya t l eu t not at f i rs t -but from self -in terest, evidently.When we are taught to look upon women as, by nature,

dependent, and that it is t dut J of tileir husband orfathers or brothers to support them, the tendency of suchteaching is to hide from view any political compulsionthat makes the dependence and to check practicalmeasures which would emancipate.

What woman or women i1 each man in duty bound tosupport, and why? Has a bachelor no duties in thiarespect ? f not, why not ? Cohabitation, in i l k ~

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duty to provide food for Mrs . Lioness and her cubs ?l

so, perhaps the mother sheep is also in duty bound tokeep her lamb out of the lion s way ? The duties of thetwo species of animals clash, and knock the bottom out ofthe duty theory . I w ould also like to inquire if the .ichneumon insect is fulfilling its duty when it lays its ..eggs inside the body of a living caterpillar, for that act isnecessary to the care of the young ichneum ons. And are~ the ugly and fer ocio us animals on the face of the~ r t hblamew orthy if they neglect their young, and ift he y do not their level best to bring their young tomaturity, and so ensure the perpetuation of their ownugly mugs?

Whether materfamilias looks after her progeny to justt hat extent that it gives her pleasure to do so (the

pleasure of the moment n d the pleasu re prospective), orwhether she looks after them from a sense of duty,or fromfear of penalties for neglect, w ~ may be sure that onlythat treatment will survive that ensures, or at least allows,offspring to attain maturity, and that improvements inmethods of treatment which give better chance:5 of exist~ n c eto oftspring will (caeteris paribus) supplant lessbeneficial methods. Dispositions being inheritable, ne-gle ctfulness and brutality towards offspring lead directly

to the extinction of those qualities, because those qualitiesare antagonistic t o survival ; while affe ctionate care per

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mens of humanity as are born, for accidents will some

times happen to the best of parents ; but help given voluntarily, through sympathy, is given fM the benefit of thesmpathisers, who would have felt agonies of remorse i fthey had not eased their feelings that way. Beside.,voluntary help still all ows selection to go o n - i s a kind o

natural selecti on, in fact-for the helpers select whomthey will help, and to what extent.

In defending hers against aggressors, we lessen thechances of being attacked ourselves. In pursuing such

oistic conduct, our sympathetic natures are developed,i.e. we get direct pleasure out of the interest we take inothers, in subserving our own welfare. As a consequence,the witnessing, or even the knowledge of, the infliction opein upon others produces pain in ourselves . So intimatelyis our own happiness bound up with the happiness ofothers.

With regard to childre n, all we can do (from the pointof view of a far -reaching self-interest), beyond denyingthe rights of parents and others to ill-treat the childrenin their charge, is to succour them ourselves whenever,and to what extent, our individual sympathies for theunfortunate ones may impel us. Any child must beallowed to accept such outside help, whenever its oWl

parents forfeit their position as guardians by neglect orcruelty. To deny such liberty to the child would be an

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the innocent, happy little chickabiddies, the possibility

of helpful children proving the best insurance and solaceagainst old age and sickness-let alone the gratification othe sexual feelings preliminarily involved-is so alluringthat the trials incidental to the realization of it all arevoluntarily gone through, and the chances of a preponderance of unhappiness resulting are risked. As then, it is inpursuit of their own happiness that adults bring childreninto the world and bear the cost of rearing them, it is clearthat parents cannot saddle their children with any obli

gations, with any of the cost. The child is not consultedas to its creation, nor as to the home conditions into whichit is thrust. The gift of life is not always worth havin1.The child may inherit pain . It may have to live in a dirtyhouse and not have enough to eat. Its parents may beatit or relegate it to the care of harsh menials. They maythrash the child from a sense of duty as did the dutifuland brutal Mrs. Montagu. But even if born under themost happy conditions, its parents have merely acted intheir own self -interest, and all self-sacrifices on their parthave been part o the cost of obtaining the family happiness they so much desired. When children yielddelight to their parents, the latter must often considerthey are repaid a thousand-fold f or all the trouble they

have borne ; in which case it would be nearer the truthto say that the parents are indebted to theirichildren .

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them to be reduced by the terrible setae of obligation,

but take their fill.The teaching of duties to children is an attempt ~supplant the teaching of the child's own experience by asuperstition, the superstition that there is any other guideto its conduct than its own self-interest.

As I, a parent, have ouly the right of might over mychildren, and, in imposing my will upon them, seek myown personal happiness, it greatly depends upon myforesight or my shortsight whether 1 get what I want or

BOmething different. When the idea of duty ceases tohave weight, parents will doubtless see that they mustrespect their children's wishes and feelings more thanthey have done heretofore, in order to get kind treatmentand respect for their own wishes in return. For themoment let us leave specific duties and take duty inthe lump.

Nelson is debited with saying: England expects everyman to do his duty. This expectation reckons uponthe superstition and ignorance oft he masses, and enablesthe governing classes to have a stronger hold over theclasses beneath them than they otherwise would haveThe jingo verse maker truthfully tells the dutiful whit-h l


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duty as one or the other . To which 1 reply that the

reward put forward of the praise of posterity appeals toone's ambition; and that if that gain is sought, underthe pretence of doing one's duty, a lie is committed-adeception practised upon the unwary. How is duty tobe made operative upon a person who doesn't care a

button for posterity ? Stopford Brooke, by the way ,should enlighten us as to whether the duties 1 peer lindpeasant are to keep in the ruts which: God and the kinehave made for them, or whether it is their duty to fighteach other . For the duties of peer and peasant mayclash like those of the lion and sheep .

Says Whittier :Yet where our duty'a task ia WTouchtIn uniaon with God's ( T U t thought,The near and future blend in one,

And wbauoe'er ia willed ia done INo doubt. But the question presses: What is our

duty ' s task ? On Hospital Saturday the Salvationistspinster at the street comer will enlighten you on thatpoint. She is (or was when I saw her last) providedwith an illuminated card on which are printed the words:

Give, for it is a duty.'' The magic word duty is supposed to be quite cspable of opening sesame, i .e. yourpurse . With susceptible natures it will sometimes induce self-sacrifice on the large scale, and peve the way tovoluntary enslavement.

T l i id G K I b li h i d

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for others is no self sacrifice ; coinciding with his iD-

clinations, it is no duty.The call of duty is an internal compelling force which

overcomes the individual's disinclination to do somethingdiugreeable or indifferent. The person feels under anobligation. What he does under the impulse of obedienceto the call of duty relieves him like the payment of ajuat debt. He feels that his duty must be done, willynilly, whatever the consequences to himself; whether heaccidentally gains by it or whether he falls and per

ishes, as Lewis Morris says the chances are he may.Obedtence selj-sa crijice unqualified and absolute, is theessence of duty.

If rewards are calculated upon, the professed dutymotive is a sham. The soldier who fights because belikes that kind of work, or because he is forced to, or forthe honors to be won that way, fights not fr om a sense oduty, whatever he may profess. If I give all my goodsto feed the poor, and my body to be burnt, on the understanding that I shall be compensated therefor by eternalhappiness io heaven, or from the happiness I feel ingiving, or in expectation of the blessings of posterity, Iact selfishly and not from a sense of duty. How would1 act if no reward spurred me on P

I know that the most effective appeal for submission toauthority is the appeal to duty whether it be p o l i t i c

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resistance and you fail. Try to imagine a man jumping

into the sea, risking his own life in order to save a childwho had fallen overboard, ag-ainst his own interests she feels them and y o ~fail. The deed could not be done~ x e p tas the inevitable following of the rath of greatestattraction and least resistance. Ask yourselves whatattraction there is in doing a brave acti on, or what evilconsequences are thereby escaped to the doer-comparethe probable effect upon your own and upon other witnesses' feelings, f ollowing the doing of the deed or theshirking of i t - a n d I doubt not you will perceive thephysical basis of motive.

When the Rev. Hugh Price Hughes said: Sanctification is the intense desire of the individual not to have hisown way," he said something fit for the comic papers. f

his " intense desire " is fulfilled he has " his own way.''If your actions are directed to the benefit of others,apparently regardle::;s of self, the satisfaction of desire, orthe escape from the feeling of shame, prove your actionsto have been regardful of self. Consci ousness of thefundamental primary egoistic motive is not required toprove its existence. The secretion of bile by the liver,is none the less egoistic and self -preservative beeause itgoes on unc onsciously. Hence, to speak of any motiveas altruistic t n its source is fal e.

Here I indict the duty idea for giving a glamor of

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providing the remainder with food for thought. Thus isthe individual induced to weigh the chances between anytwo courses for benefit or detriment to himself; and hisultimate decisi on depends upon the intensity of thevarious opposing forces, is the resultant of the forces in

action. Consequences can only appeal to man s selfinterest, and this he already follows according to is lights f is lights are only half-lights, and he is led to sacrificehis present existence for fictitious futures which nevermature, he leaves the earth as an inheritance to thosewho have sharper in te llects and clearer perceptions, thosewho are selfish in the largest, broadest, thickest,longest, widest sense.

When we come to consider that human beings are de~ e e n d e dfrom ancestors who, over an infinitely long ser i5of generations, owed their success in life, with ability toleave offspring, to the fact that their se lf-preservativeinstincts were in the ascendant, we may well pause atthe unlikelihood of any thoroughly anti-egoistic course

of conduct being able to secure the same success . Ratherdoes i t appear likely that those who have conscie11tiouslerUples about their conduct will have to take a backseat; while the altruists (if there are any) will spend theirenergies in making their enemies fat.

When man realises that so long as he sacrifices forh ' b fi f bli d b di d l

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settle the debt ? uty r self is an account in which the

same person is both debtor and creditor . Those who cannot see that such an account balances, that i t is settledand cancelled by the very terms in which it is staed,require lessons in bookkeeping.

Some will doubtless say that duty to self is only

an abbreviated way of express ing the idea : that onecannot effectively discharge his duties to others unless hetakes care of his own health and wealth . Such an inter-pretation throws overboard duty to self and goes backupon duty to others. But how about these ot urs Un-

less others owe an equal duty to me to that I owe to them,there is inequality of rights, that is, slavery. And if theduties receivable and payable are equal to each other,they cancel each other and may be ignored. As it is,some people do their duties (pay their dues and taxes.render services without remuneration, c .), and otherpeople receive these as theirs by right. My duties arcthe rights of others over me. How came others to haverights over me ? and how came I to be under these obliga

tions, which bind me without my consent ?The only way of escape from bondage is to deny allrights and duties whatsoever . Look to self -interest directfor the attainment of your ends, and you will see that allthe good things in life, all the harmonious relationships

you cling to, will be preserved because you like tlum.

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SLAVES TO DUTY.

the tide which , taken at the flood , would have led him onto fortune and pleasures new. The propiti ous time, wheotabooed pleasures offer themselves to him, be is afraid of.His duty to Mrs. Grundy, or Mrs . Jones, to the deadhand, to his religion or to a principle, binds him . Helives within boundary walls which he dare not scale.

But our moral codes embody the experience of therace I 1 bear some wiseacre excla im. Experience of yourgrandmother Circumstances change, and your moralcodes won t stand that test.

In place of duty I put-nothing. Superstitions neverwant replacing, or we should never advance to freedom.

W u te not your ener(ies, but twn them l l to yourown advantage .

Instead of pretending to be doing my duty ; will

in future go direct to the naked truth, acknowledge Iam

actuated in all I do by self -interest, and so economise inbrain -power. What 1 want is to discover where my true,most lasting interests lie. I am the more likely to findthat out if allow n o ~ m o r lconsiderations o obscure mJview .

If I find the ordinary tread -mill routine of existenceirbome , or tame and unsatisfying , I fearlessly explorefurther-allow my mind full swing, and see n o oodreasons for bowing to the limitations set by others. Perchance 1 am seduced by the sciences, or I pursue theb if l d li id l M l i

SLAVES TO DUTY . 29


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in my valuation of them, and their stability is not my concern . In the steps I take to satisfy my hunger, whetherit be hunger of the senses er of the mind, I am broughtface to face with the universal properties of matter andcease to consider codes moral and political.

It may be as beneficial for a man, as it is expedient for

him, under some circumstances, to deny himself manyluxuries; to partake of meat sparingly, and of pastry onlyonce a month , to drink only water and eat bread withoutbutter, to live in one small room, to worsh ip only one godand no godesses, or to share his love with only one

woman in a lifetime.But the economies and n e g t o s ~found useful at certain times and places are not to be codified as the l wsfor all times and places. AU Mosaic tables, constitutiona,pettyfogging County Council licensing systems, and otherstrait -waistcoat regulations, necessarily suppress muchenjoyment, necessarily cause a sheer wute of l ife-forthey are born of ignorance of the possibilities of life, andof Intolerance .

Working ol egoistic lines, I see the necessity of forbearing from laying down the moral law for anyone .What another does ia beyond my praise or blame . Eachone s activities have been set in motion by hia environment{put and present , and contact with others lhows how

far each can go. In furtherance and in defence of my ownwell-being will I use my argumentative or other forces

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-community, becaue it happeu to be club-footed, or baa

a birth-mark, or uper t s say i t is not up to the reauJatiOweight. I admire the natural mother, u abe exista to-day, bec:aue lhe couiclera her child of much more importaDce thaD the whole bWD&D race ; or her child' hap.pineu Ia a necessary condition to her OWflt aad a aourceof areat comfort to her, while the r t of humanity poaaibly only worry her.

When we remember that this .U e is our:fint lut andonly chance th t

. Only to youth will aprinc be sprinc,while each day br inp ua nearer to our fiDal disaolution,the cruelty of upeetiag any one to aacriftce hie or herponibilities of happiness-whether the poasibilitiea be o

a high or a low order- i s apparent. And it is more appueDtto those of the wideat sympathies thaD to the narrowmiDded regulatioaist.

So long u the aupentitioo that there ia any O ~ ~ Kor tluf by which conduct should be regulated, h u a

hold over the mind of men and women, eo long will thOMpeople be incapable of appreciatin1 the full value of -Utence; and their living powers will run to waste whilethey crovel in the altruistic mire of aelf-denlal. Onlywhen that aupentition ia ab&Ddooed i the mind really-emandpated. Only then is the individual free to ri .e to

h i f h hi b bli hi h hi h


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iD your instincts, in your likes and dislikes, experienc;sIto


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and non -experiences ; Ito did it originate there ?" youmuat , and then again, wltat is it really that impe .

me to listen to it t You can l isten to its commandu

brave 10ldier who hears the command of his officer . Oru woman who loves him that commands. r uOatterer and a coward who is afraid of the CODli11 Dder'.

r u blockhead who follows because he baa notbiuc tosay against it, In brief, you can listen to your conscienceIn hundred different ways . But that you bear this 01'that judgment u the voice of contcience-tbat is, that youfeeltomething as r ight-may have its explanation in thef ct

that you never think about yourself, and that fromchildhood up you have blindly accepted what bas beetaught you as riglt or n the fact that you have hitherto8eC1U ed your bresd and position by m u n s of what youcall your duty ; it is "right" to you because it seems tobe your condition of existence . The fi rmMII ot yourmoral judgment micht still be a proof just of your pertonal worthlessness. of impertonality ; your 11 moralforce might have its 10un:e in your obstinacy. or inyour incapacity to conceive new ideals I And, to be brie4i you bad reasoned more finely, observed more .accurately.and larned more, you would under no circumstances callyour "duty" and your conscience' ' any longer duty andconscience; the knowledge o f ~ 'oral udptu b lunJ1w ~ arism a t all would make you tired of these patheticwords. as you have already grown tired of other pathetic:

indeed, a semblance of equality, hNt only a srmb/ance, can


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, q y, y ,be achieved ; that in Yiew of or retr ospect to them , everyaction is and remains an impenetrable matter; that ournotions o f good , noble, great," can never be provenby our actions, becau se every action is unknowable ; thatsurely our opinions, valuations, and tables of value aremong the most powerful ~ p r i n sin the wheelwork of

our actions, but th a t in each case the law of their mechanics is untraceable . Let us lt mit ourselves, theref ore, tothe purification of our opinions and valuat ions, and tothe creah on o f nefll tables o f valtu o f our Of Jn: on the"moral worth of our actions, however, we will no longer

meditate I Yes, my friends, in regard to the whole moraltwaddle of people about one another it is t ime we wereovercome with nausea I To sit in moral judgment shallbe an offence against goo taste I . But we wisht. become tlwte that f Jt are , - the new , the singular, theincomparable, self -lawgivers, self-creat o rs And to thisend we must become the best students and discoverersof law and necessity in the world; we must be physict stsin order to be, in the above sense, c r eat or s while

hitherto all valuations and ideals have been based on thei ~ no r fl physics or in cont ravmtz on of it. And,therefore, H och dz e Ph yn k I And higher still , thatwhich z mpels us to its s tudy-our honesty . i etss clu( translated f rom 1 u Gaman bv Gc o. Scllumm.

slaves to duty - 1894 john badcock

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