enotes a state of freedom, in contradistinction to slavery or restraint, and may be considered either as natural or as civil.

The absolute rights of man, considered as a free agent, endowed with a discernment to distinguish good from evil, and with a power of choosing those measures which appear to him to be most desirable, are usually summed up in one general appellation, and denominated the natural liberty of mankind. This natural liberty consists properly in a power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, unless by the law of nature; being a right inherent in us by birth, and one of the gifts of God to man at his creation, when he endowed him with the faculty of free-will. But every man, when he enters into society, gives up a part of his natural liberty, as the price of so valuable a purchase; and, in consideration of receiving the advantages of mutual commerce and of protection, obliges himself to conform to those laws which the community has thought proper to establish. This species of legal obedience and conformity is therefore infinitely more desirable than that wild and savage liberty which is sacrificed to obtain it. For no man, who considers for a moment, would wish to retain the absolute and uncontrolled power of doing whatever he pleased, because every other man would have the same power, and then there would be no security to individuals in any of the enjoyments of life.

Civil liberty, therefore, which is that of a member of society, is no other than natural liberty, restrained by human laws, as far as is necessary and expedient for the advantage of the public. Hence we may collect, that the law, which restrains a man from doing mischief to his fellow-citizens, though it diminishes the natural, increases the civil liberty of mankind; but every wanton and ceaseless restraint of the will of the subject, whether practised by a monarch, a nobility, or a popular assembly, is a degree of tyranny. Even laws themselves, whether made with or without our consent, if they regulate and constrain our conduct in matters of mere indifference, without any good end in view, are laws destructive of liberty; but if any public advantage can arise from observing such precepts, the control of our private inclinations, in one or more points, will conduce to preserve our general freedom in others of more importance, by supporting that state of society which alone can secure our independence. Thus