CHAPTER V.

OBLIGATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT.

WE have seen that the people commit to a part of their number their authority, to be used for the com mon good. We have now to examine this trust in detail, and ascertain what a government should do to be a good one.

Three Duties.

Its several obligations may be classified in three divisions: first, to secure justice to the members of the state; second, to promote the general welfare; third, to defend the state. In order to secure justice, it is the duty of the government to protect every individual, without distinction, in the enjoyment of his natural rights. These rights are included under four heads, — the right of personal security, the right of personal liberty, the right of private property, and the right of religious belief and worship.

Justice, how secured.

The Right of Personal Security is the right to enjoy life, body, health, and reputation. It Personal Secu

means not merely the right to live, but to rity. live in safety and tranquillity, without fear and without the necessity for self-defence. No greater reproach can be brought against a state than to say that human life is not secure within its territory. When deeds of vio

lence and blood are frequent and unpunished, the government fails to meet its first great duty.

Life Secure.

Life is rendered more secure by making murder the Modes of Making highest crime known to the law, and punishable by death. If the penalty for homitheft, murder would be The government shows

cide were no greater than for much more frequent than now. its regard for the safety of human life and limb by the care with which it investigates all cases of loss of life from doubtful causes. If a human body is found under circumstances which make it

Inquests. probable that a crime has been committed, an officer, under the authority of the government, at once proceeds to an inquiry, to learn the cause of death, that the guilty party, if there be such, may be brought to justice. If a railroad accident has occasioned loss of life, an inquest is held to ascertain the cause of the disaster, and to fix the responsibility, so that justice may be done.

The government also compels corporations to take preSecurity of cautions for the safety of their own emTravellers. ployees, and of the public whom they serve. Thus railway companies are obliged to have bells on locomotives, and to have them rung at highway crossings, to place signs over such crossings, and to station flagmen at some of them, to stop their trains before crossing another railroad, to provide a certain number of brakemen for each passenger train. Owners of steamboats are required to equip them with boats, buckets, life-preservers, and all appliances by which the safety of passengers may be promoted.

The government maintains buoys and lighthouses, and removes obstructions from harbors and rivers for the

safety of mariners. It prohibits fast driving in public streets, and stations officers to assist foot-passengers over crossings. All these provisions have the same general end.

Nor is a good government any less mindful of the health of the people. It takes precautions Modes of Securto prevent the spread of contagious dis- ing Health. eases. It appoints officers whose business it is to require cleanliness in cities; and it may cause filthy, overcrowded, or unsafe houses to be vacated. restricts the sale of poisons, prohibits the sale of unwholesome food, and requires certain kinds of business

It

as powder-making and bone-boiling to be carried on at a distance from habitations. It supports hospitals and asylums for the comfort and recovery of the sick.

Reputation.

Next to life, honest men value reputation. Every person has a right to be thought as well of as his character will allow. Therefore he may demand protection against all false and malicious utterances which tend to destroy his peace or to injure his business. Such utterances, if spoken, constitute slander, and, if written or printed, libel; and both should be punished by the government.

Personal Lib

erty.

The Right of Personal Liberty is, primarily, the right to go and come without restraint; but its meaning has been extended to cover freedom of speech and of the press, the right to assemble peaceably for discussion, the right to petition the government, and freedom from unreasonable search of property and papers. It is only within two hundred years that these last have been considered natural rights, and still in many states they are not allowed.

The most important means by which personal liberty is directly secured to the subject is the writ Habeas Corpus. of habeas corpus. This is a written instrument issued by a judge or court, directed to a person holding another in custody, commanding him to bring the prisoner before the judge or court at a certain time and place, to show why he holds him. How this operates may be shown by illustrations. A minor enlisted in the United States army without the consent of his parents or guardian, an act which was contrary to law. A judge issued a writ of habeas corpus to the commanding officer, who, in obedience to the summons, brought the boy before the court, and stated the manner of enlistment. The judge discharged the boy. A girl about fourteen years of age had been bound to service in Canada. The man whom she served went with her to Massachusetts, where her mother obtained a writ of habeas corpus to recover the child. The man appeared before the court with the child, where it was made apparent that she was well treated, and that she preferred to remain with her master. The court refused to give her to the mother. In Boston the sheriff had arrested and imprisoned a man in consequence of a suit concerning a partnership in which he was interested. His friends procured a writ of habeas corpus; being brought before the court, and his case heard, he was discharged, on the ground that the circumstances were such that imprisonment was illegal.

Since the officers of the law may thus arrest and detain persons without sufficient cause, and so the government itself infringe upon the liberty of its subjects, the privilege of demanding this writ is considered one of the strongest safeguards that a people can have. More

than any other one thing this marks the distinction between a free government and a despotism, and to withdraw it is always perilous to the liberties of the people.

Right of Private Property.

The Right of Private Property covers the acquiring, using, and disposing of any thing that a person may call his own, including time and labor. This right may be violated in so many ways that the government has more call to exercise its control in this direction than in all others combined. A man's property may be stolen, or burned, or damaged, or taken from him on false pretences, or borrowed and not returned. His wages, or his interest, or his rents, may not be paid; and, if he succeed in holding his own while he lives, at his death it may be scattered beyond his control. Against all these evils it is the duty of the government to protect every member of the state. It must guard his right to labor, against all who from any motive would hinder him; and it must carry out his will as to the disposition of his property after his death. That this general right may be secured, laws are made respecting theft, arson, and fraud; concerning corporations, and the relations of debtor and creditor, master and servant, landlord and tenant; laws regulating tenures, deeds and wills; usury and trespass laws; and laws respecting stocks, bonds, and notes.

Religious liberty, as understood by the people of the United States, is the right of every individual to hold such form of religious belief

*Religious Liberty.

as he chooses, or to have none at all, and to worship as he pleases, or not at all. The government is bound to treat all forms of belief alike, and to protect each per