He has no right to use the power he may
possess, nor any other means of happiness, as he will, but only as
lawful authority has willed. If it be a power conferred by man, for
example, such as that of a chief magistrate, or of a senator, or of a
judge, he may use it no otherwise than as the law of the land permits,
or in pursuance of the objects for which it was conferred. In like
manner, if it proceed from the Almighty, it may be used only in
conformity with his law. So far, then, is it from being true that all
men possess an equal right to use the means of happiness as they please,
that no man ever has, or ever will, possess any such right at all. And
if such be the meaning of the Declaration of Independence, then the
Declaration of Independence is too evidently erroneous to need any
further refutation. Unless, indeed, man may put forth a declaration of
independence which shall annul and destroy the immutable obligations of
the moral law, and erect _one's will_ as the rule of right. But is an
equal exemption from the restraints of that law liberty, or is it
universal anarchy and confusion?

It were much nearer the truth to say that all men have an equal right,
not to act as "one wills," but to have their wills restrained by law. No
greater want is known to man, indeed, than the restraints of law and
government. Hence, all men have an equal right to these, but not to the
same restraints, to the same laws and governments. All have an equal
right to that government which is the best for them. But the same
government is not the best for all. A despotism is best for some; a
limited monarchy is best for others; while, for a third people, a
representative republic is the best form of government.

This proposition is too plain for controversy. It has received the
sanction of all the great teachers of political wisdom, from an
Aristotle down to a Montesquieu, and from a Montesquieu down to a Burke.
It has become, indeed, one of the commonplaces of political ethics; and,
however strange the conjunction, it is often found in the very works
which are loudest in proclaiming the universal equality of human rights.
Thus, for example, says Dr. Wayland: "The best form of government for
any people _is the best that its present moral condition renders
practicable. A people may be so entirely surrendered to the influence of
passion, and so feebly influenced by moral restraints, that a
government which relied upon moral restraint could n