1819 Aug. 17

Fallacies 1 Forms

[4 Forms.]

Forms. Another very convenient cloak for abuse and misgovernment - for foul spots of all sorts and sizes - is presented by the word forms - by the nebulosity of the word forms. /: a very paragon of nebulosity./

By forms are meant either operations of government or instruments of government meaning written instruments, produced by correspondent operations: the living instruments of government - the members of the appropriate part of the Official Establishment being, in both cases, the operators.

Now among these operations, productive or not /some productive, some not/ of corresponent instruments, there have doubtless been some good: but moreover, unless the official persons in question have been absolutely infllible and impeccable, some bad. It is required to reconcile men to the bad: to cause them to be regarded as good: this is the problem, how shall this problem /it/ be solved?

Tale the individual operattion itself, and apply laud[?] to it, the danger is that the laud will not stick; and the more palpably undeserving of laud the operations is - in other words the more palpably deserving of reproach in a word the more palpably mischevious - the greater the difficulty of making /getting/ it to stick.