[clx. 428]

1822 July 28

Constitut. Code

As in /of/ a constitution which has for its object the greatest happiness of the one or the few the great /main/ object will necessarily be to minimize this counterforce or even to annihilate it so in a Constitution which has for its object the greatest happiness of all the great object will be to maximize it. The course that presents itself as being in the highest degree conducive and contributory to this purpose will here come to be delineated in its place: and the reception given to whatsoever promises /shall promise/ to be in the highest degree contributory to this effect may be seen as instructive a /the most instructive/ test as imagination can frame of appropriate moral aptitude on the part of rulers as any that can be imagined

3. Lastly comes the superhuman, or say religious sanction But of this it will be seen, that to any such purpose as that of being employed in the character of a counterforce to the power of those in whose hands is the force of the political including the legal sanction, it is essentially inapplicable. See further on Dissertation │   │. To the force of the possessors of the supreme power be they who they may, instead of operating /being/ a counterforce it will be an instrument in their hands: instead of a check an instrument: giving facility instead of applying restriction to misrule