The change which is called for by the general welfare should, according to Godwin, be effected by those who have recognized the truth persuading others how necessary the change is for the general welfare, so that law, the State, and property would spontaneously disappear and the new condition would take their place.

I. The sole requirement is to convince men that the general welfare demands the change.

1. Every other way is to be rejected. "Our judgment will always suspect those weapons that can be used with equal prospect of success on both sides. Therefore we should regard all force with aversion. When we enter the lists of battle, we quit the sure domain of truth and leave the decision to the caprice of chance. The phalanx of reason is invulnerable; it moves forward with calm, sure step, and nothing can withstand it. But, when we lay aside arguments, and have recourse to the sword, the case is altered. Amidst the clamorous din of civil war, who shall tell whether the event will be prosperous or adverse? We must therefore distinguish carefully between instructing the people and exciting them. We must refuse indignation, rage, and passion, and desire only sober reflection, clear judgment, and fearless discussion."[107]

2. The point is to convince men as generally as possible. Only when this is accomplished can acts of violence be avoided. "Why did the revolution in France and America find all sorts and conditions of men almost unanimous, while the resistance to Charles the First divided our nation into two equal parties? Because the latter occurred in the seventeenth century, the former at the end of the eighteenth. Because at the time of the revolutions in France and America philosophy had already developed some of the great truths of political science, and under the influence of Sydney and Locke, of Montesquieu and Rousseau, a number of strong and thoughtful minds had perceived what an evil force is. If these revolutions had taken place still later, not a drop of civic blood would have been shed by civic hands, not in a single case would force have been used against persons or things."[108]

3. The means to convince men as generally as possible of the necessity of a change consist in "proof and persuasion. The best warrant of a happy outcome lies in free, unrestricted discussion. In this arena truth must always be victor. If, therefore, we would improve the social institutions of mankind, we must seek to convince by spoken and written words. This activity has no limits; this endeavor admits of no interruption. Every means must be used, not so much to draw men's attention and bring them over to our opinion by persuasion, as rather to remove every barrier to thought and to open to everybody the temple of science and the field of study."[109]

"Therefore the man who has at heart the regeneration of his species should always bear in mind two principles, to regard hourly progress in the discovery and dissemination of truth as essential, and calmly to let years pass before he urges the carrying into effect of his teaching. With all his prudence, it may be that the boisterous multitude will hurry ahead of the calm, quiet progress of reason; then he will not condemn the revolution that takes place some years before the time set by wisdom. But if he is ruled by strict prudence he can without doubt frustrate many over-hasty attempts, and considerably prolong the general quietness."[110]

"This does not mean, as one might think, that the changing of our conditions lies at an immeasurable distance. It is the nature of human affairs that great alterations take place suddenly, and great discoveries are made unexpectedly, as it were accidentally. When I cultivate a young person's mind, when I exert myself to influence that of an older person, it will long seem as if I had accomplished little, and the fruits will show themselves when I least expect them. The kingdom of truth comes quietly. The seed of virtue may spring up when it was fancied to be lost."[111] "If the true philanthropist but tirelessly proclaims the truth and vigilantly opposes all that hinders its progress, he may look forward, with heart at rest, to a speedy and favorable outcome."[112]

II. As soon as the conviction that the general welfare demands a change in our condition has made itself generally felt, law, the State, and property will disappear spontaneously and give way to the new condition. "Reform, under this meaning of the term, can scarcely be considered as of the nature of action. [It is a general enlightenment.] Men feel their situation; and the restraints that shackled them before, vanish like a deception. When such a crisis has arrived, not a sword will need to be drawn, not a finger to be lifted up in purposes of violence. The adversaries will be too few and too feeble, to be able to entertain a serious thought of resistance against the universal sense of mankind."[113]

In what way may the change of our conditions take place?

1. "The opinion most popular in France at the time that the national convention entered upon its functions, was that the business of the convention extended only to the presenting a draft of a constitution, to be submitted in the sequel to the approbation of the districts, and then only to be considered as law."[114]

"The first idea that suggests itself respecting this opinion is, that, if constitutional laws ought to be subjected to the revision of the districts, then all laws ought to undergo the same process. [But if the approbation of the districts to any declarations is not to be delusive, the discussion of these declarations in the districts must be unlimited. Then] a transaction will be begun to which it is not easy to foresee a termination. Some districts will object to certain articles; and, if these articles be modeled to obtain their approbation, it is possible that the very alteration introduced to please one part of the community may render the code less acceptable to another."[115]

"This principle of a consent of districts has an immediate tendency, by a salutary gradation perhaps, to lead to the dissolution of all government."[116] It is indeed "desirable that the most important acts of the national representatives should be subject to the approbation or rejection of the districts whose representatives they are, for exactly the same reason as it is desirable that the acts of the districts themselves should, as speedily as practicability will admit, be in force only so far as relates to the individuals by whom those acts are approved."[117]

2. This system would have the effect, first, that the constitution would be very short. The impracticability of obtaining the free approbation of a great number of districts to an extensive code would speedily manifest itself; and the whole constitution might consist of a scheme for the division of the country into parts equal in their population, and the fixing of stated periods for the election of a national assembly, not to say that the latter of these articles may very probably be dispensed with.[118]

A second effect would be, that it would soon be found a proceeding unnecessarily circuitous to send laws to the districts for their revision, unless in cases essential to the general safety, and that in as many instances as possible the districts would be suffered to make laws for themselves. "Thus, that which was at first a great empire with legislative unity would speedily be transformed into a confederacy of lesser republics, with a general congress or Amphictyonic council, answering the purpose of a point of co-operation upon extraordinary occasions."[119]

A third effect would consist in the gradual cessation of legislation. "A great assembly collected from the different provinces of an extensive territory, and constituted the sole legislator of those by whom the territory is inhabited, immediately conjures up to itself an idea of the vast multitude of laws that are necessary. A large city, impelled by the principles of commercial jealousy, is not slow to digest the volume of its by-laws and exclusive privileges. But the inhabitants of a small parish, living with some degree of that simplicity which best corresponds with nature, would soon be led to suspect that general laws were unnecessary, and would adjudge the causes that came before them, not according to certain axioms previously written, but according to the circumstances and demands of each particular cause."[120]

A fourth effect would be that the abrogation of property would be favored. "All equalization of rank and station strongly tends toward an equalization of possessions."[121] So not only the lower orders, but also the higher, would see the injustice of the present distribution of property.[122] "The rich and great are far from callous to views of general felicity, when such views are brought before them with that evidence and attraction of which they are susceptible."[123] But even so far as they might think only of their own emolument and ease, it would not be difficult to show them that it is in vain to fight against truth, and dangerous to bring upon themselves the hatred of the people, and that it might be to their own interest to make up their minds to concessions at least.[124]

[25] Godwin pp. IX-X [1. VI-VII].