CONSERVATIVES AND INDIVIDUALITY 39

sual personalities. The second of these principles is that /\

the men and women in the ordinary walks of life, who do

not have the ability or the wish to accomplish remarkable

things, ought to be protected in their right to proceed in \

the placid round of their duties and enjoyments, unop-

pressed by the people of remarkable abilities. These two

principles, the conservative thinks, are calculated to shel-

ter and nourish true and healthy individuality. The con-

servative believes that men and women, though equal be-

fore the law, are very different in their capacities and

their desires. Some men and some women are filled with

ambition, energy, and remarkable qualities of mind and

heart; these people ought to be allowed to develop their

talents to the full, provided that they do not infringe

upon the rights of other people. But other men and

womenand these are the majority of mankindprefer

to live quietly, regularly, and securely; and these men

and women ought to be allowed to live as they like, pro-

vided they do not try to force the energetic or talented

people to submit to their tastes and their pleasures. When

the rights of both these groups are secured, then a society

has a just government, and human individuality is prop-

erly recognized.

So the real conservative is neither a selfish "individual-

ist" (in the invidious phrase of the socialist), trampling

on the rights and wishes of his neighbors; nor is he a dull

collectivist, intent upon reducing all men and women to

some dead-level of mind and condition. The conservatives

wants people to be different; for a world in which every- I V >

one was the same would be infinitely boring, and would / v .

sink down to its own destruction. There are some things, /

however, in which people ought to be substantially the'

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