Speaking of men acting in a body, there is no room for the
many exceptions, necessarily admitted to the rule, that with the
individual self-love is the ruling motive. The individual sometimes
yields to nobler considerations, than the calculations of self-interest.
In the corporation, the _esprit du corps_--the clannish
spirit--is sure to master it over public spirit. Devotion to the
honor, aggrandizement, wealth and power of the order, company, or
corporation, is more sure to control their acts as individuals. It is
less liable to self-rebuke for conscious meanness. It looks somewhat
more like the public spirit which ought to be. It is less liable to
occasional counteractions from impulses of honor, humanity, or regard
to reputation.
Accordingly a body of men, so constituted as to find its best flourish
short of the perfection of the whole social system, will inevitably,
sooner or later, prove an obstacle to the onward march of improvement.
A corporation is not necessarily a grievance and a sore on the body
politic. If it can have its full flourish, without let to the progress
of society, it may be harmless or beneficent.
"_Sooner or later_;" be this condition marked, in estimating the
spiritual policy of Rome.
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