LAW, LIBERTY AND JUSTICE 265

Indemnity.1 What is sometimes called Martial Law in England,
is not, therefore, a special system of law to be invoked at special
times. It is merely the operation'on a great scale of the same rule
that requires anyone to interfere—or at least to call the police—
if he sees an assault or theft being committed.

The exact extent to which we may exercise our liberties, is thus
shown to be determined very largely by the police, and in the
last resort by the courts. The recruitment and training of the
former, and the appointment of judges and magistrates to the
latter, are.therefore all the more important. But above all, the
preservation of liberty with order depends on the individual
citizen. All Government^ irrespective of party, like to increase
their own powers, and, since they are composed of human beings,
they are inclined to resent criticism, and see in it a danger to the
peace,?where none exists. So the citizen, .besides refraining from,
and assisting to stop disorder, must be ready to champion any
victims-of injustice, even though they be persons holding absurd
or unpopular opinions. A Government intending to persecute,
will naturally begin with the more unpopular people, and the
arbitrary treatment of them will serve as a precedent for other
sections in ritne to come. Only a people which has made the
Rule of Law a rule of life can resist this piecemeal destruction
of liberty.

BOOKS:

*DICEY. Law of the Constitution (Chaps. IV-VIII and Appendix)
JAMES CURTIS. Guide to British Liberties (" Fact" pamphlet.)
FOX. The Modern English Prison.

iSee Ch. II.