just powers from the consent of the governed, is bound to do justice
in such manner as will conform to the just public sentiment of the
governed. It is in no case bound to execute the will of the governed,
much less the will of the majority, unless that will conforms to
justice in the particular case. Nor can it do an unjust act and plead
in justification the consent of the governed, for the consent of the
governed to an unjust act is void by the law of nature and of nations.
This principle was often appealed to by the Americans, notably in the
final manifesto of 1778, as an answer to the British claim that the
Americans were bound by the restrictive Acts of Parliament on account
of their acquiescence in them. They said that an attempted consent to
an unjust act of government was a nugatory act, an unjust act of
government being itself nugatory, and deserving obedience only from
motives of policy.

This doctrine that government is the doing of justice according to
public sentiment is, of course, utterly opposed to the doctrine that
government is the will of the majority. If government is the doing of
justice according to public sentiment, government is the expression
and application of a spiritually and intellectually educated public
sentiment, since the knowledge of what is just comes only after a
course of spiritual and intellectual education, and the forms and
methods of government should be such as are adapted to such spiritual
and intellectual education. Education takes place by direct personal
contact, and can best be accomplished only through the establishment
of permanent groups of individuals who are all under the same
conditions. The formation and expression of a just public sentiment,
therefore, requires the establishment of permanent groups of persons,
more or less free from any external control which interferes with
their rightful action, under a leadership which makes for their