197

17

wish you wish gratified"
"Why I tell you, it is simply that this wish were gratified"
Would you noy yhink you had met one of the denizens of Alice's Wonderland?

No, it is plain that there is no one distinct meaning that will not render this argument nonsensical.
There not only is a plain distinction between an act with satisfies ones highest ideals of conduct, which one's judicial conscience approves, and one that one's conscience condemns, which is a purely private question, but there is the further scientific distinction between what ought and what ought not to be taken as an ideal of conduct.
There is no more encouraging conduct.
There is no more encouraging chapter of history than that which recounts the gradual progress that has been made toward formulating the true ideal.
But the last word on the subject has never yet been said.