andtoconsiderhowtheevilsmightbecorrectedwhilefreeplaymightbeallowedtothebeneficialtendencies。Itenlightenedhim，hesays，moreespeciallyonthegreatquestionofcentralisation，andfreedhimfromthe’unreasoningprejudices’
whichledsomeoftheradicalstoopposeevensuchmeasuresasthenewPoorLaw。5*SomuchmayindicateMill’sgeneralattitude；and，ifhisconclusionswerequestionable，themainpurposewassofareminentlyphilosophical。
MillbeginshisLibertybyinsistinguponthedangertowhichhisattentionhadbeenrousedbythecourseofevents。Theconflictbetweenlibertyandauthorityledtothedemandthatrulersshouldbecome。responsibletotheirsubjects；andwhenthisresultwassecured，anewevilappeared。Thetyrannyofthemajoritymightsupplantthetyrannyofrulers；and，iflessformidablepolitically，mightbeevenworsespiritually。’Socialtyranny’maybemorepenetrativethanpolitical，andenslavethesoulitself。6*InEnglandthe’yokeoflaw’maybelighter，butthe’yokeofopinion’isperhapsheavierthanelsewhereinEurope。Whenthemasseshavelearnedtheirpower，theywillprobablybeastyrannicalinlegislationasinpublicopinion。7*Thepurposeofhisessayistoassert’oneverysimpleprinciple’bywhichthistendencymayberestrained。Thatprincipleisbrieflythatthesoleendwhichwarrantsinterferencewithindividualactionis’self-protection。’Hewillarguenotfrom’abstractrights，’butfrom’utility’understoodinitslargestsense，andcorresponding’totheinterestsofamanasaprogressivebeing。’
II。INTELLECTUALLIBERTY
Theprinciplethusformulatedisapplicablebothinthesphereofspeculationandinthesphereofconduct。Millfirstconsiders’libertyofthoughtanddiscussion。’Hehasheretheadvantageofstartingfromagenerallyadmittedprinciple。Everyonenowadmits，inwordsatleast，thedoctrineoftoleration。