JB/015/273/001

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Servility is one of the terms most commonly employed on these occasions. Its synonymes
and quasi-synonymes are very numerous, – and the impression it conveys is
of an exceedingly vague & indeterminate character.

So much the worse. Oo precise idea being attached to it the
accusation becomes the more impressive. If closely looked to, it will be found to
mean the habit of rendering to a superior services which according to the received
notions of propriety ought not to be rendered. As a rule of conduct the so often
repeated principle of balancing pleasures & pains will apply here, as every
where.

To render to every man every possible service where neither prudence
nor benevolence has ought aught to object is the obvious dictate & duty of beneficence
and in the case before us the dictates of benevolence are in their full force without
any counteracting or diminishing force on the side of prudence.

But here as on most other occasions are two sets of
antagonizing forces, the impelling & the restraining – the only limits to the
proper influence of the compelling force being that which is exercised by the
restraining power.

The virtue of beneficence, – tho' its objects embrace all
mankind can be exercised to a very limited extent, – & as applied to
any single individual yet narrower is its sphere of action. And this is
well – for if every man were disposed to sacrifice his own enjoyments to
the enjoyments of others, it is obvious the whole sum of enjoyment
would be diminished – nay destroyed. The result would not be the general
happiness, – but the general misery. Prudence therefore sets its limits to
benevolence, – & those limits do not embrace a large space.

In the case before us, prudence so far from prohibiting
prescribes the obligation of rendering the services to the superior – services
in the utmost quantity that can be rendered under a sufficient assurance
that the value of the services received in return will not be less than that
of the suffering, self-denial – or sacrifice incurred in order to obtain them. Prudence
makes a sort of commercial bargain – the sort of bargain on which all
commerce is founded. The expenditure is expected to bring back something
more than its cost. No outlay is detrimental that brings back returns an
equivalent – no expence fails to be beneficial, which brings back an
equivalent, – & something more.

Here then is prudence acting in two directions – prescribing
expenditure, – in as far as it promises a beneficial return – inhibiting expenditure
where the beneficial return cannot be reasonably anticipated. But here, as elsewhere,
no law of benevolence must be violated while prudence seeks the
beneficial return in question.

And how are the dictates of self regarding [Prima P. 209 prudence to
be ascertained? by what are they determined? By the balance of an account
embracing the different heads under which pleasures & pains are capable of
being arranged. Prudence on all occasions supposes & requires the sacrifice of
pleasures & exemptions on the one hand to pleasures & exemptions on the other
Between the rival amounts the decision must lie – & the decision of wisdom
must be with the larger of the two.

Identifier: | JB/015/273/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	015	Main Headings	deontology
Folio number	273	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	linking material	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f123
Penner	sir john bowring	Watermarks	[[watermarks::[prince of wales feathers] mj&l 1811]]
Marginals		Paper Producer	colonel aaron burr
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1811
Notes public		ID Number	5489
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