The Rule of the Road, by A. G. Gardiner

❰

1 2

❱

It means that in order that the liberties of all may be preserved the liberties of everybody must be curtailed. When the policeman, say, at Piccadilly Circus steps into the middle of the road and puts out his hand, he is the symbol not of tyranny, but of liberty. You may not think so. You may, being in a hurry and seeing your motor-car pulled up by this insolence of office, feel that your liberty has been outraged. How dare this fellow interfere with your free use of the public highway? Then, if you are a reasonable person, you will reflect that if he did not, incidentally,* interfere with you he would interfere with no one, and the result would be that Piccadilly Circus would be a maelstrom that you would never cross at all. You have submitted to a curtailment of private liberty in order that you may enjoy a social order which makes your liberty a reality.*

Liberty is not a personal affair only, but a social contract. It is an accommodation of interests.

by A. G. Gardiner 1865-1946

From ‘Leaves in the Wind’ (1919), a selection of essays by Alfred George Gardiner (1865-1946), who wrote under the pseudonym ‘Alpha of the Plough.’

* ‘Incidentally’ in this case means that the policeman is stopping you to deal with some specific incident, not dictating every aspect of your joutney.

* See also Edmund Burke on There is No Liberty without Self-Control.

Précis

What Gardiner called ‘the rule of the road’ meant that free citizens must curtail their own liberties enough for others to enjoy theirs. We grudgingly accept this, he said, out on the road, understanding that chaos would ensue without some restriction on absolute freedom of movement. A citizen’s freedom will inevitably be eroded unless he takes everybody’s freedom into account.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Why does Gardiner pick on Piccadilly Circus for his example?

Suggestion

Because traffic is notoriously busy there.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Piccadilly Circus is busy. Traffic is controlled there. This prevents chaos.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IDesign. IIIf. IIIWithout.

Précis

Questions for Critics

Sevens

Jigsaws

Tags

Read Next