Mill Vs Metternich

Prince Clemons von Metternich was the Chief Minister of the Habsburg monarchy who was a conservative and against enlightenment. After the fall of Napoleon, Metternich worked to restore the European balance of power and to overturn revolutionary movements. After the revolutions, he used conservative ideals too rebuild Europe. Metternich, a leading advocate for conservatism says “ …passions are let loose, and league together to overthrow everything which society respects as the basis of its existence; religion, public morality, laws, customs, rights, and duties, are all attacked , confounded, overthrown or called into question”(Metternich, qtd. In Swanson, 25). Metternich is describing the uselessness and the mindset of the people involved in the revolution. These kinds of attitudes expressed by Metternich would result in more restrictive policies. Metternich believed the source of evil was presumption.

He is was total opposite of Metternich. Mill’s “On liberty” essay was about the individual liberty. To Mill’s, the only important thing is the happiness of the individual, and such happiness may only be accomplished in an enlightened society, in which people are free to partake in their own interests. Thus, Mills stresses the important value of individuality, of personal development, both for the individual and society for future progress. For Mill, an educated person is the one who acts on what he or she understands and who does everything in his or her power to understand. Mill held this model out to all people, not just the specially gifted, and advocates individual initiative over social control. He emphasizes that things done by individuals are done better than those done by governments. Also, individual action advances the mental education of that individual, something that government action cannot ever do, and for government action always poses a threat to liberty and must be carefully