goodactisthatwhichagoodmanwouldperform。Ifabadman，undercompulsion，actsinthesameway，heactsfromfear，andhisactisthereforemorallyneutral，andtocallhimgoodonaccountofhisactionisthereforeamistake。Hesimplyshowsthatheisaman，anddislikeshangingevenmorethanhehateshisfellow-men。
An’externalsanction’reallymeansamotiveforactingasthoughyouweregoodevenifyouarenotgood。Thatsuchsanctionsareessentialtosociety，thattheyprovideashelterunderwhichtruemoralitymayormustgrowup，isobvious。Itistrue，also，thatinearlystagesthedistinctionbetweenthelawwhichrestsuponforceandthatwhichrestsuponthecharacterisnotmanifest。Butultimatelymoralitymeansnothingbuttheexpressionofthecharacteritself。Hencetofindauniversal’sanction’formoralityischimerical。Suchasanctionwouldbe’amotive’whichwouldapplytoallmengoodorbad；thatis，itwouldnotbeamoralmotive。Fearofhellorthegallowsmayindirectlyhelporhinderthedevelopmentofamoralcharacter；
butinitselfthefearisneithergoodnorbad。Theveryattempt，therefore，tofindsucha’sanction’impliesthe’external’oressentiallyinadequateviewofmorality，intowhichtheUtilitarianswiththeirlegalprepossessionsweretooapttofall。Thelaw，restinguponexternalsanctions，maybeusefulorprejudicialtomorals，butmustalwaysbesubordinate；foritsapplicationdependsuponinstinctsbywhichitisguidedandwhichitcannotcreate。
Millrecognisesthis，virtually，thoughnotexplicitly，inhisdiscussionofthe’Utilitariansanction。’Hedeclaresinratherawkwardphrasethatthe’ultimatesanctionofallmoralityexternalmotivesapart’is’asubjectivefeelinginourownminds。’Whereelsecansuchafeelingbe，andwhatis’anobjectivefeeling’？Thesefeelingsexist，asheargues，equallyfortheUtilitarianandthe’Transcendentalist，’thoughthe’Transcendentalists’thinkthattheirexistence’inthemind’
impliesthattheyhavea’rootoutofthemind。’81*The’conscience，’thatis，paininbreakingthemorallaw，existsasafact，whateveritsorigin。If’innate’itcanstillbeopposed，andthequestion，’WhyshouldIobeyit？’isequallydifficulttoanswer。Evenifinnate，again，itmaybeaninnateregardforothermen’spainsandpleasures，andsocoincidewiththeUtilitarianview。Hearguesaccordingly，that，inpointoffact，wemayacquirethat’feelingofunity’withotherswhichgivesthereally’ultimatesanction’tothe’Happinessmorality。’82*