2 is the new and simple social order which would remove all temptations, and make vice almost impossible or entirely subservient to public opinion.' Thus the passage is easy to the state in which everybody will do what he likes and say what he likes; and in which everyone will like to speak the truth and to do justice. A curious speculation follows, which led to an important controversy. In 1761 Wallace had argued in favour of a community of goods as a remedy for all social evils. One obstacle, however, stood in the way. The population, he reflected, thus relieved from all pressure would multiply too rapidly for the earth. Godwin meets the difficulty by assuming the existence of a principle in virtue of which population finds its level;' by pointing to the vast uncultivated area still left, and by suggesting that there may be remedies of which we have not 'the smallest idea.' He proceeds, however, to suggest one characteristic solution. The growing power of mind over matter may lead, he thinks, to the indefinite extension of the term of human life; and as, at the same time, sensual gratification will lose its charms, propagation and death will cease together. In that blessed day there will be no war; no crimes; no administration of justice, as it is called, and no government.' 'Besides this, there will be neither disease, anguish, melancholy, nor resentment. Every man will seek with ineffable ardour the good of all. Mind will be active and eager, and yet never disappointed.' In short, heaven will be realised on earth. The time has not yet come. 3 151. Condorcet had indulged in a similar contemplation of the probable extension of human existence. The visionary prospect suggested the attack of Malthus; but I shall not follow a controversy which belongs chiefly to the next century. Malthus, indeed, had struck a weak point. Godwin's dreams were but gorgeous bubbles, destined to speedy collapse whenever brought into contact with the hard facts of the actual world. Yet the hope, the belief in justice, and the faith in man's capacity for improvement were not quite thrown away, though they could only become fruitful when allied to a clearer perception of the conditions of human existence. 152. The description thus given of the main currents of 1 Godwin, ii. 361. * Ib. ii. 516. • Ib. ii. 519. • Ib. ii. 528. political speculation might of course be indefinitely extended, by considering their application to the problems of the day. I hope, however, that I have sufficiently indicated the governing principles. The French principles represented by Paine and Godwin never became fairly acclimatised in England; though their first prophet Rousseau may be regarded, so far as his speculative tendencies are considered, as the almost servile adopter of the Deism of Clarke and of the correlative political theories. The social condition of England and the English dislike to sweeping abstract theories-whether related as cause and effect, or associated by force of circumstances— prevented us from adopting the metaphysical or quasi-mathematical mode of political reasoning. When the divine right theory disappeared, the doctrine of the social compact speedily followed it. All English theorists agreed substantially that political truth must be based upon experience. Hence we have the true constitution-mongers of the Delolme variety, who represent mere empiricism; or the abler interpreters of the constitution as the embodiment of the experience of many generations, whose teaching found the noblest mouthpiece in Burke. Burke's magnificent imagination and true philosophical insight led him more nearly than any of his comtemporaries, and even than any of his successors in English political life, to a genuine historical theory. Unluckily, his hatred of an unsound metaphysical doctrine induced him to adopt a view which seems often to amount to a denial of the possibility of basing any general principles upon experience. Like the cruder empiricists, he admires the rule of thumb' as the ultimate rule, and conservates mere prejudice under the name of prescription. Godwin's title, 'Political Justice,' indicates the weak side of his great opponent. Burke had not solved the problem of reconciling expediency with morality, though he indicated the road to a solution. The English utilitarians, led by Bentham, applied experience in a different sense. They attacked every institution which could not appeal to a plain practical justification; and, whilst denouncing all a priori truths, were in danger of denying the possibility of attaining general principles. They escaped by a logical inconsequence; for, at once appealing to experience, and pronouncing experience to be chaotic, they decided that some kind of deductive method must be applicable to political speculation. The consequences already appear in Godwin, and inspired the speculative conclusions of the two Mills. But I cannot here even indicate the general nature of the results. The problem of constituting a science of politics has not yet been solved; nor are even the appropriate methods definitively agreed upon. NOTE TO CHAPTER X. The principal authorities for this chapter and the editions cited are as follows: BOLINGBROKE, Henry St. John, Lord (1678-1751), 'Letter to Sir W. Windham,' 1717. 'Dissertation on Parties,' 1734. 'Letters on History,' 1735. 'Idea of a Patriot King,' 1738. Works. London : 1777. BROWN, John (1715-1766), ' Estimate of Manners and Principles of the Times,' 1757. Second volume of ditto, 1758. Seventh edition. London: 1758. BURKE, Edmund (1728-1797), 'Vindication of Natural Society,' 1756. 'A Late Administration,' 1766. Observations on a Late State of the Nation,' 1769. Speech on America,' &c., 1774-7. 'Speech on Economical Reform,' 1780. Various Speeches and Reports on India and Warren Hastings,' 1783-89 and 1794. Reflections on French Revolution,' 1790. 'Letter to Member of National Assembly,' 1791. 'Appeal from New to Old Whigs,' 1791. 'Thoughts on French Affairs,' 1791. Policy of the Allies,' 1793. 'Letters on Popery-laws in Ireland,' 1792-5. 'Thoughts on Scarcity,' 1795. Letter to a Noble Lord,' 1796., 'Three Letters on a Regicide Peace,' 1796. Fourth Letter on a Regicide Peace,' 1797. Works. London : 1808, &c. DELOLME, Jean Louis (1745-1807), 'The Constitution of England,' 1775. London: 1788. FERGUSON, Adam (1724-1816), 'Essay on Civil Society,' 1767. Sixth edition. London : 1792. FRANCIS, Sir Philip (1740-1818), 'Junius's Letters,' 1769-72. London: 1812. GODWIN, Mary (Wollstonecraft) (1759-1797), ' Vindication of Rights of Women,' 1791. Second edition. London: 1792. GODWIN, William (1756–1836), 'Political Justice,' 1793. Third edition. London 1798. The Enquirer,' 1797. GORDON, Thomas (?-1750), 'The Independent Whig,' 1720, &c. HAMILTON, Alexander (1757-1804), 'The Federalist' (with Jay and Madison), 1788. HOADLY, Benjamin (1676-1761), 'Origin of Civil Government,' 1710, 'Preservative against Nonjurors,' 1716. Tracts in Bangorian Controversy' (besides many tracts and sermons), 1717, &c. Works. London : 1773. HUME, David (1711-1776), Political Discourses,' 1752. Philosophical Works, by Green and Grose. JOHNSON, Samuel (1709-1784), 'False Alarm,' 1770. 'Taxation No LAW, William (1686-1761), Tracts against Hoadly,' 1717. Works. 'Two LOCKE, John (1632-1704), 'Letters on Toleration,' 1689-92. PRICE, Richard (1723-1791), 'Observations on Civil Liberty,' 1776. 'Additional Observations,' 1777. PRIESTLEY, Joseph (1733-1804), ' Essay on Principles of Government,' 1768. Second edition. London: 1771. SHERLOCK, Thomas (1678–1761), Tracts in Answer to Hoadly,' 1718, &c. Works. London : 1730. TINDAL, Matthew (1657-1733), 'Rights of the Christian Church,' 1706. TUCKER, Josiah (1712-1799), Treatise on Civil Government,' 1781. WARBURTON, William (1698-1779), 'Alliance between Church and State,' 1736. Works. London : 1811. 283 CHAPTER XI. POLITICAL ECONOMY. I. INTRODUCTORY. I. THE year 1776 is marked in political history by the Declaration of Independence; in the history of thought by the appearance of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.' It was not an accidental coincidence that the same year should witness the great catastrophe brought about by the English Colonial policy, and the fullest confutation of the principles upon which that policy rested. Men generally discover that they ought to have foreseen an evil just as foresight is superseded by actual experience; and the history of political economy is but a series of proofs that the relation of speculation to practice is more frequently one of effect than of cause. We learn to think in proportion as the want of thought has made us suffer. Smith's teaching was emphasised at every line by the comment of contemporary history. The literary skill of the writer, the comprehensiveness of his knowledge, and the acuteness of his reasoning, stamped the book from its publication as one of those which is destined to mould the thoughts of a generation. To a statesman like the younger Pitt, filled with a lofty ambition, the Wealth of Nations' might well seem to be a revelation. For the first time an incoherent mass of empirical maxims was codified into a definite system, and elevated to the dignity of science. The mysteries of trade were cleared up, and a distinct map laid down of those bewildering labyrinths in which professional experts had too often lost both themselves and the statesmen who trusted to their guidance. Had Adam Smith announced no absolutely new doctrines, the comprehensiveness and clearness of his speculations would have given an entirely new rank to his study in the circle of human know |