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DISCOURSE ON THB STUDY Of THIS LAfV OF NATURE AND NATIONS ; INTRODUCTORY TO A COURSE OF LECTURES ON THAT SCIENCE, TO BE CO'MMINCSD IN LINCOLN'S INN HALL, Oh ff'eJtie/Jay, Feb, 13, 1799, IN PURSUANCE or AN ORDBS. OP THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF LINCOLN'S INN. By JAMES MACKINTOSH, OF Lincoln's inn, BARRISTER ^T L j4 IV. EsQi f \ THE SECOND EDITION. I HonHon: PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, JUN. AND W. DAVIES, {N THB STRAND; J. DEBRETT, PICCADILLY ; AND W. CLARICE, PORTUGAL «TR£&T, LINCOLN'S INN. >799- {i\ r^/a9/.m 179^1 p . r-j fi' i^T •■'w- ■*5^?* ••tfn.-^-i r^ViV_-^#«i«a8r»-«T»-»*«^sf -_:jtp;i M''"n";>U. ••-* asamt DISCOURSE, * . .,*. Before I begin a courf^ of ledures oa a fct- ence of great extent and importance, I think it my duty to lay before the Public the rea- Tons which have induced me to undertake fuch a labour, as well as a (hort account of the nature and objed^s of the c<>urre which I propofe to deliver. I have always been unwilling to wafte in unprofitable inadtivity that leifure which the firft years of my profeffion ufually allow, and which diligent men, even with moderate talents, might often employ in a manner neither difcreditable to themfelvesnor wholly ufelefs to others. Defirous that my own leifure (hould not be confumed in lloth, I anxiouily looked abouc -'"•«■ 1 '^ fof i' i ■2\7'f/ b3 - t.l.~»-4A?pL^'.i< -i-e^***".*— •*^f.^y^■^c| ( i ) for fome way of filling it up, which might enable me, according to the meafure of my humble abi- lities, to contribute fomewhat to the (lock of ge- neral ufefulne's. I had long been convinced that public lectures, which have been ufed in mod ages and countries to teach the elements of al- mod every part of learning, were the mod conve- nient mode in which thefe elements could be taught ; that they were the bed adapted for the important purpofes of awakening the attention of the dudent, of abridging his labours, of guiding his inquiries, of relieving the tedioufnefs of pri- vate dudy, and of impreding on his recoUeftioq the principles of fcience. I faw no reafon why the law of England fliould be lefs adapted to this mode of indruftion, ^r lefs likely to benefit by it, than any other part of knowledge. A learned gentleman, however, had already occupied that ground *, and will, I doubt not, perfevere in the ufeful labour which he has undertaken. On his province it was far from my widi to intrude. It appeared to me that a courfe of leftures on an- other fcience clofely connected with all liberal profefTional fludies, and which had long been the fubjeft of my own reading and refiedion, might not only prove ^ ipod ufeful introdudiop to the ' ♦ See " A Syllabus of Lcftures on the Law of England, " to be delivered in LincolnVInn Hall, by M. Nolan, Efq."* JLondop, 1796, 'V ,, / V law imt^$''^^^-.,^tSfuil^ ■«.'«*wi.-.. i .Tim^----- - ( 3 ) law of England, but might alfo become an inte- refling part of general fludy, and an important branch of the education of thofe who were not dedined for the profefllon of the law. I was con- firmed in my opinion by the afTent and approba* tion of men, whofe names, if it were becoming to mention them on fo llight an occaiion, would add authority to truth, and furnifli fome excufe even for error. Encouraged by their approbation, I refolved, without delay, to commence the un^ dertaking, of which I (hall now proceed to give fome account ; without interrupting the progrefs of my difcourfe by anticipating or anfweriog the remarks of thofe who may, perhaps, fneer at me for a departure from the ufual courfc of my pro- fefllon ; becaufe I am defirous of employing in a rational and ufeful purfuit that leifure, of which the fame men would have required no account, if it had been wafted on trifles, or even abufed in diflipation. ^' The fcience which teaches the rights and duties of men and of dates, has, in modern times, b;en called the Law of Nature and Nations. Under this comprehenfive title arc included the rules of morality, as they prefcribc the condud of private men towards each other in all the various rela- > tions of human life ; as they regulate both tlu; obedience of citizens to the laws, and the autho- dty of the magiftraie in framing laws and admi- B 2 niftering /, / M ( 4 ) niftering government; as they modify the in- tercourfe of independent commonwealths in peace» and prefcribe limits to their hoftility in war. This important fcience comprehends only that part o^privau ethics which is capable of being re* duccd to fixed and general rules. It confiders only thofe general i^v\xkd^\t% oi jurifprudeHce and politics which the wifdom of the lawgiver adapts fo the peculiar ficuation of his own country, and which the ikill of the ilaterman applies to the fnoFe ilu^uating and infinitely varying circum' (lai^ccs which affe(ft its immediate welfare and flfe^. **rFor there afe in nature certain foun- ^ tains of juftice whence all civil laws are derived* '* ibut at ftreams ; and like as waters do take tinc- ** tures and tafies from the foils through which '* they run, fo do civil laws vary according to " the regions and governments where they are " planted, though they proceed from the fame " fountains *." Bacon* s Dig. and Adv. ofLearn.-^ Works, vol. i. p. loi. On the great queftions of morality, of politics, and of municipal law, it is the objedt of this fci" ence to deliver only thofe fundamental truths pf which the paiticular application is as extenfive as * I have net been deteired by fame petty incon^uHy of metaphor fitim quoting this noble fentence. Mr. Hume had, perhapi, tbi« feuteoce in his recoliedtion, when he wrote a femanujblepafl'aEeof hiiwocks. See Hume'i Eflays, vol.ii. p.3Sa. td. LonQri788. -■ the i..^- ( 5 \ t \ the whole private and public condudi'Df men; to diCcover thofc ** fountains of juftice," wjthou'' »> tion of the law of nature under this full, mature, and perfedt idea of its high origin and tranf- cendent dignity, that called forth the enthufiafm of the greateft men, and the greateft writers of ancient and modern times, in thofe fublime de- fcriptions, where they have exhaufted all the powers of language, and furpafTed all the other exertions, even of their owa eloquence, in the c difplay ( 10 ) difplay of the beauty and majefty of this fove- rcign and immutable law. It is of this law that Cicero has fpoken in fo many parts of his writings, not only with all the fplcndour and copioufnefs of eloquence, but with the fenfibiliiy of a man of virtue • and with the gravity and comprehenlion of a philofppher*. It is of this law, that Hooker fpeaks in fo fublime a drain : " Of Law, no Icfs " can be faid, than that her feat is the bofom of ** God, her voice the harmony of the world j all ** things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very leaft as feeling her care, the greatell as not exempted from Iwr power; both angels and *? men, and creatures of what condition focver, " though each in different fort and manner, yet *f all with uniform confent admiring her as the * Eft quidem vera lex, re£ta ratio, nature congruent^ dlf- fiifa in omnes, conftans, fempiterna, quae vocet ad officium jubendo, vetando a fraude deterreat, quae tamen neque pro- bos fruftra jubet aut vetat, neque iinprobos jubendo aut ve- taiido movet. Huic legi neque obrogari fas eft, neque dero> ^ari ex h&c aliqiild' ^cet, neque tota abrogari poteft. Nee vero aut per fenatum aut per populum folvi hac lege poflu- mus. Neque eft quaertedus explanator aut interpres ejus alius. Nee erit alia lex Romae, alia Athenis, alia nune, alia poftliac, fed et omnes gentes et.omni tempore una lex et fempiterna, et immortalis eontinebit, jinufque erit communis quan magifter et imperator omnium Deus. Ille legis hujus inventor, difcep- tator, lator, cui qui non parebit ipfefefugiet et naturam hominis nfpe^naUtur^ atque hoc ipfo luet maximas puenas etiamfl cae- tera fupplicia quae putantur cfFugerit. Fragm. lib. Hi. Cicer. de Republ. apud Lallant. It is impoffible to read fuch precious fragments without de- ploring the lofs of a work which, for the benefit of all gene- rations, J}iould havQ been immortal. " mother (C « (...) ** mother Of their peace and joy.'*— £fr/(r/I Poh hook I. in the concluftottk Let not thofe, who^ to ufe the language of the fame Hooker, ** talk of truth," without " ever " founding the depth from whence it fpringeth," haftily take it for granted, that thefe great maders of eloquence and reafon were led adray by the fpecious deluHons of myflicifm, from the fober confideration of the true grounds of morality in the nature, neceffities, and interelh of man. They fludied and taught the principles of morals; but they thought it ftill more neceflary, and more wife, a much nobler tafk, and more becoming a true philofopher, to infpire men with a love and, reverence for virtue *. They were not contented with elementary fpeculations. They examined the foundations of our duty, but they felt and cheriflied a mod natural, a mod feemly, a mod rational enthufiafm, when they contemplated the majedic edifice which is reared on thefe folid foundations. They devoted the highed exertions of their mind to fpread that beneBcent enthufiafm among men. They confecrated as a homage to virtue the mod perfeft fruits of their genius. If * Age vero urbibus conftitutis ut fidem colere et juftitiain retinere difcerent, et aliis parere fui voluutate confuefcerent, ac non tnodo labores excipiendos communis commodi cauf^ fed etiam vitam amittendam exiftimarent ; qui tandem fieri potuit ni(i homines ea quae ratione invehiiTent eloquent!^ perfuadere potuiflent— Cic. de Inv. Rhet. lib. i, in proem. c a thefe ( «* ) tliefe grand fentiments of " the good and fair/' have fometimes prevented thetn from dehvcring the principles of ethics with the nakednefs and drynefs of fcience^ at leaft, we muft own that rhey have chofcn the better part ; that they have preferred virtuous feeling to' moral theory j an^ pra(flical benefit to fpcculative exaftnefs. Per* haps thefe wife men may have fuppofed that the minute diffeftion and anatomy of Virtue might, to the ill-judging eye, weaken the charm &f her beauty. It is not for me to attempt a theme wliich has perhaps been exhaufted by thefe great writers. I am indeed much lefs called upon to difplay the worth and ufefulnefs of the law of nations, than to vindicate myfelf from prefumption in attempting a fubjedt which has been already handled by fo many matters. For the purpofe of that vindica- tion, it will be neceflary to {ketch a very (hort and ilight account (forfuch in this place it mud una- voidably be) of the progrefs and prefent ftate of the fcience, and of that fucceffion of able writers who have gradually brought it to its prefent per- fection. We have no Greek or Roman treatife re- maining on the law of nations. From the title of one of the loft works of Ariftotle, It appears ' that ( '3 ) that he compofed a treatife on the laws of war *, which, if we had the good fortune to poflefs it, would doubtlefs have amply fatisfied our curiofity, and would have taught us both the praAice of the ancient nations and the opinions of their moralifts, ^ith that depth and precifion which diftinguifh the other works of that great pbilofopher. We can now only imperfedly colle6l that practice and thofe opinions from^various paiTages which are fcattered over the writings of phiiofophers, hiftorians, poets, and orators. When the time (hall arrive for a more full confideration of the ftate of the govern* ment and manners of the ancient world, I (hall be able, perhaps, to offer fatisfaAory reafons why thefe enlightened nations did not feparate from the general province of ethics that part of mo- rality which regulates the intercourfe of ftates, and eredb it into an independent fcience. It would require a long difcuffion to unfold the various caufes which united the modern na* tions of Europe into a clofer fociety ; which linked them together by the firmed bands of mu- tual dependence, and which thus, in procefs of time, gave to the law that regulated their inter- courfe greater importance, higher improvement, and more binding force. Among thefe caufes we may enumerate a common extradtion, a common .religion, fimilar manners, inftitutions, and lan- AlKtttUHaH TWD ItohtlAKft guagcs; !1 I^sgs.— -. { '4 ) gliagts ; in earlier ages the authority of the See of Rome, and the extravagant claims of the Imperial crown ; in later times the connexions of trade, the jeaioufy of power, the refinement of civiliza- tion, the cultivation of fcience, and, above ail, that general mildnefs of charadter and manners which arofe from the combined and progrcffive influence of chivalry, of commerce, of learning, and of re- ligion. Nor muft we omit the fimilarity of thofe {Political inditutions which, in every country that had been over-run by the Gothic conquerors, bore difcernible maiks (which the revolutions of fuc- cceding ages had obfcured, but not obliterated) of the rude but bold and noble outline of liberty that was originally fketched by the hand of thefe ge- nerous barbarians. Thefe and many other caufes confpired to unite the nations of Europe in a more intimate connexion and a more conftant inter- courfe, and of confequence made the regulation of their intercourfe more neceflary, and the law that was to govern it more important. In propor- tion as they approached to the condition of pro- vinces of the fame empire, it became almoft as eflcntial that Europe (hould have a precifc and comprehenfive code of the law of nations, as that each country fliould have a fyftem of municipal law. The labours of the learned accordingly be- gan to be direded to this fubjed in the fixtecnth jcentury, foon after the revival of learning, and af- ter that regular diftribution of power and territory which ( IJ ) which has fubfided, with little variation, until out times. The critical examination of ihcfe early writers would perhaps not be very intercfting in an extenfive work, and it would be unpardonable in a Ihort difcourfe. It is fufficient to obfervc that they weie all more or lefs (hackled by the barbarous philofophy of the fchools, and that the/ were impeded in their progrefs by a timorous de- ference for the inferior and technical parts of the Roman law, without raifing their views to the comprehenfive principles which will for ever in- fpire mankind with veneration for that grand monument of human wifdom. It was ^ only in- deed in the fixteenth century that the Roman law was fird (ludied and underftood as a fcience con- neded with Roman hiftory and literature, and il- luftrated by men whom Ulpian and Papinian would not have difdained to acknowledge as their fuccef- fors *. Among the writers of that age we may perceive the ineffectual attempts, the partial ad-!- vances, the occafional (Ireaks of light which al- ways precede great difcoveries, and wprks thac arc to inftrudt pofterity. The reduction of the law of nations to a fyllen^ was referved for Grotius. It was by the advice of * Cujacius, Brinbnius, Hottomannus, &c. &c. — FiJe Gravina Orig. Jur. Civil, p. 13* — 136. edit, Lipl'. 1737. Leibnitz, a great mathematician as well as philolbpher, declares that he knows nothing which approaches fo near to the method and preciiion of geometry as the Roman law. — pp. torn. iv. p. ^^4. l-or4 ( i6 ) Lord Bacon and Peirefc that he undertook this arduous tafk. He produced a work which we now indeed juftly deem imperfe(fV, but which is perhaps the mod complete that the world has yet owed, at fo early a ftage in the progrefs of any fcience, to the genius and learning of one man. So great is the uncertainty of polthumous reputa- tion, and fo liable is the fame even of the greatefl men to be obfcured by thofe new fafhions of thinking and writing which fucceed each other fo rapidly among poliQied nations, thatGrotius, who filled fo large a fpace in the eye of his contem- poraries, is now perhaps known to fome of my readers only by name. Yet if we fairly eAimate both his endowments and his virtues, we may judly confider him as one of the mod memorable men who have done honour to modern times. He combined the difrharge of the mod imponaiit duties of aftive and public life with the attainment of that exadb and various learning which is gene- rally the portion only of the reclufe ftudent. He was diftinguifhed as an advocate and a magiftrate, and he compofed the mod valuable works on the law of his own country; he was almod equally celebrated as an hiftorian, a fcholar, a poet, and a divine; a difmtereded (latefnian, a philofophical lawyer, a patriot who united moderation with firmnefs, and a theologian who was taught candour by his learning. UMmerited exile did not damp his patriotifm ;• the bitternefs of controverfy did ( '> ) ttot extinguifh his charity. The fagacity of hit numerous and fierce adverfaries could not difcover a blot on his character ; and in the midfl: of all the hard trials and galling provocations of a turbulent political life, he never once deferted his friends when they were unfortunate, nor infultcd his ene- mies when they were weak. In times of the mod furious civil and religious fa(ftion he pre- ferved his name unfpotted; and he knew how to reconcile fidelity to his own party, with moderation towards his opponents. Such was the man who was deilined to give a new form to the law of nations, or rather to create a fcience, of which only rude iketches and indigefled mate- rials were fcattered over the writings of thofe who had gone before him. By tracing the laws of his country to their principles, he was led to the con- templation of the law of nature, which he juftly confidered as the parent of all municipal law"*. Few Works were more celebrated than that of Grotius in his own days, and in the age which fuc- ceeded. Ji has, however, been the fafhion of the laft half- century to depreciate his work as a fhape- lefs compilation, in which reafon lies buried un- der a mafs of authorities and quotations. This fafhion originated among French wits and de- daimers, and it has been, I know not for whac * Froavia juris civilis. — tie Jur. Bell, ac Pac. Froleg. { i6. jx reafon. ( »8 ) reafon, adopted, though with far greater moderation aiid decency, by fomc rcfpedtable writers among; ourCelves. As to thofe who ftr(l ufcd this lan- guage, the moll candid fuppofition that we can maiie with refpedt to them is, that they never read the work j for, if they had not been deterred from the pcrul'al of it by fuch a formidable difplay of Greek chaiaders, they muft foon have difcovcrcd that Grotius never quotes on any fubjed till he has fiift appealed to fome principles, and often, in my humble opinion, though not always, to the founded and mod rational principles. But another fort of anfwer is due to fome of thofe ''*' who have criticized Grotius, and that an- fwer might be given in the words of Grotius him- felf j^. He was not of fuch a ftuprd and fervile cad of mind, as to quote the opinions of poets or orators, of hiflorians and philofophers, as thofe of judges, from whofe decifion there was no ap- peal. He quotes them, as he tells us hlmfelf, as witneircs whofe confpiring teftimony, mightily ftrengthened and confirmed by their difcordancc on almoft every other fiibjemenral principles of morals. On fuch matters, pors • Dr. Paley, Princ. of Mor. and PoUt. Philof. Pref. p. \W. and XV. 'v t Grot. Jur. Bel. et Pac. Proleg. § 40, aad ' "" « •" ■ ■ »«»■ I I I m . j»i ! i.- ( 19 ) and orators arc the moft unrxcepuonible of all >vitnefles ; for they addrels thcmkKcs to the ^-ne- ral feelings and fympathics Lf* mankind ; they are neither warped by fyftem, nor perverted by io' phiftry; th«;y can attain none of their objedls, they can neither pleafe nor perfuade, if hey d vcli on moral fentiments not in unifon with th ^fc of Uj'*Ii icaders. No lyftem of moral philofoptiy ran fiirciy difrcgard the general feelings of human naurr'and the according judgment of all ages and nations. But where are ihefe feelings and that judgment recorded and preferved ? In thofe very writings which Grotius is gravely blamed for having quoted. The ufages and laws of nations, the events of hidory, the opinions of philofophers, the fentiments of orators and poets, as well as the obfervation of common life, are, in truth, the materials out of which the fcience of morality is formed ; and thofe who negleft them arejuftly chargeable with a vain attempt to philo- fophize without regard to fad and experience, the fole foundation of all true philofophy. If this were merely an objedion of tafte, I ftiould be willing to allow that Grotius has indeed poured fortb his learning vvith a profufion that fometimes rather encumbers than adorns his work, and which is not always neceflary totheilluftration of his fubjeft. Yet, even in making that conceffion, Ifliould lathe' yield to the tafte of others than/peak r 2 from _^*»^MimS)tm$ ( 20 ) from my own feelings. I own that fuch richneft and fplendour of literature have a powerful charm for me. They fill my mind with an endlefs va- riety of delightful recolledions and aflbciations. They relieve the underftanding in its progrefs through a vaft fcience, by calling up the memory of great men and of interefting events. By this means we fee the truths of morality clothed with all the eloquence (not that could be produced by the powers of one man, but) that could be be- ilowed on them by the colledive genius of thq world. Even Virtue and Wifdom i;hemfelves ac- quire new majefly in my eyes, when I thus fee all the great mafters of thinking and writing called together, as it were, from all times and countries, to do them homage, and to appear in ihejr train. ' ,..,■.. ,•■,.-•. ^-■:a But this is no place for difcuffions of tafte, and I am very ready to own rnat mine may be corrupted. The work of Grotius is liable to r more ferious objedion, though I do not recoiled^ ihat it has ever been made. His method is in- convenient and unfcientific. He has inverted the natural order. That natural order undoubt- edly diftates, that we (hould firfl. fearch for the original principles of the fcience in human na- ture; then apply them to the regulation of the condud of individuals; and laftly, employ them for the decifion of thofe difficult and complicated queftions M ' ( 21 ) - queftions that arife with refpeft to ihc intercourfc of nations. But Grotius has chofen the reverfe of this method. He begins with the conHderation of the ftates of peace and war, and he examines original principles only occafionally and inci- dentally, as they grow out of the queftions which he is called upon to decide. It is a neceflary con- fequence of this diforderly method, which exhi- bits the elements of the fcience in the form of fcat- tered digreffions, that he feldom employs fuffi- cient difcuflion on thefe fundamental truths, and never in the place where fuch a difcuflion would be moft inftruftive to the reader. , This defedl in the plan of Grotius was per- ceived, and fupplied, by Puffendorff, who re- ftored natural law to that fuperiority which be- longed to it, and with great propriety treated the Jaw of nations as only one. main branch of the pa- rent ftock. Without the genius of his mafter, and with very inferior learning, he has yet treated this fubjedl with found fenfe, with clear method, with exteiifive and accurate knowledge, and with a copioulnefs of detail fometimes indeed tedious, but always inftrudive and fatisfaclory. His work will be always dudicd by tliofe who fpare no la^ bour to acqv;ire a deep knowledge of the fubjcsSl; but it will, in our times, I fear, be oftener found on the fhelf than on the delk of the general ftu- ^cnt- Jn the time of Mr. Locke it was confi- derecl •11 / ( 22 ) dered as the manual of thofe who were intended for adive life ; but in the prefent age I believe it Vill be found that men of bufinefs are too much occupied, men of letters are too faftidious, and men of the world too indolent, for the ftudy or even the perufal of fnch works. Far be it from me to derogate from the real and great merit of fo ufeful a writer as Puffendoi ff. His treatife is a mine in which all his fucceffors mud dig. I only prefume to fviggeft, that a book fo prolix, and fo utterly void of all the attractions of compo- (ition, is likely to repel many readers who are in- terefted, and who might perhaps be difpofed to acquire fome knowledge of the principles of pub- lic law. it [^ (if: tt' Many other circumftances might be mentioned, which confpire to prove that neither of the great I works of which I have fpoken, has fuperfeded the necefiity of a new attempt to lay before the public a Syftem of the Law of Nations. The language of fcience is fo completely changed fmce both thefe works were written, that whoever was now to employ their terms in his moral reafonings would be almoft unintelligible to fome of his hearers or readersj and to fome pmong them too who are neither ill qualified nor jU difpofed to ftudy fuch fubjedls with confider- able advantage to themfelves. The learned in- deed well know how little novelty or variety is to ' ' . be ( 23 ) . ' be found in fcientific difputes. The fame truths and the fame errors have been repeated from age to age. With little variation but in the language; and novelty of expreffion is often miftaken by the ignorant for fubftantial difcovery. Perhaps too very nearly the fame portion of genius and judg- ment has been exerted in moft of the various forms under which fcience has been cultivated at different periods of hiftory. The fuperiority of thofe writers who continue to be read, perhaps often confifls chiefly in tafle, in prudence, in a happy choice of fubjedl, in a favourable moment, in an agreeable flyle, in the good fortune of a prevalent language, or in other advantages which are either accidental, or are the refulc rather of the fe- condary than of the higheft faculties of the mind. — But thefe reflexions, while they moderate the pride of invention, and difpcl the extravagant conceit of fupcrior illumination, yet ferve to prove the ufe, and indeed the neceflity, of compofing, from time to time, new fyftems of fcience adapted to the opinions and language of each fucceeding period. Every age muft be taught in its own lan- guage. If a man were now to begin a difcourfe on ethics, with an account of the " moral entities** of Puffendorff*, he would fpeak an unknown tongue. It * T do not mean to impeach the fovmdnefs of any part of PufFendortf' s realbning founded on moral entities. It may be explained in z manner confident with the moft juft philo- fophy. I I I 'i 1 ■ ( 44 ) It is not, however, alone as a mere tranilatiorf of former writers into modern language that si new fyftem of public law feems likely to be ufe- ful. The age in which we live poffefles many advantages, which are peculiarly favourable to fuch an undertaking. Since the compofition of the great works of Grotius and Puifendorff, a more modcft, fimple, and intelligible philofophy has been introduced into the fchools; which has incl ed been grofsiy abufed by fophifts, but which, fcom the time of Locke, has been cultivated and improved by a fucceffion of difciples worthy of their illuftrious mafter. We are thus enabled to difcufs with precifion, and to explain with clear- ncfs, the principles of the fcience of human na- ture, which are in themfelves on a level with the capacity of every man of good fenfe, and which only appeared to be abftrufe from the unprofitable fubtleties with which they were loaded, and the barbarous jargon in which they were exprefled. The deepeft dotlrines of morality have fince that time been treated in the perCpicuous and popular ftyle, and with fomc degree of the beauty and elo* quence of the ancient moralifts. That philofophy on which are founded the principles of our duty, it it has not become more certain (for morality ad- fophy. He ufed, as every writer muft do, the fcientific lan- guage of his own time. I only afl'ert that, to thofe who are unacquainted with ancient fyftems, his philofophical voca- |)ulary is oblbiete and tjiiinteliigible. *' ' e V mits . .-^MiBanawWfW**^ ijfart»'-^>'iW/-— ****** ( »5 ) inits no dlfcoveries), is at leaft lers ** harfli and '< crabbed," 4efs obfcure and haughty in its lan- guage, lefs forbidding and difgufting in its ap- pearance, than in the days of our anceftors. tf learning in thii progrefs towards popularity has engendered (as it mud be owned that it has) a multitude of fuperficial and , moft mifchievous fciolifts, the antidote mud come from the fame quarter with the difeafe. Popular reafon can alone correct popular fophiftry. 1 Nor is this the only advantage which a writer of the prefenc age would pofiefs over the cele- brated jurifts cf the lad century. Since that timci vafl: additions have been made to the ftock of our knowledge of human nature. Many dark periods of hiftory have fince been explored. Many hi- therto unknown regions of the globe have been vifited and defcribed by travellers and navigators not lefs intelligent than intrepid. We may be faid to ftand at the confluence of the greateft number of ftreams of knowledge flowing from the moft diftant fources, that ever met at one point. Wc are not confined, as the learned of the laft age ge- nerally were, to the hiftory of thofe renowned na- tions who are our mafters in literature. We can bring before us man in a lower and more abjedk condition than any in which he was ever before feen. The records have been partly opened to us fi ;jrnf} N . ( a5 ) of thofe mighty empires bf Afia*, where the beginnings of civihzation are loft in the darknefs of an unfathomable antiquity. We can make human fociety pafs in review before our mind, from the brutal and helplefs barbarifm of Terra del Fuego, and the mild and voluptuous favages of Otaheiie, to the tame but ancient and immoveable civiliza- tion of China, which bcftows its own arts on every fucceflive race of conquerors; to the meek and fcrvile natives of Hindo^an, who preferve their ingeauiiy, their ikill and their fcience, through a long fcries of ages, under the yoke of foreign ty- rants; to the grofs and incorrigible rudenefs of the Ottomans, incapable of improvement, and ex- tinguidiing the remains of civilization among their unhappy fubjeds, once the moft ingenious nations of the earth. We can examine almoft ^very imaginable variety in the charadei-, man- ners, opinions, feelings, prejudices, and inltitu- tioQs of mankind, ipto which they can be thrown. ^* r cannot prevail on myfelf to pafs over this fubjeft without paying n>y humble tribute to the memory of Sir W. Jones, who has laboured fo fuccefsfully in Oriental litera- ture, whofe fine genius, pure tafte, unwearied induftry, un- rivalled and almoll prodigious variety of acquirements, not to fpeak of his aqiiable manners and fpotlefs integrity, mult fill every one who cultivates or admires letters with reverence, tinged with a melancholy which the recolledlion of his recent death is fo veil adapted to infpire. I hope I ihall be par- doned if I add my applaufe to the genius and learning of Mr. Maurice, who treads in the fteps of his illuftrious friend, 9nd who has bewailed his death, in a ftrain of genuine and beautiful poetry, not unworthy of happier periods of our Englifh literature. either -f.i ( i7 ) cither by the nidenefs of barbarifm, or by the capricious corruptions of refinement, or by thofe innumerable combinations of circumdances, which, both in thefe oppoiite conditions and in all the in- termediate (lages between them, influence or direfk the courfe of human affairs. Hiftory, if I may be allowed the expreflion, is now u vaft mufeum, in which fpecimens of every variety of human nature may be iludied. From thefe great accef- (ions to knowledge, lawgivers and (latefmen, bur, above all, moralifts and political philofophers, may reap the mofl important inftruAion. They may plainly difcover in all the ufeful and beautiful variety of governments and inllitutions, and under all the fantaftic multitude of ufages and rices which have prevailed among men, the fame fun- damental, comprehenfive truths, the facred mafr ter- principles which are the guardians of human fociety, recognifed and revered (with few and flight exceptions) by every nation upon earthy and uniformly taught (with fl:ill fewer exceptions) by a fucceflion of wife men from the flrft dawn of fpeculation to the prefent moment. The excep- tions, few as they are, will, on more refledtion, be found rather apparent than real* If we could raife ourfelves to that height from which we ought to furvey fo vaft a fubjeft, thefe exceptions would altogether vanifli ; the brutality of a handful of iavages would difappear in the immenfe profpt<% oi human nature, and the murmurs of a fev/ E z licentious It*»''*,««';^> _' .'■T'^r''*^'' l-^r*-^-:^^^'^"""-'"-*'' "*'*-'•*' -*—*■■ • general h«mo»y. Thi. confcnT / ^ ** *ent, and almoft t h- u i . *" '°*"^ con- fi«»ded on .It S:r '''^'■"' "'■'•'™ '■' deed. h« Sa t. °"'"''"''~' "'' »- e«td.gr«.rf.J^"^J7*"ofverydiffer- , reluftanrtr confer. -iT' ?i /'""'V- But if we f-««'^S:d^f :f,»^*jr^>^-; the inflqeace of cliWe thTK r . '"derates « often Joft and confou^X hi ir^M "" S'««e wd «Mng«„e„ . ,h„ '"^ """^'"ik,! fan- ■»« but ftlUcious eeomarL? ° """"l^f- tem ; that he T« TV '•egutoy of fyf- / ,.' '*°*""o^«6. and vivacity. iU (uited to 10' ( »9 ) to the gkavlty of his fubjed : after all thefe con- ceffions (for his fame is large enough to fpare many conceflions), the Spirit of Laws will dill remain not only one of the mod folid and durable monuments of the powers of the human mind, but a ftriking evidence of the ineftimable advan- tages which political philofophy may receive from a wic I ;vey of all the various conditions of human fociety. In the prefent century a flow and fUent, but very fubftantial mitigation has taken place in the pradice of war ; and in proportion as that miti- gated pra^ice has received the fandlion of time, it is raifed from the rank of mere uf^e, and be- comes part of the law of nations. Whoever will compare our prefent modes of warfare with the fyilem of Grotius * will clearly difcern the immenfe improvements which have taken place in that refped fmce the publication of his work, during a period, perhaps in every point of view, the happiefl to be found in the hiflory of the world. In the fame period many important points of public law have been the fubjed of con- ted both by argument and by arms, of which we find either no mention, or very obfcure traces, in the hidory of preceding times. , * Efpecially thofe chapters of the third book, entitled!, Ttmjieramentum circa Ca/itivosf &c. &C. There . -J rA I ( 39 ) There arc other circumftances to which I al- lude with hefitation and reluctance, though ic muft be owned that they afford to a writer of this age, fome degree of unfortunate and deplorable advantage over his predeceifors. Recent events have accumulated more terrible practical inftruc- tion on every fubjedt of politics than could have been in other times acquired by the experience of ages. Men's wir, (harpencd by their paflions, has penetrated to the bottom of almoft all political quedions. Even the fundamental rules oi mo- rality themfelves have, for the firft time, unfortu- nately for mankind, become the fubjefl of doubt and difcuflicn. I fhall confider ic as my duty to ab- ftain from all mention of thefe awful events, and of ihefe fatal controverfies. But the mind of that man mud indeed be incurious and indocile, who has ei- ther overlooked all thefe things, cr reaped no in- ftru^ion from the contemplation of them« From thefe reflexions it appears, that, fince the compolition of ihofe two great works on the Law of Nature and Nations which continue to be the claffiical and ftandard works on that fubjedt, we have gained both more convenient inftruments of reafoning and more extenfive materials forfcience; that the code of war has been enlarged and im- proved ; that new queftions have been pradlically decided ; and that new controverfies have arifen regarding the intercourfe of independent dates, and H ...:, hich I al- lough ic er of ihis epiorabic 'f events Jnftruc- iM have ience of ons, has political ot' nio- infoitu- " doubt to ab- and of It man bas ci- no in- cethe aw of ; the :, we Its of nee; im- :ally •ifea tes, and ( 31 ) and the (ird principles of morality and civil go- vernment. Some readers may, however, think that in thefe obfcrvaiions which I offer, to excufe the prefump- tion of my own attempt, I have omitted the men- tion of later writers, to whom fome part of the remarks is not jullly applicable. But, perhaps, farther confideration will acquit me in the judg- ment of fuch readers. Writers on particular quellions of public law are not within the fcope of my obfervations. They have furnidied the mod valuable materials ; but I fpeak only of a fyftem. To the large work of Wolffius, the ob- fervations which I have made on Puffendorff as a book for general ufe, will furely apply with ten- fold force. His abridger, Vattel, deferves, in- deed, confiderajble praife. He is a very ingenious^ clear, elegant, and ufeful writer. But he only con- fiders one part of this extenfive fubjedt, namely, the law of nations flridtly fo called ; and I cannot belp thinking, that, even in this department of the fcience, he has adopted fome doubtful and dangerous principles, not to mention his conflant deficiency in that fulnefs of example and illuf- tration, which fo much embellifties and ftrengthens reafon. It is hardly neceflary to take any notice of the text-book of Heineccius, the bed writer of elementary books with whom I am acquainted pn any fubjedt. Burlamaqui i^ an author of fupe- ; . rior I \] ■\ ;i ( j» ) itoT merit ; but he confines himfelf too much to the general principles of morality and politics, to require much obfervation from me in this place. The fame reafon will excufe roe for pafling over in filence the works of many philofophers and moralids, to whom, in the courfe of my propofed kvl^urefl, I ihall owe and confefs the greateft obli- gations; and it might perhaps deliver me from the neceflity of fpeaking of the work of Dr. Paley, if I Mrerc not defirous of this public opportunity of profieHuig my gratitude for the inilrudion and pleafure which 1 have received from that excellent writer, who poflefies, in fo eminent a degree, 'hofe invaluable qualities of a nioralift, good fenfe, cattion, fobriety, and perpetual reference to con- venience and pradlice; and who ceitainly is thought lefs originaVthan he really is, merely be- caufe his tafte and m^defty have led him to diT^ dain the oftentation of noreky, and becaufe he generally employs rrire art to blend hi^ own argu* ments with the body of received opinions, fo as that they are fcarce to be diftingmlhedy than other tnec, in the purfuit of a tranfient popularity, have exerted to difguife the mod mifecable common- places in the (hape of paradox. ■ No writer, ftncethe time of Grotius, of Puffen- dorff, and of Wolf, has combined an rnveflig:ation of the priiicfples of natural and public law, wuh a full application of thcfe principles to particular • . cafes; ( »3 ) cafes ; and in thcfe circumitances, T trufl, it will not be deemed extravagant prelumpcion in me to hope that I (hall be able to exhibit a view of this fci- ence, which fhail, at leaft, be more inteiligible and attractive to (ludents, than the learned tr;atife8 of thefe celebrated men. I (hall now proceed to ftate the general plan and fubjed>s of the le(5lures in which I am to make this attempt. I. The being whofe adlions the law of nature profcfles to regulate, is man. It is on the know- ledge of his nature that the fcience of his duty mult be founded *, It is impofTible to approach the thre(hold of moral philofophy, without a pre- vious examination of the faculties and habits of the human mind. Let no reader be repelled from this examination, by the odious and terrible name of metaphyjicii for it is, in truth, nothing more than the employment of good fenfe, in obferving our own thoughts, feelings, and actions; and when the fads which are thus obferved, are exprelTed^ s as they ought to be, in plain language, it is, per- haps, above all other fciences, mod on a level with the capacity and information of the gene- rality of thinking men. When it is thus expreff- ed, it requires no previous qualification, but a found judgment, perfectly to comprehend .1. ; and * Natura enim juris expUcanda eft nobis, caqve ah kmi- iiis rtpetenda tMtur^.~-Cic. de Leg. lib. i. c. 5. F thofe ^l C 34 ) ihofc who wrap it up in a technical and tnyfteiioui jargon, always give us flrong reafon to fufpeft that they are not philofophers but impoftors. Who- ever thoroughly underftands fuch a fcience, muft be able to teach it plainly to all men of com- mon fenfe. The propofed courie will therefore open with a very (hort, and, I hope, a very lim- ple and intelligible account of the powers and operations of the human mind. By this plain ftatement of fads, it will not be difficult to de- cide many celebrated, though frivolous, and merely verbal controverlies, which have long amufed the leifure of the fchools, and which owe jjoth their fame and their exiftence to the ambi- guous obfcurity of fcholallic language. It will, for example, only require an appeal to every man's experience, ,to prove that we often adt purely from a regard to the happinefs of others, and are therefore focial beings ; and it is not necef- fary to be a confummate judge of the deceptions of language, to defpife the fophiftical trifler, who tells us, that becaufe we experience a gratifi- cation in our benevolent adlions, we are therefore cxclufively and uniformly felfilh. A correft ex- amination* of fadts will lead us to difcover that quality which is common to all virtuous adtions, and which diftiliguiflies them from thofe which arc vicious and criminal. But we (hall fee that it is neceflary for man to be governed, not by his own tranfieat and hafty opinion upon the tendency of every "4 4 if. - — tm^.^^ 'Ji, oiyften'oui to fufpeft |ors. Who- ■nce, muft of com- therefore very fini- wers and Jthis plain ult to de. ous, and ive Jong hich owe le ambi- h will, fo every >ften adt f others, >t necef- captions 'er, who gratifi- lereforc -<5b ex- er that IS, and ch arc It it is s own icy of every i B5 } ' every particular adion, but by thofe fixed and unalterable rules, which are the joint refult of the impartial judgment, the natural feelings, and the embodied experience of mankind. The autho- rity of thefe rules is, indeed, founded only on rheir tendency to promote private and public wel- fare ; but the morality of actions will appear folely to confift in their correfpondence with the rule. By the help of this obvious diftinftion we (hall vindicate a juft theory, which, far from being mo- dern, is, in fadt, as ancient as philofophy, both from plaufible objedions, and from the odious imputation of fupporting thofe abfurd and mon- ftrous fyftems which have been built upon it. Beneficial tendency is the foundation of rules, and the criterion by which habits and fentiments are to be tried. But it is neither the immediate ftandard, nor can it ever be the principal motive of adtion. An adlion, to be completely virtuous, muft accord with moral rules, and muft flow from our natural feelings and affedtions, moderated, matured, and improved into fteady habits of right condudt *• Without, however, dwelling longer on fubjedls which cannot be clearly dated, unlefs they are fully unfolded, I content myfelf with obferving, that it (hall be my object, in this preliminary, but moft important part of the courfe, to lay the foundations of morality fo deeply in human nature, * Eft autetn virtus nihil aliiid quam in fe jjcrfedta atque ad fummum pcfdudla natura. — Cic. de Leg. lib. i. c, 8. ' ( 36 ) ■ ■ « may famfy the coWcft i„q„i,„. ^^^ „ , lime t,mc ro vindicate the „L "' ? "'^ of 'he rules of our duty « ^T " """'""^ Pf^ces, over all opi„io„: !^ '""' =""' i" «« "on, of benefit. foelnr'"rl ='"'' '"''«"'''- »d fo i„vio,aL,„. "1"""*' f" ™'>"'i"y. g^ndeft and the 'oft ''' """ J""'*!' ">« «ff"fion, of n,orai e„rjr^;f -^ — g- '"g =>" my endeavour to hV "' "°'»«'"tand- «:«'' 'he utn,oft «:;;;''';:-•'-'•«= doarines ftould ftill reproach L f ' ■ '"^ ^"''«°« ft™re mattersTi^'n,!;: """^"™g (""ch ab- -horityofthewl^^^S:'".!?/?^'''"'''''' : cie„t„,ora,ifl.),b,fJ2y he"' <"•'*"• " popular and receiv.^ ■ """"^ '° 'be " bad ftaid a , tte wr°"°'''""^''»<' -«' " given.\ ™y o ilrl "' '^i'' "^y '^ •' which followed- and fi ,f"' ''^''^ '» "■« '• fulted with nate 1 ' ?"' '' ""^ ^^'^ ^n- " Tines lefs pro,-" !lf'^ ''^'^ "=""- ""eir doc- '» prolix, and more profounH •• d I>'Z"- and Adv. of Lear„ k '; .""''■ —^""n. Bacon defired for (he ,21 °'' "■ ^'"« ^-ord Perioufly demands. Soffit:' "°* '"" fics have given birth to a brooH f "'"P''^" peftilential paradoxes »rr'"'°'"'"^'""»d P-oundpLot;;^:--""gWamore may, perhaps, lament rh. T ^^^^^^r vve which may mlkeX il":r^ °^ ^'^^^-s ne Habitual reverence of fome • men ^» at the authority nd in all 'verfalJy, ^'^y the ravagant thftand- odlrines auditors uch ab- nd the the an- te the i vice, Y con. y had > that I con- doc- Lord p^' ( 37 ) men for ihofe rules which it is the chief intereflr of all men to pradife, we have now no choice left. We mud either difpute, or abandon the ground. UndidinguiQiing and unmerited inve ture confideration they will be found to be out- pods and advanced guards of thefe fundamental principles; that man fhould fecurely enjoy the fruits of his labour, and that the fociety of the fexes diouiSl be fo wifely ordered as to make it a fchool of the kind afifedtions, and a fit nurfery for the commonwealth. y ..M. The fubjedb of property is of great extent. It will be neceflary to edablidi the foundation of the rights of acquifition, alienation, and tranfmifiion, not in imaginary contra£):s or a pretended date of nature, but in their fubferviency to the fubfiftcnce 6 and i li uoImmbmSImS^^^^*^ h \ ( 4» ) and well-being of mankind. It will not only be curious, but ufeful, to trace the hiftory of pro- perty from the firft loofe and tranfient occupancy of the favage, through all the modifications which it has at different times received, to that comprehenfive, fubtle, and anxioufly minute code of property which is the lall refult of the moft refined civilization. il^ I fhall obferve the fame order in confiderinp: the fociety of the fexes as it is regulated by the inftitution of marriage *, I (hall endeavour to lay open thofe unalterable principles of general inte- reft on which that inflitution reds : and if I enter- tain a hope that on thrs fubjedt I may be able to add fomething to what our mafters in morality have taught us, 1 truft that the reader will bear in mind, as an excufe for my prefumption, that ibey were not likely to employ much argument where they did not forefee the poffibility of doubt. I Ihall alfo condder the hidory -f of marriage, and ..; trace i; ! *■ See on this fubjeft an incomparable fragment oi the firft book of Cicero's Economics, which is too long for infertion here, but which, if it be clofely examined, may perhaps difpel the illuiion of thofe gentlemen, who have fo ftrangely taken it for granted, that Cicero was incapable of exa^t reafoning. t This progrefs is traced with great accuracy in fome beautiful lines of Lucretius: -Mulier conjunfta viro conceffit in unum, Caftaque privatse Veneris connubia laeta Cognita funt, prolemque ex fe vid^re coortam : TUM G£NUS HUMANUM V&IMUM MOLLESCERE COEPIT. • • ».' — — pueri ciety to the well-being, and indeed to the very being, of man, M'ith which I am acquainted. Having ftiown the circumftances which render man necefTarily a focial being, he juftly concludes, " Keet o1t avOguTo; ^vvu iroXiltKO* ^woy." Arift. de Rcp. lib. i. The fame fcheme of philolophy is admirably purfued in the ihortj but invaluable fragment of the fixth book of Poly- bius, which defcribes the hiftory and revolutions of govern- ment. ''■ ''''^ jU!t, X-" \ \... be ( 45 ) jud, the origin of government muft have been coeval with (hat of mankind; and as no tribe has ever yei been difcovered (o bruiifli as to be with- out feme government, and yet (o enhghtened as to eftablilh a government by common confent, it is lurcly unncceffary to employ, any ferious argu- ment in the confutation of a dodlrine that is in- confiftent with rcafon, and unfupporied by expe- rience. But though all inquiries into the origin of government be chimerical, yet the hiftory of its progrefs is curious and ufeful. The various ftages through which it pafled from favage^ inde- pendence, which implies every man's power of injuring his neighbour, to legal liberty, which confifts m every man's fecurity againft wrong; the manner in winch a family expands into a tribe, and tribes coalefce into a nation ; in which public juftice is gradually engrafted on private revenge, and temporary fubmiflion ripened into habitual obedience; form a moH. important and extcnfive fubjed of inquiry, which comprehends all the improvements of mankind in police, in judicature, and in leglllation. . ' •' ' ^ in y- I have already given the reader to underftand that the defcripiion of liberty which feems to me the mod compcehenfive, is that of fecurity againft wrong. Liberty is therefore the objecfl of all government. Men are more free under every go- vernment, even the moft imperfcft, than they would k ( 46 ) would be if it were pofliblc for them to exift with- out any government at all: they aic more fecure from wrong, more undifturbed in the exerci/e of their natural powers^ and therefore more free, even in the mofl obvioui and grojefi fenfe of the word, than if they were alcogcihcr iinprotedlcd againll injury from each other. But as general fecurity is en- joyed in very different degrees under different governments, thofe which guard it mod perfeiftly, are by way of eminence called fee. Such govern- ments attain mod completely the end which is common to all government. A free conftitution of government and a good conftitution of govern- ment arc therefore different expr^flions for the fame idea. Another material di(*indion, however, foon prefents itfelf. In mod civilized dates the fubjedl is tolerably proteded againd grofs in- judice from his fellows by impartial laws, which it is the manifed intered of the fovereign to en- force. But fome commonwealths are fo happy as to be founded on a principle of much more re- fined and provident wifdom. The fubjeds of fuch commonwealths arc guarded not only againft the injuftice of eac . other, but (as far as human prudence can comnve) againd oppreffion from the magidrate. Such dates, like all other extraordi- nary examples ctf piblic or private excellence and happincfs, a.t^ rhinly fcattered over the differ- ent ( 47 ) ent ages and countries of tlic world. In them the will of the fovcreign is limited with fo exad a tneafure, that his protcding authority is not weakened. Such a combination of fkil) and for- tune is not often to be expeded, and indeed never can arife, but from the conHant though gradual exertions of wifdom and virtue, to improve a long fucccflion of mod favourable citcumdances. There is indeed fcarce any fociety fo wretched as to be deftitute of Ibme fort of weak provifioft againft the injudice of their governors. Religious inftitutions, favourite prejudices, national man< ners, have in different countries, with unequal de- grees of force, checked or mitigated the exer- cife of fupreme power. The privileges of a powerful nobility, of opulent mercantile com- munities, of great judicial corporations, have in fome monarch if"«» approached more near to a control on the lovereign. Means have been devifed with upuxx or lefs wifdom to temper the defpoiifm o« an arittocracy over their fubjeds, and in deaiocracies to protedt the minority againft the majority, and the whole people againft the ty- ranny of demagogues. But in ihefe unmixed forms of government, as the right of legiilation is Teded in one individual or in one order, it is obvious that the legiflative power may fliake off all the rcdraints which the laws have impofed on It. All fuch governments, therefore, tend 4 towards ( 48 ) towards defpotifm, and the fecurities which they admit againfl: mifgovernmenc are extremely feeble and precarious. The bed iecurity which human wifdom can devife. Teems to be the diftribution of political authority among different individuals and bodies, with feparate interefts and fcparate charadlers, corrcfponding to the variety of claffes of which civil fociety is compofed, each interefted to guard their own order from oppref- fion by the reft; each alfo intereftcd lo prevent any of the others from feizing on exclufive, and therefore defpotic power; and all having a com- mon intereft to co-operate in carrying on the or- dinary and neccifary adminiftraiion of govern- ment. If there were not an intereft to refift each other in extraordinary cafes, there would not be liberty. If there were not an intereft to co-ope- rate in the ordinary courfe of affairs, there could be no government. The object of fuch wife in- (litutions which make the felfifhnefs of governors a fecurity againft their injuftice, is to protect men againft wrong both from their rulers and their fellows. Such governments are, with juftice, peculiarly and emphatically called /r^^; and in af- cribing that liberty to the fkilful combination of mutual dependence and mutual check, I feel my own convidion greatly ftrengthened by calling to mind, that in this opiniou I agree with all the wife men who have ever deeply confidered the prin- ciples of politics : with Ariftoile and Polybius, with I «* - ' '( 49 ) with Cicero and Tacitus, with Bacon and Ma« chiavel, with Montefquieu and Hume'**'. It U impoifible in fuch a curfory fketch as the prefent even to allude to a very fmall part of thofe phi- lofophical principles, political reafonings, and hif- torical fafts, which are neceffary for the iiluftra- tion of this momentous fubjeft. In a full difcuf- fion of it I fhall be obliged to examine the gene- , ral frame of the mod celebrated governments of ancient and modern times, and efpecially of thofe , which have been mod renowned for their freedom. Theiefult of fuch an examination will be, that no inftitution fo deteftable as an abfolutely unbalanced - government, jyerhaps ever exifted ; that the fim- ple governments are mere creatures of the imagi- jnation of theories, who have transformed names '^ i I. •I ..-V * To the weight of thefe great names let me add the opi- nion of two illuftrious men of the prefent age, as both their opinions are combined by one of them in the following paff- age: "He (Mr. Fox) always thought any of the fimple un- •' balanced governments bad ; Ample monarchy, fimple arif- " tocracy ; fimple democracy 3 he held them all iniperfeft or " vicious, all were bad by themfelves : the compofition alone " was good. Thefe had been always his principles, in which *' he agreed with his friend Mr.' Burke." — Mr. fox on tiie Army Eftimates, gth Feb. 1 790. In Ipeaking of both thefe illuftrious men, whofe names I here join, as they will be joined in fame by pofterity, which will forget their temporary differences in the recolkftion of tlieir genius and their friendfliip, I do not entertain tlie vain imagination that I can add to their glory by any thing that I can fay. But it is a gratification to me to give utterance to my feelings ; to exprefs the profound veneration with which I am filled for the memory of the one, and the warm affeftion which 1 cherifli for the other, >vhom no one ever heard in imblic without admiration, or knew in private life witiiout oving. K \ ufcd 'wf tA A ( io ) ^ ufcd for the convenience of arrangement into real polities ; that, as conftitutions of government ap- proach more nearly to that unmixed and uncon- trolled fimplicity they become defpotic, and as they recede farther from that fimplicity-they be- come free. ■. 4\- "i By the conftitution of a ftate, I mean ** the body ** of thofe written and unwritten fundamental laws *' which regulate the moft important rights of the ** higher magijlrates,and the mojl ejjential privileges* *« of the fubjeBs^* Such a body of political laws muft in all countries arife out of the charadler and fituation of a people ; they muft grow with its progrefs, be adapted to its peculiarities^ change with its changes, and be incorporated into its habits. Human wifdom cannot form fuch a con- ftitution by one aft, for human wifdom cannot create the materials of which it is compofed. The attempt, always ineffedual, to change by violence the ancient habits of men, and the eftablKhed order of fociety, fo as to fit them for an abfolutely new fcheme of government, flows from the moft prefumptuous ignorance, requires the fupport of ' * Privilege^ in Roman jurifpriidence, means the exemfition of one individual from the operation of a law. Political privi- jreges, in the fenfe in which 1 employ the terms, mean thofe lights of the fubjeft of a free ftate, whic!i are deemed fo eflential to the well-being of the commonwealth, that they are excehted from the ordinary difcretion of the magiftrate, and guarded by the fame fundamental laws which fecure his authority. '■' If " m mm ff' I t 5« ) ttic mofl ferocious tyranny, and leads to confe* quences which its authors can never forefee j gene- rally, indeed, to inAitUtions the mod oppoHte to thofe of which they profefs to feek the eftablifh- ment *. But human wifdom indefatigably employ- ed for remedying abufes, and in feizing favourable opportunities of improving that order of fociety which arifes from caufes over which we have little control, after the reforms and amendments of a feries of ages, hasfometimes, though very rarely f, fhown itfelf capable of building up a free confti- tution, which is " the growth of time and nature, ** rarh 'han the work of human invention." Such 1 f, iftitution can only be formed by the wife imitation of " tH great innovator time," which, indeed, innovateth greatly, but quiedy, * stnd by degrees fcarce to be perceived \ .** if « 'k iho w See an admirable paitage on ihis fubje£l in Dr. Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, vol. ii. p. loi— -iia, in which the true doftrine of reformation is laid down with finguiar ability by that eloquent and philcfophical writer. — See alfo Mr. Burke's fpeech on economical reform ; and Sir M. Hale on the amendment of laws, in the colleftion of my learned and jnoft excellent friend Mr. Hargrave, p. 248. f Pour former un gouvernement moder6, il faut combiner les puiflances, les regler, les temperer, les faire agir donner pour ainfi dire un left a I'une pour la mettre en etat de refifler a une autre, c'eft un chef d'ocuvre de legiflation que le hazard ifait rarement, et que rarement, on laifle iaire ^ la prudence. TJn gouvernement defpotique au contraire faute pour ainfi dire aux yeiix ; il eft uniforme partout ; comme il ne feut que des paffions pour I'etablir tout le monde eft bon pour cela. Montelqtueu, De I'Efprit des Low, liv. v. c. 14. J Lord Bacon, Eflay xxiv. Of Innovations. * ' •. • -• H 2 Without .v/ I ( 5^ ) Without dbfdending to the puerile bftehtafion of panegyric, on that of which all mankind confcfs I excellence, I may obferve, with truth and fo- bernefs, that a free government not only efta- blifliesan univerfal fecurity againft wrong, but that it alfo cherilhes all the nobleft powers of the human mind ; that it tends to banifli both the mean and the ferocious vices; that it improves the national charadler to which it is adapted, and out of which it grows ; that its whole adminiftra- tion is a pradical fchool of honefty and humanity j: and that there The focial aflfedlions, expanded into public fpirit, gain a wider fphere, and a more ac- tive fpring. ; I fli-'.Il conclude what I have to offer on govern- ment, by an account of the conllitution of Eng- land. I fl-jall endeavour to trace the progrefs of that conftirution by the light of biftory, of laws, and of records, from the earliell times to the prc- fent age ; and to (how how the general principles of liberty, originally common to it, with the other Gothic monarchies of Europe, but in other coun-. tries loft or obfcured, were in this more fortunate ifland preferved, matured, and adapted to the pro- grefs of civilization. I fhall attempt to exhibit this moH: complicated machine, as our hiftory and our laws (how it in action ; and not as fome celebrated writers have moft imperfedly reprefented tt, who- have torn out a few of its more finvple; fprings, aad« i ( $3 ) and, putting them together, mifcall them the BrU ti(h conftitution. So prevalent, indeed, havt thefe imperfedl rcprefentations hitherto been, that T will' venture to affirm, there is fcarcely any fubjedt' which' has been lefs treated as it deferved than the go- vernment of England. Philofophers of grfeat and merited reputation * have told us that it cc^nfifted' of certain portions of monarchy, ariftocnicy, and* democracy ; names which are, in truth, very little applicable, and which, if they were, would as little give an idea of this government, as an ac- count of the weight of bone," of flefli, and of blood in a human ^dy, would be a pidlure of a living man. Nothing but a patient and minute inveftiga* tion of the practice of the government in all its partSj and through its whole hiftory, c^n give us juft notions on this important fubjeft. If a lawyer, without a philofophical fpirit, be unequal to the examination of this great work of liberty and wif- dom, ftill more unequal is a philofopher whbouc pradical, legal, and hiftorical knowledge ; for the firfl: may want ikill, but the fecond wants mate- rials. The obfervations of Lord Bacon on political writer., in general, are mod applicable to thofe who have given us fyftematic defcriptions of the Englifti conftitution. " All thofe who have writ- who- * The reader will perceive, that I allude to Montes- quieu, whom I never name without reverence, though Z fiir.ll prcfume, with humility, to criticise his account of a go- ▼ernment which he only faw at a diitance. "ten V, i ■« (( ( 5* ) ten of governments have written as philofo' phers, or as lawyers, and none as Jiatefmen. As •< for the philofophers, they make imaginary laws '* for iip'^r'nary commonwealths, and their dif- « courfc^ f* as the ftars, which give little light *« becaafe they arc fo high." — " Hac cognitio ad •* viros civiles proprie pertinet,*' as he tells us in another part of his writings ; but unfortunately no experienced philofophical Britifh (latefman has yet devoted his leifure to a delineation of the condi- tution, which fuch a llatefman alone can pradi- cally and perfeftly know. In the difcuflion of th^s great fubjec^^ and in all reafonings on the principles of politics, I (hall labour, above all things, to avoid that which ap- pears to me to have been the conftant fourcc of political error : 1 mean the attempt to give an air of fy^em, oi" limplicity, and of rigorous demon- (Iration, to fubjefts which do not admit it. The, only means by which this could be done, was by referring to a few fimple caufes, what, in truth, arofc frpm immenfe and Intricate combinations, and fucceffions of caufes. The confequence was very obvious. The fyftem of the theorift, diftn- cumbered from all regard to the real nature of things, eaf.ly afllimed an air of fpecioufnefs. Ic required little dexterity to make his argument appear conclufive. But all men agreed that it was utterly inapplicable to human affairs. The . . theorift ,^,J»lSsaJWiBW«> l ( « ) theorift railed &*■ the folly of the world, inftcad of confefling his own ; and the men of prac- tice unjuftjy blamed philofophy, inftead of con- demning the fophift. Ihe caufes which the politician has to conHder are, above all others, multiplied, mutable, minute, fubtile, and, if I may fo fpeak, evancfcent ; perpeiually changing their form, and varying their combinations ; lo- ling their nature, while they keep their name ; ex- hibiting the moft different confequences in the endlefs variety of men and nations on whom they operate ; in one degree of ftrength producing the mofl fignal benefit ; and, under a flight variation of circuinftances, the moll tremendous mifchiefs. They admit indeed of being reduced to theory ; but to a theory formed on the moft extenfive views, of the moft comprehenfive and flexible principles, to embrace all their varieties, and to fit all their rapid tranlmigrations ; a theory, of which the moft fundamental maxim is, diftruft in itfelf, and deference for practical prudence. Only two writers of former times have, as far as I know, ob- ferved this general defed of poiirical reafoners ; but thefe two are the greateft philofopherc who have everappeared in the world. Thefirflof them is Arif- totle, who, in a paiiage of his Politics, to which I cannot at this moment turn, plainly condemns the purfuitof adclufive geometrical accuracy in moral ireafonings as the conLlant fource of the grofleft prror. The kcond is Lord Bacon, who tells us, with ^ ( 5« ) ^ith that authority ofconfcious wifdom which be- longs to him, and with that power of richly adorn- ing truth from the wardrobe of genius which he poifefled above almoft a" men, " Civil knowledge " is converfant about a fubjed which, above all " others, is mod immerfed in matter^ and hard- " litft reduced to axiom *.*' IV. I fliall next endeavour to lay open the ge- neral principles of civil and criminal laws. <*0n this fubjedt I may with fome confidence hope thac I fliall be enabkd to philofophize with better ma- terials by my acquaintance with the laws of my own country, which it is the bufinefs of my life to prac- tife, and of which the (ludy has by habit become my favourite purfuit. ' ' .. The firft principles of jurifprudence are fimple maxims of reafon, of which the obfervance is im- mediately difcovered by experience to be eflential to the fecurity of men's rights, and which pervade the laws of all countries. An account of the gra- * This principle is expreflcd by a writer of a very differ- tnt character from thefe two great philofophers ; a writer, *' qii'on n*afijtellera hlu! thilo/ojihe^ mats qu'm ajtjiel'ieia le plus '* eloquent ties Jophijies" with great force, and, as his manner js, v/ith fome exaggeration : ♦' II n'y a point de principes abftraits dans la politique. , *' Cell une fcience des calculs, des combinaifons, et des excep- " tions, felonies iieux, les terns etles circonflances." — Leltr* de Roujfeau au Marquis de Mirabeau. The fecond propofition is true ; bu: the firft is not a juft in- ference from it. ? dual 7 l^,»,*^.^..''»l.'.>atf'.:-.i^...<;^ U*>->Mr>« «^.^Jt>i<)l and aftdrwards to more compU. rated cafes, forms both the hillory and the theory of law. Such an hidorical account of the pro- grefsofmen, in reducing juftice to an applicable and pradical I'ydem, will enable us to trace that chain, in which fo many breaks and interruptions are perceived by fuperBcial obfcrvers, but which in truth infeparably, though with many dark and hidden windings, links together the (ecurity of life and property with the mod minute and appa- rently frivolous formalities of legal proceeding. We (hall perceive that no human forefight is fuf« ficient to e{labli(l) fuch a fyrftem at once, an^". thar^ if it werefoeftablilhed, the occurrence of unforefeen cafes would {hortly altogether change it; that there is but one way of forming a civil code, either confident with common fenfe, or that has ever been pradifed in any country, namely, that of gradually building up the law in proportion as the fads arife which it is to regulate. We (hall learn to appreciate the merit of vulgar objedions againft the fubdeiy and complexity of laws. We fliall eftimate the good fenfe and the gratitude of thofe who reproach lawyers for employing all the powers of their mind to difcover fubtle diftinc- tions for the prevention of injuftice* ; and we ' * " The cafuiftical fubtleties are not perhaps greater than « the fuWtietiesof lawyers; but the latter are ivnoctnt^ aude^en « jiTfj^/j."— Huqie's Eflays, vol. ii. p. 558. I (hall a fliall rtt o'nbe j^^reeive thai laws ought to be nei^ tlier \wo\1i'^f^t)tfU nor more complex than the (laic df focictf vihicK they are to govern, but that they blight exiiflly to correfpond to it. Of the two fdult^, howcV(?r, the exccfs of fimplicity would tertainly be the greateft; for laws, more complex than are neceffary, would only produce embarrafT- ment j whcrcaS laws more fimple than the affairs tvhich they regulate, would occafion a defeft of juflke. Mdle undfcrllahding* has perhaps been in this manner exerted to fix the rules of Hfe thark Jn any othet- fcicnce ; and it is certainly the mofl: KonoiiraWe occiVparion of the underftanding, be- fcaule'it is the moft immediately fubfervient to general (afety "and comfort. There is nor, in my opinion, ih' the whole compafs of human affairs, /b noble a fpe(f^ac!e as that which is difplayed in the pTogrefs of jurifprudence ; where we may contemplate the cautious and unwearied exertions pf a fucceiTiom .1 vife men through a long courfc of ages; withdrawing every cafe as it arifes from the dangerous power of difcretion, and fubjefting 'it to inflexible rules ; extending the do'miniori of juliice and reafon, and gradually contra(Sling, within the narrowed poffible limits, the domain * " La;*"," faid.Dr. Johnfon, " isthe fcience in ivhich thc ** greateft powerj of underftanding are applied to the great- *• eft number of fefts." Nobody, who is acquainted with the variety and n\uUiplIcity of the fubjefts of jurifprudcnce, and with the prodigioiis powers of difcrimination employed nporv thcnt, can doubc uie trutli oi this obfervation. q4 ( 59 ) of brutal force and of arbitrary will. This fubjeil has been trc^'ed with fijch dignity by a writer who is admired by all maokind for his eloquence, but who is, if poflibie, ftill more admired by all competent judges for his philofo}.hy ; a writer, of whom I may juflly fay, th:ic he was " ^raviffiims '* et dkendi et intelli;ye>uii uucior et magijier ;" that I cannot rcfufc iiiyflU the gratification of quoting his words : — " The fcicnce of jutifprudence, the " pride of the human iiitelied:, which, with all its " dcfetSls, redundancies, and errors, is the col- •* ledcd reafon of ages combining i!?e principles *' of original jullice with the infinite variety of ** human concerns*." •,f :h the- Iththc and npotv of I (hall exemplify the progrefs of law, and il- luftrate thofe* principles of uuiverfal juftice on which it is founded, by a comparative review of the two greatefl: civil codes that have been hitherto formed — thofe of Rome and of England -f- j of their agreements and difagreements, both in ge- neral provifions, and in (ome of the mod important parts of their minute pradice. In this part of the * Jurke's Works, vol. iii. p. 134. f On the iiirimate connexion of thefe two cof?es, let lis hear the worJs of Lord Holt, whofe name never can be pro- nounced without veneration, as long as vvifclom and intei^rity are revered among men : — '* Inafmuch as the lazus of all na- " tions are ilouhtlefs raifed out of the ruins »f the civil Into, as " all governments are fprung out of the ruins of the Roman *' empire, it mult be o"'ned that the /irinctpks of our law are •* horro-ived from the civil law, therefore grounded upon the *' lame realbn in many things." — iz Mod. 4.82. .12 . courfe, ( ^o ) courfe, which 1 mean to purfuc with fuch detail as to give a view of both codes, that may perhaps be fufficicnt for the purpofes of the general (ludenri I hope to convince him that the laws of civilized nations, particularly thole of his own, arc a fub- je(5t mod worthy of fcicntific curiofity ; that prin- ciple and fyftem run through them even to the minuted particular, as really, though not fo ap- parently, as in other fcienccs, and applied to pur- pofes more important than in any other fcience. Will it be prefumptuous to exprefs a hope, that fuch an inquiry may not be altogether an iifeiefs introdudlion to that larger and more detailed (ludy of the law of England, which is the duty of thofe who are to profels and praAife that Jaw ? In confideringthe important fubjed of criminal law, it will be my duty to found on a regard to the general fafcty, the right of the magiftrate to infli(5h puni(hments, even the mod fevere, if that fafety cannot be effeftually protedled by the example of inferior punirtiments. It will be a more agree- able part of my office to explain the tempera- ments which Wifdom, as well as Humanity, pre- fcribes in the exercife of that harfh right, unfor- tunately fo eflential to the prefervation of human fociety. I (hall collate the penal codes of differ- ent nations, and gather together the mod accurate ftatement of the refult of experience with refpe<5t to the efficacy of lenient and fevere punilhnients ; and h hi wl ha for the cat ( 6i ) and I fliall cndeavo jr r. r . TI-- whole -ubjea t: r' °''"' °-" country. "-v given che'oud „e L; r?* """ ' "'""' """^ds of Cicero J'. nT, """"^ "f '" "« " ""^^ eft nobis, eaque rr™ ^"™ "P"" " «« Tunc et defcrinr, ^ ^ "J"^' ""'Po- Cic. de Leg. lib. i. c. ^_ V. The nwt gre.it divifion of thr r u- ^ ■ 'aw of nations, ftrifll„ , a ^"^^'^ » ' s> •--e already inted at Th '"'''"'' '" ""^'•- i Pnnciples of natural ;»ri„rH ^'' '*« ''1 'he '•Wily cultivated Zt "' ""'■ '='-'^" "o^ •■-eagesandcou; ^s^rrr'''*^^'''- ■h I i ( 62 ) of thofe which arc neceflaiy to any tolerable incercourfe between nations; thofe which are eiTential to all well-regulated and mutually ad- vantageous irtercourfe ; and thofe which are highly conducive to the prefer vation of a mild and friendly intercourfe between civilized dates. Of the firft clafs, every underftanding acknowledges the neceflity, and fome traces of a faint reverence for them are difcovcred even among the moft barbarous tribes ; of the fecond, every well-in- formed man perceives the important ufe, and they have generally been refpeded by all poliflied cations i of the third, the great benefit may be read in the hiftory of modern Europe, vvhere alone they have been carried to their full per- feifUon. In unfolding the firll and fecond clafs of principles, I (hall naturally be led to give an ac- count of that law of nations, which, in greater or lefs perfedion, regulated the intercourfe of fa- vages, of the Afiatic empires, and of the ancient republics. The tliird brings me to ihe confidera- tion of the law of nations, as it is now acknow- ledged w Jhriftendom. From the great extent of the fubjv: \, and the particularity to which, for reafons already given, I muil here defcenvl, it is impoffible for me, within any moderate compafs, to give even an outline of this part of the courfe, it comprehends, as every reader will perceive, the principles of national independence, the inter- courfe of nations in peace, the privileges of em- » 5 ' ball ad or i ( ^J ) balTadors and inferior minifters, the comineVce o{ private fubjefts, the grounds of juft war, the rtiu- tual duties of belligerent and neutral powers, the limits of lawful hollility, the rights of conqueft, the faith to be obferved in warfare, the force of an armiftice, of. iafe-condudls and paflports, the na- ture and obligation of alliances, the means of negotiation, and the authority and interpretation of treaties of peace. All thefe, and many other moft important and complicated fubjeds, with all the variety of moral reafoning, and hiftorical ex- amples, which is neceffary to illuftrate them, muft be fully examined in this part of the leftures, in which I fhall endeavour to put together a tolerably complete praflical fyftem of the law of nations, as it has for the laft two centuries been recognifed in Europe. it " Le droit des gens eft naturellement fondc fur cc principe; que lesdiverfes nations doivent le ** faire, dans la paix, Je plus de bien, et dans Is " guerre le moins de mal, qu'il eft poffible, fans " nuire a leurs verirabfes intereis. " L/objet de la guerre c*eft la viftoire ; cclui ♦' de la vidtoire la conqu^e ; celui de M. conquete *' la confervation. De ce principe & du precc- ** dent, doivent derivcr toutes les loix qui formenc " k drait des gens. iii " Toutes il | ' !jti.,. |«>w'iw ■r ■1 i: (( <( tc ( 64 ) •* Toutes Ics nations ont un droit des gens; leS Iroquois m^me qui maiigent leiir prifonniers en ** ont un. lis envoient & re9oivent des embaf- ** lades i ils connoiflent les droits de la guerre et de la paix : le mal e(l que ce droit des gens n'ed pas fonde fur les vrais principes."— D^ VEfj^^rit Jes Loix, liv. i* c. 3. VI. As an important fupplement to the pradli- cal fyftem of our modern law of nations, or rather as a neceifary part of it, I (hall conclude with ;i furvey of the diplomatic and conventional law of Europe; of the treaties which have materially af- fe(5ted the diftribution of power and territory among the European dates; the circumftances which gave rife to them, the changes which they cffe6ted, and the principles which they introduced into the public code of the Chridian common- weahh. In ancient times the knowledge of this conventional law was thought one of the greatcd praifes that could be bedowed on a name loaded with all the honours that eminence in the arts of peace and of war can confer : ** Equidem exiftimo, judices, cum in omni ** genere ac vui ietate artium, etiam illarum, quaj *' fine fummo otio non facile difcuntur, Cn. Pom- *^ peius excellat, fingvilarem quandam laudem ejus ** et ptasdabilem elTe fcientiam, in fcederibus, pac- *' iionibuSf conditionlbuSj populoruniy reguniy exteratum *' nationum: ( 65 ) '* nationum : in univerfo denique belli jure ac pads.'* Ctc. Orat. pro L. Corn. Balbo, c. 6. ni ^ Information on this fubjedb is fcattered over an immenfe variety of voluminous compilations ; not acceflible to every one, and of which the perufal can be agreeable only to very few. Yet fo much of thefe treaties has been embodied into the ge> neral law of Europe, than no man can be mafter of it who is not acquainted with them. The knowledge of them is necelTary to negotiators and llatefmen ; it may fometimes be important to pri- vate men in various fituations in which they may be placed ; it is ufeful to all men who with either to be acquainted with modern hiftory, or to form a, found judgment on political meafures. I fhalL endeavour to give fuch an abftradt of it as may be fufBcient for Tome, and a convenient guide for others in the farther progrefs of their ftudies. The treaties, which I (hall more particularly contider, will be thofe of Weftphalia, of Oliva, of the Pyre- nees, of Breda, of Nimeguen, of Ryfwick, of Utrecht, of Aix-la-Chapelle, of Paris (1763), and of Verfailles (1783). I (hall (hortly explain the other treaties, of which the ftipulations are either alluded to, confirmed, or abrogated in thofe which I confider at length. I (hall fubjoin an ac- count of the diplomatic intercourfe of the Euro- pean powers with the Ottoman Porte, and with other princes and dates who are without the pale 1^ .of { 66 ) of our ordinary federal law ; together with a view of ihe mod importaot treaties of commerce, their principles, and their co'equences. ■^ As an ufeful appe^^ix to a pradical treatife on the law of nations, fome account will be given of thofe tribunals which in different countries of Europe decide controverfies arifing out of that law; of their conftitution, of the extent of their authority, antl of their modes of proceeding; more efpecially of thofe courts which are pecu- liarly appointed for that purpofe by the laws of Great Britain. . ;. -v v .?* ?».- ^ - ■■ - 1 . ■' • .;;, -'- ■...-*. , .■ |:,* *L Though the courfe, of which I have iketched the outline, may feem to comprehend fo great a variety of niifcellaneous fubjeds, yet they are all in truth clofely and infeparably interwoven. The duties of men, of fubjefts, of princes, of law- givers, of magiftrates, and of ftates, are all parts of one confident fyftem of univerfal morality. Between the moft abftradt and elemen^^ary maxim, of moral philofophy, and the moft complicated cpntroverfies of civil or public law, there fub- fifts a connexion which it will be the main objedt of ihefe ledlures to trace. The principle ofjuf- tice, deeply rooted in the nature and intereft of man, pervades the whole fyftem, and is difcover- able in every part of it, even to its minuteft ra- mification w ( ^; ) tnlfication In a legdl formality, or in the condruc- tion of an article in a treaty. ,1 t I know not vvhcther a philofopher ought to confefs, that in his inquiries after truth he is biafled by any confideration ; even by the love of viiiuc. But I, who conceive that a real philofopher oug!)t to regard truth itfelf chiefly on account of its fubferviency to the happinefs of mankind, am not afliamed to confefs, that I fliall feel a great confo- lation at the conclufion of thefe ledlures, if, by a wide furvey and an exaft examination of the con- ditions and relations of human nature, I fliall have confirmed but one individual in the convidion^ that juftice is the permanent interefl of all men, 9nd of all commonwealths. To difcover one new link of that eternal chain by which thti Author of the univerfc has bound together the happinefs and the duty of his creatures, and indifliblubly faftened their interefts to each other, would fill my heart with more pleafure than all the fame with which the moft ingenious paradox ever crowned the mod eloquent fophift. ' ; I (hall conclude this Difcourfe in the noble language of two great ors.tors and philofophers, who have, in a few words, dated tlie fubftance, the objed, and the refult of ;^ll morality^ and po- litics, and law. ' . (( Nihil *• 1 i :r^' ■ i hni «c ( 68 ") Nihil c!l: quod adhuc de republic^ puterh •* didu ii., ec quo pofliai longius progredi, nifi " fii coiitirmaium, nm modo falfutn cfTe illud, " C'lc inju! i* nut» poifl . fed hoc veriffimum, fine " fuiiim^ juftiri^ rempublicam rcgi non ppffc."— Gi: Frag, lib. ii. de Repub. ' i " Juftice is ii'felf the great (landing policy of *^ civil lociti-v ; and any eminent departure from " it, under any circuniftances, lies under the fuf- ** picion of being no policy at alj." — Burke's fVbrh, vol. iii. p. 207. I'iV. r FINIS. \ V •'»^>-^^'..