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GOLDEN RULES 
 
 OF 
 
 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 A NEW SYSTEM 
 
 PRACTICAL ETHICS 
 
 BY SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, 
 
 £3H> TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 1826. 
 
 (Pritt ICU. 6d. in boards.) 
 

 J. AND C. ADLARD, PRINTERS, BARTHOLOMEW-CLOSE. 
 
TO SIMON BOLIVAR, 
 
 THE LIBERATOR. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 To what living personage can I so pro- 
 perly dedicate a work on the social duties of 
 men, as to the founder of many indepen- 
 dent states ? I regard myself as fortunate 
 in being even the contemporary of a 
 character whose public virtues and dis- 
 interested patriotism transcend not merely 
 every example presented by history, but 
 surpass all that philosophy could have 
 expected to see realized ; and I present, 
 therefore, to such a man, the homage of 
 my affections, and the intellectual pro- 
 ducts of my life. 
 
 In various forms this book embraces 
 6 
 
IV TO SIMON BOLIVAK, 
 
 most of the subjects on which a founder 
 of empires can he supposed to be en- 
 gaged in practice or speculation ; and it 
 may, in the estimation of foreigners, add 
 something to the worth of the sentiments 
 inculcated, that they are the fruits of the 
 experience of an Englishman who has 
 passed a life of action and observation in 
 that country in which all principles that 
 exalt human nature have been effectively 
 cultivated, and publicly or privately exhi- 
 bited in practice. 
 
 The maxims in this volume are, there- 
 fore, drawn from the school of British 
 experience, and they are in that sense 
 more valuable than mere closet specula- 
 tions ; at the same time, they have been 
 expressed with more intellectual indepen- 
 dence than could be felt or exercised by 
 writers of other ages, when fewer princi- 
 ples had been developed, or in countries 
 where restraints on the press operate as 
 fetters on the mind, even of the most 
 courageous and independent. 
 
THE LIBERATOR. V 
 
 Of course I do not assume that many 
 of my countrymen could not have done 
 more credit to the national wisdom, — but 
 I have done mv best, and have set an 
 example which I shall be happy to see 
 followed by others with more success. 
 My utmost ambition will be gratified if 
 the doctrines inculcated in this work prove 
 useful to nations who are not too old, 
 and too wise, to receive instruction ; and, 
 above all, if they should be honoured by 
 your attention and approbation. 
 
 I have for above forty years contem- 
 plated the prostrate condition of South 
 America, and have viewed with grief the 
 inutility of the numerous capabilities of 
 those provinces which, by your arm and 
 example, have now become independent 
 nations. I have deeply sympathized in 
 their struggles, and lamented the mischiefs 
 which it has too often been in the power of 
 vengeful, because imbecile, tyranny to 
 inflict. I had the gratification to be 
 personally known to that superior being 
 
VI TO SIMON BOLIVAR, 
 
 Miranda, and his tragical end left me 
 almost without hope ; but, happily for 
 South America, and honourably for hu- 
 man nature, a Bolivar arose, who com- 
 bined the zeal of Miranda with the 
 public virtues of a Washington and 
 the military prowess of a Napoleon. 
 The circumstances required such a man ; 
 but to expect him to appear was the 
 anticipation of a prodigy, — yet he did 
 appear, — and that prodigy you have 
 proved yourself. 
 
 Simon Bolivar will, therefore, in the 
 records of humanity, rank foremost among 
 the great and good ; and, while North 
 America may challenge the old continent 
 for a parallel to her Washington, South 
 America may challenge all history for 
 a parallel to her Bolivar ! 
 
 How often have the virtuous struggles 
 of the human race, to emancipate them- 
 selves from the fetters of craft and abused 
 power, been thwarted by the personal 
 ambition, or rather folly, of those military 
 
THE LIBERATOR. vii 
 
 leaders to whom the defence of the public 
 cause had been entrusted! Fatal expe- 
 rience seemed to prove, that sacrifices 
 were always to be made in vain, and that 
 mankind had nothing to hope, because the 
 overthrow of one tyranny led only to 
 another, accompanied by the turpitude of 
 bad faith and insulting usurpation. It is 
 therefore a new era in the history of the 
 world to behold the victorious leader of 
 armies shrinking from the distinctions 
 which a grateful people seek to bestow 
 upon him; declining powers which he 
 might plausibly wield for the public ser- 
 vice, rather than render his patriotism 
 equivocal or suspicious; and honestly 
 declaring that, when he has vanquished the 
 enemy, and organized free govern- 
 ments, he will look on his glorious works 
 in the capacity of a mere private 
 citizen. 
 
 Such, however, is the conduct dictated 
 by true wisdom ; for what hereafter will 
 
V11I TO SIMON BOLIVAR. 
 
 be all titles of power, all distinctions of 
 society, all thrones and diadems, all royal 
 and imperial titles, compared with the 
 having been a Bolivar ! 
 
 Forgive, Sir, this strain of admiration ; 
 and regard it as the language of principle, 
 dictated by duty and truth. 
 
 R. Phillips, 
 
 London, Dec. 13, 1825. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This volume is the production of a prac- 
 tical man, who has acquired many of the 
 truths and principles which it exhibits 
 by his personal experience, others by his 
 intercourse with men of appropriate in- 
 telligence, and many by prolonged medi- 
 tation on the subjects of which he has 
 ventured to treat. 
 
 Though many of his topics are so 
 familiar and so operative on men's for- 
 tunes and happiness, that it might be 
 expected ingenuity had exhausted itself 
 in analyzing and discussing them, yet 
 their very homeliness seems to have been 
 a cause of neglect, and the exposition, 
 at least of most of the subjects, is now 
 attempted for the first time. 
 
 They presented no crowns to literary 
 
 a2 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 ambition, no materials for poetry, no 
 regions for new discovery ; they apper- 
 tained in no respect to the researches of 
 the closet ; and they were for the most 
 part too familiar and too useful to be 
 engrafted on learned and fashionable 
 education. Hence the Author undertook 
 a task in which he has throughout been 
 called upon to think for himself, and has 
 been able to draw little or nothing from 
 the stores or suggestions of others; while 
 his plan compelled him to adventure opi- 
 nions on many subjects in which the 
 passions and interests of mankind are 
 intensely involved. 
 
 To render such a work really useful, — 
 to tell the truth, and the whole truth, 
 — required fearless honesty ; and, to tell 
 nothing but the truth, much anxious dis- 
 crimination. In regard to the former 
 quality, he would, if he thought his work 
 sufficiently important, re-act the part of 
 Lycurgus, and seal his doctrines by self- 
 devotion ; and in regard to the latter, if 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 he has erred, his mistakes have not sprung 
 from corruption, from love of antithesis 
 or novelty, or from any sentiment tend- 
 ing to create despair or discontent ; for he 
 is not a man of a gloomy spirit, but at 
 the same time is in earnest ; and he con- 
 ceives that men would always be better, 
 if they were wiser, and that, when they 
 err, it is either from miscalculation or 
 from ignorance. 
 
 Some of the articles in this volume 
 have been for many years before the pub- 
 lic, as those on Magistrates, Sheriffs, 
 Electors, Jurors, and Parish Priests ; 
 others are partly new or newly arranged 
 and amalgamated ; while about half the vo- 
 lume has been expressly written to confer 
 completeness on the design. Of the 
 Golden Rules for Electors and Jurymen, 
 perhaps half a million of copies have in 
 sundry forms, and at various periods, been 
 distributed, and it may be hoped, with 
 useful effect. The others have had a more 
 limited circulation ; but, as each addresses 
 
XU PREFACE, 
 
 a distinct class, few persons possess more 
 than that which applies to the duties of 
 their own station. 
 
 As time and much public approba- 
 tion have conferred character on these, 
 the Author has no solicitude in laying 
 them in this new form before the world. 
 It would gratify him if he could be- 
 lieve that he has succeeded equally 
 well in the new articles. That ad- 
 dressed to Sovereigns must necessarily 
 be useless to reigning princes, who will 
 conceive that they at least know their 
 duties, as well as one who has viewed 
 courts chiefly at a distance, and under 
 all the disguises of long-studied systems. 
 His maxims are, therefore, those of a 
 subject, who knows better what a king 
 ought to do, than what he is able to do. 
 In this sense, however, the sentiments 
 of a Subject may not be unuseful, 
 while, as part of the education of princes, 
 such a condensation of duties and princi- 
 ples cannot fail to be beneficial. 
 
PREFACE, Xlli 
 
 Legislators and Journalists are 
 classes who, if not so powerful and so 
 much flattered as reigning princes, are 
 nevertheless powerful enough to be in- 
 tractable in regard to instruction, and too 
 wise in their own opinions to conceive 
 they require any. Yet, in regard to the 
 former, the younger members may be 
 wrought upon ; and, to the latter, if they 
 cannot reform themselves, an honest ex- 
 posure of their foibles and vices will render 
 them less mischievous to an enlightened 
 public. 
 
 The least tractable class whom the 
 Author has presumed to address, are the 
 Philosophers, — those flexible patients of 
 their reason,— those votaries of truth, — 
 those dispassionate examples of human 
 wisdom ! They are so thoroughly satis- 
 fied with the systems which were con- 
 structed in the twilights of knowledge by 
 venerated personages, and sustained by 
 venerable institutions, that the Author 
 frankly confesses he considers the pages 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 dedicated to them as utterly useless ; 
 except, indeed, it be with those who have 
 not publicly taught errors, who have not 
 written books in error, who do not profess 
 errors, who consider authority as inferior 
 to reason, and who, of the rising generation, 
 happily are indifferent either to truth or 
 falsehood, but will instinctively prefer 
 the former. 
 
 As the work has, throughout, sprung 
 from the mind of the author, so he has 
 freely asserted his own opinions, whether 
 they accord or not with the predilections 
 of the age. In speculations of this na- 
 ture, he respects no authority, in regard 
 to truth, but his own convictions. If 
 these are erroneous, he shall be happy to 
 see them corrected, and be forward in 
 entering into explanations with liberal 
 enquirers. He has no affection for any 
 opinions for their own sake. He has no 
 fear of censure, for this depends chiefly on 
 the re-action of the prejudices, interests, 
 and passions, of those who inflict it ; and 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 he has little to hope from praise, because 
 this tardy and silent energy is generally 
 overwhelmed by the boisterous clamours 
 of those who think their wisdom is best 
 displayed by the severity and dogmatism 
 of their animadversions. 
 
 The sole object of the Author has been 
 to be useful ; and he is content with the 
 feeling, that he has attempted to be so. 
 He has anxiously inculcated all the chari- 
 ties of life, and all the virtues of sound mo- 
 rals, or atleast what he considers to be such; 
 he has endeavoured to make men wiser 
 and happier, and has even extended his 
 code of sympathy to the brute creation. 
 Without co-operation, his labours would 
 be useless : he hopes, therefore, that they 
 will be duly appreciated by the wise and 
 benevolent ; and, as to the rest, he is 
 utterly and inflexibly indifferent. 
 
 [n addressing so many interests, the 
 author is aware that he appears to throw 
 down the gauntlet of defiance to many pre- 
 judices,— may be considered as wantonly 
 assailing much self-love,— and be in danger 
 
XVI PREFACE, 
 
 of drawing upon himself the rage of nests 
 of buzzing, though perfectly harmless, 
 critics. For these possible results he is 
 sorry, because he courts the tranquillity 
 of retirement, and abhors controversy ; but 
 he should have compromised his character, 
 and failed in the object of his work, if he 
 had been influenced by any considerations 
 besides his devotion to truth, and his 
 respect for the sound intelligence of the 
 age in which he writes. 
 
 If, perchance, any individual should see, 
 as in a mirror, the portrait of his own 
 foibles, vices, or deformities, he must con- 
 sider the paragraph as performing the 
 mere optical powers of a mirror ; for, 
 throughout the work, the Author has not 
 written at any individual, and has strictly 
 avoided any allusion to contemporary 
 personages; his work being, as he pre- 
 sumes, addressed to human nature in the 
 abstract, and of all ages and countries. 
 
 Pretensions to infallibility would be 
 inconsistent with the principles and feelings 
 2 
 
PREFACE. XVII 
 
 of the Author. As he affectsno power of the 
 kind, he will be highly gratified at receiv- 
 ing, or at seeing in print, any free and 
 candid animadversions on any of the mul- 
 tifarious doctrines in his book; and will 
 assiduously avail himself of them, if it 
 should, in his time, arrive at a second 
 edition. In that respect, a modern 
 author, bound in the fetters of a large 
 edition, does not possess the advantages of 
 the ancient writers, who, while every copy 
 was an edition, had it in their power to 
 correct from day to day, and, thereby, 
 to reduce their language and reasonings 
 to that degree of mathematical precision 
 which is their resulting characteristic. To 
 be useful, an author must be respected ; 
 and, to be respected, he must be as per- 
 fect as possible ; and the Author of the pre- 
 sent work confesses that he has an ambition 
 to be useful, — and that such ambition has 
 been the stimulus of his exertions ; while, 
 in the quality of perfection, he defers to 
 others, and expects no homage beyond the 
 
XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 small share which self-love may think 
 proper to concede. 
 
 Writers of adages and maxims too 
 generally sacrifice truth to antitheses, and 
 to mere graces of composition. The 
 present writer affects no more than to 
 state what is true, in a plain way. His 
 sole ambition is to be understood ; and 
 his points and graces lie entirely in the 
 force with which he has endeavoured to 
 impress his readers, in regard to truths of 
 which he himself felt a thorough convic- 
 tion. He has deferred to no prejudices, 
 for he respects none ; and if he had done 
 so, his book would but have added to the 
 useless lumber of libraries. He has as- 
 sailed many prejudices, but not all: this 
 would be a task which would have 
 appalled Hercules himself, for they are 
 almost as numerous as men's ideas ; and 
 books in general, at least successful books, 
 do but flatter, foster, and sustain them. 
 He has, however, assailed enow to 
 draw on himself the hostility of their 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 friends ; but, accustomed to think for 
 himself, and having imposed a task on 
 himself, he has scorned to compromise 
 with fraud and falsehood. His labour 
 will only be lost, if it fail to confer on 
 many men more just and accurate modes 
 of thinking on many important subjects, 
 — if it do not uproot many mischievous 
 prejudices, which retard the improvement 
 of society, — and if it do not in some 
 degree arrest the triumph of some of 
 those primitive systems by which man- 
 kind, in spite of their alleged civilization, 
 continue to be deluded. Nevertheless 
 he is not a cynic, — for it will be seen, that 
 he is no niggard of praise wherever it 
 is due; that he has extolled virtue 
 in every form in which it can gladden 
 the heart ; and that he has exalted all 
 that is true, wherever and in whatever 
 it serves to honour the understanding. 
 
 After the greater part of this volume 
 had been printed, the Author discovered 
 that Isocrates, in an epistle to Nicocles, 
 
XX PREFACE. 
 
 King of Cyprus, had composed adages for 
 kings ; and, in another epistle, adages for 
 subjects. He was so much struck with 
 the coincidence of plan, that he prepared 
 translations, and intended to annex them 
 as an appendix, hoping at once to add to 
 the value of the volume, and to shew the 
 differences with which a Greek and an 
 Englishman treated the same subjects at 
 the distance of two thousand years. The 
 circumstances, however, which are al- 
 luded to in the postscript, led him at once 
 to close his work ; but, if the spirit of his 
 observations should gratify the public, he 
 may be induced at some future period to 
 print a second volume, containing other 
 articles of his own in the same method of 
 composition, with these articles of Iso- 
 crates, and some others highly curious, 
 though neglected. 
 
 If the circumstances noticed in the 
 postscript to this work had occurred be- 
 fore this volume had been written, and 
 almost printed, it never would have had 
 
PREFACE. XXI 
 
 existence, for the Author as well as the 
 people of England will probably have 
 other cares than those of speculations in 
 philosophy and morals ; and the luxuries 
 of life and literature must, for many years, 
 yield in Britain to the wants of the hour, 
 and the warfare of self-interest. 
 
 In the anticipations of the Author, the 
 Sun of England's glory has set upon this 
 generation. Whether ministers of more 
 public spirit, and of more refined sympa- 
 thy with the wants of the nation, can raise 
 it again, is a question which time only can 
 solve. Every conclusion of experience 
 is adverse to the supposition. Credit is 
 suspicion asleep, and suspicion has been 
 so aroused, that it can scarcely be lulled 
 again in regard to the same parties and 
 the same country. A nation, like an in- 
 dividual, or like a woman, cannot lose its 
 character and afterwards re-enjoy it. We 
 may exist like cattle on the soil, but never 
 again in the same mutual confidence and 
 
XXU PREFACE. 
 
 credit; and, by consequence, in equal ple- 
 nitude of wealth and power. 
 
 Let the parliament, the king, and the 
 people, adjust this question with that 
 minister who, in the hour of public 
 phrenzy and despair, taunted the people 
 in their distresses by ascribing to them 
 sanative effects, and quoting the common- 
 place adage, that "the evil would cure 
 itself." 
 
 It may be so, it may cure itself, but woe 
 to the generation on which the cure is per- 
 formed . It cannot be an age either of phi- 
 losophy^ literature, or speculation ; but it 
 will be in an iron age, in which the worst 
 passions will triumph over virtue ; and in 
 which struggles for wisdom will be lost in 
 personal contests for bread and existence. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 , Page 
 
 Golden Rules for Sovereign Princes . 1 
 
 2. 
 — t0 render Men honest, respecta- 
 ble, and happy «... 38 
 
 3. 
 for Members of the British Legis- 
 lation «.... 177 
 
 4. 
 — of Civil Liberty . . , 107 
 
 5. 
 in favour of Religious Liberty . 117 
 
 6. 
 
 to be remembered in the Study of 
 
 Nature and Metaphysical Philosophy . . 130 
 
 7. 
 for Electors . . . .172 
 
 8. 
 
 f °r discriminating Truth in Human 
 
 Enquiries lg9 
 
 9. 
 
 ! relative to Political and Social 
 
 Economy 221 
 
 10. 
 "~ ' for Magistrates . . . 244 
 
XXIV. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 11. 
 
 Golden Rules for Sheriffs 
 
 12. 
 
 „ — . . for Jurymen 
 
 . 13. 
 _. for Grand Jurymen 
 
 14. 
 for Journalists . 
 
 15. 
 
 for Bankers 
 
 16. 
 
 for Young Shopkeepers 
 
 17. 
 
 for Parish Priests 
 
 18. 
 . for Instructors of Youth 
 
 19. 
 The Author's Reasons for not Eating Animal 
 Food 
 
 20. 
 Appendix 
 
 21. 
 Postscript to Golden Rules for Bankers 
 
 Page 
 
 256 
 261 
 276 
 282 
 307 
 318 
 324 
 331 
 
 347: 
 357 
 
 363 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page 319, Art. VI. for " return," reed " returns." 
 
 Page 360, line 3 from bottom, for "which," read "while." 
 
 Vie Binder is requested to insert the fight pages E* in their proper 
 place-. 
 
GOLDEN RULES 
 
 OF 
 
 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 GOLDEN RULES FOR SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 
 
 I. 
 
 Sovereign Princes should never forget that 
 their office is created and upheld for the 
 general benefit of the community, and that 
 every Sovereign exists as such solely for the 
 advantage of the nation. They must not 
 imagine that the people exist for the sake of 
 sovereigns, and to add to their power and 
 splendour; but should remember that kings 
 are appointed for the public good, and that 
 they are themselves mere instruments of public 
 convenience. 
 
^ SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 II. 
 
 A sovereign should attach no personal im- 
 portance to the circumstance of his happening 
 to be the head of the state ; for every cone 
 must have an apex, every sphere a centre, 
 and every society some head — a necessity, of 
 which the sovereign is the creature and pa- 
 tient, not the creator and cause. 
 
 in. 
 
 Princes should not mistake the deference 
 which is paid to them by the servile habits of 
 mankind, and by the ambitious desire of ob- 
 taining their favour, for any proof that the 
 homage is created by any sense of real infe- 
 riority in those who display it, or any actual 
 animal superiority in the sovereign ; but should 
 consider all such deference as arising from 
 the desire to please, in the hope of profiting 
 by the royal power and favour. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Every sovereign holds his station under 
 the laws, customs, and constitution, of the 
 country ; and these he is, therefore, bound to 
 respect and protect : and they should govern 
 the king in the policy of his government, as 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 3 
 
 much as the meanest of the people in the 
 subjection of their conduct. 
 
 The attention of princes should be chiefly 
 directed to the welfare and happiness of those 
 classes of their subjects who are least able 
 to take care of themselves : a king of the 
 nobility and gentry is sovereign but of a 
 centum of his subjects ; while the nobility 
 and gentry are best able to take care of 
 themselves, and, in fact, demand less of the 
 guardianship of the sovereign than the indus- 
 trious and labouring classes. 
 
 VI. 
 
 To know the condition of his people, and 
 to enable him to protect poverty against the 
 oppressions of abused power and wealth, 
 every sovereign should, as a sacred duty, re- 
 ceive and peruse the petitions and represen- 
 tations of the meanest of his subjects ; but, if 
 the reception of them is personally inconve- 
 nient, then every palace-gate should be pro- 
 vided with a letter-box, of which the sovereign 
 ought to keep a master-key ; and letters and 
 petitions should be freely put into it, by all 
 
 1 
 
4 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 who seek redress from the power, informa- 
 tion, and influence, of the sovereign. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The character of a sovereign is determined 
 by that of his ministers; these, therefore, 
 ought to be selected according to their abi- 
 lity, and promoted according to their in- 
 dustry, fidelity, and integrity. The sovereign 
 who, from any consideration, continues an 
 unworthy minister in office, ceases to be duly 
 considerate either of the benefit of his people 
 or of the honour of his throne. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 It is the business of the sovereign to assign 
 the duties of his ministers ; to take care that 
 they embrace every interest of his subjects ; 
 to distribute them in such manner that no 
 one may have too much to perform ; and, by 
 classing the petitions and complaints of his 
 subjects, to determine which service of the 
 state is inefficiently or properly performed. 
 
 IX. 
 
 A sovereign should constantly recollect, that 
 it is the sole obiect of his ministers to enrich 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. O 
 
 themselves, and aggrandize their families and 
 connexions; and that these ulterior objects 
 are the stimulants of all their exertions, how- 
 ever varied or specious; — for no minister is 
 integrated with the state, like the sovereign ; 
 and, though the love of power and temporary 
 notoriety may stimulate one in ten, and the 
 ambition of doing good one in a thousand, yet 
 the primary and the governing motive is the 
 means of personal gratification, afforded by 
 increase of wealth and social rank. 
 
 x. 
 
 A sovereign should be aware that the neces- 
 sary and desirable immutability of laws is 
 always at variance with the temporary advan- 
 tages sought by men in office, and all subor- 
 dinate agents of power; while it also thwarts 
 their passions, and limits their display of au- 
 thority. The sovereign may himself be just, 
 amiable, and yielding to the spirit and forms 
 of the law, but not so his numerous delegates, 
 who may display every variety of bad as well 
 as good character : it behoves him, therefore, 
 to watch these agents, and apply to them, as a 
 test, the re-action which their conduct produces 
 among his subjects ; for oppression begets 
 
O SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 resistance, and these, in society, are like action 
 and re-action in nature. Nevertheless, there 
 may be refractory subjects, the pest of worthy 
 magistracy; but,, whenever any contest arises, 
 the sovereign should beware of the false co- 
 lourings by which men in office, from the 
 highest to the lowest, sustain one another; 
 and he should be alive to the conviction, that 
 some mal-administration, to be corrected by 
 his prompt exertion, may be as likely to be 
 the cause of disaffection, as the ungovernable 
 spirit of a subject. 
 
 XL 
 
 As ministers have not, like sovereigns, a 
 permanent, hereditary, and transmitted, family 
 interest in the state, the chief security of the 
 people against their rapacity and abuse of 
 power is the vigilance of the sovereign, his 
 systematic reception of the complaints of the 
 people, and his inflexibility in discarding the 
 unworthy from his employment and confidence ; 
 for the sovereign who is indifferent to the 
 conduct of his ministers, delivers over his 
 people, under the bonds of law and the duties 
 of allegiance, to the temporary domination of 
 selfish ministers, and deprives them of that 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 
 
 safeguard which they possess in the sove- 
 reign's independence of all motives beyond 
 the love of his subjects and the glory of his 
 
 name and reign. 
 
 XII. 
 
 But, while a constant jealousy should be 
 exerted, by a good sovereign, to prevent his 
 ministers from taking advantage of his sub- 
 jects' necessary submission to power, the 
 sovereign ought to stimulate virtuous anc 
 faithful service, by honouring and liberally re- 
 warding merit in his ministers and servants ; 
 though he should never lose sight of the impor- 
 tance of making accurate discriminations, — for 
 honours are merely titular, and cease to be 
 received and regarded as such, if the un- 
 worthy are confounded with the worthy in 
 their distribution, and if they are not reserved 
 and bestowed only on unequivocal virtue and 
 acknowledged merit. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 As the office of a king is active and exe- 
 cutive, and the wisdom and justice of every 
 neasure depends on discriminations founded 
 on truth, and not on the sophistry and misre- 
 presentation by which the ears of Princes 
 
8 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 are commonly abused, so every wise sove- 
 reign, who is duly anxious about his own 
 reputation and that of his throne, should, on 
 personal questions, submit any case of 
 difficulty separately to half a- dozen per- 
 sons of sound judgment, and be guided 
 by their opinions, formally given in writing. 
 Collective opinions of councils are deceptive, 
 owing to the influence of individuals, to the 
 effect of specious and often shallow eloquence, 
 and to the reserve by which the whole truth is 
 too frequently qualified by good manners, habi- 
 tual deference, and personal delicacy. 
 
 xiv. 
 
 The sovereign who, from indolence or 
 fear, permits one class of his subjects to 
 oppress another, or any party to assume the 
 authority of the state, and monopolize its 
 power and patronage, is unworthy of his 
 dignity, and compromises his name, character, 
 and station. The territorial interests should 
 not be preferred to the commercial, nor the 
 commercial to the territorial ; masters should 
 not be encouraged to oppress their workmen 
 and servants; the rich should not be allowed 
 to oppress the poor; and parties, who pro- 
 fess a superabundance of obsequious loyalty, 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 9 
 
 should not be preferred in public employments 
 to those who are too independent to be either 
 obsequious or dishonest. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Every politic sovereign should occasionally 
 visit the distant portions of his empire, receive 
 the petitions of his people on the spot, and 
 enquire into and rectify all abuses and errors 
 in the administration of the local govern- 
 ments : and other parts, or distant colonies, 
 which he does not examine in person, should 
 be visited by trusty commissioners, within 
 every seven years, with authority to enquire 
 and report relative to mal-administration, 
 errors of policy, oppressive operation of laws, 
 and other subjects of dissatisfaction in the 
 people. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Every considerate sovereign should special ly 
 enquire into the provisions for abject and 
 helpless poverty, and the condition of suffe- 
 rers under the law, — who, in gaols and other 
 receptacles, are deserted by all, and left to 
 the discretion of such inferior officers as are 
 often destitute of feeling and sympathy; for 
 
 b2 
 
10 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 which purpose, he should, once in three or 
 seven years, appoint commissioners of bene- 
 volent men to visit the poor-houses and gaols 
 of his kingdom, and report on cases of parti- 
 cular objects, and on abuses of management. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 In the selection of representatives of his 
 own authority, a wise sovereign should be 
 specially cautious that they are men of virtu- 
 ous and benevolent character; and this obser- 
 vation applies particularly to all expounders 
 of the law, as judges and presiding officers 
 in courts of law,— and to all executors of the 
 law, as sheriffs, and magistrates generally : 
 wisdom itself in such persons will not, in 
 practical effects on the people, atone for 
 sternness of temper, — nor any other qualities, 
 for the want of integrity and benevolence. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 As it is the glorious prerogative of sove- 
 reigns to be able to ameliorate the operation 
 of the laws, and as laws are made for extreme 
 cases of turpitude, and the highest punish- 
 ment assigned for specific crimes, so the 
 sovereign should apply his feelings of personal 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES, II 
 
 compassion to all crimes committed under 
 circumstances which admit of excuse or pal- 
 liation ; and bearing in mind that, as the state 
 has done its duty in assigning the punishment 
 and effecting the conviction, so the mitigation 
 is an affair of personal feeling in the sovereign, 
 with which the opinion of no minister, or third 
 party, ought, on any pretence, to be allowed 
 to interfere. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 If a sovereign derive his power from here- 
 ditary title, and has been educated in his 
 station, he is too often as utterly ignorant of 
 the social relations of man to man, and of the 
 passions and wants of the population over 
 whom he is placed, as a blind man of colours, 
 or a Chinese of Europeans, or a European of 
 Japanese: as soon as he arrives at years 
 of discretion, it should, therefore, be his sedu- 
 lous care to divest his mind of the false im- 
 pressions arising from viewing society through 
 a distorted medium, and from an unfavour- 
 able position ; and he should study human 
 nature on its own general level, either by 
 means of books which treat of the details of 
 men's pursuits, or by travelling and mingling 
 with society incognito. 
 
12 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 XX. 
 
 The reasoning faculties of an hereditary 
 sovereign may be sufficiently developed by the 
 incidents of the circle in which he moves ; but, 
 as every animal power is improved by exer- 
 cise, and the reasoning powers are perfected, 
 like the muscular, by exertions of unremitting 
 labour, which princes are not called upon to 
 make, so every prince should habitually defer 
 to the judgment of men of experience, whose 
 faculties have been forced into exertion ; and 
 should suspect, as base flatterers, all those who 
 extol his own superior wisdom and pre- 
 eminent vigour of intellect. Society may be 
 compared to a wheel, the successive ranks in 
 one, being, in numbers, like the progressive 
 circles from the axle to the periphery ; the 
 circumstance of position neither changes the 
 material nor improves it, but, on the contrary 
 the exertion, or action and re-action, of every 
 part, is as the distance from the centre, — or, 
 maintaining the analogy, the intellectual vigour 
 of the several gradations (opportunities of 
 information being alike) will generally be as 
 the distance from the centre. 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 13 
 
 XXI. 
 
 The ordinary trappings of royalty were 
 invented in barbarous ages, to impress the 
 superstitions vulgar ; but, as knowledge spreads 
 faster than improvements in means of perso- 
 nal ornament, so these lose their power of 
 fascination ; and a sovereign in a brilliant 
 dress, or expensive procession, rises no higher 
 in the estimation of a civilized people than a 
 dramatic hero in a stage pageant. In such 
 displays, sovereigns should not excuse the 
 indulgence of their personal vanity by the 
 selfish sophistry that they thereby circulate 
 their subjects' money; for those from whom it 
 is taken, had it not to spare, and it would be 
 likely to be used by them with quite as 
 much advantage to the community as by the 
 sovereign. 
 
 xxu. 
 
 Though the laws of God forbid man to 
 shed man's blood, and charge us to commit 
 no murder, yet the necessity of defending a 
 country against foreign intrusion renders it 
 justifiable to repel force by force, and, if ne- 
 cessary, to kill the assailants : hence, the 
 usages of society have placed, in the hands of 
 
14 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 kings, the power of conducting the public 
 defence ; and, for that particular purpose, have 
 considered murders as no crime. This license 
 to commit homicide extends, however, no 
 further than to wars strictly of self-defence ; 
 and it behoves a sovereign, who would not be 
 considered as a lawless murderer, and as such 
 be held in detestation by the wise and good, 
 never to embark in wars of speculative or pro- 
 blematical origin, — wars of calculation or 
 policy, depending on his fallible judgment, — 
 or wars for purposes of expected aggrandise- 
 ment, or increase of territory. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 A sovereign should bear in mind that, as 
 there is no glory in homicide, and that, as he 
 himself consigns all wilful murderers to the 
 public executioner, so he himself deserves a 
 similar fate, and is even more ignominious, 
 if, without some urgent cause which admits 
 of no equivocation, he employs forces, entrusted 
 to him solely for the public defence, against 
 other nations, — by which his own subjects are 
 compelled, by their allegiance, to commit mur- 
 ders, or submit to be murdered ; and he must 
 never forget, that, in the estimation of wise 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 15 
 
 men, his victories, in an unjust and groundless 
 
 contest, will be attended with no glory, — his 
 soldiers and seamen be ranked as hired assas- 
 sins, — and himself answerable for all the 
 miseries, horrors, and murders, resulting from 
 the pride, obstinacy, or passion, which misled 
 him at the outset of the contest, 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Sovereigns should bear in mind that, if the 
 country which they govern is populous and 
 powerful enough to defend itself, or respec- 
 table enough to form defensive alliances with 
 other nations for the common security, no 
 extension of territory is of any advantage to 
 their own subjects; for subjects live in fami- 
 lies, and are not severally affected by the num- 
 ber united under one sovereign ; and, there- 
 fore, any passion in favour of extended domi- 
 nion is either a vice or weakness in the mind 
 of the sovereign, or a crafty pretence of his 
 ministers to add to their power, influence, 
 and patronage. 
 
 xxv. 
 
 Sovereigns ought never to adopt the atro- 
 cious maxim — that the supposed goodness of 
 
16 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 the object to be achieved justifies any means 
 of accomplishing it, — and that, having indefi- 
 nite power in their control, they may lawfully 
 exert it, without regard to mischief and misery, 
 in the hope of accomplishing a design which 
 they consider ultimately meritorious. This is 
 the maxim of crime in every stage, from him 
 who commits petty larceny, to the midnight 
 murderer and hired assassin; and it has been 
 the cause of most of the calamities of man- 
 kind, of all the atrocities of cabinets, and all 
 the ignominy which covers the memory of so 
 many sovereigns. That which cannot be ac- 
 complished by fair, just, and lawful, means, 
 should never be attempted ; for the glory of 
 success will be extinguished by the means, 
 and the disgrace of possible failure will be 
 indelible. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 A sovereign should always bear in mind 
 that his subjects are rational beings; and that, 
 although a large proportion of them may be 
 precluded, by their daily occupations, from 
 duly appreciating the policy of the state, yet 
 great numbers, who are in the habit of influ- 
 encing the opinions of others, estimate and 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES, 17 
 
 understand his conduct, and that of his mini- 
 sters, with perfect intelligence: merely tem- 
 porary purposes, therefore, can be achieved 
 by any system of deception, or by any cun- 
 ning inventions to mislead, delude, and entrap 
 a nation into measures not bottomed in justice 
 and reason. In important cases, a re-action 
 will take place unfavourable to the honour of 
 the sovereign, and sometimes disastrous to 
 the state; and it should never be forgotten 
 that the necessity for adopting any system of 
 deception or falsehood, is a palpable proof of 
 , the unworthiness and baseness of any measure 
 which stands in need of support by means 
 which are fraudulent and ignominious. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Sovereigns should, above all things, respect 
 the liberties of their subjects, for on this de- 
 pends their security, and on their security 
 
 | depends their industry and the prosperity of 
 the state. None will sow, if they do not 
 expect to reap ; and none will labour, but in 
 
 jthe confidence of enjoying the usual reward. 
 
 'Liberty, at the same time, is perfectly compa- 
 tible with the wise exercise of sovereign power. 
 It is not tolerance or license, but certainty 
 
18 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 and impartiality ; not the looseness or laxity 
 of laws, but their precision, and their equal 
 and impartial administration, which constitutes 
 a state of liberty. A sovereign of a nation 
 governing it by known laws, fairly applied to 
 all his subjects, is like the God of Nature, 
 who effects every purpose by immutable laws, 
 and causes all progressive phenomena to 
 succeed with such unvarying regularity, that 
 the manifestation of his power, and the liberty 
 of action among its creatures, are perfectly 
 compatible. The example of God's govern- 
 ment in subservience to general laws, adminis- 
 tered without respect to persons, — and which 
 mode of government produces such a wonder- 
 ful system, — ought therefore to be imperative 
 on sovereigns of nations; and from similar 
 causes of confidence and security, will result 
 such degrees of industry and exertion, as will 
 produce private happiness, public prosperity, 
 and national glory, — social perfections, akin to 
 the perfections of nature, under the similar 
 government of Providence. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Sovereigns are tyrants whenever they ad- 
 minister the laws, or distribute honours and 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 19 
 
 promotion, under the influence of personal ha- 
 tred or partiality, — when they make new laws, 
 and confer on them a retrospective and un- 
 foreseen effect, — or when they are parties in the 
 formation of laws which confer undue advan- 
 tages on one class of their subjects over ano- 
 ther class. They are also tyrants when- 
 ever they deprive their subjects of any security 
 against bad sovereigns or wicked ministers, 
 by which deprivation their subjects are ex- 
 posed to the discretion of fools and the mercy 
 of knaves. Tyranny commences when the cer- 
 tainty, confidence, and security, of subjects 
 cease; and these sentiments of subjects de- 
 pend on the impartial rewards of merit, on 
 the public preference of virtue over vice, on 
 the equality of the laws, and on a fair, equi- 
 table, and honest, administration of them, 
 which does not render them traps to the un- 
 wary, nor give to wealth and power undue 
 j advantages over poverty and weakness. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 As a sovereign who is in possession of re- 
 j venues sufficient to gratify every desirable 
 | indulgence, and with power to reward services 
 i and carry the laws into execution, requires no 
 
20 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 higher prerogatives, and can, in truth, enjoy 
 no higher, with advantage either to himself or 
 the community ; so he never need be jealous 
 of any securities enjoyed or sought by the 
 people, which do not actually encroach on his 
 necessary powers. He ought, therefore, to 
 view with liberality, and even with respect, 
 any exertions of public-spirited persons who 
 seek to improve and guard the securities of the 
 people against abuses of power ; and he should 
 beware of the crafty misrepresentations with 
 which his ear is in danger of being poisoned 
 by ministers and minions, whose ascendency 
 may be endangered by such opposition: for, 
 although faction may sometimes assume the 
 mask of public spirit, yet the true test of dis- 
 crimination is the reality of the grievances, 
 and the true and wise remedy, their investi- 
 gation and removal. — Patriotism never be- 
 comes dangerous, except when public opinion 
 is outraged by opposition to just pretensions; 
 and the greatest enemies of a sovereign are 
 those who advise him to maintain a grievance, 
 till the nation, in embodying itself against the 
 grievance, embodies itself also against the 
 sovereign. 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 21 
 
 XXX. 
 
 The strength of kings is the justice of their 
 government, the purity of their private lives, 
 and the consequent love of their subjects. 
 Kings, who have died in exile or ignominy, 
 have been those who relied on the desperate 
 stake of military adherence; and who, con- 
 fiding in the delusive strength of armies, felt 
 justified in setting public opinion at defiance: 
 for, those who suffer themselves to be 
 hired in support of a bad cause, may easily be 
 corrupted in support of a better; and it is 
 less difficult to lead many millions by their 
 affections, than to conquer the hatred and 
 intrigues of a single thousand. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Sovereigns ought to choose their personal 
 confidants and social friends from among 
 those who affect no political power, and who 
 forbear to solicit favours for themselves or 
 connexions; and, if a sovereign is not so 
 fortunate as to meet with forbearing and 
 disinterested persons worthy of his personal 
 intercourse, he should keep at a distance those 
 who have no pretensions in public charac- 
 ter or useful service, and yet seek to avail 
 
22 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 themselves of the ties of personal familiarity, 
 to compromise his honour and his duty to the 
 public, which demands that no exertion of his 
 power should be made by him as a private 
 man, but as the head of the state, from public 
 motives, capable of justification and explana- 
 tion to the whole world. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Subjects who yield ready obedience to the 
 will and authority of a sovereign, withhold the 
 same loyalty from any fellow-subject, and are 
 jealous and impatient of the undue ascendency 
 of any individual in the favour and confidence 
 of the sovereign ; nothing, therefore, is more 
 dangerous to the security of thrones, than the 
 sovereign's yielding to the influence or con- 
 trol of any personal favourite, and his con- 
 ferring on such favourite the credit of those 
 powers, graces, and acts, which ought to pro- 
 ceed alone from the unbiassed will of the 
 sovereign. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Princes should always be watchful that 
 their weaknesses, foibles, or indulgencies, as 
 men, do not bring discredit on their state and 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 23 
 
 authority, and sink them in public opinion ; 
 and for this purpose they ought studiously to 
 save appearances, never violate the preju- 
 dices of virtue by public displays of vicious 
 practices, and in that respect never set public 
 opinion at defiance :-— for virtue is stronger and 
 more lasting than the throne, and no power 
 is secure which has lost the respect and 
 mental homage of those whose submission is 
 its foundation. 
 
 xxxiv. 
 As sovereigns have the passions and pro- 
 pensities of other men, and means of indulging 
 them, which are pampered and encouraged by 
 sycophants and flatterers, they ought to con- 
 sider that their elevated position in society 
 | counteracts their power of indulgence, byren- 
 jdering them objects of conspicuous notice; 
 and that animal gratifications, which sink 
 even private men to the level of brutes, be- 
 come, in princes, odious public vices, subjects 
 | of vulgar commentary, and too often objects 
 ! of mischievous imitation; while, as sovereigns 
 ; draw their revenues from the industry of the 
 | people, these contribute with reluctance in 
 | aid of notorious profligacy, and feel scanda- 
 i 
 
24 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 lized in having a head who is a by-word 
 of contempt, and a warning instead of an 
 example. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 A sovereign who respects his own glory, 
 and who is desirous of wielding his power to 
 advantage, should interest himself about liv- 
 ing merit beyond the purlieus of his court ; 
 and it ought never to be the stigma of his age 
 that any man of extraordinary genius in 
 literature or the arts, or any exemplary cha- 
 racter in acts of virtue and benevolence, 
 lived in poverty, and died in despair and want; 
 while nothing would be more easy than to 
 ascertain, from time to time, the pretensions of 
 contemporary merit, and partake its glory 
 by effective patronage ; for the fame even of 
 kings is subordinate to that of great genius ; 
 and, in referring to the age of Homer or Plato, 
 we forget all the proud dynasties who flou- 
 rished in their time. 
 
 xxxvi. 
 
 A sovereign, to be beloved by his subjects, 
 must identify himself with them, respect 
 their predilections and customs, consult their 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 25 
 
 interests and happiness ; be often visible to 
 them ; easy of access to the proper authorities ; 
 free in his carriage ; courteous in his lan- 
 guage; and affable in his general demeanour. 
 The name and rank of king will confer full- 
 ness of effect on these qualities moderately 
 displayed ; and a king, as such, may always 
 calculate on the acclamations of his people, 
 with very slight restraints on his passions, and 
 moderate concessions to their prejudices and 
 predilections. 
 
 XXXVH. 
 
 A sovereign should be duly sensible of 
 the extensive influence of his actions, and of 
 the constant dependence of great numbers on 
 his movements and conduct ; he ought, there- 
 fore, to discipline himself into habits of regu- 
 larity; to be subject himself to the despo- 
 tism of time, paying respect to those who 
 respect him, by keeping his engagements 
 with unvarying punctuality. Habit deprives 
 regularity of its irksomeness ; and due eco- 
 nomy of time will enable princes to be exact, 
 without neglecting business, or killing horses, 
 to overtake moments which had been frivo- 
 lously wasted. 
 
26 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 It is alone sufficient glory for a man to be 
 sovereign of a nation, and he can add nothing 
 to it by the transienfsplendour of his palaces, 
 his attire, or his retinue ; and every display 
 of this factitious nature will be considered by 
 mankind as an attempt to delude by the sha- 
 dow, instead of conferring the substance, and 
 as the gratification of a little mind and a 
 vain-glorious spirit. New palaces should not 
 be built, nor old ones enlarged, till all the 
 cottages of industry are worthy the residence 
 of human beings in a civilized country. 
 
 xxxix. 
 Pride, the vice of upstarts, will seldom 
 degrade an hereditary sovereign ; and it must 
 have been a fabulous libel on Philip of Mace- 
 don, to allege that he found it necessary to 
 keep a monitor to exclaim, " Remember, 
 Philip, thou art mortal!" Every inspiration 
 of air, every animal want, every submission 
 to the eternal powers of nature, every act of 
 receiving sustenance, every twinge of pain, 
 and every night's oblivion of sleep, must 
 operate as constant correctives of any false 
 and foolish assumptions of arrogance, conceit, 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 27 
 
 and pride, which may possess and intoxicate 
 weak, childish, and imbecile princes. 
 
 XL. 
 
 The word of a prince should be his bond, 
 and the pledge of his honour be held sacred ; 
 for nothing can render him so contemptible as 
 evasions, equivocations, and falsehoods ; or 
 any conduct which leads his subjects to con- 
 sider him otherwise than as a standard of inte- 
 grity in all his transactions, and as the per- 
 sonification of truth and honour, of which the 
 usages of society consider him at once the 
 guardian and fountain. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Ingratitude, and forgetfulness of services, 
 are crimes often chargeable on courts and 
 princes, owing to the rapid succession of 
 events, and the importunities of new suitors, 
 by which former circumstances are obliterated, 
 and remote services forgotten. Princes should, 
 however, be made aware that their creditors 
 for services, or promises, have as tenacious 
 memories as creditors in matters of account, 
 though the courtesies of expectants may ren- 
 der them less openly clamorous ; and, there- 
 
28 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 fore, to protect themselves against charges of 
 ingratitude, every sovereign, who desires to 
 do his duty, ought to keep a faithful register 
 of names, services, and promises, and consult 
 this record as often as opportunities arise of 
 filling up vacant appointments, or distributing 
 the honours of the state. And this register, 
 so intimately connected with the obligations 
 of the crown, ought to be transmitted by 
 every prince to his successor, and by him be 
 respected as a solemn legacy of duties to be 
 performed. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 To shield a sovereign against the inordinate 
 expectations of persons who have rendered 
 any service to himself, or the state, and to 
 correct the delusions under which many ex- 
 pectants become victims, it is advisable to 
 refer, whenever desired, all such claims to 
 the arbitration of honourable men under the 
 same forms as those by which awards are 
 made in private disputes ; but, to secure sa- 
 tisfactory decisions, lawyers ought never to 
 be employed as arbitrators, or quibbling will 
 supersede justice ; nor mere dependents on 
 government, or the claimant will not be sa- 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 29 
 
 tisfied, and the design of the reference be 
 defeated. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Every sovereign, who proposes that a ra- 
 tional result should follow his arrangements, 
 will beware that no commissions, societies, 
 or corporations, are constituted, the members 
 of which have internal power to fill up vacan- 
 cies that arise in their own body; for the love 
 of their own ascendency will determine them 
 never to admit any associates but those who 
 flatter them, and are their inferiors in intellect 
 and character ; and, by consequence, after 
 two or three renewals, or generations, all such 
 self-elected bodies become a nuisance to the 
 community, a caricature of authority, and a 
 disgrace to the sovereign who so improperly 
 constituted their body. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 As every sovereign would wish that him- 
 self and his hereditary successors should en- 
 joy freedom of conscience in his communion 
 with God, so he ought to permit no hierarchy 
 to dictate to him in matters of religious faith, 
 
30 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 because such faith has no necessary connexion 
 with the business of the state ; and the only 
 obligation between a sovereign and his sub- 
 jects, in their mutual relations as such, is their 
 submission to the laws, which constitute the 
 social compact: at the same time, it is the 
 duty of the sovereign, for the moral govern- 
 ment of the people, to sustain their religious 
 institutions, and render religious instructors 
 respectable and independent. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 As subjects are good and valuable in pro- 
 portion as they are intelligent, and as reading 
 is the key of knowledge, so every Sovereign 
 should encourage institutions, which qualify 
 all his subjects to acquire information : and, 
 in like manner, he should anxiously promote 
 establishments of learning and free discus- 
 sion, through the press, on all subjects of 
 public interest, or in any way connected with 
 the public weal ; for the press is a monitor 
 which, if free and unshackled, he may always 
 consult for truths which will in no other way 
 be heard in palaces ; while every sovereign 
 should be aware that his ministers have the 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 31 
 
 address to corrupt certain journals, and, con- 
 sequently, he will never find in these the 
 knowledge which he ought to seek. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 As the renown of nations depends on their 
 excelling in all those arts which honour the 
 genius of man, so every sovereign should 
 identify himself with the fine arts, in all their 
 branches,— with discoveries, which tend to 
 advance human nature, — and with literature? 
 and all productions of genius. He ought to 
 confer personal distinctions on eminence, in 
 each branch ; and to seek it, and not wait for 
 its obtrusion ; for real genius is retired, and 
 possesses pride sui generis. The importance 
 to sovereigns of an alliance with the arts, and 
 with literature and the sciences, is proved by 
 the renown of Pericles, of Lorenzo di Me- 
 dici, and of Louis XIV; while but a fiftieth 
 of a king's income, time, and public distinc- 
 tions, would be sufficient to render him an 
 efficient and celebrated patron. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Custom blinds sovereigns, as well as other 
 men; and reason often sleeps, if any esta- 
 
32 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 blished usage, however bad, promotes the 
 means and interests of statesmen. Hence it 
 is, that benevolent and patriotic sovereigns 
 do not consider the intense sufferings of indi- 
 viduals who, without suitable indemnity from 
 the common public purse, are unjustly drag- 
 ged into the public service, and then, to sustain 
 an original wrong, subjected to coercive and 
 severe codes of law. The king's service, in 
 consequence, instead of being the most ho- 
 nourable, as it truly is, generally becomes 
 irksome, odious, and ignominious; and the 
 king's name so compromised, that a public- 
 spirited sovereign ought to change his minis- 
 ters, till he finds a set who are competent to do 
 equal justice to all his subjects, mariners as 
 well as landsmen, and thereby rendering his 
 service as desirable and advantageous as ho- 
 nourable and glorious. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 If his duties are performed with effect, a 
 sovereign will find that a kingdom of narrow 
 limits will fully employ his time, and render 
 it wholly unnecessary and undesirable to en- 
 large its boundaries by conquest; he will 
 have enough to do to render nature available 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 33 
 
 in meeting the wants and luxuries of the peo- 
 ple, to keep their passions in subjugation, to 
 assuage the rancour of those parties which their 
 imperfect reason, and the strife of self-inter- 
 est, create ; while he will sometimes be obliged 
 to endeavour to render them happy, in spite of 
 themselves. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 Princes, who are discrete enough to seek 
 counsel of others, should beware of men who 
 give agreeable, rather than honest, opinions ; 
 who flatter when they ought to serve ; who en- 
 deavour to find arguments in support of the 
 predilections or prejudices of the sovereign, 
 instead of frankly and boldly stating the whole 
 truth; for such fawning and time-serving 
 counsellors are more dangerous to the honour 
 of a throne than its professed enemies. But, 
 on the other hand, a sovereign should have 
 discrimination enough to value honest counsel, 
 magnanimity enough to forgive and reward it, 
 and firmness enough to respect and follow it. 
 The sovereign, who prefers flattering to honest 
 counsel, and who is piqued by contradiction, 
 will never hear the truth, and will be misled 
 in every important measure of his reign. 
 
 c2 
 
34 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Sovereigns may always acquire perfect 
 knowledge of human nature, its passions, 
 intrigues, and pursuits, by attendance on 
 dramatic performances ; while they effectually 
 and attractively inculcate the finest lessons of 
 practical morality, and expose the artifices of 
 vice and the struggles of virtue. The stage 
 is morality in action, and the progress of a play 
 is a picture of life. Theatres may be vi- 
 cious by their abuses, but the fault is in the 
 police, not in the drama. Companies of play- 
 ers are, therefore, proper appendages of every 
 royal household ; and, in many countries, 
 theatres are wisely constructed under the 
 roofs of palaces, as studies for sovereigns. 
 Nothing, at the same time, tends more effec- 
 tually to civilize and instruct subjects, and 
 improve general manners, than dramatic per- 
 formances ; and they ought, in these views, 
 to be munificently upheld, as part of the 
 internal policy of every wise and liberal 
 government. 
 
 LI. 
 
 Sovereigns should vigilantly protect their 
 subjects against the egotism of the interest 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 35 
 
 and vanity of particular classes. They should 
 keep down the pretensions and rapacity of 
 pettifoggers in the law ; the assumptions of 
 daring empirics in medicine ; and the still 
 more disgraceful obtrusions on society of reli- 
 gious fanatics, whose blasphemous inspira- 
 tions and revelations mislead the poetical, 
 imaginative, and dreaming part of the brain. 
 Regulation will, however, answer better than 
 prosecution and penal laws. Education, learn- 
 ing, and character, should be the tests of 
 these professions; but examinations should 
 be conducted by umpires, named by autho- 
 rity, and by the party; and, in regard to 
 vulgar fanaticism, whenever the alleged in- 
 ward spiritual grace is not supported by out- 
 ward visible signs, — such as the apostolic gift' 
 of tongues, and the power of working mira- 
 cles, — they should, as a duty to the ignorant 
 and credulous, be unceremoniously treated as 
 lunatics, and sent to Bedlam, till they are 
 cured; or as wolves in sheep's clothing, seek- 
 ing whom they may devour, be disciplined 
 into honesty in the house of correction- 
 
 LII. 
 
 As all the struggles of subjects are to live 
 
36 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 by each other's labour, and it is the anxiety of 
 each to perform the least, and make others 
 work for him, so half the contests and troubles 
 of subjects relate to questions about the re- 
 presentative of labour or property ; hence 
 arise systems and codes of law about debtors 
 and creditors, and, under various pretexts, 
 men are enabled to inflict injuries and heap 
 wrongs upon one another; while legislators, 
 misled by wily lawyers, who generally ob- 
 tain the property of all litigating debtors and 
 creditors, are unable or unwilling to adopt 
 such measures as shall enable debtors and 
 creditors to settle their own concerns without 
 the intervention of law ; it is, therefore, the 
 imperative duty of every humane sovereign 
 to exert his paramount influence on this sub- 
 ject, and to deprive lawyers of the power of 
 devouring the people, and debtors and cre- 
 ditors of facilities for worrying one another. 
 
 L1II. 
 
 Jn their domestic policy, sovereigns should 
 be aware that society advances by progressive 
 steps, that family dependencies and systems 
 of local industry, generated by time, consti- 
 tute the aggregation of the people, all of 
 
SOVEREIGN PRINCES. 37 
 
 whom are thus connected by habits, predilec- 
 tions, and prejudices: hence the necessity of a 
 settled policy, and the allowing of industry to 
 mature its own fruits; for man in society is 
 like the vegetation of a garden, which will 
 yield only if undisturbed ; and a sovereign, 
 who meddles needlessly with his subjects' in- 
 dustry, and with the course of society, which 
 matures and adjusts its own relations, is like 
 a gardener, who often transplants his fruit- 
 trees ; for one will not prosper, and the other 
 will not bear fruit. 
 
 LIV. 
 
 The infinitely varied pursuits, passions, in- 
 terests, and characters, of subjects, — the mu- 
 tual action and re-action of their industry, 
 — and the sympathies and discordances of 
 their ambition, opinions, and principles, — ren- 
 der the task of a good sovereign at once com- 
 plicated and unceasing ; while these circum- 
 stances call on him, and his ministers, to 
 qualify all their decisions by unimpassioned 
 discrimination, and to balance all their actions 
 by a cautious and unrelaxed attention to the 
 immutable principles of benevolence, mercy, 
 truth, and justice. 
 
38 
 
 GOLDEN RULES TO RENDER MEN HO- 
 NEST, RESPECTABLE, AND HAPPY. 
 
 Civilized Society is an artificial and factitious 
 state, in which the ingenuity of man endea- 
 vours to supply the defects and imperfections 
 of his natural state, by as perfect arrangements 
 as possible and practicable ; but, as these are 
 created by a conflict of feelings and interests, 
 in which the crafty rule the simple, and con- 
 test with one another, so society becomes a 
 warfare of its members, to ameliorate which, 
 is the object of laws and morals. 
 
 ii. 
 
 The primary sources of social warfare are 
 wealth, or the means of purchasing and enjoy- 
 
SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 39 
 
 ing other men's labour, and living in ease and 
 luxury; power, or the means of influencing the 
 law by the will of the individual ; and social 
 distinction, or the acquirement of titles of 
 assumed honour and dignity. The attaining 
 of these objects constitutes all the cares, anxie- 
 ties, and miseries of men, and a very small 
 share of the happiness of a very small num- 
 ber. 
 
 in. 
 
 Wealth, ambition, and learning, are phan- 
 toms of the mind, similar, as to actual con- 
 tact, to the will-o'-the-wisp, or the rainbow 
 of nature. The avaricious are never rich 
 enough, the ambitious desire to rise higher 
 and higher, and the cyclopaedia is too bulky 
 for the grasp of one life. Nevertheless, all 
 are energies of healthy minds, if temperately 
 exerted ; and it is excess, like that in wine, 
 which constitutes their vice and disease. As 
 practical rules, a man ought to be content, 
 who, from indigence, has secured comfortable 
 independence for his old age, or who has 
 doubled his patrimony ; who has advanced two 
 or three social steps over his former equals ; and 
 
40 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 who is wise enough to guard himself against 
 superstition and imposture ; able to discover 
 and assert truth ; and competent to fill up his 
 hours of leisure, by reading the best authors 
 with good intelligence and discrimination. 
 
 IV. 
 
 In society, character is the first, the second, 
 and the ultimate quality. A man is never 
 ruined who has not lost his character : while 
 he who has lost his character, whatever be his 
 position, is ruined, as to all moral and useful 
 purposes. Envy and calumny will follow a 
 man's success like his shadow ; but they will 
 be powerless, if he is true to himself, and 
 relies on his native energies to beat or live 
 them down. Virtues may be misrepresented, 
 but they are virtues still : and in vain will an 
 industrious man be called an idler ; a sensible 
 man, a fool ; a prudent man, a spendthrift ; 
 a persevering man, a changeling ; or an honest 
 man, a knave. The qualities are inherent, 
 and cannot be removed by words, except with 
 a man's own consent. At the same time, all 
 calumniators thrice detected, ought to be 
 banished as criminals, unworthy of the bene~ 
 
HONEST MEN. 41 
 
 fits of the society of which, however power- 
 less, they endeavour to be the pest and bane. 
 
 v. 
 
 Education, artifice, or erroneous reasonings ^ 
 engender and sustain a variety of stimulants o 
 action, which are incompatible with the tem- 
 porary existence of man, and lead to strife, 
 competition, and misery ; as the love of wealth, 
 for its own sake, beyond the means of enjoy- 
 ment or security; as the love of fame among 
 beings who forget all in sleep and in death ; 
 love of admiration among beings whose self- 
 love absorbs every other consideration, and 
 who seldom admire but to envy and to hate ; 
 and love of titles, of rank and distinction, 
 which are rendered worthless by their indis- 
 criminate acquisition ; and love of show, for 
 which they do but pillage the meanest of 
 nature's productions, and merely display their 
 personal vanity, in contempt of the labour 
 which supplies the means. Wealth, fame, 
 admiration, distinction, and indulgence, may 
 be properly consequent on a virtuous life ; 
 but nothing should be sacrificed to their 
 attainment. 
 
42 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Do no act which you feel any repugnance 
 to have seen or known by others ; for the neces- 
 sity of being secret implies some vice in the 
 act, or some error in the reasoning, which 
 leads to its self-justification. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Do nothing to any sentient or suffering 
 being which you would feel to be cruel or 
 unjust towards yourself, if your being or situ- 
 ations were changed : and mark that, although 
 this rule is erroneously limited to the relations 
 of man to man, and is therefore practised too 
 often with a view to reciprocal advantage ; 
 yet it is genuine virtue only, when practised 
 towards those from whom no reciprocal ad- 
 vantage can be derived, as when applied to the 
 meanest animals, and to every helpless sentient 
 object. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 To live and let live, applies to all social and 
 physical relations : for the world is the com- 
 mon property of all the beings who have been 
 evolved by the progress of creative power, and 
 all are necessary parts of a great and harmo- 
 
HONEST MEN, 43 
 
 nious scheme, to which it is our duty to sub- 
 mit ; while the happiness of all ought, as far as 
 possible, to be rendered accordant with our 
 own. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Hesitate, doubt, inquire, and if possible 
 forbear, whenever your intention is dangerous 
 or fatal to the welfare of another; for it 
 is too late to correct an error of judgment 
 after any mischief to another has been per- 
 petrated. 
 
 Give countenance to no slander relative to 
 another in his absence ; and, if obliged to hear 
 slanders, discharge your own responsibility by 
 the early communication of them to the slan- 
 dered : for the hearer of any slander, who 
 takes no measures to procure its contradiction, 
 and who, from any sinister motive, declines to 
 bring the slanderer and slandered face to face, 
 is an accessory, and as culpable as the pro- 
 pagator ; while the baseness and mis- 
 chief of slander would be rooted from society, 
 if hearers forbore to be quiescent acces- 
 sories. 
 
44 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Beware of envy, and of a practice of de- 
 tracting from the merit of those whom you 
 have not the industry, the inclination, or the 
 talent, to imitate ; for it is your duty either to 
 admire or emulate others, or to be content 
 with the station in which your birth, talents, 
 or industry, have placed you. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Be as useful as possible in the social sphere 
 which you fill : for a man in society does, not 
 live for himself alone ; and, as he derives be- 
 nefits from others, so he ought to confer them 
 as often as he has the opportunity and the 
 power. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Remember that all wealth and grandeur is 
 sustained by the industry and privations of 
 others : for money is but the representative of 
 products, and products are the results of la- 
 bour, — thus, income from interest of money is 
 drawn from the industry or privations of the 
 borrower; that from rent, from the industry or 
 privations of the tenant ; and that from manu- 
 
HONEST MEN. 45 
 
 faeturing products, from the industry or pri- 
 vations of the workman. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Reward and encourage virtue in every sta- 
 tion, and discountenance vice and bad pas- 
 sions, however adventitiously exalted : for, 
 unless the good draw a strong line between 
 the worthy and the unworthy, and, by associa- 
 tion and subscription, combine to sustain the 
 adversity and the old age of virtue, unprinci- 
 pled vice will eagerly trample it in the dust. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Avoid all those insanities of the human 
 mind engendered by unwise authors and early 
 errors, — such as the passion after posthumous 
 fame, which can seldom be realized, and can 
 never be felt, — as the love of wealth beyond 
 the means of comfortable enjoyment, — as the 
 love of renown among beings who forget you 
 in sleep and in death, — as the love of military 
 glory, excited to gratify the bad passions of 
 weak princes and wicked ministers, — as the 
 ambition after titles, which mean no more than 
 the syllables of which they consist, — and, as the 
 zeal of self-devotion in any cause of the hour, 
 
46 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 the object and use of which will be forgotten 
 in a year, and laughed at by the next ge- 
 neration . 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Seek wisdom in all things, that you may not 
 be the dupe and slave of the craft and subtlety 
 of others, that you may be enabled to play an 
 independent part in society ; and search deeply, 
 that you may avoid conceit, by knowing how 
 little is known even by the most learned. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Wisely exert yourself to belong to the age 
 in which you live. An age is thirty years ; 
 and most men above forty belong, from obsti- 
 nacy, conceit, or inadvertency, to the previous, 
 and not to the passing, age. Hence there is 
 a constant war between their biootted and 
 obsolete opinions, and the increasing intelli- 
 gence and renovated taste of the rising gene- 
 ration, while their authority and influence 
 serve too often to obstruct truth ; conse- 
 quently, knowledge and improvement are 
 generally retarded for at least one whole age, 
 and often for many, by the prejudices of edu- 
 cation, and the difficulty of unlearning. 
 
j HONEST MEN. 47 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Be not inconsistent in your expectations ; 
 | and, having chosen your walk through life, 
 ! pursue it with patience, industry, and con- 
 i tentment : thus, if superiority in knowledge is 
 | your object, do not envy the accumulations of 
 , your thrifty neighbour ; if wealth is your ob- 
 ject, do not wonder that your character for 
 knowledge, justice, and liberality, stands not 
 so high as that of others ; and, if the reputa- 
 tion of virtue is your ambition, you must 
 govern your passions, practise forbearance 
 without repining, and consult the interest of 
 
 others as much as your own. 
 
 ■ 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Let scintillations of pride be corrected, by 
 considering that you are mortal; that, only a 
 few years ago, you were not, and in a few 
 years hence, will not be ; and that an eternity 
 preceded and will follow you, reducing your 
 span of life to a point ; that your possessions, 
 however vast, are but a speck on a little 
 globe, which is itself but a point in the uni- 
 verse; and that your bodily structure, your 
 secretions, your mechanism, and your assimi- 
 lations, are exactly the same as v those of all 
 
 1 
 
48 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 other men, and that, if not the same, you would 
 be diseased, or a monster; and remember that 
 wisdom, manners, and virtue, constitute the 
 only difference among human creatures. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Men should at all times respect the superior 
 sensibility, delicacy, virtue, and fascinating- 
 persons, of the female sex; whose weakness of 
 frame ought to secure them sympathy and 
 support; whose affections ought never to be 
 sported with ; whose tenderness repays man for 
 his labour in their service ; whose union in his 
 interests affords him a trusty counsellor in 
 moments of difficulty ; whose constancy attends 
 him in adversity ; and whose solicitude supports 
 him on the bed of sickness. 
 
 xxi. 
 
 An honest man, who seeks the reputation 
 of wisdom, and who expects the sincere respect 
 of his really sensible neighbours, will not lend 
 himself to any mysterious faith, or supersti- 
 tious practices on supernatural subjects, or on 
 subjects unworthy of the free exercise of 
 human reason and sound philosophy. If he is 
 a dupe, he w r ill be despised for his weakness 
 
HONEST MEN. 49 
 
 by those of whose opinion he would be proud ; 
 and, if an hypocrite from motives of conveni- 
 ence or interest, he will never be able to look 
 into himself with self-satisfaction, while he 
 will be despised by all men of discernment who 
 penetrate his assumed character. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Respect the means adopted by public social 
 policy to subjugate the practices of the igno- 
 rant and unthinking, by their hopes, fears, and 
 superstitions ; for man, though a reasoning, is 
 not a rational animal, and he is wrong a hun- 
 dred times, for once that he is right: conse- 
 quently, his moral practices in society, which 
 are governed by his imperfect reason, his selfish 
 craft, and his unruly passions, generally re- 
 quire some influence even beyond ordinary 
 nature, to render his association bearable. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Promote education, free enquiry, and truth; 
 for untaught man is the patient of the circum- 
 ' stances by which he is surrounded, and the 
 I mere creature of imitation, — a Mahometan 
 ! Turk, if born in Turkey ; a Siberian polytheist, 
 ! if born in Siberia ; or a protestant or popish 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
50 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Christian, if born in Holland or Spain,— the 
 faith, manners, and habits, of native country 
 constituting individual character. To arrive 
 at universal truth, to avoid the established 
 errors of localities, and to become free from the 
 continuous errors of previous ages, are, there- 
 fore, the primary duties of all men who aspire 
 to the attributes of wisdom. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Practise toleration towards the opinions and 
 habits of fellow -creatures, each of whom is the 
 passive instrument of his education and asso- 
 ciations. Pity and teach, if your practices 
 are unquestionably better ; but do not perse- 
 cute or inflict punishment, either for igno- 
 rance, or for errors in the formation of charac- 
 ter arising from the vices of society, the pre- 
 judices imbibed in youth, or the inattention 
 of governments to public education. 
 
 xxv. 
 Beware of prosperity, for it seldom mends 
 manners, while it creates more rancorous 
 envy than solid friendship ; consequently, more 
 prudence is required to maintain it than to 
 acquire it. Beware of adversity, for credit 
 
HONEST MEN. 51 
 
 once lost is seldom to be regained. A man 
 rises, as in an inflated balloon, with an acce- 
 lerated velocity ; but, if it burst, he falls with 
 greater and fatal acceleration. Make good 
 your position as you rise, and be in no haste to 
 make a higher step ; remembering that, for 
 one fortune that is gained by speculation, a 
 thousand are lost ; while he, who seeks to get 
 rich within a year, generally becomes insolvent 
 or a convict within six months. Society, like 
 nature, will not bear sudden transitions ; it 
 works its stable wonders only by slow degrees. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 The life of man in society is like the game 
 of one, who sits down to play at cards. The 
 hand dealt him is like the accidental position in 
 which birth placed him ; and that is, in truth, 
 a new birth, which changes his position in 
 society. His game may be backward or for- 
 ward, as he is weak or strong. If, in his early 
 course, he waste his substance, or his trumps, 
 his rivals will turn the game against him : if 
 he finesse, he must calculate the chances : if 
 he is weak, he will be the patient of the strong, 
 without losing reputation : — but his chief dis- 
 grace will be, the holding of good cards, and 
 
52 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 playing them badly, making false speculations, 
 and losing the game. The morals also of 
 cards and of life are the same : you must play 
 your part without cheating or lying, with good 
 temper and good manners, and pay your stake 
 with honour. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 The greatest foe of human happiness is 
 pride and self-conceit. Men forget that their 
 whole race, as well as every race of organized 
 creatures, subsists by appropriating, in respi- 
 ration, the momenta of the atoms of the atmo- 
 sphere common to all : they forget that their 
 whole race subsists alike by assimilating the 
 same atoms of matter by processes exactly 
 alike ; and with results exactly the same, 
 except in cases of wealth and greater luxury, 
 where the secretions are more foul, vitiated, 
 and diseased : they forget the meanness of their 
 procreation, their helpless infancy, their drivel- 
 ling old age, the daily dispersion of their parts, 
 and their ultimate decomposition and oblivion 
 in the grave. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 All members of the human family should 
 
HONEST MEN. 53 
 
 remember, that the human race is, as 
 to time and nature, but as one totality; 
 for, since every man and woman had two pa- 
 rents, each parent two parents, and so on in 
 geometrical progression, hence every indi- 
 vidual, high or low, must necessarily be de- 
 scended from every individual of the whole 
 population as it existed but a few hundred 
 years before, whether they were high or low, 
 virtuous or abandoned ; while every procreative 
 individual of the existing race must be the 
 actual progenitor of the entire race which may 
 exist at the same distance of future time. 
 What motives for charity, for forbearing from 
 injuries, for benevolence, for universal love ! 
 
 XXIXJ 
 
 Be tolerant in your intercourse with other 
 men . Look more to the virtues, affections, and 
 understandings of men, than to their figure, 
 deportment, or pursuits. The former are in- 
 herent sterling qualities, and the latter mere 
 varieties of nature, education, and position. 
 Men may be honest or intelligent, with persons 
 and habits not to our taste; but to these we 
 ought to accommodate ourselves. Jf, accord- 
 ing to ordinary parlance, the heart is in the 
 
54 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 right place, you must overlook external varie- 
 ties, or live at war with three-fourths of your 
 species. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Unless you have the courage to undertake 
 the hopeless task of correcting errors and pre- 
 judices, the confidence to set up your own 
 opinions as standards of truth, and the forti- 
 tude to endure martyrdom in the reproaches of 
 vulgar minds, prudence suggests that you 
 must conform to the practices of the society in 
 which you live, and yield, at least, an external 
 respect even to its foibles. You must dress 
 as other men do, take part in their amuse- 
 ments, conform to their customs, yield to their 
 laws, and concede in trifles to them, if you 
 expect them to concede to you in any thing ; 
 for self-love, the soul of man and animals, is as 
 operative in one as in another. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Society is a fabric of usurpations ; and, 
 though many of them are necessary to its well 
 being, yet they engender a perpetual social war 
 of offence and defence. Property, the primary 
 means of distinction, is the chief bone of con- 
 
HONEST MEN. 55 
 
 tention. To be able to purchase the labour of 
 others, and to avoid the evils of servitude and 
 poverty, are the two objects of general strug- 
 gle. Yet the wheel of fortune is constantly 
 turning, and the rich of to-day may be the poor 
 of to-morrow. It displays, therefore, a want of 
 sympathy and foresight, that the rich do not 
 more diligently exert themselves, while they are 
 so, to relieve poverty from its terrors, and ren- 
 der the comfort of the poor, and their own enjoy- 
 ment, compatible with one another; for this 
 compatibility is practically possible, if ear- 
 nestly attempted, while it derogates from 
 human reason that one thousand should be 
 suffered to be positively wretched, in the 
 hope that one may be enabled to assume an 
 appearance of equivocal happiness. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 The refined medullary system of man, and 
 his mutual intercourse, create a reciprocity or 
 sympathy in his feelings, which renders 
 sympathetic animal his characteristic defini- 
 tion ; the indulgence of these peculiar human 
 sympathies being his highest gratification, 
 and doing good, conferring happiness, and de- 
 serving gratitude, his most exalted pleasures ; 
 
56 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 while no sufferings are so poignant as those 
 twinges of conscience, which cross the solitude, 
 and even hilarity, of those who indulge malig- 
 nant passions, who inflict misery on others, 
 and who, being deservedly despised, hate, in 
 their turn, all mankind. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 The bed of sickness, with its increased 
 sensibility of nerves, is a delicate test of man's 
 conscience, and of self approbation or repro- 
 bation. Requiring sympathy himself, he now 
 sympathizes with others ; and, unable to direct 
 his thoughts to external things, they are forced 
 upon himself. Great is then his solace, and 
 efficacious his medicines, if he has no other 
 reflections than such as are supplied by his 
 justice, liberality, and benevolence; but accu- 
 mulated will be his sufferings, and dangerous 
 the result, if crimes and misdeeds force them- 
 selves at such a time on his mind ; while in 
 any delirium of fever he will rave on those 
 subjects, and, without vision, will often per- 
 ceive, by the mere excitement of his brain, the 
 spectres of the injured making grimaces before 
 him. All medical men are aware of this real 
 Heaven and Hell in the minds of their patients. 
 
HONEST MEN. 57 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 If you would preserve your friends, do not 
 measure their duties by your own wants, nor 
 expect sacrifices founded on your own estimate 
 of your own merits. Bargain with precision 
 and foresight, and expect no more than its 
 exact performance : if your bargain is not pre- 
 cise, or is a bad one, blame your own want of 
 prudence ; and, if concession is made, accept it 
 as a boon, and do not claim or expect it as a 
 right, founded either on your wants, or your 
 improvident contract. 
 
 xxxv. 
 
 In seeking satisfaction for wrongs, consider 
 your own strength, and that of your opponent. 
 Some men are so entrenched in power, by 
 social position and by wealth, that you add to 
 an original injury by seeking reparation. 
 Patience is then the only remedy ; and, as 
 such public scoundrels will practise towards 
 others as they have done to you, public indig- 
 nation will, in due time, become your sure 
 ally. In such cases, hypocrisy is almost a vir- 
 tue, for the fall of a knave would be accelerated, 
 if you could prevail on yourself to flatter his 
 
 d2 
 
58 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 injustice, so as to encourage him to display his 
 true character to others, whom he deceives. 
 
 xxxvi. 
 
 Patience, that is, forbearance, during a 
 longer or shorter time, is the best remedy for 
 many evils of life. Turns of fortune are par- 
 ried by yielding with patience to a storm of 
 adversity. The rancour of enemies is baffled 
 by patiently for a time forbearing to push your 
 fortune, or by playing a backward game. 
 The injuries inflicted by enemies will, if borne 
 with patience, be satisfied by reverses in their 
 fortunes, by disease, or by seeing them carried 
 to the grave : while a conflict would have 
 wasted your own mind, time, and substance ; 
 and, if you die before them, your desire of 
 satisfaction will die with you. The Fabian 
 system is as valuable in private life as in the 
 campaigns of war. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 However men may desire to cover their 
 animal feelings by fine words and phrases, 
 and to disguise them by the arts and artifices 
 of life, their basis is common animal nature, 
 and the only apparent addition is in their am- 
 
HONEST iMEN. 
 
 59 
 
 bition in its various walks to rival one another. 
 Our senses, our pains, our diseases, our eating 
 and drinking, our eliminations, our respiration 
 and sleeping, our sexual propensities, our love 
 of offspring, our youth, maturity, and decrepi- 
 tude, are all common to entire animal nature ; 
 while the fact of reasoning by analogy from 
 experience seems to be a cheap quality like- 
 wise possessed by all sentient creatures. Pride 
 may take alarm at this truth, but pride and 
 truth are often at variance. In this instance, 
 however, truth is useful by inculcating a 
 lesson of universal sympathy. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 When law is expensive, uncertain, and 
 dilatory, honest men should prefer the arbitra- 
 tion of mutual friends and neighbours, and 
 surrender their passions to such controul. 
 The best of all umpires is a jury, because they 
 are indifferent, and obliged to be unani- 
 mous; but juries are embarrassed by the 
 sophistry of lawyers, and their decisions often 
 entangled by forms and precedents. Private 
 arbitration would be more valuable, if una- 
 nimity were not obtained by absurd compro- 
 mises arising out of personal deference ; but it 
 would be an improvement, if two mutual 
 
60 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 friends merely nominated indifferent persons, 
 and these nominees and their umpire made, 
 in all cases, an unanimous decision, strictly 
 governed by the equity of the case, con- 
 clusive of the dispute, and no way mingled 
 with abstract points of law. 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 Varied intellectual energy is the line of 
 demarcation between animals in general; but 
 knowledge constitutes the difference between 
 man and man. We are slaves or masters, 
 dupes or leaders, patients or agents, accord- 
 ingly as we are ignorant or instructed. 
 Knowledge, therefore, is power, in all social 
 relations, and ignorance is weakness. The 
 knowing are the craftsmen in politics and 
 religion, or the rulers and the priests ; while 
 the ignorant are their convenient subjects and 
 liberal devotees. The education of the peo- 
 ple ought, therefore, to be the first hope of 
 those, who desire to see the rational emancipa- 
 tion and moral improvement of the human 
 race. 
 
 XL. 
 
 The irritability of the passions, and their 
 want of due controul, constitute the sole dif- 
 
HONEST MEN. 61 
 
 ference between gregarious and solitary 
 animals. Flocks and herds are passive and 
 good-tempered, while lions, tigers, &c. are so 
 irascible and ferocious, as to be unable to 
 associate : and the one endure each other's 
 society, while the latter would, on slight 
 grounds, tear each other in pieces. Men live 
 in society like sheep and passive animals ; but 
 their animosities prove that they are more 
 of the tiger than the sheep ; hence, therefore, 
 the necessity of strong laws, and a vigilant 
 police, to prevent them from fighting and 
 destroying one another. Indeed, when the 
 laws are not binding, as in the case of differ- 
 ent nations and distinct tribes, mutual destruc- 
 tion appears to be their delight ; and, when 
 not restrained by law, they appear to be as 
 ferocious as wild beasts, not only towards 
 other animals, but towards their own species. 
 A public road, or street, is a constant exem- 
 plification of the true character of men : the 
 coachman drives over the horseman, the horse- 
 man rides over those on foot; and, among 
 pedestrians, the robust push the weak into 
 the kennel, while both classes defraud, without 
 scruple, the sweepers of street-crossings of 
 the hard-earned products of their humble 
 tenures. 
 
62 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 A benevolent man should take delight in 
 making peace between contending individuals. 
 The most rancorous hostility is often to be 
 appeased by the kind offices of an interposing 
 friend; and an explanation made in a liberal 
 spirit, and by one resolved to do good, fre- 
 quently terminates a suit which the law would 
 render ruinous. Occasional ill success should 
 never deter a man from becoming a peace- 
 maker ; and ten sensible men of this description 
 would effect more for social happiness than as 
 many courts, and a hundred lawyers. A man 
 who has appeased enmity and restored broken 
 friendship in a dozen instances, is entitled, 
 above all others, to a civic crown, or to the 
 distinction of a star and riband. 
 
 XL1I. 
 
 If you are rich, and want to enjoy the 
 exalted luxury of relieving distress, go to the 
 Bankrupt Court, to the Court for Insolvent 
 Debtors, to the gaols, the workhouses, and the 
 hospitals. If you are rich and childless, and 
 want heirs, look to the same assemblages of 
 misfortune ; for all are not culpable who appear 
 in the Bankrupt and Insolvent Lists ; nor all 
 
HONEST MEN. 63 
 
 criminal who are found in gaols ; nor all 
 improvident who are inmates of workhouses 
 and hospitals. On the contrary, in these 
 situations, an alloy of vice is mixed with virtue 
 enough to afford materials for as deep trage- 
 dies as ever poet fancied or stage exhibited ; 
 and visitors of relief would act the part of 
 angels descending from Heaven among men, 
 whose chief affliction is the neglect of unthink- 
 ing affluence. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 When you behold a splendid equipage, ask 
 not what sickly being fills it, but who suffers ; 
 who contributes the sweat of rent, or the priva- 
 tions of interest ; whose last-bed was seized ; 
 who is pining in gaol for its support ! When 
 you see a splendid banquet, consider the dying 
 sufferings of the victims, the interesting feel- 
 ings destroyed, the excess of pain over the 
 possible pleasure, and the diseases lurking in 
 the various dishes ! When you view a noble 
 mansion, filled with gaiety and luxury, reflect 
 on the privations of cottages, on the half- 
 crown a-day on which adjacent families must 
 subsist, on all the means by which the esta- 
 blishment is sustained; and moderate your 
 
64 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 pleasures accordingly ! Remember always 
 that, as there is a definite common stock, the 
 excess of one is the necessary deficiency of 
 another. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 Marriage is a circumstance of life, which, 
 in its actual course, involves the feelings and 
 fortunes of human beings more than any other 
 event of their lives. It is a connexion gene- 
 rally formed by inexperience, under the blind- 
 ness and caprice of passion; and, though these 
 conditions cannot be avoided, as forming the 
 bases of the connexion, yet it is so important, 
 that a man is never ruined who has an inter- 
 esting, faithful, and virtuous, wife ; while he 
 is lost to comfort, fortune, and even to hope, 
 who has united himself to a vicious and un- 
 principled one. The fate of woman is still 
 more intimately blended with that of her hus- 
 band ; for, being in the eyes of the law and 
 the world but second to him, she is the victim 
 of his follies and vices at home, and of his ill 
 success and degradation abroad. Rules are 
 useless where passions founded on trifling as- 
 sociations and accidents govern; but much 
 mischief often results from fathers expecting 
 
 6 
 
HONEST MEN. 65 
 
 young men to be in the social position of old 
 ones, and from present fortune being preferred 
 to virtues; for industry and talent, stimulated 
 affection, and fostered by family interests, 
 soon create competency and fortune ; while 
 a connexion founded on mere wealth, which 
 is often speedily wasted by dissipation, 
 habits of extravagance, and the chances of 
 life, necessarily ends in disappointment, dis- 
 gust, and misery.* 
 
 XLV. 
 
 It is the duty of all to resist oppressors as 
 far as is prudent and practicable ; but parti- 
 
 * As the fruition of nature, and the purposes of animal 
 evolution, would be abortive without that propagation for 
 which all things seem to grow and mature, and then decay ; so 
 the human kind are subject to this general law of nature, 
 while the conveniences and usages of society, and the com- 
 plicated sentiments of the human brain, engender a multitude 
 of sexual intrigues unknown to other animals. The natural 
 excitements of both sexes are similar; but, as the personal re- 
 sponsibility of children attaches to the female, hence arise 
 the reserve, the caution, the prudence, the studied and habi- 
 tual coldness, the prudery, the coyness, the coquetry, and all 
 those shades of peculiar conduct characteristic of females, and 
 engendered by passion, mingled with taste, fear, hope, com- 
 parison, reflection, and calculation. These complications of 
 feeling which qualify , in a general manner, the mutual advances 
 of the sexes, are further diversified by personal preferences ; 
 
^6 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 cularly when they are the public agents of 
 law and power. And, to enable oppressed 
 individuals to oppose and punish abuses of 
 authority and oppressions under the name and 
 forms of law, it is incumbent on others to 
 assist, by association and subscription, not 
 merely with reference to the particular case, 
 but as a warning to oppressors in general. 
 At the same time, it should never be forgot- 
 ten, that bad precedents are generally created 
 in regard to persons or things otherwise ob- 
 noxious, or made obnoxious; and maintained 
 by sophistical attempts to combine the insi- 
 nuated support of the obnoxious cause, with 
 resistance to the precedent. Men, therefore, 
 
 arising from agreeable or disagreeable associations of sense, 
 from reciprocity of professed affection, or from the re- action 
 produced by a comparison of different candidates ; and the 
 combinations become almost infinite in number, when to these 
 are superadded all the modifications created by the varied 
 ranks, fortunes, education, and manners, of society. The 
 difficulty, therefore, to both sexes, of securing an associate for 
 life, who shall unite personal qualities preferred by the ima- 
 gination, and sterling qualities of head and heart, with suitable 
 manners and rank, renders marriage a perfect Lottery, in 
 which both the parties are either as blind in some particulars, 
 or as incapable of making an actual free choice, as the blind 
 goddess of fortune herself. In fact, the diversity and in- 
 volvement of the excitements seem intended lo baffle freedom 
 of choice for the purpose of rendering marriage, or sexual 
 union, universal, in spite of positive imperfections. 
 
HONEST MEN. 67 
 
 should be clear-headed enough to discrimi- 
 nate between the two questions ; and decided 
 and honest enough to resist any vigour beyond 
 the bounds of public law, whatever may be 
 the question at issue ; or they will be likely to 
 see the same precedent oppressively applied to 
 all kinds of cases. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 It ought never to be overlooked by a con- 
 scientious, moral, and religious, people, that 
 wars, to be just, ought to be necessary ; and, to 
 be necessary, can be waged only in self-de- 
 fence. And again, that, as without justice 
 there can be no glory, so no glory can be 
 acquired by victors in wars which are waged 
 unj ustly, unnecessarily; or offensively. Before 
 glory is therefore ascribed to combatants, it is 
 needful to examine seriously the previous 
 questions, whether their cause was just, and 
 whether the war in which they were engaged 
 might not have been avoided. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 We often wonder at seeing a good sort of 
 man enjoying himself by his fire-side, amidst 
 the assiduities of a wife, who watches every 
 
68 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 turn of his countenance, and the endearments 
 of his children, to whom he has the tenderest 
 attachment, and yet know that he is in the 
 daily practice of inflicting misery. Perhaps 
 he is some sharp attorney, who inflames dis- 
 putes, and exasperates the wealthy against the 
 indigent; perhaps a judge, who urges the 
 severity of the law, and always pleads for con- 
 victions ; perhaps a magistrate, who sends 
 men and women to gaol in sport ; perhaps a 
 butcher, who whistles a tune while he cuts 
 throats ; perhaps a sportsman, who kills for 
 diversion, and often leaves his maimed victims 
 to struggle for days under wounds inflicted by 
 his wantonness ; perhaps an anonymous critic, 
 who considers his venom as seasoning, and 
 his censures as useful passports to attention ; 
 or perhaps a minister, who makes war to 
 please his master, or increase his patronage ? 
 Such men are the mere creatures of habit, 
 usage, and precedent. Probably they never 
 duly and truly thought of their habitual prac- 
 tices, and never were at such a focal distance 
 from them as to be enabled to see them 
 and their conduct distinctly. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Happiness is the result of a healthy and 
 
HONEST MEN. 69 
 
 well-working system of organization, combined 
 with accordant actions and re-actions from 
 nature and society, to the perceptions and 
 reminiscences of the brain. Happiness, in a 
 word, is the harmony of the body and mind 
 with nature and society. The definition leads 
 to its means. Healthy action can result only 
 from temperance in eating and drinking, regu- 
 larity of habits, cleanliness of person, exercise 
 to promote the circulations, and excitements 
 to exercise. Accordance with nature will re- 
 sult of course, and may be improved by its 
 study ; while accordance with society will 
 arise from being just, sympathizing, benevo- 
 lent, unostentatious, and useful. Self-satis- 
 faction will result from such a state of personal 
 and external harmony, and all the perceptions 
 of happiness be enjoyed, of which humanity is 
 susceptible. 
 
 XLTX. 
 
 Misery is the result of an unhealthy and ill 
 working system of organization, or of discord- 
 ant actions and reactions between nature and 
 society, and the individual. It is the body 
 and mind in a state of discord with nature and 
 society. When nature is not in fault, the 
 
70 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 bodily discordances are occasioned by intem- 
 perance, irregularity, excesses beyond the 
 powers of nature, ignorance of the animal 
 economy, personal filthiness, and slothful 
 habits. Those of the mind correspond and 
 display themselves in malignant temper, in 
 inordinate selfishness, in want of time to 
 exert the charities of life towards others ; and 
 the consequences are, self- reprobation, dis- 
 contentedness, hating and being hated, and 
 an utter want of accordance with society at 
 large. 
 
 L. 
 
 It is difficult to be happy, and to say to 
 yourself that you are so, because all the virtues 
 and exalted wisdom are necessary to the frui- 
 tion of happiness, and a single vice or error j 
 alloys the whole. False estimates, and incon- 
 gruous expectations, mar the happiness of 
 many on whom nature and society have con- | 
 ferred their apparent means of full enjoyment. 
 Acute feelings, and warmth of temper, de- 
 prive others of that urbanity of manners, and 
 equanimity of temper, which reconcile man to 
 man. The active assaults of knavery create a 
 
HONEST MEN. 71 
 
 general mistrust of all, and an anti-social 
 reserve. The mischievous error of the world, 
 in assigning virtue to success, and crime to 
 misfortune, improperly substitutes a heart- 
 rending solicitude about the world's opinion, 
 in place of the satisfaction of intending well, 
 and having done your best, and with integrity. 
 The envy of the unworthy, who think you 
 more happy than they know themselves to be, 
 begets their slanders, back-bitings, and malig- 
 nant whispers ; while, to surmount these, calls 
 for patience and vigour of understanding not 
 possessed by all. In a word, we are not per- 
 fect either in body or mind; and can, there- 
 fore, approximate to happiness only in the 
 degree in which we are so. 
 
 LI. 
 
 Wretched is the man who has no employ- 
 ment but to watch his own digestions; and 
 who, on waking in the morning, has no useful 
 occupation of the day presented to his mind. 
 To such a one respiration is a toil, and exist- 
 ence a continued disease. Self-oblivion is his 
 only resource, indulgence in alcohol in various 
 disguises his remedy, and death or supersti- 
 tion his only comfort and hope> For what 
 
72 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 was he born, and why does he live, are ques- 
 tions which he constantly asks himself; and 
 his greatest enigmas are the smiling faces of 
 habitual industry, stimulated by the wants of 
 the day, or fears for the future. If he is 
 excited to exertion, it is commonly to indulge 
 some vicious propensity, or display his scorn 
 of those pursuits which render others happier 
 than himself. If he seek to relieve his inanity 
 in books, his literature ascends no higher than 
 the Romances, the newspapers, or the scan- 
 dal, of the day ; and all the nobler pursuits 
 of mind, as well as body, are utterly lost in regard 
 to him. His passage through life is like that of 
 a bird through the air, and his final cause 
 appears merely to be that of sustaining the 
 worms in his costly tomb. 
 
 LII. 
 
 The fundamental rules by which to enjoy 
 as much as human nature is capable of enjoy- 
 ing, are to estimate truly your position in the 
 natural world ; to sympathise with your fellow- 
 men in the same society, and with human na- 
 ture in all societies; to be content in any 
 station which supplies your natural wants; to 
 divest your mind of the phantoms of great 
 wealth, of fame, distinction, and show, for their 
 
HONEST MEN. 73 
 
 own sake ; and, above all, to be moderate, and 
 consistent in your expectations. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 The duties of legislation indicate the duties 
 of individual creditors. The first questions 
 in regard to an embarrassed man ought to be, 
 — Is he solvent? is he honest? is he prudent? 
 And, if these questions admit of an affirmative 
 answer, it is the duty of his friends, neigh- 
 bours, and creditors, to concert effectual means 
 for his relief; and all men ought to beware of 
 implacable creditors, who aggravate, instead of 
 assisting, the temporary embarrassments of sol- 
 vent, honest, and prudent, debtors. Such cre- 
 ditors ought to be considered as wolves in a 
 sheep-fold, and, abandoned by all honest men, 
 to deal only with those of their own kind. 
 
 LIV. 
 
 Anger, or excessive emotion of mind, on 
 suffering a real or supposed injury, arises 
 from nervous sensibility, often increased by 
 morbid secretions ; but, from its mischievous 
 ; effects on happiness and fortune, requires con- 
 trol and suppression. As every action in one 
 body produces re-action in another, so anger 
 begets anger, and often rancorous hostility, 
 stimulated by false pride, or allowed to display 
 itself by indifferent friends. Yet, as undue 
 
 vol. i. e 
 
74 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 excitement produces exhaustion, so the angry 
 man soon relaxes, repents, and forgives, and 
 his lasting resentment is less to be feared than 
 that of one whose nerves are incapable of 
 undue excitement. Anger appertains to men 
 in proportion to their quickness of apprehension, 
 but the same quickness ought to be anxiously 
 exerted for its control. The wisest man is he 
 who is so constituted as to be susceptible of great 
 emotions, and who yet so controls his animal 
 feelings, as to prevent their being discovered. 
 
 LV. 
 
 It is the duty of parents to educate their 
 children according to their station, and to 
 instruct them in their youth in the means of 
 living with credit. If by folly or obstinacy 
 they do not, or will not, succeed, duty toother 
 children, and to approaching old age, must be 
 considered, and every thing should not be 
 sacrificed to one. Natural affection must, in 
 this respect, yield to prudence, and children 
 be forced to rely on their own exertions ; but, 
 if industrious and yet unfortunate, relief 
 ought, in that case, to proceed from the family 
 stock, and the unmerited misfortune of one 
 be considered as that of the whole. 
 
 The decline of life, and the retrospections of 
 
HONEST MEN. 75 
 
 old age, furnish unequivocal tests of worthiness 
 and un worthiness. Happy is the man, who, 
 after a well-spent life, can contemplate the 
 rapid approach of his last year with the con- 
 sciousness that, if he were born again, he 
 could not, under all the circumstances of his 
 worldly position, has^e done better, and who has 
 inflicted no injuries for which it is too late to 
 atone. Wretched, on the contrary, is he, who 
 is obliged to look back on a youth of idleness 
 and profligacy, on a manhood of selfishness 
 and sensuality, and on a career of hypocrisy, 
 of insensibility, of concealed crime, and of 
 injustice above the reach of law. Visit both 
 during the decay of their systems, observe 
 their feelings and tempers, view the followers 
 at their funerals, count the tears on their 
 graves ; and, after such a comparison, in good 
 time make your own choice. 
 
 LV1I. 
 
 Constant change is the feature of society. 
 The world is like a magic lanthorn, or the 
 shifting scenes in a pantomime. Ten years 
 convert the population of schools into men 
 and women, the young into fathers and 
 matrons, make and mar fortunes, and bury 
 the last generation but one. Twenty years 
 convert infants into lovers, and fathers and 
 
76 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 mothers, render youth the operative genera- 
 tion, decide men's fortunes and distinctions, 
 convert active men into crawling drivellers, 
 and bury all the preceding generation. 
 Thirty years raise an active generation 
 from nonentity, change fascinating beauties 
 into merely bearable old women, convert 
 lovers into grandfathers and grandmothers, 
 and bury the active generation, or reduce 
 them to decrepitude and imbecility. Forty 
 years, alas ! change the face of all society ; 
 infants are growing old, the bloom of youth 
 and beauty has passed away, two active gene- 
 rations have been swept from the stage of life, 
 names so cherished are forgotten, and unsus- 
 pected candidates for fame have started from 
 the exhaustless womb of nature. Fifty 
 years ! why should any desire to retain their 
 affections from maturity for fifty years 1 It is 
 to behold a world which they do not know, and 
 to which they are unknown ; it is to live to 
 weep for the generations passed away, for 
 lovers, for parents, for children, for friends, in 
 the grave ; it is to see every thing turned 
 upside down by the fickle hand of fortune, and 
 the absolute despotism of time ; it is, in a 
 word, to behold the vanity of human life in all 
 its varieties of display ! 
 
 
HONEST MEN. 69* 
 
 LVIJI. 
 
 Revenge is a troublesome as well as a 
 dangerous and insatiable passion. For- 
 giveness of injuries is far more easy, as 
 well as more prudent, and satisfactory. At- 
 tempts at revenge often recoil, and add to 
 the original injury ; while they at least em- 
 ploy much valuable time. If we forbear for 
 a season, our resentment relapses into indiffe- 
 rence ; while time and other employments 
 either lead to an oblivion of the wrong, or 
 render its recollection of no importance. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 Remember that wealth is a vulgar acquire- 
 ment, often of chance, sometimes of knavery, 
 and in other cases, of servile, low, and thrifty 
 habits, and, therefore, in neither case a pro- 
 per subject for pride ; — that rank or title, 
 acquired by birth, is an accident which may 
 appertain to the most wretched specimens of 
 human nature, and, therefore, is no proper 
 subject for pride; — and that eminence in 
 virtue, wisdom, honour, and probity, will 
 never cherish a feeling incompatible with 
 those qualities; consequently, that pride can be 
 cherished and practised only by those who 
 have no just pretensions to superiority. 
 
70* SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 LX. 
 
 Genuine friendship, in its best sense, is as 
 rare in society as unadulterated truth in books. 
 There are thousands of men with generous 
 souls, but there are tens of thousands of 
 knaves and ingrates to take advantage of 
 them, while honour and falsehood use the 
 same language. True friendship demands a 
 perfection of character in two persons, which 
 seldom meets. If one party expects servility 
 and flattery, compliance implies other bad 
 qualities; if indemnity from loss is expected, 
 disappointments may follow; or, if calcula- 
 tions of convenience or inconvenience are 
 made, the compact ceases in its true sense. 
 Hollow, convenient, and reciprocal friend- 
 ships begin and end with every month : but 
 a friend in adversity and prosperity, with 
 joint-stock fortunes, and a fraternity of hopes, 
 fears, and feelings, is a rare though enviable 
 example of human felicity. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 A generous man, who is also a man of 
 sense and discrimination, will be as forward 
 in the praise of genius and excellence with 
 his pen as in relieving them when necessary 
 with his spare means. What is every body's 
 
HONEST MEN. 71* 
 
 business is no body's; and many a man of 
 talent has languished in uncertainty in regard 
 to the world's estimation of his merit, because 
 what was the duty of all, none had sufficient 
 energy of virtue to perform. Envy and 
 malice are boisterous enough, while praise is 
 slow, and men are fearful of being thought 
 obtrusive and officious when their feelings 
 prompt an act of liberality. Nor is power 
 or wealth requisite ; but simple integrity of 
 soul, with learning enough to express it. In 
 this sense the poorest men may become effi- 
 cient patrons. Charles Fox valued, above 
 all the letters he received while in office, the 
 honest encomiums contained in a letter from a 
 poor weaver at Glasgow, expressed with the 
 unsophisticated eloquence of the heart. 
 
 LXII. 
 
 Of all social vices, that of backbiting and 
 scandalizing, or bearing false witness against 
 your neighbour, is the most odious and mis- 
 chievous. Many elderly women and gossip- 
 ing men are, in this respect, pestilences and 
 public nuisances. They ought, by common 
 consent, for the first convicted offence, to be 
 banished from company ; for the second, to 
 be posted in public places, and heavily fined 
 
T2* SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 for the compensation of the parties ; for the 
 third, to stand in a white sheet during divine 
 service; for the fourth, to be set in the pillory 
 and pelted with rotten eggs ; and for the 
 fifth, to be banished as felons, with distribu- 
 tion of their property among all whom they 
 have previously traduced. The crime of 
 theft involves Jess moral turpitude than that 
 of bearing false witness against your neigh- 
 bour ; yet by the negligence of the legislature 
 there are no penal statutes to enforce this 
 commandment. To judge of its enormity, 
 we have only to reside in a country town, 
 where it will soon be found that a dozen tale- 
 bearers keep the population in a constant fer- 
 ment ; while those who listen, and do not 
 inform against them, are as culpable as though 
 they saw a thief picking a pocket, or a mid- 
 night burglary, and gave no warning. Asso- 
 ciations for the protection of character against 
 malignant gossiping, ought to be formed as 
 well as associations for the protection of pro- 
 perty against larcenies. 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 No maxim is more important than that we 
 should never defer till to-morrow that which 
 we ought to perform to-day. Rapidity of 
 
HONEST MEN. 73* 
 
 decision, promptness in performance, skill 
 in execution, and perseverance to completion, 
 constitute the perfection of active life, and 
 are each of them essential to success. They 
 are demanded in every station from the king 
 upon the throne down to the lowest employ- 
 ments, and are the cardinal virtues of all 
 business. Thus decision is abortive without 
 promptness, this inefficient without skill, and 
 both useless without perseverance to the full 
 accomplishment of the end. There are few 
 men in the decline of life who, in their inter- 
 course with society, do not recollect hundreds 
 of plans rendered abortive for want of prompt- 
 ness in execution, or which, if begun, after- 
 wards failed for want of perseverance to finish. 
 Though so many literary works appear, yet 
 they are not a thousandth part of those which 
 are begun but never finished ; while nine- 
 tenths of those which appear either display 
 want of skill, or of sufficient perseverance to 
 attain perfection. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 Indulge the luxury of sympathising with 
 misfortune. The slightest attention in a 
 season of calamity produces the deepest sense 
 of gratitude of which men are susceptible. 
 Acts of hospitality, convenient loans, exer- 
 
74* SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 tions of influence, unsolicited offers of practi- 
 cable service, even words of condolence, 
 when better succour cannot be given, are 
 gratifying to both parties. And, as at such 
 times, a man cannot have too many friends, 
 and too many old ones drop off, volunteers 
 need not restrain their liberal feelings by any 
 sense of delicacy, or fear of being thought 
 officious. The error will, at any rate, be on 
 the right side, and honour him who offers, 
 whether his service be useful or not. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 Nature suggests to children the duty of 
 succouring their aged parents, and of consult- 
 ing their happiness and comfort by every 
 means in their power. One means is, to 
 take care to prosper in life, and to deserve the 
 good name of the world : another, to be kind, 
 attentive, tractable, and dutiful : and a third, 
 to assist their wants, and leave them nothing 
 to repine from the ingratitude of those for 
 whom they passed their best days in labour and 
 anxiety, and from whom neglect would be felt 
 with bitterness of anguish proportioned to 
 the force of their natural claims and affec- 
 tion. All the torments of the theological hell 
 will be felt by children who unhappily are 
 aware that they neglected their parents, or 
 
HONEST MEN, 75* 
 
 contributed by any means to bring their grey 
 hairs with sorrow to the grave. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 Though education and national manners 
 form men, and so much so, that children of 
 the same parents, educated in the four 
 quarters of the world, would scarcely seem of 
 the same species, or even in different grades 
 in the same country, would appear to be of 
 different families ; yet similar education and 
 habits will not produce similarity of powers 
 and character. These are governed by the 
 structure of the brain, and by different ener- 
 gies arising from quantity or quality, which 
 develope phenomena of their own kind. 
 Hence the convenient aptitude of men for dif- 
 ferent pursuits, and the subdivision of society 
 into classes of various fitness and suitable 
 employment. 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 A consequence results from the previous 
 principle worthy of special attention. No in- 
 convenience results in families where there is 
 a power of choosing employments, but much, 
 where circumstances do not admit of choice, 
 and such is the general condition of poverty : 
 for the same varieties exist among the chil- 
 dren of poor parents as among rich ones. 
 
76* SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Perhaps the ancients effected, in the four tem- 
 peraments, and their admixture, quite as much 
 accuracy as the modern phrenologists; and 
 adopting their classification, it would seem, 
 that though, in a poor family, the earthy and 
 the phlegmatic may with content follow their 
 father's calling, yet the spirits of the fiery and 
 the aerial disqualify them; and these consti- 
 tute, therefore, the floating adventurers of 
 society, and too often the violators of the laws 
 from a discordance between their social posi- 
 tion and their natural feelings. 
 
 LXV1II. 
 
 Endeavour to deserve the approbation of 
 the world, whether you obtain it or not. If 
 you obtain it, use it modestly, or it will soon 
 be lost ; and if you fail, or feel the shafts 
 of envy flying at you, persevere in well-doing, 
 as the only means of ultimate success. There 
 will be infinitely more satisfaction in proving 
 your enemies to be malignant liars, than in 
 confirming their slanders by weakness of des- 
 pair. If they mar your prospects, and inter- 
 fere with your connexions, play a backward 
 game, but persevere — redouble your industry 
 — puj^ nothing to hazard — and, like the tor- 
 toise in the fable, you will disconcert all your 
 enemies by a tranquil victory. 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR MEMBERS OF THE 
 BRITISH LEGISLATURE. 
 
 i. 
 
 The duties of a legislator demand wisdom, 
 experience, knowledge of human nature, 
 knowledge of the habits and wants of the 
 people, and knowledge of the pre-existing 
 laws in their relative connexions and practical 
 operations. The effectual performance of the 
 duties implies habits of investigation and 
 business; courage and independence to bring 
 forward new laws, or improvements of old 
 ones ; and intelligence and eloquence to main- 
 tain their propriety and necessity, or to sup- 
 port any opinions relative to subjects of iis- 
 cussion in the House, or its committees. 
 
78 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 II. 
 
 The Houses of Parliament are arenas on 
 which talent and ambition combat for distinc- 
 tion, power, and rank ; consequently, all the 
 passions of human nature are displayed in 
 them. Presumption is repressed, — loquacity 
 is not listened to, — talents excite detraction, — 
 activity arouses jealousy, — premature success 
 envy, — low birth the contempt of the aris- 
 tocracy, — common -sense talents undisciplined 
 by regular education, the sneers of the learned 
 professions and the graduates of Universities, 
 — The old will not be led by the young,— and 
 truth itself, on all subjects, belongs only to a 
 party on one subject. In short, to attain the 
 object of ascendancy, — patience, forbearance, 
 perseverance, courage, self-denial, concession, 
 and government of temper, must be combined 
 with talents natural and acquired, and with 
 an all-conquering industry both in attendance 
 and study. One only in two or three hundred 
 are so moulded as to succeed. 
 
 in. 
 
 In the commonwealth, the powers of the exe- 
 cutive, the aristocracy, and the people, should 
 be independent and in equipoise ; the church, 
 
LEGISLATORS. T9 
 
 and the law, should serve, and not govern; 
 agriculture should be promoted as the staple, 
 manufactures as the convenience, commerce 
 as the source of wealth and luxury, and the 
 liberty of the press as the fountain of know- 
 ledge and truth ; while, in all, labour should 
 find its due reward, disease sympathetic sup- 
 port, and old age, as the representative of that 
 past generation from which the advantages of 
 contemporary generations are derived, should 
 be honourably and comfortably sustained. To 
 balance these several portions of society, con- 
 stitutes the moral, social, and political, duties 
 of every able legislator. 
 
 iv. 
 
 Although members of parliament are upon 
 an equality with reference to the public, and 
 to the power of their individual votes, yet par- 
 liament itself is a community in which the 
 influence of a member is governed by the 
 same considerations and prejudices as decide 
 the influence of a man in general society. 
 Good manners, winning address, sincerity of 
 character, severity of application, and reputa- 
 tion for wisdom and discretion, are, therefore, 
 essential to the success of every member 
 
80 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 within the walls of parliament. Nor is the 
 Lower House exempt from vulgar prejudices 
 in favour of high birth : and Who was, and 
 who is, the man ? as well as, What is the man in 
 talent and character? are questions which 
 accelerate or thwart the ambition of a new 
 member, till his standard is admitted, his 
 level settled, and he becomes amalgamated with 
 some party, and integrated with the House* 
 
 No member of parliament ought ever to feel 
 discouraged from attempts to do good by 
 apparent difficulties of success. If he scatter 
 good seed, it will in due time produce 
 good fruit. Nothing that passes in parliament 
 is buried under a bushel. The agitation of a 
 sound question, however abortive at the time, 
 sinks deeply into men's minds, and, by de- 
 grees, they become converts. Arguments do 
 not at once produce equal conviction ; and cir- 
 cumstances must combine, with reiterated 
 attention, to atchieve a victory over self-love 
 and pre-conceived opinions. Wilberforce 
 laboured twenty years before he procured an 
 Act to abolish the atrocious Slave Trade* 
 
LEGISLATORS. 81 
 
 VI. 
 
 Speakers in the legislature are not wanted 
 so much as honest men who are qualified by 
 energy of character and habits of enquiry, to 
 think for themselves. Not more than one in 
 twenty, in each assembly, should aspire to the 
 reputation of being an orator. The more 
 salutary qualifications are — thinking soundly 
 and independently, and voting honestly, and 
 according to intellectual conviction and logical 
 demonstration. Eloquent leaders of debates on 
 both sides may, to a certain degree, illustrate a 
 subject; but every man of character will, by 
 personal study and sedulous enquiry, become 
 qualified to think for himself, and to decide inde- 
 pendently on his own views and examinations. 
 To follow leaders like horses in a team, is to 
 be ignominious in conduct, and contemptible 
 in character. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Parliamentary friendships are heartless and 
 hollow. Every man is either seeking to serve 
 the interest of himself or his friends, or seeking 
 to magnify himself in the eyes of his constitu- 
 ents and the public. If he is courteous to 
 another man, it is with a view to promote his 
 
 e 2 
 
82 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 own interest. Every member, therefore, 
 should stand on his own legs as a man by him- 
 self, and act for himself as an independent 
 noun-substantive. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Blackstone, Montesquieu, Puffendorf, Gro- 
 tius, and Vattel 5 ought to be read by every 
 man who aspires to a vote in the legislature ; 
 and he who has not read some of these 
 authors, ought, if he is a man of sense and 
 honour, to refrain from giving any opinion on 
 new laws. 
 
 IX. 
 
 The authorities on subjects of finance, are, 
 Adam Smith, Denham Stewart, the speeches 
 of Pitt and Fox, and the writings of Lord 
 Sheffield, Sir John Sinclair, David Ricardo, 
 and Messrs. Marshall and Malthus ; and no 
 honest man, who has not studied some of these 
 authorities, ought to venture to speak in regard 
 to fiscal assessments, and financial regulations. 
 
 x. 
 
 The authorities on constitutional questions 
 are, Locke, Bolingbroke, Blackstone, Delolme, 
 
 6 
 
LEGISLATORS. S3 
 
 Miller, Junius, Cartwright, the speeches of 
 Skippen, Chatham, Camden, Fox, Erskine, 
 Burke, and Sheridan ; and no man, who has 
 not rendered himself familiar with several of 
 these authorities, can conscientiously presume 
 to vote on such questions. 
 
 XI. 
 
 The study of Modern History, as it is best 
 found in the Annual Registers ; of Geography, 
 as it is detailed in travels into various coun- 
 tries, and by actual travels through Europe as 
 a feature of education ; and of Biography, in 
 authentic memoirs of distinguished men ; are 
 the best criteria on which conscientious mem- 
 bers of parliament can vote on subjects of 
 foreign policy. 
 
 XII. 
 
 ■ The Indexes to the Statutes, and the classi- 
 fications of the laws by various authors, will 
 always enable a member, within an hour, to 
 discover the bearings, tendency, and propriety, 
 of any proposed law, if it relate to objects to 
 which legislation has already been directed : 
 and, if the object is new, then a scrupulous 
 member will show the Bill to different practi- 
 
84 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 cal men likely to be affected by it, and be 
 directed by the sum of their information ; for, 
 although such men are examined before com- 
 mittees, yet no conscientious man will ever 
 vote on any second-rate authority ; and it too 
 often happens that the evidence before com- 
 mittees consists of an interested cabal. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 The test of good legislation is the cheap- 
 ness, facility, and certainty, of law and justice ; 
 and legislators disgrace their functions, who 
 permit redress of wrongs to be expensive, who 
 tolerate obstructions, and who do not perse- 
 vere in adopted remedies till they have ren- 
 dered legal decisions as certain as truth. The 
 lawyers' toast, " The glorious uncertainty of 
 the law," is a libel on the legislature for the 
 time being, and an insolent taunt of the com- 
 munity, which, by such uncertainty, is placed 
 in a worse situation than in a savage state ; 
 because the injustice of wealth, or strength, 
 is aggravated by plausible forms, and assisted 
 by the force of law, which is that of the com- 
 munity concentrated in the executive. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 If a member desire to distinguish himself as 
 
LEGISLATORS. 85 
 
 a useful legislator, independently of the law- 
 yers, who are deeply interested in what they 
 call the glorious uncertainty of the law, he 
 will, from time to time, read the Term Re- 
 ports ; and, in the statements and arguments 
 of the judges, he will discover those points in 
 which justice is obstructed, and the subject 
 suffers wrong ; and be able to propose special 
 statutes for the correction of defects in the 
 administration of the law; in which he would 
 be supported by all members who unite com- 
 mon sense with honourable feeling, 
 
 xv. 
 
 Ignominious is the position of any legislature 
 in which lawyers have a preponderating 
 influence, for they will never permit any law to 
 pass, which tends to emancipate the people 
 from their toils; or which, in any degree, 
 abridges their possible profits and ascendancy. 
 Lawyers are the mere servants of jurispru- 
 dence ; and every servant ought to have a mas- 
 ter, or he becomes master himself, and worse 
 than master, because he serves himself under 
 the name of his master, without regard to a 
 master's honourable responsibility. In an in- 
 dependent legislature, lawyers should merely 
 
86 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 be employed as assistants, or advisers in 
 cases of difficulty ; for every man of sense, who 
 is forty years of age, is perfectly competent to 
 adapt laws to the society in which he lives, and 
 subtleties and complications are above all 
 things to be avoided. That which every man 
 cannot at once understand is not fit for law ; 
 and any law, which every one cannot at once 
 understand in its connexion with the subject, 
 must be the act of a legislature of knaves or 
 fools. 
 
 xvi, 
 
 The duration of empires depends much on 
 its law-makers, but nature has its limits, and 
 philosophical laws should endeavour to extend 
 them. Men in a country are like mites in a 
 cheese, or ants in their nest ; and, like them, 
 they eat up and exhaust their own sustenance 
 in the scite of their residence. A country is 
 not simple food, like a cheese ; but the ele- 
 ments of, and by which it forms, food, are not 
 illimitable. They pass in a circle, but this cir- 
 cuit is deranged by large cities, which concen- 
 trate more of the elements of production than 
 they return ; and thereby, in time, convert 
 fertile districts into arid deserts. This has 
 
LEGISLATORS. 87 
 
 been the fate of Asia, and of all ancient coun- 
 tries; and, without due precautions, must be 
 also the fate of every country containing cities, 
 which consume larger portions of the elements 
 of vegetation than they return to the soil in the 
 form of manure. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The decay of empires arises either from 
 natural causes, as the exhaustion of the soil, 
 the choking up of harbours and rivers by the 
 accumulation or shifting of sand-banks, the 
 diversion of commerce, into newly-discovered 
 channels, or more commonly by the silent 
 encroachments of one class of the people on 
 another, by which that healthy balance of 
 their pursuits is disturbed, on which depends 
 the general prosperity. A legislature and 
 government should be intelligent enough to 
 understand this balance, independent enough 
 to maintain it, and, if disturbed, powerful 
 enough to restore it; but, if neither intel- 
 ligent, independent, nor powerful, other nations 
 will soon transcend their country, and its 
 energetic members be transferred to them. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 As members of the House of Commons are 
 
88 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 special guardians of the public purse, and 
 assessors of taxes, it is in the first capacity 
 their bounden duty, one and all, to watch over 
 the public expenditure, to refuse support to 
 corrupt jobs of ministers and their adherents, 
 and to restrain prodigality in the disburse- 
 ments for the various branches of public ser- 
 vice : and, in the second capacity, they are 
 called upon by every sense of duty to take 
 care that the taxes are not unequal, partial, 
 and oppressive ; that the boards for collecting 
 them are not armed with such arbitrary 
 powers as render the collection ruinous and 
 tyrannical, without discretion to refer questions 
 in dispute ; and that, above all things, the 
 independence of juries in the Exchequer, 
 before whom fiscal grievances and oppressions 
 are, in the last resort, to be tried, should be 
 indifferently and independently drawn from 
 the whole body of the jurors of the district. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 A wise legislator will constantly be vigilant 
 in regard to the changes required in laws by 
 variations in the habits and pursuits of the peo- 
 ple. These changes have been so great within 
 two centuries, and so rapid within the me- 
 
LEGISLATORS. 89 
 
 mory of man, that half the statutes previous to 
 1800 might with advantage be repealed, and 
 others beneficially substituted. In like manner, 
 the progress of free enquiry has destroyed the 
 erroneous principles on which many statutes are 
 founded, and these ought to be expunged as im- 
 proved principles are established ; while, as the 
 body of the common laws were for the most part 
 founded on the vulgar errors of the barbarous 
 times when they were recognized, they call for 
 extensive qualification by statutes, in accord- 
 ance with the enlightened spirit and improved 
 manners of the passing age, 
 
 xx. 
 
 Legislators in Britain should not merely 
 guard the forms of trial by jury from abuse, 
 but should not permit the property, interest, 
 or liberties, of the people, to be subject to any 
 other power. The summary authority con- 
 ferred by modern statutes on single magis- 
 trates, and on majorities of benches of magis- 
 trates, and the powers tolerated in the Courts 
 of Chancery, are parliamentary treasons 
 against the rights and liberties of the English 
 people ; and intolerable grievances, which, by 
 
90 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 design or inadvertency, are constantly aug- 
 menting. Indeed, the general practice of 
 Chancery law is become almost a public nui- 
 sance, and an outrage on reason and justice. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 As it is an undeniable truism, that the en- 
 lightened of this age are far wiser than the 
 past generations ; and, as it is the necessary 
 tendency of the printing press to render every 
 generation wiser, so the plea of precedent and 
 antiquity, often used to cover corrupt and 
 sinister designs, ought to be treated by every 
 member of parliament as an impeachment of 
 his independence and understanding : for one 
 age is as competent at least to decide on any 
 question as any previous age ; and one inde- 
 pendent and anxious legislature is as compe- 
 tent to set a precedent, or establish a doctrine, 
 as any other which may not only have been not 
 so wise, but far less independent : and the col- 
 lective wisdom of men, of different ages of life, 
 is not liable to the same objection as to the 
 individual wisdom of age and experience, con- 
 trasted with youth and inexperience. The 
 question, therefore, ought never to be, whether 
 
LEGISLATORS. 91 
 
 a parliament did or did not perform a certain 
 act in such a remote period ; but whether it is 
 proper, expedient, and fitting, that the same 
 act should be re-performed at the moment of 
 debate, 
 
 XXII. 
 
 In fiscal arrangements, indirect ought to be 
 preferred to direct, taxation ; and assessments 
 made on real, rather than on personal, pro- 
 perty. Nothing tends so much to oppress a 
 people, and obstruct industry, as direct taxes, 
 with all their dirty ensnaring penalties, and 
 insulting and vexatious modes of collection. 
 They place the community at war with the 
 government, lead to non-consumption and 
 evasion, and create uncertainty and annoyance 
 in all branches of trade connected with them. 
 Above all, a patriotic senator should beware, 
 that the means of assessing and collecting any 
 tax is not made, as is often the case, a covert 
 means of abridging the civil liberties of the 
 people. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Taxes on law-proceedings ought never to 
 be tolerated, because they obstruct justice, 
 
92 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 put a price upon it, and affect the security of 
 property ; and they also stimulate rich men to 
 annoy poor ones, and thereby increase con- 
 tention and the number of law-suits ; for it is 
 found that, in the United States, where a 
 cause can be carried to execution for as many 
 shillings as for pounds in Britain, there are few 
 law-suits in comparison. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 To render legislation perfect, the laws 
 should be watched in their operation ; and, for 
 this purpose, the judges of all the courts at 
 Westminster should be obliged to report on their 
 defects to both Houses of Parliament, within 
 the first ten days of every sessions, and 
 benches of magistrates for every county should 
 make such reports alternately every third year ; 
 and, as a check on the prejudices of autho- 
 rity, other reports should be made by seven of 
 the twelve senior practising counsel of each of 
 the courts at Westminster. These reports 
 would be fundamental bases on which to 
 legislate from sessions to sessions ; and, if 
 necessary, parliament might superadd a 
 remembrancer to each court at Westminster, 
 
LEGISLATORS. 93 
 
 who might report, as its independent agent, 
 on the operation and defects of the laws. 
 
 xxv. 
 
 In making penal enactments, as little as 
 is possible should be left to the humour, pre- 
 judices, and temporary motives, of judges, 
 tribunals, and magistrates ; for, to confer on 
 any man or men a wide range of discretion 
 in affixing punishments, under all the feelings 
 in which they may be called upon to decide, is 
 to confer on them the powers of absolute des- 
 pots, and to place the subjects of the realm 
 under a worse tyranny than the subjects of 
 Morocco, because the tyrants are more nu- 
 merous. Every genus of crime should be 
 classed into several species; which species 
 the jury should determine, and the law should 
 prescribe the maximum and minimum of 
 punishment in each species. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Members of the legislature should never 
 forget, that they are the guardians of the 
 equal rights of the whole population, whether 
 it subsist on land, or in the equally useful 
 employments of the sea. They are bound, 
 
94 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 therefore, not to sanction any usage of semi- 
 barbarous ages, by which ministers, rather 
 than apply to parliament for sufficient money 
 to procure men by suitable bounties and pay, 
 prefer seizing them by bludgeon law, and 
 sacrificing one class without proper indemnity 
 from the rest of the community : and, as legis- 
 lative means of correcting the evil, they should 
 take care that the annual mutiny-bills contain 
 no clauses but such as regulate service pre- 
 sumed to be free, and under mutual contract, 
 The onus of inventing just and efficient means 
 of manning the navy lies not less on the mem- 
 bers of the legislature than on the executive 
 government. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 The successful industry and commerce of a 
 country depend on the wise and judicious ba- 
 lance of two opposing interests, that of debtors 
 and creditors. If a lax state of the laws 
 enables debtors to cheat creditors with impu- 
 nity, credit, the basis of trade, commerce, and 
 mutual intercourse, will be impaired ; while, if 
 the law leave unfortunate debtors to the mercy 
 of disappointed and enraged creditors, every 
 variety of severity and cruelty will be practised 
 
LEGISLATORS. 95 
 
 in its name. A previous question should 
 always be first determined in regard to the 
 true character of an insolvent, and legislation 
 should then discriminate suitable treatment, 
 which should be marked by liberality towards 
 industry in misfortune, and by severe inquisi- 
 tion towards profligacy at the end of its 
 career. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 A high majority of creditors ought always 
 to be empowered to arrange with debtors, and 
 their decision should govern the adverse feel- 
 ings of a small or impracticable minority. 
 This simple principle would serve as the basis 
 of a code in regard to debtors and creditors ; 
 but there is danger lest fraudulent claims 
 should constitute the majority, and hence a 
 necessity for laws of great severity against 
 such frauds : for the whole community ought 
 not to suffer under a coercive system because 
 a few might abuse a liberal system ; and there- 
 fore, to secure the advantages of a liberal sys- 
 tem, severe punishments ought to be inflicted 
 on those who thwart the public interest on 
 points of such vital importance. At present 
 embarrassment becomes ultimate insolvency, 
 
96 
 
 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 because the law permits no middle course, 
 and to be embarrassed and to be insolvent in- 
 volves equal ruin by the operations of law. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Legislators should never forget that they 
 are making laws for beings as wise and cun- 
 ning as themselves ; and, therefore, that laws 
 which violate the common sense of mankind, 
 which lead to practical injustice, or which are 
 irksome, inquisitorial, or oppressive in their 
 operation, will be rendered nugatory by the 
 resentment of society, soon become obsolete, 
 and stand in the Statute Books merely as 
 records of the folly or turpitude of those who 
 invented and enacted them. 
 
 xxx. 
 
 In passing laws, members ought to feel 
 with due force the importance of every word 
 and principle to extensive interests, and to 
 the happiness of individuals. No member 
 should vote on a Bill which he has not taken 
 the pains to read with care, and every public- 
 spirited member will anxiously read every 
 Bill, that he may either oppose, correct, or 
 support it. It is ignominious to vote under 
 
LEGISLATORS. 97 
 
 the authority or example of another ; and basely 
 corrupt, and a gross compromise of public 
 duty, to vote for one measure with a view to 
 obtain support on another. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 As we have in England four hundred and 
 twenty hereditary legislators, and six hundred 
 and fifty elective ones, and few are qualified to 
 propound, justify, and establish new laws, 
 the country does not require, as a test of ability, 
 that every member of the legislature should 
 propound one new law, or modification of an 
 old law, every session, or we might have a 
 thousand changes every year in our judicial 
 code. If only one in ten of the Commons, and one 
 in fifty of the Lords, are competent to originate 
 measures of legislation, there remain 585 voters 
 in onehouse, and 410 non-legislators in the other, 
 of various degrees ofjudgment and information ; 
 and these serve to neutralize, attemper, qua- 
 lify, and modify, those propositions which pas- 
 sion, prej udice, vanity, or interest, might, with- 
 out such alloy, pass into laws. Every member 
 of the British legislature is therefore suffi- 
 ciently useful in constituting an ingredient in 
 the neutral compound of dispassionate wisdom, 
 without being an originator of laws. 
 VOL i. f 
 
98 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XXXII, 
 
 The fundamental questions which, under the 
 house of Guelph, divide the legislature, relate 
 to popular rights and the prerogatives of the 
 crown, and to reforms, and ministerial influence. 
 In a mixed government, these questions must 
 always exist, and the principles apply them- 
 selves to such an infinite variety of decisions, 
 as to create two permanent parties. To one 
 or other, every member must necessarily belong, 
 and to be neutral or vacillating is to be ridicu- 
 lous and useless. Differences on general 
 principles beget parties ; while agreements 
 beget personal union and party confederacies. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Men who honestly think that the influence 
 of the crown has increased, is increasing, and 
 ought to be diminished, and who believe that 
 civil liberty is the greatest social blessing, will 
 vote on all questions which involve popular 
 rights and privileges with the popular party ; 
 but those who think that a system which 
 works and has worked well, is sufficient ; and 
 who confide in the house of Guelph, and its 
 ministers, will of course ally themselves to the 
 court party. The presumption of integrity 
 
LEGISLATORS. 99 
 
 will attach to disinterestedness ; and of corrup- 
 tion, to recompence, in the attainment of 
 place and emolument. 
 
 xxxiv. 
 
 As members of parliament are, for conveni- 
 ence of assemblage, mere representatives and 
 attorneys of their constituents, so every well- 
 disposed member will not omit, from time to 
 time, to confer with the leading men among 
 his constituents, and endeavour to render their 
 opinions on public questions accordant; but, 
 if, from any cause, they are irreconcilable, it 
 will be more honourable at once to resign his 
 trust, than to permit himself to be ejected from 
 his seat with loss and contempt at the next 
 election ; while such proof of his sincerity will 
 promote his true interests far more than an 
 overbearing and unprincipled contempt of 
 those who, for a time, confided to him the 
 guardianship of their interests, and their per- 
 sonal representation in parliament. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 The constitution has marked the legislative 
 sin of accepting any place of emolument, by 
 requiring the abandonment of seat ; and, of 
 
 l 
 
100 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 course, no member who values his character 
 as his fortune will ever barter his vote for any 
 such personal advantage, either in possession 
 or promise : at the same time, place may often be 
 reconciled with principle and integrity ; but, 
 as it pledges votes, and binds the receiver to a 
 political party as long as it is held, the reputa- 
 tion of independence is necessarily lost. 
 *♦ 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 The most difficult task of members for coun- 
 ties, and bodies of real electors, is to satisfy 
 the rapacious cravings of their unreasonable 
 constituents. They are required to provide 
 for them in difficulties, and to promote their 
 sons, generations, and kin ; and, to effect this, 
 to ask favours of ministers and men in office: 
 while, if their inflexible independence renders 
 this impracticable, they are, as an alternative, 
 called upon to contribute to every charitable 
 subscription, and to entertain, feed, and sup- 
 port, a tribe of leeches and mean-spirited 
 electors. Thus, an independent seat, as it is 
 called, costs an independent member from 1000 
 to 1500/. per annum, unless he barter his 
 votes, and transfer them, and their claims, to 
 the Treasury Bench. The only cure for the 
 
LEGISLATORS. 101 
 
 evil would be, to refer every case of such ap- 
 plication to the body of the electors, and advise 
 them to take care of their own poor. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 The most flagrant mal -practices of both 
 houses of parliament, are the general misma- 
 nagement of bills in committees, and the 
 loose and irresponsible conduct of members of 
 committees. The system is too frequently a 
 caricature of sober legislation. Indifference in 
 general attendance, partial attendance of inte- 
 rested persons, arbitrary treatment of witnesses, 
 cabals in bringing them up, bartering of votes 
 among members of different committees^ with 
 other vices which belong per se to such 
 committees; all which abuses ought to be cor- 
 rected by effectual regulations, as reform not 
 less essential than that in the representation 
 itself. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 The intermediate remedy is the strict and 
 conscientious attendance of members ap- 
 pointed on committees, and a zealous and en- 
 lightened discharge of their duties in them : 
 but a general order ought to affix heavy penal- 
 ties for every non-attendance, and expulsion 
 
102 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 from parliament for total neglect ; while com- 
 mittees ought universally to be determined by 
 lot, (not by ballot or nomination,) from the 
 whole efficient body of the House ; and remu- 
 neration should be made for attendance. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 The Decalogue of Moses is a sound stand- 
 ard of legislation ; but, by a strange oversight, 
 legislation is chiefly confined to that clause 
 which prohibits stealing property. That which 
 regards the Sabbath-day is strangely perverted, 
 the true Sabbath neglected, and a festival of 
 the Catholic church substituted ; so that 
 human authority is opposed to the ancient 
 law, and the wise object of a day of rest 
 founded by the decalogue for Saturday, or the 
 seventh day, is lost. Again, that article which 
 forbids back-biting, scandal, and slander, is 
 not only utterly neglected ; but, by the prac- 
 tice of the English courts of law, slanderous 
 words are scarcely ever punishable, and then 
 only by fine. If to steal to the amount of a 
 few shillings incurs transportation or death, 
 surely the taking away of character ought at 
 least to be punished with equal severity. No 
 crime is more mischievous ; but, in general, it 
 
LEGISLATORS. 103 
 
 is practised with such impunity, that a few 
 old women, or gossiping men, render a resi- 
 dence in a country town, or village, a sort of 
 hell upon earth : while simple punishments of 
 the stocks, pillory, public whipping, and hard 
 labour, would effectually correct the mis- 
 chief. As Jesus Christ declared that he 
 came to fulfil the laws, not to break them, it 
 might be expected that Christian legislatures 
 would enforce, by statutes, the whole of the 
 fundamental principles of the Decalogue. 
 
 XL. 
 
 An enlightened legislator will exert his 
 influence to suppress all practices which have 
 engrafted themselves on society in bad and 
 barbarous times, such as duelling, public 
 boxing, bull-baiting, Sec. Sec. while, on the 
 other hand, he will adopt all necessary means 
 to promote associations for the extension of 
 every kind of useful knowledge ; and all popu- 
 lar institutions that are calculated to promote 
 the happiness and gaiety of the people, as 
 dancing, theatres, fairs, public games, &c. as 
 reliefs to their general cares, and as periodical 
 relaxations from their regular toils ; and he will 
 on no account permit their suppression owing 
 
304 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 to their occasional abuse, and to the trouble 
 which their superintendence may impose on 
 the police or the magistracy. 
 
 XLI, 
 
 It is the duty of legislators to beware that 
 the various corporations, associations, and in- 
 stitutions, of society, are truly and wisely caL 
 dilated to promote their professed ends, and 
 do not serve the few by sacrificing the many. 
 They should also particularly examine into the 
 managementof public institutions forlearning, 
 and see that prejudice, bigotry, and pedantry, 
 do not prevail over truth, improvement, and 
 utility ; and that the knowledge of the rising 
 generation, in public schools, keeps pace with 
 that of the community, and the general pro- 
 gress of reason and discovery. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 This enumeration of the essential qualifica- 
 tions and onerous duties of a legislator, proves 
 that no man ought to aspire to a seat in the 
 House of Commons, merely because he pos- 
 sesses the legal qualification of property, and has 
 convivial talents, which render him popular at 
 a tavern dinner. The true stimulus ought to 
 
LEGISLATORS. 105 
 
 be, a desire to do his country some service, 
 and a consciousness that he possesses natural 
 powers and intellectual attainments which are 
 adapted to the station; for, without these, a 
 member not merely renders his incapacity con- 
 spicuous, but his misplaced ambition is con- 
 temptible and mischievous, because he pre- 
 vents some more able man from filling the same 
 seat ; and is, himself, merely a supple numera- 
 tor of some faction within the House. 
 
 XLIIL 
 
 If a member of either House does not com- 
 promise himself by hasty and frivolous speeches 
 on questions incapable of proof, or on subjects 
 beneath the dignity of parliament; if he is 
 steady in his connexions and principles ; and, 
 if he takes but moderate pains to inform his 
 mind on general subjects, and especially on 
 those before the legislature, no subject of the 
 British empire can be more useful to his coun- 
 try : for the press gives extensive currency to 
 his opinions and conduct; while his position, 
 if skilfully used, confers power and influence on 
 his exertions. An honest man is truly the 
 noblest work of God ; but an honest peer, or 
 member of parliament, superadds to this 
 
 f2 
 
106 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 glorious attribute, the higher virtue of resisting 
 temptation in the various seductive forms in 
 which it is presented to his vanity, interest, 
 and ambition ; and, therefore, in acting well 
 his part, he deserves all the honour which the 
 gratitude of his constituents and his country 
 can bestow. 
 
 xliv. 
 Whether a people are happy or miserable, 
 whether a nation is in prosperity or in adver- 
 sity, whether its internal policy is a subject of 
 just admiration or condemnation, and whether 
 its external policy accords with the eternal 
 rules of general morality, depend much on the 
 intelligence, vigilance, and eloquence, of the 
 members of the legislature. They ought to 
 possess an intimate personal knowledge of the 
 country ; they ought to be actuated by senti- 
 ments of benevolence and justice ; they ought 
 to feel the importance of their personal posi- 
 tion, and sustain it by their activity ; and they 
 ought, at all times and in all things, to be sti- 
 mulated by a passionate love of their country, 
 without forgetting the interests of the human 
 race. 
 
GOLDEN RULES OF CIVIL LIBERTY, 
 
 Men in society surrender natural rights mu- 
 tually ; hence the restraints of law ought to be 
 equal and common to all.- 
 
 ii. 
 
 The design of all government is to promote 
 the general and equal benefit and happiness of 
 every member of the community. 
 
 in. 
 
 The preponderating influence of particular 
 interests being incompatible with the equal 
 benefit of other interests, all governments 
 ought to flow from, and be influenced by, the 
 ascertained will of the whole community. 
 
108 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Determinations in regard to what is just 
 and true, in regard to individuals and the 
 nation, are the problems which governments 
 and legislators ought to be incessantly em- 
 ployed in solving. 
 
 v. 
 
 As the only practical test of truth is unani- 
 mity of opinion, arising from the same evi- 
 dence, so all decisions should be unanimous, 
 or be made by the nearest convenient approxi- 
 mations towards unanimity.* 
 
 VI. 
 
 In the arrangements of every govern ment, 
 the primary care should be to adopt all such 
 practical means as should secure its measures 
 
 * No maxim is practically more true, than that there 
 is confusion in a multitude of counsellors. Eloquence 
 misleads many, — sophistry others, — prejudice more, — 
 the strongest side too many, — affection and hatred others; 
 while, as an assemblage of men adds nothing to the 
 individual wisdom of each, so their collected decision, 
 however imposing, is not wiser than the separate decision 
 of each. The only use of multitudes is the chance of 
 averaging passions, and accumulating information ; but, 
 
CIVIL LIBERTY. 109 
 
 from error, and enable it to ascertain the truth 
 on every question of policy and practice. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Votes on public questions should be inde- 
 pendent of the fears of the parties, or the 
 machinations of undue influence, and therefore 
 ought, in all cases, to be given by ballot. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Every member of the community should 
 have an influence on the government propor- 
 tioned to his intelligence, and be called upon 
 to perform no duties but such as accord with 
 his intelligence and habits of life. 
 
 IX. 
 
 The selection of the members of the govern- 
 
 if truth is really the object, it will be more certainly- 
 attained by the decisions of five hundred broken into ten 
 or twenty committees, than by a single decision of the 
 whole body. Of course, if the majority decides, the 
 chances of truth or error are only as the numbers on 
 each side, even when no feelings, extraneous to the 
 question, influence the votes ; and, as feelings are more 
 numerous and operative than arguments, so majorities 
 are no tests of truth ; and it too often happens that truth 
 is on the side of the baffled minority. 
 
110 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ment ought to flow from the universal will ; 
 but that will or choice should be regulated by 
 encreased intelligence, as the importance of 
 office advances. 
 
 x. 
 
 That the suffrages of the people may be 
 universal, but, at the same time, regulated by 
 their intelligence, every ten men, of mature 
 age and sound mind, within a small district, 
 should elect annually, with re-eligibility for 
 five years, one of their number as a local 
 delegate, another as a militia-man, and a third 
 as a constable. 
 
 xi. 
 
 Every hundred delegates should assemble in 
 primary meetings within their locality, and 
 electa magistrate, with re-eligibility for three 
 years, three guardians of the poor, three arbi- 
 trators of private disputes, and three repre- 
 sentatives to a general provincial assembly. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Three hundred representatives of every 
 hundred local assemblies should meet annu- 
 ally, and elect three of its members to a 
 
CJViL LIBERTY. ill 
 
 national legislature, a sheriff of the province, 
 and also seven magistrates, with re-eligibility 
 for three years, to preside at sessions on 
 criminal trials, and hear appeals against 
 decisions of local arbitrators,* 
 
 XIII. 
 
 The legislature should elect one member in 
 every ten to a senate, with equal power in the 
 enactment of laws and the assessment of taxes, 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The senate should elect one of every ten to 
 
 * It would be desirable that, in the legislature, certain 
 classes should be specially represented in addition to the 
 general representation of the population, for the sake of 
 obtaining their information, and guarding against their 
 intrigues in the popular elections ; thus, one in every 
 hundred representatives should be returned by the law- 
 yers, the divines of all congregations, the medical pro- 
 fessions, the universities or public schools, the printers, 
 the owners of ships, the captains of ships, the com- 
 manders of regiments, the servants of the government, 
 and the foreigners who are housekeepers. The legisla- 
 ture would thus amalgamate the interests and best 
 intelligence of the entire community. 
 
112 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 form an executive council, with re-eligibility 
 for three years. 
 
 xv. 
 
 The Executive Council would thus pass 
 through five elections, ascending from the 
 people; the Senate through four; the Lower 
 House through three ; the Provincial Assem- 
 blies through two; and the Primary Meetings 
 through one ; each election being made by a 
 higher degree of intelligence, and its inde- 
 pendence secured by the mode of ballot. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 No practising lawyer, no beneficed or acting 
 clergyman, no commissioned officer in the 
 army or navy, and no permanent placeman, 
 should be eligible to a seat in the provincial 
 assemblies, or to the office of magistrate, 
 arbitrator, or juryman. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Juries should be summoned by the sheriff in 
 rotation, in the order of their local residences, 
 from among the ty thing-men, from at least 
 three districts of the court's jurisdiction. 
 
CIVIL LIBERTY. 113 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Grand and Special Juries should be taken 
 in similar rotation and manner, from among 
 the representatives of the county or provincial 
 assemblies. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 No discretionary punishments should be 
 assigned by the presiding magistrates in courts 
 of criminal judicature ; but, when the punish- 
 ment is undefined by the law, the jury should 
 assign a maximum and minimum for the guide 
 of the magistrates. 
 
 XX. 
 
 The use of the press, and the right of publi- 
 cation, should be unrestrained ; but its abuse 
 may be checked by a Grand Jury, convened 
 for the purpose, and punished by the verdict of 
 a jury composed half from primary assemblies 
 and half from county assemblies. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 All debtors should be allowed to adjust and 
 conclude their obligations with a majority of 
 two in three, or three in four, of their bond fide 
 creditors ; and persons fraudulently assuming 
 
114 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 to be creditors, should be compelled, for a 
 limited time, to work on the highways, with 
 iron collars round their necks. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Every primary district should be provided 
 with an asylum for the sick, and the aged, and 
 incurably diseased poor. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Every man whose military or naval services 
 are required by the public, should be a volun- 
 teer from the militia, and be remunerated, at 
 least, in the same degree that he would be in 
 any private employment. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 In the army, double the required number of 
 corporals and Serjeants should be elected by 
 the privates, subject to the selection of the 
 superior officers ; the ensigns and lieutenants 
 should be nominated for each company by the 
 primary assemblies ; double the number of the 
 captains should be elected from among the 
 lieutenants, and the major by the captains; 
 subject in such case to the selection of the 
 lieut. -colonel and colonel, who should them- 
 
CIVIL LIBERTY. 115 
 
 selves be selected by the executive council, 
 from among double the number of superior 
 officers elected by the captains, 
 
 xxv. 
 
 The greatest proprietor of land in every 
 district should be obliged, on due application, 
 to build convenient residences for all married 
 men who give assurance of good conduct ; and 
 allot to the same, on average terms of rental, 
 at least as many acres of land as constitute an 
 equal family share of all the land. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 To enable small farmers to cultivate on 
 equal advantages with large ones, every dis- 
 trict should be provided with a public stable, 
 and with a repository of machinery calculated 
 to facilitate labour, for general use, at an 
 expence to be equally borne. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 All children from six to twelve should 
 receive elementary instruction at public 
 schools, free of expence ; registers of their 
 conduct be kept, and public rewards adjudged 
 at the meeting of the district assembly. 
 
116 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Every primary district should be provided 
 with a public library, consisting of books 
 voted at the primary meetings ; also with an 
 assembly room for winter balls, and with a 
 walk and music, for summer promenades. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Every county town should be provided with 
 a theatre, to be held by a qualified company, 
 free of rent and taxes. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 A Committee of Constitution, consisting of~ 
 one from each provincial or county assembly, 
 should be appointed every three years, to exa- 
 mine into the purity and perfectibility of the 
 institutions, and draw up reports on the same, 
 for the guidance of the legislature. 
 
GOLDEN RULES IN FAVOUR OF RELIGIOUS 
 LIBERTY. 
 
 I. 
 
 No man can in justice be made criminally 
 answerable for mere abstract opinions, which 
 result from the honest convictions of his rea- 
 son : for it is not only wicked and blas- 
 phemous, but absurd and unjust, for any man 
 to set up his own opinions as standards of 
 theological faith for the implicit guide of any 
 other man. 
 
 it. 
 As every man claims the right of following 
 the sober dictates of his own judgment in 
 matters of religion, so he should candidly and 
 
118 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 freely allow others, with equal latitude, to fol- 
 low their own convictions. Religion, on its 
 own hypothesis, is a concern between man 
 and his God ; and all that men have to do 
 with each other is, their mutual practice as 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
 in. 
 
 Men, considered as body and mind, are 
 social and spiritual; having, in their social 
 relations, duties to perform to their neighbours 
 and their country ; and, in their spiritual rela- 
 tions, duties to God . These obligations spring 
 from sources different as their objects. The 
 one is the law of the state ; and its object is, 
 the conservation of society. The other is the 
 law of God ; and the object is, the government 
 of a man's own conscience, and his happiness 
 in a future state. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The source of the first is allegiance and sub- 
 mission to the law; and the source of the other 
 is religious feeling under God's grace. The 
 one arises from temporal and reciprocal personal 
 considerations ; and the other is the communion 
 of every man's own soul with his Maker. 
 
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 119 
 
 They are two powers exercised on the same 
 being, entirely independent of each other, 
 applicable to distinct functions of the person, 
 not discordant, yet wholly unconnected. 
 
 The publication of opinions, on abstract, 
 scientific, and speculative, subjects, is no 
 criminal libel, breach of the peace, or social 
 crime; but is a duty which every honest 
 man is bound to perform ; that, if true, they 
 may be adopted, and that, if false, they may- 
 be refuted. 
 
 VI. 
 
 If it be said that certain doctrines are 
 from God, and ought therefore not to be 
 disputed, it is evident that doctrines, which 
 emanate from an all-powerful Deity, can- 
 not be shaken or overturned by man ; and 
 therefore the publication of any adverse opi- 
 nions of man must necessarily be harmless. 
 
 VII. 
 
 On any questions of religion, there can 
 be no standard of truth but human reason, or 
 the alleged operations of the spirit of God, and 
 
120 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 conviction is the result of either or both ; and 
 this result, as a natural, or as a supernatural 
 effect, is a question between a man and his 
 own powers of reason, or between a man and 
 his God ; and therefore not properly cognizable 
 by any other man, or controllable by any 
 human tribunal. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 It has been invariably found that, where 
 the mind has had its free exercise, man- 
 kind have founded different points of faith 
 on the same system of religion ; and that such 
 variation arises from the varied dispositions 
 of men, and proves the absurdity of restraint, 
 or of legislating on matters of religious 
 opinion. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Any assumed common law, on which to 
 found a religious prosecution, can be no other 
 than the law of prejudice, malice, and perse- 
 cution, inherent in all ages in the minds of 
 wicked and unjust men ; and is the very same 
 law, having the same sources, as the pre- 
 tended laws under which Socrates was poi- 
 soned and Jesus Christ crucified. 
 
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 121 
 
 If this right were subject to any re- 
 striction or limitation, as far as regards 
 subjects and questions of general interest, it 
 would be altogether useless ; for the publica- 
 tion of error often leads to the detection of 
 truth ; and, while free discussion and publica- 
 tion are allowed, error is harmless, because 
 it can by the same means be refuted. 
 
 XI. 
 
 If the opinions of persons in authority 
 were admitted as standards of truth, just 
 as the opinions of prosecutors are in any 
 prosecution assumed to be standards of 
 truth, we might at this day, by parity of 
 reasoning, have been involved in the darkness 
 of Pagan worship, of Druidical rites, of Roman 
 mythology, and of Popish superstition ; all of 
 which have successively been standards of 
 truth among the public authorities of former 
 
 XII. 
 
 In every Christian country in Europe, 
 the utmost latitude of free publication has 
 been practised with impunity ; particularly 
 
 vol. i. G 
 
122 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 in France, Holland, Switzerland, and Prussia : 
 even under the despotic sway of the Bourbons 
 the writings of Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alembert, 
 Rousseau, Volney, and others, were freely 
 published, and did not deprive their authors 
 of honours and renown. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 The employment of the force of law, or of 
 the civil and military power, to maintain opi- 
 nions, affords a demonstrative proof, that 
 those who consider it necessary to resort to 
 such weapons, must know that their opinions 
 are unsupportable by reasoning, and aware 
 that they are not upheld by omnipotent power. 
 
 xiv. 
 
 All the attempts to render courts of law, 
 or mere human tribunals, standards of theo- 
 logical opinions, have led to the various wicked, 
 bloody, and disgraceful, martyrdoms, which 
 stain the pages of history; at which every 
 succeeding: age blushes for the errors, absurdi- 
 ties, and crimes, of preceding ages. 
 
 xv. 
 '/ any erroneous, persecuting, vindic- 
 
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 123 
 
 tive, and intolerant, proceeding, were to 
 lead to any cruel punishment, the proceed- 
 ings of the court, and all concerned in them, 
 would be viewed by sensible, just, and liberal, 
 contemporaries, and by every man in future 
 ages, with the abhorrence in which all men 
 hold the courts of Inquisition, and those juris- 
 dictions of barbarous times by which similar 
 martyrdoms have been perpetrated. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Allegiance and submission are compatible 
 with every religion, and exist, as matters of 
 fact, with equal force in all nations. Allegi- 
 ance is as strong and operative in Italy as in 
 England, in Holland as in Spain, in Turkey 
 as in France, and in China as in Russia, 
 though the spiritual faith and the forms of 
 religion are, in each, so different. The King 
 of England has loyal and submissive subjects 
 of all religions in the respective British colo- 
 nies. Religion has not, therefore, more con- 
 nexion with allegiance, or with loyalty and 
 submission, than with the stature or colour of 
 men, or the fashion of their clothing. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 It is not more necessary that good subjects 
 
124 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 should be of the same religion , than that they 
 should be six feet high, or wear brown or scar- 
 Jet colours, close coats, or flowing robes. Al- 
 legiance, the bond of society, is the same in the 
 Turk, the Gentoo, the Protestant, and the 
 Catholic. The duties of a privy counsellor, 
 or other servant of the state, are prompted 
 by his allegiance and by his personal inter- 
 ests, not by his spiritual opinions. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 There is no crime in seeking to make 
 proselytes ; but, as every religion is believed 
 by its votaries to be true, it would be thought 
 officious, arrogant, and impertinent, if the 
 various religions were to send missionaries 
 into Britain to convert us. Some would 
 laugh at them, and others would be disposed 
 to stone them ; while, as all religion is pro- 
 fessed to be derived from Heaven, we should 
 tell them that, if God willed, we should be- 
 come Mahometans, Brahmins, Boodists, &c. 
 &c. without theh puny interference. Let the 
 religion of others alone, unless you have cre- 
 dentials from heaven in the alleged apostolic 
 powers of the gift of tongues, working of 
 miracles, and raising the dead ; for, without 
 
EELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 125 
 
 these, it is presumption to interfere with 
 others, and your only duty on this subject is to 
 look to yourself. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The best rule about religion for an honest 
 man is not to affect to believe that which does 
 not convince his own understanding ; and, to 
 consider the understanding with which the 
 God of nature has endowed him as the sufficient 
 rule of his faith on all subjects whatever, 
 Religions are to be respected because they aid 
 the law in correcting the ferocity of men, and 
 enabling them to promote each other's welfare 
 in society ; and that which is established in a 
 country is always the best, if it do not med- 
 dle with politics and government, because it 
 accords with men's earliest feelings ; and 
 therefore any attempt to change it, leads to 
 discord and bloodshed. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Though one man may affirm the Trinity, 
 and another deny it ; one the doctrine of Tran- 
 substantiation, and another deny it ; one affirm 
 the sleep in the grave till the resurrection of 
 the body, another an intermediate purgatory, 
 
126 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 and another the immediate transfer of the 
 soul to heaven ; one maintain the supremacy 
 of the Pope, and another of the King of Eng- 
 land ; one assert that Jesus, the son of Sirach, 
 was the Jesus of the Evangelists, and another 
 maintain that two contemporaries of the same 
 name taught the same doctrines, or that the 
 two were not contemporary ; one prefer 
 the Sabbath of the commandments, and 
 another the Sabbath of human authority ; — 
 yet, from all these opinions, their collision and 
 discussion, truth must finally be elicited, if 
 enquiry is unrestricted,' and discussion free ; 
 while, without such freedom, truth might be 
 extinguished, and belief become hollow and 
 servile. 
 
 xxi. 
 Religious opinions are not necessarily con- 
 nected with the state, nor with the duties of 
 good subjects ; and, if connected, or attempted 
 to be connected, an incongruity of social rela- 
 tions would arise ; for, if one were made a 
 test of the other, such test would serve as a 
 bribe to enforce conformity, which would be 
 accepted by the insincere, and operate only as 
 an exclusion of sincerity. 
 
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 127 
 
 XXIL 
 
 Religious tests are an infringement of 
 liberty of conscience, because, without their 
 conformity, good men would be deprived of 
 their rights of citizenship ; for every man, per- 
 sonally deserving, has an unalienable right to 
 participate in the honours and emoluments of 
 the society to which he contributes his talents 
 and industry, without reference to his reli- 
 gious faith, to his stature, or to any circum- 
 stance unconnected with his allegiance. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 If the church of God is in every man's own 
 conscience, it is, as it ought to be, independ- 
 ent of the fluctuations of human affairs, and it 
 ought not to be in the power of one man, 
 owing to the existence of a state religion, to 
 render a Catholic people Protestant, nor of a 
 woman to render them Catholic again y nor of 
 her successor to restore them again to Pro- 
 testantism, as has happened in England. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Religion, as in the United States of Ame- 
 rica, should be the personal and conscientious 
 concern of every man with God; it should 
 
 g2 
 
128 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 have as many centres as there are men's 
 hearts, and its fate would not then be mingled 
 with that of establishments, while that which 
 is best would flourish the most- 
 
 xxv. 
 
 The ministers of religion should be liberally 
 supported by public assessments, distributed 
 according to the number of souls of whom they 
 are the approved guardians. The interests of 
 religion might be guarded in the legislature, 
 by representatives elected from the body of 
 religious ministers. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Under such a system, there might be 
 greater variety of opinions, but there would be 
 more sincerity and fewer hypocrites; while 
 truth would prevail, or have a fair chance of 
 prevailing, because it would be wholly unin-* 
 fluenced by sinister motives and sordid calcu- 
 lations. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 If there were no exclusive church establish- 
 ment, there could exist no jealousies in regard 
 to its support; but, if one were set up, it might 
 
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. 129 
 
 be likened to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, 
 the worship of which might be imposed, but 
 such worship would obviously be a duty wholly 
 unconnected v, ith the essential duties of good 
 and useful subjects. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Under a system in which the alliance of 
 religious faith and political obligations was 
 dissolved, the ministers of religion might 
 nevertheless be integrated with society, and 
 all institutions connected with education be 
 preserved and honoured, while sound piety 
 and superior learning would maintain their 
 wonted ascendancy, and the spirit of religions 
 proselytism would cease to be excited by the 
 ambition of directing the state, or monopo- 
 lizing the exclusive revenues of the state 
 church. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Allegiance, obedience, submission, talent, 
 and integrity, should be the only qualifying 
 tests of public confidence and employment; 
 for these are the only qualities really connected 
 with duties to the state and country, 
 
GOLDEN RULES TO BE REMEMBERED 
 IN THE STUDY OF NATURE, AND 
 METAPHYSICAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 I. 
 
 Remember that reason, truth, and demon- 
 stration, are the only authorities in Philosophy ; 
 and that the faith of no man is a proper 
 foundation of the faith of another, unless his 
 doctrine be sustained by reason, truth, and 
 demonstration. 
 
 n. 
 
 Remember that we only know Nature in the 
 degree in which it is cognizable by our senses, 
 and not otherwise ; that our senses take cosrni- 
 zance only of material existences, or of matter in 
 various densities and forms ; and that all our 
 reflections and reasonings are founded on ! 
 knowledge thus acquired. 
 
 in. 
 Remember that the only other thing besides 
 
STUDY OF NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 181 
 
 matter, with which, by experience, we become 
 acquainted, is the space in which matter is 
 contained; and that these two things, matter 
 and space, are always, within equal dimen- 
 sions, inversely as each other. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Remember that matter transferred from one 
 part of space to another, is ^then said to be 
 moved; and the quantity of motion is the 
 quantity of space moved through by the same 
 quantity of matter ; consequently, both matter 
 and space are necessary to motion. 
 
 v. 
 
 Remember that bodies in motion move 
 other bodies by impact, change their place or 
 relative position, and produce new disposi- 
 tions, called phenomena ; which capability of 
 producing change, is called force or power, 
 and no other force or power is either conceiva- 
 ble or necessary. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Remember that all force, or power, is matter 
 in motion; and that there is no other known 
 or justly-imaginable force, besides matter in 
 
182 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 motion : consequently, that power, force, and 
 matter in motion, are convertible terms, of 
 which matter and space are the essential 
 components, 
 
 VII. 
 
 Remember that without matter there could 
 be no force, and without space, no force J — 
 matter and space are, therefore, the primary 
 causes of all phenomena; and, wherever there 
 are phenomena^ there are forces to produce 
 them, or some matter in some motion. 
 
 vnr. 
 Remember that the assigning of any cause 
 but the true cause, leads to false analogies, 
 obstructs the progress of science, and leads to 
 an endless labyrinth of errors. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Remember, universally, that the causes of 
 all phenomena are some matter in some mo- 
 tion ; and that, whenever any other causes are 
 assumed by writers on these subjects, as pow- 
 ers of attraction, repulsion, gravitation, calo- 
 ric, chemistry, &c. &c. all these powers are so 
 many gross absurdities introduced by senti- 
 ments of superstition, or are frauds to disguise 
 
 6 
 
STUDY OF NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY, 133 
 
 ignorance of the true cause, and impose on 
 credulity by equivocal and high-sounding 
 words. — See Appendix. 
 
 x. 
 
 Remember that action is the imparting of 
 force from one body or atom to another ; that 
 re-action is the reception or division of the 
 said force ; that friction is a mode of parting 
 with motion by contact ; or by a direction 
 of motion different from the direction caused 
 by centripetal force, vulgarly called weight, 
 or, learnedly, gravity ; that resistance is a 
 mode of parting with motion to successive 
 atoms ; and that inertia is a pre-existing 
 force in a direction contrary to that of a force 
 applied ; consequently, if any bodies existed 
 which were already unmoved, they would 
 have no inertia. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Remember that the assumed powers of 
 attraction, of whatever kind, are grossly ab- 
 surd, because every motion takes place only in 
 the direction of the acting force ; and, when 
 bodies go together, the motion of each must 
 be derived from the opposite side, where the 
 
134 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 other body is not ; and be also, in each, actually 
 contrary to the resulting motion of the other 
 body. — See Appendix. 
 
 xii. 
 
 Remember that the assumed powers of 
 repulsion, of whatever kind, are grossly absurd, 
 because each of the bodies moves in a con- 
 trary direction ; and a body moving one way 
 cannot produce a motion in another body in 
 a contrary direction to its own motion. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Remember that, as there is no attraction, 
 there is no universal gravitation ; and that 
 weight (disingenuously translated into gravi- 
 tation) is but a motion or endeavour to move 
 in a particular direction, from some competent 
 force, or some transfer of other motions 
 operating in that direction. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Remember that, in every body in motion, 
 the centre of the momentum is the centre of 
 the number of atoms of which it consists ; 
 and that, therefore, all the parts act and re-act 
 mutually and generally with reference to that 
 
 
STUDY OF NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 135 
 
 centre : consequently, this mechanical principle 
 is the sufficient general cause of the fall of 
 parts of bodies in common motions towards 
 their common centre of motion, as in planetary 
 bodies, 
 
 xv. 
 
 Remember that the two-fold motions of the 
 earth, and all planets, are the competent cause 
 of the fall of all the parts towards the centre, 
 and the sufficient local cause of the aggrega- 
 tion of all planetary masses, and of the direc« 
 tion of every part towards the common centre 
 of their motions- 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Remember that caloric, or the matter of 
 heat, is a mere fancy, no heat being known 
 distinct from matter; and the causes being 
 universally some collision, friction, or percus- 
 sion of matter, or some fixation of atoms pre- 
 viously in motion, which, in fixing, impart 
 their previous motions, and thereby exhibit 
 the perception of heat, and dispersive powers 
 on other atoms. 
 
 xv it. 
 Remember that chemistry is the phenomena 
 
136 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of atoms, and that these in different shapes 
 and motions are and must be competent to 
 produce all the various phenomena. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Remember that gas universally consists of 
 atoms, which deflect one another into circular 
 motions, the density being inversely as the 
 orbits ; and these, being as the original ex- 
 citement of motion, according to the quantity 
 of atoms fixed by the fire. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Remember that, as re-action determines 
 the orbits of the atoms of gas, or the density 
 of gas, so space must necessarily be full of 
 gas ; and that all forces and motions, propa- 
 gated within gases or fluids, radiate inversely 
 as the squares of the distances ; in proof of 
 which universal diffusion of gas, it appears 
 that the forces of the sun and planets are 
 diffused according to that necessary law of 
 the gazeous radiation of force. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Remember that action and re-action are 
 equal ; and, consequently, that the force of the 
 
STUDY OF NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 1ST 
 
 solar motions, diffused according to the above 
 law, combined with the re-action of each 
 planet, is the competent cause of the orbi- 
 cular motions of the several planets. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Remember that the earth and moon form a 
 combined system of bodies moved by the solar 
 forces acting on their fulcrum ; towards which 
 fulcrum, as the centre of the common force, the 
 mobile waters always direct themselves, so as 
 to cause the tides. — See Appendix. 
 
 xxii. 
 
 Remember that the elliptical orbits of the 
 planets can be occasioned only by their own 
 varied re-actions to the common Sun ; and 
 that the competent cause of such varied re- 
 action, is the accommodating position of the 
 mobile waters, just as they are known to 
 exist, in different quantities, in the northern 
 and southern hemispheres of the earth. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Remember that these waters enlarge their 
 own beds by the re-actions and attrition of 
 land; and that, in consequence, the line of 
 
188 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 Apsides progresses through the ecliptic at 
 the ascertained present rate of 20,900 years 
 for the entire circle; and hence, that, within 
 such period, the ocean passes, and has often 
 passed, from one hemisphere to the other, 
 occasioning all the varied strata of land and 
 marine remains. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Remember that the rotation of the earth and 
 planets on their axes, unaccordant with any 
 other theory, arises from the re-action of the 
 medium of space towards and through which 
 the planet is progressing, like the rotation of 
 cannon-balls, or bowls ; and that, as the ac- 
 tion of propulsion is greatest on the near hemis- 
 phere, so the re-action is also greatest in that 
 hemisphere; and thus the earth, in progressing 
 from east to west, turns on its near-side from 
 west to east, and on its off-side from east to 
 west ; though this phenomenon may be also 
 connected with the motions of the system 
 of the earth and moon, and the tides be con- 
 sidered as mere consequences of inequalities of 
 action and re-action. 
 
 xxv. 
 Remember that the solar forces are great- 
 
STUDY OF NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 189 
 
 est in the plane of the sun's equator, but 
 governed in width by the inclination of his 
 axis; and hence the breadth of the ecliptic, 
 or the general planetary orbits. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Remember that comets move across the 
 plane of the solar system at large angles, or 
 inclinations, from the hemispheres of space 
 unoccupied by planets, but are deflected from 
 their course as they pass through the plane 
 of the solar forces; and hence their neces- 
 sary peculiar orbits. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Remember that the luminous projections 
 from comets are simple refractions and con- 
 densations of solar light, reflected from the 
 medium, or gas, of space; and affording, by 
 such reflection, ocular proof of the univer- 
 sal existence of such gas, while they are inca- 
 pable of the portentous effects ascribed to them 
 by mistaken or superstitious writers. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Remember that all gas must, of necessity, 
 expand as far as other re-actions will permit ; 
 
140 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY* 
 
 for gas is simply projected atoms deflected 
 into orbits by other atoms previously existing 
 in the space ; consequently, expansion will be 
 determined by mere re-action, and gas must 
 expend wherever there is space unoccupied. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Remember that the peculiar phenomena of 
 the terrestrial atmosphere, in weight equal to 
 elasticity, is simply occasioned by the globe 
 of the earth moving through the gas of space, 
 and rotating within it; by which the same 
 effect is produced on the adjacent gas as on 
 other bodies connected with the earth, and 
 the re-action and the collision determine the 
 elasticity. 
 
 xxx. 
 
 Remember that the principle of gaseous 
 expansion renders it unavoidable that every 
 equal space should possess an equal quantity 
 of momenta in the atoms within it \ or that 
 the gaseous atoms around it must press and 
 act upon it, so as to endeavour, with a given 
 force, to render the momenta equal ; and 
 hence, the action of gases on solids, and the 
 local atmospheres of surfaces, created by the 
 
STUDY OF NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 141 
 
 adjoining gas, and the substance of the body 
 abraded by the action of the gas. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Remember that aerial gas, and gases in 
 general, exist in various combinations of large 
 and small atoms, revolving in harmonious 
 and convenient juxta-position, to which varie- 
 ties, in positive and relative powers, the names 
 of heat-making, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, 
 &c. have been conveniently given. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Remember that the same excitement of 
 motion, or different re-actions of boundary 
 surfaces, will differently affect the atoms of 
 heterogeneous gas, and thereby separate them 
 within the excited space or boundary surfaces ; 
 and this result of separation, under different 
 circumstances, displays all the phenomena 
 called electric, galvanic, and magnetic. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Remember that, as the force of excitement, 
 and varied re-action, cause the separation, so 
 re-union, or restoration to a state of convenient 
 juxta-position, is sought with an equal force ; 
 
142 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 consequently, if any light body, or any body 
 moveable with less force than that of re- 
 union, is placed in the disturbed space, it 
 will be propelled from side to side ; which 
 propulsions have been, in the superstitious 
 jargon of philosophy, called attractions and 
 repulsions, and ascribed to the unintelligible 
 action of some incomprehensible fluids. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Remember that whenever certain gaseous 
 atoms are, by any atomic excitement, intensely 
 propelled, they create the perception of light ; 
 and this is the case during the union of oxy- 
 gen and hydrogen gases, after the evolution 
 of the latter, in connexion with atoms of 
 carbon ; during which the oxygen becoming 
 fixed, creates the local heat, and its previous 
 motions imparted to the gas at the place, 
 cause its atoms to propel one another around, as 
 they fill the surrounding space, and thus they 
 propagate distant atomic affections called 
 Light. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Remember that light or flame is universally 
 a mechanical atomic affection, produced by 
 the fixation of gas in certain combinations ; 
 
STUDY OF NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 148 
 
 that electrical light is the effect of the re- 
 combination of a surface through a single 
 point ; that the flame of combustion is the 
 effect of the fixation of oxygen atoms, whose 
 previous motions are dispersed around in 
 trains from one atom to the next ; and that, 
 whatever is calculated to propagate an intense 
 atomic propulsion from atom to atom, is a 
 cause of light. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Remember that light must be as various 
 as the atoms affected ; hence the phenomena 
 of the prismatic spectrum, which exhibits 
 all the atoms combined in the atmosphere, 
 in mechanical separation, in their gradations 
 of energy or colour ; and in chemical qualities 
 from end to end, exactly corresponding ; con- 
 sequently, the prism, in transmitting excited 
 atoms, is in its spectrum a test of the atoms 
 in the atmosphere, and the most delicate test 
 ever contrived. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Remember that sound is a gross vibration 
 of all the atoms of the same kind ; that each 
 kind produces different tones ; that light and 
 sound are two several modes of affecting the 
 
144 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 same medium,, (light being an atomic pro- 
 pulsion of atom against atGm 5 and sound a 
 general action of the mass ;) that the identi- 
 cal atoms do not travel more in light than in 
 sound ; and, in fine, that the prismatic and 
 diatonic scales accord in proportions, because 
 each is produced by mechanical affections of 
 the very same medium. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Remember that, as motion and force exist 
 wherever there is gas, so, whatever is so con- 
 stituted as to assimilate and fix certain gase- 
 ous atoms, acquires the previous momenta of 
 those atoms, and is capable of displaying their 
 energy : and this is the condition of all ani mated 
 nature, for all animals are provided with lungs, 
 or pneumatic and chemical apparatus for in- 
 haling and fixing oxygenous gas, the motions 
 of which, imparted to them, constitute their 
 life, strength, and energy. 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 Remember that, as heat is atomic motion, so 
 
 the motion of the gas transferred to the animal 
 
 also imparts the perception called heat ; and 
 
 its accumulation, dispersion of atoms, or per- 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 145 
 
 spiration ; that obstructed radiation produces 
 accelerated action, or fever; and, in fine, that 
 gas, or atoms in motion, are the primum mo- 
 bile of the animal system, which acts like a 
 loco-motive steam-engine against the earth; 
 and, by re-action, performs all the functions of 
 loco-motion and animal strength, 
 
 XL. 
 
 Remember that the atmosphere is composed 
 of primary principles, called the oxygenous and 
 the nitrogenous ; and that these principles, in 
 separation, produce the phenomena of electri- 
 city ; that, therefore, the fixation of oxygen in 
 the lungs produces a re-action of nitrogen at 
 the skin : and hence the absorption of nitrogen, 
 the discolouring of the blood, and that flitting 
 action and re -action of which the sensitive 
 animal is the intermediate result. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Remember that the processes of attrition 
 and amalgamation, in animal circulations and 
 assimilations, are such as would generate the 
 medium atoms of nitrogen from the hydrogen 
 of food, and the oxygen of respiration ; and 
 that animals may hence be an elaboratory of 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
146 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 nitrogen, while this process points out the 
 nature of that gas in accordance with its 
 middle position in the prismatic decomposi- 
 tion of atmospheric air. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 Remember that animals do not think per 
 se; that experience and education gradually 
 develope their powers ; that their habits are 
 determined by their forms and capabilities ; 
 and that their senses for discrimination indi- 
 cate their individual free-agency, in subordi- 
 nation to more general laws. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Remember that the senses of individuality, 
 consciousness, and the power of saying / am, 
 are necessary results of continued personal 
 experience; and that it would be most whimsi- 
 cal if all the senses, and the varied actions and 
 re-actions of one animal, generated any per- 
 ceptions for another, or for any but their own 
 patient ; hence that every animal, in its sen- 
 sitive and reasoning powers, is made up, or is 
 a mere result, of his experience ; one intellec- 
 tual effect being a cause of another effect, 
 
Mature and philosophy. 147 
 
 While none of these phaenomena belong to the 
 infant animal as qualities or powers per se. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Remember that vegetables subsist, like ani- 
 mals, by economising the gases ; but, being 
 fixed in one spot, and having no choice, they 
 have no senses or nervous system for appropri- 
 ating experience, and reasoning by analogy ; 
 but that animals for loco-motion have internal 
 cavities for soil and roots, which extend from 
 those cavities through connecting vessels to 
 nurture the system, with Senses to avoid dan- 
 gers, and discriminate the soil adapted to the 
 cavity and roots of their stomachs. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 Remember that vegetables and animals are 
 varieties of existence, whose essential distinc- 
 tion is the animal faculty of moving about ; to 
 sustain which, new powers of sensation, per- 
 ception, memory, and reasoning by analogy, 
 are necessary, with a peculiarity of structure 
 by which the roots centre in the cavity of the 
 stomach, into which cavity suitable soil is to 
 be put, diseases following if the roots are 
 rotted by too much manure, or artificial com- 
 
148 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 post, as alcohol, spices, &c. the progression 
 of nature teaching, that atoms generate orga- 
 nic bodies, then vegetables, and then animals. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Remember that the arithmetical ratio by 
 which assimilation of food and diminution 
 take place, arrives at a limit, and determines 
 the bulk and maturity of the vegetable and 
 animal; that the energies are then counterba- 
 lanced by the exhaustion, and the being ceases 
 by the same law which governed its growth, — 
 animal and vegetable life being exactly repre- 
 sented by regular curves, — an ascent in youth, 
 an apex at maturity, and then a similar descent 
 in age, all regular and proportional. 
 
 XL VII. 
 
 Remember that all organized nature is 
 divided into male and female, because all 
 causation consists of action and re-action, and 
 these require an agent and patient to produce 
 a third thing, or new being; and also because, 
 as reproduction thus requires the concurrence of 
 separated powers, the presence of support, or 
 means of life, is at the same time implied. 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 149 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Remember that all things that exist are 
 physically fit; and, while they continue to 
 exist, are in harmony, and must be in har- 
 mony, with all other things ; that unfitness, or 
 want of harmony, leads to extinction and 
 death ; and that, therefore, there is an universal 
 harmony in regard to all existing things, and 
 an exact balance of causes and effects. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 Remember that the difficulty of analysis is 
 accelerated by the complication of the thing to 
 be examined ; and that, therefore, the metaphy- 
 sical and medical schools involve themselves in 
 a climax of absurdities and intellectual mys- 
 teries, by their attempted analysis of educated 
 and perfected animals, and adopting the re- 
 sults as powers per se. 
 
 Remember that accessions of attributes are 
 equivalent to harmonious final causes; and 
 that, therefore, all nature is best examined in 
 primitive forms and infant stages ; for the addi- 
 tions, and even accumulations, of attributes, 
 then involve no difficulties. 
 
1 5a 
 
 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 LI. 
 
 Remember that, if thus examined, the 
 famed principle of life, added to matter, in 
 vegetables and animals, will be found to be the 
 faculty or capability of fixing the moving atoms 
 of gas, and of receiving and appropriating 
 their momenta, from which result heat, cir-* 
 culation, and muscular vigour. 
 
 MI. 
 
 Remember that, as all respiration produces 
 separation of the gaseous constituents ; and 
 that, as their solicited re-union constitutes 
 electricity and galvanism in one relation, so^ 
 in another ; it constitutes nervous excitement, 
 and the energy of animal chemistry. 
 
 LIH. 
 
 Remember that, as new-born infants have no 
 perceptions, volitions, thoughts, reasonings, 
 language, abstractions, &c, &c. so all these 
 powers do not belong to the animal perse, but 
 are accidents and additions, and not to be 
 treated of as integral necessary parts of the 
 educated man. 
 
 LIV, 
 
 Remember that the infant organization of 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 151 
 
 man comes into the world an assemblage of 
 mere capabilities, like the young of other 
 animals, consisting of respiratory organs for 
 fixing in their systems the motions of the 
 atoms of the gaseous atmosphere, with a 
 stomach to receive nutritive soil for assimi- 
 lation and elimination ; with a system of 
 circulating vessels and jointed muscles for 
 varied directions of leverage ; and with a 
 medullary system, capable, by its reticular 
 construction, of transferring excitements from 
 without to the mechanical focus in the brain, 
 which, in all animals, treasures experience, 
 and reasons by analogy. 
 
 LV. 
 
 Remember that the medullary system of 
 man is more refined, subtle, and complicated, 
 than that of other animals ; hence its educa- 
 tion is prolonged, while the results are his 
 intellectual ascendancy over them ; and is 
 capable of such variation, that, in different 
 parts of the world, the same organization, by 
 education, becomes either an Englishman or 
 a Chinese, a Frenchman or a Tartar, a Chris- 
 tian or a Mahomedan, a Brahmin or a Pope, 
 a vulgar man or a polished gentleman. 
 
152 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 LVI. 
 
 Remember that men, in the development of 
 their medullary system, assume every variety 
 of character, and, in respect to their conduct, 
 opinions, religion, habits, language, and 
 propensities, are altogether artificial, and 
 totally unlike one another, except in having 
 plastic common powers, capable at the same 
 time of being totally opposite to what they 
 are in their ultimate characteristics. The 
 difference between men and animals consists 
 in the varied subtlety and complication of the 
 medullary system, while the differences between 
 men consist in the varied education of the 
 medullary system. 
 
 LVIL 
 
 Remember that the subtlety of the medul- 
 lary system of man, aided by the organs of 
 voice, and the faculty of the hands, generates 
 various ultimate phenomena, not developed 
 by more simple systems of brain and nerves : 
 hence the complicated passions, virtues, and 
 vices, successively acquired and exhibited by 
 the human race ; the manoeuvres by which 
 manual labour is shifted from one to another ; 
 the intrigues and coquetry of the sexes; the 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 153 
 
 abuses of all social arrangements and insti- 
 tutions; and the necessity of social laws, 
 incessant legislation, moral obligations, and 
 even of religious institutions, for restraint, 
 coercion, and regulation. 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 Remember that, as it is with man, so it is 
 with all animals : they have senses and capabi- 
 lities, simple or complex, — if simple, soon edu- 
 cated, — if complex, long in training ; while 
 their senses and experience would be utterly- 
 useless, unless they universally possessed 
 powers of memory, and a capability of rea- 
 soning by analogy. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 Remember that space, or actual extension, 
 is the most simple, pure, eternal, necessary, 
 and immutable, object of human cognizance ; 
 that it is the recipient of all matter, and the 
 stage for displaying the phenomena of all 
 material existence ; that it is the essential in- 
 gredient of all power, because power is as 
 velocity, or as the space occupied in the same 
 time ; that it seems, therefore, to be the ever- 
 lasting womb of nature which evolves all 
 
 h2 
 
154 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 things, and into whose bosom all things 
 return, and that it is not the less an universal 
 actuality because essentially immaterial. 
 
 LX. 
 
 Remember that time is the measure of 
 space, or the measure of motion, or the mea- 
 sure of successive relations or phenomena ; 
 that it is eternal, because changes have eternal 
 succession, and because space, which it mea- 
 sures, is infinite in extent ; that space by reci- 
 procity is infinite, because progression in eter- 
 nal time could reach no finite boundary ; that 
 time is a negation of power, which is directly 
 as the space occupied, but inversely as the 
 time ; while, with reference to our perceptions, 
 Time is commensurate with them, and 
 merely relative, being inversely as our past 
 experience, or long in youth and short in old 
 age ; long during the intense feeling of pain, 
 or deferred hope, when moments are counted ; 
 and short in seasons of gaiety, when impres- 
 sions are volatilized by the imagination ; yet 
 averaged by numbers of individuals, and equal 
 in its divided sum to its equality in nature. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 Remember that the sublime and necessary 
 
 6 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 155 
 
 harmony of nature ought to check the pre- 
 sumptive pride of man, who, instead of as- 
 suming that all things were made for his use, 
 abuse, and caprice, and becoming the univer- 
 sal destroyer of all objects of his senseless 
 aversion, ought, with humility, to feel his 
 subservience to nature, and to accommodate 
 his own existence to that of all the other 
 existences evolved by the harmony of the 
 unceasing creation ; and, if he should inso- 
 lently assert, that his caprices are part of that 
 harmony, let him look to Asia, to Palestine, 
 and to Africa, countries which he has rendered 
 waste by his desolating pride, ignorance, and 
 improvidence. 
 
 LXII. 
 
 Remember that matter, in its abstraction 
 and essence, is display of power, absolute 
 with reference to the totality, but relative 
 with reference to the parts; that power is 
 directly as space, or motion, or velocity ; and 
 inversely as matter or resistance; that evi- 
 dence of resistance is evidence that space is 
 filled with power, with universal re-action, or 
 with matter, either substantially, or in such 
 motion as to occupy every point of space in 
 every infinitessimal of time; consequently^ 
 
156 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 that matter and space are co-extensive ; that 
 matter and space are inversely as each other ; 
 and as space does not move, so all power is 
 as the matter, or as the number of atoms 
 moved, power being a mere relation of mat- 
 ter ; and that, as matter exists in continuity 
 or proximity, so the definite power of one 
 atom is transferred to others, sometimes 
 producing visible changes, and, at other times, 
 being indefinitely subdivided without sensible 
 disturbance .. 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 Remember, that what we call substance, 
 is merely a collection of powers within certain 
 dimensions of space : that the qualities are 
 mere relations to our powers, perceptions, or 
 tests, which to us are so many standards of 
 distinction; that the matter exists as much 
 as we exist, because action and re-action are 
 always equal ; that, nevertheless, our tests 
 being relative, we can conceive no better of 
 the depths of space, or indefinite smallness 
 of atoms, than we do of the lengths or infini- 
 tude of space, though it is obvious that all 
 definite bodies are composed of such indefi- 
 nitely small atoms, with which all power or 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 157 
 
 motion begins ; that these nascent points 
 combined, or partly simple and partly com- 
 bined, or wholly combined, constitute, in 
 relation, proximity, or juxta-position, the 
 solids, fluids, and gases, which compose 
 planets and systems of planets, in all the 
 varieties of body which subsist upon and 
 within them. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 Remember that the final cause of all things 
 is intimately blended with the harmony of the 
 whole ; that particular existences are neces- 
 sary results of that harmony, cause and effect 
 being like the two ends of a lever, simulta- 
 neously moving on a fulcrum ; that nature is 
 an active totality, of which particulars are 
 patients, live if you can, being the law of 
 existence ; while the general harmony consti- 
 tutes a perfect result. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 Remember that, although it is difficult to 
 comprehend the harmonious connexion of 
 the small with the great, yet, as the motions 
 of the solar heat tend to volatilize the earth, 
 so vegetables simultaneously perform a fixing 
 
158 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 process, while the loco-motive organizations 
 not merely refix and return to the earth what 
 might otherwise be diffused in space, but 
 probably serve to scatter and deflect motions 
 which continued impulsions might render 
 accelerative ; while the cause and the conse- 
 quence, and the consequence and the cause, 
 produce an actual result in accordance and 
 harmony. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 Remember that, although a sort of legerde- 
 main change of the date of the year, as 1809 to 
 1890, changes all the particular organizations 
 on the earth, yet the various circles of causes, 
 and the regular series of antagonist powers, 
 maintain a succession, and that the sum, or 
 totality, is on the whole earth alike, accompa- 
 nied by the same passions, the same generated 
 sense of identity, and effecting the same 
 purposes in the great, wonderful, and harmo- 
 nious scheme of nature. 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 Remember that, if the simple declarations 
 and record of facts be considered as philo- 
 sophy, the vulgar are as wise as the philoso- 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 159 
 
 phers ; and that, although facts are the data 
 of philosophers, on which to generalize and 
 infer causes, yet he who assembles them is 
 merely a useful pioneer, and not, therefore, 
 a philosopher, — an inference which applies 
 equally to phaenomena observed, and to the 
 detection of any arithmetical law of their 
 action. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 Remember that there is no philosophy in 
 the vulgar fact, that all terrestrial bodies fall 
 towards the centre of the earth ; no philoso^ 
 phy in the vulgar fact, that twice the quantity 
 falls with twice the force ; nor any philosophy 
 in calling the phsenomenon by the vulgar name 
 of weight, or in translating this name into 
 gravitation; while it is an insult, both on 
 reason and philosophy, to consider this coin- 
 age of language as an explication of the 
 cause of the phenomena. 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 Remember that Newton himself did not 
 use the term gravitation as a cause, but left 
 the ignominy of this abuse of it to his fol- 
 lowers ; that, nevertheless, he assumed it to 
 
160 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 be a central force any how produced, and 
 under the notion of this indifference, as to 
 the cause, extended it in a particular direction 
 through the universe, founding on this false 
 analogy of a universal central force, his system 
 of physics. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 Remember that no such central force as 
 that assumed by Newton can exist, simply 
 because bodies cannot act where they are not, 
 and even push each other from their opposite 
 sides, where neither is present ; that, there- 
 fore, the earth does not push a stone on its 
 upward side; nor the earth, the moon, at 
 its opposite side ; nor the moon the earth, at 
 the antipodes ; nor the sun the planets, on 
 their opposite sides ; nor the planets one 
 another : all which suppositions are logically 
 absurd ; and belief in them is a degradation 
 of human reason. 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 Remember that the basis of superstition is 
 the assigning of effects to causes not in 
 mechanical and material connexion ; and, if 
 in connexion, not in power, or direction of 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 161 
 
 power, corresponding with the magnitude or 
 circumstances of the effect ; and that such 
 basis of superstition is the radical error of the 
 physics of Newton, the chemistry of Lavoi- 
 sier, the miracles of priestcraft, and the won- 
 ders of enchantment. Thev teach the exist- 
 ence of powers per se, and powers sni generis^ 
 as short roads to knowledge ; and conceal 
 their ignorance., by using terms which merely 
 mystify the understandings of their disciples, 
 
 LXXIL 
 
 Remember that the proof of one thing is 
 not a proof of another thing, however adroitly 
 it may be attempted to ally them ; and that 
 this false alliance was made by Newton when 
 he united his hypothetical physical powers to 
 geometrical diagrams, and then, by demon- 
 strations in regard to the latter, conceived 
 that he equally demonstrated the former. 
 
 LXXIII. 
 
 Remember that truth is the sole object of 
 philosophical enquiry, and that one funda- 
 mental truth serves as the root of others, 
 constituting the tree of knowledge ; conse- 
 quently, it is not indifferent whether we 
 
162 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ascribe true or false causes to phenomena ; 
 and questions about causes are not disputes 
 about mere names, as many pretend, who 
 seek a base apology for teaching and cherish- 
 ing errors, which they cannot defend by- 
 direct reasoning. 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 Remember that the principle that bodies 
 act in power, where they are not present, 
 and in directions contrary to that in which 
 they are moving, are gross absurdities; and 
 yet these absurdities are the foundations of all 
 those modes of acting by attraction and re- 
 pulsion, which men in superstitious ages 
 introduced into nature, which are to this 
 day applied to illustrate all kinds of pheno- 
 mena, and tenaciously maintained by all socie- 
 ties and universities in the civilized world. 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 Remember that no planetary phenomena 
 ever exhibited any attractive or central force; 
 that the clusters, or systems of fixed stars, 
 indicate its non-existence, — even if so absurd 
 principle were worthy of a formal argument ; 
 that the law, called the law of gravitation, I 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 163 
 
 is the law with which all forces are necessarily 
 diverged through a gaseous or fluid medium; 
 that mutual action and re-action, under that 
 law, are the competent causes of the motions 
 of the planets ; that the motion of bodies, 
 towards the centre of the earth, is a local 
 effect of subordination to the great terrestrial 
 motions; and, consequently, that the entire 
 doctrine of universal gravitation, with its 
 whimsical projectile force, and its monstrous 
 vacuum in space, is an airy dream of specu- 
 lative philosophers. 
 
 LXXVI* 
 
 Remember that, whatever is the patient of 
 the regular motions of the universe, is the 
 patient of unalterable necessity ; but, when- 
 ever motions are modified by new centres, 
 turned into new directions, and have a fulcrum 
 of variable power, they cease to be continui- 
 ties of the general motions of the universe. 
 Such is the mind or brain, or intellectual ful- 
 crum of an animal. It sees and feels motions 
 as on one side of a lever, but these motions are 
 modified on the other side by the fulcrum of 
 self-love, by experience, by error, by truth, 
 and all the passions, and these determine the 
 
164 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 result; and, therefore, with reference to the 
 deciding animal, are free. The senses and 
 perceptions, in truth, confer choice on the 
 animal, and qualify it to be free, by reasoning 
 not always perfect, and therefore not ne- 
 cessary. 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 Remember that the pernicious doctrine of 
 fatality, in regard to human and animal life, 
 arises from three mistakes : — one, a confounding 
 of phenomena, which result from the successive 
 transfers of eternal motion from one passive 
 body to another, with phenomena which 
 arise from motions that are deflected, divided, 
 and newly applied by the concentrated powers 
 of animal microcosms, or the fulcra of their 
 judgments, which direct special results, de- 
 pendent on the knowledge and caprice of the 
 animal ; — two, a confounding of the simple 
 fact, that an event which has happened neces- 
 sarily but in one way, with a supposed possi- 
 bility that it might, at the same time, have 
 happened also in some other way, or have 
 been two or more events instead of one ; — and 
 three, that all the causes exist for the sake of a 
 remote result, instead of a result being a sim- 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 165 
 
 pie and indifferent consequence of the causes 
 which themselves cease to be a chain the 
 moment they are directed and operated upon 
 by variable animal judgments, which are new 
 centres of power derived from the cross 
 action, so to speak, of other diverse powers. 
 
 LXXVIII. 
 
 Remember that judgment is the only crite- 
 rion of truth ; hence men, who exercise their 
 judging part, are esteemed wise ; and those, 
 who do not do so, are properly accounted 
 fools : the two classes, in regard to the use of 
 the brain, are exactly what industrious and 
 idle men are in regard to the use of the limbs 
 and body; and, in general, there is an accord- 
 ance between the internal and external 
 phenomena. 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 Remember that, as men cannot always be 
 forming judgments, more than they can always 
 while awake be industriously employed, so 
 brains, the most employed in judging, have 
 their idle times, and hence the wisest men 
 have what are called their weak sides, and 
 avenues through them open to vice, and to the 
 
166 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 seductions of superstition and folly, which 
 tempt them, and all men, in so many attrac* 
 tive and delusive forms. 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 Remember that the organs of the brain seem 
 to be divisible into those of perception, and 
 those of reminiscence, both being connected 
 with judgment or with the faculty of reason- 
 ing, from one fact to another, and possessed in 
 different degrees by men, and in some degree 
 by all animals, as is evident from their 
 progressive improvement, and the cunning of 
 experience. 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 Remember that the brain when not at rest, 
 or asleep, is in continued action like the body ; 
 and hence, when not called into special action, 
 has its loose, wild, or rambling excitements ; 
 and these constitute, in their phenomena, what 
 is called the fancy, the involuntary, dreaming, 
 and poetical powers. 
 
 LXXXII. 
 
 Remember that the preponderance of these 
 separate modes of brain-action constitutes all 
 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 167 
 
 the differences of individuals ; that in some> 
 the judgment is constantly exerted, and in 
 others seldom ; but, as the brain is, notwith- 
 standing, in action while aw T ake, so the cha- 
 racteristic results of the latter are, levity of 
 conduct, wildness of imagination, and easy 
 credulity unopposed by energy of judgment. 
 
 lxxxiii. 
 
 Remember that it is indifferent how the 
 powers of animal judgments were originated, 
 whether as powers per se, or as powers gene- 
 rated by previous actions and re-actions, parts 
 of eternal motions ; it being sufficient to this 
 point, that the powers thus concentrated have 
 individual varieties, and are capable of newly 
 directing those eternal motions of which 
 passive and uneducated matter is the mere 
 patient. In truth, the animal senses confer on 
 them powers of choice, or they would be 
 utterly useless ; and this simple choice, much 
 exercised, becomes judgment, which judg- 
 ment directs external things, and decides the 
 fortune of the animal, right or wrong, accord- 
 ing to its varied experience, discipline, and 
 knowledge. The will is governed by the 
 judgment; but the judgment itself is variable, 
 
168 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 and dependent on degrees of knowledge, from 
 up to infinity, and therefore not necessary. 
 Hence man is free in a world of inanimate 
 physical necessity. 
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 Remember that all prophecy is but a balance 
 of probabilities depending on the experience, 
 reasoning, and foresight, of the individual ; 
 and, when otherwise, unless corroborated by 
 alleged miraculous powers, is imposture^ 
 fanaticism, or madness; and that all the 
 various means of foretelling events, by which 
 men have deluded themselves and others by a 
 believed connexion of variable systems of 
 bodies with future events, have been rendered 
 plausible by the unsuspected fact, that there 
 is an arithmetical chance that any number of 
 probable events, any how indicated, will 
 necessarily come to pass; and, as prophecies 
 depend merely on this general principle, so 
 there is not any necessary connexion between 
 the indices and the events ; consequently, it 
 does not signify whether the indices are 
 planets or cards, the cackling or the entrails of 
 birds, the sediments of tea-cups or marbles 
 knocked against a wall, the dreams of imper- 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 169 
 
 feet sleep, or the lines of the hand and 
 forehead. 
 
 LXXXV. 
 
 Remember that the new philosophy does 
 not affect to explain every thing, nor that its 
 explications are always perfect; it merely 
 asserts the general principle, that the universal 
 material cause is always matter in motion; 
 and then it applies this principle to details, in 
 which it may be sometimes right, or sometimes 
 wrong: but these errors in the application do 
 not affect the fundamental principle, nor jus- 
 tify theories founded on other and erroneous 
 general principles, a sophism often used by 
 the feeble and captious advocates of the anti- 
 quated and obsolete theories. 
 
 LXXXVI. 
 
 Remember that the new philosophy opposes 
 the two-fold motion of the earth, as the true 
 cause of the fall of all its parts towards the 
 centre of motion, to the unexplained doctrine 
 of terrestrial attraction ; that it opposes the 
 law of propagated force, through a fluid or 
 gaseous medium, to the law of assumed 
 
 vol. i. i 
 
170 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 V 
 
 universal gravitation ; that it opposes the 
 effect of action and re-action to the joint 
 actions of the assumed gravitation, and the 
 assumed projectile force; that it opposes the 
 universal existence of gas, in the celestial 
 spaces, to the alleged vacuum ; that it 
 opposes the motions of atoms to the alleged 
 existence of a principle of heat, called caloric ; 
 that it opposes the motions of atoms to the 
 alleged principle of chemical action; that it 
 opposes the disturbance of the harmonious or 
 natural relations of atoms, to the existence of 
 fluids per se, as those of electricity, &c. &c. ; 
 that it opposes the proximate mechanical 
 causes of every variety of union, or separation 
 of bodies or atoms, to the assumed action of 
 any powers of attraction, repulsion, <&c. ; that it 
 opposes the regular and harmonious rotations 
 of atoms of gases to their alleged repulsions; 
 that it opposes the imparting of their motions 
 to the doctrine of the parting with caloric ; 
 that it opposes the appropriation of their 
 motions by respiration to the multifarious 
 doctrines about animal heat and the energy 
 of life; and, in fine, that it opposes some 
 matter in some motion to all the special 
 names of causes, invented to cover igno- 
 
 2 
 
NATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 171 
 
 ; ranee, while they deceive the superficial, and 
 J serve to mystify and perplex enquiry. 
 
 LXXXVJI. 
 
 Remember all these propositions ; weigh, 
 i examine, extend, and apply them, and they 
 ! will serve as antidotes to the antiquated super- 
 stitions, gratuitous assumptions, absurd mysti- 
 fications, and dogmatical assertions, relative 
 to powers per se, qualities per se, and fluids 
 sui generis, with which books of all kinds are 
 encumbered, by which knowledge is dis- 
 graced, and the discriminating powers of the 
 human intellect insulted and debased. 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR ELECTORS. 
 
 i. 
 
 By the spirit of the British constitution, the 
 House of Commons is designed to represent 
 the people, express their voice, and support 
 their interests, in making laws, in controlino* 
 ministers, and in levying taxes : consequently, 
 its members ought to be freely and fairly 
 elected, and to be independent of the other 
 estates of parliament, of the king's ministers, 
 and of the produce of the taxes ; or they cease, 
 for their important constitutional purposes, to 
 be genuine representatives of the people. 
 
 ir. 
 
 The property, liberty, happiness, and life, 
 of every one of the British people, depending 
 essentially and substantially on the incorrupti- 
 bility, independence, and public spirit, of their 
 representatives, — every elector is bound toscru- 
 
ELECTORS. 173 
 
 tinize the character and pretensions of all 
 I persons who offer themselves as delegates, to 
 express his voice, and support his interests, in 
 the parliament of the nation. 
 
 hi. 
 As guardians of the public purse, it is evi- 
 dent that members of the House of Commons 
 should possess at least the ordinary qualifica- 
 tions of upright stewards, and should not ap- 
 propriate to their own benefit those national 
 resources with the control of which they are 
 entrusted ; nor in any manner identify them- 
 selves with the servants of the state, whose 
 expenditure and measures they are appointed 
 to examine and restrain. 
 
 IV. 
 
 As guardians of the rights of the people 
 against encroachments of the prerogatives of 
 the crown and the privileges of the nobility, 
 and as conservators of public liberty, it is 
 evident that members of the House of Com- 
 mons should not consist either of servants of 
 the crown, or of mere dependents of the 
 nobility. 
 
374 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 As controllers of the political measures of 
 the state, it is evident, that the members of 
 the House of Commons ought to possess 
 unquestionable integrity and undaunted public 
 spirit; and, as co-legislators, ought to be men 
 of liberal education, mature age, and practical 
 experience. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Of course it depends, in all cases, on the in- 
 dependence, intelligence, and energy, of elec- 
 tors, whoever they may be, whether the persons 
 whom they choose to represent them are 
 worthy or unworthy, are competent or incom- 
 petent, or are traitors or friends to the rights, 
 privileges, and interests, of the people. 
 
 * # * That freeholders, burgesses, and householders, 
 according as the right of election exists, may not have 
 their right nullified by improper persons, it should be 
 understood that the following classes of persons are dis- 
 qualified from voting, viz. minors, aliens born, persons 
 deaf, dumb, and blind, idiots and lunatics, peers, papists, 
 outlaws, convicted felons, persons convicted of bribery, 
 perjury, or subornation, persons receiving alms, custom- 
 house and excise officers, distributors of stamps, certain 
 collectors of taxes, and persons connected with the Post- 
 office. 
 
ELECTORS. 1 75 
 
 VII. 
 
 It should never be lost sight of by the 
 electors, and by the connexions of electors, 
 that, at the hustings, every elector takes, or is 
 required by law to take, the following solemn 
 oath: — I swear that I have not received, or 
 had, by myself or any person ivhatsoever for 
 me, or for my use or benefit, directly or indi- 
 rectly, any sum or sums of money, office, place, 
 or employment, gift, or reward, or any pro- 
 mise or security for any money, office, employ- 
 ment, or gift, in order to give my vote at this 
 election;" — a form of words which will check 
 all who respect the obligations of religion, and 
 fear the penalties of perjury, and which there- 
 fore ought, on no pretence, to be dispensed 
 with at any election. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 But, if the perpetration of the crime of per- 
 jury serve as no check on the conscience of an 
 unprincipled elector, it should be known, that 
 to give, to offer, or to accept, any bribe, or the 
 promise of any bribe, in any direct or indirect 
 manner, is held by law to be a crime which 
 subjects the convicted party to infamous disa- 
 
/ 
 
 176 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 bilities, and renders him liable to heavy fines 
 and imprisonments. 
 
 *„* In the year 1819, Sir Manasseh Lopez, for 
 bribery, through his agent at Grampound, was sentenced 
 to twenty-one months' imprisonment in Exeter gaol, and 
 to pay a fine of 10,000/. ; and in the same term, Henry 
 Swann, esq. for bribery at Penrhyn, was sentenced to 
 twelve months' imprisonment in the King's bench, and to 
 pay a fine of 1000/. In 1804, Messrs. Davison, Parsons, 
 and Hopping, were convicted of bribery at Ilchester, and 
 sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment in the King's- 
 bench. Hundreds of similar instances of this crime, and 
 its punishment, might be adduced ; but the notice of 
 these cases may have the salutary effect desired. 
 
 IX. 
 
 In like manner, any threat or intimidation, 
 ^vith a view to influence an elector in the con- 
 scientious discharge of his duty, is held in law 
 to be equivalent in criminality to an actual 
 bribe; and the infliction of an injury on an 
 elector, in resentment of his conscientious 
 vote, vitiates the return, and is punishable by 
 law as a high crime and misdemeanour. 
 
 %• Thus any act of a candidate, tending unduly to 
 influence a return, subjects the party, by 43 Geo. III. 
 c. 18. to the penalty of 1000/. ; and the elector submit- 
 ting to such influence is liable to a penalty of 500/., to be 
 recovered by any person who shall sue for the same, 
 
ELECTORS. 177 
 
 besides rendering the party giving or receiving, or know- 
 ing of any such gift or promise, incapable of sitting in 
 that parliament; and rendering the party who may have 
 received any office or employment, incapable of holding 
 ! the same. 
 
 x - 
 As the liberties of the people, and the pros- 
 perity of the nation, depend so intimately on 
 the integrity and independence of electors, a 
 corrupt or parasite vote is by consequence an 
 act of social treason to the country, and a 
 crime against every citizen, which it is the 
 duty of all to expose and endeavour to punish. 
 
 XI. 
 
 To inform becomes meritorious when such 
 great public interests are in danger of being 
 compromised ; and the public-spirited citizen, 
 who is the means of exposing and punishing 
 bribery at an election, is therefore well entitled 
 to receive the legal penalty of five hundred 
 pounds, and also the thanks of his co electors 
 and country. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Those electors who sell their votes for 
 money, or barter them for any private benefit; 
 or who permit a candidate to defray heavy 
 incidental expences during his election, must 
 
 12 
 
1T8 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 expect to repay in taxes the price of their cor- 
 ruption, neglect, or venality. Having been 
 bought, or having suffered their representative 
 to involve himself in heavy costs, they must 
 expect to be re-sold with a profit, and that he 
 will in some manner indemnify himself; for no 
 wise man would expend his private fortune in 
 procuring a return to parliament, but with an 
 intention of repaying himself by court favours, 
 by patronage, or other sinister advantages. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 It is the duty of public-spirited electors to 
 enter into subscriptions for the purpose of 
 defraying the incidental expences of conveying 
 electors to the poll, printing advertisements, 
 &c. ; and unless they would borrow on worse 
 terms than spendthrifts borrow of usurers, they 
 w 7 ill never permit a candidate to involve him- 
 self in expences which he would be justified in 
 taking from the public treasury. In truth, a 
 candidate who is forward in lavishing his pri- 
 vate fortune for the onerous duty of serving 
 his constituents in the House of Commons, 
 may always be reasonably suspected of covert 
 designs. The only security is, to return men 
 of known probity, free of expence. 
 
ELECTORS. 179 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Corrupt electors in returning unprincipled 
 members not only injure themselves, but 
 become the means by which knaves are 
 enabled to deprive their fellow- subjects of 
 their property, their happiness, and their 
 liberties ; the men, therefore, who sell or barter 
 their votes at an election for their proportionate 
 share of the 8000/. which is said to be the 
 market price of two seats, are public scoun- 
 drels, and ought to be held more infamous 
 than culprits guilty of any species of private 
 felony. 
 
 xv. 
 
 The power of excluding all improper and 
 equivocal characters from parliament being in 
 the hands of electors, a due respect to their 
 own honour, integrity, and wisdom, ought to 
 prompt every separate body of them to be 
 careful that they^are represented in the great 
 council of the nation by men who will not 
 disgrace their choice, or render nugatory the 
 virtuous exertions of other representatives. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Every elector before he votes should examine 
 himself in the following points : — Whether he 
 
180 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 entertains a disinterested and dispassionate 
 belief that his favourite candidate is the most 
 deserving of the candidates ? Whether he 
 has no other motive for his preference than 
 such conviction? Whether he has no lurking 
 self-interest which he purposes to serve? 
 And whether his vote is given as uprightly 
 and scrupulously as that of the candidate 
 ought to be, while performing his duties in 
 parliament: for such as are the represented, 
 such is likely to be the representative. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 An honest elector will have no reason to 
 doubt in his choice, if the candidate having 
 already sat in parliament has rendered known 
 benefits to the community, — if he has opposed 
 wars entered into for sinister purposes, or to 
 gratify bad passions, — if he has steadily up- 
 held the rights and liberties of the people, — if 
 he has supported justice in transactions with 
 foreign nations, — if he has resisted oppressive 
 taxes, — if he has voted for the reform of noto- 
 rious abuses, — and if he has assisted in 
 impeaching mal-administration wherever it 
 may have appeared to exist. 
 
ELECTORS. 181 
 
 XVIIT. 
 
 Public principle, and an accurate discrimi- 
 nation in regard to the merits of public pre- 
 tensions of the candidate, ought to direct everv 
 voter ; and every departure from principle on 
 the part of any one elector, resulting either 
 from undue influence, personal partiality, or 
 the cajolery of the candidates or their friends, 
 is highly dangerous to the cause which an 
 honest elector hopes to see successful. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 No sensible elector, who desires to be con - 
 sidered as a man of integrity and principle, 
 will on any account compromise his just 
 cause by splitting his vote with an opponent ; a 
 conduct which, under the most favourable cir- 
 cumstances, neutralizes or nullifies his voice, 
 and often, owing to the management of the 
 election, gives a numerical majority of votes 
 over a real majority of honest electors. 
 
 %* For example, if there are two thousand honest 
 | electors, and only two hundred corrupt ones, and the 
 [ former should be so weak or inconsiderate as to split 
 their votes with an unworthy party, they will thereby 
 I place that party at the head of the poll, by adding their 
 j 2000 to his 200, and become thereby the means of 
 | defeating themselves. 
 
182 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Any elector who splits his votes with an ad- 
 verse faction, ought by his own friends to be 
 treated as a felo-de-se, for he thereby not 
 merely commits suicide on his own political 
 existence, but superadds the criminal respon- 
 sibility of aiding the other party against his 
 own friends. If he do this without considera- 
 tion, he ought to be held up to public scorn as 
 a fool ; but, if he persist after warning, then 
 he ought to be treated as a knave, and as a 
 traitor to his cause. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 The cardinal rule is to vote on principle. 
 If there is only one worthy candidate, give 
 him a plumper ; and, if two, vote for both. 
 But do not let any elector, under the silly, 
 weak, or crafty, pretence of using all his votes, 
 give one for each party, such conduct being 
 the sure means of nullifying his own interest, 
 while it often leads to the ascendancy of a 
 well-trained band of corrupt electors. 
 
 %* It would be a great improvement in the system of 
 elections, if every body of electors chose but one candi- 
 date. In that case they could not be played off against 
 each other as they now are, by being cajoled out of their 
 spare vote for unworthy candidates. In the city of Lon- 
 
ELECTORS. 183 
 
 i 
 
 | don every elector has four votes, and hence the absur- 
 i dity of the results of contests among the best-informed 
 : body of electors in the empire. Every liveryman thinks 
 1 he best uses his power by splitting- his votes among the 
 ! candidates; hence it often happens that the most puny- 
 minded or unprincipled candidates are returned to 
 parliament, in preference to men of eminent virtue and 
 talents. The independent livery of London give perhaps 
 two votes on principle, and then nullify these by splitting 
 their two other votes with stupid or plausible candidates 
 in an adverse interest. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Every honest elector should withhold his 
 support from a late member, if his voice has 
 never been heard in Parliament in defence of 
 any popular interest, of public justice, or of 
 public liberty; if his silent votes have served 
 only to swell ministerial majorities; and if his 
 present recommendations are his influence 
 with the minister, his official employments, or 
 his improving fortunes at court : under such 
 circumstances, the candidate should be consi- 
 dered as a wolf in sheep's clothing, and as 
 wholly unfit to represent honest electors in 
 their house of parliament. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 It should be considered by electors, that 
 lawyers are generally unfit from their views of 
 
184 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 professional interest to be entrusted with the 
 powers of representatives ; that as servants and 
 administrators of the laws, they are, as law- 
 makers, prejudiced and interested; and that, 
 as they are accustomed to plead in any cause 
 for hire, so they frequently become pliable 
 instruments of the minister, and greatly aug- 
 ment the mischiefs of corruption, by their 
 ready sophistry and assiduous application. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Contractors, speculators, and money-jobbers, 
 whose god is gold, are always incapable of 
 serving their country in Parliament, their sole 
 object being to sell themselves to the minister 
 for any profitable job or bargain. 
 
 xxv. 
 
 Young men who are devoid of experience, 
 and too commonly the slaves of their passions, 
 (however wealthy, however showy their ta- 
 lents, or however powerfully connected,) are 
 unfit to perform the onerous duties of Legis- 
 lators, and ought seldom to be supported by 
 discreet and patriotic electors, in preference 
 to unexceptionable candidates of greater ex- 
 perience. 
 
ELECTORS. 185 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 The profligate in private life, and the des- 
 perate in pecuniary circumstances, are as 
 unable as they are unlikely, to resist the 
 overtures of any ambitious faction in Parlia- 
 ment, or the insidious and overwhelming cor- 
 ruption of the ministers of the Crown, and 
 ought therefore never to be entrusted with 
 the representative functions. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Solemn orders of the House of Commons 
 declare it to be u a high infringement of the 
 liberties and privileges of the Commons, for 
 any lord of Parliament, or lord lieutenant 
 of any county, to concern himself in the 
 election of members of Parliament; while 
 on the part of electors, except in extraor- 
 dinary instances of unequivocal patriotism, 
 it is an act of political suicide to return the 
 palpable dependent of any Peer of Parliament, 
 or to elect the heirs of noble houses, thereby 
 converting the House of Commons into a mere 
 seminary of education for the junior nobility. 
 
 xxvui. 
 Those candidates whom independent elec- 
 tors are bound to put in nomination, and to 
 
186 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 return free of expence, are tried men, whose 
 principles have resisted, in former parlia- 
 ments, the temptations of power ; or worthy 
 and independent neighbours, whether land- 
 proprietors, merchants, bankers, or manufac- 
 turers, whose liberal principles, public spirit, 
 and political independence, are known to the 
 electors ; and, other circumstances being alike, 
 a candidate whose talents and energies have 
 raised him to distinction, ought to be preferred 
 to a wealthy heir, who, seldom having had 
 occasion to think for himself, is incapable of 
 thinking with advantage for the public. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 As it is one of the most valuable privileges 
 of Britons, to exercise their elective franchises 
 at the return of every new Parliament, or as 
 often as any vacancy occurs, it is the duty of 
 all intelligent electors, to resent every attempt 
 to deprive them of their power of choosing, 
 by base compromises under the crafty uncon- 
 stitutional pretext of preserving the peace of 
 the place. Every new candidate, therefore, 
 who affords electors an opportunity of exer- 
 cising their constitutional rights, ought to 
 have his pretensions viewed with favour, and 
 
ELECTORS* 187 
 
 to be preferred to any other candidate, who, 
 by compromising with an adverse interest, has 
 sought to nullify the rights of the electors. 
 
 xxx. 
 
 No dependent of the crown or the minister, 
 whatever be his general reputation, ought to 
 | be considered by independent electors, as 
 entitled to their preference over less equivocal 
 candidates ; and all bodies of electors should 
 be on their guard against appeals to their 
 feelings and interests, made by successful 
 military and naval commanders, by specious 
 lawyers, wealthy contractors, or powerful 
 placemen, none of whom ought to be suffered 
 to enjoy the opportunity of bartering their 
 votes in parliament, in exchange for their 
 personal aggrandizement or pecuniary ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 * * 
 * 
 
 And as certain persons are by the constitution 
 considered ineligible to sit in Parliament, so other per- 
 sons dependent on the Crown, are considered culpable 
 in interfering with the duties of Electors. Thus persons 
 connected with the Excise and the Post-office are for- 
 bidden, in any manner whatsoever, to interfere in any 
 election, under penalty of 100Z. and incapacity to con- 
 tinue in office ; and it is declared highly criminal for any 
 servant of the crown to use the powers of his office to 
 
188 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 influence any elector in giving his vote ; and with the 
 same jealous feeling, soldiers must be removed to a dis- 
 tance of two or three miles from the place of election, 
 under penalty on the Secretary at War. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 In regard to placemen, pensioners, and 
 dependents of the crown, generally, it should 
 never be forgotten, that the solemn compact 
 between the reigning dynasty and the nation 
 has provided in express terms, " That no 
 person who has an office, or* place of profit 
 tinder the King, or who receives a pension 
 from the Crown, shall be capable of serving 
 as a Member of the House of Commons;" and 
 although this bulwark of liberty has been 
 dispensed with by the forms of a subsequent 
 act of parliament, and re-election is now 
 considered by the House of Commons as a 
 means of qualifying the disqualified, yet it 
 should be understood that no law can compel 
 the people themselves to violate the Constitu- 
 tion ; consequently the re-election of Place- 
 men lies entirely in their own discretion, an J 
 they are still, in this important point, the 
 uncontrolled and competent guardians of their 
 own rights. 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR DISCRIMINATING 
 TRUTH IN HUMAN ENQUIRIES. 
 
 i. 
 
 It is not difficult to analyse the causes of the 
 ascendency of error among societies of men ; 
 but to expose errors is dangerous, because, 
 being engendered by deep-rooted prejudices 
 of education, and forstered by self-interest, 
 they are maintained by active and vindictive 
 passions. An experienced philosopher ex- 
 pressed his apprehension of those passions 
 and prejudices when he declared, that, if his 
 hand were full of Truths, he would not open 
 j it ! Such an imperfect being is man — that 
 truth must always be exhibited in a way 
 | calculated to humour, and not to oppose, his 
 j prejudices, — or those who are hardy enough 
 to maintain it, must run the chance of being 
 sacrificed to their temerity. 
 
190 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 II. 
 
 " Are there in Sodom five righteous men 1 — 
 Are there in Israel fifty who are worthy to be 
 saved?" — Lives there in Britain one in twelve 
 whom it is useful to address in the language 
 of truth? — In other words, can a votary of 
 truth, with no other protection than the 
 native fascinations of the goddess, make an 
 appeal, at present, to many tribunals in Eng- 
 land, and escape vindictive accusations of 
 ignorance, or prejudice? 
 
 in. 
 
 Are there, at this day, to be found in Eng- 
 land, among twelve men indifferently taken, 
 more than one or two who will uphold Truth 
 against the blandishments of sophistry, false- 
 hood, and corruption? In fine, are not many 
 great truths as obnoxious, at this day in 
 England, as truth ever was in any country in 
 the world? — Might not any obstinate stickler 
 for truth meet with martyrdom in England, 
 as certainly as did the prophets and Jesus 
 Christ among the jews, as the apostles among 
 the gentiles, or as the great protestant reform- 
 ers in catholic Christendom? 
 
TRUTH IN HUMAN ENQUIRIES. 191 
 
 IV. 
 
 The imperfect power of human reason, and 
 the pressure of physical wants, deprive sa- 
 vages, and those who pursue the manual occu- 
 pations in civilized society, of the opportunity 
 and habit of examining the true relations of 
 effects, and their connexions and causes. 
 Savages are employed only in providing for 
 their wants, and for the indulgence of their 
 passions ; and any speculations on nature, 
 or on cause and effect, are to them but 
 occasional scintillations; and, being unre- 
 corded, they are, when expressed, incapable 
 of being examined, though in due time these 
 crude notions grow up in the improving 
 community as standard knowledge. 
 
 v. 
 Education and improvement may afterwards 
 emancipate a few individuals from rude and 
 imperfect notions ; but, as those notions are 
 fitted for such minds as those who first in- 
 vented them ; and, as generations run into one 
 another, and are dovetailed together, so the 
 first crude notions of their savage stage per- 
 vade all civilized nations in spite of the 
 knowledge and truth attained by many indi- 
 viduals. 
 
192 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The errors of inbred prejudices, generated 
 in the savage state, and perpetuated among 
 the labouring and non-intellectual classes 
 through subsequent ages, are played upon by 
 craft, and turned to their own advantages by 
 classes who contrive to subsist on them, or 
 make them the instruments of their ambition 
 and assumed authority. Craft and power 
 become therefore closely allied with the mus- 
 cular strength of a country against truth and 
 intellectual originality. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The radical errors of savages consist in 
 mistaking causes, — in considering dreams as 
 inspirations, — in considering medicines as 
 charms, and charms as medicines, — in consi- 
 dering their personal good as the special act 
 of some kind genius, and their personal evils 
 as the act of some malevolent genius ; in yield- 
 ing their judgments to such hasty faith ; and id 
 implanting such faith in their children ; till by 
 accumulation and acceleration the whole be- 
 comes a system, and an integral part of the 
 minds of themselves and their successors. 
 
TRUTH, 
 
 193 
 
 VIII. - 
 
 These errors do not consist of one prac- 
 tice more than another: as whether a reptile is 
 adored as the fetisch of a nation ; or a mon- 
 strous idol as its protector; or an unsculptured 
 god clothed with human sentiments, ca- 
 prices, and passions ; or whether stars, or gods 
 and goddesses, or luck and ill-luck, or fate and 
 destiny, or charms and miracles, or incanta- 
 tions and invocations ; or whether attraction, 
 repulsion, universal gravitation, or chemical 
 action, govern the world : the principle of 
 erroneous superstition is the same whenever a 
 cause of a material effect is assumed which is 
 not material, connected, commensurate, and 
 mechanical. 
 
 IX. 
 
 A dream has no mechanical connexion with 
 the things of which it is the alleged sign, — a 
 charm has no mechanical connexion with the 
 things over which it is assumed to have power, 
 — two bodies said to attract or repel one 
 another, have no mutual force in the directions 
 in which it is pretended they act. African 
 fetisches, or oriental idols, have no mechanical 
 connexion with the things which they are 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
194 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 said to influence, — witchery or enchant- 
 ment, the planets, the entrails of animals, sa- 
 cred omens, chemical action, and sediments of 
 tea-cups, have no mechanical energy, or com- 
 mensurate connexion with their pretended 
 effects, — and, therefore, are superstitious ab- 
 surdities, whether they bear the stamp of sci- 
 ence, religion, philosophy, or antiquity. 
 
 x. 
 
 We may not know, and we may never 
 know, all that is true, and all that we may 
 desire to know, because our knowledge is 
 limited by our local position, our senses, and 
 the instruments for improving them ; but we 
 possess clear tests in regard to what is not true, 
 by knowing that all force or power is matter in 
 velocity, and that no power can apply which 
 is not in continuity with the effect, and in the 
 same direction ; and we become acquainted 
 with an eternal and immutable relation of 
 power, in knowing that action and re-action 
 are always equal : these, therefore, are the 
 indubitable and universal tests of all super- 
 stitions. 
 
 XI. 
 
 The crafts which profit by superstition 
 have secured themselves in all countries by a 
 
TRUTH. 195 
 
 close alliance with power ; but they contrive 
 also to ally themselves with nominal wisdom 
 and philosophy, and these have been perverted 
 in aid of their enemies. For many ages an 
 open war subsisted, and philosophers were 
 exiled, persecuted, and put to death; but, as 
 truth is nurtured by the blood of martyrs, so 
 at length it was found more easy to ally pre- 
 tended philosophers and philosophy with 
 superstition ; and mankind and truth have now 
 to contend, in consequence, with a triple- 
 headed monster in superstition, power, and 
 pseudo-philosophy. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Self-interest shifts the question, and it is 
 pretended that truth and morals could not 
 subsist together, — that falsehood is necessary 
 to morals,— that the fears of supposed good 
 and evil genii are more operative than the 
 social rewards of virtue, and the legal punish- 
 ment of crimes : and, by the force of such 
 sophisms, benevolence makes enquiry slum- 
 ber, and truth becomes a barren speculation. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 A fair experiment never has been made, 
 and perhaps never can be made, of a people 
 
 1 
 
196 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 existing without the influence of superstition. 
 Rewards of virtue can never, perhaps, be 
 fairly bestowed, in a world governed by 
 human passions, by envy and intrigue ; and 
 codes of laws can never, perhaps, be con- 
 trived, which shall discriminate shades of 
 crime, and reach even the consciences of 
 men. Superstition may therefore be useful, 
 and be wisely tolerated ; but, at the same 
 time, truth is truth, and ought never to be 
 abashed or persecuted by policy founded on 
 convenience, though it ought to be always set 
 forth with prudence and modesty. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Prejudices and errors are maintained by 
 
 THE CRAFT OF AUTHORSHIP AND BOOKMAKING ; 
 
 for, as prejudices and errors are felt and che- 
 rished by the multitude, so those books which 
 flatter and sustain them always find the great- 
 est number of purchasers, and yield the great- 
 est profit. A sordid calculation leads, there- 
 fore, to the production of one thousand books 
 in support of prejudices for one which opposes 
 them ; while, as the sale of the former is also 
 ten times greater than the latter, so, from this 
 cause alone, the odds are always ten thou- 
 sand to one against the progress of truth. 
 
TRUTH. 197 
 
 XV. 
 
 Close corporations always favour errors 
 and prejudices, because these infect the ma- 
 jority whom every member flatters; and be- 
 cause the majority will never admit a new 
 member who has not qualified himself by the 
 unction of flattery, and displayed a complying' 
 spirit of subordination and servility. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Institutions and endowments are neces- 
 sarily adverse to all improvement, because 
 they are formed on a standard of faith and 
 practice fixed by the statutes, or if not so 
 fixed, their faith and practice are maintained 
 by the mutual reserves of the members, by 
 affectations of attachment to established opi- 
 nions, or by the fears which every individual 
 feels in regard to the prejudices of his superiors 
 and colleagues. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The force of education and habit opposes 
 almost insuperable barriers to the progress of 
 truth. They are equivalent in man to what 
 his vanity calls the instincts of animals. They 
 are, in fact, the instincts of man as displayed 
 
198 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 in his various religions, customs, languages, 
 and pursuits in different nations. They mul- 
 tiply the chances against truth another ten 
 thousand times; and, indeed, all reasoning is 
 so subservient to them, that there are very 
 few truths dependent on reason, in which all 
 nations are agreed. 
 
 XVxII. 
 
 Taking then the obstacles of close corpora- 
 tions and institutions as opposing a hundred 
 chances against truth, the sum of all the 
 chances are 10,000 x 10,000 x 100, 
 against the recognition of any truth dependent 
 on the free exertion of human reason, or ten 
 
 THOUSAND MILLIONS to One ! 
 XIX. 
 
 Granting that mankind progressively im- 
 prove, and numbering the human race at one 
 thousand millions, there seems no chance that 
 any additional truth will be established oftener 
 than once in ten generations, or in 300 
 years. On these data we might, if we could 
 agree on the number of general truths which 
 human reason has established, determine the 
 age of the world ; but, if we adopt the received 
 
TRUTH. 199 
 
 chronology, and take the human race to be 
 6000 years old, we shall find that mankind 
 have not yet determined more than twenty 
 truths ! Many will think even this number 
 an exaggeration, while others will consider it 
 a libel on humanity. It would be pleasant to 
 see the two parties in the field, and to obtain, 
 by examination and comparison, a correct list 
 of the whole, on which they agree, whether 
 twenty, or more, or less ! 
 
 xx. 
 
 All doctrines of causation are absurd and 
 superstitious, when there is no possible or 
 mechanical connexion between the cause 
 assumed and the effect produced ; for our 
 perceptions take cognizance only of matter, 
 and its actions and re-actions, always subject 
 to mechanical laws. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Thus it is absurd and superstitious to 
 assert, that a rod or wand can, by its touch, 
 transform one substance into another, because 
 there is no operation on the substance by 
 such means by which it can be so converted. 
 
200 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 It is absurd and superstitious to say, that 
 any one prophesied a future event as an act of 
 positive foreknowledge independent of the 
 law of probabilities founded on experience, 
 because there is no connexion between the 
 mind of the prophesier and the events. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 It is absurd and superstitious to allege 
 that there are lucky seats in gaming, because 
 there is no connexion between the seats and 
 the accidents of the cards or dice. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 It is absurd and superstitious to ascribe the 
 power of foretelling to dreams, or planets, or 
 sediments of tea-cups, or entrails of animals ; 
 because there is no connexion between the 
 the same and the events with which they are 
 said to be coincident. 
 
 xxv. 
 It is absurd and superstitious to say, that 
 one body attracts another ; for, in that case, 
 the body attracting must push the body 
 
TRUTH. 201 
 
 attracted on the opposite side, where it is not 
 present corporally, much less potentially. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 It is absurd and superstitious to ascribe 
 cures to touching, or diseases to witchcraft, 
 because the substance in neither case is 
 changed by the touch of the healer or the 
 witch. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 It is absurd and superstitious to say, that 
 two bodies repel one another, because, at the 
 time, the force or motion of each is directed 
 oppositely to that in which the propelling 
 force is required. But, whenever any of these 
 circumstances are matters of fact, the causes 
 are not of the absurd and superstitious kind 
 assumed, but may, and ought to be, sought in 
 competent proximate operations, which accord 
 with the laws of arithmetic, motion, and 
 mechanics, and which it is the business of 
 reason and philosophy to examine and 
 explain. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 It is absurd and superstitious to believe in 
 the appearance or noises of ghosts and pre- 
 
 k2 
 
202 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 tended spirits of the dead; for nothing but 
 what is material can be an object of sense, 
 or can act so as to affect light or sound ; all 
 such appearances, as matter of fact, must there- 
 fore be referred to illusions of the mind, or to 
 disordered or mistaken affections of the sense, 
 assisted by implicit faith in the possibility of 
 the phantom. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 It is absurd and superstitious to attach any 
 hick or ill-luck to days of the month, for days 
 are but similar revolutions of the earth in cir- 
 cles of space, which never return to the same 
 point, and which are perfectly indifferent to 
 actions of men, and the contingency of their 
 unconnected fortunes. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 It is absurd and superstitious to consider 
 events unconnected, as signs or omens of each 
 other's occurring, or considering events as 
 governed by any coincidences with other 
 events, when there is no mechanical con- 
 nexion, as cause and effect, and often no con- 
 nexion, either in kind or species. 
 
TRUTH. 203 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 It is absurd and superstitious to ascribe to 
 atoms any identical sympathy, or affinity for 
 each other, except with reference to their 
 fitting forms, or some external and distant 
 action on them mechanically calculated to 
 produce the effect 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 It is absurd and superstitious to conceive 
 that there is a predetermined fate and neces- 
 sity in the events of animal life — for all events 
 are consequences of causes, and must, there- 
 fore, follow the causes, not go before them, 
 which is implied by fate and necessity ; while 
 the causes themselves of events in animal 
 life are choosing in subservience to the senses, 
 whose sole purpose it is to confer the power 
 of choice, and raise the animal above a phy- 
 sical patient; or the judging from knowledge 
 and experience, always variable, often erring, 
 and never certain, and the consequence can- 
 not, therefore, be more certain than the cause. 
 The only fate or necessity, relative to animal 
 life, consists in this: that something will 
 happen as a consequence of every train of 
 operative causes ; but the species and variety 
 
204 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of that something is not predetermined, but 
 a result of the intervening choice of sense 
 and varying judgment. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 England, with almost the single exception 
 of the United States of America, is the freest 
 and most enlightened country in the world ! 
 In England there yet remains some scope for 
 truth ! In an unrestrained press, she has 
 here a stage on which to play a part; and 
 she is not wholly fettered, banished, or stran- 
 gled, as in many countries. Truth may still, 
 therefore, solicit votaries in these islands, pro- 
 vided she deport herself with prudence and 
 modesty ! 
 
 xxxiv. 
 
 Truth, without adulation, admits that the 
 English are a great people ; but declares that 
 they have risen to greatness by means of com- 
 merce, like the Tyrians, the Carthaginians, 
 the Venetians, the Genoese, and the Dutch ; 
 that those nations have fallen one after an- 
 other, and that the English are in danger of 
 falling also, from the operation of similar 
 causes. 
 
TRUTH. 205 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Truth tells us that all those fallen people 
 were corrupted by the influx of foreign wealth ; 
 were intoxicated by foreign power; and were, 
 finally, ambitious of universal dominion. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 Truth informs us that their wealth enabled 
 them to intrigue in the councils of foreign 
 princes; that they sought to direct the go- 
 vernments of the whole world ; and that they 
 were constantly meddling in the quarrels of 
 their neighbours. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Truth declares that, to serve the sinister 
 purposes of their commerce, they stirred up 
 wars among other nations; and considered 
 that their welfare was best promoted by the 
 strifes and calamities of all other people. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Truth tells us that, in consequence of 
 their overgrown wealth, inordinate ambition, 
 and jealous policy, they were first envied, 
 then feared, and, finally, hated and opposed 5 
 by the whole world . 
 
 6 
 
206 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Truth records that, to maintain their as- 
 cendency and pretensions, it became neces- 
 sary to augment their fleets and armies ; and 
 to carry on wars against the nations which 
 previously had been their customers, and the 
 means of their aggrandisement. 
 
 XL, 
 
 Truth warns us that their acquired wealth 
 was soon dissipated in the maintenance of 
 fleets and armies in foreign countries ; that 
 such drains were not re-supplied by balances 
 of trade as formerly ; that credit was soon 
 substituted for wealth ; that paper, or alloyed 
 money, took the place of the precious metals ; 
 and that the solid basis of public prosperity, 
 founded on industry and balances of trade, 
 gave way to temporizing projects and ar- 
 tifices. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Truth records that, in those countries, as 
 the pride of the government increased, the 
 miseries and oppressions of the people accu- 
 mulated; and that, as the exigencies of the 
 
TRUTH. 207 
 
 state augmented, pretexts became necessary 
 for diminishing the liberties of the people. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 Truth tells us that, as the necessities of 
 the people accumulated with the public dis- 
 tresses, so individuals became more willing to 
 sell themselves to the government, and to 
 assist in oppressing and enslaving their inde- 
 pendent and less crafty fellow citizens. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Truth records that, during the internal and 
 external contentions of those people, the ener- 
 I getic, industrious, and useful part of the 
 j community, emigrated to exercise their ta- 
 | lents and experience in foreign countries, 
 I thereby transferring to them the foundation 
 of their native country's greatness. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Truth illustrates that, in the climax of their 
 national misfortunes, all the fences and secu- 
 rities of civil liberty were destroyed one after 
 another, so that public freedom, public spirit, 
 public glory, private credit, public prosperity, 
 and often national independence, were ex- 
 tinguished together! 
 
208 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 Truth reminds us that Tyre fell a victim 
 to its meddling policy, — Carthage to its ambi- 
 tion, — Venice to the tyranny of its govern- 
 ment,— Genoa to foreign wars, — and Holland 
 to the corruptions consequent on overgrown 
 wealth. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Truth admits that our geographical posi- 
 tion and territorial circumstances are more 
 advantageous than the territory and position 
 of those people; and that the prolongation of 
 our national independence rests less than 
 theirs on extraneous circumstances and war- 
 like atchievements. 
 
 XL VII. 
 
 Truth tells us, however, that all the pros- 
 perity, wealth, and power, which arise from 
 foreign commerce, are subject to common 
 laws; and that in these respects, without in- 
 creased caution and wisdom, we are doomed 
 to follow the fate of other great commercial 
 powers, and sink to the average rank pre- 
 scribed by our territory and population. 
 
TRUTH. 209 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Truth proclaims, that the commerce and 
 power of the British islands arise out of their 
 insular security, their commanding geogra- 
 phical position, their political liberty, their 
 staple commodities, and the characteristic 
 energy, confidence, and industry, of their inha- 
 bitants, all existing antecedently to their pre- 
 sent ascendency, or growing with it. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 Truth declares that, as the ascendency of 
 the British empire has arisen from the gra- 
 dual and unpremeditated operation of natural 
 and inherent causes, those efficient causes are 
 adequate to sustain the ascendency which 
 they have conferred, without the hazard of 
 wars to assert abstract powers and commer- 
 cial rights, which did not originally tend to 
 raise the country to its present eminence. 
 
 Truth instructs us, by a never-failing ex- 
 perience, that wars are alien to the prosperity, 
 and dangerous to the very existence, of those 
 nations whose strength is founded on their 
 commerce ; and that public distress is unfa- 
 
210 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 vourable to public spirit, and fatal to the 
 energies of public liberty and private hap- 
 piness. 
 
 LI. 
 
 Truth tells us that, without liberty, there 
 is no security for person and property; and 
 that, without security of person and property, 
 and reciprocal confidence, the soul of commerce 
 can never exist in any country. 
 
 LII. 
 
 Truth reminds us that, in Britain, the 
 security of public liberty depends on the free 
 and independent representation of the people 
 in the legislature; and that the security of 
 personal liberty and property depends on the 
 unbiassed convention and full powers of 
 juries. 
 
 LIU. 
 
 Truth declares that public liberty and per- 
 sonal security must be lost to the people of 
 England whenever any considerable part of 
 the House of Commons is nominated by the 
 minister of the day, and becomes identified 
 with the executive government. 
 
TRUTH. 211 
 
 LIV. 
 
 Truth, then, suggests it as our duty to 
 hold sacred those bulwarks of our freedom 
 as the bases of your public prosperity; to 
 treat as public enemies those who dare to 
 impair them; and to despise, as unnatural 
 sycophants of power, those who decry our 
 unremitting and zealous exertions to maintain 
 them. 
 
 LV. 
 
 Truth, in like manner, calls our attention 
 to the confusion and uncertainty of our laws, 
 which have beeu the growth of a thousand 
 years, of bad as well as good times, and of 
 ages of superstition, ignorance, and despotism, 
 as well as of epochs of liberty ; and it tells 
 us that our entire legal system demands a 
 radical reform and regeneration. 
 
 LVI. 
 
 Truth teaches us, that the liberty and glory 
 of a country must be utterly destroyed, if, 
 after the great barriers of liberty are under- 
 mined, slavery is made palatable by the cor- 
 ruptions and subjugation of the public press, 
 thereby reconciling the people to their chains, 
 
212 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 holding up truth and virtue to the scorn of 
 ignorance and credulity, and hunting down 
 and persecuting all the honest exertions of 
 struggling patriotism. 
 
 LVII. 
 
 Truth likens the operations of our go- 
 vernment, subject to the incumbrances of an 
 enormous public debt, to those of a trader 
 who has issued a large amount of accommo- 
 dation bills. The progress of both is similar, 
 — is attended by similar difficulties, — and, 
 unless such anticipations of means are liqui- 
 dated by timely sacrifices, they are, in both 
 cases, likely to be followed by similar effects. 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 Truth calls our attention to the principle, 
 that, as taxes on the people cause the people 
 to indemnify themselves upon each other, so 
 it is impracticable that great public debts 
 can be overtaken by any fund growing out of 
 taxes, because the taxes which generate the 
 fund, augment the expenditure of the go- 
 vernment in a higher ratio. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 Truth proclaims the precarious pursuit and 
 dependent character of commerce in any 
 
TRUTH. 213 
 
 country where the possession of currency 
 depends more on intrigue, sycophancy, and 
 factitious credit, than on real trade and capi- 
 tal. It tells us that, in such a country, spe- 
 culators overwhelm capitalists, that merchants 
 become the humble tools of power, and that 
 the spirit of trade and honourable enterprize 
 must soon be destroyed. 
 
 LX. 
 
 Truth tells us that our sure means of 
 defence and offence, lie in our great and in- 
 vincible navy; that a mistaken policy and 
 false notions of glory stimulate our ministers 
 to emulate the military establishments of the 
 great continental powers ; and that our con- 
 dition under such policy, is that of the frog 
 of Esop, attempting to swell himself to the 
 size of the ox. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 Truth reminds us of the primary objects 
 and principles of colonization ; and teaches 
 us to seek no other colonies than islands 
 whose dependence and produce we can se- 
 cure by means of our invincible navy. 
 
214 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 LXII. 
 
 Truth tells us that, as the most powerful 
 of free people, we ought every where to sus- 
 tain public liberty ; and, in all our alliances and 
 foreign connexions, ought never to support 
 despotism against the exertions of the peo- 
 ple to assert or recover their civil liberties. 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 Truth quotes the example of all history to 
 prove that, to maintain our national inde- 
 pendence, it is necessary to husband our 
 resources, and to consider our agriculture 
 and manufactures as the primary sources of 
 our public welfare and power. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 Truth declares that no great nation can 
 ever be conquered till its resources have been 
 drained and exhausted by the long continu- 
 ance of wars; and that the strength which 
 results from the prosperity, confidence, 
 and credit, of a state of peace, is the 
 only perfect security which any country can 
 acquire. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 Truth asserts that one country has no right 
 to meddle with or disturb the government 
 
TRUTH. 215 
 
 established in another ; it recognizes the 
 peaceful authority of the Chinese and Japan- 
 ese, to restrict and forbid intercourse with 
 foreign nations; it legitimatizes the alliance 
 of free states with the tyrants of Algiers and 
 Morocco; and it denies the justice or ne- 
 cessity of wars founded on changes of other 
 governments or dynasties. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 Truth solemnly declares that, if wicked and 
 corrupt ministers of a free people, at any 
 time, involve those people in foreign wars, 
 with no justifiable object; such free people, 
 so abused, are not bound to become partizans 
 in the war of such ministers, which is not a 
 war of the country, or for the country; on 
 the contrary, they are bound to exert them- 
 selves, by all constitutional means, to procure 
 the speedy restoration of peace. 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 Truth declares it to be a great crime to 
 carry on war without some assignable cause 
 of sufficient magnitude, and commensurate 
 with the evils of war; and that none but 
 defensive wars, provoked by notorious and 
 
216 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 definable aggressions of the enemy, are justi- 
 fiable in a moral or religious sense. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 Truth declares that her most active ene- 
 mies are those traders in politics and great 
 events who mislead the public, and pollute, 
 by their sordid calculations, all the ordinary 
 channels of her voice ; that these persons are 
 the conductors of venal newspapers, a race 
 of people who live upon public credulity, and 
 who foster all the unhappy prejudices and 
 passions of mankind ; and that there never 
 was a blessing so perverted as the power of 
 the press by these corrupt speculators in 
 news, many of whom care not whether they 
 blast and wither half the world, if they can 
 procure the sale and notoriety of their 
 newspapers. 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 Public ignorance, generating prejudices 
 which are humoured by statesmen, cherished 
 by the professions, and pampered by unprin- 
 cipled writers and editors, is consequently 
 that many-headed monster which in all ages 
 has opposed itself to the progress and ascen- 
 
TRUTH. 217 
 
 deney of truth. The first considerations of 
 every politic statesman are, not what would 
 be right — and what would be consistent with 
 truth ; but, what is the most agreeable to the 
 public feelings — and in what degree right con- 
 duct can be reconciled with existing preju- 
 dices? A public wrong is perpetrated, but 
 the statesman who inflicts it excuses himself 
 by referring to the public opinion and voice, 
 by which he says he is governed — the priest, 
 who often becomes the moral apologist of the 
 statesman, consults in like manner the preju- 
 dices of the public, — and the journalist, the 
 echo of the public voice, in like manner con- 
 sults the public wishes ! A concordant result 
 is thus produced at the very moment in which 
 great public errors are committed ! Calamities 
 hence arise, followed by repentance and mutual 
 accusations ; yet the mischief cannot be re- 
 called. Thus the history of human life, 
 and the transactions of nations, are com- 
 posed almost entirely of catalogues of errors, 
 calamities, repentance, and often of vengeance, 
 for crimes which arise less from the turpitude of 
 individuals than from defects in the means of 
 ascertaining truth, and of acting in accordance 
 with it. 
 
218 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 Judgments of men agree whenever the 
 premises are certain, as in geometry and 
 arithmetic, and generally in objects of sense ; 
 but they disagree whenever the premises are 
 uncertain, as in testimony, which depends on 
 the credibility or honesty and knowledge of 
 the parties ; and in fancies and assumed 
 principles, which vary with the constitutions 
 and purposes of men. Testimony, fancies, 
 and assumed principles, are, therefore, not 
 means of forming infallible judgments, and 
 consequently, no certain tests of truth ; and 
 only tests in the degree in which they are 
 certain, or highly probable, so as to bring 
 their objects within the operations of judg- 
 ment. Thus every judging man laughs at 
 or doubts about the fancied powers of attrac- 
 tion, repulsion, gravitation, and caloric ; but 
 he assents to the sensible powers of bodies in 
 motion, and to the laws with which forces 
 are geometrically proved to be propagated in 
 gaseous and fluid media ; because the latter 
 are certain, and the former are merely crea- 
 tures of the imagination. Similar differences 
 create all the factions in science, and sects in 
 metaphysics and theology ; and the same 
 
TRUTH. 219 
 
 grounds of difference must always perpe- 
 tuate both the factions and the sects. 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 Remember that accurate judging is not 
 power per se } but power acquired ; and that, as 
 it arises either from the perception, or reminis- 
 cence of facts, so knowledge and experience are 
 essential to its perfection ; and men, in conse- 
 quence, are qualified to judge only on subjects 
 dd which they have acquired knowledge and 
 experience, and a man may be thought de- 
 servedly wise on many subjects, while he is a 
 great fool on many others on which he has 
 imperfect knowledge, or has not been in the 
 habit of comparing facts and forming judg- 
 ments. 
 
 LXXII. 
 
 Remember that, as minds are merely what 
 they are taught, so the prejudices of education 
 can scarcely ever be rooted out, and men 
 cling; to them as to their identities or exist- 
 encies ; hence it is that new truths never make 
 effective progress in the generation which gave 
 them birth ; and that, as the prejudices of one 
 age mingle with the education of the succeed- 
 
 6 
 
220 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 iog, more than one generation must pass away 
 before new truths supersede established 
 errors. 
 
 i.xxin. 
 Remember that truth is like seed planted in 
 the ground, — the active powers of the circum- 
 jacent gasses were previously exerted in other 
 ways, and it is some time before a regular 
 action and re-action takes place between the 
 novel introduction and the pre established 
 energies; that the germ, and its expansion, are 
 still a novelty, and call for a diversion of 
 power, which is slowly conceded, and depend- 
 ent only on paramount force ; but if this be 
 sufficient, the germ becomes a tree, and, in 
 due time, scatters seed which covers the 
 earth: let men, therefore, plant seeds of truth, 
 not in the expectation that they will at once 
 become trees, and affect the judgments of 
 mankind, but in the benevolent hope that, if 
 possessed of native force, they will, like all 
 seed, produce fruit in the due season of their 
 maturitv. 
 
GOLDEN RULES RELATIVE TO POLITICAL 
 AND SOCIAL ECONOMY. 
 
 The wealth of nations consists in the ac- 
 cumulation and superfluity of marketable 
 commodities, and in the power of producing 
 them by labour and ingenuity ; the balance 
 of produce over consumption, or the amount 
 of exports, whether natural or artificial, being 
 the means of introducing luxuries, foreign 
 necessaries, and the precious metals. 
 
 ii. 
 
 The wealth of individuals consists in the 
 appropriation of property, or of currency, as 
 the representative of property. Were the 
 whole population of Britain divided upon 
 equal farms, with equal means, he would be 
 the richest at the end of the year who, hav- 
 ing had the best crops, had the most to spare 
 
 to his less fortunate neighbours. He would 
 
 1 
 
222 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 then be able to purchase their service, and 
 to work less in the next year, or enjoy more 
 than others. 
 
 in. 
 The wealth, and, consequently, the powers 
 of a government, depend on the collection from 
 individuals of so much of the common cur- 
 rency, as will enable it to purchase service, 
 and to combine and multiply the powers, of 
 individual wealth in any required ratio. 
 The same principles, extended from indivi- 
 duals to states, and from nations to nations, 
 constitute and create all those differences in 
 human societies which are the objects of 
 political and moral investigation. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The motives for social industry, the means 
 of export, the wealth of nations, and the 
 power of governments, have their basis in 
 the confidence of individuals that their labour 
 will enjoy its reward without disturbance; 
 hence, no state can be truly wealthy and 
 powerful in which security of property is not 
 afforded to its subjects ; or, in other words, 
 in which justice and civil liberty are not 
 secured by immutable laws. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 223 
 
 V. 
 
 Currency may be defined the measure of 
 relative value. In different countries the same 
 amount of currency denominates value in the 
 inverse proportion of the mass of property in 
 each, and of the number of transfers in which 
 it is required. It constitutes the direct wealth 
 of individuals, in regard to other individuals 
 in the same realm ; but it is no measure of 
 the absolute wealth of different nations, or 
 ages, because it is a denomination of value 
 which constantly varies with the quantity 
 employed or required. 
 
 VI. 
 
 A standard of the value of currency is 
 best found in the necessaries of life. Labour 
 is not a fixed standard, because its value in 
 currency may be controlled by law, depreci- 
 ated by competition, or advanced by skill. 
 The sole object and use of currency being to 
 represent and procure property, its best stand- 
 ard is some commodity of the first necessity; 
 and this is approximated in bread or potatoes, 
 in some countries, or in oats or rice, in 
 others. The wages of labour ought to be 
 food, clothes, and shelter, or as much currency 
 as will procure them. 
 
224 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 VII. 
 
 States possessing equal extents of soil, 
 equally productive, and of equal population, 
 liberty, and intelligence, would be equally 
 rich, though one should contain but one 
 million of currency, and the other twenty 
 millions. The only difference would be in 
 the nominal price of labour and commodities, 
 and in the circumstance, that that might be 
 purchased for a shilling in one, which would 
 cost twenty shillings in the other. 
 
 VIII, 
 Two such equal states might exist for ages, 
 their governments possessing the same rela- 
 tive means of drawing out the respective 
 strength of their countries ; but, if the coun- 
 try, which possessed twenty millions, were 
 suddenly deprived of nineteen, and the circu- 
 lation were reduced only to one million, while 
 labour and commodities bore a price propor- 
 tioned to the original twenty millions, it is 
 evident that the abstraction of currency would 
 destroy the energies and compacts of the 
 people, curtail the resources and annihi- 
 late the powers of the government, leading 
 to social disorganization, foreign conquest 
 or general emigration. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY, 225 
 
 IX. 
 
 A steady amount of currency is not only 
 necessary to the public happiness, for the 
 purpose of maintaining any acquired price 
 of labour and commodities ; but an augmen- 
 tation is demanded, whenever, from any 
 causes, an increased circulation has taken 
 place. Currency is always required and 
 appropriated in proportion to the increase of 
 transactions and circulation. Great trade, 
 great cultivation, or great taxes, therefore 
 require the ordinary circulation to be aug- 
 mented in amount, to meet the demands of 
 merchants, to supply capital to farmers, to 
 make up for the balances of taxgatherers, and 
 facilitate the operations of the exchequer. 
 
 x. 
 
 Since the discovery of the art of coining 
 paper, a currency of specie seems to be less 
 essential to the convenience of society. The 
 purposes of internal circulation seem to be 
 as well answered by a coinage of paper, or of 
 land, or stocks, in the portable form of paper. 
 It appears, indeed, to be of little consequence, 
 whether a man carry his bullion to the mint 
 to be alloyed and stamped, or whether he 
 
 l2 
 
226 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 carry the titles to any estate, or a schedule of 
 stock, and receive stamped paper of corres- 
 ponding value. 
 
 XI. 
 
 The best and most important use of the 
 precious metals is, to equalize accounts 
 between merchants of different nations. If 
 Spain, for example, consumes 100,000/. more 
 of the produce and manufactures of Britain, 
 than Britain consumes of the produce and 
 manufactures of Spain, the balance of trade 
 is so much in favour of Britain, and the 
 100,000/. must be paid in bullion. A favour- 
 able balance of trade always produces, there- 
 fore, abundance of bullion, and vice versa. 
 If a nation improvidently consume the com- 
 modities of nations, which take no merchan- 
 dize in return, the supply is only to be obtained 
 for gold and silver. Savage tribes can obtain 
 no foreign luxuries, because they have neither 
 superfluous produce, desirable manufactures, 
 nor gold and silver ; but, if they have either 
 of these, they trade, on principles easily 
 traced, like civilized nations. 
 
 XII. 
 
 The ruin of governments, and the deca- 
 dence of empires, may be ascribed to a course 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 227 
 
 of events something like the following: — 
 An influx takes place of the precious metals, 
 which, as currency, raises the nominal price of 
 all commodities; and afterwards a departure 
 of that currency, from some adventitious 
 cause, leaves the nominal prices without cur- 
 rency to support them. Hence, labour and 
 commodities, at their established price, can 
 no longer be purchased by the reduced (no- 
 minal) wealth of individuals; nor can the 
 usual proportion of currency be transferred, 
 as before, to the government ; industry, there- 
 fore, languishes, the people emigrate, the 
 power of the state is palsied, the bond of 
 national union, cemented by the common 
 interest, becomes void, and the country is 
 conquered or destroyed. Paper is a remedy, 
 if it always represent real property. 
 
 XI1T. 
 
 The nature of currency, and the principles 
 of its circulation, being therefore so intelli- 
 gible, it appears that a wise and well-ordered 
 government should place it under control^ 
 and not leave its fluctuations to chance, nor 
 suffer them to destroy the confidence and the 
 energies of the people. It could not be diffi- 
 
228 
 
 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 cult to determine on an amount lying between 
 the maximum and minimum, which has 
 proved, or would be likely to prove, salutary 
 to a country, and then to apportion public 
 issues, or coinages, to the fluctuations which 
 circumstances might require. Such a provi- 
 sion is evidently within the power of govern- 
 ments, and its importance imposes it on them 
 as an imperious duty. Currency is an arti- 
 fice of society springing out of social conve- 
 nience and convention; it ought, therefore, 
 to be an object of social regulation, and to be 
 the instrument of governments, not the arbiter 
 of their fate, and the tyrant of society. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 To increase the powers of the state in car- 
 rying on twenty years' warfare, an unredeemed 
 mortgage on the real property of this country 
 was incurred of above 800 millions. The 
 cultivated land of Great Britain consists 
 of about forty-eight millions of acres, and the 
 houses of two millions, worth respectively 
 about 1200 millions and 4000 millions; besides 
 fluctuating stocks in husbandry and trade, 
 worth 600 millions more. The mortgage 
 therefore amounts to a full third of the value 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 229 
 
 of the property; or, in other words, one-third 
 of the property, taken at its nominal value, is 
 mortgaged by the obligation of successive 
 acts of parliament to the persons who lent 
 their money to enable ministers to carry on 
 their wars. 
 
 xv. 
 
 All tangible property in Britain is virtually 
 pledged to the public creditor to the full third 
 of its worth, as much as though the owner had 
 signed a mortgage-deed ; and nothing can 
 effect a release from the payment of the inter- 
 est but discharging the principal. In pri- 
 vate life, men economize for the purpose of 
 discharging a mortgage ; but, notwithstanding 
 the operation in cases of public and private 
 mortgage is precisely the same, no proprietor 
 of any estate in England has yet reduced his 
 establishment, though no reasonable person 
 can doubt that every estate is under a legal 
 mortgage to the state for a third of its worth. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 The value of gold or silver, as the universal 
 and perpetual standards of labour and pro- 
 perty, cannot be determined by municipal 
 
230 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 regulation, because their worth is measured 
 by the original labour bestowed on them in 
 their first production at the mines, which 
 quantity of labour they represent in their 
 transfers among all nations ; but conventional 
 or paper money of account represents no such 
 original labour, and, being created at plea- 
 sure, and circulated by artifice, is not only no 
 public standard, but destructive of all standard 
 in countries in which its circulation is forced. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 As one of the chief causes of poverty is 
 the fluctuation of employments, and often the 
 introduction of useful machinery, which super- 
 sedes labour, three magistrates should be 
 authorized to direct allowances from the 
 county-rates, to be paid to artisans or 
 labourers, who make it appear that, from 
 causes not within their control, or of alleged 
 general benefit to the public, they are for a 
 season deprived of the means of sustaining 
 themselves by their accustomed callings. 
 The laws against combinations, in regard to 
 the wages of labour, should apply with equal 
 vigour to masters as well as to servants. At 
 some poor establishment in every parish, all 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 231 
 
 who declare themselves destitute and unable 
 to procure employment should be entitled to 
 receive, once a-day, a full and wholesome 
 meal, in the porch or hall of the establishment. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 A fund might be established for old age and 
 poverty, to be derived from a pound paid at 
 the birth of a child by parents or the parish, 
 and accumulated by planting, or compound 
 interest. Till such fund for old age were ren- 
 dered available, the same description of poor 
 ought to be provided for in buildings called Asy- 
 lums for virtuous old Age, to which the aged poor 
 should have access, on certificates from ten 
 housekeepers of the parish or hundred. The 
 diseased poor, blind, lame, and helpless, 
 should be provided for in establishments 
 formed for the purpose. The infant poor 
 should be kept in separate establishments, and 
 be educated, and taught some branch of 
 handicraft by other poor. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The only poor kept in buildings denomi- 
 nated workhouses should be the idle and 
 vicious, or those who are unable to procure 
 
232 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 the certificates of ten reputable housekeepers 
 of their past industry and sobriety. No 
 paupers should be conveyed from place to 
 place except between the hours of six and 
 six, and they should be removed in covered 
 vehicles, and be lodged in dry places, or in 
 such places as other persons are accustomed 
 to lodge in, and receive three full meals per 
 day, while on their journey. 
 
 xx. 
 Every country is the natural property of its 
 inhabitants; and the inhabitants of every 
 country are the natural lords of the soil, and 
 masters of the produce. In other words, 
 when emigrants take possession of any new- 
 found and uninhabited country, the soil and 
 its produce, as far as is practicable and desi- 
 rable, are understood to be their equal com- 
 mon property, to be seized for their common 
 benefit, and to be substantially or virtually 
 divided among them. Unequal relations 
 of property would necessarily be created 
 by subsequent social events and arrange- 
 ments; and varied distributions would result 
 from exertions of wisdom, prudence, and 
 valour, in the organization and progression of 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 233 
 
 society. But the first principles should, at all 
 times, be understood, felt, and recognized, be- 
 cause they serve as the immoveable bases of 
 justice and philanthropy, and teach the duties 
 of the affluent to the wretched. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 No errors are so numerous, compounded, 
 and radical, as those which are generated bv 
 social inequalities ; or by the various powers 
 possessed by different men of appropriate 
 luxuries and enjoyments. How numerous 
 are our prejudices arising from the use of 
 colours in apparel, from the glitter of metals 
 and polished stones, from magnificent apart- 
 ments, from rank and titles, and a thousand 
 other inventions of society ! We talk gravely 
 of one man as being better than another — we 
 speak as a thing of course of the dignity of 
 some families, and of the ignobleness of others, 
 — as though the differences were natural, and 
 not created by the mere fancies of men ! We 
 shun, by a sort of instinct, a poor and ragged 
 person, and embrace without reserve another 
 w r ell clothed, owing to mere errors of judg- 
 ment and prejudices of education; there being 
 in fact no possible difference between the 
 
234 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ragged and the sumptuously clothed, all the 
 animal juices and functions of the one being 
 necessarily the same as the other: analo- 
 gous blood and analogous secretions of every 
 king are produced in both by their similar 
 functions; the differences, if any, being in 
 favour of the poor man, from the simplicity 
 of his diet. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Knowledge does much for helpless indi- 
 gence, in re-asserting the natural interest of 
 the whole population in the soil. It thereby 
 establishes their claim to support, and places 
 that claim on the foundation of right, rather 
 than of concession and charity; and, in de- 
 veloping the common laws of the animal 
 economy, it demonstrates the exact simili- 
 tude of our common natures, and proves 
 that the only differences among men are in 
 their habits and education, and in their 
 degrees of virtue and vice. The poor have, 
 however, no rights except in regard to the 
 land, and they have no claims on the pro- 
 ducts of the industry of others, beyond the 
 concessions made by benevolence. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 235 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 True philosophy inculcates no system of 
 disorganization ; seeks for no new divisions 
 of property, except such as result from the 
 free exertions of prudence, skill, and industry ; 
 nor requires any associations of virtue with 
 profligacy, or of wisdom with ignorance. It 
 asserts great principles merely for the sake of 
 just practical inferences; and insists on the 
 authority of reason and justice, solely for the 
 purpose of settling the moral relations of men, 
 and their duties towards each other. It recog- 
 nizes all the enjoyments and powers of the 
 rich; but it stipulates for, and demands with 
 undaunted and irresistible voice, the original 
 and unalienated rights of the poor. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Who has visited a gaol, a workhouse, or 
 an hospital? Who has done so, has witnessed 
 the scanty concessions of wealth ! Who has 
 passed from those mansions of woe to the 
 mansions of the great, and has not shuddered 
 at the contrast, even though he has found 
 Httle difference in the happiness of their 
 inmates? Is it then within the walls of pri- 
 sons that opulence shews its tenderness for 
 
236 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 want and misery? Is it in the common work- 
 house that wealth displays its justice? 
 
 " Where children dwell who know no parent's care ; 
 Parents who know no children's love dwell there r 
 Heart-broken matrons on their joyless bed, 
 Forsaken wives, and mothers never wed ; 
 Dejected widows with unheeded tears 
 And crippled age with more than childhood fears; 
 The lame, the blind ; and far the happiest they! 
 The moping idiot, and the madman gay." 
 
 Or, is it in the public wards of hospitals, 
 where disease, stalking in every form, aggra- 
 vates disease, that men show their sympathy 
 for their helpless and afflicted brethren 1 
 
 xxv. 
 
 Right reason demands of wise legislation 
 and national sympathy, a more tender and 
 adequate provision for poverty and misery, 
 than is now afforded by our gaols, workhouses, 
 and hospitals! It demands that the objects 
 of want and suffering: should be treated with 
 due respect to their moral habits, and as beings 
 who have rights of their own and legiti- 
 mate claims on society; and also as kindred 
 human creatures, possessed of analogous feel- 
 ings to those who foolishly consider distinctions 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 23? 
 
 of society, and varied powers of indulgence, as 
 generating differences in the common and im- 
 mutable nature of man. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 We ought to have Asylums for the aged and 
 unfortunate poor ; and to insist on the neces- 
 sary distinction between such asylums and 
 Workhouses for the improvident and vicious 
 poor. We ought to expect the erection, at the 
 public ex pence, of asylums for incurable and 
 chronic diseases, and also of hospitals for acute 
 diseases. The aggregate expences of such a 
 kind and effective system would be as 
 follows :— 
 
 300 asylums, or sets of alms-houses for the £. 
 unfortunate poor, each providing for 100 souls, 
 at 251. each per annum - 750,000 
 
 300 work-houses for the profligate and im- 
 provident poor, 150 each, at 10/. - - 450,000 
 
 300 asylums, or sets of alms houses, for the 
 incurably diseased, the blind, deaf, and dumb, 
 insane, crippled, bed-ridden, &c. 100 in each, 
 at 30/. each ... . 900,000 
 
 300 hospitals for accidents 'and temporary 
 sickness, 100 in each, 30/. each - - 900,000 
 
 250,000 poor families relieved at their own 
 houses with 4s. per week - - - - - 2,500,000 
 
238 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 1200 committees of management, each al- 
 lowed 500Z. per annum - - - 600,000 
 
 900 foundling hospitals for educating and 
 feeding the children of the poor, about 250 in 
 each, at 8/. each - - - -1,800,000 
 
 The building or purchasing of 2100 suitable 
 establishments, would cost each 5000Z. or 
 9 millions, bearing an annuity interest of - 900,000 
 
 The annual repairs would cost - - 450,000 
 
 The poor, thus kindly and liberally provided 
 for, would exceed in number a million. 
 
 300 sets of alms-houses for 1 00 unfortunate Persons, 
 poor, would provide for - - 30,000 
 
 300 workhouses for improvident poor, would, 
 at 150 each, provide for - - 45,000 
 
 300 alms-houses for the helpless and incu- 
 rable, at 100 each - - - "- 30,000 
 
 300 hospitals for accidents and acute dis- 
 eases, at 100 each - 30,000 
 
 250,000 weekly pensions of 4s. would re- 
 lieve or assist treble the number - - 750,000 
 
 900 foundling hospitals for rearing and edu- 
 cating orphans and poor children, at 250 each 225,000 
 
 Total maintained or relieved - 1,110,000 
 XXVII. 
 
 By assigning the proportion of fifty of the 
 alms-houses, &c. to Ireland, thirty-five to 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 239 
 
 I Scotland, and fifteen to Wales, 200 would 
 remain to England, which, combining size, 
 
 ! population, and employments, would be after 
 the rate of twenty-four to Yorkshire, twenty- 
 four to Middlesex, two to Rutland, three to 
 Huntingdonshire, &c. The committees of ma- 
 nagement should be resident within the dis- 
 tricts for which the respective establishments 
 are formed, and should consist of a chairman 
 and six members, nominated by the grand jury 
 of the county, from among persons possessing 
 100 acres of freehold land, or occupying 300 
 acres on lease. Two to go out by rotation 
 every year, and to be ineligible to be re-elected 
 till all those qualified have served. The 
 eligibility to the alms-houses should be de- 
 cided by the certificate of twelve near 
 neighbours and employers. A reformed con- 
 duct in the workhouse should lead to a trans- 
 fer to the alms-houses ; h and a disorderly 
 conduct in the latter, proved before the com- 
 missioners, to a transfer to the workhouse. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 If it be asked why there are poor, and why 
 the poor are to be tolerated, it may be replied, 
 because the faculties of all men do not qualify 
 
240 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 them to cope with society, and they are over- 
 reached and overwhelmed; because this ine- 
 quality of power is still more evident in old 
 age, among single women, widows, and chil- 
 dren, few or none of whom can wholly maintain 
 themselves by their industry ; because the 
 progress of taxation, and the fluctuating 
 value of money, serve constantly to cheat 
 labour of its reward, the laws compelling the 
 labourer to follow the rise of commodities at 
 a ruinous distance, and to maintain a contest, 
 at every step he takes, to indemnify himself; 
 because those who live by industry are unable 
 to make reserves against sickness, accidents, 
 and old age; — because parents who subsist 
 by labour, are unable to make provision for 
 those children whom they may leave orphans; 
 — because the lands, the common birth-right 
 of the whole population, are previously ab- 
 sorbed and occupied; — because speculations 
 and monopolies in the definite quantity of 
 the land of the realm have diminished the 
 number of farms, and the means of supporting 
 and rearing families out of their superfluities; 
 — because the unrestricted avarice of land- 
 owners has led them to prefer to let their 
 lands to monopolizing and speculating graziers, 
 
TRUTH. 243 
 
 who feed cattle instead of men, and em- 
 ploy but one shepherd where ten families 
 used to subsist ; and, because those who 
 are unable to obtain a subsistence by 
 exerting such a quantity of labour as nature 
 would compel them to bestow on their propor- 
 tion of soil, have a right to indemnity from 
 those who prefer keeping the soil in their own 
 hands. 
 
 xxxvi. 
 
 When the prejudices, of which man is the 
 creature, are duly considered, the institutions 
 of Elizabeth, imperfect as they were, deserve 
 admiration. Statesmen are too often the 
 agents of public prejudice, and are compelled 
 to follow, rather than precede, public intelli- 
 gence. If a Walsingham or Cecil now directed 
 a code of Poor Laws, their system would 
 vary in the degree in which the intelligence 
 of the reign of George the Fourth exceeds 
 that of Elizabeth; and, if we are now be- 
 come, or are becoming, the creatures of supe- 
 rior reason, the system produced will be one 
 of increased philanthropy and justice. 
 
 M 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR MAGISTRATES. 
 
 i. 
 The people's estimation of the government 
 under which they live, being founded on the 
 pure, just, and rational administration of the 
 laws, it ought to be felt that no social duties 
 are more important and obligatory than those 
 of a local magistrate or justice of the peace. 
 
 ii. 
 
 All such magistrates being representatives, 
 in regard to their particular powers, of the 
 constitutional authority of the supreme exe- 
 cutive government, they are bound in every 
 act of their office to consider themselves as 
 delegates of the sovereign, and, in consonance 
 with the royal oath, " to execute law and 
 justice in mercy, and to govern the people 
 according to the statutes agreed on in parlia- 
 ment, and to the laws and customs of the 
 kingdom/' 
 
MAGISTRATES. 245 
 
 III. 
 
 An English magistrate should always bear 
 in mind that the supreme executive authority, 
 of which he is the local representative, is 
 restricted in its powers by the laws and the 
 constitution ; and the rights and privileges 
 of a free people are as inviolable as the pre- 
 rogatives of the sovereign ; and that English 
 magistrates are not instruments of a despotic 
 power, but agents of a constitutional monarch, 
 whose obligations to his people are determined 
 by the same laws that constitute the obliga- 
 tions of the people. 
 
 IV. 
 
 An English magistrate should feel that 
 every subject of these realms, be he rich or 
 be he poor, be he accuser or under accusation, 
 is equal in the eye of the law ; that the laws 
 of England are no respectors of persons; 
 that they can never be dispensed with to suit 
 the humour of the magistrate or the policy of 
 the crown ; and that they are literally impera- 
 tive in their popular sense, until they have 
 been altered or repealed by the conjoint 
 authorities which made them. 
 
246 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 V. 
 
 The cardinal virtues of all magistracy are 
 
 INCORRUPTIBILITY, IMPARTIALITY, VIGILANCE, 
 and BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 VI 
 
 An incorruptible magistrate will not only 
 be incorruptible in his own conduct, directly 
 and indirectly, immediately and remotely; 
 but he will exercise a wholesome suspicion in 
 regard to the possible corruptions, extortions, 
 and oppressions, practised by his clerks, con- 
 stables, officers, and other agents of his 
 authority. 
 
 VII. 
 
 An impartial magistrate will jealously guard 
 every avenue of his mind against the vice 
 and weakness of partiality ; he will be careful 
 not to be influenced by ex parte statements, 
 by crafty or malignant insinuations, or by 
 interested and vulgar prejudices ; and he will 
 never fail to remember that, although justice 
 is blind in regard to the parties, she is all eye 
 in her search after the truth. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 A vigilant magistrate will alwavs hear both 
 sides before he makes his determination ; he 
 
MAGISTRATES. 247 
 
 will patiently submit to the awkwardness, 
 timidity, and inexperience of either of the 
 parties; he will cautiously balance the vari- 
 ous points of evidence, and will persevere in 
 his examinations, when necessary, till he has 
 disentangled the case before him from all 
 doubt and uncertainty. 
 
 IX. 
 
 A benevolent magistrate will never forget 
 that mercy is the brightest ornament of all 
 power ; he will never suffer any cruelty, 
 threat, or wanton insult, to be committed on 
 persons under accusation, to extort confes- 
 sions, or on any other pretence whatsoever; 
 he will never exact bail beyond the means 
 of the parties ; he will himself inspect all places 
 of temporary or permanent confinement ; and he 
 will carefully prevent violations of humanity 
 in the various subaltern agents of his juris- 
 diction. 
 
 Magistrates should never forget that impri- 
 sonment is punishment ; that to be sent to 
 prison destroys the character of a man, while 
 a residence there blunts his moral feelings, 
 
248 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 and renders him indifferent as to his future 
 life. No magistrate ought, therefore, to be 
 forward to commit for trial, except in the 
 case of heinous offences, or habitual culprits. 
 Law is not an active inquisition : the magis- 
 trate is bound to hear a charge, but it lies 
 with himself to bind the parties to prosecute ; 
 and, as this is reluctantly done in nine cases 
 out of ten, so a wise and humane magistrate 
 should permit the parties to compromise, 
 whenever the offence is trivial, and the offen- 
 der a novice. But, in all such cases, the 
 magistrate must be capable of acting a manly 
 part, and be able to maintain his own upright 
 views ; for there are Dracos in every commis- 
 sion, and knaves and officers about every 
 bench, whose fees depend on the number of 
 commitments and prosecutions. 
 
 XI. 
 
 A public-spirited magistrate will always 
 be easy of access on special occasions which 
 demand his interposition, and he will be 
 punctual in his attendance at those known 
 periods which he sets apart for the adminis- 
 tration of justice. 
 
MAGISTRATES. 249 
 
 XII. 
 
 When two or more magistrates are acting 
 together, they should never disgrace the seat 
 of justice by their open differences or jealou- 
 sies, but, when such arise, ought to retire and 
 agree on any point at issue between them- 
 selves, before they appear again on the bench ; 
 and every honourable man will strictly guard 
 himself against the possibility that his own 
 peevish feelings towards a brother magistrate 
 may affect the interest of the parties before 
 them, by any spirit of mutual contradiction 
 or opposition. Whenever it happens that 
 two magistrates feel a mutual dislike of each 
 other, they ought never to act by themselves, 
 but always call in the aid of a third or fourth, 
 to neutralize their differences. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 In hearing charges brought before him, a 
 magistrate should remember the dependence 
 of the parties on his patient attention ; his 
 examinations should be public, but in most 
 cases the witnesses ought not to be heard in 
 each other's presence; he should be jealous 
 of the influence of rewards and penalties on 
 the evidence of the informers ; he should 
 
250 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 warily guard himself against the malignant 
 feelings or sinister designs of accusers ; and, 
 before he commits or convicts, he should be 
 thoroughly satisfied that the act charged was 
 perpetrated with a criminal intention, and 
 contrary to the true intent of some statute, 
 law, or ordinance of the realm. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 A worthy magistrate will beware of being 
 misled by the boisterous logic of stern and 
 unfeeling men, when they have the misfortune 
 to have such for their colleagues. Many men, 
 brought up in the lap of luxury, and strangers 
 by fortune to the sufferings which goad men 
 into obliquities of conduct, feel it a duty 
 never to compromise with any breach of the 
 law, however venial, and, like Draco, visit 
 crimes of every shade with the same inflexible 
 severity ; but the discriminating and humane 
 magistrate will oppose all such with inflexible 
 firmness, and never yield to any decision in 
 which law and justice are not tempered with 
 sympathy and mercy. 
 
 xv. 
 In all adjudications relative to the poor, an 
 upright magistrate should be the poor man's 
 
MAGISTRATES. 251 
 
 friend, and the guardian of the destitute and 
 helpless, against the sordid calculations of 
 avarice, and the overbearing spirit of wealth, 
 accurately discriminating between the impo- 
 sitions of idleness and vice, and the claims of 
 industry and virtue. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 He ought to be sensible that the letter of 
 the laws is the rule of conduct for subjects as 
 well as magistrates, and that no man is 
 amenable to magisterial authority who has 
 not offended against the ordinary and obvious 
 interpretation of some law, and who has not 
 been convicted, on the oaths of creditable 
 witnesses, either by the recorded adjudica- 
 tion of a justice of the peace, or by the solemn 
 verdict of a jury of his country. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 In committing to prison, the magistrate 
 should carefully distinguish whether the 
 object is correction after conviction, or simple 
 detention before trial, and should direct his 
 warrant accordingly: no man being liable to 
 be sent to a correctional prison, or subject 
 to a correctional discipline, except as a pu- 
 
 m2 
 
252 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 nishment after a recorded conviction; and 
 simple detention ought to take place in the 
 sheriff's gaol only, because the sheriff is an 
 honourable officer, bound by the ancient laws 
 of the land to perform the important duty of 
 making returns to all sessions of gaol de- 
 livery. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 In imposing penalties, where the statute 
 has given a discretion to the magistrate, he 
 ought to be governed in his decision as well 
 by the means of the parties, as by the repe- 
 tition or turpitude of the offence; because 
 a mulct implies but a portion of an offender's 
 means, and it is with a view to various shades 
 of culpability that the law has empowered 
 the magistrate to exercise an equitable dis- 
 cretion. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 In assigning punishments, it should be 
 considered that the penalties of the law al- 
 ways contemplate extreme cases of turpitude, 
 generally leaving it to the magistrate to miti- 
 gate and apportion the punishment according 
 to the circumstances of every offence ; in 
 
MAGISTRATES. 
 
 253 
 
 doing which, it should be remembered, that 
 the scripture enjoins us "to forgive our 
 brother seventy times seven times ;" that the 
 penalties of the law ought never to be pas- 
 sionate or vindictive, but to be simply cau- 
 tionary for first or trivial offences, gently 
 corrective for second offences, and exemplary 
 and severe only when applied to incorrigible 
 culprits, or to very heinous crimes. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Every justice of the peace who is anxious 
 to preserve the honour of the laws, will never 
 discourage appeals against his own convic- 
 tions, or in any way obstruct or influence the 
 decision of such appeals ; and, as often as 
 the letter or spirit of the law appears to him 
 to have borne with undue severity on indivi- 
 duals, or families, he will benevolently ascer- 
 tain the extenuating circumstances of the 
 case, and bring them in due form before the 
 bench in sessions, or before the grand jury at 
 the assizes, in order that the suffering party 
 may, through their recommendation to the 
 proper authority, obtain the royal pardon. 
 
 xxi. 
 
 A discreet magistrate will, on all occasions, 
 
 avoid mixing in decisions that involve his 
 
 6 
 
254 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 personal interests, his family connexions, his 
 friendships, or his known or latent enmities. 
 In all such cases, he ought magnanimously 
 to retire from the bench at sessions, or to call 
 one or more of the neighbouring magistrates 
 into his jurisdiction. He should remember, 
 that his character will be in a state of ha- 
 zard whenever his predilections as a private 
 man, a politician, or a theologian, interfere 
 with the independence of his judgments as a 
 magistrate. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 A paternal magistrate will do more good 
 in his neighbourhood by his advice and ex- 
 ample, than by the force of authority and 
 coercion. He should lend his countenance to 
 the virtuous, and his protection to the unfor- 
 tunate ; but, above all, he should set a good 
 example in his own conduct, and exact it 
 from all in authority beneath him ; because 
 he can never punish with effect any vices 
 which he practises himself, or tolerates in 
 his agents; and their combined example will 
 prove more powerful than all the instruments 
 of judicial terror. 
 
 1 
 
MAGISTRATES. 255 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 A justice of the peace, holding a commis- 
 sion from a constitutional king of England, 
 and his authority under the mild laws of 
 England, will always feel that his power is 
 conferred for the purpose of increasing the 
 happiness of all who are subject to his cog- 
 nizance, and within his jurisdiction ; that he 
 is the guardian of the public morals, a con- 
 servator of the peace, and protector of the 
 public and personal rights of the people ; and 
 that it much depends on the wisdom and 
 prudence of justices of the peace, whether 
 the social compact which binds the people 
 into one nation under one ruler and one code 
 of laws, serve as a curse or a blessing. 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR SHERIFFS. 
 
 Anciently all sheriffs were elected annually 
 by that portion of the people in whose behalf 
 they were to serve the office. For five centu- 
 ries they have been returned by the crown ; but, 
 by the constitution, they still are popular 
 officers, appointed to execute the laws in the 
 name of the sovereign, with due respect to 
 the privileges of the people. 
 
 ii. 
 The general duties of the sheriff's office 
 are six -fold : — 
 
 1. As executor of all writs an(^ legal 
 process. 
 
 2. As keeper of the prisons. 
 
 3. As summoner of jurymen. 
 
 4. As guardian of courts of law. 
 
 5. As executioner of all summary punish- 
 ments. 
 
 6. As presiding officer at the return of all 
 
SHERIFFS. 257 
 
 representatives to the Wittenagemote, or 
 Parliament. 
 
 in. 
 To perform these important functions use- 
 fully, effectively, and honourably, there are 
 requisite, in the person of the sheriff, 
 
 1. Public spirit, and independence of mind 
 and fortune. 
 
 2. Habitual sentiments of charity for the 
 frailties, and of tenderness for the misfor- 
 tunes of his fellow-beings. 
 
 3. An unshaken attachment to public li- 
 berty, and to the person of the sovereign. 
 
 4. Persevering vigilance in the superin- 
 tendance of every department of duty, taking 
 nothing on trust, and leaving nothing to 
 deputies. 
 
 5. An immoveable respect for principles, 
 never compromising them to gratify temporary 
 prejudices or practices. 
 
 6. Courage to resist the clamours and 
 intrigues of those who profit by abuses. 
 
 7. Benevolence in examining into the cases 
 of prisoners, and reporting on them with 
 zeal to proper authorities. 
 
258 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 IV. 
 
 To visit the gaols frequently, and at 
 unexpected seasons, unaccompanied by gaol- 
 ers or turnkeys, taking care that imprison- 
 ment includes no punishment beyond safe 
 custody. 
 
 v. 
 
 To ameliorate the condition of the pri- 
 soners and their families, and to report to the 
 executive government those cases on which 
 the law bears with unreasonable severity. 
 
 VI. 
 
 To take care that no punishment is 
 increased owing to any popular prejudice 
 against the criminal, and that all the judg- 
 ments of the law are executed in tenderness 
 and mercy. 
 
 VII. 
 
 To strike all juries in person, and to take 
 especial care that the spirit of all the laws for 
 striking juries is acted upon. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 To guard against cabals, prejudices, 
 intrigues, and improper influence in juries, by 
 
SHERIFFS. 259 
 
 calling each jury in a predetermined order, 
 from at least three remote districts of the 
 jurisdiction. 
 
 IX. 
 
 To summon grand-juries, in a similar 
 rotation, from among the most intelligent and 
 independent persons of every district, taking 
 care that there is a due mixture and balance of 
 local interests in every grand-jury. 
 
 x. 
 
 To examine minutely and scrupulously 
 every charge made against gaolers, turnkeys, 
 bailiffs, and their followers ; to visit lock-up 
 houses, and beware that no extortionate or 
 vexatious practices take place in exacting 
 bail. 
 
 XI. 
 
 In a word, the security, under the law of 
 our persons and properties, against oppression 
 or mal-administration, is in the hands of the 
 sheriff; and it depends greatly on his vigi- 
 lance, whether the laws serve as a means of 
 protection or annoyance. While the verdicts 
 of juries remain a barrier against the caprices 
 of judges, and the influence of wealth and 
 
260 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 power, it is evidently of the highest import- 
 ance that the sheriff summon them in the way 
 which is most likely to secure an impartial and 
 independent decision, for therein lies the 
 essence of English liberty. On the intelli- 
 gence and uprightness of this executive officer 
 depends, therefore, many of the active benefits 
 of the constitution of England, and many 
 of those features which render this empire, in 
 respect to civil liberty, superior to most other 
 nations. 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR JURYMEN, 
 
 i. 
 
 The most grievous of personal wrongs, and 
 the most hopeless of social miseries, being 
 oppression and injustice, under the sanction 
 and colour of law, and the plausible forms 
 of trial by jury; the most important of social 
 and moral obligations are imposed on the 
 integrity, firmness, and discrimination of the 
 several individuals who compose grand and 
 petit juries. 
 
 ii. 
 
 An honest juryman should suffer death 
 rather than consent to any decision which he 
 feels to be doubtful or unjust; or which, in 
 his own private judgment, is not warranted 
 by clear and uncontrovertible positive evi- 
 dence. 
 
 in. 
 Every juryman should be jealous that no 
 other opinion than his own directs his deci- 
 
262 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 sion ; for his office would be a mockery on 
 himself, on the parties, and on his country, if 
 his decision were not the result of his own 
 unbiassed convictions. The juryman who, 
 ignorant of his duties, is inattentive to the 
 progress of a trial, and decides on the sug- 
 gestion of others, betrays his sacred duty, 
 and is himself unworthy of the privileges of 
 the law and of the protection of justice. 
 
 IV. 
 
 In deliberating on the verdict, every jury- 
 man is bound to think for himself; to give 
 his individual opinion freely and boldly ; and 
 to bear in mind that it is the sole and entire 
 object of the institution of juries, that every 
 juryman for himself should decide according 
 to his own judgment on the points at issue. 
 
 v. 
 
 The jury are bound to decide fully and 
 finally by a general verdict in criminal cases 
 of "guilty" or " not guilty;" or, in civil 
 cases, " for the plaintiff" or "for the defen- 
 dant;" unless, at the request of the judge, 
 they reserve some point of law; but such 
 special verdict should even then be explicit, 
 
JURYMEN. 263 
 
 final, and conclusive, with respect to the facts 
 of the case. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Every man is presumed to be innocent 
 till he has clearly been proved to be guilty : 
 the onus of the proof of guilt lies, therefore, 
 on the accuser ; and, as no accused person is 
 bound, required, or expected, to prove his own 
 innocency, so no presumption ought to be 
 admitted against him, on his failing to prove 
 a negative to the charge. 
 
 VII. 
 
 The accused ought to enjoy the benefit of 
 all doubts, and of all uncertainty in the evi- 
 dence ; because it is better that a hundred 
 guilty persons should escape punishment, 
 than that one innocent person should be 
 unjustly convicted : the issue of a criminal 
 trial involving every thing dear to the accused, 
 if he be found guilty ; while his acquittal, 
 though perchance he might be guilty, is 
 comparatively unimportant to the public. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Every juror should perform his duty in 
 regard to the accused, or decide between the 
 
264 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 plaintiff and defendant, as he would desire 
 that those parties should act in regard to 
 himself, were their situations changed. This 
 sentiment should direct the juryman's atten- 
 tion during the trial, his anxiety in consider- 
 ing the verdict, and his caution in determining 
 upon it. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Jurors ought to guard themselves against 
 popular prejudices, against the insidious so- 
 phistry and daring artifices of counsel, and 
 against undue influence in whatever quarter 
 it may arise ; and decide on an abstract and 
 cool consideration of the proven facts, and 
 the positive evidence of credible witnesses. 
 
 Unanimity is required in every verdict of 
 a jury, because universal concurrence is the 
 only test of truth, and a true verdict must 
 necessarily produce unanimity : for in every 
 case there exists some truth which it is the 
 office and duty of the jury to detect and 
 declare ; while the required unanimity serves 
 to render every one of the jury responsible 
 to his own conscience, to the public, and to 
 the parties. 
 
JURYMEN. 265 
 
 XI. 
 
 Every juryman should be specially cautious 
 of convicting persons on evidence merely pre- 
 sumptive and circumstantial ; the conviction 
 and legal punishment are positive, and so, 
 as far as possible, ought to be the proofs : no 
 reasoning, however ingenious, and no cir- 
 cumstances, however corresponding, being 
 equivalent to one positive proof, either in 
 behalf of, or against the accused. Doubt 
 ought to produce a verdict of not guilty. 
 
 XII. 
 
 The jury should carefully consider how far 
 the evidence sustains the charge of a criminal 
 design in the accused ; no act whatever, which 
 has not been committed with a proven or 
 obviously criminal mind or intention, involving 
 any guilt, or any penal responsibility. Thus 
 no man ought to be convicted of a crime for 
 any act committed in the exercise of his 
 lawful business. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 A careful juror should commit the material 
 points to writing, and compare from his notes 
 the evidence on both sides, deciding on his 
 
266 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 intuitive perceptions of right and wrong, and 
 maintaining a vigilant caution against the 
 prejudices, combinations, or misconceptions 
 of witnesses, who, by desire of the jury, 
 ought never to be allowed to be examined in 
 the hearing of one another. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 No man being responsible for the crime or 
 act of another, no prejudice whatever should 
 lie against an accused person, because some 
 one has committed a crime, however enor- 
 mous ; and the jury, before they convict any 
 accused person, should take care that the 
 charge has been brought home by distinct 
 and unequivocal testimony, as well in regard 
 to personal identity as to the fact, and the 
 criminal intention. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Juries should be governed in framing their 
 verdict by the precise letter and fair con- 
 struction of the law, as well as by the facts 
 of the case. It is not their province to supply 
 defects in the law, nor to stretch its meaning, 
 lest any crime should go unpunished. Thus 
 no man ought to be convicted of murder, 
 
JURYMEN. 267 
 
 unless the unlawful intention to kill be made 
 palpable ; and no man ought to be convicted 
 of forgery, unless he has imitated or adopted 
 another man's signature, with a manifest 
 intention to defraud; for, if the law has not 
 provided for the punishment of every case of 
 homicide, and of frauds which are not actual 
 forgeries, it is not the province of juries to 
 supply the deficiency. 
 
 xvi. 
 
 The punishment inflicted by the court being 
 generally founded on the abstract fact of the 
 jury's conviction, with little or no regard to 
 any peculiar features of each case ; and the 
 laws themselves being generally made for 
 extreme cases of turpitude, the jury ought to 
 recommend the guilty to mercy, as often as 
 the circumstances afford a justifiable reason 
 for abating the severity of legal punishment. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Every juryman, before he consents to a 
 verdict, should reflect that the decision is 
 conclusive of the hopes and fate of the party 
 or parties implicated : for, as the laws of 
 England have provided no court of appeal 
 
 N 
 
268 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 against erroneous decisions of juries, so these 
 ought never to decide on presumptions or 
 probabilities ; but their verdict ought to be 
 as much a matter of certainty as its conse- 
 quences are certain and inevitable, in regard 
 to the accused parties. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Though persons convicted of crimes may 
 sometimes obtain the royal pardon, yet the 
 verdict of the jury is usually made an insu- 
 perable obstacle ; and though in civil cases, 
 verdicts are sometimes set aside, yet the ex- 
 pences are ruinous to the parties. In sentences 
 passed by courts of law, and in all ulterior 
 proceedings, it is pertinaciously and gravely 
 assumed that twelve honest men have severally 
 agreed on the verdict, not in a careless, hasty, 
 or inconsiderate manner, but carefully, con- 
 scientiously, and deliberately. iVll the conse- 
 quence of legal murders, oppressions, and 
 wrongs, rest therefore solely on every juror 
 who has consented to an unjust verdict. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Honest and independent jurors should 
 beware of being made the tools of any practised 
 
JURYMEN. 269 
 
 jurors, who, under the name of special jury- 
 men, sometimes make a trade of the office, 
 and for the purpose of retaining a profitable 
 employment, endeavour, as often as possible, 
 to give a verdict in accordance with the wishes 
 of the court. Some men are sycophants to 
 promote their sinister views, while too many 
 others are sycophants of power from habit. 
 Both classes are equally dangerous in the 
 jury-box, and every upright juror should 
 avoid becoming their dupe, however specious, 
 artful, or overbearing, may be their conduct 
 
 xx. 
 
 Jurors should view with jealousy all charges 
 against accused persons who appear to have 
 been deprived of any privileges to which they 
 are entitled by the usages of the constitution, 
 and a due respect to the ends of justice : thus 
 no accused person ought to have been com- 
 mitted for trial, except on the oath of at least 
 one credible witness ; or called on to plead 
 unless on the indictment of twelve of a grand 
 jury ; or arraigned on trial unless he has been 
 supplied with a copy of the same, in time suf- 
 ficient to summon witnesses ; and has enjoyed, 
 during his previous detention, the free access 
 
270 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of his friends to concert measures for his 
 defence. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 As grand juries examine witnesses only 
 against the accused, every case, so unopposed 
 by any defence, ought to be completely and 
 unequivocally made out as to the facts, the 
 evil intention, and the application of the law ; 
 and the exercise of a scrupulous and jealous 
 caution against unfounded, malicious, and 
 irrelevant, charges, can be attended with little 
 danger or injury to the public, compared with 
 the ifreparable injury which the admission of 
 a frivolous or malicious indictment may inflict 
 on innocent and respectable persons. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 The duties of a coroiNer's jury are often of 
 the deepest importance to justice and liberty, 
 being the first tribunal to decide on such acts 
 of oppression, or abuses of power, as have led 
 to fatal results. Such jurors are enabled to 
 mark for punishment any murders committed 
 by the wanton introduction of soldiery; and 
 also to confer impunity on any just resistance 
 made against unwarranted acts which may 
 
JURYMEN. 271 
 
 have been attempted under colour of law, or 
 by any improper assumption of authority. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 In trying charges of libel, sedition, or trea- 
 son, the jury should be jealously on their 
 guard against party prejudices, and the influ- 
 ence of the administration for the time being ; 
 and they should bear in mind, that it is chiefly 
 in such cases, that juries are so eminently the 
 barriers of public liberty, the securities of the 
 freedom of the press, and the guardians of 
 their fellow-citizens in its wholesome ex- 
 ercise. 
 
 XXIV, 
 
 In trying libel causes, jurors ought never to 
 lose sight of the important services rendered to 
 mankind, by the sacred right of freely discus- 
 sing public topics, and the public conduct of 
 public men ; and of examining, asserting, and 
 printing, the truth on all subjects of general 
 interest; and, as the law of libel has in effect 
 forbidden them to find a verdict of guilty, on 
 mere proof of publication, so, in the absence of 
 all positive proof of criminal intention, they 
 
272 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 are warranted by that law in finding a general 
 verdict of not guilty. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 In deciding on political questions in general, 
 every upright juror should respect the funda- 
 mental laws of the realm as laid down in 
 Magna Charta, the Petition of Right, and the 
 Bill of Rights; and should carefully avoid 
 becoming the dupe of the sophistry of any- 
 obsequious authorities, or being made an 
 instrument to give effect to temporary laws 
 passed by overbearing factions, in contraven- 
 tion of the laws of God and right reason, of the 
 just rights of the people, and of the fundamen- 
 tal principles and practices of the British con- 
 stitution. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 The foreman should ascertain and equally 
 respect every opinion in the jury; and the 
 verdict, after every member of the jury has 
 been consulted, and it has been unanimously 
 agreed upon, should be solemnly delivered ; no 
 variation being permitted to take place, on the 
 suggestion or dictation of any one, unless the 
 jury, before their decision is recorded, choose 
 
JURYMEN. 273 
 
 to retire again and formally sanction such pro- 
 posed variation by their own new verdict. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Previous to declaring their verdict, every 
 juror should give the accused the fair benefit 
 of those distinctions in the time, quantity, and 
 quality, of offences, which have been explained 
 by the judge or counsel ; and he should 
 anxiously consider, whether the accused has 
 been identified, whether the fact charged has 
 been brought home to him, whether the crime 
 alleged is within the meaning and cognizance 
 of the law, founding the verdict on his com- 
 bined view of proven, not presumptive, facts, 
 and established, not constructive, law. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 It being the sole object of the proceedings 
 in every trial to enable the jury to acquire 
 correct views of the facts which bear on the 
 questions at issue ; it is the duty of every jury- 
 man to ask pertinent questions for his own 
 satisfaction; to protect timid, inexperienced, 
 and embarrassed, witnesses; to receive with 
 caution the testimony of others, who are under 
 the influence of fear, hatred, or expected 
 
274 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 reward ; and to require the production of any 
 species of evidence which is tendered or 
 attainable, and which appears to him to be 
 necessary. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 It is the delicate but sacred duty of jury-- 
 men, to guard against the undue interference 
 or mistaken views of judges, or presiding 
 magistrates, who often take on themselves to 
 direct and dictate to juries, and in bad times 
 have presumed to reprimand them for honest 
 verdicts, or bully them into dishonest ones. 
 The judge is authorized to expound the law, 
 and if the jury cannot write, or have neglected 
 to take down the evidence, it is necessary he 
 should recapitulate the substance of his notes, 
 but he is never warranted in dictating and 
 over-ruling the decision. He should be re- 
 spected by the jury, but not be implicitly 
 obeyed. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Every juryman should recollect that while 
 in the jury-box he is acting for his country ; 
 that, in regard to cases brought before him, 
 he is the uncontroled arbiter of justice; that 
 
JURYMEN. 275 
 
 he is the constitutional protector of suitors, 
 and accused persons, against legal quibbles 
 and oppressions ; that he is the living guardian 
 for his posterity of those sacred powers of 
 juries, transmitted to him by his forefathers; 
 and that the preservation of justice and 
 liberty depends on every firm and upright 
 man doing his duty in every jury. 
 
 n 2 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR GRAND JURYMEN. 
 
 i. 
 A grand jury is one of the most ancient and 
 respectable tribunals known to the constitution 
 of this kingdom, and its members are usually 
 gentlemen of the highest consequence and best 
 figure in the county. A knowledge of the 
 duties and powers of a grand juryman is ab- 
 solutely necessary to every gentleman in the 
 kingdom, because his own property, his 
 liberty, and his life, depend upon maintaining 
 in its legal force this branch of trial by jury. — 
 Blackstone, book iii. chap. 23. 
 
 ii. 
 Their foreman is to be chosen by themselves, 
 and any attempt on the part of the court, or 
 sheriff, to nominate him, or swear him in as 
 such, should be resisted. In Middlesex it is 
 usual to choose a foreman in the grand jury 
 room, after which, the members, with him at 
 their head, present themselves in court to be 
 sworn in. 
 
GRAND JURYMEN. 277 
 
 III. 
 
 The grand jury ought to be composed of 
 twenty-three persons, but the business fre- 
 quently proceeds, although that number are 
 not present, the foreman taking care that no 
 bill is found unless supported by the votes of 
 twelve of the jurymen. — Blackstone, book 
 iv. chap. 23, sec. 2. 
 
 IV. 
 
 As it is the express object of a grand jury to 
 decide whether there is any matter of accusa- 
 tion against the party accused, or whether he 
 ought to be put on his defence, they are com- 
 petent to decide finally and totally on all the 
 parts of the charge, both as to fact and inten- 
 tion.— Sfo/. 29 Eliz. 3. cap. 4. and 42. 
 Eliz. 3. cap. 3. They stand in the situation 
 of umpires between the accuser and the 
 accused, and are thus able at all times to pro- 
 tect the weak against the strong. This uncon - 
 troled and important power of a grand jury 
 constitutes one of the chief glories of the con- 
 stitution of England, and is a grand bulwark 
 of the liberties of the people. 
 
 v. 
 A grand jury ought to be thoroughly and 
 completely satisfied of the truth of all the parts 
 
278 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 of an indictment before they find it, and ought 
 never to be influenced by remote probabilities. 
 It is a very serious and solemn matter for a 
 person to be placed on his trial at the bar of a 
 court of justice ; and as the grand jury hear 
 evidence only on the side of the prosecution . 
 the whole case ought to be clearly and 
 unquestionably made out by the prosecutor 
 to justify them in finding a true bill. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Grand juries have power to expose, if not 
 to correct, all abuses of the state, of law, and of 
 society in general, by due presentment. Any 
 undue powers assumed by ministers of state, 
 or courts of law, contrary to the usage and 
 spirit of the constitution — any conspiracy by 
 which the loose and arbitrary practice of the 
 Court of Chancery permits lawyers and cli- 
 ents to worry and injure one another— any 
 unconstitutional practices in local elections of 
 members of parliament — any tyrannical and 
 cruel decisions of magistrates, or the corrupt 
 and capricious conduct of any judge of assize, 
 — are fit and proper objects for the inquisition 
 and presentment of grand juries ; and, as 
 there exists no more prompt and suitable 
 remedy for the formal exposure, and speedy 
 
I 
 
 GRAND JURYMEN. 279 
 
 correction of such evils, the country and go- 
 vernment rely on them honestly and fearlessly 
 to do their duty. 
 
 VII. 
 
 To find a bill, twelve at least of the grand 
 jury must agree that the evidence is complete 
 and satisfactory. Cro. Eliz. 654 : Hob. 248. 
 2 Inst. 387 : 3 Inst 30. When this is the 
 case, the words — "A true bill," are to be 
 inserted on the back of the indictment ; but, 
 when twelve do not hold up their hands, the 
 words — " not found" are to be endorsed by 
 the foreman. It is usual to put the question 
 only in the affirmative, and if the show of 
 hands is less than twelve, the bill is instantly 
 endorsed — "not found." 
 
 viii. 
 No person not of the grand jury, no bar- 
 rister, attorney, clerk of the court, or other 
 person, can be present during the deliberations 
 and decisions of the grand jury ; but it is some- 
 times usual for a deputation of the jury to con- 
 sult the court on any point of law. 
 
 IX. 
 
 When two or more persons are included in 
 the same bill, the names of each ought to be 
 
280 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 mentioned aloud in their turn, by the foreman, 
 because some may be guilty, and others 
 innocent. 
 
 x. 
 
 In an indictment for stealing, if the crime is 
 not proved against the thief, the accessary 
 must be acquitted as matter of course, be- 
 cause if there is no thief there can be no 
 receiver. 
 
 XI. 
 
 For the dispatch of business, and the conve- 
 nience of witnesses, all bills against the same 
 person ought to be the subject of uninter- 
 rupted decision ; and, for the same and other 
 reasons, a list of the bills found and not found 
 should, from time to time, or as often as re- 
 ported to the court, be affixed on the outside 
 of the door of the grand jury chamber, or in 
 some other conspicuous place, and be signed 
 by the foreman. 
 
 XII. 
 
 The state of the several prisons, the malver- 
 sation of the jailors and turnkeys, the conduct 
 of magistrates, all gross and scandalous abuses, 
 
GRAND JURYMEN. 281 
 
 acts of public oppression, and all public 
 nuisances, within the county, are proper 
 objects for the enquiry, examination, and 
 presentment, of a grand jury. 
 
 xm. 
 
 One of the grand jury ought to sit at the 
 right hand of the foreman, and assist him in 
 reading the indictments. Gentlemen who 
 require to be absent usually consult the fore- 
 man, and obtain his consent. 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR JOURNALISTS, 
 
 A daily, weekly, or monthly, journalist, is a 
 chronicler of the living age, on whom de- 
 pend- those reports which are to stimulate 
 industry, virtue, and talents, and to repress 
 vice, fraud, and empiricism, — to sustain truth 
 and oppo.se falsehood, — and to advance the in- 
 terests of the human race and his country. 
 
 ii. 
 
 An able journalist will study every subject 
 of public interest so as not to mislead his 
 readers, — will discriminate the pretensions of 
 men who are candidates for public notice, or 
 whose pursuits are of a public nature, — and 
 will make himself acquainted with all designs 
 for the public good, and with all plans of 
 public improvement, and promote them volun- 
 tarily and zealously. 
 
JOURNALISTS. 283 
 
 III. 
 
 Of all power, that of the press is the most 
 efficient and extended; and yet the requisites, 
 or means of attaining this power, include none 
 of the great qualities of ordinary ambition. 
 Half that is read is published without the 
 responsibility of the writer's name ; and the 
 means of evading the law are so multifarious, 
 that a literary assassin may for years scatter 
 his squibs, irony, inuendoes, and insinuations, 
 with perfect impunity, and even be rewarded 
 by patronage proportioned to his want of 
 honour, truth, feeling, and principle. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The unshackled exercise of free dis- 
 cussion, and of publishing truth on all subjects 
 useful and interesting to society, — is the great 
 bulwark of civil and religious liberty, — and is a 
 fundamental right of the British people, and 
 an undoubted part of the common law of 
 England; and, without limitation or condition, 
 ought to be maintained and asserted by all 
 who duly feel and duly respect the value of 
 truth and liberty. 
 
 v. 
 An anonymous and irresponsible public 
 press is, of necessity, the facile instrument of 
 
284 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 every bad passion ; yet, even in its worst 
 state, it is the effective guardian of our liber- 
 ties, and a constant check on abuses and 
 obliquities of power. To combine its benefi- 
 cent qualities with the sanction of responsible 
 authority for its articles, — to maintain its use 
 without its abuse, — to keep it free under 
 wholesome restraint, — ought to be the delicate 
 task of cautious and anxious legislation. 
 
 VI. 
 
 An anonymous irresponsible public press is, 
 in truth, a species of mob government, or the 
 most cruel species of tyranny, in which the 
 worst men may have great influence ; while, to 
 the ordinary characteristics of turpitude, they 
 add the dangerous power of being invisible, 
 of attacking in the dark, of lying in ambus- 
 cade, and of performing, in regard to charac- 
 ter, all the functions of Italian assassins. 
 
 VII. 
 
 It is in vain to pretend that falsehood and 
 detraction carry with them their own punish- 
 ment, for mankind are made up of nineundis- 
 cerning for one discerning ; and falsehood suits 
 the former as well as the latter ; while one half 
 the world listen with delight to detractions of 
 
JOURNALISTS. 285 
 
 the other half. Besides, to punish a lying 
 and libellous journalist, requires a degree of 
 public spirit and personal courage which is 
 not possessed by one individual in five hun- 
 dred. The chance of a calumny being for- 
 gotten or unread, is preferred to the expence 
 and annoyance of prosecuting the author. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Nine-tenths of the slanders and falsehoods 
 which appear in the public prints are so con- 
 trived, as to want the precision which the 
 existing law of libel requires : and hence, 
 though capable of effecting the mischief 
 intended, and of wounding the feelings of indi- 
 viduals and destroying the peace of families, 
 they escape punishment. Legislators have 
 done their duty in protecting property, and 
 the task ought not to be insuperable in regard 
 to Character, which, to all good men, is even 
 more precious than property. They ought, 
 however, to protect the publication of truth on 
 all subjects of real public interest, and extend 
 their severities only against falsehood, and to 
 truth only, when not properly an object of 
 publication. 
 
286 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 IX. 
 
 An honourable journalist will require no 
 other power for the wholesome exercise of the 
 press than the right to publish truth on sub- 
 jects of public interest; and the journalist who 
 craves an inquisition of private character, or a 
 licence to misrepresent facts, is a false brother, 
 and one who seeks to render the press useless, 
 by rendering it an object of just jealousy and 
 general abhorrence. 
 
 x. 
 
 James Perry, for thirty years the conductor 
 of the long respectable Morning Chronicle, 
 was a model in conduct and principle to all 
 editors of newspapers. In adhering to his 
 public principles as a friend of peace and 
 reform, he was twice abortively prosecuted by 
 the ministers of the day, for what they consi- 
 dered public libels, but never for a libel on 
 private character. He admitted no malicious 
 notices of individuals; and the squibs, and 
 wit of his paper, were confined to public and 
 party relations. He oftener praised private 
 men, than censured them. If they were con- 
 temptible, he forebore to notice them ; and he 
 
JOURNALISTS. 287 
 
 never allowed any one to be the victim of his 
 reporters and understrappers. Honour and 
 truth were his watchwords; and, with these, 
 he raised his paper to a pinnacle of fame, 
 respect, and great profit.* 
 
 XI. 
 
 Malignant editors assume a hundred forms : 
 they libel by lamentation, by congratulation, 
 by sympathy, by excess of charity, by affecta- 
 tion of ignorance, by juxta-position, by blanks 
 
 * The writer of this article himself conducted for 
 thirty years the Monthly Magazine ; and, in the same 
 period, published at least one thousand works on all 
 branches of knowledge and subjects of contemporary 
 interest. Yet, in printing on as many sheets of paper as 
 ever were used by any other individual in England, he 
 never once was questioned by any person whatever, or in 
 any respect called upon to apologize or explain ; and his 
 only rule was, to adhere to the truth, to forbear when he 
 could not praise, and to confine the press to its proper 
 business, — the public conduct of public men, and the ex- 
 hibition of subjects of public interest and utility. A 
 thousand times has he himself been the object of slander- 
 ous attacks, but he suffered the knaves to smother them- 
 selves in their own poison ; nevertheless, his connexion 
 with the press enabled him to baffle malignity, by means 
 which are not within the power of one in a million. 
 
288 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 and surmises, by contraries, by extolling 
 other interests, by flattering vices as virtues, 
 by playing the part of impartial critics, by 
 excessive candour, by exaggeration, by inad- 
 vertent mistakes, by false associations, by 
 negatives, by artful interrogatories, by equi- 
 vocations, and by mingling unmeaning truths 
 with bitter falsehoods. 
 
 XII. 
 
 As the liberty of the press is the sheet-an- 
 chor of civil liberty and public spirit in Eng- 
 land, so the spirit of patriotism takes alarm at 
 any proposal for its restraint ; but patriotism 
 itself ceases to be respectable, if it be not well 
 directed ; and it ought, in support of all that is 
 really valuable in the liberty of the press, to 
 consent to restrain its abuses, and not insist 
 on the capricious, insulting, and heartless, 
 tyranny, of irresponsible, unknown, needy, 
 and unprincipled, writers, whose chief rule of 
 conduct is their own interest, and acting 
 stimulus, the frequent gratification of the worst 
 passions. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 An honest journalist will not wait for the 
 current of public opinion, or be influenced by 
 
JOURNALISTS. 289 
 
 public prejudices in regard to any questions in 
 agitation ; he will not withhold his commenda- 
 tion of public men, till he has been bribed or 
 influenced in their behalf; and he will not limit 
 his notices of public designs to articles or 
 advertisements paid for by the line. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 A conscientious journalist will not assist in 
 promoting any public delusion, for the sake of 
 vending greater numbers of his paper; but will 
 manfully expose it at all temporary hazards, in 
 the confidence, that, when it has passed away, 
 he shall be more liberally rewarded for his 
 integrity by extended public patronage. 
 
 xv. 
 
 An upright journalist will not join in a 
 hue and cry which any party or faction may 
 raise against an individual ; but will, on all 
 such occasions, fairly estimate the circum- 
 stances, and place them before his readers as a 
 tribute to justice. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 An incorruptible journalist will never lend 
 himself to the designs of speculators of any 
 
290 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 kind, whether in the funds, in provisions, or 
 articles of commerce ; but will always exert 
 himself to detect, expose, and thwart, the 
 artifices of all such parties. 
 
 xvn. 
 
 A fair journalist will always take special 
 care, that his reporters of trials in courts of law 
 do not receive bribes from parties to insert 
 garbled accounts of the proceedings, or sup- 
 press trials of public interest; and that, from 
 any malignity, they do not misrepresent the 
 nature of the cause, and pervert the evidence. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 A candid journalist will never permit the 
 speeches of council, made to influence the 
 jury, and often abounding jn malignant asser- 
 tions and artful insinuations, to form part of 
 the reports of trials, except in cases wherein 
 the entire proceedings are given, with the evi- 
 dence at length, and the charge of the judge. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 A moral journalist will never insert any 
 legal proceedings which violate decency, whe- 
 ther trials for crim. con., or rape, or any such 
 
JOURNALISTS. 291 
 
 examinations before magistrates ; so that it 
 may not be necessary to secrete a paper 
 from the female or juvenile part of a family. 
 
 xx. 
 
 An honourable journalist will never feed 
 the public appetite for calumny, by reporting 
 all the idle discussions and personal disputes 
 which take place in charges and examina- 
 tions before magistrates. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 A discreet journalist will forbear to repeat 
 the scandal of the day, in regard to any indi- 
 vidual, except when the public welfare or 
 morals are evidently interested by the expo- 
 sure. The sensibility of females, and even of 
 private men, in regard to public notice, ought 
 always to be respected. It is death to the 
 peace of such persons to be made subjects 
 of public discussion. Many men seek noto- 
 riety and live upon it ; but there are thousands 
 of men, and tens of thousands of women, who 
 would be made miserable for years by the 
 public application of an epithet, really in itself 
 inoffensive. 
 
 o 
 
292 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 A judicious journalist will take special 
 care that his reporters of proceedings in 
 parliament, and at public meetings, do not, 
 from any feelings or combinations of their 
 own, garble the speeches of certain parties, 
 and prefer those of greater favourites ; by 
 which information becomes imperfect, the 
 truth is compromised, and the parties who 
 are neglected or perverted suffer insult. Give 
 no report — give the whole, or abridge with 
 fairness and equality. 
 
 XX1IL 
 
 An honourable journalist will never sell to 
 the best bidder his opinions on works of art, 
 on dramatic performances, and on literary 
 publications ; and will never suffer the critical 
 opinions in his journal to be sold by those 
 who may write them ; nor will he allow 
 his journal to be made a tool for the ma- 
 lignity of any writer, or the means of raising 
 the interests of one man over another, either 
 as artist, actor, or author. This become* 
 an especial duty, because it is a practice 
 which is often negligently performed, open 
 
JOURNALISTS. 293 
 
 to the easiest abuse, and one of the most 
 flagrant evils of the ephemeral and periodical 
 press. 
 
 XXIV, 
 
 Whenever criticism is introduced into 
 journals, and it is anonymous, there is danger 
 of fraud and perversion. A Review is com- 
 monly the mere advertising medium of some 
 publisher ; and, as such, it is made the vehicle 
 for puffing off his own books, and decrying 
 those of his rivals in trade. The disguises 
 are artful, varied, and numerous; but the 
 object is always the same, — to induce the 
 public to purchase one set of literary wares, 
 and not to expend their book-money in an- 
 other set. Against these literary frauds there 
 seems to be no check, but either not to read 
 reviews, or demand the responsibility of the 
 critics' names. Newspaper criticisms are 
 usually more venal, and less to be relied on, 
 than those of the booksellers' reviews ; but 
 this is a feature of newspaper management 
 susceptible of great improvement. 
 
 XXV, 
 
 One test of incorruptibility in an editor is 
 his never making up articles as his own 
 
294 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 with those for which he has been paid ; and, 
 by consequence, never receiving money for 
 inserting articles which he ought himself to 
 have written, or feels justified in taking on 
 himself. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 A vigilant editor should never permit his 
 assistants or colleagues to receive bribes 
 either for insertions or omissions ; while, — to 
 protect the press, the public, and honourable 
 editors, and proprietors themselves, against 
 such abuses, — some special penal statute is 
 requisite, for the punishment of those subor- 
 dinate agents who apply to litigating parties, 
 and, for a price, undertake to give any- 
 desired colour to law proceedings; who often 
 write paragraphs, partly true, and partly 
 false, and threaten persons with their pub- 
 lication, unless forbearance is purchased ; 
 and who, in like manner, extort money from 
 public men, actors, artists, and authors, either 
 for commendation, or for omitting their threa- 
 tened censures. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 The only legitimate topics for exhibition 
 and discussion by the public press, are, the 
 
JOURNALISTS. 295 
 
 public conduct of public men, as such, — or 
 affairs and concerns in which the public 
 weal and public interests are affected ; and, 
 in this respect, a free press is an invaluable 
 instrument, and too wide a latitude of discus- 
 sion cannot be enjoyed by it: but society 
 would realize the poetic dreams about hell, 
 if the public press became an inquisition of 
 private character, and of transactions between 
 man and man ; and such a system would 
 create a social war, in which the best men 
 would constantly be the victims of the worst. 
 This strong line of demarcation should, 
 therefore, be felt and acted upon by all edi- 
 tors, by all moral patrons and purchasers of 
 public journals, and by all juries before whom 
 trials for libel take place. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Every honest journalist should respect 
 whatever is integrated with the honour and 
 interests of the country, and with those prac- 
 tices which harmonise with its prosperity. 
 Thus, it is anti-British to assail liberty ; and 
 anti-social to undermine public credit and 
 commercial confidence. He is a wretch who 
 eulogizes any violation of the constituent pri- 
 
296 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 vileges of the people ; and a miscreant, who 
 ought to be flogged at a cart's tail, if he 
 exults in the ruin of banking and commercial 
 establishments, — and so vaunts about such 
 misfortunes, as thereby to involve others in 
 common ruin. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 A capital fault of many editors is the 
 supremacy of authority, and the infallibility 
 of opinion, with which they justify whatever 
 errors or weakness they may have displayed > 
 hence truth is constantly baffled by their dog- 
 matism, and disconcerted by their insolence. 
 A braggart editor ought, therefore, to be as 
 much discountenanced by judicious persons, 
 as a libellous one by the virtuous. Friends 
 of liberty by their profession, they are often in 
 their practices greater tyrants than any ty- 
 ranny which they decry, and more intolerant 
 and overbearing than the inquisition itself; 
 while they claim an infallibility which does 
 not belong to man, the assumption of which 
 renders the Pope so contemptible. 
 
 xxx. 
 
 The cupidity of journalists leads them 
 often to indulge in slanders, and especially in 
 
JOURNALISTS. 297 
 
 those in which, by some adroitness of inuendo, 
 they escape the responsibility of the law. 
 because slanders gratify the majority of man- 
 kind, and serve as a sort of seasoning to their 
 periodical banquet. Self-interest is the 
 unprincipled excuse of the journalist to him- 
 self and his friends; but the source of the 
 crime is in the malignity or unworthy negli- 
 gence of the purchasers of such journals; for 
 those who admit them into their houses, and 
 patronize them, are the real culprits, thus 
 bribing, and, in effect, hiring a public libeller 
 to scatter calumnies and pestilence. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 To promote the punishment of slanderers, 
 well-disposed editors of journals ought never 
 to report trials for slanderous words, unless 
 at the request of the slandered; for the pub- 
 lication of slanders, even when the slanderer 
 is convicted, adds so much to the original 
 injury, that slanderers generally escape with 
 impunity, merely because the slandered, in 
 the choice of evils, avoids the greater in the 
 re-publication in the form of a law report, of 
 the slander, which malignant persons will 
 not disbelieve, though the slandered may ob- 
 tain the satisfaction of a verdict. This rule 
 
298 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 applies generally, but especially to cases of 
 commercial credit, to the chastity of women, 
 and to crimes which attach infamy, such 
 publications being, in effect, an obstruction of 
 justice, and a means of protecting criminal 
 slanderers from the just vengeance of the law. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Journalists and newspaper-editors usually 
 consider themselves mere public censors, or 
 exposers of errors, vices, and crimes ; as 
 though they felt themselves to be the worst 
 men in the community, and judged it neces- 
 sary to depreciate others for the purpose of 
 keeping themselves in countenance: but it 
 would be more worthy, and quite as useful, if 
 they were frequently to play the parts of 
 unbought eulogists, seeking out — and holding 
 up to public example — praise worthy instances 
 of living generosity, charity, and benevolence; 
 as though they themselves felt no envy of 
 virtue, and were capable of participating in 
 its sentiments, and sympathizing with its 
 glory. They ought not to leave to dramatists, 
 and remote historians, the pleasing duty of 
 celebrating heroic and generous deeds in the 
 times of which they are the proper chroniclers. 
 
JOURNALISTS. 299 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Newspapers and journals are, for their 
 period, what histories are for ages, and na- 
 tions ; but, as they are printed for eye-witnesses 
 of the transactions, and are perused by the 
 actors in the events which they record, the 
 observation of Walpoie, that — history is all 
 a lie, should not be applicable to them ; and 
 they ought to give the lie to the observation, 
 by their correctness, impartiality, and discri- 
 mination. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 In their reports of proceedings before ma- 
 gistrates, all cautions and notices should be 
 stated for the public information; and, in like 
 manner, inquests before coroners should be 
 reported in such manner as to be useful and 
 instructive to the public. Displays of wit, or 
 passion, preferences of one magistrate over 
 another, or any perversions of evidence or 
 misrepresentations on such subjects, render 
 a paper a nuisance to the public, to the 
 magistracy, and the neighbourhood. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 If many editors of newspapers were half as 
 anxious to perform a public-spirited duty, in 
 regard to objects of utility and matters of fact, 
 
 o 2 
 
300 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 as they are to enter upon political discussions, 
 and display opinions on party questions, — 
 newspapers would be ten times more useful 
 than they are. If they were more alive to the 
 power of doing good, which they really pos- 
 sess, — were less of politicians, and more of 
 citizens and philanthropists, they might use- 
 fully direct public attention and powerful 
 patronage to the wants of genius, and to its 
 fruits of literature and the arts, and to projects 
 of improvement, and to discoveries beneficial 
 to the world, all which often languish or 
 become abortive for want of such aid. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 If the sphere of provincial papers is more 
 limited than those of the metropolis, and their 
 labours less original, their means of doing 
 good, and promoting the interests and happi- 
 ness of their immediate vicinity, are greater; 
 and no man in society has it in his power to 
 exert more useful influence than a sensible, 
 upright, and independent, printer of a pro- 
 vincial paper. But, on these qualities depend 
 his utility; for, if he does not combine them 
 in his character and conduct, no greater 
 nuisance can exist. 
 
JOURNALISTS. 301 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 The securities of civil liberty are so essen- 
 tial to the prosperity of a nation, — so conge- 
 nial with the nature of man, or of the man 
 who is a man, — and so intimately blended 
 with that free discussion which is the soul of 
 all journals,— that the journalist who is their 
 enemy must either be a narrow-minded crea- 
 ture, habitually averse to every generous 
 emotion, the tool and sycophant of some such 
 narrow souls for interested purposes, or a 
 false brother, stimulated by perversity of 
 character, or by some calculation in regard 
 to the number of narrow souls who are likely 
 to patronize and prefer such a journal. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 As editors write for sale, and the most 
 wonderful things are the most greedily sought 
 after, so it is the constant and often inad- 
 vertent policy of news-writers to convert 
 geese into swans. Hence the most trifling 
 occurrence is swelled into importance, and 
 every incident unduly magnified, so that we 
 seem always to live in an age of prodigies. 
 Newspapers, therefore, are not merely tele- 
 
302 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 scopes of high power, but multiplying glasses, 
 which enable distant observers to see every 
 object of their notice at once increased both 
 in size and number, 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 Every diligent editor will investigate facts 
 on the spot, either with his own eyes, or by 
 means of trusty reporters, and will at least 
 relieve his own paper from the general stigma, 
 that newspaper statements are seldom to be 
 relied on. It is disgraceful to the race of 
 editors that experienced men should be able 
 to warn others never to believe half that they 
 read in print ; while many, still more know- 
 ing, warn the inexperienced never to believe 
 any thing which they see printed. Censure 
 could not be stronger, and, though not wholly 
 true, yet there is often too much foundation 
 for the remark ; hence, for the honour of their 
 craft, it behoves editors to remove it by 
 greater diligence and fidelity. 
 
 XL. 
 
 As laws are first abused, and bad prece- 
 dents sanctioned only when obnoxious indi- 
 
JOURNALISTS. 303 
 
 viduals are the objects, and as dogs may be 
 hunted to death with impunity when they 
 are called mad, — so the license of public slan- 
 der on private persons takes place with suc- 
 cess, and without being duly felt either by 
 editors or the public, after a fire upon an 
 individual has been commenced. They begin 
 with pop- guns, and proceed with pistols and 
 small arms, from the ambuscades of inuendoes, 
 till at length the public endure an open bat- 
 tery, and the parties are obliged to succumb : 
 but against this insidious system, sensible 
 and candid editors should always be on their 
 guard, and should never forget that, to abuse 
 the press by personal slander, is to compro- 
 mise its useful purposes ; and they know too 
 well the secret springs of all such malevo- 
 lence to become parties without associating 
 themselves in the turpitude. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 The primary consideration of every editor 
 of a journal should be the character of his 
 work, for on this depends its fortune and his 
 own reputation, and well-being. At every 
 moment of seduction, either by bribes, pro- 
 mises, or persuasions, he should duly reflect 
 
304 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 on the greater value of purity and integrity ; 
 and remember, that to sacrifice these for 
 any temporary advantage, would be to barter 
 his birth-right for a mess of pottage. He 
 should bear it constantly in mind that, as 
 editor of a public journal, the eyes of the 
 public are upon him and his journal ; and that, 
 as every interest and party has an opposite 
 interest and party, so his improper support 
 of one will be duly felt and resented by 
 the other, and his character, and that of his 
 journal, be thereby impeached. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 An intelligent editor will supersede the 
 necessity of those puffs which disgrace the 
 press, and which throw uncertainty on all 
 that is read in the public journals. What- 
 ever or whoever possesses merit in the useful 
 or elegant arts, he will disinterestedly and 
 zealously bring under public notice ; and 
 the gratitude of the parties will be his more 
 certain reward, than the trifles received for 
 paid paragraphs. In such services, public- 
 spirited editors would be public benefactors, 
 and be so considered in their age. 
 
JOURNALISTS. 305 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Many editors conceive their whole duty to 
 consist in assembling and translating from 
 foreign journals, and in arranging the parlia- 
 mentary debates, law proceedings, and vul- 
 gar incidents of the day, as brought in by 
 their reporters, or cut out of other news- 
 papers ; but these are mere common-place 
 duties, which may be performed by any 
 ordinary person, and the true duties lie in a 
 comprehensive survey of the active world, 
 in an unwearied attention to the passing 
 labours of merit and genius in every walk of 
 human pursuits, and in the devotion of the 
 columns and pages of the Journal to whatever 
 is useful, or tends to the advancement 
 and advantage of society. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Many editors fall into the errors of kings 
 and governments, and seem to consider the 
 public as their property or slaves, and not 
 themselves as mere instruments of public 
 utility. Hence their dictatorial style and 
 their dogmatical opinions on many subjects, 
 insomuch that few facts can be dispassion- 
 ately read, and few statements entirely re- 
 lied on. 
 
306 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 They often bounce, and swagger, and bully, 
 mistaking assertion for argument, and their 
 dictum for truth ; while the non-editorial world 
 seem, in their eyes, to be doomed " merely to 
 peep about them for dishonourable graves." 
 
 XLV. 
 
 Editors of journals generally should con- 
 stantly consider the importance of their 
 social position, and act that manly and in- 
 telligent part to which they are qualified to 
 give effect by their duties. They ought, 
 above all things, to endeavour to be useful ; 
 and, in performing the interesting task of re- 
 cording passing events, they should at the 
 same time give a benevolent direction to men's 
 minds and pursuits. They should endeavour 
 to make the press respectable and respected, 
 for their power is immense, and, perhaps, not 
 inferior to that of state and church combined. 
 The abuse of such power by some should not 
 deter others from doing their duty, by the 
 fear that their solitary integrity may be 
 useless ; but every one should set an example to 
 his co labourers of love of truth, of probity 
 of conduct, of intellectual activity, of un- 
 wearied public spirit, and of patriotism in 
 the sense with which it is combined with the 
 interests and happiness of their country. 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR BANKERS 
 
 The banking system is the foundation of the 
 wealth of Britain : it constitutes the financial 
 strength of the government, and sustains the 
 industry and prosperity of the people. 
 
 IT. 
 
 It is the peculiar feature of the banking 
 system of England, that its banks are banks 
 of deposit, or reservoirs of the floating money 
 of the population ; insomuch that all money is 
 assembled in them, and available by them for 
 direction and appropriation by whomsoever 
 it is most wanted, and who is creditable for 
 its punctual repayment. 
 
 in. 
 
 It is another feature of country bankers, 
 that, to augment their capital and resources, 
 they are enabled to issue small notes as cash 
 
308 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 on the credit of their establishments ; and this 
 system affords them additional means of sus- 
 taining the industry and prosperity of their 
 respective neighbourhoods. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Other European nations possess neither of 
 these advantages ; and they never can possess 
 them, owing to the capricious and uncertain 
 character of their governments, and the con- 
 sequent want of confidence and security on the 
 part of the people. 
 
 v. 
 
 In England, the banking system has grown 
 by slow degrees till it has engrafted itself on 
 the habits, prejudices, and practices, of the 
 entire population; and credit, with a banking- 
 house, establishes a man in society, and facili- 
 tates his enterprizes in all concerns of life. 
 
 VI. 
 
 In France, and other countries, no such 
 point d'appui of credit and character can be 
 enjoyed : hence capital is limited to actual 
 property, credit is low, and enterprize is 
 
BANKERS. 309 
 
 impracticable. The public revenues and the 
 financial resources of the government are 
 proportionately low and inefficient. 
 
 VII. 
 
 A fixed rate of interest is the basis of the 
 banking system ; and all the concerns of 
 bankers and their clients would be involved in 
 confusion, if the interest of money was varia- 
 ble and unfixed by law. An unsettled rate of 
 interest is a chief cause of the impracticability 
 of carrying on a banking system on the Con- 
 tinent with the co-operation of the whole 
 population, as is done in England from the 
 equality and certainty of all transactions. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 In England, credit is the prime criterion, and 
 it cannot be commuted for a high rate of inter- 
 est : hence credit is studied bv all men who 
 
 * %/ 
 
 would be prosperous, and money can be raised 
 on commercial securities on terms which the 
 profits of trade will justify, while the high 
 rates of interest in foreign countries, taken as 
 a substitute for credit, destroy credit by the 
 ruin of borrowers. 
 
3J0 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Interest can only be allowed to vary when 
 the securities are defined and exactly equiva- 
 lent, as on government securities, and on 
 estates of ascertained income ; but ruin must 
 attend borrowers on fluctuating interest, in all 
 cases wherein the securities vary in quality or 
 estimation, as in Bills of Exchange, and the 
 general run of commercial securities. 
 
 x. 
 
 The fixation of interest constitutes the sta- 
 bility of trade, and the maximum ought never 
 to exceed what trade can afford to pay, while 
 real securities will find a lower level. The 
 law ought to fix a maximum, and not a mini- 
 mum ; and a maximum is justified, because 
 money is a mere conventional article, and it 
 ought to be subject to conventional law, in 
 subservience to the general benefit. 
 
 XI. 
 
 As credit constitutes the wealth of bankers, 
 they ought at all times to respect public 
 opinion. They have the command of indefi- 
 nite funds in trust from the public, and they 
 
BANKERS. 311 
 
 require public confidence in the circulation of 
 their notes. The eye of the public is there- 
 fore upon them, and their chief luxury must be 
 the power which money confers, and the pos- 
 session of money. They may be enabled by 
 their actual profits to display large and expen- 
 sive establishments, but such things are not 
 essential to their credit as bankers. 
 
 XII- 
 
 The most successful and wealthy bankers 
 have, in all ages, been those of the smallest 
 personal expenditure. Nothing is considered 
 at hazard in such hands, and public confi- 
 dence is the wealth of bankers, if a passion 
 for personal indulgence and expenditure 
 exists, and can be afforded, the parties should 
 abandon the occupation of bankers. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 In every pursuit, certain self-denials are 
 necessary : a clergyman must not keep a mis- 
 tress, a judge must not get drunk, a magis- 
 trate must avoid profligacy, and a banker 
 must never be seen in a brothel or a gaming- 
 house. Many a solid establishment has been 
 brought to the verge of bankruptcy by its 
 
312 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 being reported that a junior partner had had 
 a run of ill-luck or good-luck at play, or had 
 lost or gained large sums by gambling in the 
 public funds. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 The valuable banker is he who sets an 
 example of moderation in his own household ; 
 who studies the characters and pursuits of his 
 connexions ; who patronizes prudence, indus- 
 try, probity, and well-directed enterprize ; who 
 hazards something when the prospects of 
 virtue are at stake ; who hazards nothing in 
 support of audacious folly and extravagance ; 
 who is content with the legal interest afforded 
 by creditable private securities ; and who doe* 
 not grasp at inordinate wealth by illusory spe- 
 culations of his own, even though the chances 
 of success may be as 100 to 1. 
 
 xv. 
 
 The country banker who employs the capi- 
 tal of which he is the focus and depository, fn 
 sustaining the private industry and valuable 
 enterprizes of his vicinity ; who discriminates 
 character with reference to trading qualities, 
 and without reference to political or religious 
 
BANKERS. 313 
 
 i 
 
 parties ; who returns the capital into the vici- 
 nity, as the husbandman does his produce for 
 manure ; and who refrains from distant spe- 
 culations in the public funds ; is a public 
 benefactor, and a patriot in the best sense of 
 j the word. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 The worthless and mischievous banker is 
 ; the man of capricious temper, who deludes one 
 I day with promises, and withdraws his good 
 ! will before plans are matured which he has 
 encouraged ; who envies the prosperity of 
 | others ; who, confounding his balances with 
 his gains, considers the possession of wealth 
 as a title for pride ; w T ho makes use of it to dis- 
 play his power; who employs it in distant secu- 
 rities, rather than in performing kind actions 
 among his neighbours ; or who engages in 
 speculations in the necessaries of life for the 
 purpose of increasing his gains. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 In runs upon banks, it is the bounden duty 
 of bankers to sustain one another in spite of 
 their general jealousies, and local and tempo- 
 rary bickerings. The fate of the weakest to- 
 day may be that of the strongest to-morrow, 
 
314 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 for it is impracticable to realize all dead and 
 remote securities. The shock created by the 
 failure of a weak rival is not recovered for a 
 considerable time ; while the prosperity of all 
 banks depends on the weather-cock of public 
 opinion. An ungenerous conduct in a moment 
 of alarm is always resented too by the public, 
 and retaliated on other occasions. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 The failure of creditable and solvent coun- 
 try banks might be rendered impracticable, if 
 they were to make their notes payable either in 
 London, or, the country ; and if, in London, 
 there existed one general depot for paying 
 them, which might operate in averaging the 
 resources of country banks, just as they them- 
 selves operate in regard to the traders in their 
 own vicinity ; that is, if in London there ex- 
 isted, with reference to small notes, one focus 
 of all the country banks, in which each should 
 lodge real securities for occasional advances 
 from the common stock of currency. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 It is the vast accumulations of capital, 
 more or less in 1000 banks, which, when 
 poured forth by the seductive advantages of a 
 small per centage and government security, 
 
BANKERS. 315 
 
 enables the minister of England to raise 
 annual loans of twenty or thirty millions by 
 various competition, to the astonishment of 
 other nations ; while, as the whole returns into 
 immediate circulation, the operation is capable 
 of being repeated an indefinite number of 
 times, without sensible effect on the elasticity 
 and energy of the system. 
 
 xx. 
 
 As long as the banking system continues, 
 as long as bankers are enabled by their 
 balances and their confidence to discount 
 commercial securities at not more than five 
 per cent., England will continue what it has 
 been during the last half century ; but, when- 
 ever the banking system is destroyed by want 
 of general confidence, and whenever commer- 
 cial bills and securities cease to be discounta- 
 ble at a rate of interest which accords with 
 the profits of trade, then the revenue of Eng- 
 land will fail, her social improvements will be 
 arrested, and she will sink to the level of other 
 nations, Gr by acceleration even below them. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 The minister or the economist, who, igno- 
 rant of the practical operation of the banking 
 
•316 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 system, is ignorant of the multiplication of 
 wealth by means of credit, is unfit to influence 
 the fortunes of such a country as England ; 
 and, whenever it is the fate of the English 
 people to have their public fortunes in such 
 incapable or unprincipled hands, universal 
 misery, general insolvency, and social disor- 
 ganization, must be the consequence. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 As long as a national debt calls for an 
 annual interest of twenty or thirty millions, 
 and as the public exchequer finds it necessary 
 to issue vast amounts of accommodation-bills, 
 an artificial credit and circulation must sub- 
 sist in British society, and commercial credit 
 becomes in consequence the foundation of 
 public credit. The former cannot continue 
 to exist without the latter, because a great 
 revenue cannot be raised without correspond- 
 ing circulation, and great circulation depends 
 on banking and commercial credit. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Commercial credit multiplies currency 
 ten-fold, in its practical effect; and the same 
 amount of currency may maintain an effectual 
 commercial currency of ten times the amount. 
 
BANKERS. 317 
 
 Hence wealth is as credit, and, whenever 
 credit is destroyed, currency rises propor- 
 tionately in value, and prospective or time 
 engagements in nominal wealth, inevitably 
 ruin ail by the change of value. Practically 
 considered, a currency of forty millions may 
 maintain a commercial credit of four hundred 
 millions; but if the latter, owing to the 
 ignorance or imbecility of the government, is 
 destroyed, then all praspective engagements 
 fall from 20s. to 2s. in the pound; and he 
 who pays in a higher ratio must soon become 
 insolvent. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 In fine, it is the banking system, and its 
 able and public-spirited practice, which make 
 Britain what it is, in trade, enterprise, and 
 prosperity, and, by contrast, the continental 
 nations what they are : it is the useful pride 
 which every Englishman feels, that he has a 
 good balance and good credit at his banker's, 
 opposed to the useless pride which the inhabi- 
 tants of the Continent feel, that they have a 
 few rouleaux locked up in their bureau. This 
 small difference of social practice constitutes 
 the Samson's hair of England, and is the 
 fulcrum of her power, and the talisman of 
 her financial strength. 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR YOUNG SHOP- 
 KEEPERS. 
 
 i. 
 Choose a good and commanding situation, 
 even at a higher rate or premium; for no 
 money is so well laid out as for situation, 
 providing good use be made of it. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Take your shop-door off the hinges at seven 
 o'clock every morning, that no obstruction 
 may be opposed to your customers. 
 
 in. 
 
 Clean and set out your windows before 
 seven o'clock; and do this with your own 
 hands, that you may expose for sale the arti- 
 cles which are most saleable, and which you 
 most want to sell. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Sweep before your house; and, if required, 
 open a footway from the opposite side of the 
 
YOUNG SHOPKEEPERS. 319 
 
 street, that passengers may think of you 
 while crossing, and that all your neighbours 
 may be sensible of your diligence. 
 
 v. 
 
 Wear an apron, if such be the custom of 
 your business, and consider it as a badge of 
 distinction, which will procure you respect 
 and credit. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Apply your first return of ready money to 
 pay debts before they are due, and give such 
 transactions suitable emphasis by claiming 
 discount. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Always be found at home, and in some way 
 employed ; and remember that your meddling 
 neighbours have their eyes upon you, and are 
 constantly gauging you by your appearance. 
 
 vm. 
 
 Re-weigh and re-measure all your stock, 
 rather than let it be supposed you have nothing 
 to do. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Keep some article cheap, that you may 
 draw customers and enlarge your intercourse. 
 
320 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 X. 
 
 Keep up the exact quality or flavour of 
 all articles which you find are approved of by 
 your customers ; and by this means you will 
 enjoy their preference. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Buy for ready-money as often as you have 
 any to spare ; and when you take credit, pay- 
 to a day, and unasked. 
 
 XII. 
 
 No advantage will ever arise to you from 
 any ostentatious display of expenditure. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Beware of the odds and ends of a stock, of 
 remnants, of spoiled goods, and of waste ; 
 for it is in such things that your profits lie. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 In serving your customers be firm and 
 obliging, and never lose your temper, — for 
 nothing is got by it. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Always be seen at church or chapel on 
 Sunday ; never at a gaming-table ; and sel- 
 dom at theatres or at places of amusement. 
 
YOUNG SHOPKEEPERS. 321 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Prefer a prudent and discreet to a rich 
 and showy wife. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Spend your evenings by your own fire-side, 
 and shun a public-house or a sottish club as 
 you would a bad debt. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Subscribe with your neighbours to a book- 
 club, and improve your mind, that you may 
 be qualified to use your future affluence with 
 credit to yourself, and advantage to the 
 public. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Take stock every year, estimate your profits, 
 and do not spend above one-fourth. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Avoid the common folly of expending your 
 precious capital upon a costly architectural 
 front ; such things operate on the world like 
 paint on a woman's cheek, — repelling be- 
 holders instead of attracting them. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Every pound wasted by a young trades- 
 man is two pounds lost at the end of three 
 
822 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 years, and two hundred and fifty-six pounds 
 at the end of twenty -four years. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 The nobility of trade generally ends with 
 the second generation. A thrifty and perse- 
 vering man falls into a line of business by 
 which he accumulates a large fortune, pre- 
 serving through life, the habits, manners, and 
 connexions, of his trade ; but his children, 
 brought up with expectations of enjoying his 
 property, understand only the arts of spend- 
 ing. Hence, when deprived of fortune, with- 
 out industry or resources, they die in beg- 
 gary, leaving a third generation to the same 
 chances of life as those with which their grand- 
 father began his career fourscore years before. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 To avoid being robbed and ruined by 
 apprentices and assistants, never allow them 
 to go from home in the evening; and the 
 restriction will prove equally useful to master 
 and servant. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Remember that prudent purchasers shun 
 the shop of an extravagant and ostentatious 
 
YOUNG SHOPKEEPERS. 323 
 
 trader; for they justly consider that, if they 
 deal with him, they must contribute to his 
 follies and expences. 
 
 xxv. 
 
 Let these be your rules till you have rea- 
 lized your stock, and till you can take dis- 
 count for prompt payment on all purchases ; 
 and you may then indulge in any degree 
 which your habits and sense of prudence 
 suggest. 
 
 p2 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR PARISH PRIESTS. 
 
 i. 
 
 The institution of parochial instructors of 
 the people in the duties of morality, and in the 
 doctrines of revelation, is so eminently wise 
 and beneficial, that it may be adduced as col- 
 lateral evidence of the superior origin of that 
 religion by which it was formed and or- 
 ganized. 
 
 ii. 
 
 It is an establishment so essential to a moral 
 and spiritual influence over the people, and it 
 gives so permanent and operative an effect 
 to vital religion, that parish priests, and those 
 authorities which appoint and superintend 
 them, become important and necessary 
 branches of well-organized society, and con- 
 stitute a living church. 
 
 in. 
 
 Every parish priest is therefore an integral 
 branch of the spiritual government of society; 
 
PARISH PRIESTS. 325 
 
 hence arises the evangelical character of the 
 priesthood ; hence the respect which it claims 
 among Christians; and hence all the obliga- 
 tions of personal duty and example in its 
 members. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The parish priest is bound by the nature of 
 his functions, and the object of his office, to 
 reside among the people whom it is his duty to 
 instruct by his precept and conduct; and 
 whom it should be his constant labour to pre- 
 pare for the immortality announced in the 
 gospel. 
 
 He is the moral guardian of his flock, and 
 consequently bound to preserve them in unity, 
 in mutual love, and in good offices one towards 
 another. He should be their impartial umpire 
 in matters of dispute, should allay their violent 
 and selfish passions, and preserve the social 
 affections among kindred. 
 
 VI. 
 
 He should constantly assist and advise the 
 overseers of the poor in the discharge of their 
 
326 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 delicate and interesting duties ; and should 
 draw strong distinctions between the virtuous 
 and the vicious poor, taking care to reclaim 
 the latter by gentle means, by forbearance and 
 charity, and by extending the rewards of 
 virtue to such of them as afford indications of 
 amendment. 
 
 VII. 
 
 As ignorance is the parent of vice, as 
 knowledge is the parent of civilization, and as 
 the unlettered can have little conception of the 
 nature of moral obligation, or of the evidences 
 and doctrines of that gospel which they are 
 unable to peruse, it is his duty to establish 
 and maintain, by his influence and example, 
 all institutions which have for their object the 
 decent education of the children of the poor. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Whatever be his income, he should live 
 within it, and become a pattern of modera- 
 tion, temperance, and contentment, to those 
 who are expected to curb their own passions by 
 his example, and who will be likely to respect 
 his precepts so far only as their efficacy is 
 demonstrated by their influence on his own 
 conduct. 
 
PARISH PRIESTS. 327 
 
 IX. 
 
 He should know enough of the art of medi- 
 cine to be able to administer relief in cases 
 which do not admit of delay ; and he should be 
 provided with a small stock of simple galeni- 
 cals, the effect of which, in particular dis- 
 orders, may have been well ascertained. 
 
 x. 
 
 He should apply his superior education to 
 remove vulgar errors and superstition of all 
 kinds ; he should promote intellectual improve- 
 ment among those who desire it ; he should 
 lend books, and give advice in the choice of 
 others; he should also recommend the adop- 
 tion of all improvements in the arts of life, 
 which are consequent on the labours of men of 
 science. 
 
 XI. 
 
 He should bear with charity the occasional 
 heresies, or variances of opinion, which, ow- 
 ing to the freedom of thought, may honestly 
 and conscientiously be cherished by any of his 
 parishioners. If they cannot be corrected by 
 gentle means, they will be confirmed in their 
 errors, if violence or denunciation be resorted 
 
328 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 to; and, above all things, he should be fobear- 
 ing towards sectaries and sceptics, and 
 tolerant towards enthusiasts and visionaries. 
 
 XII. 
 
 He should be punctual in the hours of 
 divine service, and should perform all the 
 rites of religion with devotional feeling and 
 unvarying solemnity. Nothing in his conduct 
 should be indifferent ; and even at a feast he 
 should remember that he is looked upon as the 
 minister of a holy religion ; and that his levities 
 or sensualities will sanction greater vices in 
 those who reverence his character, and quote 
 him as their example. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 He will find little difficulty in collecting his 
 dues and tythes, if he has succeeded in im- 
 pressing his parishioners with a well-founded 
 respect for his office and personal character ; 
 but, in all cases of dispute, he should convince 
 them before he attempts to control them, and 
 appeal to arbitration rather than to law. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 He should render himself the organ of the 
 benevolence of his parishioners, by recom- 
 
PARISH PRIESTS, 329 
 
 mending frequent collections for particular 
 objects of compassion, and by superintending 
 their distribution. He should, in performing 
 this duty, increase the comfort and the number 
 of independent cottagers ; encourage habits of 
 cleanliness, sobriety, and industry; create pro- 
 visions for the sick and aged; and signalize 
 industry and virtue in the humblest stations, 
 even after death. 
 
 xv. 
 
 He should guard himself against becoming 
 the tool of those in power, or the flatterer of 
 persons of rank, merely as such; and be 
 modest and reserved in his advances to them, 
 lest he be considered as a hunter after prefer- 
 ment, thereby frustrating his just ambition, 
 exposing himself to ridicule, and degrading 
 the religion of self-denial and humility. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 He should never interfere in the political 
 parties of the state ; and in elections, or local 
 questions of a mere political tendency, he 
 should avoid committing the infallibility of his 
 sacred character, by joining in the errors and 
 passionate ebullitions of politicians. He 
 ought in such matters to withhold his inter- 
 
330 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 ference ; and he ought never to become a party, 
 except when evident virtue is opposed to, or 
 oppressed by notorious vice. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 His station, employment, and independent 
 provision, render him an object of estimation 
 among other classes of society, and qualify him 
 to pass through life with respect, usefulness, 
 and happiness ; and there is no social condition 
 which unites so much placid enjoyment, and 
 so many objects for the gratification of those 
 practices which lead to self-satisfaction, with 
 so permanent a prospect of competency and 
 comfort, and so high a probability of preserv- 
 ing health, and attaining long life and felicity, 
 as that of a conscientious and exemplary 
 parish-priest. 
 
GOLDEN RULES FOR INSTRUCTORS 
 OF YOUTH. 
 
 As the character of every human being is 
 formed by education, and it is the difference 
 of early instruction which constitutes the 
 difference in the characters of different na- 
 tions, and of the grades of the same nation, 
 so the heaviest responsibility lies on all who 
 are concerned in the scholastic instruction 
 and formation of the character of each rising 
 
 generation. 
 
 ii. 
 
 The primary habits are formed in the nur- 
 sery, or at the parental fire- side, but the 
 improvement and correction of these, and 
 the storing of the mind with arts, knowledge, 
 and materials for thinking, are the duties of 
 the school-master and school-mistress. 
 
 in. 
 Diligent directors of schools will, how- 
 ever, not limit their care to bodily arts and 
 
332 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 lessons of books, but will pay every possible 
 attention to the morals, passions, and perso- 
 nal habits, of their pupils. Cleanliness, neat- 
 ness, courteous demeanour, love of truth, 
 and honesty, may be enforced, while awk- 
 ward habits, absurd tricks, malignant actions, 
 and dirty practices, may be corrected in every 
 seminary from the highest to the lowest, by 
 system, and moderate vigilance. 
 
 IV. 
 
 No greater absurdity exists than to main- 
 tain that a teacher, who, in order to live, is 
 obliged to take charge of fifty or a hundred 
 children, should attend to the minutiae of 
 their characters and behaviour, especially as 
 teachers themselves are required to possess 
 certain scholastic qualifications, and univer- 
 sal powers and perfection of character apper- 
 tain not more to them than to other human 
 beings. Till schools can afford to maintain 
 professors of morals, teachers of arts and 
 sciences can effect nothing beyond the en- 
 forcement of general rules of conduct ; though 
 these ought in every school to be well studied, 
 and strictly enforced. 
 
INSTRUCTORS OF YOUTH. 333 
 
 V. 
 
 Whatever theorists and visionaries may 
 ! assert in regard to equality of mental powers, 
 and indifference to perfection, every teacher 
 j of youth soon discovers that nature creates 
 as great a variety of capabilities as of struc- 
 ture of body and features of countenance ; 
 that one pupil is rapid in committing to 
 memory, and another slow ; that one is adroit 
 in the use of his hands, and another awk- 
 ward; and that one has powers of fancy, 
 while another is logical or stupid ; and, by 
 consequence, that each excels in the pursuit 
 corresponding with his powers, and fails in 
 others. One in ten may, perhaps, be found 
 to possess a general flexibility of powers. 
 
 VI. 
 
 With this variety of character no insti- 
 tutions are more unhappily constituted than 
 the old grammar-schools, where, without the 
 liberty of discrimination, boys of every 
 variety of powers are obliged, under the 
 discipline of the rod, to proceed through a 
 uniform course of Latin and Greek. It suc- 
 ceeds with one in four; but in the other three 
 cases, it stultifies, and creates a hatred of 
 
334 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 books and learning through life ; while it 
 deprives other arts and sciences of students, 
 who might have excelled in them. At the 
 revival of learning, when all knowledge was 
 confined to Latin and Greek authors, when 
 the service of the church was performed in 
 Latin, and when all books were written in 
 Latin, such a course of education was not 
 only not irrational, but necessary ; it is, there- 
 fore, an unhappy condition of human affairs 
 that it should be persevered in for the sake 
 of salaries and endowments, when it is no 
 longer either rational or necessary. To call 
 such schools free, is a libel on all the best 
 senses of that expressive adjective. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Every well-constituted seminary ought to 
 present a variety of studies to the pupils, 
 with capabilities of conferring perfect know- 
 ledge in those which are adopted. The 
 power of reading well, and with an emphasis 
 which implies a consciousness of the sense, 
 ought to be attained by every human being. 
 But to acquire this art, those books should 
 be used which children are likely to under- 
 stand. They can never read with propriety 
 
INSTRUCTORS OF YOUTH. 
 
 335 
 
 of emphasis any books above their age and 
 knowledge. Nothing, therefore, can be more 
 absurd than to employ young children to read 
 in such books as the Bible or Enfield's Speaker, 
 or any books which treat of abstractions.— 
 Pelham's London Primer, Mayor's Spelling- 
 book, Blair's Reading Exercises, Pelham's 
 Mother's Catechism, Aikin's Selection of Ju- 
 venile Poetry, and Barrow's School Bible, 
 are indisputably the best books for the earliest 
 age ; and they are strictly compiled on the 
 principle that children should not be required 
 to read what they are not likely to be able to 
 understand. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 After children are able to read the above- 
 named books with facility, they may have 
 others put into their hands, which combine 
 knowledge with exercise. They may read 
 for amusement in after-life, but in youth the 
 acquirement of facts of every kind is of the 
 first consequence. The Book of English 
 Trades, Goldsmith's Account of the Wonders 
 of the United Kingdom, Clarke's Wonders 
 of the World, Robinson's Abridgment of 
 ^lume and Smollett's History of England, 
 
336 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 Goldsmith's Popular Geography, Blair's Class- 
 book, Watkins' Scripture Biography, Clarke's 
 Wonders of the Heavens, Robinson's Ancient 
 History, and his Modern History, Prior's 
 Vovages Round the World, his Universal 
 Traveller, Mavor's British Nepos. his Plu- 
 tarch, and his Natural History, are books 
 which severally afford superior exercises in 
 reading ; but, at the same time, they serve as 
 efficient means of conveying to young minds 
 a body of invaluable knowledge. They are 
 perfect tools of early tuition, and their 
 total cost of five guineas should be distributed 
 over the seven years of education from seven 
 to fourteen, in which period the whole may 
 be read twice, as progressive lessons. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Every part of the business of a school 
 should be pursued with system. Classes in 
 various studies and books should be formed, 
 and the pupils led to expect consistency and 
 perseverance. The clock should be the signal 
 for varying their daily pursuits, and parti- 
 cular days of the week appropriated to spe- 
 cial objects. Whatever applies to powers 
 of memory, should be done in the morning. 
 Writing should be performed in the middle 
 
INSTRUCTORS OF YOUTH. 337 
 
 of the day, when the muscles are more flexi- 
 ble, and the temperature highest. Except so 
 far as knowledge may be incidentally ac- 
 quired by the practice of reading, every study 
 should be pursued by exercise. Nothing is 
 learnt either by child or adult, except by 
 working at the subject with the head or 
 hands. Thus, languages are only to be ac- 
 quired by translating out of and into the 
 language. Writing and drawing, only by 
 imitating good copies, and constant practice. 
 Arithmetic, by working examples. Geogra- 
 phy, by filling up Goldsmith's blank maps, 
 and answering the questions in his two gram- 
 mars. History, by answering the questions 
 on Robinson's grammar, and his other school 
 histories; and just so with other subjects — 
 all must be studied by exercises systemati- 
 cally pursued, and these exercises are alone 
 afforded by the Interrogative System. 
 
 x. 
 
 The interrogative system is a means of 
 exercising young persons on many subjects, 
 in the study of which, previously to its intro- 
 duction, there existed no means of exercise. 
 The only species of working, of which the 
 
8-38 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 subjects are susceptible, is the form of ques- 
 tions, which, by this system, the student is 
 required to answer himself, by referring to 
 the elementary book on which the questions 
 are constructed. These questions, to serve 
 as exercises, are, of course, not in the order 
 of the text of the elementary book, but are 
 dodgingly arranged, the first having a limited 
 range, and the latter ones embracing the 
 entire book. They are printed in quarto on 
 writing-paper, with spaces between each 
 question for entering the answer ; and, of 
 course, the finding of the answer is an exer- 
 tion of the mind, the framing it an exercise 
 of composition, the writing of it on a slate 
 an exercise in orthography, and the entering 
 it neatly in the book an exercise of running- 
 hand. The answering of five hundred ques- 
 tions on each subject of study necessarily 
 involves a perfect knowledge of the subject, 
 while, for the facility of the teacher, every set 
 of questions is provided with a key of refer- 
 ence for his or her own use. 
 
 XI. 
 
 In accordance with this system, questions 
 have been framed on many standard books; 
 
INSTRUCTORS OF YOUTH. 339 
 
 and, in other cases, wherein no standard books 
 existed on a subject, superior elementary 
 books have been published. Thus the system 
 has provided 500 questions on the Old and 
 New Testaments, on the Eton Grammar, on 
 Murray's Grammar, on Irving's Elements of 
 Composition, on Blackstone's Commentaries 
 &c. &c. ; but, besides these, it has been 
 expressly provided with Goldsmith's two 
 Grammars of Geography, with Blair's Univer- 
 sal Preceptor, Robinson's Grammar of History, 
 Squire's Grammar of Astronomy, Blair's 
 English Grammar, the Universal Catechist, 
 Johnstone's Grammar of Classical Knowledge, 
 Blair's Grammar of Natural Philosophy, &c« 
 &c. ; and, as all these books and studies may, 
 by the use of the several keys, be introduced 
 into all kinds of schools, they may be taught in 
 every course of education without other charge 
 than that of the books.* 
 
 * As the writer of these paragraphs is himself the 
 inventor and introducer of the practical system which he 
 here recommends, he relies on the candour and just feel- 
 ing of his readers that his recommendation of it to the 
 instructors of British youth will be solely ascribed to his 
 sincere conviction of its undeniable utility and import- 
 ance, founded on an unparalleled circulation of the 
 
 Q 
 
340 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, 
 
 XII. 
 
 As correct book keeping, and the practical 
 means of periodically balancing losses and 
 gains, expenses and income, is a source of 
 wealth and ease of mind to all men, so it 
 ought to be a regular and systematic branch 
 of education for all classes, whether the young 
 nobleman or wealthy heir, whose security 
 requires this knowledge, or the young trades- 
 man, whose success may depend on his 
 expertness in so necessary an art. 
 
 books during the last twenty-five years, on the testimony 
 of hundreds of heads of schools of both sexes, and on the 
 reasonableness of the principle on which the Interrogative 
 System is founded. He has seen with satisfaction the 
 systems of Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster generally applied 
 to the education of the poor in the first elements of know- 
 ledge, which, without such means, they never could have 
 acquired; and he has, in the mean time, enjoyed the 
 silent satisfaction of seeing his own system working its 
 way into all those seminaries in which liberal studies are 
 pursued by the middling and wealthy classes. As the 
 design developed itself by degrees with the publication of 
 the books, he scarcely ventured to dignify it with the 
 name of system, till he had by twenty years' exertion 
 extended the principle to nearly every subject, and to 
 his own and other elementary books. 
 
INSTRUCTORS OF YOUTH. 341 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Every youth should study, if possible, some 
 other language besides his own. Many rea- 
 sons plead in favour of Latin ; but, next to 
 this, the French language possesses imposing 
 claims as the living language of the civilized 
 world, besides being the Norman basis of our 
 own tongue. In teaching language and arith- 
 metic, two reforms are demanded by reason ; 
 one, to begin with the indeclinable parts of 
 speech, and become perfect in them before 
 proceeding to the inflections, which is the sys- 
 tem of the books of Bossut ; and the other, is 
 to proceed through homogeneous numbers, or 
 vulgar and decimal fractions, before the pupil 
 enters on mixed numbers. Practical geo- 
 metry, and the use of a scale and compasses, 
 should constitute every third lesson of the 
 arithmetical master in the education of both 
 sexes. It will assist in drawing, writing, 
 geography, and be useful through life. 
 
 xiv. 
 
 There is no other method of enforcing 
 attention but the act of the will, or the obliga- 
 tion of necessity. Hence emulation and 
 punishment are the stimuli of education. It 
 
342 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 must be the anxious desire of every instructor 
 to excite the one, and avoid the other as long 
 as possible, for a first punishment leads to the 
 necessity of a second, and this to ignominy, 
 indifference, contempt, and ruin. The skill 
 of a tutor, in exciting and keeping up emula- 
 tion, constitutes the perfection of his art. To 
 arouse phlegmatic and sulky tempers is. 
 nevertheless, difficult, if not wholly imprac- 
 ticable. Habitual appeals to their dormant 
 and perverse feelings are, perhaps, the only 
 means, and an affectation of not observing 
 their unhappy characteristics. Beyond the 
 possibility of cavil, the best, most systematic, 
 and most practical, mode of exciting habitual 
 and general emulation, are Blair's School 
 Registers for both sexes. Their use will, in 
 due time, draw out even the obstinate, har- 
 dened, and sulky. 
 
 xv. 
 
 It has been fashionable to abuse logic, 
 because logic was abused by pedantry. But 
 this art, as teaching the tools and terms of 
 ratiocination, ought not to be wholly neglected 
 in the education of boys. It is true it does 
 not itself create reason, but it disciplines 
 reason, and it confers practical utility on the 
 
INSTRUCTORS OF YOUTH. 343 
 
 study of geometry and algebra, which are to 
 be regarded as mere exercises of the reasoning 
 powers and abstract applications of practical 
 logic. In preparing boys for Universities, it 
 is necessary to use the books respectively 
 adopted in them, because, by usage, certain 
 authors become in them the standard authori- 
 ties of each science, and the examinations for 
 degrees refer even less to the science itself, 
 than to its exhibition by those writers. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 For knowledge of the social world, and 
 human character, no book is at once so at- 
 tractive and instructive as Esop's Fables ; but 
 the language of Croxall is quaint and obsolete, 
 while there is no better edition. For polite- 
 ness, manners, and personal character, no 
 books are superior to Gregory's Chesterfield, 
 and Chapone's Letters. The accomplishment 
 of dancing ought to be taught to boys as well 
 as girls, both as a wholesome and graceful 
 exercise, and an introduction to society. Nor 
 ought music to be neglected as a means of 
 innocently and agreeably filling up the leisure 
 hours of both sexes. 
 
344 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Extemporaneous eloquence, so necessary to 
 boys in their passage through life, might be 
 taught in all schools, not by learning speeches 
 and reciting them, but by delivering simple 
 sentences in their own language, reciting 
 fables, &c. from once reading, and proceeding 
 step by step, just as other things are acquired. 
 In two or three years, boys between twelve 
 and fifteen might, by the lessons of one after- 
 noon in every week, be enabled to deliver 
 themselves on any complicated subject within 
 their sphere of information. Nothing would 
 be more easily accomplished, and nothing 
 more useful. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Girls ought to be as well grounded in arith- 
 metic as boys. No exercise tends so much to 
 draw out the reasoning powers. Plain, useful, 
 needle-work, should also be practised by them ; 
 and it would be an admirable system if two 
 of them by turns were in every female board- 
 ing-school to assist in the domestic manage- 
 ment of the house for a week. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Wherever opportunities offer, boys ought to 
 have a small plot of ground assigned them to 
 
INSTRUCTORS OF YOUTH. 345 
 
 dig, plant, and cultivate. It would be healthy 
 amusement, and practically instructive on 
 many useful subjects which cannot be taught 
 in books. Every boy ought also to be drilled 
 in the manual exercise, and taught to ride and 
 swim, as useful and healthy gymnastics. 
 
 xx. 
 
 The faults of treatises and systems of edu- 
 cation are their impracticable fancies. The 
 authors, chiefly maiden ladies, forget that, in 
 country places, the majority of boys and girls 
 are to be taught for the miserable pittance of 
 sixpence per week, and that a shilling implies 
 gentility : hence schools must admit at least 
 half a hundred children to enable the teacher 
 to subsist. Their theories and contrivances 
 may aid the unhappy children condemned to 
 private education; but the conductors of 
 schools, in which ninety-nine hundredths of 
 the rising generation are educated, have no 
 leisure to turn aside from general systems, to 
 which all tempers and capacities must yield. 
 The formation of character consequently de- 
 pends nine times in ten entirely on the exam- 
 ple of parents, and the precepts and practices 
 of the father or mother. 
 
846 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Teachers are generally charged with pedan- 
 try, and it cannot well be otherwise. Scholas- 
 tic subjects are the business of their lives ; and 
 their demeanour, among their scholars, is 
 necessarily formal. Habit begets a didactic 
 manner of conversing, as well as a certain air 
 of authority. The world are used to it, and 
 the world expect it. A facetious school- master 
 is as little in true character as a facetious 
 judge. Nevertheless, it is the duty of the 
 school-master, as far as possible, to leave the 
 manners of the school in the school; and, in 
 society, display the results of knowledge in 
 the ease, grace, and agreeableness, of the 
 accomplished gentleman. School-mistresses 
 are frequently the most accomplished women 
 to be met with in society. 
 
THE AUTHOR'S 
 
 REASONS FOR NOT EATING ANIMAL 
 
 FOOD. 
 
 I. 
 
 Because, being mortal himself, and holding 
 his life on the same uncertain and precarious 
 tenure as all other sensitive beings, he does not 
 feel himself justified, by any alleged superi- 
 ority, or inequality of condition, in destroying 
 the vital enjoyment of any other mortal, except 
 in the necessary defence of his own life. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Because the desire of life is so paramount, 
 and so affectingly cherished by all sensitive 
 beings, that he cannot reconcile it to his feel- 
 ings to destroy, or become a voluntary party 
 in the destruction of, any living creature, how- 
 ever much in his power, or apparently insig- 
 nificant. 
 
 Q2 
 
348 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 III. 
 
 Because he perceives in nature a gradation 
 of existence, subordinate and successive, by 
 which atoms form the granular and crystal- 
 lized masses of inert matter, these forming 
 vegetation, and vegetables forming animali- 
 zation ; and this succession, with some excep- 
 tions, unworthy of moral example, is the gene- 
 ral chain of all existence. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Because nature appears to have made a 
 super-abundant provision for the nourishment 
 of animals in the saccharine matter of roots 
 and fruits ; in the farinaceous matter of grain, 
 seed, and pulse ; and in the oleaginous matter 
 of the stalks, leaves, and pericarps, of numer- 
 ous vegetables. 
 
 v. 
 Because the destruction of the mechanical 
 organization of vegetables inflicts no sensitive 
 suffering, nor violates any moral feeling ; while 
 vegetables serve to render his own health, 
 strength, and spirits, better than those of most 
 carnivorous men. 
 
REASONS FOR NOT EATING ANIMAL FOOD. 349 
 VI. 
 
 Because, in the hope of emancipating himself 
 from the sensual and selfish instincts which 
 govern the human race, he yields to his moral 
 and mental convictions, setting at defiance all 
 those considerations about health and vigour 
 which have been pressed upon him by the 
 intellectual darkness and unfeeling assump- 
 tions of the medical and philosophical schools. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Because he feels an utter and unconquera- 
 ble repugnance against applying to his palate, 
 masticating with his teeth, or receiving into 
 his stomach, the flesh or juices of deceased 
 animal organizations. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Because, against devouring flesh in ge- 
 neral, he feels the same abhorrence which he 
 hears carnivorous persons express against 
 eating human flesh, or the flesh of dogs, cats, 
 horses, or other animals, which in some coun- 
 tries it is customary for the carnivorous to 
 devour. 
 
350 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Because he observes that carnivorous men, 
 unrestrained by reflection or sentiment, even 
 refine on the cruel practices of the most savage 
 animals; and apply their resources of mind 
 and art to prolong the miseries of the victims 
 of their appetites, skinning, roasting, and boil- 
 ing, animals alive, and torturing them without 
 reservation or remorse, if they add thereby to 
 the variety or the delicacy of their carnivo- 
 rous gluttonies. 
 
 x. 
 
 Because, observing that carnivorous pro- 
 pensities among animals are accompanied by 
 a total want of sympathetic feelings and hu- 
 mane sentiments, as in the hyena, the tyger, 
 the vulture, the eagle, the crocodile, and the 
 shark ; he conceives that the practices of those 
 carnivorous brutes afford no worthy example 
 for the imitation or justification of rational, 
 reflecting, and conscientious, beings. 
 
 Because, during forty-six years' rigid ab- 
 stinence from the flesh and juices of de- 
 
REASONS FOR NOT EATING ANIMAL FOOD, 351 
 
 ceased sensitive beings, he finds that he has 
 suffered but one month's serious illness ; that 
 his animal strength and vigour have been 
 equal, or superior, to that of his contempo- 
 raries ; and that his mind has been fully equal 
 to numerous shocks, which it has had to 
 encounter, from innumerable cases of turpi- 
 tude in his fellow-men. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Because the natural sentiments and sympa- 
 thies of human beings, in regard to the killing 
 of other animals, are generally so averse to the 
 practice, that few men or women could devour 
 the animals which they might be obliged 
 themselves to kill ; yet they forget, or affect to 
 forget, the living endearments or dying suf- 
 ferings of the creature, while they are wanton- 
 ing over his remains. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Because the human stomach appears to be 
 naturally so averse to the remains of animals, 
 that few could partake of them if they were 
 not disguised and flavoured by culinary pre- 
 paration ; yet rational creatures ought to feel 
 
852 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 that the prepared substances are not the less 
 what they truly are, and none but savages 
 could devour raw flesh, or kill and eat on the 
 spot the quivering warm flesh of their victims, 
 in itself loathsome. 
 
 xiv. 
 
 Because the forty-seven millions of acres in 
 England and Wales would maintain in abund- 
 ance as many human inhabitants, if they lived 
 wholly on grain, fruits, and vegetables ; but 
 they sustain only fifteen millions scantily, 
 while animal food is made the basis of human 
 
 subsistence. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Because animals do not present or contain 
 the substance of food in mass, like vegetables ; 
 every part of their economy being subservient 
 to their own existence ; arid their entire frames 
 being solely composed of blood necessary for 
 life, of bones for strength, of muscles for mo- 
 tion, and of nerves for sensation, just like 
 ourselves. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Because the practice of killing and devour- 
 ing animals can be justified by no moral plea, 
 
REASONS FOR NOT EATING ANIMAL FOOD. 353 
 
 by no physical benefit, nor by any allegation 
 of necessity, in countries where there is abund- 
 ance of vegetable food ; and where the arts of 
 gardening and husbandry are favoured by 
 social protection, and by the genial character 
 of the soil and climate : for man is either not 
 indigenous in climates which produce no ve- 
 getation, or has neglected to migrate from 
 countries whose physical character has 
 changed. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Because in morals, universally, the moral 
 sense governs practices without regard to 
 possible inconveniences ; while assumed in- 
 conveniences are not in any case admitted as 
 justifications of practices either unjust or 
 immoral. It is not the duty, or in the power 
 of man, to regulate the universe ; but it is his 
 duty to respect his own moral sentiments, and 
 leave to powers above his own, the balancing of 
 nature, and the harmonizing of existence. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Because the practices of savages, and of 
 savage ancestry, in killing and eating animals, 
 
354 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 are not entitled to more respect among civi- 
 lized men, than the practices of many nations, 
 even at this day, in killing and eating either 
 their enemies or their way-laid neighbours; 
 and so forcible is custom, that the laws of 
 civilization against murder appear to be in- 
 sufficient in deterring the practice of canniba- 
 lism among some black tribes in the British 
 colonies. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Because custom has so misled men, and so 
 hardened their hearts against sympathy for the 
 sufferings of creatures in their power and un- 
 protected by law, that killing and maiming is 
 denominated sport, and skill in such prac- 
 tices placed even on a level with the liberal 
 arts and sciences, insomuch that man is the 
 terror of all other animals, and the merciless 
 tyrant of the whole animated creation. 
 
 xx. 
 
 Because all such practices as hunting, shoot- 
 ing, fowling, fishing, badger-baiting, cock- 
 fighting, bull-baiting, rook and gull shooting, 
 &c. &c. deprive men of that sympathy and 
 
REASONS FOR NOT EATING ANIMAL FOOD. 355 
 
 sense of mutual justice, which, in their inter- 
 course with one another, ought to be as opera- 
 tive as law, and the energies of which are 
 essential to the happiness of society. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Because whenever the number and hostility 
 of predatory land animals might so tend to 
 prevent the cultivation of vegetable food, as to 
 render it indispensible to destroy them in 
 self-defence, there could even in that case 
 exist no necessity to destroy the animated 
 existences in water; and, as in most civilized 
 countries there exist no land-animals besides 
 those which are purposely bred for slaughter 
 or luxury, of course all destruction in such 
 countries must arise either from unthinking 
 wantonness or carnivorous gluttony. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Because the stomachs of locomotive beings 
 appear to have been provided for the purpose 
 of conveying about, with the moving animal, 
 nutritive substances, analogous in effect to the 
 soil in which are fixed the roots of plants; and, 
 consequently, nothing ought to be introduced 
 
 6 
 
356 SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 into the stomach for digestion and for absorp- 
 tion by the lacteals, or roots of the animal 
 system, but the natural bases of simple nutri- 
 tion, as the saccharine, the oleaginous, and 
 the farinaceous, matter of the vegetable 
 kingdom. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 I. 
 
 The doctrine of Attraction of every kind is demon- 
 strably absurd, by the following considerations. If 
 A and B move together, and meet in C 
 
 AO .... C .... OB 
 A is moved by a force from the part or side A, and 
 B by a force from the part or side B. But, by the 
 doctrine of attraction, B is said to move A, though B 
 is not only not on the side A, but, in addition, is not 
 there in power so as to move A to C. In like man- 
 ner, A is said to move B ; but A is not on the side B 
 where the force must be which is to move B to C. 
 Therefore universally, when bodies go together, it is 
 not their mutual actions ; and the doctrine of such 
 mutual action is, in all cases whatever, a logical, me- 
 chanical, and physical, absurdity. 
 
 II. 
 
 The doctrine of Repulsion is an absurdity as gross 
 as that of attraction, because if A and B recede to 
 Cand D 
 
 C M A B fcT D 
 
 O OO O 
 
 While, as A is moving to C, its force must be in that 
 
358 APPENDIX. 
 
 direction, or from A to C ; but B moves at the same 
 time in a contrary direction from B to D; and, as 
 motions are in the direction of their forces, the mo- 
 tions of B cannot be caused by the force of A in its 
 contrary motion from A to C. So, also, in regard to 
 A with reference to B. The recession can, therefore, 
 be caused by no mutual action of the bodies; and the 
 doctrine is a logical, mechanical, and physical, 
 absurdity. 
 
 III. 
 
 When theorists write so flippantly about centrifu- 
 gal force, and liken the phenomena of the earth to 
 those of a mop or a grindstone, they forget the 
 orbicular motion, which is sixty-eight times greater 
 than the equatorial rotatory motion. As centrifugal 
 motion is merely an effect of one motion, it is 
 neutralized, and even reversed, by any much greater 
 simultaneous motion ; and, subject to a greater mo- 
 tion, the rotatory motion then exerts its full force in 
 producing simple equilibrium, concentration, and 
 aggregation. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Many persons ask, with childish naivete, why, 
 when a stone has been projected into the atmosphere, 
 it does not revolve and continue at the height to which 
 it has been projected, as thereis no attraction; forget- 
 ting, or choosing to forget, that the stone was raised 
 by the re-action of some animal or machine against 
 the earth ; and that, before so raised, it had a tendency 
 to fall lower, which tendency is not destroyed by the 
 
APPENDIX. 359 
 
 temporary elevating force ; but, continually acting, 
 contributes with the resistance of the air to destroy 
 the temporary force, and, when that is dissipated, 
 the original force acts as at first, and carries the stone 
 towards the centre of the moving mass of which it 
 was and is an integral part. For the common force 
 which revolves the mass, is not competent to carry 
 round a stone at that distance from the centre in 
 equilibrium with the whole ; and either the stone must 
 move towards the centre into a circle of less velo- 
 city, or the centre must move towards the stone, and 
 the earth itself become lop-sided, on account of the 
 stone, which is absurd. 
 
 To render this clear, we will consider the con- 
 centric circles as representing strata of the earth. 
 
 Consequently the arcs 1, 2, and 3, 4, and 5, 6, 
 are performed in equal times ; and the velocities are 
 less and less as we approach the centre. But the 
 whole earth is turned by a common force, or by one 
 force common to all the parts ; consequently every 
 part will present or acquire, or endeavour to acquire, 
 an equal re-action ; or, in other words, the momenta 
 of every part will be equal, or endeavour to become 
 equal. The velocities, however, are as the distances 
 
860 APPENDIX. 
 
 from the centre ; consequently the densities in each 
 circle, in equal momenta, must be inversely as the 
 distance, or endeavour to become so ; and hence the 
 fall of dense bodies towards circles of rotation which 
 are inversely as their densities. 
 
 To render this more obvious, we will suppose a 
 mountain to be placed on the side of the globe. 
 
 Now, previously to the addition of the mountain, the 
 centre of motion was at A ; but, as the centre of 
 motion will be the centre of the entire mass, the ad- 
 dition of the mountain raises the centre of motion 
 to B, nearer the mountain. The motion is now lop- 
 sided, and an action and re-action takes place be- 
 tween the globular mass and the mountain, by which 
 B is forced towards A, or the mountain is acted upon 
 as it were to be absorbed in the mass. All the 
 parts of the mountain seek, therefore, the exterior 
 circle of the mass, or tumble as fast as they can. 
 But, if the top of the mountain were only an unsus- 
 tained stone, which, while partaking of the general 
 motion, had been projected to that height; then such 
 cause would not remove A to B ; which the whole mass 
 acting against the stone would bring it back with a 
 continuous or accelerated velocity. 
 
APPENDIX. 361 
 
 The same figure will explain the cause of the 
 tides. Suppose a mountain to be placed on the 
 earth, and the centre of gyration carried from A to B; 
 then, as the mobile waters would respect the centre 
 of gyration, so they would rise around the mountain 
 and render the mass elliptical. But, if we suppose 
 the mountain to be elevated above the mass, like the 
 moon, and the mechanical action still continued, 
 and B raised to the centre of the momenta of both, 
 like the fulcrum of the earth and moon ; then the 
 waters would arise towards that fulcrum, just as 
 they did towards the mountain, and their rise would 
 be directly as the force of the fulcrum, and inversely 
 as the density of the waters. The seas rise, there- 
 fore, towards the fulcrum of the earth and moon— the 
 mechanical action of the distant moon being like 
 that of a mountain on the earth — and towards the 
 moon itself, because the fulcrum is in the right line 
 which joins the centres of the earth and moon ; and 
 the mutual actions of the masses are connected by 
 the gas of space. 
 
 VI. 
 
 The re-action of the medium of space turns the 
 planets from west to east, with a force which is 
 governed by the variable action on their eastern sides, 
 and which variation is as the square of the distance 
 of their near and remote hemispheres; and a calcula- 
 tion of the variable forces corresponds to the 1000th 
 
362 APPENDIX. 
 
 part of a mile. The hypothesis of gravitation is 
 wholly inapplicable to this phenomenon. Action 
 and re-action are necessarily co-equal and opposed, 
 and a calculation of one is that of the other. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Comets sometimes move in consequentia, and some- 
 times in antecedentia, proving thereby that their 
 motions are independent of the solar vortex, though 
 influenced by it in passing through it. 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 i 
 
 TO THE 
 
 GOLDEN RULES FOR BANKERS. 
 
 London; Jan. 1, 1826. 
 
 In the evening of the day on which the Dedication 
 to this volume was written, the Author found him- 
 self, by a sort of social Earthquake, placed in new 
 relations to his connexions and contemporaries. In 
 1823, after a life devoted to the diffusion of know- 
 ledge, and after writing, editing, and supervising, 
 innumerable books, tending to make the next gene- 
 ration wiser than the last, he disposed of a third 
 share in his principal literary property, and retired on 
 a moderate competency to Brighton ; hoping there to 
 pass the evening of his life, at least in ease, and 
 devoting himself to many of the speculations which 
 appear in this volume. 
 
 His tranquillity had been for several weeks dis- 
 turbed by newspaper reports of the wrecks of com- 
 mercial fortunes, and by accounts of the increased 
 distresses of his old connexions in trade. Yet, as 
 there appeared no immediate cause for these difficul- 
 ties, and he was not apprized of the experiments 
 making on public credit by men incapable of direct- 
 
 R 
 
364 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 ing such delicate interests^ he had no suspicion of 
 the consequences inevitable on a general social 
 panic, in which all were excited to save themselves, 
 and rush on the bankers of the empire, and on one 
 another, by a scramble at once ruinous and fatal. 
 
 The ministers had disturbed all the staple esta- 
 blishments of the country by their empirical schemes 
 about free and open trade, — the Parliament had 
 given sanction to stock companies out of number, 
 by their repeal of the Bubble Act, — and even- 
 thing had been put to hazard in subordination to 
 Scottish theories of political economy, which at best 
 are applicable only to nations in equal condition : yet 
 no one had anticipated a total breaking up of the 
 commerce, credit, and industry of the country ; 
 much less, that the Kino's ministers would look on 
 in perfect tranquillity at the total destruction of a 
 fabric not likely, amid the rivalry of other nations, 
 to be raised again. 
 
 Never were the vital energies of a great and pros- 
 perous empire so suddenly destroyed. Credit and 
 mutual confidence had been unbounded, and grow- 
 ing for fourscore years, and industry and useful 
 enterprise seemed to be assured of their proper re- 
 ward. Under this state of things, the Golden 
 Rules for Bankers and some others were written ; 
 but, in a single month, they seem more like dreams 
 than realities. All national improvement is suddenly 
 arrested, — all industry is at a stand ! Tens of thou- 
 sands of families, who on the 1st of December were 
 in comfort and affluence, are on the 1st of January 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 365 
 
 either ruined, or on the brink of ruin. The health- 
 ful and cheerful character of the population of the 
 British Islands is changed ; no man will trust his 
 neighbour for as many pence as but a month before 
 he would for pounds, — self-preservation, by means 
 of the vengeance of law, actuates man against man, 
 —and a civil and social war is engendered, as fatal 
 to this empire of credit and industry, as an earth- 
 quake of the Caraccas or Asia Minor, or the plagues 
 of the Levant. 
 
 The Author hastened, under such circumstances, 
 to London, and found it a Pandemonium ! Several 
 opulent banks had been run down by the public 
 phrenzy on that day; and commercial houses of 
 established credit had stopped payment by scores. 
 The panic spread over the nation, and the stoppage 
 of four-score country banking establishments has 
 ruined or paralysed the active generation of 
 British traders, agriculturists, and manufacturers. 
 He proceeded to the Bank of England, and sug- 
 gested two measures to its Directors : 1. That they 
 should formally guarantee any London bank run 
 upon, as the certain means of stopping the run, and 
 rendering their guarantee harmless ; and 2. That the 
 discounts should be open for a week to all applicants 
 who presented good and approved bills. He wrote 
 to the minister, and suggested that Exchequer Bills, 
 of limited amounts, should be issued for notes of 
 three housekeeping traders at three months, and of 
 four, or more, at longer dates. The salvation of com- 
 mercial credit appeared to him worth the hazard of 
 half a million. The die, however, was cast ; 
 
366 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 and, strange to relate, it appeared to him that 
 an experiment of policy was making. ! Machiavel, 
 how thou sinkest into insignificance ! Thou never 
 suggestedst an experimental means of ruining a whole 
 people by a single blow! 
 
 The Author suffered his full share of the general 
 calamity. Two banking-houses with which he was 
 connected stopped on the same day; and, to com- 
 plete his disaster, the agent to whom he had confided 
 the sale of his literary property was involved, at the 
 same hour, in the common ruin ! Ease and domestic 
 comfort were thus, as by the wand of enchantment, 
 exchanged for anxiety and sorrow ; and the luxury 
 of doing good ceased to be indulged by the mistrust 
 of all, the distress of all, and the apparent necessity 
 that all would be destroyed to discover the sterling 
 or naked worth of each ! 
 
 The extinction cf commercial credit had thus at 
 a stroke destroyed full four hundred millions of the 
 circulating wealth. All nominal obligations re- 
 mained in their legal relations to that four hundred 
 millions ; but only forty millions of bank-notes and 
 coin existed to meet at. least ten times the amount ; 
 and as the disorder augments itself, so, without regard- 
 ing other considerations, commercial bills and time 
 engagements seem likely to be reduced to tza o shillings 
 in the pound, if paid in money, or to stocks at de- 
 preciated value, with the intermediate ruin of the 
 unhappy owners. 
 
 Such a state of a great people, great as they had 
 been by their union and confidence, might, it would 
 have been supposed, have drawn forth the energies 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 367 
 
 of the men entrusted with the conduct of the govern- 
 ment. But, on the contrary, a frigid and incomprehen- 
 sible indifference, judging by their actions, marked 
 their conduct ; and it was reported that a leading mi- 
 nister observed, that the evil would work its own cure! 
 If any man did make such a remark, he ought to die 
 the death of De Witt. It must have been a false 
 report, or a misconception of its auditors ! Yet little 
 could be discovered as an act of the govern- 
 ment, unless the pouring out of millions of 
 bank-notes in an indiscriminate and utterly useless 
 manner could be traced to them; not, however, 
 to the efficient trading community, but to capitalists, 
 bankers, and others, who in self-defence, or in alarm 
 and fear, abstracted the whole from general use ! 
 The nation was therefore in the situation described 
 in art. viii. page 224 ; and, owing to the grossest 
 ignorance of the circulation of money, hundreds of 
 families must be driven into foreign lands to enjoy 
 their industry under a less imposing, but more 
 steady and staple system. 
 
 From the exultation expressed at the recovery of 
 the public funds, it might be supposed that the 
 ministry regard the nation as a society of stock- 
 jobbers; that they consider the debt as the wealth of 
 the nation, and their exchequer bills as the founda- 
 tion of its prosperity ! A more heartless abandon- 
 ment of a people to a panic in which they necessarily 
 destroyed themselves, — and less skill in relieving and 
 restoring the talent and property overwhelmed in the 
 struggle, — cannot be conceived. 
 The whole is to be regarded as a phenomenon in 
 
368 
 
 POSTSCRIPT, 
 
 the history of nations. The state of England was 
 itself a phenomenon. It stood before the world as 
 the most wealthy and most improving of all coun- 
 tries, — not in population, in natural productions, or 
 in specie; but in credit, industry, and mutual 
 confidence. The contingency of such a country 
 destroyed in a week could never have been antici- 
 pated either by reason or experience ; but it is to be 
 lamented that such an effect should have been 
 allowed to take place without the smallest display of 
 energy to parry and ameliorate the blow : — for credit 
 and confidence are reared only by the good conduct 
 of successive generations, and as that which has 
 happened may at any time happen again, so the 
 bases of British greatness are shaken ; and that 
 greatness, which arose solely from such qualities, has 
 suffered a shock from which it can never fully 
 recover. 
 
 Those who are ignorant of the true secret of British 
 wealth and strength, will be taught by the Golden 
 Rules for Bankers. In this peculiar system has 
 lain the means which distinguish England in the 
 reigns of George the Third and Fourth from those of 
 Charles I. and II. Stop the credit of banks, ob- 
 struct the regular means of discounting commercial 
 bills, and England falls to the state of Poland and 
 Spain ; that is, of a country without available capi- 
 tal. The vulgar have on this, as on other occasions, 
 been the dupes of their short-sightedness. They 
 aided by their folly in the run upon the banks, and 
 actually rejoiced in their overthrow ; but, as imme- 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 369 
 
 diate consequences, they have been discharged from 
 employment by hundreds and by thousands. The 
 narrow-minded land-owner, and the petty-fogging 
 trader, fearful of his own shadow, imagine that 
 something is gained by the destruction of that 
 extent of credit which they never possessed the mag- 
 nanimity to enjoy ; but in a few months they will 
 feel their error, and perish in the muck of their own 
 selfishness. The purse-proud capitalist exclaimed, 
 for a few days, " thank God, I am not as other 
 men;" but by these, the public funds, and the re- 
 venue, the entire loss must be ultimately borne. 
 The hue and cry about accommodation bills, and 
 false credit, is absurd. They were partly the neces- 
 sary means of the system, and tended essentially to 
 support the false capital of eight hundred millions 
 in the pretended public funds ! If a few banks or 
 commercial houses enjoyed a factitious and unwar- 
 ranted credit, such excrescences would, in due 
 course, have been cut off; but it is at once base and 
 foolish to convulse the whole nation, and destroy all 
 the just and necessary relations of society to effect 
 a purpose which, in itself, was of no general conse- 
 quence, and correct an abuse which grew up with 
 the funded system, and was identified with it. 
 
 To insinuate that, in such an overthrow, things 
 would find their own level, is as wicked as the ob- 
 servation of Louis the Fourteenth, who, when the 
 Palatinate was ravaged, and 100,000 of its inhabi- 
 tants massacred, replied that his good city of Paris 
 would in a single night replace the loss. The ex- 
 pre ssions must have been made by kindred minds ; 
 
370 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 and, if made by any minister of England, he is as 
 culpable as Louis, and ought, at least, to be consi- 
 dered as unworthy of his station. 
 
 We hear of bankers re-opening ; but though cre- 
 ditable to them and disgraceful to the public, yet, 
 cui bono, — Have they the same capital and the 
 same spirit ? Nothing of the kind : they are crippled 
 for ever. Other banks, too, are crippled for years ; 
 and, if for years, for ever, as to any beneficial 
 or efficient purpose. 
 
 Men, right-minded men, can flourish only in 
 countries where commercial credit is identified with 
 the policy of the state ; where the ministers of the 
 crown duly understand and respect the identity of 
 both interests; and where, when one is endangered 
 by a public panic, the other is cheerfully and 
 anxiously seen to lend its aid and effective counter- 
 action. This, however, is not, in regard to the 
 Author, an abstract speculation ; he is on a sudden 
 drawn into the vortex of public suffering, and he 
 laments with others that his fortunes are chained 
 to a country liable to such frightful and destructive 
 mutations. A man would rather live in the 
 West India Islands, and suffer an annual hurri- 
 cane, which affected his crops and out-buildings, 
 amidst the sympathy of his neighbours, than be 
 subject once in his life to a social tornado, which 
 suddenly blasts his industry, involves his children 
 and dearest connexions in hopeless ruin, occasions 
 his resources to slip from under his feet, and almost 
 renders suicide a virtue. 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 371 
 
 On the 20th of January, on putting this sheet 
 to press, the Author is enabled to state, that all the 
 unhappy results which he anticipated in the previous 
 observations, have been fatally realized. No indivi- 
 dual banker or capitalist became, or could be ex- 
 pected to become, the forlorn hope of commercial 
 credit ; and the government, as the proper guardians 
 of the public interests to men in trade, omitting to 
 do their obvious duty by issues of creditable Exche- 
 quer-bills, the wealth, strength, and prosperity, 
 which flowed from mutual confidence, have been 
 destroyed; and, in a commercial and financial sense, 
 general social disorganization has been produced by 
 an irrational and uncorrected social dismay. 
 
 The evil is, at the same time, increasing every day, 
 because new failures are constantly taking place in 
 every branch of trade; these involve their connexions 
 and dependencies, till whole trades are implicated ; 
 and universal inability to meet engagements in money 
 is the consequence. 
 
 Thus, on a sudden, by the action and re-action of 
 such a social conflict, the four or five hundreu mil- 
 lions of bills of exchange which constituted the nego- 
 ciable assets of trade, founded on two thousand mil- 
 lions of stocks, and the very means which enabled 
 the people to pay the taxes, and carry all the arts of 
 civilization to the highest pitch, have lost their 
 value ; and we have a population of traders and ma- 
 nufacturers encumbered by time engagements to that 
 amount, with no means of liquidating them, but in 
 
372 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 the remaining currency of forty millions of bank- 
 notes and specie. It is evident, therefore, that the 
 forty millions, even if in general circulation, and 
 available, could only pay a tenth, or two shil- 
 lings in the pound, on the bills in course of pay- 
 ment, taking the average of the nation ; while the 
 difference must intermediately fall on bill-holders 
 and capitalists, and ultimately on insolvent stocks 
 brought at once, and ruinously, to market ! 
 
 Hitherto credit was sustained by circulation ; old 
 debts were paid by new ones, and one set of bills 
 were cancelled by a new set. A man while in trade 
 generally owed as much one year as another ; and this 
 is the essence of trade, and its characteristic under 
 the most prosperous circumstances. Such has been 
 its uniform system in Britain ; where its energies, thus 
 acting, and thus supported, have produced and sus- 
 tained our wonderful financial prosperity. 
 
 This commercial debt, let it be understood, has 
 risen simultaneously with the funded debt; and has 
 been an undesigned and unsuspected artifice of men 
 in trade, by means of which they counteracted the 
 operation of the public debt, and were enabled to 
 meet its demands on their industry. One debt is a 
 reflection and an effect of the other; and, if the 
 commercial debt is destroyed, the funded debt would 
 lose the support, prop, and buttress, which upheld it 
 in the industry of the people. 
 
 Is the funded system to be supported ? If so, then 
 commercial credit must be supported. They act in 
 unison, like two ends of a lever. But it is absurd to 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 373 
 
 affect to respect commercial credit, and decry the 
 banking system, and the credit of bills of exchange, 
 in which consists the active circulating capital of men 
 in trade. At the same time, the Author is no pro- 
 fessed advocate of the funded system, nor of its 
 necessary adjuncts ; and society might, in his opi- 
 nion, be more happy if no paper circulation existed : 
 but let us be consistent — for, as great misery would 
 result from the destruction of the funded system, as 
 has arisen from the destruction of commercial 
 credit; and the Author is unwilling to pass sentence of 
 death and misery on the thousands of families who 
 depend on the funds. He is not in the cabinet of the 
 sovereign, or in the counting-house of the Jews, and 
 he knows nothing of their ulterior designs ; but he 
 infers, from all that has passed within the last two 
 months, that some design has been planned, and has 
 been in action, which* ought to awaken the jealousy 
 of every father of a family in Britain. 
 
 With the credit of this generation, will necessarily 
 disappear its trade and useful enterprise ; and, as 
 we have rivals both in Europe and America, and 
 there are countries where Governments would not 
 turn their backs on the working bees of the commu- 
 nity, it can scarcely be expected that the former 
 commercial prosperity of England can ever be re- 
 stored. The rumoured Treaty with France will not 
 effect its restoration, because our only ground of 
 ascendency was our commercial credit, and the ca- 
 pital resulting from it; and this has been unwisely 
 neglected, contemned, and destroyed. 
 
374 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 Besides artizans employed in buildings and works 
 of improvement, who have been discharged by tens 
 of thousands, every report from the manufactories of 
 London, and the country, proves that other tens of 
 thousands have necessarily been discharged from 
 them. The stoppage of country banks, and a 
 maturity of obligations, will augment this class of 
 miseries; and in this way, in the language of a 
 Minister, " the evil will work its own cure." The 
 withdrawing of the loans of country bankers to 
 farmers, and the various consequences of reduced 
 circulation, will, of course, soon affect the agricul- 
 turists ; and the landed interest will then echo the 
 complaints of the commercial; and the distress, felt 
 four or five years ago, will be renewed through the 
 nation in all its horrors. 
 
 In the ruin of the commercial and agricultural 
 interests, must follow that of the revenue and 
 funded system. The prosperity of the latter, was 
 the prosperity of the former; but it seemed to be the 
 policy of certain persons, and the irrational wish of 
 others, who hate the system or do not understand it, 
 that an experiment should be made on commercial 
 credit, even though, in u working its own cure," it 
 should place at hazard, or even destroy, the entire 
 fabric of our national prosperity. 
 
 He now repeats, that it has proved utterly useless 
 to pour forth millions of bank-notes to justly alarmed 
 bankers and bank- discounters. The middling ranks 
 of traders and manufacturers constitute the vital 
 strength of the commercial system ; and it was, and 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 375 
 
 is, this class 'who required special support. Five 
 millions of Exchequer-bills might have effected all 
 that was wanted, a month ago; but twenty-five would 
 now scarcely effect the same purpose. 
 
 The nation look anxiously to Parliament for re- 
 dress, and for an explanation of the cause of its 
 meeting being deferred at a crisis when the fortunes 
 of the country depended on the promptitude of its 
 collective wisdom. If the commercial interest is 
 duly stimulated by its actual sufferings, and the 
 landed and funded interests by those in prospect, we 
 may hope that Parliament will give a salutary lesson 
 to Ministers ; and that the plague which has fixed 
 itself upon the nation will, without loss of time, be 
 arrested in its frightful course. 
 
 If it be asked, what is best to be done by a people 
 who, without any fault of their own, are on a sudden 
 called upon to pay four hundred millions with less 
 than forty, under the rigour of Bankrupt Commis- 
 sions, the ignominy of Insolvent Courts, and all the 
 machinery of special originals, executions, extents, 
 &c. &c. ? — the Author replies, with the honest de- 
 sign of answering the question to the best of his 
 judgment. He advises petitions and remonstrances 
 to Parliament, individual and collective. If these 
 fail, then he recommends that one hundred thousand 
 fathers and mothers of ruined families make a pro- 
 cession, in all humility, from London to Windsor, — 
 seek the retreat of the Sovereign in the recesses of 
 the Forest, and make the discovery to him of the 
 condition of his people, and of their hopeless situa- 
 
376 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 tioiij under ministers who consider their distresses as 
 sanatory ! If this fail, then the example of history 
 points out emigration as the last resource. America 
 is too distant for wives and children; but the acces- 
 sion of one or two millions of industrious families 
 would probably induce the Kings of France and the 
 Netherlands to build towns, with privileges, on the 
 coasts of those countries, where, disentangled from 
 the load of the national debt, industry may find a 
 land of Canaan ; and, at least, live in the hope of 
 enjoying its proper reward. 
 
 Such are the plans of the Author : they grow out 
 of the existing circumstances ; and, that they may 
 not be necessary, — that better policy may govern 
 the councils of the State, — and that the pending 
 calamities of the country may be promptly averted, 
 — is his fervent wish. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 •'. anl C. AJlard, Printers, BarthoJoii.. u 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
 AND TO BE HAD OF ALL THE BOOKSELLERS, 
 
 | I. 
 
 A LETTER to the LIVERY of LONDON on the 
 DUTIES of the SHERIFFS of LONDON and MIDDLESEX. 7s. 
 
 II. 
 
 A TREATISE on the POWERS and DUTIES of 
 JURIES. 8s. 
 
 III. 
 
 A MORNING'S WALK from LONDON to KEW ; 
 
 or, VIEWS of BRITISH SOCIETY. 8s. 6d. 
 
 IV. 
 
 TWELVE ESSAYS on the PROXIMATE CAUSES 
 of the MATERIAL PHENOMENA of the UNIVERSE. 10s. 6d. 
 
 V. 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS of the INTERROGATIVE SYS- 
 TEM of EDUCATION. 6d. 
 
 VI. 
 
 FOUR DIALOGUES between COMMON SENSE and 
 an OXFORD TUTOR, on the PROXIMATE EFFICIENT CAUSES 
 of the ATOMIC and AGGREGATE PHENOMENA of NA- 
 TURE. 5s. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 TO 
 
 GOLDEN RULES 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 STUDY OF NATURE. 
 
 I.— Art. XI. 
 
 The doctrine of Attraction of every kind is rendered 
 demonstrably absurd, by the following consider- 
 ations : — 
 
 1. Every motion of every body is in the direction of a force impressed. 
 
 2. Every special direction of the motion of any body affords evidence 
 of the existence of some force acting in the same direction. 
 
 3. A body does not move without some impelling force acting in the 
 direction of the motion. 
 
 4. Every impelling force is proportioned to the velocity and the quan- 
 tity of matter of which the impelling force consists. 
 
 5. Without matter in velocity, there can be no impelling force. 
 
 6. The existence of any force, therefore, bespeaks the existence of mat- 
 te? in velocity, acting in the direction of the resulting force. 
 
 If A and B move together, and meet in C 
 AO .... C .... OB 
 
 then A must be moved by some force from the side A ; 
 and B by some force from the part B. But, by 
 the hypothesis of attraction, B is said to move A, 
 though B is not only not on the side A whence the 
 force proceeds ; but, also, is not there in power, so 
 that B cannot move A to C. 
 
 In like manner, A is said to move B ; but A is not 
 on the side B, where the force must be which is com- 
 petent to move B to C 
 
 Therefore A is not the mover of B, nor B the 
 mover of A; and, universally, when bodies go 
 together, it is not by their mutual actions for the 
 like reasons ; and the doctrine of such pretended mu- 
 tual action must, therefore, in all cases whatsoever, 
 be a logical, mechanical, and physical, absurdity, 
 while the causes must be sought by other reasonings. 
 
358 APPENDIX TO GOLDEN RULES 
 
 II.— Art. XII. 
 
 The doctrine of Repulsion is an absurdity as gross 
 as that of attraction, because, if we suppose A and 
 B to recede simultaneously to C and D 
 
 C A B D 
 
 O 43) OO Pr o 
 
 Then, as A moves to C, the moving force must be in 
 that direction, or from A towards C ; but B, the 
 body said to repel, moves at the same time in a con- 
 trary direction from B to D j and, as resulting mo- 
 tions are in the direction of their forces, so the mo- 
 tions of B cannot be caused by the force of A during 
 its contrary motion from A to C. So, also, in regard 
 to A with reference to B. The recession cannot, 
 therefore, be caused by any mutual action of the two 
 bodies ; and the doctrine for like reasons is, in all 
 cases, a logical, mechanical, and physical, absurdity. 
 III.— Art. XIV. 
 
 When theorists write so flippantly about centrifu- 
 gal force, and liken the phenomena of the earth to 
 those of a mop or a grindstone, they forget the 
 simultaneous orbicular motion, which is sixty-eight 
 times greater than the equatorial rotatory motion. 
 As centrifugal motion is merely an effect of one 
 motion, so it is neutralized, and may even be re- 
 versed, by any much greater simultaneous motion, 
 in some other direction, either oblique or contrary; 
 and, subject to such greater motion, the rotatory motion 
 would then exert its full force in producing either 
 mere equilibrium, or concentration and aggrega- 
 tion, in a resulting central force, governed by the 
 excess of the orbicular motion over the rotatory. 
 
 IV.— Art. XV. 
 Many persons ask, with childish naivete, why, 
 when a stone has been projected into the atmosphere, 
 it does not revolve and continue at the height to 
 which it has been projected; as, say they, it is 
 alleged that there is no attraction; forgetting, or 
 choosing to forget, that the stone was raised simply 
 
FOR THE STUDY OP NATURE. 3-59 
 
 by the re-action of some animal or machine against 
 the earth; and that, before it was raised, it had a ten- 
 dency, so to speak, to fall lower, which is not de- 
 stroyed by the temporary elevating force; but, by 
 continually re-acting, contributes with the resistance 
 of the air to destroy the temporary elevating force ; 
 and, when this is thereby dissipated, the original force 
 acting as at first, carries the unsustained stone to- 
 wards the centre of the mass of which it was, 
 and still is, an integral part. Further, the common 
 force which revolves the entire mass, is not compe- 
 tent to carry round a stone at that distance from the 
 centre in equilibrium with the whole; and either the 
 stone must move towards the centre into a circle of 
 less velocity, or the centre must move towards the 
 stone, and the earth itself become lop-sided, on ac- 
 count of the stone's elevation, which is absurd. 
 
 To render this clear, we will consider the concen- 
 tric circles as representing strata of the earth. 
 
 Consequently the arcs 1, 2, and 3, 4, and 5, 6, are 
 performed in equal times; and the velocities are less 
 and less as we approach the centre. But the whole 
 earth is turned by a common force, or by one force 
 common to all the parts ; consequently, every part 
 will present, or acquire, or endeavour to acquire, an 
 equal re-action ; or, in other words, the momenta of 
 every part will be equal, or endeavour, to become 
 equal. The velocities, however, are as the distances 
 from the centre ; consequently, the densities of each 
 circle, to be in equal momenta, must be inversely as 
 
360 
 
 APPENDIX TO GOLDEN RULES 
 
 the distance, or endeavour to become so; and hence 
 the fall of dense bodies towards such circles of rota- 
 tion, as are in length inversely as their relative 
 densities ; that is, the density at 1, 2, must be to the 
 density at 5, 6, as the length of the arc 5, 6 is 
 to that of 1,2. 
 
 To render this more obvious, we will suppose a 
 mountain to be placed on the side of a globe, 
 
 Now, previously to the addition of the mountain, the 
 centre of motion was at A; but, as the centre of 
 motion will be the centre of the entire mass, so the 
 addition of the mountain carries the centre of motion 
 to B, or nearer to the mountain. 
 
 The motion is now lop-sided, and an action and 
 re-action takes place between the globular mass and 
 the mountain, by which B is forced towards A, or the 
 mountain is acted upon, as it were, so as to become 
 .absorbed in the mass. 
 
 All the parts of the mountain seek, therefore, 
 the exterior circle of the mass, or tumble as fast 
 as they can. But, if we suppose the top of 
 the mountain to be only an unsustained stone, 
 which, while partaking of the general motion, had 
 been projected to that height; then such cause would 
 not be competent to remove A to B, but the whole 
 mass acting against the unsustained stone would 
 bring it back towards A with a continuous force 
 and accelerated velocity. 
 
 Y.—Art. XXI. 
 
 The last figure will explain the cause of the 
 
 TIDES. 
 
FOR THE STUDY OF NATURE. 
 
 361 
 
 Suppose such a mountain to be placed on the 
 earth, and the centre of gyration carried from A to 
 B; then, as the mobile waters would respect the 
 centre of gyration, so they would rise around the 
 mountain and render the entire mass elliptical. 
 
 But, if we now suppose the mountain to be elevated 
 above and out of the mass, like the Moon, and the 
 mechanical action to be still continued, B being 
 raised to the centre of the momenta of both, like the 
 fulcrum of the earth and moon; then the mobile 
 waters would arise towards that fulcrum, just as they 
 would towards the mountain. 
 
 The seas rise, therefore, towards the fulcrum of the 
 earth and moon — the mechanical action of the dis- 
 tant moon being like that of a mountain on the 
 earth — and towards the moon itself, because the ful- 
 crum is in the right line which joins the centres of 
 the earth and moon ; while the mutual actions of the 
 masses are connected by the gas of space, with a law of 
 force which, in gas, is inversely as the squares of the 
 distances, and directly as the masses. 
 
 VI.— Art. XXIV. 
 
 The re-action of the medium of space turns the 
 planets from west to east, with a force which is 
 governed by the variable action on their eastern sides, 
 and which variation is as the square of the distance 
 of their near and remote hemispheres ; and a calcu- 
 lation of the variable forces corresponds to the 1000th 
 part of a mile. 
 
 The hypothesis of gravitation is wholly inapplica- 
 ble to this phenomenon. Action and re-action are 
 necessarily co-equal and opposed, and a calculation 
 of one is that of the other, for the rotation is not 
 caused by the direct action or impulse, but by the 
 re-action on the opposite side, which re-action turns 
 the earth the contrary way; like a bowl projected on 
 the ground, which, by the re-action, is turned ov 
 rotated backward as it were. 
 
362 APPENDIX TO GOLDEN RULES 
 
 Y1I— Art. XXVI. 
 
 Comets sometimes movein con sequent! a, and some- 
 times in antecedentia, proving thereby that their 
 motions are independent of the solar vortex, though 
 influenced by it in passing through it. 
 
 viii.— An. xxviii. 
 
 We live within space essentially full, and this 
 fulness or continuity of force uniting to force, con- 
 stitutes the means of diffusing phenomena from one 
 part to another. The atoms which fill space are not 
 quiescent or united, but in constant relative motions, 
 and this motion constitutes a perfect fluidity, or a 
 facility of moving through the space so filled. The 
 fixing or taking off of the motions of the atoms, gene- 
 rates animal energy and heat, and also the heat of 
 flame. The propulsion of the atoms one by one in 
 trains constitutes light; and the vibrations, or waves 
 in mass, create what we call sound. Different 
 sizes of atoms produce colours and tones. Our senses 
 are immersed within this plenitude of atoms, and 
 appropriately affected by their different modes of 
 excitement : for every excitement extends around, and 
 every termination, as at the eye, or ear, or skin, is 
 like the action of one end of a stick when pushed at 
 the other end ; merely with this difference, that it is a 
 radiation, and the energy at any distant point is 
 inversely as the square of the distance ; but the ful- 
 ness joins us and connects us with every distant 
 object within the space so filled. Hence the universe 
 is one united and connected whole, and the varieties 
 arise from the two laws and modes of connexion, one 
 by unbroken continuity, as in solids, and the other 
 by radiation, as in fluids and gasses; while, in these, 
 other varieties are created by viscidity and density. 
 In regard to these subjects, the errors of men have 
 arisen from their considering every space as void 
 in which they could not see matter and connexion, 
 and in the silly notion that rarity and density are 
 
 
FOR THE STUDY OF NATURE. 363 
 
 occasioned by repulsive powers in the atoms, instead 
 of such motions or rotations, as necessarily include 
 the conditions of varied expansibility, excitement, 
 and substantial continuity. 
 
 IX.— Art. XXXVIII. 
 
 The assumption made by the Author of the new 
 Philosophy, that Gas consists of atoms performing 
 circular rotations, or filling orbits proportioned to 
 the excitement, startles many persons ; but, on con- 
 sideration, it will be found to be accordant with all 
 the circumstances and phenomena. 
 
 This seems certain, that space, or space filled with 
 gas, is, in some mode, filled with atoms ; and there 
 are only three ways in which they can exist. 
 
 1. In quiescence, at equal or different distances, 
 exerting repulsion, while the principle of repulsion is 
 absurd ; and then qualities per se must be assigned 
 to the atoms, which are again as absurd as repulsion 
 itself. 
 
 2. In rectilinear motions , crossing each other, and 
 rilling the space as the common result of the presence 
 of all, and the preponderance of particulars. But 
 this would be a chaos of atoms without system or 
 harmony ; though even these obstructions would gene- 
 rate localized, circular action, in clouds of obstructed 
 atoms . 
 
 3. In curvilinear orbits, resulting from rectilinear 
 projections in the first instance, and then from ob- 
 structions, deflections, and reflections, from surfaces 
 and atoms, which fill every known space; for, in due 
 time, however great may be the impulsive force, or 
 velocity of a projected atom, and however distant 
 the obstruction may commence from the points of 
 projection ; yet, when it does commence, then the in- 
 tervening space must be ultimately filled with de- 
 flected, and deflecting atoms, at first in confusion, 
 but ultimately in regular motions, and circular, 
 because this would be the necessary result of an infi- 
 
364 APPENDIX TO GOLDEN RULES 
 
 nite number of cross re-actions, opposed at different 
 angles to an original impulse. 
 
 Such would exactly explain the phenomena of 
 gaseous elasticity and expansibility; the appropria- 
 tion of more motion or heat by enlargement, and the 
 return or restoration by compression or fixation. In 
 a word, it explains all the phenomena of heat, light, 
 sound, electricity, gassification, expansion, conden- 
 sation, &c. &c. none of which can be explained, or 
 reasoned about, on any other hypothesis. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is not pretended to explain how 
 different gases combine in the same space, nor pre- 
 cisely in what the differences consist; whether they 
 rotate within one another; whether in the same or 
 different planes ; whether the effects may not be 
 varied by the direction of the plane of rotation ; whe- 
 ther the atoms are of the same or different forms, or 
 bulks, or densities; whether to fill corners of orbits, 
 different sizes are not necessary; whether to fill cen- 
 tres, other varieties are not employed, &c. I All 
 these, and many other questions, may amuse inge- 
 nuity for many ages, but they do not affect the gene- 
 ral principle, that gazeous existence, universally, 
 consists of atoms moving in circular orbits. 
 
 X.—Art. XLV. 
 
 When we view the form of an animal at a suitable 
 distance, we hastily conclude that we see the crea- 
 ture which acts and lives; but, in truth, we see only 
 his shell, and his organs of external power and 
 motion. We see the skin, or case, which covers his 
 muscles, and serves as a means of re-acting against 
 them, and keeping them in their places; and, con- 
 junctively with these, the nerves, blood-vessels, 
 lacteals, sinews, tendons, &c. as so many adjuncts for 
 various special, and even necessary uses, of the ani- 
 mal, but not the creature itself. The whole which we 
 see is, in truth, analogous to the shell of a snail or 
 periwincle ; and, in looking at any animal, we see the 
 
FOR THE STUDY OF NATURE. 865 
 
 real creature not more than we see a snail or peri - 
 wincle when we look at its shell. In truth, the real 
 creature is as much out of sight, as a snail or peri- 
 wincle when drawn within its shell. The actu- 
 ality for whose use and support all these external 
 adjuncts are provided ; the identity which feels, rea- 
 sons, acts, and is conscious, is the medullary system ; 
 that is, the brain and marrow, and the nerves, or feelers, 
 which emanate and radiate from them. This is, or 
 these are, the true animal, or real snail or periwincle, 
 of which the solid house, shell, and case of pro- 
 tection, are the bones; and all the rest lying above 
 the bones, and over, and around the bones, are mere 
 adjuncts for the sustenance of the real creature or 
 medullary system, or for the motions of the bones. 
 The perceptions of hearing and seeing are effected by 
 instruments for condensing, appropriating, and con- 
 veying, to the medullary system, certain delicate 
 external excitements; while those of tasting, smelling, 
 and feeling, arise from immediate impulse on nerves. 
 The animal begins in the foetus as a medullary system 
 like a tadpole ; it is then covered and clothed in the 
 womb with bones and adjuncts ; it emerges, and is 
 educated and disciplined by the world; it wears out, 
 loses its energies, and death is the loss of power in 
 the medullary system. 
 
 Every animal, therefore, with reference to its sen- 
 sations, volitions, and motions, as distinguished from 
 a vegetable or mechanical mass, consists in reality of 
 the soft pulpy substance called brains, marrow, and 
 nerves, with a bony case, which case is moved by the 
 muscles fixed to them, called flesh. The animal, 
 shut up in this case, derives intelligence from without 
 by means of holes in the case, as the eye-holes and 
 the ear-holes, and these are possessed by all animals. 
 The animal also sends out threads of its medullary 
 substance over the body for universal feeling, and 
 certain parts are exposed, as the nerves for tasting 
 and smelling. This pulpy creature has its centre in 
 
366 APPENDIX TO GOLDEN RULES 
 
 the skull case, where is situated its outlets of commu- 
 nication, and where it perceives, thinks, reasons, and 
 decides. Its extensions in the back-bone case have 
 reference merely to the system of motion ; and this 
 part, impelled by the centre or brain, according to 
 intelligence from without, governs the motions of 
 the frame, either for convenience, pleasure, or neces- 
 sity. We are not, therefore, to suppose we see any 
 animal in looking at its external structure, for we see 
 only the form of the adjuncts of motion, and the pro- 
 tecting case, while the animal, or essential creature 
 itself, is a close prisoner within the bony case, and 
 never visible or exposed during its life. To drag it 
 out of the bony case, or to destroy the case, and ex- 
 pose it to any rude action, even of external air, is to 
 kill and destroy it. Nor does it exist per se, but it 
 depends on excitements and sustenance, received by 
 the lungs, the stomach, and the blood ; and the chief 
 part of its own functions consist in rendering these 
 accessory to its own comforts, habits, and existence; 
 the intermediate products being results of the action 
 and re-action of pairs of organs ; and the whole ani- 
 mal resembling a vegetable, whose roots are turned 
 inside, and to which soil, or food, is applied in the 
 cavity of the stomach. 
 
 XL— Art. LXXXV. 
 
 In regard to these speculations, promulgated in 
 correction of gross and degrading superstitions in 
 natural philosophy, the Author would consult his 
 peace by forbearing to publish, if he did not know 
 and were not enabled to derive confidence from the 
 facts, that Aristotle was banished Athens, that 
 Roger Bacon was proscribed, that Copernicus 
 durst not publish till death had removed him from the 
 hazard of persecution, that Galileo was impri- 
 soned, obliged to retract, and read the penitential 
 psalms, that Kepler lived in neglected poverty, 
 and lost his life in riding after a pension of 20/. a- 
 
FOR. THE STUDY OF NATURE. 367 
 
 year to keep his family from starving, that Des- 
 cartes, who founds his philosophy on the belief of 
 God, was persecuted as an Atheist, that Newton 
 lamented he had ever become an author, that 
 Priestley was hunted out of his country because 
 he denied some dreams of theology ; and, as all these 
 atrocities merely cover the several ages, and the con- 
 temporary princes and powers, with ignominy and 
 infamy, and serve to emblazon the sufferers with more 
 resplendant glory ; so the Author bears with meek- 
 ness, and even with pity, the insults and taunts of 
 ignorance, conceit, and folly, of which he often sees 
 himself made the butt and object. Patience and self- 
 confidence are the only remedies in such cases, though 
 primary questions always exist in regard to the true 
 importance of the points in dispute, and the reality of 
 discovery. Vanity and error have probably led hun- 
 dreds to assimilate their cases to those of the eight 
 distinguished martyrs named above, and men often 
 give themselves airs about the veriest trifles, and, 
 with idle pride, vaunt their originality ; discrimina- 
 tion therefore is difficult, but, in general, the re-action 
 of opponents affords an unequivocal test. If these 
 are gentle, argumentative, and little affected, the 
 author may or may not have made a discovery ; but, 
 if they are violent and abusive, then the value of the 
 discovery may be estimated by the measure of vio- 
 lence or abuse ; for epithets, and insults, will rise in 
 malignity, just as the author is unanswerable or im- 
 portant. Rage and envy, in such cases, stifle all 
 argument ; and, in proportion as the weapons of rea- 
 son are found useless, the malignity of the passions 
 always rise. Foul language used by disputants instead 
 of syllogisms, sarcasm instead of argument, and pas- 
 sion in place of reason, are signs of malignant re- 
 action, and are always to be received as infallible tests 
 of merit in a cause ; and, proved by these overt acts, 
 an author ought to be perfectly convinced of the 
 indubitable truth of the doctrines which he has pro- 
 
368 APPENDIX. 
 
 mulgated, while any excess of excitement proves that 
 they are important enough even to have a chance of 
 nourishing through future ages. 
 
 Nevertheless, in this case, it deserves .to be re- 
 corded that, except in the instance of Mr, W. 
 Frend, in his annual volume, no living writer has, 
 within seven years, publicly avowed his accordance 
 with the Author. Two or three anonymous writers 
 have been courteous, and about a hundred private 
 persons have addressed letters of eulogy to him ; 
 but none of them, though many avow the sentiment 
 of fear, have had the hardihood to become public 
 partizans. On the other hand, in fifty printed 
 works of science and professed criticism, the Author 
 has seen himself reviled and caricatured, hisopinions 
 ridiculously perverted, and wilfully and studiously 
 misrepresented, and then easily and triumphantly 
 refuted ; while, horrible as is the fact, and disgraceful 
 as it is to human nature, he declares that, instead of 
 his interest, honour, or comfort, being in any degree 
 served or augmented, by the promulgation of any 
 truths, philosophical, moral, or literary, he verily 
 believes that passion, prejudice, or ignorance, have 
 rendered his labours disadvantageous to him in many 
 relations of society and enjoyments of life ! 
 
 Such, however, always was human nature, such 
 now is human nature; and such, without special cor- 
 rections, always will be human nature. It ought 
 not to be so; it need not be so; with very slight 
 arrangements, it might be otherwise, and, that it may 
 be otherwise, the melancholy fact is proclaimed ! 
 
 Some of the causes have been developed in the 
 chapter on Truth ; but perhaps, before the year 
 2500, institutions for protecting truth will be adopted 
 in all well regulated countries, and the discoverers of 
 new truths, through the activity, discrimination, and 
 public virtue of such guardians, receive honours and 
 rewards, instead of suffering insults and pro- 
 scription, j* 
 
 40 6 
 

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