pupil will become the fpedator of fcenes very different from imtecllity. what his preconceived ideas of virtue might have taught him to expeft. Let us however admit it to be poffible fo to temper the mind, as to render it proof againft the influence of example and the allurements of luxury. Still it may be reafonable to doubt of the fufficiency of education. How many inftances may we expedt to find, in which a plan has been carried into exe- cution, fo enlightened, unremitted and ardent, as to produce thefe extraordinary effeds? Where muft the preceptor himfelf ' have been educated, who fhall thus elevate his pupil above all the errors of mankind? If the world teach an implicit deference to birth and riches and accidental diftindions, he will fcarcely be exempt from this deference. If the world be full of intrigue and rivallhip and felfiflinefs, he will not be wholly difinterefted. If falfhood be with mankind at large reduced to a fyftem, re- commended by the prudent, commanded by the maglftrate, In- forced by the moralift*, and pradifed under a thoufand forms, the the * The following paflage is extrafted from Lord Kaimes, late one of the judges of the kingdom of Scotland.
" Cuftom-houfe oaths now a-days go for nothing. Not that the world grows more wicked, but becaufe nobody lays any ftrefs upon them. The duty on French wine is the fame in Scotland and in England. But as we cannot afford to pay this high duty, the permiflion underhand to pay Spanifh duty for E French 2 6 THREE PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF BOOK I. CHAP. IV.
the Individual will not always have the fimplicity to be fincere,. or the courage to be true. If prejudice have ufurped the feat o£ knowledge, if law and religion and n^etaphyfics and govern- ment be furrounded' with myfteiy and artifice, he. will not know the truth, and. therefore cannot teach it; he will not pofTefs the criterion, and therefore cannot fui;nifh it to another. Again; if a man thus mighty, thus accomplifhed, thus fuperior to rivalfhip and comparifon, can be found, who will confent to the profana- tion of employing him in cultivating the mind of a boy, when he fhould- be inllru^ting the world?.
Education, In tlie fenfe in which It has commonly been un- derilood, though In one view an engine of unlimited power, is French wine, is found more beneficial to the revenue thantherigour of the law. The oath however muft be taken that the wine we import is Spanifh, to entitle us to the eafe of the Spanifh duty. Such oaths at firfl were highly criminal, becaufe direftly a fraud againft the public; but now that the. oath is. only ex- afted for form's fake, without any faith intended to be given or received, it becomes very little different from faying in the way of civility, ' I am, fir, your friend, or your obedient fervant."^ — Loofe Hints upon Education, Appendii, Archdeacon Paley in a work, the feventh edition of which lies before me, and which is ufed as a text book in the univerfity of Cambridge, fpeaks thus: "There are falfhoods which are not lies; that is, which are not criminal; as — a fervant's denying his mafter, a prifoner's pleading not guilty, an advocate aflerting the juflice, or his belief of the juflice of his. client's caufe. In fuch inftances no confidence is deftroyed, becaufe none was repofed."' Principles of Moral and Political Philofophy, Book III. Part I. Chap. xv. London, 1790.
exceed- MORAL IMPROVEMENT CONSIDERED. 27 exceedingly incompetent to the great bufinefs of reforming??^J^ J^ mankind. It performs its tafk weakJy and in detail. The grand ^ ^ ' principles that the inventor feeks in his machines, and the phi- lofopher in inveftigating the fyilem of the univerfe, are fuch, as from a few fimple data are fufficient to the produ£lion of a thoufand events. But the education I have been defcribing is the reverfe of this. It employs an immenfe combination, of powers, and an endlefs chain of caufes for the produftion of a fingle fpecimen. No tafk, which is not in its own nature im- pradllcable, can eafily be fuppofed more difficult, than that of counteracting univerfal error, and arming the youthful mind againll the contagion of general example. The ftrongeft mind that propofed this as its objed, would fcarcely undertake the forming more than one, or at moft ft very fmall number, of pupils. Where can a remedy be found for this fundamental difadvantage? where but in political juftice, that all comprehen- five fcheme, that -immediately applies to the removal of counter- action and contagion, that embraces millions in its grafp, and •that educates in one fchool the preceptoj and the pupil?
III. POLITICAL JUSTICE.
The benefits of political juftice will beft be underftood, if Benefits of we confider fociety in the moft comprehenfive view, taking Uce!"^^ ^^ ' into our eftimate the erroneous inftitutions by which the human .mind has been too often checked in its career, as well as -thofe E 2 well 28 ' THREE PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF BOOK I. well founded opinions of public and individual intereft, which * V ' perhaps need only ta be clearly explained, in order to their being generally received.
Umverfali'ty Now in w^hatever light it be confidered, we cannot avoid of its influ- ence: perceiving, firft, that political inftitution is peculiarly ftrong in that very point in which the efficacy of education was deficient, the extent of its operation. That it in fome way influences our condud will hardly be difputed. It is fufficiently obvious that a defpotic government is calculated to render men pliant, and a free one refolute and independent. All the effeds that any principle adopted into the practice of a community may produce, it produces upon a comprehenfive fcale. It creates a fimilar bias in the whole, or a confiderable part of the fociety.
The motive it exhibits, the ftimulus it begets, are operative, becaufe they are fitted to produce effed upon mind. They will therefore inevitably influence all to whom they are equally addrefled. Virtue, where virtue is the refult, will ceafe to be a talk of perpetual watchfulnefs and contention. It will neither be, nor appear to be, a facrifice of our perfonal advantage to difinterefl:ed confiderations. It will render thofe the confederates, fupport and fecurity of our reditude, who were before its moll formidable enemies.
proved by the Again, an additional argument in favour of the efiicacy of {ociety. political inftitutions, arifes from the extenfive influence which 'I certain MORAL IMPROVEMENT CONSIDERED.
certain falfe principles, engendered by an imperfedt fyftem of BOOK i.
fociety, have been found to exert. Superftition, an immoderate *^ v-— ' fear of fliame, a falfe calculation of intereft, are errors that have been always attended with the mofl extenfiv^ confequences. How incredible at the prefent day do the effeds of fuperftition exhibited in the middle ages, the horrors of excommunication and interdift, and the humiliation of the greateft monarchs at the feet of the pope, appear? What can be more contrary to European modes than that dread of difgrace, which induces the Bramin widows of Indoftan to dellroy themfelves upon the funeral pile of their hufbands? What more horribly immoral than the miftaken idea which, leads multitudes in commercial countries to regard fraud, falfhood and circumvention as the trueft policy? But, however powerful thefe errors may be, the empire of truth, if once eftablifhed, would be incomparably greater. The man, who is enflaved by fhame, fuperftition or deceit, will be perpetually expofed to an internal war of opi- nions, difapproving by an involuntary cenfure the condudl he has been moft perfuaded to adopt. No mind can be fo far ali- enated from truth, as not in the midft of its degeneracy to have inceflant returns of a better principle. No fyftem of fociety can be fo thoroughly pervaded with miftake, as not frequently to fuggeft to us fentiments of virtue, liberty and juftice. But truth is in all its branches harmonious and confiftent.
The ^o THREE PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF The recoUeftlon of this cu'cumilance induces me to add as a concluding obfervation, that it may reafonably be doubted whe- ther error could ever be formidable or long-lived, if government did not lend it fupport. The nature of mind is adapted to the perception of ideas, their correfpondence and difference. la the right difcernment of thefe is its ti-ue element and moft con- genial purfuit. -Jirror would indeed for a time have been the refult -of eur partial perceptions; but, as our perceptions are continually changing, and continually becoming more definite and correct, our errors would have been momentary, and our judgments have hourly approached nearer to the truth. The dodlrine of tranfubftantiation, the belief that men were really eating flelh when they feemed to be eating bread, and drinking 'human blood when they feemed -to be drinkmg wine, could i never have maintained its empire fo long, if it had not been 1 reinforced by civil authority. Men would not have fo long 1 perfuaded themfelves that an old man elected by the intrigues | of a conclave of cardinals, from the moment of that eledlion I became immaculate and infallible, if the perfuafion had not been J maintained by revenues, endowments and palaces. A fyftem of government, that fhould lend no fandion to ideas of fana- ticifm and hypocrlfy, would prefently accuftom its fubjeds to think juftly upon topics of moral worth and importance. A ilate, that fhould abftain from impofmg contradidlory and im- practicable oaths, and thus perpetually ftimulating its members I to MORAL IMPROVEMENT CONSIDERED. yi to concealment and penury, would foon become diftlnjruiflied BOOK I.
for plain dealing and veracity. A country, in v/hich places of * ^ ' dignity" and confidence fhould ceafe to be at the difpofal of fadlion, favour and intereft, would not long be the refidence of fervility and deceit.
Thefe remarks fuggeft to us the true anfwer ro an obvrous OHgIn of objedion, that might otherwife prefent itfelf, to the conclufion to which thefe principles appear to lead. It might be faid, that an erroneous government can never afford an adequate folution for the exiflence of moral evil, fmce government was itfelf the produ(5tion of human intelligence, and therefore, if ill, mufl have been indebted for its ill qualities to fome wrong which had pre- vious exiflence..
The propofition alTerted in this objedion is undoubtedly true. All vice is nothing more than error and miftake reduced into pradice, and adopted as the principle of our condudl. But error is perpetually haftening to its own detection. Vicious conduct is foon difcovered to involve injurious confequences. Injuftice therefore by its own nature is little fitted for a durable exift- ence. But government " lays its hand upon the fpring there is in fociety, and puts a flop to its motion *." It gives fubflance and permanence to our errors. It reverfes the genuine propenfities * Logan, Philofophy of Hiflory, p. 69, of 32 THREE PRINCIPAL CAUSES, &c., BOOK I. of mind, and, inftead of fuffering us to look forward, teaches us ' — «-v — -^ to look backward for perfection. It prompts us to feek the public welfare, not in innovation and improvement, but in a timid reverence for the decifions of our anceftors, as if it were the nature of mitid always to degenerate, and never to advance.
CHAP.
INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS EXEMPLIFIED.
310BBERY AND FRAUD, TWO GREAT VICES IN SOCIETY- ORIGINATE, I. IN EXTREME POVERTY 2. IN THE OS- TENTATION OF THE RICH 3. IN THEIR TYRANNY RENDERED PERMANENT — I. BY LEGISLATION — 2. BY THE ADMINISTRATION OF LAW — 3. BY THE INEQUA- LITY OF CONDITION* THE efficacy of political inftitutions will be rendered ftill book l CHAP V more evident, if wc enquire Into the hiftory of the moft ^ ^ ' '- confiderable vices at prefent exifting in fociety; and if it can be ihewn that they derive their inveteracy from political inftitution.
Two of the greatell abufes relative to the Interior policy of Robbery and nations, which at this time prevail in the world, will be allowed gre" t\^«° ii. to confift in the irregular transfer of property, either firft by °"^'^* violence, or fecondly by fraud. If among the inhabitants of any country there exifted no defire In one Individual to poffefs himfelf of the fubftance of another, or no defire fo vehement and reftlefs, as to prompt him to acquire it by means inconfiftent with order and juflice; undoubtedly in that country guilt could F hardly INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL hardly be known but by report. If every man could wltls perfedi facility obtain the neceflaries of life, and, obtaining them, feel no uneafy craving after its fuperfluities, temptation would lofe its power. Private intereft would vifibly accord with public good; and civil fociety become all that poetry has feigned of the golden age. Let us enquire into the principles to which thefe evils owe their exiftence, and the treatm.ent by v/hlch they may be alleviated or remedied.
originate, i. Firfl then it is to be obferved, that, in the moft refined ftates poverty. of Europe, the inequality of property has anien to an alarming height. Vail numbers of their inhabitants are deprived of almoil every accommodation that can render life tolerable or fecure. Their utmoft induftry fcarcely fuffices for their fup- port. The women and children lean vfith an infupportable weight upon the efforts of the man, fo that a large family has in the lower order of life become a proverbial expreflion for an uncommon degree of poverty and wretchednefs. If ficknefs or fome of thofe cafualties which are perpetually incident to an aftive and laborious life, be fuperadded to thefe burthens, the diftrefs is yet greater.
It feems to be agreed that In England there Is lefs wretched- nefs and diftrefs than in moft of the kingdoms of the continent. In England the poors' rates amount to the fum of two millions fterling per annum. It has been calculated that one perfon In feven INSTITUTIONS EXEMrLIFIED. 35 feven of the inhabitants of this country derives at fome period ^P^]^ ^• of his life affiftance from this fund. If to this we add the per- ^^ ^ ' fons, who, from pride, a fpirit of independence, or the want of a legal fettlement, though in equal diftrefs, receive no fuch affiftance, the proportion will be confiderably increafed.
I lay no ftrefs upon the accuracy of this calculation; the ge- neral fad: is fufficient to give us an idea of the greatnefs of the abufc. The confequences that refult are placed beyond the reach of contradidlion. A perpetual ftruggle M'ith the evils of poverty, if frequently ineffedlual, muft neceffarily render many of the fufferers defperate. A painful feeling of their opprefled fituation will itfelf deprive them of the power of furmounting it. The fuperiority of the rich, being thus unmercifully exer- cifed, muft inevitably expofe them to reprifiils; and the poor man will be induced to regard the ftate of fociety as a ftate of war, an unjuft combination, not for proteding every man in his.i'ights and fecuring to him the means of exiftence, btit for engroffing all its advantages to a few fiivoured individuals, and referving for the portion of the reft want, dependence and mi- fery.
A fecond fource of thofe deftrudive paflions by which the 2. in the of.
peace oi lociety is mterrupted, is to be found in the luxury, the the rich: pageantry and magnificence with which enormous wealth is ufually accompanied. Human beings are capable of encoun- F 2 tering '26> INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL- CHAP V ^^^^"^S ^^*^ chearfulnefs confiderable hardfhips, when thofe hard- ^"- — -^ — —^ fhips are impartially fhared with the reft of the fociety, and they are not infulted with the fpeftacle of indolence and eafe in others, no way deferving of gi-eater advantages than themfelves. But it is a bitter aggravation of their own calamity, to have the privileges of others forced on their obfervation, and, while they are perpetually and vainly endeavouring to fecure for themfelves and their families the pooreft conveniences, to find others re-»- veiling in the fruits of their labours. This aggravation is afli- duoufly adminiftered to them under moft of the political efta- bliihments at prefent in exiftence. There is a numerous clafs of individuals, who, though rich, have neither brilliant talents nor fublime virtues; and, however highly they may prize their education, their affability, their fuperior polifh and the elegance of their manners, have a fecret confcioufnefs that they poiTefs. nothing by which. they can fo fecurely aflert their pre-emi- nence and keep their inferiors at a diftance, as the fplendour of their equipage, the magnificence of their retinue and the fump- tuoufnefs of their entertainments. The poor man is ftruck with this exhibition; he feels his own miferies; he knows how im- wearied are his efforts to obtain a {lender pittance of this pro- digal wafte; and he miftakes opulence for felicity. He cannot perfuade himfelf that an embroidered garment may frequently cover an aching heart, 3, m their A third difadvantagc that is apt to connedl: poverty with difcontent INSTITUTIONS EXEMLPLIFIED. 37 difcontent confifts in the infolence and ufurpation of the rich. r>OOK I.
^ CHAP. V.
If the poor man would in other refped;s compofe himfelf in. * ^ ' philofophic indifference, and, confcious that he poffeffes every / thing that is truly honourable to man as fully as his rich neigh- } bour, would look upon the reft as beneath his envy, his neigh- bour will not permit him to do fo. He feems as if he could never be fatisfied with his poffeffions unlefs he can make the fpeftacle of them grating to others; and that honeft felf-efteem, by which his inferior might otherwife arrive at apathy, is ren- dered the inftrument of galling him with oppreffion and in- juftice. In many countries jufdce is avowedly made a fubjetft of folicitation, and the man of the higheft rank and moft fplen- did connedions almoll infallibly carries his caufe againfl the unprotected and friendlefs. In countries where this fliamelefs pradice is not eftablifhed, juftice is frequently a matter of ex- penflve purchafe, and the man with the longeft purfe is pro- verbially vidorlous. A confcioufnefs of thefe facts mufl be expcded to render the rich little cautious of offence in his deal- ings with the poor, and to infpire him with a temper over- bearing, didlatorial and tyrannical. Nor does this indired op- preffion fatisfy his defpotifm. The rich are in all fuch countries diredly or indiredly the legiflators of the ftate; and of confequence are perpetually reducing oppreffion into a fyftem, and depriving the poor of that little commonage of nature as it were, which might otherwife ftilT have remained to them.
The o 8 INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL BOOK I. The opinions of individuals, and of confequence their defires, *■ ^ ^ for defire is nothing but opinion maturing for adion, will al- ways be in a great degree regulated by the opinions of the com- munity. But the manners prevailing in many countries are accurately calciilated to imprefs a convidtion, that inte- grity, virtue, underftanding and induilry are nothing, and that' opulence is every thing. Does a man, whofe exterior denotes indigence, expedl to be well received in fociety, and efpecially by thofe who would be underftood to didate to the reft? Does he find or imagine himfelf in want of their affiftance and fa- vour? He is prefently taught that no merits can atone for a mean appearance. The leflbn that is read to him is, Go home, enrich yourfelf by whatever means, obtain thofe fuperfluitles which are alone regarded as eftimable, and you may then be fecure of an amicable reception. Accordingly poverty in fuch countries is viewed as the greateft of demerits. It is efcaped from with an eagernefs that has no leifure for the fcruples of honefty. It is concealed as the moft indelible difgrace. While one man choofes the path of undiftlnguifhing accumulation, an- other plunges into expences which are to impofe him upon the world as more opulent than he is. He haftens to the reality of that penury, the appearance of which he dreads; and, toge- ther with his property, facrifices the integrity, veracity an^ character which might have confoled him in his adverfity.
rendered per- Such are the caufcs, that, in different degrees under the dif- ferent manent: INSTITUTIONS EXEMPLIFIED. 39 ferent governments of the world, prompt mankind openly or BOOK I.
fecretly to encroach upon the property of each other. Let us ■• « * confider how far they admit either of remedy or aggravation from pohtical inftitution. Whatever tends to decreafe the in- juries attendant upon poverty, decreafes at the fame time the in- ordinate defire and the enormous accumulation of wealth. Wealth is not purfued for its own fake, and feldom for the fenfual grati- fications it can purchafe, but for the fame reafons that ordinarily prompt men to the acquifition of learning, eloquence and fkill, for the love of diftindion and fear of contempt. How few would prize the poIlefTion of riches, if they were condemned to enjoy their equipage, their palaces and their entertainments in folitude, with no eye to wonder at their magnificence, and no fordid obferver ready to convert that wonder into an adulation of the owner? If admiration were not generally deemed the exclufive property of the rich, and contempt the conftant lacquey of po- verty, the love of gain would ceafe to be an univerfal paflion. Let us confider in what refpefts political inftitution is rendered fubfervient to this paflion.
Firft then, legiflation is in almofl: every country grofsly the i. by legif- Istion; favourer of the rich againft the poor. Such is the charaQer of the game laws, by which the induftrious ruftic is forbidden to deftroy the animal that preys upon the hopes of his future fub- fiftence, or to fupply himfelf with the food that unfought thrufts itfelf in his path. Such was the fpirit of the late revenue laws of ) 40 ' INFLUENCE OF POLITICAL TH \p V °^ France, which in feveral of their provifions fell exclufively ^ « ' upon the humble and induftrious, and exempted from their ope- ration thofe who were beft able to fupport it. Thus in England the land tax at this moment produces half a million lefs than it did a century ago, while the taxes on confumption have ex- perienced an addition of thirteen millions per annum during the fame period. This is an attempt, whether effedlual or no, to throw the burthen from the rich upon the poor, and as fuch is an exhibition of the fpirit of legiflation. Upon the fame princi* pie robbery and other offences, which the wealthier part of the community have no temptation to commit, are treated as capital crimes, and attended with the mod rigorous, often the moft in- human punifhments. The rich are encouraged to aflbciate for the execution of the moft partial and oppreffive pofitive laws. Monopolies and patents are lavifhly difpenfed to fuch as are able to purchafe them. While the moft vigilant policy is employed to prevent comxbinations of the poor to fix the price of labour, and they are deprived of the benefit of that prudence and judgment which would feled the fcene of their induftry.