2. by the ad- Secondly, the adminlftration of law is not lefs iniquitous than miniftration •f law; t}ig fpirit in which it is framed. Under the late government of France the office of judge was a matter of purchafe, partly by an open price advanced to the crown, and partly by a fecret douceur paid to the minifter. He, who knew beft how to manage his market in the retail trade of juftice, could afford to ptirchafe the 4 good . INSTITUTIONS EXEMPLIFIED. 41 "cood will of Its fundlons at the liio-heft price. To the client BOO^: I.
*? or CHAP. V.
juftice was avowedly made an objed; of perfonal folicitation, and ^ ^ ' a powerful friend, a handfome woman, or a proper prefent, were articles of much greater value than a good caufe. In England the criminal law is adminiftered with tolerable impartiality fo far as regards the trial itfelf; but the number of capital offences, and of confequence the frequency of pardons, open even here a wide door to favour and abufe. In caufes relating to property the pradice of law is arrived at fuch a pitch as,to render all juftice ineffedual. The length of our chancery fuits, the multiplied ap- peals from court to court, the enormous fees of counfel, attornies, fecretaries, clerks, the drawing of briefs, bills, replications and re- joinders, and what has fometimes been called the glorious un- certainty of the law, render it often more advifable to refign a property than to conteft it, and particularly exclude the im- poveriflied claimant from the fainteft hope of redrefs. Nothing certainly is more pradicable.than to fecure to all queftions of controverfy a cheap and fpeedy decifion, which, combined with the independence of the judges and a few obvious improvements in the conftrudion of juries, would infure the equitable applica- lion of general rules to all charaders.and ftations..
Thirdly, the inequality of conditions ufually maintained by 3. by the In- equality of political Inftitution, is calculated greatly to enhance the imagined conditions.
-excellence of wealth. In the ancient monarchies of the eaft, and in Turkey at the prefent day, an eminent ftation could G fc arc cly 42 INFLUENCE OF POLILTICAL, &c.
fcarcely fail to excite implicit deference. The timid inhabitant trembled before his fuperior; and would have thought it little lefs^ than blafphemy, to touch the veil drawn hj the proud fatrap over his ingloiious origin. The fame principles were extenfively prevalent under the feudal fyftem. The vaffal, who was re- garded as a fort of live flock upon the eftate, and knew cf no appeal from the arbitrary fiat of his lord, would fcarcely venture to fufpeft that he was of the fame fpecies. This however con- ftituted an unnatural and violent fituation. There is a propen- fity in man to look farther than the butfide; and to come with a writ of enquiry into the title of the upftart and the fuccefsful. In England at the prefent day there are few poor men who do not confole themfelves, by the freedom of their animadverfions upon their fuperiors. The new-fangled gentleman is by no means fecure againft having his tranquillity difturbed by their furly and pointed farcafms. This propenfity might eafily be encouraged, and made conducive to the moll falutary purpofes. Every man might, as was the cafe in certain countries upon record, be in- fpired with the eonfcioufnefs of citizenfhip, and be made to feel himfelf an adive and efficient member of the great whole. The poor man would then perceive, that, if eclipfed, he could not be trampled upon; and he would no longer be Hung with the furies of envy, refentment and defpair.
CHAP.
CHAP. VI, HUMAN INVENTIONS CAPABLE OF PERPETUAL IMPROVEMENT.
PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN — INSTANCED, FIRST, IN LAN- GUAGE.— ITS BEGINNINGS. — ABSTRACTION. — COMPLEXI- TY OF LANGUAGE. — SECOND INSTANCE: ALPHABETICAL WRITING. HIEROGLYPHICS AT FIRST UNIVERSAL. — PROGRESSIVE DEVIATIONS. — APPLICATION.
T F we would form to ourfelves a folid eftlmate of political, or book i. indeed of any other fcience, we ought not to confine our -»' furvey to that narrow portion of things which pafles under our of man: own immediate infpedion, and rafhiy pronounce every thing that we have not ourfelves feen, to be impoffible. There is no chara£beriftic of man, which feems at prefent at leaft fo eminently to diftinguifh him, or to be of fo much importance in every branch of moral fcience, as his perfedtibility. Let us carry back our minds to man in his original ftate, a being capable of im- preffions and knowledge to an unbounded extent, but not having as yet received the one or cultivated the other; and let us con- trail this being with all that fcience and genius have efFedled: and from hence we may form fome idea what it is of which hu- G 2 man 44 HUMAN INTENTIONS CAPABLE man nature is capable. It is to be remembered, that this being:: did not as now derive affiftance from the communications of his fellows, nor had his feeble and crude conceptions affifted by the experience of fucceilive centuries; but that in the ftate we are " figuiing all men were equally ignorant. The field of improve- ment was before them,^ but for every ftep in advance they were to be indebted to their untutored efforts. Nor is it of any con- fequence whether fuch was actually the progrefs of mind, or whether, as others teach,. the progrefs was abridged, and man was immediately advanced half way to the end of his career by the interpofition of the author of his nature. In any cafe it is an allowable and no unimproving fpeculation, to confider mind as it is in itfelf, and to enquire what would have been its hiftory, if, immediately upon its production, it had been left to be adled upon by thofe ordinary laws of the univerfe with whofe. opera- tion we are acquainted. - inftanced, 1. One of the acquifitions moft evidently reouifite as a preliml^ in language, y x i nary to our prefent improvements is that of language. But it is impoffible to conceive of an acquifition, that mufl have been in its origin more different from what at prefent it is found, or that lefs promifed that copioufnefs and refinement it has fince ex- hibited.
Its begin- Its beginning was probably from thofe involuntary cries, which infants for example are found to utter in the earlieft ftages OF PERPETUAL IMPROVEMENT. • 45 fiages of theix" exiftence, and which, previoufly to the idea of BOOK r.
CHAP. VI.
exciting pity or procuring afliftance, fpontaneoufly arife from the ' * ' operation of pain upon our ammal frame. Thefe cries, when adlually uttered, become a fubject of perception to him by whoni I'hey are uttered; and, being obferved to be conftantly aflbciated with certain preliminary impreffions and to excite the idea of thofe impreffions in the hearer, may afterwards be repeated from refle£lion and tlfe defire of relief. Eager defire to communicate any information to another, will alfo prompt us to utter fome fimple found for the purpofe of exciting attention: this found will probably frequently recur to organs unpradtifed to variety, and will at length ftand as it were by convention for the inform- ation intended to be conveyed. But the diftance is extreme fcom thefe funple modes of communication, which we poflefs in common with fome of the inferior animals, to all the analyfis and abftradlon which languages require.
Abftradion indeed, though as it is commonly underflood it Abftraclion. be one of the fublimeft operations of mind, is in fome fort co- eval with and infeparabk from the exiftence of mind. Th^ next ftep to fimple perception is that of comparifon, or the coupling together of two ideas and the perception of their refemblances and differences. "Without comparifon there can be no preference, and without preference no adion: though it muft be acknow- ledged, that this comparifon is an operation that may be per- formed by the mind without adverting to its nature, and that neither 46 HUMAN INVENTIONS CAPABLE BOOK T. neither the brute nor the favage has any confcioufnefs of the *— -^' ' feveral Heps of the intelledual progrefs. Comparifon immediately leads to imperfed abftradion. The fenfation of to-day is claffed, if fimilar, with the fenfation of yefterday, and an inference is made refpeding the conduit to be adopted. Without this degree of abftradion the faint dawnings of language already defcribed could never have exifted. Abftradlon, which was neceflary to the lirft exiftence of language, is again afhfted in its operations by language. That generalifation, which is implied in the very notion of thought, being thus embodied and rendered palpable, makes the mind acquainted with its own powers and creates a reftlefs defire after farther progrefs.
©nTifgua'ge. ^^^ though it be by no means impoflible, to trace the caufes that concurred to the produdion of language, and to prove them adequate to their efFe£l, it does not the lefs appear that this is an acquifition of flow growth and ineftimable value. The very fteps, were we to purfue them, would appear like an endlefs labyrinth. The diflance is immeafurable between the three or four vague and inarticulate founds uttered by animals, and the copioufnefs of lexicography or the regularity of grammar. The general and fpecial names by which things are at lirfl: compli- cated and afterwards- divided, the names by which properties are feparated from their fubftances and powers from both, the comprehenfive diftribution of parts of fpeech, verbs, adjectives and particles, the inflexions of words by which the change of OF PERPETUAL IMPROVEMENT. 47 of their terminations changes their meaning through a variety BOOK I.
of fhadings, their concords and their governments, all of them *^ • ' prefent us with fuch a boundlefs catalogue of fcience, that he, who on the one hand did not know that the boundlefs tafk had been adtually performed, or who on the other was not intimately acquainted with the progreffive nature of mind, would pro- nounce the accomplifhment of them impoffible. ■ A fecond invention, well calculated to imprefs us with a fenfe ^«=°"<5 '"n- •"■ Itance: alof the progreffive nature of man, is that of alphabetical writing, pi'^beucal Hieroglyphical or pidture writing appears at fome time to have Hierogly- phics at firft been univerfal, and the difficulty of conceiving the gradation univ'-rfai. from this to alphabetical is fo great, as to have induced Hartley, one of the moft acute of all philofophical writers, to have re- courfe to miraculous interpofition as the only adequate folution. In reality no problem can be imagined more operofe, than that of decompofmg the founds of words into four and twenty fimple elements or letters, and again finding thefe elements in all ether words. When we have examined the fubjecft a little more clofe- ly, and perceived the fteps by which this labour was accom- plifhed, perhaps the immenfity of the labour will rather gain upon us, as he that fhall have counted a million of units, will have a vafter idea upon the fubjed, than he that only confiders them in the grofs.
In China hieroglyphical writing has never been fuperfeded by Progrtffive deviauons.
5 alpha- 43 HUMAN INVENTIONS CAPABL-E ^°9^,?^- alphabetical, and this from the very nature of their language, ' • ' which is confiderably monofyllabic, the fame found being made to fignify a great variety of objedls, by means of certain fliadings of tone too delicate for any alphabet to be able to reprefent. They have hovKCver two kinds of writing, one for the learned, and another for the vulgar. The learned adhere clofely to their hieroglyphical writing, reprefcnting every word by its corre- fponding pidure; but the vulgar are frequent in their deviations from ito Hieroglyphical writing and fpeech may indeed be confidered in the firft inftance as two languages, running parallel to each other, but with no neceffary connexion. The picture and the word each of them reprefent the idea, one as immediately as the other. But, though independent, they will become accidentally affociated; the pidure at firft imperfedly, and afterwards more conftantly fuggefting the idea of its correfpondent found. It is in this man- ner that the mercantile clafies of China began to corrupt, as it is ftyled, their hieroglyphical writing. They had a word fuppofe of two fyllables to write. The chara£ter appropriate to that word they were not acquainted with, or it failed to fuggeft itfelf to their memory. Each of the fyllables however was a dillindt word in the language, and the characters belonging to them per- fectly familiar. The expedient that fuggefted itfelf was to write thefe two characters with a mark fignifying their union, though la ■ reality tlie characters had -hitherto been- appropriated to ideas OF PERPETUAL IMPROVEMENT. 49 of a difterent fort, wholly unconne<fled with that now Intended BOOK I.
to be conveyed. Thus a fort of rebus or chararde was produced. "^ ^ ' In other cafes the word, though monofyllabic, was capable of be- ing divided into two founds, and the fame procefs v/as employed. This is a firft ftep towards alphabetical analyfis. Some word, fuch as the interjedlion 0! or the particle A is already a found perfedly fimple, and thus furnifhes a firft ftone to the edifice. But, though thefe ideas may perhaps prefent us v,'ith a faint view of the manner in which an alphabet was produced, yet the a£tual produdion of a complete alphabet is perhaps of all human dif- coveries, that which required the moft perfevering refleftion, the luckieft concurrence of circumftances, and the moft patient and gradual progrefs.
Let us however fuppofe man to have gained the two firft Applicatioa. elements of knowledge, fpeaking and writing; let us trace him through all his fubfequent improvements, through whatever conftitutes the inequality between Newton and the ploughman, and indeed much more than this, fince the moft ignorant plough- man in civilifed fociety is infinitely different from what he would have been, when ftripped of all the benefits he has derived from literature and the arts. Let us furvey the earth covered with the labours of man, houfes, inclofures, harvefts, manufactures, inftru* ments, machines, together with all the wonders of painting, poetry, eloquence and philofophy.
H Such so HUMAN INVENTIONS CAPABLE, &c.
Such v^as man in his original flate, and fuch is man as we at prefent behold him. Is it pcffible for us to contemplate what he has already done, without being impreffed with a ftrong pre- fentiment of the improvements he has yet to accomplifh? There, is no fcience that is not capable of additions; there is no art that may not be carried to a ftill higher perfedlion. If this he true of all other fciences, why not of morals? If this be true of all other arts, why not of focial inftitution? The very con- ception of this as poffible,, is in the higheft degree encouraging. If we. can ftill farther demonftrate it to be a part of the natural and regular progrefs of mind, our confidence and our hopes will then be complete. This is the temper with which we ought to, engage in the ftudy of political truth. Let us look back, that we may profit by the experience of mankind; but let us not look back, as if the wifdom of our anceftors was fuch as to. leave no room for future improvement..
CHAP.
CHAP. VII.
OF THE OBJECTION TO THESE PRINCIPLES FROM THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE.
OF MORJL AND PHTSICAL CAUSES.
THE QUESTION STATED. — PROVINCES OF SENSATION AND REFLECTION. — MORAL CAUSES FREQUENTLY MISTAKEN FOR PHYSICAL. — SUPERIORITY OF THE FORMER EVIDENT PROM THE VARIETIES OF HUMAN CHARACTER. — OPE- RATION OF PHYSICAL CAUSES RARE. FERTILITY OF REFLECTION. — PHYSICAL CAUSES IN THE FIRST IN- STANCE SUPERIOR, AFTERWARDS MORAL. — OBJECTION FROM THE EFFECT OF BREED IN ANIMALS. CONCLU- SION.
THERE are certain propofitions whicli may be confidered book I indifferently, either as corollaries flowing from the prin- ^ ^l^'^^V ciples already eftablifhed, or as a fource of new arguments againft the validity of thofe principles. In the firfl; view they are entitled to a clear and perfpicuous ftatement, and in the fe- cond to a mature examination. For example: H2 The 52 OF MORAL AND BOOK I. The caufes which appear to operate upon the human mind ' ' ' may be divided into two clafles: perceptions, which are renftated, dered diredlly a fubjedl of reafoning, and regarded by the intel- XtOi as inducements to a£tion; and perceptions, which a£l indi- rectly upon the mind, by rendering the animal frame gay, vi- gorous and elaflic, or on the contrary fluggifh, morbid and inadive. According to the fyftem already eilablifhed, the former of thefe are to be regarded as the whole, the latter being fo comparatively inefficient and fubordinate as to ftand in the eftimate as almoil nothing. To many reafoners however they have by no means appeared of fo trivial importance, and it may not be ufelefs to examine for a moment the ideas they have formed, and the reafons which have induced them to afcribe fo much to the meaneft branch of the human conftitution.
Impreflions upon our fenfes may a£t either as phyfical or moral caufes.. Indifpofition of the body operates upon the mind principally in the firft of thefe ways, feeming without any formal deliberation of the underftanding to incline us to difTa- tisfadtibn and indolence. Corporal punifliment affe<fls us prin- cipally in tlifi latter mode, fmce, though it diredly introduces a painful ftate of the mind, it influences, our condu£t, only as it is reflected upon by the unde.rfl:anding, and converted into a^ motive of adtion.
Provinces of It may be a curious fpeculation to examine how far thefe fenfatior. and lefledion. 6. claflTes PHYSICAL CAUSES. 53 clafTes are diftindl from each other. It cannot be denied but that fenfation is of fome moment in the affair. It poffeffes the initiative. It is that from which all the intelledls with which we are acquainted date their operations. Its firft effed: upon mind does in the majority of cafes precede refledlion and choice* In fome cafes the impreffions upon our fenfes are forefeen by us, and may confequently be refilled in the outfet. But it would be a contradiftion to affirm that they can always be fore- feen. Forefight is itfelf the offspring of experience.
Meanwhile, though they can only in particular inflances be Moral caufes frequently forefeen, and of confequence completely foreftalled, yet much miibkcn far pliyfical, of their effedl is in all cafes to be afcribed to deliberation and choice. " I feel a painful fenfation, and I perfuade myfelf that it is wifer to fubmit, and thus cherlfh and fecond its influence, than to refift.. I conceive myfelf unfortunate, opprefTed by a combination of unfavourable accidents, and am rendered by this conception gloomy, difcontented and wretched. I fatisfy my- felf that my fituatlon is fuch as to render exertion unreafon- able, and believe that the attempt would produce nothing but abortive and fruitlefs torture. I remain liftlefs, fluggifo and inadlive."
How different would be the fum of my fituatlon, if I were animated by fentiments of chearfulnefs, induftiy and courage? It has been faid " that a rainy day has been known to convert a man man of valour Into a coward." How eaflly would this external difadvantage have been furmounted, if his mind had been more full of the benefits to arlfe from his valour, if the rainy day had been put in the balance with his wife and children, the moft illuftrious rewards to be beftowed upon himfelf, and freedom and felicity to be fecured to his country? " Irfdigeftion," we are told, " perhaps a fit of the tooth-ach, renders a man incapable of ftrong thinking and fpirited exertion." How long would thefe be able to hold out againft a fudden and unexpected piece of intelligence of the moft delightful nature?
When operations of an Injurious nature are Inflifted on the body, and are encountered by the mind with unalterable firm- nefs, what Is the degree of pain which in fuch inftances is fuf- fered? Was the language of Anaxarchus merely a philofophical rant, " Beat on, tyrant! Thou mayeft deftroy the fhell of Anax- archus, but thou canft not touch Anaxarchus himfelf?" How much pain was really endured by Mutius Scsevola and arch- bllhop Cranmer, when each fteadily held his hand to be devoured by the flames? How much is endured by the favage Indkns, who fmg In the midft of tortures, and farcaftically pro- voke their tormentors to more ingenious barbarity?
The truth that feems to refult from thefe confideratlons is, that indifpofition only becomes formidable in proportion as it is feconded by the confent of the mind; that our communi- cation PHYSICAL CAUSES. 55 cation with the material univerfe is at the mercy of our choice: BOOK I.
and that the inabiUty of the underftanding for intelleQual ex- ' >/ ^ ertion is principally an affair of moral confideration, exifting only in the degree in which it is deliberately preferred^ " The hero of to-day," we are told, " fhall by an ihdigeftion or Superiority of the former a rainy atmofphere be converted into a coward to-morrow." evident from the varieties Waving the confideration of how far this fadl where it exifts is in of human chara£lcr, reality of a moral and intelledtual nature, let us examine to what degree a principle of this fort is the true index of human adions. We have already eftablifhed it as a fundamental, that there are no innate ideas. Of confequence, if men were prin- cipally governed by external circumftances fuch as that of at- mofphere, their characters and actions would be much alike. The fame weather, that made you a coward, would make me fo too, and an army would be defeated by a fog. Perhaps indeed this cataftrophe would be prevented by the impartiality of the moifture, in proportion as the enemy advanced, which he neceffarily mull do, into the fame atmofphere.
Every thing that checks the uniformity of this effed, and permanently diftinguifhes the charader of one man from that of another, is to be traced to the affociation of ideas. But affc- ciation is of the nature of reafoning. The principal, the moft numerous and lafting of our affociations, are intelledtual, not accidental, built tjpon the refemblances and differences of things, ijot ^6 OF MORAL AND BOOK I. not upon the contingency of their occurring In any given time * V ' or place. It is thus that one man appears courageous and an- other cowardly, one man vigorous and another dull, under the fame or nearly the fame external circumftances.
^h'^^T""^ In reality the atmofphere, inilead of confiderably afFedling tcaufes rare. ^]-^g rmLk of mankind, affeds in an eminent degree only a fmali part of that mafs. The majority are either above or below it; are either too grofs to feel ftrongly thefe minute variations, or too bufy to be at leifure to attend to them. It is only a few, whofe treatment has been tender enough to imbue them with extreme delicacy, and whofe faculties are not roufed by ftrong and unintermitted incitements, who can be thus blindly direded. If it fliould be faid " that the weather indeed is too great a trifle to produce thefe confequences, but that there are pains and in- terruptions which fcarcely any man can withftand j" it may be anfwered, that thefe occur too feldom to be miftaken for the efScient principles of human character, that the fyftem which determines our proceedings rifes from a different fource, and ordinarily returns when the pain or interruption has fubfided.
There can be no queftion more Interefting than that which we are now confidering. Upon our decifion in this cafe it depends, whether thofe perfons a£t wifely who prefcribe to themfelves a certain difcipline and are anxious to enrich their minds with fcience, or whether on the contrary it be better to truft PHYSICAL CAUSES. S7 truft every thing to the mercy of events. Is it pofTible that BOOK r.
we fhould not perceive from the very nature of the thing the "^ » ' advantages which the wife man pofTeiTes over the foolifh one, and that the points in which they refemble will be as nothing compared to thofe in which they differ? In thofe particulars in w^hich our condu*^ is directed merely by external impreffions we refemble the inferior animals; we differ from them in the greater facility with which %ve arrange our fenfations, and com- pare, prefer and judge.
Out of a fmele fenfation a great variety of reflections may Fertility of be generated. Let the thing perceived be a material fubflance of certain regular dimenfions. I perceive that it has an upper and a lower furface, I can therefore conceive of it as divided. I can conceive of the parts into which it is formed as moving towards and from each other, and hence I acquire the ideas of diftance and fpace. I can conceive of them as ftriking againft each other, and hence I derive the notion of impenetrability, gravity and momentum, the flownefs, rapidity and direction of motion. Let the fenfation be a pain in the head. I am led to refled: upon its caufes, its feat, the ftrudure of the parts in which it refides, the inconvenience it impofes, the ■ confequences with which it may be attended, the remedies that may be applied and their effedls, whether external or internal, material or intelledlual.
It is true that the infant and inexperienced mind cannot thus Pl>yfical analyle and conjure up differtations of philofophy out of its moft firrt iuiiance I trivial 58 OFMORALAND r^OOK I. trivial fenfations.. Such a capacity infers a lone; feries of pte- "^ — ^^ ' ceding impreffions. Mind is in its infancy nearly what thefe fiiperior, af- terwards philofophers defcribe, the creatlire of contingencies^ But the farleoral. ■^