"letter from you, containing a bold accept- s E c T. 66 ance of this defiance."

At length (in the beginning of the year 1776) Mr. Smith accounted to the world for his long retreat, by the publication of his "Inquiry into the Nature and Caufes of the "Wealth of Nations." A letter of A letter of congratulation on this event, from Mr. Hume, is now before me. It is dated ift April 1776 (about fix months before Mr. Hume's death), and discovers an amiable folicitude about his friend's literary fame. "Euge! Belle! Dear "Mr. Smith: I am much pleased with your "performance, and the perufal of it has taken "me from a state of great anxiety. It was a "work of fo much expectation, by yourself,

by your friends, and by the public, that I "trembled for its appearance; but am now "much relieved. Not but that the reading "of it neceffarily requires fo much attention, " and the public is difpofed to give fo little, "that I fhall ftill doubt for fome time of its

66

being at firft very popular. But it has "depth and folidity and acutenefs, and is fo "much illuftrated by curious facts, that it "must at last take the public attention. It "is probably much improved by your last "abode in London. If you were here at my "fire-fide, I fhould difpute fome of "principles.

your

But

thefe, and a hundred other points, are fit

only

III.

III.

SECT. "only to be difcuffed in converfation. I hope "it will be foon; for I am in a very bad ftate ❝of health, and cannot afford a long delay."

Of a book which is now fo univerfally known as "The Wealth of Nations," it might be confidered perhaps as fuperfluous to give a particular analyfis; and, at any rate, the limits of this effay make it impoffible for me to attempt it at present. A few remarks, however, on the object and tendency of the work, may, I hope, be introduced without impropriety. The hiftory of a philofopher's life can contain little more than the history of his fpeculations; and in the cafe of fuch an author as Mr. Smith, whose studies were fyftematically directed from his youth to subjects of the last importance to human happiness, a review of his writings, while it ferves to illuftrate the peculiarities of his genius, affords the most faithful picture of his character as a man.

SECT. IV.

Of the Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations *.

A

N hiftorical view of the different forms under which human affairs have appeared in different ages and nations, naturally fuggefts the question, Whether the experience of former times may not now furnish some general principles to enlighten and direct the policy of future legiflators? The difcuffion, however, to which this queftion leads, is of fingular difficulty; as it requires an accurate analyfis of by far the most complicated clafs of phenomena that can poffibly engage our attention, thofe which refult from the intricate and often the imperceptible mechanifm of political fociety;-a subject of obfervation which feems, at first view, fo little commenfurate to our faculties, that it has been generally regarded with the fame paffive emotions of wonder and fubmiffion, with which, in the material world, we

The length to which this Memoir has already extended, together with some other reasons which it is unnecessary to mention here, have induced me, in printing the following fection, to confine myself to a much more general view of the subject than I ence intended. See Note (D.)

SECT.

IV.

IV.

SE C T. furvey the effects produced by the mysterious and uncontroulable operation of phyfical caufes. It is fortunate that upon this, as upon many other occafions, the difficulties which had long baffled the efforts of folitary genius begin to appear lefs formidable to the united exertions of the race; and that in proportion as the experience and the reafonings of different individuals are brought to bear upon the fame objects, and are combined in fuch a manner as to illuftrate and to limit each other, the fcience of politics affumes more and more that fyftematical form which encourages and aids the labours of future enquirers.

In profecuting the fcience of politics on this plan, little affiftance is to be derived from the fpeculations of ancient philofophers, the greater part of whom, in their political enquiries, confined their attention to a comparison of the different forms of government, and to an examination of the provifions they made for perpetuating their own existence, and for extending the glory of the ftate. It was referved for modern times to investigate those univerfal principles of juftice and of expediency, which ought, under every form of government, to regulate the focial order; and of which the object is, to make as equitable a diftribution as poffible, among all the different members of a community, of the advantages arifing from the political union.

The

The invention of printing was perhaps ne- S ceffary to prepare the way for these researches. In those departments of literature and of fcience, where genius finds within itself the materials of its labours; in poetry, in pure geometry, and in fome branches of moral philofophy; the ancients have not only laid the foundations on which we are to build, but have left great and finished models for our imitation. But in phyfics, where our progrefs depends on an immenfe collection of facts, and on a combination of the accidental lights daily ftruck out in the innumerable walks of obfervation and experiment; and in politics, where the materials of our theories are equally fcattered, and are collected and arranged with ftill greater difficulty, the means of communication afforded by the prefs have, in the courfe of two centuries, accelerated the progrefs of the human mind, far beyond what the most fanguine hopes of our predeceffors could have imagined.

The progrefs already made in this science, inconfiderable as it is in comparison of what may be yet expected, has been fufficient to fhew, that the happiness of mankind depends, not on the share which the people poffeffes, directly or indirectly, in the enactment of laws, but on the equity and expediency of the laws that are enacted. The fhare which the people poffeffes in the government is intereft

VOL, V.

I I

ing