natural tendency of mankind, in a state of imperfect civilisation, is to increase their numbers at a more rapid rate than their means of subsistence. But this tendency may, in any given country, and at a given time, be effectually counteracted by prudence, industry, the love of accumulation, and judicious political and domestic arrangements. The general tendency of monastic institutions is to produce laziness and ignorance in their members; nevertheless, some monastic bodies have been distinguished for their learning, and, during the dark ages, such learning as existed was principally to be found in

convents.

In practical politics, moreover, there is the additional difficulty, that not only is the future hard to determine, even where time is afforded for the inquiry, on account of the multitude, intricacy, and diversity of the influences to be considered, but it often happens that a decision must be made on the spur of the moment, and with imperfect information. This difficulty, however, besets every department of active life, and is not peculiar either to politics or ethics. A traveller in an unknown country must act on such information or indications as he can obtain in order to reach his destination, or perhaps to save his life. A commander of a vessel, threatened with shipwreck, must judge, as he best can, how to extricate it from its peril. The general of an army must regulate his manoeuvres according to the best information he can obtain respecting the state of the roads and bridges, the feelings of the people, the supply of food, and the enemy's movements.

Moreover, in practical politics, as in the conduct of private affairs, there is much intentional deceit. False reports are circulated, and false information sent, in order to mislead the government; false testimony is given, in order to pervert the course of justice; documents are forged, and other contrivances are resorted to, for the purpose either of concealing the truth, or accrediting falsehood. From this source of error, the physical sciences are nearly free-the chemist, the astronomer, or the optician, has to deal with natural phenomena, in which there is no motive or opportunity for deception; and, even in medical science, the risk of intentional fraud is not in general considerable.

§ 6. Inasmuch as the positive and speculative branches of politics aim at different objects, and rest on evidence of unequal certainty, it is advisable to treat them separately, and to keep their provinces distinct in discussion as much as possible.2 Positive politics may be taught as

1 See, on this subject, the remarks of Puffendorf, Law of N. and N. 1. I. ch. 2, § 4. 2 Speculative systems have, in all ages of the world, been adopted for reasons too frivolous to have determined the judgment of any man of common sense, in a matter of the smallest pecuniary interest. Gross sophistry has scarce ever had any influence upon the opinions of mankind, except in matters of philosophy and speculation; and in these it has frequently had the greatest.'-Wealth of Nations, b. V. ch. 1, art. 2.

Undoubtedly, men have been, and continue to be, deceived by gross sophistry in specu

a system, in connection with jurisprudence and law. It may be reduced to a small number of elementary principles, liable to little doubt or controversy; it admits of as much certainty and simplicity as other sciences, which enter into the course of a liberal education; and it ought not, if properly handled, to involve any questions calculated to arouse party feelings, or to alarm established authorities in Church or State. To which it may be added, that a judicious selection from the best existing works on political philosophy, the law of nature and nations, and general jurisprudence, will furnish most of the materials which are needed for such a scientific exposition. Speculative politics, on the other hand, is a subject which requires a gentle and cautious treatment. Its province is vast, and almost unbounded; its problems are nearly indeterminate; it has been cultivated without a due regard to the laws of scientific analysis, and has been overlaid with fanciful and unsound theories, by writers whose very genius has only served to give currency to their errors, without guiding or illuminating their way; it is likewise, in each country, connected with some of the most stimulating questions by which political, religious, and historical parties are divided from and embittered against each other.

If, by a science of government, is meant a science which teaches what is the one best form of government, at all times, in all countries, and under all circumstances, I agree with Mr. Mill,' that no such science can exist. In like manner, the science of mechanics cannot show what is the best machine for accomplishing a given purpose, in every combination of circumstances; the science of navigation cannot teach how a ship is to be navigated, in every combination of circumstances; the science of strategy cannot teach how an army is to be moved, or a fortress attacked, in every combination of circumstances. The science of government, as it has been treated by the speculators on ideal states, stands in nearly the same relation to positive politics, as that in which the sacred theories of the earth propounded by Burnet and others, and the systems of the Plutonians and Neptunians, stand to the modern descriptive geology; or as that in which the speculations on the philosopher's stone and the elixir vitæ stand to modern chemistry and medicine. But if, by the science of government, is understood the science of legislation, such a science can and does exist; although its lative matters. But I cannot perceive that entire exemption from the dominion of sophistry in questions of practice which Adam Smith believes to exist. That there have been popular delusions, of the most dangerous kind, in practical matters where fear operates, is notorious. Religious impostures, divination, astrology, witchcraft, have also exercised, and in many countries continue to exercise, an almost unbounded sway. Nor has pecuniary interest (as Adam Smith seems to think) been any preservative against error. Commercial bubbles of all sorts-from the South Sea scheme downwards-make a long chapter; and surely the various economical delusions, which Adam Smith himself exposed, and which are still to a great extent current, have a close connection with practice.

1 See his System of Logic, vol. II. p. 578. Compare p. 598.

296 DISTINCTION BETWEEN ARISTOCRACY AND DEMOCRACY. [APPEN.

objects are different from those of positive politics, and its certainty inferior, while its importance is greater.

In whatever manner we look at these two departments of political science-whether we compare their objects, the evidence on which they rest, or the subjects with which they are connected-it is manifest that the cultivation of positive politics has everything to lose, and nothing to gain, by an association with its more ambitious and pretending neighbour.

These remarks, however, are not intended to discourage the investigation of that important class of subjects which fall under the domain of speculative politics, or the science of legislation. Their purpose is merely to recommend the separation of departments of knowledge, which are in their nature different. The field of political science will be better cultivated, if its several portions are clearly marked off, and placed under appropriate labourers.

The speculative branch of politics, consisting of inquiries into the tendencies of political forms, the probable effects of certain laws and institutions, and the best means of promoting the welfare of a civil society, must be combined, to a great extent, with historical and statistical researches; and, perhaps, some of its most useful and soundest theories are to be found in connection with avowed collections or narratives of facts. With the prevailing tendency of the civilised world to look in all things scientific for a positive basis of fact, historical writers, in all the various forms which the registra tion of human transactions can assume, and not speculators on the most perfect form of government, are the principal teachers of political wisdom.1

It ought not, however, to be overlooked, that a distinct, precise, and complete conception of positive politics, and of the ideas involved in it, is a necessary preliminary to a successful excursion into the region of speculative politics. In order that a person should describe the character, trace the effects, and predict the probable future operation, of political forms and institutions, he must previously understand what they are, how they arise, and in what they consist. He must have a familiar knowledge of the tools with which he is to work; he must know the value of the coins with which his traffic is to be carried on. If, therefore, the separation of these two departments should tend to give greater clearness and certainty to those fundamental ideas on which all political science is built, it would, in its consequences, prove an effectual assistance to Political Speculation.

1 See above, p. 106.

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