sentences: 66 46 known to some members of this Society, it would be improper, by the publication of this manuscript, to revive the memory of private differences; and I should not have even alluded to it, if I did not think it a valuable document of the progress of Mr Smith's political ideas at a very early period. Many of the most important opinions in The Wealth of Nations are there detailed; but I shall quote only the following Man is generally considered by statesmen and projectors as the materials of a sort of political mechanics. Projectors disturb nature in the course of her operations « in human affairs; and it requires no more than to let her alone, and give her fair play in the pursuit of her ends, "that she may establish her own designs."-And in another passage: "Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things. All governments which thwart this natural course, "which force things into another channel, or which endea"vour to arrest the progress of society at a particular point, are unnatural, and to support themselves are obliged to be oppressive and tyrannical.- A great part of the opinions (he observes) enumerated in this paper is treated of at length in some lectures which I have still by me, and "which were written in the hand of a clerk who left my "service six years ago. They have all of them been the 66 66 66 66 "constant subjects of my lectures since I first taught Mr Craigie's class, the first winter I spent in Glasgow, down "to this day, without any considerable variation. They " had all of them been the subjects of lectures which I read "at Edinburgh the winter before I left it, and I can ad"duce innumerable witnesses, both from that place and " from this, who will ascertain them sufficiently to be mine." After all, perhaps the merit of such a work as Mr Smith's is to be estimated less from the novelty of the principles it contains, than from the reasonings employed to support these principles, and from the scientific manner in which they are unfolded in their proper order and connection. General assertions with respect to the advantages of a free commerce, may be collected from various writers of an early date. But in questions of so complicated a nature as occur in political economy, the credit of such opinions belongs of right to the author who first established their solidity, and followed them out to their remote consequences; not to him who, by a fortunate accident, first stumbled on the truth.. Besides the principles which Mr Smith considered as more peculiarly his own, his Inquiry exhibits a systematical view of the most important articles of political economy, so as to serve the purpose of an elementary treatise on that very extensive and difficult science. The skill and the comprehen siveness of mind displayed in his arrangement, can be judged of by those alone who have compared it with that adopted by his immediate predecessors. And perhaps, in point of utility, the labour he has employed in connecting and methodizing their scattered ideas, is not less valuable than the results of his own original speculations: For it is only when digested in a clear and natural order, that truths make their proper impression on the mind, and that erroneous opinions can be combated with success. It does not belong to my present undertaking (even if I were qualified for such a task) to attempt a separation of the solid and important doctrines of Mr Smith's book from those opinions which appear exceptionable or doubtful. I acknowledge, that there are some of his conclusions to which I would not be understood to subscribe implicitly; more particularly in that chapter, where he treats of the principles of taxation ;-a subject, which he has certainly examined in a manner more loose and unsatisfactory than most of the others which have fallen under his review *. It would be improper for me to conclude this section without taking notice of the manly and dignified freedom with which the author uniformly delivers his opinions, and of the *Note (G.) superiority which he discovers throughout, to all the little passions connected with the factions of the times in which he wrote. Whoever takes the trouble to compare the general tone of his composition with the period of its first publication, cannot fail to feel and acknowledge the force of this remark. It is not often that a disinterested zeal for truth has so soon met with its just reward. Philosophers (to use an expression of Lord Bacon's) are " the servants of posterity;" and most of those who have devoted their talents to the best interests of mankind, have been obliged, like Bacon, to" bequeath their fame" to a race yet unborn, and to console themselves with the idea of sowing what another generation was to reap: Insere Daphni pyros, carpent tua poma nepotes. Mr Smith was more fortunate; or rather, in this respect, his fortune was singular. He survived the publication of his work only fifteen years; and yet, during that short period, he had not only the satisfaction of seeing the opposition it at first excited, gradually subside, but to witness the practical influence of his writings on the commercial policy of his country. SECTION V. Conclusion of the Narrative. ABOUT two years after the publication of "The Wealth of "Nations," Mr Smith was appointed one of the Commissioners of his Majesty's Customs in Scotland; a preferment which, in his estimation, derived an additional value from its being bestowed on him at the request of the Duke of Buccleuch. The greater part of these two years he passed in London, enjoying a society too extensive and varied to afford him any opportunity of indulging his taste for study. His time, however, was not lost to himself; for much of it was spent with some of the first names in English literature. Of these no unfavourable specimen is preserved by Dr Barnard, in his well-known "Verses addressed to Sir Joshua Rey"nolds and his friends." If I have thoughts, and can't express 'em, In words select and terse : Jones teach me modesty and Greek, Smith how to think, Burke how to speak, *See Annual Register for the year 1776. |