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a , anv other ,, to invite the curiosity of v readers to a careful examination f the rich mine from which they are C The ethical disquisitions of Bacon e almost entirely of a practical nature .
Q { the two theoretical questions so much ag itated , in both parts of this island , during the eighteenth century , concerning the principle and the object of xioral approbation , he has said nothing ; but he has opened some new and interesting views with sespect to the influence of custom and the
formation of habits ;—a most important article of moral philosophy , on which he has enlarged more ably and more usefully than any writer since Aristotle . * Under the same head of Ethics may be mentioned the small volume
to which he has given the title of Essays ; the best known and the most popular of all his works . It is also one of those where the superiority of his genius appears to the greatest advantage ; the novelty and depth of his
reflections often receiving a strong relief from the triteness of nis subject . It may be read from beginning to end in a few hours , —and yet , after the twentieth perusal , one seldom fails to remark in it something overlooked
before . This , indeed , is a characteristic of all Bacon ' s writings , and is only to be accounted for by the inexhaustible aliment they furnish to our own thoughts , and the sympathetic activity they impart to our torpid faculties .
The suggestions of Bacon for the improvement of political philosophy , exhibit as strong a contrast to trie narrow systems ofcon temporary statesmen , as the inductive logic to that of the schools . How profound and comprehensive are the views opened in the following passages , when
compared with the scope of the celebrated treatise De Jure Belli et Pads ; a work jvhich was first published about a year before Bacon ' s death , and which conimuecl , for a hundred and fifty years afterwards , to be regarded in all the potestant universities of Europe as an ^ exhaustible treasu re of moral and
J ^ Fudential wisdom ! " The ultimate object which legiswV ught to have in view * aml to u » cn all their enactments and sanclloas ° ught to be subservient , is , that Ve Aug ^ Sclent , Lib . vii . cap . iil .
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the citizens may live happilf / . For this purpose , it is necessary , that they should receive a religious and pious education ; that they should be trained to good morals ; that they should be secured from foreign enemies by
proper military arrangements ; that they should be guarded by an effectual police against seditions and private injuries ^ that they should be loyal to government , and obedient to magistrates ; and finally , that they should abound in wealth , and in other national resources . " * — ef The science
of such matters certainly belongs more particularly to the province of men who , by habits of public business , have been led to take a comprehensive survey of the social order ; of the
interests of the community at large ; of the rules of natural equity ; of the manners of nations ; of the different forms of government ; and who are thus prepared to reason concerning the wisdom of laws , both from
considerations of justice and of policy . The great desideratum , accordingly , is , by investigating the principles of natural justice , and those of political expediency , to exhibit a theoretical model of legislation , which , while it serves as a standard for estimating the comparative excellence of municipal codes , mav sxi&gest hints for their correction ancl
improvement , to such as have at heart the welfare of mankind . "f * How precise the notion was that Bacon had formed of a philosophical system of jurisprudence ( with which as a standard the municipal laws of
different nations might be compared ) , appears from a remarkable expression , in which he mentions it as the proper business of those who might attempt to carry his plan into execution , to investigate those " leges legtjm ,
* JbUxewpluni Tract at us de Fontibus-Juris , Aphor . 5 . This enumeration of the different objects of law approaches very nearly to Mr . Smith ' s ideas on the same subject , as expressed by himself ih th « concluding sentence of his Theory of Moral Sentiments * " Iii another
discourse , I shall endeavour to give an account of the general principles of law and government , and of the different revolutions they have undergone in the different ages and periods of society ; not only in what concerns justice , but in what concerns police , revenue , and arms , and whatever else is the object of law . '" f De Aug . ScUnt . Lib . viii . cap . iii .
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Estimate of the Philosophical Character of Lord Bacon * 5 O 5
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1816, page 505, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2456/page/5/
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