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oommerciaJ policy seem to have been more peculiarly erroneous ; originating m overweening opinion of the efficacy of law , in matters where natural causes ought ¦ to be allowed a free
operation . It is observed by Mr . Hume , that the statutes of Henry VI F . relating to the police of his kingdom , are generally contrived with more judgment than bis commercial regulations . The same writer adds , that
" the more simple ideas of order and equity are sufficient to guide a legislator in every thing that regards the internal administration of justice ; but that the principles of commerce are much more complicated , and require long experience and deep reflection to be well understood in any state . The
real consequence is mere often contrary to first appearances . No wonder , that , during the reign of Henry VII . these matters were frequently mistaken ; and it may safely be affirmed , that ,-even in the age of L , ord Bacon , ver y imperfect and erroneous ideas were formed on that subject . "
The instances mentioned by Hume in confirmation of these general remarks , are peculiarly gratifying to those who have a pleasure in tracing the slow but certain progress of reason and liberality . " Ouring the reign , " says he , « of Henry VII . it was prohibited to export horses , as if that
exportation did not encourage the breed , and make them more plentiful in the kingdom . Prices were also affixed to woollen cloths , to caps and hats , and the wages of labourers were regulated by Jaw . It is evident , that these matters ought always to be left Jree > and be entrusted to the common
course of business and commerce . '— " For a like reason / ' the historian continues , " the law enacted against inclosures , and for the keeping up of farm-houses , acarcelv deserves the praise * bestowed on by Lord Bacon . If husbandmen ^ demand agriculture , and have a ready vent for their commodities , we « eed not dread a diminution of the
W employed in the country . Du" ? S f century and a half after this of 1 there was a Sequent renewal tio u edicts againSt depopuiaof & ^" ence we may infer , that none the m were ever executed . The iJ ^ f tourse of improvement at last ^^ d a remed y r on tK * ^ acute an d decisive strictures " ** impolicy of some laws highly
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applauded by Bacon , while they strongly illustrate the narrow and mistaken views in political economy entertained by the wisest statesmen and philosophers two centuries ago , af ford , at the same time , a proof of
the general diffusion which has since taken place among the people of Great Britain , of juster and more enlightened opinions on this important branch of legislation . Wherever 9 uch doctrines find their way into the page of history , it may be safely inferred ,
that the public mind is not indisposed to give them a welcome reception . The ideas of Bacon concerning the education of youth , * were such as might be expected from a philosophical statesman . On the conduct of education in general , with a view to the developement and improvement of the intellectual character , he has
suggested various useful hints in different parts of his works ; but what I wish chiefly to remark at- present is * the paramount importance which he has attached to the education of the people ,- *—comparing ( as he nas repeatedly done ) the effects of early cmiare on the understanding and the heart , to the abundant harvest which rewards
the diligent husbandman for the toils of the spring . To this analogy hte seems to have been particularly anxious to attract the attention of his readers , by bestowing on education
the title of the georgzcs of the mind '} identifying , by a happy and impressive metapnor , the two proudest functions entrusted to the legislator , —^ t he encouragement of agricultural industry , and the care of national instruction .
In both instances , the legislator exert * a power which is literall y productive or creative ; compelling , m the one case , the unprofitable desert to pour forth its latent riches ; and in the
other , vivifying the dormant seeds of genius and virtue , and redeeming from the neglected wastes of human intellect , a new and unexpected accession to the common inheritance of
matikind . When from such speculations as tfyese we descend to the treatise Dp Jure JBelli et JPacis , . the . , contrast ,, i > mortifying indeed- And yet , so mudti better suited were the talents and uocom <~
plishments of Grotius to the taste * not onl y of his contemporaries , > but -oi their remote descendantsy that , while the merits of Bacon failecj , for a
Untitled Article
Estimate of the Philosophical Character of Lord Sacon . 507
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1816, page 507, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2456/page/7/
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