ObservcUionSf etc., chap. i
34. An Essayj etc., sect. I, p. 9. Cette définition de la liberté politique est reprise par Bentham.
35. Ibid., sect. II. — Sur cet adage de Pope, voir les appréciations de Hume (essay III), et, beaucoup plus tard, de Bentham (Bowring, vol. X, p. 532) : « One of the mosl foolish couplets that v?as ever written — if written with knowlcdge ; for Pope was merely the satellite of Bolingbroke. » Mais, vers 1776, Bentham était moins disposé à condamner Tadage de Pope.
30. Disœurses œncerning Government^ chap. Il, sect. i : It must be confessed, that whilst hc (IMato) seeks what is good for a people, and to convince them by reason thatit is so, ho takes it for granted, thai they fiULc a liberty of chusing that which appeurs to be besl to thtm. — Chap. ni, sect. XIV : In a popular assembly, no man judges fur himself, othei-wise, than as his good is comprehendcd in that of the public : nothing hurts him, but what is prejudicial to the commonwealth : such amongsl tliom as may hâve received private injuries, are so far only considered by others, as their suflferings may hâve influence upon the public : if they l>o few, and the matters uot great, olhers will not sulTer their quiet to be disturbed by them ; if they are maiiy and grievous, the tyranny thereby appears to be so cruel, that the nation cannot subsist, unlessit be correcled orsuppressed. — Chap. III, sect. xli : It is commonly said, that no man ought to bejudge of his own case... Nevertlieless I am not afraid to say that naturally and properly a man is thejudge of his own coneernment?. No one is or ean be dcprived ofthis privilège, unless by his own consent, and for the good of that soeiety into which he enters.
37. Treaiise, Bookllï, Part H, sect. VIII (vol. II, p. 305) : So faram I from thinkiog with some philosophera, that men are utterly incapable of Society wilhout government, that I assert the first rudiments ofgoveruinent to arise from quarrcls, not among men of the same society, but amongthose of difTereot societics. — Ibid., p. 306 : The state of society without government is onc of the most natural states of men, and must subsist with theconjunction of many families, and long after the Grst génération.— Les lois fondamentales de la justice sont, dit encore Hume, « antécédent to government », nécessaires même dans ce qu'il appelle « a small uncultivated society without government ». Quant à Priestley, partisan du libéralisme commercial, il demande que Ton diminue autant que possible le nombre des attributions du gouvernement. V. An Essay^ etc., p. 5î, gecl. III, Civil liberty. — Civil liberty bas been greatly impaired byan abuse of the maxim, that the joint understanding of ail the mcmbers of a state, properly coUected, must be préférable to that of individuals; and conse- ((uently that the more the cases are, in which mankind arc governed by thisunited reason of the whole of the community, so much the bctter ; Nvhcreas, in truth, the grealer part of human actions are of such a nature, ihat more inconvenicnce would follow from their being iixed by laws, than from their being left to every man's arbitrary will. — Il continue rependant à identifier société et gouvernement^ sect. I, p. 3 : « The great instrument in the hand of divine providence of this progress of the species towards perfection, is society, and consequentiy government. »
38. Common Sensé. — Les brillants développements de Burke (Works, vol. I, pp. 10-11) dans la réfutation par Tabsurde du système de Bolingliroke qu'il intitule Vindication of Nalural Society^ peuvent avoir, contre les intentions de Tautcur, inspiré les démocrates. « The mind of man itself is too active and restiess a principle ever to settle on the true point of quiet. Il discovers every day some craving want in a body, which rcally wants but little. Il every day invents some new artificial rule to guide that nature which, if left to itself, were the best and surest guide. Il finds out imaginary beings prcscribing imaginary laws; and then, it raises imaginary terrors to support a belief in the beings, and an obédience to the laws... The body, or as some love to cali it, our inferior nature, is wiser in ils own plain way, and attends ils own business more directly than the mind with ail its boasted subtilty... The mutual desires of the sexes uniting their bodies and their affections, and the children which were the resuits of thèse intercourses, introduced first the notion of society, and taught its convenienccs. This society, founded in naturel appetites and instincts, and not in any positive institution, I shall call nalural society. Thus nature went and succeeded ; but man would go farther. The great error of our nature is, not to know whcre lo Btop, not to be satisfied with any roasonable acquirement ; not to compound with our condition ; but to losc ail we hâve gaincd by an insatiable pursuitafler more. Man found a considérable aivantage by this union of
3o4 NOTES. (Pp. 238-239)
many persons to form one famil y ; he thcreforc jadges that he would find his account proportionably io an unioa of many fainilies into one body poli tic. And as nalure lias formed no bond of union to hold them togelher, he supplied this defect by law$. — This is polUical sociely. And hent^e the source of what are usually called states, civil sociclies, or governments ; into sonie fonn of which, moru eitended or restrained, ail mankind bave gradually fallen.
39. Fragm. on Gov.f chap. Il, § xxxiv (Bowring, vol. I, p. 276).
40. Il est curieux de remarquer que certaines objections faites par Hume à la thèse du contrat originel portent contre la thèse de Tidentité natuivlle des intérêts ou du moins cuntre certains postulats psychologiques de cotte thèse. V. Essay XII, of the Original contract (éd. Green, vol. i, p. 451) : « Can wc seriously say, that a poor peasant or artizan bas a fret* choice to Icave his country, whon he knows no foreign language or manuers and lives irom day to day, by the small wages which lie acquires? \Ve may as weil assert, that a iiian, by remaining in a vesscl, frcely consents to the dominion of tlie master though he was carried on boani wbile asleep, and must leap into the océan, and perish, the moment he leavcs her ». On reconnaît une objection courante au prétendu « libéralisme» des théoriciens du laissez-faire. II est intéressant d*ob8ervcrqu*Adani Suiith reprend cette objection de Hume dans son Cours de Glasgow. — Kt cncoifî ijbid.y p. 450. — Cf. vol. Il, p. 197) : « Were ail men possessed of so perfcct an understanding, as always to know their own inlerest, no l'oi-iii of government had ever beeu submittcd to, but what was established on consent, and was fully canva»stMl by every member of the sooifty .. Mais c'est encore une des conditions d'application du principe de ridciitii'j d«.'i» inléréts, que tous les individus soient supposés <t doui!*s d'un enlondt'Mienl assez parfait pour toiijoiii*s coniiaîli*e leurs propre^ inti»n^ts «.
W. Tlii' lA'gisfntira HightA etc.. >i 27 : It is... extrcmoly fortiinate for us, that mailing' our parliameuts annnal and our ropresenlation equal, oan noitli«'r of tlicm in any sensu, ma- witli Kit a direct falsehood, be stiled innovations. Both of tfu'm \r(>rc the ancicnt pmclice of Uie œnslitution. But parliaments of a long«.*r duration, an<l lliat partial reprcscntiilion of tlic Commons wc nt»w c\p«'rion«;o, wlion fir-t intivHluce<l by Kingorafi and court policy, and thnjuirlit tlie supinonoss of the r.ommons, were innovations the more destruolive, as they wcri; nol ^'reatiy suspected of dan;rer. That supincness in the (iouunons brou^^lit on a relaxation; and relaxation rn^'endered those iinpurilios whirli, at lirst, madeonly a slight ami stvrot impression on the health of the conslitiilion; thcn becamo perceplible and \isibly inipairod ils strengfh and beauty ; but af lenglli, hâve reduced il to a i-otten carcass. 1 trust, lioN\ever, that it is not incurable, — et 77ie Peuples Ddrricr agaiust umluv I/i/Iuenre and Corruption, chap. ii: In our ancient parliaments, alf the commons w<M*e reprcsenteii ; Ihcir élections wero annualy or more frociuciit; and it >\as in the constitution of parliaments
(Pp. S39-244) JîOTES. 3r>5
that they aMembled and»ata< certainiy for tiine and place besides being at Ihe oocaiional call of ttie crowii for extraordinary business.
42. De sorte que la thèse du contrat originel est susi'eptiblcd^une interprétation conservatrice : ▼. Burke, BeflecHons on the French HeivlulUynf p. 75: AU the reformations we hâve hitherto made, havc proceoded tipon the principle of refcrcnro to antiqnity ; and I hop<\ nny I am |)^rsuaded, that ail those which possibly may be made herc^ft«.'r, will \te carefuily formed upon analogical précèdent, authority, and example.
— Cf. Ed, Rev. mars 1817.
