Observations, etc., chap. i
34. An Essay, 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 most foolish couplets that was ever written — if written with knowledge ; for Pope was merely the satellite of Bolingbroke. » Mais, vers 1176, Bentham était moins disposé à condamner l'adage de Pope.
36. Discourses concerning Government, chap. II, sect. i : It must be confessed, that whilst he (Plato) seeks what is good for a people, and to convince them by reason that it is so, he takes it for granted, that they hâve a liberty of chusing that which appears to be best to them. — Chap. m, sect. XIV : In a popular assembly, no man judges for himself, otherwise, than as bis good is comprehended in that of the public : nothing hurts him, but what is prejudicial to thé commonwealth : such amongst them as may hâve received private injuries, are so far only considered by others, as their sufferings may hâve influence upon the public : if they be few, and the matters not great, others will not suffer their quiet to be disturbed by them ; if they are many and grievous, the tyranny thereby appears to be so cruel, that the nation cannot subsist, unless it be correcled or suppressed. — Chap. III, sect. xli : It is commonly said, that no man ought to bejudge ofhis own case... Nevertheless I am not afraid to say that naturally and properly a man is the judge of his own concernments. No one is or can be deprived of this privilège, unless by his own consent, and for the good of that society into which he enters.
37. Treatise, BooklII, Part II, sect. VIII (vol. II, p. 305) : So faram I from thinking with sorae philosophera, that men are utterly incapable of society witbout government, that I assert the first rudiments ofgovernment to arise from quarrels, not among men of the same society, but amongthoseof différent societies. — Ibid., p. 306 : The state of society without government is one of the most natural states of men, and must subsi?t with theconjunction of many families, and long after the first gèneration. — 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 l'on diminue autant que po>sible le nombre des attributions du gouvernement. V. Au Essay, etc., p. 52, sect. III, Civil liberty. — Civil liberty hasbeen greatly impaired byan abuse ofthe maxim, that the joint understanding of ail the members of a state, properly collected, must be préférable to that of individuals; and consequently that the more the cases are, in which mankind are governed bv tliis united reason of the wliole of the community, so much the better ; whereas, in truth, the greater part of human actions are of such a nature, that more inconvenience would follow from their being fixed by laws, than from their being left to every man's arbitrary will. — Il continue cependant 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 consequently government. »
38. Common Sensé. — Les brillants développements de Burke (Works, vol. I, pp. 10-11) dans la réfutation par l'absurde du système de Bolingbroke qu'il intitule Yindicalion of Natural Society, peuvent avoir, contre les intentions de l'auteur, inspiré les démocrates. « The mind of man itself is too active and restless a principle ever to settle on the true point of quiet. It discovers every day some craving want in a ûody, which rcally wants but little. It every day invents some new artificial rule to guide that nature which, if left to itself, were the best and surest guide. It finds out imaginary beings prescribing 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 call it, our inferior nature, is wiser in its own plain way, and attends its own business more directly than the mind with ail its boasted subtilty... The niutual desires of the sexes uniting their bodies and their affections, and the children which were the results of thèse intercourses, introduced first the notion of society, and taught its conveniences. This society, founded in natural appetites and instincts, and not in any positive institution, I sliall call natural society. Thus nature went and succeeded ; but man would go farther. The great error of our nature is, not to know where to stop, not to be satisfied with any reasonable acquirement ; not to compound with oui- condition ; but to losc ail we hâve gained by an insatiable pursuit after more. Man found a considérable advantage by this union of
3oi NOTES. (Pp, 238-239)
many persons to form one family ; he therefore judges that he would find his account proportionably in an union of many fauiilies into one body politic. And as nature has formed no bond of union to liold them togelher, he supplied this defect by laws. — This is political society. And hence tbe source of what are usually called States, civil societies, or governnients ; into some form of which, more extended or restrained, ail mankind hâve gradually fallen.
39. Fragm. on Gov., chap. II, § 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 tbèse de l'identité naturelle des intérêts ou du moins contre certains postulats psychologiques de cette tbèse. V. Essay XII, of the Original œntract (éd. Green, vol. i, p. 451) : « Can we seriously say, that a poor peasant or artizan has a free choice to leave his country, vvhen he knows no foreign language or manners and lives from day to day, by tbe small vvages which he acquires ? We may as well assert, that a man, by remaining in a vessel, freely consents to the dominion of the master though lie was carried on board vvhile asleep, and must leap into the océan, and perish, the moment he leaves her ». On reconnaît une objection courante au prétendu « libéralisme» des théoriciens du laissez-faire. 11 est intéressant d'observerqu'Adam Smith reprend cette objection de Hume dans son Cours de Glasgow. — Et encore (Ibid., p. 450. — Cf. vol. II, p. 197) : « 'Were ail men possessed of so perfect an understanding, as always to know their own interest, no form of government had ever been submitted to, butwhat was established on consent, and was fully canvassed by every member of the society ■>. Mais c'est encore une des conditions d'application du principe de l'identité des intérêts, que tous les individus soient supposés « doués d'un entendement assez parfait pour toujours connaître leurs propres intérêts ».
41. The Législative Rights etc., § 27 : It is... extremely fortunate for us, that making our parliaments annual and our représentation equal, can neither of them in any sensé, nor without a direct falsehood, be stiled innovations. Both of them were the ancient practice of the constitution. But parliaments of a longer duration, and that partial représentation of tbe Commons we now expérience, when first introduced by Kingcraft and court policy, and throught the supineness of the Commons, were innovations the more destructive, as they were not greatly suspected of danger. That supineness in the Commons brought on a relaxation ; and relaxation engendered those impurities which, at first, made only a slight and secret impression on the health of the constitution; then became perceptible and visibly impaired its strength and beauty ; but at length, hâve reduced it to a rotten carcass. I trust, however, that it is not incurable, — et Tfte People's Barrier against undue Influence and Corruption, chap. n : In our ancient parliaments, ail the commons were represented ; their élections were annual, or more fréquent; and it was in the constitution of parliaments
(Pp. 239-24 4) .NOTES. 333
that they asserabled andsat at certain! y for time and place besides being at the occasional call of the crown for extraordinary business.
42. De sorte que la thèse du contrat originel est susceptible d'une interprétation conservatrice : v. Burke, Refleciions on the French Révolution, p. 75 : Ail the reformations \ve hâve hitherto made, hâve proceeded upon the principle of référence to antiquity ; and I hope, nay I a m persuaded, that ail those which possibly may be made hereafter, will be carefully formed upon analogical précèdent, authority, and example.
— Cf. Ed. Rev. mars 1817.
