in some distant part of the world?"-DAVID HUME, Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth. 258

K

NOWING that he stood fairly alone in his gener

ation, David Hume paused as he launched his idea of a perfect commonwealth to say, "All I pretent to in this essay is to revive this subject of speculation; and therefore I shall deliver my sentiments in as few words as possible." Nearly two centuries have passed since he took his pen to give the world his idea. That both his head and his heart brightened to his self-imposed task is indicated in his choice of the words "idea," and "sentiments," with which to clothe his subject. No idle dream is this, he says: "the foregoing plan of government is practicable, no one can doubt who considers." And as a further recommendation of the subject, he is able to say that it is the science of the subject, and not in any wise the spirit of the political projector that moves him. "Of all mankind, there is none so pernicious as political projectors," are his words, "if they have the power; nor so ridiculous, if they want it."

We feel the glow that follows one in the presence of a scientist, as Hume prepares us to take each step in the subject. When he is done with it, skeptic though he has been erroneously called, he will bring us into the eternities with the discussion. This is the mark of highest genius in science. The scientist who finds God, Hume shows us, is necessarily a theocrat. And this is Hume's approach, toward the end of his discourse on the perfect commonwealth:

""Tis needless to enquire whether such a government would be immortal. I allow the justness of the poet's exclamation on the endless projects of the human race, Man and for ever! The world itself probably is not immortal. 'Tis a sufficient incitement to human endeavours, that such a government should flourish for many ages; without pretending to bestow on any

work of man,that immortality, which the Almighty seems to have refus'd to his own productions. finis."

So closes his twelve political discourses, of which the treatise on the perfect government is his crowning discourse. Several opinions of these discourses, and of Hume the man, taken from the preeminent writers are briefly in order, before we hear Hume.

"These little discourses they exhibit in full measure Hume's wonderful acuteness and subtlety, which indeed sometimes dispose him to paradox, in combination with the breadth, the absence of prejudice, and the social sympathies which so eminently distinguish him; and they, offer, besides, the charm of his easy and natural style and his rare power of lucid exposition." 259

"Hume, following Locke, asserts strongly the claims of the labouring classes. Before the spectacle of national indebtedness, Hume's usual optimism fails him. 'Why (quoting Hume) should the case be so different between the public and an individual? National debts enrich . . . capital at the expense of the provinces. . . and encourage an idle class of fundholders... The heights of popularity and patriotism are still the beaten road to power and tyranny, flattery to treachery, standing armies to arbitrary government, and the glory of God to the temporal interests of the clergy.'" 260

..

"Hume was not an iconoclast; but he was a studious seeker for philosophical truth .. He was no missionary or social reformer (words as applied to one accused of being a skeptic remarkable) In one particular he believes himself a reformer. He believes himself the founder of the science of human nature as an experimental science. (Hum. Nat. 1. p. 474). He believes in the possibility of a science of ethics and a science of politics. He believes, lastly in the possibility of a science of economics. He does not indeed use the term, but he describes the study itself. Its scope is, he says, an inquiry into the nature of commerce and riches, and their effect on the greatness of the State and the happiness of individuals." And, as Smith has shown in our definition which we drew for expediency in our seventh chapter, "economics, to him. . . are always mixed with politics." "The Golden Age and the State of Nature (Butler and Smith's fond faith) are to him fictions." His decided opinion (was) that public debts would eventually ruin the indebted nation." 261

"There is no doubt that in Hume's case, we have one of the finest embodiments of the utilitarian philosophy on record. His wordly wisdom was great, and it was of an elevated type . . . His remarkable clearness and calmness of mind, his power of

arranging materials, of seizing the central points of a case and discarding irrelevancies, his admirable judgment, and his general skill in argument, would have guaranteed success at the bar . . . He described it (the bar) as 'nauseous' to him His essays passed through many editions. . . The effect produced by the Political Discourses was great. Immediately translated into French, they passed through five editions in fourteen years. They at once floated Hume into fame . . . It is not only their convincing clearness and trenchant force, but their eminent lucidity and impartiality, that is the source of their charm There is no tendency to extravagance in the

teaching of Hume." 262

"David Humes seems to have owed little to schools or universities. There is some evidence that he entered the Greek class of the University of Edinburg in 1723 (the year of Adam Smith's birth)-when he was a boy of twelve-but is not known how long his studies were continued. He did not graduate." At sixteen he wrote to his friend Ramsay, "I live like a king, pretty much to myself Greatness and elevation of soul is to be found only in study and contemplation. This alone can teach us to look down on human accidents. You must allow me to talk thus like a philosopher: 'tis a subject I think much on, and could talk all day long of.'" 263

...

"Of the political discourses it would be difficult to speak in terms of too great commendation. They combine almost every excellence which can belong to such a performance. The reasoning is clear the learning is extensive, accurate and profound... the subjects happily chosen; the language is elegant, precise and vigorous; and so admirably are the topics selected, that there is as little dryness as if the subject were not scientific; and we rise from their perusal scarce able to believe that it is a work of philosophy we have been reading, having all the while thought it a book of curiosity and entertainment Mr. Hume is beyond doubt the author of the modern doctrines which rule in the world of science . The separate essays (Political Discourses) one spirit of inquiry pervades the whole-one view of human society and of national interests is taken throughout-one sagacious unfolder truth, one accurate and bold discoverer of popular error, is at work in each discourse; and it is certain that Dr. Smith's celebrated work, with all of its great merits, is less of a regular system than the detached essays of Mr. Hume. The originality of the latter's opinions is wholly undeniable: they were published full fourteen years before the Wealth of Nations." 264

With unlimited critical praise of Hume of this sort, it is not to be wondered at if we shall find him generations ahead of his time. He was an omnivorous reader

of history, a keen observer of the hypocrisies of expediency, a student of the Bible-where he lighted his torch of strict truth-and he had worldly wisdom that fitted him to be dispassionate but sure of himself and his science. The last named qualification is apparent in what John Hill Burton says of this untutored scientist:

"His triumphs in political economy are those which, in the present day, stand forth with the greatest prominence and Îustre. To be the first to teach that the earth is not doomed to the eternal curse of rivalry and strife, and to open up so wide a prospect of beneficence... in the eye of good taste may justify the brief assumption of conscious superiority, in which the subject of this memoir indulged, when he desired that the inscription on his monument should contain only his name, with the year of his birth and of his death, ‘Leaving to posterity to add the rest.'" 265

For our immediate study, a further sentence given us by Dr. Ingram is valuable.266 "The characteristics of Hume which are most important in the history of economic investigation, are (1) his practice of bringing economic facts into connection with all the weighty interests of social and political life, and (2) his tendency to introduce the historical spirit into the study of those facts." This is to say that Hume wrote for all time and with the imprimatur of all time. He felt that he was right on many questions on which there is still disagreement. Ingram himself is in one place arrayed against him,267 where he speaks of Hume's contempt for the unsocial value of silver and gold as mediums for the just measurement of exchange. Hume, he says, "goes so far, in one or two places, as to assert that the value of money is chiefly fictitious or conventional, a position which cannot be defended." In answer to this see Professor Norton in our previous chapter. This is one of the important things which

So,

Hume is "leaving to posterity to add the rest." too, Hume's warning concerning national debts. We turn, thus prepared, to go with Hume in his Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth.268

In the first place, secure a commonwealth that is perfect democracy. For want of this Plato's Republic, and Sir Tomas More's Utopia are imaginary and without value. The Oceana of Harrington, "tho' the only valuable model of a commonwealth that has yet been offer'd to the public," is similarly at fault. It does not deter rich men from learning "the art which was practis'd in ancient Rome, of concealing their possessions under other people's names; till at last, the abuse will become so common, that they will throw off even the appearance of restraint." The Oceana is further at fault because there is not sufficient "security for liberty or the redress of grievances." "The senate must propose, and the people consent; by which means, the senate have not only a negative upon the people, but what is of infinitely greater consequence, their negative goes before the people."

This is thoroughly subversive of democracy, Hume sees clearly. The initiative and the referendum in the case of all laws proposed and enacted must be with the people. The people must instruct, not petition, their representatives.

In the next place—and, it may be said with Aristotle, in the chief place-provision must be made for the education of the people in the spirit of the Constitution. If this is done, government can be continuously brought back to first principles.

""Tis certain, that exorbitant power proceeds not, in any government from new laws, so much as from neglecting to remedy the abuses, which frequently rise upon the old ones. A government, says Machiavel, must often be brought back to first principles."

But how can this be done? Hume has the answer. It is to tell us that we all have the answer if we will use it. Harrington, he says, has it. In his Oceana Harrington has rightly insisted that "all free govern