The National Register.
London, England, 1816-12-23 00:00:00

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No. 463.—V0r.. IX.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.
NEW DISCOVERY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE.

A NEW doctrine has been 'started by a philosopher
yif the north, which is of so much importance to the
acience of political economy, that it must be disposed of,
either affirmatively or negatively, before our disputants
am proceed in the path they have hitherto pursued.
The doctrine is briefly this : that moral and religious
and general knowledge constitute as necessary a part of
-the national wealth, as a luxuriant territory, spacious
.and convenient buildings, commodious roads, nay, even
money itself, or any of the representatives of value in
the multifarious forma in which by the avarice or inr:
gsnuity of man it hat been exhibited. An individual
ander this view, endowed with intellectual powers, is
considered as resembling an engine possessed of mecha-
nical powers, each being capable of adaptation to nu-
merous purposes conducive to national happiness and
improvement ; and an individual destitute of such in-
tellectual powers, is supposed to be like the log, or
rough materials, out of which such a mechanical en-
gine was formed, and little better than an incumbrance
to the ground. A nation or community in which the
members are fraught with such powers, and a nation
or community deprived of them, with equal external
wealth, or of those things which are usually understood
to constitute :Aches, on the position here maintained,
is not in an equal condition of prosperity, because the
latter is deprived of that moral wealth which is at least
as valuable as the natural or physical wealth, inas-
much as it is by the former alone that the latter can
be made uses of to all its beneficial purposes at present,
or that it can be converted into all the shapes of rapid

hereafter.

Such is the principle, and nothing can be more con-
41tdatory than this novelty to the science, because it
ronnects itself necessarily with all the noblest propen-
sities, and most exalted sensibilities of the human
mind. It is suited to our contemplation on this sacred
day, because it skews that our rulers, in looking for.
ward to the national wealth and prosperity, are as
much concerned in the promotion of religion, morality
and knowledge, as in the advancement of arts, manu-
factures and commerce ; and if such be the situation
of things, the business of the legislature will be as in-
timately connected with the amelioration of our moral
habits, the prevention of vice, and the encouragement
Of virtue, as with the extension of navigation, the ob-
struction to foreign encroachment, and the augmentation
of our native resources. We do not pretend to pass a
hasty judgment upon this assumed discovery : we have
been long the admirers of the talents of our countryman
Adam Smith, whom we have heretofore considered as
the teacher, of whatever is palpable and rational in this
department of ethical science ; but we acknowledge
that we see so much to admire in the new system that
Las been promulgated, that we arc anxious it should
meet with fair discussion among the philosophers of our
land, as it will and must do in every other kingdom
of Europe, now that the spirit of enquiry has been
awakened on the subject. Another motive with us is
dictated by a patriotic feeling, by which our readers will
be influenced in common with ourselves, and they will
see it to be of this nature. The subject of political
economy was never reduced to any fixed principles,
until, within fifty years, its leading maxims were es-
tablished by the distinguished professor we have named.
all other writers since his time, before the appearance
of this northern philosopher, have followed his steps,
for to the ancients, the subject being wholly unknown,
they bad no other guide to direct them in their pro-
..gress. The principles, then, having received birth in
this island, we arc anxious that its growth and strength
should be established among us, or that we should not
Ile bellittii-hatad with our ue'.gltbours in this useful en-