Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1854-12-23

THE ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL SCIENCE; IN tro
books Book /, on Method; book III, on Doctrine With
Account of ANDREW VARIATION the founder Of Eng
lsh political economy By PATRICK EDWARD DOVE,
author Of The Theory Of Human Progression. Edin-
burgh 1854.
An ingenious and acute modern writers has re-
marked that man in constructing theories does but
obey an organic impulse of the intellect which
stantly urges him to the rational exploitation Of the
operations he observes in the world of matter and Of
mind but the form of any theory must always de-
pend on the accidental knowledge of the theorist.
And hence it is that we constantly changing our
theories as we become acquainted with new sensible
facts in the physical world or with inteections
in the mental and hence, too the often-noted
peculiarly that chemists account for things by as
similating them to chemical processes; mechanics
account for them by mechanical processes; mathe-
maticians by mathematical processes" &c.
In the work before us we have a striking Illus
tration Of this principle. Mr. Dove, Scotch think
er of remarkable freshness and power, was Bred as
we learn to professorship of logic, and the fact is
salient and palpable Eve would say sticks out"
such yulgarism were admissible in types) on
every page of his interesting and instructive vo-
Tunes. The logical habitudes of his mind are re-
veaed less by the forms of his thought and the style
OF its expression than by the with which he evs
cerates sophism and by the memorable rgor with which
he clenchss truth. His intellect marches its conclu
sions with the calm, steady, and unfatering step Of
drilled veteran conscious of his strength and of
cess The questions which he attacks among the most
difficult and perpexng which have been proposed
to the human mind but he confrons them with nre
pidty like that which Wordsworth pictures in his por
trsiture Of the happy warrior" who when
- called upon to face
Some awful moment to which Heaven has Joined
nd.
Is happy as lover; and attired
With sudden brightness, like man inspired
Mr. Dove is no logomachst logical Acrobat perform
ing as Of strength and agility for the entertainment of
what is called the "reading public" He does wear
his logical harness in order teher the excursions Of
his mind and cause it to revolve as in treadmill like
blind Samson bound with letters of brass and grinding
in the prisonhouse Of the Phstines; nor does he
poy the chopped" dialect Of Aristotle merely for the
purpose Of reaching foregone conclusions Of
logic which reminds only of the trick play upon
our horses by fixing binders to their brdes by which
they may be kept the beaten highway before them,
without looking to the right the left Mr. Dove has
not only availed himself Of logic FORM but also of
logic faculty. He does not only state truth in logical
formula but attempts to discover truth by rigid analysis
pursued according to the rules of dalectics His power
Of abstraction and deduction gives to his speculaons
breadth Of thought which is purchased at sacrifice Of
depth, and his conclusions, when the startling seem
to suffer want Of cogency.
His general subject is the science of politics. consider
cd in its method of discovery and in the constituent pro-
positions which make up the body Of its doctrine Mr.
Dove believes what some have questoned) that there
science Of legislation and he claims to have discovered
the fundamental principle of this science In his earlier
work, issued anonymously, on The Theory Of Human
Progression he undertook show, with an amazing
md oory
vsiby tending towards the universal prevalence Of poll
teal equity He asserts and by high argument main
tns that the fast progress Of the in scientific dis
covery and social Moderation would Of ITSELF indepen-
IDENTIFY revelation, afford the rational hope Of n-
MUM He declares that the natural probabilities Of such
good time coming easily discernible in the signs
Of the time, if only read them Alright. He believes
that the combination of knowledge and will even
tuay regenerate the earth and evolve that period of
universal prosperity which the divine Creator has pro-
missed the reign of righteousness" Justice and Of
which we already descry the "day-sprng" Whether
these specuatons may not be sanguine than for
chile will we doubt not, be questioned by many reader
Of the old school, but that they supported by an i'm
posing array Of evidence and by vgor Of logical dsser
tation be disputed by II any proof were need
ed to convince the reader Of Mr. Doves merit as pow
eru thinker and cogent writer might adduce the tes
tmony Of man like Sir William Hamilton who has not
hesitaed to record his admiration Of the talent and
spirit Of independence displayed in the earlier produc-
ton Of which we speak or, to come nearer home we
might instance the debt of gratitude which one Of the
most enlightened and scholarly Of statesmen has
confessed to the author Of this Theory which seeks to
prove that the promise Of religion is also the promise Of
history and philosophy Our feeble homage to such
an intellect is none the less cheerfuy rendered because
like Sir Wm Hamilton, we constrained, in !" sundry
matters of detail" to entertain opinions different from
those expressed by Mr.. Dove
It'll not purpose to review Mr. Doves Science of
Politics." work which might well take for its motto the
words Of the Latin bard
- MAJOR rerum mihi ndseitur ordo
Ncjus opus mopeo.
AS well might you seek to exhibit leviahan in the vase
OF the seek condense and comprise in the
columns OF newspaper essay any thing like synopsis
OF this elaborate production We may merely state in
general terms that the science Of politics apprehended
by Mr. Dove is ABSTRACT founded the intutions Of the
human reason. 1t discusses the relations of men in
equity" as being the whole end and aim of political sci
ence It supposes that antecedent all laws there is
good and an evil upon which the human reason is COM
petent to sit in Judgment for otherwise all things must
be naturally Indifferent, and laws should be made Mt
all. Now, what those anteceden and priori princi
pies which determine the moral character of all human
legislation It is to the discovery and elucidation Of
these that Mr. Dove bends oil the force Of his acute and
logical mind.
Our immediate object apart from directing the atten-
finn f0 mr. rcnIn n of nri0;na