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Of the inquiries through which Hume brought together the materials for
these essays, the reader will have found a specimen in the notes, or
adversaria quoted above.[357:1] A comparison of these fragments of the
raw material, with the finished result, develops this marked feature in
Hume's method of working, that in the way to a short proposition, he has
often read and thought at great length. The simplicity and unity of his
writings were of more importance to him than the appearance of
elaboration; and where others would be scattering multitudinous
statements and authorities, he is content with the simple embodiment of
results, conscious that inquiry will confirm in the reader's mind the
justness of what he lays down. In some respects we can watch the
progress of [358]Hume's mind in connexion with these subjects; for in his
allusions to commercial matters in his earlier works, he uses the common
phraseology, such as "balance of trade," in a manner indicating an
adherence to those ordinary fallacies of the day, which, when he came to
examine them in his essays on "commerce," "money," "interest," "the
balance of trade," "taxes," and "public credit," he extensively
repudiated. His examination of the nature and value of money as a medium
of exchange, is probably the best and simplest that, even down to this
day, can be found. His theory, so far as it goes, has hardly ever been
questioned; and indeed at present it may be said, that beyond it we know
little with certainty, and that its author had at once discovered the
limits at which full and satisfactory knowledge was, for nearly a
century, to rest.[358:1] He shows that [359]money is not in itself property
or value; that it is a mere representative, which, if cheap or dear in
[360]its material, is just, in the same ratio, a cheap or a dear method of
accomplishing a purpose. That if a community could conduct its
transactions with a small quantity of money as well as with a large, it
would, so far from being poorer, be the richer by so much as the
superabundant money had cost. He examines those simple laws which, when
there is no disturbing influence, have a tendency to equalize the
distribution of the precious metals, through the cheapness of labour and
commodities where they are scarce, the nominal enhancement where they
are abundant. He notices with great clearness and precision the
respective effects upon the community of a state of increase, and of a
state of diminution of the available currency of a country. But he
enters on few of those intricate monetary questions which are now so
frequently the subject of discussion. Of inquiries into the causes which
affect the quantity of money in a country, the moving influences from
which arise [361]gluts, drains, stagnations, and all the mysteries of
finance, he shows us that he felt diffident; and on these matters, how
little is the quantity of full satisfactory undisputed knowledge which
we yet possess!
Indeed, one of the great merits of Hume's Essays on Political Economy is, that he knows when he is getting out of his depth, and does not conceal his position. With many writers on this subject, the point where clear and satisfactory inquiry ends, is that where dogmatism begins; but Hume stops at that point, sees and admits the difficulty, and acknowledges that he can go no farther with safety.
Among these essays there is one which, like the Oceana of Harrington, though on a smaller scale, is an attempt to construct a system of polity. It is called "Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth." The system so put together is liable to practical objections at every step, and is utterly destitute of that sagacious applicability to the transactions of real business, for which the efforts in hypothetical legislation by Bentham are distinguished.[361:1]
[362]Another essay of a different character is conspicuous for the vast
extent of the learning and research
[363]which must have been expended in
bringing together its crowd of apt illustrations,—that on "The
Populousness of Ancient Nations." To afford a choice of so many
applicable facts, directly bearing on the point, how wide must have been
the research, how extensive the rejection of such fruit of that
research, as did not answer his purpose! In the perusal of this essay
one is inclined to regret that Hume afterwards made a portion of modern
Europe the object of his historical labours, instead of taking up some
department of the history of classical antiquity. The full blown lustre
of Greek and Roman greatness had far more of his sympathy than the
history of his own countrymen, and their slow progress from barbarism to
civilisation. The materials were nearly all confined to the great
spirits of antiquity, with whom he delighted to hold converse, instead
of involving that heap of documentary matter with which the historian of
Britain must grapple; acts of parliament, journals, writs, legal
documents, &c.—all things which his soul abhorred. In such a field he
might have escaped the imputation of not being a full and fair
investigator; and he would, at all events, have avoided the reproach
thrown on him by the prying antiquary, who, by the light of newly
discovered documents, could charge him with having [364]neglected that of
which he did not, and could not, know the existence.[364:1]
[365]In a letter to Henry Home in 1748, we find Hume mentioning an essay on the Protestant Succession, as one which he was to include in the edition of his "Essays Moral and Political," then preparing for the press.[365:1] He speaks of people having endeavoured to divert him from this publication, as one likely to be injurious to him as an official man. Perhaps he was prevailed on to adopt the view of his prudent friends, for this essay is not among the "Essays Moral and Political," but forms one of the volume of Discourses, among which it is somewhat inharmoniously placed, as it is the only one which bears a reference to the current internal party politics of the day.
The "Political Discourses" introduced Hume to the literature of the continent. The works of Quesnay, Rivire, Mirabeau, Raynal, and Turgot, had not yet appeared, but the public mind of France had been opened for novel doctrines by the bold appeal of Vauban,[365:2] and by the curious and original inquiries of Montesquieu. The Discourses appear to have been first translated by Elazer Mauvillon, a native of Provence, and private secretary to Frederic Augustus, King of Poland, who published his translation in 1753.[365:3] Another, and better known translation, by the Abb Le Blanc, was published in 1754.[365:4] This Abb had [366]spent some time in England, and wrote a work on his experiences in Britain, called "Lettres sur les Anglois." He was the author also of a tragedy called Aben Sid, which seems to have now lost any fame it ever acquired. His translations from Hume were, however, highly popular, that of the Discourses passing through several editions; and we shall find that they obtained the approbation of Hume himself. The Abb, in a letter to the author, gives an account of the reception of the translation,[366:1] the colour of which he may be supposed to have enriched, as regarding a matter in which he felt himself to be pars magna. He prophesies that it will produce a like sensation to that caused by the Esprit des Loix, and he finds his prophecy fulfilled. He states, that it is not only read with avidity, but that it has given rise to a multitude of other works. There can be no doubt, indeed, that as no Frenchman had previously approached the subject of political economy with a philosophical pen, this little book was a main instrument, either by causing assent or provoking controversy, in producing the host of French works on political economy, published between the time of its translation, and the publication of Smith's "Wealth of Nations," in 1776.[366:2] [367]The work of the elder Mirabeau in particular—L'Ami des Hommes, was in a great measure a controversial examination of Hume's opinions on population.
