WoePoP, Ba Did ok. Tog 
the fhare which the people pofleffes, diretly or indireétly, in 
the ena&tment of laws, but on the equity and expediency of the 
laws that are enacted. The fhare which the people poffefles in 
the government is interefting chiefly to the fmall number of 
men whofe object is the attainment of political importance ; 
but the equity and expediency of the laws are interefting to eve- 
ry member of the community; and more efpecially to thofe,, 
whofe perfonal infignificance leaves them no encouragement, 
but what they derive from the general fpirit of the government 
under which they live. 
It is evident, therefore, that the moft important branch of 
political fcience is that which has for its object to afcertain the 
philofophical principles of jurifprudence; or (as Mr Smiru ex- 
preffes it) to afcertain “ the general principles which ought to. 
“ run through and be the foundation of the laws of all. na- 
“ tions *.” In countries, where the prejudices of the peo- 
ple are widely at variance with thefe principles, the political. 
liberty which the conftitution beftows, only furnifhes them 
with the means of accomplifhing their own ruin: And if it 
‘were poflible to fuppofe thefe principles completely realized in, 
any fyftem of laws, the people would have little reafon. to com-. 
plain, that they were not immediately inftrumental in their. 
enactment. The only infallible criterion of the excellence of. 
any conftitution is to be found in the detail of its municipal: 
code ; and the value which wife men fet on political freedom, 
arifes chiefly from the facility it is fuppofed to afford, for the. 
introduction of thofe legiflative improvements which the general 
interefts of the community recommend.—I cannot help adding, 
that the capacity of a people to exercife political rights with. 
utility to themfelves and. to their country, prefuppofes a diffu-. 
fion of knowledge and of good morals, which can. only refult 
from the previous operation. of laws favourable to induftry, to: 
order and to freedom. 
Or 
* See the-conclufion of his Theory. of Moral Sentiments. 
Account oF 
Dr Smith. 
