” 
—_— 
124 HISTORY of the SOCIETY. 
Account of portant opinions in the Wealth of Nations are there detail- 
Dr Smith. ed; but I fhall only quote the following fentences. “ Man 
“is generally confidered by ftatefmen and projectors as the 
“‘ materials of a fort of political mechanics. Projectors dif- 
“ turb nature in the courfe of her operations in human af- 
“ fairs; and it requires no more than to let her alone, and 
“ sive her fair play in the purfuit of her ends, that fhe may 
 oftablifh her own defigns.’—And in another paflage: “ Little 
* elfe is requifite to carry a {tate to the higheft degree of opu- 
“ lence from the loweft barbarifm, but peace, eafy taxes, and 
“ a tolerable adminiftration of juftice; all the reft being 
* brought about by the natural courfe of things. All govern- 
“ ments which thwart this natural courfe, which force things 
“© into another channel, or which endeavour to arreft the pro- 
* prefs of fociety at a particular point, are unnatural, and to 
“* fupport themfelves are obliged to be oppreffive and tyranni- 
“ cal, A great part of the opinions (he obferves) enu- 
“¢ merated in this paper is treated of at length in fome lec- 
“ tyres which I have ftill by me, and which were written in 
“ the hand of a clerk who left my fervice fix years ago. They 
“ have all of them been the conftant fubjects of my lectures 
“ Gnce I firft taught Mr Crarere’s clafs, the firft winter I 
“ fpent in Glafgow, down to this day, without any confi- 
“¢ derable variation. They had all of them been the fub- 
“ jets of lectures which I read at Edinburgh the winter 
“ before I left it, and I can adduce innumerable witnefles, both 
“ £rom that place and from this, who will afcertain them fuffi- 
“ ciently to be mine.” 
Arter all, perhaps the merit of fuch a work as Mr Smitu’s 
4s to be eftimated lefs from the novelty of the principles it con- 
tains, than from the reafonings employed to fupport thefe prin- 
ciples, and from the fcientific manner in which they are un- 
folded in their proper order and connection. General affer- 
tions 
