Some Account of tlie Life and Writings of Condorcet. 8-j 



t'nose thought*, than what was divulged by the first editors. 

 Ptre Desmolets repaired in a great measure their omissions : but 

 all these pieces, throv.ii together almost as if by chance, losing 

 much of their value, Condorcet knew how to class them in an 

 order which, if it was not exactly that which the author himself 

 would have followed, is at least very luminous ; and since it had 

 been permitted to the follou'ers of Pascal to make a choice con- 

 formable to their own opinions among his Thoughts, it also be- 

 longed to a philosopher to present only those which agreed with 

 his plan, in using as it were such pieces as were precisely in 

 unison with the excellent elo^e of their author v/hich Condorcet 

 composed. Some essential differences between various editions 

 of some of the Thoughts, and that given by Condorcet, brought 

 upon him an accusation of infidelity ; but he has been com- 

 pletely exculpated by M. Renouard in his excellent edition of 

 the Tlioughts of Pascal, and such a crime would have greatly 

 astonished those who knew the virtues and prudence of Condorcet. 



Political oeconomy, which its importance ranks among Ihe 

 highest branches of human knowledge, which requires aid from 

 almost all the rest, and can only be founded upon the most 

 wholesome morality, frequently occurred to the meditations of 

 Condorcet ; it interested him still more during the adn)inistra- 

 tion of his friend Turgot, v.'hose intentions were so pure, and 

 Vv'hose conduct was so upright, as to entitle him to the appellation 

 of the most honourable man of his age. The fruit of this inti- 

 macy was a Life of Turgot, in which Condorcet analysed the 

 operations of this statesman. It is not enough to say that 

 Condorcet was an oeconomist: but he was none of those who 

 f'iilow tlie footsteps of any master, for he acted upon his o\\xi 

 opinions : and on this account our criminal laws, so long re- 

 preached for their barbarity, and our jurisprudence, which was 

 so imperfect, were the subjects of various essays dictated by his 

 philanthropy. 



Questions connected with administration and with judiciary 

 procee(Ungs, like every thing which depends upon facts too com- 

 ])licated for the discovery of their causes, and for the attainment 

 of their effects, cannot in general be resolved but according to 

 probabilities. In the language of common life, we thus deno- 

 minate the perceptions wliich our moral hal)itudes produce in 

 our minds, or the slight and inexact appreciations which we 

 make in conformity to those habitudes, and upon the particular 

 facts which chance brings to our knowledge : but with respect 

 to the geometrician, probabilities ought to l)e susceptible of 

 measurement, or they are nothing. He ascends to the primitive 

 or independent facts, and calculates their number if that be pos- 

 sible ; or rather he sets out from precise observations, and there 



F 3 finds 



