[xiv] NOTE G. 



which have written of Laws have handled that argument either 

 as philosophers or as lawyers, and none as statesmen. As 

 for philosophers they propound many things goodly for dis 

 course, but remote from use. For the lawyers, they are man- 

 cipated and wholly devoted every one to the laws of the state 

 where they live, or to the placits of the emperial or pontifical 

 laws, and cannot use impartial and sincere judgment; but 

 discourse as out of gyves and fetters. Certainly this kind of 

 knowledge pertains properly to statesmen, who can best dis 

 cern what humane society is capable of.&quot;(e) 



But, notwithstanding the advantages of this union. &quot; there 

 are,&quot; says Dr. Chalmers, &quot; perhaps no two sets of human be 

 ings, who comprehend less the movements, and enter loss into 

 the cares and concerns of each other, than the wide and busy 

 public on the one hand ; and, on the other, those men of close 

 and studious retirement, whom the world never hears of save 

 when, from their thoughtful solitude, there issues forth some 

 splendid discovery to set the world on a gaze of admira 

 tion.&quot; 



See Tucker s Light of Nature, vol. 1, on Moral Policy, where 

 there are many valuable observations upon the relative duties 

 of men in action and contemplation. 



NOTE G. 



The spirit of reform has a tendency to excess. 



Tucker in his Light of Nature says, &quot;Thus much may suffice 

 for the politicians, and more it might not have become me to 

 urge upon men of their superior talents : but with regard to 

 the philosophers, under which class I would beg leave upon 

 the present occasion to comprehend all who apply any serious 

 attention to study the measures of right and wrong, I may be 

 more free and particular, as reckoning them to lie nearer my 

 own level. And I cannot help remarking that their ardour 

 for virtue sometimes outruns their discretion, and like other 

 strong desires, defeats its own purposes through too great 



(e) See vol. 2, p. 295. 



