PREFACE 



TO THE FRENCH EDITION. 



IT appears necessary to acquaint the reader with 

 the motives which induced the Parliament of En- 

 gland to extend its inquiries into all the parts of 

 which society is composed, and the reasons that 

 have induced the Editors to class in a systematic 

 order the results of these various Inquiries. 



The decided object of the Editors is to prove, 

 that it is not in the power of society to choose its 

 institutions, and that Providence, which has given 

 immutable laws to the whole of creation, has not 

 excepted human society from its universal dispen- 

 sation. 



Of all the bodies politic in Europe, the English 

 Parliament is perhaps the one which has had the 

 power of proceeding with the greatest impartiality. 

 It is composed, and has always been composed, 

 of landed proprietors, of independent fortunes, 

 and unassailable in their station. Amongst the 

 658 members of the House of Commons, there 



