COMMON THINGS MAN. 



common instance of forgetfulness is presented by persons posting 

 letters without any address written upon them. The number of 

 times this act of obliviousness annually happens is known with 

 the greatest precision, inasmuch as such letters are transferred to 

 and recorded in a bureau specially devoted to the purpose in each 

 post-office. Now, it is found by the Post-Office returns in England 

 and France, that the number of these unaddressed letters in each 

 country is almost exactly the same from year to year. In London 

 the number of such letters is about 2000, being at the rate of above 

 6 per day. 



But connected with this is another circumstance equally re- 

 markable. A certain proportion of these letters is found to contain 

 money and other valuable enclosures ; and, like the whole number, 

 this proportion is also invariable. 



87. The conclusion at which we arrive then is, that the great 

 principle in virtue of which the Author of nature carries out His 

 purposes by the operation of general laws is not, as it would 

 first appear, incompatible with the freedom of human agency, 

 and therefore with man's moral responsibility. The same 

 character of generality attaches to the laws which govern the 

 moral and intellectual phenomena of human actions, considered 

 collectively, as those which attach to mere physical phenomena. 

 But these laws not being applicable to human actions, considered 

 individually, leave free will and moral responsibility inviolate. 



