STATISTICS. 277 



19. Internal; and relates to the tranquillity, 

 profperitv, and increafe of a people, in its in- 

 duftry, its manners and politenefs -, its riches, 

 refinements and opulence. Or, 



20. External - t and relates to the maxims of 

 government that arc proper for it to obferve 



regard ro its neighbours, its allies, neutral 

 powers, and even with regard to its enemies : 

 maxims which ought to be founded on the lo- 

 cal fituation of each country ; on the rivality 

 either greater or lefs in commerce , on the ap- 

 parent views of increafe of power that a (late 

 may have ; on family compacts or confanguini- 

 ty ; on alliances, either perpetual, or limited 

 to a time or an object ; on the proportion of 

 power y and on an infinity of fimilar relations. 



XIIL The y who teach the ftatiftic fcience as 

 public profeflbrs, or write exprefsly on this fub- 

 jedl, endeavour to explain all thefe various ob- 

 jects as they regard each nation, country, or 

 particular ftate. It is true, that they are fome- 

 times miftaken in their conjectures : it is like- 

 wife true, that a man of letters is not a mimfter 

 of ftate, and frequently a minifter of ftate is 

 not a man of letters : it fometimes happens, 

 "however, that, by force of rcfleflion, a man of 

 genius and learning becomes ,1 to difcover 



the true intercfts of a ftate, efpecially tholl- 

 are natural and immutable-, while the polit- 

 ics thofc tranfient intercfts, of which he 

 ;ch wonderful myilc; 



XIV. Yse 



