612 MR small's biographical SKETCH OF PROF. ADAM FERGUSON. 



The praise with which this Essay was received was well deserved, as it was 

 the result of a great amount of research into the history of ancient and modern 

 times, and of a remarkable knowledge of the springs of human action. The 

 author considers the condition of man, under various forms of government, at 

 different periods, and traces him through the several steps from his first rude 

 efforts at civilization and arts, to a high state of politeness and refinement. The 

 gradual efforts of the human mind, rising from the simple perceptions of sense to 

 the heights of moral and political knowledge, are delineated in elegant and 

 classical language. Dr Reid had about two years previously published his ' En- 

 quiry into the Human Mind;' a work which was the first systematic attempt to 

 carry out in the study of human nature the same plan of inductive investigation 

 which had conducted Newton to the properties of light and to the law of gravita- 

 tion. Ferguson was the first to applaud Reid's success, and his Essay on Civil 

 Society is to be regarded as one of the earliest applications of the same method 

 of research to the development of society and to national policy.* Ferguson was 

 of opinion that mankind should be studied in groups, and that all speculation as to 

 their progress should relate to entire societies, and not to single individuals. In this 

 point of view, he discusses the subjects of self-preservation, war and dissention, 

 intellectual powers, moral sentiments, happiness, and national felicity. In the 

 treatment of these important subjects, Ferguson particularly endeavours to in- 

 culcate that the happiness of man consists in the exercise of his faculties as a 

 member of society, and with the view of promoting public utility ; that the power 

 of states depends principally on the national character and public spirit, which are 

 counteracted and sometimes annihilated amongst modern nations by selfishness 

 and by the spirit of commerce. Adopting the views of Montesquieu, he ascribes 

 to climate and situation a great influence on the literature, commerce, and policy 

 of nations ; and justly observes that man has always attained to the principal 

 honours of his species under the temperate zone. He further considers the laws 

 which ought to regulate political establishments, and is of opinion that these, 

 while they may vary according to the diversities of character and circumstances, 

 should not interfere with that firm and resolute spirit, with which the liberal 

 mind is always prepared to resist indignities, and that the power of restraint 

 should be exercised in an inverse proportion to the general knowledge and virtue 

 of a people. 



The enthusiasm of his own nature may be traced in his opposition to despotic 

 governments and to political slavery. He viewed with solicitude the tendency to 

 despotism which characterised some of the military governments of the continent, 

 and he expresses his fear of a renewal of those revolutions so frequently described, 

 which out of the ruins of several nations form those colossal powers always fatal 

 to liberty and to the wellbeing of man. 



* Stewart's Works, x. p. 261. 



