CHAPTER III. LECTURES ON THE LAW OF NATURE AND NATIONS PUBLICATION OF AN INTRODUCTORY DISCOURSE-CRITICISMS OF MR. PITT-LORD LOUGHBOROUGH -DR. PARR-LETTER TO MR. MOORE-EXTRACTS-LETTERS TO MR. MOORE -MR. ROBERT HALL-MR. SHARP. THE science of public or international law,—a study so congenial to the generalising and philosophical turn of Mr. Mackintosh's thoughts,-was a department of jurisprudence, which had long peculiarly attracted his attention. His mind, in all its investigations, loved to rise to general principles. Circumscribed as it ordinarily was by the studies and profession of an individual system of municipal law, with all its necessary technicalities, it the more eagerly sought to relieve itself by making excursions on every side, especially for the purpose of examining those principles which lie at the foundation of all duty, and are equally applicable to all its forms. Though the study of natural law and its deductions forms a part of the continental system of education, and even of that of Scotland still, in such inquiries, no assistance could be received from that course of study which is pointed out to the student of English law. This seemed to him to be a defect, and he believed that he should be conferring a benefit on the liberal profession to which he belonged, could he enable such as devoted themselves to it to extend their views of jurisprudence, and its objects (especially of its origin and foundation, and its application to the interests and differences of independent states) to a wider range than is generally taken by the mere English student. These considerations led him to form the plan of his "Lectures on the Law of Nature and Nations." To the difficulties attending such a novel attempt were added others of a personal, or temporary kind. In England lawyers have been reproached with an inveterate jealousy of any semblance of innovation; never, perhaps, more justly than at that period. Some were alarmed at the idea of lectures on the principles of law (necessarily involving, in a certain degree, the principles of politics) being delivered by the author of some of the sentiments of the "Vindicia Gallicæ." To quiet this alarm, which would have been fatal to his views, and to indicate precisely his plan, and the manner in which it was his intention to treat it, he published an "Introductory Discourse," which met with instant and brilliant success. It was read and applauded by men of all parties. Lord Loughborough, then Lord Chancellor, spoke loudly in its praise. The Benchers of Lincoln's Inn, after a little demur on the part of one or two of the more elderly, which the Chancellor's opinion assisted in overcoming, conceded the use of their Hall for the delivery of the Lectures, and gave by this liberal permission all the moral sanction which their influence could bestow. This opening lecture exhibits the general scope of the undertaking, and unfolds with great clearness the feelings under which it was commenced. "I have always been unwilling to waste in unprofitable inactivity that leisure which the first years of my profession usually allow, and which diligent men, even with moderate talents, might often employ in a manner neither discreditable Mr. Canning, aware of the political prejudices which were entertained in the ministerial circles with which he was connected, exerted his influence with the utmost zeal and success to remove those unfavourable apprehensions, to themselves, nor wholly useless to others. Being thus desirous that my own leisure should not be consumed in sloth, I anxiously looked about for some way of filling it up, which might enable me, according to the measure of my humble abilities, to contribute somewhat to general usefulness. It appeared to me that a Course of Lectures on a science closely connected with all liberal professional studies, and which had long been the subject of my own reading and reflection, might not only prove a most useful introduction to the law of England, but might also become an interesting part of general studies." After an eloquent vindication of the term "Law of Nature," and a review of the works of the different masters of the science exhibiting its progress, in which there appears a character of Grotius, worthy his genius and virtue*, the vast subject is marked out into six great divisions. *["So great is the uncertainty of posthumous reputation, and so liable is the fame, even of the greatest men, to be obscured by those new fashions of thinking and writing, which succeed each other so rapidly among polished nations, that Grotius, who filled so large a space in the eyes of his contemporaries, is now, perhaps, known to some of my readers only by name. Yet, if we fairly estimate both his endowments and his virtues, we may justly consider him as one of the most memorable men who have done honour to modern times. He combined the discharge of the most important duties of active and public life with the attainment of that exact and various learning which is generally the portion only of the recluse student. He was distinguished as an advocate and a magistrate, and he composed the most valuable works on the law of his own country; he was almost equally celebrated as a historian, a scholar, a poet, and a divine; a disinterested statesman, a philosophical lawyer, a patriot who united moderation with firmness, and a theologian who was taught candour by his learning. Unmerited exile did not damp his patriotism; the bitterness of controversy did not extinguish his charity. The sagacity of his numerous and fierce adversaries could not discover a blot on his character; and in the midst of all the hard trials and galling provocations of a turbulent political life, he never once deserted his friends, when they were unfortunate, nor insulted his enemies, when they were weak. In times of the most furious civil and 1. An analysis of the nature and operations of the human mind, as the medium through which all knowledge passes, naturally precedes every thing. After dismissing the selfish system, the distinction is drawn which allots its proper place to utility as a test of, and not a motive to, virtuous actions, and the fundamental principles of morality are defended against "the brood of abominable and pestilential paradoxes," which were then assailing them. 2. The relative duties of private life follow, arising almost all from the two great institutions of property and marriage, in which an endeavour is made "to strengthen some parts of the fortifications of morality which have hitherto been neglected, only because no man had ever been hardy enough to attack them." 3. He proposed next to consider men under the relations of subject and sovereign, citizen and magistrate, the foundation of political liberty and political rights; he placed the duties that arise therefrom, "not upon supposed compacts, which are altogether chimerical," but upon the solid basis of general convenience. Here, in the consideration of government in the abstract, occurs that definition of liberty, in which he makes it a security against wrong; a definition in which he had the misfortune to differ both from Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke, who thought it a matter purely practical, and incapable of religious faction he preserved his name unspotted, and he knew how to reconcile fidelity to his own party with moderation towards his opponents."] * Lord Kenyon, in a charge about this time to a jury, in an action for a breach of promise of marriage, observed, that "all moralists had stated the great importance and peculiar sacredness of that subject, from the earliest writers down to a gentleman who was from day to day informing the world by lectures, which he had heard were most admirable, and whose prospectus he had read with infinite pleasure. definition. Liberty is, therefore, the subject of all governments. "Men are more free under every government, even the most imperfect, than they would be if it were possible for them to exist without any government at all. They are more secure from wrong, more undisturbed in the exercise of their natural powers, and therefore more free, even in the most obvious and grossest sense of the word, than if they were altogether unprotected against injury from each other." This, the political part of his subject, he concluded with a view of the English constitution. The municipal law, civil and criminal, forms the 4th division, which he proposed to exemplify by the progress of the two greatest codes that ever had been formedthose of Rome and England. The whole system of natural jurisprudence having been gone through, there remains, 5. The law of nations, strictly and properly so called, or the science which regulates the application of the dictates and sanctions of individual morality to the great commonwealth of nations, and in which the great laws of nature being reflected, govern the moral equally with the physical world. 6. As, from the complicated intercourse between nations in late times, the perfect and natural obligations have been much modified, where not superseded by positive treaties, "a survey of the diplomatic and conventional law of Europe, containing the principal stipulations of those treaties, and the means of giving effect to rights arising out of them, forming the really practical part of the law of nations, concludes the whole. Though the course, of which I have now sketched the outline," he concludes, "may seem to comprehend a great variety of miscellaneous subjects, yet they are all, in reality, closely and |