expresses on ordinary political topics may be gathered from his commentaries on Aristotle, under the following heads,-On the ten books of Aristotle's Ethics, and On the eight books of his Politics. From several parts of the writings of Aquinas, we distinctly recognise that the science of politics, agreeably to his conceptions of it, rested entirely on the abstract principles of human nature, and derived little or nothing, in the way of illustration, from the external sphere of nature. The senses do not teach us the great living and general elements of social philosophy; they are only cognizant of parts of it, not as an entire and perfect whole. It is chiefly in the moral and religious elements that we are to seek for the full development of political government. It is here that man is viewed in his totality, and in connexion with the great truths of his social and aggregate existence, which must be brought home to the understandings of mankind, by considering them in relation to this unity of being. The moral attributes of our nature all manifest a direct reference to our social state. They constitute the measure of our capacity; but experience can never be perfect, since human capacity, however enlarged, is still susceptible of further improvement and knowledge. It is in this progressive state that the moral powers come into full play and exercise. They are the laws impelling the reason and intellect to the acquisition of political wisdom and knowledgewisdom and knowledge in their highest state-as embracing the general interests of humanity. The philosopher and the philanthropist likewise require the highest exercises of the mind-unity, perfection, and integrity of purpose. These powers are brought into requisition in the development of the principles of political justice in all their extensive and minute ramifications. There is a rule of duty for the individual, and another of a more comprehensive character for nations and communities; but both rest on the great law which the Omnipotent himself has written on the fleshy tables of the human heart; and which are of such an enduring nature, that they cannot be effaced unless by the breaking of the very tables themselves. Notwithstanding the many valuable principles of government developed in the writings of Thomas Aquinas, he was not a friend to the rights of private judgment. He supported the high maxims of theological supremacy, so generally acknowledged in his day. "Heretics," says he, "may not only be excommunicated, but righteously killed. Such the church consigns to the secular arm, to be exterminated from the world by death."* Schismatics may, according to his judgment, be compelled by force of arms to return to the profession of the faith. For, alluding to the toleration of the early christian church, Aquinas remarks that the church in its infancy, tolerated the faithful to obey Julian, through want of power to repress earthly princes."+ St. Thomas Aquinas says, that "Law is a certain * Heretici possunt non solum excommunicari, sed et juste accidi. Ecclesia relinquit cum judici saculari mundo exterminandum per mortem. Aquinas, 2, p. 48. + Hæretici sunt etiam corporaliter compellendi, 2, 42. Hæretici, sunt compellendi, et fidem teneant, 10, 8. Ecclesiam, in sua novitiate, nondum habebat potestatam terrenos principes compescendi, et ideo toleravit fideles Juliano Apostate obedire, 2, p. 51. rule and measure by which any one is induced to act, or hindered from acting." Aquinas was not destitute of enlightened opinions on some of the primary principles of civil government. In his Summa, he affirms that one of the grand ends of all civil institutions is the common good. He likewise says, that when princes take things unjustly from their subjects, or contrary to law, they are guilty of rapine.† ROGER BACON.-This celebrated Englishman was born in the year 1214, and died at the close of the thirteenth century. He belonged to the order of Dominicans. His great work is the Opus Major. In this treatise he maintains there are four great sources of human ignorance; namely, an obsequious obedience to authority, the habit of custom, the opinion of the vulgar, and the ostentation of false science. These are the grand obstacles to the discovery of truth, and to our progress in the paths of national wisdom and regeneration.‡ Suarez and other modern writers dissent from this definition; because they think it vague and uncertain. Temporary, Positive, Human, Ecclesiastical + Vol. 1, p.p. 96, 126. Opus Major, Venice, 1760, part 1. WILLIAM DURAND, of Saint Pourcain, called the Resolute Doctor, was one of the most distinguished men of his day, for his knowledge of scholastic science generally, and for his ability in expounding the principles of civil polity in particular. He is the author of "De Origine Jurisdictictionum sive de Jurisdictione Ecclesiastica et de Legibus."* He died in 1332. WILLIAM OCCAM, a native of the county of Surrey, studied under Duns Scotus, and entertained very bold and original opinions on political subjects, for the age in which he flourished. His celebrated work "De Potestate Ecclesiastica et Seculare," (1326), brought upon him the active hostility of the Roman pontiff, and he was obliged to retire into France for some time. Occam maintained the supremacy of the secular, over the ecclesiastical power, and enveighed, with no small degree of bitterness, against the vices and corruptions of the Roman Sec. The chief sition of his treatise is, that from the very nature of religious truth, and from the necessary means which must be employed to bring it home to the lives and consciences of men, it must be subordinate to the ruling and active authority of every community which adopts it, as a national faith. po JOHN BURIDAN, was a disciple of Occam's, and a native of Bethune, in France. He was Rector of the University of Paris, where he delivered an important course of lectures on the Politics of Aristotle. These have been published under the title of "Quæstiones in 8th libros Politicorum Aristotelis," Paris, 1500. Buridan is considered one of the most enlightened and sound political reasoners of his day. CHAPTER XI. ON THE CAPITULARIES AND ORDINANCES OF THE KINGS THE various matters brought under the reader's attention in this chapter, may all properly come under the denomination of political writings, which, though not in the form of regular treatises, contain, notwithstanding, important principles of polity, both general and particular. They are such materials as are in constant requisition by all political writers, even of the present day, and which served the purposes, to bygone generations, of keeping alive discussion and interest in public matters, when the art of printing was unknown. Among the sixty-five Capitularies of Charlemagne, one of those which are the most closely allied to political economy, is the famous Capitulary de Villis, in which he attempted to give his general views upon the administration of his kingdom. It is composed of seventy paragraphs, arranged without any view to method or system. They embody formal |