Mr Godwin's five propositions respecting political truth, on
which his whole work hinges, not established - Reasons we have
for supposing, from the distress occasioned by the principle of
population, that the vices and moral weakness of man can never be
wholly eradicated - Perfectibility, in the sense in which Mr
Godwin uses the term, not applicable to man - Nature of the real
perfectibility of man illustrated.
IF the reasonings of the preceding chapter are just, the
corollaries respecting political truth, which Mr Godwin draws
from the proposition that the voluntary actions of men originate
in their opinions, will not appear to be clearly established.
These corollaries are, 'Sound reasoning and truth, when
adequately communicated, must always be victorious over error:
Sound reasoning and truth are capable of being so communicated:
Truth is omnipotent: The vices and moral weakness of man are not
invincible: Man is perfectible, or in other words, susceptible of
perpetual improvement.'
The first three propositions may be considered a complete
syllogism. If by adequately communicated, be meant such a
conviction as to produce an adequate effect upon the conduct, the
major may be allowed and the minor denied. The consequent, or the
omnipotence of truth, of course falls to the ground. If by
'adequately communicated' be meant merely the conviction of the
rational faculty, the major must be denied, the minor will be
only true in cases capable of demonstration, and the consequent
equally falls. The fourth proposition Mr Godwin calls the
preceding proposition, with a slight variation in the statement.
If so, it must accompany the preceding proposition in its fall.
But it may be worth while to inquire, with reference to the
principal argument of this essay, into the particular reasons
which we have for supposing that the vices and moral weakness of
man can never be wholly overcome in this world.
Man, according to Mr Godwin, is a creature formed what he is
by the successive impressions which he has received, from the
first moment that the germ from which he sprung was animated.
Could he be placed in a situation, where he was subject to no
evil impressions whatever, though it might be doubted whether in
such a situation virtue could exist, vice would certainly be
banished. The great bent of Mr Godwin's work on Political
Justice, if I understand it rightly, is to shew that the greater
part of the vices and weaknesses of men proceed from the
injustice of their political and social institutions, and that if
these were removed and the understandings of men more
enlightened, there would be little or no temptation in the world
to evil. As it has been clearly proved, however, (at least as I
think) that this is entirely a false conception, and that,
independent of any political or social institutions whatever, the
greater part of mankind, from the fixed and unalterable laws of
nature, must ever be subject to the evil temptations arising from
want, besides other passions, it follows from Mr Godwin's
definition of man that such impressions, and combinations of
impressions, cannot be afloat in the world without generating a
variety of bad men. According to Mr Godwin's own conception of
the formation of character, it is surely as improbable that under
such circumstances all men will be virtuous as that sixes will
come up a hundred times following upon the dice. The great
variety of combinations upon the dice in a repeated succession of
throws appears to me not inaptly to represent the great variety
of character that must necessarily exist in the world, supposing
every individual to be formed what he is by that combination of
impressions which he has received since his first existence. And
this comparison will, in some measure, shew the absurdity of
supposing, that exceptions will ever become general rules; that
extraordinary and unusual combinations will be frequent; or that
the individual instances of great virtue which had appeared in
all ages of the world will ever prevail universally.
I am aware that Mr Godwin might say that the comparison is in
one respect inaccurate, that in the case of the dice, the
preceding causes, or rather the chances respecting the preceding
causes, were always the same, and that, therefore, I could have
no good reason for supposing that a greater number of sixes would
come up in the next hundred times of throwing than in the
preceding same number of throws. But, that man had in some sort a
power of influencing those causes that formed character, and that
every good and virtuous man that was produced, by the influence
which he must necessarily have, rather increased the probability
that another such virtuous character would be generated, whereas
the coming up of sixes upon the dice once, would certainly not
increase the probability of their coming up a second time. I
admit this objection to the accuracy of the comparison, but it is
only partially valid. Repeated experience has assured us, that
the influence of the most virtuous character will rarely prevail
against very strong temptations to evil. It will undoubtedly
affect some, but it will fail with a much greater number. Had Mr
Godwin succeeded in his attempt to prove that these temptations
to evil could by the exertions of man be removed, I would give up
the comparison; or at least allow, that a man might be so far
enlightened with regard to the mode of shaking his elbow, that he
would be able to throw sixes every time. But as long as a great
number of those impressions which form character, like the nice
motions of the arm, remain absolutely independent of the will of
man, though it would be the height of folly and presumption to
attempt to calculate the relative proportions of virtue and vice
at the future periods of the world, it may be safely asserted
that the vices and moral weakness of mankind, taken in the mass,
are invincible.
The fifth proposition is the general deduction from the four
former and will consequently fall, as the foundations which
support it have given way. In the sense in which Mr Godwin
understands the term 'perfectible', the perfectibility of man
cannot be asserted, unless the preceding propositions could have
been clearly established. There is, however, one sense, which the
term will bear, in which it is, perhaps, just. It may be said
with truth that man is always susceptible of improvement, or that
there never has been, or will be, a period of his history, in
which he can be said to have reached his possible acme of
perfection. Yet it does not by any means follow from this, that
our efforts to improve man will always succeed, or even that he
will ever make, in the greatest number of ages, any extraordinary
strides towards perfection. The only inference that can be drawn
is that the precise limit of his improvement cannot possibly be
known. And I cannot help again reminding the reader of a
distinction which, it appears to me, ought particularly to be
attended to in the present question: I mean, the essential
difference there is between an unlimited improvement and an
improvement the limit of which cannot be ascertained. The former
is an improvement not applicable to man under the present laws of
his nature. The latter, undoubtedly, is applicable.
The real perfectibility of man may be illustrated, as I have
mentioned before, by the perfectibility of a plant. The object of
the enterprising florist is, as I conceive, to unite size,
symmetry, and beauty of colour. It would surely be presumptuous
in the most successful improver to affirm, that he possessed a
carnation in which these qualities existed in the greatest
possible state of perfection. However beautiful his flower may
be, other care, other soil, or other suns, might produce one
still more beautiful.
Yet, although he may be aware of the absurdity of supposing
that he has reached perfection, and though he may know by what
means he attained that degree of beauty in the flower which he at
present possesses, yet he cannot be sure that by pursuing similar
means, rather increased in strength, he will obtain a more
beautiful blossom. By endeavouring to improve one quality, he may
impair the beauty of another. The richer mould which he would
employ to increase the size of his plant would probably burst the
calyx, and destroy at once its symmetry. In a similar manner, the
forcing manure used to bring about the French Revolution, and to
give a greater freedom and energy to the human mind, has burst
the calyx of humanity, the restraining bond of all society; and,
however large the separate petals have grown, however strongly,
or even beautifully, a few of them have been marked, the whole is
at present a loose, deformed, disjointed mass, without union,
symmetry, or harmony of colouring.
Were it of consequence to improve pinks and carnations,
though we could have no hope of raising them as large as
cabbages, we might undoubtedly expect, by successive efforts, to
obtain more beautiful specimens than we at present possess. No
person can deny the importance of improving the happiness of the
human species. Every the least advance in this respect is highly
valuable. But an experiment with the human race is not like an
experiment upon inanimate objects. The bursting of a flower may
be a trifle. Another will soon succeed it. But the bursting of
the bonds of society is such a separation of parts as cannot take
place without giving the most acute pain to thousands: and a long
time may elapse, and much misery may be endured, before the wound
grows up again.
As the five propositions which I have been examining may be
considered as the corner stones of Mr Godwin's fanciful
structure, and, indeed, as expressing the aim and bent of his
whole work, however excellent much of his detached reasoning may
be, he must be considered as having failed in the great object of
his undertaking. Besides the difficulties arising from the
compound nature of man, which he has by no means sufficiently
smoothed, the principal argument against the perfectibility of
man and society remains whole and unimpaired from any thing that
he has advanced. And as far as I can trust my own judgement, this
argument appears to be conclusive, not only against the
perfectibility of man, in the enlarged sense in which Mr Godwin
understands the term, but against any very marked and striking
change for the better, in the form and structure of general
society; by which I mean any great and decided amelioration of
the condition of the lower classes of mankind, the most numerous,
and, consequently, in a general view of the subject, the most
important part of the human race. Were I to live a thousand
years, and the laws of nature to remain the same, I should little
fear, or rather little hope, a contradiction from experience in
asserting that no possible sacrifices or exertions of the rich,
in a country which had been long inhabited, could for any time
place the lower classes of the community in a situation equal,
with regard to circumstances, to the situation of the common
people about thirty years ago in the northern States of America.
The lower classes of people in Europe may at some future
period be much better instructed than they are at present; they
may be taught to employ the little spare time they have in many
better ways than at the ale-house; they may live under better and
more equal laws than they have ever hitherto done, perhaps, in
any country; and I even conceive it possible, though not probable
that they may have more leisure; but it is not in the nature of
things that they can be awarded such a quantity of money or
subsistence as will allow them all to marry early, in the full
confidence that they shall be able to provide with ease for a
numerous family.