ESSAYS ON HISTORICAL TRUTH. ESSAY I. IS THERE A SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT?' WHEN it is considered how much of what is put forth as history is only falsehood under the name of history, the opinions of those who have pronounced history useless and mischievous may be found to have a portion of truth in them. But history and historical truth are two very different things. Whatever difference of opinion may exist respecting the value of history, there can be no difference of opinion about the value of historical truth. For historical truth will be found to be nearly allied to philosophical truth, and we shall have no political philosophy of any value till those who study the subject are as careful to obtain accurate materials— 1 The word government is used in two senses. In one of these it signifies the disposition or distribution of the sovereign power in a political society; in the other, the administration of public affairs. In the former only can the expression science of government be used. In this sense, of course, the word government is used in this essay. In a subsequent essay-The Government of the Commonwealth and the Government of Cromwell-the word is used in the other sense, namely, the administration of public affairs, or the act of governing. The two senses of the word may also be distinguished by calling the first the science, the second the art of government. B,' that is, accurately-observed facts, or, in other words, facts instead of fictions under the name of facts-as Newton was to obtain an at least approximately accurate measure of the earth's radius for the verification of his hypothesis respecting the law of gravitation. In reference to the remark of David Hume, that the world is yet too young to have a political philosophy, or, to quote his words, is still too young to fix many general truths in politics which will remain true to the latest posterity,' it has been said that if history is to be the basis of it, after ten thousand years the world will still be too young. Hume's words 'truths in politics' show that he meant that there were too few historical truths, and contemplated historical truths rather than the laws of human nature as the basis of political philosophy. On the other hand, thinkers of at least as great name as Hume have sought to found a political philosophy on the laws of human nature. But here we are met with a difficulty as great as the difficulty of discovering historical truth. For not only have two celebrated writers on government, Hobbes and James Mill starting from the same theory of the laws of human nature-what has been termed the selfish, in contradistinction to the sentimental theory of morals-come to opposite conclusions respecting the best form of government, but many persons have altogether objected to their treatment of the subject. Other writers, again, have adopted another method of philosophising on this subject, and have sought to evolve a social and political philosophy out of historical facts, or at least of what they assume as historical facts, by a process similar to that employed by 1 Essay, of Civil Liberty.-Hume's Essays, vol. i. p. 81, Edinburgh, 1825. astronomers with respect to physical facts. The result, however, has certainly not as yet been to produce a science of government, or of political society bearing any resemblance to the science of astronomy. 6 In regard to the difficulties attending the pursuit of historical truth, there are some facts in connection with English history which place the matter in a strong light. And as we can hardly be supposed to possess equal facilities for research into the archives of foreign nations, the difficulties encountered with respect to English history may be assumed to increase rather than to diminish when we turn our researches to the history of other countries. As regards the works styled Histories,' Bacon's History of King Henry VII.' contains but this one reference in these words: "The original of this proclamation remaineth with Sir Robert Cotton, from whose manuscripts I have had much light for the furnishing of this work.'1 Consequently, the facts set forth in that history must rest upon Bacon's character for veracity, which hardly stands so high as his character for 'command over facts;' in other words, for the of moulding facts to suit his purpose as an advocate. power With regard to the manuscript materials in the public archives, while it is true that of late years the public authorities have afforded facilities for the use of those materials by persons engaged in historical inquiries, and also that there has been a considerable degree of activity in the publication of Calendars of the papers in the State Paper Office, it appears to be forgotten that, in almost all the darkest questions, 'precisely those papers which constitute 1 Montagu's edition of Bacon's Works, vol. iii. p. 318, note. |