The  principles  of  Newton  and  Archimedes
mi^ht  be  taught  in  the  schools,  while  the
architecture  of  the  people  might  not  have
reached  beyond  the  cabins  of  New  Holland,
or  the  ship-building  of  the  Esquimaux.  In
a  state  of  political  science  somewhat  similar
ha&  Europe  continued  fof  a  great  part  of  the
eighteentn  century .t

All  the  great  questions  of  general  politics
hadj  as  we  have  remarked,  been  nearly  de-
cided, and  almost  all  the  decisions  had  been
hostile  to  established  institutiotis ;  yet  these
institutions  still  flourished  in.all  their  vigour.
The  same  nian  who  cultivated  liberal  science
in  his  cabinet  was  compelled  to  administer  a
barbarous  jurisprudence  on  the  bench.  7'he
same  Montesquieu,  who  at  Paris  reasoned  as
a  philosopher  of  the  eighteenth,  was  com-
pelled to  decide  at  Bourdeaux  as  a  magistrate
of  the  fourteenth  century.  The  apostles  of
toleration  and  the  ministers  of  the  Inquisi-
tion were  cotemporaries.  The  torture  con-
tinued to  be  practised  in  the  a^  of  Becca-
rja:  the  Bastile  devoured  its  victims  in  the
country  of  Turgot.  -The  criminal  code,  even
where  it  was  the  mildest,  was  oppressive  and
savage.  The  laws  respecting  rel  igious  opinion,
even  where  there  was  a  pretended  toleratioui


*  I  confess  my  obligation  for  this  parallel  to  a
learned  friend,  who  though' so  jtistlv  admired  in
the  republic  of  letters  for  his  excellent  writings,
is  still  more  so  by  his  friendefor  the  rich,  original,
and  i^ssculine  turn  of  thought  that  animates  bit
convf  I  lion.  But  the  Conunuaior  of  the  History
of  P  vli,  III.  little  needs  my  praise.
