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| Wednesday. Febry. 23d. 1763 - Adam Smith, Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence Vol. 5 Lectures On Jurisprudence [1762]

Edition used:

Lectures On Jurisprudence, ed. R.. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael and P. G. Stein, vol. V of the Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1982).

Part of: The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith, 7 vols.

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| Wednesday. Febry. 23d. 1763

In the last lecture I endeavoured to explain to you more fully that form of government which naturally arises amongst mankind as they advance in society, and in what manner it gradually proceeded.

With regard to the internall police of such a state, there can be nothing more simple and easily comprehended. We have at the head of it the chief, or chieftan, who has in all matters an influence superior to that of any other person. This chief is distinguished from the rest by two things: 1st, by his superior wealth; and 2dly, by his family descent, being generally the son or very near relation of the late chief. Superiority of wealth gives one in this age a greater influence and authority than the same disproportion does at any other time. One who possessed flocks and herds which could by their produce support a hundred men had no other way of disposing of it than by supporting a hundred men out of it. Manufacturing of the produce of the | earth was not then introduced. They were consumed in the same rough state as nature brought them. Or perhaps when arts were a little improved they might consume a part of their estate, yet this could not extend near so far as at present.— The descent from the great families who had been in possession of this chief dignity in the state is likewise another source of authority. In the age of hunters there can be no hereditary nobility or respect to families. Families can then be noways respectable; one who has distinguished himself by his exploits in war and signalized himself as a leader will have considerable respect and honour. This will in some measure descend to the son by his connection with his father. But if he be noways remarkable or distinguished as a leader, his son will not be esteemed a whit the more because he was come of such or such a great man, as military glory and famous atchievements are the only thing which | can give one weight in a country of this sort. But in the age of shepherds descent gives one more respect and authority than perhaps in any other stage of society whatever. In this stage, as property is introduced, one can be eminent not only for his superior abilities and renowned exploits but also on account of his wealth and the estate he has derived from his forefathers. This continues the respect paid to the father down to the son and so on, for ever perhaps.m We see many instances of the vast respect paid to descent amongst the Tartars and Arabs. Every one of these can trace themselves, at least they pretend to do so, as far back as Abraham. The Tartarian history72 which was published some time ago in English, being translated from the French into which it was translated from the Swedish of Blank in MS.n , who being taken prisoner when attending Charles 12th of Sweden in his expeditions was carried into Siberia <and> met with and translated it into Arabic with very sensible notes, may furnish us with a very good example of this. The whole of that work, which was wrote by Blank in MS.o , a very great conqueror as well as a consi|derable writer, is taken up with genealogies. It is just such an account as we should expect to meet with in the history of one of the clans in the remoter parts of this country. It gives us an account of the descent of the great men of the family, rectifying the mistakes which had formerly been made in these matters, and the severall exploits they committed in a very brief manner. This prince, who was a descendent of the famous Cengis Kan himself, being taken prisoner when very young by the Persians was educated and very well instructed in the sciences by Blank in MS.p , the Sultan of Persia, and making his escape to his countrymen was received with the greatest joy; and the nearest relation who in his absence had taken the government of the hurd upon him resigned it with the greatest readyness, than which there can be no greater token of respect to families. We see that the Jews, who were originally a tribe of Arabs, paid the greatest respect to genealogies and were at great pains to preserve them. There is one thing | which will tend greatly to increase the respect for families in this stage of society more perhaps than in any other, <?which> is that they will be all of very great antiquity. A family which [which] had been once raised to dignity and wealth could hardly ever be deprived of it, unless the nation was conquered, in which case all would be lost. But if this does not happen there is hardly any way in which he could reduce his fortune; he knows easily how many dependents his flocks and herds will maintain without incroaching on the stock. He has no way of expending it on luxuries as afterwards. Perhaps a man might lay out on himself at this time as much as would maintain 30 men, so that one who could have maintaind 100 will only maintain 70; but he could not as now spend a fortune which would maintain 1000 on himself in luxuries and curiosities. They mightq then give one sort of rough produce for a smaller quantity of another, but not 1000 lib of unmanufacturd | naturall productions for a few ounces of stuff nicely tricked up, as one now does of beef, bread, etc. So that it was not possible for one to spend a great estate, as one may very easily do in the present state of affairs. There lustre therefore continues uniform and in most cases encreases, so that the old families must be very respectable; and for this reason long descents are much countedr here, more so than in any other state of society, as in other cases the upstart families, that is, those who have been but lately raised to dignity, ares often of as great influence, but these will be but seldom met with. We see that there is in man a great propensity to continue his regard towards those which are nearly connected with him whom we have formerly respected. The sons and particularly the eldest son commonly attract this regard, as they seem most naturally to come in the place of the father; and accordingly in most nations have been continu’d in their fathers dignity. In most elective kingdoms, which as I shall hereafter | shew73 you was the case of all kingdoms at first, we find the son generally preferred to any other. There are some states indeed where this has been expressly forbidden, as at Venice where there is a law forbidding the son of the deceased doge to be chosen in his room. But this sufficiently shews that there is such a naturall inclination amongst men, otherwise no such law would have been found necessary.— Besides this chieftan who presides in the assembly, the whole power of the government is lodged in the body of the people. They have the whole of the judicial and executive power committed to them.— There is one great difference betwixt these people and those in any other state of society, that is, in their way of making war and peace. These nations generally have no fixt habitations. The Tartars live in a sort of waggons, or rather houses set upon wheels; their country is altogether plain and void of wood or stones to interrupt them; not a tree nor hill over the whole country, so that they have nothing to interrupt them in their progress. A people in this state have no attachment to their particular spot where <they> | have taken up their habitation. Their whole property is then easily carried about with them. But when the society have made some farther steps in improvement, the amor patriae, the love of the soil, naturally arises. Those who have property in land will never think of deserting it as they can not possibly transport it with them. In the same way others, tho they have not land property, have nevertheless valuable property in goods and furniture, which it is very troublesome to transport even from house to house; and to remove from one part of the country to another would require the equipage of a regiment. Though Scotland be no rich country nor well cultivated, yet the inhabitants will never think of leaving it to seek new seats. The Tartars on the other hand [the Tartars] have all their property in what is properly to be called moveables,t that is, in herds and flocks. These they can transport without much inconvenience, and their families ar<e> transported in waggons covered | with a sort of felt which they use in those countries. They therefore will be very little attacched to any particular spot; where ever they find pasture for their cattle, there they will fix their habitation for the time. A people of this sort will frequently leave their country to seek for new seats where they may have better pasture, and remove in whole bodies or great colonies. Thus the Helvetii (as we are told by Caesar74 ) who inhabited the country now possessed by the Swiss, and were the most warlike nation of Gaul, thought it hard that they who were the best warriors and most warlike nation of the country should have the worst territories; they therefore left their country and would probably have over run all Gaul had they not been stopped by Caesars army. In the same manner the Cimbri and Teutones at different times made attacks on Greece, Italy, and Gaul; they were indeed repulsed in them all, but | made frequent attempts of this sort. The severall nations in Germany have all been in this state, though they are now removed out of it. I shall however refer the account of th<e> revolutions brought about by them, and the settling of the severall kingdoms and states which has arose from this, for another lecture.75 {In the same manner the Lombards, who came originally from about the Palus Maeotis,76 settled first in a body on the north of the Danube where they had a territory assigned them by the Romans. However when they had exhausted that fine country they passed over to the south side of the river. There again they had a territory assigned them. But some time after on Blank in MS.u being discontented sent inviting them into Italyv and sent presents of the fruits of the country, which soon induced them to quit their country;77 and they accordingly poss<ess>ed themselves of it for 400 or 500 years.} They were in the very same state as the modern Tartars, only that they had a little agriculture. I mentioned in yesterdays lecture78 how formidable a nation of this sort may be when united under one leader, and that they may often produce great revolutions, and instanced the two great nations of shepherds, viz the Tartars and the Arabs. Now [of] this the Tartars will happen far more frequen<t>ly amongw than among the Arabs. The former have no obstacles of any sort in their country, no mountains or rough ground, no barriers of woods; they have indeed some of the largest rivers in the world, but these a Tartar party, as they are all excellent horsemen, will | swim over tho half a mile broad. {Nor have the<y> any stone to raise fortifications, nor even wood, insomuch that they are obliged to burn cow dung during their long and severe winter.} The lord of a hurd therefore who has been victorious over another has nothing to obstruct his progress to attack another; one battle decides the dispute, as they are all ruind by the first defeat which deprived them of their property all at once.x We see accordingly that the Tartars have been severall times united under one head; Cengis Kan and Tamerlane, from being the lords or leaders of very small clans, rose thro many hardships and defeats in their youth to be sovereigns of all Tartary, and over ran even the most part of the neighbouring nations. Tamerlane extended his empire from the Indus to Smyrna, over all Persia, Indostan, and Asia Minor, part of China, and carried an army even into Siberia. The country again inhabited by the Arabs is full of mountains, rocks, and fastnesses which rend<er> it allmost innacessible to an enemy. The severall tribes are allmost intirely separated from each other; and it will cost severall | battles and a great deal of bloodshed to conquer any one; so that the greatest perseverance will be necessary toy conquer any great number of hurds and turn them out of their fastnesses. We see accordingly that they were never united under one head but by Mahomet, and then indeed they over ran the adjacent countries with a fury as irresistable as that of the Tartars under their leaders. Besides these incursions in quest of new territories they often make others merely in quest of spoil, and return again to their own country, which they never think of doing when they make a generall move. They will often send out a party to over run and plunder which will return again in a few years. The expedition of the Vandalls into Italy under Attila79 seems to have been of this sort. After they had staid in it for about twenty years and plundered the whole country, they returned to their country loaded with | booty. A polished nation never undertakes any such expeditions. It never makes war but with a design to enlarge or protect its territory; but these people make war either with design to leave their own habitations in search of better, or to carry off booty. As the Tartars have been always a nation of shepherds, which they will always be from the nature of their country, which is dry and high raised above the sea, with few rivers tho some very large ones, and the weather and the air is too cold for the produce of any grain, and as they are for the reasons already mentioned easily united under one head, so we find that more of the great revolutions in the world have arose from them than any other nation in the world. If we look back into the first periods of profane history of which we have any distinct account, we find Cyrus with his Persians over running Media; this nation appears undoubtedly to have been a Tartar nation; they were all horsemen, as the Tartars are, and <in> every shape resembled them. The Medes too, who possessed those countries before them, appear | to have been Tartars originally, from the account given of them by Herodotus80 and Justin.81 That fore mentioned author,82 talking of the invasion of Greece by the Thessalians and Scythians, says that nothing hindered them from over running and conquering the whole of Europe and Asia but their want of union. Had they been united, no human force, says he, could have withstood them. After Cyrus time Cyaxaris,83 who again raised up an empire in Persia, seems to have been a Tartar prince. The Parthians, who afterwards over ran that country, were without doubt a Tartarian nation; and made a noble stand against the Roman arms. After this time Cengis Kan, whose conquest we have already mentioned, arose amongst the same nation; an<d> 2 or 300 years after, Tamerlane of the same country made still greater revolutions. But previous to these the Huns made very great commotions in the affairs of the world. We are told they were originally a nation inhabiting to the east84 of the Chinese Wall, who being expelled by the Chinese traversed | the country till they came to the Palus Maeotis and the Euxine Sea. This they thought was the bound of the world and therefore made no attempts to settlez beyond it. But 200 or 300 years after, discovering that there was still land to the west of these lakes or seas, they soon agreed, as people in this state are very fickle, to leave the country they possessed and pass over. This they accordingly did, and drove out the Ostrogoths, who in their turn drove out the Wisigoths; for a people of this sort, as they will leave their country on account of seeking a better, so they will when defeat<ed> by the enemy, in case they be not intirely ruin’d as it often happens that they are. The Wisigoths in their turn, under the different leaders Theodoric and Aleric, over ran all Italy and Gaula and continued there till they were repelled by Charlemagne.—

If we should suppose that a nation of this sort was settled in country naturally defended against invasions, | capable of maintaining themselves against their enemies, in such a country a regular form of government would soon take place. But this can never be the case in Tartary, as the country is unfit by its dryness and cold for agriculture, and has no fastnesses nor materialls for constructing them; nor can it be in Arabia, where agriculture is debarred by the ruggedness and steepness of the country, which is a combination of hills without any intermediate valleys, or if there are any they are all filled with sand. But we see that this happened in other more fertile and secure countries pretty early. The first inhabitants of Greece, as we find by the accounts of the historians, were much of the same sort with the Tartars. Thus renowned warriors of antiquity, as Hercules, Theseus, etc. are celebrated for just such actions and expeditions as make up the history of a Tartar chief. We see also that they resembled them in this also that they made frequent | demigrations.b The Heraclidae, who were the followers or clan of Hercules, settled first of all in the great island of Euboea, and from therec went out and settled at Mycenae Blank in MS.85 and Sparta. These severall countries, being continually exposed to the inroads of their neighbours, did not soon alter their way of life. We see that at the Trojan war the expedition was not undertaken with a view to conquest but in revenge of goods that were carried off; and that when the city was taken each returned to his home with his share of the spoil. All the disputes mentioned to have happened by him86 were concerning some women, or oxen, cattle, or sheep or goats. Attica was the country which first began to be civilized and put into a regular form of government. The sea surrounded on two sides of the triangle and a ridge of high mountains on the third. It had therefore little to fear from enemies by land; | the sea was the only means by which they could easily be attacked. They therefore at first built none of their villages near the sea. As the country was so much securer than the others, people flocked into it from all hands, tho it was rather the poorest of all the Grecian countries. But the rovers from the sea might still invade them in the night. The only method they had to secure themselves was to have some place of strength to drive their cattle and other goods into, upon an invasion.d This was the advice given by Theseus; he advised them to live together in one place that they might be at hand to assist one another and might have a place to protect their cattle in. The city of Athens was therefore built and fortified under the acropolis or citadell. When this was done he abolished the jurisdiction<s> which were enjoyed by the leaders of the severall villages, as these mostly resided in the great city; and by this means in <?creased> | his own power as well as diminished that of his people and became a sort of monarchy, or as it was afterwards called a tyranny. But in a small country the revenue of the chief man can not so far exceed that of the other great men as to render his power of great duration. Many rivalls in wealth and authority would start up against <him>. Theseus himself was even turned out of the kingly power by Menestheus.87 This Demophoon recovered,e and it continu’d in the hands of the family for some time, but this was afterwards exchanged for the government by archons. These were at first for 10 years,f but were also 2g in number which lessened their power, and afterwards 5;h they were at length chosen anually.88 These continued for some considerable time, but were at last abolished and the magistracy laid open to those who were of power enough to obtain them. This was the case in all the states of Greece; they became in this manner from monarchys or nearly so to what we would | call democracys, as the legislative power altogether, and the other two in the last resort, were in the determination of the generall assembly, but were called by them aristocraceyes with great propriety, ὑπο των ἀριστων, as there were always men of power and authority who influenced the people as they inclined.

[m]Numbers written above the last three words indicate that they were intended to read ‘perhaps for ever’

[72 ]The Shajarat al Atrak, written in Chaghatai Turkish by Abu’l–Ghasi Bahadur Khan, Khan of Khiva from 1643 to 1663 and a descendant of Gengis Khan. It was translated, probably into German, by Philip John von Strahlenberg, a Swedish officer who was for thirteen years a prisoner of war among the Tartars. A French translation, Histoire généalogique des Tartares, was published in Leyden in 1726, and an English version appeared in 1730. For ‘into Arabic’ read ‘from Turkish’.

[n]Blank in MS.

[o]Blank in MS.

[p]Blank in MS.

[q]Replaces ‘could not’

[r]Reading doubtful

[s]‘generall’ deleted

[73 ]67–8 below.

[t]‘property’ deleted

[74 ]De Bello Gallico, I.2 ff.

[75 ]114 ff. below.

[76 ]The ancient name of the Sea of Azov.

[u]Blank in MS.

[v]‘where they’ deleted

[77 ]The Lombards entered Italy in a.d. 568, allegedly at the invitation of Narses, who had been slighted by the Emperor Justin II.

[78 ]40 above.

[w]Numbers written above the last eight words indicate that they were intended to read ‘will happen far more frequently among the Tartars’

[x]The last three words replace ‘as well as their’

[y]Illegible word deleted

[79 ]A conflation of the Huns’ expedition under Attila in a.d. 452 and the Vandals’ expedition under Gaiseric in a.d. 455.

[80 ]I.96 ff.

[81 ]Justinus, Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum, XLI–XLII.

[82 ]Presumably the reference is to Herodotus, but neither he nor Justinus says what is reported here. The reporter may have conflated and confused two or three remarks about Herodotus. See next note.

[83 ]Cyaxares was king of Media 634–594 b.c., at the time of the Scythian invasion of Asia but before the time of Cyrus, founder of the Persian empire. Probably Darius, king of Persia 521–485, was intended here.

[84 ]A mistake for ‘north’; cf. LJ(B) 30, below.

[z]Illegible word deleted

[a]Reading doubtful; replaces an illegible word

[b]Sic

[c]‘sent’ deleted

[85 ]Blank in MS. Messenia, Argos, and Sparta.

[86 ]Homer.

[d]Reading doubtful

[87 ]Plutarch, Life of Theseus, 32–3. Demophon was the son of Theseus.

[e]‘it’ deleted

[f]The last two words replace ‘life

[g]Reading doubtful

[h]Reading doubtful

[88 ]There were originally three archons, elected for life. Their period of tenure was later limited to ten years and eventually to one year. Their number was increased from three to nine, and in 487 b.c. simple election was succeeded by a system of choosing the archons by lot from elected candidates.