3577. GOVERNMENT, Works on.—[further continued].
I think there does not
exist a good elementary work on the organization
of society into civil government; I mean a
work which presents in one full and comprehensive
view the system of principles on which
such an organization should be founded, according
to the rights of nature. For want of
a single work of that character, I should recommend
Locke on Government,
Sidney, Priestley's Essay on the First Principles of
Government,
Chipman's Principles of Government,
and the Federalist; adding, perhaps,
Beccaria on Crimes and Punishments, because
of the demonstrative manner in which he
has treated that branch of the subject. If your
views of political inquiry go further, to the subjects
of money and commerce,
Smith's Wealth
of Nations is the best book to be read, unless
Say's Political Economy can be had, which
treats the same subjects on the same principles,
but in a shorter compass and more lucid manner.—
To John Norvell. Washington ed. v, 90.
Ford ed., ix, 71.
(W.
1807)
See Aristotle.
