There is a rather widespread prejudice existing against this order of works, a souvenir of the struggle carried on formerly, between Thibaut and Savigny, which inclines people to suppose that the historical school leans towards the political doctrines of the past, and that it is hostile to the liberal spirit of modern times. Nothing can be farther from the truth. The names of Roscher, Knies and Hildebrand are sufficient to remove this prejudice. Their works, inspired by an enlightened love for progress, do not allow of such a misconstruction. The historical point of view does not consist in the worship of the past, any more than in the depreciation of the present. It does not view the succession of phenomena as a fluctuation of events without unity or purpose. On the contrary, the historical method harmonizes wonderfully well with the wants of genuine progress. The changes accomplished bear testimony to the free and creative power of man, acting within the limit permitted to it by the degrees of intelligence reached, of the development of morals, and of individual liberty. The philosophy of Political Economy, which is the result of this calm teaching, free from the passions of party—for science acknowledges no adherence to party—is like that of law, opposed to the, more or less, ingenious or rash dreams, which build the world over again in thought. In showing how, at all times, humanity has understood and applied the principles which govern the production of wealth, it may say, with the Roman jurisconsult: “Justitiam namque colimus ... æquum ab iniquo separantes ... veram nisi fallor philosophiam, non simulatam affectantes.” “The human mind,” says Rossi, “endeavoring to attain to a knowledge of itself, estimating its strength, taking a method, and applying it with a consciousness of its mode of procedure to the knowledge of all things; such is philosophy. Without it, there is no science in any branch of human knowledge.” Thus do we rise, with the aid of a critical mind, by careful investigation and great sagacity, to the truths founded on observations made. IX.