Edinburgh Review,  1 (1802), 98–106.

Art. XIII. [Review of Addresse aux vrais hommes de bien, by Jean Herrenschwand]

Francis Jeffrey

Genre:

Review

Publications reviewed:

Herrenschwand 1801

Subjects:

Theology of Nature, Invention, Progress, Human Species, Political Economy


    Reports that Jean Herrenschwand's objective in this book is to demonstrate that 'in the general design of the universe [...] the race of man was destined to develope the earth in all its different capabilities, and, at the same time, to develope in itself all the faculties with the germs of which it had been provided by nature', and that, rather than 'promoting this double development', monarchs have always, 'either through error or depravity', been the 'scourges of mankind' (98). Considers that Herrenschwand states some truths, but that these are already better expounded elsewhere. These include his 'speculation which traces man's inventions to his necessities, and shews the dependence of his improvement on his wants; and all the reasoning that relates to the variations of price, and the natural causes by which production and consumption are adapted to each other'. His original remarks are 'extravagant and absurd', such as 'that great discovery, for the sake of which the whole book seems to have been written, which reveals the inseparable connexion between the prosperity of a people and the profuse expenditure of their rulers' (99).



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