SECTION V.

THE RELATION OF CAUSE AND EFFECT-MORAL CAUSES.

WHILE physical causes refer to the operations of matter, moral causes refer to the operations of mind. The former relate to the sciences of chemistry, geology, astronomy and other physical sciences. The latter relate to moral philosophy, political economy, and those other sciences that relate to the acts and habits of intelligent beings. We trace the operations of these causes, with reference to individuals, families, and nations.

1. The following are examples of moral causes and effects:

"Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow?

Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling?

Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine;

They that go to seek mixed wine."—Prov. xxiii. 29, 30.

Certainly," says Sydney Smith, "the two human beings who have had the greatest influence upon the understandings of mankind have been Aristotle and Lord Bacon. To Lord Bacon we are indebted for an almost daily extension of our knowledge of the laws of nature in the outward world; and the same modest and cautious spirit of inquiry, extended to moral philosophy, will probably at last give us clear, intelligible ideas of our spiritual nature. Every succeeding year is an additional confirmation to us that we are travelling in the true path of knowledge; and as it brings in fresh tributes of science for the increase of human happiness, it extorts from us fresh tributes of praise to the guide and father of true philosophy. To the understanding of Aristotle, equally vast, perhaps, and equally original, we are indebted for fifteen hundred years of quibbling and ignorance, in which the earth fell under the tyranny of words, and philosophers quarrelled with one another, like drunken men in dark rooms, who hate peace without knowing why they fight, or seeing how to take aim."-Smith's Moral Philosophy.

"It is a doctrine of Mr. Hume, in his Essay on Money,' that an influx of the precious metals gives great encouragement to industry, during the interval which elapses before the prices of commodities are adjusted to the increased quantity of specie.

We find,' says he, 'that in every kingdom into which money begins to flow in greater abundance than formerly, everything takes a new face: labour and industry gain life; the merchant becomes more enterprising, the manufacturer more diligent and skilful, and even the farmer follows his plough with greater alacrity and attention. In my opinion,' he continues, it is only in this interval, or intermediate situation, between the acquisition of money and rise of prices, that the increased quantity of gold and silver is favourable to industry.'"-Questions on Political Economy.

"We hold that a Church Establishment is the most effective of all machines for the moral instruction of the people, and that, if once taken down, there is no other instrumentality by which it can be adequately replaced. We are aware, that it may be feebly and even corruptly administered; but the way to rectify this, is not to demolish the apparatus, but to direct its movements. It is the means of turning so much unproductive into productive consumption. Without a church the whole of our ecclesiastical wealth would have been in the hands of those who give no return for it. With a church we have the return of all its usefulnessits theological learning-the protection which it affords against a desolating infidelity-the service which it renders to the morality of the commonwealth—and, above all, to the eternal well-being of the individual members who compose it."-Dr. Chalmers on Political Economy.

"To all who desire a clear, common-sense, and eminently practical system of logic, and do not object to the volume that contains it comprising also a most entertaining series of extracts from some of the ablest pieces of modern argumentation, we heartily commend this Logic for the Million. We know not where a young man desirous of self-cultivation could more certainly or more pleasurably find it than in this volume. He will only have himself to blame if he does not rise from its study with clearer thought, invigorated powers, and a mind enriched by some of the best good sense of our best writers."-Weekly News.

"Even with reference to the parts of any single nation, it is the lack of facility of intercourse which is the acknowledged cause of all that is defective in the rural population. It perpetuates peculiarities of idiom and of pronunciation, local prejudices, inactivity of mind, roughness of manner, and subjection to the power of superstition. Everything, therefore, which quickens circulation or facilitates intercourse between either the different members of the same nation, or between members of different nations, is calculated to promote the general welfare."-The Great Exhibition Prize Essay. By the Rev. J. C. Whish, M.A.

2. With regard to moral causes, we may adopt the following modes of reasoning.

First. From the existence of the cause we may infer the existence of the effect. Thus, if a man be industrious, we may infer that he will get rich. If a man be given to intoxication, we may infer that he will reduce himself to beggary. If a man exercise his intellectual faculties, we know he will improve them.

Secondly. From the existence of the effect we may infer the existence of the cause. Thus, if a servant enjoy in a high degree the confidence of his master, we may infer that he has served him well. If a man be involved in debts which he is unable to pay, we may infer that he has been either imprudent or unfortunate.

Thirdly. From the non-existence of the cause, we may infer the non-existence of the effect. Thus, if a man has not been unfortunate nor improvident, we may argue that he cannot be poor.

Fourthly. From the non-existence of the effect we may infer the non-existence of the cause. Thus, we may say, such a person is not poor; he cannot then have been extravagant. Such a person is not an intelligent man; he cannot, then, have spent much time in reading and study. He does not speak correctly; therefore he cannot have learned grammar. On one occasion when speaking to the working classes Rowland Hill observed, "I don't think much of that man's religion who is without his Sunday coat, when a good Providence gives him plenty of work.' (Sherman.)

3. In the relation of moral causes and effects, we have, generally, in the first instance, to prove by reasoning that such a relation exists.

If, for instance, I contend that education produces good morals, and hence, ask my neighbours to assist me in establishing a school for the poor,-I may be asked to prove, in the first instance, that education does produce good morals; for, unless I can prove the relation of cause and effect in this case, my efforts will be unavailing. So in many of the acts of ordinary life, and in nearly all our public proceedings, whether a certain cause will produce a certain effect is, in fact, the whole question in dispute.

In reasoning upon moral causes, we are exposed to much difficulty from the circumstance, that one effect is often produced by a variety of causes.

The greatest sophistry arises from imputing to one particular cause an effect which results from the joint operation of many causes. Thus, the ruin of an individual may be the consequence of the accidental burning of his house; of imprudent conduct; of the treachery of friends, and of robbery by thieves. The fall of a state may be the effect of the united operation of a tyrannical government, a seditious people, the encroachments of a foreign enemy, and pestilence and famine. Now, should a person take the effect, and argue that it was produced solely by one cause, he would be in error.

We shall also fall into error if we deny the existence of any one cause, because other causes contributed to produce the effect.

Thus, it has been contended that Sir Robert Peel's Act for Regulating the Currency, passed in the year 1844, was a cause of the commercial distress that occurred in the year 1847. In reply, it was contended, that the distress of 1847 was produced by the famine in Ireland and the speculations in railways. Now this is no refutation of the former opinion; for all the three causes may have united in producing the same effect.

We should also fall into error were we to infer, that of two events one is the cause of the other, merely because it occurred first in the order of time.

This fallacy is often ridiculed by a reference to the building of Tenterden steeple being the cause of the Goodwin sands. The story is told, I believe, by Bishop Latimer. There was a time when the Goodwin sands, which lie in the neighbourhood of Dover, did not exist. Sometime after they had collected, Government commissioners were appointed to ascertain the cause. They accordingly proceeded to the spot to examine witnesses. Among others, an old man assured them that the cause of the Goodwin sands was the building of the Tenterden steeple. They asked him how this could be. He stated, he could not tell how, but he knew it was so; for he recollected that when there was no steeple there were no sands, but soon

after the building of the steeple in came the sands. He, therefore, inferred that the building of the steeple was the cause of the sands.

We shall give an example of the way in which this allusion is applied.

The following argument is taken from the "Sophisms of Free Trade, by a Barrister."

"All great manufactures had their origin in the protective system. Take our own, the greatest and least sickly of any. All our own manufactures took their rise in a system of protective duties, so high as to amount to prohibitions. In addition to this, owing to the fearful hostilities that raged in Europe for nearly a quarter of a century before 1815, we enjoyed a further accidental monopoly of the manufacturing industry of the world. And this stringent protection has not only created manufactures, but created them where they would not naturally have existed, in spite of great natural disadvantages. Other nations have coal and iron ore as well as we. The United States are even richer in this respect. But other nations have, also, what we have not, they have native raw materials. It has been justly observed, that Great Britain is singularly poor in the raw materials which constitute the basis of the greater portion of her manufacturing industry. We have no cotton, no silk, no fine wool. Even our best iron for the manufacture of hardware, comes from Sweden; our oils, gums, colours, woods, from the ends of the earth.

"Next to us in manufacturing industry, is France. Her manufacturing industry, though still inferior to ours, has nevertheless, since the peace, augmented in an even greater ratio, but under strict and jealous protection."-Sophisms of Free Trade, by a Barrister.

The following reply is taken from "Free Trade and its so-called Sophisms."

"There is no doubt that, until recently, the governments of almost all countries considered that the way to establish an industry, and make it prosper, was to protect' it; and consequently, whenever an industry flourishes simultaneously with the existence of protection, a great shout of triumph is raised, as if the former were dependent on the latter-the old fallacy of post hoc, ergo propter hoc. It is only necessary to refer to the well-known case of Tenterden steeple and the Goodwin sands for an illustration."-Free Trade and its so-called Sophisms.

The reader will observe, that the Barrister's argument with regard to manufactures is, that in several countries protection preceded prosperity; and he infers that pro