Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute

REVIEWS AND COMMENTS BY MURRAY N. ROTHBARD 85
radical Anglican Archdeacon Blackburne. 29 Francis Hutcheson
30 is shown to have played a very important role, in England
as well as Scotland, and is shown to be a far better libertarian
than his pupil, Adam Smith. (Although there is a
light in the sun, native, original, inherent, and unlimited
by anything human. In governors, it may be compared
to the reflected light of the moon, for it is only
borrowed, delegated, and limited by the intention of
the people, whose it is, and to whom governors are to
consider themselves responsible, while the people are
answerable only to God.
Central to Burgh’s thought was his criticism of the electoral system,
which he considered to be corrupt and unrepresentative. Burgh
wanted the right to vote to be extended to all those who paid taxes,
because only in this way could the balance in favor of the great
landowners be redressed and trade and manufacturing interests be
represented. It is worth noting that Burgh advocated extending the
right to vote to anyone who paid taxes—he was not talking about
universal male suffrage. While maintaining the need for wider representation,
Burgh did not question the link between property and
political representation.
John Jackson (1686–1763) wrote The Grounds of Civil and
Ecclesiastical Government, in which he maintained that the state
should be limited by natural law and the resulting civil laws. Jackson
criticized the theory of the divine right of kings and maintained that
the citizens were bound to the sovereign as long as the sovereign
acted justly; otherwise the power was dissolved.
John Lee (1733–1793) was part of the circle of Rational Dissenters
and a member of the Club of Honest Whigs together with
Price and Burgh. A friend of Joseph Priestley, he was solicitor general
in the Rockingham administration.
29Francis Blackburne (1705–1787) published The Confessional
(1766) anonymously in defense of the Unitarian faith and against the
restrictions imposed on religious dissenters.
30Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746) was considered to be one of the
main exponents of the Scottish Enlightenment. In 1729, he succeeded
Gershom Carmichael (see note below) in the chair of moral philosophy
at the University of Glasgow, and Adam Smith was one of his students.
Hutcheson placed at the basis of any moral judgment a feeling grounded
in the notion that human nature produced approval for virtuous actions
and disapproval for vicious actions. This instinct explained the possibility
of moral judgments independent of any considerations dictated by