Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/162



THERE is not any object which has a greater tendency to excite the curiosity of man, than a knowledge of the degree of relation in which he stands with those of his species, subject to the same legislation, and united to the same social body. This principle, when confined to the art of governing a state, is more particularly interesting, because it is the basis of all the calculations which refer to the universal felicity of nations. The Roman republic, the honour of which, acquired by arms, was sustained by the sagacity of its political combinations, was fully sensible of this truth, as is demonstrated by the frequent recensions of the population, made, not only in the capital, but in every part of its extensive domains. The general recension ordered by Augustus is the most remarkable in the records of Christianity, because the Blessed Redeemer was born at the time of its verification. The writers who were acquainted with all the importance of this subject, introduced into the plan of their productions a variety of reflections, having for their aim a computation of the total number of all living human beings. As it has been impossible, however, to found the conjectures on any fixed data, inasmuch as there cannot have been any other mental