or POLICY, denotes the peculiar form and constitution of the government of any state or nation; or the laws, orders, and regulations, relating thereto *.—Polity differs only from politics, as the theory from the practice of any art.

Of the nature of our social duties, both private and political, we have already spoken at some length (see Moral Philosophy, Part II. chap. iii. and particularly sect. vii.) and we shall have occasion to take a view of the origin and nature of the several political establishments of Europe, &c. hereafter. (See Civil Society.) We shall only further remark in this place upon the necessity of always joining politics and morality together. This view of the subject is indeed antiquated and neglected; but the connection has always been externally respected even by those who have separated them the most widely. Politics and morality, far from standing in opposition to each other, have the most intimate connection, and exhibit the relation which the part bears to the whole; that is to say, that politics are only a part or a branch of morality. No truth can be more evident than this; for as morality is the guide of human life, the principle of order, and the universal source of real improvement and genuine happiness to all mankind, every thing relative to the direction of individuals, or the government of nations, must be comprehended within its sphere, and be subservient to its laws. All the schemes and projects of pretended political wisdom, that deviate from or violate the rules of this master-science, turn out in the issue often to the detriment of their contrivers, always to that of the nation; and it is a palpable and absurd error to think of advancing the happiness of one country at the expense of the general good of mankind. The experience of ages, and the history of the world, confirm these affections; from which, and from daily observation, we obtain a convincing proof of the wisdom of the good old maxim, both in its application to individuals and to nations, that "honesty is the best policy." See Baron Dahlberg's Considerations on the Connection between Morality and Politics, read by himself to the Academy of Sciences at Erfurt.