[Thus far written at Passy, 1784.]
[“I am now about to write at home, August, 1788, but can not have the help expected from my papers, many of them being lost in the war. I have, however, found the following.”] [8]
Having mentioned a great and extensive project which I had conceiv’d, it seems proper that some account should be here given of that project and its object. Its first rise in my mind appears in the following little paper, accidentally preserv’d, viz.:
[8] This is a marginal memorandum.—B.
Observations on my reading history, in Library, May 19th, 1731.
“That the great affairs of the world, the wars, revolutions, etc., are carried on and affected by parties.
“That the view of these parties is their present general interest, or what they take to be such.
“That the different views of these different parties occasion all confusion.
“That while a party is carrying on a general design, each man has his particular private interest in view.