I should certainly therefore not think of advancing it again, though I mean to place it in a point of view in some degree different from any that I have hitherto seen, if it had ever been fairly and satisfactorily answered.
The cause of this neglect on the part of the advocates for the perfectibility of mankind is not easily accounted for.

I cannot doubt the talents of such men as Godwin and Condorcet.

I am unwilling to doubt their candour.

To my understanding, and probably to that of most others, the difficulty appears insurmountable.

Yet these men of acknowledged ability and penetration scarcely deign to notice it, and hold on their course in such speculations with unabated ardour and undiminished confidence.