Mackintosh knew of its authorship; for he warned its author against the amiable delusion that its excellence would persuade the British government to force a system of peasant proprietorship upon the East India Company.
Reprinted in 1838 as the work of John Ogilby, it was intended to instruct the Chartists in the secret of their oppression; and therein it may well have contributed to the tragicomic land-scheme of Feargus O'Connor.

In 1891 the problem of the land was again eagerly debated under the stimulus of Mr.Henry George; and a patriotic Scotchman published the book with biographical notes that constitute one of the most amazing curiosities in English political literature.
V Against the school of Rousseau's English disciples it is comparatively easy to multiply criticisms.

They lacked any historic sense.

Government, for them, was simply an instrument which was made and unmade at the volition of men.

How complex were its psychological foundations they had no conception; with the single factor of consent they could explain the most marvellous edifice of any time.