to man only with the growth of that real civilization which is, or should be, attendant upon increase in the number of persons occupying a given space that increase of numbers being required for facilitating combination, and thus developing the various human powers. are.* Science, as we are told, is the interpreter of nature. It reverently inquires, what there is, and why it is that such things It listens that it may know. It seeks for light. It knocks, that it may obtain communication-its duty being then performed when it has recorded the processes of nature, and accepted them as true. That department which is denominated Social Science, treats of the laws which govern man in the effort for developing his own powers, and thereby obtaining entire control over the great forces of nature-at each step gained, turning her batteries against herself, with a view to make her subjugation more complete. The object of its teachers is that of indicating what have been the obstacles which, thus far, have prevented progress, and the means by which they may be diminished, if not removed. Careful study of those laws would satisfy SOVEREIGNS, that the maintenance of peace, and a studious respect for the rights of others, was the surest road to power and influence for the communities in whose lead it is their fortune to be placed: NATIONS, that every invasion of the rights of others must be attended with diminished power to protect their own: LEGISLATORS, that their duty was limited to the removal of obstacles to association among the people with whose destinies they were charged, among the most prominent of which would be found those resulting from the failure to recognize the existence of a perfect harmony of international interests: CAPITALISTS, that between themselves and those they employ, there was a perfect harmony of real and permanent interests: FARMERS, that the road to prosperity for themselves and their children, was to be found in the adoption of measures looking to their emancipation from the oppressive tax of transportation, and to the development of the powers of their land : WORKINGMEN, that the more perfect their own respect for the *The questions asked by mathematicians are, how much there is, and where it may be found. rights of property, and the greater the tendency towards harmony and peace, the more rapid must be the growth of the productive power, with correspondent increase in their own proportion of the larger quantity of commodities produced: FREEMEN, that true liberty is inconsistent with interferences with the rights of others, and that in the most perfect subordination is to be found the road to harmony, peace, and freedom: FREE-TRADE ADVOCATES, that the more varied the production of a community, the greater must be the commerce in the bosom of nations, and the greater their power to maintain commerce with the world: ADVOCATES OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS, that the road towards elevation of the sex, lies in the direction of that varied industry which makes demand for all the distinctive qualities of woman: ANTI-SLAVERY ADVOCATES, that freedom comes with that diversification of pursuits which make demand for all the various human powers, and that slavery is the necessary consequence of a system which looks to an exclusive agriculture: DISCIPLES OF MR. MALTHUS, that the Creator had provided self-adjusting laws, regulating the movement of population; that the treasury of nature was unlimited in extent; that demand produced supply; and, that the power to make demand increased with increase in the number of mankind: PHILOSOPHERS, that war, pestilence, and famine, were the result of man's errors, and not of errors of the Creator- the Great Being, to whom we are indebted for existence, having instituted no laws tending to thwart the objects of man's creation: REFORMERS, that nature always works slowly and gently, when she desires that man shall profit by her action, and that man would do well to follow in the same direction-one of the greatest of all precepts being found in those two most simple wordsfestina lente:* * "The path of mere power to its object," says Schiller, "is that of the cannon-ball, direct and rapid, but destroying every thing in its course, and destructive even to the end it reaches. Not so the road of human usages, which is beaten by the old intercourse of life; that path winds this way and that, along the river or around the orchard, and securely, though slowly, arrives at last to its destined end. That," says he, "is the road on which blessings travel." "The same general truth may be often seen exemplified in our republican legislation. There is a legislation, altering, reforming, innovating; but all STATESMEN, that power and responsibility went hand in hand together; that upon their action depended the decision of the great question, whether those whose destinies had been committed to their care, should go forward in the direction of the real MAN, master over nature and master of himself, or decline in that of the mere animal having the form of man, treated of in RicardoMalthusian books; and that failure to qualify themselves for the proper exercise of the powers confided to them, was a crime, for the effects of which they must answer to their fellow-men, and to Him from whom that power had been derived:* upon deliberate investigation, slow and cautious inquiry, and consultation in every quarter where light and knowledge may be gained. There is also the legislation of mere theory-sometimes the theory of the mere closet speculative reasoner much oftener that of another sort of theorist, who calls himself a practical man, because he infers his hasty, general rules from his own narrow, single experience, (narrow, because single,) as a judge, a lawyer, or a legislator. Such legislation, when it prescribes great and permanent rules of action, resembles the railroad of the half-learned engineer, who runs it straight to its ultimate end, over mountain and valley, through forest and morass. Disregarding alike the impediments of nature and the usages and wants of human dealings, he attains his end by the shortest way, but at immense expense, with an utter disregard of private right and public convenience. "A wiser and better way is that which, in adopting the improvements of modern science, applies them skilfully in the direction that experience has found to be the most easy, or which time, or custom, or even accident, has made familiar, and therefore convenient. That road winds round the mountain, and skirts the morass, turns off to the village or the landing-place, respects the homestead and the garden, and even the old, hereditary, trees of the neighborhood, and all the sacred rights of property. That is the road on which human life moves easily and happily—upon which blessings come and go.' "Such may we make that road on which justice shall take its regular and beneficent circuit throughout our land-such is the character we may give to our jurisprudence, if we approach the hallowed task of legal reform in the right spirit-if we approach it not rashly, but reverently-without pride or prejudice-free alike from the prejudice that clings to every thing that is old, and turns away from all improvement; and from the pride of opinion that, wrapped in fancied wisdom, disdains to profit either by the experience of our own times, or the recorded knowledge of past generations.”—VERPLANCK: Speech on Judicial Reform. "Nothing is more adverse to the tranquillity of a statesman (says the author of an éloge on the administration of Colbert,) than a spirit of moderation; because it condemns him to perpetual observation, shows him every moment the insufficiency of his wisdom, and leaves him the melancholy sense of his own imperfection; while, under the shelter of a few general principles, a systematical politician enjoys a perpetual calm. By the help of one alone, that of a perfect liberty of trade, he would govern the world, and would leave human affairs to arrange themselves at pleasure, under the operation of the prejudices and the self-interests of individuals. If these run counter to each other, he gives himself no anxiety about the consequence; he insists CHRISTIANS, that the foundation of Christianity and of Social Science is found in the great precept -ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER YE WOULD THAT MEN SHOULD DO TO YOU, DO YE EVEN SO TO THEM. that the result cannot be judged of till after a century or two shall have elapsed. If his contemporaries, in consequence of the disorder into which he has thrown public affairs, are scrupulous about submitting quietly to the experiment, he accuses them of impatience. They alone, and not he, are to blame for what they have suffered; and the principle continues to be inculcated with the same zeal and the same confidence as before."—Quoted by WAKEFIELD: Preface to Wealth of Nations, Vol. I., p. xci. INDEX. A. Abandonment of the richer soils of India, Absence of machinery in the British West of regular demand for labor, in Absenteeism, of the British West Indies, and over-population grow to- by increase or decrease in the rapidity istence of harmony, i. 46, ii. 268, iii. 464. in man, to the circumstances under How they affect of commerce over trade, as ex- of an honest international policy, of co-operation over antagonism, Afraia. A picture of Lapland life, ii. Course of settlement in, i. 133. 468. and manufactures of England at development and decline. How (473) |