of labour, and lessen the power of accumulating property. In England, fortunately, the statute of apprenticeships, though long suffered to disgrace our statute books, is at length repealed. In France, the revolution swept away those grievances; and it is time that the civilized world at large should break down such barriers, which curtail the natural freedom of mankind; which raise to a still higher elevation the richer at the expense of the poorer classes; and are not more unjust than they are prejudicial to the growth of opulence.

Adam Smith observes, "The institution of long apprenticeships gives no security that insufficient workmanship shall not frequently be exposed to sale. When this is done, it is generally the effect of fraud, and not of inability; and the longest apprenticeship can give no security against fraud. Quite different regulations are necessary to prevent this abuse. The sterling mark upon plate, and the stamps upon linen and woollen cloth, give the purchaser much greater security than any statute of apprenticeship. He generally looks at these, but never thinks it worth while to inquire whether the workman had served a seven years' apprenticeship. To judge whether a man is fit to be employed, may surely be trusted to the discretion of his employers, whose interest it so much concerns. The affected anxiety of the lawgiver, lest they should employ an improper person, is evidently as impertinent as it is oppressive."*

Of similarly injurious tendency with apprentice laws as regards the acquisition of knowledge, are those regulations which in some professions prescribe to the student, as qualifications for practising his profession, a certain course of study, to be pursued for a definite length of time, in a certain place and under certain teachers; and instead of leaving the student to acquire his knowledge in what place and manner he finds best, and afterwards instituting a strict examination into his qualifications for practising his profession, regard rather the length of his probation, and the certain authorized teachers under whom he has studied, than his own acquirements. Of this kind are the regulations which apply to the medical student, which prevent his being eligible for examination, let his competency be

* Wealth of Nations.

what it may, unless he has attended a certain number of lectures delivered by certain authorized persons. Of this kind, also, are the rules of court, which require the law student, previous to being called to the bar, to be admitted a member of one of the inns of court, and to dine in hall during a certain number of terms. If the requisite professional information could be better acquired in these prescribed ways than in any others, no doubt the student would follow them of his own accord, without any regulations on the subject. But established regulations which remain unchanged notwithstanding subsequent improvements, must, in general, put the student to greater inconvenience and expense than are necessary.

In some countries, a man is obliged to follow the occupation of his forefathers. In others, aristocratical maxims raise an insurmountable barrier between different ranks, condemn the useful arts to contempt, and deny any countenance to genius struggling to emerge from obscurity. Again, in some countries, a large portion of the community is held in slavery, or reduced by oppression to a state not much better, while perhaps the prevailing sentiments favour an attachment to ancient practices, and dislike to innovation. Under such discouragements genius languishes, and the progress of the arts is retarded.

War is directly adverse to the progress of knowledge. Every one of its attendant horrors and calamities is inimical to the arts of peace. In a time of war, besides the destruction of property, and waste of energies, money, and resources, which might otherwise be usefully applied, the thoughts of the people are engrossed by the all-absorbing interest which the progress of the contest excites; and little is thought of but political occurrences. In peace, on the contrary, there is usually not sufficient interest in public intelligence to engross the attention, or draw off the mind from study, and from the calm pursuit of sciences which conduce to better the condition of mankind. War interrupts the intercourse of nations, impedes the communication of thought between men of different countries, and the simultaneous and combined pursuit of any subject, on which the progress of discovery much depends. Lastly, it prevents the improvements of one country from being readily transported to another

The advancement and diffusion of knowledge are favoured by a distribution of property into many fortunes of a moderate amount, with a measure of affluence in the middle ranks of life, much more than by a concentration of riches in the hands of a few, accompanied with many poor. Laws of inheritance are frequently adverse to such a distribution of property as is now spoken of, causing a few individuals to be exceedingly rich, while the great body of the people are rendered poorer than they otherwise would be. But, hitherto, it has been to the middle ranks of life, removed above want, yet still obliged to exert themselves for their subsistence, that we have owed, both those exertions in the cause of humanity which have ennobled mankind, and those discoveries and inventions in the arts and sciences which have enriched it. And it is still in their hands chiefly that is lodged, "the high trust of amassing intellectual wealth for the species"-at once their duty and their most distinguished honour. Consequently, it is to them that we must principally look for those further advancements which may augment the produce of industry and ameliorate our condition. Their habits of application and observation strengthen their mental faculties. Their finished education and easy circumstances afford them the capacity and leisure for acquiring that information, and pursuing those trains of reasoning and experiment, which suggest themselves; as well as give them the power of executing those works which, while they benefit themselves, also enrich the community to which they belong, and perhaps the world at large. The lower classes, with scanty means and imperfect information, and wholly occupied in manual labour, through the imperious necessity of supporting themselves thereby, are incompetent to engage successfully in those inquiries and pursuits by which knowledge is advanced. They have neither the previous education to qualify them, nor the leisure necessary for prosecuting such inquiries with success; and, if they make discoveries, their poverty often precludes their putting them into practice, being unable to bear the expense and loss of time which it would involve. Not much better fitted for such pursuits are the highest orders of society. Born to inherit large fortunes, and educated in the most expensive

manner, they possess the amplest means of prosecuting every inquiry with advantage, yet their habits and turn of thought are unsuited to such a task. Unaccustomed to labour, nursed in indolence in the lap of Fortune, and the devoted votaries of pleasure, they are in general incapable, and, being under no necessity to exert themselves, are commonly disinclined, to exercise that steady perseverance, that patient endurance of labour and privation, without which success is not to be expected. They know little of the processes of industry, and are therefore unacquainted with what has already been done, or what remains to be accomplished. It is in the way which has been now alluded to, that measures of state have tended to check the advancement and diffusion of knowledge, and consequently to prove injurious to the opulence of society.

But the advancement and diffusion of knowledge, though they are still in some degree checked by injudicious legislation and measures of state policy, are, happily, too far advanced in their career to leave a doubt as to their future progress; much less to give any apprehension of losing what has been already gained. The circumstances of mankind have been materially altered since the era of printing. The burning of libraries now would have scarcely a perceptible influence. No event short of the conquest of the whole civilized world by barbarous nations could ever endanger, much less cause the loss of, the learning of the present day. Modern Europe is not exposed, like the Roman empire, or the polished nations of Asia of old, to be overrun by hordes of uncivilized Goths or Tartars. There are not enough of barbarous nations for the purpose. Modern science and virtue have completely turned the scale of strength and numbers in favour of civilization, and it is barbarism now that is in danger, both of being dispelled by the light of science, and of being conquered by the sword. Since the invention of printing, by means of the press, and of oral instruction, every discovery, whether the result of investigation or of accident, soon becomes generally known, and introduced in practice; forming a gratuitous addition to the ability of every future labourer. What shall be the future progress of our race, or the beneficial influence which in after-days science shall have

on its coming fortunes, or whether, on the other hand, impediments remain behind that shall ultimately terminate the movement which is now going on in society, time alone can reveal. Everything, however, leads to the expectation, that the future progress of knowledge will be more splendid than at any period of the past. The new discoveries which have been made in recent times in every department of physical science, unapplied as yet to the numerous uses towards which without question they will hereafter be directed, strongly impress us with the conviction that we have been, and still are, executing the work by which succeeding generations are to profit. Laws of nature which now are only obscurely indicated, time will in all probability render distinctly apparent. The improvements that have been made in education, its extension, the spread of literary and scientific institutions, and the diffusion of information and of opulence, cause a greater number of persons to be occupied, and with enlarged means of observation, in examining the principles of science, developing their consequences and application, and advancing knowledge by further discoveries. With these facts before us, it is impossible to resist the impression, that the future progress of knowledge must be more rapid than the past; and the enlarged power thereby acquired by man over the natural world, will both exceed all present conception, and prove a permanent acquisition.

CHAPTER IV.

ON EXCITEMENTS TO INDUSTRY.

In this branch of our subject, we do not regard the means by which labour may be facilitated and abridged, in order to increase its productiveness, but the same end is sought, by examining the method by which the whole powers of industry of a community may be called into full activity, and allowed sufficiently ample scope for their exertion.