believe that artificers make bad soldiers, as the Romans believed them, and as the Florentines of the middle ages proved themselves. In Persia, where the strength of an army still lies in the cavalry, a service which requires strength and peculiar dexterity, the inhabitants of the manufacturing cities do not turn out to be good soldiers. But the war of modern times, in Europe, depends on bravery and discipline; the English armies, who are in these respects exemplary, are, for a good third part, composed of artificers.

The division of labour, so essential to the rapidity and the perfection of manufactures, and so much in use in England, is injurious to the development of the mental faculties of the artizan, or even, perhaps, is fatal to it. With what ideas can his mind be enriched by that shuttle, that

G

wheel, or that spindle, which moves incessantly and unvaryingly before his eyes twelve hours in the day? "The result,"

says M. Say, "is a degeneracy in man, considered as an individual. It is a sad account to give of one's self,-that one has never made anything but the eighteenth part of a pin!" If the workman did not enjoy the incalculable advantage of his companions' society, which in his hours of rest awakes him, electrifies him, and invigorates all his faculties, and had not always before him the endless panoramas which are constantly presented from his living in a city, he would become, at the end of a few years, a perfect automaton. saying that a master-manufacturer employs such a number of workmen, it is commonly said, that he employs such a number of hands, as if the journeymen had

In fact, instead of

really no heads. The Broughams, the Humes, the Burdetts, the Allens,-the

protectors and protected of these classes,were well aware of this evil, and set themselves zealously to work to discover the remedy. They hit upon the idea of establishing libraries for mechanics in every city in the kingdom. These are only open for two hours in the evening; they contain histories, voyages, and travels, models of machines, &c. The subscription for a quarter is only eighteen-pence English. Not content with these, they founded in the most populous cities, professorships of mechanics and of chemistry applied to the arts. In London, more than 1500 operatives contribute each a guinea a-year for admission this year a working shoemaker gained a prize of ten guineas for an essay on geometry. Some months ago a

society was formed "for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge," which publishes and distributes every month a great number of elementary treatises on all the branches of the great tree of human knowledge. The Sunday papers, and the frequent public meetings which the mechanics attend, and where the most eloquent speakers address the multitude on public affairs, are an aliment and a stimulus to their minds. Mr. Hume, in the House of Commons, on the 13th December 1826, declared that the stamp-duty on newspapers was far too heavy in England. In the United States, the population of which is little more than half that of Great Britain, there are 590 newspapers; while in Great Britain, on account of the weight of the taxes, there are no more than 484. He gave notice, after these details, that he

should move for a reduction of the duty, at least on those weekly papers which are chiefly intended for the working classes. Mr. Brougham, who is ambitious of making that popular instruction he has so wonderfully promoted a durable monument to his name, with his accustomed eloquence, seconded the proposal. The influence that the press must exercise in a state where it is free, must (I would repeat it a thousand times) be incalculable. I will venture to say, that its influence must be greater than that of religion itself! It is from these fountains that public opinion springs forth; and this is alone sufficient to correct all the errors of legislation, and restrain all the abuses of power. It is a real panacea. The newspapers are the

66

daily bread" of morning and evening to every Englishman. So greedy is the pub